House lawmakers scolded the head of the Secret Service on Monday over the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, expressing outrage at apparent security failures while some members showed no confidence in her leadership.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle sidestepped or gave limited answers to a string of lawmaker questions at a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing about the July 13 shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, which left one spectator dead and another two critically injured.
At one point, Cheatle told the panel she was unable to provide details about how the shooter was able to access a roof near the rally site, or how the rifle came to be on the roof.
At another point, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the oversight panel, asked the director about how a 20-year-old was able to get onto a roof with a direct line of sight to the speaker’s podium without the Secret Service or local police stopping him.
“So again sir, I will say we are nine days out from this event, and I would like to know those answers as well, which is why we are going through these investigations to be able to determine that fully,” Cheatle said.
Cheatle pointed to the investigations during the hearing, and at one point mentioned that the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation and the Secret Service is conducting an internal investigation, adding that there is also an “external investigation.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has also announced names for a panel tasked with conducting a 45-day independent review of the actions taken by the Secret Service and local authorities, an effort ordered by President Joe Biden.
House leaders are aiming for a vote this week on a resolution that would set up a task force to investigate the attempted assassination. The task force, under the resolution, would issue a final report by mid-December.
Cheatle said during the hearing that the Secret Service had failed and that she takes full responsibility for any security lapse, but she also resisted calls from lawmakers to resign.
Cheatle agreed with Raskin’s characterization that the gunman was known to be suspicious before Trump took the stage, but she said the detail would have never brought Trump out on stage if they had been passed information that there was a threat.
“There are a number of times at protective events where suspicious people are identified, and those individuals have to be investigated,” she said.
During questioning from House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Cheatle said she was appearing because she wanted to answer lawmaker questions.
“I don’t think you’ve answered one question from the chairman, the ranking member or me,” Jordan responded. “We’ve got a lot of other people asking. We’ll see if your record improves, but right now you haven’t answered, I don’t think, any questions.”
House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James R. Comer, R-Ky., used his opening statement to underscore the gravity of the assassination attempt, saying the bullet that struck Trump “was less than an inch from taking his life.”
“The Secret Service has a zero fail mission, but it failed on July 13th and in the days leading up to the rally,” Comer said. “The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a significant budget, but it has now become the face of incompetence.”
Comer said both the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security have provided “only shallow explanations” to Congress about what happened on the day of the assassination.
“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 and certainly not the presidential candidates,” Comer said.
The proposed task force, which would be armed with subpoena power, would be composed of no more than 11 individuals who could investigate actions taken by federal agencies or departments, and state and local government law enforcement, related to the assassination attempt.
The task force would be one in a string of actions taken by Congress in reaction to the assassination attempt. In the days following the shooting, members of Congress from both parties outlined plans to investigate the incident.
That included Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., and ranking member Rand Paul, R-Ky., announcing their panel would conduct a bipartisan investigation. They also plan to hold a hearing.
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