when we're young, we're told anything is possible... ...but only a few of us go out and prove it. witness the greatness of anna hall on a connection worthy of gold: xfinity mobile. only xfinity gives you the most powerful mobile wifi network, with speeds up to a gig in millions of locations. and right now, get up to $800 off the new galaxy z flip6 and z fold6 when you trade in your current phone. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. right now on msnbc, physical history unfolding in realtime

this morning. vp harris set to make her first remarks since president biden's exit from the race. plus, new reporting ability when the president himself could address the nation. >> the harris veepstakes beginning, who is among the rumored list of top contenders. breaking news on capitol hill. the secret service director testifying about the attempted assassination of donald trump. that hearing beginning in just moments. >> good morning. it's 10:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera along my colleague and friend jose diaz-balart with special coverage of an extraordinary morning in american politics. vp kamala harris beginning her pursuit of the democratic nomination after the historic announcement from president biden leaving the race. harris set to appear at the white house this morning. >> we'll have full coverage of those developments. let's go quickly to capitol hill

where the director of the secret service is scheduled to testify in just moments about the attempted assassination of donald trump. nbc's ali vitali is with us this morning. good morning. what are we expecting at this hearing? >> reporter: good morning, guys. this is going to be a tense one. i just caught up with director cheatle as she was walking into this hearing room i asked her if she would resign. of course, we know the pros tour from the secret service has been that she will not. nevertheless, in the seconds and minutes i was talking to cheatle, i was also talking to speaker mike johnson who made clear to me he will reiterate the calls for that resignation in the room to the face of the director of the secret service. this is going to be a tense one for that reason and that most of the members in this committee, republicans and democrats, have at least called into question cheatle's role in the as sass nakts attempt of donald trump, what could have gone so wrong that this was able to happen under the protection of the secret service but that some of

them have out right called for her to design and that's something that the head of the oversight committee, james comer, is likely to say in his opening remarks. i'll read to you a piece of that that we got on embargo, an excerpt that says it's my firm belief, director cheatle, that you should resign. he's going to say that to her face. we know her remarks don't include any sign that she's going to. a lot of defense will be played in this room today, jose. >> ali vitali, keep us posted. we'll check back. we turn now to the breaking news dominating the headlines. president biden ending his re-election campaign and up ending an already historic election. he quickly endorsed his vice president kamala harris. soon after, a flood of democrats announced their support for vice president harris. >> in less than 24 hours since that news broke, the harris campaign says they raised $49.6 million in grassroots fund-raising. we'll be hearing from the president this morning as she

president of the united states in an ncaa event. >> joining us nbc's allie raffa from delaware, steve kornacki standing by at the big board. eugene daniels, white house correspondent for politico and peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." >> the president is still at home isolating with covid. what do we know about the vice president's day and her mindset this morning? >> reporter: jose, the eyes of the political world are now focused on vice president harris in the wake of the president's announcement yesterday. as you mentioned, we expect to see her in just over an hour for the first time juggling these two roles. one, of course, as vice president and the other as the person who the president passed the torch on to. she has a lot to do in a very short amount of time starting when that announcement came yesterday. remember, she still has to pick a running mate. she still has to find a way to

put her own unique stamp on the now harris campaign. a source familiar is telling my colleague, kelly o'donnell, that she's already told her staff that she would like to speak drefkly with campaign staffers in the wake of this news, of course, campaign staffers still processing the shock of this change, having found out just a minute before that letter was released publicly. she'll also try to find ways to blend into that campaign, try to shore up support from voters who aren't necessarily part of her base, more moderate or independent voters. lastly, she'll try too really rally support, trying to get enough support before that virtual roll call with delegates expected the first week of sawing, trying to secure the democratic nomination on that call, to be able to unify the party before the democrats' convention in mid august. so all of this in a very, very short amount of time.

we know she's hitting the ground running. my colleague yamiche alcindor reporting that yesterday after this announcement she spent more than ten hours on the phone, making more than 100 phone calls. so definitely a lot of work left to do, guys. >> eugene, a day for the history books indeed. president biden ending his campaign with this statement, while it has been my intention to seek re-election, i believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and solely focus on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term. when do you expect we'll hear from the president? >> sooner rather than later, right? we have to remember that president biden has covid. so first they're trying to figure out when he is fine to kind of be around folks, to be in front of adoring fans -- those are the questions bantied

about right now. -- for president biden that not only is he going to continue to be their president. he has vice president harris' back and also working to cement his legacy. >> so peter, 106 days until the election, less than a month to the democratic convention. what will the start of this sprint look like? >> well, it's going to be something we've never seen before, right? it's been a generation since we had a convention decide a nominee without the benefit of primary elections. although you could argue that kamala harris went through the primaries as biden's partner, of course. it does look like the field is being cleared for her. no challenger of any consequence is emerging at this point.

