Verdict with Ted Cruz - January 17, 2024


CRUZ ENDORSES TRUMP, plus Hunter Caught with a Gun & Cocaine


Episode Stats


Length

33 minutes

Words per minute

172.36584

Word count

5,827

Sentence count

505

Harmful content

Misogyny

13

sentences flagged

Toxicity

13

sentences flagged

Hate speech

4

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz reacts to Donald Trump's win in the Iowa caucus and announces his endorsement of Donald J. Trump for president of the United States in a speech on his way home from the campaign trail. Ted Cruz and Ben Fergus recount the results of the Iowa Caucuses and discuss the impact it had on the outcome of the race.

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 .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.560 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.580 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.380 It was a blowout, Senator, in the Hawkeye State.
00:00:13.220 Donald Trump wins the Iowa caucuses and no unstated terms, it was a landslide.
00:00:21.060 It was an incredible victory for him.
00:00:23.640 And that brings us to something else that also is going to be a really big deal for Verdict listeners.
00:00:28.180 You have something big to talk about right now.
00:00:30.700 Well, that's exactly right.
00:00:32.400 So you and I are sitting here.
00:00:33.780 It is 1026 p.m. on Tuesday.
00:00:37.000 This podcast will come out early Wednesday morning.
00:00:39.860 So we're a day after Iowa.
00:00:42.080 Listen, the results in Iowa were extraordinary.
00:00:45.860 Iowa was hotly contested.
00:00:47.780 The candidates spent a lot of time there.
00:00:49.460 They vigorously fought.
00:00:51.220 And the results were dominating.
00:00:54.000 Trump won everywhere.
00:00:55.560 He won over 51% of the vote.
00:00:58.560 He beat his closest competitor, Ron DeSantis, by over 30 points.
00:01:03.140 He won 98 out of 99 Iowa counties.
00:01:07.000 The only county he lost is the most liberal county in Iowa.
00:01:11.300 And he lost that vote, that county, by a vote.
00:01:14.660 It was as dominating a result as there has ever been in the Iowa caucus in anything resembling an open caucus.
00:01:25.880 As a result, tonight, earlier tonight I went on Sean Hannity and on Hannity, I have endorsed Donald J. Trump for president of the United States.
00:01:35.500 And I did so because the results of Iowa are overwhelming.
00:01:41.280 And I believe in democracy.
00:01:42.660 I deliberately stand out of this race until after the people of Iowa voted.
00:01:47.640 And the reason is we had a contested race.
00:01:50.820 I am friends with multiple candidates in this race.
00:01:54.100 I believe the voters ought to determine who our nominee is.
00:01:57.800 Well, they have.
00:01:58.760 The results were compelling.
00:02:01.760 And so as a result, I have enthusiastically endorsed Donald Trump.
00:02:06.380 I think it is time for the party to come together.
00:02:09.760 It is time for us to unite because the stakes are so incredibly high.
00:02:13.860 I believe at this point it is clear who our nominee is going to be.
00:02:17.100 Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee.
00:02:19.760 And I think it's critical we win in November.
00:02:21.820 Listen, the forces that are arrayed against Donald Trump have never been arrayed against any candidate in the history of our nation.
00:02:30.700 It is extraordinary.
00:02:32.300 Four indictments, the media, the corruption.
00:02:35.540 It is breathtaking.
00:02:36.740 Now, frankly, the Democrats who indicted Donald Trump played a real role in giving him this overwhelming victory in Iowa.
00:02:45.480 And so every one of them, when we're sitting here on January 20th of next year at President Trump's second inauguration, they ought to pause and reflect on the pivotal role they played in making this happen.
00:03:00.460 That being said, Joe Biden and the Democrats have been a disaster for our nation.
00:03:05.360 The American people are hurting.
00:03:06.980 The people of Texas are hurting.
00:03:08.300 And we need to change the path we're on.
00:03:10.180 And so I've endorsed Trump because I enthusiastically want President Trump to win in November.
00:03:16.220 I want us to change the path we're on.
00:03:18.280 And we need to work to make that happen.
00:03:20.600 You look at how decisive this victory was.
00:03:22.900 And I want to just really get into the minutiae of this for a second.
