Trump was shot in a shootout at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. One spectator, Corey Comperatore, was killed in the assassination attempt and two others were seriously injured.
Tuesday’s hearing is the first time a member of the Secret Service will appear before Congress since former Chief Kimberly Cheatle resigned earlier this month following her testimony in the House of Representatives.
Fast alerts, 24/7, delivered to your inbox daily. Subscribe to stay updated with the world’s top moments.
By subscribing, you agree to our policy.
Incoming update. . .
Coverage of this has ended.
Attorney General Merrick Garland (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)
US Attorney General Merrick Garland called the attack on former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 “abhorrent,” adding that it was a “major security failure. “
“Look, this attack on the former president is an egregious attack on former President Trump, but also an abhorrent attack on democracy itself,” the attorney general said. “It is a fundamental failure in terms of security. “
He also asked how alarming it was that a 20-year-old gunman could obviously shoot Trump from about 150 yards away.
“It’s incredibly alarming. That’s why we want to find out what happened here, why it happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Garland said.
The attorney general then asked Trump and other very sensible officials about the Iranian risk.
Drone footage shows lawmakers climbing to the top of the AGR building. Thomas Crooks was fired on July 13 (Fox News Digital).
Rowe and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate appeared for a joint hearing with the Senate Justice and Homeland Security committees. It’s the first time a member of the Secret Service has appeared before Congress since the resignation of former chef Kimberly Cheatle earlier this month.
Rowe testified that officials didn’t know there was a guy on the roof of the AGR building at the rally until it was too late. He also admitted that the responsibility for the security failure at the former president’s rally ultimately lies in secrecy. service.
He appears to blame local snipers stationed inside the AGR building during the demonstration.
Read what local people had to say about Rowe’s testimony.
The president of the National Fraternal Order of Police on Tuesday criticized acting United States Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, Jr. , after he failed to provide answers about the attempted assassination of former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. on July 13, pointing the finger at the local police.
The group’s president, Patrick Yoes, issued a statement after Rowe testified about the investigation before federal lawmakers.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. testifies before the Senate on July 30, 2024 (Photo via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images).
Ronald Rowe, Acting Director of the United States Secret Service. Jr. said Tuesday that information about a gunman on a rooftop never passed to former President Trump’s security guards at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, when a gunman opened fire and was nearly killed. murder him
“We are faced with a scenario where, at a minimum, other people knew this guy had a gun at least two minutes before the shooting. I need to know what you can tell me about what happened in the last two minutes, where “A group of other people in the crowd saw him and yelled, ‘They gave him a gun,'” Lee told Rowe. “What happened that time and why the hell didn’t they take President Trump out of the picture at that time?”?
“No information regarding a gun on the roof was ever conveyed to our staff,” Rowe said.
Lee asked about the channel of communication between law enforcement and Secret Service agents.
“Senator, this data remained on state and local channels and was not relayed to the Secret Service,” Rowe said.
“Sir, I think they were dealing with a very critical scenario, and if I’m not mistaken, they explained it over the radio,” Rowe said. “However, this never happened to us. “
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. , a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said Tuesday he was disappointed that critical data was not available two weeks after a gunman tried to assassinate former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. 13. Matrix
Johnson joined Fox News’ “America Reports” on Tuesday afternoon and said he would “love to have agents on the ground,” after learning of the lack of communication between the Secret Service and local authorities.
Ronald Rowe, acting director of the United States Secret Service. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. Getty Images)
Cruz pressed Rowe for a hearing on Trump’s assassination attempt, asking him about the main security points and whether Trump’s main points required more resources, which was denied by Secret Service leadership.
Throughout the questioning, Cruz asked how many officers were protecting Trump at the rally and how that compared to the security provided to President Biden or the first lady, to which Rowe was unable to provide an answer. Solid, though he said Biden was getting more security because of things like nuclear codes.
Cruz also asked about the main security points of Trump, who asked for more resources and reported that the resources had been shot down.
Rowe said Cruz’s Secret Service agents are politicians.
Still, Cruz pressed and Rowe refused to answer.
“Okay, you refuse to answer my question,” Cruz said, adding that the events on the day of the assassination attempt were catastrophic.
Donald Trump, his face bloodied, is surrounded by Secret Service agents as he leaves the level in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Rebecca Droke/AFP Getty Images)
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. , told reporters Tuesday that it will take more than throwing extra money at the Secret Service to get the resources needed for a president.
