Verdict with Ted Cruz - January 27, 2025


Trump Conquers Colombia, CIA Comes Clean on COVID & Confirmations Accelerate


Episode Stats


Length

34 minutes

Words per minute

172.53229

Word count

5,891

Sentence count

423

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Toxicity

9

sentences flagged

Hate speech

22

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joins Sen. Ben Fergus (D-NJ) to discuss a new war with Colombia over illegal immigrants, CIA Director John Ratcliffe's confirmation, and why Joe Biden and Kamala Harris should be deported.

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.
00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.200 Welcome, it is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz,
00:00:07.640 Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:08.880 Senator, nice to be with you on this Monday.
00:00:11.400 And my oh my, do we have some fun things to talk about,
00:00:14.460 including a very quick war with the U.S. and Columbia
00:00:19.380 over illegal immigrants. 0.59
00:00:21.860 What a difference a weak wit makes.
00:00:24.000 A week ago, Joe Biden was still president.
00:00:26.700 Now, just seven days later, Marines are on our southern border.
00:00:32.260 Catch and release is over.
00:00:33.980 We are deporting illegal immigrants. 1.00
00:00:36.120 We are arresting thousands of criminal illegal immigrants, 1.00
00:00:39.140 including murderers, including child molesters, including gang members.
00:00:42.840 And the nation of Columbia tried to stand up and say,
00:00:47.100 we will not allow Colombians to come back. 1.00
00:00:49.760 Trump immediately retaliated, threatening tariffs.
00:00:53.560 And within hours, Columbia backed down.
00:00:55.900 And it went so far.
00:00:57.180 The president of Columbia, a radical socialist,
00:00:59.640 said he would send his presidential plane to America
00:01:03.820 to pick up the Colombian illegal immigrants.
00:01:07.780 It is an incredible victory for President Trump,
00:01:10.720 for the nation, for securing the border in just hours.
00:01:14.620 That is a big, big deal.
00:01:16.180 But that's not all that's going on.
00:01:18.000 We also have the CIA has confirmed its own judgment
00:01:21.380 that the COVID virus originated in China.
00:01:25.780 That's something you and I have talked about.
00:01:27.660 We've talked about on Verdict for a long time,
00:01:30.020 within hours of John Ratcliffe being confirmed as the director of the CIA.
00:01:34.440 He made that public.
00:01:35.520 We're going to talk about that as well.
00:01:37.040 And finally, we're going to talk about confirmation.
00:01:39.160 The cabinet members that have already been confirmed,
00:01:41.260 who's on deck.
00:01:42.520 I've told you within 30 days,
00:01:44.040 every single Trump cabinet member will be confirmed.
00:01:46.460 We'll walk you through exactly where that stands.
00:01:49.400 Yeah, it's going to be a really fun show today.
00:01:52.040 I also want to remind you about something really important,
00:01:54.440 and that is that today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
00:01:58.880 When we remember the great evil of the Holocaust, 0.99
00:02:01.880 when millions of Jews were slaughtered during the Nazis' reign of terror.
00:02:06.460 Today, the rise in global anti-Semitism
00:02:09.420 and the constant attacks on Israel
00:02:12.740 show us that it's more important than ever
00:02:15.220 to remember the atrocities of the Holocaust
00:02:17.340 and to ensure that it never happens again.
00:02:21.300 That's why I partnered with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
00:02:25.760 They provide food, shelter, and safety to Jews in Israel and around the world,
00:02:31.080 including those remaining Holocaust survivors.
00:02:34.780 Now, your donation today will help provide food, water, medicine,
00:02:38.680 and other basic necessities to the Jewish communities in need.
00:02:42.500 And through your gift, you will stand with the Jewish people
00:02:45.960 and against this growing anti-Semitism and hatred
00:02:49.100 that we're witnessing around the world.
00:02:51.580 So give a gift to show your support of the Jewish people today
00:02:55.400 by visiting supportifcj.org.
00:02:58.940 That's one word, supportifcj.org.
00:03:02.860 You can also call to make a donation, 888-488-IFCJ.
00:03:08.760 That's 888-488-IFCJ.
00:03:13.620 Or online at supportifcj.org.
00:03:17.920 So, Senator, before we get into the big war with Colombia,
00:03:20.500 I want to start with the incredible news of the deportations
00:03:24.540 that are taking place with violent rapists, murderers, gang members,
00:03:30.880 drug traffickers that ICE is picking up, not just in one city,
00:03:35.100 but all over the country, people that could have been picked up
00:03:39.000 that were walking among us by the Biden-Harris administration,
00:03:42.500 and they refused to do it.
00:03:44.840 Yeah.
00:03:45.480 Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did not care that murderers and rapists
00:03:49.220 were allowed to wander free.
00:03:51.100 They would not arrest them.
00:03:52.060 They would not pick them up.
00:03:53.200 In just a week, thousands of illegal immigrants have already been arrested.
00:03:57.240 Here are a few of the examples the White House has put out
00:03:59.560 that they've arrested.
00:04:01.060 Edgar De La Cruz Monzo, a convicted child rapist,
00:04:04.480 was arrested by ICE in Seattle on January 25th.
00:04:09.040 Or a Jordanian national with suspected ties to ISIS
00:04:12.880 was arrested in Buffalo on January 24th.
00:04:17.200 An MS-13 gang member from El Salvador
00:04:20.240 wanted for aggravated homicide
00:04:23.040 was arrested in Los Angeles also on January 24th.
00:04:26.860 A Mexican national wanted for murder 0.89
00:04:30.760 was arrested in Los Angeles on January 24th.
