That, even if your policies wont help lift people up, you dont try and denigrate them and look down on them. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts right now. Trouble at the white house. Lets play hardball. Good evening, im Chris Matthews in philadelphia. Home of the 30 eagles. Anyway, lots of news tonight. All pretty startling. Start with the guy jumping the fence in front of the white house, right there on pennsylvania avenue. Then sprinting right into the president s house itself through the formal entrance known as the north port co. What if someone from isis decided to try that route . Speaking of which, we have a top u. S. Official now saying that some americans who joined isis in iraq and syria have come home
to the states. Add to this the latest audio tape from the terrorist group saying, we americans will not feel safe even in our bedrooms. We have a look at this Incredible Opportunity for the democrats in kansas to win this november. Its in kansas of all places, i said. And speaking of wind, what do you make of the fact that 3 300,000 people showed up in new york to demand action to Climate Change. Right now to the threat of the white house, all of which was caught on camera. A man carrying a knife, and it was a switch blade, jumped the white house fence and ran across the white house lawn and through the front door on the north portico. As the Washington Post writes, its a frequently used door, one flight away from the obamas living quarters. Until now, the secret service doesnt imagine an intruder could reach it. Prosecutors say they found more
than 800 rounds of ammunition in his car, two hatchets and a machete. He was stopped by state troopers in july and found be carrying Assault Rifles and a sawedoff shotgun and a map with the white house on it. In august, he was stopped walking along the back fence of the white house itself with a hatchet tucked in his rear waist band. The secret Service Launched an investigation, but an earlier assessment points to multiple failures and some alarming questions. For example, why didnt officers deploy attack dogs specifically trained to stop intruders like this . And why didnt guards lock the front door, setting the alarm, telling them someone had jumped the fence and was headed toward the building . The incident happened just ten minutes after president obama and his daughters lifted off from the south lawn for camp david. I must say, clint hill, probably the most famous secret service
agent of all time, guarding Jacqueline Kennedy the day her husband was assassinated. Arthur of a great book, five days. Carolyn, is this as bad as it looks . Its actually a little bit worse. Several agents who used to work at the secret service have told me they are flabbergasted this has happened. They described it as a worst nightmare. Because while the president wasnt in danger, he was heading north. This signifies that the secret service isnt able to sort of keep the fortress invulnerable, or impenetrable. That somebody actually got to the front door and got inside. Heres peter king. There can be a lot of conspiracies against a president , a lot of complex assassination plots, this is the most basic, the most simple type of procedure and how anyone, especially in the days of isis, and were concerned about
terrorist attacks, how someone could get into the white house without being stopped is inexcusable. Mr. Hill, thank you for coming on. Let me ask you about the way they put information together. Three incidents. Stopped by troopers with assault weapons, and a circling of the white house on his map, which would seem to put him on a watch list of asome kind. Then hes picked up at the white house and now again today. Was there a way of seeing that coming, this guy was coming at home slowly, but he was surely leaving a trail of evidence that he was coming after the president. Well, it appears that way. And certainly when he was detained by the Virginia State police, and had that map with the white house circled, and had all the weapons involved, i would think they would have passed that information along. Whether or not they did, i dont know. If they had, he would have been
a matter of record. And when he appeared, if it was the secret service who detained him for having a hatchet in his belt, walking near the white house, if the previous record would have been available, then it would have been added to that dossier. He would have probably been detained in some manner. The fact that he jumped that fence and ran, that happens quite often. The difference being that this particular individual made it all the way to and in the front door. Thats not acceptable under any circumstances. A lot of people would think if they were that guy running, that theyd probably, if they were lucky, get a warning shot, stop or ill shoot, really a warning theyre about to get killed. Does it surprise you he was able to get all the way too the white house without anybody drawing or releasing the dogs on him, they could have done that. It surprised me that he got as far as he did. Doesnt surprise me nobody fired a shot, because thats a matter of last resort. Whether or not you release the dogs, i would have hoped they would have done so. I have a sneaking suspicion that because of the Helicopter Movement just prior to that incident, and that took place on the south grounds, which is separated from the north grounds by the house and the east and west wings, dog handlers may have been on the other side of the house at the time that this individual came over the fence. I dont know that for a fact, but that is i think probably what happened. Anyway, the secret service seemed to praise how their officers handled part of this situation. Although the officers showed tremendous restraint and discipline in dealing with the subject, the location of gonzalezs arrest is not acceptability. And the Washington Post writes
