-
Terror-Linked Migrants:
- The episode starts with a discussion about the release of nearly 100 terror-linked migrants into the United States in 2024 by the Biden administration. Tulsi Gabbard, now the Director of National Intelligence, revealed that these individuals were known to be linked to terrorist organizations but were released after being arrested.
-
Take It Down Act:
- Senator Cruz talks about his legislation, the Take It Down Act, which aims to protect individuals, especially women and teenagers, from revenge porn and deep fakes. The First Lady, Melania Trump, has shown support for this legislation, and it has passed the Senate unanimously. The episode includes details from a roundtable discussion with victims and advocates.
-
Border Security and Terrorism:
- The conversation returns to the issue of border security, highlighting the dangers posed by terrorists entering the country through illegal immigration. The hosts criticize the Biden administration for its handling of this issue.
-
Poll Numbers and Public Opinion:
- The episode discusses recent poll numbers showing strong public support for President Trump's policies, particularly on immigration and border security.
-
Legislative Support:
- The importance of bipartisan support for the Take It Down Act is emphasized, with mentions of key figures like Speaker Johnson and Majority Leader Scalise.
-
Victim Stories:
- The episode features testimonies from victims of revenge porn and deep fakes, including a powerful story from Brandon Guffey, whose son committed suicide after being extorted online.
-
Future Actions:
- Senator Cruz expresses confidence that the Take It Down Act will pass the House and be signed into law by President Trump. He also mentions plans for a bill signing ceremony in the Oval Office with the victims and advocates present.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with
you and Senator there are a couple big issues we
get to deal with today that are really important, including
a shock that almost one hundred terror linked migrants were
released into the United States of America in twenty twenty
four a loan by the Biden administration.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
It really is a shocking story. Tulsea Gabbard revealed an
eagle pass in Texas that the intelligence community had informed
the Biden administration that of hundreds of terror linked illegal immigrants,
that roughly one hundred of them were arrested in twenty
twenty four, and that they released all but eight of
(00:42):
them after they knew that they were linked to terrorist organizations.
It's a shocking story. We're going to break it down
and give you the details. We're also going to talk
about the Take It Down Act. To Take It Down
Act is my legislation protecting women, protecting teenage girls, teenage
boys from revenge porn, from deep fakes online. And this
(01:02):
week the First Lady of the United States, Millennia Trump,
she came to the Capitol supporting my legislation. We did
a roundtable together, so we're gonna bring you into what
Milania had to say about to Take It Down Act,
and also President Trump at the State of the Union
praise the Senate for passing my Take It Down Act
unanimously and call it on the House to pass it.
We're going to bring you in that roundtable and you're
gonna hear what the first lady had to say and
(01:24):
what several of the victims had to say.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
All right, let me also remind you don't forget the
algorithms change and the way that podcasts change all the time.
So if you have not hit that subscribe button or
auto download button, make sure you check that hit the
save depending on where you're listening. And please, if you'll
help us by reaching we'll reach more people when you
guys share this pod on social media. So we do
(01:48):
the fight here every day to try to get you
great intel and information what's happening in DC and around
the country and really around the world. So make sure
you share this podcast on social media. Helps tremendously for
us to each new people and change hearts and minds.
So let's go back center to this headline. Almost one
hundred terrace linked migrants released in twenty twenty four. The
(02:11):
part that I think we really should hone in on
is this wasn't an accident. It wasn't like a misappropriation
of paperwork. This was done on purpose.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, they knew, they had full knowledge. And look, don't
take my word for it. Listen to Tulsa Gabbard and
what she said this week down in Texas at the
Eagle Pass. Give a listen.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Pump has been in office. Really what you're seeing here
today and what you'll continue to see as a unified
effort across President Trump's National security team, the Department of
Homeland Security towards our mission, which is to ensure a safe, free,
and prosperous society for Americans. As Director of National Intelligence,
there are a number.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Of areas where we are focused.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
The President talked about in his speech. Over twenty one
million people have come across our borders illegally under Joe
by administration. There are many of them that we don't
know who they are. They have not been vetted, we
don't know where they are. I'll give you one quick
example of one of the problems that we are getting
after from Central Asia. There were over four thousand people
(03:14):
who came across our borders using an ISIS affiliated network,
Our National counter Terrorism Center went through and identified those individuals.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
There were hundreds of them who.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Were either known terrorists or associated with known terrorists. That
information was provided to the Biden administration.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
You may remember in some of the news a little
over one.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Hundred of those people were arrested in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 5 (03:39):
Of those who were.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Arrested, only eight were either deported or remained in custody
only eight. The rest of them were released back into
our country. Where are they, what are they doing? What
may they be plotting? This is just the beginning. There
are many many areas that we need to stay very
focused on, working with Department of Homeland Secure already working
(04:00):
with the FBI to ensure that we're keeping the American
people safe. Our counter Terrorism Center is working on making
sure that we have that single source for vetting so
that we can figure out who is actually in our
country and identify those who pose a threat and get
them removed.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
The President's designation.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Of the cartels as foreign terrorists organizations falls directly into this,
especially as we're seeing some of the tactics that these
cartels are using reflect some of the tactics that we've
seen used by Islamus terris in countries that many of
us have served in overseas.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
Our mission is very clear.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Our objective is to keep the American people safe.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
I'm grateful to be.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
A part of this team that President Trump has assembled
to accomplish that mission.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
I love the focus.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
The Vice President was down there as well the team,
and you compare that to the borders. Are who never
decided to go to egle Pass didn't want anything to
do with it. And now we understand again more why
because they knew they were doing all of the things
that they were doing to put America's national security at risk.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Yeah, and it's worth really focusing on the facts that
Tulsi Gabbert, who is now the Director of National Intelligence,
what she said. She said from Central Asia there were
more than four thousand people who came across our borders
using an ISIS affiliated network. So isis you know, kind
of bad guys, terrorists who've killed lots and lots of Americans.
