Secret Service Director Cheatle resigns after shooting at Trump rally

“This incident does not define us,” Cheatle told staff. “I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission.”

The attack, in which a gunman opened fire with an AR-style rifle from an unsecured roof at a Trump presidential campaign rally July 13, was the first against a U.S. leader on the elite protective agency’s watch in more than 40 years. Cheatle, a veteran Secret Service agent, had called the security failure unacceptable and acknowledged that “the buck stops with me.”

She initially had said she would not resign and would cooperate with investigations into the shooting.

But during a House Oversight Committee hearing Monday, Cheatle faced calls from Republicans and Democrats to resign. Lawmakers criticized her for declining to answer detailed questions about what went wrong at the Trump rally.

After Cheatle’s resignation, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) took credit for pushing her out and pledged “more accountability to come.”

“Egregious security failures leading up to and at the Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally resulted in the assassination attempt of President Trump, the murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd,” Comer said in a statement. “We will continue our oversight of the Secret Service in support of the House Task Force to deliver transparency, accountability, and solutions to ensure this never happens again.”

Ronald Rowe, the Secret Service’s second-ranking official, will take over as acting director, the Department of Homeland Security said. Rowe, a 24-year veteran of the agency, was appointed deputy director in April 2023, with responsibility for the agency’s daily investigative and protective operations.

President Biden issued a statement praising Cheatle’s decision to resign.

“As a leader, it takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service,” the president said. “We all know what happened that day can never happen again.”

Congressional inquiries into the assassination attempt were ongoing Tuesday as the news of Cheatle’s decision began to circulate. Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, conducted a hearing with the commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, Col. Christopher Paris.

At the hearing, Paris testified that authorities were still trying to nail down the sequence of events leading up to the shooting.

Paris confirmed that two local tactical officers had been posted at a window overlooking the roof where the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was found. But Paris said the officers had left that perch before the shooting to search for Crooks in the crowd.

Paris said officers had flagged Crooks as suspicious because he was milling around the perimeter with a range-finder instead of proceeding toward the rally. The officers alerted the State Police about Crooks, he said, and the State Police immediately notified the Secret Service. It was unclear why Trump was then allowed to take the stage.

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said at the hearing Tuesday it was “incredibly disappointing” that Cheatle didn’t provide the same information during her testimony Monday before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, where lawmakers from both parties called on her to resign.

“I think it is good that we’re going to have somebody new at the top, but just having somebody new does not answer the questions,” Goldman said.

Cheatle said Monday that an internal review should be available within 60 days, and a separate independent report ordered by Biden was due in 45 days. The FBI is leading the main investigation into the shooting.

Goldman and other lawmakers, however, said they need answers sooner.

Cheatle returned to the Secret Service in September 2022 after taking a job as a top security official at Pepsi Co. North America.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas noted that decision in a statement Tuesday thanking her for returning from retirement to head the…