Verdict with Ted Cruz - What Just Went Down

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.560 Guaranteed human.

00:00:04.260 A lot went down on Capitol Hill today,

00:00:06.960 a lot of which you probably didn't hear about.

00:00:09.140 But one man was there to do the job of many.

00:00:12.520 He refuted the Democrats' arguments

00:00:14.460 for upending our election system.

00:00:16.320 He shot down the Democrats' arguments

00:00:18.360 for taking all of our guns.

00:00:19.760 And most impressively of all,

00:00:21.580 he tweeted the whole time.

00:00:23.900 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:00:24.540 This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:00:30.000 Senator Cruz,

00:00:33.000 I want to hear everything that happened today.

00:00:35.780 It seemed as if you were in multiple places at once.

00:00:39.480 Hearings on guns,

00:00:40.900 hearings on the Corrupt Politicians Act.

00:00:43.880 And there was a charge

00:00:46.020 that while you were tweeting during all of this,

00:00:48.460 that it was just your staff

00:00:49.980 sort of tweeting on your behalf

00:00:51.880 while you were in the Senate.

00:00:53.280 You, I have to ask,

00:00:54.800 I know you'll shoot straight here,

00:00:56.740 were you the one tweeting?

00:00:58.300 Oh yeah, that was me.

00:00:59.660 I was live tweeting.

00:01:02.280 Look, when you're in a room with senators

00:01:04.460 who are droning on and on and on,

00:01:06.920 particularly when they're reading from,

00:01:08.880 like staff has written a couple of pages

00:01:10.640 of like text for them to read,

00:01:12.940 it's a little bit like the student

00:01:15.620 in Charlie Brown listening to the teacher

00:01:17.640 and the teacher goes,

00:01:18.760 wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.

00:01:21.080 And the truth of the matter is,

00:01:23.080 like most senators are on their phones

00:01:25.260 and are scrolling through email or texts

00:01:28.600 or this being the social media world that it is.

00:01:32.300 I was on Twitter.

00:01:33.360 And then of course,

00:01:34.480 some lefty publications saw me on Twitter,

00:01:37.960 on C-SPAN,

00:01:39.060 and so tweeted about me being on Twitter,

00:01:41.720 on C-SPAN.

00:01:42.880 And so I promptly retweeted them

00:01:44.960 and said, yep, that's exactly right.

00:01:46.720 And they were sort of surprised going, 0.64

00:01:47.960 holy crap, is he retweeting us? 0.87

00:01:49.280 It's like, yes, I am. 0.98

00:01:51.140 And in fact, they made fun of me

00:01:53.580 because Amy Klobuchar was giving

00:01:55.340 some long, long speech

00:01:57.280 that I suppose somebody somewhere listened to,

00:02:01.080 but nobody in the room did.

00:02:02.980 And they were shocked

00:02:04.340 that I was on my phone for that.

00:02:05.780 And I just said, well,

00:02:06.600 she's still reading her statement

00:02:08.060 even after your tweet.

00:02:10.460 Well, you obviously wear many hats.

00:02:12.180 You're a senator.

00:02:12.960 You're a podcast host.

00:02:14.680 You are often the booking producer on this show.

00:02:17.040 So I'm not at all surprised to hear

00:02:18.400 that it was actually you on Twitter.

00:02:20.440 So you were covering it.

00:02:21.500 Actually, I mean,

00:02:22.020 we're joking about the Twitter of it all,

00:02:23.560 but it is important

00:02:24.460 that you were communicating this

00:02:26.180 and shedding light on what was going on.

00:02:28.180 You were in multiple places.

00:02:30.880 Yeah.

00:02:31.040 Look, and there's value to that.

00:02:34.700 I was.

00:02:35.880 So the day started off,

00:02:37.820 I went to a TV studio

00:02:39.240 and did Fox News in the morning

00:02:41.380 to talk about the markup

00:02:42.600 that was coming on HR1 or S1,

00:02:46.280 which is the big election,

00:02:49.020 federal takeover of elections bill

00:02:51.480 that is the top priority for Democrats.

00:02:54.020 And what we had today

00:02:55.460 was what's called the markup.

00:02:57.740 The markup is when you actually take the bill

00:03:00.540 and you consider amendments to it.

00:03:02.760 And the rules committee in the Senate

00:03:05.040 is the committee that has jurisdiction.

00:03:06.760 I'm on the rules committee.

00:03:08.500 Actually, interesting bit of trivia.

00:03:10.760 I was put on the rules committee

00:03:12.480 as a brand new baby freshman,

00:03:16.300 which is relatively unusual

00:03:18.140 for newly elected senators,

00:03:20.780 in my case, nine years ago,

00:03:22.320 to be put on it.

00:03:23.380 And actually, the reason Mitch McConnell

00:03:25.300 asked me to serve on the committee

00:03:27.040 is that the rules committee

00:03:28.260 has jurisdiction

00:03:29.660 over campaign finance reform legislation.

00:03:31.920 And he asked me at the time,

00:03:33.180 he said, look,

00:03:33.880 when the Democrats come

00:03:35.780 with some horrible campaign finance legislation,

00:03:39.180 Ted, I'd like you to lead

00:03:40.120 the fight against this.

00:03:41.180 And that's sort of like,

00:03:42.360 you know, throw me in that briar patch.

00:03:44.000 I am eager to defend the First Amendment,

00:03:47.280 to stop the Democrats' efforts

00:03:48.880 to undermine democracy.

00:03:51.400 And so I was happy to do it then.

00:03:52.800 And this is the most dramatic time.

00:03:55.440 And so the markup started at 10 a.m.

00:03:58.980 and it wrapped up about 7 p.m.

00:04:01.720 So it went about nine hours straight.

00:04:04.140 And during the course of it,

00:04:05.900 we had, oh, I don't know,

00:04:07.220 30 or 40 different amendments.

00:04:08.920 I filed 46 amendments.

00:04:10.760 And so we brought up

00:04:12.600 amendment after amendment

00:04:13.740 debating the bill.

00:04:15.380 The bill is a really bad bill.

00:04:17.820 And I do hope and think

00:04:19.620 that the markup today

00:04:21.460 highlighted just how extreme,

00:04:23.300 just how partisan the bill is.

00:04:25.680 And I think the Democrats ended up

00:04:27.740 casting some really bad votes today

00:04:30.040 that underscores their top priority

00:04:33.300 is staying in power.

00:04:36.120 What this bill is all about

00:04:37.660 is keeping Democrats in power

00:04:39.100 for the next 100 years.

00:04:40.760 And they're really trying

00:04:41.800 to rig the game to do that.

00:04:43.360 And I think the most important function

00:04:46.200 of the markup today

00:04:46.980 was to highlight how they're doing it.

00:04:49.480 So you mentioned here

00:04:50.640 the campaign finance angle.

00:04:52.880 It actually sort of surprised me

00:04:55.140 because I had forgotten

00:04:56.640 how broad this bill is.

00:04:58.820 When I think of S-1, H-R-1, 0.98

00:05:00.900 we're calling it

00:05:01.580 the Corrupt Politicians Act.

00:05:04.040 In my mind,

00:05:05.120 this was about changing the rules

00:05:06.740 for congressional elections

00:05:08.680 and federalizing those rules

00:05:12.000 that would ordinarily be made

00:05:13.100 by the states.

00:05:13.660 But then you're reminding me

00:05:14.860 there's a campaign finance aspect to it.

