The director of the United States Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, I quit Tuesday after the agency came under heavy scrutiny for failing to prevent an assassination attempt on the former president Donald Trump during a campaign speech, media reported.
The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Secret Service, which is responsible for protection of sitting presidents and previous United Statesfaces a crisis after a man was able to shoot at Trump from a rooftop overlooking the outdoor meeting in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Cheatle faced bipartisan condemnation when he appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, refusing to answer questions from the frustrated legislators over the security plan for the rally and how law enforcement responded to the gunman’s suspicious behavior. Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers called on him to resign.
TrumpRepublican presidential candidate, was wounded in the right ear and an attendee at the talk was killed in the shooting. The attackeridentified as Thomas Crooks20, was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper. Cheatlewho has headed the agency since 2022told lawmakers that took responsibility for the shootingcalling it the Secret Service’s Biggest Failure since the then president Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
The Secret Service faces off research from multiple congressional committees and the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog, over its parent organization and its performance. President Joe Bidenwhich put end of his re-election campaignhas also called for an independent review.
Much of the critics have focused on the fact that the roof will not be secured of an industrial building where the gunman was positioned, about 140 meters from the stage where Trump was speaking. The roof was declared a publicoutside the security perimeter from the Secret Service for the event, a decision criticized by former agents and lawmakers.
The various accusations against the Secret Service
Cheatle held a senior security position in PepsiCo When Biden appointed her to be director of the Secret Service in 2022, she had previously worked 27 years in the agencyHe took office after a series of scandals involving the Secret Service that damaged the reputation of an elitist and insular agency.
Ten agents from the Secret Service they lost their jobs after it was revealed that they took women, some of them prostitutes, to their hotel rooms before a trip to Colombia by the then president Barack Obama in 2012.
The agency also faced accusations of having deleted text messages from the time of the January 6 attack 2021 at the US CapitolThose messages were later requested by a congressional panel investigating the riots.
Source: Ambito
