Among the best advice any writer can take is: “write what you know.” Properly applied, this axiom can keep writers of fiction from inventing semiautomatic, lever action revolvers, or writing female characters with the sensibilities of Hulk Hogan. Because police work was my military MOS and my first civilian career, I know a few things about investigations, such as what should happen, when and why. When those things don’t happen in the right order, or they don’t happen at all, it’s virtually always indicative of gross incompetence and/or a coverup.

Graphic: X Screenshot

Consider this list of bizarre realities in the pseudo-investigation of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump:  

*the Secret Service [SS] had no radio communications not only with the local police but also with the snipers

*most of the vital communications were made using texts over an overloaded cell phone network

To any competent investigator, this would be a screaming alarm, particularly since local law enforcement (LE) offered the SS not only compatible radios, but drones. The SS refused both. Was this institutional arrogance, gross incompetence or something more nefarious?

*There are no recordings of the Secret Service communications, although there are of the locals

*[Acting SS Director Ronald] Rowe's assertions about the responsibilities of the local snipers didn't actually come from the local snipers--it was just made up by the Secret Service (we would know much less were it not for the locals)

We would know almost nothing were it not for local LE and SS whistleblowers.

*the Secret Service command center was not co-located with the local police

This is another screaming alarm. At any SS event there are inevitably multiple local LE agencies, all with different radio frequencies. The only way for the SS to communicate in real time—or at all—with them is to establish a command post with local officers handling all those different radios, relaying important transmissions to the SS and vice versa. The SS deals with this issue every day. How can it be they ignored all institutional knowledge and experience for this single event, or do they ignore it all the time for every protectee and they’ve just been lucky so far? Is their DEI focus partially responsible?

*The investigators have YET to talk to the local police who were assisting the SS, including the snipers (after three weeks!)

This is another glaring alarm. Any competent investigation, any investigation aimed at uncovering every fact, would interview, in-depth, every officer—particularly snipers and spotters--from every involved agency as soon as possible after the incident. By this I mean within minutes or hours. Professional investigators know the passage of time dims memory, and getting recorded and written statements ASAP allows them to find inconsistencies that need resolution, and inconsistencies that could be part of a coverup. Unless, of course, the point of the investigation is to construct a coverup. The FBI sent 15 agents to investigate a NASCAR garage door pull "noose." Those guys were too busy for this investigation?

*Butler was the VERY FIRST TIME that the Secret Service provided snipers for a Trump rally this election cycle

What the h…?! This is a triple alarm. The SS doesn’t always need or deploy snipers. Should Dr. Jill attend an indoor Daughters of the American Revolution event of 200 or so, snipers would likely be unnecessary. I once supported the SS at an Al Gore visit to a local college. All events were indoors, and no snipers were present. But at outdoor Trump rallies of tens of thousands?

If one were a skeptical type, or merely had common sense, they might reasonably suspect SS snipers were present at this single Trump rally to ensure the assassin wasn’t available for questioning. The SS snipers would not even need to be in on any assassination plot. All that would be required was to handicap them in every way possible to ensure they couldn’t stop the assassin before he fired, but to make it certain to eliminate him afterward. 

No radio communications, no advance team threat assessment, leaving the perfect sniper’s nest unsecured, an insufficient number of SS and local sniper teams, none of which could speak with each other in real time, an insufficient number of SS protective agents, no recording of SS communications, the debilitating influence of DEI, and the list goes on and on. The icing on the cake is assigning the least credible federal LE agency—the FBI—to handle the investigation. They’re performing to expectations by making no regular press briefings on the progress of the investigation, likely because there is no progress other than covering up the facts.

So, I write what I know. In this case, I only wish I didn’t have to.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.