Verdict with Ted Cruz - June 10, 2024


Epic Raid Frees Israeli Hostages-from the "Journalist" Who Was Holding them, plus Spies who Lied about Hunter's Laptop


Episode Stats

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

21


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.420 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz.
00:00:08.240 Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.680 Senator, you've come back from one incredible trip.
00:00:13.340 And I know that that is something that you have a lot to talk about
00:00:16.980 with Zelensky having a meeting with him.
00:00:19.060 But there's also some very important breaking news
00:00:21.600 even before that we're going to get to.
00:00:23.720 Well, that's exactly right.
00:00:25.120 I'm back in America, back in Texas.
00:00:26.840 Very glad to be back home.
00:00:28.100 And there is a lot going on in the world.
00:00:30.600 Number one, we have what's happening in Israel.
00:00:32.800 The daring rescue, the IDF, went in and rescued four American hostages.
00:00:38.060 Of course, the corporate media went crazy blaming Israel.
00:00:41.540 And then it was discovered that among the captors that were holding the hostages
00:00:45.460 was a quote-unquote journalist who's in fact a Hamas terrorist.
00:00:50.080 We're going to break that down along with the rabidly anti-Israel pro-Hamas protests
00:00:55.740 outside of the White House.
00:00:57.380 Joe Biden and the Democrats do nothing as protesters deface monuments
00:01:01.800 and assault law enforcement officers.
00:01:05.920 On top of that, we're going to get into the Hunter Biden trial.
00:01:09.380 And in particular, it is now admitted that the laptop is real.
00:01:14.720 It is accurate.
00:01:15.980 The Biden administration is arguing that in court.
00:01:18.940 And everyone who lied about it for week after week and month after month and year after year,
00:01:25.400 crickets from all of them.
00:01:26.600 None of them are admitting from James Clapper to Tony Blinken to all of the president's liars
00:01:32.400 that lied on his behalf.
00:01:34.280 They're suddenly silent.
00:01:35.460 And of course, the media doesn't care.
00:01:37.120 And then finally, we're going to get into the meeting I had just two days ago with President Zelensky.
00:01:42.460 While we were in France, we sat down and talked about what's happening in Ukraine.
00:01:47.260 I'm going to tell you about that as well.
00:01:48.800 Yeah, I'm really excited to hear exactly how that meeting went.
00:01:51.840 So one of the things that so many of you that are listening have been a part of,
00:01:54.820 and we want to say thank you, is helping the people in Israel.
00:01:58.300 The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground right now,
00:02:02.920 helping so many people in Israel that desperately need your help.
00:02:06.620 There have been a lot of attacks that have taken place even over the last several days.
00:02:11.620 And the attacks on Israel have increased since October the 7th,
00:02:15.260 with Iran and its proxies launching an attack of hundreds of drones and missiles.
00:02:19.700 You may remember that news stories.
00:02:21.620 Israel is really in a point where every day the people there are having to deal with a harsh reality
00:02:28.060 of terror, and that is by design by these terrorists.
00:02:32.880 The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground now,
00:02:36.180 addressing all the urgent needs.
00:02:38.280 And that is where we're asking for your help.
00:02:40.980 IFCJ is preparing for the worst by packing emergency bomb shelter kits
00:02:45.400 that can be delivered to those that are in desperate need.
00:02:49.060 And your life-saving donation today will help assemble and place these kits
00:02:52.740 with enough food and life-saving emergency supplies
00:02:55.040 for 20 people huddled in a bomb shelter.
00:02:59.000 The cost to put together and distribute these kits is $290.
00:03:03.540 And your gift now will help save lives.
00:03:06.740 Not only is IFCJ doing this, but they're also helping install actual bomb shelters
00:03:12.260 because there are not enough in the different areas that are being hit.
00:03:16.040 And that is another thing that you can get involved with with IFCJ.
00:03:20.020 Now, what we're asking you to do is get involved because there is a matching donor.
00:03:25.540 Yes, it will double your impact and help provide twice the support.
00:03:30.020 All you have to do is call IFCJ.
00:03:33.000 1-888-488-IFCJ.
00:03:37.380 That's 1-888-488-IFCJ.
00:03:42.960 Or go online and give now to supportifcj.org
00:03:47.680 and help the people in Israel that support ifcj.org.
00:03:52.540 Senator, let's start with Israel and what has happened there.
00:03:57.080 It is a great victory, especially, I think, just for morale
00:04:02.280 and to know that some of the hostages are still alive.
00:04:04.700 Israeli officials came out and said they had a raid.
00:04:09.580 They were able to free four hostages from two different locations.
00:04:14.000 Bibi made it clear, we won't stop until they're all home.
00:04:18.520 That was his message.
00:04:20.220 Well, that's exactly right.
00:04:21.460 The IDF sent in special forces and they rescued four hostages.
00:04:25.360 This was in Gaza.
