Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle appeared before a congressional panel on Monday, facing questions over her agency's actions that allowed a gunman to fire at former President Donald Trump at a July 13 rally.
Trump, who was wounded in his right ear, was addressing supporters when a gunman fired several rounds at him from a nearby rooftop. The incident has placed intense scrutiny on the agency as questions have emerged on how a gunman was able to access the rooftop so close to the rally and get a direct shot at the former president before getting fatally wounded by Secret Service agents.
In her opening statement, Cheatle said the incident was the Secret Service's "most significant operational failure" in decades.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed," she added. "As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse. As an agency, we are fully cooperating with the FBI’s investigation, the oversight you have initiated here, and conducting our own internal mission assurance review at my direction. Likewise, we will cooperate with the pending external review and the DHS Office of the Inspector General."
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin issued a joint statement ahead of Monday's hearing.
"While we often have passionate disagreements about policies and investigative priorities, we are united in condemning all political violence and ensuring that America will prevent such a horrific event from ever happening again," the lawmakers said in their statement. "Americans have many serious questions about the historic security failures that occurred at the campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle must appear before the House Oversight Committee without delay on Monday, July 22 to answer our many questions and provide the transparency and accountability that Americans deserve and that are at the foundation of our government."
Raskin asked Cheatle if the gunman was deemed suspicious before Trump took the stage, which Cheatle confirmed.
Raskin then asked why Trump was allowed to take the stage if the Secret Service was aware of a suspicious person in the crowd. But Cheatle suggested that the information of a suspicious person in the crowd was not relayed to Trump's security detail.
"If the detail had been passed information that there was a threat, the detail would never have brought the former president out onto stage," she said.
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Both sides of the aisle have been tough in their questioning, with multiple lawmakers calling for Cheatle to resign.
"Both sides of the aisle today have asked for your resignation. Would you like to use my five minutes to draft your resignation letter?" Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina asked Cheatle.
"No, thank you," she responded.
On Saturday, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi released a statement to the Washington Post saying that the agency denied several requests to increase resources at Trump campaign events. His statement came in spite of his previous assertion that the agency had not denied such requests.
"The Secret Service has a vast, dynamic, and intricate mission. Every day we work in a dynamic threat environment to ensure our protectees are safe and secure across multiple events, travel, and other challenging environments," Guglielmi said in the statement.
Cheatle said that the Secret Service had not turned down any requests for added protection during the July 13 rally.
Hours before lawmakers were to question Cheatle, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas named a panel "to conduct a 45-day independent review of the planning for and actions taken by the U.S. Secret Service and state and local authorities before, during, and after the rally, and the U.S. Secret Service governing policies and procedures."
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The four-member panel includes former Department of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano, Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security adviser to President George W. Bush, Mark Filip, a former federal judge and deputy attorney general to President George W. Bush, and David Mitchell, the former superintendent of Maryland State Police and former secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security for the state of Delaware.
“We are committed to getting to the bottom of what happened on July 13, and I am grateful to the distinguished members of this independent review who will bring decades of expertise in law enforcement and security operations to this important investigation,” Mayorkas said in a statement. “Ensuring the safety and security of current and former presidents is critical and one of our Department’s top priorities."
The July 13 assassination attempt was the most serious attempt on a current or former president's life since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
