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Transcript

NO MORE FREE RIDE—Federal Fraud Crackdown Hits Full Throttle · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: If you want a snapshot of what the Trump administration
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: means when they say they're waging a war on fraud,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: look no further than the numbers released by the Assistant
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Attorney General for Fraud Enforcement, Colin McDonald, speaking at a
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: national Anti Fraud roundtable led by the Vice President Jadi Vance,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: McDonald announced that the newly created National Fraud Enforcement Division
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: has already recorded more than four hundred and fifty major
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: fraud enforcement actions in its first fifty days.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Those actions include criminal charges, convictions already getting guilty pleas,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and sentencing actions targeting individuals accused of stealing millions and
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: millions of taxpayer dollars. Now, this is an astonishing pace
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: for a division that essentially didn't exist just a few
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: months ago.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: The National Fraud Enforcement was created after Acting Attorney General
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Todd Blanche ordered the Department of Justice to build a
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: dedicated nationwide task force that was focused on fraud involving
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: taxpayer funded programs. The mission is incredibly straightforward, and in government,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: let's be clear, you don't get that very often. Their
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: job find the people stealing from government programs and then
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: prosecute them aggressively. The Trump administration has made fraud one
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: of its signature issues, and they're now arguing that not
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: only are millions, but actually billions of taxpayer dollars have
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: been lost through abuse of Medicaid, pandemic relief programs, the
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: welfare system in general, and also many other federally funded initiatives.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: The Vice President has repeatedly described the efforts as a
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: national campaign to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. But
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: before we get to that, I want to tell you
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  Speaker 1: slash ferguson or nine seven to two Patriot to make
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: the switch today. I want you to listen to what
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: McDonald had to say about what they've uncovered in such
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: a short period of time.
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: Yes, Dana, the scope of this is larger than ever.
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: As mister Blanche there in that clip said, we are
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: now putting the necessary resources behind the fraud crisis that
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: we're facing in the country, and we're off to a
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: great start.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: We're over a four hundred and.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: Fifty major fraud of events at this point, just in
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: the first fifty two days of this fraud division, and
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: we're just getting started. Do you have cooperation from the
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: states in general? So state cooperation is essential to what
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: we're trying to achieve here data and that's because really
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: the problem is national and the front line of this
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: battle is really the state prosecutor units. Some states are
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: doing very well in that regard, and we have great
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: cooperation from them. Other states can kick up their support
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: for this and make sure that the resources that the
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: federal government even puts into their prosecutorial programs, that those
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: resources are being used to the maximum extent possible to
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: make sure that as many fraudsters as possible are put
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: behind bars for their conduct.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Now, let's just talk about what they have found in
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: just the first fifty days. Among the examples being highlighted
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: his charges against fifteen defendants tied to major medicaid fraud
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: schemes in Minnesota. The prosecution of a shocking six hundred
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and fifty million dollar medicaid related sober homes fraud scheme
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: in Arizona. Yes, it's just in Arizona. Six hundred and
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: fifty million dollars, A guilty plea connected to a two
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy million dollar medicaid fraud operation in California,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: numerous convictions and sentencing actions involving misuse of taxpayer funded
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: programs on top of that. Now, what McDonald's said is
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the message is very simple. Every dollar is stolen from
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: programs designed to help the elderly, the poor, the sick
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: and vulnerable in this country is a dollar deliberately stolen
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: from the American taxpayers. Now, the first week alone was massive.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: The administration now has disclosed the early results of what
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: they did. Just in the very first week of the operation,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the division announced actions involving more than three hundred and
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: forty million dollars in fraud schemes, including major cases involving
