Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 05, 2026


BONUS POD： Dems Scream DISMANTLE DHS dispite Iranian Terror Concerns plus FBI Follow the Antifa Funding Streams

Topics
FBI Antifa funding investigation FBI funding streams and Antifa investigation
Hosted by
Ted Cruz
Mentioned
Kash Patel Donald Trump Ilhan Omar Ben Ferguson Dan Bongino Ted Lasso Joe Biden Scrubs Antifa Scott Besson Prairie Land Barack Obama JD Vance Pam Bondi Tim Walz
Defending the Victims of Child Sex Abuse — Trey's Law Going National What's the Objective in Iran？ plus New DHS Secretary & Big Texas Primaries

Episode Stats


Length

19 minutes

Words per minute

156.28

Word count

3,010

Sentence count

226

Harmful content

Misogyny

5

sentences flagged

Toxicity

9

sentences flagged


Summary

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

On today's show: Democrats are not just looking to get rid of ICE, but now they're saying they want to dismantle the entire Department of Homeland Security. Also, the FBI Director says the FBI has uncovered Antifa's funding sources and some of the money may be coming from overseas.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
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.
00:00:02.660 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.420 ABC Wednesdays.
00:00:06.860 The Emmy-winning comedy Scrubs is all new.
00:00:09.200 This is a whole new chapter for me.
00:00:10.760 No more sad sack.
00:00:12.100 That's what I'm talking about.
00:00:13.420 I want both of our sacks to be fun. 1.00
00:00:15.500 You two idiots are perfect for each other. 1.00
00:00:17.180 From executive producers of Ted Lasso and Shrinking. 1.00
00:00:19.760 We were all a part of this victory.
00:00:21.720 Now get those nachos out of the preemie warmer. 1.00
00:00:25.300 Nachos!
00:00:26.040 Feels like there's more applause for the nachos than my speech.
00:00:28.520 The new season of Scrubs.
00:00:30.400 Wednesdays, 8, 7 central on ABC and stream on Hulu.
00:00:35.940 Under the Biden administration, the government paid sponsors in HHS in order to host these children.
00:00:42.660 And those sponsors, many times, we found instances where they trafficked these children themselves.
00:00:47.820 So under that administration, we not only had children that were in this country as a part of a program,
00:00:53.440 the government was paying individuals that were knowingly trafficking them and abusing them.
00:00:57.560 That has stopped.
00:00:59.140 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:01:03.160 Good Thursday morning.
00:01:03.940 Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update.
00:01:06.560 And we've got two big stories for you.
00:01:08.680 First up, Democrats are not just looking to get rid of ICE,
00:01:12.400 but now they're saying they want to dismantle the entire Department of Homeland Security.
00:01:17.780 What would that look like?
00:01:19.200 And what is the White House saying in response?
00:01:21.360 We have all that for you in a moment.
00:01:22.900 Also, in a big report, the FBI Director, Kash Patel, is now saying the FBI has uncovered Antifa's funding sources
00:01:34.220 and some of the money may be coming from overseas.
00:01:38.560 That as well.
00:01:40.020 But before we get to that, I want to take a moment and ask you to help the people in Israel
00:01:44.720 with my friends at the IFCJ working right now on the ground for all those in need.
00:01:50.600 As Operation Epic Fury intensifies, the world braces for what comes next
00:01:56.180 and people of faith pray for freedom and for God's people to be protected.
00:02:01.500 In the Holy Land, red alert sirens fill the air.
00:02:05.600 Sirens that give you 15 seconds to reach the nearest bomb shelter.
00:02:10.060 The situation is serious and the threat is real.
00:02:13.580 In times like this, freedom and faith aren't just abstract ideas.
00:02:19.080 They are what we depend on.
00:02:21.560 And the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground,
00:02:25.700 preparing large-scale distributions of life-saving food, first aid,
00:02:30.380 and emergency essentials for security personnel,
00:02:33.300 while helping ensure hospitals, emergency rooms, and shelters are stocked with critical medical supplies.
00:02:39.440 This aid is focused on Israel's most vulnerable, the sick, the elderly, children, and families in great need.
00:02:46.920 But the Fellowship needs your most generous gift today to make this work all possible.
