Transcripts For FOXNEWS Americas Newsroom 20240927

1,616 civilian employees providing various Law Enforcement services to communities and local county, regional, state and federal partners. The State Police operates independently from our local partners and works together with full and parttime local Enforcement Agencies but we do not have administrative or operational oversight over local agencies. We have always and will continue to work with our local Enforcement Partners at local and federal level to protect public safety. Secret service is the Lead Agency at events involving its protectees and psp routinely provides resources and personnel to assist. As a matter of protocol, the Secret Service advises the State Police that an event is anticipated followed by a joint Meeting And Site visits. On friday, July 5th, the Secret Service notified psp that the former President Trump would take place a rally would take place in butler. On monday, July 8th and other commanders attended the initial Planning Meeting with various Law Enforcement agencies and visited the site multiple times and completed the Psp Operation Plan leading up to July 13th. The pennsylvania State Police provided all resources requested by the Secret Service. The Secret Service did not ask me as the officer in charge of psp assets to post a Car Or Trooper at the Agr International Property nor am i aware that Secret Service making that request to any other psp official. 30 members of the State Police were assigned to various roles to support the Secret Service. These members provided escort for the motorcade route, staffed posts within the secured perimeter, performed roving patrols and staffed the secret Service Command Post. Psp was not responsible for securing the Building Or Property at agr international. The Secret Service established and managed the primary Command Post for communication. In the office of the Farm Show Butler Farm Show, the Psp Sergeant under my supervision was stationed in the secret Service Command Post to relay information or any communication made by psp personnel to the local and federal partners. I thank you for this opportunity to provide information about the actions of the State Police in planning, staffing, responding to the tragic events at the July 13th rally and i look forward to answering any questions you may have. Thank you. I now recognize mr. Sullivan for his five Minute Opening remarks. Mr. Sullivan. Chairman kelly and ranking Member Coast and member of the Task Force. Im a retired secret Service Agent with 23 years of service. Im a Life Memeber of the international associate of chief of Police And Board member on the United States Secret Service association. Im speaking for myself this morning as a subject matter expert. The information that has come to light so far regarding the Security Failures in butler is shocking and infuriating. However, i am very proud the bravery of the agents to put themselves in Harms Way and the skill of the Counter Sniper that Neu Neu neutralized the shooter. The Secret Service Cannot Function without the assistance of the state and local Law Enforcement partners. I truly believe the men and women of the Secret Service have the most difficult and unforgiving job in Law Enforcement. A 0 fail mission. I have the utmost respect for the staff facing the challenges. For president ial visit the Secret Service must provide 360 Degree Coverage to include the sky above and ground below. Secret services establishes a inner, middle and outer perimeter. Prior to July 13th, what follows was only provided for the president. Its my understanding these advanced procedures are being used to protect president biden, Vice President harris as well as former President Trump. The President Staff informs the Secret Service about the trip. They notify headquarters and secret Field Office where the visit will occur. The Field Office notifies local state Law Enforcement agencies. The police meeting the state and local Law Enforcement agencies meet the secret Service Advance Team and learn about the trip. Counterparts for the Advance Team and local police are identified. Secret Service Advance Team consists of the following. Lead advance, Site Advance, airport, motorcade, protective intelligence, counter Assault Team, Counter Sniper team. Magna tomorrow tear. Counter surveillance units and unmanned aerial surveillance. After the counterparts are identified the police and secret Service Work together to develop a Security Plan for their site. They will jointly determine the assets needed to secure the site. Secret service personnel do an enCounter Sniper advance will work closely with the local Police Swat personnel to craft a tactical response plan. Protective Intelligence Or P. I. Advance works with local police, other federal agencies to investigate threatrelated information. The Site Agent in consultation with the Lead Advance agent reviews the site Security Plan and puts it to the protective Detail Supervisor for conquerens. The Lead Advance agent is to make sure all components communicate and respond appropriately during an emergency. One overall Command Post for the visit which each side having a Security Room. Scaled down version of a cp. The lead and Site Agents dont have direct Command And Control of local Police Officers. Off the record sites are handled differently than on the record movements. The Secret Service does not know the president the Secret Service will have a Side Agent Conduct a brief advance to insure no security concerns. Theyre put in place after the president arrives. In closing i would like to suggest congress consider expanding the statutory authority of the Secret Service to insure the agency can make the most informed decisions possible. The United States is facing a hyper Threat Environment and Secret Service must be certain it is receiving all relevant threat information. The failure of most secret