Washington, D.C. – Former President Donald Trump and his 2024 running mate, JD Vance, addressed the recent assassination attempt on Trump’s life during their first joint interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters on Monday. The attempt took place at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last week.
Trump revealed that Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle met with him shortly after the incident. “It went very nicely. She was very nice, I thought. But, you know, somebody should have made sure there was nobody on that roof,” Trump remarked.
The assailant, Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired several shots at Trump from a rooftop approximately 130 yards away. Investigators are currently determining how the 20-year-old local resident managed to gain such a vantage point. Eyewitness Michael Difrischia recorded Crooks lying atop the American Glass Research building, aiming with an AR-style rifle.
Difrischia recounted to “The Ingraham Angle” that he saw a young man running through the crowd and someone warning that the individual had a gun. “The problem was the police officers were too close to the building. They could not see him,” he explained, adding that despite efforts to alert the officers, they were unable to locate Crooks in time.
Tragically, the shots fired by Crooks grazed Trump’s ear, killed former Pennsylvania fire chief Corey Comperatore, and injured David Dutch and James Copenhaven.
Trump expressed surprise at how close Crooks managed to get. “They said it’s really, it’s a — a bad shot would usually hit the target. And so I mean, it’s got to be, somebody’s got to be there,” he said. He noted that Cheatle had referred to the roof as sloped, but he believed it was essentially flat, suggesting she had received “false information.”
Cheatle, in a statement to ABC News, had mentioned the building had a “sloped roof at its highest point,” implying a safety concern for placing agents there. Trump questioned this rationale, emphasizing the clear line of sight from the stage to the rooftop.
The 2024 Republican nominee also questioned why he wasn’t advised to stay off the stage for a brief period to allow for security checks. “Why couldn’t I have stayed off the stage for five minutes while they do their work?” Trump asked, highlighting the apparent oversight in security protocols.
Cheatle appeared on Capitol Hill on Monday to address the security failures. She acknowledged that the attempt on Trump’s life represented the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades. Following her testimony, House Oversight Committee members Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called for Cheatle’s resignation, citing her inability to provide satisfactory answers and reassure the public of corrective measures.
Despite the incident, Trump praised his Secret Service agents for their swift response. He also mentioned that his ear is healing, stating, “We’re getting down to the small bandages. But it was a nasty one. And it was nasty, period.”
The incident marks a significant moment in the 2024 election cycle, raising questions about security measures for high-profile political figures and the readiness of the Secret Service to address such threats.
