🧨 1. U.S. Foreign Policy on Iran
This section is a detailed and impassioned discussion about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the U.S. response, particularly under different presidential administrations. Key points include:
- Criticism of the Iran Nuclear Deal: The speaker (likely a U.S. senator) strongly criticizes the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, claiming it empowered Iran economically and allowed its nuclear program to continue.
- Praise for Trump’s Policies: The Trump administration is credited with applying “maximum pressure” through sanctions, which allegedly crippled Iran’s economy.
- Condemnation of Biden’s Approach: The Biden administration is accused of reversing Trump’s policies, leading to increased Iranian oil sales and funding for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
- Security Concerns: The speaker claims Iran has attempted to assassinate former U.S. officials and poses a direct nuclear threat to the U.S.
- Call for Dismantlement: The only acceptable outcome, according to the speaker, is the full dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure—either through negotiation or force.
💰 2. “Invest America” and Baby Investment Accounts
The second half of the transcript shifts to a domestic policy initiative aimed at wealth creation and financial equity:
- Proposal Overview: A bipartisan initiative to create investment accounts for every newborn in the U.S., seeded with $1,000 and supported by private sector contributions.
- Goals:
- Promote financial literacy and wealth-building from birth.
- Address wealth inequality by giving all children, regardless of background, a stake in the stock market.
- Support and Advocacy:
- Backed by prominent business leaders like Michael Dell.
- Supported by both Republican and some Democratic lawmakers.
- Inspired by similar ideas like Cory Booker’s “baby bonds,” but with a stronger emphasis on equity market investment.
- Personal Motivation: The initiative’s co-founder shares a personal story about teaching his children about investing and their desire to extend those opportunities to others.
🧠 3. Concerns About President Biden’s Mental Fitness
The final portion of the transcript returns to political commentary, focusing on:
- Allegations of Cognitive Decline: The speaker references DOJ reports and media coverage suggesting President Biden is mentally unfit for office.
- Use of Autopen: Raises questions about whether Biden personally signed key documents or if staffers used an autopen.
- Criticism of Media: Accuses mainstream media of covering up Biden’s condition and failing to hold him accountable.
- Legal and Constitutional Implications: Discusses whether documents signed by an autopen are legally valid, especially in the context of pardons and executive orders.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz. We can review
Ben Ferguson with you. And here are the three big
stories that you may have missed that we talked about
this week. First up, major negotiations with Iran and it
could be the difference between war and peace. So what
it's Senator Cruz have to say about it. I'll have
that for you in just a moment. Also, there is
a program that has been introduced. Senator Ted Cruz is
(00:23):
the brainchild behind it and it could change every newborn
child's financial future in this country.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We'll have that for you as well. And finally, who
was running America?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Now the media admitting that Joe Biden was not really
the president of the United States of America, So who
was calling the shots and who was using the auto pen?
It's the weekend review and it starts right now. I
want to talk about what we also some big news
that deals with the issue of Iran. You went on
Life livert in levent our good friend Mark Levin show,
(00:56):
and we're talking about Iran right now and what they
are actively trying to do.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Fill us in on that for a second.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Well, right now, they're ongoing negotiation going on with the
nation of Iran and the Iyahtola is a theocratic lunatic.
He regularly regularly leads mobs chanting death to America and
death to Israel. And by the way, if history teaches
us anything, it's that if somebody tells you they want
(01:26):
to kill you, believe them. Yeah, And when it comes
to Iran, I'll tell you there are some voices in
Washington and the Administration that are pushing for another Iran deal.
They really want an Iran deal. And basically they went
on time.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Why did I got to ask, Because there's some of
you listening, They're gonna say the same thing I'm saying
right now is why on earth would you want an
i Ran deal if you know that they cheated on
the last deal.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
So look, I don't know. I'm not Sigmund Freud. I'm
not their psychoanalysts. I just know they're advocating for it.
If you look at the Obama Iran nuclear Deal, the
elements of it, it lifted international sanctions, it allowed Iran
to sell oil on the global market, and it allowed
Iran to have its nuclear program continue unmolested. There are
(02:14):
voices within the administration, and by the way, I led
the charge to pull out of that disastrous deal, and
President Trump did exactly that. He did the right thing.
It was the single most important decision, national security decision
of his first term to pull out of the disastrous
Obama Iran nuclear deal. And right now there's a battle
(02:35):
within the administration. But I agree with the red line
that President Trump has drawn, and he has said that
any deal must include full dismantlement, dismantling the centrifuges, shutting
them down, that anything short of that is unacceptable.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
When you look at that deal.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
And I want to play part of what you said
on Marklevin's show because it is more background just on
how crazy the ITOLI is in Iran and how big
of a threat it is and why you shouldn't trust him.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Take a listen.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
It's my understanding that the vast majority Republicans in the
Senate in the House are saying Iran must dismantle its
nuclear program. It's not a joke. You know what it
means when people talk about a civil or civilian nuclear program,
We're not going to be fooled. They must dismantle their program.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Is that what you understand that that is exactly right
and I got to say, Mark, there's a real contrast
between the strength that President Trump has shown with respect
to Iran and the weakness and appeasement that Joe Biden
showed for four years the first term President Trump took
on Iran directly pulled out of the disastrous Obama Iran
(03:49):
nuclear Deal, He ended the civilian nuclear waivers, he ended
the oil waivers, and the result maximum pressure put the
Iranian economy into freefall. Their oil sales fell from a
million barrels a day of oil down all the way
down to three hundred thousand barrels of oil. When Joe
(04:10):
Biden came into office, the Iranian economy was in shambles
and the Iotola and the Mullahs were teetering and near collapse.
But sadly, Biden reversed everything he did complete appeasement. He
stopped enforcing the oil sanctions and as a result, the
Iatola's oil sales skyrocketed from three hundred thousand barrels a
(04:31):
day to two million barrels a day.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
That's one hundred billion dollars that.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Joe Biden the Democrats gave the Iatola, and the Iatola
is using it to fund the RGC to attack and
kill Americans. The IATOLA is using that to fund Hamas
and Hezbola in a very real sense. Joe Biden and
the money he gave the Iyatola funded October seventh. Now
that Donald Trump is back in office, he's drawn a
(04:57):
clear red line it ran must dismantle their nuclear capacity.
They must shut down their centrifuge, as it is the
only thing that is verifiable is full dismantlement. And I
have every confidence the president is going to hold that line.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I do, But I don't have any confidence in the Iranians,
who lie and cheat and still and murder. Yes, and
so the question is, how can we expect a regime
that does all those things? It is not abided by anything,
it's agreed to anything it has promised over the course
(05:33):
of the last fifteen years. So here we are at
the eleventh hour. Here we are at the eleventh hour
trying to deal with this. How can we trust them?
Or better put, we're not going to trust them. How
do we make sure that they do what we tell
them they must do?
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Well, listen, we can't trust them because we know that
they lie, and they lie over and over and over again.
It's worth noting the IATOLA right now today is actively trying.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
To murder Donald J.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Trump has hired hitmen trying to murder the President of
the United States. The IYATOLA is also actively trying to
murder the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the
former National Security Advisor John Bolton. They have hired hitmen
that are targeting former senior US officials and the sitting
president of the United States. These are not people who
(06:20):
can be trusted, which is why the objective must be
full dismantlement must be the centrifugeas disassembled, destroyed, taken out.
And as President Trump said recently, we can do that
either nicely or not so nicely. Nicely if they agree
and we go in and dismantle them ourselves, or not
(06:42):
so nicely is if Iran refuses to negotiate. We have
the capability to take out these nuclear facilities. And I
got to say, Mark, you and I have talked about this.
