Biden’s Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle faces lawmakers demanding answers on Trump assassination attempt

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is facing a flood of questions Monday morning as lawmakers seek answers about how the largest breach of the Secret Service in four decades could have occurred under her leadership.

According to excerpts of her remarks obtained by CNN, the agency head is expected to take full responsibility for the shooting.

“The solemn mission of the Secret Service is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13, we failed,” the director is expected to tell lawmakers.

“As director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security breaches.”

But she expects she will acknowledge that the Secret Service still has few answers about what happened. The agency “needs to learn what happened, and I will move heaven and earth to make sure that an incident like July 13th doesn’t happen again. Thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my mind.”

During Monday’s hearing, the public will hear for the first time in detail what happened to Cheatle during questioning by the House Oversight Committee.

She has not held any press conferences and given few interviews since the July 13 shooting, but has consistently maintained that she will not resign.

Comer said on Fox News on Sunday that the hearing would last six hours and that Cheatle would be asked “hundreds of questions.”

“The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a significant budget, but it has now become the face of incompetence,” Comer will say during the hearing, according to his opening statement obtained by DailyMail.com.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will face a flurry of questioning Monday morning as lawmakers seek answers about how the largest breach of the Secret Service in four decades occurred under her watch.

Last Saturday, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks shot Donald Trump multiple times, hitting his ear, injuring several attendees, and tragically killing former firefighter Corey Comperatore at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

And last week, lawmakers received a private briefing from the Secret Service, in which they were told the shooter was spotted about an hour before he fired his first shot.

Even more troubling, Secret Service snipers spotted Crooks on the roof 20 minutes before he shot the former president.

Trump walked onto the stage at 6:02 p.m.

Around 6:12 p.m., Crooks’ first shots rang out.

Cheatle could not tell lawmakers how the shooter got onto the roof.

At the time of the shooting, police officers were inside the building, 440 feet (135 meters) from where Trump was standing, but not on top of it.

Oddly enough, Cheatle claimed that no officers were stationed on the roof because the roof was sloped.

“That building in particular has a sloped roof at the highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be taken into consideration, we wouldn’t want to put someone on a sloped roof,” she told ABC News in an interview Tuesday.

Comer said on Fox News Sunday that the hearing would last six hours and that Cheatle would be asked “hundreds of questions.”

‘And so it was decided to secure the building from the inside.’

What happened instead was a security nightmare: Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to scale the building and secure his own position, while police struggled to find him, even amid urgent warnings from Trump supporters. But there wasn’t enough time to act on the tips, she explained.

“The shooter was actually identified as a potential suspect,” Cheatle said. “Unfortunately, given the rapid pace of events, by the time the individual was eventually located, he was already on the roof and was able to fire at the former president.”

She pointed to claims from witnesses that they alerted police to the threat, but that officers were unable to eliminate it in time. Officials have pointed to the first responding officer, who pulled himself up onto the roof and then lowered himself back down when the gunman pointed his weapon at him.

Cheatle has taken blame for the fatal security breach but denies calls for him to resign.

“I’m the one who bears the responsibility,” she said.

“It was unacceptable,” she told ABC. “And it can’t happen again.”

“While we extend our sincere thanks to the individual Secret Service agents who did their jobs under immense pressure, this tragedy was preventable. The Secret Service has a zero fail mission, but it failed on July 13 and in the days leading up to the rally,” Comer is also expected to say, as he renews his call for Cheatle’s resignation.

During the phone call, Crooks’ possible motive for committing such an atrocity was also brought into question.

Officials could not confirm a motive for the operation, saying its reasoning remains a mystery.

Authorities said they have not yet found any ideological material that could shed light on why Crooks decided to shoot the former president.

They did reveal that the scammers operated multiple accounts on encrypted platforms and are still trying to gain access.

Below is a timeline of how that fateful July 11th unfolded:

1 O’CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON

The grounds for the event at the Butler Farm Show opened at 1 p.m.

Hours of buildup ensued, after which MAGA supporters immediately flocked to the area to camp.

Security has combed the area and set up a perimeter, but questions have been raised about how the shooter was able to fire a clear shot just 120 yards from the stage.

5:00 p.m.

An hour before Trump took the stage at around 5 p.m., former Republican Senate candidate Sean Parnell warmed up the crowd, drawing loud cheers as he criticized President Biden and his faltering campaign.

With the sun still high in the sky, Trump emerged at 6:03 p.m. with a shout of “God Bless the USA” blaring from the loudspeakers. He continued to wave and fist pump at the crowd for several minutes.

6:11 PM

Trump pulled out a large graph showing statistics about the migrant crisis at the southern border and told the crowd at 6:11 p.m., “That graph is a couple months old…”

“If you really want to see something sad, look at what happened,” Trump continued — before abruptly grabbing the side of his head as several “pops” were heard throughout the room where the event was taking place.

6:12 PM

The 78-year-old man immediately fell to the ground as five more shots were fired in quick succession above his head, followed by four Secret Service agents running onto the stage and diving on top of the former president.

Staggering footage shows Trump crouched on the ground as officers protect him, blood trickling down his cheek.

Several Secret Service agents continued to storm the stage, while four heavily armed agents stood at the side of the stage, ordering those in attendance to “get down on the floor.”

The sniper, who was on an exposed rooftop 400 feet (120 meters) from the crowd, fired another shot at the stage a second later as Trump fans poured out of the stands.

The Secret Service quickly attempted to gain control of the pandemonium, shooting three people in the building within seconds, one fatally.

6:13 PM

An emergency room doctor, with blood spatter on his shirt, later said he immediately jumped into action to perform CPR on a victim.

“The guy was spun around, pinned between the benches and shot in the head. There’s a lot of blood and he had brain matter,” he told CBS News.

“So I got him together, so I have people there that are really helpful. I also did CPR and chest compressions.”

6:14 PM

Microphones around the stage recorded stunning detail of the urgent response, beginning with one of them ordering screaming people to “lie down, lie down, lie down.”

At the same time, snipers could be seen standing on a roof next to the stands, returning fire at the shooter. Secret Service agents surrounding Trump could be heard on microphones confirming the moment he was taken down.

Despite the chaos that reigned, it appeared as if those in attendance were holding their breath to see if Trump would be hit.

A bloodied Donald Trump clenched his fist after being shot in the ear by a sniper eight minutes after taking the stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania

In a move that would produce iconic images that would come to define his candidacy, Trump stood and raised his fist in triumph, waving to his supporters in great relief.

“USA, USA, USA,” the crowd chanted at the sight, while a blood-covered Trump repeatedly said the word “fight” as the Secret Service tried to drive him away.

As he rose from the ground, an officer grabbed a white cloth and held it to Trump’s bleeding ear, telling him, “Put that to your head, it’s bloody.”

“Are you okay?” says a male officer, while another quickly responds, “Shooter down!”

“The shooter is down. Can we move?” says one. “We’re free, we’re free, we’re free – let’s move.”

Trump repeatedly ordered the officers to “get my shoes,” to which one of them responded, “I got you, sir, I got you.”

The gunman was killed by officers shortly after opening fire. Footage surfaced online showing him being shot in the head as he crouched on the roof.

A later image shows Crooks lying lifeless on the roof, surrounded by police officers standing above him.

Several camouflaged police officers emerged from the side of the stage, part of a large police presence that swarmed the area within minutes of the first shot.

At 6:14 p.m., Trump was escorted into his motorcade by about a dozen Secret Service agents, who formed a protective human shield around him.

Before getting into his SUV, Trump raised his fist again to indicate that he had triumphantly survived the assassination attempt.