A group of furious GOP senators confronted the Secret Service director Wednesday evening at the Republican National Convention, yelling critical comments about Kimberly Cheatle’s leadership in the wake of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
Extraordinary video footage of the clash was shared on X by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). “This was an assassination attempt!” Blackburn yells at embattled federal agency chief in the footage, adding: “You owe the people answer! You owe President Trump answers!”
Blackburn later shared a longer video showing what led to her and others pursuing Cheatle through Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. The four-minute clip shows Blackburn along with Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, and James Lankford of Oklahoma confronting Cheatle at the event.
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Barrasso can be heard telling Cheatle that he and his colleagues are “very disappointed” in her leadership before telling her bluntly: “Resign tonight or start answering our questions right now.”
He then goes on to criticize Cheatle for the Secret Service’s failings at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, where a gunman was able to shoot and injure the former president and others. Cheatle has so far resisted calls to resign in the wake of the attack but has accepted responsibility for what she has called an “unacceptable” failure of security.
Republican senators were already “fuming” about the lack of answers that emerged following a briefing with Cheatle earlier on Wednesday, according to Axios. In the video at the convention, Cheatle remains mostly quiet in the face of the angry questioning, eventually saying: “I don’t think that this is the forum to have this discussion.” “I am happy to answer questions,” she later adds. “We will do it in the appropriate forum.”
As Cheatle tries to walk away from the senators, Barrasso can be heard saying: “No, no, no, we’re going with you.” Following her, he continues to berate Cheatle. “There’s no shame, no concern—you’re supposed to protect the president of the United States!”
The group also follows Cheatle up a flight of stairs to continue the highly public trashing. “You can not run away from your responsibility to the people of the United States!” Barrasso rages. “You’re the head of the Secret Service!”
“It is appalling that the Secret Service Director refused to answer our questions. This is one of the greatest security failures in the history of the agency,” Blackburn said in a statement to The Washington Post. “She can run but she cannot hide. She is a failed leader and she needs to immediately step down from her position.”
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Cheatle doesn’t intend to resign. “She deeply respects members of Congress and is fiercely committed to transparency in leading the Secret Service through the internal investigation and strengthening the agency through lessons learned in these important internal and external reviews,” Guglielmi told the Post in a statement.
