Speaker Johnson to call for embattled Secret Service chief’s resignation, pledges task force to probe Trump shooting
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would be calling for embattled Secret Service boss Kimberly Cheatle to resign following her agency’s bungled security operation that permitted the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
“I think it’s inexcusable,” Johnson (R-La.) told ABC News Wednesday in response to the agency’s handling of Saturday’s Butler, Pa., rally where 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on a campaign rally crowd.
“I’m going to call for her resignation as well,” Johnson said when asked if Cheatle should step down, referencing calls for her ouster from House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) the day before at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
As for the reasons Cheatle has given to explain the botched protection detail, Johnson said, “it doesn’t wash, and I think she’s shown what her priorities are,” referring to accusations leveled against Cheatle that she’s been overly focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, such as her promise to make the Secret Service 30% female by 2030.
Cheatle has repeatedly defied growing calls to step down.
The speaker also pledged to launch a House task force charged with streamlining the numerous concurrent investigations stemming from the shooting, which killed a retired firefighter and wounded Trump and two others.
He said they’d be moving “quickly” to establish “a special task force within the House” in order to conduct “a precision strike” in following the many threads of the investigation.
Johnson said the task force, which could be established as soon as Monday, would include both Republicans and Democrats, wouldn’t be subject to the usual “procedural hurdles” and would have subpoena authority.
The House Oversight Committee also issued a subpoena on Wednesday to compel Cheatle’s testimony in a July 22 public hearing.
“The assassination attempt of the former President and current Republican nominee for president represents a total failure of the agency’s core mission and demands Congressional oversight,” committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) wrote to the Secret Service director in a letter accompanying the subpoena.
“Despite allowing you to speak with the media, both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Secret Service have failed to provide assurances regarding your appearance at the Oversight Committee’s scheduled hearing, thereby necessitating the attached subpoena,” Comer said.
“The lack of transparency and failure to cooperate with the Committee on this pressing matter by both DHS and the Secret Service further calls into question your ability to lead the Secret Service and necessitates the attached subpoena compelling your appearance before the Oversight Committee,” he added.
Senate and House lawmakers received a briefing from Homeland Security officials on Wednesday afternoon about the shooting — and Cheatle later confirmed her attendance at the upcoming hearing.
“The Department has responded to the Committee and relayed that Director Cheatle welcomes the opportunity to testify. This is in addition to the ongoing briefings being provided by Secret Service and law enforcement partners to Congress,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.
“We have cooperated extensively with congressional oversight during this Congress and are committed to working with investigations and reviews of what happened on Saturday, including with Congress, the FBI, and the Inspector General.”
US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said Monday on “Good Morning America” that Crooks never should have been able to get a clear line of sight to the former president.
“[A] direct line of sight like that to the former president of the United States should not occur,” Mayorkas said.
Mayorkas, who oversees the Secret Service, said an investigation is underway and from those findings, recommendations will be made to the agency.
“We are going to really study the event independently and make recommendations to the Secret Service and to me so that we can assure the safety and security of our protectees, which is one of our most vital missions in the Secret Service,” Mayorkas said.