(05:24):
They're smuggling over four thousand people illegally into this country
from Central Asia. By the way, Central Asia includes multiple
Islamic countries like Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, where radical Islamic terrorism
is a real threat, and Tulsi said, the National counter
Terrorism Center went through and identified those over four thousand individuals,
(05:47):
and there were hundreds of them, hundreds of the word
she used, who were either known terrorists or associated with
known terrorists. And then she says, quote that in nation
was provided to the Biden administration, So the Biden administration
knew hundreds of either known terrorists or people associated with
(06:09):
known terrorists were smuggled into America illegally by an ISIS
affiliated network. And then she goes on to say, in
twenty twenty four, a little over one hundred of those
terror leaked people were rested. And then the shocking thing
of the little more than one hundred, only eight were
(06:33):
either deported or remained in custody. Only eight quote the
rest of them were released back into our country. So
this is not illegal aliens crossing the border that get
apprehended at they let them go, but they don't know
their terrorists. These are people they know are either themselves
(06:55):
known terrorists or associated with known terrorists. They also know
that they were smuggled into this country by an ISIS
affiliated network, and they were arrested again. And yet over
ninety of them, nearly one hundred the Biden administration released
into America into your community, into my community in a
(07:17):
single year. This isn't twenty twenty four. That is stunning.
And I got to tell you, bet, I've never heard
a single Democrat give any justification for what is just idiocy.
Let's release terror linked illegal immigrants into America. What possibly
could go wrong with that?
Speaker 2 (07:38):
When you look at the and you sometimes it's just
people are stupid, is it?
Speaker 1 (07:43):
But it also could be more I could be more
sinister than that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I guess I look at this, I'm like they knew it,
did They just not want to admit that the open
border would allow for so many bad actors to come across,
with many that may just be coming across right for
a better life, a job if you put it in
the best like possible center. And so they knew that
if they admitted they caught these people and then they
(08:07):
didn't release them, and they actually prosecuted them or sent
them back to their country, there's a lot of options
here that was going to sign a huge light on
the problem. So therefore, hey, we can't admit it's happening.
So we're just gonna go with this anarchy and in
Sandy till the end.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Look, Bet, I really don't know. You know, I had
my very first boss at a phrase he used to say.
He said, never attribute to incompetence and never attribute to malice.
What can be explained with incompetence? And look, I think
there's a lot of wisdom to that that A lot
of times people are just they just do dumb things.
That being said, Listen, I do I believe the Biden
(08:47):
administration wants terrorists to attack America. No, but then why
the hell would you release these people? And I guess
the only plausible explanation I can come up with is
there're such radicals on open borders. They're so committed to
their open borders because they want millions and millions of
(09:07):
illegal immigrants, because they they view them as future Democrat
voters that they're just deportation was off the table. They're
not in that business. They don't do it. I don't know. Listen,
this is related to a story we covered in a
pod a couple weeks ago. We're in Massachusetts right now.
They're taking violent child abusers, child molesters, people who are
(09:30):
raping children, who are illegal aliens, and even with violent
child rapists, the Massachusetts authorities are releasing them rather than
give them over to Ice to be deported. Now, look,
reasonable people, you could have an argument about what should
be the level of illegal immigration. You could. There are
all sorts of things you'd have reasonable disagreements on. But
(09:51):
I mean, Ben explained to me why someone says, you
know what we need more of, We need more child
rapists in our community. Let's let these go. Like I
my brain cannot wrap itself around those repeated actions. And
yet that's what's happening. This is the same sort of thing.
You apprehend someone who's a known terrorist who was smuggled
(10:12):
into America by ISIS, and you say, oh, let's let
them go, Like like I, I don't know. You know.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
The poll numbers that came out from the present speech
the other night were truly incredible. Seventy six percent approved
of Trump's address to Congress. That is a massive win
for the president. You look at some of the other
ones and poll numbers. Not only that, ninety one percent
said Trump spent time on issues they cared about.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah, that is a home run.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Seventy one percent said the speech was quote inspiring, and
sixty two percent said it was unifying. And they said
that this speech sixty eight percent, so they felt hopeful,
fifty four percent, so they felt proud of the country
from the speech. And when you look at these numbers,
even on the issue of inflation, where Democrats leaned in
(11:02):
heavy over the last few weeks to try to say
everything that's you know, eggs and everything else are the
problem of Donald Trump, the American people aren't buying that either.
When they were asked for the president a clear plan
to battle inflation, sixty eight percent said yes to that
as well. And then on the issue of immigration at
the border, the people watched in seventy seven percent said
(11:25):
they were in favor of Donald Trump's plan on immigration
at the border. When you see this right and you
look at what the President's saying, and then all those
that are working towards this, you've got the Vice president,
you've got Tolca, you've got the Secretary of State. Everyone
seems to be in lockstep on this issue of the border.
Is that the reason why you think the president's winning
(11:48):
so much right now on securing this border, because he's
explaining it the way we are right now as well.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Because he is not absolutely frigging nuts. Yes, I think
the Democrat Party has gone insane. Releasing murderers and rapists
and child molesters into America is a really bad idea,
and it turns out it's a really unpopular idea. Releasing
terrorists into America is a really bad idea, and it
turns out it's a really unpopular idea. Look, you and
(12:16):
I the we covered did a pod the night of
the State of the Union, uh, and we talked a
lot about how the Democrats, for the first time ever,
didn't applaud for the President of the United States, didn't
stand for the president of the United States, didn't applaud
and anything. I'll tell you. Actually, yesterday and the Senate
Jim I had a conversation with a Senate Democrat. I'll
(12:36):
keep him anonymous, but he was a Senate Democrat, one
of my colleagues, and he made a comment. He said
something about he thought we were just living in a
surreal world. And I said, look, I got to say,
I was shocked that you guys didn't applaud or stand
for the president at all. And he and he was like, well,
(13:01):
you got to understand. We just think he's destroying the constitution.
And I said, look, I stood and applauded every year
for Barack Obama, I stood and applauded every year for
Joe Biden. And I disagreed with almost everything they were doing,
but I respect the office and I respect the American people.
And he just kind of shrugged and said, we're living
(13:21):
in different universes and where our bases are fundamentally different.
You look at Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
He also announced a policy to penalize foreign countries that
allow the transit of illegal immigrants and is pressuring many
countries that refuse to accept to the return of their
migrants as well. This could also have a big impact
on this country. I want to get your thoughts on that.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Yeah, look, this administration is securing the border. They're doing
it right now, and they are going to deport illegal aliens.
They are going to send out of the country, especially
the violet criminal illegal aliens, the murderers, the rapists, the
child molesters, the gangbangers, and the countries that don't take it,
they're they're going to make them take it. And that's
(14:12):
what a strong president who's actually defending this country.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Does all right, I want to move on to this
other really important issue, and I want to say, sincerely, Senator,
thank you for leading on the Take It Down Act.
