Washington – United States – Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday under intense pressure from Republicans and Democrats angered by the agency’s failure to prevent an assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump.
“In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your Director,” Cheatle wrote in a letter to staff, saying she took “full responsibility” for the failure.
“This incident does not define us,” Cheatle told staff. “I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission.”
The attack, in which a gunman opened fire with an AR-style rifle from an unsecured roof at a Trump presidential campaign rally July 13, was the first against a U.S. leader on the elite protective agency’s watch in more than 40 years. Cheatle, a veteran Secret Service agent, had called the security failure unacceptable and acknowledged that “the buck stops with me.”
She initially had said she would not resign and would cooperate with investigations into the shooting.
But during a House Oversight Committee hearing Monday, Cheatle faced calls from Republicans and Democrats to resign. Lawmakers criticized her for declining to answer detailed questions about what went wrong at the Trump rally.
After Cheatle’s resignation, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer took credit for pushing her out and pledged “more accountability to come.”
“Egregious security failures leading up to and at the Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally resulted in the assassination attempt of President Trump, the murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd,” Comer said in a statement. “We will continue our oversight of the Secret Service in support of the House Task Force to deliver transparency, accountability, and solutions to ensure this never happens again.”
Ronald Rowe, the Secret Service’s second-ranking official, will take over as acting director, the Department of Homeland Security said. Rowe, a 24-year veteran of the agency, was appointed deputy director in April 2023, with responsibility for the agency’s daily investigative and protective operations.
President Biden issued a statement praising Cheatle’s decision to resign.
“As a leader, it takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service,” the president said. “We all know what happened that day can never happen again.”
