Verdict with Ted Cruz - Here are the Receipts -Soros Funds Fake No Kings Rallies, plus Stopping the Mass Murder of 50,000 Christians in Nigeria

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.620 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.400 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.240 And Senator, we had a really big day of rallies around the country over the weekend.

00:00:13.300 Apparently, Democrats are just writing big old checks right now to go back to their old school,

00:00:18.520 organizing for these outrage rallies at a king by the name of Donald Trump,

00:00:23.580 who's been in office many less years than any of the Democrats that they're out there

00:00:27.940 complaining about him being in office.

00:00:30.000 Well, this weekend we saw protests all across the country that was angry white women go march.

00:00:37.420 It was boomers unleashed. 1.00

00:00:40.520 And it was an expression of rage.

00:00:42.740 What we're going to talk about here is follow the money.

00:00:45.260 Who's paying for this?

00:00:46.620 Not only was this an expression of rage, but it was an expression of rage that was AstroTurf,

00:00:51.640 that was bought and paid for.

00:00:53.800 And we're going to follow the money to George Soros and his network.

00:00:56.640 And an entire interconnected network of radical left-wing groups that were funding these protests.

00:01:05.320 We're also going to talk about a tragedy that has been unfolding in recent years in the country of Nigeria,

00:01:09.700 where more than 50,000 Christians have been killed.

00:01:13.600 The mass murder of Christians in Nigeria has been ongoing.

00:01:17.340 It is targeted.

00:01:19.340 It is systematic.

00:01:21.340 Boko Haram and other jihadists are targeting Christians, are targeting churches, are targeting schools.

00:01:27.020 We're going to lay out the facts of what's going on.

00:01:30.020 The government of Nigeria is pressing back and saying nothing to see here, nothing to see here.

00:01:34.580 We're going to give you the facts and we're going to talk about legislation I've introduced to hold

00:01:38.580 the government of Nigeria accountable and to pressure them to finally, finally, finally stop the mass murder of Christians. 0.99

00:01:47.380 Amen to that.

00:01:48.360 I want to take a moment and talk to you real quick about my good friends over at Berna.

00:01:51.980 Being able to protect my family is so important to me.

00:01:54.960 And it's one of the things that I want you to know about how you can help protect your family as well,

00:02:00.740 from those that may be trying to do you harm.

00:02:03.220 Now, for weeks, I've been joined by Josh from Berna to share stories of how people just like you and me

00:02:10.020 have used their Berna launcher to protect themselves and their families.

00:02:13.700 Now, Berna is a handheld pistol that fires both kinetic rounds and chemical irritants to separate you from an attacker.

00:02:21.400 Josh is back today to share a true story of how a man was able to stop two pit bulls from harming him and his daughter using the Berna SD.

00:02:30.360 Josh, tell us the story.

00:02:31.620 You know, this story is great because I guarantee many people have been in a very similar situation.

00:02:36.680 So Kyle, an Illinois resident, was walking his young daughter home from a play date just down the street from their house

00:02:42.600 when he noticed two unleashed pit bulls running down an alley, aggressively charging right at them.

00:02:48.560 He quickly lifted his daughter over a fence of a yard to put her in a safe place and drew the Berna SD that he was actually carrying on him.

00:02:55.860 And using a combination of kinetic and our max for gestiles, Kyle fired five rounds of the two pit bulls, striking both the ground in front of them, but also the dogs themselves.

00:03:05.240 The dogs stopped in their tracks.

00:03:07.400 The rounds had an immediate effect and both dogs quickly ran the other way.

00:03:11.940 The entire incident was also captured on home surveillance video, allowing everyone to watch exactly how Berna kept Kyle and his daughter out of harm's way.

00:03:20.800 Now, look, obviously the Berna were great in this case, but why wouldn't someone choose to use a gun in this case instead of a Berna?

00:03:27.480 So many people ask me that type of question.

00:03:29.600 You know, it's the same.

00:03:30.620 I get to ask that all the time.

00:03:31.760 And here we have a couple different reasons.

00:03:33.980 One, he may not be in an area where he could carry a gun.

00:03:36.620 Depending on the laws of your state, it may limit where you can and can't carry a gun.

00:03:40.860 And two, look, nobody wants to kill these dogs, right?

00:03:43.540 Nobody wants to kill anybody but dogs either.

00:03:45.800 If we can use a lower level of force to affect a safe getaway for us and everyone else, man, that's the way to do it.

00:03:52.100 And that's exactly what happened here.

00:03:53.740 If you want to be able to protect your family and you want to have something like this, a left lethal option, you need to check out Berna.

00:04:00.180 You can go right now to Berna, B-Y-R-N-A dot com.

00:04:04.460 Again, that's Berna, B-Y-R-N-A dot com. 0.94

00:04:07.640 You'll understand after you see the videos exactly why I carry this in every car we have.

00:04:11.820 Berna, B-Y-R-N-A dot com.

00:04:14.680 All right, Senator, so let's get into this day of, I call it rage, this anti-American day, this no kings day.

00:04:23.280 There was something that hit online and it just made me smile because it said, all right, so let me get this straight.

00:04:30.800 There's no kings referring to Donald Trump.

00:04:33.000 Chuck Grassley's been in office 50 plus years.

00:04:36.100 Chuck Schumer, 44 plus years.

00:04:37.800 Mitch McConnell, 40 plus years.

00:04:39.140 Nancy Pelosi, 38 years.

00:04:40.860 Maxine Waters, 37 years.

00:04:42.380 Bernie Sanders, 34 years.

00:04:44.140 Trump's been in office a total of four years and nine and a half months.

00:04:47.420 But somehow they're saying Donald Trump is the king.

00:04:50.540 When you look at the numbers there, and that's like some bipartisan numbers, it's pretty darn funny.

00:04:54.820 Well, it is, and there was this little minor detail of an election that occurred in November in which the American people overwhelmingly voted to re-elect Donald Trump.

