Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Congress. Been Fried from South Carolinais on the Oversight Committee and the Judiciary
Committee in the House of Representatives,and they'll be examining the horrible and near
miss of the attempted assassination of DonaldTrump over the weekend, and a lot
of focus on the Secret Service.Congress been good morning, Good to have
(00:21):
you here, Great to be here. Thanks for having me on this morning.
You bet. I know you're onyour way up to Milwaukee, and
I appreciate you taking some time here. So what in your view is the
order of events now in terms ofinvestigating what happened? Well, I think
for starters, you're going to haveto hear some internal you know, from
the Secret Service, from the FBIand other agency's kind of a post mortem,
(00:45):
right. I think that's one ofthe steps their own assessment of things.
Beyond that, though, and thisis where I think it's incredibly important
for us, is that you havean independent body, and of course that
would be the House that could bein sector general. All these things are
going to come out and there's goingto be a lot of I would say
(01:07):
dialogue for sure, but a lotof post mortem about what exactly happened,
what failures occurred and how do weprevent them from happening. Again, that's
where the House will come in.The Judiciary Committee has direct oversight over the
FBI, the Homeland Security Committee andthe Oversight Committee had jurisdiction over the Secret
(01:29):
Service, and so it's going tobe incredibly important that when we return,
and I think there's already things beingset up Director Rays coming in the week
after Milwaukee on the twenty fourth.My understanding from talking with Chairman Comer of
the Oversight Committee is that we aregoing to have a hearing that first week
as well on the Secret Service stuff. So there's going to be a lot
(01:51):
to unpack. And again I'm notin law enforcement, so this is not
my background. But just as forme as a layperson just looking at it,
there were obvious security failures because howdoes a guy get on an adjacent
roof right next to a vacant fieldin which the president, the former president,
is speaking to a crowd. Howdoes that even happen? So questions
(02:12):
in my mind are did he haveenough security? Did he request security and
was denied? Why was he deniedthat additional security? There are reports that
he was denied what assets should havebeen in place, and how can we
prevent this from happening? Again,We've seen this with Reagan. We haven't
seen this in many, many years, but we've seen this with Reagan,
(02:32):
with Kennedy, with others. We'veseen members of Congress also either be assassinated
or come close to it. Thinkingabout Steve Scalise, Gabby Gifford's and the
like. Look, people who servein public service there are often targets.
So how do we prevent that.How do we strengthen assets in place to
(02:53):
make sure that people who are servingin public are not attacked or killed just
because of a pivot of the president'shead. He survived, thankfully, but
this should have never happened. Justnext Monday, a week from the day,
Chairman Comerce said he wants to havethe head of the secret Service up
there. I assume the base question, probably the first question is tell us
(03:21):
what happened when every layman in Americacan see a rooftop one hundred and thirty
or so yards away and that thatis not secured. Please tell us how
that happened. That's where you start, right, Yeah, I think so,
And certainly their explanation is going tobe informative, but digging deeper,
(03:42):
you know what was the call made? Right? I mean, I know
we know that the sniper was takenout by law enforcement, but was a
call made by that particular sniper aheadof time that he was ready to proceed?
We don't know the answer these questions. So I think understanding the facts
is incredibly important. And once youunderstand how everything fell into place and what
(04:03):
all the pitfalls are, we're ableto make recommendations. These agencies can make
recommendations internally, but beyond that,a Congress is going to certainly have their
hands in this. Does Congress havethe power to fire this director of the
Secret Service because technically she works forthe Secretary of the Treasury. Well,
(04:24):
technically no, we can't fire asthe executive branch, so that would be
in the administration's hand. However,the House has the power of the perse
and this is something that I thinkwe do not wield enough. And we've
tried to do this with a coupleof amendments that if you want to serve
your country for a dollar a year, we can't fire you, but we
(04:44):
can lessen your salary to a dollar. It's called the Holman rule. We
haven't used it really with any degreeof success, But on this one there
may be an appetite for that.There's already a bipartisan appetite for understand what
happened here and strengthening secret service forall presidential candidates. You really think that's
(05:09):
going to happen? Congressman, They'vebeen threatening to do this for decades.
You know you didn't use the powerof the person when the President ignored the
Supreme Court ruling our student loans.I mean, really, what is how
realistic is that that you guys wouldshut off funding for any agency? Well,
I mean, look, I meanI'm going to keep fighting for things
like that. I often have.It's sometimes a lonely battle, as you
(05:30):
know. But where agencies are notfulfilling their mission, there needs to be
a whole scale review. Any statelegislature. I've got a prior history in
the state legislature in South Carolina.You're probably similar in Nebraska. But any
state legislature has the ability to comein and if an agency isn't fulfilling their
mission, then there's there's kind ofhell to pay, and the federal government,
(05:54):
for whatever reason, doesn't do that. Now, I think there's there's
a there's an emerging thought process thatwe need to start raiding in these agencies.
