Verdict with Ted Cruz - Trump Bringing Peace to the Ukraine War plus DC Crime Plummets

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.680 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.420 Welcome.

00:00:06.020 It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz.

00:00:07.720 Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:08.600 So nice to have you with us.

00:00:09.960 And Senator, we've got two big stories that we're going to be talking about.

00:00:12.960 One of them is this incredible movement we've seen with Russia and also with Ukraine.

00:00:19.660 This is significant movement.

00:00:21.420 The media is fighting against us, saying no to it.

00:00:23.580 Now look what we're seeing.

00:00:24.920 Deal's getting done.

00:00:26.340 Well, listen, I'm cautiously optimistic.

00:00:28.380 Let's not get ahead of ourselves and celebrate.

00:00:31.540 But we are making progress towards peace in Ukraine.

00:00:34.920 We had in the last several days, President Trump met with Putin in Alaska, had a positive meeting.

00:00:41.200 And then on Monday, he had a meeting with President Zelensky, multiple European heads of state in Washington, in the White House.

00:00:48.640 Again, another positive meeting.

00:00:50.540 We are making real significant steps towards peace.

00:00:53.880 We're going to break it down.

00:00:54.720 We're going to tell you where things stand right now.

00:00:56.520 We're going to tell you where each of the players are.

00:00:58.640 And we're going to tell you what's likely to happen next.

00:01:00.920 We're also going to talk on today's podcast about D.C.

00:01:04.140 And when President Trump federalized the police department in D.C., pursuant to his authority under the Constitution, his authority under the D.C.

00:01:12.560 Home Rule Statute, the Democrats freaked out.

00:01:15.440 The media freaked out.

00:01:16.500 The worst thing they could imagine was having a Republican president step in and actually stop violent crime.

00:01:22.720 Well, that has happened.

00:01:23.620 The numbers are stunning.

00:01:24.980 Violent crime has plummeted.

00:01:26.760 We're going to break down the results of that and the attendant freak out from the Democrats.

00:01:31.560 This is yet another week of real, meaningful successes for the Trump presidency and its differences that are making a difference for Americans across the country.

00:01:40.020 Yeah, it's certainly going to be very interesting to see what happens with all these others, as you mentioned, all these other cities.

00:01:45.680 And if this is so successful, how do you then say we don't want help to save lives in our cities?

00:01:53.000 We're going to break all that down.

00:01:54.140 I promise you the Democrats will say that.

00:01:55.860 They don't want help in New York.

00:01:57.000 They don't want help in Chicago.

00:01:58.100 They don't want help in L.A.

00:01:59.160 They don't want help in any city in America run by a Democrat mayor because they'd rather crime be high than actually allow the police to arrest the violent criminals.

00:02:08.840 That's spoiler alert, but we're going to get to that in the second story today.

00:02:12.920 Yeah, no doubt.

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00:04:01.260 All right.

00:04:01.600 So let's talk about this meeting.

00:04:03.880 I want to be clear.

00:04:04.840 All right, Ben.

00:04:05.020 Before we do, I've got to ask you.

00:04:06.220 Just how quick.

00:04:06.340 You mentioned you're on the road.

00:04:08.480 Yes.

00:04:08.620 So where are you?

00:04:10.140 You can see Ben is in front of the most drab drapes in a hotel.

00:04:16.980 I'm actually wondering if you're in the red light district, if this is something that you pay by the minute you put a quarter in the bed.

00:04:24.160 So where are you, and why are the drapes so drab behind you?

00:04:28.820 All right.

00:04:29.200 So it's a very bougie room.

00:04:30.740 I'm not going to lie.

00:04:31.460 I didn't book it.

00:04:32.280 I think it's called the Conrad.

00:04:33.560 It's very nice.

00:04:35.340 But the drapes they have, otherwise you'd be seeing the skyline behind me.

00:04:39.880 I hit the close button beforehand, and they're like these tan drapes, but they look very, as you mentioned.

00:04:44.560 Yes, I agree with you.

00:04:45.760 It does look like I'm in a Motel 6 outdoor entry hotel right now.

00:04:49.400 So I'm in Nashville.

00:04:50.260 So in what city?

00:04:51.260 Nashville?

00:04:52.320 All right.

00:04:52.620 All right.

00:04:52.860 So pull the drapes behind.

00:04:53.960 Let's see the skyline.

00:04:54.680 Nashville.

00:04:54.740 Las Vegas.

00:04:55.620 All right.

00:04:55.960 Let's see if they'll open.

00:04:58.060 There we go.

00:04:59.280 Hold on.

00:04:59.780 They're automatic drapes.

00:05:00.960 I love that you're making me do this.

00:05:02.300 Can you see the skyline?

00:05:03.920 You guys see that?

00:05:04.780 See, it's real nice back there.

00:05:06.020 Okay.

00:05:06.400 There you go.

00:05:07.040 All right.

00:05:07.400 That's very bougie.

00:05:09.640 You know, there's not actually a crack dealer out your window, so that's good.

00:05:15.580 Look, look, look.

00:05:16.860 Automatic drapes behind me.

00:05:18.140 Can you see them moving automatically?

00:05:19.280 They just automatically close on their own again.

00:05:21.520 All right.

00:05:22.000 From now on, we'll have to address you as bougie Ben. 0.93

00:05:25.960 I love it.

00:05:27.240 I'm just glad you dressed up for me.

00:05:28.940 You know, I'm in my travel gear right now.

00:05:31.320 You know, I'm just glad you're wearing trousers.

