Secret Service Director Resigns

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A day after Republicans and Democrats united in calling on her to step down, embattled U.S. Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle has submitted her resignation.

Cheatle’s resignation comes on the heels of her disastrously evasive testimony before the U.S. House oversight committee on Monday (July 22, 2023) – and just ten days after her agency failed spectacularly to discharge its most basic duties during the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

News of Cheatle’s decision was first reported by the Heritage Foundation’s “Oversight Project,” which has launched its own investigation into the attempt on Trump’s life.

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Cheatle was grilled on Monday by members of congress – including South Carolina’s own Nancy Mace – regarding her agency’s confounding lapses in Butler as well as its subsequent failure to answer the most basic questions (and provide the most basic information to the public) about the attempt on Trump’s life.

Cheatle also admitted her agency did not maintain records of its radio communications on the day Trump was shot – and that she frequently uses encrypted apps on her personal cell phone to conduct official business.

Mace referred to Cheatle as “full of shit” during the latter’s testimony before the oversight committee. Then, hours after the hearing concluded, Mace filed a motion in the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Cheatle – a motion which was expected to draw significant bipartisan support.

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If she won’t resign, and the Biden Administration won’t fire her, we should IMPEACH Kim Cheatle. America deserves accountability! #ImpeachKimCheatle pic.twitter.com/JLErCDkySV

— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) July 23, 2024

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“Biden said nothing and Kamala said nothing,” Mace told us. “I had to say what everyone else was thinking. And only after I filed a privileged motion to impeach her did she resign. Good riddance.”

While Cheatle’s resignation may mollify some in Washington, D.C., don’t expect it to put an end to this scandal.

After all, the Secret Service’s failure to protect Trump was so egregious – on so many levels – one bureaucratic resignation scarcely touches the surface of the accountability it demands. So vast was the agency’s incompetence it has prompted speculation that the myriad of failures may have been deliberate.

How else would a known threat to the president be allowed to occupy an elevated firing position less than 150 yards away from where Trump was speaking? And then be allowed to squeeze off multiple rounds?

Records uncovered by the Oversight Project have only fueled such speculation, questioning the connections of would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet – one which likely would have killed him had he not turned his head to the right to look at a screen just a moment before it was fired. Two others attending the rally were critically wounded. A fourth person – 50-year-old former fire chief Corey Comperatore – was shot in the head and killed during the attack.

As noted in our coverage of yesterday’s hearing, count on us to keep our audience apprised of the latest developments regarding the investigation of the assassination attempt – and to keep our open microphone available to anyone with an intelligent take on this scandal.

This is a breaking news story based on the latest information available. Stay with FITSNews for updates …

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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