Verdict with Ted Cruz - April 12, 2025


Radical Judiciary Undermining Trump, Fencing Fairness & Mexico's Water Theft Week In Review

Topics
lawfare USA fencing transgender policy Mexico stealing water water treaty violations
Hosted by
Ted Cruz
Mentioned
Donald Trump Joe Biden Amy Klobuchar Stephanie Turner Barack Obama Verdict George W. Bush Brooke Rollins Ben Ferguson Jennifer Stewart Caitlin Clark Bray Amy Coney Barrett Chuck Grassley Brian Wendell Pam Bondi Whitehouse Andrews Moody
In the Oval Office, BIGGEST Stock Market Surge in History, plus Mexico Stealing our Water & Trump Fights Back UFC w POTUS, Big Tech Exemption from Tariffs & Trump Victory Deporting Anti-Israel Radical

Episode Stats


Length

33 minutes

Words per minute

165.47

Word count

5,480

Sentence count

463

Harmful content

Misogyny

17

sentences flagged

Toxicity

11

sentences flagged

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson discuss judicial activism, the U.S. fencing investigation, and Mexico stealing our farmers' water supply in order to keep them from getting their livelihoods on the border. Ted and Ben also discuss the impact of the Supreme Court's temporary restraining orders against President Trump.

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 .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.620 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.660 Welcome.
00:00:06.360 It is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:07.980 The Week in Review.
00:00:09.440 Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:10.640 And these are the big stories that we talked about this week that you may have missed.
00:00:14.520 First up, judicial activism having a major impact at trying to stop Donald Trump and
00:00:20.160 his administration.
00:00:21.500 Well, there was a very big victory for the Trump administration, and it's going to have
00:00:25.520 precedents nationwide.
00:00:27.460 We'll break that story down for you in just a moment.
00:00:30.000 Up next, an investigation has been opened into U.S. fencing after they disqualified
00:00:35.300 a woman who refused to fight against a trans fencer, a.k.a. a dude acting like a chick.
00:00:43.200 They gave her the black card, disqualifying her from the entire competition because she stood 0.97
00:00:49.620 up for what she believed in.
00:00:51.420 And now there's an investigation into not following the law when it comes to U.S. fencing.
00:00:57.280 And finally, in a shocking move, Mexico has been stealing water from American farmers on
00:01:03.860 the border.
00:01:04.620 It is now costing them their livelihoods.
00:01:07.580 And President Trump is fighting back.
00:01:10.340 It's The Week in Review, and it starts right now.
00:01:13.560 Another threat, and it's not been covered in the news the way that it should have because
00:01:17.480 we've been dealing with this.
00:01:18.420 Obviously, we led with this issue because it's very important, but it's judicial activism
00:01:23.100 that's having a major impact on this administration.
00:01:26.700 And in a shocking way, I would even say historic way, when you look at the numbers, you're dealing
00:01:32.420 with this now in the Senate with these judges that are basically going to be activists, but
00:01:36.660 their injunctions are having a hold nationwide.
00:01:40.600 A lot of people didn't even know that was a possibility.
00:01:42.920 Is it an abuse of power?
00:01:44.480 Is there a check and balance that we need to have on that?
00:01:46.540 Let's dive into that as well.
00:01:47.740 So it's an absolute abuse of power.
00:01:49.540 It is worse than it has ever been.
00:01:51.240 We have seen against Donald Trump in the first two months of his administration, more
00:01:56.080 nationwide injunctions issued against President Trump than in the entirety of the George W.
00:02:02.680 Bush administration all eight years, the entirety of the Barack Obama administration all eight
00:02:07.640 years, the entirety of the Joe Biden administration all four years.
00:02:10.780 more in two months than in those 20 years.
00:02:16.240 We have seen-
00:02:16.820 Two months and 20 years.
00:02:17.680 You say it, you said it quickly.
00:02:19.600 I want people to just pause and think about how much of abuse of power there has to be
00:02:22.900 if they're doing it that much.
00:02:23.880 Like, this is deliberate.
00:02:25.380 Well, and listen to Attorney General Pam Bondi talk about this. 0.98
00:02:28.540 The president is going to comply with the law.
00:02:31.740 He was overwhelmingly elected by an overwhelming majority of the United States citizens to be our
00:02:38.560 commander in chief, and that's what he's been doing.
00:02:41.260 Shannon, just since January 20th, we've had over 170 lawsuits filed against us.
