Verdict with Ted Cruz - Dems RAGE against the Deniers, Another Pro-Hamas Campus Protester Deported & Foreign Money Floods our Universities Week In Review

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.340 Welcome.

00:00:06.060 It is Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:00:07.560 The Week in Review.

00:00:08.880 Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.980 And here are the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week.

00:00:13.100 First up, Democrats continue to threaten conservatives with violence if you disagree with them.

00:00:20.120 So is this basically the Democrat political playbook?

00:00:23.200 We break it down for you.

00:00:24.460 Also, Donald Trump making good on a promise that if you are a pro-Hamas terrorist protester on a college campus,

00:00:32.620 well, there's a very good chance you're going to get deported.

00:00:36.080 And finally, foreign cash is pouring into universities.

00:00:40.300 So what is the payback and why are these universities willing to take so much money from shady countries?

00:00:47.660 We'll break it down for you.

00:00:49.220 It's the Week in Review and it starts right now.

00:00:51.900 All right.

00:00:52.500 So, Senator, there's been a lot of violence.

00:00:55.620 We've witnessed this.

00:00:57.020 It's been directed towards Elon Musk, threats against Elon Musk.

00:01:01.900 Threats now are expanding to Tesla dealerships.

00:01:04.800 We're finding incendiary devices, bombs in dealerships, for example, in Austin, Texas.

00:01:10.000 And then there's people now that are threatening you.

00:01:12.280 This seems to be the Democratic Party's playbook now.

00:01:15.500 If there's someone we don't like, we go after them.

00:01:17.960 We go after their businesses.

00:01:19.360 We try to destroy what they built.

00:01:20.800 We try to financially ruin them.

00:01:22.360 All of this is what they did to Donald Trump.

00:01:24.180 And we saw that the rhetoric literally almost cost Donald Trump his life in that first assassination attempt that actually got him.

00:01:33.180 And now they don't seem to be backing down at all.

00:01:36.560 Well, the Democrats today are the party of rage.

00:01:40.180 They're the party of anger.

00:01:41.400 And I will say there's a House member in Texas, Jasmine Crockett, who this week has been a rough week for her. 0.99

00:01:48.700 She has been unhinged.

00:01:51.140 She has called for violence against me.

00:01:53.300 She has denigrated and mocked Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, because he is in a wheelchair, because he has a disability.

00:02:02.300 And it really does show who today's Democrats are.

00:02:05.860 And I want you to listen to what she said first about me and then about Greg Abbott.

00:02:11.260 Give a listen.

00:02:11.740 Just in case the slow people listening decide to clip this up later, I just want to say that I have never promoted violence whatsoever.

00:02:21.220 I think that you punch.

00:02:23.260 I think you punch.

00:02:24.280 I think you're OK with you.

00:02:25.440 You OK with punching.

00:02:26.920 You know, I think and I love Colin.

00:02:30.280 And I think towards the end, he started to punch a little harder.

00:02:33.260 But like it's Ted Cruz. 0.95

00:02:35.240 I mean, like this dude has to be knocked over the head like hard. 0.98

00:02:39.440 Right. 0.86

00:02:40.000 Like there is no niceties with him like at all.

00:02:42.860 Like you you go clean off on him.

00:02:44.980 Right.

00:02:45.180 I hear that and I just shake my head, Senator, because, of course, when the fire is of the spotlight is on her, she's like, oh, I've never called for violence.

00:02:57.420 And then you play the clip right there.

00:02:59.160 It's very clear what she's saying.

00:03:01.880 Look, I got to admit, I've never met this woman, Jasmine Crockett.

00:03:05.700 I don't know her.

00:03:06.780 She's a new congresswoman from Texas. 0.87

00:03:10.780 She seems really angry.

00:03:12.420 She seems really radical.

00:03:13.760 She seems to be the darling of the radical left because she calls for crazy things. 0.93

00:03:19.180 I will tell you, look, I've been in the Senate 13 years.

00:03:25.360 It's an incredible privilege.

00:03:27.480 I'm blessed.

00:03:28.620 I jump out of bed every day excited because I get to fight for Texas.

00:03:32.320 I get to fight for America.

00:03:33.900 I will tell you one of the downsides of this job.

00:03:37.100 I have literally hundreds of death threats against me.

00:03:40.940 And by the way, I want to be clear.

