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Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe declined to identify at a Senate hearing Tuesday who had denied former President Donald Trump’s security requests over the past two years.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) asked Lowe about the July 20, 2024 Washington post The report said that over the past two years, “senior Secret Service officials have repeatedly rejected requests from Trump agents for additional resources and personnel.”
“Sometimes assets are not available and cannot fill in, and those gaps are filled by state and local law enforcement tactical assets,” Lowe responded.
Cruz asked Lowe who in the Secret Service made the decision to deny those requests.
Lowe did not reveal any specific names, but mentioned a “process.”
“The process is that a task force will put in a request for staffing, technology assets, and those requests are processed by the field office and the task force. And then it’s processed by the back office…” he began.
Cruz interrupted, “Okay, so there’s a bureaucracy. Are there decision makers?”
Lowe responded: “This is not bureaucracy, Senator. This is a process.”
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— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 30, 2024
“Tell me who is the decision maker,” Cruz asked. “Is there such a person?”
Lowe again objected, “Senator, this is a conversation. This is not a yes or no.”
Cruz then asked if the people who refused to provide additional security to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were the same people who refused to provide additional security to Trump. (According to a government watchdog Judicial Watchthat person is Michael Plati, assistant director of the Office of Conservation Operations.
“I have a simple question, yes or no,” Cruz asked. “Did the same person who turned down Trump’s request also turn down Robert Kennedy’s request? That’s a yes or no question.”
Lowe refused to answer.
“Senator, this is not a yes or no question. First of all, there is a process for our candidates to receive protection,” he responded. “Mr. Kennedy submitted an application and it was presented to CPAC,” he said, without specifying the initials.
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Oversight and Accountability Committee
Cruz retorted: “Well, you refuse to answer that question.”
The senator said he believed Secret Service leadership made a political decision to deny the Trump agents’ request.
“I think the Biden administration is rife with partisan politics, and the same person who rejected President Trump’s request for increased security also repeatedly rejected Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request for security, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s father and uncle were also killed by assassins, and the same person made that decision,” Cruz said.
Cruz also asked Lowe to provide every written request from the Trump campaign or details from Trump for additional resources and every response from the Secret Service.
“Senator, I am committed to answering and providing the information you seek,” Lowe said.
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