Verdict with Ted Cruz - Islamist Terrorists Tipping Point in Iran & Netflix Trying to Buy Warner Brothers

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.720 Guaranteed human.

00:00:04.560 Welcome.

00:00:05.160 It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz.

00:00:06.920 Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:08.340 Senator, we've got a lot to discuss, including, hey, we've got a government that's all the

00:00:11.500 way back open again.

00:00:12.520 Congratulations on that.

00:00:13.840 That's big news, right?

00:00:14.940 You predicted it.

00:00:15.780 It was going to be quick.

00:00:16.700 It's short.

00:00:17.340 We've moved on.

00:00:18.640 And we're back to the normal insanity of Washington, D.C.

00:00:21.440 Is that a fair way of putting it?

00:00:23.380 Look, that's exactly right.

00:00:24.800 I will say in Monday's pod, I said, in fact, the title of Monday's pod was a very short

00:00:29.620 government shutdown.

00:00:30.820 I predicted the House would come back.

00:00:32.560 They would reopen the government.

00:00:33.620 That's exactly what happened.

00:00:34.740 So now the Democrats did not have the stomach for a long, prolonged fight on government shutdown,

00:00:40.820 so it didn't happen.

00:00:42.520 What we're going to talk about today is national security, how we keep this country safe.

00:00:47.580 We're going to talk about a terrorist organization in Africa called the Polisario Front, which

00:00:53.440 is incredibly dangerous.

00:00:55.120 It is funded by Iran.

00:00:56.440 And we're going to break down how I'm pressing the Trump administration to take on the Polisario 0.70

00:01:01.380 Front directly.

00:01:02.980 We're also going to talk about Iran.

00:01:04.840 We have a moment in time that I think is a unique moment in history, and we need to

00:01:11.080 act right now.

00:01:13.120 The Ayatollah and the mullahs are teetering on the edge. 0.92

00:01:16.780 We have an opportunity to remove a regime that wants to kill Americans, and I think we should

00:01:22.420 take that opportunity right now.

00:01:23.980 And finally, we're going to talk about a hearing that happened in the Senate Judiciary Committee

00:01:27.780 this week that focused on the proposed merger between Netflix and Warner Brothers.

00:01:33.820 I will say there were fireworks at the hearing.

00:01:36.480 I've got real concerns about the merger.

00:01:38.660 We're going to break it all down for you today.

00:01:41.080 Yeah, we're going to talk about all that in a moment.

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00:03:53.080 All right.

00:03:53.600 So, Senator, rarely do I say this, you broke news on a terrorist organization and a name

00:03:59.840 that I had never heard of, which means I'm assuming about 100% of the people listening

00:04:04.900 right now have never heard of this terrorist organization.

00:04:07.760 How did we not know about it?

00:04:09.360 How did you learn about it?

00:04:10.760 And why is it such a major deal?

00:04:13.680 Well, listen, I am deeply engaged in fighting Islamist terrorist organizations all across

00:04:19.260 the world.

00:04:19.680 And there are serious, very dangerous Islamist organizations.

00:04:24.140 One of the things that I have a responsibility for doing, I'm the chairman of the Africa

00:04:29.120 subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

00:04:31.140 So I focus a lot on Africa.

00:04:33.340 This is a new thing.

00:04:34.180 I just started a year ago focusing on Africa.

00:04:36.560 And so I've been diving in.

00:04:38.520 And Africa is a major battleground. 0.68

00:04:40.880 It's a major battleground between China and the United States.

00:04:44.220 It's a major battleground between Russia and the United States.

00:04:46.860 And it's also a major front for terrorism and radical Islamic terrorism.

00:04:52.580 So in my course on focusing on Africa, I focused on Nigeria and the fact that Nigeria is killing 1.00

00:04:59.940 Christians. 0.98

00:05:00.420 It is the single most dangerous place on the face of the planet to be a Christian. 1.00

00:05:04.960 Over 50,000 Christians have been murdered in Nigeria. 0.87

00:05:08.400 It is the single place on planet Earth where the most Christians have been murdered.

00:05:13.920 I've been leaning in.

00:05:14.940 I called on the Trump administration to designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern.