00:05:33.460 Well, that's very true.

00:05:35.880 So let's talk about this, the implosion of the media over what we just witnessed.

00:05:41.720 So let's just go back a couple days ago.

00:05:43.920 They said, like uniformly the media, that a guy by the name of Vladimir Putin played Donald Trump, that this was a disaster, the meeting in Alaska.

00:05:55.220 It was going to go nowhere.

00:05:56.920 They were saying there was no movement, no real deal done.

00:06:01.120 You fast forward days.

00:06:03.060 Zelensky shows up, European leaders show up, and they're all sitting there going, let's get this done.

00:06:08.800 Let's move forward.

00:06:10.720 Zelensky even wore a suit.

00:06:12.100 Some said it looked like a 10-year-old after they get their first suit at JCPenney's, the way he was dressed up.

00:06:16.460 It is kind of funny if you saw that meme going around, because it is exactly what I looked like when I was smiling when I wore my first suit when I was like 10 years old.

00:06:23.220 It was one of the best memes I've ever seen.

00:06:25.520 But he shows up wearing a suit.

00:06:26.720 And he clearly was there in a very different tone than he was the first meeting when he was very combative with Donald Trump.

00:06:39.780 And now we have a structure that is being laid out publicly.

00:06:45.240 Yeah.

00:06:45.540 So, look, we had this weekend the meeting in Alaska between President Trump and Putin.

00:06:51.840 And you're right.

00:06:52.600 The media freaked out.

00:06:53.640 We did a deep dive on that meeting in Monday's podcast.

00:06:56.540 If you didn't listen to Monday's podcast, you ought to go back and listen to it.

00:06:59.920 But the disconnect between what actually happened between President Trump and Putin and what the media reported is night and day.

00:07:08.560 Because they are rooting for the president to fail.

00:07:11.420 They are rooting for America to fail.

00:07:13.180 And the Democrats are rooting for the president to fail and America to fail.

00:07:16.820 And I have to say we're making real and material progress.

00:07:20.520 I believe the war in Ukraine will be over by the end of the year.

00:07:25.040 I think we are on a path to do that.

00:07:27.300 Understand, Donald Trump campaigned on ending this war.

00:07:30.880 The American people elected him.

00:07:32.420 That was part of the mandate is that I think the American people are done with a blank check with sending billions of dollars to Ukraine with no limit, just on and on and on for nonstop war.

00:07:45.620 The American people are ready for this to be over.

00:07:47.560 Now, what I've advised the president, what I've encouraged the president is it needs to end.

00:07:52.400 It's going to end in a negotiated settlement.

00:07:54.420 But it needs to end in a way that is a clear and discernible loss for Putin.

00:07:58.980 That is a loss for Russia because Russia is not our friend. 0.99

00:08:02.500 They are our enemy and we want them weaker and not stronger.

00:08:05.560 Now, the media tried to say the meeting with Putin was a disaster.

00:08:10.120 The world was on fire.

00:08:11.400 Cats and dogs living together.

00:08:12.880 Signs of the end time.

00:08:14.040 The Armageddon.

00:08:15.200 And then we had the meeting.

00:08:16.960 Yeah.

00:08:17.980 In the White House with Zelensky and with the European heads of state.

00:08:22.220 And even with the dishonest corporate media, they couldn't spin this.

00:08:25.820 I want you to listen to the Finnish president.

00:08:28.180 His assessment of what has happened in the last couple of weeks.

00:08:31.420 Give a listen.

00:08:31.920 And by the way, Alex, I'd like you to say a couple of words, too.

00:08:35.440 You're a young, powerful man.

00:08:38.700 Before I finish up, I want you to say a couple of words.

00:08:41.300 Go ahead.

00:08:43.820 I'll take the notion of youth back to my wife and try to convince her.

00:08:48.540 Thank you very much, Mr. President.

00:08:50.060 I think in the past two weeks, we've probably had more progress in ending this war than we have in the past three and a half years.

00:08:58.960 And I think the fact that we're around this table today is very much symbolic in the sense that it's team Europe and team United States helping Ukraine.

00:09:09.900 I mean, wow.

00:09:10.760 Well, Ben, that's exactly what you and I said on Monday's pod, which is that we made more progress towards peace in Ukraine in the last couple of weeks than we have in three and a half years.

00:09:21.300 But when you and I were saying it, the media dismisses it.

00:09:24.160 You've now got the president of Finland saying that.

00:09:26.660 And by the way, not just Finland.

00:09:28.060 I want you to listen now to Keir Starmer from the United Kingdom.

00:09:30.880 Give a listen.

00:09:31.880 I think this is such an important meeting.

00:09:33.720 As a group, I think we've had a discussion on the phone a number of times, Mr. President, that we'll be able now to be around the table to take it forward.

00:09:41.040 And I really feel that we can, I think, with the right approach this afternoon, make real progress, particularly on the security guarantees and your indication of security guarantees of some sort of Article 5 style guarantees fits with what we've been doing with the Coalition of the Willing, which we started some months ago, bringing countries together and showing that we were prepared to step up to the plate when it came to security.

00:10:05.060 With you coming alongside the U.S., alongside what we've already developed, I think we could take a really important step forward today, a historic step, actually, could come out of this meeting in terms of security for Ukraine and security in Europe.

00:10:20.080 I also feel that we can make real progress towards a just and lasting outcome.

00:10:28.240 Obviously, that has to involve Ukraine.

00:10:31.320 And a trilateral meeting seems the sensible next step.

