Verdict with Ted Cruz - BONUS POD： Comer Wrapping Up Biden Autopen Investigation plus Defense Secretary in Puerto Rico

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.540 Guaranteed Human.

00:00:06.020 America has always been a nation that believes in the power of prayer.

00:00:09.860 And we will never apologize for our faith.

00:00:12.680 Ever, ever, never, never.

00:00:14.540 We will never surrender our God-given rights.

00:00:17.380 We will defend our liberties, our values, our sovereignty.

00:00:20.740 And we will defend our freedom.

00:00:23.100 And with the help of amazing faith communities across the land,

00:00:26.280 so many are represented with us today.

00:00:28.220 We will truly make this the golden age of America.

00:00:32.640 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.

00:00:36.360 Good Tuesday morning.

00:00:37.360 So nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update.

00:00:39.860 And we've got two major stories for you coming out of the White House that you need to know about.

00:00:43.560 First up, it's a smoking gun.

00:00:45.680 We're now finding out a lot more because of the investigation into the Biden administration

00:00:50.300 about what was actually going on in the final days,

00:00:53.800 when the auto pen was, well, catching on fire.

00:00:56.720 And apparently the president knew nothing about it.

00:00:59.500 How do we know this?

00:01:00.760 There were people raising concerns within the Biden administration.

00:01:05.340 So just how bad did it get?

00:01:07.100 We'll have all that for you as well.

00:01:09.480 Also, the man in charge of the Pentagon, Pete Hedgeseth,

00:01:13.100 visits Puerto Rico without telling people in advance.

00:01:17.200 Why?

00:01:17.900 Well, apparently it's connected to fighting the drug cartels

00:01:21.300 that have now been declared as terrorist organizations.

00:01:24.580 So what does this mean next?

00:01:26.080 We'll have that story for you in a moment.

00:01:28.340 But first, I want to talk to you about my friends over at Patriot Mobile.

00:01:31.860 You've got a lot of choices for cell phone service,

00:01:34.880 with new ones popping up all the time.

00:01:37.560 But if you want to make a difference,

00:01:39.240 and you want to stop giving your money to liberal companies,

00:01:42.500 well, one way you can do that is by getting rid of liberal mobile you probably have right now.

00:01:48.340 That is where hundreds of thousands of Americans are now coming together

00:01:52.060 and have made Patriot Mobile what they are today.

00:01:54.560 They've been in service now for 13 years.

00:01:58.300 And right now is the best time ever to switch because it's never been easier.

00:02:03.160 Now, before I tell you about that, I want you to know why switching is so important.

00:02:07.900 Because every time you make a call, every time you send a text,

00:02:10.800 and every time that you pay your bill, you're actually standing up for the values you believe in.

00:02:15.180 Your First and your Second Amendment rights, the rights of unborn children.

00:02:19.320 And you stand with our military, our veterans, our wounded warriors, and our fallen soldier families.

00:02:24.520 Because Patriot Mobile takes about 5% of your bill every month at no extra cost to you.

00:02:30.380 And they give it back to these organizations that fight for our values.

00:02:34.540 Now, let's talk about switching.

00:02:36.340 It has never been easier.

00:02:37.600 You can keep your same number, keep your same phone, or upgrade.

00:02:41.460 Patriot Mobile's got a 100% U.S.-based customer service team.

00:02:44.700 And literally, they can now, with technology, get you activated in minutes from the comfort of your home or your office.

00:02:51.680 If you're stuck in a contract or owe money on your phones, no worries.

00:02:55.460 Patriot Mobile has a contract buyout program.

00:02:57.980 And this is how we win, folks.

00:02:59.980 By aligning our spending with our values, every dollar we spend matters.

00:03:05.120 Now, let me also give you a free month of service.

00:03:07.440 Go to PatriotMobile.com slash Ferguson.

00:03:11.340 That's PatriotMobile.com slash Ferguson.

00:03:15.600 Or you can call them 972-PATRIOT.

00:03:19.100 Use the promo code FERGUSON, and you're going to get one month free service by switching today.

00:03:25.080 So again, PatriotMobile.com slash Ferguson.

00:03:27.700 Use the promo code FERGUSON.

00:03:29.240 You'll get a free month of service today.

00:03:31.440 PatriotMobile.com slash Ferguson or 972-PATRIOT.

00:03:35.220 It's the 47 Morning Update, and it starts right now.

00:03:38.880 Story number one.

00:03:39.960 House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said his panel is now wrapping up its investigation

00:03:46.200 to President Joe Biden's use of the auto pen after a new report revealed major concerns

00:03:53.400 that were raised within the former Biden administration itself.

