This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Nearly two million dollars spent by one of the nation's Army recruiting brigades could not overcome the alienation of potential service members caused by the military's embrace of radical "diversity, equity and inclusion" policies under the Biden-Harris administration.
After more than two decades of service, Col. Nicholas Braun (a pseudonym) recently retired from the U.S. Army. He spoke to WorldNetDaily on the condition of anonymity, concerned over likely reprisals he would face from the U.S. government for the information he shared with WND.
In 2023, said Braun, as recruiting numbers continued to dwindle through the Biden administration, every corps in the Army was tasked to support Recruiting Command. For example, operations and maintenance funds were diverted to recruiting, he told WND, revealing that over $1 million was so redirected in just the first quarter of last year.
"Do you know how many contracts we got signed?" he asked. "One. After four months, we spent a million dollars to get one kid in the Army."
In the following quarter, Braun said, six individuals signed contracts after $800,000 of the operations and maintenance budget was redirected toward recruiting. "We used nearly $1.8 million to get seven people in the Army," he told WND.
Yet, throwing money at recruiting did not solve the problem. Plans to "shrink excess" and reduce its number of personnel from 494,000 to 470,000 by 2029 followed. "In the Pentagon's infinite wisdom to fix the recruiting problem," Braun said, in February 2024, "they began another round of restructuring to make the on-hand quantity [of Army personnel] the authorized quantity to be able to say they're at 100 percent or at least above 90 percent," he said.
In the restructuring, Braun revealed, "they removed reconnaissance formations from infantry and Stryker brigade combat teams to get the numbers down." Out of 31 armored brigades, he said, only 13 brigades in the Army with a reconnaissance formation remained.
"When these brigades need reconnaissance, they're going to pull from formation that don't have nearly enough training to do the mission," he told WND, warning that "any real war is going to look like a meat grinder with a whole bunch of under-resourced and undertrained soldiers getting completely chewed up."
"Why? Because political decisions have been made on force structure instead of capability decisions based on force structure – and it all ties back to the diversity, equity and inclusion stuff," Braun argued.
"The level of politics in the Army's general officer corps has elevated to a really unhealthy level," he added. "Most three-star and four-star generals circle the wagons and throw whoever they need to under the bus to save their own skin."
"Likeminded one-stars and two-stars get in the club by embracing uniformity of thought at the most senior levels," he said. "And at this level, they want DEI at the forefront. They want skin color and sexual orientation to be the top priority."
"If you're a white male, you're not really a welcome person in the Army right now," Braun said, recounting the mandatory Department of Defense stand down and subsequent briefings on the topic in 2021. In one of the briefings, he was told about "the problem of extremism in the ranks." The focus was primarily on "white domestic terrorists," he told WND.
Braun said he could not sit quiet at the time, interrupting the briefing to inquire: "How many people have been charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for white extremism in the Army?" To that, the presenter said he did not know. However, he told WND, the answer was "five."
"Out of 525,000 people, there were five, and they were trying to teach me that white extremism is our biggest problem."
He pinpointed this moment in history as "the time you begin to see a precipitous drop in Army recruiting numbers." Which begs the question: "With 70 percent of recruits being white kids from the south and southeast, why would you want to join an organization that's preaching you're an extremist or terrorist because you're white and conservative?"
"The problem is that nobody will acknowledge this is a problem or that we've screwed up putting this kind of rhetoric in place," Braun said. "If Lloyd Austin would come out today, take an in-depth look at the impact [DEI ideology is having] on recruiting and retention, and do something about it, numbers would start looking better almost overnight."
In the same vein, Braun said, today's selection of senior military leaders would also need to be addressed. While the Army might be selecting some qualified leaders, they are not selecting the most qualified, he explained: "The overarching feeling in the Army is that DEI is way more important than lethality. Formations are going to have to deploy somewhere, and when they do, many are going to be bringing a lot of kids home in body bags because we're more focused on this garbage [DEI] than we are actually being able to perform a job at the highest level possible."
U.S. Army Recruiting Command did not respond to WorldNetDaily's requests for comment.
Anita Dunn, a driving force in the Biden administration who helped hide his cognitive decline, is leaving the White House to work for a Kamala Harris super PAC.
A longtime Democratic strategist for both Biden and Barack Obama, Dunn has been one of Biden's top aides since the start of his disastrous presidency. She is the first high-profile person to quit the White House since Biden announced he would not seek another term in July.
