“This incident does not define us,” Cheatle told staff, “and I do not want my call for you to resign to distract from the great work each and every one of you is doing in service of our important mission.”
The July 13 incident, when a gunman opened fire with an AR-type rifle from an unsecured rooftop at a Trump rally, was the first time a U.S. leader was attacked under the watch of an elite security agency in more than 40 years. Veteran Secret Service agent Cheatle called the security failure unacceptable and acknowledged, “I take responsibility.”
She initially said she would not resign and would cooperate with the investigation into the shooting.
But during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday, Cheatle faced pressure from Republicans and Democrats to resign, as lawmakers criticized him for refusing to answer detailed questions about what happened at Trump’s rallies.
After Cheatle’s resignation, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) accepted responsibility for her ouster and vowed to “ensure greater accountability going forward.”
“Abysmal security failures leading up to and during the Butler, Pennsylvania rally led to an attempted assassination of President Trump, the murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd,” Comer said in a statement. “We support the House Task Force in providing transparency, accountability and solutions, and will continue to provide Secret Service oversight to ensure this never happens again.”
The Department of Homeland Security announced that Ronald Lowe, the Secret Service’s No. 2, will become acting director. Lowe, a 24-year veteran of the agency, will be appointed deputy director in April 2023 and will be responsible for the agency’s day-to-day 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 that has one of the most difficult jobs in public service,” the president said. “We all know that what happened that day must never happen again.”
As news of Cheatle’s decision began to spread Tuesday, a congressional investigation into the assassination attempt was underway. Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, held a hearing with Col. Christopher Parris, superintendent of the Pennsylvania State Police.
During the hearing, Paris testified that authorities are still trying to unravel the sequence of events that led up to the shooting.
Paris confirmed that two local tactical officers were stationed at a window overlooking the roof where the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was found, but Paris said the officers had left the area before the shooting and were searching the crowd for Crooks.
Paris said officers flagged Crooks down because he was wandering around with a rangefinder instead of heading to the rally. They called state police about Crooks, who quickly called the Secret Service. It’s unclear why Trump was allowed on stage after that.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said at Tuesday’s hearing that it was “very disappointing” that Cheatle did not provide the same information during his testimony Monday before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, where lawmakers from both parties called for his resignation.
“Having new people at the top is a good thing, but just having new people in place doesn’t solve the questions,” Goldman said.
Cheatle said Monday that the internal investigation is expected to be conducted within 60 days, and a separate independent report ordered by Biden is due within 45 days. The investigation into the shooting is being primarily led by the FBI.
But Goldman and other lawmakers said they needed answers more quickly.
Cheatle rejoined the Secret Service in September 2022 after taking on the role of chief security officer for Pepsi’s North American division.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas addressed the decision in a statement Tuesday, thanking him for coming out of retirement to head the agency to which he has “dedicated his career.”
Bill Gage, a former Secret Service counter-offensive agent who protected presidents during the Bush and Obama administrations, criticized Cheatle for not aggressively pushing for the resources the Secret Service needed to do its job.
In an interview, Gage said problems identified nearly a decade ago in a series of investigative reports by The Washington Post, a bipartisan House Oversight Committee investigation and a committee report commissioned by President Barack Obama — that the Secret Service was struggling with limited funding and personnel and was stretched thin to cover its expanding mission — remain largely unresolved.
Trump wore a bandage over his right ear as he attended the Republican National Convention last week in the attack that left one man dead and two seriously injured.
The shooting marked the first time in decades that a U.S. leader had been attacked under Secret Service protection: in 1981, a gunman opened fire on President Ronald Reagan in Washington, wounding him and three others.
In the two years leading up to the Pennsylvania rally shooting, Trump’s security force had repeatedly requested more personnel and equipment but was repeatedly turned down by Secret Service leaders, according to four people familiar with the requests.
Investigators working for Trump’s security have asked for more magnetic detectors and agents to screen attendees at large rallies attended by the president, as well as snipers and specialized teams at other outdoor events, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security discussions. Such requests have sometimes been rejected by police officials, who cited a lack of resources in an understaffed police force, the people said.
Cheatle told lawmakers that no specific requests had been denied regarding the gathering in Butler.
Secret Service officials have urged the Trump campaign to cancel large outdoor rallies and other outdoor events, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private discussions.
When Biden nominated Cheatle to be Secret Service director in 2022, some within the agency opposed his appointment, according to six written complaints sent to The Washington Post by Secret Service employees at the time and over the two years since.
In their complaints, critics pointed to Cheatle’s lack of experience working in a senior position in the presidential security force – considered by many to be the pinnacle of the intelligence community – and to comments late in his tenure that he placed too much emphasis on hiring and promoting female agents.
Mr. Cheatle’s handling of the shooting further eroded support for his leadership within the agency, according to 12 current and former Secret Service employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation. Many employees and former Secret Service agents were upset by the lack of security on the roof the shooter climbed, they said.
Additionally, six former agents who worked in presidential security told The Washington Post that Cheatle’s public comments about security at the Butler campaign event 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 buildings on the perimeter of the event, implying they were to blame for allowing the shooter to climb onto a roof and open fire on Trump’s stage. Second, she said the roof the shooter used was not manned by police due in part to “safety factors” related to its slope. The Washington Post previously reported that the rally’s Secret Service counter-snipers were positioned on a steeper roof.
Cheatle’s resignation caps a tumultuous few years for the Secret Service amid concerns about unresolved weaknesses in training, strategy and operations.
Before the shooting, police had come under scrutiny for depriving investigators of potentially valuable evidence by deleting text messages sent by agents as Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Police said the messages were lost during a planned change of agents’ devices.
In November 2011, a man with a semi-automatic rifle fired shots into the White House. Investigators initially attributed the sound to a construction vehicle backfiring and didn’t realize for four days that a bullet had hit the mansion.
The CIA was embarrassed in 2012 when agents brought prostitutes into a Cartagena hotel room while arranging security ahead of President Obama’s visit to Colombia, and in 2014, an armed guard with an arrest record was allowed to ride an elevator with President Obama during his visit to Atlanta.
A few days later, a man armed with a folding knife jumped the fence outside the White House, sprinted past Secret Service agents and entered the East Room before being subdued by agents.
Julia Pearson, the first woman to become director of the Secret Service in 2013, stepped down in 2014.
Cheatle will be the agency’s 27th chief and the second woman to hold the position, and will be sworn in on September 17, 2022.
She served in the Secret Service for more than 25 years, serving in a variety of roles, including running the Atlanta field office and serving as the first woman to serve as Deputy Director of the Bureau of Protective Operations.
“That accomplishment in a male-dominated industry was something I’ll never forget,” Cheatle said in a 2022 interview with Security magazine.
Cheatle served as Biden’s security officer when he was vice president, and Biden awarded him the Presidential Medal of Honor in 2021 for his outstanding service over the years.
Josh Dawsey and Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.
