Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 22, 2024


Illegal Immigrants Overrun National Guard, Cartels Launch Tens of Thousands of Drones into U.S. & NY Tries to Take a Half Billion from Trump with NO Appeal


Episode Stats


Length

33 minutes

Words per minute

159.93132

Word count

5,402

Sentence count

356

Harmful content

Misogyny

9

sentences flagged

Toxicity

13

sentences flagged

Hate speech

11

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is joined by Ben Fergus (D-Illinois) and Ben to discuss the latest video showing over 100 illegal immigrants breaking through a barrier set up by the National Guard in El Paso, Texas.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.540 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.280 Welcome.
00:00:06.040 It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.800 And Senator, there is a viral video of a invasion.
00:00:14.840 It's the only word I know to use it.
00:00:16.400 It's the southern border that now everyone is seeing of illegal immigrants breaking through razor wire.
00:00:23.260 Well, that's right.
00:00:23.860 Every day and every week, the border crisis continues to get worse and worse and worse.
00:00:28.320 We now have video of hundreds of illegal immigrants storming the National Guard, pushing them aside, pushing them down. 1.00
00:00:35.560 It is an active and aggressive invasion.
00:00:38.540 On top of that, we now have congressional testimony that the human traffickers, the Mexican drug cartels, have an air force.
00:00:47.140 25,000 drones.
00:00:49.380 We're going to get into all of that.
00:00:50.980 We're also going to talk about the New York Attorney General's jihad against Donald Trump.
00:00:55.900 Her absurd efforts to try to collect a half billion dollars from Trump and now to do so and to deny him the right to appeal.
00:01:06.040 It's an absolute travesty.
00:01:07.760 And finally, we're going to talk about an investigation that has been opened in the House of Representatives as to whether the IRS is using artificial intelligence to surveil you,
00:01:19.840 to go after your personal and private financial information, all of that in this episode.
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00:02:56.600 Senator, I want everybody to go that hasn't already seen this video that's gone viral.
00:03:01.220 The only way I can describe it is an invasion of our southern border. 0.58
00:03:04.320 And the worst part is you can clearly tell that the people that are on the American side
00:03:08.700 in uniform don't have the ability from our government to stand their ground and fight back
00:03:14.880 as they are overrun by illegal immigrants that come through a very clear barrier invading America. 0.99
00:03:20.980 If you haven't seen the video, go look at it.
00:03:23.020 It's on my social media.
00:03:23.820 It's on yours.
00:03:24.400 But when you saw this, Senator, I mean, this is all encompassing of just how bad the problem is right now.
00:03:29.800 That's exactly right, Ben.
00:03:31.700 What happened this week in El Paso, we had over 100 illegal immigrants who broke through razor wire 1.00
00:03:40.480 that the state of Texas had erected.
00:03:42.200 And you had National Guardsmen that were standing there guarding it, trying to secure our border.
00:03:47.120 And just this mob, they were simply outnumbered.
00:03:50.860 And it was a mass that just runs over them, is knocking them down.
00:03:55.140 And it's a surge that is happening that is – I don't know what you call it other than an invasion.
00:04:03.620 That's what this is.
00:04:04.920 And the infuriating thing is this is what Joe Biden and congressional Democrats want to have happen.
00:04:13.260 And you watch this video.
00:04:15.580 You see the National Guardsmen trying to put their hands up, trying to hold them back.
00:04:20.040 But there's simply too many of them, and they overwhelm them with their mass coming into this country. 1.00
00:04:26.780 And this is happening.
00:04:28.180 As I said, it keeps getting worse and worse and worse.
00:04:33.820 El Paso's migrant dashboard showed that on Thursday, 743 people had been released from custody
00:04:44.100 and into the United States.
00:04:45.680 That's on Thursday in El Paso, 743.
00:04:48.880 It also showed between 2,000 and 2,500 people held in border control custody each and every night.
00:04:58.220 This is in one city on the border, and that same thing is happening all across the 2,000 miles of our southern border.
00:05:06.840 This is, I think, a psychological thing now, too.
00:05:10.960 And I want to talk to you about this because, you know, when younger people started these flash mobs in stores
