December 13, 2025 • 33 mins
-
Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Debate
- Senator Ted Cruz discusses his decade-long effort to have the Muslim Brotherhood designated as a terrorist organization.
- Explains legislative strategy shift from a “top-down” global designation to a “bottom-up” affiliate-first approach.
- Mentions bipartisan support, Trump administration’s executive order, and resistance from State Department officials.
-
AI Regulation and U.S.–China Tech Race
- AI is the “single most important economic battle” of the 21st century.
- the AI race is akin to the 1990s Internet revolution, arguing for light-touch regulation to keep America competitive.
- Trump’s executive order centralizing AI regulatory approvals to prevent fragmented state-level rules.
- Emphasizes national security implications if China dominates AI development.
-
Foreign Influence and Qatar Controversy
- Qatar is lobbying U.S. officials, funding anti-American and anti-Semitic propaganda, and hosting Hamas leadership.
- Concerns have been raised about conservative influencers (including Tucker Carlson) attending Qatar-sponsored events and allegedly promoting propaganda.
- We list eight tough questions Carlson “should have asked” during his interview with Qatar’s Prime Minister but did not.
- Carlson is giving “softball interviews” to adversarial leaders (Qatar, Iran, Putin) and undermining U.S. interests.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Weekend Review, Ben Ferguson
with you, and these are the stories that you may
have missed that we talked about this week. First up,
an ongoing battle to designate the Muslim Brotherhood of terrorist
organization and it's time for you to step up and
call your Congressman and your Senator will explain how important
this is.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And just a moment. Also, AI executive order.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Signed by the President is going to excel AI business
in America. Why is it so important that we beat
China on this? And it deals with national security. We'll
explain that as well. And also, in a very odd move,
a guy by the name of Tucker Carlson decides to
go to Katar, stuck up to the country and buy
a house. It's the Weekend Review and it starts right now.
(00:45):
All right, Finally, Senator, I love doing the show because
we get to bring attention and actually get our listeners involved.
The next subject we're going to be talking about is
one where I would say to everyone listening, this is
when you say, I'm going to take a moment, I'm
going to send the I'm going to call my center.
I'm going to call my congressman, this is something you've
been working on. We've been talking about a lot, and
(01:08):
it deals with the Muslim Brotherhood bill, and I want
you to give this update, Becau. It's important and a
lot of people that listen Berg they say, hey, what
can I do?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
How can my voice be heard?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
This is a perfect example of where your phone call
can make a big difference.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
So, Look, the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization. It
is one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations on the planet.
I have been fighting for literally ten years for the
United States to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
In the first Trump administration, I came incredibly close. I
(01:45):
almost got the Trump administration to do it. Here's what
defeated me. So there's a global umbrella group, the Muslim Brotherhood,
and there are a bunch of affiliates that are in
different countries, and there were Deep States State Department operatives
who argued against what I was trying to do in
Trump want And the argument they use that prevailed is
(02:08):
they said, well, look, not every single affiliate of the
Muslim Brotherhood can we prove as a terrorist organization? Some
of them clearly are, but others of them, there's not
clear and irrefutable evidence that they're engaged in terrorism. That's
what defeated my effort.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Trump won.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
So here's what I've done Trump too, I said, the
previous efforts were top down. They were designate the Global
Muslim Brotherhood and then designate all their affiliates. They argued,
some of the affiliates may not be terrorists. I don't
buy that, but it was an argument, and it was
an argument that was successful in Trump won. So in
(02:49):
Trump too, I inverted the entire approach. I said, all right,
let's rather than being top down, let's start bottom up.
And so I filed legislation that directed the administration designate
every Muslim Brotherhood affiliate that there is clear and unequivocal
evidence their terrorist organization. So, for example, Hamas Hamas is
(03:10):
the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine, so there is no dispute
Hamas is a terrorist organization.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
So that is an easy.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Example of a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate that is indisputably terrorist.
My legislation says designate the affiliates, and then it says
designate the Global Muslim Brotherhood for providing money, for providing
material assistance to the affiliates that are indisputably terrorist organizations.
(03:41):
So I filed that legislation. I've been pressing the Trump administration.
President Trump stepped in and he announced that he was
in designating the Muslim Brotherhood's terrorist organization, not the global
but the individual affiliates. And basically, the Trumpet administration is
followed following the approach in my legislation. Now, I want
(04:02):
you to listen. This week, a State Department official from
the Trump administration was testifying before the Senate. I questioned
him on this, give a listen. Do you believe the
Muslim Brotherhood poses a threat to the national security.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Of the United States. Yes.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Now let's pivot away from the President's executive order to
what's happening here in Congress. As I said earlier, and
as you observed, I've been pushing to designate the Muslim
Brotherhood for more than a decade.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Now.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I've introduced legislation to do so in all but one
Congress since I was elected. This Congress, I introduced a
version of my bill, the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act,
that uses the same bottoms up approach that is in
President Trump's executive order. It has bipartisan support in both chambers.
Last week, frustratingly, the House version of my bill was
(04:54):
advanced but terminally weakened by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
We took out the designation part of the Muslim Brotherhood
Terrorist Designation Act. The Senate should do better, and we
should move the full bill on our side. Some public
reports and statements have claimed that House members, including House Republicans,
(05:15):
did not believe that Congress should have a role in
crafting sanctions which are to be implemented by the executive
I find that argument to be specious, and I know
the vast majority of this committee does as well, Mister Lerherfel,
I and my colleagues have implicit and explicit expectations that
executive officials will work with and, when appropriate, even defer
(05:37):
to this Committee on issues of foreign policy, including sanctions
and including the designation of terrorist groups. What is your
view of the role that Congress plays on these issues,
including on initiatives like mine to designate the Muslim Brotherhood
as a terrorist group.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Senator Cruz, thank you for your question. I fully respect
Congress's Article one authority and making laws, including with respect
to foreign terror organization designations or other types of designations.
Whatever legislation has passed, I will faithfully execute if I
(06:13):
am confirmed.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Thank you all right.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Final question, one element of this debate that continues to
surprise me, and I don't think the American people, even
many people here in Congress, I don't think they appreciate
the degree to which are allies support acknowledging and designating
the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. As you know, Jordan, Egypt,
(06:37):
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kenya, they have all already
designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. These are
our allies and partners in the Middle East and Africa,
and there's a pernicious narrative that doing the same thing
they've done designating the Muslim Brotherhood will somehow alienate these partners.
(06:58):
Describe how you would work with our allies to counter
the Brotherhood's malign activities.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Senator Cruz, thank you for that question. I can say
that in a previous capacity in the Bureau of counter Terrorism,
I led our efforts to designate the IRGC, get designations
of other countries to diet designate the IRGC, as well
as Hbela and Hamas particularly in the Western Hemisphere. That approach,
it's pretty pretty intense diplomacy. It requires a lot of legwork.
