Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle's departure, while overdue, should be "the beginning of what needs to be sweeping accountability for the agency."
Cheatle on Tuesday announced she was resigning after the Secret Service came under harsh scrutiny for its failure to stop a would-be assassin from wounding former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally.
DeSantis commented on Cheatle's resignation shortly after it was announced.
"She should have resigned immediately following the shooting. Joe Biden should have fired her anyways. After her disastrous testimony (in a U.S. House committee), she had no other option, but this is only the beginning of what needs to be sweeping accountability for the agency," DeSantis posted on X while sharing a New York Post story of Cheatle's resignation.
Three days after the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, DeSantis questioned why nobody at the Secret Service had been held accountable for the service's failures that day.
"The central feature of our nation's entrenched bureaucratic class is never being held accountable for failures," DeSantis posted on X while sharing a post about Cheatle saying she wouldn't resign.
"The greatest security failure for the agency this century and nobody will be fired or resign?"
On the day following shooting, the former Republican presidential candidate ridiculed President Joe Biden telling people to "trust the bureaucracy to investigate the assassin's motive."
"But the feds categorized the crazed, leftist congressional baseball shooter as 'suicide by cop' — even though the shooter had a well-documented left-wing political bent and made sure that the players on the field were Republicans before attacking," the governor wrote on X.
"And there does need to be an investigation regarding the security protocols used in Butler. The answer to the following question must be provided in short order: how did someone, armed with a rifle, get on top of a roof 150 yards away from the stage?
"DC bureaucratic failures almost never result in any accountability; this time needs be to be different. Our country is in the peril it's in partly because the DC ruling class has consistently evaded responsibility for its failures."
Reuters contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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