Amidst the intense backlash being faced by the US Secret Service following an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, an anonymous whistleblower has made major claims about freshly-minted Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, who took over the top position after Kimberly Cheatle's resignation.
The whistleblower, who has provided a Republican senator with 'disturbing evidence' on Trump's almost assassination, claims that a significant protocol was breached prior to the GOP presidential candidate's campaign rally event in Butler, Pennsylvania. The complaint was recently filed to Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri.
The whistleblower alleges that the Secret Service's Counter Surveillance Division (CSD), which is in charge of inspecting event locations beforehand, was not present at the rally and never conducted a “typical evaluation” prior to the event.
The source made stunning claim about Rowe, stating that he was at fault for the massive oversight as he “personally directed significant cuts to CSD.”
The new boss was directly responsible for cutting the countersurveillance team's workforce by 20 percent, as per the whistleblower.
Hawley disclosed all the accusations made by the whistleblower in a letter he wrote to Rowe.
{{/usCountry}}Hawley disclosed all the accusations made by the whistleblower in a letter he wrote to Rowe.
{{/usCountry}}The Missouri senator notifies the acting director that “the whistleblower also alleges retaliation against those within the Secret Service who expressed concerns about the security at President Trump's events.”
Rowe succeeded Cheatle after she quit following a contentious testimony before Congress. She refused to offer any fresh information on the historic assassination attempt on Trump, drawing derision from both Republicans and Democrats.
Did Secret Service reject request to deploy drones at Trump's rally?
Hawley has asked Rowe to provide information regarding the Secret Service's Butler rally strategy by August 8.
According to him, one whistleblower told his office the night before the rally the agency frequently rejected proposals from a local law enforcement partner to use drone technology to secure the event.
The Secret Service “changed course” after the shooting and suggested the local partner use drone technology to monitor the scene in the wake of the incident, the whistleblower alleged.
According to Hawley, the drones had the potential not only to detect active shooters but to eliminate them.
Rowe faces calls of resignation after whistleblower's claims
Reacting to the letter shared by Hawley on his X account, several netizens expressed their outrage, with one writing, “Rowe needs to be fired.”
“So the guy responsible for Trump nearly getting his head blown off on TV is currently the acting director of the USSS. Nice!” commented Collin Rugg, the co-owner of Trending Politics.
“The American people want to know why Trump was allowed on that stage and who was responsible for it,” a third user wrote, while the fourth one asked, “Why has nobody been fired yet?”
“Trump was nearly assassinated and the Secret Service was aware of the threat to his life and still did nothing to stop it,” the user added.