Verdict with Ted Cruz - Historic Drone Rescue of American Soldiers Shot Down in Iran, plus Minnesota Dems Hired Private Investigators to Target Fraud Whistleblowers

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00:01:06.020 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:01:09.280 It's also the Ben Ferguson podcast.

00:01:11.160 We're doing a dual podcast because I'm on family vacation

00:01:14.020 and we're still working at one in the morning to give you all the news out there.

00:01:18.120 They're also giving me a hard time before the show started saying that,

00:01:21.200 Senator, you look much better than I look tonight.

00:01:23.760 That's what they keep telling me.

00:01:25.680 I just want to know if we have an official statement from you on that real quick before we get going here.

00:01:30.000 Is this true?

00:01:30.700 You are saying that you look better at 1 a.m. than I do.

00:01:34.260 Well, that's not me saying that.

00:01:36.020 That's the entire production team.

00:01:37.940 And to be fair, we do primarily a radio and audio show.

00:01:42.040 So in radio and audio, we both look gorgeous.

00:01:46.480 Or to quote Saturday Night Live, Ben, you look marvelous.

00:01:50.680 You look marvelous.

00:01:51.420 So for me, I'd rather look good than feel good.

00:01:53.960 And you look marvelous.

00:01:56.500 I tell you, you know what?

00:01:58.040 At least you know once in the career verdict that you definitely, they say,

00:02:01.960 it may just be the shot looks better, the studio looks better, you know,

00:02:05.400 and I'm in a hotel room with an AC behind me.

00:02:08.280 This is what you get.

00:02:09.480 But we do have a packed show for you, and we have a lot to talk about politically,

00:02:14.020 including just an incredible story that's coming from a company in Texas

00:02:19.860 that we're going to get into, and that is, it's just amazing.

00:02:23.640 So welcome to the 21st century. We had this week, we had tragically two U.S. servicemen

00:02:30.460 in an Apache helicopter shot down by Iran. They were shot down, they fell in the water,

00:02:37.120 and we had, for the very first time in the history of the United States, in the history of the world

00:02:42.680 in warfare. We had them rescued not by a ship, not by sailors, but by a drone ship, a drone ship

00:02:52.960 with no pilots, no sailors that came and rescued them. That ship is manufactured by Sironic, a

00:02:59.720 company based in Austin, Texas. We're going to break that down for you. We're also going to

00:03:04.100 talk about the stunning news that just broke that the governor of Minnesota, Tim Waltz,

00:03:10.880 That towering mountain of masculinity rivaled only by James Calarico.

00:03:18.320 It turns out he hired private investigators to go after government employees who whistleblow on – is that the right past tense?

00:03:27.140 Whistleblow, whistleblow.

00:03:28.400 Yeah, I like it.

00:03:30.160 Whistleblowers who blew the whistle.

00:03:31.860 There we go.

00:03:32.220 OK, that much is probably true on the fraud in the state and being a paragon of integrity, being like like most Democrats concerned about not robbing the taxpayers.

00:03:43.960 Instead of going after the fraud, he went after and persecuted the government employees who were pointing out the fraud.

00:03:50.060 We're going to give you the facts on that also.

00:03:52.520 Yeah, it's a really, really interesting story there.

00:03:54.380 Let me also talk to you about a really neat organization and one that I want you to know

00:04:00.280 about and hopefully you'll get involved in, and it is Americans United for Life.

00:04:05.020 There was obviously a massive victory that happened in this country with the overturning

00:04:09.420 of Roe v. Wade, but what it really meant was the issue of abortion would go back to the

00:04:14.200 states, and that is where the real fight has actually begun.

00:04:18.540 Now, over the past 50 years, Americans United for Life has filed more than 200 legal briefs

00:04:24.380 and also helped create at least 400 pro-life bills in over 40 states by writing model legislation.

00:04:33.520 They are consulting with state legislators and defending their own laws and other pro-life statues in court.

