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Did the Secret Service fail Donald Trump? · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, April twenty nine, twenty twenty six. Federal politicians
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: can choose a taxpayer funded Chinese EV after the government
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  Speaker 1: put the popular byd Range on the list of private
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  Speaker 1: plated vehicles for MPs to drive with their families. That's
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  Speaker 1: despite previous warnings from Azoboss Mike Burgess the Chinese EV's
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  Speaker 1: posed an unacceptable risk for politicians. That's an exclusive live
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  Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com au. Did the Secret
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  Speaker 1: Service fail Donald Trump? That's a question formerst senior agents
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  Speaker 1: are raising in The Australian after the President survived a
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  Speaker 1: third assassination attempt. The incident in Washington, DC has sparked
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  Speaker 1: a fresh debate in America, not about guns, but about
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  Speaker 1: whether comedians are the problem. Joe Kelly is here in
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  Speaker 1: just a moment. Joe Kelly is The Australian's correspondent in Washington, DC,
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  Speaker 1: and Joe, I'm assuming that the town is absolutely a
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  Speaker 1: buzz still. It is remarkable. We're now getting used to
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  Speaker 1: seeing how Donald Trump responds to these threats to his life.
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  Speaker 1: He is remarkably sanguine, and I think you could say brave.
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  Speaker 2: I've studied assassinations, and I must tell you, the most
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  Speaker 2: impactful people, the people that do the most. You take
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  Speaker 2: a look at the people Abraham Lincoln. I mean, you
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  Speaker 2: go through the people that have gone through this, the
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  Speaker 2: people that make the biggest impact. They're the ones that
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  Speaker 2: they go after. They don't go after the ones that
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  Speaker 2: don't do much because they like it that way.
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  Speaker 1: Australians are used to kind of marveling at the not
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  Speaker 1: only the heavily armed state of America, but also the
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  Speaker 1: heavy security presence that you can expect their body scanners
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  Speaker 1: at high schools, metal detector type security at football games
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  Speaker 1: that we might find very foreign. And yet this alleged shooter,
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  Speaker 1: Cole Allen, has allegedly boasted that he was able to
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  Speaker 1: check into the Washington Hilton and get into the hotel
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  Speaker 1: with weapons, guns and knives without attracting any attention at all,
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  Speaker 1: and in fact, it was only at the very last
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  Speaker 1: moment that he was really stopped. Are their failings here
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  Speaker 1: of the Secret Service and of the whole security apparatus
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  Speaker 1: around the president.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think you have to look at this and
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  Speaker 3: be concerned Claire. To be perfectly honest with you, I
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  Speaker 3: think there are problems. I think it is troubling that
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  Speaker 3: he managed to travel across the country to Washington, DC,
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  Speaker 3: check into a hotel with multiple weapons, and feel confident
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  Speaker 3: that the security was laxed to the point where he
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  Speaker 3: included it in his manifesto, because even he was concerned
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  Speaker 3: about it. He reflects in the manifesto, Imagine if I
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  Speaker 3: was a more serious threat, you know, someone who'd been experienced,
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  Speaker 3: Imagine the damage I could have done.
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  Speaker 4: Then.
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  Speaker 3: I think there are difficulties when it comes to protecting
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  Speaker 3: the president in these public venues that also service businesses,
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  Speaker 3: And this is one of the issues that the Secret
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  Speaker 3: Service and former Secret Service members are talking about. It's
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  Speaker 3: not the White House. If you're holding an event at
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  Speaker 3: the White House, it's far easier to control in some respects.
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  Speaker 3: I think Donald Trump makes it very difficult for the
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  Speaker 3: Secret Service because he is everywhere. He goes, everywhere, he does,
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  Speaker 3: all these activities. He goes to all these events because
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  Speaker 3: he loves doing that so much. So you can imagine
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  Speaker 3: the sort of logistical nightmare that must pose for his
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  Speaker 3: security detail.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you can just imagine hearts sinking when he says
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  Speaker 1: he wants to go and play golf again or go
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  Speaker 1: for an impromptu kind of walk down a street. You
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  Speaker 1: spoke to a former deputy director of the Secret Service
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  Speaker 1: at Smith and he was talking about something called the
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  Speaker 1: middle perimeter. What did he mean and what was his issue?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so he said that there were three sort of
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  Speaker 3: rings of security. So there's the security ring around the
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  Speaker 3: protect d that's the term that they use for the
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  Speaker 3: individuals they're trying to protect, so Donald Trump, jd Vance,
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  Speaker 3: the other senior administration officials. But then there are other
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  Speaker 3: layers of protection further away. So the middle layer, the
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  Speaker 3: one that at Smith was talking about, is really that
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  Speaker 3: layer outside of the ballroom where they'd set up the
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  Speaker 3: security scanning mechanism. And then there's a final layer of protection,
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  Speaker 3: which is getting into the venue itself out on the
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  Speaker 3: street where law enforcement officials come into play. So he's
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  Speaker 3: really talking about those three levels. And the concern is
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  Speaker 3: that maybe that middle layer wasn't planned as effectively as
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  Speaker 3: it could be, That maybe that scanner should have been
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  Speaker 3: located further away from the ballroom so there was more
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  Speaker 3: of a protective buffer there for the guests, for the politicians,
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  Speaker 3: and also the workers inside.
