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Interview With Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA); Secret Service Director Resigns. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 23, 2024 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:01:14]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer here in Washington.

We begin this hour with major breaking news. The director of the U.S. Secret Service has resigned. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have been calling on Kimberly Cheatle to step down following the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

During Monday's very intense House Oversight Committee hearing, she took full responsibility for the July 13 security failure, but struggled to answer many questions about how the shooter was able to come so close to killing a former president of the United States.

Let's go to CNN's Arlette Saenz. She's joining us from Rehoboth Beach in Delaware right now. That's where President Biden has been recuperating from COVID.

I understand, Arlette, we just have a statement from the Biden administration?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, we have the first reaction from President Biden to this news that Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has tendered her resignation.

The president in a statement thanked her for her service, noting that she stepped up to lead the Secret Service at the -- in the middle of his administration, and adding -- quote -- "As a leader, it takes honor, courage and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service."

President Biden went on to say that he believes the independent review into the assassination attempt against Donald Trump should continue and will continue and said that he intends to name a new director for the Secret Service soon.

Now, President Biden had appointed Kimberly Cheatle to lead the Secret Service back in 2022. She's actually had a long relationship with the Biden family. She had been part of the vice president -- or then-vice president's security detail for both him and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, during the Obama administration.

Just a few days after that assassination attempt against Donald Trump, White House press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had said that the president did have confidence in Cheatle, even as the Secret Service and the agency had really been under intense scrutiny in the immediate aftermath and the next week that followed that assassination attempt.

Now, we are still waiting to hear whether President Biden has directly spoken with Cheatle since she tendered her resignation. He remains here at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and should be leaving in the coming hours to return to the White House.

That could also be an opportunity for the president to potentially speak to reporters about this as he is departing here in Delaware. But, this morning, President Biden is acknowledging Cheatle's service, thanking her for that, and saying that he does intend to appoint a new Secret Service director soon.

BLITZER: All right, Arlette, we will stay in close touch with you.

Arlette Saenz in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

CNN's Zach Cohen is monitoring all these late-breaking, very significant developments for us.

Zach, what are you learning?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Wolf, we're also hearing from DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in the wake of Director Kimberly Cheatle's resignation.

He similarly thanks Director Cheatle for her leadership as the director of the Secret Service and for her lifelong devotion to our country.

Now, Wolf, I want to make clear that this comes immediately after yesterday's very contentious and very frustrating, for lawmakers, hearing on Capitol Hill, where Director Cheatle really refused to provide any sort of detail about the security failures that led up to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump's life on July 13.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle called on her to resign, including the chairman and ranking member of the Oversight Committee after yesterday's hearing. Before yesterday's hearing, even, House Speaker Mike Johnson met in person with Director Cheatle, and I'm told he urged her to resign during that meeting as well.

So, things seem to have been bubbling under the surface for a while, but, yesterday, the bipartisan calls for Cheatle to step down seem to have tipped the scales into the development we're seeing today. She's officially stepping down, tendering her resignation.

[11:05:11]

BLITZER: Yes, under an enormous amount of pressure, not just from Republicans, but from Democrats as well, including Democratic leaders in the House who were watching that hearing yesterday.

Zach, thank you very much.

Evan Perez is with us as well

What are you hearing from your sources, Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well...

BLITZER: Will she leave right away, or does she wait a little bit? What's going on?

PEREZ: No, I think the plan is for her to go as soon as possible.

And the hearing yesterday made it untenable for her to stay. I mean, her plan, from what I'm told, Wolf, was to stay at least through the Democratic National Convention, try to make sure that everything and all the security preparations, which, of course, are a big undertaking and a big concern for the U.S. government, for the national security apparatus of this country, for her to stay through that.

And in the end, what was decided, you saw very little -- you see very little in Washington that joins Republicans and Democrats to agreement, but yesterday's hearing was truly awful. And everyone at the Homeland Security Department, at the -- in the administration recognized that from yesterday's performance.

One of the things that really stood out to me yesterday, Wolf, was the fact that there were simple questions that she would not answer, certainly at the beginning of the hearing, but then after getting the same questions about 16 or 17 times, she relented and half-answered some of them.

And that's an indication of someone who doesn't have a lot of practice, doesn't have a lot of experience testifying before Congress. She spent 29 years at the Secret Service. And that's what you see here from the Homeland Security officials.

They're thanking her for coming back from retirement to do this job, but, clearly, once this crisis emerged, there was very little from her that really inspired a lot of confidence about the way she was handling this, about the way she was responding to it.

It's one of those -- it's one of those things that you see from yesterday's hearing was, it was clear that she wasn't going to last very, very much longer.

BLITZER: And it moved very, very quickly from yesterday's hearing to now, this announcement that she is...

PEREZ: Yes.

