Secret Service Chief Engages In Heated Exchange With GOP Rep Over Trump Assassination Bid | Watch

The U.S. Secret Service’s acting director told a U.S. House of Representatives panel on Thursday (December 5) that he has overhauled the agency's security practices after a gunman shot President-elect Donald Trump in July. Acting Director Ronald Rowe testified to a House task force consisting of seven Republicans and six Democrats that has been investigating two failed assassination attempts on Trump during this year's presidential campaign. Rowe said he has made a series of changes following the shooting, including increasing training for agents, streamlining communication with local law enforcement and boosting the size of Trump's security detail. Rowe testified that he has sought to eliminate what he called a "do-more-with-less mindset" at the Secret Service, which he said had a "degrading effect" on the agency. He said the agency was remedying its staffing shortage of recent years and was on pace to hire 650 special agents and 350 uniformed officers in the coming months. Rowe earned praise from many Republican lawmakers for cooperating with the investigation, but he erupted at Republican Representative Pat Fallon after the congressman questioned Rowe's appearance at a ceremony this year commemorating the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes!" Rowe yelled, adding that he responded to the World Trade Center site following the attack and attended the ceremony to represent the Secret Service. "You are out of line, congressman." Fallon said he was asking "serious questions" about whether Rowe was there to provide protection for high-level officials at the ceremony.