These Are The Questions I Still Have About The Trump Assassination Attempt: Anthony D'Esposito

2 months ago

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-NY) joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss his legislation that would mandate all full-time House employees to undergo active shooter training after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, as well as what questions he still has surrounding the shooting.

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Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News. Joining me now is Congressman

00:07Anthony D'Esposito. Congressman, thanks for joining me once again.

00:11Thanks for having me.

00:12We sit here a little less than three weeks after Donald Trump survived an assassination

00:17attempt at a political rally in Pennsylvania. And since then, you introduced legislation

00:23that would require every full-time House employee to undergo active shooter training. Can you

00:28talk to us a little bit about your bill?

00:30Sure. I think that, quite frankly, it was surprising to me that it wasn't something

00:34that's already mandated by those who work on Capitol Hill. I mean, if you think and

00:39you look at the threats, the security threats that we have across this nation, there are

00:44many facilities in Washington, D.C. and on Capitol Hill that are at the top of that target

00:50list. We are often seen as the epicenter of democracy. It's a place where we welcome

01:02thousands upon thousands of protesters each year who are there about the issues that they

01:07are passionate about. So quite frankly, I'm a little surprised that it wasn't already

01:11in place. But after the assassination attempt on President Trump, I think it's one of those

01:18it's an idea that is a proactive approach looking forward as someone who has spent a

01:22career in emergency management, both in the fire service and law enforcement. You know,

01:28after a large scale incident, you always have a critique and you say to yourself, what can

01:34we do better next time? And, you know, after every emergency, you say, we want to are we

01:39more prepared now than we were before before the last one? And I think that this is an

01:44opportunity for us to be prepared better for God forbid if this were to ever happen

01:50again. After that assassination attempt, you really saw bipartisan calls questioning a

01:56how did this happen, amongst other things. But is there bipartisan support for your

02:02legislation? I mean, we'll see, you know, I I'm hoping I think it's common sense

02:09legislation. I think that I don't believe that education is ever wasted to give our

02:16staffers and our co workers the ability to train in an active shooter situation. Not

02:22only is it better to prepare them and our staff, but it makes the lives of law

02:27enforcement professionals a little bit easier because God forbid we are in that

02:31situation. Anyone who has lived through any type of shooting or any type of incident

02:37like that, there's a lot of emotion and people do get scared and people don't know

02:42how to react. And I'm not saying that training will prepare everyone to react exactly

02:47how we want them. But I think that having that bit of training not only will probably

02:52bring comfort to our co workers and our staffers on Capitol Hill, but it will allow

02:58law enforcement professionals to do their job better. Your legislation is obviously a

03:03great proactive approach. But when we saw that shooting, that assassination attempt,

03:09both sides of the aisle were horrified at that type of political violence. So what do

03:14you think needs to happen to ensure that that type of thing doesn't happen again?

03:19Well, I think that the rhetoric needs to needs to calm down. But unfortunately, you

03:24know, just moments after the assassination attempt, I mean, anyone who reads through my

03:30social media feed can see that the rhetoric has not calmed down. I mean, people are vile.

03:36The things that people say, you know, just last week, I was my office received two separate

03:42bomb threats, one of which an arrest was made. So the rhetoric is there. People are angry.

03:47People are volatile. And unfortunately, as we get closer to the election, and now I think

03:53with the change top of the ticket, there is that volatility continues. The anger and the

04:01political rhetoric continues. And I think for us, and at least for me, what my focus on

04:08throughout this campaign has been, I mean, I haven't been one to, you know, call out

04:13President Biden, with regards to his cognitive decline. My focus was, you know, on the

04:21issues, the issues that matter most to the American people, the issues that when when my

04:26neighbors in the fourth congressional district, when they're sitting around their dinner

04:29table at night, or when they're having breakfast together on a Sunday morning, the

04:33things that they talk about the economy, crime, our southern border, about the fact that

04:39when they go to the supermarket, everything costs more. Those are the issues that I want to

04:43talk about. I want to talk about my record in Congress, working in a bipartisan fashion,

04:48being ranked one of the top 10 most moderate and bipartisan members of the of the

04:54conference. Those are the things that I want to talk about restoring salt to those high taxed

05:00states, especially New York, the work that I've done to fully fund the 911 health care bill, you

05:07know, the legislation that I've written and steps that I've taken to make our country safer

05:12and to give law enforcement professionals the resources that they need to keep this country

05:17safe. The votes that I've taken to make sure that women maintain that ability to make that

05:25choice, that the amendments that I've voted down, the fact that myself, along with other New

05:32Yorkers, New York moderates have kept the agricultural appropriations bill off the floor of

05:38the House. Why? Because it restricted women's access to Mifflin Pristine. That's the stuff

05:43that I want to talk about, the actual facts where the Democrats continue to spew campaign

05:48rhetoric and and lies. I'm going to focus on the issues. I'm going to focus on my record. And I

05:54know that that's the way I handled the 2022 campaign. It's the way I'm handling this

05:58campaign. It worked in 2022, and I'm confident it'll work again in 24.