The Biden family blamed Dunn for Biden's disastrous debate in June, which exposed Biden's cognitive decline and led to speculation about a high-level cover-up. Dunn had helped Biden prepare for the debate, which essentially ended his 50-year career in politics.
Dunn has been described as a driving force behind the administration's strategy of keeping Biden away from the press. When she left the administration for the first time in 2021, the New York Times said she was "adamantly opposed to Mr. Biden regularly taking questions from reporters, which she believes does little to advance his agenda."
Throughout her time in the Biden White House, Dunn was also known for her flagrant conflicts of interest and dizzying turns through the "revolving door" of government and corporate power.
She revealed in 2022 that her consulting firm's clients included Pfizer, a company that benefited from the Biden administration's COVID vaccine policy.
She initially dodged having to share her clients at all by working for Biden as a temporary employee and taking a salary just below the threshold to trigger transparency requirements.
Dunn's husband is Biden's personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, who represented Biden in Special Counsel Robert Hur's classified documents investigation.
Biden called Dunn a key asset to his presidency and 2020 campaign.
“Four years ago, when I launched my campaign for the battle for the soul of our nation, I was grateful Anita Dunn was right there with me,” Biden said.
“She’s not only a key senior member of our team that helped us win a historic election in 2020 — she’s also been an invaluable part of our White House."
“I’ve known Anita throughout my career. She’s served our nation through three Administrations and countless campaigns for candidates at every level,” Biden said.
“I deeply value her counsel and friendship and I will continue to rely on her partnership and insights as we finish the job over the next six months,” he added.
Dunn's next job is at a liberal super PAC that is backing Kamala Harris' campaign, Future Forward.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
There's probably no one who gets a paycheck in America who hasn't felt the sting of the horrible economy under the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration. The millionaires and billionaires are about the only ones not suffering – yet.
There's been inflation higher than 20% since President Donald Trump turned over a 1.4% inflation rate to the Democrats.
The annual inflation reached 9% at one point. Interest rates have rocketed, putting home ownership out of reach for many. Grocery bills have exploded, utilities have multiplied, and more. Multiple assessments have confirmed it costs families thousands and thousands of dollars more now to have the same lifestyle they had under Trump.
But this week's horrific jobs report is Trump's fault.
That's according to presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris,
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday the nation added 114,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in July.
That surged the unemployment rate to 4.3%.
A report from the Daily Caller News Foundation noted, "Economists anticipated that the country would add 175,000 jobs in July compared to the 206,000 added in initial estimates for June and that the unemployment rate would remain stable at 4.1%, according to U.S. News and World Report."
It continued, "Inflation has raised prices by more than 20% since President Joe Biden first took office in January 2021. The combination of high inflation and the increased borrowing costs from elevated interest rates have weighed on American wallets, with the percentage of credit card balances more than 60 days overdue reaching 2.59% in the first quarter, the highest rate of delinquency since records began in 2012."
Fox News noted Harris's explanation is to blame someone who hasn't been in power in Washington since January 2021.
"Donald Trump failed Americans as president, costing our economy millions of jobs, and bringing us to the brink of recession," Harris for President spokesperson James Singer said in the report.
"Now, he's promising even more damage with a Project 2025 agenda that will decimate the middle class and increase taxes on working families, while ripping away health care, raising prescription drug costs, and cutting Social Security and Medicare — all while making his billionaire donors richer."
The fact is Trump had no part in developing Project 2025, and in fact, has distanced himself from the plan.
Singer claimed Harris and Biden have "made significant progress, but Vice President Harris knows there's more work to do to lower costs for families."
The BLS report triggered a stock market fall, with Dow futures down some 500 points, meaning Americans' retirement accounts took a huge hit based on the results of the Biden-Harris administration's policies.
A Trump campaign press secretary pointed out, "Kamala Harris has proudly and repeatedly celebrated her role as Joe Biden's co-pilot on 'Bidenomics,' She cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate for spending that put inflation on steroids, and despite the evidence that America's working families are hurting, she tells us these failed plans are working.
"The necessities of food, gas, and housing are less affordable, unemployment is rising, and Kamala doesn't seem to care," she said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
WASHINGTON – Why does the government appear to want to kill January 6 political prisoner Ryan Samsel?
