Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 28, 2025


Tariffs, Terrorism & Tons of Money from Foreign Adversaries Flooding our Universities


Episode Stats


Length

30 minutes

Words per minute

168.99345

Word count

5,193

Sentence count

342

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Toxicity

17

sentences flagged

Hate speech

16

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson discuss President Trump's new 25% tariff on imported cars and the impact on the economy. They also discuss the need to secure our borders and the massive amount of foreign money flooding into our universities.

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.
00:00:02.660 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.340 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:08.980 And Senator, we've got a lot to talk about tonight, including some big news that Donald Trump has announced a 25% tariff on imported cars.
00:00:18.120 We're going to deal with that, but also some other things as well.
00:00:21.100 Well, we're going to talk about tariffs, number one.
00:00:23.200 We're going to talk about terrorists, number two, pro-Hamas radicals being deported, having the student visas revoked.
00:00:30.180 And we're going to talk, number three, about massive foreign money flooding into our universities.
00:00:34.980 All of that we're going to break down on today's podcast.
00:00:38.460 Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun.
00:00:39.780 So let's start with the tariffs.
00:00:42.000 And Donald Trump has come out.
00:00:43.640 He has announced his 25% tariff on import cars.
00:00:46.800 And the president announcing it said he believes this is the beginning of Liberation Day in America.
00:00:54.740 Here's the president in his own words.
00:00:56.680 So this is the beginning of Liberation Day in America.
00:01:03.800 We're going to take back just some of the money that has been taken from us by people sitting behind this desk or another desk.
00:01:12.080 That's not quite as nice, but they have the choice of seven, as you know.
00:01:16.800 And we're going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth, taking a lot of things that they've been taking over the years. 0.80
00:01:29.540 They've taken so much out of our country, friend and foe.
00:01:33.140 And frankly, friend has been oftentimes much worse than foe.
00:01:36.500 And this is very modest.
00:01:38.620 And what we're going to be doing is a 25% tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States.
00:01:44.600 If they're made in the United States, there's absolutely no tariff.
00:01:47.820 We started off with a 2.5% base, which is what we were at.
00:01:51.820 And we go to 25%.
00:01:54.100 And basically, as you know, and as you've been seeing, not reporting as accurately as it should be reported because it's a massive story.
00:02:02.300 Business is coming back to the United States so that they don't have to pay tariffs.
00:02:06.180 And I think also because of November 5th, the election, they're very happy.
00:02:10.680 Now, that's the president talking in the Oval Office about this, Senator.
00:02:14.360 And look, tariffs can be very complicated.
00:02:17.860 This is something that a lot of people are going to hear and say, good, we're leveling the playing field.
00:02:21.960 But they can also be very complicated.
00:02:24.460 And there's a lot that we're dealing with now in this country with tariffs.
00:02:27.520 So I want you to break it down for people so they understand.
00:02:30.240 Some of these tariffs have been a straight-up just strategy from the president to get leverage and to let countries know they can't keep treating us the way that they are.
00:02:37.800 We've seen that with Canada.
00:02:39.160 We've seen that with Mexico. 0.99
00:02:40.580 These are a little bit more complicated and complex.
00:02:43.740 Well, listen, President Trump uses tariffs for multiple purposes.
00:02:47.340 One purpose he uses them for is his leverage to incentivize foreign countries to do things that are in America's interest.
00:02:56.320 The easiest example of this is the threatened tariffs against Mexico and Canada, where the president has threatened 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada, unless and until they actively and aggressively help us secure our borders.
