Verdict with Ted Cruz - December 12, 2025


DEMS Let 18K Terrorists into America plus Trump Leads on AI & Moving to Designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Terrorist Organization

Topics
18K Terrorists into America Hillsdale College miniseries and free online courses gotaways artificial intelligence industry winners AI executive order designating Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist
Hosted by
Ted Cruz
Mentioned
Donald Trump Joe Biden Joe Kent J.B. Pritzker Hillary Clinton Rahmanullah Lakanwal Jennifer Stewart Caitlin Clark Patriot Mobile Ben Ferguson Gavin Newsom C.S. Lewis Tim Cook LeHairful Verdict Hochul Verk
Bonus： Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Dec 11 2025 Labeling the Muslim Brotherhood, AI needs a Soft Touch plus Cruz Calls Out Carlson & Qatar Week In Review

Episode Stats


Length

37 minutes

Words per minute

157.82

Word count

5,859

Sentence count

457

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Toxicity

9

sentences flagged

Hate speech

16

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is joined by Sen. Ben Fincher (D-Illinois) to discuss the growing number of known and suspected terrorists in the United States, the impact of Joe Biden's immigration policies, and a new college opportunity.

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 .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.680 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.300 Welcome.
00:00:05.900 It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.060 It's so nice to have many of you listening on the radio as well to this show.
00:00:13.020 And as a reminder, this show, if you like it, you'll love the podcast.
00:00:16.280 And Senator and I do three days a week.
00:00:17.840 You can grab it for free wherever you get your podcast.
00:00:21.560 Senator, we've got a lot to talk about in this show,
00:00:23.880 including something that we were worried about and have been talking about for years.
00:00:28.440 And that was the number of terrorists that we were afraid were being led into this country
00:00:35.020 with our wide open southern border under the Biden administration.
00:00:38.320 The number that we're now being warned about is one that I even would not have guessed worst case scenario.
00:00:45.540 And now the Trump officials are saying there are a lot of known and suspected terrorists in the U.S.
00:00:52.180 Well, that's exactly right.
00:00:53.560 The Trump administration testified before Congress that 18,000 known and suspected terrorists
00:01:01.140 are in the United States because Joe Biden and the Democrats let them in.
00:01:05.920 We're going to break that down.
00:01:06.940 The threat that poses to national security, the threat that poses to our families.
00:01:11.560 We're also going to talk about an order, an executive order that the president issued today.
00:01:16.580 He issued an order protecting AI, ensuring that America wins the race for AI and beats China.
00:01:24.920 We're going to break that down for you as well.
00:01:27.080 And finally, we're going to talk about legislation that I have in the Senate
00:01:32.420 to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
00:01:37.020 I think it is incredibly important President Trump has led on this.
00:01:40.000 And there was a battle in the House of Representatives where, unfortunately, they gutted the legislation.
00:01:46.620 We need to designate the Muslim Brotherhood.
00:01:48.780 We're going to talk about that as well.
00:01:50.740 Yeah, it really is incredible stories.
00:01:52.500 And we're going to have all the details for you in just a moment.
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00:02:34.420 It is an incredible, stirring look at the ideas that we still hold as a country and really hold us together as a nation today.
00:02:42.980 Now, a new Hillsdale College miniseries on colonial America offers you a fresh way to think about the holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas.
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00:03:02.240 And on top of that, they're also offering more than 40 other free online courses, including a course on C.S. Lewis,
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00:03:47.820 All right.
00:03:48.420 So let's get to this first big story, Senator.
00:03:51.020 And again, it is a headline that when I saw it earlier today, I actually was terrified because Trump officials are warning 18,000,
00:04:02.700 not 1,800, 18,000 known and suspected terrorists are in the U.S.
00:04:07.320 They are blaming Joe Biden also for the attack on the National Guard.
