Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle was protected by her own agents after angry U.S. senators chased her through the halls of the RNC, demanding she explain how a gunman was able to target Donald Trump.
Cheatle was in Milwaukee’s Congressional Hall on Wednesday night to oversee security measures, just hours after he placed a phone call to senators on Saturday night to voice their dismay over the Pennsylvania shooting.
Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee led the chase, complaining that they did not have a chance to ask Cheatle their questions during the phone call.
“You almost killed him,” Barrasso shouted at Cheatle. “So resign or full explanation.”
The chase continued down a hallway and up a flight of stairs, before finally ending when Cheatle ran to the bathroom and her security detail denied her pursuers access.
Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee chased the Secret Service chief across the conference room after she refused to answer their questions
Speaking to ABC News, Cheatle bizarrely claimed that there were no Secret Service snipers on the roof Thomas Crooks used in his attempted assassination of Donald Trump because the roof was “too sloped.”
Senator Blackburn later posted a video of the incident.
Barrasso and Blackburn said afterward that they were not happy with what they heard on the conference call with Cheatle and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
They said they were both still standing in line to ask their questions when the briefing ended.
“We were trying to figure out what had happened, how the shooter could have been on the roof by himself and still fired the shots,” said Barrasso, who described the phone briefing as a “cover call.”
Republican Senators James Lankford of Oklahoma and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota also joined the hunt for the intelligence chief.
“She ran up a flight of stairs and we were with her,” Barrasso said. “And it appears she then went into a ladies’ room and her own security closed the door and blocked it.”
Cheatle has been under mounting 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, from where Crooks was shooting, she decided to secure the building from the inside.
The chase continued up a staircase and only ended when Cheatle locked herself in a bathroom and her own security detail denied the pursuing senators access.
He was seen with blood on his face on Saturday
Trump was shot in the ear about 10 minutes after he took the stage
Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman who opened fire on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday
“That building in particular has a sloping roof at the highest point,” she claimed.
‘So there is a safety factor that needs to be taken into account. For example, we don’t want someone standing on a sloping roof.
“And so it was decided to secure the building from the inside,” she added.
Cheatle’s decision allowed Crooks to evade police and the Secret Service three times, despite being considered a “suspect” and possibly having been on the roof for as long as 30 minutes before pulling the trigger.
Witnesses also pleaded with police to intervene when they saw him climb onto the roof with his AR rifle, but the lack of security allowed him to carry out his attempt to end the 45th president’s life.
Four sources close to President Biden’s family, including people who had contact with Cheatle during the Obama-Biden administration, told the New York Post that she was well-liked by the future first lady and her top advisers, including her top adviser Anthony Bernal.
“Cheatle was part of Dr. Biden’s second lady department and Anthony has strengthened her position,” a Democratic Party insider said.
“I heard Anthony put her forward as an option when she was being considered for the director position,” another source said.
Republicans seeking to question Cheatle have already focused on her own background.
Before being appointed by President Biden in 2022, she worked at PepsiCo as senior director of Global Security.
She worked for 25 years at the agency and in the Vice Presidential Protective Division.
Cheatle’s claims were heavily criticized when it was noted that the snipers positioned on the left building were also positioned on a sloped roof, behind Trump’s podium, while Crooks was on the right building
Secret Service shot at photo during Saturday’s rally on a sloping roof near where Trump gave his speech
Police officers stand on a roof near the body of Thomas Matthews Crooks on Saturday, near the Trump rally
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Ky.) called her a “diversity asset” on Fox News.
“You know she was at Pepsi before that. 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 called for tighter scrutiny of the agency as the federal government implements stricter security measures for Trump and others protected.
“Somebody, somewhere, really needs to answer a lot of serious questions,” Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota, a member of the House Judiciary and Armaments Committee, told DailyMail.com.
Cheatle’s decision to avoid questions so far has also been surprising. She did not attend the first FBI-led news conference.
The investigation launched by President Joe Biden after the incident is being led by the Justice Department, not Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service.
“That speaks volumes,” Jason Chaffetz, former chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told DailyMail.com.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said last night that his boss “has no intention of resigning” when asked about her efforts through the RNC.
“She has great respect for the members of Congress and is deeply committed to transparency in the conduct of the Secret Service during the internal investigation and to strengthening the service through the lessons learned during these important internal and external reviews,” he added.