Sunday Special: Comprehensive Secret Service Breakdown, plus Susan Crabtee and Chuck Marino 07/28/24

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.

Welcome to this special Weekend podcast we do for you every other weekend. We like to highlight some of the really great interviews we do on the radio show. It's not due to me, but great guests, and you deserve to hear from them. If you'd like to listen to the radio show live, go to bongino.com. any week they click on station finder to find out whether there's a station near you. We've got a great lineup for you this weekend as well. Let me get to our first sponsor, folks. Who needs the bathroom? You close the door. I hope so. Right? You don't want random passerbys looking in on you, right? You don't want people checking out in the bathroom. It's kind of gross. Well, using the Internet without expressVpn, it's like going to the bathroom and not closing the door. You know, your Internet service provider, the ISP, knows every single website you visit. What's worse, they can sell this information to ad companies and tech giants who will use your data to target you.

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It can never happen again. First, I'm going to explain how Secret Service walkthroughs work and the disarray going on right now within the organization from sources feeding me information. Oh, man. Folks, are you ready? You got your pens out? Listen, I'm trying to stay on top of this for you guys. As a conduit from a lot of secret service patriots.

The Secret Service right now finds itself in one of the most perilous spots it's ever been in.

The Secret Service needs local police departments, state police agencies. They cannot conduct security operations without them. They just simply can't.

They don't have the personnel.

So because they failed so badly in their advanced planning and leaving that open line of sight rooftop for this, this assassin to shoot Donald Trump in the head, because of that failure, they find themselves in this really perilous dilemma.

They don't want to talk about what the locals, when I say locals, I mean non secret Service law enforcement officers at the scene could be state police, butler county, whatever. They don't want to talk about the locals and what they did or didn't do because they're afraid. Media people, you're writing this down. They're afraid, going forward, locals aren't going to want to cooperate with the Secret Service because out of fear of being thrown under the bus. This is the damage. The damage that's been done from the shooting of Donald Trump. He was shot is so catastrophic, what you're hearing in front of the scenes is just a little bit of an iceberg that is a. I mean, just mammoth underneath the water.

They don't know what to do because every time they say, well, that was a local post up on the roof, and they didn't show up because of the heat. They look like they're throwing the locals under the bus. But it doesn't matter. It's the Secret Service's responsibility.

If you needed it posted, then you should have found a post stander.

You can't just blame the locals.

Do you see the political problem they have here? No one is going to want to work with them again. The damage that's happened from the shooting of Donald Trump is incalculable to the Secret Service's reputation.

They don't know what to do.

They are totally lost.

And unlike the FBI, that's got their own issues. The FBI has people up on the Hill who've been working political angles. And believe me, this is not a compliment. Just so we're clear, there are people in the FBI, a cadre of people who work the Capitol Hill angle, have been doing it for 50 years. Believe me, if the FBI sadly wants to cover something up, they do. Oh, gosh, we've never seen that before. The Secret Service has no political skills whatsoever in this. They are completely. Thank you. Not ready at all for this.

They have a skeleton crew of people up on Capitol Hill with zero experience in politics whatsoever.

Now, first, let me just confirm something I already confirmed. Josh Hawley put out in a tweet. Senator from Missouri, Republican yesterday. New senator, I love you, but I'm sorry, this is not new. I wish people would have listened to me earlier.

However they choose to get their news, you know, media stuff still from corrupted sources with a batting average below the Mendoza line rather than this show where we nailed it. New whistleblowers tell me law enforcement personnel were in fact stationed to the roof the day of the Trump rally, but abandoned it, citing the heat. They also say law enforcement was supposed to be patrolling the building but opted to stay inside instead. Correct, Jim? When did we report that? Monday of last week at the RNC.

Steal it. Take it. I don't care. This is not about me. It is not about anything. I mean it. Don't ever quote me, ever. I don't give a damn. I'm just asking you to please get this stuff out in a timely manner. Making people wait seven days for a story I told them seven days ago is ridiculous. I told you. People who are familiar with the breakdown, I told you on Monday said exactly this.

This explains everything.

They did not want to go up on the roof because it was hot.

You're probably shaking your head like, no way. Yes way. I told you last week that's going to be important because if you would have listened to me last week, media people, I'm not talking about you and the listening audience who love you. Thank you for sticking with this show. For a source of breaking news, you guys have been way ahead of it.

The media folks. The rest of what I'm about to tell you, as you get your pens out, as we tell you again, what happened that day for like the 10th time will make sense. When you understand this one point, it is at the, this is at the core of every single problem right now. When you understand that the local CS team, a local asset was supposed to be on that roof, and they, someone objected that day. Someone said, it's hot. We're not going up there.

It doesn't matter. It was the Secret Service's job to say, well, if you're not going to go up there, we'll post it. And they didn't do it.

Now, the Secret Service, I can't repeat this enough, is terrified to go out and tell the story because they don't want to seem like they're throwing the locals under the bus. So they keep obfuscating the simple fact that that was supposed to be a post and they just let it go.

And an assassin took advantage of it and shot Donald Trump.

That's the story.

That's point number one today.

That was supposed to be a post, and they just didn't go up there because it was too hot.

This is confirmed three or four times over from sources of mine.

Bank it.

And the Secret Service did nothing about it.

They just let it lie fallow, and an assassin took advantage of it and shot Donald Trump in the head.

