The security failures surrounding the assassination attempt against former President Trump will be in the spotlight again on Tuesday when a pair of officials appear before a Senate panel.
Ronald Rowe, the new acting director of the Secret Service, and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate are testifying before the Senate Judiciary and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees.
Rowe took the helm of the Secret Service after its former director, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned following a dismal appearance before a House committee also probing the shooting, which took place July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pa.
Senators on both sides of the aisle said they would press for new information on what Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of both panels, labeled a “litany of gaps and failures.”
Follow along with live updates here.
The hearing has adjourned.
Check back to TheHill.com for continuing coverage.
Blackburn brings up internal email from counter sniper
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) brought up an internal email reportedly sent from a counter sniper in the Secret Service.
“This agency needs to change and if not now, when? The next assassination in 30 days?” Blackburn said, reading from the email which has reportedly been deleted.
First reported by RealClearPolitics, the email was sent Monday night to the Secret Service’s entire Uniformed Division, with the unknown writer threatening to not stop speaking out until “5 high-level supervisors (1 down) are either fired or removed from their current positions.”
The “1 down” appears to reference former Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned last week.
The counter sniper also said the agency “SHOULD expect another assassination attempt” before November and lamented that he is no longer proud to be a USSS counter sniper after leadership failed the officers at the Trump rally.
“The team I was once proud to be a part of, is something I have to somehow hide as I move into my next career,” they said.
Rowe said he is “hurt” by the email “because my people are hurting right now. We need them.”
He said he would look into whether the email was deleted.
— Ellen Mitchell
Rowe tells Cotton that rangefinders will be banned at future events
Rowe said range finders will be barred at future events.
“Currently it is not on the list of prohibited items, but we’re going to make that change,” Rowe said in response to questioning from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was spotted using a rangefinder ahead of Trump’s speech in Butler, Pa., something that aroused suspicion with local police.
Rowe testified earlier that Crooks appeared to be using a rangefinder used for sports like golf, but that nonetheless the device should arouse suspicion at rallies and other protected events.
— Rebecca Beitsch
Cruz, Rowe get into heated exchange
Rowe had another heated exchange with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), this time over whether Trump’s team had asked for additional security in the past and was rebuffed by the Secret Service.
Cruz, a Trump loyalist, also wanted to know whether there are specific people involved in making security resource decisions.
“The process is that a [campaign] detail will make a request for either staffing, technical assets, that is handled between the field office and the detail, it goes up to a logistics office,” Rowe explained.
“So there’s a bureaucracy,” Cruz shot back. “Give me the person that’s the decision-maker. Is there one?”
Rowe refused to give names, saying there is “a process” and conversation around each request, and it’s “not just an absolute yay or nay.”
But Cruz shot back that he believes “that the Secret Service leadership made a political decision to deny these requests” guided by the Biden administration.
Rowe stressed that “Secret Service agents are not political” setting off a shouting match where the two talked over each other.
“Does the buck stop anywhere? . . . Stop interrupting me,” Cruz says. “You are refusing to answer clear and direct questions.”
— Ellen Mitchell
Rowe jokes ‘that’s an insult’ after FBI mix-up
Rowe got in a jab at his FBI colleagues after Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) accidentally referred to Secret Service snipers as “FBI snipers.”
“That’s an insult,” Rowe joked, chuckling and reaching over to Abbate.
“Just kidding,” Rowe said, as Kennedy admitted his mistake.
Kennedy repeated his question about when Secret Service snipers first saw Crooks on the roof. Rowe said they did not see him until he opened fire and they killed him.
— Colin Meyn
FBI director: ‘No doubt’ Trump was hit by bullet
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said there’s “no doubt” former President Trump was hit by a bullet during the shooting that pierced his ear.
“There’s absolutely no doubt in the FBI’s mind whether former President Trump was hit with a bullet and wounded in the ear,” Abbate said in response to a question from Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who drilled down onto the point.
Abbate’s statement is in line with a late Friday statement from the bureau confirming it was a bullet that hit Trump, ruling out that it was possible a piece of shrapnel hit Trump – something FBI Director Christopher Wray floated in a prior hearing.
“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” the FBI said in an emailed statement sent to The Hill Friday.
— Rebecca Beitsch
Hawley, Rowe spar over lack of firings
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe defended the agency’s failure to fire any of the agents involved in the planning and response to the assassination attempt of former President Trump, saying he did not want to “rush to judgment.”