personnel in butler to be informed about the specific threat facing former President Trump stands out. Currently there is no statutory requirement mandating federal, state and local agencies must report to the secret Service Information concerning threats against the president or other protectees. Agreements in place and memoranda of understanding but no legal mandate to do so. In my opinion, the law must currently state such information must be immediately provided to the Secret Service to take whatever steps it deems necessary to conduct and investigation. F. B. I. Has jurisdiction to conspiracy to kill a president before it takes place. Since the Secret Service is part of the responsible it should be part of any such investigations. Finally, the f. B. I. Has authority under current law to seek the assistance of any federal, state, local agency including the military to help investigate an Assassination Or Assassination attempt after the fact. I believe the Secret Service should have similar authority to call for such assistance to prevent an Assassination Or Assassination attempt. That concludes my statement. Thank you very much. Bill recognize dr. Gold schmidt for his opening remarks. The witness will be testifying over the phone, right . Okay. Good morning, chairman kelly, ranking Member Crowe and distinguished members of the Task Force. Im the Chief Medical Examiner for Allegany County, pennsylvania. On July 13th, 2024, after the attempted assassination of former President Trump, i and my staff reached out to the Butler County Coroner to offer our assistance if needed. Later that night our assistance was accepted by Butler County and arrangements were made to transport the bodies of Thomas Crooks and victim Corey Comperatore to our office. Our Office Wasnt involved in the transportation of the demede by the following morning July 14th at 9 15 a. M. Aback mr. Crooks you a top see. The body was xrayed. Major Incident Program Manager Brine Johnson and Gunshot Residue Test samples were contested by our technician. My involvement in the case was limited to the autopsy which i determined that Thomas Crooks died as a result of a high Velocity Gunshot Wound to the head. I had no reports involved in the investigation into his motives or actions. Evidence or other outside evidence as part of my work. Items of evidence were transferred to the custody of the f. B. I. Once i received the results of the Toxicology Testing performed by our laboratories, i completed a written Autopsy Report that was signed and delivered to Butler County. Our Offices Involvement in the case concluded when mr. Crooks body was released to a funeral home pursuant to the directions of the Butler County Coroner. Thank you, doctor. Well move to Member Questions under the Fiveminute Rule and recognize myself for five minutes of questions. Well show a video to get things started. The footage is from the Dash Cam of a pennsylvania State Police Patrol Car on July 13th. The footage has never been released to the public and edited to show relevant parts. The video as you will see from the time stamp in the upper righthand corner begins at 18 08 or eight minutes after 6 00 p. M. In the first 12 seconds of the Video Youll see a figure circled in red crossing the roof of multiple Agr Buildings. This man is Thomas Crooks. You will then see the Patrol Car begin moving toward the Agr Buildings and we lose sight of crooks. 19 seconds into the video he reappears. Again we have circled him in red before we lose sight of him 20 seconds later. We cut the video for length and picks up a Minute Half later at 6 10 00 p. M. And 38 seconds. Law enforcement around the Agr Building. At this point all Law Enforcement is aware there is an individual on the roof of agr but dont know he is armed. Behind the trees youll see one officer attempting to lift another officer up into the roof and see that officer pull himself up and look to the left. According to that Officers Interview with the Task Force he sees crooks with the long gun and crooks turns and points the weapon in his direction. The officer falls to the ground. Injuring his ankle and radios the man on the roof is armed at 6 11. That portion of the video ends here. The first shot the fired 32 seconds later. We will play the video now. This will take about 51 seconds. [video being shown] i realize it is hard to see some of this. Crooks as he makes his way across the roof. This is pennsylvania State Police cruiser and has a Dash Cam. You were able to see some Things Nobody else was able to see. I know its difficult. Lieutenant harold, i will direct the first line of questioning to you since this is State Police footage. Foot Knowledge And Evidence show crooks was on the roof of the Agr Building was over three minutes before shots were fired. Please describe those few minutes before the shots were fired from your Vantage Point. My position when the shots were fired, i was behind the stage. I Cant Answer to any questions regarding mr. Crooks on the roof because i did not have that information. I was behind the stage. It was very loud and if it was transmitted over our portables, i did not hear that. I returned to my car briefly when the president took the stage to retrieve a Cell Phone and i was returning back to the stage when the first shot rang out. Officer, same question. At that time, i was at Brady Paul working my way over to the Agr Building to assist other units with looking for crooks. As i got to the water tower, i parked underneath the water down and began to make my way to agr when the shots rang out. Commander linz you were the first person to call out shots fired over the radio. Were you aware someone was on the roof and he was armed. Please describe the few minutes to shots fired from your Vantage Point. Yes, i was aware through Radio Traffic that there was somebody on the roof and also that he was armed. The first report that there was somebody on the roof came on a different Radio Channel than the tactical units were operating, Pd Ops three at somebody is on the roof. At 18. 