US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday faced frustrated House lawmakers from both parties, who grilled her over the stunning security failures that led to the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.
Cheatle acknowledged that there were “significant” problems at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, where the former president was shot in the ear, and she didn’t downplay the historical and political significance of the event.
Before Trump took the stage at the rally, the director said, the Secret Service had been notified “between two and five times” that there was a suspicious person in the area.
Yet one by one, as members of the House Oversight Committee tried to pry loose new information about the security breakdown and what is being done to ensure it never happens again, Cheatle repeatedly stonewalled lawmakers’ efforts to get answers and pointed to the ongoing FBI investigation.
The director also remained defiant in the face of bipartisan calls for her immediate resignation.
Here are key takeaways from the hearing:
- Cheatle admits agency’s “colossal failure”: Cheatle acknowledged that the Trump assassination attempt was “the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades.” She later said it was the worst moment for the agency since the unsuccessful assassination attempt targeting President Ronald Reagan in 1981. But even with that historic failure under her watch, Cheatle was insistent that she won’t step down.
- No resources withheld from Trump rally: Cheatle said that, “for the event on July 13, the assets that were requested for that day were given.” CNN has reported that there were previous events where the Secret Service denied Trump specific requests and supplemented them, in some instances, with local law enforcement. GOP Rep. Jim Jordan pressed Cheatle, asking if she was lying previously when the Secret Service said they had not denied security requests. “For the event in Butler, there were no requests that were denied,” she said.
- Cheatle treads carefully with answers — and non-answers: The top Republican and Democrat on the House Oversight Committee peppered Cheatle with some of the biggest questions that are still unresolved: Were any Secret Service agents on the roof where gunman Thomas Crooks fired shots at Trump? Did the gunman fly a drone over the area before the rally began? In response to these questions, and more, Cheatle pivoted away and didn’t directly answer. Regarding Crooks’ possible drone, she confirmed that this is what the FBI told her, but said it was still being probed.
