Assessing Kimberly Cheatle’s Secret Service Hearing Testimony

Kimberly A. Cheatle, the Secret Service director, faced grueling questions from lawmakers on Monday about the adequacy of her agency’s preparation and response to the assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump this month.

Ms. Cheatle did not directly respond to many of the lawmakers’ questions. But during her testimony, she rebuffed queries related to the service’s efforts to recruit more women, the actions of a previous director who oversaw the agency during an assassination attempt and a comparison between staffing for Mr. Trump’s event and one held on the same day by the first lady, Jill Biden.

While some information about the attempt and the law enforcement response remains unknown, here is the context behind some of the exchanges.

What Was Said

Representative Glenn Grothman, Republican of Wisconsin: “Could you elaborate why you want one-third of the Secret Service to be women?”

Ms. Cheatle: “I’ve never stated that I want one-third of the Secret Service to be women.”

Mr. Grothman is most likely referring to comments made by Ms. Cheatle in 2023.

“I’m very conscious as I sit in this chair now, of making sure that we need to attract diverse candidates and ensure that we are developing and giving opportunities to everybody in our workforce, and particularly women,” Ms. Cheatle said in a May 2023 interview with CBS.

Her interview appears to refer to an initiative known as “30×30,” a program that law enforcement agencies across the country, including the Secret Service, signed onto.

The goal of the program is to “increase the representation of women in police recruit classes by 30 percent in 2030” — not for the entire work force to be 30 percent female. Other federal law enforcement agencies that have also signed onto the pledge include the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Capitol Police, the F.B.I., the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Supreme Court of the United States Police.

What Was Said

Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California: “And do you know what Stuart Knight did when, he was in charge at the time of the Secret Service, do you know what he did afterwards?”

Ms. Cheatle: “He remained on duty.”

Mr. Khanna: “He resigned. He resigned.”

Ms. Cheatle and Mr. Khanna were discussing H. Stuart Knight, who was the Secret Service director during an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in March 1981.

Mr. Knight initially stayed on — he did so for more than half a year after the attempted assassination. He did, however, leave his post in late 1981 to conduct a three-month study of how to improve the Border Patrol, The New York Times reported, and had plans to retire after.

There was speculation at the time that Mr. Knight was leaving because of internal political jockeying during a reorganization of the service, but Mr. Knight denied that, merely saying that “it was time to leave.” He was honored at a retirement party attended by former President Richard M. Nixon.

Mr. Knight also served as Secret Service director during two assassination attempts on President Gerald R. Ford in 1975.

What Was Said

Representative William R. Timmons IV, Republican of South Carolina: “Multiple whistle-blowers and various media outlets have reported that the Pittsburgh field office of the Secret Service allocated 12 additional post standers to the first lady’s event and three additional post standers to the Trump rally. Is that correct?”

Ms. Cheatle: “There were no assets that were diverted from the first lady’s event.”

Mr. Timmons’s line of questioning may give the misleading impression that the Secret Service devoted more resources to an event attended by the first lady, Jill Biden, held in Pittsburgh on the same day as Mr. Trump’s rally.

The congressman was most likely referring to whistle-blower documents received by Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, excerpts of which he made public. In a one-page letter detailing the disclosure, Mr. Grassley wrote that 12 “post standers” — agents responsible for securing a specific area and who are typically employed by the local or regional field office closest to the event — were assigned to Ms. Biden’s event, compared with three for Mr. Trump.

But Mr. Grassley noted those figures do not include other Secret Service personnel that may have been assigned to Mr. Trump for the rally. For example, one government report noted that an event may be staffed with teams devoted to counterassault, counterintelligence, countersniper duties, hazardous agent mitigation, medical emergency response, magnetometers and motorcade route or air security.

Ms. Cheatle said that overall, “there were significantly more assets and resources available at the former president’s event than there were at the first lady’s event.”