← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
ANOTHER Trump Assassination Attempt-These Security Failures MUST STOP
00:40:41
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- [00:01]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And Senator, I cannot believe this is the second Sunday evening in the last couple of months where you and I are having a conversation about another assassination attempt against Donald Trump.
- [00:19]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, let us start by saying thank God President Trump is okay.
- [00:23]
Ben Ferguson
Amen.
- [00:24]
Senator Ted Cruz
That he was not injured, that he was not, God forbid, killed in this assassination attempt. But at the same time, every one of us should be horrified and should be angry that for the second time in 64 days, a would be assassin with a high powered rifle has targeted President Trump. In the first instance, the assassin got off several shots, ended up murdering one man in the crowd and injuring two others, ended up hitting Donald Trump, hitting him in the ear, coming within a half inch of killing President Trump. With yesterday's attempted assassination, the details are still not entirely clear. More will come out in the days and weeks ahead. But what we do know is yet another assassin with a high powered rifle, with a scope was there, presumably intending to murder, to assassinate Donald J. Trump. And he got within 300 to 500 yards from the President with a high powered rifle. The Secret Service saw him, intercepted him. The early reports are that the Secret Service fired and they now have a suspect in custody. So the President wasn't harmed. But for this to happen twice, twice in 64 days is an incredible indictment of the security that is being provided right now to President Trump. The decisions on the security are made by political appointees. They're made by Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security. They're made by the acting head of the Secret Service. And presumably they're made by some combination of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And despite now two assassination attempts, one with shots fired, the other thankfully prevented, we think, before shots could be fired, the Secret Service leadership is still not doing what it takes to protect President Trump. Now, I get that Alejandro Mayorkas is not going to vote for Trump. I get that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not. But elections in America should not be decided by some jackass with a gun shooting your opponent. And you want to talk about affronts to democracy, that this administration continues to fail to provide the security that is needed to President Trump is utterly and completely unacceptable. And whether you like Donald Trump or whether you can't stand Donald Trump, you ought to be outraged that this keeps being allowed to happen.
- [03:27]
Ben Ferguson
No doubt. And if you look back at the list of what he has gone through, and we're going to talk about that in a second, what got us to this point where this is now like the next thing on the list. It is shocking when you look at it. I want to talk to you real quick about the one year anniversary of the horrific Hamas attacks on Israel. And still the Holy Land continues to be attacked on multiple fronts. Deadly threats are increasing in northern Israel. Constant rocket attacks from terrorists backed by Iran. Hezbollah been fired at Israel, causing widespread damage as well. Since the war started, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has been on the forefront in Israel addressing the needs of the most vulnerable. It is incredible to see how many of you that listen to this show have gotten involved with ifcj. Now when I started partnering with ifcj, it was a simple reason why I wanted to stand with the actual people in Israel. And your life saving donations have already helped provide incredible amounts of emergency food as well as critical security needs such as flat jackets, firefighting equipment, armored vehicles, including armored ambulances that have actually been used to save countless lives and bomb shelters. This is what IFCJ is doing now. We're looking for 500 listeners to join the fellowship and me by donating $150 to meet the urgent security needs on the ground in Israel. And thanks the generous IFCJ supporter. Your gift will be matched doubling your impact in the Holy Land to. If you want to help the people in Israel, you can make a gift right now by calling 888-488-IFCJ. That's 888488 IFCJ or 4325. You can also go online and you can donate securely@supportifcj.org to give. That's one word. Support ifcj.org Israel needs our support now more than ever before. So stand with the people in Israel today. Support IFCJ.org Senator, you, you look at how we got to the point where we're here now, and I think it's really important that we look back retrospectively at how we got here. It first started when they wanted to get rid of Donald Trump. And there was not one, but two impeachment. The first one was a coup attempt. They tried to overthrow the will of the voters by saying that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians off a dossier that the Democratic Party knew was a lie, the FBI knew was a lie. Uh, it was paid for by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee. When that didn't work, they moved on to another impeachment. And when that didn't work, they said, okay, we're gonna go to Lawfare. Four indictments against Trump, 34 convict convictions 91 charges. None of that worked. So far, the man's still standing. So what's left? You just take him out? Not one now, but we're talking about two assassination attempts. This should scare the hell out of every American that this is where we are with the left in this country.
