Marsha Blackburn Torches Ex-Secret Service Head Cheatle For 'Inexcusable' Failure To Protect Trump

3 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) spoke about the now resigned Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you Mr. President. On Saturday, July 13th, our nation narrowly avoided a

00:07catastrophe with the failed assassination attempt of President Trump

00:12in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the wake of this disturbing attack, I'm grateful that

00:18President Trump is safe and recovering, enjoying Tennesseans and Americans, and

00:24praying for the two victims who were critically injured. Tragically, our nation

00:30lost a hero in the attack. Cory Comparatore, a rally attendee, was killed

00:39while protecting his wife and daughter from gunfire. This assassination attempt

00:45was a shocking act of political violence, and one agency more than any other was

00:51responsible for preventing it. That is the Secret Service. But as reports

00:58continue to pile up about the Secret Service's failures leading up to the

01:04attempt, I know Tennesseans and Americans have so many questions. How was the

01:11shooter allowed on a structure so close to the rally with a clear line of sight

01:17to President Trump? And why were there no agents on that roof? How was it

01:22possible, as senators learned in a briefing with the Secret Service and the

01:28FBI last week, that Secret Service agents knew about a threat before President

01:35Trump walked on stage, yet they did nothing to prevent him from going on

01:42stage? How was the shooter allowed to scope out the rally grounds with a

01:47rangefinder, a device that is often used by snipers to measure the distance to a

01:54target, even after he was spotted by law enforcement? Why was the assassin able to

02:02fly a drone and take footage of the rally grounds just before the speech? And

02:10why, as the agency has finally acknowledged after initially denying it,

02:17why did the Secret Service turn down previous requests from President Trump's

02:23security detail for more resources to protect him? To be sure, many Secret

02:30Service agents bravely put their lives on the line to get President Trump to

02:36safety following the assassination attempt. We are grateful for them. But as

02:42a whole, the agency failed its sole objective, which was to protect the

02:49protectee, in this case, former President Trump. Yet Secret Service Director

02:56Cheadle has repeatedly refused to explain why this tragedy happened on her

03:03watch. When my colleagues and I pressed her for answers last week, she ran away.

03:08And during the House oversight hearing on Monday, she continued to stonewall,

03:13repeatedly claiming that she is unable to provide answers, while her agency

03:20investigates the operational failures leading up to the assassination attempt.

03:26This is inexcusable. While Director Cheadle has finally done the right thing

03:31and resigned, Tennesseans and the American people still deserve answers

03:37about how her agency let President Trump come within inches of being killed by an

03:43assassin's bullet. The Secret Service has the duty to send another representative

03:51equipped to answer these questions when the Senate Judiciary Committee holds its

03:57hearing on the circumstances that led to the attempted assassination of former

04:03President Trump. While we await answers, there is one thing we do know. If Director

04:10Cheadle had done her job and upheld her agency's zero-fail mission, this tragedy

04:18would never have happened.

Marsha Blackburn Torches Ex-Secret Service Head Cheatle For 'Inexcusable' Failure To Protect Trump

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