00:03:10.960 Now, I got to tell you, Ben, on that, I emphatically support President Trump.
00:03:15.400 There is no greater mandate that came out of the November election than we must secure our borders.
00:03:23.260 And I got to say, in the first Trump administration, the president used the threat of tariffs against Mexico, a 25% tariff he threatened, to get Mexico to make enormous concessions on border security.
00:03:36.680 Mexico ended up caving, and the government of Mexico, AMLO, who was the president of Mexico, assigned 6,000 Mexican soldiers to their southern border.
00:03:47.240 The Mexican southern border is much smaller than our southern border, because it obviously constricts into an isthmus.
00:03:54.240 And they put 6,000 soldiers on their southern border, and they adopted the Remain in Mexico policy.
00:04:00.440 So the Remain in Mexico policy was amazingly, tremendously successful.
00:04:05.860 It produced the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years.
00:04:11.280 So, when it comes to using the threat of tariffs or tariffs as an avenue of leverage, especially for something like securing the border, I am emphatically in support of it.
00:04:23.140 By the way, we did an earlier podcast where when the nation of Colombia, earlier in the Trump administration, refused to accept illegal immigrants coming back,
00:04:33.200 Trump immediately threatened tariffs against them, and Colombia cratered within hours, that they just surrendered and said, okay, we'll take them back.
00:04:41.660 So, I'm all for tariffs as leverage to get positive foreign policy concessions from other countries.
00:04:49.400 Well, let's talk about the 25% on the cars and how this kind of got started.
00:04:55.140 From a political standpoint, explain to the American people why this is a strategy that could work, but also it is very complicated.
00:05:06.240 So, Ben, there's a second component of President Trump's tariff approach, which is he genuinely loves tariffs.
00:05:13.780 We've all heard him rhapsodize at length, where he said, tariff is the most beautiful word in the English language.
00:05:21.460 And I got to say, of every view President Trump has ever had, this is the most consistent policy view of his entire life.
00:05:31.120 If you go back to the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was president, Donald J. Trump was calling for, we need more tariffs on foreign goods.
00:05:39.900 He believes this.
00:05:41.200 I have sat with Donald Trump over and over and over again, and he goes on at great length about how tariffs are wonderful,
00:05:49.140 how they're going to raise hundreds of billions of dollars.
00:05:52.060 He goes on about how when William McKinley was president, the economy was great.
00:05:56.700 As you just played, he goes on saying it's the golden age of America.
00:06:00.560 Before we had an income tax, we got our revenue from tariffs.
00:06:04.240 Now, I will say on that front, I've urged the president two things.
00:06:09.520 Number one, I've urged President Trump, focus on China.
00:06:13.300 I believe China is the single greatest geopolitical threat to the United States for the next hundred years.
00:06:20.860 So tariffs are a great tool, a powerful tool, and everything we can do to delink our economy from China is a good thing. 1.00
00:06:29.220 Everything we can do to onshore, to bring manufacturing back from China to the United States is a good thing. 0.99
00:06:35.780 Everything we can do to nearshore, to bring manufacturing back from China to countries near America, that is a good thing.
00:06:44.020 So that's number one of what I've urged.
00:06:45.940 The second thing I've urged the president to do is focus on reciprocity.
00:06:51.460 Now, Ben, why am I focused on reciprocity?
00:06:54.520 Listen, I believe in free trade.
00:06:57.560 And by the way, for people that are new, maybe they don't know.
00:07:00.680 But what is your definition of free trade so that they understand that?
00:07:04.580 Because there's people that have bastardized free trade over the last 20 years to mean a lot of different things.
00:07:12.060 So, look, as an economic matter, I believe America prospers and does well when we can export our crops, our livestock, our goods, our services into other nations.
00:07:24.540 I think we are the greatest producing nation.
00:07:27.420 We have the greatest economic power on the face of the planet.