00:03:26.580 Trump got more votes in Iowa than Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Vivek combined.
00:03:31.060 That was such a strong message.
00:03:33.160 He also didn't do any of the televised debates.
00:03:35.560 And that's where I was looking at this and seeing it and going, this is a clear message, I think, to Joe Biden and to the Democratic Party that you can come after Donald Trump.
00:03:47.800 You can you can come after him in legal terms.
00:03:51.940 You can get mug shots of him.
00:03:53.960 You can put things on him that are egregious and absurd. 0.83
00:03:57.740 You can have rogue and disgusting prosecutors like we've witnessed in Georgia, for example.
00:04:04.320 And it's not scaring voters away from Donald Trump.
00:04:08.460 How much of an important aspect of this victory do you think dealt with that, that they said, hey, we're going to take him off the ballot, Colorado and all these other states.
00:04:17.780 And the people said, not only are we not going to let you do this, but we're going to stand up and we're going to stand behind him and we're going to send a clear message, I think, to all of these people coming after him.
00:04:28.640 Trump got 51 percent in Iowa.
00:04:30.460 That means he got more votes than everybody in the ballot.
00:04:33.220 He got more votes than Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley and Vivek.
00:04:36.760 He got more votes than Chris Christie has dropped out, added to Asa Hutchison, added to Ben Ferguson and Mother Teresa.
00:04:43.460 Add all of them together.
00:04:44.600 Trump got more.
00:04:45.260 And by the way, Ben, I apologize.
00:04:47.620 I'm sorry you suffered such a crushing defeat.
00:04:50.060 I just needed the endorsement, sir.
00:04:51.920 I needed that endorsement.
00:04:53.000 But there's always four years from now, right?
00:04:54.820 You know, the future is always there for you.
00:04:57.860 But but look, at the end of the day, as I said, when we're here on January 20th, Alvin Bragg and Fannie Willis and Jack Smith, they ought to remember this moment because they played a pivotal role in it happening.
00:05:10.420 And and look, Americans across this country were horrified at the persecution.
00:05:16.560 The Democrats are afraid.
00:05:18.540 Joe Biden is afraid that if the voters get a free choice, they'll choose to elect President Trump.
00:05:26.160 And as a result, they are abusing the legal process.
00:05:29.320 They're going after him.
00:05:30.300 They're trying to destroy him.
00:05:31.380 And millions of people said enough is enough.
00:05:33.960 This is grotesque.
00:05:35.180 I'm with him.
00:05:36.640 That's powerful.
00:05:37.580 And I understand every bit of it.
00:05:39.800 When you look at where we go next, and you've obviously done this as a candidate, explain what's going to happen next, moving from Iowa to New Hampshire to South Carolina and how quickly you think this could people will coalesce behind former President Donald Trump the same way that you're saying now there's a clear message he's going to be the nominee.
00:05:59.120 But explain the politics of this.
00:06:01.260 And now what will happen in this next phase?
00:06:03.840 Look, I think this race is functionally over where we are. 1.00
00:06:07.420 Ron DeSantis' campaign depended upon his winning Iowa.
00:06:11.380 He didn't.
00:06:12.480 And he not only didn't win, it wasn't close.
00:06:15.580 He lost by over 30 points.
00:06:17.840 That is a crushing blow to that campaign.
00:06:21.540 We moved to New Hampshire.
00:06:22.800 New Hampshire is historically a more moderate state.
00:06:25.840 It is a flinty independent state.
00:06:28.960 In New Hampshire, DeSantis' numbers are incredibly low.
00:06:32.520 They're single digits.
00:06:33.300 Chris Christie, who had been polling in the low double digits, is out of the race.
00:06:38.840 Vivek, who had a little bit of support, is out of the race.
00:06:41.700 In New Hampshire, it's basically a two-person race between Trump and Nikki Haley. 0.99
00:06:46.960 The current polling shows them pretty close.
00:06:49.920 Nikki Haley is running as an establishment moderate.
00:06:53.160 That's the lane she's in. 0.94
00:06:54.900 That has always been a lane in the Republican primary.
00:06:57.260 And she's consolidated the establishment moderate vote. 0.50
00:07:02.480 At the end of the day, I don't know how she'll do in New Hampshire.
