Verdict with Ted Cruz - Having Lunch w Trump, DHS Inspector General Calls out Biden Admin's Deficient ＂Vetting＂ of Illegal Immigrants & Will Joe Pardon Hunter？

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, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.760 Nice to have you with us.

00:00:11.160 And Senator, you had a very interesting day spending some time with former President Donald Trump and some of your colleagues.

00:00:19.360 And I want to get your reaction to that.

00:00:21.820 Well, that's exactly right.

00:00:23.160 It is 129 in the morning right now.

00:00:25.840 I just landed back in Texas.

00:00:27.180 So I'm back home.

00:00:28.120 I'm always glad to be back home.

00:00:30.380 But today I had lunch with President Trump.

00:00:34.240 He came by and he had lunch with all the Republican senators.

00:00:37.540 Before that, he met with all the Republican House members.

00:00:40.120 I'm going to tell you about that lunch and what all happened.

00:00:42.680 Second, we're going to talk about a new Inspector General report from the Department of Homeland Security that blows the whistle.

00:00:51.500 That the Biden administration is not vetting the illegal immigrants they're releasing.

00:00:58.500 They're not vetting them.

00:00:59.660 And it's leading to what we saw just this week, terrorists being released into this country who are preparing to commit major terrorist attack.

00:01:08.500 We're going to address that as well.

00:01:09.620 And finally, we're going to talk about what's going to happen with Hunter Biden.

00:01:13.380 And in particular, Joe Biden has said that he will not pardon his son, but he is not committed that he will not commute the sentence.

00:01:20.640 We're going to talk about what is likely, what Biden is likely to do about his son.

00:01:26.040 And we're going to get into that.

00:01:27.420 I want to do it.

00:01:27.940 I want to do a verdict live from Vegas just so we can get some good odds on that one, Senator.

00:01:31.740 I think we can make some serious cash off of those promises coming from the White House.

00:01:35.940 We need to do a studio audience live there.

00:01:38.200 Everybody get it on the action.

00:01:39.540 It's going to be interesting.

00:01:42.160 I'll put a dollar on damn near any bet bet.

00:01:43.940 Yeah, there you go.

00:01:44.860 I love it.

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00:03:52.860 Senator, this was a very interesting moment on Capitol Hill.

00:03:56.960 Donald Trump came and met with a lot of the Republican leadership.

00:04:02.280 A lot of your colleagues were there.

00:04:04.020 And the initial reports that came out were saying it was a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of excitement from the Republican leaders that were there.

00:04:14.160 You were in the room.

00:04:15.060 Tell us what was happening.

00:04:16.580 So, I was.

00:04:17.660 So, Trump began the day by meeting with the House Republicans.

00:04:20.500 I was not in that meeting.

00:04:22.220 Some of the reports of that is that was a little bit wild and woolly.

00:04:25.420 That got into all sorts of topics.

00:04:27.680 But Trump came by the Senate to have lunch with us.

00:04:30.340 And so, we met at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is like three blocks away from the Capitol.

00:04:37.220 And Trump joined us for the lunch.

00:04:39.340 And it started.

00:04:40.280 We're all sitting in a room.

00:04:42.120 It started with him talking for about, oh, 20, 25 minutes.

00:04:46.960 And then we did a whole series of Q&A where probably about a dozen of us asked him questions.

00:04:51.940 And he commented on those.

00:04:53.460 And then we went out and we did a press conference where we stood.

00:04:56.680 We all stood behind him.

00:04:58.260 And he stood up and gave the press conference.

00:05:01.140 And, listen, I got to say, the biggest thing about the lunch that struck me was the unity in the room.

00:05:07.980 Look, the media likes to talk about divisions in the Republican Party, and there are certainly some.

00:05:12.600 But today, I didn't see any of that.

00:05:15.780 Today, everyone in the room was focused on winning in November and turning the country around.

00:05:22.060 And Trump was in great spirits.

00:05:23.760 It's, you know, one of the things I asked him after the meeting, I came up and spent a couple of minutes talking with him.

00:05:29.780 I just asked, how are you doing?

00:05:30.920 I mean, it's been this BS you're dealing with with these New York convictions. 1.00

00:05:35.300 They're utter garbage. 0.99

00:05:36.440 But, listen, it's not fun to be convicted of felonies. 1.00

00:05:42.120 I mean, it's been he's been through hell.

