Verdict with Ted Cruz - August 13, 2026


BONUS POD： Trump Allies were Labeled ‘Russian Assets’ plus Can Iran Wait Out Trump？

Topics
Iranian strategy vs. US pressure
Hosted by
Ted Cruz
Mentioned
Donald Trump Bill Barr I. Kalshi Hillary Clinton Ben Ferguson Barack Obama Mike Pompeo Kash Patel Michael Caputo Lindsey Graham Rudy Giuliani Gavin Newsom George Soros Marco Rubio Ken Paxton JD Vance John Kerry Jim Jordan Couchy Biden and 1 more
BONUS POD： Presidential Disappearing Act that Left Reporters Stunned Amid an Iranian Assassination Threat Communists, Islamists & Transgender Zealots—The Most Radical Slate of Democrat Candidates ever Assembled

Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

149.7

Word count

2,439

Sentence count

137

Harmful content

Toxicity

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

6

sentences flagged


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 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05 It seems to me this is pretty good news.
00:00:06 It is good news.
00:00:07 And I could not help but note that the annual rate of core CPI inflation,
00:00:12 that's excluding food and energy. 0.96
00:00:14 We want energy out of it because of the matter in Iran.
00:00:18 Take that out 2.5 percent in July.
00:00:21 That's back to where it was prior to the start of the Iran conflict.
00:00:25 This tells me that inflation is not spreading out beyond energy, beyond gasoline prices. 0.89
00:00:32 Good news.
00:00:32 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:00:37 Good Thursday morning.
00:00:38 Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update.
00:00:40 And we've got two major stories coming out of the White House.
00:00:43 The deep state we are now learning.
00:00:45 And the FBI labeled the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Attorney General Bill Barr as, quote, conduits of Russian disinformation.
00:00:58 Just how corrupt was the deep state? We expose it all.
00:01:03 Also, we have news coming out of Iran that the IRGC is now saying they want to prolong the war to outlast Donald Trump in office.
00:01:13 So what does that mean for America's play?
00:01:15 we'll have that for you as well. All right. Now, before we get to that, I got to talk to you about
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00:01:49 I believe he's going to win. If I put $100 on it, the chances, the odds is 48% chance.
00:01:56 My max payout, November 3rd, 2027, $209.47. I love looking at these swing states. I love looking
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00:02:11 you can look at so many different elections. You can even get on on the 2028 elections right now
00:02:17 as well. One of the interesting ones is J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, AOC over Gavin Newsom,
00:02:22 who is going to have the 2028 U.S. presidential election winner. That is up there as well. You
00:02:28 can even look at the VP nominee. It is a blast. Now on Couchy, you're trading against peers in
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00:02:46 the code Ben, you get $20 when you trade $20. That's K-A-L-S-H-I. Kalshi, trade on anything.
00:02:55 It's the 47 morning update and it starts right now. Story number one. In a shocking report,
00:03:01 the Federal Bureau of Investigations allegedly labeled people such as the former Secretary of
00:03:07 state, Mike Pompeo, and the former attorney general, Bill Barr, that would be the boss of
00:03:14 the FBI, as conduits, quote unquote, of Russian disinformation, according to this recent report.
00:03:22 The report from Just the News revealed that a spreadsheet that was recovered from the U.S.
00:03:28 Intelligence Agency files and that the White House Government Transparency Task Force made
00:03:35 public, quote-unquote, contained names such as the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
00:03:40 and former President Barack Obama, along with Pompeo and Barr. While people like Barr and
00:03:47 Pompeo were labeled as, quote, conduits of Russian disinformation, people such as Hillary Clinton
00:03:54 and Barack Obama were labeled as targets. This is not a joke. A spreadsheet that was recovered
00:04:02 from U.S. intelligence agency files and has now been made public Wednesday by the White House
00:04:08 Government Transparency Task Force shows that spy agencies and the FBI created a list of more than
00:04:16 six dozen prominent organizations, Americans or foreigners, who became figures in the Biden
00:04:25 family Ukraine scandal and that the 2019 impeachment proceedings against President
00:04:31 Donald Trump as well. Now, the spreadsheet, and again, this is not a joke, neatly divided figures
00:04:39 along one issue. You ready for it? Political affiliations. In other words, political party
00:04:48 lines. They had the Democrats, like the Bidens, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Barack Obama,
00:04:56 George Soros, listed as victimized, quote-unquote, targets of Russian disinformation.
00:05:04 And then the other side, the conservatives, the Republicans, groups like Fox News,
00:05:11 One America News, even filmmaker Michael Caputo and Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, as, quote, conduits for disinformation.
