Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Iran Tests Limits w 60-Day Ceasefire plus Champagne Lifestyles on the Public Dime

Transcript

Iran Tests Limits w 60-Day Ceasefire plus Champagne Lifestyles on the Public Dime · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's start with what's happening in Iran and what we're
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: witnessing maybe the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since the conflict began.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: There are now multiple reports that say the United States
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and Iran have agreed in principle to a framework for
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: a sixty day ceasefire deal. But there's one signature that
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: still matters above all others, and that is President Donald
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Trump's now making no mistake. This isn't happening because Iran
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: suddenly wanted peace. Iran's economy is collapsing under the crushing pressure,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Their oil experts have been hammered, their military infrastructure has
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: taken the massive hits, and the Straightupremus crisis has rattled
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: global markets. And now the regime appears to be searching
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: for a lifeline before the situation gets out of control
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: for them, which means they lose control of their own country.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: I want you to take a listen how the news
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: was broken on Fox News channel about the sixty day deal.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: US officials confirming to Fox News is that American and
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Iranian negotiators have reached a sixty day seasfire extension a
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: memorandum of understanding. The question now is whether or not
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: President Trump and Iran Supreme Leader Mustaba Kamanai will sign
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: off to move this deal forward. As part of the
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: current framework, we are told this would extend the seasfire
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: and open the Strait of Hormus. The issue of Iran's
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: nuclear program would be pushed down the road, and already
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: we're starting to see a splinter in the positions, at
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: least announced by Iranian state media and announced by President Trump.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: You'll remember yesterday during that cabinet meeting, the President said
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: he would not be comfortable with Iran exporting their highly
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: enriched geranium to a third party country like China or Russia.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: We do know a top Pakistani diplomat is expected in
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Washington tomorrow. Some of these finer details will likely be
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: worked out in the days and weeks ahead. But as
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: you said, John, the devil here is the details, because
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: when we look at a situation like this, we have
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: been here before only to see the Iranians step back
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: at the negotiating table and try to drag things out longer.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: The other question has to do with enforcement and where
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: President Trump stands in terms of actually enforcing some sort
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: of agreement with the Iranians. What would be considered a
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: ceasefire violation if this agreement is extended. We saw overnight
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: the Iranians launching drones toward a commercial vessel that was
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Ultimately, sentcoms
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: shot down those incoming projectiles and then struck Iranian territory.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: The Iranians responded with a ballistic missile and drone attack
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: against a US base in Kuwait, and it gives you
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: a sense of just how quickly things can unravel in
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: the region. So again US sources confirming to Fox News
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: that a sixty day memorandum of understanding was reached between
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: American and Iranian negotiators. The question now, will this agreement
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: be signed off in terms of Tehran and Washington at
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: the very top level agreeing to move forward into this
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: extended ceasefire.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Now, after that news broke, there was a White House
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: press conference and the Treasury Secretary got Messent was speaking
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: about Trump laying this Iranian proposal. And here is what
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the Treasury Secretary had to say.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: With the Iranian government, we did not have regime change,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: but we changed the regime. As President Trump said at
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: the cabinet meeting, as we've said other times, the first
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: layer of leadership, what's eliminated the second layer, and we
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: are now at the third layer. And the way to
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: think about it is the Iranian government such as it is,
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: is three pillars. It is the elected government, it is
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: the IRGC, and it is the clerics, and they are
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: having trouble communicating. So we are being patient. We do
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: not have unlimited patients. President Trump always prefers a peace steal,
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: So everything we have done thus far has been defensive,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: and at present that is what we will continue doing.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: But if President Trump doesn't think he can get a
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: peace deal, then Connecticut is back now.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: The Treasury Secretary also wasn't done there. After making that
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: clear warning, he also said that President Trump is just
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: not going.
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: To do a bad deal with I Ran.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: This echoing with President Trump had said several days ago
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: when he said he is not going to be bullied
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: by RAN and they're not using the midterm elections for
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: any type of advantage. He made it very clear he
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: is going to make sure that Ran never gets a
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: nuclear weapon, and there is no timeline for the President
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to get a deal done. Well, the Treasury Secretary is
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: saying this about taking it as a well, there's no
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: deal if it's a bad deal, So ed.
