July 18, 2024 - Loomer Unleashed - Laura Loomer
09:40
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| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| Hey everybody, Laura Loomer here. | |
| I'm currently reporting from the RNC Convention and with me today is Mayor John David Longo, who is the mayor of Slippery Rock in Butler County, Pennsylvania, which is the location of the Trump rally in Pennsylvania where an assassin opened fire, tragically killing Fire Chief Cory Comparate, injuring two others and almost murdering President Donald Trump. | |
| So thank you so much for joining me today. | |
| Thank you for having me here. | |
| Yeah, so I wanted to interview you and kind of have you walk us through the events at the rally that day because it turned out to be a really exciting moment for you and your wife. | |
| You told me that you and your wife got to meet with President Trump and you had a really nice conversation with him and you actually opened up the programming for the rally. | |
| Yeah, so I came with my wife. | |
| It was about 11.30. | |
| It was a great day. | |
| We were shaking hands and hugging and kissing everyone. | |
| You know, there's a ton of camaraderie and fun in a Trump rally. | |
| It's almost like a rock concert. | |
| So we were enjoying that. | |
| On our way, I headed backstage to get ready for the pre-program. | |
| I came out. | |
| I was honored to give a speech and then lead the rally in the Pledge of Allegiance. | |
| And it was just a fantastic moment to listen, of course, to the other speakers. | |
| Everybody was pumped up and ready for the president. | |
| Shortly thereafter, they took my wife and I backstage in order to get ready to meet and have a conversation with President Trump. | |
| And we did just that. | |
| The President was gracious and he was kind. | |
| He even went so far as to say that he had listened to my speech in the air on the way. | |
| And I actually confirmed that that was true whenever I saw a picture of everybody watching it on Trump Force One. | |
| I realized he really had watched it. | |
| He confirmed it a second time whenever he came out on stage. | |
| And once again, he said, good job. | |
| So, again, I was feeling elated. | |
| Everybody was having a great time. | |
| What ends up happening, of course, as you all know, is that this lunatic decides to do violence against President Trump and the rally-goers. | |
| And being a speaker, I was seated with my wife and my family members, along with the other speakers, just to the right of President Trump, nearest the stage. | |
| If you were President Trump, you would have looked at your 3 o'clock and have seen me, Sean Parnell, and his wife, my wife, Dave McCormick, Congressman Muser, and Congressman Mike Kelly. | |
| We're all standing there supporting the President. | |
| There were reports that the shooter had been identified by law enforcement nearly 30 minutes before he opened fire. | |
| And as we know, President Trump had only been on stage for a short while before shots were fired. | |
| Did you see anybody panicked in the front row? | |
| Did you... | |
| I see people talking about a man with a gun or hear whispers of this because video footage that has been released shows that at least two minutes before the shots were fired, people were running frantically leaving the rally and screaming, there's a man with a rifle, there's a man with a rifle. | |
| Which means that law enforcement had over two minutes to neutralize this guy. | |
| Well, we found out it's over 30 minutes because they knew about him for over 30 minutes and Trump had only been on stage for about 20 minutes. | |
| Yeah. | |
| So let me say this. | |
| I spent most of my time that day backstage getting ready for the pre-program and then, of course, for the meet and greet right before. | |
| So I was toward the end of the line to meet President Trump. | |
| So I was only in my seat for maybe 10 minutes, 15 minutes before he came out to greet the crowd. | |
| So I didn't have a lot of time to observe anything around me and nor was I in a position to hear what was going on in the back rows. | |
| I just can't understand, of course, how that could have possibly been the case. | |
| How is it that we could let this happen? | |
| And I wish I had an answer. | |
| It seems to me that it's obvious that there was a gross negligence here, and I don't know that that even covers it, right? | |
| But it's just such an unfortunate And you told me that Corey was actually about 15 feet behind you. | |
| And so, unfortunately for you and your wife, you actually saw him dead on the ground with a bullet in his head. | |
| So, you know, at first I didn't see the shot. | |
| Just to be clear, I didn't see him get shot. | |
| It wasn't until I raised up from my position, shielding my wife, that I saw that Corey had been shot. | |
| And it was just an awful thing, of course. | |
| And my heart, I've got to have to say, my heart goes out to that family. | |
| I'm so sorry that he came with his family and friends looking to hear a message of inspiration and hope from President Trump and lost his life because of it. | |
| Have you spoken to his family since the shooting? | |
| No, no. | |
| And, you know, it would be an honor to speak with him. | |
| But right now, I think it's important that we all try to give them as much privacy as possible and allow them to grieve in what surely is most likely the hardest time in their lives. | |
| And a lot of people don't know this, but we were talking earlier and you actually tried to save Corey's life and then you realized that it was too late. | |
