Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 23, 2024


Nick Saban Addresses NIL in College Sports, Hunter Calls for Public Hearing then Bails, & NY Wants $500MILL from Trump Week In Review


Episode Stats


Length

33 minutes

Words per minute

169.77278

Word count

5,651

Sentence count

387

Harmful content

Misogyny

9

sentences flagged

Toxicity

7

sentences flagged

Hate speech

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joins Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-Massachusetts) and others to host a roundtable discussion on the best ways to protect college athletes and student-athletes in the NCAA.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.500 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.300 Welcome to Verdict with Ted Cruz Week in Review.
00:00:09.380 Ben Ferguson with you, and these are the stories that you may have missed that we talked about this past week.
00:00:14.980 First up, Nick Saban testifies about the importance of NIL, the deals with athletes, students,
00:00:23.200 and how it could help or even hurt and destroy college sports.
00:00:27.480 We'll take a look at what Congress may do to get involved.
00:00:31.140 Also, Hunter Biden runs away from the public hearing that he demanded.
00:00:36.340 So when is he going to be seen again in Washington?
00:00:39.120 We'll talk about those developments as well.
00:00:42.160 And finally, New York wants $500 million, a half a billion dollars from Donald Trump by Tuesday.
00:00:50.640 And if he doesn't come up with the money, they want to seize his assets.
00:00:54.540 So what will Trump do next?
00:00:56.380 We'll dive into that.
00:00:57.800 It's the Weekend Review, and it starts right now.
00:01:01.480 Senator, you mentioned this roundtable, and I want to play some of your opening remarks.
00:01:05.220 You were sitting there next to Nick Saban, which is, by the way, if you're a sports fan, it's just cool.
00:01:09.920 He's a legendary coach.
00:01:12.140 I'm so glad he retired so I don't have to deal with him, playing him every year because he's a brilliant mind in football.
00:01:18.320 But here's part of what you had to say.
00:01:20.080 Fear, and many others fear, threatens to jeopardize all that is working so well with college athletics.
00:01:27.920 More and more, there is agreement that Congress needs to act to ensure that we have a level playing field, that we have real competition,
00:01:34.960 that college sports can continue to thrive in the decades going forward.
00:01:41.140 And this roundtable is designed to be a discussion with numerous stakeholders who are engaged in the process to get perspectives on what is needed and what is not.
00:01:51.160 Right now, we have the brave new world of NIL and college athletes now, many of them earning very significant sums of money.
00:02:02.300 I, for one, think that's a good thing.
00:02:04.160 I think it is good that young men and young women who have worked incredibly hard to develop fantastic skills that, in turn, can generate enormous economic activity
00:02:14.480 should be entitled to enjoy the fruits of their labor, should be entitled to benefit.
00:02:18.980 But we also need a system where we have real competition and fair competition and not just one or two monster schools and everyone else as a hanger-on,
00:02:30.980 but real competition throughout the league to make for good games.
00:02:35.240 We also need to make sure the rules that are in place don't just focus on Power Five conferences,
00:02:43.620 don't just focus on football and basketball, which generate most of the revenue.
00:02:48.980 But we need to keep in mind and keep our focus on smaller schools, Division II schools, Division III schools,
00:02:55.580 and we need to focus on the many other sports that are not going to be playing on ESPN,
00:03:02.540 but nonetheless provide an avenue for young women and young men to go to school and to get an education.
00:03:07.940 We now have a patchwork of NIL laws state by state that makes it difficult to navigate.
00:03:14.180 We have multiple active litigation going on that prevents the NCAA and conferences and universities from enforcing rules or even knowing what the rules are.
00:03:27.520 And we have a lot of uncertainty for student-athletes and for agents and collectives who are trying to navigate the evolving and unpredictable rules,
00:03:35.280 but uncertain what they're going to be today and even more so what they're going to be tomorrow.
00:03:39.660 Now, the purpose of this discussion is to listen.
00:03:43.740 If we do it right, a number of senators are expected to join us.
00:03:47.720 We have with us today Senator Moran and Senator Tillis, and I think others will be coming in and out throughout the day.
