Verdict with Ted Cruz - October 23, 2025


BONUS POD： Sanctions Strike as Trump Targets Putin’s War Chest


Episode Stats

Length

13 minutes

Words per Minute

158.52214

Word Count

2,141

Sentence Count

143

Hate Speech Sentences

5


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
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00:00:14.520 And it's being paid for 100% by me
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00:00:21.820 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update
00:00:24.400 with Ben Ferguson.
00:00:25.760 Good Thursday morning.
00:00:26.780 It's nice to have you with us
00:00:27.820 on the 47 Morning Update.
00:00:29.160 Ben Ferguson with you,
00:00:30.580 and I can tell you there is one major story.
00:00:33.460 Democrats lied to you yet again,
00:00:35.540 claiming that Donald Trump would never
00:00:37.680 stand up to Vladimir Putin
00:00:39.260 after their meeting in Alaska.
00:00:42.140 We now know that there are major Russian sanctions,
00:00:45.520 and the president is returning peace through strength,
00:00:49.320 showing Russia that it's time to get a deal now
00:00:52.300 or you're going to be hurt economically.
00:00:55.140 But first, I want to tell you about our friends
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00:02:47.140 It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now.
00:02:51.480 Story number one.
00:02:52.600 It is very clear that President Donald Trump
00:02:54.800 is a man who is on a mission
00:02:56.660 to have peace through strength
00:02:58.760 wherever he can and stop senseless wars.
00:03:01.740 We've seen the deal that he's done in the Middle East
00:03:04.200 and we now know that he's turned towards
00:03:06.220 what's happening in Russia and Ukraine.
00:03:09.600 Well, there has been some late developments
00:03:12.060 and the U.S. has announced new sanctions
00:03:14.740 that target Russia's two largest oil companies,
00:03:19.660 Rosneft and Luke Oil,
00:03:22.080 including many of their subsidiaries.
00:03:24.720 These sanctions mark the first time
00:03:27.220 in Trump's second term
00:03:28.660 that his administration has placed new sanctions
00:03:32.380 on Russia over the Ukraine war.
00:03:35.060 So much for Russian collusion
00:03:37.120 as the media lied to you about for years.
00:03:39.640 The U.S. Treasury,
00:03:41.900 through the Office of the Foreign Assets Control,
00:03:45.400 explicitly said the move is meant
00:03:47.360 to degrade Russia's ability
00:03:49.180 to fund its war machine
00:03:51.620 and hurt its economy.
00:03:53.560 Because if you know what's going on in Russia,
00:03:56.400 you know they're barely staying alive economically
00:03:59.280 because of the oil that they're selling.
00:04:02.480 Now, the announcement came shortly after
00:04:04.820 a planned meeting between Donald Trump
00:04:07.200 and Russian President Vladimir Putin
00:04:09.220 was canceled,
00:04:11.320 signaling escalating frustration
00:04:13.260 by the White House and Donald Trump.
00:04:16.400 He meant it when he said it was time for peace.
00:04:19.220 Now, here are the implications
00:04:20.620 and the likely effects
00:04:22.200 of what the president has just done.
00:04:24.660 The economic pressure on Russia is real
00:04:27.000 because Russia's war is costing them
00:04:29.840 a lot of money.
00:04:31.140 And by targeting Russia's biggest oil companies,
00:04:34.920 the U.S. is going after
00:04:36.060 one of the major revenue resources
00:04:38.200 that supports Russia's military
00:04:40.160 and also is propping up its economy,
00:04:43.120 which is teetering.
00:04:44.260 This could force Russia
00:04:45.720 to either lower the price of its oil,
00:04:48.420 thus reducing revenue,
00:04:49.620 or reduce production and exports.
00:04:52.660 Both of those options hurt its financial stability
00:04:56.600 and their ability to sustain a large-scale war
00:04:59.900 for a extended period of time.
00:05:03.120 Now, there's also pressure for diplomacy
00:05:05.360 and a ceasefire.
