Verdict with Ted Cruz - ANOTHER Trump Assassination Attempt-These Security Failures MUST STOP

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.540 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.240 Welcome.

00:00:06.020 It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.780 And Senator, I cannot believe this is the second Sunday evening in the last couple of months

00:00:15.440 where you and I are having a conversation about another assassination attempt against

00:00:21.480 Donald Trump.

00:00:23.520 Well, let us start by saying, thank God President Trump is okay.

00:00:27.560 Amen.

00:00:27.920 That he was not injured, that he was not, God forbid, killed in this assassination attempt.

00:00:34.220 But at the same time, every one of us should be horrified and should be angry that for the

00:00:43.620 second time in 64 days, a would-be assassin with a high-powered rifle has targeted President

00:00:53.840 Trump.

00:00:54.160 In the first instance, the assassin got off several shots, ended up murdering one man 0.58

00:01:01.680 in the crowd and injuring two others, ended up hitting Donald Trump, hitting him in the 0.87

00:01:07.320 ear, coming within a half inch of killing President Trump.

00:01:11.660 With yesterday's attempted assassination, the details are still not entirely clear.

00:01:18.280 More will come out in the days and weeks ahead.

00:01:21.220 But what we do know is yet another assassin with a high-powered rifle with a scope was there

00:01:26.960 presumably intending to murder, to assassinate Donald J. Trump.

00:01:33.300 And he got within 300 to 500 yards from the President with a high-powered rifle.

00:01:41.080 The Secret Service saw him, intercepted him.

00:01:44.500 The early reports are that the Secret Service fired, and they now have a suspect in custody.

00:01:50.080 So the President wasn't harmed.

00:01:53.220 But for this to happen twice, twice in 64 days, is an incredible indictment of the security that

00:02:04.800 is being provided right now to President Trump.

00:02:07.240 The decisions on the security are made by political appointees.

00:02:11.980 They're made by Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security.

00:02:17.000 They're made by the acting head of the Secret Service.

00:02:20.460 And presumably, they're made by some combination of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

00:02:25.860 And despite now two assassination attempts, one with shots fired, the other thankfully prevented,

00:02:37.480 we think, before shots could be fired.

00:02:39.680 The Secret Service leadership is still not doing what it takes to protect President Trump.

00:02:50.140 Now, I get that Alejandro Mayorkas is not going to vote for Trump.

00:02:53.260 I get that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not. 0.99

00:02:56.500 But elections in America should not be decided by some jackass with a gun shooting your opponent. 0.95

00:03:06.020 And you want to talk about affronts to democracy? 0.96

00:03:09.680 That this administration continues to fail to provide the security that is needed to President

00:03:17.220 Trump is utterly and completely unacceptable.

00:03:21.220 And whether you like Donald Trump or whether you can't stand Donald Trump, you ought to be

00:03:25.860 outraged that this keeps being allowed to happen.

00:03:30.820 No doubt.

00:03:32.020 And if you look back at the list of what he has gone through, and we're going to talk about

00:03:36.580 that in a second, what got us to this point where this is now like the next thing on the

00:03:41.920 list?

00:03:42.520 It is shocking when you look at it.

00:03:44.820 I want to talk to you real quick about the one year anniversary of the horrific Hamas attacks 0.82

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00:05:38.340 Senator, you look at how we got to the point where we're here now.

00:05:41.660 And I think it's really important that we look back retrospectively at how we got here.

00:05:48.360 It first started when they wanted to get rid of Donald Trump and there was not one but two

00:05:51.920 impeachment.

00:05:52.480 The first one was a coup attempt.

00:05:54.380 They tried to overthrow the will of the voters by saying that Donald Trump colluded with the

00:05:57.560 Russians off a dossier that the Democratic Party knew was a lie. 0.67

00:06:01.120 The FBI knew was a lie.

00:06:02.520 It was paid for by Hillary Clinton's campaign in the Democratic National Committee.

00:06:07.020 When that didn't work, they moved on to another impeachment.

00:06:09.880 And when that didn't work, they said, OK, we're going to go to lawfare.

00:06:13.080 Four indictments against Trump.

00:06:15.140 Thirty-four convictions.

00:06:17.480 Ninety-one charges.

00:06:19.340 None of that worked so far.

00:06:21.240 The man's still standing.

00:06:22.780 So what's left?

00:06:23.920 You just take him out.

00:06:24.900 Not one now, but we're talking about two assassination attempts.

00:06:30.200 This should scare the hell out of every American that this is where we are with the left in this

00:06:34.260 country.

00:06:35.460 It's truly horrific.

