- Secret Service Chief Kimberly Cheatle Finally Gave an Interview
- “That particular building has a sloped roof at its highest point,” he said.
Embattled Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle has revealed the fateful reason her agency failed to place an agent atop the building a gunman used to carry out an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Cheatle, who is already facing calls for his resignation over what some lawmakers call a massive security failure, said Secret Service officials planning security for Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, considered the warehouse about 500 feet from where Trump spoke to be a risky position to station an agent.
“That particular building has a sloped roof at its highest point. So there’s a safety factor that has to be taken into account because we don’t want to put someone on a sloped roof,” he told ABC News in an interview Tuesday.
“And then, you know, the decision was made to secure the building from the inside.”
What happened instead was a security nightmare: Thomas Matthew Crooks managed to scale the building and secure his own position, while law enforcement struggled to locate him, even amid urgent warnings from members of Trump’s camp. But there was not enough time to act on the tips, he said.
“The shooter was identified as a potential suspect,” Cheatle said. “Unfortunately, with the rapid succession of events, when that individual was finally located, he was on the roof and was able to shoot the former president.”
Secret Service agent Kimberly Cheatle has appeared in her first interview since the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, blaming a sloping roof as the reason for trying to secure the building from the inside.
Cheatle told ABC News his first reaction to the shooting was “shock.”
He also said the Secret Service was aware of security vulnerabilities in the building where Crooks was positioned as a sniper to target Trump. However, the decision was made not to place personnel on the roof.
She also continues to resist calls for her to resign from her position following the incident, even as she takes responsibility for her agency.
“The responsibility is mine,” he said. saying.
“It was unacceptable,” he told ABC. “And it’s something that should never happen again.”
Cheatle is already facing calls to resign amid what some are calling a “massive security breach.”
President Biden was asked by NBC on Monday if he has confidence in the Secret Service.
“I feel safe with the Secret Service. But look… what we saw was that the Secret Service that responded risked their lives. They were willing to give their lives for the president. The question is, should they have foreseen what happened? Should they have done what they needed to do to prevent this from happening? That’s the open question.”
He did not directly respond when NBC’s Lester Holt asked if the agency suffered a “massive security breach.”