Acting Secret Service boss admits agents didn't use drone for protection at rally where Trump shot

Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe acknowledged Friday his agents did not use a drone to afford extra protection during the July 13 rally in Butler, Pa., where former President Donald Trump as he vowed to work to regain America's trust from the "mission failure" that happened that day.

Rowe told reporters at a press conference Friday that the Secret Service didn't deploy a drone at up at the rally, even after local law enforcement requested one. He said the agency was now seeking to use drone technology more going forward.

"We are putting those assets out," he said. "We should have had better line of sight on some of those high ground concerns, we thought we might have had it covered with the human eye but clearly we are going to change our approach now."

He also acknowledged the Service failed to communicate over radios with local police and should have ensured best coverage of the warehouse roof where Crooks fired at Trump .

"That building was very close to that outer perimeter and we should have had more of a presence," he said. 

Rowe comments came at a press briefing 10 days after Director Kimberly Cheatle was forced to resign after giving evasive answers to Congress about the assassination attempt. 

"This was a mission failure," he said. "The sole responsibility of the agency is to make sure those we protect are never put in danger. I'm working to make sure this failure never happens again. ... We will earn back your trust."

On July 13, would-be assassin Thomas Crooks fired eight shots from about 150 yards away from the stage on which Trump was speaking before he was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper. Crooks killed one rally attendee and wounded three others including Trump, who was hit in the ear lobe.

The briefing came as more Americans express doubt about the Secret Service’s ability to keep presidential candidates safe, a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds.

Only about 3-in-10 Americans are extremely or very confident that the Secret Service can keep the presidential candidates safe from violence before the election, according to the poll, reviewed by PBS News.