WASHINGTON ― Kimberly Cheatle, director of the U.S. Secret Service, acknowledged Monday that the near-assassination of former President Donald Trump represented a fundamental failure on her agency’s part.
Speaking before lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Cheatle described the July 13 shooting of Trump and attendees at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, as “the most significant operational failure” at the Secret Service in decades.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders,” Cheatle said in an opening statement before the House oversight committee. “On July 13th, we failed.”
Cheatle said she took “full responsibility for any security lapse” by her agency, though she has rebuffed calls for her resignation from oversight chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) and other Republicans.
“The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a significant budget, but it has now become the face of incompetence,” Comer said. “It is my firm belief, Director Cheatle, that you should resign.”
Cheatle refused to answer specific questions about the Secret Service’s planning for the 13th, instead speaking in generalities about how the agency operates.
Comer and the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), jointly demanded that Cheatle testify, and Comer reinforced that demand with a subpoena.
Comer asked Cheatle if the Secret Service had ever placed an agent on the roof from which Thomas Crooks fired multiple rounds from a high-powered rifle, killing former fire chief Corey Comperatore and wounding several others, including Trump.
Cheatle refused to answer the question, prompting a disgusted reaction from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and other Republicans in the room.
“I’m not going to get into the specifics of that day itself,” Cheatle told Comer when he asked if the Secret Service had deployed a drone to surveil the scene on the day of the shooting.