00:05:20.280 And President Trump did so.

00:05:21.860 And so the president is fighting to protect Christians in Nigeria.

00:05:25.500 It is Islamists in Nigeria, particularly Boko Haram, but it's other Islamists as well that 0.82

00:05:30.240 are murdering Christians. 1.00

00:05:31.640 Well, there's also a challenge with a group called the Polisario Front.

00:05:35.540 And let me give you a little bit of the history of the Polisario Front.

00:05:38.900 The Polisario Front is a separatist militant group founded in 1973 that is seeking independence

00:05:47.440 for Western Sahara, a territory that is claimed by Morocco.

00:05:53.220 For decades, the best way to understand it was as a Cold War relic analogous to the Palestinian 0.90

00:06:00.000 Liberation Front, the PLO.

00:06:01.880 But it was in West Africa.

00:06:03.420 And there's still a degree to which that framework is accurate.

00:06:09.640 The Polisario Front is backed by Algeria.

00:06:12.800 It operates from refugee camps in Tindouf.

00:06:16.160 And it declared an independent country called the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1976,

00:06:24.900 about 20 to 30 percent of the disputed territory.

00:06:28.620 It is a darling of the international left and the United Nations.

00:06:33.920 And the group has continued its insurgency against Morocco.

00:06:38.880 The critical dynamic is that Iran has begun pouring resources into the group.

00:06:46.080 They want to make the Polisario Front into the Houthis of West Africa. 0.92

00:06:52.300 The Iranians have been providing money and weapons and directions. 0.60

00:06:57.960 In June of last year, Joe Wilson and Congress introduced the Polisario Front Designation Act of 2025,

00:07:08.120 which would designate the group as a foreign terrorist organization.

00:07:11.520 I am leading the fight in the Senate to designate the Polisario Front as a terrorist organization.

00:07:19.920 And this week we had a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where two career officials from the State Department were testifying about Africa,

00:07:31.680 were testifying about the Middle East, and I asked them about the Polisario Front.

00:07:36.060 And I've got to say their answers, let me just give a really kind word, they were terrible.

00:07:41.500 They were unbelievably bad.

00:07:44.000 When you say terrible, explain what you mean by that.

00:07:46.020 I believe both witnesses were instructed, do not say a negative word about the Polisario Front.

00:07:51.660 But I'll tell you what, rather than me describe the questioning,

00:07:54.980 just give a listen to the back and forth I had with two senior career officials from the State Department.

00:08:01.580 Mr. Palladino, thank you for being here and testifying this afternoon.

00:08:05.660 I'd like to ask you about the specifics of your testimony,

00:08:09.560 and specifically two things you said in your written testimony back to back.

00:08:13.000 You said that, quote, Algeria's counterterrorism successes also make it a critical pillar of stability in the region.

00:08:21.680 Then in the very next paragraph you said, again I'm quoting, quote,

00:08:25.840 we look to North African countries to provide critical support to ensuring terrorist activity in the Sahel does not spread.

00:08:33.520 Now I'm assuming that that somewhat opaque reference to terrorist activity in the Sahel is about the Polisario Front,

00:08:40.480 though you didn't name the group.

00:08:41.560 Iran is trying to turn the Polisario Front into the Houthis for West Africa,

00:08:48.120 a proxy force capable of waging war to threaten regional stability and pressure U.S. partners whenever Iran wants leverage.

00:08:57.560 The Polisario Front works with Iranian terrorist groups.

00:09:01.520 It takes drones from the IRGC.

00:09:03.700 It moves weapons and resources around the region, including to jihadists, and much more.

00:09:10.700 I believe they should be designated as a terrorist group, and I've drafted a bill to do so if there is no change in their behavior.

00:09:18.180 Before getting to any other questions, is that what you meant by, quote, terrorist activity in the Sahel?

00:09:24.640 Were you talking about the Polisario Front?

00:09:26.380 It's an important question, Senator.

00:09:30.920 Thank you.

00:09:31.600 What I was referring to, what I would say in regards to the Polisario is President Trump has made clear his desire to achieve a lasting resolution to the problem in the Western Sahara, to that dispute.

00:09:49.720 And as part of that, American policy currently is we are engaging all parties, and we're going to continue to pursue that for a lasting resolution.

