Verdict with Ted Cruz - Biden Released 100 Potential Terrorist Illegal Aliens in a Single Year plus POTUS & First Lady Support my Take It Down Act

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.

00:00:06.240 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:10.280 And Senator, there are a couple big issues we get to deal with today that are really important,

00:00:14.240 including a shock that almost 100 terror-linked migrants were released

00:00:20.180 into the United States of America in 2024 alone by the Biden administration.

00:00:25.880 It really is a shocking story.

00:00:27.920 Tulsi Gabbard revealed in Eagle Pass in Texas that the intelligence community had informed the Biden administration

00:00:35.100 that of hundreds of terror-linked illegal immigrants,

00:00:40.300 that roughly 100 of them were arrested in 2024,

00:00:44.080 and that they released all but eight of them after they knew that they were linked to terrorist organizations.

00:00:51.400 It's a shocking story. We're going to break it down and give you the details.

00:00:54.580 We're also going to talk about the Take It Down Act.

00:00:56.400 The Take It Down Act is my legislation protecting women, protecting teenage girls, teenage boys,

00:01:01.860 from revenge porn, from deep fakes online.

00:01:06.640 And this week, the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump,

00:01:09.620 she came to the Capitol supporting my legislation.

00:01:11.840 We did a roundtable together, so we're going to bring you into what Melania had to say about the Take It Down Act,

00:01:16.920 and also President Trump at the State of the Union praised the Senate for passing my Take It Down Act unanimously

00:01:23.320 and called on the House to pass it.

00:01:25.000 We're going to bring you in that roundtable, and you're going to hear what the First Lady had to say 1.00

00:01:28.200 and what several of the victims had to say.

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00:02:06.800 So let's go back, Senator, to this headline.

00:02:10.560 Almost 100 terrorist-linked migrants released in 2024.

00:02:14.920 The part that I think we really should hone in on is this wasn't an accident.

00:02:20.540 It wasn't like a misappropriation of paperwork.

00:02:24.180 This was done on purpose.

00:02:26.400 Yeah, they knew.

00:02:27.380 They had full knowledge.

00:02:28.920 And look, don't take my word for it.

00:02:30.840 Listen to Tulsi Gabbard and what she said this week down in Texas at the Eagle Pass.

00:02:35.820 Give a listen.

00:02:36.860 Trump has been in office.

00:02:38.440 Really what you're seeing here today and what you'll continue to see is a unified effort

00:02:42.380 across President Trump's national security team, the Department of Homeland Security,

00:02:47.360 towards our mission, which is to ensure a safe, free, and prosperous society for Americans.

00:02:52.900 As Director of National Intelligence, there are a number of areas where we are focused.

00:02:57.860 The President talked about in his speech,

00:03:00.220 over 21 million people have come across our borders illegally under Joe Biden's administration.

00:03:05.880 There are many of them that we don't know who they are.

00:03:08.240 They have not been vetted.

00:03:09.740 We don't know where they are.

00:03:11.100 I'll give you one quick example of one of the problems that we are getting after.

00:03:16.140 From Central Asia, there were over 4,000 people who came across our borders

00:03:20.020 using an ISIS-affiliated network.

00:03:23.700 Our National Counterterrorism Center went through and identified those individuals.

00:03:28.120 There were hundreds of them who were either known terrorists or associated with known terrorists.

00:03:33.620 That information was provided to the Biden administration.

00:03:36.240 You may remember in some of the news, a little over 100 of those people were arrested in 2024.

00:03:43.080 Of those who were arrested, only eight were either deported or remained in custody.

00:03:49.500 Only eight.

00:03:50.500 The rest of them were released back into our country.

00:03:53.980 Where are they?

00:03:54.820 What are they doing?

00:03:55.940 What may they be plotting?

00:03:57.320 This is just the beginning.

00:03:58.960 There are many, many areas that we need to stay very focused on, working with Department of Homeland Security,

00:04:04.660 working with the FBI to ensure that we're keeping the American people safe.

00:04:08.520 Our Counterterrorism Center is working on making sure that we have that single source for vetting

00:04:13.820 so that we can figure out who is actually in our country and identify those who pose a threat and get them removed.

00:04:21.020 The president's designation of the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations falls directly into this,

00:04:26.380 especially as we're seeing some of the tactics that these cartels are using reflect some of the tactics that we've seen used by Islamist terrorists in countries that many of us have served in overseas.

00:04:36.940 Our mission is very clear.

00:04:39.240 Our objective is to keep the American people safe.

00:04:41.840 I'm grateful to be a part of this team that President Trump has assembled to accomplish that mission.

00:04:46.440 Thank you.

00:04:47.400 I love the focus.

00:04:49.060 The vice president was down there as well.

