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CENTCOM Declares Iran Militarily Defeated plus Inside Operation Skip Trace · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Sencom chief has come out and said that Iran has
0:04
Speaker 1: suffered a generational military defeat. Forty year military build up
0:09
Speaker 1: crushed in under forty days. If you do the math
0:12
Speaker 1: on that, that means for every year it took them
0:15
Speaker 1: to build their military, we were able to dismantle it
0:18
Speaker 1: in a twenty four hour period. The US Central Command
0:22
Speaker 1: Commander Adam Brad Cooper said Thursday, the United States not
0:26
Speaker 1: only has achieved its core military objectives under Operation Epic Fury,
0:31
Speaker 1: but declaring Iran has suffered a generational military defeat. That
0:37
Speaker 1: is obviously a big point of contention for the left
0:41
Speaker 1: because they want you to believe that what has happened
0:43
Speaker 1: so far has been a total failure. Now, as he
0:46
Speaker 1: was providing an update on the fragile ceasefire that has
0:49
Speaker 1: taken hold right now, Cooper said that US forces not
0:53
Speaker 1: only dismantled Iranian regime's ability to project power beyond its borders,
0:58
Speaker 1: but also saying this, we set out to dismantle that capability,
1:03
Speaker 1: and we clearly accomplished that major task. He said, Iran's
1:08
Speaker 1: conventional military had been built up over forty years is
1:11
Speaker 1: in essence gone. I want you to take a listen
1:15
Speaker 1: to the update from the SimCom commander on Operation Epic
1:19
Speaker 1: Fury in his own words.
1:21
Speaker 2: I'm madwar Brad Cooper, Commander of US Central Command. Less
1:24
Speaker 2: than six weeks ago, more than fifty thousand of America's
1:28
Speaker 2: sons and daughters in uniform launched Operation Epic Fury and
1:31
Speaker 2: embarked on a mission of profound consequence. We set out
1:35
Speaker 2: to dismantle the Iranian regime's ability to project power beyond
1:39
Speaker 2: its own borders, and we clearly accomplished this task. Iran
1:44
Speaker 2: has suffered a generational military defeat. The United States and
1:48
Speaker 2: Israel systematically destroyed Iran's ability to conduct large scale military
1:53
Speaker 2: operations for years to come. Iran's conventional military capability, built
1:58
Speaker 2: over forty years at the cost the billions of dollars,
2:01
Speaker 2: has been eliminated. As the President expressed earlier this week,
2:05
Speaker 2: our core strategic military objectives have been achieved. After destroying
2:10
Speaker 2: Iran's missile, drone, and naval capabilities and their defensive industrial base.
2:15
Speaker 2: After successfully conducting more than thirteen thousand strikes on Iranian
2:19
Speaker 2: military targets and flying thousands upon thousands of combat flights,
2:24
Speaker 2: US forces have paused offensive operations in accordance with the
2:27
Speaker 2: ongoing ceasefire. However, we remain present, we remain vigilant, and
2:33
Speaker 2: we remain ready if called. We also continue to stand
2:37
Speaker 2: shoulder to shoulder with our regional partners in maintaining the
2:40
Speaker 2: most sophisticated and largest active air defense umbrella in the world.
2:47
Speaker 2: At the beginning of this campaign, I sent a letter
2:49
Speaker 2: to the force expressing my expectations, and our extraordinary warfighters
2:54
Speaker 2: exceeded each in every one of them. So to all
2:57
Speaker 2: our soldiers, sailors, marines, air women, guardians and coastguardsmen operating forward,
3:03
Speaker 2: you represent the strongest, most lethal military the world has
3:07
Speaker 2: ever known. In less than forty days, you destroyed the
3:10
Speaker 2: military that are on built for over forty years. Your courage, grit,
3:14
Speaker 2: and ingenuity have served America extremely well. Finally, I want
3:19
Speaker 2: to close by remembering and honoring our thirteen fallen warriors
3:22
Speaker 2: who made the ultimate sacrifice during Operation Epic Fury. We
3:26
Speaker 2: continue to hold their memories and their families, their friends
3:29
Speaker 2: and their teammates, and our prayers. Their selfless service and
3:33
Speaker 2: dedication will always be remembered as future generations follow their
3:37
Speaker 2: example and carry forward their legacy. Our men and women
3:41
Speaker 2: in uniform represent the best of America. I just could
3:45
Speaker 2: not be prouder and more humble to serve with them,
3:48
Speaker 2: and I know the American people share that same pride.
3:51
Speaker 2: So to our warriors stay sharp, remain resolved, and continue
3:55
Speaker 2: to take care of one another.
