Israel Attacks Airbase In Central Syria Known To House Russian Troops

 Following late night explosions being reported in the central Syrian region of Homs, state media SANA has subsequently confirmed that an Israeli airstrike has wounded at least four soldiers and caused "material losses" at the Shayrat Airbase.

The Israeli attack came from the direction of northern Lebanon. It has become common for Israeli jets to use undefended Lebanese airspace from which to attack targets inside Syria. Images showing a series of large explosions have circulated on social media.

Shayrat Airbase has long been well-known also as a base of Russian troop operations over several years. It remains unknown if Russians were present at the base when it was struck late Thursday night. Some Israeli sources have said ammo storage depots were hit, or else 'Iranian assets' were targeted - as is the usual refrain after such operations.

The airfield is the same base bombed by then President Trump in April of 2017:

The US launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from its warships in the eastern Mediterranean early Friday, taking aim at the Syrian airbase it believes houses the aircraft that carried out the attack.

But it’s not just Syria that uses the Shayrat airfield – Russia, its key ally, has forces based there too.

Elsewhere in Syria, pro-Damascus Arab tribes in the east are seeking to drive out American occupying forces in the vicinity of Syria's oil and gas sites.

Turkish media reported at least nine separate clashes between Syrian Arab militants and US-backed Kurdish groups. "A warplane belonging to the international coalition led by the US made a low flight above the Deir ez-Zor countryside," Anadolu Agency said. One regional report has said the Syrian national army is involved in the fighting:

Syrian army troops shelled positions of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Thursday, responding to attacks from the Kurdish militia on its territory in the countryside of the eastern governorate of Deir Ezzor. 

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) shelled SDF positions in Al-Busayrah city and the towns of Al-Sabha, Bariha, Jadid Bakara, and Al-Dahla in Deir Ezzor’s eastern countryside, Al Mayadeen reported on Thursday. 

The SDF’s media center announced on August 8 that its militants targeted the Syrian army and allied forces in the Al-Zubari and Sa’lu villages of the Deir Ezzor countryside with artillery and mortar shells. 

Beirut-based The Cradle additionally reports that "A coalition of Syrian Arab tribes, dubbed the Army of Tribes, seized several towns from the SDF in the countryside of eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor governorate on 7 August."

In the evening hours of Thursday there have been unconfirmed reports of a fresh attack against American forces located at the Rumalyn Landing Zone in Northeastern Syria.

All of this is happening against the backdrop of continued fierce fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in southern Lebanon, a situation which threatens to escalate further...

Very likely, the Syria situation will continue to unravel rapidly in the event of a major clash between Israel and Iran (and its proxies). Some 1,000 US troops (and likely many more contractors) continue to occupy northeast Syria, and we could be witnessing the beginning of the end of the Pentagon's occupation of sovereign Syrian territory.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-strikes-airbase-central-syria-known-house-russian-troops

Harris Campaign Said Walz ‘Chaired Veterans Affairs.’ He Did Not

 As Republicans began scrutinizing the military record of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Harris campaign released a statement supporting the vice-presidential nominee, in part, by pointing to his time in Congress and claiming that “he chaired Veterans Affairs.”

While the former congressman spent over a decade in the House, serving on Veterans Affairs and eventually rising to become the ranking member of that committee, at no time was he ever the chairman.

Vice President Kamala Harris correctly characterized Walz’s time in Congress when introducing her running mate in Philadelphia, calling him “the top Democrat on the Veterans Committee.”

It was her campaign, however, that erred.

The statement in question reads, “after 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired Veterans Affairs and was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform — and as Vice President of the United States he will continue to be a relentless champion for our veterans and military families.”

It was printed in RealClearPolitics, NBC News, and numerous other outlets, further raising the ire of Republicans who already claim that Walz has misrepresented his record. A Harris aide told RCP Thursday morning that the error “was an innocent mistake” made by staff.

“Governor Walz was ranking member/top Democrat on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs,” a spokesman for the Harris campaign said, for the 115th Congress between 2017 and 2018.

