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'Bad advice given to President on Iran Deal'—Inside the MOU w Sen Cruz · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: So many of you are asking the same question that
0:02
Speaker 1: I've been asked. And I was in Washington, d C.
0:05
Speaker 1: I saw the Senate Majority Leaner Thune and several other
0:08
Speaker 1: elected officials, all of them kind of having the same conversation.
0:12
Speaker 1: What is actually in this deal? Senator Cruz and I
0:15
Speaker 1: sat down to talk about exactly that, what's in the
0:18
Speaker 1: deal and should you be concerned. There's also a lot
0:21
Speaker 1: of disinformation coming out of Tehran that's being reported on
0:24
Speaker 1: the US like it is fact. We're going to break
0:27
Speaker 1: all that down for you right now. All right, I
0:30
Speaker 1: want to make sure Center that we're extremely clear on
0:32
Speaker 1: the show. You're going to say that there's a chance
0:35
Speaker 1: we could send three hundred billion dollars that they could
0:38
Speaker 1: get their hands on in Iran. The pushback I've already seen,
0:41
Speaker 1: I've had a debate this on TV is we're not
0:43
Speaker 1: writing that check, so it's not accurate. Can you explain
0:48
Speaker 1: how they're getting their hands on that amount of money
0:50
Speaker 1: potentially here in this deal so that people understand, because
0:54
Speaker 1: the argument as well Obama sent palette to cash. We're
0:56
Speaker 1: not sending any cash for American taxpayers, so therefore that arguments,
1:00
Speaker 1: So avoid explain this out. So if people understand why
1:04
Speaker 1: this is a concerning moment.
1:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, the folks trying to defend the deal, that
1:08
Speaker 2: is the talking point they're using as they're saying that
1:11
Speaker 2: that cash would not be US tax payer money. Let
1:15
Speaker 2: me just read to you. I'm going to read verbatim
1:18
Speaker 2: from the agreement. Paragraph six begins as follows, The United
1:21
Speaker 2: States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive,
1:28
Speaker 2: mutually agreed plan with at least three hundred billion dollars
1:34
Speaker 2: for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic
1:40
Speaker 2: of Iran. The mechanism for the implementation of this plan
1:43
Speaker 2: will be finalized as part of a final deal within
1:45
Speaker 2: sixty days. All requested licenses, waivers, and permissions needed for
1:50
Speaker 2: the relevant financial transactions will be granted by the United
1:52
Speaker 2: States of America. That is a kit commitment to ensure
1:56
Speaker 2: that Iran receives three hundred million dollars. You know what,
1:59
Speaker 2: I don't care where it comes from. I don't want
2:02
Speaker 2: a lunatic, religious fanatic who chance death to America to
2:08
Speaker 2: receive three hundred billion dollars, whether it comes from US
2:12
Speaker 2: or it comes from some other regional partners. I don't
2:14
Speaker 2: care where it comes from. Giving people who want to
2:17
Speaker 2: kill you the billions and billions of dollars from any
2:21
Speaker 2: source historically has proven an enormous mistake. And I will say,
2:27
Speaker 2: look to put it in context, the biggest foreign policy
2:32
Speaker 2: mistake that Biden and Kamala Harris did is they flowed
2:38
Speaker 2: over one hundred billion dollars to Iran. Iran took that
2:42
Speaker 2: money and they used it to fund terrorism across the globe,
2:48
Speaker 2: to attack and kill Americans. And in a very real sense,
2:51
Speaker 2: Biden and Kamala Harris paid for the October seventh terror attacks.
2:57
Speaker 2: Threw the money they flowed into Iran. The number this
3:01
Speaker 2: agreement is talking about is three times as large as
3:05
Speaker 2: what Biden and Harris flowed into Iran. That makes no
3:11
Speaker 2: sense whatsoever. And look, if you look, the single most
3:18
Speaker 2: consequential decision President Trump has made was the decision to
3:23
Speaker 2: initiate military attacks on Iran. And we have completely devastated
3:29
Speaker 2: their military. We've taken out their air defenses, their ballistic missiles,
3:32
Speaker 2: their drones, their manufacturing capability for ballistic missiles and drones.
3:36
Speaker 2: We've destroyed their air force, We've sunk their Navy. It
3:40
Speaker 2: doesn't make any sense at all for us to now
3:42
Speaker 2: go and build everything back. What was the point of
3:44
Speaker 2: blowing it up if we're going to build it back.
