Secret Service Director Resigns After Assassination Attempt Against Donald Trump

The Secret Service director faced calls for resignation due to security failures at the Pennsylvania rally where 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump.

On Monday, the Secret Service Director testified, where she remained resolute in her decision not to step down despite the historic failure occurring under her watch.

Just one day later, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle announced her resignation.

According to the Associated Press, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle announced she is resigning just over one week after Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at Donald Trump's rally on July 13.

This comes after many have questioned how law enforcement and the Secret Service managed the situation, as some attendees reported noticing the gunman on the roof before he started shooting and attempted to alert the police.

"A guy behind me said that he had seen him. He had a gun. And then when he said that, I moved over a couple of feet, and I was able to see him perfectly, and I saw he had the gun. That's when I started to film," bystander Mike DiFrischia said.

Stan Kephart, a former police chief who has provided security for two former presidents, called the shooting an "absolute and abysmal failure" by the Secret Service in their duty to protect Trump, per The Associated Press. “You don’t get to blame other people. They are under your control," he added.

According to NBC, Cheatle wrote a letter to Secret Service staff announcing her decision to resign. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that, I have made the difficult decision to step down as your Director," she wrote. "The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders and financial infrastructure. On July 13th, we fell short on that mission."

As The Blast reported, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks attended a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13, where he fired six to eight rounds from an AR-style rifle in an attempt to assassinate the former president. Although he did not succeed in killing Trump, he did kill one rallygoer and severely injured two others.

“The scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases," Cheatle added. "As your Director, I take full responsibility for the security lapse.”

Cheatle's resignation also comes one day after she testified in the House hearing, where she acknowledged that there were “significant” problems with the Trump rally shooting.

She also admitted to the agency’s “colossal failure” and that the Trump assassination attempt was “the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades.” According to CNN, she later described it as the worst moment for the agency since the failed assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

Cheatle later alleged that “for the event on July 13, the assets that were requested for that day were given.”

Just a few days after the incident, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas appeared on "Good Morning America," admitting, "A direct line of sight like that to the former president should not [have] occur[ed]."

"That is precisely why President Biden directed that an independent review of the incident occur. That will be done in close coordination with the FBI, which is conducting a separate criminal investigation, the importance of which cannot be overstated," Mayorkas told George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America,"

"We have to learn everything about the assailant, who of course, the Secret Service so bravely and heroically neutralized, and we are going to really study the event independently and make recommendations to the Secret Service and to me so that we can assure the safety and security of our protectees," Mayorkas added. "Which is one of our most vital missions in the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security and across the government."

Last week, Trump spoke to Fox News, where he addressed the timeline of events, questioning why he was allowed on stage when people had reportedly spotted Thomas Matthew Crooks before he fired six to eight rounds.

"Nobody mentioned it, nobody said there was a problem, and I would've waited for 15; they could've said, let's wait for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 5 minutes, something nobody said anything, that was a mistake."

"How did somebody get on that roof and why wasn't he reported?" Trump then asked. "Because people saw that he was on the roof. You had Trumpers screaming. The woman in the red shirt, she was screaming 'There's a man on the roof' and then other people were screaming, 'There's a man on the roof who's got a gun,' and that was quite a bit before I walked onto the stage, so you would've thought somebody would have done something about it."

Law enforcement and the FBI are still investigating a possible motive.