00:04:50.580 Well, the team, and, you know, you compare that to the border czar who never decided to go to Eagle Pass, didn't want anything to do with it.

00:04:56.320 And now we understand, again, more why, because they knew they were doing all of the things that they were doing to put America's national security at risk.

00:05:04.540 Yeah, and it's worth really focusing on the facts that Tulsi Gabbard, who's now the director of national intelligence, what she said.

00:05:12.660 She said, from Central Asia, there were more than 4,000 people who came across our borders using an ISIS-affiliated network.

00:05:22.480 So ISIS, you know, kind of bad guys, terrorists who've killed lots and lots of Americans, they're smuggling over 4,000 people illegally into this country from Central Asia.

00:05:33.320 By the way, Central Asia includes multiple Islamic countries like Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, where radical Islamic terrorism is a real threat.

00:05:41.740 And Tulsi said the National Counterterrorism Center went through and identified those over 4,000 individuals, and there were hundreds of them, hundreds is the word she used, who were either known terrorists or associated with known terrorists.

00:06:00.720 And then she says, quote, that information was provided to the Biden administration.

00:06:07.600 So the Biden administration knew hundreds of either known terrorists or people associated with known terrorists were smuggled into America illegally by an ISIS-affiliated network.

00:06:19.960 And then she goes on to say, in 2024, a little over 100 of those terror-linked people were arrested.

00:06:29.480 And then the shocking thing, of the little more than 100, only eight were either deported or remained in custody.

00:06:40.520 Only eight.

00:06:42.400 Quote, the rest of them were released back into our country.

00:06:48.240 So, this is not illegal aliens crossing the border that get apprehended, they let them go, but they don't know they're terrorists.

00:06:54.200 These are people they know are either themselves known terrorists or associated with known terrorists.

00:07:02.040 They also know that they were smuggled illegally into this country by an ISIS-affiliated network, and they were arrested again.

00:07:09.200 And yet, over 90 of them, nearly 100, the Biden administration released into America, into your community, into my community, in a single year.

00:07:22.740 This is in 2024.

00:07:24.840 That is stunning. 1.00

00:07:27.500 And I've got to tell you, Ben, I've never heard a single Democrat give any justification for what is just idiocy. 1.00

00:07:36.400 Let's release terror-linked illegal immigrants into America. 1.00

00:07:40.200 What possibly could go wrong with that? 1.00

00:07:42.500 When you look at the, and sometimes it's just people are stupid, is it, but it also could be more, I could be more sinister than that, I guess. 0.99

00:07:51.240 Because, I look at this, I'm like, they knew it. 0.98

00:07:54.340 Did they just not want to admit that the open border would allow for so many bad actors to come across, with many that may just be coming across, right, for a better life, a job, if you put it in the best light possible, Senator.

00:08:08.420 And so they knew that if they admitted they caught these people, and then they didn't release them, and they actually prosecuted them or sent them back to their country, there's a lot of options here.

00:08:18.300 That was going to sign a huge light on the problem.

00:08:20.980 So therefore, hey, we can't admit it's happening.

00:08:22.740 So we're just going to go with this anarchy and insanity until the end.

00:08:26.920 Look, Ben, I really don't know.

00:08:30.000 You know, I had, my very first boss had a phrase he used to say.

00:08:33.260 He said, never attribute to incompetence, never attribute to malice what can be explained with incompetence.

00:08:40.500 And look, I think there's a lot of wisdom to that, that a lot of times people are just, they just do dumb things.

00:08:45.680 That being said, listen, I, do I believe the Biden administration wants terrorists to attack America?

00:08:54.720 No.

00:08:56.240 But then why the hell would you release these people?

00:08:59.040 And I guess the only plausible explanation I can come up with is they're such radicals on open borders.

00:09:07.120 They're so committed to their open borders because they want millions and millions of illegal immigrants because they view them as future Democrat voters,

00:09:14.940 that they're just deportation was off the table.

00:09:18.120 They're not in that business.

00:09:19.560 They don't do it.

00:09:20.320 I don't know.

00:09:22.220 Listen, this is related to a story we covered in a pod a couple of weeks ago.

00:09:26.500 We're in Massachusetts right now.

00:09:29.200 They're taking violent child abusers, child molesters, people who are raping children, 1.00

00:09:36.420 who are illegal aliens. 0.98

00:09:38.100 And even with violent child rapists, the Massachusetts authorities are releasing them

00:09:43.880 rather than give them over to ICE to be deported.

00:09:46.500 Now, look, reasonable people, you could have an argument about what should be the level of illegal immigration.

00:09:52.180 There are all sorts of things you'd have reasonable disagreements on.

