Iran denies plot to avenge general’s death

Iran officials on Wednesday vehemently rejected “malicious” reports of an alleged plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump, saying the Islamic nation seeks a “legal path to bring him to justice” for ordering the assassination of an Iranian general in 2020.

The White House confirmed to USA TODAY a report that Trump’s security was increased in recent weeks after intelligence showed Iran had been plotting to kill him. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Iran has sought revenge since Trump ordered the drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, whom Trump later described as “the No. 1 terrorist anywhere in the world.”

Trump was speaking Saturday before throngs of supporters at the Butler Farm Show grounds in Pennsylvania when a gunman opened fire from the roof of a nearby building. Trump, his face bloodied from a bullet that apparently injured his ear, was hustled off the stage by Secret Service personnel. Trump supporter Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed and two other rallygoers were critically wounded before a sniper fatally shot the gunman, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Authorities have found no connection between Iran and Saturday’s shooting. Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani on Wednesday dismissed claims of any assassination plot targeting Trump and said the allegations “have malicious political motives and objectives.”

Iran’s mission to the U.N. said in a statement that Trump remains a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in a court of law for ordering Soleimani’s assassination. “Iran has chosen the legal path to bring him to justice,” the statement said.

A hero, firefighter, Trump supporter:What will Corey Comperatore’s death mean?

Developments:

∎ The father of the gunman called police after the shooting, worried that his son and a weapon were missing, three senior law enforcement officials told NBC News. Fox News is reporting the family called authorities before the shooting took place.

∎ Crooks normally would have been at work Saturday but told his boss he needed the day off because he had “something to do,” multiple law enforcement officials told CNN. Crooks told his co-workers he would be back to work Sunday.

∎ The two other people who were injured in the shooting, James Copenhaver and David Dutch, have been upgraded from critical to serious condition, Allegheny General Hospital said Wednesday.

∎ A tree close to the roof from where the gunman shot may have blocked the view of one of the sniper teams in charge of protecting Trump, CBS News reported, adding that another sniper team-oriented in a different direction reacted to the shooting and killed the attacker.

Senators upset with FBI, Secret Service after hearing

Republican senators publicly voiced their exasperation Wednesday after a hearing with law enforcement officials addressing the attack at Trump’s rally, some of the lawmakers calling for the Secret Service’s leader to be replaced.

The focus of their anger was how long it took for the authorities to take action after being alerted 20 minutes before the shooting to suspicious activity around the building from where the gunman opened fire, injuring the former president and two other people and also killing a rallygoer.

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming posted a statement on the X platform saying the hearing with FBI and Secret Service officials was an exercise in deflecting blame.

“He was identified as being suspicious one hour before the shooting,” Barrasso said of Crooks. “He had a range finder and a backpack. The Secret Service lost sight of him. … Someone has died. (Trump) was almost killed. The head of the Secret Service needs to go.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also pushed for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to leave her post, calling Trump’s close call “a grave attack on American democracy.”

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley questioned both law enforcement agencies in a post, saying, “The FBI and Secret Service need to quit holding secret calls and start answering questions under oath. In public.”

Homeland Security, Congress kick off Secret Service probes

The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general’s office said Wednesday that it will investigate the Secret Service effort to provide security at the campaign rally where Trump was shot and a rallygoer killed. A notice posted on the watchdog’s “ongoing projects” web page for counterterrorism and homeland threats said the goal is to “evaluate the United States Secret Service’s process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign event.” The Secret Service falls under Homeland Security.

Also Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced a bipartisan task force within the House will investigate the assassination attempt, saying, “We need answers for these shocking security failures.” President Joe Biden previously ordered an “independent review” of the security measures at the event.

The Secret Service has drawn criticism for failing to keep the shooter from gaining access to the roof, 150 yards from the rally, with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. Local police officers had been stationed inside the building but none on the roof. Cheatle called the shooting “unacceptable” but said she will not resign.

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has subpoenaed Cheatle to appear at a hearing Monday. The White House has said Biden still has confidence in her.

Butler officers on traffic duty responded to call about Crooks

Butler Township Manager Tom Knights issued a statement Wednesday saying its police officers were on traffic control duty when several of them were sent to respond to a call regarding a suspicious man near the AGR building, in the general area of the rally.

Knights’ statement confirmed earlier reports that one of the officers was hoisted to the building’s roof by his partner and was holding to its edge when he made eye contact with the shooter, who pointed his rifle at him. The officer dropped down to safety and promptly reported the gunman’s location shortly before Crooks began firing.

Biden references Trump shooting in call for gun control

Biden has renewed his call for stronger gun control after staying quiet on the subject in the immediate aftermath of the campaign rally shooting. In a speech Tuesday at the NAACP National Convention in Las Vegas, Biden said it’s time to ban assault weapons like the one used to shoot Trump.

Biden has responded to multiple gun massacres in recent years by reviving calls for stronger gun laws, including reinstating the nation’s ban on assault weapons, which expired in 2004, and requiring background checks on all gun purchases. But the proposals have repeatedly failed amid Republican opposition in Congress.

“An AR-15 was used in the shooting of Donald Trump, just as it was assault weapons that killed so many others including children. It’s time to outlaw them,” Biden said, drawing applause from supporters.

− Joey Garrison

Biden renews call to ban AR-15 rifles:Plea made after Trump assassination attempt

Who was Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks?

Thomas Matthew Crooks wasn’t an ex-CIA agent with a homemade gun that could slip through metal detectors. He didn’t carry an Uzi and wear a black tuxedo. He was not a professional killer like the ones depicted in some movies. Crooks was an isolated Gen-Z’er with an associate’s degree who worked a low-wage job and lived with his parents. Yet in an increasingly online world, where digital surveillance is easier than ever, the 20-year-old managed to stay unusually hidden while devising a plan to murder a former U.S. president – nearly successfully – in just 10 days of planning. Read more here.

“The security failures by law enforcement that day helped him look a lot more sophisticated than he would normally,” said Seamus Hughes, a researcher at the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha. “If you had put an agent on the roof as opposed to in the building, it goes from a very sophisticated attack to a very foolish attack.”

− Kenny Jacoby, Kristine Phillips, and Christopher Cann

Trump’s would-be assassin:Had little time to prepare – and left little trace of plot

Friends, family to honor shooting victim Corey Comperatore

Friends and family of Corey Comperatore will gather Thursday in Freeport, a small town on the Allegheny River, to pay their respects to the only person killed at Saturday’s tragic campaign rally. Funeral services will be held Friday at his longtime Butler County church. Comperatore has been proclaimed a hero after Gov. Josh Shapiro said the former volunteer firefighter dived onto his family to protect them when the shooting started.

James Sweetland, a doctor from Dubois, Pennsylvania, who was at the rally, rushed to help Comperatore. But he had been shot in the head above his ear and never regained consciousness. 

“Yesterday time stopped,” Allyson Comperatore, his daughter, said on Facebook. “And when it started again my family and I started living a real-life nightmare.” Read more here.

− Chris Kenning

Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook