The Secret Service explains the failure to secure the building roof used by the sniper to fire at Former President Trump. Agency director Kimberly Cheatle has cited “workplace safety concerns” as a basis for not securing the building.
Kimberly Cheatle, the head of the US Secret Service, has claimed safety concerns prevented her agents from deploying on the roof of the building from which a would-be assassin targeted Donald Trump.
Moreover, the Secret Service spokesperson claimed that the building from which Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire was outside the designated main security perimeter and thus under local law enforcement jurisdiction, but over which the Secret Service has ultimate responsibility for determining who does what and when.
Yet, what is even more troubling is that within seconds of Crooks firing his weapon, Secret Service snipers, identified, shot and killed the would-be assassin. With the latter’s demise, interrogation and thus important information about Crooks – his reasons, potential accomplices and/or money and power behind the attempted assassination will never be forthcoming.
It isn’t as though we haven’t seen this before. Lee Harvey Oswald took whatever information he had about the Kennedy assassination with him because he was killed shortly after the president was. Moreover, the Warren Commission did not entertain any such ideas or possibilities which are today being widely discussed outside the sphere of “conspiracy theories.”
Unfortunately, the truth (and potentially the most important aspects of it) essentially died with the assassin – again.
The former president narrowly escaped death during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday when a lone gunman fired several shots at Trump. His Secret Service detail reacted after a bullet nicked his right ear. One rallygoer was killed and two others were seriously injured.
What Director Cheatle Said
“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 on Tuesday. “And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.”
The shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to climb on top of the factory building and had a clear line of sight to Trump less than 120 meters away. The roof in question was far less sloped than the one behind the rally stage, where Secret Service counter-snipers were positioned.
The Secret Service director said, “don’t worry, we didn’t put someone on the roof because it could’ve created a dangerous situation. Like what? Someone getting shot in the head?” said Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent turned-conservative talk show host.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said Secret Service “failure” played a part in Saturday’s events, but that he has “100% confidence” in Cheatle.
The attempted assassination was “unacceptable” and “something that shouldn’t happen again,” the Secret Service director told ABC News, but added that she has no intention of resigning.
Cheatle also did not address criticism that Trump’s protection detail included three women who were much smaller in stature than the Republican presidential candidate. The Secret Service chief, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, has previously said she would prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices, such as hiring more women and minorities.
“I can’t imagine that a DEI hire from @pepsi would be a bad choice as the head of the Secret Service. #sarcasm,” tweeted Republican congressman Tim Burchett.
I can’t imagine that a DEI hire from @pepsi would be a bad choice as the head of the Secret Service. #sarcasm
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) July 14, 2024
Burchett was referring to Cheatle’s previous job as director of global security for Pepsi — a post she held for several years before returning to the Secret Service, where she had previously spent nearly three decades.
“DEI is one thing, competence and effectiveness is another, and I saw DEI out there,” former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told the New York Post after the Butler shooting.
When Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday, his security detail was composed entirely of men close to him in height.
Cheatle, who was appointed to the role by President Joe Biden in 2022, had previously been the senior director in global security at PepsiCo.
Prior to her time at PepsiCo, she had served with the Secret Service for more than 25 years, including on Biden’s security detail while he was vice president.
Cheatle is one of only two women to ever serve as director of the Secret Service. Previously, she had been the first woman to serve as the agency’s assistant director of protective operations.
Since the shooting on Saturday, numerous Republican lawmakers have called for Cheatle to answer questions about how the agency failed to prevent the attack, which left one rallygoer dead. Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Elon Musk have taken it a step further, calling for her to resign.
Some of the criticism of Cheatle has focused on her being a woman, with prominent conservatives calling her a “DEI hire” and female Secret Service agents in general as having “physical limitations” that should prevent them from serving.
I am not so sure blaming the Secret Service for hiring women agents is helpful or even appropriate to the moment. This is especially true for those women agents at the scene who (as the images suggest) threw their bodies into the line of fire to protect the former president.
Next Monday, Cheatle is expected to testify before the GOP-led House Oversight Committee about the assassination attempt. In a statement announcing the hearing, chairman James Comer said “Americans demand answers” from Cheatle.
“The United States Secret Service has a no-fail mission, yet it failed on Saturday when a madman attempted to assassinate President Trump, killed an innocent victim, and harmed others,” Comer said. “We are grateful to the brave Secret Service agents who acted quickly to protect President Trump after shots were fired and the American patriots who sought to help victims, but questions remain about how a rooftop within proximity to President Trump was left unsecure.”
In a statement
Monday, Cheatle said the Secret Service is working to understand how Saturday’s shooting took place and that the agency is cooperating with investigations into Secret Service protocol around the incident.
“The Secret Service is tasked with the tremendous responsibility of protecting the current and former leaders of our democracy,” she said. “It is a responsibility that I take incredibly seriously, and I am committed to fulfilling that mission.”
It isn’t that the women protecting Former President Trump were unqualified and didn’t do their job – it is that a particular woman was not qualified and therefore failed at hers. And because of the way it ended, there remain…
“too many unanswered questions.”