September 25, 2024 • 9 mins
The US House task force investigating the two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump holds its first public hearing Thursday (September 26th). We speak with one of the task force members from the Tampa Bay area, U.S. Representative Laurel Lee.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News from the news radio
WFLA newsroom. A US House task force investigating the two
attempts on the life of former President Donald Trump July
thirteenth in Butler, Pennsylvania and mid September September fifteenth in
West Palm Beach is holding its first meeting Thursday, starting
at nine thirty in Washington in the morning. Of course,
one of the members of that task force is US
(00:22):
Representative Laurel Lee, whose district runs roughly I seventy five
through East Hillsborough County into the Kathleen and Lakeland areas
in Polk County, certainly one of the Bay Area delegation.
Representative Lee, thank you very much for joining us on
Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
It's a pleasure to be Vicky Gordon.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Well, now you have a witless witness list rather for
this first hearing that includes local police and first responders
from Butler and the state of Pennsylvania. What information are
you expecting to get from them about the events of
July thirteenth.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
One of the things that has been a priority for
our task is to get to the bottom of the
planning and execution failures on the day of the Butler attack.
So the state and local law enforcement officers were brought
in to be part of the security operation that day
and have really important insight for us about the planning,
(01:18):
about the site and how it was secured, about some
of the breakdowns that happened that day. We know, for example,
one of the critical failures related to communication between local
law enforcement officers and the Secret Service agents who are
there that day. So these witnesses are going to be
able to walk us through the beginning to end of
(01:39):
the planning and preparation for the day and one of
the purposes of this hearing. So we've been working really
around the clock since this first incident to get information,
to do witnesses to have brief things, to review documents.
But we will also be sure we're sharing all of
that with the American people. So this will be our
first public hearing where the public gets to hear all
(02:01):
of the same information that we're getting to hear, and
that's a really critical thing to making sure that there's
transparency and there's accountability.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yes, you've been at work now for some time, and
of course you've expanded to cover the September fifteenth attempt,
and you've been requesting all kinds of evidence and what
kinds of evidence are you asking for on the West
Palm Beach attack?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So the second attack, and I'll start by saying, it
was really shocking that we had a second attempt, and
we had that so soon after the horrible events in Butler.
We know that the Secret Service had been increasing the
amount of security that was working with President Trump before
(02:44):
the Palm Beach incident. So the fact that we had
another attack or able to get this close is really
just a shock. So on that second incident, we also
will be requesting the same and reviewing and analyzing similar
in how did he get so close? What happened that day?
You know, we actually on that day, the agents who
(03:05):
were right there with President Trump did a Thank goodness,
we're able to identify and spot this would be attacker
and make sure that that day wasn't any worse than
it might have been. But the same type of information
about what was the planning, what was the preparation, how
was this person able to get so close? Do we
(03:26):
need to have a broader security preimer around President Trump
at all times? And certainly I believe we do. I
think that his security detail needs to be elevated to
a full presidential level security detail. The two things that
are really important there are first that he is a
former president, but second the reality of the threat environment,
(03:47):
and we are seeing just an unprecedented threat environment right
now in our country. So he needs every resource that
can be provided to make sure that his future campaign stops,
his future activities are kept secure.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Now. Both the state of Florida and the federal government
are investigating the September fifteenth attack, and there was some
concern expressed as the reason for that that the Feds
might not be able to bring sufficient charges against the suspect.
