1. National Security Concerns
- We open with alarming claims that 18,000 known or suspected terrorists have entered the U.S. during the Biden administration, allegedly due to lax border security.
- The source cited is testimony from Joe Kent, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing.
- Specific examples include Afghan nationals linked to terrorist organizations who entered under the Operation Allies Welcome program.
- The conversation emphasizes the risks posed by "got-aways" (migrants who evade border patrol) and criticizes the administration for prioritizing politics over security.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and U.S. Leadership
- The second segment focuses on President Trump’s executive order aimed at centralizing AI regulation to prevent fragmented state-level rules.
- Senator Cruz frames AI as the “economic battle of the 21st century”, comparing it to the U.S. winning the internet race in the 1990s.
- Whoever leads in AI will shape global values—either American principles of liberty or China’s model of surveillance and control.
- Trump’s remarks highlight the need for a single federal approval system to accelerate AI development and maintain U.S. dominance.
3. Designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a Terrorist Organization
- Senator Cruz advocates for legislation to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates as terrorist organizations.
- He explains a shift from a top-down approach (targeting the global organization) to a bottom-up strategy (starting with affiliates like Hamas).
- The discussion notes bipartisan support but criticizes the House for weakening the bill.
- Cruz stresses that allies such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have already designated the group as a terrorist organization.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome it as Verdict with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson
with you. It's so nice to have many of you
listening on the radio as well to this show. And
as a reminder, this show, if you like it, you'll
love the podcast and the Center and I do three
days a week. You can grab it for free wherever
you get your podcasts. Senator, We've got a lot to
talk about in this show, including something that we were
(00:21):
worried about and have been talking about for years, and
that was the number of terrorists that we were afraid
were being let into this country with our wide open
southern border under the Biden administration. The number that we're
now being warned about is one that I even would
not have guessed worst case scenario. And now the Trump
(00:42):
officials are saying there are a lot of known and
suspected terrorists in the US.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well, that's exactly right. The Trump administration testified before Congress
that eighteen thousand known and suspected terrorists are in the
United States because Joe Biden the Democrats let them in.
We're going to break that down. The threat that poses
to national security, the threat that poses to our families.
We're also going to talk about an order and executive
(01:10):
order that the President issued today. He issued an order
protecting AI, ensuring that America wins the race for AI
and beats China. We're going to break that down for
you as well. And finally, we're going to talk about
legislation that I have in the Senate to designate the
Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. I think it is
(01:33):
incredibly important. President Trump has led on this, and there
was a battle in the House of Representatives where unfortunately
they gutted the legislation. We need to designate the Muslim Brotherhood.
We're going to talk about that as well.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
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All right, so let's get to this first big story center.
And again it is a headline that when I saw
it earlier day, I actually was terrified because Trump officials
are warning eighteen thousand, not eighteen hundred, eighteen thousand known
(04:01):
and suspected terrorists or in the US, they're blaming Joe
Biden also for the attack on the National Guard, and
this is their warning of just how bad it actually is.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
That's exactly right. This is dangerous. So here's what the
New York Post has reported. Quote as many as eighteen
thousand terrorists entered the US during the Biden administration. National
counter Terrorism Center Director Joe Kent revealed during a House
committee hearing on Thursday. So far, NCTC has identified around
eighteen thousand known and suspected terrorists that the Biden administration
(04:37):
let come into our country. Can't testified before the House
Homeland Security Committee. These are individuals who, under normal circumstances,
would never be allowed to enter our country because of
their ties to Jahati groups like ISIS and al Qaeda.
He said, Yet the Biden administration not only let them
into our country and in many cases facilitate their entry
(04:58):
into the country, just like the entry of the Afghan
terrorists who committed the terrorist attack here just before Thanksgiving,
killing one of our National Guards member and wounding another.
The FBI foiled other ISIS terrorist attack in Michigan and
New Jersey earlier this year. A self described MAAS operative
(05:19):
also infiltrated the ranks of the US Air Force in
twenty twenty three, and later planned to carry out a
pipe bomb attack with two others before he was thwarted.
In April, before Trump took office, a suspected ISIS terrorist
mowed down and shot New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street
in New Orleans, killing fourteen people. Kent pointed out in
(05:42):
the House Hearing that the accused National Guard shooter, Ramanala Lachanwal,
was just one of eighty eight thousand Afghans, and its
counter Terrorism Office has since identified two thousand of that
group of the eighty eight thousand who have eyes to
terrorist organizations. Another Afghan national was arrested and charged this
(06:05):
month for threatening to carry out a suicide bombing before Thanksgiving.
