The acting director of the US Secret Service reported on Friday that police in Pennsylvania had alerted them about an armed individual on a rooftop before the July 13 attempted assassination of Donald Trump. However, this warning did not reach the Secret Service agents in time.
Due to the use of different communication channels by local authorities and Secret Service agents, the warning was not received before a 20-year-old assailant opened fire on the Republican presidential candidate, explained Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service.
“In the crucial 30 seconds before the assailant opened fire, there were radio transmissions on the local radio net that we missed,” Rowe stated. “This was a Secret Service failure. That rooftop should have been monitored. We should have had better surveillance.”
In his testimony to Congress on Tuesday, Rowe acknowledged the lapse in security and expressed shame over the incident, while also attributing part of the failure to local law enforcement.
Additionally, Rowe highlighted that the Secret Service was not present at a command post set up by local law enforcement in Butler, Pennsylvania, for the outdoor campaign rally.
Rowe mentioned that the Secret Service plans to increase its use of surveillance drones following the attempted assassination. “We did not have a drone on-site at the July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania,” said Rowe, who assumed his position after the resignation of the previous director.
