Verdict with Ted Cruz - Iran's Problem w Trump as POTUS, Harris PAID Celebrities to Like Her & Details of Picking a Sen. Majority Leader Week In Review

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.

00:00:04.540 Welcome.

00:00:05.280 It is Verdict with Ted Cruz and the Week in Review.

00:00:08.400 Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.540 And these are the major stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week.

00:00:13.520 First up, Donald Trump now responding to an Iranian plot to take his own life.

00:00:19.360 And why did we only find out about this after Election Day?

00:00:23.080 We'll dive into that in just a moment.

00:00:24.880 Also, Kamala Harris blew through a billion dollars with her campaign. 1.00

00:00:30.000 And she made a lot of people rich in the process. 1.00

00:00:33.840 So why is it that so many celebrities took major paychecks from donors instead of, quote, doing the right thing to support Kamala?

00:00:42.740 We'll break down the money and who got rich.

00:00:45.780 Also, the purpose of secret ballot for selecting the Senate majority leader?

00:00:50.840 Well, what actually happened behind the scenes?

00:00:53.040 Senator Cruz and I break down exactly how that vote took place.

00:00:56.980 It's the Week in Review, and it starts right now.

00:01:00.820 You hear this plot and you sit there and you go, how on earth has the Biden-Harris administration allowed Iran to get to this point where they can just easily go out into the United States of America,

00:01:13.820 knock on people's doors in America, get away with this, and not hold them accountable for any of this while they're also attacking Israel?

00:01:23.020 And the question is, number one, let's start with the real political aspect of this.

00:01:29.200 What does a Trump administration response need to be with this?

00:01:32.200 I'm not saying because they were targeting Trump.

00:01:33.900 I'm saying the president of the United States of America, regardless of who that person is, should never allow Iran to feel this comfortable on American soil to do this, 0.93

00:01:42.660 much less plan to take out our president or a former president of the United States of America.

00:01:47.760 Well, Election Day was a fantastic day for America.

00:01:51.460 It was a fantastic day for everyone who wants to see jobs, who wants to see border security, who wants to see national security enhanced.

00:01:58.560 But it was a terrible, terrible day for the Ayatollah and the Iranian mullahs. 0.80

00:02:04.020 For four years, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, with the support of every Democrat in Congress, they have funneled over $100 billion to Iran.

00:02:13.380 It's not just that Biden-Harris allowed Iran to do this.

00:02:16.200 They paid for it.

00:02:17.360 $100 billion is a lot of money.

00:02:19.280 I'm here to tell you that is going to end in January of next year.

00:02:22.180 The Trump administration is going to cut off the money.

00:02:24.260 That's going to be the beginning, and I expect serious consequences for Iran repeatedly trying to murder President Trump. 1.00

00:02:34.140 I don't know what those consequences will be, but I guarantee you the Ayatollahs are – the Ayatollahs and the mullahs are deeply, deeply worried and scared.

00:02:44.060 And the brazenness of this – and look, understand, the Justice Department knew about this.

00:02:49.400 They deliberately did not make it public until after Election Day.

00:02:55.000 I think they had a judgment.

00:02:56.920 Well, gosh, if people know that Iran is, like, actively trying to murder Trump, if they know the details of this, that's going to end up benefiting Trump. 0.73

00:03:04.300 So let's just keep it quiet.

00:03:06.540 And, well, Trump won.

00:03:09.940 So then it was cover your A-double-S?

00:03:11.900 Is that a fair way of describing this?

00:03:13.580 You know, yes and no.

00:03:14.900 I mean, look, they had to file the complaint at some point.

00:03:17.160 So they're prosecuting these folks.

00:03:19.180 So it was inevitable that it would be filed because you can't prosecute them without filing the indictment and bringing charges.

00:03:26.620 The timing, the fact that they did not say anything public – look, DOJ has longstanding rules that you're not supposed to do anything to interfere in an election.

00:03:35.780 I would say that foiling an assassination attempt by a foreign government is not DOJ doing something to interfere with an election.

00:03:44.700 It is instead DOJ doing its job, and I think the public has a right to know that.

00:03:50.480 But – and so I think their decision to bury it – and listen, under Joe Biden, this Biden Department of Justice, if there's one thing they know how to do, it is leak.

00:03:58.940 Merrick Garland and his team, they leak like crazy when the story – when the story suits them politically, they give it to all their buddies in the press.

00:04:06.820 This thing stayed absolutely silent until after Election Day.

00:04:10.660 They also kept silent the murder attempt of the U.S. citizen by Iran because it also shows the incredible weakness of this administration,

00:04:20.160 just how much they've emboldened Iran that they feel that they could carry out attempted murder plots on U.S. soil. 0.71

00:04:30.000 It is a real demonstration of the basic principle that weakness invites hostility.

