Secret Service Director Cheatle faces bipartisan grilling in Congress after Trump assassination attempt

WASHINGTON (CN) — Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told members of Congress on Monday that the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump was the most significant agency failure in “decades,” but sought to allay concerns about her leadership.

Cheatle went before the House Oversight Committee as several lawmakers — both Republicans and Democrats — called on her to resign just a week after the GOP nominee was shot July 13 at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“This tragedy was preventable,” said Kentucky Representative James Comer, who chairs the Oversight Committee. “The Secret Service has a zero-fail mission, but it failed on July 13 and in the days leading up to the rally.”

While speaking from the stage at his rally, Trump was grazed by a would-be assassin who fired from a rooftop just outside the Secret Service security perimeter using an AR-15 rifle. Though the former president survived the attempt, one rallygoer was killed in the crossfire. The shooter was also killed by Secret Service counter-snipers.

Slamming the Secret Service’s failure to properly secure the rally venue and contending that the agency lacks the proper management to protect high-profile figures, Comer on Monday renewed calls on Cheatle to step down.

“Under Director Cheatle’s leadership, we question whether anyone is safe,” he said, calling into question the security of President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and the White House.

Cheatle told lawmakers that she took full responsibility for the security lapses at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally, but stopped short of saying she would resign. She’s previously resisted calls to do so.

“The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13 was the most significant operational failure of the secret service in decades,” the Secret Service director said, adding later that there was “clearly a breakdown” in security measures at the event.

Cheatle added that, despite the numerous security failures, she was proud of the Secret Service agents who jumped into action when shots rang out at the rally — commending the agents who shielded Trump from the incoming fire.

The Secret Service head also sought to smooth over concerns that the agency’s security oversight of other major events had been compromised, arguing the agency had successfully secured last week’s Republican National Convention and would carry out plans to protect the forthcoming Democratic National Convention and United Nations General Assembly.

The Secret Service continues to investigate the events surrounding the assassination attempt, Cheatle said.

“We will not rest until we have explored every option, and we will leave no stone unturned,” she told lawmakers.

Cheatle, though, provided lawmakers with few details about what the Secret Service knows about how the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was able to get access to the rooftop where he fired at Trump. She repeatedly deferred to the FBI or deflected, citing the ongoing inquiry.

But she did tell the Oversight Committee that nobody at the Secret Service had been disciplined for the security lapses at the Butler rally.

Criticism of the Secret Service’s handling of the July 13 assassination attempt proved intensely bipartisan. Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, the Oversight Committee’s Democratic ranking member, said the attempt on Trump’s life was a “stunning” security failure.

Raskin also pointed out that Democrats and Republicans had joined forces to condemn the assassination attempt and political violence in any form.

Illinois Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi grilled Cheatle on reports that rallygoers had spotted Crooks scaling the building he would eventually use as his vantage point in the minutes leading up to the assassination attempt.

The Democrat played a video taken by attendees in which Crooks can be seen on the roof. In the clip, rallygoers are heard presumably alerting law enforcement to the shooter’s presence.

Cheatle told Krishnamoorthi that the Secret Service would not have allowed Trump to take the stage if it had identified a threat.

“We’ve now identified three points in the 20 minutes before the shooting where the threat emerged,” the Illinois lawmaker fired back.

Later on, California Representative Ro Khanna became the first Democratic member of the Oversight Committee to call on Cheatle to resign. Pointing to former Secret Service head H. Stuart Knight’s decision to step aside following the 1981 assassination attempt on then-President Ronald Reagan, Khanna argued that the agency should “transcend politics.”

“If you have an assassination attempt on a president, former president or a candidate, you need to resign,” the California lawmaker said.

Raskin, meanwhile, argued that it isn’t just the Secret Service that needs to take a hard look at its standards and practices.

“We can’t let ourselves off the hook,” Raskin said. “What happened in Butler was a double failure.”

While the Secret Service failed to protect Trump from the attempt on his life, Congress has similarly shirked its responsibility to curb gun violence and keep firearms out of the hands of bad actors, Raskin contended.

He observed that the shooter had used his father’s AR-15 and called on congressional colleagues to implement universal background checks and a renewed assault weapons ban.

There was palpable anger among Republican members of the Oversight Committee as questioning got underway. Lawmakers, including South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace, called out in exasperation as Cheatle answered questions about how the Secret Service prepared for the Butler rally.

Arguing that the Secret Service has not been transparent with lawmakers, Mace suggested that Cheatle had leaked the contents of her statement to the press before it was supplied to the Oversight Committee.

“I have no idea how my statement got out,” Cheatle told Mace.

“That’s bullshit,” Mace fired back.

Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett pushed Cheatle on reports that the Secret Service had refused additional security for the Trump campaign in the lead-up to the Butler rally.

All the campaign’s requests were fulfilled, she told the Republican lawmaker.

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene dramatically rolled her eyes as the agency head testified. Writing on X during the hearing, Greene said Cheatle was incompetent and suggested without evidence that she “may be complicit” in the attempt on Trump’s life.

In a testy exchange with the Secret Service head, the Georgia Republican accused her of arriving unprepared for Monday’s hearing, slamming her for failing to bring the details of an advance security report or a detailed timeline of events.

Greene demanded to know why Crooks was not shot by Secret Service once rallygoers alerted law enforcement to the shooter’s presence. Cheadle replied that counter snipers “neutralized” Crooks as soon as he was identified as a threat.

“[Y]ou are a complete failure as director of the Secret Service,” the lawmaker seethed, adding that the director should either resign or be fired.

“We’re waiting for your letter of resignation,” said Greene. “You should really consider doing that before you leave today.”

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