(07:30):
I've talked with our chief submission the Western Hemisphere across
to Australia with respect to that, and you saw the
news there about four or five months ago what Australia
did with respect to the IRGC. I would template that
really and get at the Muslim Brotherhood using that diplomatic approach.
That word that is working, and there's more work to
be done. Let me be clear with the IRGC and
his bullah and hamas, but I would template that in
(07:52):
our efforts with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Terrific, very help, thank thank you, Thank.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
You, sir.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
You're here, your question there, and I want you to
to explain why this is so important.
Speaker 6 (08:02):
Center.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
We need to be clear eyed. We need to be
clear eyed about the threats to America. The Muslim Brotherhood
is a radical jihadist global terror network. They are funding
jahatas in countries across the globe and we are seeing
we started this podcast by talking about eighteen thousand terrorists
coming to this country. Enter Joe Biden. These are the
(08:25):
Muslim Brotherhood is deliberately promoting people who are seeking to
engage in acts of terror, they're seeking to wage jihad,
and we need to be serious and clear eyed. And
I got to say, there's some Republicans that are nervous
about this, but Donald Trump is not, and his designation
was historic, and I'm continuing to work hand in hand
with him to protect American to protect the American people
(08:49):
against the threat of the Muslim brotherhood, against the threat
of jahadis.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
you can go back and listen to the full podcast
from earlier this week. Now onto story number two. You
may have heard about AI. It's pretty impressive what it
can do, but there also has to be framework around
it and making sure that it is a way for
us to use the tools and also keep people safe.
(09:15):
There's a lot of concern with AI also when it
comes to who's going to be leading in the industry.
Is it going to be the United States or China?
And what does AI look like if they're the leader,
and how can they manipulate everything through AI centater. This
is something that we've talked about on this show a lot.
I think we've led on this topic. It's an important
(09:38):
one because it is a race I describe the other
day on TV as this is no different than the
race of the Moon with Russia, the race to the
moon with AI and China.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Whoever gets there first is probably going to win and
own it.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
And this is a really really important subject right now.
And it's also when I think that deals with national security.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
So the single most important an economic battle we have
in this country right now is the race Fraei. This
is going to transform the world. We may not like it,
but it's going to happen. And the binary choice is
does America win or does China win. Look, whoever wins
the race fraei, the values of that country will define
(10:23):
the characteristics of AI. If you want AI to be
defined by the values of China, if you want it
to be surveillance and control and propaganda and the communist
government controlling every thing you think, then you want China
to win. If you want it to be free speech
and free enterprise and individual rights, then you want America
(10:44):
to win. And this is you think back to the
nineteen nineties. The battle for the Internet was a massive battle.
America won the battle for the Internet. We prevailed this
battle of AI is more consequential than the battle for
the Internet. Today, President Trump signed an executive order seeking
(11:06):
to ensure a consistent national standard of rules for AI
to stop Gavin Newsom and Hockel and JB. Presker and
on all these left wing democrats in the States from
putting contradictory, burdensome, inconsistent rules on AI that ends up
(11:27):
crippling American AI and letting China win. I want you
to listen to Presidents he talked about this today.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Well, thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
We have a big signing right now, and we have
a tremendous industry.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Where we're leading by a lot.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
It's the AI artificial intelligence. I always thought it should
be SI Supreme Intelligence, but I guess somewhere along the
line they decided under word artificial and that's okay with me.
That's up to them.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
It's a massive industry.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
We're leading China, We're leading everybody by a tremendous amount.
Where the electricity is being built by them in every
plant they're building the electricity. We're getting them rapid approvals,
but they're spending trillions of dollars and they can't. Basically,
this is a couple of other things that are less important.
But one of the things it has is you have
(12:19):
to have a central source of approval. When they need
approvals of things, they have to come to one source.
They can't go to California, New York and various other
places like Illinois with Pritzker, who's you know, a totally
unreasonable person, and they have to have you know, they're
putting all this money in. It's a big part of
the economy and there's only going to be I think
(12:40):
one winner here. I don't know if anybody agrees with that.
I think most people agree, but there's only going to
be one winner here, and that's probably going to be
the US or China, and right now we're winning.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
By a lot.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
China has a central source of approval. I don't think
they have any approval. They's go and built, but people
want to be in the United States and they want
to do it here we have the big investment coming.
But if they had to get fifty different approvals from
fifty different states, you could forget it because it's not
possible to do especially if you have some hostile All
you need is one hostile actor and you wouldn't be
(13:12):
able to do it. So it doesn't make sense. I
didn't have to be briefed in this. By the way,
this is real easy business. I mean, this is simple.
So we're very happy with that. But this is about
something a little bit different. We want to have one
central source of approval, and we have I think great
Republican support. I think we probably have Democrats support too,
(13:32):
because it's common sense. I mean, you can't go to
every time you make a change, and it could be
a very reasonable change, you still won't get it approved
if you have to go to fifty states. So this
centralizes it, and it's something which the people behind me,
the very distinguished people all but Tim Cook just left
of Apple and spoke to all of the big companies,
(13:54):
great companies, and they won't be able to do this.
This will not be successful unless they have one source
of approval or disapproval. Frightenly, you could have disapproval too,
but it's got to be one source. They can't go
to fifty different sources.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
This seems to be a core point of what the
President and what you were trying to accomplish, which is
that one source, because otherwise it would be impossible to
grow AI and to deal with it the way that
we need to deal with it. If you didn't have
this kind of one standard across the board.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Look, AI is transformational. Think back to the nineteen nineties.
The nineteen nineties, Bill Clinton was president and the Internet.
It was the dawn of the Internet, and we made
a choice. America made a choice to do a light
touch regulatory approach to the Internet, and we ended up
winning that race. America dominates tech, We dominate the Internet.
(14:50):
It produced hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs
in the United States. That was incredibly consequential. AI is
the same point. And Ben, I'll say, Look, I understand
people across the country. They're nervous about AI. They're afraid.