party leaders, wu a few exceptions, have rallied behind her. remember, the country is sick of the two dand dats they had. they made very clear in polls they weren't really happy about the choice they had between trump and biden, two old men they just as soon move on. now she has an opportunity to make a generational argument saying here is the new face of a younger america, and there's going to be obviously excitement for a while. there's also going to be scrutiny of her. she'll have to defend her record and absorb attacks that will come -- have already started to come from republicans, and most importantly, to define herself, if she can, before her opponents define her for her. >> steve, all along in polls were neck and neck between donald trump and joe biden, although some slippage for president biden after that debate. how does kamala harris fare against the former president? >> the short answer is not really any better. take a look at this. this is the average of all the polls you're talking about since

the debate that tested kamala harris against donald trump. trump 47%, harris 46%. in the same set of polls when it was joe biden, 47% for trump and 45 pbs for biden. the democratic number on average goes up from 45 to 46. i think it underscores for democrats they view this move as something that's going to improve their chances in the general election. ha is based more on hope than it is on the numbers right now. you go another level deep in this and you've got the favorable, unfavorable. basic impression people have of these candidates here. for joe biden, look, these numbers have looked like this for a long time. very, very bad numbers. 36 favorable, 57 unfavorable. what's the difference with kamala harris? again, not much of a difference. from 36 favorable to 38, 57 unfavorable down to 52. that's still a majority of voters saying they have an unfavorable impression of kamala harris. throw up donald trump's numbers

for comparison, he's at 41 favorable, 55 unfavorable. all three of these figures with majority of voters saying that are unfavorably impressed by them. so, again, from the democratic standpoint here, they think harris being reintroduced as a presidential candidate, getting a different look, they think these numbers can improve for her, both of the favorables and in the horse race against trump. but we don't know. as you say, she has not really been tested. her name never got to a primary ballot in 2020. she dropped out a couple months before that. so see how it goes over. democrats hope these numbers will improve. there's also a possibility they don't. there's also a possibility this rollout does not go well. >> eugene, the harris campaign says it received nearly $50 million in grassroots donations just in the hours after president biden's exit and endorsement of her. the single biggest day for

online democratic donations in years. what does that translate to? >> what they believe it translates to is a lot of excitement for vice president kamala harris which as someone who has been covering her this entire time is not always the feeling that has been in the democratic party. there's been a lot of change, not just over recent days, but over the last years, especially since roe v. wade, people have been impressed with her and her ability to make an argument and lay out stakes. this changes the race, as peter was talking about, the democrats' ability to say we are the party that has the young person, a person of color and a woman that's running. their ability to go independent and say, hey, you were upset there was a trump v biden race again, well, we're the party that made that switch. she's also fared better in certain polls with young voters, black voters and brown voters, groups that were reticent wrap

their arms around biden. what's going to matter here is what kind of campaign they actually build, how she reintroduces herself again. she's had to do it a couple of times over the years. now she has to tell people what she would do as president. it will look a little different i think than what she said in 2019 about her own -- her candidacy then. now she has an actual record in things she has worked on. one issue to pay a lot of attention to for people is israel and gaza. me and my colleague reported last year that she had been pushing president biden and the administration to speak differently about palestinians, to be a little tougher on bibi netanyahu. her campaign has a lot of work to do and almost zero time to do it on. >> the democratic party has coalesced around harris as the

presidential nominee. what are we hearing about the harris veepstakes and who could potentially be top continueders for her right-hand man or woman? >> that's the big parlor game in washington, who could it be. there's a feeling she needs to balance out the ticket with somebody who will reach voters particularly in those midwest earn critical battleground stakes. they're looking at people like governor josh shapiro of pennsylvania, pretty popular there, maybe a southern moderate like roy cooper from north carolina who was just on this network just a little while ago or andy beshear from kentucky. throw out a wildcard. i've heard from some democrats close to harris it may be somebody who is not a politician, somebody who is a former military officer. bill mccraven ran the osama bin

laden raid. they don't have time to think and poll and test and decide who really has that kind of chemistry with a potential president harris. they have to do this pretty quickly because the gal lots go out in just a handful of days to the dnc for a virtual roll call. even if they don't do a virtual roll call, the convention itself is starting in the third week of august. this will be a truncated, quick process, but one very important for her. it's going to be her first choice as the punitive nominee of the democratic party. >> thank you all so much. up next, we're turning back to capitol hill where the secret service director is testifying this hour about donald trump's assassination attempt. >> plus, reaction from lawmakers to president biden's exit from the race despite president biden's backing and why some democrats have yet to endorse vice president harris. >> and what this decision means for the trump campaign. more special coverage when we're

back in just 90 seconds back in just 90 second growing old is part of the journey, even when you have heart failure. but when he had shortness of breath, carpal tunnel syndrome, and lower back pain, we wondered, could these be warning signs of something bigger?