00:06:37.120 And before we get into how this was, why this was allowed to unfold and what the security

00:06:44.600 failures were, let's just start with assessing what happened yesterday.

00:06:49.580 And I want you to listen to Sheriff Rick Bradshaw as he described what happened yesterday and

00:06:55.500 what exactly transpired.

00:06:57.440 All right.

00:06:58.500 1.30 this afternoon.

00:07:00.740 Call came out.

00:07:01.860 Shots fired.

00:07:02.480 That was called in by the Secret Service.

00:07:04.480 Because we're in constant contact with them all the time, we were notified of that.

00:07:10.280 And we had units here that immediately sealed off the area.

00:07:15.060 Fortunately, we were able to locate a witness that came to us and said, hey,

00:07:19.320 I saw the guy running out of the bushes.

00:07:22.540 He jumped into a black Nissan.

00:07:25.060 And I took a picture of the vehicle and the tank, which was great.

00:07:30.380 So we had that information.

00:07:33.320 Our real-time crime center put it out to the license plate readers.

00:07:39.900 And we were able to get a hit on that vehicle on I-95 as it was headed into Martin County.

00:07:45.860 We got a hold of Martin County Sheriff's Office, alerted them, and they spotted the vehicle

00:07:51.500 and pulled it over and detained the guy.

00:07:55.580 After that, we took the victim, I'm sorry, the witness that witnessed the incident,

00:08:02.160 flew him up there, and he identified as the person that he saw running out of the bushes

00:08:07.000 and jumped into the car.

00:08:08.080 Now, in the bushes where this guy was is an AK-47-style rifle with a scope,

00:08:16.500 two backpacks, which were hung on the fence that had a ceramic tile in them,

00:08:21.200 and a GoPro, which he was going to take pictures of.

00:08:24.980 So those are being processed right now.

00:08:27.980 The Secret Service agent that was on the course did a fantastic job.

00:08:32.420 What they do is they have an agent that jumps one hole ahead of time to where the president was at.

00:08:39.880 And he was able to spot this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence

00:08:42.940 and immediately engage that individual, at which time the individual took off.

00:08:48.540 So that's what we know about the investigation.

00:08:50.900 We have somebody in custody right now that is a potential suspect.

00:08:54.940 We've got a little bit more work to do on it.

00:08:56.800 But as we usually do, as soon as we decide that we're going to book him into the county jail

00:09:01.840 and the charges that he's going to be booked into,

00:09:04.780 we'll get those to you and we'll get a picture of him and we'll get you his background.

00:09:09.160 So now I'm going to turn it over to the representative of the Secret Service,

00:09:12.880 and he's going to make a brief statement.

00:09:15.720 Let's just stop there.

00:09:17.300 And what I heard was basically this is another miracle.

00:09:21.780 He didn't have the protection he needed.

00:09:23.660 And he's a guy that is out there playing golf.

00:09:29.040 One fairway on a golf course on a par four is 300 plus yards.

00:09:32.900 So that basically means if you've ever played golf and you're on the tee box,

00:09:36.180 you're looking down the fairway and you see somebody up by the green.

00:09:38.180 That's how close the shooter was from what we understand of the president.

00:09:41.440 And if you want a perspective on proximity, with a high-powered rifle, with a scope,

00:09:46.320 this is not that far.

00:09:47.580 It goes back to the shooting we saw, the assassination tip last time.

00:09:50.920 And they're like, yeah, if you get in the tree line, it's basically luck of the draw.

00:09:55.520 If we see you or we don't see you, because we just got a guy that goes one hole ahead

00:09:59.700 and just kind of looks around and we got lucky today.

00:10:01.700 That is unacceptable on so many different levels.

00:10:05.460 Yet again, a shooter with a high-powered rifle and a scope was able to get close to the president.

00:10:12.580 In this instance, the reports we've heard are that he was between 300 and 500 yards away.

00:10:18.180 Now, 300 to 500 yards is not a terribly difficult shot for a trained sniper.

00:10:26.880 According to public reports, do you know the longest recorded sniper shot that has been reported?

00:10:34.000 I'm going to guess it's over a mile or at a mile.

00:10:37.100 So it is over a mile.

00:10:38.280 The longest reported sniper shot is 3,871 yards.

00:10:44.940 In other words, 10 times as far as this sniper was.

00:10:48.300 Now, that is, there's another one that was reported at 3,079 yards.

00:10:54.540 And then there are a whole number of ones that have been recorded and confirmed in excess of 1,000 yards.

00:11:03.660 Now, those are world-class snipers.

