October 13, 2025 • 41 mins
BREAKING NEWS: 7 of the 20 October 7 hostages RELEASED!
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Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson praise Trump’s leadership, portraying him as uniquely capable of achieving peace through strength.
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They contrast this with Biden’s and Obama’s foreign policy, which they characterize as weak and enabling of terrorism.
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The Red Cross is facilitating the transfer of hostages held underground in Gaza for over two years.
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The first seven hostages have been handed over, with the full release expected by noon (Israel time).
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In exchange, Israel is releasing about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including:
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250 serving long sentences,
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1,700 detained during the conflict, and
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The remains of 28 deceased hostages.
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Endorsements & Reactions –
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The podcast includes audio clips & quotes from Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff.
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Clinton is depicted as praising Trump’s deal (a rare bipartisan gesture), while Obama’s response is described as “classless” for not naming Trump.
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Foreign Policy Narrative –
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Trump’s bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities and his “peace through strength” doctrine are credited for pressuring Hamas into negotiations.
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The Biden administration is blamed for previous instability, alleged funding to Iran, and a weak stance toward Israel.
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- Government Shutdown Continues:
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U.S. government shutdown goes on, the “Schumer shutdown”, as Democrats keep prolonging it. When will it end? We discuss it.
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Closing Remarks – The episode ends with Cruz offering religious gratitude (“Praise God”) and both hosts congratulating Trump, Netanyahu, and Israel.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz ben Ferguson with you.
It is right now one oh seven am Eastern Center time.
That means it is eight o six am right now
in Tel Aviv in Israel, and the hostages that are
being held in Gaza are set to be released. We
are hoping that's going to happen at any moment, and
very well could happen as we are taping this in
(00:23):
the wee hours of the morning. Senator, I want to
get your reaction just to this and what all we're
going to be talking about today.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, it is an historic day. Although I will have
to note, man, I am impressed that somehow Jerusalem has
managed to go back in time that it is one
oh seven am in the East coast of America, but
it is only eight oh six am in Jerusalem, so
they're somehow a minute ahead of us. That that uh, look,
look is talking. I think that's appropriate. So so I appreciate,
(00:55):
like a fine Swiss watch, you have a cute appreciation time.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm just looking at the screens here.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I got you. Look. Peace in the Middle East is
a big damn deal now as we're sitting here right now,
we're holding our breaths because the peace deal has been announced.
If this follows through, if Hamas releases the hostages, it
will be historic. At the moment, we don't know if
(01:25):
they're going to follow through. They said they're going to
follow through, but Hamas is not exactly the most trustworthy
of deal makers. They've broken deals over and over and
over again. Terrorists have a bad habit of doing that.
So we are waiting, we are hoping, we are praying.
What's interesting about this podcast is by the time you're
listening to it, you're going to know. And so we
(01:49):
very much hope the hostages are released. The agreement that
President Trump negotiated was an agreement to release all the hostages,
both the living hostages and the remains of those who
have been killed. And there are a number who've been killed.
They're holding onto the remains. Obviously the families would like
to bury the dead.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And in exchange, Israel has agreed to a complete and
immediate ceasefire. That is historic. It is such a big
deal that President Trump is flying to the Middle East
to be there to welcome the hostages to their release.
And I will say this is a day of great
(02:30):
celebration if if Hamas follows through on the terms of
the deal.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, by the way, right now, the hostage release process
is beginning. We are witnessing in Gaza City the Red
Cross vehicles are leaving the compound there and so we
are doing this, like I said, at am here one
am Eastern, one ten am. And this is what we're
watching as we're seeing this happening. But the first process,
(02:56):
they're saying coming from the AP right now, has a
release process is beginning and going as plan. That certainly
is a great sign as we're recording this right now.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Amen, those hostages have have been in living hell for
two years now, uh, and it is time for them
to be released and and and hopefully within minutes, uh,
they will be They will be back with their families.
I will tell you, in the last two years, I
have met with many of the families of the hostages
that that when they've come to Washington, they've come by
my office. They've shown me pictures of their loved ones,
(03:29):
of their sons, of their daughters, of their sisters, of
their moms and their dads, and it's heartbreaking. I've I've
met with with family members of those who were killed
killed on October seventh, and and seen just just the
horrific atrocities that Hamas carried out on that day, and
and and this is a time I think really to
(03:49):
commend President Trump. And and and by the way, it's
not just me saying that, you want to see how
extraordinary it is. Hillary Clinton has praised Donald Trump for
this peace agreement. I want you to give a listen
to what Hillary Clinton had to say about Donald J.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Trump.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
It's a really significant first step. And I really commend
President Trump and his administration as well as Arab leaders
in the region for making the commitment to the twenty
point plan and seeing a path forward for what's often
(04:31):
called the day After. Most importantly, the conflict hopefully will
end with the ceasefire, the hostages will be returned, and
then the very hard work of rebuilding Gaza, of finding
the kind of security that Israel and the Palestinians after
(04:52):
Hamas deserved to have. Moving forward with the other points
in the plan, to try to create and an opportunity
for Palestinians to have a better life and for Israel
to have greater peace and security. I am very hopeful
that we'll be able to see progress. Today's a good start,
(05:14):
but we have to keep going from here.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
You listen to Hillary Clinton, they're saying that center and
this goes back to I think what the world is
admitting right now. This was something that never had a
chance of happening under the Biden regime, their administration.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
They weren't even close to this.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
What President Trump has been able to do, bringing people together,
bringing the Arab world together, being able to iron out
the points.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Of this deal. I truly believe this.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I think he's probably the only guy in the world
that could have pulled this off the way he did
as quickly as he did.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
I look undoubtedly, and I'll say a sentence I've never
before said in my life, Bravo Hillary Clinton.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Like, I will give her credit for commending Donald Trump.
She must have saying those words. It was the right
thing to do. And I want to draw a contrast
because Hillary Clinton acknowledged the obvious that this is historic,
this is a massive step forward. And I want to
contrast it to Barack Obama because Barack Obama put out
(06:20):
a statement after two years of unimaginable loss and suffering
for Israeli families and the people of Gaza. We should
all be encouraged and relieved that an end of the
conflict is within sight, that those hostages still being held
will be reunited with their families, and that vital aid
can start reaching those inside Gaza whose lives have been shattered.
(06:41):
More than that, though, it now falls on Israelis and Palestinians,
with the support of the US and the entire world community,
to begin the hard task of rebuilding Gaza and to
commit to a process that, by recognizing the common humanity
and basic rights of both peoples, can achieve lasting peace. Ben,
do you know what word is is nowhere in Barack
(07:03):
Obama's statement?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, the President of United States of America, Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
The guy who negotiated the deal, the guy without whom
there would be no such deal. And by the way,
Hillary Clinton was Barack Obama's secretary of State. So Hillary
Clinton is demonstrating some class and Obama this is one
of the most classless statements I have ever seen, because
Obama cannot acknowledge that Trump accomplished something, and accomplished something
(07:33):
really powerful and meaningful and is a major step towards peace.
And those are words I think Barack Obama is utterly
unwilling to say.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You also got to listen, and I want to play this.
This is net Yahoo talking as well about this deal
getting done with wit Coffin and Jered Chrishna, the son
in law of the President Donald Trump, and getting this
deal done. They put together a statement and I want
to play that for everybody. Is again it's now being
reported by virtually all the major news networks that the
(08:03):
hostage release process has begun and is moving its way
the way it's supposed to be choreographed.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
That is good news.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
We are seeing in Gaza now that there are multiple
Red Cross vehicles that have moved into the area where
they're going to do the handoff of these hostages. We're
going to keep you update on that obviously as it's
happening as we're recording this, but I want you to
hear what Netanyahu had to say as well, and those
in Whiskoff as well, and Jared Kushner take a listen.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
We're at a amendous development in the last two years.
