Verdict with Ted Cruz - DNC Pipe-bomber ARRESTED, plus Three Days at the WH-Medals of Honor, Trump Accounts & Lowering Auto Prices

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.700 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.660 Welcome.

00:00:06.260 It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you,

00:00:09.240 and it's so nice to have you with us.

00:00:10.740 If you're listening on a radio station around the country, welcome.

00:00:13.740 We do this show as a reminder, as a podcast as well,

00:00:16.500 so you can grab that podcast three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,

00:00:20.380 especially if you're listening to us on radio stations across the country.

00:00:23.640 Senator, we have got a lot to talk about in this show,

00:00:26.380 including a major breakthrough in the pipe bomb case in D.C.

00:00:30.000 Well, after nearly five years, the pipe bomber, the alleged pipe bomber,

00:00:34.980 who planted pipe bombs at the DNC and the RNC on January 5th, 2021, has been arrested.

00:00:43.720 The FBI announced they've arrested him.

00:00:45.540 The Department of Justice announced they've arrested him.

00:00:48.680 His name is Brian J. Cole, Jr., 30 years old, of Woodridge, Virginia.

00:00:55.460 He was arrested.

00:00:56.940 The FBI laid out considerable evidence they have.

00:00:59.460 It raises the immediate question, why the heck did this take five years to find this guy?

00:01:03.800 Because the evidence they had, it sounds like they've had for a long, long time,

00:01:08.780 which obviously begs the question, what was the Biden Department of Justice doing

00:01:13.700 that they were not arresting this guy?

00:01:15.280 We're going to break all that down for you.

00:01:17.240 We're also going to talk about three major events I had this week at the White House.

00:01:22.760 Monday, I was at the White House, where the president signed a bill, the Metal Act, that I authored into law.

00:01:28.660 Tuesday, I was at the White House, where the president and I both were joined with Michael Dell,

00:01:34.040 who gave six and a quarter billion dollars to kids of America to put into Trump accounts.

00:01:41.240 It was incredible generosity.

00:01:42.880 And then Wednesday, I was at the White House with the president as he was announcing that he was zeroing out CAFE standards.

00:01:50.920 Again, legislation that I authored.

00:01:52.660 We're going to tell you about all three of those.

00:01:54.900 The CAFE standards are going to make cars and trucks cheaper for you and also save lives and make you safer.

00:02:01.080 All of that we're covering in today's podcast.

00:02:02.920 Yeah, it's really incredible what the president did for Americans this week.

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00:03:27.220 So, Senator, let's go to this.

00:03:29.860 It really is shocking that it took this long to find someone that planted pipe bombs in Washington, D.C.

00:03:36.620 It is very important that people understand this did not happen because of a new tip that came in to the FBI or into law enforcement anywhere.

00:03:46.380 This was just going back and looking at the evidence they already had and doing real police work to figure it out.

00:03:54.300 It is shocking that the prior administration did not apparently think this was an important enough issue.

00:03:59.660 And this administration did.

00:04:01.480 And now we know who did it.

00:04:02.860 Yeah, the DOJ announced that during 2019 and 2020, coal purchased multiple components consistent with those used to manufacture the pipe bombs at several retailers in northern Virginia.

00:04:16.120 So they have his purchase history.

00:04:18.680 And at approximately 1 p.m. on January 6th, multiple law enforcement agencies received notice of the pipe bombs.

00:04:25.860 At about 1.15 p.m., the second pipe bomb was reported, the first one at the RNC, the second one at the DNC.

00:04:34.340 Video surveillance determined that this same individual placed the devices the evening of January 5th.

00:04:41.880 On January 5th, about 7.10 p.m., coal's Nissan Sentra was observed driving past a license plate reader at the South Capitol Street exit from I-35 South,

00:04:52.500 which is less than a half mile from the location where the pipe bombs were.

00:04:56.600 Cell phone records further show that coal's cell phone communicated with cell towers in the area of the RNC and DNC between 7.39 p.m. and 8.24 p.m.

00:05:08.440 This evidence, there's no reason to think that this evidence wasn't in the possession of the FBI four and a half years ago.

00:05:16.440 And it is infuriating.

00:05:18.800 It raises a real question.

00:05:21.100 What the hell was the Biden DOJ doing?

00:05:23.840 Well, I'll tell you what they were doing.

00:05:25.240 They were chasing down every little old lady who stood on the National Mall and sang God Bless America.

00:05:31.080 And they were persecuting them and trying to go after their political enemies instead of actually going after a violent criminal who planted pipe bombs that could have killed or injured a whole lot of people.

00:05:43.160 You and I on this podcast repeatedly called on the Department of Justice, go and find and prosecute the pipe bomber.

