Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday following bipartisan outrage over the agency’s failure to prevent the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
Cheatle, who initially defended her position and claimed she was the best person to lead the agency despite acknowledged shortcomings during her tenure, announced her decision in an internal message to Secret Service employees. A spokesperson for the agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Her resignation came after a contentious hearing before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, where there was bipartisan criticism of her performance and frustration over her inability to provide answers on how a gunman was able to shoot at Trump, injuring him and killing a rally attendee in Pennsylvania on July 13. Both Democrats and Republicans called for her resignation following the hearing.
“It is long overdue,” said Speaker Mike Johnson upon hearing the news. “She should have done this at least a week ago. I’m glad to see it.”
Johnson confirmed that the news will not affect a bipartisan task force announced by the House earlier in the day to investigate the shooting.
President Joe Biden expressed appreciation for Cheatle’s service and assured that the investigation into the assassination attempt would proceed.
“We all understand that what happened that day must never happen again,” Biden stated.
He mentioned that a new director would be appointed “soon.”
Cheatle had a nearly three-decade career in the Secret Service before working in the private sector, overseeing security at PepsiCo. In 2022, Biden appointed her as the director of the Secret Service. During her tenure, she focused on promoting diversity within the workforce, including initiatives to recruit more women to the agency.
Some conservative pundits pointed fingers at these efforts for the agency’s failure to prevent Trump’s shooting, but individuals close to the former president, such as his son Eric Trump and former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, have praised the female agents.
The Secret Service is tasked with maintaining flawless security. However, in recent years, there have been several high-profile instances where it fell short of this standard. During Barack Obama’s presidency, an individual was able to scale the White House fence and enter the building undetected. Another person fired a gun at the White House. The agency faced severe criticism for these security breaches, which could have resulted in harm.
The agency also received criticism following the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. One of the individuals under its protection, then-Vice President Mike Pence, narrowly avoided encountering a group of rioters in the building. Another protectee, then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, was evacuated from the Democratic National Committee headquarters after a bomb threat. Some have raised questions about how the agency shared intelligence prior to the attack with other law enforcement agencies.
House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) attributed Cheatle’s resignation directly to her performance at the hearing on Monday, where she struggled to provide satisfactory answers and appeared evasive.
“The Oversight Committee’s hearing led to the resignation of Secret Service Director Cheatle, and there will be further accountability,” Comer stated in a release.
At the hearing, Cheatle claimed that she had swiftly implemented security adjustments for protectees following the shooting. She also mentioned that security for Harris had been strengthened after she announced her candidacy for president following Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race.
However, lawmakers criticized her for what they perceived as misleading or inaccurate statements from the agency regarding refusals of additional security resources requested by Trump’s team or agents.
While members of the oversight committee were scrutinizing Cheatle during the hearing on Monday, other lawmakers visited the location in western Pennsylvania where Trump was shot and a rally attendee was killed.
Cheatle faced more criticism there from lawmakers who demanded her resignation or termination. Members of the House Homeland Security Committee claimed that they were able to access the roof from which the shooter fired, despite the director’s assertion in an interview that it was too steep for agents to be stationed on.
