WASHINGTON: The US Secret Service’s new acting director said on Tuesday he is “ashamed” of a major security lapse that preceded the July 13 attempted assassination of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally.

In testimony before two Senate committees, Acting Secret Service Director Ro­nald Rowe said he visited the outdoor rally site in Butler and climbed onto the roof of a nearby building from which 20-year-old Thomas Crooks fired shots that wounded Trump’s right ear, killed one rally attendee and wounded two others, with an AR-15-style rifle.

“What I saw made me ashamed,” Rowe told a joint hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Judiciary Committees. “As a career law enforcement officer, and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.”

Investigators have still not discovered Crooks’ motive, but FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate testified that they have newly found a social media account dating to 2019-2020 that appeared to be linked to the shooter.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2024