Butler County law enforcement set aside radios for the United States Secret Service so agents could use them during the July 13 campaign rally for former President Donald Trump, but the federal law enforcement agency did not retrieve those radios, according to a preliminary investigative report released Aug. 15 by U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La.

The six-page report features the Louisiana congressman’s observations following his Aug. 5 tour of the rally venue at the Butler Farm Show grounds in Connoquenessing Township, the AGR building and the surrounding area. He notes what he learned about radio communication that day, his unsuccessful attempt to view the gunman’s body, how the nearby water tower was cleared, and other details.

A Buffalo Township man, Corey Comperatore, was killed, two other men were critically injured, and Trump’s ear was grazed when a gunman fired eight shots during the Butler County rally. The gunman was killed by Secret Service agents.

“The USSS [United States Secret Service] did not retrieve the radios that had been set aside for them by Butler County tactical command,” Higgins said. “The radio comms were properly and perfectly arranged during the extensive pre-mission planning.”

Higgins said he learned on his tour that Butler County Emergency Services Unit commander Ed Lenz “personally reminded the USSS counter-sniper teams to pick up their assigned radios at the ESU Command Post” on July 12.

“It didn’t happen,” said Higgins, a member of the task force led by U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, which was assembled to investigate the July 13 assassination attempt of Trump.

In the Aug. 15 report, Higgins goes on to express his concern that the body of the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was released by the FBI for cremation 10 days after the shooting. He called this “disturbing,” adding “no one knew” this information until Aug. 5. Higgins also said the coroner’s report and autopsy report both are “late.”

“The problem with me not being able to examine the actual body is that I won’t know 100% if the coroner’s report and the autopsy report are accurate,” Higgins said. “We will actually never know. Yes, we’ll get the reports and pictures, etc., but I will not ever be able to say with certainty that those reports and pictures are accurate according to my own examination of the body.”

According to Higgins, a water tower near the venue was cleared by drone on the day of the event by Lenz, the ESU commander.

“Two local cops, non-ESU officers, were assigned to be parked in the water tower area as ‘response’ units for traffic issues or whatever,” Higgins said. “They did leave that post, but only in the hour prior to shooting.”

The congressman said he does not believe someone would have been on the water tower.

“If there had been someone on that tower on July 13, it would have to have been some top-shelf operator way beyond anything I’ve ever actually seen,” he said. “Regular SWAT operators or snipers would not have the skills and gear to quickly overcome the first 25 feet of no ladder and then climb the remaining 75 feet to the catwalk, and then climb the quite intimidating and precarious dome vent access ladder.”

He said he anticipates a return to Butler, where he will attempt to climb the water tower in the future.

Higgins said he also had reenacted Crooks’ climb onto the AGR building using an air conditioning unit. There was no ladder, he said.

He said the ESU and a representative for AGR were accommodating.

“It should be noted that my initial investigation on the ground in Butler was greatly assisted by the County Tactical team’s commander and the head investigator for the Butler County DA’s office,” Higgins said. “Those gentlemen had nothing to hide, and they were 100% accommodating despite my rather intense demands on their time and resources due to the compressed schedule I was working.”

Higgins examined every window, and noted one that has been questioned in videos online “does not open and has never opened.”

The report went on to indicate Higgins learned Aug. 5 that all eight casings from the shots fired by Crooks were recovered.

Crooks shot eight times before a Butler SWAT operator from the ground about 100 yards away from the AGR building fired once, maybe delaying Crooks, the congressman said.

“He stopped Crooks and importantly, I believe the shot damaged the buffer tube on Crooks’ AR,” Higgins said.

Crooks “popped” back up, at which point, Higgins believes, based on what he learned at the Farm Show grounds, that a fatal shot was fired from a counter-sniper team.

Higgins said his Aug. 15 report is preliminary.

He said he hopes it will promote discussion among task force members and encourage further investigation.

“Many questions and considerations remain, and our full investigation will require months of endeavor,” he said.

The next report, he said, will be more comprehensive and take a few weeks to produce because the “amount of raw data I have harvested/documented is vast.”