February 12, 2025 • 38 mins
A Big Victory as an American Hostage Comes Home, plus USAID Funding Millions to Terrorists also Elon & Trump Continue to Find Waste, Abuse, and Fraud through DOGE
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It is so fun to start Verdict with good news
and welcome. It is Verdict for Center, Ted Cruz, Ben
Ferguson with you and Senator We have got incredible news
that a hostage coming out of Russia has been released.
This is incredible.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yet another American hostage has come home. Mark Fogel, who
has been in Russian jail since twenty twenty one, returned
home to the United States this week Thursday night. Late
Thursday night, he was in the Oval Office with President Trump.
This is a big victory bringing American hostages home. It's
(00:38):
a continuation of the Venezuelan hostages that were brought home
the first week President Trump was back in office and
the Hamas hostages both Americans and Israelis that have been
released since President Trump has been in office. Yet another
hostage release. This is the consequence of a strong commander
in chief who our enemies are afraid of. That's a
(01:02):
big victory for everyone. On top of that, we also
have yet more breaking news of USAID funding millions and
millions of dollars that is going to terrorists that funded Hamas,
that funded terrorists that that did enormous damage to US
national security interests. And put money in the pockets of
(01:25):
those who were who were attempting to murder and succeeded
in murdering Israelis and Americans. And finally, today Elon Musk
and Donald Trump were in the Oval Office together. The
President this week signed an executive order implementing doja's recommendations,
and they detailed yet more incredible examples of abusive waste, fraud,
(01:49):
and abuse, including astonishingly enough people receiving Social Security benefits
who are allegedly one hundred and fifty years old. Spoiler alert,
ain't one hundred and fifty all of that on today's show.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
No doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I want to take a moment and talk to you
real quick about the incredible work that's being done by
the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. After more than
a year of war, tear and pain in Israel, there
is still a great demand for basic humanitarian aid. The
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has supported and continues
to support those in the Holy Land that are still
(02:26):
facing the lingering horrors of war and those who are
in desperate need. Right now now, your ongoing monthly gift
of forty five dollars will provide critically needed aid to
communities in the North and the South that have been
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will deliver help to those in need, including evacuees and
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refugees from war torn areas, first responders and volunteers, wounded soldiers,
elderly Holocaust survivors, families who have literally lost everything, and
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time of great uncertainty. So to give a gift to
bless Israel and her people, you can do so by
visiting SUPPORTIFCJ dot org. That's one word, support IFCJ dot org.
(03:17):
You can also call eight at eight four eight eight
IFCJ that's eight at eight four eight eight, IFCJ eight
at eight four eight eight four three two five, or
support IFCJ dot org center. Let's get back to this
incredible story about this hostage, Mark Fogel. It was an
(03:38):
American detained in Russia from August of twenty twenty one
until February eleventh of twenty twenty five. Donald Trump becomes
president and he gets him out.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
He was arrested in Russia at a Russian airport for
the possession of drugs, which which has family said was
medically prescribed marijuana. And Fogel was a history teacher who
was working at the Anglo American school in Moscow, and
he was arrested and and he he came home. And
when he came home, it's snowing in Washington, d C.
(04:17):
There's a bunch of snow on the ground. And he
came out of the snow to come into the Oval
Office to be with President Trump. And I got to say,
it was powerful. It was amazing the scene of the
two of them in the Oval Office.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Here, give a listen.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
He's a very happy guy tonight. It's just a real honor,
an honored ab at the ways.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
I feel like the luckiest man on earth right now.
And I want you to know that I am not
a hero in this at all. And President Trump, this
is a hero. These men that came from the diplomatic
(04:57):
service are heroes. The senators and representatives of past legislation
in my honor to get me home are the heroes.
I am in awe of what they all did. My
(05:18):
family has been a force. I think my ninety five
year old mother is probably the most dynamic ninety five
year old on earth right now, and I am so
indebted to so many people. I think I remember a
(05:38):
Churchill quote that he said when the ref was fighting
the liftoff, and he said that never have so many
owed so much to so few. And I put myself,
fortunately and unfortunately into that category, and I said, never
has won so much to so many. That this superorganism
(06:05):
of people that came to my support and the love
that I was given sustained me for three and a
half years in a prison that had me in hospitals
for more than one hundred days. I was given more
(06:26):
than four hundred injections.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
In that time.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
And knowing I had the support of my fellow Pennsylvanians,
my family, my friends, it was so overwhelming that it
brought me to my knees and it brought me to tears.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
But it was.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
It was my energy, it was my being that kept
me going that whole time. And I will forever be
indebted President Trump to Steve over there. What a dynamic
man this guy is. When I met him, the energy,
(07:25):
the can do attitude just exudes from his body. And
when he smiled at me and introduced me, and I
got the feel for what has happened. You know, it's
not just me, it's his everybody and Secretary Rubio, who
met my son a while back.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
I'm I'm a.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
Middle class school teacher who's now in a.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Dream world. We're going to show you the Lincoln bit.
Speaker 6 (08:01):
It's very special, special place appropriate for very appropriate.
Speaker 5 (08:07):
And thank you all. And I love our country and
I'm so happy to be back here. And I wish
I could articulate it better.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
You've done beautifully. And he's got a great mother.
Speaker 6 (08:29):
And when I show the mother at a rally, she said,
will you if you win, will you get my son out?
Speaker 4 (08:35):
And I promise. She's ninety five years old and we'll
get him out. And we got him out pretty quickly.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
She told me that that exact words.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Remember, she's made quite an impression.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
And you also did.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
And I'm gonna know of what you've done and your team.
It's great to have you back. And I have a
great life.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
That that that's just amazingly powerful. And and you think
about Mark Folo's life has been transformed, and it's been
transformed because Donald Trump is a strong commander in chief
and Putin is afraid of him. Venezuela is afraid of him,
Hamas is afraid of him, and and and that that
(09:21):
that pattern is significant. Look, hostage negotiations are always complicated
and difficult, and and that's the difference we have. You
think about in three weeks to see so many American
hostages released, that's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Which brings me to the question. And it's frustrating. I'm
one of those I want to be a very queer center.
I'm frustrated. This makes me angry that you look at
a guy like Mark, you you look at how sincere
his love is for this country, how thankful he is
to see the light of day again in America, to
be out of hell in Russia, and the way that
we know they treat people in Russia. He talked in
(09:57):
that in that clip about how many days he's spent
in the high hospital, how many injections he received, And
the reality is many people don't make it out alive
once you go into the prison system in Russia. And
there's an anger I think by not just me, but
I think probably many people listening. They're saying, how is
it that Biden Harris didn't get these people out? It's
(10:18):
not just him, it's the others you just mentioned. But
it's like, did they just not fight hard enough? Do
they just not give a damn? Because Donald Trump just
did it? And I think this is something that outrages
me and many others.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
You know, I don't think it's fair to say that
that Biden didn't give a damn.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I will say during his presidency that there was some
hostages who returned home. Mark Swedan, who was a Texan
who was wrongfully imprisoned in China for over ten years.