3:46
Speaker 2: And the idea that we would have effectively a Marshall
3:50
Speaker 2: Plan for Iran is not remotely in America's interest. You know,
3:57
Speaker 2: the Marshall Plan. We came in and rebuilt your up
4:00
Speaker 2: after World War Two. Look, if the administration wants to leave,
4:05
Speaker 2: we should leave. But sending and the agreement is silent,
4:10
Speaker 2: by the way, on whether that money is from taxpayer
4:12
Speaker 2: money or not. It doesn't say one way or the other.
4:14
Speaker 2: It just says the United States will work with regional
4:16
Speaker 2: partners to make sure they get three hundred billion. But
4:19
Speaker 2: wherever it comes from giving the Ayahtola that money, I
4:24
Speaker 2: believe it is one hundred percent certainty if they get
4:27
Speaker 2: three hundred billion dollars, they will spend that trying to
4:30
Speaker 2: kill Americans.
4:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, as one person said to me in the foreign
4:34
Speaker 1: policy world, they said, if you would have gone to
4:37
Speaker 1: Aram's leadership and said, have a scuffle with America, but
4:41
Speaker 1: they'll give you three hundred million afterwards, you're excuse me,
4:43
Speaker 1: three hundred billion afterwards they will take that deal every
4:46
Speaker 1: single year, because cash flow is everything to them in
4:50
Speaker 1: that part of the world and what they use it for.
4:52
Speaker 1: As you mentioned, terrorism, Hamas has blowed. The list goes
4:54
Speaker 1: on and on. This is an insane amount of cash
4:57
Speaker 1: that they're getting their hands on.
4:59
Speaker 2: And understand the way this MOLU is structured, there is
5:02
Speaker 2: an immediate unfreezing of Iranian assets. So what appears to
5:08
Speaker 2: be contemplated is somewhere between ten billion and thirty billion
5:11
Speaker 2: cash immediately flows to them. Now, mind you, that's before
5:15
Speaker 2: they've made any commitment at all on nuclear weapons. All
5:19
Speaker 2: they've committed to do is talk about nuclear weapons. That's
5:23
Speaker 2: the only commitment. There's no promise on enrichment. There's nothing. Well,
5:27
Speaker 2: they say they're not going to develop nuclear weapons, but
5:30
Speaker 2: there's no meat to that other than we will sit
5:33
Speaker 2: down and discuss that. And the agreement sends somewhere between
5:38
Speaker 2: ten and thirty billion dollars to them immediately upfront. I
5:42
Speaker 2: think that is that is a really foolish idea.
5:50
Speaker 1: All right, Sentata, let's talk about the straight of horror moves.
5:53
Speaker 1: This is the part for me that I actually think
5:55
Speaker 1: was the most frustrating. This is international, It is not
5:59
Speaker 1: supposed to be governed or owned by certainly a terrorist
6:03
Speaker 1: organization like the RGC in Iran. But this deal now
6:08
Speaker 1: sets up that Iran and quote Oman will be in
6:10
Speaker 1: charge of the strait. There's nothing in this deal from
6:14
Speaker 1: what and I've read it, unless I just completely misunderstood it,
6:17
Speaker 1: that says eventually they can't start taking tolls on this
6:20
Speaker 1: and using it and weaponizing the strait the same way
6:23
Speaker 1: they did when they at the beginning of this conflict.
6:25
Speaker 1: That is something else in this deal that was shocking
6:28
Speaker 1: to me. Break that down for everyone.
6:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, the memorandum of understanding contemplates that Iran would have
6:36
Speaker 2: ongoing control of the Strait of Horror Moves, and it
6:39
Speaker 2: says that that Iran won't charge tolls or fees for
6:43
Speaker 2: the first sixty days, but it clearly contemplates that Iran
6:48
Speaker 2: will be able to charge tolls to go through the
6:50
Speaker 2: Strait of Horror Moves in the future. That Iran has
6:54
Speaker 2: never been able to do that before. That is a
6:56
Speaker 2: major geostrategic shift. That would be a major revenue source
7:02
Speaker 2: for Iran and for the Ayatola, And listen, I don't
7:07
Speaker 2: think the Iyatola should be able to collect one penny
7:10
Speaker 2: for the free navigation of the seas Iran does not have.
7:15
Speaker 2: This is not Iran's territorial waters. This is free and
7:18
Speaker 2: open seas. And it is simply they're engaging in terrorism.
7:22
Speaker 2: You know, it's not even a toll or a fee.
7:24
Speaker 2: It's more like pirates charging a bounty. And look, I
7:31
Speaker 2: if there are voices in the administration who number one
7:38
Speaker 2: opposed the military conflict with Iran from day one, but
7:43
Speaker 2: number two once it started, immediately wanted to get out.
