Verdict with Ted Cruz - January 15, 2026


BONUS POD： Iran Threatens Trump w Assassination plus Doctor can't answer 'Can Men Get Pregnant？'

Topics
Iranian threats and U.S. response
Hosted by
Ted Cruz
Mentioned
Donald Trump Nisha Verma Ben Ferguson Josh Hawley Carlos Jimenez Marco Rubio Moody
Legendary Coach Bruce Pearl One-on-One： Hoops, NIL & Anti-Semitism in America Inside the Room with the Heroic Soldiers Wounded in the Maduro Raid & with Venezuelan Opposition Leader Maria Corina Machado

Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

164.3

Word count

2,693

Sentence count

227

Harmful content

Misogyny

14

sentences flagged

Toxicity

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

14

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Iran is now threatening to kill the President of the United States, so what is the President s response and what is happening on the ground? Also, we had a big day at the Supreme Court yesterday dealing with women and men in sports, especially transgenders trying to take over women s sports.

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 .
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.
00:00:02.400 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.600 We're quickly approaching the end game of President Trump's plan
00:00:09.740 that he put into effect almost immediately when he came into office.
00:00:15.200 We've been applying a maximum pressure campaign on Iran's oil exports
00:00:20.580 to cut off the sources of the regime's funding.
00:00:24.600 The Iranian leadership has been hurting the people. 1.00
00:00:27.380 They have been spreading the money around the globe.
00:00:30.000 For proxy wars.
00:00:31.680 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:00:35.640 Good Thursday morning.
00:00:36.620 Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update.
00:00:39.320 And we've got two major stories for you.
00:00:41.560 First up, President Donald Trump and the issue of Iran.
00:00:45.400 Iran is now threatening to kill the President of the United States of America. 0.82
00:00:49.100 So what is the President's response and what's happening on the ground?
00:00:52.540 And will military action actually happen at the hands of the President and his orders?
00:00:57.500 We'll break that all down for you in a moment.
00:01:00.000 Also, we had a big day at the Supreme Court yesterday dealing with women and men in sports,
00:01:06.820 especially transgenders trying to take over women's sports. 0.87
00:01:10.520 Well, now we had an even bigger day on Capitol Hill. 0.89
00:01:13.520 But this time, the radicals on the left sent doctors who can't even explain if a man can get pregnant.
00:01:21.460 It was truly incredible.
00:01:23.300 And we have the audio you have to hear.
00:01:26.460 But first, I want to tell you about our friends over at Patriot Mobile.
00:01:29.380 Every so often, something happens that reminds us just how fragile our freedoms are.
00:01:34.420 We can't afford to take our rights for granted.
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00:03:18.900 It's the 47 Morning Update, and it starts right now.
00:03:22.420 Story number one.
00:03:23.500 Thousands have been killed in Iran by the Iranian regime.
00:03:28.400 We know that the president and Marco Rubio with the State Department have been ratcheting up the pressure on Iran to stop those killings. 0.97
00:03:36.320 The White House earlier today was very busy, as the president said this from the Oval Office,
00:03:42.480 about the latest of what he's being told is happening on the ground.
00:03:45.840 We've been told that the killing in Iran is stopping.
00:03:50.640 It's stopped.
00:03:51.780 It's stopping.
00:03:53.260 And there's no plan for executions or an execution or execution.
00:03:58.340 So I've been told that a good authority will find out about it.
00:04:01.860 The president wasn't done there.
00:04:03.980 The president is also now putting major pressure on Iran.
00:04:08.120 Donald Trump has canceled meetings with Iranian officials,
00:04:11.260 imposed a 25% tariff on countries doing business with Iran,
00:04:15.300 and suggested that help is on its way for the protesters,
00:04:19.960 a phrase he has used to signal potential diplomatic or even military operations.
00:04:25.980 And the president was also asked about that and said,
00:04:28.920 clearly, military options absolutely remain on the table.
00:04:33.460 The White House also saying they have not ruled out military action,
