Secret Service director testifies about Trump assassination attempt
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is facing questioning Monday from House Oversight Committee lawmakers about the assassination attempt against former President Trump at a rally on July 13 in Pennsylvania.
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Former President Trump was shot in the ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
Former President Trump spoke about his conversation with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to Fox News’ Jesse Watters on Monday night, saying she was nice, though somebody should have made sure nobody was on the roof a gunman accessed before opening fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“She came to see me actually. And, well, I mean, it went very nicely. She was very nice, I thought. But, you know, somebody should have made sure there was nobody on that roof,” Trump said. “That roof was a dead aim right onto the stage. And they said they didn't have the manpower for it, which is crazy. They said 130 yards is like sinking a one-foot putt. It's considered really close.
“It sounds like a lot, but it's really, from that standpoint, it's a very, you know, it's very close. And I was surprised by that actually. They said it's really, it's a – a bad shot would usually hit the target. And so I mean, it's got to be, somebody's got to be there. And it's essentially a flat roof,” Trump added. “ I mean, I noticed that she said, well, this is a slope roof where you think of like a barn where you have, this thing had just a little – a little upswing in it, a few degrees. This was a not – it essentially was a flat roof.
So, I don't know. Somebody gave her false information when she talked about the slope of the roof.
“I thought she was very nice. But, you know, you have to answer why couldn't I have stayed off the stage for five minutes while they do their work,” he continued. “Why couldn't, you know, how does a situation happen where a roof that's plainly in sight from the location where I was speaking, why would somebody not have seen that?”
United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building on July 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. Cheatle has vowed cooperation with all investigations into the agency following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified for hours on Capitol Hill Monday, facing a grilling from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle over the agency’s lapse in security that enabled the assassination attempt on former President Trump.
Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., after he subpoenaed her to appear.
Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee Monday, just over a week after a would-be assassin Thomas Crooks attempted to take the life of Trump at his rally in Butler, Pa. on July 13.
Trump, during his rally, ever-so-slightly turned his head—narrowly missing the bullet shot by 20-year-old suspect Crooks’ AR-15-style rifle by just a quarter of an inch. The bullet hit him, instead, in his upper right ear.
Kimberly Cheatle testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee
United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building on July 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. Cheatle has vowed cooperation with all investigations into the agency following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
The bullet killed firefighter, father and husband Corey Comperatore as he protected his family from the shots, and severely injured two others.
Cheatle admitted under oath that the Secret Service "on July 13th, we failed."
Read here for the top five moments:
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett argued that among law enforcement, "There usually is not a perception of a threat when it is a young White male, even if they are carrying a long gun."
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, appeared to imply that racial bias may have been why the Secret Service was slow to deem Thomas Crooks a threat on the day he shot at Trump.
Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle testified on Monday before the House Oversight Committee, less than 10 days after would-be assassin Thomas Crooks nearly killed former President Trump. Cheatle was grilled by Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike. While little is known about Crooks’ motivations, his identity as a White male was brought center stage when it was Crockett's turn to speak.
"I wanna talk about training and I want to talk about the fact that there’s been a little bit of dancing around as it relates to this being a suspicious person and this being a situation that was perceived to be a threat, and it seems as if there’s a different analysis that takes place," Crockett argued. "One of my questions has to do with if you have any bias training that your officers undergo."
Crockett went on to cite her background as a "civil rights lawyer," and said, "I have learned so many times, in having to deal with law enforcement, that there usually is not a perception of a threat when it is a young White male, even if they are carrying a long gun. Yet a lot of times, at least in this country, when it comes to law enforcement, there is a perceived threat just by somebody having a little bit more melanin in their skin."She then said that while discussions about law enforcement training standards are often sparked by officer-involved shootings, this incident is relevant as well.
Read more about Crockett’s implications of “racial bias.”
Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
Former President Donald Trump, left, and President Joe Biden.
Former President Trump said when he spoke to President Biden after getting shot, the president said Trump was lucky he turned to the right.
Trump was a guest on “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Monday night, when the host asked the former president about his call with Biden after getting shot.
“It was good. It was a nice conversation,” Trump said. “He said you’re lucky you turned to the right. So…obviously somebody briefed him. But, he did say that to me. He said, ‘you’re lucky you turned to the right.’ I said, ‘I think so.’”
Watters then told Trump the country would be lucky if it turned to the right.
“Well, I guess maybe,” Trump said. “Certainly to a certain extent it would. Wouldn’t it be nice?”
Republican candidate Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by secret service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
Former President Trump recounted his brush with death while speaking to Fox News’ Jesse Watters on Monday, saying he refused to be put on a stretcher after being shot in the ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
Trump was a guest on “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Monday, when the host asked him how his ear was doing.
“Good. Getting much better. We're getting down to the small bandages, but it was a nasty one and it was nasty, period. That was exactly one week ago from today. exactly,” Trump said.
Joining Trump was his vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, who Watters asked if he had seen the wound.
“I have not. No, I won’t. Though I do find it hysterical, Jesse, that you have these people who are like, ‘why is the president wearing an ear bandage,’” Vance said. “He got shot in the ear. And these are the same people who were wearing masks, right, five years after COVID. So, it’s pretty ridiculous.”
Trump also said he refused to be taken out on a stretcher.
