During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday, Representative Pat Fallon (R-TX) delivered a scathing rebuke of Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle’s handling of a critical security incident, implying her incompetence was so severe that she should return to guarding snack chips instead of the President.
Rep. Fallon questioned Cheatle about her absence from the crucial security site, highlighting that she had not visited it even nine days after the incident.
He also revealed that Cheatle had not communicated with the on-ground security team until three days after the incident, an unacceptable delay.
Rep. Fallon questioned Cheatle’s understanding of basic security protocols, accusing her of ignorance and incompetence in managing her team and securing critical structures.
Cheatle had previously stated that the building from which the shooter attempted to assassinate President Trump was outside the security perimeter, which was only about 150 yards away.
He blasted Cheatle for not positioning counter-snipers on a key roof due to its slope, despite using steeper locations elsewhere, highlighting the inconsistency.
Cheatle’s responses were vague, indicating she did not have a clear timeline of her actions during the crisis.
Here’s a transcript of the exchange:
Rep. Pat Fallon: What is telling is it is chilling. We have satellite images from the Butler Fairgrounds. Have you visited the site?
Cheatle: No, I have not.
Rep. Pat Fallon: Nine days, and you have not visited the site. You should have been there that night. That evening. Did you talk to the team, the heroes that surrounded the President? Did you call them that night?
Cheatle: They were still operational working.
Rep. Pat Fallon: So that’s the answer. No. Did you call them the next day?
Cheatle: Yes, I spoke with-
Rep. Pat Fallon: You called them the very next day, not the day of. Or was it 72 hours after?
Cheatle: I don’t know the timeline, but I spoke with them immediately following.
Rep. Pat Fallon: Okay, because you’re under oath. I think it was 72 hours after… you waited three days.
Rep. Pat Fallon: What is immediately clear is that there are a number of structures that need to be secured. Of these, Director, other than the first immediate four, what’s the most dangerous site that should have been secured? Because you know, Security 101, you got to mitigate the high ground.
Cheatle: Yes.
Rep. Pat Fallon: Okay. Do you know what the next most dangerous site? What was the closest structure to the President, other than the four immediate ones that you had your counter-sniper teams on?
Cheatle: There are a number of structures around that event site.
Rep. Pat Fallon: The shooter knew. The shooter has visited the site two more times than you have. And he had a drone, and he picked the AGR building.
Rep. Pat Fallon: So, you said, do you remember in an ABC interview you did that you didn’t have people on the roof of the AGR building ‘cause you were worried about safety… because of the slope?
Cheatle: I recall that statement.
Rep. Pat Fallon: Does the Secret Service have a written policy you can share with us about slope roofs?
Cheatle: No.
Rep. Pat Fallon: Okay. So, why did you act like there was one? Because isn’t it your practice to comment on events of enormous national implications when you’re ignorant of the facts? That’s rhetorical. So here’s this thing with the slopes. You go all the way up to 18:12, you can go to a 1:12, which is about as flat as you can get without it being completely flat. And you’re saying that there was a danger, a safety concern there.
But the problem is, Director, you put your counter-snipers on a 3:12 roof, which is steeper than the 1:12. And by the way, the 1:12 is ADA-compliant. You can build a ramp for a wheelchair on a 1:12 roof. So these are nothing but pathetic excuses, and they make no sense, and they’re a bunch of cow dung. All the law enforcement I’ve spoken with over the last nine days are amazed that the AGR rooftop was not secure. You want to know why? Because it’s dangerous.
Rep. Pat Fallon: I have never had any long gun training in my life. I own an AR-15, and the last time I shot it, I shot it one time, my whole life, it was six years. That is until Saturday, where we recreated the events in Savoy, Texas, where we recreated what happened up there.
I was lying prone on a sloped roof at 130 yards at 6:30 at night. And I knew that he had a scope, but I didn’t know what kind, red dot, or magnified. So I shot eight rounds from both. You know what the result was? Fifteen out of sixteen kill shots! And the one I missed would have hit the President’s ear. That’s a 94% success rate! And that shooter was a better shot than me!
It is a miracle President Trump wasn’t killed. Cory Campanatore’s life is over because that damn shooter made it on the roof. And it wasn’t the roof that was dangerous. It was a nut job on top of the roof. You know what else is dangerous? I believe your horrifying ineptitude and your lack of skilled leadership is a disgrace. Your obfuscating today is shameful, and you should be fired immediately and go back to guarding Doritos.
Watch:
Holy Crap… Rep. Fallon Just Buried Cheatle…
— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) July 22, 2024
• Cheatle still hasn’t visited the site after 9 days
• She spoke to the agents involved 3 days after
• The Secret Service Counter Snipers were on a Sloped Roof steeper than the shooters
• He recreated the event and got killshots… pic.twitter.com/qecbTiU4uB
