Month: July 2024

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned, after facing calls from both Democrats and Republicans to step down since the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally on July 13, which left one attendee dead and two others critically injured. Secret Service Deputy Director Ronald Rowe, a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Secret Service, has been named as acting director.

NBC News, which was first to report Cheatle’s resignation, stated that she announced her resignation Tuesday morning in an email to Secret Service employees: “The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders and financial infrastructure. On July 13th, we fell short on that mission. The scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases. As your Director, I take full responsibility for the security lapse.”

After news of Cheatle’s resignation broke, President Biden said in a statement: “She [Cheatle] has selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career in the United States Secret Service. We especially thank her for answering the call to lead the Secret Service during our administration and we are grateful for her service to our family. As a leader, it takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service.”

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas thanked Cheatle for her leadership as head of the Secret Service: “Over the past two years, she has led the Secret Service with skill, honor, integrity, and tireless dedication. She is deeply respected by the men and women of the agency and by her fellow leaders in the Department of Homeland Security. I am proud to have worked with Director Cheatle and we are all grateful for her service.”

Cheatle had repeatedly said she would not resign, despite being under scrutiny for the agency’s failure to prevent the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. In an interview shortly after the attack, she called the incident “unacceptable” and said it was her responsibility to ensure nothing like it would happen again: “The buck stops with me. I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary.”

During testimony before the House committee on Capitol Hill this past Monday, Cheatle again said she would not resign, but called the assassination attempt on Trump the “most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades. The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13, we failed.  As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse. We are fully cooperating with ongoing investigations. We must learn what happened .. Our mission is not political. It is literally a matter of life and death, as the tragic events on July 13 remind us of that. I have full confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service. They are worthy of our support in executing our protective mission.”

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Two of the top Democrats in Congress — Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer — publicly endorsed Kamala Harris for president on Tuesday. The endorsements from Schumer and Jeffries come a day after Harris clinched support from the majority of pledged delegates for the Democratic convention.

Schumer and Jeffries made the announcement at a press conference, with Schumer telloing reporters: “We are brimming with excitement, enthusiasm, unity .. [Harris] has done a truly impressive job securing the majority of delegates needed to win the Democratic Party’s nomination. Now that the process has played out from the grassroots, bottom up, we are here today to throw our support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.”

Jeffries echoed Schumer, adding that said he was “proud to strongly endorse” Harris for the White House, adding that Harris “is ready, willing and able to lead us into the future.”

Schumer said he and Jeffries had spoken to Harris by phone, sharing: “When I spoke with her Sunday, she said she wanted the opportunity to win the nomination on her own and to do so from the grassroots up, not top-down. We deeply respected that, Hakeem and I did. Now that the process has played out from the grassroots, bottom-up, we are here today to throw our support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., endorsed Harris on Monday, joining other top Democrats including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.,  Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and multiple governors who have been mentioned as potential rivals to Harris for a presidential run.

The vote to make Harris the party’s official nominee for president will happen in early August ahead of the party’s convention.

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On Monday, Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave her official endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, coming about 24 hours after President Joe Biden’s announcement he was withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race.

Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement: “America has been truly blessed by the wisdom and leadership of President Joe Biden. With love and gratitude, I salute President Biden for always believing in the possibilities of America and giving people the opportunity to reach their fulfillment. As one of our country’s most consequential presidents, President Biden has been not only on the right side of history, but on the right side of the future. Today, it is with immense pride and limitless optimism for our country’s future that I endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States. My enthusiastic support for Kamala Harris for President is official, personal and political.”

Pelosi, 84, continued: “Officially, I have seen Kamala Harris’s strength and courage as a champion for working families, notably fighting for a woman’s right to choose. Personally, I have known Kamala Harris for decades as rooted in strong values, faith and a commitment to public service. Politically, make no mistake: Kamala Harris as a woman in politics is brilliantly astute – and I have full confidence that she will lead us to victory in November. In the Democratic Party, our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power. Now, we must unify and charge forward to resoundingly defeat Donald Trump and enthusiastically elect Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States. Onward to victory!””

Despite calls from many of her fellow-Democratic lawmakers for Biden to withdraw over the past weeks, Pelosi never publicly asked Biden to to drop out. However, Pelosi is said to have met privately with Biden to express concerns about his staying in the race, and how that could have an impact on Democratic candidates down-ballot.