00:02:47.680 That should be the constitutional crisis right there.
00:02:50.340 50 injunctions.
00:02:52.100 They're popping up every single day trying to control his executive power, trying to control
00:02:58.460 where he believes our tax dollars should be allocated.
00:03:02.320 And saying he won by an overwhelming majority is so important because that's what the American
00:03:06.720 people want, what President Trump campaigned on and what he won on.
00:03:11.140 And he's implementing that agenda at a rapid speed.
00:03:15.040 None of us can keep up with him every single day.
00:03:17.700 And so it's just, we're going after all of these lawsuits.
00:03:20.820 We're defending them all.
00:03:21.880 We just got a great win.
00:03:23.260 And we'll continue to fight.
00:03:24.920 I talked to a judge this week, and he described it this way because I was wanting to understand
00:03:29.260 this subject.
00:03:30.000 Obviously, we were going to talk about it.
00:03:31.460 It's important.
00:03:32.080 And we haven't dealt with this a lot.
00:03:33.360 He said, in essence, what the court's doing, Ben, is they are doing a coup against Donald
00:03:38.560 Trump by neutering him with his agenda.
00:03:41.480 And he said, that is not how the Constitution was set up.
00:03:44.260 Like, you should not be able to neuter a president this way, saying, we know you won.
00:03:47.880 We know the American people support you.
00:03:49.200 They voted for you.
00:03:50.500 But we're not going to let you do what you're supposed to do as president anyway.
00:03:53.100 Well, and Barack Obama and Joe Biden put left-wing radicals on the courts.
00:03:57.320 And then this is Democrat state attorneys general and left-wing radical groups going
00:04:02.080 and seeking out these radical judges, many of whom, by the way, used to work for the
00:04:05.860 groups that are suing.
00:04:06.760 I mean, it is fundamentally corrupt.
00:04:09.660 And it is one judge.
00:04:10.940 Normally, a judge has the authority over the parties before him or her.
00:04:15.200 But these judges are issuing nationwide orders trying to stop everything President Trump
00:04:20.400 is trying to do.
00:04:21.120 We had a hearing of the Judiciary Committee last week on this that was focusing on the
00:04:26.380 threat to democracy and the rule of law from these nationwide injunctions.
00:04:30.680 Here's what I had to say at the hearing.
00:04:32.480 It's long been said that hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue.
00:04:38.800 I have to admit, I'm enjoying listening to my Democrat colleagues suddenly discover the
00:04:43.240 virtues of the rule of law after four years where they brazenly supported the most lawless
00:04:48.420 department of justice and the most politically weaponized department of justice our nation
00:04:52.200 has ever seen.
00:04:53.680 We just heard the senator from Rhode Island talk about the imperative of protecting judges.
00:04:59.480 And yet not a single Democrat senator cared about the violent protesters that showed up
00:05:04.060 outside Supreme Court justices' homes, including, I might note, female justices like Justice Amy 0.99
00:05:09.520 Coney Barrett threatening their family.
00:05:12.020 And Joe Biden's attorney general didn't do a damn thing and refused to enforce the law to
00:05:16.480 protect those judges.
00:05:17.580 Why?
00:05:18.680 Because he agreed with the violent protesters and he wanted to intimidate and threaten those
00:05:22.840 judges.
00:05:26.860 Professor Bray, under our Constitution, who should decide elections?
00:05:33.360 The voters or unelected judges?
00:05:38.840 The voters are the ones who should vote in the election according to the laws.
00:05:43.640 And the laws sometimes have to be applied by the judges if there are cases.
00:05:46.500 And under our Constitution, who is charged with making policy decisions?
00:05:52.480 Elected representatives, elected by the people, or unelected federal judges?
00:05:56.080 I think the question of policy, Senator, is a little broader than the particular case.
00:06:03.420 So the basic laws should be enacted by Congress.
00:06:07.040 That's where the fountain of law...
00:06:08.280 Policy decisions are the elected branches.
00:06:09.920 Right.
00:06:10.320 Law is the province of the court.
00:06:12.280 Policy is the province of the elected branches.
00:06:14.280 These are not complicated.
00:06:15.900 Professor Bray, let me ask you this.
00:06:17.260 Do the federal courts have power to issue remedies for people who are not parties to
00:06:22.560 a case?
00:06:25.240 That's a question I agree is not complicated.
00:06:27.520 They do not have that power.
00:06:29.080 Is the phrase nationwide injunction or universal injunction found anywhere in the Constitution?
00:06:34.260 It is not.
00:06:36.500 First chart.