00:04:27.040 They went in and they found them and they got them out.
00:04:30.020 The four hostages, Almog Mayer John, Noah Argamani, Andre Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv
00:04:38.320 were the four hostages.
00:04:41.000 Three men and a woman.
00:04:43.200 They had been hostages since October 7th.
00:04:46.400 And the IDF went in.
00:04:48.600 They got them out.
00:04:49.420 It is incredible.
00:04:50.700 That is cause for celebration.
00:04:52.380 But it is also, it really is striking.
00:04:57.040 As soon as it happened, the corporate media immediately began attacking who?
00:05:03.120 Not Hamas.
00:05:04.260 Attacking Israel.
00:05:05.300 And their narrative was, well, you shouldn't have killed Palestinians doing it.
00:05:09.340 And they began by saying, by focusing on a Gaza journalist, a Gaza journalist who wrote
00:05:16.620 for Al Jazeera and who has been a vocal journalist writing on what is happening in Gaza.
00:05:29.740 He wrote for the Palestine Chronicle, which is an American 501c3.
00:05:35.800 And he was writing regularly.
00:05:38.680 Well, it turns out this quote-unquote journalist also happens to be a Hamas terrorist who was
00:05:45.040 keeping three hostages in his home for months upon months upon months.
00:05:50.100 And so, yes, he was killed.
00:05:51.760 The terrorist was killed when they rescued the hostage from his house where he was keeping
00:05:56.280 them captive.
00:05:57.340 You look at the story when it broke, and it's two things that the media, even in this country,
00:06:03.780 basically overlooked that were incredibly important.
00:06:06.340 Number one, there were casualties because apparently there was munitions in and around
00:06:11.700 the hostages.
00:06:13.080 And number two, they hid these hostages in a heavily populated area where people like
00:06:18.620 a, quote, journalist would be living.
00:06:21.500 And this was nothing more than human shield.
00:06:23.980 So yet, Israel goes in and saves for their own.
00:06:27.680 And even the U.S. media and many different media organizations around the world started
00:06:32.400 attacking Israel because, as they said, innocent people died.
00:06:35.720 Well, that is the fault of Hamas for using them as human shields.
00:06:39.380 Well, that's right.
00:06:40.620 You know, on Twitter, there was one doctor from Gaza who tweeted out what one of the people,
00:06:45.980 the father of this Hamas terrorist and journalist, was also killed.
00:06:50.940 And a doctor from Gaza tweeted out the following, Red Siren, quote, just learned the heartbreaking
00:06:57.920 news of the martyrdom of one of the finest colleagues I've ever worked with, Dr. Ahmed
00:07:04.140 Al-Jamal, 73.
00:07:07.020 He was tragically killed by the Israeli army during the Nusrat massacre, central Gaza strip,
00:07:14.940 which claimed over 200 lives and injured hundreds.
00:07:18.200 And it's a picture of this older man with a beard holding a baby.
00:07:24.200 And he's described as one of the finest colleagues he's ever worked with, except he has this annoying
00:07:29.860 little habit of keeping hostages in his home.
00:07:34.120 Mind you, he lived there.
00:07:35.720 So he was complicit in keeping the hostages captive.
00:07:39.940 You don't have three hostages living in your home in a dense urban environment without knowing
00:07:46.240 about it, without knowing about it, without being actively complicit.
00:07:50.840 And yet we saw all of the corporate media outlets echoing the stories that,
00:07:56.260 can you believe those mean Israelis killed an innocent doctor, killed an innocent journalist?
00:08:02.740 It's worth remembering the next time you see a story being reported from, quote,
00:08:08.340 journalist in Gaza.
00:08:10.980 You ought to ask yourself, okay, and does that journalist have hostages in his home?
00:08:18.260 Because that's the environment we're talking about.
00:08:21.740 Well, and it's not just that, and I want to paint a picture here that the media will not
00:08:26.040 paint for you.
00:08:26.780 Apparently, this journalist, it wasn't like he was living by himself and basically turned
00:08:32.200 his apartment into some military-style prison.
00:08:35.100 He was living with his family there.
00:08:37.260 So not just did he know that he obviously has these hostages, but you had to keep them
00:08:43.720 alive.
00:08:44.760 And there was obviously Hamas coming and going.
00:08:47.640 And not only that, you had his family that knew it as well.
00:08:51.020 Yep.
00:08:51.180 Now, the quote-unquote journalist, his name was Abdallah Al-Jamal, and he had three of
00:08:59.060 the hostages there.
00:09:00.900 He had Almag, Andre, and Shlomi.
00:09:03.600 So the three men were hostages at his home along with his family, and his family was killed.
00:09:11.200 Well, you know what?
00:09:12.180 If you're willing to stand guard on hostages, you know, people are saying, oh, this is terrible.
00:09:17.680 I'll give you a real easy way not to be killed by commandos rescuing hostages.
00:09:23.940 Don't take hostages and keep them imprisoned in your home.
