Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joins CNN's John Avlon to discuss the latest in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and Russia's intentions to invade a sovereign state. Plus, how to protect your money, your retirement, and your savings from inflation.
00:09:28.160And the Biden administration over the past several days has declassified documents that suggest we could see an invasion of Ukraine as early as the beginning of next year, as January or February of next year.
00:09:41.780You know, there are several points, and this stuff is complicated.
00:09:47.980But, you know, in many ways we're getting back to really the origins of verdict when we started.
00:09:52.740You know, our very first episode in the basement in the bowels of D.C. on the first impeachment trial was explaining Ukraine and Burisma and impeachment and natural gas and all of that.
00:10:07.640And you remember one of our first episodes, you said, all right, well, what is Ukraine?
00:10:56.740Some of it is testing a new president, and you're absolutely right that Russia and all of our enemies test a new president.
00:11:02.360Some of it is a response to Biden's incredible weakness and ineffectiveness in Afghanistan and the disastrous withdrawal and surrender there, which we have talked about on verdict, made every enemy of America much more likely to engage in aggression against us because they took a measure of the man in the Oval Office and determined Joe Biden is unlikely to do anything about it.
00:11:27.120But there's another cause here, which we've talked about before on verdict, but I think it is worth drilling down in some detail.
00:11:34.580And that cause of this Russian hostility is a decision Joe Biden personally made to surrender to Russia on Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline that Russia is building from Russia to Germany.
00:11:51.480And in that decision, Biden took what had been a foreign policy victory that we had won, and he turned it into a loss.
00:12:00.960And that is the direct but-for cause of why Russia is prepared to invade Ukraine.
00:12:08.900Now, let's start with what does a pipeline have to do with Ukraine?
00:12:15.540Because that's not immediately evident to someone who is analyzing it and thinking through it.
00:12:21.320Well, I remember I had this thought when you brought it up, Senator, and we've talked about it a little bit on this show, but I would like, because things seem to be coming to a head, so I do want to be able to understand this.
00:12:31.640But I think there's this question of, as Barack Obama said, why do I care if Russia exerts influence in its traditional sphere of influence?
00:17:26.380When President Trump signed the sanctions into law, they stopped building the pipeline that day, not the next day, not a week later, not a month later,
00:17:38.140the day the sanctions were signed into law.
00:17:41.100And they were designed because they would have bankrupted any company that continued to build the pipeline.
00:18:31.080Then Joe Biden comes to office and the Biden foreign policy team.
00:18:38.180Number one, their view towards bullies and enemies of America is weakness, is weakness towards the Taliban and Afghanistan, weakness towards the Chinese communists, weakness towards Iran and weakness towards Russia.
00:18:52.200But number two, they really elevate Germany in their foreign policy.
00:18:58.600You know, I've joked that that that the Biden foreign policy team has votive candles of Angela Merkel under their beds at night, that they just they they they worship Merkel for whatever reason.
00:20:00.580It's a physical representation of the imperial ambitions of Vladimir Putin.
00:20:05.580The the whole point of the pipeline, other than saving a little bit of money, I guess, is to free up Russia to go pursue whatever imperial ambitions it has in Ukraine.
00:20:16.700So you kill the pipeline, you kill or at least seriously dampen the imperial ambitions.
00:20:22.580And if you give the OK on the pipeline, you are tacitly giving the OK on Russia going into Ukraine.
00:20:30.880And it's a point that I made repeatedly.
00:20:33.440It's a point that that senators, both Republicans and Democrats, made over and over and over again.
00:20:40.340It's also a point that was made by Ukraine and Poland.
00:20:43.300So this summer, when when Biden formally surrendered to Putin and waived the sanctions that were part of U.S. law,
00:20:50.920Ukraine and Poland put out a joint statement condemning that decision and saying giving in to Nord Stream 2 creates a grave security threat against Ukraine and Central Europe,
00:21:07.320because once the pipeline is on, Putin can can drive the tanks in into Ukraine and not worry about whether they destroy their pipeline or not because he has another way to get the gas to market.