A spokesman for Illinois Republican Rep. Mike Bost, current chairman of the committee, told RCP the same, saying that “Rep. Walz was only ever ranking member and he served in that role from 2017-2019.”

“When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, do you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him – a fact that he’s been criticized for aggressively by a lot of the people that he served with,” said GOP vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance. A Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, Vance added, “I think it’s shameful to prepare your unit to go to Iraq, to make a promise that you’re going to follow through, and then to drop out right before you actually have to go.”

It was a reference to the fact that Walz retired from the National Guard in 2005, ending a 24-year career before his unit, the National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery, deployed to Iraq.

Walz eventually reached the rank of a command sergeant major, the most senior enlisted noncommissioned officer in a battalion and represented himself previously as “the highest-ranking enlisted service member ever to serve in Congress.”

As Army Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, public affairs officer for the Minnesota National Guard, told NBC News, however, Walz “culminated his career serving as the command sergeant major for the battalion” and “retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.”

Another discrepancy: In a video clip promoted by the Harris campaign, Walz called for gun control on the grounds that “we can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war.” The candidate did not, however, ever serve in a war zone.

A spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign did not dispute that the governor may have overstated his case when claiming he carried a weapon in combat. “In his 24 years of service, the governor carried, fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times. Gov. Walz would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country – in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country,” the campaign said in a statement to RCP on Wednesday. “It’s the American way.”

Philip Wegmann is White House correspondent for RealClearPolitics.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/08/08/harris_campaign_said_walz_chaired_veterans_affairs_he_did_not__151420.html

Warren, King, Doggett urge admin to use ‘march-in rights’ to counter high drug prices

 A trio of lawmakers who caucus as Democrats are calling on the Biden administration to bolster and finalize a federal rule utilizing the government’s legal authority to seize taxpayer-funded patents in order to combat the high price of drugs, despite Republicans arguing recent Supreme Court rulings supersede such powers.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Sens. Angus King (I-Maine) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) signed a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo urging them to quickly finalize guidance on exercising federal “march-in rights.”

The Biden administration last year rolled out a framework for wielding its march-in rights granted by the the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. March-in rights have never been exercised before, but the administration warned last year that it would make use of these authorities if drug companies don’t sell their products at a reasonable price.

“We write to urge you to carry out Congress’ will as specified in the Bayh-Dole Act by strengthening and quickly finalizing the Draft Interagency Guidance Framework for Considering the Exercise of March-In Rights,” the lawmakers wrote. “Specifically, we urge you to follow the text and the legislative history of the statute, which clearly authorize expert federal agencies to consider price as a factor in determining whether a subject invention is available to the public on reasonable terms.

Under Bayh-Dole, the federal government has certain rights on any products produced through a public-private partnership using federal funding. The corresponding federal agency that provided the funding for such a product has the right to compel companies to provide a “nonexclusive, partially exclusive, or exclusive” license to a “responsible applicant.”

If the company refuses, then the government can grant the license itself.

After the Supreme Court struck down the Chevron doctrine in June, however, Republicans have argued for the authority of federal agencies to be reexamined and reapportioned. Chevron was established by a Supreme Court ruling in 1984, providing federal agencies with the latitude to interpret ambiguous legislation and holding that federal courts should defer to these agency interpretations.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, wrote to Becerra shortly after this ruling to challenge some of HHS’s interpretations, including its approach to march-in rights.

“HHS has been an active participant in an interagency working group led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology that seeks to reinterpret the Bayh-Dole Act’s criteria for the use of march-in rights to apply to drug prices,” Cassidy wrote, citing this as “another egregious example” of “unfettered agency power.”

Warren, King and Doggett argued Republicans are attempting to “radically and incorrectly broaden the scope” of the Supreme Court ruling. They noted the court’s ruling acknowledged that a statute’s unambiguous “meaning may well be that the agency is authorized to exercise a degree of discretion.”

