Verdict with Ted Cruz - July 02, 2020


A Look Inside Senator Tim Scott’s Voicemail Box


Episode Stats


Length

26 minutes

Words per minute

174.96254

Word count

4,593

Sentence count

406

Harmful content

Misogyny

19

sentences flagged

Toxicity

68

sentences flagged

Hate speech

22

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) joins Ted Cruz on Verdict with Ted Cruz to discuss criminal justice reform and race in America. Senator Scott grew up in a poor, single-parent household and had to work 16 hours a week to support himself and his family. He is now a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is the author of the most significant piece of legislation that the Senate is considering right now, the Justice Act.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.440 Guaranteed human.
00:00:04.300 Major tensions around the country on the police,
00:00:08.140 on criminal justice, on race.
00:00:11.640 Some anarchists are talking about defunding the police,
00:00:14.840 abolish the police, ginning up racial tensions.
00:00:17.360 Well, we have a serious person here
00:00:19.120 who can speak with great authority
00:00:21.040 on real criminal justice reform
00:00:23.360 and on real racial experiences in America.
00:00:27.360 This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:30.000 Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:36.740 I'm Michael Knowles.
00:00:37.620 We will get to our special guest in just one second.
00:00:40.280 But first, I have to thank you so much.
00:00:42.400 We've now got over 10 million downloads on this podcast.
00:00:46.120 And it's all thanks to you.
00:00:47.440 It really exceeded our expectations.
00:00:49.200 And we're so glad to be able to continue to do it.
00:00:51.400 Please head over on Apple Podcasts.
00:00:53.600 Leave a five-star review if you would like to.
00:00:55.740 And if you want to leave less,
00:00:56.560 then don't leave anything at all.
00:00:57.440 Thank you very much.
00:00:57.980 And please go subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
00:01:02.400 All right.
00:01:03.380 Because the senator is the greatest booking producer
00:01:05.480 in the history of podcasts,
00:01:06.720 I'm joined by Senator Tim Scott.
00:01:09.360 He is really good at what he does.
00:01:10.980 Not just in podcast world, but in all worlds.
00:01:13.820 In all worlds.
00:01:14.560 I am so glad.
00:01:16.160 First of all, Senator Cruz,
00:01:17.140 thank you for bringing Senator Scott on.
00:01:19.780 Senator Scott, you are behind,
00:01:22.920 you are the author behind probably the most significant piece of legislation
00:01:27.320 that the Senate is considering right now.
00:01:29.820 That would be the Justice Act.
00:01:31.980 Yes.
00:01:33.160 Listen, I'm excited about the Justice Act.
00:01:35.180 I wish our Democrat colleagues were more excited about,
00:01:37.420 not the Justice Act only,
00:01:38.980 but about actually serving the community
00:01:40.940 that has been wed to the Democrat Party for generations.
00:01:44.080 And they continue to under-deliver while over-promising.
00:01:48.720 Instead of taking 80% today,
00:01:51.500 giving them an opportunity to say to the people
00:01:53.880 and the communities across the country,
00:01:55.560 we hear you, we see you, we are fighting for you.
00:01:58.040 We could have gotten 80% delivered today.
00:02:00.440 They gave the community zero.
00:02:03.240 They decided to make it an election year issue,
00:02:06.140 an election in November issue,
00:02:08.540 presidential election issue.
00:02:09.800 And that's just so unfortunate for so many kids
00:02:13.380 living in underserved communities,
00:02:16.340 worried about making it from their house to the school,
00:02:19.740 always having in the back of their consciousness
00:02:21.600 whether or not an interaction will end poorly for them.
00:02:25.300 We could have said, we see you today.
00:02:27.040 I think what would be helpful to podcast listeners and viewers
00:02:32.220 is knowing some of your personal story.
00:02:35.160 This is a faith journey and a life journey.
00:02:38.540 For me, yes, absolutely.
00:02:39.960 And so, you know, you grew up,
00:02:42.060 you had a pretty tough upbringing.
00:02:44.180 Absolutely.
00:02:44.580 I grew up in a single-parent household,
00:02:46.100 mired in poverty.
00:02:47.680 My mother and father got divorced
00:02:48.860 when I was about seven years old.
00:02:50.900 I felt like this nation, my community,
00:02:54.260 had nothing to offer me.
00:02:55.660 So from seven years old,
00:02:57.180 when you come to that decision at seven,
00:02:59.480 it's a bad thing.
00:03:00.840 Yikes.
00:03:01.260 You drift.
00:03:02.360 And all drifting leads in the wrong direction.
00:03:04.340 So by seven, from seven to 14,
00:03:06.820 I was completely a drifter.
00:03:08.280 I flunked out of high school as a freshman.
00:03:10.260 I failed world geography and civics.
00:03:13.120 Now, civics is the study of politics.
00:03:15.000 So God has a sense of humor.
00:03:16.800 I'm a United States senator.
00:03:18.160 You can't, failing civics,
00:03:19.540 and then arriving in the body,
00:03:20.760 the most deliberative body in history.
00:03:23.420 Right.
00:03:23.680 But I also realized that after being here seven years,
