Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / USAID 'aiding' only Themselves, What can the US do to Help the People of Israel & FBI Dir Confirmation Hearing Week In Review

Transcript

USAID 'aiding' only Themselves, What can the US do to Help the People of Israel & FBI Dir Confirmation Hearing Week In Review · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome in this Verdict with Ted Cruz, the Weekend Review.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Ben Ferguson with you, and we had some very big
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: stories that you may have missed that we talked about
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: this week. First up, usaid the abuse that has been
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: found out of our government tax dollars going to corrupt organizations,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: even to terrorists, is now all being exposed because.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Of Elon musk In Doge.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: So what do we found out. We'll give you the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: list in just a moment. Also, what are the needs
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: of Israel? Well, Benjamin nette Yahu set down with Senator
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Ted Cruz for about two hours talking about exactly what's
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: happening in Israel and what they need from us. We'll
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: break all that down for you as well. And finally,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a new day at the FBI
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: if caspitel can get the votes needed this week. So
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: what did he have to say to Senator Cruz.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: We have that for you.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: It is the Weekend Review and it starts right now.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: People that in this show and conservatives out there said okay,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: let's let everybody know where your tax hours is going.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: After Elon must and Doge yet again blowing the whistle,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: they're gonna I mean, they got to be exhausted because
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: they're finding so much waste, fraud and abuse in our government.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: And a perfect.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Example of this is US A I D and some
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: of the abuse that they found walk us through it.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Well, I gotta say Elon Musk is doing a fantastic job.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: He is working around the clock at at DOGE and
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: and really focused on on reining in government spending and
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: reining in the absolute abuse, the abuse that you would
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: never see in a private company, but but yet in
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: in government is is commonplace. And it is a result
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: of politicians funding their their their own political hobbyhorse, their
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: own political pet project. And and so I got to say,
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: what one of the areas that that that Doge in
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: the new White House has done is freeze funding at
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: US A I D and. And Democrats in the media
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: have been losing their minds over this, have been lighting
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: their hair on fire. In fact, a bunch of Democrats
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: went to the USAID offices to storm the offices this week,
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: which was really pretty ridiculous. But but they're really they're
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: very very upset about it.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: They're not set by the way about the abuse of
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: the money and the fraud. Then there they're just upset
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: that they've lost their power.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Right, Well, they're upset that the abuse is stopping. But
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: you know, when reporters have asked me about it, I've said, listen, uh.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: The president got a mandate from the American people, and
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: part of the mandate is to stop the out of
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: control spending in debt, and the USAID engages in all
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: sorts of abuse. Let me give you some of the examples.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: USI ai D spent one point five million dollars for
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: advancing DEI in Serbia's workplaces. They spent two million dollars
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: for sex changes in Guatemala. They spent six million dollars
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: for tourism in Egypt. They paid for quote hundreds of
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda affiliated fighters
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: in Syria. They gave funding for the production of opium,
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: the primary ingredient in heroin in Afghanistan, which benefited the Taliban. Yeah,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: they spent one million dollars to help disabled people in
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: Tajikistan become quote climate leaders. They spent one million dollars
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: for Hamas linked charity. And they spent fifteen million dollars
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: for contraceptives and condoms in Taliban controlled Afghanistan. This is
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: all nonsense. This is a waste, and there's a reason
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: Elon Musk is going after it. There's a reason President
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: Trump is going after it. And there's a reason Democrats
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: in the press are horrified that this gravy train is stopping.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: It is a gravy train, and it's a very, very
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: big one that's costing taxpayers massive amounts of money. Elon
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Musk said early on that he thought there was probably
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: like ten percent waste in our government. He's now changing
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: those numbers. I want to get your reaction. He's saying
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: it could be well above twenty percent.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's massive waste, and it is by design. Understand,
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: it's not just that they picked things out of a hat.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: These are all ideological. This is the agenda of the
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: radical left. They're funding the agenda of the radical left.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: But it shouldn't be the taxpayers paying for this nonsense.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: And let me give you an example of one of
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: the ones that I found frankly funniest AOC Alexandria Kja
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: Cortez went off on Elon Musk this week, and listen
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: to what she says. Her argument is that Elon Musk
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: is a dummy, give a listen.
