The Director of the U.S. Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned on Tuesday, just one day after admitting the agency’s failure to prevent an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Cheatle faced bipartisan pressure to resign after a 20-year-old gunman injured the former president and current White House candidate at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
“It is overdue, she should have done this at least a week ago,” said Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. “I’m happy to see that she has heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats.”
On Monday, Cheatle testified before a congressional committee, describing the attack, in which Trump sustained a minor injury to his right ear, as a significant operational failure for the Secret Service. She labeled it “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.”
Both parties demanded Cheatle’s resignation. She frustrated lawmakers by withholding details about the attack, citing ongoing investigations.
The attacker, armed with an AR-style assault rifle, fired on Trump shortly after the rally began. Positioned on a nearby rooftop, the gunman was killed by a Secret Service sniper within 30 seconds of firing his first of eight shots. Investigators determined the shooter acted alone and lacked any clear ideological or political motives.
Two attendees were seriously injured in the attack, and a 50-year-old firefighter from Pennsylvania, Corey Comperatore, was killed. Over the weekend, Trump’s former physician revealed that the candidate suffered a nearly one-inch gunshot wound on his right ear.
“The bullet missed entering his head by less than a quarter of an inch and hit the top of his right ear,” stated former White House physician Ronny Jackson.
Cheatle had a 27-year tenure as a Secret Service agent before leaving in 2021 to become PepsiCo’s head of security in North America. President Joe Biden appointed her as the head of the Secret Service in 2022.
