Acting Secret Service Director to Testify

by Sharon Rondeau

(Jul. 30, 2024) — At 10:00 a.m. EDT Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committees will hear testimony from Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald L. Rowe, Jr. as to the security failures which led to the assassination attempt in Butler, PA on former president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump.

Rowe will testify in the place of former Secret Service Director Kimberly A. Cheatle, who resigned one week ago after testifying to the House Oversight Committee the previous day.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL) on Monday provided a preview of the hearing in which he said, in part:

This assassination attempt has exposed more than just the continued threat of gun violence in America. It has also revealed unacceptable security failures in the operations of the United States Secret Service.”

Despite the implementation of a security plan to secure the rally site on July 13, the shooter involved was able to fly a drone outside of the security perimeter for 11 minutes. His suspicious activity was reported twice, and he was spotted on the roof of a building prior to taking his first shot—yet his violent plan continued unimpeded, and he was able to fire eight shots before a Secret Service countersniper killed him.”

The implications are terrifying, when a mere two days after the shooting, the Secret Service needed to secure the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. And in less than a month, the Secret Service must secure the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, in our home state of Illinois.”

Between now and November 5, Vice President Harris and former President Trump will hold countless political events with thousands of Americans across the country. The Secret Service will need to secure all of these major events, but the agency needs first to restore our trust in its ability to do so.”

Lowe’s opening remarks state, in part:

One of my first actions as Acting Director was traveling to the Butler Farm Show site, which was no longer a crime scene, to better understand how our protection failed. I inspected the site and the AGR building. I went to the roof of the AGR building where the assailant fired shots and 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 twenty-five-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, 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 at the Butler event. As such, I have directed the expanded use of Unmanned Aerial Systems, commonly referred to as drones, at protective sites to help detect threats on roofs and other elevated areas. I have also directed resources to facilitate our protective site communications—particularly our communications with our State and local partners where a delay, of even a few seconds in communication, can make the difference in life and death. These resources will provide enhanced radio interoperability and common operating picture communications that were not present in Butler.

In addition, I have instructed that asset requests for Secret Service protective details be approved expeditiously and have ordered the maximum use of Secret Service special agents, Uniformed Division officers, and technical support personnel at protective sites to address this heightened security environment.

Also testifying will be FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate.

Trump was injured in the right ear and told “The Ingraham Angle” in an interview aired Monday night he is doing well. Rally attendees David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, were seriously injured but have been released from the hospital, while retired firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed by one or more bullets fired from the assassin’s rifle at approximately 6:12 p.m. that day.

In recent days the Trump campaign, and Trump himself, have said he will return to Butler for another rally to honor the victims of the shooting. “I think it’s important symbolically,” he told Ingraham Monday.