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The director of the U.S. Secret Service resigned Tuesday amidst criticism over the security lapse when ex-president Donald Trump was shot, according to an email she sent staff.
Kimberly Cheatle, Secret Service director since August 2022, had been facing growing calls to resign and several investigations into how the shooter was able to get so close to Trump at an outdoor campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
"I take full responsibility for the security lapse," she said in the email to staff Tuesday. "In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director."
The assassination attempt against Trump unleashed intensifying outcry about how the agency tasked with protecting current and former presidents could fail in its core mission.
Cheatle's resignation comes a day after appeared before a congressional committee and was berated by hours by both Democrats and Republicans for the security failures. She called the attempt on Trump's life the Secret Service's "most significant operational failure" in decades and said she takes fully responsibility for the security lapses, but angered lawmakers by failing to answer specific questions about the investigation.
At the hearing Monday, Cheatle remained defiant that she was the "right person" to lead the Secret Service, even as she said she took full responsibility the security lapses. When Republican Rep. Nancy Mace suggested Cheatle begin drafting her resignation letter from the hearing room, Cheatle responded, "No, thank you."
The 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to get within 135 meters (157 yards) of the stage where the former president was speaking when he opened fire. That's despite a threat on Trump's life from Iran leading to additional security for the former president in the days before the July 13 rally.