- [06:31]
Senator Ted Cruz
It's truly horrific. And before we get into how this was, why this was allowed to unfold, and what the security failures were, let's just start with. With assessing what happened yesterday. And I want you to listen to Sheriff Rick Bradshaw as he described what happened yesterday and what exactly Transpired.
- [06:53]
Sheriff Rick Bradshaw
All right. 1:30 this afternoon, call came out, shots fired that was called in by the Secret Service because we're in constant contact with them all the time. We were notified of that and we had units here that immediately sealed off the area. Fortunately, we were able to locate a witness that came to us and said, hey, I saw the guy running out of the bushes. He jumped into a black Nissan. And I took a picture of the vehicle and the tank, which was great. So we had that information. Our Real Time crime center put it out to the license plate readers, and we were able to get a hit on that vehicle on i95 as it was headed into Martin County. We got a hold of Martin County Sheriff's Office, alerted them, and they spotted the vehicle and pulled it over and detained the guy. After that, we took the victim. I'm sorry, the witness that witnessed the incident threw him up there. And he identified as the person that he saw running out of the bushes that jumped into the car. Now, in the bushes where this guy was is a AK47 style rifle with a scope, two backpacks which were hung on the fence that had ceramic tile in them, and a GoPro which he was going to take pictures of. So those are being processed right now. The Secret Service agent that was on the course did a fantastic job. What they do is they have an agent that jumps one hole ahead of time to where the President was at. And he was able to spot this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence and immediately engage that individual, at which time the individual took off. So that's what we know about the investigation. We have somebody in custody right now that is a potential suspect. We got a little bit more work to do on it. But as we usually do, as soon as we decide that we're going to book him into the county jail and the charges that he's going to be booked into, we'll get those to you and we'll get a picture of them and we'll get you his background. So now I'm going to turn it over to the representative of the Secret Service and he's going to make brief statement.
- [09:11]
Ben Ferguson
Let's just stop there. And, and what I heard was basically this is another miracle. He didn't have the protection he needed. He's, he's a guy that, that is out there playing golf. One fairway on a golf course on a par four is 300 plus yards. So that basically means if you've ever played golf and you're on the tee box, you're looking down the fairway and you see somebody up by the green, that's how close the shooter was from what we understand the President and when, if you want a perspective on proximity with a high powered rifle with a scope, this is not that far goes back to the shooting. We saw the assassination tip last time and they're like, yeah, if you get in the tree line, like it's basically luck of the draw if we see you or we don't see you because we just got a guy that goes one hole ahead and just kind of looks around and we got lucky today. That is unacceptable on so many different levels.
- [10:01]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yet again, a shooter with a high powered rifle and a scope was able to get close to the President in this instance. The reports we've heard are that he was between 3 and 500 yards away. Now 3, 3 to 500 yards is not a terr terribly difficult shot for a trained sniper, according to public reports. Do you know the longest recorded sniper shot that has been reported?
- [10:29]
Ben Ferguson
I'm gonna guess it's over a mile or at a mile.
- [10:33]
Senator Ted Cruz
So it is over a mile. The longest reported sniper shot is 3,871 yards. In other words, 10 times as far as this sniper was. Now that was, that is that there's another one that was reported at 3,079 yards. And then there are whole, a whole number of ones that have been recorded and confirmed in excess of 1000 yards. Now those are world class snipers, those are military snipers. But it's worth noting, we know there have been multiple reports that the nation of Iran has hired hitmen to kill Donald Trump. You would think a military that is trying to murder someone, they wouldn't just get someone off the street, they would get a trained sniper from 3 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, this shooter would have been able to do. Now as With Butler, Pennsylvania. I want to praise the individual Secret Service agents who are protecting Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The ones immediately surrounding him when the shots were fired, they leapt up, they put their bodies in harm's way. They got President Trump out of harm's way after he had been shot, and they demonstrated great heroism in the moment. In this instance, the early reports are that a Secret Service agent spotted the sniper rifle in the bushes in the shrubbery, and there may have been gunfire exchange. 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. But the question to ask is, how on earth does this keep happening? 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. 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. 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. Two attempted assassinations in 64 days, two failures by secret Service for having woefully insufficient personnel. If President Trump wins in November, less than two months away, he will instantly get full presidential Secret Service protection on Election Day. 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 that includes the perimeter coverage so that you can't get a sniper that close. 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. If Kamala Harris had sent, she'd stand up and say, I want to win at the ballot box. I don't want my opponent murdered. We need to make sure he has the protection he needs. I don't think she'll do that, but it would be unquestionably the right thing for her to do.
