U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, July 23rd, following the backlash over the service’s failure to prevent the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last weekend. “I take full responsibility for the security lapse. In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director,” she said in an email to staff, obtained by AP.
As we reported, the would-be assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to access the rooftop of a building and open fire at former President Trump at an election campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13th, despite being identified as a person of interest a full hour before the shooting, and police being alerted to his presence by spectators several times in the lead up to the events that unfolded.
The Secret Service, which is responsible for the protection of current and former presidents, was blamed for not keeping under constant surveillance the building and its rooftop, which had a direct sight line and was within firing range of the former president. Female agents of the service were criticised for being too slow and too short to cover Donald Trump during the chaotic shooting.
Director Kimberly Cheatle, who was appointed to the position two years ago, has been criticised for focusing her attention on making the service more diverse, with the aim of having 30% women in the agency by 2030. “We must embrace diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility across the agency,” she previously wrote.
“Both the Obama and Biden administrations have populated federal departments and agencies with bureaucrats more concerned with DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] than carrying out their organizations’ mission. As a result, it is not unreasonable to assume Director Cheatle has taken the same approach with the Secret Service,” Republican Congressman Ron Johnson told the New York Post.
Appearing at the House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee on Monday, Cheatle refused to answer questions from frustrated lawmakers about these security flaws, including why there were no agents stationed on the roof. She did take responsibility for the shooting, however, calling it the largest failure by the Secret Service since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers called on her to resign.
“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,” James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement.
President Joe Biden, who chose not to fire Kimberly Cheatle, said he is “grateful to Director Kim Cheatle for her decades of public service,” and that he will appoint a new director soon.
