On Monday, GOP Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina grilled Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle over reports that the Pittsburgh Secret Service field office sent significantly more agents to cover First Lady Jill Biden’s event than former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was shot.
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune, Biden was speaking at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh to approximately 300 people around the same time Trump was addressing several thousand at his rally.
Timmons began his questioning by asking Cheatle if she agreed that Secret Service resources should be allocated based on the risk profile of events. Cheatle agreed.
Timmons continued, “And when two events occur at the same time and in the same geographic vicinity, should the event with the greater risk receive more resources?”
“That is correct,” Cheatle replied.
The congressman contrasted Trump’s outdoor rally, which has faced specific threats from Iran, with Biden’s indoor event.
Timmons tweeted:
“We are asking Secret Service Director Cheatle a lot of straight questions and not getting any straight answers. The former and future President was shot. There were multiple injuries. Someone was killed,”
Director Cheatle called the resources that day “sufficient.”
Timmons then asked, “President Trump is the former president and the future president, so I would say that that is a fairly high-risk event. Would you agree?”
“Yes,” Cheatle replied.
“There’s a huge disparity relative to risk. Would you agree?” the congressman pressed.
After a moment’s hesitation, Cheatle responded, “Yes.”
Timmons cited whistleblowers and media reports claiming that the Pittsburgh field office allocated 12 additional agents to the first lady’s event and only three to Trump’s rally. Cheatle stated that no resources were diverted from Trump’s rally to Biden’s event.
Timmons interrupted, emphasizing he was specifically asking about the 12-to-3 agent allocation. Cheatle did not directly answer, instead asserting that the personnel allocation was comparable to the risk at both events.
Timmons highlighted that Trump was shot and multiple attendees were injured, including one fatality, 50-year-old Corey Comperatore.
He suggested that the presence of nine more agents could have changed the outcome.
Cheatle maintained, “There were significantly more assets and resources available at the former president’s event than at the first lady’s event.”
Timmons asked, “Who made the decision to deploy 12 agents to the casino, where the first lady was having a 400-person dinner, and only three agents from the Pittsburgh field office to the 20,000-plus-person Trump rally?”
Cheatle explained, “The allocation of resources is based on personnel availability and location, but sufficient resources were allocated to the former president’s event that day.”
Timmons appeared incredulous. “Did you just say there were sufficient resources? President Trump got shot. Someone got killed. There were not sufficient resources, clearly.”
“There was a gap,” Cheatle acknowledged.
Timmons concluded by stating that the person who decided to send more resources to Biden’s event over Trump’s should be fired, and that Cheatle herself should resign. “You’ve lost the trust of the American people,” he said.