00:21:21.900The amazing thing is, so where are we now on the pipeline?
00:21:51.240And so, you know, earlier today, we had testimony in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from Victoria Nuland, who is the undersecretary of state.
00:21:58.760And I asked her directly, could President Biden today impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 by simply revoking his waiver?
00:22:09.620If you want to stop Russian tanks from driving in for in to Ukraine and conquering them, Joe Biden needs to bring out a damn pen and piece of paper and impose the sanctions that Congress has mandated.
00:23:11.100But Russia's got a lot better weaponry, a lot better equipment than Ukraine does.
00:23:18.740And Ukraine, I went and visited Ukraine back in 2014 and went to the Maiden Square where you had protesters who were being shot in the square when they were standing up.
00:23:31.480And the people of Ukraine want to be allied with America.
00:23:48.160Joe Biden and the Democrats canceled the sale of lethal defensive military equipment to Ukraine.
00:23:55.440So they're not even helping the Ukrainians defend themselves.
00:23:59.300And if Biden doesn't change course, I think it is the odds are high that within 90 days, Russia will have invaded and sadly in all likelihood conquered Ukraine and taken a major step towards reassembling the Soviet Union because Joe Biden is too weak to stand up to Putin.
00:24:24.940This is a scary prospect, obviously, but it's very important and people should bookmark this episode if you're listening to it because what you're saying is right now it's not too late.
00:24:34.360Joe Biden can't just say, well, whoopsie-daisy, there was nothing I could do.
00:24:38.620There are actually concrete measures you could take right now that could stop this, that could prevent this next step in Russia's imperial ambitions.
00:24:45.820As usual, of course, we're running late, but I do have to get to one story before we get to the mailbag.
00:24:50.360And it's on this very same point of not too late.
00:24:52.900There are things we can do right now to maintain our way of life and protect our freedoms and our rights.
00:24:59.080There was a move by Democrats, and unfortunately some Republicans I saw went along with this during the debate over the National Defense Authorization Act,
00:25:08.320that would draft women, that would create this system where women could be drafted potentially to go die overseas.
00:25:18.480We touched on it when this was being debated on the show.
00:25:27.880What kind of a country America is basically safe, basically wealthy, basically secure, and we're going to drag our daughters and send them overseas and draft?
00:25:38.440I thought what reasonable person could ever get behind this, but it looked like it was a done deal.
00:25:43.680And then just in the past few days, you and some of your colleagues sponsored and co-sponsored an amendment to rip this out of the NDAA, and that appears to be successful.
00:25:55.920Well, look, that's exactly right, and it's for over a decade there's been this effort to try to make girls and women subject to the draft,
00:26:06.300subject to being forced into the military against their wishes, and it is driven by the Democrats.
00:26:13.260The Democrats emphatically want to be able to draft our daughters, and sadly there are a bunch of compliant Republicans that are scared to stand up to it.
00:26:22.100They think, oh, well, if I say we shouldn't draft our daughters, somehow I don't like women.
00:28:28.880In fact, I had some activists who gave me a baseball cap with wacko bird written on it in a picture of Daffy Duck.
00:28:36.620But – so what would happen every year in the Senate Armed Services Committee is he would fight for it, ram it through, and he would get enough Republicans to go along with the Democrats that he would succeed in that.
00:28:50.940But I would work with conservatives in the House, and we'd pull it out.
00:28:55.620And so I won those battles year after year after year, much to his volcanic rage.
00:29:18.820He was my chief counsel in the Senate.
00:29:22.060Ryan was a West Point graduate, served in the Army, was a captain in the Army.
00:29:26.980Ryan clerked on the U.S. Supreme Court for Justice Alito.
00:29:31.640Ryan was a student of mine at the University of Texas Law School.
00:29:35.000So when I was teaching Supreme Court litigation, he was one of my very best students.
00:29:39.860And so I was very enthusiastic when President Trump nominated Ryan to be the general counsel of the Army.
