Attempted Assassination Against Donald Trump Reveals ‘Systemic Problem’: Anthony D'Esposito

4 months ago

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-NY) joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss the investigation into the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

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Transcript

00:00You did ask some questions during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing,

00:06and you questioned the Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner.

00:09What did you think of that hearing, his responses?

00:12And I know that you said you don't want a Monday morning quarterback just yet,

00:15but do you think this is a failure of local law enforcement, Secret Service, or both?

00:21I think right now it's a failure of protecting the asset, as we refer to in general.

00:29I'm not certain who the finger is to point at yet,

00:33but what I do know is that there are some serious questions that need to be answered.

00:37I know that we not only failed President Trump, we failed the American people,

00:42and we certainly failed the victims.

00:45You know, the firefighter who lost his life protecting his family and those who were injured.

00:52We failed them.

00:53And for that, there are questions that must be answered,

00:57and there are those that need to be held accountable.

00:59And this is not about political rhetoric,

01:02and I actually feel pretty good about the fact that I think the committees of jurisdiction and members,

01:11my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the House,

01:14have been pretty apolitical about investigating this incident.

01:18And I have spoken to some of my colleagues on the furthest left of their aisle,

01:25and I think the genuine feeling is that we need to get to the bottom of this so it never happens again.

01:33I mean, to your point, members from both parties have called for the director of the Secret Service,

01:39Kimberly Cheadle, to step down.

01:41She did resign a day after that House Oversight Committee hearing.

01:44Do you think that's enough?

01:47No, I don't think it's enough.

01:48I think that what we're dealing with is probably something systemic,

01:53and it is a situation that, again, we really need to get to the bottom of it.

01:59And this isn't something that's going to happen overnight.

02:01It's not going to happen after one committee hearing.

02:04This is going to take an investigation looking into how the planning goes for incidents like this,

02:12the communication between the local, state, and federal agencies,

02:16the cooperation that is being had between the Secret Service and those who are requesting the protection.

02:27All of that needs to be taken into consideration.

02:29I think the failure of the director of the Secret Service, that was obviously the most obvious,

02:38and I am thankful that she resigned.

02:40I think that we, without a doubt, needed new leadership in the Secret Service.

02:45But the end of the investigation is not near.

02:51We need to take every opportunity that we can, again,

02:55to address exactly how the Secret Service plans for these types of incidents,

03:01the communication that they have or don't have, the interaction between the local agencies.

03:08And that's not just communication while at the incident,

03:11but actually leading up to the incident and planning for the incident.

03:14I mean, when we spoke to the colonel in charge of the Pennsylvania State Police,

03:18he said and testified on the record that he had no knowledge of the plan that was in place for that day.

03:28He never actually saw the plan.

03:31Was he in communication? Yes.

03:34Saying that there was going to be a rally requesting assets from the state police.

03:39But the actual plan in writing for that day, at least he said he never had his eyes on.

03:46So I think that there's a failure in many parts.

03:48I think that this is a situation where, again, very often the Secret Service comes into places,

03:54especially, you know, a place like this, which is somewhat of a smaller community.

03:59And the communication just falls apart because perhaps the local agencies think,

04:05all right, the Secret Service has this.

04:07But this is not about one law enforcement agency taking the lead.

04:12This is about law enforcement professionals working together in order to protect not only President Trump in this situation,

04:19but protect all of the attendees.

04:22So just to summarize what you're saying, you don't think that this was a one off incident.

04:27You think that there is a systemic problem within the Secret Service?

04:32I think that there's a systemic problem within communication of law enforcement agencies.

04:37Yes, I think that that has been the case for a long time.

04:42The ability for us to communicate between multiple agencies has always been difficult.

04:48And, you know, with with the concern of cybersecurity issues and hacking issues, it's only become worse and more difficult.

04:56But we have to find a way to, in situations like this, be able to communicate critical information.

05:01I mean, looking at the timeline, which will become more concrete in the weeks ahead,

05:06we had or they had ample time to notify the team around President Trump to say, listen, we think something's going on.

05:15Perhaps the president should wait a few minutes and not take the stage yet.

05:19We have an incident and we really want to get the president off the stage now.

05:22Wherever that fell into the time frame, the opportunity was there and we failed.

05:28You know, and I say we as a whole, we were failed because communication fell apart.

05:35Congressman, we will leave it there per usual. I appreciate the conversation. Thanks for coming on.

05:40Of course. Thank you.

Attempted Assassination Against Donald Trump Reveals ‘Systemic Problem’: Anthony D'Esposito

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