Biden's Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle faces lawmakers demanding answers on Trump assassination attempt

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will face a barrage of questioning Monday morning as lawmakers seek answers on how the biggest Secret Service breach in four decades took place under her watch. 

The agency head is expected to take full responsibility or the shooting, according to excerpts of her remarks obtained by CNN. 

'The Secret Service's solemn mission is to protect our nation's leaders. On July 13th, we failed,' the director is expected to tell lawmakers.

'As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse.' 

But she's expected the admit the Secret Service still has few answers about what happened. The agency 'must learn what happened and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like July 13th does not happen again. Thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my thoughts.' 

Monday's hearing marks the first time the public will hear extensively about what happened from Cheatle under questioning from the House Oversight Committee. 

Since the July 13 shooting, she's done no press conferences and very few interviews, but has insisted she will not resign. 

Comer said on Fox News Sunday the hearing would go on for six hours and Cheatle would face 'hundreds of questions.' 

'The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a significant budget, but it has now become the face of incompetence,' Comer will say at the hearing, according to his opening remarks obtained by DailyMail.com. 

Last Saturday, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks shot multiple rounds at Donald Trump, clipping his ear, injuring multiple attendees and tragically killing former firefighter Corey Comperatore at the Butler, Pa. rally. 

And last week, lawmakers were given a private briefing by Secret Service where they learned the shooter had been spotted about an hour before he fired his first shot.

Even more troubling, Secret Service counter-snipers saw Crooks on the roof 20 minutes before he shot the former president. 

Trump walked out onto the stage at 6:02 p.m.

Then at around 6:12 p.m. Crooks' first shots rang out.

 Cheatle could not tell lawmakers how the shooter had gotten onto the roof.

At the time of the shooting, law enforcement agents were inside the building, 147 yards away from where Trump stood, but not on top of it. 

Cheatle curiously claimed no officers had been placed on the roof because it was sloped. 

'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,' she told ABC News in an interview Tuesday.

'And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.'

What transpired instead was a security nightmare: Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to scale the building and secure his own position, while law enforcement struggled to locate him even amid pressing warnings from members of the Trump crowd. But there wasn't sufficient time to act on the tips, she explained.

'The shooter was actually identified as a potential person of suspicion,' Cheatle said. '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.'

She was referencing claims by witnesses that they alerted law enforcement about the threat, but agents weren't able to eliminate the threat in time. Officials have pointed to the initial responding officer, who lifted himself up on the roof only to lower himself back when the gunman turned his weapon at him. 

Cheatle has take blame for the fateful security breach, but has denied calls to step down. 

'The buck stops with me,' she said.

'It was unacceptable,' she told ABC. 'And it's something that shouldn't happen again.'

'While we give overwhelming thanks to the individual Secret Service agents who did their jobs under immense pressure, this tragedy was preventable. The Secret Service has a zero fail mission, but it failed on July 13 and in the days leading up to the rally,' Comer is also expected to say, as he will again call for Cheatle's resignation.  

Also coming into question on the call was the possible motive for Crooks to commit such an atrocity.

Officials did not confirm an operating motive and said that his rationale remains a mystery. 

Authorities said that they have yet to find any ideological material that could shine light on why Crooks decided to shoot the former president.

But, they did reveal that Crooks operated several accounts on encrypted platforms that they are still working to gain access to.

Here's a timeline of how that fateful July 11 went down:

1PM

The grounds to the event at Butler Farm Show opened at 1pm.

It began an hours-long build up that saw MAGA supporters immediately pour into the area to camp out.

Security swept the area and set up perimeters, however questions have been raised over how the gunman was able to secure a clear shot just 400ft from the stage.

5PM

An hour before Trump took the stage at approximately 5pm, former GOP Senate candidate Sean Parnell warmed up the crowd, bringing cheers as he slammed President Biden and his stuttering campaign.

With the sun still high on a bright day, Trump emerged to 'God Bless the USA' playing over the loudspeakers at 6:03pm, and remained waving and shaking his fist at the crowd for several minutes.

6:11PM

Trump brought out a large graphic with statistics on the migrant crisis at the southern border, and told the crowd at 6:11pm: 'That chart's a couple of months old...'

'If you want to really see something that's sad, take a look at what happened,' Trump continued - before he abruptly grabbed the side of his head as several 'pops' filled the event space.

6:12PM

The 78-year-old dropped to the floor in an instant as five more shots rang overhead in quick succession, before four Secret Service agents raced to the stage and dove on top of the former president.

Stunning images showed Trump cowered on the floor as agents protected him, with blood dripping down his cheek.

Several more Secret Service agents continued to flood the stage, while four heavily armed officers lined the perimeter ordering attendees to 'get down.'

The sniper, sat 400ft across from the rally on an exposed rooftop, fired another shot at the stage a second later while Trump fans streamed out of the bleachers.

Secret Service scrambled to take control of the pandemonium where three attendees were hit, one fatally, within a matter of seconds.

6:13PM

An emergency room doctor with blood spattered on his shirt later said he sprang into action to perform emergency CPR on one victim.

'The guy had spun around was jammed between the benches and a head shot here. There's lots of blood and he had brain matter,' he told CBS News.

'So I got him together so I got people there really helpful. I did CPR chest compressions as well.'

6:14PM

Microphones surrounding the stage picked up staggering detail of the urgent response, beginning with one ordering screaming people to 'get down, get down, get down.'

At the same moment, snipers set up on a roof next to bleachers were seen firing back at the gunman, with Secret Service agents surrounding Trump heard on microphones confirming the moment he was brought down.

Despite the chaos flying around the scene, the rally appeared to hold its breath to see if Trump was hit.

In a move that sparked iconic images set to define his candidacy, Trump stood up and triumphantly held his fist in the air, pumping it at his supporters to raucous relief.

'USA, USA, USA,' the crowd chanted at the sight, with a blood-spattered Trump appearing to mouth the word 'fight' several times as Secret Service tried to hurry him away.

While getting up off the floor, an agent picked up a white cloth and held it to Trump's bleeding ear, telling him to 'hold that on your head, it's bloody.'

'Are we good?' one male agent says, as another responds quickly: 'Shooter down!'

'Shooter's down. Are we good to move?' one says next. 'We're clear, we're clear, we're clear - let's move.'

Trump repeatedly ordered the agents to 'let me get my shoes', to which one responds: 'I got you sir, I got you.'

The gunman was killed by agents shortly after opening fire, as footage emerged online showing him appear to be shot in the head while crouched on the roof. 

Crooks was seen laying lifeless on the rooftop in a later image, surrounded by law enforcement stood over him.  

A number of camouflaged law enforcement officers emerged from the side of the stage, part of a huge law enforcement presence that flooded the area within minutes of the first shot was fired. 

At 6:14pm, Trump was whisked into his motorcade by around dozen Secret Service agents, who formed a protective human shield around him. 

Before he got into his SUV, Trump again raised his fist to signify triumphantly surviving the assassination attempt.