Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Deadliest U.S.–Cuba Flashpoint in Decades plus Oz & Vance on MN's Outrageous Medicaid Scam

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Deadliest U.S.–Cuba Flashpoint in Decades plus Oz & Vance on MN's Outrageous Medicaid Scam · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We'll first get your take on the President really handing
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the Democrats an opportunity to profess their duty and dedication
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to protect American citizens first, they refuse to do that.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: You couldn't have asked for a better gift to show
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: the American people the difference between Donald Trump and Republican
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: candidates that want to work with him and the Democratic
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Party who says, no, no, no, we do not put Americans first.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: We put illegal immigrants first. We protect waste, fraud and abuse,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: and that's happening in Minnesota. We put these criminals ahead
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: of you. That tells you what the Democratic Party will
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: do if they're back in power.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Good Thursday morning. Nice to have you with us on
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: the forty seven Morning Update, and we've got two major
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: stories for you. First up, Cuba Coastguard opens fire on
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: a US registered speedboat, killing four. The White House has
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: response as well as Marco Rubio, and we'll explain what
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: this means for all Americans and for what's going on
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: with Cuba relations. Also, fraud, we know it's massive in Minnesota,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: and that's exactly why the Vice President announcing with doctor
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Oz that a major payment more than two hundred and
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: fifty million is being paused going to Minnesota until they
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: can prove that they're actually not taking that money and
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: using it for fraudulent means. This is a big move
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: for the Trump administration. It's a forty seven morning update
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: and it starts right now.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: Story number one.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: We have to talk about the dramatic and deadly international
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: incident that's unfolding right now, one that has shaken nerves
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: across Washington, Miami, and Havana. The Cuban Coast Guard opening
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: fire on a US registered speedboat, killing four people and
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: injuring others, and what Cuba calls an infiltration attempt inside
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: its territorial waters. We're going to walk you through everything.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: We know what Cuba is now claiming, as well as
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: America's reaction. We have comments from Secretary of State Marco
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Rubio and why this matters both geopolitically and also for
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: our national security. Now, FORIDA registered speedboat flying US documentation,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: we assume that means an American flag. It was intercepted
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: by Cuban border Guard troops. This again right close to
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: they claim their border. According to the Cuban government official account.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: When its border guard units approach the vessel to identify
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: it and challenge what Cuba considers a violation of its
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: territorial waters, those aboard open fire first, They're claiming. Cuban
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: authorities say the armed occupants fired on the Cuban patrol,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: wounding a commander, and responds Cuban forces return fire. The
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: result for people on the speedboat were killed and six
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: others were wounded. The injured were reportedly evacuated for medical
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: treatment in Cuban authorities say they have also detained survivors.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Cuba claims the boat carried ten passengers who were Cuban
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: nationals living in the United States, and that many of
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: them had a history of criminal or violent activity. Officials
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: even alleged to the passengers were carrying assault rifles, handguns,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: as well as bulletproof vests, telescopic sites, and camouflage gear,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: and were attempting an armed infiltration for terrorist purposes. Now again,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: this is coming from Cuba's government. The authorities also released
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: names of several of those on board, including at least
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: one of the four killed and several of the survivors
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: who are now in custody. But here's a key point
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: that many of you need to know. The US government
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: has not independently verified any of what the Cuban government
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: has actually said on their version of the events. Details
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: about the boat, the motives of those on board, and
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: whether Cuba claims of armed terrorism are accurate remain obviously unconfirmed,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: which brings us to the US response. Marco Rubio and
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Washington weighing in saying this.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: So, this morning, we were made aware by Cuban authorities
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: of an incident off the coast to Cuba. We immediately
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: began to look into it. As it stands now, the
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, others are involved.