I was very very active pressing for Swedan's return. Look, look,
when you're dealing with hostages, it is always complicated. It
is always difficult. I've been involved in seeking and helping
(10:58):
get the return of multiple high hostages over the past decade.
What I would say is the reason that Mark Fogel
wasn't returned, and then that these hostages were not released
under Biden is that our enemies viewed Biden as a
weak commander in chief and that they were weak. That
they were not They were not afraid of him. Putin
(11:22):
was not afraid of Biden. Hamas was not afraid of Biden.
Venezuela Maduro was not afraid of Biden and all right,
let's take an example. Let's take an example this week
where Hamas is delaying some of the Israeli hostages, and
give a listen to Trump explaining what will happen if
they don't release the hostages by Saturday at noon.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Give a listen.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
Well, I would say this, and I'm going to let
that because that's Israel's decision. But as far as I'm concerned,
if all of the hostages aren't returned by Saturday at
twelve o'clock, I think it's an appropriate time. I would say,
cancel it, and all bets are off and let hell
break out. I'd say they ought to be returned by
(12:06):
twelve o'clock on Saturday.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
And if they're not returned, all of them, not in
drips and drabs, not two and one and three and
four and two Saturday at twelve o'clock, and after that,
I would say, all hell is going to break out.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
There's something interesting he said there.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
He said, this is my opinion, and then he basically
said that gave some room there for Israel to pivot.
We now know there is no pivot needed. Net and Yah,
who has come out saying the same exact thing, it's
it's clear that our strongest ally we are getting their
back and we are one again on this on this front,
that is good for both countries well.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And look, both Prime Minister net Yeah who and President
Trump are very focused on bringing the hostages home. As
you know, I spent two hours with BB on Thursday
night and then I had dinner with Trump on Friday night,
So I've seen both of them within the last few days.
And I will say BB echoed exactly that message that
came from Trump, which is if the hostages are not
(13:09):
released by noon on Saturday, all of the hostages, that
the ceasefire is over and Israel will return to eliminating
the Hamas terrorist. And I think that is the way
you get hostages released from a position of strength, and
we're seeing strength from the commander in chief.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Final question on this and that is when you look forward.
There are still other Americans I know that are around
the country, around the world say being held.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Is this a.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Trend you expect to continue because of the difference in leadership.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Yes, Look, look, a strong commander in chief. When our
enemies are afraid of the president, Americans are safer, Americans
are at less risk because the bad guys, the terrorists,
those who want to take hostages have less confidence they
can succeed, and that is a good thing.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I want to move to USAID and some of the
big issues that are now coming out of that, and
it deals also with the issue of terrorism. We got
some shocking news that has come out. It's something, by
the way, that I think we need to point out
very clearly. You had been talking about this now for
several years in Congress and on this show. Yeah, and
(14:23):
thank goodness, now at least all of it seems to
be being exposed because of the digging with Doge and
the Trump administration back in office.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Well, there was a lengthy tweet that I sent this
week that said the following. The full story of USAID
funding HAMAS is vast, and much of it was done
in secret. Before and after October seventh, the USAID flowed
unaccountable hundreds of millions of dollars towards HAMAS that enabled
it to launch the attack and keep battling Israel afterwards.
(14:54):
They lied about the nature of that aid in public databases,
refused to disclose what group were getting the money, and
gave tens of millions in American cash to be distributed
without American supervision. They internally admitted the aid would benefit
HAMAS and even exempted themselves from anti terrorism laws, but
(15:16):
in public issued denial for all four years of the
Biden administration, I prevented them from confirming a Middle East
Administrator because they wouldn't acknowledge what they were doing, because
continuing their secret pro HAMAS programs was more important to them.
And I'll tell you there was a major article in
(15:38):
the Washington Free Beacon that I tweeted out as well,
and it's an article My team and I provided a
significant amount of the information to the Washington Free Beacon,
but it's entitled at USAID funding for terroritied groups and
internal hostility towards Israel goes back years. One former State
(15:59):
Department official described a lack of embarrassment among some USAID
staffers about being associated with terrorist organization. And I'm going
to read from the beginning of this article because it's
an important article and the fact Senate are very disturbing
as the Trump administration works to shutter the United States
Agency for International Development USAID, Current and former US officials
(16:24):
who work closely with the unbattled AID group say they
watched for years as it funneled millions of dollars to
anti Israel advocacy groups and entities linked to terrorism. That
funding caused internal friction across multiple administrations, according to those
who spoke with The Washington Free Beacon. In some cases,
USAID fought to conceal how taxpayer funds were spent, and
(16:47):
when it came to Israel, officials recalled battling USAID over
funding for groups that worked to undermine the Jewish state
or maintain.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Ties to terror organizations. Quote.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
For those who believe in a strong US Israel relationship,
elements of USAID had been problematic for years, said one
former State Department official who worked with USAID during the
Biden administration.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
There was even a lack of embarrassment among some USAID
staffers about being associated with terrorist organizations. Some of the
terror tied funding initiatives are publicly known. In November twenty
twenty two, for instance, USAID awarded one hundred thousand dollars
to a Palestinian activist group whose leaders hailed the Popular
(17:35):
Front for the Liberation of Palestine a designated terror group,
just six days before Hamas's October seventh assault. On Israel,
USAID handed nine hundred thousand dollars to a terror charitor
charity in Gaza involved with the son of Hamas leader
(17:56):
Ismail Hanayer. USAID's hostilities towards the Jewish State, however, ran
deeper than the agency's grant making. Under Samantha Power, former
President Joe Biden's pick to run USAID, agency officials fought
pro Israel policy making at the State Department, often urging
their colleagues at Foggy Bottom to pare down statements that
(18:19):
praise the Jewish state, former official said in twenty twenty one,
during a period of conflict with Hamas, Power herself refused
to meet with Israel's ambassador unless Israel reached a cease
fire with the Iran backed terror group. The decision put
Power at odds with the White House National Security Council,
(18:40):
which signed off on the meeting. Emails obtained by the
Freebeacon Show.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
It is shocking to hear you read that, and yet
it's so well documented. It's something that you've been sounding
the alarm on for a while. Now, because of a
new administration, we're actually getting some movement on this. But
how angry should Americans be that their tax dours have
been going to terrorist organizations through these funneled through these
(19:08):
charities and other groups. And there were warnings meaning that
the government, Biden Harris and their team, they knew the
money was ending up with these people. This wasn't a
one office, wasn't an accident. This was deliberate.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Well, they knew it and they actively hit it. Let
me read a little more from this Freebeacon article. A
January memo from the Inspector General Paul Martin noted that
the agency quote does not maintain a comprehensive internal database
of sub awardees. In other words, the foreign entities that
work with a primary grantee on a USAID project often
(19:44):
go unreported, impeding the ability of the agency investigators to
vet fraud allegations. According to the memo, such allegations often
include the diversion of taxpayer funded aid to terrorist organizations,
and a November report, for example, Martin quote identified deliberate
(20:04):
interference and efforts to divert humanitarian assistance by foreign terrorist organizations,
including systemic coercion of aid workers by fdos, foreign terrorist organizations,
and FTO influence over beneficiary selection. These diversion efforts are
(20:25):
particularly pronounced in Hamas controlled Gaza. A February report from
the Middle East Forum think tank found that the USAID
had awarded millions of dollars to organizations directly in Gaza
controlled by Hamas. Let me read that again. A February
report from the Middle East Forum think tank found that
(20:49):
USAID had awarded millions of federal dollars to organizations directly
in Gaza controlled by Hamas, and it continues. In one
bideneric case, USAID funded an educational and community center in
Gaza quote, controlled by a local group called the Unlimited
(21:13):
Friends Association. The association openly collaborated with Hamas, inviting the
terror group's officials to its office and boasting of US
funded projects in Hamas controlled newspapers. In twenty twenty one,
its director called for Jerusalem to be cleansed, quote from
(21:33):
the impurity of the Jews. This is who Joe Biden
and the Democrats were sending millions of dollars to, and
this is who they were covering it up.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Not only were they covering it up, but this has
a USAID has a long history that's now well documented
of them helping radicals and one of the things you
and I talked about before the show was another just
totally in saying aspect of this and that included paying
for terrorists college funds.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Well, that is exactly right, and it is a stunning story.
