Verdict with Ted Cruz - Liberals Celebrate Kirk Assassination on Social Media, 'Love' Texts from Assassin to Boyfriend & Designating Antifa as Terrorist Organization Week In Review

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.620 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.360 Welcome.

00:00:06.040 It is Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:00:07.520 Week in Review.

00:00:08.360 Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.440 And these are the stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week.

00:00:12.580 First up, media and social media.

00:00:15.420 Why are they not coming out condemning those who are celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk?

00:00:21.520 In fact, they're allowing it to happen.

00:00:23.580 So what does this say about America?

00:00:25.220 We're going to break that down.

00:00:26.420 Also, we have the text messages now from the assassin to his roommate, Transgendered Lover. 0.64

00:00:33.200 What was said in there that's so revealing?

00:00:35.220 That in a moment.

00:00:36.420 And finally, Cash Patel and Senator Cruz on naming Antifa a terrorist organization

00:00:42.640 and what this means moving forward.

00:00:45.380 It's the Week in Review, and it starts right now.

00:00:48.960 I go back to this.

00:00:50.260 How many, I mean, we watched one of our own be assassinated.

00:00:53.800 Did any cities get burned down?

00:00:55.460 No.

00:00:55.760 None.

00:00:56.360 Were there any police officers that were attacked?

00:00:58.840 No.

00:00:59.560 Was there any assaults on people because they were angry?

00:01:02.960 No.

00:01:03.780 And yet, they're mad.

00:01:05.680 I love this headline from the Daily Beast, which if you don't know what that is,

00:01:08.440 it's a hardcore liberal propaganda machine that has an incredible amount of influence on the left.

00:01:14.180 Their headline yesterday, 10.05 a.m.

00:01:17.500 Keyboard warriors grieving this week's assassination of self-anointed champion of quote-unquote free speech,

00:01:24.660 Charlie Kirk, have launched an online campaign to get anyone who criticizes him fired from their jobs.

00:01:33.260 Their sub-headline is free speech crazed MAGA Karens go full cancel culture on Kirk critics.

00:01:41.400 No.

00:01:42.000 Let's be clear about the people we are exposing.

00:01:44.800 It's people.

00:01:45.860 They weren't criticizing Charlie Kirk.

00:01:47.400 They were celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk and are in major positions of power at universities and at other jobs,

00:01:56.180 or things like we mentioned earlier where they refused to print out a piece of paper, for goodness sakes.

00:02:02.940 Yeah, but Ben, let me make two distinctions that are important because it's easy to get these confused.

00:02:07.160 Number one, let's talk free speech.

00:02:10.140 Yes, in the United States, the First Amendment gives you the right to speak and not to be criminally prosecuted for it.

00:02:17.180 So you can say the most horrible, hateful things.

00:02:20.220 You do have a First Amendment right to say unbelievably horrible, hateful things.

00:02:25.080 You can say that you are celebrating the murder of Charlie Kirk or anyone else,

00:02:29.200 and the First Amendment will protect your ability to do so,

00:02:31.580 which means the government cannot come prosecute you and put you in jail for saying that.

00:02:37.340 The First Amendment does not mean that you are immune from the consequences of your speech.

00:02:43.600 And if you say things that are horrible and hateful, it is not uncommon for someone to be terminated.

00:02:50.960 So, for example, at a university, if a student goes and decides to dress in a white robe as a Klansman 0.95

00:03:00.160 and burn a cross and say that we should murder African-American students, 0.85

00:03:06.640 I guarantee you that student will be expelled from school. 1.00

00:03:11.100 Now, you can't prosecute him.

00:03:12.160 He has a First Amendment right to do that.

00:03:13.580 So that is not a criminal offense to do that.

00:03:15.720 Correct.

00:03:16.160 But the university should absolutely expel him because of just how noxious those views are.

00:03:24.440 The same is true here when you have teachers that are celebrating cold-blooded murder.

00:03:31.100 There are consequences for that.

00:03:32.880 But that's a distinction.