- [14:12]
Ben Ferguson
It's interesting that you mentioned this and you call for this. It does seem like it's common sense. 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? I actually don't blame him. And I want to be clear about this. He's just answering the question 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. You're hard to see. We. He's basically saying, like, we got lucky today. And then he's asked about the perimeter. Like, how can someone get so close? Listen to what he said.
- [14:49]
Sheriff Rick Bradshaw
Well, you gotta understand, the golf course is surrounded by shrubbery. So when somebody gets into the shrubbery, they're pretty much out of sight.
- [14:57]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right?
- [14:57]
Sheriff Rick Bradshaw
And at this level that he is at right now, he's not the city president. If he was, we would have this hired golf course around him. But because he's not, the security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible. So I would imagine that the next time he comes at a golf course, there'll probably be a little more people around the perimeter. But the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done. They provided exactly what the protection should have been, and their agent did a fantastic job.
- [15:28]
Ben Ferguson
I. I mean, he's, he's being honest. Like, hey, we're not giving the guy what he needs. We. Because he's not the president, he's not given complete perimeter protection. I'm just being honest with you. The security is limited. The areas of the Secret Service deemed possible. So that's the key word that goes back to your point. The sheriff's saying the security, quote, is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible. So what they're saying is you can get within 300 yards, 200 yards, 400 yards, the present at any given time as a sniper, and it's. It. We hope we see you before you shoot.
- [16:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, that, that, that's just completely unacceptable. And we've seen now twice in 64 days the risks that are attended to it. The Secret Service in Butler, Pennsylvania, there were massive failures. But, you know, I'm not the only one pointing that out. Last week, Senator Richard Blumenthal, who is Senator Blumenthal, is the chairman of the Committee on Permanent on Permanent Investigations of the Homeland Security Committee, and he held a press conference in Washington, D.C. now, Blumenthal, Dick Blumenthal is a Democrat, but I want you to listen to just how dismayed he was and, and how shocked he was about how badly the Secret Service leadership failed with the Butler, Pennsylvania attempted assassination.
- [17:01]
Ben Ferguson
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- [19:19]
Senator Richard Blumenthal
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. 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. 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. What did you learn new today when you said there will be a poll? I'm not going to go into what we have learned in specifics. 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 and responsibility.
- [20:37]
Reporter
Is that report coming today or tomorrow?
- [20:39]
Senator Richard Blumenthal
I'm sorry?
- [20:40]
Reporter
Is that report coming out tonight or tomorrow?
- [20:42]
Senator Richard Blumenthal
No.
- [20:43]
Reporter
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?
- [20:53]
Senator Richard Blumenthal
That is a really critical question. The failure of the Department of Homeland Security to be more forthcoming fuels the conspiracy theories that have no basis in fact. 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. We have an urgency, we have an imperative to get the facts and make them public, all of them, as soon as possible. I cannot say more passionately how urgent I feel this mission is, because the American people, people need and deserve to know the truth, even if it's embarrassing. Because the way to avoid these kinds of catastrophes in the future is to have the truth made known to the American people.
- [21:49]
Reporter
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?
- [22:00]
Ben Ferguson
Let me just say this to everybody listening. Listen carefully to. To what he says in response to that. That answer, because. And I want people to just really focus on this, because clearly he has been sold a bill of goods.
- [22:13]
Senator Richard Blumenthal
Listen, 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. I think the procedures, the protocols and the practices have been improved. 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.
- [22:48]
Ben Ferguson
Senator.
- [22:50]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, spoiler alert. We're not completely satisfied with them.
- [22:54]
Ben Ferguson
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. He thinks change. Things have changed, and they're adequate now. But now after the second assassination attempt, clearly they're. They're not. And. And did the Secret Service just straight apply to him?
