‘She Can Run but She Cannot Hide’: Barrasso, Blackburn Confront Secret Service Director at RNC over Trump Assassination Attempt

Republican Senators John Barrasso (Wy.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) confronted U.S. Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle during the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, demanding answers about the security failures that allowed a gunman to carry out an attempted assassination against former president Donald Trump at a political rally last weekend.

The clash came hours after senators received a briefing from Secret Service and FBI officials, who reportedly revealed that the man behind the shooting had been reported as a suspicious person one hour before the failed assassination attempt took place. Thirty minutes after the report was made, Pennsylvania state police notified the Secret Service of a suspicious person at 5:51 p.m. The Secret Service reportedly told its snipers at 5:53 p.m., but Trump was still allowed to take the stage just nine minutes later.

Seven minutes after Trump went on, members of the crowd notified police that the shooter was on the rooftop. Two minutes later, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire, wounding Trump’s right ear. The attack also left one rally attendee dead and two others critically injured.

The Secret Service fatally shot Crooks after he opened fire.

In a video posted to X, Barrasso explained that he and Blackburn “just went face-to-face with the director of the Secret Service asking for specific answers about what happened with President Trump in Pennsylvania and how that shooter was able to get off a clear shot when the FBI and secret service knew that there was a suspicious person an hour in advance of when the shooting occurred.” 

In a separate video of the interaction, Blackburn can be heard telling Cheatle, “This was an assassination attempt, you owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers.”

Barrasso, meanwhile, told Cheatle he was “very disappointed” in her leadership and questioned why Secret Service agents would allow Trump to appear on stage in Pennsylvania when they had discovered an hour earlier that there was a suspicious person on the premises.

“I don’t think this is the format to have this discussion,” Cheatle told the senators, before explaining that she had appeared at the third night of the convention to thank the security partners who helped secure the convention.

She then begins walking away as the senators follow and continue to demand answers.

“She would not answer our questions,” Blackburn said in a video posted to X after the encounter. “She wanted to say it was not the time or place. This is after we’ve been through a conference call today where the question queue got cut off. But I’ve got a message for her: She can run, but she cannot hide because the American people want to know how an assassination attempt was carried out on former president Donald Trump.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Barrasso told reporters the discussion with FBI and Secret Service was “a 100 percent cover-your-a** briefing.”

“No one has taken responsibility,” he said. “Someone has died. The [former] president was almost killed. The head of the Secret Service needs to go.”

Cheatle is set to testify before the House Oversight Committee on July 22, with committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) issuing a subpoena to the Secret Service director on Wednesday to ensure she appears.