Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns in wake of Trump assassination attempt

Video obtained exclusively by Fox News shows the assassination attempt on former President Trump from the perspective of an eyewitness.

In the minute and twenty-five-second video, the sound of gunshots and screaming can be heard, and partnered with images of people running for their lives, the clip provides a powerful perspective.

Eight gunshots can be heard in the video, followed by two counter sniper shots.

Fox was told by a source that one shot came from a local sniper, while the other came from a Secret Service sniper, which was ultimately the kill shot.

Rally attendee Jon Malis provided the video to Fox.

He said he and his family watched the rally from next to the AGR building which Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to scale to access the roof and get a clear line of sight of Trump before opening fire.

Malis also told Fox all of the witnesses near the AGR building did not have to go through metal detectors because they were outside the rally site, though they all had a clear and close view of Trump.

Fox News’ Bryan Llenas contributed to this report.

Bodycam footage taken from law enforcement shows the body of the shooter who opened fire on former President Trump from a rooftop as authorities worked through the confusion following the chaotic shooting.

Sen. Chuck Grassely, R-Iowa, posted the three-minute video on social media Tuesday. The footage shows authorities on the roof of a building in Butler, Penn., where Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead by snipers after shooting Trump.

The footage was obtained from the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit, Grassley posted on X.

"Beaver County snipers seen him, sent the pictures out. This is him," someone off-camera is heard saying as Crooks' body is seen on the roof next to a trail of blood and several feet away from what appears to be a rifle.

A man who appears to be a Secret Service agent is seen talking to local authorities and asking about a bike nearby on the ground.

Read more about what the video revealed.

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

Pa. police commissioner told lawmakers Tuesday that two law enforcement officers stationed in buildings where a gunman opened fire at former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, left to go search for the suspicious man before the shooting occurred.

The testimony raised questions about whether a key post at the Butler fairgrounds was left unattended when would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed onto a roof that gave him a clear line of sight of the president.

Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher Paris told the House Homeland Security Committee that two Butler County Emergency Services Unit officers were manning a second-floor window in a complex of buildings that form AGR International Inc. The officers spotted Crooks acting suspiciously on the ground and left their post to go find him along with other law enforcement officers, Parris said.

Parris was not sure whether the officers would have been able to see Crooks climbing onto the roof of the adjacent building if they remained at the window.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who accused Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle of being “full of s- - -” at a House Committee on Oversight hearing on Monday into the attempted assassination of former President Trump, said she is withdrawing a motion to impeach the agency’s former director.

The fiery remark from the South Carolina lawmaker came after Cheatle was directed by Mace to answer a series of yes or no questions on the Secret Service’s response to the attempted assassination of former President Trump in Pennsylvania, in which Cheatle said "yes" to it being a "colossal failure," and a tragedy that could have been prevented.

Following the hearing, lawmakers filed articles to impeach Cheatle, but on Tuesday morning, she resigned from her position.

“Strolling straight to the Speaker's office,” Mace said in a post on X. “Now that Director Cheatle resigned after getting her rear handed to her yesterday and our articles to impeach her, we're withdrawing our motion to impeach. Accountability is non-negotiable. This is what we call a mic drop.”

Another lawmaker who weighed in on Cheatle’s resignation was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who said in a post on X that the director’s resignation is not the end of this failure.

“She will not get to slither away and enjoy retirement,” Greene wrote. “Cheatle and [Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas] will face accountability for actions, including possible criminal investigations.

I won’t let this go unanswered!”

"The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13th is the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades."

These are not my words: This is from former Secret Service Director Kimberley Cheatle’s opening testimony at Monday's hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

One would think that Cheatle had done her research to know every detail of the events of that day; however, her testimony suggested the total opposite. Former Director Cheatle provided nonsensical, incoherent, and unsubstantive answers to basic questions from my colleagues and me on both sides of the aisle.

I’m glad to see former Director Cheatle tender her resignation on Tuesday. In truth, I would have liked to have seen her fired instead. Accountability starts from the top, and we must take a hard look at the failures that led to President Trump’s near-assassination at the hands of a 20-year-old, untrained loner.

Former Director Cheatle’s bewildering comments immediately following the Butler, Pa., assassination attempt, combined with her inept testimony before Congress, have proved troubling for the nation.

