Verdict with Ted Cruz - December 13, 2025


Labeling the Muslim Brotherhood, AI needs a Soft Touch plus Cruz Calls Out Carlson & Qatar Week In Review


Episode Stats

Length

34 minutes

Words per Minute

169.16893

Word Count

5,878

Sentence Count

444

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

23


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.600 Guaranteed human.
00:00:04.340 Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:06.320 We can review Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:08.180 And these are the stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week.
00:00:11.400 First up, an ongoing battle to designate the Muslim Brotherhood of Terrorist Organization.
00:00:16.860 And it's time for you to step up and call your congressman and your senator.
00:00:21.340 We'll explain how important this is in just a moment.
00:00:24.360 Also, AI executive order signed by the president is going to excel AI business in America.
00:00:31.920 Why is it so important that we beat China on this?
00:00:34.480 And it deals with national security.
00:00:35.960 We'll explain that as well.
00:00:37.440 And also, in a very odd move, a guy by the name of Tucker Carlson decides to go to Qatar,
00:00:43.460 suck up to the country, and buy a house.
00:00:46.200 It's the Week in Review, and it starts right now.
00:00:49.660 All right, finally, Senator, I love doing this show because we get to bring attention.
00:00:53.800 And actually get our listeners involved.
00:00:56.120 The next subject we're going to be talking about is one where I would say to everyone listening,
00:01:00.620 this is when you say, I'm going to take a moment.
00:01:03.720 I'm going to send an email.
00:01:04.760 I'm going to call my senator.
00:01:05.760 I'm going to call my congressman.
00:01:07.660 This is something you've been working on.
00:01:10.100 We've been talking about a lot.
00:01:12.020 And it deals with the Muslim Brotherhood bill.
00:01:15.920 And I want you to give this update because it's important.
00:01:18.420 And a lot of people that listen to work, they say, hey, what can I do?
00:01:21.140 How can my voice be heard?
00:01:22.460 This is a perfect example of where your phone call can make a big difference.
00:01:27.220 Absolutely.
00:01:28.280 So, look, the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization.
00:01:31.780 It is one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations on the planet.
00:01:35.540 I have been fighting for literally 10 years for the United States to designate the Muslim Brotherhood
00:01:42.120 as a terrorist organization.
00:01:43.380 In the first Trump administration, I came incredibly close.
00:01:49.200 I almost got the Trump administration to do it.
00:01:52.340 Here's what defeated me.
00:01:53.580 So there's a global umbrella group, the Muslim Brotherhood.
00:01:57.940 And there are a bunch of affiliates that are in different countries.
00:02:02.700 And there were deep state, State Department operatives who argued against what I was trying to do and Trump won.
00:02:09.440 And the argument they used that prevailed is they said, well, look, not every single affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood can we prove is a terrorist organization.
00:02:19.680 Some of them clearly are, but others of them, there's not clear and irrefutable evidence that they're engaged in terrorism.
00:02:28.140 That's what defeated my effort, Trump won.
00:02:31.380 So here's what I've done Trump to.
00:02:34.300 I said the previous efforts were top down.
00:02:37.900 They were designate the global Muslim Brotherhood and then designate all their affiliates.
00:02:43.720 They argued some of the affiliates may not be terrorists.
00:02:46.760 I don't buy that, but it was an argument, and it was an argument that was successful in Trump one.
00:02:52.520 So in Trump two, I inverted the entire approach.
00:02:56.660 I said, all right, let's rather than being top down, let's start bottom up.
00:03:00.600 And so I filed legislation that directed the administration, designate every Muslim Brotherhood affiliate that there is clear and unequivocal evidence they're a terrorist organization.
00:03:12.520 So, for example, Hamas.
00:03:14.240 Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.
00:03:17.160 So there is no dispute Hamas is a terrorist organization.
00:03:20.920 So that is an easy example of a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate that is indisputably terrorist.
00:03:26.900 First, my legislation says designate the affiliates, and then it says designate the global Muslim Brotherhood for providing money, for providing material assistance to the affiliates that are indisputably terrorist organizations.
00:03:45.440 So I filed that legislation.
00:03:47.500 I've been pressing the Trump administration.
00:03:49.080 President Trump stepped in, and he announced that he was designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
00:03:58.040 Not the global, but the individual affiliates.
00:04:01.060 And basically, the Trump administration is following the approach in my legislation.