00:04:37.480 and there have been warnings from U.S. officials that very strong responses would follow
00:04:42.020 if Iranian authorities carried out executions or continued mass killings.
00:04:47.680 Trump's national security team has been reviewing a range we're being told of potential responses,
00:04:52.800 including military airstrikes.
00:04:55.920 Now, military precautions are also part of what we're talking about right now.
00:05:00.560 Some U.S. personnel in the Middle East have been advised to relocate
00:05:04.780 amid concerns about possible retaliation if the U.S. were to take action.
00:05:09.360 Iran has also warned that it would respond to any U.S. strikes.
00:05:14.380 And then there's been the global reaction.
00:05:16.720 Beyond the U.S., European nations have summoned Iranian ambassadors,
00:05:20.780 and a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is pushing for measures
00:05:24.820 such as restoring Internet access in Iran to help the free flow of information,
00:05:30.160 as well as for those on the ground to organize.
00:05:32.940 So, in short, there's a lot happening in Iran,
00:05:35.820 a lot that we don't know about because of the blackout of the Internet and the phones.
00:05:40.260 But one thing is for sure, the president is putting maximum pressure on Iran
00:05:43.900 and is making it clear there's a very good chance military action could be taken against the leadership.
00:05:49.880 Iran's authorities are violently suppressing, we also know, large protests,
00:05:54.760 and that has already led to thousands of deaths and detentions.
00:05:58.900 President Trump in the White House, not only condemning the crackdown,
00:06:02.220 but calling out the rest of the world, saying it is time for them to stand up to Iran as well.
00:06:08.140 The White House also keeping diplomatic and military options on the table.
00:06:12.620 The president clearly working the room in every direction he can.
00:06:17.120 U.S. policy responses remain fluid and under review,
00:06:21.380 as the global pressure is also starting to mount from other countries that are finally getting on board.
00:06:27.340 One thing's for sure, all eyes are on Iran, all eyes are on Tehran, and all eyes are on America as well.
00:06:35.980 There's many reports now coming out of Iran that they believe more than 15,000 victims
00:06:41.420 may have either been killed or abducted by the government.
00:06:46.540 There's also clearly a united front in the U.S.
00:06:49.460 For example, Representative Carlos Jimenez, a Republican from Florida on the House Homeland Security Committee,
00:06:56.320 said this about Congress.
00:06:58.180 It won't be boots on the ground, but, you know, the United States has demonstrated to the people around the world
00:07:04.840 that we can touch you anywhere at any time of our choosing.
00:07:07.900 And when the president is saying that he's going to have their back, I would heed his words.
00:07:13.780 This president, when he makes statements like that, usually follows up.
00:07:17.280 And so when he's saying to the protesters, keep on protesting because you're going to have your back,
00:07:22.680 I believe this president is going to have their back.
00:07:24.680 There's one thing that is for sure.
00:07:27.100 President Trump has the back of the people that are celebrating in the streets in Iran
00:07:31.880 and advocating and fighting for their freedom.
00:07:34.980 There's also another interesting part of this story.
00:07:38.280 Iran has explicitly threatened to murder President Donald Trump in the last 24 hours.
00:07:43.700 Iranian state TV aired threats against Donald Trump, saying this time the bullet won't miss,
00:07:50.880 referring to the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump on the campaign trail.
00:07:56.200 And even with that happening, it's obvious that the president of the United States of America
00:08:00.400 is making sure that this isn't personal, but about national security
00:08:04.480 and about protecting the people who are trying to get their freedom right now in the streets of Iran.
00:08:10.600 Now, story number two.
00:08:11.680 Yesterday in Washington, D.C., there was a fight at the Supreme Court over men in women's sports,
00:08:18.560 boys in girls' sports, and the ACLU could not define what a woman even was in front of the Supreme Court. 0.99
00:08:26.820 Well, on Capitol Hill, there was another debate that will also shock you.
00:08:31.600 There was a hearing in the Senate held under the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee,
