Kamala Dissed Netanyahu Speech, Media to Prop Harris Through DNC & Sec Srvc Undermanned at Trump Rally Week In Review

Summary

The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

Episode: Kamala Dissed Netanyahu Speech, Media to Prop Harris Through DNC & Sec Srvc Undermanned at Trump Rally Week In Review
Release Date: July 27, 2024

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Introduction

In this episode of The 47 Morning Update, host Ben Ferguson delves into the tumultuous week marked by political tensions, controversial speeches, media maneuvers, and security lapses. Joining him is Senator Ted Cruz, who provides in-depth analysis and commentary on the unfolding events. The discussion centers around Kamala Harris's stance on Israel, the media's role in bolstering Harris’s campaign, and the Secret Service's apparent shortcomings during a Trump rally.

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Kamala Harris and Netanyahu's Speech

The episode opens with a critical examination of Vice President Kamala Harris’s response to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s historic speech to Congress.

Key Points:

• Netanyahu’s Speech: Netanyahu delivered what Senator Cruz describes as a "Churchillian" address, emphasizing Israel's existential threats and condemning Hamas' actions.

  [01:22] Ted Cruz: "It was Churchillian. It had the same sense of clarity and history and seriousness of purpose that Winston Churchill brought to rally the world to defeat the Nazis."

• Democratic Boycott: A significant number of Democrats, including Harris, boycotted the speech. Cruz highlights the unprecedented absence, noting that even prominent figures like Chuck Schumer avoided interaction.

  [05:00] Ben Ferguson: "It was sad, the number of Democrats who boycotted the speech."

  [06:31] Ben Ferguson: "He also, Netanyahu also slammed the protesters, another example of the radical Democrats and how they're in favor of those that support Hamas and Hezbollah."

• Impact of Harris’s Absence: Cruz criticizes Harris for missing what he perceives as a crucial moment to support Israel, suggesting her actions reflect deeper anti-Israel sentiments within the Democratic Party.

  [07:48] Ben Ferguson: "Kamala Harris won't miss if Zelensky shows up, but by golly, she's going to make a real point that I'm not with Israel when he comes to address Congress."

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Media’s Role in Propagating Kamala Harris’s Campaign

The discussion shifts to the media’s strategic efforts to elevate Kamala Harris as a central figure in the Democratic Party, potentially influencing the upcoming convention and primary races.

Key Points:

• Media Advocacy: Cruz expresses concern over the media's portrayal of Harris as a unifying and historic candidate, projecting her as a blend of "Mother Teresa, Oprah, and Gandhi."

  [15:08] Ted Cruz: "I'm confident that you do not have a career as a Democrat. Politics ad maker... they don't think she's terribly bright... pitching her as a combination of Mother Teresa, Oprah and Gandhi and save the party."

• Financial Contributions: The media's support is seen as a significant boost to Harris’s campaign, with Cruz warning Republicans not to underestimate the impact of billions in free media coverage.

  [15:06] Ben Ferguson: "It's going to be multi billion dollar in kind contribution."

• Democratic Unity: The consolidation around Harris could energize the Democratic base, which Cruz views as a double-edged sword that could invigorate their campaign efforts.

  [17:29] Ted Cruz: "Energized... Once she's the nominee, unified... donors pull out their checks and they write really big checks."

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Secret Service Undermanning at Trump Rally

A pivotal portion of the episode scrutinizes the Secret Service's failure to provide adequate security during a Trump rally, which led to an attempted assassination.

Key Points:

• Security Lapses: Cruz and Ferguson discuss how requests for additional security measures were denied, despite warning signs such as the presence of a range finder by the perpetrator.

  [25:27] Ted Cruz: "Secret Service leadership has still taken responsibility for none of them, accountability for none of them."

• Washington Post Revelation: The Washington Post reported that the Secret Service declined multiple requests for increased security, citing resource shortages.

  [26:48] Ben Ferguson: "The Washington Post reported that his protective detail, the Secret Service agents on the details, repeatedly requested additional security and repeatedly they were turned down."