We've fought doing these two years to that achieve of
warreams in the Central One of these warreams is to
return the osages all of the osages the living and
the day, and we're about to achieve that group. We
(08:48):
couldn't live achieve without the extraordinary help President Crump's team,
Steve Whitkof and Jared Kushner. They worked tirelessly with Ron
and this team, our team UH and UH. That and
the courage of our soldiers who UH entered Gaza, and
(09:09):
the combined military and diplomatic pressure that isolated the coloss
I think as parties to this point, I wanna personally
thank both of you, Steve Jareded UH spend long hours
(09:32):
you have around the clock, but not only worked. I
I think you you put in your UH, your brains
and your hearts, and we know that it's UH for
the benefit of Israel and the United States, or the
benefit of UH decent people living there, and for the
benefit of these families who will finally get to be
(09:52):
with our mothers. And I wanna thank you on their
behalf as well, but un behalfy for people who's at
you without a mon.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Obviously, bringing the hostages his home is a It's been
a priority for President Trump for a very very long time,
and we've all worked very tirelessly to do that. But
I really want to say that this all would not
have been possible without the bravery of the IDF and
the soldiers. What they've accomplished not just in Gaza, but
also what they've done in the theater over the last
(10:25):
couple of years to eliminate as belond the North and
really degrade them. What you were able to do in
Iran and really helps.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Set a big tone.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
But particularly seeing the way that your citizen army, I
know a lot of you, probably all of you have
family friends who are in this effort. Really, you know,
put your sacrifices on the line to fight for your
country and to try and try to make a difference.
I think that made a very very big difference in there.
Speaker 6 (10:50):
And I want.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
To just give a very very special thanks to Prime
Minister Natanyahu who really did an incredible job with this
and did a great job to negotiations. You held your
lines firm, and I think that between you and President
Trump you had a lot of alignment on what the
end state should be.
Speaker 7 (11:08):
The hard job was the Prime minister's. He had the
job of protecting this country. He had the job of
making tough choices with regard to how tough to be
with hamas, when to be flexible, when not to be flexible.
I think to myself all the time, I lost sleepover it.
What would I have done in some of those circumstances.
(11:30):
There were times that I thought we should be more flexible,
your country should be more flexible. But the truth is,
as I look back, I don't think we get to
this place without Prime Minister Netnyaghu playing it.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
I'm not just.
Speaker 7 (11:50):
Saying that they're not just words. The President believes that.
My president believes that. He believes that Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Speaker 8 (11:57):
Made some very very difficult calls, and lesser people would
not have made those calls. And here we are today
because Amas had to, They had to do this deal.
Speaker 7 (12:09):
The pressure was on them. They were backed up, and
you've got the bigger army you were making in rows,
and that's what led to this deal.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
You can hear Whiskov. They were saying, that's what led
to this deal. And look, this was all about the
presidential leadership and the President Unit States America leading in
a way that no one else could.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Well. And the contrast is really night and day to
the previous administration. You know, you mentioned a minute ago
you said that President Trump achieved something that Joe Biden
could not have done. Well, I'll tell you someone who
disagrees with that is Tony Blincoln. And Tony Blinkn, of course,
was Biden's Secretary of State, and he put out a
long Twitter statement on this, and here's where he said critically.
(12:52):
He says, it starts with a clear and comprehensive post
conflict plan for Gaza. It's good that President Trump adopts
did and built on the plan the Biden administration developed
after months of discussion with Arab partners, Israel and the
Palestinian authority. Like what nonsense? It literally is Tony Blinken saying, well,
(13:13):
this this Trump peace deal, it's really the Biden peace deal.
And that's utter nonsense because Biden spent four years demonstrating
weakness and appeasement to our enemies. That weakness and appeasement,
I believe, is why October seventh happened. The one hundred
billion dollars that Joe Biden, with Tony Blinkn being a
(13:35):
very active part of that, flowed one hundred billion dollars
to the Ayatola Kameenee in Iran. He provides ninety percent
of the funding ninety percent of the funding to Hamas, Yeah,
and ninety percent of the funding for Hesbalus. In a
very real sense, Joe Biden and Tony Blincoln and Kamala
Harris and the entire Biden administration funded the October seven
(14:00):
desk squads. Because the one hundred billion dollars they sent
to Iran and they allowed to flow to Iran, much
of that ended up directly in the hands of Hamas
and Hezbola carrying out those mass murders. And so that
the idiocy to say, well, gosh, all Trump did was
implement the Biden plan. It is gibberish. And look the
(14:20):
person who refuted that most directly was Hillary Clinton, where
she gave credit. And look, we don't have this peace
agreement without Trump's strength. Let me tell you, this peace
agreement doesn't happen, I believe without President Trump ordering the
bombing attack on Iran and taking out Iran's nuclear facilities,
(14:40):
nuclear facilities where they were working to develop nuclear weapons
to target the United States and to target our allies.
And that act of strength, combined with Israel's Twelve Day
War where they decimated the Iranian military air defenses, the
senior leadership the IRGC leadership. All of that look Hamas,
(15:01):
Iran is Hamas's patron, and Iran is in a much
much weakened position because of President Trump's strength. That is
a major major reason this deal was reached today, and
this deal we are both hoping, we are praying that
Hamas follows through and that within hours all of the
(15:23):
hostages are released. If that happens, this will be an
historic day, a day to celebrate, and a day to
say thank God for President Donald J. Trump.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
So, over the last several weeks, you've heard me talk
with Josh Cherrard from Burnham. He's been telling stories of
how people just like you have used their burna launcher
to protect themselves and their families. Now, burn is a
handheld pistol that fires both kinetic rounds and chemical irritants
to separate you from an attacker, and it can be
(15:53):
life saving. Josh is back with you today to tell
another story about how a former professional race car saved
his family from an attack outside the garage of their
own home. Josh, tell me about this.
Speaker 9 (16:06):
Yeah, it just happened actually not too long ago in
Santa Monica, just two blocks from the beach. So former
pro race car driver Court Wagner was pulling into his
garage with his family in the car when he was
confronted by a man hiding in the alley. After trying
to talk to him into leaving, it was obviously not
going to work. The man lunged at Court with a
sharp object, trying to attack him, with his wife and
(16:28):
child only steps away. He grabbed his burnal launcher that
he kept in the glove box of his car and
fired five round, striking the attackers several times. The suspect
fled immediately. It worked, and Court called the police and
gave him the description of the assailant. And now police
were able to look at someone that somewhat matched a
description in the area, not quite exactly. And it wasn't
until officers lifted the suspect shirt and saw the multiple
(16:51):
welts from the burner launder that they knew they had
the right guy and subsequently arrested him.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
It really is incredible.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
And I get this question now often when I'm out,
and that is okay. Tell me about how a launcher works,
and they worry about or they wonder about the stopping
power of less lethal weapons.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I've used it. It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I have it in all of my cars right now
because I want to have this option.
Speaker 9 (17:15):
Yeah. Absolutely, you know, the stopping power is great, no
matter if you're using our kinetic rounds or even the
chemical agent rounds that obviously have the gas in them,
the tear gas, the pepper spray that's going to incapacitate them.
This is a great case of how some resistance, enough
resistance obviously to cause these wealth immediately stop the situation
and was able to provide that safety for Court and
(17:36):
his family.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
It really is incredible.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
If you want more information on what I carry and
how you and your family members can protect themselves. Or
they burn a launcher, whether it is for a daughter
or for a family member or a grandparent, go to
burna B. Why are in a dot com? That's burnap B?
Why r in a dot com?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Again? Burna dot com? Right now?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Let's go back to something, and I do think one
of the very interesting historic moments as we go back
and look at this weeks and years and months from now,
is going to be Donald Trump not flinching on going
after the Iran nuclear sites. When you look at that
moment and you see how quickly we now got to
where we are when it comes to this deal being done.
(18:23):
How much of the psyche you think of Hamas and
realizing what they were dealing with with President Trump changed
after he actually went after those nuclear sites.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I think it was fundamental. And this is where the
appeasement crowd gets it wrong. They think that being weak
to our enemies avoids war. That they'll say all the
time quite piously, oh we hate war. And this is
true of left wing Democrats. But I'll tell you within
the Trump administration, there was a major debate about whether
(18:56):
to launch that bombing run on Iran, and there were
major voices that were vocal saying, do not launch that
bombing raid. I was urging the president take out those
nuclear facilities. It makes America safer. And I think that
decision it's the single most important national security decision President
Trump has made this second term. And that decision demonstrated
(19:19):
number one, it weakened Iran, which is Hamas's patron and funder.
But number two, it demonstrates to to Hamas, Okay, this
President's not going to flinch. He's not going to give in.
