President Joe Biden is praising Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle amid her resignation after a failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
In a statement on Tuesday, Biden said, “Jill and I are grateful to Director Kim Cheatle for her decades of public service. She has selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career in the United States Secret Service. We especially thank her for answering the call to lead the Secret Service during our Administration and we are grateful for her service to our family.”
“As a leader, it takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service,” he continued. “The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions. 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.”
On Tuesday morning, The Associated Press reported that Cheatle had resigned.
The news came as she and the Secret Service were under fire over apparent security lapses at Trump’s July 13 rally, where a gunman opened fire, nearly killing the former president and killing one attendee.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said in a letter, “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.”
They went on to address her hearing before the committee:
“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 stated, “In the middle of a presidential election, the Committee and the American people demand serious institutional accountability and transparency that you are not providing.”
“We call on you to resign as Director as a first step to allowing new leadership to swiftly address this crisis and rebuild the trust of a truly concerned Congress and the American people,” it concluded.
Speaking to Fox News Digital after Cheatle resigned, Trump said, “She never gave me proper protection, so I ended up having to take a bullet for democracy.”
“Many requests were made by on-site Secret Service for more people, always with a turn[ed] down or no response,” he continued. “I have the biggest crowds in history, and they should be treated accordingly.”
