I’ve thought about the ladder some more. I don’t believe a security pre-screen of the building would have missed it or left it in place. I expect it was placed there just before the time of the speech by someone. It would be something like 10-14 feet long in retracted configuration so would have been inside a building or a large truck/trailer. Security should have checked for unlocked doors on all such potential risks and eliminated them (install locks, or metal seal strips?).
My speculation is the dead shooter was set up to do this job. He may or may not have been the one who fired shots. Secret service snipers were focusing on the tree line and missed the rooftop threat which only came visible from their vantage at the last moment as he climbed into place. A real shooter was actually in the tree line and tasked to shoot the President. Rooftop shooter was to be the distraction/patsy. Real treeline shooter fired the near miss shot and maybe the others but not necessarily. Treeline shooter was to take out rooftop shooter if Secret Service snipers didn’t get him. This would create a neat little ‘lone wolf’ scenario.
So was there a third person who ‘managed’ the ladder? Had a key to a locked/secured building or trailer where it was stored, waited until after security screening was complete and police were clustered on the other side of the building to deploy the ladder? Did the rooftop shooter have a key to the location of the concealed ladder and go get it himself? I’ve heard nothing about the shooter transporting a ladder. Is his family stepladder missing? His departure from mom and dad’s house with dad’s rifle and stepladder one would think would have been noticed. The serendipity of him wandering onto the fairgrounds ‘cold’ with no scouting, just happening on the ladder in that spot and climbing up to do the deed seems as remotely unlikely some other high octane speculation on this thread.
I think another party placed the ladder for him to use. And another shooter was intended at least to be in the treeline (the place the trained Secret Service countersnipers thought was the biggest threat and were focused on). So yes…conspiring would be required for the above to occur.
Treeline sniper would have waited for rooftop (inexperienced marksman with poor rifle) to start shooting in the general direction of the podium to begin shooting himself to cover his location. At least two shots went off before the ‘ear’ clip shot. Trump did not react to the first pops, and remained a ‘good, clean’ target. So, the ear clip could have been a carefully aimed shot by a real pro from treeline hidden within a string of ‘bad’ shots from rooftop shooter.
The who of it: who (foreign government, deep state or US government) could have ‘groomed’ rooftop shooter to do this and set him up? Who had access to his social media / phone. Who taught rooftop shooter about phone encryption and why would he have done that if he had no conspirators to talk to? Who was his handler and when/where did they have opportunity to meet, handler assess his abilities and make a plan that was within abilities?