00:03:34.500 I'll point out also the president of the Oxford Union, who debated Charlie Kirk and is this vicious leftist,

00:03:42.320 he put out a tweet celebrating, let's effing go, he said, when Charlie Kirk was shot.

00:03:49.760 This is a guy who literally had one-on-one debated against Charlie Kirk.

00:03:54.020 And he is the incoming president of the Oxford Union, which pretentiously describes itself as the world's greatest debating society. 0.98

00:04:01.100 Look, in my view, this individual ought to be expelled from Oxford for the same reason you would expel him if he were a Klansman burning a cross and saying, let's murder black students.

00:04:15.720 Now, the United Kingdom does not have the same First Amendment that applies to it the way the United States does.

00:04:21.460 So actually, in England, if he said that, he might well be criminally prosecuted.

00:04:25.860 I don't agree with criminally prosecuting speech, but the First Amendment does not give you a get-out-of-jail-free pass. 0.96

00:04:34.580 Look, I promise you, any one of you in your jobs, if you go in and tell your boss, go screw yourself.

00:04:40.980 Yeah, you're going to get fired. 0.91

00:04:42.180 You will get fired.

00:04:42.960 You have a first-minute right to say so, but he also has a right to terminate you.

00:04:47.200 But let me say, secondly, on this both-sides-ism, the media really wants to say, gosh, political violence, it's a problem that just occurs everywhere.

00:04:54.380 No, right now, it is heavily concentrated on the left, and the left has normalized political violence.

00:05:03.220 We saw two separate assassination attempts of Donald Trump.

00:05:07.260 We saw this tragically successful assassination of Charlie Kirk.

00:05:12.320 We saw for a year Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots, and I want to read you some polling results that were done last year.

00:05:20.040 And people were asked, would it be justified to murder Elon Musk, and would it be justified to murder Donald Trump?

00:05:31.460 And those who were self-described left of center, 50.2% said it would be justified to murder Elon Musk, and 56% said it would be justified to murder Donald Trump.

00:05:48.360 That is, and by the way, the right-of-center numbers were 14.3% and 20.3%.

00:05:54.840 So I wish all those numbers were zero, but this is a problem on the left. 0.89

00:06:00.840 This is a problem when you define your opponent as Hitler, Nazi, evil, fascist.

00:06:07.780 That is a permission structure to then say violence is an appropriate response.

00:06:14.380 And we need to see Democrats having the courage to say, enough is enough.

00:06:20.680 Look, Bill Maher did a great job where he, in his monologue, he said, let's be clear, Donald Trump is not Hitler.

00:06:26.560 Stop saying that.

00:06:27.740 Stop saying it, exactly.

00:06:28.840 Well, and I think now they're realizing that using the words fascist and Hitler and these types of things has desensitized people and advocated and allowed for this type of violence to become reality, where the big question people are asking is, what's next?

00:06:44.340 I do want to say one thing that I think I've found incredibly comforting is seeing how many young people are at colleges this weekend over college football were putting up signs saying that they are Charlie Kirk.

00:07:00.200 The number of people that are following him now on Instagram exploded by, I'm not, I don't think I'm wrong.

00:07:05.300 I think it's millions of people now who are following him.

00:07:08.320 And I think it is likely that more people have listened to Charlie Kirk speak in the last week than did in the entirety of his life.

00:07:16.700 Yeah, and that's the silver lining.

00:07:20.700 His Christian testimony has become so powerful, I will say.

00:07:25.200 His wife, Erica, the speech she gave this week reduced me to tears.

00:07:29.520 It was beautiful.

00:07:30.640 God's anointing was upon her as she did that.

00:07:33.000 And a lot of people who had never clicked on and watched Charlie Kirk say anything this week did so and said, hey, who is this guy that touched so many people?

00:07:43.060 I think a lot of people chose to open their Bible and start reading their Bible.

00:07:46.280 A lot of people chose to go to church.

00:07:47.660 That is a great thing.

00:07:49.380 That is something I hope and believe we're going to see a lot more of.