3:56
Speaker 1: He characterize what we've done so far as a comprey
4:00
Speaker 1: hints of dismantling of Iran's war machine. The same coom commander,
4:05
Speaker 1: emphasizing the scale of the operation, know that US forces,
4:08
Speaker 1: and this is truly incredible, more than thirteen thousand strikes
4:12
Speaker 1: on Iranian military targets alone, while also flying thousands upon
4:17
Speaker 1: thousands of combat missions over the course of the campaign
4:21
Speaker 1: in less than forty days, you destroyed the military that
4:23
Speaker 1: ran built over forty years. That still is amazing to
4:27
Speaker 1: me that he can say that. He also said that
4:30
Speaker 1: more than fifty thousand American service members literally took part
4:34
Speaker 1: in the operation. He said, it's a profound consequence for
4:39
Speaker 1: all of those involved, adding that those forces exceeded each
4:43
Speaker 1: and every expectation set at the outset of the campaign. Now,
4:49
Speaker 1: while offensive operations have paused in accordance with a ceasefire,
4:54
Speaker 1: you also heard him stress that US forces remained fully
4:57
Speaker 1: engaged and postured across the re saying quote, we remain present,
5:03
Speaker 1: we remain vigilant, and we remain ready if called, adding
5:07
Speaker 1: the US Forces continued to send shoulder to shoulder with
5:10
Speaker 1: regional partners who maintained the most sophisticated and largest active
5:14
Speaker 1: air defense umbrella in the world. Now. This update also
5:17
Speaker 1: came as President Trump wrote later Wednesday night on True
5:20
Speaker 1: Social the US forces will remain positioned in and around
5:24
Speaker 1: Iran until what he described as a real agreement is
5:29
Speaker 1: fully implemented, saying this all US ships, aircraft, and military
5:36
Speaker 1: personnel will remain in place. Trump wrote, warning that if
5:40
Speaker 1: the agreement is not upheld, the shooting starts bigger and
5:44
Speaker 1: better and stronger than anyone has ever seen before. Trump
5:49
Speaker 1: added that the objective remains the same, to ensure in
5:54
Speaker 1: all caps no nuclear weapons and that the Straight of
5:58
Speaker 1: Ormuz and all caps again will be open and safe,
6:02
Speaker 1: while signaling continued military readiness, riding that US forces are
6:06
Speaker 1: loaded up and resting as they look ahead to their
6:11
Speaker 1: next quote unquote conquest.
6:14
Speaker 3: Now.
6:14
Speaker 1: Cooper also concluded by honoring there and this is something
6:19
Speaker 1: that the media has not done. The brave thirteen US
6:23
Speaker 1: service members that have been killed during Operation Epic Fury.
6:27
Speaker 1: As he said there, their sacrifice will always be remembered
6:30
Speaker 1: and praised their selfless service and dedication as a lasting
6:35
Speaker 1: legacy for future generation, saying, our men and women in
6:38
Speaker 1: uniform represent the best of America. Amen, by the way
6:41
Speaker 1: for him, saying that, He also said I could not
6:44
Speaker 1: be prouder and more humble to serve with them. I
6:47
Speaker 1: couldn't agree more.
6:48
Speaker 4: Now.
6:49
Speaker 1: These remarks are important because they come as the US brokeercies.
6:54
Speaker 1: Fire remains in place, but clearly it is teetering. Militari
7:00
Speaker 1: leaders have emphasized that while active combat operations a pause,
7:05
Speaker 1: the US forces remain prepared to resume action if conditions
7:08
Speaker 1: on the ground change or shift in any capacity. This
7:12
Speaker 1: also goes back to Iran, and what Iran is doing
7:16
Speaker 1: right now is they're trying to figure out what they
7:19
Speaker 1: can get away with. In fact, Trump even had to
7:22
Speaker 1: say today that the strait of hermus Iran better be careful.
7:28
Speaker 1: He warned Iran again the charging fees on tankers that
7:32
Speaker 1: are trafficking through the strait of Her moves, well, that's
7:35
Speaker 1: not going to be allowed, saying, quote their reports, Irana
7:39
Speaker 1: is charging fees to tankers going through the strait of
7:41
Speaker 1: her moves, they better not me and if they are,
7:44
Speaker 1: they better stop now now. That statement also follows reports
7:49
Speaker 1: that Iran authorities, desperate for cash right now are enforced
7:54
Speaker 1: link to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, have demanded up to
7:59
Speaker 1: two million dollars from large tankers for safe passage through
8:04
Speaker 1: the narrow twenty two mile waterway connecting the Persian Gulf
8:08
Speaker 1: to the Indian Ocean. Some payments have reporter have been
8:11
Speaker 1: discussed or accepted in Chinese yen or cryptocurrencies, including dollar
8:17
Speaker 1: pegged stable coins as well. On Wednesday, ABC News correspondent
8:24
Speaker 1: Jonathan Carl reported asking Trump about the alleged tolls. Here
8:29
Speaker 1: is what the present had to say.
8:31
Speaker 5: All the charge a toll for the straight upons they're
8:34
Speaker 5: charging some desols to go through.
8:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, should they be able to, you know? I
8:39
Speaker 1: mean they shouldn't be able to, but they're doing it
8:42
Speaker 1: a little bit.
8:43
Speaker 2: I don't know.
