(23 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, DC – 23 July 2024
++STARTS ON SOUNDBITE++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Mike Johnson, U.S. Speaker of the House:
"She just resigned?"
Reporter: "She just resigned. Can you say, how this changes oversight…?"
Johnson: "Well, she must have been watching our press conference. I’m glad she did the right thing. Look, our reaction, the immediate reaction to her resignation is that it is overdue. She should have done this at least a week ago. I’m happy to see that. I’m happy to see that she has heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats. Now we have to pick up the pieces. We have to rebuild the American people’s faith and trust in the Secret Service as an agency. It has an incredibly important responsibility in protecting presidents, former presidents, and other officials in the executive branch. And, we’ve got a lot of work to do. The task force that we will be putting together is going to be very important. As I said, they have three responsibilities to investigate what happened, the debacle that happened two Saturdays ago, to hold those accountable. It certainly was the director, Cheatle. But there may be others in the line of authority who were also culpable in what happened and the errors and mistakes there. And finally, to ensure that those mistakes do not happen again. The stakes are too high. It’s a very dangerous time. We need the Secret Service to be acting, to be performing, at the top of their game, and we will ensure that that happens. I hope that the interim director or whomever is appointed to replace Director Cheatle will be very sober-minded about the responsibility and take into account the very dangerous times in which we live. We’ll do everything we can in the House to ensure that that’s true. And I think our task force’s work just got even more important. So we’ll we’ll give you further comment as this develops. Thank you"
2. Speaker Johnson exits
STORYLINE:
U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson reacts to the director of the Secret Service stepping down.
The director of the Secret Service is leaving her job, according to an email she sent to staff, following the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump that unleashed intensifying outcry about how the agency tasked with protecting current and former presidents could fail in its core mission.
Kimberly Cheatle, who had served as Secret Service director since August 2022, had been facing growing calls to resign and several investigations into how the shooter was able to get so close to the Republican presidential nominee at an outdoor campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she said in the email to staff Tuesday. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”
Cheatle’s resignation comes a day after appeared before a congressional committee and was berated by hours by both Democrats and Republicans for the security failures. She called the attempt on Trump’s life the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades and said she takes fully responsibility for the security lapses, but angered lawmakers by failing to answer specific questions about the investigation.
At the hearing Monday, Cheatle remained defiant that she was the “right person” to lead the Secret Service, even as she said she took full responsibility the security lapses. When Republican Rep. Nancy Mace suggested Cheatle begin drafting her resignation letter from the hearing room, Cheatle responded, “No, thank you.”
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