00:09:28.320 If you are a terrorist, you should not be surprised that you're treated as a terrorist.
00:09:34.860 You look at this story, and let's go back to the bravery and the commitment from Israel
00:09:41.740 and compare and contrast that and bring this back home to this country.
00:09:46.000 There used to be, and I talked about this extensively on my show today, that if you were an American,
00:09:54.080 you almost had an invisible bubble around you when you travel the world.
00:09:57.820 Don't screw with that American, whether it's in Mexico, whether it's in the Middle East,
00:10:03.060 whether it's anywhere in the world.
00:10:04.760 When I traveled abroad in college, I wasn't worried because I knew I was an American,
00:10:09.040 and I knew that that gave me another level of protection from people messing with me
00:10:15.000 because if you mess with me, you were messing with the United States of America.
00:10:18.760 That is gone now.
00:10:20.000 That bubble, as I described it, is completely gone.
00:10:23.560 And the idea that there's still American citizens being held hostage,
00:10:27.920 and we're not hearing about them.
00:10:30.380 I'm not sure the president could name any of their names.
00:10:33.180 The White House refuses to bring it up or talk about it,
00:10:37.160 and you look at what Israel's doing, saying,
00:10:40.300 we're coming for you, and we're going to keep coming until we get you all back.
00:10:44.520 Where is America's resolve, for goodness sakes,
00:10:47.400 and where are we with getting our own citizens back, Senator?
00:10:50.400 Look, it's absolutely pitiful.
00:10:52.240 There are five Americans that are still being held hostage,
00:10:54.580 and the Biden White House, as far as I can tell,
00:10:57.780 is not doing a damn thing to try to get them out.
00:11:01.440 What the Biden White House has done is,
00:11:04.380 number one, harangue Israel from day one.
00:11:07.720 Number two, blockade weapons from going to Israel.
00:11:11.260 Number three, send money to Gaza that goes to Hamas.
00:11:16.540 And number four, pressure and use leverage on Israel
00:11:20.680 to try to get Israel to stop killing the Hamas terrorists.
00:11:24.700 That's what Biden has done.
00:11:26.040 That's what this administration has done.
00:11:27.720 Can you imagine Biden sending in special forces to rescue American hostages?
00:11:33.580 It's not imaginable, because he wouldn't do it.
00:11:36.840 They're not focused on it.
00:11:38.420 It's not a priority.
00:11:39.840 Look, I'm going to read you the story from the Detroit News.
00:11:45.040 In Detroit, Kamala Harris mourns Palestinians killed in Israeli hostage rescue.
00:11:52.380 So that's her message.
00:11:53.480 The vice president goes to Detroit.
00:11:55.680 Mind you, Dearborn, Michigan, has a huge Muslim population.
00:11:58.660 They're terrified they're going to lose Michigan.
00:12:01.200 And so they're not worried about American hostages.
00:12:04.120 What is the vice president's message?
00:12:06.360 Oh, it is terrible that these terrorists were killed.
00:12:09.920 And by the way, it is worth remembering also,
00:12:12.560 the next time you hear these numbers given of civilian casualties,
00:12:18.100 understand every one of these terrorists who was actually keeping hostages prisoner,
00:12:24.840 they were described in the early media coverage as civilians.
00:12:28.400 Yeah, great point.
00:12:30.100 That's the lie.
00:12:31.140 And mind you, these hostages were not in tunnels.
00:12:34.940 They were not in military outlets.
00:12:37.120 They were in civilian apartment buildings.
00:12:39.200 I mean, Hamas deliberately surrounds hostages, surrounds its terrorists with civilians.
00:12:47.240 And when the media describes people as civilians, many of the people the media calls civilians are not.
00:12:54.680 Will we get any more clarification from the White House about any of this?
00:13:00.280 Like, is there a plan?
00:13:02.220 And look, they always get to hide behind.
00:13:04.180 And I understand it.
00:13:05.080 There's many times when you're dealing with a hostage situation.
00:13:07.560 It's like, hey, they go to the families like, hey, please don't do anything publicly.
00:13:11.720 We're working behind the scenes.
00:13:13.680 You could actually make things worse.
00:13:15.460 We've seen that with Russia, for example.
00:13:17.760 There's still an American being held there, but we got the WNBA star out.
00:13:20.960 And the family's like, we played by the rules they gave us, which was to be silent, be quiet.
00:13:25.140 It didn't work.
00:13:25.960 It didn't help.
00:13:26.680 And so this seems to be the get-out-of-jail-free card for this White House consistently when Americans are held hostage.
00:13:35.760 Well, it's we're working the back channels, and we really can't say much publicly.
00:13:40.280 Like, at what point does that answer become unacceptable?
00:13:43.960 And also to the family members who are sitting there waiting for these updates.
00:13:47.920 Look, if the Biden White House is doing anything other than undermining Israel to try to get the American hostages out, I don't know what it is.
00:13:57.320 And they're doing it silently.