8:43
Speaker 4: Look, look, their capability is a lot less than it
8:46
Speaker 4: was two weeks ago.
8:48
Speaker 6: And with every week and every day, frankly guests lessls.
8:52
Speaker 4: All I can tell you is they're begging to make
8:54
Speaker 4: a deal.
8:54
Speaker 1: So let's see what happened the present. They're reiterating that
8:58
Speaker 1: everything's on the table. The President is watching closely. Jonathan
9:03
Speaker 1: Carl said that the President responded by describing a possible
9:06
Speaker 1: US RAN joint venture to help secure the Strait as
9:10
Speaker 1: a quote unquote beautiful thing. So now we wait and
9:14
Speaker 1: we watch, and when things break, I promise you, I
9:18
Speaker 1: will bring it all to you. There is a story
9:22
Speaker 1: that is really not getting attention and it should be,
9:25
Speaker 1: and that is the continued horrific crimes being committed right
9:28
Speaker 1: now by people that are in the United States of
9:31
Speaker 1: America illegally committing these horrific crimes that the media acts like, nah,
9:36
Speaker 1: they really don't matter. Let me give you an example.
9:39
Speaker 1: Bill Malusian at Fox News put this out there. New
9:44
Speaker 1: Border patrol caught and arrested not one, not two, not three,
9:47
Speaker 1: but four British nationals entering the US illegally in a
9:51
Speaker 1: remote part of Maine after crossing from Canada. Their names
9:56
Speaker 1: all from the Middle East. Ali, Muhammad Ali, Abdullah, Hamid,
10:02
Speaker 1: Mohammad Niji, Mohammad Sultan, Sali, and Mohammad Khan. Now that's
10:08
Speaker 1: not all. And notice I mentioned that that's coming across
10:11
Speaker 1: the what northern border, there was also this breaking. The
10:16
Speaker 1: Department of Owned Security confirms to Fox News that the
10:19
Speaker 1: suspect charged with murdering an innocent gas station clerk in
10:23
Speaker 1: Fort Myers, Florida, caught on tape by bludgeoning her to
10:28
Speaker 1: death with a hammer, is a Haitian illegal alien who
10:32
Speaker 1: was caught and released at the border by the Biden
10:35
Speaker 1: administration in twenty twenty two. To make matters worse, an
10:40
Speaker 1: immigration judge had actually ordered that individual be deported from
10:43
Speaker 1: the US later that same year, in twenty twenty two,
10:47
Speaker 1: but the Department of Owned Security says that the Biden
10:50
Speaker 1: administration deliberately shielded him from deportation by granting him temporary
10:56
Speaker 1: protected status, which expired two years later twenty twenty four. Now,
11:02
Speaker 1: this Daylight hammer attack suspect is an illegal alien. He
11:06
Speaker 1: was released under the Biden policies and then protected by
11:10
Speaker 1: the Biden administration. Senator Cruz and I talked about this
11:15
Speaker 1: on our podcast, We Do Verdict with Ted Cruz, and
11:18
Speaker 1: I want you to hear part of what he had
11:20
Speaker 1: to say. Senator, we want to talk about another issue
11:23
Speaker 1: that it needs to be back on the radar screen
11:26
Speaker 1: for a lot of Americans. And that is the continual
11:30
Speaker 1: crimes are being committed by illegal immigrants that are in
11:34
Speaker 1: this country. The media continues to overlook this. They don't
11:38
Speaker 1: want you to know that it's happening. But it's another
11:41
Speaker 1: example of why the President needs to be fighting so
11:42
Speaker 1: hard against these sanctuary cities that are harboring many of
11:47
Speaker 1: these criminals that are as he would describe them, really
11:49
Speaker 1: baud ombrace Well.
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Speaker 4: You may recall back in twenty twenty four at the
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Speaker 4: Republican National Convention, when I spoke and addressed the convention,
11:57
Speaker 4: my remarks were focused on this topic and the theme
12:01
Speaker 4: of it was every damn day, every day, another American
12:06
Speaker 4: has raped, another American is assaulted, another American is murdered
12:10
Speaker 4: by a violent criminal, illegal alien that Joe Biden and
12:13
Speaker 4: the Democrats have released. And I walk through the tragic
12:17
Speaker 4: cases of Joscelyn Nungary, the beautiful twelve year old girl
12:20
Speaker 4: raped and murdered here in Houston. I walked through Lake
12:23
Speaker 4: and Riley, the horrific murder of the young nursing student
12:28
Speaker 4: in Georgia. I walked through Rachel Morin, the mom of
12:31
Speaker 4: five raped and murdered outside of Washington, d C. It
12:35
Speaker 4: was happening over and over and over again. That was
12:40
Speaker 4: one of the big reasons that the voters came out
12:42
Speaker 4: in overwhelming numbers re elected President Trump, elected a Republican House,
12:46
Speaker 4: elected a Republican Senate, and we've seen immediate results. We've
12:50
Speaker 4: seen illegal border crossings drop more than ninety nine percent.
12:55
Speaker 4: The problem is we have four years of open borders
12:58
Speaker 4: that we have to unwind twelve million illegal aliens that
13:02
Speaker 4: were allowed to flood into this country. And so just
13:04
Speaker 4: this week, the story broke that a gas station clerk,
13:09
Speaker 4: a mom in Fort Myers, Florida, was bludgeoned to death
13:15
Speaker 4: with a hammer. I mean, what a horrible way to go,
13:18
Speaker 4: beaten to death with a hammer. And who is it
13:20
Speaker 4: that committed this crime? A Haitian illegal alien who was
13:25
Speaker 4: caught and then released at the border by the Biden administration.
13:29
Speaker 4: In twenty twenty two, an immigration judge ordered him deported.
13:33
Speaker 4: Rolbert Josheim is his name, but the Biden administration shielded
13:40
Speaker 4: him from deportation by granting him temporary protected status. So,
13:47
Speaker 4: in other words, what this person did he took a
13:50
Speaker 4: hammer the parking lot of a gas station. He walks
13:54
Speaker 4: at her with full strengths he beats her on the
13:56
Speaker 4: head with a hammer, she falls down unconscious, and then
13:59
Speaker 4: he brushes her head with the hammer while she's unconscious
14:05
Speaker 4: six more times. Here's the statement of the Department Homeland
14:09
Speaker 4: Security put out quote. This illegal alien barbarically hit this
14:14
Speaker 4: woman in the head multiple times with a hammer. This
14:18
Speaker 4: heinous murderer was released into the country by the Bidad administration.
14:24
Speaker 4: Not only did the Bida administration release him into the country,
14:27
Speaker 4: but they gave him temporary protected status. Their reckless immigration
14:33
Speaker 4: policies cost this woman her life. This keeps happening over
14:41
Speaker 4: and over and over again. And what is amazing, Ben
14:48
Speaker 4: In spite of that, every Democrat in the Senate when
14:51
Speaker 4: we have a vote, the Department I'm less Security is
14:53
Speaker 4: still shut down because they have decided they hate ICE
14:56
Speaker 4: so much, they hate border enforcement so much that it
14:59
Speaker 4: is the position of the Democrat party they are opposed.
15:03
Speaker 4: They want to defund ICE, which is the organizations that
15:07
Speaker 4: is charged with finding this vicious criminal, arresting him and
15:12
Speaker 4: deporting him. They don't want him to port it. They
15:15
Speaker 4: want this Haitian murderer in your community. They don't care
15:20
Speaker 4: if you happen to be the poor woman who's bludgeoned
15:22
Speaker 4: to death. Look, you know, Chris Murphy, the very liberal
15:27
Speaker 4: Democrat from Connecticut was on TV, and you know, there's
15:32
Speaker 4: an old line that a gaff is when a politician
15:34
Speaker 4: actually accidentally tells the truth. He described he said, the
15:39
Speaker 4: people we care about the most, meaning we meaning Democrats,
15:44
Speaker 4: are illegal immigrants. That is what their party is. And
15:48
Speaker 4: it's infuriating. It keeps happening over and over and over again.
15:52
Speaker 1: When you talk about it still being shut down, and
15:55
Speaker 1: this is I think one of the midterms are going
15:57
Speaker 1: to be a really important obviously, this be one of
16:00
Speaker 1: the important issues of the midterms that Republicans need to
16:03
Speaker 1: remind if Democrats get back in charge, they've made it
16:06
Speaker 1: clear they will immediately open the borders wide up and
16:09
Speaker 1: they don't care who comes in. It's gonna happen. Get
16:12
Speaker 1: ready for it. That is their form, that is their policy,
16:15
Speaker 1: and they will absolutely abolish ice if they can do
16:18
Speaker 1: it as well.
16:20
Speaker 4: And by the way, understand, the risk is not just
16:23
Speaker 4: the murderers. It's not just the child molesters and the
16:26
Speaker 4: rapist and the gang bangers. It is also a very
16:29
Speaker 4: real risk of terrorism. We have seen in the last
16:32
Speaker 4: month four acts of terrorism by radical Islamic terrorists. And
16:36
Speaker 4: here's a story that broke this week. I'm just going
16:39
Speaker 4: to read a tweet from Bill Malusian, the fantastic reporter
16:43
Speaker 4: at Fox. Here's what he said. New Border patrol caught
16:46
Speaker 4: and arrested four British nationals entering the US illegally in
16:50
Speaker 4: a remote part of Maine after crossing from Canada. Their names,
16:56
Speaker 4: these are four British nationals. Mohammad Ali Abdullah that's number one,
17:04
Speaker 4: Hamid Mohammed Nagi that's number two, Ibrahim Ayub Khan that's
17:11
Speaker 4: number three, and Mohammed Sultan Salaih. And these are illegal
17:17
Speaker 4: immigrants that were sneaking into a remote wooded part of Maine.
