Although she made it clear that she will remain in office, Kimberly Cheatle, director of the United States Secret Service, understood the seriousness of the matter and took responsibility for the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
In an interview granted to ABC channel, Cheatle, despite continuous criticism, assured that he does not plan to resign and they will allocate all necessary resources to the investigation of what happened at the rally in Pennsylvania.
According to the EFE agency, she stated: "I take responsibility. I am the director of the Secret Service, and I have to ensure that we conduct an investigation and provide resources to our staff when necessary," Cheatle said, although she indicated that she will not resign, as demanded by the most critical ones.
Likewise, about the possible identification of Thomas Matthew Crooks as a suspect before he shot the candidate, he indicated that "looking for that person, finding them, identifying them, and eventually neutralizing them took place in a very short period of time, and that makes it very difficult."
Cheatle will have to testify on July 22 for the attempted murder of the Republican candidate officer for the upcoming presidential elections on November 5.
The summons was made through a letter signed by James Comer, Director of Oversight and Accountability in Congress, who published the letter on his X account.
In that vein, the Secret Service has been quite emphatic, as they are working with federal, state, and local agencies in the investigation of the attack and stated that they will participate "fully" in the independent investigation announced by President Joe Biden.
On Saturday afternoon, Trump, 78, had just begun a campaign speech in Butler when a gunman opened fire on the stage where he was speaking, hitting the former president's right ear with one of the shots. Immediately, Secret Service agents rushed to protect him and escorted him out of the area.
The attacker, a young man only 20 years old identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, shot from the rooftop of a building located about 140 meters from the stage where Trump was speaking. After being shot down by Secret Service agents, a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle was found near his body.
At the event's location, as a result of the shots, former firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, died. He used his body as a shield to protect his wife and daughter from the bullets.
It is known that two other people were injured and were in stable condition.
The shooting took place days before Trump formally accepts the Republican presidential nomination and less than four months before the elections, as Trump seeks revenge against the current Democratic president, Joe Biden.
After receiving the votes of enough delegates at the Republican National Convention, Trump will be the official candidate of his party to compete in the upcoming presidential elections in the United States.
Even though for months the former president has been the virtual candidate, this Monday his nomination was officially formalized in Milwaukee, where the Republican event is taking place.
In this way, the former president will run in his third consecutive election, having been the winner in 2016 and the loser in 2020.
Kimberly Cheatle, on the other hand, has over 28 years of career in the U.S. Secret Service, has been leading the agency since September 2022, and is its 27th director and the second woman in the position.
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