00:03:42.800 You and I, we spend a lot of time together.

00:03:45.160 We travel.

00:03:46.360 There are a lot of people that come up and encourage.

00:03:48.320 But, man, some of the things that people say, and I've had the threats not like you've had threats, but it's like part of the business now, which is the worst part about it, is that if you're in politics and you're conservative, there are people that want you to die and come after you.

00:04:04.520 But you and I, we went to a game and people were screaming the F-bomb in front of your daughter who was with us.

00:04:12.700 And there were several times it happened.

00:04:14.720 And it's like there is no just like you're a dad in that moment.

00:04:18.560 You're a father.

00:04:19.200 I'm a dad when I'm out with my son and someone gets in my face to the H-E-B and starts screaming exos at me in the cereal aisle.

00:04:25.660 It's like, what is wrong with these people?

00:04:27.440 And yet it seems to be getting worse, not better.

00:04:30.280 Yeah, look, there are a lot of people that are just unhinged and filled with hate.

00:04:34.860 And I'll tell you, look, I'll give you an encouragement.

00:04:39.120 Listen, the folks that listen to Verdict, you guys are amazing.

00:04:41.820 I'm so grateful for you.

00:04:43.540 You're incredibly engaged and you're passionate and you're fighting to save this country.

00:04:48.460 I will tell you, when I travel around, the ratio of positive to negative comments, it is more than 90% positive.

00:04:58.600 It's probably 95% or even 98% positive.

00:05:01.620 So it's encouraging when I'm out at an airport, when I'm out at a shopping mall, people say nice things.

00:05:07.600 They say thank you.

00:05:08.600 They say I appreciate you.

00:05:09.960 And that's gratifying.

00:05:11.040 That makes me happy.

00:05:13.060 There are regularly people who don't and people on the left.

00:05:17.760 Now, I got to say, many of them on the left, when they say something negative, they'll like screw up their courage.

00:05:24.580 They'll run up and they'll go, F you.

00:05:27.160 And they'll just yell at me.

00:05:29.540 And it's very funny.

00:05:30.740 It's like, wow, you spent a long time thinking about that.

00:05:35.580 That was the best you could come up with.

00:05:37.240 That was very clever.

00:05:40.320 And my standard response, and unfortunately it happens often enough that I have to have a standard response.

00:05:47.080 My standard response is I say, God bless you.

00:05:49.860 And I got to tell you, it infuriates them.

00:05:53.860 And, you know, there's a principle in the Bible that if you repay hatred with kindness, that it is like piling hot coals on their heads.

00:06:04.660 So I'll say, God bless you, and I'll smile.

00:06:07.600 I'll be very happy.

00:06:08.440 Like, when they say F you, my response is God bless you.

00:06:12.460 And there was one time in Houston where this, like, liberal woman screamed F you, and I said, God bless you. 1.00

00:06:19.340 And she's like, I don't want your God's love.

00:06:23.860 And I said, that's okay.

00:06:25.000 Jesus loves you anyway.

00:06:25.980 And it drove her nuts.

00:06:29.680 Like, she almost had an aneurysm when I said that.

00:06:33.640 And I try to be smiling and show a contrast.

00:06:40.180 And I will say just a couple of days ago I had a young woman who was screaming F you, and I did say something to the effect of, you're very charming, your mother, but must be very proud.

00:06:52.440 How'd that turn out?

00:06:53.540 Oh, she just stormed off, and I'm sure as she was driving home, she's thought of 50 different responses, but she didn't say any of them.

00:07:01.360 She's just like, yeah, I randomly scream F you at people at the airport. 0.74

00:07:05.820 I'm a great person. 0.99

00:07:07.820 But, listen, when you have people on the left encouraging, listen, Jasmine is saying you need to hit them in the head and hit them really hard. 0.95

00:07:16.400 I'll be honest, Ben, I really hope someone doesn't hit me in the head really hard. 0.98

00:07:20.500 Like, I would prefer not to have my brains bashed in.

00:07:23.540 This is the part where I think it's a bigger issue that concerns me.

00:07:27.900 It's the dog whistles that come from the leadership of the Democratic Party.

00:07:32.540 And by the way, Donald Trump was, you had two assassins who tried to kill him.

00:07:36.560 Yeah.

00:07:36.740 We've got Democrats who are firebombing Tesla and radical leftists, and no Democrat is condemning it.