00:05:44.960 And so just as a personal level, I was asking him how he was doing.

00:05:47.980 And he he said he was doing fine.

00:05:49.920 And it seemed real and genuine.

00:05:51.220 I mean, he was not he was not down in the dumps.

00:05:53.980 He was not discouraged.

00:05:54.780 In fact, he was he was really in good spirits.

00:05:58.260 He was optimistic.

00:05:59.180 And his message to everyone is, listen, let's stand together.

00:06:03.620 And he emphasized several things.

00:06:05.800 Number one, he emphasized the border, that we've got to secure the border, that it is insane that we have open borders, that it's an invitation to terrorists.

00:06:13.820 And he's exactly right.

00:06:15.520 If and when Trump wins, we will secure the border in the first month or two of the next Trump administration.

00:06:22.020 And I can say that because we know how to do it.

00:06:24.640 We did it before and we'll do it again.

00:06:26.780 He also talked a lot about inflation and energy in particular.

00:06:32.160 And he pointed out quite rightly that energy is foundational to inflation.

00:06:35.920 One of the reasons that prices have gone up on just about everything is that energy prices have skyrocketed because the Biden administration has been waging war on American energy.

00:06:46.780 And we are an energy powerhouse.

00:06:49.280 We're the number one producer of oil in the world.

00:06:51.240 We're the number one producer of natural gas in the world.

00:06:53.720 And the Biden administration is doing everything they can to stifle that.

00:06:57.760 And Trump was very clear that we're going to reverse that.

00:07:00.980 We will reverse that fast, early next year.

00:07:04.880 And that's going to have a real impact on energy prices and inflation across the board.

00:07:09.380 We also talked about national security.

00:07:12.100 And in particular, how insane it is that the Biden administration has flowed $100 billion to Iran.

00:07:18.800 And if and when Trump wins, that's going to end as well.

00:07:22.280 You mentioned a moment ago that there seemed to be unity in the room.

00:07:26.640 That's incredibly important for getting legislation passed.

00:07:30.480 Yes.

00:07:31.220 And you need that.

00:07:32.900 And we didn't have that type of unity, I would argue, last time in 2016.

00:07:38.540 Early on, there was some splinters.

00:07:40.660 There was some divisiveness in the House that's in its side.

00:07:44.120 But what you seem to be describing this time is if Donald Trump is elected and Republicans have control of the House and Senate, it's game on from January 2nd.

00:07:54.860 There's not going to be, you know, let's get to know each other time and have some meetings and maybe come over to the White House.

00:08:00.160 Like, there's an agenda and it's ready to go for the American people.

00:08:03.640 Yeah, I think that's exactly right.

00:08:05.160 And let me put it in broader context, which is yesterday, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, came and had lunch with all the Republican senators.

00:08:13.740 And by the way, that almost never happens.

00:08:16.420 When Paul Ryan was Speaker, he didn't do that.

00:08:18.460 When John Boehner was Speaker, he didn't do that.

00:08:20.540 When Kevin McCarthy was Speaker, he didn't do that.

00:08:22.680 Mike Johnson has done that this multiple times.

00:08:25.360 This is either the third or fourth time he's come and had lunch with all the Senate Republicans.

00:08:29.940 I think that's great.

00:08:30.760 He was talking at lunch yesterday.

00:08:32.960 He said, you know, it's amazing that the media treats it as a news story, that the House and Senate are talking to each other.

00:08:39.500 And the reason he came over and talked to us is he said he's focused on his end very much on developing the agenda and the plans to hit the ground running if and when we win in November.

00:08:53.720 If we come in to January of next year with a Republican president, Republican Senate, Republican House, we got an enormous amount to accomplish.

00:09:02.720 And the Speaker, to his credit, is very focused on the first hundred days.

00:09:07.220 What can we accomplish?

00:09:08.340 What can we do to change the path of the country?

00:09:11.800 I encouraged him to dig in on that.

00:09:14.020 In fact, I shared with the Speaker and with everyone else in the room, you know, a lot of the Senators that are there now were not there back in 2017 when Trump first became president.

00:09:25.820 You know, the Speaker said, look, when Trump first became president, he was a freshman.

00:09:29.820 He was brand new in the Congress.

00:09:31.460 And he was amazed that the Congress was not prepared with a legislative agenda from day one.

00:09:37.220 And he pointed out that he thought a lot of Republicans were surprised that Trump won.

