The top 10 Crime and Justice Stories of the Year - #9 DONALD TRUMP - "TWO BULLETS, 1,500 PARDONS & THE MAN THEY COULDN'T KILL

0:03 Callarogu Shark Media. Good morning, I'm read Carter. Today is Monday, December fifteenth, twenty twenty five. We're counting down the top ten crime and justice stories of twenty twenty five. Yesterday Karen Reid Today number nine Donald Trump. Love him or hate him, and believe me? People feel strongly both ways. No one dominated crime headlines in twenty twenty five quite like the forty seventh president. Two assassination attempts, survived Secret Service in chaos, and on his first day back in office, he pardoned nearly one thousand, five hundred people convicted of storming the United States Capital. July thirteenth, twenty twenty four, Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally. Trump is showing a chart of border crossing numbers. When shots ring out, Bang bang, bang, eight shots to an AR fifteen style rifle fired from a rooftop one hundred thirty yards away. Trump grabs his ear, goes down behind the podium. Secret Service agents pile on top of him. When he stands back up, blood streaming down his face, he pumps his fist at the crowd.

1:15 Fight Fight, Fight the shooter. Thomas Matthew Crooks, twenty years old, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, shot and killed by Secret Service counter snipers twelve seconds after he started firing motive. The FBI investigated for sixteen months, interviewed over one thousand people, served more than one hundred subpoenas. Conclusion, they don't know crooks acted alone and his reasons. Died with him. But here's what didn't die. Corey Comparatore, fifty years old, volunteer firefighter, former fire chief of Buffalo Township at the rally with his wife and daughter. When the shots started, he threw himself on top of his family, shielded them with his body, took a bullet, died a hero. Two months later. September fifteenth, twenty twenty four, Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach.

2:09 Trump is playing golf. A Secret Service agent scanning ahead spots a face in the bushes, then a rifle barrel pointing through the fence. The agent fires four shots. The man in the bushes drops his weapon and runs. Ryan Wesley Routh, fifty eight years old at the time, had been hiding in the shrubbery for nearly twelve hours waiting for Trump to come into range. Never fired a shot. Arrested on I ninety five. Fleeing the scene, left behind a loaded SKS rifle, body armour plates, and a letter that read, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I am so sorry I failed you. September twenty twenty five, Routh convicted on all five federal charges attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, faces life in prison. Tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen after the verdict was read. Two attempts on one man's life in sixty three days. Then that man became president, and on January twentieth, twenty twenty five, his first day in office, he pardoned almost everyone convicted of January sixth. I'm reed, Carter, this is celebrity trials today, Donald Trump, the assassination attempts, the pardons, the man who never stopped making headlines number nine of ten. Let me paint you the picture. July thirteenth, twenty twenty four, Saturday evening, Butler Farm show Grounds in Conoquinessing Township, Pennsylvania, small town about thirty miles north of Pittsburgh,

3:42 thousands of people gathered for a Trump campaign rally. Hot summer day, American flags everywhere. Six h two pm. Trump takes the stage, starts speaking about immigration, pulls up a chart showing border crossing statistics six eleven PM. Nine minutes in to the speech, Trump turns to look at the chart. That's when Thomas Matthew Crooks, from a rooftop one hundred thirty yards away, opens fire eight shots in rapid succession, an AR fifteen style rifle his father had purchased legally in twenty thirteen and transferred to him. Crooks had practiced at a shooting range the day before, bought fifty rounds of ammunition and a ladder the morning of the rally.

4:24 One bullet grazed the upper part of Trump's right ear. He would have been dead if he hadn't turned his head to look at that chart. Millimeters that's what separated a wounded ear from an assassination. The Secret Service counter sniper team returned fire. Four seconds after Crooks started shooting. A Butler County Emergency Services officer shot at him and hit his rifle, stopping the attack. Eight seconds after that, Secret Service snipers put a bullet through his head. But Thomas Crooks wasn't the only casualty. Corey Comparatore fifty years old, engineer at a plastics manufacturing company, volunteer fire fighter for over twenty years, former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company. Lived in Sarver, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Helen, and their two daughters, Allison and Kaylee, both in their twenties.

5:12 The Compretori family was at the rally together. They'd been offered VIP seats in the front bleachers. Corey picked the spots himself. When the shooting started, Corey didn't hesitate. He yelled get down and threw himself on top of his wife and daughter, shielded them with his body. His daughter, Allison, was the one he landed on. I was confused for a minute, she later told ABC News. I was like, why does he feel so heavy? When I looked back, I saw him just laying on top of me. Limp. Corey Comparatore was shot and killed protecting his family. His last word was a command, get down. His wife, Helen, held his head as he died. I'll never forget Kaylee's screams, she said. She just continued to scream, and of course, holding his head. I knew he was already gone, but you just beg him to stay. Two other rally attendees were wounded. David Dutch fifty seven from New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaveer, seventy four from Moon Township both survived.

