Verdict with Ted Cruz - Chaos in DC on Reconciliation & DOJ Judgment Fund plus Raul Castro Indicted

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.420 Guaranteed human.

00:00:04.200 Get rewarded just for shopping with Simon Plus.

00:00:08.000 Don't miss Memorial Day sales at Simon Premium Outlets and Mills.

00:00:12.220 You can get points at scores of stores, access to exclusive offers, and exciting surprises.

00:00:19.240 You've got an extra day off, so make it pay off with the best deals from brands you love all in one place.

00:00:26.780 It's a summer kickoff thing.

00:00:28.060 join today at simonplus.com rewards program terms apply see simonplus.com for details

00:00:34.640 turn someday into right now with body by jake radio non-stop workout music and expert tips

00:00:40.780 24 7 hey head over to iheart.com search body by jake radio and stream it for free right now

00:00:47.020 awesome health and wellness tips 24 hours a day seven days a week remember stick to the fight

00:00:51.640 when your heart is hit it's when things seem worse that you must not quit don't quit body by jake

00:00:56.600 Radio, where hope meets momentum. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free. Have a great

00:01:02.260 day. I heart radio. Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And if

00:01:10.220 you're listening on the radio, it's really nice to have you with us. And as a quick reminder,

00:01:14.080 what you're listening to right now, we do is a podcast three days a week. So make sure you

00:01:18.340 download for free wherever you get your podcasts, Verdict with Ted Cruz. And you can listen all

00:01:24.600 week long senator we got a lot to talk about including the fact that we thought you were

00:01:28.120 going to be in washington for a voter rama that could have turned into the whole weekend

00:01:31.960 that didn't happen so what actually happened there well you're exactly right it is right now

00:01:38.920 1 42 a.m friday morning so late thursday night early friday morning i am in texas i just landed

00:01:45.400 back at home i'm i'm sitting here at home in my uh studio here at home by the way studio is a

00:01:52.240 euphemism so ben you know right you know this but but let's actually expose the fancy like like

00:02:03.460 really exotic place we record this i am in the laundry room like like like the washing machine

00:02:09.640 and dryer are four feet behind me yeah he's not joking everybody this is the this is the i i will

00:02:16.460 validate this is actually reality you are doing you're doing this show in the in the laundry room

00:02:22.540 yes so so by the way i i used to have this thing set up in in the game room we have a game room on

00:02:28.900 the third floor and there's a pool table and like a big screen tv and the kids hang out there

00:02:34.120 and then my daughters threw me out of the third floor they're like no we don't want all this this

00:02:41.360 damn podcast equipment up here get it out of here and and i get relegated to the laundry room and 0.72

00:02:49.060 ben do you know what i do i did not do this tonight but do you know what i do at least two 0.98

00:02:53.340 thirds of the time before i record the the podcast in the laundry room so so this goes back to my

00:02:59.860 suspicion which i was about to ask and i feel like i know the answer to this question now

00:03:04.620 i feel pretty confident knowing that you have cats in your home that there's a litter box that is in

00:03:11.820 the laundry room that you then have to move to do this show am i right or wrong you are notionally

00:03:18.360 right yes there's a litter box but we have not one we have not two we have not three cats now

00:03:24.640 listen i'm not a cat guy but you know what i am you and i agree on that by the way but you know

00:03:31.080 what i am i'm a daughter what are you i'm a daughter guy and i have two daughters and my 0.96

00:03:37.100 eldest daughter caroline loves her cats so i have not one not two but three damn cats in the house

00:03:43.880 and if it were up to me i'd have zero but i adore my daughter and she loves these cats so i've got 0.94

00:03:52.200 three cats that that's just that's just how it works because i i'm a girl by the way that's a

00:03:58.100 That's a lot of litter in the litter box in the laundry room

00:04:01.140 where you're getting to do this show.

00:04:02.680 Okay, but you need to understand.

00:04:04.140 So the laundry room, the litter box is there.

00:04:07.440 They occasionally use it, but two-thirds of the time,

00:04:12.740 before I record the podcast, I have to pick up piles of cat crap. 0.51

00:04:20.020 Like I go to the bathroom. 0.91

00:04:22.560 This makes me so happy.

