Kim Cheatle's job as head of the Secret Service was apparently too steep a climb to stand safely.
After receiving a stern rebuke from the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee yesterday and subsequent bipartisan calls for his resignation, the disgraced director resigned today.
Cheatle announced her resignation in a letter to staff, and her harsh criticism yesterday came a week after revelations about woefully inadequate security at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, shot Trump in plain sight from less than 200 yards away.
After Cheatle resigned, Republican Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky suggested more firings were possible.
letter
In his 347-page resignation letter, Cheatle acknowledged that the Secret Service “failed” to protect Trump and said he “takes full responsibility for any security failures.”
“I do not want my request for your resignation to be a distraction from the great work each of you are doing toward our important mission,” the letter continues.
When I received the call asking me if I would like to return to the Secret Service after a brief retirement, I didn't hesitate. I love this agency, our mission, and the great men and women who sacrifice so much every day. I have always and will always put the needs of this agency first.
In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down from my position on the Board.
Cheatle submitted a lengthy resume, supposedly to justify her appointment as director, but reports have revealed that she was not qualified for the job and that she was obsessed with promoting women to roles for which she was not qualified.
In fact, Cheatle got the job because she was a girlfriend of first lady Dr. Jill Biden: “She was well-liked by the future first lady and her top aides, including top adviser Anthony Bernal,” The New York Post reported two days after the shooting that killed firefighter Corey Comperatore and injured two others.
The post continues:
“Cheatle served as Biden's second lady and Anthony recommended her,” a Democratic source told The Post. “Anthony has no national security or law enforcement experience. He should not be influencing the selection of the USSS chief.”
“We heard Anthony was pushing her as a candidate at the time she was being considered for director,” a separate source told The Washington Post.
A Washington Post story about Cheatle's resignation published today explained that Secret Service insiders opposed his appointment, “according to six complaints written to the Post by Secret Service employees at the time and over the two years since.”
The complaint said Cheatle never held a “senior position in the presidential security force” and “during his tenure, he was disproportionately focused on the recruitment and promotion of female agents.”
In fact, one of Cheatle's more absurd initiatives was the 30×30 campaign, which called for women to make up 30 percent of the agency's personnel by 2030, meaning excluding military combat-experienced special forces such as Marine Raiders and Navy SEALs. The reaction of female agents during the assassination attempt suggests that diversity, equity and inclusion may not be a top priority for the Secret Service director.
The six agents who filed the complaint told The Washington Post they were also outraged that Crooks left the rooftop where he opened fire unprotected.
Additionally, six former agents who worked on presidential security told The Washington Post that Cheatle's public comments about security at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, were embarrassing.
They said they were particularly upset by two comments she made in an ABC News interview that aired days after the shooting.
First, she said local police were providing security for the Agour Building on the perimeter of the event venue, implying that they were to blame for allowing the shooter to climb to the roof and open fire on Trump's stage. Second, she said that no police were stationed on the roof the shooter used, in part due to “safety factors” related to the slope. The Washington Post previously reported that Secret Service counter-snipers were positioned on steeper roofs at Saturday's rally.
“She has lost credibility in the police department,” said one former agent, who had defended her tenure until her comments to ABC News. “There's no way to regain that credibility now.”
Yesterday's hearing
Ahead of Cheatle's testimony before the Oversight Committee yesterday, The Washington Post reported that the department had repeatedly rejected requests for increased security for the Trump campaign over a two-year period.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina asked Cheatle during Mace's question period whether he intended to submit his resignation, with the infuriated congressman accusing the director in question of “bullshit.”
Two Republican lawmakers, one of whom is 70 years old, posted videos of themselves walking across the roof where Crooks opened fire.
After the hearing, which included some scathing questioning from left-wing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, committee chair Comer and the ranking minority representative from Maryland, Jamie Raskin, signed a joint letter calling for Cheatle's resignation.
“Today, you have failed to answer fundamental questions about that astonishing operational failure, nor have you failed to reassure the American people that the Secret Service has learned its lessons and begun to correct its systemic missteps and failings,” the lawmakers wrote.
After Cheatle resigned after receiving subtle hints that she was not welcome, Comer strongly hinted that she may not be the only agency employee whose career will be over.
“There will be more accountability going forward,” Comer said.
Cheatle “did not inspire confidence that he knew what he was doing” or that “the Secret Service was capable of carrying out its security duties,” he said.
“Secretary Cheatle's resignation is a step toward accountability, but to prevent security failures like this in the future, we need a thorough investigation into why this happened,” Comer concluded.