00:04:34.800 A Honduran national was found with cocaine, fentanyl, and a firearm.
00:04:40.340 He was arrested in Seattle on January 24th.
00:04:43.920 A Ethiopian national who's a convicted sex offender 0.99
00:04:48.680 was arrested in New Orleans on January 24th.
00:04:52.980 A Honduran national with convictions for driving while impaired
00:04:57.400 and pending charges including assault and firearms offenses
00:05:01.020 was arrested in Atlanta on January 25th.
00:05:04.480 A Brazilian national convicted of vehicular manslaughter
00:05:08.400 was arrested in Boston on January 25th.
00:05:12.160 A Mexican national convicted of three counts of aggravated DUI
00:05:16.340 was arrested in Phoenix on January 24th.
00:05:19.820 Those are just a few of the examples.
00:05:21.780 And let me ask you something, Ben.
00:05:23.420 Why the hell were none of them arrested
00:05:25.240 when Joe Biden and the Democrats were in charge?
00:05:27.520 Yeah, it's the question that every American should be asking
00:05:30.800 is why were they purposely allowing them to stay and walk among us
00:05:34.680 and how many people's lives were affected?
00:05:37.040 How many people's lives were lost?
00:05:39.040 How many children were abused
00:05:40.900 because of people like this in this country?
00:05:42.820 They knew where they were
00:05:44.120 and they didn't go get them.
00:05:46.700 They didn't deport them.
00:05:48.180 Something that they've done in less than a week.
00:05:50.500 Notice ICE was able to find them and arrest them within days.
00:05:54.060 Many of those were January 24th, January 25th,
00:05:56.680 which means we had the information.
00:05:58.460 We knew how to get them.
00:05:59.480 What was missing was the political leadership.
00:06:02.120 It's not that Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Democrats
00:06:05.740 couldn't find these murderers, couldn't find these rapists,
00:06:09.100 couldn't find these terrorists, couldn't find these gang members,
00:06:11.820 couldn't find these child molesters.
00:06:13.480 They could find them.
00:06:14.920 It was actually pretty easy and straightforward for ICE to do so.
00:06:19.540 The reason they weren't arresting them
00:06:21.800 is the Democrats didn't want to arrest them.
00:06:25.240 And understand, it's not just Biden and Harris.
00:06:27.840 It is every Senate Democrat who over and over and over again,
00:06:31.400 when we tried to vote and say,
00:06:32.780 let's go after the criminals, they voted no, no, no, straight party line.
00:06:37.340 I want you to listen to Tom Homan.
00:06:39.820 The new border controls are talking about what they're doing on the border
00:06:45.320 and what they intend to keep doing.
00:06:46.880 To deport all of those people. 0.76
00:06:48.620 Well, I'll leave it up to Congress.
00:06:49.760 I think Congress, the President has a mandate.
00:06:51.620 This is the number one issue that people voted on.
00:06:53.440 I think Congress has a mandate to give us the money we need.
00:06:56.780 What price do you put on national security?
00:06:58.660 More detention centers?
00:07:00.000 What price do you put on all these young ladies 1.00
00:07:03.300 that have been raped and murdered and burned alive? 0.57
00:07:05.200 What price do you put on that?
00:07:06.300 What price do you put on Lincoln Riley's life?
00:07:08.260 What price do you put on national security?
00:07:09.600 Like I just explained, when you have a surge like this,
00:07:12.060 we don't secure that border.
00:07:13.940 That's when national security threats under the country.
00:07:15.840 That's when sex trafficking goes up.
00:07:17.440 That's when, you know, that's when the fentanyl comes in
00:07:19.740 and kills a quarter million Americans.
00:07:21.280 I don't put a price in that.
00:07:22.560 And on those detention centers.
00:07:24.560 It's amazing how the media keeps arguing.
00:07:26.760 A quarter million Americans die from fentanyl, as he described it.
00:07:31.540 He also mentioned Lincoln Riley,
00:07:33.300 and the Lincoln Riley Act was finally passed
00:07:35.720 because Republicans are in charge now.
00:07:38.480 And it is going to go, you know, to the present.
00:07:40.900 This is one of those moments where it should have been
00:07:42.880 completely bipartisan.
00:07:44.200 But these are all the things that the Biden-Harris administration stopped.
00:07:48.560 Well, they blocked it.
00:07:49.900 And by the way, one of their excuses for not deporting people,
00:07:54.140 the real reason they didn't deport people,
00:07:55.780 is they want the illegals here.
00:07:57.420 But one of their excuses is they say,
00:07:59.400 well, some countries wouldn't take them back.
00:08:01.320 I got to say, what we saw with Colombia in the last two days
00:08:05.620 has been stunning.
00:08:07.500 So the Trump administration was flying two different plane loads
00:08:11.240 of Colombian illegal immigrants to Colombia.
00:08:14.040 And the head of Colombia, Gustavo Petro,
00:08:17.500 who is a hardcore socialist, radical anti-American,
00:08:21.280 he decided, he announced,
00:08:23.220 we're not going to let the planes land.
00:08:25.180 We're not going to take them back.
00:08:26.560 Now, President Trump sent out the following truth social.
00:08:30.180 I just want to read you what the president says.
00:08:31.940 I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States
00:08:36.360 with a large number of illegal criminals were not allowed to land in Colombia.
00:08:41.940 This order was given by Colombia's socialist president, Gustavo Petro,
00:08:46.320 who is already very unpopular amongst his people.
00:08:50.140 Petro's denial of these flights has jeopardized the national security
00:08:53.560 and public safety of the United States.
00:08:55.920 So I have directed my administration to immediately take the following urgent
00:09:00.960 and decisive retaliatory measures.
