Trump rally counter-sniper Ben Shaffer sparks uproar as he supports GOP's 'evidence tampering' allegation

WASHINGTON, DC: A SWAT counter-sniper, who was at the Pennsylvania rally during last month's assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, agreed with Republican lawmakers on Monday, August 26, about a strange pattern of evidence handling following the deadly event.

Washington Regional SWAT counter-sniper Ben Shaffer expressed serious concerns that the AGR International building's roof was swiftly cleaned and the body of gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks was disposed of before the release of an official autopsy report.

House Republicans question evidence handling in Trump assassination attempt

Reps Andy Biggs and Eli Crane from Arizona, Matt Gaetz and Cory Mills from Florida, and Chip Roy of Texas — five House Republicans — conducted a panel discussion with Shaffer and additional witnesses at the conservative Heritage Foundation, as per New York Post.

“Do you find it odd that literally only days after the attempted assassination on President Donald J Trump, while the roof was too sloped to place individuals for counter-sniper operations, that it wasn’t too sloped of a roof for the FBI to go ahead and tamper, in my opinion, with evidence by washing the roof off that may have had significant evidence on it?” Mills inquired of Shaffer about the sequence of events subsequent to the July 13 shooting at the Butler, Pennsylvania campaign event, which resulted in the death of one attendee and injuries to three others, including Trump.

Shaffer answered, “Yes, I do.”

“Do you also find it odd … that the body of Matthew Crooks had not only been released and cremated — but that the coroner who’s responsible for releasing the body had no knowledge of it?” Mills pressed.

“Yes, absolutely,” Shaffer said.

“It sounds like destruction of evidence,” Erik Prince, a former US Navy SEAL and the founder of the private military company Blackwater, replied.

Kimberly Cheatle, the former Secret Service Director who resigned following her contentious testimony to Congress after the near-assassination of the 45th president, notoriously stated in her first interview post-attack that the absence of counter-sniper teams on the AGR International building, where Crooks was later positioned, was due to its "sloped roof."

Cory Mills criticizes FBI for lack of transparency on Matthew Crooks' research

Additionally, Mills criticized the FBI for not being transparent regarding Crooks' alleged "online" research into explosives and encrypted overseas messaging accounts.

Previously, Shaffer informed Biggs that the sighting of Crooks with a rangefinder scope on the Butler Farm Show grounds should have escalated his status from a "suspicious person" to a "person of interest" in the view of law enforcement.

“That would warrant some type of either investigatory detention or stop and question,” he said.

According to Shaffer, Crooks was first seen with the rangefinder "shortly after 5:38 pm " by nearby counter-snipers, and this was 33 minutes before he took aim at Trump at 6:11 pm.

Eight shots were fired by the gunman, striking Trump in the right ear, killing fifty-year-old rallygoer Corey Comperatore, and seriously injuring seventy-three-year-old James Copenhaver and David Dutch.

Counter-sniper teams discharged two shots in response, but it remains unclear whether one or both of the shots resulted in Crooks' death, as Shaffer indicated in his testimony.

The 20-year-old shooter's death was classified as a "homicide" due to a "gunshot wound to the head," based on an August 2 report by Butler County Coroner William Young.

Rep Clay Higgins (R-La), an ex-police officer and member of the House select task force investigating the Butler shooting, disclosed in a preliminary report to the panel's chairman, Mike Kelly (R-Pa), that “the FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after” the incident.

The motivations of Crooks continue to baffle numerous lawmakers in both the House and Senate, among them Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla), who is also part of the select task force that visited Butler on Monday to investigate the rally site.

At a certain juncture, legislators were observed on the rooftop of the building from which Crooks had taken his stance, approximately 150 feet away from the stage where Trump was delivering his speech.

Last week, Waltz reported that FBI briefings disclosed Crooks' utilization of messaging accounts on platforms based in Belgium, Germany, and New Zealand.

Social Media reacts with skepticism to assassination investigation

As soon as the news surfaced on social media, users started reacting to it.

"It's expected the Democrat controlled FBI is corrupt," read a comment on Daily Mail, while another said, "What a shocker. Corrupt fbi is evidence tempering? Who would have guessed".

A user wrote on X, "This stink to high heaven. It was a set up from within the deep state".

Another made the similar remark, "This whole thing stinks."

"Coroner did not do a toxicology test on Crooks body?" One questioned.

A person said, "Bring it all out into the light".

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