A new report claims that local police informed the Secret Service that the police didn't have enough manpower to secure the building that a gunman later used to fire upon former President Donald Trump. The new information comes as lawmakers are demanding more answers to explain the security lapse that led to the shooting of the former president. 'For them to blame local law enforcement is them passing the blame.' The Washington Post reports that local District Attorney Richard Goldinger said the Secret Service “was informed that the local police department did not have manpower to assist with securing that building.”The report said a source from within the Secret Service confirmed the claim but only on the condition of anonymity. Goldinger had previously accused the Secret Service of trying to pass the blame onto local officials and said the federal agency was responsible for the failed security. “Secret Service was in charge, and so it was their responsibility to make sure that the venue and the surrounding area was secure," said Goldinger to the Post previously. “That’s common sense, I think. That’s their job," Goldinger added. “For them to blame local law enforcement is them passing the blame when they hold the blame, in my opinion.”Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said in an interview on Tuesday that it was the responsibility of the Secret Service to protect the former president, but she said she would not step down from her position. "The buck stops with me; I am the director of the Secret Service. It was unacceptable, and it's something that shouldn't happen again," she said. The suspected shooter was shot dead, but not before he was able to injure the former president, kill one rally attendee, and critically injure two others. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Keen observers noticed there was a significant change in the makeup of President Donald Trump's U.S. Secret Service detail between the time of his attempted assassination Saturday and when he strode confidently into the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee Monday evening. At least three female agents accompanied Trump in Pennsylvania and did their apparent best to pitch in when bullets started flying. However, when Trump entered the convention this week with a bandaged ear, he was flanked by several hulking male agents with nary a female agent in sight. 'When you primarily go after DEI, you end up with D-I-E.' When the Secret Service was faced earlier this year with criticism about its DEI practices in the past, agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said, "U.S. Secret Service employees, whose work is vital to the continuity of government, are held to the highest professional standards. At no time has the agency lowered these standards." Confronted, however, with the sight of women of smaller stature and in what some have suggested was a state of relative disarray, some critics have questioned whether the agency really afforded Trump the best security available — a question that has been branded "misogynistic" by various liberal publications. Elon Musk, for instance, angered exponents of DEI hiring practices by tweeting, "Having a small person as body cover for a large man is like an undersized Speedo at the beach – doesn't cover the subject." "Look, I'm not sure about who the individuals are on the individual detail of the Secret Service, but I can tell you under this Biden administration, the one thing I've seen is massive DEI hires," Republican Rep. Cory Mills (Fla.), a former U.S. Army sniper, told Fox News on Sunday. "And I can tell you, when you primarily go after DEI, you end up with D-I-E." Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told the New York Post, "The women I saw up there with the president — they looked like they were running in circles. One didn’t know how to holster, the other one didn’t seem to know what to do, and another one seemed not to be able to find her holster. DEI is one thing. Competence and effectiveness is another, and I saw DEI out there." The New York Times, the AFP, and the Financial Times appeared prickled by the suggestion that women may be scientifically disadvantaged in the role. Lauren Bean Buitta, the founder and CEO of Girl Security — an outfit that pushes for more women in the security establishment — told the Financial Times, "Somebody is going to have to point to me the medical, anatomical proof that being born with a uterus, somehow or another, makes me less capable of identifying a threat and neutralizing a threat." While Buitta and others took issue with the criticism, the Secret Service may have internalized it. Kimberly Cheatle, the Biden-appointed director of the Secret Service who won't step down despite assuming responsibility for the abject security failure, stated Monday that the security plan at the RNC was "strengthened in the wake of Saturday's shooting." "As the conventions progress, and in accordance with the direction of the president, the Secret Service will continuously adapt our operations as necessary in order to ensure the highest level of safety and security for convention attendees, volunteers, and the city of Milwaukee," added Cheatle. When Trump entered the RNC on Tuesday, he was again accompanied by a security detail solely comprising large men. The Post noted it was unclear whether the makeup of Trump's detail on both nights was a reflection of the strengthening of the RNC security plan. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Tucker Carlson believes the attempted assassination of Donald Trump is evidence of an ongoing "spiritual battle" in the United States.Speaking at a Heritage Foundation event at the Republican National Convention, Carlson shared his view that "deeper" forces, like evil, are behind attacks like the one that occurred at Trump's campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.'It's the religion of Jesus that makes them angry, and that suggests that maybe there is something a little deeper going on here.'"I think what happened on Saturday — the assassination attempt against President Trump — reminded a lot of people of this or awakened a lot of people to this," Carlson said on Monday."There is a spiritual battle under way," he added. "There is no logical way to understand what we're seeing now in temporal terms. You just can't. These are not political divides. There are forces — and they're very obvious now; they've decided, for whatever reason, to take off the mask — whose only goal is chaos, violence, destruction."According to Carlson, the forces that he identified are "dedicated to the destruction of people," and he believes they have a common enemy: Christians."Now, it took me about 10 years to figure this out. I'm not a super genius, but what group do they dislike most? What group are they absolutely terrified of and hoping to eliminate? Well, it's Christians. That's who it is: It's Christians," he said."The group that makes them angriest — triggers them most, I guess we would say now — is Christians," Carlson added, citing "Christian nationalism," "people who pray outside abortion clinics," and "people who celebrate Easter, not Trans Visibility Day."Carlson pointed to previous revolutions throughout history — the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Revolution, among others — as evidence to prove his point."It's the religion of Jesus that makes them angry, and that suggests that maybe there is something a little deeper going on here," he said."It's not just that they're in the way. Christians are hardly in the way. They're the most peaceable people there are," Carlson continued. "They worship a God who tells them not to hurt other people, to turn the other cheek, to pray for their persecutor. So it's not like they're disruptive. They're the opposite of disruptive, and yet they're the enemy."This is not the first time that Carlson has warned about an ongoing spiritual battle.Earlier this year, Carlson argued the political conflicts happening in the U.S., which seem to be increasing in their existential nature, evidence a battle that is "not flesh and blood at all."That language mirrors what the apostle Paul wrote in one of his letters nearly 2,000 years ago."For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms," Paul wrote in Ephesians. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

In the wake of Trump’s near-assassinaton, Elon Musk has not only endorsed Donald Trump for president but has also pledged $45 million a month to a Trump-affiliated PAC, likely making him an even bigger target for the left. Corrupt Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.) has been convicted on 16 counts, leading several Democrat senators to call for his resignation, even threatening to expel him if he refuses to step down. Next, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) gives her thoughts in an exclusive interview on Trump’s decision to appoint JD Vance as his running mate, as well as Biden’s calls for unity. Next, former Navy SEAL and security expert Erik Prince joins the show to shed light on the newly surfaced Iranian assassination plot, as well as the failure of the Secret Service not only at the rally but in general. However, there is a hopeful development in one January 6 case. A federal judge ordered the release of January 6 prisoner John Strand. Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker calls in to discuss the ruling. Elon Musk Goes Full MAGA with Monthly $45M Trump Super PAC Pledge | Guest: Erik Prince | 7/16/24 www.youtube.com Elon gets super political in super PAC donation Senior politics editor and Washington correspondent for Blaze Media Christopher Bedford joins Jill and the panel on “Blaze News Tonight” from day two of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to discuss Elon Musk’s recent political moves and Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez’s conviction. In regard to Musk’s donation pledge, Bedford says, “My gosh, he’s brave.” Not only did Musk pledge “$45 million a month, a staggering amount of money,” to a Trump super PAC, but he also expressed his disapproval of Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s bill that permits children to transition behind their parents’ backs by vowing to “move his space company to Texas.” Further, Democrat Senator Bob Menendez, who Bedford says is “one of the more openly corrupt senators” and “an incredibly arrogant politician,” has been convicted on “federal corruption charges.” Even “the Democrats just want him to go away,” says Bedford.Further, Julio Rosas, Blaze Media’s national correspondent, who is also attending the RNC convention, spoke with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) about her thoughts regarding Trump’s VP pick, JD Vance. “It’s the direction I want the party to go in, and that’s going to be America first,” Greene said of Vance. To Biden’s calls for “unity,” Greene was candid: “If Joe Biden and the Democrats were serious about unity, he would completely stop the weaponized Department of Justice that he has enabled, he would reel back Merrick Garland, he would