00:07:06.100 She may do well in New Hampshire because the establishment moderate lane historically has been a sizable lane in New Hampshire. 1.00
00:07:13.020 Nationally, establishment moderates are about 30% of the Republican Party.
00:07:17.520 And I got to say, as just a simple question of math, there is no way 30% beats 70%.
00:07:26.780 And so, New Hampshire, we'll see where it is.
00:07:31.160 Nikki Haley will probably do pretty well.
00:07:32.800 I think Trump likely wins New Hampshire, but it may be relatively close.
00:07:37.540 But after that, we're going to go to Nevada.
00:07:39.580 Nevada is a strange state this year because there's a fight between a caucus and a primary.
00:07:47.180 And I think the results in Nevada are going to be a mess this year.
00:07:50.500 So then you will move to South Carolina where the primary is.
00:07:54.020 Now, Nikki Haley is obviously the former governor of South Carolina. 0.99
00:07:58.880 But South Carolina is a pretty conservative state.
00:08:01.380 It is significantly more conservative than New Hampshire.
00:08:04.440 Historically, Iowa and South Carolina often vote together, and frequently, New Hampshire is an outlier in that.
00:08:12.180 I think it is likely that when we get to South Carolina, Trump will win a dominating victory,
00:08:17.340 that I think he's likely to beat Nikki Haley by double digits, and it could be by 30, 40 points.
00:08:22.880 I think it will be a big victory in South Carolina.
00:08:26.500 And at that point, I think the race is over.
00:08:28.960 We will move on to Super Tuesday.
00:08:31.600 You get a whole bunch of states.
00:08:33.120 It's Super Tuesday has sometimes been referred to as the SEC primary.
00:08:38.020 You get a lot of southern states.
00:08:39.560 I think Trump is likely to win across the board on Super Tuesday.
00:08:44.340 And so I think at the latest, this race is over by Super Tuesday.
00:08:48.260 When you look at these other candidates, and they're now sitting there, there's one big problem,
00:08:52.720 and that is raising funds and inspiring people.
00:08:56.160 When you lose and you lose badly, you've got to try to go back and rally the troops.
00:09:01.080 You've got to move on.
00:09:01.920 You've got a staff that's been, you know, the air has been let out of the balloon.
00:09:07.200 You've been doing this now for months on end.
00:09:09.800 And you have these types of showings, as you mentioned, with DeSantis and Haley, Vivek obviously dropping out.
00:09:17.340 What's going through their minds tonight moving forward as well?
00:09:20.900 And how much, I guess, leeway should people give?
00:09:24.560 Because you see this online.
00:09:26.060 People are like, you know, drop out now.
00:09:27.940 It's Trump's, you know, get out of the way.
00:09:30.320 You need to coalesce behind right now.
00:09:31.980 And if you don't, we'll never forgive you.
00:09:33.500 I mean, we see a ton of that in politics.
00:09:35.600 But what perspective and how long should it take them to kind of get their head around the reality of this?
00:09:42.120 Look, that'll play out in time.
00:09:44.300 I'm not pressing anyone to drop out.
00:09:46.380 They're going to decide.
00:09:47.820 By the way, everyone in presidential campaigns drops out for the same reason.
00:09:52.620 They go broke.
00:09:53.680 That ultimately, if you look throughout history, decade after decade, that's when people drop out.
00:09:58.580 When they can't pay their salary anymore, when they can't fly anymore, when they can't put on an event anymore, when they can't run an ad anymore, when they go broke, they drop out.
00:10:07.880 DeSantis has an enormous problem.
00:10:09.920 He is going to have a massive problem raising money at this point.
00:10:13.620 He will probably raise some money in Florida.
00:10:16.660 So there are a handful of people in Florida.
00:10:18.540 He's still the governor of Florida.
00:10:20.220 So if you're a lobbyist in Florida, if you're a big business in Florida, you'll probably still write him a check because when he loses, he's still going to be the governor of Florida.
00:10:28.580 So you don't want to piss him off.
00:10:30.120 So he'll raise a little bit of money from Florida.
00:10:32.860 But if you're not in Florida, I don't know anyone that's going to write him a check right now.
00:10:38.280 So that's going to be a huge problem.
00:10:41.380 Haley, Haley has had a surge of cash and she'll get a bigger surge of cash. 0.54
00:10:46.860 The never Trumpers.
00:10:48.140 Wall Street will be enthusiastically behind Haley.