I'm hopeful that that happens, butat least in my brief term in
Congress in a year and a half, I haven't seen that with any degree
of great success. Maybe minor victorieshere or there, but that's that's the
(06:16):
way Congress starts to restore its ownauthority. It's making sure that these agencies
are fulfilling their mission. And ittakes a little bit of muscle memory to
do that. But I'm hopeful thatwe've got We've got a long way to
go, for sure. Do youthink your committee's Congressman, then we appreciate
your time again this morning. Justanother question here. Do you think your
(06:36):
committees can and will look into someof the I guess we can call them
conspiracy theories that are floating around aboutwhat happened Saturday? Or does it get
too bulky to do that. Doyou simply have to focus on the on
talking to the head of the SecretService and holding her accountable for what happened.
(07:00):
No, I think I think thatthere's a look. I think the
facts are important. It's actually badeverything that we do uh. And so
in this case, what the factsare you you ask certainly the Secret Service,
but they're not. They're not theonly person or entity that you should
ask, right, I mean,they have it, they have a mission
and obviously protecting their own a littlebit, but they do. And so
(07:21):
if the director comes in and isincredibly forthright and conciliatory and acknowledgies acknowledges maybe
some of the security failures, great, but we're also going to do our
due diligence and go check other placesand talk to other experts that know what
they're doing and what could have preventedthis. Great Congressman, I have a
(07:43):
great convention, appreciate the time.Thank you, sir. There he goes
Russell Prior, Congressman from South Carolinaand on the Oversight and Judiciary committees investigating
the events of Saturday. By theway, I got known here from Mike
said. The Secret Service falls ontothe DHS, not the Department of Treasury,
not unless it's changed. It's alwaysbeen under the Department of Treasury because
(08:05):
its main duty is to guard againstthe counterfeit money. That's number one historically,
and the actually it's in the Bureauof Alcohol tobacco firearm, but under
the Treasury Department umbrella unless that's changedand I miss it
Congress. Been Fried from South Carolinais on the Oversight Committee and the Judiciary
Committee in the House of Representatives,and they'll be examining the horrible and near
miss of the attempted assassination of DonaldTrump over the weekend, and a lot
of focus on the Secret Service.Congress been good morning, Good to have
(00:21):
you here, Great to be here. Thanks for having me on this morning.
You bet. I know you're onyour way up to Milwaukee, and
I appreciate you taking some time here. So what in your view is the
order of events now in terms ofinvestigating what happened? Well, I think
for starters, you're going to haveto hear some internal you know, from
the Secret Service, from the FBIand other agency's kind of a post mortem,
(00:45):
right. I think that's one ofthe steps their own assessment of things.
Beyond that, though, and thisis where I think it's incredibly important
for us, is that you havean independent body, and of course that
would be the House that could bein sector general. All these things are
going to come out and there's goingto be a lot of I would say
(01:07):
dialogue for sure, but a lotof post mortem about what exactly happened,
what failures occurred and how do weprevent them from happening. Again, that's
where the House will come in.The Judiciary Committee has direct oversight over the
FBI, the Homeland Security Committee andthe Oversight Committee had jurisdiction over the Secret
(01:29):
Service, and so it's going tobe incredibly important that when we return,
and I think there's already things beingset up Director Rays coming in the week
after Milwaukee on the twenty fourth.My understanding from talking with Chairman Comer of
the Oversight Committee is that we aregoing to have a hearing that first week
as well on the Secret Service stuff. So there's going to be a lot
(01:51):
to unpack. And again I'm notin law enforcement, so this is not
my background. But just as forme as a layperson just looking at it,
there were obvious security failures because howdoes a guy get on an adjacent
roof right next to a vacant fieldin which the president, the former president,
is speaking to a crowd. Howdoes that even happen? So questions
(02:12):
in my mind are did he haveenough security? Did he request security and
was denied? Why was he deniedthat additional security? There are reports that
he was denied what assets should havebeen in place, and how can we
prevent this from happening? Again,We've seen this with Reagan. We haven't
seen this in many, many years, but we've seen this with Reagan,
(02:32):
with Kennedy, with others. We'veseen members of Congress also either be assassinated
or come close to it. Thinkingabout Steve Scalise, Gabby Gifford's and the
like. Look, people who servein public service there are often targets.
