← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Head of Secret Service Claims ZERO Responsibility for Security Failures, plus Dave McCormick Shares Being Alongside Trump DURING Shooting-LIVE from RNC
00:43:58
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- [00:01]
Ben Shapiro
Welcome. It is Verdict, live from the Republican National Convention.
- [00:14]
Ted Cruz
Center.
- [00:15]
Ben Shapiro
Nice to be with you. And it's always fun. We come to these events because we get to hang out with friends.
- [00:20]
Ted Cruz
It is great to be with you. Half the time we're recording Verdict, and either I'm at home in my bedroom talking into a microphone late at night, Heidi's yelling at me because she wants to go to sleep, or sometimes I'm in a dingy motel talking into a microphone.
- [00:35]
Ben Shapiro
And, and when your power's out, sometimes you're at my house at midnight.
- [00:38]
Ted Cruz
Okay, that is true. The last podcast we did, you know, there was a hurricane that hit Houston. Power went out and then my Internet went out so I couldn't get online. So what did Ben say? Get your rear end in a car, drive to my house. I've got Internet. So that was the last podcast.
- [00:53]
Ben Shapiro
I, I dressed up for you full PJs.
- [00:55]
Ted Cruz
I. It was really, it was disturbing, actually. He was, he was in a Speedo. Let me just say it was far too much Ferguson for my t. Do you hear this?
- [01:07]
Ben Shapiro
All right, I'll get you back. I will get you back. We have a guest today.
- [01:12]
Ted Cruz
We do. So we are live in Milwaukee at the rnc. We have a guest, a good friend of mine, Dave McCormick. Now, who is Dave McCormick? Dave McCormick is from Pennsylvania. He was all state in wrestling. He was all state in football. He went to West Point where he was the captain of the wrestling team at West. By the way, Dave was captain of the wrestling team at West Point. Ben played varsity tennis at Ole Miss. I was a debater. Like both of these guys would have shoved me in a locker and forgotten me.
- [01:52]
Ben Shapiro
Dan, we agree on that statement, right?
- [01:54]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. That's a bipartisan and I say would have, if I have one more joke about them, he may still shove me in the locker. So Dave from there went on, became an Army Ranger, served in Iraq, went and served in the federal government, served as a senior official in the federal government. When Donald, he became one of the leading businessmen in America. When Donald Trump was president, President Trump tried to convince him to leave, making gazillions of dollars and come be the Deputy Secretary of Defense. Dave declined at the time, although his wife Dina, another very good friend, was then the deputy National Security Adv to President Trump. Dave is now running for Senate in the state of Pennsylvania. He is going to be the next senator in the state of Pennsylvania. When Dave wins, he is going to single handedly give us a majority and retire Chuck Schumer as majority. Dave has Joined the podcast once before, but he's here today because we're going to start on a bit of a somber and a note that the entire country and the entire world is focused on, which is what happened on Saturday. And Dave was standing on stage with President Trump on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania. He was there when the shooting occurred, when the attempted assassination happened. And so, Dave, I want to welcome you here and I would like to ask if we could just start the podcast by telling folks, bring us to this day, tell us what happen, where were you standing and what happened that you saw.
- [03:47]
Dave McCormick
Yeah, well, thank you both for having me. It's great with you. And Senator Ted Cruz is one of the great leaders in America today, one of the great voices. So if I'm fortunate enough to be in the Senate, this would be a guy I'd want to aspire to emulate. So thank you. Thank you for having me. And let's go clap on that. So, you know, this was one of the moments I'm still digesting. But what happened was I had been with President Trump in Philadelphia about 10 days earlier at a rally he did, did at Temple. And so when I heard that he was coming to Butler county, we were in contact with his team and I went with the idea that I'd see him beforehand, which I did. And he came in And I said, Mr. President, I want to thank you for how great you were in Philadelphia endorsing me and your support. And you can imagine President Trump, he said, this is going to be 10 times better, 10 times better. He goes, I'm going to have you come up on stage. I want you to take some time and talk about your race. It's very important we win Pennsylvania. And so then went out and sat in the audience and the President was looking out. It was an incredible, beautiful, hot day, but beautiful, 15,000 people, just incredible people as far as warm, cheerful, patriotic. It was a wonderful day.
