New Video Surfaces In The Secret Service Scandal (Ep 2297)

Primary Topic

This episode of the "Dan Bongino Show" delves into a major controversy involving the Secret Service, specifically discussing a new video related to an alleged Secret Service scandal.

Episode Summary

Dan Bongino provides a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing Secret Service scandal where a new video has surfaced, showing negligence and poor management that potentially endangered the life of former President Donald Trump. The episode features a heated discussion about the responsibilities and failures of the Secret Service, referencing specific incidents of oversight and mismanagement. Bongino criticizes the Secret Service's handling of security details, particularly focusing on a lapse that resulted in Trump being injured during an attack. The episode is filled with Bongino's intense scrutiny of the Secret Service leadership and operational protocols, advocating for sweeping reforms and accountability within the agency.

Main Takeaways

  1. A new video indicates serious failings within the Secret Service, leading to a security breach.
  2. Former President Trump was injured due to these failures.
  3. There is a call for significant reform and accountability in the Secret Service.
  4. Bongino highlights the danger of bureaucratic negligence in security matters.
  5. The episode underlines the importance of transparency and competence in national security operations.

Episode Chapters

1: Introduction to the Scandal

Dan Bongino introduces the episode's focus on new developments in the Secret Service scandal, setting the stage for a detailed examination of the issues. Dan Bongino: "This hearing could not be going any worse."

2: Analysis of the Secret Service's Failures

Bongino discusses specific incidents and general mismanagement within the Secret Service that have compromised safety. Dan Bongino: "Folks, the bombshells just keep coming."

3: Implications and Calls for Action

The discussion turns to the implications of these failings and what needs to be done to prevent future incidents. Dan Bongino: "What the f is going on here?"

Actionable Advice

  1. Stay informed about the security protocols that protect national leaders.
  2. Advocate for transparency and accountability in all security operations.
  3. Support reforms aimed at improving operational standards in security agencies.
  4. Encourage active oversight of security services by independent bodies.
  5. Educate others about the importance of robust security measures for public safety.

About This Episode

The plot surrounding the attempted assassination is beginning to look more nefarious for each revelation. In this episode, I break down a shocking new video from that fateful day, as well as a continued unmasking of the Harris campaign.

People

Donald Trump, Dan Bongino

Content Warnings:

None

Transcript

Dan Bongino
Get ready to hear the truth about America on a show that's not immune to the facts with your host, Dan Bongino. Folks, this hearing could not be going any worse. I'm listening to acting Secret Service director Ron Rowe, who is part and parcel to the problem up there, and again tell you he's going to take responsibility and people are taking responsibility. Yet amazingly, no one's been fired. There's a dead body, two people shot, and President Trump with a piece of his ear that was shot off.

I don't understand this. More evidence has surfaced, more videos. I'm gonna listen, we're gonna, we're gonna do something different today, and I wanna just ask you to just please be patient. If you sense any problems, tell us in the chat.

We're gonna do our best to try to run some of this hearing and comment live time while doing the show. It's kind of in a bit of a lull right now with a lot of Democrats asking stupid questions like gun control type stuff. But some of the stuff that's been said so far is just ridiculous. Folks, just be patient with us. We appreciate it. It's going to be quite a show. Hey, you've heard me rave about beam stream powder. Go get it. Now they're offering their largest discount at shop, beam.com bangino. Use code bongino. Thank you, Beam. Again, big show. More videos emerge. A lot of big things to talk about, hey. Many Americans are tired and frustrated by the stalling economy, inflation, endless wars, and the relentless assault in our values. Thankfully, there's companies like Patriot mobile that still believe in America and our rights. I'm proud to partner with Patriot Mobile because they're on the front lines fighting for our rights, the sanctity of life. Our military and first responder heroes take a stand for conservative causes. Put America first by switching to Patriot mobile today, you get the same nationwide coverage as the big providers because patriot mobile operates across all three major networks. Plus, they back their service with a coverage guarantee that 100% US based customer service team will find the best plan for your needs. Keep your number, keep your phone, or upgrade. Go to patreon mobile.com Dan or call 972 Patriot right now. Get a free month when you sign up and use the offer code.

Dan, don't be fooled by other providers pretending to share your values, pretending to have the same coverage they don't, and they can. Join me. Switch to America's only christian conservative mobile provider, Patriot Mobile. Go to patriot mobile.com Dan, or call 972 Patriot for your free month of service today. Patriot mobile.com Dan all right, fellas, get this show started.

So first, Susan Crabtree again, who I've had on my radio show now a couple of times, has blown the door off this thing in this real clear politics piece, confirming again what her and I and other good reporters have already told you, that Ronald Rowe, the acting director testifying up there now cannot possibly be part of an investigative effort, that of a act of grotesque malfeasance that he was a part of. Please read this piece in the newsletter today. Bongino.com newsletter, please. Acting Secret Service chief played key role in limiting resources for Trump. Susan Crabtree goes through methodically how this guy right now testifying was one of the guys responsible for limiting protective assets to the Donald Trump detail. Folks, I'm just asking you a simple question as a friend. Forget being a former secret service agent and knowing all these guys and working with them just as a normal human being. Pretend they have nothing to do with this at all. I sold candy in a candy store.

If I rob a bank, do you put me in charge of robbing a bank? Of the investigation of the actual bank robbery? Of course not. If your brother or sister robbed the bank, do you put them in charge of this investigation of a family member? Because there's a conflict of interest. Ron Roe has a conflict of interest. He is the answer to a lot of the investigative questions as to why there were insufficient assets available at this site.

Folks, the bombshells just keep coming. Another Susan Crabtree special. Look at this tweet.

