WASHINGTON: U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday after the agency came under harsh scrutiny for its failure to stop a would-be assassin from wounding former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally, according to media reports. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Secret Service, which is responsible for the protection of current and former U.S. presidents, faces a crisis after a gunman was able to fire on Trump from a roof overlooking the outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
Cheatle faced bipartisan condemnation when she appeared before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee on Monday, declining to answer questions from frustrated lawmakers about the security plan for the rally and how law enforcement responded to the suspicious behavior of the gunman. Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers called on her to resign.
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was grazed in the right ear and one rallygoer was killed in the gunfire. The gunman, identified as a 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by s Secret Service sniper.
Cheatle, who has led the agency since 2022, told lawmakers she took responsibility for the shooting, calling it the largest failure by the Secret Service since then-President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
The Secret Service faces investigations from multiple congressional committees and the internal watchdog of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, its parent organization, over its performance. President Joe Biden, who has ended his reelection campaign, has also called for an independent review.
Much of the criticism has focused on the failure to secure the roof of an industrial building where the gunman was perched about 150 yards (140 m) from the stage where Trump was speaking.
The rooftop was declared outside the Secret Service security perimeter for the event, a decision criticized by former agents and lawmakers.
Cheatle held a top security role at PepsiCo when Biden named her Secret Service director in 2022. She previously served 27 years in the agency.
She took over following a series of scandals involving the Secret Service that scarred the reputation of an elite and insular agency.
Ten Secret Service agents lost their jobs after revelations they brought women, some of them prostitutes, back to their hotel rooms ahead of a trip to Colombia by then-President Barack Obama in 2012.
The agency also faced allegations that it erased text messages from around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Those messages were later sought by a congressional panel probing the riot. — Reuters
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