Verdict with Ted Cruz - November 11, 2024


Dem Civil War-Biden Harris Camps Blame each other, plus Iran Again Tries to Assassinate Trump


Episode Stats


Length

41 minutes

Words per minute

171.83788

Word count

7,089

Sentence count

519

Harmful content

Misogyny

10

sentences flagged

Toxicity

28

sentences flagged

Hate speech

25

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joins Sen. Ben Ferguson (D-NJ) to talk about a civil war within the Democratic Party and the Iran-Trump assassination plot, and how to deal with the aftermath of the election.

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.
00:00:02.620 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.520 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you on this Veterans Day.
00:00:11.880 To all of our veterans out there, thank you for your service to this country.
00:00:16.560 And we're talking about a civil war today.
00:00:18.960 It has nothing to do with actual, you know, Veterans Day.
00:00:21.900 There is a civil war happening within the Democratic Party right now as well, Senator.
00:00:26.180 Well, let me first of all say to all of our veterans, thank you for your service.
00:00:30.820 Thank you for standing up and fighting for our country.
00:00:33.900 Thank you for risking your lives.
00:00:35.400 Every one of the liberties we have, our rights to free speech and religious liberty and the Second Amendment, everything else, our right to vote.
00:00:42.260 All of that comes from our veterans who risked everything for us.
00:00:46.500 And so thank you for your service, your sacrifice.
00:00:51.020 And, you know, I will say we recognize Veterans Day on November 11th.
00:00:56.440 And that date was it recognizes when World War I came to an end.
00:01:01.620 And World War I came to an end at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.
00:01:09.740 And it used to be called Armistice Day.
00:01:12.120 It's now called Veterans Day.
00:01:13.420 It's an opportunity for every one of us to thank our veterans.
00:01:16.300 And so let me say to our listeners, if you are a veteran, thank you.
00:01:19.280 If you're not a veteran, make sure today that you thank a veteran, that you just stop and say, you know, genuinely and heartfelt, thank you for everything you've done.
00:01:29.480 All right.
00:01:30.320 Let's talk about what is happening right now.
00:01:33.600 I got to say the fallout from Election Day continues.
00:01:37.460 The Democrats have turned on each other like scorpions in a bottle.
00:01:41.960 Everyone is pointing fingers, pointing barbed tails.
00:01:44.900 They are striking at each other.
00:01:46.180 It's everyone's fault.
00:01:47.220 That chaos is dramatic.
00:01:50.100 And while Democrats are lighting each other on fire, we also have news of a serious plot, yet another plot, to assassinate Donald J. Trump.
00:01:59.920 In this instance, it was the nation of Iran who hired hitmen with the charge of killing Trump. 0.72
00:02:06.280 That indictment has just been made public.
00:02:08.220 We're going to give you all the details about that as well.
00:02:10.000 Yeah, it is truly incredible to watch this civil war break out within the Democratic Party.
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00:03:53.300 So, Senator, it's amazing that usually after you lose an election, you take a look at the data.
00:04:01.440 And you look at the data and you say, okay, what did we do wrong?
00:04:05.620 How did we not connect with the voters?
00:04:07.620 What can we learn from this?
00:04:09.300 Great political minds take notes so they can look back at prior elections and remember what they screwed up and maybe use that and implement it in future elections.
00:04:19.260 None of that seems to be happening in the Democratic Party.
00:04:22.160 It's all, it's your fault.
00:04:23.340 No, it's your fault.
00:04:24.140 No, it's your fault.
00:04:25.200 They're all turning on each other right now.
00:04:27.280 Yeah, Ben, you're being too analytical.
00:04:29.780 When you lose an election, you're pissed.
00:04:32.680 When you lose an election, most people are pretty emotional.
00:04:35.820 They're angry.
00:04:36.700 They lash out.
00:04:38.200 And typically what happens within a campaign is all the campaign staffers blame each other. 0.99
00:04:42.660 They all start leaking stories, attacking each other, saying it was that dumb SOB's fault. 0.98
00:04:48.340 That's why we lost. 0.92
00:04:50.580 You know, what you described sounds like a very rational process that very few campaigns actually do, analyzing what went wrong.
00:04:58.260 In this instance, you've got an interesting dynamic because you don't just have Kamala's team, you have Biden's team as well.
00:05:05.840 And so, for example, Axios on Friday reported, quote, Harris-Biden camps blame each other for loss.
00:05:13.860 And here's how it opens.
00:05:15.760 Finger-pointing advisors to Harris and President Biden agree on one thing.
00:05:21.720 President-elect Trump's victory is the other one's fault.
00:05:24.840 So they're both, they have the best person to blame it on, which is each other.
00:05:30.480 So one Democrat, who's anonymous but quoted in the story, points the finger at Mike Donilon and Steve Verschetti, who were Biden's top political aides.