00:29:48.460So Ryan's hearing, his confirmation hearing is set.
00:29:53.100The day before his hearing, he goes in to meet with the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, John McCain.
00:29:58.680And he sits down in McCain's office and McCain asks him, says, Ryan, what are your views on drafting women?
00:30:09.240And Ryan gave exactly the right answer for a lawyer nominated to that job.
00:30:17.100And he says, Senator, that that is a policy decision for Congress to make.
00:30:22.600Congress is elected to make that policy decision.
00:30:25.240If I was confirmed as general counsel of the Army, I would implement whatever policy decision Congress made, which is exactly the right answer.
00:30:32.360And McCain looks at him and goes, bullshit, I want your personal views.
00:30:41.920And Ryan says, well, sir, personally, I think it's a bad idea.
00:30:48.660McCain looks at him and says, get the hell out of my office.
00:30:57.980And for the next couple of months, McCain refused to have a hearing with him.
00:31:01.840And ultimately, the Trump White House withdrew the nomination.
00:31:06.320And they named him instead deputy general counsel at the Department of Defense, which doesn't require a Senate confirmation.
00:31:12.720So McCain was so pissed off about the fact that I had been leading the fight for years against his efforts to draft our daughters that he torpedoed an incredibly qualified guy's nomination to be general counsel of the Army because he was mad at him and he was really mad at me.
00:31:32.740And I got to say, you know, John McCain was an incredible war hero, but he may be rolling over in his grave because once again, we've beaten the efforts of the bad guys to try to draft our daughters and force them into combat.
00:33:08.820And it's a politically incorrect fight in, you know, this era of critical gender theory that the left is trying to force on all of our children.
00:33:16.840But I sincerely I sincerely thank you for fighting this fight on behalf of America's daughter and my own daughter.
00:33:22.360That being said, we have great questions from our verdict plus community tonight from our subscribers over on verdict plus and anybody who is not already a subscriber on verdict plus.
00:33:33.520We have a great deal between now and Christmas.
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00:33:43.360So please join us over there if you want exclusive access to the senator to be able to ask questions to Michael and to the senator on on these episodes.
00:33:50.780So, Senator Cruz, the first question is, of course, from for you from Flo Brenton.
00:34:08.020I cannot enjoy the entertainment of verdict, Flo says, while our Constitution is being torn to shreds and not a single Republican congressman or senator stepping up to the plate to protect us.
00:34:18.780So, Senator Cruz, my question is, how do you address this anger that's not just felt by Flo, but by the American people regarding how the Democrats are handling handling the January 6th commission?
00:34:29.680Well, listen, Flo is exactly right that what Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are doing is a sham.
00:34:38.400This is a commission set up in Congress that is all Democrats.
00:34:44.400And then when when Kevin McCarthy, the leader of House Republicans, named some Republicans to it, Nancy Pelosi said, no, you can't have the Republicans you want.
00:34:54.980And so she she put Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger on there instead, which when you have a Democratic speaker picking who she wants.
00:35:05.300Let me tell you, the conclusions are already decided.
00:35:10.660The conclusions are that every Republican in America is a terrorist and the only hope for America is for Democrats to rule us as our benevolent dictators for the next thousand years.
00:35:24.020That's the conclusion of the Nancy Pelosi, January 6th commission that is designed to be the conclusion.
00:35:30.460It is the purpose of the show trial and it is consistent with the abuse of power we've seen from the Democrats.
00:35:38.600You know, I will say Flo's question talked about the Department of Justice and their abuse of power.
00:35:43.080And you're right that this is an incredibly political Department of Justice.
00:35:47.600I can tell you that that I for I for one am doing everything humanly possible to try to hold DOJ to account, to hold the attorney general to account, to shine a light on their abuse of power, to shine a light on on their partisan and political witch hunts and persecution of people for their their political views, including free speech.
