00:00:35.920Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you on this Memorial Day. And we
00:00:40.520want to start off, obviously, Senator, by saying thank you to so many who gave the ultimate
00:00:44.720sacrifice for this country, so many that protect and defend, and so many families that today is a
00:00:49.580really hard day for them remembering their loved one who fought, protect, and defended this country.
00:00:53.820I hope you spend some time with your family, spend some time with your kids, but I also hope you stop and think and say thank you to the heroes who keep us safe, who keep us free, who are responsible for every liberty we have.
00:01:09.500On Memorial Day in particular, we remember those heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice, the last full measure, those who lost their lives protecting our nation.
00:01:20.100Every year we honor them. We remember their sacrifice. We are grateful. We honor their loved ones and their families. And we also honor those who are still serving, who are risking every day and risking potentially giving their own lives so that we can continue to be free for everyone in the armed services, for everyone who has served, and especially for those whose loved ones have given the last ultimate measure.
00:03:40.640This is standing with Israel when it matters the most.
00:03:43.260Go to PrayIFCJ.org. That's Pray, P-R-A-Y, I-F-C-J.org. And you can submit your prayer0.91
00:03:52.840today. That's Pray, I-F-C-J.org. So Senator, let's break this down for everybody. This is0.98
00:04:01.080complicated. A deal was always going to be complicated. But when you have people trying
00:04:05.620to score political points in dealing with this, it's frustrating because there's a lot of people
00:04:09.580saying, what's actually going on? Well, that's right. There's a lot of news breaking and it's
00:04:15.360difficult to tell what is true and what is not true. There's some active disinformation online.
00:04:20.860You have a bunch of different sides all trying to push their own narratives. What we're going
00:04:24.680to try to do in this podcast is what we always do, which is walk you through the facts, walk
00:04:28.600you through what we know and walk you through what exactly is happening. Let's start out with
00:04:34.800the objectives in Iran. President Trump has been very clear about the objectives in Iran. Number
00:04:40.600one was nuclear, preventing Iran, making sure Iran never, ever, ever gets a nuclear weapon.0.81
00:04:47.500Number two was missiles and preventing Iran from using its missiles to terrorize its neighbors,0.63
00:04:53.720to terrorize American servicemen and women serving in harm's way. Number three was their0.82
00:05:00.080Navy and their Navy that Iran had been using to project force and to threaten in particular0.95
00:05:08.100shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. And the number four was terrorism. Iran for 47 years0.85
00:05:14.320has been the number one funder of terrorism in the world, funding over 90 percent of Hamas,
00:05:20.100of Hezbollah, and of the Houthis. And so President Trump made the decision to go in to launch this
00:05:26.280military attack. As regular listeners of Verdict know, I spent the entire day before President
00:05:32.640Trump launched this attack with him on Air Force One, flying with him from D.C. to Texas to a big
00:05:39.560rally in Corpus Christi, and then one-on-one, the two of us together in the beast, the presidential
00:05:44.760limo. And almost all of that time we were talking about Iran, I urged him to go down the path that0.94
00:05:51.920he's on. I believe the decision to launch this attack was the single most consequential decision1.00
00:05:58.040of President Trump's presidency. And I think it was exactly the right thing to do. And I think it
00:06:02.220has made America safer. Now, where are we now? In terms of military objectives, the president's
00:06:09.180success is extraordinary. The success of our military is extraordinary. I mentioned the
00:06:14.460missiles. The missiles are almost entirely gone. The missile manufacturing capability is almost
00:06:19.480entirely gone. Not only that, the drones are almost entirely gone and drone manufacturing
00:06:24.280is almost entirely gone. Not only that, the Air Force is in rubble, bombed and sitting on the
00:06:30.900runway. And the Navy that I mentioned, the Navy is sunk on the bottom of the ocean. So in terms
00:06:36.800of military objectives, it's been extraordinary. Not only that, the Ayatollah is dead. Many of the
00:06:44.000mullahs are dead. Many of the senior leadership of the IRGC are dead. In terms of military
00:06:51.140operation, Iran spent 47 years building a military, and in 39 days, the United States military utterly0.90
00:07:01.480and completely eliminated it. Now, where do we stand now? We stand, number one, with Iran0.62
00:07:06.580acting really as terrorists, threatening the Strait of Hormuz. And number two, we have the0.96
00:07:13.140ongoing threat of nuclear weapons, both through Iran's continued desire to enrich uranium and
00:07:20.240through Iran's possession of substantial amounts of enriched uranium. In that context, President
