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Now, Acting Secret Service Director Testifies on Capitol Hill; Rowe Says, Roof Shooter Shot from Should Have Been Secured; Now, FBI Deputy Director on Trump Rally Shooting. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired July 30, 2024 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. Jim Acosta is off today.

And we begin this hour with breaking news. At any moment on Capitol Hill, acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe will tell senators that he is, quote, ashamed of the botched security that led to the near assassination of former President Donald Trump. Rowe took charge last week after the sniper attack on Trump forced the resignation of embattled Director Kimberly Cheatle. And his prepared remarks released ahead of his testimony this morning is saying, quote, what I saw made me ashamed as a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service. I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured, end quote.

Rowe will discuss how the Secret Service is improving security and Trump will likely put those new protocols to the test very soon because he is saying that he will continue to hold outdoor rallies and will even hold an event at the site where he was shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think it's important symbolically. I don't think we should be stopped by somebody that has severe mental problems or whatever his problem.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to do rallies outside?

TRUMP: Yes, I'm going to do rallies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Newly released documents from the office of Senator Chuck Grassley show law enforcement spotted and reported the gunman 90 minutes before he opened fire and then they lost track of him. Take a listen to one officer's account of what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe the sniper that seen these and sent the pictures is right inside this building. Michelle, is Greg in there? So, if you go to that window that's open and yell for Greg, that's the sniper that sent the original pictures and seen him come from the bike and set the book back down and then lost sight of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right. Let's bring in our panel. I want to start here with Evan. Evan, we are hearing from the former president really talk more at length than we've heard him before about what happened that day at the attempted assassination. Here's what he told Fox about the Secret Service.

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TRUMP: But I just want to say one thing about Secret Service. They were very brave because they were coming and bullets were flying over me. Because I went down, bullets were flying, and they were, they were on top of me. I had a lot of people on top of me.

Okay, with that being said, should have been somebody in the roof? There should have been communication with the local police, which there wasn't. So, that's a bad thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Yes, and we're learning more about just how bad that communication was.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: You know, the former president is 100 percent right in his assessment of exactly what went wrong there. Obviously, the fact that nobody was on that roof, nobody was there with sight of that roof was a huge, huge failure. And then the fact that there was this lack of communication, which meant that the former president got on stage, even while we were looking for someone suspicious, right? They could have held him backstage for a little bit.

One of the things you'll hear today from the new acting director is how they've changed protocols. They've added some of the assets to protect Donald Trump as well as some of the other people. There's, of course, J.D. Vance is now getting protection, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is getting protection, and they've changed the protection for the new Democratic presumptive nominee, Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris. So, those are all things that have that have changed.

The other thing, Pamela, that you can see already changed is the fact that he went to the site. It's something that Kimberly Cheatle did not do before her hearing. And, of course, that ended up extremely badly for her.

BROWN: Right. And on that note, you know, the last Secret Service director, you know, had a hard time, to say the least, facing lawmakers' questions. Whitney Wild, are we expecting anything different with the acting director besides what we just heard from Evan, the fact that he actually went to the site and to that roof and talks about how he was ashamed that this could have happened? WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Right. He says that he's just simply cannot defend why that roof wasn't better secured. So, I think already in these opening statements, you're seeing much more detail and really much more, you know, conciliatory tone that, you know, the Secret Service failed.

And so what lawmakers have been pushing for is specifics in the way that the Secret Service failed. And so while the former director went up to the Hill and said, look, we agree, this was a failure, when she was pressed on where those failures happened, because you can't fix it if you don't know what the problem is, she was very reluctant to actually detail that.

[10:05:11]

And that was what really frustrated lawmakers.

And further, Pamela, I think what you're going to hear, certainly as Senator Josh Hawley made this clear to CNN yesterday, it was, they are looking for more accountability. Even after the former director resigned, Josh Hawley says that he does not feel that he has seen much accountability here.

