The 13 members of the House’s bipartisan panel investigating the assassination attempt of President-elect Trump huddled around a microphone in the Rayburn House Office Building early Thursday afternoon. The task force had just concluded its hearing exploring what went wrong and how to fix problems at the Secret Service.
“We tried to set the tone that this was going to be a serious and bipartisan effort,” said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., the top Democrat on the task force. “And that’s exactly what you see here. And that’s exactly how it played out.”
“We never identified as Republicans or Democrats. We have identified as task force members,” declared Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Penn., who chaired the effort.
The committee forged common ground about how the Secret Service had failed its mission in Butler, Penn., when gunman Thomas Crooks nearly killed Mr. Trump. They are pleased with some reforms at the Secret Service, such as increased use of drones, automated robot “dogs” on the property of the incoming President’s golf club in Florida and enhanced communication with local law enforcement.
Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Bipartisan lawmakers also expressed frustration that they never got to examine the body of Crooks. They still haven’t determined a motive. Nor have they established whether Crooks worked alone or had help.
“The Department of Justice to this point has not provided this task force with information about the digital devices,” lamented Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., who served on the committee.
“And that’s still a black hole to this day?” asked yours truly.
“Correct,” replied Lee.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe was the lone witness at the hearing.
He declared “there will be accountability and that accountability is occurring.” Yet he didn’t cite specific examples of discipline.
“It is essential that we recognize the gravity of our failure. I personally carry the weight of knowing that we almost lost a protectee,” added Rowe at the hearing. “I have reflected extensively on the agency’s substandard performance during the advance for the Butler rally.”
U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe testifies before a Joint Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing examining the security failures leading to the assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
That’s all well and good. But no one will remember any of that. And in fact, no one will remember that the committee embodied one of the best examples of significant bipartisanship in Congress in years.
That’s because of a thermonuclear fracas which erupted between Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Tex., and Rowe.
I have covered Congress for decades. I’ve seen former Rep. Bob Walker, R-Penn., slam the gavel down so angrily that the head broke off and spiraled into the well of the chamber. I’ve seen a near fist-fight between lawmakers early in the morning of January 7, 2021, hours after the Capitol riot. Just last year, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., challenged Teamsters President Sean O’Brien to a fight during a hearing. Never mind that Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., chased former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., through the halls on the same day. Burchett said McCarthy elbowed him in the kidneys.
But I have never observed a verbal brawl between a lawmaker and a witness like the Fallon-Rowe tilt.
Both men utterly exploded in anger, barking at each other and jabbing their index fingers.
Various accounts said the two “sparred.” If this was sparring, then Ali versus Frazier was afternoon tea at the Willard.
“You are out of line!” thundered Rowe. “You are out of line, Congressman!”
“Don’t try to bully me!” fumed Fallon. “Don’t try to bully me!”
“Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes!” yelled Rowe. “I was there out of respect!”
“Oh, that’s a bunch of horse hockey!” retorted Fallon. “You endangered President Biden’s life! Vice President Harris’s life, because you put those agents out of position!”
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Anything of substance about improvements by the Secret Service or after-action reviews fell by the wayside. This was now the main event. And no one would recall much else.
Here’s some context on what lit the fuse to his melee:
From the dais, Fallon held up a picture of President Biden, Vice President Harris, President-elect Trump along with President-elect and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, standing at Ground Zero on 9/11 of this year. Fallon notes that Rowe is in the picture, near the principals. One photo displayed by Fallon even circled Rowe in red.
Fallon asked Rowe whether he was the “Special Agent in Charge” or “SAC” that day. That’s where things spiraled out of control.
“Actually, Congressman, what you’re not seeing is the SAC of the detail out of the picture’s view,” said Rowe.
His voice then grew gravelly with just a splice of disdain.
“That is the day where we remember the more than 3,000 people that have died on 9/11,” said Rowe, his verbal timbre rising. “I actually responded to Ground Zero. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center. I was there at Fresh Kills (Landfall in New York).”
That’s when Fallon sneered at Rowe.
“I’m not asking you that! I’m asking you if you were the Special Agent in Charge!” hollered Fallon.
“I was there to show respect!” countered Rowe.
“You were not!” shot back Fallon.
Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, on the House steps of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Fallon asserted that Rowe was not serving as a true protective agent that day. He suggested that Rowe essentially shoved other agents out of the way for political purposes – endangering the lives of protectees.
“You know why you were there? Because you wanted to be visible, because you were auditioning for this job that you’re not going to get!” said Fallon.
He suggested that Rowe wanted the “acting” removed from his title.
“Did you have a radio with you? Did you wear a vest? Did you wear a weapon? No,” said Fallon.
“I did, sir!” growled Rowe.
Before the hearing, I asked Rowe whether he wanted to become the permanent Secret Service Director. He didn’t respond.
Fallon alleged that Rowe’s positioning asserts that the lives of President Biden and Vice President Harris were endangered. He implied that lessons have not been learned after the Butler, PA, assassination attempt.
After the hearing, Fallon claimed that Rowe’s positioning at the event was a “vanity project.”
I asked Fallon whether the verbal contretemps would “distract from the bipartisanship.”
“That wasn’t the intent,” Fallon replied.
Fallon pinned the blame on Rowe, saying “he started screaming.”
Rowe left the Capitol complex before reporters could ask for his take on the mayhem.
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I asked Fallon if there was anything else he should expect after the clash.
“If there’s a bag of heroin in my car, or I get a rope around my neck and get un-alive, you’ll know why,” said Fallon.
The Trump assassination attempt is already radioactive. And while the committee tried to focus on the failures and what had gone wrong, all that most people will remember is one of the most volatile quarrels in the history of Congressional hearings.