Here’s what needs to be done… asap

The news that Rep. James Comer’s Oversight Committee would be conducting an investigation of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was more than just welcome — it was necessary.

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After Crossfire Hurricane, the Laptop 51, COVID from a wet market, the “Joe Biden-is-just-fine” narrative… there’s simply no reason to trust an investigation run by the three-letter agencies in Washington.

Now, there are fine, brave, dedicated agents in the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, and other federal agencies. I worked with them. But their executives inside the beltway have forfeited all trust — and have a long way to go to earn it back. This latest debacle only confirms that.

So: What must Comer’s committee do?

(Rep. James Comer of Kentucky — our best hope for transparency now)

1. Get the Ops Plan and all intel documents. Law enforcement details of this sort have a written Operational Plan. It would need to be signed off on by the Incident Commander — the person in charge of the event. The Ops Plan sets out the results of the “site survey” that is required to be done before the event, which details what areas need to be covered and by who. This document should detail who was supposed to cover the area of the roof that Crooks fired from.If there was no Ops Plan done, or if it didn’t cover that rooftop — whoever signed off on it failed badly.And get hold of any and all intelligence assessments related to threats to Donald Trump, both specific to this event, or in a general sense. Have these been generated?
2. Interview the Incident Commander. Who was in charge of this event? Did he or she participate in the site surveys that are required before the event? Was a final sweep done just before the event to ensure a new threat had not emerged? This is the point that the Incident Commander should have looked around and said, “Hey — why isn’t that roof covered?”
3. Review the communication protocols. There are numerous reports of Crooks being spotted well before the shooting — and that this was communicated “up the chain.” To whom? Why was no action taken in response? Were the agencies involved — the USSS, the PA State Police, the Butler PD, DHS — able to communicate in real-time?
4. Send preservation letters to all agencies involved. These letters will serve as notice that any tampering with the evidence could be construed as destruction of evidence at some point in the future.
5. Get hold of all the phones. Do this NOW. Don’t rely on dumping the USSS server or the server used by the other agencies. The physical phones have videos and apps on them that will not be backed up to the servers. These must be grabbed immediately, to review all comms. And review the comms after the event as well — when any cover-up would’ve commenced. Then dump the servers anyway, to retrieve any emails or texts that have been deleted off the phones.
6. Get hold of all body camera footage. The uniformed cops likely were wearing bodycams. Get the footage — all of it.
7. Get the recordings of the radio transmissions. Police radio transmissions are recorded, for evidentiary purposes.
8. Ascertain if a Mobile Response Team was stood up. At a large event like the Trump rally, most of the cops will be on “fixed posts”; that is, posts that they are not supposed to leave unless they must. This rigidity is assuaged by having a “flying squad” — at least one or two units that are on standby to respond anywhere at a moment’s notice, and who are not fixed. Did the Ops Plan have this? Were they notified to respond?
9. Ascertain standard USSS protocols. These will be written in some sort of Operations Manual governing large-scale events. Were the protocols followed? Was there an evacuation plan? A designated hospital car?
10. Get the communications between Director Cheatle’s office and Mayorkas’s office. Director Cheatle — incredibly — was apparently in Aspen, in order to give a presentation at the Aspen Security Conference on Wednesday, July 17th. Did Mayorkas’s office approve the Director of the USSS to go to a conference in Aspen — on our time and our dime — during a designated national security event like the RNC? This was likely one of the top two major USSS security events of the year. How could Cheatle be in Aspen this week?

(Why is the Director of USSS delivering briefs to Turkish Intel during the RNC? And would she ever do that during the DNC?)

11. Conduct interviews and get testimony under oath. Donald Trump’s USSS team has reportedly been requesting more resources since at least his rally in the Bronx in May. Have these requests been ignored? If so, why?
12. Do all this fast — and issue a report. Yeah, it’s a lot. But this is the U.S. Congress. Hire some people if need be, or use a law or consulting firm. With competent management, answers could be achieved far quicker than something like the Warren Commission, which only led to rampant conspiracy theories.

At the end of the day, just like when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin went MIA and nobody knew where he was, this was a failure of leadership. Clearly, the event was completely disorganized. Cheatle should resign. Mayorkas should resign (for this, and many other reasons).

But the leadership vacuum I’m referring to is in the White House. When the top person in any organization is remote and un-engaged, lower management drifts into laziness and caprice. They do whatever they want, because they know: no one is looking for me.

Meaning: Joe Biden should also resign.

Which he won’t, of course. So Republicans should send him into retirement this November 5th, for this and many other reasons.

Unless his own party sends him packing first.

(No caption necessary)

And We’re Supposed To Trust Them?

Here’s a story that should be getting more play, courtesy of The NY Post:

The whistleblower in question here is, as per the reporting, a “registered Democrat.” The major act of insurrection here? Refusing the COVID vaccine.

Oh — and supporting Donald Trump, of course.

My sources tell me that if Trump is indeed our next president, he plans to completely reorganize our federal intel and law enforcement agencies. As I said above, I worked with smart, dedicated federal agents all the time. And full disclosure: we didn’t always get along.

But it was never personal, and we never allowed this kind of political bullshit.

As I believe the great Dennis Prager said: “The right thinks the left is wrong. The left thinks the right is evil.” And so, that justifies anything.

And finally…

For those who still insist that Joe Biden’s dementia is of recent vintage, here’s a chestnut from the past (click the image for the link):

Barack America?

That was 14 years ago.

And he wants another four years?

Right.

Thanks for reading The Ops Desk. Stay Safe!