00:07:29.840 And when we can open up foreign markets to American exports, we do fantastic.
00:07:35.440 American farmers and ranchers do great when foreign markets are opened up.
00:07:40.560 And there are enormous benefits.
00:07:42.560 Now, what I've urged the president to do is focus on the principle of reciprocity.
00:07:48.540 What do I mean by reciprocity?
00:07:50.060 I mean by reciprocity that we should adopt tariffs that mirror the tariffs other countries apply to us.
00:07:57.600 Why is it that I'm advocating for reciprocity?
00:08:00.940 Because since I believe in free trade, I think it is better economically for America to embrace free trade.
00:08:08.700 Reciprocity puts a downward ratchet on our tariffs.
00:08:12.420 Because if the Trump administration imposes tariffs against foreign nations, there is an easy avenue for those foreign nations to lower the tariffs.
00:08:23.160 And the way they can do so is lower their own tariffs against American goods.
00:08:29.480 So I can tell you in the last two weeks, the CEO of a major European car company was meeting with me.
00:08:37.920 And they're very dismayed.
00:08:39.000 They're very concerned about tariffs being imposed against them.
00:08:41.600 And I can tell you that this European CEO is advocating, Europe, we will zero out our tariffs on American cars.
00:08:50.600 Right now, Europe has significant tariffs on American cars.
00:08:53.700 The CEO is advocating we'll drop those to zero if America doesn't hammer us with tariffs on importing cars to the United States.
00:09:02.920 That's a great outcome.
00:09:04.560 I want to see foreign countries lower their tariffs on American goods.
00:09:09.480 So that's a great outcome.
00:09:11.540 I will say, Ben, it is clear the president likes tariffs.
00:09:16.240 He describes when you sit down, I spent a lot of time with the president.
00:09:19.280 When you sit down with him in person, he will go on sometime for hours at length about how tariffs will generate hundreds of billions of dollars, how they're terrific for the American economy.
00:09:30.400 I don't want to see a situation where it is a major feature of the long-term economic picture of America that we have big tariffs in place.
00:09:38.680 And here's why.
00:09:39.860 Who pays tariffs?
00:09:41.360 The American consumer pays tariffs.
00:09:43.580 If there are major tariffs on imported goods, it means if you go and buy them, you pay a much, much higher price.
00:09:50.940 And so I would rather see a scenario.
00:09:53.460 I prefer lower taxes to higher taxes.
00:09:55.920 I would rather see a scenario where we are not imposing big tariffs, but at the same time, foreign countries are lowering their tariffs so we can export more.
00:10:06.780 So I am emphatically on board with Donald Trump using tariffs as leverage.
00:10:12.120 I have concerns, and I think it would be harmful to Texas and the country if tariffs become a persistent feature of our economic policy nationally.
00:10:21.500 So this is one of those where it's also if you're a business person and you're a manufacturer, you want there to be some stability in the market.
00:10:31.640 What am I dealing with?
00:10:32.840 What does the future look like for me?
00:10:34.760 And so if you're planning, I think if I'm reading this correctly, you're saying this is probably going to be a part of his policy for quite some time.
00:10:44.480 This isn't going to be a blip on the screen the way that you described it.
00:10:48.240 And that may be why so many are so concerned, right?
00:10:51.080 So the single most frequent question I get from business leaders in Texas and from business leaders nationally, and I meet with business leaders literally every single day.
00:11:00.340 That's a big part of the job of being in the Senate is you meet with leaders from your state and across the country.
00:11:05.540 The most frequent question I get is what's going to happen on tariffs, what's going to happen on trade?
00:11:09.920 And I genuinely don't know.
00:11:11.620 But look, all right, Ben, you're a fancy schmancy radio host.
00:11:15.800 You're, you know, big national guy. 0.55
00:11:18.480 So you drive a Porsche Panamerica, really cool ass car.
00:11:24.300 Like, by the way, your steering wheel is like really antique wood, which is cool looking.
00:11:30.580 It's the best part of the car.
