Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, Jr. and Deputy FBI Director Paul Abbate sat before the Senate in a hearing about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) spoke primarily with Rowe, chastising him for the lack of regular media appearances and updates on information uncovered in the shooting investigation.
"Very few times in history do our presidents get shot at, so you know that the American public is very interested in this. So, as Senator [Ron] Johnson (R-WI) said, there are a lot of questions being asked. I was in church Sunday, and three people came up to me and asked me if there was a second shooter. So there is all of this information that you guys are not responding to," Sen. Scott began.
Citing his own experience as Governor of Florida, where the Pulse Nightclub shooting and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas shootings occurred, Sen. Scott described how he and other state officials regularly provided information uncovered about both incidents to the public "two or three times a day," yet the Secret Service and FBI are not committing to one per day, making many Americans fill in the gaps and assume the worst.
Acting Director Rowe said the Secret Service would give news updates more regularly, including a press conference sometime this week, only for Scott to ask what the commitment would be.
"We are 17 days into this and I am getting asked questions that I cannot believe are true but the public believes it is true. So what you are all doing is you are ruining your reputation [and] impacting the integrity of the federal government. It makes no sense. So, are you going to commit to it? Are you going to do it once a month?" the Florida Congressman chided.
Last week, former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was similarly blasted by both parties during her hearing with the House Oversight Committee, with Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) calling for her resignation.
"The reason why members in this committee are calling for your resignation, and I join in that, or for the President to fire you is because you are saying there is going to be accountability, but you cannot commit that people are going to get fired," said Rep. Moskowitz.
