(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Secret Service agent in charge of securing the deadly July 13 Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania is still on duty, according to Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
In a Monday letter to Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, Hawley called for the lead site agent to be suspended immediately. Hawley said whistleblowers have given him disturbing information about the Secret Service lead site agent’s track record.
“This lead site agent was well-known in campaign circles as lacking competence and experience in the role … The whistleblower further alleges that this individual was, as part of securing the site, specifically responsible for line-of-sight concerns,” Hawley said.
NEW – Whistleblowers tell me the lead site agent in charge of the Butler rally was known to be inexperienced, ineffective and not up to the job – and on the day failed to implement basic security protocols – yet this person is STILL on active duty. Why? pic.twitter.com/EhfUSCvnJ0
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 6, 2024
Citing a separate whistleblower, Hawley listed some of the agent’s terrible decisions that led Donald Trump almost being assassinated, a firefighter being murdered and two other attendees being hospitalized.
First, Hawley said, campaign material such as flags were permitted to be placed around the stage and catwalk used by the former president, despite the fact that these items were typically prohibited because of how they blocked agents’ line-of-sight.
Second, Hawley continued, the Secret Service did not check IDs when issuing credentials that authorize access to restricted areas of the site, contrary to typical practice.
“Third, the whistleblower alleges that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents at the July 13 event told campaign officials that they had never staffed a rally before and did not know proper procedure,” Hawley added.
“These staffing decisions—such as what personnel to deploy and where—were the responsibility of this lead agent.”
In an interview on Fox News, Hawley identified the Secret Service lead site agent as a female.
Whistleblowers tell me the lead site agent in charge of the Butler rally FAILED to implement basic security protocols. It’s a miracle President Trump is still alive. pic.twitter.com/hVEvZFtazV
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 6, 2024
Hawley accused Rowe of jeopardizing the security of protectees by allowing the Secret Service site agent to continue working.
The senator’s letter comes about a week after Rowe dodged his questions at a congressional hearing last week. There, Hawley specifically asked Rowe to name the agents who failed to confirm that the building from which the failed assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired shots at Trump was secured.
In response, Rowe claimed he did not want to single out any specific individual. “Sir, this could have been our Texas School Book Depository. I’ve lost sleep over that for the last 17 days, just like you have,” Rowe said, referencing the building from which Lee Harvey Oswald fatally shot President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