00:04:23.340 I get pieces of toilet paper. 0.99

00:04:25.440 I just pick up hunks because I'm not going to sit here and do the podcast with like a stinking pile of cat crap next to me. 0.98

00:04:33.200 So I pick them up. 0.93

00:04:34.680 Tonight was a good night.

00:04:35.820 There's actually none tonight.

00:04:37.600 This is actually it's been a while that I haven't had to pick it up.

00:04:40.780 This is all this is all of our plan just to keep you grounded and humble and just, you know, you are a senator.

00:04:48.020 You're kind of a big deal.

00:04:49.400 I'm just saying people think this may be exotic and like like sexy. 0.98

00:04:55.440 I'm in the laundry room, happy not to have cat crap next to me. 0.98

00:05:00.480 There you go. 0.96

00:05:01.140 I feel like you're almost wishing you were doing a voterama in Washington, D.C. right now.

00:05:06.460 I feel like that's where we're going with this.

00:05:09.240 So in many ways, I do.

00:05:10.880 It's 1.46 a.m.

00:05:12.500 We're going to break down, number one, why Congress, why the Senate is right now not passing funding for ICE and CBP.

00:05:19.820 What happened?

00:05:20.800 I'm going to give you the inside story.

00:05:22.260 I'm going to take you inside.

00:05:23.340 we had a two-hour meeting with the acting attorney general of the United States we had some fireworks

00:05:28.380 in the Senate I'm going to take you inside that and by the way that's that's one of the things

00:05:32.440 this podcast does is tries to take you behind the curtain behind the scenes to let you know

00:05:38.580 what's happening in Washington we're also going to talk about the amazing fact and I got to say

00:05:43.400 as a Cuban-American my heart is going pitter-pat that Raul Castro has been indicted criminally

00:05:51.160 indicted and and that we may well see people showing up to arrest him we're going to break

00:05:56.460 that down and we're also going to talk about the democrats who are weeping they don't like

00:06:01.080 communists who are indicted yeah it's going to be a great show we also want to talk to you about

00:06:06.180 the incredible work that's being done right now by the international fellowship of christians and

00:06:10.900 jews and how you can get involved to help so many people in need right now when we talk about israel

00:06:16.880 we're not just talking about a place we're talking about a people connected to a promise

00:06:21.200 a promise made by God one he has never broken and one that continues even today because God's

00:06:28.500 character doesn't change what he begins he sustains what he promises he fulfills and that

00:06:35.760 matters today right now in Israel families run to shelters as sirens sound now this isn't just

00:06:42.720 a crisis it's a call to respond for christians caring for jewish people isn't rooted in politics

00:06:49.600 it's rooted in trust and a god who keeps his word so we don't stay distant we step in with prayer

00:06:56.800 and practical help the international fellowship of christians and jews is on the ground bringing

00:07:02.100 food caring for the vulnerable and reminding people they're not alone this is what it looks

00:07:08.560 like to align your heart with god's to pray to show up and to care so join us in praying for

00:07:15.600 peace of jerusalem and for the people who need it right now visit pray ifcj.org that's pray ifcj.org

00:07:28.440 all right so senator there was news this week that it was going to be a voterama it was going

00:07:34.020 to be reconciliation. Some really important issues were going to be resolved going through

00:07:39.240 the Senate. And then all of a sudden it was like, nevermind, everyone's going home. So explain for

00:07:45.020 everyone listening right now, what happened? So what we were supposed to be doing right now,

00:07:50.280 what I expected to be was on the floor of the Senate at one, two, three, four, five in the

00:07:55.400 morning in the midst of what's called Votorama. Votorama is part of reconciliation. Now, what is

00:08:02.840 reconciliation. Reconciliation is the major exception to the filibuster rule in the Senate.

00:08:08.900 And it is the way it is the way last year we passed the working families tax cut.

00:08:13.260 It is a way to get around the Democrats obstruction. And right now we're going to

00:08:19.120 use reconciliation to fund ICE and CBP because the Democrats have decided that they are radical

00:08:26.600 at a level we've never seen before. I think we're living in a world where Democrats will never,

00:08:32.940 ever, ever again vote to fund ICE or border enforcement. Now, that is radical. That is

00:08:40.520 ridiculous. That is extreme. And yet it's where I think Democrats are. So we were getting ready 0.99

00:08:48.640 to vote on reconciliation to fund border security for the next three years for all of President

00:08:55.160 Trump's presidency. That all blew up today. And instead of doing that, we had a long, long meeting.

