The Secret Service’s acting director told lawmakers Tuesday that he’s “ashamed” by his agency’s failures at Donald Trump’s deadly rally in Pennsylvania.
Ronald Rowe Jr. testified that he “cannot defend” how his agency allowed Thomas Crooks, 20, to get on a rooftop within 400 yards of Trump with a clear line of sight on July 13.
Rowe said he traveled to Butler, Pennsylvania, to see “how our protection failed” in the shooting’s aftermath. What he witnessed left him baffled, he said.
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“I laid in a prone position to evaluate his line of sight,” Rowe said. “What I saw made me ashamed. As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.”
An aerial view shows the stage where Donald Trump stood during an assassination attempt, with the roof where Thomas Crooks opened fire from the in the background.
Brendan McDermid/ReutersThat marked a sharp shift in tone from Rowe’s predecessor, Kimberly Cheatle, who repeatedly tried to shift blame for the attack to local cops. She claimed local law enforcement was tasked with securing the building Crooks opened fire from, which was outside the rally’s security perimeter.
Cheatle resigned under pressure from lawmakers a week ago.
“I’ve heard your calls for accountability, and I take them very seriously,” Rowe said Tuesday. “And given the magnitude of this failure, the Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the actions and decision making of Secret Service personnel in the lead up to and on the day of the attack.”
Despite Cheatle’s resignation, many lawmakers have called for more heads to roll within the Secret Service for the debacle.
“Somebody’s got to be fired,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said at Tuesday’s hearing. “Nothing’s going to change until somebody loses their job.”
The FBI’s deputy director, Paul Abbate, testified at the same hearing that investigators still have not nailed down Crooks’ definitive motive. He said agents recently discovered a set of online posts they believe were made by Crooks in 2019 and 2020 that espoused political violence and had “antisemitic and anti-immigration themes.”