00:04:40.360 Now, AUL's dual-front approach of writing and defending legislation has proved an effective one

00:04:46.260 that could become even more impactful as pro-life state legislators move to enact protections for pre-born babies

00:04:53.840 and their mothers now that the legality of abortion has returned to the states that is

00:05:00.720 where you come in you and i have the opportunity to overturn pro-abortion laws and advance pro-life

00:05:07.880 legislation that attacks the most vulnerable in our society from the womb to the tomb together

00:05:15.120 we can shape the future of our nation through life-affirming legislation in every state now

00:05:22.240 a gift of just $25 helps hold abortion providers accountable and helps protect women and unborn

00:05:30.320 children across this country. And now through a match, your gift is doubled. Donate securely

00:05:37.720 at a ul.org slash verdict. That's a ul.org slash verdict sponsored by Americans United for Life.

00:05:49.520 All right. So, Senator, let's get into this first story. And you said it best. Welcome to

00:05:56.960 Just Technology in 2026. For the first time in history, you had a drone boat that saved the

00:06:05.340 lives of two Americans that were shot down by Iran. There's no pilot, no one on board. This 0.51

00:06:12.200 is a boat just like a drone in the sky that is controlled by a joystick. And it was able

00:06:19.380 to go extremely fast, get these guys, and get out before the enemy could touch them.

00:06:26.040 This is unbelievable.

00:06:27.740 And the best part is this technology is coming out of the United States of America.

00:06:31.920 In fact, it's coming out of Texas.

00:06:34.480 Well, it's not even directly controlled by a joystick.

00:06:37.860 It's actually AI that controls this.

00:06:40.000 And this is a company based in Austin.

00:06:41.800 I've been to their factory.

00:06:42.780 I've seen their factory.

00:06:43.700 It's amazing.

00:06:44.880 They're building these ships.

00:06:47.620 And the ships are – and they have all sorts of different sizes.

00:06:50.820 They have bigger ones.

00:06:51.560 They have smaller ones.

00:06:52.360 They're going to have drone ships that are over 150 feet long that are big ships.

00:06:59.780 But they also have smaller military vessels, and then they have really small drones, and these drones can do all sorts of things.

00:07:06.300 They're all boats, but they can do surveillance.

00:07:09.360 They can do espionage.

00:07:10.700 They can do military combat.

00:07:12.980 They can be armed with weaponry.

00:07:15.080 They can transport supplies.

00:07:16.520 If you're trying to, say, resupply soldiers that are in a forward combat position, they can resupply them.

00:07:24.480 So this is all coming out of Austin, Texas.

00:07:27.820 It's amazing technology. 0.69

00:07:29.120 And what precipitated it is that earlier today, an armed Iranian Shahid drone struck a U.S. Apache helicopter, and it went down in the sea off the coast of Oman on Monday.

00:07:44.840 uh u.s central command reported that the helicopter was on patrol when it was struck by the drone

00:07:50.840 but the two pilots who were aboard the apache helicopter were safely rescued within about

00:07:57.040 two hours of the strike and and and it's worth uh here we're going to play the fox news report

00:08:04.660 that covered it and for those of you who are watching this uh on on youtube you can watch

00:08:09.580 the video of this drone ship that was responsible for rescuing our soldiers in combat. Give a listen,

00:08:17.180 give a watch. Iran's under attack. Trump ordered CENTCOM to launch self-defense strikes after an

00:08:22.640 enemy drone took down an Apache helicopter patrolling the strait. The two pilots were

00:08:27.680 rescued out of the water by an unmanned sea drone operated by Task Force 59 in Bahrain.

00:08:33.680 The drones Texas made, it's 24 feet long and can travel a thousand miles and hit speeds of 35 knots.

00:08:42.300 And it's the first sea drone rescue in combat history.

00:08:45.680 Trump was on the phone with the press when he gave the order.

00:08:49.460 POTUS said this is a retaliation for the helicopter hit.

00:08:53.020 And it's important that our response is strong and powerful.

