Thursday, 31 October 2024

Mace Moves To Force Vote On Secret Service Director Impeachment Resolution


ep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., attend the House Oversight and Accountability hearing titled (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is forcing the GOP-led House to vote on a resolution to impeach Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who is facing backlash over the security failure underlying the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump earlier this month.

Hours after Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee on Monday about how the Secret Service “failed” its mission, Mace introduced the resolution on Monday with a privileged motion, forcing leadership to take action on it within the next 48 hours.

“The House has NEVER voted on an impeachment of an inferior civil officer … but historic times call for historic measures,” Mace said in a post to X, which also contained a video that showed the congresswoman introducing her resolution on the House floor.

Questions have been raised about how a shooter, identified as a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks, managed to get onto a nearby rooftop and begin shooting with an AR-style rifle at the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, before the Secret Service could stop him.

A Secret Service sniper shot and killed the gunman from another building while other personnel rushed to protect Trump and escort him off the stage, but not before a bullet ripped through the former president’s ear. One rally-goer was killed and two others were injured.

Putting on a bipartisan front, Democrats and Republicans have called on Cheatle to resign over the incident. Mace asked Cheatle during the hearing if she would like to use her five minutes for questioning the witness to “draft” a resignation letter, but Cheatle declined.

Mace got Cheatle to say “yes” when asked whether the shooting was a “colossal failure,” whether it was preventable, and whether the Secret Service had been transparent. She called “bulls***” when Cheatle claimed she did not know how her opening statement leaked.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top member of the panel, released a rare bipartisan letter after the hearing saying Cheatle “failed” to provide answers and reassure the American people. They also called on Cheatle to resign.

Mace said in a thread posted to X that the House “cannot wait for Director Cheatle to resign.” The congresswoman went on to say the Secret Service director “must be impeached immediately. The lives of all Secret Service protectees hang in the balance.”


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