Secret Service Director Cheatle resigns after mounting pressure in wake of Trump assassination attempt
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday in the wake of mounting pressure following the assassination attempt on former President Trump, The Associated Press reports.
Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee Monday, just over a week after a would-be assassin Thomas Crooks attempted to take the life of Trump at his rally in Butler, Pa. on July 13.
SECRET SERVICE EXPLANATION CONTINUES TO EVOLVE ONE WEEK AFTER ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION
Trump, during his rally, ever-so-slightly turned his head—narrowly missing the bullet shot by 20-year-old suspect Crooks’ AR-15-style rifle by just a quarter of an inch. The bullet hit him, instead, in his upper right ear.
The bullet killed firefighter, father and husband Corey Comperatore as he protected his family from the shots, and severely injured two others.
Cheatle admitted under oath that the Secret Service "on July 13th, we failed."
"As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency," she said. "We must learn what happened and I will move heaven and earth to ensure that an incident like July 13th does not happen again."
Cheatle added: "Our agents, officers and support personnel understand that every day we are expected to sacrifice our lives to execute a no fail mission."
House Republicans, including House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, had been calling on Cheatle to resign, calling her and the agency under her watch "the face of incompetence."
"It is my firm belief, Director Cheatle, that you should resign," Comer said during the hearing. "The safety of Secret Service protectees is not based on their political affiliation. And the bottom line is that under Director Cheatle’s leadership, we question whether anyone is safe."
But Cheatle had defied those calls for days, maintaining she would not tender her resignation, and instead appeared before Congress to answer questions for the American people.
Cheatle’s initial explanation of why there was such a significant security lapse that led to the near assassination of Trump included details about the roof Crooks was perched upon.
"That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there's a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn't want to put somebody up on a sloped roof," Cheatle said last week. "And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside."
During the hearing, Cheatle said the Secret Service is "still looking into the advanced process and the decision made" as to why an agent wasn't positioned on top of the roof that Crooks used to fire at former President Trump.
"The building was outside of the perimeter on the day of the visit. But again, that is one of the things that during the investigation, we want to take a look at and determine whether or not other decisions should have been made," she said.
She added that "I'm not going to get into the specifics of the numbers of personnel that we had there, but we feel that there was a sufficient number of agents assigned" to the event.
Trump’s security detail reportedly asked for additional security from the Secret Service, repeatedly, but those requests were not met.
The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has opened an investigation into the Secret Service's handling of security for the Trump rally on July 13.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.