After a week of back and forth, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle confirmed Friday she will testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Monday. A subpoena has compelled her appearance before the committee.
“We are committed to better understanding what happened before, during and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure it never happens again,” the Secret Service said in a Friday statement.
Earlier in the week, Cheatle agreed to a hearing on Monday. However, Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials apparently intervened, putting her attendance in question.
Comer subpoenaed her on Wednesday to compel attendance Monday, leading the DHS's assistant secretary for legislative affairs to send a letter in response saying the department was disappointed the committee "rushed to issue a subpoena.” The department also asked if Cheatle could testify later in the week.
The committee refused.
“Americans demand answers from Director Kimberly Cheatle about the Secret Service’s historic security failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump, murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd. We look forward to Director Cheatle’s testimony on Monday, July 22 to deliver the transparency and accountability Americans deserve,” Comer said in a statement after Cheatle committed to appearing before the committee.
Cheatle and the Secret Service have come under increasing scrutiny in the wake of the attempted assassination of Trump, in which a 20-year-old man perched on a roof outside the security perimeter of his Pennsylvania rally and took multiple shots at Trump. One shot nicked his ear, and one member of the audience was killed.
After Cheatle and FBI Director Christopher Wray provided an unclassified briefing to House and Senate members on Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called on President Biden to fire Cheatle.
“But the oversight here, the mistakes, the ineptitude, whatever it is, was inexcusable,” Johnson said on Fox News. “They did not give satisfactory answers to some very important questions. And some of it needs to be in a classified setting, I suppose.”
During the briefing, Cheatle told Congress members the Secret Service had flagged the shooter as suspicious one hour before his assassination attempt.
After Cheatle gave Trump an in-person briefing during the Republican National Convention on Thursday, Republican Sens. John Barrasso (Wyo.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) followed Cheatle and asked her more questions, saying they were unsatisfied with the briefing earlier in the day.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have also made a similar call.
“I think she should,” Scalise said at a CNN-Politico event at the Convention in Milwaukee when asked if Cheatle should step down. “I’ve been very disappointed in her and her lack of candor.”