00:11:31.820 I'm not going to lie.
00:11:32.920 It's like it is nice.
00:11:34.720 I agree.
00:11:35.760 Now, the last I checked, Porsche is made in Germany.
00:11:39.240 Yes.
00:11:40.460 Today, the president announced a 25% tariff on foreign made cars.
00:11:45.320 That means if you bought that car tomorrow, you, Ben Ferguson, would pay 25% more for the
00:11:51.380 same car you have right now.
00:11:52.980 That's what is that?
00:11:54.320 Yeah, it's meaningful.
00:11:55.140 And what it makes in the reality is for many people, they'd say, all right, well, I'm not
00:11:58.500 going to spend the 25% premium on that car.
00:12:01.640 And listen, I will say there's there's an economic matter when it comes to imposing tariffs
00:12:06.600 to block imports.
00:12:09.100 A lot of nations do that.
00:12:10.500 And there's an economic school of thought called public choice theory, which examines
00:12:16.360 how political decisions are made based on economics.
00:12:20.220 And one of the consequences of tariffs is you have concentrated benefits.
00:12:25.260 So there are industries and jobs that benefit and do great.
00:12:28.440 And they're very enthusiastic.
00:12:30.340 And then you have diffuse harms.
00:12:33.380 So frequently with tariffs, if you put tariffs and you protect jobs at home, if you look as
00:12:39.200 a matter of economics, the benefits are in the aggregate much smaller than the harms.
00:12:44.840 But the benefits are concentrated.
00:12:46.620 So the people who are getting it are really energized.
00:12:49.240 They care a lot about it.
00:12:50.800 Whereas the people that are being harmed, it is more abstract.
00:12:54.540 They're less energized.
00:12:55.720 They're less focused on it.
00:12:56.860 I believe America has benefited enormously from exporting our goods and services.
00:13:02.420 If you talk to any farmer and rancher, the benefits of exporting to foreign markets are massive.
00:13:08.240 If you talk to American manufacturers, the benefits of exporting to foreign markets are massive.
00:13:13.700 And so I don't want to see a scenario where every country is putting massive tariffs on imports
00:13:20.560 from other countries because it will hurt American exports significantly and it will raise prices
00:13:26.500 for American consumers.
00:13:28.160 That being said, if the president employs these tariffs in the way I'm suggesting, which is focused
00:13:35.260 on reciprocity, then they can be a powerful tool for lowering the tariffs other countries impose
00:13:42.440 and expanding trade, expanding what we sell abroad, expanding American business, expanding jobs
00:13:49.600 and lowering prices for American consumers.
00:13:52.120 I think that's that is a much better outcome.
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00:14:25.880 I want to move on to the corruption of academia.
00:14:29.020 And we are now seeing that 300 pro-Hamas protests got visas, protests, they got visas revoked.
00:14:38.180 And this was certainly a big deal.
00:14:41.060 Marco Rubio talking about it, making it clear that, hey, we promised you that if you're here
00:14:47.660 on a visa and it's a privilege to be here and you are cheering on the terrorists and
00:14:53.840 you're hurting your campus or this country, you're anti-American, we don't have to put
00:14:58.760 up with it.
00:14:59.360 I love this.
00:15:00.280 Your reaction.
00:15:01.480 Amen.
00:15:01.900 Hallelujah.
00:15:02.820 And look, this is something we've talked about on Verdict quite a bit.
00:15:06.160 The First Amendment protects American citizens.
00:15:08.560 So if you're an American citizen, you have a constitutional right to espouse the most hateful,
00:15:13.520 horrible, terrible ideas.
00:15:15.660 American citizen has a First Amendment right to advocate for being a Nazi, to advocate for 0.96
00:15:20.400 being a Klansman.
00:15:21.300 By the way, if you do advocate for being a Nazi or a Klansman, the rest of us have a 0.90
00:15:25.780 moral obligation to say you're a reprehensible bigot and what you're saying is evil.
00:15:30.440 But you have a right to say it.
00:15:32.320 But the First Amendment does not apply to foreigners.
00:15:35.820 It applies to Americans.
00:15:36.920 And when it comes to student visas, foreigners that are getting student visas, they're asking 1.00
00:15:41.440 for permission from the federal government to come study in America.