00:08:56.320 CENTCOM called our response proportional, but sources say we're taking out Iranian air defenses,

00:09:01.520 radar systems all along the strait and we're not finished technically i know it doesn't seem like

00:09:07.980 it but we're still in a ceasefire and the president continues to say we're close to a deal

00:09:14.060 we're in the final throes of what will be a very very good deal that will not allow in any way

00:09:21.240 shape or form nuclear weapons etc and the strait will open up right away it'll open up immediately

00:09:27.700 upon signing, which could be in two or three days.

00:09:30.480 Trump's made the terms clear.

00:09:31.780 The uranium must be turned over and destroyed.

00:09:34.420 Enrichment must stop for two decades, at least.

00:09:37.660 All nuclear sites must be completely dismantled.

00:09:40.180 And the United States is able to conduct snap inspections whenever the heck we want.

00:09:45.340 You listen to that report, and it goes back to the bigger issue in the war and what we're

00:09:49.640 trying to accomplish there, Senator.

00:09:51.300 But you go back to just the beginning of it.

00:09:54.140 35 knots, that's about 40 miles an hour.

00:09:56.780 In rough seas, that's incredibly fast, especially if you're a 25-foot boat, as they described here.

00:10:02.600 This technology allows these boats to go faster than what most, like if you're a human riding in a boat in heavy seas, in rough seas.

00:10:10.900 Going at that speed is going to be very risky to you.

00:10:13.540 This takes that away as well, which, again, talks about how the speed they were able to actually get to these two pilots that have been shot down.

00:10:22.640 Yeah, and look, it's a manifestation of the new age of warfare where these drone ships are not massively expensive.

00:10:33.340 You look at aircraft carriers and expensive ships that can cost hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars that are powered with nuclear reactors.

00:10:43.820 That's been how we've approached naval power for 70 years.

00:10:48.880 Yeah.

00:10:49.740 And now we have a scenario where these drones are not terribly expensive to be built.

00:10:55.240 They can be built at scale.

00:10:57.120 And you can deploy one of them or 10 of them or 1,000 of them or 10,000 of them.

00:11:03.260 Yeah.

00:11:03.440 And the ability, and with AI, you can control.

00:11:06.760 Look, 10,000, in a normal world, you'd have to have 10,000 captains piloting them.

00:11:12.140 You can have AI, and you can assign, for example, 10,000 drone ships, patrol this area, and AI can direct them to their searching, and they'll engage in espionage, engage in reporting on what they find.

00:11:29.820 You can train them to protect a particular ship, protect something that's going on, protect a port or a harbor.

00:11:37.260 they can do that you can assign them go intercept this vessel and and if they're armed with

00:11:42.600 ordnance they that they can fire torpedoes they can have explosives and and because the ships

00:11:48.620 themselves are not super expensive it also means that that that if you lose one ship or 10 or 100

00:11:56.500 it's not the end of the world it's not you can take that is risks yeah and and it's look we're

00:12:02.440 seeing the same thing with aerial drones where we're headed very quickly to a world and some of

00:12:06.900 this, we're actually getting some foreshadowing of this with the war in Ukraine, where the battle

00:12:11.680 between Ukraine and Russia, much of it is involving drones and the ability to have thousands or tens

00:12:16.880 of thousands of drones. And instead of one big, really expensive thing, lots and lots of smaller,

00:12:24.740 less expensive things, which can overwhelm the previous technology. And I got to say,

00:12:31.000 having been to the factory. Look, these guys are a startup in Austin, Texas. I know the CEO. I know

00:12:38.620 the lead funders. And they're young techies who are entrepreneurial, who have a vision. And their

00:12:47.980 desire to scale this, it is very cool. This is the first drone rescue at sea in combat in the

00:12:56.500 history of the world. And you know what? This is not going to be the last. We're going to see a lot

00:12:59.840 more. By the way, there are civilian applications of this that have nothing to do with combat.

