International
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns after major backlash over Trump assassination attempt
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United Sates Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building on July 22, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
From LifeSiteNews
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has finally announced she will step down after being roundly slammed by a bipartisan committee during a congressional hearing for her failure to prevent the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has stepped down amid resounding, bipartisan calls for her resignation by congressmen following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Three sources confirmed to NBC that Cheatle officially resigned on Tuesday morning. In her letter of resignation, shared by a senior official, Cheatle wrote that she takes “full responsibility for the security lapse.”
“In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your Director,” she wrote.
President Joe Biden said in a statement following Cheatle’s announcement of her resignation that he will appoint a new head of Secret Service “soon.” He has ordered an “independent review” to investigate the day’s events.
In response to Cheatle’s resignation, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy. IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!”
Her decision comes a day after being grilled under subpoena by Republican and Democrat members of the House Oversight Committee, who ripped her both for the grave Secret Service lapse that allowed Trump to be shot and for her refusal to answer simple questions during the hearing.
The leading Democrat member of the panel, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), accused Cheatle of having “lost the confidence of Congress at a very urgent and tender moment in the history of the country.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) slammed Cheatle as “full of s***” and “completely dishonest” for not giving direct answers to questions, including about providing “audio and video recordings” in her possession that were taken the day of the Trump assassination attempt.
“How did a 20-year-old loner with a week’s notice pick the absolute best location to assassinate President Trump when the entire Secret Service missed it?” asked Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas. “Director Cheatle, on your leadership, your agency got outsmarted and outmaneuvered by a 20-year-old. How can we have any confidence that you could stop trained professionals from a nefarious nation state?”
The Secret Service director was unable to provide explanations as to why the roof used by Crooks to shoot at Trump was not secured the day of the shooting and why Trump was allowed to speak on stage while the Secret Service was aware that a suspicious man was present on the grounds that day. At one point, she claimed she did not “have the timeline of how the individual accessed the roof, where they accessed the roof, or how long they were on the roof.”
She said, however, that all the security resources requested “for that day” were provided.
Cheatle resisted calls to resign prior to Tuesday, with a Secret Service spokesperson declaring last week that she had no intention to resign even after mounting calls for her to step down.
Critics across the board have described the security breach at Trump’s Pennsylvania campaign rally as a “catastrophic failure” of the Secret Service. Video footage emerged online of attendees from the Trump rally alerting police to the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, positioned on a roof toward the rally stage, highlighting one of many security failures that day to prevent the assassination attempt. One man present that day told the BBC he was “pointing” at the gunman on the roof for two or three minutes.
Counter-snipers fatally shot Crooks after one of his shots grazed the former president’s right ear, bloodying him. However, Crooks killed a rally attendee, identified as 50-year old Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief. Two other Pennsylvania residents were shot, but are reportedly in stable condition.
Crime
Venezuelan Migrant Says She’d ‘Return’ To Country After Living In Housing Taken Over By Venezuelan Gang
![](https://www.todayville.com/calgary/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/09/tvrd-dc-venezuelan-gangs-take-over-appartments-denver-image-2024-09-07.jpg)
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Hailey Gomez
A Venezuelan immigrant living in migrant housing in Aurora, Colorado, appeared to fight back tears while speaking to independent reporter Nick Shirley, saying she would return to her country after living in the U.S.
This week, the city of Aurora faced major pushback from Republicans after footage surfaced online of armed men inside an apartment complex in late August. Shirley was seen visiting various migrant housing units before stopping at the viral location to interview residents where the armed men had been spotted.
Shirley spoke with a Venezuelan woman who showed him the poor living conditions her family endures, stating she pays $1,200 per month for the apartment. The migrant stated that the electricity and hot water in her apartment weren’t working, telling Shirley that the landlord hadn’t accepted any payment for the “past couple of months.”
“Does your father still have to pay rent?” Shirley asked as they walked around her father’s apartment.
“The owner is no longer receiving any kind of payment, because he is also taking all this, that the gangs and the mafia are taking advantage of all of this to get us out as if we were dogs and it’s not fair,” the migrant stated, according to a translation.
Shirley asked if gangs had been charging people, to which the migrant replied, “no.” The independent reporter then asked if her life in the U.S. was what she expected after crossing the border.
WATCH:
“No, never. I would have stayed in my country. They say that here everything is different, the laws, everyone gets a good job, you get ahead, you can save money to take back to your country,” the migrant stated. “But not everything is as they say, the American dream is simply just a dream. When you get here you wake up, it’s not like they say.”
Shirley then pressed the migrant, asking in Spanish if she would take a “flight or opportunity to go back” to her home country.
“With all the love in the world I would return to my country,” the migrant said.
Republican lawmakers on Friday sent a letter criticizing the Biden-Harris administration’s “open border policies” and local “sanctuary” policies over the reported presence of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which allegedly terrorized several apartment buildings in Aurora.