00:02:52.600 Now is your time to stand with Israel's most vulnerable.
00:02:56.140 To rush your gift, call 888-488-IFCJ.
00:03:00.780 That's 888-488-IFCJ.
00:03:04.560 Or give online at ifcj.org.
00:03:08.500 That's ifcj.org.
00:03:10.880 It's the 47 Morning Update, and it starts right now.
00:03:14.420 Story number one.
00:03:15.660 Democrats, we are now learning, are looking not only to dismantle ICE,
00:03:20.120 but also the entire Department of Homeland Security.
00:03:24.360 Remarks now coming from Representative Ilham Omar.
00:03:27.620 Signal that the National Democrats, as a party, are pursuing sweeping changes
00:03:34.280 that extend far beyond their calls to, quote, abolish ICE.
00:03:39.480 During a town hall, Omar said Democrats are not only discussing eliminating immigration and customs enforcement,
00:03:46.500 but are also engaged in conversations about dismantling the Department of Homeland Security altogether.
00:03:52.600 Quote, what I will say is that there is an easier conversation happening today than six, seven years ago,
00:04:01.180 when I got to Congress, about what we need to do with ICE, which is to abolish it,
00:04:06.420 Omar told attendees in Golden Valley, Minnesota.
00:04:10.120 She added, there is a lot of conversation about what the dismantlement of the Department of Homeland Security should look like.
00:04:17.560 Now, Omar's remarks come as Democrats continue to protest federal immigration enforcement operations
00:04:24.380 directed under President Donald Trump.
00:04:27.240 ICE, which was established in 2003 under the DHS,
00:04:31.660 has carried out immigration enforcement actions for more than two decades.
00:04:36.860 Now, Thursday marked the sixth day of a federal shutdown forced by congressional Democrats
00:04:42.900 over their new demands to get rid of ICE or, at the bare minimum, as they describe it, reform it,
00:04:49.280 which actually means shut it down.
00:04:52.020 Now, Democrats are pushing for, they say, a series of major new restrictions on ICE operations.
00:04:59.740 What does that include?
00:05:01.300 Banning agents from wearing face masks and requiring judicial warrants before making any arrests at all.
00:05:09.780 They are also calling for a mandate that ICE agents wear body cameras,
00:05:15.640 something the Trump administration is already moving towards.
00:05:18.820 But, of course, they want to seem like there's fake outrage.
00:05:22.600 In fact, ICE agents have been requesting the body cameras to prove their innocence
00:05:27.660 in many of the accusations that are coming from the radical left.
00:05:31.920 Now, in addition, Democrats are seeking to prohibit immigration enforcement actions
00:05:37.140 at what they describe as sensitive locations, meaning they'll become safe havens for actual criminals.
00:05:44.700 What are these places?
00:05:46.920 Hospitals, schools, and polling sites.
00:05:50.140 Just so you know, with American individuals that have broken laws as an American citizen,
00:05:56.620 you can be arrested right now at a hospital or a school or at a polling site.
00:06:01.380 So why would we give special care to illegal immigrants is the question every American should be asking.
00:06:07.900 Now, one other side point about the insanity of them saying that you can't arrest illegal immigrants at polling sites.
00:06:15.160 Republicans, they're laughing at that, noting that non-citizens, by the way,
00:06:19.120 are literally prohibited from voting in U.S. elections under federal law.
00:06:23.500 So why are Democrats so angry and wanting to demand that our laws would make it impossible
00:06:30.420 for law enforcement to, you guessed it, arrest illegal immigrants at polling sites?
00:06:38.340 Is it because they want them to vote or know that some of them already are voting right now?
00:06:43.320 Now, in recent weeks, several Democratic leaders have strongly condemned ICE operations,
00:06:48.760 including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat who lost the 2024 election to Trump,
00:06:54.900 and Vice President J.D. Vance.
00:06:56.560 He now warned that federal enforcement efforts could expand nationwide.
00:07:01.360 Therefore, we must defund them.
00:07:03.440 He also had this warning to America.
00:07:06.540 Quote,
00:07:07.440 To Americans who are watching this,
00:07:09.820 if you're in Portland or you're in L.A.
00:07:12.240 or you're in Chicago or you're wherever,