00:07:52.060 And let me say, in subsequent podcasts, we're going to talk about what's coming next.

00:07:58.060 And here's one of the most important things that I am urging the president, the Department of Justice, the FBI to do, which is follow the money.

00:08:06.340 Follow the money of everyone that is pushing this leftist hatred, that is pushing this violence.

00:08:11.740 There is real money that is going into these riots on campus, that is going into funding Antifa, that is going into funding Black Lives Matter. 0.62

00:08:18.680 And we need to this is not just one isolated lunatic in Utah.

00:08:23.540 We need to follow the money behind the radicalization that is leading to people being so twisted and engaging in these horrific acts of violence.

00:08:32.420 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.

00:08:39.640 Canadian women are looking for more, more of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders and the world around them. 0.70

00:08:45.780 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:08:49.740 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:08:50.900 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:08:52.140 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:09:01.620 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:09:04.860 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:09:08.920 Now on to story number two.

00:09:12.880 I want to move to the text messages that have come out.

00:09:16.280 And it's very interesting to see all of the evidence that is now we are seeing, the transparency of these text messages that were between the shooter and his transgender boyfriend.

00:09:28.700 And I also want to say there are some people that are saying, oh, you're taking this hook, line and sinker.

00:09:35.500 I don't know if they plan the text messages.

00:09:38.060 I don't know if this is him trying to protect the roommate and act like the roommate knew nothing about it.

00:09:42.080 I'm sure they'll get to the bottom of that.

00:09:44.020 But what was shocking about this is how the media decide to play it and romanticize their relationship through the text messages in the weirdest, creepiest way I've ever seen the mainstream media do this.

00:09:58.700 Yeah, look, I'm sorry to do this, but I'm going to read you these text messages because they're horrifying.

00:10:03.440 But it makes clear there is no doubt that this murderer is guilty.

00:10:08.680 And by the way, there is a reason I won't say the murderer's name because anyone who engages in a mass murder and horrific crime like this, part of the reason they do this is they want to be famous. 0.99

00:10:19.240 I don't repeat these bastards' names. 0.97

00:10:21.260 I will call them the murderer or the assassin or the defendant, but I will not say his name. 0.99

00:10:25.680 But the murderer and his boyfriend were exchanging texts, and the murderer left under a keyboard in their apartment a note saying that he had the opportunity to kill Charlie Kirk, and he took it.

00:10:40.920 And his boyfriend, who is a man who is transgender and transitioning to be a woman, responded, what?

00:10:51.260 With like a whole bunch of question marks.

00:10:53.120 And you're joking, right?

00:10:54.360 And here's the exchange.

00:10:57.220 The murderer says,

00:10:58.380 I'm still okay, my love, but I'm stuck in Orem for a little while longer.

00:11:03.320 Shouldn't be long until I can come home, but I got to grab my rifle still.

00:11:07.780 To be honest, I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age.

00:11:11.260 I'm sorry to involve you.

00:11:13.720 Boyfriend.

00:11:15.040 You weren't the one who did it, right?

00:11:17.940 Four question marks. 0.86

00:11:20.120 Murderer.

00:11:20.980 I am.

00:11:22.100 I'm sorry.

00:11:24.140 Boyfriend.

00:11:25.060 I thought they caught the person.

00:11:27.840 Murderer. 0.81

00:11:28.940 No, they grabbed some crazy old dude, then interrogated someone in similar clothing.

00:11:34.840 I had planned to grab my rifle from the drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down.

00:11:41.920 It's quiet, almost enough to get out, but there's one vehicle lingering.

00:11:46.940 Boyfriend.

00:11:47.560 Why?

00:11:49.120 Murderer.

00:11:49.700 Why did I do it?

00:11:52.840 Boyfriend.

00:11:53.480 Yeah. 1.00

00:11:54.520 Murderer. 0.97

00:11:55.540 I've had enough of his hatred. 0.73

00:11:57.380 Some hate can't be negotiated out.