“Well, they wanted to put me on a stretcher. They had a stretcher and they wanted to put me on a stretcher, and I said I’m not going on a stretcher, because I just felt it was the ear,” Trump said. “There was a lot of blood. But I understood. They thought I was hit elsewhere…I said, ‘I'm telling you I'm OK, I'm fine. I'm going to get up. I want to get up. I'm not going to be taken out on a stretcher.’”
United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla. (Getty Images)
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who accused Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle of perjuring herself and of stonewalling members of the House Committee on Oversight on Monday, said she is more convinced now that the would-be Trump assassin was not working alone.
Luna and other members of the committee were given the opportunity to ask questions of Cheatle regarding the failed security detail that nearly led to Trump’s death during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
During questioning, Luna told the director she felt she perjured herself with some of the answers she gave, calling on committee Chairman James Comer to have a full review done of the transcripts and to bring perjury charges against Cheatle should they find she did not tell the truth under oath.
Many lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties berated Cheatle for not answering many questions, and instead stonewalling them.
Luna turned to social media after the hearing to express her opinions about the investigation into the shooting.
“After leaving the oversight briefing this morning, I’m more convinced than ever that Crooks wasn’t working alone,” the lawmaker said.
Luna’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for more details about what she was alluding to through her post.
Rep. Gimenez wrote on X that, "I’m 70 years old, if I was able to get on this roof — anybody can." (Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez via X)
A top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee dismissed suggestions from U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle that the "sloped roof" of attempted assassin Thomas Crooks’ sniper nest precluded it from being properly secured.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., was part of a bipartisan delegation of committee members who toured the Butler Farm Show Grounds on Monday, where members indeed scaled the same glass factory building Thomas Crooks did before he took aim at former President Trump last week.
Gimenez said he has been frustrated with the Homeland Security department for some time, including regarding the porous border and now relating to its subordinate agency, the Secret Service’s handling of Trump’s rally.
"This entire administration is a complete disaster," he said.
"And so what really bothers me, and the reason I got up on the roof -- I'm 70 -- was for the director to say, ‘well, the steepness of the roof won't allow Secret Service agents to be up there’ -- That was the final straw for me."
Read more about Gimenez’s views on the “sloped roof.”
Fox News’ Charles Creitz and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., is calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign from her post, saying the attempted assassination of former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania was domestic terrorism and an attack on the U.S.
The lawmaker joined Neil Cavuto on “Your World” Monday, where he gave his thoughts about the House Committee on Oversight’s hearing into the attempted assassination of Trump.
Moskowitz and a group of bipartisan lawmakers called on Cheatle to step down over a failed security detail and for not answering questions about the failed security detail.
“The former president was almost assassinated and she's saying, ‘well, I'm not going to resign.’ Well, okay. What I wanted to see is where is that line for her? Had this been successful, would she have resigned? And she still said no. And so what that showed me clearly is that she's not willing to have accountability,” Moskowitz told Cavuto.
The lawmaker said he asked Cheatle to commit to firing the people responsible when the investigation is complete, adding she would not commit to doing that.
“At that point, it became clear to me that the person who needs to be fired is her,” Moskowitz said.
He continued, saying Cheatle is not going to be the director of the Secret Service soon, though he does not know for sure if she will be out of her post within days, weeks or months.
“To see this level of bipartisan outrage, of her performance and lack of information that she's willing to provide the committee. It's also why I support the calls for a commission to be set up. We have to make sure that this doesn't happen again,” he said.
House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green (R-TN) speaks to the press alongside US Representatives at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania on Monday, July 22, 2024. A bipartisan group of lawmakers visited the site of former President Donald Trump’s attempted assassination that left one attendee dead and two injured at a campaign rally last week. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital )
Local Pennsylvania police officers told members of Congress that they were not allowed into a Secret Service command center at former President Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, according to Republican Tennessee Rep. Mark Green.
The chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, along with other bipartisan members of the committee, on Monday morning toured the Butler Farm Show grounds area where 20-year-old Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump over a week ago.
"Normally, according to the local sheriff, they have done these events in the past with Secret Service and always had one of their people in that Secret Service control room. Apparently, that was not allowed this time for some reason," Green told Fox News Digital after his tour of the crime scene Monday, which has been closed to the public since July 13.
Green, an Army veteran, said that is one example of miscommunication between local and federal law enforcement, adding that lawmakers are also working to get more information on radios that law enforcement used to communicate on the day of the rally.
Read more about what members of Congress learned in Butler, Pennsylvania.
This is an excerpt from a story by Fox News’ Audrey Conklin and Sara Rumpf-Whitten.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle arrives to testify about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign event in Pennsylvania before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, at the Capitol, Monday, July 22, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., joined a growing list of bipartisan lawmakers who are calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign from her post after a failed security detail at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania nearly led to the assassination of former President Trump.
During a House Committee on Oversight hearing on Monday, Cheatle was berated by lawmakers for her handling of the security at the rally, but also for failing to answer questions about the investigation into the matter.
Fry scolded the director when he was given the chance, calling her out for what she could not, or refused to answer.
“You have not been able to answer the number of agents, whether or not requests were denied on additional security, whether or not law enforcements were able to engage before the shooting with the assassin, how he got onto the roof, how the rifle got on the roof…,” Fry told Cheatle. “You can’t tell us how many shots he fired, [or] whether the casings were recovered. You can’t tell us anything about his cell phone.”
