Donald Trump was mere inches from being shot dead Saturday in what’s been widely characterized as the Secret Service’s biggest failure in decades.
The near-murder of Trump was immediately damning for the Secret Service–whose entire purpose is to protect prospective, current, and past presidents (and their families)–but the blunder has become even more mind-boggling as more details have surfaced.
That included the Secret Service conceding Tuesday that local cops were inside the very building where Thomas Crooks, 20, perched himself on a rooftop—less than 150 yards from Trump, a distance most proficient shooters consider an almost certain kill zone. Yet, those agents were unable to stop Cooks from climbing onto the roof, pulling out a rifle, and rattling off multiple shots toward the former president—one going through his ear, and another fatally striking a former fire chief who was attending the rally with his wife and daughter.