00:14:00.800 But it is difficult to imagine.
00:14:03.200 You know, it's difficult to imagine this administration doing anything remotely like what Israel carried out.
00:14:12.340 And, you know, you contrast it.
00:14:14.620 You contrast it to Israel in the Entebbe raid.
00:14:18.760 Now, look, sometimes, Ben, people ask me, how is it that a guy who is a Cuban, Texan, Southern Baptist ended up as the leading defender of Israel in the United States Senate?
00:14:35.480 And there are lots of reasons for that, but it is very much a passion for me, and it's personal.
00:14:40.040 And one of the reasons has to do with my childhood and growing up, I remember very clearly the Entebbe raid.
00:14:48.740 It happened in 1976.
00:14:50.200 I was five years old at the time.
00:14:52.560 And Israel went in.
00:14:54.300 Palestinian terrorists had hijacked a plane full of Israelis and had taken them to Uganda.
00:15:01.480 And when that happened, Israel sent in commandos and rescued the hostages, rescued 102 hostages.
00:15:10.040 And, I mean, it was amazing and brave.
00:15:13.540 And when I was five years old, I was watching that happen.
00:15:17.060 To me, what it said was that Israel's philosophy was, if you take our citizens hostage, they may die, but you're going to die.
00:15:28.120 Yeah.
00:15:28.240 And that, to me, was a very Texan foreign policy, and it's not something you could imagine Joe Biden capable of.
00:15:36.620 For people that are curious about one last aspect of going and getting your people, there seems to be this new idea.
00:15:45.760 And I saw a lot of this on social media over the weekend, and I saw people writing this.
00:15:50.960 They were like, well, look, America couldn't go into Gaza.
00:15:55.120 That would be Israel's job to get our hostages back.
00:15:58.220 So you've got to understand that it's not like America could do anything.
00:16:02.100 Can you explain how absurd that idea is?
00:16:05.500 We can get our hostages anywhere in the world.
00:16:07.620 Okay.
00:16:08.120 And that's normal, just so people understand that, because there actually seems to be a lot of misinformation that if, well, if they're in another country, it's not as simple as you can just go get them.
00:16:17.660 Sure you can.
00:16:18.440 That is, the job of the military is to protect Americans, and rescuing American hostages is a critical responsibility.
00:16:27.620 It can be difficult, but if you have hostages that are taken by terrorists, by the way, you know, you remember back when Jimmy Carter was president, and we had in Iran, we had American hostages taken and held in captivity for 444 days when the Iranian radical Islamic terrorists took over the embassy.
00:16:48.440 Jimmy Carter sent a military force to go attack to try to get the hostages out, and the military force ended up crashing in the desert with no opposing fire.
00:16:59.520 I mean, it was – but to Carter's credit, he actually tried to go in and do something.
00:17:06.340 If Joe Biden has done anything to try to free those American hostages, he hasn't bothered to tell us or anybody in the world about it.
00:17:15.220 Yeah, and I think that's the biggest concern for so many Americans right now is the aspect that we're just sitting around kind of waiting and letting Israel, in essence, take the lead here.
00:17:26.580 I hope that we get some answers or at least some accountability or pressure on this White House.
00:17:33.440 Is there any way that you guys, lastly, in Congress can do that?
00:17:36.760 Well, as we've talked about, I'm going to be forcing a vote, and a vote in the next couple of weeks on my resolution under the War Powers Act to defund the Gaza pier.
00:17:48.900 And that – by using the War Powers Act, I can – Schumer can't stop me from getting a vote.
00:17:57.100 And so, look, I would rather force a vote on providing military weapons to Israel immediately and stopping Joe Biden and the Democrats from blockading those weapons.
00:18:08.760 But Schumer's not going to allow that vote.
00:18:10.520 He's already said he's not going to allow a vote at all.
00:18:12.680 He's just going to say no.
00:18:16.080 And so what I can force a vote on is the second half, stopping the money that is going to the Gaza pier.
00:18:22.980 And so that's exactly what I'm going to do.
00:18:25.180 All right.
00:18:25.380 We'll keep you updated, obviously, on that one.
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00:20:35.320 Senator, I also want to ask you one other question, and that is about the protests that took place in front of the White House.
00:20:42.560 This was Hamas, pro-Hamas, Hezbollah protests that took place.
00:20:47.640 They were very clearly in favor of these terrorist organizations.
00:20:51.640 They also defaced and attacked American monuments as well, and yet no one seems to be covering it.
00:20:58.640 Well, look, it really was outrageous.
00:21:00.900 You saw an angry mob that was conducting brazen criminal activity right outside the White House.
00:21:09.080 They were, if they themselves are not actual terrorists, they are certainly supporting terrorists.
00:21:14.260 They are chanting in support of Hamas.
00:21:16.480 They're carrying signs saying they support Hamas.
00:21:20.140 Here, take a listen to what they're chanting as they're walking down the streets outside the White House.
