Verdict with Ted Cruz - 250K Sent to Home Address of Joe Biden from China, Democrat Mayors Flip on Immigration, & GOP Debate; China and the Fentanyl Crisis Week In Review

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.540 Guaranteed human.

00:00:04.420 Welcome.

00:00:05.200 It is the Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:00:07.000 Weekend review.

00:00:08.020 Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.340 And these are the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week.

00:00:13.840 Number one, there was a $250,000 plus bank wire transfer that came from Beijing.

00:00:23.200 Where did it go?

00:00:24.420 To the home address of Joe Biden in the summer of 2019 while he was running for president.

00:00:32.360 Now, you could argue that maybe Hunter Biden lived there at the time.

00:00:35.520 The only problem is he didn't.

00:00:37.800 And we have the proof of where he was living.

00:00:40.340 That is a huge story you don't want to miss.

00:00:43.220 Number two this weekend also deals with a problem with the Biden administration and a wide open border.

00:00:49.720 Now, Democratic mayors are flipping on their own party. 0.80

00:00:53.420 Yet, they're still not willing to say Joe Biden needs to secure the border.

00:00:58.480 We'll dive into the politics of that.

00:01:00.560 And finally, a GOP debate took place this past week.

00:01:03.980 And the highlights of what really mattered and what went on, we're going to break it down for you.

00:01:08.660 It dealt specifically with China and the fentanyl crisis.

00:01:12.420 It is the Weekend Review with Ted Cruz.

00:01:14.940 And it starts right now.

00:01:16.500 There is new reporting out that Hunter Biden received wire transfers for a quarter of a million dollars originating in Beijing for more than more than 250 from Chinese business partners during the summer of 2019.

00:01:33.560 These wires were listed, that were listed, had the home address of the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, as the beneficiary address for the funds that were being transferred.

00:01:47.960 This is a direct link from money from Beijing now to the President of the United States of America in the sum of at least 250,000 and counting.

00:01:58.500 Well, look, that's exactly right.

00:02:01.300 Let me walk you through a little bit of this timeline.

00:02:03.960 An individual named Jonathan Lee and Hunter Biden developed a business relationship while Joe Biden was vice president.

00:02:11.760 On July 26, 2019, Hunter Biden received a $10,000 wire from Wang Jin.

00:02:19.000 On October 2, 2019, Hunter Biden received a $250,000 wire from Jonathan Lee and Tan Ling.

00:02:31.100 Both wires originated in Beijing and listed as the beneficiary address Joe Biden's Wilmington, Delaware home.

00:02:41.580 Nearly three months later, on October 13, 2019, Hunter Biden's attorney, a guy named George Maceres, stated that Hunter Biden received no money from BHR and did not disclose any payments from Jonathan Lee.

00:02:57.700 I mean, it's easy to forget a quarter million dollars.

00:03:00.100 Everyone loses that.

00:03:00.940 Beyond that, evidence shows that Joe Biden developed a familiar relationship with Jonathan Lee during his vice presidency.

00:03:11.400 And prior to these payments to Hunter Biden, Devin Archer, who was a business associate of the Bidens, described how Joe Biden, not Hunter, Joe, daddy, met with Jonathan Lee in Beijing, China.

00:03:24.940 Had a phone call with him and later wrote college recommendation letters for his children.

00:03:31.620 So understand the guy who's wiring a quarter million dollars to Hunter Biden to Joe Biden's home address.

00:03:39.080 Joe Biden wrote college recommendation letters for his kids.

00:03:44.380 And in fact, in December 2013, during a vice presidential trip to Beijing, reports indicates that, quote,

00:03:50.560 Hunter, shortly after arriving in Beijing on December 4th, help arranged for Lee to shake hands with his father in the lobby of the American delegation's hotel.

00:04:03.640 And mind you, all of this is happening.

00:04:05.840 This wire is happening simultaneously to Joe Biden announcing his campaign for president of the United States.

00:04:12.800 But nevertheless, on October 22, 2020, here's what Joe Biden said, quote,

00:04:17.800 My son has not made money in terms of thing about what are you talking about?

00:04:25.860 China. The only guy who made money in China is Trump.

00:04:31.080 So what he said, his son has not made money from China.

00:04:35.760 It was a flat out lie.

