Verdict with Ted Cruz - June 16, 2023


Biden Asks ＂Where's The Money？＂ plus Biden Loses 85K Immigrant Children & Big Legislative Victory Standing Up To Cuban Communists


Episode Stats


Length

41 minutes

Words per minute

156.75511

Word count

6,530

Sentence count

456

Harmful content

Misogyny

12

sentences flagged

Toxicity

12

sentences flagged

Hate speech

7

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joins Sen. Ben Ferguson (D-NJ) and Ben Fincher (D -NJ) to dig deep into a question that Joe Biden actually asked: Where's the money?

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.
00:00:02.500 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.480 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.680 And Senator, our show on Wednesday made a lot of news,
00:00:13.840 and it took people behind the scenes into the accusations against the Bidens
00:00:19.860 and the Biden crime family and the $5 million that may have come in from Burisma
00:00:25.240 and this executive.
00:00:26.040 If people missed that podcast, which went viral, go back and listen to it.
00:00:31.100 It's a very deep dive and explains to you what we do know
00:00:35.120 and what we don't know from the FBI and these reports.
00:00:39.740 Now, there's another question that we're going to do a deep dive on today,
00:00:43.720 and that is one question that Joe Biden actually asked.
00:00:48.720 Where's the money?
00:00:49.740 Senator, we're starting to get a little bit of an indication of where that money may be.
00:00:53.500 Well, that's exactly right.
00:00:56.360 So Wednesday's podcast laid out the evidence that has rolled out in the last 10 days
00:01:02.960 that we have a whistleblower who says that a confidential informant came to the FBI,
00:01:09.360 told the FBI that Joe Biden personally received a $5 million bribe
00:01:13.620 from a senior official at Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company,
00:01:17.640 that he was paid that bribe in exchange for official action while he was vice president
00:01:23.360 of the United States that benefited Burisma.
00:01:26.160 And then we subsequently learned from Senator Chuck Grassley that there are apparently 17
00:01:31.920 recorded conversations, phone conversations between the senior official at Burisma
00:01:38.120 and 15 times Hunter Biden and twice Joe Biden himself.
00:01:43.900 We also discussed on Wednesday's podcast how the FBI is utterly stonewalling,
00:01:49.160 refusing to hand over the federal report they prepared on these allegations of bribery,
00:01:55.320 on the evidence of bribery, refusing to confirm or deny the existence of these 17 voice recordings.
00:02:01.000 Instead, they're completely stonewalling and covering up for the president.
00:02:04.880 All of that is deeply disturbing.
00:02:08.460 Now, the corporate media has ignored this story altogether.
00:02:12.800 The major networks have devoted literally zero minutes and zero seconds to covering it.
00:02:18.100 They're breathlessly talking about the Trump indictment,
00:02:20.720 but the allegations against Joe Biden simply do not exist in the corporate media's world.
00:02:26.460 At the White House, one intrepid reporter did ask Joe Biden about it
00:02:31.300 and listened to his answer.
00:02:34.040 Here was his answer when asked about the allegations that he had taken a $5 million bribe
00:02:40.400 personally from a foreign national.
00:02:43.960 To walk off the stage now.
00:02:46.460 Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
00:02:48.440 The bribery allegation, Congresswoman Nancy Mays says there's damning evidence
00:02:52.180 in that VI file that you sold out of the country.
00:02:54.400 Do you have a response to congressional Republicans?
00:02:57.100 Where's the money?
00:02:58.760 I'm joking.
00:02:59.460 Mr. President, Mr. President, I tried to put a bunch of malarkey.
00:03:02.280 Senator, that may have been one of the biggest missteps by this president
00:03:06.640 kind of winging it there, saying, where's the money?
00:03:09.500 Because now we're starting to hear a little bit more about where that money is
00:03:13.340 or where it may not have been reported on tax returns that have been released.
00:03:18.980 Well, and this is really an invitation.
00:03:21.040 It's an invitation to any reporter that actually wants to be a journalist.
00:03:24.380 Look, Joe Biden's response is the same as Al Capone's.
00:03:27.960 It's the same as a bank robber's.
00:03:29.380 Where's the money?
00:03:30.940 And in this instance, we ought to investigate.
00:03:33.920 And I'll tell you, so Biden has released his personal tax returns,
00:03:37.980 and he's called it, his team called it a, quote, historic level of transparency.
00:03:43.580 But interestingly enough, they only released his personal tax returns.
00:03:47.900 Now, why does that matter?
00:03:48.680 Well, it turns out that shortly after he left the office of vice president,
00:03:55.360 both he and his wife, Jill, set up S-corporations.
00:04:00.900 The one that he set up is called Celtic Capri Corp.
00:04:07.000 That's his.
00:04:08.180 And the one that his wife, Jill Biden, set up was Giacoppa Corp.
00:04:12.820 That's hers. 0.85
00:04:13.480 Now, in the time after he left the White House, the Bidens made,
00:04:19.400 or they reported they made, a little over $17 million.
00:04:24.980 Now, of that $17 million, how much of that do you think was contained
00:04:29.100 in Celtic Capri Corp and Giacoppa Corp?
00:04:34.140 I'm going to go out on a limb here, only because I've seen it,