00:03:26.400 I'm not the only one failing civics in the U.S. Senate.
00:03:29.300 Says some of your colleagues.
00:03:30.340 Yeah, exactly.
00:03:31.600 I also failed Spanish and English that year.
00:03:33.580 When you fail Spanish and English,
00:03:35.560 two languages,
00:03:36.600 no one considers you bilingual.
00:03:38.160 Yeah.
00:03:38.880 That's right.
00:03:39.240 They all call you biignant
00:03:40.220 because you can't speak in any language.
00:03:42.360 But I had two major blessings.
00:03:43.640 A mother who believed that the power of prayer
00:03:46.220 would deliver her child.
00:03:47.980 And a mentor,
00:03:49.500 a white guy,
00:03:50.460 who said,
00:03:51.160 you haven't yet discovered what's in you.
00:03:54.860 You're looking around at your circumstances.
00:03:57.120 He said,
00:03:57.400 that's the wrong view.
00:03:58.540 Your end vision has to be bigger
00:04:00.640 than the vision you see on the outside.
00:04:03.020 And he said,
00:04:03.780 if you look in the mirror
00:04:04.580 and you start blaming yourself,
00:04:06.520 don't blame your dad
00:04:07.680 because he's not around.
00:04:08.900 Do not blame your mother
00:04:09.860 because she's working 16 hours, 0.72
00:04:12.020 three days a week,
00:04:12.880 and eight hours,
00:04:13.900 two more days a week,
00:04:14.860 to put food on the table.
00:04:16.200 He said,
00:04:16.400 blame yourself.
00:04:17.220 He said,
00:04:17.500 the beauty of it is
00:04:18.240 if you're the problem,
00:04:19.380 the promise is in here.
00:04:21.120 If you see the opportunities
00:04:22.540 from the inside,
00:04:25.000 the obstacles from the inside,
00:04:26.280 the opportunities manifest on the outside.
00:04:27.920 And yet,
00:04:28.200 what do you make of seeing churches now
00:04:31.020 going up in flames?
00:04:32.220 There's a prominent BLM activist on Twitter.
00:04:34.700 He said that people need to smash
00:04:36.600 stained glass windows at churches.
00:04:38.500 That doesn't seem productive to me.
00:04:40.260 Well,
00:04:40.560 it's also the opposite of productive.
00:04:43.940 I would say that that person,
00:04:45.320 I wonder what Martin Luther King Jr.
00:04:48.140 would say to that person.
00:04:49.540 I wonder what John Lewis,
00:04:50.820 who was beaten within an inch of his life
00:04:52.380 and never struck back.
00:04:54.840 What would he say at the Pettis Bridge
00:04:57.420 when he's nearly bleeding out?
00:04:59.460 He would say this
00:05:00.180 because he said it to me.
00:05:01.260 Don't get bitter.
00:05:02.900 Get better.
00:05:04.500 Embrace your nation.
00:05:06.100 Know that if you continue on your journey,
00:05:08.360 it will happen.
00:05:09.800 We took a 5,000-year leap
00:05:11.900 in the last 50 years,
00:05:13.420 mostly because of nonviolent protesters
00:05:16.980 who believed in America.
00:05:19.020 Frederick Douglass did the exact same thing.
00:05:21.760 He said,
00:05:22.560 I'm not fighting against the Constitution.
00:05:25.080 I'm fighting on the Constitution.
00:05:27.520 You're right.
00:05:27.700 I'm going to make the nation live up
00:05:28.940 to what it says in the Constitution.
00:05:31.300 You know,
00:05:32.060 last week,
00:05:32.820 we had a number of senators
00:05:34.540 who went to the floor
00:05:35.400 and read Dr. Martin Luther King's letter
00:05:38.600 from a Birmingham jail,
00:05:39.820 which I did last week as well.
00:05:41.920 Tim and I both participated in it.
00:05:43.760 It's bipartisan,
00:05:44.700 Democrats and Republicans.
00:05:45.920 And it's so powerful.
00:05:48.760 You know,
00:05:48.960 we've all read it in school.
00:05:50.780 Yeah.
00:05:51.640 But it's different when you hear it.
00:05:54.500 And frankly,
00:05:55.020 it's different when you read it out loud.
00:05:56.320 And to read it on the Senate floor
00:05:57.680 is incredibly important,
00:06:02.640 particularly now.
00:06:03.360 And, you know,
00:06:05.060 one of the points people forget
00:06:06.380 is Dr. King wasn't just Dr. King.
00:06:09.200 He was Reverend King.
00:06:10.560 The letter from the Birmingham jail
00:06:12.920 was written to my fellow clergymen.
00:06:15.480 It was a call to the church.
00:06:17.100 One of the things he says in that letter
00:06:18.420 is for the church to be a thermostat
00:06:21.560 and not a thermometer.
00:06:23.320 Don't just reflect the bigotry
00:06:25.220 of your community.
00:06:26.540 Change it.
00:06:27.220 Speak up.
00:06:27.960 It's a call to action.
00:06:29.300 And you look at these riots
00:06:31.460 and vandals and tearing down
00:06:33.280 George Washington
00:06:34.060 and Thomas Jefferson,
00:06:35.440 Abraham Lincoln,
00:06:36.260 because, you know,
00:06:36.480 Abraham Lincoln was such a confederate.
00:06:38.660 He's persona non grata.
00:06:41.880 But, you know,
00:06:42.480 Dr. King and Frederick Douglass,
00:06:44.640 they made explicit appeals
00:06:47.240 to the founding principles
00:06:48.800 of our country.
00:06:49.460 They said, look,
00:06:49.800 we haven't reached it yet.
00:06:50.880 Yeah.
00:06:51.500 But as Dr. King said,
00:06:52.680 the arc of history bends
00:06:54.080 towards justice.
00:06:55.540 Well, speaking of this justice,
00:06:57.640 I do want to get to this
00:06:58.700 on this exact point.
00:07:00.280 Senator, you have an admirer,
00:07:02.060 I guess, in the audience.
