Verdict with Ted Cruz - October 03, 2025


Shutdown Dems Gaslight, claiming they DON'T Want Free Healthcare for Illegals, plus Fighting the Crime Epidemic in Blue Cities


Episode Stats

Length

35 minutes

Words per Minute

165.97047

Word Count

5,854

Sentence Count

443

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

12


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.620 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.440 Welcome.
00:00:06.160 It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you as well.
00:00:09.760 We are right in the middle of a government shutdown that Democrats were yearning for.
00:00:15.100 It's the Schumer shutdown.
00:00:16.800 But there's also a lot of misinformation, or as I like to call it, lies that are coming
00:00:21.840 out of the shutdown and things that Democrats are accusing Republicans are that just aren't
00:00:26.920 true.
00:00:27.320 And we're going to cover that today as well.
00:00:30.000 Well, the Schumer shutdown continues.
00:00:31.800 The federal government is partially shut down.
00:00:33.880 Between 17 and 18 percent of the federal government is closed.
00:00:37.120 It's going to stay closed as long as the Democrats continue their temper tantrum.
00:00:41.920 But at the same time, we're also getting a bit of a history lesson.
00:00:46.220 Seventy-six years ago, George Orwell wrote the classic book, 1984, about the oppressive
00:00:54.000 totalitarian government he perceived of the future, and also about Orwellian doublespeak.
00:01:00.000 And I've got to say, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in Congress are doing an illustration
00:01:04.180 of this now.
00:01:05.600 They are gaslighting the American people.
00:01:07.720 They are attempting to argue things that are simply false, in particular, to shift from
00:01:13.240 a book to a movie.
00:01:14.260 Like Casablanca, they are shocked, shocked to find there's gambling.
00:01:18.940 And they're shocked, shocked to find that anyone is saying that they want free taxpayer-provided
00:01:24.420 health care for illegal aliens.
00:01:26.540 Well, the nice thing about this podcast is that we bring the receipts, so we're going
00:01:30.480 to lay out the actual facts, because the Democrats are gaslighting, the media is gaslighting, and
00:01:36.220 the facts are clear, that this is the Schumer shutdown, and it's going to end when they cave.
00:01:41.660 We're also going to talk about a hearing that was in the Senate Judiciary Committee this
00:01:44.600 past week, focused on rising crime and the horrific murder rates and crime rates in blue
00:01:51.080 cities, and the Democrat policies of releasing violent criminals that endanger their citizens.
00:01:56.660 Democrats have decided they are all in, not in support of protecting innocent families, but
00:02:02.100 rather in support of the murderers and rapists and child molesters that Soros DAs are releasing
00:02:07.740 onto the streets.
00:02:08.600 We're going to break those facts down as well.
00:02:10.380 And finally, we're going to talk about the continued pattern of left-wing ideologically
00:02:15.600 motivated violence, whether it is attacks on ICE agents and ICE facilities, or whether
00:02:22.080 it is yet another horrific anti-Semitic attack in Great Britain.
00:02:27.320 Over and over again, we see the extreme rhetoric from the left has deadly real-world consequences.
00:02:33.200 All of that on today's podcast.
00:02:35.200 Yeah, it's really, it's going to be interesting to look at what we're witnessing now and how
00:02:39.300 the world's reacting to it as well.
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00:04:43.220 All right, so let's just give a quick overview of the shutdown real quick, Senator, for people
00:04:48.260 that are just joining us.
00:04:50.220 This shutdown was premeditated.
00:04:53.020 It was well thought out and organized by the left.
00:04:55.720 And this is all because Chuck Schumer needed to say, hey, crazies in the Democratic Party.
00:05:00.180 I promise I'm crazy.
00:05:01.900 Please, AOC, don't primary me, and don't get rid of me as being your leader.
00:05:06.540 Well, I'm not sure I would say it was well thought out, but it was certainly premeditated.
00:05:11.000 And you're right.
00:05:12.080 You put your finger on the reason, which is Chuck Schumer and the Democrats have a political
00:05:16.360 crisis.
00:05:17.140 And the political crisis actually has nothing to do with government funding.
00:05:20.160 It has to do with the rise of the extreme left in the Democrat Party.
00:05:25.420 And Schumer, several months ago, Schumer worked with Republicans to keep the government open.
00:05:30.700 And that was the responsible thing to do.
00:05:32.780 And so, of course, the crazy left-wing fringe got furious.
00:05:36.860 And they almost cost him his job.
00:05:39.240 And in fact, it's striking.
00:05:40.800 Democrat Senate candidates all across the country are being asked, do you support Chuck Schumer
00:05:45.020 to be leader of the Democrat Party?
00:05:47.220 And to a person, not a one of them is saying yes.
00:05:50.180 Nobody's saying yes.
00:05:51.480 It's that bad.
00:05:53.260 AOC is breathing down his neck.
00:05:55.680 He's looking over his left shoulder at her.
00:05:58.080 And so this shutdown is really Schumer beating his chest and saying, see, I hate Donald Trump,
00:06:03.460 too.
00:06:03.580 I can shut the whole federal government down.
00:06:05.520 Aren't I tough?
00:06:07.000 Now, what's interesting, he doesn't have an exit ramp.
00:06:09.840 He doesn't have a plan to end this.
00:06:11.260 This is just a temper tantrum.
00:06:13.000 And amazingly, almost all the Democrats are standing with him.
00:06:17.020 All but three, the first couple of times we voted, all but three Democrats voted shut
00:06:21.880 the government down.
00:06:23.640 Now, the ostensible policy demand they're making is they want free taxpayer-provided health care
00:06:30.340 for illegal aliens.
00:06:32.020 Yeah.
00:06:32.520 Although the amazing thing, I mentioned 1984 a minute ago.
00:06:36.820 They are engaged in doublespeak, where Democrats are going on TV and saying, no, no, no, we don't
00:06:42.220 want free health care for illegals.
