Did U.S. Secret Service "top brass" refuse to give a sniper named Jonathan Willis permission to shoot the would-be assassin at the July 13, 2024, Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania -- as an anonymous post on 4chan claimed? No, that's not true: A statement from the U.S. Secret Service Communications and Media Relations Office called this claim categorically false. The agency added that there is no U.S. Secret Service employee by that name.
The claim appeared in an anonymous post made on the 4chan.org message board (archived here) on July 14, 2024. The post on the /pol/ Politically Incorrect forum was titled, "THEY WOULDN'T LET ME TAKE OUT THE SHOOTER" The post had a photo and the caption:
My name is Jonathan Willis, I'm the officer in the famous photo of the two snipers on the roof at Trump's rally. I came here to inform the public that I had the assassin in my sights for at least 3 minutes, but the head of the secret service refused to give the order to take out the perp. 100% the top brass prevented me from killing the assassin before he took the shots at president Trump.
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Image source: 4chan.org screenshot taken on Mon Jul 15 17:20:26 2024 UTC)
Included with the first post (pictured above) is an AP photo of two snipers positioned on a rooftop. This image has circulated widely in press reporting about the shootings at the Butler Trump rally. NPR.org here and Dailymail.co.uk here were among news organizations using the photo.
About 23 minutes after the first anonymous post on 4chan.org, the same user with the ID z9qiQ4hq, made another post (archived here). It said:
I didn't follow the orders though, as soon as the shooter opened on Trump I returned fire despite strict orders to not engage. I had eyes on the shooter for three minutes watching him fiddle with his rifle and adjust the scope, it was obvious he was a shooter yet I wasn't allowed to engage.
After I killed the shooter I was arrested, questioned by the FBI, and just released an hour ago. Already lost my job for not following orders, but I'm glad I took the shots anyway.
Lead Stories reached out to the media relations office of the U.S. Secret Service to ask about this 4chan post and the purported officer, Jonathan Willis. We received a reply on July 15, 2024, from Nate Herring, the agency's communication and media relations officer. He wrote:
This claim is categorically false. There is no U.S. Secret Service employee by that name.
Lead Stories has also reached out to the Butler County District Attorney's Office and the public information officer with the Pittsburgh FBI field office, and will update this article as appropriate if responses are received.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims springing from the assassination attempt on Donald J. Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024 can be found here.
