The embattled director of the U.S. Secret Service has reportedly resigned from her post, one day after lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle eviscerated her over the agency’s failure to stop the attempted assassination of former president and Republican candidate Donald J. Trump.
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” Kimberly Cheatle said in the email to staff Tuesday, as reported 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, an agency veteran appointed to her role in 2022, faced bipartisan condemnation after declining to answer most questions from frustrated members of the House oversight committee in Washington on Monday. Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers demanded her resignation after pummelling her with questions about competency — both hers and the agency’s — for more than four-and-a-half hours straight.
The Secret Service, which has been tasked with protecting current and former presidents for more than a century, has faced an intense crisis after reports emerged detailing how it had failed its core mission before the shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13.
The gunman injured Trump, killed a local firefighter and injured two more attendees.
More to come.
Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the U.S. Secret Service, told the House oversight and accountability committee on Monday that the attempt on Donald Trump’s life was the ‘most serious operational failure’ by the agency in more than four decades.
