Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday morning, a day after she was pressured to leave her role by members of Congress livid over her agency’s failure to prevent the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
In a statement, President Joe Biden lauded Cheatle’s time in leadership. “As a leader, it takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization,” he said.
“The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions,” he said in the statement. “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.”
There was a nearly unanimous call for Cheatle to resign in a bipartisan push from the House Oversight committee on Monday, from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“Our reaction to her resignation is that it is overdue; she should have done this at least a week ago,” Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters upon hearing the news. “I’m happy to see that she’s heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats.”
Homeland Security Committee Chair Rep. Mark Green told NOTUS that Cheatle “should’ve resigned days ago; she didn’t even go to the site.”
“But I do wish her the best in all her future endeavors.”
Over the past several days — and during Monday’s hearing — lawmakers have accused the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security of withholding information on the security response to the shooting. They argue that without more information available, conspiracy theories will flourish.
In a bipartisan letter from the committee, Reps. James Comer and Jamie Raskin asked Cheatle to step down.
Cheatle on Monday described a response to the shooting that involved beefing up security at last week’s Republican National Convention, placing most of Washington’s protectees on alert and trying to ensure security across the agency.
With an ongoing investigation, the Secret Service has officially handed off the crime scene to the FBI. Rep. Mark Green said, “It is imperative that we partner to understand what went wrong.” Green spoke with Cheatle on Sunday before her hearing with the Oversight committee and is scheduled to discuss the assassination attempt with local law enforcement later this week.
Cheatle’s resignation brings her just shy of having served in the position for two years. She was appointed as director in 2022, supported by a 27-year career with the Secret Service. She started as a special agent, working up to being in charge of the Atlanta field office, then finally as assistant director of protective operations.
Cheatle had left the Secret Service for a career in the private sector at PepsiCo before being tapped for director by Biden.
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John T. Seward and Katherine Swartz are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.