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: This dude is probably one of the most unintelligent billionaires
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: have ever met or seen are witnessed, which you know,
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: you can probably even glean that from watching these people
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: on TV. Anyways, all of that is to say is
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: that they don't do their homework. Clearly like they're putting
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: nineteen year olds in at the Treasury. This dude is
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: not smart. And the danger in not in the lack
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: of intelligence and the lack of expertise that Elon has.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: I mean, this guy is one of the most morally
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: vacant but also just least knowledgeable about these systems that
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: we really know of. But the point is is that
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: what that means is that they're going to hit a button. Inevitably,
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: they are going to hit a button and things can
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: go sid.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: I mean this, this is one of those moments where
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: you actually get to watch that, you know what, the
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: sausage being made in her brain. She's making it up
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: and pausing as she goes to try to figure out
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: a way to hit a guy that's having massive success
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: at saving taxpayers dollars.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Look, I gotta say I laughed out loud when I
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: listened to that and watch that it should be a
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Saturday Night Live skit. Of course, Saturdayight Live wouldn't actually
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: make fun of liberals, so they wouldn't show it. But listen,
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: you can criticize Elon Musk on all sorts of fronts,
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: but the one front you can't criticize him on is
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: being a dummy. I've spent a ton of time with Elon. Listen,
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: I've been blessed, Ben. I have known a lot of
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: brilliant people. I've known antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: Chief Justice William Renquist. I have known brilliant, brilliant scientists
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: and world leaders, and I believe Elon Musk, this is,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: without exaggeration, is is the most brilliant man I've ever met.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: And I've spent a lot of time with Elon. If
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: you think about the distribution of intelligence, you assume roughly
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: eight billion people on planet Earth. Intelligence is distributed along
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: a bell curve. Someone is at the bleeding edge of
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: that bell curve, and I think Elon Musk is that person.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: And I mean I've sat with him for two three,
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: three and a half hours talking with him, and it's
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: fascinating watching his brain work because the guy it's not
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: even that he thinks outside the box. He doesn't know
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: there is a box. And so, listening to AOC say
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: he's unintelligent, I got to say, it reminded me of
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: a scene from from my favorite movie, This One. And
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: so give a listen to what AOC was saying. And
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: she was really she was channeling the Sini. Give a
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: listen good, that's smart. Let me put it this way.
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Yes, morons, So that's AOC. Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, elon musk morons. AOC.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: She knows what's right.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: If you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: you can go back and listen to the full podcast
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: from earlier this week.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Now onto story number two, let's talk about.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: The humanitarian side of this and the real need needs
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: of the people in Israel. What did BB say from
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: that standpoint? Because there is obviously a great humanitarian need
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: we're talking about all this money with dods that we're
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: finding that we're giving to all these people, many of
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: them that are just waste and fraud and abuse and
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: absurd things like transndered plays in certain countries. When you know,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: as an American, I don't mind helping our allies in
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: times of need.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Israel is a great example of this.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: There is so much money, though that's being used in
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: such fraudulent ways that I do think there's a hesitancy
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: now to just say, Okay, what do you need because
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: it seems like everyone was taking from us and abusing it.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: I think Israel is very different, and that's why I
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: want to bring this up.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: But what are the needs?
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: So let me say, do you know what the amount
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: of economic aid and assistance is that we give to Israel?
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: How much? Zero dollars and zero cents. We do not
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: provide economic aid to Israel. Israel's not asking us for
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: money to feed its citizens. Israel's not asking for money
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: to provide housing or cloth it citizens. Israel's not asking
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: for money for relief. The only assistance the United States
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: provides to Israel is military aid. Each year, we provide
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: roughly three billion dollars in military assistance. But that's we
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: do no economic assistance. We're not paying welfare. We are
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: providing military assistance. And do you know why we do that?
