Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, thank you for listening. Mark Blazer.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
With Chuck Douglas a two to one WTVN one eight
hundred and six to ten WTVN. You know, you can
join the conversation you want to join us. You know,
we were talking about the the Boulder attack and I
was just reading, well, I just saw the terror attack
highlights rise of anti semitism of course in America. But
he's facing hate crime and murder charges, which was kind
(00:29):
of a question mark for me because I always thought
murder was associated with someone dying.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah, very rarely does anyone kill you because they don't
hate you.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And that's the other thing too, with it being a
hate crime, it's like being charged with a hate crime.
You are not going to usually take someone out on
purpose that you don't hate or dislike, at least on.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
A I think the whole elevated level. It is unfair
to victims and is actually unfair to the to the
accused as well. A crime is a crime is a crime,
and you know why you committed it, what you're philosophical.
We went back on your Facebook and saw that you
don't like Somali people, and you happen to kill a
Somali guy. So it's a hate crime. No, it wasn't
a Somali guy. It was a guy who was in
(01:13):
the way of the money that I was trying to steal,
so I put a bullet in him. Got nothing to
do with his race, is that? It just I just
killed somebody. And you know, if my American brother is
shot and killed by somebody, but his crime is not
prosecuted the same way as somebody who was from another
(01:33):
land or another religion or whatever, that would offend me
as the family of a victim member. Why the hell
aren't you going to prosecute somebody for killing my people
the same way you prosecuted for killing that guy.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, and it's.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
It's something which is a whole separate, you know, conversation.
I guess, as you know, away from this particular incident.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
But you're right, it makes a lot of sense what
you're saying. I mean, you know, it does. It makes
a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
He's joining us now, ABC News Law Enforcement contributor, retired
senior Secret Service agent. It's Don Mahallack joining us now. Don,
welcome again to the show. How you been man, good brother?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
How about you guys? Have you been?
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Hey, We're doing good, you know, I mean, are your
people talking about Mark's conduct on the golf course. I'm
just wondering.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
No, No, he's okay. So far nothing, nothing's come up yet.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
And he brings this up. I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Actually you know what, Chuck, I'm glad you connected these
dots just now because I forgot. But just real quick,
don I. So I was in Vegas last week and
I was on a golf course. There where a couple
of Secret Service agents rolled up on us and they said,
we need to search your bag, your golf bag, and
it was, you know, the guys with me, which I was.
I had booked my tea time as just me. The
(02:49):
three guys that I was with, they did I didn't
know them. They just put me with them. And so
I'm thinking immediately, I go, oh my god, these guys.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Are wanted that are with me or something.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
And well it turns out that they certain that the
Vice president Jade Vance was on the golf course, and
so they came up to vet us and they had
wands with them and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So we went through the whole process. But it was
a whole It was an interesting thing. Needless to say,
They're not many people who end up in that situation
on a golf course, right while the vice president is
literally teed off and is on the other side of
the golf course, and the guys rolled up and anybody
that was out there, they were just vetting them right
on the spot, you know, kind of a thing.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
So kind of interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
But I don't know, I'm guessing you've never been involved
in anything like that, but it's pretty normal procedure.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Yeah, it's normal. It's kind of what happened in the
roof situation then and then in Florida when with that
attempted assassination, it was actually that's forward element. The guys
that comes front of you and you and your three
golfing partners, they were the guys that confronted Ruth and
found Ruth in the bushes. And that's part of the job.
They roll ahead, they robe, they check things, they check people,
(04:02):
they make sure things are things are safe, they're okay.
