Verdict with Ted Cruz - King Charles in America plus FBI Raids 22 Somali Fraud Locations

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.720 Guaranteed human.

00:00:04.460 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:08.200 Senator, I got to say, you're winning.

00:00:10.020 I thought I was winning, hanging out in New York City, fighting the commies on TV.

00:00:14.120 Meanwhile, I look over and you're sipping tea with the King of England.

00:00:17.120 I mean, and I thought you were part of the No Kings rally.

00:00:19.680 I thought that was like you were going to boo and sit down and, oh wait, no, that was the Democrats.

00:00:24.040 But they did stand.

00:00:24.940 They had no problem clapping for the King that they said they were having a No Kings rally.

00:00:28.580 You can't make it up.

00:00:30.000 Well, God save the king.

00:00:32.200 The king of England, the queen of England are in America.

00:00:35.280 They're in Washington, D.C.

00:00:36.820 The king came to address a joint session of Congress.

00:00:40.020 He's only the second British monarch to ever address a joint session of Congress,

00:00:44.380 the first being his mother, Queen Elizabeth, in 1991, and he's now the second.

00:00:50.920 And to clarify, you're old, Senator, but you're not that old.

00:00:53.940 You were not there for the one in 91, right?

00:00:55.780 I most definitely was not.

00:00:57.300 I was in college at the time, and to be honest, I don't remember well.

00:01:01.180 But 70% of your colleagues were probably there.

00:01:04.660 Like, I just think we're doing the math, right?

00:01:06.400 Well, not quite 70, but there are some that were.

00:01:11.460 Look, Joe Biden was elected in 1972, so, you know, he had already been in Congress 20 years at that point.

00:01:20.720 That's so funny.

00:01:21.840 So, look, the king was here.

00:01:23.400 It was an important visit.

00:01:24.860 We're going to break it down.

00:01:25.860 and I had a chance to meet the king, meet the queen yesterday.

00:01:28.740 I'm going to tell you about that.

00:01:29.680 I'm going to tell you about the speech.

00:01:31.380 We're also going to talk about the FBI this week

00:01:35.560 raided 22 different establishments in Minnesota

00:01:38.720 that are suspected of fraud, 0.98

00:01:41.280 suspected of being part of this massive Somali fraud.

00:01:43.940 We're going to break down the facts of what's happened with that.

00:01:45.980 I'm very glad the Department of Justice is going after this,

00:01:49.340 going after it aggressively.

00:01:50.600 There needs to be real accountability.

00:01:52.640 All that on today's pod.

00:01:54.280 Yeah, it really is incredible.

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00:03:25.100 All right. So, Senator, on a normal week, it's like you fly up to D.C., you have meetings, you might meet with the president, you might have a meeting, even the Oval Office, you might announce legislation or have a big signing.

00:03:36.760 And that's an exciting week. But how different was your schedule this week when you're like, oh, wait, the King of England's coming over.

00:03:43.580 And there's a lot of things that Congress was heavily involved in, including him addressing a joint session of Congress.

00:03:49.980 And I'll say it again, where Democrats had said no kings and had no kings rallies, had no problem giving him a standing ovation.

00:03:57.640 I thought that was a little funny.

00:03:59.360 Well, on Monday, I flew back to D.C. early because I was invited to go to a garden party at the British ambassador's residence.

00:04:08.600 And the garden party included the king and queen.

00:04:10.740 And so I said, all right, this will be fun to go.

00:04:13.580 And I ended up inviting my daughter Caroline.

00:04:17.040 Caroline is 18.

00:04:17.980 She turned 18 just a couple of weeks ago.

00:04:21.300 Ben, you know Caroline well.

00:04:22.960 There is almost no invitation at this stage in life that dad can make that my teenage daughter is particularly interested in going to accept this.

00:04:35.300 And Caroline, I'm like, hey, do you want to come to a garden party with the King of England?

00:04:38.920 And she's like, yeah.

00:04:41.060 And so Caroline came up, got a chance to visit with the Queen.

00:04:46.120 The Queen was delightful.

00:04:47.260 I introduced Caroline to the Queen.

00:04:49.660 They shook hands.

00:04:50.360 They talked for a few minutes.

00:04:51.600 And then I introduced Caroline to the King.

00:04:54.520 And he was actually quite charming.