00:36:10.420Whether it is targeting parents for going to school boards and speaking out or targeting people on January 6th who engaged in peaceful protest that is protected by the Constitution.
00:36:22.840Violence is not if someone engaged in violence on January 6th or any other day of the year.
00:36:28.400If you violently assault a police officer, I don't care if your politics are right wing or left wing.
00:36:35.420If you engage in violence, you should be prosecuted.
00:36:38.240But the Democrats are cynically using those that did engage in violence as an excuse to target and go after the political speech of millions of Americans they just happen to disagree with.
00:36:53.120And I agree we need to do everything we can to hold them accountable.
00:36:55.580It is disappointing, too, I think, to see, you know, the Republicans, Cheney and Kinzinger acting like Democrats when they have a responsibility to their constituents and to the American people to make sure that the DOJ isn't abusing their power, but they're they're not living up to that responsibility.
00:37:11.260So the next question is from our tried and true friend here on Verdict.
00:38:14.840Whether the parents can and should be held to account depends on the facts and circumstances of what happened.
00:38:20.840And it also depends on what the state law is.
00:38:23.180My understanding is in this circumstance that the parents had purchased the firearms, had kept them in an unlocked drawer, I believe, where their teenage son could access them.
00:38:39.280And it also appears from some of the back and forth that the parents had good reason to know or at least very seriously suspect that this was a deeply troubled child who could well be a danger to others.
00:38:53.460And if those are the facts, I think there are a lot of states, Michigan and others, where parents could be held liable if you, you know, I'm a gun owner, but I keep our firearms locked up because I don't want our kids accessing our firearms.
00:39:09.440And I think responsible gun owners, that that's what we do is we don't want to see children, particularly young children, playing with guns, having an accidental shooting.
00:39:20.860Lots of bad things can happen when kids have have access and unrestricted access to guns, all the more so depending on the facts of what the parents knew about their son.
00:39:31.840And if there were from the early discussions, the texts that were going back and forth between the shooter and his mom, it certainly seems like the parents knew that this was a very unstable and very dangerous kid.
00:39:49.160And I would say that that there's a fairly longstanding principle, certainly of civil liability, but even of criminal liability if you are recklessly allowing firearms to fall into the hands of a child under your care who you have reason to know is a danger to others.
00:40:10.080Senator, that answer was absolutely outrageous because you have violated the rule of modern political discourse.
00:40:17.920You didn't make it completely reductive and simplistic.
00:40:21.320And so I think what everyone is expecting is you need someone to say absolutely 100 percent ban all guns, repeal the Second Amendment and throw anyone who owns a gun in the clink.
00:40:29.800Or, you know, you can do whatever you want with your gun and you can leave 20 rifles on the roof of your home and with big signs that say, come take this rifle right here.
00:40:37.960But of course, that's not the case. There is such a thing as prudence and our liberties require that we exercise them with prudence.
00:40:45.100And so I think that's a terrific way to view it. And it's obviously it's going to change state by state.
00:40:50.440And political activists are going to try to exploit these events as often they do to score whatever ideological point they have.
00:40:57.360But but what's much more interesting than those shallow ideological points are the details or the facts and the questions of prudence.
00:41:04.320Right. Because the mother, the mother allegedly texted her son, don't do it.
00:41:08.260As soon as she heard it on the news, the father reportedly called called the police and reported that his gun was missing.
00:41:14.020He said he suspected that it was his son that was shooting. So these parents had some awareness.
00:41:17.320It also should spark the conversation, not just about the laws that are currently on the books, but how should this be handled?
00:41:23.160If parents are aware of this, are they culpable? Should they be liable? What should what should the laws be?
00:41:29.040And that's a policy discussion that politicians should have, as well as talking about the diversionary, the diversionary policies that some of these schools have implemented.
00:41:36.800When they see red flags from these students, including violent drawings and violent comments and how they handle that outside of the criminal justice system.
00:41:44.420Now, look, I think that's exactly right. And you look at some of these shootings, you look at the shooting in Parkland in Florida, and there were all sorts of warning signs that that shooter.