00:05:16.180 and they realized, hey, no one's going to stop us in San Francisco or in Baltimore or in Washington, D.C.
00:05:21.340 or New York City, we can just get into large groups, and we're going to win because no one's going to arrest us.
00:05:28.460 You look at these illegal immigrants, and I think it's very clear they figured it out. 1.00
00:05:33.560 This president of the United States of America is not trying to stop you,
00:05:36.420 and you can control the border and do whatever you want to do.
00:05:40.240 Who's going to stop you?
00:05:42.180 Look, that is exactly right, and it's not even that this president's not going to stop you.
00:05:47.180 He's going to help you.
00:05:48.800 He wants them to come illegally.
00:05:51.120 He looks at every one of them and sees there's another Democrat voter, there's another Democrat voter,
00:05:55.620 there's another Democrat voter.
00:05:56.640 Let's be clear, Joe Biden wants to flip the state of Texas right now to be a blue state.
00:06:02.680 He wants to flip every state right now to be a blue state.
00:06:06.600 And so he is happy for as many of these people who are coming illegally to vote illegally as possible. 0.52
00:06:11.420 And even if they don't, he's confident that in time, if the Democrats ever get control,
00:06:18.100 they will grant amnesty and voting rights to all of these illegals.
00:06:22.540 And Biden assumes, and I don't think his assumption is crazy,
00:06:26.640 that these illegal immigrants are going to vote for other Democrats to continue the open border. 0.52
00:06:31.900 You combine this story, and I do think it reminds me of those flashpoint moments.
00:06:38.480 And unfortunately, we're seeing these, Senator, I think more and more often.
00:06:41.780 Those illegal immigrants that attacked the men in New York City and got released from jail 1.00
00:06:48.620 and were flicking off, really not just the cameras, they're flicking off America.
00:06:51.780 And the whole world sees there's no consequence to it.
00:06:54.980 That New York City, you beat up cops, they let you go.
00:06:58.140 No bail, no cash, no bail.
00:07:00.460 Hey, you know, I mean, look, I don't know if you're a New York cop.
00:07:04.080 How do you keep doing your job?
00:07:06.340 Look, the Border Patrol agents, I mean, when I talk to Border Patrol agents,
00:07:09.680 when I talk to New York cops, I make a point to thank them
00:07:13.320 and tell them we're grateful for what they're doing
00:07:16.280 because there is a heroism and a patriotism to do your job 0.99
00:07:21.140 in the face of political imbeciles who make it almost impossible for you to do your job. 0.99
00:07:28.200 And see, I worry, too, that the Biden administration 1.00
00:07:30.980 and the Department of Homeland Security and Mayorkas
00:07:33.540 are probably not that upset with what just happened
00:07:36.460 because what they're going to see from this is,
00:07:39.260 hey, they figured it out how to beat Texas
00:07:42.020 because they're at war with Texas at the same time.
00:07:44.260 Are they not?
00:07:45.560 Sadly, they are.
00:07:46.820 Joe Biden, and this is true of just about every Democrat in the Senate,
00:07:50.880 just about every Democrat in the House,
00:07:52.400 given a choice between where do you side?
00:07:55.220 Do you side with illegal immigrants?
00:07:57.660 Do you side with the violent criminals
00:07:59.460 that are being released into this country?
00:08:01.020 Or do you side with the American people
00:08:03.540 who are being the victims of crimes at the hands of this invading mob?
00:08:10.060 The Democrats have made the decision.
00:08:12.060 We're with the cartels.
00:08:13.180 We're with the mob.
00:08:14.260 And this White House is furious that Texas is fighting back.
00:08:19.340 You combine this story, and this is more of, I think,
00:08:22.700 a symbolic moment with this other shocking testimony.
00:08:26.940 Air Force General has come forward before Congress
00:08:30.300 and revealed an alarming number of drones
00:08:32.820 crossing into the U.S. airspace at the southern border.
00:08:36.660 It's an air force.
00:08:37.940 This came up during a hearing with one of your colleagues,
00:08:42.000 Senator Ted Budd, who is a freshman senator,
00:08:44.900 who is there asking basic questions about what's going on
00:08:48.360 with all these drones coming across the southern border.
00:08:51.040 I want to play this and then get your reaction.
00:08:53.380 It's my understanding there have been a lot of drone incursions
00:08:55.460 along our southern border.
00:08:57.040 How many drone incursions have we had, and what are they doing?
