Pressure is rapidly escalating among Republican lawmakers for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to step down as the agency continues its investigation into the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.
Unclassified virtual briefings to the House and Senate from Cheatle and other top law enforcement officials have failed to quell mounting questions and fury over the apparent security failure that nearly led to Trump’s death at a campaign rally on Saturday.
A tense exchange between Cheatle and four GOP senators Wednesday evening at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, in which the Secret Service head tried to physically flee from the lawmakers’ questions, didn’t help her case.
“I was slower to say she should [resign]. It's never my guttural response,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), one of those GOP senators who encountered Cheatle, told the Washington Examiner. “But after her behavior, and her clear stonewalling of people who have every right in the world to know the answers, she has to step down.”
Some Republicans have threatened to support defunding Cheatle’s salary should she refuse to resign.
The Secret Service doubled down that she has no plans to leave.
“Continuity of operations is paramount during a critical incident, and U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has no intentions to step down,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. “She deeply respects members of Congress and is fiercely committed to transparency in leading the Secret Service through the internal investigation and strengthening the agency through lessons learned in these important internal and external reviews.”
The Republicans’ confrontation of Cheatle at the RNC, posted to social media by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), offered a preview of the intense grilling she’s set to receive when she appears before congressional committees in the coming weeks.
Cheatle is set to testify to the House Oversight Committee on Monday in response to a subpoena, which Republicans on the panel issued over fears the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, may stonewall her appearance. She's almost certain to also be hauled before the Senate at some point.
Cramer said a Democratic senator who participated in the virtual briefing, whom he declined to name, urged Cheatle to be more publicly transparent to restore trust in the agency.
“She's so obviously over her head,” Cramer said. “In fact, I doubt she has any business at all having that job, but her disrespect to the American public — this is something that she was warned about by a Democratic senator on the call, that ‘what's really important is for you to be very forthcoming with information to the American public because you need to restore confidence in your agency.’”
Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY) and James Lankford (R-OK), in addition to Cramer and Blackburn, confronted Cheatle at the RNC.
After a few minutes of peppering Cheatle with questions that went unanswered, she attempted to dodge the small group of senators and congressional staffers by walking away. The senators trailed her, but she and her security detail eventually broke free by moving to another floor of the building.
Blackburn said Cheatle “can run, but she can’t hide.”
Officials told lawmakers during the unclassified briefings that the Secret Service was made aware of the alleged gunman as a potential threat prior to him shooting Trump, a revelation that has infuriated Republicans and Democrats. The details surrounding when exactly the threat was identified and to what degree remains a point of contention that lawmakers are seeking to clarify.
Cheatle implied that part of the blame lays with local enforcement, according to Cramer, which assisted in security for the Trump rally as part of routine coordination between Secret Service and local officers at such large-scale events.
“She didn't ‘throw them under the bus,’ but her implication was really clear, that they're responsible or that ‘we're responsible for this, and we have a no-fail mission, and we failed on this one.’ Yeah, no kidding,” Cramer said. “The Secret Service is responsible for allowing the president to step on a stage knowing that there's a potential threat 150 yards away on a rooftop. It's inexcusable.”
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Many Republicans have pinned blame on President Joe Biden, his campaign, and rhetoric from other Democrats about Trump for the assassination attempt. Cramer drew contrast by saying there shouldn’t be a rush to judgment about the gunman’s motives until the investigation concludes.
“We don't know enough about what motivated the shooter, to be honest,” he said. “From what they are saying and from what we do seem to know, I think from what's most likely is that this is a disturbed young man looking for attention. It doesn't appear to have been partisan or politically motivated in any way. I wouldn't impugn that motive.”
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