Secret Service director cites hazard of putting agent on 'sloped roof'
Embattled Secret Service head Kimberly Cheatle has revealed the fateful and bizarre reason why her agency failed to put an agent on the roof gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks used to carry out an assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Cheatle, who is facing calls to resign over the massive security failure, said Secret Service officials planning security for Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania considered the warehouse 147 yards away from where Trump spoke to be a risky position for stationing an agent. Chilling new details have revealed that a team of local police snipers were inside the building when the 20-year-old Crooks opened fire, shot Trump in the ear and killed a member of the rally crowd. Crooks managed to evade cops and the Secret Service three times, even though he had been deemed 'suspicious' and could have been on the roof for up to 30 minutes before he pulled the trigger.
Witnesses also begged law enforcement to act when they saw him clamber onto the roof with his AR-style rifle, but the lapse in security meant he was able to carry out his bid to take the 45th president's life. The mistakes that led to Trump being inches away from being killed sparked calls for Cheatle to step down, but she has refused and has now given a baffling explanation as to why there wasn't a presence on the roof that had a clear line of sight to Trump. '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,' she told ABC News in an interview Tuesday. 'And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.'
What transpired instead was a security nightmare: Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to scale the building and secure his own position, while law enforcement struggled to locate him even amid pressing warnings from members of the Trump crowd. But there wasn't sufficient time to act on the tips, she explained. 'The shooter was actually identified as a potential person of suspicion,' Cheatle said. 'Unfortunately, with the rapid succession of how things unfolded, by the time that individual was eventually located, they were on the rooftop and were able to fire off at the former president.' She was referencing claims by witnesses that they alerted law enforcement about the threat, but agents weren't able to eliminate the threat in time. Officials have pointed to the initial responding officer, who lifted himself up on the roof only to lower himself back when his own life was threatened. A government sniper positioned behind Trump while he was speaking took out the would-be assassin, but only after he began firing.
Cheatle told ABC News her first reaction to the shooting was 'shock.' She also said the Secret Service was aware of the security vulnerabilities presented by the building Crooks took a sniper's position on to aim at Trump. However, a decision was made not to place any personnel on the roof – even though security experts have said a primary responsibility of law enforcement would be to secure elevated areas near a high level protectee. She also continues to resist calls that she step down over the incident, even while taking responsibility for her agency. 'The buck stops with me,' she said. 'It was unacceptable,' she told ABC. 'And it's something that shouldn't happen again.' Ex-FBI special agent Kenneth Gray told DailyMail.com on Monday that the Secret Service 'really screwed up' at the rally on Saturday and that efforts to hire more women in field roles may well have played a role.
Republican officials gathering in Milwaukee have been calling for tough scrutiny of the agency even as the feds are implementing tighter security measures around Trump and other protectees. ‘Somebody, somewhere has a really, really a lot of serious questions to have to answer,’ House Judiciary and ‘Weaponization’ committee member Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota told DailyMail.com. Cheatle's decision to avoid questions until now has also drawn astonishment. She was not present at the initial press conference headed by the FBI. The probe set up by President Joe Biden after the incident is being overseen by the Justice Department, not Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service. 'That speaks volumes,’ former House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz told DailyMail.com. President Biden was asked by NBC Monday whether he has confidence in the Secret Service.
'I feel safe with the Secret Service. But look ... what we did see was the Secret Service who responded risked their lives responding. They were ready to give their lives for the president. The question is should they have anticipated what happened. Should they have done what they needed to do to prevent this from happening? That's the question that's an open question.' He didn't respond directly when NBC's Lester Holt asked him if the agency suffered a 'massive security failure.' Republicans preparing to grill Cheatle have already focused on her own background. Before being appointed by President Biden in 2022, she worked for PepsiCo as senior director in Global Security. She worked for 25 years in the agency and in the Vice Presidential Protective Division. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Ky.) on Fox News has called her a 'diversity hire.' 'You know she was working at Pepsi before this. I know she was a former CIA Secret Service agent, but still, this is what happens when you don’t put the best players in,' he said.
Cheatle came in to steady an agency that has been rocked by a series of scandals. 'Somebody really dropped the ball. You’ve got a DEI person, a DEI initiative person who heads up our Secret Service,' he said, using the abbreviation for diversity, equity and inclusion. On Monday night it was revealed a local team of police snipers team saw Crooks scouting their command post three times in the minutes before the shooting began. Three police marksmen from Beaver County were using the single-story AGR International building as their watch-post when the would-be assassin chose it as his place to shoot from, CBS reported. A law enforcement official told the channel said that no action was taken after one of the snipers first spotted Crooks looking up at the roof of the building in Butler, Pennsylvania, just 130 yards from where the president would speak. The sniper then radioed to a command post after seeing Crooks take out a rangefinder.
But no further action was taken before Crooks reappeared a third time, this time wearing a backpack and disappearing from sight as he walked to the back of the building. A further radio report relaying the information was submitted by the sniper team who did not realize that Crooks was now scaling their building. Eight members of the Beaver County Police Department had been tasked with securing the outer perimeter of the rally, while the Secret Service concentrated on the rally itself. Pittsburgh's WPXI reported that a Beaver officer took a photo after seeing Crooks on the roof at 5.45 pm, by which time he had already been photographed on the ground by a colleague. The final radio report by the three-strong sniper team prompted State police to send reinforcements to the building but it was not until 6.11 pm that one climbed onto the roof and saw Crooks with his rifle.
The officer from Butler County was forced to retreat when Crooks aimed his AR-style weapon at him, and it was seconds later that the killer unleashed up to eight shots, killing Pennsylvania fire chief Corey Comperatore, critically injuring two others and hitting Trump in the right ear. It is not clear whether Crooks had the rifle on him when he was first seen outside the AGR International factory building, or if he stayed on the roof for the whole time. Extraordinary photos and video obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com show just how breathtakingly close Crooks , got to his target. Crooks, 20, came within inches of killing President Trump Saturday, as the former president addressed supporters during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Chillingly some images show a ladder, hidden by dense shrubbery, propped against the side of the AGR building, leading directly to the rooftop across which witnesses later told law enforcement they saw Crooks scramble. The images of the strategically placed ladder have emerged as the Secret Service admit they did not sweep the building where the shooter took his position, but instead entrusted that role to local law enforcement officers. Now, these compelling images hammer home the handful of yards – barely 150 - that stood between the former president and his would-be assassin. Crooks had parked his vehicle near the rally site in Butler on Saturday before he scaled the roof of a nearby industrial manufacturing building.
