The director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, on Tuesday stepped down from the post following the assassination attempt against former US president Donald Trump.
The resignation was confirmed according to an email she sent to staff, reported the Associated Press.
Cheatle has served as the Secret Service director since August 2022. The agency is tasked with protecting the US current and former presidents in its core mission. She previously served 27 years in the agency.
Following the assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate Trump, fingers were pointed at the Secret Service for its failure to protect him at the Pennsylvania campaign rally in Butler on July 13. The agency was questioned on how the shooter was able to climb up the industrial building at close range to the campaign rally area.
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” Cheatle said in the email to staff. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director,” she added.
On Monday, while appearing before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, Cheatle declined to answer questions from ‘angry’ lawmakers on the security plan set for the rally.
Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers called on her to resign.
Reacting to the resignation of Cheatle, President Joe Biden said that he and his wife Jill are grateful for her decades of public service.
"She has selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career in the United States Secret Service," said Biden. It takes honour, courage and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service, added Biden.
He also added that he will be appointing a new director for the Secret Service soon.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was able to get within 135 meters of the stage where the former president was speaking when he opened fire. The suspect was shot dead by the Secret Service moments after shots were fired at the rally. The bullet grazed the right ear of Trump and a person was killed in the shooting incident.
The lawmakers called it the "biggest failure" by the Secret Service since the assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
The Secret Service also faces investigations from multiple congressional committees and the internal watchdog of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, its parent organisation, over its performance.
President Biden has also called for an independent review into the incident.
Many agents and lawmakers criticised as the rooftop was declared outside the Secret Service security perimeter for the event.
