By Marlyn Montilla
16 Jul 2024, 15:40 PM EDT
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has taken responsibility for Saturday’s assassination of former President Donald Trump in an interview on ABC, saying she will remain in office.
The leader called the attempted assassination of the Republican and now official presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania, where one of the attendees died, “unacceptable,” declaring that it is her job to investigate what happened and ensure that it does not happen again.
“I take responsibility. I am the head of the Secret Service, and I have to make sure that we conduct an investigation and that we provide resources to our personnel when necessary,” Cheatle said, although she said she will not resign, as critics have demanded.
Cheatle said in a statement that the Secret Service is working with federal, state and local agencies on their investigations into the attack and said it will play a full role in the independent investigations announced by President Joe Biden.
Questioned about the investigation, she said that local authorities were in charge of securing the building outside the security perimeter, from whose roof she shot Thomas Crooks, who was shot dead, and confirmed that local police were inside the building while the shooter was on the roof.
In addition, regarding the possible identification of Crooks as a suspect before he opened fire on Trump, he noted that “searching for that person, finding him, identifying him and eventually neutralizing him took place in a very short period of time, and that makes it very difficult.”
Cheatle, who is facing intense scrutiny and is due to testify before Congress on July 22, said in her statement that she has “confidence in the Secret Service’s enhanced security plan” for the Republican National Committee in Milwaukee, where the convention is being held.
He also stressed that the Secret Service reinforced the former president’s bodyguards in June and that, after the attack, it has made “changes” to guarantee his protection during the RNC convention, where Trump’s candidacy was made official and his running mate, JD Vance, was announced, and during the rest of the campaign.
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