US Secret Service director resigns after Trump assassination attempt

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.”