Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle may be the poster girl for an "affirmative action hire." She may have had no executive experience in the agency, but at one time, she served on the protection detail for then-Second Lady Jill Biden. That put her on the radar of one of the current Biden administration's most rabid DEI supporters, Anthony Bernal.
Bernal is a feared member of the administration, likened to the Russian mystic Rasputin who helped bring down the Romanov dynasty. According to New York Post sources, four members of the Biden inner circle said Cheatle was well-liked by Jill Biden, as well as Bernal.
“Cheatle served on Dr. Biden’s second lady detail and Anthony pushed for her,” a Democratic insider told The Post. “Anthony has no national security or law enforcement experience. He should have no influence over the selection of the USSS director.”
“I heard at the time she was being considered for director that Anthony had pushed her forward as an option,” another well-placed source told The Post.
Joe Biden has been obsessed with naming "the first" this or that throughout his entire presidency. It's almost maniacal. And Bernal has been in the forefront, pushing these hires who may or may not be qualified.
Cheatle is going to be fired. This much is certain. It may come sooner rather than later, after she made the most idiotic observation about why there was no one on the roof where the sniper took aim.
“That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof,” she told ABC News in a startling admission. “And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building from inside,” she told the outlet.
The sniper didn't care about the sloped roof. Why should the people protecting the former president worry about getting hurt?
Sheesh.
Cheatle admitted the agency knew the building rooftop was a security vulnerability but still opted not to position agents there, leaving it wide open for Crooks to take up an ideal sniper perch with an unobstructed view of Trump on stage.
From the roof, Crooks had a clear line of sight to the GOP nominee, about 130 yards away.
Cheatle has faced steadily increasing pressure to step down as the depths of the agency’s disastrous handling of Trump’s attempted assassination have come to light.
She told ABC “the buck stops with me” as she addressed the mounting criticism — but refused to resign from her post.
So she takes responsibility for the worst security failure by the Secret Service since 1981 but won't resign?
Related: Momentum to Force Biden Off the Ticket May Have Ebbed, but Wait Until After the GOP Convention
It should also be noted that Fox News is reporting that Cheatle's agency listed the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, as "a potential person of suspicion."
"I'm being told that the shooter was actually identified as a potential person of suspicion. Units started responding to seek that individual out," Cheatle told ABC News. "Unfortunately, with the rapid succession of how things unfolded, by the time that individual was eventually located, they were on the rooftop and were able to fire off at the former president."
United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle made the remark in an interview that aired on ABC News just hours after Fox News Digital reported that a local law enforcement officer spotted a suspicious man carrying a range-finder just 30 minutes before Saturday’s attempted assassination in Butler.
That officer reported the sighting to state police, a law enforcement source said. He took a photo, and there was a discussion about whether what he was carrying was a pair of binoculars to try and see the rally better. But then a few minutes into Trump's remarks, the would-be assassin — identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20 — began shooting, according to authorities.
How many potential "persons of suspicion" can there be in Bucks County, Pennsylvania? In 1963, the Secret Service identified Lee Harvey Oswald as a person of suspicion in Dallas. Oswald defected to the Soviet Union and made threats against former General Edwin Walker. The FBI knew Oswald but didn't keep closer tabs on him, much to their regret.
It's obvious that Cheatle was in over her head. But given that she's "the first woman to head the Secret Service," she's got pretty good job security.
