New focus on security as protesters disrupt campaign events

Reaction from former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," August 13, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: You what I thought looking at these videos, I don't know about you, is just the security issue. They stormed Bernie Sanders' podium. Then, of course, I don't know whether Jeb Bush was able to sneak out of there, but sure, if I'm his security detail, I'm worried.

I'm thinking, what if this happened with a -- with not a presidential candidate, but the president of the United States? Gets to be a thorny issue.

Who better to talk about this than a former Secret Service agent? In fact, he was a Secret Service agent for Barack Obama, Dan Bongino.

Dan, I'm looking at that. I'm thinking, wow, I can understand why, when Ben Carson was here yesterday and I asked him what we do in an event like that, he said, I really don't know. I guess it would depend on the security there.

But it looks like the security falls apart.

DANIEL BONGINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Yes. It does, Neil.

And this creates a very dangerous situation. I would recommend to these candidates to be begging the Secret Service at this point for protection because they're used to handling this type of situation.

There are couple of things you need here, Neil. You need time and distance. So you need distance from the stage to be able to react, and keep in mind, they're allowed to protest. They can scream whatever they want, but storming the stage or threatening the protectee is a major no-no.

CAVUTO: That would be a line, but think about it. CODEPINK did something very similar almost in Henry Kissinger's face.

It got, I remember, John McCain very angry. This was a demonstration. When I was talking to Ted Cruz, in the middle of this, CODEPINK demonstrators were getting in his face. They're right next to him. They're right around him.

If I'm the security guy or responsible for security or just a policeman trying to keep an eye on this, I would get nervous, wouldn't you?

BONGINO: Well, no, absolutely. And you should be nervous.

But it's not the Secret Service's responsibility to stop legal First Amendment protesting. We don't do that. We never did that. We are not allowed by law to do that.

What they can do, however, Neil, is that distance to the protectee, getting up close and personal, even kind of yelling a little bit in their face, as long as it's not to threat -- if we can ensure that you're -- quote -- "clean," you have been run through a magnetometer, have no metal, have no weapons, outside of, say, reacting quickly if someone were to, say, grab the protectee, there's really not much the Secret Service can do.

I know that's not the answer America wants to hear that gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling, but the truth is, as long as you don't have any weapons and you don't have any history of making threats towards our protectee, there's very little we can do, other than create a bit of a buffer zone around them.

CAVUTO: But, you know, Dan, I'm thinking of just the volatile and angry nature of the electorate now, both on the left and the right, the resurgence of someone like a Bernie Sanders and then all these other outside candidates who are now polling extremely well, whether it's a Carly Fiorina.

You see what is going on with Donald Trump, the Ben Carson phenomenon. These kind of candidates who attract a great deal of controversy and invite a great deal of rage, people who support them who are angry, that seems like a powder keg.

BONGINO: Well, you would be right. The clown show in the Washington, D.C., cesspool has really engendered an anger amongst the American electorate that is really bipartisan.

I have a relative who is a union member who has never voted Republican in his life who happens to be -- texted me the other day, was supporting Trump, which really kind of surprised me. I have never seen that coming before.

CAVUTO: Wow.

BONGINO: That does create a powder keg. There's no doubt about it.

And the Secret Service's goal is to manage those expectations, but it's also on the host committee, too, Neil.

CAVUTO: Yes.

BONGINO: I don't know if those host committees are aware that once they rent out the hall for the event, they own it. They can have these people taken off the stage for trespassing. But I don't know if they have the experience to do that.

CAVUTO: Well, then they should do that. They should do that.

Dan, thank you very, very much. I appreciate that.

BONGINO: Very welcome.

CAVUTO: Scary stuff.

BONGINO: You got it.

Content and Programming Copyright 2015 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2015 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.