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: Thank you, Miss sich Craig.
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: I guess first, well, we're starting to see this disruption
• 4:40
  Speaker 6: of the oil supply and the food stapeworms affect economic data.
• 4:44
  Speaker 6: You know, first, is there a deal on the table
• 4:48
  Speaker 6: for sixty day seats fire to continue that? And then
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: second how fast could inflation then recede or retreat? War
• 4:55
  Speaker 6: is inflation sticky because the PCEE was a three year high.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Well for prison, pc E did an month over month
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: with point two, which was we're looking at decimal points,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: but the estimate was point three, So one month doesn't
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: a trend make. And what we've seen is actually oil
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: prices are down about ten percent in May. There are
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: almost two thousand ships waiting to come out of the Gulf,
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: and I think the oil market is going to be
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: very well supplied on the other side of this, and
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: that we could see prices come down very quickly. We
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: saw the UAE they leave Opek, so I would expect
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: on the other side of this that gasoline prices will
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: follow on.
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: The table, Sorry, is there an agreement with Iran on
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: the table?
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: The teams have been going back and forth, and President
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: Trump has made it very clear, he talked about it
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: at the Cabinet meeting that he has several red lines,
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: and Iran has to turn over their highly enriched uranium.
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: They cannot pursue a nuclear weapon. And the Strait of
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: removeth back to your question on energy has to free,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: transit navigation of the seas has to be free and
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: open as it was before. So he's not going to
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: take a bad deal. He's going to make a great
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: deal for the American people.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Now, all this is happening as tensions are still extremely high.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: The US Central Command SYCOM they accused of ran on
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Thursday of a quote egregious ceasefire violation for firing a
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: ballistic missile at Kuwait and then launching five one way
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: attack drones that posed a clear threat in and near
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: the Strait of Hormuz. SINCOM said the ballistic missile was
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: successfully intercepted by Kuwaiti forces, while the drones were all
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: successfully intercepted by US forces as well. Now in addition,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: American forces quote prevented a six drone launch from an
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Iranian ground control site. US Central Command and regional partners
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: remained vigilant and measured as we continue to defend our
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: forces and interests unjustified Iranian aggression, the statement said.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: As well.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Now, Iran claimed it was just retaliating for what the
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Pentagon described as self defense strikes on Monday directed against
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Iranian missile on sites and mine laying boats as well.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Iranian state media reports implied the target of the ballistic
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: missiles fired at Kuwait by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard known
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: as the RGC was an American air base that was
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: involved in these self defense strikes. The Kiwaiti Foreign Minister
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: also called the Iranian attack a blatant violation of sovereignty
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: as well as security. It further declared its strongest condemnation
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: of the criminal Iranian attacks, which it described as a
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: dangerous escalation. Kuwait's neighbors, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: also denounced the latest Iranian attacks, saying this these terrorist
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: attacks constituted a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of Kuwait
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: and a threat to its security. Instability is what the
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: UAA Foreign Minister said to clearing full solidarity with Kuwait
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: and support for all measures amid a safeguarding its security
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: and stability. Now, Kuwait and its neighbors are all members
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: of the Golf Corporation Council known as the GCC. The
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Security General also condemned it in the strongest possible terms
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: that continued Hanus Iranian attacks on the state of Kuwait
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: will not be tolerated, saying the persistence of these treacherous
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: attacks constitution a not only a flagrant violation of the
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: principles of international law, the United Nations UN Charter and
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: the principles of good neighborliness is what the statement said
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: as well. Now, like the individual GCC members, we also
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: know that other countries came out and defended Kuwait as well,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: saying they will stand by their neighbor and that they
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: shouldn't have to deal with this type of aggression from Iran. Now,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: as for the Iranian drawn attacks, US officials described them
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: as not only a threat to ships in the straight
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: of Horn moves, but they also said the strikes on
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the Iranian control station was a purely defensive action intended
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: to maintain the ceasefire, not break it. Iranian Foreign Ministry
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: spokesperson nevertheless condemned the US actions as a violation of
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: the ceasefire and said Iran would take all necessary measures
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: to defend its national sovereignty. Now there's two things happening
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: here that are very clear. You have the President trying
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: to get a good deal, a deal that makes sure
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: that Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons, while Iran is also
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: popping off shots.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: One thing is very clear.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: The next twenty four to forty eight hours could be
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: extremely important in dealing with all of this.