00:09:03.600 Senator, the number of incursions was something that was alarming to me
00:09:08.060 as I took command last month.
00:09:10.460 I don't know the actual number.
00:09:13.440 I don't think any.
00:09:14.000 It's in the thousands.
00:09:15.480 I have talked to Customs and Border Protection
00:09:17.840 who are responsible for the UAS incursions
00:09:21.940 in the border along with DOJ,
00:09:27.220 and they put the number at thousands.
00:09:30.900 Over what period of time is it at thousands?
00:09:32.480 I would say in probably over a month.
00:09:36.720 We could probably have over 1,000 a month.
00:09:39.160 General, do they, in your view, represent a homeland defense threat?
00:09:44.800 Senator, they alarm me from being the person responsible for homeland defense.
00:09:51.240 I haven't seen any of them manifest in a threat to the level of national defense,
00:09:56.020 but I see the potential only growing.
00:09:58.500 I see the potential only growing.
00:10:03.300 You dig into this a little bit more,
00:10:05.380 and this has obviously been something that they didn't want to get out.
00:10:09.200 They didn't want us to know about this.
00:10:11.440 And then an article comes out in the New York Post
00:10:14.500 about other testimony that's already happened. 0.94
00:10:17.360 They've got a whole damn Air Force down there at the southern border, 0.99
00:10:20.220 and this is the cartels that have this. 0.99
00:10:23.700 Well, that's right.
00:10:24.340 So that was the testimony of Air Force General Gregory Guillaume,
00:10:27.500 who is the commander of NORAD, so a very senior Air Force general.
00:10:32.520 He's just taken over the command of NORAD and also U.S. Northern Command,
00:10:37.980 and he's looking at the number that is coming in.
00:10:41.940 He just testified over 1,000 a month.
00:10:44.220 And we likewise had last month testimony from the Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Border Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez,
00:10:53.780 who told the House Oversight Committee that in her sector alone,
00:10:59.360 so this is just the Rio Grande Valley Sector,
00:11:01.460 there had been more than 10,000 drone incursions and more than 25,000 drone sightings in the last year.
00:11:15.060 Now think about that for a second, 25,000 drone sightings in a year.
00:11:22.320 That's in one sector in the Rio Grande Valley.
00:11:24.960 We've got testimonies.
00:11:26.300 The cartels, you said they have an Air Force?
00:11:29.980 That's not hyperbole.
00:11:31.980 You are looking at thousands, if not tens of thousands of drones.
00:11:35.620 Now, right now, they're principally using these drones for surveillance.
00:11:39.940 They're going over, they're seeing where the Border Patrol agents are.
00:11:43.420 And by the way, I've been out on the boats with the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande River,
00:11:49.620 and they carry with them guns to shoot down the drones,
00:11:53.640 but it's very hard to shoot down a drone, and when you've got thousands upon thousands,
00:11:57.180 there simply is not enough to take down the number of drones.
00:12:01.400 They're able to just send them, and they basically have,
00:12:05.940 not only do they have operational control of our southern border,
00:12:09.900 and understand, this is very much like military warfare.
00:12:14.560 Nobody crosses the border without the cartels taking them across.
00:12:20.040 And literally, if you're down in Mexico, and you decide, 0.98
00:12:22.900 hey, I'm just going to try to swim the river or come across, they will kill you.
00:12:26.560 Like it is, you are taking your life in your own hands if you try to cross without them. 0.88
00:12:31.140 So they have complete operational control south of the border.
00:12:35.500 And now, with their air force of drones, they have surveillance north of the border.
00:12:42.200 And Joe Biden and the Democrats are happily just facilitating this, doing nothing to stop it.
00:12:50.160 And as the general testified, the head of NORAD, right now they're using these drones for surveillance.
00:12:55.580 But what's to stop them from using them for direct hostile activity?
00:13:04.340 We are literally being invaded by multi-billion dollar global criminal cartels on a daily basis.
00:13:13.260 You look at this drone, and we hear the word drone, and we think, okay, fun little object.
00:13:19.840 You fly around, take pictures.
00:13:21.780 We see them when you sell your house, and they come out, and they take drone shots of your home
00:13:26.060 and everything else to show your lot and your backyard.