00:10:51.820 The people who hate Donald Trump with a burning passion will be enthusiastically behind Haley.
00:10:57.480 So she's going to get a rush of cash. 0.58
00:10:59.880 But at the end of the day, a rush of cash can't buy votes.
00:11:04.840 Jeb Bush in 2016 had a mountain of cash.
00:11:08.160 And at the end of the day, he won zero states.
00:11:12.500 Nikki Haley has a path, I believe, at best to win one state.
00:11:17.680 It is conceivable she wins New Hampshire.
00:11:20.460 I think she probably does.
00:11:21.400 And I think Trump is likely to win New Hampshire.
00:11:23.460 But you can imagine Haley winning New Hampshire. 0.98
00:11:28.740 But at that point, the path is over.
00:11:30.780 So I think there'll be a ton of money.
00:11:33.060 And once you get the race could be over before Super Tuesday.
00:11:38.080 Listen, if Trump wins, he's won Iowa.
00:11:40.340 If he wins New Hampshire, if he wins South Carolina, it's difficult to see how anyone stays in the race.
00:11:46.360 Well, let me ask you this about Nikki.
00:11:49.640 Do you think it'll backfire that the New Hampshire GOP primary debate has now been canceled?
00:11:55.520 That after Nikki Haley has pulled out of those debates, it's being reported by ABC News that they have canceled their New Hampshire primary debate after Haley said she won't.
00:12:05.380 She would only appear if Trump did.
00:12:08.940 The former president, Trump, has not been part of any of the previous five debates.
00:12:12.880 I can't imagine why he would change his strategy now.
00:12:15.760 But her dropping out, I actually think that could turn off a lot of voters to her in New Hampshire. 0.97
00:12:22.020 What are your thoughts?
00:12:23.220 You know, it's a hard dynamic.
00:12:24.920 Because without Trump there, at this point, Haley debating DeSantis would just be weird.
00:12:31.660 Because DeSantis, I like Ron.
00:12:34.200 He's a friend of mine.
00:12:35.000 He was a great governor of Florida.
00:12:36.380 He still is a great governor of Florida.
00:12:38.240 He doesn't have a path anymore.
00:12:40.120 And so I get Haley saying, well, why would I debate Ron DeSantis when he doesn't have a path?
00:12:47.340 Her opponent, Haley's only opponent, is Donald Trump.
00:12:51.440 And so a debate against anyone not named Donald J. Trump doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
00:12:56.920 That being said, from Trump's perspective, why on earth would he debate Haley?
00:13:01.060 I mean, he's, I think he's won this race.
00:13:04.260 That's why I've endorsed him.
00:13:05.720 I think it is functionally over.
00:13:07.900 And I want us to win in November.
00:13:11.400 And I got to say, I'm comfortable, very comfortable with that endorsement.
00:13:17.480 Look, there are things Trump says and does that I don't like that I disagree with.
00:13:22.080 That's been true forever.
00:13:23.480 But if I compare the record of Donald Trump as president to the record of Joe Biden as president, it's not even close.
00:13:31.500 Under the former, the benefits for the people of Texas and the American people were massive.
00:13:36.620 We had prosperity.
00:13:38.020 We had a secure border.
00:13:39.300 We had peace worldwide compared to under Biden.
00:13:45.340 We have skyrocketing inflation.
00:13:48.300 We have crime out of control.
00:13:49.440 We have the worst illegal immigration in the history of our country. 1.00
00:13:53.040 We have the biggest war in Europe since World War II.
00:13:58.800 We have the worst war in the Middle East in 50 years. 0.90
00:14:02.020 On any measure, Trump's record is massively, massively, massively better than Joe Biden's.
00:14:09.060 And so that, for me, makes me very comfortable.
00:14:12.660 I want us to win in November.
00:14:14.200 We need to defeat Joe Biden and the cultural Marxists who take it over our federal government.
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00:16:33.400 Senator, I also want to ask you about the issues.
00:16:36.540 Every election cycle, presidential specifically, you have certain themes and you have certain issues that get and drive voters to the polls.
00:16:46.800 As a candidate, you've got to make sure you're hitting those issues.
00:16:50.520 And when you look at what this overwhelming victory in Iowa means for Donald Trump,
00:16:56.440 it means he's talking the right issues.
00:16:59.560 When you look forward, I think it's clear. 1.00
