Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Full-Court Fraud: NBA Stars and Coaches Caught in Mafia-Backed Betting Ring

Transcript

Full-Court Fraud: NBA Stars and Coaches Caught in Mafia-Backed Betting Ring · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Donald Trump made it clear when he was running for
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Speaker 1: president that he was going to restore law and order. Now,
0:06
Speaker 1: a lot of people thought that would just be on
0:08
Speaker 1: basic issues like securing the southern border. Well, we now
0:12
Speaker 1: know the president is not playing by just picking and
0:15
Speaker 1: choosing where he's going to enforce the law. It's for everyone,
0:18
Speaker 1: even the rich and famous, even sports figures that are famous,
0:23
Speaker 1: even coaches in the NBA. We now have new information
0:29
Speaker 1: about the Insiders sports betting and money laundering case, this
0:34
Speaker 1: coming out of New York. It includes wire fraud, conspiracy,
0:39
Speaker 1: money laundering, conspiracy, and prosecutors allege that a group to
0:42
Speaker 1: use non public NBA injury and lineup info in some
0:48
Speaker 1: instances staged early exits from games to place fraudulent wagers
0:54
Speaker 1: and then launder the proceeds. There are major names that
0:58
Speaker 1: are involved. Name if you're a sports fan, you'll know
1:02
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Speaker 1: a difference with every call you make. I want you
2:51
Speaker 1: to hear what the FBI director had to say about
2:54
Speaker 1: this as he was announcing it at the Department of Justice.
2:57
Speaker 3: Good morning today. We are here in New York to
2:59
Speaker 3: announce it. The historic arrests across a wide, sweeping criminal
3:03
Speaker 3: enterprise that envelops both the NBA and Lacasa Nostra. The
3:08
Speaker 3: men and women up here standing with me represent a
3:10
Speaker 3: small portion of the leadership team that brought profound justice
3:14
Speaker 3: in an era that needed it more than any I'll
3:18
Speaker 3: just highlight some of the details in the case and
3:20
Speaker 3: the FBI work, and then you'll hear from the others.
3:23
Speaker 3: But as you now know, individuals such as Chauncey Billups,
3:26
Speaker 3: Damon Jones, and Terry Rozier were taking into custody today
3:30
Speaker 3: former current NBA players and coaches. What you don't know
3:36
Speaker 3: is that this is an illegal gambling operation and sports
3:39
Speaker 3: rigging operation that spanned the course of years. The FBI
3:42
Speaker 3: led a coordinative takedown across eleven states to arrest over
3:46
Speaker 3: thirty individuals today responsible for this case, which is very
3:50
Speaker 3: much ongoing. Not only did we crack into the fraud
3:54
Speaker 3: that these perpetrators committed on the grand stage of the NBA,
4:00
Speaker 3: but we also entered and executed a system of justice
4:05
Speaker 3: against lak Hasanoshra to include the Banano, Gambino, Genevesi and
4:10
Speaker 3: Luchas crime families, and you'll hear more about those details today.
4:15
Speaker 3: The charges and the arrests that were taken down across
4:17
Speaker 3: this country range from wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery,
4:21
Speaker 3: illegal gambling. This FBI will leave no room for any
4:26
Speaker 3: perpetrator of crime across this country. You hear a lot
4:29
Speaker 3: about our work of defending the homeland and crushing violent crime. Well,
4:32
Speaker 3: this work is also representative of a colossal portion of
4:36
Speaker 3: the FBI's mandate to keep America safe and to keep
4:38
Speaker 3: our entertainment industry fair and secure. The men and women
4:42
Speaker 3: that are standing up here today worked tireless hours, days, months,
4:46
Speaker 3: and years, and the fraud is mind boggling. It's not
4:50
Speaker 3: hundreds of dollars, it's not thousands of dollars it's not
4:53
Speaker 3: tens of thousands of dollars. It's not even millions of dollars.