00:13:28.200 I think some people may not understand the sophistication of these drones for surveillance, for moving drugs.
00:13:37.240 It's fentanyl, the number one killer people, 49 under in this country, is fentanyl overdoses, the human smuggling, the sex trafficking.
00:13:46.560 And also, I mean, drones are being used in warfare.
00:13:49.600 In the Middle East, a lot of our soldiers are being attacked by drones now.
00:13:55.060 It's a new way to attack.
00:13:56.360 We're seeing it also in Ukraine and Russia, where drone attacks are very – it's a very big new technology in warfare.
00:14:07.040 And that's the reason why I think we need people to understand how serious it is to have an army of this many drones
00:14:13.600 that you can be using for this many nefarious reasons.
00:14:16.820 Well, look, that's absolutely right.
00:14:19.160 Drones today are used regularly as a weapon of war.
00:14:24.160 They're used for surveillance.
00:14:25.660 They can be very effective for surveillance.
00:14:27.980 They're also used – and you rightly noted another way the cartels are using it right now, which is to transport drugs,
00:14:33.600 that you can put fentanyl, you can put meth, you can put cocaine or heroin, you can put it on a drone,
00:14:40.220 use the drone to fly across the river, and then to land, to go to someone from the cartel that is in the United States to receive those drugs.
00:14:48.820 And so the cartels are using that as well as a means of drug delivery.
00:14:53.700 But there's also, on top of that, they can be used as an offensive weapon.
00:14:57.940 They can be used – we see drones in combat theaters that have weapons mounted on them.
00:15:02.900 We see drones.
00:15:03.700 Drones can also be used to spread a biological agent, a chemical agent.
00:15:08.160 And there's a reason that the commander of NORAD said this is very alarming.
00:15:13.220 When you're dealing with thousands and thousands of drones routinely coming across our border,
00:15:18.280 it only takes one that is manned by a terrorist to potentially murder people on the American side of the border.
00:15:29.000 And the point is, under Joe Biden, we're not even trying to stop this.
00:15:35.840 The federal government is not trying to prevent these drone incursions.
00:15:39.700 They're simply saying, much as they did with the Chinese spy balloons,
00:15:43.920 they're simply saying, if you want to invade us, hey, come on in.
00:15:48.480 Yeah, and not only that, if you want to just rush the border with a couple hundred people, go ahead and do that.
00:15:53.880 We will not give the authority for America to protect and defend its borders there either.
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00:17:25.580 Senator, you mentioned something in the last statement that you made that I want you to expand on a little bit here.
00:17:39.180 And that is, you have this official testimony to Congress.
00:17:43.460 It's 1,000-plus drones a month.
00:17:45.320 You go back to that article that you read earlier with the testimony on the House side saying they've got basically an Air Force.
00:17:54.300 And not only do they have an Air Force, but it's one that is, quote,
00:17:58.280 the adversaries have 17 times the number of drones, twice the amount of flight hours,
00:18:02.620 and unlimited funding to grow their operations is what Chavez, the Rio Grande Valley sector chief,
00:18:08.600 testified to the House Oversight Committee.
00:18:11.280 And there doesn't seem to be a plan.
00:18:13.360 Is there anything that will change this administration's stance to have a plan?
00:18:20.580 I mean, they're at war with us.
00:18:22.500 How are we not going to respond?
00:18:24.140 And at what point will this administration respond?
00:18:26.720 Or are we just basically SOL until Election Day?
00:18:29.800 Yeah, Joe Biden is not going to change.
00:18:31.820 He doesn't want to change.
00:18:33.460 He is dug in.
00:18:35.720 He views this as the path to Democrats staying in power.
00:18:40.200 And look, if he was going to change, he would have done it already.
00:18:42.660 The only answer is we've got to win in November because these people are destroying our country in front of our eyes.
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00:19:20.640 Senator, while they're trying to destroy our country and not going after the people that are breaking in, 0.61
00:19:26.860 there's one thing that is very clear, and that is public enemy number one of this administration, the Democrats, is Donald Trump.
00:19:33.740 We now are seeing them trying to break Trump financially.
00:19:37.980 I would assume that you would agree this is certainly a level of election interference.