17:24
Speaker 4: This is dangerous now, you know what happened. Because President
17:28
Speaker 4: Trump is in office and Border Patrol's allowed to do
17:30
Speaker 4: their job. They were apprehended. They weren't just let in
17:33
Speaker 4: and they're apprehended. You know what, I guarantee you they
17:36
Speaker 4: will not be released. They won't be released into this country.
17:39
Speaker 4: If Joe Biden were president, those four people whose names
17:42
Speaker 4: I just released, they named that they'd be released and
17:46
Speaker 4: we might be reading about them in another week or two.
17:50
Speaker 4: That pattern has played out over and over and over again.
17:55
Speaker 4: And by the way, it's not just illegal immigrants, it
18:01
Speaker 4: is criminals across the board. It is criminals across the board,
18:07
Speaker 4: such as for example, de Carlos Brown, who was this
18:14
Speaker 4: psychotic lunatic who murdered the beautiful Ukrainian woman in North Carolina.
18:23
Speaker 4: He was just ruled not competent to stand trial. And
18:29
Speaker 4: I don't doubt that the guy as crazy as a loon.
18:33
Speaker 4: But let's be clear, Democrats and Roy Cooper in particular,
18:38
Speaker 4: the Democrat governor released this psychopath murderer fourteen separate times
18:47
Speaker 4: fourteen If you keep releasing violent criminalism, and it actually
18:52
Speaker 4: helped me on this Benay play devil's advocate for a minute.
18:56
Speaker 4: Try to get inside the mind of a Democrat. Why
18:59
Speaker 4: would they want to release violent criminals over and over again.
19:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, it doesn't make sense, and yet they continue to
19:07
Speaker 1: do it because for them, I really do think it's
19:09
Speaker 1: an issue of politics, right, they want to bring in
19:12
Speaker 1: a new voters. That's the simplest way I can put it.
19:15
Speaker 4: Well, it's not just new voters, yes, for the illegals,
19:18
Speaker 4: but you look at this to Carlos Brown, he was
19:20
Speaker 4: not an illegal immigrant. He was just a psychopathic, lunatic American.
19:23
Speaker 4: But you know what Democrats also think, not only should
19:26
Speaker 4: he be released from jail, they think he ought to
19:28
Speaker 4: be a voter. He's perfectly fine to vote in US elections.
19:32
Speaker 4: And I guarantee you violent criminals vote overwhelmingly Democrat. And
19:37
Speaker 4: I guess that explains why the Democrats their priority is
19:40
Speaker 4: violent criminals and not American citizens.
19:44
Speaker 1: The easiest way I can describe this s next story
19:46
Speaker 1: is well, at least it's a big start for the
19:50
Speaker 1: president of United States of America. He promised that he
19:52
Speaker 1: was going to go after waste, fraud and abuse, and
19:56
Speaker 1: he was going to make sure the government was doing
19:58
Speaker 1: everything they could to make sure your tax dollars weren't
20:02
Speaker 1: being stolen. Well, now we're going to move to California,
20:06
Speaker 1: where officials there have just announced a major crackdown on
20:10
Speaker 1: healthcare fraud. They have dismantled what is being described as
20:14
Speaker 1: a massive two hundred and sixty seven million dollar hospice
20:19
Speaker 1: scam they're now calling the Operation Skip Trace. Authorities have
20:25
Speaker 1: also charged twenty one individuals in connection with this scheme.
20:30
Speaker 1: Several arrests have already been made, and many more are
20:33
Speaker 1: actually expected now. According to investigators, this was not a
20:37
Speaker 1: small time operation. It was a highly organized fraud ring
20:42
Speaker 1: that exploited California's medical system. That's the state's medicaid program.
20:48
Speaker 1: How do they do it? It's pretty simple. They were
20:51
Speaker 1: billing for hospice services that were never actually provided to anyone.
20:56
Speaker 1: In fact, officials say not a single legitimate hospice service
21:00
Speaker 1: was ever delivered to anyone, despite millions of dollars in
21:05
Speaker 1: claims and your tax dollars being stolen. The scheme worked
21:10
Speaker 1: with purchasing stolen personal information, in some cases from the
21:15
Speaker 1: dark web. Then they would use those identities to enroll
21:19
Speaker 1: fake patients into medical From there, the suspects used in network,
21:24
Speaker 1: as they described it at the press conference, of at
21:27
Speaker 1: least fourteen different hospice companies, often controlled by so called
21:33
Speaker 1: straw owners. They would then submit fraudulent claims and collect
21:39
Speaker 1: your tax dollars. Fox eleven, Los Angeles describing it this way.
21:45
Speaker 7: Sometimes the people who need to care the most end
21:48
Speaker 7: up in a system that needs watching too. State officials
21:51
Speaker 7: are now promising to continue their crackdown on hospice fraud.
21:55
Speaker 7: Investigation could raise bigger questions about trust, money and who
21:58
Speaker 7: profits at the end of life crackdowns now zeroing in
22:01
Speaker 7: a scheme has drained millions from Medical Fox eleven's Nick
22:04
Speaker 7: Grosias in downtown LA, where state leaders has stolen identities
22:08
Speaker 7: helped fuel this case.
