‘Hope You Will Take That To Heart’: James Comer Rebukes Secret Service Director— Who Later Resigned

2 months ago

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) gave closing remarks showing a lack of confidence in Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who has since resigned.

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00:00I'll deliver my closing remarks.

00:03Director Cheadle, I've subpoenaed you to appear today to get answers for the American people

00:08about the failures that led to the assassination attempt of President Donald J. Trump.

00:14Unfortunately, you refused to answer today.

00:19This committee is not known for its model of bipartisanship, but I think today we came

00:29together unanimously in our disappointment for your lack of answers.

00:35You've stated that the FBI will investigate and give a report in, you estimate, 60 days.

00:43We've been waiting for months and months for lots of different bits of information from

00:50the FBI.

00:51We have no confidence in the FBI.

00:53The majority of this committee has no confidence in the FBI.

00:57I sincerely hoped that the hearing today would give not just Congress confidence in

01:05the Secret Service, but the American people would have confidence in the Secret Service.

01:13We don't have confidence, not just in Congress, but I don't believe the American people tonight

01:17when they go to bed are going to have confidence that the Secret Service is the best it can

01:24be at protecting President Biden, at protecting the First Lady, at protecting President Trump,

01:31at protecting their families.

01:33That's what the primary role for the Secret Service should be.

01:37Some people have said and speculated, well, there needs to be more money and more employees.

01:42As I stated early on, $3.1 billion, I believe next year it's going to be $3.2 billion budget,

01:48over 8,000 employees.

01:50If the Secret Service is spread too thin in doing things like inspecting counterfeit,

01:56which is what the Secret Service was created to do, was to inspect counterfeit money and

02:01things like that with the Treasury.

02:03If it's spread too thin, then we need to come together in Congress, and I think we can do

02:07that in a bipartisan way, to narrow the focus of the Secret Service, to protect the leaders

02:15of our country, to protect our elections by protecting our candidates.

02:20I don't believe we have any confidence that you can do that as the leader of the FBI.

02:26I sincerely hope that we would adjourn this committee hearing and have confidence, not

02:32just in the Secret Service, but in you as director of the Secret Service, but we do

02:40not.

02:42Taking responsibility requires a lot of things.

02:46It means providing transparency.

02:49It means answering simple questions.

02:52It means providing a specific timeline of July 13th to this committee and the American

02:56people.

02:57I mean, it's been nine days.

02:58There were people that were demanding that we have a hearing the next day or two days

03:03following the shooting, and I said, no, we need to give the Secret Service ample time

03:10to be able to answer those questions.

03:12Nine days.

03:14Nine days.

03:15And I don't think we answered very many questions that the American people have.

03:18I don't think there was a—I've never said this before, and I've presided over a lot

03:22of hearings—I don't think there was one question asked by anyone that the average

03:28American hasn't already asked at a diner or at church or at a ballgame.

03:34The American people have questions.

03:36They deserve answers.

03:38Congress deserves answers.

03:39You were subpoenaed today to provide answers, and ma'am, you did not do that.

03:46So as Ranking Member Raskin stated, he and I will be sending a letter requesting that

03:53you submit your resignation as a step toward accountability in what happened.

04:00And one of the biggest frustrations that many of us have, especially on this side of the

04:04aisle, is that there's never accountability in this administration.

04:09When you look at the debacles, prior to July 13th, I mean, it would be hard to beat the

04:15withdrawal in Afghanistan, the debacle there, and no one was held accountable.

04:19To this day, no one has been held accountable for that.

04:22But here we have, clearly, video showing people notifying the police, and the police are blaming

04:29the Secret Service, the Secret Service are blaming the police, Homeland Security's blaming

04:33everybody.

04:35But at the end of the day, after this hearing, and after our request for information, we

04:41don't have any answers for the American people, and we don't have that confidence that you

04:46can lead the Secret Service to restore the confidence.

04:51And again, I commend the Ranking Member for joining with me in the letter asking your

04:57resignation, and we certainly hope that you will take that to heart.

05:04With that, and without objection, all members have five legislative days within which to

05:07submit materials and additional written questions for the witness, which will be forwarded to

05:11the witness.

05:13If there's no further business, without objection, the committee stands adjourned.

‘Hope You Will Take That To Heart’: James Comer Rebukes Secret Service Director— Who Later Resigned

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