OPINION| In a heated Senate hearing on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe lost his composure when grilled by Senator Josh Hawley about the agency’s failures leading up to the attack. The tense exchange highlighted concerns that the Secret Service has been unfairly persecuted for the incident.
The hearing, which took place on July 30, 2024, was part of a series of congressional hearings dedicated to the shooting that occurred on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Rowe, who became acting director of the agency after his predecessor resigned, faced tough questions from lawmakers about the Secret Service’s role in the security failures that allowed the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, to get close to Trump.
During the hearing, Senator Hawley pressed Rowe on why no one from the Secret Service had been fired or relieved of duty in the aftermath of the assassination attempt. Rowe, visibly frustrated, played the victim, claiming that the agency was being unfairly persecuted for the incident.
“I think it’s unfair to say that we’re not taking this seriously or that we’re not holding people accountable,” Rowe said. “We’re doing everything we can to get to the bottom of what happened and to make sure it never happens again.”
The Gateway Pundit reported:
During the hearing Acting Director Rowe said it was “unfair persecution” to relieve officials who were responsible for the breakdown of security at the Trump Butler rally where President Trump was shot and another man was murdered.
Senator Hawley: Is that the person who is in charge of the interoperability of radio frequencies between local law enforcement and secret service? Has that person been relieved of duty?
Acting Director Rowe: No, Senator, because interoperability is a challenge, is a greater challenge than just one person. On that day, we had a counterpart system. It failed spectacularly.
Senator Hawley: As the person who decided, who made the decision to send Donald Trump onto stage knowing that you had a security situation, has that person been relieved of duty?
Acting Director Rowe: No, sir, they haven’t.
Senator Hawley: Has the person who decided not to pull the former President off of stage when you knew that, in your words, the locals were working a serious security situation, has that person been relieved of duty?
Acting Director Rowe: No, sir. Again, I refer you back to my original answer that we are investigating this through a mission assurance As opposed to zeroing in on one or two individuals.
Senator Hawley: What more do you need to investigate to know what the decision-making process was? What more do you need to investigate to know that there were critical enough failures that some individuals ought to be held accountable? What more do you need to know?
Acting Director Rowe: What I need to know is exactly what happened, and I need my investigators to do their job, and I cannot- A lot of people didn’t do their jobs. I cannot put my thumb on the scale.
Senator Hawley: Otherwise- What do you mean put your thumb on the scale?
Acting Director Rowe: You’re asking me, Senator, to completely make a rush to judgment about somebody failing. I acknowledge this was a failure of the secret service.
Senator Hawley: Is it not prima facia that somebody has failed? The former president was shot.
Acting Director Rowe: Sir, this could have been our Texas schoolbook depository. I have lost sleep over that for the last 17 days, just like you have.
Senator Hawley: Then fire somebody to hold them accountable.
Acting Director Rowe: I will tell you, Senator, that I will not rush to judgment, that people will be held accountable, and I will do so with integrity and not rush to judgment and put people unfairly persecuted.
Acting Director Rowe: Sir, this could have been our Texas schoolbook depository. I have lost sleep over that for the last 17 days, just like you have.
Senator Hawley: Then fire somebody to hold them accountable.
Acting Director Rowe: I will tell you, Senator, that I will not rush to judgment, that people will be held accountable, and I will do so with integrity and not rush to judgment and put people unfairly persecuted.
Rowe also defended the Secret Service’s actions leading up to the shooting, stating that the agency was not aware of the gunman’s presence on the roof of a nearby building until it was too late. He also claimed that local law enforcement was responsible for providing security for the area where Crooks was located.
“We were relying on the local law enforcement to provide the security for that area,” Rowe said. “We were not aware of the individual on the roof until it was too late.”
However, Hawley was not satisfied with Rowe’s response, accusing the Secret Service of failing to take responsibility for its failures.
“It seems to me that you’re more interested in playing the victim than in taking responsibility for what happened,” Hawley said. “The American people deserve answers, and they deserve accountability.”
The exchange between Rowe and Hawley highlighted the ongoing tensions between the Secret Service and Congress over the agency’s handling of the assassination attempt. Many lawmakers have criticized the Secret Service for its lack of transparency and accountability in the aftermath of the incident.
In a statement released after the hearing, Hawley reiterated his concerns about the Secret Service’s failures.
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