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: And we'll keep you updated.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: The federal agency overseeing more than one hundred and twenty
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: six billion dollars and federal contracts is joining. Now we
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: are learning Vice President JD Vance's Anti Fraud Task Force,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: expanding the White House's crackdown into the federal government's contracting system.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: The General Services Administration calls itself the engine of government
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and serves as the federal government's central contracting and real
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: estate agency. Now this is really big because they oversee
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the buildings, the services and the goods agencies rely on
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: to operate, and by joining the task force, the GSA
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: gives one of the Trump administration's highest profile accountability efforts
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: access to its procurement data, its acquisition expertise, and cross
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: agency reach. As the White House now seeks to root
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: out even more fraud in the Public Programs Department. The
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: GSA sits at the center of the federal acquisition and
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: contracting ecosystem, making us a critical force in the fight
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: against fraud, is what the GSA administrator Forced said in
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: a statement to Fox News Digital. Now, this also comes
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: as we're learning just how much fraud is actually out there.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Six point three billion in potential fraud was uncovered recently.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: As Fox News explained.
• 11:16
  Speaker 7: It team has identified nearly six point three billion dollars
• 11:20
  Speaker 7: and suspected fraudulent government contracts. Now, nearly four hundred businesses
• 11:25
  Speaker 7: are on the clock today to prove those contracts are legitimate.
• 11:29
  Speaker 7: They have thirty days to do it or they lose
• 11:31
  Speaker 7: their funding. And we are learning more about the shocking
• 11:35
  Speaker 7: ways alleged fraudsters are spending your money. Now, this is
• 11:39
  Speaker 7: from the California Post in San Diego. One woman is
• 11:43
  Speaker 7: charged with stealing money you're marked to fight fentonal overdoses,
• 11:46
  Speaker 7: but prosecutors say some of that thirty thousand dollars went
• 11:49
  Speaker 7: to her cosmetic procedures, breast implants, tweaks to her arms
• 11:53
  Speaker 7: and thighs, and a Tommy Tuck, that's your money. She
• 11:56
  Speaker 7: also bought flights to Hawaii and Disneyland and got a
• 11:59
  Speaker 7: couple of purebred dogs. Now in Los Angeles, a man
• 12:03
  Speaker 7: allegedly used stolen funds to pay for a seven million
• 12:06
  Speaker 7: dollar home, a one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars
• 12:09
  Speaker 7: range rover, private school tuition, a private jet, luxury resorts days,
• 12:14
  Speaker 7: and a vacation property in Greece. Now elsewhere in southern California,
• 12:19
  Speaker 7: a man accused of using funds set aside to fight
• 12:22
  Speaker 7: homelessness use them on his extravagant parties. A forty six
• 12:26
  Speaker 7: thousand dollars a month Beverly Hills mansion, twenty VIP passes
• 12:30
  Speaker 7: to Coachella, and high end jewelry and handbags costing up
• 12:34
  Speaker 7: to one hundred and sixty three thousand dollars. But instead
• 12:38
  Speaker 7: of recovering what the state lost to fraud, Los Angeles
• 12:42
  Speaker 7: Mayor Karen bass is asking for an additional six three
• 12:45
  Speaker 7: hundred and sixty million dollars to prevent homelessness. Isn't that nice?
• 12:50
  Speaker 7: And finally, a former top ad to Gavin Newsom is
• 12:52
  Speaker 7: accused of making bogus business expenses topping a million dollars
• 12:57
  Speaker 7: and using that cash to go on a spending spree
• 12:59
  Speaker 7: which included a fifteen thousand dollars Chanel handbag in a
• 13:03
  Speaker 7: one hundred and fifty six thousand dollars birthday blowout in Mexico.
• 13:08
  Speaker 7: Must be nice and plenty of fraudsters are sending their
• 13:11
  Speaker 7: money overseas. On Monday at California, resident confess to funneling
• 13:14
  Speaker 7: more than five million dollars in contracts to China. In
• 13:18
  Speaker 7: Nigeria and last week's CMS administrator, doctor Oz told me
• 13:23
  Speaker 7: that the Cuban government might have their hands in the
• 13:26
  Speaker 7: cookie jar.
