US Secret Service director resigns after Trump assassination bid
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00:00You think you are the best person in the country to head the Secret Service?
00:06I think that I am the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time.
00:09Within 24 hours from that statement,
00:12Secret Service Director Kimberley Cheetle resigned from the agency.
00:16In an email to staff, acquired by the Associated Press, she said...
00:22I take full responsibility for the security lapse. In light of recent events,
00:27it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.
00:33Cheetle had been under soaring pressure from both the Republicans and Democrats to step down,
00:38following a contentious congressional hearing Monday where she evaded questions on the security
00:43collapse that allowed a gunman to scale a roof at the campaign rally in Butler,
00:48Pennsylvania and get close enough to open fire at Donald Trump.
00:52With the Democratic National Convention coming up,
00:55many believe the stakes are too high for the top security agency to not be at the top of its game.
01:00The immediate reaction to her resignation is that it is overdue.
01:03She should have done this at least a week ago. Now we have to pick up the pieces. We have to
01:08rebuild the American people's faith and trust in the Secret Service as an agency. It has an
01:13incredibly important responsibility in protecting presidents, former presidents and other officials
01:19in the executive branch and we've got a lot of work to do.
01:23In a statement, President Joe Biden thanked Cheetle for her decades of public service
01:27and said he would appoint a new director soon.
01:30A full report on the ongoing internal investigation
01:33into the assassination attempt will be released in two months.