Marshall spoke after a hearing on the attempted assassination of former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
He later said officials were doing things and he didn’t need to be so “arrogant. “
“Obviously, in this situation, President Trump probably needed four or five times as much,” Marshall said. “I would say that it would be practically very unlikely to make this site specifically for the president. It will take more than just investing money. »
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Cruz spoke after a hearing into Trump’s assassination attempt and said former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was fired after security facilities failed.
The senator went on to criticize the Biden administration’s Secret Service.
“Apparently, in Biden’s Secret Service, the dollar doesn’t impede anything. No one has any responsibility,” Cruz said.
Senator Roger Marshall, Republican of Kansas. (Getty images)
“I ask for two things. One is an independent, non-profit commission charged with reading and investigating the entire crime scene, leaving nothing to chance,” Marshall said. “And secondly, and in fact I am no more confident now than I was before today’s hearing, I ask our commander-in-chief to appoint a crisis leadership team to report to the Secret Service, identify this direction, turn things around, and begin to provide good enough coverage. for President Trump and others.
Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo. , led the Senate majority to introduce a solution Tuesday officially condemning the assassination attempt on former President Trump earlier this month at a rally in Pennsylvania.
If approved in the upper chamber, the solution would condemn the attack on Trump, pay tribute to “the victims killed and injured in the demonstration” and call for “unity and civility in United States. “
Barrasso plans to seek adoption of the solution either through a mechanism known as a “hotline” that allows objections to be filed, or through the unanimous consent of the Senate. It would take the objection of one senator to save one or the other.
Read about Thursday’s hearing.
Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
FBI Assistant Director Paul Abbate revealed Tuesday that federal investigators did not have complete emails sent through former President Trump’s shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks.
“Some email accounts will be hacked. There are some that we have not been able to obtain data from because of their encrypted nature,” he said.
Abbate’s admission that the FBI does not have all the information contained in Crooks’ phone came after Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S. C. , a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked about the young man’s electronic devices. of 20 years that were received through the federal agency.
“So you’re telling me that the guy who shot the former president 8 times has apps and we can’t use them,” Graham repeated. “Maybe if you could get into it, it would reveal applicable information. “
“That’s right, senator,” Abbate said.
“Senator, as we said, we want a solution that guarantees legal access,” Abbate said.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten of Fox News Digital contributed to this update.
Facebook accounts have incorrectly classified the symbol of former President Trump raising his fist after this month’s assassination as “altered. “(Screenshot X/Fox News)
Trump lashed out at Meta and Google on Tuesday morning following an outcry from social media users on Monday. Users reported that photographs and searches of the murder were censored or marked as digitally altered.
“Facebook just admitted that it wrongly censored Trump’s ‘assassination attempt photo’ and was discovered. The same goes for Google,” Trump wrote on his proprietary social media platform Truth Social. “They did it practically to locate gunshots or anything related to this heinous act. Both are facing GREAT PUSHBACK FOR CENSORSHIP CLAIMS. “
He continued: “Here we go again, attempt to manipulate the elections!!GO AFTER META AND GOOGLE. LET THEM KNOW THAT WE ARE ALL GOOD TO THEM, THIS TIME IT WILL BE MUCH MORE DIFFICULT. MAGA2024!”
A corporate spokesperson admitted that fact checks had been implemented on the photo and warned that additional “inaccurate responses” could arise to the media before a correction was made.
“We know that others have noticed incomplete, inconsistent, or superseded data on this topic,” a Meta spokesperson said in an article about the controversy. “We are implementing a fix to provide more up-to-date responses to queries, and it is conceivable that other people will continue to see erroneous responses in the meantime. “
Meta’s director of public affairs, Dani Lever, later explained in X that this was done in error because the systems had to stumble upon a separate edit of the image.
Timothy Nerozzi of Fox News Digital contributed to this update.
The joint meeting of the Senate Judiciary, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees is now closed.
“Other Americans deserve to know what went wrong. And he deserves accountability for those safety failures,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. , said in his closing remarks.
Hawley seemed incredulous when Rowe indicated that the other people who made decisions about the security perimeter at former President Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania and others involved in the communications disruption had not yet lost their jobs.
“What else do you want to investigate?” Hawley asked.
Rowe protested that Hawley asked him to “rush to judgment” without a thorough investigation of what happened.
“I probably wouldn’t be too quick to judge. People are going to be held accountable,” Rowe said.
