Secret Service chief's testimony raises more questions and frustration

WASHINGTON (TND) — Testimony from Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday drew bipartisan condemnation from Congress as lawmakers investigate how the agency failed to prevent an attempt on former President Donald Trump's life at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Cheatle was faced with calls to resign from lawmakers in both parties over the security failure that allowed a gunman to climb onto a roof and open fire toward Trump from just 150 yards away. She also frequently frustrated Congress with refusals to provide specific details and dodging questions about the investigation into the attack and what went wrong that allowed it to happen.

She said it was the Secret Service's "most significant operational failure" in decades and that they failed their mission but refused to resign despite repeated calls to do so.

“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” she said.

Cheatle acknowledged reports the agency was told about a suspicious person multiple times before shots were fired at Trump and that the roof the suspected shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was positioned on was identified as a potential liability days before the rally. But she also frequently said she didn't know or couldn't answer questions more than a week into an investigation on an attempt on a former president's life that also killed a person in the crowd.

"She had the opportunity to try to regain the trust of Congress, the American people, and to have them believe that this process was going to be effective and she failed miserably on that front. She was evasive, often defiant in her answers, and sometimes her answers suspended belief," said Mark Morgan, the former acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and assistant FBI director.

The dodging of questions was so frequent it led to one lawmaker, Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, to use profanity. Cheatle was pressed on how Crooks got so close to Trump and why the former president was allowed to take the stage after he had been identified as suspicious. She was also questioned why no agents were on the roof or if Secret Service used drones to monitor the area, which she again responded with letting the investigation play out, drawing audible groans from lawmakers.

"She literally acted robotic throughout the entire day, refusing to answer questions and she hid behind the FBI investigation as a ruse to ... plead the Fifth Amendment and not answer questions. And again, that's why you're seeing now across the board, the Congress, American people, they've lost confidence in her and they've lost faith in her," Morgan said.