US Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned days after shooting at Donald Trump’s rally, US media reports said.
Cheatle acknowledged on Monday that the agency failed in its mission to prevent the assassination attempt on the former president but rejected bipartisan calls for her resignation. “On July 13, we failed,” Cheatle said during a contentious hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
Cheatle said the attack on Trump, who was slightly wounded in his right ear while speaking at a campaign rally, was “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.”
Both Republicans and Democrats called on Cheatle to resign and she drew the ire of lawmakers from both parties by refusing to provide specific details about the attack, citing the existence of multiple active investigations.
“I can speak to you in generalities,” she said.
The 20-year-old gunman opened fire on Trump with an AR-style assault rifle just minutes after the former Republican president and current White House candidate began speaking at the campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania.