00:03:53.200 There are many members, both Republicans and Democrats, very interested in this topic.
00:03:58.100 And I will say, if we're going to go forward, and I very much want Congress to pass meaningful legislation addressing NIL,
00:04:07.100 but if we're going to go forward, it is going to take bipartisan cooperation.
00:04:11.340 If this simply becomes a partisan exercise of shirts and skins, we know how that ends.
00:04:17.160 That ends with a vote that doesn't pass through Congress.
00:04:20.380 So we have, and I will say, many of us here at this table have had multiple good, productive conversations with senators on the other side of the aisle,
00:04:29.920 and I think we are coming towards some outlines of consensus.
00:04:34.520 But we're not there yet, and I'm hopeful this conversation will help move the process forward.
00:04:40.580 You talked about this being bipartisan, Senator.
00:04:44.200 Rarely in Congress do you get something that I think everybody kind of agrees,
00:04:47.660 hey, we need to make sure this is done right, and you mentioned every different state's got different things,
00:04:53.560 and this has become the, NIL's kind of become the wild, wild west.
00:04:56.780 But having this discussion, does there seem to be a lot of consensus here on both sides of the aisle,
00:05:02.080 and pretty easy to get people at the table here to say, hey, let's do this in a responsible manner?
00:05:06.440 Well, yes and no.
00:05:07.880 I would say there's bipartisan agreement that Congress needs to act,
00:05:11.720 and I think senators on both sides are realizing, hey, we've got a real problem here.
00:05:15.760 What is not clear is if we can reach consensus on what acting looks like.
00:05:21.460 I think there's a need for federal legislation.
00:05:23.360 We've got a bunch of states stepping in, passing their own NIL legislation, 0.91
00:05:27.100 but you end up having this conflicting patchwork.
00:05:30.040 So, for example, Texas has passed NIL legislation.
00:05:33.240 It did something I've never seen the state of Texas do before, or for that matter, any state legislature.
00:05:38.200 In the Texas state bill, it explicitly calls on Congress to act.
00:05:41.620 It says, look, it's not great for each of the states to be doing this.
00:05:44.540 This ought to be a federal rule that applies to everyone.
00:05:47.460 And so I've drafted legislation.
00:05:49.460 I've circulated it.
00:05:50.580 I spent the better part of a year listening to stakeholders, listening to universities,
00:05:55.020 listening to athletic conferences, listening to players, listening to all sorts of players
00:05:59.840 across the world of college athletics and trying to capture their best practices.
00:06:07.140 So the legislation that I've put forward, number one, number one, it protects the ability
00:06:13.440 of student athletes to earn from their name, image, and likeness.
00:06:17.160 And I think it's only fair if you've worked incredibly hard, you've developed fantastic
00:06:20.800 skills.
00:06:21.420 You should be able to reap the rewards, the fruits of your labor.
00:06:24.760 But number two, it empowers the NCAA to set rules and set standards.
00:06:30.620 Now, there have been some other senators that have introduced legislation that would put the
00:06:34.840 federal government in charge of setting the rules and standards, either the government
00:06:38.040 or a quasi-governmental organization.
00:06:40.480 I think that's a mistake.
00:06:41.840 I think if you have politicians or bureaucrats, I mean, can you imagine what a nightmare it
00:06:45.920 would be to have congressional hearings on what constitutes pass interference?
00:06:49.460 Yeah, it'd be bad.
00:06:50.520 That's bad.
00:06:51.820 It would never get agreed upon ever.
00:06:54.040 Are there problems with the NCAA?
00:06:56.980 Yes, but it's the least worst option out there.
00:07:00.600 And so my legislation protects the ability of the NCAA to set rules.
00:07:05.020 It also provides for things like the registration of agents.
00:07:08.620 Right now, you have 17-, 18-, 19-year-old students who are being represented by agents.
00:07:14.180 They don't know if these guys are honest.
00:07:15.840 They don't know their background.
00:07:16.860 There's no transparency.
00:07:18.400 And it's really setting kids up to be swindled by people taking advantage of them.
00:07:24.160 So it sets up a system of registration of agents.
00:07:26.940 It also sets up a system of transparency where you can see what the name, image, and likeness
00:07:32.460 market is.
00:07:33.460 You can see what other schools, what other positions are paying so that you're not operating in the
