Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 18, 2025


Bonus Pod： Biden's New Autopen Scandal, Houthi Crackdown in the Middle East & JFK Files Released

Topics
JFK files released
Hosted by
Ted Cruz
Mentioned
Donald Trump Joe Biden Hunter Biden Ben Ferguson Robert F. Kennedy Caroline Levitt Caitlin Collins Houthis Martin Luther King Jr. John F. Kennedy Nancy Pelosi
Elon Musk： 1-on-1 Exclusive at the White House-DOGE, AI, Trump, Mars & Killer Robots (Part 1) BONUS SHOW： Daily Review with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton - Mar 18 2025

Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

153.96

Word count

1,967

Sentence count

127

Harmful content

Toxicity

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

6

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Trump declares Biden's pardons are void, vacant, and of no further force or effect due to the fact that they were signed by an auto-pin. Also, President Trump says the JFK files will be released today.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.800 Well, we have done that with many.
00:00:08.060 So you have 18 Secret Service.
00:00:10.160 I would say if there are 18 with Hunter Biden,
00:00:13.440 that will be something I'll look at this afternoon.
00:00:15.820 Okay?
00:00:16.260 I just heard about it for the first time.
00:00:18.420 So he's in South Africa.
00:00:20.100 That's very interesting.
00:00:21.680 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:00:25.440 Good Tuesday morning.
00:00:26.400 Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:27.480 And welcome to the 47 Morning Update.
00:00:29.400 We've got three major stories for you.
00:00:31.600 And first up, does the auto pin count with Joe Biden's name
00:00:35.920 if he didn't actually even know that it was being used?
00:00:39.600 That is a question that Donald Trump has asked about the pardons
00:00:43.480 that he gave to many on his days when he was going out of office.
00:00:47.360 And we have reason to believe that many of those pardons
00:00:50.160 were not signed by the president's actual signature,
00:00:53.320 but instead by the auto pin.
00:00:55.540 Also, Donald Trump spent quite a few hours from last week to this week
00:01:00.920 going after terrorists all over the Middle East.
00:01:03.940 So what all did he accomplish?
00:01:05.660 We'll explain that as well.
00:01:07.180 And finally, President Trump says that the JFK files will be released today.
00:01:12.960 How many pages?
00:01:14.200 I'll give that to you in a minute.
00:01:15.640 It's the 47 Morning Update, and it starts right now.
00:01:18.860 Story number one.
00:01:19.980 Donald Trump has made it very clear,
00:01:22.440 declaring that Biden's pardons of January 6th committee members
00:01:26.580 are void, vacant, due to the auto pin apparently being used.
00:01:32.800 This all started in a conversation on Marine One
00:01:36.720 when a reporter asked a very simple question of the president
00:01:40.320 about that auto pin.
00:01:42.320 Listen.
00:01:42.600 I would say that they're null and war, 0.98
00:01:44.420 because I'm sure Biden didn't have any idea that it was taking place.
00:01:48.780 And somebody was using an auto pin to sign off
00:01:51.420 and to give pardons to, as an example,
00:01:55.680 just one example, but the J6 unselected committee,
00:02:00.200 they gave, think of it, they gave pardons with an auto pin.
00:02:03.940 I don't think Biden knew anything about it.
00:02:06.380 And what they did is they deleted and destroyed
00:02:09.020 all of the information that took them over a year to get.
00:02:12.780 And the reason they did that is because
00:02:14.680 the information was very incriminating about them.
00:02:19.540 Like Nancy Pelosi was determined conclusively
00:02:22.580 that she knew about 10,000 soldiers and turned it down.
00:02:26.380 And if we used 500 soldiers, you would have had no problem,
00:02:29.580 let alone 10,000.
00:02:30.720 And the young lady that said that I grabbed 0.64
00:02:34.900 these powerful young Secret Service agents by the neck.
00:02:39.700 Okay.
00:02:40.320 You know, that was a big hoax.
00:02:41.840 It was a lie.
00:02:42.780 And she admitted it.
00:02:44.800 And they deleted everything.
00:02:47.140 So, you know, what they did is criminal.
00:02:49.240 Now, that wasn't all that the president had to say on this.
00:02:52.080 He then put out a true social post that said, quote,
00:02:54.800 The pardons that sleepy Joe Biden gave the unselect committee of political thugs
00:03:00.920 and many others are hereby declared void, vacant,
00:03:04.740 and of no further force or effect
00:03:07.400 because of the fact that they were done by auto pin.
00:03:10.540 In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them.