00:08:37.960 and it was officially focused on the safety and regulation of abortion pills,
00:08:43.940 including concerns about the use of the medication Mifepristone.
00:08:48.420 Now, this drug has exploded after the fall of Roe v. Wade,
00:08:52.380 and as liberals are trying to do everything they can to put abortions on demand through pills.
00:08:58.120 Republicans on the panel argued for stricter oversight and regulations
00:09:02.300 on how these drugs are prescribed and distributed.
00:09:05.640 Democrats are defending the existing policies
00:09:08.840 and emphasize access, as they describe it, to care or abortion on demand.
00:09:14.140 Now, a moment that drew national shock and attention involved Senator Josh Hawley,
00:09:20.120 and he was questioning an OB-GYN specialist, Dr. Nisha Verma,
00:09:25.280 who was testifying on behalf of physicians for reproductive health.
00:09:30.240 The exchange centered on whether men can get pregnant,
00:09:33.700 a question Republicans pressed to highlight what they described as scientific clarity
00:09:39.200 around biological sex in the context of reproductive health.
00:09:43.620 Dr. Verma declined to answer with a simple yes or no.
00:09:47.960 Instead, there was this exchange.
00:09:50.360 I want you to listen to exactly what the Trump administration is up against,
00:09:55.020 and why it's so important we have leaders like Senator Hawley and others
00:10:00.220 who are willing to ask simple questions but demand answers
00:10:04.540 from the, quote, leaders of the radical left, including doctors.
00:10:09.260 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:10:10.420 Since you bring it up, why don't we start there?
00:10:12.580 Dr. Verma, I wasn't sure I understood your answer to Senator Moody a moment ago.
00:10:16.020 Do you think that men can get pregnant? 1.00
00:10:17.700 I hesitated there because I wasn't sure where the conversation was going or what the goal was.
00:10:22.920 I mean, I do take care of patients with different identities.
00:10:25.680 I take care of many women. 0.78
00:10:27.260 I take care of people with different identities.
00:10:29.440 And so that's where I paused.
00:10:31.120 I think I wasn't sure where you were going with that.
00:10:34.460 Well, the goal is just the truth.
00:10:36.020 So can men get pregnant? 1.00
00:10:37.340 Again, the reason I paused there is I'm not really sure what the goal of the question is.
00:10:41.780 The goal is just to establish a biological reality.
00:10:44.320 You just said a moment ago that science and evidence should control, not politics.
00:10:48.660 So let's just test that proposition.
00:10:50.520 Can men get pregnant? 1.00
00:10:51.260 I take care of people with many identities, but I take care of many women that can get pregnant. 0.57
00:10:57.640 I do take care of people that don't identify as women. 0.75
00:11:01.220 Can men get pregnant? 1.00
00:11:02.840 Again, as I'm saying.
00:11:04.720 Let me just remind you of what you testified to a moment ago.
00:11:07.440 Science and evidence should control, not politics.
00:11:10.360 So can men get pregnant? 1.00
00:11:12.600 You're a doctor, I think.
00:11:13.640 I totally agree.
00:11:13.780 Science and evidence should guide medicine.
00:11:16.820 Do science and evidence tell us that men can get pregnant?
00:11:19.400 Men, biological men, can they get pregnant? 0.99
00:11:21.400 I also think yes, no questions like this are a political tool.
00:11:25.060 No, yes, no questions are about the truth, doctor.
00:11:27.200 Let's not make a mockery of this proceeding.
00:11:29.240 This is about science and evidence.
00:11:31.000 And I'm asking you.
00:11:32.040 You know, the United States Supreme Court just heard arguments yesterday at great length on this question.
00:11:37.500 This is not a hypothetical question.
00:11:39.020 This is not theoretical.
00:11:39.840 It affects real people in their real lives.
00:11:42.840 And you're here as an expert, called by the other side as an expert.
00:11:46.660 And you've been telling us that you follow, right, you're a doctor.
00:11:50.520 And you follow the science and the evidence.
00:11:52.320 So I just want to know, based on the science, can men get pregnant?
00:11:56.580 That's a yes or no question.
00:11:57.880 It really is, I think.
00:11:59.220 I think you're trying to reduce the complexity of a lot.
00:12:02.240 I'm not, I'm trying to get, it's not complex.
00:12:04.720 I'm trying to get to an answer.