00:17:02.320 It's the economy stupid. 1.00
00:17:03.660 It's the worries about inflation. 1.00
00:17:06.260 It is the worries about high interest rates.
00:17:08.560 It's the worries about national security.
00:17:10.740 And it's still going back to what actually made his campaign explode in 16.
00:17:15.580 Build the wall.
00:17:16.580 I mean, there is a national security aspect to the open borders and the chaos down there.
00:17:21.900 If he goes back and stays on these issues, which he's been doing so far pretty well,
00:17:29.680 this seems to be what this election is going to be about.
00:17:32.980 Were you better off then than you are now under Joe Biden's America?
00:17:37.200 Yeah, there are two massive issues in this election.
00:17:40.500 Number one is jobs and the economy.
00:17:42.200 And jobs and the economy are always front and center in any election. 0.99
00:17:45.160 As you noted, James Carville famously put it in Bill Clinton's election, it's the economy stupid. 0.99
00:17:52.220 Like people care about jobs. 0.99
00:17:53.680 They care about their family.
00:17:54.700 They care about their income.
00:17:55.760 They care about paying the bills.
00:17:56.880 They care about their children.
00:17:58.160 They care about their future.
00:17:59.680 And the economy, Joe Biden, is driven into the ground.
00:18:03.200 The inflation is hurting everyone.
00:18:05.100 Whether you're buying food, whether you're paying for electricity,
00:18:08.260 whether you're paying for the health care,
00:18:09.420 whether you're paying for gasoline,
00:18:11.260 everything, the cost has gone up.
00:18:13.580 And people are hurting.
00:18:14.500 People are really unhappy.
00:18:16.460 They're feeling the pain.
00:18:18.400 The second issue that resonates powerfully is safety and security.
00:18:23.040 And people want to be safe.
00:18:25.060 They want their families to be safe.
00:18:26.480 They want their wives, their children to be safe.
00:18:29.580 And under Joe Biden, people's safety and security has been seriously compromised.
00:18:35.460 And that's a combination of multiple issues.
00:18:37.600 That's a combination of crime.
00:18:39.060 Crime skyrocketing everywhere as Democrats have assaulted the police,
00:18:42.900 attacked the police, and stood with violent criminals against law enforcement.
00:18:49.040 That has made all of us less safe.
00:18:51.460 You combine that with illegal immigration.
00:18:53.700 And people don't like the chaos.
00:18:55.100 They don't like all of the horrors that are on playing.
00:18:57.880 But they also don't like the threat to their families and their children.
00:19:01.640 That illegal immigration that bringing in criminals and murderers 1.00
00:19:04.700 and gangbangers and MS-13 and terrorists to this country,
00:19:09.700 the danger that provides.
00:19:11.140 And you put on top of that the wars that we have,
00:19:13.480 the war in Ukraine, the war in Israel,
00:19:15.520 the exposure we have to a major terrorist attack in the next year,
00:19:19.960 which I think is massive.
00:19:21.540 And people feel, they feel afraid.
00:19:24.620 They feel afraid for their safety and security.
00:19:26.540 And I think those two issues, jobs and the economy and safety and security,
00:19:31.180 are going to dominate this election.
00:19:33.380 And on both of those, the Democrats are a train wreck.
00:19:37.940 And Trump's record objectively is massively better.
00:19:41.240 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00
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00:20:12.860 I got to ask you one other thing about this real quick,
00:20:15.460 and it's going to make you laugh.
00:20:16.860 I have a feeling I'm going to know something,
00:20:19.420 and this rarely happens, that you don't know.
00:20:22.400 In the odds in Vegas, the odds makers today,
00:20:26.060 Senator, added a name to the list of prospects
00:20:30.160 who you can bet on to become president of the United States of America.
00:20:34.800 Do you know who they added today?
00:20:37.680 Benjamin Ferguson.
00:20:38.480 Right in the now, President Ferguson,
00:20:41.640 I look forward to visiting your giant block of cheese in the West Wing.
00:20:46.560 Close, but my name is still not where the odds makers.
00:20:50.600 It is none other than Michelle Obama.
00:20:53.960 They are taking official bets now.
00:20:56.480 The odds makers that Michelle Obama could become president of the United States of America