00:09:04.340 Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States.
00:09:10.120 In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%.
00:09:14.440 A travel ban and immediate revocations on the Colombian government officials
00:09:20.220 and all allies and supporters.
00:09:23.700 Visa sanctions on all party members, family members,
00:09:28.140 and supporters of the Colombian government.
00:09:31.260 Enhanced customs and border protection inspections
00:09:34.460 of all Colombian nationals and cargo on national security grounds.
00:09:40.740 IEPA treasury, banking, and financial sanctions to be fully imposed.
00:09:46.900 These measures are just the beginning.
00:09:49.400 We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations
00:09:54.060 with regard to the acceptance and return of the criminals
00:09:58.460 they forced into the United States.
00:10:01.840 Now that truth was posted on January 26th at 1.28 p.m.
00:10:08.800 Within hours, Colombia completely caved.
00:10:14.380 The White House press secretary put out a statement that read as follows,
00:10:18.360 Quote, the government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump's terms,
00:10:24.720 including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia
00:10:30.420 returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft,
00:10:35.820 without limitation or delay.
00:10:38.560 Based on this agreement, the fully drafted IEPA tariffs and sanctions
00:10:43.340 will be held in reserve and not signed unless Colombia fails to honor this agreement.
00:10:50.300 The visa sanctions issued by the State Department and enhanced inspections from Customs and Border Protection
00:10:56.640 will remain in effect until the first plane loan of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.
00:11:03.740 Today's events make clear to the world that America is respected again.
00:11:10.100 President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation's sovereignty,
00:11:15.120 and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate
00:11:18.600 in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.
00:11:24.100 It's amazing how fast this happened and also the back story.
00:11:28.360 So this tweet that went out, went out apparently while Donald Trump was playing golf,
00:11:34.200 and he was clearly focused on this at the same time.
00:11:39.040 He's been all over the country from North Carolina all the way out to L.A.,
00:11:43.020 then to Vegas and back to Miami.
00:11:45.180 And you look at the timeline here.
00:11:47.180 It is incredible.
00:11:48.760 This man doesn't stop.
00:11:50.460 And he was ready for this fight.
00:11:52.460 His team was ready for this fight.
00:11:54.520 That is, I think, maybe the biggest blessing of him not getting reelected in 2020
00:11:59.480 is he had time to think about, hey, if I go back, what would I do differently?
00:12:03.920 They're clearly operating at a different level of efficiency this time compared to 2016,
00:12:09.360 and it's paying off big.
00:12:11.680 It is indeed.
00:12:13.420 And I got to say, the timing of it, as I mentioned,
00:12:16.880 1.28 p.m. was when Trump's Truth Social came out on January 26th.
00:12:22.740 Do you know when the press secretary sent out her statement that Columbia had caved?
00:12:26.740 What time?
00:12:27.620 At 9.20 p.m. on 1.26.
00:12:31.100 So less than eight hours later.
00:12:33.340 That's how long it took for the Colombian president.
00:12:36.220 He didn't just say, okay, never mind.
00:12:37.640 You can let everyone in. 0.99
00:12:38.580 He said, I'll send my damn presidential plane to pick him up. 0.99
00:12:41.660 And that capitulation, and this is from a hardcore leftist who hates America, 0.99
00:12:47.580 it illustrates the strength and leverage the United States has.
00:12:52.140 Every country in the world wants to trade, wants access to the U.S. market.
00:12:56.640 That gives us leverage.
00:12:58.020 It's one of the things we've talked about a lot concerning tariffs,
00:13:00.740 which is that President Trump uses them as leverage.
00:13:03.380 Now, he likes tariffs generally, so we may see tariffs as a broader policy,
00:13:07.820 but he especially likes them as leverage to change conduct that is hurting America.
00:13:13.860 And, Ben, I want to ask you a simple question.
00:13:16.800 Can you imagine any universe in which Joe Biden or Kamala Harris would do this?
00:13:23.920 No, no chance in hell.
00:13:25.900 And, by the way, number one, you have to imagine a universe in which they're actually willing to deport someone,
00:13:31.180 and that's a big hypothetical.
00:13:32.520 But let's assume they sent two planes to Colombia,
00:13:37.060 and the Colombian president did what he did to Trump.
00:13:39.200 He would have done it to them, too, is say, we won't take them. 0.57
00:13:42.000 It is simply unimaginable that Biden or Harris would have had the backbone to do anything other than to meekly back down
00:13:51.760 and say, okay, we'll take the criminals back.
00:13:54.460 Like, this is, it is a simple illustration that America always had the power to enforce our borders
00:14:02.220 if we had a president who gave a damn about it and was willing to do what was necessary,
00:14:07.460 and thank God, finally we do.
00:14:09.940 It also sends a bigger message to other countries that we're going to have to deal with 0.98
00:14:13.680 because there's a lot of other countries, and I think, simplistically, a lot of people think,
00:14:17.100 well, okay, the southern border, we have an issue with Mexico.
00:14:20.000 Mexico, let's be very clear.
00:14:22.040 There are millions of people that are in America illegally from countries all over the world,
00:14:27.120 and these types of flights are going to need to land in many other countries.
00:14:31.140 The precedent for what Donald Trump put out and saying it's not just going to be a tariff of 25%,