00:10:03.360 And we seek that because if we can get to that resolution, that is going to be our best shot at advancing peace and security, which will prevent further terrorist activity.

00:10:17.720 Now, you mentioned designation, Senator, and I would just add, we're constantly assessing threats to the American homeland, and we have a process for that.

00:10:31.740 It's something that we will continue to look at, and as the Secretary said, if we proceed, that will be grounded in the process and the evidence and the law.

00:10:44.420 Thank you, Senator.

00:10:45.120 So I see that the opacity I referenced was not accidental, but was, in fact, deliberate, because in the full course of that answer, there was no direct indication that, yes, the terrorist activity in the Sahel is coming from the Polisario Front.

00:11:02.280 And that is a significant blind spot, and that is a significant blind spot in our counterterrorism posture.

00:11:07.680 Do you assess right now that the Polisario Front poses a threat to U.S. interest in any sense, and if so, in what sense?

00:11:16.180 Senator, thank you, Senator.

00:11:17.480 We're actively engaging all parties in the Western Sahara dispute in the interest of achieving a lasting and durable peace.

00:11:28.740 That's the policy of the President, and we're seeking more time to continue to find a way to find common ground and to come to an agreement to stabilize the situation and allow there to be prosperity to follow based upon stability.

00:11:49.840 Well, I will say that answer was positively Shakespearean.

00:11:54.060 It was full of sound and fury and yet signifying nothing.

00:12:00.500 And, by the way, I will say in terms of the President, I feel confident I've spent a lot more time with the President than you have,

00:12:06.720 and he does not have any difficulty at all calling terrorists what they are.

00:12:11.420 Mr. Borchert, let's see if we do any better with you.

00:12:13.960 Iran has trained fighters from the Polisario Front, and Hezbollah has provided them with weapons.

00:12:20.420 In your written testimony, you said that your bureau is working with North African countries to counter the threat from Iran and its proxies,

00:12:27.540 and you specifically talked about groups tied to the IRGC and Hezbollah.

00:12:32.100 You, likewise, did not specifically mention the Polisario Front.

00:12:35.860 First of all, same question to you.

00:12:37.460 When you talk about the threat posed to North African countries by Iran and its proxies, does that include the Polisario Front?

00:12:45.680 Senator, thank you for that question.

00:12:47.940 We continue to monitor activities throughout North Africa.

00:12:52.860 We continue to see if the IRGC and Hezbollah are their activities in that region and globally.

00:13:03.660 And as we look at these activities, we will work with our partner countries in order to counter those threats

00:13:13.700 and, where possible, designate or encourage those countries to designate the IRGC, Hezbollah, and those terrorist groups.

00:13:21.320 So, I have to say, it seems to me you turned to your colleague and said, hold my beer.

00:13:29.040 It certainly, let me just ask a final question to both of you.

00:13:32.460 Were both of you instructed in this testimony not to say anything negative about the Polisario Front?

00:13:39.580 Because it sure seems like you were.

00:13:42.140 Senator, I'm just trying to explain what we're trying to do policy-wise.

00:13:47.460 That's a yes or no question.

00:13:48.520 No, I received no instructions to that effect, Senator.

00:13:52.460 Senator, I received no instructions to those effects either.

00:13:55.740 So, you just decided to go down that road for the heck of it.

00:14:00.960 Okay.

00:14:01.720 Thank you.

00:14:02.520 All right.

00:14:02.800 So, I'm going to start with the first question here, Senator.

00:14:04.940 How the hell do those guys get their job and how do they get to keep them if that's what they do?

00:14:08.920 I just got to know.

00:14:10.000 Like, that's the best job I've ever seen.

00:14:12.560 Yeah.

00:14:12.920 Look, they were instructed to say nothing about the Polisario Front.

00:14:17.260 And when you say they, like, who sits down with them before and says, don't say anything about this terrorist group?

00:14:22.560 So, both of those guys are career State Department employees.

00:14:26.200 So, they would have submitted.

00:14:26.960 Okay.

00:14:26.980 So, this is like the deep state, as I like to call it.

00:14:29.180 Yeah.