00:05:51.480 Now, look, at this point, we don't know full details about this individual, but he certainly does not appear to be a Trump supporter,

00:06:01.280 which is, of course, what every reporter, what every media outlet blamed it on Trump supporters, these pipe bombs.

00:06:10.260 And based on the early information, there are no indications that he was a Trump supporter.

00:06:14.860 In fact, the early information is, and if it holds to be true, is a complete opposite of that, that this was a radical leftist.

00:06:22.020 Yeah, yeah.

00:06:22.640 Now, it's still early.

00:06:23.880 And so we'll find out more facts in the days going forward.

00:06:27.480 But I want you to listen to Pam Bondi when she was announcing the arrest.

00:06:30.200 Early this morning, Brian Cole Jr. was arrested and charged with placing the pipe bombs at the RNC and the DNC on January 5th, 2021.

00:06:44.380 He has been charged with violating 18 U.S.C. 844, which is use of an explosive device.

00:06:51.720 This investigation is ongoing.

00:06:54.840 As we speak, search warrants are being executed, and there could be more charges to come.

00:07:01.200 Today's arrest happened because the Trump administration has made this case a priority.

00:07:07.480 The total lack of movement on this case, this cold case languished for four years until Director Patel and Deputy Director Bongino came to the FBI.

00:07:23.480 The FBI, along with U.S. Attorney Pirro and all of our prosecutors, have worked tirelessly for months sifting through evidence that had been sitting at the FBI with the Biden administration for four long years.

00:07:42.920 Let me be clear, there was no new tip, there was no new witness, just good, diligent police work and prosecutorial work.

00:07:53.680 You listen to Pam Bondi there, Senator, and it is clear she's angry and Americans should be angry.

00:08:00.320 There was nothing new here.

00:08:02.000 They just took what they had and did their job.

00:08:04.660 Well, and I'll tell you, Merrick Garland needs to be held accountable and answer the question why, if they had this evidence, this individual wasn't arrested and wasn't prosecuted.

00:08:15.540 Chris Wray, the former Director of the FBI, needs to answer that same question because it certainly appears that the Biden DOJ did not want to find this individual.

00:08:25.660 It was not a priority.

00:08:27.060 And when they were asked about it before, they would just throw up their hands and say, we're doing the best we can.

00:08:33.560 It turns out when you actually have an attorney general who is focused on going after the bad guys, that's exactly what you do.

00:08:40.680 Senator, I want to also just go back to echoing the part that you mentioned there about Pam Bondi and she's angry.

00:08:47.100 Dan Bongino came out saying very much the same thing.

00:08:50.180 And I want to play it for everybody because when he came out, not only was he saying, hey, I want to say thank you to everybody on this team because this was teamwork, but this was also a moment where we just decided to do our jobs.

00:09:03.700 And when you let law enforcement do their jobs, these are the types of results that you get.

00:09:09.200 Take a listen to Bongino in his own words.

00:09:11.560 Folks, this is what it's like when you work for a president who tells you to go get the bad guys and stop focusing on other extraneous things not related to law enforcement.

00:09:18.940 This is what happens.

00:09:20.480 We had a great team.

00:09:21.940 I know it's said a lot in this business.

00:09:23.680 It was a team effort.

00:09:24.620 It becomes cliche, but cliches are useful for a reason because they matter.

00:09:28.180 And this was a team effort.

00:09:30.320 The director and the attorney general emphasized that it was not a new public tip this came from.

00:09:35.380 This was our internal work at the FBI.

00:09:38.140 And I want to just really express my sincere gratitude to this attorney general and this president for allowing us the latitude.

00:09:46.700 I spoke with Ms. Bondi very early when we, maybe day two, and I said, we're going to get this guy.

00:09:53.440 And she said, yes, you are.

00:09:54.960 And we did.

00:09:56.260 I want to also thank you, he's not here, but Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who we deal with often as well, who could not have been more supportive.

00:10:02.620 Whatever process we need, Judge Jeanine, Todd, and Attorney General Bondi, they were there.

00:10:10.380 All you had to do, they were a phone call away.

00:10:12.520 And their team was amazing.

00:10:13.840 We actually never had to make that phone call because they were always responsive.

00:10:17.480 Thank you, Judge, as well.

00:10:18.600 You were amazing.

00:10:19.300 Folks, you're not going to walk into our capital city, put down two explosive devices, and walk off in the sunset.

00:10:28.980 Not going to happen.

00:10:30.660 We were going to track this person to the end of the earth.

00:10:33.660 There was no way he was getting away.

00:10:36.160 Well, we didn't have to track him to the end of the earth.

00:10:37.960 It wound up in Woodbridge, Virginia.