• Official Denials: The Secret Service publicly denied these claims, with a spokesperson stating they had enhanced protective measures.

  [27:07] Ben Ferguson: "They put out... an official tweet and it was a flat out lie."

• Impact of Incompetence: Cruz emphasizes the dangerous implications of such negligence, referencing the tragic loss of American soldiers at the Afghan airport due to similar bureaucratic failures.

  [32:00] Ted Cruz: "It was all pr. It was all spin. This was astonishing. Incompetence combined with a partisan political gross negligence."

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Additional Insights and Conclusion

The episode wraps up with reflections on the broader implications of these events for the Republican and Democratic parties, emphasizing the need for vigilance and strategic campaigning.

Key Points:

• Democratic Party's Future: Cruz warns that the Democrats are likely to reset their campaign strategies post-convention, focusing heavily on Kamala Harris and the party's narrative of overcoming defeat.

  [12:23] Ted Cruz: "Republicans need to understand just how dangerous this is."

• Republican Strategy: Emphasis is placed on the necessity for Republicans to remain cautious and not become complacent, drawing parallels to unexpected upsets in sports.

  [19:03] Ted Cruz: "One of the easiest ways to ensure it's not in the bag."

• Hunter Biden Pardon Prediction: In a final remark, Cruz asserts with certainty that President Biden will pardon Hunter Biden post-election.

  [22:10] Ted Cruz: "I'm going to place the odds that Joe Biden pardons Hunter Biden at 100.0%."

Conclusion: Ben Ferguson and Senator Ted Cruz provide a critical analysis of the week's political developments, highlighting perceived weaknesses within the Democratic Party and the Republican response. The episode underscores the ongoing political battle lines, media influence, and security concerns that are shaping the current American political landscape.

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For the full discussion and additional context, listeners are encouraged to download and listen to the complete podcast available on the iHeartRadio app or other podcast platforms.

Transcript

[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome. It is verdict with Ted Cruz Week in Review. Ben Ferguson with you. And these are the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about earlier this week. And my, oh my, was it a big week. First up, Kamala Harris caught between a rock and a hard place. She has to be anti Israel but also meet with Netanyahu. So what did she do? She no showed for the most important part of Netanyahu's trip. We'll break that down for you. Also, the media now going into we love Kamala face. It's in kind donate donation to her campaign and it could be worth billions of dollars between now and even the convention. How's that gonna play out? And how much of an impact will it have on the race? We'll break that down for you. And finally, the Secret Service, they were under manned at the Trump rally. We now know more than we knew before about what went wrong in the days and weeks leading up to it. It's the Weekend Review and it starts right now. There was a very significant moment that happened and it was missed by Kamala Harris on purpose. And that was Netanyahu coming to the US now, she won't miss if Zelinsky shows up, but by golly, she's going to make a real point that I'm not with Israel when he comes to address Congress. You were there and you spent some real quality time with Bibi as well.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, that's right. So yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress. I was there. I was sitting in the front row listening to the speech. I've heard Netanyahu many times. I know him well. It was an extraordinary speech. I believe it was an historic speech. It had a sense of gravity, a sense of history. Israel is facing an existential threat right now. And the adjective I used after the speech for Beebe's speech was that it was Churchillian. And that is not an adjective I use for any address by any other world leader because it had the same sense of clarity and history and seriousness of purpose that Winston Churchill brought to rally the world to defeat the Nazis and win World War II. I am very grateful for Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech. I think it was serious. It laid out the evil of Hamas. It laid out the seriousness of their purpose to utterly eliminate Hamas. It addressed many of the lies that Democrats and the corporate media and the leftist influencers on TikTok and social media are pushing to young people. He addressed them very directly, the lies that are being told. And it was significant. But I Got to say, at the same time, it was sad, the number of Democrats who boycotted the speech. We saw dozens and dozens of House members that refused to attend. You saw dozens of Senate Democrats who refused to attend. And the most high profile person who boycotted the speech was Kamala Harris. Now, typically when a head of state addresses a joint session to Congress, the Speaker of the House and the vice president are both sitting directly behind him. In this instance, Kamala refused to attend. And she's not just the vice president right now. She is the presumptive Democrat nominee for president. And understand the Democrat Party has gotten so radical today that many of them, including the likely Democrat nominee for president, they are unwilling even to listen to, even to hear what the Democratically elected leader of Israel has to say. I thought it was disgraceful that she boycotted the speech. And I'll tell you, during the speech, so I was sitting with a bunch of Republican senators. I told them right when it began, I said, listen, in honor of Richard Simmons recently passing away, get ready to do some aerobics. Because we were going to be standing and standing and standing. I think the count was. We gave. Gave Netanyahu 57 standing ovations. Now, you know what's interesting? Those were almost exclusively on the Republican side of the aisle. On the Democrat side of the aisle, most of the Democrats refused to stand. When Netanyahu walked onto the floor, Chuck Schumer refused to shake his hand and kind of turned his back on him. I mean, it was. I've never seen anything like it. That the contempt that there were. Several senators, Chris Murphy and Raphael Warnock were sitting near the front. They spent almost the entire speech sitting there with scowls on their face. They wouldn't applaud, they wouldn't stand up. Even when Netanyahu said things like, we need to stand united against antisemitism, the two of them sat there scowling and could not stand to stand against anti Semitism. It is a manifestation of just how much the pro Hamas, anti Semitic faction of the Democrat Party has the rest of the party terrified.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, I mean, Senator, you look at what Bibi actually said on the floor, and it was not radical, it was not extreme. It actually made a lot of sense. And for them not to stand when he talks about Hamas, when he talks about good and evil, was shocking. But here's one of the things that he said.

