The House Oversight Committee Hearing President Trump met with U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday to discuss the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) called for Cheatle’s resignation in his opening statement, citing security failures, and House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) also called for Cheatle’s resignation.
“This is the Secret Service’s most significant operational failure in decades.”
“The American people want an explanation, and they’re not getting one from the Secret Service,” Comer said. “The American people want accountability, but no one has been fired for this historic debacle.”
“Chief Cheatle, I firmly believe you should resign,” Comer continued.
In his opening statement, Mr Raskin said he and Mr Comer “shared our condemnation of political violence of all kinds” and blamed the Secret Service for “astounding security failures”.
Raskin said the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a “double failure” and also placed blame on Congress for not passing tougher laws to crack down on “gun crime violence”.
“So we must also ask tough questions about whether our laws make it too easy for potential assassins to obtain firearms in general, and AR-15s in particular,” Raskin said. “Mr. Comperatore, former President Trump, the injured rally participant, and Mr. Butler are now members of a club no one wants to belong to: the thousands of people who are victims of mass shootings.”
In his opening remarks, Cheatle acknowledged that the assassination attempt was “the Secret Service’s most significant operational failure in decades.”
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle added, saying he accepted “full responsibility”.
“We need to know what happened, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that an incident like that of July 13th never happens again,” Cheatle said in his opening statement. “I am beyond words proud of the actions of the former president’s security detail, the counter-sniper team that neutralized the shooter, and the tactical teams that were ready to act.”
Asked why the Secret Service did not station agents on the roof where the shooter was, Cheatle did not give a direct answer.
“As you can imagine, this incident is only nine days old and the investigation is still ongoing, so we want to make sure that the information we provide to you is factual,” she replied. “We are still reviewing the procedures that were in place and the decisions that were made.”
Cheatle said the Secret Service provided all the details Trump requested about the July 13 rally. CNN The Secret Service reportedly rejected specific security requests from the Trump campaign at past events.
“No requests were denied regarding Butler’s events,” she responded.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) questioned whether the Trump campaign decided not to ask for additional funds because its previous requests were denied.
“Maybe they got tired of asking,” Jordan speculated. “Maybe you turned them down so many times that they said, ‘It’s not worth asking.’ How many times did you turn them down before that?”
Cheatle did not provide a direct answer, but argued that a denied request would not weaken Secret Service protections.
She testified that federal agents had told the Secret Service that the shooter had flown a drone in the area earlier that morning.
Raskin pressed Cheatle about why Trump was allowed on stage when the man later identified as the shooter had been labeled a “suspicious person” by police.
“If police had been given information that there was a threat, they would never have brought the former president on stage,” Cheatle replied, explaining that police make a distinction between someone they classify as “suspicious” and someone they classify as a “threat.”
Cheatle said law enforcement received “between two and five” suspicious-person calls on the day of the rally, adding that the shooter was identified as a threat “seconds before the shots were fired.” Cheatle acknowledged that he had not visited the scene of the shooting.
Throughout the committee’s questioning, Cheatle continued to maintain that, despite the Secret Service’s recent missteps, he still believes he is “the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.”
Cheatle said the department’s initial internal investigation is expected to be completed within 60 days. No employees have been disciplined so far.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) slammed Mr Cheatle for not responding, saying it was “completely unacceptable” to take 60 days to produce a report.
Rep. Shontell Brown (D-Ohio) also expressed frustration with Cheatle’s lack of answers.
“This is not easy for us,” Brown said.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said Cheatle should have come to the hearing prepared to answer lawmakers’ questions and called for Cheatle’s resignation.
After the hearing, Comer and Raskin jointly letter They called for Cheatle’s resignation.
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