09 i made a Phone Call to the Psp Sergeant in the secret Service Command Center and relayed the Information 24r was a suspect on the roof of the Agr Building. There was some additional Radio Traffic from the Butler Township Police units. And at 18 11 03 hours on the Pd Ops three channel. Not where the tactical units were operating, the Butler Township Unit reports he is armed. He is laying down and has a long gun. Might have actions for that at that point the gentleman on the roof is clearly a threat and i radioed to our quick Reaction Force to deploy them to the Agr Complex to begin to address that threat. Prior to me finishing that Radio Transmission you can hear the shots being fired through my open microphone. Okay. I have a problem going back to the actual sighting of mr. Crooks more than once and way, way before 11 minutes after 6 00. One of the things the Panel Herd from different people at different time in the thousands of people on the grounds that day, there is repeatedly one person that keeps standing out in the back and forth all the different communication. And it is, in fact, Thomas Crooks that they have are talking about. So we knew there was somebody that was very suspicious and not able to come in contact with and we kept losing contact with him. We saw him with a Range Finder and doing things not in line with what people go for a rally for and i wonder at what point at what point did somebody say we arent sure the area is secure and safe . The way you all responded i think was incredible and i thank you for that but i still cant understand of all the different people on the grounds that day, thousands of people. Only one consistent person they identify and it is ultimately the shooter. So i dont believe the grounds were safe and secure that day. Im trying to understand what it would have taken for somebody to say keep mr. Trump inside until we clear this up. Commander lenz, we have had hours together and a couple of days well go in a deep dive what happened. Do you feel the Secret Service adequately prepared you and your men for July 13th . I believe i can answer the tasks that they had given us, which would be to provide two counter Assault Teams, two Sniper Teams and a quick Reaction Force, we were certainly prepared for the missions that they had given us. There were additional things, obviously, that probably needed covered but they never asked us to do that. They never tasked us with that. So given what they specifically asked us to do, we were certainly prepared to do that. Okay. You did what they asked you to do. Looking back at it now, the question is did they clearly identify what is it or what you could have been responsible for . Same question to you, mr. B mrshgs asco. I took my direction from commander linz. Of the things we were asked to do from my direction from the commander for the planning stages for the Sniper Teams, i would feel that i did what was requested of me from Commander Lenz. Hindsight is always 2020. Looking back on that, do you think you were adequately prepared it is for what ultimately happened . There is always things that you think you can do better but with the information that we had, i believe that we did the very best that we could. Lieutenant harold. Do you feel the Secret Service adequately prepared you and your men for the event . The Secret Service, after meeting with them at the site and going through what they requested psp to do was primarily the security of the Farm Show inside the fenceline. So adequate troopers, i had 30 troopers inside that fenceline once the motorcade arrived and i feel that with them being the lead and we were in a request assist function, we provided what they asked for and we secured the perimeter of the Farm Show grounds. I think local Law Enforcement did everything you were tasked to do that day. Looking back and looking at the films you know what, there were probably other things we should have been clued in on that when did you first meet with Secret Service and understand what your role was going to be that day looking at July 13th and working backwards from that friday, thursday, wednesday, tuesday, when did we get together to find out what we should do that day . For Butler Esu, our First Contact from the Secret Service was friday, July 5th at 1 55. A Phone Call asking for assistance with the upcoming butler rally. We then had a police Planning Meeting that was on July 8th, 2024 in Allegany County. During that meeting is where they relayed the information specific to their request. At that point for Butler Esu two counter Assault Teams and a quick Reaction Force. Where did that meeting take place . I believe it was the Allegany County emergency operations center. I couldnt be there that day. I was teaching an active Shooter Class in erie. One of our Deputy Commanders went to that meeting. Mr. Blasko. So again, we took from that meeting, we took direction from Commander Lenz and Team Leaders and we started to formulate a plan of what to do. The first interaction that i personally had with the Secret Service would have been the July 11th walkthrough at the Farm Show grounds. Bill on the site. Yes, sir. You were who actually saw the site and determined a lot of things, including where the perimeter should be . I would think it would be the supposedly there would be a lot of coordination between the local Law Enforcement, Secret Service, and Homeland Security to prepare for that event. I want to thank you for being Here Today and testimony. I will now have mr. Crowe has his time. Thank you, chairman. Mr. Sullivan, i wanted to start with you for a moment. I served in the army before coming to congress and one of the principles of operations as mr. Blasko is familiar with. You need unity of command and effective