The US Secret Service identified days ago as a potential security risk the roof from which a gunman shot former president and future Republican candidate for the White House, Donald Trump, the broadcaster reported on Monday (15). NBC.
The agents who prepared the security arrangement days before the Butler rally in Pennsylvania were aware of the risk that the building could pose, as two sources close to the Secret Service admitted to the American broadcaster.
The penthouse belonged to a warehouse located about 135 meters from where Trump was scheduled to speak at the rally, but outside the event’s security perimeter.
The Secret Service said that security at that building was the responsibility of local authorities, although the county attorney denied that version.
US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees the Secret Service, admitted on Monday (15) that the incident was a security breach.
In this sense, Republican Senator Ted Cruz demanded in a message on the social network X the dismissal of the director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle.
In turn, Republican Congressman James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, announced that he will summon Cheatle to testify before the Legislature next week, once the Republican National Convention is over.
Cheatle announced in a statement today that on Saturday, after the assassination attempt, he ordered changes to Trump’s security system.
Trump was grazed in the ear by a bullet during a rally on Saturday before Secret Service agents shot and killed the shooter, a 20-year-old man whose motives remain unknown.
The young man fired from a rooftop very close to the rally moments after several people alerted security services to his suspicious presence.
#Secret #service #knew #risk #building #attack