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Secret Service will commit counter sniper coverage to presidential campaign events for all candidates and their running mates after the assassination attempt against Donald Trump at an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania.
Acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe — who condemned his agency’s coverage as a “mission failure” — told reporters on Friday that the attack on the former president was the first time that a Secret Service counter sniper had been assigned to one of Trump’s events.
That counter sniper ultimately fired the single fatal shot at the 20-year-old gunman who fired eight rounds from an AR-15-style rifle while on a rooftop outside the rally’s security perimeter.
The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, struck Trump’s right ear, killed one rally attendee, and critically injured two others.
Rowe said that Trump and his running mate JD Vance — as well as Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her eventual running mate — will have similar “counter sniper coverage moving forward.”
“Our campaign cadence now has obviously picked up, and we’re going to put all the resources out there to address any challenges that we have,” Rowe said from Washington, DC, on Friday.
Rowe clarified that while the rally marked the first time that Secret Service had deployed a counter sniper to Trump’s Secret Service detail, state and local law enforcement typically provide counter sniper coverage at events.
Secret Service officials have urged Trump to avoid outdoor rallies, but Rowe said that it’s “on the Secret Service to make sure we create a safe environment” if Trump goes back to holding rallies outdoors.
“It’s on us to figure out what we gotta do to mitigate that,” he said.
Rowe — who replaced Kimberly Cheatle after she stepped down following growing calls from lawmakers for her resignation — admitted to members of Congress that the agency had failed “on multiple levels.”
“That roofline should’ve been covered,” he said on Friday. “We should’ve had more eyes on that.”
He said that “in no way should any state or local agency” that supported Secret Service agents in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 should “be held responsible for a Secret Service failure.”
Asked whether any Secret Service members have been suspended or fired, Rowe said “very thorough” internal disciplinary investigations will ensure that anyone responsible for agency failures “will be held accountable.”
Secret Service will not be able to provide “real-time updates” of any disciplinary actions, he said.
Secret Service snipers did not have “any knowledge” that Crooks was on a nearby roof with a firearm, according to Rowe.
“Based on what I know right now, neither the Secret Service 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 … building with a firearm,” he said.
“It is my understanding that personnel were not aware the assailant had a firearm until they heard gunshots,” he added.
Rowe hinted at communications failures between local and federal law enforcement at the rally, as local officers had communicated with one another that an armed man was spotted on the roof 30 seconds before shots were fired. That message did not reach Secret Service.
“That piece of information, that vital piece of information, and by no fault of anyone … it did not make it over,” Rowe said.
Federal law enforcement were aware that local law enforcement was handling an issue related to the suspect’s position, but “not anything about a weapon,” he said.
