Wednesday, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle addressed a question regarding her previous statement that local law enforcement was responsible for the building from which an attempted assassin fired at former President Donald Trump, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate.
Cheatle clarified that the Secret Service was “solely responsible for the design, implementation, and execution of the site” of the rally.
“When you said that local law enforcement was responsible for that building, what did you mean by that?” CNN Law Enforcement Correspondent Whitney Wild asked.
“So, Secret Service respects local law enforcement, and we could not do our job, either investigatively or on our protective mission, without them,” Cheatle answered.
“In Pennsylvania, in fact, on that same day, they were also working the first lady trip and a vice presidential trip. So, I understand the constraints that they’re under, and, as I said earlier, we couldn’t do our job without them,” she continued.
“At that particular site, we divided up areas of responsibility, but the Secret Service is solely responsible for the design and the implementation and the execution of the site,” Director said.
“And that’s what I was trying to stress was that we just divided up areas of responsibility and they provided support to those areas of responsibility,” she concluded.
As we previously reported, Kimberly Cheatle claimed that they avoided putting agents on the roof due to slight slope safety concerns.
She said, โThat building, in particular, has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, thereโs a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldnโt want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.โ
Just compare the slope of the roof where U.S. Secret Service snipers were positioned to the roof where the alleged shooter was perched for over half an hour.
New details also reveal that a team of local police snipers were inside the building when the 20-year-old Crooks opened fire, wounding Trump in the ear and killing a member of the rally crowd.
Crooks evaded police and the Secret Service three times, despite being considered ‘suspicious,’ and may have been on the roof for up to 30 minutes before firing the shot.
If President Trump hadn’t turned his head, he would have been killed.
The actions of the Secret Service and local police are inexcusable. If Secret Service agents are trained to take a bullet for the President, surely they can figure out how to position themselves on a slightly sloped roof!
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