00:21:25.020 I mean, Senator, this is in front of the White House.
00:21:48.560 Hezbollah, Hezbollah, kill another Zionist now.
00:21:52.140 And in another part, they were saying kill another soldier now.
00:21:55.580 This is calling for the extermination of the Jews, and it's right in front of the White House.
00:21:59.580 Yeah, look, and this is, number one, this is now the hardcore base of the Democrat Party.
00:22:05.940 These are the voters that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Chuck Schumer are trying to kiss up to and get the votes of.
00:22:11.680 It's why Kamala Harris went to Michigan and said that expressed her remorse for the Palestinian terrorists being killed instead of standing clearly with Israel against Hamas.
00:22:25.400 And you look at what happened.
00:22:27.120 These people are claiming to be Hamas.
00:22:29.620 I think we should take them at their word for it.
00:22:31.580 And they are also committing brazen crimes.
00:22:34.520 They are defacing monuments there.
00:22:36.580 The statue of Lafayette, a great hero, pivotal in the founding of America.
00:22:42.280 They're spray painting free Gaza.
00:22:45.160 They're spray painting, and they're doing it right out in the open.
00:22:48.980 There was a law enforcement officer standing outside the statue.
00:22:54.340 They're throwing things at him.
00:22:55.780 They're throwing water bottles at him.
00:22:57.360 And the stunning thing is, all right, D.C. Metro Police said they made zero protest-related arrests at the protest.
00:23:07.180 U.S. Secret Service told reporters they made no arrests at the protest.
00:23:12.760 So, you can vandalize, you can spray paint, you can deface public monuments, you can assault police officers, you can call for the murder of Jews, and there are no consequences in this administration.
00:23:32.220 That's who they are, and this is who they're rooting for.
00:23:35.680 And to be clear, so people understand, I lived in D.C., you're there virtually part of every week when you guys are in session.
00:23:43.500 I think people need to understand, D.C. is a very liberal city run by Democrats, and this is a top-down.
00:23:50.640 Whether it was Black Lives Matter, whether it was setting a church on fire across from the White House when Trump was in office,
00:23:56.800 this is the Democratic Party that is basically sanctioning this behavior and saying, we will continue to look the other way, because it's complicated.
00:24:10.020 You've got Secret Service that has a certain type of jurisdiction, but it's not in many parts of the streets where local police would be, and that's where the Democrats are in charge.
00:24:19.000 Well, number one, D.C. is an overwhelmingly Democrat city.
00:24:22.840 The mayor is a very left-wing Democrat.
00:24:24.620 D.C. voted, I think it was 94% or 96% for Joe Biden, so it's almost exclusively a one-party town, and the D.C. police, the mayor is not letting them arrest anyone.
00:24:39.020 But on top of that, Lafayette Square is under the control of the U.S. Department of the Interior, so it is the Biden administration.
00:24:47.260 Joe Biden could direct his administration.
00:24:49.440 The FBI could go out and arrest these people, and they're not doing it.
00:24:52.960 They're not doing it because they don't want to offend the people chanting, Hezbollah, Hezbollah, kill another Zionist.
00:25:03.060 The Democrats look at that and say, hey, those are the people whose votes we want.
00:25:06.800 The protest had around 9,000 people in it, the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protest, so this is a massive protest outside the White House.
00:25:17.420 How many U.S. park police do you think were assigned to police the 9,000-person protest?
00:25:26.660 I'm genuinely curious.
00:25:27.940 I have no idea.
00:25:29.060 71.
00:25:29.820 Wow.
00:25:30.500 71 police officers for 9,000 protesters.
00:25:34.340 They also, Park Police Command staff did not allow the officers to wear riot gear.
00:25:40.140 So they were not able to defend themselves from 9,000 protesters, not able to use the equipment they need.
00:25:48.340 And 71 officers.
00:25:50.140 This administration does not want to shut these protests down.
00:25:55.260 And they look the other way.
00:25:56.780 And by the way, this is a Department of Justice where, my goodness, if you pray outside an abortion clinic, they'll come after you with commandos at your house.
00:26:07.040 If you were standing on the mall on January 6th singing God Bless America, they'll track you down wherever you are and devote all the resources to the Department of Justice.
00:26:17.900 There's video of everyone defacing these monuments, throwing things at law enforcement, and the Biden administration is doing zero.
00:26:26.500 Their view is, if we agree with your politics, and tragically, today the Democrats agree with the politics of the people saying, Hezbollah, kill another Zionist now, if they agree with your politics, they will not arrest you, they will not charge you, they will not prosecute you, and they will let you break the law right in front of them with zero consequences.
00:26:50.020 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:26:57.360 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk Podcast.
00:27:01.000 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:27:02.260 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:27:03.500 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:27:07.240 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.
00:27:12.980 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:27:15.980 Listen to the Honest Talk Podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:27:21.820 I want to move to another domestic issue, and that is the Hunter Biden trial.
