Senators confront Secret Service director on Republican convention floor
(CNN) — A stunning scene played out at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday as a group of GOP senators chased Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle through the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, shouting that she has refused to answer questions regarding the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
“This was an assassination attempt! You owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers!” Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn shouted at Cheatle, who continued to walk with her head down and ignore the senators’ criticism.
“It’s stonewalling!” said Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 3 Senate Republican.
Blackburn later posted a video of the encounter to X, writing: “The American people deserve answers from the Secret Service.”
The confrontation came after Trump met with Cheatle on Tuesday to receive a private, in-person briefing about the attempted assassination, a source familiar with the meeting said.
At an event hosted by CNN and Politico at the Republican convention on Thursday, Chris LaCivita, a top Trump adviser, agreed with a question about whether Cheatle should resign.
“Oh. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent,” he said.
The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General announced earlier Wednesday that it was investigating the circumstances surrounding Saturday’s attempted assassination, and congressional Republicans have also vowed to launch their own investigation.
Cheatle told CNN in an interview Tuesday evening that the US Secret Service was “solely responsible” for the implementation and execution of security at the site of Saturday’s rally.
“At that particular site, we divided up areas of responsibility, but the Secret Service is totally responsible for the design and implementation and the execution of the site,” she told CNN.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Whitney Wild, Jeremy Herb and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
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