7:46
Speaker 2: If they wanted to get out, they're better off just
7:48
Speaker 2: leaving than just pouring cash into the Ayatola. And I
7:53
Speaker 2: will say, look.
7:55
Speaker 1: And by the way, let's be clear in Iran, I
7:56
Speaker 1: want you to understand. I was talking to a shipping
8:00
Speaker 1: maritime economists earlier today. He said, the amount of money
8:04
Speaker 1: that they could get from tolls could find terrorism and
8:09
Speaker 1: almost he said it in the way he described it,
8:11
Speaker 1: because there's no cost for them to do this, give
8:14
Speaker 1: them revenue at a oil like stature. Because he said, look,
8:17
Speaker 1: with oil, you have to actually explore, you have to drill,
8:19
Speaker 1: you have to get out of the ground, you have
8:21
Speaker 1: to put on boats, you gotta ship it. You got
8:23
Speaker 1: to pay for all that. He said, a toll costs
8:25
Speaker 1: you nothing. This is pure profit. Every time a boat
8:28
Speaker 1: pulls up and says, okay, you want say's passage or
8:31
Speaker 1: we're going to terrorize, you give us money. That's no
8:33
Speaker 1: different than a checkpoint down in Mexico by a cartel.
8:37
Speaker 2: And let me say, three hundred billion dollars flows into Iran.
8:42
Speaker 2: That's what's contemplated. Under this agreement. Iran has the power
8:46
Speaker 2: to collect tolls in perpetuity. That would be billions more
8:50
Speaker 2: that would flow into Iran as long as the regime remains,
8:55
Speaker 2: the Ayatola and the Mullas. They have not changed. They
9:00
Speaker 2: still chant death to America. They still want to kill us,
9:05
Speaker 2: and they will use that money. So for forty seven years,
9:08
Speaker 2: the Islamic regime in Iran has been waging war with America.
9:12
Speaker 2: They've been the number one funder of terrorism worldwide. The
9:15
Speaker 2: ninety percent of the funds to Hamas, ninety percent of
9:17
Speaker 2: the funds to the Huthis, ninety percent of the funds
9:19
Speaker 2: to Hesbela all come from Iran. That money if we
9:25
Speaker 2: send that money, and by the way, the money is
9:26
Speaker 2: anticipated being deposited in the Bank of Iran, which is
9:29
Speaker 2: controlled by the IRGC. The IRGC is a terrorist group.
9:33
Speaker 2: It is designated as a terrorist group. And now this
9:37
Speaker 2: agreement contemplates billions of dollars flowing into the IRGC's coffers.
9:43
Speaker 2: And I'll say something else, also, Cha.
9:47
Speaker 1: I should just say this too, that I you don't
9:48
Speaker 1: understand URGC. They're basically running the country right now.
9:52
Speaker 2: Look, if the Islamic regime remains in power, that regime
9:59
Speaker 2: I leave, will continue to threaten President Trump and his
10:04
Speaker 2: family forever. Yeah, that is that they've twice hired hitmen
10:10
Speaker 2: to try to murder the president. I believe the Ayatola
10:15
Speaker 2: with three hundred billion dollars, I think the result of
10:20
Speaker 2: that would be more Americans killed in terrorism. And I
10:24
Speaker 2: also this regime they lie. So yes, they've promised not
10:30
Speaker 2: to develop nuclear weapons. If they get three hundred billion dollars,
10:34
Speaker 2: they will use that money to develop nuclear weapons. And
10:38
Speaker 2: to be clear, the reason the reason I don't want
10:43
Speaker 2: them to have nuclear weapons is I think the odds
10:45
Speaker 2: are unacceptably high they would use those nuclear weapons. The Iyatola.
10:52
Speaker 2: The risk is that hundreds of thousands of Americans would
10:55
Speaker 2: be killed in a flash of an eye by detonating
10:58
Speaker 2: a nuclear weapon New York City or Los Angeles, and
11:03
Speaker 2: I believe if the Ayatola were able to do so,
11:06
Speaker 2: he would That's the danger and President Trump. Look, a
11:10
Speaker 2: lot of the reporters have been asking, well, gosh, it
11:13
Speaker 2: isn't isn't President Trump just like Obama and not remotely. Look,
11:17
Speaker 2: President Trump made a heroic decision as commander in chief
11:21
Speaker 2: to take out the military to stop Iran from getting
11:23
Speaker 2: nuclear weapons. That made America safer. That was the right decision.
11:28
Speaker 2: Obama just flooded cash into Iran, and the Obama Nuclear
11:33
Speaker 2: deal inevitably would have led to Iran getting nuclear weapons.
