Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Trump dukes it out w Maine, Time Frame on a Big Beautiful Budget Bill & Assassin may have had Help Week In Review

Transcript

Trump dukes it out w Maine, Time Frame on a Big Beautiful Budget Bill & Assassin may have had Help Week In Review · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz Weekend Review. Ben
0:04
Speaker 1: Ferguson with you, and here are the big stories that
0:06
Speaker 1: you may have missed that we talked about this week.
0:08
Speaker 1: First up, Donald Trump and the governor of Maine. They
0:11
Speaker 1: come to blows over men in women's sports, the Present
0:15
Speaker 1: making clear he's going to protect women in sports no
0:18
Speaker 1: matter what. So what happens on the legal front next,
0:21
Speaker 1: we'll have that for you. Also, there is now a
0:24
Speaker 1: big question after the House passed a huge budget resolution
0:28
Speaker 1: and a big beautiful bill, So what does the timeframe
0:31
Speaker 1: look like to actually have a real budget that has passed?
0:34
Speaker 1: And what does it mean for the taxpayers? Will there
0:37
Speaker 1: be a chance that this can get through the Senate
0:39
Speaker 1: into the Present's desk to sign it. I'll explain that
0:42
Speaker 1: in just a moment as well. And finally, there's new
0:45
Speaker 1: information out of Butler, Pennsylvania and an accusation the New
0:49
Speaker 1: York Posts that the attempted assassination on Donald Trump that
0:53
Speaker 1: shooter may have actually had help from others. It's the
0:57
Speaker 1: week in Review and it starts right now. There's a
1:00
Speaker 1: badass moment the White House where the President straight up
1:05
Speaker 1: called out a governor who was in attendance for the
1:09
Speaker 1: governors that a bunch of governors come to the White House.
1:10
Speaker 1: They had their big governors at meeting. They invited these
1:13
Speaker 1: governors come to the White House, and the President just
1:16
Speaker 1: straight out called out or of the governors for the
1:19
Speaker 1: plan that had leaked in essence that he was going
1:22
Speaker 1: to defy the directive from the federal government about protecting
1:28
Speaker 1: women from men playing in their sports transgendered you know,
1:31
Speaker 1: individuals claiming that their chick and the President just said, like,
1:36
Speaker 1: I don't care, you're here, Glad you're here. Are you
1:39
Speaker 1: going to not go along with what I told you do?
1:40
Speaker 1: And it was one of those flashpoint moments, just showing you.
1:43
Speaker 1: I think the difference is time and the mentality of
1:45
Speaker 1: this president.
1:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's exactly right. Trump is not backing down.
1:50
Speaker 2: And I got to say the Democrats that seems they've
1:52
Speaker 2: learned nothing from the election. Here, give a listen to
1:54
Speaker 2: the exchange betwetween the governor of Maine and President Trump.
1:58
Speaker 3: The NCAA has complied immediately, by the way, that's good,
2:02
Speaker 3: but I understand Maine is the main here. The governor
2:05
Speaker 3: of Man, are you not going to comply with it?
2:12
Speaker 3: Well we are the federal law. Well, you better do it.
2:15
Speaker 3: You better do it because you're not going to get
2:17
Speaker 3: any federal funding at all if you don't. And by
2:19
Speaker 3: the way, your population, even though it's somewhat liberal, although
2:22
Speaker 3: I did very well there, your population doesn't want men
2:25
Speaker 3: playing in women's sports. So you better you better comply
2:29
Speaker 3: because otherwise you're not getting any federal funding. Every state. Good.
2:34
Speaker 3: I'll see you in court. I look forward to that.
2:35
Speaker 3: That should be a really easy one. And enjoy your
2:39
Speaker 3: life after governor, because I don't think you'll be an
2:41
Speaker 3: elected politics.
2:43
Speaker 1: I mean the trush talking. I just got to say,
2:46
Speaker 1: looking at the female governor main saying like, hey, the
2:49
Speaker 1: people there want this too. You should listen to people.
2:52
Speaker 1: I'll see you in court. All right, great, look forward
2:54
Speaker 1: to it. I don't think you're me in politics much
2:56
Speaker 1: longer either. If you keep this up. This is just
2:59
Speaker 1: a different Donald Trump this time around.
