Secret Service Director Resigns After Assassination Attempt On Former President Trump At Rally

WASHINGTON (AP) — The director of the Secret Service resigned Tuesday after the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump sparked outrage that the agency had failed in its core job of protecting current and former presidents.

Kimberly Cheatle, acting director of the Secret Service since August 2022, has faced mounting calls for her resignation and several other investigations into how a gunman managed to get so near the Republican presidential candidate during an outside campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

“I take full responsibility for the security breach,” she said in an email to staff obtained by The Associated Press. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to resign as your director.”

Cheatle’s departure is unlikely to finish scrutiny of the long-troubled agency after the July 13 setbacks, coming at a critical time before the Democratic National Convention and a busy presidential campaign season. Lawmakers on each side of the aisle have promised more investigations. The inspector general’s investigation and an independent, bipartisan effort launched by President Joe Biden will keep the agency within the highlight.

Cheatle’s resignation got here a day after she appeared before a congressional committee and was criticized for hours by Democrats and Republicans for her security lapses. She called the assassination attempt on Trump the Secret Service’s “biggest operational failure” in a long time but angered lawmakers by not answering specific questions on the investigation.

Biden said in a press release that “what happened that day must never happen again” and that he plans to call a brand new director soon, but didn’t provide a timeline.

The president and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas thanked Cheatle for her service. Mayorkas named Deputy Director Ronald Rowe as acting director. He had worked for the agency for 23 years.

“At this point, we must remain focused,” Rowe said in a memo to staff obtained by the AP. “We will restore the faith and trust of the American public and the people we are entrusted to protect.”

Congressional hearing

During Monday’s hearing, Cheatle remained adamant that she was “the right person” to steer the Secret Service, at the same time as she said she took responsibility for its failures. When Republican Rep. Nancy Mace suggested Cheatle start writing her resignation letter within the courtroom, Cheatle responded, “No, thank you.”

The 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was capable of get to inside 135 meters (157 yards) of the stage where the previous president was speaking when he opened fire. This happened despite a threat against Trump from Iran that led to extra security for the previous president in the times before the rally.

Cheatle acknowledged Monday that the Secret Service was briefed on a suspicious person two to 5 times before the shooting on the rally. She also said the rooftop from which Crooks fired the shot had been identified as a possible weak point days earlier. But she didn’t answer many questions on what happened, including why agents weren’t on the roof.

Trump, covered in blood, was quickly escorted off stage by Secret Service agents, and agency snipers killed the shooter. Trump said a part of his right ear was pierced within the shooting. One rallygoer was killed and two others were seriously wounded.

Details are still emerging in regards to the signs of trouble that day and the role of the Secret Service and native authorities. The agency routinely relies on local law enforcement to secure the perimeter of events. Former top Secret Service agents have said the shooter should never have gotten to the roof.

After Cheatle resigned, Trump wrote on social media: “The Biden/Harris Administration failed to protect me and I was forced to take a bullet for democracy. IT WAS A GREAT HONOR FOR ME TO DO THIS!”

The House Homeland Security Committee asked Cheatle to testify Tuesday at one other hearing on the attempted bombing, but lawmakers said she declined. Cheatle’s name appeared on a note on a table in front of an empty chair through the hearing, which began shortly before her decision to resign was made public.

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Researching the ever-increasing variety of threats

The Secret Service is a component of the Department of Homeland Security, which incorporates immigration, transportation security, and the Coast Guard. The department was created after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

There was a movement several years ago to maneuver the agency back to the Treasury Department, where it was housed before 9/11, particularly because Homeland Security’s intense concentrate on immigration had deepened a growing divide between what the Secret Service sees as its dual missions — protecting the president and investigating financial crimes — and that of its parent department. But that movement has stalled.

About half of the Secret Service’s $3 billion budget goes to protective services. It also has a strong cybercrime unit, state-of-the-art crime labs and a threat assessment center that studies learn how to mitigate threats and trains to combat them.

With a workforce of seven,800 special agents, uniformed officers, and other personnel, the Secret Service investigated an ever-increasing variety of threats against the president and other officials under its protection. It also managed a growing variety of senior government officials requesting support. Staffing couldn’t sustain with the growing workload. Around 9/11, there have been about 15 full-time protected personnel. That number has now greater than doubled.

Trump is the primary modern former president to hunt one other term, and since of his high profile, his security has at all times been larger than some others. That protective bubble has tightened in recent months as he approaches the nomination. All major-party nominees are receiving beefed-up protection, with counterattack and countersniper teams just like the president’s.

An appeal for responsibility

Calls for accountability have emerged across the political spectrum, with congressional committees immediately starting investigations and issuing subpoenas. Top Republican leaders in each the House and Senate have said Cheatle should resign.

Biden, a Democrat, has ordered an independent review of security on the rally, and the Secret Service inspector general has launched an investigation. The agency can also be reviewing the “readiness and operations” of its countersniper team.

On Tuesday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Cheatle’s resignation was “long overdue.”

“Now we have to pick up the pieces. We have to rebuild the faith and trust of the American people in the Secret Service as an agency,” Johnson said.

Meanwhile, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Catherine Cortez Masto (R-Nevada) on Tuesday filed a bill requiring Senate confirmation of future Secret Service directors.

Cheatle served within the Secret Service for 27 years. She left in 2021 to turn into chief security officer at PepsiCo before Biden asked her to return in 2022 to steer the agency.

She took the position amid the controversy over missing text messages that emerged across the time hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, following his loss to Biden within the 2020 election.

During her time on the agency, Cheatle was the primary woman appointed deputy director of protective operations, the division that protects the president and other dignitaries, where she oversaw a budget of $133.5 million. She was the second woman to steer the agency.

When Biden announced Cheatle’s nomination, he said she had served on his security detail when he was vp, and he and his wife had “grown to trust her judgment and advice.”