00:13:05.240 Look, look, the Coast Guard. I literally was talking to the Coast Guard as we were on family

00:13:10.900 vacation. And one of the guys I saw and, you know, just saying thanks. But one of the things that was

00:13:15.760 cool they were talking about is technology. They said a lot of times the helicopters, when there's

00:13:21.960 the worst weather and boats get in trouble, they can be commercial vessels, they can be recreational,

00:13:26.920 They can be commercial fishing boats.

00:13:29.740 When things get really bad with weather, unfortunately, sometimes the weather's too bad to go out right at that moment in a helicopter because it's so bad.

00:13:38.620 But if you have drones that you can risk no life going out there, it changes the entire way that it works.

00:13:45.800 And there's some people that are afraid, like, hey, well, that's going to take jobs and away human beings.

00:13:50.180 But if you can't be there in that moment and you can send out a drone that could quite possibly save your life, that a normal, if it's, you know, man controlled, you just can't take that risk and you come back, it's too rough.

00:14:05.020 You can throw drones out there and save countless lives in that scenario.

00:14:09.400 This is technology that is life changing.

00:14:13.040 Yeah.

00:14:13.320 And I will say, Ben, have you ever met Coast Guard swimmers?

00:14:17.160 Yes.

00:14:17.500 They're unbelievable.

00:14:18.380 Yeah.

00:14:18.540 Yeah. I mean, they're kind of – they're the equivalent of Navy SEALs or Delta Force Green Berets. They're the most badass coasts.

00:14:30.200 Yes. Yeah. And and and I met met a number of them, particularly in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

00:14:35.400 So Hurricane Harvey was was a 2017 was at the time the second most costly natural disaster in American history, did massive damage all the way down from Corpus Christi, all the way up hundreds of miles up the Texas coast to the border right with Louisiana.

00:14:54.140 and it just was devastating damage.

00:14:57.480 And the coasties, these swimmers would go out

00:15:00.180 and these guys, you meet them

00:15:01.460 and they're like 20-year-old guys.

00:15:05.020 And sort of imagine like G.I. Joe

00:15:09.840 combined with a California surfer dude.

00:15:13.480 So they're guys, they have these enormous chests

00:15:16.520 because they're like massive swimmers.

00:15:18.360 And so imagine Michael Phelps with these like long ass arms

00:15:22.720 and like massive swimmers.

00:15:24.140 But with sort of bleach blonde hair and they've got like shades hanging from their head and they're like, yeah, bro.

00:15:31.900 But like it's it's it's they're not like guys that you also met that save people's lives and the flooding that happened in Texas.

00:15:40.420 Not that long. Yes. Yes. Look, last summer, Fourth of July.

00:15:44.420 but these swimmers, they will get on helicopters in the middle of a hurricane where you've got

00:15:50.400 waves in the ocean that are 10, 20 feet high that are terrifying. And these guys will jump

00:15:57.040 out of a helicopter into the crashing waves and go rescue someone. And it is, there's a fearlessness

00:16:03.980 to not only jumping in, crashing 20 foot waves, which most of us, if we're in those waves are

00:16:11.780 going to die. Yeah. But they'll jump in when there are people in harm's way and they'll go

00:16:16.920 grab them. To be clear, if you or I were in 20 foot waves and drowning, someone came, we'd grab

00:16:21.540 on them and pull on them and you're terrified. Like they know they're going to go rescue someone

00:16:25.480 who's freaking out, who's going to not intentionally, but it's going to effectively

00:16:28.980 try to pull them under. And they're just, they're really cool. But you're right. There are times

00:16:34.880 where the weather is so bad, you can't send the chopper in. And the ability to send a drone in

00:16:41.160 to have something to rescue, say, you know, someone that's out, you know, just just on a

00:16:47.800 boat and gets in trouble. That is game changing. And that's coming out of Texas and all of the

00:16:55.020 new tech that is based in Texas. Yeah, it really is an incredible story. Every once in a while,

00:16:59.300 you get a feel good story like this and we should celebrate it. It also is a reminder,

00:17:02.940 I think, of why it's so important to make sure that we're adequately funding technology.

00:17:07.380 You've talked about this, and I've talked about this a lot, Senator.

