Secret Service Director Cheatle Blames ‘Sloped Roof’ for Security Failure

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle sat down with ABC News for her first interview after the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Saturday.

Speaking with ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas on Monday, Cheatle said that the Secret Service’s performance was “unacceptable.”

“And it’s something that shouldn’t happen again,” she told Thomas.

Cheatle said that after learning about the assassination attempt, she was concerned and shocked for the former president and her agents who responded to the incident.

“It was obviously a situation that as a Secret Service agent, no one ever wants to occur in their career,” she said.

Being the head of the Secret Service, Cheatle said that she is aware that she has a responsibility to determine how the incident could have occurred and to ensure that it will not happen again.

“The buck stops with me. I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary,” said Cheatle.

When questioned about multiple witnesses seeing the shooter minutes before he opened fire, she claimed that there was a “very short period of time” that had passed between that moment and the shooting.

“Seeking that person out, finding them, identifying them, and eventually neutralizing them took place in a very short period of time, and it makes it very difficult,” she said.

She then shifted the blame on local law enforcement, stating that it was their job to secure the building that Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to shoot from. She confirmed that officers had entered that same building as he was on the roof.

“In this particular instance, we did share support for that particular site and that the Secret Service was responsible for the inner perimeter,” she said. “And then we sought assistance from our local counterparts for the outer perimeter. There was local police in that building — there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building.”

She also reported that agents did not guard the roof because it was slanted.

“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,” she said.

Cheatle comes under scrutiny as details of the events surrounding the assassination attempt have began to surface. The New York Post reported that a local police officer confronted Crooks on the roof, about 30 minutes before he began shooting. Once contact was made, Crooks pointed his rifle at the officer, causing him to retreat.

After the officer fled, Crooks fired at least eight rounds off, which hit Trump and three others, killing one.

Local law enforcement blamed the Secret Service, saying that they usually call the shots when it comes to certain situations.

“Secret Service always has the lead on securing something like this,” said Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens.

Nonetheless, Cheatle admitted that they failed to place agents near the roof, knowing that it was a vulnerable spot.