00:19:43.420 It's shocking.
00:19:44.080 But let's talk about the money now.
00:19:47.060 The A.G. James, who said, vote for me and I'll go after Trump, has now asked the court to deny Donald Trump's $454 million bond appeal.
00:19:58.620 This is unprecedented in American society.
00:20:01.520 This is what would happen in communist countries.
00:20:03.920 Yet it's happening right now in America.
00:20:05.940 Well, we are seeing across the country Democrat prosecutors abusing the justice system to try to, number one, destroy Donald Trump, but to try to, number two, subvert democracy.
00:20:19.160 They are terrified that the voters in November will vote to re-elect Donald Trump.
00:20:23.220 And so they want to abuse their power to stop the voters from doing that.
00:20:28.880 What Letitia James has done, she ran for attorney general promising, I'm going to get Trump. 0.85
00:20:33.920 And I'll say, at least so far, she's delivered on that promise.
00:20:37.560 She went after him with everything she had in a fraud case that is under a New York statute that is really a ridiculous statute because she alleged fraud with no victims.
00:20:50.240 She alleged that he had borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from sophisticated banks like Deutsche Bank.
00:20:56.060 And Deutsche Bank didn't lose money.
00:20:59.180 In fact, they made money on the loans.
00:21:00.800 Trump repaid the loans and Deutsche Bank said they were thrilled to make the loans and would happily make them again.
00:21:06.780 And the argument was that he valued his real estate more than it was worth.
00:21:11.920 Deutsche Bank is not some like poor little old lady who's a vulnerable consumer. 0.98
00:21:17.940 They're a multi-billion dollar global bank. 0.99
00:21:20.360 They valued the real estate on their own damn thing. 0.88
00:21:22.720 You know, if I come in and tell my mortgage company, hey, my home is worth $10 million, they're going to send their own appraiser to go figure out what my home is worth. 0.98
00:21:32.400 They're going to laugh at me.
00:21:33.380 So, an alleged offense with no victim, no injury, and no harm, the judgment with interest is $454 million, half a billion dollars.
00:21:48.820 And then New York has a provision that you see in a number of states that to appeal that, you've got to put the $454 million in cash, either liquid.
00:21:59.700 So, either cash or security is liquid.
00:22:01.540 Or you have to have a bond that covers that amount.
00:22:07.720 And so, Trump went and tried to get a bond, and he went to 30 different surety companies, and all of them turned him down.
00:22:15.360 And he filed an affidavit, so he's raised an issue on appeal to say, look, you can't require me to put up a half billion dollars just to be able to appeal.
00:22:26.480 And Letitia James just opposed that and said, oh, yeah, he doesn't put that money up, we're coming to take his property. 0.98
00:22:33.300 So, understand what she wants to do, and she wants to do this as soon as potentially next week.
00:22:37.920 She wants to show up and physically seize his properties, literally go and seize properties that he has in New York or elsewhere. 1.00
00:22:47.860 It could literally come down to her trying to essentially put a padlock on Trump Tower.
00:22:54.060 And I say that not really with hyperbole, because this is a political jihad for her. 0.90
00:23:00.580 So, I think she will look for the most visible, political way to attack her opponent. 0.81
00:23:07.080 And here's what Trump's lawyers told the New York appellate court.
00:23:13.340 The attorneys wrote that, quote, it is not possible under the circumstances presented.
00:23:17.500 They said the underwriters insisted on cash or other liquid assets instead of real estate as collateral.
00:23:25.060 So, Trump has lots of real estate, but apparently the underwriters said, no, it's got to be cash or liquid, and he didn't have a half billion dollars sitting around.
00:23:32.920 And they insisted on cash to cover 120% of the judgment, which is $557 million.
00:23:41.060 An insurance broker, Gary Giuletti, wrote in a sworn statement that, quote, a bond of this size is rarely, if ever, seen.
00:23:53.940 And Letitia James responded, well, no, no, that's not true.
00:23:58.300 There have been billion-dollar bonds before.
00:24:01.040 Yes, for massive public corporations, but Trump's business is not a public corporation.
00:24:06.180 It is a private company, and to get a half-billion-dollar bond is incredibly difficult.
00:24:13.940 And so understand the impact.
00:24:16.420 If Trump is not able to post this bond, the effect would be to deny him the right to even appeal the absurd partisan decision from the district court.