00:06:37.220 In the first 150 years of our republic, how many nationwide injunctions were issued?
00:06:42.260 My view is that there were not any until 1963.
00:06:45.520 Zero.
00:06:46.460 Now fast forward.
00:06:47.780 How many nationwide injunctions were issued in the entire 20th century?
00:06:53.600 It's a small number.
00:06:55.520 I would think it would be a dozen, give or take.
00:06:58.940 It's not large.
00:06:59.560 Twenty-seven, actually.
00:07:03.640 Excluding Trump's first term, how many nationwide injunctions were issued in the last 20 years?
00:07:11.040 Far more than that.
00:07:12.760 Thirty-two.
00:07:14.400 From 2001 to 2024 against Biden, Obama, and Bush, thirty-two.
00:07:20.300 And how many nationwide injunctions have been issued in the last two months alone?
00:07:27.280 There have been quite a few.
00:07:28.760 Thirty-seven.
00:07:31.320 Let that sink in.
00:07:33.220 There have been more nationwide injunctions in the past two months against President Trump than in the entire 20th century.
00:07:41.860 There have been more nationwide injunctions against President Trump in the last two months than both terms of George W. Bush, both terms of Barack Obama, and Joe Biden's term.
00:07:53.400 We saw during the Biden presidency lawfare, indicting President Trump four times, using the machinery of justice to attack him.
00:08:04.240 And that was an attack on democracy.
00:08:06.060 Because Democrats today hate democracy.
00:08:11.620 Democrats today are angry at the voters for re-electing Donald Trump and electing a Republican Senate and a Republican House, and they engage in lawfare to stop democracy from operating.
00:08:22.960 Understand, this is the second phase of lawfare, second chart.
00:08:30.220 This is the second phase of lawfare.
00:08:32.420 Now that their efforts to indict President Trump and stop the voters from re-electing him have failed, they're going and seeking out individual radical judges to try to shut down policies.
00:08:45.900 And they are forum shopping like crazy.
00:08:48.380 Give me any loon judge put on the bench by Obama or Biden who disagrees with the policy.
00:08:54.880 We just saw a judge flagrantly ignore U.S. immigration law concerning TPS being revoked.
00:09:03.900 U.S. law explicitly said there's no judicial review for that.
00:09:06.980 But, hey, they found a judge who says, you know what?
00:09:09.900 We, the Democrat Party, we are the party of illegal aliens. 0.97
00:09:12.740 We are the party of murderers and rapists and gang members, and the Democrat Party exists here to fight to keep murderers and rapists and gang members in your communities. 0.66
00:09:25.540 There's a reason the Democrat Party is at 26% approval nationwide, because they put radical policies ahead of rule of law.
00:09:37.640 Nationwide injunctions are an abuse of power.
00:09:40.740 It is the judiciary acting as policy deciders, and it is incumbent on this committee and this body to rein in the abuse of power from these unelected radical judges who are trying to overturn the election because they disagree with what the voters decided.
00:10:00.500 So here's my question. You just teased it at the end, and that is it's our job to look at reining them in.
00:10:07.540 How long does that take? Can it be done through legislation?
00:10:11.380 What are the options here, and how quick can we get this under control?
00:10:15.400 Well, it can be done quickly. There's legislation. In fact, there's legislation we were talking about at that hearing that Chuck Grassley's introduced, and I'm a co-sponsor of,
00:10:22.440 that would remove the power of a district judge to issue nationwide injunctions. 0.79
00:10:26.840 I think that makes an awful lot of sense.
00:10:29.120 Is that going to pass? Probably not, because for it to pass in the Senate would take 60 votes, which would mean we would need seven Democrats to support it.
00:10:38.280 Every Democrat, they're enthusiastic about this lawfare.
00:10:42.140 They want to see more of it, so they are dug in.
00:10:44.560 That remedy is not there. The other remedy that you and I have talked about before is impeachment.
00:10:50.680 Impeachment, you can impeach a judge in the House with a majority vote, 218 votes.
00:10:57.300 It may well make sense that one or more of the most egregious district judges who are defying their oath of office should and perhaps will be impeached by the House.
00:11:09.620 However, if and when that happens, it'll come over to the Senate for the trial, and under the Constitution, it takes two-thirds to convict.
00:11:17.180 That means we need Democrats, and the Democrats are not going to convict.
00:11:21.360 There may be value in impeaching one or more of these judges anyway to highlight the utter brazen lawlessness of it,
