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A veteran whose team holds the world record for longest confirmed sniper kill claims Donald Trump's shooter 'had help' in his attempted assassination attempt.
Dallas Alexander, who spent 14 years in a sniper team for the Canadian military doing close protection for major world leaders including the Canadian prime minister, suggested in a video Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who opened fire at the former president's rally Saturday night, may have had help from the inside.
'I'm very familiar with the layout of these types of things and what the job should be, and yesterday what happened,' he said.
'I have no doubts in my mind that the shooter had help from somewhere within an agency, an organization or the government,'
Authorities are still investigating, but FBI has said it appears Crooks acted alone.
Crooks laid down on the roof of a building just 130 yards from where Trump was speaking before firing his AR-style rifle towards the stage.
Alexander says he should not have been able to get that close.
'The second I saw that aerial photo of what they said happened - it immediately made no sense to me,' he said.
'You cannot, in broad daylight, get onto a rooftop within, what looked like a couple hundred yards if that [of the president]. You can't get in that position with a gun when there's a president speaking.
'It cannot be done,' Alexander insisted.
'Like, you don't even have to be a sniper - it's the most f****** obvious thing, most obvious place in the whole world.
'You could be like a seventh-grader - like "What do we have to do for security?" Well, let's look at these rooftops that are almost within zeroing range of a rifle,' he joked.
'So something happened, and I'm not pointing fingers at anyone. It's just too obvious that this guy had help getting there.
'So whether it's someone turned a blind eye or it was strategically planned, it had to be planned to a certain level, because events like that, security like that, it's not a small thing - and that is an obvious place to be.'
A member of Alexander's JTF 2 sniper unit made the record shot in May 2017 using a McMillan TAC-50 rifle
The bullet traveled 2.2 miles, speeding through the air for nearly 10 seconds, before striking and killing an Islamic State terrorist as he left a building to enter a vehicle
Alexander suggested that gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks 'had help' in order to get within a few hundred feet of former President Donald Trump and set up his AR-style rifle
Authorities have said the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, laid down on the roof of a building just 130 yards from where Trump was speaking - in full view of his supporters as he fired towards the stage.
Alexander went on to say that he would find it 'very weird' that if 'someone is good enough to stalk within 200 yards of one of the hardest-to-stalk targets in the whole world,' they would not miss the shot.
'Like if you have the skill set to get in there, avoiding all these security, all different layers of security, then you will have the skillset to hit that first round,' he explained.
'It just doesn't make any sense.'
The bullet apparently intended for Trump on Saturday night whizzed by his right cheek, and struck his right ear.
'So my opinion is - and whether this comes out now or way later - is that this guy had help from somewhere, and I think that's obviously concerning,' Alexander said.
'I think it's going to be a while, it's all your going to see for the next little while,' he added.
'Anyway, just because I keep getting asked, that's my two cents.'
A member of Alexander's JTF 2 sniper unit made the record shot in May 2017 using a McMillan TAC-50 rifle.
The bullet traveled 2.2 miles, speeding through the air for nearly 10 seconds, before striking and killing an Islamic State terrorist as he left a building to enter a vehicle.
It is the longest recorded sniper kill in history, and the Canadian government revealed at the time that it had disrupted an imminent attack on Iraqi security forces.
Alexander said the gunman should not have been able to get that close to the former president
Both Democrats and Republicans are now demanding an investigation into the Secret Service's actions
Alexander's video comes as both Republicans and Democrats demand an urgent investigation into the Secret Service's response to the shooting.
Witnesses have said they warned cops about a man armed with an AR-style rifle climbing on top of a building.
He was also spotted and then watched by law enforcement at the Trump rally site because they sensed something wasn't right, according to reports. But then they lost sight of them before the carnage unfolded.
Some officials have since suggested that the Secret Service should have conducted routine checks to eliminate all potential threats.
In a damning statement on Saturday night, FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek also said it was 'surprising' Crooks managed to fire off so many shots before he was shot dead by agents.
There were also allegations that Trump's team asked for more protection on the campaign but was rebuffed.
The Secret Service has since denied those claims, but are still under immense scrutiny for what has been called an 'absolute failure'.
President Joe Biden, addressing Americans from the White House Sunday, promised an 'independent review' into what happened at the rally.
'I'm directing an independent review on national security [at] yesterday's rally to assess exactly what happened, and we'll share the results of that independent review with the American people as well,' Biden stated.
Rally-goers ducked for cover as Crooks opened fire from the nearby roof on Saturday
Former Secret Service agent Joseph LaSorsa also told DailyMail.com that protection needs to be upped for former presidents and Trump will now almost have the same protection as President Joe Biden.
He also explained why agents from the under fire agency may not have been able to see the gunman.
'Remember they’re observing 360 and you’re dealing with seconds. They’re monitoring maybe in that case it might have been 240 degrees.
'They’re looking at many areas and it only took seconds for that individual to get up there and luckily he was a 20 year old and not a superior marksman.
'Luckily for all of us as a country that he was only 20.'
He added: 'Had he not been taken out he would have been able to continue reshooting.
'The fact that there was a counter sniper team that took him out is quite fortuitous and very lucky for the country, because this could have been a thousand times worse.'
House Republicans now plan to bring Secret Service head Kimberly Cheatle for what is expected to be heated questioning on July 22, as lawmakers demand answers.