[Kamala Harris]

My friends, defeating our brutal enemies requires both courage and clarity. Clarity begins by knowing the difference between good and evil. Yet incredibly, many anti Israel protesters, many choose to stand with Evil. They stand with Hamas. They stand with rapists and murderers. They stand with people who came into the kibbutzim, into a home. The parents hid the children, the two babies in the attic, in a secret attic. They murder the families, the parents. They find the secret latch to the hidden attic and then they murder the babies. These protesters stand with them. They should be ashamed of themselves.

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, I'm watching this as a video as it's playing center and you.

[Ted Cruz]

Scores of Democrats sat down, refused to applaud. They did not cheer that we should stand against radical racist baby killers.

[Ben Ferguson]

He also, Netanyahu also slammed the protesters, another example of the radical Democrats and how they're in favor of those that support Hamas and Hezbollah. An actual, I mean, these are terrorist organizations that butchered Jews for sport and are calling for the annihilation of every Jewish person from the river to the sea. And he talked about that. And yet again, yet again, Democrats set.

[Kamala Harris]

The anti Israel protests that are going on right now outside this building. Not that many, but they're there and throughout the city. Well, I have a message for these protesters. We, when the tyrants of Tehran who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran's useful idio.

[Ben Ferguson]

Some of these protesters, how do you not stand and clap when you're talking about these radicals?

[Ted Cruz]

But then I realized so many Democrats were scowling. They were angry when he said that they were not only sitting, they had their arms crossed and they were furious. And understand, while this is happening, thousands of anti Semitic radicals were protesting in Washington D.C. hundreds of them descended on Union Station, the train station just a couple of blocks north of the Capitol. At Union Station, they pulled down the American flag on the flagpole outside Union Station. They pulled it to the ground and they burned it. When they pulled it to the ground, the crowd of protesters cheered. They then hauled up the flag pole, a Palestinian flag. Now, let me say two things on this. Number one, I am not saying that Kamala Harris was at Union Station pulling down the American flag, lighting it on fire and pulling up a Palestinian flag on the flagpole. But understand that she has far greater sympathies for the radicals who did that than she does for Prime Minister Netanyahu, the elected leader of Israel. There's a reason she boycotted because she and the Democrats, they want the votes of these anti American, anti Semites. Secondly, why was this allowed to happen? It was allowed to happen because the Democrat Mayor in D.C. let it happen because we didn't see law enforcement. If this happened in Texas, if you tried to do that in Texas, you know what they do? They'd arrest you and put you in jail. The Democrats in office, they are siding with the protesters and they hate Prime Minister Netanyahu and sadly, many of them hate Israel just as much as these rabid protesters.

