Secret Service director resigns after Trump assassination attempt

WASHINGTON — The director of the Secret Service, Kimberly A. Cheatle, resigned Tuesday, after security failures surrounding the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump and calls for her to step down from lawmakers in both parties.

In an email to Secret Service employees Tuesday, Cheatle said one of the agency’s foremost duties is to protect the nation’s leaders and that it “fell short of that mission” in failing to secure a campaign rally from a gunman July 13.

“I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission,” Cheatle said in the email, which was reviewed by The New York Times.

She said she was deeply committed to the agency but added that “in light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”

President Joe Biden, in a statement Tuesday, thanked Cheatle for answering his call to lead the agency. “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,” he said.

Biden said he would appoint a new director soon.

On Tuesday afternoon, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, to whom the Secret Service answers, designated Ronald Rowe as the agency’s acting director. Rowe, who was a deputy to Cheatle, has been at the Secret Service for more than two decades.

The resignation is a rapid fall for the agency veteran who protected Dick Cheney and Biden in their vice presidential tenures and was publicly supported by Biden administration officials after the gunman shot at Trump.

The glaring security mistakes before the shooting, however, and the heated criticism Cheatle faced in the days since had left her position increasingly in doubt.

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