00:05:39.620 And here's the anonymous quote, quote, Mike and Steve will have a lot to answer for, having him run for re-election at 80 years old.
00:05:49.040 Another person, this is someone on Harris's team, here's their anonymous quote, quote,
00:05:53.580 quote, the 107-day Harris campaign was nearly flawless. 0.97
00:05:59.300 I've got to stop and, like, holy crap, really? 0.89
00:06:02.960 Like somebody who draws a salary actually uttered that sentence. 0.97
00:06:06.740 The 107-day Harris campaign was nearly flawless.
00:06:10.520 But the quote continues, the Biden campaign that preceded it was the opposite.
00:06:15.240 No, you could say a lot of things about Kamala's campaign, but nearly flawless, that you definitely could not say.
00:06:20.500 Here's another one from Harris's campaign, quote, we did what we could.
00:06:26.140 I think the odds against us were insurmountable.
00:06:31.660 Another Harris aide, David Plouffe, who's also an Obama aide, posted on X that the campaign had, quote, dug out of a deep hole.
00:06:42.220 In other words, that it was Biden's fault that he dug that hole.
00:06:45.040 So, afterwards, Plouffe deleted his account.
00:06:49.380 Now, Biden pushes back to the folks that are attacking Donilon and Reschetti, Biden's top aides.
00:06:56.100 And Biden's team says, quote, there are a wide range of advisors, Biden consulted about the campaign, who agreed on the merits of running, like the party did,
00:07:05.500 after the best midterm wins for a new president in over 60 years.
00:07:08.720 No one has the president do anything.
00:07:13.600 It's going back and forth.
00:07:15.200 All right, here's a Biden staffer.
00:07:16.320 Here's another anonymous quote.
00:07:18.520 How did you spend $1 billion and not win?
00:07:24.320 What the F?
00:07:25.820 And F is not abbreviated in the actual quote.
00:07:28.720 Quote, here's someone from Harris's campaign.
00:07:32.440 Here's an anonymous quote.
00:07:33.560 Quote, people are depressed and frustrated about the overconfident leadership of the campaign.
00:07:41.500 A Biden spokesperson publicly, Andrew Bates, here's what he said.
00:07:45.680 Quote, anyone criticizing the vice president's campaign is at odds with President Biden.
00:07:50.400 Um, here's someone else who says, quote, the Harris team benched Biden and then they lost.
00:08:00.160 So now the people who represent Biden are saying, maybe you shouldn't have benched him.
00:08:06.040 And others are pointing to, here's a former Biden administration official, quote,
00:08:12.040 the party was lied to about our candidate and the leadership who lied were the same ones who
00:08:17.800 never bothered to actually listen to voters and understand what was appealing to them about
00:08:22.500 Trump or why the Biden economy wasn't working for them, even if it looked good on paper.
00:08:28.340 You look at all those quotes and it's just like you said, it's your fault.
00:08:32.660 No, your fault.
00:08:33.360 No, your fault.
00:08:34.040 No, your fault.
00:08:35.020 I mean, even Nancy Pelosi was talking about this and said Biden's late exit and the lack
00:08:41.260 of an open primary is what costs in the White House.
00:08:45.160 But there's a problem with that because Nancy Pelosi in September said this to the American
00:08:52.800 people about the primary.
00:08:55.260 You had reportedly said you wanted a sort of an open primary when Joe Biden stepped down.
00:09:01.460 Did you change your mind because you saw all the excitement around Kamala Harris?
00:09:08.260 No, I didn't change my mind.
00:09:09.780 We had an open primary and she won it.
00:09:11.440 Nobody else got in the race because she was politically astute. 1.00
00:09:17.280 I mean, you got to laugh at that, right?
00:09:19.640 You're complaining about it now.
00:09:21.040 But then you said we had one and no one else got in the race.
00:09:23.960 Like, which one is it?
00:09:26.060 Well, and Pelosi went on a greater length to The New York Times.
00:09:30.820 Here's what she just said.
00:09:31.840 She said, quote, had had President Biden gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates
00:09:37.040 in the race, quote, the anticipation was that if the president were to step aside, that there
00:09:42.040 would have been an open primary.
00:09:43.980 And as I say, Kamala may have.
00:09:46.060 I think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward.
00:09:49.440 But we don't know that.
00:09:50.480 That didn't happen.
00:09:51.380 We live with what happened.
00:09:52.720 And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost
00:09:57.180 impossible to have a primary at that time.
00:09:59.520 If it had been much earlier, it would have been different.
00:10:02.760 And so, I mean, that's a fairly dramatic.
00:10:05.960 Suddenly, Pelosi is acknowledging what any person with sentience acknowledged, which is
00:10:11.480 they did not have a democratic process.
00:10:13.200 No votes were cast.
00:10:14.760 Kamala became the nominee with nobody voting for her for president.
00:10:18.960 And well, then she ended up being a general election nominee with not enough people voting 1.00
00:10:23.420 for her for president.
00:10:24.480 And the entire Democrat Party circled the wagons around her.
