House Republicans want Kimberly Cheatle gone.
Hours after the Secret Service director appeared on Capitol Hill on Monday to face withering questions from the House Oversight Committee over the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, two GOP lawmakers filed articles to impeach her.
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, an Oversight Committee member and one of Cheatle’s most scathing interrogators, was one of them.
“The House has NEVER voted on an impeachment of an inferior civil officer,” Mace wrote Monday night in a post on the social media platform X, “but historic times call for historic measures.”
WATCH us introduce a privileged motion to impeach Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle. The House has NEVER voted on an impeachment of an inferior civil officer … but historic times call for historic measures. pic.twitter.com/sRxXJkgsBo
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) July 23, 2024
Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube — an outspoken critic of the Biden administration — filed his own articles to impeach Cheatle, charging her with “neglect for her duty.”
“The Secret Service calls themselves ‘one of the most elite law enforcement agencies in the world,’” Steube said in a news release.
“What happened under their watch in Butler, Pennsylvania was an international embarrassment and an inexcusable tragedy,” he said.
Should Kimberly Cheatle resign?
“Particularly after her abysmal testimony today before the Oversight Committee, where little to no questions were properly answered and she doubled down on her refusal to resign, we have no choice but to impeach Director Cheatle,” the congressman said.
How far the impeachment process goes remains to be seen. A House impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — the first of a Cabinet member in history — died in the Democratic-led Senate in April, as CNN reported.
Cheatle is also facing growing pressure to resign. And the man who appointed her to her post, President Joe Biden, is already a lame duck after announcing Sunday he is not going to continue his re-election bid, so she could well step down.
But there’s no question that after the disgrace of the Trump assassination attempt — where only a fortunately timed turn of his head saved the 45th president from having his brains blown out — getting rid of Cheatle has wide support on the right end of the political spectrum.
That’s especially true after Cheatle’s testimony on Monday.
Imagine you go into your boss’s office and he asks you about a project that didn’t go well.
And you refused to answer his questions.
Would he ask you to resign, or would he fire you?
Why are these elected officials, the people we hired and the people we’re paying to do a…
— Jill Adkins (@practiceyrPE) July 23, 2024
As one X user wrote in response to Steube’s post on X, “this should be a unanimous vote.”
Kimberly’s job security is not more important than the safety of the President of the United States of America.
— Misha Turtle Island (@MishaFitton) July 22, 2024
This should be a unanimous vote
— Joseph Pino (@JosephPino_) July 22, 2024
Cheatle has acknowledged her responsibility for the Secret Service’s failures even while refusing to step down.
“The buck stops with me,” she told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas in a July 15 interview.
Now, House GOP members want her to pay the price.
