Republicans climb onto roof where gunman Donald Trump opened fire as they mercilessly mock Secret Service director for ‘slanted’ apology

House Republicans have released stunning new footage from atop the roof where Donald Trump’s gunman opened fire, showing just how easily accessible the location was.

While Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle dodged questions from Congress on Monday during a hearing into the near-assassination of Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, several leading Republicans were busy investigating the crime scene.

“I’m standing right where the shooter was,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) said as he stood on the roof of the building where 20-year-old Thomas Crooks shot Trump.

“As you can see, I’m a 70-year-old man and this roof is not that big of a problem,” he said, in an apparent rejection of Cheatle’s excuse that no Secret Service agents were stationed on the building because of its “slope.”

“So if someone tells me that the Secret Service couldn’t have been here, that’s crazy,” he said as he filmed the vantage point. “You can see you have a clear line to the president. It’s not a hard shot.”

Cheatle repeated her bizarre excuse for not placing Secret Service agents on the roof where Gimenez stood during her testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Monday.

The director explained that no officers were stationed at the location because the agency generally “prefers sterile roofs.”

“When we want to do surveillance, whether through anti-sniper operations or other technology, we prefer to have sterile roofs,” Cheatle said.

Cheatle initially declined to say whether officers had been on the roof that day or whether police had used drones to investigate the crime scene, much to the grumbling of committee members.

The videos Gimenez posted are just one of many videos Republican lawmakers posted on Monday.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) also posted video from the rooftop.

“I’m standing right where the suspect, the sniper, the shooter was,” McCaul said in a video posted to X. “You can see the tree blocking the Secret Service from the roof of the first house.”

“But the second house, you see that white roof? That’s where the anti-sniper team was able to take him out, right where I’m standing,” he said, pointing toward the buildings behind the podium where Trump spoke and where Secret Service agents were stationed.

“But the fact is he should never have been here in the first place.”

“That’s way too close to the president of the United States,” he said, criticizing the way Crooks was able to get so close to the former president.

Another video posted by Rep. Eli Crane, Republican of Arizona, a former Navy SEAL, shows a video in which he claims the Secret Service was able to spot Crooks on the roof.

“This video was taken from one of the windows the Secret Service had access to, overlooking the entire roof,” Crane wrote in a video posted to X on Monday.

“As you can see, they had full coverage.”

“You have to wonder how they gave the shooter access to the roof, let alone crawl up on it and fire multiple shots,” he continued.

The Secret Service did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for clarification on whether the agency actually had access to the window in Crane’s video.

During Monday’s hearing, Cheatle would not tell lawmakers how the shooter got onto the roof or how many shots he fired.

This frustrated legislators who thought she would provide answers to questions they considered fundamental.

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.

Cheatle could not answer questions about how many officers were on the ground, how the shooter got onto the roof, how many shots were fired, how many casings were found, what the shooter’s motive was and other questions from lawmakers.

“You’re not talking shit today,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., shouted at Cheatle when the Secret Service chief didn’t know if the agency had provided evidence to the committee. “You’re just being completely dishonest.”

The South Carolina Republican also slammed the director for not delivering her opening statement ahead of the hearing, even though it had been published in several news outlets hours before she testified.

The director said, “I have no idea how my statement was distributed,” to which Mace sternly replied, “That’s nonsense.”

But Cheatle wasn’t just being lambasted by Republicans.

“You can’t run a Secret Service agency when there’s an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate!” the incredulous Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told Cheatle during his hearing.

“I believe, Director Cheatle, that you should resign. I think there are colleagues on both sides of the aisle who feel that way, and I hope you will consider it.”

During the conversation, Cheatle sat quietly playing with a writing utensil, keeping a somber expression on her face and occasionally looking down and then up at the lawmaker speaking to her.

Evidence that the hearing did not go well for the director was that the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., joined Comer — the top Republican — in calling for Cheatle’s resignation, closing the event.

Yet Cheatle has repeatedly refused to step down.

Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) was so fed up with Cheatle’s lack of answers and deception during the e-mail that she called for the Secret Service director to be charged with perjury.

“It’s very frustrating … that you guys are here and essentially preventing us from getting answers to the American people.”

“No member of Congress feels safe with you in power,” Luna continued.