00:05:17.740 Could you just take us through

00:05:18.780 a little bit of specifically

00:05:19.940 that portion,

00:05:20.900 but sort of all the pieces

00:05:22.400 of this legislation?

00:05:23.740 Sure.

00:05:24.420 So this thing is nearly 900 pages long.

00:05:27.580 And it is every bad idea,

00:05:30.020 every left-wing advocacy group

00:05:31.780 has had over the last 20 years

00:05:33.480 to try to change elections

00:05:36.180 to make sure that Democrats always win.

00:05:38.980 So what does the bill do?

00:05:40.260 Well, let's start with,

00:05:41.380 what does it mean, H-R-1 or S-1?

00:05:43.340 Nobody knows what that means.

00:05:45.080 H-R-1 means it is the very first bill

00:05:47.400 filed by Democratic leadership

00:05:48.940 in the House.

00:05:49.700 S-1 means it's the first bill

00:05:51.360 filed by Democratic leadership

00:05:53.260 in the Senate.

00:05:54.520 It means it's their number one priority.

00:05:57.040 And so just pause for a second

00:05:58.520 and think about

00:05:59.240 what the Democrats are telling you.

00:06:01.520 Their top priority isn't COVID.

00:06:03.480 It's not vaccinations.

00:06:05.120 It's not jobs.

00:06:06.200 It's not reopening schools.

00:06:07.980 Their top priority is staying in power.

00:06:10.640 And that trumps everything else.

00:06:13.720 Now, what does this bill do?

00:06:15.380 Well, it federalizes elections.

00:06:17.100 It puts the federal government

00:06:18.060 in charge of elections

00:06:18.900 across this country.

00:06:20.860 One of the things it does is,

00:06:23.180 look, we've got 50 states.

00:06:24.760 States generally administer elections

00:06:27.020 and they pass laws

00:06:28.240 governing how elections are handled.

00:06:30.220 This bill, which many of us are calling,

00:06:33.660 as you noted,

00:06:34.140 the Corrupt Politicians Act.

00:06:36.460 What it does is it essentially repeals

00:06:39.460 virtually every state voter integrity law.

00:06:43.780 Now, what does that mean?

00:06:44.740 Here's some examples.

00:06:47.020 Voter ID.

00:06:48.300 29 states require some form

00:06:50.780 of identification to vote.

00:06:52.680 You think about it,

00:06:53.380 it's a common sense provision.

00:06:55.460 75% of Americans support photo ID for voting.

00:06:59.460 By the way, that's true.

00:07:01.740 60% of Democrats support photo ID for voting.

00:07:05.960 77% of independents support photo ID for voting.

00:07:10.380 60% of African Americans

00:07:11.980 support photo ID for voting.

00:07:14.220 What does the Corrupt Politicians Act do?

00:07:16.380 It repeals every one of those laws.

00:07:17.760 It makes it illegal

00:07:18.760 for a state to require voter ID.

00:07:22.620 Likewise, ballot harvesting.

00:07:23.940 All right, what is ballot harvesting?

00:07:25.280 It is a particularly corrupt practice

00:07:27.200 where you send in a paid political operative

00:07:30.620 to collect the ballots of other peoples.

00:07:33.480 Why is that corrupt?

00:07:35.600 Well, because let's say you have an operative

00:07:38.740 from the DNC,

00:07:39.740 the Democratic National Committee,

00:07:41.780 who goes into a nursing home

00:07:43.040 where you have a bunch of people

00:07:44.400 who are elderly,

00:07:45.180 some of whom may not even be capable

00:07:46.960 of making decisions.

00:07:48.500 With ballot harvesting,

00:07:49.980 these operatives help them fill out their ballots,

00:07:52.080 including people that may not be competent

00:07:54.580 to make those decisions.

00:07:56.140 And it invites voter fraud

00:07:58.360 because number one,

00:07:59.820 they can prompt the people to vote

00:08:01.360 the way the operative wants them to.

00:08:03.540 Number two, if the operative sees how they vote,

00:08:06.500 let's suppose you have a senior

00:08:08.040 who stubbornly votes for Donald Trump

00:08:10.140 instead of Joe Biden. 0.75

00:08:11.820 The corrupt operative can take that ballot 1.00

00:08:14.160 and throw it in the trash. 0.93

00:08:16.220 It is dangerous when you have

00:08:18.340 an employee of a political campaign

00:08:21.060 handling the ballots of other people.

00:08:23.620 That's why 31 states

00:08:25.240 either prohibit or restrict ballot harvesting.

00:08:28.200 What does the Corrupt Politicians Act do?

00:08:30.540 It repeals every one of those restrictions

00:08:32.500 and it mandates ballot harvesting.

00:08:35.220 Likewise, this bill

00:08:37.180 mandates universal mail-in ballots.

00:08:40.540 It mandates drop boxes everywhere,

00:08:42.280 both of which are very susceptible to fraud.

00:08:45.140 It also provides for welfare for politicians.

00:08:50.120 This is one of the more egregious elements of it.

00:08:53.020 That it provides for a six to one

00:08:55.580 federal government match

00:08:57.140 for money raised in increments under $200.

00:09:01.680 So if you raise $200,

00:09:03.280 the federal government gives you $1,200 to match that. 1.00

00:09:06.860 That is a particularly idiotic proposal. 1.00

00:09:09.680 As I observed at the hearing today, 1.00

00:09:12.540 if you think of all of the populations

00:09:14.380 in need of welfare,

00:09:15.860 in need of subsidies,

00:09:16.840 in need of supports,

00:09:18.440 politicians are really near the bottom of that list.

00:09:22.100 Yeah.

00:09:22.540 And I'll tell you, Michael,

00:09:23.880 the provision that I think is most naked,

00:09:26.920 that makes most obvious

00:09:28.160 what the Democrats are doing,

00:09:29.960 is the Federal Election Commission.

00:09:31.900 It was established after Watergate.

00:09:33.920 So Watergate was a big scandal,

00:09:35.340 campaign finance scandal.

00:09:36.440 Well, they created the Federal Elections Commission

00:09:38.960 in the 1970s.

00:09:41.000 It's a bipartisan commission.

00:09:43.380 There are three Democratic commissioners,

00:09:44.960 three Republican commissioners.

00:09:46.120 The reason they did that

00:09:47.000 is they wanted it to be for the FEC to act.

00:09:50.860 It had to be bipartisan agreement.

00:09:52.560 You had to get at least four commissioners,

00:09:55.120 meaning you had to get at least one

00:09:56.440 from the opposing party.

00:09:58.220 What does the Corrupt Politicians Act do?

00:10:00.200 It turns it into a partisan organization.

00:10:01.960 It leaves it with three Democratic commissioners

00:10:05.540 and only two Republican commissioners,

00:10:07.980 which means the FEC becomes essentially

00:10:10.260 the attack dog for Chuck Schumer.

00:10:13.640 And it's designed,

00:10:15.420 what the intention of this would be,

00:10:17.960 is to use it to target,

00:10:19.800 to persecute,

00:10:21.220 to investigate Republicans.

00:10:23.120 And by the way,

00:10:23.680 to do it in all likelihood,

00:10:25.860 a month or two before the election,

00:10:27.460 right when they're vulnerable,

00:10:28.480 to have an October surprise

00:10:29.940 of guess what?

00:10:31.160 Every Republican in a close race,

00:10:33.200 the Chuck Schumer Federal Election Commission

00:10:34.940 is going to announce an investigation

00:10:36.540 into some scandalous aspect of them.

00:10:39.040 It's a really bad idea.

