Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Chaos in DC on Reconciliation & DOJ Judgment Fund plus Raul Castro Indicted

Transcript

Chaos in DC on Reconciliation & DOJ Judgment Fund plus Raul Castro Indicted · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: It is his Verdict with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: with you, and if you're listening on the radio, it's
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: really nice to have you with us. And as a
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: quick reminder, what you're listening to right now, we do
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: is a podcast three days a week, so make sure
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: you download for free wherever you get your podcasts Verdict
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: with Ted Cruz and you can listen all week long.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Center.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: We got a lot to talk about, including the fact
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: that we thought you were going to be in Washington
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: for a voter rama that could have turned into the
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: whole weekend that didn't happen.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: So what actually happened there?
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Well, you're exactly right. It is right now one forty
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: two am Friday morning, so late Thursday night, early Friday morning.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: I am in Texas. I just landed back at home.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: I'm sitting here at home in my studio. Here at home.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: By the way, studio is a euphemism, so Ben, you Ben,
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: you know you know this, but let's actually expose the fancy,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: like really exotic place we record this. I am in
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: the laundry room, like like the washing machine and dryer
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: are four feet behind me.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's not joking, everybody, This is the this
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: is I will validate, this is actually reality you were doing.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: You're doing the show in the in the laundry room.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Yet, so, by the way, I used to have this
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: thing set up in the game room. We have a
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: game room on the third floor and there's a pool
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: table and like a big screen TV and the kids
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: hang out there. And then my daughters threw me out
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: of the third floor. They're like, no, we don't want
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: all this this damn podcast equipment up here. Get it
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: out of here. And I get relegated to the laundry
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: the laundry room, and Ben, do you know what I do?
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: I did not do this tonight, but do you know
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: what I do at least two thirds of the time
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: before I record the podcast in the loner room.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: So so this goes back to my suspicion which I
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: was about to ask, And I feel like I know
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: the answer to this question now. I feel pretty confident
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: knowing that you have cats in your home, that there's
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: a litter box that is in the laundry room that
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: you then have to move to do this show?
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Am I right or wrong?
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: You are notionally right? Yes, there's a litter box. But
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: we have not one, we have not two, we have
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: not three cats. Now, now listen, I'm not a cat guy,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: but you know what I am.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: You and I agree on that, by the way, But
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: you know what I am.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: I'm a daughter. I'm a daughter guy, and I have
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: two daughters, and my eldest daughter, Caroline, loves her cats.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: So I have not one, not two, but three damn
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: cats of the house. And if we're up to me,
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: I have zero. But I adore my daughter and she
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: loves these cats, so I've got three cats. That that's
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: just that's just how it works, because I'm a girl.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: By the way, that's a lot of that's a lot
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: of litter in the litter box in the laundry room
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: where you're getting to do this.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Show, Kate. But you need to understand. So the laundry room,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: the litter box is there. They occasionally use it, but
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: two thirds of the time before I record the podcast,
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: I have to pick up piles of cat crap. Like
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: I go, I go to the bathroom, I get pieces
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: of toilet paper. I just pick up hunks because I'm
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: not gonna sit here and do the podcast with like
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: a a stinking pile of cat crap next to me,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: so I pick them up tonight. There's a good night.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: There's actually none, none tonight. This is actually it's been
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: a while that I haven't had to pick it up.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: But this is all.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: This is all of our plan, just to keep you
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: grounded and humble and just you know, you are a center.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: You're kind of a big deal. I'm just saying.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: People think this may be exotic and like like sexy.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: I'm in the laundry room happy not to have cat
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: crap next to me.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: That would be I feel like you're almost wishing you
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: were doing a voter rama in Washington, DC right now.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: I feel that I feel like that's where we're going
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: with this.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: So in many ways I do. It's one forty six am.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: We're going to break down number one, Why Congress, Why
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: the Senate is right now not passing funding for ice