00:10:40.700 I want to thank the team.

00:10:42.220 They were amazing.

00:10:43.220 They never let this go.

00:10:45.100 Again, Attorney General Bondi, for your incredible support.

00:10:48.800 Director Patel, Judge.

00:10:50.940 I know they're giving me a lot of unnecessary credit, but make no mistake.

00:10:55.120 They were intimately involved in this and were there for all of those supportive mechanisms.

00:10:59.820 And I deeply appreciate it.

00:11:02.000 You listen there to not only the way that Pam Bondi talked about it, but also Dan Bongino.

00:11:07.820 And they are echoing the same thing.

00:11:09.880 I think there's two points here that I want to get you to expand on.

00:11:12.960 Number one, this is just letting law enforcement do their job and not do political operative jobs,

00:11:19.020 which is what they clearly were being told to do after January 6th.

00:11:22.980 Go find the grandmothers.

00:11:23.940 Go find anybody that was there.

00:11:24.960 Find anybody that was associated with anything in and around the Capitol.

00:11:28.260 And then go hunt them down.

00:11:29.700 Forget the actual terrorists.

00:11:30.980 The guy making pipe bombs.

00:11:32.740 But also, there's a teamwork here that I have not seen in a very long time in law enforcement.

00:11:39.160 It's not conservative.

00:11:40.500 It's just law enforcement working together.

00:11:42.800 I love hearing that.

00:11:44.140 It makes me feel as an American that they're on my side trying to keep me safe.

00:11:48.400 Well, this is law enforcement actually doing their jobs, targeting violent criminals.

00:11:52.960 This is the Department of Justice and the FBI.

00:11:55.180 And if you look this past year under President Trump, DOJ and the FBI, they've been going after

00:12:00.580 murderers and rapists and child molesters.

00:12:02.940 They've been going after gangbangers and illegal aliens and human traffickers. 0.99

00:12:06.540 They've been going after narco traffickers.

00:12:09.020 I got to say, if you're down in Venezuela and anyone asks you to drive a speedboat with

00:12:13.440 some drugs in the back, you know, you may just call in sick that day because it doesn't

00:12:17.880 turn out too well.

00:12:18.680 It's a fishing boat, Senator.

00:12:19.880 Come on now.

00:12:20.600 Don't you know you need seven engines and a whole lot of cocaine to do good fishing?

00:12:25.080 Come on.

00:12:25.400 They are systematically focused on violent criminals, including, as Dan Bongino just said, someone

00:12:34.100 who planted two pipe bombs in the middle of Washington, D.C.

00:12:38.920 That's what law enforcement is supposed to do.

00:12:41.120 It's not supposed to do what it did under Biden, which is be a political arm to target and prosecute

00:12:47.360 and persecute your political opponents.

00:12:49.800 And look, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel and Dan Bongino all came in with a mission of restoring

00:12:55.720 integrity to the Department of Justice and the FBI.

00:12:58.540 I think today was an important step in that journey.

00:13:01.280 You know, there's a lot of good men and women that work at the FBI, and I think this is a

00:13:05.260 perfect moment, Senator, where we should just highlight this.

00:13:09.320 There are a lot of people that just want to do law enforcement.

00:13:12.400 And what I do think you're now witnessing is the good men and women in uniform in multiple

00:13:20.040 levels, whether it's local or state, whether it's dealing with illegal immigrants.

00:13:24.000 Ben, that's right.

00:13:24.840 But listen, there were also too many people who were politicized and who were obstructing

00:13:30.700 justice, who were standing in the way.

00:13:32.620 At the highest levels.

00:13:33.540 There are people who were at the FBI, who were at DOJ, who knew of this evidence, and

00:13:38.400 they didn't act.

00:13:39.480 And I think we have every right to get answers to why didn't they act, and was there a political

00:13:46.660 or partisan agenda?

00:13:48.860 That was my question, is there's good men and women that are now clearly getting to do

00:13:53.400 their job.

00:13:54.720 There clearly was leadership and those that didn't want this job to be done.

00:14:00.420 That's literally the question I was about to ask you.

00:14:03.620 What does accountability look like now for those that may still be there that obviously

00:14:08.360 knew they had this information and they sat on it or deliberately said, don't go find

00:14:13.940 this person?

00:14:15.120 Well, look, I'll tell you, one of the very first steps is they need to be brought in 0.94

00:14:19.220 before Congress to answer questions under oath and answer questions under oath about

00:14:23.540 why they didn't act on this evidence.

00:14:25.400 Did they have it?

00:14:26.340 When did they have it?

00:14:27.340 And why didn't they act?

00:14:29.100 And I think that's step one.

00:14:31.100 That's what I want to know.