00:07:15.840 they're coming next.
00:07:17.220 Now, to be clear,
00:07:19.500 for me, that's a good thing.
00:07:21.360 If we're sending law enforcement to clean up cities that are filled with tons of criminals.
00:07:27.780 Yet again, the Democrats showing whose side they're actually on.
00:07:31.800 Now, Republicans have urged that ICE enforcement actions
00:07:34.960 are not only lawful operations carried out by federal authorities,
00:07:38.520 but they are needed to protect American citizens.
00:07:41.860 And the crime statistics have shown where ICE agents have been out in major enforcement actions.
00:07:48.320 We've seen the crimes drastically drop in those areas.
00:07:52.840 Of course, critics of Democratic proposals say dismantling ICE or DHS more broadly
00:07:57.600 would significantly not only reshape national security of the homeland,
00:08:02.140 but it would allow for criminals to run amok.
00:08:05.020 DHS, by the way, oversees 22 agencies focusing on national security and public safety.
00:08:12.560 Major components include Customs and Border Protection, known as CBP.
00:08:17.520 If you get rid of homeland security, you would get rid of that.
00:08:21.200 You'd also get rid of, obviously, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE agents, and the TSA.
00:08:26.740 So, yes, Democrats want to shut down the same people that keep you safe when flying on airplanes.
00:08:32.460 They also want to get rid of FEMA.
00:08:34.520 That is also, yet again, under the Department of Homeland Security.
00:08:38.620 So, the next time there's a national disaster, guess what?
00:08:41.860 Yeah, no one from the federal government would be there to help you if the Democrats get their way.
00:08:46.200 Oh, and if you're at sea, or you're a drug dealer, or maybe some other country that's looking to do harm,
00:08:52.420 don't worry.
00:08:53.040 Democrats also say, yeah, that includes the U.S. Coast Guard.
00:08:57.000 So, if you're sinking on a boat, tough luck for you.
00:08:59.920 Democrats say no more.
00:09:01.980 And, if you are caring about our president and others around him and other cabinet members,
00:09:08.000 well, you would like the Secret Service protection.
00:09:10.620 If Democrats get their way shutting down the Department of Homeland Security,
00:09:14.500 that would include the Secret Service.
00:09:16.600 And finally, maybe this is what it's really all about for them.
00:09:19.900 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under the USCIS.
00:09:25.280 Yes, you've probably dealt with them if you've ever had to get a passport or other things like that.
00:09:31.000 Well, Democrats also apparently say, meh, let's get rid of that as well.
00:09:35.860 So, to be clear, in the midterm elections, Democrats are saying exactly what they believe.
00:09:41.840 They hate this country.
00:09:43.280 They hate secure borders.
00:09:44.680 They hate law and order.
00:09:45.900 They hate FEMA. 0.50
00:09:47.320 They hate the Coast Guard.
00:09:48.500 They hate the Secret Service.
00:09:50.080 And, they hate the people that help U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services as well.
00:09:54.520 And, they want to abolish all of it just because they don't like ICE actions.
00:10:00.140 This is what the midterms are going to be about.
00:10:02.320 And, thank goodness, Donald Trump has made it clear as he had a campaign rally for the midterms.
00:10:07.760 We must continue to fight back against this anarchy.
00:10:11.800 Now, story number two.
00:10:12.840 Cash Patel, the FBI director, is now coming out and saying that the FBI has uncovered Antifa funding sources in a major breaking news event.
00:10:24.160 Now, let me remind you of where we were about four months ago when Cash Patel was talking at the White House.
00:10:30.900 When Cash Patel was talking at the White House with President Trump and this is what he said.
00:10:36.340 What we are doing at the FBI is simple.
00:10:39.040 It does not require rocket science.
00:10:40.840 We are following the money.
00:10:43.160 Money never lies. 0.97
00:10:44.620 And, that's what it's going to take to bring down this network of organized criminal thugs, gangbangers, and, yes, domestic terrorists. 0.97
00:10:53.020 Because, that's what they are. 0.76
00:10:54.340 They are harming everyday citizens in every single one of our communities.
00:10:58.020 And, the folks you see here on the right and left, they're some of the bravest men and women we have today.