22:12
Speaker 8: Brekfas seeing well. Attorney General Rob Bonta was here today
22:15
Speaker 8: to announce Operation Skip Trace, which happened yesterday and targeted
22:19
Speaker 8: twenty one suspects across ten different locations right here in
22:23
Speaker 8: southern California. Those suspects accused of defrauding the state of
22:26
Speaker 8: two hundred and sixty seven million dollars. A massive takedown
22:32
Speaker 8: of a complex fraud ring which investigators say took advantage
22:36
Speaker 8: of state money intended for hospice care.
22:40
Speaker 3: This was a brazen, calculated criminal scheme that exploited the
22:45
Speaker 3: medical system, stole from the State of California and Medicaid,
22:49
Speaker 3: and prevented services and care from going to sick individuals
22:53
Speaker 3: who actually need it.
22:55
Speaker 8: The suspects defrauded the state two hundred and sixty seven
22:58
Speaker 8: million dollars by using stolen identities to enroll in hospice.
23:04
Speaker 8: Five have been arrested so far. State officials say they're
23:08
Speaker 8: increasing protections.
23:10
Speaker 7: We are using a faster and more secure online process,
23:13
Speaker 7: and we're adding stronger checks to prevent fake applications or
23:17
Speaker 7: stolen identities from getting into the system.
23:20
Speaker 8: This operation comes as the federal government has started to
23:23
Speaker 8: crack down on hospice fraud. US Attorney Bill A. Saley
23:27
Speaker 8: on Good Day LA Thursday morning.
23:30
Speaker 9: Fraud hasn't always been a priority of the Department of Justice,
23:32
Speaker 9: particularly fraud against taxpayers. That is changing because when you
23:35
Speaker 9: defraud these programs, not only are fraudsters getting away with
23:39
Speaker 9: our money, it's taking money away from people really need it.
23:42
Speaker 8: But Attorney General Bonta says fraud has long been a
23:45
Speaker 8: priority for California's Department of Justice.
23:49
Speaker 3: Well, healthcare fraud might be President Trump's shiny new political
23:56
Speaker 3: talking point. California DOJ has been going after health care
24:00
Speaker 3: fraud since nineteen seventy nine.
24:04
Speaker 1: By the way, I love how Democrats in California, as
24:07
Speaker 1: you just heard there saying, well, we've been on top
24:09
Speaker 1: of this. How was this uncovered? It wasn't because of
24:12
Speaker 1: their work. It was because of undercover individuals, literally citizen
24:17
Speaker 1: journalists who started looking and exposing all of the fraud.
24:22
Speaker 1: And now California is wanting you to believe that they've
24:24
Speaker 1: been on top of the issue all along. It's just
24:27
Speaker 1: not the case. Now, law enforcement did execute search warrants
24:31
Speaker 1: across multiple locations in southern California. We now know they
24:35
Speaker 1: sees cash, they seize firearms, and evidence tied to the operation.
24:40
Speaker 1: Prosecutors have hit the defendance with a range of serious charges,
24:43
Speaker 1: including healthcare fraud and any theft, conspiracy, and money laundering
24:47
Speaker 1: crimes that could carry significant prison time if they're convicted.
24:52
Speaker 1: By the way, to be clear, there's no indication that
24:54
Speaker 1: California is actually getting serious about really cracking down on this.
24:58
Speaker 1: They were shamed into doing their job.
25:01
Speaker 8: Now.
25:01
Speaker 1: The state officials, one that you just heard there says
25:04
Speaker 1: this case highlights a growing national problem. So they want
25:07
Speaker 1: you to believe that what you're witnessing in California is
25:10
Speaker 1: well happening where you live. And even if you're in
25:12
Speaker 1: a conservative state that cracks down on this stuff, they're
25:15
Speaker 1: telling you, no, no, there must be fraud there. We're
25:17
Speaker 1: not the only ones that have an issue. They also
25:21
Speaker 1: said they're sending a clear message those who exploit programs
25:25
Speaker 1: meant for the sick and vulnerable and still from taxpayers
25:28
Speaker 1: will be aggressively pursued and held accountable. Now there's also
25:33
Speaker 1: no indication that California is actually ready to do that.
25:37
Speaker 1: So the California Attorney General Rob Banta and the Department
25:41
Speaker 1: of Health Services there, they're now saying that you should
25:44
Speaker 1: be thanking them for taking down the staggering two hundred
25:47
Speaker 1: and sixty seven million dollar health care fraud ring. The
25:50
Speaker 1: only reason why this happened is because you had conservatives
25:54
Speaker 1: online that publicly shamed them into doing their job. The operation,
26:01
Speaker 1: which involved twenty one suspects so far, fourteen fraudulent companies
26:08
Speaker 1: targeting the state's medical system by billing for hospice services
26:12
Speaker 1: that were never rendered to anyone. That is the story
26:16
Speaker 1: that everyone should be angry about. Yeah, they've been charged,
26:20
Speaker 1: but it wasn't like California was actually leading the way.