00:07:26.380Trump in the last few days has put out several statements saying that we are close to a nuclear
00:07:32.240deal. We are close to a deal with Iran. And I got to say, if that comes to fruition and it's a good
00:07:39.460deal, that would be a phenomenal outcome. I think the president has achieved incredible success
00:07:45.580right now to date in this military action. And look, Ben, part of what makes this confusing
00:07:51.600to understand is I think there are multiple sides that are putting out online different
00:07:57.600narratives. So Iran and Iran's echo chambers, Iran and Iran's echo chambers are putting out in
00:08:04.360massive quantities online, that this deal is a complete capitulation, that the president is
00:08:10.400going to send them tens of billions of dollars, that they'll keep their enriched uranium,
00:08:16.100that they'll continue to be in charge. Look, that would be a terrible outcome. And there's
00:08:20.360a reason the Iranians are pushing that. In fact, they've been pushing memes of the president0.99
00:08:26.100bowing down and kissing the feet of the Ayatollah. They're not subtle, but those are also not
00:08:32.520disguised. Those are foreign propaganda that are coming from our enemy and our defeated enemy in
00:08:38.980this military conflict. The president has also been clear that he said we're close to a deal,
00:08:45.080but we're not there yet. It's not 100% negotiated. And I will tell you the history within this
00:08:51.480administration and every step on foreign policy, there have often been two or more camps within
00:08:57.480the administration that are pushing for different outcomes, that are pushing with respect to Iran
00:09:03.120either to be more vigorous in insisting on the red lines the president has drawn or less vigorous
00:09:08.940and simply trying to get out of it in a hurry. And I think the president has been right saying
00:09:14.100he was not going to back down from enforcing those red lines, from protecting the American
00:09:20.260people. And I, for one, am confident, I hope and I'm confident that he will continue to hold that
00:09:25.860line. Well, when you talk about what a deal could look like, let's also go through those
00:09:31.460parameters. What is a good deal look like? What is it as conservatives we should make sure that
00:09:36.700we're advocating for? I'm one of those where I go back to what the president said very early on.
00:09:42.720There's no circumstance where Iran is going to be able to get a nuclear weapon. That to me is
00:09:48.320number one. It's a national security issue. And I think that's where a lot of people are just
00:09:54.140straight up lying online about this issue as well. Yeah, look, that's right. And you're right. That's
00:09:59.540the number one objective is that an Ayatollah who chants death to America having a nuclear weapon0.74
00:10:05.700is completely unacceptable. You know, I'll tell you, I put out a tweet this weekend on all of
00:10:12.940the swirling rumors of the deal and what could be in it. Here's what I said. I said, President
00:10:17.460Trump's decision to strike Iran was the most consequential decision of his second term.1.00
00:10:22.060He was right to do so, and we achieved extraordinary military results, including destroying all of their missiles and drones and sinking their entire navy.0.94
00:10:32.840If the result of all of this is to be an Iranian regime still run by Islamists who chant death to America, now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium and develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, that outcome would be a disastrous mistake.0.59
00:10:57.280The details are still coming out, and I pray that the early reports are wrong.
00:11:02.340But the fact that Biden's Rob Malley is praising the deal is not encouraging.
00:11:08.180President Trump believes in peace through strength,
00:11:12.160and his strong leadership has already made America much safer.
00:11:16.240He should continue to hold the line, defend America,
00:11:20.880and enforce the red lines that he has repeatedly drawn.
00:11:23.960Now, when I sent that, Twitter and the Internet was all lit up.
00:11:31.380And in fact, Drudge Report breathlessly put a story above the fold as their top headline story,
00:11:40.860Cruz Defying the Dawn Disses Iran Dealing.
00:11:45.480And, you know, Drudge is known for subtlety.
00:11:50.640What I was saying was precisely the opposite.
00:11:53.240What I was saying is President Trump has been exactly right in how he has conducted this military conflict in Iran, and he's done so despite significant naysayers around him urging him not to hold the line consistently.
00:12:10.100And so what I'm saying very publicly is, Mr. President, you've done an extraordinary and an historic job in Iran.
00:12:16.460Don't listen to voices that would urge giving away the victory.
00:12:20.540Now, here's some good news. What has happened on Sunday, the administration set up multiple calls with reporters, with different briefers, and one administration official told people on the call that Iran has to, quote, address the main issues, which are nuclear and the Strait of Hormuz up front.
