On Tuesday (23rd July), the US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle announced that she was stepping down from her job, according to an email she sent to staff. The development comes a day after she admitted failures and security lapses at a congressional hearing over the Trump assassination attempt. Till her resignation, she had been serving as Secret Service director since August 2022.
BREAKING: 10 days after Trump was shot, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns. Her resignation comes shortly after this viral grilling by a U.S. Congresswoman: pic.twitter.com/WnFus4P0nb
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) July 23, 2024
In the email sent to the staff on Tuesday, she said, “I take full responsibility for the security lapse.”
She added, “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”
Speaking to reporters, Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson said, “It is overdue, she should have done this at least a week ago. I’m happy to see that she has heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats.”
It is pertinent to note that Cheatle was facing non stop calls to step down after a 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Crooks fired multiple shots at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The incident unfolded on 13th July in which a bullet pierced Trump’s right ear and left him bleeding. A Trump supporter died in the incident and two others suffered injuries in the firing incident. The former US President survived by chance as the bullet missed his head by mere centimeters.
US lawmakers and citizens had been intensifying their demands in calling for her resignation as they expressed concerns about how the US security agencies failed to prevent an assassination attempt on a Former US President and a Presidential candidate.
During the Congressional hearing, Kimberly Cheatle described the assassination attempt on Trump’s life as the “most significant operational failure” in decades for the Secret Service.
She said that she was taking full responsibility for the security lapses, but angered many lawmakers when she failed to answer several specific questions about the investigation.