4:57
Speaker 3: We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in f fraud,
5:00
Speaker 3: and theft and robbery across a multi year investigation. And
5:06
Speaker 3: we could not have done it without our inneragency partners
5:08
Speaker 3: that are before us today, the NYPD, HSI and teams
5:13
Speaker 3: of law enforcement officials from around the country made this
5:15
Speaker 3: day possible. It takes a team to bring this kind
5:19
Speaker 3: of justice, sweeping justice into the halls of the United
5:23
Speaker 3: States courtrooms, where our brave United States Attorney has led
5:26
Speaker 3: this prosecution. It takes courageous prosecutors to stand before you
5:31
Speaker 3: and say, we will not allow this kind of illicit
5:34
Speaker 3: activity to happen not only at the national sporting level,
5:39
Speaker 3: but also where it hides in La Casinostra. And when
5:43
Speaker 3: these two collided together, they perpetrated a fraud that is
5:47
Speaker 3: historic in terms of not just money, but the scheme
5:51
Speaker 3: and the deceit that they utilize to steal and swindle
5:55
Speaker 3: people from money, to include crypto fraud. This is an
5:59
Speaker 3: operation showcases to you that under President Trump's administration, there
6:03
Speaker 3: is no room for any type of criminal behavior be
6:06
Speaker 3: it on the world's largest stage or in the back
6:09
Speaker 3: rooms of tiny pollers where guard games are being plugged.
6:13
Speaker 3: We are proud to stand here today with the men
6:16
Speaker 3: and women of the FBI and this legal team, and
6:19
Speaker 3: to the United States Attorney, I just want to thank
6:21
Speaker 3: you personally for taking the time to display the work
6:26
Speaker 3: that the media is about to hear about today in detail.
6:29
Speaker 3: As I said, it does take courageous prosecutors, but it
6:31
Speaker 3: takes a courageous United States Attorney to bring this case
6:35
Speaker 3: because we are going to take heat for it. But
6:37
Speaker 3: we don't shy away. In this administration. We don't say no.
6:40
Speaker 3: What we do is we bring the results across the
6:42
Speaker 3: finish line. We bring them to the public. We bring
6:44
Speaker 3: you accountability. And yes, they will have their day in
6:46
Speaker 3: court and you will hear the evidence through the court
6:48
Speaker 3: system exclusively. We will not deny anyone of due process.
6:52
Speaker 3: And that's the brilliance of this system. That's the brilliance
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Speaker 3: of this administration. Everyone will be held to account.
6:58
Speaker 1: Now, let's talk about what these indictments actually are. The
7:02
Speaker 1: key alleged episodes from the indictment include a March twenty third,
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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three Charlotte Hornets game, Rozier allegedly told Laster
7:12
Speaker 1: that he would leave early with a purported injury, enabling
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Speaker 1: the underprop bets to happen. Two hundred thousand wagers were placed,
7:22
Speaker 1: many paid out after Roger exited at nine minutes you
7:26
Speaker 1: look at March twenty fourth of twenty twenty three. A
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Speaker 1: day later, Portland Trailblazers versus the Bulls, Ernest allegedly passed
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Speaker 1: a tip from a then NBA coach that the top
7:40
Speaker 1: Blazers would sit. One hundred thousand dollars was bet before
7:44
Speaker 1: the news became public, yielding major winnings when the lines
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Speaker 1: then moved. April the sixth, twenty twenty three, in the
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Speaker 1: Magic versus the Cavaliers game, a tip from a Magic
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Speaker 1: player connection that starters would sit, and a bet on
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Speaker 1: the calves against the spread hit when Cleveland won by
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Speaker 1: twenty four points. February the ninth, twenty twenty three and
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Speaker 1: January the fifteenth, twenty twenty four, at a Lakers game,
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Speaker 1: Damon Jones allegedly sold pre release medical slash lineup info
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Speaker 1: about star players, specifically for betting. January the twenty six
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Speaker 1: and March twentieth of twenty twenty four, the rafters, John
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Speaker 1: Jay Porter Games. Porter allegedly agreed to exit early to
8:30
Speaker 1: benefit the unders Long five Fam and others relaying info
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Speaker 1: that led to winning bets. Porter and Fam have already
8:39
Speaker 1: pled guilty in a related matter. Now, this also brings
8:43
Speaker 1: up another aspect of these cases, and that is the
8:46
Speaker 1: mafia back connections and the rigged underground poker case as well.
