Secret Service chief to Congress: 'We failed'

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, in her first testimony before Congress since the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, told lawmakers her agency failed in its primary job: to protect the nation's leaders.

Cheatle was subpoenaed to appear before the House Oversight Committee following the shooting at Trump’s western Pennsylvania rally. It is the first time in her 29-year Secret Service career that she has been called testify before Congress.

“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle said. “As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse.”

Cheatle told lawmakers the agency is fully cooperating with the FBI’s investigation, congressional oversight and conducting its own internal review. However, she was unable to answer most direct questions about the findings of her investigators, citing the ongoing nature of their work.

“We must learn what happened and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like July 13th does not happen again,” Cheatle said.

The appearance is expected to be high-stakes moment for her future in the role, and the agency.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., joined other Republican leaders in calling for Cheatle resign to resign.

“This tragedy was preventable. The Secret Service has a zero fail mission, but it failed on July 13 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 added that Americans have not gotten answers they need, and someone should be fired for the “historic failure.”

“It is my firm belief, Director Cheatle, that you should resign. However — in complete defiance — Director Cheatle has maintained she will not tender her resignation,” Comers said. “Therefore, she will answer questions today from Members of this Committee seeking to provide clarity to the American people about how these events were allowed to transpire. ”

The concerns are expected to be echoed repeatedly in what’s expected to be a hours-long hearing that could last much of the day. It follows a growing list of investigations into the shooting and the Secret Service.

Secret Service turned down some Trump security requests

Over the weekend, the Washington Post and the New York Times reported that the Secret Service denied several requests from the Trump team for additional resources. All the requests were before the Butler, Pa., rally.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed to NPR that over a two-year period before the rally, at least a half dozen additional Trump security requests were denied by the agency.

This included several denied requests for magnetometers at public events, including a 2023 event in Michigan and Bronx County, N.Y., and Wildwood, N.J., rallies in May. The Secret Service also did not have countersniper teams available for a July 2023 rally in South Carolina, and the request was instead fulfilled by local law enforcement.

“In some instances where specific Secret Service specialized units or resources were not provided, the agency made modifications to ensure the security of the protectee,” Guglielmi said in a statement to NPR. “This may include utilizing state or local partners to provide specialized functions or otherwise identifying alternatives to reduce public exposure of a protectee.”

Previously, Guglielmi, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and, according to reports, Cheatle rejected claims the agency had denied Trump team requests for additional security.

“Both prior to and after the events of this past weekend, the Secret Service enhanced former President Trump’s protection, based on the evolving nature of threats to the former President and his imminent shift from presumptive nominee to nominee,” Mayorkas said in a July 15 press briefing at the White House.

Guglielmi said he considered the new updates a “clarification” to his previous statement.

A growing list of investigations

Late Sunday, Mayrokas named a panel of experts to conduct an independent review of the attempted assassination.

The panel includes Janet Napolitano, the Obama-era DHS secretary; Fran Townsend, the Homeland Security adviser to President George W. Bush; former federal Judge Mark Filip, who served as Bush’s deputy attorney general; and David Mitchell, the former superintendent of Maryland State Police and former Secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security for the State of Delaware. Other experts could be named to the panel in the coming days.

 “We are committed to getting to the bottom of what happened on July 13, and I am grateful to the distinguished members of this independent review who will bring decades of expertise in law enforcement and security operations to this important investigation,” Mayorkas said, adding: “This independent review will examine what happened and provide actionable recommendations to ensure they carry out their no-fail mission most effectively and to prevent something like this from ever happening again.”

The Secret Service’s actions in the days leading up to and on the day of last Saturday’s attempt on Trump’s life has come under scrutiny. President Biden ordered an independent review of the incident. Mayorkas said the panel would conduct a 45-day review of the planning for and actions taken by the Secret Service and state and local authorities before, during and after Trump’s rally.

A series of investigations

The review is in addition to congressional probes also being led by the Democratic-led Homeland Security panel and their Republican-led counterpart in the House. Today, a bipartisan group of the House Homeland Security panel will visit the site of the shooting in person in Butler and discuss their findings so far after the tour.

The House Homeland Security panel has also asked law enforcement officials with the Pennsylvania State Police and Butler County to testify.

In addition, the panel’s chairman, Tennessee Republican Mark Green, has also called for additional testimony from Cheatle plus top FBI and Homeland Security officials. However, Cheatle has yet to accept the invitation.

On Monday, Green also joined other Republican calls for Cheatle to resign. 

“While the American people are still searching for answers, we have enough to know that Director Cheatle should no longer hold her position,” Green said. “The Committee has worked in good faith to get answers since July 13th.

In response, Director Cheatle refused to testify before our Committee, and DHS has been anything but transparent or forthcoming.”