The House Oversight Committee held a meeting with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle over the failures of the Secret S3rvice that resulted in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, left many lawmakers frustrated with her answers. Both sides of the aisle lashed criticism at her. Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) was among them, voicing his support in demanding Cheatle resign and reiterating the need for genuine accountability.
Rep. Moskowitz began by thanking Chairman Representative James Comer (R-KY) and Ranking Member Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) for organizing the hearing while also saying, "I support the creation of a commission to get to the bottom of what happened," a move initially proposed by Representative Cory Mills (R-FL).
Additionally, the Florida Congressman compared the day's hearing and Cheatle's answers to the December hearing on college antisemitism, where the presidents of Harvard, UPenn, and MIT similarly evaded answers, warning the Secret Service Director that she too would likely be forced to resign.
"I do not know who prepared you for this. I do not know how many times you have testified in front of Congress. When a president was almost assassinated live on television, not just for Americans, but for the world to see, and this being your first opportunity. I understand there is an ongoing investigation. I understand there are things you cannot talk about, but the idea that we are getting less than you did on live television is something that Democrats, Independents, and Republicans are going to find unacceptable," Rep. Moskowitz chastised Cheatle.
He then made a further analogy to the removal of Sherriff Scott Israel for the Parkland shooting in 2019 by Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL), a move Moskowitz supported, asking Cheatle if "once [the investigation] is concluded, you are prepared to fire the people on the ground who made poor decisions that day?"
Cheatle said she was "prepared to take action," which Moskowitz quickly dismissed as "nonsense."
"The failure was human. It does not mean they were bad people. It means they failed that day, and a former president was almost assassinated. Are you prepared to fire the human failure on the ground, yes or no? When you have the names of where those failures were, they were people; it is not like a piece of technology failed. It was people who failed that day. Are you prepared to fire them?" Moskowitz pressed.
The Director said she did not have an answer, prompting the Florida Congressman to declare, "The reason why members in this committee are calling for your resignation, and I join in that, or for the President to fire you is because you are saying there is going to be accountability, but you cannot commit that people are going to get fired."