00:04:36.640 In this case, Iran was only emboldened by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' weakness.

00:04:41.320 Yeah, and Fox News, when they reported on this, it was very interesting to see how they report it.

00:04:45.400 And I want to play this, people, and I want you to think about why you didn't know this before Election Day.

00:04:51.900 Listen.

00:04:52.440 The Justice Department unsealing criminal charges in a thwarted Iranian plot to kill President-elect Donald Trump in the lead-up to this week's election.

00:05:00.800 Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto.

00:05:02.840 There's still a lot we don't know about this, but David Spunt piecing together what we do.

00:05:09.060 David.

00:05:09.320 Neil, we know it's just another threat coming from Iran directed at President-elect Donald Trump.

00:05:16.000 The man that authorities are looking for is a 51-year-old who is allegedly working with the Iranian regime on a plan to kill Trump.

00:05:23.520 His name is Farhad Shaqiri.

00:05:25.160 Authorities believe he's in Iran right now as I speak to you.

00:05:28.320 According to a criminal complaint on CO2 Today, Shaqiri demanded large sums of money for working on this plot to kill Trump over the past few months.

00:05:36.560 As stated in a complaint, Shaqiri indicated to an Iranian government official that this would cost a huge amount of money.

00:05:44.680 In response, the Iranian official said,

00:05:47.080 We have already spent a lot of money, so the money's not an issue.

00:05:50.720 In a statement from FBI Director Christopher Wray, he says the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated foreign terrorist organization,

00:05:58.980 has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on U.S. soil,

00:06:04.100 and that simply won't be tolerated thanks to the hard work of the FBI.

00:06:08.040 Their deadly schemes were disrupted.

00:06:10.280 By the way, they said, and this is the part I want to ask you, they said it was won't be tolerated.

00:06:16.080 But I'm not sure I believe that, based on what we know now.

00:06:20.440 It seems like we've been tolerating Iran basically doing whatever the hell they want to do for quite some time in the world. 0.98

00:06:27.800 Well, that's right.

00:06:28.960 And look, it's important to understand a lot of the press, when they talk about Donald Trump's foreign policy, they mischaracterize it.

00:06:35.920 There are a lot of folks that characterize Trump as an isolationist.

00:06:39.220 That's not remotely the case.

00:06:40.680 I mean, part of the reason Iran is so angry is because, remember, Trump took out, he killed General Soleimani.

00:06:47.580 General Soleimani was responsible for orchestrating the murder of over 600 American servicemen and women.

00:06:54.020 He was one of the leading terrorists in the world, and Iran's the leading state sponsor of terrorism. 0.99

00:06:59.660 And Donald Trump took him out.

00:07:01.860 Donald Trump also enforced the oil sanctions, pulled out of the Iran deal, brought the Iranian economy to its knees,

00:07:08.460 cut off their money, had the regime ready to topple.

00:07:11.600 That is strength.

00:07:13.060 What Trump rightly did, and by the way, on all of those steps, I was urging Trump to proceed to vigorously defend us against Iran. 0.86

00:07:20.760 What Trump also did, though, is he did not get us in foreign wars.

00:07:24.500 It is amazing how the weakness and appeasement of the left gets it exactly backwards.

00:07:29.940 They're eager to get us in mesh in foreign wars all over the world,

00:07:33.040 but they're not willing to be strong against people who actually are trying to kill us.

00:07:36.960 And in this instance, there are going to be very, very real consequences for Iran.

00:07:42.220 The first will be economic.

00:07:44.000 Their money is going to disappear, but there's going to be consequences that are a lot more real world than just dollars and cents.

00:07:50.560 Finally, Senator, some breaking news.

00:07:52.560 I just want to get your quick thoughts on this because it's an interesting story.

00:07:58.260 And it's really just a sad story.

00:08:00.040 I think it's a such a sad story for the people that are hurting, who were needing the help of their government.

00:08:07.420 It has come out now that a FEMA official ordered relief workers to deliberately and purposely skip the houses of people that have been affected by the hurricane that had Trump signs up.

00:08:24.040 A whistleblower came forward, said it's almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that's OK.

00:08:31.140 I'm actually, by the way, not surprised, unfortunately, that there are people in this Biden-Harris government that would say,

00:08:37.600 screw those that are Trump supporters and don't give them government aid even after a hurricane.

00:08:42.420 Yet this did happen.

00:08:44.840 Yeah, this this story, it's a story of an incredible abuse of power and just a brazen partisanship that sadly it typifies what what has happened throughout the Biden-Harris administration.

