Verdict with Ted Cruz - April 15, 2024


Iran's Attack on Israel Was FUNDED by Biden & The Dems-and They're Pressing Israel to do NOTHING!


Episode Stats


Length

44 minutes

Words per minute

164.9518

Word count

7,273

Sentence count

556

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Toxicity

19

sentences flagged

Hate speech

38

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz and Ben Fergusons discuss the first direct attack on Israel by Iran and how the Biden administration is to blame for it. They discuss the dangers of the Biden foreign policy of appeasement and how it is costing our friends and allies billions of dollars.

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.
00:00:02.560 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.500 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you,
00:00:09.620 and Senator Israel under attack yet again.
00:00:12.540 Unfortunately, this was predictable, especially since the United States of America
00:00:16.620 had taken its hand off of Israel with the Biden administration leading the way on that.
00:00:22.200 Well, we are right now talking a couple of minutes before 11 p.m. on Sunday,
00:00:26.180 and the eyes of the world are on Israel and Iran.
00:00:30.300 As in the last 24 hours, over 300 drones and cruise missiles from Iran went into Israel.
00:00:37.480 Now, to Israel's credit, the Iron Dome and its missile defense systems intercepted virtually all of them, 0.60
00:00:43.380 but it was the first direct attack on Israel from Iran in history,
00:00:48.580 and it is an extraordinary escalation of what has been going on.
00:00:53.240 This, tragically, is the result of the Biden foreign policy of appeasement,
00:01:00.000 and the entire Democrat Party backing away from Israel and sending billions of dollars to Iran.
00:01:10.560 In a very real sense, the missiles that Iran fired at Israel were paid for by the Biden administration.
00:01:21.580 At this point, the safety and security of the men and women in Israel,
00:01:28.200 the men and women in the Middle East,
00:01:29.540 and potentially more broadly are all in jeopardy as the world waits with bated breath to see what happens next.
00:01:37.260 It is shocking, and I want to talk about that money aspect of this that you just mentioned,
00:01:42.320 the warnings that you have made on this show multiple times.
00:01:45.100 We're going to go back through that.
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00:03:18.100 Senator, let's start with the money.
00:03:19.560 And I've got a lot of questions that I want to get to.
00:03:22.260 So we're going to be moving quickly.
00:03:23.960 If you're taking notes, get ready.
00:03:26.180 When it comes to the money, there are two things the Biden administration has done
00:03:30.240 that has helped the Iranian economy and the Iranian Ayatollah commit these atrocities against Israel 0.88
00:03:38.200 and also work with any terrorist organizations they want to support, whether it's Hamas or Hezbollah.
00:03:43.060 It doesn't really matter.
00:03:44.460 Those two things.
00:03:45.560 One, or we do technically have sanctions on Iranian oil, but we're not enforcing those.
00:03:50.340 And we've also allowed direct access to cash that Iran can now grab that we had basically seized and locked up. 0.56
00:03:58.580 How much money do they have now because of Biden's policies?
00:04:03.340 It is well over $100 billion.
00:04:05.480 But sadly, Ben, there are a lot more than two things that they have done.
00:04:08.400 From the beginning, the Biden administration has simultaneously flooded our enemies with cash.
00:04:17.340 Their approach to every enemy of America from day one has been appeasement and usually in the form of billions of dollars.
00:04:24.640 And simultaneously, they have undermined our friends and allies and especially Israel again from day one. 0.79
00:04:30.800 Let's break them down piece by piece.
00:04:32.620 To Iran itself, you have, number one, $16 billion in direct funds, $6 billion that everyone talked about that was ransomed for five Americans.
00:04:42.480 That was widely denounced by me and many others.
00:04:45.580 On top of that, there was another $10 billion of money that was frozen in Iraq that the Biden administration unfroze to allow to flow back to Iran.
00:04:55.100 That takes you up to $16 billion.
00:04:57.220 The biggest component is refusing to enforce oil sanctions that has caused Iranian oil exports to skyrocket.
00:05:06.400 That is in excess of $80 billion.
00:05:08.300 We're going to come back to that one in a minute.
00:05:10.200 But not just that.
00:05:11.560 You have to understand, the Biden administration has lifted sanctions on Iran's proxies on the Houthis in Yemen who were funded by Iran.
00:05:21.100 If you look at Gaza and Hamas that carried out the October 7th terror attack, Hamas, over 90% of its funding comes from Iran.
00:05:32.860 And what did Biden do?
00:05:33.860 He sent hundreds of millions of dollars into Gaza that went directly into the hands of Hamas that in all likelihood was used to finance some or all of the October 7th terror attack.
00:05:44.400 The same thing is true with flooding money into Lebanon, much of which ends up in the hands of Hezbollah.
00:05:50.060 Hezbollah, again, over 90% of its budget comes from Iran.
00:05:54.360 On top of that, even more amazingly, the Biden administration allowed the U.N. sanctions, the international sanctions on missiles in Iran to expire.
