Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso also followed Cheatle, and another person was heard saying that Cheatle was “stonewalling” the senators about what happened Saturday.
“It is appalling that the director of the Secret Service refused to answer our questions,” Blackburn said in a statement. “This is one of the greatest security failures in the history of the agency. She can run, but she cannot hide. She is a failed leader and she must resign immediately.”
A Secret Service spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since the shooting at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left one man dead, Cheatle has faced mounting calls to resign, including from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). She has taken responsibility for her agency’s failure to prevent the attack but has said she will not resign.
“The responsibility is mine,” Cheatle told ABC News earlier this week. “I’m the director of the Secret Service, and I have to make sure that we do an assessment and that we give our personnel the resources that are necessary.”
Her public rebuke by a group of U.S. senators at the GOP convention was a reflection of the deep rift between top Republican officials and the agency charged with protecting the nation’s leaders.
The tense standoff lasted about four minutes, according to witnesses, as the senators followed Cheatle, who quickly walked away from them without saying anything. It unfolded as speakers a few floors below were delivering remarks at the third night of the GOP convention.
The incident began when senators confronted the Secret Service director in a luxury suite in the arena, where she was watching the event. At least one Trump adviser appeared to be among the group of lawmakers.
Cheatle attempted to leave the box after senators cursed at her for about two minutes and said she would answer questions later. Cheatle said she would leave the box so others could watch the festivities. “We’re coming with you!” she could be heard shouting. Other senators on the floor were Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, according to a longer version of the video posted to X by Blackburn.
A Republican Party aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe what led to the meeting, said it was prompted by frustration among Republican senators over a closed briefing lawmakers received from federal officials on Wednesday.
“A number of senators got wind of the fact that she was here in a suite at the forum and after not getting their questions answered at the briefing earlier today, they thought, ‘Let’s go upstairs and [ask] “A few questions,” the aide said. “She refused to answer any questions and started running away, and they followed her.”
Anger has been mounting within the Republican Party since Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump. Republicans are demanding answers from the Secret Service about how a gunman scaled a building some 450 feet (137 meters) away during the rally and held the former president at gunpoint.
According to insiders, Trump’s team has also clashed with the Secret Service over security measures in recent months.
Cheatle met with several Trump advisers earlier this week, they said.
Trump advisers have privately complained for days that the Secret Service should have secured the building where the shooter was on Saturday. But Trump has been reluctant to publicly criticize the department, in part because he trusts his team and credits them with getting him off the stage safely, according to people who have spoken to him.