Inside Kimberly Cheatle's Salary During Her Tenure as Director of the Secret Service
On July 23, Kimberly Cheatle resigned from her role as director of the Secret Service.
Updated July 23 2024, 4:28 p.m. ET
Following a brutal congressional hearing where lawmakers criticized her agency's failure to protect former President Donald Trump during the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt, Kimberly Cheatle resigned from her role as the director of the Secret Service.
She announced her resignation in an email obtained by The Associated Press, telling staff that she takes "full responsibility for the security lapse." As she steps down, the question arises: What was Kimberly Cheatle's salary? Here's what we know.
What was Kimberly Cheatle's salary as director of the Secret Service?
While exact details on Kimberly Cheatle's salary as the director of the Secret Service is undisclosed, Glassdoor estimates that directors typically earn between $118,000 and $175,000 annually. On average, the base salary for the Secret Service director is around $137,000, with additional pay averaging about $6,000 per year.
Pat Fallon told Kimberly to "go back to guarding Doritos."
Republican Texas Rep. Pat Fallon became enraged with Kimberly during the congressional hearing. He asserted to the former Secret Service director that he had replicated Thomas Michael Crooks' assassination attempt, stating that it was a "miracle" the shooter did not succeed in killing Trump.
"I have never had any long gun training in my life. I own an AR-15 and last time I shot it, I shot it one time my whole life, it was six years ago," he explained. "That is until Saturday [when] we recreated the events in Savoy, Texas. We recreated what happened in Butler. I was lying prone on a sloped roof at 130 yards at 6:30 at night. And I knew that he had a scope, I didn't know what kind, red dot or magnified. So I shot eight rounds from both. You know what the result was?"
"Fifteen out of 16 kill shots!" he shouted. "And the one I missed would've hit the president's ear. That's a 94 percent success rate. And that shooter was a better shot than me. It is a miracle President Trump wasn't killed."
He continued, "Corey Comperatore's life is over because that damn shooter made it on the roof and it wasn't the roof that was dangerous, it was the nut job on top of the roof. You know what else is dangerous? I believe your horrifying ineptitude and your lack of skilled leadership is a disgrace. Your obfuscating today is shameful."
"You should be fired immediately and go back to guarding Doritos," Pat concluded. Alright, that's extremely harsh, don't you think?
Kimberly Cheatle initially refused to resign.
During her congressional committee appearance, Kimberly Cheatle faced hours of intense scrutiny from both Democrats and Republicans for security failures.
Kimberly deemed the attempt on Trump's life as the "most significant operational failure" of the Secret Service in decades but remained adamant that she was the "best person" to lead the agency.
When Republican Rep. Nancy Mace suggested Kimberly draft her resignation letter during the hearing, Kimberly replied with a firm "No, thank you."
In an unexpected display of bipartisan agreement, Republican chairman Rep. James Comer and top Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin jointly called for Kimberly's resignation in a letter issued by the committee.
Responding to widespread outrage, Kimberly officially resigned on July 23. "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," Kimberly wrote, per CNBC.
Kimberly added, "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."
Following her resignation, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appointed Secret Service Deputy Director Ronald Rowe as the acting director until President Joe Biden selects a permanent replacement.