00:07:44.240 They are calling for violence.

00:07:45.800 These are the same people that had Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots.

00:07:49.680 And so the threat of violence is very real.

00:07:53.660 We had, at the baseball practice, we had a radical leftist, a Bernie Sanders supporter, who came and said, he asked someone, hey, are those Republicans there?

00:08:02.360 They said yes, and he came with a rifle and shot people.

00:08:06.140 And it was pure happenstance that Steve Scalise, who was a member of House leadership, was there because he had a security detail. 0.85

00:08:15.400 And that security detail shot and killed this radical leftist.

00:08:18.860 If, let's say Scalise had been 10 minutes late that morning, let's say he'd been delayed, he'd been taking his kids to school, he'd been doing something else, and he was delayed.

00:08:30.380 That radical leftist would have murdered over a dozen House members and two U.S. senators.

00:08:37.240 We came incredibly close to a massacre because of the active solicitation of violence.

00:08:44.740 And let me be clear, this is on one side.

00:08:47.640 The leftist calling for violence.

00:08:50.220 I categorically oppose violence.

00:08:53.140 I don't want anyone to engage in violence against leftists.

00:08:56.200 I'm not calling for this nutcase Jasmine Crockett to face any violence. 0.99

00:08:59.940 No, no, no.

00:09:01.340 Now, I think her views are anathema.

00:09:03.820 And I want you to play what she said like a day or two later, attacking Greg Abbott, because it is equally noxious.

00:09:11.880 Listen to this.

00:09:12.520 We're in these hot-ass Texas streets, honey.

00:09:19.200 Y'all know we got Governor Hot Wheels down there.

00:09:21.860 Come on now. 0.98

00:09:24.520 And the only thing hot about him is that he is a hot-ass mess, honey. 0.99

00:09:29.360 So, yes. 0.99

00:09:32.620 Yes, yes, yes.

00:09:37.240 I mean, you listen to that.

00:09:38.780 It's like, one, what do you think is going to come of that?

00:09:42.280 The other thing is the backdrop behind her is she's literally speaking at the Human Rights Campaign.

00:09:47.860 And that's what she's preaching, and people are laughing and clapping as she's on stage for, again, Human Rights Campaign.

00:09:55.680 But, by the way, do you know why Greg Abbott is in a wheelchair?

00:09:58.820 Yeah.

00:09:59.160 If I remember the story correctly, he was running at the park, and a random tree limb fell on his head and paralyzed him.

00:10:07.200 Broke his back.

00:10:08.240 And I'll tell you, I worked for him five and a half years.

00:10:10.780 Greg Abbott is a dear friend.

00:10:12.720 He's been a boss, a mentor.

00:10:15.100 And he would tell a joke.

00:10:16.420 Like, when I first went to work for him, he would tell a joke.

00:10:19.760 He'd get up and say, okay, I know what you're thinking.

00:10:22.760 How slow was that guy running to get hit by a tree?

00:10:26.400 And, like, the first time he jokes about it, you're not sure what to say.

00:10:30.620 Like, wait, am I allowed to laugh about it?

00:10:32.400 And he would tell jokes about it, and you could be like, okay, I mean, I guess if you can joke about it, I can laugh about it.

00:10:39.880 But, you know, it was tragic, and he's been paralyzed for 20-plus, maybe 30-plus years, a long time, in a wheelchair.

00:10:48.800 And she's sitting there at supposedly the Human Rights Campaign.

00:10:52.520 Now, it's a leftist radical group that is obsessed with LGBT.

00:10:57.200 I mean, that's really what they exist to.

00:10:59.220 But they're cheering, yes, Governor Hot Wheels, he's disabled in a wheelchair.

00:11:05.300 Ha, ha, ha. 0.89

00:11:06.560 What the hell's wrong with these people? 0.99

00:11:08.880 I mean, that is nasty and hateful, and it's who today's Democrat Party is. 0.98

00:11:16.660 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.

00:11:23.120 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. 0.98

00:11:30.160 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:11:33.900 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:11:35.080 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:11:36.300 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:11:40.080 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:11:45.800 So, if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:11:48.780 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:11:54.700 Now on to story number two.

00:11:56.920 Senator, I want to move to the other story that you mentioned earlier.

00:12:00.000 And this goes in the category of promises made, promises kept for Donald Trump.

