A day before she resigned on Tuesday, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, under questioning from Congress, admitted to signing off on a false claim that the agency never denied requests for more protection from the Trump campaign.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday, asked Cheatle about a July 14 statement by Secret Service Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi denying allegations that the agency had turned down requests from the Trump campaign for additional assets.
Guglielmi had posted:
Theres [sic] an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed. This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo[.]
Guglielmi made the same assertion to Breitbart News in a phone call on July 16, saying that the Secret Service had, in June, bolstered protection for Trump under the Candidate Nominee Operations Section (CNOS):
[CNOS] gives them things like counter-sniper resources, counter-assault resources. It gives them technology. But that is part of every candidate for the election. … It was done in June of this year. That was why the things were increased. And there was some inaccurate reporting about things were denied — that’s not true. They actually were increased.
He added, “So that’s what the CNOS does, it gives added resources, bolstered resources so we can have an expanded footprint to make sure we’re giving people time to rest so that they’re constantly ready.”
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C-SPANHowever, Guglielmi backtracked on July 20 in a report from the Washington Post, saying the agency had learned “new information indicating the agency’s headquarters may have in fact denied some requests for additional security from Trump’s detail and was reviewing documentation to understand the specific interactions better.” The Post listed several specific events where requests for added security were denied.
Waltz asked Cheatle about the spokesman’s false claim, asking her, “Did you sign off on that spokesman’s statement?”
Cheatle first responded: “The spokesman’s statement, I believe, was related to requests that were made for —,” before Waltz asked her again, “Did you sign off on it?”
She began, “For the requests that were made at the rally —,” before Waltz asked a third time, “Did you sign off on the statement before it went out? I sign off on my press folks’ statements before they go out. I would hope you would in the wake of an assassination attempt.”
She finally responded, “Yes.”
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Committee on Oversight and AccountabilityCheatle resigned under pressure from both Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday.
Biden praised her in a statement and thanked her for her service:
Jill and I are grateful to Director Kim Cheatle for her decades of public service. She has selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career in the United States Secret Service. We especially thank her for answering the call to lead the Secret Service during our Administration and we are grateful for her service to our family.
He added, “As a leader, it takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service.”
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