00:41:54.960And by the way, one one thing is a consistent policy matter. I do. I will not say the names of any of these shooters, these evil bastards who commit mass murder.
00:42:04.480They want their names to go down in infamy. And I very consciously will never repeat their names because I'm not interested in giving them that infamy.
00:42:11.900But the Parkland shooter. There were multiple interactions with law enforcement and, Liz, you pointed out a policy that politicians have put in place, that when you had people that engage in acts of violence and threats against fellow students and the schools cover it up and the schools don't report it to law enforcement and the schools don't treat it seriously.
00:42:36.120It has the potential of escalating and putting the lives of other students at real risk.
00:42:41.900Right. And that'll be that'll certainly be interesting to watch unfold in the case of what happened in Michigan, because the student apparently had had had been called into the office for making violent comments.
00:42:52.040And the school told his parents to get him counseling. Now, we don't know all the details of whether that should have been escalated to law enforcement, but there were certainly those red flags.
00:42:58.900Senator, the next question is from Brent. Brent asks about a video that has gotten quite a bit of attention online.
00:43:07.040It's of Congressman Dan Crenshaw throwing shade at the Freedom Caucus.
00:43:12.280Like I said, this has made the rounds. Interesting comments from Congressman Crenshaw here.
00:43:17.160What is your what is your stance on this video, on the comments from Congressman Crenshaw?
00:43:21.160Well, listen, I've seen the video. I don't agree with what Dan had to say.
00:43:26.460I like Dan. I like him personally. I think he's he's talented.
00:43:31.120I'm certainly grateful for his his service to our nation.
00:43:34.300He lost an eye defending the nation. I'm grateful for that.
00:43:38.280And he's a charismatic guy. He's he's got a sense of humor.
00:43:40.760He's got some some verve and he's willing to fight.
00:43:43.420All of those are good things. You know, in this video, he's he's singing the praises of Adam Kinzinger and he's crapping all over the Freedom Caucus.
00:43:53.200I think that's pretty misguided. I think Kinzinger has gone completely off the rails.
00:44:00.420And there's a reason that he's not running for reelection because Kinzinger couldn't get reelected.
00:44:04.200And and I think the Freedom Caucus, they are consistently the strongest conservatives in Congress.
00:44:12.160And, you know, it's there is a particular contempt that that that some congressional moderates have for for conservatives who actually follow through on their promises.
00:44:25.580And, you know, it was interesting. I think the the phrase that Dan used, he said, well, there are performance politicians and there are legislators.
00:44:33.280It is always a problem whenever you see someone. Use a word like legislator and their voice always drops an octave.
00:44:42.220I don't know why, but it's much more serious when it's a legislator.
00:44:45.980What they mean is someone who's going to cut a bunch of deals with Democrats and give in.
00:44:50.640What they mean are the kind of Republicans who voted with the Democrats on the big infrastructure bill that just came in.
00:44:58.080That's what they mean. And actually, the other phrase, he didn't use it, but I was kind of surprised.
00:45:02.840He didn't. The other phrase that that you see congressional mods they love to use is they say there are workhorses and show horses.
00:45:10.740And what's a show horse? A show horse is anyone who actually does what they promised their constituents they would do as compared to the workhorses.
00:45:20.660Who suck up to the Democrats and do what the Democrats want them to do.
00:45:23.940And, you know, look, I guess it is easy sometimes for people to fall into that rhetoric.
00:45:33.800There's also just an easy trap that unfortunately some I know a number of my conservatives of conservative friends have fallen into, which is.
00:45:43.040And especially this is true in D.C., you you start to to believe the things that you hear everyone talking about.
00:45:51.120And so if if you hear constantly that Liz Cheney is this great Republican leader or Adam Kinzinger, even more ridiculous, if you hear it enough and you're surrounded by it, you kind of start to believe it.
00:46:02.200Or at least some people do. And I just think that as you said, Senator, a little earlier when we were talking about the January 6th committee, the purpose of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger in Congress right now is to do what Democrats want them to do.
