Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley got into a heated exchange about accountability with the acting director of the Secret Service at a hearing Tuesday afternoon.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe was answering questions about the security failures around the Pennsylvania rally where Donald Trump was shot earlier in the month.
"Isn't the fact that a former president was shot, that a good American is dead, that other Americans were critically wounded, isn't that enough mission failure for you to say that the person who decided that that building should not be in the security perimeter probably should step down?" Hawley asked.
When Rowe said he didn't want to zero in on one agent as the person to blame, and wanted to interview everyone involved to examine all failures.
Hawley pressed, "Why don't you relieve everyone of duty who made bad judgement? So, yeah, I am centering on somebody. I'm trying to find someone accountable here."
When Hawley kept asking if people in various roles been relieved of duty, Rowe finally gave an angry response.
"Sir, this could have been our Texas Schoolbook Depository. I have lost sleep over that for the last 17 days. Just like you have."
"Then fire somebody," Hawley sharply replied.
"I will tell you senator, that I will not rush to judgement, that people will be held accountable and I will do so with integrity and not rush to judgement and put people unfairly persecuted."
"Unfairly persecuted?" Hawley quizzically responded. "You have people who are dead."
"Unfairly sir," Rowe repeated. "We have to have a proper investigation into this."
It was the first heated moments in the hearing, which was much more reserved than a House hearing last week that ended with the resignation of the former head of the department.
Earlier in the hearing, Rowe said he visited the shooting site shortly after being named acting director a week ago.
Rowe said he went onto the roof of the building where the gunman shot from and laid in the prone position looking at the site of the stage.
"What I saw made me ashamed," Rowe said in opening remarks at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. "I can not defend why that roof was better secured."
