STORY: :: U.S. Secret Service chief recognizes 'failure'
and touts reform after Trump shot at campaign rally
:: Washington, D.C.
:: December 5, 2024
:: Ronald Rowe, U.S. Secret Service Acting Director
"July 13th was a failure of the Secret Service to adequately secure the Butler farm show site and protect President-elect Trump." // "Let me be clear: There will be accountability and that accountability is occurring. It is an extensive review that requires time to ensure due process and the pace of this process, quite frankly, it does frustrate me. But it is essential that we recognize the gravity of our failure on July 13, 2024. I personally carry the weight of knowing that we almost lost a protectee and that our failure cost a father and husband his life. I have reflected extensively on the agency's substandard performance during the advance for the Butler rally. I have implemented numerous systemic and strategic changes to prevent these failures from ever happening again. It has been my singular focus to bring much needed reform to the Secret Service."
Rowe testified to a House task force consisting of seven Republicans and six Democrats that has been investigating two failed assassination attempts on Trump during this year's presidential campaign.
The panel is expected to vote on the approval of a final report later on Thursday.
The Secret Service has faced questions over its staffing levels and communication capabilities following the Trump assassination attempts.
A gunman fired eight shots during a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July, wounding Trump in the ear and killing another attendee. The gunman was shot and killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
Two months later, a man with a gun holed himself up near a Trump-owned golf course in Florida with what prosecutors have said was an intent to kill the then-Republican candidate while he golfed.
