(The Center Square) – U.S. House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said Wednesday he is subpoenaing the head of the Secret Service, the latest step in the ongoing investigation and scrutiny of the agency after the near assassination of former president Donald Trump on Saturday.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle in particular has faced criticism and calls for her resignation over how the Secret Service handled, and in many ways failed, during Saturday's event.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General is also investigating the Secret Service over the incident.
“Americans demand accountability and transparency about the Secret Service’s failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump, but they aren’t getting that from President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security,” Comer said in a statement. “We have many questions for Director Cheatle about the Secret Service’s historic failure and she must appear before the House Oversight Committee next week.”
Security experts and former Secret Service agents and leaders have raised serious questions about the security of the event, including why an officer was not on the rooftop where the shooter was stationed, how the shooter was able to get such a close line of sight on Trump, how event attendees spotted the shooter before Secret Service agents, why officers were not able to better communicate and remove Trump from the stage faster, and more.
Comer demanded more information from Cheatle in a letter that came with the subpoena.
“The assassination attempt of the former President and current Republican nominee for president represents a total failure of the agency’s core mission and demands Congressional oversight,” the letter said. “Despite allowing you to speak with the media, both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Secret Service have failed to provide assurances regarding your appearance at the Oversight Committee’s scheduled hearing, thereby necessitating the attached subpoena.”
Comer said the Secret Service has been unclear if Cheatle will testify at their upcoming hearing.
From the letter :
On the day of the deadly attack, the Committee sent a written request for your voluntary attendance at a public hearing on July 22, 2024. The Committee next wrote to you on July 15, 2024, requesting specific information in anticipation of your testimony at the July 22 public hearing. Initially, the Secret Service committed to your attendance. Subsequently, however, DHS officials appear to have intervened and your attendance is now in question. In addition, since DHS’s intervention, there have been no meaningful updates or information shared with the Committee. The lack of transparency and failure to cooperate with the Committee on this pressing matter by both DHS and the Secret Service further calls into question your ability to lead the Secret Service and necessitates the attached subpoena compelling your appearance before the Oversight Committee.
Cheatle told ABC News in an interview that "the buck stops" with her though saidshe would not resign, but the Secret Service has also shifted some blame to local law enforcement.
As The Center Square previously reported , National President of the Fraternal Order of Police Patrick Yoes released a statement pushing back against the Secret Service blaming local law enforcement.
"Whatever happened in Butler, this was not a failure of the local, State, or Federal officers on the ground who responded to the shots fired at former President Trump, they acted heroically and put their lives on the line to protect everyone else at the event. We must recognize that," Yoes said. "This is a failure at the management or command level who failed to secure an obvious weakness in the security of this event. The shooter should never have had access to the roof from which he made his attack. Whether the plan or the execution failed will come to light, but in the meantime law enforcement still has a job to do."
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