Washington — A hearing of the bipartisan task force investigating the assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump devolved into a shouting match when Republican Rep. Pat Fallon accused acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe of “playing politics” when he attended a 9/11 memorial event with the nation’s top leaders.
Yelling between the two broke out after Fallon displayed a photo of Trump, President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Vice President-elect JD Vance at the event in New York City in September. Rowe was standing directly behind Harris, then a candidate for the presidency, in the second row.
“Who is usually, at an event like this, closest to the president of the United States, security-wise?” Fallon, of Texas, asked Rowe.
“The SAC of the detail,” Rowe answered, referring to the special agent in charge of security. Fallon then questioned whether the acting director was serving in that role at the 9/11 memorial.
Rowe did not answer directly. He said the photo did not show the special agent in charge because he was just out of the frame and told Fallon that he was at the event to show respect for Secret Service members who died on 9/11. “That is the day where we remember the more than 3,000 that have died on 9/11,” he said. “I actually responded to Ground Zero. I was there going through the ashes at the World Trade Center.”
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Rowe condemned Fallon, telling him, “Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes.”
The congressman, meanwhile, said Rowe’s explanation was “a bunch of horse hockey.”
“Don’t try to bully me,” Fallon told Rowe. I am an elected member of Congress and I’m asking you a serious question and you are playing politics.
The acting director then shouted back: “And I am a public servant who has served this nation and spent time on our country’s darkest day. Do not politicize it.”
Rowe said he was at the memorial to represent the Secret Service and said his presence did not effect protective operations.
“Do you know why you were there? Because you wanted to be visible because you’re auditioning for this job that you’re not going to get,” Fallon yelled. “You endangered President Biden’s life, Vice President Harris’ life because you put those agents out of position. Did you have a radio with you? Did you wear a vest? Did you have a weapon?”
Rowe repeatedly told Fallon that he was “out of line.”
Rowe was selected to lead the Secret Service as its acting director after Kimberly Cheatle resigned in July following a disastrous appearance before the House Oversight Committee about the assassination attempt on Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. It’s expected that Trump will nominate a permanent director once he takes office in late January.
He appeared before the task force to answer questions about the security failures that allowed the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, to gain access to a rooftop so close to where Trump was speaking. The president-elect and two attendees were wounded in the shooting, and one man died.
“July 13 was a failure of the Secret Service to adequately secure the Butler Farm Show site and protect President-elect Trump,” Rowe said in an opening statement to lawmakers. “That abject failure underscored critical gaps in Secret Service operations and I recognize that we did not meet the expectations of the American public, Congress and our protectees, and they rightly have that idea based on how we performed.”