They don't want AI to come take their jobs. They
don't want AI to render them irrelevant. They don't like
the technology. And I get that that's not a crazy
(15:12):
thing to think. But look my view, I'm not a
lut eyed. I don't think the fact that you're nervous
about technology can make it go away. As much as
you might be worried. Listen, I'll readily admit if there
were a button in front of me right now to
destroy every cell phone in the world, I'd push that
button because I think cell phones are a portal. You know,
(15:34):
I'm a dad. I've got two teenage girls. Cell phones
are a portal to every evil.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Force in the world at our kids.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
But we don't live in that world. AI is here,
it is coming. We have a binary choice. Does America
win it? Or does China win it. I want you
to listen to what I had to say with President
Trump in the Oval today.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Give a listen.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
Ted Cruz has been a very strong advocate of this
is common sense. I mean, I think it's nothing one
of the common sense.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Please diad listen.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
This is the single most important economic question in the
country and in the world.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Who wins the race for AI.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
You look back to the nineteen nineties, there was a
similar inflection point with the beginning of the Internet, the
dawn of the Internet, and Bill Clinton was president at
the time. He signed an executive order just like you're
doing that put into law a light touch regulatory approach
to the Internet, and the result was incredible economic growth
in jobs in the United States. Is the same time,
(16:36):
the European Union took a very heavy handed regulatory approach.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Here's an amazing statistic, mister president.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
In nineteen ninety three, the US economies in Europe's economy
were virtually identical in size. Today, America's economy is more
than fifty percent larger than Europe's, and the two drivers
of that are tech and the shale revolution. It transformed
this country, and AI is the same thing. It's a race,
and if China wins the race, whoever wins, the values
(17:06):
of that country will affect all of AI. We don't
want China's values of surveillance and centralized control by the communist.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Government governing AI.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
We want American values of free speech, of individual liberty,
of respecting the individual. So this executive order, I believe
is a tremendously important Thank you for your leadership, you.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Know, Senator, Just to underscore how important this is and
what you just described there, even Donald Trump on true
Social said The Wall Street Journal has another ridiculous story
today that China's dominating us in the world on the
production of electricity having to do with AI.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
They're wrong.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
As usual, every AI plant being built in the United
States is building its own electric generating facilities. The approvals
are being given carefully but very quickly a matter of weeks.
Any excess electricity being produced is going to go to
our electric grid, which is being strengthened and expanded for
the purpose for other purposes than AI. Like this is
(18:09):
not just moving forward and protecting us and going to
this race with China. Who's going to be in charge
of it, who's going to be the best at it?
But this is also building American infrastructure and a lot
of American jobs are actually going to be created out
of this as well.
Speaker 7 (18:25):
Well.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
This is a common sense principle. We should be the
party of jobs.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
AI.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
It's going to produce disruption, it's part of the reason
people are scared of it, but it's also going to
create millions of jobs. And the simple question we want
to ask is who do we want to win? Do
we want a world where China wins ai AI is coming.
You may not like it, you may be scared about it,
you may not know, And I get it's easy to say. Listen,
(18:54):
I wish nuclear weapons didn't exist. If there were a
button to make every nuclear weapon disappear, I'd push that button.
But they do exist, and if they exist, I want
to make sure America has the best and is able
to deter someone attacking us. AI is similar. And I
got to say President Trump is being bold, he's being visionary.
(19:17):
He understands that if we win or lose this, this
is the economic battle of the twenty first century. And
I was really proud I stood side by side with
Donald Trump saying America is going to win the race
for AI. We're going to beat China. That is massively
important for jobs in America.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
As before, if you want to hear the rest of
this conversation on this topic, you can go back and
dow the podcast from earlier this week to hear the
entire thing. I want to get back to the big
story number three of the week you may have missed, Senator.
We've talked a lot about influence, foreign influence, and there
is a lot of people that are like, I don't
understand why it's a big deal that a bunch of
(19:57):
Americans that are conservative in influencers are running to countries
like Qatar, taking trips over there that are being paid
for by them, and putting up what I would describe
as propaganda on social media on behalf of Katar. But
people that see they're like, what's the big deal. Tucker
Carlson shows up, speaks to this Doha forum. Why is
(20:18):
that a big deal? Why should I care? I want
you to explain before we get to Tucker, what Qatar
has been doing to influence America, so people understand who
we're dealing with and why you might want to ask
the question why would you be going there?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
I forget Tucker's name.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
There are a lot of concerns I know that have
been taking these types of trips recently. They're trying to
buy influence in the conservative movement, and it's frustrating because
I don't think people understand the threat that Qatar is
to this country at all.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Look, Qatar is not our friend.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Qatar is spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying the
United States government, spending millions of dollars funding bots. You
look at the anti Semitic content, you look at the
anti American content that is online, Qatar is funding it.
By the way, you look at the anti Semitic protests
on college campuses, Qatar is funding that that. They are
(21:14):
profoundly hostile to American I will tell you there was
a conference this past week in Doha, which is in Qatar.
You had a number of Americans go there. The most
prominent of which was Tucker Carlson. And I want to
tell you. Look, I sent a tweet so Tucker Carlson
was going to interview the Prime Minister of Qatar, and listen.
I have been very vocal that I think Tucker Carlson
(21:36):
has become the most dangerous demagogue in America. I think
he's doing enormous damage. But I try to give him
an opportunity. So here's what I tweeted before his interview.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
I said the following.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
For years, Tucker Carlson has been accused of being on
the payroll of Qatar.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
For years, he has denied it.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
This is now a beautiful opportunity for him to try
to clear his name. Tomorrow, Tucker is interviewing the Prime
Minister of Qatar in Doha. Tucker knows how to ask
tough questions. Here are a few he should ask. Number One,
Al Jazeera is a mouthpiece for anti Americanism, anti Semitism,
(22:15):
and Jahadis terrorism. Why does Cutter pour countless tens of
millions into supporting it? Number two, why does Cutter back
the Muslim Brotherhood, a group designated as the terrorist organization
by several of Cutter's neighbors, and which President Trump is
also moving to designate Number three. Hamas planned the October
(22:36):
seventh atrocities while Cutter hosted hamas leadership. This included the
kidnapping and murder of dozens of Americans. Even the Biden
administration wanted Cutter to expel Hamas after hostage talks collapsed.
Why did Cutter keep hosting hamas leadership.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Let's just pause it for one second as you were
tweeting this out, because I don't think we'll understand. And
they were actively hosting these terrorists.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
The leaders of a mosque live in Cutter.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
They live in opulent mansions, They live like billionaires while
they are murdering not just Israelis, but Americans, while they
are raping not just Israelis but Americans, and Cutter is
embracing them. And they're like like movie stars living and Cutter,
by the way, Number four, speaking of which, on October seventh,
(23:28):
twenty twenty three, Cutter issued a statement saying Israel alone
was responsible for the violence. Then in September of twenty
twenty four, Cutters of Meir said Israel was responsible for
the war expanding to Lebanon.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Is that still Cutter's position.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Number five, Cutter is the only Gulf country that still
maintains male guardianship and travel restrictions for women. When do
you intend to join the civilized world? So if you
actually believe women have rights, that ain't the case?
Speaker 3 (24:02):
And Cutters numbers.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Do you mean by that real fast?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So that people understand the context of it, of what
you because it made just sound like okay, what does
that even mean for women? What is life like there?
Explain how that's so far back in the Stone Ages?
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Look, the rights of women are severely livered limited and Cutter.