00:21:00.480 this after the Iowa caucuses, they update their list.
00:21:04.800 Her name has now officially been added.
00:21:07.480 It is ahead, by the way, of people like Kennedy Jr., for example,
00:21:13.020 and it's ahead of, I'm trying to remember, they had somebody else on there.
00:21:16.920 Oh, it's ahead of the governor of California, Gavin Newsom.
00:21:22.220 The odds makers are saying Michelle Obama, out of nowhere, she's not running, right?
00:21:26.920 But we've been saying this on verdict.
00:21:29.580 Are you a little surprised by this?
00:21:32.240 No, I'm not.
00:21:33.920 And listen, remember, verdict this podcast predicted at first.
00:21:37.200 Now, I still don't think it's greater than 50% that Michelle is the Democrat nominee.
00:21:43.880 But as I said recently, I think on last week of the week before his podcast,
00:21:47.960 I think it's probably 55-45 that it is Joe Biden versus Michelle Obama.
00:21:53.120 I think it is almost a coin flip.
00:21:55.460 And I think Gavin Newsom has a 0% chance.
00:21:57.740 I think there's no other Democrat that has a chance.
00:21:59.600 It will be one of the two.
00:22:01.560 We said this early.
00:22:02.720 Franklin, we said this early.
00:22:03.960 You saw folks in the media kind of say, OK, this is an outlandish theory.
00:22:09.580 Who are these crazy loons, Cruz and Ferguson, that are pitching this?
00:22:14.980 And to be clear, I want to be unambiguous. 0.86
00:22:17.340 I do not want to see a nation where Michelle Obama is our president.
00:22:20.880 I think she is extreme left. 0.57
00:22:23.800 I think her policies would be worse than Joe Biden. 0.93
00:22:28.340 But I think Democrats are scared.
00:22:31.280 They're scared that Donald Trump will win.
00:22:33.100 They recognize Joe Biden is a liability.
00:22:36.220 They're looking to get out.
00:22:37.200 And I think the only parachute they see is Michelle Obama.
00:22:41.020 And so that concern is real.
00:22:44.080 And I think it's growing every day.
00:22:45.780 The odds, just so you know, Donald Trump is 11 to 8 now.
00:22:50.460 And the best odds you can get, Joe Biden is 9 to 4.
00:22:53.320 Nikki Haley, 14 to 1.
00:22:54.740 Michelle Obama, 20 to 1.
00:22:56.220 And Gavin Newsom, 25 to 1.
00:22:58.180 So for all of those that thought that that was a crazy idea, they're now taking that bet in Vegas.
00:23:05.100 It is very interesting to see how quickly her name after that interview, which we talked about a week ago here, where she did that sit-down interview and said it keeps her up at night wondering who's going to be leading this country.
00:23:18.400 And we need a strong and powerful leader.
00:23:20.140 She was talking like a candidate.
00:23:21.420 They obviously have noticed it as well.
00:23:23.760 And now you can officially take that bets with the odds makers there.
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00:24:40.800 Senator, I want to turn to something else real quick.
00:24:44.040 And it's another issue that you're not going to hear about probably anywhere.
00:24:48.820 But here, and you might see it on Fox, Hunter Biden is back in the news barely.
00:24:55.440 Keyword, barely.
00:24:57.380 And the Washington Post's Matt Visor tweeted this out saying,
00:25:01.460 in a new court filing, the Department of Justice said they pulled Hunter Biden's gun from evidence
00:25:08.860 in 2023 and found a white substance on the leather gun pouch.
00:25:15.700 An FBI chemist determined it was cocaine.
00:25:20.800 To be clear, quote, investigators literally found drugs on the pouch where the defendant
00:25:25.920 has kept his gun, and yet no one's talking about cocaine found on the leather pouch of
00:25:33.160 the president's son's firearm.
00:25:36.140 Really?
00:25:37.220 So, look, Hunter Biden is a world of trouble.
00:25:40.280 Anyone who pays attention knows that.
00:25:42.980 This filing this week from the Department of Justice was really stunning.
00:25:47.240 It is a felony for someone who has substance abuse problems,
00:25:51.220 for someone who's using illegal drugs, to have a firearm.
00:25:54.380 Here's what the Biden Department of Justice said in their written brief filed in court.
00:26:00.040 I just want to read this.
00:26:01.700 It is the following paragraph.
00:26:04.760 Title, cocaine was found on the defendant's brown leather gun pouch.
00:26:11.060 Here's what the paragraph says.
00:26:13.160 In 2023, FBI investigators pulled sealed evidence from the state police vault