00:04:36.480 but before I saw it, I would actually say the same thing.
00:04:39.320 A lot of it because it's super shady.
00:04:41.300 Well, it is a lot of it.
00:04:44.080 Out of the $17 million they earned, $13 million of it is in those two S-corps.
00:04:49.060 And do you know what they've released on the source of that $13 million?
00:04:52.900 What's that? 0.73
00:04:54.040 Not a damn thing. 0.82
00:04:55.480 They haven't acknowledged where one penny of it came. 0.93
00:04:57.900 They haven't told us anything.
00:04:59.220 So they've got $13 million they made from some mysterious source.
00:05:03.540 Now, help me on this math.
00:05:05.880 $13 million is bigger than $5 million, yes?
00:05:09.560 Absolutely.
00:05:10.000 Well, Joe Biden just said, where's the money?
00:05:12.840 Where's the $5 million?
00:05:13.860 And in fact, if you break down the $13 million, the biggest year was 2017.
00:05:21.340 So the year that he left the White House.
00:05:23.580 Do you know how much Celtic Capri Corp and Giacoppa Corp made in 2017?
00:05:31.120 A lot of money.
00:05:32.060 How much?
00:05:32.520 $10 million, $48,739.
00:05:40.180 That's what they've reported.
00:05:41.480 So we know the total.
00:05:43.040 And we have utterly no idea where that $10 million came from.
00:05:48.160 So in one year, right after he left the White House, now let's look at the timing here.
00:05:51.580 The whistleblower says when he was vice president, a senior executive at Burisma offered him $5 million cash personally in order to make a corrupt deal and make official decisions for Burisma.
00:06:06.540 The year he leaves the vice presidency, 2017, he reported over $10 million of income in two corporations that he and his wife set up.
00:06:20.060 And we know nothing, zero whatsoever, about the source of that income.
00:06:25.420 You know what the media ought to call on?
00:06:27.880 You know what the House of Representatives ought to force him to do?
00:06:30.340 You know what anyone who gives a damn about integrity on government should say?
00:06:34.480 We need the tax returns of Celtic Capri Corp and Giacoppa Corp.
00:06:39.960 Because you know what?
00:06:40.760 If half of that $10 million is the $5 million payment for Burisma for the bribe, well, then Joe Biden better start sizing up for an orange jumpsuit.
00:06:55.220 Because, as he rightly said, where's the money?
00:06:58.200 If that's where the money is, then he's guilty of a serious felony.
00:07:03.900 Yeah, and this is, as you just described it there, there's a serious chance that this happened.
00:07:09.200 And he is in trouble with an actual felony.
00:07:12.300 Now, the question is, Senator, that so many people are asking is, can the FBI and those that have some of this information stonewall,
00:07:21.540 or is there a good chance, knowing everything that we know right now, is there a very, very good chance
00:07:27.600 that the Republicans are going to be able to get some of these answers in the House that they can't avoid anymore?
00:07:33.520 Too much has come out.
00:07:35.400 There's too many dots that have been connected.
00:07:37.380 And now the question is, can the Biden administration and the deep state stop this?
00:07:43.420 Well, they're going to try.
00:07:44.900 If we had an attorney general with a shred of integrity, he wouldn't be stonewalling.
00:07:49.160 He wouldn't be covering this up.
00:07:50.420 He would have appointed a special counsel already to investigate this.
00:07:53.800 He would be demanding that the FD-1023 be made public.
00:07:57.700 He would be demanding that the 17 voice recordings be made public.
00:08:00.940 He would be fighting for getting access to the tax returns for these two corporations that funneled over $10 million to Joe Biden and Jill Biden the year they left the White House.
00:08:14.320 And by the way, you want to know the most important question right now?
00:08:19.000 It's what Joe Biden said.
00:08:20.820 Where is the money?
00:08:22.420 Where did the $10 million come from?
00:08:26.180 That's the question.
00:08:27.580 Is there a reporter?
00:08:28.560 Jake Tapper, are you just a shill?
00:08:31.600 Are you a cheerleader for the Biden White House?
00:08:34.460 Or are you willing to go on CNN and ask the following question?
00:08:38.360 Where did the $10 million come from?
00:08:40.800 Did it come from a Burisma executive?
00:08:43.780 That's what an actual journalist would do.
00:08:46.600 You're the marquee host for CNN.
00:08:48.940 Do you give a damn about being a journalist?
00:08:50.880 Or are you just going to sit and talk to your 12 viewers that are still watching CNN and go on and on about how much you hate Donald Trump and ignore reporting on the news? 0.61
00:09:02.180 ABC, CBS, NBC.
00:09:04.880 Does the 6 o'clock news cover news anymore?
00:09:08.400 Are you willing to cover this?
00:09:09.800 $10 million.
00:09:11.000 Ask one question.
00:09:12.320 Where did the $10 million come from?
00:09:15.980 And don't accept if it's at a White House press conference, Biden saying, oh, that's just malarkey.
00:09:22.080 You know, Corn Pop told me it wasn't true. 1.00
00:09:24.980 Don't accept that kind of idiocy. 1.00
00:09:27.720 There's an easy way to answer it. 0.99
00:09:29.620 Disclose the tax returns of Celtic Capri Corp and Giacoppa Corp, especially in 2017, where you had this massive windfall of cash that you've never explained and that no one in the corporate media has ever cared enough to ask about.
00:09:49.640 You mentioned, by the way, the media not doing their job.