00:14:29.400 They would have submitted their testimony for approval.

00:14:32.820 And they may well have had portions where they say something about the Polisario Front.

00:14:37.460 They're talking about terrorists, and that's who they're talking about.

00:14:39.920 They're just not saying it.

00:14:41.840 And listen, the administration is trying to negotiate a big peace deal in Africa.

00:14:47.360 And so, right now, there are folks in the administration who are trying to negotiate a deal in Western Africa.

00:14:53.700 And right now, one of the consequences of that is that they're reluctant to call out the Polisario Front.

00:15:01.860 I think the Polisario Front is really dangerous.

00:15:04.620 They're funded by Iran.

00:15:06.580 And so, I'm working to call out people who are enemies of America.

00:15:11.060 Yeah.

00:15:11.500 And to impose real costs and consequences on those jihadists that are enemies of America.

00:15:19.340 You know, it really is incredible that they're this cautious on this.

00:15:23.400 And then you look at where we are in the world, which brings me to what's going on in Iran.

00:15:27.160 There's a big meeting on Friday with the Trump administration.

00:15:30.880 There's a lot of fanfare around it.

00:15:33.120 While we're getting ready for this conversation, Iran does what Iran does, right? 1.00

00:15:38.200 Which is usually do something really stupid. 0.98

00:15:40.460 And they decide to fly a drone at one of our ships. 0.98

00:15:43.840 That was a bad idea.

00:15:45.260 So, let's bring everybody up to speed on that as well.

00:15:47.520 So, we shot the drone down.

00:15:49.780 They flew a drone at one of our aircraft carriers.

00:15:52.880 We shot it down because it was a hostile threat.

00:15:55.340 It was an unmanned drone.

00:15:57.080 Listen, there is a negotiation session scheduled for Friday.

00:16:01.200 I think the chances of anything positive or productive coming from that session are 0.0%.

00:16:06.920 Why?

00:16:07.660 I think the Iranian regime, they're sending back-channel messages to the administration.

00:16:12.260 And they're saying, hey, we're willing to do another Obama-Iran nuclear deal.

00:16:18.600 Isn't that a great idea?

00:16:20.340 By the way, it was a great deal for them.

00:16:21.840 They got literally, like, cash and bills that are unmarked.

00:16:24.640 Like, how much better does it get than that, that you then can give to terrorists to then blow up people?

00:16:28.820 Listen, they got $1.7 billion in cash on pallets flown in by Barack Obama.

00:16:34.540 They got over $100 billion.

00:16:36.400 That's not a joke.

00:16:36.980 I just want people to understand what you just said, Senator, because it's so frustrating.

00:16:41.900 This is not Saturday Night Live.

00:16:44.160 It may be.

00:16:44.620 That is literally what the Obama administration did.

00:16:47.280 Like, over $1.7 billion of cash on pallets flown with your tax dollars to Iran.

00:16:54.240 And, by the way, that was tiny compared to the more than $100 billion that Joe Biden flowed into Iran.

00:17:03.740 And they used that.

00:17:05.160 Iran provides more than 90% of the funding for Hamas, more than 90% of the funding for Hezbollah.

00:17:10.280 They used that to stage October 7th.

00:17:12.660 They used that to wage war on the United States. 0.91

00:17:14.840 They used that to kill American servicemen and women.

00:17:17.920 We have, right now, an historic opportunity.

00:17:21.480 And what I am urging the president, don't miss this.

00:17:25.860 So I think the Iranians are trying to distract the administration. 1.00

00:17:28.880 They're trying to say, hey, let's negotiate a deal.

00:17:31.240 And actually, what Iran wants to do is spend three years negotiating a deal where they do nothing,

00:17:35.600 and they try to rebuild their nuclear program.

00:17:39.260 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

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00:18:08.520 Is some of this just stalling to try to get their own country under control by saying, hey, we all have a kumbaya on Iran that we hate the big Satan, right?

00:18:18.080 The U.S. And so if they can figure out a way for America to hit them, then I think that actually brings people together is what they're hoping in Iran to say, okay, maybe we do need to stand up against America.