One question that came up at the last hearing, and may very likely come up at this hearing, is if anybody has been disciplined, anybody has been put on administrative leave following the attempted assassination, we have no indication that that has happened. Certainly, the Secret Service now acting director, Ron Rowe, will be asked about that.

And then further, Pamela, I think what's going to be different about this hearing compared with the last one is that Ron Rowe is going to have a bit of a co-pilot in the FBI deputy director, Paul Abbate, who's going to be up there with him as well.

Often when the former director was asked about specifics of the investigation, and she was reluctant to give answers, she kicked it over to the FBI, saying like, I can't you know, speak about that. That is something that's under the FBI's purview. Well, in this case if that happens, the acting director of the Secret Service can just turn to Paul Abbate and say, what do you think?

So, the dynamics here are going to be much different. I mean, further, Pamela, it's been a longer amount of time the former director went up nine days after the attempted assassination. There's an extra week now. So, they may have had more time to review some of the details here. And, certainly, it is very clear to the Secret Service what happens when you don't provide robust answers. And based on these opening statements from Acting Director Ron Rowe, he's acknowledging that and is trying to provide more details. So, I would expect that you'll see a lot more information come out today, Pamela.

BROWN: Yes, it certainly seems that way just from that opening statement.

I want to bring in Cheryl Tyler, former Secret Service special agent. Cheryl, there's the accountability aspect, and there's also the aspect of what more are you doing in the Secret Service to make sure that these rallies are safe, this doesn't happen again. There are already changes in the Secret Service since the July 13th shooting, including obviously, we were talking about the director's resignation, there is elevated security for those they're protecting. Do you think that there needs to be more measures taken or do you think what they've done so far is sufficient?

CHERYL TYLER, FORMER SECRET SERVICE SPECIAL AGENT: Good morning. What we know of and what we've just heard is that they have made changes. That is great. That is what they're supposed to do. What goes on behind the scenes, as you said, I'm not there anymore. So, there are things that will probably take place behind the scenes that the public may not be aware of, but there probably are ongoing changes all the time and daily, depending on the site location.

And as you played earlier, the former president is going to go back to that location, and I'm sure there will be changes made at that location as well as any other outdoor event that he plans on doing, as well as indoor, but particularly in the outdoor situations.

BROWN: You have to wonder, I mean, if he goes back to that same place where he says he's going to that -- I mean, security will be completely different that time around than what it was before, right?

TYLER: I definitely agree. And the site is not chosen by the Secret Service. The site is chosen by the protectee's staff. So, there could be a possibility that they go back to that same location or they could choose another location. But wherever they do go, changes will be implemented and I'm sure they will do what they need to do to make sure that it is safe for everyone there.

BROWN: Yes. Donald Trump, for his part, said on Fox News he wants to go back to the site for sort of the symbolic aspect of it.

I want to bring in the former NYPD lieutenant, Darrin Porcher now. Darrin, the FBI gave an update on the Trump shooting yesterday, and just for our viewers to remind them, the FBI is focused on the gunman and the why behind, you know, why he did what he did.

They said that the gunman was a loner. Let's take a take a listen to that. We'll talk on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN REJECK, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: The subject was highly intelligent, attended college, and maintained steady employment. His primary social circle appears to be limited to his immediate family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, what is your take on why Crooks did this?

DARRIN PORCHER, FORMER NYPD LIEUTENANT: I think that's the million dollar question that we're all asking as to why did he participate in such a horrific act. One of the things that we want to look at is, one, Donald Trump is going to provide a statement to the investigative entity in terms of what he saw, what was the first point of impact that he was able to assess.

And I think that's germane, because whenever you investigate a crime of -- in any event, where we have a victim, that victim statement is paramount in terms of the trajectory of the investigation.

[10:10:00]

Fortunately, the shooter was neutralized, but unfortunate, we don't have the ability to assess why he did it and how far back he planned. So, we are going to have to go with, I hate to use the term cookie corner cutter, but it's basically looking at social media and trying to conduct what we refer to as a backwards investigation, meaning we're going to start at the point where the former president was shot, and then we're going to track back to when that individual acquired the weapon and his course of action throughout the days prior to the incident.

