The shot that could seal a Trump presidency…
Retired Colonel Chris Wyatt, the former Director of African Studies at the U.S. Army War College, has called for heads to roll following the failed assassination attempt on former US President and Presidential hopeful Donald Trump. "The Secret Service has failed in epic proportions…if not for windage, if not for the president turning his head at a certain moment, we'd be having a very different conversation today. It would be the murder and assassination of Donald John Trump. Fortunately, he survived. And what they've done is, they've guaranteed an electoral victory for Donald Trump in November. There's no way he doesn't win this race now."
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Transcript of the interview ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Chris Steyn (00:01.578)
The attempted assassination of former president and presidential hopeful Donald Trump is making headlines across the world.
BizNews speaks to retired Colonel Chris Wyatt, the former Director of African studies at the U.S. Army War College.
Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (00:01.042)
Well, Chris, quite frankly, I'm not shocked. I was asked during my recent trip to South Africa by many people in private when I spoke to them about the upcoming election in America and what's going on, particularly after the conviction on 34 counts for Donald Trump in a case in New York in which an expired misdemeanor and a felony violation of law, which is not even under state jurisdiction, was bootstrapped together at the closing arguments to convict Donald Trump on 34 counts.
And people said, what's going to happen? I said, well quite frankly, they've done everything to Donald Trump except attempt to kill him. And now we've seen it.
On July 13th, at 6.13 in the evening in Western Pennsylvania, approximately three hours from where I live, Donald Trump was speaking on the stage, turned his head, which was fortuitous, when the shooter on a building less than 150 meters away, a white roof in clear view of the public who warned the police, apparently according to eyewitness statements, that there was someone on the roof with a rifle fired, shot, hit him in the ear, shot him in the head. Trump touched his ear, recognised what was going on, and then he dropped to the ground.
And of course, CNN immediately reported that he fell and misled people.
Multiple shots were fired. It took almost four seconds, according to the video that I saw, for Secret Service agents to get to protect Trump. And then they tried to keep him down as he wanted to rise up. But a defiant Trump eventually got up and walked off the stage, shaking his fist, telling people to 'fight, fight, fight'.
So what are my reaction to this? Well, I'm not shocked.
The political temperature in this country has been out of control for a very long time. We've seen political party leaders like Maxine Waters and Chuck Schumer call for violence against elected officials. On the day that Trump was inaugurated back in 2017, Madonna called for blowing up the White House. We also saw, you know, Kathy Griffin holding up a, you know, a beheaded Trump model. The violence rhetoric from the left is insane.
But what I will tell you about this, my reaction about the attempt assassination of Donald Trump last night contrast this with what the leftist media are saying today, saying that Americans must tone down their rhetoric. They're talking about conservatives and Trump supporters toning down the rhetoric.
I don't see the streets of Minneapolis on fire this morning. I don't see the streets of Portland on fire, the mayor's home being attacked. This is the actions of leftists. Conservatives and people in the centre do not behave that way in America by and large, and the country is calm at this hour.
Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (02:25.746)
But I will say this about the Secret Service. I have, of course, been in handshaking distance of the president of United States, not this president, but shaking the hand of the president. And I know the process and I know the security measures Secret Service goes through. This is either the most incompetent Secret Service operation in the history of the Secret Service, or there's something else going on here. I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I'm not going to make that claim. But this is insane on the face of it. How does a person get on the roof of a building 150 meters from the former president of United States during broad daylight on a white roof with a rifle and fire multiple shots at the president when there are counter sniper teams mounted on two buildings. Who failed to clear this building? By the police own information, they told us that the parking lot with that building was only available to law enforcement. So how does a shooter get in the building with a rifle? Did he hide it in a hidey hole before this? This is absolutely insane on the face of it. I don't know what to say other than heads must roll for this.
Already we've seen lots of complaints about the person in charge of the Secret Service, Kim Cheadle, whose previous experience was in the corporate world with PepsiCo and now she's the head of the Secret Service. One wonders what's going on in this government. I've seen her recent video in which she's more concerned about hiring people based on equity than she is on competence for protecting the president and the principals.
This is a sad day in American history, but it's a very good day from a standpoint that it failed. But sadly, what's lost in all this is an American citizen, innocent citizen was murdered yesterday, lost her life, shot in the head, and two other American citizens who attended the rally were critically wounded. One of them apparently is the nephew of Texas Republican Congressman Ronnie Jackson. And our thoughts and prayers are with them at this hour.
All I can tell you is that I'm beyond disappointed in the performance of Secret Service. When I was in Liberia, President Bush was on a seven-country trip to Africa. The Secret Service was spread out over multiple countries with the advanced team, the team with the president, and then the trailing team that wrapped up things afterwards and cleared things when he leaves the country. A seven-country tour and the performance of the Secret Service third string that came to our site in Liberia was far better than what we saw here in Butler, Pennsylvania. The negligence, the willful disregard for the safety of a former elected official is beyond the pale. It reminds me of the rape and murder or suspected rape, but certainly the murder of De Klerk's ex-wife after he was out of office. It's shocking.
Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (04:51.004)
These people must be protected and the Secret Service has failed in epic proportions, if not for windage, if not for the president turning head at a certain moment, we'd be having a very different conversation today. It would be the murder and assassination of Donald John Trump.
Fortunately, he survived. And what they've done is they've guaranteed an electoral victory for Donald Trump in November. There's no way he doesn't win this race now.
Chris, thanks a lot for having me on. I hope I've answered your question adequately. God bless and take care.
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