Law enforcement agents stand near the stage of a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe told reporters on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, that the agency takes responsibility for the failures that resulted in an assassination attempt on Trump there that day. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Secret Service has taken responsibility for the failures that resulted in the July assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania and is asking for more resources going forward, a top official said Friday.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe briefed reporters on the agency’s findings following an investigation into how a gunman was able to scale a nearby roof and fire multiple shots at Trump during a July 13 campaign rally in Butler. Trump sustained an injury to his right ear, and one spectator was killed while two others were seriously injured.
“It’s important that we hold ourselves accountable for the failures of July 13, and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another failure like this again,” Rowe said.
The investigation revealed communication “deficiencies” between law enforcement personnel and an “overreliance on mobile devices, resulting in information being siloed,” Rowe said, highlighting that vital information about the shooter was transmitted via phone instead of over the Secret Service radio network.
The investigation also uncovered “complacency” among some staff members who visited the site ahead of time but did not escalate to supervisors their concerns over “line of sight issues,” Rowe said.
“The findings of the Mission Assurance review have prompted the Secret Service to move into the accountability phase of this process,” he said, referring to the agency’s title of its investigation.
“What has become clear to me is we need a shift in paradigm in how we conduct our protective operations. As was demonstrated on Sunday in West Palm Beach, the threat level is evolving,” Rowe said.
“This increased operational tempo requires additional resources to not only account for costs being incurred today, but ensure that we have the tools, technology and personnel needed to meet these new requirements and execute our mission going forward,” he said.
Second attempt to harm Trump
The investigation’s conclusions were revealed less than a week after a second attempt on Trump’s life. On Sunday the Secret Service thwarted a gunman’s attempt to aim a high-powered rifle at the former president while he was playing golf on his West Palm Beach, Florida, property.
The incidents prompted unanimous U.S. House support for a measure to grant presidential and vice presidential candidates the same security level as the officeholders. The proposal sailed through the lower chamber Friday in a 405-0 vote.
On Monday a bipartisan congressional task force investigating the July attempted assassination in Pennsylvania announced an expansion of its purview to also probe Sunday’s attempt in Florida. The task force will hold its first hearing Thursday.
Rowe said the agency has been providing the “highest levels” of protections for presidential candidates since the July 13 assassination attempt.
That increased level of protection is working, Rowe told reporters, recounting how an agent swept the area ahead of Trump and “took steps to neutralize that threat.”
“No shot was fired at the former president. The former president was not exposed to where he was on the golf course,” he said.
Extending that level of protection means the agency is “burning through a lot of assets and resources.”
“This isn’t pie in the sky, trying to say ‘Hey, we want this now.’ We are not capitalizing on a crisis,” Rowe said.
Rowe would not disclose an additional dollar amount the agency is seeking and said conversations with congressional appropriators are “ongoing.”
“The threat is not going to evaporate anytime soon, and so we have to be prepared for this. And that is the argument that we have been making. We have certainly made some inroads, and we’re having these productive conversations with the Hill,” he said.
Rowe was appointed as the agency’s acting director after former Director Kimberly Cheatle heeded loud cries for her resignation, stepping down 10 days after the attempt on Trump’s life in July.
Rowe would not detail who or how many in the agency will face discipline, citing federal regulations preventing him from discussing it further.
“What I will tell you is that I have not asked for anybody to retire. I know some of that was reported. That is false,” Rowe said. Rowe said the agency’s offices of Integrity and Professional Responsibility will together decide any discipline in accordance with the agency’s “table of penalties.”