00:10:34.620 So thank you for being prepared to take that forward, because I think if we can ensure that that is the progress out of this meeting, both security guarantees and some sort of progress on trilateral meeting of some sort to bring some of the difficult issues to a head, then I think today will be seen as a very important day in recent years.

00:10:58.620 In relation to a conflict, which has gone on for three and a bit years and so far, nobody, nobody's been able to bring it to this point.

00:11:05.780 So I thank you for that.

00:11:07.200 No one's been able to bring it to this point.

00:11:09.040 I think that is a very big accolade from the leaders at the table.

00:11:13.280 He also, and I want to get your explanation for people so they understand this, because if you don't understand it, it's complicated.

00:11:21.540 Trump has pledged U.S. quote support for NATO style security guarantees.

00:11:26.420 You heard it mentioned there in that quote for Ukraine while emphasizing that Europe would serve, quote, as the first line of defense.

00:11:33.940 European NATO officials also urged that this would be vitally important to getting a deal done and even a ceasefire.

00:11:42.800 So explain NATO style security guarantees.

00:11:46.380 What does that mean for people that don't understand that?

00:11:49.700 Well, listen, one of the things that we covered in Monday's pod is that Putin in the meeting in Alaska,

00:11:55.460 he conceded explicitly that there needed to be some clear security guarantees for Ukraine,

00:12:00.880 that when this war comes to an end, which I believe will happen this year,

00:12:04.660 that Ukraine has some confidence that they're not going to wake up in January, February, or March

00:12:09.160 and see Russian tanks once again crossing their borders.

00:12:12.220 I think the negotiated settlement will include some modicum of security guarantees.

00:12:17.200 Now, what it will not include is Ukraine joining NATO, and I oppose Ukraine joining NATO.

00:12:24.100 I've been vocal for a long time.

00:12:25.560 Ukraine should not join NATO.

00:12:27.060 Why is that?

00:12:28.160 Because under NATO, under Article 5 of NATO, the member states of NATO take on an obligation

00:12:34.220 to defend any one of the members if they are invaded.

00:12:38.420 And I am not interested in a treaty obligation to put U.S. troops in harm's way.

00:12:44.320 I don't believe President Trump is going to enter into any agreement that puts U.S. troops in harm's way.

00:12:50.180 And so the emphasis, and you put it exactly right, Ben,

00:12:52.940 is that security guarantees should put Europe on the front line.

00:12:56.340 If the Brits, if the French, if the Germans want to commit, 0.80

00:13:00.000 if Russia violates the borders, they'll come in and defend Ukraine.

00:13:04.500 Knock yourself out.

00:13:05.560 You guys believe in it.

00:13:07.220 That's fine.

00:13:08.280 We will facilitate the resolution.

00:13:11.640 But I do not think there is any will to war on the part of the United States to put U.S. troops on the ground.

00:13:18.320 And it's not just me saying this.

00:13:20.080 So I want you to listen to Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, when she was asked about this.

00:13:26.600 Here, give a listen to what Caroline had to say.

00:13:28.180 The president has definitively stated U.S. boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine,

00:13:33.520 but we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies.

00:13:40.380 The president understands security guarantees are crucially important to ensure a lasting peace.

00:13:45.180 And he has directed his national security team to coordinate with our friends in Europe

00:13:50.140 and also to continue to cooperate and discuss these matters with Ukraine and Russia as well.

00:13:55.800 You listen to Caroline Levitt there, and there's a theme that we continue to get from the Trump foreign policy doctrine.

00:14:02.180 It cannot always be America does everything.

00:14:05.780 He is holding other countries accountable, saying, you need to step up.

00:14:09.540 Yes.

00:14:09.820 You need to lead.

00:14:10.840 Yes.

00:14:11.080 You need to do this.

00:14:12.080 The president clarified three times, and that was my counting.

00:14:16.060 It may even have been more, but I heard him three times clearly say he had continued and saying it for a long time,

00:14:22.260 just like you mentioned, opposition to Ukrainian NATO membership,

00:14:26.500 and noted even that there may have to be territorial concessions for a deal to get done.

00:14:32.140 So, again, he's saying to Europe and all these other leaders, you guys need to step up.

00:14:36.980 America's not going to fund all this.

00:14:38.960 We're not going to get in these wars.

00:14:40.700 We're not going to do everything on the backs of American taxpayers.

00:14:43.920 I think that's very popular in this country right now.

00:14:47.780 I think that's right.

00:14:49.280 And listen, the contrast between this meeting and the last meeting with President Zelensky in the Oval Office is night and day.

00:14:55.980 The last meeting, and we covered that extensively on this podcast, the last meeting with Zelensky was a disaster.

00:15:03.660 It was a train wreck.

00:15:05.080 It will go down in history as the worst, as the least successful Oval Office meeting in history.

00:15:11.480 Why?

00:15:12.360 Because President Zelensky came in looking to pick a fight with President Trump. 0.83

00:15:16.280 He came in arrogant and belligerent and demanding. 0.98

00:15:20.320 He was like a petulant child. 0.98

00:15:23.000 You need to defend me. 0.97

00:15:24.480 You owe it to me.

00:15:25.400 And I think Zelensky had spent too much time with the New York Times and with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and believed their talking points.

00:15:33.740 And I got to tell you, look, in this, no U.S. president would allow a foreign leader to come into the Oval Office and address him the way Zelensky did the last time, and especially not Donald Trump.

00:15:46.100 So it went very badly.

00:15:47.780 This time was night and day.