I did not have this. This is exclusive to her exclusive. A Secret Service counter sniper sent an email Monday night to the entire uniform division, not the agents, saying he will not stop speaking out until these supervisors are either fired or removed from their current positions.

He said, listen to this, folks. Perk your ears up right now. Put those little quiet place, creature like antennas in your ear, whatever. And pay very close attention to this because I told you this the other day. This is completely independent of this guy's email. The counter sniper secret service officer said the agency should, quote, expect another assassination attempt before no November.

Sounds like something I told you.

If you'd like to read the email, it's attached to the tweet, folks, it's right here. We'll put it up on the screen. You can read the whole thing. The gist of it is this is going to happen again. I warned you about this yesterday, that the Secret Service has been a failure for decades. The management has had no vision for this. Guys have been lucky. Some guys have managed to do a lot more with a lot less and get around mistakes by being creative. I've gone over this a thousand times. How not just, you know, me, but other agents out there doing sites have managed to cobble together boxes of car parts and stuff as shields against weapons because we didn't have enough posts. The guys there on the ground have done a pretty good job in keeping the agency lucky.

This guy addresses this in the email. How? It's not the ground guys. It's the leadership starving these guys of assets.

Except the guys on the ground in the Pittsburgh office who conducted this advance. This is a totally different story, man. I don't know what you need to hear. These problems are not solvable overnight. They've got to get these guys in the pipeline and train and out there functioning as counter sniper agents, officers. It's not good. This is a year of training and vetting.

You can't just hire someone off the street. How do you know they're not an iranian spy?

That's. You're going to put a guy. So you're going to put a guy with a high powered rifle next to the president, United States, without proper vetting? Do you understand the risk you're taking?

The management dug this hole two decades ago.

There's no getting out of this overnight.

There just isn't. I wish there was an easy way to explain this to you. They don't have the guys in the pipeline, man.

So let me sum up what Roe has said so far.

He said he's making and taking corrective action. I'm going to address a few of them right here because none of them are sufficient. First he said, well, I went to the site. Congratulations, man. It's a freaking murder scene. You went to the site. What do you want, a cookie? What do you mean you went to the site? You should have been at the site the day of. You and Kim Cheadle, the former director, should have been there the day of turning over and handling the crime scene transfer to the FBI. Why were you not there that day? What were you doing?

Second he says, well, we have vetting plans in place to now vet site security plans by supervisors, folks. That's not new. A supervisor always has to vet your site security plan and sign off on it. I believe there's even lines on it on the survey and the final survey for supervisors to sign off. So his corrective action is nothing more than the same action they took before.

He's just saying that they're going to vet security plans to multiple layers of management. Now, that's exactly what they did before, and it failed.

Number three, they're gonna see says they're gonna start using drones. Now.

We had some wise ass in the secret service of retired guy send out an email, you idiots don't know anything about drones. I guess we're not idiots because your director, the guy whose ass you're kissing, is now said, hey, yeah, now we're gonna use drones. I guess we're not so stupid.

Maybe if you had a drone, you would have seen the guy on the roof with the gun shooting people and murdering someone.

This is a corrective. You just figured out drones now and this is supposed to inspire faith? Man.

Folks, what the f is going on here?

This is the best we can do?

This guy's part of this and he's out there celebrating this response like, oh, and this guy, this is not. The public doesn't want to hear that your advanced team put those guys in danger.

They almost got killed, too, because we failed. This isn't the time for a victory lap.

What part of that don't you get?

This is our job. We're paid to do this. It's not volunteer work.

We're paid to keep the protectees alive. We're not paid to fuck around.

The hell do you think we're doing out there?

Number four, he says they're going to fix communications now.

Now you're going to fix communications? Never occurred to you before?

Protecting the highest threat profile figure in the entire globe, Donald Trump, to actually have open lines of communication through your security room and command post with actual law enforcement personnel with guns on the scene. Now you're going to do that?

That may be the one thing he said that makes sense. I still can't understand how they didn't have communications that day. There were radios in the command post.

Someone wasn't listening to them.

And that's why I'm telling people who are emailing me what you're hearing is not what happened.

The radios are there.

Sounds like an awfully convenient excuse. Oh, they were turned off. Really?

Here's this one. Was hilarious. Roe says they're going to expeditiously start approving security assets. He's the one that denied the security assets. Can you put up the real clear article again, please? By Susan Crabtree, one of the few reporters out there doing work. Ron Roe played key role in limiting resources for Trump.

So his corrective is to what?

Stop being Ron Roe? He was the guy who stopped the assets from getting out there.

You think he's going to give you an honest evaluation of asset restriction to the Donald Trump detail when he's the one who did it.

He says that they're going to have a quick staff response to inquiries for the site agents on the scene that made all these security decisions. From what I'm hearing from people, they've made none of these people available to Congress. What are you talking about? The Trump detail. I've ever heard a peep. I've got people reaching out to me now. Why aren't the Trump detail guys speaking out? I don't know. I guess they've got nothing to say.

Then another. Did you hear this part of the hearing again? We're trying our best to pull it up.

They ask Ron Roe, what did it take for you to evaluate this guy as a threat?

He's there 90 minutes in advance, an hour in advance. He's walking around outside the perimeter with a backpack, which, immediately suspicious. He seems to be doing pre op surveillance. Then they find him with a range finder as he's trying to clearly evade police officers and take furtive action.

And Roe responds. It was a golf range finder.

He wasn't there to play fucking golf, dude.

He had a backpack, not a golf bag.

