Under sustained questioning from Republican Jim Jordan, Kimberly Cheatle says the Secret Service is typically "judicious" with its resources.

But she declines to disclose how many times her agency turned down requests from the Trump detail.

Jordan asks if he has spoken to anybody at the White House since 13 July.

Cheatle says she has briefed the president and vice-president, but nobody else.

Jordan asks if she has spoken to the counter-sniper who took out the shooter, to which she says yes but declines to elaborate citing the ongoing investigation.

An unsatisfied Jordan alleges: "It looks like you won't answer some pretty basic questions, it looks like you got a 9% raise and it looks like you cut corners when it comes to protecting one of the most well-known individuals on the planet. Is that right?"

The witness says: "I am here today because i want to answer questions."

Jordan responds that she still has not provided a straight answer to the committee so far.

Image source, EPA

Discussing different accounts of whether or not the Secret Service rejected requests from Trump for additional security, Republican Jim Jordan says that "both statements cannot be true".

"Were you guessing or lying when you said you didn't turn down requests from Trump's detail?" asks Jordan, one of Trump's closest allies on Capitol Hill.

“For the event in Butler there were no requests that were denied,” Cheatle responds.

Cheatle says that when an event venue is identified, the campaign spends around five days working with the Secret Service on a security plan, but does not comment on specifics.

She says "to the best of our knowledge" at this point, the agents were not aware that the attacker was carrying a gun despite being identified as suspicious.

Cheatle confirms that the gunman was identified by tracing the identification number on his AR-style rifle.

Earlier, Chairman Comer pushed Cheatle on why there was no agent on the roof - calling it a "huge question that every American has".

He referred to reports saying agents were meant to be on the roof, but didn't want to because it was a hot day.

She responds by saying there was a plan in place to provide overwatch - they are still "looking into responsibilities and who was meant to provide overwatch".

She says the Secret Service, in general, prefer to have "sterile rooftops".

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Getty Images

Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin is questioning why Donald Trump was allowed to take the stage, despite some indications of a suspicious character in the crowd.

In the nine days since the shooting, it has emerged that police spotted Thomas Matthew Crooks with a rangefinder, although police lost track of him before he emerged on a nearby rooftop, shooting from his AR-style rifle.

According to Cheatle, the "nature" of that threat was unclear at the time, and they were unaware that he was armed.

If he was known to be armed, she adds, Trump would not have been allowed to take the stage.

Cheatle refuses to be drawn on how many of the agents on duty on 13 July were "temporary" - in other words, drafted in from agencies outside the Secret Service to bolster numbers.

She also declines to tell the committee whether the agency has carried out a full reconstruction of the event yet.

Asked if Trump's team had requested extra assets that day, Cheatle says "the assets that were requested that day were given".

Image source, Getty Images

Faced with a series of evasive responses, Chairman Comer observes: "If you can't answer the question, then that's your answer."

He questions if the Secret Service used drones at the rally, which Director Cheatle again does not answer.

Comer then rewords to ask if she specifically knew the shooter had used a drone before the shooting.

"That information has been passed to us from the FBI," she replies.

Asked to confirm how many agents she had at the rally, Cheatle declines to provide specifics.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Chairman Comer has begun his questioning by asking whether the Secret Service had, at any point, a sniper on the rooftop in which Thomas Matthew Crooks.

As she began to answer, she was quickly interrupted by several of the Republican lawmakers, who groaned and loudly said "no" as she cited an ongoing investigation.

Several - including Green and Boebert - are sitting in their chairs, shaking their heads angrily at Cheatle. Green has repeatedly rolled her eyes and groaned audibly.

This is likely to be the tone of the next few hours. Cheatle has said that she is limited in what the can say as a result of the multiple overlapping investigations into what took place in Butler - including the FBI's criminal investigation.

The image of Trump pumping his fist into the air is again on display, directly behind Comer and Ohio Republican Jim Jordan.

The first question to Cheatle is from Comer, the Republican committee chairman. He begins by asking if at any point on 13 July there was an agent on the roof where the shooter was located.

Cheatle says she is not able to answer that question and the internal investigation about planning on that day is ongoing.

She says the building was outside the perimeter of the visit and repeats that the security plan is under review.

She has frequently declined to provide specifics about the plan that day, citing security concerns.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, EPA

When Cheatle began speaking, there was little visible reaction from the lawmakers in the room - many barely raised their heads to look at her.

On the Republican side of the room, most of lawmakers were looking down at the written remarks, with some jotting down notes as she speaks.

One, Colorado's Lauren Boebert, visibly bristled when Cheatle remarked that the incident in Butler marked the service's worst failure in decades.

She appears to be exchanging notes with her neighbours, Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene and Michigan's Lisa McClain.

