Kimberly Cheatle had been facing calls to step down since the assassination attempt on the former president earlier this month
Kimberly Cheatle has resigned as director of the US Secret Service, after refusing to do so in the wake of the attempted assassination of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
A shooter nicked Trump’s ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, killing one person in the audience and injuring two others before Secret Service snipers managed to neutralize him. Thomas Crooks was able to position himself on a roof that had a clear shot to where Trump was speaking, which the protective detail had inexplicably left unguarded.
Cheatle tendered her resignation on Tuesday morning, one day after an acrimonious congressional hearing during which both Republicans and Democrats accused her of withholding information and refusing to take responsibility for security failures at the rally.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13, we failed,” Cheatle told the House Oversight Committee on Monday, describing the Butler shooting as the “most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades.”
Even though Cheatle took “full responsibility” for the lapse at the congressional hearing, she insisted she was “the best person” to lead the agency at this time, and stated that she had “full confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service.”
On Tuesday, she sent out an email informing agency staff of her departure.
“In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director,” she wrote, according to AP.
President Joe Biden confirmed Cheatle’s resignation, thanking her “for her service to our family” and announcing that he would be appointing a new director soon, according to a statement posted on the White House website.
Cheatle faced calls to resign almost immediately after the incident, but resisted for more than a week. In an ABC News interview, she tried to justify the absence of Secret Service agents on the roof from which Crooks shot by saying it was too “sloped” and posed a security hazard.
Damning details have continued to emerge ever since. Whistleblowers have said the protection detail at the rally was composed mainly of Homeland Security personnel and temporary Secret Service agents. By the time Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention, he had a different set of agents as his bodyguards.
The FBI is currently conducting a criminal investigation into the assassination attempt. The Department of Homeland Security, to which the Secret Service belongs, has opened three internal investigations into security lapses. Congress is also discussing a probe into the events in Butler.
https://www.rt.com/news/601550-secret-service-director-resigns/
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday the upcoming start of ground strikes against drug cartel targets in Latin America.
He made the remarks during Christmas greetings to the military.
Trump said the United States was "now going after the land" in its fight against drug cartel targets, noting that drug trafficking by sea was down 96 percent.
The U.S. president also extended special congratulations to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, currently deployed in the Caribbean.
BEIJING (Sputnik) - China has begun operating the world's first intelligent ultra-large oil tanker powered by methanol, the China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Monday.
The tanker, designed to transport crude oil, was successfully put into operation in the city of Dalian in China's northeastern coastal province of Liaoning, the report said. State-owned company Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd independently designed and built the vessel, it added.
The tanker is approximately 333 meters (1,092 feet) long and can carry around 2.1 million barrels of crude oil, the CCTV reported. Designed to produce low emissions and having intelligent control capabilities, the tanker will serve the route to the Middle East, among others, according to the report.
The vessel is powered by a dual-fuel methanol engine, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 92% compared to conventional fuel, the CCTV reported. It is equipped with an intelligent ship platform, an intelligent liquid cargo ...
A car bomb has killed a senior General Staff member, officials have confirmed
Source: The Investigative Committee
A Russian general has been killed in a car bomb blast in Moscow, the Investigative Committee has reported.
Officials identified the victim as Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of operational training at the General Staff. According to the statement, an explosive device had been planted beneath the vehicle he was traveling in, and detonated on Monday morning in the southern part of the Russian capital.
The blast also damaged several other vehicles and seriously injured Sarvarov’s driver, media reports stated.
Russian officials said one line of investigation is an assassination carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services, noting that Kiev has previously used explosive devices in targeted killings of officials and public figures.
Last December, a bomb hidden in an e-scooter killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense ...