00:05:07.080 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
00:05:09.280 said the sanctions are meant to support
00:05:11.780 peace efforts, saying,
00:05:14.120 quote,
00:05:14.660 now is the time to stop the killing
00:05:16.700 and for an immediate ceasefire.
00:05:19.340 So the sanctions are being framed partly
00:05:21.860 as a lever for diplomacy,
00:05:23.540 not just punishment.
00:05:26.900 Russia has deep trade and energy links
00:05:29.440 with major buyers.
00:05:31.300 This includes India and China,
00:05:33.840 who is taking a significant amount of their oil.
00:05:36.600 That might not be fully impacted
00:05:39.180 by the U.S. sanctions alone.
00:05:41.640 Analysts say we'll have to wait and see.
00:05:44.260 But what we do know is the sanctions
00:05:46.100 depend heavily on enforcement
00:05:49.220 and also on U.S. allies joining
00:05:52.760 and coordinating in the sanction effort.
00:05:55.880 If other big buyers continue business,
00:05:58.200 the impact will be weaker
00:06:00.080 than we need it to be.
00:06:02.020 And there are possible global market
00:06:04.080 side effects as well.
00:06:05.940 Spikes in oil prices
00:06:07.180 if Russia's supply is constrained.
00:06:09.900 This is part of the reason
00:06:10.900 why the President said
00:06:11.780 we need to become energy independent.
00:06:14.080 Going back to drill baby drill.
00:06:16.580 The fact that this is the first new sanction
00:06:18.780 in Trump's second term
00:06:19.940 also suggests
00:06:21.020 there may have been internal
00:06:23.080 or strategic hesitations earlier on
00:06:25.880 to give a chance also
00:06:27.820 for there to be real conversations
00:06:29.580 that deal with peace.
00:06:31.780 It remains to be seen
00:06:32.880 if the pressure will persist
00:06:34.740 or if Donald Trump plans
00:06:36.880 on ratcheting up the pressure.
00:06:38.800 Which brings me to the announcement.
00:06:41.920 Senator Mullen,
00:06:42.740 on the new Russian sanctions,
00:06:44.280 speaking with Jake Tapper on CNN,
00:06:45.980 this is what he had to say
00:06:47.940 about the new move.
00:06:49.040 Do you think that there need
00:06:50.520 to be even harsher sanctions?
00:06:52.260 And the reason I ask
00:06:53.120 is because obviously
00:06:54.320 August 15th, I believe it was,
00:06:57.400 was the summit in Alaska
00:06:59.840 where President Trump
00:07:01.780 was hoping that Vladimir Putin
00:07:03.620 would agree to any sort of ceasefire.
00:07:06.240 And not only did he not get a ceasefire,
00:07:09.240 Putin, since the U.S.
00:07:11.260 literally rolled out the carpet for him
00:07:13.260 in the United States of America,
00:07:15.680 on American land,
00:07:16.920 Putin has upped the tenor of the war.
00:07:20.520 Some of the worst attacks on Ukraine
00:07:22.840 have happened since then.
00:07:24.420 And I'm wondering if President Trump,
00:07:26.580 you think,
00:07:27.120 needs to be even more aggressive.
00:07:29.220 Well, this is step one.
00:07:30.580 The president and Congress
00:07:32.000 has talked multiple times
00:07:33.400 what the next step might be.
00:07:35.300 We have been in briefings,
00:07:37.520 we've been in classified settings.
00:07:40.080 This is literally the first step
00:07:42.720 to put more pressure on Russia
00:07:45.500 if we need to.
00:07:46.960 I believe we probably will.
00:07:48.720 I don't think Putin is someone
00:07:50.280 that's going to pay attention
00:07:51.140 the first time his hand is slapped.
00:07:52.900 I think you're going to see this
00:07:54.040 get ratcheted up farther and farther
00:07:55.860 to the point to where either
00:07:57.020 we're going to bring them
00:07:57.860 to their knees economically,
00:08:00.260 or they're going to decide
00:08:01.400 that fighting in Ukraine
00:08:02.540 isn't worth it.
00:08:03.700 At the same time,
00:08:04.720 I wouldn't be surprised
00:08:05.560 if you start seeing us give
00:08:06.960 the accessibility to new weapons
00:08:10.640 for Europe to buy for Ukraine
00:08:12.180 to be able to fight against Russia
