Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is expected to tell lawmakers on Monday that the agency “failed” to protect the president after former President Trump was injured during a campaign rally earlier this month.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed to fulfill that mission. As Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security failures,” Chattle, who is scheduled to appear at a hearing before the House Oversight Committee, said in his opening statement.
“We must learn from what happened, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that an incident like July 13 never happens again. Thinking about what we should have done differently will never leave the back of my mind.”
Cheatle’s appearance comes as many Republican lawmakers are calling for him to resign after President Trump was hit in the ear by a gunman.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have both called for her resignation, and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) joined them on Monday morning.
Cheatle said in an interview with ABC News last week that he has no plans to resign, and on Monday he plans to emphasize his plans to cooperate with multiple investigations into how authorities failed to stop the shooter.
The attack left Trump with an injured ear and one person killed and two others seriously injured at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Further fueling tensions is that the Secret Service over the weekendRejecting some requests from the Trump campaignIt called for increased security and retracted an earlier statement saying such claims were “completely false.”
Cheatle’s comments support accusations of political bias within the agency.
“Our mission is not political. As the tragic events of July 13 remind us, it is literally a matter of life and death. I have the utmost confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service. They deserve our support in carrying out our protective mission,” she wrote.