00:05:23 Even the late Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Jim Jordan were also labeled, quote, conduits.
00:05:31 An administration official explained to the outlet that the labeling of people as either a conduit or a target of disinformation
00:05:40 was reportedly part of a secret counterintelligence operation codename Round River.
00:05:48 It was launched apparently during the 2020 election cycle.
00:05:52 Now, the report from the outlet also noted that an FBI letter that's now been made public
00:05:58 showed that the FBI had identified at least 14 different informants
00:06:04 who were, quote, providing derogatory information on the Biden.
00:06:10 In other words, this was a political hit list, a political enemies list, a list of Republicans that the deep state wanted to target and silence.
00:06:21 Now, in the letter to the White House Government Transparency Task Force, the FBI Director Cash Patel also stated that the FBI was, quote, investigating whether the Foreign Influence Task Force, known as FITF, used information learned from the Round River assessment to undermine or influence ongoing investigations.
00:06:46 The FBI Director Patel also said the task force was terminated on his watch.
00:06:53 Now, there were also other internal reviews of the FITF, and they're not yet complete, we've been told.
00:07:01 We know that the investigation used information learned from the Round River Assessment.
00:07:07 And the real question that everyone needs to be asking now is this.
00:07:10 was the FITF using information that was learned from the Round River assessment
00:07:17 to then undermine or then influence ongoing investigations
00:07:21 by only focusing on the subset of confidential human sources involving the Bidens.
00:07:30 That is what Patel reportedly has said in the letter.
00:07:33 Now, if you take a step back and you say, okay, so what does this actually mean?
00:07:38 What it means is that our government apparently was having lists that were put together
00:07:45 One list to say that if you're a Democrat, we automatically are going to treat you like you are a victim
00:07:52 And then our job is to protect you
00:07:55 And the other list, which is if you were a conservative or a Republican
00:07:59 Including a news organization like Fox News
00:08:02 Then you were the target
00:08:05 you were the one that was pushing the propaganda against the quote Democrats and so therefore
00:08:13 you should be investigated this is the most shocking list that we've seen to date because
00:08:19 it showed as those they believed were friends of Russia those that were advocates of what they
00:08:26 described as Russian disinformation campaigns to influence America the people on that list
00:08:32 that the deep state was going after were people like the Secretary of State and the man who was
00:08:39 the Attorney General Bill Barr of the United States of America. And what's even more shocking
00:08:43 than that is the people that were, quote, doing the investigation, who were putting these people
00:08:49 on the list, were supposed to be serving the people that were on this list. You talk about
00:08:57 the deep state. You talk about the swamp. You talk about those that were fighting against Donald
00:09:02 Trump and other conservatives. This is exactly what we thought was happening. And now we have
00:09:09 the data, the receipts, the emails, the lists that are being made public. The question now is
00:09:18 who is creating the list? Are those people still in our government? And will there be accountability
00:09:24 for this? That is the question so many Americans are asking. And based on this being released now,
00:09:32 there's a very good chance that we're headed towards that type of accountability. Next,
00:09:37 story number two. We now have some breaking news that a top advisor to the commander of Iran's
00:09:42 Islamic Revolutionary Guard is now saying that Tehran could deliberately prolong its war with
00:09:49 the United States of America in an effort to outlast President Donald Trump as Washington
00:09:55 now doubles down on a, quote, wall of steel naval blockade that the U.S. and Israeli officials say
00:10:01 is officials say is steadily worsening the Islamic Republic's economic crisis. Quote,
00:10:08 one way is to prolong the war until we get the next term of the presidency and cause attrition
00:10:15 so that if anyone else wants to attack Iran, they will know there is a cost.
00:10:21 That is what the Brigadier General told PBS in a rare interview that was published on Tuesday.
00:10:28 Now, the longtime senior IRGC figure who served as the force's coordinating deputy from 19 to 2025
00:10:35 and now serves as a senior advisor to its commander
00:10:39 laid out the potential strategy as Iran's newly reshuffled military leadership,
00:10:44 increasingly prepares for a prolonged confrontation as they described it with Washington and
00:10:51 specifically with Donald Trump. Quote, we have to obtain deterrence so that the enemy never
00:10:56 dares to attack us so we can live with security. Now, this general went on to argue that time
00:11:04 would favor Tehran, claiming the conflict has given Iran valuable experience fighting the
00:11:09 United States, while exposing the American military as, quote, weaker than what we perceived.
