Rep. Greg Steube (R-Florida) said Monday that he has filed an impeachment resolution against Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle for her “dereliction of duty” in failing to protect former President Trump from a would-be assassin at his rally. last week.
“The Secret Service calls itself ‘one of the most elite law enforcement agencies in the world.’ What happened on his watch in Butler, Pennsylvania, was an international embarrassment and an inexcusable tragedy,” Steube said in a press release.
“Today I am exercising our congressional oversight authority by filing an article of impeachment against Director Cheatle for her dereliction of duty in connection with the assassination attempt on the life of President Trump,” he continued.
Steube pointed to reports that indicated the Secret Service received warnings about suspicious activity long before the shooting itself. Trump’s ear was hit by a bullet before he was carried off stage by Secret Service agents. One rally participant, Corey Compatore, died protecting his family from gunfire, while two other people were seriously injured.
In the days following the attack, questions grew about how an armed assailant could gain access to a building only about 400 feet from the rally stage, with an unobstructed view of the former president.
“All supervisors in this chain of command must be fired immediately and that starts with the Director. An American hero is dead and several are seriously injured as a result of the Secret Service’s failure to protect President Trump,” he said, adding, “Everyone in the chain of command, including the Director, must be held accountable.”
Steube’s resolution includes an article of impeachment for “dereliction of duty.”
The article says that Cheatle, as director, “negligently failed to fulfill the agency’s mission and statutory charge to ‘ensure the safety and security’ of ‘protectees, key sites and events of national importance’” and noted that “the Secret Service is charged with providing protection to former presidents as well as ‘leading presidential candidates.’”
The impeachment resolution also criticizes Cheatle for focusing on increasing the number of female agents, with a goal of 30 percent of all recruits being women by 2030. The article suggests that Cheatle “chose to focus on recruits’ gender rather than their fitness for work.”
“Through these actions, Director Cheatle demonstrated dereliction in her duty to lead the Secret Service in a way that provides effective protection to protectees, including President Donald Trump. Therefore, Kimberly A. Cheatle, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit in the United States,” the resolution concludes.
The resolution comes as calls for Cheatle’s resignation grow, particularly following testimony from Cheatle’s House Oversight Committee, which failed to answer some of lawmakers’ key questions about the shooting.
In a rare move, ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a joint letter after the hearing calling for his resignation.
“Particularly after her dismal testimony today before the Oversight Committee, where few if any questions were adequately answered and she doubled down on her refusal to resign, we have no choice but to impeach Director Cheatle,” Steube added in his press release.
The Hill reached out to the U.S. Secret Service for a response.
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