The ineptitude and colossal failure of the Secret Service during the rally at which former President Donald Trump came close to assassination has raised many suspicions.

Newsmax host Greg Kelly spoke to Real Clear Politics reporter Susan Crabtree about it this week.

“July 13, 2024. How could that have happened? We’ve been waiting for information, but very little of it has been coming from the Secret Service or the FBI through the traditional methods—press conferences, sharing information with the public, being transparent. Today, Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, testified. Look, I found him really cagey, quite frankly, not credible, and he was using every bureaucratic trick in the book to evade responsibility. At least that’s how I read it,” the host said.

“Now, Susan Crabtree is a great reporter with Real Clear Politics. She’s had some groundbreaking stories about this matter, and her name came up during testimony today. Susan, before we get to your reporting, what did you make of today and his demeanor, and substance?” he said.

“Definitely evasive. My sources tell me he was lying, straight out lying at various points, because he is part and parcel of this problem. He is the deputy director that former Secret Service Director Cheatle tapped to be her deputy when she first came into office when President Biden chose her in 2021,” the reporter said.

“So, you’re telling me that you didn’t make these decisions to deny the Secret Service time and time again, over the course of two years, extra security for Donald Trump? You’re telling me that you had no role, despite my sources saying that you were integrally involved in the decision not to have threat-based security but to abide by this old, outmoded protocol that former presidents don’t have the same level of security as sitting presidents and vice presidents? That makes no sense at all,” she said.

“I thought there were times when the senators took off the kid gloves, with Senator Cruz, Senator Marsha Blackburn, and Senator Johnson, but I still feel they were being too deferential to him. We need to know why no one has been fired, especially who the lead agent, the site agent on the job, who decided that the AGR building was outside the official perimeter. That is a key decision. As well as not putting a Secret Service counter-sniper, not local law enforcement, but a Secret Service counter-sniper on top of that building,” she said.

“So, bottom line, he led off with blaming the locals. That’s what they’re doing, right? They’re blaming the locals. And he’s still talking up the United States Secret Service. “We’re the best ever, and everybody’s going to remain in place.” That’s, I mean, that’s kind of the upshot in a way, right? That’s their position, correct?” the host said.

“Yes, it is. Even though he said that local law enforcement is — you know, we rely on them, they are our wonderful partners. But then he did sort of throw them under the bus because he said he was very upset that they left their post,” the reporter said.

“The problem is they did everything they could, and the communications weren’t interoperable, as Cheatle has said they should be. Also, the fact that they had that building outside the perimeter, the counter-snipers should have been on that building. I’m told that they were put in place very late — the decision to even add counter-snipers to this big outdoor event, attracting 50,000 people was made very late, giving the counter-sniper team only one day to do their detailed survey of the site,” she said.