00:17:10.240 This is a perfect example of us winning the war on AI to make sure that our adversary, China, is not leading the way on AI.

00:17:18.900 If this is AI-controlled, this goes – and this is one of those examples I do think we should highlight it for a second. 0.61

00:17:25.300 This is why America has to win the AI race.

00:17:28.740 You have been leading on this, and you've been warning on this issue.

00:17:32.660 And I think we should just take a moment and remind people, if we aren't in charge of this, our adversary would be.

00:17:39.200 And that's a scary world as well. 0.66

00:17:41.300 And by the way, if China masters this technology before we do, that is a generation-skipping advance in technology.

00:17:50.700 And if they have the ability to send 1,000 or 10,000 or 100,000 AI-controlled drones at one of our aircraft carriers, there's a real risk that the weapons we have to take out, say, surface-to-surface missiles or bombs, we have – our aircraft carriers are incredibly expensive and powerful tools.

00:18:14.920 Yeah. But they were made to take out a limited number of ordnance and not just massive drone assaults. We're shifting to a new technology where where, look, if we're in a conflict with a smaller rival, that's less dangerous.

00:18:32.980 although you know what, in times, even terrorists and smaller rivals, we're going to see more and

00:18:39.400 more military attacks using drones. We're going to see things, we're going to see assassinations.

00:18:44.400 We're going to see people killed using drones. That is unfortunately where the future is heading.

00:18:50.560 One of the things the U.S. military is investing in heavily with American technology is counter

00:18:55.300 drone technology. How do you take out drones that are attacking you? And some of what is working

00:19:02.980 is lower cost ordinance that, that, that, that you can't fire a Patriot missile

00:19:08.040 at every drone coming in. It, it just, the cost differential, they can swarm you.

00:19:14.360 So, you know, I was at another Texas company where they're building basically the equivalent

00:19:20.020 of a really big bad-ass machine gun that is powered, that is firing like 50 cal rounds,

00:19:27.460 but is firing them with AI where they could target hundreds or thousands of drones,

00:19:33.520 but the cost of a round is not very expensive. So, so instead of, of, of spending an entire

00:19:40.380 Patriot missile or, or something that, that you have limited supply of, we have essentially

00:19:45.580 unlimited supply of rounds. And so, but using those robot powered with AI to take out, uh,

00:19:53.300 take-out attacks in scale. More and more of that is coming, and there are different ways to take

00:19:58.560 out drones. You've got ordnance, you've got laser and microwave, and we're exploring all sorts of

00:20:05.280 different technologies to take out a hostile drone. But if we lose this race, we would be at

00:20:11.800 a serious military disadvantage to China. We can't let that happen, and I don't think we're going to.

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00:20:47.920 Why should you listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand?

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00:20:58.480 Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong.

00:20:59.540 He's Joe Getty.

00:21:00.180 We're Armstrong and Getty.

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00:21:02.440 And help you figure out this crazy modern world.

00:21:04.840 How about something about a comedic tone?

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00:21:10.840 Yes.

00:21:11.840 Listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand on the iHeartRadio app,

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00:21:44.980 Have a great day.

00:21:45.780 I Heart Radio.

00:21:47.240 All right. I want to move on to this other incredible story, Senator, coming out of

00:21:53.400 Minnesota. And in life, especially in government work, you're told that if you're a whistleblower,

00:21:59.800 that you have protections. And that if you're a whistleblower, you should not be afraid for

00:22:04.660 your job or that someone's going to come after you, certainly the government that you work for.

00:22:08.800 Well, apparently that's not the case in Minnesota. And if you want to know how the Somali

00:22:14.600 fraud got so bad? It might actually be because the governor was coming after the whistleblower,

00:22:21.280 not those that were committing the crimes in Minnesota with his new shocking report.