00:14:31.960 I want to know if this was a straight up directive of, hey, leave this alone.

00:14:36.300 And by the way, the current DOJ and FBI, if they were directed not to act and it is in

00:14:41.540 writing, the current DOJ and FBI have that email or that memorandum.

00:14:47.180 And I expect the DOJ and FBI to provide those to Congress, provide those to the public.

00:14:52.820 What I've urged Pam Bondi and Cash Patel and Dan Bongino is radical transparency is the

00:14:59.860 best cure for the politicization and the corruption we saw at DOJ and the FBI under Joe Biden.

00:15:07.180 Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see what we get out of this.

00:15:10.360 What I also say is this is exactly what I voted for.

00:15:13.540 I wanted law enforcement to actually be winning again and do their job and not be politicized

00:15:19.020 and not be weaponized for political reasons.

00:15:21.140 I think there's so many Americans and I don't care if you're Republican or Democrat,

00:15:25.040 you should sleep better knowing this makes all of us safer.

00:15:28.860 Yeah, we're all safer.

00:15:30.060 Like this was a pipe bomb at the Republican and Democratic convention, you know, buildings.

00:15:34.780 There's people that could have been there that could have been killed of every party.

00:15:38.760 Everyone should be excited about this.

00:15:40.460 Locking up criminals protects our families.

00:15:43.080 It keeps ourselves and our children safer.

00:15:46.640 That is a very good thing.

00:15:48.060 That is the president delivering on his promises.

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00:16:21.040 All right.

00:16:24.020 So, Senator, on Monday, I just want to make this very clear.

00:16:27.960 You were at the White House.

00:16:30.040 I didn't get invited.

00:16:30.820 I didn't.

00:16:31.140 But I thought Tuesday I'd clear my schedule.

00:16:33.700 No, no.

00:16:34.280 Tuesday didn't get invited.

00:16:35.400 And then I'm like, well, surely he's saving it for Wednesday because Wednesday is going to be a better day.

00:16:39.760 I'm still waiting.

00:16:41.100 Three days, Senator, you're there.

00:16:42.720 Three days I was sitting here just waiting for, hey, Ben, you should come with me over here to the White House.

00:16:46.700 You've been there before.

00:16:47.620 It's a great place.

00:16:48.760 We're going to celebrate America's work.

00:16:50.960 Monday, Tuesday, like, how many days?

00:16:52.800 If you go five days in a row, do I get the invite?

00:16:54.880 I just got to know.

00:16:56.000 Well, look, I'm confident you were playing golf, and that's okay.

00:16:59.140 That's good for you to do.

00:17:00.280 And you only have another couple of months that you can still beat your young sons,

00:17:05.720 and they're soon going to be able to just whip you up and down the golf course.

00:17:09.420 But, look, this was a busy week.

00:17:11.240 This was a busy week.

00:17:12.220 I had three different events at the White House, one on Monday, one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday.

00:17:16.800 Each was a different major announcement, so it was a very productive week.

00:17:20.820 Monday, it started out with the president signing into law the Medals Act.

00:17:25.080 The Medals Act is a bill that I wrote that deals with Medal of Honor recipients.

00:17:29.420 Medal of Honor recipients are those servicemen who have distinguished themselves with exceptional valor.

00:17:38.980 There are only 61 living Medal of Honor recipients.

00:17:43.220 The vast majority of Medal of Honor recipients, they receive the medal posthumously.

00:17:49.660 In most of the instances, they lose their lives, demonstrating extraordinary heroism and bravery.

00:17:57.020 Under existing law, Medal of Honor recipients receive a monthly stipend of $1,400 a month.

00:18:04.960 That's not very much money.

00:18:06.860 Yeah, it's not all.

00:18:07.620 What the Medals Act did is essentially triple that amount.

00:18:12.040 So it increased it from $1,400 a month to $5,600 a month.

00:18:18.580 That's incredible.

00:18:19.140 So I authored that legislation in the Senate.

00:18:21.760 It passed the Senate unanimously.

00:18:24.280 It passed the House unanimously.

00:18:26.800 And then on Monday, the president signed it into law.

00:18:29.520 We were joined by three Medal of Honor recipients who were there.

00:18:33.340 And I'll tell you one of the reasons it's so meaningful.

00:18:36.100 A, to say, thank you.

00:18:39.860 Thank you to these incredible real-life heroes.

00:18:43.640 Amen.

00:18:44.120 But B, many of these Medal of Honor recipients take their time.

00:18:49.120 They go around talking to schools.

00:18:50.820 They go around talking to civic gatherings.

00:18:54.060 They inspire people.

00:18:55.520 And that takes a lot of time.

00:18:56.780 And this stipend gives them an ability to have some basic modicum of income.