So this is something that's been reported in Fox News
and the New York Post. Here's what the New York
Post said. USAID reportedly bankrolled al Qaeda terrorist college tuition.
Unearthed record showed USAID American bord jahattist anwar all Illachi
(22:29):
received full funding to attend Colorado State University in nineteen ninety.
USAID documents obtained by Fox News showed, now who is
on wear al Lachi. He is a notorious terrorist, so
notorious that President Barack Obama ordered him killed in a
US air strike in Yemen twenty years later. The documents
(22:52):
revealed that all Alacki, who was born in Las Cruces,
New Mexico, lied on his application and claimed that he
was born in Yemen, apparently so he would be eligible
for the federal tuition funding worth more than twenty seven
thousand dollars at the time.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
That was nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Tuition and fees for an international student at the university
today would be nearly ten times that using the education
USAID provided him, he earned a bachelor's in civil engineering
in nineteen ninety four. Alilaki would go on to teach
Islam at mosques across the country, from Denver to San
Diego and Virginia, where US officials believe he used his
(23:33):
platform to radicalize and recruit terrorists and understand Olilaki is
directly implicated in number one. At the San Diego mosque,
he met the nine to eleven hijackers, Nawaf al Hazmi
and Khalid al Midhar, two of the men who flew
Flight seventy seven into the Pentagon on nine to eleven,
(23:56):
and he was arrested in two thousand and six for
his terrorist ties in Yemen, and three years later, unwell,
Alolaki communicated with Nadal Hassan, who murdered fourteen innocent souls
at Fort Hood on Wile. Ololaki was also tied to
the underwear bomber Umar faruk Abda Matullab, who tried to
(24:20):
blow up a Detroit bound Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas
Day two thousand and nine with bombs hidden in his shorts.
This is who USI AID said, you know what we're
going to pay for you to get a college degree?
What in the hell are these people doing?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
So the question that I got to ask finally on
this to wrap it up and people that are listening
and say, number one, how did this a happen? But
even more so, how are people not going to jail
for knowingly giving American taxpayer dollars to terrorists? I mean,
if you are working in our government, even if it's
(24:59):
under the direction the Biden Harrish regime at the time,
and you're sending out money that you know is going
to terrorists around the world, is that not like breaking
some law?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Senator, Well, look, that's a question that I think is
going to have to be investigated and examined. You know,
I will say, US anti terrorism laws prohibit sending money
that goes to terrorism. And in fact, the Biden administration
made a formal assessment and they concluded that sending the
money to Gaza, that it was very likely that money
would be used by Hamas for terrorism. Now, ordinarily, when
(25:31):
you make that determination under American anti terrorism law, you
don't send the money. You can't send the money once
you determine that it's likely it'll go to terrorism. However,
the way the law is written, the president has the
authority to waive that provision. And that's exactly what they did,
because they made a determination that their radical politics were
(25:52):
more important than stopping terrorists from murdering American citizens and
murdering Israeli citizens, and tragic, the entire world saw the
consequences of that radicalism on October seventh.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Do you think there will be any accountability for this
or is this going to be another one of those
where hey, we were in charge, so we get we
got away with it.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Look, I certainly hope there will be accountability.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
But at a minimum, we're seeing accountability in President Trump
and Elon Musk shutting down these programs at USAID.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
I think that is very good.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
And my hope and expectations is that Congress will come
along and we will pass legislation, presumably as a part
of budget reconciliation later this year, to codify these cuts
and eliminate the waste fraud abuse.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
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you mentioned, you know, the corruption and what the President's
(28:24):
going to clean it up. Let's move to another aspect
of just an incredible three weeks where Elon Musk and
Donald Trump are doing exactly what they said they were
going to do, and they are i think using the media,
the bully pulpit, the microphone that they've been given in
(28:45):
the Oval Office to inform the American people, those that
voted for him and others that maybe didn't, that hey,
we're finding some of the most ridiculous, egregious waste of
your tax dollars. And one of the stories they talked
about was people that are still getting sid Security checks
when they're quote one hundred and fifty years old.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, it was really powerful. So President Trump and Elon
Musk did a press conference from the Oval Office on Thursday.
Earlier this week, President Trump signed an executive order instructing
DOGE to coordinate with federal agencies and to execute massive
cuts in federal government staffing numbers. And the order instructs
federal agencies and DOGE to significantly shrink the size of
(29:28):
the federal government and to limit the hiring of new employees.
And I got to say, Elon Musk laid out several
of the egregious examples of abuse.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Listen to listen to this first one.
Speaker 8 (29:41):
You know, and that's the crazy things like just crostory
examination of Social Security. And we've got people in there
at one hundred and fifty years old.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Now do you know anyone one hundred and fifty? I
do are okay?
Speaker 8 (29:53):
They should be on the Guinness Wicker World records. They're
messing out, so you know that's the case. We're I
think they're probably dead, that's my guess. Or the should
be very famous.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
One of the two.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
I mean, I want to meet him. Anyone wants to
meet him. The President wants to meet him. You want
to meet him, right, if you're one hundred and fifty
and you're still check.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Ben Ben I got to say, you don't look at
day over one hundred and forty CA.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
I mean, and this is the stuff that you just
can't even make it up. Of course, they would be
sitting a check to somebody that we assume is just
is committing fraud here right like this check's ever stopped
and I just keep cashing them.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Stupid your center fraud. Of course it's fraud. And the
Biden administration had no interest in uncovering that fraud. And
take a listen to what President Trump said about the
magnitude of the waste fraud and abuse.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
That they're finding billions and billions of dollars in waste
fraud and abuse.
Speaker 7 (30:46):
And I think it's very important, and that's one of
the reasons I got elected.
Speaker 6 (30:50):
I say, we're going to do that. Nobody had any
idea was that bad. That's sick, and that corrupt. And
it seems hard to believe that judges want to try
and stop us from looking for corruption, especially when we
found hundreds of millions of dollars worth much more than
that in just a short period of time.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
We want to weed out the corruption.