Speaker 6 (06:53):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
There are some voices in the Trump administration that are
on the isolationist wing of foreign policy that say, let's
not worry about Iran, Let's not do anything about Iran.
And listen, I am someone who is very reluctant to
use military force. But Iran is trying to build nuclear
weapons because Iran wants to be able to threaten to
(07:15):
use nuclear weapons, and they might even use them. And
I believe a nuclear Iran is an unacceptable threat of
seeing an atomic bomb detonated in the skies of New
York or the skies of Los Angeles, And so our
commander in chief, President Trump, I don't think he is
going to allow that risk. We are going to demand
(07:35):
the centrifuges, the nuclear capability be dismantled, and they either
do so willingly or they'll be dismantled unwillingly.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
It doesn't seem to be any gray area here from you,
I willvin there and the President. It seems to be
y'all are all in lockstep on the same thing here.
You cannot trust Iran at all.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Well, and you asked what by do people oppose this
the rhetoric they use as they say, Well, if you're
standing up to Iran, you're a warmonger. And let me
be clear, as I mentioned to Mark Levin, I have
consistently been very reluctant to use military force. You know,
you go back to twenty sixteen the presidential race. You
(08:17):
had seventeen Republicans running for president that year, set ran
policide because Rand's views are unique.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
In the Senate.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Of the remaining sixteen, there were only two of us
on that stage who believed and said the Iraq War
was a mistake. Donald Trump and me. Both of us
said the Iraq War was absolutely a mistake. I believe
it was a mistake because you had a dictator, a
cruel dictator, Saddam Hussein, who was killing terrorists. We came
(08:47):
in and we toppled that dictator, and the result was
the terrorist took over and they began killing Americans. That
did not help America. Toppling a dictator and putting the
terrorists in charge was a mistake. By the way, made
the same mistake in Libya, where you had Kadafi, another
very cruel dictator, but he was killing terrorists. We came
(09:07):
in and toppled him, and the terrorists took over and
they began killing Americans. I think that's a bad trade off.
So when I say that we need to focus on
American national security, it doesn't mean we should invade other countries.
It doesn't mean we should send the Marines. It means
we should look at serious, real threats to our national security.
(09:31):
And I think the single most acute threat we face,
the urgent threat we face right now, is a nuclear
Iran because you've got a theocratic lunatic who has said
he wants to murder us and by the way, we
know that he's willing to hire hitmen to try to
(09:51):
murder the president already. And if he had nuclear weapons,
I think the odds are unacceptably high he would use them.
And so in the first term, what I advocate catered for,
and what President Trump agreed with was maximum pressure, using sanctions,
cut cutting off their financial system. Their economy went into
free fall. Because President's Trump stood up against the iotolin
(10:15):
it was incredibly effective until Joe Biden undermined it by
embracing appeasement. That was a massive mistake, and I hope
and believe President Trump is turning that around right now now.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
If you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
you can go back and listen to the full podcast
from earlier this week.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Now onto story number two.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
So Ben, let me ask you something. Yeah, are you
excited listening to this?
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I am because cause I am no, I am, and
I think this is something that we've been missing. You know,
you remember when I was working with the Bush administration,
it was on Social Security Form because it was just
a Ponzi scheme in essence, where I was like, what
are we doing? How are we not giving people more
with investing? And this is one of those things that
(11:01):
for me, is about financial freedom, and it allows people
a chance to succeed in the greatest country in the
world and do it in a way that is just
so smart. And I can't imagine what this is going
to do for single moms, for people that are working
nine to five jobs, two jobs, working hourly jobs. They say,
(11:22):
now I feel like even I can give my kids
a better life.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Because that's ultimately I think what every parent wants.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
They want to give their chance, their kid a chance
to a better life than they live. And this is
an example of starting literally at day one of their
birth saying we've got you and dagg, now let's go
and build on it.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So Ben, one of the things Brad was describing that
has me really excited is the accelerator that is built
into it. So seating every account with a thousand dollars
is valuable. By the way, there are three point seven
million babies born every year, and so one thousand dollars
for three point seven million aby, he's a three point
seven billion dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That means this.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Will cost thirty seven billion dollars over ten years. This
is a four to five trillion dollar tax cut. So
thirty seven billion dollars is a relatively small piece. But
you want to talk about how it transforms America. That
seed money is important. Even more important is simply creating
the account. As Brad noticed, you know, two thirds of
(12:25):
Americans will not have an investment account, will not be
invested in the market. And we're creating a world where
every child, every single child, from gazillionaire kids to a
homeless kid on the street is suddenly has an account
invested the market. That is transformative. But then the accelerator.
(12:45):
So what Brad has worked for several years is he's
brought together world class ceo some of the most prominent
CEOs in the country. He mentioned Michael Dell. That was
not theoretical. Michael is Michael is a good friend of mine.
He's a Texan, incredible entrepreneur worth over one hundred billion dollars.
Michael is the chairman of the CEO Council for Invest America,
(13:06):
so Michael is leaning in heart. He's committed Dell Computers.
When this passes, Dell will help fund the accounts for
the kids of their employees.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's powerful.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
But as Brad said, also Michael is quite interested on
the philanthropic side in supporting not just the accounts for
the children of his employees, but more broadly having a
bigger impact. I think we will see think for a second,
Ben about four oh one k's. Remember when we were kids,
four O one k's didn't exist. Now, just about every
(13:40):
every job at a big company, it's part of the plan.
It's part of the plan, and the employer matches four
A one K contributions makes their own contributions. It's a
really attractive employee benefit. And what I like about this
is the accelerator component that I think you will end
up having re wealth creation that changes. Look an eighteen
(14:03):
year old kid who's got a single mom, who's not
coming from money, who's living in a rough environments suddenly
got a couple one hundred thousand dollars invested in the
stock market. That changes their whole life. This is this
is life changing, and.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Well this also seems I go back to the trickle
down effect, and you know, it's like four to one k's.
You remember when it was your grandparents and your parents
when you go to get your first job, your first
real job, Like, do they have a four to one k?
It's not the twenty one to twenty three year old
that's asking that question, it's the parents and grandparents. I
remember when I got my first other. They do they match?
(14:42):
Where do they match? They have a four to one k?
Imagine if you get that started in the mindset at
age literally zero, that can transform an entire nation.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
So, Brad, let me ask you something. How did you
get involved in this to begin with? Because you were
passionate and working on this. I got involved with you
about a year ago, but you were passionate, involved in
this long before that. What was the kernel of the
idea that started this?
Speaker 7 (15:08):
Well, you know, you'll appreciate the senator as a dad yourself,
but you know I have two boys, Lincoln and Jack,
and they're sixteen and fourteen.
Speaker 6 (15:20):
And one of the things we talk about a lot
when we sit around the dinner table is when we
see problems don't complain about them, right, have a bias
to action, have a bias to action, do something about it,
don't just sit around and complain. And so, coming out
of COVID, I was showing them the investment accounts I
(15:42):
set up when they were born, yep. And we're talking
about the power of compounding, and we were showing they
were talking about the stocks that they owned, and I
could see their excitement and they said, Dad, when are
we going to be able to, you know, have some
control over what we're investing in. We want to learn more.
Will you set up a Robinhood account for course, et cetera.
(16:03):
And then we started talking about the wealth gap and
we started you know, my son Lincoln brought me something
you know that was the headline and it said ninety
three percent of stocks are owned by the wealthiest ten
percent of Americans. Yeah, and he said, Dad, I feel
I feel like, you know, I'm I'm glad you set
this up for me when I was a kid, but
(16:23):
I kind of feel guilty, like, what, why can't everybody
you know have this this uh, you know, same benefit.