00:07:03.640 This is from Trey,
00:07:05.120 who said,
00:07:05.660 other than Republican senators
00:07:06.960 like Cruz and Scott and Cotton,
00:07:09.340 where is the rest of the Senate GOP
00:07:12.460 on justice as we have,
00:07:15.260 and the phrase that they used
00:07:16.320 is anarcho-communist insurrectionists
00:07:19.800 tearing down our country's culture
00:07:21.580 and history?
00:07:22.440 Well, listen,
00:07:23.480 A, that must be a fan of Ted
00:07:26.020 that just is Trey Gotti.
00:07:27.400 I'm sure Trey Gotti is a fan of Ted.
00:07:28.580 He was a Trey G over here.
00:07:31.320 I did tell him to call,
00:07:32.520 so I'm glad he called.
00:07:33.140 No, I'm just joking.
00:07:34.000 Yeah, listen,
00:07:34.680 I think our conference is,
00:07:37.040 I think we're coming closer
00:07:38.020 and closer to the plate.
00:07:39.280 I think on many issues,
00:07:40.720 we were almost shy
00:07:42.480 in our response
00:07:43.680 to some of the challenges
00:07:44.560 that we saw on the streets
00:07:45.420 because we just didn't know
00:07:46.600 what to do.
00:07:47.200 One of the things
00:07:48.080 that causes that kind of paralysis
00:07:50.200 is when you think
00:07:51.300 you have to make a choice
00:07:52.060 between law enforcement
00:07:53.000 and communities of color.
00:07:54.540 That is not the binary choice
00:07:55.800 on the table today.
00:07:56.700 Yeah.
00:07:56.900 The binary choice is
00:07:57.920 for America or against America.
00:07:59.880 In order to have that
00:08:01.080 as the actual choice,
00:08:02.360 we have to say,
00:08:03.420 I am for law enforcement
00:08:04.620 and I'm for communities of color.
00:08:07.320 No conjunction called or.
00:08:08.960 It's and.
00:08:09.960 When that happens,
00:08:11.020 I think we all rise up
00:08:12.120 and I've been thankful
00:08:13.300 to see the conference
00:08:14.440 coming closer and closer,
00:08:15.820 not only to the microphone,
00:08:17.080 but to the plate.
00:08:18.300 We had 53 Republicans
00:08:19.760 say, let's start debating.
00:08:22.080 I can't imagine that
00:08:23.040 five years ago
00:08:23.580 because five years ago,
00:08:24.480 I couldn't get Democrats
00:08:25.600 to come to the debate.
00:08:27.100 Well, and Tim's point
00:08:28.000 about and is really important.
00:08:30.300 Protecting civil rights,
00:08:31.900 that doesn't just protect
00:08:34.040 American, American citizens.
00:08:35.700 That protects police officers
00:08:37.320 because police officers
00:08:38.560 to do their jobs,
00:08:39.940 they've got to have
00:08:40.440 the trust of the community.
00:08:41.420 And I've I've heard
00:08:42.640 from so many cops right now
00:08:44.020 who are right now
00:08:44.660 they're demoralized.
00:08:45.640 I mean, they're they're painted
00:08:47.360 as as as the demon.
00:08:49.480 And and I think
00:08:50.780 Tim's Justice Act
00:08:52.540 was an effort to help
00:08:54.000 help the police officers.
00:08:56.320 Listen, I said I have called
00:08:58.660 every time there has been
00:09:01.200 a shooting in South Carolina
00:09:02.320 where the officer
00:09:03.100 loses his life.
00:09:04.440 I try to make sure
00:09:05.340 that I'm the first person
00:09:06.540 to call the spouse
00:09:07.420 or the parent.
00:09:09.580 Greg Aaliyah
00:09:10.120 in outside of Columbia,
00:09:12.460 South Carolina.
00:09:14.200 Lost his life.
00:09:15.120 Because someone
00:09:16.060 murdered him.
00:09:17.940 The suspect
00:09:18.540 that he was pursuing
00:09:19.740 killed him.
00:09:21.520 Left a 18 month
00:09:22.940 old little boy
00:09:23.740 and a beautiful wife, Cassie.
00:09:27.260 She she I showed up
00:09:28.840 at the at the awake,
00:09:30.660 the viewing
00:09:31.040 and had a conversation
00:09:32.460 with her and her parents
00:09:33.540 and they were surprised
00:09:34.660 to see me.
00:09:35.500 I didn't want any cameras
00:09:36.580 around.
00:09:36.880 I didn't want anybody there.
00:09:38.060 I just wanted to say
00:09:39.060 I'm so sorry
00:09:40.160 that someone
00:09:41.540 killed your husband.
00:09:43.560 several months later 0.99
00:09:46.560 she called my office
00:09:47.500 and she started
00:09:48.640 non-profit organizations
00:09:50.180 for police officers.
00:09:53.060 I've contributed.
00:09:54.620 We've helped.
00:09:55.820 We stay in touch.
00:09:57.220 She's a blessing
00:09:58.220 to our community.
00:09:59.540 Here's the point.
00:10:00.960 So many officers
00:10:02.460 lose their lives
00:10:03.860 not because they're
00:10:05.000 making $30,000 a year
00:10:06.660 and they're getting rich.
00:10:07.780 It's because
00:10:08.380 when you look at Romans 13,
00:10:10.020 there's this notion
00:10:10.980 of mission
00:10:11.580 that there are
00:10:12.380 government officials
00:10:13.160 who can be ministers
00:10:13.920 of the gospel
00:10:14.640 carrying a sword,
00:10:16.240 a weapon.
00:10:16.920 For what purpose?
00:10:18.540 For a righteous purpose.
00:10:21.080 Her husband lost his life.
00:10:22.800 Yeah.
00:10:23.180 For a righteous purpose.
00:10:24.780 Right.
00:10:25.160 And we should celebrate
00:10:26.820 law enforcement.
00:10:28.780 When I had a major car accident,
00:10:30.680 it was law enforcement
00:10:31.500 that showed up
00:10:32.320 and said to me,
00:10:33.220 son,
00:10:34.880 I was laying
