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US Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned after accepting responsibility for her agency’s failure to prevent an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
The decision by Cheatle comes a day after she faced the wrath of lawmakers for repeatedly refusing to provide Congress with additional details on the security lapses that occurred ahead of the shooting, which injured the Republican presidential nominee and killed a spectator.
In testimony on Capitol Hill on Monday, Cheatle said the event in Pennsylvania was a result of the “most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades”, but maintained that she was unable to provide more insight until internal investigations were concluded. She subsequently faced bipartisan calls for her immediate resignation.
Cheatle confirmed that the shooter, Thomas Crooks, was identified as “suspicious” by law enforcement several minutes before Trump took to the stage in Butler, but said he was not necessarily deemed a threat, even though he was carrying a rifle rangefinder.
The device was “not a prohibited item”, she told the House oversight committee, and later confirmed that in her belief, “an individual with a rangefinder is not a threat”.
She added that teams were “sent to identify and interview” Crooks, but claimed not to have any further information as to whether and when such a move was carried out.
In a separate exchange on Monday, Cheatle admitted the Secret Service was still “unaware . . . how the individual was able to gain access to the roof” from which he fired towards Trump and members of the crowd.
She rebuffed claims that the former president’s security detail was not adequately resourced, even after her agency confirmed it did not fully meet some requests for more protection by Trump’s team.
“The Secret Service has a no-fail mission yet it failed historically on Director Cheatle’s watch,” James Comer, the Republican chair of the committee, said on Tuesday. “At yesterday’s . . . hearing, Director Cheatle instilled no confidence that she has the ability to ensure the Secret Service can meet its protective mission.”
Comer vowed there would be “more accountability to come”.
Cheatle’s resignation brings to an end an almost 30-year career in the security services, which was interrupted only by a short stint at PepsiCo before she took the top job at the Secret Service. In a statement, President Joe Biden thanked her for “decades of public service”.
In a social media post, Trump blamed the Biden administration for not properly protecting him, adding that as a result he was “forced to take a bullet for democracy”.