And and I said, you know, we got to fix this.
And so he said to me, what are you going
to do about it? And I turned to him and
I said, no, what are we going.
Speaker 8 (16:40):
To do about it?
Speaker 6 (16:41):
And we made a commitment as a family that we're
going to do something about this. Yep. And you know,
it's been been one of the best parts of the journey.
We set up a five oh one c three uh
calling Best America and we literally, you know, just started uh,
you know, making the calls. And it was lining up
(17:01):
light minded thinkers in the private sector and lining up
light minded folks in Washington. And you and I have
talked about this. You know. I had the good fortune
when I was returning from studying overseas in nineteen ninety
ninety one to show up in Washington and go work
for the late and great Senator from Indiana, Richard Lueger.
(17:23):
Luber was a Rhodes scholar. He was a mayor of Indianapolis,
became a long serving senator, credible senator and at the
time he was working on denuclearizing the nuclear stockpiles coming
out of the Cold War with Sam Nunn. And let's
just say later in life, I went on to have
some success. And when I saw the Senator in those
(17:47):
later years, he said to me you know, don't waste it.
You know, remember those days, remember those runs around the
wall in the mall in Washington, and make sure you
do something that matters. And so as a family, we
want to do something that mattered. And I will say
in the House, in the Senate, you know, you know,
in the White House, and in a broad bipartisan way,
(18:08):
and that was something that was really important to me.
We've had incredible support, and I said, I've never seen
an idea with a better product market fit. Everybody I
talked to in the private sector in Washington was intrigued
by the idea. But I remember we were speaking with
then Speaker McCarthy in the House. Lincoln was in the
(18:30):
meeting with me. We had an incredible meeting with the
Speaker and we walked out and I said to him,
as we're looking at the rotunda in the House, I said,
every single good idea in America has started with a
conversation just like that. Right, as an entrepreneur in Silica Valley,
nothing happened in Zilica Valley. Right, not Google, not open Ai,
(18:51):
not Facebook. Right without a conversation on the back of
a napkin that starts as an idea and so I
had started a few companies in the valley. I knew
something about starting things, and we just got started and
the snowball started rolling. And here we are three and
a half years later, and I think we're on the precipice.
I think your great leadership, the great leadership in the
(19:13):
House and the White House of making this happen. And
I agree with you. I think we're going to look
back in ten or twenty years and this is going
to be a massive legacy of this moment.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
You just said a word a moment ago, the word
and it's become a bad word now. Is bipartisanate like
never happens anymore. So I'm going to ask both of
you this, is there a chance that this can be
such a great idea that it is in fact by
partisan and that Democrats and Republicans can work together like
they used to twenty thirty years ago. When there are
(19:46):
nonpartisan ideas that are just great ideas that are great
for all Americans.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
And this one, by the.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Way, I would actually argue with skewmore to helping those
that are poor in this country look than anyone.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Else, unquestionably, And I'll give you some positive signs on
this one. There are significant overlaps between this idea and
an idea that Corey Booker had called baby bonds, and
his idea was to create bonds and create a savings
account for every baby born in America, and when he
was running for president, a campaign on that, and Corey's
a friend of mine, Brad knows Corey well. I will
(20:19):
say this is different from Corey's baby bonds because I
was not a supporter of just the baby bonds of
an investment account that is accruing interest. What really sold
me on this was making a generation of capitalists. Was
the fact that this money is not just a savings account,
which is easy for Democrats to support, but rather it
(20:40):
is investing in the equity markets. It is making children
owners of the major companies in America, and that to
me was really exciting. That being said, I think there's
a good chance that we will get Democrats to support this.
I'll say Dick Durbin, who is the Democrat whip and
very liberal senator, although I've served with him on the
(21:01):
Judiciary Committee for thirteen years. Dick Durbin, in a press
story today, actually praise this idea, and it's common about
me that Dick is wicked smart. But we said about
me as he said, well, a stop clock is right
twice a day. And I actually ran into Dick in
the wall in the hallway and I said, Dick, you
(21:22):
praised me in the press. He said it must have
been a mistake. And I reminded him of the quote
and he laughed, and I said, Dick, it's a good
thing you're retiring. They might primary in the Democrat primary
for saying something nice about me. And I'll tell you
there was another Democrat senator, a freshman, it was newly elected,
who came and approached me and said, I really like
this idea. This is interesting. And I said, well, look,
(21:42):
so no Democrat is going to vote for the reconciliation bill.
That's going to be a pure party line bill. So
the actual bill that passes this no Democrat will vote for.
But what I told this this Democrat freshman, I said, well,
co sponsor my invest America bill, so you can make
clear you supported. I think we've got a decent chance
of getting Democrats on board. Brad did a good job
(22:04):
of talking to them, and I will tell you a
couple of things. So Brad was describing all the time
and energy he put in, and he said, quite modestly,
he said, well, I've had some success in business. Ben
Let me be clear, Brad is a billionaire. Like he's
got a crap ton of money, and he could sit
back and play golf all day long and never need
(22:25):
to work again, and he'd be fine, and his kids
would be fine, and his grandkids would be fine. But
he's not doing that. A He's got a ton of energy,
but he has poured so much time and energy and money.
So I will tell you the way this got done
is he was relentless. He was talking to everybody in
the House. Why is this in the House bill? Because
Brad was talking repeatedly to Jason Smith, the Chairman of
(22:47):
Ways and Means. He was talking repeatedly to Mike Johnson,
the Speaker of the House. By the way, I was too.
I was talking to both of them. They're both good friends.
He was talking repeatedly to me and other senators. I
sat down with Brad this week with Mike Crapo, the
chairman of the Finance Committee, who's drafting the tax portion
of the reconciliation of the Senate. He's been talking in
the White House to Kevin Hasset, who runs the National
(23:09):
Economic Council, over and over and over again, he's been
talking to the President. It is been that relentless. And
by the way, President Trump weighed in directly with the
Speaker of the House and said, I like this idea included.
How did this idea get like like a lot of
the press is shocked, why is this in the House bill?
A big part of the reason is the President weighed
(23:31):
in and said, I really like this idea, and so
the House included it. That wouldn't have happened without Brad's
efforts and my efforts making the case to the House,
to the Senate and to the White House. And I
think we will get this done and it will have
an impact when all three of us are dead and
(23:51):
buried as before.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
If you want to hear the rest of this conversation
on this topic, you can go back and dow the
podcast from early this week to hear the entire thing.
I want to get back to the big story number
three of the week.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
You may have missed.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Is there going to be any oversight slash investigation? Should
there be from Congress? And I know that's a weird question,
because there's somebody like, look, we want let's move on.
But like I do, actually, as an American citizen, want
to know who is running the United States of America
that was elected by no one.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I want to know who was calling the shots.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
It was elected by no one, because whether I win
or lose an election, my vote should not be canceled
out by by some sort of dictator or tyrant within
an administration that no one knows who's running a government.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
And by the way, there's a related question to that
Ben which as we see the stories that apparently a
substantial number of official things that Biden signed were signed
by the auto pen.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
So was he even making the decision to sign them, right?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
And he didn't even seem to know like some of
the pardons. And I actually think you'll have this litigated.
