Things got a little wild when Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle showed up at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Wednesday.
Cheatle, under fire for her agency’s inept handling of an assassination attempt that nearly took the life of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump over the weekend, was thoroughly berated by Senators demanding answers at the conference.
Most notable of those who confronted Ms. Cheatle were Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and John Barrasso (R-WY). Barrasso is the third-ranking Senate Republican.
“You put him within less than an inch of his life,” Barrasso can be heard aggressively chastizing. “So resignation or full explanation.”
“This was an assassination attempt. You owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers,” Blackburn added.
Cheatle remained stoic throughout the confrontation, refusing to answer questions or even acknowledge the people seeking some sort of explanation for her agency’s handling of the incident.
In other words, she acted like your typical bureaucrat.
The American people deserve answers from the Secret Service. pic.twitter.com/PNFF11v00Q
— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) July 18, 2024
Secret Service Director Under Fire
The scene playing out at the RNC is rather extraordinary and shows that decorum is being pushed aside due to the need for immediate answers after the Secret Service failed to stop the near-murder of the leading candidate for President. And they failed to do so despite having multiple opportunities over a long period to do so.
The Politicial Insider reported on Wednesday on the series of egregiously incompetent failures. They include:
- A lack of staffing.
- Failing to follow the shooter despite his being spotted with a rangefinder three hours before the event.
- Failure to stop him again when his picture was circulated after seeing him crawling around the site 40 minutes before shots were fired.
- And failing to stop him once more as he scaled and then positioned himself on a slightly sloped roof.
In a reasonable world, the Secret Service Director would have been immediately fired at the very least. But we live in the era of President Biden where nobody is held accountable. No matter the cost, no matter the lives potentially or actually lost.
‘She Can’t Hide’
Blackburn, in a separate video speaking with Barrasso, indicates the Senate is not done pursuing answers and she personally will not rest until they get to the bottom of the many failures involved with the Trump assassination attempt.
“She (Cheatle) would not answer our questions. She wanted to say it was not the time or place,” Blackburn said. “But I’ve got a message for her: she can run, but she cannot hide.”
As per usual with the GOP, however, tough talk is rarely backed up with tough actions.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) posted a comment on X about the Secret Service Senate briefing that was borderline laughable, as he pointed out that senators were only “allowed” to ask four questions.
The USSS Senate briefing was unbelievably uninformative.
Only 4 questions were allowed.
The rest of us are supposed to submit questions. I already have. Awaiting a response.
Not holding my breath. pic.twitter.com/PJUpCYXOPz
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) July 17, 2024
Who answers to whom here, Senator? You haul them in and ask questions until they can barely speak any longer. The people under investigation don’t dictate to you how a Senate briefing goes.
Senate lawmakers on Wednesday followed up the four-question briefing with a sternly worded … conference call. A call described by Barrasso as a “100% CYA briefing”.
The bungling of security detail at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania which wounded him, critically wounded two rallygoers, and killed another, was so egregiously pathetic that it has left critics wondering if something more sinister was at play.
It will only get scarier and more awful until Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle provides answers and a reasonable explanation for her agency failing to stop the potential assassin.
Right now, there seems to be no possible explanation to justify what happened.
