On Tuesday, July 23, Kimberly Chitle announced her resignation as head of the Secret Service, admitting mistakes in operations on the day of Donald Trump’s assassination attempt by shooting during a speech.
“We failed,” Chitle told a House committee, taking full responsibility for the security lapses and taking pressure from Republicans to resign. She said the Secret Service provided the security that Trump’s team had requested for the July 13 event.
Despite accusations that the agency did not allocate sufficient resources to protect Trump, Chitle stressed that the level of security had been increased before the attack and that the agency’s mission is not political, but a matter of life and death.
Yesterday’s hearing marks the first congressional review of the assassination attempt, with FBI Director Christopher Ray appearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Several leading Republican leaders, including Mike Johnson and Mitch McConnell, have lobbied Chitle to resign. During the hearing, Republican James Comer urged her to resign, calling her a symbol of incompetence in the agency.
Democratic Congressman Jerry Connolly pointed out that such incidents show how polarized and fraught with political tensions the nation is.
