Shock Footage: Kimberly Cheatle Literally Flees Multiple GOP Senators, Some Running After Her Smack in Middle of RNC

To say that Kimberly Cheatle is not a popular woman right now is an understatement in a year filled with them.

Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, became a household name following the shooting of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

Her agency faced severe criticism for failing to prevent the assassination attempt, especially after reports surfaced that a suspicious person, later identified as gunman Thomas Michael Crooks, had been spotted by attendees who alerted law enforcement.

Cheatle made matters worse in an ABC News interview by calling the security lapse “unacceptable” but claiming Crooks was tracked down in “a very short period of time.” On Tuesday, she further aggravated the situation by stating the “sloped roof” Crooks fired from posed “a safety factor” that made it unsuitable for stationing personnel.

But it wasn’t just the assassination attempt that drew criticism. Cheatle’s focus on diversity within the Secret Service — including a goal of a 30 percent female workforce by 2030 — had already been contentious. This criticism intensified after an incident earlier this year when a female agent, whose background sources said would typically disqualify her from employment, experienced a mental breakdown at Joint Base Andrews while preparing to protect Vice President Kamala Harris. The agent was subdued, disarmed, handcuffed, and removed from the base.

Despite the backlash, Cheatle insists she plans to stay on. However, her resolve, much like her boss Joe Biden's, seems hollow, particularly after a viral confrontation Wednesday between Cheatle and lawmakers at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn posted a video of the showdown on the social media platform X. In the chaotic, poorly lit video, Blackburn and Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso can be seen confronting Cheatle.

“Every one of us has questions and we want to get answers,” a man, presumably Barrasso, tells Cheatle at the beginning of the clip. “But we didn’t get any responses from you.” He added he was “very disappointed” in Cheatle and called for her resignation, accusing her of allowing Trump to go on stage despite being alerted about a suspicious person an hour earlier.

Barrasso accused Cheatle of “stonewalling,” and Blackburn echoed similar sentiments. “This was an assassination attempt! You owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers!” she said, noting that “an hour out, you had a suspicious person.”

Two minutes into the video, Cheatle says, “I don’t think this is the point to have this discussion” and begins to pull away, noting the area was a suite for convention attendees. However, the senators insisted on finding a place to continue the discussion.

Despite trying to leave, Cheatle was pursued by GOP lawmakers. Blackburn and Barrasso described the encounter in a video posted to X immediately afterward.

While a confrontation at the Republican National Convention might seem dramatic, lawmakers have struggled to get substantive answers from the Secret Service since the attack. GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who was on a call Wednesday with all 100 senators and officials from the Secret Service and FBI, told Fox News the agencies were obfuscating.

“It was a 45-minute briefing, and they spent 30 minutes just filibustering, walking through all the things they did that day; walking through a detailed timeline of every other factor of what they did in the field, what they did on the stage, what they did backstage — everything except how they didn’t stop a man with a rifle from shooting the former president,” Cruz said.

“That detail they just omitted.”

Unfortunately for Cheatle and the rest of the Secret Service leadership, they will have to answer for this incident — whether they stay in their jobs or leave voluntarily or forcibly. And accountability is necessary.