U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday after the agency came under heavy scrutiny for failing to prevent A shooter wounded former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally, according to media reports later confirmed by the White House.
President Joe Biden thanked Cheatle “for her decades of public service” in a statement. “As a leader, it takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to assume full responsibility for an organization charged with one of the most challenging jobs in public service,” said the president, who appointed the now former director to that position in 2022.
“The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to evaluating its findings. We all know that what happened that day will never happen again. As we move forward, I wish Kim all the best and plan to name a new director soon,” Biden said.
The Secret Service, responsible for protecting current and former US presidents, is facing a crisis after a gunman allegedly shot Trump from a rooftop overlooking the outdoor election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Cheatle faced bipartisan condemnation when he appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, refusing to answer questions from frustrated lawmakers about the security plan for the election rally and how law enforcement responded to the shooter’s suspicious behavior.
Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers called on him to resign.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, suffered a grazed right ear and an aide was killed in the shooting. The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
Cheatle, who has led the agency since 2022, told lawmakers he took responsibility for the shooting, calling it the Secret Service’s biggest failure since then-President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
The Secret Service faces investigations from multiple congressional committees and the internal watchdog of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, its parent organization, into its performance. President Joe Biden, who has ended his re-election campaign, has also called for an independent review.
Much of the criticism has focused on the lack of security on the roof of an industrial building where the shooter was perched about 150 yards (140 meters) from the stage where Trump was speaking.
The rooftop was declared outside the Secret Service security perimeter for the event, a decision criticized by former agents and lawmakers.
Cheatle was in a senior security position at PepsiCo when Biden appointed her to head the Secret Service in 2022. She previously served 27 years at the agency.
He took office after a series of scandals involving the Secret Service that tarnished the reputation of an elite agency.
Ten Secret Service agents have lost their jobs after it was revealed they took women, some of them prostitutes, back to their hotel rooms before a trip to Colombia by then-President Barack Obama in 2012.
The agency also faced allegations that it deleted text messages around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Those messages were later sought by a congressional panel investigating the riots.
[Con información de Reuters]
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