Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle facing mounting calls to resign after ‘total security breakdown’ at Trump rally
By
Social Links forDana Kennedy
Published July 14, 2024, 4:46 p.m. ET
Critics claim Cheatle dropped the ball on security measures at Saturday’s Trump rally — saying she has been too focused on woke “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” policies, such as making sure the department is 30 percent women by 2030, to take care of the agency’s more crucial business. They note she even allowed a YouTube influencer to train with agents last year.
Cheatle, 53, served 28 years in the Secret Service and was part of its protective detail guarding then-Vice President Dick Cheney before she left to become head of global security at PepsiCo. She returned to the agency when President Biden appointed her to its top post in 2022.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is facing calls for her resignation after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images
At the time, Biden, 81, expressed confidence that Cheatle was “the best choice to lead the agency at a critical moment for the Secret Service.
“She has my complete trust, and I look forward to working with her,” the president said.
But two former high-ranking FBI officials told The Post after Saturday’s shooting that from what they can tell, the Secret Service under Cheatle completely blew it Friday.
“It was a total security breakdown from start to finish,” said former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker. “From the total security plan for the rally to the reaction once the shots rang out.
“Imagine if the shooter hadn’t been this kid but a well-trained cell? Our enemies are looking at us thinking we can take Trump or anyone out now without a problem,” the expert said.
Swecker was specifically critical of some of the protection detail around former President Trump after he was shot.
“What I was seeing was DEI,” Swecker said of the agents, who included three women. “And I am not anti-woman. I have three daughters and three granddaughters, and they’d make great Secret Service agents.
Local cop confronted would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks on roof moments before he opened fire, but failed to stop him
By
Social Links forAlex Oliveira
Published July 14, 2024, 3:30 p.m. ET
A local cop spotted attempted-assassin Thomas Crooks just moments before he tried to kill former president Donald Trump — but failed to stop the gunman despite the clear threat, according to a report.
After rallygoers spotted Crooks on the roof of a manufacturing plant just 130 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking just after 6 p.m. Tuesday, police were notified and one officer climbed a ladder to investigate, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
The officer – whose department had been enlisted by the Secret Service to help with security — encountered Crooks, who pointed his AR-style rifle at them.
The officer then backed down the ladder, and Crooks immediately took aim and loosed about eight shots at the former president – grazing him in the ear, killing one bystander in the rally crowd, and gravely wounding two others, the source said.
Despite the Secret Service’s quick response taking out the shooter, the agency tasked with protecting former and current presidents’ lives is facing harsh scrutiny for allowing a gunman to establish an open position so close to Trump’s rally.
“This was a catastrophic failure. It should never have been a remote possibility,” former House Oversight Committee chair Jason Chaffet, who lead an extensive 2015 investigation into the shortcomings of the Secret Service in 2015, told the Washington Post.
“We did all these investigations and did an extensive report so this would never happen again. It’s as if they paid no attention to the bipartisan recommendations,” said Chaffet, whose report focused on ways the Secret Service had been spread too thin.
The Secret Service confirmed after the shooting that it relied heavily on local police to help support its security efforts at the rally, including at least six officers from Butler County tactical units supporting the counter assault team that covered Trump’s evacuation – which only included two officers from the Secret Service, according to the Washington Post.
There were also two Secret Service sniper teams on sight, and an additional two were staffed with local officers.
“Secret Service always has the lead on securing something like this,” Pennsylvania State Police lieutenant colonel George Bivens told reporters, explaining that local police are routinely enlisted to help the Secret Service.
A local cop spotted attempted-assassin Thomas Crooks just moments before he tried to kill former president Donald Trump — but failed to stop the gunman despite the clear threat, according to a report.
After rallygoers spotted Crooks on the roof of a manufacturing plant just 130 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking just after 6 p.m. Tuesday, police were notified and one officer climbed a ladder to investigate, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
The officer – whose department had been enlisted by the Secret Service to help with security — encountered Crooks, who pointed his AR-style rifle at them.
Former President Trump on stage as the shots rang out Saturday in Butler, Pa. Anadolu via Getty Images
The officer then backed down the ladder, and Crooks immediately took aim and loosed about eight shots at the former president – grazing him in the ear, killing one bystander in the rally crowd, and gravely wounding two others, the source said.
Follow The Post’s latest stories on the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump:
Secret Service has questions to answer for failing to stop Trump gunman
By Frank Gardner, security correspondent, and James FitzGerald, BBC News
The US Secret Service has one primary job – to protect current and former US presidents – and in that they failed spectacularly when an attempt was made on Donald Trump’s life on Saturday.
It has been 43 years since the last assassination attempt on a former or present US president, when Ronald Reagan was shot in the lung but survived.