00:15:49.280 As you noted, he put on a suit.

00:15:50.800 He demonstrated some respect.

00:15:53.020 And listen, I understand why Zelensky's position has been they don't want to give up one inch of their territory.

00:16:00.040 If you were the president of Ukraine, you'd probably say the same thing, Ben.

00:16:03.240 I understand why he's saying that.

00:16:05.360 But that is not America's national security interest.

00:16:08.760 What is our national security interest is that Russia and Putin not get significantly stronger because they are an enemy to America.

00:16:17.620 And I'll tell you, I want to throw down a marker that I think is really important in terms of the negotiated settlement that occurs here.

00:16:24.520 I think energy is front and center.

00:16:27.100 We've talked a lot on this podcast about how Joe Biden caused the war in Ukraine, that his weakness, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, emboldened Putin and all of our enemies, and also how Biden's waiving the sanctions on Nord Stream 2 caused this war.

00:16:44.440 I authored those sanctions.

00:16:46.040 I wrote that legislation.

00:16:47.460 Donald Trump signed those sanctions into law.

00:16:50.400 And as Putin said in Alaska just a couple of days ago, if Trump had still been in the Oval Office, there would be no war in Ukraine.

00:16:58.780 Russia would not have invaded.

00:17:00.840 In this settlement, what I think is very important, I would like to see Ukraine and the rest of Europe sign an agreement to buy their energy, buy their oil and gas from the United States.

00:17:12.380 And let's be clear, from Texas.

00:17:14.880 Texas, we have the resources.

00:17:17.080 That's good for America, but they should not return to buying oil and gas from Russia.

00:17:23.900 When I meet with European heads of state and foreign ministers, this is the number one question I ask them.

00:17:30.120 When this war is over, are you going to go back to buying Russian oil and gas?

00:17:34.940 Are you going to go back to sending billions of dollars to fuel the Russian war machine?

00:17:39.920 Or are you going to use this as an opportunity to pivot towards a friend and ally?

00:17:44.500 And I think leaving, resolving this war with a major energy agreement for Ukraine and Europe to buy their energy from America, I think that is a powerful America first outcome.

00:17:58.540 And it's also an outcome where Putin will not have scored a major victory if that is the resolution.

00:18:05.840 And I hope very much that's the direction the president takes this.

00:18:08.780 All of you know that I am a pro-Second Amendment guy.

00:18:12.200 I've shared on numerous occasions how carrying my firearms saved my life from a gang-related attack.

00:18:17.760 But for those of you out there with family members who may not be comfortable having a gun, by their side, you still want them to be able to protect themselves and others in times of danger.

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00:18:30.080 Berna is a handheld pistol that fires both kinetic rounds and chemical irritants to separate you from an attacker.

00:18:36.480 And I'm here with Josh Sherrard from Berna to share the true story of how an avid hiker uses Berna to stop an attacking mountain lion.

00:18:44.760 Josh, tell us what happened.

00:18:46.240 Yeah, you know, Jason is an avid hiker.

00:18:48.160 Decided to take his family out on a hike that he's done several times.

00:18:52.840 Super easy hike, but super fun.

00:18:54.440 And armed with his Berna, you know, this is one of those things where he didn't expect to see anything.

00:18:59.220 And all of a sudden on this hike, this mountain lion appears out of nowhere.

00:19:03.040 Of course, he sends his family on down the trail, watches the lion for a few minutes, realizing it's not going away.

00:19:09.340 So uses his Berna, fires a few rounds to scare it off.

00:19:12.520 Continues down the trail.

00:19:13.620 But unfortunately, this mountain lion appears again, at which point he realized he was going to have to up his aggression with that Berna.

00:19:21.480 Fires four rounds.

00:19:22.400 He was able to strike the mountain lion all four times in chest and torso, at which point that mountain lion tears off, never to be seen again.

00:19:30.020 These guys make it down the trail, but back to their car and back to home safely.

00:19:34.680 Fortunately, this is all it took to make sure and get this family back home safe off a hike that could have taken an obvious turn for the worst.

00:19:42.680 And I'm going to guess that Berna has been used to stop other types of animal attacks as well.

00:19:47.560 Absolutely.

00:19:48.300 We get stories all the time of users with whether it be dogs or other wildlife.

00:19:54.320 We even have an ecological park whose security carries Berna for bears out in the Smoky Mountains out there.

00:20:01.720 That's been effective there as well.

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00:20:24.120 All right.

00:20:24.440 Let's go down this path because this is a very interesting point.

00:20:27.080 And I want to ask you because I look at Russia right now.

00:20:31.660 Russia's economy is teetering.

00:20:33.420 A lot of people don't realize this.

00:20:35.260 They really cannot afford for this war to go on much longer.

00:20:39.080 Part of the reason why I'm guessing you're saying you believe this timeline that we're going to end this war by the end of this year is the financial impact this is having on Russia.

00:20:47.680 And Vladimir Putin does not want to get to the point where there's a revolt in his country because they're so gone economically.

00:20:53.360 There's also he needs to start selling oil because that is what gives life to his, you know, being in charge of this country.

00:21:03.220 It gives him his power.

00:21:04.880 It makes the people kind of sit back down and just go along to get along, in essence, which is the way of life, unfortunately, under Vladimir Putin in Russia.

00:21:13.480 But if he doesn't get this done soon, he's in trouble economically.

00:21:17.960 You mentioned this agreement with the U.S. and these other countries.

00:21:21.440 How does that work?