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  Speaker 5: At twenty five minutes after two this afternoon, President Reagan
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  Speaker 5: emerged from the Washington hillton. It was them that six
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  Speaker 5: shots rang out, shots fired at close range from a
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  Speaker 5: twenty two caliber pistol. At least four of the bullets
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  Speaker 5: found a target, one of them the President of the
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  Speaker 5: United States.
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  Speaker 1: It was outside this very hotel where there was an
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  Speaker 1: assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, which did result in the
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  Speaker 1: very serious injuries to a member of his staff. That
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  Speaker 1: resulted in some gum law restrictions that have added to
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  Speaker 1: the kind of patchwork of restrictions that Americans live with
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  Speaker 1: today and debate very fiercely. Do you think that the
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  Speaker 1: recommendation of someone like at Smith would accord with what
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump is now saying, which is that I shouldn't
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  Speaker 1: believe in the White House. Basically I need to be
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  Speaker 1: able to build my ballroom at the White House.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I spoke to two former Secret Service agents today
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  Speaker 3: and both made the point really clearly that if you
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  Speaker 3: have this event at the White House, it's so much
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  Speaker 3: easier to provide the necessary security. I think there's no
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  Speaker 3: doubt that that's the case, and I think it's a
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  Speaker 3: very effective argument for Donald Trump to make for the
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  Speaker 3: new proposed White House ballroom. Certainly it would make the lives,
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  Speaker 3: the planning, all the logistics a lot easier for the
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  Speaker 3: Secret Service. But at the same time, the president doesn't
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  Speaker 3: remain trapped in the White House. He travels. He has
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  Speaker 3: to go across the country. He's got to go overseas,
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  Speaker 3: so he can't be a president from the White House alone.
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  Speaker 3: So regardless of whether this event moves to the White
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  Speaker 3: House in the future and other events move there, the
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  Speaker 3: President will be making many appearances at all sorts of
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  Speaker 3: locations across the country. So it doesn't solve the problem.
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  Speaker 1: It's a very Trumpian venture, this ballroom, isn't it. It's
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  Speaker 1: very grandiose, it's very big. He says that it's privately funded.
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  Speaker 1: It's not going to cost American taxpayers anything. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: now it's caught up in legal action again, a very
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  Speaker 1: Trumpian kind of feature of everything that he seeks to do.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think he's going to get his way in
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  Speaker 1: the end, and we are going to see this half
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  Speaker 1: finished ballroom actually completed.
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  Speaker 3: Donald Trump will do everything he absolutely can to get
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  Speaker 3: this done, because I think he's got a very unique
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  Speaker 3: approach to the job player. It's not just sort of
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  Speaker 3: the political or foreign policy achievements. He wants to change
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  Speaker 3: the environment around him, to reflect his personality, to project
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  Speaker 3: his personality through the assets of the state, and that
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  Speaker 3: can be something like the White House ballroom. So he
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  Speaker 3: will be determined, absolutely determined to get this done.
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  Speaker 1: We've used AI to bring Donald Trump's truth social post
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  Speaker 1: to life.
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  Speaker 2: This event would never have happened with the militarily top
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  Speaker 2: secret ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It
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  Speaker 2: cannot be built fast enough.
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  Speaker 4: Coming up, so our comedian the problem.
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  Speaker 1: We spoke a bit about memes before Joe. My favorite
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  Speaker 1: is the one of someone who I suspect as a
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  Speaker 1: journalist going back into the ballroom after the shooting and
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  Speaker 1: collecting bottles of alcohol from the tables to take home.
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  Speaker 1: But there are some jokes that the Trumps are not
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  Speaker 1: finding funny, and one of those is Late night hosts
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  Speaker 1: Jimmy Kimmel making a crack about Milania Trump having the
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  Speaker 1: glow of a future widow.