6:15 Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro called Corey Comparatore a hero. He dove on his family to protect them. Corey died a hero the way he lived. At the Republican National Convention five days later, Trump walked on stage to give his acceptance speech, his ear still bandaged. On stage with him Corey Comparatore's firefighter turnout coat and helmet a tribute to the man who died at his rally. But here's where this story gets infuriating. How did Thomas Crooks get on that roof? The building belonged to AGR International, a manufacturing company adjacent to the rally grounds. It was outside the Secret Service perimeter, but had a direct line of sight to the stage. Multiple local law enforcement officers reported seeing Crooks acting suspiciously as early as an hour before the shooting.

7:03 One officer took a photo of him radioated up the chain. Nothing happened. Rally attendees spotted crooks on the roof minutes before the shooting. They pointed, they shouted, They tried to alert police. Video from the scene shows people gesturing toward the rooftop while Trump continued speaking. A local police officer was hoisted up to check the roof. He made eye contact with Crooks, who was already aiming his rifle. Crooks pointed the gun at the officer. The officer lost his grip and fell eight feet to the ground. Seconds later, Crooks opened fire on Trump. How does this happen? How does a twenty year old with an ar fifteen get onto a roof overlooking the former president of the United States while people are literally pointing and yelling that there's a man with a gun. Your tax dollars at work?

7:50 Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheedle testified before Congress nine days later, called it the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades. But she couldn't answer basic questions. Wouldn't say how many agents were assigned to protect Trump, wouldn't explain who was responsible for securing that building, wouldn't provide a timeline. Bipartisan fury, Republicans and Democrats alike demanded her resignation. You're full of shit today, Congresswoman Nancy Mace told her during the hearing. The next day, July twenty third, Cheatle resigned, and what about Thomas Crooks? Who was he? Why did he do it? Twenty years old, recent graduate of Community College of Allegheny County with an associate's degree in engineering, had been planning to start at Robert Morris University in the fall, worked at a nursing home as a dietary aid.

8:44 No criminal record, no documented mental health diagnosis. Classmates described him as quiet but not threatening. The FBI spent sixteen months investigating. Four hundred and eighty five FBI employees worked the case. Over one thousand interviews conducted, more than two thousand tips, reviewed, search warrants executed, digital forensics performed on multiple devices. In November twenty twenty five, FBI Director Cash Patel announced the conclusion Thomas Crooks acted entirely alone and his motive remains unknown. They found his search history. How far was Oswald from Kennedy? He'd searched a week before the rally. He researched Trump's rallies and the Democratic National Convention.

9:29 He searched for the attempted assassination of the Slovakian prime minister, but nothing that explained why. No manifesto, no explanation. A twenty year old registered Republican who once donated fifteen dollars to a Democratic voter turnout group shot at the Republican presidential candidate and will never know why. Corey Comparatore was fifty years old, father of two, husband of nearly thirty years, firefighter, church goer, hero. Should be alive today, should be celebrating Christmas with his family. Instead, his widow wears a necklace with his fingerprint pressed into it. Rest in peace, Corey, someone has to say your name. We'll be right back with the second assassination attempt, Ryan Routh twelve hours in the bushes and the conviction that ended with a pen to the neck, The Florida attempt and Ruth's conviction ten minutes.

10:35 Welcome back to celebrity trials. I'm reed, Carter. Sixty three days after Thomas Crooks nearly killed Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, it almost happened again. September fifteenth, twenty twenty four, Sunday, Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump is playing a round of golf. Secret Service agents are stationed around the course, including agents patrolling one hole ahead of the former president. One thirty one pm, Secret Service agent Robert Ferkano is scanning the sixth hole green when he sees something that doesn't belong a face in the bushes, then a rifle barrel protruding through the fence. For Kano testified at trial that it looked like a textbook ambush scenario.

11:20 The rifle was pointing at him. He got off his golf cart, said hey, sir, thinking at first he might be encountering a homeless person. Then the gun barrel moved toward him. For Kano saw ballistic plates, body armor positioned on the fence. This wasn't a homeless person, this was a sniper's hide. For Kano, an ex marine and trained marksman, fired four shots at the man in the bushes. The man dropped his weapon and ran. That man was Ryan Wesley Ruth, fifty eight years old at the time. Originally from North Carolina, had moved to Hawaii a roofer by trade, a self styled mercenary who tried to recruit soldiers to fight in Ukraine after Rusha's invasion. Ruth had been hiding in the shrubbery since one fifty nine a m. That morning, nearly twelve hours, waiting for Trump to come within range.