Males are treated as the decision makers. They have control
over their wives, they have control over their daughters, and
the rights of women are are severely diminished and Cutter,
So that's an obvious question to ask of like why
don't you believe women have any rights?
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Number six?
Speaker 4 (24:37):
How much is Cutter paying to fund anti Semitic protests
on US college campuses? Understand, we saw protests all over America.
Cutter was spending millions of dollars to fund that, and
simple question why Number seven, how much is Cutter paying
to spy on US government officials?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
And why? And to be clear, there were multiple news stories.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Cutter hired spies to spy on me because they viewed
me as the US government official most skeptical and antagonistic
of Cutters.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
So they're actively spying on me.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
And number eight, finally, how much exactly are you paying
conservative influencers to come to this conference and participate? Now,
if Tucker had asked those questions, it would have been
a big deal, like he could actually he had the
Prime minister every one of those questions they don't have
a good answer to. But he didn't ask those questions.
(25:33):
He didn't ask any difficult questions. He did the same
thing he did when he interviewed Putin, which is he
embraced him and kissed his rear end. He did the
same thing when he interviewed the president of Iran, which
is he embraced him and kissed his rear end. Tucker
has a pattern. If you're an enemy of America who
wants to murder Americans, he will not ask you a
(25:54):
single hostile question. I want you to listen to this exchange.
This is a snippet of the back and forth between
Tucker and the Prime Minister of Cutter.
Speaker 8 (26:03):
So that last question, I've been personally not to make
it about me, but I have been criticized as being
a tool of Katar, and I just want to say
what you already know, which is I've never taken anything
from your country and don't plan to. I am, however, tomorrow,
buying a place in Qatar, both because I am paying
a HI check in oh Ya, and I'm doing that
(26:25):
because I like the city. I think it's beautiful, but
also to make a statement that I'm an American and
a freeman and I'll be wherever I want to be, which.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
I think is important.
Speaker 8 (26:35):
But that does kind of leave us in a place
where I have not taken any money from Qatar. I
have instead given money to Qatar, and I wonder if
you feel that that means I've bought you and you
will now spew my propaganda.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
Thank you just asking me what if you want me
to do for you, I will do it. But look, Tucker, Unfortunately,
as I told you, that, there are a lot of
players putting a lot of efforts to sabotage the relationship
between Cutter and the United States and to try to
dominize anyone who will come to this country. Our efforts
(27:15):
when we are lobbying or.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Doing.
Speaker 7 (27:19):
You know, our outreach in the United States is to
make sure that this relationship is safeguarded and the relationship
for US is mutually beneficial. We are not getting it
from the United States, it's we are. Instead, we are
buying from the United States. We are partnering with them.
We are investing in the United States, United States investing
(27:41):
and cutter. And this relationship has been always a two
ways relationship. And we pay all these amounts for lobbying
only to protect and to safeguard this relationship. If we
are we are not like being attacked and under a
lot of like this information campaign that's been unfortunately funded
(28:03):
by other players who doesn't want to see a US
ratter relationship flourish. We wouldn't, We would spend this money
for better things, you know, to do with with the relationship.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I mean, you look at that question center and it's
one of those that just you scratch your head because
there's just part of this You're like, wait, what did
what did I just witness?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
What did I just watch? There? Like how is this real?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
And the idea of like I'm buying a place have
never taken anything. I just like it here it shows
I'm a free man. Didn't ask any questions, not a
single tough question of a man that is allowing terrorists
to sit in his country and to orchestrate more tears
texts that have killed Americans.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
So understand this government that is hosting Hamas, that is
celebrating Hamas, that is funding anti American propaganda and anti
Israel propaganda and anti Semitic propaganda. He's the ourrime minister,
says to Tucker, Ask me whatever you want, We will
do anything you want. He also says to Tucker, we
are spending vast amounts and lobbying.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Understand.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Cutter spends hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying the United
States government, the United States Congress. By the way, Tucker
is obsessed with APAC because he's decided that Jews are
the source.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Of all evil in the world.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
And Cutter pays two to three times as much as
APAC does in lobbying.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Do you know who APAC is.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
APACK are Americans that it is not the government of Israel.
APAK are Americans who want American Israel to have a
close relationship. And so American citizens, many of whom happen
to be Jewish. Although not all of them, who support
a lot of actually Christian evangelicals also who support a
strong relationship between the United States and Israel. They do
(29:48):
write checks, but they write checks that that are on
order of magnitude anywhere from a third to a half
what Cutter, the foreign government writes they spend hundreds of
millions of dollars lobbying our government. And I got to say, Tucker,
Tucker claims to be America first, he is.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Literally buying a home in Cutter.
Speaker 4 (30:09):
Cutter who is actively funding anti American propaganda, anti Semitic propaganda.
And by the way, Tucker says, oh, I've never taken
a penny from you. By the way, you know, I
don't know what kind of sweetheart real estate deal he's getting.
But who the heck what American? Let me ask you, Ben,
you know a lot of people. Do you know any
other American who wants to buy a home and Cutter.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
No, I've In fact, I've known a lot of international people.
I've never heard of anybody going, yeah, I'm head, never
to cut her to go buy a home. Never, not like,
not one time, no one. And I know people outside
the US, they've never said that.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Look, I and I think there's a reason for it,
which is that I don't know why. I've had conversations
about why Tucker has decided by the way, Tucker is
actively attacking President Trump's foreign policy. He is furious that
President Trump decided to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities, and
even more mad that that bombing was incredibly successful. It
(31:07):
was the single most important foreign policy and national security
decision that President Trump has made in the second term.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
And Tucker thinking start War three, which I'm pretty sure
that's what they said was going to happen.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Isn't that right? It was going to start World War three?
Speaker 4 (31:20):
So let's be clear, it's not they Tucker predicted if
Trump bombed Uran. Yes, he said it would cause World
War three, number one. He said thousands of Americans would die,
number two. And he said America would lose, Iran would
beat us in.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
World War three.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Now, every one of those predictions was laughably absurdly wrong.
And yet Tucker is now buying a home and cut
her and saying, hey, you crazy theocratic Islamist America, hating radicals,
you're my people. That is really, really, really dangerous.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah, the questions that we just asked there, I really
hope that all of you will share those on social media,
Share the episode on social media, share the video we
put up on Facebook.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
We put it up on.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
And Ben, let me ask you a question, Let me
ask a questions. Why do you think Tucker didn't ask
a single one.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Of the questions I suggested?
Speaker 4 (32:18):
I sent eight, and they were not ridiculous questions.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
They were actually questioned.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
If you were in fact America first, and you're interviewing
the leader of this country that that that that is
funding things that are profoundly anti American, anybody would ask
if you and I were interviewing them, we would.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Ask those questions. Why do you think Tucker didn't.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
I think it's the same reason why he gave a
powderpuff interview with Vladimir Putin. I think it's the same
reason why he was sitting down with the head of Iran.
