Verdict with Ted Cruz - Blue City Crime Chaos, it's a Schumer Shutdown & Leftist Judicial Bias at its Best Week In Review

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.600 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.260 Welcome.

00:00:06.020 It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, The Weekend Review, and Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.640 And here are some of the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week.

00:00:13.060 First up, fighting the crime epidemic in liberal blue cities.

00:00:17.720 Donald Trump taking it on and having massive success.

00:00:21.220 So why are Democrats still fighting against him, even when the data shows it's working?

00:00:25.960 We'll have that for you.

00:00:27.140 Also, the government shutdown is continuing.

00:00:30.000 And is there an end date in sight?

00:00:32.400 We'll have that as well.

00:00:34.020 And finally, Justice Kavanaugh attempted murder suspect, given an incredibly light sentence due to a radical judge.

00:00:42.140 It's The Weekend Review, and it starts right now.

00:00:45.620 All right, I want to move to something else that's really important.

00:00:49.060 The Senate Judiciary is having a big hearing, and it deals with blue city chaos, Democratic-run cities.

00:00:56.140 The report that's out now is pretty clear.

00:00:58.440 Out of the top 20 most crime-ridden cities, 18 of them are controlled by left-wing, hardcore Democrats.

00:01:06.920 And you guys are now looking into this.

00:01:09.120 So what does this actually mean?

00:01:11.060 Well, this week, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on out-of-control crime in Democrat cities, and it really is horrific, the policies.

00:01:20.120 It turns out, when you let violent criminals go, when you undermine the police, when you put in place prosecutors who won't prosecute crime, you get more crime.

00:01:28.240 Now, this summer, the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley is the chairman, put out a report that showed that the Biden Department of Justice sent taxpayer-funded grants to Soros-backed, soft-on-crime NGOs.

00:01:41.460 And in particular, here's what the report said.

00:01:45.400 Under the Biden-Harris administration, the Vera Institute was awarded millions of taxpayer dollars to prop up left-wing district attorneys, who would then partner with the Vera Institute to implement Soros-backed progressive policies.

00:01:58.840 These policies included prioritizing violent criminals over victims and declining to fully prosecute felony charges, including assault, kidnapping, rape, and murder.

00:02:08.180 And here's some of the key findings from the report.

00:02:12.400 In New York, New York County DA Alvin Bragg partnered with the Vera Institute and declined to prosecute certain misdemeanor felonies, actively working to downgrade felony charges to misdemeanors, and refused to detain criminals before their trials.

00:02:27.480 Meanwhile, Bragg attempted to prosecute President Donald Trump for federal campaign finance violations.

00:02:32.800 In the year 2025, there were over 48,000 individuals arrested for misdemeanors in New York County.

00:02:43.500 Wow.

00:02:44.340 But only 3,000 of them were detained.

00:02:46.840 48,000 arrested, 3,000 detained.

00:02:49.660 In Georgia, Athens DA Deborah Gonzalez partnered with the Vera Institute and pledged to protect illegal immigrant defendants and release criminals on bonds that did not require the posting of money.

00:03:04.880 In Wisconsin, Milwaukee DA John Chisholm partnered with the Vera Institute to implement progressive soft-on-crime policies and reportedly told the Milwaukee Sentinel Journey,

00:03:13.920 Quote, Is there going to be an individual I divert, or who I put into a treatment program, who's going to go out and kill somebody?

00:03:22.220 You bet.

00:03:23.660 That is the Soros DA bragging he's going to release criminals who murder people.

00:03:29.480 And in 2020, the Milwaukee DA's office released a criminal twice before he ultimately drove an SUV through a Christmas parade, killing six and injuring 62 others.

00:03:42.720 This pattern is happening over and over and over again.

00:03:46.480 What is amazing is the Democrats are not learning.

00:03:50.840 They're not saying, gosh, maybe we should stop siding with the criminals.

00:03:54.000 Instead, they're doubling down.

00:03:55.960 They're doubling down.

00:03:57.160 And you see these stories that pop up.

00:03:59.180 And there was one dad that went before Congress to testify about his daughter.

00:04:04.880 And just how many times the man that killed his daughter, that took his daughter's life, had been arrested and released.

00:04:11.740 And if you didn't hear that, people should go listen to it, because I think it's really important.

00:04:16.940 But we're seeing this happen where criminals are being caught and released dozens of times, like dozens of times, Senator.

00:04:24.600 And they're just like, yeah, so what?

00:04:26.320 They go out and then they kill somebody. 0.78

00:04:27.700 Like, OK, maybe we should, I guess, lock that guy up. 0.97

00:04:29.900 My bad. 0.50

00:04:30.580 It's insane.

00:04:32.420 Well, and here was a portion of the hearing this week.

00:04:34.540 Give a listen.

00:04:34.960 Prosecute violent criminals.

00:04:39.120 Innocent victims die right here in Washington, D.C.

00:04:43.280 In 2012, murders in D.C.

