Secret Service Director Gives Unhinged Reason For Why Roof Wasn't Secure
Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle has an all-time stupid explanation for why nobody was on the roof Donald Trump's would-be assassin fired from.
Thomas Matthew Crooks fired multiple shots at former President Trump and hit him once in the ear during an attempted assassination this past Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania. Crooks was killed by counter-snipers who immediately engaged him.
One of the biggest questions surrounding the failed assassination is how Crooks was able to get up on a roof with a clean shot at the Republican nominee and former POTUS.
The Secret Service's explanation? The roof was sloped.
Secret Service explains why nobody was on the roof.
Instead of securing the roof with people on it, the decision was made to secure it from the ground because the roof had a slope to it, according to Cheatle. A sloped roof is the reason for why a bullet nearly hit Trump clean in the skull, according to the USSS.
"That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. 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. And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside," Cheatle told ABC News when explaining why the roof was empty, according to Fox News.
Not securing a roof because it's sloped makes no sense at all. It even makes less sense when you realize the roof one of the sniper teams was on was also sloped. How did things escalate so quickly without intervention? Cheatle also explained her opinion of how that was allowed to happen.
![](http://images.outkick.com/static.outkick.com/www.outkick.com/content/uploads/2024/07/668/376/GettyImages-2161922065.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt over the weekend. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
"I'm being told that the shooter was actually identified as a potential person of suspicion. Units started responding to seek that individual out. Unfortunately, with the rapid succession of how things unfolded, by the time that individual was eventually located, they were on the rooftop and were able to fire off at the former president," the Secret Service director told ABC News.
All the way around, it's a shocking level of failure. Not securing a roof because it's sloped is mind-bogglingly stupid. If that's true, then you need the building surrounded by law enforcement officers. Not officers inside the building. Officers outside the building.
Now, I understand taking a little time to figure out if a man has binoculars or something else, but that has nothing to do with the roof. Imagine if Trump had died. Imagine if Donald Trump had been assassinated because the USSS said a sloped roof wasn't safe to secure.
It's an excuse that is simply unacceptable.
![](http://images.outkick.com/static.outkick.com/www.outkick.com/content/uploads/2024/07/668/376/GettyImages-2161356025-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Secret Service director claims roof Trump was shot at from was unsecure because it was sloped. (Photo by REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images)
What do you think about the excuse from the USSS? Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.