At the time, he was just facing firearm charges. He's
now been charged with attempted assassination, which could give him
a life sentence in the federal system. The fact that
(04:25):
charges have been upgraded, does that give you any affect
your confidence in how federal prosecutors are handling the West Palm.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Beach attempt, Well, I'll say that so I am actually
a former federal prosecutor and can tell you what happens
there is very typical. So when this happened. In the
immediate hours after this attack in Palm Beach, federal prosecutors
needed to bring a charge immediately, and what those gun
(04:52):
charges that they brought in the first instance are relatively
simple charges, easy to prove. The evidence for those charges
was readily there, so they were able to bring an
immediate charge and keep him health and custody, and have
now brought a superseding indictment with more complex charges. So
this was not an unusual thing. I fully expected from
(05:12):
the outset that the federal criminal case would ultimately include
these types of charges. It just allowed them a few
days to gather the additional evidence about who this person
was and what he was doing so that they could
bring that more comprehensive charging document against this dependant. So
(05:33):
thus far, for us, the Secret Service has been working
with us, has been briefing us, has been in the
help for the House TAK course, has been forthcoming with
the information that we have been requesting from them. But
there's still a long way to go. We have a
lot of questions still about who these sailants are, how
(05:53):
they got to this place, were they working alone. So
those are the types of questions, and a lot of
that frankly lies with the FBI. Those are the questions
that we have going forward that we really need to
get additional information about because it's a critical part of
how we understand what the future going forward threat landscape
might look like.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
And indeed, one of your fellow task Force members, Representative
Mike Waltz, who is also part of the Florida delegation,
has said that while the Secret Service has been forthcoming
in his estimation, the FBI hasn't been as much. So
how confident are you? What do you believe you would
like to see from the FBI going forward on these attempts.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
So the FBI will have information not just about what
the Secret Service is the best source of information for us,
about the security detail itself, about the planning and the
preparation and what happened in the days leading up to
these two attacks and the response there too. The FBI
(06:57):
is responsible for leading the criminal investoration, So the FBI
will have information related to who these assailants are, what
led them to this place, who they may have been
communicating with, what types of things were they involved in,
any groups, any contexts. So that's a key part in
(07:17):
understanding where these threats are coming from and whether there
is anybody else who needs to be investigated, needs to
be prosecuted. That information is all with the FBI and
their criminal investigators, So we are very hopeful. It is
very important for us to get information from the FBI
as well, because that's what's going to give us the
(07:39):
context about who these people are, and be hopeful in
ensuring that we're doing everything possible to keep this from
happening again.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
To sum it up, since this is going to be
the first public hearing and people will have a chance
to watch it on streaming and YouTube and various means,
what should people be looking for? What should they expect
to hear in this hearing and the hearings that follow
As you work between now in mid December to deliver
your report.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
In this first hearing, I think the public will hear
a lot about what went wrong, that can say'll hear
a lot about the security failures on the day of
the Butler attack. They will hear that the federal agents
and local law enforcement who were supposed to be working
together that day had some critical breakdowns in their cooperation
(08:33):
and then their communication. There will be a lot of
information about really what went wrong that day, what needs
to be done better going forward, And I believe in
later hearings we will hear more from the Secret Service
about their response about what they're doing differently about what
they learned. They have already released an internal report of
(08:55):
their assessment of what happened in Butler, and we will
have future hearings that involved the Secret Service so that
they can talk about openly about what they're doing and
how they're going to ensure that not only President Trump,
but also all of the other protectees, including Vice President Harris,
that are under their watch or being kept safe.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Quite a bit to cover US Representative Laurel Lee. She
is a member of the House Task Force that's investigating
the two attempts on the life of former President Donald Trump,
and they're holding their first hearing Thursday morning. Representative Lee,
thank you very much for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
It was a pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Gordon
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News from the news radio
WFLA newsroom. A US House task force investigating the two
attempts on the life of former President Donald Trump July
thirteenth in Butler, Pennsylvania and mid September September fifteenth in
West Palm Beach is holding its first meeting Thursday, starting
at nine thirty in Washington in the morning. Of course,
one of the members of that task force is US
(00:22):
Representative Laurel Lee, whose district runs roughly I seventy five
through East Hillsborough County into the Kathleen and Lakeland areas
in Polk County, certainly one of the Bay Area delegation.
Representative Lee, thank you very much for joining us on
Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
It's a pleasure to be Vicky Gordon.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Well, now you have a witless witness list rather for
this first hearing that includes local police and first responders
from Butler and the state of Pennsylvania. What information are
you expecting to get from them about the events of
July thirteenth.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
One of the things that has been a priority for
our task is to get to the bottom of the
planning and execution failures on the day of the Butler attack.
So the state and local law enforcement officers were brought
in to be part of the security operation that day
and have really important insight for us about the planning,
(01:18):
about the site and how it was secured, about some
of the breakdowns that happened that day. We know, for example,
one of the critical failures related to communication between local
law enforcement officers and the Secret Service agents who are
there that day. So these witnesses are going to be
able to walk us through the beginning to end of
(01:39):
the planning and preparation for the day and one of
the purposes of this hearing. So we've been working really
around the clock since this first incident to get information,
to do witnesses to have brief things, to review documents.
But we will also be sure we're sharing all of
that with the American people. So this will be our
first public hearing where the public gets to hear all
(02:01):
of the same information that we're getting to hear, and
that's a really critical thing to making sure that there's
transparency and there's accountability.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yes, you've been at work now for some time, and
of course you've expanded to cover the September fifteenth attempt,
and you've been requesting all kinds of evidence and what
kinds of evidence are you asking for on the West
Palm Beach attack?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So the second attack, and I'll start by saying, it
was really shocking that we had a second attempt, and
we had that so soon after the horrible events in Butler.
We know that the Secret Service had been increasing the
amount of security that was working with President Trump before
(02:44):
the Palm Beach incident. So the fact that we had
another attack or able to get this close is really
just a shock. So on that second incident, we also
will be requesting the same and reviewing and analyzing similar
in how did he get so close? What happened that day?