While a third was collared in Virginia on December third
for providing weapons to his father, an ISIS K commander.
The Post first reported a fourth was led into the
US by the Biden administration and later scheme to carry
out an ISIS inspired Election Day terror attack last year.
(06:29):
All five, including Lackhunwal, entered the country as part of
the eighty eight thousand that received expedited vetting to settle
in the US under President Joe Biden's Operations Allies Welcome program.
An official from the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence told the Post that hundreds of other ISIS affiliated
(06:51):
migrants are roaming the country, including four thousand from a
Central Asian smuggling network and six hundred Tajiks and Uzbeks.
The NCTC has also identified hundreds of MS thirteen trender
Aragua and Cinelota cartel members and notified immigration and customs
(07:12):
enforcement to prioritize their arrests and deportations. The official added. Stunningly,
Kent claim in the hearing that the remaining sixteen thousand
with terror ties who didn't originate from Afghanistan doesn't even
include migrants who came here illegally through the open border.
The Trump administration recently warned Americans that the US was
(07:34):
at quote heightened risk of terrorist attacks. Kent said, noting
risks from quote terrorists pretty much of all stripes, but
in particular from ISIS and from al Qaeda. This is
dangerous and this is what unfolded the last four years
of the Biden administration.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Centaer, I want to play for you the NCTC Director
Joe Kent and what he had to say about this.
Take a listen.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
We've made significant progress under President Trump's leadership. We have
the jihads of ISIS and al Qaeda on the run
in Iraq and Syria thanks to the decisive action and
the strikes that we've taken there recently since President Trump
took office in January. However, we have a persistent threat
from the individuals that were allowed into this country by
the previous administration. The number one threat that we have
(08:23):
right now, in my view, is the fact that we
don't know who came into our country in the last
four years of Biden's open borders. What we have identified
is alarming, and I want to share that with you today.
We just recently put out a warning warning of the
heightened risk of terrorist attacks posed to the homeland by
terrorists pretty much of all stripes, but in particular from
(08:44):
ISIS and from al Qaeda.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Well let's just pause there and we'll play the second
part in a moment. But sentater your reaction to there
has now been put out a warning for a ISIS
al Qaeda type attack in the US. Know why the
national news is not covering this that they're saying, Hey,
we have a height in the work. This is saying
we're very concerned about this is now being said, and
(09:09):
I still haven't seen this on the news anywhere.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Well, the massive national security threat we face. Over four
years of the Biden Harris administration, we saw over twelve
million people coming to this country illegally, a massive invasion.
It is the highest rate of illegal immigration in our
nation's history. We also saw more than two million god aways.
(09:33):
Now why did god aways matter? God Aways are the
people that did not turn themselves in. Of the twelve million,
roughly ten million of them, when they came across they
went and looked for border patrol. They turned themselves in.
The god aways are much much more likely to be criminals,
to be murderers, to be rapists, to be child molesters,
(09:53):
to be gang members, to be terrorists. That two million
that are god Aways is the most concerning population that's
coming into this country. By the way, Biden and the
Democrats did not care at all. They did not go
after the Godaways. They literally imported two million potential criminals
into this country. Now there's a smaller subset of those
(10:16):
who we have evidence they are likely terrorists. The Trump
administration is now telling us that is eighteen thousand people
who we believe are likely terrorists. That is dangerous and
it really underscores the urgency with which the Trump administration
is going after and arresting and incarcerating and deporting those
(10:39):
who are terrorists, those who are murderers, those who are rapists,
those who are child molesters, those who are gangbanriors. That
if you want to protect our families, if you want
to protect our kids, that is massively, massively and important,
and it actually explains why the Democrats in the media
are losing their mind because they don't want these criminals arrested.