00:05:05.620 Very quickly, look, you're trying to engage in reason, Ben.

00:05:09.280 Reason is not welcome on the radical left anymore.

00:05:12.620 I forgot about that memo.

00:05:14.000 This is emoting, this is rage, this is orange man bad.

00:05:18.700 There's nothing more beyond that.

00:05:21.180 And by the way, this is also voters bad.

00:05:23.960 You know, the irony of no kings, that they're suggesting that they're somehow fans of democracy.

00:05:28.820 Understand, these are the same radical left-wing Democrats that indicted Donald Trump, not once, not twice, not three times, but four times, in an effort to stop the voters from re-electing him.

00:05:41.900 These are the same left-wing radicals who then went to left-wing judges, and in multiple jurisdictions, including Colorado, Illinois, Maine, their left-wing radicals ruled they would remove Donald Trump's name from the ballot.

00:05:56.660 Because nothing says you are a defender of democracy like making it impossible for the voters to vote for your opponent.

00:06:03.620 Now, thankfully, the U.S. Supreme Court came in unanimously, 9-0, and said, no, no, no, sorry, you don't get to rig an election by removing your opponent, the Republican nominee for president, from the ballot.

00:06:17.420 And wonder of wonders, with Trump on the ballot, the voters voted for him.

00:06:22.260 This is actually, you know, in some ways, the left had some truth in advertising.

00:06:28.300 They just had one too many words.

00:06:30.960 They call this the no kings rally.

00:06:33.040 What they really want to protest is the king's rally.

00:06:35.840 Look, when Joe Biden was president, they wanted him to have unlimited power.

00:06:40.340 And, by the way, once they realized that Joe Biden had been legally dead for three years and that he was not going to be a formidable candidate in November, they promptly defenestrated him, threw him out a window, grabbed Kamala Harris, said, congratulations, you're the Democrat nominee.

00:06:54.600 And you know what detail they skipped?

00:06:56.460 The whole voting thing.

00:06:57.820 Like, the Democrat primary voters didn't get to vote at all.

00:07:00.700 They basically tried to make her a queen. 1.00

00:07:02.860 You know, when you coronate someone, when you put a crown on someone and say, don't bother with the little voting stuff, we've decided you get to run, that is kind of right at the heart of monarchy.

00:07:14.520 So this, their messaging is incoherent.

00:07:18.320 But at the end of the day, there is no messaging other than a primal scream, they hate Trump.

00:07:26.160 And look, it's a good thing they did these rallies.

00:07:28.400 Because, you know, prior to Saturday, I didn't know they hated Trump.

00:07:31.420 I really, I had missed that the last 10 months.

00:07:35.140 And so it really took seeing a bunch of 75-year-old white liberal women screaming outside and dyeing their hair pink. 1.00

00:07:44.320 You know, without that, we would have had no idea that the far left did not like President Trump.

00:07:50.100 You know, one thing that was interesting about these rallies is the way that the media covered it.

00:07:54.860 It was before the rallies happened, they were already making these things a success.

00:08:00.460 And say, oh, yeah, we're expecting millions to gather across the country.

00:08:06.220 Then, as it was happening, I was flipping the channels in between watching what's really important.

00:08:10.700 And that was college football over the weekend.

00:08:13.040 During a couple moments, I checked over to see how they were covering it.

00:08:16.540 It was like millions gather.

00:08:18.540 I'm sorry, Senator, I did not see millions, as in plural, anywhere close to that.

00:08:24.060 Yeah, there were some bigger crowds for sure.

00:08:26.680 New York City, for example, Chicago.

00:08:29.200 It was not millions, and yet they already act like this was just some amazing, unprecedented success.

00:08:35.160 Meanwhile, the average American was watching football on Saturday.

00:08:38.000 Well, I do have to express my condolences.

00:08:40.880 I'm very sorry about Ole Miss and Georgia beating them.

00:08:43.480 I knew you were waiting for this show to just go ahead and talk about that.

00:08:46.840 Look, I knew that that hurt.

00:08:50.520 But, look, you can gain solace because even though Ole Miss lost to Georgia, an Ole Miss royalty prevailed because Arch Manning and the Longhorns won,

00:09:02.940 although I've got to admit it was an ugly game.

00:09:05.180 Won in overtime.

00:09:06.180 At least there's some intellectual honesty.

00:09:07.820 And the Aggies keep on winning, and I was sad that Tech finally lost.

00:09:13.240 They're still a heck of a team, but I'm very sorry about Ole Miss.

00:09:17.280 The grin right now on your face is unbelievably telling, unbelievably telling of your thoughts and prayers.

00:09:25.500 Now that you got that moment out of the way.

00:09:28.800 Yeah, I'm glad that was his moment.

00:09:30.400 He's been waiting all weekend.

00:09:31.420 He was silent.

00:09:32.220 He didn't text me on Saturday.

00:09:33.620 I want the audience to understand that.

00:09:34.900 He was waiting for the show to bring that up.

00:09:37.240 So, let's talk about the money here for a second.

00:09:40.440 This is clearly...

00:09:42.260 By the way, I will say, one of my closest friends, Gray, as you know, played football at Arkansas.

00:09:48.040 Oh, yeah.

00:09:48.320 And Arkansas came within inches of beating the Aggies, and my phone would have lit up the grief he would have given me.

00:09:56.300 And to be fair, Arkansas almost did beat the Aggies.

00:09:58.720 I mean, it, you know, the A&M-Arkansas game reminded me a little bit of the A&M-Notre Dame game where neither side bothered to bring defense.

00:10:06.360 They just scored like crazy, and whoever had the ball last won.

00:10:09.540 Yeah, it was.

00:10:10.280 It was aired out football 101.

00:10:12.600 So, you look at the money here, and I wasn't concerned.

00:10:17.560 I did TV over the weekend on No Kings, and they asked me, like, you know, well, this seems to be momentum.

