A SWAT counter-sniper who worked the July 13 rally that injured Republican nominee Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, agreed with Republican lawmakers on Monday that the handling of evidence in the days that followed was “odd” and tantamount to evidence tampering.
Five House Republicans hosted a near 2-hour forum on the attempted assassination of Trump at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., inviting three subject matter experts, including Washington regional SWAT counter-sniper Ben Shaffer.
After Shaffer made an opening statement pointing to the “critical failures” of communications, leadership, logistics, and tactical issues that day in Butler, he, along with two others, answered questions.
Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., asked Shaffer if he thought it “odd that literally only days after the attempted assassination … the FBI got to go ahead and tamper, in my opinion, with evidence by washing the roof off that may have had significant evidence on it?”
“Yes, I do,” Shaffer answered.
“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 asked Shaffer.
“Yes, absolutely,” Shaffer said.
“It sounds like destruction of evidence,” said Erik Prince, fellow panelist and a former Navy SEAL who founded the private military contractor Blackwater in the late 1990s.
“Any suggestion the FBI is interfering with congressional efforts to look into the attempted assassination which took place in Butler, Pennsylvania, is inaccurate and unfounded,” the FBI said in a statement Monday evening, the New York Post reported. “The FBI has been working closely with our law enforcement partners to conduct a thorough investigation into the shooting, and we have followed normal procedures in the handling of the crime scene and evidence.”
On the day of the assassination attempt, Shaffer told Republicans that Crooks was first spotted at 5:10 p.m. and seen with a rangefinder “shortly after 5:38 p.m.” Shaffer said that should have raised Crooks from a “suspicious person” to a “person of interest.”
“That would warrant some type of either investigatory detention or stop and question,” he said.
Crooks opened fire at 6:11 p.m., blasting eight shots that killed a rallygoer and injured two others in addition to Trump. Crooks was killed seconds later by counter-snipers, though Shaffer was not one of them.
The forum was held outside of the purview of the official bipartisan congressional task force investigating the assassination attempt. Members of the task force toured the grounds in Butler on Monday.
Shaffer would later tell The Hill that he is also in contact with the task force, but that he joined the forum out of concern that “lack of information can cause more issues than providing facts and information.”
Joining Mills in hosting the forum were GOP Arizona Reps. Eli Crane and Andy Biggs, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, and Texas Rep. Chip Roy.
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