During a joint Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) questioned Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbatte about the attempted Trump assassination.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Senator Lankford, I recognize for your questions.
00:02Chairman, thank you.
00:03Thank you to both of you for the testimony today.
00:05Director Rowe, future Vice President J.D. Vance was in my state this past week in Oklahoma
00:12City.
00:13I talked with some of the Secret Service folks that are there.
00:15They're doing a terrific job.
00:16I got a chance to be able to thank them personally for the tasks they're doing, and I know the
00:20Oklahoma folks in Secret Service, and they're very dedicated, incredibly sharp people on
00:25that team.
00:26So I know this is a challenge to all Secret Service.
00:29This is something every Secret Service agent wakes up every single day and wants to avoid.
00:33So please continue to be able to pass on our gratitude for the work they do every single
00:36day and for what's happening out there.
00:38I will, Senator.
00:39I appreciate that.
00:40Mr. Vate, I want to ask you about some of the interviews that have happened.
00:44Y'all have done more than 400 interviews at this point.
00:46For the counter-sniper team that was local law enforcement that was on the second floor
00:52overlooking that rooftop, have they been interviewed at this point?
00:55Yes, Senator.
00:56I believe that each of them have been interviewed.
00:58Do you know offhand if they were at their post at that time, able to look across that?
01:03They were at that post at some times.
01:05Do we know they were at that post at 608 to 611?
01:09My understanding, and to be fair, I have not read the reports directly, but I've been briefed
01:14on some of it.
01:15They were at times during the timeframe we're talking about here on post within the AGR
01:22building, and I do believe, but I would want to confirm this at some point, one or more
01:27did venture out in an effort to locate and isolate these guys.
01:31We understand from the timeline that they were also looking for this individual that
01:35was suspicious that they had left that post to be able to try to look for him on the ground
01:38at different points to try to be able to see if they could get a different perspective.
01:40What we're trying to figure out is during that time period that he actually climbed
01:44on the roof, assembled a firearm or took a firearm with him or picked one up, whatever
01:48it might have been there, that they were able to actually see him if they were able to look
01:51left as been acknowledged in the photos that are up there.
01:55Senator, I don't know the exact timing and the movements of each officer that was out
01:59there, but what I would derive from it is they were all focused on locating the shooter,
02:05the suspicious person at the time.
02:07And then as we've all seen, the one officer attempted to get on the roof directly.
02:13There were efforts going on in those final minutes on the video to try to get to this
02:17person.
02:18We've got one officer being boosted up by another officer to look up on the roof because
02:21people on the ground had said there's someone up there and they have a gun that's crawling
02:24on that roof.
02:25And so they climbed up to be able to see it.
02:27He turned around with a rifle, he came down, and then at that point he gets on the local
02:31radio that he has and says there's someone on the roof with a gun.
02:35Is that correct?
02:36Yes, Senator.
02:37I believe that that's accurate.
02:38So what's the rest of the radio communication?
02:39We've heard that first call in.
02:41We know it's about 30 seconds from the time he called in until the actual first shot rang
02:46out.
02:47What else was discussed on the radio during that 30 second time period?
02:50Senator, I don't have, we have the radio communications.
02:53They were, the local radio communications were recorded and captured and we do have
02:57that as part of the investigation.
03:01You know, the key points to me, that local officer communicating that he sees the individuals,
03:06he's armed, that's at about 611 and some seconds, I think it's three seconds, and then he identifies
03:12it as a long gun at about 611 and 11 seconds.
03:15And the shots, which all happened quickly together, I believe happened within probably
03:2130 seconds.
03:22So we're talking about over the radio because there's a command center there.
03:26We're all radios, including the local, as they are all being listened to, to try to
03:30be able to review.
03:32There's a statement that has the word gun in it that's coming out across the radio.
03:37We only know that first communication.
03:38We don't know what came back and forth on that.
03:40We'd like to get transcripts of that conversation that was done, local law enforcement.
03:44But coming into that command center, there's also the word gun coming through one of the
03:50radio frequencies.
03:51And I think that would be communicated pretty quickly to everybody across the spectrum.
03:5530 seconds is not long, but that's an NFL play plus a huddle plus the next play.
04:00That's quite a bit of time still to be able to respond.
04:02When Secret Service moved to be able to protect the president once the first shots were fired,
04:07within two seconds, they're gathered around him.
04:11So trying to be able to figure out where the word gun got lost in radio communication here
04:16and what else was said.
04:19We will share the communications with you and the committees, Senator.
04:23I will note, just from my notes, there was effort within those minutes and seconds once
04:29the gun was announced.
04:31There's other communications where the local police are talking about deploying a QRF and
04:37responding that they've got the buildings surrounded.
04:39So it's not in a void.
04:41I don't want to give you the misinterpretation.
04:42Right, I understand.
04:43But typically, I would assume for Secret Service, if they hear over the radio over something
04:46gun, they're moving to be able to protect the detailee, the person they're protecting
04:50at that point, the protectee, that they're moving pretty quickly at that point if that's
04:54what's actually coming out.
04:56And so that's what I'm trying to be able to figure out, how that didn't get communicated
04:59out to the people that were directly in front of the former president at that point.
05:03And the last question I'd have, I only have a second left, is just, was there any overhead
05:07drone?
05:08We've talked about counter drone, but any visibility that Secret Service had to be able
05:12to see the field and all the operation in their own ability?
05:16No, sir.
05:17And as was asked by another senator earlier, it appears that there was an offer by a state
05:23or local agency to fly a drone on our behalf, and I'm getting to the bottom as to why we
05:28turned that down.
05:29Okay.
05:31Senator Kennedy, I recognize for your questions.
05:35Thank you, Mr. Chairman.