00:07:39.760 dark.
00:07:40.320 And I've introduced this legislation.
00:07:43.260 I put it out there.
00:07:44.120 And I have been in the process of negotiating with several Democrats to see if we can get
00:07:50.660 to common ground.
00:07:52.260 One of the important things my legislation also provides is that student athletes are
00:07:57.360 not employees.
00:07:59.180 This is a big question.
00:08:00.460 It's being litigated right now.
00:08:02.300 I think it'd be a disaster if student athletes were treated as employees. 0.94
00:08:05.680 I think if that happened, if student athletes were treated as employees, it would end up badly
00:08:12.200 damaging, particularly smaller schools, Division II schools, Division III schools, and it would
00:08:17.120 badly damage non-revenue sports.
00:08:19.460 So football and basketball would be fine.
00:08:23.500 But look, you played men's tennis, women's golf, volleyball, swimming, track and field.
00:08:30.160 You know, universities are saying across the board those sports would be obliterated by
00:08:36.080 treating student athletes as employees.
00:08:38.280 I'll say the historically black colleges and universities have come in and said, likewise,
00:08:42.780 please do not make student athletes employees.
00:08:45.140 It will decimate our athletic programs.
00:08:47.940 And so I'm in the process of negotiating and trying to find Democrats who are willing to
00:08:53.140 find common ground on this.
00:08:54.700 If we can't get common ground, the bill's not going to pass.
00:08:57.500 I think we're close, but we're not there yet.
00:09:00.080 But I will say, you know, sitting at the roundtable with Nick Saban, it was striking.
00:09:04.020 I asked Coach Saban, I mean, he just stepped down from being one of the most successful
00:09:08.840 college football coaches in all time.
00:09:12.340 And I asked him, I said, Coach, was the current chaos of NIL and the transfer portal and everything,
00:09:17.900 was that a factor in your stepping down?
00:09:21.220 And listen to what Nick Saban said in response to my question.
00:09:23.960 All the things that I believed in for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist
00:09:31.040 in college athletics.
00:09:32.660 So it's always about developing players.
00:09:35.280 It was always about helping people be more successful in life.
00:09:39.620 My wife even said to me, we'd have all the recruits over on Sunday with their parents for breakfast.
00:09:45.400 And she would always meet with the mothers and talk about how she was going to help and
00:09:51.700 impact their sons and how they would be well taken care of.
00:09:56.220 And she came to me, you know, like right before I retired and said, why are we doing this?
00:10:01.860 And I said, what do you mean?
00:10:03.200 She said, all they care about is how much you're going to pay them.
00:10:06.040 They don't care about how you're going to develop them, which is what we've always done.
00:10:09.460 So why are we doing this?
00:10:10.460 I mean, it drove him, I think, from the game.
00:10:14.040 Yeah.
00:10:14.620 No, it's striking.
00:10:16.060 And listen, if Nick Saban can't stand it anymore, how the heck is anyone else supposed to?
00:10:21.940 And I got to say, the genuine concern I've heard from coach after coach after coach,
00:10:27.900 from athletic director after athletic director, from the heads of conferences, they are genuinely
00:10:33.620 afraid that we've got a short window of maybe a year or two to act to preserve college
00:10:40.400 sports or else we are risking major and permanent damage.
00:10:44.200 So I hope we see Congress act.
00:10:46.840 I'll tell you, I put the odds at about 50-50.
00:10:49.100 I think we're close to getting bipartisan agreement.
00:10:52.300 I'm spending a lot of time talking with several Democrats and we're close.
00:10:55.860 And it was good.
00:10:56.880 A number of Republicans and Democrats came to this roundtable, participated.
00:11:01.680 It was a good conversation.
00:11:03.260 What was nice about it is it wasn't a hearing where there was showboating and grandstanding.
00:11:07.720 It was a real conversation.
00:11:09.780 And I do think there's a desire to act to make sure we preserve something amazing, because
00:11:15.640 I got to say, when you're cheering for your school, it brings people together across party
00:11:20.840 lines, across races, across ethnicities, across everything when you're cheering together.
00:11:25.740 And that's something amazing and special.
00:11:28.160 And it's also such a powerful pipeline.
00:11:31.000 There's so many young men and women who are getting college educations who wouldn't get