• 13:27
  Speaker 8: We have rampin fraud here and we believe the Cuban
• 13:30
  Speaker 8: government might be involved in this effort. I was in Flushing, Queens,
• 13:33
  Speaker 8: New York, where we Chinese are involved in a program
• 13:36
  Speaker 8: that is defrauding that state with these adult social daycare
• 13:39
  Speaker 8: centers which are basically congregation centers for fraud. Again, the
• 13:43
  Speaker 8: States looking the other way now.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: As my good friend Kaylee mcina he explained, so well, there,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: the waste fraud abuse is just completely out of control,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: and that's why the GSA bringing their advanced analytical capabilities
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: and their investigative support and their cross government coordination will
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: now expose what they describe as the high risk fraud patterns,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: and then they say, stop the bad actors from exploiting
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: our taxpayer funded system. Now, the White House Task Force
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: is very clear on what their objective is. President Donald
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Trump said through the executive Order that his job was
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: simple to give the tools needed to reduce fraud, waste,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and abuse in our federal programs. It's chaired, as you know,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: by the Vice President, and that task force is now
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: improving eligibility verification, strengthening payment controls, and sharing data across agencies,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: as well as helping law enforcement disrupt the fraud schemes altogether.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Now there's also something else that's interesting here. The GSA
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: has actually historically had some major problems with improper payments
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: going out. In February, for instance, the agency's Office of
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Inspector General released the report finding that federal customer agencies
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: relying on GSA pricing on scheduled contracts they say are
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: at risk of major overpayment due to failure from government
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: contracting officers or inaccurate information submitted by contractors as well. Now,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: the White House Fraud Task Force that was established just
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: in March has already racked up a few big wins
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: in the week since law enforcement working in conjunction with
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: the Task Force has already arrested eight people in California
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: on suspicions of defrauding public health care services out of
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: more than fifty million dollars. The task Force also is
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: withheld one point four billion in federal funding from home
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: health care and hospice providers suspected defrauding the government. The
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: GSA's participation reinforces now a whole of government strategy that's
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: focused on restoring accountability, strengthening operational integrity, and ensuring federal
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: programs deliver results for the American people, the press release continues.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: They said.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: By combating the task force investigative mission with the GSA's
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: government wide infrastructure and procurement expertise, the administration is accelerating
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: efforts to increase the transparency, improve efficiency, and reinforce public
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: trust in the federal operations. Now this all comes as
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: President Trump said this about government waste.
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: Under the leadership of Vice President JD.
• 16:29
  Speaker 9: Van'm very proud of this, the White House Task Force
• 16:34
  Speaker 9: to Eliminate Fraud is waging war on waste, fraud, theft,
• 16:37
  Speaker 9: and abuse like nobody's ever seen before.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: He looks like Elliott. Ness, do you ever see Elliott?
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: I'm telling you.
• 16:44
  Speaker 9: The guys are rough. There are standing there. What a
• 16:48
  Speaker 9: group of people? No, it looks like a movie. I'm
• 16:51
  Speaker 9: going to make a movie out of it, I think.
• 16:53
  Speaker 9: And they're finding billions and bidions and billions of dollars.
• 16:57
  Speaker 9: And I just said, that's good. He said, you haven't
• 16:59
  Speaker 9: seen anything yet.
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: Just said that.
• 17:02
  Speaker 9: And you know, if he does really great, we'll have
• 17:04
  Speaker 9: a balanced budget without having to do anything.
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: This is the kind of money they sold.
• 17:09
  Speaker 9: Their crooks. They're thieves. And I hope that Todd is
• 17:12
  Speaker 9: going to do a real job. These are crooked people.
• 17:14
  Speaker 9: These are thieves. This isn't like a mistake just talking
• 17:19
  Speaker 9: about one person. He got hundreds of thousands, millions of
• 17:22
  Speaker 9: dollars for securing one.
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: Man, for taking care of one elderly man. He was
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: a service.
• 17:30
  Speaker 9: He got paid millions of dollars for taking care of
• 17:32
  Speaker 9: one man.
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: Total crook. They're all crooks.