Numerous lawmakers questioned why no agents had been removed from their posts, but Rowe clashed with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) as he said he “could not tip the scales” and said “we need to allow the investigation to play out.”
Hawley demanded the firing of a number of Secret Service personnel, from whoever approved the security plan to whoever failed to pull Trump off stage despite warnings about a suspicious person.
“Isn’t the fact that a former president was shot, that a good American is dead, that other Americans were critically wounded – isn’t that enough mission failure for you to say that the person who decided that building should not be in the security perimeter probably ought to be stepped down?” Hawley said, referencing the AGR building Thomas Matthew Crooks fired from.
Rowe said agents involved were cooperating with an internal investigation.
“I want to be neutral and make sure that we get to the bottom of it and interview everybody in order to determine if there was more than one person who perhaps exercised bad judgment,” Rowe said, adding that he did not want to “zero in on one or two individuals.”
— Rebecca Beitsch
Rick Scott demands more press conferences
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) repeatedly demanded the Secret Service and FBI hold more press conferences to update the public on what the agencies know about the shooting.
“That this is something that the American public is very interested in. . . there’s all this information that you guys are not responding to,” Scott said.
A former Florida governor, Scott oversaw the state at the time of two major mass shootings, the Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016 and the Parkland school shooting in February 2018.
He said that press conferences were held on those events “two or three times a day, local, state and federal, law enforcement, FBI, everybody involved. We answered questions.”
He pressed: “Why aren’t you doing that? You’ve allowed the public to assume the negative. which I don’t get,” noting it’s been 17 days since the shooting.
Rowe replied that the Secret Service is “moving towards doing more frequent releases of information” and is willing to do a press conference, likely later this week.
And Abbate said the while the FBI hasn’t had a daily press conference, the bureau is focused on the investigation into the shooting and has held media engagements to share what they’ve learned.
— Ellen Mitchell
Ron Johnson pushes Abbate on ‘domestic terrorism’ label
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) pushed Abbate on labeling the attempted assassination as a “domestic terrorism” event as he fears the distinction “makes the investigation potentially partisan.”
“You said this is an assassination attempt and domestic terrorism. It’s obviously an assassination attempt, why make the distinction? What is different about that?” Johnson asked.
Abbate replied that it’s “important to cover all the possibilities here,” noting that lessons have been learned from past events including the June 17 Congressional baseball shooting. The FBI has classified that shooting, which injured six people, as an act of domestic terrorism.
“We’ve learned a lesson from that . . . and we’ve made changes in the bureau and it’s reflected here in terms of how this investigation is being approached with a completely open mind, and inclusive of all the possibilities, including domestic terrorism,” Abbate said.
— Ellen Mitchell
Crooks ‘likely’ had rifle in backpack before ascending roof
Abbate said the FBI was still investigating how Crooks got a AR-15-style rifle onto the roof, but believed it was most likely in his backpack as he climbed on to the roof.
“We don’t have definitive evidence yet as to how we got the rifle up there, based on everything that’s been collected thus far, photos, video, eyewitness accounts, we do believe he likely had it in the backpack, broken down into the backpack.”
Abbate said the rifle would not have entirely fit in the backpack, meaning part of the barrel would have been visible, but that no one had reported seeing it protruding.
He said the FBI believes Crooks most likely retrieved the gun from his car shortly before the shooting.
— Colin Meyn
Rowe: ‘I have no explanation for’ for late deployment of counterdrone operations
The Secret Service’s late deployment of counterdrone operations is “something that has cost me a lot of sleep,” Rowe told lawmakers Tuesday.
Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks used a drone at the site ahead of the Secret Service’s survey of the area.
Rowe’s comments came in response to questioning from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who noted that cell network issues prevented the Secret Service from surveying the area at 3 p.m. as planned, pushing the activity until after 5 p.m.
“I have no explanation for it. It is something that I feel as though we could have perhaps found him. We could have maybe stopped him. Maybe on that particular day, he would have decided this isn’t the day to do it, because law enforcement just found me flying my drone,” Rowe told lawmakers during the hearing.
“People fly drones all the time on the peripheries of our sites, and we go out and we talk to them and we ascertain what their intentions are.”
— Rebecca Beitsch
Secret Service did not hear last-minute radio warning
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) asked about the 30-second lapse between when local police radioed that the shooter was armed on a roof, and when shots were fired at Trump.
Rowe said the Secret Service did not hear radio warning about the shooter being armed.
