Ted Cruz leaves Secret Service Director SHAKING in Congress

thank you Mr chairman Mr row thank you for being here I agree with what you said at the outset that the individual Secret Service agents demonstrated remarkable personal courage putting their bodies in between the line of sight of the shooter and the president that being said The Bravery of the line agents is quite different from the decisions of Secret Service leadership Secret Service leadership committed catastrophic security failures indeed the worst security failures for the for the Secret Service since 1981 since the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan it is incumbent upon this committee to determine why those security failures happened just after the shooting Secret Service put out an official statement from your spokesperson that says there's an untrue assertion that me a member of the former president's team requested additional security resources that those were rebuffed this is absolutely false in fact we added protective resources and technology and capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel Tempo was this tweet accurate with respect to Butler Pennsylvania it is accurate sir it is accurate that the Trump team had not asked for additional security and had not been rebuffed if you're talking about Butler Pennsylvania all assets requested were approved if you're talking about the media reporting of assets requested uh there were times when assets were uh unavailable and not able to be filled and those gaps were staffed with state and local law enforcement tactical assets so I I'm reading from The Washington Post July 20th 2024 Secret Service said to have denied requests for more security at Trump events the opening paragraph top officials of the US 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 uh according to four people familiar with the requests is that right that repeatedly the Trump detail asked for more resources and repeatedly Secret Service leadership turned that down that that is not accurate Senator uh assets are requested there's a process that is made um and how many requests did did the Trump team or the Trump detail ask for uh I can get you that number in a q for you don't you don't know now I can speak to the ones that reported in the Washington Post and we can go through them if you like but you don't know how many how many requests there were in general how many requests since 2021 that the former Trump detail has made a request for assets you've had two weeks you had a spokesperson put something out that is false on its face by the way did you approve this statement when it went out uh I don't know if I did or didn't Senator has this spokesperson is he still employed does he still have a job employed Senator so he lied on behalf of the Secret Service he still has a job did your predecessor the former director did she approve the statement Senator uh our comm's team they they send out statements uh they do deconflict them and they put them out did she approve this statement uh I don't know if she did or did not and you don't know if you did either I I don't recall approving it Senator will you commit to provide this Committee in writing every written request for additional resources from the Trump campaign or the Trump detail and every response from Secret Service Senator I will commit to providing responses and getting you the information that you are seeking let me ask you something and and who makes the decision to deny those requests did you make that decision which requests are you talking about the ones that were in the Washington Post yes the process sir is that uh a detail uh will make a request for either Staffing technical assets uh that is handled between uh the field office and the detail it goes up to a logistics office uh between our okay so there's a bureaucracy is there a decision maker it's not a bureaucracy Senator give the person that's a decision maker is there one uh Senator it's a conversation it's not just an absolute yay or so let me tell you what I believe I believe that the Secret Service leadership made a political decision to deny these requests and I think the Biden Administration has been suffused with partisan in politics did the same person who denied the request for additional security to president Trump also repeatedly deny the request for security to Robert F Kennedy Jr whose father was murdered by an assassin and whose uncle was murdered by an assassin did the same person make that decision Senator what I will tell you is that Secret Service agents are not political you're not you know what leadership by the president leadership appointed by the president is political I have a simple question yes or no did the same person deny the Trump requests that also denied the RFK request that's a yes or no question uh Senator that is not a yes or no question one there is a process for a candidate nominee to receive protection isal bipartisan process that they he bamal bipartisan process what C for a candidate not Congress you don't have a cam Mr Kennedy submitted a request that was referred over to the CAC okay you're refusing to answer the question let me ask CU cuz the failures on that day were catastrophic by the way is it true that on the day of the of the butler event that secret service transferred agent from president Trump to the first lady uh no sir that's not true that's been widely reported it's not true there was one airport agent that actually went on the Manpower request for the Trump detail they handled the arrival at the airport what is the Rel what was the relative size of the Trump detail compared to the detail that is assigned to the president of the first lady uh Senator the former president travels with a full shift just like the president what's the so the exact same size is that your testimony that that President Trump had the same size detail that President Biden has on the day of in Butler the agents surrounding him it is the same number of Agents surrounding the president today there is a difference between a sitting president who also not only hold on you're using president in a way that is not clear is it your testimony that in Butler Penn Donald Trump had the same number of Agents protecting him that Joe Biden has at a comparable event I'm telling you the shift the close protection shift surrounding that's what you asked me Senator and I'm trying to answer it you are not answering it is it the same number of Agents or not Senator there is a difference between the sitting president of the United States then what's the difference the difference 2x 3x 5x National command authority to launch a nuclear strike other assets many travel with the president that the former president will number of Secret Service agents stop interrupting me go ahead you are refusing to answer clear and direct questions I am asking the relative difference in the number of Agents between those assigned to Donald Trump and those assigned to Joe Biden I'm not asking why you assign more to Joe Biden I'm asking is the difference is it 2x is it 3x is it 5x is it 10x Senator I will get you that number so you can see it with your own eyes