11:38
Speaker 2: But I think now President Trump is receiving bad advice,
11:43
Speaker 2: and I'm hopeful that he will choose to go down
11:46
Speaker 2: a different course and not not give billions of dollars,
11:51
Speaker 2: either American money or anybody else's money. I don't want
11:55
Speaker 2: people who want to kill us to have the means
11:57
Speaker 2: to be able to do so.
11:58
Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the other things this memoryum of understanding
12:03
Speaker 1: deals with Israel and Lebanon. There are a lot of
12:06
Speaker 1: people that are really concerned that this would neuter or
12:08
Speaker 1: ally who is actually going after terrorists organization TAMAS and
12:12
Speaker 1: HESBLA terrorist fighters. I want to get your reaction to
12:15
Speaker 1: that part of this deal as well.
12:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, look the deal. You want to know Iran's priorities.
12:21
Speaker 2: The very first thing they negotiate in this deal is
12:24
Speaker 2: stop attacking Hesbela, the terrorists that are murdering civilians. Understand Hesbela.
12:30
Speaker 2: Hesbela is not a government organization. It's not a legitimate organization.
12:35
Speaker 2: It is purely a terrorist organization. They target citizens, they
12:38
Speaker 2: target civilians, they target women and children. They fire rockets
12:43
Speaker 2: into Israel routinely. And the very first thing is a
12:47
Speaker 2: protection for Hesbela in Lebanon. That and understand Hesbela. Yes,
12:54
Speaker 2: it's a threat to Israel. Hesbela is also a threat
12:57
Speaker 2: to America. Hesbela has murdered many Americans, and so protecting
13:01
Speaker 2: Hazibala in this agreement, I think is also counter to
13:05
Speaker 2: US national security interests.
13:09
Speaker 1: It was a very interesting day. I was in DC
13:11
Speaker 1: and I was in Fox in the green room, and
13:15
Speaker 1: there was a lot of activity with this Iran deal.
13:17
Speaker 1: I was doing a couple of different shows and everybody
13:20
Speaker 1: was trying to figure out are we excited about the deal?
13:23
Speaker 1: Are we not? I had friends on TV that were
13:26
Speaker 1: saying they think this is not a great deal. I
13:28
Speaker 1: had friends on TV that said this is a great deal.
13:31
Speaker 1: I had people in between. There was elected officials that
13:34
Speaker 1: I was talking to as well. They were asking me,
13:36
Speaker 1: what do I think, what like, how is this going
13:38
Speaker 1: to play out? My synopsis was this, and I want
13:42
Speaker 1: to get your take. The President understands midterms are coming
13:45
Speaker 1: and we have to win the midterms. Gas prices need
13:48
Speaker 1: to be lower before the midterms. He had a simple promise,
13:50
Speaker 1: which was to make sure rand doesn't get a nuclear weapon.
13:53
Speaker 1: That is the promise that people care about the most.
13:56
Speaker 1: We also know we have a president that has no
13:58
Speaker 1: problem bombing bad guys when they're acting up, and if
14:01
Speaker 1: Iran does anything that the present things a threat to us,
14:04
Speaker 1: he's clearly going to act. I think you put all
14:07
Speaker 1: that together, that's kind of where we are right now.
14:10
Speaker 1: What is your reaction and what are your colleagues saying?
14:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I think there's a lot of uncertainty right now.
14:18
Speaker 2: Nobody knows what is in the deal. I'm in the Senate.
14:24
Speaker 2: I have had no communication about what is in this deal.
14:27
Speaker 2: So I'm doing the same thing you guys are doing.
14:31
Speaker 2: I'm reading the news, I'm watching Twitter, and you see
14:37
Speaker 2: all sorts of different reports and it's difficult to understand
14:40
Speaker 2: the actual substance of what's in it. There's also active misrepresentation,
14:46
Speaker 2: so Iran is putting out massive information basically saying this
14:51
Speaker 2: is a total victory for Iran. We've won. The United
14:54
Speaker 2: States has capitulated. Now I don't believe what Iran is
14:57
Speaker 2: putting out, but right now, well, nobody in the Senate,
15:02
Speaker 2: nobody in the Congress, has the details of what the
15:04
Speaker 2: agreement is. So I have, by the way.
15:08
Speaker 1: There is some trust and verify here for the Senate,
15:10
Speaker 1: for you other to understand this to lift the sanctions,
15:14
Speaker 1: you guys are going to know exactly what's in there
15:17
Speaker 1: and you have to agree to it. Am I right?
15:19
Speaker 1: Is that how this works?
15:21
Speaker 2: Look, it depends the way the sanctioned laws are written.