Point number two.

When you understand that that was supposed to be a local post, and again, local, meaning not secret service, local law enforcement.

Now you'll understand why it took so long for the sniper to engage.

There are a number of people asking, well, what the hell took so long? You had a guy on the roof with a rifle with his finger on the trigger sighted in on Donald Trump on the stage. What the hell was the CS team, counter sniper team waiting for?

I've got from as close a source as you're going to get to this, okay?

The reason they waited and hesitated was because they were unsure if that was in fact the locals who were supposed to have that post.

Apparently, they waited for the muzzle flash, which is an unbelievable lapse in security, before they realized, that's not us.

They waited for him to shoot.

You understand how them not showing up and the Secret Service doing nothing about it created this whole series of unfortunate events, tragic events, deadly events.

Cory comparator is dead. Was murdered. Let's never forget that two other people were shot in addition to Donald Trump, who was shot in the head.

A man died because of this absolute incompetence. Stunning incompetence. Someone's dead.

His name's Corey comparator. He's dead.

How do you live with that?

They waited for the muzzle flash because they were unsure if that was one of ours or a friendly, which could have been resolved by the Secret Service site advance agent if they just would have posted someone on the damn roof instead of whining about the freaking heat.

I sat in the back of a damn follow up on 100 degree day with no air conditioning, with a freaking suit on and a level three body armor. I don't want to hear your stories about the freaking heat.

Point number three again, media people, get your notepads out. You're way behind here.

You're blowing an opportunity.

The video you're seeing going around social media of the sniper team and the black bd use, it's all over Twitter and truth and everywhere. That is not the team that took out the assassin.

Send it around all you want. That's not the team that did it, everybody keeps sending it around saying, why did these guys hesitate when they shot? They are not the ones that took out the target.

The other Secret Service counter sniper team you don't see on video took the shot from about three times as far as that in a miraculous shot and thankfully took this guy out before he shot again and killed Donald Trump because he stood back up. He would have killed him.

That's not the team.

This is an important fact.

Finally, and I'll go into this a little more, I'm not going to rush it here, but I'm running out of time in this segment. This has not been reported yet. I'm going to give it to you here.

There was confusion if there were additional attackers as they were evacuating Donald Trump from the stage to the motorcade.

There was confusion because one of the first shots that rang out from the assassin's firearm penetrated a hydraulic line on a piece of farm equipment. You can see it in the video.

You see the gases coming out and liquids. Hydraulic. Obviously, some of that hydraulic fluid was spewed on the motorcade which was positioned. Certain vehicles right there.

Created kind of a bit of a chaotic situation above and beyond the tragic chaos.

In addition, what I'm hearing from a source this morning is there was an explosion. It was a minor one. They don't know what it is. Was it a firework? Was it part of what the assassin had planned? It was something detonated, but there was some minor explosion.

They were not sure if that wasn't an additional attack in the motorcade area.

Explained some of the delay in getting them off stage and getting them back to the car and what to do and when to leave.

Not an excuse for anything this apocalyptic, catastrophic security failure, but that's not been reported yet. And I think you're going to for your, of course, you're going to be ahead of it. You'll see it reported probably a week from now and someone will write exclusive. I don't care if you take it as an exclusive, just report it today.

That explains some of the chaos in leaving. They weren't sure if there was an additional attack coming.

That's from people who know. People who know. Let's just say more about this coming up with some fantastic guests. But first, our next sponsor. Being in debt is like sinking in quicksand. You're trapped, you feel helpless. And the harder you struggle, the deeper in debt you get. If you're trapped in debt, let me throw you a lifeline. Done with debt. Done with debt has created a brilliant new strategy with one goal in mind to help get you out of debt quickly and permanently. Done with debt can help you stop the struggle. First they stand between you and your bill collectors. Then they negotiate a plan to help end your debt without bankruptcy and without loans. They can help you get out of debt quickly and put more cash in your pocket monthly. But you need to contact done with debt right away because some debt solutions expire. You don't want to miss out. It's easy to get started. Go to donewithdebt.com and get a free consultation. You have nothing to lose. Talk with one of their experts and discover a strategy that will help end your debt faster and easier than you thought possible. Visit donewithdebt.com. that's donewithdeb.com. again, that's donewithdebt.com. must qualify for enrollment.

Susan Crabtree has done some amazing reporting on this. She has fantastic sourcing from withinside, the organization, the secret service folks. You should follow her. Here's some of her insights into what happened with this tragedy. This is one of the few reporters doing actual work out there to uncover this massive Secret Service security failure. Her name, if you don't follow her on social media, you should, is Susan Crabtree. Excellent reporter. And by the way, she's not some johnny come lately to issues with the secret Service. She's been reporting on it for years. Susan, thanks a lot for spending some time with us. Really appreciate it.

Susan Crabtree
Oh, it's my pleasure. You've been doing excellent work yourself, Dan.

Dan Bongino
Well, thank you. Thank you. I put you are actually at the hearing a lot, you know, for the first time in a while there. Actually, it started out a little rough, but I've a lot of good questions out there. You're covering it on your ex account right now. Let me nail this one first because I think it's critical. The Secret Service director Cheadle is, is obviously obfuscating. This is an awful hearing for her. She looks ridiculous up there. She will not give a timeline as to when this threat on the roof was relayed to secret service agents. Susan, you and I both know why. Because then the next question is going to be, if you knew it, 530 or 540, why did the team walk President Trump out on the stage just after 06:00?