00:04:06.920 Now, I want you to listen.
00:04:08.540 This week, a State Department official from the Trump administration was testifying before the Senate.
00:04:14.060 I questioned him on this.
00:04:15.320 Give a listen.
00:04:15.740 Do you believe the Muslim Brotherhood poses a threat to the national security of the United States?
00:04:21.860 Yes.
00:04:22.540 Now, let's pivot away from the president's executive order to what's happening here in Congress.
00:04:27.920 As I said earlier, and as you observed, I've been pushing to designate the Muslim Brotherhood for more than a decade now.
00:04:36.080 I've introduced legislation to do so in all but one Congress since I was elected.
00:04:40.300 This Congress, I introduced a version of my bill, the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act, that uses the same bottoms-up approach that is in President Trump's executive order.
00:04:51.660 It has bipartisan support in both chambers.
00:04:55.060 Last week, frustratingly, the House version of my bill was advanced but terminally weakened by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
00:05:03.260 They took out the designation part of the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act.
00:05:09.640 The Senate should do better, and we should move the full bill on our side.
00:05:14.060 Some public reports and statements have claimed that House members, including House Republicans, did not believe that Congress should have a role in crafting sanctions which are to be implemented by the executive.
00:05:24.660 I find that argument to be specious, and I know the vast majority of this committee does as well.
00:05:32.280 Mr. Loherfel, I and my colleagues have implicit and explicit expectations that executive officials will work with and, when appropriate, even defer to this committee on issues of foreign policy, including sanctions and including the designation of terrorist groups.
00:05:47.640 What is your view of the role that Congress plays on these issues, including on initiatives like mine to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group?
00:05:57.520 Senator Cruz, thank you for your question.
00:06:00.640 I fully respect Congress's Article I authority in making laws including with respect to foreign terror organization designations or other types of designations.
00:06:12.860 Whatever legislation is passed, I will faithfully execute if I am confirmed.
00:06:19.380 Thank you.
00:06:20.640 All right, final question.
00:06:22.300 One element of this debate that continues to surprise me, and I don't think the American people, even many people here in Congress,
00:06:29.100 I don't think they appreciate the degree to which our allies support acknowledging and designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
00:06:38.760 As you know, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kenya, they have all already designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
00:06:51.060 These are our allies and partners in the Middle East and Africa, and there's a pernicious narrative that doing the same thing they've done,
00:06:58.780 designating the Muslim Brotherhood will somehow alienate these partners.
00:07:01.960 Describe how you would work with our allies to counter the Brotherhood's malign activities.
00:07:09.500 Senator Cruz, thank you for that question.
00:07:12.820 I can say that in a previous capacity in the Bureau of Counterterrorism, I led our efforts to designate the IRGC,
00:07:21.040 get designations of other countries to designate the IRGC, as well as Hezbollah and Hamas, particularly in the Western Hemisphere.
00:07:26.820 That approach, it's pretty intense diplomacy.
00:07:32.320 It requires a lot of legwork.
00:07:35.180 I've talked with our chiefs of mission in the Western Hemisphere across to Australia with respect to that.
00:07:39.360 You saw the news there about four or five months ago, what Australia did with respect to the IRGC.
00:07:43.980 I would template that, really, and get at the Muslim Brotherhood using that diplomatic approach that is working,
00:07:51.220 and there's more work to be done, let me be clear, with the IRGC and Hezbollah and Hamas,
00:07:54.920 but I would template that in our efforts with the Muslim Brotherhood.
00:07:58.780 Terrific. Very helpful. Thank you.
00:08:00.220 Thank you, sir.
00:08:01.360 You hear your question there, and I want you to just explain why this is so important, Senator.
00:08:07.800 We need to be clear-eyed.
00:08:09.260 We need to be clear-eyed about the threats to America.
00:08:12.440 The Muslim Brotherhood is a radical jihadist global terror network.
00:08:17.200 They are funding jihadists in countries across the globe,
00:08:21.520 and we are seeing, we started this podcast by talking about 18,000 terrorists coming to this country under Joe Biden.
00:08:28.540 These are, the Muslim Brotherhood is deliberately promoting people who are seeking to engage in acts of terror.
00:08:35.840 They're seeking to wage jihad, and we need to be serious and clear-eyed,
00:08:40.060 and I've got to say, there's some Republicans that are nervous about this, but Donald Trump is not,
00:08:44.480 and his designation was historic, and I'm continuing to work hand-in-hand with him
00:08:49.540 to protect American, to protect the American people against the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood,
00:08:56.000 against the threat of jihadists.