“The Bayh-Dole Act is replete with clear and lawful delegations of regulatory authority. Specifically, this statute delegates discretionary authority to your agencies to ‘march in’ and reclaim a patent covered by the Act, to set reclamation procedures through regulation, and to determine whether the statutory criteria apply to a specific scenario,” they wrote.

According to the Bayh-Dole Act, a federal agency can issue its own license of a taxpayer-funded product if four criteria are met: the current exclusive licensee has not or is not expected to make “practical application” of the invention, it’s necessary in order to “alleviate health or safety needs,” doing so is needed to meet “requirements for public use” under federal regulations and the product is not being “manufactured substantially” in the U.S.

The Democratic lawmakers wrote to Becerra and Raimondo that their agencies retained the authority to relicense a drug patent if the drug is “not available to the public on reasonable terms.”

“We urge you not to be deterred by congressional Republicans who are seeking to hamstring your authority to lower drug costs for Americans and we are reiterating the need for your agencies to immediately strengthen and finalize the proposed guidance issued under this statute so that Americans may receive the benefits that Congress intended,” they wrote.

The Hill has reached out to HHS and the Commerce Department for a response.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4818596-warren-king-doggett-high-drug-prices/

'Biden must use force, not just diplomacy, if he wants to rescue our hostages in Gaza'

 Israel’s killings of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh inside Iran and of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Lebanon have raised the risk of full-scale war in the Middle East and complicated the negotiations between Israel and Hamas for peace in Gaza. 

While Secretary of State Antony Blinken commented on July 19 that talks with Hamas to release U.S. hostages are “inside the 10-yard line,” the prospects for their quick release suddenly seem less likely. It’s time for the U.S. to stop waiting on a diplomatic outcome to get Americans home and look to Israel for what to do.

Even as it has engaged in diplomacy to get its citizens back, Israel has never shied away from launching raids to rescue its people. 

On June 8, Israeli troops entered the Nuseirat area of Gaza to free four hostages. This high-risk operation exacted a heavy human toll of about 100 people dead, according to the Israelis (no distinction between combatants and civilians was made). But Israel achieved its goal: getting its people back.

There are many potential reasons why the Biden administration hasn’t launched similar operations to rescue the five American hostages who remain alive in Hamas’s hands. Perhaps it doesn’t know where the hostages are or doesn’t want to risk them being executed during a raid. Perhaps these are justifiable reasons for standing down. Either way, we have seen no American forces on the ground.  

If the Biden administration is holding back on a raid because it doesn’t want American special forces personnel engaging in gun battles in Gaza, or because it wants to avoid losing the support of pro-Palestinian American voters in the event of civilian casualties, then it is putting politics ahead of American lives.

American servicemembers are more than equipped to pull off a rescue. In the wake of the failed mission to rescue Americans held hostage by Iran in 1980, U.S. Special Operations teams were rebuilt to achieve what President Jimmy Carter’s aborted raid could not. 

Today, U.S. special operators have a strong track record of successfully infiltrating hostile environments to rescue hostages. Those averse to an American military presence inside Gaza must remember that a single, surgical raid is not the same thing as a protracted U.S. military presence.

The Biden administration has reverted to a philosophy of hostage rescues that sees a military operation as a last resort. This approach cedes the upper hand to hostage takers, who feel emboldened to capture Americans with little fear of paying for it with their lives. 

In the Trump administration, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (and later National Security Advisor) Robert O’Brien regularly adopted the opposite approach, prioritizing military options to free hostages instead of just diplomatic ones. 

The embrace of the military option under President Trump helped bring unjustly detained Americans home without concessions — recall, for example, the U.S. Navy SEAL rescue of American Philip Walton from captivity in Nigeria in 2020. Successful operations using Emirati and French forces on the ground that freed U.S. citizens were also authorized. 

But, as O’Brien knew, the military option’s greatest value is in its power to deter terrorists and criminals from taking hostages in the first place. Had Yahya Sinwar and the rest of Hamas’s leadership known that America would have rained down fire on them had even one single American been killed or taken captive, perhaps the Oct. 7 assault would not have happened at all.