00:11:01.800 They're reporting the stories live time because the mainstream media won't cover it.
00:11:04.980 They're putting their lives on the line.
00:11:07.060 They're standing up for the flag.
00:11:08.300 The least we can do is stand up for them.
00:11:10.440 So, you have my thanks.
00:11:11.840 I read more of your stories than I do theirs because you guys are putting out the truth.
00:11:15.720 And, we deserve a country where you are protected as equally as they are.
00:11:19.520 We, in this FBI, will go after the criminals with a vengeance.
00:11:22.980 We will not rest until we find every single seed, money, donor, organization, and funding mechanism that we have.
00:11:30.860 And, I want to echo the Secretary's comments on Scott Besson, who's allowing us to map out these networks through their financial criminal activities, which has been going on for decades.
00:11:41.340 And, I would like to remind the American public, they built this disease temple of corruption over decades.
00:11:46.740 And, in eight short months, Mr. President, you have crippled their foundation because of your leadership here, because of the interagency, because of people like Deputy Attorney General Blanche, and because of Attorney General Pam Bondi's fearless leadership to go after criminals wherever they are.
00:12:00.420 They will not be able to hide.
00:12:01.720 They were able to hide and conspire with prior administrations, and we are exposing their corruption from within.
00:12:07.780 And, we will go to every single city in this country under Operation Summer Heat and the other operations we are doing at the FBI to bring these criminals to justice.
00:12:15.400 We will arrest every single one of them from whatever perch you sit in, private or public, no matter how your goal or your ambition is.
00:12:22.680 It will be crushed by the Constitution because the American people deserve law and order, and that's what we're going to give you.
00:12:28.580 You listened to Kash Patel there, and he made it very clear, we're going to go after the funders.
00:12:34.280 The FBI will follow the funds to dismantle Antifa operations.
00:12:39.320 So, fast forward just four and a half months later, and the FBI director is saying now that investigators have uncovered what he described as major funding streams tied to Antifa.
00:12:52.020 The revelations signal possible new enforcement actions as the Bureau is intensifying their scrutiny of left-wing violence, according to the report coming out from the Washington Examiner.
00:13:03.960 Kash Patel also, speaking on the Dan Bongino show, said the FBI under President Donald Trump has been conducting a financial investigation into how demonstrations linked to the loosely organized far-left movement are really supported.
00:13:21.200 Here's part of that interview.
00:13:23.160 There's been actual action to take down and dismantle this entire ring of people.
00:13:27.900 You're right.
00:13:28.460 We set out to actually activate intelligence-based operations.
00:13:33.500 This includes Antifa.
00:13:34.660 And, Dan, you know this.
00:13:35.600 How many people were arrested related to Prairie Land?
00:13:38.100 We're over two dozen federal arrests.
00:13:40.640 We're in the middle of federal trial in five of those defendants this week again in Texas.
00:13:45.460 Nineteen people have been convicted for acts of violence related to Antifa.
00:13:50.900 It's in the indictment.
00:13:51.920 You don't got to believe me or you.
00:13:53.520 Everybody can go read the public indictment.
00:13:55.380 And it didn't just happen there.
00:13:56.480 It happened in Cop City in Georgia where we had to go rearrest everybody because the state authorities couldn't get their act together to produce enough information to take that to trial.
00:14:06.440 So we did.
00:14:07.700 And it's not a creation or manufacturing of information.
00:14:12.000 It exists.
00:14:13.260 It's just a willingness that you and I and this building's new leadership took to say we're going to look at the facts that exist.
00:14:19.400 We're not going to try to make up facts that don't so we can serve a political narrative.
00:14:23.820 And wait till you and I know you know this, but wait till you see what's coming in the next month or two on the funding streams related to this.
00:14:31.280 You and I have launched a serious investigation.
00:14:33.880 We had said these organizations don't operate alone.