00:04:12.220 And this is their warning of just how bad it actually is.
00:04:15.900 That's exactly right.
00:04:17.220 This is dangerous.
00:04:18.380 So here's what the New York Post has reported.
00:04:20.520 Quote,
00:04:20.780 As many as 18,000 terrorists entered the U.S. during the Biden administration, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent revealed during a House committee hearing on Thursday.
00:04:31.680 So far, NCTC has identified around 18,000 known and suspected terrorists that the Biden administration let come into our country, Kent testified before the House Homeland Security Committee.
00:04:46.220 These are individuals who, under normal circumstances, would never be allowed to enter our country because of their ties to jihadi groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, he said.
00:04:58.020 Yet the Biden administration not only let them into our country and in many cases facilitated their entry into the country,
00:05:04.180 just like the entry of the Afghan terrorist who committed the terrorist attack here just before Thanksgiving,
00:05:10.440 killing one of our National Guard's member and wounding another.
00:05:13.480 The FBI foiled other ISIS terrorist attack in Michigan and New Jersey earlier this year.
00:05:21.080 A self-described Hamas operative also infiltrated the ranks of the U.S. Air Force in 2023
00:05:27.020 and later planned to carry out a pipe bomb attack with two others before he was thwarted in April.
00:05:33.280 Before Trump took office, a suspected ISIS terrorist mowed down and shot New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people.
00:05:45.740 Kent pointed out in the House hearing that the accused National Guard shooter, Ramanala Lakanwal,
00:05:52.880 was just one of 88,000 Afghans, and its counterterrorism office has since identified 2,000 of that group of the 88,000 who have ties to terrorist organizations.
00:06:06.660 Another Afghan national was arrested and charged this month for threatening to carry out a suicide bombing before Thanksgiving,
00:06:13.400 while a third was collared in Virginia on December 3rd for providing weapons to his father, an ISIS-K commander, the Post first reported.
00:06:24.300 A fourth was led into the U.S. by the Biden administration and later schemed to carry out an ISIS-inspired Election Day terror attack last year.
00:06:33.620 All five, including Lakanwal, entered the country as part of the 88,000 that received expedited vetting to settle in the U.S.
00:06:43.300 under President Joe Biden's Operations Allies Welcome Program.
00:06:48.160 An official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told the Post that hundreds of other ISIS-affiliated migrants are roaming the country,
00:06:57.740 including 4,000 from a Central Asian smuggling network and 600 Tajiks and Uzbeks.
00:07:06.960 The NCTC has also identified hundreds of MS-13, Trender-Aragua, and Sinaloa cartel members
00:07:14.000 and notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement to prioritize their arrests and deportations, the official added.
00:07:20.920 Stunningly, Kent claimed in the hearing that the remaining 16,000 with terror ties who didn't originate from Afghanistan
00:07:29.740 doesn't even include migrants who came here illegally through the open border.
00:07:35.060 The Trump administration recently warned Americans that the U.S. was at, quote,
00:07:39.440 heightened risk of terrorist attacks, Kent said, noting risk from, quote,
00:07:44.040 terrorists pretty much of all stripes, but in particular from ISIS and from al-Qaeda.
00:07:49.940 This is dangerous, and this is what unfolded the last four years.
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00:08:24.960 The Biden administration.
00:08:28.000 Senator, I want to play for you the NCTC director, Joe Kent, and what he had to say about this.
00:08:35.280 Take a listen.
00:08:35.840 We've made significant progress under President Trump's leadership.
00:08:39.700 We have the jihadis of ISIS and al-Qaeda on the run in Iraq and Syria thanks to the decisive action and the strikes that we've taken there recently since President Trump took office in January.
00:08:50.620 However, we have a persistent threat from the individuals that were allowed into this country by the previous administration.
00:08:57.940 The number one threat that we have right now, in my view, is the fact that we don't know who came into our country in the last four years of Biden's open borders.
00:09:07.000 What we have identified is alarming, and I want to share that with you today.
