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Trump spoke with Secret Service Director Cheatle, wants to know how hired-assassin got on roof

Trump spoke with Secret Service Director Cheatle, wants to know how hired-assassin got on roof
Donald J. Trump

Former President Trump and his 2024 running mate, J.D. Vance, gave their first joint interview with Fox News anchor Jesse Watters on Monday following the attempted assassination of the Republican nominee at a protest in Butler, Pennsylvania, last week.

Trump told "Jesse Waters Primetime" that Secret Service Director Kimberly Chittle came to see him a few days after the assassination. “It went very well, I think. But you know, there should have been someone making sure no one was on that roof.”

Secret Service Agents Director Kimberly Chittle
Image Credit: AP News (Rod Lamkey, JR)

Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks fired several shots at the former president from the roof of a building about 130 yards away. Investigators are trying to figure out how the 20-year-old could have such a clear view of Trump.

Witness Michael DiFrischia photographed Crooks lying on the roof of the American Glass Research building, looking through the scope of an AR-style rifle.

“I saw a kid running through the crowd and someone spoke up and said he had a gun,” DiFrischia told The Ingraham Angle last week.

Who is Thomas Matthew Crooks? What we know about the Trump suspect He added: “The problem is that the police are very close to the building. They can't see it." “We tried to tell them it was there, it was there, but they couldn't see it.” Other witnesses said they tried to warn officers about the shooter before the shooter opened fire, wounding Trump's ear, killing former Pennsylvania Fire Chief Corey Comperatore and wounding David Dutch and James Copenhagen. Trump told Waters that he was surprised by how close Crocs was. “They said it was a very bad shot and it usually hit the target. And I mean there has to be, there has to be someone there. It is basically a flat roof.

"I mean, I noticed she [Chettle] said, 'Well, it's a pitched roof, like you're leaning against a warehouse, where you have this thing with a little bit of a couple of degrees of elevation. It's not like that — it's basically a flat roof.'

The building where the shooting suspect was staying had a "sloping roof at the highest point," Cheatle told ABC News last week.

“So, you know, there's a safety factor to consider here, which is we don't want to put someone on a cliff,” she said. Trump said he believed Chittle was "misinformed" when she stated that the slope of the roof was the reason there were no Secret Service agents on top of the building.

The 2024 Republican nominee questioned why he was not asked to leave the stage five to 20 minutes before he walked out and began speaking if there were concerns about a potential threat. “You have to answer why can't I leave the stage for five minutes while they're doing their thing? Why not, you know, how could there be a situation where the ceiling could be clearly seen from where I was talking... Why didn't anyone see that? " Asked. Chittle appeared at the Capitol on Monday to answer questions about the security failures that nearly led to the assassination of a former president.

She acknowledged that the attempt to assassinate Trump was the most serious operational failure of the Secret Service in decades. Two prominent members of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. D. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, and Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, called for Chittle’s resignation in a letter after her testimony, saying she

“failed to answer the fundamental questions surrounding this stunning operational failure and to reassure the American people that the Secret Service has learned from its mistakes and has begun to correct its mistakes and failures because of its systemic nature.” Trump praised the actions of Secret Service agents who rushed to cover him after gunfire rang out at his rally. He told Watters that his ear was healing and improving.

“We move to small dressings. But it's a terrible job. This is bad business. Exactly a week ago today. And you know, when you think about it, a lot of ground has been covered."

“Who-who would have thought this would happen? But it did.” And I was so lucky, or oh my God, I really think it was God.

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