23-7-2024 (WASHINGTON) Kimberly Cheatle, the Director of the United States Secret Service, has tendered her resignation amidst growing scrutiny over security lapses related to the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, sources close to the matter have revealed to CNN.
The resignation comes as both lawmakers and internal government watchdogs ramp up investigations into the agency’s handling of Trump’s protection and the circumstances that allowed an armed assailant to come perilously close to the 2024 Republican presidential hopeful at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
Cheatle’s decision to step down follows bipartisan calls for her resignation and a push by Republican lawmakers for her impeachment. The director’s recent appearance before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, where she was perceived as evasive in answering many of the committee’s questions, further intensified the pressure on her position.
During her testimony, Cheatle acknowledged “significant” and “colossal” problems with security at the rally but steadfastly rebuffed demands for her resignation, stating, “I think I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson described the resignation as “overdue” and emphasised the need to rebuild public trust in the Secret Service. “We have to pick up the pieces,” Johnson told reporters. “We have to rebuild the American people’s faith and trust in the Secret Service as an agency. It has an incredibly important responsibility in protecting presidents, former presidents, and other officials in the executive branch, and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
The incident in question saw a gunman fire shots at Trump from an unsecured rooftop just a few hundred feet from the rally stage, narrowly missing the former president’s head and resulting in one fatality and multiple injuries among rallygoers. In the aftermath, questions have been raised about the Secret Service’s failure to control access to the rooftop and their handling of intelligence provided by local law enforcement prior to the shooting.
Cheatle, who was appointed by President Joe Biden to lead the Secret Service in 2022, had initially been adamant about not stepping down. In a recent interview with CNN, she had asserted that the agency was “solely responsible” for the design and implementation of security at the Pennsylvania rally site.
As investigations continue, discrepancies have emerged between the accounts of the Secret Service and Pennsylvania law enforcement regarding the events leading up to the attempted attack and the allocation of responsibility for the security breaches.
Cheatle, who left a position managing Global Security at PepsiCo to take on the role of USSS director, had previously served in the Secret Service for 27 years. She had pledged her agency’s full cooperation with both congressional and internal government examinations of the Secret Service’s approach to security on the day of the incident.
