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Kaitlyn Buss is assistant editorial page editor at The Detroit News.
Director of the U.S. Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle had no choice but to resign following what was perhaps the worst testimony before a congressional hearing in recent U.S. history. She failed to answer nearly every question posed to her concerning the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Now her boss should do the same. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was not only in charge of the worst Secret Service failure since 1981 but has also failed to secure the southern U.S. border, for which the U.S. House has already voted to impeach him.
Cheatle served under Mayorkas’ direction and there are no more assurances national security vulnerabilities are secure under his watch — even with her gone.
There has been little transparency from DHS.
During the House Oversight Committee hearing, Cheatle failed to answer basic questions — and the little information she did provide was essentially nonsensical.
Cheatle remained stoic as she appeared unbothered by what had taken place on her watch.
“I have a timeline that does not have specifics,” Cheatle said in response to a question from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, when exactly the Secret Service knew about the threat of the shooter.
Her ridiculous answer was met with laughter from the audience as she accomplished the rare feat of uniting both Democrats and Republicans in vocal condemnation of her testimony.
Cheatle repeatedly said she would not answer questions before the FBI’s investigation is complete — which could be 60 days. In the meantime, those who oversaw the failure, chiefly, Mayorkas, will be helping pick the replacement.
Cheatle had not yet visited the Trump rally site before the hearing even though she oddly showed up to the Republican National Committee convention in Milwaukee and has teased the national press with more tidbits of information than she was willing to give Congress.
At this point, two weeks after the assassination attempt, there are more questions than answers as to what decisions or protocols led to a former president being so vulnerable — and rally attendee Corey Comperatore losing his life.
Cheatle said while the Secret Service does typically have recordings of radio communications, they don’t have recordings of the July 13 rally. That’s convenient.
Cheatle also acknowledged she uses encrypted apps on her phone. To communicate with whom or for what?
Cheatle said the rooftop Matthew Thomas Crooks shot from was outside the perimeter of their watch, but they were going to provide “overwatch.” She has since admitted the Secret Service should not have relied on local law enforcement to secure that building.
But most people can see plainly that a sniper could easily shoot well from such a position. Bystanders’ videos have prompted further questions about the Secret Service’s failure to take out the shooter.
If Cheatle was hoping to dispel conspiracy theories, all she did was fuel them. When pressed on whether the assassination attempt was carried out by a lone gunman, she refused to rule out that he could have had help.
That’s a shocking position for the U.S. government to be in. But Cheatle refused to clarify.
Now she’s gone. But Mayorkas remains, and he doesn’t seem any more capable of explaining what happened or fixing what went wrong.