00:06:06.160 They did this in the midst of Iran, funding Hamas, funding Hezbollah, funding October 7th, and launching over 100 attacks on U.S. servicemen and women.
00:06:17.140 On October 7th, more than 1,200 Israelis were murdered.
00:06:23.200 That included roughly 30 Americans who were murdered.
00:06:26.220 We still have American hostages.
00:06:28.220 We still have Israeli hostages. 0.81
00:06:31.160 Not only that, we have three servicemen and women.
00:06:33.100 The Iranians have murdered in their more than 100 attacks. 1.00
00:06:36.300 And what does the Biden administration keep doing? 0.98
00:06:39.420 Shoveling cash to this theocratic, lunatic Ayatollah. 0.95
00:06:45.800 Senator, this Ayatollah also that chanced death to America, there's also another problem. 0.99
00:06:51.060 And that is that the weapons inspectors that deal with nuclear weapons, they've been kicked out of Iran.
00:06:57.960 And yet we still have this Iranian nuclear deal.
00:07:00.940 And I can't believe for a second that Iran wouldn't use a nuclear weapon if they have one or if they get one based on what they just did with this indiscriminate massive attack on Israel. 0.94
00:07:14.460 Well, we don't know if they have a nuclear weapon.
00:07:18.120 If they don't have one, they are very, very close.
00:07:21.000 And they are very, very close because Joe Biden has flooded so much cash into them to put them in a position to have this kind of money.
00:07:30.420 Let's look at oil exports.
00:07:31.660 And I said I wanted to come back to this.
00:07:33.240 So during the Trump administration, when President Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, which was absolutely the right thing to do, at the time, Iran was exporting roughly a million barrels of oil a day.
00:07:48.580 When Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, he kept in place an oil waiver.
00:07:54.340 That waiver allowed Iran to continue selling a million barrels a day of oil.
00:07:58.900 I thought that was an enormous mistake.
00:08:00.700 So once we pulled out of the Obama nuclear deal, I pressed President Trump repeatedly to end the oil waiver.
00:08:08.300 There was a fight between the State Department and the Energy Department.
00:08:11.540 The State Department under Trump wanted to keep the oil waiver in place.
00:08:15.040 They said that if we ended the oil waiver, the price of oil and the price of gasoline would skyrocket.
00:08:19.580 The Department of Energy under Trump, which presumably are experts in energy, said that's ridiculous.
00:08:24.800 There's plenty of global oil.
00:08:26.800 This won't affect the price.
00:08:28.080 As I said, I leaned in repeatedly with Trump on Air Force One and the Oval Office.
00:08:33.420 He agreed with me.
00:08:34.720 He overruled his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.
00:08:37.980 He ended the oil waivers.
00:08:39.900 And it turns out we now know that the Department of Energy was right and state was wrong.
00:08:44.920 That the Iranian oil exports cratered.
00:08:49.360 They fell to roughly 300,000 barrels a day, but the price of oil had barely a blip.
00:08:55.120 It had a negligible effect.
00:08:56.660 Well, fast forward to Joe Biden coming into office.
00:08:58.800 Joe Biden came into office and almost immediately he stopped enforcing those oil sanctions.
00:09:04.400 And again, almost immediately, as a direct result, Iran's oil sanctions skyrocketed.
00:09:10.020 Now, at the time of October 7th, do you know what Iran's oil exports were, or production rather, was?
00:09:17.400 What was it?
00:09:18.880 Two million barrels a day.
00:09:21.580 Yeah.
00:09:22.540 More than double what it had been before the oil waivers were ended.
00:09:25.940 Nearly eight times, seven times, what they were when Biden came into office.
00:09:33.620 Do you know what their oil exports, their production is right now in April of 2024?
00:09:38.760 What is it?
00:09:40.060 3.4 million barrels a day.
00:09:43.720 So let's talk cash.
00:09:45.640 What type of cash are we now dealing with that they have their hands on?
00:09:49.020 Because we are not enforcing our embargo on their oil right now.
00:09:53.480 So we're looking at easily in excess of $100 billion.
00:09:57.240 Depends on the prices they're getting.
00:09:58.940 They're selling it primarily to the Chinese communists.
00:10:02.260 You have to assume they're selling it at something of a discount.
00:10:05.380 But even so, this is easily $100 billion that Joe Biden just handed to the Ayatollah.
00:10:11.080 And mind you, didn't just hand before October 7th.
00:10:16.340 After October 7th, he continues handing.
00:10:18.960 Today, Iran just launched all these missiles.
00:10:22.000 You know what? Joe Biden hadn't done anything to enforce the oil sanctions.
00:10:25.220 The number of 3.4 million barrels a day is from right now.
00:10:29.520 That's April of 2024.
00:10:31.080 The Ayatollah is rolling in cash, which is why he can afford to send 300 drones and 300 cruise missiles.
00:10:37.160 And I will tell you, it is not just Biden.
00:10:41.760 This is one of the most important points.
00:10:43.840 A lot of folks focus on the squad.
00:10:45.680 They focus on AOC and Omar and Tlaib and the radicals in the House.
00:10:49.960 Those guys are a problem.
00:10:51.780 Yes, they're rabidly anti-Israel. 0.96
00:10:53.800 They make anti-Semitic tropes constantly.
00:10:57.080 But the problem is not the fringe.
00:11:00.280 The problem is the so-called mainstream Democrats.
00:11:04.200 The problem is Joe Biden.
