JUST IN: Secret Service’s New Director Played ‘Key Role’ In Pulling Security From Trump

Before the recently departed Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle made the fateful decision to direct agents away from former President Donald Trump on the day of an assassination attempt, her predecessor played a “key role” in many decisions over the prior years to deny Trump’s team additional security personnel despite repeated requests after he received multiple death threats.

RealClearPolitics uncovered that Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe was “directly involved” in denying Trump’s team a full array of Secret Service resources, including additional counter-snipers who may have been able to shoot and kill a gunman before he opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13th. Several sources familiar with agency machinations say Rowe worked closely with Cheatle to turn down requests by the Trump campaign for “magnetometers, additional agents, and other resources to help screen rallygoers at large, outdoor Trump campaign gatherings.” Specifically, Rowe ordered that Secret Service snipers not attend Trump rallies that were outside the driving distance of the agency’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. The drive time from the nation’s capital to Butler is approximately four and a half hours northwest, conceivably putting the rally location far outside Rowe’s radar.

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Tuesday will see Rowe and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate appear before a joint hearing of the Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Government Affairs committees where they are expected to answer questions about the historic security failure and the Bureau’s ongoing investigation. Last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray was grilled by the U.S. House Oversight Committee and Republican Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) about what his team had uncovered, leading to revelations that Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman, was flying a reconnaissance drone near the rally site in the preceding hours without intervention. Authorities also located explosives and a remote detonator linked to his vehicle, which they believe he intended to detonate in an attempt to distract counter-snipers while he fired at President Trump.

A bipartisan chorus has denounced the Secret Service and called for Cheatle’s resignation. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), chair of Tuesday’s joint committee, said he plans to press both bureaucrats on the “litany of gaps and failures” that occurred that day. “There are monumental, critical questions that so far the leadership in these two agencies have failed to answer [for, and] even to begin to respond to,” Blumenthal said. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), a member of the Homeland Security Committee, said he is planning an intense round of questions for Rowe which are only going to become more difficult to answer after the latest report. “I will also hold him fully accountable for being 100% transparent and honest in cooperating with our investigation and oversight,” Johnson said Thursday.

Over the weekend another significant security failure occurred before President Trump took the stage at the national Bitcoin conference in Nashville. Secret Service agents kept the Republican off-stage while they worked to locate two individuals who had obtained credentials but circumvented metal detectors intended to prevent weapons from being brought into the conference space. Both attendees were located, questioned by authorities, and later were determined to not present a threat, though they were ultimately bounced from the venue. Secret Service agents did not provide an explanation about why or how both individuals were able to escape a security perimeter just two weeks after the assassination attempt on Trump. Internally, agents have admitted it won’t be long before a second deadly attempt is made.

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