00:04:55.980 And they had a conversation that ended up being captured online and going viral.

00:05:03.520 But he asked her if she was having exams right now.

00:05:07.760 And she's got exams coming up in a week.

00:05:09.380 She said, yeah.

00:05:09.880 And then he made a joke.

00:05:12.700 He said, well, if you fail, you can blame me, which I thought was really funny.

00:05:19.020 That's a good out.

00:05:19.840 That's a very good out.

00:05:20.980 All right, I got to say, there are certain things you get to do in your career.

00:05:24.620 Taking your daughter to meet the king, you got to use that as a little political capital down the road when she thinks you're not cool again.

00:05:31.120 Look, earning dad brownie points is not easy to do, but that was really fun.

00:05:36.720 And I enjoyed the chance to have her meet the king.

00:05:42.860 What a great plus one, by the way.

00:05:45.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:05:45.520 Like, it's very, very cool to bring your daughter.

00:05:48.300 And then...

00:05:49.440 And how much trouble are you in, though?

00:05:51.060 Hold on.

00:05:51.440 How much trouble are you in at home there?

00:05:53.260 Like, Heidi didn't get the invite.

00:05:55.600 So she was all on board with this.

00:05:58.340 Heidi did get the invite.

00:05:59.960 Heidi had to work.

00:06:01.000 So Heidi actually said no.

00:06:03.300 There you go.

00:06:03.880 Okay.

00:06:04.060 And actually, Catherine got the invite, too.

00:06:06.320 And Catherine, it's interesting. My 18-year-old thought it was really cool.

00:06:10.620 My 15-year-old was like, no, I'm kind of busy. That's all right.

00:06:13.460 So Catherine said no. So she didn't come.

00:06:15.840 That's amazing. So it was a family affair, and it turned into a daddy-daughter date. I love it.

00:06:20.700 It was a daddy-daughter day. It was awesome. It was a lot of fun.

00:06:26.320 You know, the King's coming was important and consequential.

00:06:30.120 And I actually think President Trump, they had an arrival ceremony at the White House

00:06:35.280 where the president greeted the king, and the president laid out a little bit of why it was

00:06:40.360 important for the king to be here and how this is really one of the beginning moments of 250,

00:06:45.780 of our celebration of our nation's 250th anniversary. Give a listen to President Trump

00:06:50.020 explaining why this visit right now is consequential.

00:06:54.580 Here in the shadows of monuments to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson honoring the

00:07:01.160 british king might seem an ironic beginning to our celebration of 250 years of american

00:07:08.700 independence but in fact no tribute could be more appropriate long before americans had a nation or

00:07:17.000 a constitution we first had a culture a character and a creed before we ever proclaimed our

00:07:25.200 independence, Americans carried within us the rarest of gifts, moral courage, and it came from

00:07:33.000 a small but mighty kingdom from across the sea. For nearly two centuries before the revolution,

00:07:40.140 this land was settled and forged by men, women who bore in their souls the blood and noble spirit

00:07:47.220 of the British. Here on a wild and untamed continent, they set loose the ancient English

00:07:54.520 love of liberty and the great britain's distinctive sense of glory destiny and pride and that's what

00:08:01.220 it is glory destiny and pride the american patriots who pledged their lives to independence

00:08:09.460 in 1776 were the heirs to this majestic inheritance their veins ran with anglo-saxon

00:08:18.500 courage, their hearts beat with an English faith and standing firm for what is right, good, and true.

00:08:27.860 In recent years, we've often heard it said that America is merely an idea, but the cause of

00:08:35.580 freedom did not simply appear as an intellectual invention of 1776. The American founding was the

00:08:45.460 culmination of hundreds of years of thought struggle sweat blood and

00:08:50.380 sacrifice on both sides of the Atlantic fate drew a long arc from the meadow at

00:08:58.300 Runnymede to the streets of Philadelphia that ran through the lives of people

00:09:03.860 born and bred on the British code that no man should be denied either justice

00:09:10.340 or right American patriots today can sing my country tis of thee sweet land of liberty

00:09:20.200 only because our colonial ancestors first sang God save the king you know I gotta say one of

00:09:30.560 the things that was really interesting about watching the president and interacting uh with

00:09:34.460 the king and the queen is that right now there have been politically tensions have been pretty