00:11:35.880 it without college athletics, that if we screw this up, it would be enormously damaging.
00:11:41.500 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast
00:11:46.540 from earlier this week.
00:11:48.860 Now on to story number two.
00:11:51.540 Joe Biden, they had no problem talking about his son, Hunter Biden.
00:11:55.900 And when he went to Washington, D.C., when he had that press conference, when he said,
00:12:00.080 I will not testify behind closed doors because Republicans are going to lie about what I say
00:12:04.180 and I will only do it in a public hearing.
00:12:06.660 I demand a public hearing.
00:12:07.980 And there was a big charade.
00:12:09.220 It was in front of the Capitol where you serve, Senator.
00:12:11.920 And now we found out that there is a public hearing that's coming.
00:12:17.420 And Hunter Biden has rejected the GOP invitation for the public hearing after demanding that
00:12:25.540 the same GOP give him a damn public hearing and demanded it in Washington in front of the
00:12:32.040 Capitol. 0.96
00:12:33.440 Well, this was all theatrics and it was all dishonest theatrics by Hunter Biden and his
00:12:37.460 legal team and by Joe Biden and the White House.
00:12:40.080 But but as you noted, Hunter Biden said from the beginning that he only wanted to testify in
00:12:44.960 public.
00:12:45.320 He didn't trust a closed door event.
00:12:46.840 And he said he was happy to testify in public.
00:12:49.280 So the House has taken him up on it and invited him, said, come testify on March 20th.
00:12:53.820 We've got a hearing.
00:12:55.280 Devin Archer, Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis are testifying.
00:12:58.620 By the way, these are individuals Hunter knows very well that he's done business with.
00:13:03.340 Come testify publicly.
00:13:05.100 And immediately the lie was apparent because Hunter Biden said no.
00:13:11.160 Hunter Biden's lawyer refused to go, calling the public hearing a, quote, blatant,
00:13:16.840 planned for media event.
00:13:18.820 And in fact, let me read what what what what Abby Lowell, who's Hunter Biden's lawyer, 0.73
00:13:23.040 wrote, quote, your blatant plan for media event is not a proper proceeding, but an obvious
00:13:28.700 attempt to throw a Hail Mary pass after the game has ended.
00:13:32.340 Let me remind you of a statement you made about how witnesses and specifically Mr.
00:13:36.420 Biden could satisfy your prior requests.
00:13:39.840 At your press conference after the January 10th, 2024 committee hearing to hold Mr.
00:13:45.680 Biden in contempt, you stated, quote, all we need are people to come in for the depositions
00:13:50.660 and then we'll be finished.
00:13:52.400 We just need people to show up to the depositions and we'll wrap this up.
00:13:56.440 Nobody wants to wrap this up more than I do.
00:13:59.880 Mr.
00:14:00.200 Biden did just as you asked and as you as you did when you announced that witnesses could
00:14:06.400 choose depositions, you want to ignore what you said.
00:14:10.240 Now, let me note, you and I had this conversation with James Comer at the time.
00:14:15.860 And James Comer is a good man.
00:14:17.460 He's a friend.
00:14:18.020 He's doing a very good job.
00:14:19.640 I told him then on this podcast, forget about the closed door deposition.
00:14:25.960 Hunter is saying he will testify publicly.
00:14:28.020 Do it tomorrow.
00:14:29.240 Get him on record publicly tomorrow.
00:14:32.560 I wish I could say I'm surprised.
00:14:34.480 I'm not surprised.
00:14:35.460 Hunter Biden is playing games.
00:14:38.200 He is trying to delay this until after the election.
00:14:40.940 And as I reminded James Comer, Hunter Biden's not the target here.
00:14:46.080 He's not the reason this is a matter of public concern.
00:14:49.240 Joe Biden, the corruption of the president of the United States is the target.
00:14:53.380 And so, listen, nothing of me, no part of me is surprised that Hunter's now saying, oh,
00:14:58.440 no, I did the deposition.
00:14:59.820 Now I'm not going to do it.
00:15:01.500 I think the next step is obvious.
00:15:03.080 The House needs to issue a subpoena for Hunter Biden to testify publicly.
00:15:08.540 Hunter will have a choice, comply with the subpoena or defy the subpoena.
00:15:12.880 And if he defies the subpoena, the House needs to hold him in contempt.
00:15:16.780 That needs to happen fast.
00:15:18.560 Time is running out.
00:15:20.460 But I got to say, you know, all of the bravado.
00:15:23.580 Remember, we talked about on verdict also how when the House was having a hearing, Hunter Biden
00:15:28.140 showed up in the hearing room just gloating.
00:15:31.700 In my view, I wish they had right then said, Mr.