00:09:55.180 But, I mean, Ben, explain to me why someone says, you know what we need more of? 0.55

00:09:59.680 We need more child rapists in our community.

00:10:03.520 Let's let these go.

00:10:04.400 Like, my brain cannot wrap itself around those repeated actions, and yet that's what's happening.

00:10:12.140 This is the same sort of thing.

00:10:13.260 You apprehend someone who's a known terrorist who was smuggled into America by ISIS,

00:10:18.180 and you say, oh, let's let him go.

00:10:20.120 Like, I don't know.

00:10:22.780 You know, the poll numbers that came out from the president's speech the other night were truly incredible.

00:10:27.720 76% approved of Trump's address to Congress.

00:10:31.000 That is a massive win for the president.

00:10:34.080 You look at some of the other ones, poll numbers, not only that, 91% said Trump spent time on issues they cared about.

00:10:42.300 Yeah.

00:10:42.700 That is a home run.

00:10:45.300 71% said the speech was, quote, inspiring.

00:10:48.760 And 62% said it was unifying.

00:10:51.200 And they said that this speech, 68% said they felt hopeful, 54% said they felt proud of the country from the speech.

00:11:01.480 And when you look at these numbers, even on the issue of inflation, where Democrats leaned in heavy over the last few weeks to try to say everything that's, you know, eggs and everything else are the problem of Donald Trump.

00:11:12.540 The American people aren't buying that either.

00:11:14.300 When they were asked whether the president had a clear plan to battle inflation, 68% said yes to that as well.

00:11:20.040 And then on the issue of immigration at the border, the people watched and 77% said they were in favor of Donald Trump's plan on immigration at the border.

00:11:34.360 When you see this, right, and you look at what the president's saying, and then all those that are working towards this, you've got the vice president, you've got Tulsa, you've got the secretary of state.

00:11:45.580 Everyone seems to be in lockstep on this issue of the border.

00:11:49.240 Is that the reason why you think the president's winning so much right now on securing this border?

00:11:54.420 Because he's explaining it the way we are right now as well? 0.92

00:11:57.840 Because he is not absolutely frigging nuts? 0.94

00:12:00.660 Yes. 1.00

00:12:01.420 I think the Democrat Party has gone insane. 0.98

00:12:03.780 Releasing murderers and rapists and child molesters into America is a really bad idea, and it turns out it's a really unpopular idea. 0.97

00:12:13.680 Releasing terrorists into America is a really bad idea, and it turns out it's a really unpopular idea. 0.58

00:12:18.620 Look, you and I, we did a pod the night of the State of the Union, and we talked a lot about how the Democrats, for the first time ever, didn't applaud for the president of the United States, didn't stand for the president of the United States, didn't applaud at anything.

00:12:35.440 I'll tell you, actually, yesterday in the Senate gym, I had a conversation with a Senate Democrat.

00:12:40.280 I'll keep him anonymous, but he was a Senate Democrat, one of my colleagues, and he made a comment.

00:12:46.820 He said something about he thought we were just living in a surreal world, and I said, look, I got to say I was shocked that you guys didn't applaud or stand for the president at all.

00:13:02.060 And he was like, well, you got to understand, we just think he's destroying the Constitution.

00:13:10.280 And I said, look, I stood and applauded every year for Barack Obama.

00:13:14.740 I stood and applauded every year for Joe Biden, and I disagreed with almost everything they were doing.

00:13:20.280 But I respect the office, and I respect the American people.

00:13:23.960 And he just kind of shrugged and said, we're living in different universes, and our bases are fundamentally different.

00:13:31.940 You look at Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he also announced a policy to penalize foreign countries that allow the transit of illegal immigrants and is pressuring many countries that refuse to accept the return of their migrants as well.

00:13:47.560 This could also have a big impact on this country.

00:13:52.040 I want to get your thoughts on that.

00:13:53.760 Yeah, look, this administration is securing the border.

00:13:58.500 They're doing it right now, and they are going to deport illegal aliens. 0.97

00:14:02.800 They are going to send out of the country, especially the violent criminal illegal aliens, the murderers, the rapists, the child molesters, the gangbangers. 1.00

00:14:11.380 And the countries that don't take it, they're going to make them take it. 0.95

00:14:16.000 And that's what a strong president who's actually defending this country.

00:14:19.600 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. 0.98

00:14:25.820 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:14:29.580 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:14:30.740 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:14:31.980 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:14:35.680 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

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00:14:49.800 It does.

00:14:51.420 All right, I want to move on to this other really important issue.

00:14:55.340 And I want to say sincerely, Senator, thank you for leading on the Take It Down Act.

00:15:01.380 It is going to have a huge impact in this country at protecting people against deepfake porn and people that are trying to harm them, especially young girls.

