Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R.-Tenn., spoke in a hearing Tuesday where U.S. Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe and FBI deputy director Paul Abbate testified on the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
Blackburn asked Rowe about the culture of the Secret Service and an email from a counter-sniper who came forward to say the agency “needs to change.”
“The public has lost trust in the ability to execute the mission to protect,” Blackburn said. “I want to know how you feel about the fact that employees in your agency are worried about covering their behind and not worried about protecting a former president.”
Rowe responded that he was hurt by that email because he knows Secret Service members right now are hurting.
“I am committed to being a change agent,” Rowe said. “Meaning, I am committed to reviewing some of these things. I looked at the points in his email very quickly. I saw as I was on my way over here this morning. I want to have further conversations, not only with him but also the counter-snipers.”
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.
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