00:27:27.260 This is not a surprise to any sane person, but we got official, official confirmation from law enforcement that, yes, in fact, the Hunter Biden laptop is real,
00:27:40.960 which means all of our spies, all the top people at the CIA and the FBI that came out and said that this had all the markings, right,
00:27:52.700 of Russian disinformation campaign before the last election, they all knew the laptop was real.
00:27:59.040 They were all lying to the American people, and there seems to be zero accountability for that.
00:28:03.660 Yeah, look, that is exactly right.
00:28:06.580 So this past week in the Hunter Biden trial, the Biden Department of Justice came in and made the argument to the court that the Hunter Biden laptop was real,
00:28:16.200 that it was accurate, that it had not been modified, that it had not been altered in any way, shape, or form.
00:28:22.760 And actually, the media just reported, reported, matter of fact, ABC, NBC, CBS, Washington Post reported that the laptop showed no evidence of tampering and was both real and authentic.
00:28:34.800 And none of those outlets acknowledged that for years, and especially in the weeks and months right before the 2020 election,
00:28:43.800 they said over and over and over again, first of all, they refused to cover it, but to the extent they did cover it,
00:28:50.120 they said it was Russian interference and Russian disinformation.
00:28:53.300 Now, the Biden Justice Department just argued that's a conspiracy theory, and yet, do you hear anyone calling to accountability people like Clapper, people like Brennan, people like Leon Panetta, people like Tony Blinken?
00:29:13.160 Tony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, led the effort to get 51 former intelligence officials to sign a letter saying this had all the hallmarks of Russian disinformation.
00:29:24.920 Now, that was a total lie.
00:29:26.940 It wasn't Russian disinformation.
00:29:28.560 And by the way, let's not forget this.
00:29:31.420 Let's remind people why that letter was so important.
00:29:34.660 It was before a presidential debate, and they needed to get out of jail free excuse.
00:29:38.420 Yeah, and Biden cited the letter in the debate.
00:29:41.600 He relied on it.
00:29:43.420 Here, take a listen.
00:29:44.860 If this stuff is true about Russia, Ukraine, China, other countries, Iraq, if this is true, then he's a corrupt politician.
00:29:53.580 So don't give me the stuff about how you're this innocent baby.
00:29:57.420 Joe, they're calling you a corrupt politician.
00:30:00.340 Nobody's calling it.
00:30:01.100 Hey, President Trump, I want to stay on the issue of race.
00:30:03.440 We're talking about the issue.
00:30:04.540 Take a look at the laptop from hell.
00:30:05.440 President Trump, we're talking about race right now, and I do want to stay on the issue of race.
00:30:09.700 And I have to respond to that.
00:30:11.740 Please.
00:30:11.980 Because, look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this he's accusing me of is a Russian plant.
00:30:21.160 They have said that this has all the care of four, five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he's saying is a bunch of garbage.
00:30:30.620 Nobody believes it except his and his good friend Rudy Gianni.
00:30:34.480 You mean the laptop is now another Russia, Russia, Russia hoax?
00:30:38.780 And that's exactly what this is where he's going.
00:30:43.280 The laptop is Russia, Russia, Russia.
00:30:45.540 Gentlemen, I want to stay on the issue of race.
00:30:47.120 You have to be kidding.
00:30:48.440 Here we go again with Russia.
00:30:50.640 I love, by the way, how the whole time the moderator is like, we've got to move on from this.
00:30:54.800 We've got to move on as fast as we can.
00:30:56.780 We don't need to be talking about this.
00:30:58.100 She did not want any topic about this.
00:30:59.740 Look, I mean, the moderators, they might as well wear Biden campaign hats, and that is just where the press is, and they're even worse now.
00:31:09.400 But every word Biden said there was a deliberate lie.
00:31:12.980 And by the way, Hunter Biden knew as an absolute fact the laptop was accurate then, which means either Joe Biden knew as a fact that it was accurate, or if he didn't know, it's because he didn't want to know it.
00:31:25.660 He didn't ask his son.
00:31:26.820 Those are the two options.
00:31:27.800 So he was lying, and he was lying because it helped him politically, and the person who organized that letter was Tony Blinken.
00:31:38.200 The reward for doing that, Blinken becomes the U.S. Secretary of State.
00:31:41.920 That's how important it was.
00:31:43.740 That letter saved him.
00:31:44.800 I mean, let's be clear.
00:31:45.680 I don't think he would have been – Joe Biden would be president now if it wasn't for that letter.
00:31:49.120 And it was a flat-out lie.
00:31:52.320 And you look at the press – all right, take a listen to Leslie Stahl when she's interviewing Trump, and she's making very much the same point.
00:32:02.440 I think it's one of the biggest scandals I've ever seen, and you don't cover it.
00:32:08.480 You want to talk about –
00:32:10.020 Well, because it can't be verified.
00:32:11.460 You want to talk about insignificant things.