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Speaker 1: I want you to hear more about this from the
8:53
Speaker 1: FBI and what they had to say at the press conference.
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Speaker 4: To be clear, we're announcing today indictments in two major cases,
9:03
Speaker 4: both involving fraud. One involves sports betting and the other
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Speaker 4: involves illegal gambling, very specifically rigged poker games. The first
9:14
Speaker 4: indictment involves six defendants who are alleged to have participated
9:18
Speaker 4: one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online
9:23
Speaker 4: sports betting became widely legalized in the United States. This
9:28
Speaker 4: scheme is an insider sports betting conspiracy that exploited confidential
9:32
Speaker 4: information about National Basketball Association athletes and teams. The second
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Speaker 4: indictment involves thirty one defendants alleged to have participated in
9:44
Speaker 4: a nationwide scheme to rig illegal poker games. These defendants,
9:51
Speaker 4: which include former professional athletes, used high tech cheating technology
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Speaker 4: to steal millions of dollars from victims in underground on
10:00
Speaker 4: poker games that were secretly fixed. The games in the
10:04
Speaker 4: New York area were backed by the Banano, Gambino and
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Speaker 4: Genovese crime families of La Casinostra. Well the cases are separate.
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Speaker 4: There are three overlapping defendants charged in both cases, Damon Jones,
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Speaker 4: Eric Ernest and Shane Hennen. The indictments in these cases
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Speaker 4: contain only allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until
10:31
Speaker 4: they are proven guilty in a court of law. But
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Speaker 4: my message to the defendants who've been rounded up today
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Speaker 4: is this, your winning streak has ended.
10:41
Speaker 5: Your luck has run out.
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Speaker 4: Violating the law is a losing proposition, and you can.
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Speaker 5: Bet on that.
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Speaker 2: There's also more to this.
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Speaker 1: The mafia backed and rigged underground poker cases and the
10:55
Speaker 1: unsealed charges in Brooklyn are well pretty extensive seven count
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Speaker 1: indictment alleging wire fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, extortion, robbery and
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Speaker 1: related defenses tied to rigged high stakes poker games in
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Speaker 1: New York City. In the Hamptons, Las Vegas and elsewhere.
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Speaker 1: The DOJ says that multiple mob families backed the games.
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Speaker 1: Victims they say allegedly lost at least seven million, and
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Speaker 1: thirty one defendants were arrested across eleven different states. And
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Speaker 1: you may ask yourself the question, how did the cheating work.
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Speaker 1: What we now know is this they had altered card
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Speaker 1: shuffling machines and other covert tech chip tray analyzers, X
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Speaker 1: ray tables, marked card contacts and glasses, and fed the
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Speaker 1: winning hands to a quote quarterback slash driver whose signaled
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Speaker 1: teammates to ensure victims lost. Some members allegedly used threats, assaults,
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Speaker 1: and a gunpoint robbery connected to the operations.
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Speaker 2: Here's more about this again from the FBI.
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Speaker 4: But my message to the defendants who've been rounded up
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Speaker 4: today is this, your winning streak has ended.
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Speaker 5: Your luck has run out.
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Speaker 4: Violating the law is a losing proposition, and you can
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Speaker 4: bet on that. First, I would like to talk about
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Speaker 4: United States versus Ernest, the NBA basketball gambling case. The
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Speaker 4: defendants in this case are Eric Ernest Marvez, Farley, Shane Hennon,
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Speaker 4: To Niro Laster, Damon Jones, a former NBA player and coach,
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Speaker 4: and Terry Rosier, a current NBA player. Other co conspirators
12:54
Speaker 4: were previously charged for their roles in the scheme, including
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Speaker 4: former NBA player Johntay Porter. Between December twenty twenty two
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Speaker 4: and March twenty twenty four, these defendants perpetrated a scheme
13:09
Speaker 4: to defraud by betting on inside, non public information about
13:14
Speaker 4: NBA athletes and teams. The non public information included when
13:20
Speaker 4: specific players would be sitting out future games or when
13:24
Speaker 4: they would pull themselves out early for purported injuries or illnesses.