“If we’d had that information, they would have been able to address it more quickly,” Rowe replied. “That information was stuck or siloed in that state and local channel.”
Rowe said it is “troubling to me that we did not get that information as quickly as we should have,” but his agents didn’t know that there was an incident unfolding.
“Nothing about man on the roof, nothing about man with a gun. None of that information ever made it over our net,” he said.
Rowe said that gap will be addressed and the Secret Service is currently working to figure out interoperability between local and federal radios and to “make sure that we do have access to those channels.”
— Ellen Mitchell
Rowe: ‘I could not and I will not and I cannot understand’ lack of coverage of roof
Rowe said the agency had no excuse for failing to realize the risk associated with the building from which shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks fired.
Rowe said it should have been clear that the AGR building was a risk during the site survey done before the event.
“I could not and I will not and I cannot understand why there was not better coverage or at least somebody looking at that roof line when that’s where they were posted,” Rowe said.
Rowe also showed a number of photos of reenactments of the shooting taken during a Secret Service review, showing that the five inch rice of the roof would make it difficult for the countersnipers to take out Crooks.
He praised the agent that killed the shooter for doing so when “you [can] barely make out the crown of his head” when the crime scene was replicated.
— Rebecca Beitsch
Rowe blames ‘failure of imagination’ for shooting
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked Rowe to explain what went wrong, noting the many conspiracy theories on the security failures.
“I thought long and hard about this. I think this was a failure of imagination, a failure to imagine that we actually do live in a very dangerous world where people do actually harm to our protectees,” Rowe said.
“I think it was a failure to challenge our own assumptions,” he added, saying Secret Service assumed local partners would cover certain areas.
“We didn’t challenge that internally during that advance. So moving forward, I’ve directed that, when we’re talking to people and we’re making requests, we are very specific about what we want. “
— Colin Meyn
FBI recovered social media accounts with ‘anti-semitic and anti-immigration themes’
Abbate said the FBI has very recently uncovered a social media account believed to be associated with the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
The account was from the 2019-2020 timeframe and contained over 700 comments, Abbate told lawmakers. He did not say which social media platform the account was found on.
“Some of these comments, if ultimately attributable to the shooter, appear to reflect anti-semitic and anti-immigration themes, to espouse political violence and are described as extreme in nature,” he said.
He added the investigative team is still working to verify the account to determine if it did, in fact, belong to the shooter.
“We believe it important to share and noted today, particularly given the general absence of other information to date from social media and other sources of information that reflect on the shooter’s potential, motive and mindset,” he said.
— Ellen Mitchell
New Secret Service director ‘ashamed,’ ‘cannot defend’ Trump shooting
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe struck a different tone from his predecessor Tuesday, telling a meeting of dual Senate committees he was “ashamed” by the attempted assassination of former President Trump and was prepared to be candid with lawmakers.
In his opening statement before the Senate’s Judiciary and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees, Rowe said he visited the site of the July 13 rally where the shooting occurred and laid on the roof that Thomas Matthew Crooks fired from.
“I laid in a prone position to evaluate his line of sight. What I saw made me ashamed. As a career law enforcement officer and a 25 year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured to prevent similar lapses from occurring in the future,” he told lawmakers.
“I directed our personnel to ensure every event site security plan is thoroughly vetted by multiple experienced supervisors before it is implemented. It is clear to me that other protective enhancements could have strengthened our security,” he said, a nod to the Trump campaign’s request for additional protective personnel that day.
— Rebecca Beitsch
Deputy FBI director lays out timeline before shooting
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate laid out one of the clearest timelines yet about the moments leading up to Thomas Matthew Crooks opening fire on former on former President Trump at 6:11 p.m.
Law enforcement first flagged the shooter at approximately 4:26 p.m.
The shooter was identified as a suspicious person at 5:14 p.m.
A local SWAT operator took a photo of the shooter at about 5:32 p.m.
Approximately 25 minutes prior to the shooting, the Secret Service command post was notified of Crooks as a suspicious person.
Law enforcement officers lost sight of Crooks from approximately 6:02 p.m. to 6:08 p.m.
The shooter pulled himself up onto the building’s rooftop at approximately 6:06 p.m.
At approximately 6:08 p.m. the subject was observed on the roof by local law enforcement.
At approximately 6:11 p.m. a local police officer was lifted to the roof by another officer, saw the shooter and radioed that he was armed with “a long gun.”
Within approximately the next 30 seconds, the shots were fired.