00:09:04.840 And I'm going to take you inside. So the meeting started at lunchtime. And Todd Blanche, as the

00:09:10.580 acting attorney general, showed up to explain what the administration is doing with the so-called

00:09:16.300 weaponization or judgment fund. There were fireworks at an epic level. And I got to say,

00:09:23.760 it's one of the roughest meetings I've seen in my entire time in the Senate. There were a lot

00:09:30.480 of Republican senators who were just pissed. And there are two dynamics going on. Number one,

00:09:36.260 just electorally, there are several Republican senators who are just really, really unhappy.

00:09:42.700 Bill Cassidy, Republican from Louisiana. President Trump endorsed against him. He just had his

00:09:50.320 primary. He had two candidates, Letlow and Fleming, running against him. Cassidy came in third, so he

00:09:58.240 did not make the runoff. So it is 100% that next year Bill Cassidy will not be a senator in the

00:10:04.880 United States Senate. Now, this is not subtle or rocket science. Bill Cassidy's pissed. He is angry.

00:10:13.800 He's angry at the president. There are consequences when you endorse and defeat a sitting Republican

00:10:19.560 president. A second Republican senator who's unhappy is Tom Tillis. Tom Tillis, Republican

00:10:30.000 from North Carolina. President Trump has been extremely critical of Tillis. He pledged to

00:10:37.660 defeat Tillis in his election. And so Tillis dropped out. He's not running for re-election.

00:10:43.060 He's going to be gone. Instead, Michael Watley is a good guy, is running for his seat, but it's an

00:10:48.500 open seat now and tillis did it because the president came out hard against it but that's 0.62

00:10:53.940 a second republican who's pretty damn chippy yeah a third republican who was not there for

00:11:01.760 this meeting but is my colleague john cornyn so john cornyn the senior senator from texas

00:11:06.700 he is in the middle of his primary right now in texas the primary is next tuesday we are right

00:11:13.020 now as we speak in the middle of early voting so texans are voting right now and this week

00:11:18.580 president trump endorsed cornyn's primary opponent ken paxton now that is going to have a massive

00:11:27.560 effect on the election we talked about this in the last podcast how president trump's impact in each

00:11:33.500 of these races had a really bigger uh impact but and i will say cornyn was not there but i think

00:11:41.180 it's fair to expect, and I say this without John having expressed this, but it's fair to expect

00:11:47.260 John's going to be less than thrilled. And then finally, Rand Paul. So we had a Kentucky primary

00:11:56.080 with Thomas Massey. Thomas Massey is a House member. Thomas Massey is very, very closely

00:12:03.280 aligned with Rand Paul. Thomas Massey is a libertarian. He's a really smart guy, MIT graduate.

00:12:11.180 but he is someone who, number one, has been passionately anti-Israel in a way that I think

00:12:18.660 has been pretty extreme. But secondly, Thomas Massey has voted against Donald Trump over and

00:12:26.280 over and over again. The biggest legislative accomplishment we've had of the second term,

00:12:31.020 which is the one big, beautiful bill, also called the Working Families Tax Cut,

00:12:35.420 Massey voted no. And Massey has voted no over and over and over again. I like Thomas.

00:12:41.020 He's a really smart guy. He's an interesting guy. He believes in what he's saying. But President

00:12:48.100 Trump is understandably pissed because Massey votes no and votes against President Trump

00:12:54.500 over and over and over again. And so President Trump leaned in in a big way against Thomas Massey

00:13:01.760 and beat him in a primary. Well, look, that will have its own repercussions in the House,

00:13:08.260 although actually it doesn't make things much harder in the House because Massey was already

00:13:13.200 voting no on almost everything Trump did. So presumably Massey will still vote no on almost

00:13:19.280 everything Trump does. So that doesn't change the House a whole lot. But in the Senate, I'll tell

00:13:25.320 you, Rand Paul, who was very, very close with Massey, was campaigning with Massey. Rand was pissed.

00:13:31.780 Now, here's the problem.

00:13:33.360 I walked through four people there.