13:29
Speaker 4: They relied on corrupt individuals, including Jones and Rosier. They
13:34
Speaker 4: also misused information to obtained through long standing friendships that
13:38
Speaker 4: they had with NBA players and coaches, and in at
13:42
Speaker 4: least one instance, they got their information by threatening a
13:46
Speaker 4: current player Porter because of his pre existing gambling debts.
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Speaker 4: Defendants used this non public information to place hundreds of
13:55
Speaker 4: thousands of dollars in fraudulent bets, mostly in the form
13:59
Speaker 4: of prop bets on individual player performance. The bets were
14:04
Speaker 4: placed through online sportsbooks and also in person at casinos.
14:09
Speaker 4: The defendants relied on a network of straw betters to
14:13
Speaker 4: place the maximum amount of bets to increase their potential profits.
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Speaker 4: Most of these bets succeeded, and the intended losses were
14:23
Speaker 4: in the millions of dollars. The defendants then laundered their
14:28
Speaker 4: illegal winnings in various ways, peer to peer platforms, bank wires,
14:33
Speaker 4: and simple cash exchanges. The indictment details specific examples where
14:41
Speaker 4: the defendants profited from illegal gambling and illegal betting on
14:45
Speaker 4: various NBA games about the performance of players on, among
14:49
Speaker 4: other things, the Charlotte Hornets, the Portland Trailblazers, the Los
14:55
Speaker 4: Angeles Lakers, and the Toronto Rangers. Each defendant in the
14:59
Speaker 4: NBA basketball gambling case has been charged with conspiracy to
15:03
Speaker 4: commit wirefraud and conspiracy.
15:06
Speaker 5: To commit money laundering.
15:10
Speaker 4: Now, I would like to turn to the other case,
15:12
Speaker 4: United States versus Ilo, the rigged poker game case. Beginning
15:18
Speaker 4: as early as twenty nineteen, the defendants in this case
15:24
Speaker 4: orchestrated a scheme to use wireless cheating technology to run
15:29
Speaker 4: rigged poker games across the United States, including in the Hamptons,
15:34
Speaker 4: Las Vegas, Miami, and Manhattan. The scheme targeted victims known
15:41
Speaker 4: as quote fish, who were often lord to participate in
15:47
Speaker 4: these rigged games by the chance to play alongside former
15:51
Speaker 4: professional athletes who were known as quote face cards. The
15:57
Speaker 4: so called face cards included the Chauncey Billips, who at
16:02
Speaker 4: the time of the scheme was a former NBA player
16:05
Speaker 4: and is currently the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers,
16:10
Speaker 4: and also Damon Jones, a former NBA player and coach.
16:15
Speaker 4: What the victims the fish didn't know is that everybody
16:20
Speaker 4: else at the poker game, from the dealer to the players,
16:24
Speaker 4: including the face cards, were in on the scam. Once
16:28
Speaker 4: the game was underway, the defendants fleeced the victims out
16:32
Speaker 4: of tens or hundreds of.
16:33
Speaker 5: Thousands of dollars per game.
16:37
Speaker 4: The defendants used a variety of very sophisticated cheating technologies,
16:42
Speaker 4: some of which were provided by other defendants in exchange
16:46
Speaker 4: for a share of the profits from the scheme. For example,
16:51
Speaker 4: they used off the shelf shuffling machines that had been
16:55
Speaker 4: secretly altered in order to read the cards in the deck,
17:00
Speaker 4: dit which player at the table had the best poker hand,
17:04
Speaker 4: and relay that information to an off site operator.
17:09
Speaker 5: The off site operator.
17:12
Speaker 4: Sent the information via cell phone back to a co
17:16
Speaker 4: conspirator at the table, and that person at the table
17:20
Speaker 4: was known as the quarterback. The quarterback then signaled secretly
17:26
Speaker 4: the information he had received from others to others at
17:30
Speaker 4: the table, and together they used that information in order
17:34
Speaker 4: to win their games and to cheat the victims. Defendants
17:40
Speaker 4: used other cheating technologies such as poker chip tray analyzers,
17:45
Speaker 4: which is a poker chip tray that secretly reads cards
17:50
Speaker 4: using a hidden camera, special contact lenses or eyeglasses that
17:54
Speaker 4: could read pre marked cards, and an X ray table
17:58
Speaker 4: that could read cards face down on the table. What
18:03
Speaker 4: you see depicted on screen right now is an example of.
