As we've been reporting, some Republicans critical of the Secret Service have suggested that the agency's effort to hire more women and putting Cheatle as its head are negatively affecting its security abilities.

Some have noted the number of women on former President Trump's security detail.

Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett slams Cheatle for failing to answer basic questions, ending his remarks by labelling her a "DEI horror story".

This draws the first major contrast between the two parties in this hearing, as Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett pushes back against the critique of diversity, equity and inclusion goals.

Cheatle takes the opportunity to dismiss the DEI argument, stating that the security lapse was a result of gaps in communication and planning.

Crockett goes on to ask whether bias training may have been to blame for leading Secret Service agents to not view a young white man as a threat even though he held a gun and rangefinder.

She also mentions that political violence is on the rise in the country and that members of Congress themselves are engaged in violent rhetoric.

"Maybe we should point the finger at ourselves", too, Crockett says.

In her questioning, Democrat Rashida Tlaib earlier lamented the gun violence and easy access to weapons in the US.

"These incidents are never isolated," she told Cheatle.

Tlaib asked what information Cheatle has on the Detroit Free Press report that alleges the shooter had previously looked up the Oxford High School shooting in 2021 - which killed four high school students.

Cheatle was unable to respond, citing an ongoing FBI investigation.

"We just can't continue to allow this to happen," Tlaib said.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Capitol Hill

It's been more than three hours since the hearing began here at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill.

When the hearing began, lawmakers crowded the front of the room, with almost every seat taken for opening remarks from Cheatle, chairman James Comer and ranking Democrat Jamie Raskin.

There are, in total, 47 members of the committee. But the room is now, for the most part, empty of lawmakers.

From where I am sitting, I count just 11.

Of those, eight are Republicans, which includes Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Anna Paulina Luna, Tim Burchett and Comer, the chairman.

Besides Raskin, there are two Democrats still in the room: Massachusetts's Ayanna Presley and Texas' Jasmine Crockett, who has been in and out of the room for the last few hours.

Another, Michigan's Rashida Tlaib, just packed up a large tote bag and walked out as soon as she finished her remarks.

The other side of the room, meanwhile, is full of visitors and reporters listening to the hearing.

Some appear more engaged than others. A few feet behind me, a young attendee seems to be dozing off, and has repeatedly been nudged awake by the woman next to him.

Image source, Getty Images

Florida Democrat Jared Moskowitz begins with "an honest assessment" of how the hearing is going for Kimberly Cheatle.

He references a viral hearing from a few months ago, in which university presidents were evasive when answering questions about antisemitism on their campuses.

"It didn't go well - and the short end of that story is all of them resigned. That's how this is going for you," Moskowitz tells Cheatle.

"i don't know who prepared you for this, I don't know how many times you've testified before Congress, but a president was almost assassinated live on TV for the whole world to see."

Under his questioning, Cheatle will not commit to firing the individuals responsible for the security lapse and does not say whether she would have stepped down if Donald Trump had been killed in the 13 July shooting.

Image source, Getty Images

As lawmakers appear to be getting increasingly frustrated with Cheatle, Democrat Dan Goldman offers a more sympathetic question, and he allows Cheatle to give her most full-throated explanation for her limited answers.

As she has said many times throughout the hearing, Cheatle says she wants to make sure her answers are correct before answering them - when the investigations are complete.

Goldman then asks whether the Secret Service lacked resources because agents were working at the Nato summit when the shooting occurred.

Cheatle denies that affected the rally.

Though he did not press as much as others, Goldman still notes that he doesn't "like the fact the media has received more answers than Congress".

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Echoing a line of attack we've seen in the days after the 13 July shooting in Butler, some Republicans on the committee appear to be suggesting s that DEI - diversity, equity and inclusion - somehow played a role in the security failures at the rally.

Just moments ago, we heard Pennsylvania Republican Scott Perry question Cheatle on whether some of the agents at the scene - the women - were "too small" and unable to property protect Donald Trump, who is taller and heavier than some of the agents assigned to his security detail in Butler.

Wisconsin Republican Glenn Grothman earlier asked Cheatle whether she wants "one-third of the Secret Service" to be women.

Immediately after the shooting, some commentators - including Republican lawmakers - questioned why so many women were serving on the Secret Service detail in Butler, and whether they performed adequately when gunfire rang out.

Cheatle has pushed back against those claims, saying that her only focus has been on hiring "the best and the brightest", rather than focusing on quotas.

Given how commonplace similar theories have become on the right, it's likely Cheatle will face similar questions as the hearing grinds on.

