Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle should be let go, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday in the latest volley of criticism she has taken since the agency failed to keep a gunman from injuring former President Donald Trump less than a week ago.
Cheatle was recorded trying to escape angry GOP lawmakers Wednesday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. The group wanted answers about the Secret Service’s performance Saturday, when Trump was injured after shots were fired at a campaign rally in rural Pennsylvania. The agency held separate calls with House and Senate lawmakers Wednesday.
“They did not give us satisfactory answers to some very important questions. And some of it needs to be in a classified setting, I suppose,” Johnson said in a Thursday interview on Fox Business Network. “But I’m prepared this morning to call on President Biden to fire Director Cheatle.”
“Yesterday I said that she should resign. It’s clear that she has no intention to do so, but the oversight here, the mistakes, the ineptitude, whatever it is, was inexcusable. We almost lost the life of a former president. And I think there has to be accountability and it begins at the top,” he added.
Johnson’s call Thursday went a bit further than that of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday; he said the agency needs new leadership but stopped just shy of calling for Cheatle’s ouster.
“Last week’s near-assassination of former President Trump was a grave attack on American democracy. The nation deserves answers and accountability. New leadership at the Secret Service would be an important step in that direction,” McConnell said on social media Wednesday.
Cheatle is set to testify Monday before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee about the incident, an appearance that Republicans called for very soon after the attack but which has taken on increased importance following reports the agency may have had ample opportunity to stop the shooter before the assassination attempt took place.
Trump, who has been wearing a bandage over his right ear that was injured in the attack, has been attending the GOP convention since Monday and is set to make his speech accepting the party’s presidential nomination Thursday night.