00:12:06.600 Another pro-Hamas protester is in serious trouble after his actions on a college campus.

00:12:14.000 This is making liberal heads explode, but this is exactly what the president said he was going to do, and he's making good on that promise yet again.

00:12:22.360 Well, and this is something we discussed in the podcast you and I did at CPAC when we interviewed Pam Bondi.

00:12:28.380 And we talked about the fact that the Trump administration is going to go after these radical, anti-Semitic, anti-American, anti-Israel protesters.

00:12:36.000 And if you threaten violence against fellow students or if you are attacking America, you have no entitlement to be allowed into this country.

00:12:46.580 And it's interesting.

00:12:47.540 You're seeing Democrats who have suddenly discovered free speech.

00:12:52.140 Mind you, when it comes to Americans speaking, they don't give a damn about free speech.

00:12:56.160 When it comes to big tech censoring you, they don't care about free speech.

00:12:59.720 American citizens have no First Amendment rights in the Democrats' bizarre lexicon. 0.95

00:13:04.000 But if you are a vicious anti-Semite, if you hate America, if you hate Israel and you're not an American, well, then suddenly they think you're protected.

00:13:14.080 And it is insane.

00:13:15.440 So the latest radical who had his visa revoked is a student at Cornell, and he's an individual named Momodo Tal.

00:13:25.680 Now, Momodo Tal, according to the Washington Free Beacon, is a graduate student who has called for the destruction of the United States, has celebrated the October 7th attacks by Hamas, and has said that he takes his, quote, cue from the armed resistance in Palestine.

00:13:48.820 Now, who is Momodo Tal?

00:13:51.600 He is a British and Gambian dual national, so he's not an American.

00:13:56.740 And he began studying in Cornell in 2022 on an F-1 student visa.

00:14:02.760 That student visa has been revoked.

00:14:05.900 Good.

00:14:06.340 And Tal received an email from the Department of Justice that said, ICE invites Mr. Tal and his counsel to appear in person at the HSI office in Syracuse at a mutually agreeable time for personal service of the notice to appear and for Mr. Tal to surrender to ICE custody.

00:14:25.840 And, of course, what did Tal do?

00:14:29.140 He engaged in lawfare and went and filed a lawsuit seeking to block it.

00:14:33.140 Now, what has Tal said?

00:14:37.140 Tal has said, number one, he's called on fellow student protesters to take their cues from the armed resistance in Palestine.

00:14:46.480 Armed, by the way.

00:14:47.480 Not just resistance, armed resistance.

00:14:49.640 He has also said, quote, we are in solidarity with the armed resistance in Palestine from the river to the sea.

00:14:58.300 He also said just just after October 7th, hours after, he said, quote, the dialect demands that whenever wherever you have oppression, you will find those who are fighting against it.

00:15:15.240 Glory to the resistance.

00:15:17.020 Now, the dialect, look, this guy is a communist.

00:15:19.600 He's a Marxist.

00:15:20.400 We talked about how cultural Marxism, they divide the world into oppressors and victims.

00:15:27.340 And they actively cheer on the violent revolution of the so-called victims against the so-called oppressors.

00:15:34.120 Now, this is hours after October 7th.

00:15:36.020 This is as women and little girls are being raped, as 1,200 civilians are being murdered.

00:15:40.800 And here is what he's saying.

00:15:42.580 The dialect demands that wherever you have oppression, you will find those who are fighting against it.

00:15:47.780 Glory to the resistance.

00:15:50.220 That's not all he said.

00:15:51.960 When he applied for his student visa, he wrote, quote, and this is on Twitter.

00:15:57.100 The end of the U.S. empire in our lifetime, inshallah. 1.00

00:16:03.440 Months later, the idiots in the Biden administration gave him his student visa. 1.00

00:16:08.560 And he wrote, student visa issued. 1.00

00:16:11.240 We are going to America, baby.

00:16:14.560 Alhamdulillah.

00:16:15.200 I don't know what that means, but I'm guessing it is not nice.

00:16:18.300 Shortly thereafter, he tweeted, my hatred of the U.S. empire knows no bound.

00:16:27.700 Wallah hi.

00:16:28.940 Again, I don't know what that means, but I'm guessing again, it is celebrating against America.

00:16:35.540 One other thing he posted, quote, when the enemy is U.S. imperialism, then absolutely anyone

00:16:43.140 the U.S. calls an enemy is my friend.