00:04:45.640 totaled fewer than 100.

00:04:48.000 By 2023, murders had nearly tripled.

00:04:52.740 274 lives taken in a single year.

00:04:55.620 These are the real world consequences of Democrat crime policies that let murderers go.

00:05:02.140 And the policy, to be clear, Senator, is a simple one.

00:05:06.300 DAs were instructed when they took money, basically, from Soros.

00:05:10.080 They're bought and paid for by Soros.

00:05:12.140 And what they were instructed to do was to have prison reform and bail reform.

00:05:17.180 They wanted people out of the prisons.

00:05:18.760 They didn't want people to go to prisons.

00:05:20.340 They didn't want people to be held in prison because of bail.

00:05:22.860 And so that is part of what they're advocating for here.

00:05:25.920 It's comprehensive, and it's at every stage.

00:05:30.080 It's a left-wing agenda that wants to, number one, abolish the police, wants to defund the police.

00:05:34.500 And by the way, that's not just empty rhetoric.

00:05:36.660 If you look at jurisdictions across the country, in Minneapolis, they slashed funding for the police department.

00:05:42.620 In New York City, the NYPD, they cut over a billion dollars from the NYPD's budget.

00:05:47.740 In Austin, Texas, our home state, $150 million cut from the police department.

00:05:54.420 So that's one way they do it, is they attack the police directly to wanting to either abolish or defund the police.

00:06:00.060 But secondly, they go after DAs.

00:06:01.800 And George Soros has spent tens of millions of dollars funding DA campaigns for radicals who've gotten elected in many major cities across the country.

00:06:12.100 And when they get in, they refuse to prosecute violent criminals.

00:06:15.640 They downgrade felonies to misdemeanors.

00:06:17.820 They abolish cash bail.

00:06:19.460 So they catch a murderer, they let them go.

00:06:21.120 They catch a violent criminal, they let them go.

00:06:23.640 Here's another portion from the hearing.

00:06:26.580 You know, it's clear from this hearing the Democrat talking points have come out.

00:06:30.280 Both Senator Padilla and Senator Booker spent a great deal of time talking about, quote, red states.

00:06:36.220 There's a reason they were talking about red states because, unfortunately, most red states have blue cities.

00:06:41.880 And that's where the crime is.

00:06:43.120 If you want to look at, in 2023, the large cities with the most homicides per 100,000 people, number one was New Orleans, Louisiana.

00:06:51.880 Number two was Memphis, Tennessee.

00:06:53.440 Number three was St. Louis City.

00:06:54.820 Number four was Baltimore City.

00:06:56.560 Number five was Washington, D.C.

00:06:59.960 Democrat crime policies kill people.

00:07:04.580 Soros DAs who let murderers out of jail kill people. 0.98

00:07:08.420 So when you look at this being exposed, the way that you guys are doing it, what is going to be the mechanism that can obviously help stop this from happening?

00:07:18.880 And how can Congress use that leverage?

00:07:21.820 Well, there are lots of things we can do.

00:07:23.460 One is what President Trump has done, which is he sent the National Guard to Washington, D.C.

00:07:27.640 And the result of that is the crime rates have plummeted.

00:07:31.280 The murder rates have dropped 58 percent.

00:07:34.380 Now, you would think rational people, if Democrats were rational people, they'd be celebrating, wow, the murder rate has plummeted.

00:07:42.040 That means people are alive because the National Guard is there stopping murders.

00:07:46.380 But they're not.

00:07:47.400 They're furious.

00:07:48.480 And I'll tell you, in the wake of George Floyd dying, the D.C.

00:07:54.320 City Council passed a soft-on-crime package of legislation that lessened the penalty for violent crime across the board,

00:08:02.180 that tied the police hands and made it much, much harder to prosecute crime.

00:08:07.060 And the result was crime rose dramatically.

00:08:10.040 Carjacking and violent crime rose dramatically.

00:08:12.500 I've introduced legislation in the Senate called the Clean D.C. Act.

00:08:16.180 The Clean D.C. Act reverses those 2022 laws.

00:08:20.120 It reinstates tougher penalties on violent crimes, and it allows the police to actually go after the violent criminals.

00:08:27.080 At the hearing, the head of the D.C. Police Union testified,

00:08:30.900 and he explicitly asked the Senate to pass my legislation, pass the Clean D.C. Act.

00:08:37.420 Give a listen to the head of the D.C. Police Officers Union.

00:08:40.760 That is why we also support the Clean D.C. Act.

00:08:45.300 It begins the process of undoing harmful legislation, restoring balance, and rebuilding MPD's strength.

00:08:50.800 This is not just a D.C. issue.

00:08:52.680 Other cities that embrace the same policies are now facing the same consequences.

00:08:56.880 The lesson is clear.

00:08:58.180 When leaders attack police, communities suffer.

00:09:01.240 When lawmakers strip away tools and protections, criminals thrive.

00:09:04.760 If this is not corrected, the crisis will deepen here and nationwide.

