On the day of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, last July 13, the Secret Service “failed” its protection mission. This is what it said Director Kimberly Cheatle in her Congressional hearing today. “As director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for every failure in the security apparatus,” her opening statement.
“We must learn from what happened and we will move heaven and earth to ensure that an incident like the one on July 13th never happens again,” Cheatle’s statement continued. “The thought of what we should have done differently never leaves me.”
“Our mission is not political, but is literally a matter of life and death, as the tragic events of July 13 reminded us,” the director said. “I have full confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service, they deserve our support in carrying out our protective mission.”
Meanwhile, immediately after Joe Biden dropped out of the race for re-election, the Secret Service reviewed the security measures for Vice President Kamala Harris, the most likely new Democratic candidate for the White House, Cheatle explained.
“Yesterday, after the announcement that the president is no longer a candidate, we reviewed the security detail for the vice president,” Cheatle said, explaining that security measures are constantly being reviewed. “We are already preparing for the nomination of a possible vice president and we continue to make those assessments,” he added.
Cheatle reiterated, however, that she has no intention of giving in to the calls for her resignation that are being made by the leaders of the Republican Party: “I believe I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time,” she said. “I got this job because I spent 27 years in this agency with a mission that I absolutely love.”
Bipartisan Frustration Over Cheatle’s Responses
Not only Republicans, but Democrats as well have repeatedly expressed frustration with the evasive answers Cheatle gave during today’s House hearing. “You don’t make our job easy,” Democrat Shontel Brown exploded in the face of the many questions left unanswered by Cheatle, who has repeatedly entrenched herself behind the formula of an ongoing investigation.
“It’s been 10 days since the attempted assassination of the former president of the United States, regardless of party there must be answers,” echoed leftist Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who called the lack of answers that is forcing Congress to “fly in the dark” “simply unacceptable.”
Deputies were upset when Cheatle did not answer questions about why an officer was not stationed on the roof chosen by the attacker – “we are still evaluating the process and the decisions made” – nor why the rally continued even though members of the public had reported the presence of Thomas Matthew Crooks on the roof. “We are still reviewing communications” to determine “when the information about the suspect was passed to Secret Service personnel.”
“How did someone get on that roof and why wasn’t they notified? Because people saw that he was on the roof.” Only yesterday, a week after the assassination attempt, Donald Trump returned to attack the Secret Service, accused for days by Republicans of very serious security breaches on the day of the failed attack on the tycoon.
“I had supporters screaming, a woman in a red shirt was screaming ‘man on the roof’ and then other people were like ‘there’s a man on the roof, he’s got a gun,'” the tycoon said in an interview with Fox News that will air in full today. “And this was a little bit before I got on stage, so you would have thought someone was going to do something,” he added.
Trump’s staff has requested additional security measures in the last 2 years leading up to Butler’s rally. The Secret Service, however, has systematically rejected the requests. The Washington Post cites information provided by 4 sources familiar with the matter. Agents employed to protect Trump have repeatedly requested additional resources and have urged the use of a greater number of men to guarantee the former president’s security at public events. The requests have been rejected and the responses have been justified by the lack of resources and men available to the agency.
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