00:06:43.680 That's not remotely what this is about.
00:06:45.780 And the media, CNN, boy, they are spinning so fast that they are like windmills in a tornado.
00:06:53.480 They're spinning so fast.
00:06:55.560 So I'm going to give you three compelling reasons to demonstrate that they are utterly full of
00:07:01.520 crap when they are lying to you.
00:07:04.140 Reason number one, the actual text of the Democrat CR.
00:07:09.660 Now, what's a CR?
00:07:11.220 A CR is a continuing resolution.
00:07:14.120 It is legislation that keeps funding for the government going.
00:07:18.060 The House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans, passed what's called a clean CR.
00:07:24.000 That means all the House did is say the funding that we had a couple of days ago keeps on going tomorrow.
00:07:30.720 We fund everything at exactly the same levels.
00:07:33.400 We change nothing.
00:07:34.480 We just keep the lights on.
00:07:35.760 We don't shut the government down.
00:07:37.580 We keep going.
00:07:39.080 That's what the House passed.
00:07:41.040 Now, when Joe Biden was president, do you know how many times Republicans worked with
00:07:47.360 Democrats to pass a clean CR and keep the government open for Joe Biden?
00:07:51.320 More than a dozen, if I remember correctly.
00:07:53.520 Thirteen.
00:07:54.300 There you go.
00:07:54.780 Thirteen times.
00:07:55.520 The House has passed a clean CR.
00:07:58.120 The Senate, we voted repeatedly on the clean CR.
00:08:00.520 If the Democrats voted yes, boom, the government would stay open.
00:08:04.480 What they've done instead is they have not a clean CR.
00:08:08.500 They have a CR that keeps the government open, but it also repeals major portions of the one big beautiful bill,
00:08:15.500 and in particular provides for health care, free taxpayer health care for illegals.
00:08:19.980 Now, let me read you the text from the Democrat CR.
00:08:23.200 On page 56 of the Democrat CR, it says,
00:08:26.120 Subtitle B of Title VII of the Act Titled, An Act to Provide for Reconciliation Pursuant to Title II of H. Conres 14, Public Law 119-21, is repealed,
00:08:38.600 and any law or regulation referred to in such subtitle shall be applied as if such subtitle and the amendments made by such subtitle had not been enacted.
00:08:47.180 In no event shall payment be made to a state under this section for medical assistance furnished to an individual,
00:08:54.500 unless such individual is, A, a resident of one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or a territory of the United States,
00:09:00.200 and, B, either a citizen or national of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residency.
00:09:09.420 That's the language they're repealing.
00:09:11.420 It says you have to be a U.S. citizen or a legal immigrant to be eligible for Medicaid.
00:09:15.760 That's the language they want to repeal.
00:09:17.900 I'll tell you what else they want to repeal.
00:09:19.740 They want to repeal Section 71109, entitled Alien Medicaid Eligibility.
00:09:26.080 That's further language that makes clear that illegal aliens are not eligible for Medicaid.
00:09:30.660 They also want to eliminate Section 71201, limiting Medicaid coverage of certain individuals.
00:09:37.720 They want to eliminate Section 71303, requiring verification of eligibility for premium tax credit.
00:09:45.760 All of that is what they're trying to get rid of.
00:09:49.520 That's number one on the express terms of what they're doing.
00:09:54.380 Here's a second point.
00:09:56.640 Every time you see a Democrat or anyone from the corporate media lying to you and say,
00:10:02.300 Democrats don't want to provide free health care for illegals,
00:10:06.660 I want you to remember the debate in the presidential election with all the Democrat candidates.
00:10:13.700 Now, for those of you watching on YouTube, you're about to see it.
00:10:17.500 But if you're not watching on YouTube, just listen and we'll describe what happens here.
00:10:20.860 Give a listen and give a watch.
00:10:22.600 Raise your hand if your government plan would provide coverage for undocumented immigrants.
00:10:27.500 That's everybody, Senator.
00:10:34.380 Everybody on stage.
00:10:35.360 For those of you all just listening, listening on radio or listening on podcast,
00:10:39.360 every single Democrat candidate, every one of them raised their hand.
00:10:42.840 Poor Joe Biden.
00:10:43.560 He looks around.
00:10:44.320 He's a little sort of scared.
00:10:46.100 And he's the last one whose hand shakily goes up when he realizes,
00:10:49.480 uh-oh, my party is now all crazy people.
00:10:52.460 This is what we have to say.
00:10:54.100 So, just, just, I promise you if you turn on the TV,
00:10:57.940 you're going to see Democrats lying to you saying,
00:10:59.960 we don't want health care for illegals.
00:11:02.700 All of them.
00:11:03.660 There was not a single candidate for president who disagreed.
00:11:07.700 That is the position of the party.
00:11:10.100 Across the board.
00:11:11.700 But here's argument number three.
00:11:15.420 If they didn't want free health care for illegals,
00:11:19.080 why are they shutting down the government?
00:11:21.580 They say right now, well, existing law prohibits providing health care to illegals.
00:11:30.460 And they're deliberately lying to you.
00:11:33.640 If that's true, why would they want to repeal the language from the reconciliation bill
00:11:38.780 that blocked illegals from getting the benefits?
00:11:41.280 The reason they're going all in,
00:11:43.560 the reason they're willing to shut the entire federal government down,
00:11:46.720 is they've made the decision that their party is all about open borders
00:11:53.240 and free stuff for everyone, especially illegals.
00:11:56.640 I don't understand why.
00:11:58.520 I genuinely don't understand why today's Democrats have decided
00:12:01.880 they care more about helping illegal immigrants in this country,
00:12:05.540 and in some instances, violent criminals and gangbangers,
00:12:09.280 than they do American taxpayers,
00:12:10.740 than they do American citizens who go and work hard,
00:12:13.800 provide for their family, pay taxes,
00:12:16.020 and apparently they do all of that
00:12:18.000 in order to give free health care to illegals.