00:09:42.080 They were expecting Hillary to win. 0.99

00:09:44.780 And so when the administration came in, they weren't ready for primetime.

00:09:47.940 They didn't know what to do.

00:09:49.400 In this instance, I'm very glad the Speaker is trying to think proactively.

00:09:53.360 And I described something that I did back in the summer of 2018.

00:09:59.800 So summer of 2018, we did a lunch with all the Senate Republicans.

00:10:05.880 And I prepared a PowerPoint that was about 50 pages long.

00:10:10.560 And I spoke to my colleagues probably the better part of an hour.

00:10:14.320 And the title of the PowerPoint was Carpe Diem.

00:10:19.100 And what I did in the PowerPoint is I looked in the past, in previous instances, when one party controlled the White House, the House and the Senate.

00:10:29.340 It happens pretty rarely.

00:10:30.320 When the Democrats do it, they fundamentally transform the country.

00:10:36.180 So in the last century, the first time they did it, they passed the New Deal.

00:10:41.740 The second time they did it, they passed the Great Society.

00:10:45.800 The third time they did it, they passed Obamacare and Dodd-Frank.

00:10:49.360 And now, for the last two years, we've seen they've spent us into an absolute inflation and recession hole.

00:10:58.200 And on the other hand, Republicans, when we have unified control, we tend to do small and piddling things.

00:11:07.080 So what I argued in the PowerPoint is, at the time I presented it, it was August of 2018.

00:11:14.860 I said, listen, any rational political observer recognizes that there's a very real chance that we will lose at least one House of Congress in November.

00:11:25.000 Yeah.

00:11:25.120 And I said to my colleagues, particularly the guys who were the sophomores, who were the people who had been elected two years earlier, and I said, look, for you guys, we have 183 days till the next Congress.

00:11:41.520 For many of you, if we do not pass things now, you will never again have another chance to pass anything into law.

00:11:50.600 And so I put together a spreadsheet.

00:11:52.680 It was about 50 different bills.

00:11:54.480 All of the bills had been written by different Republican senators.

00:11:58.340 Some I had written, but most of them were my colleagues.

00:12:02.280 And all of the bills were bills that had a reasonable prospect of garnering 51 votes.

00:12:08.600 They weren't fringe things that would get 10 or 12 votes.

00:12:13.240 They were all things that would easily get 45 Republicans and that had a real shot at getting 50.

00:12:19.740 And what I argued is I said, listen, this is this is going to sound radical to you, Ben.

00:12:25.860 We should do something.

00:12:31.320 We should not do nothing.

00:12:35.240 Amazingly enough, that argument proved unpersuasive.

00:12:41.380 Mitch McConnell said, well, so the principal avenue that if you look, the biggest legislative victory of the Trump years was the 2017 tax cuts.

00:12:52.760 We passed that using what's called budget reconciliation.

00:12:56.440 Budget reconciliation is a process under a bill called the Budget Act of 1975.

00:13:02.200 The budget piece is not terribly consequential.

00:13:05.880 What's consequential is under the terms of the statute, you have an up-down vote at 50 votes and it can't be filibustered.

00:13:14.020 So it's one of the most important exceptions to the filibuster.

00:13:19.080 We could have, if you look at the Democrats, they did three budget reconciliations.

00:13:23.520 It's how they passed almost all of their agenda that put us in this hole.

00:13:28.880 When the Republicans had the majority, we did only one budget reconciliation.

00:13:33.460 We did not do a single one in 2018, which frankly, Ben, is indefensible.

00:13:38.100 And so I made the case to the Speaker and my colleagues, let's not make that mistake again.

00:13:42.460 Let's hit the ground running.

00:13:43.440 This seems different, and even when I say different, there's also a lot of people behind the scenes that are working on putting together a Trump administration and a government.

00:13:55.180 And learning from the mistakes that happened in 2016, how encouraged are you by that?

00:14:01.280 I mean, I've had quite a few people I know that I've talked to in many different areas of government who are saying, this just feels different this time.

00:14:12.220 We learn from our mistakes in 2016.

00:14:15.240 We learn from our inaction and people that we should have replaced and changed with conservative minds.

00:14:21.460 And we've witnessed what happens when you do that.

00:14:23.920 But this time, it's going to be different.

00:14:25.600 That may be the thing I'm the most excited about, is if we had, like you mentioned, a House and Senate ready to go, but also many of the bureaucrats that have been changed out very quickly this time.