00:11:05.180 The problem is Chuck Schumer.
00:11:06.560 The problem is Nancy Pelosi. 0.99
00:11:08.100 After October 7th, just recently, just a couple of weeks ago, I forced a vote on the Senate floor to bar the Biden administration from sending billions of dollars to Iran.
00:11:20.860 Iran. Now, this should be easy. 1.00
00:11:23.720 Iran funded October 7th. 0.85
00:11:27.180 Iran is still actively trying to kill U.S. servicemen and women. 0.70
00:11:31.760 Iran is still trying to actively murder former U.S. senior officials, including Mike Pompeo, the former Secretary of State, including John Bolton, the former National Security Advisor, including Brian Hook, the former Assistant Secretary of State.
00:11:44.000 I forced a vote on the Senate floor.
00:11:46.880 Every single Democrat, all of them, except Bob Benendez, every Democrat but one voted no.
00:11:54.920 They voted to continue sending Iran billions of dollars.
00:11:58.560 That was just a couple of weeks ago.
00:11:59.580 So you look at the cash and then let's move to the second part here, and that is, all right, so the U.N.'s and the Security Council emergency meeting right now, they're demanding that Israel show restraint.
00:12:12.300 We're also getting reporting now from Axios that Biden told apparently Netanyahu the U.S. won't support an Israeli counterattack on Iran, which is unfortunately not shocking.
00:12:25.300 I actually, you talked about this, it's very clear now, actions speak louder than words, and this president and the Biden administration and their foreign policy is Israel bad, everybody else can do what they want to do.
00:12:37.680 What is the response now going to be when you go back to Washington this week and you can't say, hey, we need to put sanctions on Iranian oil.
00:12:44.660 We've already done that.
00:12:45.640 So do you say we want to enforce it?
00:12:47.400 And what about the White House?
00:12:48.500 Well, the Biden administration's message and the message of every Democrat in Congress is there is no military solution for our allies, but our enemies are allowed to win.
00:13:01.700 Our enemies are allowed to attack and attack and attack, and our allies have to do nothing about it.
00:13:06.820 Understand, the money that they flood to Iran, you know who they're not flooding money to?
00:13:11.640 Israel.
00:13:12.700 Yeah.
00:13:12.880 Remember, there's a $14 billion Israel aid package came out of the House of Representatives, and what did Chuck Schumer do?
00:13:22.440 He refused to allow a vote on it.
00:13:24.360 He blocked it.
00:13:25.080 He said, we will not vote on this unless it's tied to Ukraine and the rest of the Democrat priorities.
00:13:30.120 Now, if you'll recall, several months ago, I and several other Republicans forced a vote on emergency military aid to Israel on the Senate floor.
00:13:39.700 We released yesterday on Sunday that podcast that we did several months ago describing exactly what happened.
00:13:47.880 We put that out as a bonus pod because it is incredibly relevant now.
00:13:52.240 If you didn't listen to yesterday's podcast, you ought to go back and listen to it.
00:13:55.680 The day of that vote was the day of the March for Israel.
00:13:59.500 There were over 300,000 people that came to the mall that were out there marching in support of Israel.
00:14:03.940 I was there.
00:14:04.740 I was on the mall marching in support for Israel.
00:14:07.080 A number of Democrat senators were there, including Democrat senators Jackie Rosen, Democrat from Nevada, was on the stage speaking in support of Israel.
00:14:16.140 Immediately after that march, I and several other Republican senators, we forced a vote on emergency military aid to Israel.
00:14:24.660 Chuck Schumer was furious.
00:14:25.860 We used a parliamentary technique that's called a rogue cloture petition, which is a method that the minority can seize control of the floor.
00:14:33.880 It's rare to use, and frankly, Schumer was sloppy as majority leader to let us use it, but we succeeded in using it, and we forced that vote.
00:14:43.360 Every single Democrat, all of them with no exceptions, voted against emergency military aid to Israel.
00:14:50.880 They literally left to march for Israel, came back and said, no money for Israel, none.
00:14:57.700 And by the way, their stated justification was because the House had paid for it by removing that money from the $80 billion the Democrats had given to hire 87,000 new IRS agents.
00:15:10.500 So because instead the IRS was only getting $66 billion instead of $80 billion, the Democrats said, nope, we care more about adding IRS agents than we do about supporting Israel against our terrorist enemies.
00:15:28.860 Now, I will say, in the last 24 hours, Chuck Schumer sent out a tweet saying, we stand strongly with Israel, we will have your backs, to which I immediately responded, well, I'm glad you're saying that because you're the one who blocked emergency military aid to Israel, and every single Democrat senator voted with you.
00:15:47.840 So you know what we ought to do today, Monday, we ought to come back, and we ought to take that bill up, and we ought to pass emergency military aid to Israel.
00:15:56.980 I'm confident the House is going to do that again.
00:15:58.920 The House is going to send it to us, and we'll see what the Democrats do.
00:16:01.760 My suspicion is the Democrats will line up as they did before to say, no, no, no, no, no, we only give money to the enemies of America.
