CNN Senior National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem said President Joe Biden should put US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle “on leave” amid intense scrutiny over the agency’s handling of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump Saturday.
“If this agency is going to move forward people need to pay the consequences for it.”
Kayyem, who served as Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, said there were a number of unanswered questions about the Secret Service’s preparation and response Saturday — including why the rooftop where the gunman was perched wasn’t secure, and whether or not the agents removed Trump swiftly enough.
Footage from the aftermath of the shooting shows a bloodied Trump urging agents to wait for him to put his shoes back on, before looking out over the crowd and punching his fist in the air in what has become a defining image from the rally.
Cheatle defended the Secret Service’s response in a memo reviewed by the New York Times.
“I am proud of those involved,” she wrote.
CNN has reached out to the Secret Service about the reported memo.
