Verdict with Ted Cruz - 16 Crosses and a State in Mourning, ICE gets Ambushed plus Brennan & Comey in DOJ Crosshairs Week In Review

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.520 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.180 Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:00:07.620 Week in Review. Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.980 And these are the stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week.

00:00:13.620 First up, Senator Ted Cruz was on the ground at Camp Mystic.

00:00:17.940 What did he see?

00:00:19.240 And what did he learn about the flooding and the recovery efforts?

00:00:23.460 Also, a massive rise in threats and attacks on ICE agents.

00:00:28.480 Who's to blame? Could it be the leadership of the Democratic Party?

00:00:32.340 We've got their quotes and you can decide.

00:00:35.360 And finally, the FBI has opened investigations into John Brennan and James Comey.

00:00:41.880 The deep state that was in charge of trying to overthrow the will of the voters to get rid of Donald Trump

00:00:46.940 now may be finally out accountable for their actions.

00:00:51.260 It's the Week in Review and it starts right now.

00:00:54.020 But I'll tell you, Ben, the most difficult thing I did today is I went to Camp Mystic.

00:00:59.960 And I went and walked the grounds at Camp Mystic.

00:01:04.440 And I think it may be the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my life.

00:01:09.700 You walk through, and actually as you walk through, the river was calm and peaceful and beautiful.

00:01:21.180 But it rose and it rose suddenly.

00:01:26.480 And I will say the press, I think, has been less than clear and honest about how Camp Mystic is set up.

00:01:34.760 Because they've described it as saying, well, the cabins for the young girls were down by the riverbank

00:01:41.120 and all of the other cabins were up high.

00:01:44.540 That's not accurate.

00:01:45.720 And walking the grounds, the cabins are all hundreds of yards removed from the riverbank.

00:01:52.020 There's a lot of distance between the river and where the cabin is.

00:01:55.280 And the cabins are all about the same elevation.

00:01:58.200 There's some differences, but not massive differences in elevation between the cabins at Mystic.

00:02:04.480 And I was talking with one of the longtime employees there who said there had been a flood decades before.

00:02:12.740 And it had gotten up and crossed a little bit of the ground.

00:02:17.020 And it had come to sort of the foundation of one of the buildings that was not a cabin,

00:02:22.440 but one of the buildings closer to the river.

00:02:24.040 But it had never gotten close to the cabins.

00:02:26.440 So that's one thing to understand.

00:02:28.280 People say, well, gosh, this is prone to floods.

00:02:30.940 Yes.

00:02:32.360 But in the 100 years of Camp Mystic, there'd never been a flood where the water had gotten to the cabins.

00:02:38.220 And in this case, the water was eight feet deep in the cabins.

00:02:45.220 Walking through.

00:02:46.160 And every building, you could see the water line.

00:02:48.360 You could see the water line outside the buildings.

00:02:51.280 And it was eight feet deep.

00:02:53.820 And in the cabins, the water shattered the windows.

00:02:58.980 It swept the furniture out.

00:03:01.060 You looked in the cabins.

00:03:02.160 And every one of the cabins, the furniture had been swept out.

00:03:06.980 The windows were all shattered.

00:03:08.860 And I got to tell you, look, there was one cabin.

00:03:17.180 It's called the Bubble Inn.

00:03:21.240 And it's a cabin at Mystic where the youngest girls were.

00:03:24.320 And outside the Bubble Inn were 16 white crosses.

00:03:34.160 And on each one of those was a name of a little girl.

00:03:38.920 And they're names that we've read in the paper.

00:03:42.900 They're names of little seven- and eight-year-old girls, third graders, who lost their lives.

00:03:49.720 And one of the crosses was for Dick Eastland, the camp director, who drowned trying to save the girls' lives.

00:03:57.720 And he had spent – he graduated from UT 50 years ago and had spent 50 years of his life running this camp for girls.

00:04:06.820 And he was in his suburban – they showed me where he drowned.

00:04:10.360 It was a couple hundred yards from where I was standing in the river.

00:04:12.600 He was trying to save the girls, and the water swept them away, and he drowned.

00:04:15.900 And the 16 crosses, reading those names, two of those little girls go to school with my daughter.

00:04:30.880 They're third graders at her school.

