Dallas Alexander was part of the special operations unit that broke the world record for the longest confirmed sniper kill. He has also worked VIP protection at the highest levels. Now, he tells Glenn why he believes Trump's failed assassin didn't act alone: "someone on the 'inside' had to have helped with this." Dallas also explains how difficult this shot would be to make and why he has a hard time believing the rooftop used by the killer wasn’t marked by the Secret Service: “[Even] children who play Call of Duty or go to paintball would know that that roof is the most important position to secure, period.”
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Welcome to the Glenn Beck Program.
As we say, hello, now to Dallas Alexander. He is a retired Canadian Special Forces sniper. He actually holds the record for the longest kill, and that is at 2.1 miles, which is remarkable. Just the amount of math involved in that, just hurts my head.
Dallas, welcome to the program.
DALLAS: Hey, thanks for having me.
GLENN: You bet. So you have said some pretty controversial things, and I -- I wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth. Because you do have experience in this.
You don't believe that this was just incompetence, on the Secret Service's side?
DALLAS: Yeah. That's right.
GLENN: Can you make the case?
DALLAS: Yeah. I think -- like you said, I have some experience. I -- I did that job for a long time. Close protection, and -- and protecting VIPs and stuff. Up to -- up to and including our Prime Minister in Canada, who is part of our job.
And I think at looking at the situation yesterday or the day before, rather, that the -- any -- any amount of tactical professional. I mean, I've seen videos. And there was I don't know how many on the ground, from police and Secret Service. And there was just -- there were too many people there, to not have the most obvious position covered. Like, I said this before, children who play Call of Duty or go to paintball, would know that that roof is the most important position. And that building is one of the most important buildings to secure, period.
Like, just not picking that up, is impossible.
GLENN: It seems impossible to me. But, you know, sometimes the impossible happens just through sheer incompetence.
So what are you -- in your world where you are -- you're just war gaming this, I think it's important for people to know, there's no evidence of anything yet, except questions and what the question Dallas just brought up, is 100 percent valid and needs to be answered to satisfactory. We have to know why they weren't watching that, if they weren't.
So what do you think would have happened?
DALLAS: Well, I think that -- and this is what I said on a video yesterday.
Is that -- and this isn't me pointing a finger at anyone in particular, or a party or an agency. But someone within like the inside, quote, unquote, had to have helped with this.
Like, you can't walk through layers of security like that, and then climb up a ladder, to the most obvious shooting position, and take a shot at, you know, the former president.
And maybe shoot your president. Like somewhere along that chain. You know, I think there's talk coming up, that he had a van. And there were explosives. Like, details are going to be crazy for a little while.
GLENN: Right.
DALLAS: But just from that, to having the shots happen, there had to have been someone who helped with that.
GLENN: Well, Dallas, they did say that this was not part of the -- not part of the secure location. This was an adjacent property.
So he didn't have to go through security to get the rifle there. But, again, you would have been -- if you're a Secret Service, you would have been at least -- if you're not covering that building, with bodies, and somebody up on there, you would at least be covering it with eyesight, would you not?
DALLAS: Yeah. Absolutely. And especially with a covered approach like that, being the building sloping away from the other sniper team or whatever, that could see it. It would be covered.
I saw that. Just it flashed on the screen. At a restaurant, I was in. And immediately, I'm like, the two most obvious things. That building and then the water tower in the background. And you don't need any special training for that.
And yet there were a bunch of people there with special training, and presumably leading up to days before.
JASON: Hey, Dallas, I'm Jason Buttrill, I'm Glenn's head writer and chief researcher. Can you explain from the sniper's perspective, especially in a situation like this, in close protection details, upon visual acquisition of an enemy sniper, does the countersniper have permission to immediately take action and fire, or do they have to go through like a long process of verifying and then getting permission and all of that?
DALLAS: Yes. So that very much depends on the department, what the ROEs are.
And I can't speak to the Secret Service when they're working with the police force. I have no idea. I know, in the jobs that I have done, if there's a sniper position, and I'm a countersniper. Sniper overwatch. Yeah. You're shooting. You're not waiting for someone to give you permission to shoot.
JASON: Can I ask, as a sniper overwatch, do you also -- are you focused on a specific pause, or are you kind of scanning the entire horizon?
DALLAS: Yeah. It sort of depends on the mission and how many other sniper teams there are.
So if you have a bunch of teams, you'll have areas of responsibility. If you are, you know, tasked with watching one specific doorway or something, then that's where you stay. It's mission dependent.
GLENN: Right. So, Dallas, let me ask you. There was a five-mile-an-hour wind.
This is, you know -- it looks like, by the grace of God, Donald Trump turned his head. A, how easy of a shot was this, for a 20-something. And how close did we come to losing a president?