thank goodness we called his cardiologist because these were signs of attr-cm, a rare and serious disease... ...that gets worse over time. if you see any of the warning signs, don't wait, ask your cardiologist about attr-cm today. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. . we're back with other our breaking news. secret service director kimberly cheatle is about to give her opening remarks at the house oversight hearing into the assassination attempt on frp trump. >> with us former secret service agent abby bam porous.

ali, what are we hearing? >> we're hearing from the chair of the committee, james comer, as well as the ranking member of the committee who i believe is still speaking. we'll be in a moment where sheetal herself begins testifying. we have a sense of what those remarks are going to be when she ultimately delivers them. what's not in those remarks, jose, is something the chairperson of this committee as well as other top republicans have called for, which is cheatle to resign her post. in his opening statement chairman comer said the day that trump was -- had an attempted assassination was a horrifying moment in american history. he excoriated the secret service by saying in the past when trump asked for additional resources -- this doesn't apply to the rally -- but they said it was because of a lack of

resources. comer pointed to the way this is committee in baip fashion has tried to do oversight for the secret service, to further bolster their staffing and bolster their ability to protect the protectees they are assigned. in this instance, as comer said, a zero fail mission did have a failure in it. of course, this major flaw that allowed the shooter to be on that roof and to do what he did killing one rally goer and injuring the former president in the process, i think all eyes are on this hearing in an attempt to try to get answers. it's unclear how many hard answers we're going to get at this point from a secret service that has gone back and forth on whether or not their director would even come before this committee. certainly other committees have asked for her to testify and she has not acquiesced that request. still, this is going to be a really central moment, inflection point from people from both sides of the aisle trying to figure out what happened in butler, pennsylvania, and how to make

sure something like that never happens again. >> ali, thank you. we're looking at a live picture from that hearing already under way. there is director cheatle listening to the ranking member giving her opening remarks. as soon as she gives her opening statement, we'll dip in. let me read in an excerpt of her remarks from a moment. she says i will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like july 13th doesn't happen again. thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my thoughts. evy, what changes do you think are necessary at this snoint. >> you need more money and you need more people. that's just it. i've done this. the resources and the manpower, it's a big deal, especially during campaign years. you have multiple protectees running a campaign. the one is going to do four states in one day and think two events in each state, then another one who is running and you have to monitor them. and if you take trump and biden,

they're older in age, you're protecting them, their kids, their grandkids, then all the former presidents. they still get protection and their spouses. then foreign heads of state. if the prime minister of israel comes here, he gets protection. every country gets protection. to be transparent, during campaign years, everybody knows you don't get to work your cases. it really is just manpower. i think they've been trying so long to do everything and to always say yes, they've been a very yes-can-do agency. i think it's come to the point with the world changing, you need more resources and manpower. that's ultimately what they need. >> secret service director cheatle is about to beginning her opening statements. let's listen in. >> this will be a very lengthy hearing, and we want to make sure every member gets their five minutes uninterrupted to ask these important questions in

this very bipartisan hearing today. i now recognize director cheatle for your opening statement. >> thank you. good morning, chairman comer, ranking member raskin, and distinguished members of the committee. my name is kimberly cheatle. and i'm the director of the united states secret service. i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today. the assassination attempt of former president donald trump on july 13th is the most significant operational failure of the secret service in decades, and i am keeping him and his family in my thoughts. i would like to offer my sincerest condolences to the family of corey comperatore who was killed in this senseless shooting. id eat also like to acknowledge david dutch and james copenhagen. i wish them a speedy recovery. i would be remiss if i didn't

extend my condolences on the passing of sheila jackson lee. she was always involved in the oversight of the secret service. her passing is a great loss to this body. the secret service's solemn mission is to protect our nation's leaders. on july 13th. we failed. as the director of the united states secret service, i take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency. we are fully cooperating with ongoing investigations. we must learn what happened, and i will move heaven and earth to ensure that an incident like july 13th does not happen again. let me state unequivocally nothing i have said should be interpreted to place blame for this failure on our federal, state or local law enforcement partners who supported the secret service in butler. we could not do our job without them. we rely on the relationships builtover years of working together to secure events and conduct investigations. our agents, officers and support

personnel understand that every day we are expected to sacrifice our lives to execute a no-fail mission. as witnessed on july 13th, our special agents shielded former president trump with their own bodies on stage while shots were being fired. self-lessly willing to make the ultimate sacrifice without hesitation. i'm proud beyond words of the former president's detail, the counter sniper team who neutralized the gunman and the tactical team who was prepared to act. i will be as transparent as possible when i speak with you, understanding, though, at times i may be limited due to associated risks with sharing highly sensitive protective methodologies. i do not want to inadd very at the present timely provide you today with inaccurate information. since january 1st, 2024, the secret service has successfully

