By Steve Neavling and Allan Lengel
Bowing to bipartisan pressure following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday, CNN reports.
The resignation came one day after Cheatle faced tough questioning at a four-hour hearing before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill.
Among those calling on Cheatle to resign were House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., The Washington Post reports.
“Today, you failed to provide answers to basic questions regarding that stunning operational failure and to reassure the American people that the Secret Service has learned its lessons and begun to correct its systemic blunders and failures,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter published after the hearing.
“In the middle of a presidential election, the Committee and the American people demand serious institutional accountability and transparency that you are not providing.”
On Tuesday, Comer issued a statement:
“The Oversight Committee’s hearing resulted in Director Cheatle’s resignation and there will be more accountability to come. The Secret Service has a no-fail mission yet it failed historically on Director Cheatle’s watch. At yesterday’s Oversight Committee hearing, Director Cheatle instilled no confidence that she has the ability to ensure the Secret Service can meet its protective mission.”
Cheatle admitted there were significant problems with security at the Trump rally, but insisted she was still the best person to lead the agency.
It was the first hearing since the shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.
Raskin emphasized that both parties were united in their “bafflement and outrage” over the shocking failures that led to the shooting.
In her opening remarks, Cheatle was calm and stoic.
“This is the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades,” she said. “I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency.”
Cheatle became director in September 2022.
