Kimberly Cheatle — the disgraced former Secret Service director who presided over the Butler rally security disaster — was set to get her top-level security clearance renewed.
That’s right. The same person who resigned in shame after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump slipped through her agency’s cracks was about to waltz right back into access to classified information.
It took RealClearPolitics shining a light on the plan and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) stepping in to slam the brakes before the Secret Service suddenly changed its tune. Johnson, who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, minced no words: “Following the security debacle in Butler, the former director of USSS made the right decision to resign. I see no reason for her security clearance to be reinstated.”
#BREAKING and EXCLUSIVE:
Secret Service was set to renew disgraced former Director Kim Cheatle’s security clearance until @RCPolitics informed the agency of key Senate opposition, according to multiple sources. @SenRonJohnson. a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the… pic.twitter.com/ruL6sMqeur— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) August 1, 2025
Exactly. What possible justification is there for giving Cheatle back clearance?
The Secret Service, in its usual bureaucratic fashion, gave a vague response. They said Director Sean Curran — a Trump appointee — decided that “not all former directors” should automatically get renewed clearances. Translation: they backed off only because they got caught.
For context, the Secret Service, CIA, and FBI have historically kept former directors’ clearances active so they can provide “formal and protected communication” about sensitive matters. But that’s a courtesy, not a right. And after the Butler fiasco, Cheatle hasn’t earned the courtesy.
Remember her testimony before Congress? She got roasted from both sides of the aisle for failing to answer basic questions about why no snipers were stationed on the rooftop where Thomas Matthew Crooks fired at Trump from less than 400 yards away. An unsecured rooftop at a presidential rally — an amateur-level blunder — and Cheatle’s only defense? Dodging, deflecting, and looking completely out of her depth.
And yet, this was the person the Secret Service thought deserved renewed access to top-level classified material? Absolutely not.