00:10:28.340 And now they're just throwing rocks and blaming everyone for what happened.
00:10:33.740 When you see the lack of, I think, just the best way I can describe it is self-awareness.
00:10:41.740 I wonder what it's going to look like in Washington come January.
00:10:45.560 I mean, they've got to be just losing their minds now, right?
00:10:48.760 Well, and every day it's going to drive them crazier. 0.83
00:10:51.000 Remember, they've convinced themselves that Donald Trump is Hitler.
00:10:54.920 Trump is going to be ubiquitous.
00:10:56.920 He is going to be everywhere.
00:10:58.140 I expect the first hundred days to be fast, to be energetic.
00:11:02.900 I'll tell you, I'm talking regularly with the Trump transition team.
00:11:05.620 They're moving forward with cabinet appointments.
00:11:07.340 They want to move fast.
00:11:08.300 They want to move fast with executive orders.
00:11:10.060 They want to move fast with regulation.
00:11:12.120 They want to move fast with legislation.
00:11:14.060 They very much feel, and I think this is right, that they have a mandate and let's go,
00:11:17.780 go, go right now.
00:11:19.280 That's where the Trump team is coming from.
00:11:22.900 And that's going to drive Democrats out of their mind. 1.00
00:11:25.500 I mean, they're still in a state of denial.
00:11:27.600 They're still like, no, no, no, this can't be happening.
00:11:29.640 This can't be happening.
00:11:30.460 I don't believe this is happening.
00:11:31.540 And as I said, they're still emotionally blaming each other.
00:11:38.120 Take a listen to this clip.
00:11:39.440 This is from Jon Favreau on Pod Save America, one of the big Obama bros.
00:11:45.140 And look what he's saying now.
00:11:47.080 Joe Biden's decision to run for president again was a catastrophic mistake.
00:11:51.200 It just was.
00:11:52.360 And he and his inner circle, they refused to believe the polls.
00:11:56.080 They refused to believe he was unpopular.
00:11:58.080 They refused to acknowledge until very late that anyone could be upset about inflation.
00:12:03.320 And they just kept telling us that his presidency was historic and it was the greatest economy
00:12:06.760 ever.
00:12:07.080 We just heard him again say that it's the greatest economy ever.
00:12:10.120 Clearly, 70, 80 percent of voters don't believe that.
00:12:13.460 They don't believe that about their own personal financial situation, but they just keep telling
00:12:16.900 us that.
00:12:17.440 And then after the debate, the Biden people told us that the polls were fine and Biden was
00:12:22.100 still the strongest candidate.
00:12:23.340 They were privately telling reporters at the time that Kamala Harris couldn't win.
00:12:27.460 So they were shivving Kamala Harris to reporters while they told everyone else not a time for
00:12:32.720 an open process and his vice president can't win.
00:12:35.000 So he's the strongest candidate.
00:12:36.780 Then we find out when the Biden campaign becomes the Harris campaign, that the Biden campaign's
00:12:41.660 own internal polling at the time when they were telling us he was the strongest candidate
00:12:44.720 showed that Donald Trump was going to win 400 electoral votes.
00:12:48.040 That's what their own internal polling said.
00:12:49.880 There were polls showing 80 percent of voters thought Joe Biden was too old to get a second
00:12:53.660 term before the debate.
00:12:55.140 And then we all watched the debate.
00:12:56.900 And then in the last few weeks, Biden was campaigning and he said we need to lock Trump up. 0.99
00:13:01.900 He created a controversy over whether Trump supporters were garbage. 1.00
00:13:05.720 He said, you know, the weird thing about slapping Trump on the ass. 1.00
00:13:08.320 Like his moments on the campaign trail weren't flawless either. 0.99
00:13:11.980 You cannot.
00:13:13.520 It's absurd.
00:13:14.160 It's absurd.
00:13:14.920 Try to be generous here.
00:13:16.480 I'm done being generous.
00:13:17.320 I want to stay for the record.
00:13:18.520 I also think all the TV money that should be.
00:13:20.300 It should be rethought too.
00:13:21.400 More importantly, the idea that Joe Biden was going to do better in this race than Kamala Harris
00:13:26.580 is on its face absurd.
00:13:28.020 This is the number one liberal podcast in America called Pod Save America.
00:13:34.320 And I'm still trying to figure out exactly what their point is, which was they were always
00:13:39.220 screwed, whether it was Joe Biden or Harris or anyone else.
00:13:42.380 Is that what they're telling us?
00:13:43.320 No, their point is they were right.
00:13:45.240 Remember, it's Obama that pushed Biden out.
00:13:48.780 It's Obama and it's Pelosi and it's Schumer.
00:13:51.680 And so the Biden bros are defending Obama.
00:13:53.560 Obama and that means it cannot have been a mistake to put Kamala in because they did that.
00:13:59.780 So that means the mistake was Biden in the first place.
00:14:02.500 In other words, they should have shivved Biden a year ago.
00:14:05.080 The mistake was waiting as long as they did to ship Biden's.
00:14:07.720 That's that's what they're saying.
00:14:08.920 And it's open civil war.
00:14:10.620 It's also striking.
00:14:11.420 You know, you said the number one liberal podcast in America, which does make you kind