00:09:39.720 high i think everybody knows that uh with england and and there's been a lot of frustration there

00:09:45.160 uh certainly i'm one of those i think they should have stepped up in a different way with what we're

00:09:50.020 doing with iran but the president also understood and i thought it was incredibly just not just

00:09:56.600 classy but also what leaders do to say hey we don't always agree on everything but we welcome

00:10:02.800 you we're going to roll out the red carpet and we're going to have grand conversations that

00:10:07.520 hopefully will make things even better moving forward. And just listening to him talk there,

00:10:12.480 I think he did a phenomenal job with his speeches. Yeah, look, I agree. I think the president's

00:10:17.800 remarks were really well written. They were well delivered. They were important. There is no doubt

00:10:23.180 the special relationship, which is the term that has been used for a long, long time to describe

00:10:27.900 the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. It's strained right now.

00:10:33.200 The U.K.'s decision not to help us in Iran and, in fact, to block us from using British military bases, that has put real strain on that relationship, and it's going to be real strain with consequences.

00:10:46.900 But at the end of the day, that's a decision from Keir Starmer, the prime minister.

00:10:50.760 That's not King Charles who made that decision.

00:10:54.860 And I think the king was here to try to remind Americans and maybe remind the British as well of the centuries and not just 250 years, but centuries before that of intertwined history.

00:11:10.360 And our rights and liberties, we didn't just invent the concepts of individual liberty and government that are reflected in the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago that are reflected in the Constitution.

00:11:28.660 many of those ideas originated in England, originated the Magna Carta was critical,

00:11:35.000 the English Bill of Rights was critical, great thinkers like John Locke who laid out

00:11:40.600 the reasoning behind the natural rights of life, liberty, and property that became the foundation

00:11:45.860 for much of the American experience. And in fact, King Charles, when he was addressing

00:11:52.220 addressing congress i think he did did something very eloquent and and elegant in in that he

00:12:00.020 talked about he said look there's tension right now between our two nations but he said we've

00:12:05.820 always had tension and he said when we started in fact 250 years ago we had tension that that

00:12:11.700 resulted in a war but it was interesting tension yeah he made a point he said the the principles

00:12:18.980 that animated the American Revolution, and in particular, he singled out taxation without

00:12:24.500 representation. He said those were principles that we had developed and that were integral to

00:12:31.040 us. Now, we disagreed, meaning we, the British, disagreed on whether they applied to the colonies,

00:12:37.200 but literally the grounds upon which we declared independence were grounds that were integral to

00:12:45.620 to the british constitutional history and understanding of rights and and in fact when

00:12:51.520 the supreme court is interpreting the constitution and our bill of rights and much of our bill of

00:12:55.300 rights mirrors at times even word for word uh the english bill of rights uh often the supreme court

00:13:02.860 will look to for example blackstone and look to english common law for how these rights were

00:13:07.780 understood hundreds of years before america existed so that intertwined history is really

00:13:15.720 important and i do like the president trump's pointing out like this is a great way to celebrate

00:13:21.000 250 years by reminding us of big things that matter i'm going to say something else that

00:13:27.560 surprised me king charles is funny and i was going to say his either he's funny or his speech

00:13:35.460 writers are unbelievable it may be a combination of both but but i also think like man after seeing

00:13:43.240 him i liked him a lot more after watching this visit than i ever did before just because i always

00:13:49.700 thought he was kind of a a stiff you know prim and proper kind of you know awkward guy that is

00:13:57.100 not how he came across on this trip at all in fact i remember when he came back when bush was

00:14:01.340 office back in 2000 2008 i think it was 2005 maybe when they made their visit if i remember

00:14:06.560 correctly in that that year could be wrong but he didn't even have and granted he was not the king

00:14:11.740 yet so i think he was playing a role but it's like he's now like i am the guy and he's way more funny

00:14:17.960 than he was when he visited back then yeah look i i will say this past weekend i was in scottsdale

00:14:23.680 arizona and i was at you know talking about that 2005 visit that this last weekend uh i i was in

00:14:32.060 scottsdale arizona the hoover institute had had a gathering of its board of overseers and its top

00:14:36.680 supporters and they invited me to come speak saturday night uh to the dinner and and what we

00:14:41.660 did at the dinner is we did a fireside chat uh where condi rice uh interviewed me and i've known 0.90

00:14:47.020 condi for for 25 years and condi's remarkably capable by the way she's so awesome she she's 1.00

00:14:53.660 She's phenomenal. And we had an hour long discussion that was really deep and nuanced.

