Sen. Kevin Cramer said Thursday he expects that Kimberly Cheatle “will no longer be the director” of the Secret Service after “stonewalling” questions about the assassination attempt Saturday on former President Donald Trump.
The North Dakota Republican made the comment in an interview with The Daily Signal one day after joining a group of colleagues who confronted Cheatle at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
A viral video shows the senators following Cheatle at the RNC and asking why Trump was allowed by the Secret Service to take the stage late Saturday afternoon at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A gunman lying on a nearby rooftop shot at the presidential candidate, hitting him in the right ear. One rally attendee was killed, and two others were seriously injured.
Cheatle said she would answer the senators’ questions “at the appropriate forum” and eventually left them to enter a private room.
“After what she pulled last night, in front of cameras and lots of witnesses, I don’t see how she survives,” Cramer told The Daily Signal’s Rob Bluey.
You walk through the timeline … we know now that for at least 20 minutes, you knew of a potential threat on a rooftop 150 yards away from the stage, you identified [him] … and then notified the countersniper unit of this potential threat, and then you let Donald Trump get on stage. Why did the Secret Service not keep Donald Trump from going on that stage, knowing there was a potential threat 150 yards away?
“Simple question,” Cramer told Bluey. “[Cheatle] didn’t want to answer it on the phone, and she darn sure didn’t want to answer it in person last night.”
He added: “There’s something they’re not telling us. They are clearly stonewalling intentionally, and they’ll have to work on their spin for sure.”
The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Cheatle to testify next week on the assassination attempt.
