Kimberly Cheatle director of the U.S. Secret Service, has some explaining to do after a gunman nearly completed an assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally Saturday evening in Pennsylvania.
As The Daily Signal’s executive editor Rob Bluey wrote, eyewitnesses said they attempted to warn authorities about the shooter on a nearby roof in the minutes before the attack, but that the Secret Service failed to stop the gunman before he began shooting.
There were also some concerning videos of Secret Service agents who appeared not to know what they were doing as Trump, struck in the right ear by a bullet, was shielded and escorted away from the rally stage.
Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent who now is a political commentator, said Saturday night that what happened to Trump was a “catastrophic failure” for the Secret Service.
“This is an obviously catastrophic failure and NO excuses should be made, or even attempted,” Bongino, who now has a radio talk show and podcast, posted on X. “The failures are profound and questions must be answered about ground surveillance, air surveillance, post-stander support, and counter-sniper advance work and response. We have ONE job, and we came within inches of a deadly failure today. An uneventful failure is NOT a success.”
Bongino called on the Secret Service director to resign.
So who is Kimberly Cheatle? Here’s a little background.
Career at Secret Service
Cheatle was picked to lead the Secret Service by President Joe Biden in August 2022. According to USA Today, she has been on-and-off involved in the Secret Service for 25 years.
“Cheatle has served more than 25 years with distinction for the United States Secret Service across a number of leadership roles,” USA Today wrote. “She worked on the Vice Presidential Protective Division, and in 2021, Biden awarded Cheatle with a Presidential Rank Award.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Cheatle was the first woman to serve as the Secret Service’s assistant director of protective operations. Her appointment as head of the agency made her its second female director.
“When he appointed her director, Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden got to know Cheatle while she served on his security detail during his vice presidency,” the Journal reported. “’She has my complete trust,’ the president said in 2022.”
Biden praised Cheatle when he selected her to lead the Secret Service.
“Jill and I know firsthand Kim’s commitment to her job and to the Secret Service’s people and mission,” the president said. “When Kim served on my security detail when I was vice president, we came to trust her judgment and counsel.”
Before Biden brought her on as director, Cheatle worked for PepsiCo Inc., where, according to the Secret Service website, “she was responsible for directing and implementing security protocols for the company’s facilities in North America.”
Diversity Efforts
Cheatle has been a forceful advocate of diversity in the Secret Service and in the security industry in general.
She spoke about this in a 2022 interview with the website Women in Security while still working at PepsiCo.
“That achievement in a male-dominated industry was not lost on me,” Cheatle said in the interview. “I kept a photo on my desk of the first five women sworn into the service, and I used that to remind me that these women created opportunities for me and I can help others grow and lead as well.”
In a CBS News interview in 2023, Cheatle addressed some of the issues in the Secret Service and said that diversity would be a major priority.
CBS noted that Cheatle was committed to having the Secret Service be 30% made up of women by 2030.
As a part of that effort to increase the number of women, she suggested that YouTube influencer Michelle Khare train with agents.
What People Are Saying
Some lawmakers and commentators have been critical of Cheatle after the attempt to kill Trump.
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday called for an immediate investigation and demanded that the Secret Service director come before Congress and answer questions.
“THE HOUSE WILL CONDUCT A FULL INVESTIGATION OF THE TRAGIC EVENTS TODAY,” Johnson wrote on X. “The American people deserve to know the truth. We will have Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and other appropriate officials from DHS and the FBI appear for a hearing before our committees ASAP.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican who used to represent Georgia, said Cheatle should be “suspended immediately.”
New York Post writer Miranda Devine said Cheatle’s tenure has been an “abject failure.”
Radio host Eric Metaxas said Cheatle should be “fired” and that this incident should mark the end of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, or DEI.
Entrepreneur Elon Musk, responding to a post on his social media site X about Cheatle’s time working for PepsiCo, wrote that before being put in charge of protecting the president, “she was guarding bags of Cheetos.”
Musk also wrote that Cheatle should resign.