00:03:13.040 But more importantly, he did not know anything about them.
00:03:16.100 The necessary parting documents were not explained to or approved by Biden.
00:03:21.280 He knew nothing about them.
00:03:22.660 And the people that did may have committed a crime.
00:03:26.320 Therefore, those on the unselect committee
00:03:28.840 who destroyed and deleted all evidence obtained during their two-year witch hunt of me
00:03:34.700 and many other innocent people should fully understand
00:03:37.980 that they are subject to investigation at the highest level.
00:03:42.260 The president went on to say this, quote,
00:03:44.700 The fact is they were probably responsible for the documents that were signed on their behalf
00:03:50.080 without the knowledge or consent of the worst president in the history of our country,
00:03:55.300 crooked Joe Biden.
00:03:57.320 Now, on Monday, during a White House press briefing,
00:04:00.300 the White House press secretary, Caroline Leavitt,
00:04:02.480 responded to a question from CNN's Caitlin Collins regarding Trump's post on Sunday night
00:04:07.780 in which he declared the pardons are void, vacant,
00:04:10.880 and of no further force or effect because of the fact that they were done by the auto pin.
00:04:15.720 Caroline Leavitt said Trump was begging the question that I think a lot of journalists
00:04:20.820 in this room should be asking about whether or not the former president of the United States,
00:04:27.180 who I think we can all finally agree, was cognitively impaired, quote unquote.
00:04:33.320 The president was begging the question that I think a lot of journalists in this room
00:04:37.540 should be asking about whether or not the former president of the United States,
00:04:41.620 who I think we can all finally agree, was cognitively impaired.
00:04:44.960 I know it took people some time to finally admit that, but we all know that to be true, as evidenced by his disastrous debate performance against President Trump during the campaign.
00:04:54.760 I digress on that. But the president was raising the point that did the president even know about these pardons?
00:05:01.640 Was his legal signature used without his consent or knowledge?
00:05:06.460 And that's not just the president or me raising those questions, Caitlin.
00:05:09.860 And according to the New York Post, there are Biden officials from the previous White House who raised those questions and wondered if the president was even consulted about his legally binding signature being signed onto documents.
00:05:22.020 And so I think it's a question that everybody in this room should be looking into, because certainly that would propose perhaps criminal or illegal behavior if staff members were signing the president of the United States autograph without criminal or legal procedures.
00:05:38.760 It's very clear now this is going to be an issue the courts are going to have to deal with.
00:05:43.020 And one that Donald Trump is happily raising the question, was there illegal activity with people signing Joe Biden's name without his knowledge or his consent?
00:05:54.220 Next, story number two.
00:05:55.480 One of Donald Trump's promises from the campaign trail was to go after terrorists all over the world, peace through strength, making sure that we strike first on those that are trying to do harm to Americans, our soldiers and American interests around the world.
00:06:10.720 Well, over the past week, Donald Trump has intensified his counterterrorism efforts, both domestically and internationally.
00:06:20.420 Here is a quick summary of just some of the things that the president has done.
00:06:24.860 Airstrikes have been ordered.
00:06:26.960 Starting on March the 15th, President Trump authorized large-scale airstrikes targeting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen's capital.
00:06:35.880 This action was in response to the Houthis' threat to U.S. shipping assets in the Red Sea.
00:06:41.580 The offensive aims to protect American interests and ensure navigational freedom in the region.
00:06:47.560 Donald Trump putting it this way in his own words on True Social.
00:06:51.320 Today, I ordered the United States military to launch decisive and powerful military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
00:07:00.800 They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American and other ships, aircraft, and drones.
00:07:11.300 Joe Biden's response was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going. 1.00
00:07:17.840 It has been over a year since a U.S. flag commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden. 0.84
00:07:29.360 The last American warship to go through the Red Sea four months ago was attacked by the terrorist group over a dozen times, funded by Iran. 0.60