Can you stop using this stupid excuse that a guy with a rangefinder with a backpack acting suspiciously wasn't enough reason to keep Trump off the stage? You just didn't do it. You failed. The team failed. Stop.

Well, it's a rangefinder for golf.

What was it, the golden bear out there? Freaking Jack Nicholas.

It was some crazy kid they'd already been tracking the entire time who had a bag and didn't enter the magnetometer checkpoint. Cause clearly he had something here he didn't want people to see. Freaking golf.

Why would you even say something so freaking stupid?

Folks, again, I'm not in this to make friends. You guys do whatever you want out there. I'm telling you, to the guys in the agency trying to help me out to fix this thing. God bless you and thank you. I know what you've done. I know your patriots. I work with you. I worked with you. I know who you are, and you know who I am. And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for trying to fix this disaster we've been talking about for decades. Books have been written, articles. People have reached out to members of Congress. Nothing was done. Nothing was done. And now someone's dead. And Donald Trump was shot in the head.

Also, there was an effort by Roe, it appeared, to, again, pawn this off on the locals, we told them, we. It's your job to check. It's your job. I can't explain this to you in strong enough terms. The Secret Services job is laid out in title 18 of the United States Code, section 3056. It's clear as day. You can go read it right now. 3056. It is legally and administratively the Secret Service's job to keep them alive. It is not the Beaver County, Pennsylvania Police Department or Butler county. They were kind enough and heroic enough to provide assets. That's it.

That is it. If the Secret Service can't do its job and it wants Beaver county to do it, I'm sure Beaver county will get deputized, take the $3 billion budget and figure out a way Roe's like, this is. Man, we were, you know, we told him to get up there and cover this spot. Well, maybe you should have checked.

It is unacceptable to blame these guys.

It is not their job. They are there as a courtesy. They owe us nothing.

There is nothing in the Beaver or Butler county police department guidelines that indicate that they are responsible for federal Secret Service protective. I assure you, nothing.

They are there as a courtesy.

We should have staffed it. You've got three high points. You need staff. It's not Beaver County's job.

Well, they didn't. You got some of it. All right, guys, do us a favor. I'm going to, you know, let me read this spot. I'm going to take a quick break. We're going to figure this out. I'm going to try to run some of this hearing live. If you don't have sound or anything, these guys are great. Just help us out here a little bit. You know? You get where I'm going with this.

You having trouble sleeping or staying asleep? I was last night waiting for this.

Trust me, I've been there. It's not just about feeling tired the next day. It's about the toll poor sleep can take on every aspect of your life. But there's hope on the horizon. It comes in the form of beams dream powder. It's been a game changer for me. See, when we're sleeping well, we can be sharper, more focused and ready to tackle whatever life throws our way. Today, my listeners get a special discount on beams dream powder. They're science backed hot cocoa for sleep with no added sugar. Better sleep is never tasted better. Other sleep aids can cause next day grogginess, but dream contains a powerful, all natural blend of reishi, magnesium, l theanine, apigenin and melatonin help you fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up refreshed. You want to try beam's best selling dream powder? Beam is now offering bongino listeners an exclusive discount. Get up to 45% off for a limited time when you go to shopbeam.com bangino and use code bongino at checkout that shop, beam.com bangino and use code bongino for up to 45% off. Thanks, Beam. We appreciate it. All right, let's try to pull this up, see what we got here, see if we get this hearing, and let us know in the chat. We'll be watching if you can hear.

Susan Crabtree
This tempt and domestic terrorism.

Dan Bongino
I don't.

Susan Crabtree
It's obviously assassination attempt. Why make the distinction? What is different about that?

Ron Rowe
We think it's important to cover all the possibilities here in the reality of what we're dealing with and what we've all scene, senator. And we've learned lessons from the past. The baseball, the tragic shooting at the baseball field was referenced here. We learned the lesson from that that was not opened properly. And we've made changes in the bureau, and it's reflected here in terms of how this investigation is being approached with a completely open mind and inclusive of all the possibilities, including domestic terrorism.

Susan Crabtree
I fear that makes investigation potentially partisan.

Dan Bongino
They're telling you.

Susan Crabtree
I would like to request that my.

Dan Bongino
July 14 wasn't hithing to the motive, was he? Shot him in the head.

Susan Crabtree
All kinds of information, documentation, asked a lot of questions.

Preliminary findings of July 21 and July 23, including timelines. Bunch of questions as well beyond the record. And then our updated timeline dated today.

Dan Bongino
Just keep your eye.

Susan Crabtree
This goes not only by minute by second. And we will continue to update this timeline as more information becomes public. This is the way you do investigation. We need to find out literally second by second, what happens to so the american public understands the truth without objection.

Kim Cheadle
So ordered.

Dan Bongino
Senator Butler.

Senator Butler
Thank you, Mister chairman. Thank you to both of our chairman and ranking members for holding this incredibly important hearing critically for the american people to understand the safety and security that is being provided to our national leaders. Thank you both for. For being here and for, again, answering the hard questions. This is a time of, I think, heightened attention, deservedly so, not only for our national leaders, but for the teacher who decides that they're gonna go and participate in their democracy or the firefighter who wants to hear the voice and vision of the potential next leader of this country. My thoughts and prayers really are with those Pennsylvania families who have lost loved ones or have been critically injured, as I wish they would make questions to those issues or someone's going to die incidents. But in the one question of looking backward to the event on the 13th, director Abate, can you just talk a little bit about how did the, how did mister crooks, how was he able to get an AR 15 onto the roof of that building?

Does your investigation illuminate anything that we have learned to help to make that point more clear?

Ron Rowe
We don't have definitive evidence yet as to how he got the rifle up there.