00:09:09.420 I urge Congress to act, support the Clean D.C. Act, roll back failed legislation, and work with law enforcement instead of against us.

00:09:17.280 Officers want nothing more than to protect their communities, but they cannot do it alone.

00:09:21.100 Again, I thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I welcome any questions the committee may have.

00:09:26.040 Thank you.

00:09:26.920 One of the things, Senator, I like about where you guys are going with this is that this is not going to be a short-term thing.

00:09:33.520 This is actual reform you are advocating for to make sure that these cities don't go back to these liberal policies where innocent people are dying every single day.

00:09:42.440 No, that's exactly right, and the first obligation, the first obligation the president, the commander-in-chief has, is to protect this nation, to keep us safe.

00:09:52.080 The first obligation really every elected official should put front and center is protecting the health and safety of the men and women you're elected to represent.

00:10:00.400 And, you know, it is striking, just like we talked about a minute ago with the shutdown, where the Democrats are engaged in gaslighting.

00:10:08.800 You heard in the segment I was talking about what both Cory Booker and Alex Padilla said in that hearing, where they both had talking points almost exactly the same, where they said,

00:10:18.340 well, you know, there are bad crime stats in a bunch of red states, and they went through a bunch of red states, and they're right. 0.99

00:10:24.600 There are red states where the crime stats are problematic.

00:10:27.460 My response, which they have no refutation to, is that is entirely driven by the blue cities in those red states that are governed by left-wing Democrat mayors and left-wing Democrat DAs who refuse to prosecute violent crime.

00:10:42.080 And so, yes, look, Memphis, Tennessee was number two on the list.

00:10:45.840 Now, Tennessee is a red state, but, you know, God help you if you live in Memphis when you have local officials who will not prosecute the bad guys.

00:10:54.020 And that's true in Baltimore, that's true in New Orleans, that's true in Washington, D.C.

00:10:59.040 And rather than address it and admit it and fix it, the Democrats are trying to distract people by engaging in dishonest rhetoric.

00:11:07.900 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.

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00:11:44.320 Now, on to story number two.

00:11:48.380 Is this going to be a really long-term shutdown or is this going to be something that's going to get resolved pretty quickly?

00:11:53.280 So, let's talk about you in Washington last week.

00:11:55.980 There were votes and movement, but it did not move enough to make the government go back to actually working for the American people.

00:12:04.360 When you left D.C., what was the temperature?

00:12:07.260 And you said now Democrats, you feel like, are actually freaking out.

00:12:10.180 Yeah, look, I and every other Republican has voted repeatedly to open up the government.

00:12:16.060 The House of Representatives has passed a clean CR, a clean continuing resolution that keeps the government open.

00:12:22.420 And it's the Democrats who keep voting it down.

00:12:24.960 And we're going to this week.

00:12:26.560 We're going to be back in.

00:12:27.800 We'll be in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, maybe Friday.

00:12:30.400 Every day we will vote to open the government.

00:12:34.520 Right now, if the Democrats don't change, every day the Democrats will vote to keep the government shut down.

00:12:40.600 And the challenge is they don't have an off ramp.

00:12:44.580 They're trying to make up all sorts of things to say we're going to shut the government down because of X, because of Y.

00:12:52.280 They're claiming it's all about that they really, really, really want to give health care to illegal aliens.

00:12:58.860 Actually, ironically, they're not claiming that.

00:13:01.240 That's in the language of the bill they keep voting for.

00:13:04.020 So every Democrat keeps voting for a bill that would provide government provided health care for illegals. 0.72

00:13:10.740 And then they're going on TV saying, what?

00:13:13.060 Us?

00:13:13.520 No, no, no.

00:13:13.880 We don't want health care for illegals. 1.00

00:13:15.340 Who's ever heard of such a thing?

00:13:16.560 That's not possibly what we want.

00:13:18.880 So there's a level of incoherence in terms of what their ask is.

00:13:22.860 But there's a reason for that.

00:13:24.480 They don't actually have a real ask.

00:13:26.380 What they have is a political problem for Chuck Schumer.

00:13:30.200 When he last kept the government open, he came very close to losing his job.

00:13:34.920 The radical left wing rose up.

00:13:36.740 They were furious.

00:13:38.280 I got to say, Ben, it is astonishing.

00:13:41.400 Every single Democrat Senate candidate in the country who has been asked, do you support Chuck Schumer to remain the Democrat leader in the Senate?

00:13:49.940 Not one, not a single incumbent, not a single challenger has said, yep, he's our leader.

00:13:56.380 They're all running terrified.

00:13:58.500 So you want to know why there's a shutdown?

00:14:00.360 Because Schumer needs to beat his chest.

00:14:02.320 Now, at some point, he'll stop beating his chest and the government will reopen.

00:14:06.320 But just this week, CBS did a poll.

00:14:11.100 And I got to say, the Democrats' numbers are near an all-time low.