00:09:53.220 They're having no problem, Senator, talking about saying over and over again, like there's some sort of cult that, quote, no one is above the law when it comes to Donald Trump.
00:10:04.860 Just listen to a few of the different members of the media over the last 24 hours saying this over and over again.
00:10:10.700 It's like they got a phone call from the White House and the White House said, here's your talking point on Donald Trump.
00:10:16.360 The idea that no person is above the law is a bedrock principle of American justice.
00:10:20.620 No man is above the law, no matter what the crimes.
00:10:23.060 And I agree with you.
00:10:23.900 No, no man is above the law and no person is above the law.
00:10:27.480 No one is above the law.
00:10:28.840 No one is above the law.
00:10:29.960 No one's above the law.
00:10:31.060 No one is above the law.
00:10:32.280 No man is above the law.
00:10:33.620 Nobody is above the law.
00:10:34.920 No one is above the law.
00:10:36.580 No man is above the law.
00:10:37.820 He has to be held accountable. He's not above the law.
00:10:40.780 No one's above the law.
00:10:42.100 Either that nor any other title puts you above the rule of law.
00:10:46.080 No one is truly above the law.
00:10:48.260 I mean, Eric Holder there at the end, you can hear the laughing.
00:10:50.620 He says no one is truly above the law.
00:10:52.740 Senator, there's a lot of people saying that no one should be above the law
00:10:55.900 except all of those same people that we just played.
00:10:58.980 And we could have played another minute and a half of this cult saying this about Trump.
00:11:03.100 None of them are asking questions about this money.
00:11:06.820 So all of the media and all of the Democratic politicians are on the same team.
00:11:12.360 They're reading from the same talking points.
00:11:14.220 They're saying the exact same words.
00:11:15.940 When they say no one's above the law, they mean that as an attack on Donald Trump.
00:11:19.720 But you know who they don't mean?
00:11:20.840 They don't mean Joe Biden.
00:11:22.520 And let's go back to the tax returns for a minute because I want to drill down even deeper.
00:11:27.340 One of the great things about verdict is that we don't cover things superficially at the, you know, 60-second soundbite level.
00:11:34.660 We actually drill down.
00:11:35.660 So if you look at, let's take Jill Biden. 1.00
00:11:41.060 So she had the money that she reported.
00:11:46.000 USA Today said that Jill grossed $3 million.
00:11:50.620 Now, where did that $3 million come from?
00:11:53.240 About $700,000 from speaking fees.
00:11:56.040 Okay, that's plausible.
00:11:56.880 And the remainder was royalties from her book.
00:12:00.620 Do you know how many copies of her book she sold?
00:12:03.320 I'm going to guess not that many people are running out to get her book.
00:12:06.600 In her first week, she sold 7,000 copies.
00:12:10.240 That's a book deal that if you do the math, she made $3 million. 1.00
00:12:14.280 $700,000 was from speaking fees.
00:12:17.060 So presumably that's $2.3 million for that book.
00:12:20.100 I'll tell you, someone who has written multiple books that have collectively sold hundreds of thousands of copies, I've never been paid $2.3 million for a book.
00:12:29.260 And yet Jill Biden, she's claiming she got that.
00:12:32.200 And how about Joe's numbers?
00:12:35.220 Okay, so let's take Joe's numbers.
00:12:37.600 He's claiming that Joe netted $12.2 million for a book deal.
00:12:45.500 His book deal sold about 300,000 copies.
00:12:51.960 Now, the $12 million, $4.2 million of that is allegedly from speaking.
00:12:58.460 And I can believe that.
00:12:59.360 He probably got pretty good speaking fees.
00:13:00.840 That's plausible.
00:13:02.560 That means he's claiming $8 million of income came from book royalties.
00:13:08.260 Now, let's do some math.
00:13:11.120 His book had a retail price of $27 for hardcover, $18 for paperback.
00:13:18.540 If you assume a reasonable mix of sales, average price was $23.
00:13:24.880 On 300,000 books sold, the gross revenues everyone makes is just under $7 million.
00:13:32.400 What Joe is alleging is they paid him $8 million to generate $7 million.
00:13:37.940 The book publisher lost $1 million and got no money for printing the book.
00:13:41.560 Typically, an author, if you were just receiving a royalty, a typical blended royalty, you'd get about 15% for hardcover, about 7.5% for paperback is typical.
00:13:55.460 If Joe was receiving 12% of $7 million, he would have yielded about $800,000.
00:14:02.760 He's claiming he got $8 million.
00:14:07.440 That math doesn't add up.
00:14:09.080 Now, maybe the publishers are such wild-eyed leftists that they just said, hey, let's give Joe Biden $8 million because we really love the guy.
00:14:17.100 And we just want to write a check to him even though we're going to lose money like crazy.
00:14:20.360 Well, do you know how many copies his prior book promises to keep sold?
00:14:26.600 How many?
00:14:27.860 49,000.
00:14:29.180 Not even 50,000.
00:14:30.580 Way below 100,000.
00:14:31.420 Wow.
00:14:32.320 I got to say, having written three books, being in the middle of my fourth book now, I simply do not believe there's a book publisher that would give him $8 million given that his last book had sold 49,000 copies.
00:14:44.040 As much as they're hardcore leftists, they do actually like to make money.
00:14:48.140 And so you're looking at a tax return that has $10 million in cash that came from a mystery source.