It is because when he goes there, he knows the
role he's playing, which is a propagandist for those countries.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
I wish that were not the case, but I can't
argue against that. He does not ask ask a single
question defending America. Instead, he just embraces leaders that that
that that are doing enormous damage to Americans, and and
and and and that, by the way, is I think
significantly undermining President Trump as.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Well as always thank you for listening to Verdict with Center,
Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to deal
with my podcast, and you can listen to my podcast
every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each
day when you listen to Verdict. Afterwards, I'd love to
have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson podcasts,
and we will see you back here on Monday morning.
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Weekend Review, Ben Ferguson
with you, and these are the stories that you may
have missed that we talked about this week. First up,
an ongoing battle to designate the Muslim Brotherhood of terrorist
organization and it's time for you to step up and
call your Congressman and your Senator will explain how important
this is.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And just a moment. Also, AI executive order.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Signed by the President is going to excel AI business
in America. Why is it so important that we beat
China on this? And it deals with national security. We'll
explain that as well. And also, in a very odd move,
a guy by the name of Tucker Carlson decides to
go to Katar, stuck up to the country and buy
a house. It's the Weekend Review and it starts right now.
(00:45):
All right, Finally, Senator, I love doing the show because
we get to bring attention and actually get our listeners involved.
The next subject we're going to be talking about is
one where I would say to everyone listening, this is
when you say, I'm going to take a moment, I'm
going to send the I'm going to call my center.
I'm going to call my congressman, this is something you've
been working on. We've been talking about a lot, and
(01:08):
it deals with the Muslim Brotherhood bill, and I want
you to give this update, Becau. It's important and a
lot of people that listen Berg they say, hey, what
can I do?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
How can my voice be heard?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
This is a perfect example of where your phone call
can make a big difference.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
So, Look, the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization. It
is one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations on the planet.
I have been fighting for literally ten years for the
United States to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
In the first Trump administration, I came incredibly close. I
(01:45):
almost got the Trump administration to do it. Here's what
defeated me. So there's a global umbrella group, the Muslim Brotherhood,
and there are a bunch of affiliates that are in
different countries, and there were Deep States State Department operatives
who argued against what I was trying to do in
Trump want And the argument they use that prevailed is
(02:08):
they said, well, look, not every single affiliate of the
Muslim Brotherhood can we prove as a terrorist organization? Some
of them clearly are, but others of them, there's not
clear and irrefutable evidence that they're engaged in terrorism. That's
what defeated my effort.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Trump won.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
So here's what I've done Trump too, I said, the
previous efforts were top down. They were designate the Global
Muslim Brotherhood and then designate all their affiliates. They argued,
some of the affiliates may not be terrorists. I don't
buy that, but it was an argument, and it was
an argument that was successful in Trump won. So in
(02:49):
Trump too, I inverted the entire approach. I said, all right,
let's rather than being top down, let's start bottom up.
And so I filed legislation that directed the administration designate
every Muslim Brotherhood affiliate that there is clear and unequivocal
evidence their terrorist organization. So, for example, Hamas Hamas is
(03:10):
the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine, so there is no dispute
Hamas is a terrorist organization.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
So that is an easy.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Example of a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate that is indisputably terrorist.
My legislation says designate the affiliates, and then it says
designate the Global Muslim Brotherhood for providing money, for providing
material assistance to the affiliates that are indisputably terrorist organizations.
(03:41):
So I filed that legislation. I've been pressing the Trump administration.
President Trump stepped in and he announced that he was
in designating the Muslim Brotherhood's terrorist organization, not the global
but the individual affiliates. And basically, the Trumpet administration is
followed following the approach in my legislation. Now, I want
(04:02):
you to listen. This week, a State Department official from
the Trump administration was testifying before the Senate. I questioned
him on this, give a listen. Do you believe the
Muslim Brotherhood poses a threat to the national security.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Of the United States. Yes.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Now let's pivot away from the President's executive order to
what's happening here in Congress. As I said earlier, and
as you observed, I've been pushing to designate the Muslim
Brotherhood for more than a decade.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Now.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I've introduced legislation to do so in all but one
Congress since I was elected. This Congress, I introduced a
version of my bill, the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act,
that uses the same bottoms up approach that is in
President Trump's executive order. It has bipartisan support in both chambers.
Last week, frustratingly, the House version of my bill was
(04:54):
advanced but terminally weakened by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
We took out the designation part of the Muslim Brotherhood
Terrorist Designation Act. The Senate should do better, and we
should move the full bill on our side. Some public
reports and statements have claimed that House members, including House Republicans,
(05:15):
did not believe that Congress should have a role in
crafting sanctions which are to be implemented by the executive
I find that argument to be specious, and I know
the vast majority of this committee does as well, Mister Lerherfel,
I and my colleagues have implicit and explicit expectations that
executive officials will work with and, when appropriate, even defer
(05:37):
to this Committee on issues of foreign policy, including sanctions
and including the designation of terrorist groups. What is your
view of the role that Congress plays on these issues,
including on initiatives like mine to designate the Muslim Brotherhood
as a terrorist group.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Senator Cruz, thank you for your question. I fully respect
Congress's Article one authority and making laws, including with respect
to foreign terror organization designations or other types of designations.
Whatever legislation has passed, I will faithfully execute if I
(06:13):
am confirmed.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Thank you all right.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Final question, one element of this debate that continues to
surprise me, and I don't think the American people, even
many people here in Congress, I don't think they appreciate
the degree to which are allies support acknowledging and designating
the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. As you know, Jordan, Egypt,
(06:37):
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kenya, they have all already
designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. These are
our allies and partners in the Middle East and Africa,
and there's a pernicious narrative that doing the same thing
they've done designating the Muslim Brotherhood will somehow alienate these partners.
(06:58):
Describe how you would work with our allies to counter
the Brotherhood's malign activities.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Senator Cruz, thank you for that question. I can say
that in a previous capacity in the Bureau of counter Terrorism,
I led our efforts to designate the IRGC, get designations
of other countries to diet designate the IRGC, as well
as Hbela and Hamas particularly in the Western Hemisphere. That approach,
it's pretty pretty intense diplomacy. It requires a lot of legwork.
(07:30):
I've talked with our chief submission the Western Hemisphere across
to Australia with respect to that, and you saw the
news there about four or five months ago what Australia
did with respect to the IRGC. I would template that
really and get at the Muslim Brotherhood using that diplomatic approach.
That word that is working, and there's more work to
be done. Let me be clear with the IRGC and
his bullah and hamas, but I would template that in
(07:52):
our efforts with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Terrific, very help, thank thank you, Thank.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
You, sir.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
You're here, your question there, and I want you to
to explain why this is so important.