- [23:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, I don't know. I don't know what is what Blumenthal's investigation uncovered. He said there's a report coming out. I hope it comes out now, very, very soon. I agree with what he said about the urgency of getting information out. 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. They don't want to give him the recognition of, of having the security that he needs. 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. And so I would be surprised if Blumenthal's report focuses on the partisan bias of the political appointees. I think that is a major factor in leading them to make decisions that have left President Trump woefully under protected. But listen, all of these questions were clear two months ago, and I want to, because it feels a little bit like Groundhog Day. You and I did this on another Sunday night with another assassination attempt. And just following that, the acting director of the Secret Service testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I questioned him. And you know, what's striking 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. So I want to go back and let's listen again to that cross examination. This is the acting director of the Secret Service shortly after the first assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
- [25:07]
Secret Service Acting Director
Mr. Rowe, thank you for being here. 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. That being said, the bravery of the line agents is quite different from the decisions of Secret Service leadership. Secret Service leadership committed catastrophic security failures, indeed, the worst security failures for the. For the Secret Service since 1981, since the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. It is incumbent upon this committee to determine why those security failures happened 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, that those were rebuffed. This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources and technology and capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.
- [26:11]
Reporter
Was this tweet accurate with respect to Butler, Pennsylvania? It is accurate, sir.
- [26:18]
Secret Service Acting Director
It is accurate that the Trump team had not asked for additional security and had not been rebuffed.
- [26:27]
Reporter
If you're talking about Butler, Pennsylvania. All assets requested were approved. If you're talking about the media reporting of assets requested, there were times when assets were unavailable and not able to be filled, and those gaps were staffed with state and local law enforcement tactical assets.
- [26:48]
Secret Service Acting Director
So I'm reading from The Washington Post, July 20, 2024. Secret Service said to have denied requests for more security, security at Trump events. The opening paragraph. 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. Is that right? That repeatedly the Trump detail asked for more resources and repeatedly Secret Service leadership turned that down?
- [27:18]
Reporter
That is not accurate, Senator. Assets are requested. There's a process that is made.
- [27:24]
Secret Service Acting Director
How many requests did the Trump team or the Trump detail ask for?
- [27:29]
Reporter
I can get you that number in a queue.
- [27:31]
Secret Service Acting Director
You don't know.
- [27:32]
Reporter
Now, I can speak to the ones that reported in the Washington Post and we can go through them if you like.
- [27:37]
Secret Service Acting Director
But you don't know how many, how.
- [27:38]
Reporter
Many requests there were in general, how many requests since 2021 that the former Trump detail has made a request for assets.
- [27:45]
Secret Service Acting Director
You've had two weeks. You had a spokesperson put something out that is false on its face. By the way, did you approve this statement when it went out?
- [27:53]
Reporter
I don't know if I did or didn't.
- [27:54]
Secret Service Acting Director
As this spokesperson, is he still employed? Does he still have a job? So he lied on behalf of the Secret Service. He still has a job. Did your predecessor, the former director, does she approve this statement?
- [28:04]
Reporter
Senator, our comms team, they send out statements. They do deconflict them and they put them out.
- [28:12]
Secret Service Acting Director
Did she approve this statement?
- [28:15]
Reporter
I don't know if she did or did not.
- [28:16]
Secret Service Acting Director
And you don't know if you did either?
- [28:18]
Reporter
I don't recall approving it.
- [28:20]
Secret Service Acting Director
Senator, 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?
- [28:33]
Reporter
Senator, I will commit to providing responses and getting you the information that you are seeking.
- [28:39]
Secret Service Acting Director
May I ask you something? And who makes the decision to those requests? Did you make that decision?
- [28:46]
Reporter
Which requests are you talking about? The ones that written in the post?
- [28:49]
Secret Service Acting Director
Yes.
- [28:50]
Reporter
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. It goes up to a logistics office between our.
- [29:04]
Secret Service Acting Director
Okay, so there's a bureaucracy. Is there a decision maker?
- [29:07]
Reporter
It's not a bureaucracy.
- [29:08]
Secret Service Acting Director
Give me the person that's a Decision making, decision maker. Is there one?
- [29:12]
Ben Ferguson
Senator?
- [29:12]
Reporter
It's a conversation. It's not just an absolute yay or no.
- [29:16]
Secret Service Acting Director
So let me tell you what I believe. I believe that the Secret Service leadership made a political decision to deny these requests. And I think the Biden administration has been suffused with partisan politics. 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. Whose father was murdered by an assassin and whose uncle was murdered by an assassin? Did the same person make that decision?
- [29:44]
Reporter
Senator, what I will tell you is that Secret Service agents are not political.
- [29:48]
Secret Service Acting Director
Okay, you're not answering, but you know what?
- [29:50]
Senator Ted Cruz
Leadership.
