After a week of back and forth, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle confirmed Friday that she will testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Monday. A subpoena forced her to appear before the committee.
“We are committed to better understanding what happened before, during and after the attempted assassination of former President Trump to ensure it never happens again,” the Secret Service said in a statement Friday.
Earlier in the week, Cheatle agreed to a hearing on Monday. However, Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials apparently intervened, calling their presence into question.
Comer subpoenaed her on Wednesday to compel appearance on Monday, prompting the DHS assistant secretary for legislative affairs to send a letter in response saying the department was disappointed that the committee “rushed to issue a subpoena.” The department also asked if Cheatle could testify later in the week.
The commission refused.
“Americans demand answers from Director Kimberly Cheatle about the Secret Service’s historic security failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump, the murder of an innocent victim, and the harm to others in the crowd. We look forward to Director Cheatle’s testimony on Monday, July 22, to provide the transparency and accountability Americans deserve,” Comer said in a statement after Cheatle committed to appear before the committee.
Cheatle and the Secret Service have come under increasing scrutiny in the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump, in which a 20-year-old man perched on a rooftop outside the security perimeter of his rally in Pennsylvania and fired several shots at Trump. A shot hit his ear and an audience member was killed.
After Cheatle and FBI Director Christopher Wray provided an unclassified briefing to House and Senate members on Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called on President Biden to fire Cheatle .
“But the carelessness here, the mistakes, the ineptitude, whatever it was, was inexcusable,” Johnson said on Fox News. “They did not give satisfactory answers to some very important questions. And some of that needs to be in a confidential environment, I suppose.”
During the briefing, Cheatle told members of Congress that the Secret Service had flagged the shooter as a suspect an hour before his assassination attempt.
After Cheatle gave Trump a personal briefing during the Republican National Convention on Thursday, Republican Senators John Barrasso (Wyo.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) followed Cheatle and asked more questions, saying they were dissatisfied with the previous briefing in the day.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also made a similar decision.
“I think she should,” Scalise said at a CNN-Politico convention event in Milwaukee when asked whether Cheatle should resign. “I was very disappointed in her and her lack of candor.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