00:15:44.580 They don't have a First Amendment right.
00:15:46.000 And we have no obligation, no legal obligation, no moral obligation, no obligation under anything
00:15:51.580 I can imagine to let people in who hate America, who are undermining America, who are
00:15:56.280 attacking Jewish students or other students at campus who are spreading poison.
00:16:01.160 And so the story broke this week that 300 student visas have been revoked, by the way, under
00:16:07.940 Joe Biden, when we had viciously anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, anti-American protests on college
00:16:14.480 campuses, to the best of my knowledge, zero student visas were revoked.
00:16:19.640 And in fact, the Democrats, they support the pro-Hamas protesters.
00:16:23.800 Well, Trump being elected, this is something I predicted before the election.
00:16:27.460 This is something I said right after the election.
00:16:29.020 You are going to see the radical anti-American zealots.
00:16:32.960 You're going to see them arrested and deported.
00:16:35.220 Well, that is happening.
00:16:36.220 300 student visas have been revoked.
00:16:39.120 And here's what Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, quote, if you apply for a visa to
00:16:43.660 enter the United States and be a student and you tell us that the reason why you're coming
00:16:47.980 to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want
00:16:52.720 to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities,
00:16:56.940 harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus, we're not going to give
00:17:02.640 you a visa.
00:17:03.540 If you lie to us and get a visa and then enter to the United States and with that visa, participate
00:17:09.180 in that sort of activity, we're going to take away your visa.
00:17:13.060 And Secretary Rubio continued, you're no longer legally in the United States, and we have
00:17:19.000 a right, like every country in the world has a right, to remove you from our country.
00:17:25.740 Amen.
00:17:26.740 Hallelujah.
00:17:27.600 And you ought to ask yourself, why didn't this happen even once under Joe Biden?
00:17:31.520 Well, you also look at what we found out about some of the people that are getting arrested.
00:17:35.780 A great example of that is this Tufts University graduate student from Turkey was arrested by
00:17:42.780 ICE agents on the street in Massachusetts.
00:17:46.380 The liberals are losing their minds, like, this is so unfair, should have not been arrested,
00:17:51.340 how dare you target this student?
00:17:53.180 But according to the Department of Homeland Security, the woman was arrested for, quote,
00:17:57.540 for glorifying and supporting terrorists and for showing support for a terrorist organization,
00:18:05.120 Hamas, the Palestinian political party and militant group.
00:18:09.640 So they're like, you can be sad all you want to.
00:18:13.560 We're not putting up with this and it shouldn't be happening in America.
00:18:16.900 Look, if you are a foreigner and you're saying, I love Hamas, if you're a foreigner and you're 1.00
00:18:21.100 saying, I hate America, if you're a foreigner and saying, I support the enemies of America, 0.99
00:18:25.460 we have no obligation to admit you to our country.
00:18:30.180 We have no obligation to let you stay here and no legal obligation, no moral obligation.
00:18:36.120 And what is bizarre, as the Trump administration is saying, all right, these radicals that hate
00:18:41.360 America, that are attacking and threatening violence against Jewish students, that are
00:18:46.600 demonizing Israel, that are demonizing America, that are praising Hamas. 0.75
00:18:50.060 And by the way, look, let's be clear. 0.99
00:18:51.420 Hamas are vicious terrorists that want to murder you. 0.96
00:18:53.800 If you're an American, and I think most of the people listening to this podcast are 0.99
00:18:57.560 Americans, understand Hamas wants to murder you.
00:19:01.260 Understand Hamas on October 7th carried out the mass murder of 1,200 civilians. 0.98
00:19:06.600 They raped women and little girls. 0.99
00:19:09.800 And these radicals are praising child rapists. 1.00
00:19:12.600 You know what? 0.99
00:19:13.000 If you're praising child rapists, if you're supporting child rapists, get the hell out of 1.00
00:19:16.840 our country. 1.00
