As Congressional members on both sides of the aisle grilled U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Monday on how a gunman was able to fire shots at former President Donald Trump in an assassination attempt, several Republican lawmakers seized on gender and the agency’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts as among the reasons for the security failure.

“Ma’am, you are a DEI horror story,” Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told Cheatle during the hours-long hearing in front of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.

Wisconsin Rep. Glenn Grothman asked the director if she was “not hiring men because of your desire to hit certain targets.”

And Texas Rep. Michael Cloud questioned Cheatle’s strategic plan for the Secret Service, in which she has championed diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, including her support for the 30x30 Initiative, which seeks to increase the representation of women recruits to 30% by 2030.

“Does every Secret Service agent meet the same qualifications, or do you have different standards for different people?” Cloud asked.

“Yes, sir. Everyone who moves through the application process has to meet the same standards to become a special agent,” Cheatle answered.

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Conservative backlash against DEI has been on the rise since last June, when the Supreme Court ruled to end affirmative action in college admissions. Several companies have come under attack because of their DEI policies, among them John Deere, Tractor Supply, Target and Bud Light.

The latest DEI attack materialized in full view Monday against the Secret Service and Cheatle, but the issue had been brewing ever since the July 13 assassination attempt at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, where several female agents were among those protecting the former president and several conservatives questioned their fitness to serve.

“There should not be any women in the Secret Service. These are supposed to be the very best, and none of the very best at this job are women,” conservative political commentator Matt Walsh posted on X the morning after the assassination attempt. “If there’s a woman doing a job like this, it 100 percent means that a more qualified male was passed over.”

Meghan McCain, daughter of the late senator and U.S. presidential candidate John McCain, reposted Walsh’s statement, adding: “The notion that men and women are the same is just absurd. You need to be taller than the candidate to protect them with your body. Why do they have these short women (one who can’t holster a gun apparently) guarding Trump? This is embarrassing and dangerous.”

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Photos of the immediate aftermath of the shooting show a female agent shielding Trump with her body.

David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University School of Law, said the fresh DEI criticism is no surprise.

“It’s now a pretty consistent pattern whenever anything goes wrong that it gets blamed on DEI,” he said. “After the Baltimore Bridge collapse, there were people blaming DEI,” and the same happened after Boeing was dealing with aircraft safety issues.

Massachusetts Democrat Ayanna Pressley said it is “disgraceful” that Republicans are “trotting out sexist tropes” blaming women for the security failures at Trump’s rally. She said she believed her Republican counterparts were exploiting the shooting to “continue to attack progress towards racial justice and gender equity in America.” She also reserved criticism for Cheatle for not adequately addressing questions during Monday’s hearing.

“Every day, Director Cheatle, that you fail to give us answers, they are given more oxygen to make their baseless claims that women and people of color are responsible for tragic events. And that is dangerous too,” Pressley said.

For her part, Cheatle said “the incident on the 13th has nothing to do with DEI. The incident on the 13th has to do with a gap in either planning or communication.”

Under Cheatle, the Secret Service has continued its pledge to the 30x30 Initiative, which aims to improve the representation and experiences of women in law enforcement. Currently, women make up only 12% of sworn officers and 3% of police leadership in the U.S., according to organization’s website. Cheatle herself is only the second woman to head up the Secret Service.

Dozens more police departments and law enforcement agencies have also taken up the 30x30 Initiative, including in red states like Iowa, North Dakota, Arkansas, Kansas, and Florida. And so far, none of those departments has pulled back on the efforts.

Catrina Bonus, president of Women in Federal Law Enforcement, called the attacks on DEI “disheartening.”

“Today’s rhetoric questioning our presence in law enforcement is not just outdated; it is rooted in ignorance,” she said in a statement. “It dishonors the trailblazers who faced unimaginable challenges to make this profession more inclusive and equitable — as well as to the next generation, to show them that law enforcement is filled with open doors and opportunities and through hard work and determination, they can achieve anything they put their minds to.”

Maureen McGough, co-founder of the 30x30 Initiative, pushed back hard on the gender critique.

“We think about the women who are putting their lives on the line every day to do this job in law enforcement, who were called into service, who make incredible sacrifices. And to have people who have never set foot in the arena just indict them just because of their gender, it’s sad, you know, it’s heartbreaking,” she said.

“But it also is an opportunity for us to double down on our efforts,” McGough added.

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Associated Press Staff Writers Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia and Michael Kunzelman in Washington contributed to this report. ___

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