00:16:48.240 Let me be clear. 0.99

00:16:50.460 This anti-American, anti-Semitic radical who hates America needs to get the hell out of our country. 0.98

00:16:57.380 He has no entitlement to be here, and we have no obligation. 0.99

00:17:00.820 We have no legal obligation.

00:17:02.120 We have no constitutional obligation, and we certainly have no moral obligation to say,

00:17:07.480 hey, people who hate America, people who say, quote,

00:17:10.940 anyone who calls the U.S. an enemy is my friend.

00:17:14.780 You know what? 1.00

00:17:15.600 If that's true, get your ass out of this country. 1.00

00:17:18.380 We don't need you here threatening Americans. 1.00

00:17:22.120 It really is about threatening Americans and threatening kids on college campuses, 0.92

00:17:26.400 and we've seen anti-Semitism, for example, that has just skyrocketed on college campuses,

00:17:31.640 and a lot of this is well organized.

00:17:35.300 We continue to see that.

00:17:37.000 A lot of these agitators and protesters are acting in groups and pre-planning this around

00:17:44.080 the country, and that has to be very concerning, I think, not only for college students, but

00:17:49.080 especially for students that are Jewish, but really concerning for, I think, everyday Americans

00:17:55.420 understand that we've been allowing these people in, and this is what they're doing.

00:17:59.480 And understand the threats.

00:18:01.860 Let me read you another tweet that he sent.

00:18:05.760 Quote,

00:18:06.600 We are actually living in an effing alternative reality, although he did not abbreviate effing.

00:18:13.840 Zionists living comfortably in the U.S. and Zionist Jewish students at Ivy League institutions

00:18:20.740 are claiming to be unsafe, scared, and somehow everyone is calling for their genocide.

00:18:25.900 Whilst in 4K, we are witnessing a genocide of the Palestinian people, and many of these 1.00

00:18:32.060 same folks who claim to feel scared are cheering on the actions of the IOF, BFFR, I don't know

00:18:38.100 what that means. 0.98

00:18:38.680 Every single Zionist is a sick, sick individual, and there can be no path forward except for the 1.00

00:18:48.720 complete eradication of Zionism, materially and mentally. 1.00

00:18:55.980 And then he tweets a little bit later. 0.99

00:18:58.320 Zionists are indeed the chosen people, chosen for hell. 1.00

00:19:04.240 Now understand one game that anti-Semites play, which is many times they use the word

00:19:12.120 Zionist when what they mean is Jew.

00:19:14.140 And they just think it's like, oh, I'm pretending to be slightly less bigoted by calling it Zionists.

00:19:21.220 Look, they consider, and he actually at one point says Zionist slash Jewish students, this 0.79

00:19:26.580 is an anti-Semite who hates Jews and who is calling for the complete eradication of Zionism, 0.99

00:19:34.000 by which he means the complete eradication of Jews. 0.99

00:19:37.000 And he says they are the chosen people. 1.00

00:19:39.260 They are chosen for hell. 0.99

00:19:40.660 This is a bigot who hates America. 0.98

00:19:46.320 And you know what was happening after the Trump administration moved to deport this radical? 0.62

00:19:52.820 Leftists were protesting in support of him.

00:19:57.940 And by the way, have you heard a single Democrat in the Senate speak out in favor of revoking his

00:20:08.400 visa?

00:20:09.340 No.

00:20:09.520 You had left-wing activists on Cornell protesting his deportation on Thursday, and they were

00:20:15.520 chanting, hands off, Momodoo, waving signs opposing mass deportation.

00:20:21.860 Listen, any reporter, every reporter ought to ask the Democrats, do you believe we have

00:20:28.300 to give student visas to people who say they're enemies of America and hate America?

00:20:32.460 It's, there's no legal basis for that.

00:20:38.760 And I have yet to see a Democrat explain why they cheer on pro-Hamas radicals.

00:20:46.240 But I got to say, let's say you're a moderate Democrat, but not swept up in the sort of Trump

00:20:56.140 derangement syndrome anger, you got to ask why Washington Democrats, when they look at October

00:21:01.960 7th, when they look at the radicals on campuses, why the Democrats say we stand with Hamas and we

00:21:08.320 stand with the pro-Hamas protesters.

