Verdict with Ted Cruz - Horrific Murder in DC, No Tax on Tips Passes the Senate, Take It Down Act Signed into Law & The Last Rodeo Preview

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.200 Welcome, it is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:08.700 Senator, always a pleasure to be with you.

00:00:10.860 And we've got one jam-packed show for you tonight.

00:00:13.460 Well, there's an enormous amount going on.

00:00:15.440 This week, we saw the tragic murder of two people who worked in the Israeli embassy, 0.82

00:00:22.340 murdered by a radical left Palestinian racist. 0.87

00:00:26.080 It was the absolute manifestation of evil. 0.87

00:00:28.580 We're going to tell you what happened there and break down the evil that we are seeing

00:00:34.960 on college campuses, that we are seeing spreading hate, hate for Jews and anti-Semitism,

00:00:41.740 hate for Israel, hate for America, and the absolute utter evil we saw unfold this week.

00:00:48.620 We're also going to talk about the remarkable fact that the United States Senate passed my

00:00:53.840 legislation, no taxes on tips, 100 to nothing, no taxes on tips, is going to become the law

00:01:00.820 of the land.

00:01:01.420 The Democrats actually supported no taxes on tips.

00:01:04.400 We're going to explain that to you.

00:01:06.020 And next, we're going to talk about the Take It Down Act, legislation I authored that President

00:01:10.480 Trump signed into law this week that will protect women and teenage girls from revenge porn, from

00:01:17.800 deep fake porn, it is critical legislation, keeping all of our kids safe and keeping all

00:01:23.520 of us safe.

00:01:24.220 And it is now the law of the land.

00:01:26.420 Yeah, it really is.

00:01:27.240 Plus, we've got something really cool.

00:01:29.040 Neil McDonough is going to join us.

00:01:30.640 And there is a new movie that is out right now.

00:01:33.180 It is called The Last Rodeo.

00:01:35.060 It is a faith-based, family-friendly movie that is getting nationwide distribution.

00:01:40.900 You may know Neil from Tulsa King and Yellowstone.

00:01:43.760 He's going to join us as well to talk about this new movie.

00:01:46.320 And we're going to have a chance for you also to win free tickets as well for Verdict listeners.

00:01:50.360 That's really awesome as well.

00:01:51.720 So, Senator, let's talk about this first just shocking attack that happened in Washington, D.C.

00:01:57.920 Where this happened, I've been to this area and been to this place several times in my life.

00:02:03.800 When you know where it happened, I think it just takes your breath away.

00:02:06.960 And then to understand the hatred and the anti-Semitism behind it.

00:02:11.580 Yeah, it was just a few blocks away from the Capitol.

00:02:14.460 It was by the D.C. field office.

00:02:16.260 It was by a Jewish museum.

00:02:18.960 And two people were murdered.

00:02:22.820 Sarah Milgram and Yaron Lashinsky.

00:02:26.620 They were about to get engaged to be married.

00:02:30.140 And they were murdered for one reason.

00:02:32.560 Because they were Jewish. 0.87

00:02:33.640 The person who killed them was not a Palestinian.

00:02:37.160 He was not someone from Gaza.

00:02:39.340 No, he was a left-wing radical from Chicago.

00:02:45.380 He was, his name is Elias Rodriguez.

00:02:49.600 And he was a socialist.

00:02:51.680 He was a Marxist. 0.98

00:02:53.080 And when he murdered them, he murdered them screaming, free, free Palestine. 0.96

00:02:57.820 This was the pure manifestation of hate. 0.92

00:03:02.500 And I will tell you, he didn't just shoot them once. 0.99

00:03:07.920 He made certain to execute them. 0.70

00:03:10.420 As Sarah crawled away in agony, after he shot her, he followed her and he shot her again and again and again from the back. 0.98

00:03:20.020 He executed her in cold blood.

00:03:21.900 But he fired at least 21 9-millimeter bullets at them.

00:03:27.820 That's how many cartridge cases were found.

00:03:30.520 And then he just jogged off.

00:03:32.120 He was, it is pure, unmitigated racist hate. 0.91

00:03:37.420 And it is the lies that the left spreads.

00:03:40.600 You know, this is one of those moments where you realize just how bad anti-Semitism has become specifically in this country.

00:03:49.940 And a lot of it is among younger people.

00:03:53.040 And it's, it is exploded on college campuses.

00:03:56.440 And we see that there are real consequences for this type of bigotry and hatred towards people that are Jewish.

00:04:02.680 Well, and Ben, I'll tell you an amazing story about the two of them that I learned today.

00:04:07.280 Uh, so, so earlier today I spoke at the Hudson Institute and I spoke, uh, at their Middle East Center about the Middle East and about China's massive, uh, efforts to, to have greater influence in the Middle East.

00:04:20.540 And, and, and, and I was interviewed by Zineb Rabuah, who works at the Hudson Institute and, and who was good friends with Jeroen.

00:04:28.340 And, and, and a number of the people who were at, at my speech today were, were good friends with Jeroen.

00:04:34.000 In fact, he might well have attended the speech.

00:04:37.240 He, he was a Middle East expert.

00:04:38.660 And this was a speech in D.C. to Middle East experts the day after he and Sarah were murdered.