Last week, the Biden administration got a look at risk-tolerant leadership when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress. 

Netanyahu himself has engaged in talks with Hamas to reach a deal that would entail freeing the captured Americans. At the same time, he has withstood enormous pressure from Israeli and American politicians to stop the armed Israeli excision of Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu’s critics fail to appreciate that Israel’s ongoing military campaign is helping force Hamas toward a deal that includes the return of American hostages.

In that light, the snub of Netanyahu’s speech by Vice President Kamala Harris and a significant number of Democrats looks even more disrespectful. By the grace of God, the five Americans currently languishing in Hamas dungeons will be home soon. But the Biden administration — beholden to a posture of weakness — will deserve little credit for their return.  

Adam Boehler is the former CEO of the International Development Finance Corporation. He was part of the team that negotiated the Abraham Accords and negotiated with the Taliban several times. 

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4816552-israel-hamas-hostages-rescue/

DOJ says Hunter Biden work with Romanian businessmen designed to skirt US law

 Special counsel David Weiss accused Hunter Biden of working for a Romanian businessman in an arrangement designed to skirt U.S. laws on foreign lobbying and avoid any “political ramifications” for his father.

The allegation — one GOP lawmakers have long fixated on — comes as part of a broader battle by Biden to bar prosecutors in the case over his alleged failure to pay taxes from using evidence detailing his work for Gabriel Popoviciu.

That Biden had worked with Popoviciu has been publicly reported for years, but the details of the arrangement as described in the Justice Department’s filing on Wednesday provided new insight into the alleged arrangement — including an allegation that the deal was structured to avoid the filings required under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Biden has not been charged with violating FARA in the broader tax case, much to the chagrin of GOP lawmakers who have argued his work for numerous foreign entities amounted to lobbying. 

And prosecutors in the filing do not assert that Biden violated the foreign lobbying law. Rather, they argue the details of the deal show Biden’s “state of mind and intent during the relevant tax years charged in the indictment.”

The filing says Biden and an unnamed business associate arranged for Popoviciu to pay the business partner’s entity, who “would pass approximately 1/3 to the defendant as his compensation.” 

All this was done, Weiss said, because “Business Associate 1 and the defendant were concerned that lobbying work might cause political ramifications for the defendant’s father.” 

The goal for Popoviciu was “to attempt to influence U.S. government agencies to investigate the Romanian investigation” into him, paying Biden and his associate more than $3 million to do so.

The filing also includes another detail also aligned with Republican complaints about Biden’s work, attacking his deal with Chinese energy company CEFC and Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

“The evidence will show the defendant performed almost no work in exchange for the millions of dollars he received from these entities,” the filing states.

The DOJ filing, though, does not implicate President Biden in any of Hunter Biden’s activities.

But House Republicans, who have opened an impeachment inquiry into President Biden over his family’s foreign business dealings, responded to the filing by touting their longtime probes into alleged “influence peddling,” with a focus on Hunter Biden.

The House Judiciary Committee responded with a two-word post on the social platform X: “Told ya.”

“The Biden family’s influence peddling schemes in Romania were documented in @GOPoversight’s bank records memorandum in May 2023,” House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) posted on X in response to the filing.

“Bank records don’t lie. The mainstream media took their marching orders from the Biden White House & turned a blind eye to public corruption,” Comer said.

In a memorandum on Biden family bank records released last year, the House Oversight Republicans detailed funds transferred between Romanian sources and Biden family members and business associates, raising concern about the arrangement occurring as then-Vice President Biden advocated for anti-corruption policies in Romania. The committee said it was “investigating Hunter Biden and his business associates’ engagement with U.S. government officials on behalf of Popoviciu.”

The House Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees interviewed Rob Walker, a Hunter Biden business associate who worked with Biden and Popoviciu, in January. 

Popoviciu, described in court records only as “G.P.” was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2017 after being convicted of real estate fraud, but that judgment was vacated by a Romanian court last year.