00:04:33.600 The parents of one of those little girls lives a block away from me.

00:04:38.180 And I'll tell you, I just knelt and wept.

00:04:49.920 There were families there, Ben.

00:04:57.720 There was a mom and dad who was kneeling in front of those crosses.

00:05:02.040 And they were kissing the cross.

00:05:10.780 And I stood back.

00:05:12.260 I didn't want to interrupt their grieving.

00:05:14.920 But just watching them.

00:05:18.860 The mom came to that cabin. 0.65

00:05:21.420 The bubble in.

00:05:23.960 And she just broke down in tears.

00:05:25.620 In front of every cabin, there were the children's belongings.

00:05:34.440 There were trunks.

00:05:36.500 There were electric fans.

00:05:39.080 There were slippers and flip-flops and crocs.

00:05:45.500 There were teddy bears.

00:05:46.420 There were stuffed animals everywhere.

00:05:47.740 These were little girls.

00:05:50.640 And many of them have their names on them.

00:05:52.460 And there were moms and dads picking through the rubble, looking for their girls' belongings.

00:06:05.200 And I don't know which of those moms and dads lost a daughter.

00:06:10.700 We know of 27 who were lost.

00:06:14.160 And there may be more.

00:06:16.900 There are 11 that are missing.

00:06:18.180 And there were girls picking through the rubble. 0.89

00:06:24.320 I don't know if those girls were campers themselves who had survived.

00:06:29.040 I don't know if they're siblings who had lost a sibling.

00:06:32.320 But everyone is walking around.

00:06:36.700 Shell shock doesn't begin to describe it.

00:06:40.160 They're up on the field.

00:06:41.600 There was a field that was basically a parking lot for the cars of counselors.

00:06:50.220 And the waters had thrown the cars on top of each other.

00:06:55.040 It was like they were matchbox cars.

00:06:56.460 Just flipped over.

00:06:57.720 You saw car after car after car stacked on each other.

00:07:00.500 Flipped on its side.

00:07:01.400 Flipped over.

00:07:02.740 Tossed around.

00:07:03.860 The dining hall.

00:07:08.060 An entire wall of the dining hall had been ripped off.

00:07:12.120 They had heavy wooden tables that filled the dining hall.

00:07:15.340 Every one of them had been pulled out.

00:07:16.840 And the bubble in, which is where a large percentage of the fatalities occurred,

00:07:23.740 the water swept in and just pulled those girls out the windows. 1.00

00:07:29.420 Seeing that, and I saw it first from the helicopter, and you could see all their belongings spread out,

00:07:42.940 but then standing there and viewing it from the perspective of a dad.

00:07:52.300 You know, I've helped my daughters pack their trunks.

00:07:55.680 I've, you know, can't pick up every year.

00:08:01.860 You go and pick up your daughter's trunk, and it's a joyful time.

00:08:10.560 Our state is mourning right now, Ben.

00:08:15.960 I tell you, for everyone listening, and I say this, just pray for the people that are affected.

00:08:22.840 Pray for the people in Texas.

00:08:24.100 Pray for the families who are still without their loved ones.

00:08:30.540 They're still trying to find them.

00:08:32.360 Pray for the moms and the dads who are planning the funerals.

00:08:36.800 We know people personally that are doing that and getting ready for that this week.

00:08:41.560 Pray for the moms. 1.00

00:08:42.720 God, please pray for the moms. 1.00

00:08:44.920 Yes.

00:08:45.820 Yes.

00:08:46.020 And anything you can do to help with all of the—

00:08:48.100 there's so many different groups that are helping the people in Comfort and Kerr County,

00:08:53.820 and there are people that need help, and we focus so much on the kids,

00:08:57.180 but there's a lot of elderly people that have been affected by this.

00:09:00.020 There are a lot of people that lost their lives and all their belongings,

00:09:03.820 and help any way you can with all of the nonprofits that are getting involved that are doing this.

00:09:12.040 And we're going to keep you updated, but I would just say hug your babies.

00:09:17.000 And, Ben, I want to say three more things of encouragement.

00:09:23.540 So in Hunt, there's a store that's kind of a focal point.

00:09:27.920 It's called the Hunt Store, and it's right at the junction of two of the highways.