00:21:22.800 Does it say we're not buying Russian oil and then Russia says, fine, we'll just keep lowering our price so eventually you'll buy it again?

00:21:28.680 Explain to me how that would work.

00:21:30.960 Look, I think you negotiate an agreement.

00:21:33.100 Ukraine wants to buy American oil and American natural gas.

00:21:37.020 And this is a little bit like predatory pricing in the antitrust context.

00:21:41.260 I think many European countries realize that Russia uses energy for economic blackmail, that they offer low prices to get Europe hooked.

00:21:49.520 It's kind of like a drug dealer going to a junior high saying, here, try a free sample.

00:21:53.320 Just enjoy it.

00:21:54.400 And they're trying to get you hooked.

00:21:55.580 And Russia, and Putin in particular, has a long history then of jacking up prices when he wants to extort Europe or cutting off energy supplies when he wants to get concessions from them.

00:22:09.300 Look, if you're in Europe and it's the dead of winter and you're relying on gas to heat your houses and Russia can shut you off,

00:22:15.220 that gives them enormous leverage and Putin has demonstrated he will use that leverage to engage in economic blackmail.

00:22:22.440 So it's not in Europe's interest to be dependent on Russia for energy.

00:22:27.040 Now, right now, Russia is selling the bulk of their oil and gas to China and to India.

00:22:32.920 And this is one of the lever points President Trump has, is that he has threatened or imposed sanctions against both India and China if they continue buying Russian oil and gas.

00:22:43.380 And that's one of the things I believe that's bringing Putin to the table, is that if President Trump cuts off his market in China and India, Putin is in a world of hurt.

00:22:53.580 And so that's an incentive for Putin to come in and say, all right, let's reach a resolution.

00:22:59.340 And I think we're going to.

00:23:00.880 And it's going to be a resolution.

00:23:02.320 Is Ukraine going to get everything they want? 0.59

00:23:04.380 No.

00:23:05.260 But Russia is not going to get everything they want either.

00:23:07.740 And I'll point out, you know, one really important point.

00:23:12.320 I want to read a tweet from Mark Penn.

00:23:15.300 Now, Mark Penn is a pollster for the Clintons, for Bill Clinton, for Hillary Clinton.

00:23:19.560 He is a Democrat.

00:23:21.380 Here's what Mark Penn tweeted out.

00:23:23.080 And I think it's really important.

00:23:24.060 He said, quote,

00:23:24.720 In contrast, Trump is pulling off unprecedented diplomatic feats to advance serious negotiations that has a reasonable chance of being successful.

00:23:50.580 And the press coverage of it has been ludicrous.

00:23:55.460 If Obama had pulled off these meetings, it would be hailed as a tour de force rather than downplaying and naysaying every move we see in the press.

00:24:06.280 He may or may not be successful.

00:24:09.680 But it is an incredible effort that should be respected and applauded.

00:24:15.340 And for the people involved, a new hope for designing a lasting peace with real enforcement, unlike previous empty security guarantees.

00:24:27.560 That is a big deal for Mark Penn to say that.

00:24:30.760 And listen, I retweeted him today.

00:24:33.580 I said, bravo.

00:24:35.000 Bravo for saying that he's a Democrat.

00:24:37.760 I feel confident that Mark Penn is not a fan of Donald Trump.

00:24:41.440 But he is acknowledging reality.

00:24:43.740 And I don't know of an elected Democrat who is.

00:24:47.200 I don't know of a Democrat governor.

00:24:48.760 I don't know of a Democrat senator who is saying this.

00:24:51.600 And the media, I don't want us to get overconfident.

00:24:56.200 You know, Reagan famously said about the Soviet Union, trust but verify. 0.93

00:25:00.460 This could go off the rails a thousand different ways.

00:25:04.040 But I believe President Trump is doing everything humanly possible to resolve this and achieve peace.

00:25:10.400 And that is unequivocally good.

00:25:12.100 Final two questions on this.

00:25:14.260 And it deals with the next steps for people that don't know.

00:25:18.040 What we're looking at is, by the way, Donald Trump apparently walked out of these meetings by himself, went to the Oval by himself, made a phone call to Vladimir Putin and said, let's let's get a meeting.

00:25:29.320 Apparently, meeting number one would be between him and Zelensky.

00:25:32.880 They're working on that.

00:25:34.420 And then there would be a trilateral meeting where he would, in essence, be the negotiator in the room between Zelensky and Putin.

00:25:42.480 I found that very interesting that he said, you guys meet first.

00:25:46.960 I'll meet the next meeting and said the other way around.

00:25:50.760 What did you think about that strategy?

00:25:52.960 And why do you think he decided to do it that way?

00:25:56.340 Look, I think he believes he's got the leverage to try to push through a deal.

00:26:01.380 And there's no doubt he's got enormous leverage over Ukraine because the United States has been the major funder of this war.

00:26:09.400 And he's got enormous leverage over Russia because the ability to impose sanctions, to shut down their ability to sell oil and gas anywhere in the world, that is powerful.

00:26:18.460 And those two together, and listen, I just think force of personality.

00:26:22.940 I've got to say, some of my favorite things watching the last couple of days have been the memes and everything that has come out when Trump and Putin were walking together and the B2s fly over. 1.00

00:26:33.820 And you see Putin do a double take as he literally buzzes Putin with American military might.

00:26:41.240 I think Trump is trying to use every tool he has to resolve this.

00:26:48.880 You know, it was striking.

00:26:49.920 Bill Maher this week, he went on TV.

00:26:51.900 And to be clear, Bill Maher is no friend of Donald Trump.