Read the rest of this opinion piece by U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas. 

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the Senate Judiciary Committee is still working to conduct a joint hearing with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs on the attempted assassination of former President Trump.

“We have been working through the weekend with the HSGAC committee on a bipartisan basis to do a joint hearing,” Durbin told reporters on Tuesday. “We have split jurisdiction with Homeland Security and Secret Service and so forth. And we've agreed to do it. We're working on the witness list.”

He noted that the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle “leaves us open as to who represents the agency.”

There have been bipartisan calls to investigate how the shooter was able to get in position to shoot Trump during a Pennsylvania campaign rally.

“So this has been bipartisan all the way," Durbin said. "It isn't like to try and hold off any kind of investigation. I think it was pretty smart, incidentally, to wait until the House was finished and see what they came up with.”

With a huge push by House Democrats and Republicans to get to the bottom of how a shooter was able to access a roof with a clear line of sight at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania and nearly kill former President Trump, there is speculation not much will happen as lawmakers are expected to go on summer break at the end of the week for about 12 weeks.

Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie spoke to Neil Cavuto on “Your World” about the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and bipartisan efforts being made in the House to get answers to the attempted assassination of Trump.

“House Democrats and Republicans are telling me, you know, it's a good thing that she's gone. They wanted that,” Hasnie said. “But they say that it doesn't really change anything and it's not enough, which is why the House speaker and the Democratic leader here in the House are jointly basically launching a new task force to look into this themselves.

“It's going to be made up of Republicans and Democrats, and there's a lot of interest from lawmakers to get on this task force and try to figure out what went wrong here,” she continued. “Part of that oversight is already happening today. The Pennsylvania State Police commissioner came to the Hill to testify in front of the House Homeland Security Committee, and he revealed that the two officers with the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, they were the ones inside that building. That's the building that the shooter was sitting atop, and to the best of his knowledge, they had a clear view…of where the gunman would have climbed on top of that building to the roof, but they were told, apparently to move, to go search for him. And now lawmakers are questioning who the heck told them to do that.”

Hasnie said Cheatle was supposed to be at a hearing from the House Homeland Security Committee but did not make it because of her resignation.

FBI Director Christopher Wray was also expected to be at the hearing, but instead will be at a hearing on Wednesday.

“I want to make a point, though. You know, these lawmakers want to get to the bottom of what happened, but there’s talk on the Hill that they may be going on summer break at the end of the week for many, many weeks, about 12 weeks,” Hasnie said. “So, I don’t know what they’re going to get resolved by Friday.” 

Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., told Fox News on Tuesday that he and a team of lawmakers who visited the site in Butler, Pennsylvania on Monday where former President Trump was nearly assassinated, saw “lots of errors” in the planning and conduct between law enforcement agencies.

Green was a guest on Fox News’ “America Reports” on Tuesday when he was asked what needs to happen now that former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle gave lawmakers what they wanted on Tuesday by resigning.

“Well, obviously there are a lot of mistakes that were made,” Green said. “I just came out of our hearing right now talking to the Pennsylvania State Police and the discoveries of errors. Yesterday when we visited the site…we looked, really, at the planning phase and we saw lots of errors there, and then we saw errors today in the actual conduct of this thing, communications handoff.”

The Tennessee lawmaker said one of the problems is that law enforcement officials are not on the same communication networks as the military. When he worked in special operations, Green explained, everyone spoke on satellite radios, but that is not how it is with law enforcement across the country.

He specifically said that was not the case in Butler.

“They sent a picture 25 minutes before the president was shot, meaning about 10 to 12 minutes before he walked on stage, saying that a guy had used a rangefinder and was this suspicious person,” Green said. “Now, whomever at the Secret Service didn’t say, ‘Hey, Mr. President. Let’s hold up just a little bit until we find this guy,’ that guy needs to be fired. Whoever was in charge in that command center and didn’t make that decision, that person needs to go as well.”

EXCLUSIVE: Trump shooter's father returns to public life, says ‘we just want to try to take care of ourselves’

Thomas Matthew Crooks' father was spotted in public on Monday for the first time since the 20-year-old gunman opened fire at former President Donald Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to a local business employee and a neighbor who identified a picture of him.

