The embattled head of the Secret Service said she took full responsibility for security lapses around the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump during a combative congressional hearing where some lawmakers called for her to resign.
From the outset, Republican lawmakers were hostile to Kimberly Cheatle as she sought to make a case for remaining on the job. Several members of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability jeered when she said she couldn’t discuss some specifics about the events of July 13.
The shooting at a Pennsylvania campaign rally has created a crisis for the Secret Service, the primary agency assigned to protect US political leaders and other high-profile officials. A shooter accessed a nearby roof with a clear line of sight to Trump.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders,” Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the agency, told lawmakers on Monday. “On July 13th, we failed.”
US officials have said 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed up on a roof within sight of the outdoor stage at Butler, Pennsylvania, and fired an AR-556 style rifle, injuring Trump, killing an attendee and wounding two others. A Secret Service sharpshooter then killed Crooks.
Tough Questions
The agency faces tough questions about how the shooter reached the rooftop, why the rally proceeded after the suspect was earlier identified as suspicious, and whether the Secret Service has adequately guarded Trump. On Monday, Cheatle endured her toughest grilling yet since the shooting.
“I don’t think you’ve answered one question from the chairman, the ranking member, or me,” Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, said early in the hearing.
“Americans demand accountability, but no one has yet to be fired for this historic failure,” James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the panel, said in prepared remarks.
Cheatle spent more than 25 years at the Secret Service before becoming senior director of global security for PepsiCo. President Joe Biden named her Secret Service director in 2022.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday launched an independent review led by former officials from Democratic and Republican administrations.
