Politics
Acting Secret Service head 'ashamed' rooftop wasn't secure at rally where Trump was shot
A week after the Secret Service director’s disastrous appearance before a House committee, her interim replacement and a top FBI official offered a Senate hearing a more detailed breakdown of the security failures at a rally where former President Trump was shot — and the first potential clues about the shooter’s thinking.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate told a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees that while the agency still could not establish a clear motive for the July 13 shooting, it is poring over a social media account that could possibly belong to the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, looking for clues.
The account includes several hundred messages with antisemitic and anti-immigration messages from 2019 and 2020 that “espoused political violence and are described as extreme in nature,” Abbate said.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said before the panel that the shooting “was a failure on multiple levels” for the agency, striking a different tone from his predecessor, Kimberly Cheatle, whose unresponsive and combative answers to a House committee’s questions July 22 sparked bipartisan calls for her ouster. She stepped down as the head of the agency the following day.
Rowe said he and his investigators traveled to the Pennsylvania rally site and lay prone on the same roof where Crooks was when he shot at Trump.
“What I saw made me ashamed,” Rowe said at the hearing about the clear line of sight to the rally stage. “I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.”
Rowe stressed that the Secret Service has been reviewing its actions leading up to the day of the attack. Since the shooting, Rowe said, the agency has identified gaps in the security detail on the day of the rally and implemented corrective actions.
“I do not believe that inadequate time to plan for this event was a factor in the failure,” Rowe said.
A Secret Service drone was meant to go up around 3 p.m. on the day of the rally but was not operational until around 5:20 because of cellular bandwidth problems.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked, “Why is the Secret Service dependent on local cellular network? Does the Secret Service have a backup plan in place?”
Rowe said questions about whether the Secret Service had got their drone up sooner is “something that has cost me a lot of sleep because of the eventual outcome of the assailant.”
“I have no explanation for it,” Rowe said about why the drone was not operational sooner. “It is something that I feel as though we could have perhaps found him. We could have maybe stopped him. Maybe on that particular day, he would have decided this isn’t the day to do it, because law enforcement just found me flying my drone.”
Abbate did not reveal the name of the social media platform where Crooks may have espoused antisemitic and anti-immigration views in 2019 and 2020.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) asked Abbate to confirm whether the FBI was also looking into an account on the social media platform Gab that is believed to belong to Crooks and where he shared “pro-immigration, pro-lockdown, leftist views.” Gab was founded in 2016 as an alternative to Twitter that placed fewer restrictions on speech, and has since become a haven mainly for far-right views.
The agency has not confirmed that information, but the messages cited by Blackburn were posted in 2021. The FBI has requested information from multiple social media platforms, Abbate said, and will reveal the findings of their investigation later.
According to Abbate, who provided a comprehensive timeline of events leading up to the shooting, the FBI has conducted over 460 interviews as part of their investigation.
Evidence of the security failures included a text message thread among local police countersnipers who said they saw a suspicious person around the rally site but failed to approach him, according to reporting from the New York Times.
Rowe emphasized that the Secret Service countersniper teams and members of Trump’s security detail did not know there was a man on the roof of the American Glass Research building armed with a gun.
“It is my understanding those personnel were not aware the assailant had a firearm until they heard gunshots,” Rowe said.
One of the gunman’s bullets grazed the former president’s ear, Abbate confirmed, and in the barrage of gunfire from Crooks, a spectator was killed and two others were wounded. Within seconds of the first shot, Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Former President Trump is escorted to a motorcade following an attempted assassination at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., on July 13.
(Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)
Abbate provided a general timeline leading up to the shooting and some of the factors that led to the security failures.
Crooks registered to attend the rally on July 6, three days after it was announced by the Trump campaign. At that time, he also searched online: “How far was Oswald from Kennedy?”
The following day, he traveled to the Butler venue and walked around for about 20 minutes in what the FBI says was a reconnaissance trip.
A day before the rally, he went to a shooting range at a local gun club.