Throughout his nearly four years of pretrial detention, Samsel has pleaded – to no avail – with judges and jail staff to allow him the critical, life-saving vascular surgery he was prescribed before his arrest to stop his blood from clotting.
Instead, he developed 17 blood clots throughout his body while being systemically denied medical treatment during his incarceration. Left untreated, the clots morph into blood-flow-obstructing fibroids.
Thus, each day Samsel is refused surgery his life is literally at risk.
But the Biden Justice Department has essentially played political football with the lives of Samsel and all the other so-called "insurrectionists" who were unprecedentedly assaulted, gassed, bombed and shot at with less-than-lethal munitions by police, terrorized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, denied bail while held in pretrial custody for years for nonviolent crimes, and handed shockingly lengthy prison sentences for trumped-up or trivial charges that are normally treated as misdemeanors punishable by fines or a maximum one-year prison term.
In addition to being denied the lifesaving procedure, Samsel has essentially been tortured while detained in pretrial detention for "his role in the Capitol riot," repeatedly assaulted by jail guards, from which he has sustained irreversible injuries including loss of eyesight and a broken orbital floor. He has sometimes been detained in solitary confinement for weeks and months at a time.
While caged in a filthy cell in Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn, with the assistance of this reporter and a legal expert, Samsel determined to fight for his medical and civil rights pro se in two groundbreaking lawsuits.
In both a Petition of Writ of Mandamus and a Writ of Habeas Corpus filed in the Eastern District of New York on July 19, Ryan Samsel – the political prisoner, Pennsylvania barber and former MMA fighter – lays out how he has been routinely trafficked across the country between different correctional facilities as the respondents systemically circumvent the law and doctors' orders to deny him critical care and emergency surgery in what he suspects is a calculated attempt to take his life.
The respondents, including Attorney General Merrick Garland; Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Collete S. Peters; MDC Brooklyn; Ronald L. Davis, director of the U.S. Marshals Service; and Thomas N. Faust, director of the D.C. Department of Corrections "are knowingly, intentionally, consistently, and by pattern and practice systemically denying medical treatment" by shuffling Samsel around from jail to jail, the prisoner warns in the complaint filed in the Eastern District of New York.
"Every time doctors confirm that I have an urgent need for surgery and other treatment and medication to avoid life-threatening consequences, the Bureau of Prisons transfers me to a different facility," the Petition for a Writ of Mandamus states. "I have been transferred to 19 different prison facilities."
In fact, Samsel has been shuttled to the various jails 28 different times throughout his incarceration. The transfers typically occur shortly after doctors prescribe "urgent" surgery.
"What is the purpose of transferring me to Brooklyn, where I have no pending court business and no connection of any kind?" Samsel asks.
"The timing and pattern indicate that the system is knowingly trying to avoid paying for the surgery – although it is actually not very expensive – or that the government is pursuing a broad pattern clearly visible across January 6 Defendants of pressuring and intimidating defendants to give false testimony favorable to the prosecution against others," the filing continues. "Again, I have actual reason to believe that the prosecutors fantasize that I have any information that I have not disclosed.
"The only explanation I can see for these actions is the attempt to force me to divulge things that in fact I know nothing about in reality. The only other good explanation for the transfers and withholding of vital medical treatment for years on end would be the government is intentionally trying to take my life."
Samsel included nearly the entirety of his medical records in the complaint, making his personal health care history available to the public, so as to avoid more potential obstacles that may impede his access to the simple but critical surgery.
During his Feb. 2 verdict hearing, which this reporter attended, Samsel personally pleaded with presiding U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in the courtroom to grant his medical request, so that he could survive prison. But the judge refused, claiming she had no documentation to validate his claims.
Depriving a person in federal custody of health or medical care which they would normally obtain for themselves, but cannot, is a violation of the Eight Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment." The government's refusal to remove the clots, which can erupt and take Samsel's life at any moment, is also deprivation of his civil and constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
According to the medical records included in the filing, it's a miracle Samsel is alive after repeated brutal beatdowns by jail guards have dramatically exacerbated Samsel's deteriorating condition.
He previously described to the Gateway Pundit his having been beaten and spat on by a correctional officer while being held in a four-point restraint chair, backwards for 12 hours.