00:08:55.400 I want to give credit to The Daily Wire.

00:08:57.400 The Daily Wire broke this story.

00:08:59.040 It also illustrates how so-called mainstream media, the corporate media, does not actually report on real news.

00:09:06.460 It took The Daily Wire to make this public.

00:09:08.060 It's also The Daily Wire that that that broke the stories in Loudoun County a couple of years ago about the teenage girl who was sexually assaulted in the bathroom by the boy wearing a skirt because, again, the corporate media wouldn't report on it.

00:09:20.960 Well, in this instance, The Daily Wire reported that that instructions were given to FEMA workers that said and they actually have screenshots of the instructions that say, quote, implement best practices.

00:09:36.000 No one goes anywhere alone.

00:09:39.000 Avoid homes advertising Trump.

00:09:42.640 Practice de-escalation and preventative measures.

00:09:45.320 Communicate with and follow the rules.

00:09:47.440 Bring a towel with yourself in the field.

00:09:49.480 Frequent breaks and drink water.

00:09:51.200 Avoid high salt diets and coffee.

00:09:53.280 Coconut water is a fast way to replenish your electrolytes quickly.

00:09:56.620 So this is written instructions for emergency workers who are dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane, a natural disaster, and they are told in writing, avoid homes advertising Trump.

00:10:12.160 Now, look, this only happens when you absolutely normalize the weaponization of government against the enemies of your regime.

00:10:21.100 This particular individual was caught, and this person has been fired now.

00:10:28.420 Of course she's been fired.

00:10:29.300 She should have been fired. 1.00

00:10:30.680 But the broader question was what kind of culture was there that made you think you should explicitly say, hey, and I mean, these are –

00:10:38.840 And put it in writing, by the way.

00:10:40.420 Put it in writing.

00:10:41.120 If you're comfortable enough to put it in writing.

00:10:43.000 Yep.

00:10:43.800 You wonder what else is in writing.

00:10:45.520 That is exactly right.

00:10:50.060 And, you know, one of the employees who was one of the whistleblowers said, quote, I know they're short staff.

00:10:55.260 I thought we could go help and make a difference.

00:10:57.220 When we got there, we were told to discriminate against people.

00:11:00.220 It's almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that's okay.

00:11:04.720 The employee said that it felt wrong to discriminate against Trump supporters when they were at their most vulnerable.

00:11:09.800 Quote, I volunteered to help disaster victims, not discriminate against them.

00:11:13.920 It didn't matter if people were black, white, Hispanic, for Trump, for Harris.

00:11:18.140 Everyone deserves the same amount of help.

00:11:20.540 That would be actually the government doing its job.

00:11:23.280 But sadly, too many in the Biden-Harris administration, too many on the left, that they have convinced themselves Trump is Hitler. 1.00

00:11:31.180 Anyone who supports him is garbage. 0.99

00:11:33.240 And therefore, you can do anything possible to go after them. 1.00

00:11:37.880 It's a really sad example of just how weaponized this administration has gotten.

00:11:43.920 I hope this inspires others if there are other stories out there, other, you know, emails and things in writing like this that will be brought forward.

00:11:51.560 I am glad, by the way, that the woman's been fired. 1.00

00:11:54.160 But the question that I have to ask after that is, well, were there any laws broken?

00:11:57.880 And I hope they look at that as well.

00:11:59.640 Well, and Ben, let me say, if you go into the story, there are photos from the systems that federal relief workers used to track the homes they visited.

00:12:08.160 And it showed that they followed the written guidance.

00:12:12.340 Several addresses were marked as, quote, not able to access property with listed explanations such as, quote, Trump sign, no entry per leadership, quote, per leadership, no stop, Trump flag, quote, Trump sign, and quote, Trump sign, no contact per leadership.

00:12:33.080 This was this was this was yes, it was carried out by supervision that the name of the individual is is someone Marnie Washington is the one who issued this order.

00:12:46.620 Marnie Washington has been fired.

00:12:48.100 But but this was an organization where where this order was was par for the course.

00:12:54.720 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.

00:13:02.720 Canadian women are looking for more, more of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders and the world around them. 0.70

00:13:08.800 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:13:12.640 I'm Jennifer Stewart and I'm Catherine Clark.

00:13:14.680 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:13:24.140 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:13:27.680 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:13:33.440 Now on to story number two.

00:13:35.960 Senator, one other story is Donald Trump is getting his cabinet together and making appointments that is not gotten a lot of attention is the.

00:13:47.040 I take out the trash, everybody throwing everybody under the bus in the Biden camp, the Harris camp.

00:13:55.380 We find out she blew through a billion dollars.