00:10:22.260 I'm like, it's not momentum if you're paying for it.

00:10:24.260 This isn't authentic or organic.

00:10:27.420 It is bought and paid for.

00:10:28.860 If I go out and buy a bunch of ads this weekend to play for whatever my thing is, you know, that I want to advocate for, does that mean there's actual authentic momentum behind it?

00:10:38.020 Or does that just mean that I paid for something?

00:10:41.080 Like, this, to me, is pay-to-play politics.

00:10:43.360 I'm not concerned about, quote, momentum.

00:10:45.920 I do think, however, those that were organizing and paying for this No Kings rally are holding America hostage with the government shutdown.

00:10:53.760 If there's any takeaway for me, it's that, that Democrats could not open the government back up until after the No Kings rally took place. 0.98

00:11:01.380 Now, this week, they may actually be able to do their damn job. 0.81

00:11:03.820 Well, and this past week, I went on Fox News and said there's clear evidence that George Soros and his network is paying for these No Kings rallies. 0.99

00:11:13.020 And I have to say, lefty activists on Twitter went crazy and said, there's no evidence of that.

00:11:17.860 What's Cruz talking about?

00:11:18.980 Well, you know, fortunately, we brought the receipts.

00:11:21.800 So let me walk through.

00:11:23.760 And, in fact, if you want to read it, Fox News has a story entitled, quote, Soros Foundation's Helping Fund Anti-Trump No Kings Protest Nationwide.

00:11:33.820 So, and here are the facts.

00:11:38.380 In 2003, the Open Society Foundation, which was founded by George Soros, issued a two-year grant of $3 million to Indivisible.

00:11:53.480 The grant was, quote, to support the grantee's social welfare activities, according to the Open Society Foundation's website.

00:12:01.840 What is Indivisible doing?

00:12:05.800 It is, quote, managing data and communication with participants, i.e. AstroTurf, for the No Kings protest that will be taking place in Washington and across the country.

00:12:16.380 According to the Open Society Foundation's website, George Soros has given away.

00:12:25.560 How much do you think George Soros has given to the Open Society Foundations?

00:12:29.420 I mean, it's Soros.

00:12:30.500 It's got to be millions.

00:12:31.340 It could easily be tens of millions.

00:12:33.720 More than $32 billion.

00:12:37.400 Wow.

00:12:38.160 Okay, I was wrong on that one.

00:12:39.180 More than $32 billion, with a B.

00:12:43.260 Golly.

00:12:43.940 And if you look at that, they in turn are funding Indivisible, and Indivisible is organizing or helping organize the No Kings Foundations.

00:12:58.640 By the way, the left has these interwoven, dark money organizations.

00:13:05.020 So, for example, in 2017, Indivisible received a $350,000 grant from Tides Advocacy, which is a group affiliated with the Tides Network.

00:13:16.320 The Tides Foundation, which is also affiliated with the Tides Network, has been funding anti-Israel campus riots.

00:13:25.320 The grant report for 2024 for the Open Society Foundation was not available, but Soros' foundation have awarded grants to Indivisible every single year since Indivisible was created in 2017.

00:13:41.940 In total, the Open Society Foundations have awarded $7.61 million in grants to the group behind the No Kings protest.

00:13:51.940 So, $7.61 million.

00:13:54.200 That's where the money's coming from. 0.72

00:13:56.400 So, if you're surprised there's a lot of organizing, well, it turns out that deranged, Trump-hating, America-hating, radical socialist, Marxist, anarchist, police-abolishing, nutcase billionaires can fund what looks like an awful lot of action.

00:14:16.180 And I've got to say, given all that cash, what is striking to me, Ben, is how lame the result was.

00:14:23.360 Like, I've got to say, to be honest, I didn't spend a whole lot of time watching footage of it.

00:14:28.020 But the footage I saw, you know what was missing?

00:14:31.060 What was that?

00:14:31.800 Any black people?

00:14:32.880 Any Hispanic people?

00:14:34.060 Every video I saw...

00:14:36.260 Well, maybe those were like non-minorities welcome, right? 0.99

00:14:40.020 Could that be it? 0.87

00:14:41.040 Look, look, every video I saw, it was a bunch of old white liberals. 0.96

00:14:45.680 It was like, you know, it was like a Patagonia convention with lots of prune juice.

00:14:53.860 I mean, it was really, the numbers were underwhelming.

00:15:00.240 You knew the numbers were underwhelming when you started to see, on Twitter, people sending fake videos of protests in prior years and claiming, oh, this is the No Kings turnout.

00:15:11.840 Yeah, that did happen a lot, by the way.

00:15:13.720 You're not joking when you say that.

00:15:15.340 I saw quite a few of those, and it just made you laugh.

00:15:17.740 Yeah, there's a video of a big protest in Boston years ago that has been tweeted around like crazy, and they say, oh, this was No Kings in Boston.

00:15:26.860 It's like, no.

00:15:27.660 Well, why are you sending around a fake video?

00:15:30.700 Because even when you have millions of dollars from George Soros, apparently the people motivated...

00:15:35.160 By the way, this is very much the same pattern as, you know, they did a dry run for this with the protests in D.C. against President Trump sending in the National Guard.

00:15:44.620 And again, those protests were a bunch of white liberals. 0.75

00:15:49.860 There were very few, in the video I saw, very few African Americans who, and the high crime areas in D.C. are predominantly African American. 0.83

00:16:00.380 And it was really striking.

00:16:02.000 You see these sort of wealthy liberal, many of them are government bureaucrats, who are saying, no, no, get the National Guard out of D.C.

00:16:09.080 And then if camera crews that would go in to high crime areas in D.C., you'd look at the people living there, predominantly African American, facing gangbangers and drive-by shootings and facing being afraid to go out at night.

00:16:23.040 And there's interview after interview with D.C. residents who are like, okay, I feel a lot safer.

00:16:27.300 This is great.