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: and CBP.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: What happened.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna give you the inside story. I'm going to
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: take you inside. We had a two hour meeting with
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: the Acting Attorney General of the United States. We had
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: some fireworks in the Senate. I'm going to take you
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: inside that. And by the way, that's one of the
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: things this podcast does is tries to take you behind
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: the curtain, behind the scenes, to let you know what's
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: happening in Washington. We're also going to talk about the
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: amazing fact that I got to say, as a Cuban
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: American in my heart is going pitter pat that Raul
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Castro has been indicted, criminally indicted, and that we may
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: well see people showing up to arrest him. We're going
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: to break that down, and we're also going to talk
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: about the Democrats who are weeping. They don't like Communists
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: who are indicted.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be a great show. We also want
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: to talk to you about the incredible work that's being
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: done right now by the International Fellowship of Christians and
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Jews and how you can get involved to help so
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: many people in need right now. When we talk about Israel,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: we're not just talking about a place. We're talking about
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: a people connected to a promise, a promise made by God,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: one he has never broken and one that continues even today.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Because God's character doesn't change what he begins. He sustains
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: what he promises, he fulfills, and that matters today Right
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: now in Israel, families run to shelters as sirens sound.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Now this isn't just a crisis, it's a call to
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: respond for Christians. Caring for Jewish people isn't rooted in politics.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: It's rooted in trust and a God who keeps his word.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: So we don't stay distant. We step in with prayer
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: and practical help. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: is on the ground, bringing food, caring for the vulnerable,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: and reminding people they're not alone. This is what it
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: looks like to line your heart with gods, to pray,
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: to show up, and to care. So join us and
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: praying for peace of Jerusalem and for the people who
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: need it. Right now.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Visit pray IFCJ dot org. That's pray I f CJ
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: dot org.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: All right, So, Center, there was news this week that
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: it was going to be a voter rama, it was
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: going to be reconciliation, some really important issues were going
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: to be resolved going through the Senate. And then all
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: of a sudden, it was like, never mind, everyone's going home,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: So explain for everyone listening right now what happened.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: So, what we were supposed to be doing right now,
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: what I expected to be was on the floor of
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: the Senate at one, two, three, four, five in the morning,
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: in the midst of what's called voterama. Voterama is part
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: of reconciliation. Now, what is reconciliation. Reconciliation is the major
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: exc to the filibuster rule in the Senate, and it
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: is the way. It is the way last year we
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: passed the Working Families Tax guid It is a way
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: to get around the democrats obstruction. And right now we're
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: going to use reconciliation to fund ICE and CBP because
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: the Democrats have decided that they are radical at a
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: level we've never seen before. I think we're living in
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: a world where Democrats will never ever, ever again vote
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: to fund ICE or border enforcement.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: That is radical, that is ridiculous, that is extreme, and
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: yet it's where I think Democrats are. So we were
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: getting ready to vote on reconciliation to fund border security
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: for the next three years for all of President Trump's presidency.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: That all blew up today and instead of doing that,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: we had a long, long meeting. I'm gonna take you inside.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: So the meeting started at lunchtime and Todd blanche Is,
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: the acting Attorney General, showed up to explain what the
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: administration is doing with the so called weaponization or Judgment Fund.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: There were fireworks at an epic level, and I got
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: to say it's one of the roughest meetings I've seen
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: in my entire time in the Senate. There were a
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: lot of Republican senators who were just pissed and their
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: two dynamics going on. Number one, just electorally, there are
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: several Republican senators who are just really really unhappy. Bill Cassidy,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Republican from Louisiana. President Trump endorsed against him. He just
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: had his primary. He had two candidates, let Low and
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Fleming running against him. Cassidy came in third, so he
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: did not make the runoff. So it is one hundred
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: percent that next year Bill Cassidy will not be a
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: senator in the United States Senate. Now this is not