00:13:57.660 She's upside down in debt. 0.94

00:13:59.080 They're begging for money with text messages to liberals saying we need your help with the counting of the votes and give money now.

00:14:05.760 I wish I was joking, but I'm not.

00:14:07.960 And they're I don't know.

00:14:09.160 Some said 18, 20 million upside down.

00:14:11.540 And then we found out where a lot of the donations actually went.

00:14:16.620 The donations were going to celebrities.

00:14:19.860 Oprah's had to come out after there was a million dollar check given to her, quote, production company for production of a one day sit down interview that we many people saw on TV with Oprah.

00:14:31.960 It doesn't cost a million dollars to produce that, but that was the price tag.

00:14:36.080 And then we found out that there were a lot of celebrities that were being paid to act like they loved Kamala Harris.

00:14:43.860 And there are some Democratic donors that are livid right now over the price tag on this.

00:14:49.880 You know, there's a terrific article in the spectator world entitled Kamala Harris ran the Fry Festival of campaigns.

00:14:57.060 And it points out that Trump's campaign spent roughly four hundred eighty eight million dollars and Kamala spent more than a billion.

00:15:05.800 So she outspent Trump more than two to one and Kamala's campaign ended up twenty million dollars in debt. 0.99

00:15:13.600 Well, it turns out, where did that money go?

00:15:17.220 Well, one of the things that went to is they paid many of the quote unquote celebrities who supported her were getting paid and getting paid significant sums.

00:15:29.300 So, for example, remember the Call Me Daddy podcast?

00:15:33.060 Yeah.

00:15:33.280 Well, apparently the campaign spent upwards of six figures to build a custom set for her appearance on the podcast and the podcast netted only eight hundred thousand downloads, less than a million downloads.

00:15:48.300 Look, Ben, you and I, we have roughly a million unique listeners.

00:15:52.920 If she wanted eight hundred thousand downloads, I'll tell you, Kamala, right now, even though you've lost, Ben and I will invite you on verdict right now.

00:16:00.780 We will welcome you. We will not charge you to build a set so you can save all your money and you paid Oprah a million dollars for production costs.

00:16:09.720 We will charge you for production costs on on verdict.

00:16:12.660 What do you think? Fifty bucks?

00:16:14.000 Sure. Well, I think that's a fair price.

00:16:17.020 Fifty bucks. Fifty bucks.

00:16:18.940 We'll get you a very nice coffee cup with some Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.

00:16:24.440 That's what we'll spend the fifty bucks on.

00:16:26.560 And and you can reach the same number of people.

00:16:29.360 All right. By the way, she also turned down Joe Rogan.

00:16:33.460 So call me, daddy got eight hundred thousand downloads.

00:16:35.580 How many do you think Joe Rogan's interview of Donald Trump got?

00:16:39.180 A lot more than that.

00:16:41.100 Forty seven million.

00:16:42.760 Wow. That's a lot.

00:16:44.780 That's a lot.

00:16:45.680 That's a lot.

00:16:46.680 So there were also seven swing state concerts with expensive performers.

00:16:53.440 And it turns out every one of them, they got a price.

00:16:56.740 It is the world's oldest profession and they are charging for it.

00:16:59.840 So who are the performers that got paid millions of dollars?

00:17:03.800 Katy Perry.

00:17:05.240 Lady Gaga.

00:17:06.680 Jon Bon Jovi.

00:17:08.240 Ricky Martin.

00:17:09.460 Hold on.

00:17:09.800 You're telling me none of these people were like doing it for free because they were all in for comma.

00:17:13.900 They wanted to get paid.

00:17:15.560 They show me the money.

00:17:17.940 They ended up spending more than 20 million dollars on event production alone.

00:17:22.520 Oprah, as you noted, charged a million dollars.

00:17:27.980 And and they went so far into debt that the campaign allegedly had to scrap Alanis Morissette.

00:17:36.160 They were planning to do Alanis Morissette.

00:17:37.820 And they said, no, OK, we can't afford her anymore. 1.00

00:17:40.280 Never mind.

00:17:40.740 I mean, it is truly stunning.

00:17:43.560 And you've got to wonder, like, I got to say, I don't get paying millions of dollars for celebrities to fake endorse someone.

00:17:53.740 She spent paid money to what Beyonce. 1.00

00:17:56.540 Well, let's go over the big ones.

00:17:58.420 This is coming from Fox.

00:18:00.060 I'm going to play this.

00:18:01.320 This audio.

00:18:02.360 Take a listen.

00:18:03.320 This is again from Fox as they were going through how much cash was spent.

00:18:09.120 I can't get over these numbers.

