Less than two weeks after the agency’s disastrous blunder at Donald Trump’s July 13 campaign rally left him wounded by an assassin’s bullet, the criticized director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, announced she was resigning.
Cheatle, a 28-year veteran of the department, had faced growing pressure in recent days to resign but maintained he intended to stay on in his job.
At a meeting of the House Oversight Committee yesterday, Cheatle acknowledged that the police response to the rally was a “failure,” but still gave investigators an “A” for their work that day.
Minutes before the news broke, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Calif.) said he would not support impeaching Cheatle, despite Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) calling for it the day before.
“As we all know, impeachment is limited to treason, bribery and high crimes and misdemeanors,” he said. “Unfortunately, mismanagement and complete incompetence are not impeachable offenses, but there are other ways to achieve a desired outcome.”
When informed of Cheatle’s resignation midway through the briefing, he joked that “Cheatle must have been watching our press conference,” and said the resignation was “the right decision.”
“Our reaction to her resignation, our immediate reaction, is that it’s too late. She should have resigned at least a week ago,” he said.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
