Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Trump Says He's 'On Every List' After Explosive Iran Intelligence Leak

Transcript

Trump Says He's 'On Every List' After Explosive Iran Intelligence Leak · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We've got a couple of big breaking news stories.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: I want to get you up to date on Number one,
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Israel is now sharing intelligence warning plan by Iran to
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: assassinate Yes, President Donald Trump.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Israel recently shared this intelligence with the United States, indicating
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: that Iran had developed a fresh new plan to assassinate
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: President Trump. According to a Wall Street Joeneral report, citing
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: people familiar with the matter, the report intelligence would mark
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: an escalation the long standing threats against Trump, who Iran
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: has repeatedly vowed to retaliate against over the twenty twenty
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: US strike that killed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps General Solamani.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: The White House referred also to Trump's remarks Wednesday when
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: he was also asked about that report as well. And
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: I want to play it for you in just a second.
• 0:51
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• 2:27
  Speaker 1: All right, I want to play for you now.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: The President of United States America talking about taking out
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Solamani in twenty twenty, and now he says Israel actually
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: refused to do it, so he did it instead.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: He Solomoni.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: People thought that was the biggest thing to happen in
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: the Middle East for fifty years.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: That was the biggest event.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: He was. He was the boss of Iran, and respect it.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: But he was a mad genius. He was a genius
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: to the father of the roadside bomb. When you see
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: young men, in some cases women, mostly men walking around
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: without legs, without arms, with a face that's been blown
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: to smitherins, it's Salomoni. Ninety ninety six point two, they say,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: or something ninety percent.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: That was Salomoni. Did it happened to come.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: From Iran and I blew him up. You remember that,
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: I blew him up in the Valley of Death. He
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: got off his plane and we followed him. And in
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: all fairness, because they'd been wonderful to me, Israel but
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: they didn't want to do that attack. They were all
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: set the night before the attack. Then for me, they
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: didn't want to do it, so I had to make
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: a decision. I made the decision to do it. But
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: there was a joint venture, as we say in the
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: real estate business, there was a joint venture between Israel
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: and US. We studied it for a month. We knew
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: what plane he was going to be on almost a
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: month before. He only traveled on commercial airline as the
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: big ones with lots of people, because he knew we
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: wouldn't shoot him down a very smort. We knew he
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: was going to be on that plane, followed him and
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: then Israel in for me that they won't do it,
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: and I had to make a decision. I had some
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: very good generals and not the ones you see on television,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: very good and I want to thank also Pete Hegseth
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: and General Raisin Kane, who's phenomenal. Okay, these guys are phenomenal.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: They can't be better. But I had some good generals
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: and I said to him, well.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: The visual is not going to do it. We're all prepared.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Do we do it?
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: Do you like doing it or not? Sir? If you
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: want to do it, we can do it.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: How well.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: We'll do it just as well or better do it ourselves.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: We don't need anybody. So we took out sealmony, one
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: of the biggest events to happen the Middle East, maybe ever.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: But they say fifty years, they say one hundred years.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: I was with the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He said,
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: it's maybe the biggest event that has ever taken places
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: that nobody could believe it.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Not only did the President share it that information, but
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: he also talked about this new plan from Iran, saying, quote,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: they want to take out the US leader me. I'm
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: on whatever list I saw this morning. I'm on every
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: single one of their lists, Trump said. And so far,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I guess I've been a bit lucky. But maybe that
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: doesn't last very long. These are evil, sick people, and
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: we have to root out that cancer. That cancer. You
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: know what you do, You've got to cut out the
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: cancer early. And that's the way I feel now. The
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: journal also reported the intelligence surface as Trump and the
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Israeli Prime Minister net Yahoo have diverged in recent weeks
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: over how to proceed after last month's conflict with Iran. Netna,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: who is advocated for continuing military pressure on Tehran. Trump
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: has sought to preserve a fragile ceasefire after US strikes
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: on Iranian nuclear sites, and as you know, the presence
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: made it clear that ceasefire is now over.
