Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday following calls from lawmakers from both parties for her to step down.
Her resignation came shortly after she had testified in front of the House Oversight Committee on Monday to discuss the various security failures that allowed the attempted assassination to occur.
During her testimony, Cheatle admitted that the Secret Service had failed to protect the former president. Lawmakers repeatedly expressed their frustration at Cheatle’s inability and unwillingness to provide specific answers to their questions, with many suggesting that she tender her resignation.
“This is not just a single shooting, this is about national security and the security of our democracy,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), reported Politico. “It’s not just one operational failure. This is about: Are our public officials safe? The answers that we’ve received here in this hearing today are completely unsatisfactory.”
“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,” Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) told Cheatle, reported Politico.
Cheatle sent an email to Secret Service employees on Tuesday in which she stated, “I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission … in light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director,” reported The New York Times.
The Washington Post reports on the events that led up to Cheatle’s resignation. Here’s the start of the story:
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday under intense pressure from Republicans and Democrats angered by the agency’s failure to prevent an assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump.
“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 wrote in a letter to staff, saying she took “full responsibility” for the failure.
“This incident does not define us,” Cheatle told staff. “I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission.”
The attack, in which a gunman opened fire with an AR-style rifle from an unsecured roof at a Trump presidential campaign rally July 13, was the first against a U.S. leader on the elite protective agency’s watch in more than 40 years. Cheatle, a veteran Secret Service agent, had called the security failure unacceptable and acknowledged that “the buck stops with me.”
She initially had said she would not resign and would cooperate with investigations into the shooting.
But during a House Oversight Committee hearing Monday, Cheatle faced calls from Republicans and Democrats to resign. Lawmakers criticized her for declining to answer detailed questions about what went wrong at the Trump rally.