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: subtle or rocket science. Bill Cassidy's pissed. He is angry.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: He's angry at the president. There are consequences when you
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: endorse and defeat a sitting Republican president. A second Republican
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: senator who's unhappy is Tom Tillis. Tom Tillis Republican from
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: North Carolina. President Trump has been extremely critical of Tillis.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: He pledged to defeat Tillis in his election, and so
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: Tillis dropped out. He's not running for reelection. He's going
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: to be gone instead. Michael Wattley's a good guy, is
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: running for his seat. But it's an open seat now.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: And Tillis did it because the President came out hard
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: against it. But that's a second Republican who's pretty damn chippy. Yeah,
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: a third Republican who was not there for this meeting,
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: but is my colleague John Cornyan. So John Cornyan, the
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: senior Senator from Texas. He is in the middle of
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: his primary right now in Texas. The primary is next Tuesday.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: We are right now, as we speak, in the middle
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: of early voting. So Texans are voting right now. And
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: this week President Trump endorsed Cornyan's primary opponent, Ken Paxton.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: Now that is going to have a massive effect on
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: the election. We talked about this in the last podcast,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: how President Trump's impact in each of these races had
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: a really bigger impact. But and I will say Cordon
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: was not there, but I think it's fair to expect
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: and I say this without John having expressed this, but
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: it's fair to expect John's going to be less than thrilled,
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: and then finally ran Paul. So we had a Kentucky
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: primary with Thomas Massey. Thomas Massey is a House member.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: Thomas Massey is very very closely aligned with Rand Paul.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: Thomas Massey as a libertarian. He's a really smart guy,
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: mit graduate, but he is someone who number one, has
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: been passionately anti Israel and in a way that I
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: think has been pretty extreme. But secondly, Thomas Massey has
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: voted against Donald Trump over and over and over again.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: The biggest legislative accomplishment we've had in the second term,
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: which is the one big beautiful Bill also called the
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: Working Family's Tax Cut, Massy voted no, and Massey has
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: voted no over and over and over again. I like Thomas.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: He's a really smart guy. He's an interesting guy. He's
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: believes in what he's saying. But President Trump is understandably
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: pissed because Massey votes no and votes against President Trump
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: over and over and over again. And so President Trump
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: leaned in in a big way against Thomas Massey and
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: beat him in a primer. Well, look, that will have
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: its own repercussions in the House. Although Actually, it doesn't
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: make things much harder in the House because Massey was
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: already voting no on almost everything Trump did, so presumably
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: Massey will still vote no on almost everything Trump does.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: So that doesn't change the House a whole lot. But
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: in the Senate, I'll tell you Rand Paul, who was
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: very very close with Massey, was campaigning with Massy. Rand
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: was pissed. Now here's the problem. I walk through four
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: people there, Bill Cassidy, Tom Tillis, John Cornyn, Rand Paul.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: Those are four senators. We have a fifty three forty
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: seven majority. If you lose four senators, you're below fifty
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: and you can't get anything done. That is going to
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: be a complicating factor for the rest of the year.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: Like those four senators, I don't envision suddenly anything becoming
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: hunky dory and they're being happy like that dynam for
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty six. The rest of the year, we're going
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: to have interesting challenges. And so today at eleven we
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: had Todd Blanche. Todd Blanche is the acting Attorney General.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: He came to address us and Todd Blanche was trying
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: to discuss the Judgment Fund, the Fund for weaponization. So
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: the administration announced this week a fund that has been
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: created that is one billion, seven hundred and seventy six
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: million dollars that is there to provide restitutions, there to
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: provide remedies for people who were victims of the political
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: weaponization of the Biden administration. Now, listen, you and I
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: have talked a lot about weaponization and about accountability. I
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: am very very glad President Trump and the Trump administration
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: are moving to hold people accountable, are moving to provide
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: relief to people who are victimized by weaponization. That being said,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: I got to tell you, Ben, it fiery does not
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: begin to cut it. The senators, I mentioned, they were pissed,
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: but almost every every Republican senator was there. So my
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: guess is they're probably forty five senators in the room.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: At least half of them were blasting the Attorney General
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: and they were pissed. Basically, the message they said is,