"Symptoms in his left arm were enflamed after his hands were tied behind his back (zip tied) for two days," Dr. Deidre Lewis noted on Samsel's medical records. "At the time of his arrest and shortly thereafter, he was beaten on the head, and he sustained temporal skull fracture, nasal fractures, left orbital floor fracture and loss of vision in his right eye."
Samsel is asking a judge to immediately transport him to the nearest hospital for vascular surgery, a glandsectomy which must be conducted by a plastic surgeon because of the proximity of the operation to his heart.
The unnecessary transfer from Washington, D.C., to New York may ultimately be an advantage for Samsel's medical access, due to the belief that a January 6 defendant may face a fairer judiciary with his civil case in New York City than in the District of Columbia. And not just because the deep-blue Empire state allows hardened criminals – robbers, rapists and even murderers – back on the streets shortly after their arrest, following the city's bail reform policies, whereas the federal government maintains a 100 percent conviction rate against J6ers in jury trials held in D.C.
But also, New York judges are cutting down the sentences of inmates detained in MDC Brooklyn for being served maggot-infested meals amid illegal perpetual lockdowns, lack of proper medical treatment by cruel corrections officers, short-staffing and a host of other miserable conditions that have gone unchecked for decades.
The corruption in MDC Brooklyn most recently boiled over last January, when Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jesse Furman issued a blistering 19-page ruling laying out why the Brooklyn prison should be shut down, particularly after the jail lost power for eight days in 2019 during a polar vortex.
"It has gotten to the point that it is routine for judges in both this District and the Eastern District [Brooklyn] to give reduced sentences to defendants based on the conditions of confinement in the MDC," Furman wrote. "Prosecutors no longer even put up a fight, let alone dispute that the state of affairs is unacceptable."
The prospects of winning the years-long battle for his health may be optimal now that a complaint has finally been filed, documenting the inhumane medical deprivation and de facto torture Samsel has endured.
But he is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 19, which means he could be transferred back to Washington, D.C., any day.
Samsel is asking the American public to assist with stopping the transfer by calling Judge Cobb.
"I am going to be sick when they tell me to pack it up to go to D.C. It's likely going to happen any day now," Samsel told WND in an exclusive interview. "I just want my medical. I just want to live a good quality of life. I came in here a little broken. I'm so much worse off now.
"I've lost the vison in my right eye. My skull is fractured. I've lost my teeth from getting punched in the face by prison staff. I've been stabbed. At one point, they repeatedly slammed my head in the door. I have blood clots that will never heal for rest of my life.
"Please, I am asking for the America people to call Judge Cobb and let her know they are aware that the government is continuing to do this to Ryan Samsel and that he has serious medical needs. And I thank every person who has contributed a dollar to my legal defense from the bottom of my heart. Your generosity and support strengthen my faith and ease some of the pain."
The Honorable Jia M. Cobb
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse
333 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001(202) 354-3560
Cobb_Chambers@dcd.uscourts.gov
U.S. Marshalls D.C.
202-772-0301
Samsel also noted that "Not a single January 6 organization that has spawned over the past three years has helped me with anything."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Joe Biden had to get a word in slamming President Donald Trump when it was announced that a multination prisoner swap had been engineered and that several Americans long held in Russia would be returning home.
It is Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Radio Free Europe journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. who were released by Russia.
Gershkovich and Whelan were the highest profile individuals involved, and Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in maximum security on claims of espionage, and Whelan had been detained since visiting Russia for a friend's wedding in 2018. He then was convicted of espionage, too.
Published reports noted it was one of the largest prison swaps involving the U.S. or Russia in years.
Altogether, 16 political prisoners and others were released from Russia, while eight Russians held in the U.S., Norway, Germany and other nations were returned.
Trump had commented after announcement that he would have been able to get the Americans freed without giving up anything, and a reporter asked Biden about that.
Biden, who recently was shoved under the bus by the Democrat party whose elites have selected Kamala Harris as his replacement on the 2024 ballot, responded to the question, "Why didn't he do it when he was president?"
But the answer took an awkward turn with a routine fact check.
It seems three of the four being returned to the United States were taken into custody after Trump left his first term as president.
A White House spokeswoman explained that Harris played "a critical role in this diplomacy at a number of key moments."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The Biden-Harris administration is being asked to explain why it has delivered nearly $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars to Hamas – in just the months since the terrorists in that Gaza-based organization invaded Israel and slaughtered some 1,200 civilians last Oct. 7.