00:09:32.320 You go up one highway to go to one of the big camps.

00:09:35.440 You go up another highway to go up to Mystic and La Junta,

00:09:37.660 and actually La Junta is right across the street from the Hunt Store.

00:09:41.780 The Hunt Store, the flood utterly gutted it.

00:09:45.760 It's just ripped out in a hollow shell.

00:09:50.300 I went and stopped at the Hunt Store and just visited people who were there or gathering there,

00:09:55.020 and they'd actually changed the sign where it said Hunt Store,

00:09:58.380 and instead of Hunt Store, they'd changed the sign to read Hunt Strong.

00:10:06.140 And, you know, Heidi and Catherine were at the Hunt Store last week.

00:10:14.380 I mean, I've been there dozens of times.

00:10:18.660 The owners were there.

00:10:20.020 I just hugged them, and there were just like residents there who were just there mourning and grieving.

00:10:26.460 And I'll tell you, there was set up, there was a giant barbecue truck.

00:10:30.680 All right, so this is a story that is amazing that you're going to like.

00:10:33.860 It's a barbecue truck from Rockport.

00:10:36.120 Rockport is a town down on the Gulf Coast.

00:10:39.700 And Rockport, when Hurricane Harvey hit, it devastated the Gulf Coast from deep east Texas to south,

00:10:49.080 all the way really to Corpus Christi.

00:10:50.760 So that's a lot of, and Rockport is right in there.

00:10:53.380 It's by Port Aransas and Aransas Pass, and Rockport was devastated by Hurricane Harvey.

00:10:58.440 Well, these guys, and these are big old Texans with big old beards. 0.90

00:11:03.740 They look like ZZ Top, and they said, well, you know, when Hurricane Harvey hit,

00:11:10.940 there was a group from Hunt, Texas, a little town in the hill country,

00:11:15.740 that came down to Rockport and set up a food truck and fed us when we had lost our homes.

00:11:21.400 And so they got in a truck and drove up this giant smoker and griller,

00:11:26.480 and they were just giving away free barbecue.

00:11:29.480 And one of the things that's really cool, I was at, in Rockport, several times after Hurricane Harvey,

00:11:37.980 and I was in all the towns up and down the Gulf Coast.

00:11:39.760 But I was at those food trucks, so I don't recall visiting with someone

00:11:45.440 and hearing that they were from Hunt down in Rockport.

00:11:47.780 But you know what? In Rockport they remembered that.

00:11:50.420 And that's something we see happening, just Texans coming together.

00:11:56.820 The Cajun Navy from Louisiana came and were there helping people out.

00:12:00.840 So that was incredible, and I just had a chance.

00:12:05.260 I visited with a family, one dad who introduced me to two little boys,

00:12:10.840 and he said both of them lost some of their closest friends in the flood.

00:12:18.140 And I just said, you know, little kids, and they're not much older than your boys,

00:12:24.360 they shouldn't have to deal with death and loss at that age.

00:12:28.520 But I'll tell you, in that same parking lot at the Hunt store,

00:12:34.000 there was a car that had written on the back of it a Bible verse,

00:12:39.280 written in like shaving cream on the back window.

00:12:42.720 And it was Isaiah 43.2 that says,

00:12:48.660 when you go through deep water, I will be with you.

00:12:55.740 Amen.

00:12:56.260 That is, look, you just asked folks to pray.

00:13:00.400 Let me just underscore that.

00:13:03.480 For the moms and dads who have a yearning, gaping hole in their heart,

00:13:09.500 I think there is no pain, no agony like losing a child.

00:13:14.000 And nothing will ever fill that hole.

00:13:16.640 That pain will never go away.

00:13:18.080 But they need love.

00:13:20.440 They need support.

00:13:21.420 They need friends.

00:13:22.360 They need families to hug them, to hold them tight,

00:13:26.800 to just give them a shoulder to cry on and to hold them up.

00:13:30.740 And I've got to tell you, this is a time for the church.

00:13:34.020 One of the reasons, Texas, I think we are so resilient when facing natural disasters

00:13:39.420 is because the church is strong in Texas.

00:13:42.000 And you see churches step.

