On Tuesday morning, the United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned following national outrage over the agency’s incompetence in preventing the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at his Butler, Pennsylvania rally on July 13. In the aftermath of the agency’s failure, Cheatle had faced intense bipartisan criticism.
Cheatle’s resignation came a day after she was grilled by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, which had subpoenaed the Secret Service director to testify before Congress on the security failure. However, Cheatle stated at the hearing that she would refuse to resign, maintaining that she was best qualified to lead the agency.
The attempt on Trump’s life during his rally, where 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks managed to take several shots at the former president, narrowly missed his head by millimeters and has been labeled the “most significant operational failure” in decades. Cheatle acknowledged this to lawmakers during the congressional hearing, stating, “The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” she said.
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) issued a press release in the wake of Cheatle’s resignation, suggesting that their work is not done and more will be held accountable. Comer further outlined the “egregious security failures” that led up to the attempt on Trump’s life and the death of an innocent civilian.
“The Oversight Committee’s hearing resulted in Director Cheatle’s resignation and there will be more accountability to come. The Secret Service has a no-fail mission yet it failed historically on Director Cheatle’s watch. At yesterday’s Oversight Committee hearing, Director Cheatle instilled no confidence that she has the ability to ensure the Secret Service can meet its protective mission. 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. While Director Cheatle’s resignation is a step toward accountability, we need a full review of how these security failures happened so that we can prevent them going forward. 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,” Comer said.
Yesterday, many congressional leaders called for Cheatle’s resignation, including California Representative Mike Garcia, who stated, “Secret Service Director Cheatle must resign or be fired. Her testimony at today’s hearing left members of the Oversight Committee, the American people, and myself with more questions than answers.”
“The security lapses at Former President Trump’s rally were blatant, and today’s testimony was another demonstration of gross incompetence. Director Cheatle has lost the confidence of the Congress – on both sides of the aisle – as well as the American people at large. I’m calling for new leadership within the Secret Service as a first step to addressing the current lack of accountability and transparency. The American people deserve better.”
Featured image credit: United States Department of Homeland Security, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kimberly_Cheatle,_Secret_Service_Assistant_Director.jpg
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