00:18:29.360 And by the way, that phrase you use, the big Satan, that's not an accidental phrase. 0.56

00:18:34.980 The Ayatollah refers to Israel as the little Satan and refers to America as the big Satan, the great Satan.

00:18:44.600 They are waging war on us. 0.61

00:18:47.500 And their objective is to right now to talk, to try to prevent being toppled.

00:18:53.060 Look, millions of Iranians have stood up and tens of thousands have been killed.

00:18:58.940 It's not clear what the estimate is.

00:19:00.960 The estimates have ranged anywhere from 10,000 Iranian protesters killed to as many as 40,000.

00:19:06.920 The regime is sitting there literally machine gunning these protesters and murdering them.

00:19:12.020 And I've called very publicly for the Trump administration to arm the protesters.

00:19:17.100 Listen, I want to see the Iranian regime toppled, but not by America. 0.52

00:19:20.740 I want to see them toppled by the people of Iran. 1.00

00:19:24.540 And if they're just being gunned down like fish in a barrel, they're not able to do so. 0.94

00:19:29.580 And so I think we ought to be providing weapons.

00:19:31.660 And I'm urging the president, don't be distracted.

00:19:35.440 The Iranian regime is trying to say, let's negotiate another deal like Obama.

00:19:39.660 You go back to 2009.

00:19:42.440 2009 was the Green Revolution. 0.51

00:19:44.600 There were, again, Iranians standing up. 0.64

00:19:46.960 And Barack Obama made a decision to side with the Ayatollah and abandon the protesters.

00:19:52.360 Now, President Trump has said he's not going to do that.

00:19:55.100 He's told the people of Iran, we are with you.

00:19:57.860 And this is the moment of time.

00:19:59.140 I'm urging the president, do not miss this moment of time.

00:20:02.700 If this regime falls, if the mullahs who hate America and want to murder Americans are out of power, 0.99

00:20:09.340 and if we have instead a freely elected regime, look, Iran for decades was secular.

00:20:16.560 It was pro-American.

00:20:18.160 That would be the single biggest improvement in national security we've seen in decades.

00:20:23.980 Yeah, we've talked about this a lot, but let's reset for people just to understand.

00:20:29.960 Not only do we have what's happened in Venezuela, and there was a lot of Democrats that thought it was going to just turn into instant chaos and anarchy there in Venezuela.

00:20:37.760 So far, that's not been the case.

00:20:39.640 That is, as they're trying to work through what the next steps look like.

00:20:43.720 But that's good for the people in Venezuela who've been suffering for so long.

00:20:48.960 And yet there was a lot of people, I think, that were hoping that Donald Trump would have to own some sort of anarchy and civil war in the streets and just, you know, all sorts of craziness there.

00:20:58.200 You then look at Cuba, and the president's been pretty clear about that.

00:21:02.340 We also are seeing that they're getting in serious trouble now with basic things like oil and gas and trying to hold, shoestring their country together because they've lost a lot of what they were getting back and forth with Venezuela.

00:21:17.600 They're teetering right now.

00:21:19.420 I think it's a fair assessment on it, just with their economy, inflation, the list goes on and on.

00:21:24.220 You combine that with Iran, and what we could witness is all three of these happen very quickly, moving in the right direction for all of us. 1.00

00:21:33.400 Look, we have a very real potential in the next six months of seeing the regimes in Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran all fall.

00:21:42.160 And there are a thousand ways this could go wrong.

00:21:44.800 There could be bad things that happen.

00:21:46.320 So I'm not being Pollyannish.

00:21:47.580 But if we see free and fair elections in Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran, and if they elect leaders, and I think there's a real possibility of this, who embrace freedom and want to be friends with America, that would be, without exaggeration, the greatest geopolitical shift since the fall of the Berlin Wall, since we won the Cold War without firing a shot.

00:22:10.640 That is what has been teed up by Donald Trump being a strong commander in chief.

00:22:16.260 And so with Iran, I'm urging the president and the administration, do not miss this moment, because getting out of power a theocratic lunatic who wants to murder us, that is unambiguously good for America. 0.97

00:22:31.280 Yeah, it's also interesting, and this is another headline that just came from Fox, and just to put it in perspective, I think, of what Iran's leadership is trying to do to bait America into some sort of military conflict so they can try to rally their country.