00:16:09.240 We only give money to Iran.
00:16:10.840 We only give money to Hamas. 0.78
00:16:12.100 We only give money to people who want to kill us.
00:16:14.260 Our actual friends, we won't give money to.
00:16:17.380 But you know what?
00:16:18.600 Every Democrat will have a chance to put action to their words.
00:16:24.160 A bunch of Democrats have been tweeting out right now, we stand with Israel.
00:16:28.240 Well, talk's cheap.
00:16:30.060 Are you willing to fund the response?
00:16:32.300 And we know that Biden's answer is, at least, as is being widely reported, as he told Netanyahu, do not attack, do not strike back, take the win.
00:16:41.520 And he said, what a bizarre – can you imagine if America, if somebody fired 300 missiles at America, and some foreign leader called up the U.S. president and said, hey, take the win.
00:16:55.360 The missiles, you guys were able to intercept them so people didn't die.
00:16:58.520 Just say, woo-hoo, we're fine, and do nothing.
00:17:00.600 I mean, that's what Biden is saying to Israel, do nothing.
00:17:05.360 You even saw this on TV today.
00:17:07.600 There was many of the commentators on TV that were saying exactly that.
00:17:12.040 Look, this is a big success and a big test for the Iron Dome, and it's clear that Israel can defend itself, and there's no reason to escalate this. 0.66
00:17:19.900 Because now – and this was said on TV today, I think it was on CBS – they literally said, so, because now, you've got to assume – this is their words – that Iran is probably out of missiles and couldn't do the same type of attack today, even if they wanted to.
00:17:37.380 So, therefore, Israel should do nothing. 0.59
00:17:38.980 Just celebrate the win.
00:17:41.740 At every stage, Biden and Schumer and the Democrats have had the same message.
00:17:46.520 Number one, no matter what Iran does, no matter what our enemies do, they want to keep sending the money. 0.51
00:17:52.120 I genuinely do not understand it.
00:17:54.560 It's pathological.
00:17:55.900 When someone chants, death to America and death to Israel, my reaction is not, I'm going to send you money.
00:18:02.360 That apparently is Joe Biden's reaction, Chuck Schumer's reaction.
00:18:06.200 That apparently is Nancy Pelosi's reaction, and that's every other Democrat's reaction. 1.00
00:18:10.200 I don't get that.
00:18:11.420 But secondly, at every stage, their position has been to Israel, don't defend yourself, don't do anything.
00:18:19.400 Remember, when October 7th was happening, literally at 3 in the morning, on the day of October 7th, when the bodies of the 1,200 Israelis who had been murdered were still warm,
00:18:31.040 the Biden State Department tweeted out urging Israel not to retaliate.
00:18:37.240 This is after the murder of 1,200 civilians.
00:18:39.980 This is after the rape of women and children.
00:18:42.220 This is after infants were slaughtered. 0.86
00:18:43.920 The position of the Biden State Department was do not retaliate.
00:18:47.060 I blasted that at 3 in the morning, and thankfully they deleted it.
00:18:50.340 They realized, oh, we can't say this quite yet.
00:18:52.180 But to be clear, the next day, that would be October 8th, Tony Blinken, with his own Twitter account, sent out another tweet saying he had just talked with a Turkish foreign minister and Israel should not retaliate.
00:19:04.460 That was their message the day after.
00:19:06.460 Again, I blasted the Biden State Department.
00:19:08.840 Again, they deleted that tweet.
00:19:09.980 There were two tweets within 24 hours of the October 7th massacre, and the immediate knee-jerk reaction of Biden was do not retaliate, do not retaliate.
00:19:18.560 Now, what have they said every day since then?
00:19:20.620 Their position has been, stop, we need a ceasefire, we need a pause, stop killing Hamas, stop killing terrorists, stop going after the bad guy. 0.72
00:19:28.260 Now, their position after Iran launches 300 missiles and drones into Israel, do not retaliate. 0.52
00:19:35.820 We will not support you. 0.99
00:19:37.080 It is asinine. 0.99
00:19:39.280 And you asked what Congress is doing. 0.99
00:19:40.900 Well, I'll tell you one thing.
00:19:42.480 This coming week, we've got a markup in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
00:19:46.100 and I've got a number of Iran-related amendments that I've already filed.
00:19:50.500 I have one that I'm looking to get a vote on to sanction all Hamas members. 1.00
00:19:54.240 I have another to sanction the Houthis for using Iranian missiles. 0.71
00:19:57.740 I have another amendment to sanction the IRGC in Iran for using Iranian missiles against the United States.
00:20:04.120 I have another one to tag Iran's vessels to shut down their oil money. 0.91
00:20:07.940 And I have another one that says no suspending sanctions to send money to Gaza.
00:20:13.280 I got to tell you, I think I know what's going to happen.
00:20:16.660 We're going to see the Democrats vote against those amendments because their position is no matter how much you hate America,
00:20:23.000 no matter how many Jews you kill, no matter how many Americans you kill, we, the Democrats, will keep sending you money. 0.87
00:20:29.500 Yeah, it's incredible. 0.98
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00:22:12.620 Senator, let's also talk real quick about the United Nations.
00:22:17.280 It seems very clear that the United Nations is hanging Israel out to dry.
00:22:22.780 Israel calls for new sanctions on Iran, and the U.N. Security Council apparently said,