A few staffers I spoke to informally before the hearing started told me that they expect today's questioning from Republicans to be extremely tense, and hostile.

Cheatle ends her prepared testimony by saying she has full confidence in her agents despite the events of 13 July.

She tells the hearing: "Our mission is not political. It is literally a matter of life and death, and the tragic events on 13 July remind us of that.

"I have full confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service. They are worthy of our support in executing our protective mission."

Now the hearing will move onto questions from the representatives on the committee.

Cheatle says she has instructed her team that "all necessary resources will be dedicated to investigating these matters".

"We will not rest until we have explored every option, and we will leave no stone left unturned," she goes on.

"But I want to be clear – I am not waiting for these investigations to be completed prior to making changes."

"The level of security provided for the former President increased well before the campaign and has been steadily increasing as threats evolve," Cheatle says.

Of the 13 July rally in Pennsylvania, she tells the committee the Secret Service conducted "a full assessment of the Butler Farm showgrounds to identify security vulnerabilities and craft a security plan for the protectee, attendees and the public".

Sge says the security plan "consisted of three concentric rings of protection - the inner, middle, and outer perimeter - which are protected by Secret Service personnel in conjunction with our law enforcement partners".

Cheatle is telling the hearing about her 29 years of experience in the Secret Service.

She says: "I came up through the ranks. I’ve secured events for every president since President Clinton, supervised on Vice-President Cheney’s detail".

She goes on to say she led training, oversaw investigations and protective visits in Georgia, as well as supervising "Vice-President Biden’s detail and oversaw the agency’s entire protective mission during the Trump Administration."

Cheatle says she is "proud beyond words of the actions" taken by her agents involved in keeping former President Trump safe.

They "shielded former President Trump with their own bodies on-stage while shots were being fired, selflessly willing to make the ultimate sacrifice without hesitation", she tells the committee.

She pledges to be "as transparent as possible" but caveats that she "may be limited in providing a thorough response in this open setting due to associated risks with sharing highly sensitive protective methodologies".

Cheatle tells the hearing the Secret Service is currently responsible for the daily protection of 36 different people, as well as visiting world leaders.

She goes on: "At the outset, let me state unequivocally: Nothing I have said previously should be interpreted to place blame for this failure on our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners who supported the Secret Service in Butler, Pennsylvania.

"We could not do our job without them.

"An assassination attempt on a Secret Service protectee is the worst nightmare for the men and women who work around the clock every day of every year to prevent such attacks from happening in the first place."

Kimberly Cheatle has resisted calls for her resignation, but tells this House committee that, as director of the Secret Service, she takes "full responsibility for any security lapse".

"The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On 13 July, we failed," she says.

She pledges to cooperates with the FBI's investigation into the shooting, as well as other oversight and reviews related to the incident.

"We must learn what happened and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like 13 July does not happen again," she continues.

"Thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my thoughts."

We're now hearing Kimberly Cheatle's opening statement. She begins by calling the attempt on former President Donald Trump's life "the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades" and says she is "keeping him and his family in my thoughts".

She continues: "I would like to offer my sincerest condolences to the family of Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief and a hero, who was killed in this senseless shooting.

"I would also like to acknowledge those who were injured in Butler, David Dutch and James Copenhaven, and I wish them a speedy recovery."

Image source, EPA

Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democratic member of the committee, says the bipartisan panel is "reaching for the higher ground" and wants to show unity against political violence.

He says the US "can't count on good luck" and "miracles" to avoid this sort of "grave assault" on democracy and the committee must move to prevent political violence and mass shootings.

Raskin says there were "shocking security failures" on 13 July and there was a double-failure: both from the Secret Service and failure to legislate against gun ownership.

He says the committee must consider whether it is too easy for potential assassins to get access to weapons, and made reference of the AR-style rifle that was used in the Trump incident in particular.

He also makes note of the attacks on former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband and 6 January riot in 2020 at the US Capitol.

He says the committee will ask hard question of Cheatle to understand how the shooting was allowed to happen.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Just a few minutes into his opening remarks, Chairman Comer explicitly called on Cheatle to resign for what he is characterising as failures that could harm any president, Democrat or Republican alike.

"The American people will make their own decision based on what they hear today," Comer adds. "We have a duty to find out what happened and ensure this never happens again".

The ranking Democrat on the committee, Jamie Raskin, is now reading from a joint statement in which lawmakers from both sides of the political spectrum condemn all political violence.

Like his Republican colleague, Raskin calls the security lapses in Butler "stunning" and "shocking" and "help transform the operations of the Secret Service to prevent this from happening again".

Raskin - a noted proponent of stricter gun laws - is also telling the room that the crime is indicative of a wider trend in the US.

"Mass shootings are commonplace," he adds. Behind him, there is a placard with a list of recent mass shootings, including two others that took place on 13 July.