00:13:36.360 Bill Cassidy, Tom Tillis, John Cornyn, Rand Paul.

00:13:41.800 Those are four senators.

00:13:43.980 We have a 53-47 majority.

00:13:47.700 If you lose four senators, you're below 50 and you can't get anything done.

00:13:54.100 That is going to be a complicating factor for the rest of the year.

00:13:57.880 like those four senators i don't envision suddenly anything becoming hunky dory and

00:14:03.760 they're being happy like that dynamic for 2026 the rest of the year we're going to have

00:14:11.380 interesting challenges and so today at 11 we had todd blanche todd blanche is the acting

00:14:17.200 attorney general he came to address us and todd blanche was trying to discuss

00:14:22.920 the Judgment Fund, the Fund for Weaponization. So the administration announced this week

00:14:29.880 a fund that has been created that is $1,776,000,000 that is there to provide restitutions,

00:14:40.800 there to provide remedies for people who were victims of the political weaponization of the

00:14:47.080 Biden administration. Now, listen, you and I have talked a lot about weaponization and about

00:14:53.500 accountability. I am very, very glad President Trump and the Trump administration are moving

00:14:58.740 to hold people accountable, are moving to provide relief to people who were victimized by weaponization.

00:15:05.440 That being said, I got to tell you, Ben, fiery does not begin to cut it.

00:15:12.020 uh the senators i mentioned they were pissed but almost every every republican senator was there

00:15:19.460 so my guess is there are probably 45 senators in the room at least half of them were blasting

00:15:28.100 the attorney general and they were pissed basically the message they said is you know what

00:15:32.940 we were going to pass reconciliation this week we were going to fund all of ice all of cbp all

00:15:39.320 of border control. And then you announced this judgment fund. And right now, here's the challenge.

00:15:47.700 If John Thune had put reconciliation on the floor tonight, the Democrats would have put a bunch of

00:15:56.360 amendments on the floor to unwind the judgment fund, and we would have lost every vote. And we

00:16:02.940 wouldn't have lost it close. It wouldn't have been 51-49. I got to tell you, the Republican

00:16:08.220 senators were pissed. People were, the entire meeting, they were screaming at the acting

00:16:14.760 attorney general. And he was trying to lay out the legal basis. And by the way, the legal basis

00:16:19.280 is quite sound. Listen, under Joe Biden, the Department of Justice, the FBI, the entire

00:16:25.580 federal government was weaponized against American citizens. They use DOJ and the FBI as their

00:16:32.700 stormtroopers to go after their political enemies. And so you and I have been talking about for a

00:16:39.040 long time, there needs to be accountability. There needs to be accountability in terms of the people

00:16:42.620 that did that, but there also needs to be accountability in terms of a remedy for the

00:16:47.180 people who are targeted. This week, the Department of Justice announced this judgment fund. The

00:16:52.940 judgment fund would be for $1.7 billion. I understand what they're trying to do. They're

00:16:58.280 trying to provide real relief to people who were targeted by political weaponization by by the 0.98

00:17:05.540 biden justice department and fbi here's the problem number one there were multiple senators

00:17:11.020 who were yelling at the attorney general and it was not calm it was yelling and they were saying

00:17:16.140 this feels like self-dealing so president trump sued the united states government this judgment

00:17:23.700 fund came out of a settlement as a result of the lawsuit between donald trump and the u.s

00:17:28.820 government and there were multiple senators yelling at the attorney general saying this

00:17:32.900 feels like self-dealing this feels like trump cut a cut a deal with himself now let me give

00:17:39.160 you the attorney general's response and by the way ben you were going on cnn because you like 0.82

00:17:44.040 hanging out with communists i like i like beating the communists i like i like smoking the communists

00:17:49.720 Let's be clear about that. 0.91

00:17:51.340 Somebody's got to fight the commies.

00:17:53.060 Yeah.

00:17:53.720 So you called me tonight, and you're like, all right, I'm going on CNN.

00:17:56.920 What do I say about this?

00:17:59.040 Yeah.

00:18:00.320 Actually, if we're being totally honest, let's be clear.

00:18:02.700 I called you, and I said, I need your help.

00:18:05.880 I need your advice.

00:18:07.360 How do I talk about this?

