The director of the Secret Service is stepping down from her job, according to an email she sent to staff, following the assassination attempt against former US president Donald Trump.
The shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania unleashed intensifying outcry about how the agency tasked with protecting current and former presidents could fail in its core mission.
Kimberly Cheatle, who had served as Secret Service director since August 2022, had been facing growing calls to resign and several investigations into how the shooter was able to get so close to the Republican presidential nominee at an outdoor campaign rally in Butler.
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she said in the email to staff on Tuesday (early Wednesday AEST).
“In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”
Cheatle’s departure was unlikely to end the scrutiny of the long-troubled agency after the failures of July 13, and it comes at a critical juncture ahead of the Democratic National Convention and a busy presidential campaign season.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have promised continued investigation, along with an inspector general probe and an independent and bipartisan effort launched at President Joe Biden’s behest that will keep the agency in the spotlight.
“The scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases,” Cheatle said in her note to staff.
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She called the attempt on Trump’s life the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades and said she took fully responsibility for the security lapses, but angered lawmakers by failing to answer specific questions about the investigation.
The 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to get within 135 metres of the stage where the former president was speaking when he opened fire.