Today, American politicians and the public want to know how a would-be assassin was able to crawl onto a rooftop vantage point, armed with a rifle, and let off four shots towards the podium – all in an area that was supposed to have been cleared.
Why were warnings from the public apparently ignored or not acted upon?
And why, when a highly charged presidential election is just four months away, did the Secret Service not do a better job of protecting the man many believe will be America’s next president?
The investigation that is already under way involves the FBI as well as the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security.
The Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, has been summoned to testify before a committee of the US House of Representatives on 22 July.
Those who attended the rally itself were asked to pass through metal detectors to ensure they were not bringing any weapons, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
But the gunman believed to have fired the shots could clearly be seen crawling around with a rifle on top of a nearby building for several minutes, one eyewitness told the BBC.
The witness, who called himself Greg, said warnings that he and others gave were not acted upon by police, who he suggested did not know “what was going on” and had poor visibility of the rooftop.
The suspected gunman – who has been named by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks – also appears to have been caught on camera lining up his shot, in footage obtained by TMZ.
One spectator was killed and two others critically injured before the gunman was himself shot dead. Trump was also injured in the ear. State police have said it is “too early” to determine exactly what happened.
CLICK VIDEO BELOW
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87rvg61vrxo
Trump’s life might have been saved by the fact he ducked after the first shots were fired, said David Dunn, a professor of international politics from the University of Birmingham.
In that respect, he “clearly had been well trained by the Secret Service”, Prof Dunn told BBC Radio 5 Live. Before being whisked away in a car by agents, Trump rose again to pump his fist before the crowd.
It was announced late on Saturday that the FBI had assumed the role of lead investigator into the incident, which it describes as an assassination attempt.
One of its special agents said at a news conference it was “surprising” that the gunman had been able to open fire before the Secret Service killed him.
But when asked if there was a failure of security, he said his team was “not gonna make that assessment” while the investigation continued.
CLICK VIDEO BELOW
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87rvg61vrxo
The Secret Service was not represented at the briefing. An earlier statement confirming the start of the investigation promised more information would be released when available.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security said maintaining the security of presidential candidates was one of the departments “most vital priorities”.
It is not clear what the attack will mean for the former president’s future security arrangements, though an adviser to the Trump campaign said it was clear he needed more protection.
A Secret Service spokesman has denied an “untrue assertion” that it was asked by Trump’s team for extra resources, but rebuffed this request.
In any case, Trump was now likely to receive a security detail comparable to that of a sitting president, former Secret Service agent Joseph LaSorsa told the Reuters news agency.
“There will be an intensive review… there’s going to be a massive realignment,” he said. “This cannot happen.”
The Republican National Convention will go ahead as planned on Monday, with a speech from Trump on Thursday, as confirmed by a statement from the party.
During the event, Trump will be officially nominated as the Republican candidate for president ahead of November’s election.
One TikTokker jokingly tried to summon Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth.X / @libsoftiktok via TikTok
“We were a second away, we were a centimeter away from half of the problem being gone and you missed!” the poster – who appeared to be driving while recording – cried into the camera.
“There was a white man attached to that trigger, I know it! We were a centimeter away!” they added.
There is no way out. The government clock is ticking away, the interest rate is rising in tandem, budget deficits are spiraling out of control, mirroring the United states as a whole.
https://www.usdebtclock.org/
35.1 trillion dollars at last count, spiraling out of control. Printing presses operating 24/7 three hundred sixty five days a year, spraying ink on fiat paper that in terms of today’s dollars will never be paid back, no matter what the pols say.
Your only salvation is to turn those extra green- backs into gold, bury them somewhere, in a clandestine location so the government can’t get their hands on them, like they did in 1933. Remember, the hand of Big Govt is long and strong.
GOLD SHINES IN TIMES OF TROUBLE – A FLIGHT TO SAFETY – IS THE BLACK SWAN UPON US ONCE AGAIN?
MARCH 15 POST REPEATED BELOW
“REVOLUTION IS THE SOLUTION”
The mini banking crisis (SVB biting the bullet, joined by ) this fortnight ago was a bump in the road. There was no problem here for the ordinary man; all of those who lost their money were Democrats. So Sorry! Funny thing though, the BOD consisted of liberal pundits who shoved millions into Democrat campaigns, only one breathing human was from the banking industry. Go figure?
And who will pay for the implosion? Everyone! Goes to show you that the liberal elite will always level the playing field by socializing the losses. Socialism to them as quoted by Karl Marx, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”
“The image of a bloodied and defiant Donald Trump pumping his fist at a crowd in Pennsylvania – his lips appearing to form the word “fight” against the backdrop of an American flag under a blaring sun – will instantly enter the history books as of of thoseera-defining moments.
Welcome to Balance of Power. Readers of the Washington Edition newsletter are also receiving this special edition. To get Balance of Power going forward, sign up here.