00:22:46.080 You had Iranian gunboats that unsuccessfully, that's the key word here, and I'm reading this headline from Fox,

00:22:51.520 that's attempted to board U.S. oil tanker as Trump builds military presence.

00:22:56.360 The six armed Iranian vessels attempted to board the tanker before a U.S. Navy ship escorted it to safety.

00:23:06.300 That is how desperate the Iranian regime is right now to try to do something different.

00:23:11.920 And listen, this is why I'm calling for the administration to arm the protesters.

00:23:17.360 You know, remember back to Tiananmen Square.

00:23:19.860 Tiananmen Square, you had a massive uprising in China.

00:23:23.700 And I've got to admit, Ben, I remember the NRA ran full-page ads in newspapers all over the country.

00:23:31.260 They ran it in six newspapers.

00:23:32.620 They ran it in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the L.A. Times, and USA Today.

00:23:41.540 The full-page ad, it was a gigantic picture of Tiananmen Square, just people everywhere.

00:23:47.180 And I remember the words the NRA put in that ad.

00:23:50.540 They said, last week, over one million people rose up in protest in Tiananmen Square.

00:23:57.400 And then they asked a simple question.

00:23:59.240 Imagine what would have happened if they had had guns.

00:24:03.840 Now, that's more than 30 years ago, and I still remember that ad, because I remember looking at it going,

00:24:09.420 wow, if a million people with guns rise up, that's not a protest.

00:24:13.180 That's a revolution.

00:24:14.460 The Chinese communist government falls if a million people with guns rise up. 1.00

00:24:19.300 Right now, the Iranian people are risking their lives.

00:24:22.360 But if you're standing there holding a spatula and an IRGC soldier is firing a machine gun at you, you're going to die.

00:24:30.460 And so the only way that protest succeeds is if they're able to fight back. 0.99

00:24:37.060 And if suddenly the IRGC soldier says, crap, if I shoot at you, you're going to shoot back and I'm going to die. 0.98

00:24:43.840 That's how you topple the regime. 0.99

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00:25:51.160 That's Compassion.com to learn more.

00:25:54.220 I want to finally end with the other topic.

00:25:56.460 And it deals with a very interesting media merger and antitrust conversation that took place in Washington, D.C.

00:26:06.020 You came in and asked questions on this of the two companies that were there talking about this.

00:26:11.660 I actually, and I rarely do this, and I don't even think I told you this.

00:26:14.840 I wrote an op-ed about this for foxnews.com.

00:26:19.180 You can go and read it there.

00:26:20.260 But what I was talking about was from a national security standpoint, and my headline was,

00:26:24.660 Reagan would tell Americans to watch this Netflix merger hearing closely.

00:26:29.440 And I said, here's why.

00:26:30.700 My biggest concern with this merger is one of safety and security because I want to know that the majority of things that are being made are being made in America and that China doesn't get influence over us.

00:26:43.200 And that's what the questions I asked.

00:26:45.100 What really worried me about this merger was how much foreign money they're saying, and it's in the billions that could be coming into this deal from the Middle East.

00:26:55.280 That concerned me as well.

00:26:57.520 You asked a lot of questions about this, and there's also a lot of conservatives like you and I that are frustrated with some of the programming that Netflix have.

00:27:04.760 But at least I'm like, they're wanting to keep this production in America, and they're wanting to expand it in America, whereas on the other side of it, my concern to Paramount is they're taking foreign money from the Middle East.

00:27:15.920 I don't like that influence, and I certainly don't want China to take influence as well.

00:27:20.840 Yeah, this is a massive merger.

00:27:22.960 It's $83 billion, and I'm deeply concerned about it.

00:27:27.160 And so we had a hearing this week in the Senate Judiciary Committee with the CEO of Netflix and a senior executive from Warner Brothers.

00:27:34.540 Give a listen to the questioning that I asked them.

00:27:37.640 I and many others on this committee have been concerned for a long time about censorship, censorship in the media and censorship in Hollywood.

00:27:48.900 There already seems to be only one acceptable political view.

00:27:53.900 Actually, I want to ask, did either of you all watch the Grammys this week?

