Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has admitted to signing off on a false statement that the agency never denied requests for more protection from former President Donald Trump’s campaign. The admission came during questioning by Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) at a House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday.
The issue began when Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service spokesman, made a statement on July 14 denying allegations that the agency had turned down requests from the Trump campaign for additional assets. The statement said: “Theres [sic] an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed. This is absolutely false.
Guglielmi made the same assertion to Breitbart News on July 16, stating that the Secret Service had increased protection for Trump in June under the Candidate Nominee Operations Section (CNOS. However, on July 20, Guglielmi backtracked on his statement, saying the agency was reviewing new information indicating they may have denied some requests for additional security from Trump’s detail.
Waltz asked Cheatle if she signed off on the spokesman’s false claim. After initially hesitating and not directly answering the question, Cheatle finally admitted that she did sign off on the statement. Following this revelation, Cheatle resigned under pressure from both Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden praised her in a statement, thanking her for her service and recognizing her honor, courage, and incredible integrity as a leader.