News Wrap: Secret Service not on radio system with local police at Trump rally shooting

In our news wrap Friday, acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said agents were not on the same radio system as local law enforcement on the day of the Trump rally shooting, the leading global authority on food security officially declared a famine in the Darfur region of Sudan and the Justice Department and FTC sued TikTok and its parent company on accusations of child privacy violations.

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Geoff Bennett: New information about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump starts the day’s other headlines.

Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said today that his agents were not on the same radio system as local law enforcement on the day of the shooting. That cost valuable time when local police warned via radio that there was an armed assailant on the roof of a building outside the security perimeter.

This afternoon, Rowe told reporters his agency takes full responsibility. It’s after he partially blamed local law enforcement during congressional testimony earlier this week.

Ronald Rowe, Acting U.S. Secret Service Director: This was a Secret Service failure, and so they should not be blamed. There was somebody who did in fact radio out that they had seen the individual with a weapon.

What I can tell you is that that piece of information, that vital piece of information, and by no fault of anyone — it was a very stressful situation. It did not make it over.

Geoff Bennett: Rowe said he will consider having Secret Service inside what’s called the unified command post, which is operated by local authorities, at all times going forward to ensure better communication.

Turning abroad now to Venezuela’s presidential election, the Biden administration has now officially recognized Nicolas Maduro’s challenger, that’s opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, as the winner. Other countries, including Argentina, Ecuador and Costa Rica, have done the same.

It all comes as a fellow opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, said masked men ransacked her party’s headquarters overnight. That raid follows threats by top officials, including from Maduro himself, that he would arrest his political rivals. Maduro has yet to produce evidence of his claimed victory.

Mourners held a funeral for slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh today days after he was assassinated in Tehran. Attendees prayed over Haniyeh’s coffin at the National Mosque in Qatar, where he’d lived for the last several years. Palestinians in Jerusalem also mourned his death. Haniyeh was a main negotiator for Hamas in cease-fire talks with Israel.

Last night, President Biden said the assassination was not helpful for negotiations, and he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to act quickly.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: I’m very concerned about it. I had a very direct meeting with the prime minister today and very direct. We’ve got a — we have the basis for a cease-fire. He should move on it, and they should move on it now.

Geoff Bennett: Meantime, Hezbollah resumed a rocket and artillery fire against Israel today. It ended a pause in these cross-border strikes following Israel’s killing of a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut this week.

The leading global authority on food security has officially declared a famine in the Darfur region of Sudan, where more than half-a-million people have fled from the spiraling violence of that country’s civil war.

Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen has this report from inside Sudan.

Leila Molana-Allen: I’m in Port Sudan, which is the Sudanese government’s wartime capital after the capital Khartoum was seized last year by the Rapid Support Forces militia.

And after weeks of dire warnings, the World Food Program says it has found evidence of famine in Zamzam camp in North Darfur, where around 200,000 displaced people live, and an immediate risk of famine in 14 other areas of Sudan. That means that over 20 percent of people in those areas are at immediate risk of starvation, malnutrition, and death.

If nothing is done by September, millions of people in Sudan could be facing full famine, which would be the greatest famine of recent decades. The Sudanese Armed Forces and the government say there is no famine anywhere in Sudan, and they deny claims that they have been stopping aid crossing posts into RSF territory.

For the PBS “News Hour,” I’m Leila Molana-Allen in Port Sudan.

Geoff Bennett: Today, both the U.N. and USAID led renewed calls for a cease-fire, so that humanitarian assistance could get through. Aid workers haven’t been able to get supplies to the destitute camps in Darfur since April.

Back in the U.S., the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission have sued TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance. They claim the social media app violates online privacy by failing to seek parental consent before collecting data on children under the age of 13.

In a statement, TikTok said it offers — quote — “age-appropriate experiences” with stringent safeguards.

On Wall Street, the poor jobs numbers today sent stocks into a freefall over investor concerns that the economy could be weakening. The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted over 600 points, the Nasdaq dropped by over 2 percent, and the S&P 500 lost 100 points.

And a spoiler alert. We have the latest from today’s action at the Paris Olympics. One of Team USA’s star sprinters, Sha’Carri Richardson, made her first Olympic strides today, breezing through her opening heat of the 100 meters. Americans also secured a spot in the final for the 4×400 meter mixed relay, breaking the world record along the way.

In the pool, Leon Marchand of France extended his dominant swimming streak with a fourth gold in front of a home crowd. But it’s Team USA who leads the medal count at the end of week one, with 43 medals overall.