Kimberly Cheatle testifies – and Congress shows bipartisan rancor
[NOTE: “Crooks and Cheatle” – doesn’t it sound like a law firm in a Dickens novel?]
The Secret Service lapses were so egregious, and Cheatle’s answers so awful, that both sides are getting into the act of criticizing her pretty harshly. I think that Republican rage is real; not so sure about the Democrats, though.
And don’t forget that just three months ago some Democrats proposed a bill to strip Trump of Secret Service protection as a convicted felon. I think the Trump campaign should point this out over and over. The bill was never voted on because Republicans control the House:
House Democrats have introduced a bill that would strip Secret Service protection from convicted felons sentenced to prison, a move directly targeting former President Trump who is currently on criminal trial in New York City for alleged hush money payments made during the 2016 election campaign and faces several other cases which could land him behind bars.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the former chair of the now disbanded Jan. 6 congressional committee, introduced legislation that would automatically nix Secret Service protection for those who have been convicted of a federal or state felony that carries a minimum one-year prison term.
The proposed bill is provocatively called the “Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable (DISGRACED) Former Protectees Act.
It wasn’t just Thompson supporting this bill; nine other Democrats in the House were part of the effort.
Cheatle is in the hot seat and acquitting herself very poorly. You can read details here, here, and here. In addition, Raskin and Comer (that’s bipartisan again) will be sending a letter demanding that Cheatle resign.
Is Cheatle a knave or a fool? I’d say “both.” And yet she’s been the head of the Secret Service for nearly two years.
Apparently, she was a favorite of Dr. Jill (Vogue cover model).
My daughter watched the livestream of the hearing – she says that Cheatle was raked over the coals, bipartisanly. I would guess that Repubs are furious because she came off as Keystone Cops incompetent and damn near got Trump killed through that partisan incompetence … and the Dems are furious because she made them look so maliciously incompetent.
You’d think she would know better than to try and gaff off Congress with an “investigation is still ongoing” reply – that might work with the tame media, but not for Congress.
I think she is just not very smart and a poor liar. I don’t believe incompetence in this case.
Chases Eagles, but yes she is also Incompetent.
Dems recognize that the poor performance of the SS carries over to THEIR candidate.
But if she’s one of those poor souls who saw Joe skinny dipping…she probably needs trauma counselling.
Even AOC pushed hard at Cheatle.
“Crooks and Cheatle” – doesn’t it sound like a law firm in a Dickens novel? — neo
As a former Boston resident I’m reminded of the Car Talk guys’ favorite law firm, Dewey, Cheetham & Howe.
https://www.boston.com/news/the-boston-globe/2023/09/12/dewey-cheetham-howe-car-talk-harvard-square/
BTW the Director of the United States Secret Service when President Ronald Reagan was shot on March 30, 1981, was H. Stuart Knight. He served as the Director from May 1, 1973, to March 31, 1981.
In other words Director Knight resigned the very next day.
I’ve forgotten which of Cheatle’s questioners noted that.
This is deliberate. The donkey histrionics are only because Trump lived. She is not incompetent. She deliberately denied Trump proper protection.
I have to admit, after Cheatle’s non-testimony I’m starting to come around to the idea that . . . well, you know. Something rotten in Denmark, and all that.
Also, Cheatle’s assertion that she “accepts responsibility” rekindled my heretofore long-dormant anger and hatred for Janet Reno.
I think it was Ro Khanna (D Ca-17) who tripped Cheatle up on that resignation huxley.
My mind tends toward Mr. Cheezle, despite the sex difference: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0456554/characters/nm0005265?ref_=tt_cl_c_7
It’s the vacuity that does it, I think.
I suspect that the Dems are also very concerned with Cheatle’s performance. After all, Cheatel isn’t just protecting Republicans. It would be in their interests to ensure that there’s someone competent filling the seat.
I think it was Ro Khanna (D Ca-17) who tripped Cheatle up on that resignation huxley.
sdferr:
Give that man a see-gar!
It may take a few weeks, like it did for Biden, but I’m betting Cheatle will be forced out as SS Director.
Biden is out, Jill is out, even Dems are attacking Cheatle, and Reps want blood.
Where’s she gonna run? Who’s got her back?
This equivocating feeds conspiracy theories. Things are bad enough. What Cheatle and Mayorkas are doing is either insane or they’re covering up something.
It does indeed, now that you mention it!
Sometimes I really wish the world could settle on some other abbreviation to use for this outfit. “USSS” is ungainly, true, but at least differentiates. Remembering, too, that the original got its start as a bodyguard unit….
Personally I don’t think the Dems are worried that the SS won’t protect Dems.
I think their major concern is that they be implicated in the obvious intent to provide substandard protection to Trump in the hopes it would get him killed. Part of that is the extreme likelihood that the White House was involved in these decisions.
Its all just to distract from their own part in this debarcle.
Remember that the Dems scheduled events for both Jill Biden and Kamala Harris in Pensylvania to drain resources. That’s independent of any allocation of resources by the Secret Service.