He's not weak, he's not going to roll over. Uh
When when when we when we try to roar, and
I think without that, you don't have a peace deal
(19:40):
as long as they believe. Look, Joe Biden, what was
he doing. He was freezing weapons to Israel, blocking the
idf F and getting weapons. And and I'll tell you
what that did. That encouraged Tamas, that said, Okay, great,
we've got a friend. We've got a friend in the
White House. And and and by the way, you and I.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Talked about harder on Israel. We talked about this.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Joe Biden was harder on Israel many days than he
was on hamasteris.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Well, you'll recall the podcast we did several months ago,
and it was right after I sat down and spent
about two hours with Prime Minister Nen Yahoo when he
was in Washington, d C. And one of the things
he told me in that meeting is that when they
launched the pager attack on Hesbela, you remember that it's
one of the most incredible military and intelligence actions.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
By the way, I still can't wait for the movie
to come out. Can we all agree on that.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
It's going to be unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
It would make an incredible movie. And actually, if you
had written that that is a movie script it would
be rejected as a movie script. People would say this
is too fantastical, There's no way this would happen. This
is a bad Jason Bourne movie. It's just not realistic.
And you look at what Israel did years earlier, creating
a shell company in Hong Kong making the pagers, selling
(20:52):
them to Hesbela. Hesbela sends them to the terrorists. But
one of the things, one of the things you and
I talked about on this podcast is the government of
Israel when they decided, okay, we're going to detonate those
pages and take out the Hesbela terrorists, they did not
tell the Biden White House.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
And the reason they didn't tell the Biden White House
is they were afraid if they told the Biden White House,
they'd pick up the phone and warn Hesbela. Yeah that says,
you know what, you don't get peace when the American president,
when the American White House is going to warn the terrorists, Hey,
your your pagers are going to be about to blow up.
(21:31):
So they notified the Biden White House as they were
detonating the pagers. Hey, by the way, we just blew
up about your Hesbela terrorists. And that President Trump saying
we stand with Israel period the end is a major,
major reason we get to this moment to celebrate the
peace deal, to celebrate the ceasefire, but to do so
(21:51):
from a position of strength.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Let's talk about there's been a lot of criticism of
the exchange for these these terrorists, prisoners, murderers that Israel
is going to release, and saying that was a capitulation
and a bad decision by Israel. I understand that Israel
did not want to do this, but they also understood
that to get this deal done, there had to be
(22:14):
some movement here. I want to get your take and
your thoughts and that for people they're just wanting to
criticize this deal and try to find something wrong with it.
There's a perfect case scenario and then there's reality. This
was part of the reality to get this done. To
say the twenty that we believe are still alive at
this moment.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yeah, Look, negotiations for the release of hostages are always difficult.
They raise incredibly challenging issues and questions. I've spent a
long time in the Senate. I've made it a real
passion of mine to fight for Americans who are detained
abroad and to fight for people like Mark Swedan. Mark
Sweden was a Texan.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
By the way, I want to interrupt you.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
We're just getting word now Hamas has officially just handed
over the hostages to the Red Cross. That is coming
from Moulti News agencies that Hamas hands over the hostage
to the Red Cross. Apparently it has officially just happened,
as we're recording this at one twenty eight am Eastern
Standard time in the morning.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Well, that that is phenomenal, that is great news. We
should all say a prayer and thank God that this
is an important and historic day. And and you know
what I was saying a minute ago that you were
asking about in any hostage negotiation, that there are often
(23:32):
difficult trade offs and they're agonizing trade offs. And I've tried.
Mark Swadana, as I mentioned, was wrongfully imprisoned in communist
China for more than a decade, and I repeatedly pressed
the Chinese communist government, pressed the Biden administration, and we
finally got him released and he's back with his mom
in Texas. And that that's a phenomenal thing. But those
(23:55):
trade offs are difficult, and so I'm not gonna second
guess that decisions President Trump made and Prime Minister net
and Yahoo made in terms of the specific negotiations to
get the hostages released. Hamas remains incredibly dangerous. They are terrorists.
(24:16):
Their objective is to murder as many Israelis as they can.
But today's a victory. It's a victory for peace, it's
a victory for Israel, it's a victory for President Trump,
and on all of that is really good.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
What are your thoughts on President Trump traveling to Israel
and also going to address the people he's going to
meet with the hostages. There are some that have said
in the media that this seems to be grand standing.
I think that's pretty absurd. I think when you're doing
a deal, you showing up also probably puts more pressure
on Hamas to do what they said they're going to
do when you're there. I actually think this is part
(24:51):
of the strategy, Like, Hey, if we get on Air
Force one and we're over there and we're landing, this
is going to make it harder for them to pull out.
We seeing the breaking news of the hostage and the
Red Cross care as released as are underway. That's one
of the other headlines I'm witnessing as we were talking
about this. Having Donald Trump fly there had to put
more pressure on them to do what they said they
(25:12):
were going to do and help almost guarantee or secure
or have a better chance to those hostages being released.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I don't think it's grandstanding.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I think it was a smart move of diplomacy when
you're dealing with a terrorist organization.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Unquestionably, number one, I think President Trump deeply wanted to
be there to celebrate, to celebrate break their release, to
celebrate this, this crown breaking victory. But number two, in
terms of negotiating President Trump and his entire team, they
know there is a very real chance that Hamas reneges
on the deal that they Hamas has broken deal after
(25:44):
deal after deal. Anyone who is paying the tiniest bit
of attention knows that Hamas is not trustworthy. The fact
that the President of the United States gets on Air
Force one and flies to Israel to be there to say, Okay,
you've said you're going to release the hostages, I'm going
to be there to to to welcome them. That ratchet
(26:04):
ratcheted up the pressure enormously. When he got an Air
Force one. He didn't know he knew there was a
chance that when he landed, Hamas would have said, nevermind,
we're not going to release him, because they've done that
over and over and over again. But I'll tell you this,
Hamas knew that that that President Trump would be unbelievably pissed. Yeah,
if that were the case, And and and that's it
goes back to to to the doctrine of peace through strength.
(26:27):
That his being there makes clear. Look, guys, I'm not
messing around. We've cut a deal. I expect you to
stick to the deal. And and I think ratcheting up
that pressure, even dealing with people who are not rational
actors like Hamas terrorists, uh they saw, I think real downsides.
If we break this deal, the consequences would be even
(26:52):
more devastating. And and I think there there being his
being there increased the likelihood of the hostages actually being
released dramatically.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
By the way, we're getting word now from Israeli sources,
you and I really get to do actual breaking news
and recording. Israeli sources are now saying the first seven
hostages have been released to the Red Cross, so that
means they are in in the hands of people that
are caring for them, loving on them. But again, Israeli
sources are saying the first seven hostages have been released
(27:25):
the Red Cross. There's twenty total, so the first seven
in part that says they're gonna wait for the prisoners.
And I'm assuming now, based on what I've been told
on this, to be released a certain set of the
prisoners that are being released by Israel, then the next
hostages and will come in ways. But this is a
certainly an incredible moment for not just Israel, but for
all of the family members that are hoping to get
(27:46):
their loved ones back. But the first seven hostages have
been released to the Red Cross. This is incredible.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
It is incredible, and I'll give credit to President Trump
and to his entire team, and you know, it's striking.
We also saw this week that the Nobel Peace Prize
was awarded, and in any sane world, it would have
been given to Donald Trump. I mean that that that
actually is not a difficult decision. If you're actually asking
in the past year, who has done the most to
(28:13):
advance peace, it's not it's not a close call. Uh.
But but the Nobel Prize or are a bunch of Norwegians,
and and they're European liberals and they hate, hate, hate
Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Uh. So instead they gave it to Maria Coriina Machado,
who is the leading opposition figure in Venezuela, standing up
uh to Nicholas Maduro. And and I will say Machado
is is an extraordinary person. I have I have met
with her in person, I visited with her. She has
demonstrated remarkable courage uh fighting the tyranny of Maduro. Uh.
(28:52):
But at the end of the day, it wasn't even
close that that this should have gone to Trump. And
by the way, again, if if you don't believe me,
then maybe you should believe Machado, because Machado called President Trump.
And here's what President Trump said. He said, quote the
(29:12):
person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called
me and said, I'm accepting this in honor of you,
because you really deserved it. And by the way, she
went and then said that publicly as well, So she
not only said that to President Trump, but she said
that publicly. Now, that was very smart Machado, that was
a very smart thing to do. But it also at
(29:36):
this point, it just it's the Nobel Committee being petty liberals.
And by the way, these are the same knuckleheads that
gave the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama when he
was first elected, when he'd literally done nothing, he'd walked
in been sworn into office, and they handed him the
Nobel Peace Prize for simply not being George W. Bush.