00:15:13.900 You've highlighted it and explained it.

00:15:15.960 And the First Lady is now all in on this issue as well. 1.00

00:15:19.060 And you guys had a roundtable on Capitol Hill.

00:15:22.400 Talk a little bit about this.

00:15:24.800 Well, yeah.

00:15:25.560 So the First Lady came this week to Capitol Hill. 1.00

00:15:28.420 And this is the first legislative issue she's gotten involved in this term.

00:15:32.540 And she's leaned in hard in support of my Take It Down legislation.

00:15:36.900 And so we did a roundtable that she came and participated in.

00:15:40.940 And we had several of the victims who had been targeted share their stories.

00:15:47.020 And it was really powerful.

00:15:48.660 And her leadership will really have a powerful effect.

00:15:51.900 Here, I want you to listen.

00:15:53.240 These are my opening remarks at the roundtable.

00:15:56.480 Give a listen.

00:15:56.900 I want to start by thanking the First Lady for joining us today and thank you for your support of this incredibly important legislation, the Take It Down Act, which has already passed the Senate unanimously.

00:16:09.380 And I am hopeful that the House will soon take it up and pass it and put it on the President's desk to be signed into law to protect young women and young boys and all of those who are being victimized across the country.

00:16:23.180 I also want to thank our brave victims and victim advocates who are here, Elliston Berry, Francesca Mani, Brandon Guffey, and Breeze Liu.

00:16:34.060 Thank you for being here.

00:16:35.420 Each of you have endured the unspeakable.

00:16:39.820 And your courage standing up and speaking for others is really remarkable.

00:16:45.560 I also want to thank Stephan Turkheimer with RAINN for your advocacy and support on this issue as well.

00:16:51.580 Thank you for your leadership.

00:16:53.180 And, of course, I want to thank Senator Klobuchar, who is the lead Democrat sponsor in the Senate, and Representative Salazar and Representative Dean, who are the lead sponsors in the House, who have worked alongside in this important bipartisan legislation.

00:17:09.160 If you're a victim of revenge porn or AI-generated explicit imagery, your life changes forever.

00:17:20.500 Most likely, you've been targeted by someone you know.

00:17:24.580 And you're likely struggling to have that material removed from the Internet.

00:17:28.840 Disturbingly, many of these victims are teenagers at American high schools who are facing a surge in AI-generated sexual images.

00:17:42.140 Hundreds of teens, often targeted by their own classmates, are enduring senseless psychological harm, knowing that these fake images exist and they're still out there.

00:17:53.000 And in many cases, there's no recourse for these teenage victims.

00:17:58.860 But this issue extends beyond high school.

00:18:02.140 There are thousands of cases where predators have used non-consensual intimate images to extort victims, both sexually and financially.

00:18:13.480 And the results can be even more traumatic than financial loss, as we'll hear here today.

00:18:24.120 In dozens of instances, parents and siblings have suffered unbearable pain, having lost their child or their brother or their sister to suicide,

00:18:36.640 because the victim felt there was no way out from sextortion.

00:18:43.000 Outside of high school, many adults are also dealing with the very real and dire consequences of having their sexually explicit images shared online without their consent.

00:18:55.220 I have heard from victims of sexual abuse, of rape, of human trafficking, who strongly support the Take It Down Act because they desperately want some of the most traumatic moments of their lives taken off the Internet.

00:19:12.520 The Take It Down Act empowers victims across the entire United States.

00:19:17.360 It makes it a felony for these deviants to publish any non-consensual intimate images, including fake, lifelike, pornographic images of real people.

00:19:32.400 Just as importantly, our bipartisan bill requires big tech to have a notice and takedown process so that every victimized American,

00:19:43.240 not just the rich and famous, but everyone has a right to get these disturbing images taken offline immediately.

00:19:53.320 We are today one step closer to making this dream a reality.

00:19:59.100 Just three weeks ago, the Senate unanimously passed the Take It Down Act.

00:20:03.780 Now it goes to my House colleagues, and I have every assurance and confidence that the House will take it, take this up, pass it, and put it on the President's desk so that we can protect the victims of these predators.

00:20:18.660 And we're very excited to be joined today by the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump.

00:20:23.660 I mean, it's incredible, this legislation, and it's also awesome to see the First Lady coming. 0.95

00:20:52.740 Coming to the forefront on this issue and saying, I want to champion this as well.

00:20:57.520 Yeah, look, it was tremendously important.

00:20:59.360 She reached out.

00:21:00.160 She wanted to do this.

00:21:01.720 She actively participated in the roundtable.

00:21:05.440 And here, I want to play a moment of what she had to say at the roundtable.