00:04:44.640 Well, here, here's what Zineb told me that I did not know.

00:04:47.420 I'm just going to read a tweet she sent, uh, later, earlier today.

00:04:52.760 The last time I spoke with Jeroen, he told me that it was thanks to Ted Cruz that he met Sarah.

00:04:59.220 They first crossed paths at an event where the senator was speaking.

00:05:04.260 Today I had the privilege of sharing that story with Senator Cruz himself.

00:05:07.820 We spoke about China, Iran, and the rise of anti-Semitism.

00:05:11.860 He listened with warmth and paid a, a moving tribute to Jeroen and Sarah.

00:05:15.660 They both admired him deeply.

00:05:17.920 I, I did not know Jeroen and Sarah, but I, I, I, I'm literally speechless.

00:05:23.920 I'm, I'm literally reduced to tears that this is a couple who, who met at, at, at, at, at a speech I was given, fell in love, got, were about to get engaged, and were murdered by the face of evil.

00:05:37.020 And I will tell you, this is the face of evil we see on college campuses.

00:05:41.280 You know, the phrase free, free Palestine, I'll tell you, Ben, for a year, I woke up every Saturday morning, 7 a.m., to screams of free, free Palestine in my front yard,

00:05:52.780 because pro-Hamas protesters arrived every morning, 7 a.m., banging bells and drums, screaming, screaming expletives and chanting, free, free Palestine.

00:06:04.780 And, and, and, listen, this is, this is the consequence of the anti-Semitic hate.

00:06:09.980 And, and, and, and I will tell you, I want you to listen to this interview on CNN.

00:06:16.080 CNN interviewed one, one of the witnesses to what happened here, and listen to just, just, just the left-wing twist of, of, of what passes for our corporate media.

00:06:27.420 Give a listen.

00:06:28.240 As you go forward, as you go forward with what you have seen, can you give us any sense, because you said you looked the shooter in the eyes,

00:06:35.160 can you give us any sense of what you saw in him, um, as he was sort of getting help, um, and, and people were tending to him,

00:06:43.300 as if he, too, was a victim of seeing this.

00:06:47.020 Yeah, would you be clear?

00:06:47.660 I, like, heard about that part, because we were in a secure room when he initially walked in.

00:06:51.620 I just saw him screaming and then being handcuffed.

00:06:54.820 Uh, but what I saw in his eyes, I mean, I went to Columbia for grad school, and I saw the same thing in his eyes,

00:07:00.200 as I saw in the eyes of all the protesters at Columbia.

00:07:02.900 Nothing different between him and them.

00:07:04.260 But they did not create this horrific shooting.

00:07:09.300 They did not, you know, sort of, um, they didn't shoot.

00:07:13.220 They created, they gave permission.

00:07:15.460 They gave the permission.

00:07:16.800 And they've called for this.

00:07:18.040 They have called for Intifada revolution, which is the same thing he yelled last night.

00:07:22.260 Do you worry that there will be a conflation, though, of the two, those people who are speaking their mind,

00:07:27.740 who, um, really care about what is happening in Gaza,

00:07:30.840 and those people who are like this person, who did this horrific shooting, who intend to do harm?

00:07:38.600 A conflation.

00:07:39.500 I mean, they are calling for Intifada.

00:07:41.720 At Columbia University, they call for Intifada constantly.

00:07:45.040 They're not quietly.

00:07:45.800 They're loud.

00:07:46.640 They're loud.

00:07:47.200 You can hear it.

00:07:47.680 They make recordings of themselves.

00:07:49.200 So what's the difference?

00:07:50.320 Are you afraid?

00:07:51.340 Yes.

00:07:51.980 What would we do about that?

00:07:52.600 We're all afraid.

00:07:53.840 Everyone should be afraid.

00:07:55.200 What are you doing to try to make yourself feel safer?

00:07:59.100 Well, can't you just go on and live your life?

00:08:01.300 I'm a New Yorker.

00:08:02.120 I remember 9-11.

00:08:03.000 You can't let them make you be afraid.

00:08:04.980 You have to go on.

00:08:05.560 You have to live your life.

00:08:07.200 And hopefully your government does things to protect you.

00:08:09.720 Last night, our government failed us.

00:08:11.900 You know, this is what's wrong with CNN.

00:08:13.800 This is what's wrong with our corporate media.

00:08:15.500 They want to defend the anti-Semitic protesters on campus.

00:08:20.680 That witness who saw the horrific murder, he's exactly right that when people are chanting,

00:08:25.560 we love Hamas, which is what they're chanting on many of these campuses, when they're calling

00:08:29.300 for Intifada.

00:08:30.180 This is Intifada.

00:08:31.360 This is the murder they're calling for.

00:08:33.820 And CNN is being an apologist for them.

00:08:37.000 And I have to say, our prayers are very much with the families of your own.

00:08:40.960 And Sarah, what happened to them was utterly horrible and utterly evil.

00:08:44.220 Senator, I want to move on to a really exciting issue.

00:08:47.920 And it's going to have a massive impact on a lot of hardworking Americans that are in

00:08:53.580 the service industry.

00:08:54.880 This is something that you have championed.

00:08:56.940 And it became reality in a historic vote on no taxes on tips.

