It’s been more than two weeks since the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, and federal law enforcement officials are playing the blame game.
Secret Service and FBI officials were grilled on Tuesday during a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee.
Notably, Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service who stepped in to fill Kimberly Cheatle’s shoes after the latter resigned in disgrace, appeared to point the finger at local law enforcement.
As previously relayed by The Dallas Express, the attempted assassination of the former president was easily one of the greatest security failures in the history of the Secret Service. A 20-year-old was purportedly able to bring a rifle to within 400 feet of Trump, conduct reconnaissance of the rally site just hours before the former president took the stage, secure an elevated possession with his firearm, and fire off several shots.
Here’s some of what Fox 4 KDFW reported on the grilling that Rowe received on Tuesday:
Secret Service and FBI officials are testifying in the congressional hearings dedicated to the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13.
Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, said Tuesday that he considered it “indefensible” that the roof used by the shooter in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was unsecured, faulting local law enforcement for not circulating urgent information ahead of the shooting and for not adequately protecting the scene, the Associated Press reported.
“What I saw made me ashamed. As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year Secret Service veteran, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured,” he said.
Row also testified that he recently visited the shooting site and said, “What I saw made me ashamed.” He said that the shooting amounted to a “failure on multiple levels,” including a failure of imagination.
The AP noted that Rowe accepted blame for his own agency’s mistakes while also being critical of local authorities for not sharing information that the shooter, later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, was seen on a roof near the rally site in the minutes before the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.