The head of the United States Secret Service is stepping down following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, after days of mounting pressure and criticism for failing to prevent the shooting.
Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service chief, announced her resignation in an email to staff on Tuesday, as reported by The Associated Press. Cheatle has been under scrutiny from US lawmakers over security lapses at Trump’s July 13 rally in Pennsylvania, where the former president and Republican presidential nominee was shot in the ear.
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” Cheatle stated in her email. “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 faced intense questioning during a US congressional committee hearing on Monday regarding the agency’s security plan at the Trump rally. “The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13 is the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades,” Cheatle told lawmakers. “There clearly was a mistake, and we will make every effort to ensure this never happens again.”
Witnesses say the gunman had taken up a position on a rooftop with a direct line of sight to the rally stage, leading to questions about the security measures in place before the event. President Joe Biden has ordered an independent review of security protocols at the rally, where one attendee was killed and two others were seriously injured.
Lawmakers have been demanding more immediate answers from Cheatle and other US law enforcement agency chiefs, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
In a statement on Tuesday, Biden thanked Cheatle for her decades of public service and said he plans to appoint a new Secret Service director soon. “The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions. We all know what happened that day can never happen again,” Biden said.