00:18:09.080 Because I knew it was going to be five against one on this issue, right?

00:18:12.840 Okay, and Ben, you and I have been doing this for years.

00:18:16.100 I can't remember another time you've asked for my help.

00:18:18.780 it was actually pretty stunning i'm like wow this issue is bumpy if ben's like what the hell do i

00:18:25.060 say no i'm yeah i'm like call you know it's like i know who wants to be a millionaire it's like

00:18:28.740 call a lifeline like no you were like on this one you were like okay i'm gonna go be surrounded by

00:18:33.460 liberals attacking me what do i say yeah here was todd blanch's talking point number one

00:18:40.120 which most people don't know apparently according to the agreements of this announcement

00:18:46.960 president trump and his family are not eligible to receive funds from this fund

00:18:53.220 that's a good thing like in terms of the question of did they cut a deal that was

00:18:59.400 self-dealing and benefiting themselves if they're not eligible to receive funds from

00:19:05.180 this fund that helps that that makes it better sure secondly uh what they said so there were

00:19:13.000 a lot of questions about january 6th and listen january 6th a lot of things happened uh and most

00:19:19.820 of the senators we were in the capitol on january 6th we saw a violent rioters storm uh the capitol

00:19:27.860 we were evacuated we evacuated the senate floor because there were violent rioters who to be

00:19:33.500 clear were chanting hang mike pence who were coming in and and there was a real air of violence

00:19:39.260 that was occurring and a lot of senators were unhappy saying wait are people who committed

00:19:48.300 acts of violence are people who assaulted police officers who beat up police officers on january

00:19:54.820 6th are they about to get a check from taxpayer funds now todd blanche was adamant and he said

00:20:04.020 not just no, but hell no. And he said, this was not just to one senator. This was to three or five

00:20:10.180 or ten. I mean, it was over and over again. He said, no, no, no. Nobody who committed an act

00:20:15.800 of violence, nobody who assaulted law enforcement is going to be eligible to receive a payment. He

00:20:21.340 said, listen, this judgment fund is here for people, for parents who were targeted as school

00:20:27.960 boards, for people who were targeted for Catholics going to their parish who were targeted by the

00:20:33.400 FBI this this is this fund is here for American citizens that were targeted by the weaponization

00:20:39.600 of the Biden administration everything they said I'm like hooray hooray hooray but I got to tell

00:20:45.520 you people were really worked up and they said listen the terms of this judgment fund

00:20:50.540 acting attorney general Blanche you're telling us people have committed active acts of violence

00:20:57.420 are not eligible. But the announcement doesn't say that. And so that was the real divide. And

00:21:04.340 here was the problem. We had planned to put reconciliation on the floor tonight. So my plan

00:21:11.140 was it is now 2.06 a.m. Texas time, 3.06 a.m. D.C. time. I'd expected to be on the floor of the

00:21:22.060 senate right now doing reconciliation voting on the democrat amendments and then funding border

00:21:28.240 security but here's the problem the democrats were going to introduce a bunch of amendments

00:21:35.640 all focused on the judgment fund and we were going to lose those amendment votes because of the 40

00:21:43.840 plus republicans in the room i'd say half of them were ready to vote with the democrats on this and

00:21:50.280 so it was angry it was hot people were pissed and and there were going to be amendments like 0.68

00:21:57.740 the judgment fund cannot be used to pay people who are guilty of raping women 0.65

00:22:05.000 now i gotta say look i'm pretty darn conservative i don't want to pay taxpayer dollars to people who

00:22:14.020 are rapists like like there were amendments that were coming up that were going to be bumpy and by

00:22:19.100 the way i agree with the idea of this judgment fund i'm a big supporter of it but the degree

00:22:25.960 of the jailbreak of republicans who were bolting who were saying we're going to vote with the

00:22:32.680 democrats and basically kill reconciliation because of this judgment fund i think if the

00:22:38.020 judgment fund had not been announced this week we would be right now on the senate floor we'd

00:22:44.120 be funding border security if they announced the judgment fund next week it would have been a

00:22:50.380 political issue but it wouldn't have been the same contest what ended up happening is republican

00:22:56.260 leadership said look we don't have the votes and that ain't changing in the next 12 hours