Based on everything that's been collected thus far, photos, video, eyewitness accounts, we do believe he likely had it in the.

Senator Butler
Backpack, broken down in the backpack.

Ron Rowe
We're still assessing that our laboratory has taken, looked at the rifle itself and measured that against the backpack itself. And if placed in this backpack, it would extend outside. It would have been visible. We don't have anyone who's observed him, who observed him with the backpack with a rifle barrel or other part of it sticking out of the backpack, but the rifle would not have fit fully into this backpack to be concealed.

Dan Bongino
Only two solutions, folks.

Ron Rowe
Either it was assembled, he placed it in advance.

06:00 p.m. about 556, I believe. And based on everything we have, we assess that he returned to his vehicle at that time, got the backpack, and then proceeded back to the area into the AGR building. And then he's observed, of course, on the roof just minutes later, holding the backpack in front of him. In fact, there's dash cam footage from a police vehicle that shows him briefly traversing the roof with the backpack in front of him. And then it's just minutes after that that he's actually seen by the officer who I described with the rifle on the roof. It's possible that he broke the rifle down, though we don't have conclusive evidence of that, and took it out of the bag on the roof in those moments before and reassembled it there. That's one of the theories we're looking at and working on right now.

Senator Butler
Thank you for that. You take me right, acting director Rowell, thank you for your years of dedicated service and jumping in in a hot time.

But you take me right to this point of communication. There's been a lot of conversation about the. And even in your biggest failure and verbal testimony, you have talked a lot about communication. And we're tracking a disparate nature in which it's happening across the different channels. One sort of foundational question that I have is, are all elements of an event communicated on the same channel? If I lost my kid and I'm at a big rally, are local law enforcement talking on the same channel about me losing my kid, that they're talking about suspicious individual.

Ron Rowe
So when it comes to the locals, they likely have some type of common channel that they work off of in a county or an adjoining municipality. When it comes to the secret Service, we do have various channels for various agents and our uniformed division officers working specific access aspects of that advance.

Senator Butler
So it's not going on from allocation or the losing of the thread of tracking. This individual was sort of lost in the commotion of all of the other communications that could have been or maybe was not, was not separate from the communications channels that were happening.

Ron Rowe
Senator, I can only speak to the secret Service lines of communication, and we did not have anything beyond suspicious person that was communicated to us.

Dan Bongino
What else?

Senator Butler
Last question really quickly, because I'm out of time, but suspicious person with a range finder. Dude, was there any communication with the.

Dan Bongino
Secret Service that was talking?

Senator Butler
Former president as if that's not enough, that feels like there's been some question by colleagues about why the call wasn't made to delay the event, help us understand the communication that either was or was not happening directly with the president. Former presidential detail to make the call, to delay ten minutes. We've all been to these events. They never happen on time, but to delay while this was being investigated.

Ron Rowe
So the detail, all they, you know, they were operating on their net, which our security room was monitoring, but again, having information of a suspicious individual. There were other calls that day of individuals that came to the attention of law enforcement, of people that needed medical attention. So, no, no, medical is different. Stop that particular regarding the assailant, that never really rose to a level of, we should, we should not put him out there. Had we known that there was, you.

Dan Bongino
Got to get out of the threat assessment.

Ron Rowe
A dangerous individual out there. We would never let a protectee go out on stage.

Dan Bongino
He was dangerous. He shot him in the house.

Senator Heston
Senator Heston, recognized for your question.

Senator Heston
Well, thank you very much, mister chairman. I want to thank you and Chairman Dermen and the ranking members for holding this joint hearing today. And thank you to range Finder.

Dan Bongino
What else of service?

Senator Heston
I am really grateful that former President Trump is safe and extend my sympathies to the family of Cory comparatour, who have fatally shot at the rally. And my submitted to everyone who was injured on July 13. Major failures nearly led to the assassination of a presidential candidate who is also a former president of the United States. The Secret Service has to be fully transparent about how this happened. And how it's going to change moving forward.

There's also a need to balance Congress's engagement in oversight with allowing law enforcement to conduct an ongoing criminal investigation. I want to thank the agents of the Secret Service for selflessly acting to protect everybody from their families and our former president.

We're grateful for their sacrifices and their service. And I want to thank all law enforcement, and particularly law enforcement officers and first responders who worked to minimize harm to the crowd on July 13.

Mister Rowe, I want to start with you. New Hampshire hosts many political rallies. Protecting the speakers and attendees at these events requires extensive coordination between state and local law enforcement, the Secret Service staff, and obviously campaigns event staff.

As a former governor, I've experienced some of the challenges that this type of coordination can create, but we know that this coordination is really essential to public safety. It's clear that there were significant coordination failures on July 13. You told us earlier that the local SWAT team told the Secret Service that local law enforcement had eyes on the AGR roof. But there are reports that members of a local SWAT team never met with the Secret Service in the days before the Butler rally. What steps does the Secret Service require.

Dan Bongino
To political rallies to ensure that's why.

Senator Heston
They never met the candidate security details with state and local law. He's not going to win die to campaign events.

Ron Rowe
Listen, so as part of the advance process, senator, as happened in Butler as well, there's a police meeting, and basically that is, that initiates the advance. That's bringing in all the, not only emergency management officials, but all the state and local law enforcement agencies that may have aspects of supporting or assisting in that, in that advance and on that visit.

The focus of that police meeting, one is to exchange numbers and business cards and then coordinates.

Dan Bongino
Yes, get to the point. Why were there no agents there of.

Ron Rowe
The Butler Farm site with local law enforcement agencies that were supporting that visit?

And that was directly as a result of having that police meeting to begin the process of figuring out, dividing up the labor areas of responsibility.