(29:57):
He won the Nobel Peace Prize for for existing and
being the Democrat who succeeded Bush. Trump. Look, he could
cure cancer, and the Nobel Prize is not going to
recognize anything because they hate him. But this is an
historic achievement and it is something that everyone should celebrate.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
So many of people they are listening to verdict they're
going to get to not only I think here from
probably leadership in Israel in the next several hours. It's
certainly going to happen in the morning or midday. You're
also going to be able to hear from the President
of United States of America.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
What do you expect his message to be?
Speaker 2 (30:33):
And this is, by the way, all happening right now
while the federal government is still shut down in the US,
and I want to get your take on that in
a moment.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
But what do you expect to hear from the president today.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Look, I think the President is going to say, this
is an historic day. This peace agreement is a moment
of history that ended a war that has extended for
two years, that freed people who have been in captivity
for two years subject to horrific treatment. And I think
he's going to say, I expect the parties to stick
(31:06):
to the terms of the agreement. I think he is
going to continue with peace through strength. He's going to
continue with the opposite of weakness and appeasement because we
don't get to this peace agreement without President Trump's strength.
And then this is one thing to remember that there
are some observers who want to say that Donald Trump
(31:29):
is an isolationist. He has never been an isolationist. He
is Look. Look the first term that Trump was in office.
When he came into office, he inherited an Isis caliphate
that had grown under Barack Obama that was the size
of the state of Indiana. They had an entire nation
state to wage terror against America, and Donald Trump utterly
(31:51):
decimated and destroyed it. Within months, the caliphate was gone.
He completely defeated them. He also took out General Solomoni
who took out Albert Daddy. Those are not the actions
of an isolationist. You look at the second term where
he's been bombing the living daylights out of the Huthis
who are attacking ships going through the Suez Canal. He
(32:12):
is bombing the heck out of narco terrorist off the
coast of Venezuela. And by the way, Machada was smart
to say he deserved it, because look, her efforts fighting
Maduro are very important, they're and they're they're courageous. But
President Trump's strength is the single factor that makes it
most likely that the Maduro regime will be toppled. And
(32:33):
so President Trump taking out those narco terrorist is another
example of peace through strength. And finally, the the the
Iran bombing ron taking out their nuclear facilities. None of
those are the acts of an isolationists. Now, to be clear,
President Trump is also not an interventionist. He's not invading
foreign countries. I don't expect to see the Marines engaged
(32:58):
in invading other countries other than to protect the vital
security interest of America, to keep America safe. The only
instance in which we would see a ground war is
is where there was a direct danger to the lives
of Americans, and in those instances, President Trump is willing
to use military force, but he's not engaged in this
(33:22):
broader endeavor to send in our military to try to
turn every country in the world into some utopian democracy.
That's not the job of the military. Donald Trump doesn't
think it's the job of the military. And the result
strength is the best way to avoid war. Our enemies
(33:45):
are afraid of Donald Trump. That is a very good thing.
Hamas is afraid of Donald Trump. Hesbla is afraid of
Donald Trump. Iran is afraid of Donald Trump. Maduro is
afraid of Donald Trump. China and Russia are afraid of
Donald Trump. All of that is good because America is
safer and we are much likely more likely to avoid
(34:07):
military conflict when our enemies are afraid of the commander
in chief than when our enemies You look at Joe Biden,
when they look and say, the commander in chief is
weak and completely incapacitated. And that is why we went
from no wars across the globe to two wars. Ukraine
(34:30):
and Gaza both raging under Joe Biden. That's what happens
when you have a week and appeasing President.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, no doubt about it. Again, this is breaking as
we continue. Israeli sources are now saying the first seven
living hostages have been released to the Red Cross in
Tel Aviv right now. We are witnessing celebration in the streets.
We are seeing this in Jerusalem as well. The videos
are trying to come in as is basically eight forty
am in Israel right now. We're seeing people lying reach
(35:00):
of the highway right now and Rim Israel as well.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And this is just some of that excitement after two.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Plus years of these people that were taken on that
October seventh attack day. We're going to keep monitoring this
obviously until we wrap up. But I do want to
get you an update for everyone on the government shutdown
here in the US. We are into two weeks now
of this government shutdown. We are starting to see it
affect people's lives or seeing healthcare issues with those For example,
(35:29):
in San Antonio, I was there today talking about there's
a lot of people there that are saying that the
providers are not able to get the money and the
funding they need.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Doctors are frustrated.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
The Schumer shutdown is really starting to hurt people in
our military, their kids, those with special needs as well.
Your reaction. How much long are this is going to continue?
And do you see any movement this week?
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Well, we're right now in day twelve of the Schumer shutdown,
and the government is shut down because over and over
and over again, the Democrats are voting shut the government down.
And I will say, you know, it's actually interesting today
on Twitter, fifty three Republicans was trending, and the reason
it was trending was an exchange back and forth that
(36:12):
I had with Gavin Newsom on the shutdown. So Gavin
Newsom tweeted out, Wow, that is wild. I wonder who
has control of the White House, Senate and the House.
And this is one of the Democrat talking points as well.
This is the Republican's fault because the President and the
Senate and the House are all in Republican control. Here's
what I responded on X. I said, Gavin is deliberately
(36:35):
lying to fund the government. Takes sixty votes in the Senate.
There are only fifty three Republicans. We need at least
seven Democrats. We keep voting to open the government, Dems
keep voting to shut it down. Gavin Newsom knows this
(36:57):
and he's lying to you. And as of right now,
it's had one point seven million views. It was trending
on Twitter. And it's the simple fact we cannot pass
funding for the government without sixty votes in the Senate.
That means there is nothing Republicans can do to fund
this on our own. The Democrats all know this. We
have voted, I think eight times now the Republicans have
(37:19):
voted to open the government to fund the government, and
every Democrat but I think three, have voted no. And
that's why we have a shutdown. Now. We're all expected
to go back to DC on Tuesday of this week
and we'll vote again to fund the government. I voted
to fund the government now, over and over and over again.
(37:40):
I'll vote again on Tuesday to fund the government. And
I think it is very likely right now the Democrats
will continue the Schumer shutdown.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
And I'll tell you what I think is one of
the major reasons is coming up on October seventeenth, there
is this big rally in DC, No King's Rally, bunch
of the left wing radicals are coming to DC. And
and you know what, most of my colleagues believe is
the Democrat senators are terrified of opening the government before
(38:12):
that rally because they don't want their crazy base, the
same base that that almost cost Schumer the job his
job last time. They don't want their crazy base to
get angry, and so I think most of us.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
So you're telling me the American people right now that
there's a very good chance that the government shutdown will
continue because of a rally date.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Yep. And that date again is what October seventeenth?
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Okay, so the thirteenth, fourteenthie, okay, So we got another
five six days of this just to get to the
rally and then maybe we'll actually do their job and
like fund the government.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Look, at some point they're going to do their job
and fund the government. But you know, a bunch of
federal federal employees are about to miss their first paycheck.
I'll tell you. Ordinarily, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines would
lose their first paycheck as well. The Trump Department of
Wars said they're going to move some funds around and
pay our servicemen and women, and Democrats are furious. How
(39:11):
dare you find a way? Look, I don't know if
they can do it because it is not easy with
the funding paused. But the Democrats don't care. And I'll
tell you one of the great acts of hypocrisy is
the Democrat congressmen are all paying themselves, or most of them,
maybe I don't know about all. But so, under the
(39:31):
twenty eighth Amendment to the Constitution, the compensation of a
member of Congress cannot be reduced during your term of office,
which means during a shutdown, House members and senators get
paid no matter what, even though everyone else their paycheck stop.
Elected members of Congress get their paycheck. Now you can
say no. So I sent a letter to the Secretary
(39:52):
of the Senate saying, please hold my paycheck, do not
pay me. I do not want that money deposited in
my account till the government shutdown ends, until our service
members are being paid. I'm not going to pay myself.
But you look at these Democrats who are happily shutting
the government down. They're also taking their own paycheck and saying, gosh,
I like being paid. And you know they are not
(40:16):
troubled at all. If if some young corporal serving overseas
suddenly doesn't get his paycheck and can't pay his bills
this week.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
As we wrap this up at one forty seven am
Eastern Center time, the latest news we have, and this
is good news. Israeli sorts are saying the first seven
living hostages have been released the Red Cross. We're obviously
waiting on the other thirteen and that hopefully by the
time you get to hear this in the morning on
your commuter in the afternoon, they've all been released.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
But this is certainly a good day.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
And we'll have a lot more on this, I can
promise on Wednesday morning as well.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
And Ben, let me say this. Let me say this finally, Yeah,
number one, congratulations to President Trump and team. Congratulations to
Prime Minister Netanyahu and his team. Congratulations to the people
of Israel who are celebrating right now and rightly celebrating.