00:04:37.640 Not only had he made money, he'd made a quarter million dollars from a guy Joe Biden had met,

00:04:42.560 from a guy who Joe Biden had written recommendation letters for his kids and that quarter million dollars was wired to Joe Biden's home address.

00:04:54.620 I still am taken aback and rarely does this happen, Senator, at just the the and I don't think it's incumbent.

00:05:02.600 It's just the brazenness of the crimes that were committed by the Bidens.

00:05:05.900 Because they didn't get and this is 2019.

00:05:09.280 This is not that long ago.

00:05:11.520 He's running for president.

00:05:12.880 Right. He's running for president of the United States of America.

00:05:16.340 And and they're wiring these funds from Beijing to the home address of the president of the United States,

00:05:24.900 the now president of the United States of America, while he's trying to become the president of the United States of America.

00:05:28.240 It's almost like they're like, hey, get the money in here quick.

00:05:31.640 Move it through quickly.

00:05:33.060 We got to get this. We got to get this money in here fast before he becomes the president.

00:05:37.520 And so send it on.

00:05:39.440 Where do you want me to send?

00:05:40.480 We don't we're not going to funnel the money this time.

00:05:42.280 We're not going to put it in the LLCs and move the bank accounts around.

00:05:45.860 Just send it directly to the home address of the president.

00:05:49.880 All right.

00:05:51.120 And this is an example where the corporate media will be utterly compliant.

00:05:54.960 So the only one who will even bother to ask a question of Joe Biden at a press conference or or or of Green Jean Pierre will be Fox.

00:06:02.780 Because the rest of the corporate media will roll over and be compliant.

00:06:05.960 But here's a basic question.

00:06:07.800 Mr.

00:06:08.320 President, did you ever meet Jonathan Lee's kids?

00:06:14.340 How about that?

00:06:14.940 Let's start with that.

00:06:15.680 You wrote recommendation letters for him.

00:06:17.520 You ever meet him?

00:06:18.520 You know anything about him?

00:06:19.460 And if the answer is no, well, why the hell did you write recommendations letters for them?

00:06:27.560 What did Jonathan Lee do to get you?

00:06:30.620 You were the vice president of the United States to write a recommendation letter for his kids.

00:06:34.400 If you never met the kids.

00:06:35.540 I don't know if he met him, but I would be shocked if he did.

00:06:38.460 Um, if you never met the kids, so you're willing to write a recommendation letter for someone you've never met.

00:06:44.860 Presumably you owe something to daddy if you're writing a recommendation letter to the kids.

00:06:49.720 So the question is, what do you owe?

00:06:52.080 What did daddy do?

00:06:53.860 And does it have anything to do with the fact that daddy sent a quarter million dollars, wired it to your son at your home address while you were running for president of the United States?

00:07:03.420 Remember, the Democrat talking point and the corporate media talking point is, yeah, Hunter's corrupt.

00:07:09.480 Let's throw him overboard.

00:07:11.000 We've given up on Hunter.

00:07:12.180 But Joe had nothing to do with it.

00:07:14.260 Well, you know what?

00:07:14.820 Hunter didn't write recommendations letters for the kids of Jonathan Lee.

00:07:19.720 Joe did.

00:07:20.980 So what did Joe get in exchange for a recommendation letter?

00:07:26.860 By the way, you and I are both parents.

00:07:28.560 Do either of us have recommendation letters from the vice president of the United States for our kids?

00:07:32.840 No.

00:07:34.200 Like, that's pretty damn serious.

00:07:37.840 And it's remarkable the media will not even ask these questions.

00:07:43.720 They do not care.

00:07:45.400 Well, it's not just that.

00:07:46.260 You, I'm sure, get asked 10 hundred times more than I do for recommendations for different things.

00:07:51.640 And the more that you build something, the more cautious and careful you are because you don't want to give your name to somebody that could come back to haunt you one day when a press person is like, hey, Senator Cruz, did you actually write a letter of recommendation for someone that you didn't know?

00:08:09.360 And now they've been arrested for drugs or for this crime or that or embezzlement.

00:08:13.400 You protect your good name unless you're Joe Biden, where it seems to be that you can just buy a letter of recommendation from the vice president if the if the dollar amount is enough to your family.

