Officials in Butler County, Pennsylvania, refuse to release 911 recordings from the rally in which former President Donald Trump was injured in an apparent assassination attempt — despite mounting questions about the incident and the actions of law enforcement agencies.
Nearly two weeks after the July 13 shooting, the public remains in the dark about some basic points along the timeline, including when rally attendees alerted law enforcement to the gunman climbing onto a nearby roof and how federal, state, and local officers coordinated once he opened fire. Recordings of calls to emergency services could help shed light on what happened.
Soon after the shooting, The Intercept submitted a request to Butler County for copies of recorded 911 calls under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law. On Monday, the county denied that request, citing part of the statute that generally exempts 911 recordings from disclosure.
“It is the policy of Butler County only to release 911 audio under court order or by subpoena,” a county public records clerk wrote in an email. “Therefore, the request is denied.”
A crucial provision in state law, however, gives Butler County the ability to release these recordings. Pennsylvania agencies and courts can release 911 recordings if they determine that “the public interest in disclosure outweighs the interest in nondisclosure.”
As The Intercept wrote to the county, if the attempted assassination of a former president and current presidential candidate does not qualify as an overwhelming public interest, it’s not clear what ever could.
The county did not respond to The Intercept’s requests to release the 911 recordings under this carveout. On Friday, The Intercept filed an appeal to the state Office of Open Records.
Other press outlets trying to get 911 recordings from the Trump rally have also gotten the runaround, according to Melissa Bevan Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.
“The carveout is there for situations where the public interest in the recordings is high, a situation like this,” Melewsky told The Intercept.
“Obviously there is huge public interest — legitimate, compelling public interest — in hearing these recordings,” said attorney Joy Ramsingh, who previously adjudicated Office of Open Records appeals. “Potential embarrassment to the agency is not supposed to be part of the test.”
Ramsingh said Butler County’s refusal to address the public’s interest in these recordings was “impermissible.”
“At a minimum, they need to be articulating to the public why they won’t release them,” Ramsingh said. “My gut tells me it has something to do with potential embarrassment to the agency.”
