Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Resigns Following Trump Assassination Attempt, Congressional Appearance

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday in the aftermath of a July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and an appearance before the House Oversight Committee.

What Happened: Cheatle tendered her resignation, according to CNN, citing anonymous sources.

Her resignation comes a day after appearing before the House Oversight Committee and drawing ire from a bipartisan group of representatives.

During the hearing, she accepted responsibility for the assassination attempt on Trump on July 13 but maintained that she was “the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.”

“We failed,” she proclaimed in her opening statement.

Committee chair James Comer (R-KY), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and others called on Cheatle to resign. Cheatle repeatedly gave non-answers during questioning.

Members of the committee expressed frustration that Cheatle was seemingly more forthcoming in her interview with ABC News than before Congress.

Why it Matters: Many questions are left unanswered about the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt on Trump. Cheatle’s repeated non-answers, deflecting to an ongoing FBI investigation about the incident, prolongs Americans’ desire for answers.

When questioned by Khanna Monday, Cheatle agreed that the Secret Service’s mishandling of the situation was its worst since the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981.

There have been many other security failures recently, including an attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, in 2022. In 2023, an unknown man entered the home of U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan without being detected by the Secret Service.

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