Head of US Secret Service resigns following Trump rally shooting

The head of the US Secret Service has resigned amid bipartisan outrage over the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump.

Ten days after the Republican candidate almost lost his life, Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle has stood down over her agency’s failure to stop a 20-year-old gunman from opening fire at the former president during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

US President Joe Biden paid tribute to Cheatle, whose 30 year career with the agency included a stint protecting the Biden family during Barack Obama’s administration when he was vice president.

“The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions,” he said in a statement as he prepared to return to the White House on Tuesday afternoon, two days after dropping out of the election.

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

The resignation came after a scathing congressional hearing on Monday (Tuesday AEST) in which Cheatle was excoriated by both sides of politics as she failed to share new light about the assassination attempt.

She acknowledged that the Secret Service was told about a suspicious person two to five times before the shooting took place and that the roof from which Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire had been identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally.

However, she repeatedly refused to answer many other questions about what happened, and by the end of the hearing, Democrats and Republicans were united in calling for her to step down.

“Director Cheatle, because Donald Trump is alive and thank God he is, you look incompetent. If Donald Trump had been killed, you would have looked culpable,” said a furious Mike Turner, who is also the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on Intelligence.

“Not only should you resign, if you refuse to do so, President Biden needs to fire you, because his life, Donald Trump’s life, and all the other people which you protect are at risk, because you have no concept of the aspect that the security footprint needs to be correlated to the threat.”

While Cheatle had insisted yesterday that she remained the “right person” to lead the Secret Service, she sent an email to staff this morning telling them: “I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each, and every one of you do towards our vital mission.

“In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your Director.”

The agency’s deputy director Ronald Rowe has been appointed acting director until a permanent replacement is appointed.

The attempted assassination on Trump shocked the world and reignited concerns around political violence in America.

Several inquiries and now underway into how Crookes was able to fire at least six rounds from a roof, about 400 feet from where Trump was addressing the crowd.

Trump turned his head at the last minute, and was only grazed by the bullet before being whisked away to safety. However, one spectator was killed and two others were critically injured in the crossfire.

The former president and his family have repeatedly praised the Secret Service for saving his life, and Trump had initially called for unity in the wake of the shooting.

But in a post today, he wrote: “The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy. IT WAS MY GREAT HONOUR TO DO SO!”