00:21:09.840 That's got to make you wonder what the heck has happened to the Democrat Party.

00:21:15.760 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back

00:21:20.980 and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.

00:21:24.400 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected 1.00

00:21:29.860 leaders, and the world around them.

00:21:31.640 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:21:35.360 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:21:36.540 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:21:37.760 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:21:41.520 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their

00:21:46.640 journey.

00:21:47.260 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:21:50.260 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcast.

00:21:54.400 I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed, which

00:22:01.080 brings me to story number three.

00:22:03.120 And this is one where we have, I think, led on exposing the amount of foreign money that's

00:22:10.420 been pouring into universities.

00:22:11.620 We also exposed it with the Biden crime family and the amount of foreign dollars coming in

00:22:15.520 to the Biden Institute, for example, and other universities.

00:22:18.480 And we've witnessed the amount of money coming in to a point where you say,

00:22:23.860 hey, this doesn't make sense economically.

00:22:26.580 This is my opinion.

00:22:28.120 I think now you're looking at a bigger issue, which is what are they actually getting in

00:22:33.060 return for the staggering amounts of foreign money that's pouring these universities?

00:22:37.620 Is this covert ops by foreign nations?

00:22:41.260 Is this trying to control the next generation of American minds?

00:22:44.620 Is this about spying?

00:22:46.880 What is it?

00:22:47.540 But when you look at this new report from a nonprofit and a non-person government watchdog

00:22:52.020 group, they're sounding the alarm saying this amount of money coming in is not just from

00:22:57.000 good do-gooders.

00:22:58.260 This money is coming in, is coming in for something big.

00:23:01.020 Senator, what is that?

00:23:02.720 Yeah, look, this is not covert.

00:23:04.920 It is overt.

00:23:05.700 It is open.

00:23:06.500 It is out and brazen.

00:23:07.720 So there's a story in Fox News entitled, quote, new report sounds alarm on staggering amount

00:23:14.160 of foreign money pouring into U.S. universities.

00:23:17.020 The report says that $795 million has gone from foreign adversaries to American universities.

00:23:25.460 And here's what the article says.

00:23:27.020 I'm going to quote a little bit of it.

00:23:28.560 Quote, a new report from a nonprofit and nonpartisan government watchdog is shedding light on the

00:23:34.300 tens of billions of dollars, tens of billions that have poured into U.S. universities in

00:23:40.660 recent years, including $20 billion to some of the most prestigious universities in the

00:23:46.720 country.

00:23:47.040 The report produced by Americans for Public Trust and released this week found that $60

00:23:53.440 billion, again, $60 billion in foreign gifts and contracts were funneled into American colleges

00:24:02.160 and universities, including $20 billion alone to elite schools like Harvard, Yale, and others.

00:24:08.400 Within that total, $795 million came from nations that are longstanding adversaries to the United

00:24:15.780 States, including China, Russia, Venezuela, and Yemen.

00:24:21.380 This is shocking.

00:24:22.620 It is fundamental corruption.

00:24:23.900 I can tell you I've introduced legislation to require at a minimum that universities report

00:24:28.900 every dollar of foreign money they receive so that we have scrutiny.

00:24:31.580 And I'll tell you, Ben, one of the very first pieces of legislation I ever passed when I was a

00:24:36.820 brand new baby senator 13 years ago was dealing with this issue of foreign money flooding into

00:24:42.620 universities.

00:24:43.180 And China had been funding these things called Confucius Institutes.

00:24:47.820 Confucius Institutes were institutes on American college campuses that taught Mandarin, that taught

00:24:55.240 Chinese language, and they were used, number one, as hubs of espionage, where China would send spies to

00:25:03.140 engage in espionage in the United States, and number two, as tools of propaganda, where they would push

00:25:09.900 propaganda that was favorable to the Chinese communist government.

00:25:13.520 And when I was a brand new baby senator, I introduced legislation that banned any money from the

00:25:20.680 federal Department of Defense going to a university that had a Confucius Institute.

00:25:26.040 And at the time I introduced it, we had a Democrat Senate.

00:25:28.920 When I got elected, Harry Reid was the majority leader.

00:25:31.140 The Democrats were in the majority.

00:25:32.700 I was on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

00:25:34.800 I introduced this amendment.

00:25:36.280 And Ben, I'll tell you, I got bipartisan support.

