A resignation is not enough for Wyoming’s congressional delegation.
On Tuesday, all three members of the delegation celebrated Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s abrupt resignation, but they still want answers about the agency’s failures that allowed the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 13.
The move comes a day after Cheatle gave few answers while being grilled for hours by a congressional committee about the Secret Service’s handling of the Pennsylvania rally where Trump was shot at and grazed in the ear. Pennsylvania resident Corey Comperatore was killed in the shooting while another two people were hurt.
U.S. Sen. John Barrasso had been one of the most vocal voices in Congress calling for Cheatle’s resignation as early as last week when he cornered the director at the Republican National Convention, demanding answers about the handling of the attempted assassination.
Cheatle briskly walked away from the senators who ended up following her through the halls of the convention venue.
“We just had questions to ask that every American has had that day after President Trump was shot,” Barrasso said on Fox News on Tuesday.
‘Past Time’ She Resigned
Barrasso told Fox News that “it’s past time” that Cheatle resigned. Members of both the Republican and Democratic parties had been calling for her to resign.
“A family is grieving the senseless loss of a loved one and President Trump came within an inch of losing his life,” Barrasso said on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday morning. “Kimberly Cheatle failed as the Secret Service Director, and I am glad she stepped down. Even with her resignation, the American people still deserve answers.”
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis agreed and said “it’s about time” Cheatle resigned.
“The American people and President Trump still deserve clear answers from her and the Secret Service about the attempt to the president’s life and the death of Corey Comperatore,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman told Cowboy State Daily that Cheatle’s resignation is merely a first step in the government taking accountability for the attack that nearly took Trump’s life.
“This is merely a step in the direction of justice and accountability for such a tragic and preventable attack,” she said. “Congress will continue investigating until we have sufficient answers and understanding about where breakdowns occurred and who was derelict in their duties of protecting President Trump.”
What Led Up To It
Cheatle had a disastrous, hourslong House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing Monday where she refused to answer basic questions such as why the shooter wasn’t stopped even though he was previously identified as a threat, how he was allowed to get on the roof where he committed the shooting from, and why Trump was allowed to go on stage.
“All of those answers we still need to have,” Barrasso said on Fox News.
Cheatle also had a conference call with U.S. senators that ended in a similar manner last week, which led to her confrontation with Barrasso and three other senators at the convention.
Lessons Learned
Barrasso clarified that he doesn’t blame the Secret Service agents working the rally for what happened that day. He said some agents have expressed to him that they felt Cheatle’s leadership of the agency was poor.
“They think her leadership has failed them,” he said. “It undermines their own hardworking individuals in the field, they’re own confidence in the leadership that they’re under. You have to have confidence in their own leadership, and they didn’t have it.”
Barrasso said the handling of this event is a continuation of a trend in President Joe Biden’s administration of not taking accountability.
He said Trump should get just as much Secret Service protection as Biden and the new Democratic presidential nominee frontrunner Vice President Kamala Harris.
Refusing Secret Service protection to Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Barrasso said, has also been a mistake.
The next head of the Secret Service will be selected by the president, but Barrasso said this is a position that should possibly require U.S. Senate confirmation.
“We ought to look at that to make sure no matter who is in the White House, that the Secret Service director is someone who certainly has their confidence, but also has the confidence and is going through to make sure they have the leadership abilities and the ability to oversee the kind of training that our protective force needs to have,” he said.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