You know, we actually on that day, the agents who
(03:05):
were right there with President Trump did a Thank goodness,
we're able to identify and spot this would be attacker
and make sure that that day wasn't any worse than
it might have been. But the same type of information
about what was the planning, what was the preparation, how
was this person able to get so close? Do we
(03:26):
need to have a broader security preimer around President Trump
at all times? And certainly I believe we do. I
think that his security detail needs to be elevated to
a full presidential level security detail. The two things that
are really important there are first that he is a
former president, but second the reality of the threat environment,
(03:47):
and we are seeing just an unprecedented threat environment right
now in our country. So he needs every resource that
can be provided to make sure that his future campaign stops,
his future activities are kept secure.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Now. Both the state of Florida and the federal government
are investigating the September fifteenth attack, and there was some
concern expressed as the reason for that that the Feds
might not be able to bring sufficient charges against the suspect.
At the time, he was just facing firearm charges. He's
now been charged with attempted assassination, which could give him
a life sentence in the federal system. The fact that
(04:25):
charges have been upgraded, does that give you any affect
your confidence in how federal prosecutors are handling the West Palm.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Beach attempt, Well, I'll say that so I am actually
a former federal prosecutor and can tell you what happens
there is very typical. So when this happened. In the
immediate hours after this attack in Palm Beach, federal prosecutors
needed to bring a charge immediately, and what those gun
(04:52):
charges that they brought in the first instance are relatively
simple charges, easy to prove. The evidence for those charges
was readily there, so they were able to bring an
immediate charge and keep him health and custody, and have
now brought a superseding indictment with more complex charges. So
this was not an unusual thing. I fully expected from
(05:12):
the outset that the federal criminal case would ultimately include
these types of charges. It just allowed them a few
days to gather the additional evidence about who this person
was and what he was doing so that they could
bring that more comprehensive charging document against this dependant. So
(05:33):
thus far, for us, the Secret Service has been working
with us, has been briefing us, has been in the
help for the House TAK course, has been forthcoming with
the information that we have been requesting from them. But
there's still a long way to go. We have a
lot of questions still about who these sailants are, how
(05:53):
they got to this place, were they working alone. So
those are the types of questions, and a lot of
that frankly lies with the FBI. Those are the questions
that we have going forward that we really need to
get additional information about because it's a critical part of
how we understand what the future going forward threat landscape
might look like.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
And indeed, one of your fellow task Force members, Representative
Mike Waltz, who is also part of the Florida delegation,
has said that while the Secret Service has been forthcoming
in his estimation, the FBI hasn't been as much. So
how confident are you? What do you believe you would
like to see from the FBI going forward on these attempts.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
So the FBI will have information not just about what
the Secret Service is the best source of information for us,
about the security detail itself, about the planning and the
preparation and what happened in the days leading up to
these two attacks and the response there too. The FBI
(06:57):
is responsible for leading the criminal investoration, So the FBI
will have information related to who these assailants are, what
led them to this place, who they may have been
communicating with, what types of things were they involved in,
any groups, any contexts. So that's a key part in
(07:17):
understanding where these threats are coming from and whether there
is anybody else who needs to be investigated, needs to
be prosecuted. That information is all with the FBI and
their criminal investigators, So we are very hopeful. It is
very important for us to get information from the FBI
as well, because that's what's going to give us the
(07:39):
context about who these people are, and be hopeful in
ensuring that we're doing everything possible to keep this from
happening again.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
To sum it up, since this is going to be
the first public hearing and people will have a chance
to watch it on streaming and YouTube and various means,
what should people be looking for? What should they expect
to hear in this hearing and the hearings that follow
As you work between now in mid December to deliver
your report.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
In this first hearing, I think the public will hear
a lot about what went wrong, that can say'll hear
a lot about the security failures on the day of
the Butler attack. They will hear that the federal agents
and local law enforcement who were supposed to be working
together that day had some critical breakdowns in their cooperation
(08:33):
and then their communication. There will be a lot of
information about really what went wrong that day, what needs
to be done better going forward, And I believe in
later hearings we will hear more from the Secret Service
about their response about what they're doing differently about what
they learned. They have already released an internal report of
(08:55):
their assessment of what happened in Butler, and we will
have future hearings that involved the Secret Service so that
they can talk about openly about what they're doing and
how they're going to ensure that not only President Trump,
but also all of the other protectees, including Vice President Harris,
that are under their watch or being kept safe.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Quite a bit to cover US Representative Laurel Lee. She
is a member of the House Task Force that's investigating
the two attempts on the life of former President Donald Trump,
and they're holding their first hearing Thursday morning. Representative Lee,
thank you very much for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
It was a pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Gordon
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