LAST UPDATE | 23 Jul 2024

US SECRET SERVICE director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned after the assassination attempt against former US president Donald Trump.

ABC News said two people “familiar with the decision” have confirmed Cheatle’s resignation to its newsroom.

Speaking at an US House Committee on Oversight and Accountability yesterday, Cheatle acknowledged that the Secret Service’s “solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders” and that it “failed” when it came to the assassination attempt of Trump.

“As director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse.”

At the Committee yesterday, she rejected a wave of bipartisan calls for her resignation after a 20-year-old gunman wounded Trump at a 13 July campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

She described that attack on Trump as “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.”

“There clearly was a mistake and we will make every effort to make sure that this never happens again,” she said.

Speaking today, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson told reporters that the resignation is “overdue” and that she “should have done this at least a week ago”.

“I’m happy to see that she has heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats.”

President Joe Biden meanwhile thanked Cheatle for her nearly three decades in the Secret Service and said she had “selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career.”

“We all know what happened that day can never happen again,” Biden said in a statement. “As we move forward, I wish Kim all the best, and I will plan to appoint a new director soon.”

Cheatle served as a Secret Service agent for 27 years before leaving in 2021 to become the head of security in North America for PepsiCo.

She was named to head the agency by Biden in 2022.