Speaker 6 (31:10):
And it seems hard to believe that a judge could say,
we don't want you to do that. Well, so maybe
we have to look at the judges, because that's very serious.
I think it's a very serious violation.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
He mentioned the judges there by the way, there's a
lot of activist judges that were put in by liberals
who are like, all right, we're the last defense here,
so let's try to, you know, stop him at all
costs to, you know, because he's too successful at giving
the American people transparency and their money back.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Look, Barack Obama and Joe Biden put a lot of
radicals on the federal bench, and right now you've got
Democrat attorneys general going and seeking out these radicals to
file lawsuits. You've also got left wings special interest groups
seeking out these radical judges. We're going to see a
lot of lawsuits. We're going to see a lot of
law fair over the next four years. But you know,
I got to say, watching Democrats in the media melt down,
(32:03):
number one, they've always melted down over Trump. They have
Trump arrangement syndrome, but they also have Elon derangement syndrome,
and they scream, well, Elon Musk was not elected to anything. Well, yeah,
that's true, But Donald Trump was elected to something. He
was elected to President of the United States, and he
was elected on a mandate. And this is actually a
point that that Elon made made quite effectively in the oval.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Give a listen.
Speaker 8 (32:27):
The people voted for major govementt reform. There should be
no doubt about that. That was on the campaign. The
President spoke about that at every rally. The people voted
for major government reform. And that's what people are gonna get.
They're gonna get what they voted for. And a lot
of times that you know people that don't get what
they voted for, but in this presidency, they are going
(32:49):
to get what they voted for.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
And that's what democracy is all about.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
I gotta say I love listening to Elon. You've spent
a lot of time with him. I think this is
a perfect example of just how genuine his heart is
on this. He truly is a believer in this country
and giving the American people what they voted for. And
he is an agent to go find the waste frown abuse,
and he's and he's and he's incredibly focused on it.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
He is he is incredibly focused, and he's right. This
is democracy and yet it is causing the radical left
to lose their minds. You know, I gotta say, I
want to play this, this this segment from CNN because
it really does show how the media that their minds
are melting down. You had former New Hampshire governor Chris
Snunu who's on, and he's on with Anderson Cooper, and
(33:37):
Anderson Cooper loses it. And you've also got Jeffrey Tubin,
another left wing CNN contributor. You know your old buddies.
These are all the folks you piled around with Ben
put seven years in hell, seven years in hell. Do
you have CNN tattooed somewhere on your body?
Speaker 3 (33:52):
I do not.
Speaker 8 (33:52):
I do not.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
I'm just checking.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
So all right, give a listen to Chris Sonunhu and
and and look how he how he causes the CNN
folks to lose their minds.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
It was surreal.
Speaker 9 (34:05):
But I got to tell you, I know what you're
not showing here. Must gave seven specific examples off the
top of his head of where the corruption and fraud were.
I know you didn't play the clips. He was talking
about a contractor that had a three month contract, he
was paid for twenty years. He was talking about welfare
benefits that were being paid to someone that was technically
one hundred and fifty years old. He was talking about
line item from.
Speaker 10 (34:23):
The ridden that had no justification many action like, he
doesn't present any actual evidence.
Speaker 9 (34:27):
Well, he's standing there in the Oval office. Do you
expect him to come in with ten thousand pages? And
I have to be clear to complain about this administration
about transparency. When this president takes open questions on a
daily basis, yet Joe Biden didn't show up for a
press conferences six months is insane. These guys are being
extremely transparent. They don't have to sit there and take
the questions, but they do. That's all on the website,
(34:48):
it's all out there.
Speaker 11 (34:49):
It's not transparency to say things that have no factual background.
I mean to say, we're cutting you know, we've found
a billion dollars or trillion dollars in waste with no
sp pacifix. That's just talk. That's not transparent.
Speaker 9 (35:03):
It's twenty three days in here, guys, twenty three days.
You're you're you were talking about two point three billion
that was saved last year. These guys are saving two
point three billion a day.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
But no, well that it's.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Incredible, that's what they're saying.
Speaker 11 (35:14):
But where's the game you're waiting.
Speaker 9 (35:16):
You're not going to be satisfied till he shows up
at ten thousand pages. I know.
Speaker 10 (35:22):
He's giving very specific thing, but he's not actually giving
any evidence of that.
Speaker 9 (35:26):
It's all going to come because what they also said
was if we have to go to Congress, we'll go
to Congress.
Speaker 10 (35:30):
But the show where some of the details that have
come out, like the you know, fifty nine million dollars
spent on luxury hotels, it's actually not the thing.
Speaker 9 (35:39):
About the FEMA money that was a use for migrants.
That was, yeah, FEMA money for migrants.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
That's okay.
Speaker 10 (35:44):
Now no I'm not saying it's so. I'm not saying
it's okay. Don't put words.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
So would you stop that? Would you stop that process?
Don't be a dick.
Speaker 10 (35:51):
The portrayal, what I'm saying is the portrayal by him is.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
I just got to say, I this is from my
my seven years and how it's an n When the
hosts start cursing at you, don Lemon lost it on
me one night, screaming that that is BS, that is BS,
but saying the full thing When you see Anderson Cooper
get rattled like this, This is when you know they're
losing America and they feel it and they're witnessing it
(36:16):
because they're part of this cover up center. And now
they realize how stupid their argument is that, well, we
didn't see a piece of paper with it on there.
What you think Elon Musk is sitting there making this
up in the Oval office, like, what's wrong with you guys?
And by the way, you guys never question anything that
was shady with the Biden administration when you knew it
was shady.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Look, number one, you see Jeffrey Tube and jumping in
screaming that's not transparency. Trump is literally doing a press
conference every day. They're putting all of this out for
everyone to see. They're giving chapter and verse and specifics
and and and and you see Anderson Cooper at the
end where he just curses and and and melts down
and insults governor.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
By the way, yeah, I mean I mean to me, wow.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
To be clear that that that is the reason Anderson
Cooper does that is he realizes he's in a completely
indefensible position. He's defending the prior administration, diverting funds from FEMA,
by the way, funds that FEMA are supposed to use
to deal with a natural disaster, whether wildfires in California
or a hurricane or tornadoes or other natural disaster. And
(37:21):
the prior administration took those disaster funds and instead use
them to pay for hotel rooms for illegal aliens. And
and Anderson Cooper realized, wait a second, I'm defending something
that is so absurd that even the four viewers who
are watching CNN are gonna know it's absurd. And that's
why he melts down. And I gotta say the fact
(37:41):
that President Trump is standing up and delivering real cuts,
that are is taking on this waste, fraud, and abuse.
The fact that the fact that Anderson Cooper is melting
down that shows President Trump is winning. That shows Elon
Musk is winning, and that shows the American people are winning.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Amen into that we don't forget. We do the show Monday,
Wednesday and Friday. Hit that subscribe or auto download button.
Please make sure you share this because when you guys
do it reaches people and that's how we change hearts
and minds. That's why we do this show. So if
you'll help us grow We would appreciate that, and we
will see you back here on Friday morning.