12:10 Cell Phone records showed he'd been scoping out Trump's golf course and mar A Lago residents for weeks, dating back to August eighteenth. When Ferkano opened fire, Trump was on the fifth hole, about four hundred yards away. Ruth never got a shot off. He fled across the road, jumped into a black nissanic Sterra, and headed for I ninety five. A witness named Tommy McGee was driving to a furniture store when he saw a man running out of the woods into a black car. McGee took three photos and a video of the vehicle, then reported it to police. That evidence helped them track Routh down. Less than an hour later, Martin County Sheriff's deputies pulled Ruth over on I ninety five. He was arrested without incident. What they found at the scene a loaded s K S style rifle with a scope attached. The safety was off, a round was chambered, a magazine with nineteen additional rounds of ammunition, steel body armor plates, a go pro camera, attached to the fence, pointing toward where Trump would have been in Ruth's car, multiple cell phones, stolen license plates, directions to Miami International Airport, a list of flights to Mexico and Columbia leaving that afternoon, and evening notes with aliases. This wasn't a spontaneous act. This was a carefully planned assassination attempt with an escape route mapped out. And then there was the letter. Months before the attempt, Routh had dropped off a box at a witness's house. Inside was a

13:41 handwritten note addressed dear world. It read, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I am so sorry I failed you. He'd written his confession before he even tried. Ruth had a criminal record going back decades, over one hundred criminal counts before twenty twenty four, mostly receiving probation or parole. In two thousand and two, he'd barricaded himself inside his roofing business with a fully automatic machine gun after a traffic stop. Convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, still walked free. A travel nurse named Chelsea Walsh had met Ruth in Ukraine and warned the FBI about him in twenty twenty three, called him a threat to others and a ticking time bomb. She reported him to both the FBI and Interpol. Nothing happened. The trial began in September twenty twenty five in Fort Pierce, Florida, before US District Judge Aleen Cannon Routh made the bizarre choice to represent himself. The same woman who'd dismissed the classified document's case against Trump was now presiding over the trial of the man who'd tried to kill him. Federal prosecutors spent seven days presenting their case, thirty eight witnesses, hundreds of pieces of evidence, cell phone records tracking Ruth's movements, valence footage, DNA on the rifle and gloves, the letter confessing to the attempt before it happened. Ruth's defense lasted three hours. He called three witnesses, a firearms expert, and

15:12 two character witnesses who admitted they hadn't spoken to him in years. He didn't take the stand. In his closing argument, Ruth tried to argue that because he never fired a shot, no crime occurred. It's hard for me to believe that a crime occurred if the trigger was never pulled, he told the jury. The jury deliberated for two and a half hours. September twenty third, twenty twenty five, guilty on all five counts attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. When the verdict was read, Ruth showed no emotion. Then, according to courtroom witnesses, he grabbed a pen from his deaesque and tried to stab himself in the neck. His daughter screamed from the gallery, Dad, I love you, don't do anything.

16:08 I'll get you out. He didn't hurt anybody. US marshals tackled Ruth and dragged him out of the courtroom. He was placed on suicide watch at the Saint Lucy County Jail. Routh faces life in prison sentencing scheduled for December eighteenth. Trump posted on truth social after the verdict, this was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him. Two assassination attempts in sixty three days The first nearly succeeded a bullet to the ear, a hero firefighter dead. The second was stopped by an alert Secret Service agent who spotted a face in the bushes before Trump came into view. Make it make sense, two different men, two different methods, same target, and secret Service leadership in such chaos that the director had to resign. But here's the thing about Donald Trump. He didn't just survive twenty twenty four.

17:00 He won the election, and what he did on day one of his second term will be debated for decades. January twentieth, twenty twenty five, Inauguration Day, Donald Trump is sworn in as the forty seventh president of the United States. Hours later, he signs his first executive action, a proclamation granting pardons and commutation of sentences for certain offenses relating to the events at or near the United States Capital. On January sixth, two thousand, twenty one. In plain English, Trump pardoned nearly everyone convicted of storming the capital, approximately one thousand, five hundred people, full complete and unconditional pardons, plus commutations for fourteen others. We hope they come out tonight, Trump said at the signing ceremony. The fourteen commutations went to the most prominent January sixth figures. Stuart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, had been serving an eighteen year sentence for seditious conspiracy. A judge had called him an ongoing threat and peril to this country and to the very fabric of our democracy. Commuted to time served. Other Oathkeepers members Kelly Megs, Roberto Minuta, Proud Boys leaders Ethan Nordeen, Joseph Biggs, Jeremy Bertino, Dominic Pizzola, the first rioter to physically breach the Capitol building all released. Proud Boys leader

18:34 Enrique Tario, who'd been sentenced to twenty two years, the longest sentence of any January sixth defendant, received a full pardon. He wasn't even at the Capitol that day, but prosecutors proved he orchestrated the violence from afar. The pardons covered everyone people who peacefully entered the Capitol and left, people who assaulted police officers. More than six hundred defendants had been convicted of assaulting or obstructing law enforcement. One hundred seventy had used deadly weapons, all pardoned. One of the pardoned defendants had driven a stun gun into the neck of DC Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone. Finone suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury defending the Capital. When reporters asked Trump about pardoning someone who'd attacked a police officer, he said, well, I don't know, was it a pardon.