00:22:26.780 Well, that is inevitably, number one, the law, federal law and typically state law that protects

00:22:31.740 whistleblowers, that gives you legal protection because you want whistleblowers to call attention

00:22:36.640 to fraud. But number two, if a government official goes after the whistleblowers, attacks the

00:22:45.480 whistleblowers, refuses to follow the law on whistleblowers, that is powerful indication

00:22:51.500 of a guilty mind that you're covering something up. It's sort of like if someone is murdered in

00:22:58.620 Central Park and you catch a person burning their clothes from that night and destroying the murder

00:23:06.440 weapon. That is powerful, powerful evidence that they're the murderer, that it is typically the

00:23:13.380 guilty who destroys evidence, who tries to cover it up, that if you're not guilty, you have far

00:23:20.920 less motivation, far less likelihood to try to silence whistleblowers to try to destroy evidence.

00:23:26.820 So here's the story that broke in the Daily Caller. The headline is, Tim Waltz's staff

00:23:31.400 hired private investigators to silence fraud whistleblowers, committee report fines.

00:23:36.440 Senior Minnesota state officials allegedly hired outside investigators to silence whistleblowers

00:23:41.820 in an attempt to cover up widespread state social services fraud, a House committee report released

00:23:48.300 Monday found. The 200-page staff report by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

00:23:53.600 found that Democrat Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's state's administration intimidated

00:23:59.360 and retaliated against state employees who raised concerns about fraud,

00:24:06.140 soliciting private investigators to reveal employees' personal details.

00:24:12.960 The report, titled The Cost of Doing Nothing, How Tim Walts and Keith Ellison Fueled Minnesota's Fraud Explosion,

00:24:20.500 exposed that senior state officials, as high as allegedly Governor Walts,

00:24:25.660 were aware of widespread fraud for years and neglected to respond to reports.

00:24:32.360 A Minnesota Department of Education official who contacted the FBI told federal investigators she

00:24:37.640 was pressured, quote, at every turn by her superiors to stop raising fraud concerns and was, quote,

00:24:46.760 handslapped when she continued to investigate, according to the report. The official also

00:24:52.820 reported that she was warned by state administrators to, quote, stop digging into things as it would

00:24:59.080 appear that she was, quote, targeting certain groups. This is DEI and fraud all coming together

00:25:07.300 along with corruption to elect Democrats. The article continues, dozens of other whistleblowers

00:25:13.340 reported, dozens, that they were told to stay silent about fraud concerns by the Minnesota

00:25:19.640 Department of Human Services because they would be labeled, quote, racist or Islamophobic.

00:25:26.960 DHS also told state employees that raising fraud concerns would harm the state, the report said.

00:25:34.220 Whistleblowers reported that DHS conducted arbitrary investigations to photograph their

00:25:39.560 cars and houses, monitor their phones and computers, and asked employees where their

00:25:47.780 kids attended school. Now it's going to get worse. Then Temporary Commissioner Shireen Gandhi,

00:25:56.320 by the way, I'm going to give you some foreshadowing that Ms. Gandhi did not behave like

00:26:01.800 Gandhi. Instead, she confirmed in a testimony copied in the report that the State Department

00:26:11.480 used outside entities to conduct these investigations of employees, but could not

00:26:19.340 confirm whether independent law firms were used. Gandhi also confirmed in her testimony

00:26:24.360 that DHS management would regularly meet and, quote, check in on employees who had reported

00:26:30.900 fraud concerns. Gandhi continued to conduct these check-ins on DHS whistleblower Faye Bernstein,

00:26:37.360 a year or two after her investigatory leave. So they hunted them down and they stayed harassing

00:26:45.780 them. Bernstein alleged that Gandhi, quote, shamed her in a meeting after she raised concerns about

00:26:51.980 fraud and, quote, excluded her from further meetings on the topic. Whistleblowers also

00:26:56.800 alleged that former state commissioner Jody Harpstead held a division-wide meeting and told

00:27:02.140 attendees that, quote, employees would be punished if they reported concerns about fraud

00:27:10.140 in DHS programs, according to the report. DHS employee Emanuel Nuala told colleagues that he,

00:27:17.020 quote, did intelligence research within the Army and appears to have threatened to provide

00:27:23.840 IP addresses to former colleagues in order to find the locations of whistleblowers' email