00:24:28.700 I've got to say this is such a profound abuse.
00:24:32.320 Now, that doesn't mean Trump would be out of options, because if the New York courts insist you've got to put up a half-billion dollars in order to appeal this decision,
00:24:41.840 I am confident that Trump will appeal that and potentially appeal that all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
00:24:48.400 And the U.S. Supreme Court, he would have multiple arguments, constitutional arguments, including the Constitution prohibits denying an individual, depriving an individual of property without due process of law.
00:25:02.540 And there would be an argument that this is such an excessive bond that it constitutes a violation of due process.
00:25:10.200 He would also have an argument under the Eighth Amendment.
00:25:12.960 The Eighth Amendment specifies excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
00:25:22.800 Now, the Eighth Amendment typically applies in a criminal context, but given the magnitude here, I would expect him to make both an Eighth Amendment argument and a due process argument.
00:25:35.160 And it is entirely possible that would prevail ultimately.
00:25:39.400 But what New York is doing, what the New York Attorney General is doing, is the conduct of a banana republic.
00:25:49.620 Kevin O'Leary, who many people know from Shark Tank, not the most political guy, he talked about the business fallout of this and asking where are the adults in the room because we can't let this stand in the United States of America.
00:26:03.140 Here's part of what he said, which I thought was really interesting.
00:26:06.000 But more importantly, the message about the American brand, you think about America, the reason this is the number one economy on Earth is that we have laws and we have due process and we have property rights.
00:26:18.180 It attracts foreign capital from all around the world.
00:26:21.360 All of that is being shaken to the core here.
00:26:24.620 The concept of seizing assets in 30 days on a bond number that's never been issued, no insurance bond companies ever issued anything near this.
00:26:34.040 So there was no chance it was going to happen.
00:26:36.680 And only giving 30 days notice in time, that's a really bad message.
00:26:43.360 And I think New Yorkers should think, well, pass Trump.
00:26:46.700 Whether he's president or not, or whether this attorney general is gone in four years or not, it's irrelevant.
00:26:52.800 This is case setting against the American brand.
00:26:56.800 The most stable country on Earth anywhere to put capital to work over a long period of time, particularly in real estate, is the United States of America.
00:27:06.240 This is an assault on what we believe to be core.
00:27:10.660 And I find it extraordinary.
00:27:13.920 I think it's very troubling.
00:27:15.880 It has absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump at this point, in my view.
00:27:20.580 And it is completely bipartisan.
00:27:23.280 This is an attack on America.
00:27:26.900 And I don't know how you can look at it any other way.
00:27:31.000 And as an investor, and I know plenty of investors are completely disturbed by this.
00:27:36.040 But, I mean, no one is going to put any money to work in New York in these amounts until this thing settles down.
00:27:44.200 The whole world is watching.
00:27:45.940 And everybody's waiting for one thing we haven't got yet.
00:27:49.180 Adult supervision.
00:27:50.660 Where is it?
00:27:52.000 Where are the adults in this crazy narrative?
00:27:55.480 Certainly there's got to be adult supervision at some point.
00:27:57.900 And I understand, you know, the war going on here and all the political, yada, yada, woof, woof, woof.
00:28:04.500 But we need an adult in the room now.
00:28:06.680 This is the United States of America under siege.
00:28:11.640 Under siege.
00:28:12.680 I mean, he's not joking around.
00:28:13.900 He says, where are the adults?
00:28:14.920 Senator, I'm going to ask you this.
00:28:15.940 Where are the adults?
00:28:16.920 At what point do the adults get a hold of this?
00:28:20.440 Well, at this point, it's not clear to me that there are any adults left in New York.
00:28:25.080 There certainly are not among politicians.
00:28:26.960 I don't know of a single Democrat politician who has spoken out against this abuse.
00:28:33.100 Certainly Chuck Schumer hasn't.
00:28:35.100 The governor hasn't.
00:28:36.200 The mayor of New York City hasn't.
00:28:38.620 Letitia James is auditioning to be governor.
00:28:40.920 She's clearly ambitious.