They push people out of the way if need be. So, Yeah,
we ruin people's golf games generally wherever we go.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
That's got to be the worst part of being on
VIP detail with Secret Service when you've got a president,
vice president, whatever, that wants to be a man of
the people. Away, Hey guys, let's let's pull over and
get some pizza up here. They're going, oh geez, seriously, seriously, we.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Took we took President Clinton through the McDonald's drive to
get a big mac one time during his campaign. So yeah,
we do what we got to do to get.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
The job done.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
That happens a lot, I bet you with with President Well,
actually I think a lot of times they just send
people after his stuff and he's not literally on site
when that happens, because we know he likes big Mac.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
So yeah, well, President Trump is the only president and
president of Canada I know of that actually worked in
McDonald's because he's here in Pennsylvania. He did a campaign
stop in a McDonald's not far from where I lived,
where he worked to drive through for almost serving big
max and servant fries and you know, all that kind
of stuff and that which was a surprise that most
people coming in to get their big mac.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Fix, right, And I would imagine you had people stationed
outside that you know, had to you know, they had
to get through secret Service just to get into order anything.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I'm thinking probably that was.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
The most secure McDonald's in history.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Of it exactly. That's very very interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
All right, So the elevated threat level now, and we've
all seen the footage for the most part, I think,
don of you know, this scumbag in Colorado and his
makeshift you know, a flame thrower and what he these
horrible this horrible thing that happened to these people. I
believe there are eight of them. But yeah, so the
(05:45):
ongoing worry about soft targets and so on. So what
are your thoughts on all of this.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Well, it's you know, it's interesting because since September eleventh,
two thousand and one, we as a nation had been
on elevated threat status because of all terrorists interest in US.
The problem is, nowadays the terrorists have an easier way
to incentivize and mobilize people, and it's called the Internet.
The Internet is prolific. There's a lot of areas in
a dark web where people can go and become radicalized.
(06:13):
Hence we've seen more lone wolf attacks now than before,
which makes it hard to find to mitigate or to stop.
And in addition to that, you have this, you know,
with the Hamas Israeli war over there, you have this
heightened increase of threats coming from that which is well
(06:33):
known in this nation and amongst law enforcement, which brings
me to the question a case of balder is, how
was a guy like that able to get close to
a Jewish event, an Israeli event, carrying two cans of
a clear liquid which clearly looked suspicious and there was
no law enforcement around. And I don't think we have
(06:55):
that answer, although I was told that they did try
the liaison with the local the local law enforcement, with
the local police there about the heightened security threats.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So I guess the other part of that was it
looks like it was an outdoor event. You're right, And
I don't know if you have any of that information
or if it's even available. Don about how long it
did take law enforcement to respond. But yeah, when you
roll when a guy like that rolls up on a
scene and there is no law enforcement present whatsoever, no
(07:28):
security presence, it looked it appeared that way he's this
is happening within seconds of when he rolls up, I'm guessing,
and you know, just short of them standing there law
enforcement or any kind of security presence, I don't know
how they stop somebody like this it looked like kind
of an open area unless you have more information.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Well that goes that goes to the whole issue of
soft targets these days. There's you know, unfortunately everything these
days is a target. Local you know, local little local events,
the parades, everything else has become a target. We've seen
that over the past couple of months a lot of
these terrorist groups, terrorist organizations that have mobilized and radicalized
(08:09):
individuals online and have turned loose to these people who
are predisposed acts of violence against specific groups, to target
and and do whatever they're going to do Greek Mayhem
on these local events. So I think we're at the
point now we're local officials, local law enforcement, state official,
state law enforcement really need to look at any of
these events with an eye on security and create as
(08:31):
a secure bubble as they can around the event, no
matter the size, no matter the scope of the event,
to make sure that there is some type of there's
some type of security apparatus in place, especially where we
know that there's a there's a heightened threat status against
the Jewish people and anything is rarely these days.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, that that exactly, you know, given we're right on
the tails of the two Israeli embassy staffers that were
shot to death in Washington right outside there the terror
attack of course, as we know, in New Orleans on
the Year's Day, and it's this group is called Run
for Their Lives, which is it's a grassroots organization facilitates
(09:11):
global run and walk events calling for the release of
Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and that particular chapter meeting
on a weekly basis. That was according to the local
police there. And given, like you said, the heightened threat,
the anti Semitic threat right now, and it is ultra heightened,
you would think that they would have people in place
(09:32):
and they're going to have to spend the money anybody
like this in the US kind of to your point,
right right, I know.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
My overriding question for this particular incident. I mean, you know,
one of my local schools by where we lived at
the Diary of Van Frank last year, just a couple
of months after the Hamas attack, and there were police
officers in security at the school because of the nature
of the play. I really think we're at the point
now where if we don't take the threat seriously, and
(10:03):
although they're not specific threats or general threats. But if
you don't look at things through a threat matrix where
we are an increased threat, a heightened threat, and take
some proactive measures to protect against that threat, you're just
going to see more of these incidents happen and more
people getting hurt, and where potentially had a police officer,
police officers been there, that might have been able to
(10:24):
stop the guy before he threw the first cocktail.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Hey done? Is Colorado? The state of Colorado generally known
to a place where you can get away from stuff
or get away with stuff because of lackluster security. I mean,
we've had Mexican gangs, drug cartels, and now this going
on in that state. Colorado just seems to be an
easy target state. Is that just my perception or is
that kind of a thing for them?