00:12:44.560And the phrase they used on that call was, quote, no dust, no deal. Now, that approach is exactly the right approach. There should not, at a minimum, there should not be concessions until Iran hands over their nuclear material and opens up the strait.
00:13:03.880And that is consistent with what President Trump has been saying. But again, there have been other voices saying, no, no, we don't need to insist upon that. And so what I am urging the president, both privately and publicly, to do is hold the line, remove the enriched uranium, prevent Iran from enriching uranium.0.82
00:13:26.040We've had incredible success. We've already had, based on the degradation of the military, Iran's ability to support terrorism is dramatically reduced, but we need to open up the Strait of Hormuz and we need to ensure that never, ever, ever does Iran have a nuclear weapon.0.87
00:13:44.380And I'm encouraged, not only that, but something the president put out yesterday was really striking, which is he said that in the discussions that multiple Arab countries had also agreed to join the Abraham Accords.0.70
00:13:59.980Now, if that was a big deal. And can you remind people quickly exactly what is in the Abraham
00:14:06.260Accords, why it's so significant, and then the significance of other countries wanting to come
00:14:12.320into the Abraham Accords and how that strengthens it in a very, very big way? Well, the Abraham
00:14:17.100Accords were historic peace agreements negotiated at the end of President Trump's first administration.
00:14:23.600And they were peace agreements between Israel and the UAE, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and
00:14:29.400Bahrain. I was there on the South Lawn of the White House when the Abraham Accords were signed.
00:14:38.880At the time, multiple Arab countries still had not entered and to this day have not entered the
00:14:44.740Abraham Accords, the biggest of which is Saudi Arabia. And in terms of the Arab countries,
00:14:50.600Saudi Arabia is the most important counterbalance to Iran. And I think the Saudis were on a path0.88
00:14:58.180to joining the Abraham Accords at the end of Trump One, and had President Trump continued
00:15:03.820serving in the White House for an immediate consecutive term, I think the Saudis would
00:15:08.660have already entered the Abraham Accords, but they didn't. Joe Biden came in, and it broke up
00:15:15.020the progress we'd made towards deal and towards peace. The Saudis and other Arab countries coming1.00
00:15:22.280into the Abraham Accords, normalizing their relationships with Israel, it would essentially
00:15:27.120bring peace to the Middle East between the Arabs and the Israelis. Look, the Arabs and the0.72
00:15:32.060Israelis have been in conflict from the very dawn of the nation of Israel. And if the president is
00:15:37.120able to bring the Arabs and Israelis into the Abraham Accords, into peace agreements, into
00:15:42.540normalizations, into trade and commerce, where they're not at tension, they're not engaged in
00:15:49.600military conflict, but instead they're working together and trading with each other, that would
00:15:54.680truly be an historic milestone that would change the entire geopolitical landscape.
00:16:03.260You look at now, you bring that up, and then you say, OK, there is a midterm coming up. So let's
00:16:09.180just talk about the timeline here. We're almost to June. I think it's pretty clear the White House
00:16:13.760understands this needs to get done sooner than later. We need gas prices to go down because
00:16:18.600the midterm elections. I also think national security is more important than the gas price
00:16:23.460at the pump right now. But you want to make sure you win the midterm election. So you have to think
00:16:28.820about those things. How much of a runway do you think we still have before that becomes a real
00:16:33.760issue? Is it two weeks? Is it a month? Is it six weeks? I mean, how much time? Because obviously
00:16:39.020Iran's looking at this the same way we are. Yeah, look, the good news is I think President
00:16:44.560Trump is clear-eyed that he's not just reading polls and running scared, but rather he takes
00:16:51.720very seriously his obligation to protect America, that he's commander-in-chief, and that when the
00:16:58.600Ayatollah chants death to America, when he leads mobs chanting death to America, when they fund,0.79
00:17:05.700the Iranian regime has murdered nearly a thousand Americans. They've been carrying out war against0.94
00:17:10.520us for 47 years, and I think the president is committed to finishing the job. I don't think
00:17:17.320that's going to be driven by short-term political impulses or by the polls. And I will say, you know,
00:17:25.520the president has a phrase that he's fond of, panikins, which is Republicans who are panicking.0.77
00:17:30.900And I got to say on the Iran war, there are some panikins who are like, well, it's just got to end
00:17:34.920right now because of gas prices because of November. Now, look, let's put gas prices in0.59
00:17:39.780context. Under Joe Biden, gas prices soared to over $6 a gallon. That really hurt. People were
00:17:48.300feeling the pain from that. By the way, the Democrats at the time were celebrating that.