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  Speaker 6: Look at more so beautiful, missus Trump, you have a
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  Speaker 6: glow like an expectant widow. You know Mlanie's birthday is
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  Speaker 6: on Sunday. That's right, He's planning to celebrate at home
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  Speaker 6: the same way she always does, looking out a window
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  Speaker 6: and whispering, what have I done?
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  Speaker 1: Now? That joke was made before the shooting, but it's
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  Speaker 1: landed very heavily, and Millennia prompt says that she's deeply offended.
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  Speaker 1: Trump is at war with those late night hosts. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: what do you think we're going to see there?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think Milannia Trump has every right to be
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  Speaker 3: appalled by that comment. By I don't really consider it
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  Speaker 3: to be a joke, and I think nearly every decent
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  Speaker 3: human being could see why she would be so appalled
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  Speaker 3: at that, particularly what happened. I don't think it's an
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  Speaker 3: excuse that it was made a couple of days ahead
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  Speaker 3: of this incident happening on Saturday night, and Carolyn Levitt
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  Speaker 3: at the White House press briefing today I thought was
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  Speaker 3: very powerful in making this argument.
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  Speaker 7: Who in their right minds says a wife would be
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  Speaker 7: glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband, And
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  Speaker 7: having experienced what I did with the first lady on
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  Speaker 7: Saturday night, I can tell you that she was anything
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  Speaker 7: but that this kind of rhetoric about the President, the
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  Speaker 7: First Lady and his supporters is completely deranged, and it's
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  Speaker 7: unbelievable that the America people are consuming it night after
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  Speaker 7: night after night.
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  Speaker 3: And I think she has a point there. She argues
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  Speaker 3: that this kind of rhetoric is inciting people to violence.
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  Speaker 3: So this comes full circle a little bit back to
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  Speaker 3: what you were asking at the start of this conversation, Claire,
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  Speaker 3: and I think many Americans after what happened on the
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  Speaker 3: weekend would have been nodding their heads in agreement with
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  Speaker 3: Carolyn Levitt when she appeared at the White House press briefing.
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  Speaker 6: It was a very light roast joke about the fact
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  Speaker 6: that he's almost eighty and she's younger than I am.
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  Speaker 6: It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a
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  Speaker 6: call to assassination. And they know that I've been very
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  Speaker 6: vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular.
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  Speaker 6: But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful
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  Speaker 6: experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty
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  Speaker 6: stressful in that house. And also I agree that hateful
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  Speaker 6: and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do,
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  Speaker 6: and I think a great place start to dial that
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  Speaker 6: back would be to have a camonversation with your husband
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  Speaker 6: about it.
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  Speaker 1: Is there not a free speech argument there? Though? Joe
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump and people who he admires, like the late
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  Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk, were all about the First Amendment right of
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  Speaker 1: all Americans to speak their minds. I mean, Jimmy Kimmel
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  Speaker 1: wasn't charging a checkpoint or waving a gun.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. I think there's absolutely free speech arguments as well, Claire.
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  Speaker 3: And this is where you get into that murky complicated
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  Speaker 3: territory about how you balance all of these things and
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  Speaker 3: how your society works. I think one of the really
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  Speaker 3: interesting things about American society is they take free speech
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  Speaker 3: so seriously. Americans are very forthright about their opinions. They
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  Speaker 3: think that their opinion really matters, and they want to
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  Speaker 3: have that two cents on everything, and I think that's admirable.
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  Speaker 3: There are, also, of course, consequences to free speech as well,
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  Speaker 3: so it's really about striking the right balance here, and
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  Speaker 3: I think at the end of the day, there's not
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  Speaker 3: many ways you can police that. I guess this comes
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  Speaker 3: down to culture and the health of your culture at
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  Speaker 3: the end of the day. And I think there's a
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  Speaker 3: third element here as well, which is the right to
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  Speaker 3: bear arms in America. Once you throw that into the
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  Speaker 3: mix as well, that changes the dimension a little bit, Claire.
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  Speaker 3: So it's not just a free speech and the consequences
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  Speaker 3: of free speech, but Americans are very passionate about their
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  Speaker 3: right to bear arms, and sometimes that becomes a little
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  Speaker 3: bit of a toxic combination or a toxic cocktail. So
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  Speaker 3: these are very tricky issues. It's very difficult to see
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  Speaker 3: what the answer is.
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  Speaker 1: Joe, Ellie, thank you very much.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks Claire.
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  Speaker 1: Joe Kelly is The Australian's Washington DC correspondent. You can
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: read his work anytime at the Australian dot com dot
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  Speaker 1: au