00:14:18.200 The Democrats' favorability rating is at 34 percent, 66 percent unfavorable.

00:14:25.560 And it really is striking.

00:14:27.680 So CBS, now this is not a right-wing poll.

00:14:29.800 This is CBS.

00:14:31.860 CBS asked, what words describe the Democrat Party?

00:14:38.020 What do you think the number one word was?

00:14:40.680 I'm going to guess it wasn't like inspirational, like hope and change back in the day when Obama was around.

00:14:46.720 Weak.

00:14:47.400 There you go. 0.94

00:14:48.500 Weak.

00:14:50.420 Weak was 64 percent of Americans bold said the Democrat Party is weak.

00:14:56.020 What do you think the number two word was?

00:14:58.200 I'm going to go with not strong.

00:15:01.740 Extreme.

00:15:03.560 46 percent said extreme.

00:15:06.360 So weak and extreme are the top two words.

00:15:09.500 Now, after that, you've got reasonable.

00:15:11.820 Reasonable is at 44 percent.

00:15:14.560 Strong.

00:15:15.260 You actually asked about strong.

00:15:16.580 What percent do you think say the Democrat Party is strong?

00:15:19.860 I mean, if I had to guess, I'd say 35 percent.

00:15:23.420 27.

00:15:24.380 Wow.

00:15:24.820 So even lower than I thought, because 35 was not like a good number, by the way.

00:15:28.840 And by the way, effective.

00:15:30.880 What percent do you think say the Democrat Party is effective?

00:15:34.740 I'm going to say, based on what you just said a moment ago, 25 percent?

00:15:39.480 26.

00:15:40.420 There you go.

00:15:40.960 Okay, good.

00:15:41.300 So, all right.

00:15:42.660 Think for a minute.

00:15:44.200 You are running the Democrat Party Senate campaign, the Democrat Party House campaign.

00:15:50.740 Your message right now, two-thirds of Americans think we're weak.

00:15:56.040 Half of Americans think we're extreme.

00:15:58.640 We've got a full quarter of Americans who think we're strong and effective.

00:16:02.060 So we're telling you quarter of Americans, we are strong and effective. 0.99

00:16:05.760 Everyone else, you know, we're full of crap. 0.99

00:16:08.400 That is the definition of a political crisis. 0.99

00:16:11.000 You want to know why my colleagues are nervous?

00:16:13.980 Look, this past week, I sent out a meme.

00:16:18.500 So you may have seen, in fact, I know you've seen, Ben, President Trump sent out a meme

00:16:23.360 of Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero with a big handlebar mustache.

00:16:28.680 By the way, so good and hilarious and just funny, and people need to calm down.

00:16:33.500 But, of course, Democrats start screaming racism right away. 0.99

00:16:36.660 Look, it was funny as crap. 1.00

00:16:37.940 It was AI. 0.99

00:16:39.320 So it had Chuck Schumer saying, all right, nobody's voting for Democrats because they

00:16:44.120 know our BS.

00:16:45.000 And we would have actually played the meme.

00:16:47.300 But the AI curses a number of times.

00:16:49.700 And this is a family-friendly podcast.

00:16:51.260 So we're not going to play the curse words here.

00:16:53.340 But I have to admit, I doubled over laughing.

00:16:57.200 And look, it's obviously AI. 1.00

00:16:58.740 Nobody thinks that Schumer actually said, we, the Democrats, are full of crap. 0.99

00:17:05.280 Like, it's obvious they're lying. 0.99

00:17:07.360 But what people have gone nuts about is Hakeem Jeffries is there.

00:17:12.280 They're saying, OK, nobody votes for us.

00:17:15.660 Everyone hates us.

00:17:16.700 So we've decided to go all in on free health care, free illegals, because maybe the illegals, 0.99

00:17:21.620 they don't speak English.

00:17:22.340 So maybe they'll support us at least for a while till they discover how horrible we are.

00:17:26.400 And then they won't support us either.

00:17:28.160 That's a paraphrase of what Schumer says in the video.

00:17:30.440 And you have Hakeem Jeffries and a sombrero and a big mustachio next to him.

00:17:35.720 And I have to admit, my team, we took a video.

00:17:40.760 There are 44 Democrats who keep voting to shut the government down.

00:17:44.160 So we took pictures of all 44 of those Democrat senators.

00:17:48.180 And we used a little bit of AI.

00:17:50.300 And we stuck sombreros and big old mustaches on them.

00:17:53.720 And we put it out.

00:17:55.120 And we put it out.

00:17:56.640 Actually, I want to play the tune.

00:17:58.400 And we're not going to play the whole thing.

00:17:59.600 But I want to play the tune that we put it out to, because it's very neutral and nonpolitical.

00:18:06.520 Give a listen to the song that we put out.

00:18:09.820 And mind you, while you're listening to this song, you have a cascade of 44 Democrat senators

00:18:15.220 with sombreros and big handlebar mustaches.

00:18:18.480 Give a listen.

00:18:18.920 And we'll see you next time.

