(TND) — Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was grilled in a House hearing Monday over what she admitted was "the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades."
“The Secret Service's solemn mission is to protect our nation's leaders,” Cheatle told lawmakers. “On July 13th, we failed.”
That’s the day a would-be assassin’s bullet came less than an inch from taking the life of former President Donald Trump at a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Cheatle appeared before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee amid multiple investigations into the security lapses that day.
Republican Rep. James Comer, the chair of the committee, said Americans are demanding accountability “for this historic failure.”
“While we give overwhelming thanks to the individual Secret Service agents who did their jobs under immense pressure, this tragedy was preventable,” Comer said at the hearing.
Comer called on Cheatle to resign as head of the Secret Service, but also called on her to offer more transparency than the “shallow explanations” she’s provided so far.
The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has opened an investigation into the Secret Service’s handling of security that day. President Joe Biden has ordered an independent review. And Congress members have announced their own investigations.
A bullet grazed Trump’s ear, astonishingly close to potential tragedy.
But tragedy did strike for rally attendee Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief who was struck by one of the bullets and killed.
Two other spectators were critically wounded.
Secret Service countersnipers fired back and killed the gunman, who was perched on a roof just about 150 yards from where Trump was speaking.
The shooter's motive remains unclear.
Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, called the shooting a grave assault on our democracy.
“We are united in condemning all political violence,” he said at the hearing.
And Raskin said Congress is determined to get to the bottom of the “stunning security failures” that allowed the gunman to get so close to Trump with a clear line of sight.
Raskin said some view Trump’s survival of this near-death experience as a miracle.
“Whether this miracle is of Divine Providence or of an adventitious nature will be up to each of us to ponder, but our job in Congress is not simply to marvel at miracles or count on good luck but to act as public policy legislators to do whatever we can to prevent future political violence, attempted assassinations and mass shootings,” he said.
Raskin spoke about gun violence and mass shootings afflicting other Americans, as well.
Cheatle told lawmakers that she takes full responsibility for any security lapses at the Trump rally.
“We must learn what happened, and I will move heaven and earth to ensure that an incident like July 13th does not happen again,” she said.
Cheatle said she would be as transparent as possible during the hearing though limited in what she could share in an open setting, due to “highly sensitive protective methodologies.”
Comer asked Cheatle multiple questions that the director refused to answer directly.
Comer asked if at any point that day the Secret Service had an agent on top of the roof that the shooter used.
Cheatle didn’t say, citing the early stages of the ongoing investigations.
He asked if the building that the shooter used was within the security perimeter.
The building was outside the perimeter, but determining if that was the correct decision will be part of the investigation, Cheatle said.
She also asked if the Secret Service used drones to enhance security at the rally.
Once again, Cheatle declined to answer, citing the ongoing investigations.
She wouldn’t say how many agents were assigned that day, but she said it was a “sufficient” number.
And she said the Trump team had all the security it wanted that day.
“What I can tell you is that for the event on July 13th, the details that were, the assets that were requested for that day were given,” she said.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan took a combative tone, asking Cheatle about reports that the Secret Service had denied the Trump campaign requested security assets previously.
Jordan asked Cheatle how many times that happened, and Cheatle wouldn’t share a number.
She said risks can be mitigated with a number of different assets, whether personnel or technology.
“A denial of a request does not equal a vulnerability,” she said.
Jordan accused Cheatle of cutting corners with Trump’s protection.
Raskin asked if the shooter was flagged earlier in the day around the event’s security screening area, as has been reported.
She said he was, but she said there’s a difference between someone who is suspicious and someone who is seen as a threat.
Trump wouldn’t have been allowed to take the stage if the shooter was previously viewed as a threat, she said.
Raskin asked how no one stopped a man carrying a rifle from climbing onto the roof with a clear view of Trump.
“I would like to know those answers, as well,” Cheatle said.
Republican Rep. Mike Turner called the Secret Service’s threat assessment before the rally “insufficient.”
Iran is a known threat risk for Trump, which Turner said wants to kill Trump in retaliation for the 2020 killing of Iranian security and intelligence commander Qasem Soleimani.