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: The majority of the information we still possess is what
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: Cuban authorities are providing both the public and the US government.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: We have our embassy on the ground in Havana working
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: this as we speak, asking for access to the people
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: that were on those vessels, if they were American citizens
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: or permanent residents. According to the Cuban regime, the boat
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: was registered in Florida. We're tracking that down. We will
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: know shortly, and we will quickly many more facts about
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: this incident. The majority of the facts we will verify
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: that independently and well as we gather more information, then
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: we'll be prepared to respond accordingly. I'm not to speculating,
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: I'm not gonna pine on what I don't know, but
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: we're going to find out exactly what happened here, and
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: then we'll respond accordingly.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Now, Rubio also stress that there is no indication that
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: this was a US government operation and that Washington had
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: no involvement in the speedboat's activity. At the same time,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: he described events like this as highly unusual, saying that
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: shootouts on the open sea between Cuba forces and US
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: flag boats simply don't happen every day, and he urged
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: calm while this investigation continues.
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: Now.
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  Speaker 2: Beyond Ribo's comments, other US leaders have reacted with concern
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: as well. The Vice President jet E Vance said the
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: White House is monitoring the situation closely that we did
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: not provide further details. Florida officials, including the state attorney
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: general and members of Congress have also so called for
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: a thorough investigation and accountability if Cuba use excessive or
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: unjustified force. Now this is not just a headline story.
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  Speaker 2: It's a major flashpoint in already tense US Cuba relations.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: And this is the reason why it's such a big deal.
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  Speaker 2: Territorial sovereignty versus international law. That is what's at stake.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: Cuba's claiming this was a violation of its territorial waters
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  Speaker 2: and armed attempt to infiltrator carry out a violent activity
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: on their land, but the US has not corroborated that either.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: The question now is did the ship actually engage in
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: any hostile actions towards Cuba or was it something else Entirely,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: the facts are still very unclear, and that's exactly why
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: you have Rubio, the White House and JD. Van's all
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: saying we're not going to trust Cuba's word for this.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: We're going to do our own investigation because we cannot
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: trust them. There's also the historical context here. There is
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: a long and fraught history between the US and Cuba
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: when it comes to maritime confrontations. As you know, one
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  Speaker 2: of the most famous was back in nineteen ninety six
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  Speaker 2: when Brothers to the Rescue shoot Down the Cuban forces
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: shot down two civilian planes near the island, killing four Americans.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: That episode deeply scarred the US Cuba relations and well
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: reignited calls in Congress for a hard line approach to Cuba.
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  Speaker 2: This new incident recalls that legacy, and given the current
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: hardline US posture towards Havannah under the Trump administration, it's
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: pretty clear the stakes are probably even higher now. Relations
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: have been increasingly strained. The US has titaned sanctions, cut
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: off all of the Venezuelan UL shipments that Cuba depends on,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: and publicly labeled the island an extraordinary threat. Havana, for
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: its part, has reacted with defiance and rhetoric about sovereignty.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: The latest episode set off a real diplomatic crisis if
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: it's not handled carefully. There's also the safety of US citizens.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: At the heart of this is the question of human lives.
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  Speaker 2: You have four people who are dead, six others that
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: are wounded, and their families deserve answers, because if it
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: turns out that these were US residents or citizens, then
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: the Trump administration will have to make some very tough
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: decisions about how to respond to Cuba's actions, especially if
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: their actions were aggressive in nature from the beginning. So
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: right now, here's what we know. The truth is unknown,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: and the Cuban narrative is just one version and more
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: than likely a version the US government cannot trust at all.
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  Speaker 2: That's why the Trump administration is making it clear that
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: the US government investigations are ramping up to find the
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: actual factual record, and in the coming days we're likely
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: to see US verification of identities of those aboard the speedboat,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: statements also from Florida law enforcement and possibly federal intelligence
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: as well, and international reaction from the Caribbean community and
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: NATO partners, as well as congressional pressure on the administration
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: for accountability and an American response. The story is far
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: from over. One thing's for sure. Donald Trump has already
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: pledged it he'll get to the bottom of exactly what.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: Happened next Story number two.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: In a major federal action today, the Trump administration has
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: gone after the Biden era medicaid funding system that has
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: become ground zero for what Donald Trump has called a
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: war on fraud. Vice President JD. Vance, tasked by President
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Trump with leading a nationwide crackdown on government fraud, and
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: doctor Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Medicaid Services, announced that the federal government is temporarily halting
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: about two hundred and fifty nine point five million in
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Medicaid reimbursements to the state of Minnesota. Now, that's more
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: than a quarter of a billion dollars that the federal
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: government had planned to send a Minnesota for medicaid spending,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: and it's being paused until the state can prove that
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: it's properly policing the program and preventing taxpayer dollars from
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: being wasted or flat out stolen. At a joint press conference,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Vance said the move is aimed squarely at ensuring Minnesota
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: American people's tax money. Here's more of what doctor Oz
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: and the Vice President had to say in a major
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: move to stop corruption in Minnesota.
