Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Faces Calls for Resignation Following Trump Rally Shooting

House GOP leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson, are demanding accountability for the security failures that led to the attempted assassination of former President Trump. Johnson questions Cheatle’s decision to attend the Republican National Convention amid scrutiny.

House GOP leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson, are demanding accountability for the security failures that led to the attempted assassination of former President Trump. Johnson is questioning Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s decision to attend the Republican National Convention amid scrutiny over her handling of the incident.

Cheatle was seen in the RNC venue on Wednesday, where she was confronted by several Republican senators who have been dissatisfied with her answers thus far on what happened last weekend.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Faces Calls for Resignation Following Trump Rally Shooting

Johnson, for his part, is the highest-ranking official so far to call for Cheatle’s resignation in the wake of the deadly rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, last weekend. He’s now commissioning a bipartisan task force, armed with subpoena power, to investigate the security failings that led to a 20-year-old gunman being able to fire shots off a roof just outside of the rally perimeter despite being seen beforehand by local law enforcement and civilians.

“Her excuses for this just make no sense,” Johnson said. “I think accountability begins at the top. And I think everybody in this business understands that it’s very important, and it’s critically important for us to get the answers and accountability quickly so that people don’t make up their minds about some conspiracy theory or some sinister plot.”

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Faces Calls for Resignation Following Trump Rally Shooting

He warned that “some of those rumors have begun already, and we have to address that immediately.”

House lawmakers held a call with Cheatle and FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday to address their concerns about the incident. A source familiar with the call told Fox News Digital at the time that it lasted roughly 45 minutes and offered limited insight.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Faces Calls for Resignation Following Trump Rally Shooting

Johnson similarly said on Thursday that he learned “very little” on the call.

“That’s the problem,” Johnson said. “They’re not providing answers quickly enough and the answers they do provide are not satisfactory.”

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Faces Calls for Resignation Following Trump Rally Shooting

The speaker questioned President Biden’s decision to appoint Cheatle in the first place, arguing her focus on diversity efforts within the Secret Service took away from more critical efforts.

“She doesn’t seem to be the most qualified person, and she doesn’t seem to have a great grasp of what her primary responsibility is,” he said. “We’ve all seen and heard the accounts of her suggesting that, you know, that the number one priority was having more diversity in the Secret Service and more female officers, etc. That is not the number one priority. The number one priority is the safety of the persons that they are supposed to be protecting.”

The speaker’s office told Fox News Digital that he is aiming to schedule a classified briefing on the shooting next week.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Secret Service for comment.

Johnson’s call for Cheatle’s resignation comes as the Secret Service faces intense scrutiny over its handling of the Trump rally shooting. The agency has been accused of failing to adequately protect the former president and of mishandling the investigation into the incident.

The Secret Service has defended its actions, saying that it followed all proper protocols and that the gunman was not able to reach Trump. However, the agency has acknowledged that there were some missteps in its response to the incident.

The shooting has raised concerns about the security of political figures and the ability of law enforcement to protect them from potential threats. The incident is also likely to become a political issue, with Republicans criticizing the Secret Service and Democrats defending the agency.