The House Oversight Committee is in the middle of a tough grilling of Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle.
The hearing has been pretty wild because, with a few exceptions, everyone wanted answers, and she wasn’t giving anyone anything, and her responses were completely whack.
I reported earlier on her insane responses to Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), where she said that a guy on the roof above the rally wasn’t considered a threat. He couldn’t believe she said it. You had all the rallygoers on the ground, pointing him out, knowing there was a problem, but somehow the Secret Service didn’t view a man on the roof as a threat enough to even pause the rally and stop former President Trump from going out on the stage. She was playing word games to cover up their failure of action.
READ MORE: WATCH: Dem Rep’s Brutal Grilling of Kim Cheatle Exposes Huge Response Problem of Secret Service
WATCH LIVE: Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle Testifies Before House Oversight Committee
Rare Bipartisanship: Even Dems Like Ro Khanna and Kwame Mfume Call on Cheatle to Resign
Cheatle kept stonewalling throughout the hearing but you know she was in trouble when even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) wasn’t even having any of it. Listen as AOC says a report in 60 days is just not acceptable when they might need to make immediate changes in order to be able to protect the very important people that need to be protected. She even refers to former President Donald Trump as “President” as one normally should. Many Democrats have previously tried to avoid this in the past in a petty move.
Even @AOC has had enough w/ @SecretService‘s excuses: “The notion of a report [on the Trump assassination attempt] coming out in 60 days, when the threat environment is so high in the United States, irrespective of party, is not acceptable” pic.twitter.com/KNRR2ItVmm
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 22, 2024
What a rare thing it is to actually say the words: “AOC is right.”
AOC also had a good question about what went into the Service determining the perimeter since an AR-15 can fire up to 600 yards and the shooter was well within that range at under 200.
AOC Unexpectedly Asks Secret Service Director a GOOD Question
This is a Matrix-like moment.
“The individual used an AR-15 in order to act out his assassination attempt. An AR-15 has a range of about 400 to 600 yards. My question is, why is the Secret Service protective… pic.twitter.com/oDvzA7yNdh
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) July 22, 2024
My question is, why is the Secret Service protective perimeter shorter than one of the most popular semi-automatic weapons in the United States?” And so, what I’m hearing is that a perimeter was not established outdoors in an outdoor venue that would prevent an AR-15, which is one of the most common weapons used in mass shootings, from being able to be within the range of Secret Service protection.
Great point, but she didn’t get any real answer, and that was how most of the questioning went.
There were all kinds of problems: the determination of perimeter, what constituted a threat, the response to that “threat,” and more issues. Did they all just go wrong to endanger Trump? If you listened to Cheatle’s non-answers, the failure appeared to be even more problematic, and that she/the Secret Service had bizarre judgment/reactions on each of these questions, as well as others.
Good questions in general and that’s how all hearings are supposed to go. Sounds like Cheatle is likely going to get the boot, but let’s see if Biden does it after never holding anyone accountable for anything.
