00:03:08.280And by the way, there's also real teeth to it.
00:03:11.660So simultaneously with this exchange, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it initiated a compliance review of the University of Maine.
00:03:21.080And the state could be in jeopardy of losing $100 million in federal USDA funding over noncompliance with the executive order on keeping males out of female sports.
00:03:31.360And at the end of the day, and by the way, this is not hypothetical.
00:03:40.680In Maine, there was a transgender boy who identifies as a girl who took first place in the girls' pole vaulting at Maine's Class B state championship.
00:03:53.040And it's a win that helped the high school take first place overall.
00:03:58.960And so, you know, how would you feel if it's your daughter who's in second and she's the best pole vaulter in the state who's a girl, but there's a dude who says,
00:04:11.800No, I'm a girl who beats her and dominates.
00:04:39.260And today's Democrat Party, this election, if there is an elected Democrat who learned anything from this election, I don't know who it is.
00:04:50.220Because not only are they doubling down.
00:04:52.480This has become like the new litmus test, though, of the extreme left, right?
00:04:55.760Yeah, but they're also doubling down on open borders.
00:04:58.280They're also doubling down on anti-Israel.
00:05:00.620No, look, the Democrats in the Senate voted against sanctioning the ICC, the International Criminal Court, which has gone after Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.
00:05:10.360Every Democrat but one, every Democrat but John Fetterman voted against Israel.
00:06:01.120It's why you had multiple Democrats, judges and state officials trying to remove Donald Trump from the presidential ballot because nothing says defending democracy like stopping the damn voters for voting for your opponent and making it impossible.
00:06:15.800This is all intertwined, which is it is a lack of of humility, a lack of understanding that.
00:06:30.440Is the men and women who elected you, I'm trying to figure this out.
00:06:34.560Is this pure arrogance or is this a political move by the radical left to say we're not going to comply and we think it's going to be good for us to raise money and for our base?
00:06:49.140Well, listen, unfortunately, elected Democrats remain radical that they have not learned any lessons from the November election.
00:06:57.520So if you look at Democrats in Congress, if you looked at Democrat governors, they continue to support open borders.
00:07:04.560They continue to support releasing murderers and rapists and child molesters into this country.
00:07:10.400You look at we talked about this in last week's pod, how Massachusetts is literally releasing violent child rapists who are illegal immigrants rather than turn them over to ICE to be deported.
00:07:25.240And I got to say, look, this is not a 60 40 issue.
00:07:34.660I mean, if you ask any rational, insane person, a violent child rapist, should we release him into our community?
00:07:45.180Any rational person, most normal Democrats would say, hell no, that's a dumbass idea.
00:07:52.560And yet the elected Democrats in Massachusetts, their answer is, let them go.
00:07:58.060We are opposed to deporting anyone, no matter how vile.
00:08:01.580Well, they're continuing the same position on on they continue to support the Democrats in Congress, continue to support sterilizing and castrating children for sex change operations.
00:08:51.080And so what happened this week is Pam Bondi, the new attorney general, targeted in particular three states, targeted Maine, California and Minnesota.
00:09:03.180And she issued a warning to them that those states have to comply with federal anti-discrimination laws that require them to keep boys at a girl's sports.
00:09:12.800And here's what Pam Bondi said, quote, this Department of Justice will defend women and does not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law.
00:09:23.720We will leverage every legal option necessary to ensure state compliance with federal law and President Trump's executive order protecting women's sports.
00:09:35.380And she continues, the Department of Justice says, quote, as President Trump's recent executive order 14201 on this subject explains, allowing men and boys to compete in women's and girls sports, quote, is demeaning, unfair and dangerous to women and girls.
00:09:54.360This practice is also illegal under federal law.
00:09:59.040It denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports in violation of Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972.
00:10:10.540And so understand the Department of Justice is making clear they intend to sue these states and they intend to cut off federal funds to these states if they continue to embrace the radical notion that they're going to let boys compete in girls sports.
00:10:24.840We talked about in Monday's pod how the governor of Maine is in open defiance, saying to hell with you.
00:10:57.080And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.
00:11:06.280So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:11:09.820Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:12:29.300It's going to be hard because the House majority is so excruciatingly tiny that on any issue, if you lose two votes, you're you're out of luck.
00:12:38.660But but but I think we will get the job done.
00:12:42.500And I will say both Mike Johnson, the speaker and Steve Scalise, the majority leader, they're both good friends.