00:11:05.820 Those are military snipers. 0.53

00:11:07.360 But it's worth noting, we know there have been multiple reports that the nation of Iran has hired hitmen to kill Donald Trump.

00:11:16.140 You would think a military that is trying to murder someone, they wouldn't just get someone off the street.

00:11:21.420 They would get a trained sniper.

00:11:22.660 From 300 to 500 yards, you don't have to be a world-class sniper to hit a target, particularly if you're able to brace the gun and take time and aim, which presumably this shooter would have been able to do.

00:11:38.200 Now, as with Butler, Pennsylvania, I want to praise the individual Secret Service agents who are protecting Donald Trump.

00:11:45.520 In Butler, Pennsylvania, the ones immediately surrounding him, when the shots were fired, they leapt up.

00:11:52.400 They put their bodies in harm's way.

00:11:53.960 They got President Trump out of harm's way after he had been shot.

00:11:59.320 And they demonstrated great heroism in the moment.

00:12:01.880 In this instance, the early reports are that a Secret Service agent spotted the sniper rifle in the bushes, in the shrubbery.

00:12:11.200 And there may have been gunfire exchange.

00:12:13.060 We don't know the exact details right now, but their intervention prevented that sniper, presumably, from getting a clean shot and possibly murdering President Trump.

00:12:25.200 But the question to ask is, how on earth does this keep happening?

00:12:30.440 And, you know, one of the things the sheriff said there that is important, he said that the reason that there was not complete perimeter protection was because Trump is no longer the sitting president.

00:12:46.220 And as a result, the Secret Service has given him dramatically scaled down protection to what they would have given him if he is the president.

00:12:54.280 Ben, I am right now calling on Joe Biden, who is theoretically still the commander-in-chief, to today order the Secret Service to give Donald Trump full presidential protection right now.

00:13:11.460 Two attempted assassinations in 64 days.

00:13:15.800 Two failures by Secret Service for having woefully insufficient personnel.

00:13:20.160 Now, if President Trump wins in November, less than two months away, he will instantly get full presidential Secret Service protection on Election Day.

00:13:33.060 Given that fact, and given the threats and the failures we have seen, the only reasonable and rational thing to do is assign President Trump, right now, a full presidential detail.

00:13:46.100 That includes the perimeter coverage so that you can't get a sniper that close.

00:13:51.560 And if Joe Biden doesn't do it, and by the way, if Kamala Harris had any sense at all, she would join in the call to do this.

00:14:00.540 If Kamala Harris had sent, she'd stand up and say, I want to win at the ballot box. 1.00

00:14:05.920 I don't want my opponent murdered.

00:14:08.140 We need to make sure he has the protection he needs.

00:14:10.580 I don't think she'll do that, but it would be unquestionably the right thing for her to do.

00:14:16.820 It's interesting that you mention this and you call for this.

00:14:19.460 It does seem like it's common sense.

00:14:21.040 But if you go back to the sheriff, Rick Bradshaw, he was asked a question about this perimeter and like, how the hell can someone get so close?

00:14:29.420 Because I actually don't blame him.

00:14:31.340 And I want to be clear about this.

00:14:32.860 He's just answering the question.

00:14:34.460 Honestly, I really like the honesty and what seemed like total transparency from him where he's like, look, if you can get in the bushes, like you can get in the bushes.

00:14:42.940 You're hard to see.

00:14:44.400 He's basically saying, like, we got lucky today.

00:14:47.060 And then he's asked about the perimeter.

00:14:49.200 Like, how can someone get so close?

00:14:51.320 Listen to what he said.

00:14:52.420 Well, you got to understand, the golf course is surrounded by shrubbery.

00:14:56.960 So when somebody gets into the shrubbery, they're pretty much out of sight.

00:15:01.080 All right.

00:15:01.580 And at this level that he is at right now, he's not the city president.

00:15:06.120 If he was, we would have had this higher golf course around him.

00:15:09.560 But because he's not, the security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.

00:15:15.160 So I would imagine that the next time he comes at a golf course, there'll probably be a little bit more people around the perimeter.

00:15:23.300 But the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done.

00:15:26.660 They provided exactly what the protection should have been.

00:15:29.520 And their agent did a fantastic job.

00:15:32.380 I mean, he's being honest.

00:15:34.000 Like, hey, we're not giving the guy what he needs because he's not the president.

00:15:38.420 He's not giving complete perimeter protection.

00:15:40.980 I'm just being honest with you.

00:15:42.340 The security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.

00:15:45.540 So that's the key word that goes back to your point.

00:15:48.060 The sheriff's saying the security, quote, is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.