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: Numbers.
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: There's a fraud scheme in Minnesota where criminals soon to
• 10:46
  Speaker 6: be criminals pay moms one thousand dollars roughly in order
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: to enroll their children as being autistic, falsely dishonestly claiming
• 10:54
  Speaker 6: their children are autistic. They then bill Medicaid as that
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: already happened, millions of dollars for services that were never rendered,
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: never delivered by a qualified staff member. These schemes disproportionately
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: involved immigrant communities. They're insulated, they're able to organize efforts
• 11:09
  Speaker 6: and sometimes they don't understand what's going on, and ultimately
• 11:11
  Speaker 6: diverse resources away from kids who truly have autism, because
• 11:15
  Speaker 6: if every kid in the neighborhood has autism, then nobody
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: has autism in terms of how you can manage them.
• 11:20
  Speaker 6: There was one behavioral and by the way, these kids,
• 11:22
  Speaker 6: they carry that diagnosis of autism the rest of their lives.
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: Their mom made a bad decision, the kid pays the
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: price for the rest of their life. There's one behavioral
• 11:29
  Speaker 6: health organization missed the vice president of Minnesota. They received
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: delivered and a half million dollars in medicaid payments, but
• 11:35
  Speaker 6: the top biller, the top biller submitted four hundred and
• 11:38
  Speaker 6: fifty days where they claim they were working more than
• 11:40
  Speaker 6: twenty four hours a day. I mean even in the
• 11:42
  Speaker 6: White House, that's tough. It's hard to work more than
• 11:45
  Speaker 6: twenty four hours a day. How they didn't get picked
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: up is shocking to us at CMS. There are other
• 11:50
  Speaker 6: red flags in Minnesota, including hundreds of beneficiaries receiving treatment
• 11:53
  Speaker 6: linked to one location, which was impossible physically to be true.
• 11:57
  Speaker 6: We had eight beneficiaries in one of these substances used
• 11:59
  Speaker 6: to sort of eight who are already dead, but the
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: center was still building us. Not only did they let
• 12:05
  Speaker 6: the person pass, they kept building for it. That's the
• 12:08
  Speaker 6: level of average we're talking about. So CMS is done
• 12:10
  Speaker 6: paying and chasing. We don't think jail sentences are the
• 12:13
  Speaker 6: right way out. These criminals flee the country, many are
• 12:15
  Speaker 6: foreign nationals. Instead of launching the largest action against fraud
• 12:19
  Speaker 6: that we've ever taken, the money's not going to ever
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: leave the building again. We're going to start dreaming the
• 12:24
  Speaker 6: swamp of the crooks that have inhabited it and are
• 12:26
  Speaker 6: defrauding us.
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: They are three bold actions.
• 12:29
  Speaker 6: The first, for many of you may be the most
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: important is we're going, for the first time take a
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: massive action to defer funds to a state. Let's start
• 12:37
  Speaker 6: with this Medicaid program in Minnesota, which serves pregnant women.
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: Medicaid tastes care of our children. Fifty three percent of.