00:15:35.520 Biden, come down to the table.
00:15:37.240 We'll swear you in.
00:15:38.120 Let's go.
00:15:39.240 That's what they should have done.
00:15:41.360 I still think and hope they will get him to testify publicly.
00:15:44.560 But if he avoids public testimony through these games, it will be tragic because this is an
00:15:52.580 effort at obfuscation.
00:15:54.480 This is an effort at cover up.
00:15:56.260 This is an effort at hiding the criminal behavior of Joe Biden, the president of the United States.
00:16:02.560 Senator, how important is it that we get Hunter Biden on the record publicly?
00:16:09.880 It's one thing to read the transcripts.
00:16:11.760 You've read them, what's been released.
00:16:14.220 I've read what's been released.
00:16:15.620 We've had reporting on it.
00:16:17.000 But look, there's an aspect of Hunter Biden that could offer, in my opinion, a huge opportunity
00:16:25.640 for conservatives to capitalize on just how corrupt Joe Biden is because you never know
00:16:31.600 what he's going to say or how angry he's going to get or how self-righteous he's going
00:16:36.560 to be.
00:16:37.260 And part of having a public hearing is getting to ask him those uncomfortable questions that
00:16:41.460 need to be answered.
00:16:42.780 But you don't know what he's going to do.
00:16:45.160 And that is, I think, something the American people deserve to see.
00:16:49.080 It's incredibly important.
00:16:51.200 Look, Hunter Biden, I believe, is lying.
00:16:54.700 I think he lied in his closed-door deposition.
00:16:56.580 I think if he has a public hearing, he will lie.
00:16:59.240 But I also think he's not a very good liar.
00:17:01.360 His lies are facially inconsistent.
00:17:03.940 They're contradictory.
00:17:05.320 And competent cross-examination can demonstrate how he is lying to cover up for his father.
00:17:14.560 Now, we have a closed-door deposition.
00:17:16.680 We have a transcript.
00:17:17.460 A transcript is dry.
00:17:18.720 A transcript is lifeless.
00:17:20.480 A transcript is not going to dominate the evening news.
00:17:23.740 A transcript people are not going to watch and see for themselves.
00:17:27.200 And understand the context of it.
00:17:28.780 The context of this is very much like going into the 2020 election.
00:17:32.380 The 2020 election in October of 2020, the news broke of the Hunter Biden laptop.
00:17:38.820 The New York Post broke the story.
00:17:41.400 And we saw big tech silence and censor it.
00:17:44.800 We saw Facebook and Twitter block anyone sharing it.
00:17:47.940 We saw big tech threaten to deplatform any media outlets that reported on it.
00:17:52.640 And media outlets like Politico happily obeyed big tech and simply kept it secret.
00:17:59.300 What was in the Hunter Biden laptop?
00:18:01.060 Mind you, the Hunter Biden laptop was real.
00:18:03.200 It was accurate. 0.89
00:18:04.120 It had evidence of multiple felonies.
00:18:06.160 And mind you, also, the Department of Justice and the FBI knew that it was real and accurate
00:18:10.340 because they had the laptop in their possessions and they had had it for over a year.
00:18:15.980 But particularly as you get closer to an election, their objective is
00:18:19.860 do not let the American people see things that demonstrate Joe Biden's criminal culpability.
00:18:26.660 The same thing is true here.
00:18:28.220 The reason to have Hunter Biden testify is so the American people can look him in the eye.
00:18:34.040 You know, the American people are very good at judging credibility.
00:18:37.900 They can tell when somebody is spouting BS.
00:18:41.120 They can tell when they're not telling the truth.
00:18:44.300 And it's harder to tell that when you're reading a transcript.
00:18:47.140 And so in my view, it is critically important to get Hunter Biden in sworn testimony alone.
00:18:56.820 I actually don't think it was a great idea to have him testifying alongside a bunch of other people.
00:19:01.040 I get there's some value in saying, well, so-and-so said this.
00:19:04.180 How about you?
00:19:04.760 But I think Hunter Biden ought to be alone at that table.
00:19:07.260 I think every question ought to be directed to him.
00:19:09.260 And you can use the answers from the other witnesses to cross-examine him.
00:19:13.580 I also hope if and when Hunter testifies that there's a degree of coordination.
00:19:19.100 One of the problems when you have a hearing is if you've got lots of individual members, lots of House members, each of whom has five minutes, you will often have people go on marches in one direction or another, and they don't follow up on anything.
00:19:33.760 And it's kind of whatever any individual member wants to do.
00:19:36.080 They just ask that.