00:09:11.320 We just recently put out a warning, warning of the heightened risk of terrorist attacks posed to the homeland by terrorists pretty much of all stripes, but in particular from ISIS and from al-Qaeda.
00:09:22.000 Well, let's just pause there, and we'll play the second part in a moment.
00:09:25.420 But, Senator, your reaction to there has now been put out a warning for an ISIS-al-Qaeda-type attack in the U.S.
00:09:34.580 I don't know why the national news is not covering this, that they're saying, hey, we have a heightened alert.
00:09:41.100 This is something we're very concerned about.
00:09:43.000 This is now being said, and I still haven't seen this on the news anywhere.
00:09:47.880 Well, the massive national security threat we face.
00:09:50.740 Over four years of the Biden-Harris administration, we saw over 12 million people coming to this country illegally.
00:09:59.320 A massive invasion.
00:10:00.720 It is the highest rate of illegal immigration in our nation's history.
00:10:04.980 We also saw more than 2 million gotaways.
00:10:08.600 Now, why do gotaways matter?
00:10:10.780 Gotaways are the people that did not turn themselves in.
00:10:14.020 Of the 12 million, roughly 10 million of them, when they came across, they went and looked for border patrol.
00:10:19.780 They turned themselves in.
00:10:21.620 The gotaways are much, much more likely to be criminals, to be murderers, to be rapists, to be child molesters, to be gang members, to be terrorists.
00:10:31.340 That 2 million that are gotaways is the most concerning population that's come into this country. 1.00
00:10:38.340 By the way, Biden and the Democrats did not care at all.
00:10:41.940 They did not go after the gotaways.
00:10:43.380 They literally imported 2 million potential criminals into this country. 0.62
00:10:47.960 Now, there's a smaller subset of those who we have evidence they are likely terrorists.
00:10:53.880 The Trump administration is now telling us that is 18,000 people who we believe are likely terrorists.
00:11:03.060 That is dangerous, and it really underscores the urgency with which the Trump administration is going after and arresting and incarcerating and deporting those who are terrorists, those who are murderers, those who are rapists, those who are child molesters, those who are gang bangers.
00:11:21.340 That, if you want to protect our families, if you want to protect our kids, that is massively, massively important, and it actually explains why the Democrats and the media are losing their mind, because they don't want these criminals arrested.
00:11:36.480 This is, front and center, a massive issue for the country.
00:11:43.060 Yeah, and that's more of what the NCTC director, Joe Kent, was saying in the second part of his warning.
00:11:48.300 Take a listen for everybody out there.
00:11:49.620 And again, ask yourself this question.
00:11:51.480 Why are you probably only hearing this audio for the very first time or even about this story on this show?
00:11:56.500 How is this not leading the nightly news?
00:11:59.200 Keep listening.
00:11:59.820 Thank you.
00:12:29.800 Thank you.
00:12:59.780 Thank you.
00:13:29.760 And with the FBI to run down this 2,000, the Afghans who came here under Allies Welcome, who have ties to terrorist organizations, and additionally, the other 16,000 individuals with ties to terrorist organizations that Biden let into our country.
00:13:44.180 This wasn't an accident.
00:13:46.060 And I think that's part of this story, Senator, is this was done deliberately.
00:13:51.040 This wasn't an oversight.
00:13:52.900 It wasn't a, we're asleep at the wheel, and we just didn't realize what was going on.
00:13:59.540 This was done in a way that they knew was a problem.
00:14:03.280 And they knew the problem was getting bigger and bigger.
00:14:06.120 And they didn't care what happened to average Americans.
00:14:09.340 Yeah, look, the sheer quantity, 18,000 known and suspected terrorists, it'd be one thing if the Biden administration in four years they let in a dozen known and suspected terrorists, a hundred known and suspected terrorists.
00:14:25.040 That would be concerning.
00:14:25.860 One terrorist could kill hundreds or even thousands of Americans.
00:14:31.460 You and I would not be happy if they let in a dozen or a hundred.
00:14:35.420 18,000?
00:14:37.280 Holy cow. 0.89
00:14:38.740 Yeah.
00:14:38.860 I mean, that is a massive failure of our national security apparatus.
00:14:43.760 That is a massive failure where the Biden administration and the Democrats prioritized politics.
00:14:50.700 Let everybody in.
00:14:52.600 It doesn't matter where they're coming from.