00:18:11.180 Ten million dollars for Beyonce to step up and back Kamala Harris publicly.

00:18:17.620 Five million for Megan Thee Stallion.

00:18:19.700 Three million for Lizzo.

00:18:21.860 One point eight million for Eminem.

00:18:23.940 I mean, is that those numbers are unbelievable if you just look at them?

00:18:28.740 And I was like, hold on a second.

00:18:31.000 And I went back and watched that clip a couple of different times because you look at him.

00:18:35.680 Ten million for Beyonce.

00:18:37.040 Say if you're a donor and you wrote a big check, Megan Thee Stallion, five million, Lizzo, three million, Eminem, one point eight million.

00:18:44.860 You're like, hold on.

00:18:45.420 I just raised all this money for you.

00:18:47.140 And this is how you spent it.

00:18:49.640 Look, I got to say, I've run a bunch of campaigns.

00:18:52.160 I ran my first campaign for Senate in 2012.

00:18:55.980 I ran my next campaign for president in 2016.

00:18:59.480 We won 12 states all over the country.

00:19:01.080 I ran my next campaign for Senate again in 2018.

00:19:05.500 And I just finished running my most recent campaign for Senate reelect a third term in 2024.

00:19:12.660 I can tell you the whole time I've never paid anyone a million dollars for anything.

00:19:17.180 I don't think we paid any entertainers.

00:19:20.640 I don't know of any entertainers we paid.

00:19:22.800 Maybe at some point we paid five or ten grand for someone performing at some party.

00:19:26.900 I'm not aware of it, but I can tell you this.

00:19:29.760 Look, our stars, now to be clear, the stars we have at our events are our international, supermodel, global talents like Ben Ferguson.

00:19:42.780 And I got to tell you.

00:19:44.360 I just want that $10 million payday once in my career.

00:19:47.100 Like, oh yeah, Beyonce, yeah, yeah.

00:19:48.600 I'm all in for the cause, but I just need $10 million to make it happen.

00:19:52.760 Okay, Ben, to be clear, we don't pay you $10.

00:19:54.940 No, that's. 0.99

00:19:56.900 Look, I'm a fiscal conservative, dammit. 0.99

00:19:59.780 If you want to be there and you believe in saving the country, stand up and save the country. 0.99

00:20:02.980 And if not, get the hell out.

00:20:04.420 Amen.

00:20:04.900 Like, what is it with these lefties who, ironically, they want to put socialists in office,

00:20:11.860 who make it impossible for people to earn a living,

00:20:14.920 and yet they're such capitalists that they're like, show me the money to do it.

00:20:19.600 I mean, there is an intense hypocrisy on this.

00:20:23.460 I believe this, and I'm not just saying this because of this moment in this headline,

00:20:28.080 but I'm being dead serious.

00:20:29.560 This could be a huge problem for Democratic candidates moving forward,

00:20:32.880 because when you see this type of abuse of campaign finance money from donors,

00:20:38.680 those same donors, somebody's going to be asking them for money in four years,

00:20:42.540 or less than four years from now.

00:20:44.000 By the way, the next time Beto O'Rourke, or Colin Allred, jumps on a stage with Willie Nelson,

00:20:52.960 everyone's going to ask how much you pay him.

00:20:55.280 Yeah.

00:20:55.700 How much of my money that I gave you did you just give him for that 13 minutes of him singing?

00:21:01.860 It's a fair question.

00:21:03.900 And it undermines the entire credibility that I'm here because I love America so much

00:21:09.400 and you've got to vote for this candidate.

00:21:10.700 Look, I'll give you an example in the presidential race.

00:21:14.500 So one of the cooler people that I got to meet and spend time with was Phil Robertson,

00:21:19.580 you know, from Duck Dynasty.

00:21:20.960 Oh, yeah.

00:21:21.380 And he was, I mean, massive back in the day, like unbelievable star.

00:21:26.160 Huge star.

00:21:27.000 And so he invited me to Monroe, Louisiana, to come stay at his place.

00:21:31.620 And I went out duck hunting with Phil, which, by the way, ranks among the coolest things I've

00:21:35.740 ever gotten to do.

00:21:36.360 And we went to the duck blind.

00:21:37.580 We're there at four in the morning.

00:21:38.680 Um, look, I like to hunt in Texas.

00:21:42.300 I got to be careful about what I say because there's so many really serious hunters that

00:21:46.820 that I can't overstate.

00:21:48.840 I go hunting a couple of times a year.

00:21:50.060 I enjoy it.

00:21:50.660 But I'm not someone who like lives and breathes it.

00:21:54.700 Phil in that duck blind.

00:21:56.160 I have never seen a person who is a better shot with a shotgun.

