Local Officials Push Back Against Acting Secret Service Director's Claims: 'Not Going to Take Unnecessary Blame'
Officials from local police units who were assigned to the July 13 rally where former President Donald Trump was shot are challenging the Secret Service’s attempts to deflect blame for the security issues at the event.
During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. suggested that the failure to secure the rooftop from which Thomas Matthew Crooks fired on Trump was not the responsibility of the Secret Service, as reported by The Washington Post.
“I cannot understand why there was not better coverage,” Rowe stated. “I think this was a failure of imagination, a failure to imagine that we actually do live in a very dangerous world where people do actually want to do harm to our protectees.”
Rowe explained that the Secret Service believed local law enforcement had “sufficient eyes” on the outer area of the rally.
“We assumed that the state and locals had it,” Rowe said.
Patrick Young, Commander of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit, and Beaver County District Attorney Nathan Bible told Fox News that their snipers followed orders as given.
Young mentioned that a sniper team, including one sniper from Butler County and one from Beaver County, “were in place by Butler County ESU, which I assume was with the approval of Secret Service.”
“Their assignments that day (were) to be clearly defined and in no uncertain terms,” Young stated. “Their areas included the entry control point, the area before and after the magneton monitor, and then the area in front of the stage. Those are all within the interior and secure perimeter as defined by the Secret Service. That was their locations … and their priority.”
Young added that one of the snipers shared a text with a picture of Crooks to alert others.
The Beaver County sniper later left his position to follow Crooks after seeing him grab a backpack and move out of view.
While the Beaver County sniper searched for Crooks, the second sniper stayed at his post.
Bible explained that the snipers’ assigned location did not provide a clear view of the roof Crooks used to shoot Trump.
“Our guys were in a covert sniper position, you know. They’re set back a couple feet from the window,” Bible said. “So, you know, in order to see on that roof, they would have had to hang out, hang outside, and in doing so, give up their position.”
Bible added that local officials would have positioned snipers on the roof used by Crooks if they had been instructed to do so.
He noted that the snipers are upset at being blamed for what happened.
“It’s less about them getting credit … for the amazing job they did that day,” Bible said. “But they’re certainly not going to take unnecessary blame.”
“So, I do feel like … they are a little bit upset about the way that some of the information has been disseminated. But certainly … they have a job to do, and you know if they’re asked to do it again, I’m sure that they will,” he said.
In his testimony before the Senate, Rowe claimed the Secret Service was never informed about a suspicious person at the rally.
This contradicts a report from The New York Times, which stated that based on a review of text messages from that day, “[a] Beaver County countersniper shared two photos of Mr. Crooks with his colleagues at 5:38 p.m., which were then relayed to the Secret Service, through a series of steps in the command center.”