Acting Secret Service director to testify before Senate with more details about Trump assassination attempt security

(WASHINGTON) — Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe is set to testify before a joint Senate panel on Tuesday, and offer more detail about the Secret Service’s communications at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a man tried to assassinate Trump.

Rowe is expected to offer details about the security arrangements that were put in place for Trump’s rally on July 13.

Rowe will tell 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, according to excerpt’s of Rowe’s testimony that were released to ABC News ahead of the hearing.

“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 will say. “As a career law enforcement officer, and a twenty-five-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 will add.

Rowe is also prepared to tell senators that Secret Service leadership was communicating directly with the Butler Emergency Services Unit (ESU) or their equivalent of a SWAT team. The Service says they have uncovered text messages that have been reviewed and interviews they’ve conducted with officials there on site that give them a fuller picture of what took place.

The text messages, according to a source, are with a senior official from the Butler ESU team; they detail the Butler official describing the personnel that was available and some information about deployments, according to the source.

The Butler ESU was responsible for helping to put together the security package outside the Secret Service bubble.

The source confirmed that the Secret Service never had direct communications with police from Beaver County, as ABC News reported on Monday morning.

The source said the Secret Service was communicating with Butler and that the Beaver County team was providing mutual aid or support to Butler.

Rowe was named acting director after former Secret Service chief Kim Cheatle resigned earlier this month after facing calls to step aside over the Trump assassination attempt. Formerly, Rowe was No. 2 and is a 24-year veteran of the agency.

“Since July 13, the Secret Service has implemented these and other enhanced protective measures to ensure the people and places we protect are safe,” Rowe will say at the Senate hearing, according to excerpts obtained by ABC News. “We have elevated the protective posture of all protectees and are reinforcing protective details appropriately.”

Rowe will note the agency has initiated the protection of six more people, including Trump’s running mate JD Vance and his family and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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