00:14:54.480 It doesn't matter if they're al-Qaeda terrorists.
00:14:56.620 It doesn't matter if they're Hezbollah. 0.95
00:14:57.960 It doesn't matter if they're Hamas. 0.99
00:14:59.100 It doesn't matter if they're objective in coming to America is to come to D.C. and to shoot National Guardsmen because they are radical, America-hating terrorists.
00:15:09.320 We will let them in because we think one day they will have the right to vote, maybe immediately, maybe in time, and they'll vote for Democrats. 0.93
00:15:18.080 And so if American citizens are murdered, the Democrats were willing to do that.
00:15:23.620 Yeah, it just –
00:15:24.340 That is – it's staggering and it's indefensible.
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00:16:27.120 You may have heard about AI.
00:16:29.280 It's pretty impressive what it can do.
00:16:31.600 But there also has to be framework around it and making sure that it is a way for us to use the tools and also keep people safe.
00:16:39.520 There's a lot of concern with AI also when it comes to who's going to be leading in the industry.
00:16:46.220 Is it going to be the United States or China?
00:16:48.780 And what does AI look like if they're the leader?
00:16:52.680 And how can they manipulate everything through AI?
00:16:56.340 Senator, this is something that we've talked about on this show a lot.
00:16:59.780 I think we've led on this topic.
00:17:01.720 It's an important one because it is a race.
00:17:05.180 I described the other day on TV as this is no different than the race to the moon with Russia. 0.77
00:17:09.920 The race to the moon with AI and China, whoever gets there first, is probably going to win and own it. 0.98
00:17:16.020 And this is a really, really important subject right now.
00:17:19.920 And it's also one, I think, that deals with national security.
00:17:22.900 So the single most important economic battle we have in this country right now is the race for AI.
00:17:29.300 This is going to transform the world.
00:17:31.480 We may not like it, but it's going to happen.
00:17:34.020 And the binary choice is does America win or does China win?
00:17:41.000 Look, whoever wins the race for AI, the values of that country will define the characteristics of AI.
00:17:48.100 If you want AI to be defined by the values of China, if you want it to be surveillance and control and propaganda
00:17:57.760 and the communist government controlling everything you think, then you want China to win.
00:18:03.740 If you want it to be free speech and free enterprise and individual rights, then you want America to win.
00:18:09.520 And this is – you think back to the 1990s.
00:18:13.540 The battle for the Internet was a massive battle.
00:18:17.000 America won the battle for the Internet.
00:18:19.220 We prevailed.
00:18:20.000 This battle over AI is more consequential than the battle for the Internet.
00:18:25.160 Today, President Trump signed an executive order seeking to ensure a consistent national standard of rules for AI
00:18:34.080 to stop Gavin Newsom and Hochul and J.B. Pritzker and all these left-wing Democrats in the states
00:18:43.060 from putting contradictory, burdensome, inconsistent rules on AI that ends up crippling American AI and letting China win.
00:18:52.780 I want you to listen to the president as he talked about this today.
00:18:55.760 Well, thank you very much.
00:18:57.380 We have a big signing right now, and we have a tremendous industry where we're leading by a lot.
00:19:03.980 It's the AI, artificial intelligence.
00:19:07.020 I always thought it should be S-I, supreme intelligence, but I guess somewhere along the line,
00:19:12.760 they decided on the word artificial, and that's okay with me.
00:19:15.520 That's up to them.
00:19:16.820 It's a massive industry.
00:19:18.720 We're leading China.
00:19:20.520 We're leading everybody by a tremendous amount.
00:19:23.300 We're, the electricity is being built by them in every plant.
00:19:26.860 They're building the electricity.
00:19:28.100 We're getting them rapid approvals.
00:19:30.140 But they're spending trillions of dollars, and they can't, basically, this has a couple of other things
00:19:36.560 that are less important, but one of the things that it has is you have to have a central source of approval.
00:19:41.760 When they need approvals on things, they have to come to one source.
00:19:45.420 They can't go to California, New York, and various other places, like Illinois, with Pritzker,
00:19:50.980 who's a totally unreasonable person, and they have to have, you know, they're putting all this money in.
00:19:56.900 It's a big part of the economy.
