In testimony on Tuesday, the acting director of the Secret Service expressed his “shame” at the security lapses that allowed for the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump and promised to penalize any officers who did not perform their duties.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. stated during a rare joint Senate committee hearing that he was unable to explain or justify why the roof, from which the 20-year-old gunman fired on July 13, was not more securely fastened.
He claimed the Secret Service was looking into potential rule violations by staff members on that particular day. Rowe stated that those workers would be subject to consequences, which might include termination and would be held responsible through the agency’s disciplinary procedure.
He declared, “That roof ought to have had better coverage, and we’ll investigate whether there were any policy infractions.”
Early in his testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee, Rowe showed fits of rage as he talked about what went wrong at Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania, presidential campaign event.
According to Rowe, he proceeded to the shooting scene, climbed to the roof to assess the gunman’s line of sight, and then lay prone.
“I was ashamed of what I saw,” he remarked. “As a 25-year veteran of the Secret Service and a career law enforcement officer, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.”
Rowe stated that at the very least, someone ought to have been examining the roof, but there was a “failure of imagination.”
As Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., put pressure on him to make prompt terminations, Rowe raised his voice once more. Rowe declared that he would wait to act or make a snap decision until a thorough inquiry was finished.
“Senator, you’re expecting me to jump to conclusions about someone’s failure,” Rowe replied.
When appropriate, Rowe promised to take disciplinary action “with integrity.”
“This was an ineffective endeavor, and we will investigate further,” he stated.
The lawmakers have held many hearings to look into how 20-year-old Thomas Crooks was able to elude law enforcement and shoot at Trump. This one is the most recent.
Prior to Crooks’s fatal shooting by a Secret Service counter-sniper, Trump was shot in the ear, one rallygoer died, and two more were injured.
After Kimberly Cheatle resigned last week amid a scathing House Oversight Committee hearing in which lawmakers chastised her for her lack of cooperation, Rowe was named acting director last week.
Rowe responded, “I take your demands for accountability very seriously. I’ve heard them.”