DALLAS: Yeah. That's something, I've been thinking about for the last couple of days. It's crazy.
Because if it would have been just an inch or two the other way, I would -- I just would hate to think about what would happen. You know, in this country and the whole world. It would have been very crazy. But the shot, you know -- I was asking somebody about this yesterday. I haven't gotten confirmation on what the optics on the rifle are, which makes a big difference.
It's not generally a very hard shot. I mean, it's 150 yards roughly. It doesn't take much in training whatsoever, to be able to hit a head-sized target at 150 yards.
Wind definitely would play a factor. I think the caliber is .556. Even that, I'm not 100 percent sure.
It's not a -- it's not a difficult shot. But it's also not unmissable, you know. If he only has an EOTECH sight or something like that. You don't have a lot of gun training. It's not something that you will for sure hit.
Which is why maybe he said, I think it was five or eight rounds.
GLENN: Have you ever -- have you ever shot and had them dead in your sights, and they moved at the very last minute like this? How often does that happen?
DALLAS: Oh, from that range, that's pretty wild, I think. I was very surprised.
I think someone telling me yesterday, that they heard it was an EOTECH sight made a little more sense to me. Because if they had a scoped rifle, you know, with a magnification ten power or whatever, it would have been very -- a different shot. A lot easier to make. So...
GLENN: Dallas, thanks for your -- your weighing in on this.
I really hope that you're wrong. What are the questions that we should be demanding from our Secret Service?
DALLAS: Oh. Jeez. The breakdown, is crazy.
Like, there's so many layers to this. And it would be -- I don't even know who -- who started the planning. How long ago it was. But to miss something that obvious, again, there's just -- I don't think there's an explanation. I think you just need a deep dive investigation. I don't think competence -- and I worked in the government for a long time. So I know incompetence, and there's a ton of it.
I just don't think that -- that is what explains this problem away. I think something happened, and I think there needs to be, you know, a gigantic deep dive investigation. Because it's very, very shady.
GLENN: So you don't think that even incompetence would cover this? Because it's so obvious.
DALLAS: Yeah. I think -- you could take a 10-year-old out there and say, okay. Where do you want to plan security? What should we look at? And it will be a kid who played Call of Duty and tell you, this rooftop, right here is the most dangerous point. It's overlooking where the president is going to be speaking. Where the former president is going to be speaking. It's just it's cliché. It's so obvious.
That and the water tower.
GLENN: But it couldn't just be one person. If that was happening, it would have -- it would have to involve a team, wouldn't it?
Because you -- somebody else on the team would go, Bill, what the hell are you talking about? We've got to cover the roof.
DALLAS: That's what I mean. I'm saying, in all these videos, whether it's Secret Service agents or local police or whatever, is these are all tactical professionals. And even if their level of competence is low, it still doesn't matter.
That's such an obvious, basic thing. You could take a Navy cook or whatever, and he's going to go, oh, yeah, tactically speaking, we have to look at that thing.
So out of all the people on the ground. Out of all the people involved. It doesn't make any sense. That that one position. And the most important position arguably was not being watched.
And like a ladder. Somebody putting a ladder and climbing up. It doesn't make any sense.
GLENN: Well, apparently the ladder was attached to the building. So nobody had to bring a ladder.
Let me -- let me ask you.
The thing that bothers me is that all of the people on the ground were pointing and shouting shooter, shooter, shooter.
Is it possible that nobody heard that? That it didn't get up, to, you know -- to the guys. If you're a police officer or you're in Secret Service, wouldn't you radio that in, immediately?
DALLAS: Yeah. You would hope. This is the part of it, that I think could be -- you could point to incompetence.
I have seen communication breakdown when things get crazy. Radios not work.
Like I'm guessing all the agencies there. Whoever local police. And Secret Service.
They're probably not using the same radio and gear.
Probably someone passing down the message. In chaotic times, I've seen communication be poorly executed, to like a surprising level.
So that -- that part I could almost -- I could almost wrap my head around it being blamed on incompetence.
But I just think everything leading up to there being a guy with a gun on a roof, within essentially zeroing range of a rifle, to the president.
To me, that doesn't add up whatsoever.
GLENN: And they would have reported everything that was said, would they not?
DALLAS: I don't know what the SOPs (phonetic) are, actually, for Secret Service, and police.
The missions I've gone on, unless it's going to like a tactical center or something. Like on the ground, we were not recording our radio conversations.
GLENN: Hmm. Okay. Thank you so much, I appreciate it. No. I know. I know. I know. I know.
Thank you for pointing this out, and having us questions that really need to be answered. Dallas Alexander. Appreciate it. God bless. Stay safe.
DALLAS: Thanks for having me.