Secret Service director says agency will participate in assassination attempt investigation amid questions over procedures
CNNCNN — In her first public statement since the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday said the agency will “participate fully” in an independent review ordered by President Joe Biden and also said the agency will work with Congress on “any oversight action.” Cheatle, who was appointed by Biden in 2022, expressed confidence in the agency’s security plan for this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and said changes have been made to Trump’s security detail since Saturday. A spokesman for the United States Secret Service told CNN the agency did not sweep the building where Crooks shot at Trump but instead leaned on local law enforcement to conduct security at that location. Law enforcement sources say that part of the aftermath will include a review of whether the Secret Service had enough assets to protect Trump days ahead of officially becoming the Republican presidential nominee and whether procedures were followed to conduct security sweeps of the building that offered a vantage point for the alleged shooter. Rep. Jeff Duncan, a South Carolina Republican, on Sunday called for an independent commission, in the style of the one that investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, “to give a non-partisan examination into the how and why aspects of this security posture.” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, appearing on CNN Monday morning, acknowledged that Saturday’s incident was a security “failure.” “We are going to analyze through an independent review how that occurred, why it occurred and make recommendations and findings to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.