The director of the Secret Service is stepping down from her job, according to an email she sent to staff, following the assassination attempt against former President Trump that unleashed intensifying outcry about how the agency tasked with protecting current and former presidents could fail in its core mission. Kimberly Cheatle, who'd 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, reports the AP.
"I take full responsibility for the security lapse," she said in the email to staff Tuesday. "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 resignation comes a day after she appeared before a congressional committee and was berated for 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 also 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. 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 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. (More Trump rally shooting stories.)
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