Members of Congress call on Secret Service director to resign over Trump rally security failures

Secret Service Dir. Cheatle dodged questions from Congress over security failures at the July 13 rally where former Pres. Trump was nearly assassinated.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle appeared today before the US House Oversight and Accountability Committee to answer questions about the assassination attempt on former President Trump at a rally in Butler, PA, last Saturday. Cheatle, who was appointed to her position in 2022, has come under fire for security, oversight and command failures on the day and her handling of protectees’ security arrangements overall.

In the days since the shooting, reports have come to light of numerous failures that allowed 20-year-old Thomas Crooks to come within a centimeter of assassinating Trump. As a result of these failures, Trump was superficially injured. One rally attendee was killed while shielding his family and two other attendees were gravely injured.

Since last Saturday, several troubling reports have surfaced:

Days before the rally, the Secret Service had identified the AGR building (about 150 yards from the main stage) as a vulnerability requiring special attention. This is the building where Crooks positioned himself to carry out the shooting.
Several members of local law enforcement were posted inside the building, but none were posted on the roof.
On the day of the rally, Crooks apparently flew a camera drone over the site to identify vulnerabilities.
Members of local law enforcement flagged Crooks as suspicious several times and reported their concerns on a command channel. Nearly an hour before the shooting, a local sniper had notified command about Crooks and even sent a photo of him.

This video gives a rough timeline of the times Crooks was spotted acting suspiciously by law enforcement.

Cheatle tries to shift blame, offers few answers

These revelations have raised several questions. Firstly, why there was no law enforcement posted on the roof? In an ABC interview a few days after the shooting, Director Cheatle offered the excuse that the building’s slightly-pitched roof was a safety concern for law enforcement. However, law enforcement snipers were posted on other more steeply-sloped roofs around the rally on the day of the shooting, including the sniper who took out Crooks.

During that same interview, Cheatle also attempted to place blame on local law enforcement for failing to secure the AGR building. However, local law enforcement revealed they had informed the Secret Service that they did not have the resources to fully secure the building. The Secret Service has acknowledged this prior notification from local law enforcement.

The second, and still unanswered, question is: why was Trump allowed to go on stage when law enforcement was aware of a threat several minutes before the shooting and had reported that threat up the chain of command?

The Secret Service also admitted this week that in recent years, the agency has repeatedly denied requests by its agents for additional resources to guard Trump. This admission came after Cheatle claimed that Trump’s security team had recently received more resources, supposedly because of a threat from Iran.

“Go back to guarding Doritos!”

Today’s hearing was highly contentious. Even after admitting in her opening statement that the July 13 incident was “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades” Cheatle was notably evasive under questioning from members of Congress today. As a result, there was palpable frustration from committee members. Several times, she was unable to answer specifics as to the the timeline of the several occasions when Crooks had been identified as suspicious or a threat.

Cheatle failed even to answer a question from Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes as to why a building within the kill range of an AR-15, one of the country’s most popular firearms, was outside the Secret Service security perimeter.

Committee members were especially outraged by Cheatle’s attempts to manage the media narrative in the days after the shooting, including by giving the ABC interview which has been widely criticized. A copy of Cheatle’s opening statement was also leaked to the press before it was received by the committee. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) accused Dir. Cheatle of being “full of shit” when she denied knowing how her statement had leaked.

By the end, committee members of both parties had called on Cheatle to resign immediately, citing both her administrative ineptitude and her refusal to be forthcoming with the committee. Rep. Pat Fallon told Cheatle, “You should be fired immediately, and go back to guarding Doritos,” referring to Cheatle’s previous employment as head of global security for PepsiCo. Cheatle repeatedly rebuffed calls to resign.

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Members of Congress call on Secret Service director to resign over Trump rally security failures – National & International News – MON 22Jul2024