And I just want to say, praise God. God is
good all of the time.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
We'll be back with you on Wednesday morning. Make sure
you share this episode wherever you can on social media
and grab my podcast as well, the Ben Ferguson podcasts.
I'll keep you up down the breaking news on Tuesday
as well as you get ready for us again on
Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
We'll see you back then, real soon
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz ben Ferguson with you.
It is right now one oh seven am Eastern Center time.
That means it is eight o six am right now
in Tel Aviv in Israel, and the hostages that are
being held in Gaza are set to be released. We
are hoping that's going to happen at any moment, and
very well could happen as we are taping this in
(00:23):
the wee hours of the morning. Senator, I want to
get your reaction just to this and what all we're
going to be talking about today.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, it is an historic day. Although I will have
to note, man, I am impressed that somehow Jerusalem has
managed to go back in time that it is one
oh seven am in the East coast of America, but
it is only eight oh six am in Jerusalem, so
they're somehow a minute ahead of us. That that uh, look,
look is talking. I think that's appropriate. So so I appreciate,
(00:55):
like a fine Swiss watch, you have a cute appreciation time.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm just looking at the screens here.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I got you. Look. Peace in the Middle East is
a big damn deal now as we're sitting here right now,
we're holding our breaths because the peace deal has been announced.
If this follows through, if Hamas releases the hostages, it
will be historic. At the moment, we don't know if
(01:25):
they're going to follow through. They said they're going to
follow through, but Hamas is not exactly the most trustworthy
of deal makers. They've broken deals over and over and
over again. Terrorists have a bad habit of doing that.
So we are waiting, we are hoping, we are praying.
What's interesting about this podcast is by the time you're
listening to it, you're going to know. And so we
(01:49):
very much hope the hostages are released. The agreement that
President Trump negotiated was an agreement to release all the hostages,
both the living hostages and the remains of those who
have been killed. And there are a number who've been killed.
They're holding onto the remains. Obviously the families would like
to bury the dead.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And in exchange, Israel has agreed to a complete and
immediate ceasefire. That is historic. It is such a big
deal that President Trump is flying to the Middle East
to be there to welcome the hostages to their release.
And I will say this is a day of great
(02:30):
celebration if if Hamas follows through on the terms of
the deal.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, by the way, right now, the hostage release process
is beginning. We are witnessing in Gaza City the Red
Cross vehicles are leaving the compound there and so we
are doing this, like I said, at am here one
am Eastern, one ten am. And this is what we're
watching as we're seeing this happening. But the first process,
(02:56):
they're saying coming from the AP right now, has a
release process is beginning and going as plan. That certainly
is a great sign as we're recording this right now.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Amen, those hostages have have been in living hell for
two years now, uh, and it is time for them
to be released and and and hopefully within minutes, uh,
they will be They will be back with their families.
I will tell you, in the last two years, I
have met with many of the families of the hostages
that that when they've come to Washington, they've come by
my office. They've shown me pictures of their loved ones,
(03:29):
of their sons, of their daughters, of their sisters, of
their moms and their dads, and it's heartbreaking. I've I've
met with with family members of those who were killed
killed on October seventh, and and seen just just the
horrific atrocities that Hamas carried out on that day, and
and and this is a time I think really to
(03:49):
commend President Trump. And and and by the way, it's
not just me saying that, you want to see how
extraordinary it is. Hillary Clinton has praised Donald Trump for
this peace agreement. I want you to give a listen
to what Hillary Clinton had to say about Donald J.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Trump.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
It's a really significant first step. And I really commend
President Trump and his administration as well as Arab leaders
in the region for making the commitment to the twenty
point plan and seeing a path forward for what's often
(04:31):
called the day After. Most importantly, the conflict hopefully will
end with the ceasefire, the hostages will be returned, and
then the very hard work of rebuilding Gaza, of finding
the kind of security that Israel and the Palestinians after
(04:52):
Hamas deserved to have. Moving forward with the other points
in the plan, to try to create and an opportunity
for Palestinians to have a better life and for Israel
to have greater peace and security. I am very hopeful
that we'll be able to see progress. Today's a good start,
(05:14):
but we have to keep going from here.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
You listen to Hillary Clinton, they're saying that center and
this goes back to I think what the world is
admitting right now. This was something that never had a
chance of happening under the Biden regime, their administration.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
They weren't even close to this.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
What President Trump has been able to do, bringing people together,
bringing the Arab world together, being able to iron out
the points.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Of this deal. I truly believe this.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I think he's probably the only guy in the world
that could have pulled this off the way he did
as quickly as he did.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
I look undoubtedly, and I'll say a sentence I've never
before said in my life, Bravo Hillary Clinton.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Like, I will give her credit for commending Donald Trump.
She must have saying those words. It was the right
thing to do. And I want to draw a contrast
because Hillary Clinton acknowledged the obvious that this is historic,
this is a massive step forward. And I want to
contrast it to Barack Obama because Barack Obama put out
(06:20):
a statement after two years of unimaginable loss and suffering
for Israeli families and the people of Gaza. We should
all be encouraged and relieved that an end of the
conflict is within sight, that those hostages still being held
will be reunited with their families, and that vital aid
can start reaching those inside Gaza whose lives have been shattered.
(06:41):
More than that, though, it now falls on Israelis and Palestinians,
with the support of the US and the entire world community,
to begin the hard task of rebuilding Gaza and to
commit to a process that, by recognizing the common humanity
and basic rights of both peoples, can achieve lasting peace. Ben,
do you know what word is is nowhere in Barack
(07:03):
Obama's statement?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, the President of United States of America, Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
The guy who negotiated the deal, the guy without whom
there would be no such deal. And by the way,
Hillary Clinton was Barack Obama's secretary of State. So Hillary
Clinton is demonstrating some class and Obama this is one
of the most classless statements I have ever seen, because
Obama cannot acknowledge that Trump accomplished something, and accomplished something
(07:33):
really powerful and meaningful and is a major step towards peace.
And those are words I think Barack Obama is utterly
unwilling to say.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You also got to listen, and I want to play this.
This is net Yahoo talking as well about this deal
getting done with wit Coffin and Jered Chrishna, the son
in law of the President Donald Trump, and getting this
deal done. They put together a statement and I want
to play that for everybody. Is again it's now being
reported by virtually all the major news networks that the
(08:03):
hostage release process has begun and is moving its way
the way it's supposed to be choreographed.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
That is good news.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
We are seeing in Gaza now that there are multiple
Red Cross vehicles that have moved into the area where
they're going to do the handoff of these hostages. We're
going to keep you update on that obviously as it's
happening as we're recording this, but I want you to
hear what Netanyahu had to say as well, and those
in Whiskoff as well, and Jared Kushner take a listen.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
We're at a amendous development in the last two years.
We've fought doing these two years to that achieve of
warreams in the Central One of these warreams is to
return the osages all of the osages the living and
the day, and we're about to achieve that group. We
(08:48):
couldn't live achieve without the extraordinary help President Crump's team,
Steve Whitkof and Jared Kushner. They worked tirelessly with Ron
and this team, our team UH and UH. That and
the courage of our soldiers who UH entered Gaza, and
(09:09):
the combined military and diplomatic pressure that isolated the coloss
I think as parties to this point, I wanna personally
thank both of you, Steve Jareded UH spend long hours
(09:32):
you have around the clock, but not only worked. I
I think you you put in your UH, your brains
and your hearts, and we know that it's UH for
the benefit of Israel and the United States, or the
benefit of UH decent people living there, and for the
benefit of these families who will finally get to be
(09:52):
with our mothers. And I wanna thank you on their
behalf as well, but un behalfy for people who's at
you without a mon.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Obviously, bringing the hostages his home is a It's been
a priority for President Trump for a very very long time,
and we've all worked very tirelessly to do that. But
I really want to say that this all would not
have been possible without the bravery of the IDF and
the soldiers. What they've accomplished not just in Gaza, but
also what they've done in the theater over the last
(10:25):
couple of years to eliminate as belond the North and
really degrade them. What you were able to do in
Iran and really helps.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Set a big tone.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
But particularly seeing the way that your citizen army, I
know a lot of you, probably all of you have
family friends who are in this effort. Really, you know,
put your sacrifices on the line to fight for your
country and to try and try to make a difference.
