Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Iran Invites Neighbors to War by Attacking Them, Noem Out-Mullin In & Elections are BIGGER in Texas Week In Review

Transcript

Iran Invites Neighbors to War by Attacking Them, Noem Out-Mullin In & Elections are BIGGER in Texas Week In Review · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome in his verdict with Ted Cruz, A week in Review.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Ben Ferguson with you, and these are the stories that
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: you may have missed that we talked about this week.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: First up, Iran doing everything wrong now attacking countries all
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: around them, So what does that mean for the region
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and the escalation of this war. Also, a big shake
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: up in the Department of Homeland Security. Is christinom is out?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Who's replacing her? We'll give you the background. And finally,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: it was election night in America, a big Prime Era
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday, and a lot of big things happening in Texas.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: We break it all down for you. It's the weekend
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Review and it starts right now. Well, let's go back
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: to the Middle East for a moment. One of the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: things that we talk about, you know, the Iotolin and
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: his team, they're homicidal and you could also even say
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: suicidal and their obsession with killing you know, innocent people
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: in their own country, going after Americans, going after Israelis
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: as well. But one of the things that I was
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: even a little bit shocked by was how quickly they
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: decided to bring in every other country on the side
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: of Israel in the US by attacking these other Middle
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Eastern nations around them that weren't involved, right, they were,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: they were outside. I were you as shocked as I
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: was that they just decided, all right, like whoever's still
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: left standing, let's just go after Bahrain, let's go at
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: your guitar, let's go after I mean the list is
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: pretty long now. If countries they've attacked, and now they
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: brought them into the fold, I mean that to me
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: just seems like a suicidal mission on their port.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I will admit I was surprised by that. There's
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: been a lot of public reporting that suggested that other
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Middle Eastern nations were discouraging President Trump from going after Iran.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I'm a little bit skeptical of that. I have not
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: recently had those conversations with other Middle Eastern nations, but
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I've had many conversations with the Saudi's UAE Bahrain, and
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: they have always been very focused on number one, doing
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: everything necessary to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: The Saudi's have said publicly if Iran ever got a
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: nuclear weapon, that they would do everything possible to get
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: a nuke themselves to defend themselves from Iran. Uh and
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: so I don't know if it's true or not that
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: in the recent weeks Saudi Arabia and and other Middle
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Eastern countries were urging Trump not to attack. But but
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: I do know that Iran's behavior so they fired, fired
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: miss missiles and sent drones and had attacks at almost
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: every single Arab country all throughout the Middle East. So
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: they've attacked Saudi Arabia, they've attacked UAE, they've attacked Kuwait,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: they've attacked Cutter, they've attacked Bahrain, UH, they've attacked Jordan, UH.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: And we've seen statements from many of those other UH
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Middle Eastern countries, mostly Arab countries, expressing condemning UH, condemning
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Iran's response. And and you know, in my view that
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: they're just indiscriminately firing UH, firing abroad. And I think
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: their reasoning was that if the United States and or
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Israel hit them, that they wanted to make it as
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: painful as possible for the entirety of the region. What
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: they have ensured is is that there's basically nobody standing
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: up and siding with the Iranians. They're demonstrating essentially they're
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: willing to kill anybody and everybody. I got to say,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: that's also a really powerful illustration. If that's what they
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: do now.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what would they have done it with a nuclear weapon?
