Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday amid bipartisan anger over the agency’s failure to prevent the near-assassination of Donald Trump.
Cheatle, who initially tried to salvage his position and portrayed himself as the best person to lead the agency despite acknowledging failures during his tenure on Monday, announced his decision in an internal message to Secret Service employees. An agency spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Her announcement followed a grueling hearing Monday before the House Oversight Committee that was marked by bipartisan criticism of her job performance and frustration at her inability to answer basic questions about how she failed to stop the gunman who opened fire on Trump, wounding him and killing crowd members at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.. Both Democrats and Republicans have called for her resignation.
“It’s too late,” Chairman Mike Johnson said shortly after hearing the news. “She should have done this at least a week ago. I’m glad to see that.”
Johnson said the news would not change the bipartisan task force plan the House announced Tuesday to investigate the shooting.
President Joe Biden issued a statement thanking Cheatle for his service and promised to continue investigating the assassination attempt.
“We all know that what happened that day can never happen again,” Biden said.
He said he would appoint a new director “soon.”
Cheatle worked for the Secret Service for nearly 30 years before moving to the private sector, where she was in charge of security for PepsiCo. Biden nominated her to head the Secret Service in 2022. During her tenure there, she emphasized the importance of workforce diversity, including efforts to bring more women into the agency.
While some conservative commentators have criticized the effort for failing to prevent Trump from being shot, those close to the former president — including his son Eric Trump and former national security adviser Robert O’Brien — have praised the agency’s female operatives.
The Secret Service’s mission requires perfection. And in recent years, it has failed to meet that standard in several high-profile incidents. During Barack Obama’s presidency, a man jumped over the White House fence undetected and entered the building. Another man fired a gun into the White House. The agency has come under fire for security breaches that could have resulted in injuries or worse.
The agency came under renewed criticism after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. One of its protected individuals, then-Vice President Mike Pence, was nearly confronted by a mob of rioters in the building. Another, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, was evacuated from the Democratic National Committee headquarters after a bomb was found outside the building. And some have questioned how the agency shared intelligence with law enforcement partners before the attack.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Cheatle’s resignation came after she struggled to answer lawmakers’ questions during Monday’s hearing and often appeared evasive.
“As a result of the Oversight Committee’s hearing, Director Cheatle has resigned and will be held more accountable in the future,” Comer said in a statement.
Chettle argued at the hearing that she quickly adjusted security for those in her care after the shooting. She also said she increased security for Harris, who became a presidential candidate on Sunday after Biden announced he was dropping out of the race.
But lawmakers have criticized the agency’s claims that President Trump’s team or agents requested additional security personnel and did not refuse them, calling them false or misleading.
While members of the Oversight Committee strongly condemned Cheatle during Monday’s hearing, other lawmakers toured the scene in western Pennsylvania where Trump was shot and a rally attendee died.
Cheatle was also assaulted there by lawmakers who called on her to resign or be fired. Members of the House Homeland Security Committee said they could easily walk on the roof from which the gunman fired. The chairman claimed in an interview that the roof was too steep for the agents to be positioned.
