In a rare moment of consensus, Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Oversight Committee today signed a joint letter calling for the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
Kentucky Republican Party Chairman James Comer and Maryland's ranking minority leader, Jamie Raskin, released the letter about X after lawmakers called for his resignation and Cheatle was brutally assaulted for five hours.
Cheatle testified before the Committee today to answer questions about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which the would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, killed firefighter Corey Comperatore and injured two others.
The director admitted that the Secret Service made a “huge mistake” by allowing Crooks to fire at Donald Trump from a rooftop less than 150 yards away.
letter
Cheatle's court appearance came two days after The Washington Post reported that his agency had repeatedly refused requests for increased security for two years before the July 13 assassination attempt on President Trump.
That did not help her position, and the letters from Comer and Raskin were blunt.
“On July 13, 2024, the United States Secret Service, under your command, failed to protect former President Donald Trump from an assassination attempt that took the life of Corey Comperatore and seriously injured at least two others,” they wrote.
Today, you have failed to answer fundamental questions about that astonishing operational failure or to reassure the American people that the Secret Service has learned lessons and begun to correct systemic missteps and failures. In the midst of a presidential election, the Committee and the American people are earnestly calling for the systemic accountability and transparency that you have not provided. We call on you to resign as Director as a first step toward ensuring new leadership can swiftly address this crisis and rebuild the trust of a truly concerned Congress and the American people.
Cheatle has so far refused to resign.
Public hearings
One of the most stirring moments during the hearing came when Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina asked Cheatle if he would be willing to write his resignation letter then and there.
Of course, Cheatle refused.
Mr Mace asked a series of yes or no questions, prompting Mr Cheatle to acknowledge that the police response at the rally was a “catastrophic failure” and that the assassination attempt was “preventable”.
When asked about his opening statement being leaked to multiple media outlets, Cheatle said, “I have no idea how my statement got leaked.”
“That's bullshit,” Mace replied.
“You've been telling lies today. You've been completely dishonest,” Mace said after being asked about the commission's cooperation with the agency.
In response to a question from Sen. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Cheatle acknowledged that he didn't have a specific timeline to answer questions.
Committee members laughed at her answer, and Green said, “You're failing your job.”
roof
This afternoon, Florida Republican Representative Carlos Gimenez released a video disproving Cheatle's ridiculed claim that the roof from which Crooks fired at Trump was too steep for guards to be safely positioned.
“I am standing on the rooftop in Pennsylvania where Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate President Trump,” Jimenez wrote on X. “I'm 70 years old and if I could get on this rooftop then anyone can.”
In a similar video, former Navy SEAL and Republican Rep. Eli Klain of Arizona also climbed onto the roof, writing, “It was clear that many security measures had been omitted, leaving President Trump extremely vulnerable.”
In the video, several people are seen walking easily across the rooftop, and Mr Klain points to a water tower behind them and says that if the Secret Service had stationed a counter-sniper there, Mr Crooks would not have been able to try to assassinate Mr Trump.
Even AOC!
There has been so much anger over Cheatle and her office's performance that even Trump-hating leftist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has slammed the disgraced overseer.
“This is about the safety of some of the most sought-after and valued targets in the United States and abroad,” the New York Democrat said.
Therefore, the idea that the report would be completed within 60 days is simply untenable.
Ocasio-Cortez then asked Cheatle to explain the police perimeter, to which Cheatle acknowledged that Crooks had fired shots from about 200 yards outside the perimeter. Ocasio-Cortez then lowered her gun.
“This individual used an AR-15 to attempt an assassination,” she said.
The AR-15 has a range of about 400-600 yards, so my question is, why is the Secret Service's protected range shorter than one of the most popular semi-automatic rifles in the United States?
So, what I'm hearing is that a perimeter for the outdoor venue was not established to prevent AR-15s, one of the weapons most commonly used in mass shootings, from coming within Secret Service protection.
The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, reported that the Secret Service has repeatedly refused requests to increase security around President Trump.
The paper also revealed that additional security had been denied at a similarly dangerous rally site in Pickens, South Carolina.