06:03You've worked across the aisle before. And I am curious, as someone with a law enforcement

06:08background, how do both sides of the aisle turn down the temperature on this rhetoric?

06:15Well, I think it's it's got to be a step that that is taken that's actually believed. You can't

06:23just come on radio shows. You can't just come on TV. You can't just post Facebook and Twitter

06:28posts and say that we should calm down the rhetoric, but then not actually calm down that

06:34rhetoric. And unfortunately, that's what we're seeing. I mean, again, the arguments that some

06:40people are making on on our social media feeds, I mean, the things the calls that we get to our

06:44offices, the letters, the threats. I mean, it just doesn't seem that that it is calming down.

06:50And as people get, again, closer to the election, you know, we just finished our our

06:56convention a week or so ago, and the Democrats will have theirs in a couple of weeks. You know,

07:01it's unfortunate, but I think that that rhetoric continues. And if not, we'll only get we'll get

07:07worse. And I have a strong concern. And I know many of my colleagues do as well, especially in

07:13places like New York, where we, you know, get back into the school season. I think we're going to

07:18see those encampments. We're going to see those protests start kicking up again on our college

07:23campuses, which were which were which are only going to hurt the attempt to to calm down the

07:29rhetoric. You said that your office receives multiple bomb threats. Former President Trump

07:35survived an assassination attempt. When you see all of these incidents on a personal note, do you

07:41feel safe? Well, you know, I feel safe by the measures that I've taken to make sure that

07:47myself, my family and my staff are safe. It's the you know, and I have, you know, I'm very

07:55thankful for the men and women of the Nassau County Police Department, as well as the village

07:59police departments, all that protect and serve New York's fourth congressional district. So yeah, I

08:06am confident I am comfortable. And but that's one of the reasons as to why I work so hard to deliver

08:11funding back here to the district, you know, we're building, I just visited this past weekend,

08:16we're building a state of the art, and I would argue probably one of the finest training facilities

08:20anywhere in the country, right in the heart of my district. And I was able to deliver close to $4

08:25million as part of the tactical village that we're building to give law enforcement professionals

08:31throughout our county, and the village police departments a hands on approach to how to handle

08:36incidents, we are going to have in that tactical village, a mock place of worship, a bar

08:42restaurant, a bank, so they can actually pull into a tactical village, they can engage with

08:50suspects using simulations. So that that's the you know, so to answer your question, do I feel

08:57safe? Yeah, I do. But that doesn't mean that we let our guard down. It doesn't mean that we don't

09:02keep our heads on a swivel. And it doesn't mean that we, you know, we get complacent, we need to

09:07make sure that we stay the course we need to stay vigilant. And we need to make sure that our law

09:12enforcement professionals have the resources they need. And we need to, you know, continue to take

09:17proactive approaches, just like we are right now with this legislation, in providing training and

09:22education to to the workforce on Capitol Hill, and those who work in our district office to prepare

09:27them better for what's unfortunate in this political rhetoric.

09:32I do want to go back to that assassination attempt. Since then, there have been multiple

09:36investigations into how this happened. What are some of the biggest questions you still have less

09:42than three weeks later?

09:44Yeah, so I sit on the House Homeland Security Committee, and we are conducting a parallel

09:49investigation with House Oversight, obviously, the newly formed task force that was put together by

09:54Speaker Johnson. And I think that the questions there are so many questions, but I think some of

10:00the most important are looking at the plans that were laid out for that rally in Pennsylvania. Let's

10:09look at the pre-plan operation. Let's look at the plan of attack for the day. Were the resources that

10:14were requested, were they all provided? Were the resources that were on site, were they trained for

10:22that situation? Were they members of the Secret Service who had previous training at large scale

10:30events? Was the communication with the local agencies, the state and local agencies? What was

10:37their communication? What was the communication breakdown? I mean, we could rewind back. I mean, as

10:43someone, again, who has spent a lifetime in the first responder world, I mean, we could rewind back to

10:49September 11, 2001, when we experienced some of the worst communication breakdown probably in our

10:55history. And why? Because agencies weren't able to communicate with one another on scene and were

11:02unable to provide critical information that probably would have saved lives on that morning. And I think

11:08that, again, you asked your question, are we better off today than we were at that last incident? And, you

11:15know, we need to make sure that the Secret Service are coordinating with local agencies. And we've all

11:22seen it. It's one of those things, the Secret Service comes in, or a bigger law enforcement agency, you

11:27know, I was a member of the NYPD, you know, you have, you're one of the biggest forces, you have the, you

11:33know, you have the newest toys and, and, and resources. And when you come up, and when you come in and show, I

11:39mean, just last week for the Benjamin Netanyahu speech, there were 225 uniformed NYPD cops that came to

11:47Washington, DC to help the Capitol Police. And when they show up, they are a real presence. And but that