00:10:35.300 on the side of the road.
00:10:36.040 I went through the windshield,
00:10:36.760 came back in my car,
00:10:37.800 fell asleep
00:10:38.260 on the interstate 26,
00:10:39.480 literally on an interstate,
00:10:41.100 rolling through traffic
00:10:42.480 in my car.
00:10:43.920 I was laying there
00:10:44.820 with glass in my backside
00:10:46.080 and my back
00:10:47.360 and he looks down at me
00:10:48.220 and says,
00:10:48.480 son,
00:10:49.520 your mama's going to be 1.00
00:10:50.340 so happy you're alive.
00:10:52.240 And I looked up at him
00:10:52.920 and said,
00:10:53.220 sir,
00:10:54.020 you don't know my mama. 1.00
00:10:55.440 She's going to kill me. 1.00
00:10:56.620 But what he was trying 0.92
00:10:57.620 to tell me,
00:10:58.480 I didn't hear what
00:10:59.120 he was trying to tell me,
00:10:59.920 what he was trying
00:11:00.760 to tell me
00:11:01.500 was that
00:11:02.380 your mother values you
00:11:04.820 more than this car.
00:11:06.420 Yeah.
00:11:06.900 He was saying to me
00:11:07.920 as he bent down,
00:11:09.480 and said,
00:11:10.060 son,
00:11:10.980 you're so much
00:11:11.960 more valuable.
00:11:12.960 Yeah.
00:11:13.360 You have intrinsic worth
00:11:14.560 far beyond
00:11:15.800 any material possession.
00:11:17.320 Right.
00:11:17.700 He was speaking
00:11:18.560 words of affirmation
00:11:21.020 to who I was.
00:11:22.160 Well,
00:11:22.280 speaking of words
00:11:22.960 of affirmation,
00:11:23.700 I'm glad to hear
00:11:24.960 that you got
00:11:25.680 a nice phone call
00:11:26.500 at your office
00:11:27.060 because I understand
00:11:28.100 you get many phone calls
00:11:30.200 that are not very nice
00:11:31.000 at your office.
00:11:32.000 You know,
00:11:32.380 I unfortunately
00:11:33.500 get a lot of phone calls
00:11:34.860 that are not that nice
00:11:35.900 and unfortunately
00:11:36.600 I have learned
00:11:37.860 to deal with it,
00:11:38.840 but they're not
00:11:39.700 always words
00:11:40.580 of encouragement.
00:11:41.620 You know,
00:11:42.300 this is kind of a,
00:11:43.280 this is a safe space
00:11:44.500 we like to think about.
00:11:45.280 I mean,
00:11:45.480 this is,
00:11:45.900 we try to keep this
00:11:46.560 pretty personal.
00:11:47.300 Yes.
00:11:47.640 Seriously.
00:11:49.100 Could we listen?
00:11:50.040 Yeah.
00:11:51.240 A quick note
00:11:52.160 for our loyal audience.
00:11:53.900 What you are about
00:11:54.620 to hear
00:11:54.960 are some profane
00:11:55.960 voicemails
00:11:56.720 received by the office
00:11:57.680 of Senator Tim Scott
00:11:58.740 that reflect
00:11:59.520 the ongoing racism
00:12:00.440 by certain individuals
00:12:01.360 in this country,
00:12:02.360 specifically 0.87
00:12:02.780 against black conservatives.
00:12:04.420 Because it's an important
00:12:05.940 part of the context
00:12:06.700 for this episode,
00:12:07.540 we have chosen
00:12:08.480 to play
00:12:09.080 the uncensored sound.
00:12:10.760 If you do not wish
00:12:11.700 to hear these recordings,
00:12:12.820 you may choose
00:12:13.460 to tune out now.
00:12:18.440 Uncle Tim.
00:12:20.900 This your Uncle Willie. 1.00
00:12:23.000 You coon motherfucker, you. 1.00
00:12:26.220 I hope you choking 1.00
00:12:27.360 your fucking tongue tonight, bitch. 1.00
00:12:29.480 I don't wish 1.00
00:12:30.060 that good 1.00
00:12:30.520 for your motherfucking ass. 1.00
00:12:32.160 You are the lowest 1.00
00:12:33.020 piece of shit 1.00
00:12:34.360 this country ever produced. 1.00
00:12:37.200 You sell that motherfucker. 1.00
00:12:39.320 Your mama ain't no good 1.00
00:12:40.380 and your sperm donor 1.00
00:12:41.220 is even fucking worse. 1.00
00:12:43.160 You should have shot you 1.00
00:12:43.940 in your fucking mama's face, 1.00
00:12:45.740 that cum-catching bitch. 1.00
00:12:48.100 Once again, 1.00
00:12:49.460 thank you.
00:12:49.940 This is from
00:12:50.240 the Sunshine State.
00:12:51.880 Also,
00:12:53.480 Lindsey Graham 1.00
00:12:53.960 is your bitch. 1.00
00:12:54.680 You fucking him 1.00
00:12:55.260 and he fucking you. 1.00
00:12:56.520 You sucking him, 1.00
00:12:57.220 he sucking you. 1.00
00:12:58.780 Marco Rubin 1.00
00:12:59.560 is a little bitch. 1.00
00:13:00.540 He turns on people. 1.00
00:13:02.200 And motherfucking 0.99
00:13:02.740 Rick Scott 1.00
00:13:03.200 is a goddamn crook. 1.00
00:13:04.360 So all you motherfuckers 1.00
00:13:05.460 gonna burn the hell together. 1.00
00:13:07.340 So take your ticket 1.00
00:13:08.240 one way straight to hell, 1.00
00:13:09.560 you cop-sucking motherfuckers. 1.00
00:13:11.580 Have a great day 1.00
00:13:12.480 and enjoy your evening.
00:13:14.080 Bye.
00:13:16.580 That's just one.
00:13:18.700 Imagine being, uh,
00:13:19.880 this next one.
00:13:20.740 Uh,
00:13:21.040 my new staff assistant
00:13:24.780 just graduated from college.
00:13:27.420 First job.
00:13:28.660 Gets to hear this. 1.00
00:13:31.140 Bitch, 1.00
00:13:31.620 don't you hang up with me 1.00
00:13:32.380 again, 1.00
00:13:32.700 you fucking cunt. 1.00
00:13:33.920 You're probably 1.00
00:13:34.380 sucking his dick. 1.00
00:13:36.500 You nasty bitch, 1.00
00:13:37.660 you. 1.00
00:13:38.460 All you fucking Republicans 1.00
00:13:39.560 nasty. 1.00
00:13:40.440 And I'm gonna keep on calling 1.00
00:13:41.420 as long as I motherfucking 0.98