It is going to have a huge impact in this
country at protecting people against deep fake porn and people
(14:35):
that are trying to harm them, especially young girls. You've
highlighted it and explained it, and the First Lady is
now all in on this issue as well. And you
guys had a round table on Capitol Hill talk a
little bit about this.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Well. Yeah, So the First Lady came this week to
Capitol Hill and this is the first legislative issue she's
gotten involved in this term, and she's leaned in hard
in support of my Take It Down legislation. And so
we did a roundtable that she came and participated in,
and we had several of the victims who had been
targeted share their stories and it was really powerful and
(15:13):
her leadership will really have a powerful effect here. I
want you to listen. These are my opening remarks at
the roundtable. Give a listen. Start by thanking the First
Lady for joining us today and thank you for your
support of this incredibly important Legislation to Take It Down Act,
which has already passed the Senate unanimously, and I am
(15:34):
hopeful that the House will soon take it up and
pass it and put it on the President's desk to
be signed into law to protect young women and young
boys and all of those who are being victimized across
the country. I also want to thank our brave victims
and victim advocates who are here. Alliston Barry, Francesca Mani,
(15:56):
Brandon Guffey, and Breezeloo. Thank you for being here. Each
of you have endured the unspeakable and your courage standing
up and speaking for others is really remarkable. I also
want to thank Stephan Turkheimer with Rain for your advocacy
and support on this issue as well. Thank you for
(16:16):
your leadership. And of course I want to thank Senator Klobuchar,
who is the lead Democrat sponsor in the Senate, and
Representative Salazar and Representative Dean who are the lead sponsors
in the House, who've worked alongside in this important bipartisan legislation.
If you're a victim of revenge porn or AI generated
(16:40):
explicit imagery, your life changes forever. Most likely you've been
targeted by someone you know, and you're likely struggling to
have that material removed from the Internet. Disturbingly, many of
these victims are teenagers at American high schools who are
(17:01):
facing a surge in AI generated sexual images. Hundreds of teens,
often targeted by their own classmates, are enduring senseless psychological
harm knowing that these fake images exist and they're still
out there, and in many case there's no recourse for
(17:21):
these teenage victims. But this issue extends beyond high school.
There are thousands of cases where predators have used non
consensual intimate images to extort victims, both sexually and financially,
and the results can be even more traumatic than financial loss,
(17:46):
as we'll here today. In dozens of instances, parents and
siblings have suffered unbearable pain, having lost their child, or
their brother or their sister to suicide because the victim
felt there was no way out from sextorship outside of
(18:08):
high school. Many adults are also dealing with the very
real and dire consequences of having their sexually explicit images
shared online without their consent. I have heard from victims
of sexual abuse, of rape, of human trafficking who strongly
(18:28):
support the Take It Down Act because they desperately want
some of the most traumatic moments of their lives taken
off the Internet. The Take It Down Act empowers victims
across the entire United States. It makes it a felony
for these deviants to publish any non consensual intimate images,
(18:50):
including fake lifelike pornographic images of real people. Just as
importantly are by partisan bill requires big tech to have
a notice and takedown process so that every victimized American,
not just the rich and famous, but everyone, has a
(19:12):
right to get these disturbing images taken offline immediately. We
are today one step closer to making this dream of reality.
Just three weeks ago, the Senate unanimously passed to Take
It Down Act. Now it goes to my House, colleagues,
and I have every assurance and confidence that the House
(19:34):
will take it, take this up, pass it, and put
it on the President's desk so that we can protect
the victims of these predators. And we're very excited to
be joined today by the First Lady of the United States,
Milania Trump. Missus Trump has long been a champion for
protecting our nation's children with her be best initiative and
(19:57):
I can think of no more important issue for our
First Lady to lie than protecting children online. Your success
will mean our children's success and healing for thousands of victims.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I mean, it's incredible this legislation, and it's also awesome
to see the First Lady coming to the forefront on
this issue and saying I want to champion this as well.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Look, it was tremendously important. She reached out, she wanted
to do this, She actively participated in the roundtable. And
here I want to play a moment of what she
had to say at the round table. Here's the First Lady,
Milania Trump.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
I was hard to learn that Senator CRUs and Senator
Toobchi united to prioritize these famenta.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
There I must the lead.
Speaker 8 (20:47):
However, I expected to see more de mocrats leaders.
Speaker 7 (20:52):
In US to add any serious issue. Surely, as adult,
you are a THI American's children are head of farms
and policies.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
I urge Congress to.
Speaker 8 (21:07):
To prioritize the passage of the taking Down EQUIL. This
limization essential for addressing the growing concerns related to online safety,
protecting individual rounds, and promoting a healthier digital environment by
(21:27):
advocating you bi, Congress.
Speaker 7 (21:30):
Can take an important step towards ensuring accountability and postling
responsibly online aviation to take it down, and he represents
power from step to justice.
Speaker 8 (21:45):
Healing and unity.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
The first Lady there, and I do love that she
was honest. She's like, how are there not more Democrats
with this?
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Well, and look it's the answer is the anger and
rage we saw at the State of the Union. They're
just filled with anger and rage. But I will say
the fact that the first Lady got involved. So last
year we passed the Take It Down Act out of
the Senate. We got it passed out of the Senate
and went to the House and unfortunately the House did
not take it up and pass it. Now, the House
(22:18):
tried to, and they actually had it attached to the
continuing Resolution at the end of the year, and then
it dropped out at the end of the day. And
so here's how this happens. When the First Lady wanted
to come, she came, and we invited multiple victims to
tell their stories and it was very powerful. But we
also invited the Speaker of the House and the majority
(22:42):
leader in the House, and so both Speaker Johnson and
leader Scalise came and then both Mike and Steve are
good friends. But look, what are the challenges of getting
any legislation to move in either body is getting leadership
to prioritize it. There are lots of priorities, There are
lots of people pulling it all to different directions, and
so you're always battling to say, Okay, this should be
(23:05):
high enough up on the priority list to move And
the fact that the first lady leaned in now makes
it a certainty. Both the Speaker and the majority leader committed.
The House will take it up and they will pass it,
and I think they're going to do so quickly. And
Elliston Berry. So Elliston was there, and she is she's
from Texas. She is a fifteen year old girl. And
(23:28):
what happened to her She's from Aledo, Texas, up in
North Texas. And what happened to her is is is
she woke up one morning and she was in ninth
grade and she was getting all these texts and calls
from her friends. And it turns out a classmate of hers,
a boy in her class, took a perfectly innocent picture
of her from social media and used an app an
(23:50):
ai app to create a deep fake that turned her
picture into naked pictures. Now it wasn't real, but anyone
looking at it with think it was real. It appeared
to be real. And then this, this, this, this ninth
grader emailed it, or not emailed it, but sent it
on snapchat to to all of her classmates. And and
(24:11):
so she woke up, you know, just in tears because
all of her classmates. I mean, look, remember how hard
freshman year is. It's hard to be a teenager. And
and the nightmare. You're a teenage girl and suddenly all
your friends think they're looking at naked pictures of you,
and and and there was nothing she could do about it.
