September 4, 2026 • 37 mins
Trump-Venezuela Oil Deal
- An oil agreement involving Venezuela's estimated 65 billion barrels of oil.
- Examination of potential benefits for U.S. energy access, jobs, and long-term gasoline prices.
- Concerns about dealing with the Venezuelan government, competition issues for private energy companies such as Chevron, and the federal government's ownership stakes in private businesses.
Government Equity Ownership and Socialism Debate
- A serious discussion about the federal government acquiring equity positions in companies.
- Comparison to government involvement in industry and warnings about government control of private enterprise.
- References to prior investments in companies such as Intel and broader concerns about economic policy.
Texas Senate Candidate James Talarico
- Criticism of Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Tallarico.
- Focus on past comments regarding capitalism, climate change, and social justice.
- Discussion of energy policy, oil and gas production, and political ideology in Texas.
Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed
- Coverage of Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and his participation in an Islamic convention occurring near the anniversary of September 11.
- Discussion of individuals allegedly connected to the event and concerns about 9/11 conspiracy theories.
- Examination of El-Sayed's past public statements and social media posts relating to 9/11 and U.S. foreign policy.
- Commentary on ideological divisions within the Democratic Party.
- References to prominent Democratic figures and debates over the party's direction, socialism, foreign policy, and activism.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome it is verdict with senator ted cruz ben ferguson
with you senator i tell you what it's been a
really fun week it got a lot more fun on
wednesday congratulations uh it is official you are now a
number one new york times best-selling author while being a
u.s senator i gotta say it's pretty impressive well done.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, this was a very, very good week. Last week,
my brand new book came out. It's called Going Further,
The Incomparable Clarence Thomas. It's a biography of Justice Thomas, who,
as you know, has been a friend of mine for
30 years. He was a guest on the Verdict podcast.
By the way, if you have not watched that interview,
it was an hour and 20 minute interview I did
(00:43):
with Justice Thomas. It is the one and only podcast
Justice Thomas has ever done. You can watch it on YouTube.
And I would highly recommend it. It was a fascinating
and wonderful interview. And the book, this week on Wednesday,
the new New York Times bestseller list came out, and
the book is the number one bestselling book in the
entire country. And that's the first time all five books
(01:04):
I've written have been New York Times bestsellers, but I've
never had a number one. And so that's really gratifying.
A whole lot of people, I think, are enjoying the book.
I did a rally this week up in Fort Worth.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
And it was great.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
A whole bunch of people had bought the book and
brought it to the event. I think people are really
enjoying the book, and it's a big, big threshold. We're
going to talk about that a little more. We're also
going to talk about the 25th anniversary of September 11th
that is coming up, and at the same time as
the 25th anniversary of 9-11, Abdul Al-Sayyad, the radical Islamist
(01:42):
candidate in Michigan, is participating in a conference with Radical
clerics with people who justify and give excuses for the
terror attack on the United States on 9-11. We're going
to break that down and actually go through the long
history Abdul Al-Sayed has of tweets that are just astonishing
(02:02):
about September 11th. He's deleted all of his old tweets,
but the Internet is forever. And when you try to
delete something, it doesn't go away. We're going to bring
you back to those and walk through just how extreme
and anti-American this particular candidate is. And then we're also
going to talk about China. Chinese espionage, Chinese spying. Chinese
(02:24):
spying here in the United States, not far away, but
here in America. Multiple instances of Chinese spying, Chinese ships
spying on military bases, intercepting communications. Chinese nationals engaged in
espionage here in the United States, and even an American
citizen pleading guilty to being a Chinese spy here in America.
I'm going to break all of that down on today's pod.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, it's really it's going to be a very, very
special show. I want to also take a moment and
tell you about the midterm elections. The stakes right now,
they couldn't be higher. And we finally have a president
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(03:08):
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(04:41):
for a free month of service. All right, Senator. So
let's just go back to the excitement. Where were you
and how did you find out that you finally have
a number one New York Times bestselling book? I don't
know who was more excited, by the way, if it
was me or you, because I was stalking it all
day on Wednesday and hoping that it was number one.
(05:01):
It's every author's dream. You've done, what is it, your
fifth book? I did one. Even just being a bestseller
is amazing, but being number one is a whole nother level.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I've got to say, Ben, you're hurting my feelings with
that word, finally.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
I mean, there.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Seems to be a whole lot of judgment there. You're
casting some serious aspersions on my first four books. I
liked the first four. I thought they were good books.
They sold well. But I think the highest I'd ever
made was number five on the list. So number one
was gratifying. And look, this book really was a labor
of love. The reason I wrote it is because Justice Thomas,
(05:39):
I think, is an American hero. And he's someone whose
story is inspiring. And a lot of people don't know it.
A lot of Americans don't know his story coming from
abject poverty, facing just withering racism, and rising to the
very top, the pinnacle of American law. But also his
(06:01):
ideological journey, going from being an angry left-wing radical to
one of the most conservative thinkers in history. And the
book tries to do both of those and at the
same time take his more than 30 years of jurisprudence
and explain it. Explain it in terms that are understandable.
(06:21):
You don't have to be a lawyer. You don't have
to be a constitutional law expert. It's designed to make
you understand why it matters. Right now today, Clarence Thomas
is the second longest-serving Supreme Court justice in history. In
less than two years, he'll be the longest-serving justice in history,
and he has written opinions over the decades that are
(06:42):
profoundly consequential on issues ranging from race. There has been
no more important justice in the Supreme Court writing on
issues of race and the Constitution's protections against racial discrimination
by government than Clarence Thomas. And that, the book explains
at great length. He has written, obviously, on abortion and
(07:04):
Roe versus Wade. He has written on the Second Amendment,
the right to keep and bear arms. He has written
a great deal on Reconstruction and the fundamental rights of Americans.
And he's also written, there's an extensive discussion of his
opinion in the Kelo case. So the Kelo case was
(07:26):
a case where the court upheld a city taking a
woman's private home, not for public use, but instead for
a parking lot for Pfizer, the giant pharmaceutical company. And
Justice Thomas dissented in Kelo when he wrote in his opinion,
the Constitution says you can take private property for, quote,
(07:46):
public use. the Supreme Court over the years had basically
changed the words public use to public purpose. And Justice
Thomas said, look, that's not what the Constitution says. Public
use means you can take a house, say, if you're
building a road or a highway or a school or
a library, something that's a government building that the public
is using. But the argument here was not that the
public was going to use it, but essentially that there
(08:09):
was a broad public purpose in taking this poor woman's
house because a parking lot would be more valuable to
the community. And Justice Thomas says, look, that's contrary to
the words of the Constitution. What's interesting that I write
about in the book is even though in that particular case,
and Justice Thomas has dissented in many cases, he won
by losing because his dissent was persuasive. And many, many states,
(08:32):
including Texas, have passed laws that now put into law
that you cannot take private property for public purpose only
for public use. His dissent was more persuasive than the majority's.