00:13:42.380 want to. 0.98
00:13:43.120 I'm exercising
00:13:43.700 my First Amendment right. 1.00
00:13:44.760 So fuck you motherfuckers. 1.00
00:13:46.700 You pieces of shit. 1.00
00:13:48.980 They're all come buckets. 1.00
00:13:51.340 And then later on,
00:13:52.500 uh,
00:13:53.000 another one calls to say
00:13:54.480 he's got me in the crosshairs.
00:13:56.980 That's pretty
00:13:57.700 explicit
00:13:58.800 threatening language.
00:14:00.620 Absolutely.
00:14:01.580 There's a level of hate
00:14:02.740 that gets directed at Tim
00:14:04.100 that,
00:14:05.420 that frankly is different
00:14:06.620 from other members of Congress.
00:14:08.980 Why is that?
00:14:09.680 I think I know the answer,
00:14:10.700 but I'd like to hear your thoughts.
00:14:12.020 Unfortunately,
00:14:12.700 you know,
00:14:13.360 being,
00:14:13.760 uh,
00:14:14.020 obviously the racial,
00:14:15.620 uh,
00:14:16.920 if the,
00:14:17.500 the,
00:14:17.800 the,
00:14:17.940 the racial overtones,
00:14:19.040 uh,
00:14:19.360 the,
00:14:19.600 the racial words,
00:14:20.640 the slurs,
00:14:21.280 the challenges are,
00:14:22.700 you know,
00:14:23.000 being a black conservative 0.97
00:14:24.140 where you're out of sync 0.96
00:14:25.980 with,
00:14:26.520 with the heat,
00:14:27.540 what he thinks
00:14:28.100 is the black cause. 0.98
00:14:29.860 it, 0.97
00:14:31.780 it,
00:14:32.220 it,
00:14:32.540 it incites the kind of
00:14:34.080 rage,
00:14:35.540 uh,
00:14:37.140 and,
00:14:37.560 and anger
00:14:39.220 that,
00:14:39.980 that,
00:14:40.260 that could lead to violent outcomes 0.57
00:14:41.920 in a way that
00:14:42.940 very few things I've seen in my life
00:14:45.480 has ever done.
00:14:47.140 And,
00:14:47.660 you know,
00:14:48.260 when you get 16 of these,
00:14:51.100 you,
00:14:51.540 you,
00:14:51.660 your,
00:14:51.860 your staff assistants,
00:14:53.140 your,
00:14:53.220 your frontline folks
00:14:54.660 start wondering what in the world
00:14:56.860 to 2011,
00:14:58.440 we literally shut our,
00:14:59.840 phones down
00:15:00.620 because of the number
00:15:01.780 of racial slurs
00:15:02.440 that we were getting
00:15:02.860 from around the country.
00:15:04.060 Not from South Carolina,
00:15:05.200 interestingly enough,
00:15:05.900 all from someplace else.
00:15:07.360 I started this journey
00:15:08.100 five years ago
00:15:08.800 because of the Walter Scott
00:15:10.020 murder in North Charleston,
00:15:11.860 South Carolina,
00:15:12.560 my hometown
00:15:13.180 where I grew up.
00:15:14.160 And frankly,
00:15:15.120 Walter Scott was running
00:15:16.800 away from the police.
00:15:18.160 He was shot five times,
00:15:19.760 shot,
00:15:19.880 shot at eight times,
00:15:20.960 but shot five times
00:15:22.020 in the back.
00:15:22.820 The officer falsified
00:15:24.760 the police report
00:15:25.840 and said
00:15:26.540 that he took
00:15:27.320 his taser.
00:15:29.140 When the video
00:15:30.280 came out,
00:15:30.820 which was a few weeks,
00:15:31.560 a few weeks later,
00:15:32.920 literally no one,
00:15:34.240 there was not even
00:15:34.680 a conversation
00:15:35.540 about what happened
00:15:36.720 in the incident
00:15:37.380 because we had
00:15:37.920 an incident report.
00:15:38.940 Right.
00:15:39.500 Had it not been
00:15:40.200 for some guy
00:15:40.760 literally walking by
00:15:42.420 at the exact
00:15:43.540 right moment,
00:15:44.920 the exact right street
00:15:46.360 with his phone out,
00:15:48.520 capturing
00:15:49.100 the actual
00:15:50.440 interaction,
00:15:51.680 the engagement.
00:15:52.760 Without that video,
00:15:54.140 we would not have known
00:15:55.340 Walter Scott's name
00:15:56.600 at all.
00:15:57.240 Well, you know,
00:15:57.860 I think the Walter Scott
00:15:58.840 one for a lot of us,
00:16:00.200 sometimes these are
00:16:01.280 complex situations.
00:16:02.700 Sometimes the officer's
00:16:03.800 use of force is justified. 0.96
00:16:04.920 The Walter Scott one,
00:16:05.760 everyone looked at that
00:16:06.400 and said,
00:16:06.660 this is outrageous.
00:16:07.960 It's just so clear.
00:16:09.180 And I know there are
00:16:10.180 some people in this debate
00:16:11.280 who say that we need
00:16:12.840 to abolish the police.
00:16:13.760 The police are hopelessly
00:16:14.700 corrupt and we got to,
00:16:15.640 I don't know,
00:16:16.040 they're the anarchists
00:16:16.720 in Seattle right now.
00:16:17.900 And then there are
00:16:18.700 some people who say
00:16:19.280 the police don't need
00:16:20.180 any kind of reform at all.
00:16:21.760 You do have an
00:16:22.700 interesting perspective here
00:16:23.800 because you're one of
00:16:24.420 the most prominent
00:16:25.020 black politicians
00:16:26.100 in the country 0.99
00:16:26.720 and you're the author
00:16:27.760 of this criminal
00:16:28.700 justice reform bill.
00:16:30.800 Yeah, and one of the reasons
00:16:32.100 why I think I have
00:16:32.980 credibility on the topic
00:16:33.940 is not just because
00:16:34.660 I'm an African-American.
00:16:35.580 That's helpful,
00:16:36.380 especially when so many
00:16:37.460 of these incidents
00:16:38.320 are African-American men
00:16:39.880 having challenges
00:16:40.980 with law enforcement.
00:16:41.900 I'm the guy that got
00:16:42.780 stopped seven times
00:16:43.960 as an elected official 0.94