He arrived at the farm show site around 10 a.m. on the day of the shooting and remained there for about 70 minutes before returning home. While at his home, Crooks’ father gave him a rifle for the purpose he believed of going back to the gun club sometime around 1:30 p.m., Abbate said.
About 25 minutes later, Crooks purchased ammunition on his way back to Butler. He was later spotted walking near the American Glass Research building from which he ultimately committed the attack.
Shortly before 4 p.m., Crooks flew a drone approximately 200 yards from the farm show grounds for about 11 minutes, according to Abbate. The drone and controller were later found in his car.
Investigators say their analysis shows there were no photos or videos taken by the drone, but it was confirmed that Crooks livestreamed from the drone to his controller.
Crooks was first spotted by local law enforcement personnel at 4:26 p.m., and shortly after 5 p.m., he was identified as a suspicious person.
Less than 10 minutes later, a local SWAT officer working the security detail took a photo of Crooks, Abbate said. Crooks was observed next to the AGR building using his phone and holding a range-finder.
By 5:30 p.m., his photo was sent to SWAT members in a group text message.
Approximately 25 minutes before the shooting, the Secret Service command post was notified of a suspicious person, but officers lost sight of Crooks from 6:02 to 6:08 p.m. Law enforcement continued to communicate with each other to try and find him during that span.
Video from a local business shows Crooks pulling himself up onto the AGR building rooftop around 6:06 p.m., and two minutes later, he was spotted by local law enforcement.
A local police officer lifted himself up to the roof where Crooks was positioned at 6:11 p.m. He was able to radio that Crooks was armed with a long gun. Authorities have not been able to determine how the rifle was brought up to the roof and whether it was stored, broken down, in a backpack and put back together on the roof.
Lawmakers repeatedly asked Rowe why Trump was allowed to take the stage if a suspicious person was being pursued by law enforcement.
There was roughly half a minute between when local law enforcement radioed that Crooks had a gun and shots were fired, according to Rowe.
“My understanding is it was not relayed to” Secret Service, Rowe said.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said that span would still leave time for information to make its way to Trump’s security detail.
Hawley repeatedly pressed Rowe to provide names of Secret Service personnel and whether they have been fired. Rowe said there is an ongoing investigation and he is not “zeroing in on one or two individuals.”
“What more do you need to know that there were critical enough failures that some individuals ought to be held accountable? What more do you need to know?” Hawley asked.
“I need to know is exactly what happened, and I need my investigators to do their job,” Rowe said. “You’re asking me, Senator, to completely make a rush to judgment about somebody failing. I acknowledge this was a failure.”
“A former president was shot,” Hawley said.
“Sir, this could have been our Texas School Book Depository. I have lost sleep over that for the last 17 days,” Rowe said, referring to the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas.
“Then fire somebody,” Hawley said.
“I will tell you, Senator, that I will not rush to judgment, that people will be held accountable, and I will do so with integrity,” Rowe said.
Politics
Video: Walz Drops Re-Election Bid as Minnesota Fraud Scandal Grows
new video loaded: Walz Drops Re-Election Bid as Minnesota Fraud Scandal Grows
transcript
transcript
Walz Drops Re-Election Bid as Minnesota Fraud Scandal Grows
Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota abandoned his re-election bid to focus on handling a scandal over fraud in social service programs that grew under his administration.
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“I’ve decided to step out of this race, and I’ll let others worry about the election while I focus on the work that’s in front of me for the next year.” “All right, so this is Quality Learing Center — meant to say Quality ‘Learning’ Center.” “Right now we have around 56 kids enrolled. If the children are not here, we mark absence.”
By Shawn Paik
January 6, 2026
Politics
Pelosi heir-apparent calls Trump’s Venezuela move a ‘lawless coup,’ urges impeachment, slams Netanyahu
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A San Francisco Democrat demanded the impeachment of President Donald Trump, accusing him of carrying out a “coup” against Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.
California state Sen. Scott Wiener, seen as the likely congressional successor to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, also took a swipe at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wiener has frequently drawn national attention for his progressive positions, including his legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom designating California as a “refuge” for transgender children and remarks at a San Francisco Pride Month event referring to California children as “our kids.”
