WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate lawmakers are expected Tuesday to grill the acting director of the Secret Service about law enforcement lapses in the hours before the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in the latest in a series of congressional hearings dedicated to the shooting.
Ronald Rowe became acting director of the agency last week after his predecessor, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned in the aftermath of a House hearing in which she was berated by lawmakers from both parties and failed to answer specific questions about the communication failures preceding the shooting on July 13.
Rowe will be joined by FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate at a joint hearing of the Senate committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security.
The hearing comes one day after the FBI released new details about its investigation into the shooting, revealing that the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had searched online for information about mass shootings, power plants, improvised explosive devices, and the May assassination attempt of the Slovakian prime minister.
The FBI also stated that Trump has agreed to be interviewed by agents as a crime victim; the bureau said last week that the former president had been hit in the ear by a bullet or fragment of one. Trump mentioned on Monday evening that he anticipated the interview to occur on Thursday.
However, most of the inquiries on Tuesday are expected to be directed at Rowe as lawmakers demand explanations about how Crooks managed to get so close to Trump. Investigators believe Crooks fired eight shots in Trump’s direction from an AR-style rifle after climbing onto the roof of a building about 147 yards from where Trump was speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania.
One rallygoer was killed, and two others were injured. Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service countersniper.
During her hearing last week, Cheatle admitted that the Secret Service had “failed” in their mission to protect Trump. She called the attempt on Trump’s life the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades and pledged to “move heaven and earth” to uncover what went wrong and ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Cheatle disclosed that the Secret Service had been alerted about a suspicious person two to five times before the rally shooting. She also disclosed that the roof from which Crooks opened fire had been identified as a potential vulnerability days before the event.
Cheatle mentioned that she apologized to Trump in a phone call after the assassination attempt.
In a Fox News interview on Monday night, Trump defended the Secret Service agents who shielded him from the shooting but criticized the lack of personnel on the roof with Crooks and the inadequate communication with local police.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