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: Why this is something critically important to understand. We provide
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: military assistance to Israel because it is good for America Israel.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: Think about this for a second. Everyone who hates Israel
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: hates America bingo. And by the way, those who hate
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: Jews hate Christians, and everyone who Israel is fighting against
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: they're doing so to protect Israel.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Of course, Well there's a reason why it's almost simultaneous.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: You hear death to Israel chance and death America chance.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: A lot of times they are intertwined.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: The Ayahtola refers to Israel as the little Satan and
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: America as the great Satan. And so listen. One of
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: the things I said to Bibie, and I've said this
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: to him many times, I said, thank you, thank you
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: for killing terrorists, for taking out Hamas, for taking out Hezbela.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: These are lunatics that want to murder Israelis, and they
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: want to murder Americans, and they have Look. October seventh
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: was a horrific terrorist attack against Israel, but it was
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: also a horrific terrorist attack against America. Many Americans were killed,
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: many Americans were taken hostage. And so we provide military
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: aid to Israel because it keeps America safer, and it
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: also is incredibly frugal, as a monetary matter because the
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: benefits we get from Israeli intelligence. The Masad is one
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: of the most effective and potent intelligence networks in the world.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: And the Massad has incredible intelligence on hesblood Hamas, on Iran,
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: on al Kaeda and Isis and all enemies of Israel,
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: but also enemies of American Historically, they have shared that
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: intelligence with us. If we tried to recreate the benefits
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: we get from Israeli intelligence in their military, it wouldn't
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: cost US three billion dollars a year. It would cost
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: us tens of billions of dollars a year. And so
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: we make that investment because it keeps America safe, and
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: they spend that investment to be very clear on taking
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: out the people who want to kill Americans.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: When you look at the money and you look at
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: what's happening, and you look at the meeting today that
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: you had and the needs that are there, I think
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: there's a couple of just overall themes. One, Israel now
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: knows that America does in fact have their back. Two,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: they can start sharing intelligence and talk about honest plans
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: to protect Israel in America because they can trust this administration.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: And that seems to be maybe the most valuable part
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: of this three We both have a true, genuine agreement
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: in our foreign policy that we must stop Iran from
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: gaining that nuclear weapon.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: And that also means now you've.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Got to figure out how you're going to stop it
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: from happening, and that could be using military prowess to
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: do it, Which brings me my fine question to you.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump's a guy that has been very proud about saying,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: I haven't started any wars, I get us out of wars,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: and I try to end them. Would you look at
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: this as a war or more of a just a
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: straight up attack on a nuclear weapons site.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: How should Americans look at this?
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Well, listen, it's important to understand President Trump is right,
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: he has not started any wars. We did not have it.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: In fact, he ended wars. He inherited the war with
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: ISIS from Barack Obama. ISIS had a caliphate, had territory
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: about the size of the state of Indiana, and Trump
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: within months defeated ISIS altogether and ended that war. Because
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: they were defeated and conquered the caliphate. There are some
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: who try to say that America First foreign policy is isolationist,
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: is just withdrawing from the world and not engaging with
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: our enemies. That has not been the foreign policy of
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump. It's worth remembering that when President Trump in
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: his first term, he gave the order to take out
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: General Solimani, the the Iranian leader responsible for the murder
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: of over six hundred American servicemen and women, the Iranian
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: leader who had played a critical part in planning planning
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: terrorist attacks against the United States and against Israel for years.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: And Solomoni, along with Nozrala, we're probably the two most
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: important terrorist leaders on the face of the planet. And
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: President Trump ordered General Solimani taken out, and Prime Minister
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: net and Yahoo ordered Nosralla taken out, and now neither
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: one of them are able to threaten America or Israel.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: It's incredible. I'm glad that you guys got to have
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: this meeting. I also just am really thankful as you
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: described it, that now I think Israel can trust that
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: they have a partner in the US and they're not
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: trying to They're not having to hide from the United
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: States what the are trying to accomplish.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: And we have the same goals.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: Yes, and and by the way, another aspect of it.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: So look the efforts to attack Israel, you saw them
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: directly through terrorism through October seventh. You saw them through
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: Hamas and hezbla Uh and and to be clear, the
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Biden administration was responsible for a very substantial part of
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: the funding for that October seventh attack. But but you
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: also saw it through law fair through using international institutions
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: to go after Israel. And one of the most profound
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: examples of the that is the International Criminal Court, which
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: which has has indicted Bibi Uh for committing war crimes
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: and and and that decision is grotesquely false. It was
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: an anti Semitic attack on Israel. But but it is
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: also a profound threat to America. Israel is not a
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: party UH to the International Criminal Court, neither is American
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: and the International Criminal Court there's a real risk of
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: it being used to go after American officials and American soldiers.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: The same enemies of Israel want to use the ICC
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: to accuse American soldiers of committing war crimes when we
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: stand up to terrorists. And so you know, just just
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: a few days ago in Congress, we voted on legislation
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: to sanction the International Critical Criminal Court. And I'll tell
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: you it was really sad. Every Democrat in the Senate
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: except one except John Fetterman voted no. They all voted
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: against Israel. Amazing And to be clear.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: Is there going to be hell to pay politically you
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: think for this?