It is so fun to start Verdict with good news
and welcome. It is Verdict for Center, Ted Cruz, Ben
Ferguson with you and Senator We have got incredible news
that a hostage coming out of Russia has been released.
This is incredible.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yet another American hostage has come home. Mark Fogel, who
has been in Russian jail since twenty twenty one, returned
home to the United States this week Thursday night. Late
Thursday night, he was in the Oval Office with President Trump.
This is a big victory bringing American hostages home. It's
(00:38):
a continuation of the Venezuelan hostages that were brought home
the first week President Trump was back in office and
the Hamas hostages both Americans and Israelis that have been
released since President Trump has been in office. Yet another
hostage release. This is the consequence of a strong commander
in chief who our enemies are afraid of. That's a
(01:02):
big victory for everyone. On top of that, we also
have yet more breaking news of USAID funding millions and
millions of dollars that is going to terrorists that funded Hamas,
that funded terrorists that that did enormous damage to US
national security interests. And put money in the pockets of
(01:25):
those who were who were attempting to murder and succeeded
in murdering Israelis and Americans. And finally, today Elon Musk
and Donald Trump were in the Oval Office together. The
President this week signed an executive order implementing doja's recommendations,
and they detailed yet more incredible examples of abusive waste, fraud,
(01:49):
and abuse, including astonishingly enough people receiving Social Security benefits
who are allegedly one hundred and fifty years old. Spoiler alert,
ain't one hundred and fifty all of that on today's show.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
No doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I want to take a moment and talk to you
real quick about the incredible work that's being done by
the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. After more than
a year of war, tear and pain in Israel, there
is still a great demand for basic humanitarian aid. The
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has supported and continues
to support those in the Holy Land that are still
(02:26):
facing the lingering horrors of war and those who are
in desperate need. Right now now, your ongoing monthly gift
of forty five dollars will provide critically needed aid to
communities in the North and the South that have been
devastated by this ongoing war. Your generous donation each month
will deliver help to those in need, including evacuees and
(02:49):
refugees from war torn areas, first responders and volunteers, wounded soldiers,
elderly Holocaust survivors, families who have literally lost everything, and
so many more. And you can provide hope during a
time of great uncertainty. So to give a gift to
bless Israel and her people, you can do so by
visiting SUPPORTIFCJ dot org. That's one word, support IFCJ dot org.
(03:17):
You can also call eight at eight four eight eight
IFCJ that's eight at eight four eight eight, IFCJ eight
at eight four eight eight four three two five, or
support IFCJ dot org center. Let's get back to this
incredible story about this hostage, Mark Fogel. It was an
(03:38):
American detained in Russia from August of twenty twenty one
until February eleventh of twenty twenty five. Donald Trump becomes
president and he gets him out.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
He was arrested in Russia at a Russian airport for
the possession of drugs, which which has family said was
medically prescribed marijuana. And Fogel was a history teacher who
was working at the Anglo American school in Moscow, and
he was arrested and and he he came home. And
when he came home, it's snowing in Washington, d C.
(04:17):
There's a bunch of snow on the ground. And he
came out of the snow to come into the Oval
Office to be with President Trump. And I got to say,
it was powerful. It was amazing the scene of the
two of them in the Oval Office.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Here, give a listen.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
He's a very happy guy tonight. It's just a real honor,
an honored ab at the ways.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
I feel like the luckiest man on earth right now.
And I want you to know that I am not
a hero in this at all. And President Trump, this
is a hero. These men that came from the diplomatic
(04:57):
service are heroes. The senators and representatives of past legislation
in my honor to get me home are the heroes.
I am in awe of what they all did. My
(05:18):
family has been a force. I think my ninety five
year old mother is probably the most dynamic ninety five
year old on earth right now, and I am so
indebted to so many people. I think I remember a
(05:38):
Churchill quote that he said when the ref was fighting
the liftoff, and he said that never have so many
owed so much to so few. And I put myself,
fortunately and unfortunately into that category, and I said, never
has won so much to so many. That this superorganism
(06:05):
of people that came to my support and the love
that I was given sustained me for three and a
half years in a prison that had me in hospitals
for more than one hundred days. I was given more
(06:26):
than four hundred injections.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
In that time.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
And knowing I had the support of my fellow Pennsylvanians,
my family, my friends, it was so overwhelming that it
brought me to my knees and it brought me to tears.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
But it was.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
It was my energy, it was my being that kept
me going that whole time. And I will forever be
indebted President Trump to Steve over there. What a dynamic
man this guy is. When I met him, the energy,
(07:25):
the can do attitude just exudes from his body. And
when he smiled at me and introduced me, and I
got the feel for what has happened. You know, it's
not just me, it's his everybody and Secretary Rubio, who
met my son a while back.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
I'm I'm a.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
Middle class school teacher who's now in a.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Dream world. We're going to show you the Lincoln bit.
Speaker 6 (08:01):
It's very special, special place appropriate for very appropriate.
Speaker 5 (08:07):
And thank you all. And I love our country and
I'm so happy to be back here. And I wish
I could articulate it better.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
You've done beautifully. And he's got a great mother.
Speaker 6 (08:29):
And when I show the mother at a rally, she said,
will you if you win, will you get my son out?
Speaker 4 (08:35):
And I promise. She's ninety five years old and we'll
get him out. And we got him out pretty quickly.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
She told me that that exact words.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Remember, she's made quite an impression.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
And you also did.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
And I'm gonna know of what you've done and your team.
It's great to have you back. And I have a
great life.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
That that that's just amazingly powerful. And and you think
about Mark Folo's life has been transformed, and it's been
transformed because Donald Trump is a strong commander in chief
and Putin is afraid of him. Venezuela is afraid of him,
Hamas is afraid of him, and and and that that
(09:21):
that pattern is significant. Look, hostage negotiations are always complicated
and difficult, and and that's the difference we have. You
think about in three weeks to see so many American
hostages released, that's a big deal.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Which brings me to the question. And it's frustrating. I'm
one of those I want to be a very queer center.
I'm frustrated. This makes me angry that you look at
a guy like Mark, you you look at how sincere
his love is for this country, how thankful he is
to see the light of day again in America, to
be out of hell in Russia, and the way that
we know they treat people in Russia. He talked in
(09:57):
that in that clip about how many days he's spent
in the high hospital, how many injections he received, And
the reality is many people don't make it out alive
once you go into the prison system in Russia. And
there's an anger I think by not just me, but
I think probably many people listening. They're saying, how is
it that Biden Harris didn't get these people out? It's
(10:18):
not just him, it's the others you just mentioned. But
it's like, did they just not fight hard enough? Do
they just not give a damn? Because Donald Trump just
did it? And I think this is something that outrages
me and many others.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
You know, I don't think it's fair to say that
that Biden didn't give a damn.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I will say during his presidency that there was some
hostages who returned home. Mark Swedan, who was a Texan
who was wrongfully imprisoned in China for over ten years.