The assassination attempt on the former US president at a rally yesterday upends an already volatile and unpredictable campaign, punctured by charged rhetoric and radicalized views. It also appears to irrevocably alter the political landscape in Trump’s favor ahead of November elections.
Not only did he survive the shot that grazed his ear — and is now recovering in his New Jersey golf course — but the narrative he has shaped over the years about how everyone was out to get him suddenly appeared validated when minutes into his stump speech a shooter opened fire on the 78-year-old Republican presidential candidate.
WATCH: Trump is seen grabbing at his ear after a loud popping noise was heard at the rally.
For his legions of MAGA devotees, this makes him even more of a martyr to the cause, Trump as the ultimate survivor. One of his GOP acolytes called him unstoppable. His campaign quickly sent out a fundraising text message quoting Trump saying: “I will Never Surrender!”
The Democrats, meanwhile, are in disarray as President Joe Biden, 81, stubbornly clings on even as doubts about his age and mental acuity have dogged him for weeks, with calls for him to step aside steadily growing.
He’s now been knocked off the front pages — but if anything he’s even less in control of events. And that is deeply worrying for Western democracies looking to the leader of the free world for a semblance of order and clarity.
WATCH: “We cannot be like this, we cannot condone this,” Biden says during an address to the nation.
Instead, the rest of the world is also experiencing the polarization of politics and what can happen in a deeply divided society when the political discourse is riddled with exaggerations and lies that are then amplified via social media.
From Asia to Europe and South America, the past few years have seen assassination attempts against a range of top political leaders in broad daylight.
In May, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico — a populist leader in the style of Trump — was shot four times at close range by a lone wolf. He survived and promptly seized upon the assassination attempt to ramp up his attacks on the media, prosecutors and the opposition. If anything, it’s become about retribution against his enemies.
And as for all this could play out in the US, one has to only look back to 2018 for an eerie precedent with Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, a political figure who is almost a cookie-cutter Latin American version of Trump.
The far-right leader was stabbed in the stomach at a campaign rally a month before elections. It was a defining moment that fired up his base and propelled him to power.
In a post on X, Bolsonaro — a staunch Trump supporter — told him “see you on inauguration day.”
Trump gestures to the crowd as he is ushered offstage.Photographer: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The Highlights
The seconds following the attempt on Trump’s life were marked with more confusion and bewilderment than chaos, Bloomberg’s Hadriana Lowenkron describes. She found herself among a sea of MAGA supporters at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania — one of the six critical swings states in the election. People were incredulous, others froze. By the time people realized what had happened, Trump had been whisked off stage.
Assassination Attempt Against Trump
Former President Donald Trump was injured in shooting at Pennsylvania campaign rally
Sources: Bloomberg reporting, Microsoft (satellite image)
Who was the attempted killer? The FBI identified the male suspect as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about an hour’s drive from the scene of the crime. He was killed on site after firing from an “elevated position”at the outdoor rally. The incident is being treated as an assassination attempt, and a motive has yet to be determined. The New York Times pointed to him having been a registered Republican and not having a prior criminal record. Federal campaign-finance records also show he donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, which aims to mobilize Democratic voters, in January 2021.
From Abraham Lincoln to John F. Kennedy, the assassination of a sitting US president has shaped US history. Trump was not in power, nor was he greatly injured. Nevertheless, you’d have to go back four decades to find something comparable. That would have been when John Hinckley, fixated with Jodie Foster after seeing her in Taxi Driver, shot Ronald Reagan in his first term outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington.
President John F. Kennedy is struck by an assassin’s bullet as he travels through Dallas in a motorcade on Nov. 22, 1963.Photographer: Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
World leaders responded with shock, widely condemning political violence and wishing Trump a speedy recovery. The billionaire mogul may be a divisive figure, but the leaders in the Group of Seven — who would prefer him not restored to the Oval Office — were unequivocal in expressing their dismay on what it means and where it could lead. Germany’s Olaf Scholz called the attack “despicable,” and France’s Emmanuel Macron described it as “a tragedy for democracies.”
This is the first assassination attempt on a US presidential candidate unfolding in real time under the glare of social media. And seconds after Trump was escorted offstage, posts and clips went into overdrive — and so did disinformation with several unfounded claims about the event swirling on Elon Musk’s X, along with Telegram and Gab.
A Political Shock
Bettors think the assassination attempt sharply improved Trump’s chances
Source: Bloomberg (WSL ELECTION)
The Republican National Convention looms and that was going to be Trump’s coronation as the formal Republican nominee. One can only imagine what the atmosphere at the convention starting tomorrow will be given the cult of personality around the former president. He plans to attend, a day after the attempted shooting. Expect tight security to be even tighter, and the atmosphere febrile.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, posted a message on X that said: “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.”Musk donated to a super political action committee working to elect Trump to the White House, sources say. While it’s unclear how much he has given, they characterized the figure as a sizable amount.