00:09:02.560 What a simple idea, but it's going to have a huge impact in this country.

00:09:05.980 Well, two things happened this week on no taxes on tips.

00:09:09.780 First of all, the House of Representatives passed the one big, beautiful bill, the giant

00:09:14.540 reconciliation bill that extends the Trump tax cuts, that secures the border, that rebuilds

00:09:20.500 the military.

00:09:21.600 And included within it is my legislation on no taxes on tips.

00:09:25.700 So the House passed that this week.

00:09:27.960 At the same time, the Senate took up and passed as a freestanding bill, my no taxes on tips

00:09:36.080 legislation.

00:09:36.740 And let me tell you the backstory on this.

00:09:38.680 So you remember during the presidential campaign, President Trump campaigned on no taxes on tips.

00:09:45.120 And he rolled it out in Las Vegas.

00:09:47.560 And the week after he rolled it out, he came and had lunch with all the Republican senators.

00:09:53.680 And he told us the story of where the idea came from.

00:09:57.160 And he said before his rally in Las Vegas, he was sitting having lunch.

00:10:01.220 And he said a waitress was bringing him his lunch.

00:10:04.360 And Trump said, and she was beautiful.

00:10:07.200 She was absolutely beautiful, which which we were all cracking up laughing at.

00:10:12.840 And and he said she was she was expressing just how much burden it was to to to pay taxes

00:10:19.960 on her tips and that the taxes on tips had gone up under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

00:10:24.380 And Trump said he just grabbed a notepad of paper and he wrote on the notepad, no taxes

00:10:29.580 on tips.

00:10:30.440 And he showed it to her, says, what do you think of this?

00:10:32.580 And she said, great, fantastic.

00:10:34.240 So he said, well, I decided to to just announce it at the rally.

00:10:38.820 He said, sometimes I do that.

00:10:40.280 And so we went out to the rally, thousands of people in Las Vegas.

00:10:43.600 And he said, when I'm when I'm reelected, we will have no taxes on tips.

00:10:48.520 And he said, and they went crazy.

00:10:50.600 Everyone went crazy.

00:10:52.900 So he told us that story.

00:10:54.160 And I got to say, I thought it was it was brilliant.

00:10:56.580 It was a great idea.

00:10:58.180 I strongly support that idea.

00:11:00.220 And so he announced it.

00:11:02.100 He came up with it.

00:11:02.920 And I said, well, I'm going to draft the legislation to make it happen.

00:11:05.700 And so I sat down and wrote the legislation to make it part of our tax laws.

00:11:09.780 And I introduced it the week after he announced it.

00:11:12.640 Well, the week I introduced it, two different Democrats, both senators from Nevada, joined

00:11:19.060 my bill.

00:11:19.640 They co-sponsored my bill.

00:11:20.860 Actually, Jackie Rosen, one of the two Democrats from Nevada, she told me that day, she said,

00:11:26.080 you know, 25 percent of the workers in the state of Nevada are tipped workers.

00:11:30.680 So they joined my bill.

00:11:33.220 My bill is the one the House put in one big, beautiful bill.

00:11:36.200 Well, what happened this week is Jackie Rosen, the Democrat, decided to go to the floor of

00:11:41.820 the House of the Senate and seek unanimous consent to pass my bill.

00:11:48.020 Now, the way unanimous consent work is you're asking, will any senator object?

00:11:52.340 And if no senator objects, then then it passes.

00:11:55.280 And the way you do it is you run what's called a hotline, which is which is you send a request

00:12:00.300 to every senator's office.

00:12:01.760 Are you going to object to this?

00:12:03.480 And I think the Democrats expected that the Republicans would object.

00:12:08.260 I'm sitting there going, wait a second, it's my bill.

00:12:10.580 Why would I object to my own bill?

00:12:11.920 Of course, I want to pass my bill.

00:12:13.120 So I didn't object.

00:12:15.180 No other Republican objected.

00:12:16.900 And astonishingly, no Democrat objected either.

00:12:21.500 So Jackie came to the Senate floor and she said, hey, I think this thing's going to pass.

00:12:26.200 And I said, well, do it quickly.

00:12:27.780 Get up and do it quickly.

00:12:28.840 Don't give a long speech.

00:12:29.820 Just stand up and ask unanimous consent and get it done.

00:12:34.340 Because I was worried that some Democrat was going to turn on C-SPAN and see what we were

00:12:39.540 doing and run down to the Senate floor and object.

00:12:42.340 Well, and it is very unusual for somebody else to ask unanimous consent to pass your bill.

00:12:49.260 It's almost always you.

00:12:50.340 You're almost always the one doing it.

00:12:52.360 But she went.

00:12:53.200 She asked for consent.

00:12:54.420 Nobody objected.

00:12:55.480 And so no tax on tips passed the United States Senate this week.

00:13:00.220 One hundred to nothing.

00:13:02.200 Every Republican voted for it.

00:13:03.760 Every Democrat voted for it.

00:13:05.680 And the good news about that is it means the chances of no taxes on tips becoming federal

00:13:11.500 law are now very close to 100 percent.

00:13:14.620 It's in the reconciliation bill.

00:13:16.220 It will either pass as part of one big, beautiful bill or it will pass as a freestanding bill.