I was very very active pressing for Swedan's return. Look, look,
when you're dealing with hostages, it is always complicated. It
is always difficult. I've been involved in seeking and helping
(10:58):
get the return of multiple high hostages over the past decade.
What I would say is the reason that Mark Fogel
wasn't returned, and then that these hostages were not released
under Biden is that our enemies viewed Biden as a
weak commander in chief and that they were weak. That
they were not They were not afraid of him. Putin
(11:22):
was not afraid of Biden. Hamas was not afraid of Biden.
Venezuela Maduro was not afraid of Biden and all right,
let's take an example. Let's take an example this week
where Hamas is delaying some of the Israeli hostages, and
give a listen to Trump explaining what will happen if
they don't release the hostages by Saturday at noon.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Give a listen.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
Well, I would say this, and I'm going to let
that because that's Israel's decision. But as far as I'm concerned,
if all of the hostages aren't returned by Saturday at
twelve o'clock, I think it's an appropriate time. I would say,
cancel it, and all bets are off and let hell
break out. I'd say they ought to be returned by
(12:06):
twelve o'clock on Saturday.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
And if they're not returned, all of them, not in
drips and drabs, not two and one and three and
four and two Saturday at twelve o'clock, and after that,
I would say, all hell is going to break out.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
There's something interesting he said there.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
He said, this is my opinion, and then he basically
said that gave some room there for Israel to pivot.
We now know there is no pivot needed. Net and Yah,
who has come out saying the same exact thing, it's
it's clear that our strongest ally we are getting their
back and we are one again on this on this front,
that is good for both countries well.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And look, both Prime Minister net Yeah who and President
Trump are very focused on bringing the hostages home. As
you know, I spent two hours with BB on Thursday
night and then I had dinner with Trump on Friday night,
So I've seen both of them within the last few days.
And I will say BB echoed exactly that message that
came from Trump, which is if the hostages are not
(13:09):
released by noon on Saturday, all of the hostages, that
the ceasefire is over and Israel will return to eliminating
the Hamas terrorist. And I think that is the way
you get hostages released from a position of strength, and
we're seeing strength from the commander in chief.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Final question on this and that is when you look forward.
There are still other Americans I know that are around
the country, around the world say being held.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Is this a.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Trend you expect to continue because of the difference in leadership.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Yes, Look, look, a strong commander in chief. When our
enemies are afraid of the president, Americans are safer, Americans
are at less risk because the bad guys, the terrorists,
those who want to take hostages have less confidence they
can succeed, and that is a good thing.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I want to move to USAID and some of the
big issues that are now coming out of that, and
it deals also with the issue of terrorism. We got
some shocking news that has come out. It's something, by
the way, that I think we need to point out
very clearly. You had been talking about this now for
several years in Congress and on this show. Yeah, and
(14:23):
thank goodness, now at least all of it seems to
be being exposed because of the digging with Doge and
the Trump administration back in office.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Well, there was a lengthy tweet that I sent this
week that said the following. The full story of USAID
funding HAMAS is vast, and much of it was done
in secret. Before and after October seventh, the USAID flowed
unaccountable hundreds of millions of dollars towards HAMAS that enabled
it to launch the attack and keep battling Israel afterwards.
(14:54):
They lied about the nature of that aid in public databases,
refused to disclose what group were getting the money, and
gave tens of millions in American cash to be distributed
without American supervision. They internally admitted the aid would benefit
HAMAS and even exempted themselves from anti terrorism laws, but
(15:16):
in public issued denial for all four years of the
Biden administration, I prevented them from confirming a Middle East
Administrator because they wouldn't acknowledge what they were doing, because
continuing their secret pro HAMAS programs was more important to them.
And I'll tell you there was a major article in
(15:38):
the Washington Free Beacon that I tweeted out as well,
and it's an article My team and I provided a
significant amount of the information to the Washington Free Beacon,
but it's entitled at USAID funding for terroritied groups and
internal hostility towards Israel goes back years. One former State
(15:59):
Department official described a lack of embarrassment among some USAID
staffers about being associated with terrorist organization. And I'm going
to read from the beginning of this article because it's
an important article and the fact Senate are very disturbing
as the Trump administration works to shutter the United States
Agency for International Development USAID, Current and former US officials
(16:24):
who work closely with the unbattled AID group say they
watched for years as it funneled millions of dollars to
anti Israel advocacy groups and entities linked to terrorism. That
funding caused internal friction across multiple administrations, according to those
who spoke with The Washington Free Beacon. In some cases,
USAID fought to conceal how taxpayer funds were spent, and
(16:47):
when it came to Israel, officials recalled battling USAID over
funding for groups that worked to undermine the Jewish state
or maintain.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Ties to terror organizations. Quote.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
For those who believe in a strong US Israel relationship,
elements of USAID had been problematic for years, said one
former State Department official who worked with USAID during the
Biden administration.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
There was even a lack of embarrassment among some USAID
staffers about being associated with terrorist organizations. Some of the
terror tied funding initiatives are publicly known. In November twenty
twenty two, for instance, USAID awarded one hundred thousand dollars
to a Palestinian activist group whose leaders hailed the Popular
(17:35):
Front for the Liberation of Palestine a designated terror group,
just six days before Hamas's October seventh assault. On Israel,
USAID handed nine hundred thousand dollars to a terror charitor
charity in Gaza involved with the son of Hamas leader
(17:56):
Ismail Hanayer. USAID's hostilities towards the Jewish State, however, ran
deeper than the agency's grant making. Under Samantha Power, former
President Joe Biden's pick to run USAID, agency officials fought
pro Israel policy making at the State Department, often urging
their colleagues at Foggy Bottom to pare down statements that
(18:19):
praise the Jewish state, former official said in twenty twenty one,
during a period of conflict with Hamas, Power herself refused
to meet with Israel's ambassador unless Israel reached a cease
fire with the Iran backed terror group. The decision put
Power at odds with the White House National Security Council,
(18:40):
which signed off on the meeting. Emails obtained by the
Freebeacon Show.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
It is shocking to hear you read that, and yet
it's so well documented. It's something that you've been sounding
the alarm on for a while. Now, because of a
new administration, we're actually getting some movement on this. But
how angry should Americans be that their tax dours have
been going to terrorist organizations through these funneled through these
(19:08):
charities and other groups. And there were warnings meaning that
the government, Biden Harris and their team, they knew the
money was ending up with these people. This wasn't a
one office, wasn't an accident. This was deliberate.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Well, they knew it and they actively hit it. Let
me read a little more from this Freebeacon article. A
January memo from the Inspector General Paul Martin noted that
the agency quote does not maintain a comprehensive internal database
of sub awardees. In other words, the foreign entities that
work with a primary grantee on a USAID project often
(19:44):
go unreported, impeding the ability of the agency investigators to
vet fraud allegations. According to the memo, such allegations often
include the diversion of taxpayer funded aid to terrorist organizations,
and a November report, for example, Martin quote identified deliberate
(20:04):
interference and efforts to divert humanitarian assistance by foreign terrorist organizations,
including systemic coercion of aid workers by fdos, foreign terrorist organizations,
and FTO influence over beneficiary selection. These diversion efforts are
(20:25):
particularly pronounced in Hamas controlled Gaza. A February report from
the Middle East Forum think tank found that the USAID
had awarded millions of dollars to organizations directly in Gaza
controlled by Hamas. Let me read that again. A February
report from the Middle East Forum think tank found that
(20:49):
USAID had awarded millions of federal dollars to organizations directly
in Gaza controlled by Hamas, and it continues. In one
bideneric case, USAID funded an educational and community center in
Gaza quote, controlled by a local group called the Unlimited
(21:13):
Friends Association. The association openly collaborated with Hamas, inviting the
terror group's officials to its office and boasting of US
funded projects in Hamas controlled newspapers. In twenty twenty one,
its director called for Jerusalem to be cleansed, quote from
(21:33):
the impurity of the Jews. This is who Joe Biden
and the Democrats were sending millions of dollars to, and
this is who they were covering it up.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Not only were they covering it up, but this has
a USAID has a long history that's now well documented
of them helping radicals and one of the things you
and I talked about before the show was another just
totally in saying aspect of this and that included paying
for terrorists college funds.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Well, that is exactly right, and it is a stunning story.