00:22:28.260 you guys better be careful what your response is.
00:22:30.780 Not really worried about Israel, but worried about what they may do in response, protecting Iran.
00:22:38.640 Well, that's exactly right.
00:22:40.340 As we're sitting here today, it is a few minutes before midnight, Sunday night,
00:22:43.960 and there's an emergency Security Council meeting going on as we speak.
00:22:49.180 And Israel called it.
00:22:52.020 Israel called it seeking to discuss, to force a vote to urge the United Nations to impose sanctions on Iran in response to the attack.
00:23:02.380 And the response to that is the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres,
00:23:09.920 told the Council that it was, quote, time to step back from the brink,
00:23:13.520 and that its members had the collective responsibility, quote,
00:23:17.920 to actively engage all parties concerned to prevent further escalation.
00:23:21.920 You notice they never say this about Hamas.
00:23:24.580 They never say this about Iran.
00:23:25.800 It's always Israel. 0.99
00:23:26.800 Just don't retaliate. 0.99
00:23:28.280 Just take people mass-murdering your citizens. 0.98
00:23:30.780 Just take missiles being fired into your cities.
00:23:33.860 If you look at it, so on Sunday, both Israel's and Iran's ambassadors gave fiery comments.
00:23:42.160 Israel's ambassador said that Iran's attack had, quote, crossed every red line,
00:23:46.740 and that Israel reserved the right to retaliate.
00:23:49.260 And he urged the UN to take severe actions, including crippling sanctions.
00:23:55.420 And here's one thing he said, quote,
00:23:57.460 The fact that Israel's air defense proved to be superior does not change the brutality of Iran's attack. 0.97
00:24:04.500 Iran's ambassador, on the other hand, argued that Iran had a, quote,
00:24:08.500 inherent right to self-defense after Israel's attack on its diplomatic compound.
00:24:13.700 And understand, Iran is very upset that Israel, in fighting back, took out a senior general and several Iran military officials.
00:24:22.460 But understand, Iran is who funded October 7th.
00:24:26.400 Iran is who funds Hamas. 0.94
00:24:27.920 Iran is who trained the Hamas terrorists. 0.93
00:24:30.620 And so Iran has this very strange view that it can pay people to attack and murder other countries and not have them strike back. 0.82
00:24:38.820 The Iranian ambassador said Iran, quote, does not seek escalation or war in the region,
00:24:44.200 but that if its interest came under attack, it would, quote,
00:24:48.020 respond to any such aggressions vigorously and in accordance with international law.
00:24:52.900 Nothing Iran does is in accordance with international law.
00:24:56.140 Now, Robert Wood, who is a U.S. representative of the United Nations,
00:25:01.560 told the Security Council that the Biden administration said, quote,
00:25:04.480 quote, the U.S. is not seeking escalation.
00:25:08.240 Our actions have been defensive in nature.
00:25:10.960 The U.S. goal is to de-escalate and then get back to securing an end to the war in the Gaza Strip.
00:25:20.280 This is now, on the other hand, you know who argued in favor of Iran?
00:25:26.980 Who's that?
00:25:28.280 Russia and China.
00:25:29.800 And let's be clear, when I said that Joe Biden and the Democrats have a policy of giving billions of dollars to our enemies,
00:25:39.060 that's not just Iran.
00:25:40.680 It's not just Hamas.
00:25:41.920 It's not just Hezbollah.
00:25:43.360 They also give billions of dollars to Venezuela.
00:25:46.000 They also give billions of dollars to China.
00:25:48.720 And they've also given billions of dollars to Russia.
00:25:51.440 You know, the Democrats love to talk about Russia.
00:25:53.180 But we've talked a lot on this podcast about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which I authored the bipartisan sanctions that shut the Nord Stream 2 pipeline down.
00:26:01.740 Donald Trump signed those sanctions into law.
00:26:03.840 And Joe Biden, when he came into office, waived those sanctions, gave Vladimir Putin billions and billions of dollars.
00:26:10.100 That effectively caused the war in Ukraine.
00:26:12.980 And when I forced a vote in January of 2022 to reimpose those sanctions on Russia, 44 Democrats flipped their votes.
00:26:20.620 They'd voted with me previously and voted in favor of Russia and Putin and giving them billions of dollars.
00:26:26.820 And within a month, Russia invaded Ukraine.
00:26:30.600 So this is a pattern over and over again.
00:26:32.900 And by the way, Russia is actively in Iran, helping them with nuclear technology.
00:26:38.960 Another area that I battled.
00:26:41.580 Oh, say that again. 0.69
00:26:42.820 That's big news.
00:26:44.520 It is big news.
00:26:46.340 So Russia and Iran have a very close relationship.
00:26:49.840 I mentioned when Trump pulled out of the Obama nuclear deal, there was an oil waiver.
00:26:56.120 There were also what were called civilian nuclear waivers.
00:27:00.600 And there were seven civilian nuclear waivers that remained in place.
00:27:04.320 I argued vociferously we should end the civilian nuclear waivers.
00:27:08.780 Now, once again, the State Department, and I will say the State Department has a long history of being wrong, especially under Biden.
00:27:15.280 But sadly, with some frequency under Trump, the State Department argued, no, no, no, no.
00:27:19.920 Don't end the civilian nuclear waivers.
00:27:22.960 Well, Trump agreed with me.
