On Monday, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) called for the resignation of U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle after the near assassination of former President Donald Trump, saying she had misled the committee by claiming Trump’s team had not requested additional security prior to the assassination attempt.
Cheatle is set to testify before the committee on Monday. She is expected to say, “The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed. As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse,” The Washington Post reported, adding that she will add, “We must learn what happened, and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like July 13th does not happen again. Thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my thoughts.”
“While the American people are still searching for answers, we have enough to know that Director Cheatle should no longer hold her position,” Green said in a statement. “The Committee has worked in good faith to get answers since July 13th. In response, Director Cheatle refused to testify before our Committee, and DHS has been anything but transparent or forthcoming.”
Green then adumbrated the case against Cheatle, declaring, “First, Director Cheatle argued the Secret Service could not position counter-snipers in the location of the shooter because of the angle of the roof. This was an absurd, unacceptable, and obviously unfounded excuse. Director Cheatle also misled the Committee by claiming Trump’s security detail never requested more security. It has now been reported by both the Washington Post and the New York Times, however, that the Trump detail repeatedly made requests for more resources that were denied. Lastly, Director Cheatle placed blame at the feet of local law enforcement for the failures of that day––blatantly ignoring the fact that local officers indicated ahead of time they did not have the ability to secure the building that the shooter used to fire those fateful shots.”
“That building in particular has a sloped roof, at its highest point,” Cheatle had told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “And so, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.”
The Washington Post reported on Saturday, “Trump advisers’ anger deepened after an agency spokesman publicly denied that any request for additional security lodged by Trump or his detail had ever been rejected. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who has been under pressure to resign over security lapses at the rally, repeated that denial in a meeting with Trump campaign leadership in Wisconsin on Monday, people familiar with the discussions said.”
The day after the attempted assassination, Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, stated, “The assertion that a member of the former president’s security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false.”
“For more than 120 years, the Secret Service has had a no-fail mission to protect our nation’s presidents,” Green continued. “Secret Service agents put themselves in danger—sometimes at the cost of their very lives—to carry out this mission, and to protect our democratic form of government. These brave men and women deserve to be led by someone they can be confident in. Our nation deserves that. Director Cheatle has rightfully admitted the near assassination of a former president was a failure. She even said the buck stops with her. For the good of this country, Director Cheatle must resign immediately.”
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[[{“value”:”
On Monday, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) called for the resignation of U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle after the near assassination of former President Donald Trump, saying she had misled the committee by claiming Trump’s team had not requested additional security prior to the assassination attempt.
Cheatle is set to testify before the committee on Monday. She is expected to say, “The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed. As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse,” The Washington Post reported, adding that she will add, “We must learn what happened, and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like July 13th does not happen again. Thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my thoughts.”
“While the American people are still searching for answers, we have enough to know that Director Cheatle should no longer hold her position,” Green said in a statement. “The Committee has worked in good faith to get answers since July 13th. In response, Director Cheatle refused to testify before our Committee, and DHS has been anything but transparent or forthcoming.”
Green then adumbrated the case against Cheatle, declaring, “First, Director Cheatle argued the Secret Service could not position counter-snipers in the location of the shooter because of the angle of the roof. This was an absurd, unacceptable, and obviously unfounded excuse. Director Cheatle also misled the Committee by claiming Trump’s security detail never requested more security. It has now been reported by both the Washington Post and the New York Times, however, that the Trump detail repeatedly made requests for more resources that were denied. Lastly, Director Cheatle placed blame at the feet of local law enforcement for the failures of that day––blatantly ignoring the fact that local officers indicated ahead of time they did not have the ability to secure the building that the shooter used to fire those fateful shots.”
“That building in particular has a sloped roof, at its highest point,” Cheatle had told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “And so, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.”
The Washington Post reported on Saturday, “Trump advisers’ anger deepened after an agency spokesman publicly denied that any request for additional security lodged by Trump or his detail had ever been rejected. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who has been under pressure to resign over security lapses at the rally, repeated that denial in a meeting with Trump campaign leadership in Wisconsin on Monday, people familiar with the discussions said.”
The day after the attempted assassination, Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, stated, “The assertion that a member of the former president’s security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false.”
“For more than 120 years, the Secret Service has had a no-fail mission to protect our nation’s presidents,” Green continued. “Secret Service agents put themselves in danger—sometimes at the cost of their very lives—to carry out this mission, and to protect our democratic form of government. These brave men and women deserve to be led by someone they can be confident in. Our nation deserves that. Director Cheatle has rightfully admitted the near assassination of a former president was a failure. She even said the buck stops with her. For the good of this country, Director Cheatle must resign immediately.”
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