00:23:01.420 and so they just punted they said you know what we're going to vote in a week we're all on a one

00:23:06.620 week recess so the next week i'm going to be traveling around texas uh we're all going to

00:23:11.280 be in our home states and then we'll be back on june 1st we're going to vote on border security

00:23:16.060 then now the good news is the funding for border security is there so it will not limit border

00:23:21.560 security but i gotta say this meeting i felt bad i like todd he's a good guy he was the deputy

00:23:30.240 attorney general he's now the acting ag he was giving legal answers to the questions that were

00:23:37.180 being raised saying look this is a judgment fund this follows precedent of other judgment funds

00:23:42.460 this is settling litigation he was giving very legal answers the anger and frustration for

00:23:49.300 republican senators was not legal it was political it was you're putting us in a position that that

00:23:55.540 for many of the republican senators they were not willing to defend here's what's going to happen

00:23:59.740 ben there's going to be some change to this judgment fund i don't know what it's going to be

00:24:04.320 but it will be something that the white house and the department of justice agrees on they're

00:24:08.660 going to announce it because if nothing changes we don't have the votes to secure our border and

00:24:15.560 it is unacceptable it is untenable it is impossible to imagine that we will not fund

00:24:23.200 border security look i'm a yes i'm a yes regardless so so i ain't the problem in the

00:24:29.220 votes here, but I'll tell you in the room of 45 Republicans, there were 20 no's right now. And so

00:24:36.900 that is a problem, the solution, what is going to happen. And I told you this when you're going

00:24:42.500 on CNN. I said, I don't know exactly what will happen, but we will see the administration

00:24:47.780 announcing at a minimum a modification of this, because if they don't, they've got a full-on

00:24:54.560 revolt in the Senate. Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see what this next week unfolds,

00:24:58.460 And we're going to keep you up to date on it.

00:25:00.200 I can promise you that and take you behind the scenes.

00:25:02.460 You can't get this anywhere else.

00:25:04.120 This is why I love doing the show, because you get to hear exactly what really happened today.

00:25:08.340 Is there another show that takes you inside the closed-door meeting at the Senate that happened today?

00:25:15.380 I don't know.

00:25:16.300 And brings you that show from the laundry room.

00:25:19.260 Let's be clear.

00:25:20.160 Like, this is all access, Senator.

00:25:22.180 All access here.

00:25:23.220 I love it.

00:25:25.140 And I've got to say on this, Ben.

00:25:26.820 look normally in these fights i stand up and i'm i'm fighting for the president i'm fighting for

00:25:34.560 the white house i'm fighting for us to do the right thing this was a meeting where where frankly

00:25:40.140 there was no point there were so many people who were pissed that it was clear you just had to give

00:25:46.720 it a little while to like let it play out like like when you have cathartic anger you need to

00:25:53.540 let it spill out. And part of it is, as I mentioned, there are a number of Republicans

00:25:58.180 who are really angry at the president because he's endorsed against them. That's going to be

00:26:03.240 a challenge for the rest of the year. And so we will get this done. We will secure the border.

00:26:08.860 And we're also going to deal with the abuse of power. But it's going to take a little bit of

00:26:14.300 time. I want to take a quick moment and talk to you about an incredible organization. And it is

00:26:19.320 called Compassion International and how you can get involved.

00:26:23.440 Love, generosity, and compassion.

00:26:25.860 We say those words all the time, and they sound good.

00:26:29.040 They feel good.

00:26:30.020 But here's the truth.

00:26:31.660 Those words don't mean anything unless they turn into action.

00:26:35.860 And right now, not later today, not tomorrow,

00:26:39.320 there's a child in the world who doesn't know if they'll eat,

00:26:43.420 if they'll have a chance to learn, or if there's any hope at all.

00:26:47.800 And while we're all busy, life keeps moving forward, but that child is waiting.

00:26:54.140 This is where you come in.

00:26:56.160 With Compassion International, you have the chance to change a child's future, not just

00:27:01.200 with words, not with promises, but with real help that provides food, education, and hope

00:27:07.880 through local churches and people already in their community.

00:27:12.560 Put your words into action and join me.

