Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Fails to Answer

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Fails to Answer Basic Questions and Must Resign Following Historic Security Failures at President Trump’s Rally.

WASHINGTON—The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing today

“Oversight of the U.S. Secret Service and the Attempted Assassination of President Donald J. Trump.” At the hearing, Republican and Democrat members pressed U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle for answers on the egregious security lapses that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump, the murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd at the campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Director Cheatle could not or refused to answer basic questions from Committee members, leading Republican and Democrat members to call for Director Cheatle’s immediate resignation. The American people demand answers and the House Oversight Committee will work with Speaker Mike Johnson’s Task Force to investigate this security failure and examine solutions to ensure it does not happen again.

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle repeatedly failed to answer basic questions from Republicans and Democrats

Key Questions Director Cheatle failed to answer:

• Did the Secret Service deny President Trump’s campaign additional security? If so, when and how many times?

• Why did Secret Service fail to secure a rooftop in proximity to the rally site and with a clear view of President Trump’s podium?

• Were agents positioned at the rally site affiliated with Secret Service or another Department?

• Was there any intelligence gathered by Secret Service on the gunman?

• How were Secret Service resources deployed at the rally site?

• Was their advanced planning by Secret Service leading up to the campaign rally?  

In their closing remarks, Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin announced a joint letter calling on U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign.

The Oversight Committee has a strong record of bipartisan oversight of the U.S. Secret Service and will work with Speaker Mike Johnson’s Task Force to investigate and ensure these failures never happen again.

During Chairman Comer’s questioning, Director Cheatle failed to clarify or answer basic questions related to agents assigned to protect President Trump

Director Cheatle: “I’m not going to get into the specifics of the numbers of personnel that we had there but we feel that there was a sufficient number of agents assigned.”

Chairman Comer: “There are reports that several of the agents assigned to the rally on July 13th were temporary agents. Agents not normally assigned to President Trump, is that accurate?”

Director Cheatle: “What we can tell you is that the agents that were assigned to Former President Trump were Secret Service agents that provide close protection to him, and that is what was actual on that day.”

Chairman Comer: “How many temporary agents were there that day?”

Director Cheatle: “Quite frequently sir during campaign events the Secret Service utilizes agents from HSI or DHS…”

Chairman Comer: “Have the investigators reconstructed the shooters movements in the past days, weeks, and months? We need to have confidence that they are leading a credible investigation because there are some of us sitting up here today that don’t have a confidence in the FBI. So I will repeat the question: have the investigators reconstructed the shooters movements in the past days, weeks, and months?”

Director Cheatle: “I understand your question Chairman and I share your concerns about making sure we have factual information, the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation, the Secret Service is conducting an internal investigation, there are a number of OIG investigations, and there is the external investigation.”