And a prediction I've made, if a case comes challenging Kelo,
the court will overturn it now. It will embrace Thomas's
dissent as it has in so many other areas.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
All right, Senator, let's get into Abdul El-Said. He is
going to join a panel. And the anniversary, an important anniversary,
the 25th anniversary of 9-11 is coming up. He is
going to join a panel with 9-11 conspiracy theorists at
an Islamic convention. Now, this convention clearly is being done
(09:13):
just days before the 9-11 anniversary. Obviously, they chose that
on purpose. But I cannot believe that more are not
talking about the Democratic Michigan Senate nominee and what he
is scheduled to speak at and who's around him.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Well, I got to say it. The Democrats running for
Senate across the country seem to be competing with each
other in terms of who can be more radical, more extreme,
more out of the mainstream. On Wednesday's podcast, we covered
James Tallarico, the extreme left-wing Democrat running for Senate in Texas.
And in particular, we uncovered The Zoom call he did
(09:50):
six years ago with left-wing activists from the Sierra Club
where he pledged to, quote, dismantle capitalism.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
These guys are.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
radicals and extreme. Well, Abdul Al-Sayed basically said to Telerico,
hold my beer, I can be more extreme than you can.
And the story you just noted, so this coming week,
is the 25th anniversary of September 11th. That was the
most horrific terror attack on the homeland in American history.
(10:21):
And instead of honoring that attack, instead of honoring the
nearly 3,000 lives that were taken that day, Abdul El-Sayed
is speaking at an Islamic conference that is essentially defending
the attackers. Here, I'm going to read to you a
story from the Washington Free Beacons. Democratic Senator, Michigan Senate
(10:43):
nominee Abdul El-Sayed is scheduled to speak at an Islamic
convention this weekend, six days before the 25th anniversary of 9-11.
On a panel alongside a quote 9-11 truther and a
Muslim cleric conspiracy theorist who has called for an examination
of the official narrative surrounding the terrorist attacks. El-Sayed is
(11:06):
headlining the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention in
Detroit on Saturday. There, El-Said will speak on a panel
to examine a, quote, turmoil to America, alongside left-wing pundits
Sent Uygur and Zaid Shakir, an outspoken New Jersey-based cleric.
(11:26):
Both men have promoted conspiracy theories surrounding 9-11, in which
Al-Qaeda operatives killed 2,977 Americans. Quote, I no longer believe
the official 9-11 story. Ugyur declared in a social media
rant in February. Ugyur, who hosts the Young Turks YouTube show,
(11:48):
is now pushing debunked claims about Israeli involvement. Because, of course,
Israel is the one that committed 9-11. Don't you know that?
I mean, look, these guys are radicals and kooks. Including the, quote,
dancing Israelis myth, an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that posits that
five Israeli spies filmed and celebrated the terrorist attack. Quote,
I didn't know we arrested Israeli spies who were here
(12:11):
to document the event, wrote Ugyur, who is the uncle
of Hassan Piker, a close al-Said ally who has said
that America deserved 9-11. Boy, I didn't know that. Did
you know that Sank Ugyur is the uncle of Hassan Piker?
Speaker 1 (12:25):
You know what? I did know that only because I've
had to deal with him so many times. You know, he...
He had to go on Piers Morgan's show and do
a mea culpa after losing it when he was debating
me recently over the issue of Israel, oddly enough, because
he's absolutely obsessed with Israel and anyone that supports Israel.
And this is where the hate comes from within the
Democratic Party. By the way, that clip when it went
(12:47):
completely viral, Piers brought him back to try to rehabilitate himself,
and then he doubled down on it, which was even funnier.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Well, Hassan Piker, who's campaigned alongside Abdul Al-Sayed, said America
deserved 9-11, he's the nephew of Sankogir, who now Abdul
Sayyed is sitting on the panel with, Ogir was widely mocked,
as one outlet described it, for going full 9-11 truther. Similarly,
Shakir has called for a, quote, examination of what he
(13:16):
describes as glaring weaknesses and inconsistencies in the official 9-11 narrative.
He has argued that the U.S. government used the attacks to, quote,
launch a war on Islam. And he directed followers to
the writing of David Ray Giffen, a leading 9-11 conspiracy theorist,
who has argued that the United States orchestrated the attacks. Look,
these people are kooks. This guy is standing there going, oh, yeah,
(13:36):
the American government is the one that knocked down the
World Trade Center. The American government is the one that
attacked the Pentagon. But they're not just kooks. It's not
just crazy. It's not just thinking you see little green men.
It is anti-American conspiracy theories that always, always, always blame
America and always, always, always apologize for radical Islamic terrorists
(13:57):
who are murdering Americans. It is conspiracy theory with an
ideological bite to it. And look, in a September 11,
2012 essay for CNN, that called Muslims, quote, another victim
(14:18):
of 9-11. El-Sayed cited a study conducted in California that
found a dramatic increase in premature births for Muslim women
after 9-11 compared to before the attacks. El-Sayed omitted from
his essay the findings of his own study comparing birth
outcomes for Muslim women before and after 9-11, which found
no difference in premature births. Shakir in addition to propagating
(14:43):
9-11 conspiracy theories, has blamed Israel for other terrorist attacks
and called for Muslims to, quote, use guerrilla warfare to
achieve their desired political outcomes. In a 1992 treatise, Shakir
argued for Muslims to embrace, quote, extra-systemic political action ranging from, quote,
(15:05):
non-cooperative tactics to guerrilla war in order to influence government
policies or eradicate the system altogether. Shakir asserted that every
major Muslim political gain in modern history was brought about
through such action and cited the creation of the Islamic
Republic of Iran and the, quote, armed struggle that led
(15:27):
to the Taliban control of Afghanistan. So understand this. Abdul
Al-Sayed is sitting next to a guy who thinks it's
great that the Ayatollah carried out a revolution in Iran
and and took Americans hostage for 444 days and waged
war against America for 47 years. He thinks it's great
that the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and oppressed women
and enforced Sharia law on everyone. And by the way,
(15:50):
coddled and nurtured al-Qaeda, which launched 9-11. These are the radicals,
and this is who al-Sayed is associating with on the
anniversary of 9-11. This is who the man is. When
he tells you who he is, believe him.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
All right, let me pause just for a second and
talk about something that is about to happen. 25 years
ago is the anniversary of 9-11, and America faced the
heartbreak of a terrorist attack at home. Now, just three
years ago, on October 7, 2023, Israel endured that same
heartbreak in the Holy Land. Different decades, different attacks, the
(16:28):
same evils. Now, each year, the International Fellowship of Christians
and Jews hosts Flags of Fellowship. It's a movement that
you can get involved with with your church, where thousands
of churches display memorial flags to honor the 1,200 lives
lost on October the 7th. It's a way to stand
with Israel in faith, prayer, remembrance, and solidarity. Each flag
(16:50):
represents a loved one, a family forever changed, and a
promise that we will not forget. Today, hatred and violence
still threaten our world. Yet scripture calls us to stand firm,
comfort the grieving, honor those that were lost, and shine
a light in the darkness. Now together, we remember and
honor and declare that evil will not have the final word.
(17:11):
So join thousands of churches and get yours involved all
across America in this powerful act of remembrance and support
for Israel. You can learn how your church can participate
in Flags of Fellowship at joinfof.org. That's joinfof.org. Senator, I
want to go back to this conference for a second.
(17:34):
And who is putting on this conference where Al-Said is
going to be hanging out with these conspiracy theorists on the,
basically on the 25th anniversary of 9-11?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Well, it's a group that's called the Islamic Society of
North America. And it was founded, do you know who
one of the founders was?