00:08:57.540 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
00:09:00.500 you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.
00:09:04.800 Canadian women are looking for more.
00:09:06.960 More to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:09:10.940 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:09:14.860 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:09:16.060 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:09:17.280 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:09:21.040 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers,
00:09:24.580 all at different stages of their journey.
00:09:26.780 So, if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:09:30.000 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:09:34.060 Now, on to story number two.
00:09:37.880 You may have heard about AI.
00:09:40.080 It's pretty impressive what it can do, but there also has to be framework around it
00:09:45.000 and making sure that it is a way for us to use the tools and also keep people safe.
00:09:50.780 There's a lot of concern with AI, also, when it comes to who's going to be leading in the industry.
00:09:56.980 Is it going to be the United States or China?
00:09:59.220 And what does AI look like if they're the leader?
00:10:03.480 And how can they manipulate everything through AI?
00:10:07.020 Senator, this is something that we've talked about on this show a lot.
00:10:10.560 I think we've led on this topic.
00:10:12.500 It's an important one because it is a race.
00:10:16.160 I described the other day on TV as this is no different than the race to the moon with Russia.
00:10:20.720 The race to the moon with AI in China.
00:10:23.340 Whoever gets there first is probably going to win and own it.
00:10:26.420 And this is a really, really important subject right now.
00:10:30.700 And it's also one, I think, that deals with national security.
00:10:33.680 So the single most important economic battle we have in this country right now is the race for AI.
00:10:40.500 This is going to transform the world.
00:10:42.780 We may not like it, but it's going to happen.
00:10:46.100 And the binary choice is does America win or does China win?
00:10:51.840 Look, whoever wins the race for AI, the values of that country will define the characteristics of AI.
00:11:00.000 If you want AI to be defined by the values of China, if you want it to be surveillance and control and propaganda and the communist government controlling everything you think, then you want China to win.
00:11:15.000 If you want it to be free speech and free enterprise and individual rights, then you want America to win.
00:11:21.340 And this is – you think back to the 1990s.
00:11:25.360 The battle for the Internet was a massive battle.
00:11:28.940 America won the battle for the Internet.
00:11:31.220 We prevailed.
00:11:32.660 This battle over AI is more consequential than the battle for the Internet.
00:11:37.200 Today, President Trump signed an executive order seeking to ensure a consistent national standard of rules for AI to stop Gavin Newsom and Hochul and J.B. Prisker and all these left-wing Democrats in the states from putting contradictory, burdensome, inconsistent rules on AI that ends up crippling American AI and letting China win.
00:12:05.040 I want you to listen to the president as he talked about this today.
00:12:11.320 Well, thank you very much.
00:12:12.680 We have a big signing right now, and we have a tremendous industry where we're leading by a lot.
00:12:19.260 It's the AI, artificial intelligence.
00:12:22.320 I always thought it should be SI, supreme intelligence, but I guess somewhere along the line they decided on the word artificial, and that's okay with me.
00:12:30.820 That's up to them.
00:12:32.140 It's a massive industry.
00:12:33.400 We're leading China.
00:12:35.820 We're leading everybody by a tremendous amount.
00:12:39.360 The electricity is being built by them in every plant.
00:12:42.160 They're building the electricity.
00:12:43.400 We're getting them rapid approvals.
00:12:45.240 But they're spending trillions of dollars, and they can't.
00:12:49.900 Basically, this has a couple of other things that are less important, but one of the things that it has is you have to have a central source of approval.
00:12:56.420 When they need approval of some things, they have to come to one source.
00:13:00.800 They can't go to California, New York, and various other places like Illinois with Pritzker, who's a totally unreasonable person.
00:13:08.340 And they have to have, you know, they're putting all this money in.
00:13:11.760 It's a big part of the economy, and there's only going to be, I think, one winner here.
00:13:16.600 I don't know if anybody agrees with that.
00:13:18.240 I think most people agree.
00:13:19.260 But there's only going to be one winner here, and that's probably going to be the U.S. or China.
00:13:25.140 And right now, we're winning by a lot.
00:13:27.180 China has a central source of approval.
00:13:29.120 I don't think they have any approval.
00:13:30.320 They just go and build.
00:13:31.260 But people want to be in the United States, and they want to do it here, and we have the big investment coming.
