Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, and President Joe Biden announces his plans to address the nation and discuss his decision to end his presidential campaign.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns following Trump assassination attempt

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at his rally in Pennsylvania last week.

On July 13, a 20-year-old man perched on a nearby warehouse rooftop fired several shots at Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., striking the former president in the right ear. One rallygoer was killed, and two others were wounded. The gunman was fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper.

Several investigations have been launched into the attack. In addition to congressional inquiries, the FBI is conducting a criminal probe and the Secret Service is performing an internal investigation, Cheatle told Congress on Monday.

In an email to staff on Tuesday announcing her resignation, Cheatle admitted that the agency "fell short" on its mission to protect the country's leaders.

"The scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases," Cheatle wrote. "As your Director, I take full responsibility for the security lapse."

The embattled Secret Service chief faced bipartisan calls for her resignation. The announcement comes hours after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader announced a bipartisan task force to investigate the attack, and one day after congressional lawmakers grilled Cheatle over security lapses at a contentious hearing.

"I'm glad she did the right thing," Johnson said at a press conference on Tuesday. "The immediate reaction to her resignation is that it is overdue. She should have done this at least a week ago. I'm happy to see that. I'm happy to to see that she has heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats."

"Now we have to pick up the pieces," he continued. "We have to rebuild the American people's faith and trust in the Secret Service. As an agency, it has an incredibly important responsibility in protecting presidents, former presidents and other officials in the executive branch, and we've got a lot of work to do."

In a statement, President Joe Biden, who immediately ordered an independent security review into the shooting after it took place, expressed gratitude for Cheatle's "decades of public service" and said 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."

"The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions," the president said. "We all know what happened that day can never happen again. As we move forward, I wish Kim all the best, and I will plan to appoint a new Director soon."

Biden to address decision to drop out in Oval Office speech on Wednesday night

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he will address the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET, days after making the decision to drop out of the presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him.

He wrote on social media that he will discuss “what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people.” In his letter on Sunday announcing his departure from the top of the Democratic ticket, Biden said he plans to finish his term in office, though top Republicans have since called on him to resign.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden wrote. “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.”

He promised to speak to the nation in greater detail about his decision this week. After remaining at his Delaware home recovering from COVID-19, Biden plans to return to the White House on Tuesday afternoon, according to his schedule. 

While he has not made a public appearance since the announcement, Biden called into the Wilmington, Del., headquarters of what is now the Harris campaign on Monday to pledge his support for Harris and tell campaign workers, “I’m not going anywhere.”

“The name has changed on the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn't changed at all," Biden said. "And by the way, I'm not going anywhere, I'm gonna be out there in the campaign with her, with Kamala, I'm going to be working like hell, both as a sitting president getting legislation passed as well as in the campaign."

In those remarks, he said he believed his decision to drop out was the “right thing to do” and vowed to stay “fully engaged” in the campaign and his work as president.

Biden has sparingly used the Oval Office to make speeches during his time in the White House, though he addressed the nation from there last week in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.