Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told lawmakers on Monday that the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump was the agency’s “most significant operational failure” in decades, while also broadly laying out how it prepared for the rally.
Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee — her first public appearance before Congress since the July 13 shooting, where she is expected to face hours of fierce bipartisan criticism from a panel usually known for partisan disagreements.
Cheatle, in her opening statement to the committee, appeared to try to clean up previous remarks from public interviews since the shooting, telling the panel none of her previous comments “should be interpreted to place blame for this failure on our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners who supported the Secret Service” in Butler, Pennsylvania.
She also indirectly touched on one area she is all but guaranteed to get questions on: If the Secret Service denied requests to beef up Trump’s security detail. She offered broad details, which she is sure to get pressed on further, about how the event was planned.
“The level of security provided for the former president increased well before the campaign and has been steadily increasing as threats evolve,” Cheatle told lawmakers.
The Washington Post reported over the weekend that officials at the Secret Service turned down requests from Trump’s security detail for more resources and personnel in the two years leading up to the Pennsylvania shooting. Cheatle, during early questions from Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), said “no assets [were] denied for that event.”
“The assets that were requested for that day were given,” she said.
Cheatle on Monday also said that the Secret Service started planning for Trump’s rally shortly after it was announced, including “a full assessment of the Butler Farm Show Grounds to identify security vulnerabilities.” She added that after the shooting she also boosted Trump’s protective resources.
Cheatle’s acknowledgment of Secret Service failures likely won’t quash the bipartisan criticism she will face for hours. Underscoring the high-profile nature of the hearing, Speaker Mike Johnson was in the room as the hearing kicked off.
Comer kicked off the hearing telling Cheatle that she should resign.
“We are concerned the Secret Service lacks the proper management to keep protectees safe from bad actors,” Comer said, adding that under Cheatle’s leadership, “we question whether anyone is safe.”
Raskin said that the panel would be asking “hard questions” of Cheatle, while also calling the shooting a “double failure” and using his opening statement to make a broader push for new gun laws.