00:08:25.440 So, look, I'm 52 years old.

00:08:29.540 I've been in the Senate 11 years.

00:08:32.100 My guess is maybe I've written in the whole course of my life, let's say, 100 recommendation letters.

00:08:37.800 That's probably high.

00:08:38.780 But let me I'm going to overestimate it.

00:08:40.380 Those hundred have been almost exclusively people who are either good personal friends of mine or people who've worked for me.

00:08:50.140 So someone was a staff assistant.

00:08:52.020 If someone was an employee in the office and they worked and they did a good job, I'll draft a letter of recommendation.

00:08:57.700 It'll vary if I know them well.

00:08:59.260 Some letters of recommendation, I lean in closely because if I know them well and I work with them, I'll say something nicely about them.

00:09:04.620 And if they were a good kid and they worked in the office and they could do good work, I'll write a more generic letter and I'll often have staff draft it and try to reflect, you know, you know, young Ben did a nice job on a memo on national security.

00:09:18.200 And he pointed out maybe we should not have Iranian agents working for the federal government.

00:09:23.780 And I agreed with that.

00:09:25.320 That was nicely done.

00:09:26.560 Yeah.

00:09:27.140 Mind you, that means young Ben couldn't get hired in the Biden administration.

00:09:30.340 But in a sane world, young Ben had some wisdom that was impressive.

00:09:35.240 And so you should hire him at Ole Miss because he also has a wicked serve and knows how to play tennis.

00:09:40.880 Like, that's a letter I might write.

00:09:44.180 But I can tell you right now, I have never written a letter of recommendation for a Chinese national.

00:09:51.320 I sure as hell haven't written a letter of recommendation for the children of a Chinese national I've never met.

00:09:56.580 And I'm sure as hell, as hell, as hell, as hell, as hell have never written a letter of recommendation for the children of a Chinese national who I've never met the children. 0.97

00:10:05.600 And the dad has given a quarter million dollars to my son and sent it to my home address. 0.98

00:10:11.300 Like, holy crap. 0.97

00:10:13.500 Yeah. 0.96

00:10:13.620 This is not, like, there's sort of a realm of reasonableness.

00:10:17.780 And look, sometimes you have someone who was an intern and shook your hand and you say, young Ben is a nice young man.

00:10:25.120 And it's kind of a courtesy and you don't really know.

00:10:28.520 Young Ben may not be a nice young man. 1.00

00:10:30.140 He may be a total jerk. 1.00

00:10:31.220 But you're trying to be nice. 1.00

00:10:33.140 And so you write a letter because young Ben seemed fine.

00:10:36.580 This is qualitatively different.

00:10:39.400 And I don't know anyone in politics who's ever done this.

00:10:44.560 Like, what Joe Biden is doing, like, people listening might think, oh, I don't know, the political world, this is commonplace.

00:10:51.080 No, no, it's not.

00:10:52.060 No, it's not.

00:10:53.200 People don't do this.

00:10:55.100 Like, a quarter million dollars, you don't get sent to you.

00:10:59.940 You don't get sent to you from Chinese nationals.

00:11:02.660 You don't get sent to you from Chinese nationals while you're running for president.

00:11:06.280 You don't get sent to you from Chinese nationals in exchange for who the hell knows what. 0.94

00:11:13.820 I mean, this is, and it's worth underscoring, this is not Hunter.

00:11:19.100 This is Joe, Joe, Joe.

00:11:22.040 This money was wired to Joe's home address.

00:11:26.000 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.

00:11:32.540 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. 0.98

00:11:39.600 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:11:43.320 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:11:44.500 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:11:45.720 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:11:49.500 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:11:55.220 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:11:58.220 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:12:04.240 Now on to story number two.

00:12:06.360 There's a civil war in the Democratic Party right now over the immigration issue.

00:12:09.760 We're seeing, you know, Mayor Adams come out, the governor of New York come out.

00:12:14.300 And it's hard to just overlook what's happening at the border.

00:12:18.080 There was an interesting Fox report that I think put it in perspective for people.

00:12:21.660 And I wanted to make sure we played it in the video pod.

00:12:24.360 And many people that are listening to this right now, they're listening on audio only.

00:12:26.960 You can go watch the video that we're about to do on YouTube, all right, because we're doing this one with video and audio.