18:06
Speaker 5: The x ray table that reveals the cards.
18:10
Speaker 4: Although they are faced down on the table, they can
18:13
Speaker 4: be read because of the x ray technology. The mafia,
18:18
Speaker 4: specifically members and associates of the Banano, Gambino and Genovi's
18:23
Speaker 4: organized crime families, had pre existing control over non rigged
18:28
Speaker 4: illegal poker games around New York City. As a result,
18:33
Speaker 4: they also became involved in the rigged poker games, helping
18:37
Speaker 4: to organize the games and taking a cut of the
18:39
Speaker 4: proceedings and working.
18:41
Speaker 5: To enforce the collection of debts.
18:45
Speaker 4: The defendants laundered their proceeds, including through cash exchanges, the
18:49
Speaker 4: use of multiple shell companies, and through cryptocurrency transfers. As
18:55
Speaker 4: part of the scheme, some of the defendants and their
18:58
Speaker 4: co conspiracies conspirators also committed acts of violence, including the
19:03
Speaker 4: gunpoint robbery of a person in order to obtain a
19:07
Speaker 4: rigged shuffling machine, and extortions that were perpetrated against victims
19:14
Speaker 4: in order to ensure that they repaid their gambling debts.
19:18
Speaker 4: Defendants who participated in the rig poker scheme are charged
19:21
Speaker 4: with wirefrog conspiracy. Other defendants have been charged with crimes
19:26
Speaker 4: including illegal gambling, money laundering, hobzac, robbery, and extortions.
19:32
Speaker 5: This case demonstrates our office's.
19:36
Speaker 4: Unrelenting commitment to fighting the scurge of organized crime in
19:40
Speaker 4: whatever form it takes.
19:42
Speaker 1: It is truly incredible when you find out just how
19:45
Speaker 1: corrupt these games were, how many people were involved. They
19:49
Speaker 1: knew exactly what they were doing, and they knew exactly
19:53
Speaker 1: how they were pulling it off. They knew how it
19:56
Speaker 1: was going to take place and who their targets were.
20:00
Speaker 1: That may be the most shocking part of all. Thank goodness,
20:03
Speaker 1: the President of the United States of America has said
20:06
Speaker 1: at the FBI, we are going to go after criminals everywhere,
20:11
Speaker 1: whether you're trafficking children, drugs, are running illegal gambling rings.
20:17
Speaker 1: This is obviously supporting aiding and a betting the mafia.
20:21
Speaker 1: And that's one of the reasons why Cashptel made it
20:24
Speaker 1: clear we're not stopping anytime soon. I want to move
20:29
Speaker 1: to another fake controversy for a moment, and that is
20:32
Speaker 1: the president United States of America doing White House renovations
20:35
Speaker 1: and it's not costing the taxpayers any dollars, but they're
20:39
Speaker 1: saying that Donald Trump is destroying the White House. I
20:42
Speaker 1: want to play for you a CNN report from twenty ten.
20:47
Speaker 1: In twenty ten, they were talking about the three hundred
20:51
Speaker 1: and seventy six million dollars White House renovation during the
20:55
Speaker 1: Obama administration that you and I as taxpayers, paid for,
21:00
Speaker 1: and I want you to listen to how it was
21:02
Speaker 1: celebrated on CNN. No one was accusing Obama of quote,
21:06
Speaker 1: destroying the White House.
21:09
Speaker 5: Sounds like they're building another wing to the White House.
21:11
Speaker 5: But we appreciate you keeping you.
21:12
Speaker 6: You could imagine to you today it's gonna happen for
21:14
Speaker 6: the next two years. All of the banging, the jackhammering,
21:17
Speaker 6: the dust, the confusion, the noise of all places to do.
21:21
Speaker 6: Construction is happening right here the front lawn of the
21:24
Speaker 6: White House. It's a four year renovation project estimated costs
21:30
Speaker 6: three hundred and seventy six million dollars.
21:33
Speaker 1: Three hundred and seventy six million dollars. Now you and
21:36
Speaker 1: I paid for this, all right, I want to be clear.