00:14:58.940 And so, listen, I want to give Joe Biden the respect he deserves.
00:15:02.900 He said we should ask, where is the money?
00:15:06.100 Well, that's what I'm asking.
00:15:07.980 Joe, where's the money?
00:15:09.460 It's a question every American needs to be asking.
00:15:11.780 Where is that money?
00:15:12.600 It's a question he asked, and it's a question that when he said it, I know everybody at the White House working for him was thinking,
00:15:18.140 Why did you just ask that question?
00:15:20.300 I want to tell you real quick about our friends at Patriot Mobile.
00:15:22.660 And if you are like me and you're just sick and tired of giving your money to woke companies, woke corporations who are actually fighting against your values, then you need to switch to Patriot Mobile.
00:15:33.700 Patriot Mobile is the only Christian conservative wireless provider.
00:15:38.020 They offer you dependable nationwide coverage on all three major networks so you get the best possible service in your area without the woke propaganda pushed by leftists working hard to destroy this country.
00:15:50.120 For years, big mobile companies have been dumping millions into leftist causes, including Planned Parenthood.
00:15:55.980 That is why you need to switch to Patriot Mobile.
00:15:58.520 When you switch, not only are you supporting free speech and religious freedom, the sanctity of life, the Second Amendment, and our military, our veterans, our first responders,
00:16:07.980 you're actually a piece of your bill every month goes to support those causes directly.
00:16:12.820 So, make the switch.
00:16:14.800 You can keep your same cell phone you have in your hand.
00:16:17.140 Keep your same cell phone number if you want to.
00:16:19.660 And many times, you're going to save money over what you're paying right now.
00:16:23.240 The number, 878-PATRIOT.
00:16:25.480 That's 878-PATRIOT.
00:16:28.400 878-PATRIOT.
00:16:29.540 Or go to PatriotMobile.com slash verdict.
00:16:32.820 That's PatriotMobile.com slash verdict.
00:16:36.140 Get free activation today with a promo code VERDICT.
00:16:39.140 878-PATRIOT.
00:16:40.020 Senator, I want to ask you one other question about this money and these tax returns.
00:16:46.220 We know that it's, you know, they put these tax returns out there, and the question you ask, right, is where did this money come from?
00:16:52.980 If the dollars don't match up with the suspicious activity reports and the work the House is doing, what questions need to be asked next?
00:17:04.560 And is there any legal way to ask those questions?
00:17:07.600 Because it's pretty simple, right?
00:17:09.120 One plus one equals two.
00:17:10.880 Two plus two equals four.
00:17:12.480 If Joe Biden's tax return says X, and then we see these suspicious activity reports and money going to these LLCs and these S-Corps and all these other, you know, different web of lies, as I would describe it, then what can the House do to nail that down?
00:17:26.140 Yeah, well, there's only one place that has any possibility of getting this information.
00:17:30.740 DOJ and the FBI are not going to do so because Merrick Garland has thoroughly corrupted them and they're more invested in protecting Joe Biden and hiding him from any investigation into his corruption than they are in actually investigating it.
00:17:43.320 Sadly, the United States Senate's not going to do a damn thing because Senate Democrats are equally invested in protecting Joe Biden and hiding him and preventing any investigation to whether the president of the United States took a $5 million bribe from a foreign national.
00:17:57.720 So I'm on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
00:17:59.800 I'll continue to give speeches.
00:18:01.280 I'll continue to yell from the mountaintops.
00:18:03.700 I'll continue to shine a light on it.
00:18:05.200 I'll continue to go on TV.
00:18:06.500 I'll continue to go on radio.
00:18:07.660 I'll continue to write.
00:18:08.660 I'll continue to do this podcast and shine a light on it.
00:18:11.400 But what I don't have is the ability to issue a single subpoena because it takes a majority vote and the Democrats have the majority and no Democrat will vote for it, which means the only, only place that can have any forceful compulsory process is the House of Representatives, James Comer and Jim Jordan.
00:18:29.560 They have been doing a yeoman's job so far investigating they need to continue to do so.
00:18:34.400 They need to redouble their efforts and they need to focus on the famous question from Watergate, follow the money or, as Joe Biden put it, where's the money?
00:18:43.820 Now, let me point out, in addition to these two corporations through which Joe and Jill funneled most of their income, at least according to their tax returns, and that they've hidden the tax returns for these corporations.
00:18:54.960 We now know from the House Oversight Committee investigation that the Biden family created more than 20 companies.
00:19:05.580 That's from bank records, more than 20.
00:19:08.480 16 of the companies were limited liability companies formed while Biden was still vice president.
00:19:15.360 I want you to think, do you know anyone who's formed 16 shell companies while they're in public office?
00:19:22.720 What does that suggest?
00:19:25.400 The Biden family, their business associates and their companies, collectively they received more than $10 million from foreign sources.
00:19:33.880 Those payments occurred while Biden was in office and when he left.
