Numerous sources claiming to be familiar with the matter told Real Clear Politics (RCP) that Secret Service rejected Trump's requests for more security detail, including counter snipers, at his many rallies over the past several years. Kim Cheatle was in charge of Secret Service all that time with Rowe helping her in the background, but now Rowe is in charge following Cheatle's resignation.
Cheatle and Rowe reportedly worked together to deny Trump's requests for more magnetometers at venue entrances, as well as additional agents and other resources needed to maintain security at the former president's large-scale rallies, many of which are held outdoors.
According to the insider sources, Rowe singlehandedly made the decision to deny counter sniper teams at all Trump events outside of driving distance from Washington, D.C. In the coming days, Rowe and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate will have to testify before a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Government Affairs committees over these allegations.
(Related: It really looks as though Trump's security detail in Butler was intentionally sabotaged as a possible inside job.)
Both sides of the aisle in Congress want answers
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is among a growing number of Democrats that plan to grill Rowe and Abbate about what he described as the "litany of gaps and failures" that occurred at Trump's Butler, Penn., rally.
"These are monumental, critical questions that so far the leadership in these two agencies have failed to answer [for, and] even to begin to respond to," Blumenthal commented about Secret Service and the FBI.
Rowe did admittedly cooperate with various senators' questions at last week's committee hearings about the Butler incident, which impressed Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.). However, since learning what the inside sources had to say about Rowe and Cheatle's deliberate denial of additional protective detail for Trump, Johnson has a lot more to ask of Rowe at the next hearing.
"I will also hold him fully accountable for being 100 percent transparent and honest in cooperating with our investigation and oversight," Johnson promised.
To be fair, there is a limited number of highly trained Uniform Division officers who are capable of providing counter sniper support. This would explain Rowe's insistence that they only attend Trump rallies within close proximity to the nation's capital where they are all based.
"It's easier for counter sniper teams to carry their guns and gear in a van they can all use to transport the teams to the site for advance work for the event and then use the same vehicles, referred to by the Secret Service as 'push vehicles,' to return to D.C.," explains RCP's Susan Crabtree.
While counter sniper teams could undertake the much more laborious task of flying commercial airplanes or taking trains to further-away Trump rallies, they would still need to iron out additional logistics like rental car services to and from the event site, as well as return travel back home.
"They can carry their guns and gear on airplanes – there's an efficient process for that – but it's going to be much easier, because they have all their gear with them, to drive rather than fly because then they have a push vehicle to take the whole team to and from a hotel to the site each day," a Secret Service source is quoted as saying.
"They would always rather drive than fly."
No matter how hard they try to eliminate him, Trump is still out there doing his thing. Find out more at Trump.news.
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