What do you think about this? Do you think this is a lone person? Is it a criminal network, and do they know what they, they're doing, or is it just idiots that got caught up in something, and they, they thought that they could get money out of it, and now they're in over their heads?

Yeah, that's a really good question.

I...

I've kind of been all over the place with this thing.

One day, I think this way, the next day I think this way.

I, I, I was talking to some buddies of mine who are still, you know, active duty police officers, investigators, and we were just kind of talking about this about a week ago, and I'm like: What do you guys think? I mean, you're actual...

You're still criminal investigators.

Right.

Yeah

... to show up.

The problem is, in law enforcement, and I know you and your audience understand this, but a lot of people out there m- may not.

E- even your audience may not understand this.

The, there's the, there's the spirit of the law, and there's the letter of the law, and they were, they were doing their very best to enforce the letter of the law.

The problem is, he's there protesting.

It wasn't a peaceful protest.

Mm-hmm.

How do law enforcement officers cope with that, with previous experiences, taking that baggage into the job? Like, when are they ready to get back onto the job, and how does that impact them?

Yeah, I like that question.

That's a good question.

You know, I think people look at police, and I keep saying we, 'cause I'm still basically in it, but like, and I always will, but, be, but, um, we're not robots.

We're human beings, and we have emotions and thoughts, and like, the one thing, uh, that I really thought highly of my colleagues at the Secret Service is we were able to, uh, compartmentalize.

You know, I worked with, uh, uh, friends of mine that were liberal.

I'm conservative, but, you know, they did their job to protect Bush or Trump.

Can the wife face charges for anything?

They were allegedly planning a coordinated IED bombing attacks, um, on New Year's Eve, targeting five specific separate locations across Los Angeles." What was your reaction when you, when you heard this?

Well, first of all, thank God for people like Dan Bongino and Kash Patel.

We actually have some real leaders back in, in power.

You know, there's a, a tremendous difference between leadership and management.

There just is.

And I've worked for both.

I know Dan personally and I know he's a leader and he's gonna lead from the front.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

However, when you're talking to a person through a Ring camera or the phone or CCTV or even through a car window, it's okay to bluff, right? Because you wanna use that verbal judo.

That's what we call it in police work, uh, verbal judo.

You want to de-escalate the situation.

Sometimes, you know, the best, uh, the best defense is a good offense.

So, you know, you, you need to know your audience.

But like you could see by the, the guy didn't have a very big, uh, stature.

Right.

I just remembered it.

It's all good.

But I mean, there, there is a, there is a castle doctrine as well.

You could look that up if, if anybody's interested.

But at...

The bottom line is if you're at your home minding your...

A wise and prude...

They're lying on the ground," most kids would probably respond to that.

Mm-hmm.

Ingress, egress, all those things.

But when you're in a crowd and people are supposed to be having fun, their face should tell a story.

And if someone's not happy and they may have a scowl or they may be alone, you know, uh, you can't necessarily, uh, go based off of just demographics alone because there's a melting pot of people in America, right? But if, if it's mostly family-oriented and you have military age men type guys, and it could be white men, Middle Eastern, Black, brown, whatever, just an average man hanging out by himself or maybe with a couple of guys might be weird.

It might not be, but I think just being situationally aware and kind of being attuned to your environment's very important.

Um, are there other ways to deter a porch pirate?

pirate?Yeah, I'm d- just thankful this man had some situational awareness and some self-control, because two wrongs don't make a right.

Even though it might feel good in the moment, uh, he would, he would, you know, in this crazy world that we live in, he would be the one going to jail instead of the other guy, you know? But I think you just have to, you know, do what you can.

Right.

That guy could be a mobster, he could be crazy lunatic like this guy, he could be a jujitsu freak.

You know, why in the world would you just, just let it go? Whatever it is, it's not worth it.

But to, to answer your question, you know, if you can, just, you know, maybe just try n- Uh, this is so counterintuitive for me, but don't make eye contact.

Just say, "Hey, look, uh, okay, whatever.

I'm sorry." You, you know, apologize.

Even if you're not wrong, just say, "I'm sorry," and then just try to move away.

Right.

How do you verify that they're actual FBI agents and this isn't just someone in a hat or a jacket or they have a fake badge that's like a costume?

Yeah.

Uh, that's a good question.

I think the first thing I would do is every single person is very self-aware.

We know what we've got in our past.

We know if we've committed a crime recently or if we're not...

If you're squeaky clean, I think he said his mom was in there and his kids.

Right.

(laughs)

I don't know where these people are...

W- what they're doing, but you never know who's in the, the car next to you.

Like, I feel like I can handle myself in most situations, not all, but I feel pretty confident in my abilities most of the time.

But guess what? There's always somebody out there a little tougher, a little stronger, maybe they have a weapon, you don't, y- there's no reason to engage with strangers like this.

Anyway, th- what I would do in that situation if I- if it was that bad, and it was that bad, I would put my phone up, and then...

We talk about this on your show all the time, these, these are the things that kill people.

It seems like it was at night.

why.What's your reaction?

