Less than 24 hours after being verbally skewered under intense questioning and criticism by Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight Committee over the near-assassination of former President Donald Trump, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday morning.
Cheatle could not answer specific questions about the deadly assassination attempt, carried out by a 20-year-old killer armed with a DPMS .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle purchased years ago by his father, according to USA Today.
Cheatle sent her letter of resignation to the Secret Service. Fox News quoted from the letter, which stated, “The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders and financial infrastructure. On July 13th, we fell short on that mission.”
Trump is recovering from the minor wound he suffered, and he is back on the campaign trail, wearing a smaller bandage over the ear wound.
Cheatle was uniformly criticized by committee members, even while—according to the Daily Signal—Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), and Democrat Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C. used their time to advocate for a ban on modern semiautomatic rifles.
While Cheatle seemed to weather the calls for her dismissal or resignation during the Monday committee hearing, she obviously had a change of heart and mind by Tuesday morning. According to CNBC, President Joe Biden issued a statement thanking Cheatle for her years of public service, honor, courage and “incredible integrity” in taking full responsibility for the Trump shooting incident. Biden’s statement said he would be naming a new director “soon.”
Regarding the Democrats’ resurrection of the gun ban proposal during the hearing, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) commented to the Daily Signal, “The Democrats never miss an opportunity to push for gun control. Give them any episode that happens and they’re going to push for gun control. We have the Second Amendment for a reason, and it has to be protected.”
Trump has praised the Secret Service agents who jumped to cover him during the July 13 shooting. But he has raised questions about how the shooter, who was killed by a Secret Service marksman, managed to get up on the roof of the building 130 yards away from where he was speaking, with a clear line of fire. Cheatle did not answer that question during the hearing, and repeatedly told the committee the incident is still under investigation.