3:02
Speaker 2: Well it is and and and by the way, there's
3:05
Speaker 2: also real teeth to it. So so simultaneously with this exchange,
3:10
Speaker 2: the US Department of Agriculture announced that it had initiated
3:13
Speaker 2: a compliance review of the University of Maine and the
3:17
Speaker 2: state could be in jeopardy of losing one hundred million
3:19
Speaker 2: dollars in federal USDA funding over non compliance with the
3:23
Speaker 2: Executive Order on keeping Males out of female sports. And
3:28
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, and and and by
3:30
Speaker 2: the way, this is not hypothetical that this is happening
3:34
Speaker 2: in in Maine. Uh in Maine, that there was a
3:38
Speaker 2: transgender boy who identifies as a girl who took first
3:43
Speaker 2: place in the girls pole vaulting at Maine's Class B
3:47
Speaker 2: state championship. And and it's a win that helped helped
3:51
Speaker 2: the high school take first place overall. And and and
3:55
Speaker 2: so you know, how would you feel if it if
3:57
Speaker 2: it's your daughter who's in second, and she's the best
4:02
Speaker 2: pole vaulter in her in the state, who's a girl,
4:06
Speaker 2: But there's a dude who says, no, I'm a girl
4:09
Speaker 2: who beats her and dominates. It's just fundamentally unfair. And
4:13
Speaker 2: I got to say overwhelmingly eighty ninety percent of Americans
4:18
Speaker 2: agree with that proposition. And what's striking is this is
4:23
Speaker 2: not Democrats fighting on some issue where where the voters
4:27
Speaker 2: are with them. I promise you, even in Maine, the
4:31
Speaker 2: voters don't want this. They're not happy about this and
4:35
Speaker 2: today's Democrat party this election. If there is an elected
4:41
Speaker 2: Democrat who learned anything from this election, I don't know
4:44
Speaker 2: who it is, because not only are they.
4:48
Speaker 1: This has become like the new litmus test though of
4:50
Speaker 1: the extreme left right.
4:51
Speaker 2: They're also doubling down on open borders, they're also doubling
4:55
Speaker 2: down on anti Israel. Look that the Democrats in the
4:58
Speaker 2: Senate voted against sanctioning the ICC, the International Criminal Court,
5:03
Speaker 2: which has gone after Benjamin et Yahoo in Israel. Every
5:06
Speaker 2: Democrat but one, every Democrat but John Fetterman voted against Israel.
5:10
Speaker 2: And they did that after the election. They did that
5:12
Speaker 2: just a few weeks ago. I mean, that's where the
5:15
Speaker 2: Democrats are right now, is they're still open border, they're
5:18
Speaker 2: still anti Israel, they're still pro boys and girls sports.
5:22
Speaker 2: And it's look, look, this is the same issue we
5:26
Speaker 2: started with fundamentally. I think, you know, the Democrats love
5:30
Speaker 2: to prattle on about democracy. But when they prattle on
5:34
Speaker 2: about what democracy, what they really mean is they want
5:37
Speaker 2: power and they don't care what the voters want. They
5:43
Speaker 2: don't care about respecting the will of the voters. Instead,
5:47
Speaker 2: they want to fight against the will of the voters.
5:49
Speaker 2: It's why they indicted Trump not once, not twice, not
5:52
Speaker 2: three times, but four times. It was designed to stop democracy.
5:57
Speaker 2: It's why you had multiple Democrats and state officials trying
6:02
Speaker 2: to remove Donald Trump from the presidential ballot. Because nothing
6:05
Speaker 2: says defending democracy like stopping the damn voters for voting
6:09
Speaker 2: for your opponent and making it impossible. This is all intertwined,
6:13
Speaker 2: which is it is a lack of humility, a lack
6:19
Speaker 2: of understanding that you have a boss, and the boss
6:26
Speaker 2: is the men and women who elected you.
6:28
Speaker 1: I'm trying to figure this out. Is this pure arrogance
6:32
Speaker 1: or is this a political move by the radical left
6:34
Speaker 1: to say, we're not going to comply and we think
6:38
Speaker 1: it's going to be good for us to raise money
6:40
Speaker 1: and for our base break this down for us.
6:43
Speaker 2: What do you think? Well, listen, Unfortunately, elected Democrats remain
6:47
Speaker 2: radical that they have not learned any lessons from the
6:51
Speaker 2: November election. So if you look at Democrats in Congress,
6:55
Speaker 2: if you looked at Democrat governors, they continue to support
6:59
Speaker 2: open bord, they continue to support releasing murderers and rapists
7:04
Speaker 2: and child molesters into this country. You look at we
7:07
Speaker 2: talked about this in last week's pod how Massachusetts is
7:11
Speaker 2: literally releasing violent child rapists who are illegal immigrants rather
7:18
Speaker 2: than turn them over to Ice to be deported. And
7:21
Speaker 2: I got to say, look, this is not a sixty
7:24
Speaker 2: forty issue. It's not a seventy thirty issue. This is
7:28
Speaker 2: at eighty twenty or a ninety ten issue.
7:30
Speaker 3: I mean, if you.
7:31
Speaker 2: Ask any rational, insane person a violent child rapist, should
7:38
Speaker 2: we release him into our community? Any rational person, most
7:43
Speaker 2: normal Democrats would say hell no, that's a dumb ass idea.