00:17:53.220You had Democrats who were saying they wanted gas to be $10 a gallon. Remember, these are the same
00:17:58.540people who were trying to ban the internal combustion engine and force everyone to buy
00:18:03.700electric vehicles. So they wanted high gas prices and they got what they wanted. President Trump
00:18:10.260came in and in the first year of his second term, we saw gas prices drop nearly in half to about
00:18:15.820three bucks a gallon. That made a huge difference. That lifted a big load off the shoulders of a lot
00:18:21.760of Americans. And it was the result of common sense, sound economic policies ending the
00:18:28.820regulatory assault on oil and gas. Where we are now is gas prices have gone back up some. They're
00:18:35.860about four bucks and 50 cents a gallon. So basically, we've given back about half of what
00:18:41.420we gained. And it's not complicated why. And anytime you have a military conflict in the
00:18:46.940Middle East, gas prices go up. That uncertainty in the Middle East predictably has an impact on
00:18:53.120gas prices. What I will say is I think, number one, that impact is short term. Number two,
00:18:59.760if and when we reach a good resolution in the Middle East with Iran, I think we will see the0.97
00:19:05.260long-term trend of gas prices go down and go down significantly. And the reason why is there's so0.93
00:19:11.120much oil that's been backed up waiting to get out of countries in the Middle East because of the
00:19:14.780Strait of Hormuz and the issues there. So traders I've talked to, they said they expect a total
00:19:20.460crater once there's a deal and safety and security and they can get back and forth through the
00:19:25.400strait with no issues at all because there's so much backup of oil that is desperate to need to
00:19:30.300be sold because of capacity issues as well. Yeah, and by the way, a total crater is not a good
00:19:36.200outcome. If you look at gas prices, look, gas north of $100 or oil north of $100 a barrel is
00:19:43.640is too high and that results in high gas prices. But if you see the oil prices collapse down to
00:19:50.14040 bucks in oil, 40 bucks a barrel, that's not good either because that ends up putting a lot
00:19:55.520of American producers out of business, which ultimately makes us more vulnerable to foreign
00:20:02.000producers. So you want to be somewhere in the middle. You want prices high enough that American
00:20:07.200producers keep exploring, keep developing, because that economic independence gives us
00:20:12.720enormous freedom, but you don't want them so high that people are feeling the pain at the gas pump.
00:20:18.660But here's the point I want to make on this, Ben. Everyone who is freaking out, it's not that many,
00:20:24.680it's a handful of mostly political knuckleheads in the beltway who are freaking out and saying,
00:20:30.180we've got to end this immediately or else the midterms. I have seen zero data that back up the
00:20:37.000case that the midterms have gotten materially worse because of the military conflict with Iran.
00:20:44.380Look, six months ago, we were in a rough political situation where we were in about a D plus six
00:20:51.700environment, meaning nationally, the numbers were showing that the polling was about six points more
00:20:58.400Democrat than it had been in November of 2024. Well, today, we're still at about a D plus six
00:21:05.840environment. So it is still bumpy. We got work to do. We got work to do in terms of making the
00:21:11.520case to the American people about the historic victories that have been won in the past year
00:21:16.280and a half. But I see no evidence in the data that the military conflict with Iran is doing
00:21:23.520meaningful political damage for the midterms. And I think short term obsessing over polls
00:21:29.980and not finishing the job would be an historic mistake. And that's why I'm confident President
00:21:35.820Trump won't do that. Final question on this, and then I want to move to some other news. But the
00:21:40.320Strait of Hormuz, in this deal, what does that look like? And what is it that we should be
00:21:45.720advocating for? Should it go back to the way it was before? Or should America be more involved?
00:21:51.060Should other countries be more involved? What does a good deal look like to make sure we have
00:21:54.660security there as well? Listen, and I want to be clear, I'm not part of the negotiation. So I have
00:22:00.680I've not had a briefing, classified or otherwise, on the precise details.
00:22:05.540So I see the reports that are coming out.0.70
00:22:07.500I see the propaganda that Iran and their allies are putting out.
00:22:11.260I see what left-wingers who hate the president are putting out.0.51
00:22:15.020And then I also see the reports of the calls that the administration is putting on for reporters.
00:22:20.420But the details of the deal I don't have right now.
00:22:24.580So what precisely is agreed upon or should be agreed upon?
00:22:29.020Until I see what the details are, it's hard to have a fully formed opinion.
00:22:35.420But the Strait of Hormuz needs to be free and open.