Yeah, he's 100% right.

I mean, the Secret Service is mandated to protect the President of the United States and, and the vice president and, and the cabinet and, and whomever he deems appropriate through executive order.

But if there's a crime that's committed, or a potential crime, as Dan said... 'Cause there's nothing wrong with having a tree st- a, a tree stand in a tree, however, comma, we are talking about Florida, like you just said, uh, at a r- airport inside, uh, a city with cars and airplanes and lots of noise.

And it- and it just doesn't pass the smell test, you know? And it doesn't have to meet...

I think what, what the general public sometimes fails to realize is, it doesn't have to necessarily meet the criteria of a crime in order for you to be proactive.

Like, let- let's say if you're a police officer and you're going to try to effect an arrest.

Thankfully, this mom did because what if she didn't? I mean, this could've been devastating with all the kids and the bus driver still on the bus.

I would think that if you are a cashier at a gas station or another kind of convenience store that is open all night long, best to be armed and ready, right?

Yeah.

I love this video.

This, uh, this gentleman did an amazing job.

We talk about the color codes of awareness on here pretty much every week.

This man was in condition yellow.

I mean, he was where he needed to be.

(laughs)

W- we buy it that you're part of President Trump's security." I don't get how this happens.

Yeah.

It's very, um, very difficult situation to sort of explain, I guess.

I'll, I'll do my best.

It's, it's very odd.

Uh, I like the fact that you gave this guy grace, because it could have been that.

It could have been just a looky-loo trying to get in and, and do something for free.

Right.

Right.

... you're gonna, you're gonna get, you're gonna get the house or the condo or whatever.

But yeah, I mean, I think unfortunately, the law enforcement entities, like exa- for example in this case with the ICE field office, you're gonna probably have to push your perimeter out and you're only gonna be able to go so far because of the sidewalk and the city owns the streets and all these different things.

But you're gonna have to...

You're gonna start having to really think about your perimeter expanding a little bit, and you're only gonna go as far as your real estate allows you to go.

The- therefore, you're gonna have to start getting creative with jersey barriers and blocking devices.

And then, you know, nothing beats going inside.

You know, do you take that and run with it or do you have to kind of ver- verify that in, in some way?

Right.

But you also don't want to leave people in the X either.

So it depends.

If it's...

Once the situation starts to really go south, then you, then you're gonna need to make a public announcement and then you're gonna try to do your best to, you know, herd the people out because people are going to stampede rightfully so, because they're going to be scared to death.

So you don't wanna, you don't wanna ensue panic, so there's just...

There's no real cookie cutter answer for this or that but once you identify the threat, hopefully it gets taken out.

Have you dealt with radicalization in chat rooms? Are you familiar with these Discord chat rooms and 4Chan and 8Chan and, and all these chat rooms? I mean, it seems like there needs to be a, a, a microscope on these.

What do you think is gonna happen with the future of these events on campus?

campus?Yeah, it's a sad state of affairs that we have to think about this type of stuff but we do.

I mean, the county I, the county that I live in has a school resource officer at every school to include preschools and elementary schools.

Let that sink in for a minute.

That's ridiculous.

But hey, it's, it's what we live in now.

So why would college campuses be any different? I think you bring up a good point.

So what would be your advice to not only conservative speakers, but people on the left because the world is violent, right? So anyone, a public figure who is speaking who might be, um, attracting some kind of a protest, what would be your advice to keep them safe? And then also if you're a spectator, what would be your advice to stay safe?

Mm-hmm.

Right? So they ...

It's a, it's a crime of convenience a lot of times and it's, uh, soft targets.

And unfortunately like the case in Tennessee, uh, the shooter had two schools narrowed down and I think they went to the first school first, the one that was not victimized, and there was some type of armed security there.

I don't know if it was a police officer in a police car, but it was an armed security person, and that's what I call abort criteria.

And so that makes it a little bit of a hard target, and then they, they, they went over to the other school unfortunately and that's why they were victimized because it was a softer target.

And I also understand and realize 'cause I've raised three children and you don't want your kids to feel like they're-... you know, at fort...

A lot of these shootings happen at workplaces, grocery stores, movie theaters, nightclubs, right? If you are in an active shooter situation, what are your top safety tips?

Now, how on Earth could Secret Service agents not know that and not see that if there are regular civilian people on the ground noticing that? I don't get that.

No, I don't, I don't either.

And, uh, one of m- my best assignments that I ever had with the Secret Service was, um, I was promoted to go back to the president's detail when Trump first got in and I was the detail leader for Eric Trump, so I lived in Manhattan and Eric and I became very good friends and I love him so much.

The Trump family is amazing and he, we talked after that and he was devastated like a normal person should be, like a normal son should be, and he was asking me these questions.

Number one, I don't think the Secret Service was culpable.

Now, did we, did we do a horrible job on the security plan? Yes.

They get a F- on that, okay? Now, I keep saying "we." I'm not there anymore, but it's just 25 years, it's old habit, but the Secret Service failed the final, okay? So the, the buck stops with them.

... with that response?