00:11:29.540 and doing so would mean we could have a trial on the floor of the Senate to lay out just how lawless their conduct was,
00:11:36.960 but the judge is not going to be removed because the Democrats are all in in support of illegal aliens and against the rule of law.
00:11:45.220 That means the remedy are, number one, the court of public opinion making people understand just what an abuse of power this is,
00:11:53.100 and number two, the appellate process, the courts of appeals, and ultimately the Supreme Court.
00:11:58.140 Now, I will say, immediately after I finished my questioning, Amy Klobuchar spoke next.
00:12:04.060 And I think my comments rattled her because she tried to respond, and I got to say, what she was saying made so little sense,
00:12:13.780 I couldn't resist jumping in, and we had some real fireworks.
00:12:17.880 So here, give a listen.
00:12:19.100 And the only reason there's all these injunctions, Senator Cruz, is because he's violating the Constitution.
00:12:24.980 Why would Trump-appointed judges...
00:12:27.160 Why don't you file them in red districts?
00:12:29.360 Senator Cruz.
00:12:30.360 Why, what did you just say?
00:12:32.180 Why don't you file them in red districts?
00:12:33.980 Why are the Democrat Attorney General seeking out...
00:12:36.900 Senator Cruz.
00:12:37.520 ...left-wing blue...
00:12:38.520 Senator Cruz.
00:12:39.220 ...my esteemed colleague.
00:12:39.240 ...quite patient with Senator Cruz's activity in this building.
00:12:42.360 Senator Whitehouse.
00:12:42.920 He's entitled to...
00:12:43.940 I'm just going to ask for a point of order.
00:12:46.600 Madam Klobuchar, Senator Klobuchar.
00:12:48.300 Senator Moody, we have debates on this committee.
00:12:50.400 They occur regularly.
00:12:52.200 Let's let her have her time, and then we'll get back to that.
00:12:54.660 If you want to wait, we'll get back to Senator Cruz.
00:12:56.020 She's welcome to answer the question or not.
00:12:57.720 Go ahead.
00:12:57.820 I'm so excited to be following Senator Cruz once again, but I will say this...
00:13:03.740 Excuse me?
00:13:04.320 I didn't hear you.
00:13:05.040 What did you say?
00:13:06.400 To be following him.
00:13:07.520 He and I have a...
00:13:08.240 I was permitting you your time to continue to...
00:13:12.180 Oh, to be following him in order.
00:13:13.820 Excuse me.
00:13:14.480 Go ahead, Senator Klobuchar.
00:13:15.920 ...during hearings.
00:13:16.820 Go ahead, Senator Klobuchar.
00:13:17.400 That's what I'm referring to.
00:13:18.640 Go ahead.
00:13:19.300 And I will take more than my time, since he's taken more than his time, to yell at me.
00:13:23.680 Go ahead.
00:13:24.100 So what I will say is that...
00:13:25.680 I'm not yelling.
00:13:26.280 I asked a question.
00:13:27.460 Senator Cruz, please.
00:13:28.760 I'll give you time.
00:13:30.060 I do have to say, I've seen you yell.
00:13:31.940 That was not yelling.
00:13:33.120 I didn't raise my voice at all.
00:13:34.740 And by the way, Amy Klobuchar had no answer.
00:13:38.080 None.
00:13:38.400 She's like, well, oh, these injunctions are issuing because everything he's doing is illegal.
00:13:41.840 It's like, great.
00:13:42.460 Why don't they file him in red districts?
00:13:44.420 Why are you seeking out the most left-wing judges in the country who used to be radical activists,
00:13:50.580 who were nominated because they're radical activists, who used to work for the left-wing groups
00:13:54.920 that are now bringing the lawsuits, why are you only filing them in their courts?
00:13:59.000 If it was so clear, if it was such a slam dunk, you ought to be able to file them in red districts.
00:14:05.640 And nope, nope, they ain't going to do that.
00:14:07.400 She had no answer whatsoever because this is about power and abuse of power. 1.00
00:14:12.440 This is not about the rule of law.
00:14:14.660 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast
00:14:19.520 from earlier this week.
00:14:21.400 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00
00:14:23.660 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:14:27.780 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:14:31.500 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:14:32.680 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:14:33.900 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:14:37.280 entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.
00:14:43.400 So, if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:14:46.620 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:14:52.520 Now, on to story number two.
00:14:54.580 Senator, there's also another important story that is one that is, I think, exciting for transparency,
00:15:00.520 but also frustrating at the same time.
00:15:03.240 You have opened an investigation into U.S. fencing over their trans athlete policy.
00:15:11.840 Give us the backstory on this and why you're so involved.
00:15:16.340 So, USA fencing has received widespread criticism for something that happened last week.
00:15:24.240 Stephanie Turner, who's a female fencer, she refused to compete against a transgender opponent, 1.00
00:15:30.420 a biological male who decided that he was a she.
00:15:35.940 And what happened is Stephanie Turner, rather than compete against this biological male,
00:15:42.240 Stephanie Turner took a knee.
00:15:44.000 And as a result, she was disqualified from the tournament. 0.94
00:15:48.820 She was given a black card and disqualified from the tournament. 0.68
00:15:52.200 It was treated as forfeiting.
00:15:55.800 And I saw this.
00:15:59.160 Frankly, I saw this on X.
00:16:01.260 I saw this on Twitter.
00:16:02.760 And I thought this was outrageous because women should not be forced to compete against men in sports.
00:16:09.140 That's not right.
00:16:10.660 Now, as you know, I am the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
00:16:17.440 The Commerce Committee has massive jurisdiction.
00:16:19.800 It has jurisdiction over roughly 40% of the U.S. economy.
00:16:23.460 One of the things we have jurisdiction over is sports.
00:16:27.300 We have jurisdiction over collegiate sports, Olympic sports, and any kind of sports competition.
00:16:36.320 And USA fencing is explicitly, it is the vehicle through which the American fencing team in the Olympics is chosen.
00:16:49.200 And so last week, I launched an investigation, and I sent an oversight letter to USA fencing asking for the documents on what their policy is,
00:17:03.880 how many transgender athletes have attempted to compete, how many women they have disqualified for declining to compete,
00:17:11.520 how many injuries have occurred.
00:17:13.160 Look, there are biological differences.
00:17:15.060 Men are made differently than women, and we've seen in many other sports significant injuries from women being forced to compete against biological men.
00:17:25.500 And at the end of the day, Congress has a very direct remedy, which is we have the ability to cease the designation of USA fencing as the organization that chooses U.S. Olympic athletes.
00:17:42.420 And so this oversight is an effort.
00:17:45.920 I want to get them to change their policy.
00:17:47.880 I want to get them to protect women.
00:17:50.420 I think women's sports matters. 1.00
00:17:52.300 Girls' sports matters.
00:17:53.660 And I don't think any woman should be forced to compete against a man in sports.
00:17:57.120 I don't think any girl should be forced to compete against a boy in sports.
00:18:01.600 What does it look like if they're actually held accountable for this?
00:18:04.900 What it looks like is they change their policies.
00:18:07.100 That is my objective here, is to change the policy so that you don't end up having women discriminated against 0.97
00:18:18.160 and put in a position where they're competing unfairly, where they're put in a position where they're risking real injuries.
00:18:28.480 It'll be very interesting to see what that injury report looks like.
00:18:31.580 Is there a timeline for them getting back to you with this request?
00:18:34.900 Sure. So here's what I said in my letter.
00:18:38.540 I wrote it to the chief executive officer of USA fencing, and I said,
00:18:42.960 Dear Mr. Andrews, it has come to my attention that USA fencing is still permitting men to compete in women's fencing in violation of federal law.
00:18:49.760 I'm writing to ask why.
00:18:51.580 Your organization is the recognized national governing body for fencing in the United States.
00:18:56.240 But to remain so, it must comply with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee rules and procedures,
00:19:03.920 its statutory obligations to protect women, and President Trump's recent executive order on keeping men out of women's sports.
00:19:11.800 If it does not, and instead continues to put women at risk, Congress may be forced to terminate USA fencing's NGB certification.
00:19:21.540 Last week, Stephanie Turner from the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia competed at the USA fencing-sanctioned Cherry Blossom Open Circuit at the University of Maryland.
00:19:31.960 The young woman was set to face a man who now claims to be a transgender woman in a fencing bout.
00:19:37.960 However, at the start of the match, Ms. Turner bravely took a knee and refused to compete against her male opponent. 1.00
00:19:43.960 In response to this young woman's courage, tournament officials presented her with a black card and disqualified her from the entire tournament.
00:19:53.600 USA's fencing's director of communications, Brian Wendell, said the young woman's disqualification was, quote,
