Committee Exposes ‘Stunning’ Security Failures at Trump Rally
In the aftermath of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump on July 13, at least six committees and task forces on Capitol Hill have launched investigations, with most of them zeroing in on the epic security failures of the Secret Service and its director, Kimberly Cheatle.
Facing a torrent of withering criticism and bipartisan calls to resign, Cheatle announced she would step down Monday night.
The Secret Service enjoys a glamorized place in the public imagination. That it turns out to be a mediocre bureaucracy led by a director whose ineptitude was on vivid display at Monday’s congressional hearing, was shocking to some.
Even prior to Monday’s congressional hearing, where Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle admitted the assassination attempt against Donald Trump was the agency’s “most significant failure in decades,” outraged voices on Capitol Hill were demanding her resignation.
“First you start asking the question: was this a failure of resources? Was it a failure of protocols or a failure of management? And it appears that now we know it is all three,” House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, R-OH, told Face the Nation last week, adding that Cheatle needs to be fired for the gross breaches of security during her watch.
Cheatle’s testimony during Monday’s hearing cemented that sentiment, with a number of clearly agitated lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, demanding that she step down.
Leading those calls was Committee for Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-OH, who slammed the Secret Service’s failure to properly secure the rally venue, and declared the agency lacks the proper management to protect high-profile figures.
“Under Director Cheatle’s leadership, we question whether anyone is safe,” he said.
“Americans demand answers” Comer said. “The United States Secret Service has a no-fail mission, yet it failed when a madman attempted to assassinate President Trump, killed an innocent victim, and harmed others.
“We are grateful to the brave Secret Service agents who acted quickly to protect President Trump after shots were fired and the American patriots who sought to help victims, but questions remain about how a rooftop within proximity to President Trump was left unsecure.”
The Secret Service director admitted there was “clearly a breakdown” in security measures at the event and said she took full responsibility. She offered no clarity, however, about what factors were responsible for it, and what changes in operational policies she would implement in the aftermath of the disaster.
“When she says that she’s taking responsibility, she means it in the contemporary Washington sense — i.e., saying it insulates you from doing it,” scoffed a National Review op-ed.
Cheatle seemed to feel no obligation to share new information about the attempted assassination and deflected questions that sought to pin her down. She acknowledged that nobody at the Secret Service had been disciplined for the security lapses at the rally, and gave no hint about possible accountability measures she would take going forward.
As emerged during the hearing, Cheatle came without any of the materials the committee had subpoenaed along with her appearance. She did not bring an advance security report, a timeline of events at the Butler, Pa. rally or any of the relevant information the lawmakers sought.
She appeared ill-informed about crucial aspects of the assassination attempt and gave vague, generalized answers or sidestepped the questions, visibly frustrating the committee members.
A Scathing Letter
Director Cheatle faced blistering questions from a bipartisan committee about how the 20-year- old Matthew Crooks was able to reach the rooftop of a building known as American Glass Research (AGR), 130 yards from the podium where Trump addressed the rally. Why wasn’t the building secured by Secret Service agents with the rest of the rally venue, as normal protocol would demand?
Cheatle had earlier explained the lack of a sniper team on the roof by citing safety reasons. “That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point, and so there’s a safety factor that would be considered there, that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof,” she told ABC News.
Anyone who has seen a photo of the building’s barely sloping roof knows this statement is ludicrous. In fact, the snipers took up position on the roof of a neighboring building with a much more pronounced slope.
Tellingly, at the Monday hearing, Cheatle did not repeat this hollow excuse. The explanation she offered for not having a Secret Service sniper team on the building was that local law enforcement was entrusted with securing that particular structure, while her agents were in charge of securing the inner perimeter of the rally grounds.
[In an interview with the LA Times, Troy Douthett with the Butler City Council dismissed this claim as “hogwash.” Anything in sight on those grounds should be under Secret Service watch,” Douthett told the Times. “Local law enforcement is not equipped for protecting a president. That’s just insanity to me. We would have full expectation that the professionals would be professional.”]
Cheatle was questioned at the hearing about why the rally was allowed to proceed after the gunman, Matthew Crooks, was earlier identified by law enforcement officers as suspicious—with his photo circulated by cell phone. And how is it possible the multiple cries from bystanders warning that a man with a gun had climbed to the rooftop went unheeded?
Committee members asked her why a full 20 minutes elapsed from the time the shooter was identified by people in the crowd as a threat, to the moment he was taken down by a federal sniper–only after he fired his weapon that could have ended Donald Trump’s life.
Lawmakers also grilled Cheatle on the reason the agency failed to engage with the American public after the incident, why no statement of responsibility was forthcoming, no press conferences held to explain what went wrong, and no reassurances given that such a monumental failure would not happen again.
The American People Need Transparency
Director Cheatle gave evasive replies and repeatedly claimed she had no information about this or that point “at the present time.” House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-OH, at one juncture retorted, “I don’t think you’ve answered one question from the chairman, the ranking member, or me.”
The stonewalling appeared to infuriate both Republican and Democratic committee members, prompting a scathing letter to Cheatle from the two chairmen of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, James Comer, R-Ky, and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., in the immediate aftermath of the hearing.
