Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is facing calls to resign following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally on Saturday.
Sheetal was PepsiCo’s senior director of global security and has served as the current director of the U.S. Secret Service since September 2022. WebsiteDuring his time at PepsiCo, Cheatle was reportedly “responsible for leading and implementing security protocols for the company’s facilities in North America.”
The website also states that prior to working for PepsiCo, Cheatle “served with the United States Secret Service for 27 years.”
Prior to joining PepsiCo, she served with distinction for 27 years with the U.S. Secret Service, most recently serving as Deputy Director of the Protective Operations Division. In this role, Ms. Cheatle managed a budget of $133.5 million and worked with 10 operational and technical security divisions to research, develop and deploy technology to reduce risk to protected targets, protected facilities and protected events.
An eyewitness said: BBC News He said he saw a man with a rifle “crawling around like a bear” on the roof of a building near the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I was thinking, ‘Why is Trump still talking? Why don’t they take him off the stage?’… and the next thing I know, five gunshots rang out,” the man told media.
Minutes after speaking at the rally, shots were heard and Secret Service agents were seen surrounding Trump, who was later found with blood on his ear and the side of his face.
After being taken away by Secret Service agents, the former president revealed that he had been “shot with a bullet” above his right ear.
Several people have pointed to security flaws and criticized Cheatle for the sniper’s close call with shooting Trump.
“Before she was guarding the president, she was guarding bags of Cheetos,” said Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk. I have written In the post:
So before she was tasked with protecting the President, she was guarding bags of Cheetos… https://t.co/7btbCBsRkc
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 14, 2024
“I was the battalion’s sniper employing officer and led hundreds of combat missions,” said Blake Hall. I have written “There were serious flaws in the security planning that allowed a gunman to easily shoot President Trump from 130 metres away,” he wrote.
I was a battalion sniper employing officer and have led hundreds of combat missions. The security plan had a major security flaw that allowed a gunman to hit President Trump from a distance of approximately 130 meters. This was an easy shot. pic.twitter.com/eim0DzMRw6
— Blake Hall (@Blake_Hall) July 14, 2024
“In a country with the best military, special forces and security forces in the world, Biden appointed a female DEI recruited from PepsiCo as Director of the Secret Service. Not a former Army Ranger, Navy Seal or SS agent with decades of experience… but a woman who ran corporate security at PepsiCo,” New York City Council Member Vicki Palladino (R-NYC) said. post.
Palladino added, “Appointing completely unqualified people like this has serious consequences for our country, as today’s assassination attempt proves. These people must be removed from our government.”
In a country with the finest military, special forces and security forces the world has ever known, Biden appointed a female DEI recruited from PepsiCo as Director of the Secret Service.
I’m not an ex-Army Ranger, a Navy Seal, or an SS agent with decades of experience… https://t.co/yrijSc7hTO
— City Council Member Vickie Palladino (@VickieforNYC) July 14, 2024
In an interview CBS News Cheatle said in 2023 that one of the company’s goals is to increase the proportion of female employees to 30% by 2030.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) statement He said the rally was offering prayers “for President Trump and the victims of the assassination attempt” and called on Cheatle “to attend the hearing.”
WATCH — Butler County District Attorney: 1 Spectator, Gunman Dead, Shots Fired “Outside” Rally