So how do we prevent that.How do we strengthen assets in place to
(02:53):
make sure that people who are servingin public are not attacked or killed just
because of a pivot of the president'shead. He survived, thankfully, but
this should have never happened. Justnext Monday, a week from the day,
Chairman Comerce said he wants to havethe head of the secret Service up
there. I assume the base question, probably the first question is tell us
(03:21):
what happened when every layman in Americacan see a rooftop one hundred and thirty
or so yards away and that thatis not secured. Please tell us how
that happened. That's where you start, right, Yeah, I think so,
And certainly their explanation is going tobe informative, but digging deeper,
(03:42):
you know what was the call made? Right? I mean, I know
we know that the sniper was takenout by law enforcement, but was a
call made by that particular sniper aheadof time that he was ready to proceed?
We don't know the answer these questions. So I think understanding the facts
is incredibly important. And once youunderstand how everything fell into place and what
(04:03):
all the pitfalls are, we're ableto make recommendations. These agencies can make
recommendations internally, but beyond that,a Congress is going to certainly have their
hands in this. Does Congress havethe power to fire this director of the
Secret Service because technically she works forthe Secretary of the Treasury. Well,
(04:24):
technically no, we can't fire asthe executive branch, so that would be
in the administration's hand. However,the House has the power of the perse
and this is something that I thinkwe do not wield enough. And we've
tried to do this with a coupleof amendments that if you want to serve
your country for a dollar a year, we can't fire you, but we
(04:44):
can lessen your salary to a dollar. It's called the Holman rule. We
haven't used it really with any degreeof success, But on this one there
may be an appetite for that.There's already a bipartisan appetite for understand what
happened here and strengthening secret service forall presidential candidates. You really think that's
(05:09):
going to happen? Congressman, They'vebeen threatening to do this for decades.
You know you didn't use the powerof the person when the President ignored the
Supreme Court ruling our student loans.I mean, really, what is how
realistic is that that you guys wouldshut off funding for any agency? Well,
I mean, look, I meanI'm going to keep fighting for things
like that. I often have.It's sometimes a lonely battle, as you
(05:30):
know. But where agencies are notfulfilling their mission, there needs to be
a whole scale review. Any statelegislature. I've got a prior history in
the state legislature in South Carolina.You're probably similar in Nebraska. But any
state legislature has the ability to comein and if an agency isn't fulfilling their
mission, then there's there's kind ofhell to pay, and the federal government,
(05:54):
for whatever reason, doesn't do that. Now, I think there's there's
a there's an emerging thought process thatwe need to start raiding in these agencies.
I'm hopeful that that happens, butat least in my brief term in
Congress in a year and a half, I haven't seen that with any degree
of great success. Maybe minor victorieshere or there, but that's that's the
(06:16):
way Congress starts to restore its ownauthority. It's making sure that these agencies
are fulfilling their mission. And ittakes a little bit of muscle memory to
do that. But I'm hopeful thatwe've got We've got a long way to
go, for sure. Do youthink your committee's Congressman, then we appreciate
your time again this morning. Justanother question here. Do you think your
(06:36):
committees can and will look into someof the I guess we can call them
conspiracy theories that are floating around aboutwhat happened Saturday? Or does it get
too bulky to do that. Doyou simply have to focus on the on
talking to the head of the SecretService and holding her accountable for what happened.
(07:00):
No, I think I think thatthere's a look. I think the
facts are important. It's actually badeverything that we do uh. And so
in this case, what the factsare you you ask certainly the Secret Service,
but they're not. They're not theonly person or entity that you should
ask, right, I mean,they have it, they have a mission
and obviously protecting their own a littlebit, but they do. And so
(07:21):
if the director comes in and isincredibly forthright and conciliatory and acknowledgies acknowledges maybe
some of the security failures, great, but we're also going to do our
due diligence and go check other placesand talk to other experts that know what
they're doing and what could have preventedthis. Great Congressman, I have a
(07:43):
great convention, appreciate the time.Thank you, sir. There he goes
Russell Prior, Congressman from South Carolinaand on the Oversight and Judiciary committees investigating
the events of Saturday. By theway, I got known here from Mike
said. The Secret Service falls ontothe DHS, not the Department of Treasury,
not unless it's changed. It's alwaysbeen under the Department of Treasury because
(08:05):
its main duty is to guard againstthe counterfeit money. That's number one historically,
and the actually it's in the Bureauof Alcohol tobacco firearm, but under
the Treasury Department umbrella unless that's changedand I miss it
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