First Democrat leader calls for Secret Service chief to resign over Trump assassination bid

Democrat Congressman from Philadelphia, Brendan Boyle has called on US Secret Service (USSS) chief Kimberly Cheatle to "resign immediately" after former president Donald Trump narrowly avoided an assassination attempt. 

Boyle has become the first Democrat leader to come out and openly demand Cheatle's resignation, joining a chorus of Republicans who have reiterated a similar demand. 

"I am calling on Director Cheatle to resign immediately following last weekend's shooting of a presidential candidate in Western Pennsylvania. The evidence coming to light has shown unacceptable operational failures," Boyle wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 

"I have no confidence in the leadership of the United States Secret Service if Director Cheatle chooses to remain in her position," he added. 

Cheatle has been under immense pressure from all quarters to tender her resignation but so far, she has refused to step down. She will, however, testify before the House Oversight Committee on Monday (Jul 22) regarding the failures that led to the near-catastrophic assassination attempt. 

Thomas Crooks, the shooter who took aim at Trump, was merely 130 metres away from the former president and managed to compose himself on the roof of the building without any fuss.

The Secret Service agents did not spot him till he had fired multiple rounds and only neutralised him after Trump suffered a bullet wound on his right ear while a rallygoer was killed.  

A Democrat leader demanding Cheatle's resignation comes after a report claimed that the Secret Service denied requests for additional resources and manpower to protect Trump. 

The premier security agency admitted that in the past two years, several requests were put forth by Trump's security detail that were not granted. The ex-president's team had requested more agents and magnetometers at large public events he attended, as well as extra snipers for outdoor venues.

Notably, quizzed after the assassination bid on Trump, Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, had outrightly quashed the reports of denying security to the Republican leader. 

“The assertion that a member of the former president’s security team requested additional security resources that the US Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false,” he said at the time.

However, Guglielmi has changed the stance now and claims that the Secret Service works in a 'challenging' environment' that may have led to the rejection of requests to beef up Trump's security.