00:15:54.460 So what they're saying is you can get within 300 yards, 200 yards, 400 yards of the president at any given time as a sniper. 0.96

00:16:03.080 And we hope we see you before you shoot. 0.94

00:16:07.400 Look, that's just completely unacceptable. 0.90

00:16:09.720 And we've seen now twice in 64 days the risks that are attendant to it.

00:16:15.820 The Secret Service in Butler, Pennsylvania, there were massive failures.

00:16:21.200 But, you know, I'm not the only one pointing that out.

00:16:23.200 Last week, Senator Richard Blumenthal, who is Senator Blumenthal, is the chairman of the Committee on Permanent Investigations of the Homeland Security Committee.

00:16:40.640 And he held a press conference in Washington, D.C.

00:16:46.300 Now, Blumenthal, Dick Blumenthal is a Democrat.

00:16:49.160 But I want you to listen to just how dismayed he was and how shocked he was about how badly the Secret Service leadership failed with the Butler, Pennsylvania, attempted assassination.

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00:19:14.820 All right.

00:19:15.220 Take a listen to Richard Blumenthal in his own words.

00:19:18.940 And this was, again, before the second assassination attempt.

00:19:22.760 I think the American people are going to be shocked, astonished, and appalled by what we will report to them about the failures by the Secret Service in this assassination attempt on the former president.

00:19:36.960 But I think they also ought to be appalled and astonished by the failure of the Department of Homeland Security to be more forthcoming, to be as candid and frank as it should be to them in terms of providing information.

00:19:55.760 And we are going to absolutely insist on the truth and the whole truth in documents and testimony as members of the United States Senate, but also as citizens.

00:20:10.820 What did you learn new today when you said there were going to be a poll?

00:20:13.160 I'm not going to go into what we have learned in specifics.

00:20:16.600 I'm giving you my reaction, and we will have a report very, very soon that I think will absolutely shock the American people, or it should, about the lapses and lags in the protection that was afforded that day and the breakdown in communication, failure in responsibility.

00:20:41.120 Is that report coming today or tomorrow?

00:20:43.660 I'm sorry?

00:20:44.040 Is that report coming out tonight or tomorrow?

00:20:46.340 No.

00:20:46.600 Do you think, I mean, is there a level of urgency to get this information out as soon as possible because of the void that's being filled with conspiracy theories about what happened on that day?

00:20:57.360 That is a really critical question.

00:21:00.380 The failure of the Department of Homeland Security to be more forthcoming fuels the conspiracy theories that have no basis in fact.

00:21:08.760 If government officials fail to be factual and forthcoming, if government officials fail to be factual and forthcoming, the petri dish for the virus of untruth and conspiracy theories is made all the richer.

00:21:23.540 We have an urgency, we have an urgency, we have an imperative, to get the facts and make them public, all of them, as soon as possible.

00:21:31.100 I cannot say more passionately how urgent I feel this mission is because the American people need and deserve to know the truth, even if it's embarrassing.

00:21:43.100 Even if it's embarrassing.

00:21:44.220 Because the way to avoid these kinds of catastrophes in the future is to have the truth made known to the American people.

00:21:53.540 To that end, do you feel the Secret Service has made the necessary adjustments immediately, given the fact that we are at the height of a presidential campaign with so many different protectees under their charge?

00:22:04.240 Let me just say this to everybody listening.

00:22:06.100 Listen carefully to what he says in response to that answer.

00:22:11.240 Because, and I want people to just really focus on this because clearly he has been sold a bill of goods.

00:22:17.480 Listen.

00:22:17.680 I am satisfied that the Secret Service had made improvements that provide much stronger safeguards and that it is knowledgeable about the lapses that occurred, the failures that contributed to this assassination attempt being as close to successful as it was.

00:22:37.260 I think the procedures, the protocols and the practices have been improved.

00:22:42.500 And we'll see whether we're completely satisfied with them because we're only beginning to learn about how the Secret Service is doing things differently.

00:22:52.640 Senator, I...

00:22:53.880 Well, spoiler alert, we're not completely satisfied with them.

00:22:58.600 Senator, I can't believe I'm going to sit here and say this, but I actually think Blumenthal may have just been sold a bill of goods and he was lied to by the Secret Service.

00:23:05.220 He thinks things have changed and they're adequate now.

00:23:07.760 But now, after the second assassination attempt, clearly they're not.

00:23:12.480 And did the Secret Service just straight up lie to him?

00:23:16.360 Well, I don't know.

00:23:17.960 I don't know what is, what Blumenthal's investigation uncovered.

00:23:21.740 He said there's a report coming out.

00:23:23.140 I hope it comes out now very, very soon.

00:23:26.000 I agree with what he said about the urgency of getting information out.