00:19:40.000 And we know, according to the House's work, that at least nine Biden family members received payments.
00:19:47.680 Those Biden family members include Hunter Biden, James Biden, Joe Biden's brother, James Biden's wife, Sarah Jones Biden, the late Beau Biden's wife, Hallie Biden, Hunter Biden's ex-wife, Kathleen Buell, Hunter Biden's current wife, Melissa Cohen, and, quote, three children of the president's son and the president's brother.
00:20:13.260 That's at a minimum. And we know that an enormous amount of the money came from Chinese nationals and companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
00:20:23.620 James Comer said that of the countries the Biden family was influenced peddling in, China is, quote, the most reputable.
00:20:30.880 And actually, listen to James Comer this week explaining about this net network of shell companies the Bidens created.
00:20:38.240 We can trace bribery. It sure does. But look what we've already found, Larry.
00:20:42.860 The Biden family has at least 20 shell companies that were created for the sole purpose to launder money to at least nine Biden family members.
00:20:51.700 When you create a bunch of shell companies for the sole purpose of laundering money, that's called racketeering and the and the the money laundering.
00:20:59.540 Those aren't my words. Those are the words of at least six big publicly traded banks that filed bank violations to get the Biden family.
00:21:07.100 They said it sure appears that they're money laundering.
00:21:09.800 So these are some serious crimes that we've already uncovered.
00:21:13.420 But there's still many more banks to go and many more shell companies that I think that we'll we'll discover along the way.
00:21:20.260 So when you're having those accusations and using the words that he's talking about, money laundering and racketeering, he's not saying this on hypotheticals.
00:21:29.400 He's saying this based on the evidence that he has seen.
00:21:32.580 Well, and let me ask you, give me an innocent explanation for a senior public official.
00:21:41.020 Creating 20 shell companies on the face of it, it screams that they're trying to conceal what's happening with those shell companies.
00:21:53.340 You know who does that? Drug dealers do that.
00:21:55.320 The mafia does that. Criminals do that. 0.88
00:21:57.800 Now, maybe if you're like a billionaire tycoon, you might do that.
00:22:04.360 If you're like developing, you know, projects all over the country, maybe you do that.
00:22:09.320 But Joe Biden isn't doing any of that.
00:22:10.820 He was vice president of the United States.
00:22:12.940 He doesn't know anything about business.
00:22:15.300 Why on earth does he need 20 shell companies?
00:22:19.180 If it's not to hide and shield the income.
00:22:24.920 And Joe Biden has invited us to ask, where is the money?
00:22:28.460 Well, now is the chance to see, are there any journalists left in America who will accept that invitation?
00:22:35.660 Yeah, great point.
00:22:36.780 And this story is not going to go away.
00:22:38.140 We're going to keep covering our verdict and let you know what all this means as this continues to break.
00:22:44.320 It does start to feel like this is getting more like a Watergate.
00:22:48.440 It's dripping and dripping and dripping now.
00:22:51.240 And whistleblowers are coming forward.
00:22:52.980 And that may be moving us in the right direction to expose what the Biden family has done.
00:22:57.880 We will have it all for you here.
00:22:59.320 I want to move to something else as well.
00:23:01.500 Senator, you really went toe to toe with the Biden administration over another issue.
00:23:05.820 Frankenstein, like, you know, won Pulitzers and were acclaimed for their reporting on it.
00:23:10.920 The problem is that the Washington Post, there are no reporters left.
00:23:13.600 The New York Times, there are no reporters left.
00:23:15.640 So, Ben, I look forward to your and my Pulitzer party because apparently we're one of the few people willing to report on this evidence that is dripping out day after day after day because the legacy corporate media has abandoned any pretense of journalism.
00:23:30.620 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. 0.98
00:23:37.940 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:23:41.660 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:23:42.840 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:23:44.080 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:23:47.820 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.
00:23:53.580 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:23:56.560 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:24:02.440 All right.
00:24:03.060 I want to get to this other one, and that is a major issue.
00:24:07.000 You went toe-to-toe with the Biden administration over their political decision to let over 100,000 unaccompanied minors into the United States of America deliberately on purpose.
00:24:21.780 I'm going to play that audio.
00:24:23.120 Before we get to that, I want to tell you about Chuck.
00:24:24.720 If you're a guy and you feel like you've lost a little bit of your edge, maybe you feel like there's a little bit of complacency now.
00:24:33.260 Maybe you feel fatigue and you're just sick and tired of feeling that way.
00:24:38.440 Well, Chuck can help you get back up to 20%.
00:24:41.620 They can help you boost your testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days.
00:24:45.700 Yeah.
