US Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigns after Donald Trump assassination bid

Kimberly Cheatle, Director of the US Secret Service, has resigned after facing scrutiny over security lapses related to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally. 

Cheatle, who has led the US Secret Service since 2022, faced tough questioning at the House Oversight Committee's hearing on Monday regarding the US Secret Service's handling of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Kimberly Cheatle informed her staff via email that she was stepping down as the director of the Secret Service. “I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she said in the email to staff Tuesday. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”

The Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was already facing calls to resign amid dissatisfaction with her testimony over the agency's inability to protect Donald Trump. According to Reuters, several Republican and Democratic lawmakers called on her to resign.

Kimberly Cheatle resigned a day after her appearance before a congressional committee, where she faced criticism from both Democrats and Republicans for security failures related to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a rally.

Cheatle described the incident as the Secret Service's most significant operational failure in decades and took full responsibility for the lapses. The US Secret Service director called Donald Trump's assassination bid the largest failure by the Secret Service since a gunman shot then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

However, lawmakers were displeased when she did not provide specific answers about the ongoing investigation.

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was grazed by a bullet in the right ear, and one rallygoer was killed in the gunfire at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.

The 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to get within 135 meters (157 yards) of the stage where the former president was speaking before opening fire.