00:13:44.640 I started the day actually by visiting with a number of chaplains who, look,

00:13:49.140 you want to talk about it was brutal on the chaplains.

00:13:51.600 When you're dealing with moms and dads who've lost their kids and they're just weeping.

00:13:56.000 Even a chaplain, a man or woman of strong faith, I mean, it rips your heart out 1.00

00:14:02.540 to be with a parent who's lost a seven or eight-year-old daughter.

00:14:07.480 And right down from the Hunt store, there was a church that had a big sign,

00:14:14.880 free barbecue, lunch and dinner, all are welcome.

00:14:18.340 And that's what the church should be doing is helping and clothing and comforting 0.96

00:14:22.360 and taking care of the needy.

00:14:23.760 And that we, the church should always be doing that, but especially in time of crisis.

00:14:29.800 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,

00:14:32.180 you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.

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00:15:07.060 Now on to story number two.

00:15:09.400 Senator, I want to move to another big story,

00:15:11.600 and that is the rising threat that has just become oh so real

00:15:15.800 with federal law enforcement and there was a shooter that ambushed Texas Border Patrol agents.

00:15:24.220 Words from elected officials, in my opinion, have major influence, but also consequence.

00:15:32.320 We have seen time and time again right now,

00:15:35.580 Democrats coming out and saying that ICE are evil, stand up to ICE, fight ICE.

00:15:41.840 These are words coming from so many Democrats that are actually elected to office.

00:15:47.220 Well, listen, as you noted, words have consequence.

00:15:50.460 And we have seen an awful lot of Democrats, we have seen the corporate media denounce ICE, 0.63

00:15:55.200 call them Nazis, call them goose-stepping fascists. 0.55

00:15:59.160 And unfortunately, that rhetoric fuels a rage. 0.85

00:16:02.340 It fuels a rage that we have seen manifesting in violence over and over again.

00:16:09.060 Leftists engaging in active violence against ICE agents.

00:16:12.840 So, just a few days ago, an active shooter opened fire on ICE agents in McAllen, Texas.

00:16:22.480 And here's the story from Fox News.

00:16:25.740 Active shooter killed in attempt to ambush Border Patrol agents in Texas.

00:16:29.340 One McAllen police officer wounded, but in stable condition,

00:16:33.140 following apparent planned ambush at Rio Grande Valley facility.

00:16:37.360 And here's what the article says.

00:16:39.240 An active shooter, armed with tactical gear and a rifle,

00:16:42.280 opened fire upon Border Patrol agents as they arrived at a Border Patrol annex facility

00:16:46.420 in McAllen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley on Monday, law enforcement sources say.

00:16:52.320 Agents and local police returned fire and killed the gunman.

00:16:55.680 No federal agents were hit, but one McAllen police officer was struck.

00:17:01.920 Law enforcement sources say the officer is in stable condition.

00:17:05.800 Quote,

00:17:06.200 This morning, an individual opened fire at the entrance of the United States Border Patrol

00:17:10.500 sector annex in McAllen, Texas.

00:17:13.140 Both Border Patrol agents and local police helped neutralize the shooter,

00:17:16.840 the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement of Fox News.

00:17:19.180 This is an ongoing investigation led by the FBI.

00:17:23.120 More information will be shared as it becomes available.

00:17:26.060 Now, I'll tell you, I have walked into and out of that Border Patrol facility in McAllen, Texas,

00:17:32.600 multiple times.

00:17:33.980 The fact that you have violent criminals, and this is a criminal who lost his life

00:17:38.700 because he showed up and wanted to shoot at law enforcement officials.

00:17:42.460 He was doing so, we don't know this conclusively, but we can certainly infer that he was doing so

00:17:49.320 because he's been listening to the extreme rhetoric that these are Nazis.

00:17:53.300 And so he was like, you know what? 1.00

00:17:54.900 If you've got Nazis, let's kill the Nazis. 1.00

00:17:57.600 That is the consequence of the unhinged and deranged rhetoric on the left right now. 1.00

00:18:03.520 You talk about that rhetoric.

00:18:05.680 Let's give actual quotes.

00:18:07.080 House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said it employed people to, quote,

00:18:11.180 fight the Trump administration in the streets, quote, unquote.