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I think the problem with Colorado is you've got a
mix of You've got some of the areas of Colorado
have some lackluster enforcement priorities, and then you've got also
the mix of a state where I think access to
firearms is rewatively easy. And that's not a knock on
the first on, you know, on on the second Amendment,
but it's just a fact lackluster enforcement easy access to firearms,
(11:11):
a lot of a lot of stuff going on the
Internet that's radicalizing people. You create, you create a deadly
mix there and unless you're paying attention to to the signs,
you're paying attention to the to the threat intelligence, and
you're and you're taking some preventative steps to protect people.
Same thing happened in New Orleans on New Year On
New Year's even in New Orleans police said they couldn't
imagine an attack there. I don't know how in his
(11:33):
day and age, you can't imagine that one of these
events won't be attacked.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, they have to.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
They've got to put these measures in place in every
one of these instances now, because better to have the
you know, the security there than not, no question about that.
He's ABC News Law Enforcement contributed retired Senior Secret Service
Agent Don Muhallack.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Don, thank you very much for jumping on with us
today lending your expertise.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Thanks for having me guys, take care.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Thanks brother, Thanks
Hey, thank you for listening. Mark Blazer.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
With Chuck Douglas a two to one WTVN one eight
hundred and six to ten WTVN. You know, you can
join the conversation you want to join us. You know,
we were talking about the the Boulder attack and I
was just reading, well, I just saw the terror attack
highlights rise of anti semitism of course in America. But
he's facing hate crime and murder charges, which was kind
(00:29):
of a question mark for me because I always thought
murder was associated with someone dying.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah, very rarely does anyone kill you because they don't
hate you.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And that's the other thing too, with it being a
hate crime, it's like being charged with a hate crime.
You are not going to usually take someone out on
purpose that you don't hate or dislike, at least on.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
A I think the whole elevated level. It is unfair
to victims and is actually unfair to the to the
accused as well. A crime is a crime is a crime,
and you know why you committed it, what you're philosophical.
We went back on your Facebook and saw that you
don't like Somali people, and you happen to kill a
Somali guy. So it's a hate crime. No, it wasn't
a Somali guy. It was a guy who was in
(01:13):
the way of the money that I was trying to steal,
so I put a bullet in him. Got nothing to
do with his race, is that? It just I just
killed somebody. And you know, if my American brother is
shot and killed by somebody, but his crime is not
prosecuted the same way as somebody who was from another
(01:33):
land or another religion or whatever, that would offend me
as the family of a victim member. Why the hell
aren't you going to prosecute somebody for killing my people
the same way you prosecuted for killing that guy.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, and it's.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
It's something which is a whole separate, you know, conversation.
I guess, as you know, away from this particular incident.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
But you're right, it makes a lot of sense what
you're saying. I mean, you know, it does. It makes
a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
He's joining us now, ABC News Law Enforcement contributor, retired
senior Secret Service agent. It's Don Mahallack joining us now. Don,
welcome again to the show. How you been man, good brother?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
How about you guys? Have you been?
