Embattled Secret Service director resigns after Trump assassination attempt
After a top Democrat called on Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign, it was clear that her surivial was untenable.
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
- Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday.
- Her decision came as even top Democrats lost faith in her leadership.
- Cheatle called the assassination attempt on Donald Trump the agency's worst failure in decades.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Tuesday resigned after enduring days of criticism following an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
"I take full responsibility for the security lapse," she said in the email to staff Tuesday, The Associated Press reported. "In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director."
Cheatle testified before Congress on Monday, calling the attempt "the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades."
Republicans quickly turned on Cheatle in the wake of the attempt on Trump's life. It didn't help matters that the agency said little publicly in the wake of the shooting. Cheatle, who went to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, was harangued by GOP senators who followed her out, shouting questions at her about the security failures.
Chris LaCivita, one of Trump's campaign managers, called for her to resign last week. On Monday, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, issued a joint statement with Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee's Republican chairman, which signaled that Cheatle's survival had become untenable.
Comer said that Cheatle's resignation was "a step toward accountability," but stressed that more needs to be known about what happened to prevent anything like it from occurring again.
"The Secret Secret has a no-fail mission yet it failed historically on Director Cheatle's watch," Comer said in a statement.
President Joe Biden, who named Cheatle director in 2022, praised her "for decades of public service."
"As a leader, it takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service," Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
Biden has ordered an independent review into the assassination attempt that occurred at Trump's July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The president said he will name a new director "soon."
The Secret Service has been the subject of multiple scandals in recent years, but nothing on the scale of the assassination attempt. Corey Comperator, a former fire chief, was killed during the shooting. Two other attendees were injured. Trump has said he sustained a gunshot wound to his ear.
"I will tell you exactly what happened," Trump said during his speech at the Republican National Convention last week. "And you'll never hear it from me a second time, because it's actually too painful to tell."
Trump said that he heard a "loud whizzing sound" as the bullet struck him while he turned his head.
Multiple investigations are ongoing into how a shooter could get line of sight and then fire multiple shots at Trump. House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced Tuesday that a bipartisan task force would also investigate what happened.
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