Speaker 6 (08:02):
Center.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
We need to be clear eyed. We need to be
clear eyed about the threats to America. The Muslim Brotherhood
is a radical jihadist global terror network. They are funding
jahatas in countries across the globe and we are seeing
we started this podcast by talking about eighteen thousand terrorists
coming to this country. Enter Joe Biden. These are the
(08:25):
Muslim Brotherhood is deliberately promoting people who are seeking to
engage in acts of terror, they're seeking to wage jihad,
and we need to be serious and clear eyed. And
I got to say, there's some Republicans that are nervous
about this, but Donald Trump is not, and his designation
was historic, and I'm continuing to work hand in hand
with him to protect American to protect the American people
(08:49):
against the threat of the Muslim brotherhood, against the threat
of jahadis.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
you can go back and listen to the full podcast
from earlier this week. Now onto story number two. You
may have heard about AI. It's pretty impressive what it
can do, but there also has to be framework around
it and making sure that it is a way for
us to use the tools and also keep people safe.
(09:15):
There's a lot of concern with AI also when it
comes to who's going to be leading in the industry.
Is it going to be the United States or China?
And what does AI look like if they're the leader,
and how can they manipulate everything through AI centater. This
is something that we've talked about on this show a lot.
I think we've led on this topic. It's an important
(09:38):
one because it is a race I describe the other
day on TV as this is no different than the
race of the Moon with Russia, the race to the
moon with AI and China.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Whoever gets there first is probably going to win and
own it.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
And this is a really really important subject right now.
And it's also when I think that deals with national security.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
So the single most important an economic battle we have
in this country right now is the race Fraei. This
is going to transform the world. We may not like it,
but it's going to happen. And the binary choice is
does America win or does China win. Look, whoever wins
the race fraei, the values of that country will define
(10:23):
the characteristics of AI. If you want AI to be
defined by the values of China, if you want it
to be surveillance and control and propaganda and the communist
government controlling every thing you think, then you want China
to win. If you want it to be free speech
and free enterprise and individual rights, then you want America
(10:44):
to win. And this is you think back to the
nineteen nineties. The battle for the Internet was a massive battle.
America won the battle for the Internet. We prevailed this
battle of AI is more consequential than the battle for
the Internet. Today, President Trump signed an executive order seeking
(11:06):
to ensure a consistent national standard of rules for AI
to stop Gavin Newsom and Hockel and JB. Presker and
on all these left wing democrats in the States from
putting contradictory, burdensome, inconsistent rules on AI that ends up
(11:27):
crippling American AI and letting China win. I want you
to listen to Presidents he talked about this today.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Well, thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
We have a big signing right now, and we have
a tremendous industry.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Where we're leading by a lot.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
It's the AI artificial intelligence. I always thought it should
be SI Supreme Intelligence, but I guess somewhere along the
line they decided under word artificial and that's okay with me.
That's up to them.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
It's a massive industry.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
We're leading China, We're leading everybody by a tremendous amount.
Where the electricity is being built by them in every
plant they're building the electricity. We're getting them rapid approvals,
but they're spending trillions of dollars and they can't. Basically,
this is a couple of other things that are less important.
But one of the things it has is you have
(12:19):
to have a central source of approval. When they need
approvals of things, they have to come to one source.
They can't go to California, New York and various other
places like Illinois with Pritzker, who's you know, a totally
unreasonable person, and they have to have you know, they're
putting all this money in. It's a big part of
the economy and there's only going to be I think
(12:40):
one winner here. I don't know if anybody agrees with that.
I think most people agree, but there's only going to
be one winner here, and that's probably going to be
the US or China, and right now we're winning.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
By a lot.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
China has a central source of approval. I don't think
they have any approval. They's go and built, but people
want to be in the United States and they want
to do it here we have the big investment coming.
But if they had to get fifty different approvals from
fifty different states, you could forget it because it's not
possible to do especially if you have some hostile All
you need is one hostile actor and you wouldn't be
(13:12):
able to do it. So it doesn't make sense. I
didn't have to be briefed in this. By the way,
this is real easy business. I mean, this is simple.
So we're very happy with that. But this is about
something a little bit different. We want to have one
central source of approval, and we have I think great
Republican support. I think we probably have Democrats support too,
(13:32):
because it's common sense. I mean, you can't go to
every time you make a change, and it could be
a very reasonable change, you still won't get it approved
if you have to go to fifty states. So this
centralizes it, and it's something which the people behind me,
the very distinguished people all but Tim Cook just left
of Apple and spoke to all of the big companies,
(13:54):
great companies, and they won't be able to do this.
This will not be successful unless they have one source
of approval or disapproval. Frightenly, you could have disapproval too,
but it's got to be one source. They can't go
to fifty different sources.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
This seems to be a core point of what the
President and what you were trying to accomplish, which is
that one source, because otherwise it would be impossible to
grow AI and to deal with it the way that
we need to deal with it. If you didn't have
this kind of one standard across the board.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Look, AI is transformational. Think back to the nineteen nineties.
The nineteen nineties, Bill Clinton was president and the Internet.
It was the dawn of the Internet, and we made
a choice. America made a choice to do a light
touch regulatory approach to the Internet, and we ended up
winning that race. America dominates tech, We dominate the Internet.
(14:50):
It produced hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs
in the United States. That was incredibly consequential. AI is
the same point. And Ben, I'll say, Look, I understand
people across the country. They're nervous about AI. They're afraid.
They don't want AI to come take their jobs. They
don't want AI to render them irrelevant. They don't like
the technology. And I get that that's not a crazy
(15:12):
thing to think. But look my view, I'm not a
lut eyed. I don't think the fact that you're nervous
about technology can make it go away. As much as
you might be worried. Listen, I'll readily admit if there
were a button in front of me right now to
destroy every cell phone in the world, I'd push that
button because I think cell phones are a portal. You know,
(15:34):
I'm a dad. I've got two teenage girls. Cell phones
are a portal to every evil.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Force in the world at our kids.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
But we don't live in that world. AI is here,
it is coming. We have a binary choice. Does America
win it? Or does China win it. I want you
to listen to what I had to say with President
Trump in the Oval today.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Give a listen.
