Secret Service director not resigning after confrontation over Trump shooting at Milwaukee RNC

WASHINGTON -- Embattled Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has no plans to resign after a group of GOP senators asked her to do so in an angry confrontation caught on video at the Republican National Convention over the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, her staff told ABC News.

As calls for her resignation grow louder, Cheatle, according to her staff, is determined to stay put and see through the investigation of how the attempt on Trump's life happened at an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Just hours after she and FBI Director Christopher Wray briefed lawmakers on the investigation, Cheatle was confronted by four Republican senators at the RNC in Milwaukee, where she was overseeing the Secret Service security plan for the event.

During an unclassified briefing with Congressional members Wednesday, Cheatle and Wray released a timeline on the rally shooting, revealing that 20 minutes passed between the time U.S. Secret Service snipers first spotted the gunman on a rooftop and the time shots were fired at the former president, according to several law enforcement officials and lawmakers briefed on the matter.

Trump met with Cheatle on Tuesday at the hotel he was staying at in Milwaukee, a source familiar with the meeting told ABC News on Thursday. Cheatle briefed him on the assassination attempt.

Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee; John Barrasso, R-Wyoming; James Lankford, R-Oklahoma; and Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota confronted Cheatle Wednesday night at the RNC and demanded she answer their questions on how the Trump shooting transpired.

A video posted on social media by Blackburn captured the encounter outside a third-floor hospitality suite at the Fiserv Forum, where the convention took place.

The footage shows the senators surrounding Cheatle, and demanding she answer their question right then about the failure of the Secret Service at the rally.

Barrasso expressed outrage that he and the other senators were unable to question Cheatle at the earlier briefing; although, she and other investigators answered a handful of questions from lawmakers.

"Every one of us had questions that we wanted to ask. We thought we didn't get any of the responses that were necessary," Barrasso, who chairs the Senate Republican Conference, was heard telling Cheatle. "Either you resign tonight or start answering our questions right now about the death threat to President Trump and allowing him to go on stage."

SEE ALSO: Fmr. President Trump recounts assassination attempt during RNC speech, 'I'm not supposed to be here'

Referring to the timeline the investigators gave at the briefing, Blackburn asked Cheatle to explain why the Secret Service would "allow the president to go on stage when you know that you've got a potential threat," according to the video.

After listening to the senators for a few minutes, Cheatle responded, "I don't think that this is the forum to have this discussion. This hospitality suite is actually to thank the partners who have helped secure the Republican National Convention."

Cheatle said she would answer their questions at an "appropriate forum" before walking away with the senators in tow as Barasso said, "We're going with you," according to the footage.

As Cheatle tried to walk away, Barasso began yelling, "There's no shame. There's no concern. You're supposed to protect the president of the United States," the video showed.

At one point, Cramer tried to get in front of Cheatle, as he repeatedly yelled, "You answer to us."

One of the senators accused Cheatle of "stonewalling."

"This was an assassination attempt. You owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers," Blackburn told Cheatle as she and her fellow senators followed her up a staircase and ran after her as she reached the top of the stairs.

"You cannot run away from your responsibility to the people of the United States," Barrasso was heard telling Cheatle when he caught up to her.

Pointing a finger at Cheatle, Blackburn yelled, "You can keep running but you cannot hide from us."

When Cheatle went through a door with apparent staffers, the senators were stopped from following her by someone who appeared to be security.

"It is appalling that the Secret Service director refused to answer our questions. 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 needs to immediately step down from her position," Blackburn said in a statement her office released after the confrontation.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas this week, her first network interview since the assassination attempt on Trump, Cheatle said that the Pennsylvania rally shooting was "unacceptable. And it's something that shouldn't happen again."

As the head of the agency, Cheatle said it's her responsibility to investigate what went wrong and make sure nothing like it can happen again.

"The buck stops with me," she said. "I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary."

Cheatle said she will testify Monday in front of the House Oversight Committee.

ABC News' Luke Barr contributed to this report.