00:18:14.920 He also declared ICE agents, quote, will be unsuccessful in protecting their identities,

00:18:20.960 no matter what it takes, advocating for doxing and putting their families at risk, ICE agents.

00:18:26.860 Representative Jayapala of Washington called ICE agents, quote, unquote, deranged

00:18:31.580 and said it is, quote, inspiring to obstruct immigration enforcement.

00:18:37.780 Representative McIver of New Jersey, who was arrested and charged with forcibly impeding

00:18:42.760 and interfering with federal officers outside an ICE detention facility,

00:18:47.120 incited her supporters to, quote, shut down the city because we are at war, quote, unquote.

00:18:53.720 And even the former vice presidential candidate, the Minnesota governor, Tim Waltz,

00:18:57.740 getting in on the action, called ICE agents the modern day Gestapo, Chicago's mayor this

00:19:03.940 past week.

00:19:05.120 Johnson accused the ICE agents of being, quote, unquote, the secret police and, quote, terrorizing

00:19:11.240 our communities.

00:19:12.020 And you add in Eric Swalwell of California.

00:19:14.840 He said it was, quote, his priority to ensure ICE agents, quote, are no longer faceless, comparing

00:19:22.580 them to some 1800s bank robbers or some KGB officers in Russia.

00:19:30.580 Words have consequences.

00:19:32.740 And this is the rhetoric coming from some of your colleagues in D.C.

00:19:37.340 Well, and not only do they have consequences with the armed shooter who was killed in McAllen,

00:19:42.240 Texas, but in North Texas, 11 people were arrested for plotting to ambush to kill ICE

00:19:50.300 correction officers.

00:19:51.980 And I want to read from this story from the Daily Wire, quote, 11 people have been arrested

00:19:57.580 in what law enforcement officers described as a, quote, planned ambush of corrections officers

00:20:03.480 at an ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, on July 4th.

00:20:08.340 One Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck during the attack and is expected to survive.

00:20:13.840 Quote, early reports indicate that more than a dozen masked individuals dressed in black

00:20:21.180 arrived at the Prairieland ICE detention facility late Friday night and vandalized vehicles and

00:20:27.300 security cameras in the parking lot, CBS News reported.

00:20:30.680 The individuals launched fireworks in an apparent effort to lure law enforcement.

00:20:35.960 On July 5th, Deputy Attorney General Tom Blanche posted on X, quote, we are closely monitoring

00:20:41.520 the attacks on DHS facilities in Prairieland, Texas, and Portland, Oregon, and are coordinating

00:20:46.880 with USAOs and our law enforcement partners.

00:20:50.040 The department has zero tolerance for assaults on federal officers or property and will bring

00:20:57.280 the full weight of the law against those responsible.

00:21:01.200 On Monday, Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson stated, quote, we're here to tell you that

00:21:05.760 late at night on July 4th, Friday night at approximately 10.37 p.m.

00:21:10.320 at Prairieland ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas, 10 to 12 individuals dressed in black,

00:21:18.340 military-style clothing, began shooting fireworks and engaging in acts of vandalism at the facility

00:21:24.020 that was part of an organized attack.

00:21:26.900 Today, my office has charged 10 individuals with three counts of attempted murder of a federal

00:21:32.620 officer.

00:21:33.840 Wow.

00:21:33.940 Each of the 10 are also charged with three counts of discharging a firearm in relation

00:21:40.360 to a crime of violence.

00:21:41.680 Each of these defendants faces a mandatory prison term of 10 years and up to life in prison.

00:21:48.860 An additional co-conspirator was charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy for attempting

00:21:53.980 to conceal and destroy evidence in relation to the attack and faces up to 10 years in prison.

00:21:59.440 And she continued, quote, let's discuss the incident.

00:22:07.180 It was a planned ambush with the intent to kill ICE corrections officers.

00:22:14.640 Make no mistake, this was not a so-called peaceful protest.

00:22:19.680 It was indeed an ambush.

00:22:23.800 This is the violence we are seeing.

00:22:25.960 And it turns out when you call law enforcement officers, federal law enforcement officers that 0.92

00:22:30.960 are keeping us safe, when you call them Nazis, when you call them Gestapo, lunatics on the 0.92

00:22:37.100 left hear that. 0.98

00:22:38.400 And sadly, we are seeing over and over again, they are acting, they're acting with violence.