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: Kids are born in the poverty they are supported through Medicaid,
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: disadvantaged seniors, individual disabilities. Is unponderable that you would take
• 12:51
  Speaker 6: advantage of these precious programs, Yet they are putting it
• 12:54
  Speaker 6: at risk, all of it by stealing the money. So
• 12:57
  Speaker 6: it's our due to preserve medicaid, and what we're going
• 12:59
  Speaker 6: to do is identify the scammeras which we have done
• 13:02
  Speaker 6: in Minnesota. We identified that they've hijacked in particular, a
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: certain part of the Minnesota Medicaid system said differently, and
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: I'll just put the numbers out there. It's going to
• 13:11
  Speaker 6: be two hundred and fifty nine million dollars of deferred
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: payments for Medicaid to Minnesota, which we're announcing as I
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: speak to Governor Wilson his team that's based on an
• 13:22
  Speaker 6: audit of the last three months of twenty twenty five,
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: restated a quarter billion dollars is not going to be
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: paid this month to Minnesota for its Medicaid claims. Now
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: that's a million rather a quarter billion dollars of money.
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: That's your money, it's your tax payer money. And these
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: home and community based services, which again are services that
• 13:41
  Speaker 6: are typically things you would do for your family, but
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: for whatever reason, your family's not there to provide them,
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: are very hard to audit. And for that reason, there's
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: been a lot of slippage. The guardrails have not been
• 13:50
  Speaker 6: well maintained, and if you're not serious about the integrity
• 13:53
  Speaker 6: of the program, you'll see these problems happening in your state,
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: which is why Minnesota is not alone.
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: Although they're the first to receive this action.
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: These high growth areas of fraud are difficult to police,
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: so we require the states to take these issues seriously.
• 14:07
  Speaker 6: This quarter billion dollar deferment is hopefully going to get
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: on the radar screen for the state of Minnesota and
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: make sure they are responsive to our requests. We did
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: what any honest and patient focused agency would do. We
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: have notified the state and that we will give them
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: the money, but we're going to hold it and only
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: release it after they propose an act on a comprehensive
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: corrective action plan to solve the problem. If Minnesota fails
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: to clean up the systems, the state will rack up
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: a billion dollars of deferred payments this year. Governor Walls
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: has sixty days sixty days, sir, to respond to our letter.
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: And if providers and beneficiaries are worried about getting their
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: money in services, please call your governor. These are services
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: the governor has already paid for. We are just not
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: reimbursing the state. To make it clear, there is a
• 14:50
  Speaker 6: rainy day fund in Minnesota, so We are very confident
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: that people will not be hurt in Minnesota.
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: This is not a problem with the people in Minnesota.
• 14:57
  Speaker 6: It's a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: You'll listen to doctor Oz there and he lays it
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: out perfectly exactly who they're at war with. It is
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: not the people in Minnesota. It is those in charge
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: of Minnesota. They're allowing this to happen. Vice President JD.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Van's putting it this way.
• 15:18
  Speaker 7: We're announcing today that we have decided to temporary, temporarily
• 15:23
  Speaker 7: halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to
• 15:27
  Speaker 7: the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the
• 15:30
  Speaker 7: state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good
• 15:34
  Speaker 7: stewards of the American people's tax money. Now, what is
• 15:37
  Speaker 7: this going to mean. What this means is that, first
• 15:40
  Speaker 7: of all, the providers on the ground in Minnesota have
• 15:43
  Speaker 7: actually already been paid. The state has paid those providers
• 15:46
  Speaker 7: the money. What we're doing is we are stopping the
• 15:49
  Speaker 7: federal payments that will go to the state government until
• 15:53
  Speaker 7: the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the
• 15:59
  Speaker 7: fraud that's being or traded against the American taxpayers.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: Now, the Vice President and doctor Oz officially halting a
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: quarter of a billion dollars in federal medicaid payments to
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Tim Wallat's in the city of Minnesota is massive. They're
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: cutting off the cash. This is massive because of the fraud,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: and they know the money is going to fraud. So
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: they're saying, the governor, open your books, show us, do
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: an investigation, make sure we understand exactly what's happening here.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: And if you can show that the money's not going
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: to massive fraud, fine you can have the money. This
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: is exactly, by the way, what so many Americans were
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: hoping would happen when Trump was elected. Accountability and Donald
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: Trump is now doing it right now in real time
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: to Minnesota.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
• 16:56
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• 17:00
  Speaker 3: we will see you back here tomorrow.