As I watched the House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday where Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle came under fire from Democrats and Republicans alike for the colossal security failure at former President Donald Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, it occurred to me that I’ve had rugged days at work before, but Cheatle’s day was even worse. She faced more than four hours of scathing criticism and calls for her resignation from both parties.
Rare bipartisanship: Even Democrats like Ro Khanna and Kweisi Mfume are calling for Cheatle’s resignation
There were several surprising moments during the hearing, but when Republican Rep. Mike Waltz (Florida) was scheduled to question Cheatle, fireworks were practically inevitable, given the pushback Waltz had received from Secret Service spokesman and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas when he claimed that the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service had rebuffed the Trump campaign’s request for stronger protections. Waltz had already criticized Mayorkas on Twitter/X for lying to the American people, citing the Washington Post article that confirmed his claims.
Waltz criticizes Mayorkas for dismissing his charges
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As expected, Waltz gave Cheatle no mercy when it came to the security failures and the rejection of the campaign’s requests for additional Secret Service protection. He began by showing her a video in which Mayorkas told CNN that Waltz’s claims were “a baseless and irresponsible statement – one that is unequivocally false.” Waltz confirmed that Cheatle had spoken to Mayorkas before making the statement to CNN.
MW: The agents who came to me made a more general statement that his enduring bodyguard has been demanding more for years. Is that true?
KC: I am not aware of any specific incidents of such requests.
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— Congressman Waltz Press (@RepWaltzPress) July 22, 2024
Cheatle claimed she informed Mayorkas that all campaign requests for this rally had been met. And therein lay the crux of the problem – throughout the hearing, Cheatle repeatedly dodged the broader question of requests for additional protections by limiting her answer solely to the rally itself.
Waltz noted:
OK, you’re still being very cautious about answering that question. Because I made a broader statement. The agents who came to me made a broader statement – namely, that his enduring bodyguard has been demanding more for years. Is that correct?
Cheatle did her best to avoid answering the question directly, first saying she did not have the requests in front of her (which was not Waltz’s question) and then noting that there are times when, depending on the “availability of resources,” they may try to “mitigate” the vulnerability “in a different way.”
Waltz pressed on.
Secretary Mayorkas and Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi falsely denied that DHS had denied requests to augment President Trump’s security personnel. Director Cheatle admitted that she signed those statements.
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— Congressman Waltz Press (@RepWaltzPress) July 22, 2024
So… in the first 48 hours after an assassination attempt on a former president – who could be the next leader of the free world – who almost had his head blown off, your boss says, “It’s irresponsible and wrong” to say that things were denied? And you talked to him. So did he just… make that up himself? Or did you tell him?
Cheatle again restricted the response to the rally. But Waltz then confronted her with the statement from Intelligence spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, which said:
There is a false claim that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources and was denied them. This is absolutely false. In fact, we provided additional protective resources, technology and capabilities as part of the increased pace of travel during the campaign.
Waltz asked if Cheatle had signed the statement. Again, she tried to avoid a direct answer, but eventually admitted that she had.
Waltz then turned his attention to holding press conferences and informing the public about relevant information following the assassination.
“Like your predecessor Julie Pierson and Reagan’s intelligence chief, I would hope that in the interest of the agents and the service, you would have the dignity 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?
CHEATLE: We have issued a press release –
WALTZ: How many press conferences were there You held, stepped up to the microphone, answered questions from the audience and the media… how many?
CHEATLE: I didn’t hold any.
WALTZ: How many… did Secretary Mayorkas detain?
CHEATLE: I don’t know…
WALTZ: Zero. How many did the FBI detain? Zero. How many did the Justice Department detain? (Pause) I know you know the answer.
CHEATLE: I believe there was a press conference after the incident in Butler.
WALTZ: From local law enforcement. Not you, and not the Department of Homeland Security.
WATCH: Democrat’s brutal interrogation of Kim Cheatle revealed
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Waltz pointed out that this lack of information leads people to speculate and spread “misinformation” about what happened, including national news anchors claiming the incident was a hoax. Waltz then noted that Cheatle did nothing to dispel the misconceptions about the incident, adding:
Madam Director, I would fire you – regardless of the failure – I would fire you just as you have done since then. You would have the First to the microphones to say, “America, world, I want to assure you that we are going to get to the bottom of this. I want to assure you of full transparency. Our agency clearly had major gaps here. And I want to personally take responsibility and accountability. You should have been the first one standing next to Secretary Mayorkas. And I would even go so far as to say that we are holding daily press conferences and updating everyone on what we know. But you have no any of it. Where are you hiding? Because you’re making the situation worse. I think you’ve heard this on a bipartisan level: you’re making the situation much worse because you don’t have information.
Waltz concluded the rant by pointing out that Cheatle was originally scheduled to fly to the Aspen Security Forum to “snoop” on the “liberal elite” during last week’s RNC, before urging her to follow the example of her predecessors who resigned after security failures.
Given the furor directed against her for her failures and lack of accountability, I suspect Cheatle’s days (hours?) as Director of the Secret Service are numbered.