00:27:33.140 addresses an email obtained through a public data request showed. Now it's about to get

00:27:39.400 even worse. The report also alleged that DHS de-anonymized an internal fraud hotline

00:27:50.960 for employees in an attempt to intimidate fraud reporters. After whistleblowers later created an

00:27:59.040 anonymous external email to report fraud, DHS blocked the email address. Whistleblowers reported

00:28:07.600 that their fraud hotline tips were sent to human resources and used against them. The hotline was

00:28:15.300 originally anonymous, but was de-anonymized under Gandhi's tenure as deputy commissioner of HR.

00:28:23.040 Governor Waltz appointed Gandhi as commissioner of DHS in February, 2026, but removed her in May

00:28:29.580 before her confirmation hearing amid scrutiny of her response to fraud allegations.

00:28:36.520 I this is anyone who claims gosh the the elected officials of Minnesota they were victims they

00:28:45.680 didn't know they wanted to go after the fraud which by the way both Waltz and Ellison keep

00:28:50.820 saying oh we wanted to go after the fraud we wanted to prosecute it this demonstrates I think

00:28:57.040 powerfully they are lying not only did they not want to go after the fraud they were doing

00:29:02.260 everything they could to silence the whistleblowers and prevent anyone from knowing about the fraud.

00:29:08.600 Yeah. And this goes back to the other question of accountability.

00:29:13.120 If everything that we just mentioned turns out to be true, there's obviously now an open

00:29:18.160 investigation into this. If you do these things, are you breaking the law? And if it goes all the

00:29:25.140 way to the governor, is he breaking the law? And the people below him, are they breaking the law?

00:29:29.260 And is there any accountability for this or is this just, well, Walt isn't running for re-election, so it doesn't really matter anymore and we'll just move on.

00:29:37.740 And, yeah, we may continue to do things like this in the future without accountability.

00:29:42.060 Listen, the Department of Justice has created an entire new division focused at going after fraud.

00:29:48.600 And I hope everyone who made these decisions faces accountability if they committed criminal violations that they are prosecuted.

00:29:55.840 I am hopeful. I can tell you I'm urging the Department of Justice, hold them accountable.

00:30:00.980 The way our constitutional system works, it's not the legislature. Look, I'm in the Senate.

00:30:06.440 I can't prosecute anybody. I don't have executive authority. I have legislative authority. I can

00:30:10.380 write legislation, which I have, but I can't. The power to bring an indictment, the power to go

00:30:16.340 before a grand jury, to get an indictment, to prosecute, that is exclusively within the

00:30:22.080 executive branch within principally the U.S. Department of Justice at the federal level.

00:30:27.460 And so I can tell you this, I am urging the attorney general and DOJ prosecute every single

00:30:33.360 person who committed criminal acts, who covered up this fraud, who benefited from it, who knew

00:30:38.760 what they were doing. And this is this is a real smoking gun. And at the AG, I go back to Ellison

00:30:45.120 there. We know his name well. If he's involved in this and is using and weaponizing the government

00:30:51.520 to go after those that were not committing the fraud, those that were trying to whistleblow on

00:30:56.400 the fraud and they are harassed. Is there any lane for the people that were being harassed

00:31:01.880 to somehow have like, you know, restitution for what they went through? If you're being harassed

00:31:08.080 for two years after you put in a tip, that's got to put a lot of stress on your life. I'm assuming

00:31:13.940 it puts stress on your career. I'm assuming it could have affected a lot of people getting

00:31:17.880 promotions that they deserved. Yeah, look, and I would assume we're going to see civil litigation

00:31:23.800 of people filing lawsuits and seeking compensation for this, and that litigation could well be

00:31:32.060 successful. In terms of criminal prosecution, this would not surprise me. I don't know sitting here

00:31:38.260 if Minnesota law makes doing this a criminal violation in Minnesota. Now, of course, the

00:31:45.980 federal government can't prosecute violations of Minnesota law. It would take a Minnesota