this, the secret service trains its personal not to shoot intruders on the grounds unless they pearp armed or are wearing bulky clothes or backpacks that could flabeth they are carrying a bomb. Officers at the scene considered gonzalez to be unarmed and likely mentally disturbed and thus a lowrisk. Is that the sense that they saw a guy running like a mad man if you will, to use common terms, and they didnt think he looked like he was a premeditated killer . Well, since i wrote those sentences, i am familiar with the concept and im also familiar with the fact that a series of agents have said to me, how do we know in 20 seconds whether the guy is wearing an underwear bomb . How do we know hes not a suicide bomber . How do we assess in that time period that his Mental Illness makes him more dangerous or less dangerous . Several people have said they would be fine with firing a lethal shot if hes going to
literally cross the threshold of the portico and get into the building, if hes on his way. They know one thing, hes not replying to orders to stop. Now, of course, this raises this big issue thats so fundamental to the white house. Its supposed to be the peoples house. Its supposed to be a place you can look into and enjoy as a tourist. Its supposed to be the home of a president , not the fortress of a king. And its a misdemeanor to jump the fence. And so do you shoot someone whos about to enter the president s home and the president s center of sort of his offices over a misdemeanor . Thats a serious question. Again, in this case, they decided he was not a risk. But Omar Gonzalez had a blade in his pants. So whether he was mentally ill or appeared to be armed wasnt really the final story. Was that a switch blade . Actually its a two and a half inch serrated knife. Thats all i know. Its interesting. Back in the 70s, everybody got a kick, on the left at least, driving around the white house, they would blow their horn if you wanted nixon to resign. But this isnt the first big security scare at the white house in recent memory. In 1994, a man flew a stolen cessna airplane through secure airspace and crashed it right outside president clintons window. The president wasnt in residence at the time. Also, a special report about this man, unloading 29 rounds from an Assault Rifle aimed at the white house. Watch this. We have some amateur videotape obtained by wcr tv, you will see it in the corner of your screen, a man in a rain coat who fired the shots, the sound you heard just then was the shots being fired. He was subdued and arrested by the secret service. Anyway, november of 2009, the Washington Post reported a couple of aspiring reality tv stars frnorthern virginia appea to have crashed the white houses state dinner tuesday night, with no invitation, to mingle with the likes of Vice President biden and white house chief of staff. You could take the 33 bus right past the white house. But theres a bus stop in front of the white house. It was part of the city. Now you can walk through it, but you got all the tiger teeth there. The bus goes around, traffic goes around. These decisions are tough ones because they hurt our democracy every time we, as cal says, cordon off the president. Well, thats exactly what happens every time an incident like this happens. The rights of the rest of the population get diminished and thats unfortunate. But theres incidents all the way back. In 74, we had a helicopter on the south grounds, which had been stolen. In 72, we had a guy crash through the Northwest Gate in a vehicle. He got all the way to the north portic on, jumped out, had a vest on, looked like he had explosives, we didnt shoot him. We talked to him and got him to surrend surrender. But when youre talking about shooting people, thats the last resort. When you make that decision, you shoot to kill, you dont shoot to wound. Thats not the name of the game. So, when you talk about shooting peop people, you have to be very careful about what youre saying. Thanks so much for your great reporting. Thanks so much. Coming up, a chilling and disturbing audio tape from isis, the terrorist group calls president obama a mule of the
jews, whatever that means. While threatening americans. Theyre clearly trying to goad us into war. What are we doing about it . Plus, ravens owner bisciotti is faced with a report that says ravens owners knew more about that video of ray rice than they admitted. Plus, other big stories. Can democrats pull off a gamechange in kansas and flip the control of the senate . Looks like they good. And the stleets streets of new york are overrun bepeople demanding action on Climate Change. This is hardball, a place for politics. This is hardball, a place for politics. One. Whos going to take the leap . Whos going to write the code . Whos going to do it . Engineers. Thats who. Thats what i want to do. Be an engineer. Join the scientists and engineers of exxonmobil in inspiring americas future engineers. Energy lives here. Whenwork with equity experts who work with regional experts who work with Portfolio Management experts thats when expertise happens. Mfs. Because there is no expertise without collaboration. The New York Times revealed which lawmaker called gillibrand chubby. Its daniel ino way from hawaii. He said dont lose too much weight. Because i like my girls chubby. Gillibrand talked about this remark in her new book. Her office did not confirm or deny that senator ino way was the one she was referring to. Well be right back. Until your Insurance Company jacks up your rates. You freak out. What good is having insurance if you get punished for using it . Hey insurance companies, news flash. Nobodys perfect. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. See Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. Live in the same communities that we serve. People here know that our operations have an impact locally. Were using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. The trucks are reliable, thats good for business. But they also reduce emissions, and thats good for everyone. It makes me feel very good about the future of our company. Welcome back to hardball. Isis militants reportedly released a chilling new audio recording that seems to be goading america and European Countries into fighting them, while at the same time threatening americans here at home. The audio mocks the decision not to send ground troops. Quote, are america and all its allies from amongst the crusaders and atheists unable to come down to the ground . They say you will pay the price as you walk on your streets, turning right and left, you will not feel secure even in your bedrooms. The tape hasnt been verified, but meanwhile today, according to Time Magazine, some