Senator Heston
So what you're telling me is why.

Dan Bongino
Weren'T they there that day? Ask him the question.

Senator Heston
First meeting led to the walkthrough.

Dan Bongino
When did the secret Service ask local.

Senator Heston
Law enforcement and that the at least some members or directors of the local SWAT team would have been part of that process?

Ron Rowe
Well, as I understand it, the Beaver county, they were seconded to assist Butler, but the Butler ESU team were part of the advance process.

Senator Heston
Okay, how many agents did the Secret Service provide to plan and secure this event? And how many people from state and local law enforcement agencies supported the security of this event.

Ron Rowe
So in totality between law enforcement, state and local and federal, there are 155 personnel at the Butler farm site that day.

Dan Bongino
Ask them how many secret Service all combined.

Ron Rowe
Secret Service, it's in the seventies.

And then we had support from Homeland security investigations that were providing post standards, and then we had approximately 70 or so various Pennsylvania state law enforcement.

Senator Heston
Okay, thank you. I want to go to one other issue before my time expires.

You've talked today and in our secure briefing about the interoperability of the Secret Service's counter drone capability, that it failed early on and so it didn't catch the drones flowing over the site by the shooter first, what changes are. You've addressed this a little bit. What changes is the Secret Service making to ensure that it has backup technology?

But also what efforts did the secret Service undertake to coordinate with other law enforcement regarding anti drone capability at the rally site?

Ron Rowe
We're working to determine that right now, senator. We're getting the redundancies in place, working to authority.

It is a little complex.

State and locals don't necessarily have responsibility to do that.

It does require coordination with the FAA. Because it does, it could impact commercial efforts.

Dan Bongino
Coordination with the FAA.

Senator Heston
Okay, thank you. And mister chair, I'm just going to follow up and I think one of.

Dan Bongino
The hearing, or is this.

Senator Heston
You're hearing from a lot of folks, but I'm not sure we're really clear on yet, is how is it that somebody who clearly is arousing concern from law enforcement isn't.

Isn't identified as suspicious? And how is it that that information doesn't get to the president, the former president's details? So I'll follow up in writing. Thank you.

Dan Bongino
No, follow up in writing. Get the answer today.

What do you mean you'll follow up? And he still hasn't answered it.

Kim Cheadle
Thank you, mister chairman.

Director Rowe, can you explain why the shooter's drone worked?

Ron Rowe
Because there was no counter UA's present, sir.

Dan Bongino
Yes, there was.

Kim Cheadle
You had a drone system, but you had bandwidth problems. The bandwidth apparently was adequate for the shooter's drone, but not for the secret Service.

Can you explain that?

Ron Rowe
I have no explanation for it, sir.

Dan Bongino
Then resign. Or figure out.

Kim Cheadle
We also know that in the military context, electronic warfare or jamming capabilities are commonly used on the battlefield.

Does the Secret Service have jamming capabilities or drones?

Ron Rowe
We have drones, sir. And when it comes to, I have to be very careful about how I answer this one in an open forum, what I can tell you is that we have technical security measures, sir, to address.

Dan Bongino
I think what you're asking me, you didn't employ them.

Kim Cheadle
Well, the question is, can you take down a suspicious drone? Because this can be used not only for surveillance by the shooter, which obviously it was here, but also drones can be weaponized.

Dan Bongino
Yeah.

Kim Cheadle
Drop a grenade as a threat to the president, or in this case President Trump. Do you have the capacity to stop a weaponized drone?

Ron Rowe
What I will tell you, sir, is that we have technical security measures that we utilize at permanently protective sites. We also have the ability in a limited fashion at temporary sites. What I can tell you is that on this day, the counter UA's system had technical difficulties and did not go operational until after five.

Dan Bongino
And they still walked them out on.

Kim Cheadle
In this case, the shooter had a rifle. But I. Somebody who wanted to kill a president for a former president or a candidate for president would not need a rifle that could use a drone. Correct.

Ron Rowe
It is a potential threat vector, but.

Kim Cheadle
So this was identified as a suspect.

Dan Bongino
Then you just let him out on stage.

Kim Cheadle
Can you explain to us this is such a failure when a suspicious person becomes identified as a threat?

Dan Bongino
Yes.

Ron Rowe
Well, I think it's also when a weapon or some other dangerous item.

Dan Bongino
So if you, you're walking around with a range finder backpack, fur to range finder, you're good.

Kim Cheadle
Render someone a threat as opposed to somebody who was under suspicion.

Ron Rowe
I think the rangefinder is what initially brought him to the attention of local law enforcement.

Dan Bongino
Oh, my gosh. I.

Kim Cheadle
And why would the president be allowed to take to the stage while a suspicion suspicious person had been identified and before the secret service or local law enforcement were able to investigate the circumstances.

Ron Rowe
So at that time, senator, suspicion had not risen to the level of threat or imminent threat.

Dan Bongino
Find a new job. You made the wrong decision.

Kim Cheadle
Ultimately, that suspicious person did become a threat. Do you think if guys am I asked not to.

Dan Bongino
We didn't think he was suspicious enough to be a threat, but then he shot our guy in the head.

Kim Cheadle
But we're good.

Dan Bongino
We're going to get it right next time. Is that his take?

Kim Cheadle
Wouldn't that have been the appropriate way to deal with it, senator?

Ron Rowe
It certainly is one way to do it. This is a challenge for law enforcement in general, is that being able to you identify somebody that comes to your.

Dan Bongino
Attention, it's not a challenge.

Ron Rowe
You're trying to determine your job.