- [05:04]
Ted Cruz
And tell us where we are. Like, what part of Pennsylvania is this? What's the surrounding area?
- [05:09]
Dave McCormick
Western Pennsylvania, Beautiful rolling farmland. This was at the Butler County Farm show. And you know, it was a wide open area for the most part that was cordoned off, a set of bleachers, big state and an enormous flag flying behind him, which you probably all saw. And people waited. You know, I didn't get there till 3, 3 o'clock or so, but people waited. Started mid morning and it was close to 100 degrees, just waiting and you know, there's no shade, unfortunately. And it was, but, but the, the turnout was incredible. And so he. So I sat. He was looking out the crowd. I sat on his right side in the first row, and he got up there in true to form. Within a minute, couple minutes, he started to talk about my race. Dave McCormick, we want him to win this race. This is important. He started to talk about my opponent, Bob Casey. And he said, now, why don't we have Dave come up here and talk about it? And so this was, you know, right in the beginning. And so I got up and sort of went through the security and started to go up onto the platform. And he goes, no, no, no, I want to talk about the border first. He goes, so, Dave, I'll have you up in a little bit. This is in front of 15,000 people. So I walk back down, I get in my chair.
- [06:19]
Ted Cruz
That's where you follow instructions right there.
- [06:21]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah.
- [06:21]
Dave McCormick
You know, I'm new to this political stuff, but I got the message. And within a minute or two, the bullets started to fire. And I was a military guy, as Ted said, so I recognized pretty quickly this was. I wasn't sure whether it was one or two shooters. I wasn't sure exactly where it was coming from. And everybody went down immediately. And the President, I saw reach for his ear and then drop behind the podium. And almost instantaneously, the Secret Service jumped on top of him, as you all saw. And then there was activity behind me, which sadly turned out to be somebody was shot in the bleachers behind me and ultimately died probably 25ft behind me. And I was looking at the President, and I watched the Secret Service get up around him like that phalanx, and I saw this fist come out. I couldn't see his face, and then they moved a bit, and I saw his face was bloody, but that he was okay. And I remember having this moment, like, the idea. I mean, 100 people. 100 people are behind that podium, and that shot gets fired. 99 of them are in the fetal position. Right. And the idea that he had the presence of mind, the defiance, the reassurance, the courage to stand up there and put out that fist, I think it was one of the reasons that there wasn't a stampede.
- [07:46]
Ted Cruz
It was extraordinary. It was something we have never seen before, but it was extraordinary leadership. And, you know, it was reminiscent of. It was reminiscent of Reagan after he was shot in 81. And in 81, after Reagan was shot, he said to Nancy, he said, honey, I forgot to die.
- [08:04]
Dave McCormick
Yeah. Yeah.
- [08:06]
Ted Cruz
And as Reagan was rolling into the er, rolling into the operating room in the hospital, he looked up at the Physicians. And he said to the doctors, he said, I hope y'all are all Republicans. And so that was Reagan, and it was a great historic calm and peace of mind. And then you have Teddy Roosevelt. Yeah, Teddy Roosevelt, not too far away from where we are right now, was giving a speech. He's standing up there and he's shot. Giving a speech. Now. Now, the bullet hits the papers he has in his. In. In his coat, but it also hits him and he's shot. And. And Teddy Roosevelt finishes the speech and says, it takes more than that to kill a bull moose. But I gotta say, President Trump's reaction, I think, is very much in line with extraordinary and historic leaders to stand up and the Secret Service trying to get him to go away. And look, when a security detail is pushing you, they're not shy, and they're like, move, move. And you can see him resisting. No. And he's saying to the world, that image, that image of him with the American flag behind him with his fist in the air with blood coming down his face, it shows that no matter how evil, no matter how many forces are fighting against us, that we can stand and win and turn the country around.
- [09:25]
Dave McCormick
It's incredible. Yeah, incredible. It was. And at the moment, you didn't realize, but we now realize it was an inch, an inch, less than an inch. And it's one of the most calamitous events in American history. And sadly, there were others killed and injured that day. So you have the.
- [09:52]
Ted Cruz
So you said Chief Comperatoria was behind you about 25ft.
- [09:56]
Dave McCormick
Right.