The boy they found out who did it, and and
(24:31):
and he did he did not get in significant trouble
and and and and she was frustrated out of her mind.
That now it's it's kind of a cool story. Uh,
how the take it down legislation happened? Which is she
she's a textan, she's a constituent. And so her mother
called my office and and described what had happened to
her to her daughter and said, look, can y'all help
(24:54):
help us with this? And and my team brought it
to my attention and I said, look, this is horrible.
Let's do something about it. And so Elliston was was
actually the inspiration for this legislation because I heard what
happened to her and I said, this isn't right. And
so we drafted the bill, and we invited Elliston and
(25:14):
her mom Anna to come up to DC and they
were at the press conference where we introduced the bill,
and Bennett was striking. We were meeting in my office
before the press conference and I was talking. This the
first time i'd met them in person, and I was
talking and I asked in the middle of the conversation,
I said, okay, so what happened to the pictures? And
they both looked at me in enormous frustration, and they
(25:36):
said they're still up. It had been nine months since
this had happened. And Elliston's mom said she had called
Snapchat repeatedly, she'd emailed them, and she just got the
stiff arm. She said it was they were just stonewalling.
They would get no response whatsoever. And so I turned
to my staff and I said, I want you to
get the CEO of Snapchat on the phone today and
(25:59):
I said I want this garbage down today. Within two
hours they'd pulled them down.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Incredible.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Now, look, it's maddening, but it shouldn't take a sitting
US senator making a phone call to the CEO to
get it down. The victims ought to have the right
to get it down. So what we wrote into the
Take It Down Act is Number One, we make it
a felony to post non consensual intimate images, either real pictures.
Let's say you have and real pictures can come from
(26:29):
a number of places. They can come from Number one,
people who are in a romantic relationship and they take
a picture, they take a video, and then they have
a breakup, and somebody's pissed and decide to post it
to the world. And that's a grotesque violation of privacy.
You don't have a right to do that to somebody else.
Or they can come from deep fakes, and we're seeing
(26:53):
the numbers. The numbers have increased three thousand percent of
deep fakes that are being put out the pictures but
they're real people, but fake either explicit pictures or in
some cases explicit videos that appear to be sexual videos
and they're generated by AI but nobody watching can tell.
(27:13):
And this is exploding. And one of the reasons you
need the legislation is a number of states of past
laws criminalizing revenge porn, but the laws often don't cover
deep fakes, that they only cover real pictures, and so
deep fakes fall into a hole in the law. And
I'll tell you, Ben, there's another instance where this happens,
which is kids are subject to human trafficking and are
(27:39):
sexually abused and violated, and you have the predators will
put those images out online. And the second component of
this bill is a requirement that any tech platform take
down these images or these videos once they're notified by
the victim, a legal requirement that once you're notified, you
(28:01):
got five forty eight hours to take it down or
else they face serious penalties. And that the number of
victims I've heard who have been so frustrated getting big
tech to act. In many ways, that's the most important
part of this bill is getting this garbage taking down
and creating a legal right for any victim to remove
(28:23):
the content.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
One of the things that I also love seeing now,
and I want you to expand on this just for
a moment, was the fact that when you guys had
this roundtable you mentioned Speaker Johnson was there. How important
is it to get legislation done that Republicans and the
senat are working with the Republicans in the House, because
this is that type of I call it harmony that
I know makes a huge difference in getting an idea
(28:48):
to become a reality.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Oh look, it's very important. And personal relationships make a difference.
I mean, I had dinner with Steve Scalise last week.
Steve is a good friend. Mike Johnson is a good friend.
Mike and I had dinner multiple times. We spent a
lot of time together. And and that's how you move
legislation is through personal relationships, through strategizing, through working together.
(29:11):
And so when when the first lady said she was coming,
I reached out and invited both of them, and invited
Brett Guthrie, who is the committee chairman of the Energy
and Commerce Committee, which is the committee that has jurisdiction
over this. It's it's the equivalent of the Senate Commerce
Committee that I'm the chairman of. And and Brett's a
friend as well. He and I have had dinner. I
mean a lot of what if you want to actually
(29:31):
move things through Congress, the personal relationships really matter. And
I got to say I was really excited because at
the State of the Union address, Elliston Barry was sitting
right next to Milania Trump. She was her guest, was
right there in the in the box. And actually President
Trump explicitly called on Congress to pass the Take It
(29:54):
Down Act. I want you to listen. This is the
President at the State of the Union calling on Congress act.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
And Berry who became a victim of an illicit deep
fake image produced by a peer with Elliston's help. The
Senate just passed the Take It Down Act, and this
is so important. Thank you very much, John, John Thune,
thank you, stand up, John, Thank you John, Thank you
(30:26):
all very much. Thank you, and thank you to John
Thune and the Senate. Great job to criminalize the publication
of such images online as a terrible, terrible thing. And
(30:46):
once it passes the House, I look forward to signing
that bill into law.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (30:53):
And I'm going to use that bill for myself too,
if you don't mind, because nobody gets treated worse than
I do online, nobody. That's great. Thank you very much
to the Senate.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
I mean, I love how they're just enthusiasm there's excitement, Yeah,
there's momentum.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, and it makes the chances. I think it's a certainty.
Now the House will take it up. As I said,
the Speaker and the Majority Leader both committed to doing
that and doing so quickly. And the President and First
Lady engaging just raises it on the priority list. So
that's really good. Elliston was there another teenage girl, Francesca Mani,
who's from New Jersey. She's the same age, fifteen. She
(31:34):
had the same month. This happened to Elliston in Texas,
the identical thing happened to Francesca in New Jersey. They
had the exact same experience. And both Elliston and Francesca
I've had testify at a field hearing I did on
the Take It Down Act that I held in Dallas,
and they both testified there. And these are two young
ladies who were really, really effective. Francesca was featured in
(31:58):
sixty Minutes. She's really powerful. Ellison and I did Good
Morning America together and she told her story there, and
I kind of tell you, she's so so articulate that
the Good Morning America host were laughing and saying that
Ellison was coming for their jobs and I think that's right.
