← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
How the Hell did the Trump Assassination Attempt Happen? Catastrophic Security Failures-What went wrong?
00:50:19
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- [00:01]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And Senator, the big question I think everyone in this country is asking themselves right now and talking about is how did this happen? What went wrong?
- [00:15]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, we're a day and a half removed from the first presidential assassination attempt since 1981, since the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. A day and a half ago, Donald Trump was shot by a crazed assassin. And I got to say what, what millions of Americans are thinking is how in the hell did this happen? What went wrong? Why did Secret Service not stop this? Why was there not additional security? Why was this guy able to get on a roof and fire a rifle at the president? And where was were the security protocols to prevent that? We're going to break that down and we're also going to talk about the incessant, violent, hateful, horrifying rhetoric from Democrats that, that, that pressed and pressed and pressed and pressed until this happened. And right now they're acting like, like they're utterly innocent. They have no idea why anyone would look to them as playing a role, causing this, this horrific assassination attempt. We're going to talk about that, too.
- [01:23]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. It's certainly two very important stories and important conversations that every American. 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 one 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 it every morning. BlackoutCoffee.com verdict is where you're gonna go. Blackout Coffee.com verdict Now you're going to use the coupon code. Verdict for 20 off your first order. Be awake, not woke. That's Blackout Coffee. Dot com verdict promo code verdict for 20% off your first order Blackout Coffee.com verdict center the the question that everybody is asking is, and you mentioned it, how did this happen? And not only that, but there's these eyewitness accounts that have come out that lend to that question becoming even more of an outrage. Like, how the hell did this happen?
- [03:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, no, no, no. It's infuriating. And I want to start by, by a BBC interview with, with a gentleman who was at the rally. He was standing outside the rally, but he witnessed the shooter before the shooting and he was desperately trying to point him out to law enforcement. And, and, and it's just this, this kink came out with, with within minutes of the shooting happening and it really just defies, defies words. Give a listen.
- [03:34]
Eyewitness
You weren't inside the event, but you were just outside. Tell us what you saw. So we had a party here all day. You can see behind us, Brinkles Farming greenhouse here. We had a party and we all decided, hey, you know, when we hear Trump up there, we're going to walk up through the field, skip, stand by the trees out there under the shade and watch and listen to the rally, right? We couldn't see them, but we could hear him. So we walked up and probably five to seven minutes of Trump speaking, I'm estimating here, I have no idea, you know, but we noticed a guy crawling, arm, you know, bear, crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50, 50ft away from us. So we're standing there, you know, we're pointing, we're pointing at the guy crawling up roof. And he had a gun, right? He had a rifle. We could clearly see him with a rifle. Absolutely. We're pointing at him. The police are down there running around on the ground. We're like, hey, man, this guy on the roof with a rifle. And the police were like, huh?
- [04:40]
Senator Ted Cruz
What?
- [04:40]
Eyewitness
You know, like, like they didn't know.
- [04:41]
Ben Ferguson
What was going on.
- [04:42]
Eyewitness
You know, we're like, hey, right here on the roof, we can see him from right here. We see him, you know, he's, he's crawling and next thing you know, I'm like, I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage? I'm standing there pointing at him for, you know, two or three minutes. Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn. I'm pointing at that roof, just standing there like this. And next thing you know, five shots ring out. So you're, you're certain that the shots came from that guy on the roof. 100.
- [05:15]
Senator Ted Cruz
And he.
- [05:15]
Eyewitness
He was up there for a couple of minutes. He was up there for a couple of minutes. Absolutely. At least three to four minutes. And you were telling police and the Secret Service. We were telling the police we were pointing at him for the Secret Service, who were looking at us from the top of the barn. They were looking at us the whole time when we were standing by that tree. Binoculars. Could they see him? Probably not, because the roof, the way the slope went, he was behind where they could see. But why is there not Secret Service on all of these roofs here? I mean, this is not a big place. Did you see. I mean, obviously everyone when the shooting started, Everyone was very panicked. Did you see what happened to him at all? Oh, yeah, they blew his head off. Okay, sorry. Secret Service blew his head off. Okay, just be careful because we don't quite know who's watching. But you're pretty sure they shot the guy?
- [05:59]
Senator Ted Cruz
Absolutely.
- [06:00]
Eyewitness
100%. Yep. You saw that happen? Yep, Yep. Okay. Yep. And did you see them go up to him afterwards or they. Yeah, they crawled up on the roof, they had their guns pointed at him, made sure he was dead, he was dead, and that was it. It was over. That's incredibly shocking. The guy was on the roof right there. You could see the white roof right there. Did you get a look at him? Could you. No, other than he was in muted colors, tan type clothing. We saw the rifle flinging around as he was trying to crawl. I mean, we saw the r. I mean, do you know about guns? Do you know what kind of weapon it was? Oh, absolutely. Know about guns for sure. You know, I mean, it was a rifle of some sort. I wouldn't know. You know, I wasn't close enough to read the label on. Was a rifle of some sort? Yeah, absolutely. So what do you. How do you process what you've just seen? I. I don't know what to say, man. I'll tell you is, you know, if I. If I walked up closer there with anything that Secret Service considered a problem, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you right now. But I don't know why a guy who we're standing there pointing out to police and Secret Service is crawling up the roof.