Susan Crabtree
Yeah, my takeaway is for the whole hearing, the headline is I have a timeline without specifics. She actually said that uttered those bureaucratic words to Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. And thank goodness for Green because she was one of the very few members of Congress that seemed prepared for the hearing, had done their homework and was asking tough questions and wasn't taking bureau grantees for an answer.

I also give kudos to representative Timmons.

He really was drilling down on a lot of these issues that we still have no answers to. And he was the only one. I think it was like 2 hours and 18 minutes into the hearing that was talking about the allocation of security resources between the Trump rally and the Jill Biden event that same night. We know from yesterday from your reporting, and Senator Grassley also talked to these whistleblowers who have said that there were three post standards that were requested for Trump's rally and twelve for Jill Biden's event. Now, you know what a post stander is. You know, they're, they're assigned to, designated their secret service, assigned to different areas of a rally, targeted areas.

But that just sort of scratches the surface.

He has asked for a full breakdown of all the resources, numbers versus that event, versus the Joe Biden's event.

Just the number of agents in general, they've gotten zilch. There's stonewalling going on, and it's reprehensible. I mean, it's reprehensible that there's no more answers.

Dan Bongino
Nine days after Susan. I hope some of the members are listening. If you are, I want to vector you into something. I hope you write about it.

The Secret Service director Cheadle created quite a dilemma for herself with her under oath answers. At one point, she was asked about denials of security requests from the Trump detail. And she acknowledged that some of these denials did happen, but said that she didn't, it didn't create a security vulnerability.

But then she stated in another under oath answer that she, in fact, did not see and vet the security plan for this event.

So you get where I'm going with this. So if these site supervisors on the ground and on the Trump detail determined they needed additional security assets, and the secret service director, who did not vet these things, said no, then we've got a problem. Then it did create a vulnerability, because the guys on the ground thought it was a vulnerability, and the Secret service director said no to a site plan, security plan she didn't supervise. You get where I'm going with this. Both of those stories can't be true. Either she looked it over and said, you don't need that because of these reasons, or she didn't and ignored the vulnerabilities. The guys on the ground and ladies on the ground said were there.

Susan Crabtree
Well, she kept saying that there were all the assets requested for this particular event were provided. Now, exactly what does that mean?

Did the Secret Service agents who were assigned to protect the president, and they kept getting repeated denials.

Over the last two years, it's been reported that did they get tired of asking, come on, once you ask your boss for certain things and they say to you no 20 times, you stop asking.

Whether they had assets does not answer for this. They had all the assets they requested for this event. Doesn't get to the whole culture of whether this was politicized in any way in terms of the division of resources between a former president and a sitting president and his wife.

This is the whole outloaded protocol, that it is not threat based, that somehow Donald Trump at his rallies that attract 50,000 people do not deserve to be threat based. They are treated as a, just like an old style protocol, like any other former president, and they don't get the priority. That is nonsensical and it is not, you know, doesn't build confidence that there is any effort to maybe now there is, because we saw the difference. And she couldn't explain that either. About the details, the exact details assigned to President Trump at the rally and at the convention. I saw with my own eyes that were all men at the convention. That follows as the president. And we saw quite vividly the detail. And we know, I'm not saying they didn't do their jobs as female agents. I'm saying they did. But again, it doesn't take Elon Musk to make a speedo joke on an elephant about a five foot five female agent covering a six foot four president. That that is an outbreak. It's just obvious. It's common sense.

Dan Bongino
We're talking to Susan Crabtree. She's been a fantastic reporter. You can follow her on X and various social media platforms. She's been all over this secret Service story. Another thing she said at the beginning of the hearing, director, secret Service director Kim Cheadle, she specifically said it. You can go and do one of those word searches on C SPAN, that they're there to provide 360 degree coverage. They are not there to provide a flat circle drawn on a piece of paper around a protectee. In other words, a flat, two dimensional figure that moves around a 360 degree bubble means above and below and all around a three dimensional. That's why they call it the bubble. I can't believe she said that and simultaneously acknowledged in the hearing that there were no drone or airborne assets. I mean, I don't understand. You just said, this is another question for a member of Congress, Director Cheadle, you just said you provide 360 degree security services for former President Trump, but you had absolutely nothing in the air. Were you lying or did you just say, screw it, we're just going to leave the airborne picture open and let a guy get on a roof with no one noticing?

Susan Crabtree
And she couldn't even tell when the, that was when she answered that question with a timeline without specifics. When crooks, when Thomas crooks, the shooter, was able to fly a drone that morning at the site. And she said, she corrected Marjorie Taylor Greene and said, well, because she had said, well, he flew the drone over the entire site and said, oh, well, not the entire site. Well, you knew he did it, so you know what time he did it. Come on. But you can't provide the specific time.

Then how do we have to, how are we supposed to, as american public, have confidence in your ability to be accountable like you say you are going to be? She says in 60 days. 60 days, they're going to do this investigation, and then she's going to hold somebody accountable.

