Former first lady Melania Trump called out law enforcement and the media for the lack of answers surrounding the assassination attempt against her husband in a rare public video message.
“The attempt to end my husband’s life was a horrible, distressing experience. Now, the silence around it feels heavy,” Melania Trump said in a video message shared on social media promoting her upcoming memoir.
https://t.co/ZCTwZSqZND pic.twitter.com/KKA6anTEYC
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) September 10, 2024
She went on to blast law enforcement for the failures that allowed would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks to climb up to a nearby rooftop and fire eight shots into the crowd at Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pa. on July 13.
“I can’t help but wonder: Why didn’t law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech?” she added. “There is definitely more to this story and we need to uncover the truth.”
Melania, who rarely speaks out publicly, first addressed the assassination attempt shortly after it took place, and thanked the Secret Service agents who shielded Trump after one of Crooks’s bullets grazed his right ear. Crooks’s rampage killed former fire chief Corey Comperatore and wounded two others, marine veteran David Dutch and retiree James Copenhaver.
Donald Trump’s defiance in the face of violence immediately became an iconic moment in his political career, and the images of a bloodied Trump pumping his fist continue to circulate widely among his supporters.
The assassination attempt on Donald Trump is one of the biggest law-enforcement failures in American history and the Secret Service’s mistakes on July 13 have received strong bipartisan scrutiny. Former Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned from her post after she received an avalanche of criticism for failing to answer basic questions at a congressional hearing about the assassination attempt.
Numerous law enforcement and congressional investigations are ongoing in order to fully understand how Crooks carried out the shooting and evaded law enforcement. The FBI is investigating Crooks himself and has developed a detailed timeline of his actions leading up to the assassination attempt, but still cannot find a motive for the attack. Crooks did not have any co-conspirators and is believed to have been a loner without many friends.
Before the Trump rally, Crooks fixated on public figures, especially Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, and looked up political events in western Pennsylvania. He registered to attend the Trump rally a week ahead of time and visited the site multiple times prior to the shooting.