00:19:37.260 And some of them are not very good cross-examiners, so they can't follow up.
00:19:40.480 And it doesn't present a coherent storyline.
00:19:44.740 It doesn't systematically dismantle the lies.
00:19:48.660 What I hope is that James Comer and or Jim Jordan, the chairman, sit down with their Republican members, that they plan out a strategy for the hearing, a strategy for the cross-examination, that they assign each member of the committee.
00:20:04.000 Okay, you've got this point.
00:20:05.960 At this point, here are the questions that will be helpful to ask, and you drive a systematic message.
00:20:12.440 That's something in the Commerce Committee.
00:20:14.520 I'm the ranking member on the Senate Committee of Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
00:20:18.100 On major hearings, that's exactly what I try to do.
00:20:20.720 In the Senate Judiciary Committee, we have done that on multiple hearings.
00:20:24.420 For example, the Brett Kavanaugh hearing.
00:20:26.760 That was a major fight.
00:20:28.560 We sat and we strategized exactly how we were going to handle the cross-examination, the messaging.
00:20:34.120 I hope the House does that.
00:20:35.960 But none of that matters unless you get Hunter at the witness stand, sworn in, and on national television.
00:20:45.820 Because, listen, if Hunter's testifying, as much as the media wants to hide it from the American people, they cannot completely do so.
00:20:53.320 And it gives the American people the chance to decide, is the president of the United States corrupt?
00:20:59.220 Has he taken bribes from Chinese communists, from Russians, from Ukrainians, from foreign oligarchs?
00:21:06.120 It lets the American people decide when Hunter sent a WhatsApp text to a Chinese communist threatening his father's punishment.
00:21:17.760 If the Chinese communist didn't send him millions of dollars, was dad complicit in that shakedown? 0.80
00:21:24.980 I think the answer is obviously yes.
00:21:27.220 But seeing Hunter being forced to answer those questions goes a long way to letting the American people decide based on the facts.
00:21:35.120 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.
00:21:44.080 I want to get back to the big story, number three of the week you may have missed.
00:21:49.740 Senator, while they're trying to destroy our country and not going after the people that are breaking in, there's one thing that is very clear.
00:21:55.900 And that is public enemy number one of this administration, the Democrats, is Donald Trump.
00:22:00.860 We now are seeing them trying to break Trump financially.
00:22:05.000 I would assume that you would agree this is certainly a level of election interference.
00:22:10.520 It's shocking.
00:22:11.400 But let's talk about the money now.
00:22:13.680 The A.G. James, who said, vote for me and I'll go after Trump, has now asked the court to deny Donald Trump's $454 million bond appeal.
00:22:25.480 This is unprecedented in American society.
00:22:28.620 This is what would happen in communist countries.
00:22:31.040 Yet it's happening right now in America.
00:22:33.780 Well, we are seeing across the country Democrat prosecutors abusing the justice system to try to, number one, destroy Donald Trump.
00:22:42.220 But to try to, number two, subvert democracy.
00:22:46.240 They are terrified that the voters in November will vote to reelect Donald Trump.
00:22:50.400 And so they want to abuse their power to stop the voters from doing that.
00:22:54.700 What Letitia James has done, she ran for attorney general promising, I'm going to get Trump. 0.85
00:23:01.540 And I'll say, at least so far, she's delivered on that promise.
00:23:04.640 She went after him with everything she had.
00:23:06.420 In a fraud case that is under a New York statute that is really a ridiculous statute because it she alleged fraud with no victims.
00:23:17.020 She alleged that he had borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from sophisticated banks like Deutsche Bank.
00:23:22.780 And Deutsche Bank didn't lose money.
00:23:26.260 In fact, they made money on the loans.
00:23:28.020 Trump repaid the loans.
00:23:29.300 And Deutsche Bank said they were thrilled to make the loans and would happily make them again.
00:23:34.000 And the argument was that he valued his real estate more than it was worth.
00:23:39.000 Deutsche Bank is not some like poor little old lady who's a vulnerable consumer. 0.98
00:23:45.040 They're a multi-billion dollar global bank. 0.99
00:23:47.440 They valued the real estate on their own damn thing. 0.88
00:23:49.820 You know, if I come in and tell my mortgage company, hey, my home is worth $10 million, they're going to send their own appraiser to go figure out what my home is worth. 0.98
