Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the US Secret Service, resigned Tuesday after calling the July 13 attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life the “most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades” while testifying to a Congressional committee.
Director Cheatle appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability. After a brief statement taking responsibility for the “operational failure,” she turned to questions from the committee. First, Republican Representative James Comer questioned how the shooter was able to gain a clear line of sight of Trump from a nearby building. Cheatle declined to comment on the specifics of the event since an investigation was ongoing. Republican Representative Jim Jordan further questioned Cheatle on previous denials of requests for additional security by Trump. Cheatle responded that there were no requests denied for the event on July 13. However, she did not provide additional information on previous requests. Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin pressed Cheatle on how, despite the Secret Service identifying the shooter as suspicious, Trump was still able to hold the rally. According to Cheatle, the Secret Service maintains that an individual can be suspicious, but not threatening.
Representative Raskin and other Democrats also used their time to discuss the accessibility of AR-15 guns, the shooter’s weapon. When asked about whether agents would be safer if people in Washington DC were allowed to conceal-carry firearms, Cheatle declined to answer directly. She noted that the Secret Service works in various jurisdictions, some of which have concealed-carry laws. Moreover, she estimated that the Secret Service will need to increase its capacity from 8,000 to 9,500 agents to meet “future needs.”
Trump was injured in the July 13 assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Since then, President Joe Biden has announced a review of security measures, with several investigations both by the FBI and Secret Service ongoing.
