The Daily Signal - Lawmakers Grill Head of Secret Service, Pelosi Endorses Harris, Netanyahu Visits DC | July 22

Starting point is 00:00:01 The head of the Secret Service faced a barrage of questions and calls to resign from lawmakers in Washington, D.C. today. I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Monday, July 22nd. Republicans and Democrat lawmakers questioned the director of the Secret Service on Capitol Hill today. Director Kimberly Cheatel testified before the House Oversight Committee, nine days after a gunman, tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Cheetah opened her remarks by taking full responsibility for the security failure. The Secret Service's solemn mission is to protect our nation's leaders. On July 13th, we failed.

Starting point is 00:00:55 As a director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency. Cheetah went on to say that her agency will not rest until we have explored every option and we will leave no. stone unturned in reference to that investigation into the security failures. But despite her efforts to assure lawmakers that the agency is investigating the security failures that led to the assassination attempt on Trump, Cheeto still faced many questions from lawmakers. Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan asked Cheetah about the investigation into the shooting. Who's all doing the investigating at Secret Service? I know the inspector general, but is there also an internal investigation in addition to the inspector general?

Starting point is 00:01:43 We are conducting a mission assurance investigation internally, yes. You know what? It looks like, director, looks like you won't answer some pretty basic questions. It looks like you got a 9% raise and you cut corners when it came to protecting one of the most important individuals, most well-known individuals on the planet. A former president, likely the guy is going to be the next president. Looks like you guys were cutting corners. That's what it looks like to me. Illinois Democrat Representative Rahaj Krishman McCarthy laid out a reported timeline before the head

Starting point is 00:02:10 of the Secret Service. The shooter began shooting at 6.11 p.m. according to NBC News, 20 minutes prior to the start of the shooting, state police informed Secret Service of their concerns. And, Krishnamorthy continued that, according to NBC, just two minutes later, at 5.53 p.m., the Secret Service notified its snipers

Starting point is 00:02:34 about the gunmen. But Trump was not removed from the stage, and the rally was not paused. When the congressman asked Cheeto why, she said the Secret Service, are still combing through communications and when communications were passed. New York Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questioned Cheeto on why a building within easy gunshot range of the stage where Trump was speaking was not within the secure perimeter. And Texas Republican Congressman Pat Fallon was very critical of Cheetah's comments to ABC News, that the agents were not on the roof that the shooter used because it was a sloped roof. Prior to being appointed as Director of the Secret Service, Cheatel served as a senior director of global security at PepsiCo,

Starting point is 00:03:22 the parent company of The Snackmaker. A slew of members of Congress have called on Cheatel to resign. To catch more of the contentious moments from today's hearing, you can check out a link in today's show notes with the Daily Signal's full coverage. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president this afternoon. Pelosi is one of several influential Democrats, such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and California Governor Gavin Newsom, who have also endorsed Harris since Biden announced that he is dropping out of the race. Former President Barack Obama has not endorsed Harris. He put out a statement saying, we will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead. but I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges. Democrats are under pressure because they face a deadline of August 7th to pick their new nominee.

Starting point is 00:04:21 Well, here with us to explain more is my colleague, Jared Stetman. Jared, thanks for being here. It's good to be here. Well, on Sunday, we wrote a piece together on the possible contenders who might be that next Democratic nominee. Also, on what's going to happen next. You yourself are a historian. So I want to first get your perspective on what we know regarding the historical context here. Has anything ever happened like this where we have seen a candidate drop out after they received their party's nomination?