00:26:55.460 But Bill Maher said, I'll tell you this, Trump wants peace.

00:26:59.840 He hates war.

00:27:01.640 That is a really positive thing.

00:27:03.740 And Hillary Clinton may well regret her tongue-in-cheek comment that she would nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize if he resolved this. 0.95

00:27:12.480 Now, she put wiggle words in there. 0.74

00:27:14.380 So no matter what happened, she's going to claim, no, no, no, he didn't resolve it to my satisfaction.

00:27:19.400 But she's going to see that quote played back at her a hundred times.

00:27:24.380 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

00:27:26.520 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.

00:27:30.520 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk Podcast.

00:27:34.340 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:27:35.620 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:27:36.840 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:27:40.580 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers.

00:27:44.160 All at different stages of their journey.

00:27:46.340 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:27:49.560 Listen to the Honest Talk Podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:27:55.400 You talk about the president having leverage.

00:27:57.840 Let's move to Washington, D.C.

00:28:00.620 And everyone that said the president was like being a dictator and a tyrant by sending in the National Guard, actually trying to fight crime. 0.91

00:28:07.700 They said this was just him being a bully.

00:28:10.860 He was obsessed with the media.

00:28:12.440 This is what tyrants and dictators do. 0.78

00:28:14.320 He's going to roll the National Guard and militarize every city in America that he doesn't like.

00:28:19.940 That was the narrative.

00:28:21.760 Well, guess what?

00:28:22.380 They got it wrong again.

00:28:23.380 D.C.

00:28:24.480 Crime, since the announcement of the federal control versus the seven day prior to that, we have that data now.

00:28:31.660 Senator, please, for everyone that's listening, go through every category of a shock, right?

00:28:37.760 I say that sarcastically.

00:28:39.220 More law enforcement on the street.

00:28:41.380 Law and order.

00:28:42.760 What happens?

00:28:43.920 Less crime.

00:28:44.860 Yeah, it turns out when you arrest criminals, you get less crime.

00:28:49.080 I know that's a shocking outcome.

00:28:50.940 It's one Democrats don't understand and the media doesn't understand. 0.70

00:28:54.640 But everyone whose head is not fully inserted up their rear end gets that point.

00:29:00.400 Here is a tweet from the D.C.

00:29:02.860 Police Union.

00:29:03.500 D.C.

00:29:04.700 Crime, since the announcement of federal control versus the seven days prior.

00:29:11.820 Robbery, down 46%.

00:29:15.240 Carjacking, down 83%.

00:29:20.360 Car theft, down 21%.

00:29:25.540 Violent crime, down 22%.

00:29:30.320 Property crime, down 6%.

00:29:34.660 And all crimes, down 8%.

00:29:39.060 That is in one week, in seven days.

00:29:43.240 And if you hear a wailing in the distance, that is the collective wail of pain and unhappiness of Democrats in the media.

00:29:51.960 Because understood, this is not hyperbole.

00:29:54.160 They are rooting for the criminals.

00:29:55.340 They do not want crime to go down because if crime goes down, it vindicates President Trump exercising his constitutional authority concerning D.C.

00:30:05.760 and exercising his authority as explicit statutory authority under the D.C. Home Rule Act.

00:30:11.260 The Democrats do not want that.

00:30:13.260 No, they don't.

00:30:13.860 And there's also another aspect of the story.

00:30:16.260 And that is, we now have the Justice Department that's investigating whether Washington, D.C. police manipulated their crime data.

00:30:25.320 Remember, I was, shoot, I was on CNN a week and a half, two weeks ago.

00:30:28.940 And they're like, your stats are wrong.

00:30:31.320 Crime is way down.

00:30:32.500 The president doesn't need to do this.

00:30:34.480 Everything's moving in the right direction.

00:30:35.800 Well, it may have looked like crime was down, but now the Justice Department is investigating whether D.C. police purposely, willfully manipulated the crime data to basically fake people out, lie to the citizens of D.C.

00:30:50.120 And they say, oh, no, no, everything's getting better from last year when it's really, really, really bad.

00:30:54.380 Now it's not as bad.

00:30:55.640 And apparently they may have manipulated the numbers, including a whistleblower that they've settled with.

00:31:00.740 Yeah, look, I can tell you from someone who works in D.C.

00:31:03.820 So most weeks I am in D.C. in the Senate when the Senate's in session.

00:31:08.520 And in the last four years under Joe Biden, the violence in D.C. has gotten much worse.

00:31:15.220 We've seen Rand Paul had a staffer who was stabbed on a public street at like four in the afternoon, stabbed in the gut.

00:31:22.080 There was a guy who served in the first Trump administration who was shot in the head and killed at about 5 p.m.

00:31:30.240 sitting in his car on a street in D.C.

00:31:32.860 This is not two in the morning in a rough neighborhood.

00:31:35.840 This is in a major metropolitan street.

00:31:39.280 We had, you know, not long ago, we had two Israelis murdered by a radical pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian leftist zealot from Chicago.

00:31:50.940 And D.C., as someone who works there, you know, it used to be when I started in the Senate, you know, I would, as you know, I love movies.

00:32:00.100 We've done a couple of podcasts where we talk about movies.

00:32:02.740 When I started in the Senate, I used to sometimes if there was a night that I was done, let's say I was done at 8 or 9 o'clock at night, there's a movie theater about five blocks from my house.

00:32:12.140 I used to routinely walk up to the movie theater and just go see a movie.

00:32:14.960 I don't do that now.