Investors will initially favor traditional haven assets and perhaps lean into trades most linked to Trump’s chances of winning with Democrats agonizing over Biden’s viability to stay in the race. There is little precedent for events like those in Pennsylvania. When Reagan was shot four decades ago, the stock market dipped before closing early. The next day, March 31, 1981, the S&P 500 rose over 1%.
And finally
There has been a raft of violence against political leaders around the world in recent years, most tragically with the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022. Even though Japan has strict gun control laws, a gunmen used a home-made weapon to shoot Abe twice at a campaign event, targeting the high-profile Japanese leader due to his links to a church that the suspect said bankrupted his family by asking for excessive donations. Just a few months later, in Pakistan, Imran Khan was shot in the leg at a public event. The cricket star and former prime minister continues to be a divisive figure in the Muslim majority country. In January of this year, South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck while speaking to reporters at a public appearance. He is considered a leading candidate ahead of the next presidential vote in 2027. And then, most recently, Slovakia’s Fico was critically injured while mingling with a crowd in a town square.
Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reports on the shooting of on July 8, 2022.Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg
The nasty diatribe from those who belong to the animal kingdom have no limit.They have joined a long list of authoritarian mentally deranged individuals who set their agenda of enslavement of the populace.Not only are these people, if we can call them that, deranged,their agenda goes against the laws of nature. As John Locke’s philosophy permeated earlier thinkers, those without the capacity to understand life’s endowment are evil to the individual.
To wit: Johnny Depp –“When was the last time an actor assassinated a president? … It’s been a while, and maybe it’s time.”
Phil Montag – “His whole job is to get people, convince Republicans to f—ing kick people off f—ing health care. I hate this motherf—er, I’m glad he got shot,”
Maxine Waters – “I am going to take Trump out tonight”
Those who cannot accept democracy go the low road in their rage of hate filled invective hoping to convince others to join them. Sometimes it works, but in Trump’s case the backlash has been overwhelming.The cry babies fear that the Trump agenda will roll back the chains of the progressives, such as Obama Care.
Hillary, the two time loser, suffering the most devastating defeats of all time on November 8, 2016. Her minions of mentally challenged phoebes not only promulgate big government, but made sure that the deep state will survive to infinity are now wondering how they got mugged, when in fact they are the ones to do the mugging.
Democrat slammed after accidentally (NO ACCIDENT HERE-SAID IT ON PURPOSE) saying Trump ‘needs to be shot’
Democrat Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett appeared to accidentally say that former President Donald Trump“needs to be shot”while discussing his classified documents investigation.
Plaskett, who represents a nonvoting U.S. territory, was criticizing Trump’s handling of classified documents during a live segment on MSNBC on Sunday when she made the comment.
“Having Trump not only having the codes but now having the classified information for Americans and being able to put that out and share it in his resort with anyone and everything who comes through should be terrifying to all Americans,” Plaskett told MSNBC.
The video immediately began circulating on social media, with several Twitter users taking the comment seriously and calling for her removal from office.
“Imagine the outrage if a Republican said this about a Democrat,” conservative communicator Steve Guest tweeted.
“Dontcha’ hate when your mouth says What you are really thinking?” WorldStrat Corporation President Jim Hanson tweeted.
“This is a direct threat to President Trump and someone needs to investigate. Plaskett needs to be removed immediately,” a Twitter user wrote Monday. “That’s not a slip of the tongue. She’s an adult. She should be able to handle public speaking with her position. #RemovePlaskett.”
Also, more threats to President Trump. These PERVS have created an environment of Hate and Retribution.
She is not the first, Schumer threatened a Supreme Court Justice, Water was to “take him out tonight” referring to Trump.
MAXINE WATERS WANTED – AN ACCOMPLICE TO ATTEMPTED MURDER – SCHUMER THREATENING TO KILL SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
(CLICK)Maxine Watersought to be arrested for being an accomplice to murder in the latest Big Apple shooting.
.
“I will go and take him out tonight.” Attempted Murder is the Charge. She tries to laugh it back, by saying that she is not talking about physical violence. Bullshit to that! WORDS MATTER.
She provoked the New York City individual to go on a shooting rampage yesterday. Her talk incited him and others to shoot and kill innocent victims all over America. This has got to stop, people like her have a responsibility to preach peace, not violence. She has continued her rabble rousing for decades.
If that is not a physical threat what is? Then his spoken says that he was talking about political blowback. Tell you what, he meant for lunatics like him to shoot and kill members of the Supreme Court because they did not agree with his views.
"Where Revolution is the Solution" Taking back the Empire