00:10:41.220 And that's what this bill does.

00:10:43.720 So it's amazing

00:10:45.200 because I've been, you know,

00:10:47.200 reading the headlines on this bill.

00:10:49.480 And but when you see it all laid out,

00:10:51.280 all of these things,

00:10:52.600 it's such a major bill.

00:10:55.980 And yet that's not all you were doing today.

00:10:58.780 There was another major issue.

00:11:00.340 So while the Democrats

00:11:01.040 are trying to ram down,

00:11:02.700 which I think you put it very well,

00:11:04.620 the most radical legislation

00:11:05.820 you've seen in your time there,

00:11:08.200 perhaps rivaled only by the Equality Act

00:11:10.340 or something like that.

00:11:11.400 And Michael,

00:11:11.700 it's much more dangerous

00:11:12.500 than the Equality Act

00:11:13.480 because it's designed to rig the system.

00:11:16.880 So two of the provisions

00:11:17.840 that are most dangerous

00:11:18.920 in the Corrupt Politicians Act.

00:11:21.220 So one is automatic voter registration.

00:11:24.060 So any individual

00:11:26.380 that has any interaction

00:11:27.620 with the government.

00:11:28.480 So if you get a welfare check,

00:11:30.620 get an unemployment check,

00:11:32.180 if you get a driver's license,

00:11:33.800 if you go to a state college

00:11:35.980 or university,

00:11:37.040 you're automatically registered to vote.

00:11:40.280 Now, that is intended to

00:11:42.420 and will, in fact,

00:11:43.740 if it's enacted,

00:11:45.340 register millions

00:11:46.740 of illegal aliens to vote

00:11:48.280 because there are anywhere

00:11:50.900 from 11 to 20 million

00:11:53.740 illegal aliens in the country.

00:11:55.140 The estimates vary.

00:11:57.280 A large,

00:11:58.480 a significant percentage

00:11:59.640 of that group,

00:12:00.280 we don't have an exact estimate,

00:12:01.640 but it is in the millions

00:12:02.700 by any way you assess it,

00:12:04.440 is interacting with the government.

00:12:06.240 And all of these

00:12:07.380 who are interacting

00:12:08.020 with the government,

00:12:09.400 this bill is designed

00:12:10.800 to automatically register them.

00:12:13.600 Not only that,

00:12:15.360 a number of states

00:12:16.420 have very reasonable provisions

00:12:18.060 that provide that criminals

00:12:19.600 can lose their right to vote,

00:12:21.880 that if you commit

00:12:22.760 a horrific crime,

00:12:24.960 a number of states have said

00:12:26.040 you can forfeit

00:12:26.800 your right to vote.

00:12:28.080 What does the Corrupt Politicians Act do?

00:12:30.060 It strikes down

00:12:30.600 every one of those laws.

00:12:31.560 It says criminals,

00:12:33.400 the instant they're released

00:12:34.880 from jail,

00:12:35.580 can vote.

00:12:36.900 And the reason for this

00:12:38.500 is Democrats have decided,

00:12:41.460 and I think quite reasonably,

00:12:43.440 that having millions

00:12:45.520 of illegal aliens vote

00:12:46.900 and thousands

00:12:48.040 or hundreds of thousands

00:12:49.120 or millions of criminals

00:12:50.280 and felons vote, 0.99

00:12:52.180 that those individuals

00:12:54.740 are likely to vote

00:12:55.760 for Democrats

00:12:56.440 and it will benefit Democrats.

00:12:57.920 This is all about

00:12:58.760 keeping Democrats in power.

00:13:00.840 So during the course

00:13:03.140 of the day in the markup,

00:13:04.160 as I said,

00:13:04.540 I had 46 amendments.

00:13:05.780 I introduced an amendment

00:13:06.720 to provide that

00:13:08.700 before anyone

00:13:09.380 is automatically registered

00:13:10.480 to vote,

00:13:11.340 you have to verify citizenship,

00:13:12.880 that you're not

00:13:13.460 registering someone illegal.

00:13:15.480 Of course,

00:13:15.840 every Democrat voter

00:13:16.680 know that amendment

00:13:17.300 was voted down.

00:13:18.000 I introduced another amendment.

00:13:20.040 So a portion of this law

00:13:21.300 grants amnesty,

00:13:23.440 grants immunity

00:13:24.320 to any illegal alien

00:13:26.240 who's illegally registered

00:13:27.360 to vote

00:13:27.740 because of the automatic registration.

00:13:29.280 Look, the bill anticipates

00:13:30.580 millions of illegal aliens

00:13:32.160 are registered to vote.

00:13:33.940 And so it grants amnesty.

00:13:34.960 It says they're not liable.

00:13:36.500 There's no criminal liability,

00:13:37.760 no civil liability.

00:13:38.860 They're completely immune

00:13:40.180 from any exposure

00:13:42.920 for being illegally registered

00:13:44.220 to vote.

00:13:44.980 I introduced amendments

00:13:46.200 to just strip that. 0.99

00:13:48.000 That is so radical

00:13:49.300 and I feel people

00:13:50.620 may not appreciate that.

00:13:52.380 On the one hand,

00:13:53.280 Democrats are saying

00:13:54.240 this bill absolutely

00:13:56.080 will not register

00:13:57.380 illegal aliens to vote.

00:13:59.200 And also,

00:14:00.320 when they are,

00:14:01.340 they'll get amnesty for it.

00:14:02.380 That's in the same bill.

00:14:03.700 It is in the same bill.

00:14:05.380 The Democrats argued

00:14:06.540 no illegal aliens 0.98

00:14:08.220 will be registered to vote.

00:14:09.280 I said, great,

00:14:09.740 then you should vote

00:14:10.220 for my amendments.

00:14:10.940 If it's not registering anyone,

00:14:12.660 then you ought to welcome

00:14:13.800 these amendments.

00:14:14.400 They're like,

00:14:14.620 no, no, no, no,

00:14:15.040 we can't have

00:14:15.860 the amendments.

00:14:17.540 So I introduced

00:14:19.380 a narrow amendment

00:14:20.580 to say,

00:14:21.020 let's get rid of the amnesty.

00:14:22.320 If nobody's registered

00:14:23.920 illegally to vote,

00:14:24.780 what's the value

00:14:25.460 of creating a special amnesty

00:14:26.920 for people

00:14:27.620 who are illegally

00:14:28.060 registered to vote?

00:14:29.480 Every Democrat voted no.

00:14:30.780 They voted it down.

00:14:32.660 On the criminals,

00:14:33.980 all right,

00:14:34.160 here's a very funny thing.

00:14:35.320 So I had a whole series

00:14:36.320 of amendments

00:14:36.940 allowing states

00:14:39.380 to prevent criminals

00:14:40.320 from voting.

00:14:42.000 The first amendment

00:14:43.400 that got called up

00:14:44.840 was from Senator Hyde-Smith

00:14:47.720 and it was an amendment

00:14:49.500 focused on child molesters

00:14:51.620 and it said people

00:14:53.580 that commit crimes

00:14:54.620 against children,

00:14:56.380 states can prevent

00:14:57.080 them from voting.

00:14:58.000 And one of the things

00:14:59.260 I did going into this meeting,

00:15:00.580 I sat down before the markup

00:15:02.660 with Mitch McConnell,

00:15:03.960 I sat down with Roy Blunt,

00:15:05.200 who's the ranking Republican

00:15:06.220 on the committee,

00:15:06.920 and we laid out a strategy

00:15:08.540 for fighting this.