00:14:37.180 That seems to be the plan.

00:14:38.920 Well, in 2016, I think Trump's winning surprised a lot of people.

00:14:44.420 It surprised a lot of Republicans in the Senate.

00:14:46.520 It surprised a lot of Republicans in the House.

00:14:49.000 It frankly surprised the Trump campaign team.

00:14:51.680 And I think it actually surprised Trump himself.

00:14:53.480 On Election Day, I think they were all a little bit startled that they had won.

00:14:59.020 And suddenly, holy cow, we're going to go do this now.

00:15:03.760 And so it resulted in, when the administration came in in the beginning of 2017, in Congress, Republican leadership of the House and Senate was not prepared with an agenda because they had assumed Hillary was going to win and they didn't need one.

00:15:17.580 And the White House did not have the experience to know how to drive an agenda.

00:15:23.640 There was no first hundred days mission.

00:15:26.440 And you're right.

00:15:27.300 There's a whole series of nonprofits that are engaged in laying out specific plans for executive orders, for regulations, for legislation.

00:15:37.280 And whether it is the American First Policy Institute or the Heritage Foundation or others, I think if and when Trump wins this November, we will hit January with a much, much better level of preparation to make a lasting difference immediately.

00:15:57.320 Yeah, you mentioned the border, and I want to talk more about that in a moment.

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00:17:51.320 But let's deal with one aspect of the border real quick, Senator.

00:17:56.340 You guys talked about that. 0.99

00:17:58.040 It's something that really, I think, catapulted Trump to get the presidency in 16 when he talked about building the damn wall. 0.99

00:18:06.200 And it clicked with a lot of Americans. 0.96

00:18:08.120 Now, the president, Joe Biden, the other day tried to hell Mary and said, all right, I'm going to do some executive action here on the southern border.

00:18:16.000 But a new poll reveals that Biden's border security move fails to satisfy voters as the crisis continues.

00:18:25.440 In other words, the American people are saying we're not taking the bait this time.

00:18:29.560 We are saying your executive order is pretty much worthless.

00:18:33.080 It is not shutting down illegal crossings at the southern border.

00:18:36.200 Remember, this on top of the fact that we have now people that are on the terrorist watch list and those connected to ISIS-K that crossed the southern border and got into this country that way.

00:18:46.300 And then they let them go.

00:18:48.340 And so now they've been arrested in the last week.

00:18:50.280 And then we got another warning, Senator, this week about we're not doing a good enough job vetting the people that are coming across that we are catching.

00:18:58.460 Well, that's exactly right. 0.97

00:19:00.440 And listen, I think Democrats believe that the American people, the voters, are stupid and that they're easily deceived by an announcement that Biden's got an executive order to secure the border. 0.99

00:19:12.140 Good. The problem's fixed. 1.00

00:19:13.660 I don't think the voters are stupid. 0.99

00:19:15.400 I think they've got an enormous amount of common sense. 0.98

00:19:17.680 And at this point, anyone who is paying attention, even a tiny bit, knows that this invasion at our southern border is deliberate.

00:19:26.060 It's what the Democrats want.

00:19:27.580 It's what Joe Biden wants.

00:19:28.840 It's what Kamala Harris wants. 0.60

00:19:30.560 It's what every Democrat in the Senate and the House wants.

00:19:33.340 I think people get that.

00:19:35.200 And that's one of the challenges.

00:19:37.320 The Biden campaign's trying to deceive them and saying, no, no, no, no, it's not Biden.

00:19:41.860 He's trying to fix it.

00:19:43.220 I don't think people are going to buy that.

00:19:44.740 But but but as you noted, just an additional piece of evidence that that's really quite compelling and quite concerning is that there's a brand new report that came out this week from the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security.

00:19:58.480 And the DHS inspector general concludes, number one, that DHS has not been effectively screening noncitizens and asylum seekers.

00:20:08.560 Number two, that CBP can't access all federal data to complete thorough screening and vetting.

00:20:18.940 And number three, the DHS inspector general in the Biden administration concluded as following, quote,

00:20:25.860 DHS will remain at risk of admitting dangerous persons into the country or enabling asylum seekers who may pose significant threats to public safety and national security to continue to reside in the United States, end quote, until these challenges are addressed.

00:20:47.180 This is a bombshell report from the inspector general.

00:20:50.960 And so, of course, the corporate media is ignoring it altogether.

