Political commentator and bestselling author Bill O'Reilly told Newsmax on Tuesday a thorough investigation into the operational breakdowns resulting in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump should be conducted before any disciplinary action is taken at the Secret Service.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned last week in the aftermath of the July 13 assassination attempt that wounded Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killed a spectator, and seriously injured two others. But acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. came under fire during a joint hearing held earlier Tuesday by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs and Senate Judiciary committees on why no other heads have rolled.
"I don't want the Secret Service to throw people into the bonfire without absolutely knowing everything that happened," O'Reilly told "Prime News" and guest host Todd Starnes. "There is no downside to being methodical in this investigation. I like the new acting director. I think he is an honest man. Looks that way to me. So do your investigation.
"They're all going to go, Todd — everybody in charge of that detail in Butler. All of them are going to go. It's just a matter of when. But to browbeat the guy because he hasn't done it yet, I don't know if that's fair."
Iran reportedly is working on plots to kill Trump in retaliation for the U.S. strike ordered by the former president in January 2020 that killed top terrorist and Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. O'Reilly, who latest book "Confronting the Presidents: No Spin Assessments from Washington to Biden" will be available Sept. 10, said that's more reason for the Secret Service to be spot-on in not only protecting Trump, but Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden, as well.
"Ever since the Trump administration whacked Soleimani, ... Iran has said, 'We're going to take a reprisal on Donald Trump,'" O'Reilly said. "So it's not new. That's been in play for a long time. But because you have that kind of a threat leveled from a foreign nation that the diligence that has to be brought to protecting not only Donald Trump, but Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, everybody at that level has to be impeccable. And it wasn't [on July 13].
"But now in this age of destructive weaponry and overseas threats, terrorism, the Secret Service has to really up its game."
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