00:19:59.020 And there's only going to be, I think, one winner here.
00:20:01.380 I don't know if anybody agrees with that.
00:20:02.920 I think most people agree.
00:20:03.940 But there's only going to be one winner here, and that's probably going to be the U.S. or China.
00:20:09.260 And right now we're winning by a lot.
00:20:11.880 China has a central source of approval.
00:20:13.820 I don't think they have any approval.
00:20:15.020 They just go and build.
00:20:16.560 But people want to be in the United States, and they want to do it here, and we have the big investment coming.
00:20:21.920 But if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you could forget it,
00:20:25.700 because it's not possible to do, especially if you have some hostile.
00:20:29.100 All you need is one hostile actor, and you wouldn't be able to do it.
00:20:33.040 So it doesn't make sense.
00:20:34.660 I didn't have to be briefed on this, by the way.
00:20:36.460 This is real easy business.
00:20:37.820 I mean, this is simple.
00:20:39.180 So we're very happy with that.
00:20:40.840 But this is about something a little bit different.
00:20:43.600 We want to have one central source of approval, and we have, I think, great Republican support.
00:20:50.220 I think we probably have Democrat support, too, because it's common sense.
00:20:53.740 I mean, you can't go to every time you make a change, and it could be a very reasonable change.
00:20:58.580 You still won't get it approved if you have to go to 50 states.
00:21:01.240 So this centralizes it, and it's something which the people behind me, the very distinguished
00:21:07.920 people all, but Tim Cook just left of Apple and spoke to all of the big companies, great
00:21:14.960 companies, and they won't be able to do this.
00:21:19.540 This will not be successful unless they have one source of approval or disapproval, frankly.
00:21:24.360 You could have disapproval, too, but it's got to be one source.
00:21:26.760 They can't go to 50 different sources.
00:21:28.880 This seems to be a core point of what the president and what you were trying to accomplish,
00:21:33.960 which is that one source, because otherwise it would be impossible to grow AI and to deal
00:21:39.820 with it the way that you need to deal with it if you didn't have this kind of one standard
00:21:45.620 across the board.
00:21:46.860 Look, AI is transformational.
00:21:48.920 Think back to the 1990s.
00:21:50.500 The 1990s, Bill Clinton was president, and the Internet was the dawn of the Internet.
00:21:58.340 And we made a choice.
00:21:59.700 America made a choice to do a light-touch regulatory approach to the Internet, and we ended up winning
00:22:05.020 that race.
00:22:06.400 America dominates tech.
00:22:08.180 We dominate the Internet.
00:22:09.300 It produced hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs in the United States.
00:22:14.580 That was incredibly consequential.
00:22:17.400 AI is the same point.
00:22:18.600 And, Ben, I'll say, look, I understand.
00:22:20.600 People across the country, they're nervous about AI.
00:22:23.960 They're afraid.
00:22:24.600 They don't want AI to come take their jobs.
00:22:27.020 They don't want AI to render them irrelevant.
00:22:29.100 They don't like the technology.
00:22:30.340 And I get that.
00:22:30.980 That's not a crazy thing to think.
00:22:33.080 Yeah.
00:22:33.400 But, look, my view, I'm not a Luddite.
00:22:36.740 I don't think the fact that you're nervous about technology can make it go away.
00:22:41.980 As much as you might be worried, listen, I'll readily admit, if there were a button in front
00:22:47.120 of me right now to destroy every cell phone in the world, I'd push that button.
00:22:51.760 Because I think cell phones are a portal.
00:22:53.760 You know, I'm a dad.
00:22:54.640 I've got two teenage girls.
00:22:56.760 Cell phones are a portal to every evil force in the world and our kids.
00:23:01.540 But we don't live in that world.
00:23:03.400 AI is here.
00:23:04.660 It is coming.
00:23:05.980 We have a binary choice.
00:23:07.920 Does America win it or does China win it?
00:23:10.720 I want you to listen to what I had to say with President Trump in the Oval today.
00:23:14.300 Give it a listen.
00:23:16.040 Ted Cruz has been a very strong advocate of common sense.
00:23:19.180 This is common sense.
00:23:20.260 I mean, I think it's nothing more than common sense.
00:23:22.480 Please, Ted.
00:23:23.300 Listen, this is the single most important economic question in the country and in the world.
00:23:28.960 Who wins the race for AI?
00:23:31.840 You look back to the 1990s, there was a similar inflection point with the beginning of the
