The United States Secret Service (USSS) has long been plagued by corruption, and recent revelations have shown that the agency’s misconduct extends far beyond Donald Trump’s July 13, 2024 rally in Butler, Penn. Under the control of former director Kim Cheatle and acting director Ronald Rowe, the Secret Service also failed to properly execute its duties at Trump’s January 6, 2021 rally at the U.S. Capitol, known as the “insurrection.
At the time, Cheatle was tasked with being the direct supervisor over Robert Engel, the lead Secret Service agent at the rally. Rowe held the role of deputy assistant director over Trump’s detail, according to former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato’s interview transcript with the January 6 committee. Rowe had reportedly sought information about the Proud Boys group prior to what happened on January 6, emailing Engel on December 12, 2020, to inquire why the Secret Service had not been warned that the leaders of the Proud Boys were participating in a tour of the White House.
In an alarming development, the Secret Service deleted all internal text communications from January 5-6, 2021. This move raises questions about potential foul play and coverups during these crucial days in U.S. history. Vice President Kamala Harris also came dangerously close to encountering the pipe bomb that was placed at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on January 6 due to a Secret Service “security lapse” with no clear explanation. The Office of Protective Operations at the Secret Service, which was overseen by both Cheatle and Rowe at the time – Cheatle as assistant director and Rowe as deputy assistant director – failed to protect Kamala despite being responsible for all protective operations concerning her safety.
These and other failures likely explain why the Secret Service conveniently deleted all internal text communications from January 5 and January 6. Neither Rowe nor Cheatle, nor any other law enforcement official involved in protective operations for Kamala that day, are admitting to what happened or why internal communications about it were scrubbed.
Cheatle is listed as being among the Secret Service personnel whose phones were subpoenaed over the deleted text messages; however, Rowe authored the cover-up letter sent in response to the subpoena, claiming that the text messages were all deleted “as part of a device-replacement program.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to stonewall congressional investigators not only concerning the events of July 13 but also those of January 6. DHS is withholding the January 6 committee interview transcripts of “ten current and former employees” of the Secret Service who were involved in operations that day, including Cheatle and Engel.
What this all means is that we now have only Rowe, dubbed by some as “Cheatle 2.0,” to provide “transparency” about what truly happened on July 13. Is there any chance that Rowe will actually tell the truth.
As one individual on X commented, “He might as well be Cheatle.” Another asked, “Why did the USSS fire the sniper who took out the threat?” implying a deeper cover-up. Yet another wrote, “The dam looks as though it is ready to break,” suggesting that these lies cannot persist forever.