Speaker 6 (32:15):
Here.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Listen to listen to Ellison telling a little bit of
her story in her own voice.
Speaker 9 (32:21):
I'm Ellison Barry. I'm fifteen years old. I'm from Fort Worth, Texas.
I was a survivor of aid fakes. A classmate of
mine targeted me and eight other of my friends and
put an innocent picture of Instagram through an AI ending
app that stripped our clothing off. And since you round
my whole school, I was able to get in touch
with Ted Cruz's office and we were able to write
(32:42):
up the Take It Down Act, which protects America's children
from these heinous acts. Thankfully, the First Lady's Office was
able to reach out, and it's really just been such
an amazing experience knowing that she has the heart for
my situation and that she cares, and that the overall
support behind this act in the situation is so amazing
(33:04):
and we are protecting the future generation.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
It's sad that this story has to even be a story,
but what an incredible young lady at fifteen to be
this articulate and to be able to understand that she
can help so many others and to contact your office
and that you were able to help her and so
many others.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
This way is just truly incredible.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
It is really powerful, and I'll tell you we had
multiple victims testify and sometimes the consequences of this are
even worse. And so I want you to give a
listen to the testimony of Brandon Guffey at the roundtable
to describing what happened with his son. Although the vast
majority of the targets of this abuse are women and
(33:47):
young girls, young boys can be targeted as well, and
the FBI has warned that there's a growing threat of
sextortion deliberately targeting minors online. Were evil people use either
real or fake explicit images to extort their victims, both
sexually and financially, and in some instances, the results can
(34:13):
be even more devastating and catastrophic. And that was the
tragic situation that that South Carolina State Representative Branded Guffey
and his family experienced in twenty twenty two. Representative Guffey,
would you please share what happened with your son?
Speaker 10 (34:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Senator Cruz.
Speaker 10 (34:35):
July twenty seventh, twenty twenty two. I lost my oldest
sign Gavin Guffy, to suicide. We quickly found out that
he was being extorted online, that someone pretending to be
a young female at another college requested images to be
shared back and forth, and as soon as he shared
(34:55):
those images, he took his life. It was an hour
more than forty minutes from the time that he was
contacted until the time that he took his life. At
that time, I had never heard of the crime of sextortion.
I was always a more liberty minded politician, even though
(35:18):
I hate to say that word, and you know, I
wanted freedom as much as possible. But as I started
looking into this, I started to see that big tech operates,
and they are the equivalent of big tobacco, of this
of today's generation. The account that targeted my son, that
caused him to take his life, was taken down online
(35:40):
once Homeland Security reached out. However, they left the additional
accounts up. If I send a friend request, I can
choose remove this account and any other accounts associated.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Yet they left these other.
Speaker 10 (35:55):
Accounts up, and those other accounts began to extort my
fourteen year old cousin, my sixteen year old son who
had just lost his brother, and myself as well, going
as far as sending a message saying did I tell
you that your son begged for his life. From that
day forward, I have made it my life's mission. Politics
(36:16):
are not to fight to protect children online. Since December
of twenty twenty two, whenever I took office, within four months,
we were able to pass Gavin's Law in South Carolina,
which criminalized digital sextortion. And the first person that we
were able to convict under Gavin's Law was actually under
(36:39):
an AI photograph. I have helped thousands of children since then.
Matter of fact, I've dealt with three within the past
forty eight hours. The families that are reaching out that
are being extorted in these situations. I've worked with groups
such as in Cozy and Nick Mack Here on the Hill.
I have showed up with parents and unfortunately, the amount
(37:03):
of parents that are losing children are growing daily. Since
my son took his life, there's been forty other teens
that are public about this. I can tell you there's
more than a dozen that I know of that just
do not feel comfortable share in their stories. But I'm
witnessing teens constantly take their life and as you said,
(37:24):
Senator Cruz, trying to get an image down. Now. Granted,
I'm just a state representative, but I have a little
bit more pull than the average citizen, and I'm able
to get some of these taken down occasionally, but that's
generally not the case. And with something such as take
it Down, it would allow families to be able to
have those images taken down and to have the voice
(37:49):
that my son did not have. There was no recourse
of being able to know, to be able to get
these images down, and in his mind one had his
back and this wasn't talked about. So since then it's
been my mission to speak up, scream it from the
mountaintops on how we have to hold big tech accountable
(38:13):
and take it down?
Speaker 5 (38:14):
Does that?
Speaker 10 (38:15):
So for everyone involved, I really thank you for your
involvement and urge for passage within the house.
Speaker 7 (38:23):
Santa.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
You hear that part of the story, and it's heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
It's also incredible to listen to a father making his
life's work to help others.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Afterwards, you know what a friggin nightmare You and I
are both dads. I mean, that's it's terrifying. And and
you know young people will anyone, but especially teenagers are
are targeted and victimized by this, and and and that's
why the bill, bill is really important, and it's it's
it's a huge problem. So listen, I'm grateful to the
first Lady, and I'm grateful to the President for for
(38:52):
for leading on this, and we're going to get it done.
And I'll tell you I told I told Brandon, I
told Elliston and Francisca and and all of the victim
advocates there that they're going to be in the Oval
Office for the bill signing. The President's going to sign
the bill and each one of them is going to
get a signing pen that they're going to get to
take home. And then that's you know, that's really who
(39:14):
we're fighting for, are the victims who are targeted here.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah, it's incredible. Make sure you share this podcast with
your family and friends. It is a really important one.
We did this Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can grab
my podcast a Ben Ferguson's show on those in between
days and we'll keep you up there in the latest
breaking news and the center and I will see you
back here for the week in review, the top stories
of the week on Saturday morning as well
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with
you and Senator there are a couple big issues we
get to deal with today that are really important, including
a shock that almost one hundred terror linked migrants were
released into the United States of America in twenty twenty
four a loan by the Biden administration.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
It really is a shocking story. Tulsea Gabbard revealed an
eagle pass in Texas that the intelligence community had informed
the Biden administration that of hundreds of terror linked illegal immigrants,
that roughly one hundred of them were arrested in twenty
twenty four, and that they released all but eight of
(00:42):
them after they knew that they were linked to terrorist organizations.
It's a shocking story. We're going to break it down
and give you the details. We're also going to talk
about the Take It Down Act. To Take It Down
Act is my legislation protecting women, protecting teenage girls, teenage
boys from revenge porn, from deep fakes online. And this
(01:02):
week the First Lady of the United States, Millennia Trump,
she came to the Capitol supporting my legislation. We did
a roundtable together, so we're gonna bring you into what
Milania had to say about to Take It Down Act,
and also President Trump at the State of the Union
praise the Senate for passing my Take It Down Act
unanimously and call it on the House to pass it.
