Secret Service boss resigns over Trump shooting

Kimberly Cheatle has announced she will resign from her post after the agency failed to stop an assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

Less than 24 hours after a bruising session in front of angry politicians the head of the US Secret Service has resigned.

Kimberly Cheatle had ultimately been in charge of Donald Trump’s security when he came within millimetres of being shot dead in Pennsylvania earlier this month.

Her position became untenable when Republican and Democratic politicians joined together to demand her removal in an increasingly rare sign of bipartisanship between the parties.

Ms Cheatle had been with the Secret Service for 28 years. Despite the attempt on Mr Trump’s life – which left one man dead and two injured – she initially said she did not wish to resign.

But the pressure from both sides of politics became too much.

“I have, and will always put the needs of this agency first. In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your Director,” Cheatle wrote in a letter to staff, reported the New York Post.

US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies during a House Oversight Committee hearing examining potential security failures surrounding the attempted assassination on former US President Donald Trump. (Photo by Chris Kleponis / AFP)

Ms Cheatle added that she didn’t want the growing calls for her resignation to be “a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission”.

The Secret Service has come under intense scrutiny following the Butler, Pennyslyvania, shooting.

The key question the agency has been asked to answer is how it was possible to have a security perimeter that excluded a series of buildings that overlooked the site of the Trump rally. And how was it missed by the Secret Service – but not by spectators – that Thomas Crooks was climbing on the roof of one of those buildings with a rifle.

However, Ms Cheatle did little to answer those questions when quizzed by politicians in Washington DC on Monday (US time).

She did admit the shooting “the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades”.

“I take full responsibility for any security lapse,” she added.

But politicians were frustrated by Ms Cheatle’s refusal to go into detail on many details of the incident.

Ms Cheatle said the time between when Crooks was identified as a threat and when he began shooting “was seconds”.

Tempers frayed from one Republican politician who said Ms Cheatle was “full of s***”.

Nancy Mace asked Ms Cheatle if the committee had received all the video and audio recordings taken by the Secret Service in relation to the attempted killing.

“I would have to get back to you,” Ms Cheatle replied.

“That is a ‘no’. You’re full of s*** today,” Ms Mace replied.

“You’re just being completely dishonest.

US Republican candidate Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face after surviving an assassination attempt. (Photo by Rebecca DROKE / AFP) / QUALITY REPEAT

“These are important questions that the American people want answers to. And you’re just dodging and talking around it in generalities.” she said.

“And we had to subpoena you to be here. And you won’t even answer the questions.”

Among Ms Cheatle’s remarks was that the reason Secret Service agents weren’t on the roof was because it was too “sloped,” and that would be an insurmountable “safety factor” for the agents.

The failure to secure the roof gave the 20-year-old a clear view of Mr Trump leading to the first assassination attempt against a sitting or former US president since 1981.

– With the New York Post