00:24:46.040 You can get rid of that weakness and complacency and replace it with strength and vitality.
00:24:51.700 Go to Chuck, C-H-O-Q.com. 0.99
00:24:54.220 They're here to help real men just like you take back the right to proudly maximize your masculinity by boosting testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days.
00:25:03.920 Manufactured right here in the U.S. of A, Chuck, natural herbal supplements are clinically proven to have game-changing effects on your energy, your focus, your mood.
00:25:11.620 So, check out the male vitality stack. 0.97
00:25:14.700 Go to Chuck, C-H-O-Q.com. 0.99
00:25:16.760 And if you use my promo code, Ben, you're going to get 35% off any Chalk subscription for life.
00:25:23.240 That is C-H-O-Q.com. 0.99
00:25:26.060 Use the promo code, Ben, you'll get 35% off and boost your testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days.
00:25:32.580 Chuck, C-H-O-Q.com.
00:25:33.900 Senator, this was a moment that I hope everybody will share with their family and their friends.
00:25:40.300 It is a humanitarian crisis that angers me.
00:25:44.860 It obviously has frustrated you.
00:25:47.160 A political decision to let 100,000 unaccompanied minors into America.
00:25:52.640 Here is some back and forth with you at the Senate.
00:25:55.440 Listen.
00:25:55.600 It is here today because the Biden administration has utterly failed.
00:25:59.360 It has failed to secure the border.
00:26:01.480 And it has encouraged parents to send their minor alien children on a dangerous trip to the United States unaccompanied.
00:26:10.000 And it's failed to protect these children after they were let into the United States.
00:26:15.800 The Democrats running this committee have also failed.
00:26:20.180 As we're holding a hearing to discuss the issues facing HHS's placement of unaccompanied minors.
00:26:27.200 But we don't even have a single official from HHS here to answer our questions.
00:26:32.520 Javier Becerra should be sitting right in the middle of this panel.
00:26:36.620 Under oath.
00:26:38.300 Being forced to answer difficult questions about his absolute dereliction of duty when it comes to caring for these kids.
00:26:45.440 But the Democrat leadership of this committee doesn't want Secretary Becerra to face those hard questions.
00:26:52.640 Because it would reveal his utter negligence.
00:26:57.740 And the children who are being harmed as a result.
00:27:01.700 And so the absence of HHS is not an accident.
00:27:04.520 It's not an omission they just forgot.
00:27:07.420 It's a deliberate decision.
00:27:08.800 Let's protect the Biden administration from accountability and concommitment with that decision.
00:27:15.440 It's a decision to say the children being harmed are not important enough to the Democrat senators on this committee to overcome their partisan desire to play politics and protect the Biden administration from the consequences of their own failure.
00:27:32.820 Now, Senator, I'm going to stop there because I want to get your reaction to this and to paint a bigger picture of just how horrific this humanitarian crisis is.
00:27:41.240 And the fact that they are encouraging unaccompanied minors who are being abused, who are being sexually assaulted, sexually abused.
00:27:48.760 They're basically being sold into slavery in the U.S., having to pay off the debts for the smugglers coming across.
00:27:53.360 And this administration has, in essence, encouraged this behavior, which is making billions of dollars for the cartels at the same time.
00:28:02.060 Well, that's exactly right.
00:28:03.540 As a result of Joe Biden's political decision, the cartels have made billions.
00:28:08.680 In 2018, the Mexican drug cartels made roughly $500 million in revenue from human trafficking.
00:28:14.680 This is according to The New York Times.
00:28:16.040 Last year, those same drug cartels made $13 billion from human trafficking.
00:28:23.420 That's a 2,600 percent increase.
00:28:26.220 Joe Biden has turned these vicious murderers into global billionaire corporations that routinely savage people. 0.96
00:28:37.320 And the children that they abuse, that they sexually assault, it is horrific. 0.97
00:28:41.580 And they treat little boys and little girls as commodities, as cargo.
00:28:46.760 And it is modern-day slavery that is playing out as a result of Joe Biden's political decisions.
00:28:56.080 When you look at the political decision, you talk a little bit more about this and why this administration isn't stopping it at this hearing in the back and forth.
00:29:03.000 Let's take a listen.
00:29:04.140 Take a look at this image.
00:29:05.360 Take a look at this image.
00:29:35.360 In the Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 127,000 unaccompanied minors entered the United States during fiscal year 2022.
00:29:45.580 So one year, 127,000 kids all alone.
00:29:53.060 2021, again, according to HHS, 107,686 unaccompanied minors entered the United States.
00:30:01.800 Compare that to the last year of the Trump presidency, where that number was approximately 30,000, a seven-year low.
00:30:12.940 Now, let me be clear.
00:30:14.120 Even one child in the custody of human traffickers is horrific and wrong.
00:30:19.000 But 127,000, this administration, no wonder Secretary Becerra is too scared to sit there. 1.00
00:30:29.160 He should be embarrassed of that record.
00:30:32.420 Health and Human Services received $7.8 billion last year just for unaccompanied minor children.