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Can you imagine how much worse if they had a
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: nuclear weapon. And during the whole go back to Obama
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: and the debates on Obama's terrible Iran nuclear deal, I
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: always said, most of the debate rotated around, well, if
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: they had a nuclear weapon, it would change the balance
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: of power, it would make them more aggressive, they would
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: fund more terrorism. And I always said, look, that's the
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: best case scenario. The best case scenario is a horrible situation.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: The worst case is that they would actually use the
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: nuclear weapon. And everyone operates under an assumption, well, having
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: a nuclear weapon doesn't mean you use it. Listen when
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: the Iatola chance death to Israel and death to America.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I believe him when he calls Israel the little Satan
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: and America the great Satan. I believe him. And I
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: think the odds are unacceptably high. I don't know what
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: they were, but they were unacceptably high that the Iyatola,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: if he had a nuclear weapon, would detonate it, maybe
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: in Tel Aviv, or maybe in New York or Los Angeles,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: and I don't want to wake up and discover uh oh,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: the predictions were wrong because we have a mushroom cloud
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: and hundreds of thousands or even millions of Americans being
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: killed the reason. And by the way, I've got to
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: say a lot of the the news reporting is challenging.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Why would Trump do this attack? You heard Margaret Brennan
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: there say Trump campaigned on not getting in war. I
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: did after Face the Nation. I also did State of
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: the Union with Dana Bash, and Dana Bash asked a
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: question of me. She said, you know, President Trump campaigned
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: on no more wars. And I in my response, I said, well, Dana,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: you actually misquoted what the President said. What the President
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: said was no more forever wars.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, in Afghanistan, he said, totally. And troops on the ground,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: this completely different doctrine. You can tell Yeah.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: And I said, listen, We're not going to see troops
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: on the ground in Iran. We're not going to see
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: hundreds of thousands of Americans there for an extended period
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: of time. I don't think we'll see that at all.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: That is very different. And I said, look, there are
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: isolationists who want want America to withdraw from the world.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump has never been an isolationist, and he is
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: acting to protect America. This is America first. The reason
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: we are striking Iran right now is because the odds
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: are unacceptable high. Iran has already killed nearly a thousand
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Americans and they have every desire to kill more. As
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: I told the President driving in the beast, I said,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: if the Ayatola could kill the two of us right now,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: he would. The only thing that is preventing him is
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: that he's not able to because he is trying. And
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: so if we have an opportunity to take out this regime,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: and look, my hope is we see a new government
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: in Iran that wants to be friends with America. That
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: would make this country massively safer. Removing these cycle paths
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: from power and replacing them with anything resembling a normal
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: government would massively improve the safety of every American.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Two questions to wrap things up. Number one, I thought
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: it was really interesting to see the comparing contrast of
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the women standing up for themselves in Iran on the streets,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: risking their lives, while women in America were actually standing
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: up angry at America for going into Iran. We saw
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: that in New York City, for example. We saw it
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: in some other college campuses. The disconnect from reality from
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: some of these leftists is amazing. I want to get
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: your take on that real quick. And then also I
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: want to talk about the possible closing strait of our
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: moves and what that means in what America's role could
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: be in that as well.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so today, Comrade Mandami put out a statement that
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: I want to read to you. Today's military strikes on Iran,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: carried out by the United States and Israel, mark a
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: catastrophic escalation of an illegal war of aggression, bombing cities,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: killing civilians, opening a new theater of war. Americans do
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: not want this. They do not want another war in
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: pursuit of regime change. They want relief from the affordability crisis.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: They want peace. I am focused on making sure every
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: New Yorker is safe. I've been in contact with our
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Police Commissioner and emergency management officials. We are taking proactive steps,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: including increasing coordination across agencies and enhancing patrols of sense
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: of locations out of an abundance of conscience caution. Additionally,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I want to speak directly to Iranian New Yorkers. You
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: are part of the fabric of this city. You are
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: our neighbor's small business owner, students, artist, workers, and community leaders.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: You will be safe here. Look, this is Comrade Mondami
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: cheering for the Ayatola. Yeah, because they are both Jahadists,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: and they both want to see the great Satan of America.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: They want to see this country fundamentally change and to
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: become an Islamic caliphate. That was the Iatola's objective. That
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: what that, sadly I believe is Comrade Mandami's objective. And
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: I want to contrast that with the reaction of protesters Iranians,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: like his line to Iranians, you will be safe here.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: The the I know a great many Iranians. Ever, every
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Iranian I know hates the regime is cheering. And I
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: want you to watch, in particular, this scene that played
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: out on the ground in Austin, Texas. And and and
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: a CBS News reporter who was told, don't cover the
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: protests celebrating, uh, the Iotola being killed. Cover that up,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: And this brave reporter didn't do that. Give a listen,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: give a watch.
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: I want to.