00:21:09.440 Here's the First Lady, Melania Trump. 0.95

00:21:13.220 I was heartened to learn that Senator Cruz and Senator Kovach are united to prioritize these fundamental matters.

00:21:20.580 I must agree, however, I expected to see more Democrats, leaders, with us here today, to address this serious issue.

00:21:32.880 Surely, as adults, we can prioritize America's children ahead of the Protestant holidays. 0.91

00:21:39.420 I urge Congress to prioritize the passage of the Cape Town at the field.

00:21:47.700 This legislation is essential for addressing the growing concerns related to online safety,

00:21:55.320 protecting individual rights, and promoting a healthier digital environment.

00:22:00.420 By advocating this bill, Congress can take an important step towards ensuring accountability

00:22:09.560 and fostering responsibly online behavior.

00:22:14.540 The take-it-down attitude represents a powerful step toward justice, healing, and unity.

00:22:22.560 The First Lady there, and I do love that she was honest.

00:22:27.520 She's like, how are there not more Democrats with this?

00:22:32.140 Well, and look, the answer is the anger and rage we saw at the State of the Union.

00:22:37.860 They're just filled with anger and rage.

00:22:40.600 But I will say, the fact that the First Lady got involved. 0.98

00:22:44.040 So last year, we passed the Take-It-Down Act out of the Senate.

00:22:47.720 We got it passed out of the Senate, and it went to the House.

00:22:50.260 And unfortunately, the House did not take it up and pass it.

00:22:53.040 Now, the House tried to, and they actually had it attached to the continuing resolution

00:22:57.620 at the end of the year, and then it dropped out at the end of the day.

00:23:02.300 And so here's how this happens.

00:23:04.920 When the First Lady wanted to come, she came, and we invited multiple victims to tell their stories, 0.78

00:23:10.720 and it was very powerful.

00:23:11.620 But we also invited the Speaker of the House and the majority leader in the House.

00:23:19.300 And so both Speaker Johnson and Leader Scalise came, and both Mike and Steve are good friends.

00:23:25.600 But look, one of the challenges of getting any legislation to move in either body is getting leadership to prioritize it.

00:23:32.380 There are lots of priorities.

00:23:33.480 There are lots of people pulling in all sorts of different directions.

00:23:36.140 And so you're always battling to say, okay, this should be high enough up on the priority list to move.

00:23:43.060 And the fact that the First Lady leaned in now makes it a certainty.

00:23:47.440 Both the Speaker and the majority leader committed the House will take it up, and they will pass it.

00:23:52.940 And I think they're going to do so quickly.

00:23:54.540 And Elliston Berry, so Elliston was there, and she is – she's from Texas. 0.73

00:24:01.180 She is a 15-year-old girl, and what happened to her, she's from Aledo, Texas, up in North Texas.

00:24:07.140 And what happened to her is she woke up one morning, and she was in ninth grade,

00:24:11.400 and she was getting all these texts and calls from her friends.

00:24:14.240 And it turns out a classmate of hers, a boy in her class, took a perfectly innocent picture of her from social media

00:24:22.880 and used an app, an AI app, to create a deep fake that turned her picture into naked pictures. 0.82

00:24:32.520 Now, it wasn't real, but anyone looking at it would think it was real.

00:24:35.840 It appeared to be real.

00:24:36.820 And then this ninth grader emailed it – or not emailed it, but sent it on Snapchat – to all of her classmates.

00:24:45.980 And so she woke up, you know, just in tears because all of her classmates – I mean, look, remember how hard freshman year is?

00:24:52.200 It's hard to be a teenager.

00:24:53.980 And the nightmare, you're a teenage girl, and suddenly all your friends think they're looking at naked pictures of you.

00:25:01.500 And there was nothing she could do about it.

00:25:03.960 The boy, they found out who did it, and he did not get in significant trouble.

00:25:10.800 And she was frustrated out of her mind.

00:25:14.320 Now, it's kind of a cool story how the Take It Down legislation happened, which is she's a Texan.

00:25:21.400 She's a constituent.

00:25:22.820 And so her mother called my office and described what had happened to her daughter and said,

00:25:28.280 Look, can you all help us with this?

00:25:31.320 And my team brought it to my attention.

00:25:33.420 And I said, look, this is horrible.

00:25:34.780 Let's do something about it.

00:25:36.080 And so Elliston was actually the inspiration for this legislation because I heard what happened to her.

00:25:43.020 And I said, this isn't right.

00:25:45.320 And so we drafted the bill.

00:25:48.080 And we invited Elliston and her mom, Anna, to come up to D.C., and they were at the press conference where we introduced the bill.

00:25:55.300 And, Ben, it was striking.

00:25:56.700 We were meeting in my office before the press conference, and I was talking.

