Colorado's Jason Crow, House panel urge Secret Service reforms after Trump assassination attempts | Colorado In DC

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The Colorado lawmaker who has helped lead an investigation into the Secret Service's failures following two assassination attempts aimed at Donald Trump this summer said the panel's detailed reform recommendations will be a step toward restoring trust in the agency.

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, an Aurora Democrat and ranking member on a bipartisan House task force, told Colorado Politics that the panel identified "numerous cascading failures" that allowed a gunman to open fire at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, wounding Trump in the ear and killing one attendee.

Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, testified Thursday at the task force's second hearing in Washington that the agency failed to meet expectations but is "reorganizing and reimagining" how it operates. Following Rowe's at times heated testimony, the panel voted unanimously to submit its final report to the full House of Representatives, with an expectation that it will be made public sometime early next week.

"The purpose of this task force was to conduct a thorough and comprehensive investigation of the security failures that led to the shooting and to restore trust and confidence in America that something like this would never happen again," Crow said in an interview before the hearing.

"And also to send a message, a bipartisan message, that in America, we settle our political disputes through rigorous debate and through votes, not through violence. And that is what we accomplished."

Crow declined to discuss the report's specific recommendations before its release but said the committee has produced a document that "will be thorough, that will tell the complete history of what happened, both in Butler, Pennsylvania and West Palm Beach, Florida, that will call for reform and accountability and get us back on the path towards having trust that the Secret Service will protect our highest level elected officials and candidates."

The panel's chairman, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, represents Butler and attended the rally with family members. Kelly sponsored the legislation to create the task force, which included seven Republicans and six Democrats.

The Secret Service has come under fire for failing to secure buildings within sight of the stage where Trump appeared at the July 13 rally. A gunman who gained access to the roof of a building overlooking the rally fired eight shots before he was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.

Two months after the failed assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, the Secret Service thwarted what prosecutors say was an attempt to kill the Republican presidential nominee at one of Trump's golf courses in Florida. The suspect, who has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial, didn't fire a shot.

Crow encouraged Americans to read the report when it's issued.

"I think most folks will be surprised if they take the time to read this, which I hope they do, by how many things didn't go right that day, and how close we were to a catastrophic assassination," he said. "It's something we have to take seriously, and it should be sobering to anyone who takes the time to read the full report."

Crow and other task force members pressed Rowe on Thursday on a series of communication failures and what they described as a breakdown in the agency's ability to coordinate between its own agents and local law enforcement personnel enlisted to bolster the protective detail.

Crow said at the hearing that he was stunned that the Secret Service used text messages and email to communicate at the rally in Butler, where agents also encountered multiple obstacles, including an inoperable surveillance drone and a tree that prevented the counter-sniper team from surveying the area.

“I’m struck by the lack of that culture,” Crow said. “Why aren’t people saying something? It happened on numerous occasions.”

Rowe responded that the agency had to reestablish a culture where agents feel they can say something when they sense something is amiss.

Crow, an Army Ranger veteran, told Colorado Politics that the investigation confirmed widespread suspicions about the extent of the Secret Service's mistakes.

"That was a key failing of the Secret Service on July 13, the lack of adequate command and control and supervision," Crow said. "Not just the Secret Service, but all the local law enforcement agencies that were providing support, and the lack of unified communications led to numerous cascading failures that day. As I learned in the Army, if you don't have communications and you don't have unified command and control, really, nothing else will work. And our thorough investigation confirmed that to be true."

Crow added that the panel's guidance will be "very specific and geared towards that finding," along with additional recommendations.

"It is our hope that we'll be able to address some of them through legislation in the next Congress, but also through reform — both funding and structural reform — by the next administration going forward," Crow said.

Among the task force's possible recommendations, Crow said, will be to consider removing the Secret Service from under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security.

"That just stands to reason, that whenever you have a really important agency with a no-fail mission, but it's nestled within a much larger entity and has to advocate and fight for resources and a seat at the table," Crow said. "I think we have to look at whether or not that is the right place for it to be, given how important this mission is and the resourcing challenges that the service faces."

Other recommendations could be to increase funding to allow the Secret Service to boost its staffing, though Crow noted that it typically takes six to seven years to train agents capable of providing presidential-level security. In the meantime, he noted, the Secret Service may have to lean on military and other federal personnel who can help the agency fulfill its mission.

Crow praised the committee's members and staff for keeping the panel focused and avoiding partisan politics.

"Frankly, that was a commitment that Chairman Kelly and I made together, that when we were first tapped to lead this task force we committed to each other to do everything possible to ensure this was bipartisan and that we set a tone from the very top and from the very beginning, that we expected both our staff and the other members to operate that way," Crow said.

The report is evidence that they succeeded, Crow said.

"Given the heated nature of politics right now and the tension throughout America," he added, "we thought that not only was it our job to conduct this investigation, to evaluate the failings and to make recommendations, but we felt it was really important that we send a strong bipartisan message that political violence is unacceptable. America can come together, regardless of political affiliation, and condemn it."

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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