Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) was among several Republicans who responded to a press conference Friday by Acting Director of the US Secret Service Ronald Lowe about the attempted assassination of former President Trump at a rally in July. Lee said he believes there is more to the story than what Lowe told reporters.
“It is clear that the American public has yet to be informed of the full extent of what happened,” Lee told Fox News Digital in a statement. “From the beginning, it appears that rally attendees and cell phone videographers were more focused on stopping the shooter and figuring out what happened than the Secret Service itself. It is shocking that more agents have not been held accountable.”
Lee also said he would “not stop pressing” the Secret Service about “this egregious failure.”
“Clearly there was a cover-up,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin.
Trump rally video confirms Secret Service ‘failure’ as person seen on roof before shots fired: Acting director
Acting Director of the U.S. Secret Service Ronald Lowe answered reporters’ questions at a press conference on Friday. (Fox News)
“Governments rarely admit mistakes, so I don’t believe Acting Secretary Rowe has spoken candidly,” Johnson told Fox News Digital. “Secretary Rowe knows exactly who is responsible for this massive security failure, which I suspect is clearly a cover-up. We need a detailed investigation and recorded interviews to uncover the truth.”
Since the assassination attempt on President Trump, only 3 in 10 Americans are extremely or very confident that the Secret Service can keep a presidential candidate safe, according to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Policy Research poll.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told Fox News Digital he appreciated Rowe’s willingness to hold a press conference.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) made the remarks Tuesday at a joint hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“This has clearly been a massive failure by the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security leadership, whose primary responsibility was to protect President Trump at this rally,” Scott said. “While we have seen new information emerge from outside sources since the shooting, we have heard nothing from the agencies investigating this failure. So I appreciate that Acting Director Rowe decided to keep the American people updated at his press conference today, and I hope he continues to do so.”
The FBI should follow suit, he added.
“Without daily press conferences, conspiracies and rumors will flourish and trust will be lost forever,” he said. “The American people still have unanswered questions and want to know that people are being held accountable for acknowledged failures.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told Fox News Digital he appreciated Rowe’s willingness to meet with reporters on Friday. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) told Fox News Digital, “When the Secret Service fails to do its job, people die. The tragedy in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a direct result of Secret Service failures and the agency must listen to the concerns of every whistleblower who comes forward. I will be following the Secret Service’s internal investigation to ensure that it leads to true accountability.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Miss.) responded on social media Friday to a reporter who wrote an article in which Rowe claimed the Secret Service didn’t know the shooter had a gun until after he opened fire.
“However, the Secret Service was in charge of this event, as was local law enforcement,” Hawley wrote to X. “It is inexcusable that the USSS was unaware of the events that took place over a period of approximately two hours at their own event.”
Trump shooting: A timeline of the assassination attempt
At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Rowe gave an update on the investigation into Trump’s ill-fated rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, saying the Secret Service takes “full responsibility” for the security “failures” that occurred when suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump in the ear.
Former President Trump was shot in the ear while speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Rally attendee Corey Comperatore was killed in the shooting and two others were seriously injured.
“The Secret Service takes full responsibility for the tragic events of July 13th, which was a failure of duty. Our agency’s sole responsibility is to ensure that those we protect are never put at risk. We failed in that responsibility at Butler, and I am committed to ensuring that such a failure never happens again,” Rowe said Friday.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, said he believes “clearly there was a cover-up.” (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
He promised to cooperate fully Congressional Oversight Investigation An independent investigation ordered by President Biden is also underway, and the Secret Service is also conducting its own internal investigation.
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“When our mission-critical reviews reveal that Secret Service employees have violated our rules, they will be held accountable and subject to our fair and thorough disciplinary process,” Rowe said.
Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo and Sarah Rumpf Whitten contributed to this report.
