Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns after Trump assassination attempt.

 

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle during her congressional testimony. Fox News/Getty. 

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns after the Trump assassination attempt. Fox News. Cheatle took responsibility for the numerous failures to protect Donald Trump as he was speaking in Pennsylvania. Cheatle was assigned by Joe Biden and was not fired by him either. Cheatle had faced withering criticism from both parties and there were widespread calls for her to resign. She had no satisfactory answers as to why the assassin was able to get onto a roof that overlooked the Trump rally. There are also questions as to why requests for more security were denied by Cheatle.

Why was the Secret Service’s protective perimeter in Butler shorter than the range of an AR-15?

It does not take 60 days to answer that question.

The agency’s failure to publicly account for these questions and others from Congress is unacceptable.

Dir. Cheatle should resign. pic.twitter.com/5C50Qi5EJS

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) July 23, 2024

My Comment:

When both Republicans and Democrats agree that someone should resign in disgrace then there is a good chance they will resign in disgrace. When even AOC is angry at you for your failures you know you have screwed up bad. 

The real question is if she was forced out or if she did on her own. Joe Biden never fires anyone but even he has to understand that Cheatle's failure goes beyond Donald Trump. Biden and his family are protected by the Secret Service as well and I am guessing that even Biden understands it could have easily have been him at one of his events or rallies. Or even his family, which does seem to be one of the few things that Biden actually cares about. 

Cheatle's failure was almost beyond parody, to the point where more than a few people think that there was some grand conspiracy to assassinate Donald Trump. I still don't buy that, mostly because a real plot would have involved a shooter that wasn't an absolute moron who missed the majority of shots he took at Trump. There may have been other people involved in the attack, we know so little about the investigation at this point, but I don't think there was government involvement.  

But the Secret Service failures that day were beyond the pale. AOC is right, why on earth was there no secret service presence on that roof? The roof was within easy rifle range and a more competent shooter would have had no trouble hitting Trump solidly. It would be the first place I would have fortified if I was the one in charge. The fact that it wasn't shows that this was an act of sheer incompetence. 

And that incompetence had to have consequences for the person in charge and that was Cheatle. The fact that it took this long for her to resign is pretty idiotic. You simply can't fail this badly and keep your job. It does not speak well for Joe Biden that he didn't fire her the day of the shooting.