House Oversight Committee calls Secret Service director to testify in Trump assassination attempt

WASHINGTON — The Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday issued a subpoena to the director of the Secret Service, ordering her to appear before the committee on Monday for a scheduled first congressional hearing on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

And even before the first hearing, Republicans are calling on the Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign intensified Wednesday, as top House and Senate Republican leaders said she should step down. The executive said she had no intention of resigning.

Representative James Comer said initially the Secret Service had committed to her presence, but Homeland Security officials apparently intervened and no “meaningful updates or information” were provided to the committee.

Comer said the “lack of transparency and lack of cooperation” with the committee cast doubt on Cheatle’s ability to lead the Secret Service and necessitated the issuance of the subpoena.

” READ MORE: Why Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to kill Donald Trump remains a mystery to investigators and his former classmates

Cheatle said the agency understands the importance of the investigation ordered by Democratic President Joe Biden and will fully participate in it, as well as cooperate with congressional committees investigating the shooting.

“The attempted assassination of a former president and current Republican presidential candidate represents a complete failure of the agency’s core mission and requires congressional oversight,” Comer wrote in a letter to Cheatle.

The call was just one of a series of events that took place Wednesday following Saturday’s failed attack.

The fact that the shooter was able to get so close to the former president, even though he should have been under heavy guard, has raised questions about what security plans the agency tasked with protecting those tasked with the shooting had in place, and who is ultimately responsible for the 20-year-old assailant climbing onto a rooftop where he had a clear line of sight to the former president.

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced he would appoint a task force to investigate security failures during the attempted coup. He also said he would call on Cheatle to resign as director of the Secret Service, saying on Fox News without elaborating: “I think she’s shown where her priorities are.”

He added that the task force would include Republicans and Democrats and that its establishment would speed up the investigative process.

” READ MORE: Assassination attempt on Donald Trump halts as he reveals vice presidential candidate on first day of GOP convention

Johnson said he has not received satisfactory answers from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas or FBI officials.

“We have to be held accountable for this. It was inexcusable,” Johnson said. “Of course, there were security flaws. You don’t have to be a special operations expert to understand that. And we’ll get to the bottom of this very quickly.”

Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, added his name to the list of lawmakers calling on Cheatle to resign. He said on the social media platform X that the near-assassination was a “grave attack on American democracy.”

“The Nation deserves answers and accountability,” McConnell tweeted. New leadership of the Secret Service would be an crucial step in that direction.”

The House Homeland Security Committee also invited several state and local law enforcement officials from Pennsylvania to testify at a hearing in the coming days with Rep. Mark Green, the committee chairman, saying their accounts of the events were key to the investigation.

A key question in the aftermath of the shooting is how security duties at the rally were divided between the Secret Service and local law enforcement, as well as what failures ultimately allowed the attacker to climb onto the roof.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment on the subpoena.

” READ MORE: Donald Trump’s shooter used the most popular rifle in America. AR-15 and Pennsylvania, explained

Cheatle told ABC News on Monday that the shooting should never have happened, but added that she has no plans to resign.

Asked who bore most responsibility for the shooting, she replied: “I would say the Secret Service is responsible for protecting the former president.”

“I’m responsible. I’m the director of the Secret Service,” she said.

Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, said Wednesday: “Director Kimberly Cheatle is proud to work alongside the dedicated men and women of the U.S. Secret Service and has no intention of resigning.”

For now, he has the support of the administration.

“I have 100 percent confidence in the director of the United States Secret Service. I have 100 percent confidence in the United States Secret Service,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Monday.

But in addition to the congressional investigation, Cheatle and the Secret Service also face an investigation by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security.

In a brief announcement posted Tuesday on the inspector general’s website, the agency said the purpose of the investigation is to “assess the process used by the United States Secret Service (Secret Service) to secure former President Trump’s election event on July 13, 2024.”

The agency also announced Wednesday that it had launched a review of the Counter Sniper Team’s “readiness and operational activities.”

“Our goal is to determine the extent to which the Secret Service countersniper team is prepared for and responds to threats during events involving designated protected persons,” the inspector general’s office said.

Biden said Sunday he had ordered an independent review of security at the rally. He has not yet named someone to lead that investigation.

Since the shooting, Cheatle and the National Security Service have been under scrutiny over how the attacker was able to get into a position to shoot at the former president.

The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to get to within 135 meters (157 yards) of the stage where the Republican former president was speaking when he opened fire. That’s despite Iran threat to Trump’s life prompts additional security measures for the former president a few days before Saturday’s rally.

The bloodied Trump was quickly escorted off the stage by Secret Service agents and agency snipers. he killed the shooter. Trump said the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting. One rallygoer was killed and two others were seriously wounded.

Cheat said her agency is working to understand how Saturday’s shooting happened and to ensure something like this never happens again.

Cheatle and FBI Director Christopher Wray participated in a telephone briefing with senators Wednesday afternoon. Republicans emerged critical.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, tweeted at X that it was “100% a cover-up briefing.” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., called on administration officials to hold a daily news conference to share updates with the public, and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-D., said they “are so disconnected they don’t have their own facts yet.”

The Secret Service employs approximately 7,800 personnel and is responsible for protecting presidents, vice presidents, their families, former presidents, their spouses, and their minor children under the age of 16, as well as several other high-ranking Cabinet officials, such as the secretary of homeland security.