Secret Service Head Says Rally Shooting 'Unacceptable'; Mayorkas Calls It a 'Failure'

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said on Monday that the Trump rally shooting was "unacceptable," but that she would not resign her post.

"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," Cheatle told ABC News on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday a "failure" of the Secret Service, which is housed within his department.

"An incident like this cannot happen," Mayorkas told CNN. "That is precisely why President [Joe] Biden directed an independent review — so that that review, its conclusions, and its recommendations have the full confidence of the American public.

"We will carefully analyze in an independent and thorough fashion what occurred. Recommendations will be made. Those recommendations will be implemented."

When pressed on whether the shooting was a "failure" of the agency, Mayorkas confirmed that it was.

"When I say that something like this cannot happen, we are speaking of a failure," he said. "We are going to analyze — through an independent review — how that occurred, why it occurred, and make recommendations and findings to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"I couldn't be clearer," Mayorkas added.

Mayorkas echoed  President Joe Biden's comments about the attempt on Trump's life and called for a cooling of the country's political rhetoric.

The Secret Service has come under intense scrutiny since a gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop during Trump's campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. The former president's ear was grazed by a bullet, while former fire chief Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed shielding his family during the attack. Rallygoers David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, were initially listed in critical condition, but were listed as stable as of Sunday.

Congressional Republicans have promised to launch investigations into the assassination attempt, and Biden has ordered an independent review of security measures at the rally.

Secret Service Director Cheatle said the agency would cooperate with both the independent review and congressional inquiries. She is slated to testify before the House Oversight Committee on July 22.

Newsmax contributed to this report.