19:22 We're looking at commutes, we're looking at pardons. When told it was indeed a pardon, Trump added, Okay, We'll take a look at everything. Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilinoganell, who was injured in the attack and forced to retire, called it a miscarriage of justice, a betrayal, a mockery, and a desecration of the men and women that risked their lives defending our democracy. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, dismissing one January sixth case after the pardon, wrote that no pardon can whitewash the blood, feces and terror that the mob left in its wake, and it cannot repair the jagged breach in America's sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power. But here's where it gets even more complicated. NPR investigated the criminal histories of the pardon defendants found dozens with prior convictions for crimes including rape, sexual abuse of a minor, domestic violence, manslaughter, and drug trafficking. Matthew Huddle had been sentenced in twenty twenty three for entering the Capitol. He also had a prior conviction for beating his three year old son so severely the child couldn't sit properly for a week. Served two and a half years for that got pardoned by Trump for January sixth. Less than a week later, Huddle was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy during a traffic stop while in possession of a firearm and resisting arrest. Emily Hernandez pleaded guilty to entering the Capitol. Was seen holding Nancy Pelosi's broken name plate.

20:52 Got thirty days in federal prison. In twenty twenty two, nine days after receiving her pardon, she was sentenced to ten years in state prison for killing a woman in a drunk driving crash. The pardons kept coming throughout twenty twenty five. In November, Trump pardoned seventy seven people associated with the fake elector's plot to overturn the twenty twenty election, including his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Some pardoned defendants immediately showed their gratitude in concerning ways. Jacob Chancelly, the Quanon shaman who wore horns and face paint while storming the Senate Chamber, posted on x that his first act as a freeman would be to buy guns. Stuart Rhodes, the oath Keeper's leader, told reporters his actions on January sixth were justified, called for the prosecution of Capitol police officers who testified against him and the Justice Department lawyers who prosecuted him. Proud Boys leaders Biggs, Nordean, Rail, Pedzola, and Tario sued the federal government in June twenty twenty five, seeking one hundred million dollars for what they called egregious and systemic abuse of the legal system. Is this justice or is this the exact opposite of justice? Look, I'm not here to tell you how to feel about January sixth. People have strong opinions. Some see it as an insurrection that threatened American democracy. Others see it as a protest that got out of hand, prosecuted by a weaponized Justice Department. But

22:25 here's what I know. Police officers were beaten with flag poles, sprayed with chemical irritants. One officer was hit with a stun gun until he had a heart attack. Over one hundred and forty officers were injured, and the president pardoned almost everyone responsible. The same president who, when asked if it's ever acceptable to assault a police officer, answered no, make it make sense. That's number nine on our countdown of the top ten crime and justice stories of twenty twenty five Donald Trump. Two assassination attempts survived, one bullet that grazed his ear in Butler, Pennsylvania. One assassin who waited twelve hours in the bushes at his golf course but never got a shot off. One firefighter who died shielding his family. One Secret Service director who resigned in disgrace.

23:16 One FBI investigation that concluded the first shooter's motive will never be known. Then he became president, and on day one, he pardoned nearly one thousand, five hundred people convicted of crimes at the United States Capital, set them free, erased their convictions, including people who assaulted the police officers defending the building. Whether you think that's justice restored or justice destroyed depends entirely on who you are and what you believe, but no one can deny. It was one of the biggest crime and justice stories of twenty twenty five. Thomas Crooks is dead, Ryan Routh faces life in prison, Kimberly Cheatle is in private life, Stuart Rhodes and the Proud Boys leaders are free men. And Corey Comparatore is still gone.

24:02 He was fifty years old, firefighter for more than twenty years, church every Sunday, never missed his daughter's soccer games. His last word was get down, and he meant it. He died on top of his family so they wouldn't have to. His widow, Helen, wears his fingerprint around her neck. This year would have been their thirtieth wedding anniversary. Rest in peace, Corey. Someone has to say your name, I'm Reed Carter Tomorrow Number eight The Epstein Files. What we finally learned when those documents dropped. This is celebrity trials.