00:27:25.140 He overruled his own State Department.
00:27:26.760 He ended them.
00:27:27.420 Among those civilian nuclear waivers, they were allowing Russia,
00:27:30.600 to work with Iranian nuclear scientists to develop nuclear technology in an underground bunker called Fordow,
00:27:40.040 which is underneath a mountain.
00:27:41.760 And it's built under a mountain precisely to be able to develop nuclear weapons so that it would be harder to take out in a military conflict.
00:27:48.780 Now, what happened when Joe Biden came into office?
00:27:51.000 He immediately reimposed the civilian nuclear waivers.
00:27:54.100 So we've literally got Russia that is providing nuclear technology to Iran.
00:28:00.400 By the way, this is a quid pro quo.
00:28:02.880 Iran makes drones, is a critical weapons supplier to Russia.
00:28:08.340 So understand, when Biden is flowing $100 billion, now more than $100 billion to Iran, they're using them to make drones and to make cruise missiles to attack Israel.
00:28:19.900 They're using them to make weapons to attack U.S. servicemen and women.
00:28:23.100 They're using them to fund Hamas and Hezbollah to murder Israelis and to murder Americans. 0.91
00:28:27.400 But on top of that, they're manufacturing enormous numbers of drones that are going to the Russians, and the Russians are using to fight the Ukrainians. 0.73
00:28:35.840 This is a pattern.
00:28:37.260 If you are an enemy of America, lucky you, because Joe Biden and the Democrats will give you billions of dollars.
00:28:44.380 There's some new reporting that's just come out as well from Politico, and it says the U.S. to Israel, don't do something you'll regret.
00:28:51.640 It says, quote,
00:28:52.820 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. 0.98
00:28:59.320 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:29:03.140 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:29:04.240 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:29:05.460 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers,
00:29:12.500 all at different stages of their journey.
00:29:14.960 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:29:18.180 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:29:23.300 The Biden administration's main message for Israel.
00:29:26.500 Following an attack that is massive, their, quote, aerial assault comes down to this.
00:29:33.760 Stop and think.
00:29:35.120 U.S. officials expect Israel to respond in some fashion to Saturday's massive strike,
00:29:40.020 but in both public and private ways.
00:29:42.500 They are taking steps they hope will convince Israel to choose a limited response as opposed to an all-out armed counterattack.
00:29:50.960 The latter, they feel, will plunge the region into a major war.
00:29:53.500 And President Joe Biden, in particular, quote,
00:29:55.300 wants to avoid any battle that could drag in U.S. troops.
00:29:59.540 And he made that clear to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, saying, quote,
00:30:03.160 quote, this is, again, we're advising them to take a breath before responding.
00:30:08.180 A U.S. official familiar with the Middle East, one of 10 people granted an amenity to freely discuss closed-door diplomacy.
00:30:14.520 If Israel does respond, quote, it needs to be proportional and bring this cycle to an end. 0.66
00:30:23.700 Senator, this may be the biggest pipe dream I've ever heard of.
00:30:27.120 Bring this cycle to an end.
00:30:28.800 What makes you think that Iran would just stop now knowing that they can basically get away with literally murder? 0.99
00:30:36.440 The only way to bring the cycle to an end is, number one, to take away the resources from the Iranian regime that are funding these terror attacks. 0.84
00:30:45.180 It's why, look, during the whole Trump administration, I was deeply involved in pressing the administration
00:30:51.400 to enforce what was called the maximum pressure strategy, to put the maximum pressure to defund the Iranian regime.
00:31:01.120 And it succeeded.
00:31:02.720 Understand, when Joe Biden came into office, the Iranian economy was in shambles.
00:31:07.420 They were facing rampant inflation, rampant unemployment.
00:31:10.100 They were facing unrest in the streets.
00:31:12.280 The regime was in danger of being toppled.
00:31:14.700 And very few things would be better for the safety of America and the safety of the world 0.97
00:31:17.940 than for these theocratic lunatics to be out of power. 0.95
00:31:21.400 Part of the problem is, if, God forbid, the Ayatollah had a nuclear weapon, 0.98
00:31:26.460 it's one thing when you have tyrants who are secular, who have weapons of mass destruction.
00:31:34.100 It's another thing when you have people who are motivated by religion that glorifies death and suicide.
00:31:40.460 That means the ordinary cost-benefit analysis doesn't necessarily work.
00:31:43.860 And I want to share something that was put out recently by the Institute for the Study of War.
00:31:50.800 And it's an analysis of the attack.
00:31:53.680 And I want to read.
00:31:54.380 It's a nine-part tweet thread that I think is actually worth reading in full.
00:32:00.640 The Iranian April 13th missile drone attack on Israel was very likely intended to cause significant damage
00:32:06.700 below the threshold that would trigger a massive Israeli response.
00:32:12.080 The attack was designed to succeed, not to fail.
00:32:15.140 And that's in bold.
00:32:16.340 Here's the second tweet.