00:12:01.020 If I'm able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence.

00:12:05.620 Going to attempt to retrieve it again.

00:12:07.760 Hopefully, they have moved on.

00:12:09.880 I haven't seen anything about them finding it.

00:12:13.240 Boyfriend.

00:12:14.240 How long have you been planning this? 0.98

00:12:16.560 Murderer.

00:12:17.320 A bit over a week, I believe.

00:12:19.100 I can get close to it, but there is a squad car parked by it.

00:12:23.440 I think they already swept the spot, but I don't want to chance it.

00:12:28.680 Murderer.

00:12:29.480 I wish I had circled back and grabbed it as soon as I got to my vehicle.

00:12:33.220 I'm worried what my old man would do if I didn't bring back Grandpa's rifle.

00:12:39.000 I don't know if it had a serial number, but it wouldn't trace to me.

00:12:43.360 I worry about prints I had to leave it in a bush where I changed outfits.

00:12:48.680 Didn't have the ability or time to bring it with.

00:12:51.580 I might have to abandon it and hope they don't find prints.

00:12:54.780 Those are the text exchanges.

00:13:24.900 Now, number one, reading those text exchanges, it is 100% clear.

00:13:29.660 It's not 99%.

00:13:30.640 It's not 98%.

00:13:31.580 It's 100% clear.

00:13:33.960 This defendant is the murderer. 0.97

00:13:37.000 He is the assassin. 0.94

00:13:38.420 He is confessing to his boyfriend, I did it.

00:13:42.180 He is confessing details of the crime that only the murderer would know.

00:13:47.100 He will be convicted.

00:13:48.960 He was charged today.

00:13:50.140 He will be convicted.

00:13:51.400 But he is guilty today.

00:13:53.060 Based on that evidence, it is 100% certain he is guilty.

00:13:57.020 And his motive is clear.

00:13:59.240 You know, Caitlin Collins and CNN and MSNBC, they say, we don't know the motive.

00:14:04.840 Maybe he just disliked tall people.

00:14:08.020 Maybe he was just, you know, firing his gun in celebration and it accidentally hit the throat of someone.

00:14:14.480 It accidentally, somebody that was there excited just to see Charlie Kirk and it went off randomly. 0.98

00:14:17.900 Like the level of, and by the way, an idiot commentator at MSNBC said, maybe it was a supporter of Charlie Kirk firing his gun in celebration. 1.00

00:14:26.820 Now, thankfully, that commentator got fired for that idiocy. 1.00

00:14:30.300 But the motive is absolutely clear. 1.00

00:14:34.600 He hated Charlie Kirk.

00:14:36.320 He's a left-wing Antifa activist. 0.82

00:14:38.440 He's a transgender activist. 0.99

00:14:40.020 He is sleeping with a transgender man who is transitioning to be a woman. 0.90

00:14:46.480 And so the motive, there's no ambiguity, but CNN hates that motive.

00:14:51.000 They cannot admit that's what happened.

00:14:53.240 Oh, my goodness.

00:14:53.820 That would undermine their entire political agenda.

00:14:56.480 So they desperately have to say the motive is unclear.

00:14:59.680 By the way, Caitlin Collins said repeatedly, well, law enforcement hasn't laid out the motive.

00:15:03.840 Yes, they have.

00:15:04.460 They repeatedly laid out the motive.

00:15:05.920 They said it's a left-wing activist who's radicalized.

00:15:08.740 The bullets had carved on them Antifa and transgender messages.

00:15:12.340 I mean, this is not subtle.

00:15:14.160 He was not hiding his motive.

00:15:16.060 But I have to say, as repulsive as CNN's reaction was, ABC's was worse.

00:15:24.040 I want you to listen.

00:15:24.760 Way worse.

00:15:25.720 Way worse.

00:15:26.820 Like, you can't overstate it.

00:15:28.620 OK, I want you to listen to ABC News's reaction to this text exchange between the murderer and his transgender boyfriend.

00:15:37.760 Here, give a listen.