americans fighting alongside isis and other groups in syria and iraq, have returned to the u. S. The officials said the fbi is keeping a wash on them. Gentlemen, starting with you, bobby, put it all together. The audio tape threatening to get us in our beds, the fact that we find out some of these guys are coming back from working with isis, fighting alongside them and back to the states. And the fact that the white house seems penetratable. The person watching this show says, you know what, i can see a chain of events here that i dont like. Your thoughts . Well, take them one by one. That audio tape is classic, street thug language, and this is what you expect from a group like this. This is not a conventional military, although they do have some aspects of military. They like baga doch yay, they like to sound off on their
enemies from a comfortable distance. So expect much more of this kind of language. Those of us who have been monitoring this group for over a year now, weve seen this rhetoric in the arabic language against their local enemies. So this is not entirely surprising. On the question of how Many Americans have come back from the fight in syria, id actually like to hear more about that. Because this was just a tantalizing hint. And the first time weve heard this, i think from the white house. Id like to know some numbers and id like to know what they mean when they say they fought alongside isis. That suggests that they may not have fought with isis. We know that in the syrian fight, a lot of different groups are constantly fighting in the same space. Sometimes they have a common enemy, which is the assad regime and sometimes they fight together alongside even if they dont necessarily see eye to eye. So id like to know more about that. And as far as the white house, that is really chilling and i just hope thats a oneoff. Howard, that last one, we led with it tonight because its our white house. Weve lived in the city and known all our adult lives about the incredible security. You cant drive by on pennsylvania avenue. The old 33 bus, used to take it up to capitol hill. Now theres tiger teeth there, youre allowed to walk in front of the fence, but the president is basically a captive inside the white house now, its very secure. Thought it was. Well, chris, youre right to mention that as part of the atmosphere that is building in some quarters and really in a lot of the american public. What interests me about that story today about people who fought alongside isis coming back to the United States is, that that was in a briefing. That was a briefing from a briefing that a Senior Administration official held today ironically in the Old Executive Office building right next door to the white house behind those fences. And my question is, why is the white house saying that now . Why are they putting that out now . And my interpretation of it, thats a piece of connective tissue between the politics in the middle east and the politics in the United States. And it looks to me like the white house is beginning more of an effort to build support in the country for what clearly will be a more openended and involved mission in that part of the world than the president has yet stated. So theyre building a case for war . I dont think so. I dont know how else to interpret the fact that they held this briefing and said, youre right, there are people coming back. And youre right, the language is carefully crafted. Fought alongside isis. I think they put it out because of the ongoing dispute within the administration not only about what language to use but how far to go. I think this shows that the people who say weve got to go
further have the upper hand. And a lot of the language that isis is using is thug, street language, designed to taunt, its having an effect politically. I want to stay with you, this is interesting. It seems to me when you say Administration Official youre disguising the fact that its a white house person, its somebody who works in the white house doing this. Why else would they be briefing next door . Exactly. They cover themselves by saying, the background on this, its an administration source, as if it came from the pentagon or state. So clearly this has a grand policy purpose, is what youre saying. It has a policy and political purpose. I think even though the president made this categorical statement and sometimes president obama makes categorical statements for political reasons and to reassure the public that he then has to work around later, i think the sort of
nocombattroops phraseology that he used is one that could come back to haunt him and one that clearly pentagon planners and others who say, you shouldnt dare draw such lines, are trying to fuzz up in and around the president s own statements. Got one more thing. Ive read somewhere years ago that the middle east have watched the whites from europe cover their retreat. You fire a few rounds and you get out of town. This charge that the americans and the europeans, its an isis charge. Its smart and deliberate. Theyre saying, youre afraid to put your feet on the ground. Youre basically covering your retreat. Youre not coming at us. Is this a goading, or what would you call it in middle east psychology terms . Are they trying to get us in or get us out . Well, i think were already in. So that ship has sailed. If they are trying to communicate in any way indire