Secret Service ‘solely responsible’ for implementation and execution of security at the Trump rally site, director tells CNN

By CNN

Published July 17, 2024 5:45 AM

CNN

By Whitney Wild, Jeremy Herb and Celina Tebor, CNN

(CNN) — The US Secret Service was “solely responsible” for the implementation and execution of security at the site of Saturday’s rally for former President Donald Trump’s campaign, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told CNN in an interview Tuesday evening.

Cheatle added that no assets from the agency were diverted from the rally that day, even though there were other events in the state on Saturday requiring agency protection.

“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.

In a prior interview with ABC News, Cheatle had said that local law enforcement was responsible for the building where 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed onto the roof and fired shots at Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

“What I was trying to stress was that we just divided up areas of responsibility, and they provided support to those areas of responsibility,” Cheatle said of local law enforcement, adding that the agency “couldn’t do our job without them.”

Although a full advance had been completed that day, the director, said if “there are things that we need to change about our policies, or our procedures, or our methods, we are certainly going to do so.”

Cheatle didn’t provide specifics on where the USSS would make adjustments, saying the service is waiting for its own internal review and findings, as well as an external review.

CNN asked Cheatle if Trump’s security included a full Secret Service counter-assault team – the agency’s version of a tactical or SWAT team – or if it filled gaps with local law enforcement.

“He had counter-assault members,” Cheatle said. “It varies on what the full complement is. He also had assistance from local tactical teams that were on site as well.”

Cheatle did not describe the team as “full,” but instead said the team size was “normal.”

“It’s very nuanced,” she said. “It depends on the venue, it depends on where we are. He had a counter-assault team element that was there,” adding that additional counter-assault assets were provided by local law enforcement. Department of Homeland Security personnel were used at posts as well, she said.

“We were actually beyond the numbers that we would have as a normal compliment,” Cheatle said.

The Secret Service director is facing a flurry of questions about how a gunman was able to get a clear line of sight to Trump at the rally site, and there have been calls from her resignation from some members of Congress, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

When asked by CNN if the perimeter at the rally was too small, Cheatle said it “encompassed the area that we needed to secure the event that we had on that day.”

“What happened is a terrible incident and should never happen,” she added. “And we are obviously going to make sure move forward we take whatever any lessons that come out of this and adjust accordingly.”

CNN reported earlier Tuesday that the US obtained intelligence of an Iranian assassination plot targeting Trump, which the gunman did not appear connected to. Asked whether the Secret Service had increased the security it provides to the former president as a result, the director said, “We have been doing that over a series of several months, to include on that day.”

Cheatle would not, however, say whether all elements of the former president’s detail were increased as a result of the threat from Iran.

Cheatle said she has spoken with a “number of our personnel” who worked the day of the rally, adding that she plans to speak with the remainder of the people she hasn’t talked with yet.

“They’re obviously difficult conversations. Everyone works for the Secret Service never wants to have a day like that,” she said. “We perform our job flawlessly. The people who covered and evacuated the president on that day, the counter sniper – performed their job flawlessly, and I’m very proud of the actions that they took.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting.