House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, ahead of Monday's hearing with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, said Sunday the agency's failures leading to the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump were "outrageous and incredible."
"First, you start asking the question, 'Is this a failure of resources, is this a failure of protocols or a failure of management?' And it appears that now we know it is all three," the Ohio Republican said Sunday on CBS News' "Face the Nation," adding that President Joe Biden must fire Cheatle for the mistakes that were made.
He pointed out that Trump's security on the ground in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 had asked for additional resources, identifying gaps in coverage.
The Secret Service has also identified, in a congressional briefing and timeline, that "nine minutes before Donald Trump took the stage, they were aware of a particular threat," but he was still allowed to start speaking.
"As we also know from their own timeline, they didn't take a shot to take out the shooter until Donald Trump himself was shot," Turner added. "And what you see from this, is that obviously you thank God Donald Trump is alive."
"She's clearly not going to resign, but her failures are incredibly well-known throughout the organization," said Turner. "Even as we look at that day, there were very basic failures … she's the leadership. Clearly, she's responsible for ensuring the safety of Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and these failures are so extreme that you know that they need new leadership."
Meanwhile, a poll this week showed that 62% of voters expect to see an increase in political violence over the next two years, but Turner said it's not yet known what Trump shooter Thomas Crooks' motive was.
"It doesn't appear that he was politically driven or motivated," Turner said. "Perhaps he was tied to an interest in mass shootings. In his loner status and his fixation on guns, he brought himself to do this. We'll have to find out the whole picture."
The early reports from the FBI indicate that Crooks was "just looking for places and picked this rally," Turner added. "Regardless of what kind of threat he was, the failures by the Secret Service are extreme.
"He walked in with a ladder. He had a range finder and a weapon. He got onto a roof that was within short distance. All of these failures are obvious failures and that is clearly where the Secret Service needs scrutiny and the director needs to be fired."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.