U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has just resigned from her position following mounting pressure over the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump on her watch.
Cheatle has come under increased pressure from politicians on Capitol Hill following Secret Service failures after the deadly shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on July 13.
Yesterday, Cheatle said that she was going to stay in the role to try and see through the investigation into the assassination attempt.
Cheatle’s resignation comes just one day into an intense grilling from Congress.
During the hearing on Monday, she admitted the attempted assassination of Trump was the agency’s biggest failure in decades.
Until now, Cheatle has resisted calls to resign, saying she would stay on to see through the investigation into the Pennsylvania rally.
She spent yesterday in a House Oversight Committee hearing fielding attacks from both sides of the aisle.
In a key moment, she admitted the roof from which the shooter had fired was identified as a vulnerability days in advance.
However, Secret Service failed to secure the area, despite being aware that it posed a significant risk.
Cheatle announced her resignation in an email to staff.
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she said.
“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 had faced calls to step down since 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to assassinate Trump at a rally.
The shooting wounded Trump, left one attendee dead, and two others critically injured.
In an interview with ABC News after the attack, Cheatle called the incident “unacceptable.”
She said it was her responsibility to ensure nothing like it will happen again.
“The buck stops with me,” she said.
“I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary.”
Cheatle said during the interview she would not resign from her role — a claim she repeated during House testimony on Monday.
During the contentious hearing, Cheatle called the assassination attempt on Trump the “most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades.”
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders,” Cheatle said in her testimony before the House committee.
“On July 13, we failed.
“As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse.
“We are fully cooperating with ongoing investigations.
“We must learn what happened.”
This is a breaking news story.
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