Whoo, boy. Today was really a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, appearing before the United States Senate.
Twitchy has already reported how Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee tore Rowe a new ... uhhh ... opening for lying to Congress, hiding information, and not being forthcoming in any of his answers about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13 in Pennsylvania. Rand Paul got into it as well, laying into the Secret Service for its 'monumental failure.'
To all that, we say: Good.
Even though Rowe has only been acting director for a few days, since the disgraceful resignation of Kim Cheatle, Jill Biden's handpicked selection for Secret Service director, it's not as though he just fell out of a coconut tree into the job. He was previously the Deputy Director, Assistant Director, and held various other senior political positions over 25 years.
When it came time for Senator Josh Hawley to question Rowe, he focused on one glaringly obvious question: Why has no one lost their job for this abject failure?
Watch:
🚨 TOTAL HUMILIATION 🚨
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 30, 2024
Josh Hawley BREAKS disgraced US Secret Service Director after forcing him to admit there has been NO punishment after Trump was shot in the head:
"The Former President was SHOT! FIRE SOMEBODY! I can't believe you would say you are being 'persecuted.'… pic.twitter.com/cjdGYvuY0h
As he did with the other senators, Rowe tried all of the usual bureaucratic deflections. 'It's an ongoing investigation.' 'We have to follow protocols.' Et cetera.
Hawley wasn't buying any of it. Rowe claimed to have lost sleep, to which Hawley yelled back, 'Then FIRE somebody!'
But it was when Rowe tried to claim that he and the Secret Service were being 'persecuted' that Hawley brought some real thunder: 'Unfairly persecuted? People are DEAD!'
The arrogance is unbelievable... They feel they don't have to account for or to anyone... just like Hillary... "what difference can it make..." https://t.co/x3TaGfcLvz
— Veterans Wellness (@Vet_Wellness_) July 30, 2024
No one in the deep state ever feels like they should be accountable. And after the last four years, why should they? As Joe Biden has refused to acknowledge any failures, including the Afghanistan withdrawal, not one person has been fired from his administration.
It's a disgrace.
These people are professional sidesteppers.
— Hobson - Please Stop That (@chimera246) July 30, 2024
We prefer the term 'weasels.'
I agree with Josh Hawley!
— Think for Yourself (@PhilipBLee) July 30, 2024
17 days is a long time.
To not have basic answers to who was accountable and who failed points to one of two scenarios.
1. They know who is responsible but they are hiding it from the American people.
2. They don’t know who is accountable, then…
This tweet continues:
... then there is no chain of command.
When you have trouble figuring out who is accountable after 17 days, it means no one was accountable.
If I was running the agency, I would definitely know who was accountable within a few days at the most.
Bureaucrats are used to moving at the speed of Washington. But that is not going to fly this time.
At the end of this exchange, Hawley embarrassed Rowe by telling him that the Senate is learning more from whistleblowers than from him. When Rowe tried to respond that he has been 'transparent and forthcoming,' Hawley wasn't having that either, 'Your agency has NOT been transparent and forthcoming, so please, let's not go there.'
We want accountability, these bureaucrats have zero integrity or self awareness.
— Craig Chamberlin (@CraigChamberlin) July 30, 2024
Rowe tried to defend himself by claiming he is not a political appointee, but that is not true either (and Hawley told him so). As Mike Davis of the Internet Accountability Project pointed out, Rowe is a political appointee and (mostly) a career bureaucrat.
FYI, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald L. Rowe, Jr. worked for:
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) July 30, 2024
1. Obama White House
2. Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT)
Don't let him pretend he is a career, non-partisan law-enforcement official.
He's a former partisan Democrat staffer. https://t.co/7959nOqUNy pic.twitter.com/sFxq1TZnmm
In addition to all of that, Rowe did serve as part of George W. Bush's protective detail and we have no reason to believe he didn't fulfill those responsibilities honorably.
But he is not a field agent now, and he can't hide behind the false veneer of being a 'non-partisan law enforcement officer.'
No one was buying that defense, least of all Hawley.
The Secret Service director to me today: a lot of people made a lot of mistakes but we won’t tell you who and we won’t fire anybody
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 30, 2024
Insane, but all too predictable in the Washington, DC, swamp.
No one ever pays a price in DC. https://t.co/xdkyadtUnp
— Julie Gunlock (@JGunlock) July 30, 2024
If they wanted Trump to get shot, would they be acting any differently? https://t.co/MVDnQLl9Hx
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 30, 2024
This is why the stonewalling is dangerous. You don't have to be a wild conspiracy theorist to start asking questions when the people who failed don't provide any answers and suffer no consequences.
That was an epic beating, unfortunately, I think it is all theater for the American public, nothing will come of these hearings.
— Old School Eddie (@Old_SchoolEddie) July 30, 2024
If anything some sacrificial agent will be fired
Unfortunately, this was a common theme on the right. For all the fire and brimstone from Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Josh Hawley today, people are concerned that ultimately, there will be no punishment for the Secret Service's failure.
The reality is that if House Republicans can unite, they could withhold funding from the Secret Service pending a swift outcome to the investigation and people losing their jobs. But there is not much that the Senate can do except get everything on the record. They can't really even hold up other executive nominations from Biden if the Democrats are united.
But all that means is that conservatives need to get fired up. Vote. And get others to vote. And help raise money, knock on doors, and put some shoe leather into the game. The only way this stops is if Republicans take control of the Presidency, Senate, and the House in November.
If we get that outcome and things still don't change, then we've got some gigantic problems. But before we rail against Republicans in Washington for their 'sound and fury signifying nothing,' we have to at least give them the authority to do something of consequence.
If today's Senate hearing did nothing else, hopefully, it motivated conservatives to win.
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