00:14:14.500 of laugh.
00:14:14.960 I wonder if both their listeners enjoy it.
00:14:17.260 But but but contrast that with this very amusing discussion on MSNBC where where leftists
00:14:27.060 are are melting down that they don't have a Joe Rogan, that they don't have a Jordan
00:14:31.100 Peterson.
00:14:32.900 And in their view, the right wing is is this this horrible wasteland and they want one.
00:14:40.120 So give a listen to this discussion, particularly the media ecosystem.
00:14:44.480 They've it's not a good one.
00:14:45.500 It's a negative one.
00:14:46.460 It's a it's a radicalization funnel.
00:14:48.320 But what they have done in their online media ecosystem is build a radicalization engine,
00:14:54.680 literally the way militant groups do around the world, that takes people from relatively
00:14:59.040 low level annoyances with the world.
00:15:01.480 Why are eggs so expensive?
00:15:03.060 Why is my kid learning this new thing in American history in school that I didn't learn and then
00:15:08.060 moves them through YouTube videos, through podcasts, moves them from that annoyance all the
00:15:13.060 way, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly to a full blown fascist politics.
00:15:17.240 It's an elaborate multibillion dollar infrastructure.
00:15:20.860 And there is nothing like it on the pro-democracy side.
00:15:24.580 We don't have an when when a man is just lost and lonely and not yet radicalized.
00:15:29.880 We don't have the equivalent of Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson to move that man in a feminist 1.00
00:15:35.760 direction.
00:15:36.300 By the way, we should educate men that it's actually really great to live with a strong
00:15:40.460 woman who makes money. 1.00
00:15:41.960 It's actually easier.
00:15:42.740 Life is easier.
00:15:44.020 I mean, it reminds me of Limbaugh days.
00:15:47.260 Do you remember when they hated Limbaugh, but then they were angry they didn't have a
00:15:49.980 Limbaugh.
00:15:50.320 So they tried to make their own Limbaugh and it never worked for them.
00:15:53.180 Now they're saying we've lost control.
00:15:55.340 We are the mainstream media and now we've lost the country and a lot of them have completely
00:16:00.120 tuned us out.
00:16:00.960 So now we want what the Republicans have, which was to counter us, which is podcasts and
00:16:06.180 the Internet.
00:16:06.920 And we got to figure out how to control that now because they're not watching us anymore.
00:16:10.620 That's what I heard.
00:16:12.000 Well, I got to say that that whole discussion, it really encapsulates what's wrong with the
00:16:16.120 left and what's wrong with the media all at once.
00:16:19.440 Number one, they discuss the world of the right podcasts and various various outlets as
00:16:24.720 essentially like Mad Max and Thunderdome, this dystopian, insane radicalization engine, the
00:16:33.200 way militant groups do.
00:16:35.600 And apparently it's so horrible that they're like, we really need something like that.
00:16:41.320 So they have envy to the Mad Max chaos.
00:16:44.880 And then just like the descriptions that MSNBC uses, relatively low level annoyances with the
00:16:51.680 world.
00:16:52.000 Why are eggs so expensive?
00:16:53.400 This is your standard liberal elite saying, you know, who possibly cares about their grocery
00:16:58.740 bill?
00:16:59.160 Well, how about people who go buy groceries every week and are struggling to like pay for
00:17:03.980 the bills that are not sure they have enough to pay for groceries and pay for rent and pay
00:17:07.740 for gas.
00:17:08.800 But but to the leftist commentator, that's that's that's beneath worrying.
00:17:14.140 And then I love this one.
00:17:15.880 Why is my kid learning this new thing in American history in school that I didn't learn this new
00:17:21.300 thing, by which they mean, why is my kid being told America is a racist hellhole? 0.68
00:17:25.640 George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, we're evil. 0.98
00:17:27.960 Everything about America is evil. 0.92
00:17:29.040 The Constitution is evil.
00:17:30.440 Why are people annoyed at that?
00:17:32.040 I don't understand.
00:17:34.140 You look at this and I love that they call it an elaborate multi-billion dollar infrastructure.
00:17:42.580 There's nothing like it on the, quote, pro-democracy side.
00:17:46.920 Well, an elaborate multi-billion dollar infrastructure.
00:17:49.220 What would you call CNN?
00:17:50.780 What would you call ABC, NBC, NBC, MSNBC, CBS?
00:17:56.680 What would you call The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Houston Chronicle, The
00:17:59.960 Dallas Morning News?
00:18:01.120 Every newspaper in America.
00:18:02.620 What would you call PBS?
00:18:04.120 What would you call every movie studio in Hollywood?
00:18:06.420 What would you call the entire world of big tech other than X that Twitter bought that
00:18:12.060 Elon Musk bought?
00:18:13.580 Like they have all of the avenues of communication and they're furious that anyone who disagrees
00:18:21.200 is allowed to speak.
00:18:22.440 And they're sitting there saying we need to take that over as well, because you know what?
00:18:27.180 When they start talking, they really don't like our terrible policies.
