US Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle resigns after Trump hearing
4 Min Read
Taking full responsibility for the incident, Cheatle tells legislators that it was the biggest mistake made by the Secret Service since then-President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
-
Kimberly Cheatle, Director of the US Secret Service, during a House hearing of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill, July 22, 2024, in Washington. (AP)
US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday after the organization came under heavy criticism for failing to stop a would-be assassin from injuring former President Donald Trump during a campaign event with the intent of killing him.
When she stood before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee on Monday, she was met with criticism from both political parties and refused to address inquiries from irate members regarding the security arrangements for the event and the way in which law enforcement handled the gunman's suspicious actions.
She was urged to step down by a number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
Taking full responsibility for the incident, Cheatle told legislators that it was the biggest mistake made by the Secret Service since then-President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. Cheatle has been in charge of the agency since 2022.
Cheatle admitted in her opening statement that the Secret Service had "failed" on July 13, when the former President's shooter was able to take a clear shot from a rooftop near the campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The Secret Service chief was grilled about the security lapse that had occurred and was blamed for not knowing the specifics of security arrangements on that day — such as how many Secret Service agents were assigned to Trump. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene interjected, "Why are you here?" Cheatle defended herself by emphasizing that the investigation was still in its earliest stages, indicating that no conclusions should be made just yet.
Read next: DHS chides attack on female Secret Service agents after Trump incident
Cheatle refuted accusations that the Secret Service had declined the Trump campaign’s requests for extra security on July 13, stating to lawmakers that "the requested assets for that day were provided." However, Cheatle became more ambiguous when Republican congressman Jim Jordan pressed her on whether the Secret Service had rejected previous requests for additional security at Trump campaign events.
“It looks like you won’t answer some pretty basic questions,” Jordan said. “And you cut corners when it came to protecting one of the most important individuals, one of the most well-known individuals on the planet.”
29 years and out
The former President survived the shooting, only sustaining an injury to the ear. Other than the former president, one rally attendee, former fire chief Corey Comperatore, was killed in the attack and two others were injured.
“As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency,” Cheatle told the House oversight committee, adding that there is an investigation to know exactly what happened.
She further detailed that the agents were informed of a suspicious individual at the rally "somewhere between two and five times" before the incident.
Several congressional committees are looking into the Secret Service's operations, as is the internal watchdog of the parent agency, the US Department of Homeland Security.
In addition, President Joe Biden has demanded an impartial assessment. The gunman was positioned approximately 150 yards (140 meters) from the platform where Trump was speaking, and much of the criticism has been directed against the inability to secure the roof.
Lawmakers and former Secret Service officials chastised the decision to declare the rooftop outside the agency's security cordon for the event.
In 2022, Biden appointed Cheatle director of the Secret Service, when she maintained a high-level security position at PepsiCo. She worked with the agency for 27 years prior.
Following reports back in 2012 that ten Secret Service officers had returned women, including prostitutes, to their hotel rooms before then-President Barack Obama's trip to Colombia at the time, the agents were fired.
Additionally, the Secret Service was accused of deleting text communications from around the time of the attack on the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021. Later in its investigation of the matter, a congressional subcommittee sought the messages.