Speaker 6 (15:57):
Ted Cruz has been a very strong advocate of this
is common sense. I mean, I think it's nothing one
of the common sense.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Please diad listen.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
This is the single most important economic question in the
country and in the world.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Who wins the race for AI.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
You look back to the nineteen nineties, there was a
similar inflection point with the beginning of the Internet, the
dawn of the Internet, and Bill Clinton was president at
the time. He signed an executive order just like you're
doing that put into law a light touch regulatory approach
to the Internet, and the result was incredible economic growth
in jobs in the United States. Is the same time,
(16:36):
the European Union took a very heavy handed regulatory approach.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Here's an amazing statistic, mister president.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
In nineteen ninety three, the US economies in Europe's economy
were virtually identical in size. Today, America's economy is more
than fifty percent larger than Europe's, and the two drivers
of that are tech and the shale revolution. It transformed
this country, and AI is the same thing. It's a race,
and if China wins the race, whoever wins, the values
(17:06):
of that country will affect all of AI. We don't
want China's values of surveillance and centralized control by the communist.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Government governing AI.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
We want American values of free speech, of individual liberty,
of respecting the individual. So this executive order, I believe
is a tremendously important Thank you for your leadership, you.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Know, Senator, Just to underscore how important this is and
what you just described there, even Donald Trump on true
Social said The Wall Street Journal has another ridiculous story
today that China's dominating us in the world on the
production of electricity having to do with AI.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
They're wrong.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
As usual, every AI plant being built in the United
States is building its own electric generating facilities. The approvals
are being given carefully but very quickly a matter of weeks.
Any excess electricity being produced is going to go to
our electric grid, which is being strengthened and expanded for
the purpose for other purposes than AI. Like this is
(18:09):
not just moving forward and protecting us and going to
this race with China. Who's going to be in charge
of it, who's going to be the best at it?
But this is also building American infrastructure and a lot
of American jobs are actually going to be created out
of this as well.
Speaker 7 (18:25):
Well.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
This is a common sense principle. We should be the
party of jobs.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
AI.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
It's going to produce disruption, it's part of the reason
people are scared of it, but it's also going to
create millions of jobs. And the simple question we want
to ask is who do we want to win? Do
we want a world where China wins ai AI is coming.
You may not like it, you may be scared about it,
you may not know, And I get it's easy to say. Listen,
(18:54):
I wish nuclear weapons didn't exist. If there were a
button to make every nuclear weapon disappear, I'd push that button.
But they do exist, and if they exist, I want
to make sure America has the best and is able
to deter someone attacking us. AI is similar. And I
got to say President Trump is being bold, he's being visionary.
(19:17):
He understands that if we win or lose this, this
is the economic battle of the twenty first century. And
I was really proud I stood side by side with
Donald Trump saying America is going to win the race
for AI. We're going to beat China. That is massively
important for jobs in America.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
As before, if you want to hear the rest of
this conversation on this topic, you can go back and
dow the podcast from earlier this week to hear the
entire thing. I want to get back to the big
story number three of the week you may have missed, Senator.
We've talked a lot about influence, foreign influence, and there
is a lot of people that are like, I don't
understand why it's a big deal that a bunch of
(19:57):
Americans that are conservative in influencers are running to countries
like Qatar, taking trips over there that are being paid
for by them, and putting up what I would describe
as propaganda on social media on behalf of Katar. But
people that see they're like, what's the big deal. Tucker
Carlson shows up, speaks to this Doha forum. Why is
(20:18):
that a big deal? Why should I care? I want
you to explain before we get to Tucker, what Qatar
has been doing to influence America, so people understand who
we're dealing with and why you might want to ask
the question why would you be going there?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
I forget Tucker's name.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
There are a lot of concerns I know that have
been taking these types of trips recently. They're trying to
buy influence in the conservative movement, and it's frustrating because
I don't think people understand the threat that Qatar is
to this country at all.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Look, Qatar is not our friend.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Qatar is spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying the
United States government, spending millions of dollars funding bots. You
look at the anti Semitic content, you look at the
anti American content that is online, Qatar is funding it.
By the way, you look at the anti Semitic protests
on college campuses, Qatar is funding that that. They are
(21:14):
profoundly hostile to American I will tell you there was
a conference this past week in Doha, which is in Qatar.
You had a number of Americans go there. The most
prominent of which was Tucker Carlson. And I want to
tell you. Look, I sent a tweet so Tucker Carlson
was going to interview the Prime Minister of Qatar, and listen.
I have been very vocal that I think Tucker Carlson
(21:36):
has become the most dangerous demagogue in America. I think
he's doing enormous damage. But I try to give him
an opportunity. So here's what I tweeted before his interview.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
I said the following.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
For years, Tucker Carlson has been accused of being on
the payroll of Qatar.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
For years, he has denied it.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
This is now a beautiful opportunity for him to try
to clear his name. Tomorrow, Tucker is interviewing the Prime
Minister of Qatar in Doha. Tucker knows how to ask
tough questions. Here are a few he should ask. Number One,
Al Jazeera is a mouthpiece for anti Americanism, anti Semitism,
(22:15):
and Jahadis terrorism. Why does Cutter pour countless tens of
millions into supporting it? Number two, why does Cutter back
the Muslim Brotherhood, a group designated as the terrorist organization
by several of Cutter's neighbors, and which President Trump is
also moving to designate Number three. Hamas planned the October
(22:36):
seventh atrocities while Cutter hosted hamas leadership. This included the
kidnapping and murder of dozens of Americans. Even the Biden
administration wanted Cutter to expel Hamas after hostage talks collapsed.
Why did Cutter keep hosting hamas leadership.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Let's just pause it for one second as you were
tweeting this out, because I don't think we'll understand. And
they were actively hosting these terrorists.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
The leaders of a mosque live in Cutter.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
They live in opulent mansions, They live like billionaires while
they are murdering not just Israelis, but Americans, while they
are raping not just Israelis but Americans, and Cutter is
embracing them. And they're like like movie stars living and Cutter,
by the way, Number four, speaking of which, on October seventh,
(23:28):
twenty twenty three, Cutter issued a statement saying Israel alone
was responsible for the violence. Then in September of twenty
twenty four, Cutters of Meir said Israel was responsible for
the war expanding to Lebanon.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Is that still Cutter's position.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Number five, Cutter is the only Gulf country that still
maintains male guardianship and travel restrictions for women. When do
you intend to join the civilized world? So if you
actually believe women have rights, that ain't the case?
Speaker 3 (24:02):
And Cutters numbers.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Do you mean by that real fast?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So that people understand the context of it, of what
you because it made just sound like okay, what does
that even mean for women? What is life like there?
Explain how that's so far back in the Stone Ages?
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Look, the rights of women are severely livered limited and Cutter.
Males are treated as the decision makers. They have control
over their wives, they have control over their daughters, and
the rights of women are are severely diminished and Cutter,
So that's an obvious question to ask of like why
don't you believe women have any rights?
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Number six?
Speaker 4 (24:37):
How much is Cutter paying to fund anti Semitic protests
on US college campuses? Understand, we saw protests all over America.
Cutter was spending millions of dollars to fund that, and
simple question why Number seven, how much is Cutter paying
to spy on US government officials?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
And why? And to be clear, there were multiple news stories.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Cutter hired spies to spy on me because they viewed
me as the US government official most skeptical and antagonistic
of Cutters.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
So they're actively spying on me.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
And number eight, finally, how much exactly are you paying
conservative influencers to come to this conference and participate? Now,
if Tucker had asked those questions, it would have been
a big deal, like he could actually he had the
Prime minister every one of those questions they don't have
a good answer to. But he didn't ask those questions.