15:24
Speaker 2: The President has quite a bit of discretion. I hope
15:29
Speaker 2: and believe this deal will come before the Congress and
15:32
Speaker 2: will know the specifics of it, and we're going to
15:33
Speaker 2: know them in time. But this is you know, we're
15:36
Speaker 2: hours into this, This is very early. I will let
15:41
Speaker 2: me talk about different elements that may or may not
15:43
Speaker 2: be in the deal. One of the elements that has
15:46
Speaker 2: been widely reported, is that Iran is going to get
15:50
Speaker 2: three hundred billion dollars in order to rebuild Iran, and
15:58
Speaker 2: those are going to come from frozen funds from other sources.
16:02
Speaker 2: It's not clear where that's going to come from. I've
16:05
Speaker 2: got to say, I very much hope that is not true.
16:10
Speaker 2: If somehow we are flowing three hundred billion dollars to Iran,
16:15
Speaker 2: I think that is an incredibly foolish idea. Yeah, I
16:20
Speaker 2: agree with you.
16:21
Speaker 1: By the way, that's no different than the palets of
16:23
Speaker 1: cash and appeasement in many people's eyes.
16:26
Speaker 2: Actually it is different. Obama flew one point seven billion
16:31
Speaker 2: dollars in cash into Iran. Joe Biden flowed one hundred
16:36
Speaker 2: billion dollars into Iran during his four years. If and
16:41
Speaker 2: I do not know that this is right, but if
16:42
Speaker 2: we are sending three hundred billion dollars three x what
16:46
Speaker 2: Biden sent, I think that is utterly indefensible. So I
16:50
Speaker 2: am hoping that is not true. I have no confirmation
16:53
Speaker 2: it's true. Iran is saying it's true, but I don't
16:55
Speaker 2: trust them, so that would be an enormous mistake. And listen,
17:02
Speaker 2: it is universally reported. This is a deal that has
17:05
Speaker 2: been negotiated by JD.
17:07
Speaker 3: Vance.
17:07
Speaker 2: He has been the point person on negotiating this deal.
17:10
Speaker 2: He is now doing the talk show circuit defending the deal.
17:14
Speaker 2: But we don't know what the specifics are. I got
17:17
Speaker 2: to say if the decision is let's give actually here,
17:22
Speaker 2: I want to share something so Chris Ruddy. Chris Ruddy
17:25
Speaker 2: is something someone you and I both know.
17:27
Speaker 4: Well.
17:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, he is the owner of Newsmacks. Chris Ruddy wrote
17:32
Speaker 2: a very important opad on Newsmacks, and I want to
17:35
Speaker 2: share some of it. The title of it is say
17:39
Speaker 2: No to three hundred billion dollar Iran Reconstruction Fund. And
17:44
Speaker 2: here's what Chris wrote. President Trump was right to call
17:48
Speaker 2: reports of a three hundred billion dollar reconstruction fund for
17:51
Speaker 2: Iran quote fake news. He should keep calling them that
17:55
Speaker 2: until the idea is dead, buried, and impossible to revive
18:01
Speaker 2: under another name. Vice President J. D. Vance has sought
18:04
Speaker 2: to reassure skeptics about the plan. Quote, the Iranians are
18:08
Speaker 2: not receiving any cash and no funds are being released
18:11
Speaker 2: for simply signing a deal or attending a meeting, the
18:14
Speaker 2: Vice President said this past weekend. Vance then said the
18:17
Speaker 2: economic benefits would flow only if Tehran meets his obligations
18:22
Speaker 2: under a future agreement. That is better than a blank check.
18:27
Speaker 2: But it suggests a three hundred billion dollars check is
18:31
Speaker 2: still in the works and part of the memorandum of
18:35
Speaker 2: understandings that start sixty days that starts a sixty day ceasefire.
18:40
Speaker 2: Here's the central question. Why should Iran receive access to
18:47
Speaker 2: any reconstruction fund, let alone one with three hundred billion dollars.
18:53
Speaker 2: That's a third of a trillion dollars. The floated proposal
18:58
Speaker 2: makes no sense. Worse, it is dangerous and Ruddy continues.
19:05
Speaker 2: It would reward a maniacal regime not for reforming, not
19:09
Speaker 2: for compensating its victims, and not for abandoning terror as
19:13
Speaker 2: an instrument of statecraft. It would reward Iran for surviving
19:18
Speaker 2: a war it provoked through decades of nuclear blackmail, proxy violence,
19:24
Speaker 2: and regional aggression. Let's put this in perspective. For more
19:29
Speaker 2: than forty years, Iran's rulers have obsessed over acquiring the
19:33
Speaker 2: capability to destroy Israel, threaten America, and dominate the Middle East.