00:07:39.620 The Houthi thugs have fired missiles at U.S. aircraft and targeted our troops and allies.
00:07:47.480 These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and the world economy many billions of dollars, while at the same time putting innocent lives at risk.
00:07:58.660 The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated.
00:08:02.260 We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective.
00:08:06.480 The Houthis have choked off shipping in one of the most important waterways of the world, grinding vast swaths of global commerce to a halt and attacking the core principle of freedom and navigation upon which international trade and commerce depends. 0.98
00:08:23.500 Our brave warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorist bases, their leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore navigational freedom.
00:08:37.500 No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the waterways of the world.
00:08:44.260 To all the Houthi terrorists, your time is up, and your attacks must stop, starting today. 0.99
00:08:51.420 If they don't, hell will rain down upon you like nothing you've ever seen before. 0.62
00:08:57.060 President Trump went on to say to Iran, support for the Houthi terrorists must end immediately.
00:09:03.200 Do not threaten the American people, their president, who has received one of the largest mandates in presidential history, or worldwide shipping lanes.
00:09:12.560 If you do, beware, because America will hold you fully accountable, and we won't be nice about it.
00:09:19.160 That is the president's clear message to the terrorists right now in the Middle East.
00:09:24.360 Now, this message comes less than 24 hours after Trump also announced Friday night that the U.S. forces had killed the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq.
00:09:34.000 The White House even released the footage of the airstrike on social media, making it clear that President Trump will go and terminate any terrorist leader anywhere he has to, to keep Americans safe.
00:09:46.380 And here is story number three.
00:09:48.740 Transparency with our government is a core foundation of Donald Trump's second term in office.
00:09:54.940 And that was one of his big promises from the campaign trail.
00:09:59.360 Even the biggest secrets that we've never been able to actually know what really happened.
00:10:04.900 One of those secrets deals with the JFK assassination.
00:10:08.660 Well, President Trump has announced that his administration will release today approximately 80,000 pages of previously classified documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
00:10:23.460 This is a major move towards transparency, so that the American people, well, hopefully will have more trust in our federal government.
00:10:33.340 We are tomorrow announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files.
00:10:43.020 So people have been waiting for decades for this.
00:10:46.500 And I've instructed my people that are responsible.
00:10:52.640 Lots of different people put together by Tulsi Gabbard.
00:10:57.880 And that's going to be released tomorrow.
00:11:01.060 Now, the decision to declassify these documents fulfills that promise.
00:11:05.460 It is to provide greater transparency, the White House says, regarding the events surrounding Kennedy's assassination in 1963.
00:11:12.460 During a visit to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., President Trump stated, I don't believe we are going to redact anything.
00:11:20.560 Just don't redact.
00:11:22.280 You can't redact.
00:11:23.520 It's going to be very interesting, quote unquote.
00:11:26.300 Now, in addition to the JFK files, the executive order signed by President Trump in January also mandates the release of records pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
00:11:41.780 The National Archives and Records Administration has been tasked with processing and digitizing these records for public access.
00:11:50.740 Prior to the release, by the way, over 99 percent of the approximately 320,000 documents related to the JFK assassination had already been made public, but fewer than 4,700 files withheld in part or in full.
00:12:10.220 In other words, anything they didn't want you to read, you didn't see.
00:12:13.980 Well, Donald Trump now says get ready to sit down and start reading all of the information of the 80,000 pages, and you will be seeing that today.
00:12:24.780 Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:12:28.900 Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now.
00:12:33.840 And for more in-depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast, and we will see you back here tomorrow.
00:12:42.840 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:12:45.720 Guaranteed human.