00:15:09.320 And so I drafted

00:15:10.000 a whole bunch of amendments

00:15:10.840 and one of the things

00:15:11.460 I did is gave a number

00:15:13.500 of amendments

00:15:13.940 to other Republican senators

00:15:15.160 for them to drive forward.

00:15:17.080 So Cindy Hyde-Smith,

00:15:18.220 senator from Mississippi,

00:15:19.240 introduced this amendment

00:15:20.140 that said if you've committed

00:15:22.620 a crime against children,

00:15:24.700 states can prevent you

00:15:25.560 from voting.

00:15:27.180 Miraculously, Michael,

00:15:28.740 this amendment passed

00:15:29.740 and Angus King,

00:15:31.420 who is an independent

00:15:33.040 from Maine,

00:15:33.700 although he votes

00:15:34.280 exactly like a Democrat,

00:15:36.080 he voted yes.

00:15:36.940 He said I'm a parent

00:15:37.740 and so if you commit

00:15:38.520 a crime against kids,

00:15:39.320 states can say

00:15:40.660 you can't vote.

00:15:41.380 And I argued forcefully

00:15:43.340 like why is it Democrats

00:15:45.940 think our democracy

00:15:46.920 would be better

00:15:47.500 if child molesters

00:15:48.280 were voting?

00:15:48.940 When I think of

00:15:49.780 what the country needs,

00:15:51.440 the enlightened views

00:15:52.920 of child molesters

00:15:53.860 is not high on the list.

00:15:55.620 So once Angus voted for that

00:15:58.300 and he's like,

00:15:59.520 well, you're not going

00:16:00.040 to have a whole bunch

00:16:00.600 of other amendments

00:16:01.240 onto other crimes.

00:16:02.180 And I said,

00:16:03.200 well, yeah,

00:16:03.520 I do have a whole bunch

00:16:04.380 of others,

00:16:04.660 but I'll just do one.

00:16:05.480 So I pulled up mine,

00:16:07.540 which was murderers.

00:16:09.100 I said, OK,

00:16:10.000 you've agreed child molesters.

00:16:11.540 States can say

00:16:12.080 they can't vote.

00:16:12.660 How about murders?

00:16:13.320 People convicted

00:16:14.040 of the felony of murder.

00:16:17.140 Angus King voted no to that.

00:16:18.400 The Democrats voted it down.

00:16:19.640 So every Democrat

00:16:20.420 on the committee voted

00:16:21.360 that it should be illegal

00:16:24.620 for states to say

00:16:26.100 murderers can't vote. 0.99

00:16:27.380 That's how radical

00:16:28.280 these guys are.

00:16:29.000 Well, and it's not even to say

00:16:31.020 because people will,

00:16:32.820 you know,

00:16:33.200 confuse the federalism

00:16:35.420 of it all.

00:16:36.500 All you're suggesting here

00:16:38.280 is that states

00:16:38.920 should have the right

00:16:40.220 to determine

00:16:41.380 whether or not

00:16:42.160 murderers can vote.

00:16:43.480 That even that was too much

00:16:45.140 for for the Democrats.

00:16:47.220 Yeah, to be clear,

00:16:47.940 my amendments were not

00:16:49.440 requiring a standard,

00:16:51.800 whether it is photo ID

00:16:52.900 for voting,

00:16:53.600 whether it is

00:16:54.280 barring criminals

00:16:55.400 from voting

00:16:56.080 under the Constitution.

00:16:57.700 The principal responsibility

00:16:59.440 for for those decisions

00:17:02.000 are the states.

00:17:02.680 Now, I will say this

00:17:03.600 in discussing it.

00:17:05.560 There is an argument

00:17:06.520 that some on the right

00:17:07.500 are making,

00:17:07.920 which is that this whole bill

00:17:09.240 is unconstitutional.

00:17:11.020 I actually think

00:17:11.900 that argument

00:17:12.380 is probably not right,

00:17:13.560 that the way

00:17:14.180 the Constitution

00:17:14.760 is drafted,

00:17:16.140 the states have

00:17:17.460 significant responsibility

00:17:19.680 for structuring elections,

00:17:22.060 but Congress

00:17:22.860 also has the authority

00:17:24.240 to to promulgate standards.

00:17:26.480 And so it's a concurrent

00:17:27.560 jurisdiction.

00:17:29.220 So I think it is a

00:17:30.800 I don't think

00:17:31.740 it's a valid argument

00:17:32.640 to say Congress

00:17:33.360 can't legislate here.

00:17:34.660 What I do think

00:17:35.640 is a valid argument

00:17:36.820 is that Congress

00:17:37.560 shouldn't be repealing

00:17:39.800 the laws of 29 states

00:17:42.860 when it comes to voter ID,

00:17:44.260 31 states

00:17:45.040 when it comes to restricting

00:17:46.260 ballot harvesting,

00:17:47.660 that Congress

00:17:48.300 should respect

00:17:49.260 the state laws

00:17:50.820 that in turn

00:17:51.540 reflect the values

00:17:52.840 of their citizens.

00:17:54.160 This is an important point

00:17:55.520 because there are

00:17:56.500 a lot of conservatives,

00:17:57.580 I think,

00:17:57.900 who just want to say,

00:17:58.680 oh, well,

00:17:58.980 we don't need to worry

00:17:59.640 too much

00:18:00.100 because the courts

00:18:01.460 will strike it down.

00:18:02.620 And so you're making

00:18:03.200 the point,

00:18:04.180 actually,

00:18:05.060 that might not be

00:18:06.240 a bulletproof argument.

00:18:07.460 But then there's also

00:18:08.220 the practical

00:18:08.960 political reality here,

00:18:10.720 which is that

00:18:11.380 when we rely on the courts,

00:18:13.060 very often we're disappointed.

00:18:14.600 So probably we're going

00:18:15.720 to want to fight

00:18:16.160 against this now.

00:18:17.800 Well, and it's worse

00:18:18.400 than that.

00:18:19.040 I don't think the courts

00:18:20.140 will strike this down.

00:18:21.040 And here's why.

00:18:23.100 If the Corrupt Politicians Act

00:18:25.240 passes into law,

00:18:26.600 it will be because

00:18:27.480 the Democrats

00:18:28.020 have ended the filibuster,

00:18:30.540 because they have

00:18:31.680 rammed it through

00:18:32.700 on 50 votes.

00:18:33.520 It will be because

00:18:34.200 Joe Manchin

00:18:34.800 and Kristen Sinema

00:18:35.640 gave in.

00:18:37.400 If that happens,

00:18:39.780 the Democrats

00:18:40.400 will also pack

00:18:41.300 the U.S. Supreme Court.

00:18:42.420 They'll put

00:18:42.840 four left-wing justices

00:18:44.280 on the court.

00:18:45.420 And a packed Supreme Court

00:18:47.440 with four left-wing justices

00:18:48.980 will uphold

00:18:50.040 the Corrupt Politicians Act.

00:18:51.440 So the current Supreme Court

00:18:53.460 would certainly strike down

00:18:56.860 significant elements

00:18:57.840 of this bill.

00:18:59.340 But a packed Supreme Court

00:19:01.080 with four new

00:19:01.820 left-wing justices

00:19:02.880 will rubber stamp this.

00:19:04.640 And so the filibuster

00:19:06.120 is the whole ball of wax

00:19:08.760 in terms of stopping this.