00:23:36.580 Internet, the dawn of the Internet.
00:23:38.680 And Bill Clinton was president at the time.
00:23:40.660 He signed an executive order, just like you're doing, that put into law a light-touch regulatory
00:23:46.440 approach to the Internet.
00:23:47.580 And the result was incredible economic growth and jobs in the United States.
00:23:53.840 At the same time, the European Union took a very heavy-handed regulatory approach.
00:23:59.480 Here's an amazing statistic, Mr. President.
00:24:01.320 In 1993, the U.S. economies and Europe's economy were virtually identical in size.
00:24:08.820 Today, America's economy is more than 50% larger than Europe's, and the two drivers of
00:24:14.360 that are tech and the shale revolution.
00:24:17.020 It transformed this country, and AI is the same thing.
00:24:20.640 It's a race.
00:24:21.380 And if China wins the race, whoever wins, the values of that country will affect all of AI. 0.95
00:24:30.040 We don't want China's values of surveillance and centralized control by the communist government
00:24:35.540 governing AI.
00:24:37.040 We want American values of free speech, of individual liberty, of respecting the individual.
00:24:41.740 So this executive order, I believe, is tremendously important.
00:24:44.540 Thank you for your leadership.
00:24:46.240 You know, Senator, just to underscore how important this is and what you just described there,
00:24:52.020 even Donald Trump on True Social said the Wall Street Journal has another ridiculous story
00:24:56.200 today that China's dominating us and the world on the production of electricity having to do 0.96
00:25:01.800 with AI.
00:25:02.460 They're wrong, as usual.
00:25:04.140 Every AI plant being built in the United States is building its own electric-generating facilities.
00:25:10.280 The approvals are being given carefully, but very quickly, a matter of weeks.
00:25:16.280 Any excess electricity being produced is going to go to our electric grid, which is being
00:25:21.280 strengthened and expanded for other purposes than AI.
00:25:26.100 Like, this is not just moving forward and protecting us and going to this race with China, 0.85
00:25:32.760 who's going to be in charge of it, who's going to be the best at it, but this is also building
00:25:37.260 American infrastructure and a lot of American jobs are actually going to be created out
00:25:41.820 of this as well.
00:25:43.100 Well, this is a common sense principle.
00:25:45.260 We should be the party of jobs.
00:25:48.000 AI, it's going to produce disruption.
00:25:50.580 It's part of the reason people are scared of it.
00:25:52.620 But it's also going to create millions of jobs.
00:25:56.520 And the simple question we ought to ask is, who do we want to win?
00:26:00.420 Do we want a world where China wins AI? 0.81
00:26:03.380 AI is coming.
00:26:04.200 You may not like it.
00:26:05.820 You may be scared about it.
00:26:06.920 You may not know.
00:26:08.760 And I get it.
00:26:09.740 It's easy to say, listen, I wish nuclear weapons didn't exist.
00:26:15.220 If there were a button to make every nuclear weapon disappear, I'd push that button.
00:26:19.680 But they do exist.
00:26:21.580 And if they exist, I want to make sure America has the best and is able to deter someone attacking
00:26:27.720 us.
00:26:28.900 AI is similar.
00:26:29.960 And I got to say, President Trump is being bold.
00:26:33.680 He's being visionary.
00:26:35.240 He understands that if we win or lose this, this is the economic battle of the 21st century.
00:26:42.160 And I was really proud.
00:26:44.020 I stood side by side with Donald Trump saying, America is going to win the race for AI.
00:26:49.960 We're going to beat China. 0.65
00:26:51.060 That is massively important for jobs in America.
00:26:53.920 Hey, I just want to take a moment and talk to you about an amazing offer that is happening
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00:28:35.660 All right.
00:28:36.300 Finally, Senator, I love doing this show because we get to bring attention and actually get our listeners involved.
00:28:42.160 The next subject we're going to be talking about is one where I would say to everyone listening,
00:28:46.680 this is when you say, I'm going to take a moment.
00:28:49.800 I'm going to send an email.
00:28:50.840 I'm going to call my senator.
00:28:51.820 I'm going to call my congressman.
00:28:53.700 This is something you've been working on.
00:28:56.060 We've been talking about a lot.
00:28:58.080 And it deals with the Muslim Brotherhood bill.