00:12:06.240 And I'm trying to test, frankly, your veracity as a medical professional and as a scientist.
00:12:11.900 Can men get pregnant? 1.00
00:12:12.880 I think you're also conflating male to male with.
00:12:16.680 No, I'm not conflating male and female.
00:12:18.420 There are two different things.
00:12:19.620 There's biological men and there's biological women. 1.00
00:12:22.920 And I want to know, can men get pregnant? 0.90
00:12:25.220 What you were talking about is biological.
00:12:27.360 You're not going to answer my question.
00:12:28.880 Biological males. 0.98
00:12:30.880 This isn't hard, doctor.
00:12:32.040 Can men get pregnant? 1.00
00:12:34.700 Yes or no?
00:12:36.500 I would be more than happy to have a conversation with you that is not coming from a place of
00:12:42.300 trying to be polarized and push people.
00:12:45.220 I'm not trying to be polarizing.
00:12:46.540 I'm trying to ask, I think it is extraordinary that we are here and hearing about science and
00:12:52.760 about women.
00:12:53.800 And for the record, it's women who get pregnant, not men.
00:12:56.940 We are here about the safety of women and science that shows.
00:13:02.040 That this abortion drug causes adverse health events in 11% of cases.
00:13:08.960 That's 22 times greater than the FDA label.
00:13:12.300 Another fact you haven't acknowledged.
00:13:13.960 And yet you won't even acknowledge the basic reality that biological men don't get pregnant.
00:13:19.500 There's a difference between biological men and biological women. 1.00
00:13:22.480 I don't know how we can take you seriously and your claims to be a person of science if you won't level with this on this basic issue.
00:13:31.920 I thought we were past all of this, frankly.
00:13:33.880 I can't believe we're still here talking about this.
00:13:37.040 I am a person of science and I'm also someone here who's here to represent the complex experiences of my patients.
00:13:43.960 And I don't think polarized languages, language or questions serve that goal.
00:13:49.300 I don't think they serve the American people.
00:13:51.020 It is not polarizing to say that there is a scientific difference between men and women.
00:13:55.640 And I want this to be clear and for the record.
00:13:57.820 It is not polarizing to say that women are a biological reality and should be treated and protected as such.
00:14:04.300 That is not polarizing.
00:14:05.540 That is truth.
00:14:06.320 It is also, by the way, the United States Constitution, which offers unique protections to women in a variety of circumstances as women.
00:14:14.620 And your refusal to recognize women as women and men as men is deeply corrosive to science, to public trust, and yes, to constitutional protections for women as women.
00:14:26.180 And I think it's extraordinary that you would sit here in advance a political agenda that has been thoroughly discredited and rejected by the American people in this forum.
00:14:36.320 And I'm glad we had this exchange because it is exceptionally clarifying.
00:14:39.940 It is also, in many ways, quite depressing.
00:14:42.280 It is truly amazing that doctors like Ms. Verma decline or just simply can't answer if a man can get pregnant.
00:14:50.560 It is sad that we're having to spend the time in Congress to answer the question about the biological reality about men not being able to get pregnant.
00:15:00.040 And clarity on a record.
00:15:01.820 This also goes back to concerns about the safety of women and abortion drugs for women who are the only sex that can biologically become pregnant.
00:15:11.220 The good news is now conservatives and this White House are on the offensive to make sure that these radicals are held accountable for what they've been teaching and preaching and the abuse that they've been doing to so many through the idea that they are somehow administering medicine.
00:15:29.220 And the reality is they're just pushing a radical agenda.
00:15:32.380 Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:15:36.660 Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now.
00:15:41.980 And for more in-depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow.
00:15:50.200 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:15:53.100 Guaranteed Human.
00:15:53.880 Guaranteed Human.
00:15:55.760 I'll see you the next time.
00:15:58.420 We'll see you the next time soon.
00:16:01.080 Bye.
00:16:01.200 Bye.
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00:16:02.620 Bye.
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