Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle faces scrutiny following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, expressing accountability for the agency’s security failures at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Cheatle admitted that the shooter was identified as suspicious before the incident but managed to take his position on a rooftop due to rapid events.
Critics have raised concerns about the agency’s handling of the situation, with questions surrounding the decision not to position an agent on the sloped roof where the shooter was located.
“I’m being told that the shooter was actually identified as a potential person of suspicion. Units started responding to seek that individual out,” Cheatle said.
“Unfortunately, with the rapid succession of how things unfolded, by the time that individual was eventually located, they were on the rooftop and were able to fire off at the former president.”
“The buck stops with me,” Cheatle said, adding, “This is an event that should have never happened.”
“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. And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside,” she said.
“In this particular instance, we did share support for that particular site and that the USSS was responsible for the inner perimeter,” Cheatle said. “And then we sought assistance from our local counterparts for the outer perimeter. There was local police in that building, there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building.”
Investigations into the security lapses are promised by GOP lawmakers, indicating further scrutiny of Cheatle’s decisions during the event.
“The American people deserve to know the truth. We will have Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and other appropriate officials from DHS and the FBI appear for a hearing before our committees ASAP,” Speaker Mike Johnson wrote online.
