US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, a day after admitting that the agency failed to prevent an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Cheatle faced bipartisan calls to step down after a 20-year-old gunman wounded Trump at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “It is overdue, she should have done this at least a week ago,” said Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives. “I’m happy to see that she has heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats.”
President Joe Biden thanked Cheatle for her nearly three decades of service with the Secret Service, noting her dedication and the risks she took to protect the nation. “We all know what happened that day can never happen again,” Biden stated. “As we move forward, I wish Kim all the best, and I will plan to appoint a new director soon.”
Cheatle appeared before a congressional oversight committee on Monday, where she described the attack on Trump as “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.” During the tense hearing, lawmakers from both parties called for her resignation as she refused to provide specific details about the incident, citing ongoing investigations.
The attack occurred when the gunman, armed with an AR-style assault rifle, opened fire on Trump minutes after he began speaking at the rally. Positioned on the roof of a nearby building, the shooter was killed by a Secret Service sniper less than 30 seconds after firing the first of eight shots. Investigators concluded that the gunman acted alone and had no strong ideological or political motivations.
The attack also resulted in the death of 50-year-old Pennsylvania firefighter Corey Comperatore and left two rally attendees seriously wounded. Trump sustained a two-centimeter gunshot wound on his right ear, with the bullet narrowly missing his head.
Cheatle, who served as a Secret Service agent for 27 years before briefly working as head of security for PepsiCo in North America, was appointed as the head of the agency by President Biden in 2022.
(AFP)
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