House committee grills Secret Service director over security gaps during Trump shooting

Amna Nawaz:

More than a week after the assassination attempt on former President Trump, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee today. Lawmakers from both parties were visibly angry with her testimony.

It comes as calls for her resignation grow and the investigations into the agency multiply.

Nick Schifrin has our report.

Rep. James Comer (R-KY):

Committee on Oversight and Accountability will come to order.

Nick Schifrin:

During a four-and-a-half-hour bruising bipartisan blow up…

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH):

You cut corners when it came to protecting one of the most important individuals, most well-known individuals on the planet.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA):

That is not my question. And now I think you're evading the answer.

Nick Schifrin:

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was chastened, but tight-lipped, despite demands from both parties for her resignation.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA):

I believe, Director Cheatle, that you should resign.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH):

Because Donald Trump is alive — and thank God he is — you look incompetent. If Donald Trump had been killed, you would have looked culpable.

Nick Schifrin:

It's been nine days since what Cheatle called the Secret Service's most significant failure in more than 40 years.

(Gunshots)

Nick Schifrin:

Former President Donald Trump, his ear pierced by bullets fired from a military-style rifle from just 450 feet away.

Woman:

Right here, guy on the roof!

Nick Schifrin:

Cheatle confirmed local law enforcement photographed the shooter 18 minutes before Trump began, but the Secret Service initially identified him only as suspicious, rather than a threat.

Illinois Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi:

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL):

That doesn't look like suspicious behavior. That looks like threatening behavior to me. And the rally wasn't paused at that point either, correct?

Kimberly Cheatle, U.S. Secret Service Director:

I can tell you, as I stated earlier, sir, that the moment that the shift surrounding the president were aware of an actual threat…

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi:

That's a threat right there. The guy's on the roof and everybody's yelling at him.

Nick Schifrin:

Cheatle confirmed that the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, used a drone to surveil part of the site and brought explosives and a detonator. She also said she apologized to former President Trump and that the buck stops with her.

Kimberly Cheatle:

On July 13, we failed. As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency.

Nick Schifrin:

But she declined to answer many questions because of multiple ongoing investigations, including how exactly Crooks got on the roof with a direct line of sight of Trump and killed Corey Comperatore, while he shielded his family.

Arizona Republican Andy Biggs:

Rep. Andy Briggs (R-AZ):

What did they determine was going to be the event perimeters?

Kimberly Cheatle:

Again, I don't want to speak to specifics of the event that took place.

Rep. Andy Briggs:

OK, this is a specific.

Kimberly Cheatle:

I understand.

Rep. Andy Briggs:

This is a specific that you ought to know. As someone who said, the buck stops with me, I'm going to stay in my job, I'm going to give the answers to the American people, and I know what happened, except for you're not going to tell us. You're not going to tell the American people.

Nick Schifrin:

She also refused to answer questions about a topic multiple Democrats raised, Crooks' legal access to an AR-15 rifle and to the site.

New Mexico Democrat Melanie Stansbury:

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM):

How did a 20-year-old young man with access to a military-style weapon actually bring it onto an unsecured perimeter who for days had been planning a mass shooting event? And I think that, Madam Director, with all due respect, the answers that we received here in this hearing today are completely unsatisfactory.

Nick Schifrin:

Cheatle insisted the Secret Service approved Trump campaign requests for security at the rally. But she refused to say whether the Secret Service rejected previous requests for additional security, as confirmed by her spokesman this weekend, and highlighted by Ohio Republican and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan.

Rep. Jim Jordan:

Were you guessing or lying when you said you didn't turn down requests from President Trump's detail?

Kimberly Cheatle:

Neither, sir. And I appreciate the question.

Rep. Jim Jordan:

Well, what were you doing? Because those statements don't — don't jibe.

Today, the Secret Service agents who defended Trump by risking their own lives were called heroes. Their boss left the hearing as the villain.

Rep. James Comer:

This committee is not known for its bipartisan — its model of bipartisanship. But I think, today, we came together unanimously in our disappointment for your lack of answers.

Nick Schifrin:

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.