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Who is it?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Abdul Al-Sayed's father-in-law. So his father-in-law was one of the
founders of this organization. By the way, his father-in-law is
also the single largest donor to Abdul Al-Sayed's super PAC.
So this is a man who's funding his campaign. And
what is the Islamic Society of North America? Well, it
is a group with extensive ties to the Muslim Brotherhood,
(18:15):
which is a terrorist organization. It's been designated... by the U.S.
government as a terrorist organization. It has been designated by
Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the UAE as a terrorist organization.
And the Islamic Society of North America is closely affiliated
with the Muslim Brotherhood, so closely that the Islamic Society
of North America was named an unindicted co-conspirator in a
(18:36):
2008 Hamas fundraising case, the Holy Land case, This is,
and by the way, that was a case where millions
of dollars had been funneled from Americans to fund Hamas
and to fund terror attacks. The group, who's an unindicted
co-conspirator in that, is who is hosting Abdul Al-Sayed. By
(18:58):
the way, another speaker at the conference is a Texas-based
cleric named Yassir Qadi, who has called the Holocaust a hoax.
These are not mainstream. These are not normal people. These
are radicals. And I want to note also, Do you
know who used to be on the agenda? He's not
going to be on the agenda, but he was originally.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Who was that?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
A Pakistani cleric named Tariq Masood. He was scheduled to
appear at the event. And he admitted to forcing his
13-year-old niece into marriage.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
In compliance with what he believed was Islamic law. And
he's been accused of pedophilic rhetoric and marriage with her
own family. And he argued that Muslims should marry their
13-year-old nieces and nephews and their family. and should essentially
rape children. So this Pakistani cleric was on the agenda,
(19:56):
and actually Verdict covered this. We covered this in a
previous pod, and we said Abdul Al-Sayed is speaking alongside
this person who quite openly is bragged about pressuring his
13-year-old niece, forcing her into marriage, and said this was
a good thing. And Abdul Al-Sayed's defense at the time was, well, yeah,
we're both speaking at the same conference, but we're on
(20:16):
different panels. I'm not speaking on the same panel with him.
He's on a different panel. The public outcry was so
great that they canceled the cleric Tariq Massoud, but you
know what? Abdul Al-Sayed is still speaking there with every
other conspiracy theorist, and being an anti-American... Holocaust-denying, 9-11 truther,
(20:36):
Hamas and al-Qaeda-defending zealot and Islamist, well, that is apparently
a very popular thing in the Democrat Party right now.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, it really, really is. And this, again, goes back
to the civil war that we're witnessing right now in
the Democratic Party. It's really funny, by the way, and
I want to get your reaction to this. You had
some Democrats come out and say that Hassan Piker and
Al Saeed basically need to get out of the Democratic Party,
that they're not stop using the word Democrat with Socialists
(21:04):
of America. James Carville came out and said that. I
kind of laughed at his meltdown because it's only because
they're afraid they're going to lose that they're now saying this.
They did not keep any of these crazies in check.
And now he's like, get out of my party. You know,
quit using the name Democratic. Just be a socialist if
you're going to be a socialist. And my response would be, well,
(21:26):
then why did you allow them to run in the
Democratic primaries if you're now claiming that they are not Democrats?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Look, they're taking over the Democrat Party, and it is–
It's clear that not every Democrat in the Senate or
House is a Marxist or an Islamist, but every one
of them is terrified of the Marxist and Islamist. And
they're holding the party hostage. They're winning primaries all over
the country from New York City to Michigan to Colorado
(21:56):
to Florida to Oklahoma. And all the Democrats are terrified.
And by the way, these radicals pretend they're not as
radical as– As they are. So, for example, I want
to listen to you. I want you to listen to
Abdul Al-Sayed on CBS talking about 9-11 and pretending that
(22:18):
he's much more reasonable on it. Give a listen.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
We noticed that there were some resurface posts on 9-11.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
And I was wondering if it's making it challenging to
reach more Republican or more moderate voters in this race.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Well, I mean, I think all of us look back
and say 9-11 was an awful thing that happened in
this country.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
And I think all of us also look back and say,
think about all the wars that were fought, and how
much safer do we feel like they made us? How
many lives did they ruin? And my point is just
to say that what happened on 9-11 is a disaster.
It was a terrible attack on our country.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
And our responsibility is also to think about how do
we build.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
An America where we.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Are protecting our servicemen and women, from being asked to
fight in wars we have no business fighting that ultimately
end up doing harm to people.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
And we're seeing that right now.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
If you look at the consequences of this war, that
we have no business fighting, the billions of dollars.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
That are being spent to raise our gas prices, we're
in a quagmire we don't know how to get out of.
And you'd think that after the disasters in Afghanistan.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
And Iraq that we would have learned a lesson, but
apparently not.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
And so I just think it's really important for us
to be learning the lessons of our history. And I'm
talking to Michiganders every single day who wonder when the
era of all these wars.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Is going to end because that's what Donald Trump said
he was going to do. He said America first.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
I'm America first.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
There is not a day that goes by that I
don't think about the destruction that 9-11 wrought and also
think about how do we build an America where we're
not constantly fighting wars we have no business to fight.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Both of those things can be true.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
All right. So, Senator, you hear that. And it is, again,
he's clearly saying, all right, I got to pivot from
what I've been saying and what I really believe. And
I'm going to totally change it. And you're like, all right, buddy, sure,
I believe you.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
So what's interesting, if you actually listen to the words
he said, he's not even entirely pivoting. So like what
he says there at the end is, quote, there's not
a day that goes by that I don't think about
the destruction that 9-11 wrought. What's interesting, when he's talking
about destruction that 9-11 wrought, he doesn't mean the 3,000
Americans murdered. He means the destruction that America destroyed al-Qaeda,
(24:38):
that America destroyed the Taliban. He is mourning that it
cost the terrorists their lives. And by the way, if
you think, well, no, no, no, surely that can't.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Be the case.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
As I mentioned, he had made a ton of tweets
about about 9-11. And when he launched a Senate campaign,
what did he do? He deleted all of them. So
there were 11 tweets from 2020 to 2022 in which
he trivialized 9-11. And you listen to some of them.
(25:12):
So here's one he sent. The fact that the U.S.
government continues to pit the Afghan people against 9-11 families
is appalling. All are victims. All deserve the full share
of support they are owed. Here's another one. The hypocrisy
of the U.S. war on terror, withholding humanitarian aid from
the Afghan people who had nothing to do with 9-11
(25:33):
but endured 20 years of war for it and are
now facing famine while exporting weapons to Saudi government allies
that exported the ideology that created bin Laden. Here's another one.