00:20:54.600 You look at this.

00:20:56.120 There's so many warnings.

00:20:57.320 And we've seen the FBI give their warnings that the director there has given his warnings.

00:21:01.300 And he says that it is a very concerning and real national security threat of the open southern border.

00:21:07.500 You then put this combined with with ISIS and what you just talked about.

00:21:12.120 And you have to ask yourself the question, who is to blame for being asleep at the wheel here?

00:21:17.960 Or is it just Democrats say, look, we're willing to sacrifice some Americans.

00:21:23.760 Some of you are going to die in a terrorist attack one day.

00:21:26.100 But we got in 20 million new illegal immigrants and that was worth it for us. 1.00

00:21:30.680 How do you look at this subject now, knowing these warnings are coming now from people, I think, inside of our government under Biden who are trying to cover their rear ends?

00:21:39.400 Well, listen, in terms of Washington Democrats, the Democrats in the Senate, the House, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the executive branch.

00:21:47.500 Ben, to be honest, I don't think they give a damn.

00:21:50.300 I have seen no evidence.

00:21:52.460 That's my worry.

00:21:53.420 It's like it's almost like it's well, it's the price that we're willing to pay.

00:21:57.400 We're willing to sacrifice safety, security.

00:22:00.020 And in reality, if you if you compare it to what ISIS-K did in Russia, American lives to get what we ultimately want, which is a new voting block. 0.81

00:22:09.340 Look, I think the Democrats right now in Congress are incredibly cynical.

00:22:13.700 And the only thing they're focused on is what will keep them in power.

00:22:17.620 What will ensure that there are more and more and more and more Democrat voters.

00:22:22.300 And I think they look at the 11 million people they've allowed into this country illegally. 0.54

00:22:26.760 And they view them all as future Democrat voters.

00:22:30.300 Now, some of them, I think they are counting on voting illegally this election.

00:22:34.780 And the rest of them, I think they're counting on voting legally once a Democrat administration gets into office and grants them amnesty.

00:22:46.240 And so I think from their view, they are fundamentally remaking the demographics of this country.

00:22:51.980 And they're trying to remake it in a way that ensures that Democrats remain in power forever.

00:22:57.000 And the thing that is tragic is they're more than happy.

00:23:01.240 The Democrats are more than happy to look the other way at the people dying, at the people dying, crossing the border day after day after day.

00:23:09.900 The migrants dying. They're perfectly happy to look the other way at the children being brutalized.

00:23:15.100 They're perfectly happy to look the other way at the women being repeatedly sexually assaulted. 0.99

00:23:20.580 They're perfectly happy to look away at all of the victims of crime we've seen all across the country from illegal aliens that the Biden administration has released. 0.82

00:23:29.980 And most inexplicably, they have to date been perfectly happy to look the other way at the growing and deeply troubling risk of a major terrorist attack in the United States from illegal aliens that the Biden administration has released among us.

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00:24:18.960 During your time serving in the Senate, have you ever seen this many warnings on a national security issue?

00:24:25.860 No.

00:24:26.300 Come before you guys publicly, because it's not just like one person is a whistleblower.

00:24:31.580 You're talking about the head of the FBI.

00:24:33.840 You're now talking about the DHS inspector general.

00:24:36.500 You're talking about others with the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol agents, the Border Union.

00:24:42.040 I mean, they're all singing now the same tune, which is we're sitting on a time bomb.

00:24:48.320 Well, I think the facts have gotten so overwhelming that they had no choice.

00:24:52.020 If you look at Christopher Wray, who is the head of the FBI, he has testified now repeatedly in front of Congress.

00:24:59.000 And he said there is an enormous risk of a terrorist attack in the United States.

00:25:03.660 It is from our southern border.

00:25:05.520 We are all vulnerable and we've got to step up and fight back on this.

00:25:08.500 As you know, I know Christopher Wray very, very well.

00:25:11.840 We both clerked for the same Court of Appeals judge.

00:25:14.660 I've known Chris Wray for 30 years.

00:25:17.160 I think he's a good man.

00:25:19.500 Interestingly enough, he's not a Democrat.

00:25:21.800 I think he fully considers himself a Republican.

00:25:25.660 And my fault with Chris Wray, which I've articulated multiple times, is that I think he's a company man.

00:25:33.700 I think his view of his job as the FBI director is to defend the career employees at the FBI, to circle the wagons around the senior leadership.