(11:02):
This is front and center a massive issue for the country.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, and that's more of what the NCTC director Joe
Kent was saying in the second part of his warning,
take a listen for everybody out there, and again ask
yourself this question. Why are you probably only hearing this
audio for the very first time or even about this
story on this show? How is this not leading the
nightly news? Keep listening.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
NCTC has been crunching the numbers and going through the
sheer volume of known and suspected terrorists that are in
the country that came in under the Biden administration. So far,
NCTC has identified around eighteen thousand known and suspected terrorists
that the Biden administration let come into our country. These
are individuals who, under normal circumstances would never be allowed
(11:47):
to enter our country because of their ties to Jihati
groups like ISIS and al Qaeda. Yet the Biden administration
not only let them into the country and in many
cases facilitated their entry into the country, just like the
entry of the Afghan terrorists who committed the terrorist attack
here just before Thanksgiving, killing one of our National Guard
members and wounding another. That Afghan was brought into the
(12:09):
country as a group of over one hundred thousand Afghans
who were brought here during the disastrous withdraw from Afghanistan.
These individuals, despite what has been reported, were not vetted
properly to come into the United States. The individual terrorists
who committed the attack in DC, he was vetted to
serve as a soldier in Afghanistan. The Biden administration essentially
(12:33):
used his tactical level vetting as a ruse to bring
him here and to bring him into our communities. And
we've seen the tragic results of that. Now that Afghan,
that attacker, that terrorist is just one of eighty eight thousand.
We've identified two thousand of that group of eighty eight
thousand who have ties to terrorist organizations. We're working right now,
(12:53):
hand in hand with DHS and with the FBI to
run down this two thousand, the Afghans who came here
under allies welcome who have ties to terrorist organizations, and additionally,
the other sixteen thousand individuals or ties to terrorist organizations
that Biden let into our country.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
This wasn't an accident, and I think that's part of
this story center, is this was done deliberately. This wasn't
an oversight. It was we're asleep at their wheel and
we just didn't realize what was going on. This was
done in a way that they knew was a problem,
and they knew the problem was getting bigger and bigger,
(13:31):
and they didn't care what happened to average Americans.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah, look, the sheer quantity eighteen thousand known and suspected terrorists.
It'd be one thing if the Biden administration in four
years they let in a dozen known as suspected terrorists,
one hundred known as suspected terrorists. That would be concerning.
One terrorist could kill hundreds or even thousands of Americans.
(13:56):
You and I would not be happy if they let
in a dozen or one hundred, eighteen thousand, Holy cow, Yeah,
I mean that is a massive failure of our national
security apparatus. That is a massive failure where the Biden administration,
the Democrats prioritized politics. Let everybody in. It doesn't matter
(14:18):
where they're coming from. It doesn't matter if they're all
kind of terrorists. It doesn't matter if they're Hesbala, it
doesn't matter if they're Hamas, it doesn't matter if they're
objective in coming to America is to come to DC
and to shoot National guardsmen. Because they are radical America
hating terrorists, we will let them in because we think
one day they will have the right to vote, maybe immediately,
(14:40):
maybe in time, and they'll vote for Democrats. And so
if American citizens are murdered, the Democrats were willing to
do that. Yeah, that is It's staggering and it's indefensible.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
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that's Compassion dot Com. You may have heard about AI.
It's pretty impressive what it can do, but there also
(15:57):
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. 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
(16:19):
everything through AI center. 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 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.
Whoever gets there first is probably going to win and
(16:39):
own it. And this is a really really important subject
right now. And it's also when I think that deals
with national security.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
So the single most important economic battle we have in
this country right now is the race for AI. This
is going to transform the world. We may not like it,
but it's going to happen. The binary choice is does
America win or does China win. Look, whoever wins the
race for AEI, the values of that country will define
(17:11):
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
(17:33):
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
(17:54):
to ensure a consistent national standard of rules for AI.
Stop Gavin Newsom and HOCl and JB. Prisker and on
all these left wing democrats in the States from putting contradictory, burdensome,
inconsistent rules on AI that ends up crippling American AI
(18:16):
and letting China win. I want you to listen to
Presidency talked about this today.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Well, thank you very much. We have a big signing
right now, and we have a tremendous industry where we're
leading by a lot. It's the AI artificial intelligence. I
always thought it should be SI supreme intelligence, but I
guess somewhere along the line they decided to under word
artificial and that's okay with me. That's up to them.
(18:41):
It's a massive industry. 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 says a couple of other things
that are less important, but one of the things it
(19:03):
has is you have 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
(19:24):
think 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 by a lot. China has a central source of approval.