00:22:00.140 He would drop birds at a distance that I wouldn't pick up my gun.

00:22:04.260 They were too far away.

00:22:05.140 I'm like, yeah, if the duck flies over here, I'll shoot it.

00:22:07.080 But I can't shoot it way over there.

00:22:08.540 And he would just boom.

00:22:09.980 And then the dogs would swim out and grab the duck and bring it back. 0.63

00:22:13.500 And Phil, I'll tell you, so I went there and spent the day, went hunting with him.

00:22:19.220 He recorded an ad for our campaign that we put out.

00:22:22.840 It remains one of my favorite ads we've ever done.

00:22:25.640 I'm all like wearing camo grease paint.

00:22:28.600 And I'm in the duck blind with Phil.

00:22:29.900 It was really cool.

00:22:31.640 But Phil, it was during the Iowa caucuses.

00:22:36.960 And we asked Phil, will you come to Iowa and campaign with me?

00:22:41.320 And Phil, for something like 40 years, had not missed a single day of duck season.

00:22:47.940 He'd been out there every single day for four decades.

00:22:50.540 And we'd invited him to come.

00:22:55.080 And that morning, he went to the blind at four in the morning.

00:22:57.940 And he's sitting there in the blind.

00:23:00.000 And I guess, you know, it weighed on his heart.

00:23:03.260 I can't do this today.

00:23:04.400 I need to go fight to save America.

00:23:05.900 And Phil left the blind.

00:23:07.440 And he went and hopped on a plane.

00:23:08.940 And he flew to Iowa.

00:23:09.840 And he did a big rally with me in Iowa.

00:23:11.680 And I told him then, I'm like, Phil, I am beyond humbled that you missed the first day of duck season in 40 years to be here and campaign alongside me. 0.97

00:23:24.860 Now, I didn't write him a damn check to do that.

00:23:27.480 If you gave him Beyonce money, you know, you're like, oh, and by the way, here's $10 million. 0.97

00:23:32.360 No, no, no.

00:23:33.040 I just said, come help save America.

00:23:35.500 And it meant a lot, like, for him to miss it.

00:23:38.980 And that day, we were literally touch and go.

00:23:41.020 We didn't know if he was going to come.

00:23:43.320 But it meant a big deal when he came.

00:23:46.680 If you're paying Beyonce $10 million, I mean, my goodness, who would she not endorse for $10 million?

00:23:55.000 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.

00:24:04.300 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

00:24:06.360 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.

00:24:10.360 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:24:14.380 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:24:15.480 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:24:16.700 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:24:20.480 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:24:26.200 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:24:29.440 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:24:33.480 I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.

00:24:40.000 So what is the purpose of the secret ballot?

00:24:43.400 Is that just so people can vote their conscience and there's not so much, you know, hoopla?

00:24:48.200 Or is it to keep it more efficient?

00:24:49.780 What's the – or is it just tradition?

00:24:51.820 What's behind that?

00:24:52.940 Look, some of it is because you've got to work with these people.

00:24:55.740 Remember, the Senate's a small place.

00:24:57.500 There are 53 of us.

00:25:00.480 And so, you know, if you're voting against the person who's your leader, that is a small and awkward dynamic.

00:25:10.300 So I would have liked the ballot to be public.

00:25:13.500 I would have absolutely supported making it public.

00:25:16.700 It's why I announced that I was voting for Rick Scott because I wanted to tell the voters.

00:25:21.880 But most of the senators don't.

00:25:23.840 So I don't know.

00:25:24.700 I know some of the senators.

00:25:25.880 Some of the senators chose to say who they were voting for.

00:25:28.560 But I'd say at least half the senators, I have no idea how they voted.

00:25:31.960 They didn't say.

00:25:33.000 They haven't publicly said.

00:25:34.720 And there is a dynamic when you're dealing with a small enough group of people that you've got to – after the election, you've got to turn around and work not just with whoever won but whoever lost.

00:25:45.480 So I think that's some of the history.

00:25:47.640 It's always – to the best of my knowledge, it has always been a secret ballot.

00:25:51.620 And because of that dynamic.

00:25:56.000 And the other Senate leadership votes are secret ballot as well.

00:26:00.080 And look, two years ago in 2022, we had the first contested leadership ballot in 16 years.

00:26:11.300 And two years ago, Rick Scott challenged Mitch McConnell.

00:26:15.860 And I was the point of the spear.

00:26:17.420 So the beginning of that battle two years ago, the very first thing that happened is I stood up and I made a motion to delay the election for a month.

00:26:28.780 So we were voting two years.

00:26:30.020 We did a great show on this.