00:11:15 The longer this war lasts, the more experience we gain, is what the IRGC official said.
00:11:21 He added that Iran had never previously experienced a war that allowed it to learn
00:11:27 firsthand how to fight the United States, but claimed that in these five months,
00:11:32 we have learned how. Yet again, clearly showing that this is something they're using as
00:11:38 massive propaganda. Here's more of that interview. No, we have not yet reached our final objective.
00:11:45 This is clear. Up until now, we are victorious. In the future, we will continue to be victorious.
00:11:52 The longer this war lasts, the more experience we gain. We had never seen a real war to gain
00:11:57 real experience, to learn how to fight with America. In these five months, we have learned
00:12:02 how. We have also seen how the American military is weaker than what we perceived.
00:12:07 Now, this is clearly not only propaganda that's going to the people in Iran, but also to the
00:12:14 world. The White House, by the way, answered the proposed attrition strategy with a blunt
00:12:19 warning to Tehran, saying, quote, it would be wise for Iran to agree to a deal. The White
00:12:26 House told PBS in response to their interview, saying, quote, otherwise they know what will
00:12:31 happen. Now, this proposal to try to outlast Trump runs directly against the strategy that
00:12:37 President Trump has increasingly embraced, maintain overwhelming military leverage around
00:12:43 Iran while allowing the blockade, frozen assets, sanctions, and Tehran's mounting economic
00:12:49 problems to steadily tighten the pressure.
00:12:53 Quote, the USA has total control over the Strait of Hormuz.
00:12:57 I think we will keep it, Donald Trump declared on True Social, saying our naval blockade
00:13:03 is being called by everyone a wall of steel.
00:13:06 And there is nothing Iran can do about it
00:13:09 Now, President Trump was not finished there
00:13:12 He went on to say
00:13:13 They have no Navy
00:13:14 They have no Air Force
00:13:16 Their remaining soldiers are unpaid
00:13:18 The IRGC is decimated and fleeing
00:13:21 And their leadership, quote-unquote, is uncertain at best
00:13:25 They have no money
00:13:27 Their country is shot
00:13:29 All they have is fake news and 300% inflation
00:13:34 And getting worse 1.00
00:13:35 Iran is all talk and no action 0.93
00:13:39 The bully of the Middle East is no longer
00:13:42 Praise be to Allah, President Donald J. Trump 0.87
00:13:45 That was his latest true social tweet
00:13:48 Now all of this rhetoric coming from the IRGC commander who did this interview
00:13:54 Comes after we learned the bigger story
00:13:57 That the Iranian government was apparently trying to assassinate Donald Trump yet again
00:14:01 and there was a major threat against the president on Air Force One.
00:14:06 Now that story was obviously one that was breaking
00:14:09 while they were deciding to do this interview with PBS.
00:14:12 And let me remind you of some of those details
00:14:13 that the reporting came in from Fox.
00:14:16 ...with the very latest. Hey, Trey.
00:14:19 Yeah, hey guys, good morning.
00:14:21 It's a story that has captured the world's attention this week.
00:14:24 A threat by the Iranian regime on President Trump's life in Turkey last month.
00:14:29 The Wall Street Journal reports it was actually Israeli intelligence that tipped off the administration to a specific danger.
00:14:36 The report explains the sourcing on this information, saying the U.S. official said Israel briefed the Trump administration on the intelligence,
00:14:43 which included a threat to use shoulder-to-air missiles to target Air Force One.
00:14:47 Ultimately, the president was reportedly moved from Air Force One to another plane using a catering truck.
00:14:53 Fox has not independently confirmed that detail.
00:14:55 sir president can you tell us about your ride on the airport catering truck in turkey why did
00:15:03 you need to do that well it's only up to secret service i just follow what they'd like to do
00:15:07 so uh i go by secret service and the military they wanted me to go on a different flight a
00:15:14 different plane uh equal safety but they wanted me to do it so i do it i do what they say
00:15:21 President Trump yet again there saying, hey, I'm not giving you the exact story that you want me to confirm,
00:15:27 but stating, yes, he did go on a different plane.
00:15:31 So you look at all of this and you see where we are now.
00:15:34 It is very clear the president's putting maximum pressure on Iran, doing everything he can to chokehold their economy.
00:15:41 Inflation is now at 300 percent or more.
00:15:44 And the Iranian IRGC radicals are saying they want to try to wait out the president.
00:15:49 That would be a very long two-plus years.
00:15:52 The president's saying he wants to get this deal done, 0.78
00:15:54 but he will continue to use maximum pressure to do everything he can to have Iran's leadership full. 0.61
00:16:01 Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:16:05 Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now.
00:16:11 And for more in-depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast,
00:16:15 and we will see you back here tomorrow.