00:12:22.880 And by the way, remember this also.
00:12:25.840 You know, because they admit it,
00:12:28.020 both California and New York provide free health care to illegals.
00:12:31.780 Gavin Newsom campaigned on this.
00:12:33.240 He was very proud of saying,
00:12:34.920 we're going to give free health care to illegals.
00:12:36.860 And here's one of the games that Senate Democrats are playing,
00:12:41.520 is California says it pays for the health care for illegals with state funds.
00:12:46.040 But money is fungible.
00:12:48.100 And so the federal government is flowing money into California.
00:12:50.980 They use it, they fill one bucket with it,
00:12:53.640 and they use state money for the illegals,
00:12:55.440 but it all goes to the same effect.
00:12:57.520 That is why the Democrats are willing to force a government shutdown,
00:13:02.380 and they have forced a government shutdown,
00:13:04.460 because the eligibility requirements of the one big, beautiful bill
00:13:10.600 have real teeth to them.
00:13:12.520 And the Democrats are panicking about it.
00:13:15.020 If they had no teeth, if this wasn't happening,
00:13:19.040 why would they throw this gigantic fight?
00:13:21.940 It makes no sense.
00:13:23.300 And the Democrats know this.
00:13:25.960 Yeah, I think they certainly do as well.
00:13:27.680 And this goes back to why I think it's shocking.
00:13:31.200 Democrats are still digging in on this shutdown, Senator,
00:13:33.760 and that is because the American people are not behind this.
00:13:36.980 They don't support it.
00:13:38.260 Even almost 50% of Democrats, it's upper 40s now,
00:13:43.060 of Democrats say they're not in favor of this shutdown.
00:13:46.400 So this really does go back to what you and I were talking about a moment ago.
00:13:50.400 This is all Chuck Schumer shutting down the U.S. government
00:13:53.940 to try to save his own political future.
00:13:57.180 Look, that is exactly right.
00:13:59.240 And if you're not inclined to believe me,
00:14:02.480 if you're not inclined to believe Ben,
00:14:04.360 take a listen to Chris Cuomo fact-checking the Democrat lies on this.
00:14:08.880 It's not true.
00:14:10.420 The Republican partisan spending bill that they introduced is not clean.
00:14:15.920 Well, first of all, let's be clear.
00:14:17.380 It's not a clean bill.
00:14:18.660 It's a dirty bill.
00:14:19.800 Well, that's all a lie.
00:14:20.960 It's not a clean continuing resolution.
00:14:23.660 Listen, I like Hakeem Jeffries.
00:14:25.660 I think he's got an amazing future.
00:14:27.540 He's got better fights than this.
00:14:30.300 This is a clean CR.
00:14:32.240 What does that mean, by the way?
00:14:33.420 Continuing resolution.
00:14:34.480 Instead of passing a real budget like they should,
00:14:36.860 this just says, hey, remember the last one?
00:14:39.400 Let's just continue at those levels again.
00:14:42.500 All right?
00:14:43.120 Now, that may mean that certain people who should get less won't.
00:14:46.220 Certain people who need more won't.
00:14:47.960 But a clean CR means that this is an extension from the last set of,
00:14:52.640 in this case, Biden's spending levels.
00:14:55.420 Okay?
00:14:55.880 That's what a clean CR is.
00:14:57.600 This is a clean CR.
00:14:59.000 Wait a minute.
00:14:59.380 Cuomo disagrees with Jeffries.
00:15:00.820 Jeffries must be right.
00:15:02.100 Don't take my word.
00:15:03.740 Take the word from the nonpartisan committee for a responsible federal budget.
00:15:07.860 They say this is about as clean a CR as you could get.
00:15:11.920 Okay?
00:15:12.440 Again, it's a continuation of a March stopgap measure.
00:15:15.540 This is literally going and saying we're going to keep Joe Biden's budget.
00:15:20.860 Like, that's the easiest way I can describe this.
00:15:23.340 And understand, that is Chris Cuomo.
00:15:26.140 That is former CNN primetime star.
00:15:28.920 That is loud, vocal Democrat Chris Cuomo saying,
00:15:33.800 Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrat leader in the House, is lying to you.
00:15:39.200 Because you know what?
00:15:40.320 He is.
00:15:41.060 He's gaslighting.
00:15:42.220 And kudos to Chris Cuomo for having the guts to speak the truth.
00:15:48.100 I wish his old colleagues at CNN could follow suit.
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00:16:20.700 All right, I want to move to something else, Senator, that's really important.
00:16:26.080 The Senate Judiciary is having a big hearing.
00:16:29.420 And it deals with blue city chaos, Democratic-run cities.
00:16:33.160 The report that's out now is pretty clear.
00:16:35.580 Out of the top 20 most crime-ridden cities, 18 of them are controlled by left-wing, hardcore Democrats.
00:16:43.860 And you guys are now looking into this.
00:16:46.120 So, what does this actually mean?
00:16:48.040 Well, this week, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on out-of-control crime in Democrat cities.
00:16:54.460 And it really is horrific, the policies.
00:16:57.140 It turns out when you let violent criminals go, when you undermine the police,
00:17:00.780 when you put in place prosecutors who won't prosecute crime, you get more crime.
00:17:06.040 This summer, the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley is the chairman, put out a report
00:17:10.480 that showed that the Biden Department of Justice sent taxpayer-funded grants
00:17:15.100 to Soros-backed, soft-on-crime NGOs.
00:17:19.440 And in particular, here's what the report said.
00:17:22.480 Under the Biden-Harris administration, the Vera Institute was awarded millions of taxpayer dollars
00:17:27.140 to prop up left-wing district attorneys,
00:17:29.940 who would then partner with the Vera Institute to implement Soros-backed progressive policies.
00:17:35.140 These policies included prioritizing violent criminals over victims
00:17:39.440 and declining to fully prosecute felony charges, including assault, kidnapping, rape, and murder.
