The Secret Service: Should Director Kimberly Cheatle Resign?

I’m not a believer in rushing to judgment, and there is still a lot we need to know about the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on Saturday. A couple of days ago, I posted an article, which first appeared on the conservative website, New English Review, and then was cross-posted here. Some of the readers at New English Review have taken me to task for expressing my long-held respect for the Secret Service, but even more for my insistence that there was no deliberate attempt on the part of the agency (especially those on the ground) to facilitate the shooter in killing the former president. The New English Review is no conspiracy site, but you cannot account for all the people who read your postings and choose to comment on them. At least one such reader firmly believes that the agents assigned to protect Trump “set him up” to be killed. I consider that ridiculous.

Having said all that, it is obvious to all that serious mistakes were made, first in not securing that building, and second, not responding properly to the initial sightings of the shooter. I just don’t see any way those lapses can be explained away or excused. Was it deliberate? Were agents in the protective detail trying to “set Trump up” to be killed? I don’t believe that for a second. I also take issue with those attacking at least one of the female agents who were escorting Trump off the stage into the vehicle that took him to the hospital.  How cruel can you be by posting videos and photos of that agent seemingly having difficulty in holstering her weapon? Many of the people crucifying this agent have never been in a shooting incident (I have.) In spite of your training, things move fast from second to second, and yes, you feel the fear. Hopefully, you fall back on your training and do your job. Nobody in that detail that surrounded Trump ran from the scene or hid behind a building.  

Yet, there must be accountability for the breakdown in security. Trump survived, but one man was killed, and two others seriously wounded. I suspect that there are a few agents who were responsible for the advance trip to Butler to set up security or who were negligent on Saturday who will be disciplined, possibly even fired. That brings us to the Director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle. She is taking a great deal of heat and demands for her resignation or firing. 

I suspect there is more to be learned about her role in deciding on the level of manpower and resources devoted to protecting Trump. That also applies to her direct subordinates who may have been more directly involved in implementing the policies. I understand that she was a Secret Service agent herself for many years and was involved in the security detail that protected Biden when he was vice president. She then left the service to take a position with Pepsico. It is said by some that it was Jill Biden who got her hired to become director. That I do not know.

Based on what I have seen to this point, my feeling is that Cheatle should resign or be fired. She is the director and she must take ultimate responsibility for the agency’s biggest failure since the Kennedy assassination in 1963. Even if she didn’t micro-manage the operation of the Trump detail, that is  irrelevant. I should note at this point that there are claims that the Trump campaign or possibly the Secret Service team protecting him had requested additional manpower or resources which were rejected by the agency and/or DHS (which oversees the Secret Service).  If true, Cheatle and/or any other high-level supervisors who made such a decision should accept the responsibility for that error. (Both the Secret Service and DHS deny the allegations.)

Moreover, Cheatle’s public statements in the now infamous interview with ABC’s Pierre Thomas have only made her case worse. Whatever failings on the part of the local officers assigned to Saturday’s event, they were operating under the umbrella of the Secret Service, and any breakdowns are still the responsibility of the Secret Service. In addition, her claim that no agents were placed on the roof of the building because it was sloped, and therefore, posed a safety risk, is ridiculous. The Secret Service sniper(s) who took out the shooter were also positioned on a roof that was sloped. Cheatle told her interviewer that she accepted responsibility for the failure because she is the director of the agency, yet, she said she would not resign. I think she should reconsider.

As I have previously stated, I take no pleasure in criticizing the Secret Service. I have always considered them a highly professional organization based on my own experiences with them as a DEA agent. I am sure the now-retired agents I knew are shaking their heads at what occurred. Even great agencies can decline if headed by the wrong people. This is not about whether a female can lead a law enforcement agency or even be a field agent-they can. And let’s not forget: what we witnessed live on TV Saturday was agents, male and female, running toward the danger to save former President Trump, regardless of whether they were fumbling with their guns or not. 

Finally, Serious mistakes were made, and there should be accountability for those mistakes. But until someone comes forward with proof and people are charged, I refuse to believe that anybody in the Secret Service was conspiring to get Trump assassinated Saturday. There may well be attempts by higher-ups to conceal embarrassing mistakes, but in this case, they will likely fail because millions of Americans have seen with their own eyes that things went wrong. Conspiracy theories thrive when there is a lack of total transparency and accountability. I fully recognize that the current administration is full of skullduggery. Hopefully, come January, we will have an administration that we can trust. But right now, let’s deal in facts and not conspiracy theories.