(The Center Square) – Texas Republicans argue that if President Joe Biden had provided former President Donald Trump with full Secret Service protection, two assassination attempts in two months may have been prevented.
On Sunday, a man armed with an assault-style rifle who donated to Democratic candidates attempted to assassinate Trump at his golf course in Palm Beach, Florida, authorities allege. This was after Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., on July 13.
Despite Trump’s team requesting additional protection before and after the first failed assassination attempt, additional Secret Service protection wasn’t put in place around the perimeter of Trump’s golf course. The alleged gunman was caught after a witness took a picture of his license plate and local Florida law enforcement officers apprehended him.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, both Texas Republicans, called on Biden to give Trump full Secret Service protection. They also point out that credible threats against Trump from Iran have existed for years and yet full federal protection wasn’t granted.
After the first assassination attempt, it was revealed that federal officials had been tracking Iranian threats against Trump after he ordered the 2020 hit on Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. “These threats arise from Iran’s desire to seek revenge for the killing of Qassem Soleimani. We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority,” a National Security Council spokesperson said, the Associated Press reported .
Trump had “a threat from a foreign nation state, Iran, and they knew that,” Fallon said, referring to the Biden administration. Trump “should have a compliment akin to a sitting president and he didn't, and he still doesn't.”
Cruz said in his podcast that because Trump is no longer the sitting president, “the Secret Service has given him dramatically scaled down protection to what they would have given him if he is the president.”
He then called on “Joe Biden, who is theoretically still the commander in chief, to order the Secret Service to give Donald Trump full presidential protection right now. Two attempted assassinations in 64 days; two failures by Secret Service for having woefully insufficient personnel; given that fact and given the threats and the failures we have seen, the only reasonable and rational thing to do is to assign President Trump right now a full presidential detail that includes the perimeter coverage.”
Cruz also said that if Vice President Kamala Harris “had any sense at all, she would join in the call to do this. … She'd stand up and say, ‘I want to win at the ballot box. I don't want my opponent murdered. We need to make sure he has the protection he needs.’ I don't think she'll do that, but it would be unquestionably the right thing for her to do.”
On Sunday night, Harris issued a statement saying, “I condemn political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.” She also said the administration would “ensure the Secret Service has every resource, capability, and protective measure necessary to carry out its critical mission.”
Biden also issued a statement, saying, “I am relieved that the former President is unharmed. … As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country.”
An active federal investigation is underway, he said, and he “directed my team to continue to ensure that Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former President’s continued safety.”
But Fallon, who is serving on a congressional task force to investigate Secret Service failures, echoed concerns of his Florida colleagues, saying, “We are still awaiting answers regarding July 13.”
U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Florida, said the task force hasn’t “even been given answers on the last shooting that happened in Butler, Pennsylvania,” including “the names of every single Secret Service agent that was on the ground that day.”
He also said, “the Trump team has repeatedly asked [Department of Homeland Security] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas for more Secret Service agents to protect President Trump and had been refused until the Butler shooting multiple different times. Why is that?”
The former head of Secret Service refused to resign until she was forced to after at a congressional hearing where both Democrats and Republicans demanded her resignation. Members of Congress also filed impeachment charges against her.
To date, members of Congress have not received the information they requested from Mayorkas and the Secret Service about the Butler shooting.
Former Texas Republican Congressman John Ratcliff told Fox News he “wasn’t shocked” by the assassination attempt. “Why would anyone be shocked at this point in time if they heard that there were shots fired in the vicinity of President Trump given what's happened? Given the unprecedented legal cases and indictments against him, legal theories that have never been pursued, and when there was an actual assassination attempt against him it was minimized by his political opponents.”
He said Harris “demonized” Trump at the presidential debate last week, “labeling him a threat to democracy. … Why would any of us be surprised that there continue to be potential threats on his safety and on his life like there have been in the past?”
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