| No, so what actually happened was my wife was asking me to help. | |
| She noticed that Corey was shot, but unfortunately, it was too late. | |
| He was no longer with us, and that was a very serious injury that I'm not sure anybody could have survived, and it's just an awful scene. | |
| Awful. | |
| Are you going to be attending the public reception that is being held on Thursday in Pennsylvania? | |
| I know that the family just announced that there's going to be a public reception where people can pay their respects. | |
| And then I know that there's a private funeral on Friday. | |
| I will not be in attendance. | |
| Like I said, I want to give the family as much space as possible to grieve. | |
| But if they were to listen to this interview, I would hope that they understand that my prayers and the prayers of all of the Siparok community next door to them are with them and our thoughts are with Corey right now. | |
| And we saw reports yesterday. | |
| We saw a Facebook post from Helen, Corey's widow, that President Trump called her to express condolences and said that he's going to be calling her in the days and weeks ahead. | |
| We also learned today that President Trump will be attending the funeral at the end of this week for Corey. | |
| Do you plan on attending the funeral? | |
| No, ma'am. | |
| Again, I just want to make sure that I give them as much space to grieve as possible and make sure that the friends and family who are closest to Corey have the opportunity to spend time with their families so that they can comfort one another. | |
| And then lastly, we've seen that the Director of Secret Service, Kim Cheadle, is blaming local law enforcement instead of taking responsibility for this tragedy. | |
| And of course, we know that federal barriers and perimeters are the responsibility of the United States Secret Service when they're doing a presidential detail. | |
| How do you feel as the mayor of a town in Butler County? | |
| That the Secret Service director is blaming your local law enforcement. | |
| I saw yesterday that the district attorney, I believe it was, in Butler County said that she needs to stop blaming local law enforcement and take responsibility because it's the responsibility of Secret Service. | |
| Ultimately, I would agree that local law enforcement always defers to individuals in Secret Service, CIA, FBI, etc., especially with an event of that magnitude, that size with President Donald J. Trump. | |
| So I certainly don't appreciate local law enforcement bearing the brunt of the blame. | |
| I do think that individuals in this current administration right now really need to take a look at how it is that they played a part in this failure. | |
| And what does healing look like for Butler County going forward? | |
| What do you foresee in the near future or the coming weeks? | |
| Because I'm sure there's a lot of people who are going to be suffering from post-traumatic stress or ones that really sets in. | |
| Yeah, so I do know that they're holding a candlelight vigil for Corey, and so I would urge anybody who's in the area to please go and Google that to see information about how they can attend in that, and I think that's a great part of the healing process. | |
| Of course, folks are going to come together to celebrate his life, but in the coming days and weeks, I think it's important to remember, and I hope that folks remember that Butler County, although we're talking about it right now for this awful thing, has so much good going for it. | |
| And there was a lot of good that was shown that day. | |
| I mean, I saw so many people stepping up to help one another, folks who were injured, folks who were passing out from heatstroke and from the horror and the excitement of the moment. | |
| And so I think that it's important in order to To heal that we focus on those good things and to celebrate Corey's life and to continue to pray. | |
| That's what I would say. | |
| Just continue to pray. | |
| It's been a comfort to me to draw nearer to God in this moment when it's almost impossible to be consoled for something like this. | |
| Then who better than the Almighty to do that? | |
| And then lastly, I know it might be an inflammatory question, but given the information that's now coming out with counter snipers being inside the building while the shooter was on the roof, them identifying the shooter 30 minutes prior, which is prior to President Trump taking the stage, do you think that there needs to be an investigation as to whether or not this was an inside job, especially given the fact that the United States government has a history of assassinating U.S. presidents? | |
| Well, I'll say this. | |
| I mean, again, it was a gross negligence, so certainly I hope that all of the right people are asking the right questions and making sure that they're getting down to the bottom of understanding just how it is that we could have allowed for this to happen. | |
| Great. | |
| Well, thank you so much. | |
| Where do people follow you? | |
| So you can find me on X, Facebook, Instagram. | |
| Typically, if you type in Mayor, L-O-N-G-O, you'll be able to find me and hope to connect with you sometime in the near future. | |
| Well, we're very thankful that you and your wife are safe, and we thank you for your heroic actions and thinking of others in a time of tragedy and extreme danger. | |
| So thank you so much. | |
| Thank you for having me on, ma'am. |
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