I don't not aware of any courts that's ever decided
is is a pardon? Does a pardon have to actually
be signed by the pres So, look, every elected official
has an autopen. I have an autopen. And so for
things like constituent correspondence, if you write into your senator,
(25:07):
you'll you'll get a response back, and we try to
respond substantively in the autop pen will sign it, and
I get millions of those letters, so I couldn't physically
sign them all.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
All I'm thinking about right now is how where that
autopen is and how much fun I could happen keep going.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
But look, it's fine for if something like correspondence.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
A birthday wish.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
But the question is for something that has legal force
of law. And I actually want to know did they
use the autopen to sign any legislation, because it's not
clear to be legislation that the president didn't sign has
legal force. The autopen is not the commander in chief
and the chief judges.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
For example, if he did an autopen, which means I'm
truly convinced that he didn't know what was going on.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
He didn't know who's appointing. He probably didn't know who's pardoning.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
And if that happening, the parties are where it'll be litigated.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Okay, and that will Why is that so different?
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Because look, it's it's interesting like a pardon under the Constitution,
all you have to have is a document from the
president that said, you know, I I pardoned Ben Ferguson
and and and suddenly, actually, only if it's a federal offense,
so he can't.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, the per I take, the abuse I take, but.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
It literally there's no pomp and circumstance. It doesn't have
to have gold leaf on the paper. It doesn't have
to be an official. It's just a piece of paper
with a signature, with those words and his signature, that
is legally a pardon. But if you don't actually have
a signature, Listen, I've been in the oval dozens of times,
probably more when when President Trump is signing things and
(26:37):
pulls out he actually so have you seen the president sign.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Okay, yeah, I've got like I've got one of the
big sharpie.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Like most presidents use like a sharpie to have a
signing pen. But but President Trump's it's a marker that's
probably what ten inches long, and maybe.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
It's gold like gold is signature and like an inch.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
In diameter, like it's it is massive. But he signed
one after the other after the other after the other,
because that's what gives it legal force of law. If
you have a president that's mentally incompetent and you have
staffers running thing, it makes you wonder. Doctor Fauci's pardon.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Is chine it?
Speaker 6 (27:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Yeah, And if it's the auto pen, which I'm sure
they can figure that out, it will be.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
It's an interesting question, you know. I'll say a few
more of these quotes from the cabinet members. The cabinet
members in this book described said. One said quote, the
staff did him wrong. If you were with him every
day and you knew this was going to be a problem,
why didn't you go to him and say something. Another
said quote, access dropped off considerably in twenty twenty four,
(27:44):
and I didn't interact with him as much. A third
said quote, Yes, the president is making the decisions, but
if the inner circle is shaping them in such a way,
is it really a decision? And here was another cabinet secretary.
I don't think he has dementia. But the thing thing
is he's an old man. The president can give you
four to six good hours a day. When he got tired,
sloppy isn't the right word, but his guard was down.
(28:07):
That would be the commander in chief of the United States.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I want to go back to the last quote, Sata,
that you just said about the people around the president.
Now that it's over, now that everybody knows the kign
of decline, Now that the books are being written. They're
telling you they may have only gotten four hours a
day out of the President United atspiragra. That is maybe
one of the most shocking statements I've ever heard about
any president.
Speaker 6 (28:30):
Yet.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Look, it's he was not mentally capable to do the job.
They knew it, and they lied about it. And by
the way, Jake Tapper's whole premise that gosh, little old
me Jake was deceived. They just didn't tell me the truth.
I just didn't know. Well, Jake, if you listened to Verdict,
we were telling you the facts, and we were telling
you the facts early on here. I want you to
(28:51):
go back to January of twenty twenty four. I want
you to listen to a segment of Enemy in the
podcast back in January of twenty four talking about Biden's deterioration.
Give a listen.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
You and I and kind of anyone with eyes and
common sense have been observing for a long time that
Joe Biden's cognitive decline is massive. But it's easy for
some observers to dismiss that and say, you know, these
guys are biased, they're partisans, they don't like Biden. So
what they're saying is not true. In this instance, the
(29:27):
people speaking are the Biden Department of Justice and not
any department of justice. This is a department of Justice
that has proven itself the most politicized and partisan department
of justice in history, and they have argued so for example.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
I'm going to read you a paragraph from the report.
In his interview with our office, mister Biden's memory was worse.
He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting
on the first day of the interview when his term
ended quote if it was twenty thirteen, when did I
stop being vice president? And forgetting on the second day
(30:06):
of the interview when his term began quote in two
thousand and nine, am I still vice president? He did
not remember even within several years when his son Bo died,
and his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate
(30:28):
that was once so important to him, among other things,
he mistakenly said he quote had a real difference of
opinion with General Carl Aitkinberry, when in fact Aitkinberry was
an ally whom mister Biden cited approvingly in his thanksgiving
(30:49):
memo to President Obama.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
All of that was authored by the Biden Department of Justice.
And when they are describing the sitting president as a
well meaning elderly man with a poor memory, the natural
question for anyone to say is, holy crap. If he's
not competent to stand trial, why is he the commander
(31:12):
in chief with the authority to send our sons and
daughters into harm's way? Why does he have access to
the nuclear codes? Understand the description here They say, you
couldn't charge him with a crime because he's not aware
of enough to have the requisite mental intent. And yet
Joe Biden tonight, if he's so desired, could literally exterminate
(31:34):
humanity from the face of the planet. As commander in chief,
if he gave the order launch the nuclear weapons now,
unless the military refused to obey the commander in chief,
Joe Biden could exterminate every life on this planet. And
if he's not mentally competent to stand trial, that is terrifying.
(31:58):
So that was a year and a half ago, a
year and a half ago on this podcast, And understand
the entire basis of Tapper's book is he couldn't possibly
know about known about this mental decline. The Department of
Justice in this would be the Biden Department of Justice
went into court. So the Robert Herr Report, Remember they
did not prosecute Biden.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
And where was that? I wonder do you remember the
timeframe on that.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
That was early twenty four.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Yeah, we covered it a lot, and that with them
interviewing him in twenty three.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
So in twenty three when they were interviewing Joe Biden,
they then in twenty four told America he's so bad
off we can't even charge him with anything.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
So they concluded if they charged him, he would be
found not competent to be convicted. That is a stunning. Look,
there's a standard. There are people that are not competent
to be tried. If you have dementia, if you're like
mentally ill, that you're not able that The legal standard
is you have to form what's called mensraa, which is intent.
And they said, well, he's so old and senile, we
(32:56):
can't charge him. So that's why they said, oh, yeah,
he clearly violated the law to felony. Remember he kept
classified materials everywhere including his garage next to his antique car.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Not a joke, that's real.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
And they said he was guilty of that, but they
couldn't charge him because he was incompetent to Centrial. I
want you to listen in twenty twenty three to me
laying out his mental decline and MSNBC Morning Joe making
fun of me for it gives.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Us like one of their big intros. May fourth, twenty
twenty three.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
Twenty eleven, when Republicans in the House stood strong on
the death ceiling again because Democrats had had majority of
the Congress for two years, had passed trillions in irresponsible spending,
and Republicans stood strong and said, we will not raise
the death ceiling without serious fiscal reform.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
What happened then?
Speaker 5 (33:48):
Vice President Joe Biden came and negotiated a deal, a
deal called the Budget Control Act. Vice President Biden sat
down with House Republicans and reached a meaningful compromise. President
Joe Biden needs to do the same thing, and I'll say, sadly,
the reason he hasn't so far, I believe is because
(34:12):
his mental faculties are too diminished.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Right now, you know, I know, hold on, hold on,
hold on.
Speaker 9 (34:19):
He has such a point, his mental faculties are so
diminished that he passed more bipartisan signed more bipartisan legislation,
but he was doing it.
Speaker 8 (34:30):
Last year than any president since LBJ. My god, if
he were his coaching as he had been in twenty eleven,
but he could have been like you could have gone
back to FDR.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
What else he did without without apparently realizing what he
was doing.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
He like, held NATO together to fight aggression in Ukraine.
