Well, folks, it seems the Secret Service can’t get it together under Director Kimberly Cheatle. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is ready to hold her accountable.
Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is expected to demand the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle during a committee hearing on Monday. This call comes after a significant security failure at a Trump rally that left one person dead and two others hurt. Comer thinks Cheatle should step down because of this huge mistake.
According to parts of Comer’s prepared speech, which the Washington Examiner got a hold of, he will say it is his “firm belief” that Cheatle needs to resign. He praises the hard work of individual Secret Service agents but insists that this tragedy could have been avoided.
Cheatle will face the committee at 10:00 a.m., where she will get tough questions from both Republicans and Democrats. Lawmakers from both sides are mad at the Secret Service for letting 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks get onto a rooftop near the rally and fire shots into the crowd with an AR-15 rifle.
In a rare moment of agreement, Comer’s opening statement will reflect a shared feeling that the attempt on Trump’s life was “one of the darkest days in American political history.” He says this event shows the ugly side of American politics today: hatred and dangerous extremism. Comer says that before being Republicans or Democrats, we are Americans, and we must put our country first.
Cheatle’s agency is also being criticized for not communicating well after the attempt on Trump’s life. Comer will point out that Americans want answers, but the Secret Service hasn’t provided them.
The incident saw Trump nearly killed as a bullet grazed his head, causing a minor injury to his ear while he was speaking on stage. Despite this close call, the Secret Service’s response has been criticized.
The agency did release a statement and held a press conference on how it plans to protect the upcoming Republican National Convention. Cheatle also appeared in a few TV interviews, where she said she does not intend to resign. But most details about the incident have come from anonymous media reports and whistleblowers to Congress.
A Wall Street Journal report revealed that Crooks managed to fly a drone over the rally site hours before the event. Other outlets, including the Washington Examiner, reported that lawmakers were briefed privately by the Secret Service and FBI, learning that the agency had been alerted 20 minutes before the shooting about a suspicious person with a rangefinder, a tool used for long shots.
Whistleblowers told the House Judiciary Committee that a Secret Service special agent had warned law enforcement officials that they had “limited resources” the week of the rally because they were also protecting the NATO summit in Washington, D.C.
Comer plans to say that the public has been learning about the incident through whistleblowers and leaks, instead of from the Secret Service itself. He emphasizes that Americans want accountability, yet no one has been fired for this major failure.
It’s really frustrating to see such a big breakdown in security for a former president. The Secret Service, once a respected agency, is now falling apart under poor leadership. Comer’s call for Cheatle’s resignation isn’t just about accountability—it’s about restoring trust in the agency that protects our leaders. If the Secret Service can’t do its job, it’s time for new leadership.
This might be harsh, but there’s no room for excuses when the stakes are this high.