00:27:15.540 introduce a child to a loving heavenly father today at compassion.com that's compassion.com

00:27:24.200 i want to move on to what we talked about in the last show has now become a reality and that is

00:27:30.220 raul castro has been indicted uh this is bringing lots of celebration to the the cuban community

00:27:39.020 down in florida a lot of excitement also in cuba because of this and we've seen some of

00:27:45.440 those videos have been able to get out of the country with limited access to the internet there

00:27:49.680 but this is a very big moment for justice and and now we we there couldn't be more of a stark

00:27:57.120 difference between having a former president barack obama that would sit down with this man

00:28:01.800 who's now been accused of murder by the united states america indicted for that he sat down with

00:28:06.640 him in a baseball game hung out with him and now donald trump's like no no we don't do that with

00:28:11.100 bad guys we don't negotiate with them we indict them well forget the cuban community in in florida 0.86

00:28:17.900 this cuban american in houston texas in my laundry room thankfully not surrounded by cat crap right 0.87

00:28:24.620 now is celebrating because raul castro has been indicted let me read from fox news former cuban

00:28:33.240 president raul castro has been indicted in connection with to his alleged role in the

00:28:38.200 1996 downing of two planes operated by the miami-based exile group brothers to the rescue

00:28:44.060 the indictment which a florida grand jury returned in april was unsealed wednesday

00:28:49.220 acting u.s attorney general todd blanche said during an announcement in miami on wednesday

00:28:54.000 it charges castro with conspiracy to kill u.s nationals destruction of aircraft and four

00:29:02.420 separate counts of murder. The indictment stems from a February 1996 indictment in which four

00:29:08.960 Americans, Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandra Jr., Mario de la Pena, and Pablo Morales were flying

00:29:17.920 in civilian aircraft when Cuban military aircraft shot their planes down in international waters

00:29:24.520 and killed them, the indictment alleges according to Blanche. Quote, they were unarmed civilians

00:29:30.600 and were flying humanitarian missions for the rescue and protection of people fleeing oppression across the Florida Straits, Blanche said.

00:29:40.300 Quote, as alleged in the indictment, Raul Castro and five co-defendants participated in a conspiracy

00:29:45.700 that ended with Cuban military aircraft firing missiles at those planes and killing four Americans, he continued.

00:29:53.280 nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target americans kill them and not face

00:30:00.340 accountability blanche also said joining blanche announcing the indictment were united states

00:30:05.660 attorney for the southern district of florida jason a reading quinones deputy fbi director

00:30:13.800 christopher rea and florida attorney general james utheimer look raul castro he's in his

00:30:22.040 mid-90s. He is a murdering, torturous, communist bastard. Look, if there's one thing, and let me 1.00

00:30:31.660 say to the folks that listen to Verdict, you guys know me. If there's one thing about me, I genuinely

00:30:38.580 and deeply and passionately loathe communists. Communism is the most evil ideology humanity 0.98

00:30:48.620 has ever created. Communism has produced more murder, more torture, more imprisonment, more 0.96

00:30:56.380 poverty, more misery than any ideology in the history of our planet. Fidel Castro was an evil 0.99

00:31:06.900 monster. When Fidel Castro died, I gave a floor speech saying how happy I was 0.99

00:31:15.860 that Fidel Castro had moved to warmer climates. 0.86

00:31:22.940 I believe Fidel Castro is burning in hell right now. 0.97

00:31:29.000 His brother Raul was vicious, 0.98

00:31:33.220 was responsible for much of the oppression in Cuba.

00:31:37.840 He's no longer the president.

00:31:40.260 He's now 94.

00:31:42.440 And I am incredibly glad.

00:31:44.280 I am gratified.

00:31:45.860 that the trump department of justice has indicted him for murder this is an evil man and this may

00:31:52.700 well set set the predicate just like nicolas maduro for the united states going in to execute

00:32:00.220 this arrest warrant to arrest him and and i gotta say one of the striking by the way i had to ask

00:32:07.140 you this real quick do you think there's a a decent probability that is actually what could

00:32:11.780 happen here? 50-50. Look, I think President Trump is going to ask the military, how likely are we

00:32:20.260 to succeed? It depends where Raul Castro is. Could you mount a military campaign to go in and get

00:32:26.660 him? I don't know how secure he is. I have zero classified information on this, so I'm not

00:32:31.460 revealing anything. But I don't think President Trump will order the operation if it is unlikely