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: pandemic relief fraud, Medicare fraud, and unemployment fraud. Federal prosecutors
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: also secured millions of dollars in restitution orders aimed at
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: recovering taxpayer dollars.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: One of the.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Most high profile cases you may remember involved the Feeding
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Our Future fraud scandal in Minnesota, where hundreds of millions
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: of taxpayer dollars intended to feed children that were going
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: hungry during the pandemic were diverted into luxury purchases overseas,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: real estate, and personal spending by the fraudsters. The Trump
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: administration's argument is that fraud isn't a victimless crime. When
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: someone steals from Medicaid, Medicare, pandemic funds, nutrition programs, unemployment system,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: taxpayers ultimately are footing the bill. And that's why McDonald
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: said the division is treating every fraud case as a
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: direct attack on the American people. The federal agency overseeing
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: more than one hundred and twenty six billion dollars in
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: federal contracts is joining. Now we are learning Vice President
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: JD Vance's Anti Fraud Task Force, expanding the White House's
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: crackdown into the federal government's contracting system. The General Services
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Administration calls itself the engine of government and serves as
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: the federal government's central contracting and real estate agency. Now
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: this is really big because they oversee the buildings, the
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: services and the goods agencies rely on to operate, and
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: by joining the task force, the GSA gives one of
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the Trump administration's highest profile accountability efforts access to its procurement,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: its acquisition expertise, and cross agency reach. As the White
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: House now seeks to root out even more fraud in
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: the Public Programs Department. The GSA sits at the center
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: of the federal acquisition and contracting ecosystem, making us a
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: critical force in the fight against fraud, is what the
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: GSA administrator Forced said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Now,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: this also comes as we're learning just how much fraud
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: is actually out there. Six point three billion in potential
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: fraud was uncovered recently. As Fox News explained it.
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: Team has identified nearly six point three billion dollars and
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: suspected fraudulent government contracts. Now, nearly four hundred businesses are
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: on the clock today to prove those contracts are legitimate.
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: They have thirty days to do it or they lose
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: their funding. And we are learning more about the shocking
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: ways alleged fraudsters are spending your money. Now, this is
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: from the California Post in San Diego. One woman is
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: charged with stealing money. You're marked to fight fentonel overdoses,
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: but prosecutors say some of that thirty thousand dollars went
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: to her cosmetic procedures, breast implants, tweaks to her arms
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: and thighs, and a Tommy tuck. That's your money. She
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: also bought flights to Hawaii and Disneyland and got a
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: couple of purebred dogs. Now in Los Angeles, a man
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: allegedly used stolen funds to pay for a seven million
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: dollar home, a one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: range rover, private school tuition, a private jet, luxury resorts stays,
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: and a vacation property in Greece. Now elsewhere in southern California,
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: a man accused of using funds set aside to fight
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: homelessness used them on his extravagant parties. A forty six
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: thousand dollars a month Beverly Hills mansion, twenty VIP passes
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: to Coachella, and high end jewelry and handbags costing up
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: to one hundred and sixty three thousand dollars. But instead
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: of recovering what the state lost to fraud, Los Angeles
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: Mayor Karen bass is asking for an additional six three
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: hundred and sixty million dollars to prevent homelessness. Isn't that nice?
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: And finally, a former top age to Gavin Newsom is
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: accused of making bogus business expenses topping a million dollars
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: and using that cash to go on a spending spree
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: which included a fifteen thousand dollars Chanel handbag and a
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: one hundred and fifty six thousand dollars birthday blowout in Mexico.
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: Must be nice, and plenty of fraudsters are sending their
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: money overseas. On Monday, at California, resident confessed to funneling
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: more than five million dollars in contracts to China. In Nigeria,
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: and last week's CMS administrator, doctor Oz told me that
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: the Cuban government might have their hands in the cookie jar.