00:31:50.480 district attorney to bring that case. And I got to admit, I'm very skeptical that there are any

00:31:57.400 prosecutors in Minnesota willing to hold the corrupt Democrats in charge of that state

00:32:02.740 accountable. If they're not, then there's not really a mechanism to enforce Minnesota law,

00:32:09.340 which means you would be left with federal law. And given that these are federal funds

00:32:13.920 that were effectively being stolen and funneled to Somali, funneled to Somalian fraudsters being

00:32:21.060 sent, among other places, to Al-Shabaab. And we had terrorists before on this podcast that the

00:32:29.060 single largest funder of Al-Shabaab, which is the radical Islamic terrorist group that is in Somalia,

00:32:35.960 their number one funder was the taxpayers of Minnesota. And those are also federal taxpayer

00:32:41.120 money. So look, I expect the department of justice, they've already prosecuted a number

00:32:45.780 of the fraudsters at the lower level, but I hope they go right up, right up the, the ladder of

00:32:51.400 accountability and any politicians that are responsible. And, and to be clear, this happened

00:32:56.780 because it was in politicians, political interest for this to happen because they were getting 0.82

00:33:02.680 money from campaign donations and they were getting votes from allowing Somalian fraudsters

00:33:09.020 to rob the taxpayers of Minnesota and the American taxpayers. And look, this has happened 0.93

00:33:16.780 also in other states. It's happened in Maine under the Democrat governor there. It's happened

00:33:22.140 in California. It's happened in Illinois. It's happened, I think, all over the country, but

00:33:26.420 predominantly in Democrat states where there are Democrat politicians who are benefiting

00:33:33.100 from turning the other way to fraud. And I think everyone who committed a criminal act

00:33:38.780 should face prosecution and real consequences.

00:33:41.880 Yeah, this is a story we're going to follow.

00:33:43.380 I can promise you that.

00:33:44.620 So don't forget, Senator Cruz and I do this podcast three days a week.

00:33:47.780 You can hit that subscribe or auto-download button there.

00:33:50.220 Also, if you're listening on the Ben Ferguson podcast, you know I do this show every day.

00:33:54.000 Even on family vacation, we're doing the show here.

00:33:56.600 And, Senator, thanks for doing a joint pod with me.

00:33:59.500 Get a little more time with the family.

00:34:00.840 We will see you back here.

00:34:01.960 And look, Ben, I, for one, just want to congratulate you on doing the podcast while not wearing pants.

00:34:08.660 like that. You're on vacation

00:34:10.240 and it's good to bring

00:34:12.880 that form. We only shoot from the waist up.

00:34:15.140 I am so exhausted right now, I don't

00:34:16.800 even have it in me to fight you on this. I'm just

00:34:18.780 going to go with that narrative.

00:34:19.900 That is how tired

00:34:21.760 the boys have worn me out on this family vacation.

00:34:24.260 I'm like, sure, I'll go with anything right now.

00:34:27.800 Don't

00:34:28.160 forget, we do this show, like I said, Monday, Wednesday,

00:34:30.100 Friday, and you can watch it on YouTube as well.

00:34:32.660 In the center, I will see you back here

00:34:34.200 on Friday morning on Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:34:36.180 Download it wherever you get your podcasts and I'll see you

00:34:37.880 tomorrow on the Ben Ferguson podcast as well.

00:35:07.880 or wherever you get your podcasts turn someday into right now with body by jake radio non-stop

00:35:14.560 workout music and expert tips 24 7 hey head over to iheart.com search body by jake radio and stream

00:35:20.800 it for free right now awesome health and wellness tips 24 hours a day seven days a week remember

00:35:26.160 stick to the fight when your heart is hit it's when things seem worse that you must not quit

00:35:30.160 don't quit body by jake radio where hope meets momentum search body by jake radio and stream

00:35:36.300 for free. Have a great day.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - June 10, 2026

Historic Drone Rescue of American Soldiers Shot Down in Iran, plus Minnesota Dems Hired Private Investigators to Target Fraud Whistleblowers

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