Dan Bongino
I can't believe she didn't commit to firing in when either. We're talking to Susan Crabtree, excellent reporter on the secret Service scandal, massive scandal. One thing I want to address with the media, Susan, obviously, present company excluded, you've been doing an excellent job, is they've been, the liberal media has been a disgrace on this. When I reported a long time ago on information from high level Secret Service sources that Donald Trump's security footprint was not satisfactory to meet the moment and his life was in danger, I was called literally a conspiracy theorist. You can look up the piece by Daniel Arkin at NBC News, who, by the way, never reached out to me or never got a comment from me at all, because he's just a clown and a joker. But it's even worse after the fact. When people like you and I warned a week ago that repeated requests for enhanced security around President Trump were rebuffed. We were called crazy. And then all of a sudden, Carol Leonic at the Washington Post acts like she's breaking some huge story the other day. Oh, look, security requests were rebuffed. This story's been out with you and I for, for years. And at a minimum, regarding this event since last weekend, right after it happened.

Susan Crabtree
Yeah. And the Wall Street Journal also had a very specific piece. And Warren Strobel, a good friend of mine and an amazing national security reporter, written books about, on the topic of Iraq war in Afghanistan. He came out with a piece on the 16th saying that Robert O'Brien. The national security advisor for Trump, his former national security advisor requested security and he was denied. RFA junior was requested and he was denied. And he thinks it's political so that he would have to spend more money on his campaign.

This is ridiculous. That the Washington Post suddenly is lied to late. That's what I call it. And believe the first lies earlier in the week and so that we get discredited early in the week and everyone stops reporting about it, even though we know it's true and we keep saying it's true. Then all of a sudden, Carol Leona gets some kind of source to finally talk to her because she burned all of her sources that she used for her book on the Secret Service. And she's written two books trashing Trump and she's on the democracy dies in darkness. She finally got someone to tell her something last night, probably from congressional republican leak, which I seriously question whether that's advisable.

But this is suddenly news, is this, this outmoded idea that only the New York Times and the Washington Post can declare news that when they reported it, that's the only time it's news? I think that that's really pass day.

Dan Bongino
Now we're talking to Susan Crabtree, excellent reporter on this. Susan, there is a story you and I have been all over, and it is a huge scandal in and of its own right at a site like that with hundreds and thousands of attendees, excited attendees, and an outdoor rally where you have obvious line of sight issues. An indoor rally, you have fewer line of sight issues because the walls and the roof around the indoor venue will block line of sight from long distance threats. Outdoors, you have a guy in a ghillie suit, could be sitting 1000 yards away. If he's a talented enough sniper, you got a real problem on your hands. This guy was only 130 yards away, about a little over 400, 500ft or so. This is a disgrace that there were only three Secret Service post standards. Now, I explained to the audience before, that does not include the working shift and the sod guys, Cat, CS and others, magnetometer teams. However, three Secret Service post standards for hundreds and thousands of people. That is obscene that they had to detail people from HSI. Great guys, not a knock on them at all. But Secret Service agents don't know anything about homeland Security investigations and HSI folks are not trained to do what we do. This is a scandal in and of its own right. For the largest threat profile protective we have, Donald Trump.

Susan Crabtree
Absolutely true. And I was also told that the female lead site agent was a new agent drawn from the Pittsburgh office with relatively little experience. And you know what the site agent does, Dan? They're in charge of deciding what the permiter is and all the assets needed. And, I mean, they had to have a supervisor sign off of that. And there's a lead advance agent as well. But how is someone who's inexperienced supposed to handle all that responsibility and do it right? Is that the reason why the building in question was not included in the perimeter? I mean, that's a key security. That's the security lapse, other than no one being on the roof of that building. I guess there was law, local law enforcement inside, even counter sniper teams inside, but they weren't on the roof because it was hot for various reasons.

But it's just the whole thing is.

Does not inspire confidence, to put it the understatement of the year.

Dan Bongino
Susan, I got a minute left, so I got to wrap, but I just want to ask you, as again, the premier reporter on this story, please try to get your hands on the CSU vulnerability assessment stands for counter surveillance unit. That is a team that goes out in advance and goes and looks at vulnerable access points, vulnerable lines of sight, ingress and egress, those kinds of things. That CSU assessment along with the counter sniper assessment, it's on paper and it's on email. There's no doubt about it. If they pointed out that roof, which I'm sure they did as a vulnerability assessment, didn't post it, did nothing about it, and did not block the line of sight from that roof, then I've got to tell you, there is some severe negligence that may, may get into some pretty serious realms. I mean, this is really, really bizarre. I've got to run, unfortunately. Susan Crabtree, thanks for your great reporting. I hope people follow you on social media. You've been great.

Susan Crabtree
Thanks so much for your support and interest. Take care.

Dan Bongino
You got it, folks. She's been really great. If you're following her account seriously, you're at least a day ahead of the news cycle.

I've got another breakdown coming up next. But first, a word from our next sponsor.

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Message and data rates apply. Thanks Birch gold. There are a lot of stories going around about what happened with the secret service. Some of them are false Orlando misdirections meant to misguide you and to stop you from asking the critical questions. I'm not going to let that happen. Listen, as I break this down, let's get back to some of this, because this weekend there were a lot of clips floating around the Internet, and I'm going to do my best to keep us directed towards the truth, because again, folks, the truth doesn't have an agenda.

And I pledge to you on everything I've got in me, on my integrity here, that I'm not going to spin your wheels. There was a theory floating around about a third shooter. Jim, if you would cut three. Senator Ron Johnson was on Maria Bartiromo show this weekend and he's not wrong. There were three weapons used at the site. But with regards to the third shooter, the current, the current, the current, the fourth time, the current information I have from trusted people I trust, I wouldn't put it on the air if I didn't have.

