U.S. Secret Service director resigns amid fury over agency failures in protecting Trump

United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. The day before, Cheatle testified before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON —  U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday, following widespread outrage that her agency failed to prevent the assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump during a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Cheatle’s resignation follows an intense congressional hearing where Democrats and Republicans demanded she step down after they grew dissatisfied with her answers about how a gunman was able to get within shooting range of the former president. In the hearing, Cheatle noted that the Secret Service was told about a suspicious person two to five times before the shooting.

According to an email obtained by The Associated Press , Cheatle said to her staff that she took “full responsibility for the security lapse.”

Ronald L. Rowe, the U.S. Secret Service Deputy Director will serve as acting Director of the Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

“I appreciate his willingness to lead the Secret Service at this incredibly challenging moment, as the agency works to get to the bottom of exactly what happened on July 13 and cooperate with ongoing investigations and Congressional oversight,” Mayorkas said. “At the same time, the Secret Service must effectively carry on its expansive mission that includes providing 24/7 protection for national leaders and visiting dignitaries and securing events of national significance in this dynamic and heightened threat environment.”

The Secret Service declined to comment and deferred to DHS.

“I am responsible for leading the agency, and I am responsible for finding the answers to how this event occurred and making sure that it doesn’t happen again,” Cheatle said during Monday’s House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing.

Task force will still investigate

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said even though Cheatle has stepped down, he still plans to continue with plans to form a bipartisan task force to investigate the security failures that led to the attempted assassination, in which Trump was shot and his right ear injured.

“Her resignation is overdue,” Johnson told reporters. “It certainly was the director, but there may be others in the line of authority who are also culpable in what happened in the errors and mistakes there.”

Johnson said the task force will continue “to ensure that those mistakes do not happen again.”

On Trump’s social media site, Truth Social, the former president wrote that the Biden administration “did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy. IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!”

In a statement, President Joe Biden thanked Cheatle for her service and said he plans to appoint a new director soon.

“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.

He added that an independent review, which he directed the Department of Homeland Security to undertake shortly after the shooting, will “get to the bottom of what happened on July 13.”

“We all know what happened that day can never happen again,” Biden said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Democrat of Nevada, issued a joint statement in which they said they have introduced bipartisan legislation that would require all future directors of the Secret Service be subject to confirmation by the Senate and serve a single 10-year term.

“Our bill is a crucial step toward providing the transparency and accountability that Congress and the American people deserve from the Secret Service,” Grassley said. “In light of former Director Cheatle’s resignation, Congress must now move quickly to pass our legislation and put a qualified individual at the agency’s helm.”

Cortez Masto said that by requiring the director of the Secret Service to be confirmed by the Senate, this will “ensure the same level of oversight as other federal law enforcement agencies and support our hardworking agents in doing the best job they can.”

Mayorkas also praised Cheatle for her work, noting her 29 years of service.

“Over the past two years, she has led the Secret Service with skill, honor, integrity, and tireless dedication,” Mayorkas said in a statement. “She is deeply respected by the men and women of the agency and by her fellow leaders in the Department of Homeland Security.”

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