Defending America never should have meant responding to tribalistic grievance
with tribalistic grievance as so much of the post-9-11 era
has been. Rather, it should have meant embracing the ideals
(25:55):
that transcend it Here's another very revealing one that he
sent on September 11th, 2021. Quote, Today, I mourn the
3,000 lives, 6,000 injuries, and infrastructural devastation in New York,
perpetuated ignorantly in the name of my faith. Tomorrow, I'll
(26:17):
mourn the 1 million lives, millions of injuries, and infrastructural
devastation in three countries, perpetuated ignorantly in the name of
my country. So understand, when he's saying he weeps the
devastation of 9-11, he doesn't mean the Americans killed. He
means he's mourning that we killed so many al-Qaeda terrorists
(26:40):
and Taliban terrorists. That's who he's mourning. And here's another
tweet that he deleted. COVID-19 has taken over 3,000 American lives,
more than 9-11. I hope that means we'll spend the
next 10 years fighting a war for public health and
against climate change and poverty like we launched a global
war on terror after 9-11. We could save lives rather
(27:01):
than take them. This is over and over and over again.
He has sent tweet after tweet after tweet. And the
amazing thing is he deleted them all. He thought no
one would notice. And this is someone This is someone
who wants to represent the state of Michigan in the
(27:24):
United States Senate. And he won the primary. And among radicals,
by the way, Bernie Sanders is supporting him. Elizabeth Warren
is supporting him. AOC is supporting him. Chuck Schumer is
supporting the guy. The senator from New York is supporting
the guy who is mourning the terrorist who carried out
the 9-11 attacks. It is astonishing.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
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get into a bigger story, and it continues to get
(28:49):
bigger and bigger, and that is the issue of Chinese
spying and espionage and the influence in America. We've got
a new story this week. We have found out that
Chinese container ships have been used. It's a company called Costco.
They're owned by the Chinese government, and they apparently have
insanely sophisticated listening devices, spying devices on board of these
(29:13):
cargo ships that have been collecting intel for the Chinese
Communist Party in Beijing and concealing this equipment like, hey,
we're just here offloading equipment in America's ports. They've been
doing this apparently for years in the U.S.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Well, there are three related stories that are broken in
recent days, and they all concern Chinese spying and espionage
here in the United States. The first one you just referenced.
is a Chinese state-owned shipping giant, Costco, and this is
how Reuters has reported it, that Costco uses concealed equipment
on board its ships to spy on military communications near
(29:53):
the coastline of target nations, including the United States, two
senior Trump administration officials said. The officials who spoke on
conditions of anonymity to discuss U.S. assessment of the Chinese
program said Costco has a decades-long intelligence collection partnership with Beijing.
The arrangement allows China to collect communication signals from vessels
(30:16):
and aircraft operating across Europe, North America, and Asia. The
advanced equipment aboard the ships is intended to enable China
to gather information about, quote, military communications technologies and encryption developments,
one of the officials said. The effort also allows Beijing
to monitor key shipping lanes and maritime routes crucial for
trade and military navigation, the official added. Costco did not
(30:40):
respond to a request for comment, while the Chinese embassy
in Washington rejected the U.S. claims. President Trump and Chinese
leader Xi Jinping plan to meet in Washington for a
summit later this month, where they're expected to discuss a
range of issues related of sensitive security and trade issues.
The officials did not detail the type of equipment Costco
ships were allegedly using, but said they were, quote, sophisticated
(31:04):
signals intelligence collection platforms, not routine communications hardware. They said
Beijing uses the information gleaned to bolster its position in
territorial disputes and provide maritime reconnaissance and early warning indications
of foreign military targets. The Pentagon put Costco on its
(31:25):
list of companies linked to China's military in January 2025.
And nonetheless, Costco remains one of the top global shipping
companies calling at U.S. ports and has several terminal service
joint ventures for container ships at U.S. ports. So these
are container ships. They don't look like they're not military vessels.
(31:46):
They don't say Chinese Navy. They're a container ship. filled
with spy equipment and conducting espionage on U.S. soil.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
This is another example of the bigger threats, and we've
been talking about this a lot from China. It also,
when you go back in time and you see how
long they were doing this, a lot of this happened
under the Biden administration. And I ask the question, who
is asleep at the wheel and how were they not
doing more? At least now we're starting to find and
arrest different people that are involved in espionage. But it
(32:17):
seems like they could get away with whatever they wanted
to while the Biden administration was in charge.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Look, when Biden was in charge, there was no one
minding the till. Another case that just broke is two men,
two Chinese nationals were arrested, Yuance Chen and Liren Rian Lei.
They were arrested last year, but the news just became public.
They were charged with acting as agents of the Chinese
(32:43):
government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General. They were working
on behalf of China's Foreign Intelligence Service. And according to
the Justice Department, their activities included gathering intelligence about U.S.
Navy bases and American service members and assisting efforts to
recruit people inside the United States military who could potentially
(33:07):
become intelligence assets for Beijing. Prosecutors say Chen was directed
to visit a U.S. naval installation in Washington State in
a Navy recruiting center in San Gabriel, California. At that
recruiting center, Chen allegedly obtained personal information about Navy recruits
(33:27):
and apparently transmitted that information to a Chinese intelligence officer.
According to the criminal complaint, Chinese intelligence said allegedly instructed
Chen on how to engage and recruit future sailors and
how to reduce his chances of getting caught. Federal prosecutors
allege Chen and Lai helped facilitate a $ 10, 000 cash dead
(33:51):
drop in Livermore, California. This particular payment was compensation for
national security information that had previously been provided to Chinese intelligence.
He didn't merely communicate remotely with his handlers. He traveled
to Guangzhou, China, and met with MSS intelligence officers in
April 24, and again in March 25 to discuss compensation
(34:13):
and intelligence assignments. Lai, likewise, entered the United States in
April 25 on a tourist visa, claiming that his trip
was related to his online retail business. But according to prosecutors,
weeks later he traveled from Houston, our hometown, to all
the way to Southern California before returning to Texas. And
he was arrested in Houston. That's going on. And then
(34:36):
there's one more story, because I said there's three. And
I got to say, the third story hits really close
to home. It's an American citizen, Thomas Weir Palkin II,
who was sentenced on September 1st to two years in
federal prison after pleading guilty to acting as an agent
(34:56):
of a foreign government inside the United States. According to
the Justice Department, Palkin worked from 2019 until 2026 at
the direction of people he knew worked for the Chinese government.
One of his handlers was a woman identified as Kathy.
Prosecutors said Kathy gave Palkin assignments. He was directed to
meet potential intelligence assets in America. He provided those potential
(35:20):
assets with devices, including laptops, and cell phones so he
could communicate with his Chinese handlers. And he passed along
assignments telling those individuals one information China wanted. For doing this,
prosecutors say Pocken received at least $ 100, 000, while China also
paid for several of his trips between China and the
(35:41):
United States. Now, I got to say, look, when I
read this story, I'm like, Tom Pocken, Tom Pocken II.
He's a Texan, and there's a reason I paused, because
his father... Tom Pauken Sr., was the chairman of the
Texas Republican Party. Tom Pauken ran for governor in Texas.
(36:02):
You were not living in Texas then, so I don't
know if this name leapt off the page that you banned.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
But Tom Pauken ran for governor of Texas in 2014.
He was the chairman of the Republican Party. He was
the chairman of the Workforce Commission. He was the chairman
of the Republican Party from 1994 on. to 1997. So
his son just pleaded guilty and was just sentenced to
prison for being an agent for the Chinese government, paid
(36:29):
more than a hundred grand. That is astonishing and it's
deeply disturbing.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Yeah, it really is. And this is, again, just how
much they're working overtime to get into the United States
of America and their tentacles into us.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
They are.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
China is engaged in a thousand-year war against the United States.