19:39
Speaker 2: They call the United States the quote Great Satan. They
19:44
Speaker 2: burned through tens of billions of dollars and effectively checked
19:47
Speaker 2: out of the civilized community of nations. In pursuit of
19:49
Speaker 2: their dream nuclear weapons. They have repeatedly stated their aim
19:54
Speaker 2: publicly and loudly quote to wipe Israel off the map.
20:00
Speaker 2: In the interim of that goal, Tehran has funded Mayhem
20:04
Speaker 2: across the region. Hesbela so clearly backed by Iran it
20:09
Speaker 2: has been part of their negotiations, has long terrorized northern
20:13
Speaker 2: Israel for forty years. Hesbel has fired tens of thousands
20:17
Speaker 2: of rockets into Israel, costing billions in damage, thousands of casualties,
20:22
Speaker 2: and hundreds of deaths. The Huthis, another proxy of Tehran,
20:27
Speaker 2: have fired missiles at Israel and disrupted international shipping for years.
20:32
Speaker 2: They have attacked US naval ships with drones and missiles
20:36
Speaker 2: no less than four hundred times. This is not a
20:42
Speaker 2: misunderstood regime looking for an off ramp. It's a revolutionary
20:47
Speaker 2: regime that made violence its business model. Even the assassination
20:53
Speaker 2: of President Trump remains a priority business item. So Chris
20:58
Speaker 2: is op edn it goes on. It's a lengthy op ed,
21:01
Speaker 2: so I'm not going to read the rest of it,
21:03
Speaker 2: but it makes the powerful case. I very much hope
21:06
Speaker 2: the reports that three hundred billion dollars are going to
21:09
Speaker 2: flow to Iran, I hope those are false. And I
21:13
Speaker 2: don't know that they're true. I have no basis to
21:15
Speaker 2: believe they're true. But I got to say, sending three
21:19
Speaker 2: hundred billion dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder
21:24
Speaker 2: us is not a good idea. I am very much
21:28
Speaker 2: hoping hoping that is Iranian misinformation and that is not
21:32
Speaker 2: part of the deal. And and I want you to
21:35
Speaker 2: listen to President Trump discussing where things stand at the
21:41
Speaker 2: G seven. Here, get listen.
21:46
Speaker 4: It's a very important document.
21:48
Speaker 3: And unlike Obama, who could have destroyed the Middle East
21:53
Speaker 3: with a horrible jc POA, it is the worst agreement
21:59
Speaker 3: that was a to a nuclear weapon.
22:01
Speaker 4: Mine is a wall against a nuclear weapon. I mean,
22:04
Speaker 4: I see these people say, but we already had one.
22:07
Speaker 4: He paid a fortune for it. We paid nothing. We
22:10
Speaker 4: don't pay. There was some statement we're going to spend
22:12
Speaker 4: three hundred million dollars. Now we're allowed to go and
22:15
Speaker 4: invest if we wanted to someday in the future. We
22:18
Speaker 4: have no obligation whatsoever. It could be that Iran will
22:22
Speaker 4: turn out to be successful and they have oil. But
22:27
Speaker 4: if we left a week ago, just left before the
22:32
Speaker 4: last two attacks, it would have taken them twenty years
22:35
Speaker 4: to rebuild the RAND. So but I'll go over the
22:39
Speaker 4: document with the media in a couple of days. Now.
22:44
Speaker 1: The president, they're saying, he'll go over it with the media,
22:47
Speaker 1: he'll be transparent, he's going to read it. But he
22:49
Speaker 1: says that three hundred is not there.
22:52
Speaker 2: And I'm very comforted. I am glad the president is
22:56
Speaker 2: saying that he is right to say that. It's why Look,
23:00
Speaker 2: I am withholding judgment until I actually see the details.
23:04
Speaker 2: The reporters are all like, oh, don't you want to
23:05
Speaker 2: say something about this, and I'm like, look, until I
23:08
Speaker 2: know what the agreement is, I'm not going to comment
23:11
Speaker 2: without basis. We're saying the reporting. What I can say
23:15
Speaker 2: without equivocation is that giving three hundred billion dollars to
23:19
Speaker 2: Iran is a spectacularly bad idea. I hope and pray
23:23
Speaker 2: that's not what this deal is. I'll be very happy
23:27
Speaker 2: if when the deal the details become public it's not
23:31
Speaker 2: giving three hundred billion dollars. But I have no hesitancy
23:34
Speaker 2: that giving three hundred million dollars to Iran would be disastrous.