So this is something that's been reported in Fox News
and the New York Post. Here's what the New York
Post said. USAID reportedly bankrolled al Qaeda terrorist college tuition.
Unearthed record showed USAID American bord jahattist anwar all Illachi
(22:29):
received full funding to attend Colorado State University in nineteen ninety.
USAID documents obtained by Fox News showed, now who is
on wear al Lachi. He is a notorious terrorist, so
notorious that President Barack Obama ordered him killed in a
US air strike in Yemen twenty years later. The documents
(22:52):
revealed that all Alacki, who was born in Las Cruces,
New Mexico, lied on his application and claimed that he
was born in Yemen, apparently so he would be eligible
for the federal tuition funding worth more than twenty seven
thousand dollars at the time.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
That was nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Tuition and fees for an international student at the university
today would be nearly ten times that using the education
USAID provided him, he earned a bachelor's in civil engineering
in nineteen ninety four. Alilaki would go on to teach
Islam at mosques across the country, from Denver to San
Diego and Virginia, where US officials believe he used his
(23:33):
platform to radicalize and recruit terrorists and understand Olilaki is
directly implicated in number one. At the San Diego mosque,
he met the nine to eleven hijackers, Nawaf al Hazmi
and Khalid al Midhar, two of the men who flew
Flight seventy seven into the Pentagon on nine to eleven,
(23:56):
and he was arrested in two thousand and six for
his terrorist ties in Yemen, and three years later, unwell,
Alolaki communicated with Nadal Hassan, who murdered fourteen innocent souls
at Fort Hood on Wile. Ololaki was also tied to
the underwear bomber Umar faruk Abda Matullab, who tried to
(24:20):
blow up a Detroit bound Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas
Day two thousand and nine with bombs hidden in his shorts.
This is who USI AID said, you know what we're
going to pay for you to get a college degree?
What in the hell are these people doing?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
So the question that I got to ask finally on
this to wrap it up and people that are listening
and say, number one, how did this a happen? But
even more so, how are people not going to jail
for knowingly giving American taxpayer dollars to terrorists? I mean,
if you are working in our government, even if it's
(24:59):
under the direction the Biden Harrish regime at the time,
and you're sending out money that you know is going
to terrorists around the world, is that not like breaking
some law?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Senator, Well, look, that's a question that I think is
going to have to be investigated and examined. You know,
I will say, US anti terrorism laws prohibit sending money
that goes to terrorism. And in fact, the Biden administration
made a formal assessment and they concluded that sending the
money to Gaza, that it was very likely that money
would be used by Hamas for terrorism. Now, ordinarily, when
(25:31):
you make that determination under American anti terrorism law, you
don't send the money. You can't send the money once
you determine that it's likely it'll go to terrorism. However,
the way the law is written, the president has the
authority to waive that provision. And that's exactly what they did,
because they made a determination that their radical politics were
(25:52):
more important than stopping terrorists from murdering American citizens and
murdering Israeli citizens, and tragic, the entire world saw the
consequences of that radicalism on October seventh.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Do you think there will be any accountability for this
or is this going to be another one of those
where hey, we were in charge, so we get we
got away with it.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Look, I certainly hope there will be accountability.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
But at a minimum, we're seeing accountability in President Trump
and Elon Musk shutting down these programs at USAID.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
I think that is very good.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
And my hope and expectations is that Congress will come
along and we will pass legislation, presumably as a part
of budget reconciliation later this year, to codify these cuts
and eliminate the waste fraud abuse.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
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you mentioned, you know, the corruption and what the President's
(28:24):
going to clean it up. Let's move to another aspect
of just an incredible three weeks where Elon Musk and
Donald Trump are doing exactly what they said they were
going to do, and they are i think using the media,
the bully pulpit, the microphone that they've been given in
(28:45):
the Oval Office to inform the American people, those that
voted for him and others that maybe didn't, that hey,
we're finding some of the most ridiculous, egregious waste of
your tax dollars. And one of the stories they talked
about was people that are still getting sid Security checks
when they're quote one hundred and fifty years old.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, it was really powerful. So President Trump and Elon
Musk did a press conference from the Oval Office on Thursday.
Earlier this week, President Trump signed an executive order instructing
DOGE to coordinate with federal agencies and to execute massive
cuts in federal government staffing numbers. And the order instructs
federal agencies and DOGE to significantly shrink the size of
(29:28):
the federal government and to limit the hiring of new employees.
And I got to say, Elon Musk laid out several
of the egregious examples of abuse.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Listen to listen to this first one.
Speaker 8 (29:41):
You know, and that's the crazy things like just crostory
examination of Social Security. And we've got people in there
at one hundred and fifty years old.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Now do you know anyone one hundred and fifty? I
do are okay?
Speaker 8 (29:53):
They should be on the Guinness Wicker World records. They're
messing out, so you know that's the case. We're I
think they're probably dead, that's my guess. Or the should
be very famous.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
One of the two.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
I mean, I want to meet him. Anyone wants to
meet him. The President wants to meet him. You want
to meet him, right, if you're one hundred and fifty
and you're still check.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Ben Ben I got to say, you don't look at
day over one hundred and forty CA.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
I mean, and this is the stuff that you just
can't even make it up. Of course, they would be
sitting a check to somebody that we assume is just
is committing fraud here right like this check's ever stopped
and I just keep cashing them.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Stupid your center fraud. Of course it's fraud. And the
Biden administration had no interest in uncovering that fraud. And
take a listen to what President Trump said about the
magnitude of the waste fraud and abuse.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
That they're finding billions and billions of dollars in waste
fraud and abuse.
Speaker 7 (30:46):
And I think it's very important, and that's one of
the reasons I got elected.
Speaker 6 (30:50):
I say, we're going to do that. Nobody had any
idea was that bad. That's sick, and that corrupt. And
it seems hard to believe that judges want to try
and stop us from looking for corruption, especially when we
found hundreds of millions of dollars worth much more than
that in just a short period of time.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
We want to weed out the corruption.
