AIRLINK 180.10 Increased By ▲ 3.78 (2.14%)
BOP 13.09 Decreased By ▼ -0.36 (-2.68%)
CNERGY 7.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.13%)
FCCL 45.18 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.24%)
FFL 16.06 Increased By ▲ 0.84 (5.52%)
FLYNG 27.43 Increased By ▲ 0.43 (1.59%)
HUBC 133.24 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.11%)
HUMNL 13.02 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.08%)
KEL 4.45 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KOSM 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.17%)
MLCF 58.81 Increased By ▲ 0.78 (1.34%)
OGDC 218.59 Increased By ▲ 0.31 (0.14%)
PACE 5.87 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PAEL 42.62 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (2.4%)
PIAHCLA 16.50 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.86%)
PIBTL 9.92 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (5.31%)
POWER 11.95 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.59%)
PPL 183.08 Decreased By ▼ -1.54 (-0.83%)
PRL 35.33 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.43%)
PTC 24.34 Increased By ▲ 0.64 (2.7%)
SEARL 95.82 Increased By ▲ 1.29 (1.36%)
SILK 1.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.71%)
SSGC 37.31 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (0.3%)
SYM 16.08 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.62%)
TELE 7.88 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.13%)
TPLP 10.84 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.93%)
TRG 60.94 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.65%)
WAVESAPP 10.79 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.19%)
WTL 1.33 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.75%)
YOUW 3.77 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.27%)
BR100 12,215 Decreased By -29.5 (-0.24%)
BR30 37,439 Increased By 64.4 (0.17%)
KSE100 115,536 Increased By 441.9 (0.38%)
KSE30 35,658 Increased By 47 (0.13%)

WASHINGTON: US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, a day after acknowledging that the agency failed in its mission to prevent an assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

Cheatle was facing bipartisan calls to step down after a 20-year-old gunman wounded the former Republican president and current White House candidate at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“It is overdue, she should have done this at least a week ago,” Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, told reporters. “I’m happy to see that she has heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats.”

President Joe Biden thanked Cheatle for her nearly three decades in the Secret Service and said she had “selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career.”

US homeland chief hits back at attacks on women Secret Service agents

“We all know what happened that day can never happen again,” Biden said in a statement. “As we move forward, I wish Kim all the best, and I will plan to appoint a new director soon.”

Cheatle appeared before a congressional oversight committee on Monday and said the attack on Trump, who was slightly wounded in his right ear, represented a failure by the Secret Service.

She called it “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.”

Both Republicans and Democrats called on Cheatle to resign during a tense hearing. She drew the ire of lawmakers from both parties by refusing to provide specific details about the attack, citing the existence of multiple active investigations.

The gunman opened fire on Trump with an AR-style assault rifle just minutes after he began speaking at the campaign event.

Perched on the roof of a nearby building, he was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper less than 30 seconds after firing the first of eight shots.

Investigators have concluded the young man, who lived in a town about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Butler, acted alone, and have not been able to identify any strong ideological or political leanings.

Two rally attendees were seriously wounded in the attack and a 50-year-old Pennsylvania firefighter, Corey Comperatore, was shot dead.

Trump’s former physician said over the weekend that the Republican candidate sustained a two-centimeter (almost one inch) gunshot wound on his right ear.

“The bullet passed, coming less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear,” said ex-White House physician Ronny Jackson.

Cheatle served as a Secret Service agent for 27 years before leaving in 2021 to become the head of security in North America for PepsiCo.

She was named to head the agency by President Joe Biden in 2022.

Comments

Comments are closed.