23:37
Speaker 2: And to be clear, they would use that money to
23:39
Speaker 2: build weapons to kill Americans as.
23:42
Speaker 1: I and they would use that mighty give it to
23:45
Speaker 1: Hamas and hesbla.
23:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, to fun terrorists that are murdering Americans, as I
23:51
Speaker 2: observed to some of my colleagues in the Senate, I said, look,
23:54
Speaker 2: giving three hundred billion dollars to theocratical lunatics who want
23:57
Speaker 2: to murder us is not a good idea.
24:00
Speaker 1: I hope that's a sound foreign policy. Center. Let's just
24:04
Speaker 1: be clear, like that's that is a pretty sound foreign
24:07
Speaker 1: policy I like we're headed.
24:09
Speaker 2: And by the way, look I talked to the President
24:11
Speaker 2: just a few days ago, right before this deal was announced.
24:15
Speaker 2: I am really hopeful. Look, one of the dynamics in
24:18
Speaker 2: the Trump administration is there are different camps within the
24:21
Speaker 2: administration that have different policy. There are camps in the
24:26
Speaker 2: administration that oppose the Iranian military attack, that have wanted
24:32
Speaker 2: to end it from day one, that have been deeply
24:35
Speaker 2: unhappy with the President's decision to go in and take
24:38
Speaker 2: out the Iranian military. I don't know the extent to
24:43
Speaker 2: which those voices are prevailing right now, because there's an
24:47
Speaker 2: active dispute playing out day by day in the administration.
24:51
Speaker 2: I will say this though there are also some Democrats
24:54
Speaker 2: in some of the media are crowing, oh, this is
24:56
Speaker 2: exactly like Obama and the JCPOA oh, certainly is not
25:01
Speaker 2: that understand what Donald Trump has done. The decision to
25:05
Speaker 2: launch the military attack against Iran was the single most
25:08
Speaker 2: important decision of the Trump presidency. He has destroyed over
25:14
Speaker 2: eighty percent of their ballistic missiles, over eighty percent of
25:16
Speaker 2: their drones. He's destroyed their drone manufacturing capability, their ballistic
25:20
Speaker 2: missiles manufacturing capability. He's utterly destroyed their air defenses. Their
25:26
Speaker 2: air force is in rubble on the runways. Their navy
25:30
Speaker 2: is sunk at the bottom of the ocean. You know
25:31
Speaker 2: how many Iranian naval ships he has sunk, cow many
25:35
Speaker 2: one hundred and sixty one.
25:37
Speaker 1: That's a lot.
25:38
Speaker 2: It is the largest naval defeat since World War II.
25:42
Speaker 4: Wow.
25:42
Speaker 2: The Iranian military has been destroyed. And by the way,
25:45
Speaker 2: the iatola is dead, many of the Mullas are dead,
25:47
Speaker 2: many of the senior leaders of the IRGC is dead.
25:51
Speaker 2: So under any measure, they're democrats who are lunatically claiming
25:57
Speaker 2: Iran is stronger today than it's ever been. No know
26:01
Speaker 2: that they have been bombed, backed in the Stone Age,
26:04
Speaker 2: under no measure. They stronger than they've ever been. Now,
26:07
Speaker 2: I don't want to see theocratic Islamists who want to
26:11
Speaker 2: kill us made stronger. So if this deal is giving
26:14
Speaker 2: them three hundred billion dollars, that's a mistake. I hope
26:18
Speaker 2: that is not the case. But the sort of cute
26:23
Speaker 2: talking point that this is just like Obama is absurd
26:28
Speaker 2: and false. The Obama Iran nuclear deal was designed to
26:33
Speaker 2: inevitably lead to Iran having a nuclear weapon. The President
26:36
Speaker 2: has launched a massive military action designed to prevent Iran
26:41
Speaker 2: from having a nuclear weapon. That is massively, massively different.
26:45
Speaker 2: What I'm urging the president, what I'm saying to him
26:49
Speaker 2: is it is don't give away the victory. I don't
26:52
Speaker 2: believe he's doing so. I hope he's not doing so.
26:54
Speaker 2: I hope his administration is not doing so. But my
26:57
Speaker 2: message is, don't we have done defeated their military. Don't
27:01
Speaker 2: suddenly come in with massive buckets of cash to let
27:06
Speaker 2: them rebuild and become a threat to America.
27:08
Speaker 1: Again, a great point, final question, and this is something
27:11
Speaker 1: that is going to be in the news. And that
27:13
Speaker 1: was the vote in the Senate on war powers with
27:16
Speaker 1: a Ran. It came down to one vote. Thank goodness,
27:19
Speaker 1: John Fetterman voted with Republicans as some Republicans defected. Doing
27:25
Speaker 1: the math on this, it just shows you how tight
27:27
Speaker 1: things are in the Senate. Are you surprised by how
27:29
Speaker 1: closes was or was it what you were going to expect?
