Furious GOP senators confronted Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, demanding she...
Furious GOP senators confronted Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, demanding she answer lingering questions about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump or resign.
Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee confronted Cheatle after a conference call earlier in the day, but the senators’ questions were cut off.
“All of us were on the phone,” Barrasso told Cheatle. “We’re very disappointed. We were all in the queue trying to ask questions … every one of us had questions we wanted to ask.”
Barrasso continued, adding that the senators were “very disappointed” in Cheatle’s “leadership,” noting that “allowing him [Trump] to go on stage in Pennsylvania at a time when you’d already been alerted that there was somebody …” was inexcusable. He then said bluntly that she should offer her “resignation or full explanation.”
“Can you give an explanation? Why would anyone allow a president to go on stage when you know that you’ve got a potential threat and you’ve got snipers …?” Blackburn asked.
When Cheatle tried to escape the questioners by saying, “I don’t think this is the format to have this discussion,” Barrasso fired, “Well, we can find a place to go right now. As the senators followed her, Barrasso walked alongside her, declaring, “You answer to us. You answer to us.”
“You owe President Trump answers,” Blackburn demanded. “You cannot run away from your responsibility to the people of the United States. You’re the head of the Secret Service,” Barrasso added.
After the confrontation, Barrasso and Blackburn issued further statements.
“Senator Blackburn and I just went face to face with the director of the Secret Service, asking for specific answers about what happened with President Trump in Pennsylvania and how that shooter was able to get off a clear shot when the FBI with the Secret Service knew that there was a suspicious person an hour in advance of when the shooting occurred,” Barrasso said.
“And they identified a potential threat at 5:51,” Blackburn said. “She would not answer our questions. She wanted to say it was not the time or place. This is after we’ve been through a conference call today where the question queue got cut off. But I’ve got a message for her: She can run, but she cannot hide because the American people want to know how an assassination attempt was carried out on former President Donald Trump.”
After the confrontation, the Secret Service issued a statement saying Cheatle had no intention of stepping down:
A spokesman for the Secret Service initially blamed Butler, Pennsylvania’s local police for not securing the AGR building from which the shooter attacked Trump.
But Butler Township Commissioner Edward Natali fired back, “The Butler Township Police Department had no security detail for this event. There were seven officers all assigned to traffic detail. Period!! The BTPD was not responsible for securing AGR or any other location. Anyone who says so, reports on it, implies it, etc…is uninformed, lying, or covering their own backsides.”
Butler Township Manager Tom Knights told NBC News that four Butler Township officers assigned to traffic duty left their posts and raced to confront the shooter.
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