WASHINGTON, July 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Secret Service

Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after the agency came under

harsh scrutiny for its failure to stop a would-be assassin from

wounding former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally,

the White House said on Tuesday.

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for

comment.

The Secret Service, which is responsible for the protection

of current and former U.S. presidents, faces a crisis after a

gunman was able to fire on Trump from a roof overlooking the

outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.

Cheatle faced bipartisan condemnation when she appeared

before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee on

Monday, declining to answer questions from frustrated lawmakers

about the security plan for the rally and how law enforcement

responded to the suspicious behavior of the gunman.

Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers called on her to

resign.

Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was grazed in

the right ear and one rallygoer was killed in the gunfire. The

gunman, identified as a 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot and

killed by s Secret Service sniper.

"While Director Cheatle's resignation is a step toward

accountability, we need a full review of how these security

failures happened so that we can prevent them going forward,"

James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight

Committee, said in a statement. "We will continue our oversight

of the Secret Service."

Cheatle, who has led the agency since 2022, told lawmakers

she took responsibility for the shooting, calling it the largest

failure by the Secret Service since then-President Ronald Reagan

was shot in 1981.

The Secret Service faces investigations from multiple

congressional committees and the internal watchdog of the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security, its parent organization, over

its performance. President Joe Biden, who has ended his

reelection campaign, has also called for an independent review.

Much of the criticism has focused on the failure to secure

the roof of an industrial building where the gunman was perched

about 150 yards (140 m) from the stage where Trump was speaking.

The rooftop was declared outside the Secret Service security

perimeter for the event, a decision criticized by former agents

and lawmakers.

Cheatle held a top security role at PepsiCo ( PEP ) when Biden named

her Secret Service director in 2022. She previously served 27

years in the agency.

She took over following a series of scandals involving the

Secret Service that scarred the reputation of an elite and

insular agency.

Ten Secret Service agents lost their jobs after revelations

they brought women, some of them prostitutes, back to their

hotel rooms ahead of a trip to Colombia by then-President Barack

Obama in 2012.

The agency also faced allegations that it erased text

messages from around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the

U.S. Capitol. Those messages were later sought by a

congressional panel probing the riot.