00:14:37.060 but in a week it's going to go to 50%.
00:14:38.680 It's not just that.
00:14:39.640 We're going to make sure that anybody in your country, in your government, family, allies, friends,
00:14:43.340 can't come to America. 0.77
00:14:44.680 We're going to get rid of the visas. 1.00
00:14:45.480 And by the way, that piece, listen, if you're the foreign minister and your wife wants to go to New York to go shopping,
00:14:52.520 that's a real problem if she's not allowed to go to New York to go shopping. 1.00
00:14:56.180 You want to talk about that.
00:14:57.200 That's one of the areas of leverage that actually causes foreign leaders to freak out
00:15:02.460 when they're not allowed to access America.
00:15:05.520 For many reasons, people travel from all over the world and want to come to America,
00:15:10.620 and it's using leverage.
00:15:12.320 And we've talked on this pod a lot about the enormous damage that was done to America under Joe Biden
00:15:19.180 because he was so weak, nobody was afraid of him.
00:15:22.740 All of our enemies are terrified of Donald Trump.
00:15:26.900 That is very, very good.
00:15:28.860 Well, and it goes back to this.
00:15:30.180 Now every country that we're going to need to take these planes, 1.00
00:15:33.580 and just so people understand, they had agreed that these plans could land in Columbia.
00:15:39.220 It wasn't like Donald Trump randomly just had two plans headed towards Columbia.
00:15:42.900 This had been prearranged.
00:15:44.420 The president said yes.
00:15:45.360 Then in the air, he said no.
00:15:46.760 They revoked the authorization midair.
00:15:49.160 And I got to say, look, look, there's an online meme that is F-A-F-O.
00:15:56.000 And because this is a family-friendly podcast, I'm not going to spell it out.
00:16:00.140 But I'm going to say, to speak euphemistically, screw around and find out.
00:16:06.100 Yeah.
00:16:06.600 And Donald Trump tweeted that out.
00:16:10.460 Like, okay, that's just pretty damn funny.
00:16:13.640 So every other country now that we've got to deal with, 0.97
00:16:16.840 wasn't this clearly, I would argue, probably a pre-planned,
00:16:21.940 any country that messes with us, here is what we're going to do back to them. 0.97
00:16:25.600 And now every country knows you're going to get the same treatment.
00:16:29.560 Look, I'll tell you, I met a week ago with a senior government official from Canada
00:16:34.280 who was very concerned about the threatened tariffs on Canada.
00:16:37.580 I was saying, okay, what do we do?
00:16:39.700 And I basically said, listen, he's not bluffing.
00:16:42.720 What I would advise you do is lean in vigorously and aggressively
00:16:46.300 to do everything humanly possible to help us secure the borders.
00:16:49.480 Because if you don't, you're going to see those tariffs.
00:16:52.720 And no matter how aggressive you were thinking of being to secure the border,
00:16:56.960 triple down on that.
00:16:58.120 Because this is not a bluff.
00:17:00.460 It is a real incredible promise.
00:17:02.440 And I got to say, as we saw in less than eight hours,
00:17:06.660 it can spur incredible change of conduct.
00:17:09.220 By the way, in the first Trump term,
00:17:11.220 we saw the same thing prompt the Remain in Mexico agreement with Mexico
00:17:15.520 for the same reasons.
00:17:17.260 Well, and now it seems like he's willing to double down even more than he was back then.
00:17:21.420 And if anyone was doubting his resolve on securing the southern border,
00:17:25.640 just call Colombia's Petro and say, hey, how'd it work out for you?
00:17:30.040 Because when you have to send the presidential plane to pick up migrants 1.00
00:17:32.560 after Trump announced the sanctions,
00:17:34.000 that is the biggest failure I've ever witnessed
00:17:38.180 in a political gamesmanship like this in modern political history.
00:17:42.080 Yeah, and look, I'll say within an hour of Colombia refusing the planes to land
00:17:50.900 and Trump announcing the consequences, here's what I tweeted out.
00:17:54.580 I tweeted out, Colombian President Petro is playing with fire.
00:17:58.520 After he took over Colombia in the summer of 2022,
00:18:01.740 I worried this would happen.
00:18:03.480 I introduced the Caution Act,
00:18:05.420 which required suspending aid to Colombia
00:18:07.680 unless they cooperated to reduce illegal immigration.
00:18:10.580 That is child's play compared to what will happen now
00:18:14.940 if Petro doesn't reverse course.
00:18:17.540 And about six hours later, he did.
00:18:20.400 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00
00:18:22.580 More out of themselves, their businesses,
00:18:24.540 their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:18:26.700 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce
00:18:28.320 the Honest Talk podcast.
00:18:30.420 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:18:31.600 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:18:32.840 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:18:36.520 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers.
00:18:39.900 All at different stages of their journey.
00:18:42.360 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:18:45.580 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio
00:18:47.960 or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:18:49.620 I want to move to this other big headline,
00:18:53.360 and that deals with the CIA and releasing new analysis
00:18:58.120 on the COVID origins.
00:19:00.720 It doesn't matter where you read the headline,
00:19:03.020 whether it's Fox News, Politico, AP, BBC, Wall Street Journal.
00:19:07.080 They're all writing the same article now.
00:19:09.420 And I'll go to Politico.
00:19:10.660 CIA now says COVID-19 is more likely
00:19:13.520 to have originated from a lab leak.
