Amid mounting pressure, Secret Service director resigns

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle at a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.| Photo: EFE/EPA/Michael Reynolds

The director of the US Secret Service, Kimberly Shettle, resigned on Tuesday (23), after being subjected to pressure due to the failures recorded in the security of the rally in Butler (Pennsylvania), where former President Donald Trump was subjected to an assassination attempt on the 13th.

It had already admitted on Monday that the attack was the agency’s “biggest operational failure” in decades of operation.

Her resignation comes a day after she testified before a House committee, where she took “full responsibility” for the agency’s security failure and said the agency was cooperating with ongoing investigations into the attack.

Since the assassination attempt on the former president and candidate for the November elections, the Republican opposition has been pressing for Shettle to resign as head of the agency, despite his insistence on remaining in his position.

On the day of the shooting, Trump was shot in the upper part of his right ear. In addition, a former firefighter died in the shooting and two other marchers were seriously injured and taken to the hospital.