- [29:52]
Secret Service Acting Director
Leadership appointed by the president is political. I have a simple question. Yes or no, did the same person deny the Trump request that also denied the RFK request? That's a yes or no question, Senator.
- [30:06]
Reporter
That, that is not a yes or no question. 1. There is a process for a candidate nominee to receive protection.
- [30:12]
Secret Service Acting Director
Is there a bicycle?
- [30:14]
Reporter
Does the bicameral bipartisan process that the Hill.
- [30:18]
Secret Service Acting Director
Bicameral bipartisan process. What can a candidate. You are not a Congress.
- [30:23]
Senator Ted Cruz
You don't have a camera.
- [30:24]
Reporter
Mr. Kennedy submitted a request that was referred over to the cpac.
- [30:28]
Secret Service Acting Director
Okay, you're refusing to answer the question. Let me ask because. Because the failures on that day were catastrophic. By the way, is it true that on the day of the of the Butler event, that Secret Service transferred agent from President Trump to the First Lady?
- [30:42]
Reporter
No, sir, that's not true.
- [30:44]
Secret Service Acting Director
That's been widely reported.
- [30:45]
Reporter
It's not true. There was one airport agent that actually went on the manpower request for the Trump detail. They handled the arrival at the airport.
- [30:52]
Secret Service Acting Director
What is the relative, what was the relative size of the Trump detail compared to the detail that is assigned to the president of the First Lady?
- [31:01]
Reporter
Senator, the former president travels with a full shift just like the President.
- [31:05]
Secret Service Acting Director
What's the. So the exact same size. Is that your testimony that President Trump had the same size detail that President.
- [31:11]
Reporter
Biden has on the day of in Butler, the agents surrounding him? It is the same number of agents surrounding the president today? There is a difference between a sitting president who also. Not only.
- [31:22]
Secret Service Acting Director
Hold on. You're using president in a way that is not clear. Is it your testimony that in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump had the same number of agents protecting him that Joe Biden has at a comparable event?
- [31:35]
Reporter
I'm telling you the shift, the close protection shift surrounding that.
- [31:38]
Secret Service Acting Director
Yes.
- [31:39]
Reporter
You asked me, Senator, and I'm trying to answer it.
- [31:41]
Secret Service Acting Director
You are not answering it. Is it the same Number of agents or not?
- [31:45]
Reporter
Senator, there is a difference between the sitting President of the United States and.
- [31:49]
Secret Service Acting Director
What's the difference?
- [31:50]
Reporter
The difference 2x3x5 National Command Authority to launch a nuclear strike.
- [31:55]
Secret Service Acting Director
I'm not asset. That's how many more travel with the President? That former President.
- [32:01]
Reporter
But the number of Secret Service agents.
- [32:05]
Secret Service Acting Director
Stop interrupting me.
- [32:06]
Reporter
Go ahead.
- [32:06]
Secret Service Acting Director
You are refusing to answer clear and direct questions. I am asking the relative difference in the number of agents between those assigned to Donald Trump and those assigned to Joe Biden. I'm not asking why you assign more to Joe Biden. I'm asking is the Difference, is it 2x? Is it 3x? Is it 5x? Is it 10x?
- [32:27]
Reporter
Senator, I will get you that number so you can see it with your own eyes.
- [32:31]
Ben Ferguson
It's sad, Senator, but this seems now more relevant than it was after the first assassination attempt. The lack of answers. And by the way, you asked these questions on 7:30 if I'm not mistaken. So did you ever actually get the answers to all the questions where he said, I will get that for you?