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: We have rampin fraud here and we believe the Cuban
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: government might be involved in this effort. I was in Flushing, Queens,
• 10:54
  Speaker 6: New York, where we Chinese are involved in a program
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: that is defrauding that state with these adult social daycare centers,
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: which are basically congregation centers for fraud. Again, the state's
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: looking the other way now.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: It's my good friend Kaylee Mcininni explained, so well there,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: the waste fraud abuse is just completely out of control,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: and that's why the GSA, bringing their advanced analytical capabilities
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: and their investigative support and their cross government coordination will
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: now expose what they describe as the high risk fraud patterns,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: and then they say, stop the bad actors from exploiting
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: our taxpayer funded system. Now, the White House Task Force
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: is very clear on what their objective is. President Donald
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Trump said through the executive order that his job was
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: simple to give the tools needed to reduce fraud, waste,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: and abuse in our federal programs. It's chaired, as you know,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: by the Vice President, and that task force is now
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: improving eligibility verification, strengthening payment controls, and sharing data across agencies,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: as well as helping law and enforcement disrupt the fraud
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: schemes altogether. Now there's also something else that's interesting here.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: The GSA has actually historically had some major problems with
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: improper payments going out. In February, for instance, the agency's
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Office of Inspector General released the report finding that federal
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: customer agencies relying on GSA pricing on scheduled contracts, they say,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: are at risk of major overpayment due to failure from
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: government contracting officers or inaccurate information submitted by contractors as well. Now,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the White House Fraud Task Force that was established just
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: in March has already racked up a few big wins
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: in the week since. Law enforcement working in conjunction with
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: the task Force has already arrested eight people in California
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: on suspicions of defrauding public health care services out of
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: more than fifty million dollars. The task Force also is
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: withheld one point for billion and federal funding from home
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: health care and hospice providers suspected defrauding the government. The
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: GSA's participation reinforces now a whole of government strategy that's
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: focused on restoring accountability, strengthening operational integrity, and ensuring federal
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: programs deliver results for the American people. The press release continues.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: They said.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: By combating the task force Investigative mission with the GSA's
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: government wide infrastructure and procurement expertise, the administration is accelerating
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: efforts to increase the transparency, improve efficiency, and reinforce public
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: trust in the federal operations. Now this all comes as
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: President Trump said this about government waste.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: Under the leadership of Vice President JD. Van's very proud
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: of this. The White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: is waging war on waste, fraud, theft, and abuse. But
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: he's ever seen before. He looks like Elliott Nets Do
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: you ever see Elliott?
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: I'm telling you. The guys are rubbing their roars. Yes,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: he's standing there a lot of a group of people. No,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: it looks like a movie. I'm going to make a
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: movie out of it, I think.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: And they're finding billions and billions and billions of dollars.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: And I just said, that's good. He said, you haven't
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: seen anything yet.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Just said that.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: And you know, if he does really great, we'll have
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: a balanced budget without having to do anything.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: This is the kind of money they sold.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: Their crooks, their thieves, and I hope that Todd is
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: going to do a real job. These are crooked people,
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: These are thieves. This isn't like a mistake just talking
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: about one person. He got hundreds of thousands, millions of
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: dollars for securing one man, for taking care of one
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: elderly man.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: He was a service.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: He got paid millions of dollars for taking care of
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: one man.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Total crook. They're all crooks. The Somalians.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: What they've done to minut So that the Somonian the
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: crooked as hell, elon Omar crooked as hell.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: They're old crooks, and we got them. We got them.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Now we're putting the clamps on.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: But boy, that's an impressive group of guys that get
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: behind you.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: I was watching that and a couple.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: Of very strong women too, So I was watching that
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: last night.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: I said, I'm proud of you guys.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: In two months, we've exposed tens of billions of dollars
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: of defraud a tax payer money, prosecuted numerous fraudss Todd,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: and stopped billions of suspicious payments.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Very suspicious. Oh you haven't seen anything yet.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: Well, you see, I'm getting reports from Todd, from JD.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: I've never seen anything like it, the kind of just
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: hundreds of billions of dollars was stolen, and no other.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Administration would do what we're doing. Just let it go.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: Everybody was getting rich. And I think we have a
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: chance to save social Security without doing anything to it.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: But just then is a fraudulent people and Social Security
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: people that are one hundred and fifteen years old, one
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: hundred and twenty five years old getting payments.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: It's funny, I.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: Said, Oh Doe, those payments can turn back. No, they
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: accept somebody's got in the pavement. It's not a person
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: that's one hundred and twenty five years old. But that's
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: the least of it. The numbers that we're finding out.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: We have great people in social Security. We're going to
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: make our social security so strong, so good that you
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: never say anything like it.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: We're going to protect I said right.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: From the beginning, We're going to protect our.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: People in social Security.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: If the Democrats ever got in, you wouldn't have said
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: social Security would be bankrupt.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: People wouldn't be getting anything.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: Last week, they took down two of the largest medicaid
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: fraudcases in Minnesota history, as well as the largest autism
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: roadcase ever charged by the federal government. You saw that
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: with minions of dollars just being stolen. Everybody had autism.