We're going to bring you in that roundtable and you're
gonna hear what the first lady had to say and
(01:24):
what several of the victims had to say.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
All right, let me also remind you don't forget the
algorithms change and the way that podcasts change all the time.
So if you have not hit that subscribe button or
auto download button, make sure you check that hit the
save depending on where you're listening. And please, if you'll
help us by reaching we'll reach more people when you
guys share this pod on social media. So we do
(01:48):
the fight here every day to try to get you
great intel and information what's happening in DC and around
the country and really around the world. So make sure
you share this podcast on social media. Helps tremendously for
us to each new people and change hearts and minds.
So let's go back center to this headline. Almost one
hundred terrace linked migrants released in twenty twenty four. The
(02:11):
part that I think we really should hone in on
is this wasn't an accident. It wasn't like a misappropriation
of paperwork. This was done on purpose.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, they knew, they had full knowledge. And look, don't
take my word for it. Listen to Tulsa Gabbard and
what she said this week down in Texas at the
Eagle Pass. Give a listen.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Pump has been in office. Really what you're seeing here
today and what you'll continue to see as a unified
effort across President Trump's National security team, the Department of
Homeland Security towards our mission, which is to ensure a safe, free,
and prosperous society for Americans. As Director of National Intelligence,
there are a number.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Of areas where we are focused.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
The President talked about in his speech. Over twenty one
million people have come across our borders illegally under Joe
by administration. There are many of them that we don't
know who they are. They have not been vetted, we
don't know where they are. I'll give you one quick
example of one of the problems that we are getting
after from Central Asia. There were over four thousand people
(03:14):
who came across our borders using an ISIS affiliated network,
Our National counter Terrorism Center went through and identified those individuals.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
There were hundreds of them who.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Were either known terrorists or associated with known terrorists. That
information was provided to the Biden administration.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
You may remember in some of the news a little
over one.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Hundred of those people were arrested in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 5 (03:39):
Of those who were.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Arrested, only eight were either deported or remained in custody
only eight. The rest of them were released back into
our country. Where are they, what are they doing? What
may they be plotting? This is just the beginning. There
are many many areas that we need to stay very
focused on, working with Department of Homeland Secure already working
(04:00):
with the FBI to ensure that we're keeping the American
people safe. Our counter Terrorism Center is working on making
sure that we have that single source for vetting so
that we can figure out who is actually in our
country and identify those who pose a threat and get
them removed.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
The President's designation.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Of the cartels as foreign terrorists organizations falls directly into this,
especially as we're seeing some of the tactics that these
cartels are using reflect some of the tactics that we've
seen used by Islamus terris in countries that many of
us have served in overseas.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
Our mission is very clear.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Our objective is to keep the American people safe.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
I'm grateful to be.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
A part of this team that President Trump has assembled
to accomplish that mission.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
I love the focus.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
The Vice President was down there as well the team,
and you compare that to the borders. Are who never
decided to go to egle Pass didn't want anything to
do with it. And now we understand again more why
because they knew they were doing all of the things
that they were doing to put America's national security at risk.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Yeah, and it's worth really focusing on the facts that
Tulsi Gabbert, who is now the Director of National Intelligence,
what she said. She said from Central Asia there were
more than four thousand people who came across our borders
using an ISIS affiliated network. So isis you know, kind
of bad guys, terrorists who've killed lots and lots of Americans.
(05:24):
They're smuggling over four thousand people illegally into this country
from Central Asia. By the way, Central Asia includes multiple
Islamic countries like Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, where radical Islamic terrorism
is a real threat, and Tulsi said, the National counter
Terrorism Center went through and identified those over four thousand individuals,
(05:47):
and there were hundreds of them, hundreds of the word
she used, who were either known terrorists or associated with
known terrorists. And then she says, quote that in nation
was provided to the Biden administration, So the Biden administration
knew hundreds of either known terrorists or people associated with
(06:09):
known terrorists were smuggled into America illegally by an ISIS
affiliated network. And then she goes on to say, in
twenty twenty four, a little over one hundred of those
terror leaked people were rested. And then the shocking thing
of the little more than one hundred, only eight were
(06:33):
either deported or remained in custody. Only eight quote the
rest of them were released back into our country. So
this is not illegal aliens crossing the border that get
apprehended at they let them go, but they don't know
their terrorists. These are people they know are either themselves
(06:55):
known terrorists or associated with known terrorists. They also know
that they were smuggled into this country by an ISIS
affiliated network, and they were arrested again. And yet over
ninety of them, nearly one hundred the Biden administration released
into America into your community, into my community in a
(07:17):
single year. This isn't twenty twenty four. That is stunning.
And I got to tell you, bet, I've never heard
a single Democrat give any justification for what is just idiocy.
Let's release terror linked illegal immigrants into America. What possibly
could go wrong with that?
Speaker 2 (07:38):
When you look at the and you sometimes it's just
people are stupid, is it?
Speaker 1 (07:43):
But it also could be more I could be more
sinister than that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I guess I look at this, I'm like they knew it,
did They just not want to admit that the open
border would allow for so many bad actors to come across,
with many that may just be coming across right for
a better life, a job if you put it in
the best like possible center. And so they knew that
if they admitted they caught these people and then they
(08:07):
didn't release them, and they actually prosecuted them or sent
them back to their country, there's a lot of options
here that was going to sign a huge light on
the problem. So therefore, hey, we can't admit it's happening.
So we're just gonna go with this anarchy and in
Sandy till the end.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Look, Bet, I really don't know. You know, I had
my very first boss at a phrase he used to say.
He said, never attribute to incompetence and never attribute to malice.
What can be explained with incompetence? And look, I think
there's a lot of wisdom to that that A lot
of times people are just they just do dumb things.
That being said, Listen, I do I believe the Biden
(08:47):
administration wants terrorists to attack America. No, but then why
the hell would you release these people? And I guess
the only plausible explanation I can come up with is
there're such radicals on open borders. They're so committed to
their open borders because they want millions and millions of
(09:07):
illegal immigrants, because they they view them as future Democrat
voters that they're just deportation was off the table. They're
not in that business. They don't do it. I don't know. Listen,
this is related to a story we covered in a
pod a couple weeks ago. We're in Massachusetts right now.
