US Secret Service Director Kimberly A Cheatle has taken responsibility for the attack on former President Donald Trump on July 13, however, she refused to vacate her position.
As per reports, Cheatle told lawmakers at a hearing that the attack on Trump was the “most significant operational failure” for the agency in decades.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,” Cheatle told members of the House committee Oversight and Accountability, as quoted by IANS.
“As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse,” she said in response to a question from Congressman Ro Khanna on whether the attempt on the former President’s life was the single biggest failure of the agency since the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan on March 20, 1981.
“I will stay in the job and make the agency stronger,” Cheatle added, downplaying demands for her resignation. “We must learn what happened, and I will move heaven and earth to ensure an incident like July 13th does not happen again,” she said.
Cheatle’s resignation was demanded by politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties. The Secret Service failed to stop the assassination attempt on Trump during an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A lone gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, shot at the Republican Presidential nominee. The bullet grazed his right ear, leaving Trump with a bloodied face.
Crooks was later gunned down by a Secret Service sniper. Another man, who had attended the rally, died.