(25:33):
He didn't ask any difficult questions. He did the same
thing he did when he interviewed Putin, which is he
embraced him and kissed his rear end. He did the
same thing when he interviewed the president of Iran, which
is he embraced him and kissed his rear end. Tucker
has a pattern. If you're an enemy of America who
wants to murder Americans, he will not ask you a
(25:54):
single hostile question. I want you to listen to this exchange.
This is a snippet of the back and forth between
Tucker and the Prime Minister of Cutter.
Speaker 8 (26:03):
So that last question, I've been personally not to make
it about me, but I have been criticized as being
a tool of Katar, and I just want to say
what you already know, which is I've never taken anything
from your country and don't plan to. I am, however, tomorrow,
buying a place in Qatar, both because I am paying
a HI check in oh Ya, and I'm doing that
(26:25):
because I like the city. I think it's beautiful, but
also to make a statement that I'm an American and
a freeman and I'll be wherever I want to be, which.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
I think is important.
Speaker 8 (26:35):
But that does kind of leave us in a place
where I have not taken any money from Qatar. I
have instead given money to Qatar, and I wonder if
you feel that that means I've bought you and you
will now spew my propaganda.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
Thank you just asking me what if you want me
to do for you, I will do it. But look, Tucker, Unfortunately,
as I told you, that, there are a lot of
players putting a lot of efforts to sabotage the relationship
between Cutter and the United States and to try to
dominize anyone who will come to this country. Our efforts
(27:15):
when we are lobbying or.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Doing.
Speaker 7 (27:19):
You know, our outreach in the United States is to
make sure that this relationship is safeguarded and the relationship
for US is mutually beneficial. We are not getting it
from the United States, it's we are. Instead, we are
buying from the United States. We are partnering with them.
We are investing in the United States, United States investing
(27:41):
and cutter. And this relationship has been always a two
ways relationship. And we pay all these amounts for lobbying
only to protect and to safeguard this relationship. If we
are we are not like being attacked and under a
lot of like this information campaign that's been unfortunately funded
(28:03):
by other players who doesn't want to see a US
ratter relationship flourish. We wouldn't, We would spend this money
for better things, you know, to do with with the relationship.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I mean, you look at that question center and it's
one of those that just you scratch your head because
there's just part of this You're like, wait, what did
what did I just witness?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
What did I just watch? There? Like how is this real?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
And the idea of like I'm buying a place have
never taken anything. I just like it here it shows
I'm a free man. Didn't ask any questions, not a
single tough question of a man that is allowing terrorists
to sit in his country and to orchestrate more tears
texts that have killed Americans.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
So understand this government that is hosting Hamas, that is
celebrating Hamas, that is funding anti American propaganda and anti
Israel propaganda and anti Semitic propaganda. He's the ourrime minister,
says to Tucker, Ask me whatever you want, We will
do anything you want. He also says to Tucker, we
are spending vast amounts and lobbying.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Understand.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Cutter spends hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying the United
States government, the United States Congress. By the way, Tucker
is obsessed with APAC because he's decided that Jews are
the source.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Of all evil in the world.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
And Cutter pays two to three times as much as
APAC does in lobbying.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Do you know who APAC is.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
APACK are Americans that it is not the government of Israel.
APAK are Americans who want American Israel to have a
close relationship. And so American citizens, many of whom happen
to be Jewish. Although not all of them, who support
a lot of actually Christian evangelicals also who support a
strong relationship between the United States and Israel. They do
(29:48):
write checks, but they write checks that that are on
order of magnitude anywhere from a third to a half
what Cutter, the foreign government writes they spend hundreds of
millions of dollars lobbying our government. And I got to say, Tucker,
Tucker claims to be America first, he is.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Literally buying a home in Cutter.
Speaker 4 (30:09):
Cutter who is actively funding anti American propaganda, anti Semitic propaganda.
And by the way, Tucker says, oh, I've never taken
a penny from you. By the way, you know, I
don't know what kind of sweetheart real estate deal he's getting.
But who the heck what American? Let me ask you, Ben,
you know a lot of people. Do you know any
other American who wants to buy a home and Cutter.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
No, I've In fact, I've known a lot of international people.
I've never heard of anybody going, yeah, I'm head, never
to cut her to go buy a home. Never, not like,
not one time, no one. And I know people outside
the US, they've never said that.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Look, I and I think there's a reason for it,
which is that I don't know why. I've had conversations
about why Tucker has decided by the way, Tucker is
actively attacking President Trump's foreign policy. He is furious that
President Trump decided to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities, and
even more mad that that bombing was incredibly successful. It
(31:07):
was the single most important foreign policy and national security
decision that President Trump has made in the second term.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
And Tucker thinking start War three, which I'm pretty sure
that's what they said was going to happen.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Isn't that right? It was going to start World War three?
Speaker 4 (31:20):
So let's be clear, it's not they Tucker predicted if
Trump bombed Uran. Yes, he said it would cause World
War three, number one. He said thousands of Americans would die,
number two. And he said America would lose, Iran would
beat us in.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
World War three.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Now, every one of those predictions was laughably absurdly wrong.
And yet Tucker is now buying a home and cut
her and saying, hey, you crazy theocratic Islamist America, hating radicals,
you're my people. That is really, really, really dangerous.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah, the questions that we just asked there, I really
hope that all of you will share those on social media,
Share the episode on social media, share the video we
put up on Facebook.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
We put it up on.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
And Ben, let me ask you a question, Let me
ask a questions. Why do you think Tucker didn't ask
a single one.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Of the questions I suggested?
Speaker 4 (32:18):
I sent eight, and they were not ridiculous questions.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
They were actually questioned.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
If you were in fact America first, and you're interviewing
the leader of this country that that that that is
funding things that are profoundly anti American, anybody would ask
if you and I were interviewing them, we would.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Ask those questions. Why do you think Tucker didn't.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
I think it's the same reason why he gave a
powderpuff interview with Vladimir Putin. I think it's the same
reason why he was sitting down with the head of Iran.
It is because when he goes there, he knows the
role he's playing, which is a propagandist for those countries.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
I wish that were not the case, but I can't
argue against that. He does not ask ask a single
question defending America. Instead, he just embraces leaders that that
that that are doing enormous damage to Americans, and and
and and and that, by the way, is I think
significantly undermining President Trump as.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Well as always thank you for listening to Verdict with Center,
Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to deal
with my podcast, and you can listen to my podcast
every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each
day when you listen to Verdict. Afterwards, I'd love to
have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson podcasts,
and we will see you back here on Monday morning.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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