by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News July 23, 2024
Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, one day after being slammed for failing in testimony to the House Oversight Committee to answer the most basic questions regarding the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Republicans and even a few Democrats had called on Cheatle to step down after Monday’s hearing.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a news conference Tuesday that Cheatle’s resignation was the right decision:
“It is overdue. She should have done this at least a week ago.”
Among the unanswered questions on Monday is why would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was spotted before Trump took the stage but no action was taken until after he fired. Lawmakers have also been unable to determine why the building was not secured by the Secret Service before the rally began in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that, in an internal email, Cheatle told agency employees she was resigning “with a heavy heart,” saying she didn’t want calls for her to quit to become a distraction. “The scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases,” she wrote. “However, this incident does not define us.”
Cheatle’s hearing performance “was awful. It was all secret and no service,” said Maryland Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee who had joined Republicans in calling for her resignation. “She answered none of the questions that the American people have.”
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said “there will be more accountability to come.”
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“The Secret Service has a no-fail mission yet it failed historically on Director Cheatle’s watch,” Comer said.
In her testimony on Tuesday, Cheatle acknowledged that Crooks had been identified as suspicious more than an hour before the shooting. Pressed by lawmakers, she said that Secret Service agents had received several notifications of a person acting suspiciously.
Cheatle declined to elaborate on those communications. She also declined to say how Crooks got on the roof, or whether authorities sought to approach him after he was initially identified as suspicious. In one exchange, she suggested that the security team with Trump before he went on stage didn’t know that the former president was facing an active threat.
A statement attributed to Joe Biden thanked Cheatle for her decades of service and said he planned to appoint a new director soon. “As a leader, it takes honor, courage and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service,” the statement said.
Secret Service chief Cheatle resigns following outrage over congressional testimony added by Editor Two on July 23, 2024
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