00:14:59.300 But but beforehand, Connie and I were chatting and I mentioned to her that, you know, on Monday that I was going to go to this garden party and I was excited to meet meet the king and queen.

00:15:08.100 And she she referenced that 2005 visit. And she said, oh, yeah, when when he came, she was secretary of state at the time.

00:15:14.620 And she said, well, I was the senior woman. So so I was his escort.

00:15:19.140 And I'm like, all right, I'm psyched to go to a garden party and like meet him.

00:15:24.360 And I'm like, you really big-footed me.

00:15:26.380 You're like, I was his date.

00:15:27.580 Okay, that would be one step up.

00:15:31.920 But look, I will admit the humor, and it was very well written.

00:15:38.380 It's very British dry humor. 0.97

00:15:40.760 Yeah. 0.86

00:15:41.320 But he delivered it very well.

00:15:43.580 And I'm going to confess, I actually turned the senator next to me before the speech started,

00:15:48.340 and I sort of wisecracked that he wasn't known to be the most riveting speaker.

00:15:52.440 And he really surprised me. I was not expecting.

00:15:55.500 Give a listen to some of the better jokes he had in his speech because they were really well done.

00:16:01.760 As Oscar Wilde said, we have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.

00:16:13.060 Now, as you may know, when I address my own parliament at Westminster,

00:16:17.380 we still follow an age-old tradition

00:16:20.580 and take a Member of Parliament hostage

00:16:23.440 holding him or her at Buckingham Palace

00:16:29.040 until I am safely returned.

00:16:34.960 These days we look after our guests rather well

00:16:38.760 to the point that they often do not want to leave.

00:16:42.020 this is a city which symbolises

00:16:46.200 a period in our shared history

00:16:48.560 or what Charles Dickens might have called

00:16:51.740 a tale of two Georges

00:17:05.820 the first president, George Washington

00:17:07.860 and my five times great grandfather, King George III

00:17:11.320 King George, as you know, never set foot in America

00:17:15.880 And please rest assured, ladies and gentlemen

00:17:20.340 I am not here as part of some cunning rearguard action

00:17:24.360 250 years ago, or as we say in the United Kingdom, just the other day

00:17:33.220 I mean, there's some really good lines there

00:17:39.060 That one right there, the 250 years, or as we say, just the other day, like, look, the speechwriters killed it.

00:17:46.300 But he delivered the lines with a grin.

00:17:48.940 And it was really, really, really fun to see him do that in such a fun way in front of Congress.

00:17:55.500 Well, I really like the I'm not here as some sort of cunning rearguard action that that made me laugh out loud.

00:18:02.020 And actually, when I just listen to it right now, maybe laugh out loud again like that.

00:18:05.420 That was funny and delivered really well.

00:18:07.640 and i'll tell you for for those of you who are not watching this this on youtube if you watched it

00:18:13.220 you you can see him the joke about as dickens would have said a tale of two georges

00:18:18.560 that joke didn't quite land and he sort of made this like self-deprecating face

00:18:26.580 he he acknowledged facially that it didn't land yeah that it's that it's a pun it's it's a pun

00:18:33.540 that and when and his facial expression is what prompted a bigger laugh and then a round of

00:18:41.000 applause but it was that in particular you had to see the expression to see how he how he made it

00:18:48.040 he made it a winner and and i was really happily surprised now his speech was good enough that

00:18:55.060 that that that here's what what president trump had to say uh about the speech afterwards

00:19:00.580 this is a great honor and we welcome their majesties king charles the third and queen

00:19:09.580 camilla of the united kingdom to the white house very special place very very special

00:19:16.240 and i also want to before we really begin i want to congratulate charles on having made a fantastic

00:19:25.740 speech today at congress he got the democrats to stand i've never been able to do that

00:19:30.360 i couldn't believe it i couldn't believe it they liked him more than they've ever liked

00:19:39.240 any republican or democrat i love that or democrat actually like that that was one of

00:19:45.020 the best lines and and it goes back to like what i said at the beginning i'm like didn't