00:03:58.840 The new records reveal that President Biden's own administration at the highest levels closest

00:04:05.320 to the president raised significant concerns about not only the auto pen use, but especially

00:04:12.280 for it to grant thousands of pardons.

00:04:15.940 This is a historic scandal with massive repercussions, is what James Comer said in response to the newest

00:04:23.880 report.

00:04:24.540 Quote, as President Joe Biden declined, his aides carried out executive actions without

00:04:30.780 his approval, casting even more doubt on the legitimacy of thousands of pardons and also

00:04:37.700 other executive actions.

00:04:40.240 Comer added, the House Oversight Committee is in the final stages of its investigation, and

00:04:45.620 he said there must be accountability for this scandal.

00:04:49.380 President Trump has also weighed in on this newest breaking news, saying, quote, the Biden

00:04:55.580 auto pen scandal is big.

00:04:57.660 Not as big as the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax or the rigged 2020 presidential election, but

00:05:03.200 nevertheless, one of the biggest ever.

00:05:05.780 Now, don't worry.

00:05:06.960 The left is pushing back.

00:05:08.620 In fact, a former White House Biden staffer said the pardon process, well, it was totally

00:05:14.540 fine, saying, quote, Republicans like to talk about Biden whenever news hits that they don't

00:05:19.820 want to talk about.

00:05:20.960 Today, they don't want to talk about, what is it, the worst job gained since 2020.

00:05:26.720 Instead, they want to talk about Biden because Trump, he says, is responsible for the latest

00:05:31.460 numbers.

00:05:32.420 Now, let's go back to what the reality of the situation is.

00:05:36.620 I want you to hear from Mark Smith.

00:05:38.380 He's a constitutional attorney on Fox News Channel.

00:05:40.800 And here's what he had to say about the developments, especially when it comes to Biden and top aides

00:05:46.000 saying they rarely saw or even talked to the president while giving out thousands of pardons.

00:05:51.320 Let's bring in constitutional attorney Mark Smith.

00:05:53.820 Mark, thank you so much for being here.

00:05:56.320 This story just keeps on going and going.

00:05:59.000 Let's bring up this snippet from this Axios report that says that there were people within

00:06:03.520 the Biden administration who had major concerns about this.

00:06:06.960 An email from Biden's chief of staff, Jeff Zients, at 1031 p.m.

00:06:12.040 the night of January 19th, less than 14 hours before Biden was to leave office, confirmed

00:06:17.100 the use of the presidential auto pen for those pardons.

00:06:20.520 I approve the use of the auto pen for the execution of all of the following pardons.

00:06:24.860 Thanks, Jay-Z.

00:06:26.080 That was an email from Biden's chief of staff.

00:06:29.520 What do you make of this latest Axios report, Mark?

00:06:32.680 Brian, I think the big picture here is this is very good news politically and legally for

00:06:37.780 President Donald Trump.

00:06:38.900 As you know, there are a series of these Supreme Court cases over the power of the president

00:06:43.940 to control Article 2, the executive branch.

00:06:46.700 And historically, in the last several decades, Brian, as you know, the deep state, these unelected

00:06:50.640 bureaucrats have been running amok, controlling the executive branch and running the government

00:06:54.720 in many respects.

00:06:55.980 And this is just a more recent example and a very good example to highlight the problems with

00:07:00.960 unelected people, but will run the auto pen or run the White House and so on.

00:07:05.420 And I think all this is going to be very good in terms of atmospherics to helping Donald

00:07:09.080 Trump continue to win these cases before the Supreme Court, because the one thing Donald

00:07:12.500 Trump is doing very, very well is reminding people that as the president of the United

00:07:16.860 States, all of the executive powers in Article 2 of the Constitution is vested in him

00:07:22.660 as the president, the one person that's elected by all the people voted on by all

00:07:27.180 Americans.

00:07:27.680 And I think this is very helpful in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, which is why Donald

00:07:31.420 Trump keeps winning for the Supreme Court these questions of executive power and his

00:07:35.260 authority.

00:07:35.960 Well, atmospherics and politics aside, what about legally by the law?

00:07:39.560 Is there any sense here that these more historic, a record number, 4,250 pardons and

00:07:46.460 clemencies that were signed with this auto pen, do they get thrown out the door?

00:07:50.400 Well, at a very high level, certainly a president is allowed to use an auto pen or an electronic

00:07:56.820 signature.

00:07:57.320 I mean, people use electronic signatures to sign contracts every day in American life,

00:08:01.700 and that is legally fine.

