Secret Service, FBI officials grilled during Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
Acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe was put on the “hot seat” Tuesday, July 30, as he tried to explain to a group of U.S. senators why local law enforcement in Butler knew of a potential assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump more than an hour before the Secret Service itself had any idea.
Rowe, who has been on the job for just over a week following the resignation of former director Kimberly Cheatle on July 23, admitted to several lapses which allowed the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, the opportunity to open fire on Trump during a campaign rally on July 13.
During the hearing before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Judiciary committees, Rowe said the Secret Service’s countersniper teams did not know of the gunman’s presence until he had already opened fire on the former president. Rowe recently traveled to Butler and laid prone on the roof of the AGR International building on Evans City Road, where Crooks fired his shots, to evaluate what would have been Crooks’ line of sight toward Trump.
“What I saw made me ashamed,” Rowe said. “I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.”
Testimony from FBI deputy director Paul Abbate brought more damaging revelations.
According to Abbate, local SWAT teams were aware of Crooks’ presence as early as 4:26 p.m., and one SWAT team member captured photos of the shooter at about 5:14 p.m., an hour before the shooting took place. A photo of Crooks was later texted to other officers at 5:38 p.m.
“How is it that where you had these experienced law enforcement people who understood the gravity of the responsibility ... and none of these actionable observations resulted in action?” asked Sen. Peter Welch, D.-Vt.
Rowe also admitted the Secret Service had dealt with technical and communication issues throughout the day of the Butler rally, which may have prevented local law enforcement from communicating the threat to the Secret Service’s countersnipers.
“We need to be very direct to our local law enforcement counterparts so that they understand exactly what their expectation is,” Rowe said.
These communication issues also may have prevented the agency from implementing a counter-drone system which may have been able to detect the drone Crooks was flying above the farm show grounds more than two hours before the shooting took place.
There were points when Tuesday’s meeting devolved into a shouting match, as senators, including Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called for more firings and vented their frustrations with the Secret Service for allowing the assassination attempt to happen.
A sticking point for multiple members of the committee centered around reports that the Secret Service repeatedly denied requests from the Trump campaign for increased security. Committee members demanded a straight answer from Rowe as to whether or not this was the case, and if so, who was responsible.
Other members pointed to reports of a toxic culture within the Secret Service which may have led to the assassination attempt becoming possible. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., quoted a countersniper who publicly blew the whistle on the organization, saying the motto for the Secret Service was now “CYA,” and that another assassination attempt was inevitable. Blackburn also accused the Secret Service of deleting the email from their servers.
Rowe said he was sympathetic and wanted to hear more from this countersniper and others in the Secret Service who felt the same way.
“I'm hurt by that email, and not in the way that you think,” Rowe said. “I'm hurt because my people are hurting right now. My agency is hurting. I am committed to being a change agent. I am committed to reviewing some of these things. I want to have further conversations.”
Earlier in the meeting, he also said, “It’s the right of every worker to talk bad about their boss.”
More information was revealed on the background of Crooks, who failed to assassinate Trump, but did fatally wound one spectator and injured two others before he was gunned down by a sniper.
Abbate disclosed that the agency had tracked down multiple social media accounts which may have belonged to Crooks, including one which espoused anti-immigration and antisemitic views on an unnamed platform between 2019 and 2020. The agency identified 700 comments from this account, some of which were identified as “extreme” in nature.
Another account the FBI is focusing on was located on the alternative platform Gab, and espoused pro-lockdown and pro-immigration views when it was active during 2021. However, the FBI hasn’t definitively confirmed whether or not this belonged to Crooks.
“We’re still working to certify and verify that that's his account,” Abbate said.
Abbate also said the FBI is still trying to determine Crooks’ motive.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., revealed Crooks may have used a golf range finder to assist in aiming. When Marshall asked whether or not this item was prohibited at these events, Rowe said it wasn’t.
“Currently, it is not on the list of prohibited items,” Rowe said. “But we’re going to make that change, Senator.”