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Trump and Netnya, who we also are told, spook on
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Thursday and they agree to continue coordination between the two countries.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: That according to a statement for Netnahu's office, which said
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Trump also updated the Israeli leader on the recent US
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: activity in the Gulf. Iran mourner is also at the
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: funeral of their Supreme leader, chanted for Trump's death and
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: displayed a banner that said we will kill Trump in English.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Iran has publicly vowed for years to retaliate against Trump
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: over the US operation that killed Solamani, the former commander
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard the coued forces in Baghdad,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: back in January of twenty twenty. Now this also comes
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: as President Trump is also voicing a growing frustration with
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Iranian negotiators, accusing them of lying and cheating. Now, the
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: latest escalation is exposed an even more fundamental problem for Washington, DC,
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: and that is this whether the officials at the negotiating
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: table actually have the power to deliver an agreement, or
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: whether anyone in Tehran does as well. Quote, I don't
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: know if we're going to have a deal. We may
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: just do it without a deal, Trump said at the
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: NATO summit. These people, they lie and they cheat. Trump's
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: frustration with the RAND negotiators is only part of the problem.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Since the death of Kolamani, it has become increasingly unclear
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: who in Tehran has the authority to make or enforce
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: an agreement at all now. The younger Kolamani succeeded his
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: father as a supreme leader after the elder was killed
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: in that opening US is Really attack on February the
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: twenty eighth. His son has not appeared publicly since the attack,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: and US assessments cited by Reuters have described authority as
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: well dispersed among senior revolutionary god commanders and powerful civil officials.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: And there's massive amounts of civil war infighting happening right
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: now in Iran. The parliament speaker, a former IRGC commander
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: who led Iran's negotiating delegation, has emerges one of the
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: country's most powerful surviving political figures. And then an Iranian
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: American journalist, an editor of the I Ran So Far
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Away sub sect, said power inside the Islamic Republic has
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: fractured so much so since the death of the Aetola,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: leaving the Islamic Revolutionary Guard as the country's dominant to
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: facto force, saying, quote, the person who is negotiating with
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: the US is not necessarily someone who is endorsed by
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: the others. Now, she went on to describe many of
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: those involved in saying, look, they're all fighting, and they
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: all are saying they're in charge. The reality is the
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: ircg's overall military structure is who's in charge of the military,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: and it's external operations and relationships with Iran aligned armed groups.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, the terrorist groups are also under the IRGC's control.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: But you contrast that to the actual government, the political camp. Well,
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: at this point, we don't know if the negotiators are
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: actually talking to the people who are in charge, and
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: that is why the president clearly is so frustrated at
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: this point. Now, what we do know is the president
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: is continuing the pressure on Iran, including military strikes, and
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: it'll be very interesting to see what happens over the weekend.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: There is anger erupting right now as US brand fires
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: one thousand, six hundred employees after securing thousands of foreign
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: worker visas. One lawmaker now calling to end the H
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: one B foreign worker program entirely to prioritize American workers first. Now,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: this also comes as the President was saying, you need
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: to pay a premium to secure these types of visas,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: and of course a liberal judge is slapping that down.
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: John, good evening to you. This came out of Boston.
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: A federal judge in Boston rule today the one hundred
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: thousand dollars payment the Trump administration demanded employers pay to
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: bring applicants from overseas to work here in the US's
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: con considered a tax and that the White House doesn't
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: have the power to unilaterally impose such a fees. The
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: latest court case that found President Trump unlawfully acted without
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: express congressional approval. The policy put into effect last year
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: up the fee from between two to five thousand dollars
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: to one hundred thousand dollars per application to have employers
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: bring up to between sixty five and eighty five thousand
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: high skilled foreign tech and university workers to the United
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: States each year, with what's called a H one B visa.