Dan Bongino
What are their to determine when this guy is going to try to kill the president and blew it. Stop.

Ron Rowe
The individual was actually came to the attention for suspicion. He's on the outer perimeter, adjacent to the secured site. Law enforcement is circulating for him. But again, without additional information at that point, additional information, we're not rising to the level yet where perhaps we should pull him off or delay him.

Kim Cheadle
And I'm just suggesting that maybe, just maybe, President Trump's appearance should have been delayed while that suspicion could be. Oh, not maybe the investigation, but you. I've always thought of the Secret Service as the best of the best when it comes to their willingness to put themselves in harm's way to protect the life of their I person. They are detailed to. And I think you described the very rigorous process by which people are screened, and I think you mentioned the 2% standard. People who are interested in serving. Only a very small fraction of those individuals are actually accepted in the secret Service because of the high standards that your agency has.

Dan Bongino
High standards.

Kim Cheadle
But explain to me why the Secret Service, being an elite law enforcement agency, would delegate to local law enforcement or others.

Dan Bongino
Because their guys are working investigation, 2% state, not protection.

Kim Cheadle
In other words, that's exactly something that Secret Service should have covered as opposed to delegating it to local law enforcement.

Ron Rowe
So, senator, again, this is where I went back to earlier when I said it was in a failure to challenge our assumptions. We assume that the state and locals had it.

Dan Bongino
Don't. By no means at all.

Ron Rowe
You should have had state and local law enforcement do their jobs every day and protect the communities that you represent.

Kim Cheadle
No doubt about it.

Ron Rowe
So I think what we made an assumption that there was going to be uniform presence out there, that there would be sufficient eyes to cover that, that there was going to be countersign, double check our buildings, the locals. And I can assure you that we're not going to make that mistake again.

Dan Bongino
He will forward.

Ron Rowe
He absolutely directed our office of protective operations that when our countersnipers are up, their countersnipers.

Dan Bongino
Got it, guys.

Ron Rowe
We'll serve it on the roof as well. We have. We do this all, give us the old thumbs up, our colleagues in the New York City police Department when we cover the United Nations General assembly. And so that is our TTP moving forward.

Kim Cheadle
Director Roe, I would just submit to you that those assumptions can be lethal.

Dan Bongino
Yeah. And in this case, they were.

All right, folks, I'm going to take a quick break. We'll get back to this. And I've got a lot of.

Ron Rowe
Senator Scott.

Dan Bongino
Hey, if you weren't following the news, a big hit to the us dollar just came in June when the Saudis didn't renew the 50 year petrodollar deal with the United States since 1974, Saudi Arabia sold oil and us dollars. That was huge to our global economic dominance. Now they want options other than the dollar. So I ask you if there's less demand for the us dollar or what happens to the us dollar. Look, it's reasons like this that I buy gold from birch gold and why I feel they're a valuable resource for you as well. For over 20 years, Birch Gold Group has helped tens of thousands of Americans protect their savings by converting an IRA or 401K into an IRA in physical gold. To learn more, text Dan to 989898. Claim your free no obligation info kit on gold. Birch gold has earned my trust with their education. First, approach your thousands of happy customers and their countless five star views. Protect your savings with gold before the dollar plunges any further. Text Dan to 989898 today. Message and data rates apply. Thanks Birch Gold, our last sponsor today. Then we'll get back to the show is policy genius 40% of people with life insurance wish they got in their policy at a younger age. PolicyGenius helps you get the life insurance you need fast so you can get on with your life. With Policygenius, you can find life insurance policies that start at just dollar 292 per year for a million dollars of coverage. That's some options that offer same day approval and avoid unnecessary medical exams.

Policy genius lets you compare quotes from America's top insurers in just a few clicks to find your lowest price. Their expert, licensed support team is your advocate at every step of the process, answering questions, handling paperwork, and helping you make decisions with confidence. It's not just expenses you need to be covered for. Your loved ones could inherit your debt, your work life at your work life insurance policy may not offer enough protection for your family's needs. Even worse, it may not come with you. If you leave your job, PolicyGenius gives you unbiased advice from a licensed expert support team. They have no incentive to recommend one insurer over another so you can trust their guidance. Thousands of five star reviews on Google and Trustpilot from customers who found the best fit for their needs been with me a long time. Don't put off your life insurance. Make it easy with Policy Genius company I trust. Head to policy genius.com or click the link in the description to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save. That's policygenius.com dot folks, back to the show. I warned you about this guy and now you're seeing it in the hearing, blaming the same big themes, blaming the locals, never answering the question why the secret Service doesn't have enough people there. His correctives are things he's trying to hide himself from that he's been involved in misallocation of assets. He's blaming everyone but himself. He is the guy. He was the deputy director responsible.

Let's go back, see if he's got any more answers to this. Whose question?

Senator Johnson
Analysis.

I mean the information. I mean, we are sitting 17 days into this and I'm getting asked questions that I can't believe are true, but the public believes it's true. So what you all are doing is you're ruin, you ruin your reputation, impact the integrity of the federal government.

It makes no sense to me. So are you going to commit to, is it, are you do it once a month?

I mean, I mean, both and the FBI, same thing, not just you.

What did director a say? Did he say he couldn't do it?

Ron Rowe
Senator, if I may jump in here first, thank you all for your guidance in this regard. And in fact, we've done, we haven't done something every day, no doubt about that. But you know, we're focused from the FBI side on the investigation part as we laid out here today. We actually, based on your guidance, we did a media engagement, not a stand up type press conference just yesterday and laid out in full, folks. They've been very open even to that in the interest.

Dan Bongino
Justin, we missed, must have missed that press conference yesterday during the show because.

