[Lemon:] Here is a question: Do presidential candidates need better security? That is a question raised by this moment. It happened over the weekend when a protester rushed Sen. Kamala Harris and grabbed her microphone.
[Unidentified Female:] Hey, hey, hey Hi, hi, hi. Wait a minute, sir.
[Unidentified Male:] We were protesting just a few minutes ago asking for your attention to a much bigger idea
[Unidentified Female:] Thank you so much, sir, for your big idea.
[Lemon:] So, I want to bring in now Joan Walsh, Keith Boykin, and Tara Setmayer. Good evening. I need Karine Jean-Pierre. I'm hiring her as my security She was not having it. Good evening. So, Joan, give me your reaction to seeing a protester getting so close to a U.S. senator and a presidential candidate.
[Joan Walsh, Cnn Political Commentator:] It was terrifying. It was crazy. I mean, also, he was wearing a press badge under. He had a bunch of stuff. So, somehow he must have lied and said he was press, which is a terrible thing to see. But they obviously need better security. I mean, I do want Karine on my squad
[Walsh:] clearly, but that isn't her job.
[Lemon:] It did take a while for the security to get there.
[Walsh:] It really did. I wasn't even positive who was security, you know.
[Lemon:] Should we be, Keith, more worried about the dangers candidates potentially face while campaigning, especially candidates of color with the craziness going on and the racism?
[Unidentified Female:] Thank you so much, sir.
[Keith Boykin, Cnn Political Commentator:] Oh, yeah, absolutely. I admire Kamala Harris for her composure.
[Walsh:] Absolutely.
[Boykin:] This is a very dangerous situation for any candidate. I remember when Barack Obama was running for president in 2007. He had early secret service protection because of the possibility that something might happen to him. You go back in history. Look at what happened to Bobby Kennedy when he was still a candidate, before he actually won the nomination, and he was assassinated. I don't want that to happen to anybody in our country. I think that we need to have good security for every candidate out there, especially for people of color because there are so many threats against people of color
[Walsh:] Right.
[Boykin:] and women of color as well.
[Lemon:] I think everyone on the campaign trail, but you're right. Tara, I want to bring you in here. Let's talk a little bit more about Karine Jean-Pierre. She was the moderator there. We all know her. She has been on CNN. She was the first to put herself between the protester and the senator. This is what she said about the incident.
[Karine Jean-pierre, Nbc News And Msnbc Political Analyst:] It was a scary moment, you know. At the time, I wasn't thinking that. At the time, I was thinking, gosh, the Virginia Beach massacre just happened the day before where we lost 12 souls. I was thinking, you know, white supremacy. You know, hate crimes have increased in the last couple years.
[Lemon:] Tara, I think she really was heroic. What do you think?
[Tara Setmayer, Cnn Political Commentator:] Oh, yeah, kudos to her. I mean, that takes a lot of courage. It is interesting to see that it was three women that were
[Walsh:] Right.
[Setmayer:] that were there protecting her first before anybody else was able to get between the senator and this protester, so good for them. But the idea of having more security, I think, is something that we haven't really addressed or had to until more recently, more recent election cycles where so many candidates are involved and who qualifies and who doesn't. Keith brought up President Obama. When he declared in 2007, he received secret service protection in April of that same year because of the threat level which was the first time ever a candidate had ever received secret service protection that early. And it was after the Bobby Kennedy assassination of Bobby Kennedy assassination that the law was changed that make candidates eligible, vice presidential and presidential candidate eligible, and it is supposed to be not until 120 days before the election. That has changed. So, you know, right now, there is other threshold that has to be met for secret service protection to kick in and it's too early at this point unless there is a significant threat to Kamala Harris's life or someone else's. I think that is something that is going to have to be looked at. It has to get approved by the Homeland Security secretary, then there's the committee with the speaker of the House, the minority leader, the Senate leaders. They all get together to decide and then they approach the candidates. So, it's not so easy to just say hey, this little incident happened, we need secret service protection. But I think that the candidates need to before they get to that level definitely need to have situational awareness because there is a lot of places out there
[Lemon:] And their own security.
[Setmayer:] That's right.
[Lemon:] They need to have some of that money that whatever they are collecting
[Setmayer:] Yeah, use their campaign money.
[Lemon:] Yeah. Keith, Sen. Harris's husband, Doug Emhoff, was also rushed to wrestle the protester. He shouldn't have been put in that position. They have to go up there and do that.
[Boykin:] No, you're right. I mean, he shouldn't be in that position nor should any of those other people be in that position. This is why you should have trained professional security staff to take care of these situations. This is also the second incident which happened to her when just a weeks ago. There was an incident when someone approached her at an airport and accosted her. She had to have someone push that person away. When you a presidential candidate, you're a public figure out there, especially if you're a black woman. You are a subject in this climate that we live in today, you are subject to attack or accost or whatever might happen to you. So, I think it's important that we take this issue seriously.
[Lemon:] Joan,
[Unidentified Male:] Ladies and gentlemen, let's give a big Toronto welcome to the 44th president of the United States! It's Mr. Barack Obama! Welcome. Welcome.