Secret Service director says ‘sloped roof’ where Trump gunman sat deterred agency from securing location

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said Monday that the shape of the roof former President Donald Trump ’s would-be assassin sat on played a role in her agency not securing the building.

Cheatle has come under fire for her agency’s failure to prevent Thomas Matthew Crooks's assassination attempt against Trump during a Pennsylvania rally last Saturday. During the event, Crooks gained access to a building approximately 400 feet from Trump’s podium.

Counter-snipers were in the building and encountered the gunman, expressing concern about Crooks's possible security risks shortly before the shooting. Witnesses who saw Crooks on the building’s rooftop, visibility armed with a rifle, warned police and Secret Service agents minutes before shots rang out.

During Cheatle's first interview since Saturday with ABC News on Monday evening, she claimed the shape of the rooftop prevented counter-snipers from stopping Crooks’s attack on Trump.

After ABC anchor Pierre Thomas asked Cheatle if the roof should have been secured, the Secret Service director deflected the question.

“That building, in particular, has a sloped roof at its highest point,” Cheatle told Thomas. “And so there will be a safety factor that will be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so you know the decision was made to secure the building from the inside.”

Cheatle confirmed reports indicating law enforcement identified Crooks as a person of concern prior to the shooting.

“I’m being told that the shooter was actually identified as a potential person of suspicion,” Cheatle said. “Units started responding to seek that individual out. 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.”

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Cheatle has faced calls to resign after the massive security breach during last week’s Trump rally.

During the interview, Cheatle admitted the security breach was unacceptable, saying, “The buck stops with me.” However, the embattled director has refused to step down, largely deflecting blame to local law enforcement the Secret Service says was responsible for securing the building Crooks used to open fire on Trump.