00:19:03.560 And so I was really glad to see.

00:19:05.300 It took about two years to get this done, to build the bipartisan support, to move it through Congress.

00:19:10.380 The president has signed it.

00:19:12.120 And we're now giving those Medal of Honor recipients the respect that they are due.

00:19:16.480 I got to say, when you said it was unanimous, we haven't said that word on this show in years,

00:19:21.860 that is really cool.

00:19:22.900 It does give me just a little bit of hope that people realize that when you sacrifice the way

00:19:29.220 these recipients do, you deserve to be taken care of afterwards as well.

00:19:34.140 Well, and when I passed it on the floor of the Senate, several of the Medal of Honor recipients

00:19:38.740 had come to the Senate, and they were sitting in the gallery watching it.

00:19:42.720 And afterwards, we were down at the bottom of the Senate steps, and a group of eighth graders,

00:19:50.640 eighth grade kids, came by.

00:19:52.400 I think they were from Michigan, if I remember correctly.

00:19:54.660 And they spotted me, and some of them recognized me, and so they came up and wanted to take

00:19:58.900 pictures and talk.

00:20:00.320 And I told them, look, I'm happy to chat with you, but I said, I want to introduce you to

00:20:05.500 these two gentlemen I'm standing with.

00:20:07.420 That's awesome.

00:20:07.920 Because both of them earned the Medal of Honor by risking their lives, nearly dying, and saving

00:20:15.480 the lives of their fellow servicemen and women.

00:20:17.560 And I will tell you, Ben, the look of wonderment in these little boy and little girl's faces

00:20:23.620 as they listen to these heroes tell their stories, it gave a great opportunity for me just to

00:20:30.440 step back and recede and watch that moment inspiration right there at the base of the

00:20:37.300 steps of the Senate.

00:20:38.320 That's incredible.

00:20:39.080 And that was just Monday.

00:20:40.120 So Tuesday, you have this big victory on Monday that's bipartisan.

00:20:44.180 What a great way to start the week.

00:20:45.580 You rarely get to do that in your whole career.

00:20:48.340 Tuesday, you're back at the White House.

00:20:49.620 What happened then?

00:20:50.900 So Tuesday was a massive announcement.

00:20:53.220 We've talked before about the Trump accounts.

00:20:55.440 The Trump accounts is legislation that I authored.

00:20:57.820 It was part of the one big, beautiful bill.

00:21:01.340 And I want to remind people, and I do want to brag on you for a second.

00:21:04.900 This could have been taken out of the big, beautiful bill.

00:21:08.060 You felt so strongly about it, Senator.

00:21:10.360 You did not let this get kicked out.

00:21:12.820 You didn't let it go.

00:21:13.920 You fought tooth and nail, and it was a hard fight.

00:21:17.400 I want to also make that very clear.

00:21:18.580 This was not an easy fight because you felt like this could be so transformative in one

00:21:23.660 generation to building wealth for all Americans and giving kids an incredible opportunity to

00:21:29.380 grow and to invest early on.

00:21:32.340 There's so many things that hold people back from investing.

00:21:34.640 I talked to one banker about this week.

00:21:36.400 He said, you know, the number one reason why people don't invest when they're younger

00:21:39.720 or when they don't feel like they make a lot of money, they're embarrassed to go in and

00:21:43.820 open an account with a small amount of money.

00:21:46.100 So they just don't do it.

00:21:47.300 And he said, we believe.

00:21:49.220 He said, I'm almost at the end of my banking career.

00:21:51.180 This could transform an entire nation and a generation into not being afraid to open

00:21:56.740 account, but embracing it, watching it grow, having ownership of it, and seeing the power

00:22:02.380 of compound interest.

00:22:03.580 And I haven't seen bankers get giddy very often.

00:22:06.860 This banker was genuinely giddy for the future kids in this country.

00:22:10.560 And I'll tell you, Ben, it's not just compound interest, it's compound growth, because these

00:22:15.140 accounts will be invested in the S&P 500.

00:22:18.480 They're invested in the stock market.

00:22:19.920 Every kid in America is going to become an owner of the biggest employers in America.

00:22:24.960 That's transformative.

00:22:26.060 That's making a whole new generation of capitalists.

00:22:28.820 You know, at the White House on Tuesday, I told President Trump, I said, although your

00:22:32.700 critics will never give you credit, there is a good argument that you have done more

00:22:39.040 for kids in America than any president in our lifetime.

00:22:42.720 Why is that?

00:22:43.560 Because he, number one, signed the school choice provision, which I had the great honor of writing

00:22:48.200 and putting in the one big, beautiful bill.

00:22:50.260 That will unleash tens of billions of dollars in scholarships for kids in K-12 education all

00:22:56.440 across the country.

