OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Radio talk show host and podcaster Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent, predicted another potential “incident” involving the agency, suggesting it is in a worse state now than before the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Following Congress’s inquiries into the assassination attempt, then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned, and Ronald L. Rowe Jr. was appointed as interim director. But Bongino has repeatedly said on his show that Rowe is no better and that the upper echelons of the agency are either corrupt or incompetent.
Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., asked Bongino during a Heritage Foundation forum last week, “Is the Secret Service in a better spot today with Director Rowe in charge?”
“No, it’s worse,” Bongino replied. He predicted that “something else” will happen, although he added, “I pray to my Lord and savior Jesus Christ that I’m wrong.” He added: “[If] you think this is the last incident, you’re out of your mind.”
Bongino also said during his testimony that Rowe represents more of “the same people” who were in charge on July 13.
“Kim Cheatle, the director, wasn’t even fired. She was allowed to resign,” Bongino pointed out. “She’ll go get some cushy job somewhere, and her deputy” got promoted.
The former agent and New York City police officer then said whistleblowers within the Secret Service told him that Rowe “was concerned about the tie color of the agents on the detail because it seemed to imply they supported President Trump. This is the kind of stuff the Secret Service was actually wasting their time with.”
“If you can explain it, then good luck because that’s not the agency I worked for,” Bongino added, according to the Daily Signal.
Bongino addressed the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump at a forum, where he responded to questions from Republican members of Congress: Andy Biggs and Eli Crane of Arizona, Matt Gaetz and Cory Mills of Florida, and Chip Roy of Texas. The forum also featured Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL and founder of Blackwater, and Ben Shaffer, a Washington regional SWAT operator who helped with security on July 13.
At the forum, held near the U.S. Capitol, the congressmen presented video clips from the July 13 event, revealing that members of the crowd had tried to alert police about Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old who later fired at Trump, well before the shooting occurred.
Mills asked Shaffer several questions clarifying how poorly Secret Service had prepared for a potential threat.
Shaffer confirmed that Secret Service “didn’t take the communication platform that was given by local forces,” that the agency “didn’t take the surveillance drone offered by local forces,” and that agents “didn’t show up for the morning briefing to ensure that last-minute planning could be accounted for.” He also confirmed that Secret Service “did not access the water tower that has the highest vantage point.”
WATCH:
🚨Ben Shaffer, a Washington regional SWAT operator who took part in the security in the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump, goes through all the ways Secret Service did NOT accept help from the police forces on the ground.
Secret Service: didn’t take communication, didn’t… pic.twitter.com/M46jU18DT6— Tyler O’Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) August 26, 2024
Biggs highlighted that rallygoers had attempted to alert the police about Crooks at 5:10 p.m., an hour before the shooting occurred at 6:11 p.m. Shaffer added that images of the shooter appeared on his text chat at approximately 5:38 p.m. He quickly learned that Crooks had a range finder, which should have elevated him from a “suspicious person” to a “person of interest,” just one step below a “threat.”
Shaffer noted that Crooks was positioned outside his designated sector and out of his visual range, which limited his ability to quickly respond.
“President Trump was definitely deprived of resources that day,” Prince noted.
The Secret Service “had one-third the amount of agents covering him as were covering Jill Biden in the same region at an indoor event,” he said. “She had 12 post-holders covering her, again no statutory or constitutional authority for the first lady. Donald Trump had four Secret Service agents assigned.”
