US Secret Service to ramp up security on Jan. 6 | LiveNOW from FOX

meantime here, Let's uh, talk about this. and Other Stories with none other than our friend Bill gauge there at the safe haven Security Group, he joins me Um, Bill. thanks for being with us here. Um, you just watched their Rebecca's report, You saw some of the moments, the sound bites from these lawmakers who were in these classified briefings today. Uh, is this just a formality here or is Ronald row coming to Capitol Hill? uh, with something new. to be said to be shared about their investigations into the Trump shooting. Yeah. Andrew. Thanks for having me, good to see you again. And I I I think. uh, clearly it. It looked like some members of Congress walked out of that meeting today and and were pretty shocked. and these are some pretty senior members of Congress there. I think you saw Senator Blumenthal. you know? uh, I hate to use a cliche but this kind of isn't his first rodeo. he, he's been involved in in a major incidents and it it was quite clear from his comments there that this shook him. so whatever was in that briefing. He must have found out some new information. on um, some security lapses that happened at the event. Um, there were some other members of Congress there. that there have been some members of Congress. that have been pretty hyperbolic about. um, the Trump assassination attempt. um, with just being frank here, like, false information and and and very exaggerated information. Um, none of which I think you saw on those news scope, Senator Blumenthal on some of the other members of Congress, they, they must have been really shaken. by what they heard and what the director presented in that meeting. So yeah, you know. you you saw in the news clip there. there were 4 or 5 bullet points about what we know. Right. So clearly what we don't know again has really shaken some of the Senators and and members of Congress that um, you know, they gave that quick press brief and said, listen, there's going to be some stuff in here that's going to shock the American people. Yeah. Because we are told that there is going to be some type of interim report, that's going to be be released. Uh, soon. Uh that's all I have here Senators Peters. and Johnson told our reporters on Capitol Hill. It's coming quote, unquote. soon. uh, they said we believe likely next week Bill, Uh, so that would be quite something. here. Uh, now Senators Johnson and Peters. Both seem to Tamp down on Senator blumenthal's wording. Uh, that Americans will be quote, unquote. shocked. by the report. I have a statement in front of me though, by the spokesperson for the bipartisan task force looking into the Trump shooting, they say this. uh, in part they say over the course of the last 2 weeks. task force staff has conducted interviews with local law enforcement in Pennsylvania to learn more about the security failures of that day. as the investigation moves forward, the task force Will continue pressing local state and federal authorities. For answers here and Bill in the early going, we had talked about the kind of competing investigations or the he said, she said between the feds, and state and local law enforcement here, uh, are we going to see that going forward or they Uh, I'm the same page yet. We're going to continue seeing that Andrew when I was watching the news clip there, but before my appearance here, you know, um, there's a lot of competing investigations here and uh, some of it criminal again, as I've mentioned before, you know, there's a criminal investigation on The Taking of the, of the life here by the secret service counter snipers and that's going to take priority. over. Um any Congressional investigation. So there there's that. Um and you know we have uh, Fifth Amendment Protections in this country. so there are members of the Secret Service that if they don't want to appear before this committee, they don't have to give testimony. um, if they're giving legal advice, it says, hey, don't speak with them, they don't have to, uh, speak with the committee so you know, there may be some parts of this investigation that we don't know and and in addition This has happened with other. um, aspects of other major Congressional investigations. We had. I I was just reading this morning about um, or yesterday. uh, about some of the 911 Commission stuff about Saudi Arabia that's kind of still classified. So there may be some back and forth over what aspects of this investigation should be released to the public? you? you heard that it was a classified briefing. and so there may be some information that remains classified. Um, and there may be some fights in Congress about what to release and what not to release. Oh wow. Uh that didn't even occur to me. uh and so that would be uh pretty self-explanatory. I guess. And, you know, your way around these things um, because this was a classified setting today. Maybe this interim. Report. uh, if it is going to be released next week, might leave some of that out. That remains to be seen and if they do uh I'm sure there will be a fight uh, over those missing pieces of information here, Bill, Uh, we wanted to bring you on though, uh, for this story specifically Obviously we are 54 days away until the presidential election. uh, and everyone, it was a key feature, uh, on the debate stage, their bill in Philadelphia. uh Donald Trump's response. uh, to the January 6, Capitol, Riot and allegations that he incited that very Riot and MOB here. Now, uh, this is a piece in Politico today. Bill, I'm reading right now. the federal government has for the first time declared that the certification of the presidential. vote next year will be treated as a quote. National special. security. event. and acknowledgement. That the once routine, part of the democratic process, now carries special risk Bill, the piece goes on to say, the designation by Homeland Security secretary Alejandro. Morcus places the January. 