00:22:57.600 And number two, he signed into law the Trump accounts.

00:23:00.080 And that impact together, I think you could say there's never been a president that has impacted

00:23:05.940 kids more.

00:23:06.860 Here's how I explained it at the press conference with the president.

00:23:11.480 Starting on July 4th, every child in America will have a personal investment account opened

00:23:16.500 for them.

00:23:17.180 Newborn children will have it seeded with $1,000.

00:23:20.660 Parents and family and employers can contribute up to $5,000 a year in a tax-advantaged account.

00:23:26.920 That money will be invested in the S&P 500 in the stock market, broad-based equity index

00:23:32.760 account.

00:23:33.140 Now, two massive benefits that change this country.

00:23:36.760 Number one, every child in America will experience the benefits of compound growth.

00:23:42.780 Take a little girl born next year. 0.54

00:23:45.440 She's born next year.

00:23:46.580 She has the account opened for her.

00:23:48.540 $1,000 is automatically seeded.

00:23:50.680 Her parents or family or an employer puts $5,000 a year each year into that account.

00:23:55.360 If you assume the historic rate of growth of the S&P 500, which is 7% a year, by the time

00:24:02.260 that little girl is 18, she will have $170,000 in that account.

00:24:08.420 And if she keeps saving, by the time that little girl is 35, she will have $700,000 in that account.

00:24:18.060 That is game-changing.

00:24:20.060 And we're not talking the children of Michael and Susan Dell, the children of Donald Trump,

00:24:24.080 the children of people of great success.

00:24:25.980 We're talking the kids of a single mom waiting tables who could have $700,000 saved by the

00:24:32.200 time she's 35 to get an education, to start a business, to buy a house. 1.00

00:24:36.820 That changes their whole lives.

00:24:39.140 But the second benefit, and what I'm really excited about, is we are creating a new generation

00:24:45.020 of capitalists.

00:24:45.920 Every child in America is going to be an owner of the biggest employers in this country.

00:24:52.700 We've all seen the sad statistics of how many kids are losing faith in capitalism.

00:24:58.440 Well, 10 years from now, a little boy is going to pull out his phone, and he's going to look

00:25:01.600 at his app, and he's going to see his Trump account.

00:25:05.620 And instead of thinking of big, bad, scary corporations, that little boy is going to say,

00:25:10.120 I own $50 of Apple, I own $100 of Dell, I own $75 of McDonald's, and every child is an owner

00:25:19.060 of the biggest employers in this country.

00:25:21.140 That will transform this country.

00:25:23.660 Mr. President, thank you for signing it.

00:25:26.460 You know, you just said something there at that speech to the White House, Senator, that I also

00:25:31.320 think is incredible.

00:25:32.540 The private sector getting in on this and wanting to see these accounts, Michael Dell, his wife there,

00:25:37.840 they gave an incredible amount of money because they want kids to succeed.

00:25:42.240 Well, Michael and Susan Dell made an historic announcement, and the way I wrote the legislation

00:25:47.380 creating the Trump accounts, it's designed to allow people, philanthropy, to charity, to give into

00:25:54.100 the accounts. And what Michael and Susan Dell announced at the White House on Tuesday is they

00:25:59.240 were personally giving, out of their own resources, $6.25 billion. And what they're doing in

00:26:07.260 particular is they're giving $250 for the 250th anniversary of America to every child in America

00:26:15.420 under age 10 who lives in a zip code where the median income is $150,000 or less. And so it is a

00:26:22.960 massive gift. And I think Michael and Susan are just the first. I think you're going to see many

00:26:29.020 other companies, many other individuals giving, and giving early, allowing kids to begin accumulating

00:26:35.820 assets and get them to grow. That is powerful, and it is an accelerant. Mark my words, Ben, within a

00:26:43.120 decade, we will have over a trillion dollars invested in these Trump accounts, and it's going to totally

00:26:48.740 transform the future of our kids. It's a big, big deal.

00:26:51.820 In communities around the world, millions of children, like Lucy, face the crushing weight of

00:26:57.860 poverty, hunger, illness, and a lack of opportunity, dim their bright futures. But through Compassion

00:27:05.360 International and local churches, everything is changing. Lucy receives nourishing food, vital

00:27:12.560 medical care, and the chance to go to school. She learns life skills, develops God-given talents,

00:27:19.380 and builds a loving relationship with Jesus. It's a journey from vulnerability to empowerment,

00:27:24.700 and it's sparked literally by your love. This transformation echoes far beyond Lucy,

00:27:30.780 impacting her family, the community, and shaping the future of her nation. And you can make this

00:27:36.420 profound difference right now. So join me in sponsoring a child. Visit Compassion.com today.

