The director of the Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle has resigned, the Associated Press reported. She announced her decision in an email to her staff following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, which sparked growing discontent over how the agency tasked with protecting current and former heads of state could fail in its core mission, BTA reported.
Cheatle, who has been in office since August 2022, has faced growing calls for her to resign, as well as several investigations into how the shooter was able to get so close to the Republican presidential nominee at a campaign rally in discovered in Pennsylvania.
„I take full responsibility for the security breach,” she wrote in the email to employees. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I am making the difficult decision to step down as your director,” added Cheatle.
Her resignation comes a day after she was heard by a congressional committee and criticized for hours by both Democrats and Republicans over the security breach. Cheatle called the assassination attempt on Trump “the most significant failure of the Secret Service” for decades and said he would take full responsibility for the security breach, but angered congressmen by failing to answer specific questions from the investigation.
Twenty-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks managed to get within 135 meters of the stage where the former president was speaking before opening fire. This came despite a threat to Trump's life from Iran that led to a heightened security presence in the days leading up to the July 13 rally.