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LIVE UPDATES: Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Testifies Before Congress

By  Amanda Prestigiacomo
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   DailyWire.com
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United Sates Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building on July 22, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

Update: Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) presses Cheatle about denying Trump additional security; criticizes director for never holding a press conference 

Rep. Waltz asked Cheatle why the Secret Service initially denied that the Trump team had asked for beefed-up security before the assassination attempt but was refused.

He also criticized Cheatle for not holding a single press conference since the assassination attempt. Waltz said “misinformation flies” when our government does not provide answers, noting of conspiracy theories thriving in the Left-wing press and online, including one that Trump staged the assassination attempt.

Update: Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) calls out Cheatle for refusing to share information with the American people 

“It’s not a ‘can’t,’ it’s not an ‘I don’t know,’ it’s an ‘I choose not to answer the question,'” McClain told Cheatle. “Well, let me tell you Ms. Cheatle, if you’re gonna lead, you need to lead. If you want be in charge, you need to answer the question or step aside and have someone with the courage and the guts to answer to the American people.”

Update: Rep. Tim Burchett tells Cheatle she’s a “DEI nightmare.”

Rep. Burchett suggested Cheatle was hired because she is a woman, not based on merit and called her a “DEI nightmare” — a reference to the Left’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion agenda.

Update: Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib gets upset that Trump’s assassination attempt gets hearing; pushes for gun control 

“Rashida Tlaib is tearing up in the hearing with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle right now,” Kassy Akiva reported.

“The former president gets a hearing, but our residents don’t get a hearing about mass shootings or gun violence in our country,” Tlaib said.

Update: Cheatle pressed about physically short agents covering Trump on July 13

Cheatle was pressed about the issue of imposed “diversity” at the agency. Notably, numerous shorter females were on Trump’s security detail on the day of the assassination attempt. The director was asked how someone who is inches shorter than Trump could be expected to adequately protect him from gunfire.

Cheatle largely evaded the question and responded by repeatedly suggesting that her agents are all “qualified.”

Before the hearing, the Secret Service released a statement championing diversity and accusing critics of sexism. “It is an insult to the women of our agency to imply that they are unqualified based on gender,” the statement read in part. “Such baseless assertions undermine the professionalism, dedication and expertise of our workforce.”

Update: Cheatle confirms only one shooter, but leaves motive open 

Cheatle confirmed that based on the information she has now, there was only one person shooting on Trump on July 13. The director also repeatedly said that the motive of the shooter is still unknown, suggesting others could potentially be involved.

Update: Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) presses Cheatle for not visiting the rally site — nine days after the assassination attempt; calls Trump survival a “miracle.” 

“The shooter has visited the site two more times than you have,” Rep. Fallon tore into Cheatle.

“Your agency got outsmarted and outmaneuvered by a 20-year old,” he continued. “How can we have confidence you could outmaneuver a trained actor from a nation-state”

Fallon then became emotional, saying that he personally recreated the shooting scene himself over the weekend. He said despite having had no long-gun training in his life and almost never shot such a gun, he took 16 test shots on Saturday, and 15 of them would have killed a person at the same distance as the shooter was to Trump. “And that shooter was a better shot than me. It is a miracle that President Trump wasn’t killed,” he said.

“It wasn’t the roof that was dangerous, it was the nut-job on top of the roof,” Fallon added.

“I believe your horrifying ineptitude and your lack of skilled leadership is a disgrace. Your obfuscating today is shameful. You should be fired today and go back to guarding Doritos,” the rep said, referring to her previous job in security at Pepsi.

Update: Rep. Nancy Mace calls Cheatle “full of s***.” 

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Cheatle she was “full of s***,” adding that the director was being “completely dishonest” for evading questions and repeatedly referring to the FBI’s investigation.

Update: AOC rips into Cheatle for delay into report on security failures 

“The idea that a report will be finalized in 60 days, let alone prior to any actionable decisions that would be made, is simply not acceptable,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said to Cheatle. “It has been 10 days since an assassination attempt on a former president. There need to be answers.”

Update: Democrat rep plays video of rally attendees pointing out threat for minutes 

Democrat Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL) pressed Cheatle about the shooter being identified as a threat by rally attendees minutes before shots were fired.

“That doesn’t look like suspicious behavior. That looks like threatening behavior,” the Democrat said. “The guy’s on the roof and everybody’s yelling.”