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, the Democratic Party has become really a lot
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: of their leaders are just strit up anti Semitic.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Is there going to be hell to pay for that
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: at some point?
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Well, there hasn't been so far, and the Democrats feel
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: that there are no consequences. Chuck Schumer was among the
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: leaders who who met with net and Yahoo and was
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: trying to give excuses for why he and all the
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: other Democrats voted against sanctioning the ICC. Today, President Trump
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: issued sanctions as president, and they were very strong sanctions.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: That's one thing Bib was very happy about is he
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: now had a president that would stand up to the
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: International Criminal Court for going after him. Look, Bib is
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: not able to travel to much of Europe because they're
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: European nations who have threatened they will arrest bebe if
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: he steps foot on their soil. That is a profound
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: attack on the government of Israel. Think about it that
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: there are many European countries that he simply won't go to. Now,
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: let me ask a simple question to anyone listening. Trump
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: sanctioned the ICC today, Why didn't Joe Biden the ICC
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: did this under Biden's presidency. And the answer is, I
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: think the Biden administration wanted the ICC to go after
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: Benjamin Netton Yahoo. And I think we're going to see
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: facts come to light in the weeks and months ahead
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: that show some real complicity of the Biden administration for
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: the law fare attacking Israel, and that really underscores the
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: difference one election can make. And thank god, we have
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: a president now who will stand up for America and
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: who will stand up and stand alongside Israel as before.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: If you want to hear the rest of this conversation
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: on this topic, you can go back and dow the
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: I want to get back to the big story number
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: three of the week you may have missed. I want
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: to move on to another big issue, and that is
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: confirmation hearings. Cash Betels was at the end of last
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: week as well, and we are now seeing a lot
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: of people that are getting their audios.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: See you later.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Thanks for serving you're out of a job in the
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: deep state. This is another reason why we need to
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: get cash hotel in there quickly.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about where that is.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: And also you had a very interesting back and forth
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: with him over some of the things that the left
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: is trying to attack him on.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: Well, the hearing, the Democrats went after cash Patel furiously.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: As I said on Hannity last week, the hearing reminded
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: me of Shakespeare's Macbeth. It was a tale told by
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: an idiot, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: The Democrats did not get any traction. They were foaming
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: at the mouth. They were coming after him ferociously. And
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: yet I don't think they moved a single vote. I
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: think cash Patel will get confirmed. Now every Democrat on
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: the committee's going to vote no, and my guess is
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: every Democrat in the Senate is going to vote no
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: on him. But I think we will get We might
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: get to fifty three, but we will at a minimum
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: get to fifty with jd Vance breaking the tie. And
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: I don't think the hearing moved a single vote. When
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: my questioning occurred, you know, the week before I had
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: spent a couple of hours helped being moot cash Bettel,
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: helping get him ready. I actually got to play Sheldon
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: white House, who's a very liberal senator, in the moot,
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: and I got to say it was fun just raving
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: at him, screaming at him. I tried to insult him.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: I was a total jerk in the moot, which which
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: if you're doing to moot, well.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: You explained for people that don't know how this works.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: You get people, and I've gotten to do this a
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: couple of times. It's really fun. You get somebody ready
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: for a confirmation hearing and many people like you just described,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: you play the other side. You try to get them
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: ready for what they're going to face. And the setting
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: that you do it in. Was this more relaxed or
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: was it more formal?