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: Everybody had autism. They said it.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Was incredible. Actually, So there you have it.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: It's pretty clear the President United States of America, Donald
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Trump saying we're gonna keep coming. We're going after the
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: fraud or waging a war on the waste and the
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: abuse like no one's ever seen before that coming from
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: the White House. We're gonna start with a very interesting
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: story federal agents arresting a Newport Beach, California businessman. It
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: was happening all during a pre dawn raid at his
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: not home but mansion on Wednesday, and they charged him
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: with legally supplying US origin computer hardware directly to Tehran
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: and what was it being used for in military and
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: nuclear operations that according to federal prosecutors. Jamsiet Gomy is
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: a sixty three year old and a dual citizen of
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Iran and the United States. He was taken into custody
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: during the FBI raid. The New York Post has also
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: reported now he's been charged with conspiracy to violate the
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: International Emergency Economy Powers Act and is expected to make
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: his initial appearance Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Santa Ana, California.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Prosecutors are alleging that the man not only sold computer
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: hardware to the Iranian government through a year long scheme
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: designed to evade US sanctions, earning millions of dollars in
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: the process. Gummy is accused of aiding are declared enemies
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: by selling US origin computer networking parts to Iran and
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: earning millions of dollars in violation of US sanctioned laws.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: That's what the US attorney said in his statement. We
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: will hold him accountable by seeking an appropriate prison sentence
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and by seizing his assets, including his thirty five million
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: dollar Newport Beach mansion. Now, dozens of federal agents and
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: tactical gear gathered before dawn at a nearby parking lot
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: before traveling in a convoy to the residents. Located within
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: an exclusive gated community. Agents surrounded the property and called
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: for Gomy to come outside. What's going on? When occupant
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: of the home asked, as agents escorted Gomy's wife and
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: two adult sons outside as well. Investigators carrying power tools
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and evidence boxes entered the residents, while an interpreter arrived
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: to interview Gomy. After the interview, Gomy emerged from the
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: home and was taken into custody. Now, in addition to
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: the sanctions related charges, authorities said they are investigating Gomy
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: for possible money laundering, tax evasion, and other offenses. According
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: to prosecutors, Gom generated more than ten million annually through
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: his computer business, while reporting no more than twenty thousand
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: in income to the Internal Revenue Service. Federal investigators alleged
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: that for more than a decade, Gomy used a Tehran
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: based computer networking company he found it to obtain US
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: networking equipment for customers in Iran and violation of the
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: US sanctions. Authorities say Gomi arranged shipments of more than
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty tons of controlled US technology and
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: used his personal eBay and PayPal accounts to make hundreds
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: of additional purchases of computer networking equipment that was ultimately
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: shipped directly to Iran. Prosecutors also say negotiated purchases directly
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: with suppliers in Minnesota and Nebraska, routing equipment at a
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: front company in the UAE before it was sent on
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: to Iran. Authorities also led to use freight forwarders and
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: intermediaries in Dubai to conceal Iran as the final destination,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: knowing that he was breaking the law. According to the prosecutors,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Gomi and his co conspirators referred to Iran as the
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: motherland in internal communications related to the procurement of the equipment.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: The technology allegedly supplied by Gomi was distributed to hundreds
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: of Iranian companies and government entities, many of which were
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: already subject to US sanctions. Prosecutor said a portion of
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: the equipment was supplied to organized connected individuals and Iran's
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: nuclear and military programs as well, and that may be
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the most shocking part of all. Gomi's most prominent asset
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: was a more than fourteen thousand square foot mansion. It
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: was situated on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: property featured iron gates, multiple chandeliers, and dual fountains at
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the entrance to impress well anyone that decided to come visit,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: The prosecutor said. The arrests demonstrated the federal government's commitment
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: to enforcing sanctions as the United States continues military operations
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: against Iran, and there is a question that you should
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: be asking, how did this guy get away with this
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: for so long? What'll be clear, the prior administration, the
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Biden administration, they didn't lift the sanctions on Iran. They
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: just deliberately chose not to enforce the sanctions, allowing people
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: like Gomi to do exactly what he was doing. They
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: literally looked the other way, hoping that appeasement with Iran
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: would work. That meant saying, oh, no, no, no, we
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: have sanctions on Iran, but do they matter if you're