secured over 7,500 sites. every protective advance comes with its own set of challenges and rierz a customized milt gags strategy including specific assets. security plans are multilayered, providing 360 degrees of protection. these layers include personnel, technical and tactical assets which are a force multiplier for our protective posture. during every advance we attempt to strike a balance between enabling the protectee to be vis bld and our protective requirements to be secure. i know this because i have spent 29 years in this agency. i came up through the ranks. i've secured events for every president since president clinton, supervised on vice president cheney's detail, led our training center, oversaw all the protective visits in the state of georgia, supervised on vice president biden's detail and the agency's entire protective mission during the trump administration.

the comprehensive advanced process involves collaborative planning between our secret service, the pro tech tea's staff, local law enforcement partners and the level of security provided for the former president increased well before the campaign and has been steadily increasing as threats evolve. the security plan included a full assessment of the butler farms show grounds to identify security vulnerabilities and craft a security plan for the pro tech tea, attendees and the public. immediately following the assassination attempt i directed the activation of mie crisis center. i assembled my executive team to begin surging more protective resources to the former president and ensure the wellness of our people post accident all while securing an active crime scene. i immediately ordered a re-evaluation of the rns rns security plan and increased the security posture for all

protectees and sites. i have instructed my team that all necessary resources will be dedicated to investigating these matters. we will leave no stone unturned. i want to be clear, i am not waiting for these investigations to be completed prior to making changes. over the past two weeks we successfully led the planning and execution of the 75th nato summit and the republican national convention. over the next few months we will implement security plans for the democratic national convention and have already begun coordinating the 2025 inauguration. it's more important than ever for the men and women of the secret service to remain resilient and focus on what is necessary to carry out our critical mission. our agency needs to be adequately resourced in order to serve our current mission requirements and anticipate future requirements. the secret service currently protects 36 individuals on a

daily basis as well as world leaders who visit the united states like israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu who arrived in washington, d.c. today. coming years will bring an unprecedented heavy protection tempo. i have no doubt the processes i've implemented during my tenure as director in addition to my 30 years of experience in this agency have positioned the secret service to be stronger. our mission is not political. it is literally a matter of life and depth. the tragic events on july 13th remind us of that. i have full confidence in the men and women of the secret service. they're worthy of our support in executing our protective mission. i will now answer questions. >> thank you very much, director cheatle. just for the record, the secret service has an annual budget of around $3.1 billion, and i believe around 8,000 employees. is that correct?

>> yes, sir. >> obviously there were many security failures on the day of the attempted assassination and leading up to that day. let's start with the building that the shooter used to shoot president trump from. at any point saturday, did the secret service have an agent on top of that roof? >> sir, i'm sure as you can imagine, we're just nine days out from this incident and there's still an ongoing investigation. i want to make sure that any information we are providing -- >> so you can't. why did the secret service -- can you answer why the secret service didn't place a single agent onto the roof? >> we're still looking at the advanced process -- >> okay, okay. wasn't that building within the perimeter that should be secured, do we agree with that? >> the building was outside the perimeter on the day of the visit. again, that is one of the things during the investigation we want to take a look at and determine whether or not other decisions

should have been made. >> one of the things that you said i believe in an interview, that there wasn't an agent on the roof because it was a sloped roof. is that normal and do you fear that that immediately kreets an opportunity for future would-be assassins to look for a slanted roof? this is a huge question that every american has. why wasn't a secret service agent on the roof. there are reports that agents were supposed to be on the roof but it was hot that day and didn't want to be on the roof. >> i appreciate you asking me that question, chairman. i should have been more clear in my answer when i spoke about where we placed personnel in that interview. what i can tell you is that there was a plan in place to provide overwatch. we're still looking into responsibilities and who was going to provide overwatch. the secret service in general -- not speaking specifically to this incident, when we're providing overwatch, whether

that be through countersnipers or other technology prefer to have sterile rooftops. >> did the secret service use any drones for surveillance that day? >> again, i'm not going to get into specifics of that day in itself. but there are times during a security plan that the secret service does deploy an asset like a drone. >> there were reports that the shooter used a drone just a few hours before the rally's start time. is that accurate? >> i have heard those same reports. again, i'm waiting for the final report. >> if you can't answer the question, that's your answer. but can you answer this. do you know, do you know -- i'm not asking yes or no, but do you know if the shooter used a drone before the shooting? >> that information has been passed to us from the fbi. >> how many secret service agents were assigned to president trump on the day of the rally? >> again, i'm not going to get into the specifics of the