7:48
Speaker 2: And yet the elected Democrats in Massachusetts, their answer is
7:52
Speaker 2: let them go. We are opposed to deporting anyone, no
7:56
Speaker 2: matter how vile. That they're continuing the same position on
8:02
Speaker 2: They continue to support. The Democrats in Congress continue to
8:06
Speaker 2: support sterilizing and castrating children for sex change operations. Again,
8:12
Speaker 2: that's an eighty twenty issue. They're on the wrong side
8:14
Speaker 2: of it, but they're listening to their radical base. And
8:17
Speaker 2: when it comes to men and women's sports, this is
8:21
Speaker 2: another eighty twenty issue. The American people don't want boys
8:25
Speaker 2: competing against their daughters, they don't want men competing against women,
8:29
Speaker 2: and yet the Democrats are all in on that. And
8:32
Speaker 2: I've been amazed Normally, when your party gets clabbered in
8:37
Speaker 2: an election, you go and reassess, gosh, maybe we miscalibrated,
8:42
Speaker 2: Maybe we should change where we stand. The Democrats are
8:46
Speaker 2: not doing that. And so what happened this week is Pambondi,
8:49
Speaker 2: the new Attorney General, targeted in particular three states, targeted Maine, California,
8:58
Speaker 2: and Minnesota, and she issued a warning to them that
9:01
Speaker 2: those states have to comply with federal anti discrimination laws
9:06
Speaker 2: that require them to keep boys at a girl sports.
9:08
Speaker 2: And here's what Pambondi said, quote, This Department of Justice
9:12
Speaker 2: will defend women and does not tolerate state officials who
9:17
Speaker 2: ignore federal law. We will leverage every legal option necessary
9:23
Speaker 2: to ensure state compliance with federal law and President Trump's
9:28
Speaker 2: executive Order protecting women's sports. And she continues. The Department
9:33
Speaker 2: of Justice says, quote, as President Trump's recent executive order
9:37
Speaker 2: one four to two zero one on this subject explains,
9:41
Speaker 2: allowing men and boys to compete in women's in girl
9:44
Speaker 2: sports quote is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls.
9:51
Speaker 2: This practice is also illegal under federal law. It denies
9:55
Speaker 2: women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel
9:59
Speaker 2: in competitative sports in violation of Title nine of the
10:04
Speaker 2: Educational Amendments of nineteen seventy two. And so understand, the
10:08
Speaker 2: Department of Justice is making clear they intend to sue
10:10
Speaker 2: these states and they intend to cut off federal funds
10:14
Speaker 2: to these states if they continue to embrace the radical
10:17
Speaker 2: notion that they're going to let boys compete in girls' sports.
10:20
Speaker 2: We talked about in Monday's pod how the governor Maine
10:24
Speaker 2: is in open defiance, saying to hell with you, We'll
10:27
Speaker 2: see you in court. It's amazing democrats continue to embrace
10:32
Speaker 2: these radical positions.
10:33
Speaker 1: Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
10:36
Speaker 1: you can go back and listen to the full podcast
10:38
Speaker 1: from earlier this week. Now onto story number two. So
10:43
Speaker 1: for people that say, okay, this past, how quick is
10:45
Speaker 1: this going to move forward or how long is this
10:48
Speaker 1: going to be a long way to go? So what's
10:50
Speaker 1: the timeline on this? So we limit expectations are be realistic.
10:54
Speaker 2: So the budget resolution just starts this process. Now, what's
10:59
Speaker 2: happened in the House. They've directed each of the House
11:01
Speaker 2: committees to draft the underlying bill. So what was voted
11:06
Speaker 2: on tonight was not securing the border. It was not
11:09
Speaker 2: rebuilding the military, it was not cutting taxes. It was
11:13
Speaker 2: the opening resolution to say go draft that legislation. That
11:18
Speaker 2: was a real fight.
11:20
Speaker 1: So this is the first sitting to use a baseball analogy.
11:23
Speaker 2: Yes, now it actually gets your your batter at the plate,
11:27
Speaker 2: Like if they'd failed, they don't even get a batter
11:30
Speaker 2: at the plate. So now we can start swinging. We're
11:33
Speaker 2: in the game. But they're gonna be harder steps forward.