00:19:17.340 Now, look, if you're a U.S. citizen, we can't throw you out.
00:19:19.520 But if you're not, if you're a foreigner, we have no reason to let you in here. 1.00
00:19:23.900 And this is exactly right.
00:19:25.860 And Ben, it is amazing.
00:19:27.340 Democrats given a choice.
00:19:29.480 Do you support protecting Americans, protecting Israel, protecting Jewish students at schools?
00:19:34.740 Or do you support the radical anti-Israel, anti-American pro-Hamas zealots?
00:19:39.980 They are choosing the violent anti-American protesters.
00:19:43.440 They are standing up and saying, deport nobody.
00:19:47.060 We don't care if you are a radical pro-Hamas supporter.
00:19:51.680 We want you in America.
00:19:53.340 I got to say, I don't know any rational or normal American that wants pro-Hamas supporters 0.78
00:19:58.320 in America.
00:19:59.040 Let's give a perfect example of this.
00:20:00.820 University of Alabama had a doctoral student that was arrested.
00:20:05.220 An Iranian student who was studying at the University of Alabama was arrested by ICE agents.
00:20:10.100 Quote, the University of Alabama recently learned that a doctoral student had been detained off
00:20:14.860 campus by federal immigration authorities.
00:20:16.960 The school said in a statement, federal privacy laws limit what we can share about an individual
00:20:21.480 student.
00:20:22.460 International students are, quote, valued members of the campus community.
00:20:25.580 The university added the student newspaper said that called the Crimson White identified
00:20:31.540 the man arrested who was in the United States on a student visa saying, quote, it's unclear
00:20:36.360 what charges he's facing, why he was detained, or if he has a lawyer.
00:20:40.980 But here's what they did report.
00:20:43.580 And this part really made me laugh.
00:20:45.920 In the statement that came out from the University of Alabama College Democrats, the group said
00:20:52.740 they were aware of the man's arrest and saying, quote, our fears have come to pass.
00:20:57.160 President Donald Trump, the Bordersard, Tom Homan, and ICE have struck a cold, vicious dagger
00:21:03.420 through the heart of the University of Alabama's international community.
00:21:07.460 As far as we know right now, ICE has yet to provide any justification for their actions.
00:21:12.300 So we are not sure if this persecution is politically motivated, as has been seen in other universities
00:21:18.900 across the country.
00:21:20.040 It goes back to your point that you just made.
00:21:22.320 The Democrats, even at the University of Alabama, are like, this is persecution. 0.99
00:21:28.240 You know, facts be damned, supporting terrorist activities be damned, advocating for Hamas be damned. 0.98
00:21:34.620 Well, and let me be clear. 0.99
00:21:36.100 I understand the principle.
00:21:37.480 When you were quoting that newspaper story, you said the Alabama Democrats were saying,
00:21:43.300 we don't know what crime this person has been charged with.
00:21:46.860 You don't have to be charged with a crime.
00:21:48.640 Let me be clear.
00:21:49.400 Like, if you're charged with a crime, that ought to be easy, although I say it ought to be easy
00:21:54.060 if you're charged with a crime.
00:21:55.260 My Democratic colleagues, when we argue, deport people who've committed crimes, deport people
00:22:00.100 who've committed violent crimes, deport people who are murderers, deport people who are rapists,
00:22:04.060 deport people who are child molesters.
00:22:06.740 My Democratic colleagues' party line vote no.
00:22:10.040 So even if you're guilty of a crime, they don't want to deport you.
00:22:14.780 But set it aside for a student visa.
00:22:17.460 If you're not a U.S. citizen, you don't have to be guilty of a crime.
00:22:20.500 If you come to America as a foreigner and we've given you a permissive visa, we've said, 1.00
00:22:24.440 OK, we want you to come.
00:22:25.440 And you come here and you grab a bullhorn and say, I hate America and I want the enemies of America to defeat America.
00:22:31.120 You know what my answer is? 0.74
00:22:31.960 Get the hell out.
00:22:33.120 We don't have a reason to let you in. 0.87
00:22:35.100 You don't have a protection.
00:22:36.420 If you are an enemy of America, you're entitled to be that.
00:22:39.360 You know what?