00:23:29.960 Look, it is my view that one of the major drivers in these lapses is partisan bias, is the fact that the Biden-Harris White House and Alejandro Mayorkas, they don't like Trump.

00:23:45.840 They don't want to give him the recognition of having the security that he needs.

00:23:53.560 These are the same people that repeatedly refused to provide any Secret Service protection to RFK Jr., despite the fact that it was clearly merited there.

00:24:03.800 And so I would be surprised if Blumenthal's report focuses on the partisan bias of the political appointees.

00:24:12.500 I think that is a major factor in leading them to make decisions that have left President Trump woefully underprotected.

00:24:22.000 But listen, all of these questions were clear two months ago, and I want to, because it feels a little bit like Groundhog Day.

00:24:29.400 You and I did this on another Sunday night with another assassination attempt.

00:24:34.220 And just following that, the acting director of the Secret Service testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I questioned him.

00:24:44.100 And you know what's striking is, is just about every single question I asked him two months ago remains entirely salient today, and even more so now that this has happened twice.

00:24:57.280 So I want to go back, and let's listen again to that cross-examination.

00:25:02.540 This is the acting director of the Secret Service shortly after the first assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

00:25:10.840 Mr. Rowe, thank you for being here.

00:25:13.900 I agree with what you said at the outset that the individual Secret Service agents demonstrated remarkable personal courage, putting their bodies in between the line of sight of the shooter and the president.

00:25:24.460 That being said, the bravery of the line agents is quite different from the decisions of Secret Service leadership.

00:25:30.380 Secret Service leadership committed catastrophic security failures.

00:25:34.980 Indeed, the worst security failures for the Secret Service since 1981, since the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.

00:25:45.540 It is incumbent upon this committee to determine why those security failures happened.

00:25:52.700 Just after the shooting, Secret Service put out an official statement from your spokesperson that says there's an untrue assertion that a member of the former president's team requested additional security resources, and that those were rebuffed.

00:26:07.660 This is absolutely false.

00:26:09.500 In fact, we added protective resources and technology and capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.

00:26:15.720 Was this tweet accurate?

00:26:18.440 With respect to Butler, Pennsylvania, it is accurate, sir.

00:26:21.520 It is accurate that the Trump team had not asked for additional security and had not been rebuffed.

00:26:31.400 If you're talking about Butler, Pennsylvania, all assets requested were approved.

00:26:35.560 If you're talking about the media reporting of assets requested, there were times when assets were unavailable and not able to be filled.

00:26:46.940 And those gaps were staffed with state and local law enforcement tactical assets.

00:26:51.820 So I'm reading from the Washington Post, July 20th, 2024.

00:26:56.420 Secret Service said to have denied requests for more security at Trump events.

00:26:59.680 The opening paragraph.

00:27:00.540 Top officials of the U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel sought by Donald Trump's security detail in the two years leading up to his attempted assassination, according to four people familiar with the requests.

00:27:14.440 Is that right?

00:27:15.200 That repeatedly the Trump detail asked for more resources and repeatedly Secret Service leadership turned that down?

00:27:22.160 That is not accurate, Senator.

00:27:23.700 Sure. Assets are requested.

00:27:26.000 There's a process that is made.

00:27:28.760 How many requested did the Trump team or the Trump detail ask for?

00:27:33.060 I can get you that number in a queue.

00:27:35.000 You don't know now.

00:27:36.380 I can speak to the ones that reported in the Washington Post and we can go through them if you like.

00:27:41.080 But you don't know how many requests there were?

00:27:44.060 In general, how many requests since 2021 that the former Trump detail has made a request for assets?

00:27:48.920 You've had two weeks, you had a spokesperson put something out that is false on its face.

00:27:53.700 By the way, did you approve this statement when it went out?

00:27:56.640 I don't know if I did or didn't, Senator.

00:27:58.700 Has this spokesperson, is he still employed?

00:28:00.820 Does he still have a job?

00:28:01.300 He is still employed, Senator.

00:28:02.220 So he lied on behalf of the Secret Service.

00:28:04.100 He still has a job.

00:28:05.360 Did your predecessor, the former director, does she approve this statement?

00:28:08.920 Senator, our comms team, they send out statements.

00:28:13.860 They do deconflict them and they put them out.

00:28:16.580 Did she approve this statement?

00:28:18.020 I don't know if she did or did not, Senator.

00:28:20.660 And you don't know if you did either?

00:28:22.080 I don't recall approving it, Senator.

00:28:25.860 Will you commit to provide this committee in writing every written request for additional resources from the Trump campaign or the Trump detail and every response from Secret Service?