Snipers killed Crooks after the Bethel Park resident nicked Trump's ear, killed bystander Corey Comperatore and injured two others at the July 13 rally, David Dutch and James Copenhaver.

Investigators have spent the last week visiting Crooks' family home in their suburban Pittsburgh neighborhood.

The man locals identified as the father and a masked woman he was with declined to answer questions when approached by Fox News Digital.

"We're going to release a statement when our legal counsel advises us to do so – until then, we have no comment," he told Fox News Digital before beginning to load items into the vehicle. "We just want to try to take care of ourselves right now. Please, just give us our space."

Crooks' family members have cooperated with the FBI as the agency tries to pin down a motive for the near assassination.

Read more about the Trump shooter and his family.

Fox News’ Christina Coulter contributed to this report.

Pennsylvania State Police shut down concerns by now-resigned Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle that the "sloped roof" the shooter used to nearly assassinate former President Trump was too unsafe for law enforcement officers.

Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris made the statement during his testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday. Paris oversaw the state and local law enforcement in their partnership with the Secret Service during Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., began his questions by recounting his own experience having been to the scene of the shooting earlier this week.

"The Secret Service director, prior to her resignation, said that she did not put anybody on the roof because it had a sloped roof that would have created a safety concern," Guest began. "I was in Butler, Pennsylvania, yesterday with many members of this committee. My fellow member, Carlos Jimenez, who is 70 years old…. There's video of him easily traversing the roof, walking across the roof. Even though he is some 50 years older than the shooter."

"And so, my question is, do you agree with the assessment of the former Secret Service director that the roof was so sloped, that it created safety concerns?" he asked.

"I cannot agree with that," Paris responded.

Read more about Paris’ testimony on Tuesday.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris told lawmakers Tuesday that the man who opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 and nearly assassinated former President Trump fired eight shots.

Rep. Eric Swalwel, R-Calif., asked Paris during a hearing held by the House Committee on Homeland Security on Tuesday, how many rounds would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks fired before he was killed.

“I believe that the number is eight,” Paris said. “Eight casings have been recovered.”

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who submitted her resignation on Tuesday, refused to answer the same question from lawmakers during a House Committee on Oversight hearing on Monday.

Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris told lawmakers Tuesday he did not have any idea why security teams could not find a suspicious person before he opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, nearly killing former President Trump.

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., was given the chance to ask Paris several questions during a hearing held by the House Committee on Homeland Security on Tuesday.

“Why weren't security teams, sir, on site able to spot a 20 year old kid with zero camouflage crawling up a white roof with an AR-15 that several rally goers were screaming and yelling and pointing out, and they noticed him and they weren't even there to conduct security,” Crane asked. “They were there to watch the president. Do you have any idea why the security teams couldn't find that guy?”

“I do not, sir,” Paris said.

“Are you aware, sir, that many Americans believe this was very likely not a lone shooter, but a coordinated assassination attempt? Have you been getting those messages from people like I have,” Crane asked.

“I have not, sir,” Paris responded.

Crane said a lot of lawmakers in the room have received such messages, raising suspicion about how a 20-year-old kid was able to get within 150 yards of Trump with an AR-15, flew drone reconnaissance at the site, and was spotted with a range finder before dropping off the radar.

“I was a sniper in the SEALS team, Colonel,” Crane said. “As soon as I got out of the SUV and I saw that water tower, I was like, that's exactly where I'd be. Put me right there.”

Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris told the House lawmakers on Tuesday that two municipal police officers searching for Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks in the leadup to the assassination attempt spotted him with a weapon just minutes before the first shots were fired. 

Paris, speaking to the House Homeland Security Committee, said the officers were “actively looking” for Crooks and “It became apparent at some point that he was up on the roof” that he ultimately fired at Trump from. 

“Those two municipal officers who responded then, to their credit, actively once they realized that he was on the roof, one boosted the other one up,” Paris said. “By the time that officer was boosted up on top of the roof, Crooks was on it almost in that final position that you saw, he had the AR out, and he pointed it at the municipal officer who was suspended from the roof, [who] was not in a position -- feet dangling at that point -- to draw a weapon or continue hoisting himself back up on the roof. He drops back down from the roof.” 

“By the time that that, municipal officer was hoisted up onto the roof and saw him, he had the weapon out,” Paris added, saying the encounter happened “at most two and a half to three minutes before that first shot rung.” 