And there have been specific threats recently toward Trump from Iran, he said.
“Director Cheatle, have you read the intelligence of the generalized threat to Donald Trump by Iran as a result of their desire to retaliate for the killing of ... Soleimani?” Turner asked.
Cheatle said she had been briefed on both the generalized threat and the specific recent threat to Trump.
And she told a skeptical Turner that she felt that the threat assessment for Trump’s rally was sufficient in light of the known threats from Iran.
The shooter has no reported connection to Iran.
“Director Cheatle, is an Iranian assassin more capable than a 20-year-old?” Turner asked, referencing the young gunman.
“Sir, I think we've acknowledged that there was gaps and a failure that day,” she said before being cut off by Turner.
Turner told Cheatle she looks “incompetent.”
“If Donald Trump had been killed, you would have looked culpable,” he said.
Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch said there was a breakdown in security by failing to confront the shooter over an hour before the former president began his remarks.
Cheatle confirmed that the shooter was seen earlier at the security screening area with a rangefinder, which is used by golfers and shooters to measure distances to remote objects.
“Yes, he did, but may I explain that at a number of our sites, especially when you're at outdoor venues, a rangefinder is not a prohibited item,” she said. “It is sometimes an item that is brought in by individuals.”
Cheatle said she didn’t know if any law enforcement officer had confronted, or spoken to, the gunman when he was earlier seen with the rangefinder.
Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx decried a “cascade of failures” leading up to the shooting.
“Why should the American people or the officials you're responsible for protecting have confidence in your ability to lead the Secret Service after such a spectacular failure?” Foxx asked.
Cheatle said she’s “committed to finding answers, so that we can make the agency stronger after this.”
“There have been a number of reports that are out there that have been speculation, and until we have the actual facts, I don't want to report anything that would contradict speculation that has been out there,” Cheatle told lawmakers, who were clearly frustrated at her lack of direct answers.
Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi showed video that he said showed the gunman on top of the roof two minutes before the shooting.
“Ma'am, that doesn't look like suspicious behavior. That looks like threatening behavior to me,"Krishnamoorthi said. "And the rally wasn't paused at that point either, correct?”
Cheatle said they’re still examining the communications in the moments before the shooting.
Krishnamoorthi also questioned why the building on which the shooter perched wasn’t included in the security perimeter when it was only about 150 yards from where Trump was speaking, but the rifle the gunman used had a range of about 400 to 600 yards.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, of California, joined the chorus of voices calling for Cheatle’s resignation.
“I just don't think this is partisan,” he said. “If you have an assassination attempt on a president, a former president or a candidate, you need to resign.”
Republican Rep. Pete Sessions, of Texas, told Cheatle he’s not going to sit there and tell her she should resign.
“But I am going to say that you have not given confidence that you have the ability to understand what happened, to take the responsibility in terms of understanding,” Sessions said.
Cheatle was asked when she’d have more definitive answers. She said the Secret Service hopes to have its internal investigation finished in 60 days.
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Cheatle that the notion of a report not coming out until 60 days from now when the threat environment is so high is not acceptable.
“I think it's very important to understand that,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “This is not theater. This is not about jockeying. This is about the safety of some of the most highly targeted and valued targets internationally and domestically in the United States of America.”
Republican Rep. Andy Biggs said Cheatle was stonewalling them, and he called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to put together an independent commission of qualified former Secret Service and protective services officials “who can actually conduct this kind of investigation and give us real answers.”
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace told Cheatle she was going to ask very specific questions and wanted very specific answers.
She asked Cheatle if she wanted to use her five minutes of speaking time during the hearing to craft her resignation letter.
Cheatle said no.
“Was this tragedy preventable?” Mace asked.
“Yes,” Cheatle said.
“You stated earlier Secret Service is not political, is that correct?” Mace continued.
“Yes,” the director replied to the series of “yes” and “no” questions.
“OK, would you say leaking your opening statement to Punchbowl News, Politico’s Playbook and Washington Post several hours before you sent it to this committee as being political, yes or no?” Mace said.
Cheatle said she didn’t know how her opening statement got out.
“Well, that’s bullshit,” Mace said.
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