The current working theory is it was not a third, a second attacker, but that a local counter sniper team, that is not a secret Service counter sniper team fired at the assassin and missed. That's why you're getting an audio signature from some of these.

The Internet sluice out there, they're not wrong.

From a third weapon. But listen to Ron Johnson. And he's not wrong when he says this, but I'm not sure. He may know now who that third shooter is. Check this out. So are you questioning whether or not there was a second shooter? Is that what you're questioning? Or if the shooter had a different gun?

Senator Ron Johnson
You know, I saw an extremely convincing video online. I know it's all over the place. You know, there were three distinct shots early on, followed by another five in more staccato more rapidly fired and then the final one, which we believe took the shooter out. How do you explain that? I don't know. I'm not an expert.

The individual putting that video out says it clearly shows that there are at least three different weapons fired that day.

Dan Bongino
Okay. This has been your home for breaking news. I challenge you out there. If you don't like me, hate my show, or you're a liberal, and find out, give me a story. We've been wrong on about this case.

We broke the ladder story that that was not a ladder. Climbed up on the AC unit, that there were only three secret service units at the agents at the site as post standers, that there was no drone at the site. You heard that first year. Because our sources have been pretty good on this.

There's a number of working theories out there. When they're theories, I've told you clearly, they're theories. They're not facts. These theories may be based on evidence, but we haven't drawn any conclusions on it regarding this. The current evidence is there was not a second shooter. There's no. There's no available evidence that that's the case. None of that third shot was from a local countersniper team. They shoot and they shot, engaged the assassin on the roof and missed.

So Senator Johnson is absolutely accurate, but don't draw any conclusions about that being a second gunman. So far, there's no evidence of that. If any evidence emerges, be the first to hear it.

But again, the Bongino rule here applies.

Give yourself 24 to 72 hours when you hear something on the Internet to kind of sift through what's garbage and what's not. And the reason I say that, folks, is there are a lot of people out there, I'm telling you for a fact, who are in our business, who are nothing more than provocateurs. They are not conservatives. They secrete ourselves, themselves into our social media conversations, and they plant nonsense. So filibusters will happen and no one will ever get to the bottom. It's a pretty sick tactical technique to distract you from the truth.

I'm convinced that what, it's what happened in the 2020 election, too, that we had a legitimate case for a compromised election. Absolutely. And we still do. And there were people out there secreting narratives into our movement to distract you from stuff we absolutely knew was true.

Don't let it happen again.

Ron Johnson continued on. Maria Bartiromo. And this is an interesting clip about a mysterious guy in a gray suit on the roof, folks. Occam's razor typically applies at these things. But I'm going to tell you straight up from trusted sources on this, it's still kind of up in the air who this person was, but I'll give you some working theories on it. And again, you're all very smart people. You can decide what sounds sensible and what doesn't. Take a listen. So this is the guy in the suit who walks up the ladder, goes to the roof and tells the local, the locals send those pictures to this cell phone. Who was that person?

Senator Ron Johnson
Well, again, I'm not sure that was the guy. I think another county law enforcement gave the number to the other county law enforcement, the snipers, to send the text.

Some guy in a suit walks up the ladder, they believe you seeking service. I'm not sure where they gave credentials, but that's part, again, Maria, this is so preliminary. I'm issuing this, I'm providing this information, a much more detailed timeline to prompt others to come forward. We need to complete this picture. We have a lot of puzzle pieces to fill in here.

Dan Bongino
Is it, is it odd to you that the locals were being told to send the pictures to the alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agency, ATF?

Senator Ron Johnson
Where does ATF go to various, the oddity starts with the fact that local law enforcement were just tasked with securing the perimeter, told to go cover that AGR building, not really told where to set up. So they set up on the second floor. They went to that AGR building at 1030 in the morning.

Dan Bongino
Folks, I don't know who that individual in the gray suit was, but it should not be hard to identify that person based on the available video at the site. There are going to be a number of people who should be able to just pick him out if he was local police, say state police, Butler county or secret Service. Now, regarding the ATF question, you know, I'm hearing from some people on the ground that the picture may have been sent over there for some facial id purposes. If that comes out in the wash. I'm not putting that out there as a firm conclusion. I'm just telling you what I've heard from some people as to what they think that may have been.

But it's my job to give you what I know and to stick with trusted sources on this so we don't get spun up on stuff, because I'm telling you, there are efforts out there right now to get you distracted.

You know what? I want to play this clip. I'm going to go a little bit out of order, but Jim, the cut eight, if you would.

Mike Cernovich, a good follow on X. Great account.

Nice guy.

Cernovich was interviewing with Tucker Carlson. Maybe you don't believe me. Maybe you think I'm kidding. Having been in this business for a long time, I can tell you right now I am absolutely certain there are people who are pretending to be us who interject in conversations on social media with the strict intention of directing you down a path they know is fake so that you'll never ask the real questions. Here's Cernovich and Tucker talking about exactly this phenomenon. Maybe you don't believe me. Maybe you'll believe them. Check this out. Do you think there are lots of feds running around?

Mike Cernovich
Actually, oh, I think there are all kinds of feds embedded within the right wing movement and the conservative movement.

