Secret Service’s Cheatle Doubles Down, Will Not Resign Despite Agents Knowing of Threat Before Trump Took Stage
by Kristina Wong
A Secret Service briefing on Wednesday to senators revealed the agency had identified Matthew Thomas Crooks as a “threat” 10 minutes before former President Donald Trump took the stage and was almost assassinated.
The revelation prompted fresh calls for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign. Cheatle doubled down against resigning in a statement after the briefing. The statement read:
Continuity of operations is paramount during a critical incident and U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has no intentions to step down. She deeply respects members of Congress and is fiercely committed to transparency in leading the Secret Service through the internal investigation and strengthening the agency through lessons learned in these important internal and external reviews.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) revealed some of those details in a post after the briefing, which was conducted for all 100 senators via telephone and included Cheatle and FBI Director Christopher Wray. He posted on X:
This was a 100% cover-your-ass briefing. He was identified as being suspicious one hour before the shooting. He had a range finder and a backpack. The Secret Service lost sight of him.
No one has taken responsibility. No one has been held responsible.
Someone has died. The President was almost killed. The head of the Secret Service needs to go.