00:32:17.220 The strike package was modeled on those the Russians have used repeatedly against Ukraine to great effect. 0.54
00:32:25.760 The strike consisted of approximately 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles.
00:32:34.420 The drones were launched well before the ballistic missiles were fired,
00:32:39.520 very likely in the expectation that they would arrive in Israel's air defense window
00:32:44.280 at about the same time as the cruise missiles and drones.
00:32:49.160 The Russians have used such an approach against Ukraine repeatedly.
00:32:53.660 Only a few ballistic missiles penetrated Israeli air defenses and struck near Israeli military bases out of the 120 or so the Iranians fired.
00:33:06.080 Ukrainian air defenses have averaged interception rates of only about 46% of Russian ballistic missiles during recent large strikes.
00:33:15.440 The Iranians likely expected that Israeli rates would be higher than the Ukrainian rates,
00:33:21.780 but not above 90% against such a large ballistic missile salvo.
00:33:27.420 The Russians, after all, have never fired close to that many large ballistic missiles in a single strike against Ukraine.
00:33:35.160 Israel's air defense system has several obvious advantages over Ukrainian air defense,
00:33:42.200 but the full implications of some of those advantages might well have been unclear to Iranian strike planners.
00:33:50.820 Ukraine has, in particular, been unable to use combat aircraft to shoot down Russian drones and cruise missiles at scale,
00:33:59.540 and Ukrainian President Zelensky recently observed that Kyiv will likely use the F-16s Ukraine will receive this summer in those roles.
00:34:12.000 Iran will learn additional lessons from the failed attack that it can leverage to launch more successful attacks in the future. 0.99
00:34:20.360 So you look at all of that, and then you see this that just came out from the National Security Council's statement on Iranian attacks on Israel,
00:34:30.520 and I'm quoting, it says,
00:34:31.500 President Biden has been clear.
00:34:34.140 Our support for Israel's security is ironclad.
00:34:38.320 The U.S. will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran. 1.00
00:34:44.240 Okay, Senator, if that's true, then they have to give them what they need this week.
00:34:49.760 Am I wrong?
00:34:51.360 Well, if there was anything like coherence and logic, then yes.
00:34:56.500 And, number one, I'm going to predict right now Chuck Schumer is going to do everything he can to block a vote on emergency military aid to Israel.
00:35:04.360 I've called on it.
00:35:05.380 I've forced it already once.
00:35:07.100 My guess is that he will put in place parliamentary tools to prevent us from using the same technique again.
00:35:13.540 And I think the House, we've seen the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader both say that they're going to vote out an emergency military aid bill this week.
00:35:23.640 So we'll get another one that comes over to us.
00:35:25.480 And my prediction is the Democrats won't back it.
00:35:29.200 They don't want to send military aid to Israel.
00:35:32.880 And part of the problem is they've got a crisis in their caucus.
00:35:35.920 And their crisis is that the radicals, the Talibs and Omars, they more and more represent the mainstream of the Democrat Party. 0.93
00:35:44.300 And so Schumer is terrified of Michigan.
00:35:46.620 Biden is terrified of Michigan.
00:35:48.280 They're terrified of the radicals.
00:35:51.240 And so they may put out statements.
00:35:54.900 But remember, this is the same Chuck Schumer that not long ago stood on the Senate floor and demanded that Israel's elected prime minister be thrown out of office.
00:36:04.000 He decided that Israel alone among all our allies was not allowed to elect their leaders.
00:36:08.500 Every other country, you know, Schumer hasn't called for the leader of Iran to step down.
00:36:14.500 He hasn't called for the leader of Hamas or China or Russia or Venezuela or North Korea.
00:36:18.160 If you're an enemy of America, nope, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, they're giving you money.
00:36:22.660 But if you're our ally, what will Schumer say?
00:36:25.720 How dare you be in office?
00:36:27.300 We need an appeaser just like us.
00:36:31.660 The world may be up in flames right now.
00:36:34.180 Bidenomics may be a total disaster.
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00:36:39.080 I start my radio show every day, 7 a.m.
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00:38:17.340 Senator, lastly, I want to ask you about BB.
00:38:21.100 You just mentioned I was going to go there that the Senate Majority Leader said he should step down.
00:38:26.320 There's been a lot of people in the media that have been really attacking him, saying that he is a warmonger, that he's a killer, that he should not be the president.
00:38:34.560 He should not be in charge.
00:38:36.480 I don't believe we're going to see any of that stop.
00:38:39.060 But at least in the Middle East right now, and specifically in Israel, how important is his leadership?
00:38:47.340 It's extraordinarily important.
00:38:49.020 I will say I'm blessed to know Prime Minister Netanyahu very well.
00:38:52.680 I think he is a remarkable man.
00:38:55.860 When he came and addressed a joint session of Congress, and this was during the Obama administration, it was on the verge of Obama pushing through the Iran nuclear deal.