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: Who I am.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: It's incredible there and again for people that can't see
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the video. You have this Austin CBS reporter. He was
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: handed the phone from his cameraman and he reads it
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: and he's like, what does that mean? And the cameraman responds,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: they don't want us to focus on this, and this
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: brave vocal reporter said, all right, well I am. And
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: now it's out there on the Internet of him having
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: this moment, and it's sad that you've got to be
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: this brave in America at a local affiliate to report
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: the news, which was the news that you had people
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: celebrating and waving American flags and Iranian flags and standing
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: out for the people in the innocent people in Iran,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: and they're like, no, no, we don't want you to focus
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: on that. At CBS.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, this is happening all over the country, all
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: over America. It's happening on the ground on the streets
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: of Iran. It's happening around the world, you know. Kamala
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Harris today put out a statement quote, Donald Trump is
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: dragging the United States into a war the American people
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: do not want. Let me be clear, I am opposed
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: to a regime change war in Iran, and our troops
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: are being put in harm's way for the sake of
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Trump's war of choice. Now, I will tell you I
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: responded to her on X and I said, your administration
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: gave over one hundred billion dollars to the Ayatola who
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: kept killing Americans. We know you're sad that your friend
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: isn't with us anymore. Look, the Democrat Party was all
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: in in support of the Ayatola. Now sometimes they pretended
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: they weren't. But when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris sent
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: over one hundred billion dollars flowed that money into the Ayatola,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: they funded his terror.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: The the Obama Iran nuclear deal was designed to inevitably
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: lead to a nuclear Iran to the Ayatola with nuclear weapons.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: And so this is I'll tell you and and and
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: folks that that deal with with conflict in the Middle East,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: and that that deal with foreign policy. UH frequently refer
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: to Iran as quote the head of the snake. Why
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: do they call it the head of the snake because
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: it's it is what is leading and directing and funding
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: the vast majority of the terrorism. You see Without Iran,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Hamas has no resources. Without Iran, Hesbeal and the Huthis
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: have no resources. And so what what President Trump is
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: doing here is is being a strong commander in chief
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: and making Americans safer.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Final question on this stir of the horror moves and
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: the reality of what's happening there, give us your your
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: thoughts and perspective on that and what you think can
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: happen moving forward.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: So we don't know that that there is reporting that
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: the Iranians may have mine the Straits of Hormus, So
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: we don't have an answer to that right now. Right now,
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: there's not shipping. There are not ships going through the
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Straits of Hormus until it is determined whether or not
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: they have mined it.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: To be clear, that's significant. People that just don't understand
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: how important it is a significant amount of oil world
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: to which probably goes through there.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so right now that is shut down. By the way,
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: right now, civilian air traffic is shut down throughout the
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Middle East. You can't get on an airline and fly
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: into and out of most of the cities in the
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Middle East because you've got missiles flying everywhere, and so
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: and so all of the countries have understandably shut their
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: airspace down.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: And so I am confident that we will have mind
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: sweepers go into the straits of horm moves that may
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: be happening now, I don't know, and examine and determine
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: if their mind's there. But at least right now you're
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: not seeing ships go through there because these guys are
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: just crazy enough to have put minds there, and so
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: no one wants to risk it until it's determined one
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: way or another whether it's safe.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: you can go back and listen to the full podcast
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: from earlier this week. Now onto story number two. There
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: was a shake up. You don't want to ever be
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: the first one to be a cabinet secretary to get
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: the boot, but it was pretty queer. Christyome got the
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: boot this week. One of your colleagues is going to
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: take over at Department of Home and Security, Mark Wayne Mowhen.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: I want to get your take on all of that.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Well, the President announced this week that he was removing
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Christy Nome from Secretary of DHS and replacing her with
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Mark Wayne Mullen. I have to say this was not
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: much of a surprise to anyone watching closely. Christy Nome
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. I was
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: part of that hearing. I questioned her on it. The
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: questioning was bumpy and and she got The Democrats, of course,
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: went after her hard, but a number of Republicans went
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: after her heart as well. And I have to say
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: one of those that that was the most effective was
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: was my my friend and colleague from Louisiana, John Kennedy.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: John has been on this podcast and he's someone who's
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: a good friend of mine. I want to play John
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Kennedy's cross examination of Christy Nome because because this was
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: this proved very consequential cross examination. Get a listen.
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: How do you square that concern for waste which I
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: share with the fact that you have spent two hundred
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: and twenty million dollars running television advertisements that feature you prominently, sir?
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: The President tasked me with getting the message out to
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: the country and to other countries where we were seeing
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: the invasion come from, with putting commercials out that told
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: them that if they were in this country illegally, that
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: they needed to leave or we would detain them and
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: remove them and they'd not get the chance to come
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: back to America the right way.
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: That has been extremely effective.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Ask you to run these advertisements? Is that right?
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: We had that conversation, Yes, before I was put in
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: this position and sworn in and confirmed and since then
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: as well.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: Okay, did.
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: You bid at those service contracts?
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: Yes, they did.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: They went out to a competitive bid, and career officials
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: at the department chose who would do those advertising commercials.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: And the people that you ended up picking.
• 15:57
  Speaker 6: Were people who had formerly done your political work back
• 16:01
  Speaker 6: in South Dakota.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Is that right?