00:20:01.660 the direct result of her decision to decline to fence an eligible opponent, a supposed violation of the International Fencing Federation rules.
00:20:10.160 He reiterated the USA fencing remains committed to inclusivity.
00:20:15.500 USA fencing's commitment to inclusivity is nothing less than a full-throated support for males competing in women's sports in violation of federal law.
00:20:25.440 As the recognized NGB for fencing, USA fencing is required to provide, quote,
00:20:31.120 support and encouragement for participation by women where separate programs for male and female athletes are conducted on a national basis.
00:20:39.380 As well as, quote, safe environments in sports.
00:20:43.540 Failure to do so is grounds for the United States Congress to terminate USA fencing certification as an NGB.
00:20:52.120 And I go on to say that they have to comply with President Trump's executive order.
00:20:56.720 And I point out that male fencers naturally possess inherent advantages over potential female competitors.
00:21:04.420 Men tend to be taller, have greater muscle mass, and more testosterone.
00:21:09.380 All advantages for fencing movements like lunges, jumping, or leg power measures.
00:21:15.220 And I point out that under the rules of the Senate, the Commerce Committee has a duty and an authority to review and study on a continuing basis,
00:21:24.960 both sports and sports agencies such as USA fencing.
00:21:28.320 And so I ask, I ask a whole series of questions, and I want documents and answers by April 21st, 2025.
00:21:37.540 And it's documents about their transgender policy, how many men or transgender women currently compete in the women's division.
00:21:45.160 In the last four years, how many bouts have occurred between transgender women and women?
00:21:49.980 How many times did the female athlete prevail? 1.00
00:21:53.140 How many times did the female athlete suffer an injury? 1.00
00:21:55.940 Does USA fencing comply with the President's executive order?
00:22:00.000 And I have a whole series of additional questions.
00:22:02.660 But this is an example of holding to account, and you've got throughout sports, these radical associations, organizations that have embraced the woke ideology.
00:22:16.020 There's no difference between men and women. 1.00
00:22:18.700 And that is profoundly unfair to women and girls competing in sports.
00:22:23.920 And I'm going to do everything I can to stop it.
00:22:26.100 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from early this week to hear the entire thing.
00:22:35.380 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00
00:22:37.460 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:22:41.620 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:22:45.280 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:22:46.480 And I'm Catherine Clark.
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00:23:00.520 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:23:06.260 I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.
00:23:10.280 I want to ask you about this other, I would just say, insane news because I can't believe that they've been allowed to do it for so long.
00:23:19.460 And that is Mexico stealing water, which is suffocating farmers.
00:23:26.060 Yep.
00:23:26.480 Specifically, it's happening in Texas.
00:23:29.020 And it's making farming industry collapse and farmers disappearing from areas because there is no water.
00:23:36.540 So let me give you the background because this is a really important issue.
00:23:40.300 It's important in Texas, but it's important to the country, which is there's a water treaty that we signed with Mexico in 1944, the Mexican Water Treaty of 1944.
00:23:49.320 It obligates Mexico to provide 350,000 acre-feet of water a year to South Texas.
00:23:58.860 That's over a five-year period.
00:24:01.040 Okay.
00:24:01.340 For the last five years, Mexico has been openly and brazenly violating the treaty.
00:24:10.440 They've not been providing the water.
00:24:12.360 They are right now in this five-year period, 1.3 million acre-feet in arrears, water they have not provided that they've committed by treaty to provide.
00:24:24.760 Now, what are they doing?
00:24:26.000 They're diverting that water that should go to South Texas farmers under the treaty to Mexican farmers.
00:24:32.700 And a couple of things are happening.
00:24:34.320 So in South Texas, there is a massive drought going on.
00:24:37.600 It is doing enormous damage to farmers, and I spent a lot of time in South Texas, and the damage to farmers, we're seeing a lot of South Texas farmers that are taking half of their acreage out of production.
00:24:53.940 They're shutting down half of their farms.
00:24:56.420 Just because they don't have the water to do it.
