Washington — Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is testifying Monday before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee about the security failures that allowed a 20-year-old gunman to open fire on former President Donald Trump and a crowd of his supporters at a rally more than a week ago.
Cheatle has come under significant pressure to resign in the aftermath of the assassination attempt, in which Trump and two others were injured and one rally attendee was killed.
The FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the shooter, and he was killed by a Secret Service sniper. Lawmakers have questioned how Crooks was able to gain access to a rooftop so close to where Trump was speaking at the campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told Cheatle directly that she should resign, saying that with her at the helm of the Secret Service, it is questionable whether the president, first lady, White House and presidential candidates are safe.
“The Secret Service has a zero fail mission, but it failed on July 13 and in the days leading up to the rally,” Comer said in his opening statement. “The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a significant budget, but it has now become the face of incompetence.”
Cheatle, who has resisted calls to step down, will tell committee members that the Secret Service failed in its mission to protect the nation’s leaders on July 13 and take full responsibility for any security lapses. She was tapped by President Biden in September 2022 to lead the agency.
“We must learn what happened and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like July 13th does not happen again,” she will say according to excerpts from her testimony. “Thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my thoughts.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson was in attendance for the start of the hearing. Comer welcomed him to the room and kicked off the hearing with his opening statement.
The Kentucky Republican heralded the bravery of law enforcement officers who protected Trump, rally-goers and Trump himself.
“This tragedy was preventable,” Comer said.
He said lawmakers are concerned the Secret Service lacks the “proper management” to keep its protectees safe.
“Americans demand accountability but no one has yet to be fired for his historic failure,” Comer said, noting that Cheatle is testifying under subpoena. “It is my firm belief, Director Cheatle, that you should resign.”
He said the July 13 assassination attempt represents “one of the darkest days in American political history.”
“It represents the ugliest parts of what American politics has become: hatred of each other and a dangerous turn to extremism,” Comer said.
Cheatle was tapped as director of the Secret Service in September 2022, leaving her role as senior director in global security at PepsiCo to join the agency. She spent 27 years at the Secret Service before making the jump to the private sector.
During her time at the agency, she protected President Bill Clinton during a Michigan campaign trip in 1996 and protected then-Vice President Dick Cheney on Sept. 11, 2001, bringing him to a secure bunker after the attacks.
Cheatle also protected Mr. Biden when he was vice president and was assistant director of the Office of Protective Operations, her most recent role before leaving the Secret Service for PepsiCo.
Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle became the first Democrat to call on Cheatle to step down from her post on Saturday.
“The evidence coming to light has shown unacceptable operational failures,” he said in a statement. “I have no confidence in the leadership of the United States Secret Service if Director Cheatle chooses to remain in her position.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Sunday four law enforcement experts who will conduct an independent review of the attempted assassination of Trump. Earlier this month, Mr. Biden had directed the Department of Homeland Security to run the examination. The department oversees the Secret Service.
The panel will include Janet Napolitano, former Homeland Security Secretary; Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security adviser to President George W. Bush; Mark Filip, former deputy attorney general to Bush; and David Mitchell, former superintendent of the Maryland State Police.
“We are committed to getting to the bottom of what happened on July 13, and I am grateful to the distinguished members of this independent review who will bring decades of expertise in law enforcement and security operations to this important investigation,” Mayorkas said in a statement.
The Secret Service admitted some security modifications for Trump “were not provided” ahead of the assassination attempt against him last Saturday.
On Sunday, the Secret Service acknowledged that in some instances when the Secret Service did not provide “specific specialized units or resources,” the agency made “modifications to ensure extra protection.”
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement Sunday such modifications could include “utilizing state or local partners to provide specialized functions or otherwise identifying alternatives to reduce public exposure of a protectee.”
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