00:23:59.480 They're going to laugh at me.
00:24:00.920 So an alleged offense with no victim, no injury, and no harm.
00:24:09.280 The judgment with interest is $454 million, half a billion dollars.
00:24:15.920 And then New York has a provision that you see in a number of states that to appeal that, you've got to put the $454 million in cash, either liquid, so either cash or securities liquid, or you have to have a bond that covers that amount.
00:24:34.800 And so Trump went and tried to get a bond, and he went to 30 different surety companies, and all of them turned him down.
00:24:41.760 And he filed an affidavit, so he's raised an issue on appeal to say, look, you can't require me to put up a half billion dollars just to be able to appeal.
00:24:54.260 And Letitia James just opposed that and said, oh, yeah, he doesn't put that money up. 0.80
00:24:58.620 We're coming to take his property.
00:25:00.400 So understand what she wants to do, and she wants to do this as soon as potentially next week.
00:25:04.740 She wants to show up and physically seize his properties, literally go and seize properties that he has in New York or elsewhere. 1.00
00:25:14.900 It could literally come down to her trying to essentially put a padlock on Trump Tower.
00:25:21.240 And I say that not really with hyperbole, because this is a political jihad for her. 0.90
00:25:27.120 So I think she will look for the most visible, political way to attack her opponent.
00:25:34.200 And here's what Trump's lawyers told the New York appellate court.
00:25:40.420 The attorneys wrote that, quote, it is not possible under the circumstances presented.
00:25:45.280 They said the underwriters insisted on cash or other liquid assets instead of real estate as collateral.
00:25:51.900 So Trump has lots of real estate, but apparently the underwriters said, no, it's got to be cash or liquid.
00:25:57.420 And he didn't have a half billion dollars sitting around.
00:25:59.960 And they insisted on cash to cover 120 percent of the judgment, which is five hundred and fifty seven million dollars.
00:26:09.540 An insurance broker, Gary Giuletti, wrote in a sworn statement that, quote, a bond of this size is rarely, if ever seen.
00:26:20.180 And and Letitia James responded, well, no, no, that's not true.
00:26:25.400 There have been billion dollar bonds before.
00:26:28.140 Yes, for massive public corporations.
00:26:30.600 But but Trump's business is not a public corporation.
00:26:33.980 It is a private company.
00:26:36.400 And to get a half billion dollar bond is incredibly difficult.
00:26:40.840 And so understand the impact.
00:26:43.420 If Trump is not able to post this bond, the effect would be to deny him the right to even appeal the absurd partisan decision from that from the district court.
00:26:55.660 I got to say this is is is such a profound abuse.
00:26:59.440 Now, that doesn't mean Trump would be out of options, because if the New York courts insist you got to put up a half billion dollars in order to appeal this decision, I am confident that Trump will appeal that and potentially appeal that all the way to the U.S.
00:27:14.800 Supreme Court and the U.S.
00:27:16.840 Supreme Court.
00:27:17.460 He would have multiple arguments, constitutional arguments, including the Constitution prohibits denying an individual, depriving an individual of property without due process of law.
00:27:29.640 And there would be an argument that this is such an excessive bond that that it constitutes a violation of due process.
00:27:37.300 He would also have an argument under the Eighth Amendment.
00:27:40.060 The Eighth Amendment specifies excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
00:27:49.880 Now, the Eighth Amendment typically applies in a criminal context.
00:27:56.000 But given the magnitude here, I would expect him to make both an Eighth Amendment argument and a due process argument.
00:28:02.260 And it is entirely possible that would prevail ultimately.
00:28:06.520 But what New York is doing, what the New York Attorney General is doing, is the conduct of a banana republic.
00:28:16.740 Kevin O'Leary, who many people know from Shark Tank, not the most political guy.
00:28:21.320 He talked about the business fallout of this and asking, where are the adults in the room?
00:28:26.780 Because we can't let this stand in the United States of America.
00:28:30.240 Here's part of what he said, which I thought was really interesting.
00:28:33.500 But more importantly, the message about the American brand.
00:28:37.520 You think about America, the reason this is the number one economy on Earth is that we have laws and we have due process and we have property rights.