Florida Republican Byron Donalds says that, in spite of bipartisan calls from his House colleagues for Kimberly Cheatle to resign, he has withheld his judgment so far.

"I wanted to see what you were going to do today," says Donalds, a close ally of Trump.

"In my opinion, you do need to be fired, immediately. Because this is gross incompetence."

Donalds continues the harsh words that lawmakers have had for Cheatle and her answers.

"The fact that it's been nine days and these are simple questions to answer... I'm quite sure if any one of my kids got in trouble and I told them to give me the details, I would get more answers from them than I am from you.

"And that's what is frustrating on a non-partisan basis. This is a joke."

Image source, Getty Images

Kimberly Cheatle admits under oath that she has not yet visited the shooting site at the Butler County fairgrounds.

Republican Pat Fallon also notes that she did not contact the team that was part of the Trump detail for about 72 hours after the attempted assassination.

"The shooter has visited the site two more times than you have," Fallon says.

He adds that Cheatle has claimed there were safety concerns about a sloped roof, referring to the claim as "pathetic excuses" and "cowdung".

The Texas lawmaker, who served four years in the Air Force, says he recreated the attempt on Trump's life in his own district.

"Fifteen out of 16 killshots - and the one I missed would have hit President Trump's ear," he yells, banging the table.

"I believe your horrifying ineptitude and lack of skilled leadership is a disgrace. Your obfuscation is shameful and you should be fired."

Democrat Melanie Stansbury talks through the timeline of events before 13 July, including the movements of the 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks. She says prior to the rally Crooks visited the site, which he followed with a visit to a shooting range.

She also mentions how the Secret Service were aware of a suspicious person 11 minutes before Trump took the stage.

Stansbury talks about how Crooks had a photo of a mass shooter on his phone, and had searched for famous mass shooters online.

"With all due respect, the answers we have heard here today are completely unsatisfactory," she tells Director Cheatle.

Holding up a photo of the event, she asks "how could this happen?".

"We need answers. We need answers for our democracy.

"It is not just a matter of one shooting, but a matter of national security," she says.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Getty Images

I was at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania when the attempted assassination of Trump occurred, and I spent several days there last week to understand what happened and what people saw.

As the hearing has been taking place today, I've been exchanging messages with some of the eyewitnesses I met on the day of the shooting and in its aftermath.

The ones I've been exchanging messages with have, unanimously, said they are so far unsatisfied with what they've heard this morning.

"The only acceptable thing she could have done is take responsibility, and step down, not make excuses," former US Marine Teresa Wilson just texted me.

"All the rest is noise."

We're more than two hours into the hearing of US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, where she has faced questions from an increasingly frustrated House Committee over the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Here's what we've heard so far:

• Lawmakers from all sides are agitated with Cheatle's refusal to answer most questions, with Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demanding answers ahead of the November election
• Cheatle says a full report on the ongoing internal investigation will be released in the next 60 days
• No Secret Service employee has been disciplined over the shooting so far
• Cheatle doesn't offer any new information on why the shooter was able to access the roof where he took shots from
• Despite bipartisan calls for Cheatle to resign, she insists she will stay on in her role and believes she is "the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time"
• One lawmaker used expletives, which led to a call for decorum "no matter how upset" committee members are

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Getty Images

South Carolina's Nancy Mace, a Republican, is giving Cheatle a list of "specific questions for which she wants "specific answers".

These questions have included "would you like to use these five minutes to draft your resignation letter" and "was this a colossal failure" - Cheatle dodges both questions.

Mace uttered an expletive - twice - in response to another one of Cheatle's answers, specifically about how her opening remarks were leaked to US media outlets before they were provided.

"You are being dishonest or lying," Mace says. "You're just dodging!"

Profanities are rare during these types of hearings - and in this instance prompted a call from decorum "no matter how upset" lawmakers become.

We are now roughly at the halfway point of this hearing, according to Chairman James Comer.

"We have a lot more questions. The American people are demanding that we get answers to these questions," he adds. "I strongly implore you to answer those questions."

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Getty Images

In the last few minutes, Cheatle has repeatedly told lawmakers that she "does not have that information available at this time" in response to their questions, most recently about the timeline of security sweeps at the rally site in Butler.

"You have answered more questions with an ABC reporter than you did with members of Congress today," Chairman Comer tells Cheatle.

While earlier in the hearing the frustration was somewhat muted - often taking the form of eye rolls or exasperated sighs - it's now becoming louder and louder.