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: No, that's not correct, sir, No, it's not, sir.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: The individuals who I believe, the careers who they chose
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: were two different media firms. There's been conversation about their subcontractors,
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: but we have no legal authority to look into subcontractors
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: on work like that.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 16:22
  Speaker 6: And you're saying that you're testifying that President Trump approved
• 16:28
  Speaker 6: this ahead of time, because I'm understanding.
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: We had conversations about making sure that we were telling people.
• 16:35
  Speaker 6: I'm asking you a short to interrupt, but the President
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: approved ahead of time you spending two hundred and twenty
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: million dollars running TV ads across the country in which
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: you are featured prominently. Sir.
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: We went through the legal processes. Did it correct?
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: Yes? He did? Yes, Okay.
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: And one thing.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: Senator I think would be helpful to know is how
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: effective that communications has been that will go overwhelmed active.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: In your name recognition.
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: I mean, I personally just I mean to me, it
• 17:13
  Speaker 6: puts the President in a terribly awkward spot. It and
• 17:19
  Speaker 6: I just I'm not saying you're not telling the truth.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: It's just hard for me to believe.
• 17:23
  Speaker 6: You know, on the president as I do that you said,
• 17:27
  Speaker 6: mister President, here's some ads I've cut and I'm going
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: to spend two hundred and twenty million dollars running them
• 17:35
  Speaker 6: that he would have agreed to.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: That.
• 17:37
  Speaker 6: I don't think russ vote at O and B would
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: have agreed to that. It's something that we have to defend.
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: I'm on the Appropriations Committee. I mean, my research shows
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: that you did not bid them out, that you in fact,
• 17:57
  Speaker 6: one of the people you picked, the Stratrategy Group. I'm sorry,
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: Save America Media was a company formed eleven days before
• 18:09
  Speaker 6: you picked them, and that the Strategy Group got most
• 18:12
  Speaker 6: of the money and the head of that is.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: Married to your former spokesperson.
• 18:19
  Speaker 6: I'm look, we all have friends who are qualified.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: I'm not quipping with that. I'm just it troubles me.
• 18:28
  Speaker 6: Quarter a fifth to a quarter of a billion dollars
• 18:32
  Speaker 6: of taxpayer money when when we're scratching for every penny
• 18:37
  Speaker 6: and we're fighting over recision packages. I just can't agree with,
• 18:43
  Speaker 6: Madam Secretary. Are you still running those ads?
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: Senator, I did not have anything to do with picking
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: those contractors. I had no politicals at the department, followed
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: the competitive bid process for you still everything.
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: I think the ads are due to end here in March.
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: I think within a week.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure the one that is running is focusing
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: on Angel families. Have you seen that it is the
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: one that's talking about this is our why, this is
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: why we work.
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: Every day, is for the Angel families and they're victims.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Center. It was it was not not a good showing
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: there for for her, and you know you're colleague there
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Senator Kennedy asking questions I think a lot of Americans
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: care about. The presidents also come out saying she did
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: not run this by him in the in the in
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: the amount of money being spent either. That that also
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: didn't work well for her either.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Well, and that's something that that that John Kennedy pointed
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: out he said in the aftermath. Uh he said that
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: President Trump was quote mad as a murder hornet, that
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Nome claimed he approved the two hundred million dollar ADS contract,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: uh and and endless. John is a good friend of mine.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: I talked to him today on the Senate floor, and
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: I just the number of nominees that his cross examinations
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: have taken out it is quite remarkable. And I think
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: it was John Kennedy's cross examination that that was pivotal
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: in the decision to shift from Christy.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: Look.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: I like CHRISTI personally. I had dinner with with with
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: her just a few weeks ago. And I do think
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: the results of the Apartment of Homeland Security in terms
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: of security in the border have been very effective. Uh
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: and and so that that is beneficial. I think John
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Kennedy's line of questioning here was fair and and and
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: it was it was incredibly effective. I also think, and
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: we've talked about this on the podcast before, that the
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: messaging from the administration, particularly following the shooting of two
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: different Americans in minneapolish that the messaging was wrong and
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: it did real damage that I think the messaging was
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: look anytime an American citizen is killed in a confrontation
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: with law enforcement. It's a tragedy, and we should see
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: our officials acknowledging it's a tragedy. We should see our
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: officials saying, listen, if there's an officer involved shooting, there's
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: going to be an investigation where you'd examined what ham
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: it happened and determine what exactly caused it. And instead,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: the rhetoric immediately.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: Leaped to.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Really aggressive rhetoric, calling both of the individuals using language
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: like terrorists and seeking mass murder, and that was that
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: was hard to square with the facts of what occurred.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: I think that rhetoric did damage to the administration, and
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: I think it was one of the things that contributed
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: to the decision of the President to shift from Christy
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Dome as the leader of Homeland Security Mark Waynemullen. Mark Wayne,