00:16:45.380 just driving while black. 0.82
00:16:47.320 Stopped nine times,
00:16:48.400 I believe that year,
00:16:49.240 seven times for doing nothing,
00:16:50.540 two times for speeding.
00:16:51.920 So he got speeding tickets.
00:16:53.280 But the other seven times
00:16:54.720 for nothing,
00:16:55.400 18 unnecessary stops
00:16:57.420 in the last two decades.
00:16:59.120 I would like to just put a
00:17:00.620 pause there for a moment
00:17:01.700 because I actually
00:17:02.960 didn't know that.
00:17:03.740 Yes.
00:17:04.240 This is a personal experience
00:17:06.200 of an elected U.S. senator.
00:17:08.440 Well, this year
00:17:09.500 this U.S. senator
00:17:10.460 was stopped by police
00:17:12.000 for failing to use
00:17:14.580 my turn signal
00:17:15.680 early enough
00:17:17.140 in the lane change.
00:17:19.460 I didn't know
00:17:20.100 that was a thing.
00:17:21.000 Yeah.
00:17:21.420 I didn't know
00:17:22.060 turn signals were a thing
00:17:23.000 most of the time.
00:17:24.060 But literally pulled over.
00:17:25.640 I got a warning ticket,
00:17:26.500 thankfully.
00:17:26.920 But how do you pull over it?
00:17:28.820 I called the police chief
00:17:30.580 at another department
00:17:32.240 and they said,
00:17:32.880 basically what they're
00:17:33.580 trying to do
00:17:34.000 is get your windows down
00:17:35.260 so they can see
00:17:36.300 if they smell any weed
00:17:37.860 or anything in the air.
00:17:39.280 Get a look inside your car.
00:17:41.160 He said,
00:17:41.400 this is what we call
00:17:42.100 racial profiling to them.
00:17:43.760 I said,
00:17:44.280 I should have dawned on me
00:17:45.520 that the reason
00:17:46.680 for the stop
00:17:47.620 was to take a look inside.
00:17:49.140 It just didn't occur to me
00:17:50.380 even though
00:17:50.800 that was my 18th stop.
00:17:52.800 The 17th stop
00:17:53.660 was last year
00:17:54.680 for having my blinkers on
00:17:56.200 while helping someone
00:17:57.880 find their telephone.
00:18:00.640 And,
00:18:01.340 you know,
00:18:03.200 you can't make this up.
00:18:04.820 Right.
00:18:05.040 You can't make this up.
00:18:06.200 And so fortunately for me,
00:18:07.280 I've walked away
00:18:08.200 from each one
00:18:08.780 of those unscathed.
00:18:09.640 I mean,
00:18:09.920 I've got some scar tissue
00:18:10.980 emotionally,
00:18:11.960 but not physically.
00:18:13.240 Because it's a sort of
00:18:14.720 preposterous thing
00:18:15.840 and you can laugh about it.
00:18:17.000 Okay,
00:18:17.100 they pulled you over
00:18:17.580 for the blinker.
00:18:18.260 Right.
00:18:18.540 But,
00:18:19.280 this is a real harassment
00:18:21.360 that you have
00:18:21.800 personally experienced.
00:18:22.920 100%.
00:18:23.280 Walter Scott
00:18:24.480 was pulled over
00:18:24.940 for a busted taillight.
00:18:27.220 There's a video,
00:18:28.300 at least there's a scene,
00:18:29.880 I think it was
00:18:30.180 in Las Vegas, Nevada,
00:18:30.980 where the guy
00:18:31.360 was riding his bicycle
00:18:32.460 and was pulled over.
00:18:34.540 So,
00:18:36.940 what we're talking about
00:18:37.660 is real,
00:18:38.000 but what you said
00:18:38.720 is so important.
00:18:39.760 And I think,
00:18:40.580 Ted,
00:18:40.760 you focused on it.
00:18:41.860 The importance
00:18:42.280 of the body camera.
00:18:43.440 One of the reasons
00:18:44.080 why five years ago
00:18:44.940 I started talking
00:18:45.520 about increasing funding
00:18:46.440 for body cameras
00:18:47.060 by $100 million
00:18:47.700 per year for five years
00:18:49.100 is because
00:18:49.880 if a picture
00:18:50.680 is worth
00:18:51.420 a thousand words,
00:18:53.940 then a video
00:18:54.740 should be worth
00:18:55.580 a thousand pictures.
00:18:57.100 Right, right.
00:18:57.880 Because we have
00:18:58.660 an opportunity
00:18:59.200 not only to see it,
00:19:00.620 but to watch it unfold.
00:19:02.940 That is really important.
00:19:04.420 And I think that dynamic,
00:19:06.000 had it just been
00:19:06.540 a picture
00:19:07.000 of the law enforcement officer
00:19:08.560 on George Floyd's neck,
00:19:10.240 you could debate how long.
00:19:12.200 Yeah, you don't know
00:19:12.840 if he's fighting,
00:19:14.380 if it's a violent situation.
00:19:16.260 Without the video,
00:19:17.380 you don't understand
00:19:18.020 the context
00:19:18.600 of what it is.
00:19:19.620 You don't appreciate it.
00:19:21.140 But eight minutes
00:19:21.860 and 46 seconds left later,
00:19:24.600 no one had a question.
00:19:25.800 And you can hear him
00:19:26.700 gasping for his breath,
00:19:28.260 saying,
00:19:28.520 I can't breathe,
00:19:29.720 pleading for his life.
00:19:30.620 And then his mother.
00:19:31.420 I mean, it makes
00:19:32.440 a real difference.
00:19:33.400 Yes.
00:19:34.200 Right.
00:19:34.680 And if we,
00:19:35.540 that united our country.
00:19:37.140 This tells me something
00:19:37.920 that's really important.
00:19:39.020 Our country
00:19:40.060 is the most remarkable
00:19:41.480 country on earth.
00:19:42.600 All the racial divisions
00:19:43.920 we've had
00:19:44.500 in the last several years,
00:19:46.580 we saw that picture.
00:19:48.140 And because there's something
00:19:49.120 in our instinct
00:19:50.360 that says,
00:19:51.060 that's just wrong.
00:19:52.740 We are a nation
