
On Monday, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle acknowledged that the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump represented “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.” Despite this admission, she did not step down during a tense hearing with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle told members of the House Oversight Committee in a hearing. “As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse.”
Cheatle expressed her “sincerest condolences to the family of Corey Comperatore,” who was killed in the incident, and wished a “speedy recovery” to the two others injured, David Dutch and James Copenhaver.
She asserted that “the level of security provided for the former president increased well before the campaign and has been steadily increasing as threats evolve,” which conflicts with whistleblower claims regarding the “little resources” available post-NATO summit in Washington, DC.
Whistleblowers revealed to the House Judiciary Committee last week that Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Tim Burke had admitted to depleted resources during a July 8 meeting with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, just days after security preparations began for the Butler Farm Show rally.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, managed to bypass Secret Service and local Butler police officers and fired multiple shots at Trump from the roof of the AGR International Inc. building, located just 130 yards from the main stage of the campaign event.
A local police counter-sniper team was stationed inside the building but failed to detect Crooks setting up his position. One officer did confront Crooks but was unable to prevent the shooting.
“At the outset, let me state unequivocally: Nothing I have said previously should be interpreted to place blame for this failure on our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners who supported the Secret Service in Butler, Pennsylvania,” Cheatle also said. “We could not do our job without them.”
Cheatle explained during questioning that the building from which Crooks fired was “outside the perimeter” of Secret Service protection and that the agency did not place counter-snipers on the building because it prefers “sterile” roofs over “sloped” ones.
“There was a plan in place to provide overwatch,” she added, though she did not clarify how the “three concentric rings of protection” were implemented during the rally.
Despite acknowledging a $3.1 billion budget for all protectees, Cheatle suggested that the Secret Service still needed “to be adequately resourced.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) demanded Cheatle’s resignation in his opening statement, criticizing her for ignoring previous calls to step down.
“The July 13th assassination attempt is one of the darkest days in American political history,” Comer stated. “It represents the ugliest parts of what American politics has become: hatred of each other and a dangerous turn to extremism.”
The FBI and DHS’ Office of the Inspector General are conducting investigations into the Trump shooting, and Cheatle pledged to “fully” cooperate with both inquiries.
{Matzav.com}
So all we say is I’m sorry, and like Hillary said after Bengazi, “Let’s move on!”
I would think she and her underlings must pay for this! There are two critically wounded persons AND A DEAD MAN! I’m sorry is NOT nearly enough!
It’s all nonsense. So sad.