Secret Service Director Resigns After Trump Assassination Attempt
In the wake of the 13 July assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, lawmakers are hungry for answers about how the shooter was able to get on a nearby rooftop and why Trump was allowed to get on stage even after a suspicious person had been reported. Yesterday, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was meant to answer some of those questions in a House Oversight Committee hearing, but it resulted in more frustration and consternation rather than resolution.
Less than a day layer, Cheatle said that she is resigning her post, as confirmed by the Associated Press and The Washington Post.
The shooting left one person dead and three wounded, including Trump. In the Monday hearing, Cheatle acknowledged that the Secret Service was told about a suspicious person at the rally two to five times before the shooting, and she revealed that the roof from which the suspected assailant opened fire had been identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally took place, the Associated Press (AP) reported. But answers beyond those facts remained scarce.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers ridiculed Cheatle for not answering questions and for the lack of information the Secret Service had made public about the attack. The bruising hearing lasted nearly six hours. Cheatle answered few questions directly, citing ongoing investigations into the attack, the BBC reported. A preliminary report on the shooting will be released in the next 60 days, Cheatle said, but committee members scoffed at this timeline, saying that any delay during a tense election season is unacceptable.
Without accurate, timely information about the safety of highly targeted individuals such as presidential candidates, “we’re flying blind,” said Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Congressman Michael Waltz (R-FL) blamed Cheatle’s lack of upfront information for the conspiracy theories and rumors about the shooting, arguing that misinformation quickly proliferates in the absence of official information.
Cheatle took responsibility for the security lapses and acknowledged that the incident was “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades,” but she refused to resign despite multiple vehement demands from lawmakers during the session, saying she remained “the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.”
In his closing statement during the hearing, Representative James Comer (R-KY) speculated that perhaps the mission of the Secret Service has grown too big and should be refocused on protecting key individuals such as the president, the president’s family, and presidential candidates.
“If the Secret Service is spread too thin and doing things like inspecting counterfeit—which is what the Secret Service was created to do, to inspect counterfeit money and things like that with the Treasury—if it’s spread too thin, then we need to come together in Congress, and I think we can do that in a bipartisan way to narrow the focus of the Secret Service to protect the leaders of our country, to protect our elections by protecting our candidates,” he said. “And I don’t believe we have any confidence that you can do that.”
Multiple investigations into the shooting and security at the Pennsylvania rally are underway. President Joe Biden directed an independent review of the rally’s security. In the days after the shooting, lawmakers demanded that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas provide the plan to secure the perimeter of the event site, any communications about adding to Trump’s security detail, and materials used to brief Biden about the assassination attempt, the AP reported. Mayorkas has separately appointed a bipartisan, independent panel to review the incident. Senate leaders also announced earlier this month that they will conduct an investigation.
Today, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced a bipartisan task force to investigate the assassination attempt, The Hill reported. The goal is to assess the security failures that led to the attack and make recommendations on any agency changes.
“The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life are shocking. In response to bipartisan demands for answers, we are announcing a House Task Force made up of seven Republicans and six Democrats to thoroughly investigate the matter,” Johnson and Jeffries said in a joint statement. “The task force will be empowered with subpoena authority and will move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability, and make certain such failures never happen again.”
