Michael Cloud Grills Cheatle On Secret Service Noticing 'Suspicious Person' Before Trump Took Stage

2 months ago

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday, Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) questioned Secret Service Director Kimberley Cheatle about communication between Secret Service agents after a 'suspicious' person was noticed before Trump began his speech.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Cloud from Texas. Thank you. I just wanted to confirm there was only one

00:04counter sniper who took one shot. Is that we had multiple counter sniper

00:10teams on the premises, but only one took one shot. Is that correct? Or only

00:16one? Correct. Okay. Um, how many spent shell casings were found on the roof

00:22again? I would have to defer you to the FBI's criminal investigation. Word is

00:26is that the car was rigged with explosives. Again, sir, I'd have to

00:30defer you to the FBI's investigation.

00:33Okay. You're not curious about you don't communicate with them.

00:39No. Okay. CNN reported that the Secret Service did not sweep the building.

00:44The shooter was used to shoot President Trump and other attendees. Is that true

00:48or false? So we're conducting a mission insurance investigation and will depend

00:53on the information that we obtain from our investigations. Okay. Um, the

00:59Secret Service knew there was a suspicious person anywhere from eight

01:02minutes before President walked on stage to 30 to 60 minutes. We have

01:06different reports. Was President Trump or his team notified of the threat?

01:11I think there's a difference in a distinction between suspicious,

01:14suspicious person threat. Yeah. So we are going back and looking at

01:18communications to know when the information about a suspicious person

01:23was passed to Secret Service personnel. Okay. But was President Trump or his

01:29team notified again? We're going back and looking to make sure that we have

01:34the exact information of when those notifications were made and who those

01:37notifications were made to. Okay. I think it's troubling for a lot of us

01:42that the number one question everyone in America is wondering is why was the

01:45roof left open? And after nine days, we should at least maybe have a little

01:50bit of that information. And when you come to this committee hearing and you

01:54don't have anything to say about that, it's very, very troubling. Um, did you

01:59review the security plan for this event?

02:03I personally do not review security plans for events that take place across

02:08the country.

02:11Any of them?

02:12We have a number of events. Who's the top level official who reviews the

02:17security plans? There's a number of people that review security plans. Who's

02:22ultimately responsible for signing off on a security plan? It's a conjunction

02:27of personnel. There are people on the ground. There are supervisors on the

02:31detail. There are people at headquarters. So there's not one person

02:34who says, Okay, this is good. It's copacetic. We're going for it. I think

02:39much in the way that we build our security plans where there are no

02:42doubters, teams working different aspects of it. But ultimately, isn't

02:45there an individual who signs off on the plan? Much like how we design our

02:50security plans. They're multi layered. There are multiple layers. There's no

02:53accountability. There is accountability, sir. There's this is this is whether

02:59it's the FBI or Fauci or anything. It's time after time after time. These

03:05multiple layers of accountability turned into layers of plausible

03:09deniability in agency after agency after agency. That's got to be fixed

03:14because you keep coming here and expecting. Yes, you're saying I'm

03:18responsible, but and you're accountable for it. But then there's no there's

03:21nothing. What do you mean by that? I mean, you're you're saying you're

03:25gonna keep your job, right?

03:28I assure you, sir, that if we determine through the course of our

03:31investigation that someone or people need to be held accountable, we will do

03:37so. What level of if President Biden, God forbid, had been shot and killed,

03:45would you think that was worthy of resignation?

03:49I would do the same thing that I'm doing here, where I would want to make

03:51sure that we are conducting an investigation, that there is

03:56continuity in that investigation and that we could find the answers. Do not

04:00assassination of somebody under your deep under your details worthy of

04:03resignation. I think that this event was tragic and deserves answers.

04:08The thing that you've said so far is that you want to make sure that this

04:11never happens again. The thing is, everyone in America knows that's not

04:15the job description that you're tasked with. The job description your task was

04:18is to make sure it never happens. Period. Um, one of your goals in the

04:24strategic plan is to champion diversity, equity, inclusion and

04:28accessibility. You've accomplished the accessibility part. Um,

04:34what standards do you keep the same standards for all applicants and all?

04:40Does every Secret Service agent meet the same qualifications, or do you have

04:44different standards for different people? Yes, sir. Everyone who moves

04:47through the application process has to meet the same standards to become a

04:50special agent.

04:52Okay. The trouble I think we're having with right now. So far, you gave a lame

04:58excuse for sloped roof. You said that local law enforcement's job was to

05:03cover up the building before backtracking on that. We were told

05:08that President Trump's team did not ask for security before you backtracked on

05:11that. You haven't provided the audio recording that this committee, the

05:15chairman requested that it was due Thursday. Um, you didn't give us

05:21advanced copy of your opening statement, but yet there was reporting

05:24on it somewhere else. Uh, there seems to be more information from YouTube

05:28videos and you're able to provide for us. And it begs the question to anyone.

05:33You're in charge of the investigation of your own failure. So how is anybody

05:37in America supposed to be able to trust the results of that investigation as

05:41being anything

05:43transparent and genuine? That's the last question. But please feel free to

05:47answer the question. Director. Sir, I've been a Secret Service agent for

05:50nearly 30 years. I have led with integrity and I follow our core values

05:56of duty, justice, honor, loyalty and courage. And I am doing that in this

06:01case. And I assure this committee that I will provide answers when we have a

06:06full and complete report, in addition to cooperating with all of the other

06:11investigations that are ongoing.

06:14Chair. Don't recognize Mr Khanna from California. Thank you, Mr Chair. I want

06:18to thank the chair and the ranking member for convening this hearing on a

Michael Cloud Grills Cheatle On Secret Service Noticing 'Suspicious Person' Before Trump Took Stage

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