
Embattled US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle sat down for her first television interview since Donald Trump narrowly avoided an assassination attempt where she again insisted that she had no intention of resigning.
In an interview with ABC News correspondent Pierre Thomas that aired last Monday, Cheatle described the shooting at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally as “unacceptable” and “something that shouldn’t happen again.”
Cheatle told Pierre Thomas that she was shocked and concerned when she first learned about the July 13 shooting, saying it was a situation that no Secret Service agent would want to occur during their career.
The Secret Service Director said as the head of the agency, it was her responsibility to investigate the failures to ensure that nothing like it happened again.
When asked about witnesses who said that the gunman was spotted by rally-goers who alerted authorities, Cheatle insisted that the period between the reports and the shooting was “very short.”
She explained that finding and identifying the gunman before neutralizing him all happened within a “very short period” which made it “very difficult.”
Cheatle also appeared to lay the blame on local law enforcement, saying they were responsible for securing the building where the gunman was located while the Secret Service was responsible for securing the “inner perimeter.”
When asked why no counter-snipers were positioned on the roof used by the gunman, Cheatle said that there was a “safety factor” to consider, explaining the building in question had “a sloped roof” and the Secret Service did not want to place someone on a sloped roof.
Cheatle’s “sloped roof” explanation was met with incredulous anger and mockery on social media, with many critics pointing out that the Secret Service places snipers on the sloped roof of the White House.
The Secret Service Director was in Milwaukee last Tuesday where she briefed Donald Trump at his hotel about the attempt on his life.
Later, Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Kevin Cramer, (R-ND), John Barrasso (R-WY), and James Lankford (R-OK) confronted Cheatle on the convention floor and demanded answers for the security lapses in Butler.