He continued, saying Cheatle could not answer whether the rally was supposed to be postponed, whether the shooter’s car had a bomb, or what the shooter’s motive was.
“The American people are incredibly distrustful because it has taken nine days to even get a scintilla of evidence out of you,” Fry told Cheatle. “That is why the American people are frustrated. And I echo the bipartisan calls on this committee and all across this country that you should resign, or maybe when the president wakes up from his nap, he can fire you.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign from her post on Monday, saying her “lack of accountability and transparency” since the attempted assassination of former President Trump has “only added insult to injury.”
Torres released a statement following the House Committee on Oversight hearing in which Cheatle testified about the failed security detail that nearly led to the assassination of Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
“The security failures surrounding the attempted assassination of the former President are so egregious that the only acceptable outcome is the resignation or removal of Director Cheatle, whose lack of accountability and transparency since the July 13th shooting has only added insult to injury,” Torres said. “An example must be made of those who fail as catastrophically as Director Cheatle has done.”
Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, told Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle she should be fired and “go back to guarding Doritos,” after saying he recreated the shooting that occurred in Butler, Pennsylvania and shot eight rounds, resulting in 15 out of 16 kill shots.
“I have never had any long gun training in my life. I own an AR-15 and the last time I shot it…was six years ago,” Fallon said during a House Committee on Oversight hearing with Cheatle regarding the Secret Service’s failed protection of former President Trump on July 13. “That is until Saturday, where we recreated the events in Savoy, Texas. We recreated what happened in Butler. I was lying prone on a slope roof at 130 yards at 6:30 at night and I knew that he had a scope. I didn't know what kind…red dot or magnified.
“So, I shot eight rounds from both,” Fallon said. “You know what the result was? 15 out of 16 kill shots. And the one I missed would have hit the president's ear. That's a 94% success rate. And that shooter was a better shot than me.”
Fallon told Cheatle it is a miracle Trump was not killed that day.
The lawmaker then told Cheatle it was not the roof that was dangerous, as she claimed during an interview with ABC last week when explaining why she did not have anyone on the roof during the rally.
“It was a nut job on top of the roof. You know what else is dangerous? I believe your horrifying ineptitude and your lack of skilled leadership is a disgrace,” Fallon said. “Your obvious skating today is shameful, and you should be fired immediately and go back to guarding Doritos.”
An undated file photo of Thomas Matthew Crooks. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
The Steam account previously reported to have belonged to would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks was not owned by him, according to a federal law enforcement source.
Original reports came from multiple sources inside an FBI briefing to lawmakers suggested the 20-year-old Crooks wrote in a post earlier this month, “July 13 will be my premier, watch as it unfolds.”
Three senate offices confirmed all of the information, with two additional offices confirming parts of the reports.
The Steam platform offers more than 100,000 games, including the assassination game "Mr. President!"
Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.
Reps. James Comer and Jamie Raskin of the House Committee on Oversight called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign on Monday. (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt / Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images / Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The two ranking members of the House Committee on Oversight called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign from her post after failing to provide answers to basic questions regarding the agency’s failure to protect former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin sent a letter to Cheatle on Monday, after she testified before the committee.
“On July 13, 2024, the United States Secret Service under your leadership failed to protect former President Donald Trump from an assassination attempt that took the life of Corey Comperatore and seriously injured at least two other people,” the letter reads. “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.
“In the middle of a presidential election, the Committee and the American people demand serious institutional accountability and transparency that you are not providing,” the representatives continued. “We call on you to resign as Director as a first step to allowing new leadership to swiftly address this crisis and rebuild the trust of a truly concerned Congress and the American people.”
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle arrives to testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign event in Pennsylvania that also saw one rally-goer killed and two others seriously wounded, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said Monday that he plans to file articles of impeachment against Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
The Secret Service director testified before the House Committee on Oversight for several hours on Monday, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers calling on her to resign from her post.
The calls come after her agency failed to protect former President Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
“In light of Kimberly Cheatle’s unacceptable handling of the Trump assassination attempt, her disastrous appearance before the House Oversight committee today, and her refusal to resign, we have no choice but to impeach,” Steube said in a post on X. “I will be filing articles of impeachment against Kimberly Cheatle this afternoon.”
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle arrives to testify about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign event in Pennsylvania before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, at the Capitol, Monday, July 22, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle attempted to explain to the House Oversight Committee on Monday, how her agency was unaware of a suspicious threat during a presidential rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, despite the public pointing to a man on a roof minutes before former President Trump was shot.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., was given an opportunity to ask Cheatle questions during a hearing with Cheatle on Monday. He started his questioning with a video taken moments before a gunman opened fire, when people in the crowd were directing law enforcement officials to a man on a roof.
The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, ultimately began shooting at 6:11 p.m., though the state police informed the Secret service about the suspicious person 20 minutes before.
Krishnamoorthi asked Cheatle if the rally had been paused at 5:53 p.m., when the Secret Service notified its snipers about the gunman, and she told him, “no.”
As to the video of people pointing to the gunman, it took place two minutes before shots started ringing out.
“Communication is two minutes before the shots started ringing out. Director Cheadle. Yes or no,” Krishnamoorthi asked, pressing for an answer on if the Secret Service would have paused the rally if there was a known threat.
