'You Failed To Provide Answers': Bipartisan House Oversight Lawmakers Demand Secret Service Director Resign Following Hearing

Following the assassination attempt against 45th President Donald Trump earlier this month, U.S. Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle was dragged in front of the House Oversight Committee after she refused to resign her post. The committee hearing, which saw both Democrats and Republicans slamming Cheatle's response to the shooting, did not convince lawmakers that she should remain as the head of the USSS, prompting Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) to demand her resignation.

"On July 13, 2024, the United States Secret Service under your leadership failed to protect former President Donald Trump from an assassination attempt that took the life of Corey Comperatore and seriously injured at least two other people. 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," the two lawmakers wrote. "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."

Throughout her testimony to Congress, Cheatle repeatedly refused to answer lawmakers' questions and instead directed their questions to the FBI. Despite her unwillingness to be transparent with the American public, she did admit that the assassination attempt against President Trump was "the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades." The gunman, positioned on a slanted roof about 150 yards from the rally, was able to fire multiple shots at Trump during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, leading to a bullet hitting the former president's ear and resulting in the death of one supporter in the audience and serious injury to two others. 

"The Secret Service's solemn mission is to protect our nation's leaders. On July 13, we failed," Cheatle, who previously worked as PepsiCo's senior director of global security, told the congressional committee. "As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse. We are fully cooperating with ongoing investigations. We must learn what happened."

"Our mission is not political. It is literally a matter of life and death, as the tragic events on July 13 remind us of that," she said, adding that she would move "heaven and Earth" to ensure the event is not repeated. "I have full confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service. They are worthy of our support in executing our protective mission."

Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle was unable to protest President Trump, and she should face accountability for her failure. Democrats and Republicans rarely agree in Washington, D.C., and it is a testament to Cheatle's failure that both Chairman Comer and Ranking Member Raskin have demanded her letter of resignation.

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