Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-Milwaukee) said his encounter with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Wednesday night seemed more dramatic on video than it felt like it happened in person.
During the Republican National Convention, several lawmakers met with Cheatle to ask for an explanation for the Butler, Pennsylvania, shooting that nearly led to the assassination of former President Trump.
Kramer was a guest on Martha MacCallum's “The Story” on Thursday and was asked what he thought about the video of the incident that has been circulating on social media.
“First of all, this seems more dramatic than it felt like at the time, because at the time we were just trying to exercise a little bit of responsibility and shed light on a lot of questions that were being asked around the country and the world by someone who was supposed to have the answers but didn't,” Cramer said. “This is the first time I've actually seen this footage, so it didn't seem like such a big deal to me at the time because I experienced it firsthand.”
The senator said he gets annoyed when people stop and talk to him when they ask him questions, even in the Capitol hallways and in front of reporters.
Cramer was astonished that the person directly responsible for answering questions from Congress had not spoken to members of the Republican National Convention, who Cramer said were asking “the most obvious” and simple questions.
At one point, Cheatle even told the deputies to go to another room, which Cramer believed they would do, but she ran and evacuated the deputies to another room with her security team.
“This is a time when we really need her to step up and provide information to restore confidence in the Secret Service,” Cramer said.