• 17:36
  Speaker 9: The Somalians are what they've done to Minnesota. The Somalians
• 17:41
  Speaker 9: crooked as hell. Elon Omar crooked as hell. They're all crooks,
• 17:46
  Speaker 9: and we got them we got them. Now we're putting
• 17:49
  Speaker 9: the clamps on. But boy, that's an oppressive group of
• 17:52
  Speaker 9: guys that get behind you. I was watching that and
• 17:55
  Speaker 9: a couple of very strong women too, So I was
• 17:58
  Speaker 9: watching that last night.
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: I said, I'm proud of you guys.
• 18:01
  Speaker 9: In two months, we've exposed tens of billions of dollars
• 18:04
  Speaker 9: of defrauded tax payer money, prosecuted numerous fraudss Todd, and
• 18:09
  Speaker 9: stopped billions of suspicious payments, very suspicious.
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: Oh you haven't seen anything yet.
• 18:14
  Speaker 9: Well, you see, I'm getting reports from Todd, from JD.
• 18:18
  Speaker 9: I've never seen anything like it, to kind of just
• 18:22
  Speaker 9: hundreds of billions of dollars was stolen, and no other
• 18:26
  Speaker 9: administration would do what we're doing.
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: I'd let it go. Everybody was getting rich, and I
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: think we have.
• 18:33
  Speaker 9: A chance to save social Security without doing anything to it.
• 18:36
  Speaker 9: But just the numbers of fraudulent people and Social Security
• 18:41
  Speaker 9: people that are one hundred and fifteen years old, one
• 18:45
  Speaker 9: hundred and twenty five years old getting payments.
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: It's funny, I said, Oh, do those payments get turned back? No,
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: they accepted.
• 18:52
  Speaker 9: Somebody's got in the It's not a person that's one
• 18:55
  Speaker 9: hundred and twenty five years old. But that's the least
• 18:58
  Speaker 9: of it. The numbers that we're finding out. We have
• 19:00
  Speaker 9: great people in social security. We're going to make our.
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: Social security so strong, so good that you never see
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: anything like it.
• 19:09
  Speaker 9: We're going to protect I said right from the beginning,
• 19:11
  Speaker 9: We're going to protect our people in social security. If
• 19:14
  Speaker 9: the Democrats ever got in, you wouldn't have some social
• 19:17
  Speaker 9: Security would be bankrupt.
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: People wouldn't be getting anything.
• 19:20
  Speaker 9: Last week, they took down two of the largest medicaid
• 19:23
  Speaker 9: fraudcases in Minnesota history, as well as the largest autism
• 19:27
  Speaker 9: froudcase ever charged by the federal Governor said that with
• 19:31
  Speaker 9: minions of dollars just being stolen, everybody had autism.
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: Everybody had autism. They said it was incredible.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: Actually, So there you have it.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: It's pretty clear the President United States of America Donald
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Trump saying we're going to keep coming. We're going after
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: the fraud or waging a war on the waste and
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the abuse like no one's ever seen before.
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: That coming from the White House.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: If you want a snapshot of what the Trump administration
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: means when they say they're waging a war on fraud,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: look no further than the numbers released by the Assistant
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Attorney General for Fraud Enforcement, Colin McDonald, speaking at a
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: National Anti Fraud roundtable led by the Vice President Jade Vance,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: McDonald announced that the newly created National Fraud Enforcement Division
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: has already recorded more than four hundred and fifty major
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: fraud enforcement actions in its first fifty days.
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Those actions include criminal charges, convictions already getting guilty pleas,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: and sentencing actions targeting individuals accused of stealing millions and
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: millions of taxpayer dollars. Now, this is an astonishing pace
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: for a division that essentially didn't exist just a few
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: months ago.
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: The National Fraud Enforcement Division was created after Acting Attorney
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: General Todd blanche or the Department of Justice to build
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: a dedicated nationwide task force that was focused on fraud
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: involving taxpayer funded programs. The mission is incredibly straightforward, and
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: in government, let's be clear, you don't get that very often.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Their job find the people stealing from government programs and
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: then prosecute them aggressively. The Trump administration has made fraud
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: one of its signature issues, and they're now arguing that
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: not only are millions, but actually billions of taxpayer dollars
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: have been lost through abuse of medicaid, pandemic relief programs,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: the welfare system in general, and also many other federally
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: funded initiatives. The Vice President has repeatedly described the efforts
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: as a national campaign to root out waste, fraud and abuse.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: I want you to listen to what McDonald had to
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: say about what they've uncovered in such a short period
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: of time.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: Fraud schemes that first week.