00:12:48.540I work very closely with both of them.
00:12:50.460And I think we will go through some difficult paths to get there.
00:12:58.860But all of us, from the most conservative Republican to the most moderate, squishy, wobbly Republican, all of us want to produce these victories.
00:13:09.380We get there was a mandate from the election and we can't fail.
00:13:13.920And by the way, if we fail, if we don't secure the border, if we don't rebuild the military, if we don't unleash energy, if we don't extend the tax cuts, we'll get killed in November of next year.
00:13:28.180Yeah. And that's I'm a big believer, probably a lot of what Donald Trump said on the floor, right?
00:13:32.380Like, hey, you don't want to be involved in this.
00:13:53.900It's what you see in war in the Middle East.
00:13:57.000And it's happening now against ranchers and people in agriculture.
00:14:01.740The warning is very real now that the cartels are acting like what they are, terrorist organizations.
00:14:09.060I think this is another example of the president getting it right, saying we're going to declare them as terrorist organizations because they that's what they do.
00:14:18.300And now we have another data point of saying, here's the proof.
00:14:21.960So let me read from a story in the New York Post.
00:14:25.320Texas rancher killed by suspected cartel IED on Mexican border as authorities warn of growing threat.
00:14:33.460Here's what the New York Post reported, quote, a Texas border rancher was killed near the border by a suspected cartel IED earlier this month.
00:14:44.680The Texas Department of Agriculture told the Post Tuesday, as officials issued an urgent safety warning for the Rio Grande Valley.
00:15:14.680Lopez's wife, Ninfa Griselda Ortega, was hospitalized with injuries.
00:15:21.940Saldierna was driving on his ranch when he hit the explosive device, causing it to detonate, according to KRGV.
00:15:31.440Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said the deadly explosion is part of a, quote,
00:15:36.600growing threat posed by cartel activity along our southern border and encourages ranchers to, quote, exercise extreme caution in the area.
00:15:47.660Quote, I encourage everyone in the agricultural industry to stay vigilant, remain aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement.
00:15:57.340Additionally, you can avoid dirt roads and remote areas, refrain from touching unfamiliar objects that could be explosive devices, limit travel to daylight hours, stay on main roads and avoid cartel controlled regions, said Miller.
00:16:14.040However, this is happening right at the Texas-Mexico border.
00:16:19.900It, I got to say, it is dangerous and it shows, you know, some in the media say, gosh, it's hyperbole, it's rhetoric to call the cartels terrorists.
00:16:30.500They are terrorists and they're murdering Texans.
00:16:34.000What does this mean moving forward if they continue this and how could this change the way that we interact with them?
00:16:41.100Because I think there's a lot of Americans right now.
00:16:43.420They're like, look, if we're going to call them terrorists, let's go after them like they're terrorists.
00:17:17.500But we're also stopping the traffic coming in.
00:17:20.040The human traffickers, the drug traffickers, that is impacting the cartel's bottom lines.
00:17:25.280But I think we're going to use leverage to go after the cartels directly and try to.
00:17:32.320Joe Biden and the Democrats gave billions of dollars to the cartels, a stat you and I have talked about multiple times, but it's a stunning stat.
00:17:43.360In 2018, the Mexican drug cartels made roughly five hundred million dollars from human trafficking.
00:17:50.780Five hundred million dollars is a lot of money.
00:17:52.140Last year, they made thirteen billion dollars, a two thousand six hundred percent increase that is ending now.
00:18:04.400And I have every confidence the Trump administration is going to go after their money.
00:18:10.320And you are going to see the cartels targeted just like we target al Qaeda and Hamas and Hezbollah.
00:18:17.220The days of the cartels terrorizing Americans, those days are ending.
00:18:22.140As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from early this week to hear the entire thing.
00:18:30.640Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders and the world around them.
00:18:37.880And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:18:44.000And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women, entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.
00:18:53.500So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:18:56.480Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:19:02.320I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.
00:19:06.700There was another shocking headline that also came out today, and that deals with the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
00:19:16.380The headline from the New York Post is, quote, would be Trump assassin may have had an accomplice.
00:19:23.860And data shows, as investigators say, FBI suppressed info.
00:19:28.680I wouldn't believe that headline if I wouldn't have just had the conversation with you for the last 10 minutes that we just had about the FBI covering up Epstein information as well.