numbers of personnel that we had there, but we feel that there was a sufficient number of agents assigned. >> there are reports that several agents assigned to the rally on july 13th were temporary agents, agents not normally assigned to president trump. is that accurate? >> what i can tell you is that the agents that were assigned to former president trump with secret service agents that provide close protection to him, and that was what was actual on that day. >> how many temporary agents were there that day? >> quite frequently, sir, during campaign events the secret service utilizes agents from hsi, the department of homeland security -- >> you don't know how many. >> -- to supplement our plan. >> had the investigators reconstructed the shooter's precise movements over the past days, weeks and months? >> so again -- >> we need to have confidence that if the fbi is leading this investigation, that they're leading a credible

investigation. because there's some of us sitting up here today that don't have a lot of confidence in the fbi. i will repeat the question. have the investigators reconstructed the shooter's precise moments over the past days, weeks and months? >> i understand the question. i share your concerns about wanting to make sure we have factual information. the fbi is congress ducting a criminal investigation. the secret service is conducting an internal investigation. there is the external investigation -- >> last question for me. before july 13th, had the trump detail requested additional resources? >> what i can tell you is for the event on july 13th, the details -- the assets that were requested for that day were given. >> okay. my time has expired. the chair recognizes ranking member raskin for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's been reported that before former president trump got up on the stage at around 6:00 p.m. on

saturday, july 13th, that the local police had identified and even photographed a man who was acting suspiciously, and this man who turned out to be the gunman, had been flagged to be a potential threat. is that accurate? >> what i can say is the individual was identified as suspicious. >> so he was known to be suspicious before former president trump took the stage. >> that is the information i received. >> why was he allowed to take the stage with a suspicious person having been identified in the crowd? >> i appreciate the question. i'd like to make two points. if the detail had been passed information that there was a threat, the detail would never have brought the former president out on to stage. that is what we do and that is who we are. we are charged with protecting all of our protectees. >> you distinguish between someone who is suspicious and

someone who is threatening? >> i do. there are a number of times at protective events where suspicious people are identified, and those individuals have to be investigated and determined what is it that identifies that person as suspicious. >> do you deny a request for additional resources that had been made by the trump campaign? >> there were no assets denied for that event in butler on the 13th. >> i see. so you're saying there were requests made for additional assistance for other specific events rather than for the campaign as a whole. is that right? >> i'm sorry. i'm not understanding. >> you seem to say there were not additional resources requested for that event. forgive me for being unfamiliar with this. is it requested event by event, or is it requested just in general for the campaign? >> so if i can explain the advance process, when an event

or venue is identified by, in this case, campaign staff, then the campaign staff works together with secret service agents who conduct an advance, generally that's a five-daytime period, where those discussions are had about what the perimeter is going to look like, what the size of the event s what the venue is. and then from there there's a request made to mitigate potential risks and threat. i'm saying that on that day, the requests that were pushed forward were granted. >> the secret service did not know that the gunman had a weapon before president trump was allowed to get up on the stage? >> to the best of our knowledge and the facts we have at this point, that is correct. >> so can you answer this question which i think is on the mind of most americans thinking about this. how can a 20-year-old with his father's ar-15 assault weapon climb onto a roof with a direct 150-yard line of sight to the speaker's podium without the

secret service or local police stopping him? >> so, again, sir, i will say we are nine days out from this event, and i would like to know those answers as well, which is why we're going through these investigations to be able to determine that fully. >> it's been reported that the shooter was not carrying a driver's license or any form of identification. they had no idea who he was, but then he was quickly identified i think within 30 minutes by using the serial number on the ar-15 under a tracing system that is now controversial. some people say we should get rid of it. some people say we ought to keep it. isn't it right that the serial number was the key information which led to the identification of the shooter? >> that is my understanding, sir, yes. >> okay. if an american citizens were just to stop you and sigh,

director cheatle, we support your work to the tune of billions of dollars and thousands and thousands of employees, what went wrong, what would you say? >> again, knowing that we're nine days out, i would say as i have said from the very outset, i accept responsibility for this tragedy. we are going to look into how this happened and we are going to take corrective action to ensure it never happens again. >> well, i appreciate that, and i hope you will act with vigor and focus and intensity. it seems you understand the gravity and solemnity of this to the american people. millions and millions of americans don't feel safe with all the ar-15s out there. we thought at least the president of the united states or a former president of the united states would feel that. >> mr. jordan from ohio. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> director, were you guessing or lying, the day after