00:13:37.240 But if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you could forget it, because it's not possible to do, especially if you have some hostile.
00:13:44.400 All you need is one hostile actor, and you wouldn't be able to do it.
00:13:48.360 So it doesn't make sense.
00:13:50.040 I didn't have to be briefed on this, by the way.
00:13:51.740 This is real easy business.
00:13:53.120 I mean, this is simple.
00:13:54.520 So we're very happy with that.
00:13:56.120 But this is about something a little bit different.
00:13:58.740 We want to have one central source of approval, and we have, I think, great Republican support.
00:14:05.520 I think we probably have Democrat support, too, because it's common sense.
00:14:09.040 I mean, you can't go to every time you make a change, and it could be a very reasonable change.
00:14:13.880 You still won't get it approved if you have to go to 50 states.
00:14:17.140 So this centralizes it, and it's something which the people behind me, the very distinguished people, all.
00:14:24.100 But Tim Cook just left of Apple and spoke to all of the big companies, great companies, and they won't be able to do this.
00:14:34.840 This will not be successful unless they have one source of approval or disapproval, frankly.
00:14:39.640 You could have disapproval, too, but it's got to be one source.
00:14:42.060 They can't go to 50 different sources.
00:14:44.160 This seems to be a core point of what the president and what you were trying to accomplish, which is that one source,
00:14:50.560 because otherwise it would be impossible to grow AI and to deal with it the way that you need to deal with it
00:14:57.060 if you didn't have this kind of one standard across the board.
00:15:02.480 Look, AI is transformational.
00:15:04.740 Think back to the 1990s.
00:15:06.280 The 1990s, Bill Clinton was president, and the Internet was the dawn of the Internet.
00:15:14.160 And we made a choice.
00:15:15.520 America made a choice to do a light-touch regulatory approach to the Internet, and we ended up winning that race.
00:15:22.200 America dominates tech.
00:15:24.000 We dominate the Internet.
00:15:25.740 It produced hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs in the United States.
00:15:30.400 That was incredibly consequential.
00:15:33.180 AI is the same point.
00:15:34.320 And, Ben, I'll say, look, I understand.
00:15:36.420 People across the country, they're nervous about AI.
00:15:39.760 They're afraid.
00:15:40.400 They don't want AI to come take their jobs.
00:15:42.840 They don't want AI to render them irrelevant.
00:15:44.900 They don't like the technology.
00:15:46.160 And I get that.
00:15:46.800 That's not a crazy thing to think.
00:15:49.560 But, look, my view, I'm not a Luddite.
00:15:52.560 I don't think the fact that you're nervous about technology can make it go away.
00:15:57.800 As much as you might be worried, listen, I'll readily admit,
00:16:00.800 if there were a button in front of me right now to destroy every cell phone in the world, I'd push that button.
00:16:07.480 Because I think cell phones are a portal.
00:16:09.560 You know, I'm a dad.
00:16:10.460 I've got two teenage girls.
00:16:12.640 Cell phones are a portal to every evil force in the world at our kids.
00:16:18.040 But we don't live in that world.
00:16:20.080 AI is here.
00:16:21.160 It is coming.
00:16:22.480 We have a binary choice.
00:16:24.420 Does America win it?
00:16:25.720 Or does China win it?
00:16:26.780 I want you to listen to what I had to say with President Trump in the Oval today.
00:16:30.820 Give it a listen.
00:16:32.560 Ted Cruz has been a very strong advocate of common sense.
00:16:35.700 This is common sense.
00:16:36.780 I mean, I think it's nothing more than common sense.
00:16:38.980 Please, Ted.
00:16:39.800 Listen, this is the single most important economic question in the country and in the world.
00:16:45.500 Who wins the race for AI?
00:16:47.340 You look back to the 1990s, there was a similar inflection point with the beginning of the Internet, the dawn of the Internet.
00:16:55.220 And Bill Clinton was president at the time.
00:16:57.180 He signed an executive order, just like you're doing, that put into law a light-touch regulatory approach to the Internet.
00:17:04.800 And the result was incredible economic growth and jobs in the United States.
00:17:10.200 At the same time, the European Union took a very heavy-handed regulatory approach.
00:17:16.000 Here's an amazing statistic, Mr. President.
00:17:18.880 In 1993, the U.S. economies and Europe's economy were virtually identical in size.
