(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Following Monday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on the Trump assassination attempt, committee chair James Comer, R-Ky., and ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., signed a joint letter demanding the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
The bipartisan call for Cheatle’s resignation came after she failed to answer the simplest of questions at Monday’s hearing, including how alleged shooter Thomas Crooks was able to access the rooftop within 200 yards of Donald Trump during his July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Cheatle also couldn’t provide a timeline of events for Congress.
“Today, you failed to provide answers to basic questions regarding that stunning operational failure and to reassure the American people that the Secret Service has learned its lessons and begun to correct its systemic blunders and failures,” Comer and Raskin said.
🚨BREAKING- Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin call for United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign.
Director Cheatle:
On July 13, 2024, the United States Secret Service under your leadership failed to protect former President Donald Trump… pic.twitter.com/rTgMjmyGzr
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) July 22, 2024
“In the middle of a presidential election, the Committee and the American people demand serious institutional accountability and transparency that you are not providing. We call on you to resign as Director as a first step to allowing new leadership to swiftly address this crisis and rebuild the trust of a truly concerned Congress and the American people.”
Over the weekend, there had been reports and rumors circulating that Cheatle’s resignation was impending. But on Monday, she said she intends to remain as Secret Service director, saying she wants to ensure “integrity” of the ongoing investigation into the security failures at the July 13 rally.
Throughout the hearing, numerous lawmakers from both sides of the aisle called on Cheatle to resign.
Those calls only grew louder after Cheatle admitted that she didn’t review the security plan for the Butler rally, nor did she speak to the agents on the ground on the day of the assassination attempt. Cheatle admitted that she still hasn’t even visited the scene of the crime.
OH MY LORD.
Congressman Pat Fallon (R-Texas) just DESTROYED Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
“You should be fired immediately. And go back to guarding Doritos!” pic.twitter.com/3oAIdBcHtV
— Brandon Tatum (@TheOfficerTatum) July 22, 2024
Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, had perhaps the most stinging call for Cheatle’s resignation, telling her she should “go back to guarding Doritos!” That was a reference to her prior job as Director in Global Security at PepsiCo.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