- [09:57]
Ted Cruz
And I guess I don't know if any of y'all have read his daughter's Facebook post in our last podcast. We read it. Read it in the pod. But his daughter's Facebook post, she describes how her father literally blocked through her and threw her mother on the ground and then blocked their bodies with his body, and he literally took a bullet to save the life of his wife and daughter.
- [10:18]
Dave McCormick
Yeah.
- [10:19]
Ted Cruz
You know, that is the very definition of a hero.
- [10:22]
Ben Shapiro
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- [12:18]
Dave McCormick
Yeah, I'd say, you know, two things could be true at the same time, and I think they are. One is, I mean, it was almost instantaneous. I mean, the Secret Service were surrounding him. The, you know, the sort of SWAT team guys came out and were looking down on the audience. You know, obviously the sniper was taken out quickly and so the response seemed incredibly fast and people were certainly willing to lay in front of the bullet for the President at that point. That seems true. The other thing that seems true is you couldn't what happened was unthinkable. The ease with which, you know, a 20 year old kid with a high powered rifle got within 130 yards of the President seems unimaginable. It's such a, it's such an example of incompetence and failure that it's almost hard to believe it happened. And when I everything I hear about it makes me, and I know senators much closer to this than I am, makes me think it's even more unbelievable that it happened so we could have heroes on the ground and also have one of the biggest leadership failures and bureaucratic failures in American history that we need to get to the bottom of. Because, you know, listen, I'm, I'm not always, I'm not known in my family to be the best shot, but a 9 out of 10 Pennsylvania deer hunters could have made that shot 10 times out of 10. I mean, that was not a hard shot. And the fact that the first thing we heard was that that roof was not in the envelope. I mean, what. Yeah, well.
- [13:44]
Ted Cruz
And I just got off a couple of hours ago with a conference call with the head of the Secret Service and head of the FBI. So I'm going to walk you into that and talk about that in just a minute. But before I do that, I want to finish talking through the experience on the ground. Now, when it happens, you hear the gunshots and look, you've been in Iraq, you've seen combat before. This is not. Those are not the first gunshots you've heard. I imagine things are utterly chaotic. Could you perceive when they took the shooter out? Could you tell that was happening? Could you tell where the shooter was? How much of that could you tell from the ground at the rally?
- [14:23]
Dave McCormick
Not much.
- [14:24]
Ted Cruz
Not much.
- [14:26]
Dave McCormick
I honestly thought that there were two shooters. For a while, I thought there were two shooters. It was very hard to tell. And maybe the other reason I thought that was because the Secret Service, but it felt to me like there was multiple guns. And so everybody was hunkered down and it was. You couldn't really step up and, you know, take.
- [14:44]
Ted Cruz
Did people rush out and panic? Did they walk out? Order. How did people react?
- [14:48]
Dave McCormick
That was the amazing thing. People reacted with, obviously, concern and confusion, but. But there was no panic, huh? Absolutely no panic.
- [14:56]
Ben Shapiro
And was that because Donald Trump stood up?
- [14:59]
Dave McCormick
I really believe that was.
- [15:00]
Ben Shapiro
I mean, you saw the crowd, even behind him, in their faces, where they hunkered down. And then he stood up with a fist, and it was like they stood up with him.
- [15:07]
Dave McCormick
Usa. They started to chant, usa. Yeah. I think the way Trump responded gave people confidence not to panic, and there was no panic. And it took hours to unwind things in because the Secret Service blocked things off. And I walked in, you know, I'd been on the screen, so people, many people knew who I was. Everybody would come up to me and say, what happened? What do you know? I didn't know much, to be honest with you, because that's the way it is in a situation like that. You don't know much, but it took a while to know that we weren't under attack any further. And just to take the story one step further, I had a chance to talk to the president the next day. I called him and just said, Mr. President, I'm so glad you're okay. And, you know, what a example of courage. And he said, two minutes, two more Minutes. So you'd have been on that stage with me. And he said, that's such a Trump, by the way.
- [16:03]
Ben Shapiro
That's such a Trump. Like, hey, you ought to be glad. I like to talk. So good. I saved my life. You owe me forever.
- [16:09]
Dave McCormick
It's even better. He said, two more minutes. And I thought he was going to say, and you might have been hurt, too, Dave. And he said, you would have been in prime time.
