On Tuesday, the leader of a well-known police union accused the acting head of the U.S. Secret Service of deflecting responsibility after he informed Congress that local authorities were expected to secure the rooftop from which a gunman fired at former President Trump during a thwarted assassination attempt.
Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, voiced his disappointment with the response provided by Ronald Rowe, acting director of the Secret Service, during a joint Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing focused on the security shortcomings that allowed the assassination attempt on Trump.
“The Secret Service has yet to deliver any answers nearly three weeks after the attack on the life of the former president, yet they seem quick to place blame on a collaborating agency,” Yoes stated. “It is the Secret Service’s duty to guarantee the safety of their protectee; local agencies can only offer assistance in terms of personnel and resources.”
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U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe testifies before a Joint Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Senate Committee on the Judiciary, reviewing security failures that led to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, inflicted a gunshot wound to Trump’s ear while firing from the roof of a nearby structure during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has faced intense criticism over security lapses that permitted Crooks to get so near to the former president.
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Yoes articulated that Rowe’s statements resembled “a general blaming a tank driver for losing a battle.” He emphasized that the Acting Director should concentrate on identifying what went wrong instead of blaming local law enforcement agencies.
Former President Donald Trump is evacuated from the stage during a rally on July 13 in Butler, PA. The Butler County District Attorney, Richard Goldinger, reported that the shooter was killed after injuring Trump. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Rowe stated before the congressional committee that local law enforcement had indicated to the Secret Service that the “building was going to be covered.”
He additionally remarked that he was puzzled as to why there wasn’t enhanced coverage, questioning, “Why was the assailant not detected?” Rowe later mentioned that agents “assumed the state and locals had it [covered].”
U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe testifies at a Senate hearing examining security failures that allowed the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
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“We all are aware of the consequences of making assumptions,” Yoes remarked. “Due to these assumptions and the series of failures occurring at this event, an innocent individual has lost his life while a former president was shot.”
“Which agency is charged with security at the event?” he inquired. “Which agency positioned these buildings outside the security perimeter?”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Secret Service.
