After hours of questioning from lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned.
Her resignation comes almost a week and a half after a gunman was able to open fire on Trump, wounding the former president during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. One spectator was killed and two others were wounded.
Her resignation was announced to employees at the Secret Service via a letter, The Associated Press reported.
The letter read in part, “I take full responsibility for the security lapse. In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”
FLASH: @SecretService Director Kim Cheatle announces her resignation in letter to staff:
To the Men and Women of the U.S. Secret Service,
The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders and financial infrastructure. On July 13th, we fell short on that…— Myles Miller (@MylesMill) July 23, 2024
Cheatle was questioned, or as the AP described, “berated,” by Democrats and Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee about the failure to protect a former president. She called the attempted assassination the agency’s “most significant operational failure” in decades. But while she took responsibility for the failure, she did not answer questions about the ongoing investigation.
Cheatle called the security issues at the rally on July 13 as “significant” and “colossal,” CNN reported.
She challenged the calls for her resignation, telling lawmakers on Monday, “I think I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time,” CNN reported.
Shortly after the assassination attempt, Cheatle had been adamant that she would not resign, despite the agency, in her words, being “solely responsible” for the security plan at the rally. She had said that the agency would fully cooperate with the investigation by Congress and other agencies into what happened.
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