WASHINGTON – Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, 10 days after the near-assassination of former President Donald Trump in a lone gunman-inspired shooter shaken confidence in her ability to lead the agency tasked with protecting presidents, candidates and other dignitaries.
The agency confirmed late Tuesday that Deputy Director of the Secret Service Ronald Rowe will become acting director.
Cheatle’s resignation came just a day after he faced sharp criticism from bipartisan lawmakers at a House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday in which he acknowledged that the July 13 incident was the historic security agency’s biggest security failure in decades.
Many committee members, including the top Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky and Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said she should resign and criticized her for refusing to provide basic information about the attack and the failure of the Secret Service to stop suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, before he opened fire.
In a statement, President Joe Biden praised Cheatle for protecting him and first lady Jill Biden while he served as vice president under the Obama administration.
more:Secret Service director grilled over ‘stunning’ failures to protect Trump
“Jill and I are grateful to Director Kim Cheatle for her decades of public service,” Biden said. “Throughout her career with the United States Secret Service, she has selflessly dedicated herself and risked her life to protect our country, and we are especially grateful and thankful that she answered the call to lead the Secret Service under my Administration.”
“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.
“I’m glad she’s resigned. She should have resigned sooner. Accountability starts at the top,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, told reporters on Tuesday. He said the work of a congressional task force formed to investigate the assassination attempt on President Trump is more important than ever now that the director of the Secret Service has resigned.
The decision comes after tough hearings and days of mounting pressure
Cheatle’s decision came after days of growing pressure from lawmakers and intense scrutiny over security failures at Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Crooks fired an AR-style assault rifle, slicing Trump’s ear, before climbing onto a nearby roof and firing eight shots, killing Pennsylvania firefighter Corey Comperatore and wounding two others, before being “neutralized” by a Secret Service counter-sniper, authorities said.
Trump was close to receiving a potentially fatal gunshot wound to the head, and the Republican nominee himself said in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday that he “was never meant to be here” and that turning his head at the last moment saved his life.
On Tuesday, President Trump also criticized the Secret Service in what appeared to be his first public comments, writing on Truth Social, “The Biden/Harris Administration did not adequately protect me and forced me to take a bullet for democracy.” Cheatle and other Secret Service agents have repeatedly said that politics do not affect their security operations and that they do everything in their power to protect all dignitaries.
Cheatle’s resignation was first reported by NBC News.
The biggest government security failure in nearly half a century
National security experts are calling the near miss the biggest national security blunder since the close-quarters assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981. “A former president should never be in direct line of sight like this,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told “Good Morning America” two days after the shooting.
Biden and Mayorkas said they would launch an “independent investigation” into the Secret Service’s performance, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General also announced it would investigate.
In a statement about Rowe’s appointment as interim director, Mayorkas said he “appreciates Rowe’s willingness to lead the Secret Service during this extremely challenging time as the Secret Service works to determine the truth of what happened on July 13 and cooperates with ongoing investigations and Congressional oversight.”
Pennsylvania State Police also under scrutiny after rally shooting
After Cheatle’s resignation was announced on Tuesday, Pennsylvania State Police Superintendent Col. Christopher Parris was questioned by the House Homeland Security Committee about the shooting at the rally.
Paris said the Secret Service was in charge of planning the operation, and Pennsylvania State Police were responsible for supporting and staffing the motorcade within a security zone set up by the Secret Service that did not include the building where the gunman fired about eight shots.
Paris also frustrated lawmakers by saying she had not received a copy of the Secret Service’s operation plans, despite having requested them. Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.) called the incident a “fiasco” and said the Secret Service was “hampering” state law enforcement by not providing them.
On Monday, a bipartisan delegation from the committee traveled to Butler, Pennsylvania, where President Trump spoke and toured the site of the deadly shooting.
Republican Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee said he was surprised at how close the poorly secured roof was to where Trump was speaking.
“The excuse that the roof is too steep to accommodate anti-sniper teams is complete nonsense,” Green said, pointing out that Cheatle had said in a television interview that the slope of the roof meant the building could only be secured from the inside.
Cheatle and deputies engaged in nearly six hours of arguing
Cheatle was called to testify Monday morning about Secret Service missteps before and after the attack, including the failure of agents on the ground and on the roof of a nearby building to see and stop Crooks before he opened fire. Video shows numerous rally attendees pointing at him as he climbed onto a roof about 150 yards from where Trump was speaking. Her testimony and the expletive-laced questioning by lawmakers lasted nearly six hours, with many expressing frustration at the inability or refusal to answer basic questions about the attack.
“We don’t know the timeline of how this individual got onto the roof, where they got from, how long they were on the roof,” Cheatle acknowledged.
“How did a 20-year-old lone wolf with only a week’s notice pick the perfect location to assassinate President Trump when the entire Secret Service missed it?,” asked Republican Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas. “Director Cheatle, under your leadership, your agency has been outsmarted and outmaneuvered by a 20-year-old. How can we be so confident that you would be able to thwart trained professionals deployed by a malicious nation state?”
“Those are definitely questions that need answers,” Cheatle responded.
Growing questions and concerns
The FBI-led investigation into the shooting also found that there was a significant lag between when Crooks was identified as a suspicious person at the rally and when he was able to begin firing.
more:What went wrong? Why did the Secret Service allow the shooter to get so close to Trump?
Calls for Cheatle’s removal from office — many of them Republicans — grew louder after further disturbing details about the Pennsylvania shooting emerged during a closed-door briefing for lawmakers.
“The head of the Secret Service needs to step down,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) wrote on Twitter. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the appointment of new leadership would be a “critical step” toward accountability.
USA Today reported Friday that former Secret Service agents also believe there were serious procedural lapses when agents allowed Trump to stand and pump his fist three times after the shooting, putting him at risk of assassination by a second gunman.
Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy said on Fox News that the shooting raises serious questions about the Secret Service’s ability to ensure the safety of its protectors and called for cuts to its budget. Other lawmakers have questioned whether the Secret Service had adequately planned for security at the rally after it emerged that local authorities said they could not guarantee the safety of the building where Crooks scaled the wall and opened fire.
Several Republican lawmakers confronted Cheatle at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee after a video went viral of them chasing him around the convention floor and demanding an immediate explanation for security failings, including why Trump was allowed onstage.
more:Former Secret Service agent says Trump should have kept his head down instead of pumping his fist
The White House did not immediately comment or name a successor, and the new leader will face the daunting task of restoring trust in the intelligence community and implementing sweeping security enhancements.
Former PepsiCo executive trusted by Biden
According to a biography posted on the NPA’s website, Cheatle is the department’s 27th chief and was sworn in on Sept. 17, 2022. The website states that Cheatle is “responsible for the successful execution of the NPA’s overall mission” of VIP protection and investigations by its 7,800 special agents.
Prior to this role, Cheatle served as senior director of global security at PepsiCo, where he was responsible for leading and implementing security protocols.
Before joining PepsiCo, Cheatle served “with distinction” for 27 years with the Secret Service, including as deputy director of the Protective Operations Directorate, his resume said, and was also part of the personal security team for then-Vice President Joe and Jill Biden, where he developed close ties with both women.
“Jill and I know firsthand Kim’s dedication to the job and to the Secret Service’s employees and mission,” Biden said when he nominated her on Aug. 24, 2022. “We grew to trust her judgment and counsel when Kim was my security officer when I was vice president. She is an accomplished law enforcement professional with exceptional leadership skills, making her the perfect choice to lead the agency at a critical time for the Secret Service. I have her complete confidence and look forward to working with her.”
Contributors: Chris Kang and Sarah Wyer