- [16:19]
Ben Shapiro
He knows his audience. What was it like after he left? And then how did it unfold? How long were you there? When did they let you leave on your own? Or was it orderly? What was it like?
- [16:31]
Dave McCormick
It was orderly, but, you know, because it was the way it went down. Cars were blocked, and they had blocked off a whole part of the way that people came in. You know, honestly, when I came in, I came in a special entrance. They knew I was coming. They knew who I was. I was wanded. The security seemed reasonable. The security lines were for hours to get through all the metal detectors and so forth, but they closed off a lot of that. So it took a while for people to get out. Took hours. And everybody was, you know, the cell phone coverage was bad, so everybody was trying to get connected and make sure that, you know, their loved ones weren't hurt and things like that. And people were just worried that the president was. And then when it became clear the president was okay, but there were other casualties. It was a sad, sad moment.
- [17:18]
Ted Cruz
Well, look, I will say, and you said this earlier, it is utterly infuriating that this occurred. This should have been prevented. And this afternoon, there was an all senators call with the head of the Secret Service and the head of the FBI. And the call lasted about 45 minutes. I will say it was a deeply frustrating call. So for the first 30 minutes, they talked and they basically filibustered. And they got up and they described all the security steps they did. They went their days ahead of time. They did this, they did this. They did this. They did everything else. And they went through excruciating details of a timeline of everything they did, and they did everything except stop a bloody man with a rifle from shooting the president. And it's kind of like. I mean, it was maddening. And then on this call, they allowed a couple of questions. They had a thing where you hit a number to dial a question. I immediately hit a number to dial question. By the way, Mike Lee immediately hit a number to dial a question. Marsha Blackburn immediately hit a number to dial question. None of us got our questions. They did Just a handful of questions. And I got to tell you, the questions were pretty patty cake. Look, the questions that I would have asked had I gotten the chance and that I intend to ask. We need to have congressional hearings, and we should have them next week with the head of the Secret Service and DHS and the FBI under us. But listen, the obvious questions to ask that nobody asked, that Chuck Schumer certainly didn't ask. Number one, why were there not more agents assigned? Why were there not enough agents assigned to protect the president? Number two, why was that rooftop not secured? It was 160 yards away. It was an obvious line of sight. Number three, why was there no aerial support? Why were there no drones? Why was there no helicopter? Why was there nothing providing aerial coverage? Number four, they went through a timeline that this individual, the shooter, and by. I won't say his name. I don't say the names of shooters. These bastards deserve to be forgotten by history. I will not repeat his name. But the shooter, they spotted him over an hour earlier, walking in with a range finder to measure the range. They also spotted him a half hour earlier casing the building that he ultimately climbed up on top of. And so the questions I intended to continue to ask is, why didn't you detain the guy? And why the hell did you allow the President to keep speaking? If you're searching for someone you think might be an active sniper, there's a very easy thing for the Secret Service to say, which is, hold on a second. We're putting a pause on this. We're getting the President out of harm's way. Why didn't they do any of that? And I didn't get a chance to ask any of those questions because this was, I think, a CYA briefing, and it is frustrating. I will tell you. They asked the head of the Secret Service, how did the guy get to the top of the building? She said, well, I don't know. What the hell do you mean, you don't know? This was four days ago, five days ago, and you don't know how he got up to the building? Is there a more important question that you're dealing with? Well, yes, it's how to cover your rear end from political accountability because you don't actually want to.
- [20:51]
Ben Shapiro
What?
- [20:51]
Ted Cruz
Let me ask you, what does it take to get fired by Joe Biden? Like, seriously, this woman should be fired. Yesterday, it was the most spectacular failure. And let's be clear, it is not difficult to figure out. It is a risk to a president from a rifleman, from a High vantage point. We do have a little bit of history to be clear. That was not my father.
- [21:19]
Ben Shapiro
They retracted it recently, so we know the National Enquirer says it was not. There you go. It only took him 10 years.
- [21:26]
Ted Cruz
I did have on the floor of the RNC. A reporter asked me about that last night, actually on the floor standing right with the Texas.
- [21:32]
Ben Shapiro
That's a hard hitting question right there.