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: I've served with him in the Senate. He's a good guy,
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: he's someone the President trusts. I think he will be confirmed.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: I think it will be a party line vote in
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: the Senate. We may get John Fetterman, but I would
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: be surprised if any other Democrat votes for him. So
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: my prediction is the vote on Mark wayn Mullen will
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: be fifty four to forty six. That forty six Democrats
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: will vote now, and I think Mark Wayne look that
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: there are advantages to being an experienced elected official. He
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: was a House member, he's been a senator. I'm hopeful
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: that he will bring a level of professionalism and effectiveness.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: The results of dhs have been quite strong, but I
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: do think I do think that the testy that Secretary
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Nome gave it was not an easy day for her,
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: and I think John Kennedy Tom Tillis also lit into
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: her really hard, but I think the Kennedy cross examination
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: was more significant. There's been quite a bit of reporting
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: that the President was unhappy that she said that he
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: knew about the ads she had run, and I don't
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: have independent knowledge of that, but I don't have reason
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: to doubt that reporting. Yeah, and so look, we need
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: to secure our border. We've had an incredible success rate
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: doing so so far, and I'm hopeful that bark Wade
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: mullin coming in, will continue with that success and continue
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: to keep our family.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Safe as before. If you want to hear the rest
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: of this conversation on this topic, you can go back
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: and dow the podcast from earlier this week to hear
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the entire thing. I want to get back to the
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: big story number three of the week. You may have missed.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: It was election day on Tuesday in America. It was
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: a very big oction day in Texas. There was certainly
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: some upsets on the House side. There's a lot of
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: people around the country watching Dankrinshaw's race. He lost that
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: race to someone that you endorsed. That was a big one.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: That was I was on National TV talking about over
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and over again. And then there's obviously the Senate race
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: that's happening as well. That's now gone into a runoff
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: between two people that you know, well, you're colleague in
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: the Senate and also Ken Paxson, So we're gonna have
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: to wait and see how that plays out as well.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: But then there's also the Democrat running against whoever wins
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: that runoff. And this is a guy that Democrats are
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: really excited about. He's talented, he's radical, he's extreme, but
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: he comes across like a very moderate guy if you
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: listen to him today.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Well, we had primary day in Texas this week and
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: it was highly consequential. Number One, there were a number
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: of House candidates who I endorsed who prevailed. We had
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: one Jessica Steinman, who my former regional director in Houston.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: She won decisively the Republican primary. She is going to be,
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: in all likelihood, the next Republican congress member from Houston.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: We had another Chris Gober who's been my lawyer for
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: ten years. He won his primary decisively. He's going to
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: be a new Republican congressman from Central Texas. We had
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: another John Bonk who I endorsed, who is a close friend.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: He is the son in law of one of my
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: closest friends in the world, who who's been my national
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: Finance chairman for years.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: But by the way, that was a fun night. Just
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: let's take a moment to talk about how fun that was.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: So you were obviously in d C. But I went
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: to the victory party, and it's fun to see someone
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: that you and I know personally and a smile on
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: your dear friend Willie's face, and even Heidi was there
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: as well, at your wife. It was really a cool
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: evening to see someone work hard and win. I know
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: you had to have a really that had to feel
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: personal to you.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: So Willie, who's who's John Bonk's father in law is
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: one of my two or three closest friends on planet Earth,
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: and I love him. He's he's a good man. He's
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: a principled man. He's a conservative, he's a godly man.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: He's someone who frankly I rely on for advice, for
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: spiritual counseling. We pray together, we talk together, and and
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: John John is very likely to win. He did not
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: clear fifty percent, so unfortunately there's going to be a runoff,
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: but I think he's going to prevail. I actually did
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: a rally for him just a week ago, and in
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: the middle of the rally, while I had several hundred
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: people there rallying for him, I got the chance to
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: announce from the stage while I was up there that
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: President Trump had endorsed him. That was a very cool moment.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: We knew it was likely to come. I thought there
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: was a chance that that Trump would call on the
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: cell phone. If he had called, I would have put
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: the cell phone up to the microphone and let him
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: announce it to the whole crowd. Instead, I got to
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: announce and the crowd went nuts. That was really gratifying
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: to have three people who are two who are members
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: of my team and have been employees, and another who's
