Secret Service director resigns in wake of Trump assassination attempt

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a hearing on July 22, 2024. Cheatle resigned her position the next day.

Claudia Grisales, photographed for NPR, 13 November 2019, in Washington DC.

Barbara Sprunt is a reporter on NPR's Washington Desk, covering Congress. She's previously reported and produced NPR's political coverage at the White House, on the campaign trail, and for the NPR Politics Podcast. She is an alumnus of the Paul Miller Reporting Fellowship at the National Press Foundation. Sprunt got her start in radio at as an intern on NPR's Weekend All Things Considered and Tell Me More with Michel Martin. She graduated from American University in Washington, D.C.

Claudia Grisales is a congressional correspondent assigned to NPR's Washington Desk.

July 23, 2024

U.S. Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned from her job, according to a statement released by the White House.

In the statement President Biden thanked Cheatle for her service, saying “she has selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career in the United States Secret Service.”

Cheatle was subpoenaed to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Monday – the first time in her 29-year service that she’s been called to testify before Congress.

Biden cited the work of an independent review commission that was launched Sunday to investigate th incident.

“The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions,” the statement reads. “We all know what happened that day can never happen again. As we move forward, I wish Kim all the best, and I will plan to appoint a new Director soon.”

“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle said at the hearing. “As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse.”

She said the Secret Service is cooperating with a variety of ongoing investigations.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that in addition to various congressional committee investigations, there will be a bipartisan investigative task force comprised of seven Republican and six Democrats. That panel will make recommendations for reform and recommend possible legislation needed to implement reforms. The House will vote on a resolution to establish the force this week.

“The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life are shocking,” the leaders said in a statement.“ The task force will be empowered with subpoena authority and will move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability, and make certain such failures never happen again.”

.@RepNancyMace (R-SC) to @SecretService Director Cheatle: "You're full of shit today. You are just being completely dishonest." pic.twitter.com/dZMIZwuipd
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 22, 2024

The hearing, which came just over a week after the shooting at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., featured members on both sides of the aisle expressing frustration over Cheatles’ testimony, in which she didn’t give clear answers on how the shooter was able to get onto a roof with a clear line of sight of the former president.

“The American people have questions. They deserve answers. Congress deserves answers,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. “You were subpoenaed today to provide answers, and, ma’am, you did not do that.”

After the hearing, Comer and the top Democrat on the committee Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, released a joint letter calling on Cheatle to resign as director.

“Today, you failed to provide answers to basic questions regarding that stunning operational failure and to reassure the American people that the Secret Service has learned its lessons and begun to correct its systemic blunders and failures,” the letter read.