00:13:22.000 Either way, we're going to get that policy, which is a great policy for American workers.

00:13:27.280 So how often do you get a hundred to nothing bills like this?

00:13:30.280 I mean, that's the part that I think is just so exciting.

00:13:32.520 You know, it happens with some regularity in the Senate in particular.

00:13:38.560 You work to find a bill that people agree with and you go down and pass legislation and you can get legislation passed 100 to nothing.

00:13:47.040 I have I have authored and passed into law 103 different pieces of legislation.

00:13:54.040 And my guess is roughly half of them or more were by unanimous consent.

00:13:59.780 They passed 100 to nothing.

00:14:01.720 Some of it is you work out the objections in the process.

00:14:05.760 And so when you run the hotline, you may get four or five objectors and you go to them and say, hey, what's your problem with the bill?

00:14:11.900 What do you not like about it?

00:14:12.940 And if they have a particular concern, you try to work through it.

00:14:17.220 All right.

00:14:17.880 Another bill that we will get passed, but we haven't yet is is my bill on AM radio for every vehicle.

00:14:24.540 Look, we're on AM radio right now, as you know, eight car makers announced that they were going to pull AM radio off of new cars and new trucks.

00:14:34.200 Yeah.

00:14:34.320 And I introduced legislation with Ed Markey, liberal Democrat from Massachusetts to ensure that AM radio stays in new cars and trucks.

00:14:43.440 Actually, the day after Markey and I introduced the legislation, Ford Motor Company reversed its decision and said, we're not we're going to go back to including AM radio.

00:14:54.160 So I went to the Senate floor and tried to pass it by unanimous consent.

00:14:58.560 And it failed because Rand Paul came down and objected.

00:15:01.820 And Rand Paul opposes mandates of every kind.

00:15:05.740 I oppose many mandates.

00:15:07.020 But I but I think giving consumers the choice of having AM radio is a good choice for consumers.

00:15:13.140 It's very inexpensive for car car makers.

00:15:15.680 And so that one will not pass by unanimous consent.

00:15:18.740 So we'll have to get floor time, which is harder to get.

00:15:21.160 What I will say on no taxes on tips is this is a policy that really is the manifestation of how the Republican Party today is a blue collar party.

00:15:31.980 This is a policy that is going to benefit waiters and waitresses. 0.68

00:15:35.140 It's going to benefit bartenders.

00:15:37.300 It's going to benefit barbers and hairstylists.

00:15:39.720 It's going to benefit beauticians and people who work at nail salons and taxicab drivers.

00:15:45.220 It is impacting the working men and women.

00:15:48.440 And that's that's the base who elected President Trump.

00:15:51.660 And that's the base who elected me.

00:15:53.680 And so it's really a great and astonishing victory.

00:15:56.580 I got to tell you, Ben, both Republicans and Democrats were utterly flabbergasted to see no taxes on tips pass unanimously in the Senate this week.

00:16:06.660 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders and the world around them. 0.97

00:16:12.900 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:16:16.620 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:16:17.800 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:16:18.760 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:16:28.540 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:16:31.760 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:16:37.760 Senator, let's talk about this other incredible moment that happened this week at the White House.

00:16:42.920 Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law.

00:16:45.180 It's something that you championed and remind people what this law is intent and why it is such an important piece of legislation to protect not only young people and minors, but really anyone from just evil and hateful revenge from an ex.

00:17:00.860 Well, this this is legislation that I authored that President Trump signed into law this week.

00:17:06.720 Actually, he signed it into law in the Rose Garden at a big ceremony in the Rose Garden.

00:17:10.380 I've done a lot of bill signing ceremonies in the Oval Office.

00:17:13.560 This is the first time I've been in the Rose Garden because you had victim groups and victim advocates and people who have been victims of non-consensual explicit imagery.

00:17:23.140 Now, what is that?

00:17:24.420 That's really two different things.

00:17:26.340 Number one, so-called revenge porn.

00:17:28.720 So if you have a boyfriend and girlfriend and they're in a relationship and they take explicit pictures or videos and then they have a breakup and one or the other is mad and they say, OK, I'm going to stick it to you.

00:17:40.480 I'm going to put this out for the whole world to see and it is an utterly grotesque violation of privacy.

00:17:46.940 Nobody has the right to do that to somebody else.

00:17:49.300 And it's something we're seeing happening more and more often.

00:17:52.360 There's a second manifestation that is new and it has to deal with technology, which is more and more we are seeing people use AI, artificial intelligence, to create deep fakes and deep fakes where they appear to be either a picture or a video of a real person, but it's utterly fake.

00:18:11.360 And so they make a naked or explicit image of someone and put it out and the incidence of deep fakes last year increased 3,000 percent and over 90 percent of the victims of deep fake explicit imagery are women or teenage girls.

00:18:29.540 And so it is growing massively and so the take it down act is legislation that I introduced that makes it a crime, a federal felony to post non-consensual intimate images, either real pictures or deep fakes.

00:18:43.380 And secondly, it puts a federal statutory obligation on tech platforms to take the pictures down, to take the videos down, because the platforms have been horrible responding to victims.

00:18:56.520 They ignore victims.

00:18:57.980 They leave the images up.