00:08:14.860 and their aggression in Ukraine.
00:08:17.100 As I said, Jake,
00:08:17.940 this is just the first step,
00:08:20.180 but this is the first step
00:08:21.460 of a lot of options
00:08:22.580 we have on the table.
00:08:24.320 It's very clear,
00:08:25.760 as you could hear there
00:08:26.480 from Senator Mullen,
00:08:27.540 that this is a new path forward.
00:08:29.920 We tried to have,
00:08:30.960 well, diplomacy work,
00:08:32.780 and obviously Vladimir Putin
00:08:34.160 is not working in that way.
00:08:35.560 So as he described it,
00:08:37.120 we can bring them
00:08:37.860 to their knees economically,
00:08:39.280 or they can decide
00:08:40.780 that fighting Ukraine
00:08:42.020 isn't worth it.
00:08:43.600 This is the first step
00:08:44.780 of a lot of options
00:08:46.140 we have on the table.
00:08:48.000 And there also seems
00:08:49.160 to be real unity
00:08:50.080 behind this idea.
00:08:51.540 As you know,
00:08:52.300 the senators are behind it,
00:08:54.040 but what is the House side saying?
00:08:55.900 Mike Johnson
00:08:56.600 on the Russian sanctions?
00:08:58.940 Here's what he had to say as well.
00:09:00.900 Now, thank you so much
00:09:01.780 for being here,
00:09:02.980 Speaker Johnson,
00:09:03.560 because you had said before
00:09:04.420 that you thought sanctions
00:09:05.420 on Russia were long overdue
00:09:07.480 in your words.
00:09:08.540 Do you think that these moves
00:09:09.700 tonight go far enough?
00:09:11.380 Well, it's a very important step.
00:09:12.980 We applaud the president.
00:09:14.100 He's returning peace
00:09:15.580 through strength,
00:09:16.220 and that's a common theme
00:09:17.760 now that we've seen
00:09:18.560 exhibited around the globe,
00:09:20.040 the strength of his personality.
00:09:21.380 You heard the U.N.
00:09:22.400 Secretary General,
00:09:23.180 who you caught earlier
00:09:24.240 this afternoon,
00:09:24.980 he said in his own words,
00:09:26.020 President Trump is the only figure
00:09:27.980 on the planet strong enough
00:09:30.080 to help bring an end
00:09:31.200 to that war,
00:09:31.860 and you have to compel Russia
00:09:33.760 to engage in the peace process.
00:09:35.920 They've shown they cannot
00:09:36.620 be trusted.
00:09:37.600 There's a big appetite
00:09:38.460 in Congress
00:09:39.120 to have sanctions like this,
00:09:40.700 and I think it's
00:09:41.080 a very important step.
00:09:42.680 Yet again,
00:09:43.900 you see unity
00:09:44.780 between Republicans
00:09:45.920 in the Senate,
00:09:46.840 Republicans in the House,
00:09:48.140 and the president
00:09:48.840 of the United States
00:09:49.700 of America,
00:09:50.540 which brings us back
00:09:51.960 to what Trump has now said
00:09:53.620 about these new sanctions.
00:09:55.000 Trump said of the sanctions,
00:09:56.940 quote,
00:09:57.320 it was time.
00:09:58.720 He described the sanction
00:09:59.780 on Russia's oil giants
00:10:01.420 as very big
00:10:02.540 and tremendous
00:10:03.660 during a meeting
00:10:04.640 with the NATO Secretary General.
00:10:06.920 He expressed
00:10:07.740 that the meeting
00:10:09.120 with Putin
00:10:09.680 was canceled
00:10:10.300 because
00:10:10.820 it didn't feel right
00:10:12.440 to me.
00:10:13.620 It didn't feel like
00:10:14.700 we were going to get
00:10:15.480 to the place
00:10:16.180 we have to get.
00:10:18.160 Earlier this year,
00:10:19.620 Trump threatened tariffs
00:10:20.980 and secondary sanctions
00:10:22.640 if Russia did not agree
00:10:24.340 to a cease fire.
00:10:26.180 For example,
00:10:26.800 he said he might impose
00:10:27.920 a 25 to 50 percent
00:10:29.500 tariff on oil
00:10:30.240 from Russia
00:10:31.840 on countries
00:10:33.040 buying Russian oil.
00:10:35.180 Trump also expressed
00:10:36.380 frustration
00:10:37.060 with Vladimir Putin
00:10:38.020 saying,
00:10:38.520 quote,
00:10:39.480 we get a lot
00:10:40.240 of bull blank
00:10:41.140 thrown at us
00:10:42.000 by Putin.
00:10:43.020 We won a deal,
00:10:44.340 but we weren't
00:10:45.080 seeing it.
00:10:46.420 The president