00:17:45.700 And here's some of the key findings from the report.
00:17:48.900 In New York, New York County DA Alvin Bragg partnered with the Vera Institute
00:17:54.020 and declined to prosecute certain misdemeanor felonies,
00:17:57.640 actively working to downgrade felony charges to misdemeanors,
00:18:00.840 and refused to detain criminals before their trials.
00:18:03.820 Meanwhile, Bragg attempted to prosecute President Donald Trump
00:18:07.680 for federal campaign finance violations.
00:18:10.840 In the year 2025, there were over 48,000 individuals arrested
00:18:17.600 for misdemeanors in New York County.
00:18:20.660 Wow.
00:18:21.360 But only 3,000 of them were detained.
00:18:23.860 48,000 arrested, 3,000 detained.
00:18:27.220 In Georgia, Athens DA Deborah Gonzalez partnered with the Vera Institute
00:18:31.520 and pledged to protect illegal immigrant defendants
00:18:35.320 and release criminals on bonds that did not require the posting of money.
00:18:41.780 In Wisconsin, Milwaukee DA John Chisholm partnered with the Vera Institute
00:18:45.600 to implement progressive soft-on-crime policies
00:18:48.760 and reportedly told the Milwaukee Sentinel Journey,
00:18:51.100 quote,
00:18:51.360 Is there going to be an individual I divert or who I put into a treatment program
00:18:56.880 who's going to go out and kill somebody?
00:18:59.240 You bet.
00:19:00.680 That is the Soros DA bragging he's going to release criminals who murder people.
00:19:06.400 And in 2020, the Milwaukee DA's office released a criminal twice
00:19:11.400 before he ultimately drove an SUV through a Christmas parade,
00:19:15.820 killing six and injuring 62 others.
00:19:20.060 This pattern is happening over and over and over again.
00:19:23.480 What is amazing is the Democrats are not learning.
00:19:27.840 They're not saying,
00:19:28.700 Gosh, maybe we should stop siding with the criminals.
00:19:31.000 Instead, they're doubling down.
00:19:32.960 They're doubling down.
00:19:34.180 And you see these stories that pop up.
00:19:36.200 And there was one dad that went before Congress
00:19:38.500 to testify about his daughter
00:19:41.180 and just how many times the man that killed his daughter,
00:19:45.960 that took his daughter's life,
00:19:47.040 had been arrested and released.
00:19:49.240 And if you didn't hear that,
00:19:51.080 people should go listen to it
00:19:52.440 because I think it's really important.
00:19:54.000 But we're seeing this happen
00:19:55.180 where criminals are being caught and released dozens of times.
00:19:59.380 Like, dozens of times, Senator.
00:20:01.640 And they're just like,
00:20:02.460 Yeah, so what?
00:20:03.360 They go out and then they kill somebody.
00:20:04.700 They're like,
00:20:04.860 Okay, maybe we should, I guess, lock that guy up.
00:20:06.920 My bad.
00:20:07.620 It's insane.
00:20:09.420 Well, and here was a portion of the hearing this week.
00:20:11.560 Give a listen.
00:20:13.340 Prosecute violent criminals.
00:20:16.160 Innocent victims die.
00:20:18.620 Right here in Washington, D.C.
00:20:20.140 In 2012, murders in D.C.
00:20:22.540 totaled fewer than 100.
00:20:24.880 By 2023, murders had nearly tripled
00:20:28.040 274 lives taken in a single year.
00:20:32.720 These are the real-world consequences
00:20:34.660 of Democrat crime policies
00:20:36.660 that let murderers go.
00:20:39.440 And the policy, to be clear, Senator,
00:20:41.380 is a simple one.
00:20:43.240 DAs were instructed
00:20:44.540 when they took money, basically, from Soros.
00:20:46.940 They're bought and paid for by Soros.
00:20:49.180 And what they were instructed to do
00:20:50.940 was to have prison reform and bail reform.
00:20:53.760 They wanted people out of the prisons.
00:20:55.640 They didn't want people to go to prisons.
00:20:57.200 They didn't want people to be held in prison
00:20:58.560 because of bail.
00:20:59.360 And so that is part of what they're advocating for here.
00:21:04.260 It's comprehensive, and it's at every stage.
00:21:06.900 It's a left-wing agenda
00:21:07.880 that wants to, number one, abolish the police,
00:21:09.960 wants to defund the police.
00:21:11.340 And by the way, that's not just empty rhetoric.
00:21:13.520 If you look at jurisdictions across the country,
00:21:16.180 in Minneapolis,
00:21:17.080 they slashed funding for the police department.
00:21:19.500 In New York City, the NYPD,
00:21:21.300 they cut over a billion dollars
00:21:23.180 from the NYPD's budget.
00:21:24.600 In Austin, Texas, our home state,
00:21:28.020 $150 million cut from the police department.
00:21:31.280 So that's one way they do it,
00:21:32.400 is they attack the police directly
00:21:34.000 to wanting to either abolish or defund the police.
00:21:36.920 But secondly, they go after DAs.
00:21:38.660 And George Soros has spent
00:21:39.960 tens of millions of dollars
00:21:42.060 funding DA campaigns for radicals
00:21:46.000 who've gotten elected
00:21:46.920 in many major cities across the country.
00:21:49.080 And when they get in,
00:21:50.300 they refuse to prosecute violent criminals.
00:21:52.500 They downgrade felonies to misdemeanors.
00:21:54.880 They abolish cash bail.
00:21:56.320 So they catch a murderer,
00:21:57.360 they let him go.
00:21:57.980 They catch a violent criminal,
00:21:59.040 they let him go.
00:22:00.500 Here's another portion from the hearing.
00:22:03.020 You know, it's clear from this hearing,
00:22:04.600 the Democrat talking points have come out.
00:22:06.720 Both Senator Padilla and Senator Booker
00:22:09.080 spent a great deal of time
00:22:10.620 talking about, quote, red states.
