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2 months ago
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Eric Trump has slammed embattled Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle over the failed assassination attempt on his father.
Cheatle has claimed an agent was not stationed on the roof where gunman Thomas Michael Crooks opened fire because it was sloped and there was a 'safety factor that would be considered'.
She is now facing calls to resign over the massive security failure that enabled crooks to climb onto a building just 140 yards from where the former president was speaking to thousands of fans.
A bullet ripped through Trump's ear and retired fire chief Corey Comperatore was killed in the crowd when Crooks inflicted carnage in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
'My father almost lost his head because of that incompetence,' Eric Trump told Fox News at the Republican convention on Tuesday night.
'My 4-year-old daughter could have walked up that roof. It's infuriating, it's an act of God he survived.'
Eric Trump has slammed embattled Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle over the failed assassination attempt on his father
Eric revealed earlier that he was watching his father's rally with his children when the horror unfolded at 6:11pm on Saturday evening.
He then phoned the former president while he was in the hospital under observation.
The Secret Service has since been under intense scrutiny, and on Tuesday Cheatle suggested there wasn't a presence on the roof - which had a clear sightline to Trump - because of safety concerns.
Cheatle admitted officials planning security for Trump's rally considered the warehouse 147 yards away from where Trump spoke to be a risky position for stationing an agent.
Chilling new details have revealed that a team of local police snipers were inside the building when the 20-year-old Crooks opened fire, shot Trump in the ear and killed a member of the rally crowd.
Eric Trump hugs his father in the private box of the Republican convention, three days after the failed assassination attempt
Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle has come forward with her first interview since the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, blaming a sloped roof as the reason to try to secure the building from the inside
Cheatle is facing calls to resign over the massive security failure that enabled crooks to climb onto a building just 140 yards from where the former president was speaking to thousands of fans
Crooks managed to evade cops and Secret Service three times, even though he had been deemed 'suspicious' and could have been on the roof for up to 30 minutes before he pulled the trigger.
Witnesses also begged law enforcement to act when they saw him clamber onto the roof with his AR-style rifle, but the lapse in security meant he was able to carry out his bid to take the 45th president's life.
The mistakes that led to Trump being inches away from being killed sparked calls for Cheatle to step down, but she has refused and has now given a baffling explanation as to why there wasn't a presence on the roof that had a clear line of sight to Trump.
Ex-FBI special agent Kenneth Gray told DailyMail.com on Monday that the Secret Service 'really screwed up' at the rally on Saturday and that efforts to hire more women in field roles may well have played a role.
The crowd roars as Trump raises his fist alongside son Eric and his running mate J.D. Vance
Republican officials gathering in Milwaukee have been calling for tough scrutiny of the agency even as the feds are implementing tighter security measures around Trump and other protectees.
‘Somebody, somewhere has a really, really a lot of serious questions to have to answer,’ House Judiciary and ‘Weaponization’ committee member Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota told DailyMail.com.
Cheatle's decision to avoid questions until now has also drawn astonishment. She was not present at the initial press conference headed by the FBI.
The probe set up by President Joe Biden after the incident is being overseen by the Justice Department, not Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service.
Police snipers return fire after shots were fired while Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump was speaking at a campaign event
'That speaks volumes,’ former House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz told DailyMail.com.
President Biden was asked by NBC Monday whether he has confidence in the Secret Service.
'I feel safe with the Secret Service. But look ... what we did see was the Secret Service who responded risked their lives responding. They were ready to give their lives for the president. The question is should they have anticipated what happened. Should they have done what they needed to do to prevent this from happening? That's the question that's an open question.'
He didn't respond directly when NBC's Lester Holt asked him if the agency suffered a 'massive security failure.'
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