'Why Wasn't The Event Paused?': Maxwell Frost Grills Cheatle On Local Police Reports Before Shooting

3 months ago

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Monday, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) spoke about warnings made by local authorities leading up to the attempted assassination attempt against former Preisdent Trump.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you. Chair, I now recognize Mr. Frost from Florida. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

00:05Obviously, I want to start by stressing that political violence is always unacceptable

00:10and acknowledging that this is still an ongoing investigation. But oversight hearings like this

00:15are essential components of an investigation, and I want to thank the Chair for pulling this

00:19together. Madam Director, I appreciate you for being here. The events of July 13th

00:24raised serious questions about the efficacy and thoroughness of the security protocols in place.

00:30The gravity of the fact that an unsophisticated gunman was able to secure his perch and take a

00:35shot at a former president, despite multiple layers of security and intelligence, are not

00:40lost on me. Before I came to Congress, I used to work advance for a major political candidate and

00:45have interacted with many different law enforcement agencies on large political events like the one

00:51that just happened. How many times was the Secret Service alerted about a suspicious person at the

00:57July 13th campaign event prior to the first shot being shot? I don't have an exact number to share

01:03with you today, but from what I've been able to discern, somewhere between two and five times

01:11there was some sort of communication about a suspicious individual. To the Secret Service

01:16specifically? According to reports, the shooter was photographed twice by security officers prior

01:22to the shooting. A police officer saw the shooter on the ground and reported him with a photograph

01:27as a suspicious person. Multiple local law enforcement officers identified the shooter,

01:33radioed that he was acting suspiciously near the event's magnetometers. A local law enforcement

01:39tactical team saw the shooter on a roof and notified other security services and also

01:44photographed him. One police officer who photographed the shooter saw him scoping out

01:50the roof and carrying a range finder. My question is, and you've answered this, but

01:55why, or you haven't answered this, why wasn't the event paused right then?

02:02Again, I'm not clear on the timeline of when the Secret Service shift and the counter-sniper

02:08were notified. But earlier, Madam Director, earlier you said that the Secret Service would

02:13have paused the rally if they identified a threat. Correct. So why wasn't it paused?

02:20Because I have to assume that they did not know that there was a threat when they brought the

02:26president out on the stage. I feel like this is a breakdown in communication between local law

02:34enforcement, you all, and other actors at the rally. And again, as someone who's worked on these,

02:39I understand that there's multiple people with multiple decision, with the ability to make

02:44different decisions on the ground. I've taken the, over the last week, I've spoken with a lot of

02:49folks in local law enforcement in my district and across the country that I've worked with before,

02:54and other people have brought up concerns around being able to communicate with Secret Service

03:01during these big events and having their flags taken seriously. I do believe that if Secret

03:07Service believed that there was a legitimate threat that they would have paused the rally.

03:10My concern is before that, that something was flagged and it wasn't taken as seriously as it

03:16should have been taken. So I think this shows an issue with communication. And I want to know,

03:22Madam Director, what you intend to do to fix that, not in 60 days, but now. We're in the middle of a

03:28presidential election, obviously a former president who had an assassination attempt, another rally

03:35goer who was killed due to this gun violence. We now have a presumptive nominee of the Democratic

03:41Party, who's also historic, first black woman to be running for president. And so I am worried

03:46about everybody's life. What do you all intend to do to fix this communication breakdown and making

03:51sure that you actually take what local law enforcement, local folks are saying more seriously?

04:00We take what local law enforcement relays to us seriously. Let me just be clear on that.

04:06As far as the communication. But not this time.

04:10We always trust our law enforcement partners and have a great relationship with them.

04:14We are looking at whether or not there was a communication breakdown. If that was the case,

04:19we will take steps to ensure that we correct that, because to your point, we cannot have a

04:25communication breakdown. Madam Director, you mentioned that the perimeter of the event did

04:30not include the rooftop where the shooter was. Does your responsibility and the Secret

04:36Service's responsibility to protect a principal stop at the perimeter of an event?

04:43Our responsibility is to ensure the safety and security of the event itself and the protectee

04:49who is attending that event and the personnel who are protecting. So you would say the fact that the

04:53rooftop was outside the perimeter is not an excuse for what happened, saying that it was outside the

04:58perimeter of the event? I am not offering that as an excuse. Okay. Thank you. I yield back.

05:03Gentleman yields back. Chair now recognizes Mr. Fallon from Texas.

05:08How did a 20-year-old loner with a week's notice pick the absolute

'Why Wasn't The Event Paused?': Maxwell Frost Grills Cheatle On Local Police Reports Before Shooting

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