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00:20:00.140 Senator, I want to move to another issue that is a pretty significant one.
00:20:05.680 A news story.
00:20:07.260 And I want to see if you agree with me.
00:20:09.160 You may not.
00:20:10.040 But this is my analysis of it.
00:20:13.120 We find out, not before Election Day, but after Election Day, of a very significant and
00:20:20.900 real threat to Donald Trump that was a bounty put on him and people that were hired to kill
00:20:29.240 Donald Trump, all orchestrated from Iran. 0.98
00:20:33.180 And all of a sudden, not before Election Day, no leaks, but after Election Day, the deep state's 0.96
00:20:40.320 like, oh, crap, we got to work with Donald Trump again. 0.80
00:20:42.840 We better look like we, like, do our job well. 0.98
00:20:45.800 Bam, we're going to have a big indictment come out and say, see, look, we look out for
00:20:49.740 Donald Trump, too.
00:20:50.980 And we're going to do an indictment against an Iranian guy and some other people that were
00:20:55.440 trying to kill him.
00:20:56.700 I'm like, you're telling me that this was not, like, newsworthy before Election Day?
00:21:01.300 And it's just coincidence it came out after Election Day?
00:21:04.560 I'm sorry.
00:21:05.040 I'm calling BS.
00:21:05.840 Well, let's focus on the substance first, and then we'll address the timing of it.
00:21:11.880 What the Department of Justice has said publicly is that it thwarted an Iranian plot to kill
00:21:17.380 Donald Trump in the weeks leading up to the election.
00:21:20.300 And it filed a criminal complaint in federal court in New York City that said an unnamed
00:21:25.900 official in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had asked Farhad Shaqari of Iran in September
00:21:34.940 to, quote, focus on surveilling and ultimately assassinating former president of the United
00:21:42.120 States, Donald J. 0.98
00:21:42.980 Trump.
00:21:43.680 Now, here's what Merrick Garland said in the press statement, quote, there are few actors
00:21:48.820 in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States,
00:21:52.500 as does Iran.
00:21:53.980 Quote, the Justice Department is charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by
00:21:58.900 the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran's assassination plots 0.61
00:22:04.360 against its targets, including president-elect Donald Trump.
00:22:08.440 Quote, we have also charged and arrested two individuals who we allege were recruited
00:22:12.900 as a part of that network to silence and kill on U.S. soil, an American journalist who has been
00:22:19.280 a prominent critic of the regime.
00:22:21.360 We will not stand for the Iranian regime's attempts to endanger the American people in 1.00
00:22:26.240 America's national security.
00:22:27.780 Now, the Justice Department says that Shaqari, who is at large, he has not been captured.
00:22:33.760 He's believed to be living in Iran.
00:22:36.020 Quote, immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported in or about 2008 after
00:22:41.300 serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction.
00:22:45.900 Shaqari has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on October 7th, 2024, with providing
00:22:51.620 a plan to kill president-elect Donald J.
00:22:54.460 Trump.
00:22:55.180 The OJ continued, quote, according to Shaqari during his meeting with IRG's official, on
00:23:00.760 or about October 7th, 2024, IRG official directed Shaqari to provide a plan within seven days
00:23:07.220 to kill Trump.
00:23:08.440 If Shaqari was unable to put forth a plan within that time frame, IRG official continued, the
00:23:14.440 IRGC would pause its plan to kill Trump until after the U.S. presidential elections because
00:23:20.200 the IRGC official assessed that Trump would lose the election and afterwards it would be 0.89
00:23:26.360 easier to assassinate Trump.
00:23:29.080 Now, there's more, but let's stop at that. 0.98
00:23:31.920 So they hired a guy a month before the election to kill Trump, to come up with a plan to kill 0.99
00:23:37.740 Trump. 0.91
00:23:38.260 And they also concluded, well, if you don't succeed in that, we'll just wait until after
00:23:42.800 the election because we know Kamala's going to win. 0.99
00:23:45.760 And once Kamala wins, then we can go kill Trump and it will be much easier. 0.66
00:23:49.560 Well, you know, that plan didn't work. 0.92
00:23:54.560 Shaqari also said he was tasked with surveilling two Jewish American citizens residing in New
00:23:59.740 York City and offered $500,000 by an IRGC official for the murder of either victim.
00:24:06.900 Federal prosecutors have also charged and arrested Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Brooklyn, New York,
00:24:13.260 and Jonathan Lodeholt, 36, of Staten Island, New York, in connection to their alleged involvement
00:24:20.140 in a plot to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York.
00:24:24.620 That person, according to law enforcement sources, is Masi Alinejad.
00:24:31.560 And here's what DOJ says, quote, at Shaqiri's instruction, Lodeholt and Rivera have spent months
00:24:37.300 surveilling a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin residing in the United States, and that would