- [07:14]
Senator Ted Cruz
Are you outside of the security terminal?
- [07:16]
Eyewitness
Yes, right there by that tree. We were outside the security terminal. But my question is there's only a few buildings around here. Why is Secret Service not on every building here? There's a whole bunch of questions, I think, that are going to come. There's a whole bunch of questions.
- [07:32]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, you listen to this guy. He's a concerned citizen.
- [07:36]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah.
- [07:37]
Ben Ferguson
He says we're, we're yelling there's a guy on the roof. And, and, and I do think it's important because there's been a lot of people that have been critical of the, of the, the snipers that took him out saying, how did they not see him? You notice? He said, I'm sure they couldn't see him on the back part of the roof.
- [07:51]
Senator Ted Cruz
Right. It was slanted, it was slanted away from them.
- [07:53]
Ben Ferguson
And I think that's important that those guys did their job when they saw him, from what we understand, and this guy saying, look, they couldn't see him where he was.
- [08:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and that really goes to the preparation of Secret Service for the event and for the manpower. It certainly appears there was woefully insufficient manpower to make that rally safe. The snipers on the other side of the roof from everything it appears couldn't see him because the roof was sloped away. That where the sniper was was 164 yards away from President Trump. That is not very far. It's certainly not far with a rifle with a scope. 164 yards, by the way.
- [08:36]
Ben Ferguson
It's, I talked today to someone that is in Secret Service and he said that is 20% of the range that they train to look for.
- [08:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah.
- [08:48]
Ben Ferguson
Just to put it in perspective. So this would be, if you were laying out, okay, that's 10% away of what we trained for. This guy was within 20% of what they trained for to look for snipers.
- [08:58]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and a story that also broke, the Associated Press reported yesterday, quote, a local law enforcement officer climbed to the roof and found crooks, the gunman who pointed the rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder and the gunman quickly fired towards Trump. The official said that's when U.S. secret Service gunman shot him. The official said, so that's really astonishing. That means law enforcement saw him before he fired the shots, came up the ladder. The guy pointed the rifle at him. Now presumably, we don't know the answer to this right now, but presumably that law enforcement was not in contact with.
- [09:39]
Ben Ferguson
The Secret Service, not in the same frequency. Which reminds me so much in my next question, he was going to be about what we saw after 9 11. After 9 11, what we realized was is that, that there were too many government agencies that weren't able to talk to one another, that weren't talking to one another. It was FBI over here, Secret Service over here and then the CIA over here, and they weren't sharing information the way that they needed to. Is it possible that in 2024, we have everyone at this event, but they're not able to speak to one another for whatever reason?
- [10:15]
Senator Ted Cruz
It is astonishing. And look at the timing of this. So you've got this guy on the roof, a police officer comes up the ladder. He turns around, points the gun at the police officer. Look, I don't fault the police officer for ducking back down when you get a rifle pointed at you. But it takes a little bit of time for a gunman to turn around then and aim and sight up and fire the shots and fire them close enough that they hit the President's ear. That takes a little bit of time. That doesn't happen in five seconds. Presumably, if they're on the same frequency, the instant the officer sees him in your microphone, you're yelling, gun, gun, gun. And the snipers can immediately train on him. So when the guy pokes his head over to shoot, they can take him out right then. If they were talking to each other.
- [11:08]
Ben Ferguson
Well, not even that. If you went through it and they said, shooter, shooter, shooter, you would immediately grab the President and pull him to the ground or rush him off the stage.
- [11:16]
Senator Ted Cruz
Absolutely, that's true. You don't even. You can take it. They didn't pull him down. And that's what that, that observer was saying. He's like, why is Trump still on the stage? Why is he still talking? This guy's there with a rifle, like. Like, he's. He's frustrated, out of his mind. And let me just pause and say, thank God. I believe God's protection was on Donald Trump.
- [11:39]
Ben Ferguson
Amen.
- [11:40]
Senator Ted Cruz
That day, thank God he turned his head. Had that bullet been an inch or even a half an inch to the left, we could be dealing with a very different show right now with a completed assassination. Yeah, like. And I do believe it was God's providence that made that bullet miss. But we need to ask, and I want you to listen also. So Dan Bongino was on Fox and Friends, and you and I are both friends with Dan. He's a terrific guy, but former Secret.
- [12:19]
Ben Ferguson
Service agent for people that may not.
- [12:21]
Senator Ted Cruz
Know that for 15 years. Yeah. So what Dan did before he got into radio and began commenting is he was a Secret Service agent. So he knows Secret Service presidential protection at a level, frankly, that unless you've been service for a decade or more, you don't know it. I want you to listen to this interview because it really does highlight the massive, massive security failures that day.