00:17:25.340 Today, America's economy is more than 50% larger than Europe's.
00:17:29.700 And the two drivers of that are tech and the shale revolution.
00:17:33.520 It transformed this country.
00:17:35.460 And AI is the same thing.
00:17:37.120 It's a race.
00:17:37.880 And if China wins the race, whoever wins, the values of that country will affect all of AI.
00:17:46.540 We don't want China's values of surveillance and centralized control by the communist government governing AI.
00:17:53.560 We want American values of free speech, of individual liberty, of respecting the individual.
00:17:58.280 So this executive order, I believe, is tremendously important.
00:18:01.200 Thank you for your leadership.
00:18:01.960 You know, Senator, just to underscore how important this is and what you just described there,
00:18:08.840 even Donald Trump on True Social said,
00:18:11.180 The Wall Street Journal has another ridiculous story today that China is dominating us and the world on the production of electricity having to do with AI.
00:18:19.420 They're wrong, as usual.
00:18:21.120 Every AI plant being built in the United States is building its own electric generating facilities.
00:18:27.240 The approvals are being given carefully, but very quickly, a matter of weeks.
00:18:33.200 Any excess electricity being produced is going to go to our electric grid, which is being strengthened and expanded for the purpose, for other purposes than AI.
00:18:42.580 AI, like, this is not just moving forward and protecting us and going to this race with China, who's going to be in charge of it, who's going to be the best at it,
00:18:52.800 but this is also building American infrastructure, and a lot of American jobs are actually going to be created out of this as well.
00:19:00.340 Well, this is a common sense principle.
00:19:02.840 We should be the party of jobs.
00:19:05.780 AI, it's going to produce disruption.
00:19:08.360 It's part of the reason people are scared of it.
00:19:10.060 But it's also going to create millions of jobs.
00:19:14.260 And the simple question we ought to ask is, who do we want to win?
00:19:18.220 Do we want a world where China wins AI?
00:19:21.160 AI is coming.
00:19:22.540 You may not like it.
00:19:23.600 You may be scared about it.
00:19:24.680 You may not know.
00:19:26.340 And I get it.
00:19:27.520 It's easy to say, listen, I wish nuclear weapons didn't exist.
00:19:32.980 If there were a button to make every nuclear weapon disappear, I'd push that button.
00:19:37.720 But they do exist.
00:19:38.700 And if they exist, I want to make sure America has the best and is able to deter someone attacking us.
00:19:46.680 AI is similar.
00:19:48.080 And I've got to say, President Trump is being bold.
00:19:51.440 He's being visionary.
00:19:52.900 He understands that if we win or lose this, this is the economic battle of the 21st century.
00:19:59.380 And I was really proud.
00:20:01.800 I stood side by side with Donald Trump saying, America is going to win the race for AI.
00:20:07.740 We're going to beat China.
00:20:08.580 That is massively important for jobs in America.
00:20:11.620 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.
00:20:19.960 Canadian women are looking for more.
00:20:22.620 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:20:27.120 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:20:30.760 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:20:32.020 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:20:33.240 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:20:37.020 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers.
00:20:40.300 All at different stages of their journey.
00:20:42.760 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:20:45.980 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:20:51.740 I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.
00:20:56.120 Senator, we've talked a lot about influence, foreign influence.
00:20:59.640 And there is a lot of people that are like, I don't understand why it's a big deal that a bunch of Americans that are conservative influencers are running to countries like Qatar.
00:21:08.560 Qatar, taking trips over there that are being paid for by them and putting up what I would describe as propaganda on social media on behalf of Qatar.
00:21:18.280 But people that say they're like, what's the big deal?
00:21:20.840 Tucker Carlson shows up, speaks to this Doha forum.
00:21:23.720 Why is that a big deal?
00:21:24.940 Why should I care?
00:21:26.480 I want you to explain before we get to Tucker, what Qatar has been doing to influence America.
00:21:34.240 So people understand who we're dealing with and why you might want to ask the question, why would you be going there?
00:21:41.840 I forget Tucker's name.
00:21:43.340 There are a lot of conservatives I know that have been taking these types of trips recently.
00:21:46.640 They're trying to buy influence in the conservative movement.
00:21:50.180 And it's frustrating because I don't think people understand the threat that Qatar is to this country at all.
00:21:58.020 Look, Qatar is not our friend.
00:22:00.400 Qatar is spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying the United States government.
