Secret Service Director to Face Questions on Agency’s Failures in Hearing
The New York Times
Kimberly A. Cheatle will appear before a House committee amid criticism over the way her agency handled security for the rally at which former President Donald J. Trump was injured by a would-be assassin.
Facing increasing calls for her resignation, Kimberly A. Cheatle, the Secret Service director, is scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill on Monday to face what is likely to be intense questioning over her agency’s failures after a would-be assassin wounded former President Donald J. Trump.
Ms. Cheatle will appear before the House oversight committee at 10 a.m., as congressional committees ramp up their investigations into law enforcement missteps before, during and after the shooting this month at a rally in Butler, Pa. Mr. Trump and two attendees were injured in the attack, and another spectator was killed.
She intends to take “full responsibility” for security lapses, according to an excerpt from her testimony.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13, we failed,” Ms. Cheatle plans to say, adding: “We must learn what happened and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like July 13 does not happen again. Thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my thoughts.”
Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and the chairman of the oversight committee, plans to call the shooting “preventable,” according to a copy of his prepared remarks.
“The Secret Service has a zero-fail mission, but it failed on July 13 and in the days leading up to the rally,” he intends to say. “The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a significant budget, but it has now become the face of incompetence.”