00:19:16.900 Now, the most interesting part about this transparency
00:19:20.020 that we're getting from the CIA director,
00:19:22.480 John Ratcliffe, a friend of both of ours,
00:19:24.620 is the fact that he made it clear,
00:19:26.560 hey, I'm releasing information
00:19:28.400 that they had already come to a conclusion on, Senator,
00:19:32.140 when Biden and Harris were in charge.
00:19:34.760 They just didn't want the American people to know it.
00:19:37.440 So if you think I'm the one giving you this intel,
00:19:40.140 it's not me.
00:19:41.160 This is intel from Biden and Harris that they hid from you.
00:19:44.660 Yeah, so the CIA had already come to this conclusion.
00:19:48.540 And for a number of years,
00:19:51.720 the CIA's public position was
00:19:53.560 it could not conclude with certainty
00:19:55.740 where the pandemic started.
00:19:57.260 And yet, two days after John Ratcliffe was sworn in
00:20:00.580 as the new director of the CIA,
00:20:02.560 they issued a public statement that said,
00:20:04.360 quote,
00:20:05.160 we have low confidence in this judgment
00:20:06.940 and will continue to evaluate any available,
00:20:09.380 credible new intelligence reporting
00:20:10.880 or open source information
00:20:12.720 that could change CIA's assessment.
00:20:15.760 And by the way,
00:20:16.300 low confidence typically
00:20:17.420 when the intelligence community has a conclusion
00:20:20.400 that they will report it with low confidence,
00:20:22.920 with moderate confidence,
00:20:24.440 or with high confidence.
00:20:25.560 So they're saying that they're not convinced
00:20:27.700 it's absolutely right,
00:20:28.880 but they think it's correct,
00:20:31.100 but it's at the lowest confidence level.
00:20:33.040 And they did note,
00:20:36.880 CIA continues to assess
00:20:38.220 that both research-related
00:20:39.440 and natural origin scenarios
00:20:40.820 of the COVID pandemic remain plausible.
00:20:44.040 It is striking, however,
00:20:47.300 that, as you just said a second ago,
00:20:50.160 the CIA had concluded this some time ago.
00:20:53.520 It's just under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,
00:20:56.360 they didn't bother to tell the American people.
00:20:59.000 Listen to John Ratcliffe explaining this.
00:21:00.780 Part of what we have to do
00:21:03.040 is we have to restore Americans' trust
00:21:05.700 in our own institutions,
00:21:07.120 like the intelligence community
00:21:08.760 and law enforcement,
00:21:09.700 and that includes the CIA.
00:21:12.620 And, you know,
00:21:13.040 one of the things the president stressed,
00:21:15.420 you know,
00:21:15.600 the purpose of the CIA
00:21:17.020 is to protect Americans,
00:21:19.080 to keep us safe from foreign threats 1.00
00:21:20.740 and foreign adversaries,
00:21:22.040 but we also need to be truthful with Americans.
00:21:24.900 And he has stressed to me and others
00:21:26.680 that, you know,
00:21:27.380 these aren't mutually exclusive missions.
00:21:29.560 We can do both.
00:21:30.500 And so in the case of the CIA,
00:21:32.580 which is the best foreign intelligence service
00:21:35.040 in the world,
00:21:36.220 after five years,
00:21:37.720 to not have a public assessment,
00:21:39.540 to be honest with the American people
00:21:41.460 about where the likely source
00:21:43.740 of a pandemic
00:21:45.060 that killed millions around the world,
00:21:48.200 including a million Americans,
00:21:49.900 and really impacted
00:21:51.160 all 345 million Americans in some way.
00:21:54.620 People lost jobs.
00:21:55.680 They lost houses.
00:21:56.880 They lost their health.
00:21:58.340 They lost their businesses.
00:22:00.420 All of that.
00:22:01.580 And so I had the opportunity
00:22:03.120 on my first day
00:22:04.240 to make public an assessment
00:22:06.140 that actually took place
00:22:07.380 in the Biden administration.
00:22:08.920 So it can't be accused
00:22:10.040 of being political.
00:22:11.100 And it does assess,
00:22:13.200 the CIA has assessed,
00:22:14.940 that the most likely cause
00:22:16.560 of this pandemic
00:22:18.160 that has wrought
00:22:18.880 so much devastation
00:22:20.020 around the world
00:22:20.620 was because of
00:22:21.540 a lab-related incident
00:22:22.580 in Wuhan.
00:22:23.260 And so we'll continue
00:22:24.280 to investigate
00:22:25.040 that moving forward.
00:22:27.240 But I think it was important
00:22:28.740 for the American people
00:22:29.700 to see an institution
00:22:31.560 like the CIA
00:22:32.380 get off the sidelines
00:22:33.580 and be truthful
00:22:35.100 about what our intelligence shows
00:22:36.680 at the same time
00:22:37.660 of protecting us
00:22:39.460 from adversaries like China
00:22:41.160 if they caused
00:22:41.860 or contributed to this.
00:22:43.200 I mean, Senator, wow.
00:22:44.600 What else can you say?
00:22:45.740 This is all intel
00:22:47.340 that we already had
00:22:48.620 that they hid
00:22:49.580 and lied to the American people about.
00:22:51.380 Well, listen,
00:22:52.880 and I know John Ratcliffe well.
00:22:54.300 He's a good friend of mine.
00:22:55.980 He is someone,
00:22:56.780 I sat and spent about an hour
00:22:58.180 talking with him
00:22:59.060 a week ago
00:23:00.320 before his confirmation.
00:23:01.460 And I'll tell you,
00:23:01.960 one of the things
00:23:02.540 I urge John to do
00:23:03.780 is bring maximum transparency
00:23:07.440 that's possible.
00:23:08.420 Look, the nature of the CIA,
00:23:10.040 you can't be transparent
00:23:11.040 in everything.
00:23:11.700 Obviously, we don't want
00:23:12.400 the public to know
00:23:13.260 the identity of covert agents
00:23:15.320 or, you know,
00:23:16.820 secret wiretaps
00:23:17.860 or things that would
00:23:18.780 jeopardize national security.
00:23:20.400 But the consequences
00:23:23.560 of the politicization
00:23:25.740 and weaponization