00:19:10.180 And this is really about,

00:19:12.440 you know, Michael,

00:19:12.900 if you look at what

00:19:13.500 the Democrats are trying to do,

00:19:14.780 I'd really break it

00:19:15.540 into two baskets.

00:19:18.160 What is bad policy?

00:19:19.260 They want to do things

00:19:20.180 that are just bad policy.

00:19:21.460 Massively high taxes,

00:19:22.620 massively high regulations,

00:19:24.320 open borders,

00:19:25.440 trillions of dollars

00:19:26.480 in spending.

00:19:27.120 All of that is bad.

00:19:27.980 It's harmful.

00:19:29.100 But all of that

00:19:29.900 can be undone.

00:19:30.740 If Republicans

00:19:31.240 take majorities again,

00:19:32.460 we can cut taxes again.

00:19:33.660 We can cut regulations.

00:19:34.980 We can try to cut spending,

00:19:36.200 although historically

00:19:36.820 that's harder to do.

00:19:38.400 But bad policy

00:19:40.000 can be undone.

00:19:42.140 There's a whole

00:19:42.860 separate category

00:19:44.400 that the Democrats

00:19:45.120 are trying to do

00:19:46.000 that is rigging the game,

00:19:48.360 that is changing the rules.

00:19:50.280 And what falls into that,

00:19:52.340 H.R. 1,

00:19:53.000 the Corrupt Politicians Act,

00:19:55.000 making D.C. a state

00:19:57.080 to get two new

00:19:58.060 Democratic senators

00:19:58.960 and packing the U.S. Supreme Court.

00:20:00.920 And those are designed

00:20:02.280 to change the rules

00:20:04.540 because I think Democrats believe

00:20:06.160 if they enact those,

00:20:07.840 they stay in power

00:20:09.040 the next hundred years,

00:20:09.960 that Republicans can't win

00:20:11.400 if millions of illegal aliens

00:20:13.320 and millions of criminals

00:20:14.520 are voting.

00:20:15.820 And that's why

00:20:16.420 they want to do it,

00:20:17.180 particularly if you have

00:20:17.940 a partisan

00:20:18.460 federal election commission

00:20:20.300 that is a political weapon

00:20:23.600 going after Republicans

00:20:24.880 at the behest of Chuck Schumer.

00:20:27.220 They believe,

00:20:27.940 I think,

00:20:28.200 quite reasonably

00:20:29.000 that that will ensure

00:20:30.080 they win for a long time to come.

00:20:32.000 That's why

00:20:32.660 this is the whole enchilada.

00:20:34.220 Senator,

00:20:34.640 you've sufficiently depressed me

00:20:36.320 about the Corrupt Politicians Act.

00:20:38.320 So now,

00:20:39.160 because a wise man

00:20:40.100 once said

00:20:40.560 that it is always darkest

00:20:42.180 before it goes totally pitch black,

00:20:44.660 we have to address

00:20:45.740 the other topic

00:20:46.660 that you were working on today,

00:20:48.820 which is the gun grab.

00:20:50.820 Democrats are trying to pass

00:20:52.340 big gun control.

00:20:55.320 You were there,

00:20:56.000 you were in the room.

00:20:56.780 What's it look like

00:20:57.520 and how do we stop it?

00:20:58.700 Well,

00:20:58.960 it's the Constitution Subcommittee,

00:21:00.800 the Senate Judiciary Committee.

00:21:02.040 I've been the chairman

00:21:02.680 of that committee

00:21:03.320 for a number of years.

00:21:04.820 I'm now the ranking member

00:21:05.860 because we're in the minority.

00:21:06.940 So Senator Richard Blumenthal

00:21:08.320 from Connecticut

00:21:08.900 is now the chairman.

00:21:10.500 He had a hearing

00:21:11.360 on so-called ghost guns.

00:21:13.380 I mean,

00:21:13.540 you said it's always darkest

00:21:14.520 before it goes pitch black.

00:21:15.740 I guess it's fitting

00:21:16.480 that pitch black

00:21:17.620 is when the ghosts come out.

00:21:19.320 I showed up,

00:21:20.140 irritatingly enough,

00:21:21.140 this hearing

00:21:21.820 was at the exact same time

00:21:23.700 as the markup

00:21:24.440 for the Corrupt Politicians Act.

00:21:26.020 So what I talked about

00:21:27.160 on the hearing

00:21:28.520 on, quote,

00:21:29.020 ghost guns,

00:21:29.660 and what is a ghost gun?

00:21:30.960 I mean,

00:21:31.160 to be honest, 0.72

00:21:32.080 who the hell

00:21:32.540 has heard of a ghost gun?

00:21:33.820 I mean,

00:21:33.980 you want to talk about

00:21:34.620 a made-up phenomenon

00:21:35.920 and it's designed

00:21:37.240 to be really scary.

00:21:38.340 Like, ooh,

00:21:38.780 ghost guns.

00:21:39.520 What the heck are those?

00:21:41.400 They're handmade guns.

00:21:42.520 They're people,

00:21:43.820 they're hobbyists

00:21:44.440 who make handmade guns.

00:21:45.840 They make guns from kits.

00:21:48.500 They order different kits online

00:21:50.660 and they assemble them.

00:21:52.260 And the reason

00:21:52.900 this is a made-up problem

00:21:54.120 is there is zero evidence,

00:21:56.440 like nothing,

00:21:57.820 nada,

00:21:58.960 that handmade guns

00:22:01.380 are producing

00:22:02.060 any violent crime at all.

00:22:04.040 Like,

00:22:04.280 it's a totally made-up,

00:22:06.760 and so I kind of unloaded

00:22:08.740 on the Democrats this morning

00:22:09.920 and I said,

00:22:10.420 look,

00:22:10.900 you've got a hearing

00:22:11.740 on a totally bogus threat,

00:22:13.560 but it's designed

00:22:14.660 to be scary

00:22:15.240 and frankly,

00:22:16.020 they're taking advantage 1.00

00:22:17.900 of ignorant liberals 1.00

00:22:19.280 who don't really know 1.00

00:22:21.200 anything about guns

00:22:22.280 and a ghost gun.

00:22:23.860 They want to use a term

00:22:25.060 that sounds really frightening,

00:22:27.040 but I said,

00:22:27.960 what,

00:22:28.140 are you next going to hold

00:22:29.160 a hearing

00:22:29.580 on Civil War replica cannons?

00:22:32.900 I mean,

00:22:33.360 they're not being used

00:22:34.360 in crimes.

00:22:34.900 You want a hearing

00:22:35.640 on gun crime?

00:22:37.340 Gun crime's a serious problem.

00:22:38.440 How about have a hearing

00:22:39.180 on Chicago

00:22:39.960 and New York

00:22:40.920 and Philadelphia

00:22:41.600 and how left-wing

00:22:42.840 gun control laws

00:22:43.680 aren't working?

00:22:44.400 That's actually

00:22:44.940 a real hearing.

00:22:47.280 But they don't want

00:22:48.180 to do that.

00:22:49.660 And what I talked about

00:22:50.640 also in my opening comment

00:22:51.860 is I said,

00:22:52.420 listen,

00:22:53.700 why is it the Democrats

00:22:54.660 are trying to do this?

00:22:55.620 Because number one,

00:22:56.460 their objective

00:22:56.980 is not going after

00:22:57.960 actual gun crime.

00:22:59.000 It is stripping

00:23:00.580 the Second Amendment rights

00:23:01.660 from law-abiding citizens,

00:23:02.820 that the people

00:23:03.460 that build homemade guns

00:23:04.740 are collectors.

