Amid bipartisan criticism, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle announced her decision to resign Tuesday after the agency failed to prevent a 20-year-old gunman from opening fire on former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in the US state of Pennsylvania earlier this month. During a heated congressional hearing, Cheatle admitted it was the US Secret Service’s (USSS) most shocking failure since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. While Cheatle appeared committed to retaining her position and promised to investigate the incident, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle called for her to step down as her testimony failed to produce confidence in her continued leadership.
Writer and journalist Dan Lazare joined Sputnik’s Political Misfits program Tuesday to discuss the Secret Services' high-profile fumble, as well as US Vice President Kamala Harris’ shot at the White House. Lazare suggested that agency reforms are possible and hinted that Harris is not the Democratic pick Republicans wanted to see. “I'm sure we'll see some [Secret Service] reforms.
No doubt about it. The situation in Pennsylvania was really badly handled,” said Lazare. “They farmed out some responsibilities to the local police and whenever that happens you sort of create a rift, a jurisdictional rift, into which an awful lot of stuff can fall.
” Democratic and Republican leaders announced Tuesday they would set up a bipartisan task force to investigate the attempt on the former president's life. The panel will consist of seven Republicans and six Democrats, House Speaker Mike Johnson stated. “In this case it seems to be the worst thing possible that this assassin – would-be assassin – fell through the cracks in between the two jurisdictions, and that Trump came within a millimeter of being killed,” Lazare added.
“And Cheatle was forced to fall on her sword. But that is the way the game is played. The problem is that there are so many other foul ups that no one ever falls on their sword, everyone passes the buck to someone else.
So, this is a rare case in which someone actually takes responsibility.” “And I think that Democrats and Republicans – the Democrats, especially – felt they had to line up with Republicans and demand Cheatle's head on a platter and to vow that fundamental changes would take place. Democrats don't want to look like they're setting up Trump for another hit, right? That's the last thing they want to appear to be doing.
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webp" } ], "width": 1920, "height": 768 } Americas US Secret Service Director Resigns Over Trump Assassination Attempt 14:47 GMT Harris’ previous campaign for the White House, which began in January 2019, failed to live up to party leaders’ expectations, the Washington Post reported , citing an unnamed Democratic strategist. At the time Harris did not appear to be the most eligible Democratic candidate who could go up against Trump, Sputnik’s Michelle Witte noted. “There was a poll recently that showed that more Republicans than Democrats wanted Biden to stay in the race.
I mean, Biden was a dream candidate as far as Trump was concerned,” Lazare explained. “It would have been a breeze to win over him and Harris will be much tougher. Harris was a dreadful candidate back in 2019.
She didn't even make it into 2020.” “But running in a primary is a bit different than running in a general campaign. A primary is a beauty contest and she didn't do very well, but a campaign's a different thing.
She's up against Trump and this actually may show her best side. We don't know,” he continued. “She's spoken a few times the last couple of days.
I've been actually somewhat impressed with how she's come off but we'll see, and I think she'll probably do better than most people expect.” “And certainly abortion is her issue. She's going to use that as much as she can.
She's going to accuse Trump of secretly planning to impose a nationwide abortion ban. And that is a credible charge. So, I think that she will be able to hit him really hard on that,” the show’s guest added.
“But there's the economy. There's war. There are a lot of other bad things.
” While US Senator JD Vance (R-OH) is thought to appeal to white working class Trump supporters – as Trump himself has become a politician who now appeals to traditional pro-business Republican Party constituencies – Vance will not be able to discuss issues including women’s rights, abortion or reproductive health to the degree Harris will, Witte argued. Those issues have proven to be a major liability to the Republican Party, losing them moderate voters. “Inflation has really, really hurt people, and that's going to hurt Harris.
So it's gonna be a very tough, very close race. I think that Trump has a real fight on his hands. And as for Vance, he has all this moral majority baggage,” Lazare explained.
“Vance is a kind of a right-wing nationalist who believes in tough love that Americans have gotta have abortion taken away from them. They're going to have their drugs taken away from them,” he added. “They've got to have online porn taken away from them so they can get down to business and a lot of the electorate is not going to like that, but some of the electorate actually may be favorably disposed.
And Vance is very articulate. He's very smart. He's a good performer.
So, I just wouldn't count him out.” { "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://cdn1.
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jpg.webp" } ], "width": 1920, "height": 768 } Americas Kamala Harris’ Second Presidential Campaign to Fail - Just Like Her First? Yesterday, 07:29 GMT.