00:27:44.340 You'll empower a life and change the world. That's Compassion.com to learn more.

00:27:49.860 Senator, on Wednesday, you were at the White House for a really cool moment, and that was

00:27:55.520 President Trump saying, I want government to get out of your way and stop making things so expensive

00:28:01.300 for you, specifically cars having a reset of CAFE standards that were out of control. That is going

00:28:07.680 to lower the cost of cars for many Americans. We're also getting rid of the obsession with a mandate

00:28:12.360 for EV vehicles, which the Democrats were hell-bent on. And this is going to, again, make cars more

00:28:19.380 affordable for Americans. Everyone should be excited about that. Well, that's exactly right.

00:28:24.360 After spending Monday at the White House with the President while he was signing my legislation,

00:28:28.360 tripling the monthly stipend for Medal of Honor recipients. After spending Tuesday at the White

00:28:33.720 House with the President and Michael and Susan Dell, giving six and a quarter billion dollars

00:28:38.020 to the kids of America for Trump accounts. On Wednesday, I joined the President again,

00:28:43.220 this time with the CEOs of the major auto companies in the United States.

00:28:46.820 As the President was implementing legislation, a provision again that I wrote, zeroing out

00:28:54.400 the CAFE standards. The CAFE standards were the federal mileage requirements that the Biden

00:29:00.220 administration used to jack them up so high that it, number one, made cars much, much more

00:29:05.840 expensive. But number two, it was part of their effort to eliminate the internal combustion engine,

00:29:11.740 to force everyone to buy an electric car, whether they want it or not. And as part of the One Big

00:29:18.180 Beautiful Bill, we zeroed that out entirely. I wrote that provision. And on Wednesday, the President was

00:29:24.540 implementing it. Here, I want you to give a listen to the President describing the historic steps he took

00:29:29.300 on Wednesday. From day one, I've been taking action to make buying a car more affordable. I signed an

00:29:34.900 executive order to end the unfair, expensive electric vehicle mandate. As you know, we had to have

00:29:41.080 an electric car within a very short period of time, even though there was no way of charging them and

00:29:46.440 lots of other things. It would have cost $5 trillion to build the charging plants. And as you know,

00:29:53.180 in certain parts of the Midwest, they spent, to build nine chargers, they spent $8 billion.

00:29:58.940 So that wasn't working out too well. That was done before me, by the way. I wouldn't have

00:30:03.820 let it go forward. We're canceling the EPA's absurd tailpipe emission standards. One of the most

00:30:10.140 important things that I've never had a group of people come to me more powerfully and really just

00:30:19.520 devastated that they had to do it. It was killing them than the automobile manufacturers, the tailpipe

00:30:25.860 emission standards. And I can tell you, your people at Ford were coming to me all the time

00:30:30.760 and they were saying, like, please, it doesn't do anything and it's killing us. And it's driving

00:30:37.740 the cost through the roof. And we revoked Biden's emissions waiver for California so that California

00:30:43.400 communists could not regulate the automobile industry and ruin the entire nation of automobiles.

00:30:49.980 And they were doing that too. But we have that now under control also with your governor who's got

00:30:57.060 much more than he can control. Now under the new rules being issued today by Secretary Duffy,

00:31:03.240 the Department of Transportation will rescind the Biden fuel economy prices. And I hate to say that

00:31:10.620 because they were really not economy. They were really, they were anti-economy. They were,

00:31:16.180 they were horrible what they were doing to the costs and actually making the car much worse.

00:31:22.120 But these policies forced automakers to build cars using expensive technologies that drove up costs,

00:31:28.900 drove up prices and made the car much worse. The action is expected to save the typical consumer

00:31:35.080 at least $1,000 off the price of a new car. And we think substantially more than that.

00:31:41.300 Senator, you hear him talk about this. This is exactly what I think so many Americans

00:31:46.100 voted for. It's government actually not mandating things. It's government getting out of the way

00:31:52.340 of insane regulations to make your life easier. Just give me a little bit of my freedom back.

00:31:58.440 Let the private sector do what the private sector does. Stop putting all this government agenda on

00:32:03.500 top of me and let me do what I want to do. If I want to buy an EV, I'll buy an EV, but don't force

00:32:08.880 me to do something and don't make these standards so insane that you raise the cost of cars to the

00:32:13.920 point where I can't even afford a new one. It's your choice. It should be your choice. If you decide

00:32:18.980 you want to go buy a Tesla, Teslas are amazing automobiles. You can go do that. But if you decide

00:32:23.520 you want to drive your F-150, that ought to be your choice too. And this legislation and what the

00:32:29.520 president did this week benefited consumers, lowered prices, made cars and trucks a lot cheaper.