Hunter Biden has filed a series of motions seeking to block evidence he sees as unrelated to a case focused on his failure to pay taxes, arguing they have at best “marginal” value and risk biasing the jury.

“The defendant did receive compensation from a foreign principal to attempt to influence U.S. policy and public opinion, as alleged in the indictment, and this evidence is relevant,” Weiss wrote.

Biden has also sought to block Weiss from using evidence related to what the prosecutor has deemed his “extravagant lifestyle.”

The indictment filed late last year was notable in its heavy focus on details about Hunter Biden’s personal life, not shying away from details about his drug use or hiring of escorts, both of which President Biden has acknowledged in his memoir.

“Evidence showing the extent of the defendant’s self-indulgent daily spending on opulent, gratuitous expenditures would greatly help the jury understand his motive to commit the tax crimes charged in the indictment,” Weiss wrote.

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4818240-hunter-biden-doj-romanian-businessman-fara/

'Pentagon says Ukraine’s attack into Russia is not escalatory'

 The Defense Department on Thursday said Ukraine’s attack into a region of Russia this week is not escalatory and is consistent with U.S. policy.

Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters that Ukraine is “taking action to protect themselves” in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops entered Tuesday night and are continuing to fight, putting enormous pressure on Russia.

“We have supported Ukraine from the very beginning to defend themselves against attacks that are coming across the border and for the need for crossfires,” she said.

The U.S. has a policy of allowing Ukraine to makes strikes in Russia with American-made weapons as long as it is related to a cross-border attack from Russian forces, and Singh said the Kursk attack, even though it involves troops instead of missiles or drones, is consistent with that policy.

“We don’t support long-range attacks into Russia,” she said. “These are more for crossfire [and …] they are aware of U.S. policy and what we are supportive of.”

Ukraine has not attacked directly inside of Russia before with troops, though Kyiv-allied anti-Kremlin Russian fighters have mounted attacks on Russian regions before.

Ukraine has pressed at least 6 miles into Kursk, which neighbors the northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy, taking several settlements and capturing dozens of Russian border guards.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it has repelled most of the attacks but that fighting is ongoing, while Russian military bloggers wrote that Ukraine had captured a gas measuring station and were surrounding the city of Sudzha.

Ukrainian officials have not commented on the attacks. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday night it was important to keep the pressure on Russia, while his adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said in a cryptic post on the social platform X that the “mythical Russian brutality and boundlessness has turned against Russia itself.”

A United Nations spokesperson said Thursday the Kursk attack was a “real concern” and called for the protection of civilians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called it a “major provocation,” met with key government officials Wednesday and ordered his troops to counter the Ukrainian advance.

Putin has repeatedly threatened to escalate the war in response to Ukrainian attacks inside of Russia, and has used nuclear weapons as part of those threats.

But Singh said Ukraine is “going to do everything it can to continue to take back its sovereign territory.”

“We don’t feel like this is escalatory,” she said. “Ukraine is doing what it needs to do to be successful on the battlefield.”

She added that Ukraine has been able to push Russian forces further back into Russia but that it was vital for Kyiv to defend against border attacks.

“As they see attacks coming across the border, they have to be able to have the capabilities to respond,” she said.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4819331-ukraine-attack-russia-not-escalatory/

Butler Cop On Bodycam Says Told Secret Service To Cover Warehouse Used By Shooter, They Agreed

 Bodycam footage from local Pennsylvania police reveal that in the moments after last month's attempted assassination of Donald Trump, an officer says he told the Secret Service to cover the warehouse used by shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks.

The new bodycamera footage was released by the Butler County Police Department, showing the officer who confronted the shooter. (Butler County Police Department)

"I f—ing told them that they needed to post guys f—ing over here…I told them that f—ing Tuesday," said a Butler Township officer in audio captured by his body-worn camera and obtained by the Wall Street Journal.

"I talked to the Secret Service guys. They’re like, ‘Yeah, no problem. We’re going to post guys over here,'" the officer continues.