00:30:38.480 Troublingly, on February 24, 2022, HHS admitted in a letter to Representative Andy Biggs that it could not contact approximately 20,000 minor children it placed in 2021.
00:30:54.980 In one year, 20,000.
00:30:56.460 It just lost them.
00:30:58.420 No wonder Secretary Becerra is not sitting at that table. 0.94
00:31:01.560 On March 22, 2023, Senator James Lankford pressed Secretary Becerra on a portion of the New York Times expose, indicating that HHS had failed to account for 85,000 previously placed alien children.
00:31:21.800 Becerra disputed the question, saying it was unrealistic.
00:31:26.460 But he failed to offer any concrete evidence or data or statistics.
00:31:31.560 On April 25 of this year, I joined Senator Marco Rubio and my colleagues in a letter addressing HHS failures on this score, which actively highlighted the fact that the Biden administration loosened vetting, fired HHS staffers who filed complaints, and ignored HHS contracted organizations who voiced concerns.
00:31:53.860 After the New York Times, after the New York Times published a second expose, the administration announced the Department of Labor was taking action.
00:32:03.480 What action?
00:32:04.440 Action addressing child labor.
00:32:06.380 Well, child labor is abhorrent. 1.00
00:32:08.140 But how about the hundreds of thousands of children who are being smuggled in by human traffickers, who are being abused, who are being sexually abused, who are being physically abused, and whom the Biden administration has lost?
00:32:22.240 This is a humanitarian crisis, and it is a man-made crisis produced by political decisions from this White House.
00:32:29.060 And every American, whether Democrat or Republican, should be horrified at the state of affairs.
00:32:37.860 Horrified is the exact word that should be used to describe this.
00:32:41.640 And yet, it doesn't seem, Senator, that they're trying to do anything to stop this, even when you're exposing it this way.
00:32:48.800 They're not.
00:32:49.600 They held an entire hearing focused on the issue of unaccompanied minors, and yet they're not willing to hold in any way, shape, or form the Biden administration responsible.
00:33:01.100 How do you lose 85,000 kids?
00:33:05.300 I mean, that's really a stunning level of incompetence. 0.93
00:33:09.660 What it shows is this administration doesn't give a damn. 0.93
00:33:13.360 The children who are being abused, they don't care about. 0.98
00:33:17.400 The women who are being sexually assaulted, they don't care about. 0.93
00:33:20.560 The illegal immigrants who are dying last year, 853 died crossing illegally into this country, they don't care about them. 1.00
00:33:27.780 The crime that is surging, the people who are victims of murder and rape, they don't care about them.
00:33:32.880 The 100,000 people last year who died of drug overdoses, 70% of which came from Chinese fentanyl coming across our southern border, they don't care about them. 0.99
00:33:40.720 Why? Because their only, only priority is a political priority of open borders to maximize the number of people coming illegally into this country, because I believe they look at those illegal immigrants and think most of them are going to be Democrat voters. 0.89
00:34:00.200 And so that political partisan objective matters more than the lives of the children who are being brutalized by their heartless policies.
00:34:10.720 Yeah, no doubt about it. And this is going to be a big election year issue.
00:34:14.840 Certainly, congressionally, Senate races in the presidency, and it should be. 0.79
00:34:19.420 And it should be something that the Republicans should seize on to show it, explain it, and let the American people understand just how bad it is at the southern border
00:34:28.640 and what's happening to these children at the southern border as well.
00:34:32.120 I want to move on to something else, and it's something you worked really hard on, Senator, and it deals with the renaming of a street that is actually extremely significant in front of the embassy to Cuba.
00:34:44.960 Now, before you tell this story, which is a great one, let me tell you about our friends, Augusta Precious Metals.
00:34:49.720 If you've been saving for retirement for a long time, then you understand how important it is to protect your money with a gold IRA.
00:34:58.380 Now, you understand how important it is to protect your hard-earned dollars, because right now, with what's been going on in the economy, you don't want to lose money.
00:35:07.040 You want to protect your assets, because there is no time to make up losses.
00:35:12.000 That is where Augusta Precious Metals and Gold comes in.
00:35:15.380 They are a different type of company. That's why I recommend them to you.
00:35:18.540 They will sit down with you one-on-one on a web conference and go over your financial goals, your financial portfolio, and see if gold is right for you.
00:35:28.800 If you're ready to protect your hard-earned dollars, if you're ready to make sure that you're diversified, talk to Augusta Precious Metals today.
00:35:37.800 They will give you also their free investor's guide on gold, giving you the economic insight and data about how gold in an IRA or a 401k can give you that peace of mind.
00:35:47.780 Call them. All that is free.
00:35:50.100 877, the number 4, gold IRA.
00:35:54.620 877, the number 4, gold IRA.
00:35:58.600 Or visit AugustaPreciousMetals.com.
00:36:01.900 That's AugustaPreciousMetals.com.
00:36:04.080 Say I sent you, and they'll pay your fees for up to 10 years.
00:36:07.700 That's AugustaPreciousMetals.com.
00:36:10.220 Or 877, the number 4, gold IRA.
00:36:13.520 Great. Senator, this is something you've been working on for quite some time.
00:36:17.860 You had to rally the troops.
00:36:19.040 You had to reach across the aisle, and it's finally going to happen.
00:36:22.600 Renaming a street in front of the Cuban embassy.
00:36:26.980 Explain the significance of this and how we got to this victory.
00:36:31.480 Well, it's a big victory that we had this week.
00:36:33.740 I introduced legislation to rename the street in front of the Cuban embassy in Washington, D.C.,
00:36:39.920 and to rename it after Oswaldo Payá.
00:36:43.460 Now, who is Oswaldo Payá?
00:36:45.140 He was a Cuban dissident.
00:36:46.700 He was someone who heroically spoke up for freedom.
00:36:50.980 He energized the people of Cuba.
00:36:53.600 He led something called the Valera Project, which got 22,000 people to sign a petition calling
00:37:01.180 for free elections, for free speech, for economic freedom in Cuba.
00:37:07.280 The communist regime hated him because he was fearless.
00:37:12.980 He was imprisoned repeatedly.
00:37:14.800 He was abused repeatedly.
00:37:16.580 And then, 11 years ago, he was murdered by the Cuban regime.
00:37:21.000 On July 22, 2012, his car was run off the road by henchmen working for the Cuban communists.
00:37:31.800 And, in fact, just this week, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights formally determined
00:37:37.120 that the Cuban communist regime was directly responsible for his murder.
00:37:43.060 Now, I've introduced this legislation.
00:37:46.280 It was bipartisan legislation.
00:37:47.560 So I did it with Dick Durbin, the very partisan Democrat from Illinois who chairs the Judiciary Committee.
00:37:53.220 But Dick and I together teamed up.
00:37:55.320 We also had, as part of this legislative team,
00:37:59.080 we had Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez, a Republican and a Democrat.
00:38:04.120 And we also had Rick Scott and Ben Cardin, again, a Republican and a Democrat.
00:38:09.820 And this week, the Senate unanimously passed our legislation to rename the street in front of the embassy Oswaldo Paya Way.
00:38:21.320 Now, the next step is to go to the House of Representatives.
00:38:25.280 Last Congress, I passed the same legislation through the Senate.
00:38:29.100 And unfortunately, the Democratic House didn't take it up. 0.94
00:38:32.300 That was frustrating.
00:38:33.440 I have a high level of confidence this Congress, the House, will take this up and pass it,
00:38:39.860 that we'll put it on Joe Biden's desk, that he'll sign it.
00:38:43.120 And I look forward to being at the dedication of the street sign.
00:38:46.480 Now, let me pause for a second.
00:38:49.780 You might think, okay, why does a street sign matter?
00:38:54.800 That doesn't seem all that consequential.
00:38:56.760 Who cares what a street sign is?
00:38:58.420 Well, every communist thug that goes to the Cuban embassy will have to look and see the street sign in front of the embassy that says Oswaldo Paya Way.
00:39:14.960 Every person who wants to write to the embassy will have to write Oswaldo Paya's name.
00:39:23.420 Every person who wants to go visit the embassy has to get on their phone and Google what's the address and they will see Oswaldo Paya's name.
00:39:37.020 There is something powerful about this and this is actually, it's a strategy that I adopted from Ronald Reagan.
00:39:42.540 When Ronald Reagan was president, in standing up to the Soviet Union, one of the things he did is he renamed the street in front of the Soviet embassy Sakharov Plaza after the famed Soviet dissident for the same reasons.
00:40:00.300 Tyrannical regimes are terrified of dissidents and they try to erase them.
00:40:04.940 They try to pretend they don't exist and there is enormous power in saying their name, shining a light.
00:40:14.920 As you know, Ben, my family was imprisoned and tortured in Cuba.
00:40:20.000 Oswaldo Paya's daughter, Rosa Maria, I've spent time with her.
00:40:24.220 She is beautiful.
00:40:25.360 She is passionate.
00:40:27.060 She is a fighter for freedom like her father.
00:40:29.260 And by commemorating his heroism, heroism for which the communists murdered him, we are also shining a light on that evil, repressive regime.
00:40:43.560 And that's a step forward to causing that regime to crumble, which would be great for the people of Cuba and great for America to no longer have a communist regime 90 miles away from our surface.
00:40:57.480 Yeah, these are important moments, especially as you described it, to show symbolism that, hey, we are not going to just sit here and act like this is not happening and this has not happened to these dissidents, these people.
00:41:08.900 It's awesome work.
00:41:09.740 Well done.
00:41:10.620 Don't forget, you can download Verdict.
00:41:12.640 Hit that subscribe auto download or if you're listening on Apple, the follow button and you'll get every single episode as we do the show Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.
00:41:21.460 Please write us a five star review and share this on social media.
00:41:24.820 If you're on Instagram, on Facebook, Twitter, Getter, Parler, wherever you are, if you'll share these episodes so other people can hear them and what we're doing here on Verdict.
00:41:32.640 And we will see you back here in a couple of days.
00:41:35.880 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:41:38.780 Guaranteed Human.
00:41:39.380 Guaranteed Human.