Rep. Nancy Mace Holds Secret Service Director Accountable for Lack of Transparency
In a fiery House Oversight Committee meeting, Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, didn’t mince words when it came to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s accountability. Mace accused Cheatle of being less than forthcoming about her cooperation and openness regarding an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
From the get-go, Mace came out swinging. She used her full five-minute questioning period to suggest that Cheatle might want to start drafting a resignation letter. According to Mace, Cheatle had been spreading falsehoods to the committee and had even leaked her opening statement to media outlets like Punchbowl News, Politico Playbook, and The Washington Post before sharing it with the committee members. In response, Cheatle denied these accusations, stating she was unaware of how her statement got leaked.
Mace Calls for Full Transparency from Secret Service
Switching gears to another pressing issue, Mace criticized the Secret Service for their failure to comply with the committee’s information requests. She emphasized that the committee had requested a list of personnel present at the rally and recordings from that day – requests that Cheatle had failed to fulfill. When pressed for an explanation, Cheatle offered a vague response, promising to get back to Mace later.
Mace wasn’t having it. She called Cheatle out for her evasiveness and failure to provide straightforward answers. Mace made it clear that the American public has a right to know the truth and that Cheatle’s ambiguous responses were simply unacceptable. It’s worth noting that the committee had to resort to subpoenaing Cheatle just to secure her testimony, and even then, she wasn’t providing satisfactory answers.
Cheatle Evades Key Questions
Despite being given multiple chances to clear up the situation, Cheatle continued to dodge crucial questions. When asked about a potential training or execution failure leading to the assassination attempt, Cheatle couldn’t provide a straight answer. She also didn’t confirm when the Secret Service first became aware of the would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks’s location.
The Secret Service and the FBI admitted during the hearing that they had identified Crooks over 50 minutes before the former president took the stage. According to insider sources, agents spotted Crooks using a range finder and saw him on the rooftop of a nearby building about 20 minutes before shots were fired.
Final Thoughts
Rep. Mace demonstrated her resolve by directly challenging Cheatle for her lack of transparency and cooperation during the hearing. She called out the Secret Service director for her dishonesty and criticized her for avoiding key questions. The American people deserve to know exactly what happened at that rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. It is Cheatle’s and the Secret Service’s duty to provide this vital information.
Already resigned