“The people that are in charge of protecting the president on that day would never bring the former president out if there was a threat that had been identified,” Cheatle said.
“Well, they did, because we’ve now identified three points in the 20 minutes before the shooting, that the threat emerged,” Krishnamoorthi said.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt)
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told the House Committee on Oversight on Monday that her agency failed in its mission to protect former President Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, adding that she called the presidential candidate after the shooting to apologize.
Cheatle was berated for hours by Republicans and Democrats, with many calling on the director to resign for her agency’s botched detail to protect Trump.
Cheatle told the committee during the hearing that she called Trump after the shooting to apologize.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., accused Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle of perjuring herself and stonewalling members of the House Oversight Committee , telling her protectees are “sitting ducks” with her in charge.
Luna was given a chance to question Cheatle during a House Committee on Oversight hearing Monday, asking about the Secret Service director claiming her team was unaware of a threat at 5:59 p.m.
“According to communications, again from law enforcement that were in some of these group chats, they actually had reported that Secret Service was made aware of a threat at around 5:59 p.m. as a part of the command, including Secret Service, aware of messages and requests about information about the suspect's location,” Luna said before giving her another chance to answer if she had knowledge of the threat.
“Again, I think we’re conflating the difference between the term ‘threat’ and suspicious,’” Cheatle said.
“But you guys did have knowledge at 5:59 p.m., according to those group chats, did you not, of a suspicious individual,” Luna asked.
“Ok,” Cheatle said.
“Chairman, in my opinion, according to some of the testimony today, I feel that you have perjured yourself in some instances, and so I’m going to ask for a full review of the transcripts by staff, and if you find that to be the case, I do ask that you bring perjury charges against the director,” Luna said to Chairman James Comer.
Luna then turned her comments to Cheatle.
“I will say this. It is very frustrating. And I've talked to my colleagues, and we've said it to your face that you have been up here basically stonewalling our ability to get the answers to the American people. And what I will also say is that every single member of Congress does not feel safe with you in charge. You have heard that. And I think that we are all sitting ducks with you and directing the Secret Service currently,” Luna said. “But more importantly, it sends a message to our adversaries that we are not protected, and we are one of the strongest countries in the world. So, you have essentially made us a less safe country because of it. As a result of that, I'm asking you to formally step down.”
Rep. Tim Burchett in Washington, D.C. (Fox News Digital)
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle she is a “DEI horror story,” during a hearing on the attempted assassination on former President Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
“You found explosives in the shooter’s possession, is that correct,” Burchett asked Cheatle.
“The FBI found explosives,” she said.
“Do we know who directed this young man how to make these explosives,” Burchett asked.
“I believe that the FBI is still looking into that on their investigation,” Cheatle answered.
“Ms. Cheatle, you said that the buck stops with me and I agree. I don’t think you should resign, I think you should have been fired,” Burchett told Cheatle. “Ma’am, you are a DEI horror story. I have told my daughter multiple times, my wife and my daughter, we talk with her all the time about how she’s going to succeed in life. She’ll succeed in life by achieving. Ma’am, you have not achieved today. You have let the American people down. If it was up to me, you’d be gone.”
Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle could not say that she was willing to make firings after receiving the full report on her agency's failure to protect former President Trump on Monday.
Cheatle made the admission under questioning from Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla. the lawmaker opened by warning Cheatle that her testimony was going poorly, comparing the hearing to on earlier this year in that resulted in resignations from the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania.
"I don't know who prepared you for this. I don't know how many times you've testified in front of Congress, but a president was almost assassinated live on television. Not just for Americans, but for the world to see. And this being your first opportunity, I understand there's an ongoing investigation. I understand there's things that you can not talk about, but the the idea that we're getting less than you did on television is something that Democrats, independents and Republicans are going to find unacceptable," Moskowitz said.
"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?" he asked.
"I'm prepared to take the actions," Cheatle responded.
"No, no, no, that's that's nonsense. Okay. Accountability. The failure was human. That doesn't mean they're bad people. It means they failed that day. And a president was almost--a former president was almost assassinated. Okay. Are you prepared to fire the human failure on the ground? Yes or no? When you have the names of where those failures were, they're people. It's not like a piece of technology failed. It was people who failed that day. Are you prepared to fire them?" the lawmaker pressed.
"I don't have an answer as to whether [they will be fired]," Cheatle said.
"Well, then how can there be accountability if you're not prepared to fire someone?" Moskowitz concluded.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Fox News on Monday outside of the hearing room where Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is testifying about the Trump rally shooting response that she is "she's not taking any of this seriously” and “it's almost like she's unafraid to get fired, which is the problem.”
“She wouldn't answer our questions. These are very basic questions,” Mace said. “She couldn't even answer the question of how many Secret Service agents were even on site that day. It's complete and total bulls---.”
Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, told Fox News that “every member Republican and Democrat are not receiving answers from the director of the Secret Service, who spent 28 years with the agency and hides behind that.
“A person who was there for 28 years should know and see the problem and make corrections and be able to show up to members of Congress nine days after this happened with answers. Instead of hiding behind the agency,” he added. “And it's regrettable, and it is something that this White House is allowing to happen. And I think it's a mistake.”
Fox News' Kelly Phares contributed to this report.
Rep. Byron Donalds called for Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle to be fired "immediately" during Monday's House Oversight Committee hearing.
