Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe on Friday continued to reveal failures from the day former President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated while speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Rowe also revealed that no one has yet been fired for Trump’s near-death experience.
The acting director explained that Secret Service officials had no radio communications with local police and were unaware that Thomas Matthew Crooks had a gun pointed at the former president before opening fire.
Rowe confirmed that “there was someone who actually radioed in that they saw the individual with a gun.”
“What I can tell you is that that information, that vital information, and through no fault of anyone, it was a very stressful situation, and it was not overcome,” Rowe said.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe on Friday continued to reveal failures from the day former President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated while speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Local and state law enforcement officers are not on the same radio network as Secret Service agents.
Trump’s Secret Service team, Rowe said, was “operating under the assumption” of the latest information they received.
“There was a problem with the locals who were working at three o’clock,” he said, using a watch as a directional sign. “That’s information we had. There was no gun involved.”
In fact, more details about the threat were being shared when the shots were heard.
“The former president’s team had an advance person on the ground who was responsible for the location,” Rowe said. “The radio transmission reports that locals are working on a problem at 3 o’clock.”
“That team member called his counterpart in the Pittsburgh field office. ‘Hey, what do you know about this?’ In the middle of that phone conversation, the gunshots started,” Rowe said.
The former president is a proponent of large outdoor rallies, but Rowe suggested that intense radio chatter — with people making calls for emergency medical attention because of the heat — could have played a role in congesting the airwaves at a vital time.
Former President Donald Trump is surrounded by his Secret Service team moments after a bullet grazed his ear at his July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Rowe said about 100 calls for support had been made before the shooting.
“It was a very hot day,” Rowe said. “There were a lot of calls, not just for medical emergencies to get people to work, but also for people who needed some other kind of police assistance.”
“This happens. Frankly, it happens a lot at outdoor rallies, especially on hot days,” the acting director continued.
“There was a lot of traffic, radio traffic on the local network, saying, ‘Hey, I need a paramedic here.’ There were a lot of people who needed help,” Rowe said.
Rowe said it was now “blatantly obvious” that the Secret Service did not have the information it needed, but he declined to assign blame.
“It turned out there was a sense of urgency, that maybe we missed some radio traffic,” he said. “We need to do a better job on that front.”
During the press conference, which lasted less than an hour, Rowe revealed she would “make some sort of statement that people are being held accountable” when asked if the American public would be informed about the firings over the attempted murder.
He also said that all of the major players — Trump, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and whoever Harris picks for her vice president — would have Secret Service sniper teams at their events going forward.
Rowe was also asked about a whistleblower’s allegation that he “personally ordered” cuts to the agency’s Counter Surveillance Division, the unit tasked with assessing event sites in advance.
“I’ve been made aware of this. We received a letter from Congress regarding this. What I can tell you is that the Counter Surveillance Division does a fantastic job,” Rowe said.
He said he was aware of allegations that he had rejected requests to use them.
“The Counter Surveillance Division has been supporting the former president at some high-profile events. They continue to provide that support and continue to do so at this time,” Rowe said.
Asked to clarify whether he cut CSD resources, he replied: “I didn’t, no.”
