FILE – Ronald Rowe, acting director of the U.S. Secret Service, speaks to reporters at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, Pool, File)
By REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The acting director of the Secret Service is promising accountability for what he called the agency’s “abject failure” to secure the rally where a gunman opened fire on Donald Trump last summer during his presidential campaign.
Ronald Rowe is set to testify Thursday in front of a bipartisan House task force investigating how the Secret Service, which protects the highest echelon of American leaders, performed during two assassination attempts against Trump in two months. A portion of Rowe’s remarks was released before the hearing.
The task force’s inquiry is one of a series of investigations and reports into the July shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, that have faulted the troubled agency for planning and communications failures. Already, the fallout has included the resignation of the agency’s previous director and changes that increased Secret Service protections for Trump before the Republican won the November election.
Trump has not yet named his pick to lead the agency.
A separate independent panel investigating that assassination attempt has said the Secret Service needs new leadership and that “another Butler can and will happen again” without major changes in how candidates are protected. Trump was wounded in the ear, one rallygoer was killed, and two others were wounded.
Rowe said the agency’s internal investigation identified failures by multiple employees. He noted that the quality of the advance work — the people who go to a location before an event and plan how the Secret Service will protect someone — did not meet agency standards.
“It is essential that we recognize the gravity of our failure on July 13, 2024,” Rowe says in the prepared remarks. “Let me be clear, there will be accountability, and that accountability is occurring.”
He did not give specific information, including, for example, how many employees might be disciplined or if anyone would be fired.
This is the task force’s second public hearing and the first time that Rowe has addressed it in public. It is scheduled to release a report on its findings and recommendations by Dec. 13.
Many of the investigations have centered on why buildings near the rally with a clear line of sight to the stage were not secured in advance. The gunman, Thomas Crooks, climbed onto the roof of a nearby building and opened fire as Trump spoke.
Crooks was killed by a Secret Service countersniper, and Trump was surrounded by agents and hustled offstage.
The shooting also exposed communications problems between the Secret Service and local and state law enforcement officials who routinely assist the agency in securing big events.
Another assassination attempt on Trump in Florida two months later also contributed to the agency’s troubles.
Ryan Wesley Routh is accused of lying in wait for Trump on Sept. 15 in the shrubbery of one of Trump’s Florida golf courses in West Palm Beach, Florida. A Secret Service agent saw the firearm poking through the bushes and opened fire, thwarting the potential attack. Routh never fired a shot.
The agency has defended its response as much more in line with how its defensive systems are supposed to operate. Critics have questioned how Routh was able to camp out for so long at a golf course Trump often visited while in town.
Ever since the first assassination attempt, the Secret Service has been under intense scrutiny about its ability to carry out what’s often described as a “zero failure mission.”
Then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned a little over a week after the July shooting and one day after she appeared before a congressional hearing where she was berated for hours by both Democrats and Republicans.
Rowe was then announced as the acting director.
In his statement to the bipartisan task force, Rowe noted what he has done to bring about change.
“It has been my singular focus to bring much needed reform to the Secret Service. To be an agent of change. To challenge previous assumptions,” Rowe said.
Among the things he highlighted:
— The agency increased the staff assigned to Trump and expanded its use of drone technology to get a high-level view of venues.
— Secret Service personnel are required to be at the same location as state and local law enforcement while protecting someone to avoid some of the communications failures from the Butler rally.
— In a nod to the stresses on agents and officers protecting a growing list of people in an increasingly divisive political environment, Rowe said he was prioritizing mental health and wellness programs and had hired a chief wellness officer this week.