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: According to court records last year, there were about three
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: to six years that these lasted. The H one B
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: program was created in nineteen ninety. The judge today rights
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: here the substance and application of the one hundred thousand
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: dollars payment reveal that it is a tax regardless of
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: what the payment is called. The higher fees were designed
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: to prioritize US citizens over foreign workers. In a statement,
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: a White House spokeswoman says the administration will appeal and
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: feel confident.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: So there you can see how the President feels about
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: this issue and why.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: While a pop the early US.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Based gaming brand owned by Microsoft, is now facing a
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: fury after mass employee layoffs occurred in the wake of
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: the company being approved for thousands of foreign worker visas.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Microsoft announced that it will lay off four thousand, eight
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: hundred people total, and one thousand, six hundred from the
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: corporation's Xbox division, which makes and sells the dominant video
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: game console You not as Xbox. Meanwhile, Microsoft has also
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: at the same time well they've been approved to hire
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: from foreign countries two thousand, two hundred and seventy three
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: employer sponsored non immigrant workers under what is known as
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: the H one B visa program that all coming from
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: the data from the US Citizen and Immigration Services knows
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: as the uscis. Now, there are a lot of people
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: that are angry about this, claim that American jobs are
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: being unfairly and to foreigners in an effort to cut
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: labor costs, but at a cost of leaving US workers
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: well without a job.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Quote.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: A great way to fix this is to throw anyone
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: doing this in prison. That's what one user on x said.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Another one said, fire Americans and replace with thousands of
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: visa workers straight to jail. An asset sees, now this
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: story has happened over and over again, but it seems
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: to be getting worse. Another social media user said it
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: is the fault of our government for approving the H
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: one bs, referring to the visa saying our government has
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: sold us out of jobs at home and those being
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: moved to other countries. Another described the H one B
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: program as industrial scale job theft from Americans. Now, Microsoft,
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: to put in perspective, is the sixth largest beneficiary of
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: the H one B visa program. It's overwhelmingly dominated by
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: workers from India. The company has even more H one
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: B applications pending as well. Not to be clear, Microsoft
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: has employees worldwide, but most are in the United States
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: of America disproportionately. These decisions are based on business need
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: not visa status. H one B employees were also impacted
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: by job eliminations in the US.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Is what a microspot golly.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Is what a Microsoft spokesman told Fox News Digital when
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: they were asked about the shocking layoffs. Quote, every single
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: employer is exploiting the H one B visa program is
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: what the Project for Immigration Reform said, and lawmakers are
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: even calling for a complete end to the non immigrant
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: visa program. This is insane. Legal immigration is a major problem.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: These companies, especially big tech, are abusing these immigration programs
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: to replace American workers with foreign workers, is what Representative
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Riley Moore, a Republican from West Virginia, said, saying no more,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: it's a long past time to end the H ONEB scam. Now,
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Xbox CEO side of the company's financial health for their layoffs,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: saying quote, our business today is not healthy. We are
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: operating at margins that are three to ten x lower
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: than comparable platforms and publishing businesses. They also added that
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: the strategy is to reset Xbox now. Many critics, however,
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: claim that the CEO, well, she's full of it, and
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: also claiming that her Indian heritage played a major role
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: in firing the Americans given the percentage of H ONEB
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: workers from India. She was actually born just to put
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: in perspective in Wisconsin.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: But that is the fight online now.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: The Vice President, Jade Vance, also announced on Tuesday a
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: large scale investigation into H one B visus.
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: One of the reasons why I personally care some much
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: about fraud. I want to save every single one of
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: you money, but I also want to ensure that when
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: a young mom goes in to get some prenatal vitamins
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: and she can't afford them, she's able to get access
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: to them because a fraudster hasn't taken advantage of that program.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: Part of what we're trying to do is to ensure
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: that these programs exist for the next generation. Look, just
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: take one of the biggest, the biggest federal programs out there,
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: Social Security. People to pay into Social Security for their
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: entire working lives every single day or every two weeks,
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: I should say, we get a paycheck and we see
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: on that paycheck, the amount of money that is going
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: to Social Security. I am worried that if we don't
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: stop sending Social Security checks to illegal immigrants, that people
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: who paid into it for their entire lives are never
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: going to have access to that money. That's a scam
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: and it's totally unacceptable. So the most important thing we
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: can do to ensure those benefits exist for the people
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: who earned them is to make sure that the fraudsters
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: don't get them, that the American people.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Do jd Vance making it clear that all types of
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: fraud are exactly what they're going after each and every day.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: The Vice President also went on to say at that event,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: this today, I'm proud to announce that the Federal Department
