The Director of the US Secret Service, under scrutiny since the assassination attempt on Donald Trump on 13 July, resigned on Tuesday, following a tense parliamentary hearing where she admitted that her agency had failed to protect the former president.
Kimberly Cheatle had faced mounting pressure to step down as head of the elite service responsible for protecting notable figures in the United States, after the shooting that lightly injured the right-wing candidate. The pressure came from both Republican and Democratic legislators.
The Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, immediately welcomed her resignation, saying that it was long overdue. “Now we have to pick up the pieces,” Johnson said. “We have to rebuild the American people’s faith and trust in the Secret Service as an agency."
In a statement, Democratic President Joe Biden expressed his thanks to Ms. Cheatle “for her decades of service,” noting that throughout her career in the Secret Service, she had been tirelessly committed, risking her life to protect the nation.
However, he made sure to mention the ongoing “independent” investigation that will review the events of 13 July and determine how a shooter could get so close to Trump, and said he looked forward to assessing its conclusions.
At a Congressional hearing on Monday, Kimberly Cheatle had acknowledged her service's failures. “The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle told the House of Representatives' Oversight Committee.
“As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse,” she added, labelling the incident the agency's “most significant operational failure’’ in decades. However, she dismissed calls for her resignation, asserting that she believed that she was "the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.”
She had also refused to answer many specific questions from lawmakers about the attack, arguing that several investigations were underway.
Donald Trump, 78, was injured in the ear in the shooting. His pictures, with blood flowing from his face and fist raised, went viral. A bystander was killed and two others were seriously injured.
The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was killed by the Secret Service.