00:28:45.280 It attracts foreign capital from all around the world.
00:28:48.460 All of that is being shaken to the core here.
00:28:51.720 The concept of seizing assets in 30 days on a bond number that's never been issued.
00:28:57.980 No insurance bond companies ever issued anything near this.
00:29:01.120 So there was no chance it was going to happen.
00:29:03.860 And only giving 30 days notice in time, that's a really bad message.
00:29:10.540 And I think New Yorkers should think, well, past Trump, whether he's president or not,
00:29:15.760 or whether this attorney general is gone in four years or not, it's irrelevant.
00:29:19.300 This is case setting against the American brand.
00:29:23.440 The most stable country on Earth anywhere to put capital to work over a long period of time, particularly in real estate, is the United States of America.
00:29:33.340 This is an assault on what we believe to be core.
00:29:37.760 And I find it extraordinary.
00:29:40.980 I think it's very troubling.
00:29:42.960 It has absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump at this point, in my view.
00:29:47.580 And it is completely bipartisan.
00:29:50.380 This is an attack on America.
00:29:54.000 And I don't know how you can look at it any other way.
00:29:57.420 And as an investor, and I know plenty of investors who are completely disturbed by this, but, I mean, no one is going to put any money to work in New York in these amounts until this thing settles down.
00:30:10.980 The whole world is watching.
00:30:13.020 And everybody's waiting for one thing we haven't got yet.
00:30:16.260 Adult supervision.
00:30:17.700 Where is it?
00:30:19.060 Where are the adults in this crazy narrative?
00:30:22.620 Certainly there's got to be adult supervision at some point.
00:30:25.080 And I understand, you know, the war going on here and all the political yada, yada, woof, woof, woof.
00:30:31.540 But we need an adult in the room now.
00:30:33.760 This is the United States of America under siege.
00:30:38.720 Under siege.
00:30:39.760 I mean, he's not joking around.
00:30:41.000 He says, where are the adults?
00:30:42.020 Senator, I'm going to ask you this.
00:30:43.020 Where are the adults?
00:30:44.020 At what point do the adults get a hold of this?
00:30:47.500 Well, at this point, it's not clear to me that there are any adults left in New York.
00:30:51.900 There certainly are not among politicians.
00:30:54.300 I don't know of a single Democrat politician who has spoken out against this abuse.
00:31:00.180 Certainly Chuck Schumer hasn't.
00:31:02.200 The governor hasn't.
00:31:03.300 The mayor of New York City hasn't.
00:31:05.720 Letitia James is auditioning to be governor.
00:31:08.020 She's clearly ambitious.
00:31:09.200 She views this as the path to success in the Democrat Party in New York.
00:31:13.760 And I got to say, look, I think they rationalize in their own mind this is a special rule just for Donald Trump.
00:31:21.520 We hate Trump so much. 0.99
00:31:23.160 They think Trump is the devil. 0.99
00:31:25.500 And so this applies just to Trump. 0.81
00:31:28.920 But this precedent can apply to anyone.
00:31:31.920 If simply claiming that you overstated the value of your real estate gives the attorney general the justification to seize hundreds of millions or billions of dollars,
00:31:42.760 what real estate developer in their right mind would continue to do business?
00:31:48.100 Every real estate developer, just as a starting point, is subject to this kind of shakedown.
00:31:53.660 And if you don't think that Letitia James or the next ambitious attorney general will use that power, then you're smoking something.
00:32:02.180 Because, look, it is arbitrary.
00:32:05.520 It's unreviewable.
00:32:06.280 And by the way, if you can't get a bond to appeal it, there is no appellate review.
00:32:09.780 So it's the ability to shake it down.
00:32:12.260 And so if she wants to negotiate a settlement, suppose she comes in, that gives this politician the ability to terrorize businesses, 1.00
00:32:21.120 to terrorize foreign corporations, anyone that they decide we don't like.
00:32:26.820 It essentially empowers the politicians to terrorize individuals and companies and force them to comply with whatever their demand is,
00:32:38.600 or else we will seize your assets and you can't even appeal it.
00:32:44.360 And yet, why is not a single Democrat in New York worried about this or speaking out about it?
00:32:52.180 You know, it's astonishing.
00:32:53.600 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:32:59.240 Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day.
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