CHRIS HAYES (HOST): What's your read on this as someone who worked in the Secret Service?
EVY POUMPOURAS: I think the biggest issue here is whether he meant it or not meant it, words do matter. And so when you have that platform, you really have to be careful what you say to people. And it's also how are other people going to interpret it? That’s the issue. So he may say, I didn't mean that and that may be true, but the person listening to you, that audience, what are they interpreting. Everyone's split, everyone is debating this, did he mean one thing, right. Yes, no, he meant go ahead and do harm to Hillary. And other people are saying, no, no, he didn’t mean that. So what would a person believe it to be. And then the other thing we have to look at is, we're thinking about people who think logically, who don't have mental health issues. A lot of the threats that we would get against VIPS, they would come in from people who had serious mental issues or an emotionally disturbed person. So how is that person going to interpret that?
[…]
POUMPOURAS: It absolutely does matter because you’re -- look at all these gatherings we're having and all the violence that's breaking out. This is one of the most violent presidential candidacies we’ve ever seen. So now we're worried about her safety. I can almost guarantee that we're going to see a spike somewhat, I don't know how big, but you will see some type of shift in threats that are probably going to go towards Hillary at this point.
HAYES: You think so?
EVY POUMPOURAS: I would think so. Because when you say that to people, and you’re on that level, and I'm not picking political sides, I’m speaking from strategically a security objective standpoint. When you make these comments, people are going to hear them and it's as if you’re giving them permission to go do something like that. You don't know how people are going to interpret this. This is somewhat dangerous. Its not a good thing to hear, it creates more volatility, it creates concern, you're going to have some people coming out, and you’re not really going to have the legit numbers, but the Secret Service is probably going to be dealing with a lot more threats or people of special interest, as they would call them, towards Hillary.
