On Monday, members of the House Oversight Committee peppered Cheatle with questions about what happened that day as well as the events leading up to it, including advance. Cheatle often gave half answers or sidestepped direct questions, often maintaining that the event was under investigation by both the Secret Service and the FBI. Be that as it may, it was hard to watch the hearing and think Cheatle was doing anything but stonewalling. In a rare show of bipartisan effort and fury, both Republican and Democrat members of the House seemed upset and exasperated with Cheatle’s attempts to obfuscate the truth over and over.
As in most hearings, members of the committee asked basic questions about what happened Saturday, including encouraging Cheatle just to acknowledge that an assassination attempt alone indicated a failure of intelligence and security. One exchange, with U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) went like this:
"'So here's my question,' Moskowitz continued. 'You said there's going to be accountability. I understand you don't want to give us names. But when you say that, are you telling the committee that once it's concluded, you're prepared to fire the people on the ground who made poor decisions that day?'
'I’m prepared to take the actions necessary,' Cheatle said.
'No, no that’s nonsense,' Moskowitz interrupted.
Cheatle said she did not have an answer as to whether or not she was prepared to fire any of the members of Secret Service on the ground the day a gunman tried to assassinate President Trump.
While at times Cheatle seemed willing to acknowledge her role in Saturday’s assassination attempt, at one point, she called it the agency's “most significant operational failure” in decades, she mostly left members of Congress baffled, even angry, at her refusal to explain why certain decisions were made.
Rep. Pat Fallon (R- TX) led perhaps the most brutal line of questioning, at one point referring to her excuses as “cow dung.” Fallon asked Cheatle if she had the ability to “beef up” security on any of her appointees. She replied that she did. Fallon also asked if she was aware that there was already a credible threat from a foreign adversary. She replied that she was.
Fallon responded, “But this is the thing. You just said you had the ability to beef up the threat but you didn’t. And that’s as telling as it is chilling.”
Fallon ended his line of questioning with a blistering rebuke of Cheatle’s experience and abilities. “You know what else is dangerous? I believe your horrifying ineptitude and your lack of skilled leadership is a disgrace. You’re obfuscating today, it’s shameful. You should be fired immediately, and go back to guarding Doritos,” Fallon said. Cheatle previously served as the Director of Global Security at PepsiCo. Hardly targets of assassination attempts.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) began his time by asking about the 1981 assassination attempt of President Ronald Reagan.
"'Do you know what Stewart Knight did? He was in charge at the time, of the Secret Service,' Khanna asked.
'He remained on duty,' Cheatle responded.
'He resigned. He resigned.' Khanna corrected. 'If you have an assassination attempt on a president, a former president or a candidate, you need to resign,' he said."
Even New York Rep. and far-left Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked several solid questions about the range of an AR-15, the firearm the gunman presumably used. She wanted to know why the Secret Service had not included a building that was just 200 yards from Trump within their perimeter, especially knowing the AR-15 — popular firearm of choice — could shoot well within that range.
Oversight Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin have already penned a joint letter to Secret Service Director Cheatle urging her to resign.
While it’s possible the Secret Service agents there that day did their best, unfortunately, in such a demanding role, it does not seem like those efforts were good enough. Following Monday’s hearing, it’s easy to see why this might be. Cheatle was not up to the task of leading an elite force like the Secret Service. And when questioned about her duties, she was neither candid nor transparent to boot.
