Everyone wants and expects accountability. But accountability isn’t the product of witch hunts or trials by public opinion. Yet, that’s exactly how most of Tuesday’s Senate hearing proceeded. For some, the temptation to transform the senatorial dais into a local theater production was simply overwhelming. Senators shouldn’t aspire to trend on X or govern through soundbites.
No one’s winning an Oscar for Tuesday’s spate of performances.
Accountability requires the accurate and judicious apportionment of blame. In other words, the exercise of justice. Those who say they champion justice and decry government weaponization shouldn’t deny Secret Service agents administrative process, especially in a matter as critical as an assassination attempt.
It’s usually Democrats who seek to burn political opponents in effigy.
Tar and feathering by a social media mob isn’t accountability. It’s the opposite, and it only perpetuates the institutional pathologies that gave rise to tragedy. The opposition to this odious inclination was an inspirational moment in an otherwise lackluster event.
Since the July 13th assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, a mass of questions, commentary, and conspiracy theories have occupied the minds of the American people. Yet, more than two weeks out, we’re still reliant on Congressional oversight hearings for scraps of information.
Yesterday, the Senate Homeland Security, Governmental Affairs, and Judiciary Committees conducted a joint hearing to obtain information and compel accountability from the FBI and the Secret Service (SS). Acting SS Director (AD) Ronald Rowe, Jr. and FBI Deputy Director (DD) Paul Abbate occupied the hot seats.
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AD Rowe opened the hearing by recognizing that the attempted assassination on July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania, “was a failure on multiple levels.” Rightly, he recognized the bravery displayed by the members of Trump’s close protection detail, noting that they threw themselves into the line of fire, showing a degree of courage unknown to keyboard jockeys habitually meme-blasting like angsty adolescents.
Significantly, AD Rowe stated that he visited the site of the shooting and lay in the same prone firing position as the shooter. The experience left him ashamed and unable to “defend why that roof was not better secured.” He has since mandated that multiple layers of experienced supervision review and approve all site security plans. He detailed new mandates regarding the increased use of UAVs, interoperability of communications, and allocation of personnel.
Preemptively answering questions about what Trump’s detail knew just prior to the attack, AD Rowe said, “Neither the SS counter-sniper teams nor members of the former president’s security detail had any knowledge that there was a man on the roof of the AGR building with a firearm.” The SS detail was “operating with the knowledge that local law enforcement was working an issue with a suspicious individual.” A stunning admission and acknowledgment of colossal failure.
Democrat members of the committee immediately defaulted to gun-grab narratives, ignoring the vastly more important questions concerning SS failures.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) lambasted Rowe, dragging him over the issue of accountability. Hawley blanched at Rowe’s refusal to provide him with the name of the SS agent responsible for conducting the Butler, PA advance, the person likely responsible for assessing the vulnerabilities at the AGR building. Rowe refused to be bullied, rebuffing Hawley’s demand to pillory an SS agent without the benefit of administrative due process. Senator Hawley’s grasping for a sacrificial lamb he might trot out before an inflamed public does nothing to serve the interests of justice. I was assigned to the FBI’s Attorney General’s Protection detail for over three years. I fully understand the responsibilities of a “no fail mission.” AD Rowe was right to resist Hawley's intemperate demands.
Another inspiring moment occurred when AD Rowe stated, “I’m committed to being a change agent.” This statement was lost in the congressional melee to appear the most incensed. It’s a stunning declaration, one which has never passed the lips of FBI Director Wray or any of his executives, even in the face of the FBI’s own soul destroying acts of politicization.
However, Rowe’s testimony was far from faultless. Probing questions about communications breakdowns and drone bandwidth issues from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) were far from satisfactory. At this point, it’s just not acceptable for Rowe to say, “I have no explanation for it.”
One question most revealing of senatorial naivete came, unfortunately, from Ted Cruz (R-TX). He harangued about the relative size of the security footprint of a sitting president’s detail compared to a dignitary of lesser national security import. Rowe stated that the “close protection shift,” meaning the agents immediately surrounding Trump, is of the same numerical size as the close protection detail surrounding a sitting president. However, the size and composition of the total security component dedicated to a sitting president is far greater. The distinction was buried under a fusillade of Cruz’s hostility and senatorial grandstanding.
Despite more than three hours of Senate pontification, serious questions still remain unanswered. CB Cotton of Fox News has been producing incisive, on-the-ground reporting from Butler, Pennsylvania. She reports that Patrick Young of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit is refuting statements made by AD Rowe. “Young says his local snipers were never directed to guard the roof gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks fired from.”
Finally, the preliminary narrative posited by FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate regarding the character of Crook’s social media content is being challenged by Gab CEO Andrew Torba, who posted on his X account that a Gab account, as yet fully verified to be Crooks’, was “a pro-lockdown, pro-immigration, left-wing Joe Biden supporter.” This does nothing to enhance the beleaguered agency’s credibility, appearing to favor a characterization of Crooks in line with Biden administration talking points.
The DOJ, FBI, and Secret Service are all deeply scarred after four tortuous years of the Biden/Harris regime. They’ve given us war abroad and war at home — a government turned against its citizens.
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