00:22:50.800Look, I think anything that results in the regime in Iran being stronger is a bad outcome.0.81
00:22:57.380The outcome I would like to see is regime collapse, not to have Iran governed by Islamist radicals who chant death to America.
00:23:07.300Look, who they choose to govern themselves, that's for the Iranian people.0.87
00:23:10.760I don't want America to be in the business of nation building.
00:23:13.840I don't want us to be running other countries.
00:23:16.400But not having a government in place that is trying to kill us, I think, is very much in our interest.
00:23:22.580So the Strait of Hormuz, I think the president is focused very clearly on opening it up, but he is also right now exercising asymmetric power.
00:23:33.420Right now, there is very little direct military conflict happening in and around Iran.0.83
00:23:40.220We're not actively bombing and shooting right now, but we are blockading Iran, bringing oil in and out of the nation.
00:23:48.360That is putting massive economic costs on Iran, and I think it's one of the real lever points to get this conflict to end.0.52
00:23:56.360I think we will see it end, and I hope it ends soon, but I also hope that the president holds the line
00:24:03.380and ends with a victory that builds upon the incredible victories the United States has won the past several months.
00:24:11.220Well, and you mentioned even the Abraham Accords and other countries going to come into that.
00:24:14.720That could be a massive byproduct of all of this.
00:24:18.360I want to move back to the elections here, the midterms here.
00:24:22.160One of the most interesting things about the midterms is—
00:24:24.380By the way, Ben, I mentioned that I was at the signing of the Abraham Accords.
00:24:30.060Do you know how many Democrats came to that signing?
00:27:18.380And I keep saying the same thing over and over again.
00:27:20.780Look at who the Democrats are running.
00:27:23.380There are radicals in the Democratic Party that they are running instead of what I would argue would be the easiest way to win if you think you have an advantage.
00:27:32.740And that would be to run moderate Democrats that are that are like not crazy and hate law enforcement and want to abolish ICE and want to get rid of, you know, law and order and basic things in America, like waste, fraud and abuse, for example.
00:27:46.940And the funds that we've seen have been stolen through Medicare, Medicaid and hospice.
00:27:50.600And the list goes on and on as keeps growing.
00:27:52.860But right now, I'm not that sour on the midterms, Senator, because I see who they're running and I think that's their biggest liability.
00:28:01.400And some of these are in very big races where I'm sitting there going, if you're saying you wouldn't have taken this risk with this candidate, but I also think it tells you about the Democratic Party.
00:28:10.860They're not saying they want to run these radical extremists, candidates have said insane things in their past.
00:28:17.140Yeah, look, I got to say you're right that this is potentially a bumpy political environment in November, although I'm still optimistic.
00:28:24.320I'm optimistic we hold and grow our majorities in both the House and Senate.
00:28:27.820I don't think that is off the table at all.
00:28:29.880I think it's very much in flux right now. But I will say that the Democrats are helping us
00:28:36.720by nominating some of the craziest loons I've ever seen. Listen, and parties can do a lot to
00:28:43.720affect their outcome in the general. If you nominate strong candidates who are widely appealing,
00:28:48.220who are attractive, who have real records of success, that can be formidable. And if you
00:28:52.700nominate lunatics who scare the voters, that can hand the election to your opponents. And I got to0.98
00:28:59.040say, I think there's no candidate in the country that better embodies just how bat crap crazy the0.99
00:29:05.440Democrats have gotten than Graham Plattner. Graham Plattner, their nominee for Senate in Maine. Now0.87
00:29:12.500let's start off. Look, Maine is one of the obvious pickup opportunities for the Democrats. Maine is0.99
00:29:18.100a blue state. Susan Collins, the Republican senator, is the only Republican elected in all
00:29:23.160of New England. And so in a state that votes by a large margin against Donald Trump, if you're the
00:29:30.200Democrats, that's an obvious place to say, all right, let's target and pick up there. And in
00:29:34.360fact, Janet Mills, Democrat governor, relatively popular in the state, was running. And yet the
00:29:41.080party has gone so crazy that their own governor was deemed not crazy enough. And instead they went
00:29:47.860with Graham Plattner. Look, the governor might have been-
00:29:51.460By the way, I wish you were joking, but you're really not.
00:29:53.620I mean, if you're an extreme Democrat three, four years ago, you're now moderate in the Democratic Party.
00:35:28.180And I got to say, having seen this guy's like daily drip of oppo between now and November is going to be interesting because because I guarantee you there's a lot more coming.