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The assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally last week was a result of the “most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades”, the agency’s director said on Monday, as she was subjected to angry interrogation by a Congressional committee.
In testimony on Capitol Hill, Kimberly Cheatle said she took “full responsibility for any security lapse” and conceded that “there was clearly a breakdown and a failure” at the Butler site nine days ago, where Trump was injured in the shooting and one spectator was killed.
However, Cheatle defied bipartisan calls for her to immediately resign.
Cheatle confirmed the shooter, Thomas Crooks, was identified as “suspicious” by law enforcement several minutes before Trump took the stage, but not necessarily deemed a threat, even though he was carrying a rifle rangefinder, which she said was “not a prohibited item”.
“An individual with a rangefinder is not a threat,” Cheatle said.
She added teams were “sent to identify and interview” Crooks, but said she did not have “details on the timeline” of when that occurred.
The 51-year-old, who spent almost three decades at the Secret Service before being given the top job after a brief stint a PepsiCo, repeatedly declined to provide specifics of the operational failures in question, instead pledging to reveal more once internal investigations were complete.
Her refusal to answer direct questions provoked the ire of committee members from both sides of the aisle, and led South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace to claim Cheatle was “full of shit” and “completely dishonest”.
Democratic member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also joined the criticism, saying it was “unacceptable” for the agency to take 60 days to provide a full report, while California Democrat Ro Khanna told Cheatle to follow the example set by former Secret Service director Stuart Knight after the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, and resign.
In a separate exchange, Cheatle admitted the Secret Service was still “unaware . . . how the individual was able to gain access to the roof” from which he fired towards Trump and members of the crowd. She strongly rebuffed allegations that the Secret Service was under-resourced on the day.
Cheatle’s testimony came after US media reported the agency refused requests for extra resources from Trump’s protection detail in the run-up to the assassination attempt. After rubbishing such claims, the Secret Service acknowledged in some instances it did not provide “specific specialised units or resources” requested, but made other “modifications to ensure extra protection” of the former president and Republican nominee.
The director defended such moves, claiming additional personnel was not always the most effective way of building up security.
Cheatle also came under attack from Republican congressman Tim Burchett, who had previously suggested she had been given the job because of her gender. Burchett called Cheatle a “DEI horror story”, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion programmes.
Cheatle, who did not respond to Burchett, pledged to hold anyone responsible for the mistakes earlier this month to account, and “move heaven and earth” to make sure such a breach did not happen again.