“Today, you failed to provide answers to basic questions regarding that stunning operational failure, and to reassure the American people that the Secret Service has learned its lessons and begun to correct its systemic blunders and failures,” the Committee’s Ranking Members wrote in a rare joint letter.
“In the middle of a presidential election, the Committee and the American people demand serious institutional accountability and transparency that you refuse to provide. We call on you to resign as a first step to providing new leadership to swiftly address this crisis and rebuild the trust of Congress and the American people.”
Cheatle resisted the calls for her to resign until late Monday night when, according to a report in The Hill, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla, filed an impeachment motion against the Secret Service director for “dereliction of duty.”
The Secret Service calls themselves ‘one of the most elite law enforcement agencies in the world’. What happened under their watch in Butler, Pennsylvania was an international embarrassment and an inexcusable tragedy,” Steube said in a press release.
‘Was There an Order from Your Agency to Stand Down?’
In one of the hearing’s dramatic confrontations, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, addressed one of the most burning questions surrounding the Secret Service failure. Greene demanded to know why Matthew Crooks was not shot by Secret Service once rally-goers alerted law enforcement to the shooter’s presence. “People were screaming, ‘There he is, up there! He has a gun!’
Cheatle replied that counter-snipers “neutralized” Crooks as soon as he was identified as a threat.
“No, they neutralized him after he shot President in the face!” Greene shot back. “How is it possible that people in the crowd knew he was a threat but people under your command did not perceive him as a threat? Is he only a threat after he fires his weapon?”
“I’m not sure at this time how the information from people in the crowd was relayed to any law enforcement personnel,” Cheatle ventured in a low tone.
“Everyone knew there was a threat, there was a danger to President Trump and it was allowed to happen,” Greene countered. “Was there a stand down order, Mrs. Cheatle? Was there a conspiracy to kill President Trump?”
“Absolutely not!”
“Then how did this happen?” Greene was relentless. “This proves you and the Secret Service are a failure. Why are you still sitting here, not turning in your resignation?”
Secret Service Lied About Denying Trump Protection
In a particularly heated line of questioning, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan challenged the Secret Service director about the agency’s shifting story over allegations it had turned down Donald Trump’s requests for additional security over the past two years.
Following the July 13 attack, the Secret Service had denied rejecting such requests. Jordan read from media statements that quoted agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, as well as Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas dismissing the allegations as “unequivocally false,” “baseless” and “irresponsible.”
There is “an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources and that those were rebuffed,” Gugliemi asserted in an online post. “This is absolutely false.”
But the truth surfaced less than a week later in a Washington Post article.
“Top officials at the U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel sought by Donald Trump’s security detail in the two years leading up to July 13,” the Washington Post clarified.
“Agents charged with protecting the former president requested magnetometers and more agents to screen attendees at sporting events and other large public gatherings Trump attended. They also requested additional snipers and specialty teams at other outdoor events,” the article said.
Walking Back Its Denial
After the Washington Post and other news media ran this story, the Secret Service walked back its former denial that it had ever withheld protection from Donald Trump.
As the Wall Street Journal notes in a report, “the agency over the weekend acknowledged it had rebuffed requests for additional resources for Trump’s security detail in the two years leading up to the assassination attempt. That was a reversal from an earlier statement last week in which an agency spokesman denied that such requests had been turned down.”
Rep. Jordan pressed Director Cheatle on the agency’s turnaround. “So which is it? Because both statements can’t be true. Were you guessing or lying when you said you didn’t turn down a request from President Trump’s detail?” Jordan asked.
Director Cheatle sidestepped the question. “What I can tell you is that for the event in Butler, there were no requests that were denied.
“Maybe they got tired of asking,” Jordan fired back. “Maybe you turned them down so much they said, ‘Not worth asking!’ Can you tell us on how many previous occasions your agency denied the requests from Trump’s people for additional protection? What did they ask for and what did you say no to?
Cheatle refused to answer but Jordan pressed on. “You didn’t get briefed on how many times you turned down the Trump detail when they asked for additional help? You didn’t get briefed on that before you came to this hearing, knowing you were going to be asked this question?”
The law enforcement director finally acknowledged that there were times the agency declined to grant Trump security personnel but claimed not to have more specific information “at the present time.”
“What? To change from “absolutely false, unequivocally false” to ‘Oh, by the way, there were some times where we didn’t give them [the security] they wanted’. That’s a huge change in five days. And the fact that you can’t answer how many times you did that, that’s pretty frustrating, not just for me, but for the country.”
The Gunman’s Rifle and Failure to Remove Trump From the Podium
As inquiries from other congressmen bore down on the Secret Service director, Cheatle continued to stonewall. In response to questioning from Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., she refused to reveal whether the gunman’s rifle was on the roof or if he carried it up himself.
“I do not have that information at this time,” Cheatle responded.
“Well, when was the last (security) sweep of that roof done prior to the rally?” Biggs then asked. Cheatle again had no clue.