- [12:49]
Eyewitness
Your thoughts on this, Dan?
- [12:51]
Ben Ferguson
Just, just continue where you left off.
- [12:52]
Dan Bongino
On the reaction here. So again, open security questions right now. And this is why again, I think the Secret Service, the pr, Anthony Guglielemi, has to be very careful about what they put out. You know, he says in his, in his, in his ex post, and you can read it yourself, you don't need to hear from me that they deployed these extra resources and technology. Okay, well which ones? You're telling me the best technology you have was deployed and you missed a shooter 130 yards? Say it was 200 yards. The Secret Service CS team, Pete, the counter sniper teams. And I'm not sure those two guys are Secret Service. We have to remember that we don't always, when we go to New York, sometimes with high level protectees, we'll use nypd, esu, countersniper. So I'm not really sure either way they'd still be briefed in. The question we have to ask is if that's the best technology we have. And we had a CS team up there with a shooter that, you know, we're trained out to 1,000 yards in the Secret Service with the counter sniper team, how did they miss someone at most, you know, 1/5 of the way there. It doesn't make any sense. And even worse, it's broad daylight on a white roof. So again, open questions here. Was there forward looking, infrared deployed? Was there aerial support, drones, helicopters, you know, something happened to. If you go back and listen to the audio, I want you to listen to this. After I get off here. When Donald Trump, after this tragic thing happens, you'll see the Secret Service agents. And by the way, I know some of those guys personally. It takes a lot to run into bullets divorcing the security failure. So at least they did that part, you know, correctly and they knew what they were doing after the security absolutely fell. But you're going to hear something if you listen closely. The guy mentions Hawkeye on the scene, he's talking about those two, the black BDU with the tactical gear, CAT element. That two man CAT element, that stands for Counter Assault Team. That's a Secret Service special weapons team equivalent to our swat. So they're there, they all deployed. The bunting around the front of the stage is probably armor. Donald Trump knew to duck. I mean most, most people would. He saved his own life. That's just a fact. The evacuation did not go right. I mean, the rule with the Secret Service is cover the protectee and evacuate the Other rule is maximum to the protectee, minimum to the problem. Why minimum to the problem? Because you don't know that's the only problem. It could be a distraction. There could be another person in the crowd. So if you don't jump on the protectee, you could be looking at multiple shooters. So at least that part. The guys there, you know, stepped up there. But the failure here is absolutely catastrophic. And I got to tell you, the Secret Service should be very careful. I could tell you and absolutely confirm from the horse's mouth, from multiple people, not just one. And I saw Congressman Waltz text this out before on X. There have been repeated requests to increase the security footprint around not just the residences of Donald Trump, but the body itself. They have been rebuffed. Like I said, I can tell you actual quotes. The Secret Service directors completely failed and candidly should resign today. Kim Cheadle has failed Donald Trump and honestly failed Joe Biden, too. He's the president right now. Where's the DHS secretary? I mean, this is. You're blaming it on manpower. So just to be clear, we're a $4 trillion United States government, and we can't fork over enough money to keep our people alive. And then you're sending out tweets like, oh, this is the best technology we have, really, to let a sniper 150 yards away from the potential next president shoot a piece of his ear off. That's your victory lap? Give me a break, man.
- [16:40]
Ben Ferguson
Let me just stop there. And I want to ask you this because it was the question that I was asked, and I was sitting today at L with a guy that has taken out some of the worst terrorists literally in the world. And the question that I was asking him was like, how does this even get happen? He said, number one, Ben, he goes, they didn't have enough people, clearly didn't have enough coverage. He said, I don't know how. With the budget that they have, how they didn't have enough money to pay for enough people to cover the President of the United States of America. And I think that's a very valid point that many Americans are asking themselves right now. Forget if you're Republican or Democrat, Senator. We pay a lot of money in taxes. We have trillions of dollars in debt. You're telling me that we're. But we got a line item here that we're really worried about and a budget here on Secret Service to protect the President of the United States of America, whether it's a former or current.
- [17:37]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, as Dan Bongino rightly Said there were clearly catastrophic security failures. And I want to draw a distinction between the individual Secret Service agents.
- [17:48]
Ben Ferguson
Amen.
- [17:49]
Senator Ted Cruz
And I want to praise their heroes.
- [17:50]
Ben Ferguson
Amen.
- [17:51]
Senator Ted Cruz
They put their bodies in front of Donald Trump. They stood up and surrounded him and were there to block a bullet. And they risked their lives to do that. And so the criticism is not of those individual agents who did everything they could, but it is of the leadership of Secret Service and it is ultimately of the political leadership. It is Alejandro Mayorkas who is completely AWOL on this.
- [18:19]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. Where is he? How is he not in front of a camera?