I think that made a very very big difference in there.
Speaker 6 (10:50):
And I want.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
To just give a very very special thanks to Prime
Minister Natanyahu who really did an incredible job with this
and did a great job to negotiations. You held your
lines firm, and I think that between you and President
Trump you had a lot of alignment on what the
end state should be.
Speaker 7 (11:08):
The hard job was the Prime minister's. He had the
job of protecting this country. He had the job of
making tough choices with regard to how tough to be
with hamas, when to be flexible, when not to be flexible.
I think to myself all the time, I lost sleepover it.
What would I have done in some of those circumstances.
(11:30):
There were times that I thought we should be more flexible,
your country should be more flexible. But the truth is,
as I look back, I don't think we get to
this place without Prime Minister Netnyaghu playing it.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
I'm not just.
Speaker 7 (11:50):
Saying that they're not just words. The President believes that.
My president believes that. He believes that Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Speaker 8 (11:57):
Made some very very difficult calls, and lesser people would
not have made those calls. And here we are today
because Amas had to, They had to do this deal.
Speaker 7 (12:09):
The pressure was on them. They were backed up, and
you've got the bigger army you were making in rows,
and that's what led to this deal.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
You can hear Whiskov. They were saying, that's what led
to this deal. And look, this was all about the
presidential leadership and the President Unit States America leading in
a way that no one else could.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Well. And the contrast is really night and day to
the previous administration. You know, you mentioned a minute ago
you said that President Trump achieved something that Joe Biden
could not have done. Well, I'll tell you someone who
disagrees with that is Tony Blincoln. And Tony Blinkn, of course,
was Biden's Secretary of State, and he put out a
long Twitter statement on this, and here's where he said critically.
(12:52):
He says, it starts with a clear and comprehensive post
conflict plan for Gaza. It's good that President Trump adopts
did and built on the plan the Biden administration developed
after months of discussion with Arab partners, Israel and the
Palestinian authority. Like what nonsense? It literally is Tony Blinken saying, well,
(13:13):
this this Trump peace deal, it's really the Biden peace deal.
And that's utter nonsense because Biden spent four years demonstrating
weakness and appeasement to our enemies. That weakness and appeasement,
I believe, is why October seventh happened. The one hundred
billion dollars that Joe Biden, with Tony Blinkn being a
(13:35):
very active part of that, flowed one hundred billion dollars
to the Ayatola Kameenee in Iran. He provides ninety percent
of the funding ninety percent of the funding to Hamas, Yeah,
and ninety percent of the funding for Hesbalus. In a
very real sense, Joe Biden and Tony Blincoln and Kamala
Harris and the entire Biden administration funded the October seven
(14:00):
desk squads. Because the one hundred billion dollars they sent
to Iran and they allowed to flow to Iran, much
of that ended up directly in the hands of Hamas
and Hezbola carrying out those mass murders. And so that
the idiocy to say, well, gosh, all Trump did was
implement the Biden plan. It is gibberish. And look the
(14:20):
person who refuted that most directly was Hillary Clinton, where
she gave credit. And look, we don't have this peace
agreement without Trump's strength. Let me tell you, this peace
agreement doesn't happen, I believe without President Trump ordering the
bombing attack on Iran and taking out Iran's nuclear facilities,
(14:40):
nuclear facilities where they were working to develop nuclear weapons
to target the United States and to target our allies.
And that act of strength, combined with Israel's Twelve Day
War where they decimated the Iranian military air defenses, the
senior leadership the IRGC leadership. All of that look Hamas,
(15:01):
Iran is Hamas's patron, and Iran is in a much
much weakened position because of President Trump's strength. That is
a major major reason this deal was reached today, and
this deal we are both hoping, we are praying that
Hamas follows through and that within hours all of the
(15:23):
hostages are released. If that happens, this will be an
historic day, a day to celebrate, and a day to
say thank God for President Donald J. Trump.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
So, over the last several weeks, you've heard me talk
with Josh Cherrard from Burnham. He's been telling stories of
how people just like you have used their burna launcher
to protect themselves and their families. Now, burn is a
handheld pistol that fires both kinetic rounds and chemical irritants
to separate you from an attacker, and it can be
(15:53):
life saving. Josh is back with you today to tell
another story about how a former professional race car saved
his family from an attack outside the garage of their
own home. Josh, tell me about this.
Speaker 9 (16:06):
Yeah, it just happened actually not too long ago in
Santa Monica, just two blocks from the beach. So former
pro race car driver Court Wagner was pulling into his
garage with his family in the car when he was
confronted by a man hiding in the alley. After trying
to talk to him into leaving, it was obviously not
going to work. The man lunged at Court with a
sharp object, trying to attack him, with his wife and
(16:28):
child only steps away. He grabbed his burnal launcher that
he kept in the glove box of his car and
fired five round, striking the attackers several times. The suspect
fled immediately. It worked, and Court called the police and
gave him the description of the assailant. And now police
were able to look at someone that somewhat matched a
description in the area, not quite exactly. And it wasn't
until officers lifted the suspect shirt and saw the multiple
(16:51):
welts from the burner launder that they knew they had
the right guy and subsequently arrested him.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
It really is incredible.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
And I get this question now often when I'm out,
and that is okay. Tell me about how a launcher works,
and they worry about or they wonder about the stopping
power of less lethal weapons.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I've used it. It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I have it in all of my cars right now
because I want to have this option.
Speaker 9 (17:15):
Yeah. Absolutely, you know, the stopping power is great, no
matter if you're using our kinetic rounds or even the
chemical agent rounds that obviously have the gas in them,
the tear gas, the pepper spray that's going to incapacitate them.
This is a great case of how some resistance, enough
resistance obviously to cause these wealth immediately stop the situation
and was able to provide that safety for Court and
(17:36):
his family.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
It really is incredible.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
If you want more information on what I carry and
how you and your family members can protect themselves. Or
they burn a launcher, whether it is for a daughter
or for a family member or a grandparent, go to
burna B. Why are in a dot com? That's burnap B?
Why r in a dot com?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Again? Burna dot com? Right now?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Let's go back to something, and I do think one
of the very interesting historic moments as we go back
and look at this weeks and years and months from now,
is going to be Donald Trump not flinching on going
after the Iran nuclear sites. When you look at that
moment and you see how quickly we now got to
where we are when it comes to this deal being done.
(18:23):
How much of the psyche you think of Hamas and
realizing what they were dealing with with President Trump changed
after he actually went after those nuclear sites.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I think it was fundamental. And this is where the
appeasement crowd gets it wrong. They think that being weak
to our enemies avoids war. That they'll say all the
time quite piously, oh we hate war. And this is
true of left wing Democrats. But I'll tell you within
the Trump administration, there was a major debate about whether
(18:56):
to launch that bombing run on Iran, and there were
major voices that were vocal saying, do not launch that
bombing raid. I was urging the president take out those
nuclear facilities. It makes America safer. And I think that
decision it's the single most important national security decision President
Trump has made this second term. And that decision demonstrated
(19:19):
number one, it weakened Iran, which is Hamas's patron and funder.
But number two, it demonstrates to to Hamas, Okay, this
President's not going to flinch. He's not going to give in.
He's not weak, he's not going to roll over. Uh
When when when we when we try to roar, and
I think without that, you don't have a peace deal
(19:40):
as long as they believe. Look, Joe Biden, what was
he doing. He was freezing weapons to Israel, blocking the
idf F and getting weapons. And and I'll tell you
what that did. That encouraged Tamas, that said, Okay, great,
we've got a friend. We've got a friend in the
White House. And and and by the way, you and I.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Talked about harder on Israel. We talked about this.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Joe Biden was harder on Israel many days than he
was on hamasteris.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Well, you'll recall the podcast we did several months ago,
and it was right after I sat down and spent
about two hours with Prime Minister Nen Yahoo when he
was in Washington, d C. And one of the things
he told me in that meeting is that when they
launched the pager attack on Hesbela, you remember that it's
one of the most incredible military and intelligence actions.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
By the way, I still can't wait for the movie
to come out. Can we all agree on that.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
It's going to be unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
It would make an incredible movie. And actually, if you
had written that that is a movie script it would
be rejected as a movie script. People would say this
is too fantastical, There's no way this would happen. This
is a bad Jason Bourne movie. It's just not realistic.