6th session of Congress on the same security footing. as major events like the Super Bowl. or the UN General Assembly. Um, bill, I think it's safe to say that is a staggering uh, that this routine constitutional process that happens every 4 years now we know what happened after the last 1. We'll be designated the same security posture as the UN General Assembly as the Super Bowl here. Did you see this coming? Uh, frankly, I did not see this coming. uh, and I, I know, a lot of members of the public right now do not have a lot of faith in the Secret Service. Uh, I, I, you know, when I was reading that to me, uh, being involved in many, uh, National special security events or as they're called, kind of in the security world, or especially the Secret Service nsse being involved in many nsse throughout my career, Um, and in fact, that was the lead uh, tactical Advanced agent the for 3ns. 2 in. 1 political convention, uh, very familiar with the how that works And I, I, I say all that to, to tell you, Andrew that, it it, the Secret Service actually has a, a pretty uh, almost like plug-and-play. B blueprint for this. uh, up on the up on Capitol Hill, they, they know where to post a, you know, the, the State of the union is an nsse. I might, I I did numerous states of the Union during my career and so, um, for the Secret Service, the protective model is going to stay the same. It's going to be a similar protective footprint, just like it would be for the state of the union or the inauguration. So for the Secret Service, uh they really have have been doing nsse since, you know, uh, the late 90s and the the latter part of the Clinton administration. Um, so for the secret service is not that big of a deal. I I I don't mean to diminish. the importance of this event and you know, J6, and what happened? And uh, the fears that we, you know, as a country we just can't allow that to happen again. So, you know, I I appreciate the a concern. for the event, but for the Secret Service, um, it's, uh, not going to be a heavy lift for them to pull this off. So but but you're not saying that the designation is overblown or misguided. the political piece says this, the designation empowers the Secret Service. to lead security planning, and provide extensive resources. To State and local authorities Assisting with its implementation. So does that mean the Secret Service is lead on January 6th? um, that that is correct. statutorily. Uh, by law. uh, the Secret Service takes the lead. and uh, security preparations. okay? Um, you know, just like they do for the inauguration just like they do for the, uh, you know, State of the Union. And I will tell you, It's, it's a challenge up there, these nsc's on Capitol Hill are a challenge for the Secret Service. of 1 of the things. people don't talk about is this is, 2, branches of government. Uh, Congress is legislative the president is executive that um, secret service falls under the executive branch and I've been up there at times and, and I, you know, kind of butted heads with the Capitol Police on on different security measures. So it it, it is a challenge for the Secret Service. and and can be difficult But um, like I said this is they they've done this before. This is going to be almost like a plug-and-play for them. okay? But Bill you and I have talked about some of the Restraints. and constraints on the secret. Service. As far as Staffing Resources. what have you especially in the wake of the Trump? uh shooting attempt here? Uh, this is yet another major event that they will be tasked with under their portfolio. Are they up to it? Can they do it? absolutely, they're going to have to they don't have a choice. Uh, Andrew. I mean the director has been very forthcoming that you know in very Frank that this is not going to happen again. Uh, you know, I don't want to repeat myself here but because the secret service has done nsse up on at the Capitol many, many times. that will be easy because they're not starting from scratch, So that the lead Advanced agent is not going to be starting from scratch about where to put post standards And what parking garages to secure, Okay? So all of that is you know, kind of on the Shelf somewhere the the protective plan. So that part will will be easy. the hard part, like you said, will be to find the staff thing uh, because you, you have a vice president here who's running for president. A lot of people forget, we still have President Biden. um, the president draws significant resources from the Secret Service. So uh you know it is gonna be a Manpower challenge. or or a resource challenge for the Secret Service that, um, obviously all right, Bill Gates. We'll just have to leave it at that. I can't thank you enough for your expertise here. Uh, and can't believe January 6th 2025 uh, is on the