11:38
Speaker 2: And I believe we're going to get this done. I
11:41
Speaker 2: believe we're going to get this done. We're going to
11:42
Speaker 2: secure the border, we're going to rebuild the military, we're
11:44
Speaker 2: going to unleash American energy, and we're going to extend
11:48
Speaker 2: the tax cuts. But it is going to be a
11:50
Speaker 2: lot of trade offs. It's going to be hard. It's
11:54
Speaker 2: gonna be hard because the House majority is so excruciatingly
11:58
Speaker 2: tiny that on any issue, if you lose two votes,
12:02
Speaker 2: you're you're you're out of luck. Uh. But but I
12:05
Speaker 2: think we will get the job done. And I will
12:08
Speaker 2: say both Mike Johnson, the Speaker, and Steve Scalise, the
12:11
Speaker 2: Majority leader, they're both good friends. I work very closely
12:14
Speaker 2: with both of them, and I think we will go
12:19
Speaker 2: through some difficult paths to get there, but all of us,
12:25
Speaker 2: from the most conservative Republican to the most moderate, squishy,
12:29
Speaker 2: wobbly Republican, all of us want to produce these victories
12:34
Speaker 2: we get. There was a mandate from the election, and
12:37
Speaker 2: we can't fail. And by the way, if we fail,
12:42
Speaker 2: if we don't secure the border, if we don't rebuild
12:44
Speaker 2: the military, if we don't unleash energy, if if we
12:47
Speaker 2: don't extend the tax cuts, we'll get killed in November
12:51
Speaker 2: of next year.
12:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's I'm a big believer, tru said on
12:56
Speaker 1: the floor, right like, Hey, you don't want to be
12:58
Speaker 1: involved in this, right.
13:00
Speaker 2: Edit done. We made a promise to the voters. Let's
13:03
Speaker 2: deliver on the voters, and I think today was an
13:05
Speaker 2: important step to doing that.
13:07
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the border for a second. There was
13:09
Speaker 1: another big story and I want you to just read
13:12
Speaker 1: part of this for people, because it truly is heartbreaking.
13:16
Speaker 1: It makes me angry. It's what you see in war
13:20
Speaker 1: in the Middle East, and it's happening now against ranchers
13:25
Speaker 1: and people in agriculture. The warning is very real now
13:29
Speaker 1: that the cartels are acting like what they are terrorists, organizations.
13:34
Speaker 1: I think this is another example of the President getting
13:36
Speaker 1: it right, saying we're going to declare them as terrorist
13:38
Speaker 1: organizations because they that's what they do. They are terrorists organizations.
13:43
Speaker 1: And now we have another data point of saying, here's
13:45
Speaker 1: the proof.
13:47
Speaker 2: So let me read from a story of the New
13:48
Speaker 2: York Post. Texas rancher killed by suspected cartel ied on
13:54
Speaker 2: Mexican border as authorities worn of growing threat. Here's what
13:59
Speaker 2: the New York Post reported. Quote. A Texas border rancher
14:03
Speaker 2: was killed near the border by a suspected cartel ied
14:08
Speaker 2: earlier this month, the Texas Department of Agriculture told the
14:12
Speaker 2: Post Tuesday, as officials issued an urgent safety warning for
14:17
Speaker 2: the Rio Grande Valley rancher. Antonio Gespes Saldierna, seventy four,
14:25
Speaker 2: who worked on both sides of the border along with
14:28
Speaker 2: Horatio Lopez Pena, was killed in the blast in Tamalipas, Mexico,
14:35
Speaker 2: which was just south of Brownsville, Texas. Lopez's wife, Ninphi
14:41
Speaker 2: Griselda Ortega was hospitalized with injuries. Salderna was driving on
14:48
Speaker 2: his ranch when he hit the explosive device, causing it
14:52
Speaker 2: to detonate. According to KRGV. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller
14:58
Speaker 2: said the deadly explosion is part of a quote growing
15:02
Speaker 2: threat posed by cartel activity along our southern border and
15:06
Speaker 2: encourages ranchers to quote exercise extreme caution in the area. Quote.
15:13
Speaker 2: I encourage everyone in the agricultural industry to stay vigilant,
15:17
Speaker 2: remain aware of their surroundings, and report any suspicious activity
15:21
Speaker 2: law enforcement. Additionally, you can avoid dirt roads and remote areas,
15:27
Speaker 2: Refrain from touching unfamiliar objects that could be explosive devices,
15:32
Speaker 2: limit travel to daylight hours, stay on main roads, and
15:36
Speaker 2: avoid cartel controlled regions. Said Miller. This is happening right
15:42
Speaker 2: at the Texas Mexico border. I gotta say it is
15:47
Speaker 2: dangerous and it shows. You know, some in the media say, gosh,
15:51
Speaker 2: it's hyperbole, it's rhetoric to call the cartel's terrorists. They
15:55
Speaker 2: are terrorists, and their murdering Texans.
16:00
Speaker 1: Mean moving forward if they continue this, and how could
16:03
Speaker 1: this change the way that we interact with them, Because
16:06
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of Americans right now they're like, look,
16:08
Speaker 1: if we're gonna call them terrafts, let's go after them
16:11
Speaker 1: like they're terrists. How dare them be allowed to do this?
