There are still way too many unanswered questions about the Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt against Trump. But now, more information is coming out about a second would-be assassin. This time, it was a Pakistani man who was arrested after allegedly plotting with Iran. But FBI whistleblower and former agent Steve Friend tells Glenn that everything about this story – and the Pennsylvania attempt – points to FBI grooming. Is the FBI influencing potential assassins just to arrest them and ask Congress for more money? Steve Friend also weighs in on the story of Secret Service agents who broke into a salon during a Kamala Harris event.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: A -- a very brave man, and a good friend of the program, Steve friend is joining us.
He is from the center of renewing America fellow -- he's a fellow, sorry, at the center for renewing America.
He is also the FBI whistle-blower.
That objected to being put on to duty, to investigate grandmothers, as domestic terrorists.
He blew the whistle. And the rest of it is history. Welcome to the program, Steve, how are you?
STEVE: I'm doing well. Thanks for having me on today.
GLENN: You bet. So you were with the FBI. And I know it's not the same. But I think you probably could comment on this. I'm not hearing anything satisfying coming from the FBI, or the Secret Service.
On the assassination attempt. There's three things.
Assassination attempt of Donald Trump.
The guy that they just let in.
They knew he was on the terror list. And they just let him in, anyway.
Who was coordinating an assassination on Donald Trump.
And then the third comes out of Massachusetts, this weekend. Where Kamala Harris was on stage someplace, at an event. And the Secret Service. And local police needed a bathroom. So they covered up somebody's private security, on their business.
And then picked the lock, went in, used their bathrooms. Occupied the space for hours.
And then closed back the shop. Didn't lock it back up. But closed it.
The lady came on Monday. And she's like, what the hell happened here?
That's against the law, isn't it?
STEVE: Oh, absolutely it is. And I think if you or I were to do any sort of activity, that there would be criminal charges against us, at the very least for some sort of trespass.
But I think what these three elements that you are talking about expose more than anything else, is what I would like to dub the myth of competence, that we all sort of have in our federal law enforcement agencies. Because in pop culture, TVs, movies shows that you consume, the -- the characters in those shows and those movies, they're really sophisticated and really great at their job. And they're hunting down the criminal, and they're chasing down the back alleys, slapping the handcuffs on, and then they just fade to black.
But in reality, these agencies have now devolved into essentially DMVs with guns and badges.
And that's why, the Trump assassination attempt. You know, there are all these theories that are out there.
And you can count me in sort of the Klan that believe that incompetence was sort of heavily involved in it. And I think there's one sort of presupposition that has gone into that, that so many people have their questions about it, and rightfully so.
But we are presupposing that the Secret Service is always great, at its job.
GLENN: Oh, I think they're terrible.
STEVE: Yeah, I think that these failures are happening at every single event.
And it's just because of the providential nature of the country, and then also because of the myth of competence, that nobody has really tried and tested them. Which is why going forward, I think there's probably a heightened risk for any of these events that he will hold. But to pivot to this, the second issue with the FBI and investigating this -- this assassination attempt. I think one of the most disturbing elements, that hasn't been picked up on, was when the deputy director of the FBI, Paula Bates, said that they were going to investigate him as domestic terrorism. And that to me, to the layperson seems reasonable. You don't want to have blinders on. But being a subject mater expert here, the FBI is now going to slap a classified label on this investigation. And they're not going to be able to be transparent because you don't have a need to know.
GLENN: Jeez.
STEVE: You don't have the security clearance. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Congressman. That's an ongoing investigation. So that's detrimentally disturbing. And the last thing, I definitely want to get to is this Pakistani National.
Now, this is what I like to call the playbook that the FBI has been running the last two and a half decades since 9/11, where essentially what they do to justify their existence as a bureaucracy, as a self-licking ice cream cone, they will identify a vulnerable person in a motion to serve maybe someone with radical intentions. But not capable of carrying forward an actual attack without the involvement of the FBI. They'll identify them. Use confidential human sources. Use undercovers. And then groom them for as long as it takes to engage. Or at least agree to engage in an activity, that can be labeled as terrorism, and then they will arrest them.
In the end, what was here, was that they imported this Pakistani through the border.
They sponsored him arriving. The FBI/Dallas office was actually assigned on him arriving, and it wasn't just to slap the cuffs on him. They followed him. And orchestrated this, that could never have happened without the involvement of government, for three months. And then justify their existence with this big dismantlement stack, which is also tied to their quotas.
This is just the FBI version of Fast & Furious, but except -- with the exception of him being with the ATF, who are now running terrorists so that we can justify our resistance as an agency.
GLENN: So he was supposed to leave right after he had set something up before the assassination.
So did they -- because I don't even know if I read what they had busted, other than him. Did they actually bust something up?
STEVE: The plot is completely absurd, Glenn. I've read through the affidavit.
This is an individual, who was essentially indigent. Didn't have the finances. And we're led to believe from the FBI, that he arrived here. And then just happened the first person, that he had a conversation with, was an informant for the government.
About soliciting hitmen for carrying forward not only assassinations, but he wanted dozens of people to have protests, that would have cover while they did reconnaissance. He wanted to get people that were going to steal documents and thumb drives from government figures. And all for the low, low price of $5,000, which he didn't actually have.
