Kimberly Cheatle, the Director of the U.S. Secret Service, tendered her resignation on Tuesday amidst widespread criticism regarding her agency’s failure to prevent the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally earlier this month. Reports from NBC News, citing sources, first broke the news of Cheatle’s resignation, which came a day after she faced harsh questioning from members of a House committee during a hearing on the Secret Service’s actions leading up to Trump’s rally in Butler Township on July 13.
During the hearing, Cheatle had initially refused to step down, asserting that she was the most qualified individual to lead the Secret Service, an agency tasked with safeguarding the president, vice president, their families, and prominent presidential candidates.
The attempted assassination of Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was narrowly averted when a 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Crooks, opened fire during the rally. One attendee lost their life in the shooting, while two others sustained critical injuries. Crooks fired shots at Trump from the rooftop of a building approximately 150 yards away from the stage where the former president was delivering his speech.
The Secret Service faced criticism for not expanding its security perimeter to include the area where the shooter was positioned, leaving the responsibility to secure that location to local law enforcement. Furthermore, agents allowed Trump to take the stage and commence his speech even after receiving reports from local police about a suspicious individual at the event, who turned out to be Crooks. The gunman was subsequently neutralized by a Secret Service sniper after firing multiple rounds at Trump.
Over the weekend, the Secret Service acknowledged that it had inaccurately stated, in the aftermath of the shooting, that the agency had not turned down requests from Trump’s campaign for additional security measures. In recent years, the Secret Service has faced criticism for various scandals and lapses in its operations.