And you look at what Israel did years earlier, creating
a shell company in Hong Kong making the pagers, selling
(20:52):
them to Hesbela. Hesbela sends them to the terrorists. But
one of the things, one of the things you and
I talked about on this podcast is the government of
Israel when they decided, okay, we're going to detonate those
pages and take out the Hesbela terrorists, they did not
tell the Biden White House.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
And the reason they didn't tell the Biden White House
is they were afraid if they told the Biden White House,
they'd pick up the phone and warn Hesbela. Yeah that says,
you know what, you don't get peace when the American president,
when the American White House is going to warn the terrorists, Hey,
your your pagers are going to be about to blow up.
(21:31):
So they notified the Biden White House as they were
detonating the pagers. Hey, by the way, we just blew
up about your Hesbela terrorists. And that President Trump saying
we stand with Israel period the end is a major,
major reason we get to this moment to celebrate the
peace deal, to celebrate the ceasefire, but to do so
(21:51):
from a position of strength.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Let's talk about there's been a lot of criticism of
the exchange for these these terrorists, prisoners, murderers that Israel
is going to release, and saying that was a capitulation
and a bad decision by Israel. I understand that Israel
did not want to do this, but they also understood
that to get this deal done, there had to be
(22:14):
some movement here. I want to get your take and
your thoughts and that for people they're just wanting to
criticize this deal and try to find something wrong with it.
There's a perfect case scenario and then there's reality. This
was part of the reality to get this done. To
say the twenty that we believe are still alive at
this moment.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yeah, Look, negotiations for the release of hostages are always difficult.
They raise incredibly challenging issues and questions. I've spent a
long time in the Senate. I've made it a real
passion of mine to fight for Americans who are detained
abroad and to fight for people like Mark Swedan. Mark
Sweden was a Texan.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
By the way, I want to interrupt you.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
We're just getting word now Hamas has officially just handed
over the hostages to the Red Cross. That is coming
from Moulti News agencies that Hamas hands over the hostage
to the Red Cross. Apparently it has officially just happened,
as we're recording this at one twenty eight am Eastern
Standard time in the morning.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Well, that that is phenomenal, that is great news. We
should all say a prayer and thank God that this
is an important and historic day. And and you know
what I was saying a minute ago that you were
asking about in any hostage negotiation, that there are often
(23:32):
difficult trade offs and they're agonizing trade offs. And I've tried.
Mark Swadana, as I mentioned, was wrongfully imprisoned in communist
China for more than a decade, and I repeatedly pressed
the Chinese communist government, pressed the Biden administration, and we
finally got him released and he's back with his mom
in Texas. And that that's a phenomenal thing. But those
(23:55):
trade offs are difficult, and so I'm not gonna second
guess that decisions President Trump made and Prime Minister net
and Yahoo made in terms of the specific negotiations to
get the hostages released. Hamas remains incredibly dangerous. They are terrorists.
(24:16):
Their objective is to murder as many Israelis as they can.
But today's a victory. It's a victory for peace, it's
a victory for Israel, it's a victory for President Trump,
and on all of that is really good.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
What are your thoughts on President Trump traveling to Israel
and also going to address the people he's going to
meet with the hostages. There are some that have said
in the media that this seems to be grand standing.
I think that's pretty absurd. I think when you're doing
a deal, you showing up also probably puts more pressure
on Hamas to do what they said they're going to
do when you're there. I actually think this is part
(24:51):
of the strategy, Like, Hey, if we get on Air
Force one and we're over there and we're landing, this
is going to make it harder for them to pull out.
We seeing the breaking news of the hostage and the
Red Cross care as released as are underway. That's one
of the other headlines I'm witnessing as we were talking
about this. Having Donald Trump fly there had to put
more pressure on them to do what they said they
(25:12):
were going to do and help almost guarantee or secure
or have a better chance to those hostages being released.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I don't think it's grandstanding.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I think it was a smart move of diplomacy when
you're dealing with a terrorist organization.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Unquestionably, number one, I think President Trump deeply wanted to
be there to celebrate, to celebrate break their release, to
celebrate this, this crown breaking victory. But number two, in
terms of negotiating President Trump and his entire team, they
know there is a very real chance that Hamas reneges
on the deal that they Hamas has broken deal after
(25:44):
deal after deal. Anyone who is paying the tiniest bit
of attention knows that Hamas is not trustworthy. The fact
that the President of the United States gets on Air
Force one and flies to Israel to be there to say, Okay,
you've said you're going to release the hostages, I'm going
to be there to to to welcome them. That ratchet
(26:04):
ratcheted up the pressure enormously. When he got an Air
Force one. He didn't know he knew there was a
chance that when he landed, Hamas would have said, nevermind,
we're not going to release him, because they've done that
over and over and over again. But I'll tell you this,
Hamas knew that that that President Trump would be unbelievably pissed. Yeah,
if that were the case, And and and that's it
goes back to to to the doctrine of peace through strength.
(26:27):
That his being there makes clear. Look, guys, I'm not
messing around. We've cut a deal. I expect you to
stick to the deal. And and I think ratcheting up
that pressure, even dealing with people who are not rational
actors like Hamas terrorists, uh they saw, I think real downsides.
If we break this deal, the consequences would be even
(26:52):
more devastating. And and I think there there being his
being there increased the likelihood of the hostages actually being
released dramatically.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
By the way, we're getting word now from Israeli sources,
you and I really get to do actual breaking news
and recording. Israeli sources are now saying the first seven
hostages have been released to the Red Cross, so that
means they are in in the hands of people that
are caring for them, loving on them. But again, Israeli
sources are saying the first seven hostages have been released
(27:25):
the Red Cross. There's twenty total, so the first seven
in part that says they're gonna wait for the prisoners.
And I'm assuming now, based on what I've been told
on this, to be released a certain set of the
prisoners that are being released by Israel, then the next
hostages and will come in ways. But this is a
certainly an incredible moment for not just Israel, but for
all of the family members that are hoping to get
(27:46):
their loved ones back. But the first seven hostages have
been released to the Red Cross. This is incredible.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
It is incredible, and I'll give credit to President Trump
and to his entire team, and you know, it's striking.
We also saw this week that the Nobel Peace Prize
was awarded, and in any sane world, it would have
been given to Donald Trump. I mean that that that
actually is not a difficult decision. If you're actually asking
in the past year, who has done the most to
(28:13):
advance peace, it's not it's not a close call. Uh.
But but the Nobel Prize or are a bunch of Norwegians,
and and they're European liberals and they hate, hate, hate
Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Uh. So instead they gave it to Maria Coriina Machado,
who is the leading opposition figure in Venezuela, standing up
uh to Nicholas Maduro. And and I will say Machado
is is an extraordinary person. I have I have met
with her in person, I visited with her. She has
demonstrated remarkable courage uh fighting the tyranny of Maduro. Uh.
(28:52):
But at the end of the day, it wasn't even
close that that this should have gone to Trump. And
by the way, again, if if you don't believe me,
then maybe you should believe Machado, because Machado called President Trump.
And here's what President Trump said. He said, quote the
(29:12):
person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called
me and said, I'm accepting this in honor of you,
because you really deserved it. And by the way, she
went and then said that publicly as well, So she
not only said that to President Trump, but she said
that publicly. Now, that was very smart Machado, that was
a very smart thing to do. But it also at
(29:36):
this point, it just it's the Nobel Committee being petty liberals.
And by the way, these are the same knuckleheads that
gave the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama when he
was first elected, when he'd literally done nothing, he'd walked
in been sworn into office, and they handed him the
Nobel Peace Prize for simply not being George W. Bush.
(29:57):
He won the Nobel Peace Prize for for existing and
being the Democrat who succeeded Bush. Trump. Look, he could
cure cancer, and the Nobel Prize is not going to
recognize anything because they hate him. But this is an
historic achievement and it is something that everyone should celebrate.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
So many of people they are listening to verdict they're
going to get to not only I think here from
probably leadership in Israel in the next several hours. It's
certainly going to happen in the morning or midday. You're
also going to be able to hear from the President
of United States of America.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
What do you expect his message to be?