00:32:38.760 to succeed so if Castro makes a stupid decision and goes somewhere where we could get him I think 0.98

00:32:47.440 there's a real chance we go arrest him if he is hidden underground either figuratively or literally 0.99

00:32:53.860 where we don't know where he is that becomes more complicated so I don't know the answer to that

00:32:59.960 but but I think it's a 50-50 proposition right now and I will say the contrast if you look at

00:33:08.220 the alums from the Obama administration, if you look at Ben Rhodes, who was the deputy national

00:33:13.700 security advisor under Obama, he is effectively weeping. You look at Jen Psaki. Jen Psaki had

00:33:21.060 Ben Rhodes on TV, and they were lamenting how horrible it was that Raul Castro had been

00:33:27.480 indicted. Understand, when Obama was president, he went and joined Raul Castro at a baseball game.

00:33:35.300 They were piling it around. They had their arms around each other. And listen, commies like other commies. Listen, Barack Obama, when he was president, at times he pretended he was moderate.

00:33:49.560 it but i think as the years have gone by it has been clear look there is a very real communist

00:33:57.520 movement in the democrat party they've got people like graham plattner this crazy self-described

00:34:04.400 communist running for senate in maine the guy with the nazi totenkampf tattoo on his chest

00:34:10.220 he will tell you he's a communist uh aoc ilhan omar uh those folks they won't quite tell you

00:34:21.700 they're communists but they're close al-said who's the radical leftist running for senate

00:34:27.140 in michigan is also pretty damn close to a communist and and listen i believe i i think

00:34:33.080 obama is responsible for all of this he has radicalized the democrat party and and so you

00:34:40.380 look at you you look at the pictures and images of of obama embracing raul castro obama loved

00:34:49.840 communists who were enemies of america obama started his presidency one of the very first

00:34:54.840 things he did he went to the university of cairo in egypt and he gave a speech and he said iran 0.97

00:35:01.860 has a right and he used the word right to nuclear technology now that's idiocy that that makes no

00:35:09.840 sense but all of the obama bros are weeping right now because if you gave them a choice 0.99

00:35:18.600 who do you like more raul castro the communist murdering torturing evil tyrant or donald trump 0.74

00:35:27.620 100% of the Obama bros 0.96

00:35:30.940 Would pick Castro over Trump

00:35:32.560 And so they're all freaking out

00:35:34.780 I gotta say 1.00

00:35:35.820 Karma is a bitch 0.99

00:35:38.880 It really is 1.00

00:35:41.340 Don't forget we do this show

00:35:42.640 As a podcast three days a week

00:35:45.100 Make sure you get Verdict with Ted Cruz

00:35:46.800 Wherever you get your podcasts

00:35:48.460 You can download it for free

00:35:50.260 And you can also watch us on YouTube as well

00:35:52.940 If you want to watch the show

00:35:53.980 Just go to Verdict with Ted Cruz on YouTube

00:35:55.680 And you can do that

00:35:56.460 And we'll also see you back here on this radio station next weekend as well.

00:36:01.160 Have a great week.

00:36:03.080 Get rewarded just for shopping with Simon Plus.

00:36:06.840 Don't miss Memorial Day sales at Simon Premium Outlets and Mills.

00:36:11.340 You can get points at scores of stores, access to exclusive offers, and exciting surprises.

00:36:17.960 You've got an extra day off, so make it pay off with the best deals from brands you love

00:36:23.660 all in one place.

00:36:25.060 it's a summer kickoff thing join today at simonplus.com rewards program terms apply

00:36:31.780 see simonplus.com for details turn someday into right now with body by jake radio non-stop workout

00:36:38.440 music and expert tips 24 7 hey head over to iheart.com search body by jake radio and stream

00:36:44.380 it for free right now awesome health and wellness tips 24 hours a day seven days a week remember

00:36:49.740 stick to the fight when your heart is hit it's when things seem worse that you must not quit

00:36:53.760 don't quit body by jake radio where hope meets momentum search body by jake radio

00:36:59.220 and stream it for free have a great day

Verdict with Ted Cruz - May 22, 2026

Chaos in DC on Reconciliation & DOJ Judgment Fund plus Raul Castro Indicted

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript