Dem
51
GOP
49
This is only peripheral to politics and elections, but the Director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, was grilled by the House Oversight Committee yesterday. The members wanted to know how it was possible that a 20-year-old kid managed to get up on a roof with a direct sight line to where Donald Trump was speaking and shoot at him, hitting him in the ear. Cheatle admitted immediately that it was an operational failure and took full responsibility for it herself. She said: "The buck stops with me." She also said she will move heaven and earth to make sure it never happens again. Several members of the Committee, including Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), called for Cheatle to resign. Congress has no power to fire her.
Committee members asked Cheatle why no agents were stationed on the roof. She said there was an overwatch, but that could have meant an agent on the roof, a countersniper who was guarding the roof or even a camera pointed to it. Somehow the overwatch failed. She said that if the agency had information indicating a threat, they would have taken it seriously, but it did not have that information in time. She answered rumors that Trump had asked for more resources and his requests were denied by saying that he received all the protection he had requested and nothing was denied.
Many other questions were fired at her. She declined to answer some of them due to the nature of the ongoing investigation. She said a full report would be available in 60 days. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said that such a long period is totally unacceptable with a campaign ongoing.
The hearing was surprisingly civil. The members wanted information. There was little grandstanding. That is quite unusual in Congress these days, especially for a committee that includes Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) AND Lauren Boebert (R-CO). (V)