Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe testified to the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committee today about failures of his agency to properly secure the site in Butler, Pennsylvania during Donald Trump’s rally there on July 13th. Rowe made no excuses for the Secret Service’s inexplicable failure to secure the rooftop from which the shooter fired at the stage on which Trump spoke less that 150 yards away:
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate are testifying Tuesday on the assassination attempt against Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, earlier this month…
…Rowe told lawmakers he was “ashamed” of the protection failures that day and said he visited the site of the shooting as one of his first acts as acting director.
“I went to the roof of the AGR building where the assailant fired shots and laid in a prone position to evaluate his line of sight. What I saw made me ashamed,” Rowe said in his opening statement. “As a career law enforcement officer, and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.”
“To prevent similar lapses from occurring in the future, I directed our personnel to ensure every event site security plan is thoroughly vetted by multiple experienced supervisors before it is implemented,” he added. “It is clear to me that other protective enhancements could have strengthened our security at the Butler event site.”
But frankly admitting that his agency had made mistakes and assuring the Senators that procedures were being implemented to prevent such failures in the future were not enough for the smarmy Senator from Texas with the punchable face, Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz, during his questioning, tried to elicit from Rowe operation procedural details about what differences in the number of agents there are for the actual President of the United States and a candidate who likes to delude himself is still one. Rowe did his best to answer, beginning to explain that the personal protective details, those closest to their charges, were comparable, but (and here I have to conjecture that he was about to explain to Cruz what was different in the coverages), because Cruz was badgering him for numbers – numbers which I and anyone else with half a brain, assume are kept under wraps for operational security.
Finally an exasperated Rowe informed Cruz that the actual President has the “Actual command authority to launch a nuclear strike!”
But even that was not enough to stop Raphael from trying to ferret out details bout the sizes of the two teams.
What an idiot…
Is there a bigger jackass than @tedcruz? And no matter how much he debases himself and grandstands, he will never be president.
— Rachel Vindman 🌻 (@natsechobbyist) July 30, 2024
Nope.
Cruz is so disrespectful. And weird. pic.twitter.com/mJzZycBDDB
— The Great Gig in the Sky (@thegreatgig8) July 30, 2024
Yep
Ted Cruz lives up to his reputation every day. pic.twitter.com/PW3YJ3OpPg
— Carson West (@CarmenW78321492) July 30, 2024
😂
Asking how many agents there are in completely inappropriate and would reveal information to enemies
— Usman Zannah (@UsmanZannaah) July 30, 2024
But will the press point that out? No.
Ted Cruz continues to show Americans just what a collosal A-Hole his is. He wouldn't let him answer the damn question.
— ❤️🔥 A To The Z ❤️🔥 (@A_tothe_Z_Amber) July 30, 2024
Yup
Cruz wants it to be public knowledge how many protect @POTUS each moment? Seems like something we shouldn’t know
— thomas doherty (@tuckahoetommy) July 30, 2024
Obviously.
It's weird to ask a question and then cut off the response and then refuse to let the person answer. But we know why, his audience is other MAGA weirdos and not the American people.
— The very model of a Stable Genius Liberal (@StableGeniusLib) July 30, 2024
Yup
1. Cruz already knows the answer to that question. No one gets the level of protection as the sitting POTUS, period.
2. The exact level of protection that he asking to be revealed is obviously classified and he knows that as well.
— Wash hands, touch face (@The_real_colin) July 30, 2024
💯
Ted Cruz is not only a coward that will not protect his family when they are insulted and threatened by Trump, he is also an idiot who tries to undercut the protection we offer all candidates by trying to reveal the details of procedures used in those operations.
He needs to be retired from the Senate.
Phuck that pile of fascist goo! If a civil war breaks out then let’s hope someone buries him up to his neck in a remote part of Texas in the summer. Oh…and leave him there.
I’m workin’ on it Scott! I’m a retiree in blue El Paso giving as much fixed income as I can to get Colin Allred to the Senate! Just hoping your wishes for Rafael’s political demise come true!!
Good for you Cleora!! I too gave just the other day to Allred’s campaign. He is a guy who if elected to the Senate will make Texas proud. Bright, articulate, thoughtful, and having been a Civil Rights Attorney, he has the chops to deal with the crazy asses in the Senate—among them, Tuberville, who has to really grate on Allred—who was also in his career a professional football player and probably had to deal with asshole coaches like Tuberville. My own husband, who was a university professor and a proud black man, first played college football and could speak to the idiocy of the white coaches he encountered along the way—but none of them had made it to the Senate of the United States. This is what we’ve come to. Well, that guy and Cruz, who is a feckless coward, Kennedy of Louisiana, MTG, oh her of the stupid big mouth and Q fantasies, and others who are an embarrassment or should be to all Americans.