00:22:42.320 You look at even on Tuesday, you had Democratic Senator Padilla of California and Cory Booker

00:22:48.260 of New Jersey.

00:22:48.780 They introduced that legislation to require ICE officers to, quote, display clearly visible

00:22:54.540 IDs and not wear masks, no matter what, during their enforcement operations, accusing, quote,

00:23:00.080 the Trump administration of alarming immigration enforcement tactics that have terrorized communities

00:23:05.000 across California and the nation.

00:23:07.080 And we know what the left has done here.

00:23:09.100 They want to dox these ICE agents, their family members.

00:23:13.360 They've been putting their kids even online and posting people, been posting their home

00:23:18.540 addresses, hoping that basically people go after the ICE agents who are just doing their

00:23:23.540 jobs. 0.97

00:23:24.120 That's how sick these people are. 0.95

00:23:26.220 Well, listen, there's a simple choice. 0.84

00:23:28.180 There's a choice for Americans all across the country.

00:23:30.920 Who do you stand with?

00:23:32.780 Do you stand with cops?

00:23:34.620 Do you stand with law enforcement agents?

00:23:36.320 Do you stand with the men and women who risked their lives to keep us safe?

00:23:40.760 You and I both stand with them.

00:23:42.820 Or as the Democrats have chosen, do you stand with illegal immigrants?

00:23:46.800 Do you stand with murderers?

00:23:47.940 Do you stand with rapists?

00:23:48.940 Do you stand with child molesters?

00:23:50.660 Do you stand with Venezuelan gang members who are engaged in human trafficking?

00:23:54.900 Sadly, the Democrats, and inexplicably, they've decided to stand with the criminals and

00:23:59.760 not law enforcement.

00:24:00.900 And we're seeing the consequences.

00:24:02.120 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can

00:24:07.020 go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.

00:24:10.920 Allô, Nissan.

00:24:12.960 Hey, grosse tempête, hein? 0.96

00:24:14.020 Hey, Karine, oui, je sais, les vilains bonhommes de neige sont de retour.

00:24:17.620 Mais avec le Nissan Rogue Attraction Intégrale, c'est pas stressant.

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00:24:22.460 Oh, Karine, il y a un bonhomme dans le Rogue.

00:24:24.140 Ah, c'est correct.

00:24:25.080 J'ai allumé les sièges chauffants.

00:24:27.000 Ah, bien joué, Karine.

00:24:28.380 Je le fous.

00:24:29.400 Maîtrisez toutes les conditions.

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00:24:41.200 Nissan.

00:24:42.240 I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.

00:24:46.440 Senator, I want to get into this and get your reaction to the FBI launching an investigation

00:24:52.640 into John Brennan, into James Comey over the Trump-Russia probe.

00:24:57.980 I think we need to go back and just remind people of what they were peddling that they knew

00:25:02.700 was false.

00:25:03.560 Basically, in my opinion, it was a coup attempt against the American people who chose Donald

00:25:09.440 Trump in 2016 to be their president.

00:25:11.220 They didn't like it.

00:25:12.120 And they're like, no worries.

00:25:13.060 Well, you know, we'll do what the Lisa Page, Peter Strzok were doing, right?

00:25:17.040 We'll fix it.

00:25:18.040 We'll take care of it after the fact, after he gets sworn in.

00:25:21.260 And we're going to go after him and we're going to undermine him.

00:25:23.400 We're going to get him impeached and that'll be all fine.

00:25:25.340 Well, I got to say, this is an astonishing story.

00:25:29.400 John Brennan was the head of the CIA.

00:25:31.820 James Comey was the head of the FBI.

00:25:35.000 Both of them are right now under active criminal investigations.

00:25:39.700 Here's what Fox News has reported.

00:25:41.500 Quote, former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal

00:25:46.680 investigation for potential wrongdoing related to the Trump-Russia probe, including allegedly

00:25:53.520 making false statements to Congress, Justice Department sources told Fox News Digital.

00:26:00.020 CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence of wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Cash

00:26:05.340 Patel for potential prosecution, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital.

00:26:10.540 The sources said the referral was received and told Fox News Digital that a criminal investigation

00:26:15.940 into Brennan was opened and is underway.