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: I don't know. It was done exactly like a hearing.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: He was sitting at a table, we were around him,
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: like firing questions at him. And sometimes you do it
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: this way, sometimes you don't. But in this instance, they
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: gave me the role of Sheldon white House, who's one
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: of the most partisan Democrats on the committee. I've served
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: with Sheldon thirteen years. I know him well, and so
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: you know, I mean, I was screaming at him and
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: I and my questions were wildly unfair, but you got
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: to get ready for wildly unfair questions. I was not
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: trying to be nice to him in the mood because
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: that if you're doing that, you're not doing your job
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: in a mood, and I got to say he did.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: So it was interesting in the mood A couple of
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: times like Cash would try to pop back and we
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: would stop and say, look, it's not your job to
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: punch the Democrats of the face in this hearing. My advice,
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: by the way, to every hearing nominee is be boring
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: right now today you've got the votes to be confirmed.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: From the Democrats perspective. The only way they can change
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: that is get you to say something in the hearing
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: where you step on a landmine and blow yourself up.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: If you don't do that, you will be confirmed and
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: you will go do the job the president has asked
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: you to do. And so a good role of a
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: hearing you know someone you know very well is John
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: asked Croft.
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: So when I was a young baby lawyer, I was
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: part of the team that that that helped prepare John
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: Ashcroft for his confirmation hearing to be Attorney General. And
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: I was, you know, thirty years old, a baby lawyer,
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: but i'd been on the Bush campaign and Ashcroft gets nominated.
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: Bag So I remember we're prepping him and and just
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: like with Cash Pttel, we were asking horrible questions. We
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: were asking uh, I mean, we were just just and
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: in the prep session Ashcroft would get pissed and he
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: yelled at us and and and and we'd say, we'd say, Senator,
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: you're exactly right that that that question was terrible. It
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: was it was unfair, it was dishonest, it was abusive. Senator,
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: can we remind you you have the votes right now?
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Like they want you to get pissed? And so I
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: was glad he yelled at me, and he yelled at
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: the other people in the mood because that it got
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: it off his chest. And I still remember. You go
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: back and watch Ashcroft's confirmation hearing, and then there was
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: one exchange and I'm paraphrasing, and it was twenty four
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: years ago, but he had given a speech about the
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Second Amendment, and he had talked about the Second Amendment
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: that the Framers had intended a second Amendment as a
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: check on tyranny from the government, and Ted Kennedy, who
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: was questioning him, goes, tyranny from our government, the American government.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: You know what that is? Treason? Man, I say, you're
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: a trader, and he like screams at the top of
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: his lungs calling Ashcroft a trader. And at the actual hearing, Ashcroft,
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: I don't think his heart beat exceeded sixty five beats
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: a minute, and he very calmly said, Senator, if I'm
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: confirmed as Attorney General, I will follow the law and
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: I will enforce the law. And he got confirmed. So
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: Cash Bettel likewise, he got some of his yelling out
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: at the motors. Actually, no, not much. He did a
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: good job of not losing his cool in the moot
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: and then in the hearing. I think he did an
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: excellent job. When it came to my turn, they had
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: been beating him up a lot on January sixth, and
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: so I wanted to give him a chance to get
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: out some basic facts. So give a listen to my
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: cross examination of Cash Patel this past week on his
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: confirmation hearing for Director of the FBI. You will be
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: and have been accused of just about everything they can.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: But I want to focus on what several Democrats have
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: done recently, which is trying to blame you for the
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: violence that occurred on January sixth, which, even in the
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: annals of ridiculous attacks, this one really takes the cake.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: So let's just focus on some facts. Let me ask
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: you a question. What role did you occupy in the
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: days immediately before January sixth?
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: Chief of staff of the Department of Defense?
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: You were the chief of Staff at the Department of Defense, yes, sir,
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: So to be clear, you were not rioting at the Capitol, No, sir.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: Where were you physically on January.
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: Sixth in the office of the Secretary of Defense in
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: the Pentagon?
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: And what were you doing on that day?
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: On that day specifically responding to preparing to mobilize and
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: deploy the National Guard once we got the lawful request
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: from the local governing authority, which was the Mayor of
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: DC and the Speaker of the House.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: Now, how many days in advance were you working to
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: prepare the Department of Defense to help secure the Capitol
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: on January sixth?
