Donald Trump’s assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was seen wandering around produce stands less than two hours before he wounded the former president.
Gunmen grazed Trump in the right ear as he spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, and killed supporter Corey Comperatore in the crowd.
Trump was shot in the first of eight rounds at 6:11 p.m. by Crooks from the roof of a nearby building before being shot dead by a police sniper.
The shooter’s movements have been meticulously tracked since the shooting to determine what went wrong, but a new video casts doubt on the timeline.
An Iron Clad USA salesman inadvertently filmed Crooks casually walking past his booth outside the rally at 4:26 p.m.
Donald Trump’s assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was seen wandering around produce stands less than two hours before he wounded the former president.
Crooks, 20, was filmed as the camera panned from the stall selling politically themed caps and T-shirts to the fairground to show how busy it was.
The video showed Crooks wearing the same gray T-shirt, made by gun influencer site Demolition Ranch, and white shorts he was wearing when he was killed.
However, he had none of the equipment he brought to the Butler Farm Show grounds, including the backpack that was later found, along with a bicycle and a rangefinder.
Police and Secret Service agents spotted Crooks several times before the shooting but did not arrest him — a major security lapse that is under investigation.
Group text messages between snipers from Beaver, Butler and Washington counties place Crooks in a different location around the same time as the Iron Clad video.
Crooks was filmed as the camera panned around the stall selling politically themed caps and T-shirts to show how busy it was.
Beaver County sniper James Woods finished his shift and saw someone at a picnic table “about 50 yards from the exit.”
He sent a text message to the group chat at 4.26am, the same time as the video, to notify the other snipers to keep an eye on him because he looked suspicious.
“Someone followed our lead and snuck up and parked next to our cars, just so you know,” he wrote.
“I’m just letting you know because you saw me come out with my rifle and put it in my car, so he knows you guys are up there.”
More to come.