00:22:06.140 They are spending millions of dollars funding bots.
00:22:09.700 You look at the anti-Semitic content, you look at the anti-American content that is online, Qatar is funding it.
00:22:15.160 By the way, you look at the anti-Semitic protests on college campuses, Qatar is funding that.
00:22:20.160 They are profoundly hostile to America.
00:22:22.960 And I will tell you, there was a conference this past week in Doha, which is in Qatar.
00:22:27.660 You had a number of Americans go there, the most prominent of which was Tucker Carlson.
00:22:31.760 And I want to tell you, look, I sent a tweet.
00:22:34.700 So Tucker Carlson was going to interview the prime minister of Qatar.
00:22:39.000 And listen, I have been very vocal that I think Tucker Carlson has become the most dangerous demagogue in America.
00:22:45.080 I think he's doing enormous damage.
00:22:46.700 But I try to give him an opportunity.
00:22:48.560 So here's what I tweeted before his interview.
00:22:50.600 I said the following, for years, Tucker Carlson has been accused of being on the payroll of Qatar.
00:22:57.940 For years, he has denied it.
00:23:00.740 This is now a beautiful opportunity for him to try to clear his name.
00:23:06.140 Tomorrow, Tucker is interviewing the prime minister of Qatar in Doha.
00:23:11.120 Tucker knows how to ask tough questions.
00:23:14.020 Here are a few he should ask.
00:23:15.480 Number one, Al Jazeera is a mouthpiece for anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, and jihadist terrorism.
00:23:23.080 Why does Qatar pour countless tens of millions into supporting it?
00:23:28.080 Number two, why does Qatar back the Muslim Brotherhood, a group designated as a terrorist organization by several of Qatar's neighbors,
00:23:36.040 and which President Trump is also moving to designate?
00:23:38.880 Number three, Hamas planned the October 7th atrocities while Qatar hosted Hamas leadership.
00:23:47.320 This included the kidnapping and murder of dozens of Americans.
00:23:52.040 Even the Biden administration wanted Qatar to expel Hamas after hostage talks collapsed.
00:23:58.420 Why did Qatar keep hosting Hamas leadership?
00:24:01.840 Let me just pause there for one second as you were tweeting this out, because I don't think we'll understand.
00:24:06.780 They were actively hosting these terrorists.
00:24:11.440 The leaders of Hamas live in Qatar.
00:24:13.800 They live in opulent mansions.
00:24:15.600 They live like billionaires while they are murdering not just Israelis, but Americans,
00:24:20.820 while they are raping not just Israelis, but Americans.
00:24:24.100 And Qatar is embracing them, and they're like movie stars living in Qatar.
00:24:28.440 By the way, number four, speaking of which, on October 7th, 2023, Qatar issued a statement saying
00:24:38.040 Israel alone was responsible for the violence.
00:24:41.760 Then in September of 2024, Qatar's amir said Israel was responsible for the war expanding to Lebanon.
00:24:49.420 Is that still Qatar's position?
00:24:50.960 Number five, Qatar is the only Gulf country that still maintains male guardianship and travel restrictions for women.
00:25:03.340 When do you intend to join the civilized world?
00:25:05.980 So if you actually believe women have rights, that ain't the case in Qatar.
00:25:09.640 Explain what you mean by that real fast so that people understand the context of it.
00:25:13.600 Because it may just sound like, okay, what does that even mean for women?
00:25:17.760 What is life like there?
00:25:18.960 Explain how that's so far back in the Stone Ages.
00:25:21.920 Look, the rights of women are severely limited in Qatar.
00:25:26.200 Males are treated as the decision makers.
00:25:28.740 They have control over their wives.
00:25:30.780 They have control over their daughters.
00:25:32.320 And the rights of women are severely diminished in Qatar.
00:25:36.660 So that's an obvious question to ask of, like, why don't you believe women have any rights?
00:25:40.660 Number six, how much is Qatar paying to fund anti-Semitic protests on U.S. college campuses?
00:25:49.540 Understand, we saw protests all over America.
00:25:52.220 Qatar was spending millions of dollars to fund that.
00:25:55.300 And simple question, why?
00:25:57.060 Number seven, how much is Qatar paying to spy on U.S. government officials and why?
00:26:02.300 And to be clear, there were multiple news stories.
00:26:04.780 Qatar hired spies to spy on me because they viewed me as the U.S. government official most skeptical and antagonistic of Qatar.