00:32:17.420 I mean, frankly, at 9 o'clock at night.

00:32:19.780 I know what it's movie theater you're talking about.

00:32:21.140 Yeah.

00:32:21.400 No way you do that now.

00:32:22.920 At 9 o'clock at night, you don't walk five blocks in D.C.

00:32:26.600 I'll tell you, I've got a guy in my security detail in Washington who's a tough guy.

00:32:34.180 He's been in some pretty rough combat situations.

00:32:37.440 You bet him.

00:32:38.820 And he was walking back to the Capitol at 10 p.m., and he had two guys, two teenagers, jump him and try to rob him.

00:32:48.220 Now, Mark's a pretty tough guy, so he picked up one of them and body slammed them into the back of a car, and the two of them ran off.

00:32:55.480 But the violence in D.C. has gotten really significantly worse.

00:33:02.360 And, you know, it's been interesting.

00:33:05.940 Look at the D.C. police evening chairman, what he said about it.

00:33:08.800 Yeah, the reporters that are honest, who are interviewing D.C. residents, many of whom, most of whom are African-American, the residents are saying, thank God, we think this is great.

00:33:20.020 Lock these criminals up.

00:33:21.280 Look, the D.C. residents don't like living with the risk of drive-by shootings.

00:33:25.160 Henry Cuellar, who is a Democrat congressman, was carjacked again in the early evening.

00:33:31.340 He was coming home with dinner to his apartment.

00:33:33.480 It was an apartment building apparently five other congressmen lived in, carjacked right out in the front of it.

00:33:38.840 And here's what Greg Pemberton, I want you to listen to Greg Pemberton, who was the D.C. police union chairman, what he said about the security of D.C. under Democrats.

00:33:48.800 Give a listen.

00:33:49.720 The criminal justice system here in the District of Columbia is broken.

00:33:52.940 Every aspect of it is broken, whether that's policing, prosecution, judges and trials, sentencing and supervision.

00:34:00.240 All of it is broken.

00:34:01.740 And you can trace every aspect of it back to a piece of legislation that was passed by the council.

00:34:06.960 They have destroyed policing.

00:34:08.660 They have destroyed prosecutions.

00:34:10.060 They have destroyed the way that the courts are allowed to operate.

00:34:12.480 And they've destroyed our ability to sentence criminals to sentences that are commensurate with the crimes they've committed.

00:34:17.920 And so the only way to fix this holistically is to go back and look at all of this legislation that the council passed back in 2020 when there was all of this anti-police rhetoric and work to undo that.

00:34:28.800 I know from my experiences, the D.C.

00:34:31.520 Council will never do that on their own.

00:34:33.620 And so what we're hoping over the course of the next 30 days is that whether that's the White House, whether that's these federal law enforcement agencies, whether that's Congress, that people get an insight into exactly how the system got so broken.

00:34:45.140 Because the only way to fix it is if we can get rid of that legislation.

00:34:48.840 And my main concern is that 30 days are going to go by.

00:34:51.860 All of these folks are going to go up about their merry way.

00:34:54.320 And we're still going to be stuck with all this bad law.

00:34:56.920 He's like, we know what's wrong.

00:34:58.240 We know what's wrong.

00:34:59.120 We know exactly what's wrong.

00:35:00.920 And if they don't fix it, we're going to be back here.

00:35:03.760 Thank goodness the president stepped in here.

00:35:05.740 And the citizens, I go back to the media narrative here, Senator.

00:35:08.960 The citizens overwhelmingly trust Donald Trump to fight crime more than they trusted Joe Biden and the citizens in Washington, D.C.

00:35:19.000 Overwhelmingly are trusting the strategy of Donald Trump than their own city council members and their mayor.

00:35:25.300 And that is a threat, I think, to all these other high crime cities, Memphis, Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans.

00:35:32.200 Philadelphia, Chicago.

00:35:33.220 San Francisco, L.A., because, yeah, if this works, how do you then say no when the president offers you help or National Guard?

00:35:43.560 So understand, this is the same principle with securing the border.

00:35:47.200 So a year ago at the State of the Union address, Joe Biden said he could not secure the border.

00:35:51.920 He needed new legislation from Congress in order to secure the border.

00:35:55.620 We had at the time the highest rate of illegal immigration in our nation's history.

00:35:59.260 We had criminals and murderers and gang members and rapists and child molesters and terrorists streaming across the border.

00:36:06.040 And he said he was helpless to fix it.

00:36:08.240 Donald Trump came in and the rate of illegal border crossings dropped over 99 percent.

00:36:16.320 As President Trump said in the most recent State of the Union address, it turns out we didn't need new legislation.

00:36:22.420 We just needed a new president.

00:36:24.360 The same is true in D.C.

00:36:26.280 If we see violent crime numbers continue to go down and stay down, that demonstrates we can solve crime in other cities, too.

00:36:35.280 And the reason residents of your city are being murdered is because the Democrat mayors and the Democrat city councils care more about the radical leftists who hate the police,

00:36:46.060 who want to defund the police, who want to abolish the police, than they care about your family and your children.

00:36:51.520 Look, it spoke volumes when China's President Xi came to visit San Francisco a few years ago and Gavin Newsom came in and cleaned up San Francisco and took out the homeless people and took out the drug addicts and the streets were sparkling.

00:37:06.860 And I got to say, even if you are a left wing Bolshevik in San Francisco, a tiny voice in the back of your head must have said, wait a second, if they could clean up the streets today, why didn't they clean up the streets last week?

