ABC got an exclusive interview with U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, which you have to admit was a good "get."
What wasn't good at all was her responses to the questions swirling around the Secret Service's inability to prevent an assassin from taking a series of shots at a former president and current presidential candidate from a bit more than a football field away.
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"The buck stops with me."
In her first network interview since the assassination attempt on former Pres. Trump, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told ABC News' Pierre Thomas the Pennsylvania rally shooting was "unacceptable." https://t.co/91XRB8oYEapic.twitter.com/JxtEeghhEi
In her first network interview since the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said that the Pennsylvania rally shooting was "unacceptable."
"It was unacceptable," she said in an interview Monday with ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas. "And it's something that shouldn't happen again."
Gee, you think?
It's pretty clear that, at minimum, the Secret Service failed to do its job properly. The individual agents may each have exhibited courage in the face of danger, but the organization as a whole exists to have layers of processes that ensure that no individual strength or weakness can be a critical failure.
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That system didn't just fail; it failed spectacularly. Letting an assassin get close to a president is bad enough. Knowing that the place he shot from was a danger and failing to secure it another. Having had that assassin seen on a roof about 30 minutes prior to the shooting and not apprehending him is beyond inexcusable.
"Alleged Trump shooter spotted by law enforcement nearly 30 minutes before shots fired, sources say" https://t.co/R6sJf5Xex3
Cheatle, though acknowledging that the system failed, has no intention of leaving her job. Which is totally on-brand for the Biden Administration, which doesn't fire anybody for incompetence...ever.
Exclusive: @ABC News' @PierreTABC has the exclusive interview with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on the assassination attempt of former Pres. Trump.
"The buck stops with me." What on earth does that mean, exactly?
Exactly nothing, apparently.
Cheatle even hinted that the Secret Service's excuse is "it's THEIR fault," pointing to local police.
Uh...local police don't specialize in protection. The Secret Service does.
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"In this particular instance, we did share support for that particular site and that the Secret Service was responsible for the inner perimeter," Cheatle said. "And then we sought assistance from our local counterparts for the outer perimeter. There was local police in that building -- there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building."
Cheatle said she has reached out to Trump but has not yet spoken with him.
In the days since the attack, Cheatle and the Secret Service have faced heightening scrutiny for failing to prevent the incident from happening, and even calls from some to resign.
Cheatle said she would not resign from her role.
Oh, come on! Blaming rural police officers for the biggest security failure in decades is a low low blow.
There were three snipers stationed INSIDE the building the shooter was on, according to a local law enforcement officer with direct knowledge of the incident, and as first reported by the https://t.co/HDMLrt2Itp
A Beaver County police officer warned a command center of seeing a man with a rangefinder before former president Donald Trump was shot on Saturday. The officer had also warned the man was scoping out the roof of the building he was stationed in as a counter-sniper, and that the man returned with a backpack before ultimately scaling the building.
Despite all of those warnings, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park was able to continue in his plan to become Trump’s would-be assassin.
BeaverCountian.com spoke with multiple local law enforcement sources about security provided by agencies from Beaver, Butler, and Washington counties during Saturday’s rally. They claim a lack of manpower and “extremely poor planning” put the former president’s life in grave danger.
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