Democratic Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz criticized former U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle during a press conference on Monday, describing it as “outrageous” that she never inspected the location where the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump took place.
Following the July 13 attempt on Trump’s life, House lawmakers quickly voted to create a bipartisan task force in response to multiple reports of security failings by the Secret Service.
Dem Rep Calls It ‘Outrageous’ Fmr. Secret Service Director Never Visited Trump Assassination Site After Tourhttps://t.co/bw1bVqrePs
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 27, 2024
During a visit to the Pennsylvania rally site on Monday, Moskowitz condemned Cheatle’s lack of action and stressed how close voters had come to facing “an American catastrophe” if the attempt on Trump’s life had been successful.
“Thank you for bringing us here today as Democrats and Republicans, as members of the task force and as Americans,” Moskowitz said. “Being here and seeing the proximity of the buildings, it reminds me quite frankly how outrageous it was that the former director of Secret Service did not come here to get a sense of what this looked like. So we are working in a bipartisan nature. As a former director of emergency management for the state of Florida, I look forward to getting the facts of what failed that day. We were inches away from an American catastrophe. And then figuring out what steps we can take to make sure something like this never happens again.”
On July 24, House lawmakers unanimously approved resolution H.R. 1367, forming a bipartisan task force comprising seven Republicans and six Democrats to examine the security breaches that enabled 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to fire several shots at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
During the incident, Crooks had positioned himself on a rooftop just 130 yards away from the stage and was reportedly seen multiple times by both local law enforcement and eyewitnesses.
Rep Cory Mills – There is a continuous problem in the Secret Service that we are trying to root out @RepMillsPress pic.twitter.com/iSe9TmcrxE
— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) August 27, 2024
A few days after the attack, former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle informed the House Oversight Committee that she had not personally visited the site and had only communicated with agents who were protecting the former president the day after the attack. Shortly after the hearing, Cheatle announced her resignation on July 23.