Former Secret Service officer Dan Bongino ripped into his former agency Sunday for its failure to protect former President Donald Trump the previous day.
Bongino called Saturday’s bloody assassination attempt “an apocalyptic security failure” and called for the resignation of Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle.
Trump was only slightly wounded in the shooting when a bullet grazed his ear, coming within an inch or two of striking him in the head. But one audience member sitting behind Trump was killed by a bullet intended for the former president, and several others were wounded, two critically, by other bullets directed at him.
Bongino told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump did the right thing by quickly collapsing behind the patriotic bunting bordering the stage, which he said was probably armored.
“Donald Trump knew to duck — most people would,” Bongino told interviewers. “He saved his own life. That’s just a fact.”
The agents who jumped onto the stage and began hustling Trump away did the right thing, but Bongino said overall, “the failure here is absolutely catastrophic.”
Bongino said he has been told by multiple authoritative sources that “there have been repeated requests to increase the security footprint around, not just the residences of Donald Trump, but [Trump’s] body itself, and they have been rebuffed.”
He laid the blame for the security lapse at the door of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. “The Secret Service director has completely failed, and, candidly, should resign today,” Bongino said. “Kim Cheatle has failed Donald Trump.”
He also scoffed at the agency’s reported complaints about lack of staffing, as well as their boasts about the technology they possess.
Should Kimberly Cheatle resign immediately?
“I mean, this is — you’re blaming it on manpower?” Bongino said. “So, just to be clear, we’re a $4 trillion United States government, and we can’t fork over enough money to keep our people alive?
“And then you’re sending out tweets like, ‘Oh, this is the best technology we have.’ Really? To let a sniper 150 yards away from the potential next president, shoot a piece of his ear off? Pshhh! That’s your victory lap? Gimme a break, man!”
He continued in his criticism of the agency: “You have one job, and only one job,” he said. “Your job is, ‘keep the body alive, no matter what.’ — Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Jill Biden, the president of Djibouti — it doesn’t matter. That is your job. They absolutely, resolutely, 100 percent failed. “
Bongino, who spent 12 years in the Secret Service, said, “This isn’t the agency I grew up in.”
He said he still knows people in the agency. “These are good men and women. But this — this was an apocalyptic security failure.”
“Don’t ever forget that an ‘uneventful’ failure is never a success. And the fact that Donald Trump didn’t die yesterday is no reason for anybody to take some kind of victory lap.”
He called for a congressional investigation into the security detail’s failures.
“[B]efore we start sending out plaudits, we’d better look at and do a hot wash on this and find out exactly how abysmal the security plan was,” Bongino said.
Must listen – Dan Bongino.
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) July 14, 2024
On his “Bongino Report” podcast Saturday, he said Trump does not currently have “a full presidential package” of protection.
He accused Cheatle of playing politics in her position and repeated his call for her to step down.
“I could tell you stories for days about her putting politics ahead of presidential protection,” he said.
WARNING: The following contains vulgar language that some readers may find offensive.
.@dbongino calls on Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle to resign immediately after attempted Trump assassination.
“It is time right now for Kim Cheatle to get her head out of her ass and do the right thing. I could tell you stories for days about her putting politics ahead of… pic.twitter.com/8ewszu5qFH
— Bongino Report (@BonginoReport) July 14, 2024
Bongino concluded the segment with an appeal for his listeners to pray for America’s future.
“Just open up,” he said. “Prayer matters. It’s not a joke. It’s not some scam,” he said.
“We need Him right now. The nation needs Him.”
He also lauded Trump for his defiant response to the shooter’s attack.
“Campaigns are just snapshots and sound bites — that’s all they are,” he observed.
“Donald Trump’s got a lotta guts, man,” he said. “Gettin’ up there, exposing himself again to what he knew — what he knew — was an assassination attempt. And pounding his fist in the air.
“That snapshot’s gonna live forever.”
