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Kimberly Cheatle, Director of the Secret Service: The attempt to kill Trump is our biggest failure in decades!
Kimberly Cheatle... Director of the Secret Service: The attempt to kill Trump is our biggest failure in decades!
Kimberly Cheatle, Director of the US Secret Service, admitted before Congress on Monday that she and her agency had failed when someone attempted to assassinate Republican candidate Donald Trump on July 13 in Pennsylvania.
"We failed. As director of the United States Secret Service, I bear full responsibility for any security lapse," Cheatle said, speaking in testimony before the House Oversight Committee.
"The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 13 is the most significant failure in Secret Service operations in decades," Cheatle added.
Kimberly Cheatle stated that the former president's security had been increased prior to the shooting incident, in the face of allegations from members of the Republican Party that the Secret Service refused to provide resources to protect Trump.
She continued, "The level of insurance available to the former president increased well before the campaign and is still increasing steadily in light of the development of threats. Our mission is not political. It is literally a matter of life and death."
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She added that the Secret Service provided the insurance requested by the Trump campaign during the election rally.
Monday's session represents the first round of oversight in Congress regarding the circumstances of the assassination attempt. On Wednesday, Christopher Wray, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), will appear before the House Judiciary Committee.
Cheatle is resisting calls for her to resign from Republicans, including prominent members Johnson and Mitch McConnell, the minority leader in the Senate.
Republican James Comer of the House Oversight Committee also repeated these calls during the hearing.
"I firmly believe, Director Chittle, that you should resign," Coomer, a Republican representative from Kentucky, said. "The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a huge budget. But it has now become a symbol of incompetence," he added.
Cheatle declined to answer some questions raised by Republicans and Democrats about the security plan implemented by the agency on the day the assassination attempt was carried out, saying that the matter was under internal investigation.
Cheatle told lawmakers that the device protects 36 individuals daily, in addition to world leaders who visit the United States.
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