00:25:45.640 And that might, in an ordinary circumstance, make sense, but it doesn't make sense here when you have hardcore partisans who have burrowed into senior leadership positions and who are corrupting the integrity of the FBI.

00:26:01.520 That being said, Chris Wray keeps going to Congress and saying, people, the risk of a terrorist attack is enormous.

00:26:09.300 He's trying to ring the bell because he's looking at the intel.

00:26:12.200 Look, let me read you from just the opening page of the report from the inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security.

00:26:20.780 It says, quote, what we found.

00:26:24.880 The Department of Homeland Security's technology, procedures, and coordination were not fully effective to screen and vet non-citizens applying for admission into the United States or asylum seekers whose asylum applications were pending for an extended period.

00:26:40.340 Although U.S. Customs and Border Protection deployed new technologies to enhance traveler screening, it could not access all federal data necessary to ensure complete screening and vetting of non-citizens seeking admission into the United States.

00:26:58.280 In addition, CBP used varied and sometimes inconsistent inspection procedures for travelers arriving in vehicles at land ports of entry.

00:27:11.640 Finally, CBP does not have the technology to perform biometric matching on travelers arriving in vehicles at land ports of entry.

00:27:19.900 Once a non-citizen files an asylum application, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducts screening and vetting to verify each asylum applicant's identity and determine their eligibility.

00:27:35.580 However, USCIS did not always complete timely screenings for more than 400,000 affirmative asylum applicants who filed for asylum between October 2017 and March 2023.

00:27:55.860 400,000.

00:27:57.320 So, additionally, USCIS does not have a dedicated procedure or comprehensive technology solution to perform interim screening of asylum applicants whose cases were not adjudicated within the required 180-day time frame.

00:28:18.060 So, you look at all of that, and it reminds me so much of 9-11 when we found out afterwards.

00:28:24.260 Everybody wasn't talking to each other, the FBI and the CIA weren't talking to one another, and so things were falling through the cracks.

00:28:32.280 Except this time, they're all saying things are falling through the cracks before the attack, not after.

00:28:38.900 Is there any chance that we can get this together quickly enough to fix it before it's too late?

00:28:46.380 Or is this just now an administration's decision of, hey, we know what we're doing here, we know the risk, and we're okay with it?

00:28:55.820 I think there's no chance with this administration.

00:28:59.080 Look, look, Joe Biden...

00:29:00.400 That's scary.

00:29:01.120 It is terrifying.

00:29:02.380 Joe Biden is utterly absent.

00:29:03.840 He is not competent to do the job he's in. 0.99

00:29:07.240 Kamala Harris is a dumpster fire. 1.00

00:29:10.240 Alejandro Mayorkas is brazenly defying the law and is, in fact, presiding over the criminal invasion of this country. 0.86

00:29:19.720 Merrick Garland is so politicized, the Department of Justice is not going to do anything.

00:29:24.060 I do not believe these individuals will change their behavior.

00:29:28.040 They've made the devil's bargain that they will destroy our country in order to let enough illegal immigrants into this country to ensure they stay in power. 1.00

00:29:40.680 And so I think the only, only, only answer is for Republicans to win in November, for Trump to win re-election, and for us to win the Senate and the House.

00:29:51.660 This June marks two years since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

00:29:56.480 But did you know that the number of abortions actually increased the following year?

00:30:01.540 In 2023, the amount of abortions reached its highest level since 2012, with the abortion pill accounting for up to 63% of all abortions.

00:30:11.960 It's tragically no surprise.

00:30:14.540 Well, there is one organization that is helping women choose life. 0.95

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00:30:56.240 $28 sponsors one ultrasound, and that's where you come in.

00:31:00.740 And $140 can actually help to rescue five babies.

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00:31:21.860 To donate, all you have to do is dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby.

00:31:28.500 That's pound 250 on your phone.

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00:31:33.320 Or you can visit preborn.com slash verdict.

00:31:37.860 That's preborn.com slash verdict.

00:31:41.440 Preborn.com slash verdict.

00:31:45.080 Senator, a moment ago you mentioned the president. 0.59

00:31:47.200 You said you think he is, at this point, clearly incompetent.

00:31:50.160 He is a guy that his own Justice Department said he couldn't stand trial.

00:31:55.300 He would be incompetent to stand trial.

00:31:57.780 We've seen several videos come out over the last couple of days of the president looking clearly like he's lost at events,

00:32:04.860 not knowing what's going on, and slurring his words.

