Republican Florida Rep. Greg Steube said today he has filed articles of impeachment against Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who dodged questions during an intense hearing today in the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. During that hearing, members from both parties demanded Cheatle resign, which she refused to do.
Last year, Steube was one of a handful of congressional representatives who filed impeachment articles against President Joe Biden; these were not taken up by the Senate, however.
The article of impeachment against Cheatle is for dereliction of duty by failing to ensure the safety of Donald Trump, who is the leading 2024 Presidential candidate. The Secret Service made decisions that enabled a shooter to target and injure President Trump in an attempted assassination, and to kill an American citizen who was behind Trump.
“The Secret Service calls themselves ‘one of the most elite law enforcement agencies in the world’. What happened under their watch in Butler, Pennsylvania was an international embarrassment and an inexcusable tragedy,” said Steube. “Today I’m exercising our Congressional authority of oversight by filing an article of impeachment against Director Cheatle for her dereliction of duty as it relates to the assassination attempt on President Trump’s life. As she said herself in a recent interview, the “buck stops with me.” Multiple confirmed reports show that the Secret Service Sniper had the would-be assassin in his sights for almost 20 minutes. How was the would-be assassin not neutralized before he shot? Every supervisor in that chain of command should be fired immediately and that starts with the Director. An American hero is dead and several severely wounded as a result of the Secret Service failure to protect President Trump. There are also multiple reports that Trump’s detail had repeatedly requested additional resources for safety and were denied. All in the chain of command including the Director should be held responsible,” Steube wrote in his statement.
“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,” he said.
It’s been widely reported that the Secret Service knew of a threat to President Trump before he went out on stage, and that agents had identified the shooter as a person of interest over an hour before the shots were fired.
A Secret Service counter sniper had spotted the shooter on the rooftop with a direct line of sight to President Trump’s stage 20 minutes before the shots were fired.
“By Providence alone, President Trump survived the attempt on his life while being grazed by a bullet that injured his ear. Tragically, a rally attendee, Corey Comperatore, was fatally struck by a bullet in the attack and other rally attendees were injured,” Steube said.
View the Impeachment Article linked here.
In his impeachment articles against Biden in 2023, Steube listed crimes of bribery, extortion, obstruction of justice, fraud and financial involvement in drugs & prostitution as reasons to impeach Biden.
Steube said the president had undermined the integrity of his office, brought disrepute on the Presidency, betrayed his trust as President, and acted in a manner subversive of the rule of law and justice at the expense of America’s citizens. The evidence continues to mount by the day – the Biden Crime Family has personally profited off Joe’s government positions through bribery, threats, and fraud. Joe Biden must not be allowed to continue to sit in the White House, selling out our country.”
Those articles of impeachment were as follows:
Article 1: “Robert Hunter Biden (Hunter Biden) and James Biden sold access to then Vice President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. (Joe Biden) while he was in office from 2009 to 2017 and sold promised access to a future Biden Presidential Administration while he was out of office from 2017 to 2021. Hunter and James appear to have promised official actions by Joe Biden in return for payments and business opportunities from foreign and domestic business partners. Joe Biden assisted by making appearances, phone calls, meeting with the ‘business partners,’ and knowingly allowing his family members to promise access to him and actions by him in furtherance of these schemes. Hunter Biden threatened business partners that official actions could be taken against them if they did not meet terms or make payments. In at least one instance, Hunter implied that Joe Biden was aware of these threats and willing to assist in enforcing the threats, potentially through official actions. Hunter Biden attempted to enrich himself and the Biden family by threatening official actions from his father, who he claims was willing to assist in the scheme. These acts are abuses of power as well as the following federal crimes or conspiracy to commit the following federal crimes: Bribery of Public Officials, 18 USC § 201; Hobbs Act Extortion ‘Under Color of Official Right,’ 18 USC § 1951; Honest Services Fraud relating to use of official position, 18 USC § 1346.”
Article 2: “According to testimony from IRS whistleblowers, members of the Biden campaign improperly colluded with Justice Department (DOJ) officials to improperly interfere with investigations into tax crimes alleged to have been committed by Hunter Biden. These acts constitute an abuse of power as well as Obstruction of Justice, 18 USC §§ 1505, 1510, 1512.”
The Senate, run by the Democratic Party, refused to take up the articles last year. Still run by Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris as a spare vote if there was a tie, it’s unlikely this article of impeachment will proceed.