00:15:38.380 We have seen an alleged murder with such specific text messages about the alleged murder weapon, where it was hidden, how it was placed, what was on it.

00:15:50.360 But also, it was very touching in a way that I think many of us didn't expect.

00:15:53.880 A very intimate portrait into this relationship between the suspect's roommate and the suspect himself, with him repeatedly calling his roommate, who was transitioning, calling him, my love, and I want to protect you, my love.

00:16:08.000 So it was this duality of someone who the attorney said not only jeopardized the life of Charlie Kirk and the crowd, but was doing it in front of children, which is one of the aggravating circumstances of this case.

00:16:18.940 And on the other hand, he was, you know, speaking so lovingly about his partner.

00:16:22.880 So a very interesting and, as Pierre said, riveting press conference, David.

00:16:26.640 I love how they say it's a riveting press conference, Senator.

00:16:29.740 It's riveting.

00:16:31.200 And just, you know, he referred to him as my love.

00:16:33.500 And this is just so sweet and sincere.

00:16:35.220 It's like, what in the world are you guys doing over there at ABC News with your special report live coverage?

00:16:42.280 Touching and loving.

00:16:44.000 Oh, these text messages. 0.99

00:16:45.920 I murdered this person for you. 0.96

00:16:48.260 Oh, my love. 0.98

00:16:49.200 Oh, my love.

00:16:49.920 Pitter, patter, pitter, patter.

00:16:51.280 That is repulsive. 0.99

00:16:53.600 It is repulsive that ABC News is gushing over this psychopathic murderer. 0.91

00:17:00.800 And ABC News, oh, they're touching and sweet text messages.

00:17:04.560 He is confessing to a deliberate murder because he hates what somebody is saying.

00:17:11.000 He murdered a husband.

00:17:12.180 He murdered a father of two little kids, one boy, one girl.

00:17:15.420 And ABC News thinks it's so sweet that he confessed to his transgender boyfriend, which, of course, they call his roommate, even though he's calling him my love.

00:17:26.200 Like, there is no ambiguity when you call someone my love what exactly the relationship is.

00:17:32.420 But ABC News cannot admit.

00:17:36.220 To them, it is sweet and beautiful, this radical leftist murdering Charlie Kirk.

00:17:43.700 I got a message for you guys.

00:17:45.840 It's not sweet and it's not beautiful.

00:17:48.160 Yeah.

00:17:48.340 By the way, side note on this.

00:17:49.520 I don't know if you knew this, but 10 minutes after that, like the Internet exploded over it.

00:17:54.960 But he went back on and doubled down on it and basically did the same thing again.

00:18:01.280 Like, I'm not backing down from this.

00:18:03.160 I think it's genuine and sweet and sincere and a love story.

00:18:06.320 You know, what a romantic Romeo and Juliet story. 0.99

00:18:10.100 You know, psycho leftist murderer killing people because he's filled with hate. 0.99

00:18:14.340 I can't think of anything more beautiful than that. 0.99

00:18:16.980 Certainly, ABC News is very persuasive in that regard.

00:18:19.400 Yeah, he'll be the face of the network before you know it.

00:18:23.280 God help us.

00:18:24.500 Did he really double down?

00:18:25.860 Did he really go back on air and do it again?

00:18:27.880 Yeah, yes.

00:18:28.680 Do you want to hear it?

00:18:29.400 Because I've got it if you want to hear it.

00:18:30.620 Absolutely, yes.

00:18:31.500 This is Matt Gutman.

00:18:33.080 I haven't heard this, so play it for us.

00:18:35.500 So this is 10 minutes after he said on ABC News Live, it's heartbreaking on so many levels.

00:18:41.220 Obviously, Charlie Kirk was murdered brutally in front of a crowd of thousands.

00:18:44.560 On the other hand, there is this duality of every portrait of a, again, his exact words, of a very, like, this is like a love story.

00:18:53.120 Loving, touching.

00:18:54.100 Yeah, touching.

00:18:54.780 So this is 10 minutes later after the internet, and I have no doubt that he knew that there was a problem, right?

