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[Global Times Special Correspondent Wang Yi] According to a report by the New York Times on the 22nd, US Secret Service Director Zittel, who became the target of public criticism in the attempted assassination of Trump, attended a hearing of the US House Oversight and Accountability Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) on the same day. During the four and a half hours of questioning, the second female head of the Secret Service in history "played Tai Chi" in front of a group of congressmen and hardly responded to any questions directly. On the 23rd, Zittel was revealed to have resigned as the director of the Secret Service.

On July 22, U.S. Secret Service Director Zittel was questioned by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee in Congress. Source: U.S. media

The New York Times reported that Zittel's task at the hearing was to explain "the biggest operational failure of the Secret Service in decades." However, not only did she not try to quell the outside world's doubts and criticisms of her, but she tried to avoid it from the beginning of the meeting. According to Fox News, throughout the hearing, Zittel refused to answer basic questions about the failed assassination of Trump. For example, when the Republican chairman of the committee, Cuomo, asked her if she could answer "why the Secret Service did not deploy agents on the roof," Zittel said, "No." She refused to say how many agents were protecting Trump when he was assassinated on July 13, nor did she say who decided to exclude that roof from the security of the event. Zittel also did not tell the committee members why the Secret Service agents "did not know until the last second that someone in the crowd saw a gunman on the roof." During the hearing, Zittel sometimes seemed to know less information than the lawmakers who asked her questions. When Republican Congressman Green asked her to provide a detailed timeline of the incident, Zittel said she did not, causing the audience to laugh.

According to reports, Zittel used the same response many times when answering questions: she was waiting for the report and did not want to say something "maybe inaccurate." She also refused to answer some "small questions" such as "how many shots did the gunman fire in total" and "how did the gunman Crooks put the rifle on the roof." She said that these "small questions" should be raised to the FBI, which is responsible for the criminal investigation of the case. Zittel was even reluctant to answer questions about herself. For example, when asked how long she had prepared for this hearing, she replied, "I'm not sure the date I received the letter asking me to come." Republican Congressman McLean scoffed, "What are you sure about? Are you sure what color your hair is? Are you sure what color your suit is?"

The New York Times reported that in the general hearing process, members of the president's party may ask some simple questions to support the president's appointees. But at the end of this hearing, Democrats criticized Zittel almost as much as Republicans. During the hearing, 15 members of the two parties believed that Zittel should resign or be fired. "I didn't see any disagreement between members of the two parties at today's hearing," said Raskin, the Democratic chairman of the committee. He said: "At such a very urgent and sensitive moment in American history, Director Zittel has lost the trust of Congress." Comer also said: "I firmly believe that Director Zittel should resign. The Secret Service has thousands of employees and a large budget, but it has now become the spokesperson for 'incompetence.'" In the face of accusations, Zittel admitted that "the attempted assassination of former President Trump was the most significant failure of the Secret Service in decades of work" and said he would be responsible for it, but at the same time said that he had no intention of resigning, believing that "he was the best person to lead the agency when (the Secret Service was) strictly scrutinized." However, according to the Associated Press report on the 23rd, Chittel announced his resignation as director in an email to U.S. Secret Service employees that day.

While Zittel was being questioned, more details about the attempted assassination gradually surfaced. According to the Russian Satellite News Agency on the 23rd, US Republican Senator Hawley wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas on the 22nd, saying, "Contrary to Director Zittel's public statement about the 'safety' of the sloping roof, a whistleblower with direct knowledge of the Secret Service's security plan revealed that law enforcement officers should have been deployed on that roof that day." The whistleblower also revealed that at least one security guard should have been deployed on that roof during the rally, but "due to the hot weather, the security guard abandoned his post."

According to Fox News on the 22nd, a team composed of several members of the House Homeland Security Committee inspected the scene of the incident. Republican Congressman Jimenez of the committee refuted Zittel's previous claim that "there is no way to take security measures on the roof where the gunman Crooks was." He said: "I am 70 years old, but I can run on that roof all day. She should resign because she obviously doesn't know what she is talking about." Republican Congressman Green, who also inspected the scene of the incident, said that local police in Pennsylvania said they were not allowed to enter the Secret Service command center on the 13th, which is a typical example of poor communication between local and federal law enforcement agencies. He said that lawmakers are still working to obtain more information about the radio communication between law enforcement agencies on the day of the rally.

The report also stated that the gunman Crooks had conducted shooting training at a shooting range in western Pennsylvania a few weeks before the assassination. Jenkins, a U.S. Air Force veteran who trained with him, said Crooks' shooting skills were "impressive." He was shocked when he learned that his training partner almost assassinated Trump. In addition, according to a previous report by the Associated Press, Crooks also used a drone to scout the rally site before the assassination.