By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-05 17:21:58 | Updated at 2024-12-22 11:44:16
2 weeks ago
The final hearing for the House Assassination Task Force devolved into an impassioned shouting match between Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe and a Republican panel member.
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) struck a nerve when he presented an image of Rowe standing where the lawmaker claimed the special agent in charge (SAIC) of the presidential protective detail should have been stationed during the September 11 commemorative service at Ground Zero this year.
Rowe, when asked if he was the SAIC of the detail that day, immediately lashed out at Fallon before he could ask any follow-up questions.
This led to a bitter back-and-forth between the two men at the hearing on Thursday.
'Actually, let me address this,' Rowe said, telling Fallon's staff, 'Please leave that one up with the circle around me. Thank you.'
'So actually, Congressman, what you're not seeing is the SAIC of the detail off, out of the picture's view. And that is the day that we remember the more than 3,000 people that have died on 9/11,' he said, starting to raise his voice.
'I actually responded to Ground Zero. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center.'
When Fallon tried to cut-in, Rowe was not backing down, causing the congressman to begin shouting.
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) got into a heated screaming match with U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe during the House Assassination Task Force hearing on Thursday
'Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes, congressman,' Rowe yelled at Fallon over a barrage of cross-shouting after the lawmaker displayed an image of the Acting Director at the Ground Zero service this year
'I'm not asking you that. I'm asking you were you the special agent in charge?! You were not,' Fallon charged.
'Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes, congressman,' Rowe was heard yelling over a barrage of cross-shouting.
'I'm trying to ask a question. Don't try to bully me!' Fallon screamed and pointed at the witness.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump, his then-running mate Sen. J.D. Vance, Sen. Chuck Schumer and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg were all standing together in a line for the 9/11 service in Manhattan this year.
It was just months after two separate assassination attempts on Trump – including the too-close-for-comfort call in Butler, Pennsylvania where a bullet grazed the then-candidate's right ear when he was on stage for a rally.
The-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned her post in the midst of blowback for the assassination attempt. Rowe was elevated to USSS Acting Director.
The bipartisan House Assassination Task Force was created to investigate the failures that allowed a would-be assassin to get just a few hundred feet from the former president while he was campaigning for a second term.
Rowe, despite not being in charge the day of the assassination attempt in July, is now left to face questions Congress has about the security failures and what is being done to fix them now.
Thursday is the final meeting of the task force.