I don't think they have any approval to just go
and built. But people want to be in the United
States and they want to do it here, and we
have the big investment coming. But if they had to
(19:47):
get fifty different approvals from fifty different states, you can
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 able to do it. So
it doesn't make sense. I didn't have to briefed on 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
(20:08):
to have one central source of approval, and we have
I think great Republican support. I think we probably have
Democrats support too, 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
(20:30):
will behind me, the very distinguished people, all but Tim
Cook just left of Apple and spoke to all of
the big companies, 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. Frankly, you could
have disapproval too, but it's got to be one source.
(20:51):
They can't go to fifty different sources.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
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 2 (21:11):
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.
(21:34):
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
(21:56):
thing to think. Yeah, but look my view, lud 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, I'm
(22:18):
a dad. I've got two teenage girls. Cell phones are
a portal to every evil force in the world at
our kids. 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 to day give a listen.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Ted Cruz has been a very strong advocate of common
This is common sense. I mean, I think it's nothing
one of the common sense.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Please say, listen, this is the single most important economic
question in the country and in the world. Who wins
the race for AI. You look back to the nineteen nineties,
there was a similar inflation 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
(23:10):
touch regulatory approach to the Internet, and the result was
incredible economic growth in jobs in the United States. The
same time, the European Union took a very heavy handed
regulatory approach. Here's an amazing statistic, mister President. In nineteen
ninety three, the US economies in Europe's economy were virtually
(23:31):
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 of
that country will affect all of AI. We don't want
(23:55):
China's values of surveillance and centralized control by the communist
govern governing AI. 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.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
You 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. They're wrong.
As usual, every AI plant being built in the United
(24:31):
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
(24:52):
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 4 (25:07):
Well.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
This is a common sense principle. We should be the
party of jobs. AI. 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,
(25:30):
you may be scared about it, you may not know.
And I get it's easy to say. Listen, I wish
nuclear weapons didn't exist. If there were a button to
make every nuclear weapon disappear, I push that button. But
they do exist, and if they exist, I want to
make sure America has the best and is able to
(25:51):
deter someone attacking US. AI is similar. And I got
to say President Trump is being bold, He's being visionary,
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.
(26:14):
We're going to beat China. That is massively important for
jobs in America.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
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Speaker 2 (28:00):
All right.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Finally, Senator, I love doing this 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 an email, I'm going to call my center,
I'm gonna call my congressman. This is something you've been
working on. We've been talking about a lot, and it
(28:23):
deals with the Muslim Brotherhood bill, and I want you
to give this update because it's important and a lot
of people that listen to Eric, they say, hey, what
can I do? How can my voice be heard? This
is a perfect example of where your phone call can
make a big difference.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Absolutely, 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 almost got the Trump administration to do it.
(29:01):
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 state
State Department operatives who argued against what I was trying
to do in Trump want, and the argument they use
that prevailed is they said, well, look, not every single
(29:25):
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. Trump won. So
here's what I've done Trump too. I said the previous
efforts were top down. They were designate the global Muslim
(29:48):
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 So in Trump two, I inverted
the entire approach. I said, all right, let's rather than
being top down, let's start bottom up. And so I
(30:10):
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 the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine,
so there is no dispute Hamas is a terrorist organization.
So that that is an easy example of a Muslim
(30:32):
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. So I filed that legislation.
(30:56):
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 following the approach in
my legislation. Now I want you to listen. This week,
(31:18):
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 of the United States.
Speaker 5 (31:30):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
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 1 (31:44):
Now.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
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 ward. It has bipartisan support in both chambers.
Last week, frustratingly, the House version of my bill was
(32:08):
advanced but terminally weakened by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
They 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,
(32:28):
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
(32:51):
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 Congris plays on these issues,
including on initiatives like mine to designate the Muslim Brotherhood
as a terrorist group.
Speaker 5 (33:07):
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
(33:27):
am confirmed.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Thank you all right. 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, Saudi Arabia, the uae Bahrain, Kenya,
(33:55):
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. Describe how you would work
with our allies to counter the Brotherhood's malign activities.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
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 designate the IRGC as well as
Hisbela and Hamas, particularly in the Western Hemisphere. That approach,
it's pretty pretty intense diplomacy. It requires a lot of legwork.
(34:44):
I've talked with our chief submission in the Western Hemisphere
across to Australia with respect to that, and 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 worked. That working, and there's more work to be done.