president trump is shot, secret service spokesman anthony gug annie said thes is sergs that they requested security resources that the u.s. secret service or department of homeland security rebuffed is absolutely false. the next day, secretary mayorkas said that is an unequivocally false assertion, we had not received any requests for additional security measures that were rebuffed. five days later "the washington post" said this, top officials repeatedly rejected requests from donald trump's security detail for more personnel. the next day, "the new york times" said this, he acknowledged that the secret service turned down requests for additional federal security assets for mr. trump's detail. so which is it? because both statements can't be true. were you guessing or lying when you said you didn't turn down requests from president trump's detail? >> neither, sir. i appreciate the question. >> what were you doing? because those statements don't

jive. >> so what i can tell you is for the event in butler, there were no requests that were denied. as far as requests -- >> maybe they got tired of asking. maybe you turned them down so darn much and said, not worth asking. how many times did you turn them down ahead of that? >> i think that it is important to distinguish between what some people may view as a denial of an asset or request. >> is mr. gug am many your spokesperson? he said he acknowledged the secret service had turned down some requests. i'm asking how many. >> a denial of a request does not equal a vulnerability. >> tell me what it is. >> there are a number of of ways that threats and risks can be mid gated with a number of different assets, whether that be through personnel, whether that be through technology or other resources. >> tell the committee which it was. they asked for additional help in some form or another.

you told them no. how many times did you tell them no and what did you tell them no to? >> again, i cannot speak to specific incidents. but i can tell you in general terms the secret service is judicious with their resources based on -- >> what does some requests mean? requests is plural. so more than once they asked for additional help and you turned them down. what did they ask for and how many times did you turn them down? pretty basic questions. >> again, without having all the details in front of me -- >> you didn't get briefed on how many files you turned down the trump detail? >> i'm sorry? >> you didn't get briefed on that before coming to this hearing knowing you were going to get asked that question. >> i can tell you in generic terms when people make requests there are times when there are alternate ways to cover off on that risk or set. >>s that not what he said. he said they were denied certain requests. this is your spokesperson, not

me talking. this is the secret service talking. what changed from absolutely false, unequivocally false to, oh, by the way, there were times when we didn't give them what they wanted. that's a huge change in five days. the fact you can't answer how many times you did that, that's pretty darn frustrating, not just for me, but for the country. >> i hear your frustration -- >> let me ask you this. were any of those requests denied to president trump's detail after you knew about the iranian threat? >> what i can tell you -- again, i don't know the specifics -- is there are times when we can fill a request that doesn't necessarily have to be a secret service asset or resource. we can fill that request with locally available assets -- >> have you spoken to anyone at the white house since july 13th. yes, i have. >> who did you talk to? >> i have briefed the president and vice president. >> did you talk to the first lady? >> no, i have not. >> talk to anyone in white house communications? >> no, i have not.

>> have you talked to the counter sniper who took the shot that took out the bad guy? >> yes, i have. >> can you tell us about that conversation? >> i would not want to reveal conversations that i had with my employees. >> that's exactly the kind of information that the american people want to know, the american people who pay your salary. >> i understand. this is an ongoing investigation. >> who is doing the investigation at the secret service? is there an additional investigation inaddition to the attorney general? >> we're conducting a mission assurance investigation internally, yes. >> it looks like, director, you won't answer pretty basic questions, you got a 9% raise and you cut corners when it came to protect thing one of the most well known individuals on the planet, a former president, likely to be the next president. looks like you're cutting corners. >> i am here today because i want to answer questions -- >> you might want to, but i don't think you've answered one question from the chairman, the ranking member or me. weave got a lot of people asking. we'll see if your record improves. right now you haven't answered i

don't think any questions. i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes ms. norton from washington, d.c. >> thank you, mr. chairman. in the summer of 1963 as a law student i traveled to the south to work in the civil rights movement. when i arrived in jackson, mississippi, i was met by civil rights activists who showed me around town and tried to convince me to work in jackson that summer. i recall talking with him and his wife about the raw atmosphere in jackson. later that day he took me to the bus station for my trip to my assignment. that night he was assassinated outside his home. his name was medgar evers. i condemned the political violence. it is a threat to democracy. i want to discuss one of the roots of political violence, guns. for years republicans including a member of this committee have

introduced legislation and amendments to repeal or block the district of columbia gun violence protection laws including its bans on assault weapons and large capacity magazines. the shooter at the trump rally used the mass shooter's gun of choice, an assault weapon, specifically an ar-15 style rifle, and presumably a large capacity magazine which is defined in d.c. as a magazine that can hold more than ten bullets. under current d.c. law, d.c. does not recognize concealed carry permits issued by other jurisdictions, but it does issue concealed carry permits to both residents and non-residents. however, d.c. imposes a number of requirements on concealed

carry applicants including suitability such as not having exhibited a propensity for violence or instability. more over, d.c. residents restricts where the guns can be carried, such as a political demonstration, near the white house and naval observatory or near people under secret service protection provided the permit holder has been given notice. this week the house is expected to consider the fiscal year 2025 financial services and general government appropriations bill. this republican-drafted bill would allow an individual with a permit to carry a concealed handgun issued by a state or territory to carry a concealed