Their objective is global dominance. Their objective is military dominance,
economic dominance. And I've spent my entire tenure in the
Senate arguing that we need a comprehensive strategy, much like
we had against the Soviet Union, to win the Cold War,
because they're fighting to win, and far too many Americans,
(37:05):
particularly American politicians, are not even aware this battle's going on.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, it's a great point. Don't forget we do this
show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as a podcast. If you're
listening on the radio, we love that you found us.
And stay with us all week long. You can download
Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcasts. And
we'll see you there on the podcast all week long.
You've been listening to Verdict with Ted Cruz. Have a
great week.
Welcome it is verdict with senator ted cruz ben ferguson
with you senator i tell you what it's been a
really fun week it got a lot more fun on
wednesday congratulations uh it is official you are now a
number one new york times best-selling author while being a
u.s senator i gotta say it's pretty impressive well done.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, this was a very, very good week. Last week,
my brand new book came out. It's called Going Further,
The Incomparable Clarence Thomas. It's a biography of Justice Thomas, who,
as you know, has been a friend of mine for
30 years. He was a guest on the Verdict podcast.
By the way, if you have not watched that interview,
it was an hour and 20 minute interview I did
(00:43):
with Justice Thomas. It is the one and only podcast
Justice Thomas has ever done. You can watch it on YouTube.
And I would highly recommend it. It was a fascinating
and wonderful interview. And the book, this week on Wednesday,
the new New York Times bestseller list came out, and
the book is the number one bestselling book in the
entire country. And that's the first time all five books
(01:04):
I've written have been New York Times bestsellers, but I've
never had a number one. And so that's really gratifying.
A whole lot of people, I think, are enjoying the book.
I did a rally this week up in Fort Worth.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
And it was great.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
A whole bunch of people had bought the book and
brought it to the event. I think people are really
enjoying the book, and it's a big, big threshold. We're
going to talk about that a little more. We're also
going to talk about the 25th anniversary of September 11th
that is coming up, and at the same time as
the 25th anniversary of 9-11, Abdul Al-Sayyad, the radical Islamist
(01:42):
candidate in Michigan, is participating in a conference with Radical
clerics with people who justify and give excuses for the
terror attack on the United States on 9-11. We're going
to break that down and actually go through the long
history Abdul Al-Sayed has of tweets that are just astonishing
(02:02):
about September 11th. He's deleted all of his old tweets,
but the Internet is forever. And when you try to
delete something, it doesn't go away. We're going to bring
you back to those and walk through just how extreme
and anti-American this particular candidate is. And then we're also
going to talk about China. Chinese espionage, Chinese spying. Chinese
(02:24):
spying here in the United States, not far away, but
here in America. Multiple instances of Chinese spying, Chinese ships
spying on military bases, intercepting communications. Chinese nationals engaged in
espionage here in the United States, and even an American
citizen pleading guilty to being a Chinese spy here in America.
I'm going to break all of that down on today's pod.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, it's really it's going to be a very, very
special show. I want to also take a moment and
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(03:08):
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for a free month of service. All right, Senator. So
let's just go back to the excitement. Where were you
and how did you find out that you finally have
a number one New York Times bestselling book? I don't
know who was more excited, by the way, if it
was me or you, because I was stalking it all
day on Wednesday and hoping that it was number one.
(05:01):
It's every author's dream. You've done, what is it, your
fifth book? I did one. Even just being a bestseller
is amazing, but being number one is a whole nother level.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I've got to say, Ben, you're hurting my feelings with
that word, finally.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
I mean, there.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Seems to be a whole lot of judgment there. You're
casting some serious aspersions on my first four books. I
liked the first four. I thought they were good books.
They sold well. But I think the highest I'd ever
made was number five on the list. So number one
was gratifying. And look, this book really was a labor
of love. The reason I wrote it is because Justice Thomas,
(05:39):
I think, is an American hero. And he's someone whose
story is inspiring. And a lot of people don't know it.
A lot of Americans don't know his story coming from
abject poverty, facing just withering racism, and rising to the
very top, the pinnacle of American law. But also his
(06:01):
ideological journey, going from being an angry left-wing radical to
one of the most conservative thinkers in history. And the
book tries to do both of those and at the
same time take his more than 30 years of jurisprudence
and explain it. Explain it in terms that are understandable.
(06:21):
You don't have to be a lawyer. You don't have
to be a constitutional law expert. It's designed to make
you understand why it matters. Right now today, Clarence Thomas
is the second longest-serving Supreme Court justice in history. In
less than two years, he'll be the longest-serving justice in history,
and he has written opinions over the decades that are
(06:42):
profoundly consequential on issues ranging from race. There has been
no more important justice in the Supreme Court writing on
issues of race and the Constitution's protections against racial discrimination
by government than Clarence Thomas. And that, the book explains
at great length. He has written, obviously, on abortion and
(07:04):
Roe versus Wade. He has written on the Second Amendment,
the right to keep and bear arms. He has written
a great deal on Reconstruction and the fundamental rights of Americans.
And he's also written, there's an extensive discussion of his
opinion in the Kelo case. So the Kelo case was
(07:26):
a case where the court upheld a city taking a
woman's private home, not for public use, but instead for
a parking lot for Pfizer, the giant pharmaceutical company. And
Justice Thomas dissented in Kelo when he wrote in his opinion,
the Constitution says you can take private property for, quote,
(07:46):
public use. the Supreme Court over the years had basically
changed the words public use to public purpose. And Justice
Thomas said, look, that's not what the Constitution says. Public
use means you can take a house, say, if you're
building a road or a highway or a school or
a library, something that's a government building that the public
is using. But the argument here was not that the
public was going to use it, but essentially that there
(08:09):
was a broad public purpose in taking this poor woman's
house because a parking lot would be more valuable to
the community. And Justice Thomas says, look, that's contrary to
the words of the Constitution. What's interesting that I write
about in the book is even though in that particular case,
and Justice Thomas has dissented in many cases, he won
by losing because his dissent was persuasive. And many, many states,
(08:32):
including Texas, have passed laws that now put into law
that you cannot take private property for public purpose only
for public use. His dissent was more persuasive than the majority's.
And a prediction I've made, if a case comes challenging Kelo,
the court will overturn it now. It will embrace Thomas's
dissent as it has in so many other areas.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
All right, Senator, let's get into Abdul El-Said. He is
going to join a panel. And the anniversary, an important anniversary,
the 25th anniversary of 9-11 is coming up. He is
going to join a panel with 9-11 conspiracy theorists at
an Islamic convention. Now, this convention clearly is being done
(09:13):
just days before the 9-11 anniversary. Obviously, they chose that
on purpose. But I cannot believe that more are not
talking about the Democratic Michigan Senate nominee and what he
is scheduled to speak at and who's around him.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Well, I got to say it. The Democrats running for
Senate across the country seem to be competing with each
other in terms of who can be more radical, more extreme,
more out of the mainstream. On Wednesday's podcast, we covered
James Tallarico, the extreme left-wing Democrat running for Senate in Texas.
And in particular, we uncovered The Zoom call he did
(09:50):
six years ago with left-wing activists from the Sierra Club
where he pledged to, quote, dismantle capitalism.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
These guys are.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
radicals and extreme. Well, Abdul Al-Sayed basically said to Telerico,
hold my beer, I can be more extreme than you can.