00:25:59.600 It was the first time I'd met them in person.

00:26:02.000 And I was talking, and I asked in the middle of the conversation.

00:26:05.200 I said, okay, so what happened to the pictures?

00:26:07.500 And they both looked at me in enormous frustration, and they said, they're still up.

00:26:13.500 It had been nine months since this had happened.

00:26:16.620 And Elliston's mom said she had called Snapchat repeatedly.

00:26:20.160 She'd emailed them, and she just got the stiff arm.

00:26:23.100 She said they were just stonewalling. 0.67

00:26:24.740 They would get no response whatsoever.

00:26:27.560 And so I turned to my staff, and I said, I want you to get the CEO of Snapchat on the phone today. 0.90

00:26:34.100 And I said, I want this garbage down today. 0.80

00:26:38.640 Within two hours, they'd pulled him down. 0.96

00:26:41.460 Incredible.

00:26:42.380 Now, look, it's maddening, but it shouldn't take a sitting U.S. senator making a phone call to the CEO to get it down.

00:26:50.680 The victims ought to have the right to get it down. 0.52

00:26:53.320 So what we wrote into the Take It Down Act is, number one, we make it a felony to post nonconsensual intimate images,

00:27:00.320 is either real pictures, let's say you have – and real pictures can come from a number of places.

00:27:06.940 They can come from, number one, people who are in a romantic relationship, and they take a picture, they take a video,

00:27:12.960 and then they have a breakup, and somebody's pissed and decide to post it to the world.

00:27:17.240 And that's a grotesque violation of privacy.

00:27:19.580 You don't have a right to do that to somebody else.

00:27:21.980 Or they can come from deep fakes.

00:27:27.980 And we're seeing the numbers.

00:27:29.300 The numbers have increased 3,000 percent of deep fakes that are being put out.

00:27:34.820 They're real pictures, but they're real people, but fake, either explicit pictures or, in some cases, explicit videos that appear to be sexual videos.

00:27:45.780 And they're generated by AI, but nobody watching can tell, and this is exploding.

00:27:51.260 And one of the reasons you need the legislation is a number of states have passed laws criminalizing revenge porn,

00:27:57.340 but the laws often don't cover deep fakes.

00:28:01.040 They only cover real pictures, and so deep fakes fall into a hole in the law.

00:28:04.840 And I'll tell you, Ben, there's another instance where this happens, which is kids are subject to human trafficking

00:28:13.120 and are sexually abused and violated, and you have the predators who will put those images out online.

00:28:20.840 And the second component of this bill is a requirement that any tech platform take down these images or these videos

00:28:31.460 once they're notified by the victim, a legal requirement that once you're notified, you've got 48 hours to take it down,

00:28:39.380 or else they face serious penalties.

00:28:43.380 And that, the number of victims I've heard who have been so frustrated getting big tech to act, 0.94

00:28:50.480 in many ways that's the most important part of this bill is getting this garbage taken down

00:28:54.780 and creating a legal right for any victim to remove the content.

00:28:59.260 One of the things that I also love seeing now, and I want you to expand on this just for a moment,

00:29:05.880 was the fact that when you guys had this roundtable, you mentioned Speaker Johnson was there.

00:29:10.900 How important is it to get legislation done that Republicans in the Senate are working with the Republicans in the House?

00:29:17.320 Because this is that type of, I call it harmony, that I know makes a huge difference in getting an idea to become a reality.

00:29:24.820 Oh, look, it's very important. And personal relationships make a difference.

00:29:29.480 I mean, I had dinner with Steve Scalise last week.

00:29:31.860 Steve is a good friend. Mike Johnson is a good friend.

00:29:34.820 Mike and I have had dinner multiple times.

00:29:37.480 We spent a lot of time together.

00:29:38.900 And that's how you move legislation is through personal relationships, through strategizing, through working together.

00:29:45.740 And so when the First Lady said she was coming, I reached out and invited both of them and invited Brett Guthrie,

00:29:52.460 who is the committee chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which is the committee that has jurisdiction over this.

00:29:58.780 It's the equivalent of the Senate Commerce Committee that I'm the chairman of.

00:30:02.820 And Brett's a friend as well. He and I have had dinner.

00:30:04.860 I mean, a lot of what if you want to actually move things through Congress, the personal relationships really matter.

00:30:11.700 And I got to say, I was really excited because at the State of the Union address,

00:30:16.580 Elliston Berry was sitting right next to Melania Trump.

00:30:20.800 She was was her guest was right there in the in the box.

00:30:23.940 And actually, President Trump explicitly called on Congress to pass the Take It Down Act.

00:30:30.600 I want you to listen. This is the president at the State of the Union calling on Congress to act.