00:24:41.440 be Alinejad. Alinejad is an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime and has been the target
00:24:46.460 of multiple prior plots for kidnapping and or murder directed by the government of Iran.
00:24:51.060 In exchange for Shaqiri's promise of $100,000, Rivera and Lodeholt repeatedly sought to locate
00:24:57.720 victim one for murder. Prosecutors said that during their efforts to locate and kill Alinejad,
00:25:04.920 quote, Shaqiri, Lodeholt and Rivera shared messages about their progress and photographs relating
00:25:09.420 to the scene. For example, in or about February 2024, Rivera and Lodeholt messaged about an
00:25:15.040 upcoming payment from Shaqiri and then traveled to Fairfield University, where victim one was
00:25:20.500 scheduled to appear and took photographs on campus. In one voice note, Shaqiri noted Rivera
00:25:26.380 that that victim one spent most of her time in particular locations of her home and told Rivera
00:25:32.160 that, quote, you just got to have patience. You got to wait and have patience to catch her,
00:25:36.340 either going in the house or coming out or following her out somewhere and taking care
00:25:41.660 of it. Don't think about going in. In is a suicide move. And all three suspects are now
00:25:48.660 facing charges of murder for hire, conspiracy to commit murder for hire and money laundering
00:25:53.220 conspiracy. And together, those carry maximum penalties of 10 to 20 years in prison.
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00:26:27.680 You hear this plot and you sit there and you go, how on earth has the Biden-Harris administration
00:26:36.640 allowed Iran to get to this point where they can just easily go out into the United States 0.99
00:26:41.960 of America, knock on people's doors in America, get away with this and not hold them accountable
00:26:47.960 for any of this while they're also attacking Israel. And the question is, number one, let's
00:26:55.040 start with the real political aspect of this. What does a Trump administration response need
00:27:00.260 to be with this? I'm not saying because they were targeting Trump. I'm saying the president
00:27:03.800 of the United States of America, regardless of who that person is, should never allow Iran to feel 1.00
00:27:08.200 this comfortable on American soil to do this, much less plan to take out our president or a former
00:27:14.220 president of the United States of America. Well, Election Day was a fantastic day for America. 0.73
00:27:20.060 It was a fantastic day for everyone who wants to see jobs, who wants to see border security,
00:27:24.440 he wants to see national security enhanced. But it was a terrible, terrible day for the Ayatollah
00:27:30.800 and the Iranian mullahs. For four years, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, with the support of
00:27:35.620 every Democrat in Congress, they have funneled over $100 billion to Iran. It's not just that
00:27:42.640 Biden-Harris allowed Iran to do this. They paid for it. $100 billion is a lot of money. I'm here to tell 0.87
00:27:48.420 you that is going to end in January of next year. The Trump administration is going to cut off the
00:27:52.660 money. That's going to be the beginning. And I expect serious consequences for Iran repeatedly 1.00
00:27:59.480 trying to murder President Trump. I don't know what those consequences will be, but I guarantee you
00:28:06.080 the Ayatollahs are, the Ayatollah and the mullahs are deeply, deeply worried and scared. And the
00:28:13.580 brazenness of this, and look, understand, the Justice Department knew about this. They deliberately did
00:28:19.960 not make it public until after Election Day. I think they had a judgment. Well, gosh, if people know
00:28:26.620 that Iran is, like, actively trying to murder Trump, if they know the details of this, that's going to 0.50
00:28:31.840 end up benefiting Trump. So let's just keep it quiet. And, well, Trump won.
00:28:38.380 So then it was, cover your ASS? Is that a fair way of describing this? 0.99
00:28:42.240 You know, yes and no. I mean, look, they had to file the complaint at some point. So they're
00:28:46.540 prosecuting these folks. So it was inevitable that it would be filed because you can't prosecute
00:28:51.560 them without filing the indictment and bringing charges. The timing, the fact that they did not
00:28:57.620 say anything public. Look, DOJ has longstanding rules that you're not supposed to do anything to
00:29:03.420 interfere in an election. I would say that foiling an assassination attempt by a foreign government 0.60
00:29:09.380 is not DOJ doing something to interfere with an election. It is instead DOJ doing its job. And I
00:29:16.300 think the public has a right to know that. But, and so I think their decision to bury it,
00:29:22.860 and listen, under Joe Biden, this Biden Department of Justice, if there's one thing they know how to
00:29:26.720 do, it is leak. Merrick Garland and his team, they leak like crazy. When the story, when the story
00:29:32.360 suits them politically, they give it to all their buddies in the press. This thing stayed absolutely
00:29:37.300 silent until after Election Day. They also kept silent the murder attempt of the U.S. citizen
