Secret Service, FBI officials testify about Trump assassination attempt at final hearing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate lawmakers are expected to question the acting director of the Secret Service on Tuesday about law enforcement failures in the hours leading up to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, the latest in a series of congressional hearings devoted to the shooting.

Ronald Rowe became acting director of the agency last week after her predecessor, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned following a House hearing in which she was criticized by lawmakers from both parties for failing to answer specific questions about communications problems leading up to the July 13 shooting.

Rowe will join FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate at a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees.

The hearing comes a day after the FBI released new details about its investigation into the shooting, revealing that the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had searched online for information about mass shootings, power plants, improvised explosive devices and the May assassination attempt on Slovakia’s prime minister.

The FBI also said Trump has agreed to be interviewed by agents as the victim of a crime; the bureau said last week that the former president was struck in the ear by a bullet or fragment. Trump said Monday night that he expected the interview to take place Thursday.

But the bulk of Tuesday’s questioning is expected to be directed at Rowe, as lawmakers demand answers about how Crooks got so close to Trump. Investigators believe Crooks fired eight shots in Trump’s direction from an AR-style rifle after climbing to the roof of a building about 147 yards (135 meters) from where Trump was speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania.

One rally-goer was killed and two others were wounded. Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service countersniper.

During her confirmation hearing last week, Cheatle said the Secret Service had “failed” in its mission to protect Trump. She called the attempt on Trump’s life the “most significant operational failure” by the Secret Service in decades and vowed to “move heaven and earth” to get to the bottom of what went wrong and ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Cheatle acknowledged that the Secret Service had been alerted to a suspicious person two to five times before the rally shooting. She also revealed that the roof from which Crooks opened fire had been identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally.

Cheatle said she apologized to Trump in a phone call after the assassination attempt.

In an interview Monday night with Fox News, Trump defended the Secret Service agents who protected him from the shooting, but also said someone should have been on the roof with Crooks and that there should have been better communication with local law enforcement.

“They weren’t talking to each other,” he said.

He praised the sniper who killed Crooks with what he called a great shot, but noted, “It would have been good if it had happened nine seconds earlier.”