[Ben Ferguson]

There's also the left that's behind it. You know, these agitators were being seen drop, being dropped off by buses before the protest.

[Ted Cruz]

A lot of them are paid.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, I was going to say who paid for them? Right. That's a fair question that should be asked, like who was paying for all these people to show up there? It's the radical lefts, I'm sure, in the Democratic Party. But this is the base. And for Kamala Harris to not be there when Netanyahu arrived tells you how anti Israel they are, how much they just, and I will say this, and.

[Ted Cruz]

The Jews, Joe Biden has been the most anti Israel president in American history. But if, God forbid, Kamala Harris becomes president, she will be orders of magnitude worse. And by the way, it's striking also. So, so we'll, we'll, we'll do another pod and we'll talk about possible VP nominees under Harris. I think it's going to be the most boring white guy on the face of the planet. I think the two most likely which we've talked about are Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, and Mark Kelly, senator from Arizona. But it's interesting this week CNN in covering the VP sweepstakes, they just matter of fact, John King just matter of fact said, well, Shapiro has a problem which is he's Jewish. In the Democrat primary, then in the Democrat party, that's a real problem. And CNN just reports that as a fact that there are so many anti Semites among the Democrat party that being a Jew is a real problem. If you were the Democrat nominee, that, that is sad.

[Ben Ferguson]

Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.

[Ted Cruz]

Enamora te con la venta de san Valentin de JCPenny. Yaora esta setenta porciento enjoyer.

[Chris Murphy]

Porrestos auroros.

[Ted Cruz]

Y celebral dia de la mori la mistad Porto do lo alto JCPenney Valle.

[Chris Murphy]

La Pena offered as validas.

[Ben Ferguson]

Now on to story number two. All right, let's talk about the media because what we're going to see right now, and this is my biggest concern, you and I talked about this in Milwaukee. If Biden dropped out. Now it's Biden has dropped out. It's a complete reset.

[Ted Cruz]

Yes.

[Ben Ferguson]

Of this presidential campaign. The polls, and I want to be very clear to our audience, this is my opinion. I don't know if you agree with me or not. I want to know your take on it. Are completely meaningless and worthless right now.

[Ted Cruz]

Correct.

[Ben Ferguson]

The only poll that's gonna matter is the first poll. After we find out who the Democrats.

[Ted Cruz]

Actually pick, even that poll's not gonna matter. And listen, this is something you and I talked about in our last podcast. We did two podcasts live from the convention. I love the convention. It was a blast. It's the best Republican convention I've ever seen. More unity than I've ever seen. However, I was very worried at the convention and I expressed this to you at the time, which is I am afraid people were overconfident at the convention. That, yeah, there was an air of celebration. It was, we've won. We're on to victory. This is a landslide. Trump's coming back in. We've got a huge Republican majority. You heard people talking about 55, 56 Republican senators, huge Republican House. Like people were planning. People were talking about, all right, who's gonna be Secretary of State, who's gonna be Secretary of Defense, like they're handing.

[Ben Ferguson]

Out already moved on. Yeah, we won and now what's next? And that's not the case.