00:19:53.600 built on fairness.
00:19:55.060 We've been,
00:19:55.500 we've always been
00:19:57.080 a nation
00:19:57.820 that was going to progress.
00:19:59.160 We've been making progress
00:20:00.060 for the entire time.
00:20:01.420 We saw that and we said,
00:20:02.420 wait a second.
00:20:03.520 That cannot,
00:20:04.320 that cannot be.
00:20:05.940 People were shocked,
00:20:08.520 stunned.
00:20:09.060 They said,
00:20:09.940 that's not actually happening.
00:20:12.120 And once they understood
00:20:13.200 that it was,
00:20:13.940 the entire conversation
00:20:15.180 around police reform
00:20:16.180 became real.
00:20:17.280 I'm afraid
00:20:18.140 that our friends
00:20:19.220 who are playing
00:20:19.760 presidential politics,
00:20:21.080 they're willing
00:20:22.180 to waste the moment.
00:20:23.920 Right.
00:20:24.380 hoping for an outcome.
00:20:26.300 So they'd rather,
00:20:27.220 I could be wrong,
00:20:28.320 but I think they're
00:20:29.300 willing to run
00:20:31.280 campaign on police brutality
00:20:33.300 maybe more than solve it.
00:20:35.740 We just saw
00:20:36.740 Senate Democrats
00:20:38.140 filibuster
00:20:38.840 the Justice Act
00:20:39.740 and they did it.
00:20:40.620 I think it's exactly
00:20:41.300 what Tim said.
00:20:42.320 They want a political issue.
00:20:43.720 They want to set
00:20:44.780 campaign in November
00:20:46.040 rather than actually
00:20:47.440 make meaningful progress
00:20:49.300 towards addressing
00:20:50.460 the problem,
00:20:51.740 doing it responsibly.
00:20:53.440 look, one of the things
00:20:54.200 Tim did a very good job
00:20:55.140 of also is understanding
00:20:56.260 the objective here
00:20:57.580 is not to tear down cops.
00:20:59.040 It's not to destroy.
00:21:01.000 The police officers
00:21:02.300 are keeping
00:21:03.080 vulnerable communities safe.
00:21:05.120 That's the job, yeah.
00:21:06.200 Well, and frankly, Ted,
00:21:07.080 as you just alluded to,
00:21:08.940 there's no doubt
00:21:09.820 in my mind
00:21:10.660 that the people
00:21:11.180 who want character-driven
00:21:13.060 law enforcement
00:21:14.160 the most
00:21:15.000 are communities of color.
00:21:16.480 Sure.
00:21:16.900 The people who are saying,
00:21:18.160 when I dial 911,
00:21:19.820 I want someone coming
00:21:20.740 immediately
00:21:21.500 are communities of color.
00:21:23.020 Why?
00:21:23.920 Not because they're
00:21:24.800 always crime-ridden
00:21:26.200 neighborhoods.
00:21:26.960 It's because your grandmother
00:21:28.440 who may not be able
00:21:30.140 to move out of
00:21:31.060 a bad neighborhood
00:21:32.280 economically
00:21:33.380 should always be
00:21:34.820 in a good neighborhood
00:21:35.840 from a social perspective.
00:21:37.660 Yeah.
00:21:38.720 They want,
00:21:40.580 I want,
00:21:41.960 our family members,
00:21:43.340 our loved ones,
00:21:44.140 ourselves,
00:21:44.800 to always have
00:21:45.680 a responsive
00:21:46.340 law enforcement department.
00:21:47.980 And so this defund police
00:21:49.500 and this autonomous
00:21:50.380 zone concept
00:21:51.320 is antithetical
00:21:52.920 to everything
00:21:53.860 that we believe
00:21:55.180 is dear
00:21:55.980 in the communities
00:21:56.900 of color.
00:21:57.420 You know,
00:21:58.040 one of the frustrating things,
00:21:59.220 I mean,
00:21:59.400 race,
00:22:00.840 slavery is our country's
00:22:03.160 original sin.
00:22:04.020 Yes.
00:22:04.520 And race is an issue
00:22:05.880 a lot of people
00:22:07.420 demagogue on.
00:22:08.680 A lot of Republicans
00:22:09.780 are uncomfortable
00:22:12.000 talking about it.
00:22:12.860 Shy away from it
00:22:13.540 too much.
00:22:13.960 We see Democrats
00:22:19.620 this week
00:22:20.100 in the Judiciary Committee,
00:22:21.200 there were several Democrats
00:22:22.000 who said,
00:22:23.200 we haven't moved
00:22:24.680 one inch
00:22:25.400 since the 1960s
00:22:27.440 on race.
00:22:28.020 Wow. 1.00
00:22:28.700 And what utter garbage. 0.99
00:22:29.840 We've made enormous strides. 0.99
00:22:31.740 Tremendous.
00:22:32.160 You had Jim Crow laws, 0.99
00:22:33.280 you had segregated schools.
00:22:34.960 We're making a journey.
00:22:36.220 Now,
00:22:36.320 we've still got a long way to go.
00:22:37.620 Yes.
00:22:38.600 But,
00:22:39.140 you know,
00:22:40.380 and I think
00:22:41.340 understanding
00:22:42.340 the perspective
00:22:43.040 so many people have
00:22:44.400 of why they feel
00:22:46.600 the justice system
00:22:47.440 isn't treating them fairly.
00:22:48.580 I think that's important.
00:22:49.820 And Tim has spoken up a lot,
00:22:52.480 particularly in the last
00:22:53.180 couple of weeks
00:22:53.720 in the conference,
00:22:54.600 sharing his perspectives.
00:22:56.320 But one thing
00:22:57.700 that I thought
00:22:58.080 was particularly powerful,
00:22:59.440 people were asking,
00:23:00.180 all right,
00:23:00.260 what do we do
00:23:00.860 with the Confederate statues
00:23:02.900 and renaming
00:23:03.720 and all of this controversy?
00:23:05.180 And your answer,
00:23:07.200 which almost immediately
00:23:08.380 was echoed
00:23:09.000 by just about
00:23:09.520 every Republican senator,
00:23:10.540 I thought was really powerful.
00:23:12.200 Well, thank you.
00:23:12.540 You can repeat it for me
00:23:13.260 since I don't remember it,