In a lengthy public statement following the Trump administration’s arrest and extradition of Maduro to New York, Wiener said the move shows the president only cares about “enriching his public donors” and “cares nothing for the human or economic cost of conquering another country.”
KAMALA HARRIS BLASTS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CAPTURE OF VENEZUELA’S MADURO AS ‘UNLAWFUL AND UNWISE’
California State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, speaks at a rally. (John Sciulli/Getty Images)
“This lawless coup is an invitation for China to invade Taiwan, for Russia to escalate its conquest in Ukraine, and for Netanyahu to expand the destruction of Gaza and annex the West Bank,” said Wiener, who originally hails from South Jersey.
He suggested that the Maduro operation was meant to distract from purportedly slumping poll numbers, the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents, and to essentially seize another country’s oil reserves.
“Trump is a total failure,” Wiener said. “By engaging in this reckless act, Trump is also making the entire world less safe … Trump is making clear yet again that, under this regime, there are no rules, there are no laws, there are no norms – there is only whatever Trump thinks is best for himself and his cronies at a given moment in time.”
GREENE HITS TRUMP OVER VENEZUELA STRIKES, ARGUES ACTION ‘DOESN’T SERVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’
In response, the White House said the administration’s actions against Maduro were “lawfully executed” and included a federal arrest warrant.”
“While Democrats take twisted stands in support of indicted drug smugglers, President Trump will always stand with victims and families who can finally receive closure thanks to this historic action,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.
Supporters of the operation have pushed back on claims of “regime change” – an accusation Wiener also made – pointing to actions by Maduro-aligned courts that barred top opposition leader María Corina Machado from running, even as publicly reported results indicated her proxy, Edmundo González Urrutia, won the vote.
“Trump’s illegal invasion of Venezuela isn’t about drugs, and it isn’t about helping the people of Venezuela or restoring Venezuelan democracy,” Wiener added. “Yes, Maduro is awful, but that’s not what the invasion is about. It’s all about oil and Trump’s collapsing support at home.”
EX-ESPN STAR KEITH OLBERMANN CALLS FOR IMPEACHMENT OF TRUMP OVER VENEZUELA STRIKES THAT CAPTURED MADURO
Around the country, a handful of other Democrats referenced impeachment or impeachable offenses, but did not go as far as Wiener in demanding such proceedings.
Rep. April McClain-Delaney, D-Md., who represents otherwise conservative “Mountain Maryland” in the state’s panhandle, said Monday that Democrats should “imminently consider impeachment proceedings,” according to TIME.
McClain-Delaney said Trump acted without constitutionally-prescribed congressional authorization and wrongly voiced “intention to ‘run’ the country.”
SCHUMER BLASTED TRUMP FOR FAILING TO OUST MADURO — NOW WARNS ARREST COULD LEAD TO ‘ENDLESS WAR’
One frequent Trump foil, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., cited in a statement that she has called for Trump’s impeachment in the past; blaming Republicans for letting the president “escape accountability.”
“Today, many Democrats have understandably questioned whether impeachment is possible again under the current political reality. I am reconsidering that view,” Waters said.
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“What we are witnessing is an unprecedented escalation of an unlawful invasion, the detention of foreign leaders, and a president openly asserting power far beyond what the Constitution allows,” she said, while appearing to agree with Trump that Maduro was involved in drug trafficking and “collaborat[ion] with… terrorists.”
Wiener’s upcoming primary is considered the deciding election in the D+36 district, while a handful of other lesser-known candidates have reportedly either filed FEC paperwork or declared their candidacy, including San Francisco Councilwoman Connie Chan.
Politics
California Congressman Doug LaMalfa dies, further narrowing GOP margin in Congress
California Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) has died, GOP leadership and President Trump confirmed Tuesday morning.