BLITZER: ... out at the U.S. Secret Service.

All right, Evan, thank you very much.

I remember when you and I were both watching that hearing yesterday, and she wasn't answering so many of these questions.

PEREZ: It was astonishing, right?

BLITZER: We were both wondering, what the hell is going on? Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREZ: It was very astonishing.

And, certainly, look the problem for the Secret Service now is to how to fix or change things to make sure that this doesn't happen again and to do it while they're also investigating what happened, what went wrong.

It was clear that they needed to make some fixes as quickly as possible.

BLITZER: I want to go to Capitol Hill.

Manu Raju, our chief congressional correspondent, is monitoring these developing -- developments for us right now.

So, getting any immediate reaction Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of members both sides of the aisle really are happy that she has stepped aside, calling it long overdue, really, Democrats who were equally as critical as many Republicans were in the aftermath of her performance at the hearing, and simply believing that she has lost the confidence of the Secret Service.

Remember, the House was potentially moving to go in -- move ahead with an impeachment resolution to charge her with high crimes or misdemeanors as soon as tomorrow. That would have been -- that was pushed by Congresswoman Nancy Mace.

The speaker of the House actually did not indicate he was necessarily supportive of going that route, believing, as he said, sheer incompetence is not enough to rise to the notion of a high crime or misdemeanor. But it showed you the pressure that she was under from Capitol Hill to step aside.

The speaker himself, as he had a private meeting with the Secret Service director yesterday to raise his concerns directly to her, he reacted immediately after the resignation announcement. And he said this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): She just resigned?

QUESTION: She just resigned. Can you say how this changes oversight of the assassination attempt now?

JOHNSON: Well, she must have been watching our press conference. I'm glad she did the right thing. Look, our reaction, the immediate reaction to her resignation is that it is overdue. She should have done this at least a week ago. I'm happy to see that. I'm happy to see that she has heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Johnson and the Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries are establishing a task force to -- a bipartisan task force to investigate the assassination attempt, so this will be a bipartisan effort going forward, just as it was bipartisan calls for her to step aside from this post.

But there has been so much criticism over Kimberly Cheatle's role in all of this. I just also caught up, Wolf, with the Homeland Security Committee chairman, Mark Green, who told me that she had made what he called a -- quote -- "false statement" to him when he was talking to her in the aftermath of this assassination attempt.

He said that she indicated she was unable to get information because the FBI prohibited her, he said, from asking questions to her own staff about everything that went on. That is something he said the FBI is disputing, saying that she had made a false claim to her (sic) about that.

[11:10:08]

So it just really shows you, Wolf, the distrust that existed on Capitol Hill on both sides of the aisle, and one big reason why she had really no other choice but to resign or face other action from Congress, as confidence was clearly lost in her ability to do the job, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, leading House Democrats, not just Republicans, but leading House Democrats, were also coming out very, very strongly urging her to step down. And she has right now.

Manu, we will get back to you in a moment.

Speaking of the FBI, I want to bring in Andrew McCabe, our law enforcement analyst, the former deputy director of the FBI.

Andrew, what's your reaction to this dramatic development?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, like -- I think, like most observers, I think this was -- we saw this coming, and not just because of her really damaging day on the Hill yesterday. That certainly sealed the deal.

But there's been a number of issues that have come up in the wake of this attack that have really raised questions about the former director and her team and the way they're handling communication and liaison work. They failed to show up at the first law enforcement press conference following the attempted assassination.

In the days following, the director made negative statements about their law enforcement, their local law enforcement partners who worked on the site with them, which was really odd and probably uncalled for. She had some misstatements made by her communications folks in terms of whether or not resources had been denied the Trump detail.

So it's been a rocky road since the -- since the attempted assassination. And then yesterday, her choice to come to the hearing without providing really any specific information about the event whatsoever was just really, really strange and obviously provoked the ire of members on both sides.

And by the end of the hearing, I mean, you watched it. Evan watched it. We all saw where this was going. I think her move today is the right one. Again, she served her country nobly for almost 30 years in the Secret Service, came back after retirement to take the director's job.

I think she's an honorable person who has done a lot for her country. But this situation became untenable. And it was clearly she made the choice to go.

BLITZER: She kept saying during her testimony yesterday when she was supposedly going to be answering questions from the lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, she kept saying she couldn't answer that question because of the FBI current investigation into what exactly happened with the attempted assassination attempt against the former president.

What was your reaction when she kept saying the FBI doesn't want her -- suggesting the FBI doesn't want her to answer those kinds of questions?

MCCABE: I was really struck by that, Wolf, because it's not -- in a situation like this, where there is no pending criminal prosecution, right, we don't have anyone under arrest who's going to be prosecuted, so there's really not the same sort of imperative situation to hold back information to protect it for the prosecution, to avoid compromising the prosecution or prejudicing the defendant.