Donalds had not previously called on Cheatle to resign. He said he was holding off on the move until he heard from her in testimony, and he said he was not impressed by her performance.
"In my opinion, you do need to be fired immediately. This is gross incompetence," Donalds said. "I'm sure if I asked any one of my kids if they got in trouble and I told them to give me the details, I would get more answers from them than I'm getting from you right now."
"This is a joke, and director, you're in charge, and that's why you need to go," he finished.
Donalds joins a bipartisan group of several lawmakers who have called on Cheatle to resign following the assassination attempt against former President Trump.
Cheatle herself admitted on Monday that the attack at the Bulter, Pennsylvania rally was a "colossal failure" by the Secret Service. She has so far refused to resign.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies on Capitol Hill about the Trump rally shooting response. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle opened her testimony to Congress with a frank admission that her agency "failed" in its mission to protect former President Trump.
Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, facing a grilling from Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike. Several GOP lawmakers have called on her to resign, though she has so far refused.
Despite saying that she takes full responsibility for what happened, Cheatle has said she will not resign, stating during the hearing that she believes she is currently the best person to lead the Secret Service right now.
Cheatle made clear that none of her testimony should be understood as a criticism of local law enforcement or other security partners the Secret Service worked with at former President Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told the House Oversight Committee on Monday that “from what I've been able to discern, somewhere between 2 and 5 times, there was some sort of communication about a suspicious individual” at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania prior to the first shots ringing out.
“Why wasn’t the event paused right then?” Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., then asked her.
“I'm not clear on the timeline of when the Secret Service shift and the counter sniper were notified...” Cheatle started to say before Frost cut her off and said “earlier you said that the Secret Service would have paused the rally if they identified a threat... so why wasn’t it paused/”
“I have to assume that they did not know that there was a threat when they brought the president out on the stage,” Cheatle said in response to the question.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle that her response that she had “no idea” how her opening statement for today’s House Oversight Committee hearing on the Trump rally shooting got leaked to media agencies is “bulls---.”
“Would you say leaking your opening statement... several hours before you sent it to this committee as being political? Yes or no?” Mace asked Cheatle.
“I have no idea how my statement got out,” Cheatle responded.
“Well, that’s bulls---,” Mace replied, before mentioning news articles published between 5 and 7 a.m. ET, three hours before she said the House Oversight Committee received Cheatle's statement.
In other questioning from Mace, Cheatle responded “yes” when asked if the Trump rally shooting was a “colossal failure” and could have been prevented.
“Have you provided all audio and video recordings in your possession to this committee, as we asked on July 15th? Yes or no?” Mace said at one point.
“I would have to get back to you,” Cheatle responded.
“That is a no. You're full of s-- today. You're just being completely dishonest,” Mace told Cheatle.
The Secret Service has made "adjustments" to Vice President Kamala Harris' security detail following President Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race, director Kimberly Cheatle said Monday.
Cheatle announced the change during her testimony before the House Oversight Committee.
Biden withdrew from the race and immediately endorsed Harris on Sunday following weeks of mounting pressure from his fellow Democrats. Harris is now the favorite to be the Democratic nominee, though her ascent is not set in stone.
Many top Democrats have endorsed Harris, but key holdouts remain, including former President Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Harris accepted Biden's endorsement on Sunday, and has since received a wave of support from the Clintons and Hollywood celebrities.
Two FBI investigators scan the roof of AGR International Inc, the building adjacent to the Butler Fairgrounds, from which shooter Matthew Thomas Crooks fired at former President Trump. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle declined to reveal Monday if the gun Trump rally shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks used in the attack was on the roof already or if he carried it up himself before opening fire on the former president.
“Was the gun already on the roof? Or did the shooter carry the gun up with him?” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., asked Cheatle.
“I do not have that information at this time,” she responded.
"Well, when was the last sweep of that roof done prior to the rally?” Biggs then asked.
“I do not have that information at this time,” Cheatle said again.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said Monday that “when I have a full and complete, report of exactly what happened, there will be accountability and we will make changes” -- but then said a report on that won’t be complete until up to 60 days from now.
“I can tell you on our mission assurance, internal investigation, we are targeting to have that completed, within 60 days,” she said. “There's also an external investigation that is going to be taking place. There are a number of Office of Inspector General investigations as well.”
Cheatle’s answer didn’t sit well with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who said “the notion of a report coming out in 60 days, when the threat environment is so high in the United States, irrespective of party, is not acceptable."
“This is not theater. This is not about jockeying. This is about the safety of some of the most highly targeted and valued targets internationally and domestically in the United States of America,” Ocasio-Cortez added. "So the idea that a report will be finalized in 60 days, let alone prior to any actionable decisions that would be made, is simply not acceptable.”
“There need to be answers. Again... this is not a moment of theater. We have to make policy decisions and we have to make them now. We do. And that may require legislation, that may require policy that we must pass in the immediate term. And without that, we are flying blind. So the lack of answers and the lack of report is just simply not something that we can accept here,” Ocasio-Cortez also said.
Cheatle said earlier in the hearing that she is "not waiting for these investigations to be completed prior to making changes."
Progressive Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign on Monday.
Khanna made the statement during Cheatle's testimony before the House Oversight Committee. The lawmaker grilled Cheatle over the Secret Service's failure to protect former President Trump, resulting in an shocking back-and-forth.
"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.