00:12:32.640 Go look at it because this is something that should go viral and people should see.

00:12:35.980 Take a look at this.

00:12:37.320 I can tell you that early this morning in Eagle Pass, we witnessed one of the largest mass illegal crossings we have ever seen in the last two and a half years of covering our southern border.

00:12:47.160 We'll get right to this video.

00:12:48.400 Take a look at this stunning footage.

00:12:50.760 Border Patrol source is telling us just after midnight about 2,500 migrants crossed illegally into Eagle Pass.

00:12:59.200 You can see this lengthy line of them stretching from shore to shore in the river.

00:13:03.560 This video perspective coming from the Mexican side of the river.

00:13:06.820 And Piedras Negras, one of our contacts over there, shooting this video as they essentially bum-rushed Eagle Pass last night.

00:13:13.100 You saw that, and there was another video that also went viral, and that was a train coming towards America filled with people.

00:13:19.140 And it's like the cartels have figured out, hey, they're not going to stop us.

00:13:22.820 In fact, the more that we send, the more likely it is to be successful.

00:13:27.260 We can just bum-rush the border, and this administration will not stop us.

00:13:31.540 Yeah, let's put these numbers in context.

00:13:34.820 So as we've discussed on the pod before, Mayor Adams in New York has said that New York City is in a crisis.

00:13:42.160 They've had 110,000 illegal immigrants.

00:13:44.680 He says that 110,000 illegal immigrants is destroying New York City. 0.91

00:13:49.260 Now, I want to focus on Eagle Pass, where if you watch that video, you just saw the people crossing.

00:13:54.680 Eagle Pass is a small town on the southern border on the Rio Grande River.

00:13:58.240 It has a population of about 28,000 people, so it's a little town.

00:14:04.220 On one single day last week, more than 4,000 illegal immigrants came into Eagle Pass on one day.

00:14:12.480 Now, 4,000 people in a town of 28,000 people is about 14 percent of the population.

00:14:18.160 About 14 percent of the population of the city came illegally into Eagle Pass on one day.

00:14:24.380 What would that be in New York City?

00:14:26.280 New York City has a population of about 9 million people.

00:14:30.080 If 14 percent of New York City came into New York on one day, that would be 1,260,000 people invading New York on a single day.

00:14:42.260 Mayor Adams says 110,000 people over two and a half years is a crisis destroying the city.

00:14:49.100 Well, how would he feel about 1,260,000 people entering the city on a single day?

00:14:54.660 That's what Eagle Pass saw on one day last week, and you know what? 0.88

00:14:58.240 They saw thousands more the next day and the next day and the next day and the next day, and these Democrats do not give a damn.

00:15:06.040 Border Patrol Union put out a very interesting tweet, and this is what they said as they put this out.

00:15:11.500 It said from September 1st through the 20th, the Biden administration ordered the release of more than 100,000.

00:15:17.680 It's the order of the release of 100,000 legal border crashers, enough to double the population of cities like Yuma, Arizona.

00:15:23.680 Think about what Biden is doing to this country with his out-of-control border policies, how many millions more.

00:15:30.140 That's not, like, exaggeration.

00:15:33.760 When they say, Border Patrol Union is saying how many millions more, that's a very accurate statement because there are millions.

00:15:40.720 Look, they're at 7.5 million, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Chuck Schumer and Alejandro Mayorkas and every Senate Democrat and just about every congressional Democrat,

00:15:51.040 they want 7.5 million to go to 10 million, to go to 12 million, to go to 15 million.

00:15:55.880 They want as many as possible.

00:15:59.520 And by the way, if you don't believe me that they want as many as possible, take a look at the governor of New York, Governor Hochul, back in 2021,

00:16:07.940 so just two years ago, where she is explicitly inviting as many as possible to come to New York.

00:16:14.180 Take a look.

00:16:15.380 So our message to the world is send us your people.

00:16:19.400 We'll send us those who need the cloak of comfort that we can demonstrate as New Yorkers with big hearts and open arms,

00:16:26.180 and we'll provide a safe haven, particularly for these Afghan refugees who are so proud that are here.

00:16:31.960 We have already 7,500 Afghans living here already, and we expect to have another 1,800 more.