Dan Bongino
You think that's real?

Mike Cernovich
Oh, yeah. To discredit people. That was the CIA.

There was a book called Intel Pro. You can read the CIA manual on how you disrupt movements, which I read. And what they would do, the CIA would do. At the time they're doing it to the Black Panthers, but now they're doing it to anybody who's deemed christian or goes to a catholic church, is they have various tactics. And one tactic they do is they call it stone. What do you call it when you keep talking? Filibustering. So you have a group and you'll have two different agents put in. One is going to try to fed trap you like they did in Michigan. Oh, we need to do more than just talk. We've talked for too long. It's time to take action.

And then that only works on the really desperate people who don't have anything going on, which happened post 911 to muslim kids. If we're being fully honest here, this isn't a new thing happening to us. And woe is us. It was happening to Muslims, and a lot of conservatives didn't really care.

Dan Bongino
Oh, that's true.

Mike Cernovich
The FBI stopped another terrorist attack. No, they didn't. They found some poor muslim kid who was lonely, maybe mildly autistic, and they planned a whole thing for him.

Dan Bongino
Or he had non mainstream opinions, but wasn't hurting any, by the way. You're allowed to have non mainstream opinions, in fact, and that's the whole point of this country, is allowing you to have non mainstream opinions. Right?

Mike Cernovich
So now it's our turn in the barrel. So on the one hand, they'll try to do that with low hanging fruit. On the other hand, they'll have people who filibuster and make it so that nothing can really get done.

Dan Bongino
That second part, I want you. We all know about the fed napping and other things. Of course there are going to be people in the government trying to entrap you. It's been a. This is not a new problem.

Law enforcement authorities, sadly, have always had a number of rotten apples in there, some with a larger number, some with a smaller number that'll try things like this. But the second part he is absolutely correct about.

There are people out there, I am sure of it, who are going to come out tomorrow. Jim, you've seen it. You've been in this business longer than me. You've seen it probably a thousand times. There's going to be a conversation going on in Twitter and someone's going to come in there with a, like, you know, maga superhero. He's not one of us. It's he or she. Not at all. They're just doing that and they're going to say, this guy's a phony. I'm telling you, I have evidence that space aliens did it.

Charles Chuck Marino
Look.

Dan Bongino
And everybody's going to click on it. And what it does is it gets you redirected from serious questions like how did the Secret Service miss an obvious communications failure? And who was this guy shooter working with, if anyone? And it gets you distracted with, well, call it the Mars alien theory. And then all day you're on Twitter, like, oh, this guy said more. They do it on purpose. That is the point. They want you guys to filibuster endlessly on whatever. I'm just making up Operation Dragon tooth. I've got proof the Russians did it. Oswald resurrected from the graveyard. And it was a really.

They are trying to sucker you. I know you guys aren't going to fall for it. I'm just saying this is done intentionally and I'm already seeing it on this shooting case. Who was this guy working with? That's an open question, man. We better get answered. If anyone at all. But I agree with most of you that it is awfully suspicious that he left no social media footprint whatsoever. Are you kidding me? Is that a joke?

You're seriously sticking with that?

They want. They don't want those questions answered.

So you're going to get the, you know, second gunman theory and things like that. One more interview with a former colleague. First, their last sponsor, chase Medical. Listen, we had storms in Texas. There's a hurricane season coming in Florida. Do you want to get caught in an emergency without life saving antibiotics that are stuck behind a pharmacy paywall, their pharmacy wall. And it doesn't even matter because the pharmacy is probably going to be closed. There's a solution. No matter where you live, disaster is going to strike. And it's called the Jace case. It's essential antibiotics and medication to treat the most common and deadly bacterial infections. It's like vase with a j. Go today to jacemedical.com dot. Fill out the online form. Review the terms that Jace medical medical physician will evaluate requests and if eligible, your medications are dispensed by a licensed pharmacy at a fraction of the regular cost. Jacemedical.com enter code Bongino. You'll get a discount. Emergencies are right around the corner. Hurricanes and everything else. Do not be left unprepared. Get your customized case today of emergency medicines and antibiotics. Chase medical.com enter code bongino. Jacemedical.com dot code bongino. Jace medical and its products are not intended as a substitute for professional medical treatment or advice. Consult with your healthcare provider. Thank you, Jace Medical. Really appreciate it. This is Charles Chuck Marino, a good friend of mine, former secret service agent.

He has some really great insights as well. All right, I want to welcome back to the show a former colleague of mine, a friend, good guy, very talented agent during his time with the secret service, former agent with the secret service, Charles Chuck Marino. Chuck, welcome back to the show. We appreciate it.

Charles Chuck Marino
Hey, Dan, thanks for having me.

Dan Bongino
Of course, you've been doing some really excellent and honest commentary, folks, on this. And I think a lot of the working agents you and I worked with really appreciated. Because, Chuck, I think you as well as I, are getting a ton of emails from both formers and active agents that are absolutely horrified by this apocalyptic abomination of a security failure. And just to be clear from guys like you and I who have not been part of security failures like this, thankfully, there's no excuse for this. This is just an abject failure.

Charles Chuck Marino
Now, you know, Dan, you're right. And I gotta tell you what's blowing my mind is this. The building was outside the security perimeter.

