Kimberly Cheatle, the under-fire director of the Secret Service, has acknowledged that “I take responsibility” for criticism of the agency’s disastrous response to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, but has refused to resign.
“This is unacceptable,” Cheatle told ABC News on Monday about the agency’s response to Saturday’s Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, “and it should never happen again.”
Cheatle has faced steadily growing pressure to resign since he oversaw security after 20-year-old suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks fired multiple shots from an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle from a nearby rooftop, wounding former President Trump and two others and killing a former firefighter.
“Obviously as a Secret Service agent, this was a situation that you never want to have happen to anyone in their career,” she told the outlet.
“The responsibility is mine. I am the director of the Secret Service and I have to make sure that we conduct investigations and provide resources to our personnel as needed.”
She said she has no plans to resign if pressed.