- [21:34]
Ted Cruz
And I said, let me tell you, actually a question quote from Marco Rubio 2016 campaign when the allegation came up that my father was involved in killing jfk. And I said, look, Republican senators, we have lunch together every Tuesday, Wednesday And Thursday in D.C. marco stood up in front of all our colleagues and he said, let me tell you, I know for an absolute fact Ted's dad did not kill jfk. And Marco continued, he said, because if a Cuban had done that, he would have told everyone.
- [22:13]
Ben Shapiro
Very accurate.
- [22:14]
Ted Cruz
And you all know my dad. Well, tell me, tell me that it's completely true. This is a known threat and it is infuriating that they did not protect against it. Look, you're having been on the ground and you're also having been an Army Ranger in Iraq, give me your, your perspective on the just maddening failure. And to be clear, I want to underscore what Ben said. It's not a failure by the individual Secret Service agents. Those men and women put themselves in harm's way and acted heroically. It is the bureaucratic leadership that is covering their hindquarters and taking zero responsibility for their disastrous decisions. Yeah, give me your reactions.
- [22:57]
Dave McCormick
Well, you know, if you sort of listed the 10 most obvious ways that the President could be put at risk in this circumstance, this rooftop would have been in the top three. You know, this would have been an obvious place that the President. So I have no answer. It seems high. And this is why an investigation is so important. Your hearings are so important. It kind of seems, by the way.
- [23:20]
Ted Cruz
It'S not clear we're going to have Senate hearings because it takes the Democrats to call them. So. Dick Durbin is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. We have jurisdiction over this. A number of us have called on Dick Durbin to call a hearing, but we don't have a hearing scheduled. There's going to be a House hearing, but Senate Democrats, as far as I can tell, are not interested in finding out what happened. We certainly haven't heard a hearing announced yet.
- [23:42]
Dave McCormick
No, it's. There has to be. And the reason is if you. It's hard to imagine a 20 year old kid, I mean, all of you are parents here. Imagine you're a 20 year old, right? Plotting this thing in isolation, developing a plan, knowing enough to be able to piece together a plan that would be so effective in a security environment which shouldn't have been as permissive as it was.
- [24:07]
Ted Cruz
And by the way, we had news breaking this week that the government of Iran has hired hitmen to murder Donald Trump.
- [24:14]
Dave McCormick
Right?
- [24:14]
Ted Cruz
So this is, we still don't know a ton about this shooter, but at least right now it appears to be a 20 year old kid who went up and did this. Like, holy cow, if they can't protect against that, what about a professional hit squad from an enemy of this country? I mean, this is incredibly disturbing, right?
- [24:33]
Dave McCormick
And unexplainable. So thank you for what you're doing.
- [24:36]
Ted Cruz
And I will say there's a danger, there's a danger of this being like Afghanistan. Look, Afghanistan. You look at the disastrous incompetence of the body, the administration in that withdrawal. And it encouraged every enemy of America. It encouraged, it played a major role in why Putin invaded Ukraine. It played a major role, I believe, in an October 7th in Hamas attacking Israel, that our enemies looked to the Biden administration and said, these people are utterly weak and ineffective. I've got to say, for any, Every enemy of America, they look at the incompetence of the Secret Service under the Biden administration. And I, I don't even like saying these words. But it's important to acknowledge this risk. Our enemies have just been encouraged. The danger has gone up because they say, if that jackdoodle can do it. Yeah, what about if we send in real trained professionals?
- [25:32]
Dave McCormick
They also said, if Donald Trump gets elected, I don't want to mess with that guy.
- [25:37]
Ben Shapiro
I want to read.
- [25:37]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, hold on. This is a point, reiterate that, because that's actually a very important point. If you're an enemy of America, think.
- [25:45]
Dave McCormick
If you're sitting in Tehran or in Beijing or in Moscow or other places where adversaries sit, terrorist cells wherever they might be, and you watch that videotape and I think you say, if that guy becomes president, which I think he's gonna become president again, I'm not gonna mess with him. Yeah, I'd use other language if we weren't on the, if we were on your podcast, Ted, but we're not gonna mess, we're not gonna mess with that guy because he's a mean hombre and he's tough and his instinct is to fight. And, and so I think almost overnight we've Lost deterrence under Joe Biden, adversaries was like the bully on the playground. They're not afraid to punch us in the face. I think the day Donald Trump takes office again, deterrence goes back up.