00:32:13.660 I'm telling you.
00:32:14.520 Of course it can be verified.
00:32:16.100 Excuse me.
00:32:16.720 They found the laptop.
00:32:18.040 Leslie, Leslie.
00:32:18.720 It can't be verified.
00:32:20.220 What can't be verified?
00:32:21.420 The laptop.
00:32:22.440 Why do you say that?
00:32:23.360 Even the family hasn't – the family on the laptop, he's gone into hiding for five days.
00:32:32.020 He's gone into hiding.
00:32:33.160 He's preparing for your debate.
00:32:34.780 Oh, it's taken him five days to prepare.
00:32:36.500 I doubt it.
00:32:37.260 I doubt it.
00:32:37.880 Okay.
00:32:38.300 All right.
00:32:39.180 So let's get back to the name-calling.
00:32:41.220 I love that.
00:32:41.960 So let's just get back to the name-calling here.
00:32:43.920 We're going to move on.
00:32:44.560 We can't talk about it because it hasn't been verified.
00:32:47.180 I've got an agenda, and facts can't get in the way.
00:32:50.720 Look, Leslie Stahl pretends she's a journalist.
00:32:53.080 That's 60 Minutes.
00:32:54.240 That's CBS.
00:32:55.840 And what she's saying, it can't be verified.
00:32:58.320 It's a flat-out lie.
00:32:59.180 Of course it could be verified.
00:33:00.620 It's called journalism.
00:33:02.780 But CBS had no interest in doing journalism, nor do they now.
00:33:06.660 You know, if Leslie Stahl had –
00:33:07.560 Well, she gave him an excuse.
00:33:09.000 She said they're – well, he's been preparing for the debate.
00:33:10.560 Well, they're busy.
00:33:10.960 They're preparing for the debate.
00:33:12.320 So you can't expect them to respond to the overwhelming evidence of corruption because, you know, let's get back to the name-calling.
00:33:20.220 I'm busy attacking you, Donald Trump.
00:33:22.080 So don't you bring up anything that Biden is doing.
00:33:26.240 And, you know, look, if Leslie Stahl, if any journalist had a shred of integrity, they would stand up and say, I was totally wrong.
00:33:33.980 What I said was false.
00:33:35.440 I didn't do my job, and I apologize.
00:33:37.520 She's not going to do that.
00:33:39.780 None of them are.
00:33:41.060 And by the way, the people who have signed this letter, they're not coming back and admitting, okay, I was completely full of crap, and I lied to the American people right before an election, and it influenced the election profoundly.
00:33:54.540 Not just that.
00:33:55.740 James Clapper told Fox News that he stands by the letter of the laptop.
00:34:01.080 You know, the Biden intelligence and the Obama intelligence, hardcore partisans, facts have no bearing for them.
00:34:14.160 They are so partisan, they will stick to their lie no matter what.
00:34:18.060 Yeah, great point.
00:34:19.720 I got to tell you, every morning I start my morning off with a cup of coffee, and when I start my morning off, I've got to be awake and alert and do a show at 7 a.m.
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00:36:21.080 Senator, one other question I want to ask you about your trip before we wrap things up is you met with a guy by the name Zelensky.
00:36:29.640 Now, what matters the most to me was was he wearing a suit or was he still wearing the military fatigues?
00:36:36.180 I just, I got to know.
00:36:38.000 Yeah, no, he was in the military fatigues.
00:36:39.600 That's what he wears every day.
00:36:41.080 Oh, man.
00:36:41.580 I mean, back in the good old days when he was meeting with Trump and you guys, he was wearing a suit when he came to ask for money.
00:36:46.680 Yeah.
00:36:47.120 Ever since the war started, he's in the fatigues every day.
00:36:50.620 And so he was in kind of an olive green sweatshirt.
00:36:55.160 So you meet with him and he's got a bunch more money, a couple, you know, a couple hundred million dollars more, 200 and something, I think, is what Biden said during this trip that he was going to give to them again.
00:37:08.180 You guys met with him.
00:37:09.680 What was it like this time and what did he have to say?
00:37:12.220 So, well, there was a group of senators that went to D-Day for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, went to Normandy.
00:37:20.420 And there were 19 senators.
00:37:21.680 It was a big, big trip.
00:37:23.940 And there were, I think, 53 House members.
00:37:26.160 So it was a significant percentage of the United States Congress.
00:37:29.560 And so Zelensky sat down, had a meeting with all the senators.
00:37:32.880 And then after that, he had a meeting with the House members.
00:37:34.820 So both sides sat down and met with him.
00:37:37.340 We met in the historic Talleyrand Hotel, which is this beautiful hotel in Paris that actually the U.S. government now owns.
00:37:45.500 It's no longer a hotel.
00:37:47.200 And it is where the Marshall Plan was signed.
00:37:49.580 And so there's a big room that has gold, you know, gold on the ceiling.
00:37:54.600 It's very elaborate.
