Members of the House Oversight Committee grilled U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Monday over the attempted assassination of former President Trump.Why it matters: Cheatle is facing mounting, bipartisan calls to resign and intense scrutiny amid a flurry of probes into the shooting earlier this month that wounded the Republican presidential nominee, left one dead and two others seriously injured.
"It is my firm belief, Director Cheatle, that you should resign," House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said at Monday's hearing.
"However, in complete defiance, Director Cheatle has maintained she will not tender her resignation.""Director Cheatle, because Donald Trump is alive, and thank God he is, you look incompetent," said Mike Turner (R-Ohio). "If Donald Trump had been killed, you would have looked culpable."
Turner pressed Cheatle over U.S. intelligence of an Iranian threat to Trump, to which she said she believed the security plan was sufficient to protect Trump from that threat.
Cheatle told lawmakers that "no requests" were denied for the rally.During questioning from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Cheatle said she has spoken with the counter-sniper who killed the 20-year-old gunman.
However, she refused to disclose details of their conversation, citing an ongoing investigation.
In her opening statement, Cheatle said she accepted "full responsibility" for the security lapses that preceded the shooting and characterized the assassination attempt as the "most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades."
"Our mission is not political: It is literally a matter of life and death, and the tragic events on July 13 remind us of that," she said.Comer and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said in a joint statement Friday that Cheatle would need to provide "transparency and accountability" during her appearance.
.Here are the top political news stories for today.
Join in on more popular conversations.