00:26:15.520 So they're actively spying on me.
00:26:17.300 And number eight, finally, how much exactly are you paying conservative influencers to come to this conference and participate?
00:26:27.660 Now, if Tucker had asked those questions, it would have been a big deal.
00:26:31.460 Like, he could actually, he had the prime minister, every one of those questions, they don't have a good answer to.
00:26:37.740 But he didn't ask those questions.
00:26:39.920 He didn't ask any difficult questions.
00:26:41.900 He did the same thing he did when he interviewed Putin, which is he embraced him and kissed his rear end.
00:26:47.700 He did the same thing when he interviewed the president of Iran, which is he embraced him and kissed his rear end.
00:26:54.460 Tucker has a pattern.
00:26:55.420 And if you're an enemy of America who wants to murder Americans, he will not ask you a single hostile question.
00:27:01.820 I want you to listen to this exchange.
00:27:03.960 This is a snippet of the back and forth between Tucker and the prime minister of Qatar.
00:27:09.800 So that last question, I've been personally, not to make it about me, but I have been criticized as being a tool of Qatar.
00:27:17.360 And I just want to say what you already know, which is I've never taken anything from your country and don't plan to.
00:27:24.500 I am, however, tomorrow buying a place in Qatar, both because I am.
00:27:28.720 Please pay a high check.
00:27:29.880 In Doha, yeah.
00:27:31.380 And I'm doing that because I like the city.
00:27:33.300 I think it's beautiful.
00:27:34.640 But also to make the statement that I'm an American and a free man, and I'll be wherever I want to be, which I think is important.
00:27:40.560 But that does kind of leave us in a place where I have not taken any money from Qatar.
00:27:48.400 I have instead given money to Qatar.
00:27:51.780 And I wonder if you feel that that means I've bought you and you will now spew my propaganda.
00:27:56.380 Thank you.
00:27:57.120 Just ask me whatever you want me to do for you, I will do it.
00:27:59.820 But look, Tucker, unfortunately, as I told you that there are a lot of players putting a lot of efforts to sabotage the relationship between Qatar and the United States
00:28:14.280 and to try to demonize anyone who will come to this country.
00:28:20.060 Our efforts when we are lobbying or doing, you know, our outreach in the United States is to make sure that this relationship is safeguarded.
00:28:31.380 And the relationship for us is mutually beneficial.
00:28:35.380 We are not getting aid from the United States.
00:28:39.060 We are instead, we are buying from the United States.
00:28:42.460 We are partnering with them.
00:28:44.680 We are investing in the United States.
00:28:46.360 The United States is investing in Qatar.
00:28:48.960 And this relationship has been always a two-way relationship.
00:28:53.000 And we pay all these amounts for lobbying only to protect and to safeguard this relationship.
00:28:58.920 If we are not, like, being attacked and under a lot of, like, disinformation campaign that's been unfortunately funded by other players
00:29:10.360 who doesn't want to see a U.S.-Qatar relationship flourish, we wouldn't, we would spend this money for better things, you know, to do with the relationship.
00:29:23.120 I mean, you look at that question, Senator, and it's one of those that just, you scratch your head.
00:29:29.360 Because there's just part of this, you're like, wait, what did I just witness?
00:29:33.440 What did I just watch there?
00:29:35.780 Like, how is this real?
00:29:37.920 And the idea of, like, I'm buying a place, I've never taken anything, I just like it here, it shows I'm a free man.
00:29:44.480 Didn't ask any questions, not a single tough question, of a man that is allowing terrorists to sit in his country
00:29:51.060 and to orchestrate more terrorist attacks that have killed Americans.
00:29:53.920 So understand, this government that is hosting Hamas, that is celebrating Hamas, that is funding anti-American propaganda
00:30:01.680 and anti-Israel propaganda and anti-Semitic propaganda, the prime minister says to Tucker,
00:30:07.660 ask me whatever you want, we will do anything you want.
00:30:10.840 He also says to Tucker, we are spending vast amounts in lobbying.
00:30:14.620 Understand, Qatar spends hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying the United States government, the United States Congress.
00:30:20.640 By the way, Tucker is obsessed with AIPAC because he's decided that Jews are the source of all evil in the world.
00:30:26.780 And Qatar pays two to three times as much as AIPAC does in lobbying.
00:30:32.520 Now, do you know who AIPAC is?
00:30:34.420 AIPAC are Americans.
