Per Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), a whistleblower claims that the lead Secret Service agent on the day that former President Donald Trump was shot in the head had been promoted even after she failed at least one key training exam.
Despite this exam failure, former and disgraced Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle promoted the agent. The whistleblower says the agent in question is from the Pittsburgh office and was the advance agent that fateful day.
Hawley appeared on Fox News with Jesse Watters on Thursday. Here’s the clip:
HAWLEY: The lead advance agent that day in Pennsylvania, the agent in charge of Trump’s entire trip in Pennsylvania — this agent actually failed one or more of her training exams when she first joined the Secret Service. I mean, the pattern that is emerging here, Jesse, from whistleblowers who come to me over and over again is that the Trump rally was undermanned … they did not have people who had experience … and, now, this advance agent, I’m told, may have failed one or more of her training exams and was known not to be a top quality agent. This is absurd, and the fact that the director will not level with the American people about what’s going on here is just totally unacceptable.
Watters then connected the dots by reminding people that Cheatle had made it a priority “to make 30 percent of the Secret Service women.” So, if the whistleblower is correct, even after this woman failed at least one training exam, Cheatle put her in charge of protecting Trump during his entire Pennsylvania trip.
Hawley went on to say that he is being told that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “is leaning on the Secret Service not to comply with [our] document requests.”
“There’s a cover-up going on,” Watters said, “now, that’s definitive.”
Yes, it is.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), one of the most partisan leftists on Capitol Hill, told reporters that he believes “the American people are going to be shocked, astonished, and appalled by what we will report to them about the failures by the Secret Service in this assassination attempt on the former president.”
“I think they also ought to be appalled and astonished by the failure of the Department of Homeland Security to be more forthcoming,” he continued.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) told Fox News that an “interim report” will be “coming out shortly,” but there is still “a lot more information that we need to find.”
That is two Democrats expressing their frustration with the DHS and Secret Service in an era where anything involving Trump becomes insanely partisan.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said both parties are working together to release a bipartisan report. He also expressed frustration with acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe for slow-walking promised information.
“So, he’s making the commitment to, you know, provide more information,” Johnson said of Rowe. “But we’re hoping to get this preliminary report out before this work period.”
Trump was shot in the face on July 13, exactly two months ago, and we know no more about these unforgivable security failures today than we did then.
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What I will never get past is leaving the roof unsecured where the failed assassin had a clear line of sight at Trump. How bad do you have to “fail a key exam” to not understand the threat that roof created? I’ve never taken a Secret Service test in my life, but I would’ve understood immediately the potential for turning that roof into a sniper’s nest.
It is heartening to see Democrats taking this seriously. Senators all see themselves as presidents one day. That might have something to do with it.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.