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Hey, We're doing good, you know, I mean, are your
people talking about Mark's conduct on the golf course. I'm
just wondering.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
No, No, he's okay. So far nothing, nothing's come up yet.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
And he brings this up. I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Actually you know what, Chuck, I'm glad you connected these
dots just now because I forgot. But just real quick,
don I. So I was in Vegas last week and
I was on a golf course. There where a couple
of Secret Service agents rolled up on us and they said,
we need to search your bag, your golf bag, and
it was, you know, the guys with me, which I was.
I had booked my tea time as just me. The
(02:49):
three guys that I was with, they did I didn't
know them. They just put me with them. And so
I'm thinking immediately, I go, oh my god, these guys.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Are wanted that are with me or something.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
And well it turns out that they certain that the
Vice president Jade Vance was on the golf course, and
so they came up to vet us and they had
wands with them and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So we went through the whole process. But it was
a whole It was an interesting thing. Needless to say,
They're not many people who end up in that situation
on a golf course, right while the vice president is
literally teed off and is on the other side of
the golf course, and the guys rolled up and anybody
that was out there, they were just vetting them right
on the spot, you know, kind of a thing.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
So kind of interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
But I don't know, I'm guessing you've never been involved
in anything like that, but it's pretty normal procedure.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Yeah, it's normal. It's kind of what happened in the
roof situation then and then in Florida when with that
attempted assassination, it was actually that's forward element. The guys
that comes front of you and you and your three
golfing partners, they were the guys that confronted Ruth and
found Ruth in the bushes. And that's part of the job.
They roll ahead, they robe, they check things, they check people,
(04:02):
they make sure things are things are safe, they're okay.
They push people out of the way if need be. So, Yeah,
we ruin people's golf games generally wherever we go.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
That's got to be the worst part of being on
VIP detail with Secret Service when you've got a president,
vice president, whatever, that wants to be a man of
the people. Away, Hey guys, let's let's pull over and
get some pizza up here. They're going, oh geez, seriously, seriously, we.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Took we took President Clinton through the McDonald's drive to
get a big mac one time during his campaign. So yeah,
we do what we got to do to get.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
The job done.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
That happens a lot, I bet you with with President Well,
actually I think a lot of times they just send
people after his stuff and he's not literally on site
when that happens, because we know he likes big Mac.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
So yeah, well, President Trump is the only president and
president of Canada I know of that actually worked in
McDonald's because he's here in Pennsylvania. He did a campaign
stop in a McDonald's not far from where I lived,
where he worked to drive through for almost serving big
max and servant fries and you know, all that kind
of stuff and that which was a surprise that most
people coming in to get their big mac.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Fix, right, And I would imagine you had people stationed
outside that you know, had to you know, they had
to get through secret Service just to get into order anything.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I'm thinking probably that was.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
The most secure McDonald's in history.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Of it exactly. That's very very interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
All right, So the elevated threat level now, and we've
all seen the footage for the most part, I think,
don of you know, this scumbag in Colorado and his
makeshift you know, a flame thrower and what he these
horrible this horrible thing that happened to these people. I
believe there are eight of them. But yeah, so the
(05:45):
ongoing worry about soft targets and so on. So what
are your thoughts on all of this.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Well, it's you know, it's interesting because since September eleventh,
two thousand and one, we as a nation had been
on elevated threat status because of all terrorists interest in US.
The problem is, nowadays the terrorists have an easier way
to incentivize and mobilize people, and it's called the Internet.
The Internet is prolific. There's a lot of areas in
a dark web where people can go and become radicalized.
(06:13):
Hence we've seen more lone wolf attacks now than before,
which makes it hard to find to mitigate or to stop.