Speaker 9 (34:55):
And my god, I know he only increased eight hundre
and miles border NATO with.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Russia exactly, but I guess he you know, he thought
he was happen.
Speaker 9 (35:07):
You know, it reminds me of Ronald Reagan when he
was speaking at Harvard a eurek in college grad and
he's sitting there talking to the grads and he's making
fun of his education. At the end, he goes, you know,
sometimes I just sit here with a presidential seal in
front of him, and I wonder what I could have
been with a.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Good get go back and read David, go back and
read Reagan. He says, By golly, I mean, I love this.
And by the way, we do know who was doing
it now. It was either an autopin or a bunch
of old staffers.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
So I'm curious that I may have missed this. But
as Joe Scarborough apologized for lying to America.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
No, he's probably writing a book about the decline of
Joe Biden.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Howka apologized, has MSNBC as NBC. If any of them apologized,
they knew he was mentally diminished and they covered it
up because they were partisans and they supported his agenda.
To heck with whether we had a competent commander in
chief or not.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with senter
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. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz. We can review
Ben Ferguson with you. And here are the three big
stories that you may have missed that we talked about
this week. First up, major negotiations with Iran and it
could be the difference between war and peace. So what
it's Senator Cruz have to say about it. I'll have
that for you in just a moment. Also, there is
a program that has been introduced. Senator Ted Cruz is
(00:23):
the brainchild behind it and it could change every newborn
child's financial future in this country.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We'll have that for you as well. And finally, who
was running America?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Now the media admitting that Joe Biden was not really
the president of the United States of America, So who
was calling the shots and who was using the auto pen?
It's the weekend review and it starts right now. I
want to talk about what we also some big news
that deals with the issue of Iran. You went on
Life livert in levent our good friend Mark Levin show,
(00:56):
and we're talking about Iran right now and what they
are actively trying to do.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Fill us in on that for a second.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Well, right now, they're ongoing negotiation going on with the
nation of Iran and the Iyahtola is a theocratic lunatic.
He regularly regularly leads mobs chanting death to America and
death to Israel. And by the way, if history teaches
us anything, it's that if somebody tells you they want
(01:26):
to kill you, believe them. Yeah, And when it comes
to Iran, I'll tell you there are some voices in
Washington and the Administration that are pushing for another Iran deal.
They really want an Iran deal. And basically they went
on time.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Why did I got to ask, Because there's some of
you listening, They're gonna say the same thing I'm saying
right now is why on earth would you want an
i Ran deal if you know that they cheated on
the last deal.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
So look, I don't know. I'm not Sigmund Freud. I'm
not their psychoanalysts. I just know they're advocating for it.
If you look at the Obama Iran nuclear Deal, the
elements of it, it lifted international sanctions, it allowed Iran
to sell oil on the global market, and it allowed
Iran to have its nuclear program continue unmolested. There are
(02:14):
voices within the administration, and by the way, I led
the charge to pull out of that disastrous deal, and
President Trump did exactly that. He did the right thing.
It was the single most important decision, national security decision
of his first term to pull out of the disastrous
Obama Iran nuclear deal. And right now there's a battle
(02:35):
within the administration. But I agree with the red line
that President Trump has drawn, and he has said that
any deal must include full dismantlement, dismantling the centrifuges, shutting
them down, that anything short of that is unacceptable.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
When you look at that deal.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
And I want to play part of what you said
on Marklevin's show because it is more background just on
how crazy the ITOLI is in Iran and how big
of a threat it is and why you shouldn't trust him.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Take a listen.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
It's my understanding that the vast majority Republicans in the
Senate in the House are saying Iran must dismantle its
nuclear program. It's not a joke. You know what it
means when people talk about a civil or civilian nuclear program,
We're not going to be fooled. They must dismantle their program.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Is that what you understand that that is exactly right
and I got to say, Mark, there's a real contrast
between the strength that President Trump has shown with respect
to Iran and the weakness and appeasement that Joe Biden
showed for four years the first term President Trump took
on Iran directly pulled out of the disastrous Obama Iran
(03:49):
nuclear Deal, He ended the civilian nuclear waivers, he ended
the oil waivers, and the result maximum pressure put the
Iranian economy into freefall. Their oil sales fell from a
million barrels a day of oil down all the way
down to three hundred thousand barrels of oil. When Joe
(04:10):
Biden came into office, the Iranian economy was in shambles
and the Iotola and the Mullahs were teetering and near collapse.
But sadly, Biden reversed everything he did complete appeasement. He
stopped enforcing the oil sanctions and as a result, the
Iatola's oil sales skyrocketed from three hundred thousand barrels a
(04:31):
day to two million barrels a day.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
That's one hundred billion dollars that.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Joe Biden the Democrats gave the Iatola, and the Iatola
is using it to fund the RGC to attack and
kill Americans. The IATOLA is using that to fund Hamas
and Hezbola in a very real sense. Joe Biden and
the money he gave the Iyatola funded October seventh. Now
that Donald Trump is back in office, he's drawn a
(04:57):
clear red line it ran must dismantle their nuclear capacity.
They must shut down their centrifuge, as it is the
only thing that is verifiable is full dismantlement. And I
have every confidence the president is going to hold that line.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I do, But I don't have any confidence in the Iranians,
who lie and cheat and still and murder. Yes, and
so the question is, how can we expect a regime
that does all those things? It is not abided by anything,
it's agreed to anything it has promised over the course
(05:33):
of the last fifteen years. So here we are at
the eleventh hour. Here we are at the eleventh hour
trying to deal with this. How can we trust them?
Or better put, we're not going to trust them. How
do we make sure that they do what we tell
them they must do?
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Well, listen, we can't trust them because we know that
they lie, and they lie over and over and over again.
It's worth noting the IATOLA right now today is actively trying.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
To murder Donald J.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Trump has hired hitmen trying to murder the President of
the United States. The IYATOLA is also actively trying to
murder the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the
former National Security Advisor John Bolton. They have hired hitmen
that are targeting former senior US officials and the sitting
president of the United States. These are not people who
(06:20):
can be trusted, which is why the objective must be
full dismantlement must be the centrifugeas disassembled, destroyed, taken out.
And as President Trump said recently, we can do that
either nicely or not so nicely. Nicely if they agree
and we go in and dismantle them ourselves, or not
(06:42):
so nicely is if Iran refuses to negotiate. We have
the capability to take out these nuclear facilities. And I
got to say, Mark, you and I have talked about this.
Speaker 6 (06:53):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
There are some voices in the Trump administration that are
on the isolationist wing of foreign policy that say, let's
not worry about Iran, Let's not do anything about Iran.
And listen, I am someone who is very reluctant to
use military force. But Iran is trying to build nuclear
weapons because Iran wants to be able to threaten to
(07:15):
use nuclear weapons, and they might even use them. And
I believe a nuclear Iran is an unacceptable threat of
seeing an atomic bomb detonated in the skies of New
York or the skies of Los Angeles, And so our
commander in chief, President Trump, I don't think he is
going to allow that risk. We are going to demand
(07:35):
the centrifuges, the nuclear capability be dismantled, and they either
do so willingly or they'll be dismantled unwillingly.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
It doesn't seem to be any gray area here from you,
I willvin there and the President. It seems to be
y'all are all in lockstep on the same thing here.