00:26:32.500 It's all coming back to me now that you can go back and listen to because I think, if I'm not mistaken, we did it like at 2 in the morning after the voting had taken place.

00:26:41.740 And you'd come out and told this story.

00:26:43.580 I would encourage everybody, if you want to go back and listen to this episode, like you said, it's like two years ago.

00:26:48.780 And it was a big fight then.

00:26:50.660 And like you said, you were the one leading the tip of the spear on it.

00:26:53.980 Yep.

00:26:54.600 And it was two years ago.

00:26:56.160 It is always the week after the election.

00:26:58.460 Now, by the way, Republican leadership does that because the people who vote are the senators who will be the senators for the next two years.

00:27:06.360 So the brand new baby senators who were just elected, they vote.

00:27:10.180 The senators who are retiring or leaving the Senate, they don't vote.

00:27:15.300 And part of the reason they do that is because they want the brand new baby senators not to know what they're doing, to be just in their basement office, not to know where the men's room is. 0.68

00:27:27.940 And they don't want newly elected senators to rock the boat. 1.00

00:27:31.800 It's designed.

00:27:33.260 It's actually a pretty cynical thing.

00:27:35.000 It's designed not to not to challenge the status quo.

00:27:38.660 So two years ago, I made a motion.

00:27:41.800 Look, 2022 should have been a fantastic election for Republicans.

00:27:46.040 We should have won the Senate.

00:27:47.420 We should have we should have grown our majority in the House.

00:27:49.780 It should have been a fantastic election.

00:27:51.460 And it was a lousy election.

00:27:53.560 And I stood up and said, listen, we ought to delay this this vote by by a month. 0.99

00:27:58.260 And we ought to spend the month next month talking about why we got our asses kicked. 0.97

00:28:02.940 Like what's going wrong? 0.98

00:28:05.120 And I turned to Mitch McConnell.

00:28:06.520 I said, listen, for the last two years, we had a handful of Republicans team up with the Democrats to pass the Democrats priorities.

00:28:13.280 Now, maybe that's a good idea.

00:28:15.940 Someone here can make the argument why that's a good idea. 0.88

00:28:18.160 I think it's dumb as hell, but if you want to make the argument, it's a good idea. 0.88

00:28:21.420 We ought to talk about it. 0.99

00:28:22.140 What I could tell you that is objectively true is the Democrats never do that.

00:28:27.040 Like when we had Trump was president, we had a Republican Senate Republican House.

00:28:30.960 There was not a single bill we passed that consisted of all the Republicans and a handful of Democrats joining us.

00:28:37.400 They opposed everything.

00:28:38.860 And by the way, for the next two years, I think they will as well.

00:28:41.760 So I said, look, we ought to debate whatever we did didn't work.

00:28:45.800 We ought to debate it.

00:28:46.780 And so I laid out, I gave a 45 minute speech.

00:28:49.080 I looked at Mitch McConnell.

00:28:50.140 I said, tell me over the next two years, what are you willing to fight over?

00:28:55.760 I said, listen, you and I may disagree.

00:28:58.440 There are a lot of things I think we should fight over.

00:29:00.700 They're not for you.

00:29:01.640 But is there anything?

00:29:03.820 Is there one thing you're willing to fight on over the next two years?

00:29:07.800 By the way, Mitch refused to answer that question.

00:29:09.600 We ended up, after I made the motion to delay the vote, I ended up getting 16 votes for that motion.

00:29:16.260 I needed 25.

00:29:17.300 So we had 49 Republicans.

00:29:20.160 So I needed 25 for a majority.

00:29:22.020 So I fell nine votes short.

00:29:24.040 Those 16 votes were the first votes ever cast against Mitch McConnell.

00:29:28.820 And that was very consequential.

00:29:30.880 After that, Rick Scott, because I failed to delay the election, Rick Scott ran against Mitch.

00:29:39.540 I voted for Rick.

00:29:40.440 I was quite vocal about it.

00:29:42.060 And Rick got 10 votes.

00:29:44.400 And so that's what happened.

00:29:45.600 I was one of those 10.

00:29:46.560 By the way, after the votes, Mitch McConnell exacted retribution on the senators who opposed him.

00:29:54.360 So, for example, the Commerce Committee.

00:29:57.220 Both Rick Scott and Mike Lee used to be on the Commerce Committee.

00:30:00.300 And Mitch McConnell uses authority as the GOP leader to throw them both off the Commerce Committee.

00:30:07.040 Eric Schmidt from Missouri, who also voted against Mitch.

00:30:10.440 Eric Schmidt wanted to be on judiciary.

00:30:12.700 And Mitch used his authority to orchestrate blocking him from being on judiciary.