- [18:22]
Senator Ted Cruz
And listen, Bongino is exactly right that the head of the Secret Service should resign over this.
- [18:30]
Ben Ferguson
I was gonna ask you, you believe that the Secret Service. The head should resign?
- [18:34]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yes, And I also believe. So I joined with a number of other senators calling on Dick Durbin, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to hold an emergency hearing, bringing together the head of the Secret Service and the Secretary of Homeland Security and Chris Wray, the Director of the FBI, for a hearing to ask them what the hell went wrong, how did this, how did this happen? And it, it's clear you didn't have manpower on the other roofs. You didn't have enough agents, you didn't scope out. And you know, one of the interesting things, every other security detail, if you have a security detail that is Capitol Police, if you have security detail that is with a governor or with, with a mayor, generally speaking, they can't control their environment. So they go into whatever the environment is, and the officers there are trying to protect the product protectee, but they can't control their environment. Secret Service is different. When they come in, they control the environment. They set up magnetometers at the event, they take over buildings, they move people out. They have the ability to come in and look at the environment and say, okay, if there's a vulnerability, who would exploit it? And by the way, you don't have to get crazy hypothetical about a high powered rifle with a scope, because that's how JFK was shot. Yeah, I mean, we're aware that is one of the principal ways that an assassin will look to take out a president. And I'll tell you that there was another story that broke today which was sent out by Real Clear Politics that says, and I want to read this, I want to read this from Susan Crabtree from Real Clear Politics. Here's what she sent out. Quote, this is the problem that my secret source. Secret sources have cited. Secret Services resources were diverted to Jill Biden's event. And away from Trump's because they followed agency protocol applying to Trump as a former president. According to two sources within the Secret Service community, there were also many supplemental agents from different field officers, not Trump's regular detail providing security at the rally because Trump's regular detail has been overworked, some working seven days straight and only two counter snipers. But Trump is not just a former president. He is the first in modern history to have run for president again. And he has been the focus of several prosecutions and controversies. Understatement. Intentional. Who made the decision to divert the resources to Jill Biden's event? First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and former President Donald Trump campaigning in Pittsburgh today. So the reporting is they pulled Secret Service resources away from Trump's rally to the event with the first lady. Now, look, the first lady needs to be protected 100%. But to what extent is Secret Service treating Trump simply as another former president, rather than right now the leading candidate to be President of the United States and someone who has been targeted with vitriol? And we're going to get into this more, but is targeted with vitriol such that there is a threat level against him that any moron should be aware of.
- [22:15]
Ben Ferguson
I would love to know the threat assessment, and I hope that you guys in Congress get this, because I would want to know how many threats are coming in against Donald Trump, even compared to Joe Biden. Even. Or compared to Barack Obama or compared to George W. Bush. I mean, the number has got to be staggering of legitimate threats coming in. And it's not just, I hate him on Twitter, I want to kill him. Like, we're talking about actual threats. We're talking about a significant number of active threats. You got to take that into consideration. You would assume, if you're doing your job the right way.
- [22:49]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, that's exactly right. Real and serious threats. We apparently didn't have drone surveillance. We didn't have helicopters. We didn't have aerial. Because you would spot a guy getting on a white roof, putting up a ladder, apparently, if you had any aerial surveillance. So I'm assuming they did not play the rest of Dan Bongino. Look, this is a long interview, but his excellent expertise is unusual. And so I want to play the rest of what he had to say.
- [23:16]
Dan Bongino
Dan, I mean, you bring up so many amazing points, and I just don't.
- [23:20]
Ben Ferguson
Even know where to begin except to.
- [23:22]
Dan Bongino
Ask you, why would the Secret Service not beef up more security for the.
- [23:26]
Ben Ferguson
Man who is most likely to be.
- [23:27]
Dan Bongino
Assassinated in the entire world? Why would they not deploy more resources. Why weren't there drones over? Is it that this woman, Kimberly Cheadle, the director, is incompetent? Could there be something else there?
- [23:39]
Ben Ferguson
What is happening? Is it dei?