- [26:35]
Ben Shapiro
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- [28:45]
Ted Cruz
To ask you this.
- [28:45]
Ben Shapiro
You mentioned the Senate only meeting details. I'm going to read this from CBS News. Details are emerging about the moments that led to the shooting. Bystanders alerted law enforcement to the gunman on the Roof of a building about 410ft away from the stage, at least two minutes before the first shot was fired at Trump.
- [29:06]
Ted Cruz
Yep.
- [29:08]
Ben Shapiro
How vulnerable are we and how vulnerable is every president past and present if you've got a two minute warning and the job is still not done? Did anyone answer that question on the call?
- [29:21]
Ted Cruz
Look, we need to have. Part of the reason we need to have a hearing is there are a whole series of questions about how many threats have there been? How many agents did you have assigned? Should there be 2x, 3x, 4x? As many agents assigned to the President? What resources, what equipment did you have the threat profile? I'm willing to bet that Donald Trump is the single most threatened individual on the face of the planet. Now, I don't actually have the facts of the threats that have come in to prove that is correct, but you know what Secret Service does, and I would like us to know what is the comparative threat level between Trump and Biden? And my concern is that did politics play a role? Was it politics or incompetence? Because it's clear they screwed up massively. I can tell you in this call. So you had one senator who asked, were there drones, yes or no. And the answer from the head of the Secret Service was we determined that the red from that that rooftop was mitigated by counter snipers, meaning no. Number one, she didn't even say the word no, which is what someone honestly would say. She didn't say, well, obviously we needed drones and we should have had them, which is what someone obviously would have said. She didn't make the obvious point. Well, the roof was slanted so the counter snipers couldn't see the guy because he was on the other end of the slant. And by the way, I'm pretty sure the roof didn't suddenly slant itself in between when they advanced the scene and when it occurred. In other words, they could have figured out if your, quote, mitigation is counter snipers and they don't have a line of sight to a place a sniper could be, then you don't have effective mitigation. She addressed none of that, but it was pure bureaucraties. That's a good word for it.
- [31:16]
Ben Shapiro
This is why I love having live studio audience. When you look at the roof and.
- [31:21]
Ted Cruz
For the folks listening at home, since we are in a studio audience and the audience is not miked, I will just say you guys were in a cow field and they suggested it was a substance that was probably there in large amounts.
- [31:33]
Ben Shapiro
Exactly when you were there and after the shooting happened, you saw how close it was. Were you shocked? Because I'm sure you saw the commotion on the rooftop. I'm sure you knew that's where the shots came out from. Then you look at it, is there any, I mean, former military, when you look at it, could you believe that building was not monitored the way it should have been?
- [31:53]
Dave McCormick
Well, you know, I would just be honest, I didn't know at the, on the site, you know, you're in the middle of people are, you know, you're trying to get people out. So I wasn't sure until I got back and saw the TV projections and the aerial photos where it came from.
- [32:08]
Ben Shapiro
Were you shocked then knowing that you were there and that's how close that building was?
- [32:11]
Dave McCormick
Oh yeah, absolutely, because it's the most obvious place. And the idea, just to go back to my earlier point, the idea that the sniper, the 20 year old kid who has no experience, would have known the place where he wouldn't be in the sniper's line of sight. This, these are questions. I don't know what the answer is, but it seems highly unlikely that a single person could have pulled this off without so much luck and so much incompetence. And so that's why the hearings to give us confidence that we understand what really happened here are so incredibly important.