[Ted Cruz]

And my view, and I was trying to say this is, look, there's a time for celebration. Celebrate after Election Day, celebrate after we've won. Now is not the time for celebration. Now's the time for hard work. Now's the time for rolling up your sleeves and going to win. And my assumption is, coming out of the convention, Republicans will get a little bounce. You know, historically, it's about four points is what you get out of your convention. I think it was a strong convention. So let's assume that happens. The Democrats, and I will give them credit for one thing, their timing of releasing it right after the convention. Perfect timing to do this because it resets the whole race. It almost doesn't matter what the bounce was out of the convention. And here's the problem. For the next month, all of the news is going to be dominated by who the Democrat is going to be. The Democrats are about to have a month long convention instead of a week. Why do you get a bounce out of a convention? You get a bounce out of a convention because you have four days of driving the news, the earned media, every night of your people on tv. Pitching all of the benefits of your nominee, all the benefits of your record, all the benefits of your agenda. Instead of a four day convention, the Democrats are about to have a month long convention where every news story will be focused on who the nominee is going to be. And they're also gonna be doing a combination of, number one, praising Biden. You know, it's not graceful to, he's on his way out, people don't wanna criticize him anymore.

[Ben Ferguson]

They're gonna say did this for America.

[Ted Cruz]

He's historic. He's one of the greatest presidents in the history of the universe. I mean you're gonna hear all of that effusively and then they're gonna talk about what an historic president Kamala Harris would be. And it's going to be a month long. We're going to see multi, I would.

[Ben Ferguson]

Argue multi billion dollar in kind contribution.

[Ted Cruz]

And by the way, Republicans, I worry, vastly underestimate Kamala Harris. That they don't think very highly of her, they don't think she's terribly bright. When you or I bring up Kamala Harris name in Republican circles, people laugh. It's immediately a punchline. I think people are underestimating what billions of dollars of free media of the entire cross corrupt corporate media complex, pitching her as a combination of Mother Teresa, Oprah and Gandhi and save the party. It's going to be and young and vibrant and it's historic. I mean it is going to be. Now I still think Trump wins in November, but this is not a layup. It is not given and what's coming in front of us. Look, if you're a Democrat, what makes you nervous is chaos. And this much chaos 100 days out is scary. But you know what even more scary is going to an election where you almost certain to lose, which is where Biden was. So from their perspective, chaos and a chance to win or certain loss, they'll take chaos. But Republicans need to understand just how dangerous this is.

[Ben Ferguson]

It's all perspective in life. And I said this earlier, it's like you're on the greatest cruise ship in the world and that cruise ship's going down and a crappy little fishing boat shows up and it saves your life. You love that crappy fishing boat the rest of your life. It doesn't matter how bad it looks, how ugly it was. You just got your life saved. And that's Kamala Harris. Like not a good kid.

[Ted Cruz]

I'm confident that you do not have a career as a Democrat. Politics ad maker. I can see the ad now. Kamala Harris, the crappy fishing boat. To save your life.

[Ben Ferguson]

To save your life. But it's perspective. I mean, that's what they're dealing with.

[Ted Cruz]

I'm sure that fits on a bunch.

[Ben Ferguson]

I know, right? But she didn't even make it. I mean, I go back to when she was running.

[Ted Cruz]

She got zero delegates.

[Ben Ferguson]

Correct. And she was a terrible candidate. But when you're now in the position of that boat sinking and I'm the only one that's got. Doesn't have a hole in the boat, I'm pretty. I'm pretty appealing to everybody on that boat. And I love you and I'm willing to swim to you and I'm willing to hug you and kiss you and say thank you for saving my life. It's all perspective. And that's what the media is going to do to her is say, she just saved us from guaranteed defeat. She is a savior to the Democratic Party. We love her. And they're all gonna be energized. That terrifies me.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah. Energized. And once she's the nominee, unified. You know, one thing to keep in mind, people are focused on, oh, money. And Trump has a money advantage. Put yourself in the mindset of a Democrat, gazillionaire of a Democrat activist of a Democrat union boss, of a Democrat special interest leader. A week ago, you were depressed, you were demoralizing. You were contemplating America run by Hitler. And by the way, if you're one of those people, you think Donald Trump is Adolf Hitler. Yeah. Like, you were just. I don't even know if I want to show up and vote. It's terrible. It's horrible. And now to go back to the sinking cruise ship. You've been thrown a lifeline. I think we're going to see jubilation on the Democrat side. That's dangerous, too, you know. Jubilation.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

What happens is donors pull out their checks and they write really big checks. When they're massive, what happens is activists go and they work harder, they turn more people out. And that particularly if the Republicans are overconfident. We cannot be overconfident. That combination is dangerous. And you know what it reminds me of potentially? I hope this is not right, but it reminds me of a few years ago, the A&M versus Alabama game. I was there at the A&M versus Alabama game. Alabama at the time was the number one team in the country.