00:19:01.820 Sure.

00:19:02.040 So he knew there was an issue.

00:19:03.680 100%.

00:19:04.160 100%.

00:19:04.760 Here he is 10 minutes later.

00:19:06.560 It is.

00:19:07.000 It's heartbreaking on so many levels, Kira.

00:19:08.740 Obviously, Charlie Kirk was murdered brutally in front of a crowd of thousands of people who watched him being shot through the neck and then essentially bleed out in front of him.

00:19:18.380 And I think one of the things that the attorney here made a very fine point about is that a lot of these charges, seven charges, were aggravated because children were present.

00:19:28.280 Children witnessed this.

00:19:29.860 Children were put in harm's way.

00:19:31.700 And that was something that obviously is aggravating here, and that's one of the reasons that the suspect, in addition to the alleged murder being political in nature, is facing the death penalty.

00:19:41.620 They're going for the death penalty.

00:19:43.240 And on the other hand, there is this duality of a very, a portrait of a very human person, a very human experience from this entire family.

00:19:51.180 As you mentioned it, the mother who essentially discovered that it was her son who had done this, the kid who had got a 34 out of 36 on the ACTs, who had a 4.0, who got a full ride to college here, that that kid was the one who allegedly perpetrated.

00:20:06.420 She saw those pictures and said, identified him, essentially.

00:20:09.460 And then those text messages, and I don't think I've ever experienced a press conference in which we've read text messages that are A, so fulsome, so robust, so apparently, allegedly self-incriminating, and yet, on the other hand, so touching, right?

00:20:22.500 With the suspect reaching out to his roommate, who is allegedly his boyfriend, who we understand, you know, identified as male at birth, now identifies as female.

00:20:34.080 And the terminology he used, he was trying to protect him.

00:20:37.080 He kept calling him, my love, my reason for doing this is to protect you, you know, but also asking him to delete the messages and not speak to law enforcement.

00:20:46.220 So there's this heartbreaking duality that we're seeing very tragically playing out.

00:20:51.580 If that's not doubling down, I don't know what is.

00:20:54.860 Fulsome, touching, loving.

00:20:57.040 Loving.

00:20:57.560 It is.

00:20:59.280 Heartbreaking.

00:20:59.760 Look, I don't know who this particular reporter is, but I will say it says something that this speaks to him in such a touching, moving way.

00:21:12.460 I see depraved maniacs who just committed cold-blooded murder, and his boyfriend, his boyfriend is like not saying, dear God, what the hell did you do?

00:21:22.860 He's just like, oh, oh, it was you. 0.86

00:21:25.760 Oh, okay.

00:21:26.360 You know, he didn't, the boyfriend never said there's anything wrong with murdering Charlie Kirk.

00:21:31.760 He was perfectly fine with it.

00:21:33.560 There ain't nothing touching about these two psychopaths reveling in their cold-blooded murder.

00:21:39.300 And for ABC to think it is, that really tells you how messed up ABC is.

00:21:44.320 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.

00:21:52.560 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. 0.98

00:21:59.720 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:22:03.460 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:22:04.620 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:22:05.860 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:22:09.620 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

00:22:15.340 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:22:18.340 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:22:24.400 I want to get back to the big story, number three of the week you may have missed.

00:22:28.840 Senator, I want to get to something else that happened earlier this week, and that was the questioning of the FBI director, Cash Patel.

00:22:35.520 You had the opportunity to talk with Cash on a number of different issues.

00:22:39.260 Obviously, one of them that was in front of mind was the assassination of our friend Charlie Kirk.

00:22:46.060 Well, absolutely.

00:22:47.000 So this week, Cash Patel, the director of the FBI, testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

00:22:52.300 And I took the opportunity to question him on a number of topics, but front and center to urge Cash Patel to follow the money,

00:23:00.880 and in particular, to go after Antifa and to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization.

00:23:07.060 Here's the exchange Cash and I had.

00:23:08.700 Give a listen.

