0:01

Welcome.

0:02

It is a verdict with Senator Ted Cruz

0:04

Ben Ferguson with you. It is after eleven

0:06

o'clock at night. I want you to understand

0:09

when we're doing this is we're going to be talking

0:11

about this breaking news that

0:13

deals with this retaliatory

0:16

strike from Israel on Iran.

0:19

Senator, your initial thoughts to that.

0:22

Well, as we're recording this at is eleven

0:24

twelve pm on Thursday night, and

0:27

what we know right now is that Israel

0:29

has launched what appears to be a

0:31

series of coordinated attacks against

0:34

Iran, in Syria, in Iraq,

0:36

and Iran all at the same time. We'll

0:39

get into that on this pod in

0:41

greater detail. We're also going to get into

0:43

the Attorney General's testimony before Congress

0:46

as to the extraordinary threat Fetanohl

0:48

is that it's the most deadly drug threat that has ever

0:50

faced this country, and it is flooding

0:53

across our southern border. And finally

0:55

we're going to get into in the face

0:57

of fentanyl, in the face of this invasion in our

0:59

southern border, order, every single

1:01

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1:03

refused to even allow an impeachment

1:06

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1:08

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1:12

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1:14

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2:58

Senator, Uh, this is not a surprise, guys,

3:00

that Israel responded, even

3:03

though every single time they're attacked

3:06

this administration, whether it's through the State Department

3:09

or through the President, or through the White House

3:11

spokesman or Kirby at the White

3:13

House, they keep telling Israel

3:15

don't respond, don't react, don't

3:17

defend yourself, don't as they describe

3:20

anything you do that looks aggressive.

3:22

We're gonna say basically no to it.

3:24

Israel has a right to defend itself, and clearly

3:26

they said we're going to take steps to do that

3:28

right now.

3:29

Well, of course Israel has a right to defend itself,

3:32

and of course, of course that's what Israel is doing.

3:34

Part of the reason that we specified

3:37

the time that this is shortly after eleven PM

3:39

on Thursday, is that it's unfolding

3:41

literally this minute, and so by the time

3:44

this podcast post on Friday

3:46

morning, there may have been many more developments

3:49

throughout the night and in the morning. And

3:52

indeed, even what we know now, I

3:54

have not had a classified briefing this evening,

3:56

so I don't have any insight

3:59

beyond what has been publicly reported.

4:01

And there's always a fog of war when something

4:04

is just breaking, so we don't know the

4:07

reliability of the early reports.

4:09

But what's being reported is that

4:11

Israel launched a coordinated attack using

4:14

jets and using missiles against

4:17

Iran, but attacking Iran in

4:19

at least three different places,

4:21

Syria, Iraq, and Iran. And

4:24

before we get to anything else, Ben, it's

4:27

worth noting that the scope of

4:29

the attacks show just how

4:31

far Iran's reach has extended.

4:33

Across the region.

4:35

What does it say that if you want to strike back in

4:37

Iran, you have to do it in Iran and

4:39

Iraq and Syria because they're

4:41

everywhere. And

4:44

understand, Iran is the

4:46

most malevolent force in the Middle East.

4:48

They are funding the

4:50

most dangerous terrorists on Earth. They

4:53

fund Hamas, ninety percent of Hamas's budget

4:55

comes from Iran. They fund Hesbela,

4:57

ninety percent of Hesbela's budget comes

4:59

from Iran. And Iran,

5:02

led by the Ayatola and the Mullas, they routinely

5:05

chant death to America and death to

5:08

Israel. And it's

5:11

worth noting, as you just said, from

5:13

the instant October seventh happened,

5:16

the Biden administration has been telling Israel,

5:19

do not retaliate, do not defend yourself,

5:21

do nothing. From the instant Iran

5:23

attacked Israel

5:26

directly with over three hundred

5:28

drones and missiles. Again,

5:31

the Biden administration's immediate refrain

5:33

was do nothing, do not defend

5:36

yourself, do not retaliate it.

5:37

It was truly absurd.

5:39

But you have to understand at every stage

5:42

that has been the mantra of the Biden White House

5:44

and the Democrats is they're undermining Israel's

5:46

right to self defense. I think

5:48

absolutely Israel should

5:51

respond. It is responding forcefully.

5:53

I expect them to respond

5:55

significantly more forcefully. I don't

5:57

anticipate that this is the only

6:00

response we will see.

6:01

And this may be.

6:02

That was the question I was gonna ask you for just putting

6:04

in context that people understand is we're recording

6:06

this after eleven o'clock at night tonight.

6:09

There I don't think there's anybody that believes that this

6:11

is the end of the response from

6:13

Israel. It's probably more like

6:15

the beginning of the response.

6:18

That's probably right, Although I say, we don't

6:20

know what we will see what unfolds.

6:23

But you know, it was really striking

6:25

that when when

6:27

the missiles and

6:30

both ballistic missiles and cruise missiles and

6:32

the drones over three hundred were

6:35

launched from Iran, that there are a number of things

6:37

that are really striking. Number one, a bunch

6:39

of them never even

6:41

made it to Israel, both because

6:44

their technology was not great and

6:46

also because they were shot down in the air.

6:49

They were shot down number one, using

6:51

Israel's missile defense, using iron

6:53

dome and arrow two and three

6:55

those systems. But number two, they were

6:57

shot down with fighter jets. And let me say

7:00

something extraordinary. So the fighter jets that were

7:02

shooting him down. My understanding is you

7:04

had Israeli fighter jets, but you also had American

7:06

fighter jets that were assisting and shooting them down.

