For most of the first 24 hours after Donald Trump was shot on Saturday, we hear little to nothing in the way of official statements from the Secret Service, particularly Director Kimberly Cheatle. That was perhaps understandable given that it had been a chaotic situation and it would clearly take some time to sort out what went wrong. Meanwhile, there was plenty of finger-pointing going on. Finally, on Monday, Cheatle broke cover and spoke to ABC News. She seemed to start out strong, declaring, "The buck stops with me." She went on to describe her unit's response to the attack as "unacceptable" and that it was "something that shouldn't happen again." (So far, so good.) But when asked repeatedly if she planned to resign, she once again stated that she would not step down. So where did the buck actually stop? (NY Post)

Embattled Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle acknowledged the “buck stops with me” as she responded to criticism of her agency’s disastrous handling of former President Donald Trump’s attempted assassination —  but refused to resign from her post.

“It was unacceptable,” Cheatle told ABC News Monday of her agency’s response to Saturday’s Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pa. “And it’s something that shouldn’t happen again.”

Cheatle has faced steadily increasing pressure to step down after overseeing security at the event which 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired multiple shots with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle from a nearby rooftop, wounding former President Trump and two others and killing a former firefighter.

The finger-pointing continued this morning. Another Secret Service agent told CNN that it was actually the responsibility of the local police to secure the rooftop. That may indeed have been the agreement. There is video floating around of a local cop climbing up to the rooftop where Thomas Crooks was perched, but then dropping back down to the ground, perhaps after the shooter pointed his rifle at them. 

No matter what arrangements were supposedly agreed upon, none of that changes the final outcome. The Secret Service had people on a different roof where they should have had a view of at least the front of the roof of the building where Crooks was setting himself up. They should have been able to tell there were no security people up there locking down the location, either their own or the local cops. If that was the case, why was Donald Trump allowed to take the stage?

At the end of the day, Ms. Cheatle surely must understand after all this time the President's detail really only has one job. They must ensure that he is not injured or killed even if that means their own lives may be lost in the process. If the President winds up being shot, your team has failed in its core mission. Donald Trump was shot. This "unacceptable" performance caused Trump to come within centimeters of losing his life on that stage.

Something broke down badly in the security process on Saturday. There will be time to review all of the details and make changes so that doesn't happen again. Better training and tighter protocols are very likely in order. But this type of catastrophic failure of the process can't simply be swept under the rug. I fully appreciate how tough that job must be, but there needs to be accountability after an event such as this. The "buck" does indeed need to stop somewhere, and that place would appear to be the office of Kimberly Cheatle. If she can identify a definitive culprit among the team that traveled with Trump to Butler, Pennsylvania, she should identify them and show them the door. If she can't, then she should depart herself. I realize that probably sounds harsh, but for what it's worth, I still find myself feeling very angry over this several days later.