Verdict with Ted Cruz - Trump Conquers Colombia, CIA Comes Clean on COVID & Confirmations Accelerate

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,

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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

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00:33:53.940 and on those in-between days,

00:33:55.640 grab my podcast,

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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.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - January 27, 2025

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

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