• 22:05
  Speaker 10: So the scope and scale of this pretty large. Yes, Dana,
• 22:11
  Speaker 10: the scope of this is larger than ever. As mister
• 22:14
  Speaker 10: Blanche there and that clip said, we are now putting
• 22:17
  Speaker 10: the necessary resources behind the fraud crisis that we're facing
• 22:21
  Speaker 10: in the country, and we're off to a great start.
• 22:24
  Speaker 10: We're over four hundred and fifty major fraud of events
• 22:28
  Speaker 10: at this point, just in the first fifty two days
• 22:30
  Speaker 10: of this Fraud division, and we're just getting started.
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: Do you have cooperation from the states.
• 22:39
  Speaker 10: In general? So state cooperation is essential to what we're
• 22:44
  Speaker 10: trying to achieve here data and that's because really the
• 22:48
  Speaker 10: problem is national and the front line of this battle
• 22:53
  Speaker 10: is really the state prosecutor units. Some states are doing
• 22:58
  Speaker 10: very well in that regard, and we have great cooperation
• 23:01
  Speaker 10: from them. Other states can can kick up their support
• 23:05
  Speaker 10: for this and make sure that the resources that the
• 23:08
  Speaker 10: federal government even puts into their prosecutorial programs, that those
• 23:12
  Speaker 10: resources are being used to the maximum extent possible to
• 23:17
  Speaker 10: make sure that as many fraudsters as possible are put
• 23:20
  Speaker 10: behind bars for their conduct.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Now, let's just talk about what they have found in
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: just the first fifty days. Among the examples being highlighted
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: is charges against fifteen defendants tied to major medicaid fraud
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: schemes in Minnesota. The prosecution of a shocking six hundred
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and fifty million dollar medicaid related sober homes fraud scheme
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: in Arizona.
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: Yes, it's just in Arizona.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Six hundred and fifty million dollars, a guilty plea connected
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: to a two hundred and seventy million dollar medicaid fraud
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: operation in California. Numerous convictions and sentencing actions involving misuse
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: of taxpayer funded programs on top of that. Now, what
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: McDonald's said is the message is very simple. Every dollar
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: is stolen from programs designed to help the elderly, the poor,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: the sick and vulnerable in this country is a dollar
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: deliberately stolen from the American taxpayers. Now, the first week
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: alone was massive. The administration now has disclosed the early
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: results of what they did. Just in the very first
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: week of the operation, the division announced actions involving more
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: than three hundred and forty million dollars in fraud schemes,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: including major cases involving pandemic relief fraud, Medicare fraud, and
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: unemployment fraud. Federal prosecutors also secured millions of dollars in
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: restitution orders aimed at recovering taxpayer dollars. One of the
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: most high profile cases you may remember involved the Feeding
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Our Future fraud scandal in Minnesota. There are hundreds of
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: millions of taxpayer dollars intended to feed children that were
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: going hungry during the pandemic were diverted into luxury purchases, overseas,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: real estate, and personal spending by the fraudsters. The Trump
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: administration's argument is that fraud isn't a victimless crime. When
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: someone steals from medicaid, Medicare, pandemic funds, nutrition programs, unemployment system,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: taxpayers ultimately are footing the bill and that's why McDonald
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: said the Division is treating every fraud case as a
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: direct attack on the American people. With so much focus
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: being on what's happening between the United States and Iran,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: you may think that that's the only news. Well, guess
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: what when it comes to the Trump administration, not even close.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: We now have learned that the Trump administration is dramatically
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: expanding its campaign against transnational criminal organizations, announcing that of
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Brazil's most powerful gangs will soon be designated as foreign
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: terrorists organizations. Now, this latest move comes after the administration
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: already designated a number of major cartels and gangs across
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Latin America as terrist organizations, including Venezuela's Trade Denaragua, El
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Salvador's MS thirteen, and several Mexican powerful cartels tied to
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: drug trafficking, human smuggling, and violence directed at the United States.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: The administration has argued that these organizations operate more like
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: international terrorist networks than traditional criminal enterprises because they control territory,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: they intimidate populations, they corrupt governments, and then they threaten
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: US national security. Now the administration is turning its attention
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: to Brazil. The Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing that
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: the United States will designate Brazil's two largest criminal organizations,
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: commonly known as PCC, as well as the Commando Vermelho
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: known as the Red Command, as foreign terrorist organizations beginning
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: June fifth. The State Department has already classified both groups
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: as specially Designated Global Terrorists, immediately restricting their access to