00:23:09.120 I want to encourage you in the course of this investigation, absolutely go after anyone who aided and abetted.

00:23:19.140 But I want to more broadly encourage you, follow the money.

00:23:23.040 The violence we are seeing is not purely organic.

00:23:31.220 There is, I believe, significant money that is spreading dissension, that is spreading violence.

00:23:38.840 Antifa.

00:23:39.340 Do you believe Antifa is a terrorist organization?

00:23:44.800 I believe Antifa is associated with a lot of violence in this country as to its designation.

00:23:49.620 I'll leave that to the appropriate authorities.

00:23:51.060 So I would encourage the administration to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization, to go systematically after Antifa.

00:23:57.620 They've committed acts of violence all over the country.

00:24:01.660 And the shell casings have multiple references to slogans that Antifa has popularized.

00:24:07.980 I believe there is considerable money funding it.

00:24:11.520 I would note that I've introduced legislation called the Stop Funders Act.

00:24:14.600 Stop Funders Act would add rioting to the list of predicate offenses under RICO.

00:24:21.580 I believe the money should be tracked and prosecuted under RICO.

00:24:28.200 And both the Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots of a couple of years ago

00:24:32.820 and the pro-open border riots in Los Angeles and other cities of this past year,

00:24:38.940 I believe there was significant money behind those riots.

00:24:43.260 I'm not the only person who noticed at the anti-Semitic protests and violent protests on college campuses

00:24:50.160 that many of the tents all matched.

00:24:53.140 And so I would ask, would it aid your ability to prosecute these matters

00:24:58.460 if Congress passed into law the Stop Funders Act

00:25:02.020 and if rioting was added to the list of predicate offenses for RICO?

00:25:06.120 Yes.

00:25:06.420 Talk to me about the efforts of the FBI to go after the funders of the anti-Semitic protests on college campuses,

00:25:19.380 the pro-open border protests in cities, and potential LGBT violence.

00:25:25.580 Talk to me about the efforts to go after the money of those who are funding and promoting violence.

00:25:31.400 As I've always said, Senator, money doesn't lie.

00:25:33.680 We've been following the money.

00:25:34.880 And so that's what we're doing, issuing lawful process to organizations involved with criminal activity

00:25:39.180 because the money's got to come from somewhere and it has to be funded somehow.

00:25:42.880 So we have extensive investigations ongoing into numerous organizations that are related to violent criminal activity.

00:25:50.360 Cutting off the money will make America much safer, and that is the core job of the FBI.

00:25:55.000 And I thank you for doing your job.

00:25:57.460 Now, you look at what you just said there in the back and forth, Senator,

00:26:00.860 and this turned very quickly into a new policy from the Trump administration as well.

00:26:07.220 That is the best news coming out of this.

00:26:10.080 Absolutely.

00:26:10.840 So this testimony was on Tuesday.

00:26:14.460 The very next day, President Trump announced he was doing what I was calling for,

00:26:19.640 which is designating Antifa as a terrorist organization.

00:26:22.400 I'm going to read to you from Fox News.

00:26:24.040 President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced he will designate Antifa, a left-wing activist group,

00:26:30.080 a major terrorist organization.

00:26:33.040 Trump described the group as, quote, 0.96

00:26:35.520 a sick, dangerous, radical left disaster in a truth social announcement.

00:26:40.360 The president added that he will be strongly recommending that those funding Antifa

00:26:45.100 be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices.

00:26:49.740 The announcement comes just days after Trump said he would 100 percent consider the designation.

00:26:56.980 Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Monday, Trump accused Antifa participants of being,

00:27:01.700 quote, professional agitators in response to the administration's recent crackdown on illegal immigration.

00:27:08.020 Quote, Antifa is terrible, the president said.

00:27:10.300 These aren't protests.

00:27:11.780 These are crimes that they're doing.

00:27:13.760 They're throwing bricks at cars of the ICE and Border Patrol.

00:27:17.260 They're professional agitators.

00:27:19.080 They should be put in jail.

