Five House Republicans – Representatives Andy Biggs and Eli Crane of Arizona, Matt Gaetz and Cory Mills of Florida, and Chip Roy of Texas – hosted a panel discussion on the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at the Heritage Foundation on Monday.
We wrote about how they interviewed Ben Shaffer, a local SWAT sniper who was on duty at the rally in Butler, PA. He said that a After the fatal shooting, there was a “strange” pattern in the FBI’s handling of evidence, which led them to dispose of the shooter’s body so quickly and scrub the roof.
READ MORE: Trump assassination attempt: SWAT sniper questions “strange” pattern in handling evidence
But there were also heated moments with podcaster Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent, as he sharply criticized the agency’s problems. He didn’t hold back on how sedate he found the situation, and made three points.
.@dbongino GO OUT at the forum on the assassination of Trump:
“A 20-year-old criminal tricked you with a $40 drone… that’s disgusting!”
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/znApqFskfb
— Bongino Report (@BonginoReport) 27 August 2024
First, he noted that they had a “technology problem” – they “rely on yesterday’s and tomorrow’s technology.” He said the weapons were ancient, “everything is old.”
Second, he noticed problems with the way they were spending their money. There was no “more with less,” he said. There was only “less with more.” He said their budget had increased, but “a 20-year-old criminal had tricked them with a $40 device with drone technology… that’s disgusting!”
Third, they should abandon the investigative aspect of their work, such as pursuing counterfeiters, and focus on the main purpose of their work: protection.
He then answered some questions from members of Congress, saying that things were worse under Director Ronald Rowe than under former Director Kim Cheatle, who resigned in disgrace after the assassination.
Republican Party in the House of Representatives hosts forum on Trump’s attempted assassination with @Heritage: Thread with clips 🧵
1) Representative Eli Crane to @dbongino: “Do you think the Secret Service is in a better position today with Director Rowe at the helm?”
Bongino: “No. It’s worse… Do you think this is the last incident?… pic.twitter.com/MTrjs3Yrr7
– Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) 26 August 2024
Bongino warned that more was to come, “[If] If you think this is the last incident, you’re crazy. We’ve seen incidents like this over and over again.” He mentioned the grenade incident involving President Bush in Georgia in May 2005, when a live grenade was thrown at Bush. He said the people who screwed up in the Trump case are still in charge. He attacked Rowe, saying he was behind the “stupid, time-wasting” concerns about agents wearing red ties because they thought it somehow showed support for President Donald Trump.
“That was their concern when they withheld surveillance and sniper defense capabilities from perhaps the most threatened person in the world. If you can explain it, good luck, because that’s not the agency I worked for,” Bongino explained.
BlackRock’s Erik Prince noted that “for whatever political reasons,” Trump got a third of the people assigned to Jill Biden, who was in the same area that day. She got 12 postholders at an indoor event with far fewer attendees, and Trump had four postholders, Prince said.
2) Representative Eli Crane to @realErikDPrince: In your professional opinion, is the Secret Service, in its current form and leadership, capable of warding off such a threat?
Prince: “President Trump was definitely denied resources that day, for whatever political reasons. They had a… pic.twitter.com/L8A95oK6j7
– Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) 26 August 2024
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida raised the question of whether there was any political component to it, while other details were covered in more detail. Bongino said it was never political when he was there, but now he is concerned that for the “first time in history” it could have a “political veneer.” He expressed concern that people are not going to give Trump more credit to make him look presidential.
4) @RepMattGaetz asks @dbongino on the possibility that “malice” was a factor in the J13 security disaster:
Bongino: “I don’t think I’ve published this yet, but I’m saying it now… it seems that for the first time in American history we have an intelligence agency that… pic.twitter.com/HQVgHVfVOJ
– Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) 26 August 2024
Because it was such a colossal failure, it is bound to raise a lot of questions. Bongino and Gaetz were hesitant to even go that far, so they need to get answers as soon as possible to protect Trump and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