00:16:28.040 By the way, your hometown of Memphis, you've got the same interviews where people are saying, you know, for the first time in a long time, I feel safe to go outside.

00:16:36.560 I can go outside with my kids.

00:16:38.020 I'm not afraid of my kids getting shot or attacked or abducted.

00:16:41.120 Well, even Bill Street, which is the famous street in Memphis, you know, where you can go listen to live music and it's downtown by the FedEx Forum.

00:16:47.360 I know people that have not gone down there five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten years.

00:16:50.580 They're now going down there because it's been so unsafe and the National Guard's there.

00:16:55.440 And now citizens of Memphis are actually getting to go enjoy their own city again, which is exactly what we've seen in Washington, D.C.

00:17:02.000 Yeah, and it's amazing that the position of the Democrat Party is they are against law and order.

00:17:08.560 Apparently, having law and order means you have a king, that they are against criminals being arrested.

00:17:13.900 Apparently, that's the act of a king, that they are against violent criminals being incarcerated, taken off the streets, and they are against our families being protected.

00:17:24.920 You know, I got to say, people who are not political radicals find all of that common sense.

00:17:30.820 Yes, that's not a particularly right-wing proposition, that violent criminals – you know, I'll tell a story, Ben.

00:17:38.980 When I was a brand-new baby lawyer back in, I think, 1997, I'd just finished clerking for Chief Justice Rehnquist.

00:17:48.340 I'd just started practicing law at a little law firm in D.C.

00:17:51.080 And there was a show on PBS that was called Debates, Debates, and it was a three-on-three debate for an hour.

00:18:02.160 And they would take a particular topic and then get three conservatives, three liberals, and you debate for an hour.

00:18:07.600 And it was produced by a guy named Warren Stiebel, who was also the producer of Firing Line with Bill Buckley.

00:18:13.160 And I got a call from someone – from a friend of mine who said, hey, they're looking for someone to go on this show.

00:18:20.060 Do you want to do this?

00:18:21.560 And it ended up being the first TV show I ever went on, you know, right at the start of my legal career.

00:18:26.820 And the topic was, should we release – should we grant amnesty to, quote, America's political prisoners?

00:18:36.600 And by that, they meant cop killers and other radical left-wingers who were incarcerated, but they claimed they were political prisoners because they had an ideology.

00:18:46.980 And they were having a hard time finding conservatives to debate the conservative side of it.

00:18:50.660 And I remember I was – I got the phone call to ask if I would do it, and I started laughing, and I said, okay, so let me get this straight.

00:18:57.540 You want me to defend the proposition that violent criminals should be punished?

00:19:05.020 Yeah.

00:19:05.580 Yeah, yeah, I feel good with that.

00:19:07.400 I'm quite comfortable with that proposition.

00:19:09.420 Man, way to load the deck against me, right?

00:19:12.320 You know, and look, to be clear, I don't care if they're left-wing or right-wing or they don't have any wings at all.

00:19:17.500 If you commit acts of violence, you should be arrested, you should be prosecuted, you should go to jail.

00:19:23.080 And listen, the question we asked at the start of this show about following the money, regular listeners of the pod will know that is something that I'm pressing both Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice and Kash Patel and the FBI to do.

00:19:35.600 Not just the money behind the No Kings rallies, but also the money behind the anti-Semitic protests on college campuses, the money behind the Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots all over the country, the money behind the open border riots in Los Angeles and other cities earlier this year.

00:19:51.180 I think it is likely all the same money, it is the same collection of radicals who are a combination of extreme leftists, Marxists, jihadists, anarchists, and I think George Soros is the granddaddy of them all.

00:20:07.760 But I've introduced legislation, and the legislation is called the Stop Funders Act.

00:20:14.300 And what the Stop Funders Act would do is very simple.

00:20:17.340 It simply adds rioting to the list of predicate acts under RICO.

00:20:23.540 Now, what is RICO?

00:20:24.340 RICO is the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act.

00:20:27.780 And it is a tool that prosecutors use to go after organized crime.

00:20:33.740 It is a very powerful prosecutorial tool.

00:20:37.020 And the value of RICO is that what you can do is under RICO you can prove an organization.

00:20:42.760 This is used often for something like the mafia or, say, a drug cartel where you prove the existence of an organization and that you're part of the organization.

00:20:51.420 And then you have to prove that you committed predicate acts and you can be prosecuted under RICO and serve long jail time.

00:20:58.980 Well, the way the left right now is funding rioting is they do it through multiple different organizations that are deliberately ignorant of what each other is doing.

00:21:10.760 And I think they're doing it to avoid accountability and liability.

00:21:13.640 The Stop Funders Act, by adding rioting to the list of predicate acts for RICO, would give prosecutors a heck of a tool that if you're cutting the check that is going to funding the rioting and rioters are engaged in acts of violence,

00:21:29.200 rioters are on campus assaulting Jewish students in a public street, looting a store, firebombing a police car, murdering someone, assaulting someone, that you, the person who wrote the check and funded the entire effort,

00:21:45.000 you, the one who, say, on the college campuses, paid for all of the tents that look exactly the same, they all match,

00:21:51.700 you would face liability just like you would if you were the one writing the check and funding the mafia family or funding the drug cartel.

00:22:02.380 And so I'm urging Congress, take up my Stop Funders Act, pass it, and DOJ needs to go after the money.

00:22:09.060 If we cut off the money with no checks, there would be no no-king's protest. 0.92

00:22:13.600 Not because people are prevented from speaking, but because this sort of demonstration is not real and organic.

00:22:23.020 It is driven by a handful of left-wing billionaires who are using their money to buy the appearance of something much broader.

00:22:35.620 Final question on this.

00:22:36.860 How hard or how easy should it be or will it be to get this passed with Republican leadership?

00:22:41.680 It doesn't seem like this would be a hard thing to convince people to say, yeah, we need to follow the money.

