WASHINGTON: US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after the agency came under harsh scrutiny for its failure to stop a would-be assassin from wounding former president Donald Trump during a campaign rally, the White House said on Tuesday.

The Secret Service, which is responsible for the protection of current and former US presidents, faces a crisis after a gunman was able to fire on Trump from a roof overlooking the outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.

“The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions,” Democratic President Joe Biden said in a statement. “We all know what happened that day can never happen again.” Secret Service Deputy Director Ronald Rowe, a 24-year veteran of the agency, will serve as acting director, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.

The Secret Service faces investigations from multiple congressional committees and the internal watchdog of the US Department of Homeland Security, its parent organisation, over its performance. Biden, who has ended his reelection campaign, has also called for an independent review.

Cheatle faced bipartisan condemnation when she appeared before the House of Represen­tatives Oversight Committee on Monday, declining to answer questions from frustrated lawmakers about the security plan for the rally and how law enforcement responded to the suspicious behavior of the gunman. Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers had called on her to resign.

Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was grazed in the right ear and one rallygoer was killed in the gunfire. The gunman, identified as a 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.

“While Director Cheatle’s resignation is a step toward accountability, we need a full review of how these security failures happened so that we can prevent them going forward,” James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement. “We will continue our oversight of the Secret Service.”

House leaders said on Tuesday they planned to form a bipartisan task force to probe the shooting. Much of the criticism has focused on the failure to secure the roof of an industrial building where the gunman was perched about 150 yards (140 m) from the stage where Trump was speaking. The rooftop was declared outside the Secret Service security perimetre for the event, a decision criticised by former agents and lawmakers.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2024