And in addition to that, you have this, you know,
with the Hamas Israeli war over there, you have this
heightened increase of threats coming from that which is well
(06:33):
known in this nation and amongst law enforcement, which brings
me to the question a case of balder is, how
was a guy like that able to get close to
a Jewish event, an Israeli event, carrying two cans of
a clear liquid which clearly looked suspicious and there was
no law enforcement around. And I don't think we have
(06:55):
that answer, although I was told that they did try
the liaison with the local the local law enforcement, with
the local police there about the heightened security threats.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So I guess the other part of that was it
looks like it was an outdoor event. You're right, And
I don't know if you have any of that information
or if it's even available. Don about how long it
did take law enforcement to respond. But yeah, when you
roll when a guy like that rolls up on a
scene and there is no law enforcement present whatsoever, no
(07:28):
security presence, it looked it appeared that way he's this
is happening within seconds of when he rolls up, I'm guessing,
and you know, just short of them standing there law
enforcement or any kind of security presence, I don't know
how they stop somebody like this it looked like kind
of an open area unless you have more information.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Well that goes that goes to the whole issue of
soft targets these days. There's you know, unfortunately everything these
days is a target. Local you know, local little local events,
the parades, everything else has become a target. We've seen
that over the past couple of months a lot of
these terrorist groups, terrorist organizations that have mobilized and radicalized
(08:09):
individuals online and have turned loose to these people who
are predisposed acts of violence against specific groups, to target
and and do whatever they're going to do Greek Mayhem
on these local events. So I think we're at the
point now we're local officials, local law enforcement, state official,
state law enforcement really need to look at any of
these events with an eye on security and create as
(08:31):
a secure bubble as they can around the event, no
matter the size, no matter the scope of the event,
to make sure that there is some type of there's
some type of security apparatus in place, especially where we
know that there's a there's a heightened threat status against
the Jewish people and anything is rarely these days.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, that that exactly, you know, given we're right on
the tails of the two Israeli embassy staffers that were
shot to death in Washington right outside there the terror
attack of course, as we know, in New Orleans on
the Year's Day, and it's this group is called Run
for Their Lives, which is it's a grassroots organization facilitates
(09:11):
global run and walk events calling for the release of
Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and that particular chapter meeting
on a weekly basis. That was according to the local
police there. And given, like you said, the heightened threat,
the anti Semitic threat right now, and it is ultra heightened,
you would think that they would have people in place
(09:32):
and they're going to have to spend the money anybody
like this in the US kind of to your point,
right right, I know.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
My overriding question for this particular incident. I mean, you know,
one of my local schools by where we lived at
the Diary of Van Frank last year, just a couple
of months after the Hamas attack, and there were police
officers in security at the school because of the nature
of the play. I really think we're at the point
now where if we don't take the threat seriously, and
(10:03):
although they're not specific threats or general threats. But if
you don't look at things through a threat matrix where
we are an increased threat, a heightened threat, and take
some proactive measures to protect against that threat, you're just
going to see more of these incidents happen and more
people getting hurt, and where potentially had a police officer,
police officers been there, that might have been able to
(10:24):
stop the guy before he threw the first cocktail.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Hey done? Is Colorado? The state of Colorado generally known
to a place where you can get away from stuff
or get away with stuff because of lackluster security. I mean,
we've had Mexican gangs, drug cartels, and now this going
on in that state. Colorado just seems to be an
easy target state. Is that just my perception or is
that kind of a thing for them?
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I think the problem with Colorado is you've got a
mix of You've got some of the areas of Colorado
have some lackluster enforcement priorities, and then you've got also
the mix of a state where I think access to
firearms is rewatively easy. And that's not a knock on
the first on, you know, on on the second Amendment,
but it's just a fact lackluster enforcement easy access to firearms,
(11:11):
a lot of a lot of stuff going on the
Internet that's radicalizing people. You create, you create a deadly
mix there and unless you're paying attention to to the signs,
you're paying attention to the to the threat intelligence, and
you're and you're taking some preventative steps to protect people.
Same thing happened in New Orleans on New Year On
New Year's even in New Orleans police said they couldn't
imagine an attack there. I don't know how in his
(11:33):
day and age, you can't imagine that one of these
events won't be attacked.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, they have to.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
They've got to put these measures in place in every
one of these instances now, because better to have the
you know, the security there than not, no question about that.
He's ABC News Law Enforcement contributed retired Senior Secret Service
Agent Don Muhallack.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Don, thank you very much for jumping on with us
today lending your expertise.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Thanks for having me guys, take care.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Thanks brother, Thanks
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