Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, hit at Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle for the agency not using drones to monitor the rally location where former President Donald Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.
Cruz, speaking on his "Verdict" podcast Wednesday, said Cheatle, during a briefing with senators, gave a weak response after being asked why drones were not used in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"You had one senator who asked, 'Were there drones, yes or no?'" Cruz said on his podcast. "And the answer from the head of the Secret Service was, 'We determined that the risk from that rooftop was mitigated by countersnipers.'"
Cruz questioned how Secret Service failed to realize that the rooftop where the gunman opened fire from was sloped, resulting in countersnipers being unable to see everywhere on the rooftop.
"I'm pretty sure the roof didn't suddenly slant itself in between when they advanced the scene and when it occurred," Cruz said. "In other words, they could have figured out if your quote 'mitigation' is countersnipers and they don't have a line of sight to a place a sniper could be, then you don't have effective mitigation. She addressed none of that."
Republican lawmakers have called for Cheatle to resign after the Secret Service’s failure to prevent the attack, which resulted in one spectator being killed, two others injured, and Trump being shot in the right ear.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday he will look at all available avenues should Cheatle buck calls for her resignation.
Johnson earlier said he asked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about drones in a call after the shooting.
"That would be an obvious thing," Johnson said. "You would be able to spot someone on a roof. He [Mayorkas] didn't know when I asked him that question last [Saturday] night.”
Newsweek reported that the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the Secret Service did not request Special Government Interest waivers to fly drones over the Trump rally.
Forbes reported Tuesday that the Secret Service has spent at least $400,000 on drones since 2021, contract records show.
"A drone could have alerted them to a shooter climbing on a roof," David Young, an officer at the Graham Police Department in North Carolina, told Forbes. “But there is always going to be that need for boots on the ground to be the final puzzle piece to stop that threat."
Several Republican senators confronted Cheatle at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night seeking answers about how the agency failed to protect Trump from an assassination attempt.
Cheatle is expected to appear Monday at a congressional hearing before the House Oversight Committee, having been subpoenaed by Chair James Comer, R-Ky.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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