00:19:49.400 the democratic party just like spend an entire like several months screaming no kings and

00:19:54.240 having no kings protest and they gave him like a glowing uh standing ovation multiple times

00:20:01.280 loving the king being there more than they'd ever do for any republican that's for sure

00:20:06.020 well the white house today tweeted out a picture of president trump and king charles

00:20:11.040 uh just with the words two kings which which drove the the left out of their minds yeah yeah

00:20:17.300 that was that was good easy trolling right there yeah and and i will say king charles also had had

00:20:23.260 had another couple of jokes uh at the state dinner at the white house uh give a listen to these

00:20:28.380 on this occasion i cannot help noticing the readjustments to the east wing mr president

00:20:36.360 following your visit to windsor castle last year and i'm sorry to say that we british of course

00:20:44.300 made our own small attempt at real estate redevelopment of the white house in 1814

00:20:50.640 i mean that's a great line right there like the hit whoever he hired like i want to steal them

00:21:02.800 and bring them here because they were brilliant jokes and and by the way for the for those of

00:21:07.500 y'all who aren't students of history in the war of 1812 the british burned the white house and

00:21:12.720 like leveled it and and so that's look i i assume the king probably has a a speech writer on staff

00:21:20.120 but but whether he used his normal speech writer or brought in it wouldn't surprise me if they

00:21:25.940 actually brought in a comedy writer I mean there yeah for sure because there's and what I like

00:21:33.200 about the humor is it's just it's the wry British humor that there's a dryness to it that just makes

00:21:39.620 it make makes it really funny but listen I am glad uh that the king was here uh and and I am

00:21:46.900 glad that both he and president trump focused on the foundation of our culture of our law

00:21:53.700 of our understanding that our rights come from god almighty that governments are instituted to

00:21:59.720 secure those rights uh that history we've got this entire year our 250th birthday is going to

00:22:06.600 be a lot of discussion of that and i think the king's being here was was an important part of

00:22:10.340 that it really was it was very cool it was nice to see people come together and have this moment

00:22:15.220 especially after what we just had at the White House Correspondence Center.

00:22:18.700 I want to move, Senator, on to another topic,

00:22:21.020 and that is some good news for people that are sick and tired of seeing crimes committed in one actual action,

00:22:26.780 especially when it comes to taxpayer dollars disappearing by the tens of billions.

00:22:30.620 And now we have the FBI that has raided the Minneapolis Fraud-Ridden Care Centers,

00:22:38.020 20-plus of these that were actually raided by the FBI,

00:22:41.940 including the famous Children's Leering Center that was supposed to say on their sign,

00:22:47.420 Learning, but it was just the Leering Center.

00:22:49.760 That one was rated as well.

00:22:51.620 And I am excited to just say, at least it looks like now we're getting some real action

00:22:58.520 into stopping this fraud, into showing that if you take away taxpayer dollars this way

00:23:03.800 and you send it to terrorist organizations like al-Shabaab

00:23:06.700 and you bribe Democrats to look the other way,

00:23:09.260 like Governor Waltz, but with campaign contributions,

00:23:12.880 somebody is at least going to come in and actually hold you accountable.

00:23:16.540 Yes, look, I'm very glad that there is finally going to be some accountability.

00:23:20.000 22 locations in Minneapolis raided by the FBI this week.

00:23:24.800 You mentioned the Quality Leering Center.

00:23:26.760 Of course, their most proud graduate, Ilhan Omar, who actually is not technically a graduate.

00:23:32.260 We had World War 11 yesterday. Did you know about that?

00:23:34.780 We've had 11 World Wars. That's impressive stuff.

00:23:37.160 I didn't think the King of England knew that.

00:23:38.720 It really is stunning.

00:23:40.560 So she was giving a speech, and the speech referenced World War II.

00:23:45.460 But the two is two Roman numerals, and that's how you normally write World War II.

00:23:50.340 And she read that as World War XI.

00:23:54.720 Yes, and didn't correct herself, just owned it and kept going.

00:23:57.960 It was not like, if you or I did that, and by the way, if you've ever read a speech and you're tired,

00:24:03.360 or you're just kind of, it's a long day, you might read something, but you immediately correct it.

00:24:08.380 She had no clue, no idea.

00:24:10.740 Look, look, there's a level of ignorance there.

