Calls from Republicans mounted on Wednesday for the head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, to be replaced in the wake of the failure to prevent Donald Trump being shot last weekend, as fresh reports emerged that the gunman had aroused suspicions a considerable time before he took aim at the former president from a rooftop.
Mitch McConnell, the minority leader of the US Senate, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “The nation deserves answers and accountability. New leadership at the Secret Service would be an important step in that direction.”
He also said the “near-assassination of former President Trump was a grave attack on American democracy”.
Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker from Louisiana, earlier on Wednesday told Fox News he was going to call for the resignation of Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, despite her staying put in the job since Saturday’s shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Earlier on Wednesday, Eric Trump, Donald Trump’s second-oldest son, sat for an interview with Kristen Welker, the anchor of the Sunday Meet the Press politics talkshow on NBC, to call for Cheatle’s resignation.
“This can’t happen in the United States. And somebody’s got be held accountable,” the younger Trump said. “You can’t just sweep that kind of stuff under the rug.”
And on Wednesday afternoon, the Republican senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee posted on X after a briefing of senators by law-enforcement officers that Cheatle should step down.
She said the Secret Service knew there was a threat in the vicinity before Trump walked on stage on Saturday.
“I just got off a briefing with the Secret Service and FBI. I am appalled to learn that the Secret Service knew about a threat prior to President Trump walking on stage. I have no confidence in the leadership of Director Cheatle and believe it is in the best interest of our nation if she steps down from her position,” she posted.
A little later, it emerged via the briefing that the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, reportedly told lawmakers that the agency had not established a motive for the shooting of Trump despite conducting more than 200 interviews and reviewing more than 14,000 images on the gunman’s phone, NBC reported.
The Washington Post reported that Richard Goldinger, the district attorney in Butler county, as saying the Secret Service “was informed that the local police department did not have manpower to assist with securing” the building where the gunman later positioned himself.
Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesperson, confirmed the account. The Secret Service plan, Guglielmi said, was to station a patrol car and an officer outside the Agr International building complex, which has an expansive roof and had an unobstructed view of the rally stage. Local police told Secret Service that they lacked the resources to provide a patrol car, according to the Washington Post.
Guglielmi said that just before the shooting, local police assigned to the inside of the building warned the Secret Service security team of a suspicious person with a golf range finder and backpack. Those officers also forwarded a photograph of the person, Guglielmi said.
It was also reported by multiple outlets that senators relayed that they were told in the briefing that the shooter had been spotted and the Secret Service notified of a possible threat an hour before Trump took the stage, longer than previously reported. Law enforcement officers shot the gunman dead shortly after he fired at the former president.
Meanwhile, a picture obtained by a Pittsburgh-area TV station shows a cellphone and detonator carried by the gunman at the Butler county show grounds.
The items were shown on the rooftop from which Thomas Matthew Crooks used an AR-15-style rifle to fire on the former president and Republican nominee.
Trump suffered an injury to his right ear. One rally-goer was killed and two injured.
The 20-year-old gunman was shot dead by security officers.
In a febrile and partisan national atmosphere, the shooting appears to have boosted Trump’s image in his campaign against Joe Biden.
Biden has called for a cooling of political invective. At the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Trump has worn a prominent bandage on his ear as speakers have celebrated his narrow escape.
WPXI, an NBC-affiliate station, obtained and reported the picture of Crooks’s phone and detonator on Tuesday.
Crooks’s car was found to contain a metal box of explosives connected to a receiver, CNN reported, adding that investigators were considering the idea Crooks intended to create a distraction during the shooting.
Cheatle has said local police officers were inside the building from which Crooks shot.
“We did share support for that particular site and the Secret Service was responsible for the inner perimeter,” Cheatle told ABC News. “And then we sought assistance from our local counterparts for the outer perimeter.
“There was local police in that building – there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building.”
WPXI reported that local police were never stationed in the building concerned.
Tom Knight, the Butler township manager, said: “So the building was outside the event area and there was conversations about the logistical coverage for the building, what the building had for access points and what access points could be controlled.”
WPXI said sources said Crooks was still on the ground when Trump began speaking.
Knight said there was then “a radio transmission indicating that there was a suspicious individual on the rooftop, [and it] was my understanding [that] was our officers’ first notification to begin moving towards that building.
“Two of the officers went to what appeared to be the lowest point from ground to the roof. One of the officers actually boosted the second officer up high enough for him to grab hold of the roof. He did in fact see an individual on the roof with a weapon.”
Crooks pointed his rifle at the officer, Knight said, as the officer hung on to the roof with both hands, unable to reach his radio or his own weapon.
The officer “lost his own grip and fell approximately eight feet to the ground”.
Shortly after that, Crooks opened fire.
Cheatle is due to appear before the House oversight committee on Monday. At least five other congressional committees have said they want to investigate.
