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