00:24:14.100 If a ninth grader thought World War II was World War XI, you would flunk that ninth grader.

00:24:22.300 I mean, you think about it.

00:24:23.480 Used to.

00:24:23.860 Nowadays, we'll just socially just pass them on in our public school system.

00:24:27.440 Back in the good old days, you'd fail.

00:24:29.360 Look, look, Ilhan Omar is one of the leading Democrats.

00:24:32.140 She and AOC and, I mean, the crazy squad is driving the agenda of Democrats today.

00:24:37.660 And the level of ignorance of basic world history is really stunning.

00:24:45.660 And Omar was also integral in covering up the Somali fraud in Minnesota. 0.78

00:24:53.660 She was a beneficiary of it. 0.68

00:24:55.480 She was elected by the fraudsters. 1.00

00:24:58.560 The Somali voting base is her core base. 1.00

00:25:02.840 Their money helped elect her.

00:25:05.480 their votes did elect her and and she and tim waltz and the governor and keith ellison the ag

00:25:13.020 they were all absolutely involved in the cover-up they had every incentive it was corrupt and we're

00:25:19.500 talking over nine billion dollars of taxpayer money swindled away and and and so here's what

00:25:26.200 fox news reported about the raids federal authorities raided more than 20 locations

00:25:31.480 including child care facilities in Minneapolis on Tuesday as part of a sweeping fraud investigation

00:25:37.240 into largely Somali-owned businesses, sources confirmed to Fox News.

00:25:42.260 Quote, today the FBI with federal, state, and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized

00:25:48.680 law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation, a Department of Justice

00:25:53.900 spokesperson said. Authorities executed 22 federal search warrants in Minnesota on Tuesday morning

00:25:59.760 as part of the operation which is not immigration related sources said the raid center on federal

00:26:07.060 fraud investigations into largely somali-owned businesses including child care facilities that

00:26:11.860 registered their day daycare with the state but were allegedly billing for care that was not

00:26:18.200 provided sources told fox news that two of the raids were conducted at the quality leering center

00:26:24.320 and Baby Halimno Child Care, both in Minneapolis.

00:26:29.520 Vice President J.D. Vance addressed the raids in a post on X,

00:26:32.940 writing, the task force of the DOJ will be relentless

00:26:35.300 in exposing these fraudsters wherever they may be hiding.

00:26:41.020 Governor Tim Waltz, this is, this is, you want to talk about amazing chutzpah,

00:26:45.400 said the raids were carried out by federal and state law enforcement

00:26:49.240 after state agencies, quote,

00:26:51.400 caught irregular behavior and reported it.

00:26:55.480 Quote, if you commit fraud in Minnesota, you're going to get caught.

00:26:59.420 And that's exactly what we saw today.

00:27:02.420 We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information,

00:27:05.960 join investigations work, and securing justice depends upon it.

00:27:10.120 Now, that truly is stunning because Waltz, his entire governorship,

00:27:15.120 has looked the other way on massive fraud, has refused to investigate it,

00:27:19.460 has profited from it has been elected by it has has taken campaign donations from it the entire

00:27:25.740 democrat machinery was built on fraud and now he's taking credit that that really is like the

00:27:32.920 arsonist taking credit when the firefighters turn turn up and and put out the fire yeah it really

00:27:38.600 is and it's all because now he's not running for re-election right so he can just be like oh we're

00:27:42.660 rooting out fraud and try to i guess rebuild his legacy so maybe he can have a grand comeback one

00:27:47.140 day i don't know if that's going to work there's one aspect of this though senator that excites me

00:27:52.720 and it's the fact that it's clear this is the beginning not the end based on what was said by

00:27:58.080 the doj like this is the tip of the iceberg we're going to the catalyst point and then there's been

00:28:05.540 directives at all states including republican-led states to start looking at waste fraud and abuse

00:28:10.900 they're looking at california i think you're going to see more people that are going to be indicted

00:28:15.080 and more places that are going to be raided outside of Minnesota,

00:28:18.340 that is exactly what the American people voted for,

00:28:21.280 which was to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse.

00:28:23.600 That is exactly right.

00:28:24.880 And I will point out also that other blue states are coming.

00:28:29.580 California is coming.

00:28:31.440 I have every reason to expect, and indeed I've been told by senior officials

00:28:36.060 in the administration, California is even worse than Minneapolis has been.