communications. Without unity of command and effective communications a unit cannot operate. One of the things im struggling with is this idea there wasnt a single unified Command Station on site. The Secret Service did not establish that. Is that atypical in your experience . Would there normally be one Command And Control station to unify command and communications . Yes, thats very atypical. Im very surprised. Normally there will be an overall Command Post for the entire visit. Each site will have a Security Room where Radio Traffic pertinent to that individual site is controlled. Command post should be the state and local police, Secret Service and other federal partners that may be assisting. This is very unusual that the way it turned out here at this site. Do you have any sense in this instance as to why that might occur . Are there instances that you would do multiple Command Posts . Its a misnomeer. Multiple Command Posts. Secret service has Security Rooms at individual sites and they may be termed a Command Post but a mini Command Post. There should be one overall Command Post. Each side has their Communication Center or information relative to that site will be transmitted. The Airport Agents or security there really are not concerned with what is happening at the other sites. Theyre concerned about the airport. Security room just for the airport site. Safe to say that time and speed is really important, right . The idea of behind that, but behind that if there is something identified as being wrong, a suspicious person it has to be quickly communicated, right . This is how it should happen. Protective detail is on one specific frequency. And only the protective details on that frequency. The Post Standers are on a second frequency and tactical teams are on the third frequency but they monitor all three frequencies at the same time. If something happens it is the Security Rooms responsibility to immediately go on the radio on the Detail Frequency and there is an issue, remove the protectee from the stage. There has to be the detail Agents Cant listen to all the other traffic. They have to be rock solid on protecting the president or the president ial candidate so their frequency is for their individual movements. Based upon what you know and what you heard from Commander Lenz and mr. Blasko, a suspicious person was identified with a Range Finder, pictures were taken of this person, moving around the building, so much so that it drew the attention of one of the Sniper Teams who took pictures of it. If that information had been effectively communicated to the f. B. I. Or if the f. B. I. I guess to rephrase that had set up a Communications System and Command Post to receive that information, would that have been a situation where you would say the Protectee Shouldnt go on stage until we resolve this . You mean Secret Service, not f. B. I. Sorry, yeah, Secret Service, right. Yes, sir. What should have happened in my opinion when a suspicious person was identified the Detail Leader and Shift Agent should have been told there is an issue were working a suspicious person. And then at that point it was probably would be inappropriate to remove the president from the stage but the Detail Leader should know there is an issue, i may have to react quirk. At a minimum with a suspicious person the Detail Leader and Shift Agent should be told there is an issue. Have there then situations as a secret Service Agent where its coming up where you have had to pause an event or respond to something until its been addressed. Yes, it happened during my career. Never had a dramatic situation where we had to remove the president from the stage but we have had situations where the Shift Agents were told we have a situation, suspicious person in the front row. Then you have to mitigate that. Usually the protective Intelligence Team will then come, take that person and conduct the person and remove the person from the Rope Line and you dont have to interrupt the president s movements. I want to turn briefly to the effective deployment of snipers. Acting Director Rowe explained to this Task Force that it is best practice for the Secret Service to position Counter Snipers from the Vantage Point of protectee looking out and where the Sniper Teams were. They were sitting above the platform looking out. The employment of the local Law Enforcement. The esu Sniper Teams was outside looking in. So not looking at rooftops or not looking at lines of sight or lines of fire. Their mission as they were told was to look at the crowd, a crowd of several thousand people and try to identify issues within the crowd. Is that atypical . I dont know, mr. Crow, if thats atypical. Im familiar with the Counter Sniper of the Secret Service and they set up their position for line of sight to the stage so a potential assassin make begins the president and counteract that. Generally speaking, the observation of the crowd is responsibility of the Police Officers posted in the crowd. The theory being everyone in that crowd has already been screened. It would be very difficult for someone to get a weapon inside the secure area already. The idea that there would be a gunman, not to say its not impossible, but a gunman in the crowd, a sniper at a distance would be able to identify and take an effective shot seems very unlikely. It seems highly unlikely in my opinion. The threat at that point from the Counter Sniper perspective is outside the perimeter in the area that matters outside where the mag no tomorrow tears are set up. Inside that perimeter, the people have already been screened and to a high degree of certainty there is probably no weapons inside the secure area. Thank you. Commander Lenz And Mr. Blasko. Did that mission seem unusual to you that you were outside looking in at a screened crowd . It did not. We didnt receive any direction from the Secret Service as far as how they