CNN
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US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has offered to resign amid an ongoing investigation into security failings related to the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, sources told CNN.
The move comes as lawmakers and government watchdogs are investigating the department’s handling of Trump’s security efforts and the deaths of a gunman at a rally in Pennsylvania this month who nearly killed the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.
01:39 – Source: CNN
Ex-Secret Service officer says director has ‘no choice’ after testifying
In his resignation letter, Cheatle said he made the “difficult” decision to leave the police department with a heavy heart, and that he did not want his departure to distract investigators from their work.
“In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have decided to step down as Director,” Cheatle wrote, acknowledging that the department “failed” in its mission to “protect our nation’s leaders” on July 13, the day of the shooting.
President Joe Biden said in a statement that he and First Lady Jill Biden were “grateful” for Cheatle’s decades of public service and that they planned to appoint a new director “in the coming days.”
“As a leader, it takes honor, courage and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization that has one of the most difficult jobs in public service,” Biden said of Cheatle.
There has been bipartisan support in Congress for Cheatle’s resignation, and Republicans have pushed for his impeachment. Lawmakers were particularly incensed when he appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Monday and refused to answer many of the committee’s questions.
Appearing before the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Cheatle acknowledged there were “serious” and “enormous” problems with security at the rally, but rejected calls for his resignation.
“I believe I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time,” Cheatle said Monday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters the resignation was “long overdue.”
“Now we must pick up the pieces,” Johnson said. “We must rebuild the American people’s trust and confidence in the institution that is the Secret Service. The Secret Service has the vital responsibility of protecting the President, former Presidents and other Executive Branch employees, and we have a lot of work to do.”
Initially, following the shooting, Cheatle vowed not to resign. He was nominated by Biden to become head of the Secret Service in 2022.
In an interview with CNN last week, Cheatle said “police are solely responsible” for the design and implementation of security at the Pennsylvania rally, where a now-deceased gunman opened fire on Trump from an unsecured rooftop just a few hundred feet from the rally stage.
The bullet struck President Trump in the ear, killing one rally attendee and wounding others.
As the circumstances of the attempted attack have emerged, the Secret Service has been facing questions about how it protected Trump that day, including its failure to control access to the roof and how it handled information provided by local police before the shooting that identified a would-be assassin as someone acting suspiciously around the rally.
The Secret Service and Pennsylvania law enforcement, who helped provide security for the rally, have at times offered conflicting accounts of what happened and who was responsible for the failures.
Cheatle had promised that the Secret Service would cooperate fully with congressional and internal government investigations into its handling of the incident up to that day.
Cheatle left his position as global security manager at PepsiCo to become director of the USSS and served in the Secret Service for 27 years before working in the private sector.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
