by Kristina Wong, Breitbart:
The rooftop where a shooter positioned himself before nearly assassinating former President Donald Trump Saturday at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania was identified as a potential vulnerability in the days before the event, according to a report.
Two sources “familiar with the agency’s operations” told NBC News that the Secret Service was aware of the risks associated with the rooftop, which tops a glass research company next to the Butler Farm Show where the rally was taking place.
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“Someone should have been on the roof or securing the building so no one could get on the roof,” one of the sources, a former senior Secret Service agent who was familiar with the planning, told NBC News.
The rooftop was about 150 yards away from where Trump was speaking. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the outlet that the agency had designated the rooftop as being under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement.
However, Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger told NBC News that Secret Service agents were in charge of security outside the venue. The building was “outside the event’s security perimeter, but only about 148 yards from the stage,” according to NBC News.
“They had meetings in the week prior. The Secret Service ran the show. They were the ones who designated who did what,” Goldinger said. “In the command hierarchy, they were top, they were No. 1.”
Both the former senior Secret Service official and Goldinger said Secret Service is ultimately responsible for securing areas outside the venue.
“Just because it is outside of the perimeter, it doesn’t take it out of play for a vulnerability, and you’ve got to mitigate it in some fashion,” the former official said.
“To me, the whole thing is under the jurisdiction of the Secret Service. And they will delineate from there,” Goldinger said.
Former Secret Service agent Anthony Cangelosi told NBC News, “You don’t surrender the discretion of what’s supposed to be done to the local police.”
He added, “In other words, you guys have the outer perimeter, but you would want to say, ‘We need an officer on that roof.’ Not ‘that’s your responsibility; do what you see fit.’”
The Secret Service provides security for former presidents and for presidential nominees, but works with local law enforcement during special events such as the rally.
Guglielmi said the Secret Service had two of its counterassault agents at the event and filled out the rest of the platoon with at least six officers from Butler County tactical units, and also deployed two counter-sniper teams, according to NBC News.