- [23:41]
Dan Bongino
What's, what's going on? Well, you know, Rachel, it's my job. If I'm going to give an opinion to back it up. You know, opinions are like holes, right? Everybody has one. The difference between one opinion over the other in a courtroom and anywhere else is can you back it up? I want everyone at home, go down your phone or computer now. And I want you to look up U.S. secret Service red ties, Donald Trump there. Read it. The Secret Service was more concerned about protective agents around Donald Trump. If you think I'm making this up, go to your. Go to a left wing search engine. If you think I'm biased, go to. Go to Scrugal and put it. Oh, you're reading the story right now. They were more concerned about the color of the Secret Service agents ties around Donald Trump. Given the perception that a red tie was somehow. I've got red ties. I'm a Republican. Has nothing to do with it. I just like red ties. They go nice with white shirts. That was, that's an actual. So you see, you see it right now. I'm not crazy. This is what the Secret Service was concerned about. They put out, you know, a thousand tweets about all of this DEI stuff. Do I know that's related here? I don't. I'm just saying, like there were. You have one job and only one job. Your job is keep the body alive no matter what. Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Jill Biden, the president of Deejibouti, it doesn't matter. That is your job. They Absolutely, resolutely, 100% fail. Not a single excuse should be made. Not a single excuse should be attempted. This should be the subject of congressional hearings and investigations. Because if they can't do this, and this is the best technology you had, then, folks, there's no purpose anymore. This isn't the agency I grew up in. It's not. I spent 12 years of my life there. And I'm telling you, some of the. I know some of those guys personally. These are good men and women. But this, this was an apocalyptic security failure. And don't ever forget, an uneventful failure is never a success. And the fact that Donald Trump didn't die yesterday is no reason for anybody to take some kind of victory lap. And before we start sending out plaudits, we better look and do a hot wash. On this and find out exactly how abysmal this security plan was.
- [25:54]
Ben Ferguson
You listen to Dan there and there's so many things that he brings up that I think Americans deserve to get an answer to. And I want to bring up the DEI part of this and I want to do that in a second. But first, let me tell you about our friends at Barnes Bond Arms. Let me tell you, I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for carrying a gun. It saved my life. I had to protect and defend myself against two active shooters against me. And I can tell you when I watch things happen in the country right now, I am very thankful for my second amendment rights. I am thankful that I can protect and defend myself and my family and my friends when they're with me. That's why I want you to know about Bond Arms. Bond Arms and my dear friend Gordon Bond, he has got a 30 year old Texas based company and they make the smallest, most powerful, best built personal protection that you can carry. If you are like me and you want to know you can protect your family, you want to be able to protect yourself, then you need to go online and check out getbondarms.com they're built like a tank and have been seen in TV series like Yellowstone and Longmire Castle and John to name a few. So just go to getbondarms.com and check out a great company that helps you protect yourself and your family. Again, the website getbondarms.com Senator, let's talk about the, the, the DEI, the, the PC Ness, the bureaucracy aspect of Joe Biden's administration. The Secret Service director a few months ago went on a PR campaign. They were seeking out press and they went on. CBS is one of the things that they did. And they deliberately spoke about focusing on hiring more women to be more diverse. It was all about diversity. They have a classic plan that, right, the left loves 30% female recruits by 2030. This is what it sounded like a few months ago. They were asking for this press to expand hiring. They're aiming to have 30% women recruits by 2030 and even allowed YouTube influencer Michelle Khare to train with agents.
- [28:06]
Senator Ted Cruz
But I'm very conscious as, as I sit in this chair now of making.
- [28:11]
Ben Ferguson
Sure that we need to attract diverse.
- [28:14]
Senator Ted Cruz
Candidates and ensure that we are developing and giving opportunities to everybody in our.
- [28:19]
Ben Ferguson
Workforce and particularly women. That workforce will be Pivotal for the 2024 campaign season, which for the first time includes a former president who already has lifetime protection. Agents were there when Donald Trump was Arraigned in New York, we were able to work out the details ahead of time of how that particular day was going to go. But we will always ensure the safety of all of our protectees that we have. The Service has a zero fail mission, a mission officers are training to uphold, pretending this field is the most famous address in America. To be clear, I don't care if a woman is the protective person protecting the president, as long as she's the best person to protect the President. I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I want the best. But when you listen to that and you look at the Secret Service and what they were beating their chest about, you know, for the last several months about, you know, diversity and hiring, you got to ask yourself, do we have the best or are we filling quotas? And if there's any place I don't want a quota to be filled, it would be protecting the President of the United States of America, whether that's Joe Biden or Donald Trump. And it shouldn't be a, a study in society like a, like some sort of university. Hey, all right, we're going to grab 17 people that are this color and 15 they're this color. And 23 that identify as this sex. That's not what the Secret Service should be. Am I wrong?
- [29:50]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, this is yet another manifestation of what we've seen throughout the Biden administration, which is an obsessive focus on bean counting, on quotas, on DEI at the expense of the mission. Look, we've covered in this podcast before the CIA doing this. And instead of focusing on, for example, getting intelligence on hamas to prevent October 7th, they're focused on pushing the language police on ferreting out what they deem insufficiently inclusive language. You just heard Dan Bongino talking about the damn red ties that they're worried about. Oh, if you wear a red tie, it looks like you may support Donald Trump. So no red ties. And it's losing the mission. And the mission should be front and center focused on protecting the protectee and when you fail. And to be clear, this weekend was not just a mild failure, it was a catastrophic failure. The consequences far too often are catastrophic. And listen, one person lost his life. Corey Comperatori, the fire chief. And I want to read the Facebook post from his daughter that his daughter put up because this is really powerful. So here's what she put up. This is from Allison comparatori. Yesterday, time stopped. And when it started again, my family and I started living a real life nightmare. What Was supposed to be an exciting day that we had all looked forward to, especially my dad. Turned into the most traumatizing experiences someone could imagine. I know the media will cover this event and I'm going to try my best to stay away from looking at everything. Especially because I've already seen and lived through it in real time. But I want everyone to know what the media will not cover and will not say about him. He was the best dad a girl could ever ask for. My sister and I never needed for anything. You call, he would answer and he would do whatever it is you needed. And if he didn't know how, he would figure out how he could talk and make friends with anyone. Which he was doing all day yesterday and loved every minute of it. He was a man of God, loved Jesus fiercely and also looked after our church and our members family. The media will not tell you that he died a real life superhero. They're not going to tell you how quickly he threw my mom and I to the ground. They're not going to tell you that he shielded my body from the bullet that came at us. He loved his family. He truly loved us enough to take a real bullet for us. And I want nothing more than to cry on him and tell him thank you. I want nothing more than to wake up and for this not to be reality for me and my family. We lost a selfless, loving husband, father, brother.
