US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle acknowledged Monday that the agency failed in its mission to prevent an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
“The Secret Service’s sacred mission is to protect our nation’s leaders,” Ms. Cheatle said during testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
“On July 13, we failed,” she said. “As director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapses.” But she dismissed a wave of bipartisan demands for her resignation.
Ms Cheatle said the attack on Trump, who suffered a minor injury to his right ear while speaking at a campaign rally, was “the Secret Service’s biggest operational failure in decades.”
“Clearly this was a mistake and we will do everything we can to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire with an AR-style assault rifle on Trump, the former Republican president and current White House candidate, just minutes after he delivered a speech at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Crooks, who was sitting on the roof of a nearby building with a clear view of the stage, was shot by a Secret Service sniper 26 seconds after the first of eight shots was fired.
Investigators concluded that Crooks, who lived in a town about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Butler, acted alone and were unable to identify any strong ideological or political leanings.
The shooting seriously injured two rally attendees and killed Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter from Freeport, Pennsylvania.
Opening the attempted assassination hearing, Republican committee chairman James Comer said, “This tragedy was preventable” and “Director Cheadle, I strongly believe you should resign.”
“The Secret Service’s protective mission is to protect visiting U.S. and world leaders and to secure U.S. elections through the protection of candidates and nominees,” Comer said.
“The Secret Service’s mission is one of zero failure, but it failed on July 13 and in the days leading up to the rally,” he said, adding that the agency “has now become the face of incompetence.”
‘You should be fired from your job’
Republican Congressman Michael Turner of Ohio also urged Ms Cheatle to step down.
“Not only must you resign, but if you refuse to do so, President (Joe) Biden must fire you because his life, the life of Donald Trump, and everyone else you protected, are at risk,” Turner said.
Ms Cheatle rejected calls for her resignation. She said: “I believe I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.”
Ms Cheatle declined to answer many specific questions from lawmakers about the attack, saying it was still the subject of several active investigations.
“I can only say general things to you,” she said, drawing angry reactions from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the committee.
Trump’s former physician said over the weekend that the Republican candidate has a 2-centimetre (about an inch) bullet wound on his right ear that is beginning to heal.
The memo by former White House physician Ronny Jackson, now a hard-line right-wing lawmaker from Texas, is the first detailed account of injuries suffered by Trump.
“The bullet passed less than a quarter-inch from his head and lodged above his right ear,” Jackson wrote, adding that he had visited Trump in New Jersey late in the evening of the rally and had been treating him ever since.
Ms. Cheatle worked as a Secret Service agent for 27 years before becoming head of security for PepsiCo in North America in 2021.
She was nominated by Biden to head the agency in 2022.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)