11:53doesn't mean that there shouldn't be coordination and communication with all agencies on the ground. So that's a

11:58conversation we need to have. We need to make sure that none of the decisions made on that, that day and leading up to

12:05that day were political. What were their resources that weren't provided to that, to that rally because of who the

12:14rally was for? You know, we asked the questions, you know, why wasn't RFK Jr. provided the Secret Service

12:22protection that his team requested months and months ago. So there are a lot of questions that need that need to be

12:29answered. As someone who spent a career in law enforcement, I am not ready to start Monday morning quarterbacking it and

12:36pointing fingers until I have all the facts in front of me to I read till I read the transcripts till I hear the radio

12:42transmissions till I have the opportunity to interview and interrogate the individuals who need to be held

12:48accountable. And then I will utilize my 16 years of investigative experience to make an informed decision on how we move

12:56forward. You did ask some questions during a house homeland Homeland Security Committee hearing. And you question the

13:03Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner. Just what did you think of that hearing his responses? And I know that you said you

13:10don't want a Monday morning quarterback just yet. But do you think this is a failure of local law enforcement, Secret

13:16Service or both?

13:18I think right now it's a failure of protecting the asset, as we refer to, in general, I'm not certain who the finger is to point at

13:30yet. But what I do know is that there are some serious questions that need to be answered. I know that we not only failed President

13:37Trump, we failed the American people, and we certainly failed the victims, you know, the the firefighter who lost his life

13:46protecting his family and those who were injured. We failed them. And for that, there are questions that must be answered. And there

13:54are those that need to be held accountable. And this is not about political rhetoric. And I actually feel pretty good about the fact

14:01that I think the the the committees of jurisdiction and members, my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the house have been

14:11pretty apolitical about investigating this incident. And I have spoken to, you know, some of my colleagues on the furthest left of their

14:22aisle. And I think that the genuine feeling is that we need to get to the bottom of this so it never happens again.

14:30I mean, to your point, members from both parties have called for the director of the Secret Service Kimberly Cheadle to step down. She did

14:38resign a day after that House Oversight Committee hearing. Do you think that's enough?

14:43No, I don't think it's enough. I think that what we're dealing with is probably something systemic. And it is a situation that again, we

14:53really need to get to the bottom of it. And this isn't something that's going to happen overnight. It's not going to happen. After one

14:59committee hearing, this is going to take an investigation looking into how the planning goes for incidents like this, the communication

15:09between the local, state and federal agencies, the cooperation that is being had between the Secret Service and the those who are

15:21requesting, you know, the protection, all of that needs to be taken into consideration. I think that the failure of the director of the

15:30Secret Service, that was obviously the most obvious. And I am thankful that she resigned. I think that we without a doubt needed new

15:40leadership in the Secret Service. But the end of the investigation is not near. We need to take every opportunity that we can, again, to

15:52address exactly how the Secret Service plans for these types of incidents, the communication that they have or don't have, the interaction

16:02between the local agencies. And that's not just communication, while at the incident, but actually leading up to the incident and planning for the

16:10incident. I mean, when we spoke to the colonel in charge of the Pennsylvania State Police, he said, and testified on the record, that he had no

16:20knowledge of the of the plan that was in place for that day. He actually he never actually saw the plan. Was he in communication? Yes, he received

16:29an email saying that there was going to be a rally requesting assets from the state police. But the actual plan in writing for that day, at least he said he

16:41would he never had his eyes on. So I think that there's a failure in many parts. I think that this is a situation where, again, very often the Secret

16:49Service comes into places, especially, you know, a place like this, which is a somewhat of a smaller community. And the communication just falls apart,

17:00because perhaps the local agencies think, all right, the Secret Service has this. But this is not about one law enforcement agency taking the lead. This is about law

17:10enforcement professionals working together in order to protect not only President Trump in this situation, but protect all of the attendees.

17:19So just to summarize what you're saying, you don't think that this was a one off incident? You think that there is a systemic problem within the Secret

17:27Service?

17:29I think that there's a systemic problem within communication of law enforcement agencies. Yes, I think that that has been the case for a long time. The ability

17:40for us to communicate between multiple agencies has always been difficult. And, you know, with with the concern of cybersecurity issues and hacking issues, it's

17:50only become worse and more difficult. But we have to find a way to in situations like this, be able to communicate critical information. I mean, looking at the

17:59timeline, which will become more concrete in the weeks ahead, we had or they had ample time to notify the team around President Trump to say, listen, we think

18:11something's going on, perhaps the President should wait a few minutes and not take the stage yet. We have an incident and we really want to get the President off the

18:18stage. Now, wherever that fell into the timeframe, the opportunity was there. And we failed, you know, and I say we as a whole, we were failed because

18:29communication fell apart.

18:31Congressman, we will leave it there per usual. I appreciate the conversation. Thanks for coming on.

18:36Of course. Thank you.

These Are The Questions I Still Have About The Trump Assassination Attempt: Anthony D'Esposito

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