BROWN: Right, and that we know investigators have been doing that, actually, and they've been able to uncover some details through that, his search records and looking at details about the RNC and the DNC. And so far, it's sort of a mixed picture of the why.

I want to bring in former FBI Special Agent in Charge Frank Montoya Jr. Donald Trump is expected to sit for a victim interview with the FBI this week. What can the former president's interview add to the investigation, in your view?

FRANK MONTOYA JR., FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Well, I think like Darrin just said, it's all about perspective. I mean, he is a witness. He was there. The incident occurred to him. And so getting that perspective is really important in terms of putting together the whole 360 about what happened, when it happened and perhaps even to give us some, some insights into how you might be able to prevent, you know, future actions like this from happening again, in terms of and how Secret Service reacted.

They absolutely did the right thing. They were courageous in what they did. But, you know, how can they do this a little bit better if there is such a threat the next time? But, yes, the key point is that he was a firsthand witness, and so it would be important to get his perspective on this.

BROWN: All right. Everyone stay with us. We're watching and waiting for the acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe make his opening remarks. Of course, we will bring them to you live when it happens.

You're in the CNN Newsroom.

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BROWN: And we're continuing to follow breaking developments on Capitol Hill, as the acting director of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, is about to speak in front of a joint Senate hearing over the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, as well as the deputy director of the FBI, Paul Abbate right now. Let's listen in.

RONALD ROWE JR., ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. SECRET SERVICE: Good morning, Chairman Peters, Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Paul, Ranking Member Graham, and distinguished members of the committees. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.

A critical part of the Secret Service mission is protecting our nation's current and former government leaders.

[10:15:00]

The attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday, July 13th, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a failure on multiple levels.

I join you and all Americans in condemning the horrific assault on former President Trump, Corey Comperatore, James Copenhaver, and David Dutch. And I extend my deepest sympathies to the Comperatore family and my sincere wishes for Mr. Copenhaver and Mr. Dutch's continued recovery.

Before I begin, though, I want to commend the heroic actions of the men and women of the United States Secret Service on July 13th. Our special agents shielded the former president with their bodies while shots were still being fired selflessly, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice without hesitation. I am extremely proud of these actions and those taken by the counter-sniper team to neutralize the threat that prevented further loss of life. And I applaud the actions of our tactical teams that responded so quickly.

I would also like to express my gratitude to our federal, state, and local partners. We rely on these critical relationships, which have developed over decades of daily collaboration to secure protective events and conduct criminal investigations.

As you're aware, there are multiple ongoing investigations of the attack and the security failures that occurred that day. I pledge my full support to those inquiries to the Secret Service, your committees, and the American people have a thorough and complete understanding of what happened leading up to and during July 13th.

I will not wait for the results of those findings to assess where we failed that day. I have taken and will continue to take immediate steps to ensure we do not repeat those failures. Since my appointment as the acting director one week ago, I identified gaps in our security on July 13th and have implemented corrective actions.

One of my first actions as acting director was traveling to the Butler Farm Show site to better understand how our protection failed. I went to the roof of the AGR building where the assailant fired shots and I laid in a prone position to evaluate his line of sight. What I saw made me ashamed. As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.

To prevent similar lapses from occurring in the future, I directed our personnel to ensure every event site security plan is thoroughly vetted by multiple experienced supervisors before it is implemented. It is clear to me that other protective enhancements could have strengthened our security at the Butler event. As such, I have directed the expanded use of unmanned aerial systems at protective sites to help detect threats on roofs and other elevated threats.

I've also directed resources to facilitate our protective site communications, particularly our communications with our state and local partners. In addition, I have instructed the asset request for Secret Service protective details to be approved expeditiously and have ordered the maximum use of requested personnel at protective sites to address this heightened security environment.

I've heard your calls for accountability and I take them very seriously. And given the magnitude of this failure, the Secret Service's Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the actions and decision making of Secret Service personnel in the lead up to and on the day of the attack. If this investigation reveals that Secret Service employees violated agency protocols, those employees will be held accountable to our disciplinary process.

