U.S. Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned from her job in the wake of this month’s assassination attempt on former president and current GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, according to a statement released by the White House.
In the statement President Biden thanked Cheatle for her service, saying “she has selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career in the United States Secret Service.”
Biden cited the work of an independent review commission that was launched Sunday to investigate the incident.
“The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions,” the statement reads. “We all know what happened that day can never happen again. As we move forward, I wish Kim all the best, and I will plan to appoint a new Director soon.”
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle said at the hearing. “As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse.”
She said the Secret Service is cooperating with a variety of ongoing investigations.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that in addition to various congressional committee investigations, there will be a bipartisan investigative task force comprised of seven Republican and six Democrats. That panel will make recommendations for reform and recommend possible legislation needed to implement reforms. The House will vote on a resolution to establish the force this week.
“The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life are shocking,” the leaders said in a statement.“ The task force will be empowered with subpoena authority and will move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability, and make certain such failures never happen again.”
The hearing, which came just over a week after the shooting at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., featured members on both sides of the aisle expressing frustration over Cheatles’ testimony, in which she didn’t give clear answers on how the shooter was able to get onto a roof with a clear line of sight of the former president.
“The American people have questions. They deserve answers. Congress deserves answers,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. “You were subpoenaed today to provide answers, and, ma’am, you did not do that.”
After the hearing, Comer and the top Democrat on the committee Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, released a joint letter calling on Cheatle to resign as director.
“Today, you failed to provide answers to basic questions regarding that stunning operational failure and to reassure the American people that the Secret Service has learned its lessons and begun to correct its systemic blunders and failures,” the letter read.
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