- [33:17]
Ben Ferguson
You hear that? And I read that on my show earlier and I barely could get through it because I can't imagine knowing that's what your dad did at the end of his life. Which was to keep you safe.
- [33:28]
Senator Ted Cruz
It's real. And it is. Look, look. The Bible tells us greater love has no man than he lays out his life for another. And Corey Comperatore literally gave his life to save his wife and daughter. Now if the Secret Service leadership had done their damn job, Chief Comparatori would be home with his family instead.
- [33:52]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. It has consequences when you, when you. When actions have consequences, bad decisions have even bigger consequences. And I go back to something that was said today. I. I try to surround myself when there's things like this that happen with people that know it better than I do. That's why I. I had lunch today with. With a special operator and. And I had a million questions. There was one comment though that was made that stuck with me when I left. And that was. It is astounding that we are sending blank checks to Ukraine for drones to be used to find Russian soldiers. But we didn't have drones being used, apparently, in a major way to protect Donald Trump.
- [34:37]
Senator Ted Cruz
Listen, I don't know this for a fact, but I have a very strong suspicion that politics played a real role in this.
- [34:43]
Ben Ferguson
Well, and that was my next question.
- [34:45]
Senator Ted Cruz
And the reason I say that is because politics plays a role in everything this damn administration does. And by the way, this is the same administration. This is the same Joe Biden. This is the same Alejandro Mayorkas that still won't give a Secret Service detail to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
- [35:01]
Ben Ferguson
Which you called for six, I don't even know how many months ago, seven.
- [35:04]
Senator Ted Cruz
Eight months ago, on this podcast, RFK Jr's father was murdered by an assassin. His uncle, the sitting president, was murdered by an assassin. And yet this administration, Joe Biden, doesn't want anyone to know that Bobby Kennedy's on the ballot. And if he gave him Secret Service, well, that could legitimize him. So, nope, no Secret Service for you. And so my very strong suspicion is there's a reason they just treat Trump as a former president and not as the leading candidate for president right now, today. Because it is political. And so. So the decisions. Look, one of the things that we've seen multiple reports of is that there have been repeated requests for additional security coverage for Trump. And given the magnitude of the threats, I believe that that's why we need to have a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. We need to have it very rapidly, and we need to know how many threats were there? How many requests for extra coverage were there? How many of them were denied? Who denied them? Who made the decision? Who made the decision to move agents from the Trump rally to the First Lady? Was that a political appointee? What were the factors in that decision?
- [36:17]
Ben Ferguson
And what were the teams? Was it a drone team? Was it another sniper team? Was it just bodies?
- [36:21]
Senator Ted Cruz
And are you telling me in the United States government, they don't have any more drones? You're telling me there are no helicopters in the United States government? You're telling me that you don't have additional counter snipers? There were not that many rooftops surrounding that. Why did they not have adequate personnel? Now, that, again, I want to underscore this. That's not the fault of the Secret Service agents who were risking their lives to protect the President.
- [36:46]
Ben Ferguson
Amen.
- [36:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
That is the fault of leadership. That is the fault of the bureaucrats making the decision. And I think we should get. We should have a real urgency to get to the bottom of. Did partisan politics play a role in saying, no, we're not gonna protect you? And I Think Congress needs to get to the bottom of it. I think the American people deserve to know the answer to that to back.
- [37:11]
Ben Ferguson
Up what you're saying. And I think facts matter. Now, Democrats actively called members of Congress so that no one thinks it's a conspiracy theory for Donald Trump to lose Secret Service protection if he was convicted of a felony. One of those was my former congressman, Steve Cohen. He and several other people in Congress said that they should pull Secret Service protection of Donald Trump, which goes back to what you said about it being political. They, they didn't care if Donald Trump got killed. In fact, they advocated for taking away the safety that protects a president from being killed. And those are members of Congress. And it's amazing to me that virtually, no, not, not virtually, literally no one, the media has brought that point up, that just months ago we had active Democrats in Congress, not fringe people. Okay. These are elected officials who are demanding that Donald Trump loses Secret Service protection if he was convicted of these, I'm sorry, hoax, you know, crimes against him. They tried to go after him for, to imprison him.