00:10:46.980 also has backing.
00:10:49.100 The majority
00:10:49.580 of Republicans
00:10:50.360 support additional
00:10:51.620 economic sanctions
00:10:52.700 on Russia.
00:10:54.320 For example,
00:10:55.300 a recent poll
00:10:56.060 shows 86 percent
00:10:58.080 of Republicans
00:10:59.600 back further sanctions
00:11:01.380 to force an end
00:11:02.640 to the war.
00:11:04.420 Now,
00:11:04.700 some Republicans,
00:11:05.900 including those
00:11:06.620 in the White House,
00:11:07.760 had also delayed
00:11:08.820 pushing for sanction
00:11:09.940 legislation
00:11:10.660 until a possible
00:11:11.760 Trump-Putin meeting,
00:11:13.600 indicating hesitation
00:11:14.860 that if they did
00:11:16.440 put the sanctions
00:11:17.200 on beforehand,
00:11:18.020 it could actually
00:11:18.700 hurt the talks.
00:11:19.960 But now the president
00:11:21.340 has made it clear
00:11:22.380 there's a shift
00:11:23.640 and it suggests
00:11:24.400 that Trump administration
00:11:25.500 is moving
00:11:26.500 or being pushed
00:11:28.640 by conservatives
00:11:29.620 for a tougher stance
00:11:31.460 on Russia
00:11:32.040 that perhaps
00:11:33.200 was not there
00:11:34.360 weeks ago.
00:11:35.800 It also signals
00:11:36.780 to Russia
00:11:37.540 and to buyers
00:11:39.200 of Russian energy
00:11:40.100 that the U.S.
00:11:41.520 is united
00:11:42.260 and willing
00:11:43.000 to escalate
00:11:43.840 economic tools,
00:11:45.420 not just diplomacy.
00:11:47.620 And for allies,
00:11:48.680 the U.S.
00:11:49.700 is implicitly
00:11:50.760 inviting coordination.
00:11:52.740 The Treasury statement
00:11:53.700 we encourage,
00:11:54.680 quote,
00:11:54.920 our allies
00:11:55.520 to join us,
00:11:57.460 signaling
00:11:57.780 that other countries
00:11:59.040 may want to do
00:11:59.740 the exact same thing
00:12:00.940 in their country
00:12:02.040 that America
00:12:02.820 is doing right now.
00:12:04.600 And finally,
00:12:05.360 for Ukraine,
00:12:06.600 it may increase leverage
00:12:07.880 by pressuring Russia,
00:12:09.380 but it does not
00:12:10.280 automatically guarantee
00:12:11.500 a ceasefire
00:12:12.460 or an end
00:12:13.160 to the war.
00:12:13.920 When you're dealing
00:12:14.780 with someone
00:12:15.160 like Vladimir Putin,
00:12:16.280 who doesn't even care
00:12:17.360 about his own people,
00:12:18.800 this could drag on.
00:12:20.640 But for the global energy
00:12:21.840 and trade flow,
00:12:23.400 targeting Russia's oil sector,
00:12:25.100 as President Trump
00:12:25.800 has decided to do,
00:12:27.040 can affect global markets
00:12:28.980 and hurt Russia significantly,
00:12:31.440 which is exactly why
00:12:33.280 the President
00:12:33.840 of the United States
00:12:34.340 of America
00:12:34.820 is leading in this way.
00:12:36.840 We also know
00:12:37.940 that the U.S.
00:12:38.760 will follow up
00:12:39.780 with more sanctions,
00:12:41.360 Russian banks,
00:12:42.580 on buyers
00:12:43.300 of Russian energy,
00:12:44.280 or shipping and transport
00:12:46.360 to deepen the pressure.
00:12:48.260 There's a very good chance
00:12:49.580 that is going to be needed.
00:12:51.400 And then,
00:12:52.300 what will happen
00:12:53.020 to Russian oil buyers
00:12:54.560 like China and India?
00:12:56.320 How will they respond?
00:12:57.940 What we do know now
00:12:59.000 is this is a new pathway
00:13:00.440 in negotiations
00:13:01.340 with President Trump
00:13:03.320 and Vladimir Putin.
00:13:05.180 And it's clear
00:13:06.120 that Donald Trump
00:13:07.260 isn't messing around.
00:13:08.700 Thank you for listening
00:13:09.800 to the 47 Morning Update
00:13:11.500 with Ben Ferguson.
00:13:12.740 Please make sure
00:13:14.080 you hit subscribe
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00:13:16.460 to this podcast right now.
00:13:18.500 And for more in-depth news,
00:13:20.240 also subscribe
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00:13:22.940 and we will see you
00:13:23.880 back here tomorrow.
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