And I think it's. It's been bad messaging from the start from the former director of the secret service, because threats like that are what drive the established perimeters. So you and I both know, you walk out there, you say, this building is too close. It's got a line of sight. You know what? That's in our perimeter. And we're going to secure it accordingly instead of making it sound like it was just left up in the air, you know, for the cops to come up with their own plan to secure it. And that's, you know, ever since that description, it's been breaking bad for the service.

Dan Bongino
Yeah. Talking to Chuck Marino, former Secret service agent. Chuck, I heard you on, on Fox providing that commentary this morning, and I was at the table pounding the table like, yes, the threat determines the security asset allocation, not the other way around. The counter sniper unit of the Secret Service recognizes threats out to roughly 1000 yards, which a super competent sniper in a Ghillie suit that pull off. You're 100% correct. We don't just go, well, it's kind of hot, and that building's 130 yards. But I. Whatever, man. Like Alicia Silverstone and clueless, like, that's not what we do. But let me, let me ask you one question here as well, again. You haven't done hundreds of advances yourself.

The advance agent, as you well know, is at this site way before the protective shows up. So whoever the advance agent is that day is there hours before Donald Trump arrives on the scene. What? Me, as a former agent, I think you were kind of curious about as well. Want to put words in your mouth, is if the advance agent was there that day and knew this was a threat, there's going to be some CSU and CS vulnerability assessment. It's going to show that that line of sight in that particular building was a threat from an elevation standpoint. Then how the hell did they let the site go unmanned, even if they agreed that it was a local post, which I hear they agreed, and they said, oh, it's too hot, then why not come up with a different strategy? Like, hey, you know what? We'll rotate post standers in and out to make sure nobody goes up there or chuck things you and I have done, like, we'll block the line of sight to at least make sure they can't see Donald Trump on the stage. There were other ways to fix this.

Charles Chuck Marino
It's like they forgot about the effective implementation part, right, to go check on things that are supposed to be posted by state and local law enforcement. Look, if it's not being covered to the satisfaction of that site agent, then he's got to fix it, and he's got to fix it quick.

But this should all be done well in advance, as you said. This should all be coordinated. The lines of communication, everything that you and I are hearing today about, no communication between state and local law enforcement, this finger pointing, which is bad for all agencies, none of this should happen. This would have taken us five minutes to say that building is a threat. Here's what we're going to do. It better be posted. And I'm going to be back here the morning of the event, and I'm going to check on it and keep checking on it.

Dan Bongino
Yeah. Talking to Chuck Marino, former Secret service agent with a lot of experience in this, Chuck. That segues nicely to my next question.

You and I both know that security is treated as a three dimensional bubble, not a circle on a piece of paper that, that moves with the protectee. So 360 degree three dimensional security bubbles mean above and below. That's a serious issue in New York, where if the president's walking on the street, there's a train station below. We might man that. We have NYPD down there, but we also always keep assets overhead for a number of reasons. You want to make sure a plane doesn't crash into the sites, unlike that's happened before. I mean, I say sarcastically, I mean, this stuff is actually happening happened. How in the hell did the air security branch not have a $100 drone up there or a fleer or a huntsman or something, just to look down on the site and say, hey, we got a guy on the roof who shouldn't be there? I mean, this is inexcusable to not have eyeballs in the sky.

Charles Chuck Marino
Look, my understanding is they've got a program.

Field offices have the tools to deploy, and so why this technology wasn't deployed and used, the Secret Service is going to have to explain. But it's unacceptable, especially the airspace needs to be closed. That needs to be insured. Look, former President Trump is a high enough level on the threat assessment scale to be practically equivalent to the president of the United States based on actions that he took during his presidency against state actors like Iran and his visibility and policy decisions now. So, look, give him the highest level of protection. The airspace needs to be closed. Drone mitigation needs to be a part of the plan. And for anything less, it's inexcusable.

Dan Bongino
Talking to Chuck Marino, former Secret Service agent. Chuck, one of the questions I find baffling, which still we have not been given a candid, honest answer on, is from multiple sources that are feeding me and others information the Secret Service knew between 15 and 20 minutes out. Conclusively.

I would say it was probably earlier, but let's just work with that timeline for now, because that's enough. About 15 or 20 minutes out that there was an unmitigated threat out there, a man outside of side what they claim is their secure perimeter, roaming around rangefinder, backpack. I mean, these are all furtive type suspicious movements which should have stopped President Trump to protect you that day from walking out on stage. There's a room at these sites called the holding room everybody knows about. The president goes there to hold when there's a threat. I can't think of one possible reason why this wasn't relayed to the shift to say, hey, just keep them in the limo, keep them in the truck, or keep them in the holding room until we can figure out what's going on. I mean, it's not like the networks weren't going to wait a few minutes on these speeches. They're late all the time.

Charles Chuck Marino
Yeah. You know, we're starting to see, with this significant failure in the plan, all the other cracks starting to be exposed, and we're going to see it significantly in communications in that area.

Like me, I can't figure it out because as you and I both know, this is nothing elaborate. It's the counterpart system, literally sitting side by side with law enforcement agencies that are participating in the security plan. So for the life of me, like you, I still can't figure out how the communication didn't flow here in this situation. But you're right. You should have never gone to stage with, based on the timing that you're saying, and you're right, it was probably longer.

Dan Bongino
Yeah.

Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Yeah, I'm having a tough time because people like you and I did this for a living. I was on my friend Glenn, Glenn Beck show this morning. You know, Glenn has no Secret Service experience whatsoever. And Chuck, he's asking questions that both guys like you and me can't. I can't answer without attributing to malice or stupidity. I really can't find an option c, and it's driving me bananas. Let me ask you another question. So there are friends of ours who I think you and I both know there's a significant email trail here about security requests for enhancements to the Donald Trump detail on the DTD. Right. There's an email trail. There were been, there been white papers out there. I have this on good authority. Let's just say, you know what I found bizarre was former director, thankfully, Kim Cheadle's testimony under oath yesterday, trying to evade this basic question. I mean, if you're going to take responsibility, and I quote, say, the buck stops here, which is what she did, then part of it is to say, hey, listen, we failed. There were requests for security enhancements in the past. We denied them. These repeated denials probably led to a failure to request them anymore. I mean, if I'm telling you a thousand times, I need antiviral protection, and you say no on my computer gets hacked. You don't have any easy. You. She should have said yes. I mean, she really. She was risking perjury yesterday with some of these dangerous answers.

Charles Chuck Marino
Well, that was a train wreck yesterday. And again, not being transparent with members of Congress, you know, giving two interviews, leaking the opening statement. None of this was good, and certainly not in the spirit of the secret Service for sure, which is why she's now the former director. But look, this happened on her watch. She's got to take responsibility for all of this. And if there were numerous requests, which you and I know there were, then she should have articulated why they were denied that. That's not part of the investigation by the bureau. Right now, they're looking at the assassination attempt. She could have freely spoke about this and said, here was the decision I made. I denied it. I stood by it, and here's why. But she didn't even do that, which tells me she knows it was the wrong decision. And I'm hoping, for the life of me, it wasn't a political decision.

Dan Bongino
Oh, gosh, I'm hoping to. We're talking to Chuck Marino, former secret service agent, a former colleague and a friend. Chuck, a last question, and I'd like to get your take on this, and you may not agree, and that's fine. I'm asking you candidly and seriously because I like your answer. I think one of the problems. Problems with the secret service right now is this commingled investigative mission. I get it. The history of the secret service with counterfeiting. I understand the whole thing. There's this been, this ethos in the past, this mythological story we tell each other that, oh, my gosh, it makes people better protection agents. No, protection makes people better protection agents. I don't play football. To become a better baseball player, the secret Service needs a field office system. But the Secret Service, you don't have to transfer everyone to a protection detail. You'd probably lose everyone. But you could keep them in the field doing threat cases, critical infrastructure analysis. I mean, you know, we have firemen some days who, you know, they. They don't have a fire. They don't go start a fire because they're there to be reactive to a fire that I think we need to dump this investigative mission, it's creating way too many problems with the travel rotation, you know, court cases for people. We need these guys dedicated to this mission. Seen what happens when we fail. Your thoughts on that?

Charles Chuck Marino
I agree with you. 100%. And I'll say the different way, you can't complain that you're constantly being asked to do more with less and keep raising your left hand up asking for more.

Look, you're not going to get this type of coverage for screwing up a counterfeit investigation. You and I both know that protection is where it's at. It's the number one priority of the secret service. They're the best in the world at it, and they need to keep doing that. So they've got to focus their attention, all their resources on protection related functions. I agree with you. Protective intelligence, critical infrastructure, technical security, all of that stuff. But it's got the foundation, has to be protection going forward and give those investigations back to treasury or wherever else.

Dan Bongino
Really. I don't use the Lord's name in vain. But thank God, because I'm glad a smart guy like yourself, who I believe in and trust and work with, feels the same way we did. This does not mean guys will be on 24 hours protection. It just means we will focus exclusively on threat cases, critical infrastructure, things directly related to the protection. And you're right, we can't keep raising our hand going. We'll take nsses, national special security events. Oh, we'll take e crimes, electronic crimes. You write. You can't make both arguments. Hey, we're doing too much. Hey, give us more. It doesn't work that way. Chuck Marino. You've been fantastic. Follow him. Charles Marino on X. He's had some really, really super insightful commentary. You see him on Fox, on cable news. Just really great work, Chuck. Thanks for telling the truth. I'm getting a lot of feedback from mutual friends who appreciate you being an honest voice. Man. We got to fix this thing and not just complain about it. Thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

Charles Chuck Marino
Likewise. You too, Dan. Thanks. You're the best. Thank you.

Dan Bongino
You got it, buddy. I worked with that guy, folks. That guy's legit. I'm telling you, there are good guys who really, really are absolutely 100% committed to fixing this apocalyptic security failure. They are embarrassed. They are horrified. If I could, I would read you the hundreds, more than hundreds of texts from people I've worked with in law enforcement in the service who are absolutely, I don't even have the words, the modifiers and adjectives and adverbs to describe how disgusted they are about what happened.

Fix it or someone's going to die.

Thanks for listening to the podcast. I hope this show answered a lot of questions for you about this just horrific tragedy. We got to prevent this. From happening again. If you want to listen to our radio show during the week, go to bongino.com stationfinder. Or you can always listen on Rumble from noon to three@rumble.com. bongino thanks for tuning in. You just heard Dan Bongino.

Sunday Special: Comprehensive Secret Service Breakdown, plus Susan Crabtee and Chuck Marino 07/28/24

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1: Breakdown of the Incident

2: Interviews and Analysis

3: Political and Operational Fallout

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