- [32:49]
Ted Cruz
Well, and look, I will say the FBI was on and they're investigating and at least what they're reporting right now is they don't have evidence of anyone else being involved and they're looking at his cell phone and his computers and they're engaged in the forensics and we will find out. We have seen with other instances there are times where their lone shooters commit horrific attacks. And it's possible that this young man who is an alienated loner, that unfortunately is a profile we've seen in other instances of people who have committed horrific offenses. And so we'll find out in time. You know, I will say when the shooting occurs, this is one of the moments I think every one of us is going to remember exactly where we were when this happened and whether we were staring in horror at a television set or in my instance, I was sitting there having a meal with Heidi and we're staring in horror at our phones and hitting refresh. And by the way, it says something that nobody was on news sites, you're on social media, you're on X because it's the fastest thing. You're getting immediate updates of what's happening one after the other after the other. So we talked About. For example, in our last podcast, we played from what got put up on X of like, one of the guys standing outside the rally that saw this guy climbing on the roof, yelling to cops, there's a guy with a rifle on the roof. We now know a local police officer climbed up to that roof. He pointed the rifle at the local police officer. And yet, and we haven't had these questions yet, what level of communication was there between the local police and the Secret Service? The instant the local police officer saw a sniper on a roof with a gun, he should have been yelling in his microphone, shooter, shooter, shooter. Instantaneously. The Secret Service should have pulled Trump off of that stage before the shooter could aim, and they should have taken him out right there. That didn't happen. Which raises the question, was the Secret Service, did they have communication synchronized with local law enforcement? And I will tell you something also, so I right before this podcast, I.
- [34:58]
Ben Shapiro
Was going to ask you that question because people are going to want to hear this. You just met with President Trump at the convention. For people that are listening, you got to see him this first time since this happened.
- [35:09]
Ted Cruz
First time I've seen him since he was shot and I visited with him. Spent.
- [35:13]
Ben Shapiro
What do you say?
- [35:14]
Ted Cruz
Look, number one, he is happy. He is strong. His ear is bandaged. I will tell you, he was quiet for a second, and he spoke with a seriousness that was unlike anything I've heard from Donald Trump before. And he said, God saved me that day. And listen, I believe that is absolutely right. Many of us have seen online, for example, recreations of the angle of the bullet and had his head turned even slightly to the right or even slightly to the left, he would have been killed. And it is what I said at the convention last night. I thank God for saving him. I believe God turned his head, turned his head so that the path of the bullet did not kill him that day. And listen, this is horrific. I will say, going back to the Reagan analogy, one of the things Reagan always said is that when he survived that assassination attempt, that it changed him, that it gave him a seriousness of purpose, that God spared me for a reason. And listen, I think what President Trump has done already for the country has been extraordinary. But I got to say, just visiting with him a few minutes ago, it was powerful in a very different way. And this was just him and me talking one on one, that it had a real impact. And I also, I talked to him about this briefing that I just left, and I expressed how deeply frustrating it was. Now I will say, have you Noticed Trump Secret Service detail here at the convention.
- [37:04]
Ben Shapiro
They look like an offensive lineman, like.
- [37:07]
Ted Cruz
A whole line from the Army Green Bay Packers. I'm pretty sure the entire Green Bay packers are right now surrounding Donald Trump.
- [37:14]
Ben Shapiro
What is your weight and how tall are you? Yes, we'll take you today. Yeah, it is different. Final question for each of you as we wrap.
- [37:21]
Ted Cruz
I believe, by the way, bringing in the packers is probably worth three points in this.
- [37:24]
Ben Shapiro
At least. At least. That was political IQ there.
- [37:27]
Dave McCormick
Smooth how you did that political IQ there. That's tough.
- [37:30]
Ben Shapiro
I did that tough. I want to tell you about my friends over at Blackout Coffee real quick. If you are like me and you start your morning really early and you really want to make sure you have a great cup of coffee when you start your morning, you've got to check out blackout coffee. I am one of those now. I'm not giving my money to woke liberal companies. And in the coffee space there are some seriously liberal companies that are fighting against our values. And that's the other reason why I love blackout coffee. Because they are a hardcore conservative company that gives you not average coffee, not good coffee, but premium coffee. I'm talking about of the best cup of coffees of your life. Blackout Coffee is 100 committed conservative values. From sourcing the beans, the roasting process, customer support and shipping. They embody true American values. They accept no compromise on taste or quality. Now I want you to try it. I want you to save money and you're going to be like hundreds of others have sent me notes saying, ben, it's legit. It's really, really good coffee. I start my day with every morning. Blackoutcoffee.com verdict is where you're gonna go. Blackout coffee.com verdict now you're going to use a coupon code. Verd for 20% off your first order. Be awake, not woke. That's blackout coffee.com verdict promo code. Verdict for 20% off your first Order. Blackout coffee.com verdict final. Final question. I believe that Thursday night actually may be the most important speech of Donald Trump's life. I think that his speech is an opportunity for him to unite the country in a way that he's never been able to do and bring people into the Republican Party that may be have written it off. I think everyone is going to watch to see what he says. How important do you think this speech is? I think it's his most important speech ever.