They're taking violent child abusers, child molesters, people who are
(09:30):
raping children, who are illegal aliens, and even with violent
child rapists, the Massachusetts authorities are releasing them rather than
give them over to Ice to be deported. Now, look,
reasonable people, you could have an argument about what should
be the level of illegal immigration. You could. There are
all sorts of things you'd have reasonable disagreements on. But
(09:51):
I mean, Ben explained to me why someone says, you
know what we need more of, We need more child
rapists in our community. Let's let these go. Like I
my brain cannot wrap itself around those repeated actions. And
yet that's what's happening. This is the same sort of thing.
You apprehend someone who's a known terrorist who was smuggled
(10:12):
into America by ISIS, and you say, oh, let's let
them go, Like like I, I don't know. You know.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
The poll numbers that came out from the present speech
the other night were truly incredible. Seventy six percent approved
of Trump's address to Congress. That is a massive win
for the president. You look at some of the other
ones and poll numbers. Not only that, ninety one percent
said Trump spent time on issues they cared about.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah, that is a home run.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Seventy one percent said the speech was quote inspiring, and
sixty two percent said it was unifying. And they said
that this speech sixty eight percent, so they felt hopeful,
fifty four percent, so they felt proud of the country
from the speech. And when you look at these numbers,
even on the issue of inflation, where Democrats leaned in
(11:02):
heavy over the last few weeks to try to say
everything that's you know, eggs and everything else are the
problem of Donald Trump, the American people aren't buying that either.
When they were asked for the president a clear plan
to battle inflation, sixty eight percent said yes to that
as well. And then on the issue of immigration at
the border, the people watched in seventy seven percent said
(11:25):
they were in favor of Donald Trump's plan on immigration
at the border. When you see this right and you
look at what the President's saying, and then all those
that are working towards this, you've got the Vice president,
you've got Tolca, you've got the Secretary of State. Everyone
seems to be in lockstep on this issue of the border.
Is that the reason why you think the president's winning
(11:48):
so much right now on securing this border, because he's
explaining it the way we are right now as well.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Because he is not absolutely frigging nuts. Yes, I think
the Democrat Party has gone insane. Releasing murderers and rapists
and child molesters into America is a really bad idea,
and it turns out it's a really unpopular idea. Releasing
terrorists into America is a really bad idea, and it
turns out it's a really unpopular idea. Look, you and
(12:16):
I the we covered did a pod the night of
the State of the Union, uh, and we talked a
lot about how the Democrats, for the first time ever,
didn't applaud for the President of the United States, didn't
stand for the president of the United States, didn't applaud
and anything. I'll tell you. Actually, yesterday and the Senate
Jim I had a conversation with a Senate Democrat. I'll
(12:36):
keep him anonymous, but he was a Senate Democrat, one
of my colleagues, and he made a comment. He said
something about he thought we were just living in a
surreal world. And I said, look, I got to say,
I was shocked that you guys didn't applaud or stand
for the president at all. And he and he was like, well,
(13:01):
you got to understand. We just think he's destroying the constitution.
And I said, look, I stood and applauded every year
for Barack Obama, I stood and applauded every year for
Joe Biden. And I disagreed with almost everything they were doing,
but I respect the office and I respect the American people.
And he just kind of shrugged and said, we're living
(13:21):
in different universes and where our bases are fundamentally different.
You look at Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
He also announced a policy to penalize foreign countries that
allow the transit of illegal immigrants and is pressuring many
countries that refuse to accept to the return of their
migrants as well. This could also have a big impact
on this country. I want to get your thoughts on that.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Yeah, look, this administration is securing the border. They're doing
it right now, and they are going to deport illegal aliens.
They are going to send out of the country, especially
the violet criminal illegal aliens, the murderers, the rapists, the
child molesters, the gangbangers, and the countries that don't take it,
they're they're going to make them take it. And that's
(14:12):
what a strong president who's actually defending this country.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Does all right, I want to move on to this
other really important issue, and I want to say, sincerely, Senator,
thank you for leading on the Take It Down Act.
It is going to have a huge impact in this
country at protecting people against deep fake porn and people
(14:35):
that are trying to harm them, especially young girls. You've
highlighted it and explained it, and the First Lady is
now all in on this issue as well. And you
guys had a round table on Capitol Hill talk a
little bit about this.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Well. Yeah, So the First Lady came this week to
Capitol Hill and this is the first legislative issue she's
gotten involved in this term, and she's leaned in hard
in support of my Take It Down legislation. And so
we did a roundtable that she came and participated in,
and we had several of the victims who had been
targeted share their stories and it was really powerful and
(15:13):
her leadership will really have a powerful effect here. I
want you to listen. These are my opening remarks at
the roundtable. Give a listen. Start by thanking the First
Lady for joining us today and thank you for your
support of this incredibly important Legislation to Take It Down Act,
which has already passed the Senate unanimously, and I am
(15:34):
hopeful that the House will soon take it up and
pass it and put it on the President's desk to
be signed into law to protect young women and young
boys and all of those who are being victimized across
the country. I also want to thank our brave victims
and victim advocates who are here. Alliston Barry, Francesca Mani,
(15:56):
Brandon Guffey, and Breezeloo. Thank you for being here. Each
of you have endured the unspeakable and your courage standing
up and speaking for others is really remarkable. I also
want to thank Stephan Turkheimer with Rain for your advocacy
and support on this issue as well. Thank you for
(16:16):
your leadership. And of course I want to thank Senator Klobuchar,
who is the lead Democrat sponsor in the Senate, and
Representative Salazar and Representative Dean who are the lead sponsors
in the House, who've worked alongside in this important bipartisan legislation.
If you're a victim of revenge porn or AI generated
(16:40):
explicit imagery, your life changes forever. Most likely you've been
targeted by someone you know, and you're likely struggling to
have that material removed from the Internet. Disturbingly, many of
these victims are teenagers at American high schools who are
(17:01):
facing a surge in AI generated sexual images. Hundreds of teens,
often targeted by their own classmates, are enduring senseless psychological
harm knowing that these fake images exist and they're still
out there, and in many case there's no recourse for
(17:21):
these teenage victims. But this issue extends beyond high school.
