Ryan Girdusky has worked inside JD Vance’s political orbit. Susan Crabtree has spent years reporting on the Secret Service. In Podcast 199 of Breaking Battlegrounds, Chuck Warren and Sam Stone bring both of them in during one of the most turbulent weeks of the 2024 campaign.
The episode was recorded days after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, and right after Trump chose Vance as his running mate. Girdusky offers a personal portrait of Vance at the moment most voters were meeting him for the first time. Crabtree then breaks down the security failures at the Butler rally while calls for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign kept growing.
Kiley’s Corner covers the capture of an Oregon prison escapee after nearly 30 years on the run. The show closes, as always, with the Sunshine Moment.
Quick Answer
Breaking Battlegrounds Podcast 199, released July 20, 2024, features political consultant Ryan Girdusky on JD Vance’s personal character after Trump picked him as his running mate. It also features RealClearPolitics correspondent Susan Crabtree on Secret Service failures at Trump’s July 13 Butler rally. The conversation took place as pressure mounted on Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned three days after the episode aired.
Episode Overview
This episode covers the two stories that dominated mid-July 2024: who JD Vance is, and how a gunman got close enough to shoot at a former president.
Segment 1: JD Vance, up close. Ryan James Girdusky is an author, podcast host, and political consultant known for his commentary on national populism. He talks with Chuck and Sam about Vance on a personal level, beyond the résumé and the campaign rollout.
Segment 2: The Secret Service at Butler. Susan Crabtree, political correspondent for RealClearPolitics, explains what went wrong with the Secret Service during the attempted assassination of Trump. The conversation happened as lawmakers in both parties were pressing Director Kimberly Cheatle to step down.
Kiley’s Corner. Kiley shares the story of Steven Craig Johnson, who walked away from an Oregon prison work crew in 1994 and was captured in Georgia the Tuesday before the episode aired.
Sunshine Moment. The show ends on a positive note, as every episode does.
Episode details: Podcast 199 · Released July 20, 2024 · Runtime 1:08:01 · Hosts Chuck Warren and Sam Stone
About the Guests
About Ryan Girdusky
Ryan James Girdusky is a political consultant and writer from New York City. He has worked on campaigns since 2007, including the Super PACs that backed JD Vance’s Senate run in Ohio. That background gives him an unusually direct vantage point on Vance.
Girdusky founded the 1776 Project PAC in 2021, a national Super PAC focused on electing reform-minded conservatives to school boards. In 2020 he co-authored They’re Not Listening: How the Elites Created the National Populist Revolution. He also hosts the iHeartRadio podcast “A Numbers Game with Ryan Girdusky.” His writing appears on Substack under @natpop, and he is on X as @RyanGirdusky.
About Susan Crabtree
Susan Crabtree is a political correspondent for RealClearPolitics. She was previously a senior writer at the Washington Free Beacon and spent five years as White House correspondent for the Washington Examiner. Earlier, she covered Congress for Congressional Quarterly before joining The Hill in 2004.
Her Secret Service reporting after Butler drew national recognition. The National Journalism Center awarded her the 2024 Dao Prize for her investigation of the agency following the assassination attempt on Trump.
Crabtree returned to Breaking Battlegrounds a month after this episode, in Podcast 204: Susan Crabtree Secret Service Investigation Exclusives. She is on X as @susancrabtree.
Key Topics Discussed
- JD Vance on a personal level: who Trump’s newly chosen running mate is, from someone who has worked in his political orbit.
- The attempted assassination of Donald Trump: the July 13, 2024 shooting at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally.
- Secret Service failures: what went wrong with protective operations at Butler.
- Pressure on Kimberly Cheatle: the growing calls for the Secret Service director to resign.
- A 30-year fugitive case: Kiley’s Corner on the capture of Oregon escapee Steven Craig Johnson.
Who Is JD Vance? Ryan Girdusky’s Personal Read on Trump’s Running Mate
When Trump picked Vance in July 2024, much of the country knew him mainly from his memoir and his single Senate campaign. During the Breaking Battlegrounds interview, Girdusky moved past the public biography and talked about Vance as a person: his character, his temperament, and what kind of figure he is behind the campaign messaging.
That perspective carries extra weight because of Girdusky’s history. He worked on the Super PACs supporting Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign in Ohio, so his view comes from the campaign trail rather than from secondhand profiles.
Listeners now hear this segment with hindsight. Vance went on to win the vice presidency, and the episode captures how people close to him described him before he took national office.
What Went Wrong With the Secret Service at Butler
The second half of the episode turns to the security failure that nearly cost Trump his life. The shooting happened at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and set off widespread outrage at the Secret Service.
Crabtree joined the show while she was publishing some of the most detailed reporting on the agency’s breakdowns. In her published reporting that same week, she described several allegations. One was that a Secret Service agent or officer assigned to the rooftop where the shooter fired never reported for duty that day. Another was that only two of the four snipers present at the rally came from the Secret Service’s own highly trained ranks. In the episode, she walks Chuck and Sam through what went wrong and why the pressure on agency leadership kept building.
Kimberly Cheatle Under Pressure, and What Happened Next
When the episode aired on July 20, 2024, Director Kimberly Cheatle was still in her job. The calls for her resignation intensified quickly after that. At a House Oversight hearing, Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin jointly released a letter calling on her to resign.
Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, three days after this episode was released. The timing makes the Crabtree segment a useful record of the reporting and pressure that came just before her departure.
Kiley’s Corner: An Oregon Fugitive Caught After 30 Years
Kiley’s Corner shifts to a very different story that broke the same week. According to the Oregon Department of Corrections, Steven Craig Johnson fled a work crew at the Mill Creek Correctional Facility in Salem on November 29, 1994. He was arrested in Macon, Georgia, by a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force on July 16, 2024. He had been living there under the alias William Cox since 2011. Johnson had been convicted on sexual abuse charges and was one of Oregon’s most wanted fugitives.
Key Takeaways From the Conversation
- Girdusky gives a personal portrait of JD Vance at the exact moment Vance became Trump’s running mate. That portrait is informed by Girdusky’s past work on pro-Vance Super PACs.
- Crabtree explains the Secret Service’s protective failures at Butler while her investigative reporting on the agency was still unfolding.
- The episode was recorded while Kimberly Cheatle was still director, three days before her July 23, 2024 resignation.
- The Crabtree segment began a two-part Breaking Battlegrounds arc on the Secret Service, which continued in Podcast 204.
Listen to the Episode
- Substack: Episode on Breaking Battlegrounds Substack
- YouTube: Breaking Battlegrounds YouTube channel
Related Breaking Battlegrounds Episodes
The Secret Service story continued on the show for weeks. A month after this episode, Crabtree came back with new findings in Podcast 204. The week after this one, Congresswoman Nancy Mace discussed Cheatle’s resignation in Podcast 200. Arizona Congressman Juan Ciscomani then gave an update on the congressional investigation in Podcast 201: Juan Ciscomani on the Trump Assassination Task Force.
Vance came up again that fall, when David Catanese discussed his future in Podcast 212. You can find more about the hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren or browse the full guest directory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Breaking Battlegrounds Podcast 199 about?
Podcast 199, released July 20, 2024, covers two major stories from mid-July 2024. Ryan Girdusky talks about JD Vance on a personal level after Trump picked him as his running mate. Susan Crabtree of RealClearPolitics explains what went wrong with the Secret Service during the July 13 attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Hosts Chuck Warren and Sam Stone lead both conversations.
Did JD Vance appear on this episode?
No. Vance was not a guest. The episode discusses Vance through political consultant Ryan Girdusky, who worked on Super PACs that supported Vance’s 2022 Ohio Senate campaign. Girdusky offers a personal perspective on Vance at the moment he became Trump’s 2024 running mate.
Who is Susan Crabtree?
Susan Crabtree is a political correspondent for RealClearPolitics. She previously reported for the Washington Free Beacon and the Washington Examiner, where she was White House correspondent for five years. She received the 2024 Dao Prize from the National Journalism Center for her investigation of the Secret Service after the Butler assassination attempt. She has appeared on Breaking Battlegrounds in Podcasts 199 and 204.
Did Kimberly Cheatle resign after the Trump assassination attempt?
Yes. Kimberly Cheatle resigned as Secret Service director on July 23, 2024, ten days after the Butler shooting. She stepped down after a House Oversight Committee hearing where leaders of both parties called for her resignation. This episode aired three days earlier, while the pressure on her was building.
Where can I listen to the Girdusky and Crabtree interviews?
The full episode runs one hour, eight minutes. It is available on the Breaking Battlegrounds website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack, and YouTube. Search “Breaking Battlegrounds Podcast 199” or “What Went Wrong with Trump’s Secret Service” in your podcast app.
Conclusion
Podcast 199 captured a single week when two stories collided: the introduction of JD Vance to a national audience, and the reckoning over how the Secret Service failed at Butler. Girdusky’s segment shows how someone who worked near Vance saw him before the vice presidency. Crabtree’s segment documents the reporting and pressure that came just before Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation. Taken together, the episode is a record of the summer of 2024 as it was happening, before anyone knew how either story would end.
Related Reads
- Podcast 204: Susan Crabtree Secret Service Investigation Exclusives
- Podcast 200: Congresswoman Nancy Mace on Women’s Rights and Elizabeth Nolan Brown on Kamala Harris’s Troubling Record
- Podcast 201: Congressman Juan Ciscomani on the Trump Assassination Task Force
- Podcast 212: Budget Battles and Social Security with Jason Smith (includes discussion of JD Vance’s future)
Sources
- Oregon Department of Corrections news release on Steven Craig Johnson’s arrest (July 17, 2024)
- States Newsroom / Florida Phoenix: Secret Service director resigns (July 23, 2024)
- Security Magazine: US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns
- Susan Crabtree, “More Revelations, Allegations Pile Up Against Secret Service” (July 18, 2024)
- National Conservatism Conference speaker bio: Ryan Girdusky
- Susan Crabtree, Wikipedia (Dao Prize and career history)
- CNN via ABC17: Man who escaped Oregon prison 30 years ago found in Georgia
Editorial Note: This article is intended for informational and analytical purposes. Political developments, policies, polling, and public statements can change over time. Readers should consult primary sources and official government information for the latest details.