00:18:59.280 And so the victim ends up being being victimized over and over and over again by the images staying out there.

00:19:05.760 And so the take it down act puts a legal obligation that when the victim notifies them, hey, that's me.

00:19:12.240 That's an explicit image of me.

00:19:13.880 And you don't have my consent to put it up.

00:19:16.080 They have to take it down.

00:19:17.640 This legislation I introduced with Amy Klobuchar, Democrat from Minnesota, and we passed it through the Senate.

00:19:25.160 We passed it unanimously.

00:19:26.140 It was 100 to nothing.

00:19:26.840 And then the House took it up and passed it with an overwhelming bipartisan majority.

00:19:32.700 And President Trump signed it into law.

00:19:35.240 And give a listen to what President Trump said this week in the Rose Garden as he signed the take it down act into law.

00:19:40.780 Today it's my honor to officially sign the take it down act into law.

00:19:45.040 It's a big thing, very important, so horrible what takes place.

00:19:48.900 This would be the first ever federal law to combat the distribution of explicit, imaginary, posted without subjects' consent.

00:19:58.760 They take horrible pictures and I guess sometimes even make up the pictures and they post it without consent or anything else.

00:20:06.460 And very importantly, this includes for forgeries generated by artificial intelligence known as deep fakes.

00:20:13.840 We've all heard about deep fakes.

00:20:15.020 I have them all the time, but nobody does anything.

00:20:17.940 I asked Pam, can you help me, Pam?

00:20:19.620 She says, no, I'm too busy.

00:20:20.960 Too busy doing other things.

00:20:22.460 Don't worry.

00:20:22.880 You'll survive.

00:20:23.760 But a lot of people don't survive.

00:20:25.920 That's true and so horrible.

00:20:28.260 With the rise of AI image generation, countless women have been harassed with deep fakes and other explicit images distributed against their will. 0.84

00:20:36.880 This is the wrong and it's just so horribly wrong.

00:20:40.840 And it's a very abusive situation like in some cases people have never seen before.

00:20:46.880 And today we're making it totally illegal.

00:20:49.920 Senator, one of the things I just I love about this legislation is the fact that not only is it bipartisan, but you had the first lady who really got involved in this as well.

00:20:58.960 It was important to her and that made it, I think, even easier to bridge the gap.

00:21:04.180 Well, we did.

00:21:05.100 The first lady became very active in pushing this bill. 0.99

00:21:09.660 She reached out out to me and said she wanted to help get it over the finish line.

00:21:13.920 And so last year we passed it out of the Senate 100 to nothing and then the House failed to take it up last year.

00:21:20.000 So it did not pass last year.

00:21:21.960 And so we got to this year to the new Congress.

00:21:24.520 I passed it through the Senate again 100 to nothing.

00:21:27.780 And and and the real battle was to get it to rise up the priority list of House leadership.

00:21:32.920 And so when the first lady called my office and said she wanted to help, what I did is I invited her to come to Capitol Hill for a roundtable where she could hear from the victims.

00:21:45.020 And and also at that roundtable was the speaker of the House and and Steve Scalise, the majority leader, and Brett Guthrie, who's the committee chairman in the House.

00:21:55.140 And and when the first lady asked them, will you please pass this into law, they committed to her they would.

00:22:03.040 And this was the day before the State of the Union address.

00:22:05.680 And you may remember at the State of the Union address, Melania was sitting with with a teenage girl from Texas, Elliston Berry.

00:22:13.200 And President Trump told her story in the State of the Union and called on Congress to pass this bill.

00:22:18.460 And and I'll tell you, it's it's actually it's a fascinating story of how this bill came to pass, because it originates with one teenage girl in Texas, Elliston Berry.

00:22:30.560 She's from North Texas, from Aledo, Texas.

00:22:32.660 And a year ago, she was 14 and she was in ninth grade.

00:22:36.620 And she woke up one morning and her phone was blowing up with texts from her friends because a classmate of hers had taken a perfectly innocent picture of her from social media and had used an app on online that he had found to create a deep fake and then sent what appeared to be naked pictures of Elliston to all of her ninth grade classmates.

00:23:00.820 And so she was in tears. Listen, it is hard to be a teenager.

00:23:04.660 I'm the father of two teenage girls. I know the pressure that is on teenage girls.

00:23:08.940 It's much harder to be a teenager today than than when you and I were teenagers, Ben.

00:23:13.300 And and this was just just horrific.

00:23:16.280 Well, what happened is her mom, Anna.

00:23:19.860 Look, Elliston and Anna are constituents. They're Texans.

00:23:23.040 So Anna picked up the phone and called my office and said, hey, look, you're you're my senator.

00:23:28.540 Can you help my daughter?

00:23:30.820 And my staff, to their credit, they elevated this to me and they told me what had happened to Elliston.

00:23:36.420 And this is happening more and more all over the country.

00:23:39.460 And so I said, look, let's draft legislation to fix this, to address the problem.

00:23:44.840 And so we did. And it was it was because of Elliston that we drafted it.

00:23:49.420 But but as I said, it's happening all over the country.

00:23:52.600 Well, Elliston Elliston came to D.C. the day we announced the bill last year for the press conference.

00:23:59.160 And I sat down and met with Elliston. I met with her mom in my office.

