U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz cited the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre as an example of appropriate accountability Monday as he grilled the director of the Secret Service in a hearing about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
During his turn to ask questions at Monday’s House Oversight Committee Hearing, Moskowitz excoriated Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle — and told her she should resign or be fired by President Joe Biden.
Ultimately, Moskowitz predicted, Cheatle would end up out of her job.
Moskowitz said he was outraged that Cheatle wouldn’t commit to firing people who were responsible for security at Trump’s campaign rally on July 13 rally in Butler, Pa., once the investigation into what happened is complete. A gunman, later killed by a sniper, fired at Trump.
The congressman compared it to the way then-Broward Sheriff Scott Israel handled the 2018 Stoneman Douglas massacre, in which 17 people were killed and 17 injured.
“The school resource officer, a police officer, did not run into the building,” Moskowitz said at the hearing. “He hid in the stairwell while the shooter was in the building. He stayed outside. Never helped. He also directed other officers who showed up on the scene not to go into the building. When it was determined that the failures in response and training, and that the sheriff fired nobody in his agency, Governor (Ron) DeSantis then removed that sheriff. I supported the removal.”
Moskowitz, a Democrat who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, is a Stoneman Douglas graduate. On the day of the massacre, he was a state representative from northwest Broward. He later was hired by DeSantis to head the state emergency management agency.
“So here’s my question,” Moskowitz continued. “You said there’s going to be accountability. I understand you don’t want to give us names. But when you say that, are you telling the committee that once it’s concluded, you’re prepared to fire the people on the ground who made poor decisions that day?”
Cheatle: “I am prepared to take the actions necessary.”
Moskowitz: “That’s nonsense, OK. Accountability. The failure was human. It doesn’t mean they’re bad people. It means they failed that day. And a president was almost, a former was almost, assassinated, OK. Are you prepared to fire the human failure on the ground? Yes or no.
“When you have the names of where those failures were for people, it’s not like a piece of technology failed, it was people who failed that day. Are you prepared to fire them?
Cheatle: “I don’t have an answer as to whether.” (Moskowitz cut her off.)
Moskowitz: “Well, then how can there be accountability if you’re not prepared to fire someone? And the reason why your name is going to be the person who’s held accountable. The reason why members of this committee are calling for resignation and I join in that or for the president to fire you is because you’re saying there’s going to be accountability, but you can’t commit that people are gonna get fired.”
The sheriff’s deputy working as the school resource officer, Scot Peterson, wasn’t named by Moskowitz at the hearing.
After the Parkland shooting, Peterson resigned in lieu of being fired from the Sheriff’s Office. Peterson was found not guilty by a Broward jury of criminal charges of child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury. His attorney successfully argued Peterson didn’t know where the shots were coming from.
During Monday’s hearing on the Secret Service, Moskowitz wasn’t alone: Cheatle was pummeled for hours by members of Congress of both parties. U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-N.C., told the director she was “full of s—.”
Trump was wounded in the ear, a former Pennsylvania fire chief was killed and two other attendees were injured after Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed atop the roof of a nearby building and opened fire with an AR-style rifle shortly after Trump started speaking at the rally.
Cheatle acknowledged that the Secret Service was told about a suspicious person two to five times before the shooting. She also revealed that the roof from which Crooks opened fire had been identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally. Cheatle said she apologized to Trump in a phone call after the shooting.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle said.
Moskowitz also asked Cheatle if she’d seen the controversial hearings earlier this year in which members of Congress questioned Ivy League university presidents over antisemitism and pro-Palestinian protests on their campuses. The university leaders’ responses were widely panned; and within weeks two of them were out of their jobs.
Moskowitz told Cheatle that her responses to the day’s hearing would result in the same fate for her.
“They’re gone. That’s how this is going for you. This is where this is headed,” he said. “The idea that we’re getting less (information) than (people) did on television is something that Democrats, independents or Republicans are gonna find unacceptable.”
Mokowitz’s positions had him in agreement with Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky. The two have harshly disparaged each other and demeaned one another in personal and policy terms.
On Monday, Comer opened the hearing by calling on Cheatle to resign. U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, also called for her resignation saying she has “lost the confidence of Congress.”
This report includes information from the Sun Sentinel archives and the Associated Press.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.
