Did Secret Service Personnel Cuts Nearly Cost Trump His Life?

Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is seeking answers from Acting Secret Service Director Ronald L. Rowe Jr. following whistleblower allegations that Rowe “personally directed” personnel cuts, leaving former President Donald Trump vulnerable to an attempted assassination during his July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

According to Hawley, anonymous whistleblowers reported that these cuts affected the Secret Service's Counter Surveillance Division (CSD), which subsequently failed to conduct a thorough threat assessment of the rally site. “The whistleblower claims that had CSD personnel been present, the gunman would have been detained in the parking lot after being spotted with a rangefinder,” Hawley wrote in his letter to Rowe. The whistleblower further alleged that Rowe directed significant reductions in the CSD’s manpower, by as much as twenty percent. “You did not disclose this in your Senate testimony when directly questioned about manpower reductions,” Hawley added.

The whistleblowers also claimed that the Secret Service would retaliate against agents who raised concerns about security at Trump’s events. “The whistleblower alleges that after a golf tournament with the former President in August of last year, Secret Service personnel expressed serious concerns about relying on local law enforcement, who were not adequately trained or prepared for the event,” Hawley wrote. “Moreover, the whistleblower claims that individuals were admitted to the event without proper vetting, and those who voiced concerns faced retaliation.”

Hawley is demanding that Rowe respond by August 8, providing records of CSD personnel and details on agents who faced disciplinary action for raising security concerns, along with a “breakdown of Secret Service personnel at the July 13 rally by division or unit.”

This letter follows a heated exchange between Hawley and Rowe during a hearing on Tuesday, where they debated the security lapses that nearly led to the assassination attempt on Trump. Hawley criticized Rowe for not holding anyone in the agency “accountable” for the failures, to which Rowe replied that he did not want to influence an ongoing investigation.