wanted our Sniper Teams to deploy or what the actual mission would be. Our snipers normal missions, they deploy more as marksmen observers. What was your mission as you understood it that day . As we understood it, it was to deploy Sniper Teams to overwatch the stage, the crowd, the Venue Area where most of the people would be gathering. Mr. Gold schmidt, are you still with us . Yes. Just one brief question for you. Was the autopsy that you performed, was that in this case was that a standard autopsy in your view . What i mean by that, was there anything that stood out to you as unusual or different. Anything on the toxicology that stood out to you as unusual or different or did it all appear to be a standard autopsy . It was a standard autopsy. The only thing that different was we did a little bit of extra Toxicology Testing with a heavy Metal Screening with a slightly elevated lead level. Other than that, f. B. I. Members and State Police members present it was a standard autopsy. Pictures were taken during this and documented. Any markings or tattoos on the body would be evident from your report . Correct. And so slightly escalated lead levels but nothing else that stood out. Thats correct. Okay. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you, now well recognize representative joyce from ohio for five minutes. Thank you. Lieutenant herald. A lot of discussion about the Advance Planning that took place. My understanding from your testimony here you were involved in most of those daytoday meetings with the Secret Service, is that correct . Yes, sir. So could you go through that . What was the first day you met with them and what did you discuss and did the Secret Service to your understanding, when they come in and take over a site, they are in charge of the site and they are helping you are assisting them and they are telling you you tell them where your people will be, the local folks where they are going to be and they are basically in charge and know all those things ahead of time where everyone is supposed to be, correct . Thats correct. Did you have the opportunity then to understand when the Secret Service came in that they were telling the local folks, this Counter Sniper group and i believe mr. Blasko at The End of the day it was the Beaver County Sniper Team in the Agr Building . It was both beaver and butler, sir. Did Secret Service ever talk to the Beaver County Sniper unit . Not to my knowledge. They were there in charge of this operation and Secret Service never talked to them. Correct. Thank you. So going back to you, lieutenant herald. The day before the event do you have a walkthrough with the Secret Service . I had two walkthroughs at the site. A walkthrough on tuesday a brief to get familiar with the property. Went back to the barracks and pulled up an image of the Farm Show on a smart screen tv. We drew the fenceline, spoke a little bit. The main meeting at the site was thursday. It was with the same three secret Service Agents. I was with two other psp commanders and we walked the site starting at the main gate. We went clockwise around and looking at my Ops Plan, wherever there is a Dot Or Number that was a stationary patrol, and then basically when we got near The End and i had everything that he had requested, i was informed by my area one commander that if we needed additional troopers we could pull from surrounding troops. But after the request and the assignments that was given to us from Secret Service, i had plenty. I covered all the posts and i had additional roving troopers inside the venue. So that was primarily the main meeting that we had with Secret Service was on thursday and then i completed the Ops Plan and had it forwarded out by 1500 hours On Friday. Two days before the event. There was no walkthrough. I spent time there friday evening. There was an incident between Secret Service and the campaign. I was on my way home. I live across the street from the Farm Show. I stopped to see what the issue was. Ended up staying until 8 30 p. M. That night. I had other interactions with Secret Service On Friday and early communication with the campaign and Secret Service the morning of and during the event on July 13th. What was the issue . The issue was, there was a campaign we didnt know who it was at first. A vehicle was parked and one of the secret Service Agents had approached this person and i think the individual was rude to the secret Service Agent and then got out of the car and just walked away. I had a trooper there go up to the p. A. System. Page the registered owner of the vehicle and gave them so many minutes to return that their vehicle or i was going to tow it. Mr. Sullivan. Were you ever personal on a president ial Protection Detail . For four years. When was that. Two years with President Reagan and the first President Bush. What kind of training with somebody have . We have extensive training. We came through the normal secret Service Training Center, secret Service Training Center in maryland. Then before you got to the president ial detail you had to do a series of Field Office assignments, investigations and protection assignments assisting on advances and when you got to the president ial Protection Division you had to have a minimum of six or seven years experience. Once you are there, we had training at least once a month. We had discharge our firearms and went to the Training Center once a month for what we call attack on principles, aops. You go through routine events that might happen and all of a sudden you would have an attack on a person acting as the president to test your response skills. It is very intense training. I appreciate that, sir. Acting Director Rowe has said we need a Paradigm Shift and we need to be a change from want to being reactive to one of readiness. What does that even mean . Well, i think it means that the Secret Service needs to shift how we do business. But