00:16:38.960 And we send a message from day one.

00:16:40.980 We'll take as many as you want to have us come to New York State because it's a huge point of pride for us.

00:16:46.000 And we'll support them to build a whole new life.

00:16:49.440 Open arms and big hearts in 2021.

00:16:52.020 And she also said, we'll take as many as you want to have come to New York.

00:16:56.840 Please come.

00:16:57.900 So that is the approved talking point of left-wingers.

00:17:02.860 Now fast forward to 2023.

00:17:05.340 Same governor.

00:17:06.900 Here's what she says this year.

00:17:08.580 It certainly will because about 41% of the people in our shelters today are from Venezuela.

00:17:14.520 They're literally from around the world, West Africa, South and Central America.

00:17:20.120 They're coming from all over.

00:17:21.700 But we have to let the word out that when you come to New York, we're not going to have more hotel rooms.

00:17:26.980 We don't have capacity.

00:17:28.080 So we have to also message properly that we're at our limit.

00:17:32.580 If you're going to leave your country, go somewhere else. 1.00

00:17:34.640 But the smarter thing is to apply for asylum before you leave your country,

00:17:38.280 and then you'll have a different experience when you arrive.

00:17:41.180 If you're going to leave your country, Senator, go somewhere else.

00:17:43.880 We're at our limit.

00:17:45.580 We're at our limit.

00:17:46.720 We have no more hotel rooms for you.

00:17:48.480 And by the way, look at the numbers.

00:17:49.960 So in 2021, she was saying we have 7,500 Afghans, and we expect another 1,800 more.

00:17:55.660 Okay, so if they're talking 7,800, 9,000, we're good.

00:18:00.780 110,000. 0.97

00:18:01.840 Oh, crap. 0.96

00:18:02.320 We're at our limit. 0.99

00:18:03.100 We said 1,800.

00:18:04.440 We didn't say 110,000.

00:18:06.800 Well, what do you think about 7.5 million?

00:18:10.300 The utter hypocrisy, and mind you, you know what name she didn't say?

00:18:15.860 Joe Biden. 0.92

00:18:16.640 Yeah.

00:18:16.840 She didn't say Kamala Harris.

00:18:18.080 She didn't say Chuck Schumer.

00:18:20.100 If New York is at its limit, doesn't New York State have two U.S. senators? 0.69

00:18:25.940 Yeah.

00:18:26.560 Isn't one of them the Senate majority leader, Charles Schumer?

00:18:29.900 Who could do something on this, like pass legislation or introduce legislation.

00:18:33.300 And not only does he not introduce legislation, he votes against anything to secure the border.

00:18:39.800 He demonizes any effort to secure the border.

00:18:42.480 He embraces the open borders that are destroying New York City.

00:18:46.440 And even the Democrats who are calling it out, they don't dare call out their fellow Democrats.

00:18:52.400 Instead, they blame, as I love, you know, Mayor Adams who said some madman in Texas, Greg Abbott.

00:18:58.200 Yeah.

00:18:58.380 Um, I'm still, I'm still offended that he wasn't talking about me, but the hypocrisy is massive because New York's Democrat governor is not saying stop, secure the border, stop the invasion.

00:19:12.340 She's saying, please don't send them to New York.

00:19:14.260 Send them to red states. 0.97

00:19:15.440 Make other people deal with them so I can continue to virtue signal.

00:19:19.260 By the way, did you notice also in that press interview, it was a little Stepford Wives that, that, that, that, that both she and the woman interviewing her wearing the exact same white suit.

00:19:28.320 Yeah.

00:19:28.540 It was just kind of a little freaky look and I'm not sure what was going on there.

00:19:31.340 I love, everybody asks me about, do you really believe there's bias in the media?

00:19:34.780 And I'm like, yes, I really do.

00:19:36.020 Like, I love when I'm traveling, you get it too all the time.

00:19:38.280 People come up and they kind of want to antagonize, like there's not biased media.

00:19:41.260 If you were a decent person in the media, when she said, go somewhere else, any journalist, the initial response would have been, well, governor, where else?

00:19:51.300 Where, what is this somewhere else?

00:19:52.960 What, is that another state?

00:19:54.580 Are you telling them to go to another country?

