By Servet Gunerigok
WASHINGTON (AA) - The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump was "the most significant operational failure" of Secret Service, said its Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday.
"The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13 is the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades, and I am keeping him and his family in my thoughts," Cheatle said during a House Oversight Committee hearing.
Stating that the agency's mission is to protect the US leaders, Cheatle added: "On the 13th, we failed. As a director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency."
She pledged to "move heaven and earth to ensure" that an incident like the Trump attempted assassination does not happen again.
During his opening remarks, James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, demanded resignation of Cheatle.
"However, in complete defiance, Director Cheadle has maintained she will not tender her resignation, therefore, she will answer questions today from members of this committee seeking to provide clarity to the American people about how these events were allowed to transpire," said Comer.
Comer also called the assassination attempt as "one of the darkest days in American political history."
"It represents the ugliest part of what American politics has become, hatred of each other and a dangerous turn to extremism. Before we are Republicans or Democrats, we are Americans if we play political affiliations above our duty and love of country," said Comer.
Trump was attacked on July 13 at his campaign rally in Butler County in the state of Pennsylvania while addressing supporters. One person was killed and two injured. The Secret Service announced that the assailant was “neutralized” at the scene.
The FBI classified the attack as an assassination attempt and identified the perpetrator who was killed at the scene as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.