i will come back to my testimony. A shift from back to all the work that was done to prepare you for President Reagan and President Bush to the lack of that work being done now . No, sir, thats not what i mean. I think there is a certain i dont know what words come to mind, but agents are exhausted now. The campaign really takes a lot out of them. I think they dont have enough Secret Service doesnt have enough Personnel Resources to give people the breaks they need. Let me say, congressman, when we say about the Paradigm Shift and going from the reactive mode to a Readiness Mode it is being proactive and harken back to my testimony. When wouldnt you be proactive. You are always looking for points of attack, correct . Im talking the overall agency. The physical protection. When you were out there in The Field if you saw somebody in the line of sight or the day before and Walk Through and saw problems with line of site, what would you do . I would have had those mitigated or talked to the superviseor saying it isnt safe for the president to come. How would you mitigate it . You could have banners, buses, you could have trucks, a lot of ways to mitigate it. However, to me the most simple way to mitigate the building outside the fenceline in butler was to post it. If you had Police Officers on the outside of the building or agents no one could have got up to the roof. My understanding there was a vehicle that was supposed to be posted there to block that line of sight. When you were in charge and you didnt see the vehicle there, you still let the president come out . I didnt do the advance. I dont want to say. Since you are here on their behalf. You wouldnt let the person come out . Mr. Joyce, i would have taken the steps necessary if i thought there was still a gap in the security posture, i would have taken the steps necessary or i would have told the supervisors, it is not safe to bring the president here. Thats what i would have done. Mr. Joyce. I exceeded my time. I think you are on to something we need to know. Recognize for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to welcome the witnesses today. You are all real life heroes and you acted with bravery on July 13th and for that i thank you on behalf of The American public. Im also grateful that former President Trump was not seriously injured. Several families were. Their lives have been changed and for them i have nothing but my deepest sympathies. Mr. Sullivan, i want to turn to you first. I have a Wall Street Journal article from yesterday and submit it for the record, mr. Chairman. No objections. Quickly summarizing some of the statements that were made. Unclear chain of command, technical issues, poor communication, couldnt identify who within Secret Service was final decision maker, no communication in realtime, two Communication Centers, Secret Service said they had technical issues with the radios, a problem that was characterized as being common with the agency. This is a summary of the senate findings. And mr. Sullivan, i just want to ask you very brief question which is, who is in charge at these sites . It is crystal clear in my mind when i was an agent, the Site Agent, Site Advance agent crafts his or her plan and presents it to the Lead Advance agent. The Lead Advance act is personally responsible for signing off all the sites. You have at least three different elements here, three different groups were talking about here. Were talking about the Secret Service, local police, and the campaign. Yes. The Secret Service is in charge. Of all the above. Not all the above. Not the campaign. Only charged with the security portion. I say that to you because some of the testimony Here Today. First of all, communication was totally lacking here. You mentioned there was a one Command Center is generally the situation. Here you had two Command Centers that didnt talk to each other. You had someone in the roof spotted 16 09. Call was made, suspect on roof with possible weapon. 18 11 local Police Officer spots crooks, jumps off the roof. Injures himself. 32 seconds later a shot goes off. Realtime youve been with the Secret Service, sir, you with President Reagan, i believe you said. And mr. Bush. Thank you for that good work. What went wrong . Who is in charge . Im not trying to say focus than you. We have former President Trump going back to butler in the next few days. Im not looking for people guilty here, im looking for solutions. What went wrong and how can we fix it moving forward . What went wrong here there was a breakdown. Ill explain the Site Agent reports to the Lead Agent. He or she is responsible for the entire Advance Package and presented to the two supervisors. Are we being lax here because Secret Service is an elite group of americans, done an excellent job of protecting our president s and Here Today you describe to me, you have know, who is in charge, at least for the locals and Secret Service and not the campaign, but is there somebody there who has the authority to say this doesnt look good . Pull the candidate off the stage, this situation is beyond my control or it doesnt look good, cancel this thing, move to a safer ground. Is there somebody there that has the authority to tell all three yes. The Site Agent and Lead Agent could call ahead and say its not safe. Dont let the protectee arrive absolutely. Once the protectee is there, if there is an issue. Any agent can go up. My last question would be did that person in charge also review all of the communication and say this is not working . Yes, that was the Lead Agents responsibility. There was a failure there by the Lead Agent. I dont want to specifically say the Lead Agent. In my opinion it was probably the Lead Agents responsibility to secure the overall communication for the entire visit was appropriate. That was not the case. Apparently not. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Now recognize representative waltz for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I share overones condolences for the comperatore family, for the families of the injured that are dead and suffering because of these failures. Thank you all for your service. Every day you wake up and put that badge on to keep us safe, we appreciate you and have your back. I just want to let you know as a veteran, when we come home, we depend on all of you and i cant thank you enough. I just Commander Lenz and lieutenant herald. I want to take a step back to the planning. Really the Threat Profile that President Trump is facing that is unprecedented in modern american history. Commander and lieutenant, were you made aware that iran has ongoing assassination plots active and ongoing as we speak including the runup to July 13th . No. I am not aware. Was it ever discussed with you that an iranian operative has Transited Venezuela and was in the United States, according to f. B. I. Public notice made in march, Recruiting Hit Men to kill President Trump . It was not. Were you made aware on July 13th or on July 12th that day the f. B. I. Arrested a pakistani national with ties to iran putting down payments, actual cash, down payments to recruit hitmen . No. Were you aware the same operative was Recruiting Women as spotters and protestors as a distraction. A fairly sophisticated plot being run by a foreign actor. No, not aware. In your experience would that change how you operated . That would heighten your level of Coordination Assets . Absolutely, mr. Waltz. It would be a tremendous game changer. I harken back to my statement at the beginning. The current situation with the Secret Service being not being mandated to have information provided to it is a problem. Now the Secret Service should have been part of that overall investigation. Secret service should have been aware. Had you been in charge or in your experience would make local Law Enforcement aware hey, we not only have ongoing plots we just arrested someone in the United States putting down payments to kill President Trump on top of the ongoing domestic threats, correct. You would make your counterparts aware. I would think secret Service Headquarters knew about that. I dont know for a fact. Ive been in Law Enforcement in my whole life. Unless you are putting the handcuffs on the suspect you will never get the whole story. You have to be part of that arrest. I have a limited time. At least an awareness to your local officers. Yes. Was anyone aware that President Trump had been denied additional resources but the reason the Secret Service Counter Sniper Team Wasnt there to coordinate with you they were pending approval at secret Service Headquarters. Thats why they werent there to coordinate you. Were you aware of that and they would be coming . There was some discussion there. I think it was on thursday that when you compare it to the 2020 rally, the Secret Service did not have a lot of the resources that was in butler for 2020 and this event on July 13th they seemed like they had a lot less resources. No cat team. No Cs Team coming at first. Early on we had mentioned our special Emergency Response Team utilizing them but they felt that they were just needed in the motorcade. So it was clear heightened threat. You are not made aware. A lot less resources from the service. In addition in terms of secret Service Post standards 12 were allocated to dr. Jill bidens event in pittsburgh. Only three allocated them making them highly dependent on you all. My time remaining, commander, you said you werent given any guidance to secure the Agr Building. Talk about that for a moment. The Site And Advance said locals, you got this, good . Was there any back brief . Was there any put assets here on the roof, inside, Post Standers, anything at all . So once we received our duties, the Secret Service says here is what we want you to do. On tuesday i believe it was tuesday, they did request some Sniper Teams from us. Later that day confirmed their Counter Snipers were coming in. There was no guidance as far as where they wanted us to be aside from what those specific duties would be. Counter Assault Team leader was making sure we knew what was expected. The Counter Sniper walkthrough with us, the Planning Meeting. They knew where we would be. They knew what our plan was. They never requested a formal copy of our plan. This was all verbal, right . Correct. You never got written guidance of how many assets to put where . Correct. It was our decision to place the snipers in the second floor of the Agr Building. They were aware of that. Aware they would be there. No Feedback Or Guidance if they wanted them there or not. Not raising an objection. Should that guidance have been provided . Absolutely. Absolutely. No question about it. And if you had had additional Secret Service assets, would you have put the Agr Building within the protected perimeter and the Seethrough Chain Link fence that anybody could have approached within yards of the stage . Would you have put that inside the perimeter. You could put it inside the perimeter. With the resources they had the decision was made to put the building outside the perimeter. It could have been secured with Post Standers to prevent someone getting on the roof. A lack of Resources Decision from secret Service Headquarters if they had had it, you would have done it differently. Mr. Waltz, i dont want to say that. I wasnt there. If the Secret Service had the resources it would have been easier putting it within the secure perimeter and everybody going into the building would have been maged and screened. You have to take that on a casebycase different. Every site is different. Bill that Dash Cam video shows the Cop Dropping from the roof. That distraction might have saved donald trumps life. Breaking news in New York. The mayor, Eric Adams, has been indicted on five counts. That