00:22:39.760 There are seven to eight billion people on planet Earth.
00:22:42.000 There are some people that are enemies of America.
00:22:43.640 But why do we have to let enemies of America in?
00:22:47.180 If you say, I hate America, it's like the old Saturday Night Live skit of the flight attendant as people are leaving the plane going, buh-bye, buh-bye.
00:22:58.880 You hate America?
00:23:00.240 Buh-bye. 0.98
00:23:01.400 Get out. 0.98
00:23:02.100 Hate America somewhere else.
00:23:04.140 But we're not letting you in here because we don't need people who hate America and are trying to undermine our nation in this country.
00:23:10.560 Which brings me to story number three.
00:23:13.280 And this is one where we have, I think, led on exposing the amount of foreign money that's been pouring into universities.
00:23:21.780 We also exposed it with the Biden crime family and the amount of foreign dollars coming in to the Biden Institute, for example, and other universities.
00:23:28.640 And we've witnessed the amount of money coming in to a point where you say, this doesn't make sense economically.
00:23:36.580 This is my opinion.
00:23:38.040 And I think now you're looking at a bigger issue, which is, what are they actually getting in return for the staggering amounts of foreign money that's pouring into these universities?
00:23:47.800 Is this covert ops by foreign nations?
00:23:51.420 Is this trying to control the next generation of American minds?
00:23:54.920 Is this about spying?
00:23:56.880 What is it?
00:23:57.640 But when you look at this new report from a nonprofit and a non-person government watchdog group, they're sounding the alarm saying this amount of money coming in is not just from good do-gooders.
00:24:08.460 This money is coming in, is coming in for something big.
00:24:11.180 Senator, what is that?
00:24:12.880 Yeah, look, this is not covert.
00:24:15.060 It is overt.
00:24:15.860 It is open.
00:24:16.660 It is out and brazen.
00:24:17.880 So there's a story in Fox News entitled, quote, new report sounds alarm on staggering amount of foreign money pouring into U.S. universities.
00:24:27.380 The report says that $795 million has gone from foreign adversaries to American universities.
00:24:35.620 And here's what the article says.
00:24:37.180 I'm going to quote a little bit of it.
00:24:38.460 Quote, a new report from a nonprofit and nonpartisan government watchdog is shedding light on the tens of billions of dollars, tens of billions that have poured into U.S. universities in recent years, including $20 billion to some of the most prestigious universities in the country.
00:24:57.200 The report produced by Americans for Public Trust and released this week found that $60 billion, again, $60 billion in foreign gifts and contracts were funneled into American colleges and universities, including $20 billion alone to elite schools like Harvard, Yale and others.
00:25:18.060 Within that total, $795 million came from nations that are longstanding adversaries to the United States, including China, Russia, Venezuela and Yemen.
00:25:31.500 This is shocking.
00:25:32.800 It is fundamental corruption.
00:25:34.080 I can tell you I've introduced legislation to require at a minimum that universities report every dollar of foreign money they receive so that we have scrutiny.
00:25:41.700 And I'll tell you, Ben, one of the very first pieces of legislation I ever passed when I was a brand new baby senator 13 years ago was dealing with this issue of foreign money flooding into universities.
00:25:53.340 And China had been funding these things called Confucius Institutes.
00:25:57.980 Confucius Institutes were institutes on American college campuses that taught Mandarin, that taught the Chinese language.
00:26:06.400 And they were used, number one, as hubs of espionage, where China would send spies to engage in espionage in the United States, and number two, as tools of propaganda, where they would push propaganda that was favorable to the Chinese communist government.
00:26:23.680 And when I was a brand new baby senator, I introduced legislation that banned any money from the Federal Department of Defense going to a university that had a Confucius Institute.
00:26:36.200 And at the time I introduced it, we had a Democrat Senate.
00:26:39.080 When I got elected, Harry Reid was the majority leader.
00:26:41.280 The Democrats were in the majority.
