A series of Secret Service blunders at a deadly Donald Trump rally Saturday — including slow response times, curiously out-of-position sniper teams and the questionable delegation of key security responsibilities — has put the agency and its head, the Biden-appointed Kimberly Cheatle, at the center of a growing firestorm in Washington.
A gunman perched on a rooftop opened fire at the Pennsylvania rally, killing one rallygoer, seriously wounding two others and bloodying Mr. Trump when a bullet grazed his right ear.
In the days since, revelations about the Secret Service’s handling of security leading up to the event and during the attack have spurred lawmakers in both parties to demand explanations. Some Republicans have called for a shake-up at the Secret Service.
Republicans on Tuesday accused the Biden administration of stonewalling lawmakers’ investigations into how 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, armed with a high-powered rifle, evaded security and got close enough to fire a bullet at the former president.
The would-be assassin was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper moments after he fired eight bullets at the stage where Mr. Trump was speaking.
Eyewitnesses who have spoken to reporters since Saturday have openly questioned how Crooks’ suspicious behavior — pacing outside metal detectors and openly using a range finder — leading up to the shooting could have gone unnoticed by law enforcement.
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Ms. Cheatle struggled to explain this week how the gunman was able to clamber atop the building where police snipers had been positioned inside instead of on the roof.
“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,” Ms. Cheatle told ABC News on Monday. “And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building from inside.”
Some of those police snipers were ordered to stay inside the building because the rooftop vantage point was deemed “unsafe.”
“Imagine that a twenty year old with no training outsmarted the best security in the world,” Rep. Tim Burchett, Tennessee Republican, said Tuesday on X.
Mr. Burchett, a member of the Republican-led House Oversight and Reform Committee, is one of the lawmakers pushing for the removal of Ms. Cheatle.
He is joined by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican and fellow oversight committee member, who also asked for details on reports that the agency ramped up security over the weekend to prevent an assassination plot from a foreign adversary.
The Secret Service boosted its presence at the Butler County, Pennsylvania, rally after officials received intelligence that Iran was looking to kill Mr. Trump, according to CNN. The network said law enforcement has found no link between Crooks’ attempted assassination and the Iranian plot.
The agency was supposed to have a closed-door briefing Tuesday with the oversight committee, but a spokeswoman for the committee said the Department of Homeland Security stepped in and refused to honor the requested meeting.
The spokeswoman said the committee will subpoena Ms. Cheatle if Homeland Security tries to cancel next week’s planned hearing with the Secret Service director.
Ms. Cheatle, who will also speak to the House Homeland Security Committee next week, is expected to answer for some of her head-scratching security decisions, such as leaving snipers off a roof overlooking the rally.
The three police countersnipers stationed inside the building reportedly spotted Crooks acting suspiciously well before he took aim at Mr. Trump.
Crooks initially walked up to the building and looked at its roof, according to a local law enforcement source who spoke with CBS News.
The gunman then returned and pulled out a range finder to determine the distance from the rally stage. The source said that was when one of the snipers radioed to command about Crooks’ behavior.
The assailant walked out of sight a third time only to return again with a backpack. The law enforcement source said the snipers radioed for backup and told command that Crooks was walking toward the rear of the building.
Minutes later, Crooks opened fire on the crowd more than 150 yards away.
Bystanders also called police about Crooks’ behavior. Pittsburgh NBC affiliate WPXI reported that law enforcement was alerted roughly 30 minutes before the first shot rang out.
Two Butler Township police officers responded to the scene after multiple people reported a suspicious man pacing near the rally’s metal detectors, according to a law enforcement source who spoke with The Associated Press.
One of the officers hoisted the other so he could scan the building’s roof. When Crooks noticed the officer, he turned around and pointed his gun at the officer.
Butler Township Manager Tom Knights said the officer lost his grip and fell 8 feet to the ground, injuring his ankle.
“He was literally dangling from the edge of a building and took the defensive position he needed to at that time. He couldn’t hold himself up,” Mr. Knights told AP.
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe defended the officer’s reaction. He said the officer couldn’t grab his gun in that situation.
“I think all law enforcement on site did everything that they could, especially the local law enforcement,” Sheriff Slupe told AP. “I hope they’re not made a scapegoat because they did their job to the best of their abilities.”
The Secret Service, Pennsylvania State Police and about a dozen local police officers and sheriff’s deputies provided security for the rally.
Ms. Cheatle said Monday that local police were inside the building while the gunman was on the roof.
She said local authorities were responsible for securing the building.
Sheriff Slupe said in a separate interview that securing the building wasn’t his department’s responsibility.
“In this particular instance, we did share support for that particular site and that the Secret Service was responsible for the inner perimeter,” Ms. Cheatle told ABC News. “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.”
Ms. Cheatle, who took over the agency’s top job in 2022, said she wouldn’t step down from her role despite the failure.
Crooks’ motive still eludes investigators.
Little insight was gained from the gunman’s phone Monday, and Crooks’ internet search history was mostly about computer coding and gaming, according to law enforcement sources who spoke with CNN.
No strong political or ideological leanings were uncovered in interviews with Crooks’ family, sources said, and his parents told investigators that he didn’t seem to have any friends.
Authorities found a remote control detonator on his body that was connected to a bundle of explosives in the trunk of his car.
Even more confounding, sources told CNN, is that investigators have no clue how he assembled the explosive devices. Authorities haven’t found any evidence that Crooks, who worked at a nursing home, researched how to make homemade explosives.
The FBI said another makeshift explosive device was found at his home in Bethel Park, about an hour away from the rally location.
“Over the last several months, Crooks received several packages, including some marked as possibly containing hazardous material, according to a review of his shipping history,” the FBI said in a bulletin.
The day before he tried to take Mr. Trump’s life, Crooks practiced his shooting Friday at the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club near Pittsburgh.
Crooks and his father are both members of the gun club. The gun range has targets up to 200 yards away.
On Saturday, the gunman bought a ladder from Home Depot and purchased 50 rounds of ammunition from a gun store.
Crooks then drove an hour from his home to the Butler Farm Show grounds, where he opened fire on the event.
Killed in the gunfire was Corey Comperatore, 50, a former fire chief for the Buffalo Township in Pennsylvania.
Gov. Josh Shapiro said Mr. Comperatore died shielding his family from the hail of bullets.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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