Secret Service head clashes with Hawley, vows agency officials will not be 'unfairly persecuted'
Tensions boiled over Tuesday as Sen. Josh Hawley pressed acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe to fire officials involved in critical decisions ahead of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
“What more do you need to know?” Hawley asked Rowe.
“What I need to know is exactly what happened, and I need my investigators to do their job,” Rowe said. “You’re asking me, senator, to completely make a rush to judgment about somebody failing.”
Hawley said it was clear that fireable offenses occurred given that Trump was shot and a rallygoer was killed.
Rowe replied, ”I have lost sleep over that for the past 17 days.”
“Then fire somebody!” Hawley responded.
“I will tell you, senator, that I will not rush to judgment, that people will be held accountable and I will do so with integrity and not rush to judgment and [make] people unfairly persecuted,” Rowe responded.
“Unfairly persecuted?” Hawley replied. “People are dead!”
It was the most hostile exchange on a tense day, as Rowe acknowledged agency-wide failures but declined to say which individual officials were responsible for those failures. He acknowledged and confirmed widely reported stories that local law enforcement in Butler, Pa. had offered drones to the Secret Service that the agency turned down.