00:28:37.560 Senator, I will commit to providing responses and getting you the information that you are seeking.

00:28:42.800 May I ask you something?

00:28:45.640 And who makes the decisions in those requests?

00:28:48.720 Did you make that decision?

00:28:50.520 Which requests, sir?

00:28:51.320 Are you talking about the ones that were in the Washington Post?

00:28:53.540 Yes.

00:28:53.780 The process, sir, is that a detail will make a request for either staffing, technical assets, that is handled between the field office and the detail.

00:29:04.860 It goes up to a logistics office between our office.

00:29:08.420 Okay, so there's a bureaucracy.

00:29:09.660 Is there a decision maker?

00:29:11.100 It's not a bureaucracy, Senator.

00:29:12.180 It's a process.

00:29:12.300 Give me the person that's a decision maker.

00:29:14.160 Is there one?

00:29:15.920 Senator, it's a conversation.

00:29:18.100 It's not just an absolute yay or nay.

00:29:19.740 So let me tell you what I believe.

00:29:21.340 I believe that the Secret Service leadership made a political decision to deny these requests.

00:29:28.340 And I think the Biden administration has been suffused with partisan politics.

00:29:33.160 Did the same person who denied the request for additional security to President Trump also repeatedly deny the request for security to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,

00:29:41.560 whose father was murdered by an assassin and whose uncle was murdered by an assassin?

00:29:46.300 Did the same person make that decision?

00:29:47.720 Senator, what I will tell you is that Secret Service agents are not political.

00:29:52.480 Okay, you're not answering my question.

00:29:53.640 But you know what?

00:29:54.500 Leadership appointed by the President is political.

00:29:59.560 I have a simple question, yes or no.

00:30:01.860 Did the same person deny the Trump request that also denied the RFK request?

00:30:07.880 That's a yes or no question.

00:30:09.440 Senator, that is not a yes or no question.

00:30:12.680 One, there is a process for a candidate nominee to receive protection.

00:30:16.480 That is a bicameral, bipartisan process that the Hill participates...

00:30:22.400 It's a bicameral, bipartisan process.

00:30:24.820 What candidate...

00:30:25.200 For a candidate...

00:30:26.040 You are not a Congress.

00:30:27.400 You don't have a camera.

00:30:28.440 Mr. Kennedy submitted a request that was referred over to the CPAC.

00:30:32.740 Okay, you're refusing to answer the question.

00:30:34.900 Let me ask, because the failures on that day were catastrophic.

00:30:37.620 By the way, is it true that on the day of the Butler event that Secret Service transferred

00:30:42.920 agent for President Trump to the First Lady?

00:30:46.640 No, sir.

00:30:47.360 That's not true.

00:30:48.140 That's been widely reported.

00:30:49.740 It's not true.

00:30:50.660 There was one airport agent that actually went on the manpower request for the Trump detail.

00:30:55.000 They handled the arrival at the airport for the First Lady.

00:30:57.460 What was the relative size of the Trump detail compared to the detail that is assigned to

00:31:02.300 the President or the First Lady?

00:31:04.960 Senator, the former President travels with a full shift, just like the President.

00:31:09.380 What's the...

00:31:09.960 So the exact same size?

00:31:11.380 Is that your testimony that President Trump had the same size detail that President Biden

00:31:15.420 has?

00:31:15.720 On the day of in Butler, the agents surrounding him, it is the same number of agents surrounding

00:31:21.360 the President today.

00:31:22.440 There is a difference between a sitting President who also not only...

00:31:26.280 Hold on, you're using President in a way that is not clear.

00:31:28.960 Is it your testimony that in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump had the same number of agents protecting

00:31:35.560 him that Joe Biden has at a comparable event?

00:31:39.540 I'm telling you the shift, the close protection shift surrounding...

00:31:42.640 That's what you asked me, Senator, and I'm trying to answer it.

00:31:45.340 You are not answering it.

00:31:46.960 Is it the same number of agents or not?

00:31:49.360 Senator, there is a difference between the sitting President of the United States...

00:31:53.280 Then what's the difference?

00:31:54.400 The difference?

00:31:55.180 2X, 3X, 5X, 10X?

00:31:56.620 National Command Authority to launch a nuclear strike, sir.

00:31:59.540 I'm not asking how many more agents travel with the President that the former President

00:32:04.600 will not get, but the number of Secret Service agents protecting him.

00:32:08.800 Stop interrupting me.

00:32:10.380 Go ahead, Senator.

00:32:10.900 You are refusing to answer clear and direct questions.