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: you know what, we were going to pass reconciliation this week.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: We were going to fund all of ICE, all of CBP,
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: all of border control, and then you announced this judgment fund.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: And right now, here's the challenge. If John Thune had
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: put reconciliation on the floor tonight. The Democrats would have
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: put a bunch of amendments on the floor to unwind
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: the judgment fund, and we would have lost every vote.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: And we wouldn't have lost it close. It wouldn't have
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: been fifty one to forty nine. I got to tell you.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: The Republican Senators were pissed. People were the entire meeting.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: They were screaming at the Acting Attorney General and he
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: was trying to lay out the legal basis. And by
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: the way, the legal basis is quite sound. Listen. Under
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: Joe Biden, the Department of Justice, the FBI, the entire
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: federal government was weaponized against American citizens. They used DOJ
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: and the FBI as their storm troopers to go after
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: their political enemies. And so you and I have been
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: talking about for a long time. There needs to be accountability.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: There needs to be accountability in terms of the people
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: that did that, but there also needs to be accountability
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: in terms of a remedy for the people who are targeted.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: This week, the Department of Justice announced this judgment fund.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: The judgment fund would be one for one point seven
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: billion dollars. I understand what they're trying to do. They're
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: trying to provide real relief to people who were targeted
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: by political weaponization by the Biden, US Justice Department and FBI.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Here's the problem. Number one, there were multiple senators who
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: were yelling at the Attorney General. And it was not calm.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: It was yelling, and they were saying, this feels like
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: self dealing. So President Trump sued the United States government.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: This judgment fund came out of a settlement as a
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: result of the lawsuit between Donald Trump and the US government,
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: And there were multiple senators yelling at the Attorney General saying,
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: this feels like self dealing. This feels like Trump cut
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: a cut a deal with himself. Now, let me give
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: you the Attorney general's response. And by the way, Ben,
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: you were going on CNN because you like hanging out
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: with communists.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: I like, I like beating the communists. I like I
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: like smoking the communists.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Be clear about them. Look, somebody's got to fight the communs.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so you called me tonight and you're like, all right,
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: I'm going on CNN. What do I say about this?
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: And and and.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Actually, if we're being totally honest, let's be clear. I
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: called you and I said I need your help. I
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: need your advice? How do I talk about this?
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: And what am I? Because I knew it was gonna
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: be five against one on this issue, right, Okay?
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: And Ben, you and I have been doing this for years.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: I can't remember another time you've asked my help. It
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: was actually pretty stunning. I'm like, wow, this issue is bumpy.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: If Ben's like, what the hell?
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Do I say? No, I'm yeah, I might call you know,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: it's like who wants to be a millionaire? It's like
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: call a lifeline?
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: Like no, No, you were like you were like, Okay,
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna go be surrounded by liberals attacking me. What
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: do I say?
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: Here was Todd Blanche's talking point number one, which most
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: people don't know. Apparently, according to the agreements of this announcement,
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: President Trump and his family are not eligible to receive
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: funds from this fund. That's a good thing, like in
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: terms of the question of did they cut a deal
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: that was self dealing and benefiting themselves. If they're not
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: eligible to receive funds from this fund, that helps? That
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: makes it better.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: Secondly, what they said, so there were a lot of
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: questions about January sixth, and listen, January sixth a lot
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: of things happened, and most of the senators we were
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: in the Capitol on January sixth, we saw a violent
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: rioters storm the capitol. We were evacuated. We evacuated the
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: Senate floor because there were violent rioters who, to be clear,
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: were chanting hang Mike Pence who were coming in and
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: there was a real air of violence that was occurring,
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: and a lot of senators were unhappy, saying, wait, are
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: people who committed acts of violence? Are people who assaulted
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: police officers, who beat up police officers on January sixth?
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: Are they about to get a check from taxpayer funds? Now?
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: Todd Blanche was adamant, and he said not just no,
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: but hell no. And he said this was not just
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: a one senator. This was to three or five or ten.