Let me be clear, with the IRGC and his Bollah
and Hamaus, but I would template that in our efforts
(35:06):
with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Terrific, very helpy, Thank you, thank you, sir.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
You're here, your question there, and I want you to
just explain why this is so important center.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
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
Jahatis 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
(35:38):
Muslim Brotherhood is deliberately promoting people who are seeking to
engage in act 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
(36:02):
against the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood, against the threat
of Johns.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
That's really important. We're going to keep covering it and
we'll keep giving you updated on it. Also, don't forget
share this podcast, this show wherever you can, follow us
on social media wherever you can as well, subscribe and
get every episode of verqu with Tech Cruise wherever you are,
and if you're listening on the radio, thank you for
joining us and we'll see you back here on this
radio station next week as well
Welcome it as Verdict with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson
with you. It's so nice to have many of you
listening on the radio as well to this show. And
as a reminder, this show, if you like it, you'll
love the podcast and the Center and I do three
days a week. You can grab it for free wherever
you get your podcasts. Senator, We've got a lot to
talk about in this show, including something that we were
(00:21):
worried about and have been talking about for years, and
that was the number of terrorists that we were afraid
were being let into this country with our wide open
southern border under the Biden administration. The number that we're
now being warned about is one that I even would
not have guessed worst case scenario. And now the Trump
(00:42):
officials are saying there are a lot of known and
suspected terrorists in the US.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well, that's exactly right. The Trump administration testified before Congress
that eighteen thousand known and suspected terrorists are in the
United States because Joe Biden the Democrats let them in.
We're going to break that down. The threat that poses
to national security, the threat that poses to our families.
We're also going to talk about an order and executive
(01:10):
order that the President issued today. He issued an order
protecting AI, ensuring that America wins the race for AI
and beats China. We're going to break that down for
you as well. And finally, we're going to talk about
legislation that I have in the Senate to designate the
Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. I think it is
(01:33):
incredibly important. President Trump has led on this, and there
was a battle in the House of Representatives where unfortunately
they gutted the legislation. We need to designate the Muslim Brotherhood.
We're going to talk about that as well.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
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All right, so let's get to this first big story center.
And again it is a headline that when I saw
it earlier day, I actually was terrified because Trump officials
are warning eighteen thousand, not eighteen hundred, eighteen thousand known
(04:01):
and suspected terrorists or in the US, they're blaming Joe
Biden also for the attack on the National Guard, and
this is their warning of just how bad it actually is.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
That's exactly right. This is dangerous. So here's what the
New York Post has reported. Quote as many as eighteen
thousand terrorists entered the US during the Biden administration. National
counter Terrorism Center Director Joe Kent revealed during a House
committee hearing on Thursday. So far, NCTC has identified around
eighteen thousand known and suspected terrorists that the Biden administration
(04:37):
let come into our country. Can't testified before the House
Homeland Security Committee. These are individuals who, under normal circumstances,
would never be allowed to enter our country because of
their ties to Jahati groups like ISIS and al Qaeda.
He said, Yet the Biden administration not only let them
into our country and in many cases facilitate their entry
(04:58):
into the country, just like the entry of the Afghan
terrorists who committed the terrorist attack here just before Thanksgiving,
killing one of our National Guards member and wounding another.
The FBI foiled other ISIS terrorist attack in Michigan and
New Jersey earlier this year. A self described MAAS operative
(05:19):
also infiltrated the ranks of the US Air Force in
twenty twenty three, and later planned to carry out a
pipe bomb attack with two others before he was thwarted.
In April, before Trump took office, a suspected ISIS terrorist
mowed down and shot New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street
in New Orleans, killing fourteen people. Kent pointed out in
(05:42):
the House Hearing that the accused National Guard shooter, Ramanala Lachanwal,
was just one of eighty eight thousand Afghans, and its
counter Terrorism Office has since identified two thousand of that
group of the eighty eight thousand who have eyes to
terrorist organizations. Another Afghan national was arrested and charged this
(06:05):
month for threatening to carry out a suicide bombing before Thanksgiving.
While a third was collared in Virginia on December third
for providing weapons to his father, an ISIS K commander.
The Post first reported a fourth was led into the
US by the Biden administration and later scheme to carry
out an ISIS inspired Election Day terror attack last year.
(06:29):
All five, including Lackhunwal, entered the country as part of
the eighty eight thousand that received expedited vetting to settle
in the US under President Joe Biden's Operations Allies Welcome program.