00:24:02.760 And in the course of the meeting, I asked, I said, hey, what happened to the pictures?

00:24:07.440 And her mom said it's the most frustrating thing in the world.

00:24:10.060 She said this happened nine months ago.

00:24:11.660 She said, I have been calling and emailing Snapchat over and over and over again.

00:24:17.260 They just stonewall us. We get no response.

00:24:20.700 Ben, I turned to my staff. I said, I want you to get the CEO of Snapchat on the phone today.

00:24:25.520 I want those pictures down today.

00:24:30.060 They pulled them down within two hours.

00:24:32.840 Now, it should not take a sitting senator making a phone call to get those pictures taken down.

00:24:38.320 And now, as a result of the legislation Trump has signed, every victim has a statutory right to insist that it be taken down as a matter of law automatically.

00:24:48.200 Yeah, in fact, Ellison Berry got to go on Fox News Channel with our good friend Kayleigh McEnany and talk about this moment.

00:24:55.740 And here's what she had to say. Take a listen.

00:24:57.760 You decided to go and talk to your local congressman.

00:25:01.160 You get connected with a senator.

00:25:02.940 And then you manage.

00:25:03.600 There you are standing behind the president of the United States, changing the laws for other young women like you. 0.90

00:25:08.320 Did you ever think this day would come?

00:25:10.720 I never would have thought that this could ever be my reality.

00:25:14.920 My mom, she's really an amazing person, and she's the one that's been pushing for this, and she's the one that's encouraged me.

00:25:21.140 So I wouldn't be able to do this without her help and her support.

00:25:24.560 And she really just has encouraged me to the point where I feel encouraged about this.

00:25:30.100 So having the opportunity to speak about this and to bring awareness really just means so much, especially it's so much growth seeing how scared I was at first and seeing how confident I am able in this situation.

00:25:43.500 Well, other young women now have recourse. 1.00

00:25:45.900 Thanks to you, Ellison Berry.

00:25:47.560 So impressive.

00:25:48.220 Thank you.

00:25:49.040 I love it.

00:25:49.740 It's just it's finally a happy ending to a really hard and sad subject.

00:25:54.520 Well, and Ben, at the signing ceremony, I was able to introduce Elliston to the president.

00:25:59.800 I introduced also Francesca Mani, who is another 15-year-old girl who was in New Jersey, and the exact same thing happened to her as happened to Elliston.

00:26:08.500 And I also introduced Brandon Guffey.

00:26:11.480 Brandon Guffey is a state rep from South Carolina.

00:26:13.840 And tragically, his oldest son got what we thought was a direct message from a cute girl, and she convinced him to send naked pictures to her.

00:26:24.120 Well, it turned out it was not a cute girl.

00:26:27.760 It was a con man.

00:26:29.040 And the con man began extorting him and threatening, I'm going to send these naked pictures to your friends and family.

00:26:36.040 Well, Brandon's son, Gavin, killed himself, and we are seeing suicides across the country.

00:26:41.700 So I introduced Brandon and his family to the president, too.

00:26:44.240 And this law is a victory for everyone that is a target of this kind of exploitation.

00:26:49.540 I got something really fun that we get to do.

00:26:52.080 And if you've got family, kids, grandkids, and you love going to a great movie, there is one called The Last Rodeo.

00:27:00.940 It is starring a phenomenal actor, Neil McDonough.

00:27:04.420 It is in theaters tomorrow.

00:27:07.660 And The Last Rodeo celebrates the inspiring story of a veteran PBR champion who returns to bull riding at his old age to save the life of his grandson.

00:27:17.640 It features real-life PBR stars as well.

00:27:20.700 Neil, I appreciate you coming on.

00:27:23.060 A lot of people I know get excited because they see you in things like Yellowstone and Tulsa King.

00:27:27.040 You just were filming that today.

00:27:29.200 But this movie, The Last Rodeo, we're going to give away some tickets in a moment.

00:27:33.920 So stay tuned for that, everybody.

00:27:35.720 But you're really excited about this film coming out.

00:27:39.380 Oh, I'm so excited about it.

00:27:40.740 Ben, thanks for having me on your show, first and foremost.

00:27:42.600 But this is one of those shows that's kind of the culmination of everything I've worked towards in my whole career to be able to finally be the hero in the film, kiss the girl in the end.

00:27:52.620 Of course, everyone knows that I won't kiss anybody else, but I get to kiss my actual real-life wife who plays my wife in the film.

00:27:58.220 So that alone for me is just I finally have gotten to where I've always aspired and prayed to be, and it feels so good to be in this position.

00:28:08.680 It's incredible, and we're going to give away some tickets right now.

00:28:12.100 You can go to Angel.com slash Verdict, and you can get two free tickets to The Last Rodeo, and go see it as it is in theaters.

00:28:20.360 Again, Angel.com slash Verdict now.

00:28:22.560 Get two free tickets to The Last Rodeo.

00:28:24.620 Talk about this film, Neil, and what the message is, what people can expect.

00:28:29.840 Well, you know, I think you just kind of nailed it.

00:28:32.000 There aren't many films out in the landscape anymore where you can bring the whole family, and not the saccharine-sweet types of films,

00:28:39.560 but films that actually have a bite to it that the whole family can go to, kids, grandparents, anyone, and learn from,

00:28:45.420 and know that you're not going to have to cover ears or eyes.