We now know that Jill had 4 times the secret service protection as Trump despite her function being held in an already secure facility (A casino) whereas the security perimeter for Trumps outdoor event was about 1/4 of the effective range of the most common long arm in the United States.
Democrats are shocked, shocked to find that their Secret Service has failed catastrophically to protect Donald Trump! And under Dr. Jill’s hand-picked Director, no less.
In the meantime it’s an opportunity for Democrats to distract from the Biden Disaster and their own hateful responses to Trump’s near-death experience.
They’ll have no problem under-bussing SS Director Cheatle.
It’s Scapegoatin’ Time!
I suppose I’m assuming my projection, but at moments I felt a weird compassion for Cheatle.
When I saw AOC attacking Cheatle, I knew the Director was doomed. No one is in her corner. She’s going under the bus, like Biden, and she knew it.
So far as I judge these things, she was taking it well.
Why shouldn’t Cheatle stonewall, gaslight, and lie to Congress?
Every other Democrat-affiliated Agency or Department head has done the same for at least 20 years without negative consequences.
She may be the first.
IF she is fired or resigns promptly.
I’m not holding my breath.
If you want to feel real sick, just watch some of the congressional hearings in which Cheatle is testifying.
It is really disgusting. Essentially, she claims to know nothing at all or refuses to answer any questions.
The sickening part is that Congress has ZERO power to have her resign or have her fired regardless of how uncooperative she is.
The Federal govt. bureaucracy is simply out of control. They do whatever they want and they understand that there will be no negative consequences for anything they do – including lying before a congressional committee – and really no oversight that has any teeth .
They are a govt. within the supposed “real” govt and they are out of control.
It is no coincidence – and I am speculating here – that the vast majority of govt. bureaucrats are democrats and always will be. They know who butters their bread.
When Chris Wray – the FBI director testifies before a Congressional committee, he too just stonewalls, as do just about everybody and anybody who testifies.
Those testifying, frankly, could give a shit. They just have to sit thru an hour or so of being questioned by folks they hate and despise, and then they can go home and collect their tax payer funded salary and benefits.
The USSR’s nomenklatura is alive and well in Washington, DC.
As an aside, I am still puzzled how the president of the USA can sign an executive order that clearly violates existing US law; I.e., ordering the borders to be wide open to anyone who crosses from Mexico.
Greg kelley notes how in liz cheneys she was communicating around 2020 with a former member of the detail could it have been cheatle who was put in 9 days before maralago
Of course Cheatle “accepts full responsibility,” because, absent immediate and strong action by her, this empty, ritual phrase means absolutely nothing.
My wife suspects the Democrats’ fury at Cheatle is that the failed assassination may have handed Trump the Presidency. Possibly correct.
What I do think is that the whole thing shows the rottenness of our nation (and almost all Western nations). We have managed to create a system in which the entire ruling class is literally worthless. They cannot do anything. This is unusual. Historically, you got to the top either by showing you had some skills, the path being strewn with tests, or if you were born into it, you were expected to learn to rule. Remember, almost all Western aristocracies were demanded military service from their rulers, back to Rome. Not ours.
So we get people like Cheatle for whom “responsibility” and “accountability” are just words. I cannot remember who wrote it, but there was a review of one of David Brooks’s Bobos books who pointed out that an aristocracy which defines itself by its taste in food and clothing just isn’t in it for the long haul.
They can do evil they cannot do good
Cheatle’s out now. She resigned. Some professor ought to undertake a study of how many political appointees resign willingly, how many are asked to resign, and how many are fired. Biden never fires anybody. I wonder, though, how many appointees in other administrations were actually fired and how many were asked or forced to resign. Maybe some presidents kept undated resignation letters in their files from appointees until they are needed.
It wasn’t just Thompson supporting this bill; nine other Democrats in the House were part of the effort.
I believe that’s eight African-American Democrats and Steve Cohen who has to pretend to be blacker than actual Black opponents in order to be reelected. Why is it that for the last 40 years or so, Black Democrats have led efforts to impeach Republican presidents? Does it benefit their constituents? Do their voters even care? Is it a way to get free publicity when a politician can’t get anything worthwhile done?
yes steve cohen, is the most insufferable jackass, going back to 2008, that I recall,
but it was a niche cause,
the replacement, ronald rowe is closer to the operational side of the organization,
again from julie kelly, a report on the failing of the service on jan 6, was likely to be released shortly,
Cheatle is a classic Deep Stater. It is they who govern the country, tenured Democrats, until their very fat, taxpayer-supported, pensions, in very early retirement.
It goes almost without saying, but I’ll say it: Cheatle is a POS.
All the representatives grilled her hard. A few Democrats wasted time grandstanding about gun control, and in Pressley’s case, also about racism. But most of them were on point and acted well. Even AOC did a good job. It’s the first time I’ve seen her actually look and sound like an adult, and it was a pleasant surprise.
A couple Republicans also made asses out of themselves, but they all put the screws to her, and I think almost every single person called on her to resign.
Also, it appears Cheatle has resigned as of this morning (Tuesday).