00:32:13.780 I am asking the relative difference in the number of agents between those assigned to

00:32:20.080 Donald Trump and those assigned to Joe Biden.

00:32:22.360 I'm not asking why you assign more to Joe Biden.

00:32:24.940 I'm asking, is the difference, is it 2X?

00:32:27.400 Is it 3X?

00:32:28.520 Is it 5X?

00:32:29.620 Is it 10X?

00:32:31.080 Senator, I will get you that number so you can see it with your own eyes.

00:32:34.380 It's sad, Senator, but this seems now more relevant than it was after the first assassination

00:32:42.000 attempt.

00:32:43.140 The lack of answers.

00:32:44.160 And by the way, you asked these questions on 730, if I'm not mistaken.

00:32:50.680 So did you ever actually get the answers to all the questions where he said, I will get

00:32:55.480 that for you?

00:32:56.500 Nothing.

00:32:57.280 Nothing whatsoever.

00:32:58.280 He provided absolutely nothing.

00:33:00.000 I asked the Secret Service in writing.

00:33:01.680 They have not responded to my questions in writing.

00:33:03.640 I assume they'll do it sometime within the next century.

00:33:07.440 But when he said in that hearing, I will get that information to you, we are sitting

00:33:11.840 here in mid-September and he has still not gotten it.

00:33:16.960 And it is a sense of a complete lack of accountability.

00:33:22.360 Now, look, what they're doing right now is a massive CYA.

00:33:25.940 They're trying to cover their own rear ends.

00:33:27.720 But the problem is with the senior decision-making and I believe the partisan politics that has

00:33:35.960 been infused into the senior decision-making.

00:33:38.800 That is why I want to reiterate my call.

00:33:42.400 Today, the Biden-Harris administration should announce that they are assigning a full presidential

00:33:51.800 Secret Service detail to Donald J.

00:33:55.300 Trump.

00:33:55.600 And by the way, let me be clear on a little sleight of hand that the acting director tried to pull

00:34:04.360 in that hearing when I asked, are the same number of agents assigned or what was the relative

00:34:11.460 number of agents?

00:34:12.360 He said, oh, the same number of agents are in the close protective shift.

00:34:16.780 And he was trying to be really clever there.

00:34:18.600 I think he thought he was clever.

00:34:19.540 So the close protective shift are the agents that are assigned immediately on the body of

00:34:24.720 the protectee.

00:34:26.360 So I assume he was accurate that both Biden and Trump, the immediate circle around him

00:34:34.180 is the same number of agents.

00:34:35.820 What is different is the way the Secret Service works is in concentric circles, perimeters of

00:34:42.160 protection.

00:34:42.880 So there's a close detail of a number of agents around the protectee.

00:34:47.240 But then with a full presidential protection, there's an intermediate perimeter that they

00:34:52.300 locked down and there's a broader perimeter.

00:34:54.360 The broader perimeter presumably would have caught this sniper on the golf course who was

00:35:00.220 trying to assassinate President Trump.

00:35:02.780 And so the acting director was trying to be cute by saying, well, the immediate shift,

00:35:09.780 the close protective detail is identical.

00:35:11.660 And look, everyone understands right now that there are markedly fewer Secret Service agents

00:35:21.660 protecting Donald Trump than are protecting Joe Biden, which is amazing because as best I

00:35:26.760 can tell, all Joe Biden does is sleep on the beach in Delaware.

00:35:30.240 But nonetheless, we still don't know.

00:35:34.200 And, you know, Ben, there was a reason I did not ask at that hearing, I didn't ask the acting

00:35:41.620 director how many agents were assigned to Trump.

00:35:44.320 And the reason I didn't ask that, and I didn't ask how many are assigned to Biden.

00:35:47.480 And the reason I didn't is he would have reasonably declined to answer that, that that giving that

00:35:54.080 information could compromise the security of the protectee.

00:35:57.600 So I can tell you in my written questions, I have asked that specific question, how many

00:36:03.440 agents, give me the number.

00:36:05.040 And I said that answer can be given as law enforcement confidential so that it will not be made public

00:36:11.240 because that shouldn't be made public.

00:36:13.180 There's some details about security that should not be in the public domain.

00:36:18.800 That's why I asked the question I did, give me the relative order of magnitude.

00:36:23.840 Is it twice as many? Is it 3x? Is it 5x? Is it 10x?

00:36:28.820 And he adamantly refused to answer that question.

00:36:32.000 And to this day, he has not answered that question.

00:36:35.780 Canadian women are looking for more, more to themselves, their businesses, their elected 0.99

00:36:40.320 leaders, and the world around them.

