Kimberly Cheatle, the embattled director of the Secret Service who has faced condemnation from Congress and calls for her resignation over security failures that led to the near assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, got the job largely because of her close relationship with first lady Jill Biden, The Washington Post has learned.
Cheatle, 53, is the first woman to head the White House Security Service and took up the role without Senate confirmation in August 2022 after three years as PepsiCo’s senior director of international security. Prior to that, she spent 27 years with the Secret Service, starting in the Clinton administration.
Four sources close to the Biden family, including people who interacted with Cheatle during the Obama-Biden administration, said Cheatle was well-liked by the future first lady and top aides, including top adviser Anthony Bernal.
“Cheatle served as Biden’s second lady and Anthony recommended her,” a Democratic source told The Post. “Anthony has no national security or law enforcement experience. He should not be influencing the selection of the USSS chief.”
“We heard Anthony was pushing her as a candidate for director at the time,” a separate source told The Washington Post.
Mr. Bernal, 51, is widely viewed as comparable in influence over administration decisions to White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, who has faced allegations of bullying and sexual harassment from colleagues who have likened his influence to that of Russian mystic Grigory Rasputin over the Romanov court.
“Anthony is obsessed with DEI compliance,” another insider told The Washington Post, referring to HR practices that seek to ensure a diverse workforce.
Cheatle is expected to brief lawmakers on Tuesday on how the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, climbed onto a roof about 130 yards from Trump’s location at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and opened fire on Trump with an AR-15-style rifle, wounding Trump and two others and killing one rally attendee.
The secretary is also scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee next Monday.
But Republican lawmakers have doubts about Cheatle’s leadership.
“Someone really screwed up. The person who’s leading the Secret Service is the DEI person, the DEI initiative person,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) told Fox News after the raid.
Some of The Washington Post’s sources praised Cheatle as a trustworthy and likeable person.
“Kim has always been professional and a very competent agent. She’s always been a pleasure to work with,” a fourth source told The Post.
Cheatle’s ties to the Biden family have been known to some extent for some time: In announcing her 2022 appointment, the president said, “Jill and I know firsthand how dedicated Kim is to her job and to the Secret Service employees and mission.”
“Kim was in charge of my security when I was Vice President, and we have come to trust her judgment and counsel,” Joe Biden said in a statement announcing her selection.
The exact mechanics of Cheatle’s appointment were unclear to The Post, including whether the Secret Service conducted an additional selection process or whether the decision was made entirely within the White House.
It’s also unclear how long she served as security for Biden, who was then the vice president and first lady. Investigators typically rotate duties, but previous reports have said she was also in charge of security for Biden, who was then vice president.
The first lady’s office and the Secret Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
