Secret Service Chief Prepares for Bipartisan Grilling by Congress Following Trump Assassination Attempt

The director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, will face a grilling from members of Congress on Monday when she sits before the House Oversight Committee following the assassination attempt of President Trump. Several members of Congress, including Speaker Johnson, have demanded the director’s resignation. “Americans demand answers from Director Kimberly Cheatle about the Secret Service’s historic security failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump, murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd,” the chairman of the committee, Congressman James Comer, said in a statement. On Friday, Mr. Comer and the top Democrat on the panel, Congressman Jamie Raskin, asked Ms. Cheatle to appear to answer questions about the “historic security failures” at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally.“While we often have passionate disagreements about policies and investigative priorities, we are united in condemning all political violence and ensuring that America will prevent such a horrific event from ever happening again,” the two lawmakers wrote in a statement. “Americans have many serious questions about the historic security failures that occurred at the campaign rally.”The committee asked Ms. Cheatle to appear on Monday, but she instead offered to appear later in the week due to scheduling conflicts. When the panel issued a subpoena for her to appear, she obliged. There has been a slow drip of news coming out about the apparent security lapses at the rally earlier this month, where a gunman shot Trump in the ear and killed a rally attendee and injured two others. It was reported by the Washington Post that the Secret Service has, for two years, been denying requests from the Trump campaign for additional resources to protect Trump and his rally goers. The Wall Street Journal reports that the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed on sight, was able to fly a drone over the rally site at Butler just hours before the former president took the stage. Mr. Comer told Fox News on Sunday that he had “a lot of questions” for Ms. Cheatle about the shooting and her leadership, saying that the Oversight Committee has done good work investigating the presidential protective force in the past. “When you look back to the history of the House Oversight Committee dating back to when Jason Chaffetz was chairman of the committee, there have been a lot of investigations of the Secret Service and reports issued that they lacked proper training, they did not efficiently spend their funds,” Mr. Comer said. “So our question for Director Cheatle is: are you competent to run the Secret Service?”Mr. Comer made it clear that he wants a head to roll for the historic attack on a former American president and current frontrunner to retake the job.“We want to know who is at fault for what happened. Every American can tell that there should never have been allowed anyone on that roof … That’s unacceptable. Not only do we need answers, but people need to be held accountable. And that’s what the Director is going to have to answer tomorrow,” Mr. Comer said. Ms. Cheatle was appointed to her position by President Biden in 2022, and has faced intense criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike since the shooting. A Democrat from Pennsylvania and key ally of House leadership, Congressman Brendan Boyle, said the reporting on the security lapses have led him to have no confidence in the director. “The evidence coming to light has shown unacceptable operational failures. I have no confidence in the leadership of the United States Secret Service if Director Cheatle chooses to remain in her position,” Mr. Boyle said in a statement. At the Republican National Convention last week, two lawmakers — Senator Barrasso and Senator Blackburn — accosted Ms. Cheatle, who was in attendance to oversee security. “Can you give us an explanation?” Ms. Blackburn asked pointedly. “Why would anyone allow the president to go on stage when you know you’ve got a threat?”Ms. Cheatle responded, saying she did not think that “this is the forum to have this discussion.” The lawmakers and the director were standing in a suite inside the convention hall during speeches.

Secret Service Chief Prepares for Bipartisan Grilling by Congress Following Trump Assassination Attempt

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