Joe Rogan has warned that the attempted assassination of Donald Trump ‘stinks to high heaven’ while outlining a series of glaring security failings.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, fired eight shots at the ex-president, the first of which grazed his ear, on July 13 as he spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
He was almost immediately shot dead by a Secret Service counter-sniper, but not before he killed a Trump fan in the crowd and wounded others.
Rogan expressed his frustration at the unanswered questions in a September 18 podcast with author Matt Walsh.
‘The whole thing sucks, it stinks to high heaven,’ he said.
Donald Trump after being shot at by Thomas Matthew Crooks on July 13
Some of the points they discussed were addressed a week later at a Trump Assassination Task Force hearing on September 26.
But investigators are still yet to release many details about Crooks’ background and any indication of a motive for shooting Trump – in what just narrowly avoided being one of the greatest security disasters in American history, and killed an attendee.
They seized his electronic devices and are pulling apart his life to answer those questions, but have not yet revealed what they found.
‘The whole thing is nuts, who is this kid, why did he do this?’ Rogan asked.
‘Why did some 20-year-old kid take shots at the [former] president? Why didn’t he have a scope?’
Rogan then speculated about how good a patsy Crooks would be if Trump was killed in the attempt.
‘Think about how perfect it would have been for a plan to assassinate someone if you do get this lone crazy kid,’ he said.
Investigators are still yet to release many details about Thomas Matthew Crooks’ background and any indication of a motive for shooting Trump
‘If he shot and hit Trump, if Trump didn’t turn his head at that pivotal moment… and it’s a headshot, Trump is dead and the world’s in chaos and this kid’s dead second later.
‘Then it’s like “this crazy kid kills the president” and that’s it and then OK now who’s going to run as a Republican, the world’s in chaos.
‘It would have been the perfect plan if that kid just pulled it off.’
There is no credible evidence to suggest anyone put Crooks up to shooting at Trump, or that he was assisted in any way by a third party.
However, Trump claimed Iran’s hardline regime made ‘real and specific threats’ to assassinate Trump very recently.
‘Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out, but they will try again,’ he said in a statement.
The veracity of the claim that Iran planned to kill him, and targeted other American political leaders and public figures, is an open question.
Joe Rogan expressed his frustration at the unanswered questions in a September 18 podcast
Rogan’s guest, right-wing author Matt Walsh, said it was a political mistake by the Trump campaign to not make the shooting the centerpiece of the Republican National Convention
Rogan and Walsh also expressed amazement about how fast Americans ‘moved on’ from the assassination attempt, and how little impact it had on the election.
‘The whole story is insane and the fact that it went away is even more insane,’ Rogan said.
Walsh said it was a political mistake by the Trump campaign to not make it the centerpiece of the Republican National Convention.
Instead it had no political impact, unlike Ronald Reagan who got a huge boost when a gunman shot him in 1981, and everyone moved on within weeks.
‘It would not shock me because we’re so easily distracted if people really did just forget and don’t care two weeks later,’ he said.
Commander Edward Lenz of Butler County Emergency Services Unit, Patrolman Drew Blasko of Butler Township Police Department, Lieutenant John Herold of Pennsylvania State Police and Patrick Sullivan attend a House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump hearing
Law enforcement witnesses, many who were present at the rally during the shooting, detailed grisly aspects that unfolded during the messy day during the public hearing before the taskforce.
They includes the exact moment shooter Crooks was taken out by a counter-sniper, just seconds after he shot the former president.
The officials expressed remorse over the death and carnage that ensued that day, and the lapses in preparation and communication with the Secret Service that led up to it.
Taskforce chairman Mike Kelly said the Secret Service’s miscommunication led to confusion and likened it to the agency playing a game of telephone during the crisis.