00:22:47.220 So, look, I think it is easy to get Republican votes.

00:22:50.160 I think all or virtually all Republicans would vote for it.

00:22:54.180 The challenge to passing in the law will be the Senate filibuster rule, which means to pass it, we need 60 votes in the Senate,

00:23:01.380 which would mean we would need at least seven Democrats.

00:23:04.240 There are 53 Republicans.

00:23:05.620 It's the same challenge we have in the middle of the shutdown.

00:23:07.560 We need 60 votes.

00:23:08.900 We need at least seven Democrats to reopen the government.

00:23:11.900 And right now the Democrats are just no, no, hell no to everything.

00:23:15.640 So I think it is entirely possible and maybe even likely that if we bring it up for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee,

00:23:23.720 that every Senate Democrat would vote no on the committee.

00:23:27.280 Now, if that happens, it would still be voted out of committee because if the Republicans all voted together, we have a majority on the committee.

00:23:33.560 And so if we voted out of committee, it would go to the floor.

00:23:36.220 And what I'm urging Republican leadership to do is put it up for a vote on the floor.

00:23:40.560 And listen, if the Democrats all want to vote no, they can.

00:23:45.140 That prevents it from being passed.

00:23:46.640 But I've got to say, that is a terrible vote.

00:23:49.000 If you are voting against liability for violent rioting, that is not a vote that any Democrat running in a purple state wants to defend his or her constituents.

00:24:03.320 And so I think either we take it up and they decide to support it and we pass it or we take it up and they vote party line against it,

00:24:10.940 in which case those are terrible votes and you campaign against them.

00:24:14.140 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders and the world around them. 0.97

00:24:20.420 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:24:24.140 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:24:25.320 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:24:26.540 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:24:29.920 entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:24:36.040 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:24:39.280 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:24:44.920 And I want to move now, Senator, to something that you've been spearheading and leading on.

00:24:49.940 It's certainly not getting attention to the media.

00:24:51.740 But you're wanting to hold Nigeria accountable for the 50,000, let me say that number again, 50,000 Christians that have been killed there.

00:25:03.440 Explain why this story is so important and what you're trying to do.

00:25:07.640 And also, why is no one covering this as it's been described to me?

00:25:11.480 Look, it is truly horrific.

00:25:14.060 The numbers are stunning.

00:25:16.040 The numbers are staggering.

00:25:17.440 Here are the top-line numbers of what we're seeing.

00:25:21.760 We have seen over 50,000 Christians killed.

00:25:26.800 We have seen over 18,000 churches and at least 2,000 schools burned.

00:25:35.440 And the response to this, the Nigerian government is fighting back ferociously, saying,

00:25:43.400 this is not happening, this is not true.

00:25:45.440 There's a battle.

00:25:46.420 The Nigerian government officials are getting very angry that I'm calling them out.

00:25:50.040 I want to read to you from the executive summary of the U.S. State Department's 2024 country report on human rights practices in Nigeria.

00:26:00.860 And here's what it says.

00:26:03.220 Quote,

00:26:03.440 Significant human rights issues included credible reports of arbitrary and unlawful killings,

00:26:09.800 disappearances,

00:26:11.440 torture,

00:26:12.400 or cruel,

00:26:13.340 inhuman,

00:26:13.940 or degrading treatment or punishment,

00:26:16.540 arbitrary arrest or detention,

00:26:19.080 serious abuses in a conflict,

00:26:21.840 serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom,

00:26:25.000 including violence or threats of violence against journalists,

00:26:27.680 violence or threats against labor activists or union members,

00:26:32.460 and significant presence of any of the worst forms of child labor.

00:26:36.600 Non-state actors committed arbitrary and unlawful killings,

00:26:40.460 disappearances,

00:26:41.220 physical abuse,

00:26:42.100 and other mistreatments.

00:26:44.060 Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa

00:26:47.300 continued attacks on civilians,

00:26:50.300 military,

00:26:51.240 police,

00:26:52.060 humanitarian,

00:26:53.180 and religious targets,

00:26:55.200 unlawfully recruited

00:26:56.460 and forcibly conscripted

00:26:59.000 child soldiers

00:27:00.480 and carried out scores of attacks on population centers in the Northeast regions.

00:27:07.040 Abductions by Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa continued.

00:27:12.200 Both groups subjected many women and girls 0.96

00:27:15.100 to gender-based violence,

00:27:18.060 including forced marriage,

00:27:20.620 sexual slavery, 0.94

00:27:22.380 and rape. 1.00

00:27:22.960 This is what's going on 0.97

00:27:25.740 in Nigeria right now.

00:27:28.420 And it is going on far too often

00:27:30.720 with the acquiescence

00:27:33.440 of the elected government officials.

00:27:37.300 Far too often,

00:27:39.160 and in some instances,

00:27:41.580 you have provinces in Nigeria

00:27:44.260 that have on the books

00:27:46.220 blasphemy law

00:27:47.980 and Sharia law.

00:27:50.020 And they will prosecute Christians 1.00

00:27:52.480 for blasphemy. 0.99

00:27:54.260 They will prosecute Christians 1.00

00:27:55.980 for violating Sharia law,

00:27:57.780 in which case the government

00:27:59.260 becomes a tool

00:28:00.560 of the persecution of Christians.

00:28:04.060 And,

00:28:04.200 and,

00:28:05.160 look,

00:28:05.660 it is,

00:28:06.800 it is devastating.

00:28:09.400 It is the,

00:28:10.280 the most Christians being murdered 0.95

00:28:12.700 anywhere on the face of the planet 0.98

00:28:14.180 is happening

00:28:16.260 in Nigeria.

00:28:17.580 Nigeria.

00:28:18.540 And so,

00:28:19.260 I introduced legislation

00:28:20.920 to require the Secretary of State

00:28:23.800 to designate Nigeria

00:28:25.120 as a country of particular concern

00:28:27.060 and to impose sanctions,

00:28:30.140 including in particular

00:28:31.460 sanctioning the individual

00:28:32.980 government officials.

