On Monday, Kimberly Cheatle acknowledged that the agency had failed in its duty to prevent the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump but resisted bipartisan calls for her resignation.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders,” Cheatle stated during a heated session of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
“On July 13, we failed,” she admitted. “As director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse.”
Cheatle noted that the attack on Trump, who sustained a minor injury to his right ear while addressing a campaign rally, was “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.”
“There clearly was a mistake, and we will make every effort to ensure this never happens again,” she pledged.
Both Republicans and Democrats called for Cheatle’s resignation. She faced criticism from lawmakers for not providing specific details about the attack, citing ongoing investigations.
“I can speak to you in generalities,” she said.
The 20-year-old assailant fired at Trump with an AR-style assault rifle just minutes after the former Republican president and current White House candidate began his speech at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The shooter, positioned on the roof of a nearby building, was reportedly killed by a Secret Service sniper less than 30 seconds after he fired the first of eight shots.
Investigators concluded that the young man, who resided about 50 miles (80 kilometres) from Butler, acted alone and had no identifiable ideological or political motivations.
Kimberly Cheatle, who served as a Secret Service agent for 27 years before leaving in 2021 to become the head of security for PepsiCo in North America, was appointed to lead the agency by President Joe Biden in 2022.
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