And the story you just noted, so this coming week,
is the 25th anniversary of September 11th. That was the
most horrific terror attack on the homeland in American history.
(10:21):
And instead of honoring that attack, instead of honoring the
nearly 3,000 lives that were taken that day, Abdul El-Sayed
is speaking at an Islamic conference that is essentially defending
the attackers. Here, I'm going to read to you a
story from the Washington Free Beacons. Democratic Senator, Michigan Senate
(10:43):
nominee Abdul El-Sayed is scheduled to speak at an Islamic
convention this weekend, six days before the 25th anniversary of 9-11.
On a panel alongside a quote 9-11 truther and a
Muslim cleric conspiracy theorist who has called for an examination
of the official narrative surrounding the terrorist attacks. El-Sayed is
(11:06):
headlining the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention in
Detroit on Saturday. There, El-Said will speak on a panel
to examine a, quote, turmoil to America, alongside left-wing pundits
Sent Uygur and Zaid Shakir, an outspoken New Jersey-based cleric.
(11:26):
Both men have promoted conspiracy theories surrounding 9-11, in which
Al-Qaeda operatives killed 2,977 Americans. Quote, I no longer believe
the official 9-11 story. Ugyur declared in a social media
rant in February. Ugyur, who hosts the Young Turks YouTube show,
(11:48):
is now pushing debunked claims about Israeli involvement. Because, of course,
Israel is the one that committed 9-11. Don't you know that?
I mean, look, these guys are radicals and kooks. Including the, quote,
dancing Israelis myth, an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that posits that
five Israeli spies filmed and celebrated the terrorist attack. Quote,
I didn't know we arrested Israeli spies who were here
(12:11):
to document the event, wrote Ugyur, who is the uncle
of Hassan Piker, a close al-Said ally who has said
that America deserved 9-11. Boy, I didn't know that. Did
you know that Sank Ugyur is the uncle of Hassan Piker?
Speaker 1 (12:25):
You know what? I did know that only because I've
had to deal with him so many times. You know, he...
He had to go on Piers Morgan's show and do
a mea culpa after losing it when he was debating
me recently over the issue of Israel, oddly enough, because
he's absolutely obsessed with Israel and anyone that supports Israel.
And this is where the hate comes from within the
Democratic Party. By the way, that clip when it went
(12:47):
completely viral, Piers brought him back to try to rehabilitate himself,
and then he doubled down on it, which was even funnier.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Well, Hassan Piker, who's campaigned alongside Abdul Al-Sayed, said America
deserved 9-11, he's the nephew of Sankogir, who now Abdul
Sayyed is sitting on the panel with, Ogir was widely mocked,
as one outlet described it, for going full 9-11 truther. Similarly,
Shakir has called for a, quote, examination of what he
(13:16):
describes as glaring weaknesses and inconsistencies in the official 9-11 narrative.
He has argued that the U.S. government used the attacks to, quote,
launch a war on Islam. And he directed followers to
the writing of David Ray Giffen, a leading 9-11 conspiracy theorist,
who has argued that the United States orchestrated the attacks. Look,
these people are kooks. This guy is standing there going, oh, yeah,
(13:36):
the American government is the one that knocked down the
World Trade Center. The American government is the one that
attacked the Pentagon. But they're not just kooks. It's not
just crazy. It's not just thinking you see little green men.
It is anti-American conspiracy theories that always, always, always blame
America and always, always, always apologize for radical Islamic terrorists
(13:57):
who are murdering Americans. It is conspiracy theory with an
ideological bite to it. And look, in a September 11,
2012 essay for CNN, that called Muslims, quote, another victim
(14:18):
of 9-11. El-Sayed cited a study conducted in California that
found a dramatic increase in premature births for Muslim women
after 9-11 compared to before the attacks. El-Sayed omitted from
his essay the findings of his own study comparing birth
outcomes for Muslim women before and after 9-11, which found
no difference in premature births. Shakir in addition to propagating
(14:43):
9-11 conspiracy theories, has blamed Israel for other terrorist attacks
and called for Muslims to, quote, use guerrilla warfare to
achieve their desired political outcomes. In a 1992 treatise, Shakir
argued for Muslims to embrace, quote, extra-systemic political action ranging from, quote,
(15:05):
non-cooperative tactics to guerrilla war in order to influence government
policies or eradicate the system altogether. Shakir asserted that every
major Muslim political gain in modern history was brought about
through such action and cited the creation of the Islamic
Republic of Iran and the, quote, armed struggle that led
(15:27):
to the Taliban control of Afghanistan. So understand this. Abdul
Al-Sayed is sitting next to a guy who thinks it's
great that the Ayatollah carried out a revolution in Iran
and and took Americans hostage for 444 days and waged
war against America for 47 years. He thinks it's great
that the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and oppressed women
and enforced Sharia law on everyone. And by the way,
(15:50):
coddled and nurtured al-Qaeda, which launched 9-11. These are the radicals,
and this is who al-Sayed is associating with on the
anniversary of 9-11. This is who the man is. When
he tells you who he is, believe him.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
All right, let me pause just for a second and
talk about something that is about to happen. 25 years
ago is the anniversary of 9-11, and America faced the
heartbreak of a terrorist attack at home. Now, just three
years ago, on October 7, 2023, Israel endured that same
heartbreak in the Holy Land. Different decades, different attacks, the
(16:28):
same evils. Now, each year, the International Fellowship of Christians
and Jews hosts Flags of Fellowship. It's a movement that
you can get involved with with your church, where thousands
of churches display memorial flags to honor the 1,200 lives
lost on October the 7th. It's a way to stand
with Israel in faith, prayer, remembrance, and solidarity. Each flag
(16:50):
represents a loved one, a family forever changed, and a
promise that we will not forget. Today, hatred and violence
still threaten our world. Yet scripture calls us to stand firm,
comfort the grieving, honor those that were lost, and shine
a light in the darkness. Now together, we remember and
honor and declare that evil will not have the final word.
(17:11):
So join thousands of churches and get yours involved all
across America in this powerful act of remembrance and support
for Israel. You can learn how your church can participate
in Flags of Fellowship at joinfof.org. That's joinfof.org. Senator, I
want to go back to this conference for a second.
(17:34):
And who is putting on this conference where Al-Said is
going to be hanging out with these conspiracy theorists on the,
basically on the 25th anniversary of 9-11?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Well, it's a group that's called the Islamic Society of
North America. And it was founded, do you know who
one of the founders was?
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Who is it?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Abdul Al-Sayed's father-in-law. So his father-in-law was one of the
founders of this organization. By the way, his father-in-law is
also the single largest donor to Abdul Al-Sayed's super PAC.
So this is a man who's funding his campaign. And
what is the Islamic Society of North America? Well, it
is a group with extensive ties to the Muslim Brotherhood,
(18:15):
which is a terrorist organization. It's been designated... by the U.S.
government as a terrorist organization. It has been designated by
Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the UAE as a terrorist organization.