00:36:42.060 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:36:45.820 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:36:46.980 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:36:48.200 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

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00:36:56.860 their journey.

00:36:57.720 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:37:00.940 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:37:06.680 Senator, finally, I want to just talk about the media coverage of this second assassination

00:37:10.980 attempt.

00:37:11.600 And I can't even believe that it's gotten to this point.

00:37:14.160 And in fact, let's just look over the last like three days.

00:37:17.300 Um, this morning on Jen Psaki's show on MSNBC, you had a congresswoman that said, quote, Trump

00:37:25.080 is the guy that stokes domestic terrorism.

00:37:28.220 The problem isn't the people coming in, but this guy.

00:37:32.560 You then add MSNBC's Alex Witt argue, quote, the Trump campaign needs to turn down the rhetoric

00:37:40.080 now that Donald Trump has been shot at for the second time in three months, blaming Donald

00:37:46.200 Trump for this.

00:37:47.840 Uh, there's another example.

00:37:49.400 And that's not enough for you.

00:37:51.360 You also had, uh, people on TV referring to Donald Trump and implying that he was, you

00:37:56.140 know, basically kind of like Hitler.

00:37:58.340 And so this MSNBC guest said, quote, Donald Trump is exactly like Hitler.

00:38:03.840 Let's just quote it like it's supposed to be quoted.

00:38:06.520 This is the rhetoric that's on TV right now.

00:38:09.180 And they even said today, well, maybe Donald Trump needs to stop playing golf outside for

00:38:13.360 a while, somehow implying what's his fault.

00:38:15.880 He's exposing himself to assassins.

00:38:19.720 Well, we are unfortunately in a horribly divided time, but I do think that, that, that personal

00:38:26.720 rhetoric, the demonization of the left, but by the left of Donald Trump has reached a level

00:38:34.220 that, that, that we'd never seen before.

00:38:36.480 And I, and I think that kind of vicious rhetoric, it, it, it bears fruit.

00:38:41.840 People listen to the rhetoric when they hear people, people describe him as another Hitler.

00:38:48.960 Unfortunately, it increases the chances that some lunatic is going to act on that.

00:38:54.980 And, and, and listen, I, I want to close this, this podcast the way we opened by, by, by giving

00:39:01.040 thanks to God, giving thanks that, that God protected Donald Trump.

00:39:06.760 Uh, I talked with you at, in Milwaukee and at the, at the Republican convention, how I

00:39:13.300 visited with Trump right, right after the, the, the shooting in Butler.

00:39:17.440 Yeah.

00:39:18.040 And, and, and he, he said to me there very quietly and, in, in, he just said, God saved me for

00:39:24.620 a reason and, and, and there was a, there was a quiet introspection about it that, that

00:39:33.380 I would say is not typical of how President Trump behaves.

00:39:38.760 And I think for the second time in just over two months, uh, President Trump has been protected.

00:39:44.560 I am grateful for, for that protection.

00:39:46.560 I'm grateful for him, but I'm also grateful for the country, uh, to, to, to have a presidential

00:39:54.180 election decided by an assassin, decided by murder is, is the ultimate affront to democracy.

00:40:02.020 It, it is an, it is an attack at the very essence of, of our constitution and the rule

00:40:09.280 of law and, and the, the sovereignty of the, we, we, the people to choose our leaders.

00:40:14.420 And, and so, you know, today I'm just, I'm, I'm grateful for God's protection on, on President

00:40:20.380 Trump and let me be clear.

00:40:21.940 I'm grateful for God's protection on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and, and on our leaders in

00:40:27.080 both parties.

00:40:28.580 Uh, you and I are both Christians and, and the Bible commands us to pray for our leaders.

00:40:34.260 And, and so I pray for our leaders, even, even if I disagree with them strongly, uh, I'm

00:40:39.620 grateful for that protection and I'm grateful for God's protection, uh, over our nation.

00:40:44.380 This is a time, especially, uh, when, when, when we need to be one nation under God.

00:40:50.180 Amen to that.

00:40:51.180 Don't forget the center and I do this show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

00:40:54.060 We are going to keep you updated on this story.

00:40:56.420 I have a feeling, uh, for Wednesday, we're going to have a lot more info and a lot more

00:41:00.900 to say on this.

00:41:01.580 So we will have all of that for you on Wednesday as well.

00:41:05.780 So hit that subscribe auto download button.

00:41:07.860 Please share this podcast with your family and your friends, uh, as well.

00:41:12.000 And the center, I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.

00:41:16.160 This is an I heart podcast guaranteed human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - September 16, 2024

ANOTHER Trump Assassination Attempt-These Security Failures MUST STOP

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