27:32
Speaker 1: And Fetterman, by the way, what a blessing that guy
27:35
Speaker 1: has become. I mean that is a compliment to him
27:37
Speaker 1: where I know a lot of issues. He does not
27:39
Speaker 1: play politics. He looks at his right and wrong and
27:42
Speaker 1: is America better off? And I think that was one
27:44
Speaker 1: of his votes today as a perfect example of that.
27:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, John Fetterman has become a friend. I like John.
27:52
Speaker 2: I work with him quite a bit. He's got real courage.
27:55
Speaker 2: He is the lone Democrat who will stand up to
27:58
Speaker 2: the crazies on a host of issues. He will stand
28:01
Speaker 2: up Number one on Israel. He is not part of
28:04
Speaker 2: the pro Hamas lunatic left, which is much of the
28:08
Speaker 2: Democrat Party. Number two. On border security, he has decided
28:14
Speaker 2: that the policy of open borders and releasing murderers and
28:18
Speaker 2: gang bangers and rapists and child molesters is a dumb policy.
28:22
Speaker 2: Now that didn't used to be a radical position. That
28:25
Speaker 2: used to be. In fact, you go back just a
28:27
Speaker 2: few years ago, and whether it was Harry Reid or
28:30
Speaker 2: Chuck Schumer, or Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton, every Democrat
28:33
Speaker 2: espoused that position. Today, John Fetterman is almost the only
28:38
Speaker 2: Democrat who will say that. I mean, it's not that
28:42
Speaker 2: he has changed, it's that his party has gone nuts.
28:45
Speaker 2: And I will tell you the Democrats they hate Fetterman
28:49
Speaker 2: for it. They're vicious, they insult and revile him. I
28:54
Speaker 2: consider John a friend, and listen, John still votes ninety
28:59
Speaker 2: percent with the Demo, So let's be clear. He is
29:01
Speaker 2: not suddenly a conservative Republican. He just doesn't believe Hamas
29:05
Speaker 2: is better than Israel and doesn't believe open borders and
29:07
Speaker 2: criminals are better than American citizens. Those are pretty reasonable
29:13
Speaker 2: statements that used to be mainstream and everyone agreed with,
29:17
Speaker 2: and now virtually every other Democrat has abandoned that. Actually,
29:22
Speaker 2: here's a question to ask our listeners. You ought a
29:24
Speaker 2: post on social media? Uh, do y'all want John Fetterman
29:27
Speaker 2: to be a guest on Verdict? I loved here.
29:30
Speaker 1: It's funny that you just said that I was really
29:31
Speaker 1: going to say, sinner, I think we just Fetterman on
29:33
Speaker 1: and I've never said it live on the air, that
29:35
Speaker 1: we should have a guest before as before you're not
29:38
Speaker 1: talking about behind the scenes. I think you would be
29:40
Speaker 1: a fabulous guest for Verdict.
29:43
Speaker 2: Look, look, John and I are buddies. I will say
29:46
Speaker 2: you remember last year he decided he was going to
29:49
Speaker 2: go down to mar A Lago and meet with with Trump,
29:51
Speaker 2: and the left lost their mind and said, oh my god,
29:53
Speaker 2: why would you talk to the President. What kind of
29:55
Speaker 2: lunatic are you? And John, he's got a good sense
29:59
Speaker 2: of he humor. It's his very dry sense of humor.
30:02
Speaker 2: And he came back and said, well, I'm gonna ask
30:04
Speaker 2: him to make me the Pope of Greenland, which I
30:08
Speaker 2: thought was really funny and I actually like used ai.
30:12
Speaker 2: I found a meme and sent out a meme of
30:15
Speaker 2: Fetterman as the pope in like papal robes in Greenland,
30:20
Speaker 2: and like tweeted it out and I said it to
30:22
Speaker 2: John and we were cracking up laughing about it because
30:24
Speaker 2: I thought that was really funny. But look, he's shown
30:29
Speaker 2: real courage the fact that he is so alone in
30:33
Speaker 2: the Democrat Party really illustrates how radicalized they become.
30:37
Speaker 1: Thanks as always for joining us on the show Don't Forget.
30:40
Speaker 1: You can grab the Ben Ferguson podcasts wherever you get
30:44
Speaker 1: your podcasts, and I'll see you back here on this
30:47
Speaker 1: radio station next week and on the podcast all week long.