00:19:40.420I do not know if it is true, but if there is evidence that the attempted assassin, the man who shot Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, had an accomplice or multiple accomplices, that would be a big damn deal.
00:19:57.200And, you know, I got to say, it has been a long time.
00:20:03.080It has been 229 days since President Trump was shot at that rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
00:20:10.500And yet we know next to nothing about the shooter.
00:20:15.540It's almost as if it just dropped into a memory hole and disappeared.
00:20:19.220And I want to read some of this article from the New York Post because it has some very interesting information in it.
00:20:26.360It's not clear what's true or not, but let me read from the New York Post.
00:20:33.140Quote, it's been almost nine months since a seemingly mild-mannered 20-year-old attempted to assassinate then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a rally in Butler.
00:20:46.980Sources told the Post the FBI has obstructed efforts to solve the mystery of why Thomas Matthew Crooks, who left no manifesto, did what he did.
00:20:58.320It's left local law enforcement as well as Crooks' former friends, classmates, and teachers frustrated.
00:21:05.080Those who may know Crooks' parents, Matthew and Mary, have refused all interviews and remain in their small three-bedroom home, sealed off from the world like hermits.
00:21:16.980Neighbors say they only leave the house at 3 a.m. to buy groceries.
00:21:21.600Quote, by the way, why do we know nothing about that guy in Butler?
00:21:26.980Elon Musk yelled out to the audience at CPAC last week before warning that FBI Director Cash Patel is going to get to the bottom of it.
00:21:37.100A veteran private investigator from Erie, Pennsylvania, who was hired shortly after the fateful July 13th event at Butler Farm to look into crooks by a private client, told the Post he believes a, quote,
00:21:51.440criminal network was operating with him at the time of the assassination attempt, is still in existence and still wants to kill President Trump.
00:22:02.440Doug Hagman, whose team of six other investigators have been working the case for months and have interviewed more than 100 people,
00:22:12.740said they also conducted extensive geofencing analysis of cell phones and tablets not belonging to Crooks that were found with him at his home,
00:22:22.660at the rifle range where he took target practice, at the rally, and at Bethel Park High School where he graduated in 2022.
00:22:31.940Quote, we don't think he acted alone, Hagman told the Post.
00:22:36.100Quote, this took a lot of coordination.
00:22:39.480In my view, Crooks was handled by more than one individual and he was used for this assassination attempt.
00:22:46.860And I wouldn't preclude the possibility that there were people at the rally itself helping him.
00:22:53.000Hagman said one of the electronic devices geolocated with Crooks at several different places at the time of the shooting
00:22:59.800is still pinging today at Bethel Park High School.
00:23:05.300Look, I don't know if this is true or not.
00:23:08.200I don't know any background about this private investigator.
00:23:12.700And I don't know if his allegations are right or not.
00:23:17.160But it is frustrating that the American people, look, I'm on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
00:23:23.080I have no information that isn't public about who this would-be assassin was, what his motivation was,
00:23:30.460what evidence there is of anyone else being involved.
00:23:33.300And I'll tell you, when I sat down with both Kash Patel and with Pam Bondi when they were preparing for their confirmation,
00:23:41.380I had an extensive conversation with both of them about the need for transparency.
00:23:45.740That when you've had four years of both the Department of Justice and the FBI politicized and weaponized,
00:23:55.380the result is that people don't trust the FBI.
00:24:00.160I mean, this article in The Post repeatedly argues that the FBI is obstructing efforts to get to the bottom of what happened.
00:25:24.600You know, the article says that Hageman, this private investigator,
00:25:30.300said that he was personally escorted to the Butler County line and told to leave twice during the course of his team's investigation.
00:25:39.020The people who did so were either federal agents or some type of private security.
00:25:45.860And so, look, and I actually, I can understand an FBI investigation that they would be frustrated with having a private investigator interviewing the same people.
00:25:56.700So that actually, the fact that the FBI was telling this guy, you know, buzz off, that's not shocking to me.
00:26:02.980But I don't know what investigation the FBI conducted.
00:26:08.240I certainly don't know the results of the investigation.
00:26:10.840They haven't made anything public to the American people.
00:26:13.780And I think the FBI's attitude has been in recent years, they don't know the public answer.
00:26:19.000You don't get to know anything if they don't want to tell you.
00:26:25.120I want to move also to another story, and this goes back to the issue of trust.