Former President Trump says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on Friday.

"During my first term, we had Peace and Stability in the Region, even signing the historic Abraham Accords - And we will have it again. Just as I have said in discussions with President Zelenskyy and other World Leaders in recent weeks, my PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH Agenda will demonstrate to the World that these horrible, deadly Wars, and violent Conflicts must end," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

"Millions are dying, and Kamala Harris is in no way capable of stopping it," he added.

Ronald L. Rowe, Jr. has been appointed the acting Secret Service director on Tuesday following the resignation of Kimberly Cheatle. 

“Deputy Director Rowe has been Deputy Director of Secret Service since April 2023. A 24-year veteran of the Secret Service, he previously served as the agency’s Assistant Director for the Office of Intergovernmental and Legislative Affairs, Deputy Assistant Director for the Office of Protective Operations, and in other leadership positions," Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement announcing the appointment. 

“I appreciate his willingness to lead the Secret Service at this incredibly challenging moment, as the agency works to get to the bottom of exactly what happened on July 13 and cooperate with ongoing investigations and Congressional oversight,” Mayorkas added. “At the same time, the Secret Service must effectively carry on its expansive mission that includes providing 24/7 protection for national leaders and visiting dignitaries and securing events of national significance in this dynamic and heightened threat environment.” 

BUTLER, Pa. – An Air Force veteran who attended former President Trump's campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 said she noticed glaring security issues before Thomas Crooks carried out an assassination attempt that left one dead and two others critically wounded.

Sarah Taylor, an 18-year veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, told Fox News Digital that she was initially excited about attending her first Trump rally, but as soon as she and her friend secured their positions some 100 yards from where the president was speaking, they could not help but notice an "eerie" building behind them.

"The fence was there. Right behind us was the building the shooter was on," she recalled. "And we talked about it a lot because it was just really eerie, and my spidey senses were up. I had been in the military for 18 years, and something was not right about that area."

She noticed some local police and state troopers walking around a field outside the American Glass Research (AGR) building that Crooks eventually fired from, but there was no law enforcement presence on the roof.

"We just kept looking back at it thinking, ‘Something’s not right,'" Taylor said. "… I'm used to looking at my surroundings. I was deployed overseas — I knew something wasn't right."

Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., said Tuesday during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the Trump assassination attempt that “it is welcome news that the director of the Secret Service has resigned, but if we say that that is enough, then we're not doing our jobs.” 

“We need to understand what protocols, policies, resources need to be changed, if any, to make sure this does not happen again,” Magaziner said. 

“We don't know the motivation of the shooter at this time, but I remain concerned by the rising tide of political violence and domestic violent extremism in this country, which impacts all of us,” Magaziner also said. 

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement addressing Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation that “she is deeply respected by the men and women of the agency and by her fellow leaders in the Department of Homeland Security.” 

Cheatle quit her position Tuesday following calls from lawmakers to resign over the Secret Service’s handling of the Trump assassination attempt on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

“I am grateful to Kimberly Cheatle for her leadership as the Director of the United States Secret Service and for her lifelong devotion to our country,” Mayorkas said. 

“Director Cheatle has dedicated her career to public service. She has served in the Secret Service for more than 29 years, rising through the ranks because of her talent, hard work, selfless dedication to mission, and integrity,” he added. 

“Daily, she risked her life to protect others, serving on the frontlines and securing events for every president since President Clinton,” Mayorkas also said. “She supervised protection for Vice President Cheney, led the Secret Service’s training center, supervised the protection of Vice President Biden, oversaw the agency’s entire protective mission during the administration of President Trump, and more.” 

EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump reacted to the news of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigning in the wake of the assassination attempt against him, telling Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that "she never gave me proper protection." 

Cheatle resigned Tuesday morning, giving way to pressure from Republican and Democrat lawmakers amid scrutiny over the massive security failure that led to the shooting at the Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump rally earlier this month.

"She never gave me proper protection, so I ended up having to take a bullet for democracy," Trump told Fox News Digital Tuesday after she resigned. 

"Many requests were made by on-site Secret Service for more people, always with a turn down or no response," Trump said. "I have the biggest crowds in history, and they should be treated accordingly."

Trump told Fox News Digital, though, that "big improvements have been made over the last week."