Comer leads charge to oust Secret Service director after Trump assassination attempt
Why wasn’t a Secret Service agent posted on top of the roof where the 20-year-old shooter targeted Donald Trump? Have investigators reconstructed the shooter’s precise movements during that day? Did the perpetrator use a drone in his plot?
These were some of the questions posed by Rep. James Comer to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle during Monday’s House Oversight Committee hearing designed to probe the assassination attempt of the former president just nine days ago.
The hearing, which spanned more than four hours, amounted to a rolling bipartisan congressional chorus of condemnation and exasperation with Cheatle’s leadership and transparency.
Cheatle did not provide many answers to Comer or any other lawmaker, leaning heavily on the explanation that the details around the Trump shooting are sensitive and still part of an ongoing investigation. But unlike other partisan Oversight hearings on Capitol Hill, Monday’s inquisition featured skepticism from members of both political parties of the lone witness who refused to relinquish her position.
“I think I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time,” Cheatle said.
Comer, who called for Cheatle’s resignation, described the Secret Service as the “face of incompetence” in remarks that kicked off the tense hearing. The ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, concurred with Comer’s call for Cheatle to step down in a letter released following the hearing.
“You know you screwed up when Comer and Raskin are [in agreement],”GOP consultant Liam Donovan posted on X.
While Cheatle acknowledged the agency failed its “no-fail mission” of protecting top U.S. leaders on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, she said the agency was still compiling what caused the unprecedented breakdown in its security protocols.
“The assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13 is the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades,” Cheatle testified.
But under questioning from Comer, she could not say why an agent was not on top of the building from which the shooter fired at Trump.
“We’re still looking into the advanced process,” Cheatle said.
Cheatle testified the building was outside the perimeter of the rally on the day of Trump’s visit. Some reports have pronounced that local authorities were tasked with securing those areas.
Comer also probed Cheatle’s assertion in a television interview that an agent wasn’t placed on the shooter’s building because it had a “sloped roof.”
“There’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof,” Cheatle told ABC News.
“Do you fear that that immediately creates an opportunity for future would-be assassins to look for a slanted roof?” Comer asked. “There have been reports that agents were supposed to be on the roof, but it was hot that day and they didn’t want to be on the roof. Can you answer any of those questions?”
Cheatle said she should have been more clear about personnel placements in the ABC interview, but noted an “overwatch” plan was in place, which could involve counter-snipers and other technology.
When providing “overwatch,” Cheatle said, agents “prefer to have sterile rooftops.”
Cheatle could not confirm if the shooter used a drone in his plot and would not reveal the number of agents assigned to former President Trump on that day.
Comer complained about the lack of communication between the agency and his committee in the run-up to Monday’s hearing, requiring him to issue a subpoena to compel Cheatle’s testimony.
The U.S. Secret Service, which is allocated an annual budget of $3.1 billion, protects 36 U.S. leaders on a daily basis in addition to heads of state who make visits to the U.S. like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who arrived in Washington on Monday.
“The bottom line is that under Director Cheatle’s leadership, we question whether anyone is safe. Not President Biden, not the First Lady, not the White House, not presidential candidates,” Comer said.
As House Oversight chair, KY’s Comer to lead inquiry after shooting at Donald Trump rally