00:27:57.160 I did not.

00:27:58.600 Just the tail end of it.

00:28:00.120 One simple question.

00:28:01.600 Are we right now on stolen land?

00:28:07.620 I have no idea of the history of this land, of where we're sitting today.

00:28:11.180 Nor do I, Senator.

00:28:12.800 So that speaks volumes that neither of you are willing to say, hell no, we're not on stolen land.

00:28:17.700 And I will say at the Grammys, when you see an entertainer say, nobody is illegal while we're on stolen land.

00:28:23.600 And then you see entertainers leap to their feet, clapping so excitedly at the notion that America is fundamentally illegitimate.

00:28:30.400 It starts to convey that the entertainment world is deeply corrupt.

00:28:37.000 And I will point out that same singer who says no one is illegal on stolen land promptly went back to her $14 million mansion.

00:28:43.360 And somehow that stolen land she wasn't concerned about, just the United States of America.

00:28:49.520 Look, Netflix has long been a left-wing company.

00:28:55.300 Your founder, Reed Hastings, is one of the biggest Democrat donors in the country, including giving millions recently to the massive gerrymander in California, making it one of the most gerrymandered states in the Union, because your founder desperately wants a Democrat House of Representatives.

00:29:12.600 Susan Rice from the Obama White House is on your board of directors.

00:29:16.380 You guys gave $50 million to the Obamas, as far as I can tell, to produce no discernible content whatsoever.

00:29:22.460 However, how would you tell a Texan sitting at home to feel comfortable? 0.94

00:29:27.200 CNN is already a dumpster fire.

00:29:29.960 There's nothing resembling objectivity.

00:29:32.080 There's nothing resembling journalism anymore.

00:29:36.360 How are people at home – how should they feel even remotely confident that if this merger happens, the combined entity would not simply be a propaganda outlet pushing one particular political view with much greater market power than you have now?

00:29:53.320 Well, sir, we would fail.

00:29:54.780 We would fail pushing apolitical view or propaganda.

00:29:58.400 We deliver entertainment to consumers.

00:30:01.540 Our consumers see our business pretty much the way they see America.

00:30:05.480 About 40 percent conservative, about 40 percent liberal, about 20 percent don't know.

00:30:09.980 And when they turn on TV, they're tuned in to be entertained.

00:30:13.740 And if we fail to entertain them by trying to promote propaganda or something – anything other than entertainment, we fail.

00:30:21.440 Mr. Campbell, same question to you.

00:30:22.740 We have a very broad range of content across not only HBO Max but all of our platforms that we need to appeal to all audiences.

00:30:33.500 Our content ranges from Hard Knocks from the NFL to shows like Deadliest Catch and Gold Rush.

00:30:39.640 It's a very broad collection of programming that represents broad interests across America.

00:30:45.480 You have a wide range of programming on HBO.

00:30:47.380 Name one program that is designed to appeal to conservatives.

00:30:51.040 We don't design our programming to appeal to any –

00:30:53.140 I can think of a lot that are designed to go to liberals.

00:30:55.080 Name one.

00:30:57.200 None of our shows are designed to go to any political group that is designed to appeal to –

00:31:02.720 Really?

00:31:03.060 John Oliver is not designed to appeal to a certain group?

00:31:06.640 It's a program that – for which there's –

00:31:09.900 You just said none of your program is.

00:31:11.400 Look, let me ask you.

00:31:12.900 Do you think CNN is fair and balanced?

00:31:15.220 I do believe CNN is a fair –

00:31:17.160 So when CNN showed riots and fires behind them and you put a chyron, mostly peaceful but fiery protest, was that journalism?

00:31:26.880 Sir, I'm not involved with CNN.

00:31:29.360 And, in fact, they're not part of this transaction.

00:31:31.680 But they have an independent editorial board.

00:31:35.100 They have independent news gathering.

00:31:36.620 We don't direct –

00:31:37.380 They have no independence other than hating Donald Trump, which is why their viewership numbers have plummeted, because they don't actually report news.

00:31:45.620 They instead engage in very biased propaganda.

00:31:48.860 And I will say the truest words you said a minute ago is when you said, with respect to Mr. Sarandos, well, he and I see the world in very much the same way.

