Following the attack on Donald Trump, which left one member of the public dead and two injured, the Secret Service has been heavily criticized and accused of incompetence and inaction in the event.
Despite the failure to protect the president and the audience, the head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, has announced that she has no plans to resign.
In an interview with ABC, Cheatle called the attack “unacceptable” and “something that shouldn’t happen again”.
– It was obviously a situation that as a Secret Service agent, no one ever wants to occur in their career.
– The buck stops with me. I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary, she continued.
“Very short period of time”
Regarding reports that the shooter was spotted before he opened fire but that the Secret Service did not intervene, she explained that there was a “very short period of time” between the discovery and the shooting.
– Seeking that person out, finding them, identifying them, and eventually neutralizing them took place in a very short period of time, and it makes it very difficult, she says.
According to Cheatle, the building was not secured in advance because “local police” had been given the task and were supposed to be responsible for the “outer perimeter of the building” – something that apparently failed.
She goes on to say that despite the failure and the harsh criticism, she has no plans to resign and believes that the American people should continue to have full confidence in the Secret Service’s ability to protect high-level politicians.