00:22:12.620 There's a reason they were talking about red states
00:22:14.600 because unfortunately,
00:22:16.080 most red states have blue cities.
00:22:18.040 And that's where the crime is.
00:22:19.560 If you want to look at in 2023,
00:22:21.140 the large cities
00:22:22.860 with the most homicides
00:22:24.020 per 100,000 people,
00:22:25.460 number one was New Orleans, Louisiana.
00:22:28.300 Number two was Memphis, Tennessee.
00:22:29.860 Number three was St. Louis City.
00:22:31.240 Number four was Baltimore City.
00:22:33.000 Number five was Washington, D.C.
00:22:35.300 Democrat crime policies kill people.
00:22:38.480 Soros DAs who let murderers out of jail
00:22:41.060 kill people.
00:22:43.000 So when you look at this being exposed,
00:22:45.000 the way that you guys are doing it,
00:22:47.000 what is going to be the mechanism
00:22:49.000 that can obviously help stop this from happening?
00:22:52.280 And how can Congress use that leverage?
00:22:55.260 Well, there are lots of things we can do.
00:22:56.920 One is what President Trump has done,
00:22:58.720 which is he sent the National Guard
00:23:00.040 to Washington, D.C.
00:23:01.420 And the result of that
00:23:02.780 is the crime rates have plummeted.
00:23:04.120 The murder rates have dropped 58%.
00:23:07.680 Now, you would think
00:23:08.800 rational people,
00:23:11.240 if Democrats were rational people,
00:23:13.140 they'd be celebrating,
00:23:14.180 wow, the murder rate has plummeted.
00:23:15.500 That means people are alive
00:23:17.080 because the National Guard
00:23:18.700 is there stopping murders.
00:23:19.920 But they're not.
00:23:20.880 They're furious.
00:23:21.920 And I'll tell you,
00:23:22.520 in the wake of George Floyd dying,
00:23:26.760 the D.C. City Council
00:23:28.400 passed a soft-on-crime package
00:23:30.940 of legislation
00:23:31.760 that lessened the penalty
00:23:33.140 for violent crime
00:23:34.260 across the board,
00:23:35.640 that tied the police hands
00:23:37.380 and made it much,
00:23:38.940 much harder
00:23:39.400 to prosecute crime.
00:23:40.540 And the result was
00:23:41.500 crime rose dramatically.
00:23:43.540 Carjacking and violent crime
00:23:45.000 rose dramatically.
00:23:46.560 I've introduced legislation
00:23:47.900 in the Senate
00:23:48.420 called the Clean D.C. Act.
00:23:49.640 The Clean D.C. Act
00:23:50.460 reverses those 2022 laws.
00:23:53.600 It reinstates tougher penalties
00:23:55.880 on violent crimes,
00:23:56.960 and it allows the police
00:23:58.380 to actually go after
00:23:59.220 the violent criminals.
00:24:00.600 At the hearing,
00:24:01.940 the head of the D.C.
00:24:03.120 police union testified,
00:24:04.380 and he explicitly asked
00:24:07.040 the Senate to pass
00:24:08.020 my legislation,
00:24:09.500 pass the Clean D.C. Act.
00:24:10.880 Give a listen to the head
00:24:12.080 of the D.C.
00:24:13.220 Police Officers Union.
00:24:14.660 That is why we also support
00:24:16.000 the Clean D.C. Act.
00:24:17.480 It begins the process
00:24:18.400 of undoing harmful legislation,
00:24:20.120 restoring balance,
00:24:20.940 and rebuilding MPD's strength.
00:24:22.920 This is not just a D.C. issue.
00:24:24.780 Other cities that embrace
00:24:25.760 the same policies
00:24:26.580 are now facing
00:24:27.420 the same consequences.
00:24:29.020 The lesson is clear.
00:24:30.280 When leaders attack police,
00:24:32.000 communities suffer.
00:24:32.840 When lawmakers strip away
00:24:34.600 tools and protections,
00:24:36.020 criminals thrive.
00:24:37.660 If this is not corrected,
00:24:38.860 the crisis will deepen
00:24:39.760 here and nationwide.
00:24:41.880 I urge Congress to act,
00:24:43.280 support the Clean D.C. Act,
00:24:44.840 roll back failed legislation,
00:24:46.460 and work with law enforcement
00:24:47.720 instead of against us.
00:24:49.400 Officers want nothing more
00:24:50.460 than to protect
00:24:50.980 their communities,
00:24:51.960 but they cannot do it alone.
00:24:53.840 Again, I thank you
00:24:54.660 for the opportunity to testify,
00:24:56.020 and I welcome any questions
00:24:57.120 the committee may have.
00:24:58.120 Thank you.
00:24:59.000 One of the things, Senator,
00:24:59.900 I like about where you guys
00:25:01.380 are going with this
00:25:02.200 is that this is not
00:25:03.500 going to be a short-term thing.
00:25:05.620 This is actual reform
00:25:06.880 you are advocating for
00:25:08.180 to make sure
00:25:09.100 that these cities
00:25:10.120 don't go back
00:25:11.060 to these liberal policies
00:25:12.180 where innocent people
00:25:13.220 are dying every single day.
00:25:15.840 No, that's exactly right,
00:25:17.640 and the first obligation,
00:25:19.360 the first obligation
00:25:20.260 the president,
00:25:20.900 the commander-in-chief,
00:25:21.720 has is to protect
00:25:22.500 this nation,
00:25:23.060 to keep us safe.
00:25:24.240 The first obligation,
00:25:25.380 really, every elected official
00:25:26.400 should put front and center
00:25:28.200 is protecting the health
00:25:29.580 and safety
00:25:30.060 of the men and women
00:25:31.020 you're elected to represent.
00:25:32.480 And, you know,
00:25:34.120 it is striking,
00:25:35.040 just like we talked about
00:25:36.700 a minute ago
00:25:37.160 with the shutdown,
00:25:38.400 where the Democrats
00:25:39.240 are engaged in gaslighting.