7:09

But you also had and this is

7:11

extraordinary, Saudy

7:13

fighter jets and Jordanian

7:16

fighter jets.

7:17

Exactly why that's so significant.

7:19

Look, if I'd have told you ten years

7:22

ago or even five years ago

7:25

that the Arabs would

7:27

defend Israel in

7:30

a military attack against

7:32

it from Iran, that would have seen

7:35

absurd. And

7:37

it really is a testament. It's a testament

7:40

to the incredible progress that occurred

7:42

when Donald Trump was president, the peace

7:46

that was flowering in the Middle East,

7:48

the Abraham Accords, where we started to

7:50

see the Arabs and Israelis

7:52

coming together. And I'll tell you a big part of what brought

7:54

them together was mutual

7:57

concern over the danger Iran

7:59

poses, and and that h

8:03

that this is

8:06

the fruit of of of what

8:08

was planted during the Trump administration

8:11

in the Abraham Accords. But that being said,

8:13

it's still remarkable. I don't

8:15

believe there is any precedent for

8:18

Arabs in conflict in

8:21

support of Israel and and and so

8:23

that's that's really quite remarkable. And

8:25

it does say something when when the

8:29

Arab states in the Middle East in some ways

8:31

may be more supportive of Israel than

8:33

the Biden White House.

8:35

Yeah, great point. And there's also another

8:37

a question that I have for you. And as

8:39

I was watching right before we were we were

8:41

going to record on CNN,

8:43

they were saying, well, now now that the world

8:46

really has to be concerned and worried

8:48

h of of a massive and

8:51

they were using this these types of words.

8:53

Massive retaliation from

8:55

Iran should be expected because Iran

8:58

has said so, They've said that they are going to unleash

9:00

basically Holy Hell in

9:03

response to what Israel

9:05

has just done. And they said it's

9:07

going to be a on a level that you know, basically

9:10

no one's ever seen before.

9:11

YadA, ya YadA. And

9:13

then they said, you know.

9:14

This is what the Biden administration

9:17

had been warning Israel about.

9:20

It is genuinely shocking to

9:22

me as I was watching that before we got

9:24

on here, to think you

9:26

just want Israel to just keep taking it

9:29

indefinitely and never defend themselves and

9:31

never fight back and not hit

9:33

strategic targets because of the

9:35

threat that is being given

9:38

by the same country that literally just attacked

9:40

you. What world are they living in?

9:42

Look in many ways,

9:44

Joe Biden, the Democrats are more

9:46

supportive of Iran right now than they are

9:48

of Israel. And that's an astonishing

9:51

statement. Israel is our closest

9:53

ally in the Middle East. They share our values,

9:55

They are an incredibly valuable military

9:58

ally to the United States. There intelligence

10:00

saves the lives of Americans. Their

10:03

enemies are our enemies. And yet,

10:06

as we've discussed at every stage,

10:08

literally from the moment he was sworn in, Joe

10:10

Biden and the apparatics

10:12

in his administration have been undermining Israel

10:15

from day one, and simultaneously

10:18

they have been flooding money

10:21

to Iran, billions of dollars.

10:23

And just a couple of weeks ago, when I forced

10:25

to vote on the Senate floor that we

10:27

should not send billions of dollars to Iran,

10:30

every single Democrat but one voted

10:32

no. The Democrats keep look

10:35

at it this way. They want to send money to Iran,

10:38

and the Democrats are blocking sending money

10:40

to Israel. That's extraordinary,

10:42

and it is their

10:45

radical base hates

10:48

Israel. The anti

10:51

Semitic, radical left that chance

10:53

from the river to the sea. That

10:57

is who the Democrat Party is terrified

10:59

of. And it's

11:02

who's setting their tune and so even

11:04

their talking points.

11:05

You know.

11:06

You know, look, let's go back to October seventh. Remember

11:08

the night of October seventh, the

11:11

Biden State Department tweeted out that Israel

11:13

should not retaliate. That night, as

11:15

twelve hundred Israelis

11:18

were being murdered, as women and

11:21

children were being raped, as some

11:23

thirty Americans were being

11:25

murdered, and more were being kidnapped, as

11:27

hundreds of Israelis were being kidnapped,

11:29

the Biden administration's immediate reaction

11:32

was, do not retaliate. They did that on

11:34

October seventh. They did it again on October eighth,

11:36

Tony Blinken personally. So that was the

11:38

reaction at the outset. And understand who

11:41

started this war. It was Iran.

11:43

Iran funds Hasbela, Iran controls

11:45

Hasbela. They are in Iran proxy.

11:48

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Hamas

11:50

terrorists trained in Iran

11:53

for October seventh. So it was Iran

11:56

that invaded Israel and murdered twelve

11:58

hundred Israelis. Imagine how

12:00

America would react if that happened,

12:02

and then it was Iran again who escalated

12:05

directly firing missiles and drones

12:07

from Iran into Israel. Of course

12:10

Israel is going to defend itself and retaliate.

12:12

It has to do so. And yet

12:14

the Biden administration cannot refrain

12:17

from repeating Iran's talking points

12:20

of oh, well this is terrible, and now of course

12:22

Iran is going to respond massively. How

12:25

about having a president telling Iran

12:28

we stand with Israel period

12:31

the end. That's what Biden should be saying,

12:33

but it's not what he's saying.

