United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle likely walked away from Monday’s House Oversight Committee thinking to herself, to quote Bill the Butcher, that was “the finest beating I ever took.” In a rare showing of bipartisanship, Cheatle is being called on to resign after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Cheatle dodged questions from lawmakers to the point where members of both parties found her supremely irritating. She also refused to resign, which left everyone aghast.
The glaring security issues were rehashed, including the rooftop where shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was able to perch unmolested by federal or local law enforcement. You knew the agency was in trouble when Cheatle’s reasoning for no snipers on that rooftop was due to it being sloped. Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) scaled the structure. It wasn’t dangerous. Today, we learned that Cheatle has yet to visit the site. Whistleblowers and local law enforcement leaks have painted a picture of total incompetence, which worsened on Monday. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) announced that snipers were indeed on the roof but left their posts due to the heat:
NEW - Whistleblowers tell me law enforcement personnel were in fact STATIONED to the roof the day of the Trump rally, but abandoned it, citing the heat. They also say law enforcement were supposed to be patrolling the building, but opted to stay inside instead pic.twitter.com/aIVNSPHUF6
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 22, 2024
Local law enforcement officials have been throwing the Secret Service under the bus for the past few days. Now, everyone is being hurled in front of the train. Who approved this? What’s worse is that Cheatle said that no one in the agency had been disciplined for this security failure. The list of glaring issues could span the Jersey Shore and then some. Trump wasn’t told of the threat against his life before he took the stage. Secret Service snipers had their sight on Crooks for two minutes before he opened fire. Crooks was able to wander freely before planning his attack, reportedly using a drone to gain aerial surveillance at the rally site while being spotted for using a rangefinder before the attack.
Cheatle also said yesterday that the agency hasn’t denied that Crooks was a lone gunman. She also wouldn’t divulge how many shell casings were recovered on the roof. How local law enforcement was deployed was also questionable. How this woman thinks she can lead this agency whose credibility is in ruins is beyond me. If anything, Cheatle’s testimony on Monday made the argument that the whole agency should be scrapped.
'The buck stops with me. I accept responsibility but won’t resign,' is emblematic of the Biden administration's incompetence and outright stupidity.
WATTERS: You've spoke to [Secret Service Director] Cheatle. How'd that go?
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) July 23, 2024
PRESIDENT TRUMP: She came to see me, actually. She was very nice, I thought. But somebody should've made sure there was nobody on that roof. That roof was a dead aim right on that stage.
They said they… pic.twitter.com/BuXJ7c1xW8