00:23:06.100 Frankly,

00:23:06.620 if you're a gangbanger

00:23:07.840 in Chicago,

00:23:09.260 you're not making

00:23:10.080 a homemade gun.

00:23:11.220 You're buying

00:23:11.640 an illegal gun

00:23:12.400 on the black market

00:23:13.220 that you're murdering 0.99

00:23:13.900 people with. 0.97

00:23:14.460 I mean,

00:23:14.640 that's where the guns

00:23:15.700 come from.

00:23:16.700 But here's what

00:23:17.760 this is all about,

00:23:18.700 and it was interesting.

00:23:20.360 Blumenthal,

00:23:20.880 in his opening statement,

00:23:21.820 he said,

00:23:22.200 look,

00:23:22.400 these are untraceable.

00:23:24.700 And untraceable

00:23:25.540 is meant to be scary.

00:23:28.500 They want to be able

00:23:29.980 to trace

00:23:30.820 every firearm in America

00:23:32.300 because they want

00:23:33.000 a registry

00:23:33.640 of every firearm

00:23:34.460 in America.

00:23:34.860 And I put it out.

00:23:35.460 I said,

00:23:35.700 listen,

00:23:36.960 Heidi and I

00:23:37.540 own a number

00:23:38.080 of firearms.

00:23:39.200 There is no government

00:23:40.180 list of the firearms

00:23:41.100 we own.

00:23:41.660 It's none of your 0.99

00:23:42.300 damn business 0.99

00:23:43.660 what firearms we own. 1.00

00:23:44.840 You want to find out

00:23:45.440 what firearms we own?

00:23:46.320 Come into our house

00:23:46.940 at night.

00:23:47.260 You'll find out

00:23:47.760 what firearms we own.

00:23:49.260 Like it is,

00:23:51.640 and for the big

00:23:53.340 government liberals,

00:23:54.220 they want a registry.

00:23:55.820 And the reason

00:23:56.680 they want a registry

00:23:57.580 is if you look

00:23:58.480 at countries

00:23:59.040 throughout history

00:23:59.780 that have confiscated

00:24:00.760 firearms,

00:24:01.740 it always starts

00:24:02.920 with a registry,

00:24:03.660 a list of

00:24:04.540 what guns

00:24:05.740 does Michael Knowles

00:24:06.740 own so that

00:24:07.500 when they come

00:24:07.960 knock on the door,

00:24:08.980 they say,

00:24:09.900 okay,

00:24:10.140 Mr. Knowles,

00:24:10.980 you've got a rifle,

00:24:12.700 you've got a shotgun,

00:24:13.980 and you've got

00:24:14.500 a 38 revolver.

00:24:16.260 Produce the guns

00:24:17.100 now.

00:24:17.440 We're seizing them.

00:24:18.840 And so

00:24:19.340 I am fighting

00:24:21.140 tooth and nail

00:24:21.760 against a registry.

00:24:22.700 This whole ghost guns

00:24:23.540 thing is a made-up

00:24:25.280 BS topic

00:24:27.540 because what they want

00:24:29.700 is a registry

00:24:30.240 of every gun

00:24:30.740 to be able

00:24:31.080 to confiscate it.

00:24:32.280 Before we go,

00:24:33.380 we're,

00:24:34.220 as always,

00:24:34.980 pressed for time.

00:24:35.920 Before we go,

00:24:36.500 we've got to touch

00:24:37.380 on this Israel issue.

00:24:39.360 We have to touch

00:24:40.180 on it because

00:24:40.920 I don't understand

00:24:41.900 anything about it.

00:24:43.020 And I think

00:24:43.580 most people,

00:24:44.360 frankly,

00:24:44.800 are looking at

00:24:45.720 this conflict,

00:24:46.560 the Israel-Palestine

00:24:47.580 conflict.

00:24:48.300 It seemed to have

00:24:49.180 been fine.

00:24:50.180 Everything seemed

00:24:50.700 to be going

00:24:51.020 pretty well

00:24:51.600 for the past

00:24:52.400 four years.

00:24:53.100 You had lots

00:24:53.480 of new peace treaties.

00:24:54.280 We happened

00:24:54.980 to be doing

00:24:55.760 episodes.

00:24:56.340 We were in D.C.

00:24:57.360 During those peace treaties,

00:24:58.440 you were there

00:24:58.980 at the signing

00:24:59.500 of them.

00:25:00.400 And now

00:25:01.900 everything's

00:25:02.600 gone to hell

00:25:03.260 in a handbasket.

00:25:04.940 What went wrong?

00:25:06.320 Weakness causes

00:25:07.240 violence and aggression.

00:25:09.640 Terrorists

00:25:10.120 like weakness.

00:25:12.760 They're encouraged

00:25:13.480 by weakness.

00:25:14.200 You know,

00:25:14.340 I had dinner,

00:25:15.340 I think,

00:25:15.700 week before last

00:25:16.560 with David Friedman,

00:25:17.920 who was the former

00:25:18.780 U.S. ambassador

00:25:19.720 to Israel

00:25:20.340 under President Trump.

00:25:21.420 David is a good friend.

00:25:23.380 Four years

00:25:23.920 of President Trump,

00:25:24.860 you saw the

00:25:25.740 Palestinian attacks

00:25:26.940 on Israelis,

00:25:27.920 on Americans,

00:25:29.040 drop dramatically.

00:25:30.240 And it was because,

00:25:31.180 I believe,

00:25:32.840 President Trump

00:25:33.560 drew a line

00:25:34.040 in the sand

00:25:34.500 and says,

00:25:34.820 we stand with Israel.

00:25:35.660 There was no ambiguity

00:25:36.300 about it.

00:25:37.540 What did Joe Biden

00:25:38.300 do when he came in?

00:25:39.180 Immediately put

00:25:39.900 ambiguity about it.

00:25:40.920 Immediately,

00:25:41.840 one of the things

00:25:42.600 Biden started doing

00:25:43.640 is he sent over

00:25:45.260 $100 million

00:25:45.840 to the Palestinian Authority.

00:25:47.560 Now,

00:25:47.680 the Palestinian Authority

00:25:48.740 is the quasi-government

00:25:51.720 of the Palestinians

00:25:53.020 within Israel.

00:25:54.300 It is in what's called

00:25:55.760 a unity government

00:25:56.780 with Hamas. 0.99

00:25:57.540 Hamas is a terrorist 0.99

00:25:58.460 organization. 0.98

00:25:59.340 It's explicitly

00:25:59.940 a terrorist organization.

00:26:02.340 Hamas 0.96

00:26:02.900 and the Palestinian Authority,

00:26:04.560 they pay bounties

00:26:06.840 to terrorists.

00:26:07.580 So,

00:26:07.900 if you're 1.00

00:26:08.500 a Palestinian terrorist 1.00

00:26:09.700 and you strap dynamite 0.99

00:26:11.060 on a vest

00:26:11.640 and you walk

00:26:12.740 into a mall

00:26:13.320 and you detonate

00:26:14.120 the dynamite 1.00

00:26:14.680 and you murder 0.99

00:26:15.400 women and children, 1.00

00:26:16.340 Hamas 0.96

00:26:18.340 and the Palestinian Authority

00:26:19.480 will pay your family

00:26:20.900 an ongoing stipend

00:26:24.780 for the rest

00:26:25.340 of their lives.

00:26:26.660 And it's a major

00:26:27.600 budget item

00:26:28.500 that they want

00:26:29.740 to encourage.

