This piece was first published in our news digest, The Front Page. To get our latest scoops, investigations, and columns in your inbox every morning, Monday through Thursday, become a Free Press subscriber today:
When a 20-year-old armed with an AR-15 walks through a field, climbs a roof, and fires at least six rounds at a nearby rally stage, killing one bystander, critically injuring two others, and coming within an inch of assassinating a former president of the United States, the public has many questions. They all amount to one: How the hell could this have happened?
In search of answers, representatives in Congress from both parties grilled the head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, under subpoena yesterday. How’d that go? Well, it was swiftly followed by a bipartisan congressional letter calling for her immediate resignation. In other words, it was bad. Claudine Gay–level bad. Here are some of the highlights (or should that be lowlights?):
Cheatle said the Secret Service would never “bring the former president out if there was a threat that had been identified.” But, as Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) pointed out, “We’ve now identified three points in the twenty minutes before the shooting that the threat emerged.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) wanted to know why, ten days after an assassination attempt, we’re still no closer to getting answers: “The idea that a report will be finalized in sixty days, let alone prior to any actionable decisions that would be made, is simply not acceptable.”
Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY) asked why the Secret Service left a known vulnerability unmanned. Cheatle, who previously told ABC News that the roof was “sloped,” explained that they “prefer to have sterile rooftops.” And former presidents prefer not to be shot. It’s a tricky trade-off.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) opted for a history pop quiz. How did Stuart Knight—head of the Secret Service in 1981—respond after Reagan was shot, he asked. “He remained on duty,” Cheatle answered. Wrong! He resigned. Khanna added, “I just don’t think this is partisan. If you have an assassination attempt on a president, a former president, or a candidate, you need to resign.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) asked Cheatle whether she would like to use her five minutes to “draft her resignation letter.” Cheatle politely declined. And when Cheatle said she didn’t know how her statement was leaked to the press ahead of the hearing, Mace replied: “You’re full of shit today.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) dubbed Cheatle “a DEI horror story,” saying he tells the female members of his family to succeed through achievement. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), meanwhile, suggested that maybe the shooter wasn’t deemed suspicious because he was “a young white male.”
Cheatle’s other comments included “we failed,” “I am accountable,” and surprisingly, “I think that I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.” For more on the failure of the Secret Service read Michael J. Ard and Charles Goslin in Discourse.
Update: At 10.31 a.m. on Tuesday, July 23, it was reported that Kimberly Cheatle had resigned.
Madeleine Kearns is an associate editor at The Free Press.
I would be willing to bet there are a number of SS agents and local police officers who could identify what went wrong that day in PA within 30 minutes of the incident. It is just baffling to me how the head of the agency thought she could go in front of congress and not offer a factual explanation of the events and the errors made. She was probably destined to be fired regardless of her testimony, but if she would have been candid with answers to what actually happened (warts and all) she would at least demonstrate that she is capable of identifying the problems and maybe fixing them. But claiming ignorance the way she did sealed her fate.
One of my favorite writers at NR - great to see you at TFP!