ENTRE News – Director of the US Secret Service (US Secret Service) Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday (23/7), local time. The resignation came a day after admitting the agency failed to prevent an assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump.
Cheatle faced bipartisan calls to step down after a 20-year-old gunman wounded the Republican presidential candidate at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“It’s too late, he should have done this at least a week ago,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters.
“I’m glad to see him heeding the calls of both Republicans and Democrats,” he continued.
US President Joe Biden thanked Cheatle for his nearly three decades serving in the Secret Service and said he had been “selflessly dedicated and risked his life to protect our country throughout his career.”
“We all know what happened that day will never happen again,” Biden said in a statement. “As we move forward, I wish Kim the best, and I plan to name a new director soon.”
Cheatle appeared before a congressional oversight committee on Monday and said the attack on Trump, who suffered a minor injury to his right ear, was a failure of the Secret Service.
He called it “the Secret Service’s most significant operational failure in decades.”
Both Republicans and Democrats called on Cheatle to resign at hearings this week. He drew the ire of lawmakers from both parties by refusing to provide specific details about the attack, saying the investigation was still ongoing.
The gunman opened fire on Trump with an AR rifle just minutes after he started speaking at a campaign event. He shot from the roof of a building not far from the campaign location. The gunman was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper less than 30 seconds after firing the first of eight shots.
Investigators have concluded that the young man, who lives in a town about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Butler, acted alone, and has not been able to identify any strong ideological or political leanings.
Two rally attendees were seriously injured in the attack and a 50-year-old Pennsylvania firefighter, Corey Comperatore, was shot dead. Over the weekend, Trump’s former doctor said that the Republican candidate suffered a two-centimeter (almost an inch) gunshot wound to his right ear.
“The bullet passed, less than a quarter inch from his head, and hit the top of his right ear,” said former White House physician Ronny Jackson.
Cheatle served as a Secret Service agent for 27 years before leaving in 2021 to become head of security in North America for PepsiCo. He was appointed to head the agency by President Joe Biden in 2022.