FYI – Colin has also received a donation or three from here (as have Ruben Gallego, Mark Frisch and Bob Casey) and will see oone or two more before Election Day. We gotta increase the majority in the Senate and flip the House.
I would prefer…well, I can’t say here. I would settle for exile to Clipperton Island naked and with no supplies whatsoever. And the same for CONVICTED RAPIST AND FELON DON VON SHITZINPANTZ and his criminal MAGA cronies!
Wait. What did Clipperton Island (or the French who own the island) do to you that you would condemn it to such a fate?
The US controls many tiny islands and atolls in the Pacific that are currently run by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (in some cases, sharing management with the Defense Department) that would be better.
I often ask myself if von shitzi has ever opened his mouth and uttered something, anything, that doesn’t make him look like a fool. I ask that about Cancun Cruz as well.
We make much of the fact von shitzinpants doesn’t have a legitimately earned college degree but now I have to ask: does cruz? With every word that spews from that putrid pie hole of his like so much sewage, he earns the answer “NO”.
What a f*cking moron.
Spike, Cruz is actually a Princeton graduate and then went on to Harvard Law School and graduated. But your question is, legitimate? Um, how about as a function of white male privilege and the cachet it gives him to opine on affirmative action? Just sayin’………..
He is, he was weird , arrogant & unliked there too
Saw this story very early this morning on one of the talk shows I catch on YouTube while I get stuff done before the sun even comes up and the first thought I had was almost exactly like the one you expressed here Dino…………um, Trump is not the president. And no, I cannot divulge the numbers and operational strategies you big dumbass. Cruz literally makes my skin crawl. And his whiny voice, even worse. Almost as bad as Trump’s. Never mind both of them are dimwits who both had privilege and educational benefits and look how little each one did with these gifts.
I only watched parts of the hearing but did catch some of Cruz’s assholery. Cruz all but demanded President Biden’s team be stripped of most of his agents and re-assigned to Trump.
Worse, there was an exchange where Cruz was DEMANDING Rowe reveal a specific name which he and we all know is on record. One day when the investigations are completed and reports written the name Cruz wanted revealed TODAY, when passions are running so high will be revealed. What galls me is Cruz wanted to DOX someone and effectively put a target on his/her back, as well as members of that agent’s family. He wanted a name to throw to the MAGAs with a not at all subtle recommendation of ‘you know what to do’ to them.
I believe I was right to criticize now former Director Cheatle for going overboard to provide cover for her agency and her agents. However, Rowe and anyone else who watched knew EXACTLY what Cruz was attempting. Offer up a literal target to millions of inflamed MAGAs hoping there was at least one crazed ‘lone wolf” out there that would do what Cruz clearly wants done – get revenge for Trump’s nicked ear with the life of a Secret Service agent. And/or their spouse/family too as a bonus.
I just wish Rowe was older and ready to retire, willing to get by on his govt. pension. It had to have taken all his self control not to call Cruz out for what he was doing. And literally speak the truth along the lines of ‘Senator. YOU are trying to put a target on the back of one of my agents. To put them and their family too in grave danger. I know you have no sense of shame but I am NOT going to put the life of my agent at risk as you are clearly trying to get me to do!’
I hope he at least writes a letter saying something like that to Cruz. Let Cruz try waving that around.
Trump is a FORMER President. There wouldn’t have been any confusion if fookng Republicans would refer to him that way instead of calling him “President” Trump. You can be goddamned sure if they refer to say Obama it would be FORMER President Obama! As a former President Trump wouldn’t get any more Secret Service protection than Obama, Bush or Clinton. Of course since he’s a major Party candidate and now official nominee he gets a beefed up presence for the time being.
If, as should happen he goes down to defeat this fall he’ll be back to having no more Secret Service protection than Obama, Bush, Clinton or yes, even Joe Biden. As I said I didn’t watch the whole hearing. Been something of a day which happens all too often these days. But I hope at some point during questioning Rowe would have made the point that at least prior to the primary season and in anticipation of increased appearances Trump, as a FORMER President had roughly the same amount of protection as other former Presidents. Hell, since unlike the others who followed tradition and largely faded into the background most of the time Trump has actually gotten more agents. Because a) he won’t STFU and calls so much attention to himself and b) has pretty much been running ever since he had no choice but to haul his fat orange ass out of the WH.
Without giving actual numbers (again, from an OpSec viewpoint something that should NEVER be done) Rowe could have made that point and damn well should have.
Both Snooze and Cottonbrain were trying to out-asshole each other this morning. They were browbeating Rowe even after the apologies and declarations of plans to do better. It was all for show and to rack up points with the donOLD.
Cruz. What an ahole.
Given his age, he COULD have benefitted from “affirmative action” for Spanish-surnamed individuals – we’ll never know…..