A Couple More Data Points Support Yesterday's Conspiracy Theories

Yesterday I raised two possible hypotheses that might explain the puzzling constellations of events that led a freelance whack job off the plane from Hawaii to find just the right spot at the golf course fence to set up a shot at Trump when nobody was supposed to know he was on the golf course at that time. The one I tend to favor is my own, that some deep state cabal knew of Trump's golf plans because they'd bugged Mar-a-Lago during the August 2022 raid -- in fact, its main aim was simply to gain access to the place, especially the office and conference areas, to plant the bugs, not to retrieve documents.

This tweet supports my theory:

Can I just point out again, yes again, that in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case; a case against Trump where the official position of the DOJ asserts a "vital national security interest;" there is almost virtually guaranteed to be a Title-1 FISA authorized warrant.... The… https://t.co/MsdO6CZc0S pic.twitter.com/ipoZpTTfsf

— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) September 19, 2024

The other hypothesis I mentioned yesterday is from Arizona Rep Eli Crane, that there's a mole in the Secret Service. Missouri Sen Josh Hawley raised questions on Jesse Watters's show last night that suggest there may have been a method to the weaponized incompetence the agency displayed at both Butler and the golf course:

Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley on Wednesday sent a letter to the Secret Service, demanding answers on allegations from a whistleblower about alleged "known vulnerabilities" at a golf course that led to a second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

. . . Hawley claimed in the letter to acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe that a Secret Service whistleblower, identified as an agent who has protected Trump at the golf course in the past, alleged that the agency failed to address "known vulnerabilities" at the golf course, including areas that offer a clear line of sight of people playing on the course.

"[T]he whistleblower alleges that it has been Secret Service protocol to 'post up' agents at these vulnerable spots when Trump visits the course," the senator wrote. "That apparently did not happen on September 15. Instead, the gunman was permitted to remain along or near the fence line for some 12 hours."

The senator also stated that it was unclear if the Secret Service used drones or did a sweep of the golf course perimeter before the former president visited on Sunday. He then asked whether the allegations were true, and questioned why the suspect was not spotted by security earlier. This story has more detail on the whistleblower allegations:

According to a whistleblower, protocol requires them to put agents at the areas of vulnerability that exist around the course. They normally put people there; they've done it many times before.

Yet they didn't this time, as the suspect lay in wait.

Hawley said the whistleblowers told him, "That's strange. That's out of protocol."

"It's not even clear Secret Service swept the perimeter before Trump took to the course," Hawley said. If they had, they likely would have found the suspect.

Hawley said this was a breach of protocol, and the whistleblowers want to know why this happened. "The Secret Service deserves to give us answers."

Think about that a moment. It's protocol to check the perimeter. It's protocol to put people at those vulnerable spots. They know about the vulnerable spots. Yet somehow, on this occasion where there's a suspect lying in wait, they throw all the protocol out the window? And the suspect somehow knew that Trump would be there, despite it not being on his schedule.

How do you have that on top of failing to secure a roof with a direct line of sight to Trump in Butler?

These data points, and the possible explanations for what lies behind them, aren't necessarily in conflict. If the FBI had Mar-a-Lago bugged and was able to get non-public information on Trump's movements, if there was a deep state cabal involving the FBI and the Secret Service, they could then have passed instructions on to their patsy Routh based on inside knowledge both of Trump's movements and the specific vulnerabilities of the golf course fence. Sen Hawley asks,

Secret Service is stonewalling: it’s been over 2 months since the Butler assassination attempt

Secret Service has yet to hand over docs. Why? pic.twitter.com/f3pZFy5PBN

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) September 19, 2024

This post at The Last Refuge adds,

The U.S. Secret Service gave congressional investigators a briefing on the Trump assassination attempt by Ryan Routh at Trump National in Florida. . . .

[Florida Rep] Mike Waltz repeats how the FBI are keeping all of the pertinent details surrounding the assassination attempt concealed from the investigating committee under the auspices of an ongoing investigation. Waltz is calling for transparency in both the Pennsylvania attempt and the Florida attempt; however, despite the USSS providing information, anything from the FBI is not being shared.

Let's back up for a moment. The most sophisticated investigative agency in the world knows who the perp is, and he's in custody. They have his phone, which means they can track where he's been. They have his texts and e-mails. Given his travel schedule and location tracing, they have tapes of every time he stopped to buy a burger, every time he passed a traffic camera. Normally, law enforcement would be saying a great deal more -- persons of interest, maybe additional arrests.

So far nothing.