After Trump's assassination attempt: Secret Service Chief Cheatle resigns
Cheatle has dedicated themselves selflessly to the protection of our nation for nearly 30 years of their career in the Secret Service, risking their life, Biden declared. "We all know that what happened on this day should never happen again," he added, looking at July 13. Biden will soon appoint a new head of the agency.
Cheatle spoke at a hearing before a US Congress committee on Monday about the attack on Trump, calling it the "most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades." As head of the agency, she will take "full responsibility for any security lapses."
Cheatle faced retirement demands from both Democrats and Republicans since the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally in the city of Butler. House Speaker Mike Johnson called her resignation on Tuesday "premature." She should have done it "at least a week earlier," the Republican said.
Trump survived the attack on July 13 by only a narrow margin, getting shot in the right ear. A man in the crowd was killed, and two other attendees were severely injured. The alleged perpetrator, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot by a Secret Service sharpshooter - 26 seconds after he fired the first shots at Trump.
Immediately after the attack, the question arose as to how Crooks could position himself with his weapon approximately 150 meters away from Trump on a rooftop.
Cheatle was appointed as the head of the Secret Service by US President Joe Biden in 2022. Prior to that, she had worked for the agency for 27 years. Before that, she served as the security chief for the North American region of PepsiCo for a brief period in 2021.
After the attack on Donald Trump, Cheatle, as the Chief of Secret Service, took full responsibility for any security lapses during the incident. Despite calls for retirement from both Democrats and Republicans following the shooting, Cheatle faced demands to step down only after the incident. US President Joe Biden, recognizing Cheatle's selfless service for nearly 30 years in the Secret Service, appointed her as the head of the agency in 2022, a position she had previously held at PepsiCo for a short period in 2021. The US Congress heard Cheatle's testimony about the attack on Trump, which she called the "most significant operational failure" in the Secret Service's history. Trump, remarkably, survived the attack on July 13 by a narrow margin, with a bullet wound to his right ear, while two other attendees were severely injured, and a bystander was killed.