00:29:01.980 And I want you to give this update because it's important.
00:29:04.500 And a lot of people that listen to Verk, they say, hey, what can I do?
00:29:07.240 How can my voice be heard?
00:29:08.640 This is a perfect example of where your phone call can make a big difference.
00:29:12.740 Absolutely. 0.99
00:29:13.640 So look, the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization. 0.99
00:29:16.880 It is one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations on the planet. 0.97
00:29:20.260 I have been fighting for literally 10 years for the United States to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
00:29:29.860 In the first Trump administration, I came incredibly close.
00:29:33.900 I almost got the Trump administration to do it.
00:29:36.920 Here's what defeated me.
00:29:38.280 So there's a global umbrella group, the Muslim Brotherhood.
00:29:43.160 And there are a bunch of affiliates that are in different countries.
00:29:46.520 And there were deep state, State Department operatives who argued against what I was trying to do and Trump won.
00:29:54.160 And the argument they used that prevailed is they said, well, look, not every single affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood can we prove is a terrorist organization.
00:30:04.860 Some of them clearly are.
00:30:06.860 But others of them, there's not clear and irrefutable evidence that they're engaged in terrorism.
00:30:12.800 That's what defeated my effort Trump won.
00:30:15.240 So here's what I've done Trump too.
00:30:18.360 I said the previous efforts were top down.
00:30:22.120 They were designate the global Muslim Brotherhood and then designate all their affiliates.
00:30:27.540 They argued some of the affiliates may not be terrorists.
00:30:30.820 I don't buy that, but it was an argument and it was an argument that was successful in Trump one.
00:30:36.560 So in Trump two, I inverted the entire approach.
00:30:40.600 I said, all right, let's rather than being top down, let's start bottom up.
00:30:45.240 And so I filed legislation that directed the administration, designate every Muslim Brotherhood affiliate that there is clear and unequivocal evidence they're a terrorist organization.
00:30:56.580 So for example, Hamas.
00:30:58.400 Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. 0.88
00:31:00.540 So there is no dispute, Hamas is a terrorist organization. 0.88
00:31:04.820 So that is an easy example of a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate that is indisputably terrorist.
00:31:11.500 My legislation says designate the affiliates.
00:31:15.220 And then it says, designate the global Muslim Brotherhood for providing money, for providing material assistance to the affiliates that are indisputably terrorist organizations.
00:31:29.420 So I filed that legislation.
00:31:31.560 I've been pressing the Trump administration.
00:31:33.140 President Trump stepped in and he announced that he was in designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
00:31:41.980 Not the global, but the individual affiliates.
00:31:45.140 And basically the Trump administration is following the approach in my legislation.
00:31:51.000 And I want you to listen.
00:31:52.600 This week, a State Department official from the Trump administration was testifying before the Senate.
00:31:58.120 I questioned him on this.
00:31:59.380 Give a listen.
00:31:59.800 Do you believe the Muslim Brotherhood poses a threat to the national security of the United States?
00:32:05.500 Yes.
00:32:06.900 Now let's pivot away from the president's executive order to what's happening here in Congress.
00:32:12.340 As I said earlier, and as you observed, I've been pushing to designate the Muslim Brotherhood for more than a decade now.
00:32:20.500 I've introduced legislation to do so in all but one Congress since I was elected.
00:32:24.680 This Congress, I introduced a version of my bill, the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act,
00:32:30.180 that uses the same bottoms-up approach that is in President Trump's executive order.
00:32:36.060 It has bipartisan support in both chambers.
00:32:39.660 Last week, frustratingly, the House version of my bill was advanced but terminally weakened by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
00:32:47.660 They took out the designation part of the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act.
00:32:54.040 The Senate should do better, and we should move the full bill on our side.
00:32:58.480 Some public reports and statements have claimed that House members, including House Republicans,
