Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle faced tough questions after a gunman opened fire on former President Donald Trump this past weekend, leaving one of his supporters dead and two others wounded.

Those questions grew louder after Cheatle confessed that the Secret Service chose not to station agents on top of the building from which the shooter launched his attack.  

Director cites "safety factor" associated with "sloped roof"

According to Fox News, Cheatle made the admission during an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, pointing to the "sloped roof" that would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed up on.

"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," Cheatle said.

"And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside," the Secret Service director went on to explain.

Yet as some social media users pointed out, Secret Service counter-snipers located behind Trump were themselves operating from a sloped roof.

Disgraced Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is now saying they didn’t put snipers on the roof where the shooter was b/c it was “sloped” and “not safe”

So then why were these snipers on this roof?

This lady keeps digging herself a deeper hole

RESIGN pic.twitter.com/HRf0PPEQdc

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) July 16, 2024

Donald Trump Jr. calls Cheatle's words "nonsense"

The Hill noted that Donald Trump Jr. was quick to dismiss Cheatle's claim when he spoke with Fox News host Sean Hannity at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Tuesday.

"I can assure you … these are, especially the guys that I've known and they’re some of them will be lifelong friends, they’re not worried about a five-degree pitch on a sloped roof," Trump told Hannity.

"Like, that's nonsense. That's not an excuse," the former president's eldest son continued before adding, "It's the dumbest excuse."

Decorated combat veteran Sean Parnell spoke up as well, writing on X, "Our snipers used to set in on mountain tops in Afghanistan. On the down slopes if need be."

Cheatle rejects calls to resign

"The stupidity of this statement explains so much of why s--t hit the fan that day. Absolute incompetence," Parnell complained.

For her part, Cheatle told ABC News that "the buck stops" with her regarding the security failures that allowed Saturday's tragedy to unfold.

However, the Secret Service director nevertheless was adamant that she has no intent to resign, stating, "I do plan to stay on."