Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe is set to testify Thursday morning before a House task force investigating the attempted assassination of President-elect Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Rowe will be questioned by a 13-member independent panel that released a report in October finding the Secret Service responsible for the “preventable” attempt on Trump’s life. Rowe is expected to tell lawmakers that disciplinary actions are being taken for the lapses that allowed 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to get within 150 yards of Trump and shoot him in the ear during a rally in Butler on July 13.
“Employees receiving proposals of discipline will be provided due process under agency policy as well as any applicable laws and regulations. But, let me be clear, there will be accountability, and that accountability is occurring,” Rowe will say, according to a copy of his prepared remarks shared with ABC. “Consistent with applicable laws and regulations, I cannot comment further on specific disciplinary actions underway or being considered.”
Rowe will also say that the agency has made several major changes to securing locations, including more coordination with law enforcement partners. At the Butler rally, numerous communication errors delayed law enforcement’s response to Crooks, who had been identified as a person of interest more than an hour before he opened fire.
“My goal is to improve our mission effectiveness and rebuild public trust,” according to Rowe’s written testimony. “One of the key systemic changes was the directive to mandate a unified command in a singular location for all protective sites, something that was not done on July 13th in Butler. This co-location enhances our communications and intelligence-sharing mechanisms with state, local and federal partners to better anticipate threats and respond to them more swiftly.”
Other changes implemented, according to a copy of his remarks shared with Fox News, included using more drones, ensuring radios are in order, and increasing staffing levels for agents protecting Trump.
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Rowe’s prepared testimony says the Butler rally, where Trump was shot, supporter Corey Comperatore was killed, and two other rallygoers were injured, exposed “critical gaps” in the Secret Service’s operations and was an “abject failure.”
“July 13th was a failure of the Secret Service to adequately secure the Butler Farm Show site and protect President-elect Trump,” Rowe is expected to say. “While I cannot undo the harm that has been done, I am committed to doing everything in my power to ensure that the Secret Service never has a failure like this again.”
In its report, the House panel faulted the Secret Service for failing to secure the roof from where Crooks fired at Trump and setting up a security perimeter that allowed people to get within around 150 yards of the stage where Trump was speaking without going through security screening.
Investigations by both the Senate and an independent panel formed by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have also found the Secret Service liable for the attack.