Secret Service Director resigns following Trump shooting

The Director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned Tuesday amid bipartisan outrage over her agency’s failure to stop a 20-year-old gunman from opening fire on former President Donald Trump and the crowd during a campaign rally.

Cheatle’s departure came after a blistering congressional hearing in which she testified about the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt in western Pennsylvania.

Cristina Beloud, Principal of CMB Consulting, LLC, joined “Arizona Horizon” to provide more insight on Cheatle’s departure.

“It absolutely had to happen. As a Secret Service agent, nobody wants to be in that position in front of a congressional hearing testifying to a terrible day that happened in the Secret Service. You’re there because something bad happened. I think that, based on her testimony, based on the perceived stonewalling, perceived lack of transparency, she definitely needed to step down,” said Beloud. 

The goal of the Secret Service is to protect the nation’s leaders, however there was a lack of protecting the outer perimeter which is where the building was located. 

“I think it’s a parsing of terms. When we think of a perimeter, in my mind, that building did fall in the perimeter. It did fall in what we would consider an area that needed to be protected by an asset, likely one of our partners in local law enforcement, perhaps another agency should have been there. But we can’t discard the buildings around the site, so the perimeter is sort of what’s containing the people attending the event. The outer perimeter and beyond definitely needs to be looked at,” said Beloud. 

Communication was also another contributing factor for Trump’s assassination attempt. 

“I believe there was a lack of communication. I believe there were certainly assets around. They were told there was overwatch, were told agents were on the ground, were told there were people in a response position. I think where the failure lies is with the time it took to actually identify the shooter, especially when there were already calls by people attending the rally,” said Beloud.