NEW: Secret Service Director Caves, Will Face Grilling From House Oversight Monday

After receiving a subpoena from the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-KY), U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has agreed to testify before the committee on Monday concerning the recent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

“Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will testify before the House Committee on Oversight on Monday,” said Secret Service Chief of Communications, Anthony Guglielmi, on Friday. “The Secret Service is fully accountable for the safety of its protectees. We are committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure it never happens again. That includes complete cooperation with Congress, the FBI, and other relevant investigations.”

🚨BREAKING🚨

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has confirmed her attendance for our hearing on Monday. https://t.co/kVaoYD7Ku7

— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) July 19, 2024

The decision follows intense scrutiny and public demand for transparency regarding the circumstances that allowed for a security lapse during the incident. “Americans demand accountability and transparency about the Secret Service’s failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump, but they aren’t getting that from President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security,” Comer said in a statement two days ago when announcing the subpoena.

The testimony of Director Cheatle is expected to address key questions about the Secret Service’s operations and the specific failures that potentially facilitated the attempt on Trump’s life. Lawmakers are likely to probe into the details of the security protocols in place at the time of the incident, as well as the subsequent measures the agency has taken to ensure such a breach does not occur again.

Investigators have determined that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man responsible for the assassination attempt, had visited the site twice prior to the incident. He also had images of both Trump and current President Joe Biden stored on his mobile device, though his motives remain unclear. Local Butler authorities revealed to the Secret Service their lack of sufficient personnel to properly secure the building from which Crooks launched his attack.

This comes amidst a backdrop of heightened security for Trump following U.S. intelligence reports of an Iranian plot to assassinate him—claims that Iranian officials have vehemently denied and which appear unrelated to the recent attack.

During last night’s RNC, Trump officially accepted the GOP nomination, delivering a speech that spanned roughly 90 minutes. This marked him as the first major-party presidential nominee to hold such a distinction with a felony conviction on his record.

“I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet.’ And moved my right hand to my ear, brought it down. My hand was covered with blood, just absolutely blood all over the place. I immediately knew it was very serious, that we were under attack. And in one movement, proceeded to drop to the ground,” Trump recounted.

WATCH:

“Bullets were continuing to fly as very brave Secret Service agents rushed to the stage, and they really did. and they really did. They rushed to the stage,” he continued, prompting the crowd to rise in honor of the agents who evacuated the former president.

Simultaneously, Biden’s campaign faces increasing challenges, with mounting pressures from allies both within and outside his circle, advocating for his withdrawal from the race.