"He resigned. He resigned. And Stuart Knight was not a Democratic appointee or a Republican appointee. I'm not questioning your judgement, I just don't think this is partisan. 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 go leading a security agency when there's an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate," Khanna finished.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies in front of the House Oversight Committee. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, in response to comments from Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., about the “considerable delay” in removing former President Trump from the podium during the rally shooting in Pennsylvania, told the House Oversight Committee that “when the agents identified that the shooting was taking place, in under three seconds, they threw themselves on top of the president.”
“I understand that there was heroism there. No question about it, no question about it,” Lynch cut her off. “But protocol would indicate and these are... the opinions of various former Secret Service agents, people who have done this work in the past, that over a minute of exposure on that podium with, with a shooter with a high-capacity weapon who had already wounded the president and could have got off -- we don’t know how many more rounds -- and yet the president remained exposed even though he was joined in that exposure by the Secret Service in their heroic acts. I don’t know if there is a good explanation for that.”
"Our personnel created a body bunker on top of the president, shielding him," Cheatle then said.
"This was an AR-15 style weapon that would have made pretty quick work if he was determined and able to do so,” Lynch responded, referring to the capabilities of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle said she could not confirm whether agents confronted Thomas Matthew Crooks before his attempt on former President Trump's life.
Cheatle made the statement under questioning from Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., at hearing with the House Oversight Committee.
"Did anybody anybody confront [Crooks] on that? Anybody ask him questions? What are you doing with the rangefinder? Anybody confront them on his presence where he was in proximity to the president?" Lynch asked.
"So again, to my knowledge, I believe that that was the process that was taking place, was to locate the individual," Cheatle responded.
"Did they confront him? Did they go up to him? Did they talk to him?" Lynch pressed.
"I do not have those details at this time," Cheatle said.
Cheatle is fighting off calls for her to resign from GOP lawmakers.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., asked Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Monday “on Saturday, July 13th... local police had identified and even photographed a man who was acting suspiciously and this man who turned out to be the gunman had been flagged as a potential threat. Is that accurate? “
"What I can say is that the individual was identified as suspicious,” Cheatle responded.
"So he was known to be suspicious before former President Trump took the stage?” Raskin then asked.
“That is the information I have received,” Cheatle said.
“If the detail had been passed information that there was a threat, the detail would never have brought the former president out onto stage. That is what we do, and that is who we are. We are charged with protecting all of our protectees,” Cheatle continued.
“There are a number of times at protective events where suspicious people are identified, and those individuals have to be investigated and determined what is it that identifies that person as suspicious?” she also said.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday that "for the event in Butler, there were no requests that were denied" from former President Trump's team.
"They asked for additional help in some form or another. You told them no. How many times did you tell them no? And what'd you tell them no to?" Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, asked Cheatle, referencing comments made by Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi.
“What I can tell you is that in generic terms, when people when details make a request, there are times that there are alternate ways to cover off on that threat or that report,” Cheatle responded.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., speaks at the House Oversight Committee hearing. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., used his opening statement at the hearing to push for a weapons ban in the wake of the Trump rally shooting.
“What happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a double failure. The failure by the Secret Service to properly protect former President Trump, and the failure of Congress to properly protect our people from criminal gun violence. We must therefore also ask hard questions about whether our laws are making it too easy for potential assassins to obtain firearms, generally in the AR-15 specifically,” he said.
“Mr. Comperatore,” Raskin said, referencing the volunteer firefighter who died in the shooting, “former president Trump and the other rally attendees wounded in Butler are now members of a club no one wants to belong to -- the thousands of people who have fallen victim to mass shootings,” Raskin continued.
“Last year, we had 655 mass shootings in America, defined as four or more people being shot or killed in a single event, not including the shooter. 712 people died and nearly 2,700 people were wounded in these attacks in 2023. Mass shootings are commonplace,” he also said. “They happen at political rallies and constituent meetings in our elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, in churches, synagogues and mosques and movie theaters and parades and nightclubs and grocery stores, in concerts and on street corners.”
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is sworn in at Monday's hearing. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle says her agency is "still looking into the advanced process and the decision made" as to why an agent wasn't positioned on top of the roof that Trump rally shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks used to fire at former President Trump.
"The building was outside of the perimeter on the day of the visit. But again, that is one of the things that during the investigation, we want to take a look at and determine whether or not other decisions should have been made," she said
She added that "I'm not going to get into the specifics of the numbers of personnel that we had there, but we feel that there was a sufficient number of agents assigned" to the event.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has told the House Oversight Committee that "on July 13th, we failed" when it came to her agency's handling of the Trump rally shooting.
"As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency," she continued.
"We must learn what happened, and I will move heaven and earth to ensure that an incident like July 13th does not happen again," Cheatle also said. "Our agents, officers and support personnel understand that every day we are expected to sacrifice our lives to execute a no fail mission."
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has told Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle that she should resign over her agency's handling of the Trump rally shooting.
"Today's witness, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, is here under subpoena to answer questions about how the agency failed president Trump and the victims who attended the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania," the chairman of the House Oversight Committee said in his opening statement of a hearing about the Secret Service's response to the incident.
"It is my firm belief, Director Cheatle, that you should resign. However, in complete defiance, Director Cheadle has maintained she will not tender her resignation," Comer continued. "Therefore, she will answer questions today from members of this committee seeking to provide clarity to the American people about how these events were allowed to transpire."