“Sir, this may have been our textbook repository in Texas,” Rowe said. “I’ve lost sleep over this for over 17 days, just like you. “
“Then fire somebody,” Hawley insisted.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. , asked about the risk posed by foreign actors who mention Iran, as opposed to former President Trump.
“What is the nature of the Iranian threat?” » Blumenthal.
Blumenthal then asked acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe if there is an express or imminent risk of opposing Trump on July 13.
“We have no data that there are co-conspirators or internal or external links, adding Iran, but we are not, I need to be clear. We have no evidence of that,” Rowe said. We are ruling out any possibility and remain open to the concept that secrecy had in mind on July 13, namely that there may be a risk on the part of Iran. ”
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, questioned why former President Trump allowed escalation at his July 13 rally when there were reports of a suspicious person.
Rowe said there was no communication that the suspected user had a weapon.
“Senator, again, those were suspicions, not weapons, or there was never any communication of this. There is an individual with a weapon, a risk or other bad intentions,” Rowe said.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. , and Lindsey Graham, R-S. C. , spoke to reporters Tuesday to reiterate their calls for more layoffs within the U. S. Secret Service.
Graham echoed Blumenthal’s statement.
“If you’re in the military and something like that happens, every single commander, every single first sergeant, the entire unit would be replaced almost by one person. So if there’s no primary duty here, then “It’s going to be difficult for Congress to agree to do this the right way to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Graham said.
Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this update.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. has refuted claims that he personally rejected more resources and security personnel for former President Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“Is this true?” » Johnson.
Rowe responded, “That’s a false claim. This is incorrect. ”
“Okay. I mean, that’s the kind of data you have to refute with documentation,” Johnson responded.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Tuesday that he reported through the Secret Service that a drone was not operational on the day of former President Trump’s rally due to technical difficulties.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe responded: “This is everything I talked about behind closed doors and, again, anything that requires a lot of sleep because of the abuser’s bottom line. What if we had geolocated because the platform at the UAS counter was in Service? It’s something that was difficult for me to understand and I have no explanation for it.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill. , pressed witnesses after FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate flagged SWAT shooter Thomas Crooks with a rangefinder before the assassination attempt.
Rowe responded: “So I will say, Senator, clearly someone is looking to find out where you are in the vicinity of a location, a consistent location. I refer you to my colleague here, but I think it was recreation or sports. ” I read that it was a rangefinder for golf. However, he would still have allowed her to indicate the distance she was from her target.
“Wasn’t that enough?” Durbin followed him.
“As far as raising suspicions. . . I believe he was known as a suspect through local authorities,” Rowe said.
“And nothing happened,” Durbin said.
Under questioning from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. , acting director Ronald Rowe Jr. admitted that responsibility for the breakdown of security at former President Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on July 13 lies with the end of the account with the secret services.
“What I would say, senator, is that this ceiling has had greater coverage. We’ll get to the bottom of this. If there were any violations of the policy,” Rowe responded.
Paul responded: “I think a breach of protocol would be indefensible. And I can’t believe how indefensible it would be to not break protocol. »
“You’re right, sir,” he said Rowe. Es a failure of the secret services. “
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. shared several images of the sniper’s attitude showing how Thomas Crooks discovered a position that did not cover Secret Service counterattacks.
Therefore, there is no explanation why the attacker did not notice before opening fire on Trump.
“That’s what our countersniper team saw. A shooter. Elbowless. The most sensitive part of its head can be seen slightly underneath. The attacker face down,” Rowe said, pointing to a photograph showing the sniper’s point of view.
“Something that I recently discovered that I need to share is a social media account that would be related to the shooter,” Abbate said.
The FBI deputy director said this social media account was active from 2019 to 2020 and that “more than 700 comments were posted from this account. ”
“Some of those comments, if in the end attributable to the shooter, appear to reflect anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant themes to embrace political violence and are described as excessive in nature,” Abbate said.
“On July 3, the demonstration was announced in Butler, Pennsylvania,” Abbate said. “On July 6, the shooter registered to attend the rally and looked up, quote, how far was Oswald from Kennedy? On July 7, the shooter went from his home to the Butler Farm fairgrounds and stayed there for about 20 minutes. In this exhibition complex making plans and reconnaissance on July 12, the shooter drove from his home to the Clairton Sportsman Club, where he practiced shooting.