00:26:17.600 to take photographs of the defendant's firearm, the defendant being Hunter Biden.
00:26:22.100 After opening the evidence, FBI investigators observed a white powdery substance on the defendant's
00:26:29.360 brown leather pouch that had held the defendant's firearm in October 2018.
00:26:35.200 Based on their training and expertise, investigators believed that this substance was likely cocaine,
00:26:40.800 and that this evidence would corroborate the messages that investigators had obtained,
00:26:47.020 which showed the defendant buying and using drugs in October 2018.
00:26:52.280 An FBI chemist subsequently analyzed the residue and determined that it was cocaine.
00:27:00.440 To be clear, investigators literally found drugs on the pouch where the defendant had kept his gun.
00:27:09.960 Now, look, this is reminiscent of Bob Menendez having evidence in his closet of a jacket
00:27:19.540 with the U.S. Senate seal on it, with the name Senator Menendez typed on it,
00:27:26.540 with a packet of $10,000 in his pocket, with the fingerprints of the Egyptians who allegedly
00:27:32.900 bribed him in his pocket, like, like, like, I gotta tell you, I've practiced law a lot of years.
00:27:39.700 You don't get evidence like this. You don't get evidence that ties every piece of it together.
00:27:44.380 The fact that Hunter, his gun case had cocaine on it, and the FBI has determined,
00:27:49.920 yep, that's cocaine on his gun case.
00:27:52.160 The felony is possessing a firearm while using illegal drugs.
00:27:57.300 Your gun case has cocaine on it.
00:27:58.980 I don't care how bad a lawyer you are. That ain't hard to prove.
00:28:02.960 And let's be clear.
00:28:04.560 The Biden DOJ was prepared to give a sweetheart deal to Hunter Biden,
00:28:08.980 give him a slap on the wrist, and have him serve zero, not a moment, of jail time
00:28:15.000 until they got caught at it.
00:28:18.300 And so this evidence...
00:28:20.140 By the way, while they knew that the crime they committed,
00:28:22.640 which is a felony, lying on this, on this form, to buy a gun while you're on this.
00:28:29.320 Yes, yes, yes.
00:28:29.640 There's, there's, I mean, you can't make it up, Center.
00:28:32.560 Cocaine on the pouch of the gun.
00:28:34.700 How much easier would it be for you to have a case than this?
00:28:37.880 Look, I want to say something original that's never been said before.
00:28:41.780 Cocaine.
00:28:42.660 She don't lie.
00:28:43.880 She don't lie.
00:28:45.600 Cocaine.
00:28:48.040 Yeah.
00:28:48.680 Yeah.
00:28:48.980 Welcome to your DOJ right now.
00:28:50.680 If you're the president's son, you can have cocaine on your gun,
00:28:53.240 and they still will try to give you a sweetheart deal to cover it up. 0.99
00:28:56.740 By the way, but Ben, don't forget the mystery of the century.
00:29:00.660 The Department of Justice, the FBI, the CIA,
00:29:03.660 the entire amassed forces of the federal government cannot figure out
00:29:08.060 who left a packet of cocaine in the White House
00:29:11.260 with cameras everywhere and security guards everywhere.
00:29:14.500 It's a mystery.
00:29:15.800 Who the hell can figure it out?
00:29:17.640 And his name might rhyme with Bunter Hyden.
00:29:21.240 All right.
00:29:21.440 I can, I can, I can ask this because it's a podcast.
00:29:23.700 I can use this word.
00:29:24.820 So I'm going to use it.
00:29:25.720 Which one, and we'll end with this, Center, pisses you off more?
00:29:29.360 That they can't figure out whose cocaine it was in the White House
00:29:32.240 or that they can't figure out who leaked the decision coming out of the Supreme Court
00:29:36.960 on Roe v. Wade?
00:29:37.780 So let me break those down.
00:29:39.480 And I actually, I'm joking with the Bunter Hyden thing.
00:29:42.080 But as I, we said on a previous podcast and go back,
00:29:44.780 I actually don't think it's Hunter Biden's cocaine.
00:29:48.160 Really?
00:29:48.360 Okay.
00:29:48.820 Because, and we talked about this, right?
00:29:50.840 Oh, that's right.
00:29:51.720 Because I believe it's totally is.
00:29:53.660 No, it's not.
00:29:54.540 Because the place it's at is where the staff goes in and out.
00:29:58.400 I think it's a staffer.
00:29:59.920 I don't know if it's the chief of staff or the deputy chief of staff or a senior official,
00:30:03.420 but it's an employee and probably a senior employee, although I don't know that,
00:30:08.900 of the Biden White House because Hunter Biden, as the presidential son,