00:18:48.920 I got to say, you know that Donald Trump loves this kind of stuff.

00:19:15.440 I cannot wait to see what he says to you when you guys hang out next.

00:19:21.400 Oh, look, it's hysterical.

00:19:22.860 And you got to envision, if you haven't watched it online, while the song is playing, we've

00:19:28.040 just got image after image of Democrats.

00:19:31.280 So we have Chris Van Hollen sitting down with the MS-13 member having a daiquiri with a giant

00:19:37.180 sombrero and a handlebar mustache.

00:19:38.580 We just have fun with it.

00:19:42.260 By the way, I will say the Macarena.

00:19:44.460 So as you know, my communications director is named Macarena Martinez.

00:19:48.220 She's fantastic.

00:19:49.140 Really, really good.

00:19:50.580 But I was talking to like several of the young staffers in my office.

00:19:54.060 And I said, you know, there's only one member of our staff who has been the title of a number

00:20:00.700 one song worldwide.

00:20:02.780 And like the 22-year-olds in my office had no idea what I was talking about.

00:20:07.000 Isn't that amazing?

00:20:07.820 Like they never heard of the Macarena.

00:20:09.600 You're aging us right now.

00:20:10.700 So yeah, like it's for all of us.

00:20:15.240 So this pod has a lot of younger listeners.

00:20:17.420 There was a song, what, 20 years ago?

00:20:20.060 25?

00:20:20.360 A long time ago.

00:20:21.220 Yeah, longer than that, maybe.

00:20:22.640 Yeah.

00:20:23.080 That was the Macarena.

00:20:24.160 And there was a dance.

00:20:25.740 I will say, if you've never seen it, there's an image you don't want to see of Hillary Clinton

00:20:30.820 dancing the Macarena.

00:20:32.780 It is amazing.

00:20:33.700 Listen, it will make you feel like the gif of Homer Simpson wanting to pour bleach in

00:20:40.880 your eyes.

00:20:41.340 You do not want to see Hillary. 0.77

00:20:42.860 Trust me, do not Google Hillary Clinton dancing the Macarena.

00:20:46.900 You will never be the same.

00:20:48.220 Was that at the Democratic convention?

00:20:50.640 I'm having a flashback right now.

00:20:52.340 Yeah.

00:20:53.200 Yeah.

00:20:53.460 Yeah, I don't remember which year it was, but it was at one of them.

00:20:56.360 And it just completely backfired.

00:20:58.920 It was horrible.

00:20:59.960 Now, I will tell you, when I sent out this video of all the Democrats, Tim Kaine, Democrat

00:21:04.800 from Virginia, who Tim and I are friends, but he like popped me back on Twitter.

00:21:09.600 He's like, hey, did you buy those sombreros in Cancun?

00:21:13.060 Which I immediately responded, yes, I did.

00:21:16.420 And by the way, Tim, instead of making dumb jokes about Cancun, how about we reopen the 0.97

00:21:22.260 government since half of your friggin' state, Virginia, works for the government and you've 0.98

00:21:26.960 taken away all their paychecks. 0.97

00:21:28.320 And he didn't like that.

00:21:29.340 So I will say, on the Senate floor, I was giving Tim a little bit of grief for that.

00:21:34.360 And he was kind of, he was like, do you like my Cancun joke?

00:21:36.900 And I'm like, yeah, but I'd like it better if you open the government.

00:21:41.400 If you open the government.

00:21:42.080 So, all right, look into your crystal ball.

00:21:44.880 Based on what it was, what D.C. was like and the mood when you left, going back in there

00:21:50.080 on Monday, do you think that we will get the government reopened this week?

00:21:54.800 Or do you think that Schumer's going to still dig in?

00:21:57.660 No, I think they caved this week.

00:21:59.880 And I want to play for you.

00:22:01.440 So last week, Schumer was on the Senate floor.

00:22:04.380 And I want to paint the picture.

00:22:05.780 He's giving a speech for one of the multiple times the Democrats are voting to shut the

00:22:09.360 government down.

00:22:09.900 And they know the polling is going terribly.

00:22:14.360 And so Schumer got up and in his line, he said, well, OK, there are polls that Republicans

00:22:21.400 are talking about, but those are biased Republican polls.

00:22:25.740 And he says, well, it's the New York Times, but it's biased.

00:22:28.260 And I got to say, I was standing 10 feet away from Schumer and I and every other Republican

00:22:33.940 just cracked up laughing because he's like claiming the New York Times is a biased right

00:22:39.280 wing publication.

00:22:40.060 And it was spontaneous.

00:22:41.620 We did not organize this.

00:22:42.900 We just like doubled over laughing.

00:22:45.020 And Schumer, he stammered.

00:22:48.040 He stopped.

00:22:48.800 He's like, well, I mean, it was look, who knew Schumer could be so funny?

00:22:55.400 I want you to play the video is better, but I want you to play the audio of Schumer saying

00:23:00.480 this and the spontaneous reaction appeals of laughter on the Senate floor.