And the Islamic Society of North America is closely affiliated
with the Muslim Brotherhood, so closely that the Islamic Society
of North America was named an unindicted co-conspirator in a
(18:36):
2008 Hamas fundraising case, the Holy Land case, This is,
and by the way, that was a case where millions
of dollars had been funneled from Americans to fund Hamas
and to fund terror attacks. The group, who's an unindicted
co-conspirator in that, is who is hosting Abdul Al-Sayed. By
(18:58):
the way, another speaker at the conference is a Texas-based
cleric named Yassir Qadi, who has called the Holocaust a hoax.
These are not mainstream. These are not normal people. These
are radicals. And I want to note also, Do you
know who used to be on the agenda? He's not
going to be on the agenda, but he was originally.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Who was that?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
A Pakistani cleric named Tariq Masood. He was scheduled to
appear at the event. And he admitted to forcing his
13-year-old niece into marriage.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
In compliance with what he believed was Islamic law. And
he's been accused of pedophilic rhetoric and marriage with her
own family. And he argued that Muslims should marry their
13-year-old nieces and nephews and their family. and should essentially
rape children. So this Pakistani cleric was on the agenda,
(19:56):
and actually Verdict covered this. We covered this in a
previous pod, and we said Abdul Al-Sayed is speaking alongside
this person who quite openly is bragged about pressuring his
13-year-old niece, forcing her into marriage, and said this was
a good thing. And Abdul Al-Sayed's defense at the time was, well, yeah,
we're both speaking at the same conference, but we're on
(20:16):
different panels. I'm not speaking on the same panel with him.
He's on a different panel. The public outcry was so
great that they canceled the cleric Tariq Massoud, but you
know what? Abdul Al-Sayed is still speaking there with every
other conspiracy theorist, and being an anti-American... Holocaust-denying, 9-11 truther,
(20:36):
Hamas and al-Qaeda-defending zealot and Islamist, well, that is apparently
a very popular thing in the Democrat Party right now.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, it really, really is. And this, again, goes back
to the civil war that we're witnessing right now in
the Democratic Party. It's really funny, by the way, and
I want to get your reaction to this. You had
some Democrats come out and say that Hassan Piker and
Al Saeed basically need to get out of the Democratic Party,
that they're not stop using the word Democrat with Socialists
(21:04):
of America. James Carville came out and said that. I
kind of laughed at his meltdown because it's only because
they're afraid they're going to lose that they're now saying this.
They did not keep any of these crazies in check.
And now he's like, get out of my party. You know,
quit using the name Democratic. Just be a socialist if
you're going to be a socialist. And my response would be, well,
(21:26):
then why did you allow them to run in the
Democratic primaries if you're now claiming that they are not Democrats?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Look, they're taking over the Democrat Party, and it is–
It's clear that not every Democrat in the Senate or
House is a Marxist or an Islamist, but every one
of them is terrified of the Marxist and Islamist. And
they're holding the party hostage. They're winning primaries all over
the country from New York City to Michigan to Colorado
(21:56):
to Florida to Oklahoma. And all the Democrats are terrified.
And by the way, these radicals pretend they're not as
radical as– As they are. So, for example, I want
to listen to you. I want you to listen to
Abdul Al-Sayed on CBS talking about 9-11 and pretending that
(22:18):
he's much more reasonable on it. Give a listen.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
We noticed that there were some resurface posts on 9-11.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
And I was wondering if it's making it challenging to
reach more Republican or more moderate voters in this race.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Well, I mean, I think all of us look back
and say 9-11 was an awful thing that happened in
this country.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
And I think all of us also look back and say,
think about all the wars that were fought, and how
much safer do we feel like they made us? How
many lives did they ruin? And my point is just
to say that what happened on 9-11 is a disaster.
It was a terrible attack on our country.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
And our responsibility is also to think about how do
we build.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
An America where we.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Are protecting our servicemen and women, from being asked to
fight in wars we have no business fighting that ultimately
end up doing harm to people.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
And we're seeing that right now.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
If you look at the consequences of this war, that
we have no business fighting, the billions of dollars.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
That are being spent to raise our gas prices, we're
in a quagmire we don't know how to get out of.
And you'd think that after the disasters in Afghanistan.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
And Iraq that we would have learned a lesson, but
apparently not.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
And so I just think it's really important for us
to be learning the lessons of our history. And I'm
talking to Michiganders every single day who wonder when the
era of all these wars.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Is going to end because that's what Donald Trump said
he was going to do. He said America first.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
I'm America first.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
There is not a day that goes by that I
don't think about the destruction that 9-11 wrought and also
think about how do we build an America where we're
not constantly fighting wars we have no business to fight.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Both of those things can be true.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
All right. So, Senator, you hear that. And it is, again,
he's clearly saying, all right, I got to pivot from
what I've been saying and what I really believe. And
I'm going to totally change it. And you're like, all right, buddy, sure,
I believe you.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
So what's interesting, if you actually listen to the words
he said, he's not even entirely pivoting. So like what
he says there at the end is, quote, there's not
a day that goes by that I don't think about
the destruction that 9-11 wrought. What's interesting, when he's talking
about destruction that 9-11 wrought, he doesn't mean the 3,000
Americans murdered. He means the destruction that America destroyed al-Qaeda,
(24:38):
that America destroyed the Taliban. He is mourning that it
cost the terrorists their lives. And by the way, if
you think, well, no, no, no, surely that can't.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Be the case.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
As I mentioned, he had made a ton of tweets
about about 9-11. And when he launched a Senate campaign,
what did he do? He deleted all of them. So
there were 11 tweets from 2020 to 2022 in which
he trivialized 9-11. And you listen to some of them.
(25:12):
So here's one he sent. The fact that the U.S.
government continues to pit the Afghan people against 9-11 families
is appalling. All are victims. All deserve the full share
of support they are owed. Here's another one. The hypocrisy
of the U.S. war on terror, withholding humanitarian aid from
the Afghan people who had nothing to do with 9-11
(25:33):
but endured 20 years of war for it and are
now facing famine while exporting weapons to Saudi government allies
that exported the ideology that created bin Laden. Here's another one.
Defending America never should have meant responding to tribalistic grievance
with tribalistic grievance as so much of the post-9-11 era
has been. Rather, it should have meant embracing the ideals
(25:55):
that transcend it Here's another very revealing one that he
sent on September 11th, 2021. Quote, Today, I mourn the
3,000 lives, 6,000 injuries, and infrastructural devastation in New York,
perpetuated ignorantly in the name of my faith. Tomorrow, I'll
(26:17):
mourn the 1 million lives, millions of injuries, and infrastructural
devastation in three countries, perpetuated ignorantly in the name of
my country. So understand, when he's saying he weeps the
devastation of 9-11, he doesn't mean the Americans killed. He
means he's mourning that we killed so many al-Qaeda terrorists
(26:40):
and Taliban terrorists. That's who he's mourning. And here's another
tweet that he deleted. COVID-19 has taken over 3,000 American lives,
more than 9-11. I hope that means we'll spend the
next 10 years fighting a war for public health and
against climate change and poverty like we launched a global
war on terror after 9-11. We could save lives rather
(27:01):
than take them. This is over and over and over again.
