There are no words for this move. Disgraced former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who failed to protect President Trump, was set to get her security clearance renewed. It took inquiries from RealClearPolitics and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) before the agency changed course. Cheatle resigned in the wake of the Butler rally fiasco, and Johnson felt her clearance didn’t need to be renewed. The Secret Service later responded as to why this move was considered in the first place (via RCP):
🚨🚨#BREAKING and EXCLUSIVE:
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) August 1, 2025
Secret Service was set to renew disgraced former Director Kim Cheatle's security clearance until @RCPolitics informed the agency of key Senate opposition, according to multiple sources. @SenRonJohnson. a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the… pic.twitter.com/ruL6sMqeur
The Secret Service was moving forward with renewing former Director Kimberly Cheatle’s top-level security clearance but reversed course after RealClearPolitics inquired about a key senator’s opposition, according to multiple sources in the Secret Service community.
Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and previously chaired the full Homeland Security panel, argued that Cheatle should not have her security clearance renewed after her leadership decisions contributed to the agency’s numerous failures surrounding the assassination attempt against Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“Following the security debacle in Butler, the former director of USSS made the right decision to resign,” Johnson told RCP. “I see no reason for her security clearance to be reinstated.”
Asked for comment on Johnson’s opposition, the Secret Service issued a vague statement saying Secret Service Director Sean Curran, a Trump appointee, had decided that “not all former directors” should have their security clearances renewed.
The U.S. Secret Service, along with several top U.S. intelligence agencies including the CIA and FBI, has regularly updated the security clearances for all former directors. Although this practice is a matter of public debate, a Secret Service spokesman told RCP the purpose of the renewals “was so the agency can maintain formal and protected communication, including potentially sensitive and classified matters with former officials.”
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Cheatle was roasted alive by Congress from both parties for her shambolic testimony in the wake of the Trump assassination attempt, with extra ridicule directed at her unsatisfactory answers over why there were no snipers on the roof where would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks took shots at the president, who was less than 400 yards away. It was unsecured, a glaring breach in the security.
And this woman was set to get her clearance back. Hell no.
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