00:37:55.860 And it's a historic meeting space.
00:38:00.460 So that's where we met.
00:38:02.120 And it was a good discussion.
00:38:03.620 Look, Zelensky was there with several of his aides.
00:38:06.080 And he was describing what is happening.
00:38:07.960 And he was, you know, he is a wartime leader.
00:38:12.400 And listen, there are some who are big critics of Zelensky.
00:38:18.340 I don't put myself in that camp.
00:38:20.080 I think he is trying to defend his nation from an invasion and an invasion from Russia.
00:38:25.660 And Vladimir Putin is a bad guy.
00:38:27.820 And so Zelensky is doing what you would hope any leader when his country is at war is doing,
00:38:32.760 which is trying to defend his country and trying to get help wherever he can get it.
00:38:36.380 And so he's coming in and he's asking for American help.
00:38:40.400 And he's laying out his goals in the war.
00:38:43.860 And so he laid them out.
00:38:46.320 And then each of us had the opportunity to ask questions.
00:38:49.780 My principal question, I asked him, I said, how would you define victory?
00:38:58.320 What does victory mean?
00:39:00.640 And what is the path to getting there?
00:39:03.840 Look, I want Russia to lose.
00:39:06.400 The difficulty, and I got to say, that question that I asked, he didn't really answer me on how he would define victory.
00:39:14.200 He has, in other contexts, defined victory as Ukraine winning back essentially every square inch of territory that Russia has taken.
00:39:23.460 I understand why Zelensky would say that's victory.
00:39:27.560 If you were Zelensky, you'd probably say the same thing.
00:39:30.380 But that doesn't mean it is in the United States' interest to demand every square inch of territory be taken back.
00:39:39.220 The reason we have an interest in this war is that we want, we do not want our enemy Russia to win and get stronger.
00:39:48.140 And instead we want Russia to be weaker so that they're less able to pose a threat to America.
00:39:55.800 There are also, by the way, very, very significant resources, in particular rare earth minerals in Ukraine, that are critical for the economy going forward.
00:40:07.440 One of the reasons Russia's invading Ukraine is to get a stranglehold on those rare earth minerals.
00:40:13.720 We don't want Putin to have those.
00:40:16.240 That would not be good for America.
00:40:19.140 And so, but, you know, what was really striking then is in the meeting with Zelensky, and we also had a classified meeting with senior leaders of the Pentagon talking about details of what exactly is happening in the war, where the battles are, where the victories are, where the losses are.
00:40:38.020 And it was a very interesting and worthwhile briefing, but the question of what does victory mean, this administration is not asking that question.
00:40:51.680 No Democrat in that room is asking that question, what is victory?
00:40:56.160 And I got to say, it really, you know what it struck me, is we went out to lunch two days ago at a little Paris cafe in between meetings, and we're sitting there at lunch talking, and I was, most of the senators there at the lunch table were Democrats, and they were all talking about Vietnam.
00:41:15.660 And it struck me, looking around the table, that they're all baby boomers, they're all children of Vietnam, they all kind of got their start in politics protesting against Vietnam.
00:41:26.860 And look, for you and me, I mean, neither of us were alive when Vietnam was a thing.
00:41:32.840 You weren't alive at all, and I was like two when the Vietnam War ended, so I have no memories.
00:41:39.620 Vietnam did not impact my awareness of the world.
00:41:43.240 It was done by the time I was learning about the world.
00:41:49.000 And so, I got to say, a lot of the boomers, particularly the Democrat boomers, they took the wrong lesson from Vietnam.
00:41:58.660 And I think there are lots of lessons to take from Vietnam, but one of the central ones is that you should have a clear, defined objective, that you know what it is, that is directly related to your national security, that is achievable.
00:42:11.380 You should have a plan to achieve it, and then you should get the hell out.
00:42:15.060 And Vietnam, we just let it go on and on and on and be a quagmire and just kept pouring money and American soldiers and lives into it without a clear objective that we were willing to use overwhelming force to accomplish.
00:42:29.620 This administration has no objective.
00:42:31.460 They can't articulate one.
00:42:32.920 They're not even asking that question.
00:42:35.360 That is infuriating.
00:42:36.500 Yeah, it really is.
00:42:38.160 Well, and again, for so many Americans, it's like, what does the end look like?
00:42:42.100 How long could we be in this?
00:42:43.940 And how much money is it going to cost?
00:42:46.160 The White House has made it clear, and I think it should be an issue in the upcoming debate.
00:42:51.720 How long is America going to do this?
00:42:54.540 And how much money could this last?
00:42:56.900 The White House has said, we'll be with you forever, no matter what, and that's a lot of cash for a lot of Americans that we're going to be spending on this without there being, as some have described it, I think, without, like you said, what does victory look like?
00:43:09.660 What does that actually look like?
00:43:11.420 It's a fair question.
00:43:12.500 It should be asked.
00:43:13.600 Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays.
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