00:23:26.640 of both law enforcement
00:23:27.760 and the intelligence community
00:23:29.000 is that the public's trust
00:23:31.140 in those institutions
00:23:32.340 has been severely diminished.
00:23:34.040 That's what John was talking about
00:23:35.760 in that clip you just played.
00:23:37.020 And so I urged him,
00:23:38.200 by the way,
00:23:38.540 it's the same thing
00:23:39.100 I've urged Pam Bondi,
00:23:40.300 who's been nominated
00:23:41.160 to be attorney general.
00:23:42.040 It's the same thing
00:23:42.540 I've urged Kash Patel,
00:23:43.820 who's been nominated
00:23:44.740 to be FBI director,
00:23:46.960 is have the maximum transparency possible,
00:23:49.960 and in particular,
00:23:50.700 I've urged them
00:23:51.580 with respect to COVID
00:23:53.200 and the origins of COVID
00:23:54.700 and, by the way,
00:23:56.080 any U.S. government complicity
00:23:57.780 in terms of funding
00:23:58.680 the Chinese research
00:23:59.840 and the gain-of-function research
00:24:01.900 that may have created
00:24:03.320 the COVID virus,
00:24:04.300 that we need maximum transparency
00:24:06.040 concerning that in particular.
00:24:08.000 And I think John Ratcliffe
00:24:08.900 is following through with that.
00:24:10.580 I've also urged maximum transparency
00:24:12.640 concerning January 6th
00:24:13.960 and any U.S. government informants
00:24:17.820 who may have been involved,
00:24:19.020 who may have enticed
00:24:19.980 or entrapped people
00:24:21.680 into conduct on that day
00:24:23.000 to make that public as well.
00:24:24.780 And I'm hopeful,
00:24:25.620 and by the way,
00:24:26.520 I'll mention,
00:24:27.620 Trump is also releasing the files
00:24:29.780 on JFK and RFK
00:24:32.120 and Martin Luther King's
00:24:33.760 assassinations.
00:24:35.300 I will note, Ben,
00:24:36.440 when Trump said
00:24:37.500 he was releasing the JFK files...
00:24:39.520 I know where you're going with this.
00:24:40.700 I did at least tweet
00:24:42.460 just wondering,
00:24:44.760 what are the non-extradition countries again?
00:24:47.840 I'm asking for a friend.
00:24:49.860 All right, you can't say that
00:24:51.120 without telling the backstory
00:24:52.060 on this one, right?
00:24:53.620 Can you remind people
00:24:55.280 the humor here on this?
00:24:56.420 Sure.
00:24:56.820 During 2016,
00:24:58.360 Trump accused my father
00:25:00.100 of killing JFK,
00:25:02.420 which, for the record,
00:25:03.700 no, my dad did not kill JFK.
00:25:05.440 He did kill Jimmy Hoffa.
00:25:06.480 Jimmy Hoffa's buried
00:25:07.640 in my dad's backyard,
00:25:08.960 but he didn't kill JFK.
00:25:10.940 And so it's a thing.
00:25:15.660 And so if he's releasing
00:25:16.600 the JFK files,
00:25:20.440 I got to tell you,
00:25:21.120 I'm buying a plane ticket
00:25:22.340 for my dad to go to Bolivia right now.
00:25:24.380 Between that and the Zodiac Killer,
00:25:25.920 you're just making headlines,
00:25:27.100 my friend.
00:25:28.240 And it is amazing.
00:25:30.040 So, Ben,
00:25:30.420 there is actually a real poll
00:25:31.920 that I have seen
00:25:32.740 that show,
00:25:33.900 this was a few years ago,
00:25:34.980 that 28% of Floridians
00:25:38.540 believe I may well be
00:25:41.120 the Zodiac Killer.
00:25:43.560 That's one I would frame
00:25:44.780 and put on my desk.
00:25:45.800 I'm not going to lie.
00:25:46.400 It really is.
00:25:47.060 And given that the Zodiac Killer
00:25:48.480 killed a number of people
00:25:49.420 in Northern California
00:25:50.360 in the 1960s
00:25:51.480 before I was born,
00:25:53.080 that's an amazing talent 0.50
00:25:54.540 to be able to murder 0.93
00:25:55.540 in utero,
00:25:56.620 to reach, like,
00:25:57.740 back in time,
00:25:59.700 that's just,
00:26:02.460 you know,
00:26:02.620 I'm kind of proud of that.
00:26:03.780 I mean,
00:26:04.320 if liberals need another reason
00:26:05.940 to be afraid of you,
00:26:06.720 just know that Senator Cruz
00:26:07.880 can time travel
00:26:08.780 per internet report.
00:26:10.720 So, put it out there.
00:26:11.320 As the meme says, 0.58
00:26:12.500 F-A-F-O. 1.00
00:26:13.640 I love it.
00:26:14.920 All right,
00:26:15.240 let's talk about
00:26:16.060 the last thing on our list.
00:26:17.680 And it is,
00:26:18.540 one,
00:26:19.440 were you right in your prediction?
00:26:21.000 When did you get home?
00:26:23.120 If you listen to our last show,
00:26:24.900 we were talking about
00:26:25.480 are Democrats going to
00:26:26.680 hold out through the weekend?
00:26:27.980 Are you going to have to
00:26:28.540 stay in D.C. all weekend?
00:26:29.860 Are you going to get to come home?
00:26:31.420 They were holding up
00:26:32.740 the nominations yet again.
00:26:34.400 So, tell us how that went down.
00:26:36.320 When did you get back?
00:26:37.300 Were you right?
00:26:38.400 So, I was right.
00:26:39.620 I said I thought
00:26:40.400 we'd get back Saturday.
00:26:42.000 I thought the Democrats
00:26:43.080 would fight tooth and nail
00:26:44.400 to try to beat Pete Hegseth.
00:26:46.020 I said they'd lose.
00:26:47.300 And I said when they lost,
00:26:48.520 they'd give in
00:26:49.260 and they want to get out of town
00:26:50.420 because they want to get home
00:26:51.620 just like we do.
00:26:52.880 So, that's exactly what happened.
00:26:54.520 So, we were there.
00:26:55.440 We were there late.
00:26:56.680 Friday night.
00:26:58.280 And then we ended up
00:26:59.980 finishing the vote
00:27:00.760 Saturday morning
00:27:01.500 and we all flew out
00:27:02.340 Saturday afternoon.
00:27:03.600 So, you and I are recording.
00:27:05.820 It is 12-11 in the morning
00:27:07.300 right now,
00:27:07.920 Sunday night,
00:27:08.420 Monday morning.
00:27:09.580 I'm in Houston.
00:27:11.300 And tomorrow morning,
00:27:12.240 I'll fly back to D.C.
00:27:13.360 to go back to the Senate
00:27:14.240 tomorrow.
00:27:14.700 So, we did get out.