“Around 6:11 p. m. , a local police officer climbed onto the roof through another officer, saw the shooter and radioed that he was armed with, quote, a long gun. Over the next 30 years the shots were fired “.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said Tuesday that agents didn’t know there was a guy with a gun on the roof of the AGR building during former President Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania until it was too late.
“I understand that this group of workers did not know that the aggressor had a firearm until they heard gunshots. Prior to this, they operated with the wisdom that local authorities would be occupying a suspicious individual before they were shot.
“I regret that the data has not been delivered faster and more to Congress and the public. And I am concerned that this lack of data has given rise to multiple false and harmful conspiracy theories about what is happening. ” That day it happened. And I need to debunk those theories. ”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. , a member of the ranking, called on Google and mainstream media outlets to bury the story of Trump’s assassination in the weeks after the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“Americans will be able to attend a political rally and express their political ideals without worrying about violence. And political candidates for our nation’s highest offices will need to be assured that their protection will never be compromised while in service,” Peters said.
Peters said the committee would ask questions about the Secret Service’s complex efforts to come up with plans, decisions about the placement of sniper and counter-sniper groups and communications outages at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has diligently received records and testimony from the FBI, the Secret Service and local authorities as his workplace provides surveillance in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Trump.
“Well, I’ll start by asking about drones. Why did the Secret Service have drones and they didn’t work when they were in a position to launch them into the air?And I think that’s a hole since the shooter had a drone flying over the area,” Grassley said.
“So we’re going to focus on this breakdown in communication between law enforcement, local law enforcement and the Secret Service, and why they didn’t have a meeting before the occasion arose. takes place or a few days before the occasion occurs. There are simply many flaws. ”
Donald Trump in his speech at the Bitcoin 2024 convention in Nashville, Tennessee. (Getty Images)
Trump was able to take the stage Saturday afternoon at the Music City Center for the Bitcoin 2024 convention when Secret Service agents made him wait while two accredited and screened attendees were kicked out of the room for failing to comply with access protocols. correct. He confirmed the Secret Service spokesperson to Fox News.
His secret service asked the former president to wait for the two Americans to be there before he could step up to the level to deliver his opening remarks.
“It was decided that there was no protective interest among those Americans and that there was never a risk against the former president,” the spokesman said.
The two Americans went through police after they were discovered and evicted from the event, the New York Post reported. None of the users have been charged in connection with the incident.
The other two people were arrested at a first checkpoint before bypassing the second, according to media.
It remains unclear how the individuals made it past the screening.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this update.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley on Monday released several documents similar to the assassination attempt on former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
However, the location of would-be assassin Thomas Crooks, above a warehouse owned by AGR International, is not included in the domain covered by the snipers. His location was detailed in a Beaver County after-action report, which reiterated his sniper’s position not far from Crooks’.
Documentation collected through Grassley also demonstrated the sighting of Crooks and his suspicious habit that led to the shooting that night.
About an hour before the assassination attempt, snipers spotted Crooks and reported that he was sitting at a nearby picnic table.
The message also said that a bicycle and a backpack had appeared to be in the back of the building.
Photos of Crooks, the motorcycle and the backpack were exchanged with local police via text messages.
Just minutes before Crooks opened fire, the local officers assisting with the event weren’t sure where he had gone.
One user replied “not sure” when asked which direction Crooks had traveled. “He opposed the building,” they wrote at 6:00 a. m. p. m. Si he had to guess the other way around. Away from the event. “
But at 6:12 p. m. , they were fired.
Grassley’s said it was continuing its monitoring of the assassination attempt.
Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson contributed to this update.
A screenshot of text messages received from the investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 13 (obtained through Senator Chuck Grassley).
New text messages between members of the Beaver County emergency in Pennsylvania show the understaffing they had ahead of a pro-President Trump rally earlier this month when a would-be killer shot him and others, killing a bystander.
According to one executive, his team was busy and unable to participate in the rally, noting that “everyone is working, on vacation or injured,” in texts provided to Fox News Digital through the workplace of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
On Monday the senator revealed a review of all files obtained through Grassley related to the assassination attempt.
Text messages between Beaver County emergency team leaders showed they were asked to help Butler County provide security for the Trump event just days before the rally. A message was sent to team leaders on July 8, asking who would be available to assist at the event. Occasion of the thirteenth of July.
At one point, someone said they could tell Butler County, where Trump’s rally took place, that the Beaver County emergency might have to be “on call. ”
Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson contributed to this update.
