Shot at Trump: US Secret Service chief accepts failure, resigns

Sopuruchi Onwuka, with agency reports

After accepting responsibility for series of intelligence lapses at the campaign ground where former President Donald Trump was shot in the ear by an assassin hiding in plain sight, the Director of the United States’ Secret Service gave up her position.

With evidences and testimonies from local security agents who saw the assassin taking position about 18 minutes before the presidential candidate mounted the campaign podium, legislators at the US Congress held a joint investigation session where they advised Kimberly Cheatle to resign her position in the face of apparent failure.

The Oracle Today reports that there has been a spate of global condemnation against the attempt on Trump’s life just as Western powers concluded a NATO meeting in the country ahead of the ill fated campaign rally in which two people died and a number of others suffered injuries.

Twenty year old Thomas Matthew Crooks had opened fire on former President Trump as he addressed a rally. The attempt to kill Trump came at a time of heightened threat from Iran and the consequent request for additional security in the days before the July 13 rally.

Kimberly Cheatle had served as Secret Service director since August 2022, but poor handling of security intelligence during the July 13 incident led to a chorus of voices calling for her resignation. She has consequently faced several investigations into how the shooter was able to get so close to the Republican presidential nominee at an outdoor campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Cheatle announced to the members of the US secret service that she takes full responsibility for the failure at the campaign rally and would be honoring to call to resign.

“I take full responsibility for the security lapse and 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 declared to staff by email.

Cheatle had clung to her job against the call to resign, but things began moving quickly for her when lawmakers from both political parties launched an open hearing on the matter and further 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 secret service boss had appeared before a congressional committee and was berated for the security failures. She also accepted that the attempt on Trump’s life was a “most significant operational failure” in decades

Biden had hinted of her replacement after the Trump incident saying in a statement that “we all know what happened that day can never happen again.”

 “We especially thank her for answering the call to lead the Secret Service during our administration and we are grateful for her service to our family,” Biden said.

At the hearing Monday, Cheatle had replied “no, thank you” to Republican Rep. Nancy Mace who advised her openly to begin drafting her resignation letter, insisting she was the “right person.”

Security experts said the gunman should never have been allowed to gain access to the roof.

“The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy. IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!” Trump had declared on social media.

Alarms following the attempt on Trump rattled the US lawmakers who proved very vehement for Cheatle to mesmerize with well crafted presentation. They turned down her submission that the Secret Service’s internal investigation into Trump’s attempted assassination would be completed in 60 days.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York called the timeline “unacceptable” for the public.

“This is not theater. This is not about jockeying. This is about the safety of some of the most highly targeted and valued targets internationally and domestically in the United States of America,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The idea that a report will be finalized in 60 days, let alone prior to any actionable decisions that would be made, is simply not acceptable.”

Cheatle testified that the agency was not waiting on the report to take action. “We have been adding features to our security details since this incident has occurred.”

In examining the arrangement made by the secret service to protect the presidential candidate at the July 13 rally, Cheatle told the lawmakers that the agents who are typically assigned to protect former President Donald Trump were assigned to him on July 13 rally.

However, Cheatle would not share specifics on the number of Secret Service agents that were present at the rally, saying there were a “sufficient number” of agents assigned. The director also said that any assets that were requested for the Butler, Pa., event were given. “There were no requests that were denied,” Cheatle testified.

Cheatle admitted that she has not been to the Butler site of the campaign rally shooting as her agency is conducting an internal investigation.

“Nine days and you have not visited that site,” Republican Rep. Pat Fallon said. “You should have been there that night.”

Cheatle also told Fallon that she did not speak with the on-site Secret Service agents the night of the shooting.

She did however apologize to Trump; and Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado replied her: “I appreciate that. I appreciate that you recognize that this was your failure.”

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, also a vociferous Trump defender, pressed Cheatle on whether she had a timeline of the events that led up to the shooting.

“I have a timeline that does not have specifics,” Cheatle replied, which garnered laughs from the hearing room. “That’s shocking,” Greene reacted. “That is absolutely unacceptable. That means that you are a failure at your job.”

When pressed about the communication gaps that led to the security failure at the rally, Cheatle admitted that the Secret Service had been notified of a “suspicious person” by local law enforcement “somewhere between two and five times” before the shooting.

“Our agents and officers have the ability to neutralize a threat at the time they see it,” she said.

Cheatle testified that the attempted assassination was not staged; it was not carried out by a foreign state or government; nor was it a conspiracy orchestrated by high-ranking U.S. government officials. She added that the Secret Service did not believe there was a threat to the former president that would have led them to pause the rally.

In response to a question from Rep. Russell Fry, Republican of South Carolina, Cheatle said law enforcement on the ground changed its assessment of Crooks from “suspicious” to a “threat” just “seconds before the gunfire started.”

Rep. Tim Burchett, Republican of Tennessee, asked Cheatle if the rooftop where the gunman fired shots from was identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally.

“To my knowledge, yes it was,” Cheatle replied.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina asked Cheatle if she supplied the requested audio and video recordings that the committee asked for on July 15.

“I’d have to get back to you on that,” Cheatle responded.

“That is a no. You’re full of s— today. You’re just being completely dishonest,” Mace said.

Another heated moment happened when Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia pressed Cheatle several times on how the Secret Service’s job is affected by the presence of guns.

“Does the ubiquity of guns make your job easier or more difficult today?” he asked repeatedly, with Cheatle declining to answer directly each time.

“You’re not willing to answer that question and you wonder why we might have a lack of confidence in your continued ability to direct this agency,” Connolly said.

Following a similar line of questioning from Rep. Summer Lee, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, Cheatle said, “I think any weapon makes it difficult to do our job.”