00:26:42.860 I was on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
00:26:44.960 I introduced this amendment.
00:26:46.420 And, Ben, I'll tell you, I got bipartisan support.
00:26:48.840 I got Democrats to support me and Republicans.
00:26:50.920 We passed it into law.
00:26:52.120 And the legislation I passed resulted in more than 20 Confucius Institutes across the country being shut down.
00:27:00.720 This was a problem back in 2013.
00:27:03.260 I got to say, in 2025, it's much, much worse.
00:27:06.900 So what is the government's response now?
00:27:10.480 What should the government response be moving forward?
00:27:13.380 And is it time to actually look at these universities and ask questions or have regulations about money coming in from foreign countries, especially those that are adversaries of the United States of America?
00:27:26.600 I don't like government overreach.
00:27:29.700 I want to make that clear.
00:27:30.680 But the Wild Wild West that we're looking at right now from this report and $60 billion in foreign gifts and contracts were funneled into American colleges and universities.
00:27:41.420 Like, they're getting something in return.
00:27:44.620 $20 billion alone to Harvard, Yale, and other elite schools.
00:27:48.420 They're getting something in return.
00:27:50.560 And if they're buying the minds of American students or influence or even what worries me the most is stealing intellectual property or spying on America and future leaders, this scares the hell out of me.
00:28:05.020 So what should the government's response be?
00:28:08.060 Yes, yes, yes, all of the above.
00:28:10.720 So they're doing this to buy influence.
00:28:13.480 They're doing this to push propaganda.
00:28:15.640 They're doing this to engage in espionage.
00:28:18.380 They're doing this to steal intellectual property.
00:28:21.260 And so many of our universities, especially our elite universities, have eagerly jumped in bed with them.
00:28:27.880 Look, you and I discussed early on in the wake of October 7th when the anti-Semitic protests were breaking out.
00:28:34.380 If you look at the universities with the highest percentage of foreign students, it almost perfectly maps to the universities with the most, the most virulent, the most nasty anti-Semitic protests.
00:28:48.000 Universities like Columbia and NYU are at the very top of the list.
00:28:52.180 And when you let in a bunch of foreign students, now look, universities like foreign students because they pay full tuition. 0.89
00:28:57.240 They pay full freight.
00:28:58.640 They're cash cows. 1.00
00:29:00.500 But why are American universities in the business of educating foreigners, especially foreigners who hate America and are undermining America? 1.00
00:29:08.460 I don't see a reason for that.
00:29:10.020 But not only that, but they're pushing this to drive a political agenda.
00:29:16.760 And so what should we do?
00:29:18.180 Number one, we need transparency.
00:29:19.520 As I mentioned, I've introduced legislation to require transparency.
00:29:23.340 If a university is getting money from a foreign country, we need to know about it.
00:29:27.940 How much from which country?
00:29:29.320 And I'll tell you, the legislation I'm introducing puts punitive tax penalties.
00:29:33.620 If you get money from a country that is an enemy of America, in my view, the federal government ought to put penalties in place where you end up being taxed more than you get.
00:29:43.540 We don't need the enemies of America funding our universities and actively undermining our education.
00:29:49.780 We need leaders who are willing to stand up for America first.
00:29:53.260 And I think that's incredibly important.
00:29:55.740 If you look at the money that came in, a perfect example of this is within that total, I gave you the 20 billion alone going to those elite schools.
00:30:03.080 795 million came from nations that are longstanding adversaries of the U.S., including China, Russia, Venezuela, and Yemen.
00:30:13.140 Is it also time to look at certain countries and say you can't have donations coming in from there?
00:30:18.160 Yes, and we ought to penalize the hell out of it.
00:30:20.280 If Iran is funding your university, you're doing something fundamentally wrong.
00:30:24.520 Great point.
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