Earlier this week, acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe Jr. testified before a joint hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Judiciary committees about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump during a campaign appearance in Butler, PA.
For many Republican senators, the answers from Rowe were underwhelming, which, according to Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), has been the trend since the shooting occurred earlier this month.
During an interview with Mobile, AL radio FM Talk 106.5, Rick Scott said the dodginess of the Secret Service was leading some to believe there was a cover-up and it was fueling conspiracy theories about the shooting.
“What they’re doing to themselves is they’re making the public feel like there is a cover-up,” Scott said. “Think about this: when somebody doesn’t give you information, what’s your first reaction? Wonder what they’re hiding. That’s exactly what they’re doing. It’s been 18 days, no press conferences. What should be happening is what I did. I had two big mass shootings in Florida — the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School in Parkland. And when that happened, every day, two or three times a day, I had a press conference with local, state and federal law enforcement.”
“We answered everybody’s questions, so no one ever thought that there was a cover-up,” he continued. “What’s happening now is 18 days in, they can’t answer some basic questions. They don’t want to talk to the press. So what they’re doing to themselves is they’re making people feel like, ‘Oh gosh, there’s something to hide here.’ So, the church on Sunday, as an example, I got asked, ‘Hey, do you think it was the second shooter?’ And so, I don’t think there’s a second shooter, but guess what? They can be able to hit and dispel that right away. They know exactly where the bullets came from.”
“So they should be able to do it, and they’re not. It just doesn’t make sense to me,” Rick Scott explained. “I don’t know why they’re doing it to themselves. And then the other thing is, there’s no accountability so far. It makes no sense. Think about this: if there’s a local law enforcement shooting in Florida, and probably true around the country, then what happens is that person, no one says they did anything wrong, they go on administrative leave, we have the state police, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, do an independent investigation. And then, if there’s no problem, they go back to their regular duties.
In this case, we have no idea if they are responsible for the next Trump rally or the next Harris rally,” he added. “We don’t know. So, and I think Secret Service does a great job. The people who work at Secret Service I’ve met, they’re great. FBI, they’re great. On that theory, they’re great. Leadership is lacking from that standpoint of transparency.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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