He has sent tweet after tweet after tweet. And the
amazing thing is he deleted them all. He thought no
one would notice. And this is someone This is someone
who wants to represent the state of Michigan in the
(27:24):
United States Senate. And he won the primary. And among radicals,
by the way, Bernie Sanders is supporting him. Elizabeth Warren
is supporting him. AOC is supporting him. Chuck Schumer is
supporting the guy. The senator from New York is supporting
the guy who is mourning the terrorist who carried out
the 9-11 attacks. It is astonishing.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
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(28:05):
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(28:27):
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You can help shape a child's future. So sponsor a
child today at Compassion.com. That's Compassion.com. Senator, I want to
get into a bigger story, and it continues to get
(28:49):
bigger and bigger, and that is the issue of Chinese
spying and espionage and the influence in America. We've got
a new story this week. We have found out that
Chinese container ships have been used. It's a company called Costco.
They're owned by the Chinese government, and they apparently have
insanely sophisticated listening devices, spying devices on board of these
(29:13):
cargo ships that have been collecting intel for the Chinese
Communist Party in Beijing and concealing this equipment like, hey,
we're just here offloading equipment in America's ports. They've been
doing this apparently for years in the U.S.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Well, there are three related stories that are broken in
recent days, and they all concern Chinese spying and espionage
here in the United States. The first one you just referenced.
is a Chinese state-owned shipping giant, Costco, and this is
how Reuters has reported it, that Costco uses concealed equipment
on board its ships to spy on military communications near
(29:53):
the coastline of target nations, including the United States, two
senior Trump administration officials said. The officials who spoke on
conditions of anonymity to discuss U.S. assessment of the Chinese
program said Costco has a decades-long intelligence collection partnership with Beijing.
The arrangement allows China to collect communication signals from vessels
(30:16):
and aircraft operating across Europe, North America, and Asia. The
advanced equipment aboard the ships is intended to enable China
to gather information about, quote, military communications technologies and encryption developments,
one of the officials said. The effort also allows Beijing
to monitor key shipping lanes and maritime routes crucial for
trade and military navigation, the official added. Costco did not
(30:40):
respond to a request for comment, while the Chinese embassy
in Washington rejected the U.S. claims. President Trump and Chinese
leader Xi Jinping plan to meet in Washington for a
summit later this month, where they're expected to discuss a
range of issues related of sensitive security and trade issues.
The officials did not detail the type of equipment Costco
ships were allegedly using, but said they were, quote, sophisticated
(31:04):
signals intelligence collection platforms, not routine communications hardware. They said
Beijing uses the information gleaned to bolster its position in
territorial disputes and provide maritime reconnaissance and early warning indications
of foreign military targets. The Pentagon put Costco on its
(31:25):
list of companies linked to China's military in January 2025.
And nonetheless, Costco remains one of the top global shipping
companies calling at U.S. ports and has several terminal service
joint ventures for container ships at U.S. ports. So these
are container ships. They don't look like they're not military vessels.
(31:46):
They don't say Chinese Navy. They're a container ship. filled
with spy equipment and conducting espionage on U.S. soil.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
This is another example of the bigger threats, and we've
been talking about this a lot from China. It also,
when you go back in time and you see how
long they were doing this, a lot of this happened
under the Biden administration. And I ask the question, who
is asleep at the wheel and how were they not
doing more? At least now we're starting to find and
arrest different people that are involved in espionage. But it
(32:17):
seems like they could get away with whatever they wanted
to while the Biden administration was in charge.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Look, when Biden was in charge, there was no one
minding the till. Another case that just broke is two men,
two Chinese nationals were arrested, Yuance Chen and Liren Rian Lei.
They were arrested last year, but the news just became public.
They were charged with acting as agents of the Chinese
(32:43):
government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General. They were working
on behalf of China's Foreign Intelligence Service. And according to
the Justice Department, their activities included gathering intelligence about U.S.
Navy bases and American service members and assisting efforts to
recruit people inside the United States military who could potentially
(33:07):
become intelligence assets for Beijing. Prosecutors say Chen was directed
to visit a U.S. naval installation in Washington State in
a Navy recruiting center in San Gabriel, California. At that
recruiting center, Chen allegedly obtained personal information about Navy recruits
(33:27):
and apparently transmitted that information to a Chinese intelligence officer.
According to the criminal complaint, Chinese intelligence said allegedly instructed
Chen on how to engage and recruit future sailors and
how to reduce his chances of getting caught. Federal prosecutors
allege Chen and Lai helped facilitate a $ 10, 000 cash dead
(33:51):
drop in Livermore, California. This particular payment was compensation for
national security information that had previously been provided to Chinese intelligence.
He didn't merely communicate remotely with his handlers. He traveled
to Guangzhou, China, and met with MSS intelligence officers in
April 24, and again in March 25 to discuss compensation
(34:13):
and intelligence assignments. Lai, likewise, entered the United States in
April 25 on a tourist visa, claiming that his trip
was related to his online retail business. But according to prosecutors,
weeks later he traveled from Houston, our hometown, to all
the way to Southern California before returning to Texas. And
he was arrested in Houston. That's going on. And then
(34:36):
there's one more story, because I said there's three. And
I got to say, the third story hits really close
to home. It's an American citizen, Thomas Weir Palkin II,
who was sentenced on September 1st to two years in
federal prison after pleading guilty to acting as an agent
(34:56):
of a foreign government inside the United States. According to
the Justice Department, Palkin worked from 2019 until 2026 at
the direction of people he knew worked for the Chinese government.
One of his handlers was a woman identified as Kathy.
Prosecutors said Kathy gave Palkin assignments. He was directed to
meet potential intelligence assets in America. He provided those potential
(35:20):
assets with devices, including laptops, and cell phones so he
could communicate with his Chinese handlers. And he passed along
assignments telling those individuals one information China wanted. For doing this,
prosecutors say Pocken received at least $ 100, 000, while China also
paid for several of his trips between China and the
(35:41):
United States. Now, I got to say, look, when I
read this story, I'm like, Tom Pocken, Tom Pocken II.
He's a Texan, and there's a reason I paused, because
his father... Tom Pauken Sr., was the chairman of the
Texas Republican Party. Tom Pauken ran for governor in Texas.
(36:02):
You were not living in Texas then, so I don't
know if this name leapt off the page that you banned.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
But Tom Pauken ran for governor of Texas in 2014.
He was the chairman of the Republican Party. He was
the chairman of the Workforce Commission. He was the chairman
of the Republican Party from 1994 on. to 1997. So
his son just pleaded guilty and was just sentenced to
prison for being an agent for the Chinese government, paid
(36:29):
more than a hundred grand. That is astonishing and it's
deeply disturbing.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Yeah, it really is. And this is, again, just how
much they're working overtime to get into the United States
of America and their tentacles into us.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
They are.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
China is engaged in a thousand-year war against the United States.
Their objective is global dominance. Their objective is military dominance,
economic dominance. And I've spent my entire tenure in the
Senate arguing that we need a comprehensive strategy, much like
we had against the Soviet Union, to win the Cold War,
because they're fighting to win, and far too many Americans,
(37:05):
particularly American politicians, are not even aware this battle's going on.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, it's a great point. Don't forget we do this
show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as a podcast. If you're
listening on the radio, we love that you found us.
And stay with us all week long. You can download
Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcasts. And
we'll see you there on the podcast all week long.
You've been listening to Verdict with Ted Cruz. Have a
great week.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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