United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle should be out of a job now. Her agency failed to protect former President Donald Trump, who was nearly assassinated in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. A rooftop with a clear vantage point to the stage at the rally was never secured or even swept—all of this when the location was flagged as a security vulnerability. Trump escaped death that day, missing getting hit with a fatal headshot by millimeters. Why wasn’t the roof secure? Cheatle said that the sloped roof was a safety concern. I’m not kidding:
The American people deserve answers from the Secret Service. pic.twitter.com/PNFF11v00Q
— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) July 18, 2024
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has come up with an excuse: It would have been too dangerous to put snipers on the roof because it was sloped.
"That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there's a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn't want to put somebody up on a sloped roof," Cheatle told ABC News Monday. "And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside."
The building was never actually secured and a man with a rifle was able to scale the building, get on the roof and take shots at former President Donald Trump. Trump was hit in the ear after miraculously turning his head just in time. Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, father and husband was killed while shielding his family in the bleachers. Two other rally goers were seriously injured.
Nobody is buying the excuse, especially given Secret Service snipers closer to the stage were also on a sloped roof.
Many questions remain unanswered by this woman, and when she stopped by the Republican Convention last night, bedlam ensued (via NYT):
Republican senators, including a member of the Senate’s leadership, accosted the director of the Secret Service in a suite at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night, demanding that she resign or provide a full explanation for the security lapses that led to the near-miss assassination attempt against former President Donald J. Trump.
Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming, the third-ranking Senate Republican, and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee aggressively confronted the agency’s director, Kimberly A. Cheatle, at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. A staff member for one of the senators videotaped the confrontation and sent it to a reporter.
The video, which Ms. Blackburn also posted on X, shows Mr. Barrasso berating Ms. Cheatle over why Mr. Trump was allowed to go onstage for his Saturday evening rally in Butler, Pa., when authorities had already identified as suspicious a man who turned out to be the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks.
“You put him within less than an inch of his life,” Mr. Barrasso said to Ms. Cheatle, almost yelling. “So resignation or full explanation.”
Cheatle ran off like a scared wombat. Every day brings a new update on this assassination attempt—all of it damning for the Secret Service. When Department of Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas said he had full confidence in her, you knew no firings would happen. She’s Jill Biden’s best gal pal. And we all know Joe won’t do anything to make Lady Macbeth angry. Cheatle said the buck stopped with her but then refused to take responsibility for the glaring security lapses that almost got Trump killed and left one man dead and two others wounded.
Resign Cheatle. The House is launching a full-blown investigation into this assassination attempt.
This is insane pic.twitter.com/tJWyi02Fs2
— Mason (@webdevMason) July 18, 2024
BREAKING: Secret Service tells Congress they identified Thomas Crooks as a threat at least 10 minutes before Trump walked on stage.
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 17, 2024
Trump camp was not notified.
The Secret Service agent-in-charge was on the phone with local police as the shooting broke out.
Unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/hTyaS6P1OW
TRAUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT | LATEST:
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 17, 2024
- Thomas Crooks visited site of rally day before event, per NBC
- Was photographed 62 minutes before shooting
- SS counter-snipers spotted him 20 minutes before attack
- Cell phone depicted livestream of rally, per NBC
- Still no motive pic.twitter.com/ZxqRDGsMS3
This is insane pic.twitter.com/tJWyi02Fs2
— Mason (@webdevMason) July 18, 2024
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