On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called for the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend. Multiple lawmakers have questioned why the roof of a building within 150 yards of Trump wasn’t secured by the Secret Service or local law enforcement. and also have asked why Secret Service snipers on another roof in the area didn’t engage the shooter until after Crooks had fired multiple times.
During an appearance on Fox News at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Johnson said: “I’m going to call for resignation. Look, I think it’s inexcusable. … Her explanation to the media that there was a slant on the roof, so there was safety concern — it doesn’t wash. And I think she’s shown what her priorities are.” On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Johnson’s top lieutenant, had also called for Cheatle to resign.
In the Fox News interview, Johnson also said he will create a congressional task force to consolidate investigations into the security failures around Trump’s Saturday rally that resulted in 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks shooting and injuring the president, killing one attendee, and leaving two others in critical condition. Said Johnson: “The reason we’re going to do it that way is because that is a more precision strike. It goes quicker, there’s not a lot of the procedural hurdles, and it will have subpoena authority for that task force as well. It will be compiled of Republicans and Democrats to get down the bottom of this quickly so the American people can get the answers that they deserve.”
Johnson added that “within hours” of Saturday’s shooting, he was on the phone with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who “did not have satisfactory answers at that time,” adding that he’s also spoken with FBI Director Wray and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines: “The answers have not been forthcoming. I think they’re gathering data. We’re going to do it as well. We have to have accountability for this. It was inexcusable. Obviously, there were security lapses. You don’t have to be a special ops expert to understand that, and we’re gonna get down to the bottom of it quickly.”
Johnson also referenced Cheatle in an ABC News interview when saying there were no law enforcement officers stationed on the roof from which the shooter fired because the “sloped roof” created safety concerns, despite other Secret Service snipers being positioned on a roof that was also sloped. Said Johnson: “It doesn’t wash, and I think she’s shown what her priorities are. I don’t know her personally, but we’ll be asking lots of questions.”
Speaking to ABC News earlier this week, Cheatle said she would not resign, but stated: “The buck stops with me. I am the director of the Secret Service.” Cheatle said that the Secret Service was responsible for securing the inner perimeter of the rally, while local law enforcement was responsible for securing the area outside the rally, which included the building accessed by Crooks.
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