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Defiant Secret Service Director Stonewalls Lawmakers at Oversight Hearing

Spencer Brown
Spencer Brown  |  July 22, 2024 11:30 AM

Embattled United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle faced pointed bipartisan criticism before she even began her testimony in front of the House Oversight Committee on Monday morning — and then proceeded to justify such criticism by claiming she was unable to answer even the most basic of questions. 

Chairman James Comer (R-KY) lambasted Cheatle in his opening statement for failing to prevent the "catastrophic" and "deadly" attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and said Butler no longer deserves to lead the USSS. 

Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), even, slammed Cheatle for being at the helm while such "stunning security failures" took place — before launching into a demand for firearm bans and stricter screening for purchasers without explaining which additional law or laws would have prevented the shooter from carrying out his attack. Democrats, it turned out, were there not to get answers or hold the Secret Service accountable as much as they were to renew their rabid anti-firearm narratives. 

In her opening statement, Director Cheatle admitted the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13 was the "most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades" and insisted she takes "full responsibility for any security lapse" in her agency's "no-fail mission." 

Still, Director Cheatle refuses to resign from her post despite admitting July 13 was a stunning failure and insists she accepts full responsibility for those failures. She further undermined her ability to continue as director by refusing to provide information responsive to lawmakers' inquiries. 

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With excuses ranging from "we're only nine days out" from the assassination attempt to "there's still an ongoing investigation," Cheatle failed again to show any of the accountability she claims to be taking. 

On question after question, from where USSS agents were to how many people were on Trump's detail and how the rally site has been processed, Cheatle obfuscated, played a know-nothing, or was unresponsive.

If Director Cheatle thought appearing before the Oversight Committee might shore up her image and take some of the heat off of her leadership of the Secret Service, she was sorely mistaken. As Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) put it succinctly, Cheatle looks "incompetent" in the wake of the deadly attempted assassination of Donald Trump — and if the former president "had been killed, [she] would have looked culpable." 

This is a developing story and may be updated.