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: of Labor has started dozens of subpoenas and investigations into
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: foreign fraudsters who are trying to take advantage of the
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: H one B visa program. American jobs ought to go
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: to American workers and not foreign fraudsters, and the Department
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: of Labor is fighting back against it now. Recently, President
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump tried to limit employer's use of the H
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: one B program by as you heard earlier, imposing one
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars fee for companies seeking an H one
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: B application, a federal judge striking down that order, and
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: that is going to mean that there's going to be
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: a bigger fight moving forward. What you can expect from
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: the President of the White House is they're going to
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: fight this all the way until the end. They believe
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: that they have the right to do exactly what they
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: did with the H one B application program. The federal
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: judge saying, well, this amounts to a tax, and only
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Congress has the ability to impose a tax, not the president. Well,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: maybe it's time for Republicans to move on this in Congress.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Americans are certainly watching right now and seeing what happens next.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: But if there's anything you can count on, it's clearly this.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: The Trump administration has made it abundantly clear. It doesn't
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: matter what type of fraud that you are involved in.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: We will find you, we will hunt you down, we
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: will charge you at crimes, we will send you out
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: of this country if we need to.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: And we're not backing down.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: And there's not a single government program that's off limits
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: from them investigating. And that is part of the reason
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: why you're seeing fraud in education and even with work visus.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: It's clear Democrats knew this was happening and deliberately look
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: the other way for years. Well, now President Trump is saying,
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: We're going to expose it all. President Donald Trump giving
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: us another example of why the Trump administration says rooting
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: out government waste, government fraud and abuse isn't just a
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: campaign slogan, It's a governing priority of this administration. There
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: is new explosive reports out that allege that investigators have
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: uncovered more than two hundred and twenty five million and
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: suspected K through twelve education fraud. Adding to what the
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: administration says, a growing list of cases where taxpayer dollars
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: intended for America's children instead end up enriching bad actors. Now,
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: it's also important to make one major distinction right at
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: the beginning of this conversation. Now, these are allegations and
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: investigative findings, not criminal convictions yet. But if even a
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: fraction of these allegations are ultimately proven true, taxpayers have
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: every reason to be enraged by the stealing of your dollars.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: And it also explains why public education is failing. Are
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: young people think about this money and what it was
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: supposed to do. It was supposed to buy textbooks. It
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: was supposed to help children learn to read, to deal
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: with learning disabilities and support. It was supposed to fund
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: special education services for a multitude of children. It was
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: supposed to pay for classroom technology, tutoring, even transportation, school meals,
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: and resources for the teachers. Instead, according to investigators, nationwide,
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: millions and millions and millions of dollars have been diverted
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: through fraudulent schemes that were easy to catch. Clearly, the
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: school district's choosing to look the other way, and that
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: is exactly why President Trump has repeatedly argued that Washington
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: needs far more oversight of taxpayer spending. And let's be clear,
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: throughout Trump's second administration, he's been fighting fraud and it's
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: become a centerpiece of his domestic agenda. Now it doesn't
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: matter what type of fraud it is. Could be medicaid fraud,
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: Medicare fraud, pandemic relief abuse, unemployment insurance scams, even immigration
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: related benefits fraud. But now it's hardcore education fraud. The
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: White House has consistently argued that billions of taxpayer dollars
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: have been lost because of well the previous administration's failure
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: to aggressively investigate and not only investigate, but prosecute the
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: egregious financial abuse. The administration's message is simple. Every dollar
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: stolen from a taxpayer is a dollar stolen from hardworking Americans,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: and every dollar stolen from a classroom is a dollar
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: stolen from a child and their future. Now, according to
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: the investigators, many of these education fraud cases involved the
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: misuse of federal education grants, then fake vendors, inflated invoices,
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: duplicate billing, false reimbursement requests, conflicts of interest, and then
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: various schemes they say, designed to siphon public money away
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: from the students and into the private pockets of corrupt individuals. Now,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: this is exactly the type of fraud schemes that inspector
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: generals have warned Congress about for years now. One of
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: the main problems is that whenever the federal government rapidly
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: increases spending, and we've seen that happen countless times with
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: public education, while oversight and this could be on purpose
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: by the Left, have often struggled to keep pace. We
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: saw that, by the way, clearly during the COVID relief.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: We saw it with unemployment benefits, we saw it with
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: small business relief, and investigators now say education funding has
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: become another area requiring far greater accountability. The Trump administration
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: argues this isn't simply about recovering money. It's also about
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: restoring confidence the government can actually protect taxpayer dollars because,
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: let's be honest, Americans don't mind investing in education. Polling
