The director of the Secret Service says the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump was the agency's most significant operational failure in decades.
Director Kimberly Cheatle told lawmakers Monday during a congressional hearing: On July 13, we failed." Cheatle says she takes full responsibility for the agency's missteps related to the attack at Trump's Pennsylvania rally earlier this month.
Cheatle was testifing Monday before a congressional committee as calls mount for her to resign over security failures at a rally where a 20-year-old gunman attempted to assassinate the Republican former president.
The House Oversight Committee heard Cheatle's first appearance before lawmakers since the July 13 Pennsylvania rally shooting that left one spectator dead. Trump was wounded in the ear and two other attendees were injured after Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed atop the roof of a nearby building and opened fire.
Lawmakers have been expressing anger over how the gunman could
