Secret Service director resigns after admitting agency ‘fell short’ during Trump assassination attempt

US Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle, the person charged with ensuring Donald Trump’s safety and that of everyone at the president’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, has resigned after admitting in a letter the agency “fell short” on the day fireman Corey Comperatore lost his life and Trump was centimeters away from losing his at the hands of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Cheatle, whom the New York Post reports “landed her role thanks largely to a close relationship with First Lady Jill Biden,” was eviscerated Monday by the House Oversight Committee. During the hearing, Representative Nancy Mace asked Cheatle, “Would you say leaking your opening statement to Punchbowl News, Politico’s Playbook and Washington Post several hours before you sent it to this committee as being political? Yes or no?” When Cheatle claimed she “had no idea” how her statement got out, Mace called Cheatle’s response “bullshit” and later told her she was “full of shit.”

The Daily Mail further reports that during the hearing:

Cheatle could not answer the number of agents on the ground, how the shooter got on the roof, how many shots were fired, how many casings were recovered, the shooter’s motive and other questions from lawmakers. 

She importantly admitted the Secret Service had communicated with law enforcement about a “suspicious person” two to five times before he fired shots. 

Cheatle said Crooks “was known to be suspicious,” but he was not deemed to be a threat.

Mace was joined by several fellow Republicans disgusted with Cheatle. According to Axios, Representative Tim Burchett, from Tennessee, called Cheatle a “DEI horror story.” Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, told Cheatle, “I just don’t think this is partisan. If you have an assassination attempt on a president, a former president or a candidate, you need to resign.”

When she was first asked why agents weren’t stationed on the roof Crooks shot from, Cheatle told Good Morning America the Secret Service “wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof.” She reiterated this baffling excuse to House Chairman James Comer, who asked during the hearing “why there wasn’t a Secret Service agent on the roof?”

“When we are providing overwatch, whether that be through counter snipers or other technology, [we] prefer to have sterile rooftops,” Cheatle said.

Despite bipartisan support for her resignation, until today, Cheatle remained confident in her abilities, saying during the hearing, “I think that I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.”

In her resignation letter, Cheatle wrote:

The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders and financial infrastructure. On July 13, we fell short on that mission. The scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases. As your director, I take full responsibility for the security lapse.

President Joe Biden thanked her for her service.

The Secret Service has admitted to denying Trump extra security, blaming limited resources. Trump responded on Truth Social to Cheatle’s resignation, writing, “The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy. IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!”