[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] … from the Donald Trump assassination attempt and reveals if anyone was fired since the former president was shot.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe continued to reveal failures Friday from the day former President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated while speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Rowe also revealed that nobody has been fired yet over Trump's near-death experience.
The acting director explained that Secret Service officials had no radio communications with local police and weren't aware Thomas Matthew Crooks had a gun aimed at the ex-president before he opened fire.
Rowe confirmed that 'there was somebody who did, in fact radio out that they had seen the individual with a weapon.'
'What I can tell you is that piece of information, that vital piece of information, and by no fault of anyone, it was a very stressful situation, it did not make it over,' Rowe said.
| Actually, it is the fault of the Secret Service team manager, because it is always the manager’s job — whatever the actual job title — to ensure that the team ha everything it needs to get the job done. Ditto for the communications coordinator who reports to the team manager. Ditto again for each of the team members who need to be able to communicate to the local team. And ultimately it is the job of Mr. Rowe, as Number 2 in the organization, to make sure that all the teams know what they need and have what they need. Lots of people at fault, and they all need to go back through all the training they have been given from the day they were hired, to see what else they do not know that they should. At no pay, of course — you only get paid for learning that stuff once. Or they can refuse to work for several years without pay, and be fired for the combination of incompetence and insubordination. Or they can be prosecuted for deliberately endangering the body they were supposed to guard. Freedom of choice… |
Local and state law enforcement officers aren't on the same radio network as Secret Service agents.
Trump's Secret Service detail, Rowe said, was 'operating under the assumption' from the last bit of information that they received.
'That there was an issue that the locals were working at the three o'clock,' he said, using a clock as a directional cue. 'That's a bit of information that we had. Not anything about a weapon.'
In fact, more details about the threat were being shared, when the gunshots rang out.
'So the former president's detail - they had an advanced person on the ground who was responsible for the site,' Rowe said. 'The radio transmission goes out about locals working an issue at the 3 o'clock.'
'The member of that detail called their Pittsburgh Field Office counterpart. "Hey, what do you know about this?" In the midst - right in the middle of that phone conversation, the shots begin firing,' Rowe said.
The former president is a fan of holding large outdoor rallies, but Rowe suggested that busy radio chatter - from people making medical emergency requests due to the heat - could have played a role clogging up the airwaves at a vital time.
Rowe said that about 100 calls had been made for support ahead of the shooting.
'It was a very hot day that day,' Rowe explained. 'There were a lot of - not only EMS type of calls to address people but, there were people that needed some other type of law enforcement assistance.'
'This happens. Candidly happens a lot at outdoor rallies where, especially on hot days,' the acting director continued.
'So there was a lot of traffic, radio traffic on the local net about, "Hey, I need an EMT here." So there were a lot of people that were needing assistance,' Rowe said.
Rowe said it was now 'plainly obvious' that the Secret Service didn't have the information they needed, but refused to assign blame.
'It just so happened that there was a sense of urgency, that there might have been radio traffic that we missed,' he said. 'We have to do a better job at that.'
During the press conference, which ran under an hour, Rowe revealed that he would 'provide some type of statement that people are being held accountable' when asked if the American public would be informed about firings over the assassination attempt.
He also said that all the main principals - Trump, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance and whomever Harris chooses for her VP would all get Secret Service sniper teams at their events going forward.
Rowe was also asked about an allegation from a whisteblower that he 'personally directed' cuts to the agency's Counter Surveillance Division, the unit tasked with evaluating event sites in advance.
'I've become aware of this. We got a congressional letter on it. What I can tell you is that the Counter Surveillance Division, they do a fantastic job,' Rowe said.
He said that he was aware of the allegations that he had denied requests to utilize them.
'The Counter Surveillance Division has been out there supporting the former president at some very high-profile events. They continue to provide that support and they're out there providing support right now,' Rowe said.
| Adequate support? Or once again will the Secret Service look like the Keystone Cops? |
When asked to clarify if he cut CSD resources he responded, 'I did not, no.'
| Then who did? Someone signed off for that decision. |
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