00:19:56.220 There was no follow up there on CNN at all.

00:19:58.480 No, no, no, no, because there's no response to that.

00:20:00.620 Go somewhere else.

00:20:01.440 What they mean, and actually the Biden White House said that you go to Texas, send them all to Texas because they hate Texas.

00:20:07.820 And they figure if they invade Texas with enough people, they'll flip it blue.

00:20:14.020 And you know what?

00:20:15.100 If the cities are bankrupted and if people die and if children are assaulted and if they're drug overdoses, all of that is an acceptable price for their partisan political objective.

00:20:26.040 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.

00:20:34.400 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. 0.98

00:20:41.700 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:20:45.420 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:20:46.600 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:20:47.820 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:20:51.580 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:20:57.320 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:21:00.300 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:21:06.140 I want to get back to the big story, number three of the week you may have missed.

00:21:11.080 Senator, I also want to talk about China and fentanyl for a moment.

00:21:15.320 You've talked a lot about fentanyl and the issue at the border.

00:21:18.800 This did seem to be something that Republicans agreed on, that we have a big problem.

00:21:23.580 The issue is, how do you fight back?

00:21:25.600 Nikki Haley said it's time to go to war economically with China, as she described it,

00:21:30.660 until they stop sending all the fentanyl into this country that's killing Americans.

00:21:34.720 She described it as they're at war with us.

00:21:36.720 They're stealing our intellectual property.

00:21:39.440 They're stealing everything they can get their hands on from us.

00:21:42.780 They're setting up spy bases in Cuba.

00:21:45.020 They've done countless things to compromise this country, spy balloons over this country as well.

00:21:50.100 And this president clearly seems to be compromised and cannot stand up to China.

00:21:54.440 I think we can all agree on that.

00:21:56.340 But there did seem to be a sense on stage that, hey, it's time to go on offense and to stop letting China run all over us. 0.91

00:22:04.820 Well, look, you know, it's interesting.

00:22:06.020 You just said a minute ago in your question, you said this president, Joe Biden, is compromised on China.

00:22:11.620 It was interesting.

00:22:12.680 There was not a word said tonight about Biden's corruption, about the evidence of corruption.

00:22:19.080 And there was very little said about Biden's record.

00:22:22.080 There was very little said.

00:22:24.300 What I found curious, and it's why I think most of the candidates did not have a great night tonight, there was very little said about why they were the best candidate to beat Donald Trump.

00:22:36.540 And in the primary, that's the only question, is who can win the primary?

00:22:40.640 And there was very little said about why they were the best candidate to beat Joe Biden.

00:22:45.120 And at the end of the day, that's what Republican primary voters are looking for.

00:22:49.600 And it was odd.

00:22:53.460 When it came to Trump, most of the candidates seemed to forget that he existed.

00:22:58.440 And when it came to Joe Biden, by and large, most of the candidates forgot he existed.

00:23:04.860 And you're trying to prosecute a case.

00:23:07.500 You're trying to make the case that I'm the guy or I'm the gal to take us to victory.

00:23:14.040 And on China, look, there was some rhetoric, China's bad, China's bad, China's bad.

00:23:20.720 But what we didn't hear from anybody was a systematic, comprehensive plan to how do we beat China.

00:23:27.860 And I believe, I've talked about this a lot, that we need the sort of systematic plan that Reagan had to win the Cold War, a plan that takes on, that combats China's lies, its murder, its torture, its genocide, its espionage, its theft, its propaganda that goes after China.

00:23:46.840 And there was very little said about how specifically we do that.

00:23:51.200 There was some general rhetoric, China bad, but not a whole lot of substance, so therefore what?

00:23:59.000 I was shocked by what you just mentioned.

00:24:01.900 And let's dive into this for a moment.

00:24:03.640 I think it was a huge mistake to not bring up the big breaking news that you and I broke on this podcast yesterday.

00:24:12.620 You made a quarter million dollars sent to Joe Biden's house?

00:24:15.260 Yeah, from Beijing.

00:24:16.040 And no one mentioned it.

00:24:17.380 On top of the fact that it broke after we did that show, that based on the plea deal agreement that was given by David Weiss, it said in that plea agreement that during the time that payment was made, the residence for Hunter Biden was in California.

