ABC news Trump agrees to FBI interview for assassination attempt investigation
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00:00New reporting on the assassination attempt on former President Trump.
00:03Tonight, the former president agreeing to sit down now for what the FBI calls
00:06a victim interview. Here's Aaron Katursky.
00:10Tonight, former President Donald Trump agreeing to a victim interview with FBI investigators
00:14more than two weeks after the shooting that nearly took his life.
00:20The FBI tonight saying shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks carefully planned his attack using
00:24aliases to purchase firearms, ammunition and chemicals for the explosive devices found in his
00:29car. And tonight, ABC News obtaining text messages between local snipers on site who
00:36noticed the shooter lurking at 4.26 p.m., nearly two hours before he opened fire.
00:41One sniper writing, he knows you guys are up there, suggesting Crooks saw where the snipers were.
00:46By 5.14 p.m., those same snipers say they identified Crooks as suspicious,
00:51then saw him pull a range finder from his pocket. And tonight that team
00:54sitting down with us for an exclusive interview.
00:56He was looking up and down the building, just wandering around. I just seemed out of place.
01:01Sniper Greg Nickel took these images of the shooter.
01:04We had a text group between the local snipers that were on scene.
01:09I'd sent those pictures out to that group and advised them of what I noticed and what I'd seen.
01:15I then was text back. It said, call it into command. I then called it into our to the
01:20command via radio and they acknowledged. What do you think is transpiring once you
01:29send in what you've sent in? I assume that there would be somebody coming out to,
01:35you know, speak with this individual or, you know, find out what's going on.
01:39So how do you know if Greg's concerns about Crooks are being relayed properly?
01:45We don't. It's not clear whether
01:47the Secret Service received those warnings from where they were.
01:50The Beaver County SWAT team says they had no view of the roof.
01:54We use this ladder. Greg and I had a had a discussion.
01:56As soon as we got there, we kind of felt that those were the wrong locations.
02:00Could you ever tell anybody or call the Secret Service and say,
02:03I don't know if this is the best place for me?
02:06No, we had no contact with the Secret Service at all.
02:08We were supposed to get a face to face briefing with the Secret Service snipers
02:13whenever they arrived, and that never happened. So I think that that was probably a pivotal point
02:19where I started thinking things were wrong because that never happened.
02:23And we had no communication with the Secret Service.
02:25You had no communication with the Secret Service at all on that Saturday?
02:30No, not until after the shooting, I believe. Yeah.
02:32And by then? It was too late.
02:35The team told us they all failed because a former president was hurt and a man died.
02:39Tomorrow, David, the acting director of the U.S. Secret Service is due to testify before Congress.
02:44Tonight, we're told he is prepared to explain the communications his agents had
02:49and did not have with the sniper teams on the ground.
02:52David?
02:52Aaron Gutersky with the exclusive interview with local law enforcement and this
02:56apparent breakdown in communication with the Secret Service.
02:59Aaron, thank you.