Speaker 2 (30:33):
And this is, by the way, all happening right now
while the federal government is still shut down in the US,
and I want to get your take on that in
a moment.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
But what do you expect to hear from the president today.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Look, I think the President is going to say, this
is an historic day. This peace agreement is a moment
of history that ended a war that has extended for
two years, that freed people who have been in captivity
for two years subject to horrific treatment. And I think
he's going to say, I expect the parties to stick
(31:06):
to the terms of the agreement. I think he is
going to continue with peace through strength. He's going to
continue with the opposite of weakness and appeasement because we
don't get to this peace agreement without President Trump's strength.
And then this is one thing to remember that there
are some observers who want to say that Donald Trump
(31:29):
is an isolationist. He has never been an isolationist. He
is Look. Look the first term that Trump was in office.
When he came into office, he inherited an Isis caliphate
that had grown under Barack Obama that was the size
of the state of Indiana. They had an entire nation
state to wage terror against America, and Donald Trump utterly
(31:51):
decimated and destroyed it. Within months, the caliphate was gone.
He completely defeated them. He also took out General Solomoni
who took out Albert Daddy. Those are not the actions
of an isolationist. You look at the second term where
he's been bombing the living daylights out of the Huthis
who are attacking ships going through the Suez Canal. He
(32:12):
is bombing the heck out of narco terrorist off the
coast of Venezuela. And by the way, Machada was smart
to say he deserved it, because look, her efforts fighting
Maduro are very important, they're and they're they're courageous. But
President Trump's strength is the single factor that makes it
most likely that the Maduro regime will be toppled. And
(32:33):
so President Trump taking out those narco terrorist is another
example of peace through strength. And finally, the the the
Iran bombing ron taking out their nuclear facilities. None of
those are the acts of an isolationists. Now, to be clear,
President Trump is also not an interventionist. He's not invading
foreign countries. I don't expect to see the Marines engaged
(32:58):
in invading other countries other than to protect the vital
security interest of America, to keep America safe. The only
instance in which we would see a ground war is
is where there was a direct danger to the lives
of Americans, and in those instances, President Trump is willing
to use military force, but he's not engaged in this
(33:22):
broader endeavor to send in our military to try to
turn every country in the world into some utopian democracy.
That's not the job of the military. Donald Trump doesn't
think it's the job of the military. And the result
strength is the best way to avoid war. Our enemies
(33:45):
are afraid of Donald Trump. That is a very good thing.
Hamas is afraid of Donald Trump. Hesbla is afraid of
Donald Trump. Iran is afraid of Donald Trump. Maduro is
afraid of Donald Trump. China and Russia are afraid of
Donald Trump. All of that is good because America is
safer and we are much likely more likely to avoid
(34:07):
military conflict when our enemies are afraid of the commander
in chief than when our enemies You look at Joe Biden,
when they look and say, the commander in chief is
weak and completely incapacitated. And that is why we went
from no wars across the globe to two wars. Ukraine
(34:30):
and Gaza both raging under Joe Biden. That's what happens
when you have a week and appeasing President.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, no doubt about it. Again, this is breaking as
we continue. Israeli sources are now saying the first seven
living hostages have been released to the Red Cross in
Tel Aviv right now. We are witnessing celebration in the streets.
We are seeing this in Jerusalem as well. The videos
are trying to come in as is basically eight forty
am in Israel right now. We're seeing people lying reach
(35:00):
of the highway right now and Rim Israel as well.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And this is just some of that excitement after two.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Plus years of these people that were taken on that
October seventh attack day. We're going to keep monitoring this
obviously until we wrap up. But I do want to
get you an update for everyone on the government shutdown
here in the US. We are into two weeks now
of this government shutdown. We are starting to see it
affect people's lives or seeing healthcare issues with those For example,
(35:29):
in San Antonio, I was there today talking about there's
a lot of people there that are saying that the
providers are not able to get the money and the
funding they need.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Doctors are frustrated.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
The Schumer shutdown is really starting to hurt people in
our military, their kids, those with special needs as well.
Your reaction. How much long are this is going to continue?
And do you see any movement this week?
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Well, we're right now in day twelve of the Schumer shutdown,
and the government is shut down because over and over
and over again, the Democrats are voting shut the government down.
And I will say, you know, it's actually interesting today
on Twitter, fifty three Republicans was trending, and the reason
it was trending was an exchange back and forth that
(36:12):
I had with Gavin Newsom on the shutdown. So Gavin
Newsom tweeted out, Wow, that is wild. I wonder who
has control of the White House, Senate and the House.
And this is one of the Democrat talking points as well.
This is the Republican's fault because the President and the
Senate and the House are all in Republican control. Here's
what I responded on X. I said, Gavin is deliberately
(36:35):
lying to fund the government. Takes sixty votes in the Senate.
There are only fifty three Republicans. We need at least
seven Democrats. We keep voting to open the government, Dems
keep voting to shut it down. Gavin Newsom knows this
(36:57):
and he's lying to you. And as of right now,
it's had one point seven million views. It was trending
on Twitter. And it's the simple fact we cannot pass
funding for the government without sixty votes in the Senate.
That means there is nothing Republicans can do to fund
this on our own. The Democrats all know this. We
have voted, I think eight times now the Republicans have
(37:19):
voted to open the government to fund the government, and
every Democrat but I think three, have voted no. And
that's why we have a shutdown. Now. We're all expected
to go back to DC on Tuesday of this week
and we'll vote again to fund the government. I voted
to fund the government now, over and over and over again.
(37:40):
I'll vote again on Tuesday to fund the government. And
I think it is very likely right now the Democrats
will continue the Schumer shutdown.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
And I'll tell you what I think is one of
the major reasons is coming up on October seventeenth, there
is this big rally in DC, No King's Rally, bunch
of the left wing radicals are coming to DC. And
and you know what, most of my colleagues believe is
the Democrat senators are terrified of opening the government before
(38:12):
that rally because they don't want their crazy base, the
same base that that almost cost Schumer the job his
job last time. They don't want their crazy base to
get angry, and so I think most of us.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
So you're telling me the American people right now that
there's a very good chance that the government shutdown will
continue because of a rally date.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Yep. And that date again is what October seventeenth?
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Okay, so the thirteenth, fourteenthie, okay, So we got another
five six days of this just to get to the
rally and then maybe we'll actually do their job and
like fund the government.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Look, at some point they're going to do their job
and fund the government. But you know, a bunch of
federal federal employees are about to miss their first paycheck.
I'll tell you. Ordinarily, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines would
lose their first paycheck as well. The Trump Department of
Wars said they're going to move some funds around and
pay our servicemen and women, and Democrats are furious. How
(39:11):
dare you find a way? Look, I don't know if
they can do it because it is not easy with
the funding paused. But the Democrats don't care. And I'll
tell you one of the great acts of hypocrisy is
the Democrat congressmen are all paying themselves, or most of them,
maybe I don't know about all. But so, under the
(39:31):
twenty eighth Amendment to the Constitution, the compensation of a
member of Congress cannot be reduced during your term of office,
which means during a shutdown, House members and senators get
paid no matter what, even though everyone else their paycheck stop.
Elected members of Congress get their paycheck. Now you can
say no. So I sent a letter to the Secretary
(39:52):
of the Senate saying, please hold my paycheck, do not
pay me. I do not want that money deposited in
my account till the government shutdown ends, until our service
members are being paid. I'm not going to pay myself.
But you look at these Democrats who are happily shutting
the government down. They're also taking their own paycheck and saying, gosh,
I like being paid. And you know they are not
(40:16):
troubled at all. If if some young corporal serving overseas
suddenly doesn't get his paycheck and can't pay his bills
this week.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
As we wrap this up at one forty seven am
Eastern Center time, the latest news we have, and this
is good news. Israeli sorts are saying the first seven
living hostages have been released the Red Cross. We're obviously
waiting on the other thirteen and that hopefully by the
time you get to hear this in the morning on
your commuter in the afternoon, they've all been released.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
But this is certainly a good day.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
And we'll have a lot more on this, I can
promise on Wednesday morning as well.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
And Ben, let me say this. Let me say this finally, Yeah,
number one, congratulations to President Trump and team. Congratulations to
Prime Minister Netanyahu and his team. Congratulations to the people
of Israel who are celebrating right now and rightly celebrating.
And I just want to say, praise God. God is
good all of the time.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
We'll be back with you on Wednesday morning. Make sure
you share this episode wherever you can on social media
and grab my podcast as well, the Ben Ferguson podcasts.
I'll keep you up down the breaking news on Tuesday
as well as you get ready for us again on
Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
We'll see you back then, real soon
Host
Ben Ferguson
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