00:23:05.360 Now, I know the leader is going to show a poll that says that Democrats will be blamed

00:23:10.820 for the shutdown.

00:23:12.140 There are many more polls that show Republicans are blamed.

00:23:15.300 The question in that poll is biased, biased in the New York Times, but it's biased.

00:23:20.940 If you turn the question, that's true.

00:23:28.080 I don't always believe the New York Times.

00:23:30.240 You can be sure of that.

00:23:31.880 Neither do you.

00:23:33.240 OK, no.

00:23:34.620 It's amazing, by the way, like you hear him there.

00:23:36.800 It's kind of like he realized he stepped in it.

00:23:39.620 And even as he was thrown off, he really was like I'm steady.

00:23:45.300 10 feet from him.

00:23:46.740 And all of us, we like, OK, the microphone on the Senate floor when you're speaking, you

00:23:51.700 have a little microphone on your lapel.

00:23:53.920 Nobody else is mic'd.

00:23:55.960 That gives you a sense of how loud the laughter was, that that's all coming through Schumer's

00:24:01.240 mic.

00:24:01.620 And we were just doubled over laughing.

00:24:04.940 And you watch his expression.

00:24:06.660 He's like, oh, oh, oh, wait. 1.00

00:24:08.440 OK, OK, that's really dumb. 1.00

00:24:09.900 Oh, crap. 1.00

00:24:11.160 Yeah. 0.99

00:24:11.720 OK.

00:24:12.060 The New York Times is a right wing bias publication.

00:24:14.480 Yeah.

00:24:14.580 Maybe that's not like this is why my prediction is the shutdown will end this week, because

00:24:20.920 I think the Democrats, as much as Schumer feels he's in trouble with the left wing, I think

00:24:25.780 a lot of the Democrats say we're on fire.

00:24:29.540 We don't have a win.

00:24:32.880 This is not going well.

00:24:34.980 There's a combination of two things.

00:24:36.700 One, an awful lot of Americans, the government is shut down and they don't care.

00:24:40.020 It doesn't impact their lives.

00:24:41.540 That is the nightmare for any big government Democrat is if the government shuts down and

00:24:46.180 nobody notices.

00:24:47.680 And look, during government shutdown, 83 percent of the government keeps functioning.

00:24:51.300 So the military functions, law enforcement functions, the FBI functions, the Border Patrol

00:24:56.120 functions, ICE functions, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, all of that function.

00:25:02.420 The benefits continue.

00:25:04.680 And so it is a nightmare.

00:25:07.580 If your entire political career is built on telling the American people the most important

00:25:14.180 thing in your life is the federal government.

00:25:16.020 If the government shuts down and everyone yawns and goes about their life, that's a disaster.

00:25:22.040 But a second disaster is to the extent people are focused.

00:25:25.540 So listen, if you're going to D.C. this week and you wanted to go to the Smithsonian and go

00:25:30.320 see the Air and Space Museum, you can't because the Democrats shut down the Smithsonian.

00:25:35.300 They shut down Yellowstone National Park and all the national parks.

00:25:39.840 And so people are going to get pissed off gradually over time.

00:25:42.860 But I think the vast majority of people are blaming the Democrats, saying, why are they

00:25:47.020 shutting this down?

00:25:48.380 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go

00:25:53.060 back and download the podcast from early this week to hear the entire thing.

00:25:57.480 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected 1.00

00:26:02.060 leaders and the world around them.

00:26:03.840 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:26:07.640 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:26:08.740 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:26:09.700 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists,

00:26:15.080 athletes, politicians and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:26:19.480 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:26:22.700 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:26:28.560 I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.

00:26:32.600 I want to move to another topic that we mentioned earlier, and that is there is a lot of quiet

00:26:39.100 outrage for people that have been paying attention to the Brett Kavanaugh assassination scandal.

00:26:46.340 You have a, quote, transgender man who planned to assassinate Brett Kavanaugh, only receiving 0.87

00:26:55.620 eight years for that crime.

00:26:58.680 There are a lot of people that are upset and angry about it.

00:27:01.800 I'm one of them.

00:27:02.880 I think you are as well.

00:27:04.980 And somehow, I guess, being transgender now has allows for you to have less accountability 1.00

00:27:09.960 for your actions.

00:27:11.780 Explain this one.

00:27:13.600 Yeah, I have to admit, this story makes me incredibly angry.

00:27:18.060 When I saw it, I read the news story this week.

00:27:20.660 I was literally yelling out loud as I was reading my phone.

00:27:24.000 Heidi and I and our daughter Caroline, we were in New York this weekend.

00:27:28.460 I was with a half dozen NYPD cops, and I got to admit, I vented to the cops who were all

00:27:35.120 pissed about this.

00:27:36.400 So the man who planned to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on 2022, he flew from

00:27:44.060 California to Maryland.

00:27:46.120 He arrived there.

