The shocking account of Alvin Vogel, a longtime board member of the Butler Farm Show, raises new questions about the government’s handling of the assassination attempt on President Trump.
Vogel described what he called a scene of “utter confusion” in the weeks before the shooting, with federal agents preparing the grounds but failing to secure the area where the gunman later climbed onto a rooftop just 100 yards from the President.
“Two weeks before, the FBI came in, we had to get everything out of all the buildings and put it in one building,” Vogel recalled. “Then they put their own lock on it so nobody could get in.” Despite the heavy federal presence, he said, “The way the guys were running around, chickens with their heads cut off, they didn’t know what they were doing. I told my wife, ‘there’s going to be trouble up there.’”
Before the bullets started flying, Vogel said multiple warnings were ignored. “Everybody was hollering, ‘Guy on the roof, guy’s got a gun,’” he said. “But the sniper had him in his sights and the woman from the FBI said, ‘Don’t do a thing.’ Then when the president was hit, they said, ‘Okay, shoot him.’”
Local skepticism has deepened amid what residents view as government coverup. Vogel questioned why the shooter was cremated within days, saying, “His parents didn’t even get a chance to have anything for him.” He added, “That’s the reason I think there were other people involved.”
Months later, Vogel said the Farm Show grounds remain a grim attraction. “We still have people coming in, from China, from Germany, from Australia—just to see where it happened,” he said. “We had to put locks on the gates.” To many locals, Vogel concluded, “It was a conspiracy—and we’ll never know the whole story.”