During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) questioned Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle about the attempt against former President Donald Trump’s life.
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NewsTranscript
00:00about this out in the public including some from you and your communications
00:06team and yet you're here pursuant to a subpoena under oath in front of Congress
00:13and you're unable or unwilling to answer some of those same questions. Can you
00:19just explain why you are answering so many fewer questions here than you have
00:26to the media? I'm answering the questions that I'm able to answer based on the
00:31fact that there are multiple ongoing investigations. But you've you have
00:36answered some of these questions previously, correct? To the public, to the
00:43media. Which questions? Well for did you have an interview with ABC News? Yes I
00:49did. Okay and did you explain the interaction between local law
00:54enforcement and the Secret Service and that local law enforcement was
00:58responsible for securing the perimeter of the building where the shooter was? I
01:03said that the Secret Service is responsible for designing and
01:07implementing and executing the security plan and that we rely on the assistance
01:12of our local law enforcement partners to assist us with that plan. Let me ask you
01:18something. Were you given any instructions about what you can and
01:22cannot answer here today? My ability to answer questions is solely reflective of
01:30the fact that there are multiple ongoing investigations and I want to make sure
01:35that I provide accurate information that doesn't conflict with any of those
01:40investigations that are going on. So is it your view that you can't talk about
01:43anything that happened that day until those investigations are completed? My
01:47view is that I want to make sure that this committee and the American public
01:52gets correct and actual information. And so is it your view that that has to that
01:58can only happen after the completion of the investigation? It is my view that
02:03when the investigations are complete that we will be able to share that
02:06information. And how about before that? If I have factual information that I can
02:13share before that, I absolutely will. I'm guessing you have factual information as
02:18to when the suspicious photograph, the photograph of the suspicious person, was
02:26relayed to the Secret Service. There's a timestamp on that text message or
02:32whatever it was, correct? Sir, I'm sure you can understand that when you're
02:37dealing with text messages, emails, and other communications, the timelines
02:43don't always match up. Not really, if they're timestamped, but let me move
02:50on. Because you have acknowledged that this was a major security failure, is
02:54that right? Yes. Do you acknowledge that it was a major security failure not to
03:01secure the rooftop of the building that the shooter shot from? I believe at this
03:07time that the rooftop was provided overwatch. I acknowledge that we are
03:13unaware at this time how the individual was able to access the roof. Overwatch
03:19meaning from other counter sniper, other higher points? Correct. And so was it a
03:27failure then that when that shooter was on the rooftop that overwatch did not
03:32identify him before he fired his shots? I don't have the timeline of how the
03:38individual accessed the roof, where they accessed the roof, or how long they were
03:44on the roof. Let me ask a couple things quickly. You have testified here about
03:53all the resources that the Secret Service needed to deploy to protect the
03:58NATO Summit and all of the leaders here, is that right? Yes. Did you have to
04:04rely more on local law enforcement because of the NATO Summit for this
04:09event? The Secret Service routinely works with local law enforcement at every
04:16event. It doesn't matter whether it is a NATO Summit, NSSE, the DN, I'm sorry, the
04:21RNC. No, but that's not my question. Obviously there's a natural give and
04:25take as to, I'm sure, how many agents you deploy and how much you rely on local law
04:32enforcement. Did you have to rely more on local law enforcement because there were
04:37fewer Secret Service assets available because of the NATO Summit? No. I hope we
04:47get answers before the completion. I don't like the fact that the media has
04:52received far more answers than Congress has. If this is a function of getting
04:59your ducks in a row, I assume you have access to a lot of these reports and a
05:04lot of this information and you should have come prepared here today. And I
05:08would just want to flag, Mr. Chairman, before I yield back, that I want to
05:16just point out one thing that my colleague from Texas was talking about.
05:20When he said he recreated the shooting twice with an AR-15 and he had a 94%
05:28success rate, 15 out of 16 shots. I don't know why that doesn't convince him that
05:34we should get rid of AR-15s, but clearly we need to do something about the
05:40prevalence of AR-15s and weapons of war on our streets. And I yield back.
05:44Chair, I now recognize Mr. Perry from Pennsylvania. Thank you, Chairman. Director, I guess 60
05:50days is the time of the investigation. Is that the information that
05:53you've put out?