You cannot trust Iran at all.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Well, and you asked what by do people oppose this
the rhetoric they use as they say, Well, if you're
standing up to Iran, you're a warmonger. And let me
be clear, as I mentioned to Mark Levin, I have
consistently been very reluctant to use military force. You know,
you go back to twenty sixteen the presidential race. You
(08:17):
had seventeen Republicans running for president that year, set ran
policide because Rand's views are unique.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
In the Senate.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Of the remaining sixteen, there were only two of us
on that stage who believed and said the Iraq War
was a mistake. Donald Trump and me. Both of us
said the Iraq War was absolutely a mistake. I believe
it was a mistake because you had a dictator, a
cruel dictator, Saddam Hussein, who was killing terrorists. We came
(08:47):
in and we toppled that dictator, and the result was
the terrorist took over and they began killing Americans. That
did not help America. Toppling a dictator and putting the
terrorists in charge was a mistake. By the way, made
the same mistake in Libya, where you had Kadafi, another
very cruel dictator, but he was killing terrorists. We came
(09:07):
in and toppled him, and the terrorists took over and
they began killing Americans. I think that's a bad trade off.
So when I say that we need to focus on
American national security, it doesn't mean we should invade other countries.
It doesn't mean we should send the Marines. It means
we should look at serious, real threats to our national security.
(09:31):
And I think the single most acute threat we face,
the urgent threat we face right now, is a nuclear
Iran because you've got a theocratic lunatic who has said
he wants to murder us and by the way, we
know that he's willing to hire hitmen to try to
(09:51):
murder the president already. And if he had nuclear weapons,
I think the odds are unacceptably high he would use them.
And so in the first term, what I advocate catered for,
and what President Trump agreed with was maximum pressure, using sanctions,
cut cutting off their financial system. Their economy went into
free fall. Because President's Trump stood up against the iotolin
(10:15):
it was incredibly effective until Joe Biden undermined it by
embracing appeasement. That was a massive mistake, and I hope
and believe President Trump is turning that around right now now.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
If you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
you can go back and listen to the full podcast
from earlier this week.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Now onto story number two.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
So Ben, let me ask you something. Yeah, are you
excited listening to this?
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I am because cause I am no, I am, and
I think this is something that we've been missing. You know,
you remember when I was working with the Bush administration,
it was on Social Security Form because it was just
a Ponzi scheme in essence, where I was like, what
are we doing? How are we not giving people more
with investing? And this is one of those things that
(11:01):
for me, is about financial freedom, and it allows people
a chance to succeed in the greatest country in the
world and do it in a way that is just
so smart. And I can't imagine what this is going
to do for single moms, for people that are working
nine to five jobs, two jobs, working hourly jobs. They say,
(11:22):
now I feel like even I can give my kids
a better life.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Because that's ultimately I think what every parent wants.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
They want to give their chance, their kid a chance
to a better life than they live. And this is
an example of starting literally at day one of their
birth saying we've got you and dagg, now let's go
and build on it.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So Ben, one of the things Brad was describing that
has me really excited is the accelerator that is built
into it. So seating every account with a thousand dollars
is valuable. By the way, there are three point seven
million babies born every year, and so one thousand dollars
for three point seven million aby, he's a three point
seven billion dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That means this.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Will cost thirty seven billion dollars over ten years. This
is a four to five trillion dollar tax cut. So
thirty seven billion dollars is a relatively small piece. But
you want to talk about how it transforms America. That
seed money is important. Even more important is simply creating
the account. As Brad noticed, you know, two thirds of
(12:25):
Americans will not have an investment account, will not be
invested in the market. And we're creating a world where
every child, every single child, from gazillionaire kids to a
homeless kid on the street is suddenly has an account
invested the market. That is transformative. But then the accelerator.
(12:45):
So what Brad has worked for several years is he's
brought together world class ceo some of the most prominent
CEOs in the country. He mentioned Michael Dell. That was
not theoretical. Michael is Michael is a good friend of mine.
He's a Texan, incredible entrepreneur worth over one hundred billion dollars.
Michael is the chairman of the CEO Council for Invest America,
(13:06):
so Michael is leaning in heart. He's committed Dell Computers.
When this passes, Dell will help fund the accounts for
the kids of their employees.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's powerful.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
But as Brad said, also Michael is quite interested on
the philanthropic side in supporting not just the accounts for
the children of his employees, but more broadly having a
bigger impact. I think we will see think for a second,
Ben about four oh one k's. Remember when we were kids,
four O one k's didn't exist. Now, just about every
(13:40):
every job at a big company, it's part of the plan.
It's part of the plan, and the employer matches four
A one K contributions makes their own contributions. It's a
really attractive employee benefit. And what I like about this
is the accelerator component that I think you will end
up having re wealth creation that changes. Look an eighteen
(14:03):
year old kid who's got a single mom, who's not
coming from money, who's living in a rough environments suddenly
got a couple one hundred thousand dollars invested in the
stock market. That changes their whole life. This is this
is life changing, and.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Well this also seems I go back to the trickle
down effect, and you know, it's like four to one k's.
You remember when it was your grandparents and your parents
when you go to get your first job, your first
real job, Like, do they have a four to one k?
It's not the twenty one to twenty three year old
that's asking that question, it's the parents and grandparents. I
remember when I got my first other. They do they match?
(14:42):
Where do they match? They have a four to one k?
Imagine if you get that started in the mindset at
age literally zero, that can transform an entire nation.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
So, Brad, let me ask you something. How did you
get involved in this to begin with? Because you were
passionate and working on this. I got involved with you
about a year ago, but you were passionate, involved in
this long before that. What was the kernel of the
idea that started this?
Speaker 7 (15:08):
Well, you know, you'll appreciate the senator as a dad yourself,
but you know I have two boys, Lincoln and Jack,
and they're sixteen and fourteen.
Speaker 6 (15:20):
And one of the things we talk about a lot
when we sit around the dinner table is when we
see problems don't complain about them, right, have a bias
to action, have a bias to action, do something about it,
don't just sit around and complain. And so, coming out
of COVID, I was showing them the investment accounts I
(15:42):
set up when they were born, yep. And we're talking
about the power of compounding, and we were showing they
were talking about the stocks that they owned, and I
could see their excitement and they said, Dad, when are
we going to be able to, you know, have some
control over what we're investing in. We want to learn more.
Will you set up a Robinhood account for course, et cetera.
(16:03):
And then we started talking about the wealth gap and
we started you know, my son Lincoln brought me something
you know that was the headline and it said ninety
three percent of stocks are owned by the wealthiest ten
percent of Americans. Yeah, and he said, Dad, I feel
I feel like, you know, I'm I'm glad you set
this up for me when I was a kid, but
(16:23):
I kind of feel guilty, like, what, why can't everybody
you know have this this uh, you know, same benefit.
And and I said, you know, we got to fix this.
And so he said to me, what are you going
to do about it? And I turned to him and
I said, no, what are we going.
Speaker 8 (16:40):
To do about it?
Speaker 6 (16:41):
And we made a commitment as a family that we're
going to do something about this. Yep. And you know,
it's been been one of the best parts of the journey.
We set up a five oh one c three uh
calling Best America and we literally, you know, just started uh,
you know, making the calls. And it was lining up
(17:01):
light minded thinkers in the private sector and lining up
light minded folks in Washington. And you and I have
talked about this. You know. I had the good fortune
when I was returning from studying overseas in nineteen ninety
ninety one to show up in Washington and go work
for the late and great Senator from Indiana, Richard Lueger.
(17:23):
Luber was a Rhodes scholar. He was a mayor of Indianapolis,
became a long serving senator, credible senator and at the
time he was working on denuclearizing the nuclear stockpiles coming
out of the Cold War with Sam Nunn. And let's
just say later in life, I went on to have
some success. And when I saw the Senator in those
(17:47):
later years, he said to me you know, don't waste it.