"You're not making this easy for us," Shontel Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, says.

Michigan's Lisa McClain, a Republican, just started laughing derisively during one of Cheatle's answers. South Carolina's Russel Fry also chuckled at the mention of news reports suggesting that a sloped roof at the rally site in Butler was "dangerous" for agents.

Next to her, Marjorie Taylor Greene is looking on, shaking her head with her arms folded across her body.

Arizona's Andy Biggs has also called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to form a "truly independent" commission of former Secret Service officers to investigate what happened.

"I don't think you're able to give us answers," he tells Cheatle, while Colorado's Lauren Boebert nods approvingly.

Republican Andy Biggs returns to the topic of why the roof where the shooter was located was not deemed part of the secure perimeter. He also presses her on whether the gun was stored on the roof prior to the rally or whether the gunman carried it up himself.

Once again, Cheatle refuses to be drawn on the specifics of the operation - and then an exasperated Biggs accuses Cheatle of refusing to answer questions.

He calls for an independent commission, including former Secret Service personnel, to be established to investigate the shooting.

Biggs then calls on Cheatle to resign "today" at the end of a heated exchange.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Capitol Hill

It's not often that lawmakers in the fractured, hyper-partisan House of Representatives agree on much these days.

In fact, I can think of few instances in which I've been here recently in which I've seen Democratic and Republican lawmakers not descend into what sometimes amounts to tense exchanges.

The shooting at the rally seems to have changed that, with lawmakers from both sides of the political spectrum calling on Cheatle to step down - even Democrats who in other circumstances are opposed to anything that has to do with Donald Trump.

Even the most hard-line Republicans on the committee are nodding in agreement when Democrats call for her to resign, and vice-versa. Moments ago, I heard Florida's Paulina Luna say "they're right, she's full of it" as Cheatle was being questioned by California Democrat Ro Khanna.

Cheatle has resisted that call so far, telling them she is the "the best person" to lead the service after nearly three decades of experience.

Image source, EPA

New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is continuing to hammer Director Cheatle for her proposed timeline of action, noting that the election is barely more than three months away.

"The notion of a report coming out in 60 days when the threat environment is so high in the United States, irrespective of parties, is not acceptable," she says.

"This is not theatre, this is not about jockeying, this is about the safety of some of the most highly targeted and valued targets internationally and domestically."

The lawmaker known as AOC continues: "It has been 10 days since an assassination attempt on a former president. There needs to be answers. We need to make policy decisions."

"Without that, we're flying blind."

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Capitol Hill

New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes has slammed Cheatle's assertion that a full report would take 60 days as "not acceptable".

According to Ocasio-Cortes, the Secret Service needs to assess what "actionable" steps it can take much sooner, given the upcoming November election and tense climate in the US.

The election, she added, will come with a heightened threat environment and increased possibility of political violence.

"There need to be answers," Ocasio-Cortes said. "We need to make policy decisions."

Ocasio-Cortes noted that she has experience with threats, including some not publicly reported.

"I'm not waiting on a report," Cheatle responded, saying that changes would be implemented sooner.

Image source, Getty Images

Republican Pete Sessions is pressing Cheatle on how long it is going to take to get conclusive answers to their questions about 13 July.

Cheatle has repeatedly said she is still awaiting a final assessment of the security operation that day.

But Sessions wants Cheatle to say "when is the 'final' final going to happen" and pushes for "credible answers".

Cheatle then says no employee has been disciplined over the shooting at this stage as an internal investigation is still ongoing.

Sessions appears incredulous that no employees have been disciplined, and he notes Cheatle's immense Secret Service experience in his insistence that she should be able to say what went wrong.

She acknowledges that "something went wrong" but refuses to give a final assessment on the causes for the security lapse.

In a heated exchange, Sessions says "you are the person, only you, who can make the changes".

Cheatle says "we will make changes" once the full investigation is complete and says the internal investigation should be completed within 60 days.

Democrat Kweisi Mfume asks Director Cheatle to explain why the Secret Service is ranked one of the worst places to work in federal government - reportedly coming 413th out of 459 sub-agencies.

"The Secret Service is a difficult job. It challenges our workers daily. It's holidays, weekends, no-leave periods," she replies.

Mfume refutes this answer - saying unsocial hours are a part of agency jobs and employees know this when signing up.

"This is a challenging job and environment. We have a no fail mission. Our folks are tasked with that everyday, 365 days a year," she says.

Cheatle adds she has worked to "stem the tide of attrition" in the Secret Service.