21:39
Speaker 1: Notice how jolly they were excited about it.
21:42
Speaker 2: They were happy that this was going on.
21:44
Speaker 1: No one was complaining about the White House renovations when
21:48
Speaker 1: it cost three hundred seventy five million.
21:51
Speaker 2: They were spinning. It is great news.
21:54
Speaker 1: We also know that, yes, Barack Obama wrecked the White House,
21:57
Speaker 1: right and he put in an indoor basketball court using
22:00
Speaker 1: taxpayer money. But that's totally fine, right, that's totally no
22:04
Speaker 1: big deal everything. It's totally okay. Teddy Roosevelt, by the way,
22:08
Speaker 1: built the West wing, Taffman executive office, oval shaped FDR,
22:13
Speaker 1: added the entire east wing, and built that indoor pool.
22:16
Speaker 1: Truman actually gutted the entire White House. Nixon had a
22:20
Speaker 1: bowling alley built, Obama had the basketball court constructed, and
22:24
Speaker 1: Trump is now building a ballroom, except he's doing it
22:28
Speaker 1: with his own money and donor money, which brings us
22:32
Speaker 1: back to the ballroom blues. Sean Hannity said it brilliantly
22:36
Speaker 1: on his show when he explained it this way.
22:38
Speaker 7: Since nineteen oh two, there have been at least fourteen
22:42
Speaker 7: major renovations or additions completed by various presidents. Let's run
22:47
Speaker 7: through them, shall we. Teddy Roosevelt built the West Wing
22:51
Speaker 7: at the turn of the twentieth century, all tearing down
22:53
Speaker 7: Thomas Jefferson's greenhouses. In nineteen oh nine, President William Howard
22:58
Speaker 7: taff He added the first old office to the West Wing.
23:01
Speaker 7: It was nineteen twenty seven Calvin Coolidge he conducted a
23:04
Speaker 7: major renovation of the upper floors of the White House.
23:08
Speaker 7: Nineteen twenty nine Hoover completely remodeled the West Wing, and
23:12
Speaker 7: just five years later FDR remodeled the West Wing yet again,
23:16
Speaker 7: even adding a second floor in a swimming pool indoors
23:20
Speaker 7: and by the way, FDR nineteen forty two he built
23:24
Speaker 7: out the East Wing, which is now being remodeled by
23:29
Speaker 7: President Trump. In nineteen forty eight, Truman stripped the interior
23:33
Speaker 7: of the White House, preserving only exterior walls. Nineteen seventy
23:37
Speaker 7: Richard Nixon converted the swimming pool into a modern day
23:41
Speaker 7: press briefing room. You would think the press pool would
23:44
Speaker 7: actually realize that president after president, they have renovated, they
23:48
Speaker 7: have changed, they have upgraded the White House. This includes
23:52
Speaker 7: major changes under both Clinton and Obama. Now, the Trump
23:56
Speaker 7: induced anger and rage on the left is beyond idiotic,
24:00
Speaker 7: whether Democrats like it or not. One big, beautiful new ballroom,
24:03
Speaker 7: paid for by the President himself and private donations will
24:07
Speaker 7: soon host major historic events for decades to come without
24:11
Speaker 7: spending one taxpayer penny.
24:15
Speaker 1: So if it's not costing your tax dollars, then what
24:18
Speaker 1: do Democrats do next? They're lying about the president destroying
24:21
Speaker 1: the White House, But there's got to be more there, right,
24:24
Speaker 1: You've got to find the controversy somehow in all of this.
24:27
Speaker 1: Well leave it to Keem Jeffries, who's now said this
24:31
Speaker 1: on MSNBC.
24:33
Speaker 8: Well, any executive authority, and more likely this is part
24:37
Speaker 8: of what Donald Trump has been doing since day one
24:40
Speaker 8: of his presidency, running the largest pay to play scheme
24:43
Speaker 8: in the history of the country and probably soliciting donations
24:48
Speaker 8: from people who've got business before the United States government.
24:53
Speaker 8: And all of this is going to have to be investigated.
24:55
Speaker 8: It will all of this will have to be uncovered.