00:24:34.940 That's in the plea agreement.

00:24:36.220 That came out as kind of like, hey, if you think that he was living in this house that's the same residence of the president of the United States of America, you know, in Delaware, you're wrong.

00:24:45.620 The plea agreement said during the time, and it also came out afterwards, Senator, that in his own book that Hunter Biden wrote, he also said in his book that he was living in California at the time that wire transfer would have come through.

00:24:59.180 So there's even a bigger problem there.

00:25:01.740 And no one said anything about it on stage.

00:25:04.820 That was a huge mistake, I think, for all of them.

00:25:07.060 Well, if you think about any moment, and this was a long debate, this was a two-hour debate.

00:25:13.660 And by the way, I got to say, there's something weird about the debate at the Reagan Library.

00:25:18.060 So in 2016, we had a debate at the Reagan Library right on the stage where they were.

00:25:23.060 And the 2016 debate, that was the CNN debate, and it went three hours.

00:25:27.160 It was the longest debate of the entire cycle.

00:25:29.920 And I remember, I don't know if this was true tonight, but in 2016, the Reagan Library did not have air conditioning that was made to survive the Klieg lights of a television debate.

00:25:42.700 And so it was hot.

00:25:45.320 And that many warm bodies in the room.

00:25:46.720 People don't realize those rooms get hot when you have that many people in there.

00:25:49.840 There was a whole audience of people.

00:25:52.060 There are bright lights.

00:25:53.200 I remember by the third hour, we were drenched in sweat.

00:25:57.620 And I was standing there.

00:25:59.160 I was actually standing.

00:26:00.080 Mike Huckabee was next to me.

00:26:02.200 Marco Rubio was next to me.

00:26:03.600 Actually, Marco, to his credit, had a handkerchief, which he let both Huckabee and me use because we were both sweating like crazy.

00:26:11.460 And it was, by hour three, it was unpleasant.

00:26:14.460 Now, the good news is, I think there were six people in the entire world that stayed up to watch the third hour of that debate.

00:26:19.980 So it didn't matter that we all looked like we were drowning in our own sweat.

00:26:23.200 But I couldn't tell if they had the same issue this time.

00:26:29.160 But I will say, in two hours, it was striking that there was not really an effective case made, here's how we beat Joe Biden.

00:26:39.740 And that matters a lot.

00:26:41.280 Nor was there an effective case.

00:26:43.040 You know, Dana Perino tried to get to it when she said, OK, write down on your piece of paper who you're going to vote off the island.

00:26:49.400 And by the way, I will credit the candidates for all of them saying, no, we're not playing that kind of BS game.

00:26:54.920 That was the right response for them to say no.

00:26:57.980 But even though you don't write on a card, you're not playing Jeopardy, there wasn't really anyone making the case, other than DeSantis, which is why I think he won tonight, there wasn't really anyone making the case, I'm the right standard bearer to win the primary and I'm the right standard bearer to win the general.

00:27:17.020 And here's how and here's how and why.

00:27:19.580 Yeah, there was also a lot of misses.

00:27:22.140 People said, at least in response online, that this debate was on Univision and they didn't feel like the candidates did a good enough job reaching out to Hispanic voters.

00:27:31.580 Your reaction to that as well?

00:27:34.020 Look, I think they did almost nothing.

00:27:36.320 I mean, I mean, to Hispanic voters.

00:27:38.720 Listen, the Hispanic community, our community is fundamentally conservative.

00:27:43.800 It is culturally conservative.

00:27:45.760 You look at the values that resonate in the Hispanic community.

00:27:49.480 Family oriented, very family oriented.

00:27:51.500 Family, faith, patriotism, hard work, the American dream.

00:27:56.800 Those are values that are fundamentally conservative.

00:27:59.560 You didn't see anyone saying, you know what, you want to talk about the Hispanic community?

00:28:03.000 The Hispanic community in South Texas and in California and Arizona is getting hammered by 7.6 million illegal immigrants.

00:28:11.080 By the way, every candidate tonight got the number wrong.

00:28:13.720 They all said 6 million.

00:28:14.860 Your numbers are a million and a half off.

00:28:17.760 It's up to 7.6.

00:28:19.260 The candidates should get their numbers right.