Comer called the July 13 assassination attempt "one of the darkest days in American political history."
House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has told Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle that she will face hard questions today.
"Our job in Congress is not simply to marvel at miracles or count on good luck, but to act as public policy legislators to do whatever we can to prevent future political violence, attempted assassinations, and mass shootings,” Raskin said in his opening statement of a House hearing on the Secret Service response to the Trump rally shooting.
“The chairman and I are thus determined to get to the bottom of this stunning security failures that enabled this 20-year-old lone gunman who borrowed his father's AR-15 to perpetrate a mass shooting and assassination attempt at an event protected by the Secret Service, as well as state and local police,” he continued. “We'll ask hard questions of Director Cheadle today in order to identify and understand the shocking security failures that occurred and to help transform the operations of the Secret Service to prevent anything like this from happening again.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson has confirmed to Fox News on Monday that he has met with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle just prior to the start of the ongoing House Oversight Committee hearing.
On the way out of the meeting, which happened in a back room of the Rayburn House Office Building, Johnson -- when asked by Fox News if Cheatle is going to resign -- said it "doesn't sound like it."
Numerous lawmakers, including Johnson, have asked for Cheatle to step down from her position in the wake of the Trump rally shooting on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Fox News' Kelly Phares contributed to this report.
The House Oversight Committee hearing on the attempted assassination against former President Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13 is now underway.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who is facing calls from lawmakers to resign, is moments away from testifying.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle enters the Rayburn House Office Building ahead of her House Oversight Committee testimony Monday. (Fox News)
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has arrived on Capitol Hill Monday ahead of her House Oversight Committee hearing on the Trump rally shooting, which is now just minutes away.
The hearing, titled "Oversight of the U.S. Secret Service and the Attempted Assassination of President Donald J. Trump," is set to unfold starting at 10 a.m.
A political scientist and expert on political assassinations pointed out major similarities between the attempted killing of former President Trump and the infamous presidential assassinations of the 20th century, focusing in particular on the fact that major security failures led to each of the traumatic incidents.
Dr. Larry Sabato, the author of "The Kennedy Half Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy," told Fox News Digital this week that just like in the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy – as well as the President Reagan assassination attempt – a troubled young man was able to game "serious" security vulnerabilities and get a clear shot at a U.S. leader.
"By my count, Trump had perhaps triple the Secret Service personnel that JFK had," the professor said, hinting at the scale of the security failures that almost led to Trump’s death last weekend.
A 20-year-old suspected gunman named Thomas Crooks fired an AR-15-style rifle at the former president during his 2024 campaign rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday, hitting Trump in the right ear and narrowly missing his head. Two others were seriously wounded, and Trump supporter Corey Comperatore was killed while protecting his family.
The House is expected to vote on legislation led by Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., to establish a bipartisan commission that will investigate the Trump rally shooting.
The 11-member committee would "investigate and fully examine all actions by any agency, Department, officer, or employee of the federal government, as well as State and local law enforcement or any other State or local government or private entities or individuals, related to the attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania," according to a draft resolution.
It will then "issue a final report of its findings to the House not later than December 13, 2024, including any recommendations for legislative reforms necessary to prevent future security lapses," the resolution adds.
Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on May 24. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. told ‘Fox & Friends’ on Monday morning that there were “clearly some lapses” with the way the Secret Service handled Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
“I have Secret Service protection right now. And the Secret Service have been doing an amazing job for me. I am very, very happy with the level of protection they are giving me and the level of concern and their professionalism,” Kennedy said.
But he added that “it seemed to me that there were clearly some lapses” in the way the Secret Service operated at the Trump campaign event where the assassination attempt was made.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is set to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee on the matter this morning.
Ron Layton, a former Secret Service official who handled presidential protection details, tells The Wall Street Journal that Director Kimberly Cheatle’s upcoming testimony on the Trump rally shooting will be a “seminal moment in the recent history of the agency.”
Layton said to the newspaper that the Secret Service’s “aura of impenetrability” has been eroded in the wake of the Trump rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, and now Cheatle will have to assure Americans that her agency has made fixes to safeguard Trump and other public officials.
“This is a seminal moment in the recent history of the agency to explain what happened and what the failures were,” Layton told The Wall Street Journal.
The hearing, titled "Oversight of the U.S. Secret Service and the Attempted Assassination of President Donald J. Trump," is set to unfold on Capitol Hill beginning at 10 a.m. ET.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (Getty Images)
A Republican member of the House Oversight Committee, who is expected to grill U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday, said the overarching Department of Homeland Security will get a "rude awakening" if they continue to "stonewall" in regard to failures in the lead-up to the attempt on former President Trump's life.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital over the weekend that the bureaucracy cannot be allowed to shirk their duty to explain themselves to the American people when the hearing commences.
"I am looking forward to hearing from Director Cheatle this Monday and getting answers for the American people on the Secret Service's failure to take action that would have prevented the attempt on President Trump's life from happening," Luna said.
"I also would like to get answers on why Mayorkas' DHS tried to pull blatant bureaucratic stonewalling on us. They are not getting away with it, and we expect their full transparency."
An undated image of Thomas Matthew Crooks. (Handout via AFP)
BETHEL PARK, Pa. – An expert in extremism and terrorism said that Thomas Matthew Crooks' assassination attempt on former President Trump was likely not politically motivated – instead, the 20-year-old was likely "acting out a fantasy," and seeking a target that would bring him "attention and fame."