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: not enforcing them. We now know quote that our nation's
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: laws prohibit doing business with one of the world's largest
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: state sponsors of terrorism, and it must be enforced and obeyed. Again,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: another example of the Trump administration actually abiding by the
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: laws while the radical left does everything they can to
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: help these individuals continue to do business in the United
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: States of America. It truly is amazing that this individual
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: was not caught sooner. If it wasn't for the Trump administration,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: he'd probably still be doing business right now. Another big
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: story that I think is really important that we also
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: highlight right now is one that is connected very much
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: to the story I mentioned about the individual from Iran,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: and that is Democrats now are seeking to undo Donald
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Trump's tough new policy on green card holders. Democrats on
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Capitol Hill say they're going to move to overturn the
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: president's immigration policy changes now Trump's second term. He said,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have a new rule that could require
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: many Green card applicants already living legally in the United
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: States to leave the country and complete their applications from abroad.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: That according to report by The Hill, and multiple national
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: outlets have also confirmed the details. Now the Democrats are
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: losing their minds, saying the policy could affect hundreds of
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: thousands of immigrants currently working, studying, and raising families in
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: the United States of America now. For decades, many legal
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: immigrants have been able to apply for permanent residency through
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: a process known as adjustment of status, allowing them to
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: remain in the US while their green card applications were reviewed.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: But the Trump administration said this has become a massive loophole,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: and the new guidance dramatically changes that process. Under the policy,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: the applicants could now be required to return to their
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: home countries and complete the process through a US consulate
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: unless they can demonstrate what the administration calls extraordinary circumstances.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: The administration argues this isn't a new law, but rather
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: return to the original intent of immigration status. Homeland Security
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: officials say the temporary visas were never intended to become
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: an automatic pathway to permanent residency, and that the new
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: rules will make the immigration system more orderly and also efficient.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: The administration is also indicated that expectations may be available
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: for individuals who provide a significant economic benefit or serve
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the national interests. Well, Democrats, you know what they're going
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: to do, stand up for those that aren't American citizens
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: before they stand up for American citizens every single time
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: they can do it, and that's exactly what they're doing now.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: They're calling this move by the Trump administration disruptive and
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: harmful and hurtful, and they argue it could separate families,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: disrupt careers, create uncertainty for employers, and force legal immigrants,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: and to link the overseas processing backlogs that can stretch
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: from months or even years again making sure they put
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: those from outside of America ahead of you. Now, immigration
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: advocates are also warning that this will be a disaster,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: but again, look at the open border process and what
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: we've actually had in this country. Now, the debate now
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: centers on a larger question what should legal immigration look
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: like in America. Supporters of President Trump who voted for him,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: said it was very clear they wanted to shut down
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the borders, They wanted an orderly program, and they wanted
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: to get illegal immigrants out of this country. They wanted
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: to stop rewarding people who were coming into this country
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: illegally with government benefits as well. And the Trump policy
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: says the administration is simply enforcing the immigration laws that
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: are already on the books and closing these loopholes that
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: encourage temporary visitors to remain permanently. Now Democrats say no,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: we are going to go back to what we had
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: before that allowed for massive immigration into this country. Democrats
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: are now pushing this as a election your issue you
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: and they're also saying they're going to have legal challenges
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: to block the policy as well. Now the outcome could
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: determine literally how hundreds of thousands of future Green card
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: applicants navigate the path to permanent residency in the United
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: States of America. And once again the Democratic Party making
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: it clear we stand for legal immigrants and those from
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: outside the United States of America before we stand up
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: for Americans and what Americans want and or believe on
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the issue. And that's exactly why this is going to
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: be a major election year issue. We'll keep following this story.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: I can promise you that we've got a lot more
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: that's going to happen the days ahead. So make sure
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: you don't forget Grab our podcast, The Ben Ferguson Podcasts
• 26:43
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• 26:47
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• 26:49
  Speaker 1: breaking news.