- [39:15]
Dave McCormick
I agree with you. I mean, I was. I'm not surprised to hear you say that. The President was quiet. I think he does feel like he. I'm speculating, but I haven't spoken with him about this, but that he was spared for a reason and that this is his opportunity. And I think people want to be united. And I think this sent a chill through our nation. It didn't just send a chill through Republicans and Trump supporters. It sent a chill through everybody. That the state of our politics, the nastiness, the evil, the violence that's been encouraged by some of the nasty rhetoric has to come to an end. And that there's a moment, and I think based on what he said in his statement, I think there's an opportunity for him to really unite the country. I had someone who called me the other day who was a Trump, someone who didn't like President Trump at all, who was a donor, and he said, listen, the guy I saw get off that floor and stand up and put his fist in the air, I want that guy to be our president. And I think this is the moment, and I don't think it's an accident that it happened. And I think it's all part of a grand plan. And so I'm very hopeful and very optimistic. And I think as it's his moment for really bringing our country together in a way it hasn't been for years.
- [40:31]
Ted Cruz
Senator, look, I agree that his speech tomorrow night is incredibly important. I also saw the news break today that on Friday, President Trump is going to be attending Chief Comparatore's funeral. And I think that is the right thing to do. He will go down as an American hero. But this is a moment, I think, for everyone I hope, to come together. And I will say, as I was doing a bunch of media interviews last night with reporters, and they kept asking, republicans are so united.
- [41:13]
Ben Shapiro
It is a little odd, though. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. We finally got our stuff together. We can enjoy that.
- [41:21]
Ted Cruz
Mom. Their look of, like, befuddlement. I'm one of them, by the way. Combined with frustration, like, damn it, can't you fight with each other? Like, come on, just start yelling at each other, please. That's what we want to cover. And look, I think that is the one overwhelming word out of this convention is unity. And I couldn't help but point out to each of the reporters, I said, I sure hope you're prepared to do a compare and contrast to the Democrat convention, which they may not have for another few weeks. They are utterly divided. I don't know how many of y'all saw today. Adam Schiff came out and said Joe Biden should drop out, that he can't win. Moments before, did you say the laptop.
- [42:07]
Ben Shapiro
Was real at the same time?
- [42:09]
Ted Cruz
So where I saw the president was at the premiere of a new movie that Dave Bossie and Citizens United is putting out, Trump's Mission Rescue Mission Saving America. It's a terrific documentary. And so I was there for it. Trump was there for it. So he got up and spoke and introduced it. It was very funny. He did basically a roast to Dave Bossie. He said, you know, I'm speaking tomorrow and everyone says the president, before you accept the nomination, you're supposed to shut up and not talk. But then Bossie made me do this, damn it. So I'm here. And he sort of did a Trump trademark few minute riff, including pointing out that Adam Schiff, whom he promptly calls, whom I call Watermelon Head, and I'm sitting next to Jeff Landry, the governor of Louisiana. Great guy. And I just said, Jeff, he really is one of a kind. Tell me someone else who would say standing on stage, Adam Schiff, whom I call Watermelon Head. But, you know, sometimes clarity is helpful in confusion and communicating. And look, I think tomorrow will matter enormously. And I do hope. Look, I hope this is a moment when the entire country comes together.
- [43:32]
Ben Shapiro
Amen. Programming note for everybody listening. We will be doing a special show tomorrow on Thursday at the convention. So make sure you grab that. To our audience that's been here in Milwaukee. You guys are incredible. Thank you so much for coming out.
- [43:45]
Dave McCormick
Thank you.
- [43:46]
Ben Shapiro
So big round of applause.
- [43:47]
Dave McCormick
Thank you to our guests.
- [43:51]
Ted Cruz
Thank you.
- [43:51]
Dave McCormick
Thank you. It was fun.
- [43:52]
Ben Shapiro
And we'll see you back here tomorrow.