handgun in d.c. regardless of that jurisdiction's permit requirements. a republican has filed an amendment to that provision to allow such an individual to carry a magazine of any size with that handgun. in short, the pending bill and amendment would allow any person with a carry permit issued by another jurisdiction to carry a concealed handgun with a magazine of any size in any location in the district of columbia. the secret service is responsible for protecting a large number of people and facilities in d.c. director cheatle, would secret service protectees in d.c. be saver or less safe if people who have exhibited a propensity for

violence or instability could carry a concealed handgun -- concealed handguns in d.c.? >> i think being a secret service agent and an officer or a law enforcement officer in any state is difficult. they are required to make decisions and snap judgments in the blink of an eye. i think that the officers and the agents that work here in the d.c. area do a great job of monitoring the public and reacting to threats as appropriate when they arise. >> would secret service protectees in d.c. be safer or less safe if people in d.c. could carry concealed handguns with large capacity magazines? >> i think, ma'am, that we work in parameters where we travel around north america, and the rules on open carry and

concealed carry are different from state to state, and that is part of what the secret service takes into account when we develop a security plan. obviously anyone that comes into one of our protective sites, we would establish magnetometer support, metal detectors that people would have to process through eliminating that potential. >> would secret service protectees in d.c. be safer or less safe if more people can carry handguns in d.c.? >> as i stated, we want to make sure we provide a safe environment for all our pro techees and whatever measures we needed to put in place, we would do so. >> the chair recognizes mr. turner from ohio. >> director cheatle, your opening statement indicates that the secret service constructed a security plan for the site in pennsylvania. i'm assuming that security plan would also include the security footprint for the site, but it

also would be based upon a threat assessment for the risk threats associated with donald trump and the crowd in attendance. would it not include a threat assessment? >> yes, it would. >> that threat assessment, as we know basically, what it started with is a generalized threat against donald trump because he's a president pal campaign dat. then it goes to he's a former president and he gets protection. then the heightened political environment. even for those, it's clear the security foot on ite print, permitting a 20-year-old to enter with a weapon and shoot donald trump. i want to ask you about two other aspects of the threat assessment. tt known and public that iran is a threat risk for donald trump. they're a threat risk for john bolton, former secretary of state pompeii know and donald trump. they have indicated they want to assassinate them as a result of retaliation for the killing of

soleimani. that's for iran a generalized threat, they're targeting these individuals. most recently a specific threat to donald trump himself. i want to enter into the record by uc a department of justice public affairs release, a cnn article, an article from fox news and an article from cbs, all of which -- >> without objection, so ordered. >> -- that this threat exists for donald trump from iran and that there are specific threats most recently that have been acknowledged. director cheatle, have you read the intelligence of the generalized threat to donald trump by iran as a result of their desire to retaliate for s. >> i have. >> have you read or been briefed about the intelligence of the specific recent threat to donald trump from iran? >> yes, i have.

>> directo wray indicated that he thought the threat assessment should have included this threat from iran. is it your testimony today that the threat assessment since you've read this intelligence was sufficient to protect him from this threat from iran? >> my testimony today is that the information that we had at the time was known, that -- >> was it sufficient? director cheatle was it sufficient for the iranian threat that you said you have read the intelligence briefings for? >> that information was passed to -- >> i'm not asking the bureaucratic issue of who did it get passed around to. director cheatle, was it sufficient for the specific and generalized threat to donald trump's life from iran? >> yes, i do believe it was. >> director cheatle, is an iranian assassin more capable than a 20-year-old? >> sir, i think we've acknowledged that there was gaps

and a failure that day. we are not -- >> when i raised this issue where director wray, he was incensed. he was shocked that the threat of assessment of iran did not seem to be as baked into your security footprint and your threat assessment. he went on to say that the generalized threat that he has told the whole country that we are under from a terrorist, a potential terrorist threat, he has said we're under the highest threat level since 9/11, people have crossed the southern border as a result of the biden administration's policy and that there are in our country today terrorists and individuals who are affiliated with terrorist groups and organizations. that would be a heightened threat environment, director cheatle, would it not? >> yes. >> in his public statements he has said he's making these statements because he wants people to take them into consideration in threat assessments specifically. now, that would be a threat not just to donald trump but it

would also be a threat to the crowd there, wouldn't it? >> yes. >> are isis terrorists and al qaeda terrorists and international groups and terrorists, more capable than a 20-year-old in pulling off their mass shooting or an assassination of donald trump? >> sir, again, there was clearly a breakdown and a failure that day. >> have you read the intelligence of the terrorists that are currently in the united states that director wray speaks and those individuals that are here that are affiliated with terrorist groups and organizations that are in the process as director wray said of representing a significant threat of a terrorist attack occurring in the united states? >> i have read reports that apply specifically to the secret service's mission. >> director cheatle, because donald trump is alive and thank god he is, you look incompetent. if donald trump had been killed you would have looked culpable. there is no aspect of this that indicates that there has been any protection to donald trump.