Update: Ro Khanna (D-California) calls for Cheatle’s resignation

Ro Khanna, a liberal Democrat, said Cheatle should resign, and that it’s important for agencies to conduct themselves in a way that does not lose the trust of large swaths of the American public—a trust, he said, Cheatle has lost with Trump supporters.

Cheatle admitted that it was the worst Secret Service failure since the 1981 shooting of Ronald Reagan, and Khanna asked Cheattle what the director of the Secret Service, Stuart Knight, did after that.

“He remained on duty,” Cheattle said. Khanna countered that “he resigned.”

Reagan was shot on March 30, 1981 and Knight resigned about eight months later.

“I don’t think this is partisan. If you have an assassination attempt on a president, a former president, or a candidate, you need to resign. That’s what Stuart Knight did, he was a Republican appointee, and he took responsibility,” Khanna said. “What’s the difference between your position and what Stuart Night did?”

Cheatle said “I will remain on, and be responsible to the agency, to this committee, to the former president, and the American public.”

Khanna replied, “Do you really believe given how divided the country is that your service in this role is the best for the nation? … We’ve got to have agencies in this country that transcend politics, that have the confidence of Democrats, Republicans. … I believe, Director Cheatle, that you should resign.”

Update: Rep. Connolly continuously pushes gun control messaging

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) became visibly irritated when he repeatedly tried and failed to get Cheatle to agree with his gun control premise that more guns in all instances are bad.

Update: Cheatle confirms shooter was spotted with a rangefinder

Cheatle said rangefinders are not prohibited items at Trump rallies and would not say if the would-be assassin was questioned about the rangefinder.

Update: Cheatle pressed about turning down requests from Trump for additional security 

“Were you guessing or lying?” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) pressed Cheatle over denying Trump’s requests for additional security.

As noted by The Daily Wire, the agency initially denied that the Trump team had asked for beefed-up security before the assassination attempt — only to confirm this weekend that they had indeed asked for more security.

Cheatle evaded giving an answer.

Jordan told Cheatle that it “looks like you guys were cutting corners” at the Secret Service:

Update: Cheatle confirms Trump was allowed on stage after reports of suspicious person at rally 

Cheatle told Raskin there is a different protocol for a “suspicious” person and a “threat.” The would-be shooter was a “suspicious” person and therefore Trump was permitted on stage.

Update: Cheatle’s opening statement

Cheatle opened her testimony stating that the assassination attempt on Trump was “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.”

“Our mission is not political,” Cheatle said. “It is literally a matter of life and death, as the tragic events on July 13th remind us. I have full confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service. They are worthy of our support in executing our protective mission.”

Update: Comer and Raskin open hearing; Raskin pushes ‘gun control’

Rep. James Comer opened the hearing on Monday, asserting that the American people need answers from the Secret Service.

“It is my firm believe that you should resign,” Comer told Cheatle. The representative emphasized that Cheatle has defiantly refused to resign and is now under subpoena to answer the committee’s questions.

“Under Cheatle’s leadership, we question if anyone is safe,” Comer said.

Following Comer, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) noted the Secret Service’s “failure” and railed against guns and “mass shootings.”

Raskin called the assassination attempt a “mass shooting” and pushed for “universal background checks” and other gun control measures.

Original post:

Embattled U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will testify under subpoena before the House Oversight Committee on Monday at 10 a.m. ET about the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said Sunday that the hearing will last six hours.

“She’s going to have about a six-hour hearing, and she’s going to have hundreds of questions that she’s going to have to answer, and the American people will be watching that hearing,” Comer told “Fox News Sunday.”

Cheatle has been under fire for the growing list of security failures related to the assassination attempt, which tragically killed a Trump supporter and injured two others.

In released excerpts of her prepared testimony from the Department of Homeland Security, Cheatle admits her agency’s failure.

“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle will tell Congress. “As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse. As an agency, we are fully cooperating with the FBI’s investigation, the oversight you have initiated here, and conducting our own internal mission assurance review at my direction. Likewise, we will cooperate with the pending external review and the DHS Office of the Inspector General.”

“Our mission is not political,” Cheatle will further insist. “It is literally a matter of life and death, as the tragic events on July 13th remind us. I have full confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service. They are worthy of our support in executing our protective mission.”

Live updates will be posted here; please refresh to see the latest 

Related: ‘Our Mission Is Not Political’: Secret Service Director To Be Grilled By Congress. Here’s What We Know.

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