00:23:14.020 but this could be it.
00:23:15.640 This could be it.
00:23:16.680 Yeah,
00:23:16.980 I also think
00:23:18.120 the country's better off
00:23:19.180 trying to create the future
00:23:21.120 than reframe the past.
00:23:22.520 Yeah.
00:23:22.840 We spend almost
00:23:23.940 too much time
00:23:24.860 in the rear view mirror
00:23:25.680 and not enough time
00:23:27.200 in the windshield.
00:23:28.400 It's hard not
00:23:29.320 to get in an accident
00:23:30.320 when all your focus
00:23:31.380 is on yesterday.
00:23:32.420 You're right.
00:23:32.880 So for us
00:23:33.460 to reframe the past
00:23:35.160 doesn't benefit
00:23:36.660 almost anyone.
00:23:38.240 So if we want
00:23:39.000 to reframe the past,
00:23:40.080 however,
00:23:40.660 put up more statues.
00:23:41.580 Put up a statue
00:23:42.500 not of just
00:23:43.060 Martin Luther King Jr.
00:23:44.200 What about Rosa Parks
00:23:45.120 or Booker T. Washington,
00:23:47.120 Washington Carver?
00:23:47.960 There's a lot of folks
00:23:48.840 that we could celebrate,
00:23:49.900 but tearing something down
00:23:51.120 does not necessarily
00:23:52.000 build you up,
00:23:52.980 number one.
00:23:53.400 Number two,
00:23:54.640 why aren't we spending
00:23:55.420 the time
00:23:55.800 on economic mobility?
00:23:57.580 Why are we not spending
00:23:58.360 the time
00:23:58.820 on educational outcomes
00:24:00.400 in the poorest
00:24:00.920 zip codes in America?
00:24:02.100 Why are we not
00:24:02.940 spending the time
00:24:03.980 on creating
00:24:04.780 financial literacy
00:24:05.780 and frankly,
00:24:06.720 literacy
00:24:07.240 to break the pipeline
00:24:08.840 between education
00:24:09.900 and incarceration?
00:24:11.240 If you want to spend
00:24:12.000 all the money
00:24:12.740 in the world
00:24:13.140 on something,
00:24:14.040 please let it not be
00:24:15.360 on tearing down
00:24:16.160 a statue.
00:24:16.860 Let us spend
00:24:17.960 the dollars
00:24:18.500 and the resources
00:24:19.800 on building
00:24:20.640 the future
00:24:21.260 where every single
00:24:22.300 American says,
00:24:23.260 yes,
00:24:23.660 that's my country.
00:24:24.660 We have just seconds left,
00:24:26.120 but I have to know.
00:24:27.080 Yes.
00:24:27.780 After that,
00:24:28.540 I have to know
00:24:29.340 with all these
00:24:30.120 terrible things
00:24:30.820 in the news
00:24:31.320 and with particularly
00:24:32.920 awful things
00:24:33.520 being directed at you,
00:24:35.000 how do you stay
00:24:35.520 so cheery?
00:24:36.360 I mean,
00:24:36.560 why do you keep doing it?
00:24:38.100 Why would you sign up
00:24:38.780 for this job?
00:24:39.600 You know,
00:24:39.940 I don't think
00:24:40.660 I signed up
00:24:41.240 for this job.
00:24:41.720 I think I was called
00:24:42.340 into this job.
00:24:43.240 I think when I became
00:24:44.300 a Christian,
00:24:45.000 born-again believer
00:24:45.720 in 1983,
00:24:47.140 the Lord had a plan
00:24:48.020 for my life.
00:24:48.680 Jeremiah 1.5
00:24:49.460 talks about
00:24:50.000 before you were
00:24:50.680 in your mother's womb, 0.99
00:24:51.800 he had a plan for us.
00:24:52.800 I think I was hardwired
00:24:53.920 for public service.
00:24:55.360 Why, I don't know.
00:24:56.420 The fact that I find
00:24:57.580 great joy
00:24:58.240 in serving others
00:24:59.400 is something that I think
00:25:00.320 I'm hardwired to do.
00:25:01.340 And frankly,
00:25:02.120 if you think about
00:25:02.620 Matthew 22,
00:25:03.480 37 through 39,
00:25:04.380 loving the Lord your God
00:25:05.900 with all your heart,
00:25:06.940 mind, soul, and strength,
00:25:08.180 the second commandment
00:25:09.100 is to love your neighbor
00:25:09.900 as yourself.
00:25:11.500 How better do we do that
00:25:13.140 by making sacrificial offerings
00:25:14.880 of our time,
00:25:15.660 our talent,
00:25:16.080 or our treasure?
00:25:16.760 I was a poor kid,
00:25:17.700 no treasure.
00:25:19.100 Time?
00:25:20.380 Time.
00:25:21.080 Talent?
00:25:22.320 Not enough.
00:25:23.080 So I went into
00:25:24.020 the one area
00:25:24.500 where I knew
00:25:24.900 I could make a difference
00:25:25.620 and hopefully
00:25:26.340 make my mom more proud.
00:25:27.620 Senator,
00:25:28.140 you mentioned
00:25:28.760 a frustrated preacher.
00:25:30.380 I think maybe
00:25:30.740 a not so frustrated preacher.
00:25:32.040 I think just an honest
00:25:33.180 to God inspiring preacher.
00:25:34.380 I can't beat that.
00:25:35.600 Thank you,
00:25:36.020 Senator.
00:25:36.660 Thank you,
00:25:37.200 Senator.
00:25:38.100 I'm Michael Knowles.
00:25:38.980 This is Verdict
00:25:39.680 with Ted Cruz.
00:25:40.520 This episode of Verdict
00:25:51.040 with Ted Cruz
00:25:51.940 is being brought to you
00:25:52.960 by Jobs Freedom
00:25:53.980 and Security Pack,
00:25:55.320 a political action committee
00:25:56.720 dedicated to supporting
00:25:57.880 conservative causes,
00:25:59.320 organizations,
00:26:00.160 and candidates
00:26:00.840 across the country.
00:26:02.180 In 2022,
00:26:03.440 Jobs Freedom
00:26:04.060 and Security Pack
00:26:05.080 plans to donate
00:26:05.920 to conservative candidates
00:26:07.240 running for Congress
00:26:08.300 and help the Republican Party
00:26:09.940 across the nation.
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