
(FeaturedHeadlines.com) – The Secret Service faces an unprecedented reputation crisis following their failure to protect former President Donald Trump from a gunman who, in broad daylight, climbed up a roof with a rifle and took a shot at him, despite the agency’s snipers having a clear view of the shooter from another roof.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and former Secret Service agents are calling out the agency’s approach towards the whole shooting episode.
Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego emphasized that Congress should summon anyone responsible for planning and approving the security details of Trump’s rally.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is set to testify in front of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on July 22, where she is likely to face tough questions from bipartisan lawmakers who have raised concerns about the effectiveness of such a veteran force. She can be grilled on various issues like whether the agency discussed ways to access the rooftop where the shooter was present and if there was any internal communication about preventing access to that roof.
Cheatle stated that her agency did not place snipers on the roof from where the attacker shot Trump because it was sloped, but the presence of Secret Service snipers on another sloped roof has raised many eyebrows.
After the rally, both the Secret Service and local police reportedly blamed each other for the security breach, but Cheatle has now admitted that the Secret Service was “solely responsible” for planning and executing the security plan at the rally site. This acknowledgment has put the director in further trouble, as House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise have asked her to resign, with Johnson announcing a special Congressional task force to investigate the incident.
Critics are also slamming the Secret Service for failing to learn its lessons from the 1963 assassination of then-President John F. Kennedy, who was also shot from a heightened structure, which was a building in that case.
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