Former Navy SEAL and found of Covenant Rescue Group Jared Hudson told "Rightside Radio" host Phil Williams he got a firsthand account of what happened leading up to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump over the weekend.
Hudson owns The Shooting Institute and is well-versed in counter-sniper operations. He said that after hearing from people who were there and fired at shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, he thinks what happened in those tense moments is more complicated than one might think.
“There's a lot of zealous people putting out a lot of stuff, but they don't have real knowledge on how it actually went down,” Hudson said.
A sniper who was on the scene told Hudson teams were looking for the shooter for an hour before shots were fired. However, they said they were unable to confirm there was a firearm at play.
“It was 100 degrees with 50% humidity,” Hudson said. “So, the mirage in the scope, you couldn't see a lot of what was going on. He looked like a little bird bouncing around on the roof in one area, he said. So, when they finally realized in some of the positions what they were looking at, you know, as they could be see movement they said, ‘OK, that's the guy.’ So, you know, obviously, they engaged when they did.”
After the counter-snipers picked up that the man was shooting, they engaged and took him down in less than 20 seconds, Hudson added.
Hudson said that, as a former counter-sniper, he doesn’t believe some of the rumors about the incident, such as the men being told to stand down. He said that would never happen because counter-snipers are given clearance to make decisions.
While the shooter was close to hitting Trump, Hudson said he didn’t think the shooter was highly trained but probably did have basic knowledge.
“You know, it is a hot roof, there's a lot of stuff going on,” Hudson said about the shooter’s moves. “I mean, he got pretty close. I'm just going to go ahead and say the sovereign grace of God protected Trump that evening.”
Hudson said he doesn’t want the man who lost his life, Corey Comperatore, and the others who were injured, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, to be forgotten. He also said Trump’s opponents “started the fire in the yard that ultimately burned the house down” by spreading dangerous rhetoric and focusing more on DEI policy than putting qualified individuals into important, life-saving positions.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email erica.thomas@1819news.com.
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