00:25:41.240 You heard in the segment
00:25:42.520 I was talking about
00:25:43.500 what both Cory Booker
00:25:45.140 and Alex Padilla said
00:25:46.160 in that hearing,
00:25:47.300 where they both had
00:25:48.220 talking points
00:25:48.760 almost exactly the same,
00:25:49.960 where they said,
00:25:50.420 well, you know,
00:25:51.460 there are bad crime stats
00:25:53.160 in a bunch of red states,
00:25:54.500 and they went through
00:25:55.040 a bunch of red states,
00:25:55.980 and they're right,
00:25:56.680 there are red states
00:25:57.560 where the crime stats
00:25:58.660 are problematic.
00:26:00.520 My response,
00:26:01.340 which they have
00:26:01.800 no refutation to,
00:26:04.380 is that is entirely
00:26:05.380 driven by the blue cities
00:26:06.620 in those red states
00:26:07.500 that are governed
00:26:08.140 by left-wing Democrat mayors
00:26:10.560 and left-wing Democrat DAs
00:26:12.200 who refuse to prosecute
00:26:13.380 violent crime.
00:26:14.180 And so, yes,
00:26:15.200 look, Memphis, Tennessee
00:26:16.400 was number two on the list.
00:26:17.900 Now, Tennessee is a red state,
00:26:20.140 but, you know,
00:26:20.780 God help you
00:26:21.340 if you live in Memphis
00:26:22.160 when you have local officials
00:26:23.720 who will not prosecute
00:26:25.360 the bad guys,
00:26:26.100 and that's true
00:26:27.140 in Baltimore,
00:26:27.740 that's true
00:26:28.200 in New Orleans,
00:26:29.280 that's true
00:26:29.580 in Washington, D.C.
00:26:31.140 And rather than address it
00:26:32.500 and admit it
00:26:33.140 and fix it,
00:26:33.860 the Democrats
00:26:34.340 are trying to distract people
00:26:36.280 by engaging
00:26:37.820 in dishonest rhetoric.
00:26:40.220 The left-wing
00:26:40.980 crime statistics,
00:26:42.000 Senator,
00:26:42.340 are brutal.
00:26:43.440 BLM protests,
00:26:44.780 for example,
00:26:45.500 2020,
00:26:46.700 there are over
00:26:47.160 10,000 demonstrations
00:26:48.940 and caused
00:26:50.140 $1 to $2 billion
00:26:51.220 in insured property damage,
00:26:52.920 according to Axios.
00:26:53.900 This is the most expensive
00:26:56.220 civil disorder
00:26:57.660 in U.S. history.
00:26:59.860 There were also
00:27:01.040 19 Americans
00:27:02.540 in the conservative numbers
00:27:03.640 who died directly
00:27:04.780 caused by the demonstrations,
00:27:07.380 and that's another data point
00:27:09.120 that the left
00:27:09.780 and the media
00:27:10.140 does not want to talk about.
00:27:12.040 But if you look at this
00:27:13.500 and you see
00:27:14.500 what the Democrats
00:27:15.600 have done to our cities,
00:27:17.360 and the fact
00:27:18.120 that this has all been,
00:27:19.860 I think,
00:27:20.600 bought and paid for,
00:27:21.980 funneled money,
00:27:22.960 going into these groups
00:27:24.660 that are advocating
00:27:25.860 for this type
00:27:26.620 of organized violence,
00:27:27.780 that's the other thing
00:27:28.740 that scares the hell out of me.
00:27:30.800 Well,
00:27:31.460 and I want to draw a linkage
00:27:33.220 between each of the stories
00:27:34.300 we're talking about today,
00:27:35.740 which is that
00:27:37.360 we see
00:27:38.660 left-wing policies
00:27:40.640 that undermine
00:27:41.600 law enforcement,
00:27:42.680 that seek to abolish
00:27:44.460 or defund the police,
00:27:45.540 that put Soros prosecutors
00:27:46.820 in office,
00:27:47.640 that release violent criminals,
00:27:49.520 and you see the result
00:27:50.500 being more and more
00:27:51.240 violent crime.
00:27:51.940 You then see Democrats
00:27:54.400 engaging in rhetoric
00:27:55.640 to obfuscate,
00:27:57.160 to hide that,
00:27:58.040 to pretend it's not happening.
00:28:00.280 Yeah.
00:28:00.480 But you also see
00:28:01.760 the left engaging
00:28:03.420 in increasingly angry rhetoric,
00:28:05.960 demonizing their opponents,
00:28:07.180 and if you look at
00:28:08.380 ideologically motivated crime,
00:28:11.700 the vast majority of it,
00:28:13.620 violence that is
00:28:14.420 ideologically motivated,
00:28:15.680 the overwhelming majority
00:28:17.140 is on the left.
00:28:18.320 As you mentioned,
00:28:19.440 the BLM riots
00:28:20.280 all across the country,
00:28:22.020 American cities burned
00:28:23.480 all across the country.
00:28:24.480 Not just that,
00:28:25.180 you look at the anti-Semitic,
00:28:26.460 anti-Israel campus protests.
00:28:28.000 Those were leftists,
00:28:28.840 those were anarchists,
00:28:29.800 those were jihadists,
00:28:30.720 those were communists.
00:28:32.160 All across the country,
00:28:33.580 over 2,300
00:28:34.740 anti-Semitic incidents
00:28:36.700 reported on campuses,
00:28:38.620 which is, by the way,
00:28:39.320 the highest ever recorded.
00:28:40.500 That was in 2024 and 2025.
00:28:42.340 The L.A. riots this year,
00:28:44.720 2025, 17 people injured,
00:28:47.740 a state of emergency
00:28:48.600 in L.A. County.
00:28:49.900 The city reports
00:28:50.720 19.7 million cost
00:28:52.740 as of mid-June.
00:28:54.320 Wow.