00:24:57.600 Right.
00:24:57.880 They're laying off thousands of workers.
00:25:01.080 So there was one sugar mill in all of Texas.
00:25:07.040 Last year, it shut down.
00:25:09.640 Because of water?
00:25:10.520 And it shut down because the sugar farmers did not have the water to raise the sugar.
00:25:15.460 Wow.
00:25:16.080 And it's gone.
00:25:17.720 And Mexico, on the other side, is green as can be.
00:25:20.140 It is green as can be.
00:25:21.680 The Mexican farmers are prospering.
00:25:23.360 They're literally stealing our water.
00:25:25.900 And by the way, like President Trump talks a lot about foreign countries taking advantage of America.
00:25:31.240 It's a great example.
00:25:31.900 This is literally the Mexican government stealing our water.
00:25:35.360 And did Joe Biden do anything to stop this?
00:25:37.160 Zero.
00:25:37.760 And he knew about it.
00:25:38.780 So he knew about it.
00:25:39.940 So I've engaged.
00:25:41.980 This issue I engaged, I started engaging about two years ago.
00:25:44.860 And I started engaging when I was down in South Texas, and I did a roundtable with farmers.
00:25:48.680 And they raised this issue to me.
00:25:50.160 And two years ago, I didn't know what the water tree of 1944 was.
00:25:55.320 And they explained it to me.
00:25:57.240 And at the time, they were really worried we're going to lose our sugar mill if this doesn't change.
00:26:02.380 And I said, look, I think I can help.
00:26:04.300 I'm going to lean in.
00:26:05.100 And I began leaning in aggressively.
00:26:07.020 I forced a vote on the Senate floor on an amendment to direct the State Department to use every lever point we have to force Mexico to comply with the water treaty.
00:26:18.280 I got a majority of the Senate, a bipartisan majority.
00:26:21.800 And then there's a water commissioner for the United States.
00:26:24.720 I, like, leaned in with the water commissioner and said, look, the Senate has spoken, a bipartisan majority.
00:26:29.680 And here's the fundamental problem.
00:26:31.880 Joe Biden didn't give a damn about this.
00:26:35.400 So I desperately tried to get the Biden administration to exert leverage.
00:26:39.820 Yeah.
00:26:40.100 And they just didn't care.
00:26:41.360 By the way, leverage for Donald Trump at this point was him saying, hey, I'm coming after you with with tariffs or sanctions.
00:26:47.520 So do the right thing now before I have to do that.
00:26:49.940 And they know he means it.
00:26:51.620 Unlike even if you had that same statement from Joe Biden, he wasn't going to do anything.
00:26:55.120 So in South Texas, cities are also facing massive drought.
00:26:58.420 You're literally facing the cities not having enough water for their citizens because Mexico is stealing the water. 0.97
00:27:04.260 And so I leaned in. 0.98
00:27:05.480 I could not get the Biden administration to do a damn thing. 0.93
00:27:09.060 In December, as part of the continuing resolution, I authored legislation that got adopted that provided $280 million in emergency relief for Texas farmers because they're they're going broke. 0.95
00:27:21.600 And we're talking about generational farms, farms that have been three, four generations who are being bankrupted because their government is not enforcing the treaty and they're being starved of water.
00:27:32.880 And so several weeks ago, I went down to South Texas with Brooke Rollins.
00:27:37.920 Brooke Rollins is is the secretary of agriculture.
00:27:41.140 Brooke has been a good friend of mine for 25 years.
00:27:43.640 She's she's a Texan. 1.00
00:27:45.100 She's the first Texan in the history of the country to be the secretary of agriculture.
00:27:49.240 She's also the first secretary of agriculture ever to go to the Rio Grande Valley.
00:27:54.640 Wow.
00:27:55.020 And she came to the valley at my request.
00:27:57.040 I asked her, come down with me.
00:27:58.480 Yeah.
00:27:58.980 And we did.
00:28:01.000 We did a press conference, number one, where she announced I've got $280 million I'm giving to South Texas farmers because your federal government has been screwing you by not getting the water back.
00:28:10.760 And Mexico is starving.
00:28:12.560 But we also did a roundtable.
00:28:14.480 We did a roundtable with farmers where Brooke and I talked, talked with the farmers.
00:28:17.880 And the Rio Grande Valley has been bright blue for 100 years.
00:28:26.200 In 2024, the Rio Grande Valley flipped red.
00:28:31.400 I won the valley and Donald Trump won the valley.
00:28:34.800 Incredible.
00:28:35.320 That has never happened.
00:28:36.340 I won.
00:28:36.740 I won Hispanic statewide in Texas by six points.
00:28:39.160 That's never happened.
00:28:39.880 I have spent an enormous amount of time and millions of dollars in the valley trying to flip the valley red because I saw the potential there.