00:08:03.360 But this all assumes, Brian, that the person who is doing this, is signing off on this,

00:08:09.180 has actually approved the use of, in this case, the auto pen.

00:08:12.320 And that really gets into, did Joe Biden actually approve these pardons using the auto pen or not?

00:08:17.980 And I think the only way to know whether or not this is true would be if somebody comes forward

00:08:22.160 from the Biden administration says, you know what, he really didn't know what was going on.

00:08:25.760 These were being, these pardons were being issued with an auto pen by people that lack the authority

00:08:30.580 from the president to do so.

00:08:32.040 And it's going to be very difficult to get those inside facts, I suspect, but the oversight

00:08:35.740 committee is certainly working on trying to get to the bottom of this.

00:08:38.500 But the question is, did Joe Biden as president really authorize these or not?

00:08:42.440 That's the factual question that's key.

00:08:44.400 There is a very good chance this is going to work its way all the way to the Supreme Court.

00:08:47.820 And you heard him mention there that the president keeps having big victories at the Supreme Court.

00:08:53.380 That is true.

00:08:54.480 I'll give you a breaking news update on that.

00:08:56.800 The Supreme Court has allowed ICE agents, we're now being told, to keep arresting illegal aliens

00:09:02.800 in the sanctuary city of Los Angeles.

00:09:06.320 So whether it's on the auto pen or on this issue of arresting illegal immigrants in L.A.,

00:09:11.320 the Supreme Court keeps backing the president of the United States of America.

00:09:15.600 And they granted the request from President Donald Trump's administration to override a

00:09:20.440 lower court's ruling from an activist judge that barred immigration and customs enforcement

00:09:25.700 known as ICE agents from carrying out federal immigration enforcement operations under the

00:09:31.600 claim that such raids could constitute racial profiling.

00:09:36.080 So what did the court say?

00:09:37.340 No, we're not buying it, California.

00:09:39.720 And they can still do their job to keep Americans safe.

00:09:43.820 Now, story number two.

00:09:44.880 Pete Edseth, he is the defense secretary.

00:09:48.140 He has arrived in Puerto Rico amid the U.S.-Venezuela tensions that are continuing to rise.

00:09:54.500 This is an important visit because it was unannounced.

00:09:58.660 And not only was the U.S. defense secretary there, but the Joint Chiefs Chairman, General Cain,

00:10:03.940 also was on the trip.

00:10:06.020 It was an unannounced visit, an unplanned visit for the public to Puerto Rico,

00:10:10.220 as the U.S. has ramped up military activities in the Caribbean aimed at drug trafficking networks.

00:10:16.520 They met officials at the 156th Wing Air National Guard base.

00:10:21.980 Edseth addressed roughly 300 service members while he was there.

00:10:25.820 And the question you may be asking yourself is this.

00:10:28.320 Why now?

00:10:29.000 Well, it's pretty simple.

00:10:31.260 The trip follows a September the 2nd U.S. military strike in the Southern Caribbean

00:10:35.640 that sank a vessel departing Venezuela,

00:10:38.360 with U.S. officials saying 11 suspected members of the Trandaigra cartel,

00:10:43.080 they are also a terrorist organization, were all killed.

00:10:45.840 Some regional leaders backed the action.

00:10:48.340 Others urged more transparency.

00:10:50.820 Venezuela also denied the U.S. allegations and criticized the operation.

00:10:55.420 And that's exactly what should be expected.

00:10:57.420 So now the question is, why is the Pentagon weighing Puerto Rico as a hub?

00:11:02.700 Or is this more about expanding counter-narcotics operations altogether?

00:11:07.620 Now, we also know that plans include deploying 10 F-35 fighter jets to the island

00:11:12.660 and conducting military flights out of Puerto Rico.

00:11:15.600 An unusually large cluster of U.S. warships, about eight,

00:11:19.200 is already operating in the region as well.

00:11:21.760 Marines are also on the island.

00:11:23.640 Seven elements of the 22nd Marine Unit are in Puerto Rico for amphibious and flight training,

00:11:30.080 we've been told.

00:11:31.120 Puerto Rico's governor estimated 1,000 Marines on the island,

00:11:34.860 and the Guard says the training was pre-planned and, quote,

00:11:38.160 not tied to the new maritime force.

00:11:41.680 CBS News had it this way on the unplanned visit and what it could mean.

00:11:46.200 Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Cain

00:11:49.800 arrived in Puerto Rico this morning as tension continues to build between the United States

00:11:54.640 and Venezuela.