An official from the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence told the Post that hundreds of other ISIS affiliated
(06:51):
migrants are roaming the country, including four thousand from a
Central Asian smuggling network and six hundred Tajiks and Uzbeks.
The NCTC has also identified hundreds of MS thirteen trender
Aragua and Cinelota cartel members and notified immigration and customs
(07:12):
enforcement to prioritize their arrests and deportations. The official added. Stunningly,
Kent claim in the hearing that the remaining sixteen thousand
with terror ties who didn't originate from Afghanistan doesn't even
include migrants who came here illegally through the open border.
The Trump administration recently warned Americans that the US was
(07:34):
at quote heightened risk of terrorist attacks. Kent said, noting
risks from quote terrorists pretty much of all stripes, but
in particular from ISIS and from al Qaeda. This is
dangerous and this is what unfolded the last four years
of the Biden administration.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Centaer, I want to play for you the NCTC Director
Joe Kent and what he had to say about this.
Take a listen.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
We've made significant progress under President Trump's leadership. We have
the jihads of ISIS and al Qaeda on the run
in Iraq and Syria thanks to the decisive action and
the strikes that we've taken there recently since President Trump
took office in January. However, we have a persistent threat
from the individuals that were allowed into this country by
the previous administration. The number one threat that we have
(08:23):
right now, in my view, is the fact that we
don't know who came into our country in the last
four years of Biden's open borders. What we have identified
is alarming, and I want to share that with you today.
We just recently put out a warning warning of the
heightened risk of terrorist attacks posed to the homeland by
terrorists pretty much of all stripes, but in particular from
(08:44):
ISIS and from al Qaeda.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Well let's just pause there and we'll play the second
part in a moment. But sentater your reaction to there
has now been put out a warning for a ISIS
al Qaeda type attack in the US. Know why the
national news is not covering this that they're saying, Hey,
we have a height in the work. This is saying
we're very concerned about this is now being said, and
(09:09):
I still haven't seen this on the news anywhere.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Well, the massive national security threat we face. Over four
years of the Biden Harris administration, we saw over twelve
million people coming to this country illegally, a massive invasion.
It is the highest rate of illegal immigration in our
nation's history. We also saw more than two million god aways.
(09:33):
Now why did god aways matter? God Aways are the
people that did not turn themselves in. Of the twelve million,
roughly ten million of them, when they came across they
went and looked for border patrol. They turned themselves in.
The god aways are much much more likely to be criminals,
to be murderers, to be rapists, to be child molesters,
(09:53):
to be gang members, to be terrorists. That two million
that are god Aways is the most concerning population that's
coming into this country. By the way, Biden and the
Democrats did not care at all. They did not go
after the Godaways. They literally imported two million potential criminals
into this country. Now there's a smaller subset of those
(10:16):
who we have evidence they are likely terrorists. The Trump
administration is now telling us that is eighteen thousand people
who we believe are likely terrorists. That is dangerous and
it really underscores the urgency with which the Trump administration
is going after and arresting and incarcerating and deporting those
(10:39):
who are terrorists, those who are murderers, those who are rapists,
those who are child molesters, those who are gangbanriors. That
if you want to protect our families, if you want
to protect our kids, that is massively, massively and important,
and it actually explains why the Democrats in the media
are losing their mind because they don't want these criminals arrested.
(11:02):
This is front and center a massive issue for the country.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, and that's more of what the NCTC director Joe
Kent was saying in the second part of his warning,
take a listen for everybody out there, and again ask
yourself this question. Why are you probably only hearing this
audio for the very first time or even about this
story on this show? How is this not leading the
nightly news? Keep listening.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
NCTC has been crunching the numbers and going through the
sheer volume of known and suspected terrorists that are in
the country that came in under the Biden administration. So far,
NCTC has identified around eighteen thousand known and suspected terrorists
that the Biden administration let come into our country. These
are individuals who, under normal circumstances would never be allowed
(11:47):
to enter our country because of their ties to Jihati
groups like ISIS and al Qaeda. Yet the Biden administration
not only let them into the country and in many
cases facilitated their entry into the country, just like the
entry of the Afghan terrorists who committed the terrorist attack
here just before Thanksgiving, killing one of our National Guard
members and wounding another. That Afghan was brought into the
(12:09):
country as a group of over one hundred thousand Afghans
who were brought here during the disastrous withdraw from Afghanistan.