Here, this is simply an intelligence collection to find out what happened. We also know that she said in her testimony yesterday that she had been on the call when Director Wray provided a lot of factual information to the members. She had heard that information. She was on that call.

So it's inconceivable to me that she wouldn't have been able to at least share that level of factual detail. And, finally, I know from my own experience, we work very closely, the FBI works very closely with Secret Service. We coordinate on issues like this very closely.

It felt to me like, if she had reached out to Director Wray and cleared ahead of time the sort of information she wanted to use and wanted to reveal to Congress, I'm sure they could have come up with some sort of an agreement that would have better satisfied the members yesterday.

BLITZER: Listening to that hearing yesterday, as I did, Andrew, it seemed to me the biggest blunder that was made was that there was a suspicious guy on top of a flat roof not very far away from where the former president in the United States was speaking, and that he had a range finder and all this other kind of suspicious equipment.

But, apparently, nothing was done about that.

MCCABE: It's an incredible oversight, Wolf.

What we now know is what you just recited. We know that this young man went to the site hours beforehand. He then left to go buy ammunition. He came back, was spotted numerous times, once using a range finder on the site. I mean, that alone should have been enough to stop him, to detain him temporarily, and to interview him and search him for potentially other dangerous items.

[11:15:08]

That would -- that alone would have been enough to essentially neutralize him as a threat. But, of course, that was not done. So we need an investigation now to tell us exactly how that situation was communicated or not communicated to understand where the flaws are in that system to ensure that doesn't happen again, because, very clearly, this guy was on the radar before former President Trump came out on the stage.

Had it been communicated effectively, they could have easily kept him back until this gentleman was found and removed from the scene.

BLITZER: Yes, they have got to do a full-scale commission of inquiry right now to make sure they learn all the lessons of what exactly happened and didn't happen in order to make sure it doesn't happen again, especially as this political season is really getting going right now.

Already, they have told the Trump campaign no more outdoor rallies, at least for now. You can have an indoor rally, as he did over the past few days, but no more outdoor rallies. It's a lot easier, a lot better for the Secret Service, the FBI, law enforcement to control a situation indoors, as opposed to outdoors. Is that right?

MCCABE: That's absolutely true.

Indoors, you control the entire environment. You control who enters, who exits, what sort of identification is required of all those people. There's no question. Everyone gets magnetometered. Everyone gets searched before they come in. You really almost eliminate the possibility of people inside that perimeter with weapons.

And that reduces the threat picture dramatically.

BLITZER: And let me say a nice word about the Secret Service. I spent seven years as a White House correspondent and worked closely with the U.S. Secret Service. They not only were protecting the president, the vice president and other officials, but also protecting those of us in the news media as well. So we're grateful to the Secret Service for all that they do.

Obviously, a major blunder occurred over the past few days with this assassination attempt against former President Trump. But the Secret Service does incredibly important work. I can personally testify to that, and I'm sure you agree with me.

MCCABE: Absolutely.

BLITZER: Andrew, thanks very much.

I want to go back to Arlette Saenz. She's covering the president in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he's been under isolation over these past several days since he was -- tested positive for COVID.

What are you hearing now, Arlette?

SAENZ: But, Wolf, President Biden is expected to depart Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, in a short while.

And we are just learning that he is planning to address the nation tomorrow evening about his decision to bow out of the 2024 race. The president posted on social media just a short while ago, saying that these remarks would take place at 8:00 p.m. in the Oval Office and that he would talk about what lies ahead "and how I will finish the job for the American people."

Now, when President Biden announced that he was withdrawing from the 2024 race in that letter posted on social media Sunday, he said that it was his intent to address the nation about his decision going forward. These likely would be the first major substantive remarks that we would hear from President Biden about his decision to bow out of the race.

Just yesterday, he did call in to a meeting at the campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, where Vice President Kamala Harris was speaking. And the president in those remarks really urged his team to fully embrace her and pledged to remain fully engaged in this campaign to try to elect Kamala Harris as president in November.

Now, President Biden will be returning to the White House in just a short while. He does have a few public events on his schedule for this week. He is expected, we're told, to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, as well as meet with the families of the American hostages who are believed to be held in Gaza.

But, certainly, this speech from President Biden will be watched very closely after he announced that stunning and unprecedented decision not to seek reelection just a few months out from the 2024 race happening in November.

Now, the president, we're still learning to hear when exactly he might be hitting the campaign trail for Harris, but he has pledged to do whatever he can to help her going forward. But this will be closely watched, as President Biden, of course, has had a decades-long career in Washington, D.C., making that stunning decision, a very personal decision, not to seek reelection, and instead turned his focus to helping elect Harris going forward.