00:28:41.960 And I want you also to give a listen to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and what she revealed about fraud and abuse concerning SNAP, concerning food stamps.

00:28:54.380 Give a listen to Secretary Rollins.

00:28:56.420 Yeah, this one's amazing, by the way, for context.

00:28:58.780 This is about luxury cars and how many people on food stamps are driving like luxury cars.

00:29:04.600 It's incredible.

00:29:05.980 Sharing.

00:29:06.640 Previously, no data was shared.

00:29:08.160 We had no idea where the taxpayer dollars were spent.

00:29:10.700 Just one red state, the recent dump of data, we found SNAP recipients had more than 2,000 Tesla owners, 200 Alfa Romeo owners, more than 144 that were receiving food stamps were driving Porsches.

00:29:25.500 Again, this is the data dumps we're getting because before we had no accountability on any of these programs.

00:29:31.700 We now are requiring accountability.

00:29:34.000 The blue states are suing us.

00:29:35.520 They don't want to share the data.

00:29:36.580 And can you imagine, this was a red state where there is actually some taxpayer accountability.

00:29:43.020 Imagine what's happening in the blue states if that's happening in the red states.

00:29:47.460 I love that it's like a bunch of Tesla owners, Alfa Romeo, also Porsches, Mercedes, BMWs, and you're on food stamps.

00:29:55.840 Like, these were high-end luxury cars.

00:29:57.780 Actually, Ben, it's even worse.

00:29:59.520 So let me give some additional breakdown.

00:30:01.900 So there were 306 Land Rovers.

00:30:04.880 Those aren't cheap, by the way.

00:30:06.580 There were 59 Maseratis.

00:30:10.420 Yeah, that's a food stamp car.

00:30:12.760 You know that.

00:30:13.860 There were 11 Lamborghinis.

00:30:18.160 There were three Ferraris.

00:30:21.440 There were three Bentleys.

00:30:22.980 These are people getting food stamps, driving a quarter million dollar or more.

00:30:29.680 Like a Lamborghini could be a million dollar car, depending on which one they had.

00:30:33.560 Yeah.

00:30:33.700 that is an absolute abuse and if that happened in just one red state that had it over its data

00:30:41.340 how much do you think it's happening in minnesota how much you think it's happening in new york

00:30:46.220 how much you think it is happening in illinois how much you think it's happening in california

00:30:50.340 the numbers are going to be stunning every every time they went after and got somebody there for

00:30:55.100 fraud recently what were they doing you saw them putting in a six-figure car that was being seized

00:31:01.740 And in some of the cases, there was, like, multiple six-figure cars that were being seized, Senator, and put on flatbeds.

00:31:07.860 Like, yeah, they finally raided the house to this fraudster, and look at what they had.

00:31:11.120 Like, if you're on food stamps and you're driving a Lambo or a Ferrari or a Maserati, like, you are defrauding the U.S. government full stop.

00:31:20.500 Amen.

00:31:21.720 Hallelujah.

00:31:23.180 And listen, I'm very glad the Trump administration is having some accountability.

00:31:29.300 Let me read from what the New York Post wrote about this story about Ferrari drivers on food stamps.

00:31:35.760 So it's entitled, Ferrari Drivers on Food Stamps, How States Helped Scammers Game Welfare.

00:31:42.040 New York Post.

00:31:43.500 What do a university professor, a celebrity barber, and a professional football player have in common?

00:31:48.940 All three bought new six-figure luxury sports cars and lived lavish lifestyles while collecting food stamps.

00:31:59.080 How on earth can these, quote, welfare recipients purchase high-end vehicles while remaining on the dole?

00:32:05.280 Thanks to a federal loophole known as broad-based categorical eligibility.

00:32:10.440 The Clinton administration manufactured this loophole, and the Obama administration supercharged it.

00:32:15.760 Currently, 43 states and Washington, D.C. use broad based categorical eligibility to bypass federal supplemental nutrition assistant program eligibility limits on income, assets or both.

00:32:31.620 The mechanism, based on a federal law that was meant to minimize states' administrative cost, is simple.

00:32:38.380 State welfare agencies print up a brochure about welfare programs or set up an informal hotline and deem it a, quote, benefit under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

00:32:48.620 Anyone who touches that pamphlet, touches, or receives the phone number is then treated as being, quote, categorically eligible for food stamps, even millionaires.

