U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will resign Tuesday following the attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump earlier this month.
Cheatle’s official announcement is expected later in the day, but two law enforcement officials have confirmed her exit to NBC News. Her ouster comes amid widespread criticism from both Republicans and Democrats over security failures at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.
In her resignation letter, which NBC obtained from a senior official who received it, Cheatle wrote that she takes “full responsibility for the security lapse,” and that “scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson called Cheatle’s decision “overdue” after hearing the news. “She should have done this at least a week ago. I’m happy to see that,” he said, according to Politico.
In a statement, President Joe Biden said he was grateful for Cheatle’s decades of public service. “The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions,” Biden said. “We all know what happened that day can never happen again.” He added that he plans to appoint a new director soon.
Cheatle’s resignation comes one day after she appeared before the House Oversight Committee, where she failed to give satisfying answers about the shooting, which killed one rally-goer and critically injured two others. Trump’s ear was also wounded, although his official medical report has not been released.
Lawmakers demanded answers for how the shooter was able to get to his vantage point, but Cheatle offered little insight. She revealed that she believed “there was some sort of communication” about a suspicious individual between two and five times, and said that the Secret Service was not aware that the gunman was armed when they allowed Trump to take the stage.
When it came to Cheatle’s vague responses, the typically polarized committee found itself in agreement, for once.
“This committee is not known for… its model of bipartisanship, but I think today we came together unanimously in our disappointment in your lack of answers,” James Comer told Cheatle, according to Politico.
MAGA Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene was predictably fierce when defending her beloved leader, but even Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez said that the timeline for an initial report on the shooting, which Cheatle said would take 60 days, was “simply not acceptable.”
“It has been 10 days since an assassination attempt on a former president of the United States, regardless of party. There need to be answers,” said Ocasio-Cortez. The clip of the New York progressive lawmaker went viral, with many Republican social media users astonished they actually agreed with her.
This story has been updated.