These individuals, despite what has been reported, were not vetted
properly to come into the United States. The individual terrorists
who committed the attack in DC, he was vetted to
serve as a soldier in Afghanistan. The Biden administration essentially
(12:33):
used his tactical level vetting as a ruse to bring
him here and to bring him into our communities. And
we've seen the tragic results of that. Now that Afghan,
that attacker, that terrorist is just one of eighty eight thousand.
We've identified two thousand of that group of eighty eight
thousand who have ties to terrorist organizations. We're working right now,
(12:53):
hand in hand with DHS and with the FBI to
run down this two thousand, the Afghans who came here
under allies welcome who have ties to terrorist organizations, and additionally,
the other sixteen thousand individuals or ties to terrorist organizations
that Biden let into our country.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
This wasn't an accident, and I think that's part of
this story center, is this was done deliberately. This wasn't
an oversight. It was we're asleep at their wheel and
we just didn't realize what was going on. This was
done in a way that they knew was a problem,
and they knew the problem was getting bigger and bigger,
(13:31):
and they didn't care what happened to average Americans.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah, look, the sheer quantity eighteen thousand known and suspected terrorists.
It'd be one thing if the Biden administration in four
years they let in a dozen known as suspected terrorists,
one hundred known as suspected terrorists. That would be concerning.
One terrorist could kill hundreds or even thousands of Americans.
(13:56):
You and I would not be happy if they let
in a dozen or one hundred, eighteen thousand, Holy cow, Yeah,
I mean that is a massive failure of our national
security apparatus. That is a massive failure where the Biden administration,
the Democrats prioritized politics. Let everybody in. It doesn't matter
(14:18):
where they're coming from. It doesn't matter if they're all
kind of terrorists. It doesn't matter if they're Hesbala, it
doesn't matter if they're Hamas, it doesn't matter if they're
objective in coming to America is to come to DC
and to shoot National guardsmen. Because they are radical America
hating terrorists, we will let them in because we think
one day they will have the right to vote, maybe immediately,
(14:40):
maybe in time, and they'll vote for Democrats. And so
if American citizens are murdered, the Democrats were willing to
do that. Yeah, that is It's staggering and it's indefensible.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
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that's Compassion dot Com. You may have heard about AI.
It's pretty impressive what it can do, but there also
(15:57):
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. 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
(16:19):
everything through AI center. 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 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.
Whoever gets there first is probably going to win and
(16:39):
own it. And this is a really really important subject
right now. And it's also when I think that deals
with national security.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
So the single most important economic battle we have in
this country right now is the race for AI. This
is going to transform the world. We may not like it,
but it's going to happen. The binary choice is does
America win or does China win. Look, whoever wins the
race for AEI, the values of that country will define
(17:11):
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
(17:33):
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
(17:54):
to ensure a consistent national standard of rules for AI.
Stop Gavin Newsom and HOCl and JB. Prisker and on
all these left wing democrats in the States from putting contradictory, burdensome,
inconsistent rules on AI that ends up crippling American AI
(18:16):
and letting China win. I want you to listen to
Presidency talked about this today.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Well, thank you very much. We have a big signing
right now, and we have a tremendous industry where we're
leading by a lot. It's the AI artificial intelligence. I
always thought it should be SI supreme intelligence, but I
guess somewhere along the line they decided to under word
artificial and that's okay with me. That's up to them.
(18:41):
It's a massive industry. 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 says a couple of other things
that are less important, but one of the things it
(19:03):
has is you have 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
(19:24):
think 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 by a lot. China has a central source of approval.
I don't think they have any approval to just go
and built. But people want to be in the United
States and they want to do it here, and we
have the big investment coming. But if they had to
(19:47):
get fifty different approvals from fifty different states, you can
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 able to do it. So
it doesn't make sense. I didn't have to briefed on 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
(20:08):
to have one central source of approval, and we have
I think great Republican support. I think we probably have
Democrats support too, 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
(20:30):
will behind me, the very distinguished people, all but Tim
Cook just left of Apple and spoke to all of
the big companies, 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. Frankly, you could
have disapproval too, but it's got to be one source.
(20:51):
They can't go to fifty different sources.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
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 2 (21:11):
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.
