'I Asked A Simple Question': Connolly Explodes At Secret Service Dir. After She Evades His Question

3 months ago

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) asked Secret Service Director Kimberley Cheatle whether proliferation of firearms makes her job easier.

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Transcript

00:00I hope the American people do appreciate the incredible daily risks Secret Service agents

00:08take on our behalf.

00:10You mentioned there are 36 regular clients you've got that you protect constantly, but

00:18I was participating in the NATO Summit just two weeks ago.

00:21We had 32 heads of government and heads of state, plus visiting heads of state and heads

00:26of government.

00:27Presumably you provided protection for all of them.

00:30That is correct.

00:32Just saying.

00:35Help us understand, however, I will stipulate that there's an ongoing investigation.

00:42You don't want to go into too much detail on that until you've been able to ascertain

00:46all the facts and analyze what they mean.

00:49You can understand, however, the anxiety we and the American public have about how could

00:54this happen and how can we ensure it can't recur.

01:01Now there are some things my friends on one particular side of the aisle don't really

01:07want to talk about, like AR-15s and access to them by a 20-year-old, or anybody for that

01:14matter.

01:15Presumably, Director Cheadle, the ubiquity of weapons, guns in America, especially assault

01:24weapons or semi-automatic weapons, that's helped your job and the mission of your agencies.

01:30Right?

01:31It's made it less complicated.

01:33Isn't that true?

01:34I'm sorry.

01:35I'm not understanding your question.

01:37Real simple.

01:38More guns, especially dangerous ones, have made your job protecting people easier.

01:44Is that not right?

01:47I think at from every state

01:50Director Cheadle, this is simple English.

01:53More guns, do they make your job more complicated or less complicated in protecting these 36

02:01clients and visiting heads of state and heads of government that come to Washington?

02:05I think the Secret Service needs to take into account

02:08I didn't ask that.

02:09I'm sorry.

02:10I asked a simple question, which deserves a simple answer.

02:14The ubiquity of guns, dangerous weapons in America, like AR-15s, has that made your job,

02:22that is to say the mission of the Secret Service, easier or more difficult?

02:27I think the threat environment for protecting our Secret Service protectees is always difficult,

02:33and that's dynamic, and it's always evolving.

02:36We stipulate it's always difficult.

02:39Again, this is a simple one.

02:44Does the ubiquity of guns make your job easier or more difficult today?

02:50I understand the Second Amendment rights of individuals.

02:52I didn't ask that question.

02:54I'm not questioning the Second Amendment.

02:56I'm asking a simple analysis, Director Cheadle, and I can tell you, you're not making my job

03:02easier in terms of assessing your qualification for continuing on as director.

03:10Please answer the question.

03:11You're the head of the Secret Service.

03:14You're speaking on behalf of 8,000 members who put their lives on the line.

03:17We just had a failure by your own admission.

03:20Do guns make your job easier or harder?

03:24I think the job of the Secret Service is difficult on every day, and we need to make sure that

03:29we are mitigating all threats, whether that be weapons or personnel.

03:32That isn't my question.

03:34That is not my question, and now I think you're evading the answer, which is not a hard one.

03:41I am sorry that you feel that way, sir.

03:44How else could I feel, Director Cheadle, when you're clearly avoiding a direct answer to

03:49a very simple declarative question?

03:52We almost lost a presidential candidate the other day.

03:57A 20-year-old had access to his father's AR-15 and got on top of a roof within 500 yards

04:04or feet of the podium, and I'm asking you, did the availability of that AR-15, which

04:12is replicated all across America, make your job harder or easier, and you're not willing

04:17to answer that question?

04:18And you wonder why we might have a lack of confidence in your continued ability to direct

04:25this agency?

04:26I understand your question, and that's the environment—

04:28Well, if you understand my question, why not answer it?

04:31Because it's the environment that the Secret Service works in every day.

04:36That doesn't tell me anything.

04:39That's the environment we work in.

04:43I had an attack on my office a year ago.

04:46I know a little bit about violence, too.

04:50He came to kill me.

04:52If he couldn't, he beat one of my staffers eight times with a baseball bat on the head.

04:58We live with the threat of violence.

05:00But a simple answer from the director of the Secret Service would be helpful, and I'm

05:06sorry you've chosen to evade it.

05:08I yield back.

05:09Chair, I recognize Mr. Grofman from Wisconsin.

05:18When this guy took—

'I Asked A Simple Question': Connolly Explodes At Secret Service Dir. After She Evades His Question

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