Today, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe after new whistleblower claims point to his actions as a reason for the agency’s failures to protect former President Donald Trump.
“Since your testimony before the Senate of July 30, new and disturbing information has come to light about Secret Service planning for the Butler, Pennsylvania Trump campaign event—and your own involvement,” wrote Senator Hawley.
“The whistleblower further alleges that you personally directed significant cuts to CSD, up to and including reducing the division’s manpower by twenty percent,”Senator Hawley continued. “The whistleblower also alleges retaliation against those within the Secret Service who expressed concern about the security at President Trump’s events.”
Senator Hawley’s letter follows his heated exchange with Rowe this past Tuesday, when the Acting Director confirmed that the Secret Service did, in fact, refuse drones from local law enforcement—a detail brought to light by a whistleblower in contact with Senator Hawley’s office.
Acting Director Rowe also acknowledged other whistleblower allegations brought to Senator Hawley’s office that claimed agents abandoned their post on the roof where Trump’s attempted-assassin shot from due to the heat.
Read the full letter here or below.
August 1, 2024
The Honorable Ronald L. Rowe, Jr.
Acting Director
U.S. Secret Service
245 Murray Ln SW, Building T-5
Washington, D.C. 20223
Dear Acting Director Rowe,
Since your testimony before the Senate of July 30, new and disturbing information has come to light about Secret Service planning for the Butler, Pennsylvania Trump campaign event—and your own involvement.
A whistleblower has alleged to my office that the Secret Service Counter Surveillance Division (CSD), the division that performs threat assessment of event sites before the event occurs, did not perform its typical evaluation of the Butler site and was not present on the day. This is significant because CSD’s duties include evaluating potential security threats outside the security perimeter and mitigating those threats during the event. The whistleblower claims that if personnel from CSD had been present at the rally, the gunman would have been handcuffed in the parking lot after being spotted with a rangefinder. You acknowledged in your Senate testimony that the American Glass Research complex should have been included in the security perimeter for the Butler event. The whistleblower alleges that because CSD was not present in Butler, this manifest shortcoming was never properly flagged or mitigated.
The whistleblower further alleges that you personally directed significant cuts to CSD, up to and including reducing the division’s manpower by twenty percent. You did not mention this in your Senate testimony when asked directly to explain manpower reductions.
The whistleblower also alleges retaliation against those within the Secret Service who expressed concern about the security at President Trump’s events. The whistleblower claims that following an event with the former President at a golf tournament in August of last year, Secret Service personnel present expressed serious concern that the Secret Service’s use of local law enforcement was not adequate for security needs: local law enforcement were not properly trained for the event or otherwise prepared to execute the tasks given them. Further, Secret Service personnel expressed alarm that individuals were admitted to the event without vetting. The whistleblower alleges that those who raised such concerns were retaliated against.
Please provide the following information to me by no later than August 8, 2024:
1.) All responsive records during your time as Deputy Director in which policy and personnel changes were made to CSD, the Secret Service division that specifically performs advance site threat assessments;
2.) The nature of your personal involvement in revising, updating, or otherwise changing Secret Service policies and personnel related to CSD;
3.) The number of Secret Service agents who have raised concerns about security practices within the Secret Service and are currently facing disciplinary action, as well as the nature of the concerns and the type of disciplinary action; and
4.) The breakdown of Secret Service personnel at the July 13 rally by division or unit.
I await your response.
Sincerely,
Josh Hawley
United States Senator