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: a very close friend. To see three new likely members
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: of Congress coming that that was a big deal. We
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: also had Don Hafeien's who I endorsed for comptroller in
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: a statewide position in Texas that won decisively. That was
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: a big victory. And then you noted Dan Crenshaw. Look
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: in my fourteen years in the Senate, I almost never
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: endorse against Republican incumbents. And there's a reason if you're
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: serving in the Senate, if you're working in Congress, if
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: you're endorsing against your colleagues, it makes it very hard
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: to get anything done like that makes that makes lifelong enemies,
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: and so you just have to be really reluctant to
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: do so. I endorse in open races, but I almost
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: never endorse in races against Republican incumbents. I've made two
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: exceptions in fourteen years. The first was Liz Cheney, because
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Liz Cheney lost her mind and became a radical leftist
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: who hated President Trump, and so I endorsed her opponent,
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Harriet Hageman, who beat her and is getting ready to
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: be the new Senator from Wyoming now and then I
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: did it again for Dan Crenshaw for much the same reason,
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: because he had really lost lost his way. He had
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: gotten angry with his constituents. There were multiple instances in
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: which he yelled. There's one instance where he yelled at
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: a fourteen year old girl and just got angry. In
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: this race that there's a very good friend of mine
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: who's been a longtime supporter and close friend, who was
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: supporting Dan's opponent, and Dan decided to just light him up.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: This is a banker, a private citizen in Texas, and
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Dan decided to go after him personally. And I got
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: to say, that pissed me off. He's a close friend
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: of mine, and and and I didn't like Dan just
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: just attacking him directly, and and so I endorsed his opponent,
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Steve Toast. Steve Toath has been a state legislator for
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: a number of years. He's a very strong conservative. And
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: and it ended up that that that Steve Toath won
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: and one decisively won by a big margin. And that
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: was a little bit of a cannon shot, you know.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: I will say. Dan also, a couple of months ago,
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: we were on a plane landing in DC and and
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: and in the jetway walking off, Dan began screaming and
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: cursing at me, and and it was really a little unhinged.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: And he was like, why are you coming after me?
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: And I was like, well, I'm not. And he was
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: mad that that that supporters of mine were supporting his opponents,
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: and and look, I don't control what my supporters do.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: They're they're you know, individuals who have free choice. But
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: he was literally screaming and cursing at me. And I
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: told him at the time, I said, Dan, if I
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: come after you, I promise you you'll not like it
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: will not be subtle, it will not be hidden. You
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: will have full awareness of it. But I told him afterwards,
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: I said, listen, in fourteen years in the Senate, you
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: were the only house member who's ever screamed and cursed
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: at me on an airplane. And that includes all the
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: Democrats like and so it just it pushed me beyond
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: the edge. And the voters of Texas decided that he
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: was not reflecting their conservative values. And so they've elected
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: Steve Tothe will be a great member of Congress. He'll
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: be a strong conservative. Now we've got the Senate race.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: The Senate race, there is a runoff between John Corny
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: and my colleague right now, and Ken Paxton, the Attorney general.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: Both of them I know very well. Both of them
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: are friends of mine. Both of them I've worked together
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: closely with for years. I've endorsed both of them in
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: the past. I've campaigned with both of them in the past.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: And I got to say that this primary is better
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: and nasty. Look, it is to date the most expensive
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: primary in American history, and John and can really dislike
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: each other, and so it is going to be brutal.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: It is going to be ugly. I don't know how
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: it's going to resolve. The President Trump tweeted out this
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: week that he is going to make an endorsement. He
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: is not yet, So we'll see what the President decides
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: to do on this. But I will say at the
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: same time, the Democrats nominated a guy named James taal
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: Rico is a state rep. And this guy is dangerous.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: He's an ordained minister, He's a radical, He's a hardcore leftist.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: And will and subsequent podcast breakdown just how radical and
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: extreme his record is. But what makes him dangerous is
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: he sounds reasonable. He masks he masks his radicalism in
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: reasonable soundings, soft language. He masks it in the language
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: of a pastor. It's incredibly deceptive and dishonest, but that
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: makes it dangerous. And so we've got a real fight
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: in Texas and I don't know what the result to be.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Sentner,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to deal
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: with my podcast, and you can listen to my podcast
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: day when you listen to Verdict afterwards, I'd love to
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: have you as a listener to again, Ben Ferguson Podcasts,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: and we will see you back here on Monday morning.