00:32:08.300 But there does seem to be one issue that he's still very much honed in on.

00:32:13.120 And that is the number one issue of taking care of his son, Hunter Biden.

00:32:17.360 Joe Biden has claimed he's not going to give a pardon to his son.

00:32:22.340 But we also know that Joe Biden in the White House is very much getting the idea out there,

00:32:28.060 so people will, I guess, be okay with it, that he may commute his son Hunter's sentence.

00:32:33.400 The question is, will they be smart enough to do this after Election Day?

00:32:38.040 And is it even a bigger possibility that he may just be flat out lying and he's going to just straight up pardon him?

00:32:45.560 Well, look, the odds are significant, I believe, that Joe Biden pardons his son.

00:32:52.660 And I think it all hinges on what happens in November.

00:32:55.560 I think if Joe Biden loses, then he will pardon Hunter in November or December.

00:33:03.080 He will pardon Hunter before leaving.

00:33:05.340 If Joe Biden wins, it gets more complicated.

00:33:08.220 I think he will want to pardon Hunter.

00:33:10.600 But if he's starting a second term and he's got four years to go,

00:33:14.720 I think his political team will be terrified that pardoning Hunter,

00:33:19.080 especially after you promised the American people you would not,

00:33:22.900 would do irreparable damage to him.

00:33:25.240 And so what I think is likely is if he wins, instead of pardoning Hunter,

00:33:31.820 that he will commute the sentence.

00:33:33.100 Commuting the sentence basically says, okay, no more jail time for you.

00:33:36.580 You can go.

00:33:37.080 You're still a felon. 0.98

00:33:38.060 You're still a convicted felon. 0.80

00:33:39.600 You still have many of the detriments of being a felon. 0.99

00:33:42.180 But you're wearing a bulletproof vest, so it is at least much, much harder to kill you. 0.83

00:33:48.200 I think the two options are Biden loses.

00:33:51.180 He pardons Hunter.

00:33:52.920 Biden wins.

00:33:54.000 He commutes Hunter's sentence and lets him go from jail.

00:33:57.720 You look at the White House and what you said would directly contradict what the White House has said.

00:34:03.560 The White House press secretary, Jean-Pierre, saying this.

00:34:06.740 Second one, would the president pardon or commute his son if he's convicted?

00:34:11.220 So I've answered this question before.

00:34:12.680 It was asked of me not too long ago, a couple of weeks ago.

00:34:15.020 And I was very clear, and I said no.

00:34:17.900 I mean, she didn't just say pardon.

00:34:20.360 She also said, commute the sentence, the president will not do it.

00:34:23.840 No.

00:34:24.080 And I guess that's a smart political answer going into November.

00:34:27.800 And then after you win, who cares, right?

00:34:30.440 You lie to the American people on, quote, having a secure border when they know you're lying to them.

00:34:35.500 You look at them in the face.

00:34:36.760 You tell them Bidenomics is working when every American's hurting.

00:34:39.640 You tell people the economy is strong and great right now when it's clearly not.

00:34:43.020 I mean, these are the lies that they tell every single day.

00:34:46.140 So why not lie on this one?

00:34:48.240 Well, and listen, Corrine Jean-Pierre does that every day.

00:34:50.900 We have detailed at great lengths the deliberate lies she has told from the White House briefing room.

00:34:56.640 The one that is still the most galling is when she stood up there and said, you know, people are not just walking across our border.

00:35:02.440 That's not happening.

00:35:03.580 And that is such a brazen lie.

00:35:05.820 You'll recall on this podcast, I invited to take Corrine down to the border any day of the week, and we would go out on patrol and we would find illegals crossing day after day after day.

00:35:18.380 That's how we got to 11 million illegals.

00:35:20.460 She did not take me up on that invitation, but I will tell you multiple times over the last two years, she's gotten in arguments with this podcast, with points you and I have made on the podcast that she's been forced to stand up at the White House press briefing and defend.

00:35:35.320 And actually, one of our good friends, Kayleigh McEnany, on Fox has put together a compilation of Corrine Jean-Pierre's repeated flip-flops and repeated lies. 0.99

00:35:48.040 Take a listen.

00:35:49.320 Hunter Biden, I want you to watch this closely because I am very confused.

00:35:54.080 Corrine Jean-Pierre was asked to read a gaggle yesterday if President Biden would commute Hunter's sentence.