12:35

You also have to wonder will this

12:37

administration change course.

12:40

And I've said this before you and I've had this conversation

12:42

several times. I never root

12:45

for the United States America to fail on

12:47

national security issues, especially

12:50

when it deals with foreign nations.

12:52

Right, I don't care who the president is. I want

12:55

Joe Biden to be successful in protecting

12:57

and defending US always

12:59

against oursaries as well as our allies.

13:02

And he clearly has done a one eighty

13:04

from what the Trump doctrine was foreign policy

13:06

was and to stand with Ismaie like you just mentioned,

13:08

no matter what, this

13:11

is not working.

13:12

This weak yes, and

13:14

just just pause and ask yourself which

13:17

was better peace and prosperity

13:20

or war everywhere you look. That's

13:22

the result of the Biden and foreign policy is

13:24

war everywhere. That's the result of the Biden. Foreign

13:27

policy is our enemies stronger, emboldened,

13:29

and more threatening.

13:31

So will they look at this and at

13:33

some point do you believe that

13:35

they may actually change course? Because I mean

13:38

it sincerely when I say I want us

13:40

to be safe and I want them to protect Israel.

13:42

I think they are ideologues. I think they

13:44

are self righteous. I think they are naive.

13:48

I think they believe, like

13:50

a bunch of college

13:52

professors in the faculty lounge, that

13:54

Iran, if we just give piece of chance,

13:57

man, you know Iran, we don't have any right

13:59

to tell Iran to have nukes. You

14:01

know, So what if if they're crazy religious

14:04

zealots who say they want to murder us, you

14:06

know, if we're just nice to them, if we just give

14:08

them a bunch of money, that they'll be our friends.

14:11

Look, it is hopeless

14:13

naivete, and they believe it like

14:16

a religion. They keep doing

14:18

it. Think of the the

14:21

just how devoted you

14:23

have to be to appeasement to Iran?

14:26

To in the wake of October seventh,

14:30

still refuse to enforce the oil

14:32

sanctions today, yeah,

14:35

this not enforce the oil sections. And by the way,

14:38

it is also worth noting today on Friday,

14:41

Biden is announcing massive sanctions

14:44

against Alaska, our state,

14:47

the National Petroleum Reserve. They are shutting

14:49

down production in It is an incredibly

14:52

rich petroleum reserve in Alaska,

14:54

massive reserves. So explain

14:57

to me how these anti

14:59

American Marxist zelots can possibly

15:02

justify they hate oil

15:04

and gas in America. They're going to destroy jobs

15:06

in America, They're gonna they're gonna

15:08

drive up the cost of gasoline for Americans

15:10

in America. But at the same time they're

15:12

going to allow Iran to go to go from

15:14

three hundred thousand barrels a day of oil to

15:16

two million barrels of

15:19

oil a day. That's what they're doing right now.

15:21

And apparently Biden and the Democrats

15:24

they only like oil and gas if

15:26

it's produced by crazed Zelots

15:28

who want to murder us and want to kill

15:30

as many Israelis as possible.

15:32

What you just said made me want to talk about

15:34

funding for a second. What is

15:36

sad is because the position

15:39

that you just mentioned. The Biden

15:41

administration is absolutely

15:44

funding Iran and their needs.

15:46

Yes, what we're not doing right now

15:49

is giving Israel funding

15:51

that they need, an aid in sport, they need,

15:53

in military hardware that they need from the United States

15:56

of America.

15:57

How is that possible?

15:59

Because the Democrat Party is captured

16:02

by the radical left, and sadly the

16:05

mainstream Democrat Party has

16:08

turned against Israel. It's not just

16:10

the fringe. It's not just ilhan Omar

16:13

and Taleb and AOC, It's not just

16:15

the whack jobs. It's

16:17

Chuck Schumer. Chuck Schumer is

16:19

the one that stood on the floor and demanded

16:22

that Net and Yahoo be thrown out of office. The democratically

16:24

elected leader of Israel, it's Joe Biden.

16:27

Joe Biden is the one who orchestrated

16:30

a resolution in the United Nations effective

16:33

condemning Israel for not

16:35

having an immediate cease fire.

16:37

It's Nancy Pelosi who.

16:40

Signed a letter demanding that America

16:43

cut off weapons military weapons

16:45

for Israel to defend itself. Those

16:47

are not fringe Democrats.

16:50

Those are the leading Democrats

16:52

in office. And that's an

16:54

enormous problem. I

16:56

had forty a couple of years ago.

16:58

Now I'm forty two, and I can tell you the

17:00

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17:02

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17:09

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17:12

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that is not because I'm

17:17

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18:50

Finally, when it comes to the aid

18:53

package that Israel needs, what

18:55

does it look like and how quickly are

18:57

we going to get an answer for Israel, especially

19:00

if this turns into a significant

19:03

military conflict between

19:05

them and Iran that goes back and

19:08

forth.

19:08

They need it now, Well, that's

19:11

up in the air right now as we

19:13

sit here tonight. The House is in the middle of

19:15

debating that question right now, and they're trying

19:17

to put together an aid package and voted out.

