Sen McConnell calls for new leadership at Secret Service
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., joined a growing list of lawmakers who are calling on U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign after a botched security detail in Butler, Pennsylvania nearly led to the assassination of former President Trump.
“Last week’s near-assassination of former President Trump was a grave attack on American democracy,” McConnell wrote in a post on X. “The nation deserves answers and accountability. New leadership at the Secret Service would be an important step in that direction.”
Cheatle has been under heavy scrutiny in the days following the assassination attempt as lawmakers and federal agencies, including the FBI, have opened investigations to figure out what went wrong.
Cheatle said in an interview with CNN the Secret Service was "solely responsible" for security at Trump's rally, where 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks managed to climb on top of a nearby building and fire a rifle at Trump. One spectator was killed, and the Republican candidate and two others were injured during the attempted assassination on Saturday.
She is also facing harsh criticism after claiming during an interview with ABC News that personnel were not positioned on top of the building where the Trump rally shooter opened fire because of a "sloped roof," despite images showing snipers set up on a sloped roof behind the former president’s podium.
"That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. 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 said.
Posted by Greg Wehner
