Secret service chief brutally grilled over Donald Trump shooting security blunder

The director of the US Secret Service faced a brutal grilling as she testified about the agency's security failure in the run-up to the Donald Trump shooting.

The former president was leading a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 when gunshots rang out and Mr Trump's security details jumped in to shield him.

Director Kimberly Cheatle was forced to admit during a House Committee Hearing that agents had been warned about a "suspicious person" between two to five minutes before the shooting.

Ms Cheatle appeared to attempt to bypass some lines of questioning, including whether she had refused to provide the former president with a larger protection team.

She also was challenged on the decision not to deploy at least one agent to the roof from which gunman Thomas Crooks, 20, opened fire.

The Secret Service director argued she remains the best person to lead the agency and took "full responsibility" for the major security breach.

Tensions rocketed as Republican Rep. Nancy Mace yelled: "You're full of s**t today. You're just being completely dishonest."

Ms Mace, of South Carolina, slammed Ms Cheatle for failing to provide the committee with an opening statement despite her comments becoming widely available to the press hours before the hearing.

The director insisted that she had "no idea how my statement got out," to which Ms Mace replied: "That's bulls**t."

Anger at the Secret Service director, however, crossed party boundaries as Democrats also questioned her actions.

Rep. Ro Khanna of California said: "You cannot go leading a Secret Service agency when there is an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate.

"I believe, Director Cheatle, that you should resign. I think there are colleagues on both sides of the aisle that believe that and I hope you'll consider it."

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner candidly told Ms Cheatle that she "looks incompetent," adding: "If Donald Trump had been killed, you would have looked culpable.

"There is no aspect of this that indicates that there has been any protection to Donald Trump."

Ms Cheatle also refused to expand on some answers claiming that "we're just nine days out from this incident and there is still an ongoing investigation".

She said her agency would provide a fuller breakdown of what had gone wrong on the day of the Trump assassination attempt within "60 days" – a deadline several members of the committee slammed as unacceptable.

Chairman James Comer reminded Ms Cheatle she was appearing in front of the Committee on Oversight under subpoena and would need to answer their questions.

Her failure to address the queries appropriately prompted Rep. Byron Donalds (R - Fla) to quip: "I would get more answers from them than I am getting from you right now."

The Secret Service director also refused to say whether she would have resigned had Mr Trump been killed on July 13.

She said: "I think that I've admitted that I've taken accountability and will take responsibility."

Ms Cheadle ultimately elicited a cheer from the room as she finally answered a question, stating that her job would be harder if all weapons available in the US were "rocket-propelled grenades."

At the end of the hearing, top committee Democrat, Rep Jamie Raskin, joined Mr Comer in demanding Ms Cheatle resign.