00:27:47.440 He had with him, he had a knife, he had a gun, he had duct tape, he had zip ties, and

00:27:56.940 he had planned to murder not just Brett Kavanaugh, but a total of three Supreme Court justices. 0.78

00:28:01.220 He was deranged.

00:28:02.540 And he was caught on the street right outside Justice Kavanaugh's home.

00:28:06.440 And by the way, he was also threatening Justice Kavanaugh's wife and their two daughters.

00:28:11.720 Well, this guy was prosecuted, quite rightly, and the Department of Justice asked for 30

00:28:17.580 years, which is a pretty reasonable sentence for someone trying to kill a Supreme Court

00:28:22.140 justice.

00:28:23.200 Well, this left-wing judge, her name is Deborah Boardman. 0.96

00:28:26.420 She's a Joe Biden appointee to the Maryland Federal Court.

00:28:30.640 She made a 22-year downward departure.

00:28:35.160 So instead of 30 years, she sentenced him to eight years.

00:28:38.960 And her reasoning was essentially, instead of 30 years, you get eight.

00:28:45.680 Why?

00:28:46.060 Because you're transgender. 0.99

00:28:48.080 Here's what Judge Boardman said, quote, under the law, I must consider the sentencing guidelines.

00:28:53.040 The guidelines in this case are 360 months to life.

00:28:57.320 It's important to understand the Supreme Court's stance on guidelines.

00:29:00.300 They used to be mandatory, but in a case called Booker, the Supreme Court held they were advisory.

00:29:04.800 The judge acknowledged that, quote, this case did involve domestic terrorism, but she undid

00:29:12.020 most of the terrorism enhancement created by the sentencing commission and said, quote,

00:29:18.200 I have not seen evidence that the sentencing commission relied on evidence that it would

00:29:22.760 reduce recidivism.

00:29:24.040 The sentencing took more than seven hours, and she discussed at length her justification

00:29:31.300 for the light sentence.

00:29:32.500 Here's what she said.

00:29:34.560 Ms. Roski, of course, she calls the man a woman because she's a leftist. 0.99

00:29:38.780 Ms. Roski came out to herself, to herself, like this is a private, like just in the quiet

00:29:43.800 of night, I've decided I'm a woman.

00:29:46.780 Ms. Roski came out to herself as transgender in 2020, but kept it a secret.

00:29:51.660 Ms. Roski's sister came out as gay two years prior, but Ms. Roski saw their parents struggle

00:29:58.300 to recognize her sexuality with their religious beliefs.

00:30:02.200 By the way, it is not subtle or implied the judge thinks religious beliefs on this are horrible

00:30:08.440 and terrible, and you are bad if you have religious beliefs concerning sexuality.

00:30:13.700 The judge continues, quote, 0.85

00:30:15.420 So, you have someone attempting to murder a sitting Supreme Court justice, and the federal

00:30:35.220 district judge who's sentencing the attempted murderer says, I'm heartened.

00:30:39.560 The great thing about this is, the parents are now accepting of their psychopathic murderous

00:30:45.420 son that thinks he's a daughter.

00:30:48.480 The mother of the murderer told the judge on Friday that, quote,

00:30:53.040 I have attended PFLAG meetings and learned about the LGBTQ plus community.

00:31:08.000 I am committed to going on this journey with Sophie, by which she means her son, Nicholas.

00:31:14.380 She was frustrated with what was going on in the world, and we weren't a safe place to process

00:31:23.840 it.

00:31:25.000 And by the way, the Daily Wire in their story, the next sentence says,

00:31:28.740 As his mother wept, Nicholas Roski also choked up, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

00:31:36.200 Now, here's what the judge continues saying, quote,

00:31:42.600 Any prison time is punishment for her. 1.00

00:31:46.280 The length doesn't need to be particularly long.

00:31:50.460 Unduly harsh conditions make a difference, too.

00:31:54.300 She will be imprisoned in a male facility, even though she is a transgender prisoner pursuant 1.00

00:32:01.600 to an executive order from the president.

00:32:03.720 Before the executive order, that wasn't the case.

00:32:07.540 In other words, this judge really wanted to send this dude to a woman's prison, 1.00

00:32:11.840 where after attempting to murder a sitting Supreme Court justice,

00:32:15.100 he could assault women who were incarcerated. 0.73

00:32:20.280 This is, I want to be clear, this is lunacy. 0.97

00:32:25.180 This is nuts.

00:32:26.760 I have to admit, I literally yelled and cursed out loud.

00:32:30.560 Listen, number one, Brett Kavanaugh is a friend.

00:32:33.900 I've literally known Brett Kavanaugh for 30 years.

00:32:36.100 His wife, Ashley.

00:32:37.880 Heidi and I were with Ashley on the 2000 George W. Bush campaign.

00:32:42.520 She's a West Texas girl. 1.00

00:32:44.000 She's a wonderful woman.

00:32:45.560 They have two daughters who went through an utter nightmare going through his confirmation hearing.