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: I mean it was over and over again. He said, no, no, no,
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: nobody who committed an act of violence, nobody who assaulted
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: law enforcement is going to be eligible to receive a payment.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: He said, listen, this judgment fund is here for people,
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: for parents who were targeted as school boards, for people
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: who were targeted, for Catholics going to their parish who
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: were targeted by the FBI. This is this fund is
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: here for American citizens that were targeted by the weaponization
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: of the Biden administration. Everything they said, I'm like, hooray, hooray, hooray.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: But I got to tell you, people were really worked up,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: and they said, listen the terms of this Judgment fund.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: Acting Attorney General Blancher telling us people who have committed
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: active acts of violence are not eligible. But the announcement
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: doesn't say that. And so that was the real divide,
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: And here was the problem. We had planned to put
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: reconciliation on the floor tonight. So my plan was it
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: is now two six am Texas time, three six am
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: DC time, I'd expect it to be on the floor
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: of the Senate right now doing reconciliation, voting on the
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: Democrat amendments, and then funding border security. But here's the problem.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: The Democrats were going to introduce a bunch of amendments,
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: all focused on the Judgment Fund, and we were going
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: to lose those amendment votes because of the forty plus
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: Republicans in the room, I'd say half of them were
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: ready to vote with the Democrats on this. And so
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: it was angry. It was hot. People were pissed, and
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: they were going to be amendments like the judgment Fund
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: cannot be used to pay people who are guilty of
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: raping women. Now I got to say, look, I'm pretty
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: durned conservative. I don't want to pay taxpayer dollars to
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: people who are rapists. Like there were amendments that were
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: coming up that were going to be bumpy in. By
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: the way, I agree with the idea of this judgment fund.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: I'm a big supporter of it. But the degree of
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: the jail break of Republicans who were bolting, who were saying,
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: we're going to vote with the Democrats and basically kill
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: reconciliation because of this judgment fund. I think if the
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: judgment Fund had not been announced this week, we would
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: be right now on the Senate floor. We'd be funding
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: border security. If they announced the judgment Fund next week,
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: it would have been a political issue, but it wouldn't
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: have been the same contest. What ended up happening is
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: Republican leadership said, look, we don't have the votes and
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: that ain't changing in the next twelve hours, and so
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: they just punted. They said, you know what, we're going
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: to vote in a week. We're all on a one
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: week recess. So the next week, I'm gonna be traveling
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: around Texas. We're all going to be in our home states,
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: and then we'll be back on June first. We're gonna
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: vote on border security.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Then.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: Now, the good news is the funding for border security
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: is there, so it will not limit border security. But
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: I gotta say this meeting, I felt bad.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: I like Todd.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: He's a good guy. He was the Deputy Attorney General,
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: he's now the acting ag. He was giving legal answers
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: to the questions that were being raised, saying, look, this
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: is a judgment fund, this follows precedent of other judgment funds,
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: this is settling litigation. He was getting very legal answers.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: The anger and frustration from Republican senators was not legal.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: It was political. It was you're putting us in a
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: position that for many of the Republican senators they were
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: not willing to defend. Here's what's going to happen, Ben,
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: There's gonna be some change to this judgment fund. I
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: don't know what it's gonna be, but it will be
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: something that the White House and the Department of Justice
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: agrees on. They're going to announce it because if nothing changes,
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: we don't have the votes to secure our border, and
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: it is unacceptable, it is untenable. It is impossible to
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: imagine that we will not fund border security. Look, I'm
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: a yes, I'm a yes regardless, So I ain't the
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: problem in the votes here. But I'll tell you in
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: the room of forty five Republicans, there were twenty no's
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: right now, and so that's that is a problem. The solution.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: What is going to happen? And I told you this
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: when you're going to CNN, I said, I don't know
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: exactly what will happen, but we will see the administration
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: announcing at a minimum a modification of this, because if
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: they don't, they've got a full on revolt in the Senate.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be very interesting to see with this
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: next week undfolds, and we're going to keep you up
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: to date on it. I can promise you that, and
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: take you behind the scenes. You can't get this anywhere else.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: This is why I love doing the show because you
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: get to hear.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: By the way, Ben, it is there another show that
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: takes you inside the closed door meeting at the Senate
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: that happened today, I don't.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: Know, and brings you that show from the laundry room.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: Let's be clear, like this is all access, Senator, all
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: access here.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: And I got to say on this Ben, look, normally
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: in these fights, I stand up and I'm fighting for
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: the President, I'm fighting for the White House. I'm fighting
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: for us to do the right thing. This was a
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: meeting where frankly, there was no point. There were so
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: many people who were pissed that it was clear you
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: just had to give it a little while to let
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: it play out, Like when you have cathartic anger, you
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: need to let it spill out. And part of it is,
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: as I mentioned, there are a number of Republicans who
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: are really angry at the President because he's endorsed against them.
