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The woman who runs the Secret Service is a former PepsiCo exec who now must answer for the Trump assassination attempt

By
Emma Hinchliffe
and
Joey Abrams
Joey Abrams
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July 15, 2024, 9:22 AM ET
Kimberly Cheatle, director of the United States Secret Service.
Kimberly Cheatle, director of the United States Secret Service.KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP—Getty Images

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Internal politics get heated at Angel City FC, Tubi CEO Anjali Sud on her rapid rise to the C-suite, and the woman who leads the Secret Service is now in the hot seat. Have a thoughtful Monday.

– At your service. Before this weekend, did you know who was running the Secret Service? Her name is Kimberly Cheatle. She’s a longtime veteran of the agency and a former PepsiCo security exec who got the job almost two years ago, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to her official bio, she’s “responsible for successfully executing the agency’s integrated mission of protection and investigations by leading a diverse workforce composed of more than 7,800” special agents and other personnel.

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Of course, Cheatle is now in the political hot seat following the shooting of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, which left two people dead (including the gunman) and two seriously wounded. The assassination attempt has raised questions about how the shooter got so close to succeeding; the building where he set up was outside the Secret Service’s perimeter and would have been the responsibility of local law enforcement.

Kimberly Cheatle, director of the United States Secret Service.
KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP—Getty Images

President Joe Biden called for an “independent review” of the event’s security measures. Cheatle has been asked to testify at a Congressional hearing next week. The Secret Service did not immediately return a request for comment.

Cheatle worked with the Bidens during Biden’s vice presidency. She took over the Secret Service following another scandal: its preparedness for the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

She isn’t the only woman in the Secret Service coming under fire. Some critics on the right are blaming the agency’s reported “DEI” push to hire more women for Saturday’s shooting and are singling out women on Trump’s security team for alleged missteps. “DEI got someone killed,” is how one inflammatory X post put it.

As only the second woman to run the Secret Service, Cheatle will have to answer for all of it; she’ll be at the center of the storm as the investigation into the Trump assassination attempt continues.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Disappearing act. The share of capital going to female founders is shrinking and organizations for women in tech are shutting down. Are women disappearing from tech? The Information

- Muddle up. A new report by the Wall Street Journal claims that politics and infighting at Angel City FC have led to a conflict between current team President Julie Uhrman and cofounder Alexis Ohanian, who wants Uhrman out as head of the women’s soccer team. Ohanian and others have reportedly complained about Uhrman’s toxic behavior; the team’s board told the Journal that “there have been decisions along the way that have necessitated spirited debate.”

- Moving upstream. Tubi CEO Anjali Sud told Fortune that she was promoted to CEO of Vimeo at the age 33 by “acting like an entrepreneur” in her marketing role at the company. Sud’s rapid rise came after she successfully transitioned the YouTube-like platform into a video software company for businesses. Fortune

- Yellen, the influencer? Republican lawmakers are attacking Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and claiming that she is influencing complex debt decisions to bolster perception of President Joe Biden’s economy. Yellen has rejected the claims. Bloomberg

- Partner payday. A new report from UBS found that women will inherit most of the $9 trillion expected to be transferred from spouse to spouse over the next 20 to 30 years. The bank calls it the “horizontal wealth transfer” and credits women outliving men as the reason. CNBC

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: 

- InfoSum promoted Lauren Wetzel to chief executive officer following almost four years as chief operating officer and board director at the data collaboration company. Before joining InfoSum in 2020, Wetzel held senior positions at AT&T, Xandr, and Deloitte.

ON MY RADAR

Women can’t fix the ‘broken rung’ unless they acknowledge the role they play in workplace bullying and discrimination Fortune

Gretchen Whitmer is swimming with sharks New York Magazine

I knew Diddy for years. What I now remember haunts me New York Times

PARTING WORDS

“The best example that I can continue to set for other people with cancer, and to the outside world who doesn’t have cancer is to show them what a cancer patient looks like. We are employable.”

—Shannen Doherty, in 2021, on working through breast cancer. She died at 53 on Saturday. 

This is the web version of MPW Daily, a daily newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.
About the Authors
Emma Hinchliffe
By Emma HinchliffeMost Powerful Women Editor
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Emma Hinchliffe is Fortune’s Most Powerful Women editor, overseeing editorial for the longstanding franchise. As a senior writer at Fortune, Emma has covered women in business and gender-lens news across business, politics, and culture. She is the lead author of the Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter (formerly the Broadsheet), Fortune’s daily missive for and about the women leading the business world.

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Joey Abrams
By Joey AbramsAssociate Production Editor

Joey Abrams is the associate production editor at Fortune.

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