drop all the charges against President Trump, [and] he would release political prisoners who are being held in prison for years now for protesting election fraud.”Secret Service failure and Kimberly Cheatle’s refusal to step down The Secret Service is on high alert after reports of an Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump have surfaced. Former Navy SEAL and security expert Erik Prince joins the show to shed light on the threat. “I think this is a desperate effort to deflect from a completely botched job of protecting the leading Republican candidate and front-runner for the next presidency,” Prince tells Jill, adding that he doesn’t give the threat “a whole lot of credibility.” “We suffer from a from a whole collection of federal agencies that are bloated, obese, unaccountable, and ineffective, and we continue to steer away from a merit-based, execution-based excellent society to our detriment,” he continues, noting that had Trump been killed, “we could have literally torn the country asunder.” When Prince points to the lack of merit in our federal agencies, he is, at least in part, referring to Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle’s DEI initiative to ensure 30% of the force is made up of women. Even though Cheatle has technically “[taken] responsibility” for Trump’s near-assassination, she has nonetheless refused to step down from her position. While the FBI has sworn to investigate Saturday’s unfortunate events, Jill questions the authenticity of their claims, given “the way that the federal agencies have handled Donald Trump-related issues in the past.” Prince agrees, stating he has “zero confidence in the federal government being able to investigate itself.” A January 6 victoryThe tides have turned for one January 6 defendant, John Strand, who was ordered to be released by a federal judge this July. Blaze News investigative journalist and fellow January 6 victim Steve Baker joins the show to explain the details of Strand’s case. Steve tells Jill and the panel that Strand is one of the more “high-profile cases” of all the January 6 defendants. Strand attended the Capitol on January 6 because he was the friend and bodyguard of Dr. Simone Gold, who was deplatformed during the height of COVID for recommending “alternate therapies that were not part of the approved narrative from the administration.” Dr. Gold was scheduled to speak at the Capitol that day — an event that was “legally permitted.” When the Oathkeepers and Strand escorted Dr. Gold to her speaking location, however, the chaos had already begun. “John Strand and Simone Gold did not participate in violence; they did not participate in breaching the Capitol building whatsoever,” says Baker, “but when the doors opened, they, like so many hundreds and even thousands of others, did in fact go inside peacefully, and she actually decided to deliver her prepared remarks there in the Rotunda.” After Dr. Gold delivered her speech, she and Strand “peacefully left.” However, both were “arrested very early on” and were “charged not only with a handful of misdemeanors,” but also with the “infamous 1512 obstruction of an official preceding felony, which carried up to 20 years potential imprisonment.” While Gold ended up “taking a plea deal" involving “60 days in prison,” Strand decided that “he was going to be a warrior” and fight the charges. In the end, he was sentenced to “32 months in prison.” “They committed exactly the same crimes, but because he wasted the government's time and he put them through the hassle of having to prepare for a trial … Simone got two months in prison and he got 32 months in prison,” says Baker. However, the Supreme Court’s “overturning of 1512" led to Strand’s release.

Oklahoma City police are investigating what led to a pair of homeless people reportedly being set on fire Tuesday, after which they were hospitalized. A man who lives next to the crime scene spoke to KOCO-TV about what he saw and how he helped the two alleged victims near West Hefner Road and Western Avenue. 'For somebody to do somebody like that, that’s cruel.' “I was taking trash to the curb and saw the young lady just from the waist up on fire. Stuff you see on TV. I never seen something like that in my life," Cory Spencer told the station. Spencer said he saw a man on fire as well and tried to help the pair put out the flames. “I took and put her in the shower. She turned the shower on herself and then got the fire out. Came out and sat on the couch and asked for some water," Spencer recalled. “I never seen something like that in my life." The woman's skin was badly damaged when she emerged from the shower, according to Spencer, who said he also helped put out flames on the man. “He was screaming out, ‘Is my baby alright?'" Spencer continued. “And I was putting out the fire on his legs and arms." Allennia Voerster, owner of a cat grooming business called Aristocats, said a homeless camp is located behind the building, and her surveillance cameras captured some smoke from the incident. “That’s just shocking. Unfathomable," she said. Police said they believed someone sprayed accelerant on the pair as they slept and then lit them on fire, but authorities are still investigating the matter. “For somebody to do somebody like that, that’s cruel," Spencer said. KOCO said an investigator told them the woman is not expected to survive, and the man will likely lose a limb. You can view a video report about the incident here. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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