Kimberly Cheatle resigned as Secret Service director after the assassination attempt against former President Trump unleashed intensifying outcry about how the agency could fail in its core mission, reports the Associated Press. Cheatle, who had served 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. “I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she said in an email to staff. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.” On Monday, Cheatle failed to reassure lawmakers that she was still the best person for the job, instead prompting members from both parties to demand her resignation in real time, Politico reports. During a nearly five-hour long hearing, members of the typically polarized Oversight Committee united in questioning how Cheatle could remain on the job and lambasted her for evading inquiries — on everything from the failures that preceded the Trump rally shooting to general questions about the impact of gun violence.
"This committee is not known for ... its model of bipartisanship, but I think today we came together unanimously in our disappointment in your lack of answers,” Chair James Comer (R-KY) told Cheatle. Her position seemed to deteriorate as the hearing went on and the number of lawmakers piling on her for non-answers and shrugs began to climb. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) told Cheatle that she didn’t believe “any of our concerns have been addressed today, and what little we’ve learned has not inspired much confidence.” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the panel, and other Democrats joined widespread GOP calls for Cheatle to resign. Comer and Raskin sent a letter to Cheatle officially demanding that she step aside.
Republicans and Democrats repeatedly expressed a shared sense of outrage that a premier law enforcement agency could allow a 20-year-old to get a clear shot at the former president. Cheatle admitted that the assassination attempt was the “most significant operational failure” for the agency in decades. She followed that admission with a series of evasive answers about the details of what went wrong, repeatedly citing the ongoing review or deferring to the FBI, which is also leading an investigation.
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