00:28:48.740 You're going to have some great films.

00:28:50.420 You're going to have great action with the bull riding, but you're going to have a story about families and broken families

00:28:55.120 and how you mend a fractured family.

00:28:57.640 And for me, you do it through faith.

00:28:58.820 And when I went through all my difficult things in life, it was always my faith that got me through.

00:29:03.600 Faith in my wife for a day.

00:29:04.680 Those two things have been my two greatest things in my life, and now I get to write about both of them

00:29:10.620 and star in it opposite my wife.

00:29:12.540 So I'm just, I'm so excited about this film.

00:29:16.340 It's hard to even put it into words.

00:29:18.720 You talked about doing this with your wife.

00:29:20.920 Have you guys ever gotten to act before in movies, or is this the first time you're the lead and she's a big one?

00:29:25.960 My wife's never acted before. 1.00

00:29:27.200 When I wrote the film, I'm like, okay, honey, so, you know, I've always wanted to be the John Wayne guy

00:29:31.400 who, you know, is the hero in the end who has to kiss the girl in the end.

00:29:34.880 She's like, yeah.

00:29:35.420 I'm like, well, I'm finally going to do it.

00:29:36.660 She's like, okay, but I need to do it with you because I won't kiss anybody else because I'm not an actress.

00:29:41.280 I'm like, well, you are now.

00:29:42.580 And she did awesome. 0.77

00:29:44.500 I'm so proud of her.

00:29:46.100 Yeah, she was a runway model. 1.00

00:29:47.540 She was a supermodel. 1.00

00:29:48.360 So she understands the pressure of being in front of people and delivering.

00:29:51.320 So for her in front of a camera, it was very natural, and I'm just so happy.

00:29:55.520 I'm so happy for her.

00:29:56.880 Now, when you wrote this, you also have real stars in here as well that you mentioned a moment ago, PBR stars.

00:30:02.840 What brought you the idea to even write this script, specifically with bull riding?

00:30:07.800 I'm a big fan.

00:30:08.980 I've gone to a lot of different rodeos, eight-second tour, et cetera.

00:30:12.860 It is a brutal sport.

00:30:14.980 What inspired you to use this as the backdrop?

00:30:16.880 Well, Ben, I was doing another film at the time called The Warrant, another western that Revee and I were producing.

00:30:24.120 And when I'm not around Revee, she was home at the time with the kids.

00:30:27.040 When I'm not around my family, I get really just downright kind of depressed at times, and it's really hard.

00:30:32.040 I don't like being on the road.

00:30:34.540 But one day I was driving home from set in Arizona, and I got gut-punched with this thought that,

00:30:39.440 well, whatever happened to me if something happened to Revee?

00:30:42.740 And then I pulled over to the side of the road, just kind of buckled.

00:30:45.460 And then this other idea came in my head, which it had to be from God,

00:30:49.800 because I didn't know a whole lot about bull riding.

00:30:52.600 And this idea came into my head, right, Rocky on a bull for a grandfather who has to save his grandson

00:30:58.640 because he's dying of the same brain tumor that killed his wife.

00:31:02.140 This came out, and I don't know where that came from, but it just did.

00:31:04.940 And then I sat on the side of the Penn Freeway for two hours, voice dictating into my phone.

00:31:10.800 I'm dyslexic, so I'm not very good at writing.

00:31:12.760 So I always do all my writing through voice dictation.

00:31:16.500 And I sent it out to my writing partner, and within the week we had our first draft,

00:31:21.380 and a week later Revee and I raised the financing, and Angel Studios came on board,

00:31:25.720 and here we are almost two years later.

00:31:27.500 And it's just kind of miraculous.

00:31:30.060 It really is.

00:31:30.840 Well, you mentioned that this is a family-friendly movie.

00:31:33.960 You don't have to worry.

00:31:34.940 That's one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on.

00:31:37.540 How tough is it to produce movies like this in the environment we're in now?

00:31:41.600 Because I know you had friends and people that you could go to for financing,

00:31:45.700 but saddling up to do a pro bull riding movie,

00:31:49.020 and on top of having all the pressure behind you of getting this out

00:31:53.480 and then getting it to the big screen,

00:31:55.140 it's not an easy task, especially in 2025.

00:31:58.220 No, it's not.

00:32:00.620 You know, it's a minor miracle to pull any film off.

00:32:03.760 But for this one, you know, God led me the whole way in this one.

00:32:07.560 I wanted John Abnett to direct it, the amazing John Abnett,

00:32:10.800 and what an incredible director he is.

00:32:12.060 He killed it.

00:32:13.180 I wanted Michael T. Williamson and Christopher McDonald to play my two guys in the film,

00:32:17.320 and they're two of my best friends in life.

00:32:19.420 And we went after, you know, one of my best friends back home,

00:32:22.580 Liam Griffin, helped us with the film,

00:32:24.080 and then these other financiers came to me and said,

00:32:26.260 Hey, we know what you're doing.

00:32:27.880 We really like what you're doing with your message and Angel Studios.

00:32:31.040 We like to help finance your next film.

