MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US Secret Service Director resigns over Trump case

Cheatle had been reluctant to resign after what she admitted was the worst episode since the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan

US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned her post Tuesday after cracking under questioning from lawmakers following her agency's sloppy work regarding the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

“I take responsibility. I am the director of the Secret Service, and I have to ensure that we conduct an investigation and that we give resources to our personnel when necessary,” Cheatle mentioned in a statement. She has served as the agency's 27th director since September 2022.
After repeating that she would not be resigning, some last-minute occurrence seems to have tipped the scale as she faced bipartisan condemnation when she appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Monday.
“The United States Secret Service under your leadership failed to protect former President Donald Trump from an assassination attempt that took the life of Corey Comperatore and seriously injured at least two other people,” Reps. James Comer (R) and Jamie Raskin (D) wrote in a note to Cheatle, who admitted that the Trump case was the Secret Service's biggest failure since 1981 when an attack was perpetrated against then-President Ronald Reagan.
The official told her staff through an email about her decision to step down. She also said she did not want the calls for her resignation to “be a distraction.”
“The Secret Service's solemn mission is to protect our nation's leaders and financial infrastructure. On July 13, we fell short on that mission,” she wrote. “The scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational temp increases. As your director, I take full responsibility for the security lapse.”
In this scenario, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D) formally announced the creation of a parliamentarian task force to investigate the incident. “The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life are shocking,” they said in a joint statement. They also explained that the new committee will be made up of six Democrats and seven Republicans.
This bipartisan Task Force is expected to use “all investigative authority” given to it by Congress, including subpoena authority, it was also explained.