Butler DA responds to state police commissioner testimony in hearing on Trump assassination attempt

BUTLER, Pa. — The House Judiciary Committee hearing on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler continues Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Chris Paris testified and spoke exclusively with Channel 11.

>> Pennsylvania State Police commissioner testifies in hearing on Trump assassination attempt

However, Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said some of the commissioner’s testimony was “misinformation” that he felt necessary to clarify.

Channel 11 spoke exclusively with Goldinger.

“The misinformation is they left their post. The testimony came out that these guys left their post and they weren’t following their duties and they could have stopped this and that’s simply not true,” said Rich Goldinger, the Butler County District Attorney.

The Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Chris Paris testified that two members of the butler tactical unit were stationed in an adjacent building with a view of the rooftop the gunman accessed, and they left their post to find him but couldn’t.

However, Goldinger said a Beaver and Butler sniper were stationed on the second floor of the building to overlook the crowd. About 20 minutes before the shooting, they saw Crooks outside looking suspicious, took a photo of him, which was sent to the command post for state police and Secret Service. The DA said the snipers lost sight of Thomas Crooks when he went around the building and then saw him with a backpack.

“They went to different windows inside the building on the second floor and one of the ESU members observed him sitting on a picnic table outside of the building, holding a backpack,” said Goldinger. “The officer saw this and Crooks went running. That’s when the officer ran downstairs, left the building to try to locate him because at this point, no one had responded to look into this suspicious person, and he wanted to keep eyes on him. He couldn’t locate him and then went inside the building and that’s when they heard the shots.”

The DA said the post was never vacant, the one officer remained in the building on the second floor. The other officer briefly went outside because the DA said his intuition was right to track down Crooks until other law enforcement arrived.

On Tuesday, lawmakers suggested if the local snipers didn’t leave their post, they would have seen crooks climbing onto the roof but the DA said that’s not the case.

“My understanding is that they would have had to leaned out the window and looked to their left and to see him but the windows were not open,” said Goldinger.

Goldinger said the two officers put their lives on the line and shouldn’t be blamed.

“When the officers hear that information and that’s why I’m coming forward to respond to it. They are upset about it. They did what they were asked to do and now they are being accused of not doing that,” said Goldinger. “I don’t think we should be finger-pointing at this point. Let’s figure out where the mistakes occurred so we can prevent this next time. We were going in there as a team. Let’s come out of it as a team.”

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