— Colin Meyn
Rowe outlines changes since he took over Secret Service
Rowe said he has already ordered changes in how the agency prepares for events as multiple investigations into the July 13 shooting are ongoing.
“It is clear to me that other protective enhancements could have strengthened our security at the Butler event. As such, I have directed the expanded use of unmanned aerial systems at protective sites to help protect threats on roofs and other elevated threats. I’ve also directed resources to facilitate our protective site communications, particularly our communications with our state and local partners.”
The shooter reportedly used a drone to survey the site hours before the rally, while the Secret Service did not use drones ahead of the event. Lawmakers have also honed in on communications between Secret Service agents and local law enforcement personnel as a potential security lapse.
— Colin Meyn
Durbin goes after ‘widespread easy access to AR-15 military-style rifles’
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) used his opening statement to go after gun regulation, telling attendees that “widespread easy access to AR-15 military-style rifles” contributed to the July 13 shooting.
“While we rely on the Secret Service to protect elected officials, we must acknowledge the unique challenges they face in light of the proliferation of weapons of war on our street,” Durbin said.
“Pennsylvania, like many states, allows individuals to openly carry a loaded rifle without a permit. To make matters worse, assault rifles can easily be purchased from the licensed dealers without a background check because of dangerous loopholes in our gun laws.”
He noted that the same kind of firearm has been used to carry out mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., Uvalde, Texas, Las Vegas and Highland Park, Ill., “killing dozens of children and adults and injuring many more.”
Several lawmakers at least week’s House hearing sounded a similar note.
— Ellen Mitchell
Rowe: Shooting was ‘failure on multiple levels’
Ronald Rowe, the new acting director of the Secret Service, began his opening statement by calling the attempted assassination of former President Trump a “failure on multiple levels.”
He also said he visited the site of the shooting in Butler, Pa, to assess what went wrong, unlike his predecessor Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned last week after a brutal House hearing.
“I went to the roof of the AGR building where the assailant fired shots and I laid a prone position to evaluate his line of sight. What I saw made me ashamed,” Rowe said. “As a career law enforcement officer and a 25 year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.”
— Colin Meyn
Graham: ‘Somebody’s gotta be fired’
Senate Judiciary ranking member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) expressed frustration with the Secret Service Tuesday saying “somebody’s gotta be fired.”
“Nothing’s gonna change until somebody loses their job,” he added.
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who led the agency during the failed assassination attempt on former President Trump, resigned last week after a disastrous appearance before the House Oversight Committee.
Testifying today is her successor, Ronald Rowe.
— Rebecca Beitsch
Hearing gavels in
Homeland Security Committee Chair Gary Peters (D-Mich.) has opened the hearing, calling the shooting an “inexcusable planning and security failure.”
ICYMI: House leaders announce members of Trump shooting task force
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Monday announced the seven Republicans and six Democrats who will sit on the task force to investigate the assassination attempt against former President Trump.
The Republican chair of the panel will be Rep. Mike Kelly (Pa.), who represents Butler, Pa., where the shooting took place and was present in the front row during the rally.
The Democratic ranking member will be Rep. Jason Crow (Colo.), a former Army Ranger and Bronze Star recipient who sits on the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees.
On the Republican side, the task force will also include Reps. Mark Green (Tenn.), the chair of the Homeland Security Committee; David Joyce (Ohio); Laurel Lee (Fla.); Michael Waltz (Fla.); Clay Higgins (La.); and Pat Fallon (Texas).
The five other Democratic appointees are Reps. Lou Correa (Calif.), Madeleine Dean (Pa.), Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), Glenn Ivey (Md.) and Jared Moskowitz (Fla.).
— Emily Brooks
Catch up with previous coverage from The Hill
Lawmakers to press new Secret Service chief for answers about Trump shooting
The security failures surrounding the assassination attempt against former President Trump are set to come under increased scrutiny by senators Tuesday, when they convene for a joint hearing in the hopes of finding answers that have thus far eluded frustrated lawmakers.
Ronald Rowe, the new acting director of the Secret Service, and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate are set to appear before the Senate Judiciary and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees. The Secret Service was responsible for protecting Trump at the July 13 rally when the shooting occurred, while the FBI is leading the investigation into what went wrong.
Senators on both sides of the aisle said they would press for new information on what Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of both panels, labeled a “litany of gaps and failures.”
“There are monumental, critical questions that so far the leadership in these agencies have failed to answer [or] even to begin to respond to,” Blumenthal said.
— Al Weaver