00:28:33.860 So if you're a local official

00:28:35.460 and you're enforcing

00:28:36.500 blasphemy laws

00:28:37.360 and Sharia laws

00:28:38.120 and you're persecuting

00:28:39.160 Christians

00:28:39.940 or you're turning the other way

00:28:41.700 and turning,

00:28:42.560 turning a blind eye 0.98

00:28:44.020 to Christians being murdered 1.00

00:28:45.720 in mass numbers, 0.97

00:28:48.020 the result of my legislation

00:28:50.900 would be

00:28:51.560 each of those individual

00:28:53.040 government officials

00:28:54.380 would face sanctions.

00:28:55.440 And I gotta say,

00:28:56.460 the Nigerian government

00:28:57.480 has been pushing back

00:28:58.780 ferociously.

00:29:00.700 For example,

00:29:01.440 the chairman of the House Committee

00:29:02.600 on Foreign Affairs,

00:29:05.120 Oluwole Oke, 0.91

00:29:07.020 said the cruise bill is,

00:29:08.620 quote,

00:29:08.960 a deliberate attempt

00:29:09.860 to damage the Nigerian image.

00:29:12.420 And he insists,

00:29:13.240 Nigeria is a very tolerant country.

00:29:16.780 Well,

00:29:17.140 other than murdering 0.96

00:29:18.160 50,000 Christians. 0.98

00:29:19.120 Very tolerant other than that.

00:29:21.100 Likewise,

00:29:21.900 the Minister of Information

00:29:22.960 and National Orientation,

00:29:24.400 Mohamed Idris,

00:29:26.160 rejected the suggestion

00:29:28.200 that, quote,

00:29:29.600 any Nigerian officials

00:29:31.000 will willingly,

00:29:31.980 deliberately indulge

00:29:32.900 in the act of siding

00:29:33.800 with violent extremists

00:29:34.840 to target any particular

00:29:36.300 religion in the country.

00:29:39.260 Likewise,

00:29:40.080 presidential spokesperson,

00:29:41.160 Baya Onanungo,

00:29:43.880 demanded that Cruz

00:29:46.080 stop his, quote,

00:29:47.720 malicious and contrived lies

00:29:51.040 against, quote,

00:29:52.660 my country.

00:29:54.000 And finally,

00:29:55.080 Senate President

00:29:55.880 God's Will Akpabio

00:29:58.540 cautioned against framing

00:30:01.340 the crisis, quote,

00:30:03.640 along religious lines,

00:30:06.540 since, quote,

00:30:07.700 terrorists and bandits

00:30:09.100 target Nigerians indiscriminately 0.91

00:30:11.320 regardless of faith.

00:30:13.020 Now, listen,

00:30:13.520 it is certainly true

00:30:14.440 that Boko Haram 0.97

00:30:15.960 and other religious radicals

00:30:17.600 in Nigeria 0.99

00:30:18.180 are killing Muslims as well. 1.00

00:30:19.620 They are killing both. 1.00

00:30:21.020 But they are systematically 1.00

00:30:22.620 targeting Christians 0.99

00:30:23.840 for mass murder. 1.00

00:30:24.820 When you've got 0.93

00:30:25.480 50,000 Christians 0.94

00:30:26.820 being murdered,

00:30:27.700 that is not accidental,

00:30:29.160 that is not random.

00:30:30.400 And the over 18,000 churches

00:30:32.480 and the over 2,000 schools,

00:30:34.220 they are singling out

00:30:35.400 and targeting Christian churches

00:30:36.920 and Christian schools 0.99

00:30:38.460 and burning them 1.00

00:30:39.660 to the ground. 0.98

00:30:41.220 And the government

00:30:42.120 of Nigeria

00:30:43.100 is not acting

00:30:44.260 with any vigor at all

00:30:47.340 to defend

00:30:48.120 and to defend the Christians

00:30:50.180 or just to keep them alive.

00:30:51.840 Yeah, to keep them alive.

00:30:53.440 And so now,

00:30:55.160 obviously,

00:30:55.660 this is about letting,

00:30:57.080 shining a light on this.

00:30:58.320 And then you go back

00:30:59.540 to the policy aspect of this.

00:31:01.500 What happens next?

00:31:02.920 And for people

00:31:03.540 specifically that are listening,

00:31:04.920 what do they need to be doing

00:31:06.580 and advocating for

00:31:07.420 to make sure

00:31:07.860 that we can move this forward?

00:31:10.980 Look,

00:31:11.620 the next step

00:31:13.720 needs to be

00:31:14.540 that I'm pushing

00:31:15.960 for Congress

00:31:17.080 to pass my legislation.

00:31:18.660 I'm on the Senate

00:31:19.180 Foreign Relations Committee,

00:31:20.360 so I'm pressing

00:31:20.880 for the Senate

00:31:21.380 Foreign Relations Committee

00:31:22.360 to take it up.

00:31:23.880 That would designate Nigeria 0.99

00:31:26.120 as a country

00:31:26.980 of particular concern.

00:31:28.140 Now, I would note

00:31:28.820 the Trump administration

00:31:29.820 can do so on its own,

00:31:31.240 and this is often the case

00:31:32.260 in foreign policy areas,

00:31:33.420 where I'll introduce legislation

00:31:35.240 and I'll push for action.

00:31:37.040 So, for example,

00:31:38.420 I've introduced legislation

00:31:39.780 to designate

00:31:40.620 the Muslim Brotherhood 0.80

00:31:41.460 as a terrorist organization. 0.54

00:31:42.600 I've done so repeatedly

00:31:43.960 in multiple Congresses.

00:31:45.280 I think it is unequivocally

00:31:46.460 a terrorist organization.

00:31:48.320 In fact,

00:31:48.720 Hamas 0.96

00:31:49.280 is a branch

00:31:50.700 of the Muslim Brotherhood.

