Top Secret Service officials still refuse to answer basic questions surrounding the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, indignant Republican senators claimed after a Senate hearing headlined by the new acting agency director.
The hearing, held 17 days after an assassin’s bullet struck Trump, featured Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe and Deputy Director Paul Abbate. The pair earned higher marks than disgraced former chief Kimberly Cheatle – a low bar, to be sure – but left senators with more questions than answers.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) credited the “individual and systemic failures by the Secret Service on the day this assassination attempt” for fueling increasing public anxiety amid a cratering economy and a broader collapse of faith in governmental institutions.
“Back home, this is all that people wanted to talk about is the Secret Service failure,” he said, adding “I’ll tell you, it’s because people back home don’t feel safe.”
