Secret Service director agrees to testify before Congress following assassination attempt

By 
 July 20, 2024

A growing number of lawmakers want to know how would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to open fire on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania earlier this month.

In response, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has agreed to turn up on Capitol Hill next week and address their questions.

Cheatle will speak to House Oversight Committee

According to Just the News, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi announced Cheatle's plans in a statement posted to social media, saying, "Secret Service Director will testify before the House Committee on Oversight on Monday."

"The Secret Service is fully accountable for the safety of its protectees. We are committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure it never happens again.

Guglielmi went on to add that this "includes complete cooperation with Congress, the FBl, and other relevant investigations."

Secret Service director blamed building's "sloped roof"

Cheatle faced widespread condemnation last week when she told ABC News that the building Crooks fired multiple shots from could not be secured due to it having a "sloped roof."

"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," Fox News quoted Cheatle as saying.

That claim was quickly rejected by Donald Trump Jr., who told  Fox News host Sean Hannity, "Like, that's nonsense. That's not an excuse. It's the dumbest excuse."

Decorated combat veteran Sean Parnell also dismissed Cheatle's words in a social media post of his own, writing, "Our snipers used to set in on mountain tops in Afghanistan. On the down slopes if need be."

GOP activist complained of lax security

Meanwhile, firefighter and Pennsylvania Republican activist Zach Scherer told Fox News that the rally Crooks at which attempted to assassinate Trump suffered from lax security.

"Friday night; I'll take it back a day -- there was a group of us that had volunteered on the Trump campaign to do rally set up, which included setting up the barricades, the stage set-up and other things that were needed to make sure this was a successful event," Scherer recalled.

"We did a walk through at 7 PM on Friday night, and we raised multiple concerns with the state GOP staff about parking, about security issues we saw, where there were a lack of barricades at," he explained.

"And all of our safety concerns that we brought up on Friday evening were strictly turned down and there were no answers given to any of our questions or concerns about security in that matter," the activist went on to add.

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