With respect to congressional investigations and requests for information, I instructed my staff to provide full cooperation and respond expeditiously on a continuing basis to ensure you have the information you need to conduct your critical oversight.

In my testimony before you today, I will provide details on the Secret Service's advanced security planning for the Butler Farm Show site, facts as we know them regarding the incident itself, known breakdowns in executing the security plan and corrective actions that the agency is taking to ensure that nothing like this happens again.

But I do not believe that inadequate time to plan for this event was a factor in the failure. As you saw in my written statement, I am prepared to provide an overview of the security planning leading up to and during the July 13th attack.

However, I would like to point out that based on what I know right now, neither the Secret Service counter-sniper teams, nor members of the former president's security detail had any knowledge that there was a man on the roof of the AGR building with a firearm.

[10:20:13]

It is my understanding those personnel were not aware the assailant had a firearm until they heard gunshots. Prior to that, they were operating with the knowledge that local law enforcement was working an issue of a suspicious individual prior to the shots being fired.

I regret that information was not passed to Congress and the public sooner with greater frequency. And I fear this lack of information has given rise to multiple false and dangerous conspiracy theories about what took place that day. And I want to debunk these theories.

Let me address one conspiracy directly. The Secret Service counter- sniper neutralized the assailant within seconds after the assailant fired his weapon. That counter-sniper had full discretion to use deadly force to stop an attacker and did not need to seek authorization to fire.

I am immensely proud of the selfless dedication of our employees to the mission. Every day across the globe, the men and women answer the call to protect our nation's leaders and the standard is no fail for a reason.

During our current high operational tempo, I want and I need to ensure that the Secret Service workforce are uplifted so they can focus on carrying out the mission. They have my full support and I'm confident in their abilities to ensure the safety and security of the people we protect. They are worthy of trust and confidence and they deserve your support as well as the support of the American people.

Chairman Peters, Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Paul, Ranking Member Graham, and members of the committees, thank you for the opportunity to testify at this joint hearing. I will submit the remainder of my statement for the record and I will answer your questions.

SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Thank you. Mr. Rowe. Our second witness is Paul Abbate. Mr. Abbate is the deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the Department of Justice. In this role, Deputy Director Abate oversees all FBI domestic and international investigative and intelligence activities. Prior to his appointment as deputy director, he has had a distinguished three decades within the FBI leading counterterrorism efforts, and most recently, as the associate deputy director of the FBI, for he's responsible for the management of all FBI personnel, budget, administration, as well as infrastructure.

Mr. Abbate thank you for appearing before the committee here today. You are recognized for your opening remarks.

PAUL ABBATE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: Thank you, sir. Good morning Chairmen Peters and Durbin, Ranking members Paul and Graham, and distinguished members of the committee. It is a privilege to appear before you today to discuss the FBI's investigation of the attempted assassination of former President Trump on July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Before going further, I want to again offer my and our condolences to the victims of this heinous attack, to the family and loved ones of heroic firefighter and father Corey Comperatore, to Mr. Dutch, to Mr. Copenhaver, who continue to recover, and to former President Trump, who was also struck by a bullet fired from the shooter's rifle. Our thoughts and prayers are with each of them and their families and loved ones.

Within minutes of the attack, the FBI field office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received notification of the assassination attempt and responded to the scene immediately with a surge of resources quickly moving forward on the investigation.

From the outset, the FBI has been investigating this attack as an assassination attempt and an act of domestic terrorism. Our team continues to conduct a full thorough and objective investigation And we'll continue to follow all leads and avenues of investigation to logical conclusion, leaving no stone unturned.

While it's not typical to provide details of an ongoing investigation, this, as we all know, is an extraordinarily tragic set of circumstances of the utmost national importance, making it essential to inform the American public and Congress what is known right now with full transparency.

The investigation remains focused, of course, on determining motive, identifying any potential co-conspirators or others with knowledge of the attack and building out a timeline of shooter Thomas Crooks actions in advance of and during the attack. Thus far, though, absolutely nothing has been ruled out. The investigation has not identified a motive nor any co-conspirators or others with advanced knowledge.