Pelosi turned over the reins of the Democratic caucus to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries in 2023.

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On Monday, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle faced questions from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, after some have called for her resignation in the wake of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13th.  Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were in attendance at the hearing, some repeatedly demanding that she resign over security failures that allowed a gunman to scale a roof and open fire at a campaign rally.

Cheatle wrote in remarks obtained by ABC News prior to Monday’s hearing: “As an agency, we are fully cooperating with the FBI’s investigation, the oversight you have initiated here, and conducting our own internal mission assurance review at my direction. Likewise, we will cooperate with the pending external review and the DHS Office of the Inspector General.”

Speaking to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Cheatle said she took “full responsibility for any security lapses in our agency” and admitted that the Secret Service failed in its mission to protect former President Donald Trump.  While Cheatle evaded many questions about the investigation into the shooting, she admitted: “The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed.”

Cheatle characterized the assassination attempt as “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades,” acknowledging that there were “significant” problems at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, where the former president was shot in the ear.

The director said that before Trump took the stage at the rally, Secret Service had been notified “between two and five times” that there was a suspicious person in the area. Members of the House Oversight Committee questioned Cheatle for new information about the security breakdown and what is being done to ensure it never happens again, however, she repeatedly stonewalled lawmakers’ efforts to get answers and pointed to the ongoing FBI investigation.

Cheatle said that security for Trump “has been steadily increasing as threats evolve” but claimed it already had been increasing even before the shooting. The federal agency protects at least 36 individuals on a daily basis as well as visiting world leaders, such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who arrived Monday in Washington).

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Three people were killed and six others were hurt during an overnight shooting at a large gathering in West Philadelphia on Sunday, per police. NBC Philadelphia reported that officers with the Philadelphia Police Department responded to a block party at 1200 N. Alden Street following a report of a shooting around 2 a.m.  Over 100 people were in attendance as the party was underway when gunshots rang out.  The department said in a statement: “Upon arrival, officers located multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Preliminary information indicates an exchange of gunfire between multiple parties resulting in a nonuple shooting and triple homicide.” It is not clear at this time what occurred ahead of the shooting.

According to police, all of the deceased victims were men — a 33-year-old who was pronounced dead on the scene, while a 23-year-old was shot in the chest, leg and stomach and taken to a medical center, where he was pronounced dead, and a 29-year-old was shot once in the abdomen, and also died at a medical center. Their identities have not been released.

Some of the other shooting victims were taken by police to the hospital, while others were driven away by neighbors. The other victims include five men and one woman, all ranging in age from 26 to 30, according to police. All of them are currently in stable condition.

At least one weapon and multiple calibers of fired cartridge casings have been recovered from the scene, police said. No suspects are in custody at this time. Philadelphia Police Inspector D.F. Pace said in a statement: “It appears that there were multiple shooters, but it’s unclear at this time how many. We have counted at least 25 to 30 spent shell casings at this time. We’re not sure if it was a block party or just simply a group of individuals that were invited from other parts of the city,” 

The investigation into the shooting continues, with whoever is responsible still on the loose. Police told FOX 29 that it is possible there was more than one gunman Philadelphia police ask anyone with information to call PPD’s anonymous tip line (call or text) at 215-686-TIPS (8477).

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President Joe Biden officially withdrew from the 2024 presidential race on Sunday, July 21, just four months before the November election against former President Donald Trump. In a statement posted on X, Biden, 81, thanked vice-president Kamala Harris, and said he planned to speak to the nation in more detail later this week.

In a subsequent post on X, Biden endorsed Harris, writing: “My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”

Biden’s official statement read: “Over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a Nation. Today, America has the strongest economy in the world. We’ve made historic investments in rebuilding our Nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans. We’ve provided critically needed care to a million veterans exposed to toxic substances. Passed the first gun safety law in 30 years. Appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court. And passed the most significant climate legislation in the history of the world. America has never been better positioned to lead than we are today.”

“I know none of this could have been done without you, the American people. Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We’ve protected and preserved our Democracy, And we’ve revitalized and strengthened our alliances around the world.”

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

“I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision .. For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me reelected. I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me. I believe today what I always have: that there is nothing America can’t do – when we do it together. We just have to remember we are the United States of America.”

Biden’s decision to withdraw comes after mounting pressure from members of his own party after his poor performance at the first 2024 presidential debate, where he struggled against Trump and raised doubts about his cognitive health, which ultimately forced his hand.

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