00:26:19.420 DOJ sources declined to provide further details.

00:26:21.820 It is unclear at this point if the investigation spans beyond his alleged false statements to

00:26:28.320 Congress.

00:26:29.920 As for Comey, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital that an investigation into the former director

00:26:35.520 is underway but could not share details of what specifically is being probed.

00:26:40.160 The full scope of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey is unclear.

00:26:43.960 But two sources described the FBI's view of the duo's interactions as a, quote, conspiracy, which could

00:26:52.140 open up a wide range of potential prosecutorial options.

00:26:56.460 The FBI and the CIA declined comment.

00:27:00.800 I mean, this is massive on so many different levels.

00:27:04.020 And John Brennan, by the way, he went on TV on MSNBC and it was pretty funny because it 0.99

00:27:11.400 was like he was just playing dumb. 0.74

00:27:13.720 And it was like, I don't even know why they would be investigating me. 0.96

00:27:17.100 I don't know what they would be looking at.

00:27:18.920 I don't understand how this is even a thing in his own words.

00:27:24.460 And in fact, I'm going to play it because I want you to hear it.

00:27:27.180 I'm going to get your reaction.

00:27:28.200 Here's John Brennan, MSNBC, after finding out that he's the target of an investigation.

00:27:33.020 If there is an investigation that people will be questioned, I would be questioned about

00:27:37.740 it.

00:27:37.920 But again, I've had no contact from them.

00:27:40.600 But again, I testified in front of many, many congressional committees in the House and

00:27:45.420 the Senate over the years.

00:27:46.760 And I continue to explain exactly what we did during this process, why we tried to make

00:27:52.040 sure we stayed true to our intelligence responsibilities and that we were not going to do anything at

00:27:58.000 all to try to interfere in that election.

00:27:59.640 And again, it was a challenging time, but also one, I think that the people who actually

00:28:05.540 worked this, both in terms of trying to collect intelligence prior to the election and then

00:28:10.300 the ones who put together the intelligence assessment, they really, I think, showed the

00:28:13.880 best of what the intelligence community and what CIA is made of.

00:28:17.160 So again, I am clueless about what it is exactly that they may be investigating me for.

00:28:23.720 That may be the fastest, Senator, I've ever heard John Brennan speak on TV ever.

00:28:29.800 And I've watched him a lot over the years.

00:28:31.520 That seemed like a very nervous man to me.

00:28:33.920 Well, and let me give a little more background on who John Brennan is.

00:28:37.360 He was the director of the CIA from 2013 to 2017 under Barack Obama.

00:28:43.220 Now, in 1976, John Brennan was a young man.

00:28:49.260 1976, you were not alive.

00:28:50.780 Is that right, Ben?

00:28:51.940 I was not, no.

00:28:53.880 Now, you're enough of a political student and scholar.

00:28:58.060 Let me ask you, who were the presidential candidates in 1976?

00:29:03.080 Jimmy Carter?

00:29:04.700 Yeah.

00:29:05.660 All right.

00:29:06.180 And on the Republican side, I love when you play these games with me.

00:29:12.140 Did Reagan, was Reagan 76 as well?

00:29:14.420 No, no.

00:29:15.200 So Reagan ran, but he lost.

00:29:18.500 It was Ford.

00:29:19.460 It was Ford.

00:29:20.280 Ford was the incumbent president.

00:29:21.540 So remember, Richard Nixon had been president.

00:29:23.160 He resigned.

00:29:24.280 So Ford was the incumbent president.

00:29:25.780 Reagan primaried Ford, but he lost in that primary.

00:29:28.920 So the general election was Gerald Ford versus Jimmy Carter.

00:29:33.300 Now, let me ask you, all right, in that election, who would you vote for?

00:29:37.520 I'm going to probably go with the Republican there, not Jimmy Carter.

00:29:41.520 Yeah, look, although I will say, and by the way, do you know, this is my first political

00:29:45.580 memory.

00:29:45.960 I'm about 10 years older than you are.

00:29:47.860 My first political memory is when I was five years old, 1976, and my mother voted for

00:29:55.820 Jimmy Carter.