- [38:20]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and this was legislation that was filed by Congressman Benny Thompson, who is, who is the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee. So he's actually.
- [38:30]
Ben Ferguson
Can you just say that again? So if you understand how important that job is and then to understand that Homeland Security, how much they have to do with the Secret Service.
- [38:36]
Senator Ted Cruz
So they are the committee of jurisdiction. They have authority over the Department of Homeland Security. And Benny Thompson is the senior Democrat, he's called the ranking member, and he filed the legislation, he is the author of the legislation to say let's pull the Secret Service coverage from Donald Trump entirely if he's convicted. And by the way, it's a complete partisan conviction that is designed to subvert democracy. But let's be clear. If you were to put any former president into general population in a prison, they would die.
- [39:14]
Ben Ferguson
Yes.
- [39:15]
Senator Ted Cruz
And so he's literally effectively calling for a death sentence. And by the way, Betty Thompson also had a staffer who in the wake of this, posted on X saying that she wishes the shooter had taken shooting lessons and that he wouldn't miss next time. Now, Betty Thompson fired that staffer. He put out a statement. I was made aware of a post made by a staff member and she is no longer in my employment. But you know what staff reflects the member.
- [39:45]
Ben Ferguson
Yep.
- [39:45]
Senator Ted Cruz
And it reflects the culture that her first reaction is to be angry that this would be assassin did not in fact kill Donald Trump. That's what she wanted. And from his legislation and it was joined by multiple other Democrats that legislation, if it actually had become law and if Trump had gone to prison, would have led directly to the death of Donald Trump. And now they're suddenly saying, oh well, we're very dismayed that there was any violence towards it.
- [40:15]
Ben Ferguson
Let's talk about the rewriting of history and move also to the press conference Sunday night that Joe Biden had. He opened. It wasn't a press conference, more of a statement from the Oval Office, I should say, because there was no questions. And what he said, his address to the nation when he opened, was certainly rewriting of history. Here he is in his own words. I want to speak to you tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics and to remember or may disagree, we are not enemies, we're neighbors, we're friends, co workers.
- [40:51]
Dan Bongino
Citizens and most importantly, we are fellow Americans.
- [40:55]
Ben Ferguson
Sounds great. The problem is if you go and read the President's own words in the days leading up to this moment, that is not what he was saying at all. He didn't say, hey, I need to tone it down as well. Joe Biden's own tweet was quote, donald Trump is the greatest threat to our democracy. He tweeted out again, donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation. Another tweet. He, he meaning Trump is a threat to our freedom, he is a threat to our democracy. He's literally, this is Joe Biden's words on Twitter on X. He's literally referring to Trump, a threat to everything America stands for. He also said, donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and we cannot let him win. I'm in Madison, Wisconsin talking to the folks about what's at stake in this election. We cannot let him win. He also tweeted out, trump poses many threats to our country, the right to choose, civil rights, voting rights and Americans and American city in the world. But the greatest threat he poses is to our democracy. If we lose that, we lose everything. If I read those and I'm a crazy 20 year old lunatic and you tell me as the president, United States of America, that Donald Trump, and I'm quoting again, is a threat to our democracy, quote, he's literally a threat to everything America stands for, well then it's not crazy to think that that person would say, well then we have to stop him at all means, cuz we've already tried to impeach him, that didn't work. We tried to bankrupt him, that didn't work. We tried to lock him up, that didn't work. What's left.
- [42:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and you're right, and there's some irony with Joe Biden suggesting, you know, we need to tamp down the rhetoric. Look, I'd like to see the rhetoric tamp down, but then taking no responsibility. Listen, it is Democrats for a decade who have been calling Donald Trump Adolf Hitler.
- [43:00]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, and the media too. And the media too.
- [43:04]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, I said Democrats and they're one in this game. The corporate media is the left wing of the Democrat Party. That is their role. And they call him that opinion over and over and over again. Here, play the montage. This is Democrats repeatedly calling for political violence. It starts with Nancy Pelosi. Give a listen.
- [43:25]
Ben Ferguson
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- [44:43]
Dan Bongino
There aren't uprisings all over the country. Maybe there will be. People need to start taking to the streets.
- [44:48]
Ben Ferguson
This is a dictator, you know.
- [44:50]
Senator Ted Cruz
There needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there is unrest in our lives.
- [44:54]
Dan Bongino
Enemies of the state. Show me where it says that protests are supposed to be polite and peaceful.
- [45:00]
Ben Ferguson
Do something about your dad's immigration practices.
- [45:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
You feckless. When they go low, Be kidding.
- [45:06]
Ben Ferguson
How do you resist the temptation to run up and wring her neck.