00:25:38.600 I got Democrats to support me and Republicans.

00:25:40.960 We passed it into law.

00:25:42.140 And the legislation I passed resulted in more than 20 Confucius Institutes across the country

00:25:49.360 being shut down.

00:25:50.560 This was a problem back in 2013.

00:25:52.780 I got to say, in 2025, it's much, much worse.

00:25:57.160 So what is the government's response now?

00:26:00.300 What should the government response be moving forward?

00:26:03.240 And is it time to actually look at these universities and ask questions or have regulations about

00:26:10.380 money coming in from foreign countries, especially those that are adversaries of the United States

00:26:15.820 of America?

00:26:16.980 I don't like government overreach.

00:26:19.540 I want to make that clear.

00:26:20.520 But the Wild Wild West that we're looking at right now from this report and $60 billion in

00:26:27.360 foreign gifts and contracts are funneled into American colleges and universities like that.

00:26:32.160 They're getting something in return.

00:26:34.620 $20 billion alone to Harvard, Yale, and other elite schools.

00:26:38.260 They're getting something in return.

00:26:40.380 And if they're buying the minds of American students or influence or even what worries me

00:26:47.160 the most is stealing intellectual property or spying on America and future leaders, this

00:26:53.940 scares the hell out of me.

00:26:54.960 So what should the government's response be?

00:26:57.920 Yes, yes, yes, all of the above.

00:27:00.240 So they're doing this to buy influence.

00:27:03.340 They're doing this to push propaganda.

00:27:05.440 They're doing this to engage in espionage.

00:27:08.220 They're doing this to steal intellectual property.

00:27:11.100 And so many of our universities, especially our elite universities, have eagerly jumped in

00:27:16.960 bed with them.

00:27:17.960 Look, you and I discussed early on in the wake of October 7th when the anti-Semitic protests

00:27:23.380 were breaking out.

00:27:24.580 If you look at the universities with the highest percentage of foreign students, it almost

00:27:30.700 perfectly maps to the universities with the most, the most virulent, the most nasty anti-Semitic

00:27:36.780 protests.

00:27:37.840 Universities like Columbia and NYU are at the very top of the list.

00:27:41.280 And when you let in a bunch of foreign students, now look, universities like foreign students 1.00

00:27:45.720 because they pay full tuition.

00:27:47.140 They pay full freight.

00:27:48.500 They're cash cows. 1.00

00:27:50.880 But why are American universities in the business of educating foreigners, especially foreigners

00:27:55.880 who hate America and are undermining America?

00:27:58.280 I don't see a reason for that.

00:27:59.880 But not only that, but they're pushing this to drive a political agenda.

00:28:06.600 And so what should we do?

00:28:07.940 Number one, we need transparency.

00:28:09.640 As I mentioned, I've introduced legislation to require transparency.

00:28:13.180 If a university is getting money from a foreign country, we need to know about it.

00:28:17.780 How much from which country?

00:28:19.160 And I'll tell you, the legislation I'm introducing puts punitive tax penalties.

00:28:23.460 If you get money from a country that is an enemy of America, in my view, the federal government

00:28:28.880 ought to put penalties in place where you end up being taxed more than you get.

00:28:33.380 We don't need the enemies of America funding our universities and actively undermining our

00:28:38.860 education.

00:28:39.640 We need leaders who are willing to stand up for America first.

00:28:43.120 And I think that's incredibly important.

00:28:45.600 If you look at the money that came in, a perfect example of this is within that total, I gave

00:28:49.800 you the 20 billion alone going to those elite schools.

00:28:55.120 795 million came from nations that are longstanding adversaries of the U.S., including China, Russia,

00:29:01.560 Venezuela, and Yemen.

00:29:02.460 Is it also time to look at certain countries and say you can't have donations coming in

00:29:07.180 from there?

00:29:08.080 Yes.

00:29:08.360 And we ought to penalize the hell out of it.

00:29:10.180 If Iran is funding your university, you're doing something fundamentally wrong.

00:29:14.560 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:29:19.400 Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day.

00:29:23.040 You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.

00:29:26.000 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.

00:29:29.920 And we will see you back here on Monday morning.

00:29:32.580 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:29:36.340 Guaranteed human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 29, 2025

Dems RAGE against the Deniers, Another Pro-Hamas Campus Protester Deported & Foreign Money Floods our Universities Week In Review

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