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: That's going to be a challenge for the rest of
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: the year. And so we will get this done. We
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: will secure the border, and we're also going to deal
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: with the abuse of power, but it's going to take
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: a little bit of time.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: I want to take a quick moment and talk to
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: you about an incredible organization and it is called Compassion International,
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: and how you can get involved. Love, generosity, and compassion.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: We say those words all the time, and they sound good,
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: they feel good, but here's the truth. Those words don't
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: mean anything unless they turn into action, and right now,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: not later, today, not tomorrow. There's a child in the
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: world who doesn't know if they'll eat, if they'll have
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: a chance to learn, or if there's any hope at all.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: And while we're all busy, life keeps moving forward, but
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: that child is waiting. This is where you come in
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: with Compassion International. You have the chance to change a
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: child's future, not just with words, not with promises, but
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: with real help that provides food and hope through local
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: churches and people already in their community. Put your words
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: into action and join me introduce a child to a loving,
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: heavenly father today at Compassion dot com. That's Compassion dot Com.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: I want to move on to what we talked about
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: in the last show has now become a reality, and
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: that is Raoul Castro has been indicted. This is bringing
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: lots of celebration to the Cuban community down in Florida,
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: a lot of excitement also in Cuba because of this,
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: and we've seen some of those videos have been able
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: to get out of the country with limited access to
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: the internet there. But this is a very big moment
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: for justice and Now, there couldn't be more of a
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: stark difference between having a former president Barack Obama that
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: would sit down with this man who's now been accused
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: of murder by the United States America and guided for that.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: He said, down with him in a baseball game, hung
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: out with him. And now Donald Trump's like, no, no, no,
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: we don't do that with bad guys. We don't negotiate
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: with him. We indict them.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: Well, forget the Cuban community in Florida. This Cuban American
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: in Houston, Texas, in my laundry room, thankfully not surrounded
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: by catcraft right now, is celebrating because Raoul Castro has
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: been indicted. Let me read from Fox News. Former Cuban
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: president Raoul Castro has been indicted in connection to his
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: alleged role in the nineteen ninety six downing of two
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: planes operated by the Miami based exile group Brothers to
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: the Rescue. The indictment, which of Florida Grand Juria returned
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: in April, was concealed Wednesday. Acting US Attorney General Todd
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: Blanche said during an announcement in Miami on Wednesday. It
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: charges Castro with conspiracy to kill US nationals. Destruction of
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: aircraft and four separate counts of murder. The indictment stems
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: from February nineteen ninety six indictment in which four Americans,
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandra Junior, Mario de la Pagna, and
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: Pablo Morales, we're flying in civilian aircraft when Cuban military
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: aircraft shot their planes down in international waters and killed them.
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: The indictmental ledges, according to Blanche quote, they were unarmed
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: civilians and were flying humanitarian missions for the rescue and
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: protection of people fleeing oppression across the Florida Straits. Blanche said,
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: quote as alleged in the indictment, Raoul Castro and five
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: co defendants participated in a conspiracy that ended with Cuban
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: military aircraft firing missiles at those planes and killing four Americans.
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: He continued, nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: target Americans, killed them and not face accountability. Blanche also said.
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: Joining Blanche announcing the indictment were United States Attorney for
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: the Other District of Florida, Jason A. Reading Gigs, Deputy
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: FBI Director Christopher Area, and Florida Attorney General James U.