Stephen Lynch, D-Mass, asked the director about the “considerable delay” in removing former President Trump from the podium after he was shot. “Protocol would indicate that over a minute of exposure on that podium made no sense. With a shooter with a high-capacity weapon who had already wounded the president and could have shot off who knows how many more rounds—and yet the president remained exposed!” emphasized Lynch.
“Our personnel created a body bunker on top of the president, shielding him,” Cheatle insisted.
Body bunker? A glance at the footage of the shooting reveals that the “body bunker on top of the president” featured a wide open space where a female agent about two heads shorter than Trump was supposedly shielding him from potential gunfire.] See Sidebar
“You Need to Resign”
In questioning Director Cheatle over the Secret Service’s failure to protect former President Trump, Progressive Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., invoked a previous assassination attempt on a U.S president over 40 years ago.
“Director Cheatle, would you agree that this is the most serious security lapse since President Reagan was shot in 1981?” Khanna asked.
“Yes sir, I would,” Cheatle responded.
“Well, do you know what Stuart Knight did–he was in charge, at the time, of the Secret Service–do you know what he did?” Khanna asked.
“He remained on duty,” Cheatle said, likely assuming that coming from a Democrat, this was a soft question with an answer favorable to her. She was wrong.
“He resigned. He resigned. If you have an assassination attempt on a president or a former president or a candidate, you need to resign. That’s what Stuart Knight did. He was a Republican appointee, and he took responsibility…You cannot continue leading a security agency when there’s an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate,” Khanna finished.
*****
Conspiracy Theories?
It took only minutes for a rash of outlandish theories explaining the bizarre events of July 13 to start flooding the air waves when news broke about the near assassination of Donald Trump.
It’s natural for the public to seek compelling narratives to explain a shocking event, writes a City Journal op-ed. The facts known so far are hard to accept: a suspicious man was spotted roaming the rally grounds and was reported to authorities. Bystanders who witnessed the gunman lining up a rifle shot yelled out to police, but all that failed to halt the event.
According to media reports, a Secret Service sniper team spied the shooter on a nearby rooftop a full 20 minutes before he opened fire. Nonetheless, they watched the shooter, kept Trump on the stage, and didn’t do a blessed thing until after he had been shot. How is one to digest that?
Rally attendee and Butler resident David Bocci was seated about 50 to 60 yards away from Trump’s stage on Saturday, reported the LA Times.
He said he watched as armed Secret Service snipers atop the building behind Trump looked around with binoculars. About three minutes later, he heard what he thought were fireworks. When the noises kept going, he realized they were gunshots. He said he heard the Secret Service yell, “President down!” and panic broke out.
Mr. Bocci dropped to the ground with the rest of the crowd before seeing Trump get back up and raise a fist in the air a few moments later. “It was mind-blowing to me that Secret Service were looking and aiming that way for so long and somehow the shooter still got shots off first,” he told The Times.
“Every aspect of the Secret Service’s catastrophic failure on July 13 should be investigated, writes City Journal. “But if we hope to restore the US Secret Service to competence, it is not enough to single out wrongdoers in this incident; we also need to understand the institutional and cultural pressures that have degraded the once-venerated agency’s effectiveness.”
Woke Agenda On Display
The article points to the agency’s new ‘woke’ agenda that is undermining its core mission; Director Cheatle’s much advertised emphasis on achieving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) goals.
In simple language, the director aims to have women make up 30 percent of recruits by 2030.
Some of the criticism of Cheatle has focused on her being a “DEI hire” herself, with prominent conservatives, like Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., asserting that female Secret Service agents in general having “normal female physical limitations” that should prevent them from serving.
One can see the fallout of woke agenda in the absurd sight of the 6-foot-2-inch Trump towering over the female agents trying to “protect” him as part of his security phalanx. This image evoked ridicule from countless viewers. The lunacy of a law enforcement agency unwilling to acknowledge that shorter, less powerful people—of either gender—are unsuitable for a president’s or candidate’s security detail, should be self-evident.
DEI may be responsible for weakening other aspects of Secret Service performance on the job, the article suggests, noting that DEI notions have been injected into training manuals that distract agents and supervisors from the agency’s core mission.
As an example, the Secret Service’s 2023 annual report describes a seminar devoted to “unconscious bias,” the destructive theory that most Americans harbor “racist” attitudes which influence them to discriminate against black people. The theory has been debunked, yet remains a common element in DEI training programs.
Some agents on the ground at the rally in Butler clearly made critical blunders. Would less time spent sitting in DEI seminars absorbed with nonsense and more time training in the field have made a difference in their performance?
Some say it is not credible that Secret Service agents and local law enforcement officers made so many maddening mistakes on July 13. But sloppy and undisciplined operations are not new to the agency.
In her 2021 book Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service, Washington Post investigative reporter Carol Leonnig reviews decades of foul-ups, including a 2014 incident in which an intruder armed with a knife made it deep into the White House.
Since then, several intruders have occasionally penetrated security cordons around the White House.
Most Secret Service agents may be dedicated professionals, and former President Trump gave them a warm and grateful thumbs up for rushing to his side protectively on July 13. But in light of the gross security failures on that day, critics say the agency as a whole is in need of reform and Congress should demand nothing less.
