The embattled director of the U.S. Secret Service has reportedly resigned from her post, one day after lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle eviscerated her over the agency’s failure to stop the attempted assassination of former president and Republican candidate Donald J. Trump.
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” Kimberly Cheatle said in the email to staff Tuesday, as reported by The Associated Press. “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, an agency veteran appointed to her role in 2022, faced bipartisan condemnation after declining to answer most questions from frustrated members of the House oversight committee in Washington on Monday. Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers demanded her resignation after pummelling her with questions about competency — both hers and the agency’s — for more than four-and-a-half hours straight.
Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the U.S. Secret Service, told the House oversight and accountability committee on Monday that the attempt on Donald Trump’s life was the ‘most serious operational failure’ by the agency in more than four decades.
The Secret Service, which has been tasked with protecting current and former presidents for more than a century, has faced an intense crisis after reports emerged detailing how it had failed its core mission before the shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13.
The gunman injured Trump, killed a local firefighter and injured two more attendees.
Cheatle described the attempt on Trump’s life as the agency’s “most significant operational failure” since then-president Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. She repeatedly declined numerous calls to quit her job and insisted she was the “right person” to lead the agency, saying she was dedicated to finding answers through an internal investigation.
As the hearing went on, lawmakers grew increasingly frustrated by Cheatle’s failure to answer specific questions about the security lapses and operational failures leading up to the fairground shooting.
When Republican Rep. Nancy Mace offered her five minutes of question time for Cheatle to start writing her resignation letter from the hearing room, Cheatle responded with a quiet “No, thank you.”
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina accused Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, of misleading lawmakers when questioned on Monday about the agency’s response to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. ‘You’re full of shit today,’ Mace said.
Her departure Tuesday is unlikely to pull the spotlight away from the agency. Republican Rep. James Comer, chair of the oversight committee, issued a statement saying the resignation is a “first step” but “there will be more accountability to come.”
“The Secret Service has a no-fail mission yet it failed historically on director Cheatle’s watch. At yesterday’s oversight committee hearing, director Cheatle instilled no confidence that she has the ability to ensure the Secret Service can meet its protective mission,” Comer wrote.
“Director Cheatle’s resignation is a step toward accountability, we need a full review of how these security failures happened so that we can prevent them going forward.”