00:26:29.860Elon Musk and Doge, new poll numbers are out saying that the majority of American people actually approve of what Elon Musk is doing.
00:26:37.720And they think that Doge is having a real impact in a positive way for this country and for taxpayers.
00:26:42.840And the waste, fraud, and abuse, they want them to keep moving forward.
00:26:47.220What we're also seeing, Senator, at the exact same time is, I would now describe it as a clearly well-organized, orchestrated effort by the media and the Democrats to ramp up their smears against Trump early on.
00:27:05.680And early on, they were trying to drive a wedge between Elon and Trump.
00:27:10.080You could see it in their rhetoric where it's like, well, you know, Elon thinks he's the president.
00:27:14.160Oh, yeah, the Time magazine cover story that put Elon at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office was obvious in a clumsy attempt to piss Trump off and get Trump mad at Elon.
00:27:25.220And it was so transparent that I think it did not remotely have the effect they were trying to have.
00:27:39.040So now what we're witnessing is just a full-on smear campaign against Elon Musk, even on The View.
00:27:48.000And this was an interesting moment for me because it's like you're getting real close to slander and libel when you do what The View does against Elon Musk.
00:28:23.280He can take a nap while the guy was not born in this country, who was born under apartheid in South Africa, so has that mentality going on.
00:28:32.040He was pro-apartheid, as I understand it.
00:29:44.260But if someone comes legally to this country, if someone builds multiple incredible companies, creates thousands and thousands of jobs, is an incredible innovator, and then volunteers his time to serve his nation, that merits being called a foreign agent and an enemy of the United States.
00:30:06.740You know, at the end of the day, what The View was saying doesn't say much about Elon Musk, but it says a lot.
00:30:14.640About the media and the left and how terrified they are of him.
00:30:19.020And I'll tell you, Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat congresswoman, had very similar comments.
00:30:26.980Listen to what she said about Elon Musk.
00:30:29.040Apparently, she and Joy Behar are reading from the same talking points.
00:30:32.660Yeah, and this was in front of the United States Capitol where she said it.
00:30:36.480Mr. Musk has just been here 22 years, and he's a citizen of three countries.
00:30:42.440I always ask myself the question, with the damage he's doing here, when push comes to shove, which country is he loyalty to?
00:30:48.860South Africa, Canada, or the United States?
00:30:52.480And he's only been a citizen, I'll say again, 22 years.
00:30:55.820By the way, I thought it was Democrats for the last four years that were obsessed with illegal immigrants coming into this country and saying, who is anyone else to say that they aren't Americans?
00:31:10.880But all of a sudden, a guy by the name of Elon Musk is actually getting things done, and now they're just going to slander him and say, which country is he really loyal to?
00:31:18.340Like he's some sort of secret agent or bad actor for another nation.
00:31:22.760Well, look, I spent a good chunk of this morning with Elon over at the White House, and he met with a number of senators talking about what he's doing on Doge.
00:31:32.380And it was a very interesting meeting, and it's stunning some of the things that they're finding.
00:31:37.160They're finding, for example, they're going into agencies and finding agencies that have more electronic subscriptions than they have employees.
00:31:50.520And in many instances, thousands and thousands more, like 30,000 licenses for different electronic applications, 30,000 licenses and 15,000 employees.
00:32:23.300And so anyone who's not using it, they're canceling those.
00:32:26.080Those are the sorts of things they're finding that are really just astonishing.
00:32:32.100When you met with him today, does it seem that he's even shocked by what he's finding?
00:32:38.560You know, there are things like he talked today about ghost payments, about the Treasury has computers that transfer funds that make federal payments.
00:32:48.540And he says that there are ghost payments that are going out that a program officer puts in for a payment to a contractor, to somebody.
00:33:00.660And then the program officer retires, dies, leaves, is gone, and the payments just keep on going.
00:33:13.420The Treasury computers have a field where you categorize, okay, what is this payment for, and what in the congressional appropriation is it going for?
00:33:29.080And he said routinely that field is left blank.
00:33:34.340He said USAID, they always left it blank, he said.
00:33:37.260So there's no way, he said many ways, it's incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to audit the billions of dollars that are going out the door because they don't keep the records.
00:33:48.820And it was interesting, Elon's comments, he said, if any public company did this, he said they would be massively fined and the executives would be put in jail.
00:33:58.260So, as always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:34:03.880Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.
00:34:10.900I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.
00:34:14.640And we will see you back here on Monday morning.