Secret Service Provides Presser Update on July 13

by Sharon Rondeau

(Aug. 2, 2024) —At approximately 1:58 p.m. EDT, U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, Jr. began a scheduled press conference to provide an update on the agency’s investigation into “the failure” of July 13, when a 20-year-old man attempted to assassinate former president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump at a rally in Butler, PA.

The shooter’s eight bullets grazed Trump’s right ear, badly injured two rally attendees and tragically killed a retired firefighter, Corey Comperatore.

On Tuesday, Rowe, who was made Acting Director after the abrupt departure of then-Director Kimberly A. Cheatle on July 23, testified at length to the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees to much criticism from members on both sides of the political aisle.

One of the criticisms was that the Secret Service had not given a press conference on what it had learned at any point after the shooting.

Several minutes into Friday’s address, Rowe lauded the men and women of the agency for their selfless and often behind-the-scenes service.

Just afterward, he announced a timeline of the events leading up to the rally, including preparations made prior to July 13.

At 2:09 p.m., Rowe concluded narrating the timeline and said he would take questions.

The first question went to Fox News’s David Spunt, who asked if anyone had been disciplined since Rowe’s testimony Tuesday and if such actions would be announced as the probe unfolds.

In response, Rowe said he will not issue “continuous updates” on personnel decisions but that he would “at a high level provide at least some type of statement that people are being held accountable.”

“This was a failure. We should have had better protection for the protectee,” Rowe said, as well as coverage for the “roofline” from which the shooter aimed. “We should have had better eyes on that,” he concluded his response to Spunt.

In response to a question from The Washington Post, Rowe said there were “radio communications” on the part of local law enforcers about the shooter which the Secret Service did not receive.

The next questioner asked why the Secret Service chose not to employ a drone over the rally site that day.

“We did not have a drone on-site; we did not put a drone up…,” Rowe said, while acknowledging local law enforcement offered to launch one. The agency “will leverage technology” in the future, he added.

“It was the first time Secret Service counter-snipers were deployed to assist the former president’s detail,” Rowe replied to another question.

Many Americans expressed shock when a video taken by one of those injured, James Copenhaver, was aired Tuesday capturing the shooter moving on the roof of the AGR building from which he took aim.

According to Rowe, the Secret Service did not know the “suspicious” figure local law enforcement flagged prior to 6:00 p.m. that day possessed a firearm.

He promised the agency would work to regain the trust of the American people.

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Update, 3:41 p.m. EDT: On his internet broadcast Friday, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino opined, “The Secret Service can’t continue to exist…like it is now. They have a totally broken management culture. There are people out there who have been whistleblowing on this forever and absolutely nothing has changed…” (story begins at 7:40 here).