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WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz accused the U.S. Secret Service on Tuesday of making a politically motivated decision to deny former President Donald Trump extra security, exposing him to an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
“I believe the Secret Service leadership made a political decision to deny these requests,” Cruz said during a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees Tuesday. “And I believe the Biden administration has been suffused with partisan politics.”
Ronald Rowe, acting director of the Secret Service who has served since 1999 for presidents of both parties, responded indignantly to the remark in a tense exchange where he asserted, “Secret Service agents are not political.”
Cruz retorted that Secret Service leadership is appointed by the president and is therefore a political position.
Secret Service has faced withering bipartisan criticism after a gunman came within an inch of shooting Trump in the head during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, just ahead of the Republican National Convention. Trump’s ear was grazed by a bullet, the FBI later reported, but he was otherwise unharmed.
Kim Cheatle, who was director of the agency when the shooting occurred, faced ire from lawmakers in both parties for her role in one of the biggest security failures since the 1981 attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. Secret Service failed to prevent Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old man, from gaining access to a roof where he had a clear shot at the former president. Cheatle resigned from her post last week.
The U.S. House has opened a bipartisan inquiry into the security failures. U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Sherman, was named to serve on the inquiry, the only Texan.
Cruz has also previously blamed Secret Service’s efforts to diversify its ranks for distracting the agency from its core mission of protecting officials. During a podcast he released two weeks ago — after the Butler shooting — Cruz criticized the agency for its efforts to have 30% of agents be women by 2030.
“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,” Cruz said.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said to CNN that criticisms of female officers “an insult to the women of our agency to imply that they are unqualified based on gender. Such baseless assertions undermine the professionalism, dedication and expertise of our workforce.”
Cruz confronted Rowe with reporting by The Washington Post that Trump’s security detail repeatedly — and unsuccessfully — requested additional resources from Secret Service in the years leading to the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally. Rowe acknowledged that that may have been the case in the past but said no resources were denied for the Butler rally.
Cruz demanded a full accounting of requests from Trump’s security detail and Secret Service’s responses, which Rowe agreed to provide. Cruz also repeatedly asked for who in the agency denied requests by Trump’s security detail and was unsatisfied when Rowe said requests went through an approval process.
“It’s a conversation. It’s not just an absolute yea or nay,” Rowe said of approving additional security requests.
“Does the buck stop anywhere?” Cruz asked.
Cruz also asked for the size of Trump’s security detail relative to President Joe Biden’s. Rowe said Trump traveled with a full security crew, though he acknowledged a sitting president has more personnel.
“What’s the difference?” Cruz interjected.
“National command authority to launch a nuclear strike, sir,” Rowe responded, impatience rising in his voice. “There are other assets that travel with the president that the former president will not get.”
Rowe said he would get a more detailed breakdown in the number of personnel for Trump and Biden for Cruz.
During the hearing, Rowe placed much of the blame for the security failures in Butler with local police. Secret Service often delegates to state and local law enforcement to cover all vulnerabilities.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who also serves on the Judiciary Committee, asked Rowe how the Secret Service, “being an elite law enforcement agency, would delegate to local enforcement or others who did not meet” the same standards as their agency, which admits only two percent of applicants.
“It was a failure to challenge our assumptions,” Rowe responded. “We made an assumption that there was going to be uniform presence out there, that there would be sufficient eyes to cover that, that there were going to be counter sniper teams in the AGR building, and I can assure you that we’re not going to make that mistake again.”
Voting FAQ: 2024 Elections
When is the next election? What dates do I need to know?
Election Day for the general election is November 5, and early voting will run from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1. The deadline to register to vote and/or change your voter registration address is Oct. 7. Applications to vote by mail must be received by your county of residence – not postmarked – by Oct. 25.
What’s on the ballot for the general election?
In addition to the president, eligible Texans have the opportunity to cast their ballots for many Texas officials running for office at the federal, state and local levels.
This includes representatives in the U.S. and Texas houses and the following elected offices:
-1 U.S Senator (Ted Cruz)
– 1 of 3 Railroad Commissioners
– 15 State Senators
– 7 State Board of Education members
– 3 members of the Texas Supreme Court
– 3 members of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
– 5 Chief Justices and various justices for Texas Courts of Appeals
Lower-level judges and local county offices will also appear on the ballot:
– Various district judges, including on criminal and family courts
– County Courts at Law
– Justices of the Peace
– District Attorneys
– County Attorneys
– Sheriffs
– Constables
– Tax Assessor-Collectors
How do I make sure I’m registered to vote?
You can check to see if you’re registered and verify your information through the Texas Secretary of State’s website. You’ll need one of the following three combinations to log in: Your Texas driver’s license number and date of birth. Your first and last names, date of birth and county you reside in. Your date of birth and Voter Unique Identifier, which appears on your voter registration certificate.
What if I missed the voter registration deadline?
You must be registered to vote in a Texas county by Oct. 7 to vote in the Nov. 5 presidential election. You can still register for other elections.
If you’re registered but didn’t update your address by the deadline, you may still be able to vote at your previous voting location or on a limited ballot. (Voters are typically assigned precincts based on where they live. In most major counties, voters can vote anywhere on Election Day, but some counties require you vote within your precinct. If that is the case, you may have to return to your previous precinct. See which counties allow countywide Election Day voting here. You can usually find your precinct listed on your voter registration certificate or on when checking your registration online.)
If you moved from one county to another, you may be able to vote on a ballot limited to the elections you would qualify to vote in at both locations, such as statewide races. However, limited ballots are only available during early voting. Find your county election official here and contact them to ask about or request a limited ballot.
What can I do if I have questions about voting?
You can contact your county elections official or call the Texas Secretary of State’s helpline at 1-800-252-VOTE (8683). A coalition of voting rights groups is also helping voters navigate election concerns through the 866-OUR-VOTE (687-8683) voter-protection helpline. The coalition also has hotlines available for voters who speaker other languages or have accessibility needs.
For help in Spanish, call 888-VE-Y-VOTA or 888-839-8682.
For help in Asian languages, call 888-API-VOTE or 888-274-8683.
For help in Arabic, call 888-YALLA-US or 888-925-5287.
For help in American Sign Language through a video, call 301-818-VOTE or 301-818-8683.
For help from Disability Rights Texas, call 888-796-VOTE or 888-796-8683.
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