Reportedly beginning as a prison gang in 2014 within the northern Venezuelan state of Aragua, Tren de Aragua has grown into one of Venezuela’s largest criminal organizations. With around 5,000 members and stretching internationally across Latin America and the U.S., the gang has allegedly been connected to several high-profile crimes within the U.S., including the kidnapping and strangling of a Florida man last year.
This week, the Aurora Police Department announced the arrest of two confirmed Tren de Aragua gang members, Jhonnarty Dejesus Pacheco-Chirinos and Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirinos, following a July 28 shooting that left two men hospitalized with serious injuries.
International
ISIS supporter used Canada in terror plot to massacre New York City Jews, motivated by October 7th Hamas attack on Israel: FBI
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News release from The Bureau
United States investigators disrupted the anti-Semitic terror plot of a 20-year-old Pakistani citizen residing in Canada, who was preparing to cross the U.S.-Canada border to carry out a mass shooting at Jewish religious centers in New York City. His aim was to unleash bloodshed on October 7, 2024, marking the anniversary of Hamas’ deadly incursion from Gaza into Israel.
According to an FBI complaint on September 4, 2024, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, an ISIS supporter, was en route to the border, having told undercover agents he had secured funding for the operation—even texting a photo showing stacks of Canadian currency—and bragging he was “locked and loaded” for the attack.
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Undercover officers and informants had infiltrated the suspect’s network in Canada, intercepting online and encrypted communications, gathering months of evidence that detailed his plans to target Jewish civilians and religious institutions in Brooklyn. Khan believed the city’s large Jewish population made it the perfect site to inflict maximum casualties.
“Brothers, hear me out, why not we do an attack in New York,” Khan texted to FBI agents. “[The] population of Jews in New York City is 1 million,” he continued, explaining he had scanned Google Earth maps of various New York neighborhoods and could see “tons of Jews walking around,” and “we could rack up easily a lot of Jews.”
Khan’s murderous intentions weren’t limited to a single attack in New York City. The FBI’s complaint alleges he sought to form an “offline cell” of ISIS supporters in the U.S., coordinating multiple assaults on Jewish targets.
And demonstrating his intent and some level of sophistication in terror financing and money laundering, Khan discussed plans to fund and arm ISIS operators in the United States with AR-style rifles through cross-border cryptocurrency accounts.
This disrupted ISIS-related plot comes amid broader fears in the U.S. about the risks posed by Canada’s immigration policies. Recently, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio expressed concern over Canada’s acceptance of Palestinian refugees from Gaza. In a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Rubio warned that the refugee program could increase the risk of individuals with ties to terror groups gaining easier access to the U.S., complicating efforts to secure the border.
The FBI’s investigation also highlights the resurgence of ISIS-linked terrorism in North America.
The group and its affiliates have claimed responsibility for major attacks worldwide, including the November 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people, the 2016 Brussels bombings that left 32 dead, and the Nice truck attack, which killed over 80. More recently, ISIS-linked groups carried out bombings in Kerman, Iran, in 2024, killing 94 people, and a deadly assault on a concert hall in Moscow that same year, which claimed at least 60 lives.
The FBI’s case against Khan, filed three days ago in the Southern District of New York, alleges that he began discussing his plan in July 2024 with undercover agents he believed to be fellow ISIS supporters.
He initially considered targeting “City-1,” but dismissed it as insufficient, stating, “City-1 is nothing compared to NYC” because it had “only 175k Jews.”
On July 31, 2024, Khan elaborated on his vision of a coordinated attack, telling the undercover agents he envisioned six attackers splitting into three teams to “launch three attacks simultaneously on different locations, maximizing the casualty count.”
Khan continued to communicate with the undercover agents throughout August, referencing a failed ISIS attack in Toronto as evidence of law enforcement vigilance and urging heightened caution. He emphasized that their “cell should be small and well-armed” and that they should avoid social media to stay under the radar.
To enter the U.S., Khan arranged for a human smuggler to help him cross the border from Canada, planning to travel to New York City and then by bus to his attack location.
By early September, Canadian authorities began tracking Khan’s movements. On the morning of September 4, 2024, RCMP officers observed Khan entering a vehicle in Toronto, traveling toward Napanee, Ontario. After transferring to a second vehicle with a new driver, Khan continued eastbound toward Montreal, intending to cross the U.S.-Canada border from Quebec.
His plans became more detailed as he neared his attack date. He identified Jewish religious centers in Brooklyn, sending the undercover agents a photograph of a specific area inside one center where he intended to carry out the attack. He also urged the agents to acquire firearms, ammunition, and tactical gear, instructing them to purchase “some good hunting [knives] so we can slit their throats.”
Khan intended to time his assault with Jewish religious events, ensuring maximum casualties, and planned to record a video pledging allegiance to ISIS and send it to the group’s media outlet, Amaq, to claim responsibility.
The evidence also provides chilling insight into the psychology and beliefs that drive ISIS supporters. On August 18, Khan sent the undercover agents a document urging them to read it, explaining that “a martyr bypasses all this questioning of the grave etc.”
U.S. and Canadian authorities continue to investigate the case and assess whether Khan had any additional accomplices or links to other extremist networks.
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