To date, the FBI team has conducted more than 460 interviews, executed search warrants, including at the shooter's residence and seized electronic media to include phones, laptops, hard drives, and thumb drives.

[10:25:11]

Legal process has been issued to dozens of companies, and we've received more than 2,000 tips from the public.

The full resources of the FBI have been brought to bear in furtherance of the investigation, agents, analysts, professional staff, experts. I've personally visited the site of this horrific attack and seen firsthand the work of FBI Pittsburgh and our partners on the frontline and want to thank all involved for their ongoing and tireless efforts to get the answers that we need and to deliver justice.

Specialized resources deployed included evidence response teams, victim services specialists, laboratory and operational technology division resources to process physical and digital evidence, a shooting reconstruction team. Additionally, our explosive experts have analyzed the three IEDs were covered, two from the shooter's vehicle, one from the family residence. And our behavioral analysis unit importantly is helping to build a profile of the shooter to include his mental state.

Next, I want to provide a brief highlighted overview of the timeline that has been established to date through witness interviews and other information. Again, this is our understanding at present and is subject to change and further refinement as more facts are collected.

On July 3rd, the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was announced. On July 6th, the shooter registered to attend the rally and performed a search for, quote, how far was Oswald from Kennedy. On July 7th, the shooter traveled from his home to the Butler Farm show grounds and remained there for approximately 20 minutes. We assessed this show's advanced planning and reconnaissance on his part.

On July 12th, the shooter traveled from his home to the Clairton Sportsman Club where he practiced shooting. On the morning of July 13th, at approximately 10:00 A.M., the shooter returned to the farm show grounds and remained there for about 70 minutes before returning home again. At approximately 1:30 P.M. while at the residence, the shooter's father gave him a rifle for the purpose he believed of going back to the sportsman club.

About 25 minutes later, the shooter purchased ammunition while en route to the Butler Farm Show grounds. The subject then arrived at the scene, was moving around the farm show grounds close to the American Glass Research, AGR building, from which he ultimately committed the attack.

Shortly thereafter, at approximately 3:51 P.M., the shooter flew a drone approximately 200 yards from the farm show grounds for about 11 minutes. The drone and controller were later found in the subject's car. Analysis has not revealed any photos or video taken by the drone, but we can confirm that he was live streaming at the time and would have been able to view it on his controller.

The first reported sighting the shooter by local law enforcement was at approximately 4:26 P.M. At approximately 5:10 P.M., the shooter was again identified by local law enforcement as a suspicious person around the AGR building. And at approximately 5:14 P.M., a local SWAT operator took a photo of the shooter.

At about 5:32 P.M., local SWAT observed the shooter next to the AGR building using his phone, browsing news sites and with a rangefinder. At approximately 5:38 P.M., the photo of the shooter taken earlier was sent to local SWAT operators in a text message group.

Subsequently, approximately 25 minutes prior to the shooting, the U.S. Secret Service command post was notified of a suspicious person. Officers lost sight of the subject from approximately 6:02 P.M. to 6:08 P.M., but continued to communicate with each other in an attempt to locate him. Recently discovered video from a local business shows the shooter pulling himself up onto the AGR building rooftop at approximately 6:06 P.M. At approximately 6:08 P.M., the subject was observed on the roof by local law enforcement.

At approximately 6:11 P.M., a local police officer was lifted to the roof by another officer, saw the shooter, and radioed that he was armed with, quote, a long gun. Within approximately the next 30 seconds, the shots were fired.

The evidence recovery team found eight shell casings at the scene next to the shooter's body. We believe the subject the shooter fired eight rounds. While the investigation has not determined motive, the investigative team continues to review information from legal returns, including online and social media accounts.

Something just very recently uncovered that I want to share is a social media account, which is believed to be associated with the shooter in about the 2019, 2020 timeframe.

[10:30:05]

There were over 700 comments posted from this account.