00:26:30.700 So,

00:26:30.760 it's the government

00:26:31.640 spending money

00:26:33.220 to pay the families

00:26:34.460 of terrorists

00:26:35.100 as rewards

00:26:35.900 for them murdering 1.00

00:26:36.940 Israelis 1.00

00:26:37.360 and murdering 1.00

00:26:38.400 Americans. 0.99

00:26:39.780 Yeah.

00:26:40.080 A couple of years ago,

00:26:41.180 Congress passed a law

00:26:42.160 called the Taylor Force Act.

00:26:43.440 Taylor Force was a Texan.

00:26:44.780 He was a veteran

00:26:45.400 who was murdered

00:26:46.560 by a Palestinian terrorist 0.84

00:26:48.380 in Israel.

00:26:49.780 And the Taylor Force Act

00:26:50.820 says U.S. tax dollars

00:26:52.460 will not go

00:26:53.120 to any organization

00:26:54.020 that rewards terrorists,

00:26:56.720 that pays the families

00:26:57.720 of terrorists

00:26:58.400 as a reward

00:26:59.420 for them committing terror.

00:27:01.000 What did Joe Biden do

00:27:02.220 in the first couple

00:27:02.820 of months in office?

00:27:04.080 Basically ignored

00:27:04.960 the Taylor Force Act

00:27:05.940 and started paying

00:27:06.840 hundreds of millions

00:27:08.000 of dollars

00:27:08.380 to the Palestinian Authority.

00:27:09.600 So,

00:27:09.820 Joe Biden is sending

00:27:10.580 your tax dollars,

00:27:11.440 my tax dollars,

00:27:12.360 to fund Hamas 0.64

00:27:13.980 in their payments

00:27:15.540 to terrorists.

00:27:16.300 And you know what?

00:27:17.240 The terrorists see that

00:27:18.420 and say,

00:27:18.880 okay,

00:27:20.100 this Biden administration

00:27:21.180 is weak.

00:27:21.960 They won't stand

00:27:22.560 with Israel.

00:27:23.360 So let's start 0.53

00:27:24.420 firing rockets.

00:27:25.260 And they're firing rockets.

00:27:26.620 They're firing hundreds

00:27:27.560 of rockets

00:27:28.200 at Jerusalem,

00:27:28.940 at Tel Aviv,

00:27:30.000 all up and down Israel.

00:27:31.640 And by the way,

00:27:32.500 not only is the Biden

00:27:33.500 administration

00:27:34.020 not doing anything

00:27:34.900 meaningfully about it,

00:27:36.140 but you've got Democrats

00:27:37.860 like Ilhan Omar

00:27:39.680 and Rashid Tlaib,

00:27:42.120 Omar accused Israel 0.98

00:27:43.940 of carrying out

00:27:45.100 acts of terrorism

00:27:46.660 because it's trying

00:27:48.440 to defend itself

00:27:49.360 against rocket attacks

00:27:50.780 aimed at civilians

00:27:51.820 and it's trying

00:27:52.420 to take out the terrorists.

00:27:54.100 And listen,

00:27:55.380 I tweeted this week,

00:27:56.660 why is a member

00:27:57.340 of Congress acting

00:27:58.360 as the press secretary

00:27:59.560 for Hamas?

00:28:00.660 And this is contrasted.

00:28:03.140 Six months ago,

00:28:03.960 we were seeing historic peace

00:28:05.380 in the Middle East.

00:28:06.120 Why?

00:28:07.200 Because the president

00:28:07.960 of the United States

00:28:08.680 and the U.S. government

00:28:09.480 was clear and unequivocal.

00:28:10.760 We stand with Israel

00:28:11.580 and no one wanted

00:28:12.220 to screw with us.

00:28:13.620 Now,

00:28:14.660 because Biden

00:28:15.440 is not able

00:28:16.140 to be clear and unequivocal,

00:28:17.320 suddenly they want

00:28:17.940 to screw with Israel 0.95

00:28:18.940 and they want 0.88

00:28:19.240 to screw with us.

00:28:19.980 And this is,

00:28:21.020 it's a manifestation

00:28:22.020 of the failures

00:28:23.040 of Biden's foreign policy.

00:28:24.800 It's night and day.

00:28:26.240 I remember when John Kerry,

00:28:28.120 before he was traipsing

00:28:29.260 all over the world

00:28:29.960 stopping the sun monster,

00:28:31.460 when John Kerry

00:28:32.260 was the secretary of state,

00:28:34.220 he said that

00:28:35.200 it is not possible

00:28:36.420 to solve

00:28:37.340 the Israel-Palestine conflict.

00:28:39.380 It is not possible,

00:28:40.820 rather,

00:28:41.600 to solve

00:28:42.120 the Middle Eastern conflict

00:28:43.680 more broadly

00:28:44.540 without first dealing

00:28:46.020 with the Palestinian conflict.

00:28:47.980 And the Trump administration

00:28:49.260 comes in and says,

00:28:50.240 you know,

00:28:50.660 I don't think that's true.

00:28:52.040 I think we're going to just deal

00:28:52.960 with all of these other Arab states

00:28:54.380 and we're going to get peace deals

00:28:55.720 with those separate states.

00:28:57.360 And the Democrats said

00:28:58.800 that was not possible.

00:28:59.840 Well, what happened?

00:29:00.700 For the last several years,

00:29:02.600 we've seen lots and lots

00:29:03.840 of peace treaties.

00:29:04.800 Now that seems to be falling apart.

00:29:06.760 I have to tell you,

00:29:07.560 Senator,

00:29:08.100 a bit of a depressing show

00:29:09.680 on the voting rights,

00:29:11.000 on the guns,

00:29:11.860 on the international diplomacy.

00:29:13.440 Is there any glimmer of hope here?

00:29:14.920 I think the markup today

00:29:16.500 on the Corrupt Politicians Act

00:29:17.960 was very beneficial in one sense.

00:29:20.540 It showed just how radical

00:29:22.420 and extreme the Democrats were.

00:29:24.680 I mean,

00:29:24.980 when every Democrat

00:29:26.540 on the committee voted

00:29:27.600 to allow murderers to vote,

00:29:29.800 that's a pretty extreme vote.

00:29:31.640 When every Democrat

00:29:32.540 on the committee voted

00:29:33.460 to allow millions

00:29:34.720 of illegal aliens to vote,

00:29:36.200 that's an extreme vote.

00:29:37.320 When every Democrat voted

00:29:38.420 to maintain the amnesty

00:29:40.400 for millions of illegal aliens

00:29:42.020 voting illegally,

00:29:43.140 that's an extreme vote.

00:29:45.140 You know,

00:29:45.320 there's another provision.

00:29:46.280 We talked about

00:29:46.860 the six to one

00:29:47.900 match of federal funds,

00:29:50.700 which is,

00:29:51.100 you know,

00:29:51.400 welfare for politicians.

00:29:53.380 One of the things

00:29:54.220 I did at the markup today,

00:29:55.500 I went through

00:29:56.380 what every Democrat

00:29:58.340 on the committee

00:29:59.020 had raised

00:29:59.820 in Q1

00:30:01.120 in the first quarter

00:30:01.840 of this year.

00:30:02.420 And I went through

00:30:03.140 how much they would get

00:30:04.560 under the match.

00:30:05.280 And some would get

00:30:06.200 a million.

00:30:07.600 Angus King,

00:30:08.200 I think,

00:30:08.460 would get like $750.

00:30:09.920 He got virtually nothing.