“Jacquie and I are devastated about the sudden loss of our friend, Congressman Doug LaMalfa. Doug was a loving father and husband, and staunch advocate for his constituents and rural America,” said Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the House majority whip, in a post on X. “Our prayers are with Doug’s wife, Jill, and their children.”
LaMalfa, 65, was a fourth-generation rice farmer from Oroville and staunch Trump supporter who had represented his Northern California district for the past 12 years. His seat was one of several that was in jeopardy under the state’s redrawn districts approved by voters with Proposition 50.
Emergency personnel responded to a 911 call from LaMalfa’s residence at 6:50 p.m. Monday, according to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office. The congressman was taken to the Enloe Medical Center in Chico, where he died while undergoing emergency surgery, authorities said.
An autopsy to determine the cause of death is planned, according to the sheriff’s office.
LaMalfa’s district — which stretches from the northern outskirts of Sacramento, through Redding at the northern end of the Central Valley and Alturas in the state’s northeast corner — is largely rural, and constituents have long said they felt underrepresented in liberal California.
LaMalfa put much of his focus on boosting federal water supplies to farmers, and seeking to reduce environmental restrictions on logging and extraction of other natural resources.
One LaMalfa’s final acts in the U.S. House was to successfully push for the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools Act, a long-standing financial aid program for schools surrounded by untaxed federal forest land, whose budgets could not depend upon property taxes, as most public schools do. Despite broad bipartisan support, Congress let it lapse in 2023.
In an interview with The Times as he was walking onto the House floor in mid-December, LaMalfa said he was frustrated with Congress’s inability to pass even a popular bill like that reauthorization.
The Secure Rural Schools Act, he said, was a victim of a Congress in which “it’s still an eternal fight over anything fiscal.” It is “annoying,” LaMalfa said, “how hard it is to get basic things done around here.”
In a statement posted on X, California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff said he considered LaMalfa “a friend and partner” and that the congressman was “deeply committed to his community and constituents, working to make life better for those he represented.”
“Doug’s life was one of great service and he will be deeply missed,” Schiff wrote.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement called LaMalfa a “devoted public servant who deeply loved his country, his state, and the communities he represented.”
“While we often approached issues from different perspectives, he fought every day for the people of California with conviction and care,” Newsom said.
Flags at the California State Capitol in Sacramento will be flown at half-staff in honor of the congressman, according to the governor.
Before his death, LaMalfa was facing a difficult reelection bid to hold his seat. After voters approved Proposition 50 in November — aimed at giving California Democrats more seats in Congress — LaMalfa was drawn into a new district that heavily favored his likely opponent, State Sen. Mike McGuire, a Democrat who represents the state’s northwest coast.
LaMalfa’s death puts the Republican majority in Congress in further jeopardy, with a margin of just two votes to secure passage of any bill along party lines after the resignation of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday evening.
Adding to the party’s troubles, Rep. Jim Baird, a Republican from Indiana, was hospitalized on Tuesday for a car crash described by the White House as serious. While Baird is said to be stable, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson from Louisiana, will not be able to rely on his attendance. And he has one additional caucus member – Thomas Massie of Kentucky – who has made a habit of voting against the president, bringing their margin for error down effectively to zero.
President Trump, addressing a gathering of GOP House members at the Kennedy Center, addressed the news at the start of his remarks, expressing “tremendous sorrow at the loss of a great member” and stating his speech would be made in LaMalfa’s honor.
“He was the leader of the Western caucus – a fierce champion on California water issues. He was great on water. ‘Release the water!’ he’d scream out. And a true defender of American children.”
“You know, he voted with me 100% of the time,” Trump added.
A native of Oroville, LaMalfa attended Butte College and then earned an ag-business degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He served in the California Assembly from 2002 to 2008 and the California State Senate from 2010 to 2012. Staunchly conservative, he was an early supporter of Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action in California, and he also pushed for passage of the Protection of Marriage Act, Proposition 22, which banned same-sex marriage in California.
While representing California’s 1st District, LaMalfa focused largely on issues affecting rural California and other western states. In 2025, Congressman he was elected as Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, which focuses on legislation affected rural areas.
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