24:58
Speaker 8: It will and these people are going to be held
25:01
Speaker 8: accountable no matter how long it takes. That's going to
25:05
Speaker 8: be the reality of the situation. And that's our warning
25:08
Speaker 8: to all of these people participating in the scheming to
25:12
Speaker 8: manipulate taxpayer dollars and of course to destroy the people's House.
25:18
Speaker 8: The White House belongs to the American people. It doesn't
25:21
Speaker 8: belong to Donald Trump.
25:23
Speaker 2: So there it is.
25:24
Speaker 1: We're launching an investigation over donor money for the ballroom renovation.
25:29
Speaker 1: That's right, He's going to use taxpayer dollars to investigate
25:33
Speaker 1: privately funded renovations to the White House. But they celebrated
25:37
Speaker 1: the trashing of the White House when it was Barack
25:39
Speaker 1: Obama who was tearing it down and rebuilding it to
25:43
Speaker 1: the tune of three hundred plus million of your tax dours.
25:47
Speaker 1: You really can't make this up. Which brings me to
25:51
Speaker 1: the government shut down and where we are now. Yes,
25:55
Speaker 1: it's going to be another long weekend of the government
25:58
Speaker 1: being shut down. Why because Democrats refuse to move on it.
26:03
Speaker 1: I want you to hear what Senator Cruz I had
26:05
Speaker 1: to say as we were talking about the latest as
26:08
Speaker 1: Democrats continue to hold America hostage, it is amazing. I
26:13
Speaker 1: actually thought there could be some movement this week. The
26:16
Speaker 1: radical left and the Democratic Party clearly is saying no
26:19
Speaker 1: to that. They want to hurt people right now. It
26:22
Speaker 1: is hurting Americans, and they don't seem to care about that.
26:25
Speaker 1: In fact, they seem to be proud of the fact
26:27
Speaker 1: that people are hurting.
26:29
Speaker 2: Well they are.
26:29
Speaker 9: You have Democrats going on TV bragging that the shutdown
26:33
Speaker 9: gives them leverage, although it's not clear what they want
26:35
Speaker 9: leverage for other than their demand that illegal aliens get
26:38
Speaker 9: free taxpayer funded healthcare, and that demand is going nowhere
26:43
Speaker 9: and is wildly unpopular with the American people. This shutdown
26:47
Speaker 9: is really just about politics, though. It's about the fact
26:50
Speaker 9: that Chuck Schumer in March, when the Democrats worked with
26:53
Speaker 9: Republicans to keep the government open, his left wing base
26:56
Speaker 9: got furious and he almost lost his job. They almost
26:58
Speaker 9: fired him. And so this is his saying screw you
27:03
Speaker 9: to President Trump. This is hit Chuck Schumer and the
27:07
Speaker 9: Democrats trying to prove to their radical base to everyone
27:10
Speaker 9: who's marching in those No Kings rallies, that they hate
27:13
Speaker 9: Donald Trump as much as the radicals do, and sadly
27:16
Speaker 9: that means the government stays shut and there are a
27:19
Speaker 9: lot of real consequences. As I said on Thursday, the Democrats,
27:23
Speaker 9: almost straight party line, voted not to pay the federal
27:26
Speaker 9: workers who are forced to go in and work. And
27:28
Speaker 9: by the way, the Association of Federal Workers both active
27:31
Speaker 9: and retired, supported this this provision. Democrats are normally always,
27:36
Speaker 9: you know, always eager to be supporting federal workers. Well
27:40
Speaker 9: they just voted none of them get paid. Next week.
27:44
Speaker 9: Next week, we're going to vote on legislation from Dan
27:47
Speaker 9: Sullivan that I'm a co sponsor of that will pay
27:50
Speaker 9: our troops, pay our soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines,
27:53
Speaker 9: and pay our coast guardsmen. And my suspicion is the
27:57
Speaker 9: Democrats are going to vote no that they don't want
27:59
Speaker 9: to pay are active duty military now. Right now, the
28:02
Speaker 9: military is being paid because President Trump has reallocated funds
28:06
Speaker 9: from another portion of the budget. But this is going
28:08
Speaker 9: to be a straight up vote do you want to
28:10
Speaker 9: pay the military or not. My suspicion is that the
28:13
Speaker 9: Democrat Party is radical enough they'll vote no. We're also
28:17
Speaker 9: going to vote next week on legislation I filed to
28:21
Speaker 9: pay those concerned with air travel. So right now, Ben
28:26
Speaker 9: there are roughly fifty thousand TSA workers who are going
28:29
Speaker 9: into work and they're not getting paid. They don't get
28:32
Speaker 9: a paycheck. There are roughly fourteen thousand air traffic controllers
28:37
Speaker 9: who are going into work and they're not getting paid.