00:27:16.040 And where are we
00:27:16.840 on the confirmations?
00:27:17.620 So, right now,
00:27:18.940 four cabinet members
00:27:20.060 have been confirmed.
00:27:21.380 The first to be confirmed
00:27:22.640 was Marco Rubio
00:27:23.560 as Secretary of State.
00:27:24.600 He was confirmed
00:27:25.300 on January 20th.
00:27:27.100 The vote was
00:27:28.140 99 to nothing.
00:27:30.560 The second to be confirmed
00:27:31.920 was the guy that you just
00:27:32.860 played that clip from.
00:27:33.840 John Ratcliffe,
00:27:34.760 a CIA director.
00:27:36.200 The vote was
00:27:36.840 72 to 26.
00:27:38.540 So,
00:27:38.900 big bipartisan vote.
00:27:41.520 And it's striking,
00:27:43.120 though,
00:27:43.360 that the Democrats
00:27:44.660 delayed that several days
00:27:46.240 even though there was
00:27:47.560 clear bipartisan support
00:27:48.840 for him.
00:27:49.940 Ratcliffe should have been
00:27:50.900 confirmed on January 20th
00:27:52.380 also.
00:27:52.920 In fact,
00:27:53.240 we thought he was going to
00:27:54.440 and the Democrats
00:27:55.480 delayed it several days
00:27:56.820 just because they're
00:27:57.540 engaged in obstruction.
00:27:58.500 They're trying to delay
00:27:59.220 everything.
00:28:00.840 And we're way behind
00:28:01.660 schedule compared
00:28:02.540 to other administrations
00:28:03.660 just so people
00:28:04.240 understand that.
00:28:05.220 Way behind is strong,
00:28:06.460 but they're dragging
00:28:07.100 their feet.
00:28:07.720 And that's why
00:28:08.560 we rammed through
00:28:10.460 forced them to stay
00:28:11.560 through the weekend,
00:28:12.420 kept them late Friday night,
00:28:13.800 kept them there Saturday
00:28:14.720 to make clear,
00:28:15.900 listen,
00:28:16.200 if you delay,
00:28:16.920 we'll just motor through
00:28:18.060 until you can decide
00:28:19.540 do you want it to be
00:28:20.280 unpleasant or do you
00:28:21.380 want to move forward?
00:28:22.260 We're going to move
00:28:22.880 expeditiously and confirm
00:28:24.140 these nominees.
00:28:25.360 The Democrats,
00:28:26.140 if they want,
00:28:26.680 they can abuse
00:28:27.220 the procedural rules.
00:28:28.260 They can drag things out,
00:28:29.320 but that means
00:28:29.960 they're going to be there
00:28:30.580 on Fridays and Saturdays
00:28:31.780 and Sundays,
00:28:32.420 and they're not going home.
00:28:33.720 And that's the most
00:28:34.660 effective way to get them
00:28:35.660 to cave in,
00:28:37.300 which is what they did.
00:28:38.400 And so,
00:28:38.860 Friday night,
00:28:39.520 the third cabinet member
00:28:41.400 was confirmed.
00:28:42.160 That was Pete Hegseth.
00:28:43.460 That vote was 51 to 50.
00:28:45.260 More on that in a second.
00:28:46.120 I'll come back to that.
00:28:47.460 And then on Saturday,
00:28:48.480 we confirmed the fourth
00:28:49.540 cabinet member,
00:28:50.220 which is Christy Noem
00:28:51.140 for Secretary of Homeland Security.
00:28:53.300 She was confirmed 59-34.
00:28:55.480 So a respectable bipartisan vote,
00:28:58.220 not overwhelming,
00:28:59.120 but she got six Democrats. 1.00
00:29:02.780 And next week,
00:29:03.800 we have teed up
00:29:04.640 Scott Besant
00:29:05.420 for Secretary of Treasury,
00:29:07.260 Sean Duffy
00:29:08.000 for Secretary of Transportation,
00:29:10.440 Chris Wright
00:29:11.020 for Secretary of Energy,
00:29:12.760 and Doug Burgum
00:29:13.680 for Secretary of the Interior.
00:29:15.080 All of them
00:29:15.620 are out of committee.
00:29:16.380 All of them
00:29:16.760 are teed up.
00:29:17.700 I think all four of them
00:29:18.920 will be confirmed next week.
00:29:20.260 We may have some others
00:29:20.980 confirmed next week as well.
00:29:22.580 But we're moving expeditiously,
00:29:24.580 and as I said,
00:29:25.120 my prediction is
00:29:26.000 that we will confirm
00:29:27.720 all of Trump's cabinet nominees
00:29:29.500 within 30 days.
00:29:30.440 We also have next week
00:29:31.560 in judiciary,
00:29:32.120 we will vote Pam Bondi
00:29:34.300 out of committee,
00:29:35.520 and we'll have the hearing
00:29:36.700 on Kash Patel.
00:29:37.680 And by the way,
00:29:38.160 one of the things
00:29:38.740 I did last week
00:29:39.720 is participated in
00:29:41.780 in a moot preparation
00:29:42.980 with Kash Patel,
00:29:44.200 which was very productive.
00:29:45.320 Kash, I think,
00:29:45.740 is going to do a good job.
00:29:47.020 The Democrats are going
00:29:47.780 to go hard after Kash Patel.
00:29:49.700 They're going to go hard
00:29:50.780 after Tulsi Gabbard.
00:29:51.860 Those are their top two targets.
00:29:53.660 And then Pete Hexeth.
00:29:54.640 So Pete Hexeth,
00:29:56.000 they fired everything
00:29:57.780 they could at him.
00:29:58.620 They really wanted
00:29:59.680 to defeat Pete.
00:30:00.480 And the vote ended up
00:30:02.660 being 50-50
00:30:03.700 on the floor of the Senate.
00:30:04.760 So three Republicans
00:30:05.960 voted no.
00:30:08.560 Susan Collins,
00:30:09.520 which was not a surprise.
00:30:11.580 Lisa Murkowski,
00:30:13.300 again,
00:30:13.800 not a big surprise.
00:30:15.820 And Mitch McConnell,
00:30:17.120 who I have to admit,
00:30:18.020 I was not surprised
00:30:19.040 that Mitch voted no,
00:30:20.080 but that was the more surprising
00:30:21.500 of the three.
00:30:22.740 I will say Friday that was...
00:30:24.160 See, I was surprised
00:30:24.720 by that one,
00:30:25.240 so explain why you say
00:30:26.280 you weren't surprised.
00:30:26.980 I was shocked
00:30:28.200 knowing who he had voted
00:30:29.480 to confirm in the past
00:30:30.640 on the Democrat sides.
00:30:32.460 Was it more of an
00:30:33.460 inside baseball in D.C.?
00:30:34.640 Everybody thought,
00:30:35.120 yeah, he'd probably do this.
00:30:36.780 Explain why.
00:30:38.840 So several things.
00:30:40.220 One, I think it's fair to say
00:30:41.760 Mitch is not a fan