00:30:36.240 It is not the government of Israel.
00:30:38.760 AIPAC are Americans who want America and Israel to have a close relationship.
00:30:43.200 So American citizens, many of whom happen to be Jewish, although not all of them,
00:30:47.400 who support a lot of actually Christian evangelicals also who support a strong relationship between the United States and Israel.
00:30:53.920 They do write checks, but they write checks that are an order of magnitude anywhere from a third to a half what Qatar, the foreign government, writes.
00:31:03.520 They spend hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying our government.
00:31:06.220 And I got to say, Tucker, Tucker claims to be America first.
00:31:11.940 He is literally buying a home in Qatar.
00:31:15.780 Qatar, who is actively funding anti-American propaganda, anti-Semitic propaganda.
00:31:22.640 And by the way, Tucker says, oh, I've never taken a penny from you.
00:31:25.400 By the way, you know, I don't know what kind of sweetheart real estate deal he's getting, but who the heck, what American?
00:31:31.780 Let me ask you, Ben, you know a lot of people.
00:31:33.620 Do you know any other American who wants to buy a home in Qatar?
00:31:38.740 No, in fact, I've known a lot of international people.
00:31:41.840 I've never heard of anybody going, yeah, I'm heading over to Qatar to go buy a home.
00:31:45.260 Never, not like not one time.
00:31:46.840 No one.
00:31:47.540 And I know people outside the U.S.
00:31:49.100 They've never said that.
00:31:50.640 Look, and I think there's a reason for it, which is that I don't know why.
00:31:55.080 I've had conversations about why Tucker has decided.
00:31:58.560 By the way, Tucker is actively attacking President Trump's foreign policy.
00:32:03.000 He is furious that President Trump decided to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities and even more mad that that bombing was incredibly successful.
00:32:13.700 It was the single most important foreign policy and national security decision that President Trump has made in the second term.
00:32:20.660 And Tucker is furious.
00:32:21.400 By the way, it didn't start World War III, which I'm pretty sure that's what they said was going to happen.
00:32:24.620 Isn't that right?
00:32:25.200 It was going to start World War III.
00:32:26.600 So let's be clear.
00:32:27.860 It's not they.
00:32:28.960 Tucker predicted if Trump bombed Iran.
00:32:32.100 Yes.
00:32:32.480 He said it would cause World War III, number one.
00:32:35.100 He said thousands of Americans would die, number two.
00:32:38.360 Yeah.
00:32:38.900 And he said America would lose.
00:32:40.660 Iran would beat us in World War III.
00:32:43.720 Now, every one of those predictions was laughably, absurdly wrong.
00:32:48.180 And yet, Tucker is now buying a home in Qatar and saying, hey, you crazy, theocratic, Islamist, America-hating radicals, you're my people.
00:33:02.500 That is really, really, really dangerous.
00:33:05.840 Yeah.
00:33:06.140 The questions that we just asked there, I really hope that all of you will share those on social media.
00:33:11.820 Share the episode on social media.
00:33:13.700 Share the video we put up on Facebook.
00:33:15.780 We put it up on—
00:33:16.520 And, Ben, let me ask you a question.
00:33:18.200 Let me ask you a question.
00:33:19.700 Why do you think Tucker didn't ask a single one of the questions I suggested?
00:33:24.120 I sent eight.
00:33:25.100 And they were not ridiculous questions.
00:33:27.780 They were actually a question, if you are, in fact, America first, and you're interviewing the leader of this country that is funding things that are profoundly anti-American, anybody would ask.
00:33:40.880 If you and I were interviewing them, we would ask those questions.
00:33:43.620 Why do you think Tucker didn't?
00:33:45.700 I think it's the same reason why he gave a powderpuff interview with Vladimir Putin.
00:33:50.260 I think it's the same reason why he was sitting down with the head of Iran.
00:33:53.860 It is because when he goes there, he knows the role he's playing, which is a propagandist for those countries.
00:34:00.880 I wish that were not the case, but I can't argue against that.
00:34:05.360 He does not ask a single question defending America.
00:34:09.300 Instead, he just embraces leaders that are doing enormous damage to Americans.
00:34:16.580 And that, by the way, is, I think, significantly undermining President Trump as well.
00:34:21.460 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:34:26.940 Don't forget to download my podcast, and you can listen to my podcast every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.
00:34:33.960 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.
00:34:37.480 And we will see you back here on Monday morning.
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