LIVE UPDATES: Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Testifies Before Congress

Update: Cheatle’s opening statement

Cheatle opened her testimony stating that the assassination attempt on Trump was “the most significant operation failure of the Secret Service in decades.”

Update: Comer and Raskin open hearing; Raskin pushes ‘gun control’

Rep. James Comer opened the hearing on Monday, asserting that the American people need answers from the Secret Service.

“It is my firm believe that you should resign,” Comer told Cheatle. The representative emphasized that Cheatle has defiantly refused to resign and is now under subpoena to answer the committee’s questions.

“Under Cheatle’s leadership, we question if anyone is safe,” Comer said.

Following Comer, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) noted the Secret Service’s “failure” and railed against guns and “mass shootings.”

Raskin called the assassination attempt a “mass shooting” and pushed for “universal background checks” and other gun control measures.

Disgusting! Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin mocks people for believing in miracles and uses Donald Trump’s assassination attempt to push for gun control. pic.twitter.com/3RqPMDtszR

— Media Research Center (@theMRC) July 22, 2024

Original post:

Embattled U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will testify under subpoena before the House Oversight Committee on Monday at 10 a.m. ET about the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said Sunday that the hearing will last six hours.

“She’s going to have about a six-hour hearing, and she’s going to have hundreds of questions that she’s going to have to answer, and the American people will be watching that hearing,” Comer told “Fox News Sunday.”

Cheatle has been under fire for the growing list of security failures related to the assassination attempt, which tragically killed a Trump supporter and injured two others.

In released excerpts of her prepared testimony from the Department of Homeland Security, Cheatle admits her agency’s failure.

“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle will tell Congress. “As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse. As an agency, we are fully cooperating with the FBI’s investigation, the oversight you have initiated here, and conducting our own internal mission assurance review at my direction. Likewise, we will cooperate with the pending external review and the DHS Office of the Inspector General.”

“Our mission is not political,” Cheatle will further insist. “It is literally a matter of life and death, as the tragic events on July 13th remind us. I have full confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service. They are worthy of our support in executing our protective mission.”

Live updates will be posted here; please refresh to see the latest 

Related: ‘Our Mission Is Not Political’: Secret Service Director To Be Grilled By Congress. Here’s What We Know.