'We failed': Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle takes responsibility for lapses leading to Trump's shooting

Taking responsibility for the failures that led to an attempt on US President Donald Trump’s life earlier this month, US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has admitted that the agency failed in its job.

In a testimony at a Congressional hearing, Cheatle on Monday admitted that the Secret Service, which is mandated with the security of presidents and former presidents, failed in its job.

Earlier this month, Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in the American state of Pennsylvania. A shooter, identified as a 20-year-old man named Thomas Mathew Crooks, fired at Trump and the bullet grazed his ear. The shooter was killed moments later by a Secret Services counter-sniper who located him moments after the shot was fired.

After the shooting, those in the vicinity told media that they had alerted the authorities about an armed man on the roof a building but no one took note of it. Then, soon after such warnings, the man shot Trump.

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‘I take full responsibility’

Appearing before the Oversight Committee of the House of Representatives, Cheatle took full responsibility for the security lapse that led to Trump’s shooting.

“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13, we failed. As Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse,” said Cheatle, as per the AFP.

But she rejected a wave of bipartisan calls for her resignation.

Cheatle said the attack on Trump was “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades”.

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Cheatle said, “There clearly was a mistake and we will make every effort to make sure that this never happens again.”

Cheatle faced bipartisan ire

In bipartisan that has become rare in the polarised American polity, both the Democrat and Republican lawmakers slammed Cheatles and her agency. They also urged her to step down from her post.

Both Representative James R. Comer, the Republican who chairs of the committee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the committee, asked Cheatle to resign as the Secret Service chief.

Rep. Mike Turner of the Republican Party said that Cheatle has barely escaped culpability in the attempt on Trump’s life.

“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 Turner, who also urged President Joe Biden to fire Cheatle if she herself does not resign.

The members from both the parties were also left frustrated as Cheatles did not answer several questions by saying that the investigation was ongoing and she could not go into details.