[Ben Ferguson]

You had me at sports analogy. I'm all in now.

[Ted Cruz]

A and M. A and M had started off as a top 25 team. It had a good team, but it had lost two games in a row.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yep.

[Ted Cruz]

To opponents that weren't. Wasn't supposed to lose. I think maybe Mississippi State.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, it was bad.

[Ted Cruz]

It was bad. And so we came into the game and I was there in College Station and I remember saying to my buddies I was at the game with, I said, you know what? I think A and M has a real chance to win this game because I think Alabama is feeling like we're the number one team in the country and these A and M guys suck. Look at, look, they're losing to teams that are not contenders. This is easy. We're playing a junior high team. And I think the Aggies were pissed off. They were at Kyle Field and they were defending their home and they were mad because everyone was dismissing them as a joke. And they're like, wait a second, we're a top tier football team. And they ended up winning that game. It was awesome. 41, 38 was the final score. Kyle Field erupted. I don't want to see the Democrats playing the role of A and M in that dynamic. And so my message to Republicans is, do not behave like this is in the bag. Because that's one of the easiest ways to ensure it's not in the bag.

[Ben Ferguson]

Senator, if you are Donald Trump, you now know that Biden is gone. The number one question that the campaign's gotta ask is, how do you campaign against somebody for the next month that you don't know who it's gonna be?

[Ted Cruz]

So Look, I'd say 40% you campaign against Kamala Harris, you assume It's Kamala. And 60% you campaign against the Democrats record. And I will say I've been concerned in recent weeks and months that we've spent too much time attacking Joe Biden for his mental diminishment and not enough time making the case, as you and I often do, that the Biden Harris Democrat record has been a train wreck. And I say Democrat record because it's not just Joe Biden, it's Kamala Harris and it's every single Democrat in Congress. Every Democrat senator, every Democrat House member. They voted repeatedly in favor of the spending and the debt that is causing inflation. They voted repeatedly in favor of Biden's war on oil and gas and energy that is causing energy prices to skyrocket. They voted repeatedly in favor of open borders that's endangering our families across this country. They voted repeatedly in favor of letting violent criminals out of jail that is again endangering our families. They voted repeatedly in favor of appeasing our enemies and undermining our allies. And so from the Trump's campaign, I would assume it's Kamala, but also make the broader point, it is their agenda that has failed the American people. The classic question in any election, are you better off now than you were four years ago? It doesn't matter what fill in the blank Democrat they drop into that slot, they're going to be defending the same disastrous failed record. And so I hope the Trump campaign, and I hope Republicans generally make that case substantively on the merits.

[Ben Ferguson]

It's going to be interesting. We're going to cover it all. Make sure you share this podcast with your family and friends. Share the video on social media from YouTube. It's also up on Facebook. You can share it there as well so that you can have other people hear what we were saying here today. When this type of news breaks, we do a podcast as fast as we can at emergency pod. Yes.

[Ted Cruz]

Let me make a final statement.

[Ben Ferguson]

I like this.

[Ted Cruz]

I'm going to place the odds that Joe Biden pardons Hunter Biden at 100.0%. Hunter Biden will get a pardon as a result of this decision today. It will not happen till after election day.

[Ben Ferguson]

That's what I was going to ask. When's it happening?

[Ted Cruz]

He's not going to do it. He's not going to do it before election day, but he's going to stick around and after election day. I believe it is now 100% that Joe Biden will pardon Hudner as before.