You know, remember those days, remember those runs around the
wall in the mall in Washington, and make sure you
do something that matters. And so as a family, we
want to do something that mattered. And I will say
in the House, in the Senate, you know, you know,
in the White House, and in a broad bipartisan way,
(18:08):
and that was something that was really important to me.
We've had incredible support, and I said, I've never seen
an idea with a better product market fit. Everybody I
talked to in the private sector in Washington was intrigued
by the idea. But I remember we were speaking with
then Speaker McCarthy in the House. Lincoln was in the
(18:30):
meeting with me. We had an incredible meeting with the
Speaker and we walked out and I said to him,
as we're looking at the rotunda in the House, I said,
every single good idea in America has started with a
conversation just like that. Right, as an entrepreneur in Silica Valley,
nothing happened in Zilica Valley. Right, not Google, not open Ai,
(18:51):
not Facebook. Right without a conversation on the back of
a napkin that starts as an idea and so I
had started a few companies in the valley. I knew
something about starting things, and we just got started and
the snowball started rolling. And here we are three and
a half years later, and I think we're on the precipice.
I think your great leadership, the great leadership in the
(19:13):
House and the White House of making this happen. And
I agree with you. I think we're going to look
back in ten or twenty years and this is going
to be a massive legacy of this moment.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
You just said a word a moment ago, the word
and it's become a bad word now. Is bipartisanate like
never happens anymore. So I'm going to ask both of
you this, is there a chance that this can be
such a great idea that it is in fact by
partisan and that Democrats and Republicans can work together like
they used to twenty thirty years ago. When there are
(19:46):
nonpartisan ideas that are just great ideas that are great
for all Americans.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
And this one, by the.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Way, I would actually argue with skewmore to helping those
that are poor in this country look than anyone.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Else, unquestionably, And I'll give you some positive signs on
this one. There are significant overlaps between this idea and
an idea that Corey Booker had called baby bonds, and
his idea was to create bonds and create a savings
account for every baby born in America, and when he
was running for president, a campaign on that, and Corey's
a friend of mine, Brad knows Corey well. I will
(20:19):
say this is different from Corey's baby bonds because I
was not a supporter of just the baby bonds of
an investment account that is accruing interest. What really sold
me on this was making a generation of capitalists. Was
the fact that this money is not just a savings account,
which is easy for Democrats to support, but rather it
(20:40):
is investing in the equity markets. It is making children
owners of the major companies in America, and that to
me was really exciting. That being said, I think there's
a good chance that we will get Democrats to support this.
I'll say Dick Durbin, who is the Democrat whip and
very liberal senator, although I've served with him on the
(21:01):
Judiciary Committee for thirteen years. Dick Durbin, in a press
story today, actually praise this idea, and it's common about
me that Dick is wicked smart. But we said about
me as he said, well, a stop clock is right
twice a day. And I actually ran into Dick in
the wall in the hallway and I said, Dick, you
(21:22):
praised me in the press. He said it must have
been a mistake. And I reminded him of the quote
and he laughed, and I said, Dick, it's a good
thing you're retiring. They might primary in the Democrat primary
for saying something nice about me. And I'll tell you
there was another Democrat senator, a freshman, it was newly elected,
who came and approached me and said, I really like
this idea. This is interesting. And I said, well, look,
(21:42):
so no Democrat is going to vote for the reconciliation bill.
That's going to be a pure party line bill. So
the actual bill that passes this no Democrat will vote for.
But what I told this this Democrat freshman, I said, well,
co sponsor my invest America bill, so you can make
clear you supported. I think we've got a decent chance
of getting Democrats on board. Brad did a good job
(22:04):
of talking to them, and I will tell you a
couple of things. So Brad was describing all the time
and energy he put in, and he said, quite modestly,
he said, well, I've had some success in business. Ben
Let me be clear, Brad is a billionaire. Like he's
got a crap ton of money, and he could sit
back and play golf all day long and never need
(22:25):
to work again, and he'd be fine, and his kids
would be fine, and his grandkids would be fine. But
he's not doing that. A He's got a ton of energy,
but he has poured so much time and energy and money.
So I will tell you the way this got done
is he was relentless. He was talking to everybody in
the House. Why is this in the House bill? Because
Brad was talking repeatedly to Jason Smith, the Chairman of
(22:47):
Ways and Means. He was talking repeatedly to Mike Johnson,
the Speaker of the House. By the way, I was too.
I was talking to both of them. They're both good friends.
He was talking repeatedly to me and other senators. I
sat down with Brad this week with Mike Crapo, the
chairman of the Finance Committee, who's drafting the tax portion
of the reconciliation of the Senate. He's been talking in
the White House to Kevin Hasset, who runs the National
(23:09):
Economic Council, over and over and over again, he's been
talking to the President. It is been that relentless. And
by the way, President Trump weighed in directly with the
Speaker of the House and said, I like this idea included.
How did this idea get like like a lot of
the press is shocked, why is this in the House bill?
A big part of the reason is the President weighed
(23:31):
in and said, I really like this idea, and so
the House included it. That wouldn't have happened without Brad's
efforts and my efforts making the case to the House,
to the Senate and to the White House. And I
think we will get this done and it will have
an impact when all three of us are dead and
(23:51):
buried as before.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
If you want to hear the rest of this conversation
on this topic, you can go back and dow the
podcast from early this week to hear the entire thing.
I want to get back to the big story number
three of the week.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
You may have missed.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Is there going to be any oversight slash investigation? Should
there be from Congress? And I know that's a weird question,
because there's somebody like, look, we want let's move on.
But like I do, actually, as an American citizen, want
to know who is running the United States of America
that was elected by no one.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I want to know who was calling the shots.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
It was elected by no one, because whether I win
or lose an election, my vote should not be canceled
out by by some sort of dictator or tyrant within
an administration that no one knows who's running a government.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
And by the way, there's a related question to that
Ben which as we see the stories that apparently a
substantial number of official things that Biden signed were signed
by the auto pen.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
So was he even making the decision to sign them, right?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
And he didn't even seem to know like some of
the pardons. And I actually think you'll have this litigated.
I don't not aware of any courts that's ever decided
is is a pardon? Does a pardon have to actually
be signed by the pres So, look, every elected official
has an autopen. I have an autopen. And so for
things like constituent correspondence, if you write into your senator,
(25:07):
you'll you'll get a response back, and we try to
respond substantively in the autop pen will sign it, and
I get millions of those letters, so I couldn't physically
sign them all.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
All I'm thinking about right now is how where that
autopen is and how much fun I could happen keep going.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
But look, it's fine for if something like correspondence.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
A birthday wish.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
But the question is for something that has legal force
of law. And I actually want to know did they
use the autopen to sign any legislation, because it's not
clear to be legislation that the president didn't sign has
legal force. The autopen is not the commander in chief
and the chief judges.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
For example, if he did an autopen, which means I'm
truly convinced that he didn't know what was going on.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
He didn't know who's appointing. He probably didn't know who's pardoning.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
And if that happening, the parties are where it'll be litigated.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Okay, and that will Why is that so different?
