Josh MeyerUSA TODAY
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WASHINGTON − Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday, 10 days after a lone gunman’s near-assassination of former President Donald Trump shook confidence in her ability to lead the agency charged with protecting presidents, candidates and other VIPs.
The agency confirmed later Tuesday that Ronald Rowe, the deputy director of the Secret Service, will take over as acting director.
Cheatle's departure comes just a day after she endured withering criticism by bipartisan lawmakers at a House Oversight Committee hearing Monday at which she admitted the July 13 incident was the biggest security failure in decades for the storied protective agency.
Numerous committee members − including top Republican James Comer of Kentucky and Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland − said she needed to step down and accused her of refusing to provide basic information about the attack and failed efforts by the Secret Service to stop the shooter, 20-year-old-Thomas Matthew Crooks, before he opened fire.
In a statement, President Joe Biden praised Cheatle, who protected him and first lady Jill Biden when Biden was vice president during the Obama administration.
More: Secret Service director grilled on 'stunning' failures to protect Trump
"Jill and I are grateful to Director Kim Cheatle for her decades of public service," Biden said. "She has selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career in the United States Secret Service. We especially thank her for answering the call to lead the Secret Service during our Administration and we are grateful.
"As a leader, it takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service," Biden said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Tuesday: "I'm glad to see that she has resigned. She should have done it sooner. Accountability begins at the top." He said the work of a congressional task force formed to investigate the attempt on Trump's life is much more important now that the head of the Secret Service has resigned.
Decision comes after brutal hearing, days of mounting pressure
Cheatle’s decision also came after days of mounting pressure from lawmakers and intense scrutiny over security failures at Trump's rally July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump was nicked in the ear after Crooks fired an AR-style assault rifle. The shooter had climbed up a nearby rooftop and fired off as many as eight shots, killing Pennsylvania firefighter Corey Comperatore and injuring two other men before being “neutralized” by a Secret Service countersniper, the agency said.
Trump came within a half-inch of suffering what could have been a fatal head shot wound. The GOP nominee himself said during his RNC acceptance speech Thursday that he wasn’t "supposed to be here" and that only a last-second turn of his head saved his life.
On Tuesday, Trump too criticized the Secret Service for what appeared to be the first time, saying on Truth Social that "The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy." Cheatle and other Secret Service officials have said repeatedly that politics do not play into their security efforts and that they protect all of their dignitaries to the best of their ability.
Cheatle's resignation was first reported by NBC News.
Biggest agency security failure in nearly half a century
Security experts have described the near-miss as the biggest security failure since President Ronald Reagan was nearly assassinated at close range in 1981. "A direct line of sight like that to the former president should not occur," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told "Good Morning America" two days after the shooting.
Biden and Mayorkas said an “independent review” would be launched into the Secret Service’s operational conduct. The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general's office also announced it would investigate.
In his statement on Rowe's appointment as interim director, Mayorkas said, "I appreciate his willingness to lead the Secret Service at this incredibly challenging moment, as the agency works to get to the bottom of exactly what happened on July 13 and cooperate with ongoing investigations and Congressional oversight."
Pa. State Police also face questions over rally shooting
As the announcement of Cheatle's resignation was made Tuesday, Col. Christopher Paris, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police faced questions from the House Homeland Security Committee about the rally shooting.
Paris said the Secret Service was in charge of operations planning and that the Pennsylvania State Police were responsible for assisting the motorcade and staffing posts inside the secure area established by the Secret Service, which did not include the building from which the shooter fired some eight shots.
Paris also said he has not received a copy of the Secret Service’s operation plan despite his agency requesting it, which frustrated lawmakers. . Rep. Michael Guest, R-Mississippi, called the incident a “colossal failure” and said the Secret Service was “stonewalling” the state law enforcement agency by not providing it with the operation plan.
On Monday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers on the committee traveled to Butler, Pennsylvania, and toured the grounds where Trump spoke and the deadly shooting occurred.