[Ben Ferguson]

If you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing. I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed. You talk about just the, the bureau, bureaucratic bs whether, and this reminds me of what happened in our pull out in Afghanistan at the airport that cost American soldiers their lives. We knew we had apparently a bomber there, right? They saw somebody. There was a call that went out. No one apparently could make the decision on how to deal with them. Game over. Suicide bomber decides to do it and it costs American their lives. You look at this guy, there was so many, I would say, dumb criminal moves that this guy as a criminal did before he ever got up on that roof. That was warnings that any logical person would know, don't let this guy in around this venue. Example of that is the damn range finder, which she was asked about.

[Kamala Harris]

So did he have a range finder? There were some reports that, that the.

[Chris Murphy]

Individual had a range finder.

[Kamala Harris]

That would, that would certainly raise my suspicion that.

[Chris Murphy]

Did he have a range finder?

[Secret Service Director]

Yes, he did. But may I explain that at a number of our sites, especially when you're at outdoor venues, a range finder is not a prohibited item. It is sometimes an item that is brought in by individuals.

[Ted Cruz]

Did anybody, anybody confront him on that?

[Kamala Harris]

Anybody ask him questions? What are you doing with the range finder?

[Ted Cruz]

Anybody confront him on, on his presence where, where he was in proximity to the President?

[Secret Service Director]

So again, to my knowledge, I believe that that was the process that was taking place was to locate the individual.

[Ted Cruz]

They. Did they confront him?

[Kamala Harris]

Did they?

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, they would know he had it to then be able to confront him. It's a very simple question. So the guy's got a range finder. Apparently no one confronts him on that. They then start putting out pictures that the FBI and everybody has of this guy they can't find. They put the President up on the stage, they get on top of the roof and they're like, oh, hey, looky here, we got, we got the guy that we sent the pictures out about. And then if you go back in time to what I mentioned a moment ago, Senator, you also had the other concern, and that is from this whistleblower that said, hey, we law enforcement partners offered drones to the Secret Service before Butler, Pennsylvania Trump rally. The Secret Service declined. But this 20 year old shooter, he used drones on the day of the rally. Really, you see a drone in the air and you're good with it. You see a range finder, you go with it, you lose the guy, you put the President on stage.

[Ted Cruz]

Look, my assumption is that the personnel was vastly undermanned and that the senior leadership of the Secret Service did, was not treating Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee as the next President of the United States, and they were undermanning him for partisan political reasons. Not only that. So the Washington Post on July 20 wrote a bombshell story. The headline was Secret Service said to have denied requests for more security at Trump events. Top officials repeatedly rejected requests from Trump's security detail for more manpower and gear at events before attempted assassination, at times citing lack of resources, people familiar with the ask say. And here's what the Washington Post reported. Quote, top officials at 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 at a rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday. According to four people familiar with the requests, agents charged with protecting the former president requested magnetometers and more agents to screen attendees at sporting events and other large public gatherings Trump attended, as well as additional snipers and specialty items at other outdoor events, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss secret security discussions. The requests, which have not been previously reported, were sometimes denied by senior officials at the agency, who cited various regions, including a lack of resources at an agency that has long struggled with staffing shortages. These rejections, in response to requests that were several times made in writing, led to long standing tensions that pitted Trump, his top aide said his security detail against Secret Service leadership as Trump advisers privately fretted that the vaunted security agency was not doing enough to protect the former president. Now, what did the Secret Service say in the wake of the attempted assassination? Well, they put out. Here's what the Secret Service spokesman said on July 14, quote, there's an untrue assertion that a member of the former president's team requested additional security resources and 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. Now that's a tweet by Anthony Google Leami, who is the Secret Service spokesperson. It was an official tweet and it was a flat out lie. And by the way, it wasn't an assertion that a member requested additional security. What the Washington Post reported was that his protective detail, the Secret Service agents on the details, repeatedly requested additional security and repeatedly they were turned down. Why is it that the Secret Service is publicly lying on the record and trying to cover up their disastrous failures?

[Ben Ferguson]

I even got to say there were some Democrats that were even shocked over just the absurdity of the Secret Service screwing this up. One of them was a Democrat on the House Oversight Committee that was questioning the Secret Service director before she resigned. And this was just about the roof and where the shooter was. It is shocking.