19:19

They're putting together a big supplemental bill

19:22

that they're talking about, including Israel

19:24

Aid in that they're talking about, including

19:26

Ukraine eight in, which is going to split some

19:28

members of the House and some members of the Senate. They're

19:31

talking about, including their bill forcing

19:33

China to sell TikTok, which is a very

19:36

important bill. It's going

19:38

to be a big, complicated supplemental It's

19:40

not clear right now that they're going to

19:42

get the votes to pass any of it, but they are

19:44

actively battling it out in the House

19:46

right now as we speak.

19:48

We'll keep you updated on this as it's going to be

19:50

a very quick moving next

19:52

I think week week and a half on these issues.

19:54

We will cover it all for you.

19:56

There's also another big warning and a

19:58

moment of honesty that came from

20:00

the Attorney General, Merrick Garland.

20:03

He was in front.

20:04

Hold hold on a second, did you just say honesty from

20:06

the Attorney General, Merrit Garland?

20:07

I know, I know, it's everybody get

20:09

right with the Lord because it could be rapture alert.

20:13

Holy cow, that is a sign

20:15

of the end times.

20:17

I was wondering if you were going to let me get away with that

20:19

moment, and clearly see this is why I love

20:22

doing this show because I was like.

20:23

Am setting him up? And yes, you took, you.

20:25

Took, Like the man

20:27

is so smug and so dishonest. All

20:30

right, So what did he say?

20:32

I mean, I suppose even a stop clock is right

20:34

twice a day?

20:35

What what? What did he say? That that that that was actually

20:37

honest?

20:38

So the Attorney General was asked about

20:41

how bad the

20:43

the fetanol not only you

20:45

know deaths and abuse are, but

20:47

how much is coming across the border and how big

20:49

of a threat does he sees? The Attorney General he

20:52

was asked this question, and I want to play it. It's

20:54

it's it's a little bit longer, but it's

20:56

important because I want you to hear what he

20:58

said. And the reason why I think this is

21:00

so important is we also have to tie

21:02

this back to the impeachment of

21:05

the man. My orchists who

21:08

Democrats refuse to move on. So at the

21:10

same time they're doing that, you

21:12

have the Attorney Joe going, yeah, yeah, we got a major

21:14

problem with fetnah in this country.

21:15

It's hell of a lot of people here. Take a listen.

21:19

Senator Moran and I both mentioned in our

21:21

opening statements, as did you the

21:24

continuing fight against

21:27

the opioid epidemic,

21:29

substance misuse, the drug cartels.

21:33

I continue to be very concerned about

21:36

fentanyl use and poisoning.

21:38

New Hampshire has lost

21:40

too many people to fentanyl overdoses.

21:43

Can you talk a little bit about the OJ's

21:46

efforts to interdict these drugs

21:48

and efforts to

21:50

find a way to prosecute those responsible.

21:54

Yes, Senator, I have said,

21:56

and I deeply mean this, that fentanyl

21:59

is the dead has a drug threat that this

22:01

country has ever faced. I've

22:05

met with families at

22:07

the DEA, whose children,

22:10

whose teenagers, whose infants,

22:13

whose grandparents have died,

22:18

mostly not even knowing that what they're taking

22:20

is fentanyl, thinking it's another kind

22:22

of prescription pill that they were able to get over

22:25

the internet. We

22:27

don't even refer to this as overdoses

22:30

anymore, for this is drug poisoning, because

22:32

that's what it is. So we are facing

22:34

this with the urgency it requires.

22:37

Let me just stop there. He says, we are

22:39

facing this with the urgency

22:42

that it requires. If

22:44

this is as urgent as he just said, and

22:47

I want to read that back to you, Centaer, I

22:49

have said, and I deeply mean this, that

22:52

fetnah is the deadliest drug threat

22:54

that this country has ever faced.

22:56

I've met with the families at the DEA,

22:58

whose children, who'se teenagers, whose

23:01

infants, whose grandparents have

23:03

died, mostly not even knowing that

23:05

what they were taking as ventnol, thinking

23:08

it's another kind of a prescription pill

23:10

that they are able to get over the

23:13

internet. We don't even refer

23:15

to this as overdoses anymore.

23:18

This is drug poisoning,

23:21

because that's what it is. So then

23:23

he says that we are

23:26

facing this with the urgency

23:28

that it requires. If that was true,

23:31

Senator, wouldn't you be then

23:33

closing the southern border and not having it

23:35

wide open like it is right now?

23:38

Of course that this is not complicated.

23:42

The drug traffickers are

23:44

the human traffickers. It's the same drug

23:46

cartels. In twenty eighteen,

23:49

the drug cartels made five hundred

23:51

million dollars from human trafficking. In

23:54

twenty twenty two, they made

23:57

thirteen billion dollars

24:00

from human trafficking. That's a twenty six

24:02

hundred percent increase. The people making

24:04

fentanyl are getting extraordinarily

24:07

rich under Joe Biden and Alejandro

24:10

Majorcis and Merrick Garland's open

24:12

borders. They are flooding the border,

24:14

and the human trafficking and drug

24:17

trafficking are completely intertwined.

24:19

It's the same people doing it, it's the

24:21

same cartels doing it. And the way they do

24:24

it is they'll send a flood of migrants

24:26

over one portion of the river, and border

24:28

patrol will all go there. And

24:30

while border patrol is dealing with the migrants.

24:32

And by the way, because Biden's

24:35

policy is catch and release, once

24:37

border patrol apprehends

24:39

a group, and let's be clear, the group is normally

24:41

finding border patrol and turning themselves in, then

24:46

the majority of agents are spending their

24:48

time processing those migrants,

24:50

or staying with them in the detention facilities,

24:53

or getting them diapers, or getting them food,

24:55

or caring for this massive influx.

24:57

And so the percentage of agents

24:59

on on the border that are actually deployed drops

25:02

precipitously because the vast majority

25:04

of the agents are processing migrants

25:07

and doing administrative work. And

25:09

then what the cartels

25:11

do is a mile up the river, that's where they move the

25:13

fetanyl across where the border patrol agents

25:15

are dealing with the illegal

25:17

immigrants, they move the fetanyl somewhere

25:20

else. And so the two are very closely

25:22

intertwined. And if Joe

25:24

Biden and Mayorcis and Garland were willing

25:26

to deport illegal immigrants and follow

25:29

the law, what that would mean

25:31

is that border patrol agents could be on the border

25:34

and stop the fentanyl from coming in.

25:37

But they can't. And I'll tell you, I'll give you

25:39

some amazing stats. So do

25:41

you know how much how

25:44

much drugs were seized at

25:46

the southern border in March in one

25:48

month? How much of

25:50

feanyl one three

25:53

and eighty nine pounds? And

25:56

understand, look, fetanyl is so powerful.

25:59

Just a tiny grain or two is enough

26:01

to kill you.

26:02

Tell the story you told us a while ago.

26:04

But I think it's important for people to understand that,

26:06

just so that they have context. Fetnah

26:09

is not a heavy drug, Okay, Like you

26:11

see like a kilo of cocaine and it

26:14

looks pretty heavy and pretty

26:16

dense, and then you look at you know,

26:19

a kilo for example, of marijuana.

26:21

It's obviously a pretty big package. But

26:24

there's talk about the grains when

26:26

you met uh with the agents explaining

26:29

just how little can kill you, and the story that

26:31

you told with your own daughters using a sweeten low

26:33

packet.

26:34

Yeah, this is something that a DA agent

26:36

told me, and he had me and several

26:39

other people take out a packet of Sweet

26:41

and Low and tear open the packet

26:43

of Sweet and Low and dump dump all the contents

26:45

out, empty all the contents. And

26:48

then he said, okay, stick your pinky and the empty

26:50

empty bag of Sweet

26:53

and Low and you pull your pinky out, and

26:55

there are two or three little grains that are

26:57

on your pinky. He said, that's enough

26:59

fatanyl to kill you, just the

27:01

residue that's in the packet after you've emptied

27:03

it. And so what I did

27:05

with both my daughters is I got three

27:08

packets of Sweet and Low and I tore one

27:10

open.

27:10

I had them to tear it open.

27:12

I had them empty out the contents

27:15

and then then do exactly that, because look,

27:17

it's terrifying. My girls are thirteen and

27:19

sixteen.

27:19

They're good kids.

27:21

But what is so frightening about

27:23

this epidemic is it's not

27:25

Look, it's one thing if you know a

27:27

heroin junkie on the street who's

27:30

abusing drugs for years and years and years,

27:32

if they overdose, that's sad

27:34

when anyone dies, but that's

27:36

the result of extended conduct.

27:40

What is terrifying about this crisis

27:42

is the people who are dying are not drug

27:44

addicts, and in many instances, they're not even

27:47

drug users in the ordinary sense of things.

27:50

They're a teenager or

27:53

a young adult who goes to a party

27:55

and they're at a party and someone says, hey,

27:58

you want to try a xanax, want

28:00

to try a percoset, You want to try you

28:02

know, a

28:05

riddlin, And look,

28:07

should you take those drugs if they're

28:09

not prescribed to you know? But a

28:11

teenager doing that that didn't

28:14

used to be a death sentence. Because

28:16

if they get a pill that someone say god

28:19

on the internet, and it happens to have fentanyl

28:21

in it, they literally can

28:24

drop dead. And that is happening over

28:26

and over and over again. I'll give you an amazing stay.

28:28

You go back to Garland's exact words, and

28:31

I think it's important that people hear this as he described

28:33

it. We don't even refer to this as an

28:35

as an overdose or overdose anymore.

28:38

This is drug poisoning because that's

28:40

what it is.

28:41

Right.

28:41

This is a point I've tried with my kids

28:44

to emphasize it. But it's frightening because

28:46

look, teenagers do stupid things, and

28:51

it can be just one random

28:53

And the reason why Garland is right

28:55

to use the term poisoning because an overdose

28:57

suggests a drug user that takes

29:00

too much. And what's happening

29:02

with feanyl is you

29:04

have things that are laced with fate fetanyl

29:07

that they don't know they're taking feentanyl.

29:10

That's why it's a poisoning because taking

29:12

a xanax pill will not kill you, but

29:14

if there's fentanyl in it, and if there's a

29:17

little bit too much, you can literally just

29:19

drop dead right there. And here

29:21

is the stat that is amazing and terrifying.

29:24

Right now today, fetanyl

29:26

is the number one cause of death

29:29

for Americans age eighteen to forty

29:31

five, number one, number one,

29:34

more than car accidents, more than heart

29:36

disease, more than anything.

29:37

By the way, did you say to forty five?

29:39

Eighteen to forty five?

29:41

So what that means is if you remember

29:43

at the end of last year, it was eighteen to thirty

29:45

nine, so that it's expanded now to forty

29:47

five.

29:49

I'm not sure if

29:52

the numbers have expanded or just the category

29:55

that I'm looking at, but eighteen

29:57

to forty five it's the number one cause of death.

29:59

Wow.

30:01

And here let me give you a quote from

30:03

Biden's DEA administrator and Milgrim.

30:06

She said, cartels are quote killing

30:09

Americans with fentanyl at

30:11

catastrophic and record rates

30:14

like we've never seen before.

30:17

And that begs the question, then,

30:20

why the hell are you making cartels

30:22

incredibly rich and allowing

30:26

them to bring ten point four

30:28

million illegal immigrants into

30:30

this country?

30:31

Senator, I'm not sure what's worse.

30:34

Is it the fact that we have an Attorney general

30:36

that is genuinely being

30:39

honest now with the American people about the threat,

30:42

talking about this being the number one killer for those

30:44

forty five to eighteen in this country and

30:47

knowing it and publicizing it, and

30:50

then yet they're not doing a damn

30:53

thing to stop the flow of

30:55

the drug coming across the

30:57

southern border or securing

30:59

that order. So what is the takeaway

31:01

for the American people? We know that you're dying at

31:03

record rates, but we need illegal

31:06

immigrants to come into fundomly change this country.

31:08

So we're willing to sacrifice

31:10

your lives, and your kids' lives, and your

31:12

grandparents' lives.

31:14

So, Ben, I'm going to give you the very sad takeaway.

31:16

The Democrats simply do not care.

31:19

Now, that sounds harsh, that sounds political,

31:21

But what other conclusion

31:24

can you draw when they

31:26

continue to put in place the policies

31:29

that enriches the cartels and

31:31

that allows them to keep flooding this country

31:34

with fentanyl. And you know there's

31:36

some irony about that exchange. So the

31:38

senator who was questioning Merrick Garland

31:40

was Jeene Shaheen. Jean Shaheen is a Democrat

31:43

from New Hampshire. Literally

31:46

the day before yesterday, Jean

31:49

Shaheen sat on the Senate floor along

31:51

with every single Democrat

31:54

and voted to shut

31:57

down, to not have a trial on

32:00

Alajandro Majorcis, to block even

32:02

one word of testimony,

32:05

to block any and all evidence

32:08

of the invasion at our southern border, any

32:10

and all evidence of the fentanyl

32:12

poisonings. That was a major

32:14

element of why Mayorcis

32:17

was impeached, and every

32:19

single Democrat voted straight party line.

32:22

Look the vote on Wednesday,

32:25

you need to understand how dramatic

32:28

and unprecedented it was. And

32:31

let me say on two

32:33

fronts. Number one, twenty

32:35

two times in our nation's history, the

32:38

House of Representatives has voted to

32:40

impeach an individual and has sent articles

32:42

of impeachment to the Senate twenty two times

32:46

prior to yesterday. The

32:48

twenty one times in every

32:51

single time when the Senate had jurisdiction,

32:53

in other words, when the person who had been impeached

32:55

hadn't died or resigned from office.

32:59

Every single time, the Senate held

33:01

a trial, hurt evidence, and

33:04

then the Senators adjudicated the case,

33:06

voted guilty or not guilty. Yesterday

33:09

is the first time in over two hundred years of our nation's

33:12

history with the Senate refused to do its job, and

33:14

it defied the Constitution.

33:17

And listen, I remember well, I was standing

33:20

on the Senate floor when Harry Reid,

33:22

then the Senate majority leader in twenty thirteen,

33:25

the Democrat exercised the nuclear

33:27

option and blew up the

33:29

Senate filibuster for appointees,

33:33

and it did did enormous

33:35

damage to the Senate. It broke the rules

33:38

of the Senate. And I remember turning

33:40

and turning to Amy Klobuchar,

33:42

Democrat senator from Minnesota at the time, and

33:44

I told her, I said, Amy, you are

33:46

going to regret this.

33:49

This is going to result in

33:51

a lot more judges and justices in

33:53

the mold of antonin Scalia and Clarence

33:55

Thomas and every

33:58

Democrat. Nonetheless, Lemmings jumped

34:01

off that cliff, and ironically,

34:04

the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe versus

34:06

Wide never would have happened if

34:09

Harry Reid the Democrats had not nuked

34:11

the filibuster in twenty thirteen. That

34:14

was the direct result, because there's no way on

34:16

earth that Brett Kavanaugh,

34:18

Amy Cony Barrett, and probably even Neil

34:20

Gorsich could have gotten sixty

34:22

votes to get confirmed, which is what would have been

34:24

required if the filibuster still existed. And

34:27

what happened yesterday is

34:32

the Democrats nuked not

34:34

the Senate rules, but the Constitution,

34:37

the Constitution's power of impeachment

34:40

for the Senate. And as a result of yesterday,

34:43

never again will there

34:45

be an impeachment trial when the Senate

34:47

is of the same party as the president. And

34:49

so, by the way, this could

34:52

happen less than a year from now. I

34:55

think it is likely that

34:57

Donald Trump is going to win in November.

34:59

I hope he does.

35:00

I think it is likely that Republicans

35:03

are going to take the Senate.

35:04

I hope we do.

35:05

It is also possible, unfortunately,

35:08

that Democrats take the House. I hope they

35:11

don't, but it is a real possibility. It's a very

35:13

very close majority if that happens.

35:15

If we start January of next year with a

35:17

Democrat House, a Republican Senate,

35:19

and Trump in the White House, I'm

35:21

here to predict what's going to happen. The

35:24

Democrats are going to impeach Donald

35:26

Trump again a third time,

35:28

and who knows, maybe a fourth and a fifth time. They hate

35:31

him. They'll do it again if

35:33

they have a majority in the House. But

35:36

you know what will happen. If they do that, they'll send it

35:38

to the Senate, and I guarantee you

35:40

a Senate, Republicans are going to say, nope, we're not having

35:42

a trial. We're going to follow the Democrat president.

35:45

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. So

35:47

no trial for you. That's

35:49

a bad thing. And by the way, it is worth noting

35:53

that was the scenario for

35:56

the first Trump impeachment. The first Trump

35:58

impeachment, there was a Democrat

36:00

House, a Republican Senate,

36:02

and obviously Trump was in the White House, and

36:05

we could have done what Chuck Schumer and the Democrats

36:07

did yesterday, but we didn't. We could have

36:10

just thrown it out at the outset, but we said, no, we

36:12

have a constitutional responsibility

36:14

to hold a trial. We think this impeachment

36:17

is garbage, but we have a responsibility

36:20

to respect the constitution

36:22

and allow the house managers to present their

36:24

case and then to make it adjudication.

36:27

And it's sad because now there's this, like

36:29

you said, it doesn't matter what you do. If

36:31

you're in the party that has majority, you can

36:33

pretty much get away with murder, especially on the Democratic

36:36

side, and they will not hold you accountable

36:38

or even have a trial and defend you. They to say

36:40

you don't get that opportunity at all.

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now. Finally, Senator,

38:42

what exactly did Democrats

38:45

do yesterday on impeachment?

38:47

Just so people understand how they

38:49

pulled this off?

38:51

Well, at one pm yesterday we

38:53

convened on the Senate floor. This is pursue it to

38:56

the Senate rules. When we enter impeachment, we

38:58

were all sworn in and

39:00

then we all sign the oath Book, one

39:03

at a time. We signed the oath Book. And

39:06

what is supposed to happen next is that

39:08

we adopt a resolution laying out a trial

39:10

schedule of how the House managers are

39:13

going to present their

39:16

case. But instead what happened

39:18

is Chuck Schumer rose on a

39:21

constitutional point of order, and

39:23

a constitutional point of order as you stand

39:26

and say,

39:28

what is on the floor violates the Constitution.

39:31

And he raised a constitutional point of order and he said

39:33

Article one, the first article sent

39:36

over by the House does

39:39

not allege a high crime or

39:41

misdemeanor. And

39:43

so what happened next is we voted

39:46

on whether Article one alleged

39:48

a high crime or misdemeanor. High crime and misdemeanor is

39:50

what you need to be able to impeach someone. Now,

39:53

Article one focused

39:55

on Alejandro Majorcis's

39:57

defiance of federal law, that

40:00

that that that he was refusing

40:02

to follow explicit and clear

40:05

federal law, federal law

40:07

that that says

40:10

that that illegal immigrants shall

40:12

be detained, that that illegal immigrants

40:14

with criminal conviction shall be detained and

40:16

shall be deported over and over again.

40:19

Immigration law is mandatory. It says

40:21

shall shall, shall shall, and he's

40:23

defying it at a level it's never happened

40:25

before. It's not that he's

40:28

bad at his job. It's that

40:30

he is utterly flouting

40:33

and defying federal law. And that that's the

40:35

first article of impeachment.

40:37

And they argued, well, actually they didn't argue.

40:39

They just made a motion that it's not a high

40:41

crime or misdemeanor. They presented no argument. They

40:45

they did not give a legal argument,

40:47

they did not write a brief, they did not present an argument.

40:50

And and I was the.

40:51

Person who who who raised the lead

40:54

objection to that. Now,

40:56

under the impeachment rules, you

40:59

can't debate on the Senate floor. You're

41:02

supposed to be silent because you're jurors.

41:04

I'm just saying, why is that? But that makes sense because

41:06

your juror not a

41:08

lawyer. I guess presenting right, right,

41:11

And so I made a motion

41:15

for us to move into executive

41:17

session. If we move into executive session, we

41:19

throw the reporters out, we turned the TV cameras

41:21

off, but then we can debate it. And I said, look,

41:24

you're making a major legal

41:26

point. You presented no argument, and

41:29

what you're saying is quality is

41:31

fundamentally wrong.

41:32

And I'll tell you the amazing thing is.

41:36

The idea that refusing

41:39

to follow the law, defying the

41:41

law is not a high crime and misdemeanor is

41:43

not impeachable. It is contrary

41:46

to the original understanding of

41:48

the Constitution. Joseph Story, who

41:51

was a Supreme Court justice, one of the leading

41:53

constitutional scholars right at the very

41:55

beginning of our country, and his commentaries

41:57

in the Constitution are widely

41:59

cited for understanding

42:02

what the founding generation believed the

42:04

Constitution to mean. And he talked about

42:07

he wrote at length about high crimes and misdemeanors,

42:09

and he gave lots of examples, including

42:12

the Lord Admiral refusing

42:15

to protect the high seas, and he said,

42:17

that is a high crime or misdemeanor, and

42:20

that is virtually

42:22

analogous, very closely analogous

42:25

to the head of Homeland Security

42:27

refusing to secure the border. It's the same principle

42:30

of allowing lawless piracy to

42:33

threaten and invade America. So

42:35

Joseph's story and the founding generation

42:38

understood this to be a high crime and misdemeanor.

42:40

And amazingly enough, Ben the

42:43

Biden Justice Department argued

42:46

in front of the U. S. Supreme Court that

42:49

impeachment was the remedy

42:52

for the Biden administration refusing

42:54

to follow the law. So in Texas

42:56

versus the United States, Texas sued the Biden

42:59

administration for refusing to secure

43:01

the border, and the Supreme Court ended

43:03

up agreeing with the Biden administration and

43:05

saying, well, Texas can't sue

43:08

and the Biden doj The

43:10

Solicitor General for Biden argued, look,

43:13

if you have a cabinet

43:15

member who's refusing to follow the law,

43:18

Congress has remedies, including

43:21

impeachment. And so I stood

43:23

up and said, listen, the Biden Department

43:25

of Justice argued last year this

43:27

was impeachable. It didn't matter. Every

43:31

single Democrat, all of them. And by the way, even

43:33

the so called moderates Joe Manchin and Cursten Cinema,

43:36

they voted also Nope, not a high

43:38

crime or misdemeanor. And as a result,

43:42

because they had to have a majority,

43:45

the point of order carried. They got fifty

43:47

one votes for it. And so the first article

43:49

was thrown out, and then they did it again on the second

43:51

one. And I'll tell you the second

43:54

one is even more astonishing. So

43:56

as a result of the first vote, it

43:58

is now the position of Democrats that any cabinet

44:01

member can refuse to follow the law and

44:03

defy the law and utterly ignore the law,

44:05

and you can't impeach him for it. I mean, that's

44:08

an astonishing and dangerous proposition

44:11

in Democrat looney land. But

44:14

the second article of impeachment was

44:17

for breach of trust, and it focused

44:20

on majorcas repeatedly lying

44:22

to Congress under oath about what was happening

44:25

at the border. And again Chuck

44:27

Schumer rose on a point of order and said this

44:29

is not a high crime or misdemeanor. Now

44:32

mind you, they're saying

44:34

lying under oath to Congress is not impeachable.

44:36

It is a felony. It is a felony

44:39

that you can serve jail time for. And

44:41

it's worth remembering Bill

44:44

Clinton was impeached

44:46

for perjury. The House impeached

44:48

him, and what did the Senate do. They didn't throw it out,

44:50

they didn't dismiss it. The House managers

44:53

presented the case, they hurt and conducted a trial,

44:55

and ultimately the Senate acquitted him. But

44:57

they did their duty to hold a trial.

45:00

And actually before that, there's

45:03

someone I'm sure you've never heard of, a guy named

45:05

Walter Nixon.

45:06

You know who Walter Nixon was?

45:08

Who is that?

45:09

Walter Nixon was a federal judge.

45:11

He was a federal judge actually from Mississippi. You're

45:14

an all MS grad. He was a federal judge from Mississippi.

45:16

But he was not a good guy. And he

45:19

was convicted a perjury before

45:22

a grand jury. And you know

45:24

what happened. The Congress impeached

45:26

him, The House impeached him, the

45:28

Senate convicted him, and he

45:30

was removed as a federal judge

45:32

for perjury. So even

45:35

though it was clear, there was clear precedent

45:37

that yes, perjury, lying under oath

45:40

is a high crime or misdemeanor, it is impeachable,

45:43

every single Senate

45:46

Democrat voted

45:49

that it's not a high crime or misdemeanor.

45:51

So now apparently, again in

45:54

Democrat Wonderland, lying to Congress

45:56

is AOK. And understand, this

45:58

was not about the

46:01

Constitution. They didn't care. They

46:04

had no arguments as to why the Constitution said

46:06

this. This was about power,

46:08

and this was about protecting their

46:11

political backsides because they're

46:13

terrified of the American people

46:16

hearing what is happening at the border, the

46:18

fentanyl, the deaths, the rapes, the

46:21

children being abused. They do not want

46:23

that evidence before the American people. And

46:25

I'll say this is a final point to wrap up. Do

46:28

you want to see proof of

46:31

why this is all political and why the Democrats

46:33

did what they did?

46:35

Yes?

46:35

You know what, you know what ms you

46:37

know what, MSNBC and CNN covered

46:40

all day yesterday, Trump,

46:44

the Trump Trial, Stormy Daniels,

46:46

ooh smut lying processing Like

46:49

apparently there was no

46:51

impeachment proceeding in the Senate.

46:52

Nothing happened. There's no border crisis.

46:55

The only thing they would cover is

46:58

is the attack on Trump.

47:00

Yeah.

47:01

Facts, don't forget. By the way, this

47:03

is a really fun show. We covered a lot. I hope

47:05

you guys will share it on social

47:07

media wherever you are so other people can

47:09

hear what we're talking about here. Please write

47:11

at say five star review and don't hit that subscribe,

47:14

auto download or follow button,

47:17

depending on where you were listening. You also tell alex

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Ar Siri hey play Verdict with Ted Cruzo

47:21

automatically play. And on those in

47:23

between days when we're not doing this show, I

47:26

will keep you updated on what's going on,

47:28

especially between Israel and Iran. Make

47:31

sure you download the Ben Ferguson

47:33

podcast as well, and I'll keep you updated

47:36

and the Senator and I will see you back here on

47:39

Saturday for the week in Review.