00:32:35.660 It also made them safer. It saved lives. It also helped produce jobs. Thousands and thousands of

00:32:42.380 jobs. Billions of dollars are being invested by car manufacturers in the United States. We're

00:32:47.580 bringing blue-collar jobs back to America. Ben, here's how I explained it in the Oval Office,

00:32:54.720 standing next to the president. Give a listen.

00:32:56.240 Anybody else want to say a few words? Oh, Ted, Ted, I can't believe it. I'm easy to miss.

00:33:03.720 It's very rare that I would miss it. Go ahead, Ted.

00:33:07.400 Well, Mr. President, I want to congratulate you on behalf of everyone here for the leadership that

00:33:11.700 you're showing. And this is a victory today for consumers. This is a victory for affordability.

00:33:17.160 Your critics like to say the word affordability under Joe Biden and the Democrats. They put mandate

00:33:21.880 after mandate after mandate on cars and trucks, and they drove the price up thousands and thousands

00:33:27.160 of dollars. And with the actions you're taking today, and you put on top of that the one big

00:33:31.660 beautiful bill, you know, most of the senators here on the Senate Commerce Committee and on the

00:33:35.780 Commerce Committee, we worked together to zero out the CAFE standards. We wrote that into law that the

00:33:41.380 CAFE standards went to zero. What does that mean? It means you can now, as a consumer, buy the car you

00:33:47.180 want. It also means people's lives will be safer, because what these regulations did is they forced

00:33:54.520 cars to be more expensive and made of plastic instead of steel, because you had to make them

00:33:59.460 lighter to comply with these standards. So you'd get in a wreck and people would die.

00:34:03.460 The result of what you're doing, you're literally saving people's lives, and you're making it where

00:34:08.300 families can afford to get a new car. These actions will drop the cost of cars and trucks thousands

00:34:14.280 of dollars. That makes a real difference. And I'll make one final point. You know, about half the

00:34:18.620 members here are car dealers. And I will say my good friend Roger Williams out in the lobby, he tried

00:34:24.040 to sell me a car, which didn't surprise me. But I just want to give props to Mike Kelly. He showed he

00:34:30.420 was savvier because he tried to sell you a car, and you can afford a bunch nicer car than I can.

00:34:34.640 So well done, Mike Roger. You just went to the wrong customer.

00:34:37.620 I was a hundred dollar cheaper.

00:34:40.420 The thing that Ted just said, it's true. Plastic instead of steel. Think of that.

00:34:46.080 And people died because of that. The plastic was plastic in an auto accident. Then it broke

00:34:52.480 up and people were shattered because of that crazy deal. But that's a really good point.

00:34:58.760 And, Mr. President, I'll tell you, the Senate Commerce Committee on January 14th, we're going

00:35:03.260 to have a hearing with all the big three there and Tesla. And the entire hearing is going to focus on

00:35:08.860 how your leadership has reduced the burdens on car makers. That's lowering costs. That's giving

00:35:14.580 consumers more choices, and it's producing more jobs in America. And it's highlighted that's a real

00:35:19.820 record of success.

00:35:21.060 Not only is it a record of success, but as you mentioned there and highlighted, and the president

00:35:25.040 agreed with you, it's an issue of safety, Senator.

00:35:27.420 Yeah. No, I mean, these CAFE standards were making cars much, much more dangerous. And we'll

00:35:35.320 never know who, but there are people who will live now because of this change, because they'll be able

00:35:42.400 to be in safer cars. Some of it is they may be able to afford a new car now, because as this drives

00:35:48.340 down the price of new cars and new trucks, they may sell their old used car and buy a new car because

00:35:55.080 it makes it more affordable. New cars typically have more safety features and enhance their safety.

00:36:00.760 But secondly, if you're not having to make these cars and remove all the steel, you're much more

00:36:05.700 likely to survive an accident if you're in a car that has some weight, has some steel, and doesn't

00:36:10.780 just crumple up like a beer can.

00:36:14.560 Yeah, it's a big victory at the White House for everybody in America three days in a row. By the way,

00:36:19.860 we do the show three days in a row. So don't forget, download Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever

00:36:25.100 you get your podcast. Do not miss a single episode. It's always free. You can always tell

00:36:30.960 Siri or Alexa, play Verdict with Ted Cruz. It will do it for you automatically. And the center and I

00:36:37.160 will see you back here on the podcast this week and all you listen on the radio. Thanks for joining us

00:36:40.880 as well. And we'll see you back here this week. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - December 05, 2025

DNC Pipe-bomber ARRESTED, plus Three Days at the WH-Medals of Honor, Trump Accounts & Lowering Auto Prices

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