indictment has been unsealed and Cb Cotton in Lower Manhattan to get more on the breaking news. What do you have . Hi, bill. Were still going through this indictment which is more than 50 pages long. I can tell you right now he faces five counts. I want to get right to those. Count one conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Federal Program Bribery and receive Campaign Contributions by foreign nationals. Count two wire frowned. Count three solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national. Count four another solicitation of contribution by a foreign national and count five bribery. Federal investigators in the indictment say they found evidence that adams for nearly a decade brokered his power by seeking and accepting improper valuable benefits such as Luxury International Travel including from wealthy foreign Business People and at least one turkish Government Official seeking to gain influence over adams. Two, federal prosecutors also allege adams sought and accepted illegal Campaign Contributions in the form of Straw Donations and three, investigators say adams compounded his gains from the Straw Con try bugss. He is also indicted with a few coconspirators and trying to get that information to our viewers. This comes as he seeks reelection next year with a competitive democratic primary. His administration has been thrown into a frenzy, six other people within his circle in recent weeks had their homes raided or devices seized. What were told are separate investigations. The latest here on scene is that new York City mayor Eric Adams has been indicted in what is a federal corruption scheme, according to prosecutors within the southern district of New York. We know mayor adams saying he has done nothing wrong and released a videotaped statement saying he has no plans to step down. Investigators have laid out this timeline in this indictment alleging that this conspiracy took place again for longer than a decade. A lot of allegations in here im seeing mentions of four turkish nationals, other foreign officials. Were working our way through this. This all came into Public View Last november when f. B. I. Agents raided the homes of his chief Campaign Finance Fundraiser and days later the mayor had his Phone And Ipad also seized. We know this summer he and several others tied to his Election Committee were served Grand Jury subpoenas leading to this moment where he now faces five counts. Again that include bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national and a lot more to come as we continue to pour over this federal indictment. Bill, i will send things back to you. Bill thank you for that. Dana kerri urbahn, Fox News legal editor. Good to have you here. Now you had a chance to look over the charges a little more. Your sense of how things stand now. Its not good. Whats interesting it appears that it started when according to the federal government, of course, when adams was elected as Brooklyn Borough President. He claim thats when he began building these relationships that ended up leading to them donating to his narrow campaign when he ran and he did this through this thing called Straw Donations. Foreign money being funneled through american citizens. The bad aspect they submitted the donations to this new York City matching program and so new York City matched it up to 10 Million and saying they defrauded new York City taxpayers. One, he shouldnt have had the money from foreign governments contributing to his campaign and used it to get an additional 10 Million from new York City to bolster his campaign. Dana thats interesting. Bill Late Last Night there was a report that crossed in New York that apparently there was a request to building a turkish consulate in brooklyn. And the accusation that was leveled in the report is that the mayor worked to make sure that the construction happened where the new York Fire department was hesitant to go forward with it. Why we dont know. But apparently the mayor put his foot on the Gas Or Something and thats what the allegations suggest. You read through the indictment. Im still reading through it. It is a strong allegation to say the mayor of new York City was creating fake paper trails and the like and that his for instance even his deputy, assistance when he was Brooklyn Borough President was acting with the relationship and matching Campaign Funds in new York City. There is a lot here. Dana for those who think it might be retaliation from the biden administration for Eric Adams being very frustrated and pushing back about the migrant crisis, do you think it has anything to do with this . This is years and years making. New York City is an interesting place. One has to wonder whats going on in the new York City Political Machine to even laser in on Eric Adams like this. There is always that open questions of whats happening and the Back Drop of new York City. Looking through the indictment, this began long before any of this. Bill he put out a video saying he would fight it. I assume that was the sense you got from his words as well. For sure. He says it is all false and he can prove why that is. Thats his right and see how he responds. These are still just allegations. They havent been proved. D. O. J. Has a high burden to prove these things. They bring some hefty sounding evidence into the charges. It is a big job. One of the most difficult jobs in the country in terms of being a mayor. Well see how he does in New York with this going on in the background. Dana thank you for all the quick work. Bill thank you very much for that. Get you back to Cb Cotton in a moment downtown. Dana the mayor will speak. Interesting to see when you are under indictment there is so much you have to do and so much attention you have to pay for that. Calls for aoc to resign and he says he wont do that. We want to hand off our our colleague, harris faulkner, with more news now. Ri