It is researcher Robert Williams who has written at the Gatestone Institute that the subject is part of a lawsuit now pending in federal court, a lawsuit the administration has failed to get dismissed.
The case, from Rep. Ronny Jackson and victims of terror attacks in Israel, charges that Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken "knowingly and unlawfully" provided more than $1.5 billion in aid to Gaza and the West Bank since taking office.
The case explains Biden and Blinken have "known for years" that the U.S. aid is providing "material support" for Hamas' "tunnels, rockets, weapon procurement, and command and control infrastructure," among other terror structures.
A ruling from a federal court in Texas has rejected Biden's demands for it to be thrown out.
That ruling even noted there's evidence Biden continued to give tax money to UNRWA "even after Congress blocked funding to that group due to its support for Hamas' military infrastructure," the report said.
The case charges that Biden has delivered $896 million since the Oct. 7 massacre of innocents.
The report cites the atrocities perpetrated against Israelis: "On that day, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Iranian proxies that invaded southern Israel, carried out this act of war on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran. There, they brutally murdered 1,200 people, raped and mutilated women and children, burned children to death in front of their parents, and abducted more than 250 people into Gaza."
Further, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, working closely with Hezbollah, "have launched more than 19,000 rockets, missiles and attack-drones at Israel, a country smaller than New Jersey," the report said.
Biden's profligate spending included more than $674 million in "humanitarian aid" to Gaza through the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Then came another $100 million down that pipeline.
In addition, since October, the Biden administration has given $122 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which effectively functions as a branch of Hamas in Gaza, bringing the total of U.S. taxpayer funds donated to Gaza as a reward since the October 7 massacre on to $896 million, "or close to a billion dollars."
UNRWA workers also "actively participated in the October 7 attack," the report confirmed.
Donald Trump has called for an end to taxes on Social Security benefits.
The pitch - part of a broader push of tax relief for working class voters and seniors living on tight budgets - could complicate the efforts of Democrats to keep Trump out of the White House by fearmongering about his fiscal agenda.
"SENIORS SHOULD NOT PAY TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The Social Security tax was enacted by President Ronald Reagan to help keep Social Security solvent. Retirees pay taxes on up to 50% of their Social Security benefits, and up to 85% if their income is above $34,000.
As president, Trump flirted with ending the payroll tax that workers must pay to fund Social Security. But he has been generally supportive of the program, breaking with the GOP's traditional skepticism of it.
The party's 2024 platform includes an explicit pledge to leave Social Security and Medicare alone.
"President Trump has made absolutely clear that he will not cut one penny from Medicare or Social Security," it reads.
Seniors are particularly important voters in swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which will be heavily contested in November.
Trump has similarly called for an end to taxes on tips in a pitch to service workers struggling under inflation.
While Trump's proposal for Social Security would leave seniors with more cash in their wallets, it could also exacerbate the Social Security insolvency crisis. The trust fund is set to run out of money in the 2030s, at which point retirees would receive reduced benefits.
Without a solution, Social Security benefits will get automatically cut by 21% and Medicare Part A will get slashed by 11%.
Democrats have long accused Republicans of wanting to gut Social Security and upend the lives of seniors. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has doubled down on those attacks, picking up where Joe Biden left off when he ended his re-election bid.
Despite the partisan rhetoric, for the most part, entitlement reform has become a third rail that neither party wants to touch.
In the short term, Trump's proposal could help fend off accusations that he wants to end this popular program that millions of Americans rely on and spend their working lives paying into.
An entertaining yet enigmatic figure, that's how the peers of Barron Trump, the youngest offspring of former President Donald Trump, remember him at Oxbridge Academy, Breitbart reports.
Former classmates recall Barron Trump for his humor, sociability, and hidden depths despite his limited participation in traditional youthful pursuits.
In the elite West Palm Beach, Florida-based Oxbridge Academy where Barron studied, peers saw him as an outgoing and animated character.
A classmate said about him, “He would kindle the most unexpected conversations and could genuinely be entertaining.”
They associated him with mirth and inclusivity, which were attributes somewhat surprising given his infrequent social appearances.
There was an element of mystery surrounding Barron, as he rarely indulged in conventional school-age activities.
According to another peer, “He never attended football games or dances. I can't recall him ever meeting anyone outside of school or dating anyone.”
Notwithstanding his sociable persona, Barron was seen as an individual marching to the beat of his own drum.