00:27:20.920 What they're doing in this country is really subversive.

00:27:23.460 And I will say this goes right to the heart of a distinction that I've tried to lay out repeatedly,

00:27:28.100 which is free speech is protected.

00:27:31.900 You can say things that are vile, that are hateful, that are horrible, that we hate.

00:27:36.640 And the First Amendment protects it.

00:27:39.340 Conduct is not protected.

00:27:41.300 When you engage in violence, it is not protected.

00:27:44.280 What Antifa is doing, engaging in violence, engaging in harassment, engaging in threats,

00:27:50.380 that is not protected.

00:27:52.160 And so what I urge Kash Patel, follow the money, go after the money.

00:27:58.340 And look, I believe there's money that is coming from foreign nations.

00:28:01.660 There's money that's coming from Qatar.

00:28:03.320 There's money that's coming from Iran.

00:28:05.060 There may be money coming from communist China.

00:28:07.060 And there's also money coming from the gazillionaire left-wing funders of the Democrat Party,

00:28:13.480 people like George Soros and his entire organization,

00:28:16.340 that are funding these radical organizations.

00:28:19.520 And it's one thing to go and prosecute the individual criminals.

00:28:23.500 We should do that.

00:28:25.160 Sure.

00:28:25.420 But if you want to solve the problem, it's why I've introduced the legislation,

00:28:29.180 the Stop Funders Act, because RICO is an incredibly powerful tool to prosecute,

00:28:35.220 not just an individual defendant, but a criminal organization.

00:28:39.060 And criminal organizations are usually structured with a hub and spokes.

00:28:43.380 And so following the money is how you get the people writing checks that are sitting

00:28:49.160 in their Manhattan penthouses funding the anti-American, anti-Israel, communist, jihadist

00:28:57.260 agitators that are destroying this country.

00:29:00.160 And so I got to say, I was really encouraged.

00:29:02.560 I've been pressing in the first Trump administration.

00:29:05.180 I pressed for years for the first Trump administration to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization.

00:29:14.040 There was a lot of openness to that argument, but it never succeeded.

00:29:17.320 They never did it.

00:29:18.600 This time, when I pressed on Tuesday, the next day, the president came out and said,

00:29:23.120 we're going to do that.

00:29:24.040 That's exactly the right thing to do.

00:29:26.460 Yeah, it is big.

00:29:27.340 It's going to be really important.

00:29:28.660 It's going to have a huge impact going forward.

00:29:31.840 That may be the best part of all.

00:29:33.420 And of course, you know, you're doing something right when the left is losing their mind.

00:29:36.620 They're saying, oh, this is the president trying to silence political organizations.

00:29:41.880 I'm sorry.

00:29:42.700 They're not a political organization.

00:29:44.640 They act like a terrorist organization.

00:29:46.820 There's a big difference between a political organization and a terrorist organization.

00:29:52.140 And Antifa has all the markings, as you described it, of a terrorist organization going all the way back to 2016

00:29:58.620 when your first were calling for this.

00:30:00.340 If you engage in violence, it is not speech.

00:30:02.820 Violence is not speech.

00:30:04.300 And by the way, anyone who commits violence should be prosecuted and go to jail.

00:30:08.380 And that's true whether you're left-wing or right-wing.

00:30:10.320 I might agree with what you're saying, but if you engage in violence, that is not acceptable.

00:30:15.480 Speech is different from violence.

00:30:17.540 We ought to protect speech, and we ought to prosecute violence and put the violent criminals in jail.

00:30:22.380 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:30:27.900 Don't forget to download my podcast, and you can listen to my podcast every other day.

00:30:31.560 You're not listening to Verdict, or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.

00:30:34.940 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.

00:30:38.440 And we will see you back here on Monday morning.

00:30:41.080 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:30:44.620 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - September 20, 2025

Liberals Celebrate Kirk Assassination on Social Media, 'Love' Texts from Assassin to Boyfriend & Designating Antifa as Terrorist Organization Week In Review

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