[Chris Murphy]

Listen, Cheadle, as you know, the shooter began shooting at 6:11pm Eastern on July 13. NBC reported that at 5:51pm, 20 minutes before the shooting began, the state police informed the Secret Service of their concern. Now, the rally was not paused at that point, correct?

[Secret Service Director]

No.

[Chris Murphy]

And according to NBC, just two minutes later, at 5:53pm The Secret Service notified its snipers about the gunman. The rally wasn't paused at that point either, correct?

[Secret Service Director]

No.

[Chris Murphy]

Let me show you some video footage by rally goers. If you could play the video on the screen up here. This was taken two minutes before the shooting started. If you could turn up the volume.

[Ted Cruz]

Dangerous people.

[Ben Ferguson]

We have criminals.

[Ted Cruz]

We have people that.

[Chris Murphy]

Ma'am, that doesn't look like suspicious behavior. That looks like threatening behavior to me. And the rally wasn't paused at that point either. Correct.

[Secret Service Director]

I can tell you, as I stated earlier, sir, that the moment that the shift surrounding the President were aware of an actual threat.

[Chris Murphy]

That's a threat right there. The guy's on the roof and everybody's yelling at him.

[Secret Service Director]

Yes.

[Chris Murphy]

And. And directing the officer's attention to him. The rally was not paused at that point. Correct.

[Secret Service Director]

We are currently still combing through communications. And when communications were passed.

[Chris Murphy]

Well, I can point you to this communication. It's two minutes before the shots started ringing out. Director Cheadle, yes or no? Was there ever a moment where the Secret Service actually considered pausing the rally?

[Secret Service Director]

The Secret Service would have paused the rally had they known or been.

[Chris Murphy]

So the answer is no.

[Secret Service Director]

An actual threat.

[Chris Murphy]

The answer is no. Correct.

[Secret Service Director]

I can. I can speak to you in generalities.

[Chris Murphy]

No. No. I don't want generalities. The answer is no. You did not consider pausing the rally. Correct.

[Secret Service Director]

The people that are in charge of protecting the president on that day would never bring the former president out if there was a threat that had been identified.

[Chris Murphy]

Well, they did, because We've now identified three points in the 20 minutes before the shooting that the threat emerged.

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, Senator, you listened to this, and I worry. Final question for you about not just the incumbency of the director who's resigned, but the people that she's hired in the bureaucracy underneath her. She may be gone, but if there's others that trickle all the way down to the events level and this is allowed to happen, I mean, for goodness sakes, their excuse about the roof being too sloped to put people up there. Well, guess what? Where the counter sniper team was, we found out that roof was actually sloped at a higher degree of angle than the roof where the shooter shot from. So she was lying to us then.

[Ted Cruz]

It was all pr. It was all spin. This was astonishing. Incompetence combined with a partisan political gross negligence, which is because her partisan political loyalties are to Joe Biden. They devalued protecting Donald Trump. They also devalued protecting RFK Jr. And that security detail should have been granted long ago. And I think there is a very good question to ask next about who's next. What are they doing now? What are they doing today? What are they doing tomorrow to prevent the next lunatic from doing this? And we need to make sure there are adequate resources. We need to make sure the site is secured. We need to make sure they have procedures in place. There were multiple junctures at which this assassin, this attempted assassin could have been stopped, could have been apprehended. President Trump could have been delayed from going up on that stage and never subjected to the risk of the sniper fire. He could have been removed from that stage. Once they realized there was a potential sniper there, there were a series of catastrophic mistakes. And to date, Secret Service leadership has still taken responsibility for none of them, accountability for none of them. As Harry S. Truman famously said, the buck stops here. Well, the buck doesn't stop anywhere because they're all passing the buck and they're not even admitting that there was a problem. It is a huge problem going forward and it needs to be fixed.

[Ben Ferguson]

As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day. You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson Podcast. And we will see you back here on Monday morning.