26:23
Speaker 1: What's also interesting about these twenty one suspects have been
26:27
Speaker 1: charged is the investigation has now hit into one hundred
26:31
Speaker 1: and thirty associated shell companies as well. Now it's unclear
26:36
Speaker 1: exactly how much of the two hundred and sixty seven
26:38
Speaker 1: million is defrauded funds and how much of it can
26:42
Speaker 1: actually be recovered. Bonta noted that only about thirty million
26:46
Speaker 1: has been retrieved so far, so we're missing two hundred
26:49
Speaker 1: and thirty seven million. So when he says we're on
26:52
Speaker 1: top of it, ask yourself, if that's true, then where's
26:55
Speaker 1: the other two hundred and thirty plus million dollars that
26:58
Speaker 1: you promised?
26:59
Speaker 4: Now?
27:00
Speaker 1: Good Day, that is one of the leading morning shows
27:03
Speaker 1: in LA. They went on the air and they explained
27:05
Speaker 1: it to their audience a little bit differently.
27:08
Speaker 4: Listen carefully.
27:09
Speaker 6: These are cracking down on what they call a massive
27:11
Speaker 6: healthcare fraud scheme. Right here in California.
27:14
Speaker 5: Eight people are now under arrest, accused of running sham
27:18
Speaker 5: hospice operations that allegedly stole more than fifty million dollars
27:22
Speaker 5: from Medicare. The takedown, dubbed Operation Never Say Die, could
27:26
Speaker 5: signal a broader push to target fraud across the region.
27:30
Speaker 5: Joining US now is US Attorney Bill a Sale to
27:32
Speaker 5: break down the case, what it means for taxpayers, also
27:35
Speaker 5: the integrity of our healthcare system. Thank you so much
27:38
Speaker 5: for being here this morning.
27:39
Speaker 9: Thanks for having me.
27:40
Speaker 5: This is a big operation.
27:42
Speaker 8: It is big.
27:42
Speaker 9: It was one of the first operations under the Vice
27:45
Speaker 9: President's new Task Force on Fraud. We did in coordination
27:48
Speaker 9: with the Vice president and of course doctor Oz who
27:51
Speaker 9: oversees Medicare program. And we're out there early and we
27:55
Speaker 9: took down We announced fifteen separate cases, we arrested eight people,
27:59
Speaker 9: and again almost sixty million dollars in fraud just in
28:02
Speaker 9: one day.
28:02
Speaker 6: So explain how this hospice fraud worked. I mean, these
28:07
Speaker 6: little communities are sort of working together to try to
28:10
Speaker 6: try to scam the system.
28:11
Speaker 9: Yeah, a lot of these are repeat fraudsters. And what
28:14
Speaker 9: happens is they take advantage of vulnerabilities in our systems.
28:18
Speaker 9: So it starts with getting a hospice license through the
28:20
Speaker 9: state of California, and to be honest, California did not
28:23
Speaker 9: have good systems in place. They still don't for vetting
28:26
Speaker 9: and checking to make sure these are legitimate operators. Once
28:29
Speaker 9: they have that hospice license, they then have the ability
28:31
Speaker 9: to build Medicare. And that's what they were doing. They
28:34
Speaker 9: were submitting fraudulent names or in some cases they are
28:37
Speaker 9: real people's names, but they weren't really in hospice. They
28:39
Speaker 9: were not dying. That's why the operators say they die
28:43
Speaker 9: and billing millions and millions of dollars over a few years.
28:46
Speaker 5: Were these people getting kickbacks, then.
28:48
Speaker 9: Some were, some weren't. Yes, And again on average they
28:51
Speaker 9: got about five or six thousand dollars per name per month,
28:55
Speaker 9: and then they would kick back maybe three hundred dollars
28:57
Speaker 9: to the patients themselves. But the fraudsters, of course always
29:00
Speaker 9: going to want to keep most of the money.
29:01
Speaker 5: How long has this been going on.
29:03
Speaker 9: This has been going on for years. We've really seen
29:05
Speaker 9: an explosion uptake after COVID. There's a lot more money
29:09
Speaker 9: put into systems, put into PPP, and that's where I
29:12
Speaker 9: think fraudsters realize the amount of money that's available in
29:15
Speaker 9: these government accounts. But you know, the message you want
29:18
Speaker 9: to get across is fraud hasn't always been a priority
29:20
Speaker 9: of the Department of Justice, particularly fraud against taxpayers. That
29:23
Speaker 9: is changing because when you defraud these programs, not only
29:26
Speaker 9: are fraudsters getting away with our money, it's taking money
29:30
Speaker 9: away from people really need it. It's draining the healthcare
29:32
Speaker 9: system of important money that's needed for people who actually
29:35
Speaker 9: need it. And that's really the big message here.
