In an interview with ABC News in which she took responsibility for security failures at former President Donald Trump's rally but said she would not resign, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said the agency did not place agents on the roof where the assailant was because the structure was “slanted.”
When asked why Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman (who was killed at the scene), was able to climb to a rooftop with a great view of the theater or why there were no agents there, Cheatle replied that the structure had a ramp at its highest point and that it was considered a “safety factor” when the decision was made not to place an agent there.
“This particular building has a sloping roof at the highest point, and so, you know, there's a safety factor that's going to be taken into account there, where we don't want to put someone on a sloping roof, and so, you know, the decision was made to protect the building from the inside,” the director said.
The Secret Service has been heavily criticized for security lapses during Trump's rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday (13), in which the former president and two others were injured and one attendee was shot dead by Crooks.
President Joe Biden has ordered an independent investigation into the matter, and the US House of Representatives and Senate have opened investigations.
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