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: the international financial system. Now you may ask this question,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: who are these groups? And it's a fair question to ask.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Most Americans have never heard of PCC or the Commando Vermeljo,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: but these organizations are among the most powerful criminal networks
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: in the Western Hemisphere. PCC, for example, was born inside
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Brazilian prisons in the nineteen nineties and then has evolved
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: into a massive criminal empire. It involves of course, drug trafficking,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: money laundering, arms trafficking, extortion, and then even prison control. Now,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Commando Vermeljo emerged from Rio de Janeiro's prison system and
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: became one of the most dominant gangs, controlling large sections
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: of Brazil and their drug routes. Together, authorities estimate they
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: have tens of thousands of members and associates operating throughout
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: South America and then of course far beyond that. Now,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: according to Secretary Rubio. These organizations now have criminal networks
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: that stretch across Latin America, and now they reach into
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: the United States of America itself. He described them as
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: among the most violent criminal organizations in Brazil and a
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: direct threat to American security interests. Now this matters. For
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: this reason, the designation is more than just symbolic, because
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: once a group is formally designated as a foreign terrast organization,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: the US government then gains powerful new tools and assets
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: can be frozen, the financial transactions can be blocked. Anyone
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: providing material support can face major criminal penalties, and then
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: you've got corruption in banks and businesses and other individuals worldwide.
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: Well, now all of.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: A sudden, they suddenly face enormous legal risk if they
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: are connected to the organization in any way. Now, the
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: administration believes that these tools can be used to attack
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: criminal organizations at their financial core, instead of simply arresting
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: low level operatives. The strategy also reflects a much broader
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Trump administration view that the threats posed by modern cartels
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: and gangs are no longer merely law enforcement issues, instead
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: their national security threats, requiring counter terrorism authority. Now, Brazil
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: pushed back heavy on this because they're afraid that America
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: may actually use military force to do exactly what we
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: witness with Maduro. It's not surprising that they're saying no
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: to this now. The President of Brazil has resisted the
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: designations for more than a year, arguing Brazil's laws treat
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: these groups as criminal organizations rather other than terrorist groups.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Brazilian officials, and many of them are very corrupt, have
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: also expressed open concerns that the designation could create diplomatic tensions,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: financial consequences for the country, and even serve as justification
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: for future foreign intervention. Brazilian officials say they welcome cooperation
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: and fighting money laundering or arms trafficking or organized crime,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: but they oppose labeling domestic gangs as terrorists organizations. Now
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: we know that Brazil's government is extremely corrupt. We know
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: that the tentacles of these two terrorist organizations are extremely
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: deep and at the highest levels of Brazilian's government, which
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: is exactly why the president made this decision. The announcement
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: signals that the Trump administration is continuing to redefine the
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: war on organized crime. Terrorist organizations were generally reserved for
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: well ideological groups like al Qaeda or ISIS. But today
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: the administration is applying those same authorities to these criminal
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: enterprises that generate billions through narcotics, human trafficking, extortion, violence,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: and sex trafficking as well. And the message from Washington
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: is this, if a carteler gang has the power to
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: destabilize governments, flood American communities with drugs, terrorized populations, and
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: threaten US interests, the Administration believes it should be treated
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: like the terrorist organization, which they really are. And that's
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: why Donald Trump is moving forward on this. It's also
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: setting a very clear message to Mexico you better get
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: in line and start doing everything you can to go
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: after their cartels, or will do it for you.
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: We'll keep following this story.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: I can promise you that we've got a lot more
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: that's going to happen the days ahead. So make sure
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: you don't forget Grab our podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcasts
• 31:54
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• 31:58
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• 32:00
  Speaker 1: breaking news.