29:39
Speaker 6: We do have the response from Governor Newsom and also
29:42
Speaker 6: ag Rob Bonta responded to this. You guys been going
29:45
Speaker 6: kind of back and forth online. And part of it
29:47
Speaker 6: is what they're saying is that it's the federal government
29:49
Speaker 6: that oversees Medicare, it's not us. They also are saying, look,
29:55
Speaker 6: we've been part of this partnership to crack down on
29:58
Speaker 6: this fraud in Medicare made huge strides in all of this.
30:02
Speaker 9: What do you have to say, Yeah, a couple things
30:03
Speaker 9: going on here. At number one, the federal government's basically
30:05
Speaker 9: the piggybank. It's the federal government provides most of the
30:08
Speaker 9: money that goes to these programs. However, they're administered by
30:11
Speaker 9: the states. It's the state of California that's responsible for hospice.
30:14
Speaker 9: California license every single hospice. They're supposed to be vetting
30:18
Speaker 9: and checking. And our criticism of the State of California
30:20
Speaker 9: is that they don't have sufficient measures in place to
30:23
Speaker 9: prevent and detect fraud. In the first instance, the money's
30:26
Speaker 9: going out the door, and then they're coming to us
30:28
Speaker 9: and saying, all this fraud occurred, help us get the
30:30
Speaker 9: bad guys. We don't want to pay in chase, we
30:32
Speaker 9: want to stop the fraud from happening.
30:34
Speaker 6: And the first one that's kind interesting is that no
30:36
Speaker 6: one denies that this is taking place. So even though
30:40
Speaker 6: they're saying we're fighting at also everybody admits that this
30:45
Speaker 6: is a big deal.
30:46
Speaker 9: It's a massive deal. I think the state does dispute
30:49
Speaker 9: the extent how much it is. We think it's potentially
30:51
Speaker 9: in the hundreds of billions of dollars. But again, the
30:55
Speaker 9: focus has always been to push money out the door.
30:57
Speaker 9: I was in Sacramento, I was a legislator up there.
31:00
Speaker 9: They want to get as much money out the door
31:01
Speaker 9: as possible. That's how they measure success. We want to
31:05
Speaker 9: change that mindset. We want to focus on making sure
31:07
Speaker 9: that the fraudsters never get the money in the first place,
31:09
Speaker 9: so we're not having to chase them down, arrest them
31:12
Speaker 9: and try to recover money after the fact.
31:14
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, what happens to all that money now?
31:16
Speaker 9: Well, a lot of it gets spent, Honestly, a lot
31:18
Speaker 9: of it fraudsters.
31:19
Speaker 5: They are very luxury cars and.
31:21
Speaker 9: Homes, hotels, vacations, bags. So we try to recover as
31:25
Speaker 9: much of it as we can. We will seize properties,
31:27
Speaker 9: we will seize cars, we will seize bank accounts, but frankly,
31:30
Speaker 9: a lot of it gets spent, and a lot of
31:32
Speaker 9: these fraudsters are also tied to international organizations and the
31:36
Speaker 9: money goes out the countries.
31:37
Speaker 1: Let's just pause there, and I want you to just
31:39
Speaker 1: think about what you just heard there on the local
31:42
Speaker 1: Fox affiliate. And they're doing a better job on Good
31:46
Speaker 1: Day LA talking about this. They're also telling you the
31:50
Speaker 1: truth of the money is going overseas, and they're also
31:52
Speaker 1: telling you the truth that Democrats can say how they
31:54
Speaker 1: want to this is somehow a federal problem instead of
31:57
Speaker 1: a local problem, and the way that they described it,
32:00
Speaker 1: but they're also saying, like, let's be clear, they're the
32:03
Speaker 1: ones that are over all of this, and that clearly
32:07
Speaker 1: is part of the hypocrisy here. Democrats did not care
32:15
Speaker 1: that this fraud was taking place. They knew about it.
32:19
Speaker 1: There were people, multiple people that had alerted them of
32:24
Speaker 1: what they saw was clearly fraud, and they looked the
32:28
Speaker 1: other way. Why because they don't care if people are
32:33
Speaker 1: stealing from you, the taxpayer. They don't care what's happening
32:38
Speaker 1: here as long as they're getting a little bit of
32:39
Speaker 1: a kickback. We saw the kickbacks by the way Minnesota,
32:42
Speaker 1: where many of these fraudsters were giving political donations to
32:46
Speaker 1: You guessed it. The Democrats that were in charge at
32:50
Speaker 1: the local, state and the national level. Now this much fraud.
32:55
Speaker 1: There were massive signs. Everyone knew there were signs, and
33:00
Speaker 1: they didn't care. The question we should be asking now
33:03
Speaker 1: is why and what did they know? When do they
33:06
Speaker 1: know it? And how much are they hiding from all
33:09
Speaker 1: of us. Make sure you share this podcast please wherever
33:12
Speaker 1: you can on social media so others will hear it.
33:16
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33:19
Speaker 1: you back here tomorrow.