00:32:51.120 Night after night after night, the Kavanaugh House, along with the House of every Supreme Court justice,

00:32:58.440 had angry, violent left-wing protesters out front screaming, violating federal law.

00:33:03.300 It is a crime to protest at the home of a justice seeking to change the decision of an opinion.

00:33:10.960 And yet, the Biden Justice Department refused to enforce that law.

00:33:14.780 They would not prosecute those felonies.

00:33:16.860 And the heated rhetoric, look, this is very much like what we're seeing with ICE,

00:33:22.220 where Democrat rhetoric gets the lunatics in their party energized to go commit crimes of violence.

00:33:30.020 I want to be clear.

00:33:32.280 Violence is never, ever, ever justified.

00:33:34.840 So I'm not advocating violence against any Democrat.

00:33:37.180 I'm not advocating violence against any left-wing judges or justices.

00:33:42.880 Violence is wrong.

00:33:44.220 And by the way, when it comes to politically motivated violence,

00:33:48.640 it is almost exclusively a left-wing phenomenon.

00:33:52.360 Look, when George Floyd died, we saw riots in American cities on fire being burned to the ground.

00:33:58.540 We saw police cars being firebombed.

00:34:00.340 We saw people being murdered.

00:34:01.820 When Charlie Kirk was murdered, we saw prayer vigils across the country as people went out and lit candles

00:34:09.740 and prayed and sang together.

00:34:11.340 And we did see violence, but not from the people supporting Charlie Kirk.

00:34:15.680 Instead, from the same left-wing violent activists who were attacking the people in prayer vigils.

00:34:23.180 There is a difference.

00:34:24.800 And I have to say, this judge, this judge has demonstrated she is utterly unfit to be a federal judge. 0.94

00:34:35.320 I think the House of Representatives should seriously contemplate impeaching this judge.

00:34:42.440 And I don't go to impeachment lightly.

00:34:43.440 And by the way, how hard is that and how often does that happen for what you're describing right now?

00:34:47.400 Because everybody listening is going to be like, hold on a second.

00:34:49.300 If this is the case, then why don't we do it?

00:34:51.860 Does it happen?

00:34:52.840 How many votes do you need to do it?

00:34:54.180 How does that work?

00:34:57.420 Yeah, it's happened a number of times.

00:34:59.400 There have been multiple federal judges who have been impeached and removed from office.

00:35:03.240 Typically, they are impeached after committing a crime, something like committing, accepting bribes.

00:35:09.680 So Alcee Hastings, for example, was a federal judge who was convicted of accepting bribes as a judge.

00:35:16.460 He was removed from office.

00:35:17.880 And then he turned around and ran for Congress as a Democrat and got elected as a congressman.

00:35:23.280 So he was a Democrat congressman who had been impeached and removed from office for being a federal judge taking bribes.

00:35:29.820 So that I'm going to let you draw all the inferences you want.

00:35:33.800 Those facts are objective.

00:35:35.580 It is not easy to impeach a judge.

00:35:37.580 Although under the Constitution, to impeach a judge, it takes a majority vote in the House of Representatives.

00:35:44.160 And I actually think in this instance, a judge who thinks someone trying to murder a Supreme Court justice

00:35:50.660 because he disagrees with a decision the Supreme Court justice is rendering,

00:35:56.560 that is a fundamental assault on our judicial system, on the rule of law, on the basic protection of rights all of us have.

00:36:04.340 And if you are such a zealot, such a partisan ideologue, that you will not follow the sentencing guidelines,

00:36:12.660 you will not acknowledge this is terrorism, and instead you say,

00:36:16.860 you know what, this person's transgender, and my ideology is such that I love transgenders,

00:36:22.720 and so instead of 30 years, I'm going to give this person eight years.

00:36:26.420 And by the way, I really think this man should be in a woman's prison, but that mean, mean president won't let me do that. 0.96

00:36:33.680 I believe, and I don't know this woman at all, I don't know this judge,

00:36:36.780 but just how she conducted herself in this proceeding, to me, demonstrates she is completely unfit to be a federal judge. 0.68

00:36:45.140 I would urge the House of Representatives to take up impeachment, and I would love to have a trial in the Senate.

00:36:52.420 Do we want judges who refuse to enforce the criminal law for psychopathic murderers who are trying to murder Supreme Court justices?

00:37:00.260 I think the obvious answer is no.

00:37:02.180 Let me say, it's also on brand with the American people.

00:37:03.560 I can tell you this, no Democrat wants to defend the other side.

00:37:06.100 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:37:11.960 Don't forget to download my podcast, and you can listen to my podcast every other day if you're not listening to Verdict,

00:37:16.580 or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.

00:37:19.000 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast,

00:37:22.500 and we will see you back here on Monday morning.

00:37:25.140 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:37:27.920 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - October 11, 2025

Blue City Crime Chaos, it's a Schumer Shutdown & Leftist Judicial Bias at its Best Week In Review

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