Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, and Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe angrily screamed and pointed at each other at a hearing Thursday on the assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump, a shocking moment as the agency faces intense scrutiny over its alleged failures ahead of the attempted killings.
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Fallon presented a photo of Rowe at the 9/11 memorial services in New York City this year and asked if he was the special agent in charge of the detail that day, accusing him of positioning himself close to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for exposure and blocking their details from protecting them.
Rowe defended his attendance at the memorial and said, “I actually responded to Ground Zero, I was there going through the ashes,” prompting Fallon to scream, “I’m not asking you that, I’m asking . . . were you the special agent in charge!”
Rowe, yelling back, accused Fallon of invoking “9/11 for political purposes,” telling the congressman he “is out of line.”
“You know why you were there, because you wanted to be visible, because you were auditioning for this job!” Fallon yelled, pointing at Rowe and accusing him of putting other agents out of position and endangering Biden and Harris, who he was standing directly behind.
The exchange ended with Rowe calling Fallon “a bully.”
Rowe testified before the House task force investigating the assassination attempts against Trump, where he admitted “the gravity of our failure on July 13, 2024,” when Thomas Matthew Crooks nearly killed Trump, grazing his ear with a bullet, and shot dead an audience member at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa. The Secret Service has said multiple lapses contributed to the shooting that day, including the lack of security on the roof where Crooks fired eight rounds at Trump before a Secret Service counter-sniper shot and killed him, and disjointed coordination with local law enforcement. The incident led to the resignation of former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. Rowe, then Secret Service deputy director, was appointed to replace her in July. In September, a second gunman, Ryan Routh, allegedly attempted to assassinate Trump while he was golfing at his West Palm Beach golf club. Secret Service agents spotted the barrel of Routh’s rifle, aimed at Trump through the brush, before Routh fled the scene and was later arrested.
