U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle tells ABC News she plans to stay on despite growing calls for her resignation over the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
In an exclusive interview, Cheatle condemned the shooting and said the “buck stops with her.” She also said she has no plans to step down.
“It was obviously a situation that, as a Secret Service agent, no one ever wants to occur in their career,” Cheatle said.
Responding to reports that law enforcement officers had seen the shooter before the shooting, Cheatle said she didn’t have all the details.
BIDEN SPOKE WITH TRUMP FOLLOWING SHOOTING AT PENNSYLVANIA RALLY
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle at a press conference on June 4 in Chicago. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
“Seeking that person out, finding them, identifying them, and eventually neutralizing them took place in a very short period of time, and it makes it very difficult,” she said.
Cheatle has since taken a firm stance that she will not step down, despite being harshly criticized for a failed detail that allowed a gunman to have a clear line of sight of Trump with a rifle nearly 150 yards away.
On Monday, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., introduced the Secret Service Accountability Act to hold Cheatle accountable for “the agency’s incompetence and failure” to protect Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, during a campaign rally.
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Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Saturday’s assassination attempt on President Trump’s life was either intentional or the result of gross incompetence by the United States Secret Service,” Boebert said in a press release. “Under Director Cheatle’s failed leadership, the United States Secret Service has prioritized woke DEI policies over the core responsibilities of the Secret Service, including protecting our nation’s leaders. This lack of leadership contributed to the first assassination attempt of a President in 43 years. Director Cheatle has got to go!”
The House oversight Committee summoned Cheatle to testify on the deadly shooting on Saturday,
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a letter to Cheatle that day that his committee initiated an investigation into the assassination attempt and requested her “voluntary” appearance.
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) (C) speaks during a news conference to decry pro-Palestinian protests at universities across the country with (L-R) House Committee on Education and the Workforce Virginia Foxx (R-NC), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on April 30, 2024, in Washington, DC. House Republicans demand the firing of college and university leaders and threatened to withhold funding to institutions of higher education unless they dismantle and erase protest encampments and work to prevent demonstrations on their campuses. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., vowed to summon Cheatle “and other appropriate officials from DHS and the FBI” before the House to demand answers.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., put pressure on Cheatle to ensure Americans that the upcoming Republican and Democratic conventions will be secure.
“The Director of the Secret Service needs to come out ASAP and let us know how this happened and how everyone at the RNC and DNC conventions will be safe,” Scott wrote on X.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on May 22, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
A former FBI special agent slammed Cheatle in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Trump, warning the response has been “unacceptable.”
Fox News contributor Nicole Parker, who served as a special agent for the FBI, ripped Director Kimberly Cheatle for her handling of the attack on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“Where was she, or where was any representative from the United States Secret Service? The initial press conference… that is their site. They should have had a representative there,” Parker told Maria Bartiromo on Monday.
Parker said Cheatle took too long to speak after the attack.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as multiple shots rang out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 13, 2024. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
“If it is not important enough for her to show her face in light of a… potential assassination. If there is a time for her to come forward, it is now, and it’s just radio silence. It’s unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, Cheatle faces growing calls to step down over the attack, which killed one rally attendee and critically injured two others.
President Biden appointed her to lead the Secret Service in 2022, making her only the second woman ever in history to lead the agency.
According to the Secret Service agency website, Cheatle is responsible for executing the agency’s integrated mission of “protection and investigations by leading a diverse workforce.” Critics have accused Cheatle of prioritizing “woke” ideologies rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) instead of only focusing on hiring the best for the agency.
“How this ever occurred is mind-boggling, and it’s actually terrifying for America,” Parker noted. “If a 20-year-old can disrupt the political process in the United States and ignite this massive firestorm, look at our adversaries. Can you imagine? They’re probably sitting back laughing. This is inexcusable. It is unacceptable, and how this occurred. It is a failure.”
Fox News’ Bradford Betz, Stepheny Price, Bailee Hill, and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.