00:31:57.520 That is exactly the problem, that in the world of journalism, it should not be propaganda.

00:32:04.880 In the world of entertainment, there is a reason why entertainers who are even slightly right of center get blackballed in Hollywood.

00:32:13.320 Writers get blackballed in Hollywood.

00:32:15.360 Actors get blackballed in Hollywood.

00:32:17.420 And I've heard nothing today to give me any confidence that this merger would do anything other than make that problem much, much worse.

00:32:25.200 Senator, this is one of those subjects, it's the reason why I decided to write an op-ed, because it does matter.

00:32:30.620 When companies get big and they have as much influence as Paramount does or as Netflix does, it is concerning that the propaganda, as you described, that can be put out that can fundamentally shape this country.

00:32:42.880 It's why I invoked Ronald Reagan in the op-ed that I wrote at foxnews.com.

00:32:46.520 And there's also the concern of foreign influence coming in.

00:32:50.120 I don't want American movies being paid for.

00:32:53.220 $24 billion in Middle East funding scares the hell out of me, because what are they going to say you can and can't do?

00:32:58.820 I go back to Top Gun Maverick.

00:33:00.900 There was a simple patch, a Taiwan patch on his jacket, and they banned that movie from China, period, full stop.

00:33:08.680 Well, if that money's coming in, what else could not be made because of that?

00:33:12.900 That worries me as well.

00:33:14.020 Yeah, look, I'm very worried about woke Hollywood.

00:33:17.480 It has gone so leftist.

00:33:19.340 It is engaged in so much indoctrination.

00:33:22.200 It is trying to silence views that are pro-America, silence views that are conservative, silence views that are pro-freedom.

00:33:29.660 And listen, this merger, it's not going to go through unless the Department of Justice signs off on it.

00:33:37.260 And the Department of Justice has to approve the merger and say that it does not create a monopoly.

00:33:42.280 It does not increase monopoly power.

00:33:45.580 I think there are very real concerns.

00:33:48.080 This hearing was the beginning of the scrutiny for it.

00:33:51.300 I expect to see more scrutiny, more questions asked about this massive merger.

00:33:56.480 But I don't want to see even bigger market power pushing a pro-Democrat, pro-leftist, anti-American agenda.

00:34:05.220 And I'm very concerned that's what's happening right now.

00:34:08.980 Final question on this.

00:34:10.540 When do the consumers find out what happens here?

00:34:14.420 How long until we get an answer of who gets to buy what?

00:34:18.880 Yeah, typically this process takes months to years.

00:34:22.320 And so the Department of Justice has to assess whether this is allowed to go forward.

00:34:28.420 The FCC may well engage as well in signing off on this.

00:34:32.860 I'm the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.

00:34:34.940 I expect to be quite engaged in this process.

00:34:37.620 So it will take some time.

00:34:39.060 At a minimum, it's several months.

00:34:41.040 It could be upwards of a year.

00:34:43.100 And the consequence, if this merger happens, it is really significant for news.

00:34:48.960 And it's really significant for entertainment.

00:34:50.860 And by the way, I think entertainment, in many ways, is more important than news.

00:34:55.460 We get so much of what we understand about the world from entertainment.

00:34:59.320 Reagan understood that.

00:35:00.460 That allowing a massive left-wing monopoly.

00:35:04.360 Listen, I ask these guys, are we on stolen land?

00:35:08.720 Neither one of them could say no.

00:35:11.200 They're not willing to say America is legitimate.

00:35:15.260 No, this is not stolen land.

00:35:17.280 That's how woke and lefty and disconnected these people are.

00:35:22.180 And they want to have even more power over the entertainment that you're allowed to consume in your home.

00:35:29.660 It's going to be interesting.

00:35:30.660 We're going to be following it here.

00:35:31.620 We can promise you that.

00:35:33.140 And don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

00:35:35.500 Hit that subscribe or auto-download button wherever you get your podcasts.

00:35:40.300 And Senator Cruz and I will see you back here in a couple of days.

00:35:44.240 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:35:46.860 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - February 04, 2026

Islamist Terrorists Tipping Point in Iran & Netflix Trying to Buy Warner Brothers

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