And he was doing things like asking the -- the informant to put his phone in a drawer, while they had conversations. I mean, that's not a Faraday bag. Not really operational security. These illusions of grandeur that he had, to me, indicate that he was a prime person that the FBI likes to target. The people who are vulnerable. And not for nothing. You know, let's just say, he's a bad guy. What's to say, they don't import him here.
And he just says, you know, this plot that I have. Doesn't sound like it is going to be achievable. I'll just grab a butcher knife and stab the next infidel that I see. And then the FBI should be up for that.
So this is them believing in their own competence, that certainly nothing bad will happen while we have him on the hook for three months.
And they have been lucky. We have been lucky, that nothing worse has happened. I think the bottom line, is that the FBI is inventing these cases, so that they can go to Congress, and say, look, all the good work we've done here.
Why don't you give us enhanced funding. Why don't you give us enhanced tools?
Think of all the good work that we could do, that Lindsey Graham wants to do now, and that is giving the FBI, back door access, to encrypted communications. That way, the FBI can circumvent the Fourth Amendment.
GLENN: Jeez. Oh, my gosh.
Lindsey Graham. Lindsey Graham. Lindsey Graham.
So let me see if I have this right. Was this guy that they picked up, or, you know, finally arrested.
And told us all about it. Was this just a distraction from the assassination?
BLAIR: I think the timetable works out to be, that he was arrested on July 12th. The assassination attempt happened on the 13th. Which to me, certainly explains the -- the messaging that we got about this Iranian threat. Because the FBI was really super concerned about who they groomed, to engage in our terrorism, which never was going to happen.
And really did have their eye on the ball. And then at least get to the speculation about a character like Crooks, who not for nothing, kind of strikes me as fitting squarely into the profile of somebody who would be recruited and targeted for grooming to engage in something that he was not predisposed to do.
And then maybe did the thing that I just talked about. When instead of grabbing the butcher knife and stabbing an infidel, grabbed his dad, and said, I will take a shot at a candidate for office.
GLENN: So who is -- who should pay for -- for this? I saw that the -- I think it was the fire chief of Butler County just resigned over this. Because of staging and everything else. I don't -- I could be wrong. I don't think it's the local laughter's place.
I mean, you know, when the Secret Service come in. They usually come in and say, here's what you're doing. And you do that. And you don't ask any questions.
You know, who -- whose fault really was this?
Who should pay for this?
STEVE: There's going to be a lot of accountability, hot potato as it comes to the assassination attempt. Because you can see Kim Cheatle go up there and says, the buck stops at me.
But it was really local law enforcement's job. And just having been at both levels, you can easily see that route being something where the locals say, hey, that should be covered. And the Secret Service said, okay. We'll cover it. And then it didn't get covered. And then they're looking back and forth at each other, saying, hey, that's your job. No, that's your job.
And then meanwhile, that didn't get covered at all. But I think ultimately, because the Secret Service is supposed to be the chief agency there who is calling the shots, it needs to be them, who falls on this.
And it needs to be an independent investigation. Because I don't trust the FBI. And it's not just a personal amendment. The FBI has a track record for investigating assassination attempts like a 2017 congressional baseball shooting, where the shooter with the Bernie Sanders supporter showed up at the ball field. And asked where the Republicans were, and then proceeded to shoot Steve Scalise. And the FBI said, that's not an assassination attempt. That's suicide by cop.
So there needs to be an independent investigation maybe funded here, can be used in the Congressional leverage here for the upcoming budget.
It can also be a request from the Pennsylvania State Police. Because I know there's a federal nexus here. But it was in their backyard. And I just don't see any reason why they couldn't conduct a thorough investigation. I would trust them far more than the FBI, which is to say, this was domestic terrorism, perhaps. Or perhaps we already have a domestic terrorism case opened on Crooks. Either way, we can't talk about sources and methods. This is an ongoing investigation.
Maybe we'll give you something here in a decade, when nobody is really paying attention.
GLENN: So one last thought, the woman in Massachusetts, that had her business just taken over. Without her permission. Without her even being there or knowing it.
They covered the camera.
They broke in. Picked the lock. And went in and spent hours in there. Just because, I guess they could.
She's not pressing charges.
She says, you know, I'm really angry. I am feeling violated.
You know, they have a job to do.
No. If people don't stand up, I think that's a violation of the -- of the Third Amendment.
I mean that never gets any attention.
I think that's a violation of the Third Amendment. But it's certainly breaking and entering. And if people don't push back, and say, no. I'm sorry.
If that were anyone else, you would be in jail today.
So I -- I am sorry, I might like you guys, I understand your situation. But you cannot do that. Because it will never stop.
STEVE: This is the national consequences of what we experience in 2020, when they said, you have to stay home and stay safe, and shut down your nonessential businesses that you use to feed your family and pay your mortgage.
And this is the chilling effect that it has. And I share your sentiment about the Third Amendment. It would be interesting to see an energetic attorney take that up.
But the government does not respect your civil liberties. They do not respect the Bill of Rights. And this is just another example of a fact that they are willing to impede on those. Just for their own convenience. I mean, how hard is it to find a bathroom?
GLENN: Yeah.
Steve, thank you so much. Thanks for everything that you do. Stay safe. Steve Friend. Former and current whistle-blower on the FBI.