Joco Today

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D., led a press conference at the U.S. Capitol following the testimony of United States Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, Jr. before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC). The hearing addressed significant security failures on July 13th that nearly resulted in the assassination of President Trump and led to the death of Corey Comperatore, a public servant.

During his remarks, Senator Marshall highlighted key points from the hearing:

“​​Late in the afternoon of July 13, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, America witnessed the murder of a father, a husband, a fire chief, Corey Comperatore. Two others were severely wounded and, of course, a failed assassination attempt on our former president, Donald J. Trump.”

“We asked our police and law enforcement to turn their heads away from riots and vandalism and shoplifting, and now our revered FBI and Secret Service are in disgrace. Folks back home don’t trust the FBI anymore, and they feel the Secret Service is incompetent. Why is there no trust in the FBI? We have a director who blatantly lies and adhering says that President Trump was not shot by a bullet.”

“Look, I think we can all recognize the individual and systemic failures. There were ten buildings within 500 yards of the President that all had a direct line of sight for a possible sniper. There was gross disregard of standard operating procedures, as the Secret Service failed to use radio communication with those out in the field. The Secret Service has had 48% turnover in a year’s time; barely 50% of them trust their senior leadership."

“Look, the Secret Service is negligent, incompetent, and there’s a culture of failure within their organization. In short, it’s a dysfunctional organization. And that’s why I’m calling for two things. One is an independent, non-political commission to study and investigate the entire crime scene, leaving no rock unturned. And secondly—and certainly I have no more faith now than I did before the hearing today—I’m calling for our commander-in-chief to immediately appoint a crisis leadership team to go into the Secret Service, establish that leadership, turn things upside down and begin providing adequate protection for President Trump and others.”