Starting point is 00:04:55 No, this is really, you talk about history. We really are in sort of unprecedented ground here as far as a primary goes. LBJ, the last Democrat, to drop out of a race who was a sitting president. I mean, he did it 200, almost 220 days before the election and did it in time for to actually hold a primary. In this case, the primary has already been held. Joe Biden was basically selected nearly unanimously in that primary. And so the Democrat Party is pushed into a position in which essentially the party elites

Starting point is 00:05:28 and the delegates are going to have to select a presidential campaign. candidate. Right now, they're sort of rallying around Kamala Harris, the vice president, but I think even though there's still a few weeks left before that convention, I still think a lot of things can happen because, again, we're sort of on unprecedented territory here, and we've never really seen anything like this in American politics. I've seen some calls for a mini primary. Is that even remotely a possibility, or is it just too late? I think that's just way too late in the cycle. I mean, we're looking at about two weeks, maybe three weeks before the actual Democratic convention starts. And the logistics behind holding a primary is just unfeasible.

Starting point is 00:06:11 And in my opinion, especially the way everything went down, how Biden simply sort of disappeared and made a statement on X or what was called Twitter. And Kamala Harris appears to be almost taking up the mantle of the presidency. I don't think we're going to get a sort of Democratic small D primary here. I think what we're mostly seeing is the choices of the Democrat Party elite based on who they think is most likely to actually win in November. And I think that's the calculation that's happening here. I don't think there's much of a consideration for necessarily the Democrat typical primary voters. So like you mentioned, the Democrat National Convention that's being held in Chicago on August 19th, so less than a month away. And there have been also references to that being potentially an open convention.

Starting point is 00:06:57 what would that look like? What does that mean? That would mean essentially that's sort of like an older style convention where essentially the candidate would be up for grabs. I mean, a lot of these delegates, they were originally pledged to Joe Biden. He had almost every single delegate. They're free to choose whoever they wish to choose. So there is a possibility if a candidate, a dark horse candidate, let's say emerges that hasn't even been discussed yet. It's very possible that that person could emerge on this, this slate. I think that many people are sort of jumping too fast to say that this is simply going to be Kamala Harris's role, even though she's reached a lot of endorsements.

Starting point is 00:07:38 You know, I think in one of the most crazy election cycles in American history, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that something could happen at the convention itself. Wild times to be alive. Jared Stettman, we appreciate your reporting on this. There is a link in today's show knows for that full report that Jared and I whipped up on Sunday after the news broke that Biden was pulling out of the race. Jared, thanks for your time today. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. To add to the excitement today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington, D.C.

Starting point is 00:08:12 today. This was his first trip to D.C. in almost four years and the first time that he left Israel since the October 7th terrorist attack. Netanyahu will visit the White House tomorrow and give a speech before Congress on Wednesday. The trip is intended to strengthen ties between the two nations, but does come at a challenging time, given Biden's announcement that he is dropping out of the race. Before flying to D.C. today, Netanyahu said, I will tell my friends on both sides of the aisle that regardless who the American people choose as their next president, Israel remains America's indispensable and strong ally in the Middle East. And Netanyahu added in this time of war and uncertainty. It's important that Israel's enemies know that America and Israel stand together

Starting point is 00:08:59 today, tomorrow, and always. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks for joining us with this wild news cycle here on the Daily Signal's top news. No shortage of things happening here in D.C. and across the nation, if you want deeper dives into what is happening in our world, make sure that you're following the Daily Signal, both across social media platforms, or you can go straight to our website, DailySignal.com, and be sure to hit the subscribe button on this podcast.

Starting point is 00:09:28 You never miss out on brand new additions. And if you would, also take a minute to leave us a five-star rating and review. And tomorrow morning, I'm sitting down with Sheriff Schmidt of Dodd County, Wisconsin, as we discuss

Starting point is 00:09:40 what exactly the security failures were at the rally that ultimately resulted in an assassination attempt on Trump. Be sure to catch that conversation tomorrow morning. Have a great, rest of your day. We'll see you right back here tomorrow morning.

Starting point is 00:09:55 The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Lewy and Katrina Trinko. Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Tyler O'Neill, Mary Margaret O'Lehand, and Elizabeth Mitchell. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, John Pop, and Joseph von Spakovsky. To learn more or support our work, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - Lawmakers Grill Head of Secret Service, Pelosi Endorses Harris, Netanyahu Visits DC | July 22

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