- [45:09]
Dan Bongino
Biggest terror threat in this country is white men.
- [45:13]
Ben Ferguson
Most of them radicalized right off to the right. I thought he should have punched him in the face. I said, even if you lost, he insulted your wife. He came down the escalator and called.
- [45:21]
Senator Ted Cruz
Mexicans rapists and murderers.
- [45:22]
Ben Ferguson
He said, well, what do you think.
- [45:22]
Senator Ted Cruz
I should have done?
- [45:23]
Ben Ferguson
I said, I think you should have.
- [45:23]
Senator Ted Cruz
Punched him in the face and then.
- [45:24]
Ben Ferguson
Gotten out of the race. He would have been a hero. I'd like to punch him in the face. I said, if we were in high school, I'd take you behind the gym.
- [45:30]
Dan Bongino
And beat the hell out of him.
- [45:32]
Ben Ferguson
Punch some people in the face.
- [45:34]
Senator Ted Cruz
When was the last time an actor assassinated a president? They're still going to have to go.
- [45:39]
Ben Ferguson
Out and put a bullet in Donald.
- [45:40]
Dan Bongino
Trump, and that's a fact.
- [45:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, as his character is stabbed to.
- [45:46]
Dan Bongino
Death, where is John Wils Booth when you need. I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.
- [45:59]
Senator Ted Cruz
A Missouri state senator is under investigation.
- [46:02]
Ben Ferguson
By the Secret Service after saying she.
- [46:04]
Senator Ted Cruz
Hopes President Trump is assassinated. I will go and take Trump out tonight. And if you see anybody from that.
- [46:12]
Dan Bongino
Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department storm, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you.
- [46:24]
Ben Ferguson
Tell them they're not welcome anymore anywhere.
- [46:28]
Dan Bongino
And sadly, the domestic enemies to our voting system and our honor and our constitution are right at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
- [46:38]
Ben Ferguson
They're not going to stop before Election Day in November, and they're not going.
- [46:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
Going to stop after Election Day.
- [46:43]
Ben Ferguson
And that should be.
- [46:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Everyone should take note of that on both levels, that this isn't.
- [46:47]
Ben Ferguson
They're not going to let up, and they should not.
- [46:49]
Senator Ted Cruz
If you think we're rallying now, you.
- [46:51]
Dan Bongino
Ain'T seen nothing yet.
- [46:58]
Ben Ferguson
That's what Donald Trump dealt with while he was president and after being the president.
- [47:06]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, the radical left, Donald Trump melted their minds. They hate him and they have spewed invective and hate for years. And listen, there's invective on both sides. I would like to see the political temperature taken down, but the Democrats intend to go right back to this. This is a brief little pause for about 12 seconds. And by, I don't know, next week or the week after, they're gonna go back to calling him Hitler because the rage and fury. Look, the number of leftists on Twitter who were lamenting that they were sad.
- [47:54]
Ben Ferguson
The shooter wasn't good at it. Yeah. They're basically saying there were people literally tweeting out there, like, hey, this guy. Next time, take lessons. Next time, actually do a good job.
- [48:04]
Senator Ted Cruz
And let me be clear, as you and I talked about, we did a podcast immediately in the moments after this assassination attempt. I pray for Joe Biden. I don't wish political violence on Democrats or anyone else. Now, I want Joe Biden defeated at the ballot box that I believe his policies are harmful. But there's a difference between saying his policies are harmful and saying he's Hitler, saying he's Mussolini, which is what. Saying he's the devil, which is what the Democrats have been doing literally for a decade. And it's what the media has been doing, too.
- [48:43]
Ben Ferguson
I said today, how many cities have Republicans tried to destroy after their candidate was almost assassinated? Just so we're clear, zero. What did Republicans say today? They said, pray. Go to church.
- [48:54]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yes.
- [48:55]
Ben Ferguson
And pray for the family of those who lost loved ones. There's been no violence. I never want to hear again from the left, oh, it's the Republicans or the extremists here. There has been nothing but love and compassion. There's anger.
- [49:09]
Senator Ted Cruz
And we also need to fix the damn problem. We need to make sure that there is adequate protection for Donald Trump and for others targeted by violence because this was a catastrophic failure. And we gotta make sure it doesn't happen again.
- [49:29]
Ben Ferguson
We're gonna keep you updated on this, I can promise you, especially as Congress looks in this, as you've called for these emergency meetings. We are also gonna be at the Republican Convention this week with several shows. We will be on more than normal from the convention. It's gonna be a very big, important week and we pray for the safety of the president and everyone in attendance there, obviously. But we will be back with you from Milwaukee at the Republican Convention as well. Don't forget, share this show. We covered a lot in this show that the media is not covering. Make sure you share it on social media, wherever you are on social media. On those in between days. I'll keep you updated on the latest breaking news. Download my podcast as well, the Ben Ferguson Podcast. I'll keep you up to date and the senator, I will see you from Milwaukee later this week.