00:39:07.580 At the time, and this was a decade ago, multiple Democrats boycotted the speech.
00:39:13.900 They refused to listen to him speak.
00:39:16.760 The Democrats' hatred for Benjamin Netanyahu is nothing new.
00:39:20.580 And understand that when he was re-elected Prime Minister, Joe Biden made clear he was not welcome in the White House, that he would not be invited in the White House.
00:39:31.120 He could not come to the White House.
00:39:32.160 This is long before October 7th.
00:39:34.480 This is long before the war in Gaza.
00:39:36.060 They hate Netanyahu, but understand, they undermine every Israeli government.
00:39:42.260 They have done so from the very first days of this administration.
00:39:46.240 But Netanyahu, they have a particular loathing to because he actually understands the gravity of the threat he is facing.
00:39:54.280 He understands that when the Ayatollah says death to Israel, he's not playing around.
00:40:00.300 He actually means it.
00:40:01.340 When he says death to America, he's not playing around.
00:40:04.220 He actually means it.
00:40:06.060 And listen, I've been blessed in 12 years in the Senate, I've met many world leaders.
00:40:12.140 That's one of the most incredible parts of the job is you get to sit down with people that are leading our friends, leading other countries, leading our competitors.
00:40:21.020 There is no world leader who has impressed me more.
00:40:24.540 There's no world leader who, frankly, has taken my breath away more than Benjamin Netanyahu because he has a seriousness of purpose.
00:40:33.600 He is the only world leader for whom I have used the adjective Churchillian.
00:40:39.300 In my office in D.C., I have three busts.
00:40:43.220 I have a bust of Ronald Reagan.
00:40:45.860 I have a bust of Churchill.
00:40:47.680 And I have a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
00:40:50.520 And I have those three busts because they are all men who had extraordinary vision.
00:40:55.680 They faced remarkable challenges.
00:40:57.940 They saw a world that was better than the world they were living in.
00:41:01.140 And their vision helped bring the world to a better place with extraordinary courage and clarity.
00:41:08.200 And I have to tell you, I think Netanyahu has that same courage and clarity.
00:41:14.460 Now, it is not my role to tell the people of Israel who their prime minister should be.
00:41:21.960 So when Netanyahu was prime minister, when I started in the Senate, I dealt with him because he was the leader, the elected leader of Israel.
00:41:30.700 When the people of Israel elected Naftali Bennett, I dealt with him.
00:41:35.260 Whomever the people of Israel elect, I will deal with the elected leader.
00:41:39.440 But the people of Israel reelected Benjamin Netanyahu.
00:41:43.120 And I respect the choice of the people of Israel.
00:41:45.560 There is an arrogance in Democrat foreign policy, but also in some Republican foreign policy, that they think they can meddle in the internal politics of foreign nations, and especially our friends and allies, that they can do what Chuck Schumer did, which is tell the people of Israel,
00:42:03.220 Tsk, tsk, you have no business electing Netanyahu.
00:42:06.620 Throw him out now.
00:42:08.120 And they treat him like the voters, the people of Israel, like the red-haired stepchildren. 0.99
00:42:13.820 It is ridiculous. 0.72
00:42:15.060 You know, it's much like, look, there have been long debates in Washington about a two-state solution, and every Democrat says we must have a two-state solution. 0.70
00:42:27.060 Many Republicans say we must have a two-state solution.
00:42:30.060 My view on that is that's a decision for the people of Israel to make.
00:42:35.620 They care acutely about their security.
00:42:37.680 If the people of Israel decide that a two-state solution is workable, I respect that decision. 0.70
00:42:43.700 If they decide it's not because the terrorists with whom they are dealing, the Hamas and Hezbollah, will not accept Israel's right to exist and will wage war on them, I respect that decision as well. 0.98
00:42:55.840 And so I will say when it comes to Prime Minister Netanyahu, it's the choice of the people of Israel that he should be their leader.
00:43:03.640 I respect their choice.
00:43:05.220 But at the same time, I think he is a leader who understands the seriousness of these threats and is not cowed by the aggression of Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran or anyone else.
00:43:17.540 He is bound and determined to protect the people of Israel.
00:43:20.920 This week is going to be a very important week.
00:43:23.680 We're going to be covering it for you on Wednesday, Friday, and if anything massive happens in between, we will more than likely get out of pod right away.
00:43:31.960 So make sure you hit that subscribe auto-download button right now wherever you get your podcasts.
00:43:38.280 Also, if you'll please help us by writing us a five-star review and post this podcast on your social media so others can hear it.
00:43:46.140 We will be saying prayers for the people of Israel, and we'll be back here Wednesday morning.
00:43:51.220 Don't forget, on those in-between days, you can grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcast, and I'll keep you updated on the latest breaking news on those in-between days.
00:43:59.200 The Senator and I will see you back here Wednesday.
00:44:01.840 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:44:04.740 Guaranteed Human.