Former MI6 agent blasts Security Service ‘questionable tactics’ as new footage shows rally attendees alerting cops on shooter
Here, the former spook turned best-selling spy novelist discusses seven key questions about Thomas Matthew Crooks and the assassination attempt.
"Not only are they trying to protect the VIP, they're also then trying to protect all the civilians in the venue. He adds: "A basic rule of thumb for security experts like the Secret Service will be to ensure that nobody could get within sniper range of a VIP target. "Why he took those shots against Donald Trump, and to get that, you need to understand the motivation behind the actions.
"If not least, law enforcement across the United States will want to reassure the public that this is not part of a bigger plan of thought, and people should be scared and people should lock their doors and stay home. "We're pointing at him, the police are down there running around on the ground, we're like 'Hey man, there's a guy on the roof with a rifle'... and the police did not know what was going on."
But Matthew says: "One of the other things that security experts do prior to events like we saw is that they look for advanced intelligence. “And it seems there was a sort of kerfuffle. Secret Service agents sort of shouting at each other, and then some of them gathered around Trump. Matthew says: "I remember many years ago a shot fired out while Prince Charles was on stage and a Metropolitan Police security protection individual very roughly pushed the Prince aside, which you would never dare to do in other circumstances, but it was done in nanoseconds.He adds: "From a spectator perspective, it can look actually very hostile towards the target VIP.
"Firstly, the obvious thing to do is to get Trump off stage because then he's a rapidly moving target. Now, even if you're an expert sniper trying to hit a moving target, it's always very difficult.
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