Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday after a disastrous appearance before Congress to review the assassination attempt on former President Trump.
Cheatle has faced calls to resign since the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, during which a gunman managed to shoot Trump, grazing his ear.
But those calls grew louder during Monday’s testimony before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, in which Cheatle infuriated lawmakers on both sides by avoiding multiple questions and failing to provide requested details about how the agency was assess their failure to ensure Trump’s safety.
“I take full responsibility for the security breach,” she said in the email sent to employees on Tuesday, obtained by The Associated Press. “In light of recent events, it is with regret that I have made the difficult decision to step down as its director.”
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Secret Service immediately responded to a request for comment.
President Biden praised Cheatle, who has been with the Secret Service for nearly 30 years, calling her “selflessly dedicated” and noting that she “risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career with the United States Secret Service.”
“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.”
Still at Monday’s hearing, Cheatle said he would not resign.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) learned the news at the end of his weekly press conference and called it “overdue.”
“She should have resigned at least a week ago. I’m happy to see that. I’m happy to see that she led the call from both Republicans and Democrats. Now we have to pick up the pieces. We have to rebuild the faith and trust of the people American in the Secret Service as an agency… We have a lot of work to do. The task force we will set up will be very important,” he added.
The Secret Service has what it calls a “no fail” mission, a mission that allows no mistakes in ensuring the safety of its protectees.
In addition to Trump, one rally attendee was killed and two others were injured during the shooting. Secret Service countersnipers also killed the shooter.
Cheatle acknowledged that the shooting was a failure for the agency.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed. As director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security breaches,” she said in opening remarks during her appearance before Congress.
“We need to know what happened and I will move heaven and earth to ensure that an incident like the one on July 13 does not happen again. Thinking about what we should have done differently is never far from my thoughts.”
But that admission was one of the few details lawmakers gleaned during the more than four-hour hearing in which Cheatle declined to answer many questions about the shooting, often citing the ongoing investigation.
That, and his inability to respond to even the details that have been publicly released about the attack, have left lawmakers frustrated.
“She did the right thing. Yesterday’s performance was horrible. It was all secret and unserviceable. And she didn’t answer any of the American people’s questions,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat in the Oversight Committee, to reporters after the news.
The director faced growing calls for her resignation during the hearing from both Democrats and Republicans, which even led to a rare joint letter from both party leaders of the Oversight Committee asking her to resign.
“Today, you failed to provide answers to basic questions regarding this stunning operational failure and failed to assure the American people that the Secret Service has learned its lessons and begun to correct its errors and systemic failures. In the middle of a presidential election, the Committee and the American people demand serious institutional accountability and transparency that you are not providing,” wrote Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Raskin, the ranking member.
When the news broke during an oversight hearing on Tuesday, Raskin congratulated Comer on the great hearing.
“You should sign more letters with me; There’s no telling what we could do,” Comer responded.
A later statement from Comer issued yet another warning to the agency.
“The Oversight Committee hearing resulted in Director Cheatle’s resignation and there will be more responsibilities to come,” he wrote.
“While Director Cheatle’s firing is a step toward accountability, we need a complete review of how these security breaches happened so we can prevent them in the future. We will continue to oversee the Secret Service in support of the House Task Force to provide transparency, accountability and solutions to ensure this never happens again.”
Emily Brooks and Nathaniel Weixel contributed.
Updated at 11:12 a.m. ET
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