00:14:36.780 Don't operate in silence.
00:14:38.840 They operate with a heavy, heavy stream of funding.
00:14:42.120 And we started looking into it.
00:14:44.260 And guess what, Dan?
00:14:45.020 We found them.
00:14:46.260 We found them.
00:14:48.200 Now, to be clear, Patel did not identify specific donors, organizations or financial mechanisms, but said more details could emerge in the coming months as the investigation continues.
00:14:59.940 The FBI director said agents are examining whether funding has flowed through U.S.-based nonprofit groups.
00:15:08.420 Let me say that again.
00:15:10.060 Whether funding has flowed through U.S.-based nonprofit groups, meaning some of this money could actually be coming from overseas.
00:15:19.280 There's also some groups that have tax exempt status as well as possible foreign sources.
00:15:26.260 He emphasized that investigators are focused on tracing financial support tied to acts of violence specifically and not constitutionally protected protest activity.
00:15:39.280 Go back to what Cash Patel said.
00:15:41.660 Money doesn't lie.
00:15:43.420 Describing the effort as a strategy to follow the money to determine who may be underwriting unlawful conduct.
00:15:50.640 Patel also pointed to prosecutions the Bureau has already brought that he said were connected to Antifa-related violence, including federal arrests and convictions tied to protest incidents in multiple states now under his leadership.
00:16:08.120 He referenced that ongoing federal trial involving nine defendants in Texas.
00:16:12.860 They're accused of ambushing and attempting to murder ICE personnel on July the 4th of last year.
00:16:19.220 Patel also cited a case from 2023 in Georgia surrounding the proposed Atlanta public safety training facility known as Cop City.
00:16:30.840 The director said the FBI has elevated the issue internally by creating what he described as a dedicated program focused on identifying financial backers of protest-related violence.
00:16:43.700 Tracking Antifa has become so important that the Bureau, he said, established additional resources to investigate the funding behind such activity.
00:16:54.480 Antifa has long been described by participants and many analysts as a decentralized movement rather than a formal organization, a distinction that has complicated past law enforcement efforts.
00:17:08.040 Patel points to Antifa's organizational structures, including conferences and a national network for local chapters.
00:17:22.480 Bongino also criticized past FBI leadership under Democratic President Barack Obama and Joe Biden for describing Antifa as, they said, an idea, quote unquote.
00:17:34.800 It's not an idea when actual action follows the idea.
00:17:40.620 In September of 25, Trump also signed that executive order declaring Antifa a domestic terrorist organization after first raising the idea during his first term.
00:17:52.800 Patel said the FBI's current approach relies solely on intelligence and financial investigations similar to those used in other counterterrorism probes.
00:18:03.560 He did not announce new charges tied specifically to the alleged funding networks.
00:18:09.200 But clearly, there's a lot more of this story coming very soon.
00:18:12.860 And it also goes back to what was said five months ago at the White House.
00:18:16.880 Donald Trump had a clear mandate on this issue.
00:18:20.140 And Kash Patel and Dan Bongino made sure to pay off on that mandate so the American people got exactly what they voted for.
00:18:28.380 Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:18:32.080 Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now.
00:18:37.840 And for more in-depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast.
00:18:42.260 And we will see you back here tomorrow.
00:18:44.020 ABC Wednesdays, the Emmy-winning comedy Scrubs is all new.
00:18:51.000 This is a whole new chapter for me.
00:18:52.580 No more sad sack.
00:18:53.900 That's what I'm talking about.
00:18:55.220 I want both of our sacks to be fun. 1.00
00:18:57.300 You two idiots are perfect for each other. 1.00
00:18:58.960 From executive producers of Ted Lasso and Shrinking. 1.00
00:19:01.540 We were all a part of this victory.
00:19:03.500 Now get those nachos out of the preemie warmer. 1.00
00:19:07.160 Nachos!
00:19:07.820 Feels like there's more applause for the nachos than my speech.
00:19:10.320 The new season of Scrubs, Wednesdays, 8, 7 central on ABC and stream on Hulu.