00:32:33.100 So between those two parties, all of a sudden we had our budget,

00:32:37.240 we had distribution, and everything just kind of went according to plan,

00:32:42.220 which was kind of miraculous.

00:32:43.760 Yeah, there's always hiccups.

00:32:45.860 There's always variables that you wouldn't even think of.

00:32:48.320 But we always knew that we were doing something that was for his glory, not our own.

00:32:54.100 And everyone bought into it.

00:32:56.320 So when you say Hollywood doesn't want that stuff,

00:33:00.480 I think that in their heart of hearts they actually do.

00:33:04.420 And I think that this film was a whole lot easier to make than other films

00:33:08.240 because it did have a faith backdrop.

00:33:10.280 It wasn't a film that the whole family can go to.

00:33:12.400 So I think the landscape is changing.

00:33:17.520 A lot of it thanks to Angel Studios and our partnership with Angel

00:33:21.520 and the films we've been doing that you can make these smaller films

00:33:24.880 and turn a profit.

00:33:27.740 And that's great for everybody.

00:33:29.980 And to be able to put these movies out and have the support of all the fans

00:33:33.220 who go to the films and buy tickets and pay it for it,

00:33:36.700 anything you can do with Angel, it's just so humbling.

00:33:40.020 And, again, I get so choked up just thinking about how fortunate I am

00:33:44.720 and blessed I am to be able to sit here on a show like this

00:33:47.940 and talk about this amazing film that we have coming out.

00:33:50.820 Last question for you.

00:33:52.260 There's a rumor that you actually got injured while bull riding.

00:33:55.540 Is this true?

00:33:57.080 Which time?

00:33:58.520 Right?

00:33:59.140 Okay.

00:33:59.660 I love when I get good intel.

00:34:02.420 Yeah.

00:34:02.940 I got busted up a lot.

00:34:04.620 We trained for months and months and months to make sure I look as authentic as possible.

00:34:10.840 And, yeah, I busted up my wrist.

00:34:13.620 I busted a few other things.

00:34:15.200 When my shoulder popped out, that hurt like a dickens.

00:34:18.340 But I didn't tell anybody.

00:34:19.880 I just went around the corner and snapped it back in at this barn,

00:34:22.920 this door that was around the corner.

00:34:25.380 And I popped back in.

00:34:26.460 I had, like, tears in my eyes.

00:34:27.720 And John's like, you okay?

00:34:28.580 I'm like, yep, ready.

00:34:29.280 Let's roll.

00:34:30.360 And I didn't tell him the story for three months later because if I had told him,

00:34:33.520 he would have shut it down and everyone would have gone crazy.

00:34:36.160 I'm like, I'm just, I'm a tough old dude.

00:34:38.780 So I just, I kept it to myself.

00:34:40.620 And a couple other injuries that happened that, hey, those are war wounds that I consider

00:34:45.900 as trophies and medals.

00:34:47.840 I love it.

00:34:48.740 Well, the movie is out.

00:34:50.420 Go see it.

00:34:51.120 The Last Rodeo.

00:34:52.040 It is in theaters.

00:34:53.160 Help keep it in theaters.

00:34:54.420 Support great movies that have been greenlight for your family.

00:34:58.060 You can also get two free tickets to see The Last Rodeo.

00:35:00.680 So by going to angel.com slash verdict now, you can get your two free tickets to The Last

00:35:06.000 Rodeo today.

00:35:07.760 And support, I tell people this all the time, Neil, when you see a movie that is made for

00:35:11.460 your family, safe for your family, back it, support it, advocate for it, put it up on

00:35:18.080 social media because unfortunately we have too much trash being made and not enough wholesome 0.78

00:35:22.860 movies like this.

00:35:23.700 So congrats on doing it.

00:35:25.300 And I hope everyone listening is going to go check it out.

00:35:27.960 I hope so.

00:35:28.720 I know your viewers who are our kind of people that, you know, if they're out there supporting

00:35:33.440 it by backing it financially, going to the cinema, being there, not waiting until it comes

00:35:37.200 out on DVDs or anything else, it's telling Hollywood exactly what you just said, Ben.

00:35:41.860 We need more of this and less of the other.

00:35:43.440 So thank you for putting that word out for me.

00:35:45.180 I really appreciate it.

00:35:46.640 Amen.

00:35:47.040 Be safe out there on the road.

00:35:48.280 Always a pleasure.

00:35:49.140 We'll talk to you again real soon.

00:35:50.460 It's a really fun show today.

00:35:51.840 I hope you guys enjoyed it.

00:35:53.160 Don't forget, this is exactly why we do this show three days a week.

00:35:56.140 Hit that subscribe or auto-download button.

00:35:58.000 You don't want to ever miss an interview that we do just like this one.

00:36:01.800 And make sure you share this podcast wherever you are.

00:36:04.840 We would greatly appreciate that on social media.

00:36:07.740 So if you're on X, if you're on Instagram, wherever you are, share this podcast.

00:36:11.160 And the center and I will see you back here for the weekend review on Saturday morning.

00:36:15.100 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:36:18.900 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - May 23, 2025

Horrific Murder in DC, No Tax on Tips Passes the Senate, Take It Down Act Signed into Law & The Last Rodeo Preview

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