Screaming Match Ensues at House Hearing After Lawmaker Accuses Secret Service Director of Selfishly Endangering Biden

Mar. 15, 2025

The head of the Secret Service and a Texas congressman got into a screaming match at a recent House hearing focused on the assassination attempts against President-electDonald Trump.

During the hearing on Thursday, Dec. 5, Republican Rep.Pat Falloncriticized acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe for his agency’s response to two close-call assassination attempts involving Trump this year.

Things grew particularly tense when Fallon accused Rowe of moving on-duty Secret Service agents out of position at a 9/11 commemoration event where Trump and PresidentJoe Bidenwere present so that Rowe could be seen near them in photos.

U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. gets into a heated exchange with Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) while testifying before the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump during a hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building on December 05, 2024 in Washington, DC.Samuel Corum/Getty (2)

Samuel Corum/Getty (2)

In the explosive moment, which wasshared online, Fallon showed a photo of Rowe sitting behind Biden at the commemoration event — a spot he said should have been used for the president’s Secret Service detail at the time.

“Who is usually at an event like this closest to the president of the United States?” Fallon asked Rowe, while pointing out the photo, perThe New York Post. “Were you the special agent in charge of the detail that day?”

“Congressman, what you’re not seeing is the [special agent in charge] of the detail off out of the picture’s view. And that is the day where we remember more than 3,000 people that have died on 9/11,” Rowe said, perABC News. “I actually responded to Ground Zero. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center. I was there at Fresh Kills.”

Ronald Rowe, seen between Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden, at a 9/11 commemorative event in N.Y.C. on Sept. 11, 2024.Michael M. Santiago/Getty

Michael M. Santiago/Getty

This prompted Fallon to ask again whether he was the special agent in charge that day.

“I was there to show respect for our Secret Service member that died on 9/11,” he shouted at Fallon. “Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes.”

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In response, Fallon called his claims a “bunch of horse hockey,” and denied that he was “invoking this.” Rowe then yelled, “You are, sir. You are out of line!”

As the situation escalated between the two, the committee chairman could be heard banging his gavel and demanding order in the room.

REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty

“Try to find a place at a time in history where the Secret Service director was that close to the president at a function or event. I don’t think you could find it,” he said. “So, yeah, I think he was auditioning for the job, a job that I don’t believe he’s going to get come Jan. 20.”

Rowe took over the job as acting director of the Secret Service whenformer director Kimberly Cheatle resignedafter Trump was shot at during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13.

In September,multiple gunshots were also firednear the Trump National Golf Club in West Palm Beach while Trump was playing golf. At the time, the FBI said they wereinvestigating the incident as another assassination attempt.

source: people.com