00:28:48.500 And so I think I've invested more than any elected official in Texas in terms of turning the valley red. 0.90
00:28:53.880 Well, I got to say, sitting there at that roundtable, you got farmers and ranchers and you're just asking them, look, over the last four years, did Joe Biden do a damn thing for you? 0.58
00:29:05.700 No. 0.54
00:29:06.140 And that's how you that's how you turn this.
00:29:08.060 And what I told them, as I said, listen, if there's one thing you know about Donald Trump, he will stand up to foreign countries and fight for you.
00:29:16.160 And I made that commitment.
00:29:18.180 And frankly, look, these are voters who their entire lives have voted Democrats.
00:29:25.180 Their parents voted Democrat.
00:29:27.740 Their grandparents voted Democrat.
00:29:30.040 Their great grandparents voted Democrat.
00:29:32.780 And this last election, for the first time, they pulled the lever for a Republican.
00:29:36.840 Going down there and saying, look, we're fighting for you. 0.99
00:29:40.180 We're going to get you the damn water is one of the ways you lock those votes. 1.00
00:29:44.100 And it's a generational shift for Texas. 0.99
00:29:47.160 By the way, this is the first time for verdict.
00:29:49.840 They've just opened the vote.
00:29:51.220 They're only keeping it open for 15 minutes.
00:29:53.480 So I'm going to go momentarily.
00:29:54.680 You're going to go momentarily, which means actually it's about 12 minutes because I'm a couple minutes behind.
00:29:58.520 This is why I love doing verdict because this is how it really works in the insanity of the Senate.
00:30:03.040 So I will say this.
00:30:05.980 I called President Trump a week ago.
00:30:08.120 And I said, Mr. President, it would make a huge difference if you leaned in personally with the president of Mexico and said, provide us the water.
00:30:18.680 Yeah, knock it off.
00:30:19.680 And he said, I'll tell you what, I'll send a truth social post.
00:30:23.560 And so I worked with him on the wording of it.
00:30:25.680 And and tonight when I was in the Oval, I said, Mr. President, can you send that truth post?
00:30:33.120 Yeah, he sent it tonight.
00:30:34.420 I'm going to read it to you.
00:30:36.060 Here's what President Trump sent this evening.
00:30:39.760 Mexico owes Texas 1.3 million acre feet of water under the 1944 water treaty.
00:30:46.620 But Mexico is unfortunately violating their treaty obligation.
00:30:50.520 This is very unfair, and it is hurting South Texas farmers very badly.
00:30:57.060 Last year, the only sugar mill in Texas closed because Mexico has been stealing the water from Texas farmers. 0.99
00:31:07.060 Ted Cruz has been leading the fight to get South Texas the water it is owed.
00:31:13.000 But Sleepy Joe refused to lift a finger to help the farmers.
00:31:18.400 This ends now.
00:31:23.060 I will make sure that Mexico doesn't violate our treaties and doesn't hurt our Texas farmers.
00:31:29.760 Just last month, I halted water shipments to Tijuana until Mexico complies with the 1944 water treaty.
00:31:38.840 My agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, is standing up for Texas farmers, and we will keep escalating consequences.
00:31:49.060 Including tariffs and maybe even sanctions until Mexico honors the treaty and gives Texas the water they are owed.
00:32:00.320 And gives Texas the water they are owed is in all caps.
00:32:03.340 There you go.
00:32:03.860 That tweet got sent out tonight.
00:32:05.860 I'll tell you, in just within an hour of that tweet going out, the president of Mexico has sent out a tweet saying,
00:32:12.240 we're going to fix this, we're going to fix this, and the Mexican government is freaking out.
00:32:17.180 That's what it looks like.
00:32:18.980 To be a leader.
00:32:19.420 The president who is fighting for America.
00:32:22.020 Joe Biden could have done that for four years, but he didn't give a flip about farmers in South Texas going out of business.
00:32:28.580 The president's tweet, and I can tell you, Mexico is in the process now of negotiating with the State Department to provide for the water.
00:32:37.360 We're going to get the water, and that's a great, great victory for Texas and America.
00:32:42.100 Go vote.
00:32:42.580 You're on the clock now.
00:32:43.420 I love it.
00:32:44.240 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:32:49.300 Don't forget to download my podcast, and you can listen to my podcast every other day if you're not listening to Verdict,
00:32:53.920 or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.
00:32:56.340 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast, and we will see you back here on Monday morning.
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