00:30:13.620 doesn't go through the staff entrance to the West Wing.
00:30:16.800 I go through there all, I used to, I haven't been there in years,
00:30:20.180 but when Trump was president, I went through there all the time.
00:30:23.680 That's where staff goes in and out.
00:30:25.620 It's not where the first family goes in and out.
00:30:28.580 And so I actually think the cover up there is they are hiding for a staffer 0.98
00:30:32.620 who was dumb enough to bring his or her cocaine into the White House. 0.99
00:30:37.120 So I was being a smart ass saying it was Hunter Biden's, 0.99
00:30:41.900 but I actually don't think that's Hunter's. 0.93
00:30:43.700 I do think the cocaine on his gun pouch was Hunter's, but that's a different thing.
00:30:48.020 Between the two, it's not even close in terms of what the public consequence is,
00:30:51.560 which is the leaking of the draft opinion from the Supreme Court was consequential at historic levels.
00:30:58.320 It undermined the rule of law.
00:30:59.900 It undermined the Supreme Court.
00:31:01.220 And I think it is an absolute outrage that they have not tracked down and prosecuted the person who did so.
00:31:06.880 So between the two, it's not even close.
00:31:10.100 But I got to say more broadly, on the cocaine issue, look, this DOJ filing illustrates that the evidence against Hunter is compelling.
00:31:19.660 It's overwhelming. And mind you, the Biden DOJ has let the most serious offenses, has let the statute of limitations expire.
00:31:26.900 They're trying to let them on.
00:31:28.820 Remember, remember, remember, we said this in our last podcast.
00:31:31.720 The target of this investigation, if you're looking at the public interest, is not and should not be Hunter Biden.
00:31:39.180 The guy is is a poor, sad sack who's got enormous problems.
00:31:43.460 But the reason this is a matter of public import is because Joe Biden, Daddy Biden, who's the president of the United States, has now years and even decades of history of corruption, of selling official favors for millions of dollars going to his family. 0.88
00:32:01.380 And so this filing from the Biden DOJ just shows they've got the evidence like crazy.
00:32:07.560 And yet they're bending over.
00:32:09.740 I want to ask you, Ben, do you think all right, you own a gun store?
00:32:14.580 Yeah, I want to ask you a question at your gun store.
00:32:18.400 If the FBI came in and found cocaine on a brown leather package that was holding guns, what do you how do you think they would treat Ben Ferguson?
00:32:29.400 I would be in jail and it would be bad.
00:32:32.360 Yeah, it wouldn't even be up for debate.
00:32:34.420 But like not close, like sing, sing, don't bend over for the soap.
00:32:39.060 Ben, nice to know you.
00:32:40.280 I'll write you a letter.
00:32:41.160 I'll bake you a cake and put a file in it.
00:32:43.260 Yeah.
00:32:44.080 And that and that would be how they would treat, I think, pretty much anybody that doesn't have the connections that he has.
00:32:49.480 Now, if your name were Benjamin Biden, by the way, you would be driving a sweet car.
00:32:54.340 You might have a private plane.
00:32:55.680 You would be living life well because you'd be able to sell favors from daddy.
00:33:00.900 Yeah, it's nice to be the last name.
00:33:03.100 I have the last name Biden.
00:33:04.120 That's all they can say.
00:33:04.980 It'll be interesting to see what they do now with this coming out.
00:33:08.020 As Mel Brooks said, it's good to be the king.
00:33:09.940 It's good to be the king.
00:33:11.180 Don't forget, we do the show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
00:33:13.300 Please make sure you hit that follow or subscribe button, especially if you're on Apple listing right now.
00:33:19.740 You got to check and make sure that you hit it regularly for your favorite podcast because they've changed those algorithms there.
00:33:25.880 It's frustrating.
00:33:26.440 I know a lot of verdict listeners.
00:33:27.800 Make sure you do that as we do the show Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
00:33:31.180 We have a recap on Saturday and on those in between days.
00:33:35.160 Make sure you download my podcast, the Ben Ferguson podcast.
00:33:38.360 I'll keep you up to day on the latest breaking news.
00:33:41.160 And the Senator I will see you back here on Friday morning.
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