Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe addressed concerns about the agency’s inability to protect former President Donald Trump during a recent rally in Pennsylvania at a press conference on Friday. He referred to this incident as “a failure,” acknowledging that better protection should have been provided for Trump. The roof where alleged shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump, killing one attendee and injuring two others, was not adequately covered by the Secret Service. Rowe stated, “We should have had better coverage on that roofline. We should have had at least some other set of eyes from the Secret Service point of view covering that.
Rowe’s comments were prompted in part by a video obtained by Fox News and filmed by James Copenhaver, who was injured during the incident. The video shows Crooks running back and forth on the roof shortly before Trump was shot. Rowe responded to questions about this timeline, stating that the FBI has provided some chronology but he would need to review it further. Regardless, Rowe maintained that this was a Secret Service failure, with the roofline not adequately covered or monitored by agents.
Acting Director Rowe reiterated his claim from an earlier Senate hearing that Secret Service counter-snipers never saw Crooks on the roof with a gun but did not address whether they saw him without a gun. However, when asked specifically if the counter-snipers saw Crooks on the rooftop at all, Rowe stated that they did not see him until he fired. This claim has been called into question by a video that surfaced showing Crooks clearly visible from where one of the injured rally-goers was sitting on rafters behind Trump.