Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has fired back at Senator Rand Paul’s accusations that she lied to Congress about resource requests for former President Donald Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania rally, where an assassination attempt occurred on July 13, 2024. A new Senate committee report released on Sunday, July 13, directly contradicts Cheatle’s previous testimony, intensifying the controversy surrounding the agency’s handling of the event.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee found that the Secret Service denied multiple requests for additional staff, assets, and resources to protect Trump during the presidential campaign, including at least two requests specifically for the Butler rally. The committee, chaired by Paul, conducted 17 interviews with Secret Service members and reviewed thousands of legal documents before reaching its conclusions.
Paul accused Cheatle of deliberately misleading Congress during her testimony last year. The Kentucky Republican told CBS News that Cheatle did not tell the truth when she claimed no assets were requested in advance. Paul indicated that investigators found at least four or five occasions where requests were made, with the primary request being for counter-snipers from both Trump’s Secret Service detail and his campaign.
In response to the Senate report, Cheatle issued a statement on Sunday defending her actions and contradicting the committee’s findings.
The assassination attempt occurred when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks scaled a building overlooking the rally and fired eight shots using an AR-style rifle. The attack killed one attendee, Corey Comperatore, wounded two others, and grazed Trump’s ear before a Secret Service counter-sniper killed Crooks. The incident highlighted what investigators called a cascade of preventable failures within the agency.
A separate Government Accountability Office report commissioned by Senator Chuck Grassley revealed that the Secret Service had received information about the assassination threat at least 10 days prior to the incident but failed to relay it to federal and local law enforcement personnel responsible for securing the event. The agency reportedly had no process in place to share such critical information.
The committee’s investigation revealed significant communication breakdowns during the rally. A Secret Service security room agent learned about a suspicious person with a rangefinder from Pennsylvania State Police approximately 25 minutes before the shooting. However, while this information was relayed to another Secret Service agent in the room, it did not go out over the radio or reach Trump’s security detail in time to prevent him from taking the stage.
Paul emphasized that there was adequate time to remove Trump from the stage based on available information. He noted that a report of a suspicious person with a range-finder equipped weapon turned out to be the shooter who attempted to kill Trump. The committee found that the Secret Service’s lack of structured communication was likely the greatest contributor to the failures on the day of the rally.
The investigation also uncovered organizational mistakes, including positioning one of the Secret Service countersniper teams with an obstructed view of the American Glass Research building where Crooks was located. The building, situated only 135 meters from the stage, had a clear line of sight to where Trump was speaking, but was left unguarded.
Following the assassination attempt, the Secret Service suspended six personnel without pay for periods ranging from 10 to 42 days. The suspended individuals were also placed into restricted duty or roles with less operational responsibility upon their return. Deputy Director Matt Quinn told CBS News that the agency would not fire its way out of the crisis, instead focusing on addressing root causes.
Current Secret Service Director Sean Curran, who was leading Trump’s protective detail during the Butler incident, indicated that the agency has implemented 21 of 46 recommendations made by congressional oversight bodies. The reforms include changes to protective operations policies, creation of an Aviation and Airspace Security division, and modifications to the agency’s resourcing process.
The Senate committee’s report, released exactly one year after the shooting, criticized the consequences imposed for the failures as insufficient given the severity of the situation. The 31-page document noted that despite the preventable nature of the security breakdown, not a single person has been fired from the agency.