Ron Rowe
Of the intense interest in this.

Dan Bongino
Nobody trusts these guys. You think they'd be open doing pressers every day?

Ron Rowe
The best they can do, provided everything through media and through journalists and hear all the information that we have derived from the investigation. Thus are we remain committed to do that in full, answering, entering all questions and sharing any and all information we obtained.

Dan Bongino
Except you're not doing it.

Senator Johnson
You guys realize the value of going in front of the press, right?

Dan Bongino
Right. Except for any piece of information you might actually need.

Senator Johnson
I mean, you realize if you don't do it that way, everything gets filtered, busy, interviewed out all the information. And you should, you should be, you should be providing, I mean, you should be every day saying, this is what we know now. Yes, like Senator Johnson put together a timeline, you should have put together a timeline. You should immediately put out, this is what we know right now and this is what we don't know. Like we, like you've said, you don't know how the gun got up there, right? You've said it, but why, why have that should been out all along. Say we're looking at it. It doesn't make any sense. We've done this. We've done this. We've done this. If you do, I mean this. I just don't get it.

Dan Bongino
Why?

Senator Johnson
Why? What you're doing, you're ruining. I've said this about the FBI. I mean, the people that work. The FBI people work at Secret service. They're great people.

You're a black hole.

You lose the support of the american public because people don't believe you're being direct with them.

Dan Bongino
No faith in these institutions.

Senator Johnson
I completely disagree with your approach.

I just want to finish. I've got. Like everybody else, I said I did a letter July 18.

I haven't gotten any answers yet. I want to put it into the record. And I'd love to get the answers to this, because this is what the public is asking for. They want more information. They want to know what happened, who's going to be held accountable, and how we're going to make sure this never happens again. Thank you. Without objection.

Dan Bongino
It'll be entered in the record.

Thanks.

Senator Heston
Mister chairman.

Thank you for being here. To both of you. And more important, thank you for your professional dedication, your personal bravery, and your devotion to the ideals of law enforcement.

Dan Bongino
Exactly. A paragon, both of you.

Senator Heston
This moment is a painful one. And acting director row, I've heard you speak in a private setting very emotionally.

Dan Bongino
And, yeah, I'm sure he was emotional. Great. A guy's dead. Their family's emotional, too.

Senator Heston
Well, sure.

Dan Bongino
It's emotional because he's covering his ass.

Senator Heston
You share a commitment, along with director obey to full public disclosure to the maximum extent possible. We can make speeches at you, and I've made one myself in that private setting, about the need for broader, fuller disclosure to the public. Not just in press conferences, but in the course of your investigation about what you know and feel you can disclose without compromising your investigation.

Let me ask you. Last week, Senator Peters and Paul, along with Senator Johnson and myself, sent requests to both of your agencies to produce documents. We've only received a handful so far. Can you commit to when we can expect those documents?

Dan Bongino
They're not. They're going to.

Ron Rowe
We will get them to you as quickly as we can, senator.

Senator Heston
They have them this week.

Ron Rowe
We will. We will. We will work to get to meet that deadline. Sir, I.

Senator Heston
And when can we expect all the communications, the text messages that agents have sent to each other? Eventually, all of it is going to come out.

Dan Bongino
Actually, not a bad question.

Senator Heston
When can we expect maybe the.

Dan Bongino
January 6 text, too. Can you get those?

Ron Rowe
We will gather them up and get them to you, senator.

Dan Bongino
You haven't yet. You understand, folks, it's been two weeks. We still don't have the text communications and emails from that day. And you trust him to give you.

Senator Heston
Honestly, to give him over the local law enforcement.

Dan Bongino
Yeah, exactly. Michael brings up a good point. Oh, they just didn't know or the.

Senator Heston
Shooter on the roof, the snipers that were in place, that it was their job to take him out.

But ultimately, doesn't the buck stop with the Secret Service?

Ron Rowe
It stops with us, sir. But let me just clarify the perspective that they had on that roof.

When I show you the perspective from when our sniper saw.

He's on the downside of that ridged roof.

So sniper was on their area responsibility.

Looking left, they should have been able to see. You can see in that photo in exhibit a, which we will make your.

Dan Bongino
Counter sniper guy in an advantageous position and then ask the local guy to take the better position and never followed up if they didn't take the position, just to be clear, and you left.

Ron Rowe
Open the line of sight, they just held their post.

Dan Bongino
Here he is. Blame him again.

Ron Rowe
Maybe.

There's a lot of maybes there, senator.

Dan Bongino
A lot of people.

Senator Heston
Somebody needs to be held accountable. And I think Senator Graham hit the nail on the head.

We need to know who specifically was responsible for doing what? Who was responsible.

Dan Bongino
I already told you guys, saying to.

Senator Heston
Former President Trump the Secret Service was responsible to go out there. Yet who was responsible for making sure that those local law enforcement were doing their job?

Who was responsible?

Dan Bongino
Site agent for Pittsburgh, detail leader for the Trump DT. That's your answer? He won't say.

Senator Heston
Fit the profile.

Ten to 25 years old, young male.

The FBI has warned us about it year after year after year. Director Wray has come before us and said the threat is from domestic extremism.

Dan Bongino
Oh, shit.

Senator Heston
Now we're going the lone gunman. We're all aware of it in law enforcement.

So I think we need individual accountability here. And people need to be held responsible, in fact, lose their jobs if necessary, to send a message that this massive intelligence and surveillance failure, as well as the enforcement failure, cries out for accountability. Let me just ask, in the short time I have left, what is the nature of the Iran threat?

Dan Bongino
It's like a four year old threat.

