‘It Was a Failure!’ Fox Host Grills FBI Head Kash Patel on WHCD Security Mistakes
Fox News host Lawrence Jonesgrilled FBI Director Kash Patelon Fox & Friends on Monday morning, pressing the top federal law enforcement official on what more is being done to prevent attacks targeting President Donald Trump.
Patel discussed the FBI’s response to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting on Saturday night, saying, “And as you saw, our evidence response teams were on scene so fast, that is the reason we are going to be able to present to you this material. I was bouncing around headquarters yesterday, the Washington field office, the White House, the men and women of the FBI have not slept all weekend, the DOJ hasn’t slept all weekend, and the interagency hasn’t all weekend. It’s because America wants answers, and we’re going to give them to you because President Trump required them.”
Jones praised the response, but hit back at the lack of preplanning that allowed the shooting to happen in the first place, arguing, “They did a great job on the ground, but they remain reactive. The proactive approach is still under great scrutiny. The president of the United States is averaging an assassination attempt once a year, and there are still protocols that still — so who’s gonna do the investigating of the procedures? Secret Service can’t investigate themselves because there’s still people in leadership at the Secret Service that were responsible for Butler. How does that happen? It was a failure!”
“Right, I can’t speak to Butler and I agree it was a total failure, absolutely. But I have full confidence in Secretary Markwayne Mullin. He oversees the United States Secret Service,” replied Patel, adding:
I’ve talked to him repeatedly over the weekend and I’ve asked, I’ve spoken with him and said whatever you need from the FBI, whatever we can assist in and however we can better prepare to protect our protectees going forward with the United States Secret Service, this FBI stands ready to do and we’re going to improve that process under Mark Wayne’s leadership and oversight of the Secret Service.
“Mr. Director, what about the mags? There was only one mag that people had to walk through. That’s the one we saw where he’s running through. Any chance going forward we can put another one outside, maybe two of them outside, sweep the entire hotel if we’re in this situation again?” followed up Ainsley Earhardt.
Patel replied, “Look, that’s a great question, and I think we are going to do it entirely differently. You heard the president say on Saturday night that we’re going to do this again in short order, maybe in 30 days or so, and we’re gonna be ready for that. The security posture, I imagine, is gonna be completely different. I’ll be working with the White House, with the Department of Homeland Security, the Secret Service, the Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI will be fully resourced for that event to assist in the security, and will provide our input. That’s the great thing about having this law enforcement team. I can call Markwayne and the White House and the interagency and say, hey, we got to do a couple of things differently. And we’re already talking about it. And that’s the good thing. And we are going to be better postured for the next event.”
“So Jason Packin the Wall Street Journal today , former FBI agent, offered this. They said that the Secret Service built a perimeter to stop an army, but they were beat by a room key because the guy checked in the day before and he wasn’t — shouldn’t have been part of the whole event. What do you say to that?” pressed Brian Kilmeade.
“Again, it’s one of those details that we will provide to you extensively in relation to where he was staying, what was found inside where he was staying, and any other materials that were collected to include laptops and cell phones,” Patel replied, adding:
But this was a matter that needs to be heavily scrutinized because it almost took the lives of dozens, if not hundreds of people, but for the quick reaction of our law enforcement. And we’re going to be talking about how we improve the security, not just for this event, but for all events going forward. We’re going to learn from this one and we’re going to utilize President Trump’s leadership in backing of the blue and law enforcement to work with DHS to ensure our cabinet, our protectees and the American civilian population is as best protected as possible.
Watch the clip above via Fox News.
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