00:29:44.220 by Iran, because it also shows the incredible weakness of this administration, just how much
00:29:50.100 they've emboldened Iran that they feel that they could carry out attempted murder plots on U.S. soil. 0.87
00:29:56.760 It is a real demonstration of the basic principle that weakness invites hostility. In this case,
00:30:05.820 Iran was only emboldened by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's weakness.
00:30:09.960 Yeah, and Fox News, when they reported on this, it was very interesting to see how they report it. And I
00:30:14.480 want to play this for people, and I want you to think about why you didn't know this before Election
00:30:20.040 Day. Listen.
00:30:20.780 The Justice Department unsealing criminal charges in a thwarted Iranian plot to kill President-elect
00:30:26.020 Donald Trump in the lead-up to this week's election. Welcome, everybody. I'm Neal Cavuto.
00:30:31.380 There's still a lot we don't know about this, but David Spunt piecing together what we do. David.
00:30:38.680 Neal, we know it's just another threat coming from Iran directed at President-elect Donald Trump.
00:30:44.540 The man that authorities are looking for is a 51-year-old who is allegedly working with the
00:30:49.300 Iranian regime on a plan to kill Trump. His name is Farhad Shaqiri. Authorities believe 0.80
00:30:54.460 he's in Iran right now as I speak to you. According to a criminal complaint on CL Today,
00:30:59.100 Shaqiri demanded large sums of money for working on this plot to kill Trump over the past few months. 0.54
00:31:04.980 As stated in a complaint, Shaqiri indicated to an Iranian government official that this would cost
00:31:11.640 a huge amount of money. In response, the Iranian official said,
00:31:15.100 we have already spent a lot of money, so the money's not an issue.
00:31:19.840 In a statement from FBI Director Christopher Wray, he says the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,
00:31:24.700 a designated foreign terrorist organization, has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen
00:31:29.860 to target and gun down Americans on U.S. soil, and that simply won't be tolerated.
00:31:34.620 Thanks to the hard work of the FBI, their deadly schemes were disrupted.
00:31:38.540 By the way, they said, and this is the part I want to ask you, they said it was,
00:31:42.800 won't be tolerated. I'm not sure I believe that, based on what we know now. It seems like we've
00:31:49.680 been tolerating Iran basically doing whatever the hell they want to do for quite some time in the 0.97
00:31:55.920 world. Well, that's right, and look, it's important to understand a lot of the press,
00:32:01.100 when they talk about Donald Trump's foreign policy, they mischaracterize it. There are a lot of
00:32:04.900 folks that characterize Trump as an isolationist. That's not remotely the case. I mean, part of the
00:32:10.120 reason Iran is so angry is because, remember, Trump took out, he killed General Soleimani.
00:32:16.200 General Soleimani was responsible for orchestrating the murder of over 600 American servicemen and
00:32:22.280 women. He was one of the leading terrorists in the world, and Iran's the leading state sponsor of 1.00
00:32:27.700 terrorism, and Donald Trump took him out. Donald Trump also enforced the oil sanctions, pulled out of
00:32:33.840 the Iran deal, brought the Iranian economy to its knees, cut off their money, had the regime ready 1.00
00:32:39.480 to topple. That is strength. What Trump rightly did, and by the way, on all of those steps, I was
00:32:45.360 urging Trump to proceed to vigorously defend us against Iran. What Trump also did, though, is he
00:32:50.900 did not get us in foreign wars. It is amazing how the weakness and appeasement of the left gets it
00:32:57.480 exactly backwards. They're eager to get us in mesh in foreign wars all over the world, but they're not
00:33:02.520 willing to be strong against people who actually are trying to kill us, and in this instance, there
00:33:07.740 are going to be very, very real consequences for Iran. The first will be economic. Their money is 0.96
00:33:13.120 going to disappear, but there's going to be consequences that are a lot more real world than
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00:35:32.460 right now. Finally, Senator, some breaking news. I just want to get your quick thoughts
00:35:37.560 on this because it's an interesting story, and it's really just a sad story. I think it's a such a sad
00:35:46.000 story for the people that are hurting, who were needing the help of their government. It has come
00:35:51.800 out now that a FEMA official ordered relief workers to deliberately and purposely skip the houses of people
00:36:02.200 that have been affected by the hurricane that had Trump signs up. A whistleblower came forward,
00:36:09.880 so it's almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that's okay.
00:36:14.580 I'm actually, by the way, not surprised, unfortunately, that there are people in this
00:36:18.940 Biden-Harris government that would say, screw those that are Trump supporters and don't give them
00:36:23.440 government aid, even after a hurricane. Yet this did happen. Yeah, this story, it's a story of an