- [32:52]
Senator Ted Cruz
Nothing. Nothing whatsoever. He provided absolutely nothing. I asked the Secret Service in writing. They have not responded to my questions in writing. I assume they'll do it sometime within the next century. But when he said in that hearing, I will get that information to you. We are sitting here in mid September and he has still not gotten it. And it. And it is a sense of a complete lack of accountability. Now look, what they're doing right now is a massive cya. They're trying to cover their own rear ends. But the problem is with the senior decision making and I believe the partisan politics that has been infused into the senior decision making. That is why I want to reiterate my call today. The Biden Harris administration should announce that they are assigning a full presidential Secret Service detail to Donald J. Trump. And by the way, let me be clear on a little sleight of hand that the acting director tried to try to pull in that hearing. When I asked, are the same number of agents assigned or what was the relative number of agents? He said, oh, the same number of agents are in the close protective shift. And he was trying to be really clever there. I think he thought he was clever. So the close protective shift are the agents that are assigned immediately on the body of the protectee. So I assume he was accurate, that both Biden and Trump, the immediate circle around him is the same number of agents. What is different is the way the Secret Service works is in concentric circles, perimeters of protection so there's a close detail of a number of agents around the protectee. But then with a full presidential protection, there's an intermediate perimeter that they locked down, and there's a broader perimeter. The broader perimeter presumably would have caught this sniper on the golf course who was trying to assassinate President Trump. And so the acting director was trying to be cute by saying, well, the immediate shift, the close protective details identical. And look, everyone understands right now that there are markedly fewer Secret Service agents protecting Donald Trump than are protecting Joe Biden. Which is amazing, because as best I can tell, all Joe Biden does is sleep on the beach in Delaware. But nonetheless, we still don't know. And, you know, Ben, there was a reason I did not ask at that hearing. I didn't ask the acting director how many agents were assigned to Trump. And the reason I didn't ask that, and I didn't ask how many are assigned to Biden. And the reason I didn't is he would have reasonably declined to answer that, that. That giving that information could compromise the security of the protectee. So I can tell you in my written questions, I have asked that specific question, how many agents? Give me the number. And I said, that answer can be given as law enforcement, confidential, so that it will not be made public, because that shouldn't be made public. There's some details about security that should not be in the public domain. That's why I asked the question I did give me the relative order of magnitude. Is it twice as Many? Is it 3x? Is it 5x? Is it 10x? And he adamantly refused to answer that question. And to this day, he has not answered that question.
- [36:31]
Ben Ferguson
Senator, finally, I want to just talk about the media coverage of this second assassination attempt. And I can't even believe that it's gotten to this point. In fact, let's just look over the last three days. Um, this morning on Jen Psaki show on msnbc, you had a congresswoman that said, quote, trump is the guy that stokes domestic terrorism. The problem isn't the people coming in, but this guy. You then add MSNBC's Alex Witt argue, quote, the Trump campaign needs to turn down the rhetoric now that Donald Trump has been shot at from the second time in three months, blaming Donald Trump for this. There's another example, and that's not enough for you. You also had people on TV referring to Donald Trump and implying that he was, you know, basically kind of like Hitler. And so this MSNBC guest said, quote, donald Trump is exactly like Hitler. Let's just quote, it like it's supposed to be quoted. This is the rhetoric that's on TV right now. And they even said today, well, maybe Donald Trump needs, needs to stop playing golf outside for a while, somehow implying what's his fault. He's exposing himself to assassins.
- [37:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, we are unfortunately, in a horribly divided time. But I do think that that, that personal rhetoric, the demonization of the left, but by the left of Donald Trump has reached a level that we'd never seen before. And I think that kind of vicious rhetoric, it bears fruit. People listen to the rhetoric when they hear people, people describe him as another Hitler. Unfortunately, it increases the chances that some lunatic is going to act on that. And listen, I want to close this podcast the way we opened by giving thanks to God, giving thanks that God protected Donald Trump. I talked with you in Milwaukee at the Republican convention, how I visited with Trump right after the shooting in Butler. And he said to me there, very quietly, he just said, God saved me for a reason. And there was a quiet introspection about it that I would say is not typical of how President Trump behaves. And I think for the second time in just over two months, President Trump has been protected. I am grateful for that protection. I'm grateful for him, but I'm also grateful for the country. To have a presidential election decided by an assassin, decided by murder is the ultimate affront to democracy. It is an attack at the very essence of our Constitution and the rule of law and the sovereignty of we the people to choose our leaders. And so, you know, today I'm just, I'm grateful for God's protection on President Trump. And let me be clear, I'm grateful for God's protection on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and, and on our leaders in both parties. You and I are both Christians and, and the Bible commands us to pray for our leaders and, and so I pray for our leaders even, even if I disagree with them strongly. I'm grateful for that protection and I'm grateful for God's protection over our nation. This is a time, especially when, when, when we need to be one nation under God.
- [40:15]
Ben Ferguson
Amen to that. Don't forget, the sooner and I do this show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We are going to keep you updated on, on this story. I have a feeling for Wednesday we're going to have a lot more info and a lot more to say on this. So we will have all of that for you on Wednesday as well. So hit that subscribe auto download button. Please share this podcast with your family and your friends as well. And the center. I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.