Jytte Klausen, a political science professor at Brandeis University, has studied terrorist networks and violent extremism for two decades, putting together a methodology for forensic biographies of perpetrators and radicalization trajectories.
She is currently writing a book called "How to Become a Terrorist" that dives into incels, homegrown Islamists, neo-Nazis and other groups.
"He wanted to become somebody – he wanted to make a mark," Klausen posited about Crooks, who unleashed the attack on Trump's campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. "He appears not to have been particularly politically motivated, I think, based on what we know about his search history… there's no sense he wanted to effect the election."
"He was basically looking for a target that would bring him attention and fame – that's why I say that he was acting out a fantasy of himself as being a big man, showing the world what he can do and getting attention," she continued.
Two investigators, who appeared to be federal agents, enter Thomas Crooks' home. (Derek Shook/Fox News Digital)
BETHEL PARK, Pa. – A pair of plainclothes investigators, who appeared to be federal agents, visited the Pennsylvania home of former President Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks on Sunday – more than one week after the 20-year-old opened fire at a campaign rally.
The men, one carrying a large bag, were greeted at the door by a man who invited them in around 2 p.m.
They remained inside the modest Milford Drive house in the quiet Bethel Park suburb for 85 minutes before returning to their black SUV and driving off.
Later the same afternoon, a pair of men in black suits knocked on a neighbor's door several times and waited. No one answered. They walked to the side of the house and emerged a few minutes later.
The slain shooter's father has been holed up inside the brick home since his troubled son's failed assassination attempt that left Trump with a bloodied ear, firefighter Corey Comperatore dead and two others seriously wounded.
Secret Service agents converge to cover former President Trump during the campaign rally on July 13 in Pennsylvania. (AP/Evan Vucci)
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., will call on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign Monday in his opening statement at a hearing about the Trump rally assassination attempt.
“While we give overwhelming thanks to the individual Secret Service agents who did their jobs under immense pressure, this tragedy was preventable. The Secret Service has a zero fail mission, but it failed on July 13 and in the days leading up to the rally,” Comer will say. “The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a significant budget, but it has now become the face of incompetence.
“It is my firm belief, Director Cheatle, that you should resign. However -- in complete defiance -- Director Cheatle has maintained she will not tender her resignation. Therefore, she will answer questions today from Members of this Committee seeking to provide clarity to the American people about how these events were allowed to transpire,” Comer will add.
“The safety of Secret Service protectees is not based on their political affiliation. And the bottom line is that under Director Cheatle’s leadership, we question whether anyone is safe,” Comer also will say.
Fox News' Kelly Phares contributed to this report.
Former President Trump is helped off the stage by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13. (AP/Gene J. Puskar)
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is set to tell House lawmakers Monday that her agency “failed” when it came to security at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania, where an assassination attempt unfolded.
"The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed," Cheatle is expected to say, according to excerpts of her remarks released by the Department of Homeland Security. "As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse. As an agency, we are fully cooperating with the FBI’s investigation, the oversight you have initiated here, and conducting our own internal mission assurance review at my direction.”
“We must learn what happened and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like July 13 does not happen again,” Cheatle is also expected to say. “Thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my thoughts.”
The site of the Trump rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania. (AP/Gene J. Puskar)
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc, released his official 13-page preliminary findings of his office's investigation into the assassination attempt of former President Trump.
Trump survived the assassination attempt on July 13 at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where alleged gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire, killing one spectator and injuring several others, including Trump, who suffered injuries to his ear.
Shortly following the incident, Johnson's office began contacting federal, state and local government entities, as well as private companies, to solicit information about the security failures at the rally, the senator's office said. The preliminary findings are based on the initial information Johnson's office obtained after the shooting.
The preliminary findings determined that the Secret Service did not attend a security briefing given to local SWAT and sniper teams on the morning of July 13, that local law enforcement said communications were siloed and they were not in frequent radio contact directly with the Secret Service, that local law enforcement notified command about Crooks before the shooting and received confirmation that the Secret Service was aware of the notification and that the Secret Service was seen on the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building with local law enforcement following the shooting.
The investigation also found that photos of the shooter were sent to the ATF for facial recognition and that local law enforcement said the Secret Service was initially not planning on sending snipers to the rally.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle speaks during a Republican National Convention security news conference on June 6 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.(AP/Morry Gash)
The House Committee On Oversight and Accountability has scheduled a hearing for Monday with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who is facing criticism and calls to resign from lawmakers over her agency's handling of the Trump rally shooting last weekend in Pennsylvania.
The hearing, titled "Oversight of the U.S. Secret Service and the Attempted Assassination of President Donald J. Trump," is set to unfold on Capitol Hill beginning at 10 a.m. ET Monday.
Cheatle is refusing to resign, but House Speaker Mike Johnston told FOX Business on Thursday that he is prepared to call on President Biden to fire her.
“Continuity of operations is paramount during a critical incident and U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has no intentions to step down. She deeply respects members of Congress and is fiercely committed to transparency in leading the Secret Service through the internal investigation and strengthening the agency through lessons learned in these important internal and external reviews,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement last Wednesday.
Cheatle was confronted by senators who were demanding answers when she showed up at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
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