00:36:30.340 incredible abuse of power and just a brazen partisanship that, sadly, it typifies what has
00:36:36.400 happened throughout the Biden-Harris administration. I want to give credit to the Daily Wire. The Daily
00:36:41.100 Wire broke this story. It also illustrates how so-called mainstream media, the corporate media,
00:36:47.880 does not actually report on real news. It took the Daily Wire to make this public. It's also the Daily
00:36:52.440 Wire that broke the stories in Loudoun County a couple of years ago about the teenage girl who was
00:36:59.000 sexually assaulted in the bathroom by the boy wearing a skirt because, again, the corporate
00:37:03.080 media wouldn't report on it. Well, in this instance, the Daily Wire reported that instructions were given
00:37:11.260 to FEMA workers that said, and they actually have screenshots of the instructions, that say,
00:37:17.180 quote, implement best practices. No one goes anywhere alone. Avoid homes advertising Trump. Practice
00:37:26.440 de-escalation and preventative measures. Communicate with and follow the rules. Bring a towel with yourself
00:37:32.200 in the field. Frequent breaks and drink water. Avoid high-salt diets and coffee. Coconut water is a fast way
00:37:37.940 to replenish your electrolytes quickly. So this is written instructions for emergency workers who are
00:37:46.940 dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane, a natural disaster, and they are told in writing,
00:37:51.720 avoid homes advertising Trump. Now, look, this only happens when you absolutely normalize the
00:38:00.660 weaponization of government against the enemies of your regime. This particular individual was caught,
00:38:10.080 and this person's been fired now. Of course she's been fired. She should have been fired. 1.00
00:38:13.960 But the broader question was, what kind of culture was there that made you think you should explicitly
00:38:20.060 say, hey, and I mean, these are, this is providing... And put it in writing, by the way. Put it in
00:38:24.400 writing. If you're comfortable enough to put it in writing. Yep. Yep. You wonder what else is in
00:38:28.680 writing. That is exactly right. And, you know, one of the employees who was one of the whistleblowers
00:38:36.540 said, quote, I know they're short staff. I thought we could go help and make a difference. When we got
00:38:41.300 there, we were told to discriminate against people. It's almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the
00:38:45.760 federal government would think that's okay. The employee said that it felt wrong to discriminate
00:38:50.560 against Trump supporters when they were at their most vulnerable. Quote, I volunteered to help
00:38:55.120 disaster victims, not discriminate against them. It didn't matter if people were black, white,
00:38:59.780 Hispanic, for Trump, for Harris. Everyone deserves the same amount of help. That would be actually the
00:39:05.280 government doing its job. But sadly, too many in the Biden-Harris administration, too many on the
00:39:11.020 left, that they have convinced themselves Trump is Hitler. Anyone who supports him is garbage. 1.00
00:39:16.660 And therefore, you can do anything possible to go after them. It's a really sad example of just how 1.00
00:39:24.460 weaponized this administration's gotten. I hope this inspires others. If there are other stories
00:39:30.020 out there, other, you know, emails and things in writing like this that will be brought forward.
00:39:34.960 I am glad, by the way, that the woman's been fired. But the question that I have to ask after that is, 0.68
00:39:39.900 well, were there any laws broken? And I hope they look at that as well.
00:39:43.080 Well, and Ben, let me say, if you go into the story, there are photos from the systems
00:39:48.000 that federal relief workers used to track the homes they visited. And it showed that they followed
00:39:53.720 the written guidance. Several addresses were marked as, quote, not able to access property,
00:40:00.920 with listed explanations such as, quote, Trump sign, no entry per leadership. Quote, per leadership,
00:40:09.060 no stop, Trump flag. Quote, Trump sign. And, quote, Trump sign, no contact per leadership.
00:40:17.720 This was, this was a decision.
00:40:20.940 Yes, it was carried out by supervision. The name of the individual is someone,
00:40:26.420 Marnie Washington is the one who issued this order. Marnie Washington has been fired, but 0.93
00:40:31.860 this was an organization where this order was par for the course.
00:40:38.520 Call me cynical, but I'm just going to say it. Watch. I bet you some liberal organization
00:40:43.460 is more than happy to hire her right away and say, job well done. You got a job here. Don't worry,
00:40:50.000 you won't be unemployed long. And I hope that the media will watch that story as well.
00:40:55.120 Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Hit that subscribe or auto download
00:41:00.140 button. On those in-between days, grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson podcast, and I'll keep you updated
00:41:06.160 on the breaking news as well. And this Saturday night, we'll see you back here on Wednesday morning.
00:41:11.900 This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.