Barron, whose presence at school was often escorted by rotating groups of Secret Service agents, adopted the pseudonym "Jack" while at Oxbridge Academy.
One of his classmates noted that when Barron arrived on the school grounds, which was typically around 8:30 a.m., the Secret Service “would already be present.”
Despite the security precautions, Barron actively participated in lunch sessions with his classmates, albeit his one quirk was reported to be his disinterest in partaking in meals.
In terms of his scholarly approach, Barron's education was a seamless blend of physical and virtual learning.
“Half his schoolwork was done online,” reflected a peer. His academic performance illustrates his remarkable ability to juggle between in-person and remote education.
Barron, while at Oxbridge, has had impressive achievements, notably, in the domain of aviation and science.
More than two weeks after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the FBI doesn't know how the attacker got his gun up on the roof.
FBI deputy director Paul Abbate told Congress Tuesday that the gunman lifted himself on the roof at 6:06 p.m., minutes before opening fire at 6:11 p.m.
When asked how the gun got on the roof, Abbate said the shooter may have kept it in a backpack, but the FBI isn't sure.
Abbate said the FBI has examined the gun and it would have been visible if placed in the backpack.
“It’s possible that he broke the rifle down, although we don’t have conclusive evidence of that, and took it out of the bag on the roof in those moments before and reassembled it there, that’s one of the theories we’re looking at and working on right now," Abbate said.
At a previous hearing, FBI director Christopher Wray said Crooks' rifle had a collapsible stock that may have made it easier to conceal.
Wray also caused outrage by suggesting Trump wasn't actually shot, a comment the FBI retracted.
Abbate continued to play cleanup for Wray's remark, saying there "never has been" any doubt Trump was hit with a bullet.
While the FBI still doesn't have a motive, Abbate said a social media account associated with the shooter made "anti-immigrant" and "anti-Semitic" postings in 2019 and 2020.
Abbate did not mention in his opening statement that the shooter had a different social media account with more recent posts. During questioning from Republican senator Marsha Blackburn (Tn.), Abbate admitted the gunman shared "differing views" on Gab in 2021.
The owner of Gab, Andrew Torba, has claimed that the posts include left-wing, pro-immigration, and pro-Biden messages.
"From what I've been told, that is accurate," Abbate said. "Though that's been publicly revealed through the CIO and other things, we're still working to certify and verify that that's his account. But it does have differing points of view, it would appear."
Meanwhile, the Secret Service is doubling down on blaming local police for failures of communication.
Local police spotted Crooks acting suspiciously and reported him to Secret Service 25 minutes before he pulled the trigger.
They lost track of Crooks for six minutes and did not see him on the roof until 6:08 p.m, Abbate said. Crooks was not seen with a gun until 30 seconds before the shooting when a local officer went on the roof.
The acting director of Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, said the agency did not know there was an active threat because of a lack of information from local law enforcement.
"Nothing about man on the roof, nothing about man with a gun. None of that information ever made it over our net," he said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A crowd at the conference for the National Association of Black Journalists on Wednesday gasped, and there even were cheers, when President Donald Trump scolded a rude reporter who attacked him with list of loaded statements.
See it:
The reporter, on stage with Trump, called his old comments the "elephant in the room."
Why should, ABC's Rachel Scott demanded, blacks trust Trump after he allegedly made "false" claims about rivals, used negative descriptors for liberal prosecutors and said black journalists were asking stupid and racist questions.
Trump, who sat listening quietly during the attack, responded: "Well, first of all, I don't think I've ever been asked a question so … in such a horrible manner."
There was a collective gasp, interspersed with guffaws and laughter, from the crowd.
He continued, "You don't even say, 'Hello. How are you?' Are you with ABC? Because I think they are a fake news network. A terrible network."
More laughter.
"I think it's disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the black population of this country. I've done so much for the black population of this country, including employment, including opportunity zones with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, which is one of the greatest programs ever for black workers and black entrepreneurs … ."
He cited his work for black colleges. They were "out of money, stone cold broke. I saved them. Gave them long term financing," he said.
He cited the introduction as "very rude" and pointed out that he'd been told his opponent also would be there, and she wasn't.
"You invited me under false pretenses," he explained.
Then he noted that while he has too much respect for the conference to be late, the interviewer was half an hour late.
He said such "hostile" questioning was "a disgrace."