Ron Rowe
I'm sorry, senator, could you repeat the question?

Senator Heston
What is the nature of the Iran threat, the threat to former President Trump that has been mentioned?

Ron Rowe
Well, we know that.

Let me be clear here. The terrorist regime of Iran have been targeting people, our country, for many, many years now. We've talked about that here before. I want to be clear about that from the FBI standpoint. We have, we know folks, they've known.

Dan Bongino
About this Iran threat for a very long time.

Ron Rowe
It's not a joke.

Dan Bongino
Threat's been going on forever. They're pretending this is new, to pretend they just learned about it. This is why they bumping up Trump's security. They've known about this for years.

Senator Heston
A specific or imminent threat on July 13.

Ron Rowe
We have no information that there are any co conspirators or that foreign or domestic, including Iran, related to this. But we're nothing. But I want to be clear. We have no evidence of that. We're not ruling anything out. We're looking into all possibilities and leaving our minds open to that.

Senator Heston
Was that on the minds of the secret service on July 13, that there might be some threat from Iran?

Ron Rowe
Sir, we, as deputy director beit just said, we're aware of the public, the public sentiment and statements of the government of Iran to do harm to Donald J. Trump. And we use a threat based model.

Dan Bongino
Well, clearly it's not working.

Senator, also be recognized for your questions.

Thank you, Mister chairman. And thank you both for your testimony today and for your service. Mister I want to begin discussing Secret Service staffing and the extent to which.

Senator Johnson
HSI or other personnel are augmenting or backfilling inadequately.

Dan Bongino
Come back to me. Secret Service generally, and on the day of the assassination attempt, Secret Service can't say, we don't have enough people, and then say, we're putting the president and former president out there and we don't have enough people. Then get more people, or pull your people from investigative work and put them on protection. None of this is complicated, folks. He doesn't want to ask. He doesn't want to answer either this basic question. Haven't done this line of work. It is the detail leader's job that day to be reaching out to the site agent who should be checking in with the locals to say, are we clear? You get this thing called the sit rep, a situation report. The situation report should always end with all clear. Come on in. What's the problem here? It was not all clear. They were working a threat they keep saying was suspicious but not a threat when it was a threat. Acknowledging they made a faulty threat assessment because the guy killed someone and shot President Trump in the head. If you can't make threat assessments, then let's get someone in there who can.

And all of this bullshit about well, we weren't being communicated with. Let me tell you a quick story. I was at Martha's Vineyard once with Obama. He was golfing with Bloomberg. I'm the lead advance. It's my site. The entire trip is mine.

The boss's name was the boss's name at the time. Let's. Let's just call him Vinnie. That's not his name, but whatever. The boss, the special agent in charge of Barack Obama's detail when he was president, call him Vinnie is reaching out to me about an air threat. He asked me a thousand times, hey, where is it? Is it coming in? Is it low and slow? You want an air threat to be coming in high and fast? It'll blow right over you. You don't want it low and so where is it? Where is it? What are we doing? Are we launching the combat air patrol? What do we wound up doing it? We mitigated the threat. He was asking questions. You noticed that none of this happened.

There was no back and forth in communications whatsoever. Was the detail involved? Was the site agent involved? If they weren't, their job is to assess a threat, a threat they clearly failed at assessing for moving it to suspicion, to an actual threat, which it was. They failed.

Folks, I want you to watch this. Can you run that video, the long one? Just vo it for a few minutes. I want you to watch. Just keep the sound going. You don't want to. Yeah, this one, I want you to listen to this. This is like two minutes. Just play it on Vo. Do you understand? Even if they blew everything for 90 minutes and failed to assess this guy as a threat, which he was building, there are people in the audience and cops looking for this guy.

As Donald Trump is on stage, he still hasn't been shot.

Listen, there is no reason for him to have not been pulled off the stage.

Zero, you failed.

At this point, this has clearly gone beyond suspicion to a threat.

Listen, got a guy on a horse here coming by with a Trump flag or woman, whatever.

Trump's still talking. You can see the cops looking for this guy.

This is Dave Stewart of Butler Pa's video.

The cell phone was confiscated, recently returned. This is new video.

You hear Trump still talking.

I want you to listen to that.

No question at this point, you got a threat still going.

Look at the cops now. You see him running. They know they got a problem.

Look at this.

Ron Rowe
Listen, make yourself small, bro. I don't know what's going on.

Dan Bongino
Make yourself small. Everybody knows there's a threat here.

Make yourself small, cuz he doesn't want to get shot.

There's Dave Smith now, you folks, I just played this video for two minutes before gunshots rang out.

You still telling me you do it? Was this person was still just suspicious and not a threat. When everybody, including the police and the crowd at the site, the crowd is saying, make yourself small, the guy to his daughter or his friend or whatever, because they realize something bad is going to happen. And Donald Trump still sitting out there. Isn't it the job of the detail and the site agent on the ground to be asking questions about what's going on with the threat while the cops got somebody on the roof? Holy shit. We better get President Trump off the stage, folks. This video is the most damning piece of information we have left.

I'm going to cover more of this on the radio show later. Folks, I hope you appreciated me taking this live, given the severity of the situation. I feel like us and a few other reporters out there are the only ones really demanding answers.

I'm going to cover this more on the radio show in a little bit. Please go back and listen all that for live commentary. Download the Rumble app. Please follow us. Rumble.com bangino. Give us a follow on Apple and Spotify to dark times. Man, you come here for truth. Been way ahead of the news cycle every single time, and I think you saw it today. See you on the radio show here on Rumble in a little bit and back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. thanks for tuning in.

You just heard the Dan Bongino show.