The director of the Secret Service testified before Congress. Kimberly Cheatle faced House lawmakers demanding answers about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump nine days ago.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, testified before Congress today. House members demanded answers about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump nine days ago. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is covering this, and he's here in the studio. Hey, Ryan.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Hi, Ari.
SHAPIRO: What were some of the highlights from the nearly five hours of testimony?
LUCAS: Well, look. Cheatle opened her testimony by acknowledging that the shooting at the Trump rally in Butler, Pa., was a failure on the Secret Service's part. Here's a little bit of what she said.
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KIMBERLY CHEATLE: The assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13 is the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.
LUCAS: She said that as the agency's director, she takes full responsibility for the failure. And she also said that the Secret Service is cooperating with a variety of ongoing investigations.
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CHEATLE: We must learn what happened, and I will move heaven and Earth to ensure that an incident like July 13 does not happen again.
LUCAS: Now, she also said that since the shooting, she has beefed up resources for protection that includes the Republican National Committee Convention - pardon me - last week but also for former President Trump, as well as President Biden and Vice President Harris.
SHAPIRO: Lawmakers from both parties have been demanding answers about how the shooting could have happened. Did they get answers today?
LUCAS: We didn't get answers to big questions, but we did get some small details confirmed. For example, Cheatle said that the shooter had been flagged as a suspicious individual before Trump went on stage. She said law enforcement personnel were trying to track him down. She also said that the Secret Service did not know that the shooter had a gun before Trump went out to speak and that, if they had known that, Trump wouldn't have been allowed to take the stage.
But as I said, on the big questions, she really didn't have answers today for lawmakers. One of the main questions, of course, hanging over all of this is how the gunman was able to get onto a roof that gave him a clear line of sight on Trump. One lawmaker after another pressed her on that. And time and again, she gave a form of this answer...
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CHEATLE: We are nine days out from this event, and I would like to know those answers as well, which is why we are going through these investigations to be able to determine that fully.
SHAPIRO: Well, Ryan, if she couldn't answer that core question, could she at least say why there was no law enforcement on that roof?
LUCAS: Well, she said the roof where the shooter fired from was covered by what she called over watch, which can be things like counter sniper teams. But when pressed for basic information, she couldn't say how the shooter got on the roof, when he got on the roof or how long he was on the roof. She repeatedly said she couldn't provide the information that lawmakers wanted because of these various ongoing investigations. That includes the FBI's criminal investigation but also the Secret Service's internal review. But that just did not fly with lawmakers. They were very frustrated. For a taste of that, here's the committee Republican chairman James Comer.
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JAMES COMER: The American people have questions. They deserve answers. Congress deserves answers. You were subpoenaed today to provide answers, and, ma'am, you did not do that.
SHAPIRO: Well, given that and the fact that there are already calls for her to step down, is Cheatle likely to keep her job?
LUCAS: Well, look. There isn't usually much that Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight Committee can agree on, but they did agree today on the fact that she needs to resign, they said. The committee's top Republican and Democrat both said they are sending a letter calling for her to step aside. Now, Cheatle did have an answer for lawmakers today on the question of her potential resignation. She said that she believes she is the best person for the job. She said she's dedicated to getting answers to what went wrong. And so for now, at least, she is staying put.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Ryan Lucas, covering testimony there from the head of the Secret Service. Thank you.
LUCAS: Thank you.
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