00:28:54.600 Of course, President Trump,
00:28:55.840 the target of two
00:28:56.720 assassination attempts,
00:28:58.180 tragically,
00:28:58.760 our friend Charlie Kirk,
00:29:00.740 successfully murdered
00:29:02.120 in a horrific assassination.
00:29:04.520 This pattern,
00:29:05.700 the murderer who flew
00:29:06.720 from California to Maryland
00:29:08.700 to murder Justice Brett Kavanaugh,
00:29:11.120 thankfully he was arrested
00:29:12.200 by the police
00:29:12.840 before he could carry out
00:29:13.940 that heinous act.
00:29:16.600 But, and by the way,
00:29:17.820 you go back to 2017,
00:29:19.800 when a gunman came
00:29:21.120 to Washington, D.C.,
00:29:22.300 looking for elected Republicans
00:29:24.120 to murder,
00:29:24.880 went to the congressional
00:29:25.680 baseball practice
00:29:26.780 and opened fire,
00:29:28.500 hitting multiple
00:29:29.420 elected Republicans,
00:29:30.940 nearly killing Steve Scalise.
00:29:32.680 Had the bullet been an inch
00:29:34.340 one side or the other,
00:29:36.300 Steve, a good friend,
00:29:37.500 would have been killed that day.
00:29:38.880 Instead, he was injured badly.
00:29:40.280 Thankfully, he survived.
00:29:41.980 This pattern is happening
00:29:43.780 over and over and over again,
00:29:45.780 and there's a direct connection
00:29:47.080 between the demonization.
00:29:49.300 Look, when Charlie Kirk
00:29:50.180 was murdered,
00:29:52.500 far too many on the left
00:29:53.680 celebrated,
00:29:54.540 cheered it on.
00:29:55.480 When Luigi the Nutcase
00:29:57.460 murdered the CEO
00:29:59.600 of a health insurance company,
00:30:01.680 supposedly respected members
00:30:03.420 of the media celebrated.
00:30:04.900 Leftists are getting
00:30:05.720 his face tattooed on them.
00:30:07.520 They celebrate violence.
00:30:10.140 And this week,
00:30:12.100 we saw two more instances happen.
00:30:14.340 We saw, number one,
00:30:15.900 immigration and customs
00:30:16.860 enforcement agents
00:30:17.980 targeted in two separate
00:30:19.580 car attacks
00:30:20.500 during enforcement actions
00:30:22.840 in Chicago this past week.
00:30:24.640 Two different car attacks.
00:30:25.920 It turns out that when Democrats
00:30:27.900 demonize ICE,
00:30:29.580 when they call them Nazis,
00:30:30.740 as the Democrats have done
00:30:32.460 over and over and over again.
00:30:34.100 Our last podcast,
00:30:35.140 we played a whole clip
00:30:36.060 of Democrats calling ICE
00:30:38.080 and law enforcement
00:30:38.960 Nazis and Gestapo.
00:30:40.260 It turns out when you use
00:30:42.220 that kind of language,
00:30:44.180 there are lunatics
00:30:46.040 who listen to it
00:30:47.060 and move to violence.
00:30:48.080 As you know,
00:30:48.740 I was on the ground
00:30:49.680 in Dallas
00:30:50.420 and was on site
00:30:52.560 within minutes
00:30:53.400 of the sniper attack
00:30:54.460 at the ICE facility
00:30:55.280 in Dallas
00:30:55.860 by a deranged leftist
00:30:57.480 who wrote
00:30:58.940 his left-wing agenda
00:31:02.020 on the shell casings
00:31:03.260 emulating
00:31:04.620 what Charlie Kirk's murder
00:31:07.280 had done.
00:31:07.760 This pattern is happening
00:31:09.900 over and over
00:31:11.040 and over again.
00:31:12.420 And I gotta say,
00:31:13.020 Ben, it's disturbing.
00:31:14.400 I don't see
00:31:15.420 many Democrats
00:31:18.360 modulating
00:31:19.520 their rhetoric.
00:31:22.240 Gavin Newsom
00:31:23.000 just this week
00:31:24.080 called Steve Miller,
00:31:25.880 the Deputy White House
00:31:26.660 Chief of Staff,
00:31:27.440 a fascist
00:31:28.180 using the same language
00:31:29.700 that motivated,
00:31:32.540 among others,
00:31:33.100 the murderers
00:31:33.600 of Charlie Kirk.
00:31:34.240 They keep doubling down
00:31:35.480 and doubling down
00:31:36.220 and doubling down
00:31:37.000 and they know
00:31:37.940 more ICE agents
00:31:38.780 are gonna be targeted.
00:31:39.620 They know more police
00:31:40.300 are gonna be targeted.
00:31:41.740 And I wanna be clear
00:31:43.480 about something
00:31:44.000 because some will say,
00:31:45.220 well, gosh,
00:31:45.740 there are crazies
00:31:47.240 on the right
00:31:47.760 who commit violence
00:31:48.560 and that's true.
00:31:49.860 Yeah.
00:31:50.800 But if you look
00:31:52.160 at ideologically
00:31:53.120 motivated violence,
00:31:54.400 the crazies on the right
00:31:55.320 who commit violence
00:31:56.220 are usually just
00:31:57.140 mentally deranged people.
00:31:58.740 So,
00:31:59.580 or to put it
00:32:01.640 a little different,
00:32:03.200 liberals can be
00:32:04.100 the victims
00:32:04.540 of violence as well.
00:32:05.580 So Nancy Pelosi's husband
00:32:06.900 was attacked
00:32:07.600 by a deranged,
00:32:09.840 mentally ill person
00:32:10.880 with a hammer.
00:32:11.740 Now,
00:32:11.960 that was tragic,
00:32:14.040 but I would not describe
00:32:15.640 that as ideologically
00:32:17.040 motivated violence.
00:32:18.480 He was simply a victim
00:32:19.420 of a mentally ill person
00:32:22.800 engaging in an act
00:32:23.660 of violence.