00:28:42.100 She views this as the path to success in the Democrat Party in New York.
00:28:46.680 And I got to say, look, I think they rationalize in their own mind this is a special rule just for Donald Trump.
00:28:54.540 We hate Trump so much. 0.99
00:28:55.740 They think Trump is the devil. 0.99
00:28:58.520 And so this applies just to Trump. 0.81
00:29:01.040 But this precedent can apply to anyone.
00:29:04.600 If simply claiming that you overstated the value of your real estate gives the attorney general the justification to seize hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, what real estate developer in their right mind would continue to do business?
00:29:20.900 Every real estate developer, just as a starting point, is subject to this kind of shakedown.
00:29:26.580 And if you don't think that Letitia James or the next ambitious attorney general will use that power, then you're smoking something.
00:29:35.080 Because, look, it is arbitrary.
00:29:38.420 It's unreviewable.
00:29:39.200 And by the way, if you can't get a bond to appeal it, there is no appellate review.
00:29:42.680 So it's the ability to shake it down.
00:29:44.720 And so if she wants to negotiate a settlement, suppose she comes in, that gives this politician the ability to terrorize businesses, to terrorize foreign corporations. 1.00
00:29:56.100 Anyone that they decide we don't like, it essentially empowers the politicians to terrorize individuals and companies and force them to comply with whatever their demand is, or else we will seize your assets and you can't even appeal it.
00:30:16.320 And yet, why is not a single Democrat in New York worried about this or speaking out about it?
00:30:25.100 You know, it's astonishing.
00:30:27.220 Yeah.
00:30:27.400 And it's not just if you think it's only going to be Donald Trump, you may be wrong, which brings us to our final story.
00:30:32.580 And that deals with the IRS.
00:30:34.800 Jim Jordan has announced he's opened up an investigation to accusations the IRS is using AI to spy on taxpayers.
00:30:45.320 I would love to say I'm surprised by this, Senator, but we've seen the IRS go after conservative groups and Tea Party groups and others in the past, and no one really got in trouble for that.
00:30:56.800 So why would it be any different this time?
00:30:59.720 Well, that's exactly right.
00:31:01.280 So we have a pair of letters that was sent to the Treasury Secretary and to the Attorney General.
00:31:06.780 One was sent by Jim Jordan, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and another one was sent by Harriet Hageman from Wyoming.
00:31:14.280 And it is examining whether the IRS is using artificial intelligence to surveil American taxpayers.
00:31:23.100 And in the letters, they describe how the IRS put out a press release in 2023 saying that artificial intelligence, quote,
00:31:33.620 will help IRS compliance teams better detect tax cheating, identify emerging compliance threats, and improve case selection tools to avoid burdening taxpayers with needless no-change audits.
00:31:50.580 And the letter from Jordan and Hageman continues, quote,
00:31:55.180 However, recent reporting alleges that the IRS's use of AI has also included actively monitoring American citizens' bank accounts en masse and without legal process.
00:32:10.060 And they cite a report from James O'Keefe, and the video footage from James O'Keefe captures an individual named Alex Mina,
00:32:21.400 who's an IRS official working in the agency's criminal investigations unit, who admits, and this is a quote, I'm going to quote from the letter, quote,
00:32:31.000 Video footage obtained by an investigative media outlet appears to capture Alex Mina, an IRS official working in the agency's criminal investigations unit,
00:32:40.220 admitting that the IRS has a new system that uses AI to target potential abusers by examining all returns, bank statements,
00:32:51.120 and related financial information, and related financial information for potential for fraud.
00:32:56.880 And Mina asserted that the new AI system has the ability to access and monitor all the information from all the companies in the world.
00:33:08.120 I mean, the amount of power that the IRS has, not just to spy on people, but to come after people for their political viewpoints.
00:33:15.600 And everybody's like, oh, it never has happened. They don't do that.
00:33:18.200 We know that from Tea Party groups in the past.
00:33:20.360 This is going to be very interesting.
00:33:22.500 If Jim Jordan opening these investigations, what comes to this, we will keep you updated on it.
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