00:35:59.740 We know he said he wouldn't pardon.

00:36:01.100 Would he commute it?

00:36:01.820 She answered very differently than she did on September 15th, 2023.

00:36:06.440 Watch the two answers.

00:36:08.500 What I'm saying is that the president, I am not spoken to the president about this.

00:36:15.760 And what I'm saying is he was asked about a pardon.

00:36:18.320 He was asked about, he was asked about the trial specifically.

00:36:23.560 And he answered it very clearly, very forthright.

00:36:26.600 As we know, the sentencing hasn't even been scheduled yet.

00:36:29.220 I don't have anything beyond what the president said.

00:36:32.100 He's been very clear about this.

00:36:34.100 Second one, would the president pardon or commute his son if he's convicted?

00:36:38.460 I've answered this question before.

00:36:39.800 It was asked of me not too long ago, a couple of weeks ago.

00:36:42.260 And I was very clear and I said no.

00:36:44.040 That's confusing.

00:36:47.140 That's a change.

00:36:48.540 Yes, it is.

00:36:49.600 I think she's clearly leaving the door open for America to accept, frankly, a commutation inevitably, which who would be surprised given the person at the helm?

00:36:57.680 You were making some great points about Hunter.

00:36:59.260 I want to just give you some space to make them too.

00:37:01.280 I just think that their real risk here is that he is a vulnerability if he were to be facing jail and flip.

00:37:08.780 And I know that's people, oh, my God, he'd never flip.

00:37:11.460 If you read if you read the text messages and some of the stuff that's in evidence already in the cases he's facing, there's no love loss between Hunter and some of the members of the Biden family.

00:37:22.440 Let's just put it this way.

00:37:23.420 He's not on the same page with jail.

00:37:24.960 He's got issues with the uncle.

00:37:26.260 I think the uncle is actually the one that's the most vulnerable, particularly in the area of the Chinese money.

00:37:31.180 They can't afford to have him turn hostile.

00:37:33.260 And that's why once his legal troubles concretized, all of a sudden he's at the White House.

00:37:37.400 He's on the plane.

00:37:38.320 He's going to the, you know, with on trips with Joe Biden.

00:37:41.160 They're keeping him close.

00:37:42.400 You know, Kaylee.

00:37:43.320 By the way, one thing there that I do want to ask your opinion of.

00:37:47.260 There was some criticism of Joe Biden flying back and forth to the trial.

00:37:52.480 They were holding hands, walking in and out of the courtroom.

00:37:55.380 Um, and, and coming back from overseas to make appearances.

00:38:01.040 The point that was made there about the liability, like, Hey, we got to keep him close.

00:38:05.380 Cause if we're not sure he could even handle jail.

00:38:08.220 And if he did, then what could happen to the other family members?

00:38:12.440 It's a very interesting perspective and point, especially if you go back and read some of the things that he has said and written in his own words.

00:38:21.020 Yeah, I got to say, I, I don't actually agree with the criticism of Joe Biden on this.

00:38:26.640 She's his mom.

00:38:28.040 Her son is facing multiple felony counts.

00:38:30.760 He's now been convicted of multiple felonies.

00:38:33.060 Her son has had a very troubled life, has had enormous substance abuse problems.

00:38:37.720 I, I, I am never going to fault a mom for loving her son.

00:38:42.420 And, and so the fact that she came back to be with him in the trial, I look, that that's part of being a mom.

00:38:48.240 Fair point.

00:38:49.480 Senator, I appreciate it as always.

00:38:51.140 Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays.

00:38:53.960 Make sure you hit that subscribe, that like or auto download button, and we'll keep you up to date on all of this.

00:38:59.680 Also, on those in-between days, grab my podcast and I'll keep you up to date on the breaking news in between the Ben Ferguson podcast as well.

00:39:06.840 And the center and I will see you back here.

00:39:08.160 And also, on Saturdays, we do that, the week in review.

00:39:12.360 So, if you missed anything this week, we'll have that for you on Saturdays as well.

00:39:15.780 And we'll see you back here in a couple of days.

00:39:18.600 This is an iHeart podcast.

00:39:21.480 Guaranteed human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - June 14, 2024

Having Lunch w Trump, DHS Inspector General Calls out Biden Admin's Deficient ＂Vetting＂ of Illegal Immigrants & Will Joe Pardon Hunter？

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