00:32:24.000 And that's horrific
00:32:24.720 and there's a difference.
00:32:25.740 You and I
00:32:26.100 didn't celebrate that.
00:32:28.080 Nobody,
00:32:28.860 violence is never,
00:32:29.960 never,
00:32:30.320 never right.
00:32:31.060 And the difference
00:32:31.580 is the left celebrates
00:32:32.660 it far too often,
00:32:33.620 encourages it
00:32:34.200 on the front end,
00:32:35.200 celebrates it
00:32:35.760 on the back end,
00:32:36.600 whereas any principled
00:32:38.440 conservative I know
00:32:39.380 will condemn violence
00:32:40.400 across the board,
00:32:41.300 say do not engage
00:32:42.320 in violence,
00:32:43.240 and compare the difference
00:32:44.640 of the reaction
00:32:45.400 when George Floyd died
00:32:47.240 and you had violent riots
00:32:48.460 and fires across the country
00:32:49.900 compared to when
00:32:50.940 Charlie Kirk was murdered
00:32:51.940 and you had candlelight vigils
00:32:53.420 and prayer vigils
00:32:54.220 and the violence
00:32:55.100 was from the leftist
00:32:56.660 attacking people
00:32:57.480 praying and holding up candles.
00:32:59.720 Yeah,
00:33:00.060 well,
00:33:00.400 and not only that,
00:33:01.180 you even had Democrats
00:33:02.120 this week attacking
00:33:03.060 Jeffries,
00:33:04.320 talking about those
00:33:05.300 that went to the
00:33:06.300 Republican convention
00:33:07.360 as being like extremists.
00:33:09.000 I mean,
00:33:09.160 they're not dialing this back.
00:33:10.260 Well,
00:33:10.480 super villains,
00:33:11.140 super villains
00:33:11.740 is what he called
00:33:12.340 the inauguration.
00:33:13.180 Yeah,
00:33:13.880 yeah,
00:33:14.200 excuse me,
00:33:14.700 the inauguration.
00:33:15.720 Yeah,
00:33:15.880 he talked about
00:33:16.440 the inauguration
00:33:16.960 and said that
00:33:17.400 there was a
00:33:17.840 super villain convention
00:33:19.160 and that is
00:33:20.700 them not downplaying this.
00:33:22.920 That is them
00:33:23.260 ratcheting it up
00:33:24.240 knowing that we just
00:33:25.260 left Charlie Kirk's
00:33:27.220 funeral
00:33:27.660 from being assassinated.
00:33:28.900 And the hate
00:33:30.260 on the left,
00:33:31.000 it is directed
00:33:31.720 at conservatives,
00:33:32.640 it is directed
00:33:33.200 at capitalism,
00:33:34.080 it is directed
00:33:34.600 at Americans,
00:33:35.220 but it's also
00:33:36.460 viciously anti-Semitic
00:33:38.000 and on Yom Kippur
00:33:39.460 in Manchester,
00:33:42.500 a Syrian,
00:33:45.500 a Syrian ironically,
00:33:48.280 with the name,
00:33:50.120 wait for it,
00:33:50.960 what was the name
00:33:52.220 of this murder?
00:33:53.080 His name is Jihad
00:33:54.560 Al-Shami.
00:33:56.100 and he targeted
00:34:00.920 worshipers
00:34:02.140 at a synagogue
00:34:03.600 on Yom Kippur.
00:34:07.200 This pattern
00:34:08.300 is happening
00:34:09.000 over and over
00:34:10.420 and over again
00:34:11.300 and it's wrong
00:34:12.140 and we need to
00:34:12.740 stand against it.
00:34:14.260 Amen to that.
00:34:15.320 Don't forget,
00:34:16.120 we do this show
00:34:16.880 as a podcast
00:34:17.520 three days a week,
00:34:18.520 so if you're listening
00:34:19.320 on the radio,
00:34:20.280 make sure you download
00:34:21.360 this podcast
00:34:22.920 Monday,
00:34:23.920 Wednesday and Friday,
00:34:24.940 we're going to have
00:34:25.600 a lot of news
00:34:26.200 that's going to be breaking.
00:34:27.600 Obviously,
00:34:28.120 the deals with the government
00:34:28.780 shut down
00:34:29.440 if you want to know
00:34:30.080 what's happening
00:34:30.620 behind the scenes.
00:34:32.000 That is reason number one
00:34:33.160 to download a verdict
00:34:33.940 with Ted Cruz
00:34:34.620 because each and every day
00:34:35.960 as this continues
00:34:36.840 to unfold,
00:34:38.000 we're going to have
00:34:38.760 the news that matters
00:34:39.660 to you the most
00:34:40.540 because guess what?
00:34:41.360 This is going to happen
00:34:42.300 in the Senate.
00:34:43.280 That is where
00:34:43.920 Senator Ted Cruz is
00:34:45.040 and it's the best part
00:34:46.180 about getting co-host
00:34:46.920 with him is I get to hear
00:34:48.060 just like you do
00:34:48.900 what's happening
00:34:49.880 behind the scenes
00:34:50.540 before it's even
00:34:51.420 hitting the media
00:34:52.100 so you'll know
00:34:53.140 exactly what's going on.
00:34:54.920 Also,
00:34:55.360 if you want to watch this,
00:34:56.520 you can watch us
00:34:57.140 on YouTube as well.
00:34:58.840 So you can watch us
00:34:59.780 on YouTube
00:35:00.120 as we do most of these
00:35:00.980 now on video
00:35:01.660 and download
00:35:02.700 Verdict with Ted Cruz
00:35:03.680 wherever you get
00:35:05.380 your podcasts.
00:35:06.300 And Senator and I
00:35:06.640 will see you back here
00:35:07.520 next week on this radio station
00:35:08.820 and on the podcast
00:35:10.220 Monday,
00:35:10.780 Wednesday and Friday.
00:35:12.620 This is an iHeart podcast.
00:35:15.520 Guaranteed human.