16:16
Speaker 2: Well, I believe we're going to do that. I believe
16:18
Speaker 2: we're starting with we saw on January twentieth, President Trump
16:22
Speaker 2: securing the border. We've seen the numbers of illegal crossings plummet,
16:27
Speaker 2: drop ninety percent. We're going to go after them. We're
16:31
Speaker 2: going to go after them. We're gonna go after the
16:33
Speaker 2: people who are here, the murderers, the rapist, the child molesters,
16:36
Speaker 2: the the gang members. We're resting them, we're deporting them,
16:40
Speaker 2: We're gonna send them back. But we're also stopping the
16:43
Speaker 2: traffic coming in, the human traffickers, the drug traffickers, that
16:47
Speaker 2: is impacting the cartel's bottom lines. But I think we're
16:51
Speaker 2: going to use leverage to go after the cartels directly
16:55
Speaker 2: and try to Joe Biden and the Democrats gave billions
17:01
Speaker 2: of dollars to the cartels, a stat you and I
17:04
Speaker 2: have talked about multiple times, but it's a stunning stat.
17:08
Speaker 2: In twenty eighteen, the Mexican draw cartels made roughly five
17:12
Speaker 2: hundred million dollars from human trafficking. Five hundred million dollars
17:16
Speaker 2: is a lot of money. Last year, they made thirteen
17:21
Speaker 2: billion dollars a two thousand, six hundred percent increase that
17:27
Speaker 2: is ending now, and I have every confidence the Trump
17:30
Speaker 2: administration is going to go after their money. It's going
17:34
Speaker 2: to go after them directly. And you are going to
17:36
Speaker 2: see the cartels targeted, just like we target al Qaida
17:39
Speaker 2: and Hamas and Hezbola. The days of the cartels terrorizing Americans,
17:45
Speaker 2: those days are ending as before.
17:48
Speaker 1: If you want to hear the rest of this conversation
17:50
Speaker 1: on this topic, you can go back and dow the
17:52
Speaker 1: podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.
17:56
Speaker 1: I want to get back to the big story number
17:58
Speaker 1: three of the week you.
17:59
Speaker 2: May have made.
18:00
Speaker 1: There was another shocking headline that also came out today
18:05
Speaker 1: and that deals with the assassination attempt on Donald Trump
18:08
Speaker 1: and Butler Pennsylvania. The headline for the New York Posts
18:13
Speaker 1: is quote would be Trump assassin may have had an
18:16
Speaker 1: accomplice and data shows, as investigators say, FBI suppressed info.
18:22
Speaker 1: I wouldn't believe that headline if I wouldn't have just
18:25
Speaker 1: had the conversation with you for the last ten minutes
18:27
Speaker 1: that we just had about the FBI covering up at
18:30
Speaker 1: Epstein information as well.
18:31
Speaker 2: Well. This is a stunning article I do not know
18:35
Speaker 2: if it is true, but if there is evidence that
18:39
Speaker 2: the attempted assassin, the man who shot Donald Trump and Butler, Pennsylvania,
18:46
Speaker 2: had an accomplice or multiple accomplices, that would be a
18:50
Speaker 2: big damn deal. And you know, I got to say,
18:54
Speaker 2: it has been a long time. It has been two
18:57
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty nine days since President Trump was shot
19:02
Speaker 2: at that rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and yet we know
19:06
Speaker 2: next to nothing about the shooter. It's almost as if
19:10
Speaker 2: it just dropped into a memory hole and disappeared. And
19:13
Speaker 2: I want to read some of this article from the
19:15
Speaker 2: New York Post because it has some crusting information in it.
19:20
Speaker 2: It's not clear, it's not clear what's true or not.
19:24
Speaker 2: But let me read from the New York Post quote.
19:27
Speaker 2: It's been almost nine months since a seemingly mild matter
19:30
Speaker 2: twenty year old attempted to assassinate then Republican presidential nominee
19:35
Speaker 2: Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, and we still
19:38
Speaker 2: have no good reason why. Sources told the Post the
19:42
Speaker 2: FBI has obstructed efforts to solve the mystery of why
19:46
Speaker 2: Thomas Matthew Crooks, who left no manifesto, did what he did.
19:52
Speaker 2: It's left local law enforcement, as well as Crooks's former friends, classmates,
19:56
Speaker 2: and teachers frustrated. Those who may not know. Crooks's parents,
20:01
Speaker 2: Matthew and Mary, have refused all interviews and remain in
20:05
Speaker 2: their small, three bedroom home sealed off from the world.
