Ex-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle before she resigned on Tuesday said during a congressional hearing the day before that the service was “still looking into” who was responsible for providing overwatch for the building used by the Trump shooter.
“What I can tell you is that there was a plan in place to provide overwatch and we are still looking into responsibilities and who was going to provide overwatch,” Cheatle said on Monday to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY).
Cheatle also told Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), “There was overwatch provided for that rooftop.”
When he asked, “Did overwatch fail?” she responded, “I am waiting to hear what the results of the investigation were so that I can identify where the failures were.”
She refused to provide the names of those who were responsible for the overwatch.
“I’m not going to provide their names in this setting,” she said.
Cheatle’s lack of answers infuriated both Republican and Democrat lawmakers, who then called for her resignation. She refused to consider resigning during the hearing, but did so the next morning.
The Secret Service is in charge of planning the overall security plan for protectees, but will normally rely on and delegate specific areas to local law enforcement for campaign or other remote events. The Secret Service has confirmed that it placed the building the alleged shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, used to target former President Donald Trump outside its perimeter.
It is not clear yet who had responsibility for overwatch of the building used by the shooter, but it has been reported that Butler County Emergency Services Unit (ESU) — equivalent to a SWAT team — had stationed personnel inside the building, including police snipers, according to the Beaver Countian.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) released preliminary findings on Sunday that suggest Butler County ESU did not include the building inside its security perimeter.
However, on Monday, after Cheatle’s testimony, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) revealed that whistleblowers told him that law enforcement personnel were stationed to the roof that day but had “abandoned it, citing the heat.” They added that law enforcement were supposed to patrolling the building, but opted to stay inside instead.
NEW - Whistleblowers tell me law enforcement personnel were in fact STATIONED to the roof the day of the Trump rally, but abandoned it, citing the heat. They also say law enforcement were supposed to be patrolling the building, but opted to stay inside instead pic.twitter.com/aIVNSPHUF6
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 22, 2024
A former Secret Service agent told Breitbart News said that if local law enforcement was stationed inside the building, it would be responsible for securing the entire building, including the roof.
According to Johnson’s preliminary findings, a Butler County ESU sniper had spotted Crooks from inside the building at 5:10 p.m. and took pictures of him at 5:14 p.m. He said that although he did not have a weapon, he seemed “suspicious.” The sniper took at least two photos of Crooks. It is not stated in the report what he did with those photos.
According to the findings, at 5:32 p.m., the sniper saw Crooks again, and “shortly after,” reported him to a group text of other law enforcement snipers on site, and was instructed to report the suspect to command.
At 5:41 p.m., the sniper called into command to report the suspect, and at 5:45 p.m. the sniper texted the Beaver ESU Group Command about the suspect and instructed them to relay the message to command. At 5:59 p.m., a Beaver County law enforcement operator received confirmation from a Butler County SWAT commander that the command — which included Secret Service — was made aware of the messages and requested more information about the suspect’s location.
The gunman would open fire approximately 13 minutes later.
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