Rep. Mark Green, R-Tennessee, said he was struck by how close the unsecured roof was from where Trump was delivering his speech.
Green, the chair of the committee, said that “any excuse about the roof being too steep to post a counter sniper team up there is pure nonsense,” pointing to a statement made by Cheatle in a televised interview that the slope of the roof was the reason the building was secured only from the inside.
Cheatle's nearly six-hour tussle with lawmakers
Cheatle was subpoenaed to testify Monday morning about Secret Service failures before and after the attack, including how agents on the ground and atop a nearby building didn’t see – or stop – Crooks before he opened fire. Video shows numerous rallygoers pointing to him as he climbed the roof about 150 yards from where Trump was speaking. Her testimony, and the often-accusatory questions from lawmakers, lasted nearly six hours as many lawmakers expressed frustration about her inability or refusal to answer basic questions about the attack.
"I don't have the timeline of how the individual accessed the roof, where they accessed the roof, or how long they were on the roof," Cheatle acknowledged at one point.
“How did a 20-year-old loner with a week's notice pick the absolute best location to assassinate President Trump when the entire Secret Service missed it?” asked Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas. “Director Cheatle, on your leadership, your agency got outsmarted and outmaneuvered by a 20-year-old. How can we have any confidence that you could stop trained professionals from a nefarious nation state?”
Cheatle replied, “Those are absolutely questions that we need to have answered.”
A growing list of questions − and concerns
The investigation into the shooting, which is being led by the FBI, also found a significant lag time between the time Crooks was identified as a suspicious figure at the rally and when he was able to begin shooting.
More: What went wrong? How did Secret Service allow shooter to get so close to Trump?
Calls for Cheatle’s ouster, most of them from Republicans, grew louder after a closed-door briefing for lawmakers revealed additional troubling details about the Pennsylvania shooting.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., posted on X, formerly Twitter, that "the head of the Secret Service needs to go." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said new leadership would be an "important step" toward accountability.
On Friday, USA TODAY reported that former Secret Service officials also believe there were significant lapses in protocol after the shooting, when agents allowed Trump to stand and pump his fist three times, leaving him open to assassination by a potential second shooter.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, called for theSecret Service to be defunded, saying on Fox News that the shooting raised significant doubts about the agency’s ability to keep its protectees safe. Other lawmakers have questioned whether the agency did a good enough job planning security for the rally, especially after it was disclosed that local authorities said they were unable to guarantee security at the building from which Crooks took his shots after climbing up the side.
Some Republican lawmakers confronted Cheatle at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee; video of them chasing her through the convention halls and demanding immediate answers about the security lapses – including why Trump was even allowed to take the stage – went viral.
More: Former Secret Service officials say agents should've kept Trump low, not fist pumping
The White House did not immediately comment or name a successor. The incoming leader will face the daunting task of restoring confidence in the agency and implementing sweeping security enhancements.
A former PepsiCo executive, trusted by the Bidens
Cheatle, the 27th director of the agency, was sworn in Sept. 17, 2022, according to her bio on the agency website. It said Cheatle was “responsible for successfully executing the agency’s integrated mission” of dignitary protection and investigations by 7,800 special agents and others.
Before her appointment, Cheatle was senior director in global security at PepsiCo, where she directed and implemented security protocols.
Before joining PepsiCo, Cheatle served “with distinction” for 27 years in the Secret Service, her bio said, including as assistant director of the Office of Protective Operations. She also was part of the security detail for then-Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden, forming a close bond with both of them.
“Jill and I know firsthand Kim’s commitment to her job and to the Secret Service’s people and mission,” Biden said when appointing her on Aug. 24, 2022. “When Kim served on my security detail when I was vice president, we came to trust her judgement and counsel. She is a distinguished law enforcement professional with exceptional leadership skills, and was easily the best choice to lead the agency at a critical moment for the Secret Service. She has my complete trust, and I look forward to working with her.”
Contributing: Chris Cann and Sarah Wire
