Journalist Susan Crabtree posted key questions and answers on X from Acting Secret Service Director Rowe’s testimony today. The list starts with the most recent first.
Acting Secret Service Director Rowe acknowledged it was an absolute failure by the Secret Service. He took responsibility; we don’t know who is accountable, and no one was fired yet.
Sen. Mike Lee wrote on X:
I asked Acting Director Rowe why Trump was allowed to take the stage 17 minutes after Secret Service received multiple reports of a suspicious person with a rangefinder—something one doesn’t expect to see at a political rally. I did not receive a clear answer. Infuriating.
Sean Davis of The Federalist writes:
Cruz did a great job of getting Rowe to demonstrate that he is wholly unqualified to remain as Secret Service director. Instead of answering questions honestly, Rowe barked at Cruz like an entitled teenager and went out of his way to avoid any responsibility or accountability for the assassination attempt against Trump.
Questioning as per Susan Crabtree
Finally! Ted Cruz asks why the Secret Service spokesman still has his job after he lied to the press and the public in the 48 hours after the assassination attempt against Trump and no longer has credibility.
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The spokesperson specifically lied about reports that the Secret Service denied more security requests for Trump.
Cruz: “Your spokesperson put something out that is false on its face, by the way, did you approve this statement when it went out?
Rowe: “I don’t know if I did or didn’t.
Cruz: “Is this spokesperson? Is he still employed?
Rowe indicates that he is.
Cruz: “So he lied on behalf of the Secret Service? He still has a job? Did your predecessor, the former director, did she approve this statement?”
Rowe: “Senator, our comms team sends out statements. They do de-conflict them, and they put them out.”
Cruz: “Did she approve this statement?”
Rowe: “I don’t know if she did or did not…I don’t recall approving it, senator.”
Looking for someone accountable and not finding anyone:
In an intense line of questioning, Sen. Hawley harshly grills Secret Service Director Rowe on who the lead site agent was for the 7/13 Trump rally.
“I’m trying to find someone who is accountable here.”
Hawley: “Let me ask you this: who is the lead site agent who made the decision to leave the AGR building completely outside of the security perimeter? Who was that Senator?”
Rowe: “I cannot give you that name. This person is operational. They’re still doing investigations. They’re still doing protective visits.”
Hawley: “Why have they not been relieved of duty? They are still cooperating, not only being interviewed by the FBI, but also [Secret Service Office of] Professional Responsibility, and we will let the facts of the mission assurance and any further investigations play out.”
Rowe pushed back strongly: “What I need to know is exactly what happened. And I need my investigators to do their job, and I can’t put my thumb on the scale.”
Rowe says Hawley is asking him “to make a rush to judgment about somebody failing.”
Rowe: “I acknowledge this was a failure. On the face of that, somebody has failed. … This could have been our Texas School Book Depository. I have lost sleep over that for the last 17 days.”
“I will tell you, senator, that I will not rush to judgment, that people will be held accountable, and I will do so with integrity, and not rush to judgment and put people…[who are] unfairly persecuted. We have to be able to have a proper investigation into this.”
“Isn’t the fact that a former president was shot, that a good American is dead, that other Americans were critically wounded… enough mission failure for you…?” – Sen. Josh Hawley pic.twitter.com/mOsOXeNWS0
— ForAmerica (@ForAmerica) July 30, 2024
No snipers on the roof:
Sen. John Cornyn pressed Acting Secret Service Dir. Rowe on why a local law enforcement counter sniper wasn’t positioned on the roof of the AGR building when the Secret Service counter snipers were on rooftops.
Rowe: “So, I think we made an assumption there [would] be uniform presence out there, sufficient eyes to cover that, that there was going to be teams in the AGR building.”
“And, I can assure you, we’re not going to make that mistake again. Moving forward…When our counter snipers are up, their counter snipers are up and they’re on the roof as well.:
“And we have we do this all the time with our our colleagues in the New York City Police Department when we cover the United Nations General Assembly. And so that is our TTP moving forward.”
This next one sounds like a lie.
The question of drones:
Rowe is asked about why the Secret Service didn’t use drones that day when local law enforcement offered their drones for use that day, and the shooter did fly his own drone roughly 2 hours before the event.
Rowe responds that the issues surrounding [Unmanned Aerial Systems] are a “little complex” and involve capabilities that state and local law enforcement don’t necessarily have access to.
He says there has to be coordination with the FAA because “it could impact commercial” flights.
Susan Crabtree wrote: Good follow-up question: Senators should ask a follow-up question: Did Rowe play ANY role in denying requests from Trump’s detail or limit resources to any Trump rallies/events or his homes? Acting Secret Service Chief Played Key Role in Limiting Resources for Trump
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