00:30:17.000 So there were real punitive measures that were implemented attacking the people that dared stand up to McConnell.

00:30:27.900 So this time around, Rick Scott did better than he did two years ago.

00:30:32.800 Two years ago, he got 10 votes.

00:30:34.140 This time, he got 13 votes.

00:30:35.560 So we picked up three more votes.

00:30:37.720 I don't know who those three more votes were. 0.66

00:30:40.440 I was one of those 13, as I'd been one of those 10.

00:30:44.220 But Rick did not prevail.

00:30:46.240 And then ultimately, Thune prevailed on the second ballot.

00:30:50.140 And so Thune will be the majority leader going forward.

00:30:53.500 So let's talk about Thune for just a second.

00:30:56.120 What do people need to know about him that maybe they don't know?

00:31:00.140 Yeah, listen.

00:31:00.820 I like John Thune.

00:31:02.240 I've worked with him.

00:31:03.360 I've worked with Thune.

00:31:04.760 I've worked with Corn and I've worked with Rick Scott.

00:31:06.660 I mean, the Senate is a small place.

00:31:08.900 It's a collegial place.

00:31:09.980 If you want to actually accomplish anything, you've got to deal with and work cooperatively with your colleagues.

00:31:16.000 John Thune is from South Dakota.

00:31:17.360 You know, he's a tall, good-looking college athlete.

00:31:21.820 He was a college basketball player.

00:31:25.320 You know, Thune and I, you know, used to – he works out every morning in the gym and he's very fit.

00:31:34.680 I would work out at the same time he was, and it was kind of embarrassing because he would lift a lot more weight than I could lift and he would be like pumping iron.

00:31:43.480 And it's sort of humbling to watch Thune because he's just – you know, he's a man in his early 60s who's in really good shape.

00:31:51.240 Look, Thune – I was not surprised Thune won because he's very well-liked by his colleagues.

00:32:00.420 Thune is affable.

00:32:01.680 He's a good guy. 0.92

00:32:02.920 He's just – he's not a jerk.

00:32:05.080 He's not – he's – everyone likes him.

00:32:07.600 It's just – I mentioned before the Senate is a little bit like a junior high.

00:32:13.660 You know, Thune would win the class president election.

00:32:17.880 It's – and a lot of it is the kind of small little personal dynamics that play out on that.

00:32:24.160 But as I said, I was not surprised Thune won.

00:32:26.340 I will say a lot of the Trump world was freaking out saying, oh, Thune hates Donald Trump and he's going to oppose everything Trump wants to do.

00:32:35.040 I think those concerns were overstated.

00:32:37.520 Listen, John Thune is majority leader and every senator is excited that we have a Republican White House, Republican Senate, Republican House, and we are really focused on delivering results and delivering on our promises to the voters.

00:32:54.340 And so I think Thune, as leader, is going to focus on working very closely with President Trump to confirm his cabinet appointments, to move forward.

00:33:04.920 Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that the Senate is going to be a rubber stamp for 100 percent of everything that comes from the White House.

00:33:13.480 And it's not the Senate's job to be a rubber stamp for everything that comes from the White House.

00:33:18.540 Under the Constitution, the Senate is supposed to have a role, a role of nominations, advice and consent, a role of check and balance.

00:33:26.200 But but but I can tell you that the sort of folks and I and I had multiple calls from Trump's team, very worried, OK, is Thune going to fight us and everything we're doing?

00:33:36.840 And I was like, OK, I know I I so so so today I had an hour long meeting with with Thune as the new majority leader and with all the committee chairs.

00:33:49.820 And the entire meeting was talking about, OK, how are we going to move forward with with with with tax reform, with extending the Trump tax cuts, with with with with regulatory reform, with unleashing energy, with securing the border?

00:34:04.100 How are we going to move the legislative agenda so we can deliver big, big wins in in in the next year?

00:34:13.060 And that was that was the focus from Thune and every committee chairman.

00:34:16.860 So so I so I think I understand.

00:34:20.920 Look, I voted for Rick Scott because I think Rick was offering the greatest change.

00:34:25.840 But at the end of the day, to prevail, you've got to be able to get a majority of the Republican senators.

00:34:29.820 And Rick did not.

00:34:31.680 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:34:36.500 Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day.

00:34:40.160 You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.

00:34:43.120 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.

00:34:47.040 And we will see you back here on Monday morning.

00:34:50.740 This is an iHeart podcast.

00:34:53.620 Guaranteed human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - November 16, 2024

Iran's Problem w Trump as POTUS, Harris PAID Celebrities to Like Her & Details of Picking a Sen. Majority Leader Week In Review

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