00:30:43.180 of Donald Trump,
00:30:43.960 to put that mildly.
00:30:45.940 I think both of them
00:30:47.660 can't stand each other.
00:30:49.480 I think, secondly,
00:30:51.040 Mitch, listen,
00:30:52.620 the odds are overwhelming.
00:30:54.860 Mitch is not going
00:30:55.420 to run for re-election,
00:30:56.420 which means he's got two years
00:30:57.700 and his term is up in 2026.
00:31:00.460 I think for his final two years,
00:31:02.380 Mitch has decided
00:31:03.340 he wants to be
00:31:04.060 basically John McCain.
00:31:05.580 He wants to fight
00:31:06.620 for a bigger military.
00:31:07.820 He wants to fight
00:31:08.500 for an aggressive
00:31:09.140 interventionist foreign policy.
00:31:11.280 And I think he views
00:31:12.480 many of Trump's
00:31:13.520 foreign policy nominees,
00:31:15.300 many of his foreign policy
00:31:16.580 positions,
00:31:18.180 Mitch passionately disagrees with.
00:31:20.360 And I think in Mitch's mind,
00:31:22.240 he put Hegseth
00:31:23.100 into that category.
00:31:24.060 And so just given
00:31:25.700 where Mitch is coming from,
00:31:26.900 I wasn't surprised 0.78
00:31:27.620 that he voted no.
00:31:28.400 And I think you could see
00:31:29.160 Mitch vote no.
00:31:31.320 I think those three,
00:31:32.600 Collins, Murkowski,
00:31:33.560 and McConnell,
00:31:34.160 could vote no
00:31:34.840 on a couple of other nominees.
00:31:37.300 On most of them,
00:31:38.140 there'll be yeses.
00:31:39.660 But those three,
00:31:40.720 now the good thing
00:31:41.300 about a 53-vote majority
00:31:43.280 is we can afford
00:31:44.700 to lose three.
00:31:45.440 We can afford
00:31:46.040 to lose three and win.
00:31:47.040 So it was 50-50
00:31:47.900 on the floor of the Senate,
00:31:48.920 which meant
00:31:49.280 the Vice President,
00:31:50.080 J.D. Vance,
00:31:51.220 came late Friday night
00:31:52.360 and he cast the tie-breaking vote.
00:31:53.760 So Pete Hegseth
00:31:54.580 is now the Defense Secretary.
00:31:56.980 But that was a battle
00:31:57.800 and there was some real drama
00:31:59.540 in particular
00:32:00.160 because Tom Tillis
00:32:01.180 from North Carolina
00:32:02.220 had raised real issues
00:32:04.700 during the day
00:32:05.340 whether he would be
00:32:06.040 a yes or a no.
00:32:07.000 And I can tell you
00:32:07.700 there were
00:32:08.240 a lot of intense conversations
00:32:10.720 with Tom,
00:32:12.400 with Pete Hegseth,
00:32:13.860 with the White House
00:32:14.620 back and forth.
00:32:15.980 Look,
00:32:16.280 if one more Republican
00:32:17.300 had voted no,
00:32:18.040 it would have taken
00:32:18.600 Hegseth down.
00:32:19.400 But at the end of the day,
00:32:20.540 I was confident
00:32:21.920 Tillis would vote yes
00:32:23.060 and he did vote yes.
00:32:24.160 In fact,
00:32:24.540 I offered to several
00:32:26.180 of my colleagues,
00:32:26.860 I said,
00:32:27.180 I'll bet you $100 he's a yes
00:32:28.500 and nobody would take my bet.
00:32:30.340 That's a shame
00:32:30.860 because I would have liked
00:32:31.500 to have won the $100.
00:32:32.980 Yeah, no doubt about it.
00:32:34.000 All right,
00:32:34.240 so lastly this week,
00:32:35.540 what do you think
00:32:36.340 is going to happen?
00:32:37.060 Is it going to be a long week?
00:32:38.220 Are you guys going to get
00:32:38.960 a lot of this done
00:32:39.580 and get out of there 0.98
00:32:40.100 on Thursday like normal?
00:32:41.820 Or are the Democrats
00:32:42.740 going to keep playing the games?
00:32:44.300 Well, listen,
00:32:45.060 normal Senate schedule
00:32:46.580 is you come in Monday night,
00:32:48.380 your first vote
00:32:49.160 is typically 5.30 p.m.
00:32:50.800 The reason it's 5.30 p.m.,
00:32:52.360 that's called the comeback vote
00:32:53.780 and you've got senators
00:32:54.480 flying in from all over the country
00:32:55.840 so even from the West Coast,
00:32:58.000 you can fly in
00:32:59.040 and land in D.C.
00:33:00.040 and get to a 5.30 vote.
00:33:01.360 So that's why we start
00:33:02.420 Monday night
00:33:03.340 so everyone could come back
00:33:04.360 to town that day.
00:33:05.780 The normal Senate schedule
00:33:07.660 is you wrap up voting
00:33:09.200 Thursday afternoon,
00:33:11.140 you fly home to your state 0.90
00:33:12.380 and then you're in your state,
00:33:13.680 you're traveling your state
00:33:14.760 on Friday and the weekends.
00:33:17.140 What John Thune has announced
00:33:18.660 is the schedule right now
00:33:20.420 every week
00:33:21.020 we're going to be there
00:33:21.820 through Fridays.
00:33:23.700 I think part of that
00:33:25.000 is to put pressure
00:33:25.840 on the Democrats
00:33:26.520 not to be obstructionist.
00:33:27.980 I think if the Democrats
00:33:28.980 agree to collapse time
00:33:30.960 and to move a little faster,
00:33:32.740 I think we may go home
00:33:34.180 Thursday afternoons as well
00:33:35.520 so we can be back
00:33:36.320 in the state on Friday.
00:33:37.960 But if the Democrats delay
00:33:39.440 or an obstructionist,
00:33:40.420 I expect us to be there
00:33:41.360 every Friday.
00:33:42.700 Incredible.
00:33:43.520 Don't forget,
00:33:44.160 we do the show
00:33:44.640 Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
00:33:45.620 We're going to give you
00:33:46.160 a blueprint for what's happening,
00:33:47.720 especially during
00:33:48.480 these confirmation hearings
00:33:49.540 just like we talked about.
00:33:51.220 So hit that subscribe
00:33:52.100 or that auto download button
00:33:53.940 and on those in-between days,
00:33:55.640 grab my podcast,
00:33:56.720 the Ben Ferguson podcast.
00:33:58.100 I'll keep you updated
00:33:59.080 on the latest breaking news
00:34:00.080 as well on those days.
00:34:02.060 And the Senate and I
00:34:02.540 will see you back here
00:34:03.520 Wednesday morning.
00:34:05.340 This is an iHeart podcast.
00:34:07.940 Guaranteed human.