THE Director of the United States (US) Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, has resigned from her position after an attempted assassination on former President, Donald Trump.
Cheatle, who had described the shooting of Trump at a rally as the biggest failure of the Secret Service in decades, tendered her resignation on Tuesday, July 23, following increasing calls for her to step down.
Indeed, appearing before Congress, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers had called on her to resign from her position. And while the hearing on Monday, July 22, she admitted failure on the part of the Service in its core duty to prevent the attempt on Trump.
Cheatle, in an email to Secret Service employees, wrote: “I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission.
“Scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases.
“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.”
Cheatle became director of the Service on September 2022, but it remained unclear when she would actually leave.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has, in a statement, thanked her for her service, saying he would “soon” appoint her successor to lead the Service.
On his part, Trump wrote on his Truth Social: “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!”
