Watching the House Oversight Committee hearing Monday, in which Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was raked over the coals by Democrats and Republicans alike for the colossal failure surrounding security at former President Donald Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13 rally, I observed that I’ve had rough days at work before, but Cheatle’s was next level. She faced four-plus hours of withering criticism and bipartisan calls for her resignation.
Rare Bipartisanship: Even Dems Like Ro Khanna and Kweisi Mfume Call on Cheatle to Resign
There were several stunning moments during the hearing, but when it came time for Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) to question Cheatle, fireworks were practically assured, given the pushback Waltz had received from the Secret Service spokesman and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for asserting that Homeland Security and the Secret Service had rebuffed the Trump campaign’s request for stronger protection. Waltz had already called out Mayorkas on Twitter/X for lying to the American people, citing the Washington Post story confirming his claims.
Waltz Blasts Mayorkas for Dismissing His Charge
Secret Service Denied Trump More Protection
As anticipated, Waltz gave Cheatle no quarter when it came to the issue of the security failures and the denial of the campaign’s requests for added Secret Service protection. He started by showing her video of Mayorkas telling CNN that Waltz’s claims were “a baseless and irresponsible statement — one that is unequivocally false.” Waltz confirmed that Cheatle had spoken with Mayorkas prior to his making that statement on CNN.
MW: The agents that came to me made a broader statement that his permanent protective detail for years now have been asking for more. Is that correct?
KC: I do not have specific incidents of those requests.
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— Congressman Waltz Press (@RepWaltzPress) July 22, 2024
Cheatle averred that she informed Mayorkas that all requests from the campaign for that rally had been fulfilled. And this became the crux of the issue — throughout the hearing, Cheatle repeatedly sidestepped the broader question of requests for added protection by limiting her response solely to the rally itself.
Waltz observed:
Okay, you continue to answer that very carefully. Because I made a broader statement. The agents that came to me made a broader statement — that his permanent protective detail, for years now, have been asking for more. Is that correct?
Cheatle bent over backward to avoid answering the question directly, first saying she didn’t have the requests in front of her (which wasn’t what Waltz had asked) and then noting that there are times when, depending on “the availability of assets,” they might try to “mitigate” the vulnerability “in a different way.”
Waltz pressed further.
Secretary Mayorkas and Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi falsely denied that DHS turned down requests to increase President Trump’s security detail, and Director Cheatle admitted that she signed off on those statements.
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— Congressman Waltz Press (@RepWaltzPress) July 22, 2024
So…in the immediate 48 hours of an assassination attempt on a former president — could be the next leader of the free world — almost had his head blown off, your boss says “That’s irresponsible and false” to say things were denied? And you had talked to him. So did he just… make that up on his own? Or did you tell him that?
Cheatle again limited the response to the rally. But Waltz then confronted her with the statement from Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, which asserted that:
Theres an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed. This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo
Waltz asked if Cheatle signed off on the statement. Again, she attempted to avoid a direct answer, but ultimately, she acknowledged she had.
Waltz then turned to the matter of press conferences and updating the public on pertinent information following the assassination attempt.
“The same as your predecessor, Julie Pierson, and Reagan’s Secret Service detail lead, I would hope you would have the dignity, for the sake of the agents and the service, to resign.”
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— Congressman Waltz Press (@RepWaltzPress) July 22, 2024
WALTZ: Madam Director, how many press conferences have you held since the assassination attempt?
CHEATLE: We have put out, um, press relea—
WALTZ: How many press conferences have you held, gone to the mic, taken questions from the public, from the media….how many?
CHEATLE: I have not held any.
WALTZ: How many…has Secretary Mayorkas held?
CHEATLE: I don’t—
WALTZ: Zero. How many has the FBI held? Zero. How many has the Department of Justice held? (pause) I know you know the answer.
CHEATLE: I believe there was a press conference in Butler after the incident occurred.
WALTZ: By local law enforcement. Not by you and not by the Department of Homeland Security.
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Waltz made the point that this lack of information is what drives people to speculate and come up with “misinformation” about what happened, including national news anchors claiming the incident was a hoax. Waltz then noted that Cheatle had done nothing to diffuse any of the incorrect notions about the incident, adding:
Madam Director, I would fire you — regardless of the failure — I would fire you just how you’ve handled it since. You should have been the first to the mics, to say, “America, world, I want to assure you we’re going to get to the bottom of this. I want to assure you full transparency. Our agency clearly had major gaps here. And I want to personally take responsibility and accountability. You should have been the first, standing alongside Secretary Mayorkas. And I would even go so far as to say have daily press conferences, updating everyone on what we know. But you haven’t had any of that. What are you hiding behind? Because you’re making the situation worse. I think you’ve heard that on a bipartisan basis here: You are making this situation far worse in the absence of information.
Waltz finished off the thrashing by noting that Cheatle was originally scheduled to fly out to the Aspen Security Forum to “hob nob around” with the “liberal elite” during the RNC last week before calling on her to follow the example of her predecessors who resigned after security failures.
Given the furor directed at her over the failures and lack of accountability, I suspect Cheatle’s days (hours?) as Secret Service Director are numbered.