00:30:34.440 And Elliston Berry, who became a victim of an illicit deep fake image produced by a peer.

00:30:43.020 With Elliston's help, the Senate just passed the Take It Down Act.

00:30:48.880 And this is so important. Thank you very much, John.

00:30:52.460 John Thune. Thank you. Stand up, John.

00:30:55.480 Thank you, John.

00:31:01.220 Thank you all very much.

00:31:02.880 Thank you.

00:31:04.440 Thank you.

00:31:10.700 And thank you to John Thune and the Senate.

00:31:14.140 Great job to criminalize the publication of such images online is terrible, terrible thing.

00:31:21.720 And once it passes the House, I look forward to signing that bill into law.

00:31:27.820 Thank you.

00:31:28.760 And I'm going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don't mind.

00:31:31.240 Because nobody gets treated worse than I do online.

00:31:34.620 Nobody.

00:31:36.600 That's great.

00:31:37.340 Thank you very much to the Senate.

00:31:38.660 Thank you.

00:31:39.040 I mean, I love how there's just enthusiasm, there's excitement, there's momentum.

00:31:46.800 Yeah, and it makes the chances.

00:31:50.180 I think it's a certainty now the House will take it up.

00:31:52.740 As I said, the Speaker and the Majority Leader both committed to doing that and doing so quickly.

00:31:56.960 And the President and the President and the First Lady engaging just raises it on the priority list.

00:32:01.900 So that's really good.

00:32:02.840 But Elliston was there, another teenage girl, Francesca Mani, who's from New Jersey.

00:32:07.820 She's the same age, 15.

00:32:09.540 She had the same month this happened to Elliston in Texas, the identical thing happened to Francesca in New Jersey.

00:32:16.120 They had the exact same experience.

00:32:17.840 And both Elliston and Francesca, I've had testify at a field hearing I did on the Take It Down Act that I held in Dallas, and they both testified there.

00:32:27.580 And these are two young ladies who were really, really effective.

00:32:32.400 Francesca was featured in 60 Minutes.

00:32:34.100 She's really powerful. 0.67

00:32:35.780 Elliston and I did Good Morning America together, and she told her story there.

00:32:39.680 And I've got to tell you, she's so articulate that the Good Morning America hosts were laughing and saying that Elliston was coming for their jobs.

00:32:48.260 And I think that's right.

00:32:51.120 Here, listen to Elliston telling a little bit of her story in her own voice.

00:32:56.260 I'm Elliston Berry.

00:32:57.380 I'm 15 years old.

00:32:58.380 I'm from Fort Worth, Texas.

00:33:00.200 I was a survivor of AI deepfakes.

00:33:02.700 A classmate of mine targeted me and ate other of my friends and put an innocent picture off Instagram through an AI editing app that stripped our clothing off and scents around my whole school.

00:33:13.760 I was able to get in touch with Ted Cruz's office, and we were able to write up the Take It Down Act, which protects America's children from these heinous acts.

00:33:23.780 Thankfully, the First Lady's office was able to reach out, and it's really just been such an amazing experience knowing that she has the heart for my situation and that she cares and that the overall support behind this act and this situation is so amazing, and we are protecting the future generation.

00:33:41.640 It's sad that this story has to even be a story, but what an incredible young lady at 15 to be this articulate and to be able to understand that she can help so many others and to contact your office and that you were able to help her and so many others this way is just truly incredible.

00:34:01.780 It is really powerful, and I'll tell you, we had multiple victims testify, and sometimes the consequences of this are even worse.

00:34:10.400 And so I want you to give a listen to the testimony of Brandon Guffey at the roundtable describing what happened with his son.

00:34:19.060 Although the vast majority of the targets of this abuse are women and young girls, young boys can be targeted as well.

00:34:27.260 And the FBI has warned that there's a growing threat of sextortion deliberately targeting minors online,

00:34:34.660 where evil people use either real or fake explicit images to extort their victims both sexually and financially.

00:34:44.800 And in some instances, the results can be even more devastating and catastrophic.

00:34:51.560 And that was the tragic situation that South Carolina State Representative Brandon Guffey and his family experienced in 2022.

00:35:02.080 Representative Guffey, would you please share what happened with your son?

00:35:06.860 Thank you, Senator Cruz.

00:35:10.000 July 27, 2022, I lost my oldest son, Gavin Guffey, to suicide.

00:35:16.060 We quickly found out that he was being extorted online, that someone pretending to be a young female at another college

00:35:25.440 requested images to be shared back and forth, and as soon as he shared those images, he took his life.

00:35:34.240 It was an hour and 40 minutes from the time that he was contacted until the time that he took his life.

00:35:39.760 At that time, I had never heard of the crime of sextortion.