00:31:51.800 Hamas is 0.99

00:31:52.420 the Muslim Brotherhood

00:31:53.800 in Palestine,

00:31:55.840 is what they call themselves.

00:31:58.080 And that has not yet happened,

00:32:00.240 but I would like to see

00:32:02.160 Congress pass my legislation,

00:32:03.640 but the most likely way

00:32:04.760 we'll get the Muslim Brotherhood 1.00

00:32:05.960 designated

00:32:06.400 is that I will succeed

00:32:08.160 in convincing President Trump

00:32:09.600 and the Trump administration

00:32:10.420 to do so.

00:32:11.200 And I've been making

00:32:11.800 that case vigorously.

00:32:13.360 With respect to Nigeria,

00:32:14.920 the same thing is true.

00:32:15.820 I'm going to try

00:32:16.280 to pass the legislation,

00:32:17.580 but I'm also very much

00:32:18.640 making the case

00:32:19.380 to the Trump administration.

00:32:21.120 They have the authority

00:32:22.140 to do it now.

00:32:23.420 And look,

00:32:24.120 I want to point out,

00:32:25.220 you asked what people can do,

00:32:26.520 speak out,

00:32:27.260 highlight 50,000 Christians

00:32:28.980 massacred since 2009,

00:32:31.840 the single greatest

00:32:32.960 mass slaughter of Christians

00:32:34.260 anywhere in the world. 0.99

00:32:37.500 And look,

00:32:38.540 here's how Fox News put it,

00:32:39.820 quote,

00:32:40.620 a diplomatic battle

00:32:41.620 is being waged

00:32:42.400 between leading Republican

00:32:43.440 Senator Ted Cruz

00:32:44.400 and Nigerian government officials.

00:32:46.380 The Texas Senators

00:32:47.220 has warned

00:32:47.860 he will hold them accountable

00:32:48.940 for the reported

00:32:49.740 mass slaughter

00:32:50.560 of tens of thousands 0.80

00:32:51.600 of Christians in Nigeria.

00:32:53.540 The officials say Cruz

00:32:54.560 is lying,

00:32:55.200 with one claiming

00:32:55.900 that despite

00:32:56.460 even the Pope

00:32:57.700 publicly calling out

00:32:59.180 the killings,

00:32:59.940 there is religious harmony

00:33:01.840 in the country.

00:33:02.920 But you know what?

00:33:04.380 Maybe you don't believe me.

00:33:06.260 Maybe you don't believe

00:33:07.280 the Pope.

00:33:08.720 So,

00:33:09.320 if the Pope and I

00:33:11.000 are both wrong,

00:33:12.480 how about this?

00:33:13.420 Maybe,

00:33:14.040 maybe,

00:33:15.180 you'll believe Bill Maher.

00:33:16.640 Give a listen to what

00:33:17.380 Bill Maher had to say

00:33:18.220 on this topic.

00:33:19.040 If you don't know

00:33:19.740 what's going on in Nigeria, 1.00

00:33:21.380 your media sources suck. 1.00

00:33:24.000 You are in a bubble. 1.00

00:33:25.400 And again,

00:33:26.620 I'm not a Christian,

00:33:28.060 but they are systematically 0.98

00:33:29.340 killing the Christians 1.00

00:33:30.560 in Nigeria. 1.00

00:33:31.140 They've killed

00:33:31.600 over 100,000

00:33:33.180 since 2009.

00:33:34.400 They've burned

00:33:34.840 18,000 churches.

00:33:36.560 This is so much more.

00:33:37.880 These are the Islamists, 1.00

00:33:38.960 Boko Haram.

00:33:39.900 This is so much more

00:33:41.020 of a genocide attempt

00:33:42.840 than what is going on

00:33:44.060 in Gaza.

00:33:44.540 They are literally

00:33:45.280 attempting to wipe out 0.88

00:33:46.720 the Christian population

00:33:48.260 of an entire country.

00:33:49.960 Where are the kids

00:33:50.700 protesting this?

00:33:51.720 No one will talk about it,

00:33:56.120 so thank you.

00:33:57.640 Absolutely.

00:33:59.960 It's Africa, 0.90

00:34:00.820 that's why.

00:34:01.080 No one's talking about it,

00:34:02.040 and they should be.

00:34:02.700 You can't read about it

00:34:03.380 on mainstream media.

00:34:04.520 It's sad,

00:34:04.980 so thank you for bringing it up.

00:34:05.620 Well, because the Jews 1.00

00:34:06.300 aren't involved.

00:34:07.580 That's why.

00:34:08.820 It's the Christians 1.00

00:34:09.600 and the Muslims who cares.

00:34:11.260 He is exactly right,

00:34:13.020 and I appreciate Bill Maher

00:34:14.720 calling it out

00:34:15.700 and shining a light on it.

00:34:17.840 He's right

00:34:18.620 that the corporate media

00:34:20.120 does not want to cover it,

00:34:21.300 and by the way,

00:34:22.600 on that same show,

00:34:24.680 someone you know well,

00:34:25.980 Van Jones from CNN,

00:34:27.880 he was on that show,

00:34:29.480 and Van Jones

00:34:30.380 is a very left-wing guy,

00:34:32.500 and he's on CNN regularly,

00:34:33.800 but he commented

00:34:34.920 and he chimed in

00:34:36.680 agreeing with Bill Maher.

00:34:38.540 Here, give a listen

00:34:39.100 to Van Jones

00:34:39.960 talking about

00:34:41.020 the slaughter

00:34:41.500 of Christians in Nigeria.

00:34:43.680 You're talking about

00:34:44.200 young people.

00:34:44.700 A lot of them

00:34:45.120 seem to know one thing.

00:34:46.180 White people did 0.99

00:34:46.860 some very bad things 0.99

00:34:47.840 in this world,

00:34:48.360 and they certainly did,

00:34:49.760 but there are

00:34:50.220 other things to know.