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Because look, it's it's interesting like a pardon under the Constitution,
all you have to have is a document from the
president that said, you know, I I pardoned Ben Ferguson
and and and suddenly, actually, only if it's a federal offense,
so he can't.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, the per I take, the abuse I take, but.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
It literally there's no pomp and circumstance. It doesn't have
to have gold leaf on the paper. It doesn't have
to be an official. It's just a piece of paper
with a signature, with those words and his signature, that
is legally a pardon. But if you don't actually have
a signature, Listen, I've been in the oval dozens of times,
probably more when when President Trump is signing things and
(26:37):
pulls out he actually so have you seen the president sign.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Okay, yeah, I've got like I've got one of the
big sharpie.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Like most presidents use like a sharpie to have a
signing pen. But but President Trump's it's a marker that's
probably what ten inches long, and maybe.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
It's gold like gold is signature and like an inch.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
In diameter, like it's it is massive. But he signed
one after the other after the other after the other,
because that's what gives it legal force of law. If
you have a president that's mentally incompetent and you have
staffers running thing, it makes you wonder. Doctor Fauci's pardon.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Is chine it?
Speaker 6 (27:15):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Yeah, And if it's the auto pen, which I'm sure
they can figure that out, it will be.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
It's an interesting question, you know. I'll say a few
more of these quotes from the cabinet members. The cabinet
members in this book described said. One said quote, the
staff did him wrong. If you were with him every
day and you knew this was going to be a problem,
why didn't you go to him and say something. Another
said quote, access dropped off considerably in twenty twenty four,
(27:44):
and I didn't interact with him as much. A third
said quote, Yes, the president is making the decisions, but
if the inner circle is shaping them in such a way,
is it really a decision? And here was another cabinet secretary.
I don't think he has dementia. But the thing thing
is he's an old man. The president can give you
four to six good hours a day. When he got tired,
sloppy isn't the right word, but his guard was down.
(28:07):
That would be the commander in chief of the United States.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I want to go back to the last quote, Sata,
that you just said about the people around the president.
Now that it's over, now that everybody knows the kign
of decline, Now that the books are being written. They're
telling you they may have only gotten four hours a
day out of the President United atspiragra. That is maybe
one of the most shocking statements I've ever heard about
any president.
Speaker 6 (28:30):
Yet.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Look, it's he was not mentally capable to do the job.
They knew it, and they lied about it. And by
the way, Jake Tapper's whole premise that gosh, little old
me Jake was deceived. They just didn't tell me the truth.
I just didn't know. Well, Jake, if you listened to Verdict,
we were telling you the facts, and we were telling
you the facts early on here. I want you to
(28:51):
go back to January of twenty twenty four. I want
you to listen to a segment of Enemy in the
podcast back in January of twenty four talking about Biden's deterioration.
Give a listen.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
You and I and kind of anyone with eyes and
common sense have been observing for a long time that
Joe Biden's cognitive decline is massive. But it's easy for
some observers to dismiss that and say, you know, these
guys are biased, they're partisans, they don't like Biden. So
what they're saying is not true. In this instance, the
(29:27):
people speaking are the Biden Department of Justice and not
any department of justice. This is a department of Justice
that has proven itself the most politicized and partisan department
of justice in history, and they have argued so for example.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
I'm going to read you a paragraph from the report.
In his interview with our office, mister Biden's memory was worse.
He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting
on the first day of the interview when his term
ended quote if it was twenty thirteen, when did I
stop being vice president? And forgetting on the second day
(30:06):
of the interview when his term began quote in two
thousand and nine, am I still vice president? He did
not remember even within several years when his son Bo died,
and his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate
(30:28):
that was once so important to him, among other things,
he mistakenly said he quote had a real difference of
opinion with General Carl Aitkinberry, when in fact Aitkinberry was
an ally whom mister Biden cited approvingly in his thanksgiving
(30:49):
memo to President Obama.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
All of that was authored by the Biden Department of Justice.
And when they are describing the sitting president as a
well meaning elderly man with a poor memory, the natural
question for anyone to say is, holy crap. If he's
not competent to stand trial, why is he the commander
(31:12):
in chief with the authority to send our sons and
daughters into harm's way? Why does he have access to
the nuclear codes? Understand the description here They say, you
couldn't charge him with a crime because he's not aware
of enough to have the requisite mental intent. And yet
Joe Biden tonight, if he's so desired, could literally exterminate
(31:34):
humanity from the face of the planet. As commander in chief,
if he gave the order launch the nuclear weapons now,
unless the military refused to obey the commander in chief,
Joe Biden could exterminate every life on this planet. And
if he's not mentally competent to stand trial, that is terrifying.
(31:58):
So that was a year and a half ago, a
year and a half ago on this podcast, And understand
the entire basis of Tapper's book is he couldn't possibly
know about known about this mental decline. The Department of
Justice in this would be the Biden Department of Justice
went into court. So the Robert Herr Report, Remember they
did not prosecute Biden.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
And where was that? I wonder do you remember the
timeframe on that.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
That was early twenty four.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Yeah, we covered it a lot, and that with them
interviewing him in twenty three.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
So in twenty three when they were interviewing Joe Biden,
they then in twenty four told America he's so bad
off we can't even charge him with anything.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
So they concluded if they charged him, he would be
found not competent to be convicted. That is a stunning. Look,
there's a standard. There are people that are not competent
to be tried. If you have dementia, if you're like
mentally ill, that you're not able that The legal standard
is you have to form what's called mensraa, which is intent.
And they said, well, he's so old and senile, we
(32:56):
can't charge him. So that's why they said, oh, yeah,
he clearly violated the law to felony. Remember he kept
classified materials everywhere including his garage next to his antique car.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Not a joke, that's real.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
And they said he was guilty of that, but they
couldn't charge him because he was incompetent to Centrial. I
want you to listen in twenty twenty three to me
laying out his mental decline and MSNBC Morning Joe making
fun of me for it gives.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Us like one of their big intros. May fourth, twenty
twenty three.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
Twenty eleven, when Republicans in the House stood strong on
the death ceiling again because Democrats had had majority of
the Congress for two years, had passed trillions in irresponsible spending,
and Republicans stood strong and said, we will not raise
the death ceiling without serious fiscal reform.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
What happened then?
Speaker 5 (33:48):
Vice President Joe Biden came and negotiated a deal, a
deal called the Budget Control Act. Vice President Biden sat
down with House Republicans and reached a meaningful compromise. President
Joe Biden needs to do the same thing, and I'll say, sadly,
the reason he hasn't so far, I believe is because
(34:12):
his mental faculties are too diminished.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Right now, you know, I know, hold on, hold on,
hold on.
Speaker 9 (34:19):
He has such a point, his mental faculties are so
diminished that he passed more bipartisan signed more bipartisan legislation,
but he was doing it.
Speaker 8 (34:30):
Last year than any president since LBJ. My god, if
he were his coaching as he had been in twenty eleven,
but he could have been like you could have gone
back to FDR.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
What else he did without without apparently realizing what he
was doing.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
He like, held NATO together to fight aggression in Ukraine.
Speaker 9 (34:55):
And my god, I know he only increased eight hundre
and miles border NATO with.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Russia exactly, but I guess he you know, he thought
he was happen.
Speaker 9 (35:07):
You know, it reminds me of Ronald Reagan when he
was speaking at Harvard a eurek in college grad and
he's sitting there talking to the grads and he's making
fun of his education. At the end, he goes, you know,
sometimes I just sit here with a presidential seal in
front of him, and I wonder what I could have
been with a.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Good get go back and read David, go back and
read Reagan. He says, By golly, I mean, I love this.
And by the way, we do know who was doing
it now. It was either an autopin or a bunch
of old staffers.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
So I'm curious that I may have missed this. But
as Joe Scarborough apologized for lying to America.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
No, he's probably writing a book about the decline of
Joe Biden.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Howka apologized, has MSNBC as NBC. If any of them apologized,
they knew he was mentally diminished and they covered it
up because they were partisans and they supported his agenda.
To heck with whether we had a competent commander in
chief or not.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with senter
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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