00:35:46.020 I was always a more liberty-minded politician, even though I hate to say that word.

00:35:55.720 And, you know, I wanted freedom as much as possible.

00:35:59.740 But as I started looking into this, I started to see that big tech operates,

00:36:04.280 and they are the equivalent of big tobacco of today's generation.

00:36:09.760 The account that targeted my son, that caused him to take his life,

00:36:14.540 was taken down online once Homeland Security reached out.

00:36:18.680 However, they left the additional accounts up.

00:36:23.200 If I send a friend request, I can choose, remove this account and any other accounts associated.

00:36:28.760 Yet they left these other accounts up, and those other accounts began to extort my 14-year-old cousin,

00:36:34.940 my 16-year-old son, who had just lost his brother, and myself as well,

00:36:40.980 going as far as sending a message saying,

00:36:43.340 did I tell you that your son begged for his life.

00:36:46.600 From that day forward, I have made it my life's mission,

00:36:51.400 politics or not, to fight to protect children online.

00:36:55.060 Since December of 2022, whenever I took office,

00:37:02.580 within four months, we were able to pass Gavin's Law in South Carolina,

00:37:06.320 which criminalized digital sextortion.

00:37:09.940 And the first person that we were able to convict under Gavin's Law

00:37:13.920 was actually under an AI photograph.

00:37:17.040 I have helped thousands of children since then.

00:37:22.060 Matter of fact, I've dealt with three within the past 48 hours of families that are reaching out,

00:37:26.660 that are being extorted in these situations.

00:37:29.540 I've worked with groups such as Nkosi and NCMEC here on the Hill.

00:37:34.340 I have showed up with parents,

00:37:36.560 and unfortunately, the amount of parents that are losing children are growing daily.

00:37:41.860 Since my son took his life, there's been 40 other teens that are public about this.

00:37:49.780 I can tell you there's more than a dozen that I know of

00:37:52.040 that just do not feel comfortable sharing their stories.

00:37:55.580 But I'm witnessing teens constantly take their life.

00:37:59.400 And as you said, Senator Cruz, trying to get an image down.

00:38:02.720 Now, granted, I'm just a state representative,

00:38:05.280 but I have a little bit more pull than the average citizen,

00:38:08.120 and I'm able to get some of these taken down occasionally.

00:38:11.860 But that's generally not the case.

00:38:15.020 And with something such as Take It Down,

00:38:17.160 it would allow families to be able to have those images taken down

00:38:20.600 and to have the voice that my son did not have.

00:38:28.420 There was no recourse of being able to know to be able to get these images down.

00:38:33.400 And in his mind, no one had his back.

00:38:36.620 And this wasn't talked about.

00:38:38.020 So since then, it's been my mission to speak up,

00:38:42.680 scream it from the mountaintops on how we have to hold big tech accountable

00:38:48.300 and Take It Down does that.

00:38:50.720 So for everyone involved, I really thank you for your involvement

00:38:55.440 and urge for passage within the House.

00:38:58.540 Senator, you hear that part of the story, and it's heartbreaking.

00:39:00.940 It's also incredible to listen to a father making his life's work to help others afterwards. 0.65

00:39:06.240 You know, what a friggin' nightmare.

00:39:07.940 You and I are both dads. 0.97

00:39:09.500 I mean, it's terrifying.

00:39:12.480 And, you know, young people, anyone, but especially teenagers,

00:39:17.540 are targeted and victimized by this.

00:39:19.600 And that's why the bill is really important, and it's a huge problem.

00:39:23.120 So, listen, I'm grateful to the First Lady, and I'm grateful to the President for leading on this.

00:39:28.540 And we're going to get it done.

00:39:29.480 And I'll tell you, I told Brandon and I told Elliston and Francesca

00:39:34.580 and all of the victim advocates there that they're going to be in the Oval Office for the bill signing.

00:39:42.080 The President's going to sign the bill,

00:39:43.580 and each one of them is going to get a signing pen that they're going to get to take home.

00:39:47.480 And then that's, you know, that's really who we're fighting for are the victims who are targeted here.

00:39:52.120 Yeah, it's incredible.

00:39:53.860 Make sure you share this podcast with your family and friends.

00:39:56.560 It's a really important one.

00:39:57.900 We do this Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

00:39:59.600 You can grab my podcast, The Ben Ferguson Show, on those in-between days,

00:40:02.920 and we'll keep you updated on the latest breaking news.

00:40:05.400 And this sooner I will see you back here for the Week in Review,

00:40:08.860 the top stories of the week, on Saturday morning as well.

00:40:12.020 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:40:14.900 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 07, 2025

Biden Released 100 Potential Terrorist Illegal Aliens in a Single Year plus POTUS & First Lady Support my Take It Down Act

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