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.

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