Thomas Crooks’ parents, Matthew and Mary Crooks, return to their home in Bethel Park, Pa. , Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
“He will have to prove beyond a doubt that [Crooks’ parents] aided and abetted his ability to plan this assassination attempt or somehow knew what he was doing and provided him with the means to do so,” Pennsylvania said. Attorney Matthew Mangino of Fox News Digital-based Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly and George said, “I think that would be tricky to achieve, beyond a moderate doubt. “
Mangino added, however, that “civil liability is another story. ”
Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this update.
Buildings adjacent to the Butler Farm Show, site of a crusade for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, are seen Monday, July 15, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Thomas Crooks shot from the roof of the housing complex and was wounded. Trump on July 13 an assassination attempt. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Crooks then walked across several rooftops before setting up his shooting position atop a structure owned by American Glass Research (AGR), near the Butler Farm Show grounds, about 150 meters from where the former president spoke at his rally. .
The FBI held a news conference with reporters more than two weeks after Crooks, 20, shot Trump with a DPMS AR-15 firearm with a collapsible inventory during the rally in an assassination attempt that hit the president’s ear but still came out. One man died and two others were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh office, said the firm has reviewed more than 2,100 pieces of data similar to the assassination attempt since July 13.
Before the shooting, Crooks searched the web for current and former presidents.
Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this update.
US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned last week after tension arose following the assassination of former President Trump.
“To the men and women of the United States Secret Service, the solemn project of the Secret Service is for our nation’s leaders and monetary infrastructure,” Cheatle wrote in a letter to the agency. “On July 13, we did not comply with this project. “
Cheatle said “scrutiny” over the past week “has been intense and will continue to be intense as our operational tempo increases. ”
“As principal, I take full responsibility for security violations,” she wrote.
“As a leader, it takes honor, courage and integrity to take on the full duty of an organization charged with one of the most difficult jobs in public service,” Biden said. “We all know that what happened that day can never happen again. As we move forward, I wish Kim all the best. “
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman, Jacqui Heinrich and Peter Doocy contributed to this update.
Tuesday’s hearing comes after the FBI released new major points related to the investigation into longtime presidential assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks.
The FBI told reporters Monday that Crooks had a long-standing “interest in science” and “experiments” and that, as a result, his circle of relatives was “not concerned” about the countless packages he won at his home.
Crooks, 20, made 25 online gun purchases between the spring of 2023 and the first part of this year, and purchased devices used to make explosives six times, all under pseudonyms, according to the agency.
President Biden is now tasked with appointing a permanent head of the Secret Service. Biden wrote in a statement that he planned to make his selection “soon. “
Anders Hagstrom, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, and Christina Coulter of Fox News Digital contributed to this update.
Ronald Rowe, acting director of the United States Secret Service, leaves the United States Capitol after a briefing with senators on Thursday, July 25, 2024. The former director, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned on Tuesday. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. Getty Images)
West Palm Beach Deputy Police Chief Tony Spatara CBS 12 met Rowe at the police academy in 1995 at what is now Palm Beach State College.
“Knowing him personally, I’m very proud of him for achieving his goal, and even some within the Secret Service,” Spatara said. “Ron is a very intelligent and well-rounded user with a multitude of experiences. ”
After graduating, Rowe joined WPBPD’s SWAT team and decided to serve on high-level police task forces as the city battled a crack epidemic, CBS12 reported.
Spatara recounted a time when Rowe sprang into action while providing security at St. John’s Medical Center. Mary’s.
The deputy police chief said Rowe was “exactly” the right user to run the Secret Service, as if facing a crisis of accountability and credibility following the near-successful assassination attempt on former President Trump.
“I think they made the right decision in deciding on him. I don’t know in this country who is better qualified to face the challenge that is coming. “
Anders Hagstrom of Fox News Digital contributed to this update.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate will appear at a joint hearing with the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees. It is the first time a member of the Secret Service will appear before Congress since the resignation of former leader Kimberly Cheatle. prior to this month.
The Secret Service did not respond to a request for comments prepared through Rowe for the committees.
Rowe took over as head of the Secret Service amid growing distrust of the company among elected officials and the public following the assassination of former President Trump.
Rowe is now guilty of directing more than 7,800 special agents, uniformed department officials, and technical law enforcement officers, as well as administrative and technical personnel.
Anders Hagstrom of Fox News Digital contributed to this update.
The live show starts here.