- The House Assassination Task Force met Thursday for their final hearing
The latest hearing for the House Assassination Task Force descended into a passionate shouting match between acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe and a Republican panelist.
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) struck a chord when he presented an image showing Rowe as the lawmaker argued that the Special Agent in Charge (SAIC) of the Presidential Protective Detail should have been stationed at the 11/11 memorial service September at Ground Zero. this year.
When Rowe was asked if he was the SAIC on the detail that day, he immediately lashed out at Fallon before he could ask follow-up questions.
This led to a bitter back-and-forth between the two men during Thursday’s hearing.
“Actually, let me just discuss this,” Rowe said, telling Fallon’s staff, “Please leave that with the circle around me. Thank you.’
“So basically, Congressman, what you don’t see is the SAIC of the details outside the field of view of the photo. And that is the day we remember the more than 3,000 people who died on September 11,” he said, beginning to raise his voice.
“I actually responded to Ground Zero. I was there when I went through the ashes of the World Trade Center.”
When Fallon tried to intervene, Rowe didn’t step back, causing the congressman to scream.
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) got into a heated shouting match with acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe during the House Assassination Task Force hearing on Thursday
“Don’t invoke 9/11 for political purposes, Congressman,” Rowe shouted at Fallon over a barrage of crotch shouts after lawmakers this year showed an image of the acting director at the Ground Zero agency
‘I’m not asking you that. I’m asking if you were the special agent in charge?! It wasn’t,” Fallon charged.
“Don’t invoke 9/11 for political purposes, Congressman,” Rowe was heard shouting over a barrage of crotch shouts.
‘I’m trying to ask a question. Don’t try to bully me!’ Fallon shouted and pointed at the witness.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump, his then-colleague Senator JD Vance, Senator Chuck Schumer and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg all lined up together for the September 11 service in Manhattan this year.
It was just months after two separate assassination attempts on Trump — including the call to get too close for comfort in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a bullet grazed the then-candidate’s right ear as he stood on stage for a rally.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned from her position amid the backlash over the assassination attempt. Rowe was elevated to acting director of the USSS.
The bipartisan House Assassination Task Force was created to investigate the failures that allowed a would-be assassin to come within a few hundred yards of the former president as he campaigned for a second term.
Although Rowe was not in charge on the day of the July assassination attempt, he is now facing questions from Congress about the security problems and what is being done now to fix them.
The final meeting of the task force is Thursday.