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: Timer Look Raul Castro, he's in his mid nineties. He
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: is a murdering, torturous communist bastard. Look, if there's one thing,
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: and let me say to the folks that listen to Verdict,
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: you guys know me, if there's one thing about me,
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: I genuinely and deeply and passionately loathe communists. Communism is
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: the most evil ideology humanity has ever created. Communism has
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: produced more murder, more torture, more imprisonment, more poverty, more
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: misery than any ideology in the history of our planet.
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: Fidel Castro was a an evil monster. When Fidel Castro died,
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: I gave a floor speech saying how happy I was
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: that Fidel Castro had moved to warmer climates. I believe
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: Fidel Castro is burning in hell right now. His brother,
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: Raoul was vicious, was responsible for much of the oppression
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: in Cuba. He's no longer the president, He's now ninety four,
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: and I am incredibly glad. I am gratified that the
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: Trump Department of Justice has indicted him for murder. This
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: is an evil man and this may well set the predicate,
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: just like Nicholas Maduro for the United States going in
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: to execute this arrest warrant to arrest him. And I
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: get to say one of the striking.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: I had to ask you this real quick.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: Do you think there's a decent probability that is actually
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: what could happen here?
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: Fifty to fifty? Look, I think President Trump is going
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: to ask the military how likely are we to succeed?
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: It depends where Raul Castro is. Could you mount a
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: military campaign to go in and get him. I don't
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: know how secury he is. I have zero classified information
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: on this, so I'm not revealing anything, but I don't
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: think President Trump will order the operation if it is
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: unlikely to succeed. So if Castro makes a stupid decision
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: and goes somewhere where we could get him, I think
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: there's a real chance we go arrest him. If he
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: is hidden underground, either figuratively or literally, where we don't
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: know where he is, that becomes more complicated. So I
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: don't know the answer to that, but I think it's
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: a fifty to fifty proposition right now. And I will
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: say the contrast, if you look at the alums from
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: the Obama administration, if you look at Ben Rhoades, who
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: was the deputy and nes Security adviser on Obama, he
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: is effectively weeping. You look at Jensaki. Jensaki had Ben
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: Roads on TV and they were lamenting how horrible it
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: was that Roe Castro had been indicted. To understand, when
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: Obama was president, he went and joined Raoul Castro at
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: a baseball game. They were paling around. They had their
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: arms around each other. And listen, Commis like other commis.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: Listen Barack Obama when he was president, at times he
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: pretended he was moderate, but I think is the years
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: have gone by, it has been cleared. Look, there is
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: a very real communist movement in the Democrat Party. They've
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: got people like Graham Platner, this crazy self described communist
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: running for Senate in May, the guy with the Nazi
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: toten Komf tattoo on his chest. He will tell you
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: as a communist aoc ilhan Omar. Those folks, they won't
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: quite tell you they're communists, but they're close. Al Sayid,
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: who's the radical leftist running for Senate in Michigan, is
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: also pretty damn close to a communist. And and listen,
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: I believe I think Obama is responsible for all of this.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: He has radicalized the Democrat Party.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: And so you.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: Look at the pictures and images of Obama embracing Raoul Castro.
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: Obama loved communists who were enemies of America. Obama started
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: his presidency. One of the very first things he did,
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: he went to the University of Cairo in Egypt and
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: he gave a speech and he said it ran has
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: a right and he used the word right to nuclear technology. Now,
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: now that's idiocy, that makes no sense. But all of
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: the Obama bros Are weeping right now because if you
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: gave them a choice, who do you like more Raoul Castro,
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: the communist, murdering, torturing, evil tyrant or Donald Trump? One
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: hundred percent of the Obama bros would pick Castro over Trump.
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: And so they're all freaking out. I gotta say, Karma
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: is a bitch.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: It really is. Don't forget. We do the show as
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: a podcast three days a week. Make sure you get
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Vertic with Tech Cruise wherever you get your podcasts. You
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: can download it for free, and you can also watch
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: us on YouTube as well. If you want to watch
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: the show, just go to Vertic with Tech Cruise on
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: YouTube and you can do that and we'll also see
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: you back here on this radio station next weekend as well.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Have a great week