On Monday, Kimberly Cheatle, director of the United States Secret Service (USSS), facing the Oversight Committee hearing on the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump, said it was the “most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades,” while maintaining her stance to not resign, even as members of the committee demanded she do so or that President Joe Biden should fire her. “The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle told members of the committee in the hearing. “As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse.” The New York Post reports she also offered her “sincerest condolences to the family of Corey Comperatore, the father and volunteer fire chief who was killed in the shooting, and wished a “speedy recovery” to the two others who were wounded, David Dutch and James Copenhaver. Cheatle said “the level of security provided for the former president increased well before the campaign and has been steadily increasing as threats evolve,” contradicting whistleblower testimony about the little resources available to the USSS after the NATO conference in Washington DC, from July 9 to 11. “Whistleblowers informed the House Judiciary Committee last week that Secret Service Special Agent in Charge, Tim Burke, acknowledged the depleted resources at a July 8 meeting with the FBI and other law enforcement partners, five days after preparations began to cover the Butler Farm Show rally,” says the Post Thomas Matthew Crooks, who fired the shots at Trump from an unprotected rooftop, evaded the USSS and Butler, PA police officers before firing a reported eight shots at Trump from the roof of the AGR International Inc. building, just 130 yards from the main stage at the campaign event on July 13. The Post reports a Butler police counter-sniper team “had been stationed inside the manufacturing facility building, but never caught Crooks setting up his sniper’s perch above, with one officer confronting but failing to stop the gunman before he opened fire. “At the outset, let me state unequivocally: Nothing I have said previously should be interpreted to place blame for this failure on our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners who supported the Secret Service in Butler, Pennsylvania,” said Cheatle. “We could not do our job without them.” Cheatle said the building from which Crooks opened fire was “outside the perimeter” of Secret Service protection, and that the reason for her agency not having counter-snipers on the building was because the agency prefers to have “sterile” rather than “sloped” roofs. “There was a plan in place to provide overwatch,” she added without clarifying how “three concentric rings of protection” were enforced during the rally, says the Post, adding Cheatle suggested the USSS needed to be adequately resourced, despite acknowledging it had a US$3.1 billion budget for all protectees. .At one point in the proceedings, Nancy Mace (R-SC) a member of the Oversight Committee, asked Cheatle how her opening statement to the committee was leaked to the media before it was sent to the committee. Cheatle said, “I have no idea how my statement got out” to which Mace responded, “well, that’s bullshit.” Mace then asked “is the Secret Service fully cooperating with our committee (and) has the Secret Service provided this committee a complete list of all law enforcement personnel that were there that day (and) all audio and video recordings that we asked for on July 15? Yes or no?” Cheatle said, “I’d have to get back to you...” Mace said, “That is a no. You’re full of shit today. You’re just being completely dishonest, or you’re lying.” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) called for Cheatle’s resignation in his opening remarks, noting that she had defied calls from lawmakers to do so, says the Post. “The July 13th assassination attempt is one of the darkest days in American political history,” Comer said. “It represents the ugliest parts of what American politics has become: hatred of each other and a dangerous turn to extremism.” Cheatle’s appearance before the committee continues