00:33:05.740 It's fraud by design that distributes benefits intended for the truly needy to otherwise ineligible individuals under the insidious goal of maximizing enrollment and dependency.

00:33:18.700 And it works in almost every state.

00:33:21.880 Researchers from the Foundation for Government Accountability examined de-identified data on food stamp enrollment in a single representative state.

00:33:29.780 the data set matched recipients with jobs addresses car registrations and more and then

00:33:37.340 then they redacted the personal details before the researchers reviewed that's what produced

00:33:43.520 these outcomes and by the way it it also thousands used social security numbers that federal databases

00:33:53.340 could not verify that included real numbers with mismatched names and birthdays numbers issued

00:34:00.480 years before the applicant's date of birth numbers of people who died years ago and numbers that

00:34:08.120 don't even exist all are clear signs that both stolen identities and synthetic identities

00:34:15.620 are being used to defraud the system.

00:34:20.140 The BBC loophole doesn't just expand enrollments,

00:34:23.020 it creates the condition for outright criminals to flourish.

00:34:26.720 When state agencies eliminate asset checks,

00:34:29.900 they tear out the tripwires that cost fraudulent applications.

00:34:35.120 This is, so a case in point,

00:34:37.680 the wealthy professor, barber,

00:34:40.240 and professional athlete that FGA researchers spotted

00:34:43.600 could be victims of identity fraud.

00:34:45.620 Because SNAP intentionally allows anything to serve as proof of identity, even a library card.

00:34:54.200 If states were cross-checking income and assets, those cases would be flagged as potential fraud.

00:35:01.920 Thousands more, here's something else, thousands more food stamp recipients in the study enrolled using IP addresses

00:35:09.040 traced to foreign countries, including China, Mexico, and Canada.

00:35:16.100 More than 5,000 applicants in this state used foreign-based email addresses to apply,

00:35:21.500 and countless others used disposable emails, the kind designed for identity theft and phishing.

00:35:29.140 Look, the USDA puts improper food stamp payments at $10.4 billion a year, with a B.

00:35:38.140 That's more than one in every $10 spent on the program.

00:35:43.240 And so now we're going after that fraud, and I'm here to say, yes, this is what I voted for.

00:35:50.780 Holding the criminals accountable, and by the way, holding the Democrats accountable,

00:35:54.920 who have enabled this theft of taxpayer fraud.

00:35:58.480 You want to know what the Democrats stand for? 0.93

00:36:00.260 They stand for Somali fraudsters stealing your tax money and sending it to Al-Shabaab, Islamist terrorist in Somalia. 0.98

00:36:07.160 They stand for thieves driving Bentleys and Lamborghinis and Ferraris who say they need food stamps and stealing your money. 0.88

00:36:16.420 That is if the and by the way, look, sometimes Heidi will say, gosh, you know, that rhetoric sounds really harsh.

00:36:25.520 Well, Ben, if the Democrats don't stand for that, then I just want to ask you a question.

00:36:32.300 Why wouldn't Democrat governors do what what the Trump administration has done?

00:36:36.380 Why wouldn't they go after and cut them off?

00:36:39.740 And they don't do it because ideologically they are in favor of it.

00:36:44.820 If they just said, I mean, is there one Democrat in the country will say, all right, we're going to have a rule.

00:36:49.840 Nobody on food stamps can have a Ferrari. 1.00

00:36:52.280 Like if you have a Ferrari, sell your damn car. 1.00

00:36:54.520 You can't have food stamps. 1.00

00:36:55.280 Yeah.

00:36:56.260 And buy your food with that money you get for selling your car.

00:36:59.540 But you don't get if you got the money for a Ferrari, we ain't paying for your food.

00:37:03.760 I got to say, that sounds like common sense,

00:37:05.920 and there's not a single Democrat governor in the country that's saying that.

00:37:10.080 Amen to that.

00:37:10.920 Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

00:37:13.060 Hit that subscribe or auto-download button.

00:37:15.020 Please share this podcast with your family and friends.

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00:37:21.760 And the senator, I will see you back here on Friday morning.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - April 29, 2026

King Charles in America plus FBI Raids 22 Somali Fraud Locations

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