00:28:21.580 But they didn't talk about the misery that is being imposed on the Hispanic community by this crisis of illegal immigration.

00:28:29.040 They didn't talk about Hispanic families that are getting hammered by rising inflation.

00:28:33.980 They didn't talk about Hispanic families that are getting hammered by rising crime rates.

00:28:38.120 They didn't talk extensively about the Democrat efforts to defund the police and George Soros prosecutors.

00:28:46.460 They had some of that, actually.

00:28:47.500 Their discussion of crime.

00:28:48.540 There were some decent moments.

00:28:51.820 But the point you just made, Ben, nobody connected it to the Hispanic community.

00:28:56.920 No one connected it to the African-American community.

00:28:59.260 And that's a point that I think is important to make that I hope in subsequent debates we get people making more clearly.

00:29:06.100 Lastly, Senator, there was another moment, and it's a viral moment.

00:29:10.820 I understand, and you can explain this.

00:29:13.800 You want a moment.

00:29:14.780 Every candidate wants a moment when they're on stage.

00:29:17.820 And they want to have these big moments that are talked about.

00:29:21.260 Nikki Haley tried to land one against Vivek, and this is what it sounded like. 0.98

00:29:26.360 Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.

00:29:29.240 I don't think that landed the way she was hoping. 0.90

00:29:32.620 It didn't come across to me as I was watching it as this big moment.

00:29:37.920 I get what she was trying to accomplish.

00:29:40.600 Was that a mistake?

00:29:42.380 Yeah, it was a mistake.

00:29:44.460 That moment was harsh, and it seemed too harsh.

00:29:48.140 Look, Haley's a talented candidate, and she's a talented communicator. 1.00

00:29:51.860 She's one of the best communicators on that stage. 0.97

00:29:54.540 She had a really good night in the first debate.

00:29:57.500 This one was not nearly as good.

00:29:59.320 That shot was mean-spirited.

00:30:02.320 It wasn't substantive.

00:30:03.920 In a debate, I think you're almost always better disagreeing with someone on substance

00:30:08.420 rather than just sort of one-line ad hominem attacks.

00:30:12.660 And by the way, look, you can disagree with Vivek because you could say that he doesn't have

00:30:17.320 the experience to be president.

00:30:18.800 You could disagree with him on policy. 0.94

00:30:21.120 But the guy's not dumb.

00:30:22.300 He's a smart guy. 0.97

00:30:24.300 So the claim, every time I listen to you, I feel dumber, like that is a pretty condescending 0.96

00:30:32.060 comment.

00:30:32.840 That going back to my point before, in a debate, you want truth and authenticity.

00:30:37.360 You want the words coming out of your mouth for people to say, yeah, yeah, that's right.

00:30:40.880 Yeah, I agree with that.

00:30:42.400 And I don't think very many people agreed with that.

00:30:46.300 And so it diminished her more than it diminished Vivek.

00:30:49.200 Now, I do think the other candidates on that stage are pretty chippy towards Vivek because

00:30:54.240 he was pretty condescending and nasty to them in debate number one, and it made him shine.

00:30:59.500 But there's some grudges that were playing out tonight.

00:31:02.000 I'll also point out that there were moments when Nikki Haley and Tim Scott were going at

00:31:07.320 each other, and they were just yelling at each other back and forth and back and forth.

00:31:10.500 And it was kind of a South Carolina pissing fight.

00:31:14.160 And my take on it, that didn't really help either one of them.

00:31:19.220 It was too parochial.

00:31:21.260 I don't know that a whole lot of people care about the internecine fights in South Carolina.

00:31:29.520 And I think the effect of it is that both of them seem to be taking their eye off the

00:31:35.620 ball, that the objective is first to win the primary and then to beat Joe Biden in the general.

00:31:40.380 And I think that back and forth bickering didn't help either one of them in that respect.

00:31:45.320 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:31:50.160 Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day.

00:31:53.800 You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.

00:31:57.080 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.

00:32:00.920 And we will see you back here on Monday morning.

00:32:03.320 This is an iHeart podcast.

00:32:06.960 Guaranteed human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - September 30, 2023

250K Sent to Home Address of Joe Biden from China, Democrat Mayors Flip on Immigration, & GOP Debate; China and the Fentanyl Crisis Week In Review

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