Ronald Rowe, who took over the USSS after Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation, testified before the Senate
New acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said in Senate testimony Tuesday that he was ashamed of serious security lapses at the July 13 campaign rally in Pennsylvania during which Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was assassinated.
In testimony released ahead of Roe’s testimony before two Senate committees, the acting Secret Service director said he visited an outdoor rally site in Butler and climbed to the roof of a nearby building, from where 20-year-old Thomas Crooks fired shots with an AR-15 rifle that left Trump wounded in the ear, killed one rally attendee and wounded two others.
“What I saw made me ashamed,” said Rowe, who testified at a joint hearing of the Homeland Security Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. – As a professional law enforcement officer with 25 years in the Secret Service, I cannot explain why access to the roof was not better restricted.”
Rowe’s words about the security lapses came a week after Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned under pressure from members of both parties, refusing to detail the security lapses in her testimony before the House committee.
“I have directed our staff to ensure that every venue security plan is thoroughly vetted by several experienced managers before being implemented,” Rowe said.
The Secret Service, the federal law enforcement agency charged with protecting the president and several other senior political figures, has added six people, including Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance and his family and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, to its watch list since July 13, while beefing up security, Rowe said.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate, who plans to question Trump on Thursday as part of the investigation into the incident, is also expected to testify.
The assassination attempt is the subject of a number of investigations by House and Senate committees, as well as a new bipartisan task force created by House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Investigators have not determined a motive for the killing. They said Crooks appeared to be a loner, had no close friends, and communicated mostly with immediate family members on social media.
Of great interest is the chronology of events from when law enforcement first spotted Crooks to when Secret Service snipers shot him after he opened fire.
The FBI said Monday that Crooks was first spotted by police more than an hour before he fired at least eight shots at Trump.
A local police officer took a picture of Crooks and sent the photo to other law enforcement officers on the scene. About 30 minutes later, SWAT officers saw Crooks using a rangefinder and surfing news websites, the FBI said.