00:34:51.100 Yes.

00:34:52.020 Including the fact

00:34:53.740 that in Sudan right now,

00:34:55.200 which nobody is talking about,

00:34:56.460 you have Arab militia 0.95

00:34:58.040 murdering people 0.95

00:34:58.880 by the wheelbarrow, 0.93

00:34:59.920 including the fact

00:35:00.480 that Africa right now

00:35:01.280 is being overrun 0.99

00:35:02.100 by Islamist terrorists,

00:35:03.260 including Boko Haram,

00:35:04.480 with no conversation

00:35:05.440 about that at all.

00:35:06.160 I did it last week.

00:35:07.900 Exactly.

00:35:08.720 Nigeria.

00:35:09.340 Yeah, Nigeria.

00:35:09.620 I mean, this is an actual

00:35:10.840 planned genocide.

00:35:12.380 Yes.

00:35:12.720 I mean, they really want 1.00

00:35:13.720 to kill all the Christians 1.00

00:35:14.900 in that country, 1.00

00:35:15.820 and they are systematically

00:35:16.880 doing it.

00:35:17.760 And the fact that there's

00:35:18.580 almost no response

00:35:19.620 from the global left

00:35:20.540 and no attention

00:35:21.520 from mainstream media

00:35:23.020 is a crime against

00:35:24.340 African people, 1.00

00:35:25.400 black people,

00:35:25.980 and human rights.

00:35:26.600 I agree with that 100%.

00:35:27.760 It turns out that

00:35:29.720 there's a double standard

00:35:31.380 for Jews.

00:35:32.460 That is true.

00:35:34.740 No Jews, no news. 0.94

00:35:36.400 As long as you can put 0.61

00:35:37.500 the Jewish state

00:35:38.480 in the conversation,

00:35:39.240 it's going to be

00:35:39.580 a big conversation.

00:35:40.360 If you can't,

00:35:41.440 you get no attention at all.

00:35:43.060 This is a big problem.

00:35:44.660 It is a big problem.

00:35:46.000 I mean, you hear

00:35:46.640 Van Jones saying it.

00:35:48.000 He is correct.

00:35:49.000 It is a huge problem.

00:35:50.900 No Jews, no news. 0.94

00:35:52.400 I mean, it's amazing

00:35:54.260 that this is happening.

00:35:55.800 Look, we see the protests

00:35:58.360 on college campuses.

00:35:59.680 We see these angry leftists

00:36:01.620 who are completely

00:36:02.440 enraged about Gaza.

00:36:04.280 The instant President Trump

00:36:05.900 negotiates a peace deal,

00:36:07.840 they go away.

00:36:08.740 Now, Hamas is executing 0.56

00:36:10.180 Palestinians on the street,

00:36:11.740 lining up Palestinians 0.99

00:36:12.620 on their knees, 1.00

00:36:13.480 shooting them in the back 1.00

00:36:14.220 of the head, 1.00

00:36:14.900 and not a peep.

00:36:15.880 These leftist radicals,

00:36:17.120 they are perfectly fine

00:36:18.600 with Palestinians 0.99

00:36:19.880 being systematically murdered 0.99

00:36:21.660 as long as it's Palestinians. 0.99

00:36:23.120 As long as Hamas 1.00

00:36:24.220 is doing the murder, 0.60

00:36:25.140 you don't see a protest,

00:36:26.720 you don't see any calls

00:36:28.520 a genocide.

00:36:29.700 Their protest is about

00:36:31.200 one thing,

00:36:31.940 which is they hate Israel 0.99

00:36:33.060 and they hate Jews. 0.99

00:36:34.660 And I've got to say, 0.93

00:36:35.940 where is ABC,

00:36:37.820 where is CBS,

00:36:38.880 where is NBC,

00:36:40.220 where is CNN and MSNBC,

00:36:41.880 where is the New York Times,

00:36:42.860 where is the Washington Post

00:36:44.000 about the mass murder

00:36:46.940 of over 50,000 Christians

00:36:49.060 in Nigeria?

00:36:50.440 You know what?

00:36:51.000 If you want to find out

00:36:51.760 things like that,

00:36:53.420 you've got to listen

00:36:54.020 to Verdict.

00:36:54.500 You've got to listen

00:36:54.960 to the podcast.

00:36:55.880 You've got to go and work.

00:36:57.280 But I will say,

00:36:58.060 there are not many issues

00:36:59.780 that bring together

00:37:02.000 me,

00:37:03.120 the Pope,

00:37:04.440 Bill Maher,

00:37:05.620 and Van Jones.

00:37:06.400 Amen to that.

00:37:08.240 Amen to that.

00:37:09.240 And make sure you take

00:37:10.320 this podcast,

00:37:11.080 share it with your family

00:37:11.920 and friends,

00:37:12.560 put it up on social media.

00:37:13.800 If you hit that little

00:37:14.280 forward button,

00:37:14.900 you can put it on

00:37:15.440 wherever you're on social media.

00:37:16.880 It's actually really easy

00:37:17.800 and it helps other people

00:37:18.980 hear this.

00:37:20.020 Also,

00:37:20.380 if you missed our episode

00:37:21.360 on Friday

00:37:21.900 with Donald Trump's son,

00:37:24.560 Eric Trump,

00:37:25.220 go back and grab that. 0.60

00:37:26.700 It was a really

00:37:27.340 interesting episode.

00:37:28.420 I want to make sure you guys,

00:37:29.400 if you missed it on Friday,

00:37:30.340 you can grab that as well.

00:37:31.360 And the Senator and I

00:37:32.360 will see you back here

00:37:33.500 on Wednesday morning.

00:37:35.340 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:37:38.200 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - October 20, 2025

Here are the Receipts -Soros Funds Fake No Kings Rallies, plus Stopping the Mass Murder of 50,000 Christians in Nigeria

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript