0:01

Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz Weekend

0:03

Review, Ben Ferguson with you. These are the

0:05

big stories that you may have missed that we talked

0:07

about this week. First up, a

0:10

major report the media is not talking

0:12

about. It involves the president's

0:14

brother, Jim Biden, and he may

0:16

have been making more money than anyone

0:18

selling access to his brother, even

0:20

more than Hunter Biden. So who is

0:23

paying him and whether they get in returned will break

0:25

it all down for you. Also, you

0:27

know what's happened on college campuses.

0:30

You've seen the protesters, So who's

0:32

paying them? It's clearly organized, and

0:34

how much are they getting paid. We've got

0:36

the financials and we'll have that for you in

0:38

a moment. And finally, new legislation

0:41

it's bipart of san that Senator Cruz wants

0:43

you to know about that deals with keeping

0:46

your kids safe and your grandkids

0:48

safe on social media. It

0:50

is Verdict. We can review and it

0:53

starts right now. Sinaer.

0:56

One of the reasons why I just I love doing this

0:58

show with you is we get to talk about it issues

1:00

that the media is not covering. The last one's

1:02

a great example, but there's also one that

1:05

needs to have everyone listening,

1:08

share on social media, and

1:10

that is this new report out that it wasn't

1:12

just Hunter Biden that was getting in on the

1:14

action of selling access to daddy. Jim

1:17

Biden was getting in on the action

1:20

and actually may have been a bigger offender

1:23

based on what we're finding out. Jim

1:25

Biden is now being accused of being in business

1:27

with Katari officials, the actual government

1:30

and Hunter Biden. Yeah, he leverages

1:33

ties to his dad. We've seen that. But

1:35

Politico has a new report out that

1:37

says that Joe Biden's brother

1:40

was winning business deals with business

1:42

partners that were directly linked and tied

1:44

to foreign governments, those that

1:46

were actually tied to terrorism. According

1:49

to the outlet, Jim Biden, the President's

1:51

brother, was in business with Katari officials

1:53

to fund his healthcare venture. That

1:56

would be quote some of

1:58

the closest known link between

2:00

a Biden relative and a

2:03

foreign government.

2:05

Well that's exactly right. This was a bombshell

2:07

report that came out three days ago in Politico.

2:10

The title of the report is quote fund manager

2:12

indicates Jim Biden was in business

2:14

with Katari officials, and Politico

2:17

explains, quote new details

2:19

about Jim Biden's foreign fundraising efforts

2:21

are spilling out into a Kentucky bankruptcy

2:24

court, where recent testimony indicates

2:26

that President Joe Biden's brother partnered

2:28

with the Katari government officials

2:31

in his quest to find money for a US

2:33

healthcare venture. The sworn testimony

2:35

by fund manager Michael LeWitt, a

2:37

former business partner of Jim Biden's,

2:40

a test that two companies that facilitated

2:42

the efforts were part owned

2:46

by members of the Katari government. One

2:48

company named in the testimony partnered directly

2:51

with Jim Biden the multi year fundraising

2:53

efforts. The second company provided financial

2:55

backing for a series of loans that

2:57

a hospital chain paid Jim Biden

2:59

to rank. According to documents

3:01

and testimony LeWitt submitted

3:04

in the course of the federal bankruptcy proceedings.

3:07

If substantiated, the alleged

3:09

arrangements would constitute some of

3:12

the closest known financial links

3:14

between a relative of President Joe

3:16

Biden and a foreign government.

3:19

It's also about following

3:21

the money. Yes, we're hearing

3:23

now that this money that was

3:26

coming in was not

3:28

just going to Jim Biden, but it

3:30

was also going into the pocket

3:33

of the now president of the United States

3:35

of America, this

3:37

testimony that came out in this bankruptcy,

3:41

these documents, and now this

3:44

individual that did business with the Bidens. He

3:46

said, Look, at first, there was a bridge loan

3:49

to amer Corps that coincided with a

3:51

payment from America Corps directly

3:53

to Jim Biden. The report says

3:56

Biden said in testimony in February

3:58

that the roughly six one hundred thousand

4:01

dollars payments that he received from Americrps

4:04

around the time where his role was

4:07

in arranging quote loans and many

4:09

other services quote unquote, and

4:12

then in March of twenty eighteen,

4:15

Jim Biden transferred two hundred thousand

4:17

dollars of the payments

4:19

in question to then his brother

4:22

Joe Biden.

4:24

Well, look, that is exactly

4:27

right, and you needn't understand, Cutter

4:30

has some of the most problematic foreign

4:32

policy of any country on Earth. And

4:35

so this is you know, it's amazing

4:37

the Biden crime family. In that phrase, I

4:39

got to say a while ago it sounded like hyperbole.

4:42

It no longer sounds like hyperbole because the entire

4:44

Biden family is engaged

4:46

in a business where they only do business

4:49

with our enemies. They somehow never seem to do

4:51

business with Canada. They never do

4:53

business with the United Kingdom. They never do business

4:55

with France or Spain or Japan.

4:58

They only do business with Russia.

5:00

They do business with Ukraine.

5:03

They do business with communist

5:05

China. Let

5:07

me read from this political art

5:10

article because it lays out quote.

5:12

In June of twenty seventeen, Cutter's

5:15

neighbors, led by Saudi Arabia, ganged

5:17

up and cut diplomatic ties with the country,

5:20

citing its alleged support for terrorism.

5:23

The ensuing financial and physical blockade

5:25

through the country, a peninsula that juts out

5:27

from Saudi Arabia into the Persian Gulf, into

5:30

a sustained crisis. In

5:32

response, the country's rulers began showering

5:35

well connected Westerners with gifts and

5:37

financial benefits, sometimes in the form

5:39

of investment funding. The Qatari

5:41

influence offensive strengthened the country's

5:44

ties to the US and Europe, but also led

5:46

to corruption scandals, including

5:48

the European parliaments sprawling

5:51

Cuttergate fiasco. Around

5:54

the time of the blockade, Jim Biden was embarking

5:56

into a foray into the healthcare business, in which

5:58

he worked closely with the truck hospital

6:00

chain, AmeriCorps. And by

6:03

the way, when Jim Biden was raising

6:06

money, he pitched himself

6:09

very directly as

6:11

so. For example, here's what Jim Biden

6:13

said in a draft letter to official at

6:15

Cutters sovn Wealth Fund. He

6:18

said, quote, my family

6:21

could provide a wealth of introductions and business

6:23

opportunities at the highest level that

6:26

I believe would be worthy of the interest of

6:28

his excellency on behalf

6:30

of the Biden family. I

6:33

welcome your interest here.

6:36

That's how he was pitching it, and

6:39

it resulted in payments

6:42

of roughly six hundred thousand dollars

6:44

from AmeriCorps that he received, and

6:47

Jim Biden transferred two hundred

6:49

thousand dollars of those payments directly

6:52

to Joe Biden. Now understand

6:54

who Cutter is. Also, do you know where

6:56

the leaders of a MOSS live? Where's

6:59

the Cutter?

7:01

There?

7:01

You go that they live as billionaire

7:03

as they live in incredibly lush,

7:06

opulent apartments, They fly private

7:08

jets. Cutter gives them sanctuary, Cutter

7:10

supports them, Cutter protects them. This

7:13

is the same Hamas that carried out October seventh.

7:15

This is the same Hamas that murders

7:17

Israelis and murders murders

7:20

Americans, and yet the Biden

7:22

administration consistently refuses

7:24

to sanctioned Cutter, refuses to stand up to

7:26

Cutter, and suddenly we discover

7:29

that the Biden family

7:32

has been bought

7:34

and paid for.

7:35

By the way, can you go

7:37

back and read that one line, because I do think

7:39

it's an important one.

7:40

Holy, let me read a different line,

7:43

which is Jim Biden presented a presentation

7:47

on behalf of AMERICRPS, saying that AMERICARPS

7:49

was seeking thirty million dollars in financing

7:52

to acquire hospitals. Do

7:54

you know how the presentation described

7:56

Jim Biden.

7:58

I'm gonna guess Joe Biden brother.

8:02

It described him as totally separate person

8:04

with no connection to the vice president

8:06

of the president. No, no, that actually is not correct.

8:10

I'm gonna read you what it said. This is a quote

8:13

Jim Biden quote, brother and

8:16

campaign finance chair of

8:19

former Vice President Joe Biden.

8:22

So it ain't complicated. Why do you want

8:24

to give him money because he's

8:27

Joe's brother. And by the way, the

8:29

money you give him, he'll give to Joe.

8:32

Why is this not on the six o'clock

8:34

news Ben.

8:36

Because it indicts the president United

8:38

States of America and a paid a play scheme that

8:40

would bring down I would argue any other presidency

8:44

look.

8:45

In any normal sense, that

8:48

would be right. But

8:52

if you look at at this

8:55

these documents, these documents are

8:57

being ignored by the media.

9:00

So, for example, Lewett wrote

9:02

to Jim Biden to express confidence

9:04

that his funds would be repaid immediately

9:07

for its loans to AmeriCorps with money

9:09

from Dubai. According to an email that emerged

9:12

the bankruptcy litigation, quote, nothing

9:15

else changes in terms of what I will be

9:17

doing re AmeriCorps since

9:19

I will be just as responsible

9:21

for the Dubai dollar dollar

9:24

dollar three dollar signs with

9:26

the added worry

9:28

of being driven

9:31

around the desert.

9:32

L Ol. Wow.

9:35

I mean I'm sitting here and I say wow,

9:37

and I mean it rarely am I speechless, But

9:40

I go back to that sense. I wanted you to

9:42

read again where the pitch

9:45

is to his excellency. I mean they're saying, hey,

9:47

do business with us. You guys need access.

9:50

You're in trouble. This is how

9:52

you get the Biden family on your team

9:55

again. It's just going to cost you millions

9:57

of dollars in quote business.

10:00

Yet, let's speak clear the

10:02

entire pitch. It was

10:05

not about Jim Biden's financial

10:07

acumen. It's not about what

10:09

he knew about healthcare. As far as we can tell,

10:11

he didn't know a damn thing about healthcare. Here's

10:14

what he wrote. I'm going to read it again. The

10:16

draft letter from Jim Biden read, in part, quote

10:19

my family. It's not even me my family,

10:22

And who's my family mean? He means his brother. It's

10:24

just like Hunter Biden when he says my father.

10:27

They're all talking about Papa Joe. My

10:30

family could provide a

10:32

wealth of introduction and

10:34

business opportunities at the

10:36

highest level that I believe would be worthy

10:39

of the interest of his excellency.

10:41

And his excellency are both capitalized on

10:44

behalf of the Biden

10:47

family. I welcome

10:49

your interest here.

10:50

Yeah, meaning I'm speaking on behalf of my brother.

10:53

Just like Hunter Biden said, I'm sitting here

10:55

next to my father to the Chinese

10:58

Communist. If you do not give me five million dollar dollars

11:00

right now, my father will retaliate. It

11:02

wasn't just Hunter, it was Jim.

11:04

It was the entire family. And I

11:06

want to underscore why

11:08

didn't they do business with the French, or the British

11:11

or any friends. The Japanese, the Canadians

11:13

know. It was only enemies of America.

11:16

It was only countries that provide comfort

11:19

and shelter to Hamas and terrorists

11:22

to murder Americans. That was their

11:24

business strategy is find people

11:26

who hate America, find countries who

11:28

are enemies of America, but who need favors

11:31

from Joe Biden, and

11:33

go get hundreds

11:36

of thousands or millions of dollars from them.

11:38

Yeah, and this comes, by the way, two weeks

11:40

after James Biden it came out in court

11:43

documents as well apparently

11:45

secretly negotiated one hundred and forty million dollars

11:47

settlement deal in twenty twelve between a

11:49

US company and the Saudi Arabian government

11:52

quote due to his relationship with then

11:54

Vice President Joe Biden. Court documents

11:57

revealed, and no one talked about

11:59

that story either on the nightly news. As you mentioned

12:01

a moment ago.

12:02

Look, it reminds me of mel Brooks's movie

12:04

History of the World Part one, where he says

12:06

repeatedly, it's good to be the.

12:08

King, It's good to be the king.

12:10

That's how the Biden family

12:12

sadly approaches government.

12:14

Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,

12:17

you can go back and listen to the full podcast

12:19

from earlier this week. Now

12:22

onto story number two, Let's

12:25

go back and look at the hierarchy of this, just

12:27

to put it in perspective. In

12:30

the hours after the attack on Israel,

12:32

you had to call out the United States government.

12:34

Yeah, the Biden administration repeatedly,

12:38

and I want you to go through that quickly in a second, but

12:40

you had to call them out for

12:43

basically holding Israel to a

12:45

standard they're not holding hamas to

12:47

which is if Israel responds and protects

12:50

itself and anyone dies that they're somehow evil.

12:52

You then have a White House that's doubled down

12:54

on that. You then have people like Alamo

12:57

mar and others in the Senate and the Democratic

12:59

Party that have done the same exact thing. You

13:01

then have that trickle down to the

13:04

presidents of these universities. And we saw

13:06

them go before Congress and

13:09

none of them, by the way, got fired. Some of them aren't presidents

13:11

anymore, but they still got their six figure salaries,

13:13

are still in doctrinate kids on campus. None

13:15

of them didn't lost their access to the

13:17

university, which they've taken away from

13:20

even some Jewish professors this week. So

13:22

then that trickles down into the base professors,

13:24

which we just played a moment ago, which then trickles

13:26

down to the students that can hate Jews, and

13:29

then it trickles down into the outside non

13:31

students who are the protesters that are there. And

13:34

yet you could fix all of this the way that we've

13:36

seen in Texas this week, the way we've

13:38

seen it in Florida this week, where these protesters

13:40

come out in those universities in those states and they said, we're not putting

13:43

up with this crap. So this is all being

13:45

done and organized and allow by

13:47

the universities, by law enforcement,

13:50

by Democrats who are locally elected, and

13:52

they could stop it all in a matter of days, but they're

13:54

saying no, No, let's keep going and let's

13:56

keep this growing.

13:58

I want to read something that was tweeted by Carol

14:00

Markowitz. Now. Now Carol Markowitz is a

14:02

columnist at the New York Post, and

14:04

she said something online that I think was really

14:07

quite powerful. She said, quote,

14:09

a lot of Jewish friends, especially

14:12

those who are finally awake after October

14:15

seventh, say things like,

14:17

quote how is this America? Or

14:20

quote it's so scary that

14:22

this Jew hatred is happening everywhere,

14:27

But it's very much not America.

14:31

And it's absolutely not

14:34

happening everywhere.

14:38

In South Florida, Jews

14:41

wear the dinner plate Megan David's

14:43

and no one says one word.

14:46

In rural Michigan churches

14:48

put pray for Israel on the signs

14:50

outside. I'm not naive.

14:53

Obviously Jew haters can and do live

14:55

anywhere. But they're only

14:57

thriving, open, proud

15:02

in blue areas. And

15:04

I'm not going to let people ignore that. A

15:07

lot of liberal Jews are trying to

15:09

parse things right now. They imagine

15:12

that they are still of the left, but

15:15

just on this one tiny little

15:17

thing, their right to exist, they

15:19

disagree. No,

15:22

my friends, it's a house

15:24

of cards and you're pulling

15:26

the one from the very bottom. The

15:29

whole left ideology

15:31

is corrupt, and you're going

15:33

to have to face it. You

15:36

can't spread the blame around. The hatred,

15:38

the rage, the violence, the dehumanization

15:42

is all coming from one side.

15:44

Yours a second example.

15:47

It is an op ed that was written in JNS.

15:49

It was written by Jonathan Berniski. It's

15:51

entitled Jewish Democrats Wake

15:54

Up, and it says at the outset

15:56

quote, the antisemitic right is

15:58

a fringe phenomenon, while the anti Semitic

16:01

left is mainstream, powerful

16:03

and shaping America's future. And

16:06

I'm just going to read the beginning of this because it's really quite

16:08

powerful.

16:08

Quote.

16:09

This is addressed to you, my fellow Jews, since

16:12

most of you are Democrats. You've

16:14

heard from liberal colleagues that

16:16

Tucker Carlson, whose show

16:19

you've never watched, has been

16:21

flirting with anti Semites. You've

16:23

been told by liberal friends that Candice

16:25

Owens, whose show you've never

16:27

watched, has been picking fights

16:30

with Ben Shapiro, whose show

16:32

you've never watched. From

16:35

CNN and MSNBC. You

16:38

know that a pack of guys with citronal a tiki

16:40

torches march through Charlottesville

16:42

while shouting the Jews will not replace us.

16:46

And that's why you've convinced yourself that

16:48

there are far more anti Semites

16:51

on the right than there are on the

16:53

left. I wish to

16:55

pose several questions. How

16:58

many of the thousands of individuals who got gathered

17:00

in Times Square on October eighth, twenty twenty

17:02

three, and chanted resistance

17:04

is justified and glory to

17:07

our martyrs are registered

17:09

Republican voters and planned to cast their ballots

17:11

for Donald Trump. How

17:14

many of the individuals who barricaded

17:16

Jewish students inside Cooper Union's

17:18

library on October twenty fifth, twenty twenty

17:21

three, pounded on the doors and carried

17:23

signs that read Zionism, hands

17:25

off our universities are

17:28

registered Republicans and planned

17:30

to cast their ballots for Donald Trump. How

17:33

many of the thousands of individuals who rallied

17:36

in Manhattan on December twenty fifth, twenty

17:38

twenty three and carried banners

17:40

emblazoned with the words quote

17:42

by any means necessary and quote

17:45

resistance until return are

17:48

registered Republicans and planned to cast their ballots

17:50

for Donald Trump. How

17:52

many of the thousands on thousands of individuals

17:55

who assembled at Columbia University

17:57

on February second and shouted

17:59

Globe Belies, the Intifada, and

18:01

death to the Zionist State are

18:04

registered Republican voters and planned to cast

18:06

ballots for Donald Trump. How

18:09

many of the individuals who amassed in Dearborn,

18:11

Michigan, on April fifth and yelled

18:14

death to America and death to Israel

18:17

are registered Republicans and planned to cast

18:19

their ballots for Donald Trump. How

18:22

many of the thousands of individuals who blocked

18:24

traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge

18:26

and other cities on April fifteenth and carried

18:29

the flag of Hesbela are

18:31

registered Republicans and planned to

18:33

cast their ballots for Donald Trump. How

18:36

many of the hundreds of thousands

18:38

of individuals who have participated

18:41

in the thousands of anti Zionists

18:43

and Prohamas protests across

18:46

the country since October seventh are

18:49

registered Republicans and planned to cast their

18:51

ballots for Donald Trump? And then he answers

18:53

it. He said, the answer to every

18:55

question posed above is

18:58

close to zero, if

19:00

not none,

19:02

He goes on. Yet, we've

19:04

been told by reporters and commentators at

19:06

August publications and news

19:09

networks, leaders of esteem nonprofits,

19:11

academics at prestigious colleges and universities,

19:14

and career civil servants at major

19:17

three letter federal government agencies

19:19

that anti Semitism is solely a problem

19:22

of the right. Yes, fringe

19:25

right wing anti Semites are a problem.

19:28

They should be considered a threat, but

19:30

they are on the fringe.

19:33

And because these fringe elements

19:36

continue to be the near exclusive

19:38

target of the less so called

19:41

quote quote fight against anti Semitism,

19:44

it's more imparent than ever

19:46

that our elites are purposely

19:49

engaged in a partisan game.

19:52

This next paragraph is the most important

19:54

paragraph in the op ed. Right

19:57

wing anti Semites are

20:00

kuks and grifters. Left

20:03

wing anti semites are

20:06

college professors, newspaper

20:08

editors, Hollywood stars,

20:11

a growing number of Democratic members

20:13

of Congress, and quite a few Biden

20:16

administration officials. They

20:18

have immense cultural

20:20

and political influence, and they

20:23

are decisively shaping the future

20:25

of America. I

20:28

don't know how you can dispute one word

20:30

that was written there, and that is a point

20:32

that explains why these universities

20:34

are sick, why

20:37

these college students are being fed

20:39

poison, why the

20:41

administrators are afraid to stand

20:44

up to the bigoted lies, why

20:46

Democrat politicians are celebrating

20:49

the bigoted lies. AOC and

20:51

ilhanum Omar are going and

20:53

cheering on the anti Semites,

20:56

and why even

20:58

so called mainstream Democrat politicians

21:01

like Joe Biden stand happily

21:04

by while the squad cheers

21:06

on the anti semis.

21:08

Senator, last question, I want to ask you

21:10

about what's happening on college campuses.

21:13

Is we talked about following the money and

21:16

we now know who's behind it.

21:19

Isn't there an obligation now for people

21:21

that went to these universities to stand up and say,

21:24

not only do we think at Columbia the president

21:27

should resign, but you're not getting another dime for me

21:29

until we see significant changes.

21:32

You look at Robert Kraft, the Patriots owner.

21:34

He really came out and did some interviews.

21:36

He didn't just stop the flow of money

21:38

and their buildings and named

21:40

after him at Columbia, he has

21:42

been a massive donor. He said they're not getting

21:44

another dime of my money. And he

21:46

didn't just say it, He went out and explained

21:49

it and challenged others to do the same thing.

21:51

We need people to do that. Yes,

21:54

all over the country in a big way.

21:56

Absolutely yes. And you look at

21:59

Robert with Columbia. You look at

22:01

Bill Ackman with Harvard. Bill Ackman played

22:03

a pivotal role in Claudine Gay stepping

22:06

down. You look at Mark Rowan with Penn

22:09

Mark played a pivotal role. These are all

22:11

very very successful leaders

22:13

in business who've been massive, massive,

22:16

multimillion dollar donors to these universities

22:18

who've taken leading roles speaking out

22:21

and saying what is happening is disgraceful,

22:23

the anti semitism, the radicalism

22:26

that you were allowing, the DEI

22:28

oppression. And by the way, this anti semitism

22:31

is the fruit of DEI, the

22:34

introversy.

22:34

They don't know what de I stands for.

22:36

Explain, it is diversity, equity and inclusion,

22:38

and it is the vehicle within the

22:40

universities where they teach this nonsense.

22:43

They teach this racism, They teach

22:45

that Jews are oppressors and Palestinians are

22:47

victims. Look, here's an illustration and

22:49

let's play this as our final clip. Ilhan

22:52

Omar talking about the protest.

22:54

Give a listen. How do you think this will

22:56

translate to the Jewish students who are facing anti semitism

22:59

here on campus.

23:00

So I actually met a lot of Jewish students

23:02

that are in the encampments, and

23:05

I think it is really unfortunate that

23:07

people don't care about the fact

23:10

that all Jewish kids should

23:12

be kept safe and that we should not have

23:14

to tolerate anti semitism

23:17

or bigotry for all Jewish students,

23:20

whether they are progenocide

23:22

or anti genocide?

23:24

What utter garbage. Whether they

23:26

are pro genocide or

23:28

anti genocide, Understand what she's saying.

23:31

If you're not protesting in favor

23:34

of Hamas, then

23:36

you are a pro genocide

23:38

Jew. Now, Israel

23:41

is not remotely committing genocide.

23:43

In fact, they go to extraordinary lengths

23:46

to avoid civilian casualties. They

23:48

are killing terrorists. Do you know who is trying

23:50

to commit genocide?

23:52

Hamas? Hamas.

23:54

When they entered on October seventh, they

23:56

were only murdering Jews. They were looking

23:58

for Jews. They were murdering them because they are

24:01

Jews. That is genocide when you are trying

24:03

to wipe out a people.

24:05

Market attacks the other day, they weren't targeting

24:07

anyone building. They were just targeting any part

24:09

of Israel.

24:10

Any Jew. Like we started off with a Columbia

24:12

organizer. He wants to kill Zionis, by which

24:15

he means Jews. She's

24:17

saying, and this is where the

24:19

left it is Orwellian, they turn things

24:22

upside down. You know who

24:24

is pro genocide Hamas, the

24:26

same Hamas she supports, the same

24:28

Hamas the protesters support. You

24:30

know who is anti genocide?

24:32

Israel?

24:34

Israel has tried to save the lives of

24:36

civilians. Hamas is also ironically

24:39

pro Palestinian genocide.

24:41

Why because they put Palestinian civilians

24:43

in harm's way and they want them to die

24:46

because they know the useful idiots

24:49

will use the deaths of those Palestinian

24:52

civilians to attack Israel. That

24:55

is the sad reality of

24:58

cultural Marxism. This

25:00

is the fruits of this poison that

25:02

has taken over our institutions.

25:05

As before, if you want to hear the rest of this

25:07

conversation on this topic, you

25:09

can go back and dow the podcasts from

25:11

earlier this week to hear the entire thing. I

25:15

want to get back to the big story number

25:17

three of the week you may have missed. Finally,

25:19

Senator, I want to get into something else. It's

25:21

a very important piece of legislation

25:24

that you're working on, and I

25:26

have actually seen a little bit of this be

25:28

talked about on social There are

25:30

some people that don't actually think they understand

25:33

the intent of what we're trying to accomplish

25:35

when it comes to protecting kids on

25:38

social media. So explain why

25:40

this legislation is something that parents really

25:43

need to know about.

25:45

Well, this is legislation I introduced this

25:47

week, and it's bipartisan legislation.

25:49

I teamed up with Brian Schotz, who's a Democrat

25:51

from Hawaii, and the bill

25:53

is called the Kids Off Social Media Act, and

25:55

it does several things. Number

25:57

one, it prohibits children under the

25:59

thirteen from

26:02

accessing social media. So kids, there's

26:04

no reason for an eight or nine year old to be

26:06

on TikTok or to be on social media.

26:08

And there are a lot of harmful things.

26:11

I'll tell you. Listen, you and I are both

26:13

parents, and any parent who is

26:15

dealing with I'm dealing with teenagers. Your kids

26:17

are not teenagers yet, but if you blink,

26:19

they will be. Any

26:22

parent dealing with teenagers or adolescents,

26:25

how to deal with phones and social

26:28

media is one of the greatest challenges

26:30

because phones are really a portal

26:32

for kids to access all sorts

26:35

of harmful content. And

26:37

so this bill says, if you're under thirteen,

26:39

you can't be on social media. And then it says

26:41

for kids younger than seventeen, big

26:44

tech companies are prohibited from

26:47

using algorithmic boosting

26:50

to send messages to them. So we know

26:52

right now. There's been a lot of testimony in the Senate that

26:54

big tech companies send messages

26:57

to our kids, to our teenagers that

26:59

are really harm that they send

27:01

messages that undermine their body image,

27:03

They send messages that encourage self

27:05

harm. They send messaging that that

27:08

increases suicidal ideation, They

27:10

send messaging that that increases

27:14

increases their feelings of depression

27:16

and anxiety. They send messages encouraging

27:19

dangerous behavior. They send messaging

27:21

pushing radical beliefs, things like Prohamas

27:24

beliefs. And so this bill says, if you're

27:26

under seventeen, big tech cannot

27:29

target using algorithm

27:31

boosting to send messages that

27:34

are addicting and and and that are harmful.

27:37

And then the bill also includes a

27:39

separate bill that I had introduced previously,

27:42

and I introduced it with John Fetterman. It was also

27:44

bipartisan and and my

27:46

separate bill was called the Eyes on the Board

27:48

Bill, and the Eyes on the Board Bill,

27:50

which is now part of this bill, says

27:54

that any school that receives federal

27:56

funds has to

27:58

block social media on campus. And the

28:00

basic idea is, while our kids are in school,

28:03

they ought to be listening to teacher, they ought to be doing school

28:05

work. They don't need to be posting on Instagram

28:08

while they're in school. For

28:10

older kids, they can do that when they get home,

28:12

but at school they ought to be focused on the school

28:14

work.

28:15

Yeah, they should be. And this is legislation

28:18

that you mention is bipartisan. Here, what

28:20

does it look like the chances of this moving

28:22

forward since it is a bipartisan piece of

28:24

legislation.

28:26

So I'm actually quite optimistic. We

28:29

are likely to have a markup in the

28:31

Senate Commerce Committee next week. I'm

28:33

the ranking member, the senior Republican on the Commerce

28:35

Committee, and I think it is

28:38

very likely to pass the Commerce Committee

28:40

with overwhelming bipartisan support.

28:42

I think there's a good chance it'll pass unanimously,

28:45

and I think there is a good prospect of this

28:47

bill being passed into law. There are two

28:49

other bills called Kosa and Kappa

28:51

that are both dealing with things like online

28:53

predators targeting kids, and I

28:56

think there's a real possibility of all three of

28:58

these bills being put together

29:00

and brought to the Senate floor, and I'm hopeful

29:02

we can pass all three of them.

29:04

We'll keep you updated on it. It's so important, especially

29:06

preventing children under thirteen from

29:08

having access these social media sites.

29:11

And also, as you mentioned, programming those algorithms

29:13

for teens younger than seventeen. This

29:16

is really important. Job well done, and

29:18

we'll keep everybody updated on how this looks

29:21

moving forward.

29:23

Well, that's right, and you look, I'll say something also

29:25

as a parent, I mean, I mean, these are hard issues

29:27

and one of the things I talk to a lot of parents,

29:30

I don't know a parent who disagrees on this issue.

29:32

And that's true, right or left, that's

29:34

true regardless of politics. We're

29:36

all worried about our kids. I mean, it's really it's

29:39

hard to be a teenager right now. The pressures

29:41

on our kids. You and I didn't have these

29:43

kind of pressures when we were teenagers. It's really

29:45

tough is what is

29:49

all of the influences that are pounding our

29:51

kids. And it's hard to be a parent right now. And one of

29:53

the challenges because some people say,

29:55

well, parents ought to just restrict this. Look,

29:57

it is a hard dynamic when you're kids,

30:00

when every student in their class

30:03

is on the social media platform, when

30:06

that's how the kids communicate, when that's

30:08

how they schedule play dates, when that's how they interact,

30:11

No parent wants to

30:13

socially ostracize their kids,

30:15

and so a lot of parents will talk to each

30:17

other and say, I wish they were all off of

30:19

it, but I'm not willing to have my

30:21

kid the only one that's not able to interact

30:24

with their peers and have a social life. And that's one

30:26

of the reasons why, you know, it's interesting

30:28

in the Senate the folks that are coming together and supporting

30:30

this bill. So myself and

30:33

Brian Shotts, and and and we've all also

30:35

got Katie Britt. We're all

30:37

about the same age. We're all in our forties or

30:39

fifties, we all have kids the same age. I have

30:41

to say the senators are there in their seventies or

30:43

eighties. They don't quite get

30:45

this issue in the same way that if you're a

30:48

parent, you're dealing with it.

30:49

And so I'm.

30:50

Hopeful that that that we'll see some

30:53

real bipartisan agreement that we ought

30:55

to enhance the tools parents

30:57

have to keep their kids safe.

30:59

As all day. Thank you for listening

31:01

to Verdict with Sentner, Ted Cruz, Ben

31:03

Ferguson with you don't forget to deal with my podcast,

31:06

and you can listen to my podcast every other day. You're not

31:08

listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict.

31:10

Afterwards, I'd love to have you as a listener

31:13

to again the Ben Ferguson podcasts

31:15

and we will see you back here on Monday

31:17

morning.