00:11:55.740 They were welcomed there by Puerto Rico governor, Jennifer Gonzalez, who said on, in part on X,

00:12:01.080 we thank President Trump and his administration for recognizing the strategic value Puerto Rico

00:12:06.480 has to the national security of the United States and the fight against drug cartels in our hemisphere,

00:12:11.880 perpetuated by narco-dictator Nicolas Maduro.

00:12:14.740 For more on this, I want to bring in John Burns.

00:12:16.580 He is the strategic director for Concerned Veterans for America

00:12:19.940 after serving more than 22 years in the Marine Corps and the Army National Guard.

00:12:24.820 Thank you very much for joining us.

00:12:26.720 What does this arrival here of Hegseth and Cain to Puerto Rico signal to you?

00:12:31.400 Well, thank you, Nancy, for having me on.

00:12:32.640 I think there's a lot of signals there.

00:12:34.060 One of the key takeaways for me, aside from just the situation with Venezuela

00:12:37.540 and the drug situation in the Caribbean,

00:12:39.020 is the national defense strategy, which is a little overdue,

00:12:41.980 is said to be released within the next seven to ten days.

00:12:44.760 And early reporting indicates that there's a large pivot towards defense of the American hemisphere

00:12:49.420 and away from being heavily engaged in other parts of the world, Europe.

00:12:54.320 I think there's probably still going to be an emphasis to a degree on the Indo-Pacific,

00:12:57.880 maybe not as much as we thought.

00:12:59.440 But this is the key role that our Department of Defense, Department of War should be playing.

00:13:04.340 Our primary interest is securing our hemisphere and our homeland.

00:13:08.140 John, of course, this arrival, this trip comes with the backdrop of the United States

00:13:12.220 deploying eight warships and fighter jets into that area,

00:13:15.360 in addition to amassing troops off Puerto Rico.

00:13:18.040 If this is a war on drugs, what kind of guardrails, if any,

00:13:21.680 exist for the president to send troops into Venezuela?

00:13:24.640 Well, the president has said that he doesn't want to see

00:13:26.920 or that he's not considering this a regime change mission,

00:13:29.200 which I think was very, very encouraging.

00:13:30.680 That's right.

00:13:31.140 As much as the media tries to lie to you and tell you that the president's going for regime change,

00:13:35.900 that is not what this is about at all.

00:13:38.080 This is all about fighting narco-terrorism. 0.97

00:13:40.560 And yes, they are terrorists that are killing Americans.

00:13:43.160 So you may ask yourself this question. 0.97

00:13:45.360 Why Puerto Rico?

00:13:46.540 Why would you choose this for this counter-cartel operation?

00:13:50.300 Well, it's pretty simple.

00:13:51.840 Geography.

00:13:52.580 Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands sit inside the Caribbean transit zone,

00:13:57.820 historically a gateway for cocaine, fentanyl, and other drugs,

00:14:01.400 headed to the mainland USA.

00:14:03.140 That strategic position, plus U.S. sovereignty, eases the basing,

00:14:08.240 the logistics, and also the prosecutions of those that are caught alive.

00:14:13.320 And then you just have access and response times from a military standpoint.

00:14:18.180 From Puerto Rico, aircraft and ships can quickly reach the Mona Passage,

00:14:23.400 the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico Corridor, and the sea lanes north of Venezuela,

00:14:28.280 improving time to intercept for go-fast boats and motherships.

00:14:33.220 This builds on the intricacies and the model that has been used by the Coast Guard there for years as well.

00:14:39.560 What is this all really about?

00:14:41.560 It's about sending a clear message that the president is going on offense,

00:14:45.380 that the literal war on cartels has just begun.

00:14:49.860 And this is part of where Puerto Rico also comes in.

00:14:53.940 You have additional air and maritime assets in Puerto Rico.

00:14:57.880 This will help with surveillance and interaction coverage over the choke points

00:15:02.440 where traffickers are most vulnerable at sea.

00:15:05.220 The Coast Guard's layered approach, as it was described by the White House,

00:15:08.960 will have large cutters, aircraft, and partner forces,

00:15:13.200 and all the benefits of the DOD platforms and their increased presence combined.

00:15:18.340 So, it's pretty simple.

00:15:20.240 President of the United States of America is saying,

00:15:22.780 we are going all in.

00:15:24.480 And we're going to do this with all of the technology and the forces that America has.

00:15:29.460 Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.

00:15:33.560 Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now.

00:15:38.820 And for more in-depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast,

00:15:43.280 and we will see you back here tomorrow.

00:15:45.080 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:15:49.540 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - September 09, 2025

BONUS POD： Comer Wrapping Up Biden Autopen Investigation plus Defense Secretary in Puerto Rico

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript