The Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees are holding a hearing on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The incident occurred on Saturday, July 13, 2024, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The hearing aims to examine the security failures that led to the assassination attempt.
Acting Director of the Secret Service, Ronald L. Rowe Jr., testified before the committees, acknowledging the security failures and expressing his commitment to ensuring such an incident does not occur again.
"The attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump... was a failure on multiple levels," Rowe stated in prepared remarks.
Rowe praised the heroic actions of the Secret Service agents who shielded the former President with their bodies while shots were still being fired. He also expressed his gratitude to federal, state, and local partners for their support in securing protective events and conducting criminal investigations.
Rowe outlined the steps he has taken since his appointment as Acting Director to address the security lapses that occurred on the day of the assassination attempt. These include a thorough vetting of every event site security plan by multiple experienced supervisors before it is implemented, the expanded use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (drones) at protective sites, and the expeditious approval of asset requests for Secret Service protective details.
The Acting Director also assured the committees of his full cooperation with the ongoing investigations into the attack and the security failures that occurred that day. He pledged to provide full and transparent information to the committees and the American public to ensure a thorough understanding of what happened leading up to and during the incident.