U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned following intense scrutiny over the agency’s failure to prevent an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally, the White House announced on Tuesday.
The Secret Service, tasked with protecting current and former U.S. presidents, is in turmoil after a gunman managed to shoot at Trump from a rooftop overlooking the outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
“The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
“We all know what happened that day can never happen again.” Biden added that he would appoint a successor soon.
Cheatle faced bipartisan condemnation during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday, where she declined to answer questions from frustrated lawmakers about the rally’s security plan and the response to the gunman’s suspicious behavior.
Several lawmakers from both parties had called for her resignation.
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was grazed in the right ear, and one rally attendee was killed in the gunfire.
The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
“While Director Cheatle’s resignation is a step toward accountability, we need a full review of how these security failures happened so that we can prevent them going forward,” said James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee.
“We will continue our oversight of the Secret Service.”
Cheatle, who had led the agency since 2022, acknowledged responsibility for the shooting, calling it the largest failure by the Secret Service since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
The Secret Service is under investigation by multiple congressional committees and the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog. President Biden has also called for an independent review.
Criticism has centered on the failure to secure the roof of an industrial building where the gunman was positioned, about 150 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking.
This rooftop was excluded from the Secret Service security perimeter, a decision criticized by former agents and lawmakers.
Cheatle was appointed by Biden in 2022 after holding a top security role at PepsiCo and serving 27 years in the Secret Service.
She succeeded in the wake of several scandals that damaged the agency’s reputation.
Notably, ten agents were dismissed after a scandal involving prostitutes in Colombia during a trip by President Obama in 2012.
The agency also faced allegations of erasing text messages from around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which were later sought by a congressional panel investigating the riot.