00:29:56.500 My mother's a strong conservative. 1.00

00:29:57.800 She just thought Gerald Ford was an idiot. 0.99

00:29:59.480 And I remember my father, my father, who's an immigrant from Cuba, he was not yet a U.S. 0.99

00:30:04.020 citizen.

00:30:04.420 He is today, but he was not in 76.

00:30:06.780 And my father was furious because he felt like my mom had the family's vote.

00:30:11.980 And she voted for Jimmy Carter.

00:30:14.180 It's funny.

00:30:14.520 My mom is 90 now, and she's incredible and a wonderful conservative and an incredible

00:30:18.840 person.

00:30:19.440 But when I bring this up, she's like, I'm sorry.

00:30:21.820 I'm sorry.

00:30:22.500 I didn't know. 0.70

00:30:24.580 Jimmy Carter was an absolute disaster. 0.98

00:30:27.800 He was a left-wing wacko. 0.97

00:30:29.860 He was the worst president this country had ever seen until Joe Biden. 0.90

00:30:33.400 Joe Biden managed to be worse than Jimmy Carter.

00:30:37.920 Now, how is this relevant to John Brennan?

00:30:40.220 Well, John Brennan was in college at the time.

00:30:42.920 He was faced with a choice between Gerald Ford and ultra left-wing crazy Jimmy Carter.

00:30:49.880 What do you think John Brennan did?

00:30:52.580 I'm ready.

00:30:53.420 Give me the punchline here.

00:30:54.840 He cast his vote for a guy named Gus Hall.

00:30:59.400 Do you know who Gus Hall was?

00:31:00.640 I do not.

00:31:02.220 He was the presidential candidate for the Communist Party USA.

00:31:07.740 And there's your sign.

00:31:09.300 So John Brennan decided Jimmy Carter is too right-wing for him.

00:31:14.740 And he voted for someone who I'm not calling him a communist.

00:31:18.080 He was the nominee of the Communist Party.

00:31:21.540 And John Brennan said, I want America governed by a communist president.

00:31:26.440 That's who Barack Obama put in charge of the CIA.

00:31:30.140 And that's who played an integral role in orchestrating the whole Russiagate fraud.

00:31:37.220 And it's important to understand just how extreme and radical this guy is.

00:31:43.720 I've got to tell you, I don't know, to be honest, I don't know anybody else in public life who thought Jimmy Carter was too conservative.

00:31:53.980 John Brennan is literally to the left of every Democrat senator, every Democrat House member, every single person I've ever encountered in public life.

00:32:01.920 The lefty loons all voted for Jimmy Carter, except for John Brennan, who said, nope, we need a full-on communist.

00:32:09.360 That's who this guy is.

00:32:11.040 Final question on this.

00:32:12.680 How concerned do you think these two individuals should be about this investigation?

00:32:18.640 Or is this one of those moments where you say, okay, yeah, there's an investigation, but I don't have to worry because nothing ever really happens to us when we're the elites.

00:32:26.820 Well, listen, the greatest exposure they have is for lying to Congress, because lying to Congress, you're under oath.

00:32:32.220 And lying under oath, that carries a prison sentence.

00:32:35.020 That carries up to five years in prison.

00:32:37.420 James Clapper, who was the director of national intelligence under Barack Obama, I think the evidence is very clear that he lied to Congress.

00:32:46.140 Whether John Brennan did, whether James Comey did, I think this investigation will reveal.

00:32:50.860 It will depend upon, there's no doubt they were terrible heads of the CIA and the FBI.

00:32:57.300 Whether they committed criminal conduct or not, I think that that is the purpose of this investigation.

00:33:02.980 But I got to say, it is a big damn deal that the former head of the FBI and the former head of the CIA are being criminally investigated for felony conduct.

00:33:14.000 That's what's happening right now.

00:33:15.140 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:33:20.740 Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day.

00:33:24.400 You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.

00:33:27.660 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.

00:33:31.500 And we will see you back here on Monday morning.

00:33:34.920 This is an iHeart podcast.

00:33:37.800 Guaranteed human.

00:33:38.520 Guaranteed human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - July 12, 2025

16 Crosses and a State in Mourning, ICE gets Ambushed plus Brennan & Comey in DOJ Crosshairs Week In Review

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