Republican Ohio Rep. Mike Turner on Monday told Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle she would have seemed “culpable” if former President Donald Trump had died in the recent assassination attempt against him.
A 20-year-old named Thomas Michael Crooks got within rifle range of Trump by climbing to the roof of a building near his rally, killing of former volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore and injuring two rally attendees, 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver.
During an Oversight hearing Monday, Turner told Cheatle that President Joe Biden should fire her because of the failures that led to the tragic incident that Trump survived with an injury to his ear.
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“Have you read or been briefed about the intelligence of the specific recent threat to Donald Trump from Iran?” Turner asked, to which Cheatle answered affirmatively.
“[FBI Director Christopher] Wray, when we were getting our briefing, indicated that he thought the threat assessment should have included this threat from Iran,” Turner continued. “Is it your testimony today that the threat assessment, since you’ve read this intelligence, was sufficient to protect them from this threat from Iran?”
After Turner pressed Cheatle on the adequacy of the threat assessment twice more, Cheatle said, “I believe it was.”
U.S. authorities reportedly were aware of an alleged Iranian plot to kill Trump ahead of Saturday’s assassination attempt, and Secret Service reportedly increased protections for Trump. There is no known link between the alleged Iranian plot and the attempt by Crooks.
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“Are ISIS terrorists and Al-Qaeda terrorists and international groups and terrorists more capable than a 20-year-old in pulling either a mass shooting or an assassination of Donald Trump?” Turner asked.
Cheatle did not answer, but acknowledged “there was clearly a breakdown and a failure that day.”
“Because Donald Trump is alive, and thank god he is, you look incompetent. If Donald Trump had been killed, you would have looked culpable,” Turner said. “There is no aspect of this that indicates that there has been any protection to Donald Trump.”
Turner that the president should force Cheatle out if she didn’t resign.
“Not only should you resign, if you refuse to do so, President Biden needs to fire you, because his life, Donald Trump’s life and all the other people which you protect, are at risk because you have no concept of the aspect that the security footprint needs to be correlated to the threat.”
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House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday called for Cheatle to resign because of the assassination attempt as well as her answers when confronting media questions. Cheatle has said she will not be stepping down from her role despite the backlash over potential security failures that contributed to Trump’s ear injury from a sniper’s bullet during his Pennsylvania rally.
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said Tuesday that reported awareness of this alleged Iran plot makes the assassination attempt “even more glaring.”
First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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