20:09
Speaker 2: Like Hermit's neighbors say, they only leave the house at
20:13
Speaker 2: three AM to buy groceries. Quote. By the way, why
20:17
Speaker 2: do we know nothing about that guy in Butler? Elon
20:21
Speaker 2: Musk yelled out to the audience at SEAPAC last week,
20:25
Speaker 2: before warning that FBI Director Cash Battel is going to
20:29
Speaker 2: get to the bottom of it. A veteran private investigator
20:33
Speaker 2: from Erie, Pennsylvania, who was hired shortly after the fateful
20:37
Speaker 2: July thirteenth event at Butler Farm to look into Crooks
20:41
Speaker 2: by a private client, told The Post he believes a
20:45
Speaker 2: quote criminal network was operating with him at the time
20:49
Speaker 2: of the assassination attempt, is still in existence and still
20:54
Speaker 2: wants to kill President Trump. Doug Hagman, whose team of
20:59
Speaker 2: six other investigators had been working the case for months
21:03
Speaker 2: and have interviewed more than one hundred people, said they
21:07
Speaker 2: also conducted extensive geofencing analysis of cell phones and tablets
21:12
Speaker 2: not belonging to Crooks that were found with him at
21:16
Speaker 2: his home, at the rifle range where he took target practice,
21:20
Speaker 2: at the rally, and at Bethel Park High School, where
21:23
Speaker 2: he graduated in twenty twenty two.
21:25
Speaker 1: Quote.
21:26
Speaker 2: We don't think he acted alone, Hageman told the Post. Quote,
21:30
Speaker 2: This took a lot of coordination. In my view, Crooks
21:34
Speaker 2: was handled by more than one individual, and he was
21:38
Speaker 2: used for this assassination attempt. And I wouldn't preclude the
21:42
Speaker 2: possibility that there were people at the rally itself helping him.
21:46
Speaker 2: Hageman said. One of the electronic devices geolocated with Crooks
21:51
Speaker 2: at several different places at the time of the shooting
21:54
Speaker 2: is still pinging today at Bethel Park High School. Look,
22:00
Speaker 2: I don't know if this is true or not. I
22:02
Speaker 2: don't know any background about this private investigator, and I
22:07
Speaker 2: don't know if his allegations are are right or not.
22:11
Speaker 2: But it is frustrating that the American people. Look, I'm
22:15
Speaker 2: on the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have no information that
22:19
Speaker 2: isn't public about who this would be assassin was, what
22:23
Speaker 2: is motivation was, what evidence there is of anyone else
22:26
Speaker 2: being involved? And I'll tell you when I sat down
22:30
Speaker 2: with both Cash Betel and with Pam Bondi when they
22:33
Speaker 2: were preparing for their confirmation. I had an extensive conversation
22:37
Speaker 2: with both of them about the need for transparency that
22:41
Speaker 2: when you've had four years of both the Department of
22:44
Speaker 2: Justice and the FBI politicized and weaponized, the result is
22:50
Speaker 2: that people don't trust the FBI. I mean, this article
22:54
Speaker 2: in the Post repeatedly argues that the FBI is an
22:58
Speaker 2: obstructing effort to get to the bottom of what happened.
23:02
Speaker 2: That that's infuriating if true, and it is very much
23:07
Speaker 2: my hope that we'll see Pambondi and cash Betel make
23:11
Speaker 2: significant information about this assassination attempt public. The American people
23:16
Speaker 2: have a right to know, have a right to know
23:20
Speaker 2: if anyone else was involved with this. And I don't
23:24
Speaker 2: know if the FBI, if they didn't put a priority
23:27
Speaker 2: on it, I don't know if they didn't investigate, I
23:29
Speaker 2: don't I guess it is possible this kid acted alone.
23:34
Speaker 2: But the absolute dearth of information is it frustrating and infuriating.
23:42
Speaker 1: Well, and it goes back to the point that I
23:44
Speaker 1: think Pambondi made at the White House with many of
23:47
Speaker 1: these conservatives, which is We're doing everything we can now
23:51
Speaker 1: to be transparent, but there is still a very deep
23:55
Speaker 1: state rebellion and they are hell bent on not when
24:00
Speaker 1: the American people know what's going on. They're above us,
24:03
Speaker 1: they think they're more important than us. They don't believe
24:06
Speaker 1: they have to play by the rules, they don't have
24:07
Speaker 1: to be transparent, and until you get that fixed, there's
24:11
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of doubting in the American
24:13
Speaker 1: from the American people in these institutions.
24:16
Speaker 2: I think that's exactly right. You know, the article says
24:21
Speaker 2: that Hageman, this private investigator, said that he was personally
24:25
Speaker 2: escorted to the Butler County line and told to leave
24:29
Speaker 2: twice during the course of his team's investigation. The people
24:33
Speaker 2: who did so were either federal agents or some type
24:37
Speaker 2: of private security and so look, and I actually I
24:42
Speaker 2: can understand an FBI investigation that they would be frustrated
24:47
Speaker 2: with having a private investigator interviewing the same people. So
24:51
Speaker 2: that actually the fact that the FBI was telling this guy,
24:54
Speaker 2: you know, buzz off, that's not shocking to me. But
24:58
Speaker 2: I don't know what investigation the FBI conducted. I certainly
25:02
Speaker 2: don't know the results of the investigation. They haven't made
25:05
Speaker 2: anything public to the American people, and I think the
25:08
Speaker 2: FBI's attitude has been in recent years. They don't know
25:11
Speaker 2: the publican answer, You don't get to know anything if
25:16
Speaker 2: they don't want to tell you.
25:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, great point. I want to move also to another story,
25:21
Speaker 1: and this goes back to the issue of trust Elon
25:24
Speaker 1: Musk and Doge. New poll numbers are out saying that
25:27
Speaker 1: the majority of American people actually approve of what Elon
25:30
Speaker 1: Musk is doing, and they think that Dog is having
25:33
Speaker 1: a real impact in a positive way for this country
25:35
Speaker 1: and for taxpayers and the waste, fraud and abuse. They
25:38
Speaker 1: want them to keep moving forward. What we're also seeing
25:43
Speaker 1: centered at the exact same time is I would now
25:47
Speaker 1: describe it as a clearly well organized orchestrated effort by
25:53
Speaker 1: the media and the Democrats to ramp up their smears
25:56
Speaker 1: against Trump early on, or I should say against Elon On.
26:00
Speaker 1: They were trying to drive a wedge between Elon and
26:03
Speaker 1: trust Trump. You could see it in their rhetoric where
26:05
Speaker 1: it's like, well, you know, Elon, it thinks he's the president,
26:08
Speaker 1: and oh.
26:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were the Time magazine cover story that put
26:11
Speaker 2: Elon at the resolute desk in the Oval office was
26:14
Speaker 2: obvious in a clumsy attempt to piss Trump off and
26:17
Speaker 2: get Trump mad at Elon. And it was so transparent
26:21
Speaker 2: that that that that I think it did not remotely
26:24
Speaker 2: have the effect they were trying to have.
26:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, and backfired, but that was where you could tell
26:28
Speaker 1: they were. The first step was, well, maybe we can
26:30
Speaker 1: drive a wedge here. That hasn't worked. So now what
26:33
Speaker 1: we're witnessing is just a full on smear campaign against
26:38
Speaker 1: Elon Musk, even on the View. And this was an
26:43
Speaker 1: interesting moment for me because it's like you're getting real
26:46
Speaker 1: close to slander and libel when you when you do
26:49
Speaker 1: what the View does against Elon Musk. I don't know
26:52
Speaker 1: if they care that they have to apologize pretty regularly
26:56
Speaker 1: now for things they say on the air with legal
26:58
Speaker 1: notes they keep having to make. But Joe Bahart had
27:01
Speaker 1: this to say on the View about Elon Musk, and
27:05
Speaker 1: I want to play it and then get your reaction
27:07
Speaker 1: to it.
27:08
Speaker 4: And an Elon Musk kisses his butt and strokes his
27:11
Speaker 4: his tiny ego or big ego, whatever it is, and
27:16
Speaker 4: he doesn't get to do he can take a nap
27:17
Speaker 4: while the guy was not born in this country who
27:21
Speaker 4: was born under apartheid in South Africa, so has that
27:24
Speaker 4: mentality going on. He was pro apartheid, as I understand it, right,
27:31
Speaker 4: he's a natural. Oh really, how did he do that?
27:35
Speaker 4: Did he come over the board? Yeah, he allegedly overstate
27:40
Speaker 4: that vs subject. But I think this is just perfectly
27:42
Speaker 4: but wonderful for Trump. He's can take a nap and
27:45
Speaker 4: let this Barger foreign agent, you know, an enemy of
27:49
Speaker 4: the United States do his job.
27:52
Speaker 1: I mean, not only does she say he's an enemy,
27:53
Speaker 1: but then she says in favor of apartheid, by the way,
27:56
Speaker 1: not true. Came back on the air later in the
27:58
Speaker 1: show and try to undo that and said, Elon, don't sue.
28:03
Speaker 2: Well, look, I mean the View they are unhinged lunatics
28:08
Speaker 2: and they don't care about truth. But they you know,
28:13
Speaker 2: the crazy thing is Joi Bihar believes what she says.
28:15
Speaker 2: You know, it's amazing. Apparently Elon Musk is the only
28:19
Speaker 2: immigrant that Joi Bihar and the crazies on the View dislike.
28:26
Speaker 2: If you're an MS thirteen gang member, if you're a
28:28
Speaker 2: murderer or a rapist, they're perfectly fine with you. They
28:31
Speaker 2: don't have a problem with Joe Biden, the Democrats releasing
28:35
Speaker 2: millions of criminals into America that they have no problem with.
28:38
Speaker 2: But if someone comes legally to this country, if someone
28:42
Speaker 2: builds multiple incredible companies, creates thousands and thousands of jobs,
28:49
Speaker 2: is an incredible innovator and then volunteers his time to
28:53
Speaker 2: serve as nation that merits being called a foreign agent
28:57
Speaker 2: and an enemy of the United States. You know, at
29:02
Speaker 2: the end of the day, what the view was saying
29:04
Speaker 2: doesn't say much about Elon Musk, but it says a
29:07
Speaker 2: lot about the media and the left and how terrified
29:12
Speaker 2: they are of him. And I'll tell you Marci Captor,
29:15
Speaker 2: a Democrat congresswoman, had very similar comments. Listen to what
29:21
Speaker 2: she said about Elon Musk. Apparently she enjoyed Baharror reading
29:25
Speaker 2: from the same talking points.
29:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this was in front of the United States
29:29
Speaker 1: Capital where she said it.
29:30
Speaker 5: Mister Musk has just been here twenty two years, and
29:34
Speaker 5: he's a citizen of three countries. I always ask myself
29:37
Speaker 5: the question, with the damage he's doing here, when push
29:40
Speaker 5: comes to shove, which country is he loyalty to? South Africa,
29:43
Speaker 5: Canada or the United States. And he's only been a
29:47
Speaker 5: citizen I'll say again twenty two years.
29:50
Speaker 1: By the way, I thought it was Democrats for the
29:52
Speaker 1: last four years that were obsessed with the legal immigrants
29:55
Speaker 1: coming into this country and saying, who is anyone else
29:59
Speaker 1: to say that they aren't Americans and we don't even
30:01
Speaker 1: call them the legal as you must call them immigrants,
30:03
Speaker 1: and they're just like you and I. But all of
30:05
Speaker 1: a sudden, a guy by the name of Elon Mosk
30:07
Speaker 1: is actually getting things done, and now they're just going
30:09
Speaker 1: to slander them and say which countries are really little
30:12
Speaker 1: to like he's some sort of secret agent or bad
30:14
Speaker 1: actor for another nation.
30:16
Speaker 2: Well, look, I spent a good chunk of this morning
30:19
Speaker 2: with Elon over at the White House and he met
30:22
Speaker 2: with a number of Senators talking about what he's doing
30:25
Speaker 2: on DOGE, and it was a very interesting meeting. And
30:28
Speaker 2: it's stunning some of the things that they're finding. They're finding,
30:31
Speaker 2: for example, they're going into agencies and finding agencies that
30:37
Speaker 2: have more electronic subscriptions than they have employees.
30:44
Speaker 1: Wow.
30:44
Speaker 2: And in many instances thousands and thousands more like like
30:49
Speaker 2: thirty thousand licenses for different electronic applications, thirty thousand licenses
30:56
Speaker 2: and fifteen thousand employees that order of magnitude, and so
31:00
Speaker 2: they're going in and canceling the ones that that that
31:04
Speaker 2: aren't used. They also went and checked and they said
31:06
Speaker 2: hundreds and hundreds of them had never been opened, had
31:09
Speaker 2: never even been installed. So even of the employees, not
31:12
Speaker 2: everyone is using them. They've never logged in, and so
31:15
Speaker 2: they can go and check, all right, and so anyone
31:18
Speaker 2: who's not using it, they're canceling those. Those are the
31:20
Speaker 2: sorts of things they're finding that are really just astonishing.
31:26
Speaker 1: Well, when you met with him today, does it seem
31:30
Speaker 1: that he's even shocked by what he's finding.
31:33
Speaker 2: You know, they're things like he talked today about ghost
31:36
Speaker 2: payments about the Treasury has computers that that that transfer
31:40
Speaker 2: funds that make federal payments, and and he says that
31:44
Speaker 2: that that there are ghost payments that are going out
31:47
Speaker 2: that a program officer puts in for for for a
31:51
Speaker 2: payment to to a contractor to to somebody, and then
31:55
Speaker 2: the program officer retires, dies, leaves is gone on, and
32:01
Speaker 2: the payments just keep on going and and you know it,
32:05
Speaker 2: he said, it's stunning. The Treasury. The Treasury computers have
32:11
Speaker 2: a field where you categorize, Okay, what is this payment
32:16
Speaker 2: for and what in in the congressional appropriation is it
32:21
Speaker 2: going for? And he said, routinely that field is left blank.
32:28
Speaker 2: He said, us AI D they always left it blank.
32:30
Speaker 2: He said, so there's no way, he said, many ways.
32:33
Speaker 2: It's it's it's it's incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to
32:37
Speaker 2: audit the billions of dollars that are going out the
32:40
Speaker 2: door because they don't keep the records. And it was
32:42
Speaker 2: interesting Elon's comments. He said, if any public company did this,
32:47
Speaker 2: he said, they would be massively fined and the executives
32:51
Speaker 2: would be put in jail.
32:52
Speaker 1: As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with center
32:56
Speaker 1: Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to deal
32:58
Speaker 1: with my podcast and you can list to my podcasts
33:00
Speaker 1: every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each
33:02
Speaker 1: day when you listen to Verdict. Afterwards, I'd love to
33:05
Speaker 1: have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson
33:07
Speaker 1: podcasts and we will see you back here on Monday morning,