Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., questioned U.S. Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe in a hearing Tuesday.
When Ossoff asked Rowe to identify what caused a failure of interagency communication when the suspicion of a threat arose during the rally, Rowe answered that the lack of real-time information was a driving factor.
“We’re working on trying to figure out what was the delay, why didn’t we hear that coming out of the unified command. Based on the information I have right now, what I can tell you, Senator, is that apparently not having that real-time information is what really hindered us in being able to understand more than it was just, the locals working an issue at three o’clock. There was actually a little bit something more urgent than that,” Rowe said.
The joint hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Senate Judiciary Committee was the latest to examine what investigators have learned about the shooter who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally, as well as the security failures that preceded the deadly shooting.
Rowe, who since 2023 had been serving as deputy director of the Secret Service, was appointed acting director after Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation.
Watch PBS News for daily, breaking and live news, plus special coverage. We are home to PBS News Hour, ranked the most credible and objective TV news show.
Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe
PBS News podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG
Find more from PBS News at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Follow us:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews
X: https://www.twitter.com/newshour
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newshour
Facebook: https://www.pbs.org/newshour
