In the weeks since the disturbing assassination attempt on Donald Trump, calls have been growing for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign. She’s defiantly refused these calls, saying repeatedly that she plans to remain in her position.
On Tuesday, however, that all changed.
Cheatle finally resigned yesterday after lawmakers absolutely roasted her in a congressional hearing. They pulled no punches as they blasted Cheatle for allowing an assassination attempt on Trump to happen on her watch.
This all proved too much for Cheatle, who resigned hours later.
From Breitbart:
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she wrote in an email to staff obtained by the Associated Press. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”
This came after Cheatle was grilled by lawmakers in a disastrous hearing that lasted three hours. She couldn’t say why the Secret Service didn’t question 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks after he was flagged to agents as a suspicious person. She also was unable to answer why the Secret Service hadn’t placed an agent on the roof where Crooks opened fire on Trump and his supporters.
In fact, Cheatle couldn’t even say how many agents were at Trump’s rally or if Crooks acted alone.
James Comer Rejoices
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) spoke out to celebrate her resignation after the announcement was made.
More From Breitbart:
The Oversight Committee’s hearing resulted in Director Cheatle’s resignation and there will be more accountability to come. The Secret Service has a no-fail mission yet it failed historically on Director Cheatle’s watch.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. 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. We will continue our oversight of the Secret Service in support of the House Task Force to deliver transparency, accountability, and solutions to ensure this never happens again.
Shockingly, it took this long for Cheatle to resign. It should be noted that when Barack Obama was president, his Secret Service director resigned after a knife-wielding man was able to scale a fence at the White House. The man didn’t get near Obama, and nobody was even injured. Yet, she felt the breach was so bad that she had no choice but to step down.
In this instance, a former president was wounded, and one of his supporters was killed. Yet it took multiple weeks for Cheatle to step aside. While we’re always skeptical about conspiracy theories, her reluctance to resign until now is certainly raising some eyebrows.
We can only imagine what they could potentially be hiding.
Key Takeaways:
- Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle finally resigns.
- Her resignation came after Congress roasted her.
- Why did it take her so long to resign after the Trump assassination attempt?