00:37:24.200 Why do my kids matter less than the president of China?

00:37:30.300 And so this is an existential threat to Democrats who want to say, we're helpless, we can't stop crime.

00:37:37.040 And by the way, part of their message is the only way to stop crime is to disarm law abiding citizens.

00:37:43.360 That gun control doesn't solve it, but locking up violent criminals does.

00:37:48.880 And spoiler alert, that is what works in stopping violent crime.

00:37:52.540 Then the Democrats have a massive challenge.

00:37:55.480 And I want you to listen to Caroline Levitt talking about some of the results we've seen in just one week in D.C.

00:38:00.520 Give a listen.

00:38:01.500 President Trump's efforts to make D.C. safe again are working.

00:38:04.940 There have been a total of four hundred and sixty five arrests since the start of this operation on Thursday, August 7th.

00:38:12.540 Last night, there were a total of 52 arrests, including the arrest of an illegal alien MS-13 gang member with convictions for DWI and drug possession.

00:38:22.460 Thanks to President Trump's leadership in the outstanding work of both federal and local law enforcement, dangerous gang members like the one picked up last night will not be allowed on the streets of our nation's capital.

00:38:34.400 Other arrests last night included assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing, parole violation for robbery, murder, outstanding warrant for attempted murder, assault on federal law enforcement officer and felony assault.

00:38:47.680 Four more homeless encampments were also removed during yesterday's reporting period.

00:38:51.680 To date, a total of 48 homeless encampments have been cleared in Washington, D.C. by multi-agency teams.

00:38:59.080 MPD patrol units are actively working with city officials to locate and clear additional encampments and remove homeless residents off of Washington's streets.

00:39:08.300 And despite fake narratives from the media, again, a significant number of the arrests have been in high crime areas of D.C.

00:39:15.000 In fact, nearly half of all of the non-illegal alien-related arrests have occurred in Wards 7 and 8, the two wards that have the highest number of violent crime, as well as homicides and assaults with dangerous weapons last year.

00:39:30.280 So while Democrats continue to coddle violent criminals, President Trump and this administration are focused on putting them behind bars and unapologetically standing up for the safety of law-abiding American citizens.

00:39:42.660 And the White House will continue to provide all of you with the results of this operation in the days ahead.

00:39:47.720 By the way, this goes back to the narrative.

00:39:52.020 When this was announced, the president was going to do this.

00:39:54.860 That night, I was doing Abby Phillips' show on CNN.

00:39:58.880 And all of the panelists were losing their minds saying, Donald Trump, this was going to do nothing.

00:40:04.200 They said he's putting them on the National Mall where there's no crime. 0.91

00:40:07.940 He's a dictator.

00:40:08.980 They're not going to put the law enforcement where the real crime is.

00:40:11.860 That's why this is a waste of resources.

00:40:13.960 This is just him showing and flexing his muscles that he can do this because the president, this is what a dictator does.

00:40:21.620 Yet, you're the crime stats there.

00:40:23.660 Where are they fighting crime?

00:40:25.060 Where the criminals are.

00:40:26.860 And I said it, then I'll say it again.

00:40:28.520 It's amazing how much the left and the media hates Donald Trump so much.

00:40:34.120 They don't even care if they're able to save lives through this.

00:40:38.040 They just hate the fact that Donald Trump wants to fight crime.

00:40:41.320 So whatever he says he wants to do, we're going to fight it and lie and slander him.

00:40:46.320 And regardless of how many people lose their lives in D.C. or any other city when this comes out.

00:40:51.620 Yeah, look, that is exactly right.

00:40:53.460 And I will point out those very high crime neighborhoods in D.C. are overwhelmingly African-American. 1.00

00:41:00.700 And the woke left-wing Democrat mayor painted the words Black Lives Matter on the street in a giant mural.

00:41:08.340 They've removed that now.

00:41:10.000 But when it comes to actually protecting black lives, understand that a very significant percentage of the murder victims from these violent criminals are African-Americans.

00:41:21.680 And so Donald Trump and Republicans are stepping in and saving black lives. 0.55

00:41:27.240 And the position of Democrats in the media is those black lives do not matter. 0.70

00:41:31.760 They'd rather they be victims of murder than actually have law enforcement put violent criminals in jail. 0.94

00:41:39.760 And, Ben, when I say that, that sounds unbelievably harsh.

00:41:44.760 But I want to ask you seriously, give me an alternative explanation.

00:41:49.620 If the explanation is not that the Democrats do not give a damn about whether Black Lives Matter

00:41:57.620 and whether they're saving African-Americans from being victims of homicide,

00:42:01.700 then why are they so adamantly opposed to supporting law enforcement putting violent criminals in jail?

00:42:08.000 Yeah, no, this is the Democratic Party now.

00:42:09.900 They'd rather see Donald Trump fail than actually save American lives.

00:42:13.640 Don't forget, we do the show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

00:42:16.260 Also, this episode is up on YouTube.

00:42:18.120 So if you want to watch it, we put it up there on YouTube as well.

00:42:21.360 Hit that subscribe or auto-download button.

00:42:23.780 We're going to keep giving you the stats out of D.C.

00:42:25.980 because I promise you the media is not going to do it.

00:42:28.280 We cover these stories, give you the facts.

00:42:30.840 Please share it wherever you can on social media.

00:42:33.640 And the senator and I will see you back here on Friday morning.

00:42:37.400 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:42:40.280 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - August 20, 2025

Trump Bringing Peace to the Ukraine War plus DC Crime Plummets

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