Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns after Trump shooting security lapses

Kimberly Cheatle resigned from her position as director of the U.S. Secret Service after facing pressure from lawmakers who called for her to step down in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Cheatle announced her plans to leave her position in a letter to agency staff on Tuesday.

"As I've stated, the Secret Service will move forward with our investigatory and protective mission in a steadfast manner. We do not retreat from challenge. However, 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 light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that, I have made the difficult decision to step down as your Director."

She reiterated that she takes "full responsibility" for the security lapse at Trump's rally.

President Biden said he is grateful for Cheatle for her career in public service and said he plans to appoint a new director soon.

"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 for her service to our family," Mr. Biden said in a statement. "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."

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has appointed Ronald Rowe, deputy director of the Secret Service, to serve as the acting director until a permanent replacement is chosen. 

"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," Mayorkas said in a statement announcing Rowe's temporary appointment. "At the same time, the Secret Service must effectively carry on its expansive mission that includes providing 24/7 protection for national leaders and visiting dignitaries and securing events of national significance in this dynamic and heightened threat environment."

Mayorkas echoed Mr. Biden's praise for Cheatle and her career in an earlier statement, also saying he is grateful for her leadership as head of the Secret Service.

"Over the past two years, she has led the Secret Service with skill, honor, integrity, and tireless dedication," he said in a statement. "She is deeply respected by the men and women of the agency and by her fellow leaders in the Department of Homeland Security. I am proud to have worked with Director Cheatle and we are all grateful for her service."

NBC News was first to report Cheatle's resignation.

The Trump shooting

Trump was speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 when a shooter opened fire from the rooftop of a building overlooking the crowd and the stage. The gunman, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, killed one attendee and wounded two others. 

Trump was injured by a bullet that grazed his right ear. He appeared multiple times at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee the following week with a bandage over the ear.

The Secret Service quickly came under intense scrutiny, with questions mounting as to how the assassination attempt could have happened at such a high-profile event. Security and law enforcement officers from a number of different agencies were present at the rally and, according to multiple sources, were alerted to the suspect as early as 20 minutes before shots were actually fired. 

Cheatle has said the Secret Service was in charge of organizing and managing the overall security protocol for the rally, and when she testified before Congress on July 22, she acknowledged it was a "significant operational failure."

"The Secret Service's solemn mission is to protect our nation's leaders. On July 13th, we failed," she said.

Following her testimony to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin issued a joint statement calling on Cheatle to resign.

Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, attributed her decision to step aside to the panel's hearing and said there will be more accountability coming.

"At yesterday's Oversight Committee hearing, Director Cheatle instilled no confidence that she has the ability to ensure the Secret Service can meet its protective mission," he said in a statement. "Egregious security failures leading up to and at the Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally resulted in the assassination attempt of President Trump, the murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd. While Director Cheatle's resignation is a step toward accountability, we need a full review of how these security failures happened so that we can prevent them going forward."

Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said the oversight hearing identified two "urgent" priorities in the wake of the attempted assassination: the first being the need for Cheatle to step down, which he said was accomplished, and the second being the need for Congress to ban assault-style weapons.

"A weapon that can be used to commit a mass shooting at an event under the full protection of the Secret Service and state and local police is a danger to schoolchildren, Walmart shoppers and congregants in church, synagogue and mosque services," he said in a statement. "As a weapon of war, the AR-15 has no legitimate place in our society. Congress must act now."

Demands for Cheatle's resignation had begun growing as details about the shooting emerged in the days after the rally, with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell joining other Republican voices, including Eric Trump, the former president's son, and several Democrats, including Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who sits on the oversight committee.

Johnson said he did not get advance notice that Cheatle would resign but said it is overdue.

"Now we have to look forward, ensure that the mistakes don't ever happen again and that we have proper leadership there," he told CBS News' Nikole Killion. "So I commend her for stepping down but I think she should have done it sooner."

At the Republican National Convention, days after the shooting, a chaotic scene unfolded as a group of Republican senators, including Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, followed Cheatle through the convention center and barraged her with questions.

"The American people deserve answers from the Secret Service," Blackburn wrote in a social media post, in which she also shared a video of the encounter.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee formally subpoenaed Cheatle for testimony on the assassination attempt several days after it happened. 

"Director Cheatle must answer to Congress and the American people about the historic failure that occurred on her watch," the committee spokesperson said.

In her testimony, Cheatle told lawmakers that she took full responsibility.

But her reluctance to respond directly to specific questions about security and the circumstances around the shooting — for instance, why Trump was allowed to step up onto the stage once law enforcement identified a suspicious person, or why there weren't officers on the roof — bred rising frustration from panel members on both sides of the aisle. 

Cheatle told them that she could not yet provide a detailed timeline of the events or how they unfolded, and repeatedly referenced the FBI's ongoing criminal investigation when asked to discuss the gunman's actions leading up to the shooting.  

Several investigations into the circumstances surrounding the shooting are underway. In addition to the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has opened two probes to evaluate the Secret Service's process for securing an event and determine the preparedness level of the agency's Counter Sniper Team to respond to threats. Officials said the inspector general may decide to open additional investigations as well. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Biden announced he would direct an independent review of the rally's security situation to determine what went wrong.

Cheatle said in a statement after Mr. Biden's announcement that the Secret Service would "participate fully" in the independent review and was "working with all involved Federal, state and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again."

Who is Kimberly Cheatle?

The president appointed Cheatle to her role as director of the Secret Service in 2022, after she had served for 27 years in other positions at the agency. 

Prior to being appointed to director, Cheatle served as the assistant director of the agency's Office of Protective Operations, where she worked with multiple divisions, including Technical Security, "to research, develop and deploy technologies that reduce risks to protectees, protected facilities, and protected events," according to the Secret Service. Cheatle was also a member of Mr. Biden's security detail during his time as vice president during the Obama administration.

Cheatle was working as the senior director of global security at PepsiCo when Mr. Biden appointed her to lead the Secret Service, according to the agency.

Nicole Sganga contributed reporting.