‘That Is NOT My Question!’ House Dem Explodes on Secret Service Director for Dodging Question About ‘The Ubiquity of Guns’ in America

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) became exasperated with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday as he questioned her at a House Oversight Committee hearing about the security failures leading to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump .

Cheatle was on Capitol Hill Monday morning to testify at the hearing that started out on a contentious note and did not veer from that tone throughout tough questioning from both Republicans and Democrats. In her opening remarks, Cheatle called the assassination attempt the “most significant operational failure in decades” for the Secret Service. “ We failed ,” she bluntly admitted.

When it was his turn to question Cheatle, Connolly began by asking about the list of people under the Secret Service’s protection, including the world leaders who visited Washington, D.C. during the recent NATO Summit. The Virginia lawmaker’s own office was targeted by an attacker last year who assaulted two of his staffers with a  baseball bat.

Connolly noted that he understood there was an ongoing investigation and that Cheatle would not be able to “go into too much detail” but still, members of Congress and “the American public” had “anxiety” about how this assassination attempt could have happened.

He pivoted to gun control issues. “Now, there are some things my friends on one particular side of the aisle don’t really want to talk about, like AR-15s and access to them by a 20-year-old — or anybody for that matter.”

Connolly then proffered a sarcastic question: “Presumably, Director Cheatle, the ubiquity of weapons, guns in America — especially assault weapons or semi-automatic weapons — that’s helped your job, and the mission of your agencies, right? It’s made it less complicated, isn’t that true?”

“I’m sorry, I’m not understanding your question,” Cheatle replied.

“Real simple, more guns, especially dangerous ones, have made your job protecting people easier, Is that not right?” Connolly asked, calling it “simple English” whether “more guns, do they make your job more complicated or less complicated” in protecting their protects and visiting heads of state and heads of government.

“I think the Secret Service needs to take into account –” Cheatle began.

“I didn’t ask that,” Connolly interjected. “I’m sorry. I asked a simple question, which deserves a simple answer. The ubiquity of guns, dangerous weapons, in America like AR-15s, has that made your job — that is to say the mission of the Secret Service — easier or more difficult?”

“I think the threat environment for protecting our Secret Service protectees is always difficult, and that’s dynamic, and it’s always evolving –” Cheatle tried again.

“We stipulate it’s always difficult,” he said. “Again, this is a simple one. Does the ubiquity of guns make your job easier or more difficult today?”

“I understand the Second Amendment rights of individuals –” Cheatle said.

“I didn’t ask that question,” he cut her off, irritation evident in his voice. “I’m not questioning the Second Amendment. I’m asking a simple analysis, Director Cheatle, and I can tell you, you’re not making my job easier in terms of assessing your qualification for continuing on as Director. Please answer the question. You’re the head of the Secret Service. You’re speaking on behalf of 8,000 members who put their lives on the line. We just had a failure by your own admission. Do guns make your job easier or harder?”

Cheatle responded that the Secret Service’s job was “difficult” on an “everyday” basis as they worked to mitigate “all threats.”

“No, that is not my question!” Connolly replied, “and now I think you’re evading the answer, which is not a hard one.”

“I am sorry that you feel that way, sir,” she said.

“How else could I feel, Director Cheatle, when you are clearly avoiding a direct answer to a very simple, declarative question?” Connolly continued. “And we almost lost a presidential candidate the other day. A20-year-old had access to his father’s AR-15 and got on top of a roof within 500 yards or feet of the podium, and I’m asking you, did the availability of that AR-15, which is replicated all across America, make your job harder or easier, and you’re not willing to answer that question. And you think, and you wonder why we might have a lack of confidence in your continued ability to direct this agency.”

“I understand your question, and that’s the environment –” she said.

“Well, if you understand my question, why not answer it?” he asked.

“Because it’s the environment that the Secret Service works in every day,” she said.

“That doesn’t tell me anything! That’s the — that’s the environment we work in,” Connolly retorted, bringing up the 2023 attack in his office. “I know a little bit about violence too. He came to kill me. When he couldn’t, he beat one of my staffers eight times with a baseball bat on the head. We live with the threat of violence, but a simple answer from the director of the Secret Service would be helpful and I’m sorry, you’ve chosen to evade it. I yield back.”

Watch the clip above via CNN .