(21:34):
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
(21:56):
thing to think. Yeah, but look my view, lud 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, I'm
(22:18):
a dad. I've got two teenage girls. Cell phones are
a portal to every evil force in the world at
our kids. 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 to day give a listen.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Ted Cruz has been a very strong advocate of common
This is common sense. I mean, I think it's nothing
one of the common sense.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Please say, listen, this is the single most important economic
question in the country and in the world. Who wins
the race for AI. You look back to the nineteen nineties,
there was a similar inflation 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
(23:10):
touch regulatory approach to the Internet, and the result was
incredible economic growth in jobs in the United States. The
same time, the European Union took a very heavy handed
regulatory approach. Here's an amazing statistic, mister President. In nineteen
ninety three, the US economies in Europe's economy were virtually
(23:31):
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 of
that country will affect all of AI. We don't want
(23:55):
China's values of surveillance and centralized control by the communist
govern governing AI. 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.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
You 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. They're wrong.
As usual, every AI plant being built in the United
(24:31):
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
(24:52):
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 4 (25:07):
Well.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
This is a common sense principle. We should be the
party of jobs. AI. 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,
(25:30):
you may be scared about it, you may not know.
And I get it's easy to say. Listen, I wish
nuclear weapons didn't exist. If there were a button to
make every nuclear weapon disappear, I push that button. But
they do exist, and if they exist, I want to
make sure America has the best and is able to
(25:51):
deter someone attacking US. AI is similar. And I got
to say President Trump is being bold, He's being visionary,
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.
(26:14):
We're going to beat China. That is massively important for
jobs in America.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
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Speaker 2 (28:00):
All right.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Finally, Senator, I love doing this 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 an email, I'm going to call my center,
I'm gonna call my congressman. This is something you've been
working on. We've been talking about a lot, and it
(28:23):
deals with the Muslim Brotherhood bill, and I want you
to give this update because it's important and a lot
of people that listen to Eric, they say, hey, what
can I do? How can my voice be heard? This
is a perfect example of where your phone call can
make a big difference.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Absolutely, 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 almost got the Trump administration to do it.
(29:01):
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 state
State Department operatives who argued against what I was trying
to do in Trump want, and the argument they use
that prevailed is they said, well, look, not every single
(29:25):
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. Trump won. So
here's what I've done Trump too. I said the previous
efforts were top down. They were designate the global Muslim
(29:48):
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 So in Trump two, I inverted
the entire approach. I said, all right, let's rather than
being top down, let's start bottom up. And so I
(30:10):
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 the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine,
so there is no dispute Hamas is a terrorist organization.
So that that is an easy example of a Muslim
(30:32):
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. So I filed that legislation.
(30:56):
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 following the approach in
my legislation. Now I want you to listen. This week,
(31:18):
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 of the United States.
Speaker 5 (31:30):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
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 1 (31:44):
Now.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
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 ward. It has bipartisan support in both chambers.
Last week, frustratingly, the House version of my bill was
(32:08):
advanced but terminally weakened by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
They 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,
(32:28):
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
(32:51):
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 Congris plays on these issues,
including on initiatives like mine to designate the Muslim Brotherhood
as a terrorist group.
Speaker 5 (33:07):
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
(33:27):
am confirmed.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Thank you all right. 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, Saudi Arabia, the uae Bahrain, Kenya,
(33:55):
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. Describe how you would work
with our allies to counter the Brotherhood's malign activities.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
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 designate the IRGC as well as
Hisbela and Hamas, particularly in the Western Hemisphere. That approach,
it's pretty pretty intense diplomacy. It requires a lot of legwork.
(34:44):
I've talked with our chief submission in the Western Hemisphere
across to Australia with respect to that, and 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 worked. That working, and there's more work to be done.
Let me be clear, with the IRGC and his Bollah
and Hamaus, but I would template that in our efforts
(35:06):
with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Terrific, very helpy, Thank you, thank you, sir.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
You're here, your question there, and I want you to
just explain why this is so important center.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
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
Jahatis 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
(35:38):
Muslim Brotherhood is deliberately promoting people who are seeking to
engage in act 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
(36:02):
against the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood, against the threat
of Johns.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
That's really important. We're going to keep covering it and
we'll keep giving you updated on it. Also, don't forget
share this podcast, this show wherever you can, follow us
on social media wherever you can as well, subscribe and
get every episode of verqu with Tech Cruise wherever you are,
and if you're listening on the radio, thank you for
joining us and we'll see you back here on this
radio station next week as well
Host
Ben Ferguson
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