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: has shown that over and over again. And also we
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: know that most parents and grandparents want incredible quality schools.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Most taxpayers are happy to support children's futures. What frustrates
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: people is discovering that when the money that they've given
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: that was intended for students may instead be well financing
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: straight up fraud and corruption. There's also another aspect of this.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Imagine being a teacher buying classroom supplies out of your
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: own pocket while someone else is stealing hundreds of thousands
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: or even millions of dollars through fraudulent contracts or fake
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: billing or duplicate billing. And that's what makes stories like
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: this so infuriating. Teachers often spend their own money on pencils, paper,
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: classroom decorations, science projects, and even books, investigators are alleging
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: enormous sums disappeared through fraudulent activity as well. President Trump
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: has repeatedly said the US government shouldn't automatically ask taxpayers
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: for more money until it proves it can responsibly manage
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: the money that it already takes in that it already has,
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: and stories like this, while they strengthen the president's argument,
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: supporters of President Trump also point to the broader pattern here.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: For years, federal watchdogs have warned about weak internal controls.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: They've warned about insufficient auditing, they have warned about outdated
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: accounting systems, and they've warned about agencies failing to verify
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: where grant money actually even goes. And that's where the
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: fraudsers come in and they exploit exactly these weaknesses. Well,
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: the administration says it's crackdown is design to change that
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: by increasing investigations as well as expanding forensic audits, coordinating
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: more closely with inspector general roles, and pursuing both civil
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: and criminal enforcement when it's appropriate. And that extends beyond education.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: The administration has highlighted investigations also into healthcare fraud, benefits fraud,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: procurement fraud disaster, relieve fraud, and organize criminal schemes targeting
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: federal programs and the criminals they've gotten insanely rich off
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: of all of this, Officials argue that recovering stolen taxpayer
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: dollars not only helped reduce waste, but also it does
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: something important without cutting legitimate services.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: That's an important distinction.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: The goal, according to the Trump administration, isn't taking resources
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: away from students. It's making sure the money actually reaches
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: those students at all, because every fraudulent dollar means fewer
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: legitimate resources are available for the classroom and for the individual.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: The broader political debate here is also significant because for years,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: many in Washington have responded to challenges in education proposing
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: one thing, more money, larger budgets, and President Trump is
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: arguing now yet again that before we appropriate any additional funds,
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: much less billions of dollars, it should first eliminate the fraud,
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: the waste, the abuse that's already deep entrenched inside of
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: the education system. That's also a message that is likely
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: to resonate with many taxpayers come the mid terms. After all,
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: if a private company discovered hundreds of millions of dollars
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: being stolen internally, shareholders wouldn't approve another spending increase without
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: demanding accountability first, and that's exactly what the present's advocating for.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Government should not operate under a lower standard. And the
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: other major question is this oversight. How long do these
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: alleged schemes continue. We're warning signs completely ignored to whistleblowers
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: raise concerns. We're audits delayed where agencies properly monitoring grant receipts.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: These are questions and investigators in Congress will continue to examine.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: It's also worth remembering that education funding involves multiple layers
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: of government. Federal dollars often flow through state agencies and
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: then to local school districts or nonprofit organizations. That complexity
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: can create opportunities for fraud if oversight breaks down at
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: any stage, and clearly it did. That's one of the
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: reasons that Trump and his investigators say it's important that
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: transparency be shown. The administration argues that technology, data analytics,
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: and stronger financial controls can actually help deter suspicious transactions
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: much earlier, so instead of discovering fraud at this level
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: years later, the Trump administration won systems capable of identifying
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: unusual spending patterns in real time. Now, for taxpayers, this
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: story touches on something much larger than education. It really
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: goes down to the issue of trust. Americans work hard
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: for their paychecks, and they should demand a government and
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: expect the government is going to be a responsible steward
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: of the taxes they send to Washington. But when headlines
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: reveal hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud, while confidence disappears,
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: doesn't just a road. And that's why the administration says
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: accountability isn't optional, it's a mandatory essential. Every fraudulent scheme
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: uncovered sends two messages. First, investigators are finding the problem
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: that need fixing, and second, potential frauds ers are being
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: warned that enforcement is increasing.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: Whether these investigations ultimately result in indictments, conviction settlements, or
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: recovered funds remains to be seen, but one thing is clear.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: The Trump administration intends to make fraud enforcement a defining
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: part of its governing philosophy. President Trump is repeatedly argued
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: that before asking Americans to sacrifice more, Washington must clean
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: up its own books. And that is exactly what they
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: found from this investigation. Make sure you share this podcast
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: please wherever you can on social media so others will
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: hear it. Hit that subscriber auto download button, and I'll
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: see you back here tomorrow