BLITZER: And I assume we can assume, Arlette, that the president is no longer testing positive for COVID. Has the White House said anything, his physician, anybody else about how he's feeling?

SAENZ: Well, his doctor, Kevin O'Connor, sent a letter yesterday updating the public on the president's condition, a reminder that he had tested positive for COVID on Wednesday while traveling in Las Vegas, Nevada, and then actually traveled here to his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he has been isolating this entire time.

[11:20:03]

Now, Dr. O'Connor, in his letter yesterday said that the president's symptoms are almost completely resolved. We do not know if he, in fact, was testing a negative for COVID, but they have gotten the clearance for him to start -- to travel back to the White House as he is facing this important moment tomorrow, prepared to address the nation about his decision in the 2024 race.

BLITZER: And we, of course, wish him a very, very speedy recovery from COVID.

All right, Arlette, thank you very, very much.

And we will take a quick break. We will have much more on the breaking news coverage of the Secret Service director issuing her resignation just moments ago.

Stay with us. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:25:19]

BLITZER: Our breaking news this hour: The director of the U.S. Secret Service has resigned.

CNN's Evan Perez is joining me right now.

Evan, I know you have got the letter that she submitted with her resignation.

PEREZ: Right.

This is the letter that she sent to the men and women of the Secret Service. Our Holmes Lybrand obtained a copy of the letter that she sent to the troops, essentially, where she acknowledged again that the Secret Service fell short of its mission on July 13.

And I will read just a part of what she says.

She says: "As I have stated, the Secret Service will move forward with our investigatory and protective mission in a steadfast manner. We do not retreat from challenge. However, I do not want calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you and do towards our final mission."

Wolf, she goes on to say: "It is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director."

Obviously, she read the room. She read what happened yesterday and realized that she was not -- it was not tenable for her to remain. And keep in mind, there were more hearings that were planned. There were demands for her to show up again and answer more questions.

And it is one of those difficult things that, as Andrew just noted, there were different ways for her to prepare for this hearing, for her to answer those questions that could have protected those investigations. Again, keep in mind, there is no one who is going to be tried for the crime of taking shots against the former president.

That person is dead. So it does change your calculation as to what you can reveal to the public, and she just chose not to do that. And it's one of those things that really ended up costing her job.

BLITZER: Thirty years, almost 30 years in the U.S. Secret Service.

PEREZ: Almost 30 years.

BLITZER: And now she is out as a result of these developments.

All right, Evan, thanks very, very much.

I want to discuss what's going on with a key member of the House Oversight Committee that questioned Cheatle only yesterday. Congressman Ro Khanna of California is joining us right now.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

So, what's your reaction? I know you actually called for her to step down in a public statement yesterday.

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Well, I'm glad she did.

I mean, it's just not tenable for her to continue in that role, because she's lost the confidence of too many Americans. And I hope that President Biden will appoint someone with an impeccable background who's not political, who can restore confidence in that agency.

BLITZER: What are your top concerns right now about the Secret Service? What are you most worried about?

KHANNA: Well, first, whether they have transparency in getting to the bottom of what happened and provide much more detailed and better answers to the American people.

Frankly, they should be doing daily briefings on the investigation. Second, do they have the resources to be able to protect our leaders at a time of increasing threats?

BLITZER: Knowing what we know now, what should the Secret Service have done that they didn't do that allowed this assassination attempt against the former president of the United States to take place?

KHANNA: Well, we need to see the results of the investigation, but it seems that they should not have been denying the requests for additional manpower in terms of protecting the former president.

And if it really was a resource issue, they should have come to Speaker Johnson, Leader Jeffries, Senator Schumer, and said we need more appropriation, emergency appropriation to be able to hire more people. It's -- they never did that.

And now we need to make sure going forward that everyone has the adequate protection.

BLITZER: In recent weeks and months, there's been such a division between Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives. But on this specific issue, whether she should step down, there seemed to be a unanimous agreement.

Top leaders of the Democratic Party, top leaders of the Republican Party, the leadership, if you will, both parties were quickly condemning her failures. And even though she took full responsibility for this major failure, it seemed everyone almost up on Capitol Hill wanted her to resign.

KHANNA: There was a recognition she just couldn't continue.

I mean, we have so much misinformation on social media, conspiracy theories. You can't have a good chunk of the country not trusting the leadership of the Secret Service and continue. It's not about personal blame. There will be plenty of time to see who was responsible. It's about having a leader who has the trust of the American people.

And it's going to be very important for the president to pick someone who will have trust from conservatives, liberals and all across the political spectrum.

BLITZER: We will see who that new director is going to be.

Congressman Ro Khanna, thanks so much for joining us.

KHANNA: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we're going to take another quick break. We will continue our breaking news coverage right after this.