00:46:16.680They might have an R next to their name, but their actual utility at the crucial fights is to act as the sort of court jesters in the kingdom of liberalism.
00:46:26.120That's why they'll go on CNN. They won't generally go on the conservative channels.
00:46:30.560And so it's it. Talk about a performance that we're seeing. Talk about showboating that that to me is the most spectacular, sensationalist performance of them all.
00:46:41.940And you can see it on CNN. And when when you look at the Republicans who are constantly on CNN bashing other Republicans, that to me, those are the real the real performance.
00:46:50.600Well, and their their purpose is is even more than that. It's to be a beard. It's to cover up what's going on.
00:46:57.120This is a kangaroo court and and they're there because they have an R after their name.
00:47:02.180And it's to dress it up as something it is not so so that it has some modicum of credibility.
00:47:10.560And listen, the reality of it is going to be Kinzinger is not running for reelection because he couldn't get reelected.
00:47:17.200I think Liz Cheney is extremely likely to be beaten in her primary because she has basically told Republicans and conservatives in the state of Wyoming, piss off.
00:47:28.300And and I think in a little over a year, both of them will be regular contributors on MSNBC.
00:47:34.880And so they're auditioning for MSNBC right now. And and and that's that's not exactly that that is not exactly worthy of dropping your voices to your voice, two octaves and calling them great legislators as a result.
00:47:51.600That's right. This is the feeling you have. It's like when when you see a friend of yours making any kind of decision that you don't think is a great one.
00:47:57.980You say, no, Dan, get away from Kinzinger. Don't don't do it. Don't don't don't believe the lies because we're talking about truth and lies.
00:48:06.500I generally find that when I tune into CNN, I'm seeing a lot of lies. And when I tune into CNN, I tend to see a lot of Adam Kinzinger.
00:48:14.120You know what you're not saying when you tune into CNN? Chris Cuomo.
00:48:19.520It's too soon, Senator. It's too soon. But oh, my goodness.
00:48:23.320So it's also the only reason that I'm the only reason I'm grateful for videos like this is because it shows us as the voters, the true character of the people who are supposed to represent us.
00:48:31.860So it better informs our vote. So I'm disappointed in in what Crenshaw said, of course.
00:48:36.840But it does it does show us a little bit of his decision making process or his judgment.
00:48:40.820And for better or for worse, we do need to know that as the voters on that note,
00:48:44.780if there is anybody on a college campus across the country who wants to bring verdict with Ted Cruz, the senator with Michael Knowles to their campus this coming spring, submit your application by December 15th.
00:48:56.960You can apply at yaf.org slash verdict. That is yaf.org slash verdict to bring verdict live to your college campus.
00:49:04.880It's a great old time. December 15th is the deadline, though. So submit those applications very, very soon.
00:49:10.680Excellent. Thank you, Liz. And Senator, I am so glad that you got to the most delightful news story where there's a lot of heavy news stories today,
00:49:19.820you know, talking about what's going on in Russia, how there a little bit of hope there is still time maybe to stop things.
00:49:25.880If Biden will stand up and do it, the winds that we've had where we're pulling some of our conservative friends back from the precipice.
00:49:32.460But the most delightful story is that the House of Cuomo has fallen.
00:49:37.080And so it's, you know, it reminds us there's always a little silver lining in the storm clouds of politics.
00:49:42.660Michael, I will note one of my favorite words, foreign words, is schadenfreude, the German word for taking pleasure in the suffering of others.
00:49:53.460And I'll suggest perhaps a slight tweak to that, which is let us revel in schadenfreude, taking joy in the suffering of Fredo Cuomo, the troubled younger brother who I believe was last seen in a rowboat on Lake Tahoe saying Hail Mary.
00:50:14.300And now he is on CNN no more a legislator, a basketball champion and a linguist as well.
00:50:24.760Senator, thank you very much. I'm Michael Knowles. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
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