Rep Andy Harris calls on Secret Service director to resign after near assassination of Trump
Fox News
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., is calling on U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign from her post, following the failed detail that was in place when a man attempted to assassinate former President Trump.
Cheatle acknowledged during an interview with ABC News on Monday that “the Secret Service is responsible for the protection of the former president,” adding, “the buck stops with me.”
“The responsibility of the Secret Service is to make sure that that venue was safe,” Harris told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “Obviously, this venue was not safe. Obviously, they didn’t have adequate communication with the local law enforcement. And the buck does stop with her. She should take full responsibility, and that’s why I’ve asked that she tender her resignation.”
Harris is a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, which is responsible for funding the operations of the Secret Service.
On Saturday, Thomas Matthew Crooks somehow reached the rooftop of a building in Butler, Pennsylvania, used to stage a tactical team overseeing a presidential rally for Trump.
As Trump spoke to the Pennsylvania crowd, shots rang out from on top of the building, and one of the bullets grazed his right ear.
The Secret Service has since taken strong criticism for allowing the shooter to have a clear line of sight of the president from about 150 yards away.
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Harris said he first heard about the shooting in a text from his wife, and the two of them searched for any news they could, to find out what happened.
Days have passed since the shooting, and Harris said the news he is hearing is “not very flattering” to the law enforcement officials and Secret Service.
Secret Service sources have confirmed that local law enforcement officers were stationed inside the AGR building while Crooks was on the roof. During her interview with ABC News, Cheatle said a decision was made not to put officers on the roof because it was sloped “at its highest point.”
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“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,” Cheatle said.
Multiple law enforcement experts have told Fox News that it is ultimately the Secret Service’s decision whether a particular building is put within the security perimeter. The Secret Service also makes the final call on how to protect a building that has a line of sight to a protectee.
“Obviously, the sniper didn’t think it was too steep, or the angle was too acute,” Harris said. “I think at this point, honestly, I’m disappointed in her response. It sounds like she’s making excuses.”
Harris also said, “The facts speak for themselves.”
“The fact that the president was almost assassinated, you know, in a venue where numerous experts have looked at it and said this should never have happened, means that she should take responsibility,” the congressional representative said. “She should resign, even as the investigation goes forward because we have to find a director of the Secret Service… [who would take] her or his role in protecting the former president as well as any other protectee, much more seriously.”
Fox News’ Jake Gibson and David Spunt contributed to this report.