Kimberly A. Cheatle gave up her post after security failures that allowed a gunman to shoot at former President Donald J. Trump at an open-air rally.
The resignation is a rapid fall for the agency veteran who protected Dick Cheney and Joe Biden in their vice-presidential tenures and was publicly supported by Biden administration officials after the assassination attempt on former President Trump.
Kimberly Cheatle, who had served as Secret Service director since August 2022, had been facing growing calls to resign and several investigations into how the shooter was able to get so close to the Republican presidential nominee at an outdoor campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she said in an email to staff, obtained by The Associated Press. “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’s departure was unlikely to end the scrutiny of the long-troubled agency after the failures of July 13, and it comes at a critical juncture ahead of the Democratic National Convention and a busy presidential campaign season.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have promised continued investigation, along with an inspector general probe and an independent and bipartisan effort launched at President Joe Biden’s behest that will keep the agency in the spotlight.
Cheatle’s resignation comes a day after appeared before a congressional committee and was berated by hours by both Democrats and Republicans for the security failures.
She called the attempt on Trump’s life the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades and said she took full responsibility for the security lapses, but she angered lawmakers by failing to answer specific questions about the investigation.
At the hearing Monday, Cheatle remained defiant that she was the “right person” to lead the Secret Service, even as she said she took responsibility the security failures.
When Republican Rep. Nancy Mace suggested Cheatle begin drafting her resignation letter from the hearing room, Cheatle responded, “No, thank you.”
The 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to get within 135 meters (157 yards) of the stage where the former president was speaking when he opened fire
That’s despite a threat on Trump’s life from Iran leading to additional security for the former president in the days before the July 13 rally.
Cheatle acknowledged Monday that the Secret Service was told about a suspicious person two to five times before the shooting at the rally.
She also revealed that the roof from which Crooks opened fire had been identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally.
But she failed to answer many questions about what happened, including why there no agents stationed on the roof.
A bloodied Trump was quickly escorted off the stage by Secret Service agents, and agency snipers killed the shooter.
Trump said the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting. One rallygoer was killed, and two others were critically wounded.
In an interview with ABC News two days after the shooting, Cheatle said she wasn’t resigning.
She called the shooting “unacceptable” and something that no Secret Service agent wants to happen.
She said her agency is responsible for the former president’s protection: “The buck stops with me.
I am the director of the Secret Service.”
Cheatle served in the Secret Service for 27 years.
She left in 2021 for a job as a security executive at PepsiCo before Biden asked her to return in 2022 to head the agency with a workforce of 7,800 special agents, uniformed officers and other staff.
Giving his immediate reaction to Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation as head of the Secret Service, House Speaker Mike Johnson says “it is overdue”.
Speaking at a press conference following a meeting of Republican leadership, he says “she should have done this at least a week ago”.
But Johnson adds that he is “glad she has heeded the call” – from both Republicans and Democrats.
“Now we have to pick up the pieces“, he says.
Investigators believe a gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, opened fire at Trump while he was addressing a crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania on 13 July.
One audience member was killed and three people, including Trump, were injured.
Lawmakers say the Secret Service identified the gunman as suspicious some 20 minutes before he opened fire.
Calls for Cheatle to step down have been mounting in the wake of the incident, with Republicans, who control the House, unified in pushing for her to go.
President Joe Biden has reacted to the resignation of Kimberly Cheatle, now the former director of the Secret Service.
In a statement, the president says he and his wife Jill are grateful to Cheatle for her decades of public service.
“She has selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career in the United States Secret Service,” Biden says.
He adds that “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 says he is still looking forward to an independent review into what went wrong on 13 July, when a gunman had a clear line of view to Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania and tried to assassinate him.
Biden adds that he will be appointing a new director for the Secret Service soon.
Giving his immediate reaction to Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation as head of the Secret Service, House Speaker Mike Johnson says “it is overdue”.
Speaking at a press conference following a meeting of Republican leadership, he says “she should have done this at least a week ago”.
But Johnson adds that he is “glad she has heeded the call” – from both Republicans and Democrats.
“Now we have to pick up the pieces”, he says.
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