US Secret Service chief set for grilling by Congress over Trump shooting
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[July 22, 2024]
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle
will undergo a grilling on Monday at a congressional hearing into her
agency's failure to prevent a would-be assassin from wounding Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump earlier this month.
Cheatle is due to appear before the House of Representatives Oversight
and Accountability Committee at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) to be questioned
by lawmakers. The Secret Service chief faces calls for her resignation
from top Republicans including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
On Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray will appear before the House
Judiciary Committee.
The July 13 shooting at an outdoor campaign rally in Butler,
Pennsylvania, wounded Trump in the ear, killed one rally attendee and
injured another. The suspected shooter, 20-year-old nursing home aide
Thomas Crooks, was killed by law enforcement.
The incident has angered lawmakers, who say the suspect was able to get
within range of Trump on the rooftop of a nearby building because of
security lapses at Cheatle's agency, which is charged with protecting
presidents and former presidents.
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The House Judiciary Committee said last week that it has evidence the
Secret Service was not properly resourced for Trump's rally, because of
staffing shortages created by a rival campaign event in Pittsburgh with
first lady Jill Biden and a NATO summit held days before in Washington.
President Joe Biden on Sunday ended his floundering reelection bid,
endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him as candidate. He
vowed to serve through the end of his term on Jan. 20, 2025.
Johnson initially called on Cheatle to resign, then said Biden should
fire her a day after she and Wray briefed members of Congress on the
shooting.
The speaker has also said he plans to set up a bipartisan House task
force to investigate the attempted assassination.
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![](../images/072224PIX/news_h20.jpg)
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle speaks during a news
conference to review a U.S. Secret Service National Threat
Assessment Center (NTAC) report on "mass attacks in public spaces,"
which examines targeted violence from 2016-2020 at the National
Press Club in Washington, U.S., January 24, 2023. REUTERS/Leah
Millis/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jul/22/images/ads/current/guzzardos_lda_GENERIC_040524.png)
Republican Senators John Barrasso and Marsha Blackburn also
confronted Cheatle by shouting at her on the floor of the Republican
National Convention last week, only to be ignored. "She can run. She
cannot hide," Blackburn said afterward.
But so far, Cheatle has defied calls for her departure.
"Continuity of operations is paramount during a critical incident
and U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has no intentions
to step down," said Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi.
"She deeply respects members of Congress and is fiercely committed
to transparency in leading the Secret Service through the internal
investigation and strengthening the agency through lessons learned
in these important internal and external reviews."
Republican Senator Marco Rubio said the Secret Service's handling of
the Trump rally and the aftermath of the shootings provide "a prime
example" of how not to proceed on such matters.
"Every day that goes by and we don't have clarity on all of this is
one more day that you are giving people doubts about the very
institution," Rubio told reporters.
(Reporting by David Morgan; additional reporting by Nathan Layne;
Editing by Scott Malone,Alistair Bell and Diane Craft)
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