28:40
Speaker 9: They don't get a paycheck. Now, the result of that,
28:43
Speaker 9: we're seeing more and more flight delays, We're seeing more
28:46
Speaker 9: and more cancelations. Just a couple of days ago, Houston's
28:48
Speaker 9: Hobby Airport had a groundstop. They had a groundstop why
28:52
Speaker 9: because of a shortage of air traffic controllers. And this
28:54
Speaker 9: problem will only get worse, I'll tell you. A senior
28:57
Speaker 9: Democrat aide told Politico that the shutdown will continue quote
29:03
Speaker 9: until planes start falling from the sky. Wow, that's not
29:07
Speaker 9: remotely funny. It is reckless, it is dangerous, and it
29:11
Speaker 9: is imposing real costs on the American people. And so
29:15
Speaker 9: next way, is.
29:15
Speaker 1: There any accountability for that individual? So far that we
29:18
Speaker 1: know of.
29:19
Speaker 9: It was an anonymous quote, So I suspect we'll never
29:21
Speaker 9: know who said that, But amazing. The bottom line is,
29:26
Speaker 9: and by the way, if this shutdown continues through Thanksgiving,
29:30
Speaker 9: Thanksgiving is the busiest travel time of the year. And
29:34
Speaker 9: if the Democrats have been forcing air traffic controllers to
29:37
Speaker 9: work for a month with no pay, you can predict
29:41
Speaker 9: real shortages and delays and cancelations that will impact Americans
29:45
Speaker 9: across this country. Now, I'll tell you something that'll make
29:48
Speaker 9: you mad. Ben, you know who is being paid? Who's
29:51
Speaker 9: that Democrat politicians?
29:53
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, because they didn't do what you did. By
29:55
Speaker 1: the way, another Conservatives don't pay me during the shutdown.
29:58
Speaker 1: We don't need to get paid.
30:00
Speaker 9: Under the Constitution. The twenty eighth Amendment to the Constitution
30:03
Speaker 9: provides that members of Congress cannot have their salary altered
30:07
Speaker 9: during their term in office. And so that means, constitutionally,
30:11
Speaker 9: even when the government's shut down, members of Congress keep
30:13
Speaker 9: their paychecks coming. Now, as you just noted, you don't
30:17
Speaker 9: have to do that. And when this shutdown started, I
30:19
Speaker 9: sent a letter to the Secretary of the Senate and
30:22
Speaker 9: I said, please hold my paycheck, do not pay me.
30:25
Speaker 9: I do not want to accept a penny of salary
30:28
Speaker 9: unlessen until the government opens up. Un lesson, until our
30:32
Speaker 9: soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines are being paid.
30:34
Speaker 9: A lesson, until our air traffic controllers are being paid,
30:37
Speaker 9: and all the federal workers, our border patrol agents are
30:40
Speaker 9: being paid, our FBI agents are being paid. Virtually every
30:44
Speaker 9: Democrat in the House and Senate has said, no, keep
30:46
Speaker 9: my paycheck going. I'm going to take away yours. But me,
30:50
Speaker 9: the Democrat politician, I need every penny of my salary.
30:53
Speaker 1: I promise you I'll keep you updated and posted on
30:57
Speaker 1: exactly what happens with this shutdown, the Schumer shutdown that
31:01
Speaker 1: is designed to hurt you and America's workers. Don't forget
31:05
Speaker 1: to share this podcast, by the way, with your family
31:07
Speaker 1: and your friends on social media wherever you can hit
31:09
Speaker 1: that subscribe or auto download button, and I'll talk to
31:12
Speaker 1: you again tomorrow.