00:30:11.740 The Democrat

00:30:12.540 who got the most

00:30:13.560 was John Ossoff,

00:30:14.900 who was just elected

00:30:15.720 out of Georgia.

00:30:16.540 And he would get

00:30:17.240 a little over $11 million

00:30:18.980 in federal funds.

00:30:20.200 I mean,

00:30:20.320 that's a bunch of money,

00:30:21.380 $11 million.

00:30:22.880 So the senator

00:30:25.500 who would get the most

00:30:26.520 on the committee

00:30:27.160 was yours truly.

00:30:28.880 And last quarter,

00:30:31.960 in Q1 of this year,

00:30:33.820 I raised $5.3 million.

00:30:36.620 $5.3 million.

00:30:38.380 98% of that

00:30:39.700 came from contributions

00:30:40.800 under $100.

00:30:41.880 I think the average

00:30:42.540 contribution,

00:30:43.240 if I remember right,

00:30:43.740 it was either $41 or $47.

00:30:45.200 I forget which one it was,

00:30:46.140 but it was 40-something.

00:30:49.580 $5.3 million,

00:30:51.140 six to one match.

00:30:52.220 Now there's a cap.

00:30:53.060 So what it would have meant

00:30:53.980 is I would have gotten

00:30:55.980 $24 million

00:30:57.580 from the federal government.

00:30:58.980 And I asked the Democrats,

00:31:00.960 I said,

00:31:01.260 why do my Democratic colleagues

00:31:02.500 want to give my campaign

00:31:03.900 $24 million

00:31:05.560 in federal funds? 0.98

00:31:08.720 This is asinine. 0.98

00:31:09.840 I don't want the funds. 0.97

00:31:10.980 I'd like to go raise the funds.

00:31:12.540 By the way,

00:31:13.000 if you're watching this,

00:31:13.780 go to tedcruz.org

00:31:14.740 and make contribution.

00:31:15.500 I welcome those funds,

00:31:17.600 but I'm not interested

00:31:18.940 in taking federal taxpayer money.

00:31:21.060 And every Democrat

00:31:22.460 voted to give my campaign

00:31:25.160 $24 million in federal funds.

00:31:26.960 I mean, 0.90

00:31:27.160 it's asinine 0.83

00:31:28.240 because 0.91

00:31:29.640 their priority

00:31:31.860 is staying in power.

00:31:33.080 And so they want

00:31:34.180 billions of dollars

00:31:36.680 of federal funds

00:31:38.260 going to their campaign.

00:31:39.620 So as incumbents,

00:31:40.840 they have massive amounts

00:31:42.520 of money

00:31:42.920 and they can crush

00:31:44.200 any challenger.

00:31:45.160 And I got to say,

00:31:46.180 Chuck Schumer

00:31:46.720 began the hearing

00:31:48.200 by giving the markup

00:31:49.040 by giving this

00:31:49.700 sanctimonious speech.

00:31:52.320 And it was a speech

00:31:53.460 about Jim Crow.

00:31:55.540 And I responded

00:31:57.360 shortly thereafter

00:31:58.160 and I said,

00:31:58.780 look,

00:31:59.940 Chuck Schumer

00:32:00.520 rightly talked

00:32:01.240 about Jim Crow.

00:32:02.080 Jim Crow was shameful.

00:32:03.240 It was racist. 0.87

00:32:03.940 It was bigoted.

00:32:05.160 Jim Crow laws 1.00

00:32:05.940 were written

00:32:06.460 by Democrats.

00:32:08.020 They were implemented

00:32:09.240 by Democrats.

00:32:10.460 And the purpose

00:32:11.180 of Jim Crow laws 0.71

00:32:12.160 was to keep

00:32:12.920 Democrats in power

00:32:14.340 forever.

00:32:15.360 Now,

00:32:16.160 I recognize

00:32:17.600 today's Democrats

00:32:18.500 and the corrupt media.

00:32:20.600 Their narrative was,

00:32:21.640 well,

00:32:21.900 that was the Democrats

00:32:22.740 of a long time ago,

00:32:23.780 but not today.

00:32:25.200 I said,

00:32:25.580 listen,

00:32:26.080 this bill today

00:32:27.240 is Jim Crow 2.0.

00:32:29.100 This is designed

00:32:30.220 for the same purpose,

00:32:31.560 which is to prevent

00:32:32.420 the voters

00:32:33.040 from throwing

00:32:34.400 the bums out, 0.83

00:32:35.120 to prevent the voters

00:32:36.160 from voting Democrats

00:32:38.060 out when they

00:32:38.900 embrace socialism,

00:32:40.280 when they embrace

00:32:40.800 open borders,

00:32:41.480 when they pack

00:32:42.940 the Supreme Court,

00:32:43.920 when they advocate

00:32:44.940 abolishing the police.

00:32:47.020 The Democrats

00:32:48.060 want the voters

00:32:48.980 not to have the power

00:32:50.120 to vote them out.

00:32:50.900 And how do they do that?

00:32:51.840 They do that

00:32:52.540 by registering

00:32:53.800 millions of illegal aliens,

00:32:55.520 allowing criminals

00:32:56.420 to vote,

00:32:57.000 and making

00:32:58.120 the Federal Election

00:32:59.000 Commission

00:32:59.460 a partisan weapon

00:33:00.440 to target Republicans.

00:33:01.440 This is all about

00:33:02.540 disenfranchising voters

00:33:04.700 just like Jim Crow. 0.59

00:33:06.380 And I got to admit,

00:33:07.380 to say Democrats

00:33:08.980 didn't like that

00:33:09.800 would be something

00:33:10.520 of an understatement.

00:33:12.300 And I think

00:33:13.260 there is value

00:33:14.380 to shining the light

00:33:16.100 and explaining

00:33:16.820 what it is

00:33:17.500 they're trying to do.

00:33:18.700 I think that's true.

00:33:19.600 And you know,

00:33:20.520 a guy who's going

00:33:21.140 to turn down

00:33:21.680 24 million bucks

00:33:22.780 probably doesn't care

00:33:23.780 what the Democrats

00:33:24.420 say about him

00:33:25.040 on the committee.

00:33:26.820 24 million bucks.

00:33:27.860 You know,

00:33:28.000 I guess there is

00:33:28.620 the glimmer of thing.

00:33:29.640 I guess the glimmer

00:33:31.380 of hope is

00:33:31.800 no matter how...

00:33:32.620 If they'd upped it

00:33:33.160 to 25,

00:33:33.920 I might have been

00:33:34.380 open to it.

00:33:36.700 That's exactly it.

00:33:38.040 I suppose there's

00:33:38.700 got to be a number

00:33:39.300 somewhere.

00:33:39.740 But if you think

00:33:40.660 you're having a bad day,

00:33:41.760 you're looking at

00:33:42.520 the politics

00:33:43.060 all around the world,

00:33:43.660 you say everything's

00:33:44.280 going to hell

00:33:44.640 in a handbasket. 1.00

00:33:45.820 At least you didn't

00:33:46.540 have to turn down

00:33:47.160 24 million dollars

00:33:48.180 today like

00:33:48.900 Senator Cruz did.

00:33:49.780 We have to leave

00:33:50.240 it there, Senator,

00:33:51.160 but we will be back soon.

00:33:52.460 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:33:53.580 This is Verdict

00:33:54.140 with Ted Cruz.

00:33:59.640 This episode of Verdict

00:34:05.420 with Ted Cruz

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Verdict with Ted Cruz - May 12, 2021

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