00:33:03.780 did not believe that Congress should have a role in crafting sanctions which are to be implemented by the executive.
00:33:09.060 I find that argument to be specious, and I know the vast majority of this committee does as well.
00:33:16.680 Mr. LeHairful, I and my colleagues have implicit and explicit expectations that executive officials will work with,
00:33:24.800 and when appropriate, even defer to this committee on issues of foreign policy,
00:33:28.920 including sanctions and including the designation of terrorist groups.
00:33:32.040 What is your view of the role that Congress plays on these issues,
00:33:36.680 including on initiatives like mine to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group?
00:33:41.940 Senator Cruz, thank you for your question.
00:33:45.040 I fully respect Congress's Article I authority in making laws including with respect to foreign terror organization designations
00:33:55.760 or other types of designations.
00:33:57.300 Whatever legislation is passed, I will faithfully execute if I am confirmed.
00:34:03.780 Thank you.
00:34:05.140 All right, final question.
00:34:06.700 One element of this debate that continues to surprise me,
00:34:09.640 and I don't think the American people, even many people here in Congress,
00:34:13.720 I don't think they appreciate the degree to which our allies support acknowledging
00:34:19.860 and designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
00:34:23.160 As you know, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kenya,
00:34:29.800 they have all already designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
00:34:35.360 These are our allies and partners in the Middle East and Africa,
00:34:38.420 and there's a pernicious narrative that doing the same thing they've done,
00:34:43.180 designating the Muslim Brotherhood will somehow alienate these partners.
00:34:47.320 Describe how you would work with our allies to counter the Brotherhood's malign activities.
00:34:52.560 Senator Cruz, thank you for that question.
00:34:57.260 I can say that in a previous capacity in the Bureau of Counterterrorism,
00:35:00.720 I led our efforts to designate the IRGC, get designations of other countries to designate the IRGC,
00:35:08.720 as well as Hezbollah and Hamas, particularly in the Western Hemisphere.
00:35:11.980 That approach, it's pretty intense diplomacy.
00:35:16.740 It requires a lot of legwork.
00:35:19.320 I've talked with our chiefs of mission in the Western Hemisphere across to Australia with respect to that.
00:35:23.780 You saw the news there about four or five months ago, what Australia did with respect to the IRGC.
00:35:28.280 I would template that, really, and get at the Muslim Brotherhood using that diplomatic approach that is working, 0.90
00:35:35.760 and there's more work to be done, let me be clear, with the IRGC and Hezbollah and Hamas.
00:35:39.240 But I would template that in our efforts with the Muslim Brotherhood.
00:35:43.340 Terrific. Very helpful.
00:35:44.180 Thank you.
00:35:44.600 Thank you, sir.
00:35:45.760 You hear your question there, and I want you to just explain why this is so important, Senator.
00:35:52.120 We need to be clear-eyed.
00:35:53.700 We need to be clear-eyed about the threats to America. 0.95
00:35:56.840 The Muslim Brotherhood is a radical jihadist global terror network.
00:36:01.600 They are funding jihadists in countries across the globe, and we are seeing, we started this podcast by talking about 18,000 terrorists coming to this country under Joe Biden. 0.65
00:36:12.940 These are, the Muslim Brotherhood is deliberately promoting people who are seeking to engage in acts of terror. 0.99
00:36:20.260 They're seeking to wage jihad, and we need to be serious and clear-eyed. 0.51
00:36:24.420 And I've got to say, there's some Republicans that are nervous about this, but Donald Trump is not.
00:36:29.220 And his designation was historic, and I'm continuing to work hand-in-hand with him to protect the American people against the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood, against the threat of jihadists. 0.70
00:36:42.460 That's really important.
00:36:43.540 We're going to keep covering it, and we'll keep keeping you updated on it.
00:36:46.480 Also, don't forget, share this podcast, this show, wherever you can.
00:36:51.080 Follow us on social media wherever you can as well.
00:36:53.260 Also, subscribe and get every episode of Vertical Tech Crews wherever you are.
00:36:57.340 And if you're listening on the radio, thank you for joining us, and we'll see you back here on this radio station next week as well.
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