Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle was shielded by her own officers after furious US senators pursued her down the corridors of the RNC, demanding she explain how a gunman was able to get a clear shot at Donald Trump.
Cheatle was in the Milwaukee convention hall to oversee security arrangements on Wednesday evening – just hours after making a ‘cover-your-a** call’ to senators about the shooting in Pennsylvania on Saturday night.
Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee led the chase, complaining that they had not had a chance to put their questions to Cheatle during the call.
A frustrated Barrasso then issued an ultimatum to the security chief.
‘You put him within less than an inch of his life,’ Barrasso yelled at Cheatle. ‘So resignation or full explanation.’
Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee chased the Secret service chief through the conference hall after she refused to answer their questions
Speaking to ABC News Cheatle bizarrely claimed that Secret Service snipers were not placed on the roof that Thomas Crooks used in his assassination attempt on Donald Trump because it was ‘too sloped’
The chase continued down a corridor and up a flight of stairs before finally ending when Cheatle darted into a bathroom and her security service detail barred her pursuers from entering.
Video of the incident was later posted by Senator Blackburn.
Barrasso and Blackburn said afterwards that they were unhappy with what they had heard during the conference call with Cheatle and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
They said they were both still waiting to ask Cheatle a question when the briefing came to end.
‘We were trying to get to the root of what had happened, how the shooter was on the roof by himself and able to get off the shots,’ Barrasso said, describing the as telephone briefing as a ‘cover-your-a** call.’
Fellow Republican senators James Lankford of Oklahoma and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota also joined the pursuit of the security service boss.
‘She ran up a flight of steps, and we were up with her,’ Barrasso said. ‘And it looked like she then went into a ladies’ room and her own security closed the door and blocked the door.’
Cheatle has been under growing pressure since it emerged that her agents were repeatedly warned about would-be assassin Thomas Crooks as he prepared to shoot the president at Saturday’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Instead of placing her snipers on the roof of the American Glass Research Building in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Crooks fired from, she made the decision to secure the building from the inside.
The chase continued up a flight of stairs and only ended when Cheatle locked herself into a bathroom and her own Security Service staff barred the pursuing senators
He was seen with blood across his face on Saturday
Trump was shot in the ear around 10 minutes after he took to the stage
Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman who opened fire on former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday
‘That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point,’ she claimed.
‘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.
‘And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside,’ she added.
Thanks to Cheatle’s decision, Crooks managed to evade cops and 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.
Four sources close to President Biden’s family, including people who interacted with Cheatle during the Obama-Biden administration, told the New York Post she was well liked by the future first lady and her most senior aides, including top adviser Anthony Bernal.
‘Cheatle served on Dr. Biden’s second lady detail and Anthony pushed for her,’ a Democratic insider said.
‘I heard at the time she was being considered for director that Anthony had pushed her forward as an option,’ another source added.
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.
Cheatle’s claims were heavily criticized as it was spotted that the snipers who were located on the left building had set up on a slanted roof too, behind Trump’s podium, while Crooks was located on the right
Secret Service sniped pictured at the Saturday rally set upon a sloped roof near where Trump was delivering his speech
Police personnel stand over the body of Thomas Matthews Crooks on a rooftop near the Trump rally on Saturday
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.
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.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said his boss ‘has no intentions to step down’ when questioned last night about her pursuit through the RNC.
‘She deeply respects members of Congress and is fiercely committed to transparency in leading the Secret Service through the internal investigation and strengthening the agency through lessons learned in these important internal and external reviews,’ he added.