the threat was identified before he took the stage and the shooter was only killed after donald trump himself was killed. not only should you resign if you should do so, president biden needs to fire you because his life, donald trump's life, and all the other people which you protect are at risk because you have no concept of the aspect that the security footprint needs to be correlated to the threat. i yield back. >> chair now recognizes mr. leech from massachusetts. >> thank you, mr. chairman. director cheatle, there were multiple security failures at the former president's rally in butler, pennsylvania. first of all, there was a failure to isolate the podium from exposure to direct fire. do we know who made that decision to allow that rooftop to remain as an unprotected area? do we know who came up with that

security plan that omitted that? >> sir, i don't have a specific person to identify for you. >> okay, well, that's what i'm looking for so let's move on. >> there's also a breakdown in security in failure to confront the shooter over an hour p before the former president began his remarks when the shooter was identified as a person of interest. what particularly allowed agents or law enforcement to identify him as a person of interest? >> sir, i appreciate the question, and again, i will say that we are nine days out, and there are multitude of interviews that are still taking place. >> okay, so did he have a range finder? there were some reports that the individual had a range finder. that would certainly raise my suspicion. did he have a range finder? >> yes, he did, but may i explain that at a number of our sites, especially when you're at

outdoor venues a range finder is not a prohibited item. it is sometimes an item brought in by individuals who are going to be in the back. >> did anybody confront him on that? anybody ask him questions, what are you doing with a range finder? anybody confront him on his presence where he was in proximity to the president? >> so again, to my knowledge, i believe that that was the process that was taking place was to locate the individual -- >> did they confront him? did they go up to him? did they talk to him? >> i do not have those details at this time. >> those are important details. >> there was also failure to communicate to law enforcement to act quickly upon information provided by either local law enforcement or rally attendees that the suspect was positioned on the roof. there were minutes of delay before any meaningful action was taken, even though he was several hundred feet from the

podium and this was obviously minutes before the shooting. let me ask you, there was considerable delay in removing the president from the podium after the shooting began. there was a shot in the air, it was still over a minute before he was removed from the stage. meanwhile, this shooter had multiple clips, several clips. he got off eight shots, and he had the capacity and the ability if he was not neutralized to basically mow down that whole secret service detachment as well as the president. what, from your own investigation caused that delay under the circumstances? >> what i can tell you is that when the agents identified that the shooting was taking place in under three seconds, they threw

themselves onto the president. >> i understand there was heroism there, no question about it, no question about it. but protocol would indicate and these are -- you know, these are the opinions of various former secret service agents, people who have done this work in the past that over a minute of exposure on that podium with a shooter with a high capacity weapon who had already wounded the president and could have got off we don't know how many more rounds and, yet, the president remained exposed, even though he was joined in that exposure by the secret service in their heroic acts. it just -- i don't know if there's a good explanation for that. >> our personnel created a body bunker on top of the president. >> i get that. >> shielding him. >> yeah, this was an ar-15 style

weapon that would have made pretty quick work if he was determined and able to do so. this is not the first investigation that we've had of the secret service during my time here on this committee, and the last one we had our previous investigation determined that the secret service was experiencing a staffing crisis that poses perhaps the greatest threat to the agency, and that's a quote. is that staffing crisis still in place? is that still something that you deal with on a daily basis? >> as of today, the secret service has just over 8,000 employees. we continue to hire knowing that we need to ensure that we keep pace with -- >> what would be the full complement of -- >> and gentleman, time's expired, but please answer the question. >> i'm sorry. >> what would be the full complement that you're looking for? you've got 8,000, and how many would be a full complement for the service? >> we are still striving towards a number of 9,500 employees

approximately in order to be able to meet future and emerging needs. >> okay. thank you, mr. chairman, for your courtesy. i yield back. >> chair recognizes dr. fox from north carolina. >> thank you, mr. chairman. director cheatle -- >> and you've been watching the director of the secret service facing questions from lawmakers on the house oversight committee with just over a week after the attempted assassination of former president donald trump. >> and it comes after top republicans have called on director kimberly cheatle to resign. director cheatle testifying a little bit earlier that the secret service, quote, failed saying that she takes full responsibility for the attack against trump. we're going to continue to monitor this hearing. and joining us now from capitol hill is correspondent ali vitali, and former secret service special agent, ev vi pom pour ras who's been listening with us. >> it got tense at various moments. that's what we expected. the thing that caught my attention most in the secret