U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe confirmed the authenticity of an email sent by a Secret Service counter-sniper criticizing leadership in the agency while under questioning by U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) during a Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
The hearing, entitled “Examination of the Security Failures Leading to the Assassination Attempt on Former President Trump,” heard testimony from Rowe and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Deputy Director Paul Abbate about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally on July 13.
The suspected 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was fatally shot by Secret Service personnel after he shot and killed one spectator – identified as former Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company Chief Corey Comperatore – and injured three others, including the former president, while positioned on a roof of a building overseeing the rally.
During his opening statement, Rowe said he was “ashamed” of the lack of security on the roof where the would-be assassin fired shots at Trump and the rally crowd.
“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. As a career law enforcement officer, and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured,” Rowe said.
While Rowe was pressed on the Secret Service’s apartments failures of duty on the day of the attempted assassination by other members of the Judiciary Committee, Blackburn focused her questioning of Rowe on the “culture” of the agency.
Blackburn cited an email reportedly written by a Secret Service countersniper blasting the agency’s “supervisors” for not being concerned about protecting the former president and instead focusing on, as Blackburn said, “covering their own behind.”
“Director Rowe, I want to come to you first because a counter sniper has decided to speak out about the culture at your agency. And I think it is very telling. And he sent an email. And I’m going to quote from that, ‘If this agency needs to change, and if not now, when? The next assassination in 30 days?’ But here’s what I want to talk with you about, because in this email, he says, and I’m quoting again, ‘The motto of the USSS, is CYA, and every supervisor is doing it now.’ That’s the end of his quote,” Blackburn began her questioning of Rowe, reading from the email.
“So, you’re the guy in charge. And you’re one of those supervisors, you’ve been a career guy there at the Secret Service. The public has lost trust in the ability to execute the mission to protect. And I want to know how you feel about the fact that employees in your agency are worried about covering their behind and not worried about protecting a former president,” Blackburn added.
In his response, Rowe confirmed the authenticity of the email, saying that while he was “hurt” by it, he is interested in meeting with the countersniper who authored it.
“My agency is hurting. Emotions are raw. I actually want to hear more from that duty officer, that technician,” Rowe said. “I want to have further conversations not only with him but also the countersniper supervisors.”
To Rowe’s comment that he is “committed to being a change agent,” Blackburn concluded her time by saying, “We are going to hold you to being a change agent because things at the Secret Service absolutely have to change.”
Watch Blackburn’s full exchange with Rowe:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