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: Days in advanced Senator, we were in the Oval office
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: on an unrelated national security matter with the President of
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: the United States. The Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and myself and the President
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: authorized up to twenty thousand plus National guardsmen and women
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: to secure any security measures necessarily related to the capital.
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: So we were moving to the fullest extent of the
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: law before the requisite request came from a local governing
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: authority days ahead of time.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: And while you were chief of staff at DoD, how
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: many times did DoD approach Capitol police and ask if
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: they needed National Guard assistants?
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: I believe those letters are well documented. Numerous instances, and
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: numerous of those instances were those requests were shut down?
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: Now, my correct at the capital sergeant at arms said
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: assistance was unnecessary.
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: That's correct, Senator.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: Who did the sergeant at arms.
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: Report to the Speaker of the House.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: That would have been Nancy Pelosi at the time. Is
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: that correct, yes, Senator? And would that also be Chuck
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: Schumer than the Senate majority leader.
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: The sergeant at arms, Yes, Senator reports.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: Up there did Mayor Bowser, the Democrat elected mayor in
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: d C, either request or allow National Guard assistants?
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: She put in writing on the days leading up to
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: January sixth, a declination for National Guard additional support and
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: that letter is available publicly.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: To the world. So and just to speak England for
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: folks at home, a declination meant she said no, don't
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: send national Guard? Is that right? Yes, sir? Let me
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: ask you a simple question, because from the questioning from
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: a Democrat colleagues they might think otherwise. Do you condemn
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: violence against law enforcement? All of it? And by the way,
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: is that true whether the violence is right wing or
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: left wing or anywhere else?
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: There is no discriminating between types of violence against law enforce?
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: And do you believe those who assault and commit violence
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: against law enforcement should be prosecuted and should be sent
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: to jail.
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: Especially those that kill them?
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: Me ask you how many years have you worked in
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: public service?
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: About sixteen, senator, And.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: How many years have you worked in particular in law
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: enforcement and prosecution and national security over decade? Senator? You know,
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: I have to say it is ludicrous but sadly predictable
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: that Democrats are endeavoring to tarnish you, to paint a
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: false caricature based on innuendo and smoke. And so you're
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: working to protect the Capitol on January sixth, and yet
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: they're trying to blame you for the violence that occurred.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: Let me ask you to this, just as a straightforward matter,
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: what is the job of the FBI and what will
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: the FBI's role be if and when you are confirmed
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: as its director.
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: The simple motto on the website of the FBI's homepage
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: is to protect American citizens and uphold the Constitution. If
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: I am confirmed as the next director of the FBI,
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: that's what we're going to do and redirect resources and
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: making sure that occurs every single day.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: Thank you for your willingness to do so, and this
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: committee we'll hold you to account on restoring integrity at
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: the FBI, and I thank you, and also for your
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: commitment to transparency. I think that is incredibly important to
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: bringing back integrity and I'm grateful for it.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Wouldn't it be nice if the media would fact check
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: the Democrats on the committee that we're trashing him, trying
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: to connect him to January sixth, like he was an
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: insurrectionist in their words, and just tell the story of
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: what he was actually doing.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: I'm so thankful that you asked those questions.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, don't hold your breath on that. The media has
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: their story to tell and they're not going to get
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: let facts get in the way.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: So last question on this.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: This is a really important position being in charge of
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: the FBI. When are you guys going to actually get
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: to vote on this?
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: So we will vote on Cash Betel in a week,
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: so this week there'll be a markup. But the way
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: the Senate Judiciary Committee works is the minority has a
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: right on any vote to hold it over for a
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: week and delay it for a week. So they will
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: do that this week, and so they'll delay that now.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: Pam Bondi will be confirmed on the floor of the
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: Senate this week, so by the end of this week
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: she'll be Attorney General. Next week will vote on Cash
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: Betel and Judiciary Committee and then I'll go to the
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: Senate floor after that.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with sentater
• 30:07
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• 30:10
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• 30:12
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• 30:14
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• 30:17
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• 30:19
  Speaker 1: podcasts and we will see you back here on Monday morning.