Speaker 6 (31:10):
And it seems hard to believe that a judge could say,
we don't want you to do that. Well, so maybe
we have to look at the judges, because that's very serious.
I think it's a very serious violation.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
He mentioned the judges there by the way, there's a
lot of activist judges that were put in by liberals
who are like, all right, we're the last defense here,
so let's try to, you know, stop him at all
costs to, you know, because he's too successful at giving
the American people transparency and their money back.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Look, Barack Obama and Joe Biden put a lot of
radicals on the federal bench, and right now you've got
Democrat attorneys general going and seeking out these radicals to
file lawsuits. You've also got left wings special interest groups
seeking out these radical judges. We're going to see a
lot of lawsuits. We're going to see a lot of
law fair over the next four years. But you know,
I got to say, watching Democrats in the media melt down,
(32:03):
number one, they've always melted down over Trump. They have
Trump arrangement syndrome, but they also have Elon derangement syndrome,
and they scream, well, Elon Musk was not elected to anything. Well, yeah,
that's true, But Donald Trump was elected to something. He
was elected to President of the United States, and he
was elected on a mandate. And this is actually a
point that that Elon made made quite effectively in the oval.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Give a listen.
Speaker 8 (32:27):
The people voted for major govementt reform. There should be
no doubt about that. That was on the campaign. The
President spoke about that at every rally. The people voted
for major government reform. And that's what people are gonna get.
They're gonna get what they voted for. And a lot
of times that you know people that don't get what
they voted for, but in this presidency, they are going
(32:49):
to get what they voted for.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
And that's what democracy is all about.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
I gotta say I love listening to Elon. You've spent
a lot of time with him. I think this is
a perfect example of just how genuine his heart is
on this. He truly is a believer in this country
and giving the American people what they voted for. And
he is an agent to go find the waste frown abuse,
and he's and he's and he's incredibly focused on it.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
He is he is incredibly focused, and he's right. This
is democracy and yet it is causing the radical left
to lose their minds. You know, I gotta say, I
want to play this, this this segment from CNN because
it really does show how the media that their minds
are melting down. You had former New Hampshire governor Chris
Snunu who's on, and he's on with Anderson Cooper, and
(33:37):
Anderson Cooper loses it. And you've also got Jeffrey Tubin,
another left wing CNN contributor. You know your old buddies.
These are all the folks you piled around with Ben
put seven years in hell, seven years in hell. Do
you have CNN tattooed somewhere on your body?
Speaker 3 (33:52):
I do not.
Speaker 8 (33:52):
I do not.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
I'm just checking.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
So all right, give a listen to Chris Sonunhu and
and and look how he how he causes the CNN
folks to lose their minds.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
It was surreal.
Speaker 9 (34:05):
But I got to tell you, I know what you're
not showing here. Must gave seven specific examples off the
top of his head of where the corruption and fraud were.
I know you didn't play the clips. He was talking
about a contractor that had a three month contract, he
was paid for twenty years. He was talking about welfare
benefits that were being paid to someone that was technically
one hundred and fifty years old. He was talking about
line item from.
Speaker 10 (34:23):
The ridden that had no justification many action like, he
doesn't present any actual evidence.
Speaker 9 (34:27):
Well, he's standing there in the Oval office. Do you
expect him to come in with ten thousand pages? And
I have to be clear to complain about this administration
about transparency. When this president takes open questions on a
daily basis, yet Joe Biden didn't show up for a
press conferences six months is insane. These guys are being
extremely transparent. They don't have to sit there and take
the questions, but they do. That's all on the website,
(34:48):
it's all out there.
Speaker 11 (34:49):
It's not transparency to say things that have no factual background.
I mean to say, we're cutting you know, we've found
a billion dollars or trillion dollars in waste with no
sp pacifix. That's just talk. That's not transparent.
Speaker 9 (35:03):
It's twenty three days in here, guys, twenty three days.
You're you're you were talking about two point three billion
that was saved last year. These guys are saving two
point three billion a day.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
But no, well that it's.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Incredible, that's what they're saying.
Speaker 11 (35:14):
But where's the game you're waiting.
Speaker 9 (35:16):
You're not going to be satisfied till he shows up
at ten thousand pages. I know.
Speaker 10 (35:22):
He's giving very specific thing, but he's not actually giving
any evidence of that.
Speaker 9 (35:26):
It's all going to come because what they also said
was if we have to go to Congress, we'll go
to Congress.
Speaker 10 (35:30):
But the show where some of the details that have
come out, like the you know, fifty nine million dollars
spent on luxury hotels, it's actually not the thing.
Speaker 9 (35:39):
About the FEMA money that was a use for migrants.
That was, yeah, FEMA money for migrants.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
That's okay.
Speaker 10 (35:44):
Now no I'm not saying it's so. I'm not saying
it's okay. Don't put words.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
So would you stop that? Would you stop that process?
Don't be a dick.
Speaker 10 (35:51):
The portrayal, what I'm saying is the portrayal by him is.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
I just got to say, I this is from my
my seven years and how it's an n When the
hosts start cursing at you, don Lemon lost it on
me one night, screaming that that is BS, that is BS,
but saying the full thing When you see Anderson Cooper
get rattled like this, This is when you know they're
losing America and they feel it and they're witnessing it
(36:16):
because they're part of this cover up center. And now
they realize how stupid their argument is that, well, we
didn't see a piece of paper with it on there.
What you think Elon Musk is sitting there making this
up in the Oval office, like, what's wrong with you guys?
And by the way, you guys never question anything that
was shady with the Biden administration when you knew it
was shady.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Look, number one, you see Jeffrey Tube and jumping in
screaming that's not transparency. Trump is literally doing a press
conference every day. They're putting all of this out for
everyone to see. They're giving chapter and verse and specifics
and and and and you see Anderson Cooper at the
end where he just curses and and and melts down
and insults governor.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
By the way, yeah, I mean I mean to me, wow.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
To be clear that that that is the reason Anderson
Cooper does that is he realizes he's in a completely
indefensible position. He's defending the prior administration, diverting funds from FEMA,
by the way, funds that FEMA are supposed to use
to deal with a natural disaster, whether wildfires in California
or a hurricane or tornadoes or other natural disaster. And
(37:21):
the prior administration took those disaster funds and instead use
them to pay for hotel rooms for illegal aliens. And
and Anderson Cooper realized, wait a second, I'm defending something
that is so absurd that even the four viewers who
are watching CNN are gonna know it's absurd. And that's
why he melts down. And I gotta say the fact
(37:41):
that President Trump is standing up and delivering real cuts,
that are is taking on this waste, fraud, and abuse.
The fact that the fact that Anderson Cooper is melting
down that shows President Trump is winning. That shows Elon
Musk is winning, and that shows the American people are winning.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Amen into that we don't forget. We do the show Monday,
Wednesday and Friday. Hit that subscribe or auto download button.
Please make sure you share this because when you guys
do it reaches people and that's how we change hearts
and minds. That's why we do this show. So if
you'll help us grow We would appreciate that, and we
will see you back here on Friday morning.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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