The footage paints a more complete picture of the anger and frustration moments after Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to fire eight shots at the former president from an AR-style assault rifle. A spectator was killed, two others were injured, and Trump suffered a bullet wound to the ear. The Journal obtained the videos under a public-records request Thursday.

A police officer in one of the videos at one point refers to a suspicious individual who had been lost by authorities. The unidentified officer referred to “a gentleman with a flat face that we were looking for earlier. He was creeping people out.” 

The officer's account, which was broadcast over radio channels, was captured by one of the body cameras. "He was watching people out in the woods by the water tower. I’m not sure he is the gentleman down or not," the officer says.

Around 10 minutes after the shooting, another officer says to a fellow officer "I thought you guys were on the roof. I thought it was you. I thought it was you."

To which "No" can be heard in response.

"What the fuck! Why were we not on the roof? Why weren't we?" the officer replies.

As the Epoch Times notes further, the footage also shows the moment an officer with the Butler Township Police Department tried to get on the roof of a building where suspected gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks was perched. Another officer helped lift the responding officer to the roof after rally attendees alerted police that there was an individual on the roof near the rally where Trump was set to speak.

In the clip, an officer is seen moving toward a building before another officer tries to hoist him onto the roof. The officer is then seen trying to climb onto the building before he drops down.

Only officers’ hands are seen as he tries to get onto the roof in the video, which does not show Crooks.

Butler Township Police Department Lt. Matthew Pearson last month told a local Pennsylvania news outlet that the officer was not able to draw his firearm because he was holding onto the building. And Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe told the New York Post last month that the officers who interrupted Crooks may have distracted the shooter before he shot at the former president, hitting him in the ear.

“If I’m interrupted, and I move my gun, you are going to have to reassess that whole situation at this point, so yes, you can make a case that those two officers saved the president’s life,” Slupe told the paper.

He then asked, “Can you imagine 10 seconds before that? That the president was looking straight ahead and where that bullet could have potentially landed.”

More than three weeks after the assassination attempt, federal officials have not disclosed the Crooks’s motive. So far, few details have emerged about the suspect, and his family has not issued a public statement responding to the incident.

The Epoch Times has contacted the Butler Township Police Department for comment.

Previous Footage Released

Separate bodycam footage from a responding official was released in connection to the July 13 shooting, which killed a rally attendee and injured two others. In late July, Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) office released rooftop bodycam footage of an officer who responded to the shooting—after Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper.

It shows an officer with the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit standing next to a dark-suited man, who appears to be a Secret Service agent, according to a press release from Grassley’s office.

In the clip, at least three other law enforcement officials can be seen, although it is not clear exactly how many were present on the roof when the footage was filmed.

On the ground next to them appears to be the body of Crooks. Although the shooter’s body has been partially blurred in the video, a long trail of blood on the roof can be seen.

The Beaver County officer and the purported Secret Service agent can be heard discussing the timeline of events they believe led up to the assassination attempt, including whether the man lying on the ground next to them is the same man seen in a photo sent out by a member of Beaver County’s sniper team.

“So, this is the guy … that the sniper saw,” the agent says.

“Yes, a Beaver County sniper seen [sic] and sent the pictures out, this is him,” the officer replies.

The Secret Service agent then asks whether or not an abandoned bike that was found in the area belonged to the shooter.

“We don’t know,” the officer responds.

The Beaver County officer then shows the agent photos on his phone.

“I don’t know if you got the same ones I did?” the officer asks the agent, referring to the photos.

“I think I did, yeah, he’s [the shooter] got his glasses on,” the agent replies.

Two days later, Grassley released additional bodycam footage “filmed in the hour following the attempted assassination,” also obtained from the Beaver County emergency department.

That footage shows law enforcement talking about a need to use a drone to secure and inspect a water tower that was onsite, according to his office.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/i-fking-told-them-enraged-butler-cop-bodycam-says-he-told-secret-service-cover-warehouse