U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s attempt to explain away the security failure that cleared the way for a would-be assassin left even casual observers fuming.
Ahead of a congressional briefing Tuesday and a hearing scheduled for the following week, the agency head responsible for the safety of the leader of the free world and numerous other high-ranking officials sat down for an interview with ABC News.
As she attempted to simultaneously shoulder responsibility while skirting accountability, Cheatle offered a questionable explanation for why no one was posted on the roof that the would-be assassin used to open fire on former President Donald Trump and his supporters.
“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,” she explained Monday to ABC News correspondent Pierre Thomas. “And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building from inside.”
Ripping into the explanation, The Federalist CEO and co-founder Sean Davis contended on X, “The director of the U.S. Secret Service deliberately allowed the former and future president of the United States to be shot in the face because she didn’t want a Secret Service agent to be on a roof with a minimal slope.”
Prison, NOW. Biden’s Secret Service director admitted the decision to leave the roof unguarded was deliberate. And her rationale is insane. Absolutely insane.
You cannot come to any other conclusion than this: Biden’s Secret Service and DHS deliberately created every single… https://t.co/jCZdlYqQDn
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 16, 2024
Likewise, former USSS agent Dan Bongino, who’d been leading the call for Cheatle’s resignation since the tragedy, reacted, “More bullsh*t. THEN BLOCK THE LINE OF SIGHT.”
More bullshit.
THEN BLOCK THE LINE OF SIGHT. https://t.co/3ylWRRdeI2— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) July 16, 2024
Anyone who saw the dramatic footage from Butler, Pennsylvania as the suspect was neutralized by the president’s security detail was able to readily point out the glaring hole in the director’s explanation: “…the snipers who were behind Trump during the rally were on a sloped roof.”
JUST IN: USSS director Kim Cheatle says sn*pers weren’t on the roof where Thomas Crooks shot from because it was “sloped” and unsafe.
Ironically, the sn*pers who were behind Trump during the rally were on a sloped roof.
“That building in particular has a sloped roof at its… pic.twitter.com/Vg36tXr9rJ
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 16, 2024
Cheatle continues to prove she is wildly unqualified to be the director of the USSS. This is disgraceful and the worst excuse I have ever heard
— James Jinnette (@james_jinnette1) July 16, 2024
That roof is maybe a 2/12 slope. Maybe. Not sure it even qualifies as a slope.
This is madness. They did it on purpose, they’re lying about why, and they’re running everybody’s faces in it.
Our country was on the verge of a potential civil war, and Biden’s security team thinks…
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 16, 2024
Since Saturday, emerging details about the lead-up to the assassination attempt indicated that security had been aware of the suspect’s presence nearly 30 minutes before Trump was wounded, and that law enforcement officials had seen him no fewer than three times before anyone was dispatched to check the roof.
Cheatle addressed some of those points as well and explained to Thomas, “I’m being told that the shooter was actually identified as a potential person of suspicion. Units started responding to seek that individual out.”
“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,” she contended.
Despite affirming during the interview that, “The buck stops with me,” and, “This is an event that should have never happened,” the director refused to meet demands that she step down following what was widely viewed as an “absolutely catastrophic” failure.
Trump was nearly killed and absolutely no one is taking responsibility.
This ONLY happens in government.
Only in government does:
1) No one take responsibility.
2) No is to blame.
3) No one gets fired.
4) No one is accountable.
And everyone deserves “praise” for this…— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) July 16, 2024
Their guys were LITERALLY on a sloped roof.
We cannot allow these people to get away with another cover up. They cannot lead the investigations on anything to do with Trump. pic.twitter.com/XFLuABxeC3— TheRightGirl (@TheRightGirl47) July 16, 2024
The spinning of truth and facts seems to be at an epic level when trying to deflect blame over the failure to protect Trump and secure the area.
— Old School Eddie (@Old_SchoolEddie) July 16, 2024
This is absolutely ridiculous but unfortunately… To be expected
— Shawn Farash (@Shawn_Farash) July 16, 2024
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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