Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is stepping down from her position after a failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
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.
On Monday, Cheatle appeared before the House Oversight Committee, but her answers to lawmakers’ questions were not satisfactory to them.
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.