There are thousands of cases where predators have used non
consensual intimate images to extort victims, both sexually and financially,
and the results can be even more traumatic than financial loss,
(17:46):
as we'll here today. In dozens of instances, parents and
siblings have suffered unbearable pain, having lost their child, or
their brother or their sister to suicide because the victim
felt there was no way out from sextorship outside of
(18:08):
high school. Many adults are also dealing with the very
real and dire consequences of having their sexually explicit images
shared online without their consent. I have heard from victims
of sexual abuse, of rape, of human trafficking who strongly
(18:28):
support the Take It Down Act because they desperately want
some of the most traumatic moments of their lives taken
off the Internet. The Take It Down Act empowers victims
across the entire United States. It makes it a felony
for these deviants to publish any non consensual intimate images,
(18:50):
including fake lifelike pornographic images of real people. Just as
importantly are by partisan bill requires big tech to have
a notice and takedown process so that every victimized American,
not just the rich and famous, but everyone, has a
(19:12):
right to get these disturbing images taken offline immediately. We
are today one step closer to making this dream of reality.
Just three weeks ago, the Senate unanimously passed to Take
It Down Act. Now it goes to my House, colleagues,
and I have every assurance and confidence that the House
(19:34):
will take it, take this up, pass it, and put
it on the President's desk so that we can protect
the victims of these predators. And we're very excited to
be joined today by the First Lady of the United States,
Milania Trump. Missus Trump has long been a champion for
protecting our nation's children with her be best initiative and
(19:57):
I can think of no more important issue for our
First Lady to lie than protecting children online. Your success
will mean our children's success and healing for thousands of victims.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I mean, it's incredible this legislation, and it's also awesome
to see the First Lady coming to the forefront on
this issue and saying I want to champion this as well.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Look, it was tremendously important. She reached out, she wanted
to do this, She actively participated in the roundtable. And
here I want to play a moment of what she
had to say at the round table. Here's the First Lady,
Milania Trump.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
I was hard to learn that Senator CRUs and Senator
Toobchi united to prioritize these famenta.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
There I must the lead.
Speaker 8 (20:47):
However, I expected to see more de mocrats leaders.
Speaker 7 (20:52):
In US to add any serious issue. Surely, as adult,
you are a THI American's children are head of farms
and policies.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
I urge Congress to.
Speaker 8 (21:07):
To prioritize the passage of the taking Down EQUIL. This
limization essential for addressing the growing concerns related to online safety,
protecting individual rounds, and promoting a healthier digital environment by
(21:27):
advocating you bi, Congress.
Speaker 7 (21:30):
Can take an important step towards ensuring accountability and postling
responsibly online aviation to take it down, and he represents
power from step to justice.
Speaker 8 (21:45):
Healing and unity.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
The first Lady there, and I do love that she
was honest. She's like, how are there not more Democrats
with this?
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Well, and look it's the answer is the anger and
rage we saw at the State of the Union. They're
just filled with anger and rage. But I will say
the fact that the first Lady got involved. So last
year we passed the Take It Down Act out of
the Senate. We got it passed out of the Senate
and went to the House and unfortunately the House did
not take it up and pass it. Now, the House
(22:18):
tried to, and they actually had it attached to the
continuing Resolution at the end of the year, and then
it dropped out at the end of the day. And
so here's how this happens. When the First Lady wanted
to come, she came, and we invited multiple victims to
tell their stories and it was very powerful. But we
also invited the Speaker of the House and the majority
(22:42):
leader in the House, and so both Speaker Johnson and
leader Scalise came and then both Mike and Steve are
good friends. But look, what are the challenges of getting
any legislation to move in either body is getting leadership
to prioritize it. There are lots of priorities, There are
lots of people pulling it all to different directions, and
so you're always battling to say, Okay, this should be
(23:05):
high enough up on the priority list to move And
the fact that the first lady leaned in now makes
it a certainty. Both the Speaker and the majority leader committed.
The House will take it up and they will pass it,
and I think they're going to do so quickly. And
Elliston Berry. So Elliston was there, and she is she's
from Texas. She is a fifteen year old girl. And
(23:28):
what happened to her She's from Aledo, Texas, up in
North Texas. And what happened to her is is is
she woke up one morning and she was in ninth
grade and she was getting all these texts and calls
from her friends. And it turns out a classmate of hers,
a boy in her class, took a perfectly innocent picture
of her from social media and used an app an
(23:50):
ai app to create a deep fake that turned her
picture into naked pictures. Now it wasn't real, but anyone
looking at it with think it was real. It appeared
to be real. And then this, this, this, this ninth
grader emailed it, or not emailed it, but sent it
on snapchat to to all of her classmates. And and
(24:11):
so she woke up, you know, just in tears because
all of her classmates. I mean, look, remember how hard
freshman year is. It's hard to be a teenager. And
and the nightmare. You're a teenage girl and suddenly all
your friends think they're looking at naked pictures of you,
and and and there was nothing she could do about it.
The boy they found out who did it, and and
(24:31):
and he did he did not get in significant trouble
and and and and she was frustrated out of her mind.
That now it's it's kind of a cool story. Uh,
how the take it down legislation happened? Which is she
she's a textan, she's a constituent. And so her mother
called my office and and described what had happened to
her to her daughter and said, look, can y'all help
(24:54):
help us with this? And and my team brought it
to my attention and I said, look, this is horrible.
Let's do something about it. And so Elliston was was
actually the inspiration for this legislation because I heard what
happened to her and I said, this isn't right. And
so we drafted the bill, and we invited Elliston and
(25:14):
her mom Anna to come up to DC and they
were at the press conference where we introduced the bill,
and Bennett was striking. We were meeting in my office
before the press conference and I was talking. This the
first time i'd met them in person, and I was
talking and I asked in the middle of the conversation,
I said, okay, so what happened to the pictures? And
they both looked at me in enormous frustration, and they
(25:36):
said they're still up. It had been nine months since
this had happened. And Elliston's mom said she had called
Snapchat repeatedly, she'd emailed them, and she just got the
stiff arm. She said it was they were just stonewalling.
They would get no response whatsoever. And so I turned
to my staff and I said, I want you to
get the CEO of Snapchat on the phone today and
(25:59):
I said I want this garbage down today. Within two
hours they'd pulled them down.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Incredible.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Now, look, it's maddening, but it shouldn't take a sitting
US senator making a phone call to the CEO to
get it down. The victims ought to have the right
to get it down. So what we wrote into the
Take It Down Act is Number One, we make it
a felony to post non consensual intimate images, either real pictures.
Let's say you have and real pictures can come from
(26:29):
a number of places. They can come from Number one,
people who are in a romantic relationship and they take
a picture, they take a video, and then they have
a breakup, and somebody's pissed and decide to post it
to the world. And that's a grotesque violation of privacy.
You don't have a right to do that to somebody else.
Or they can come from deep fakes, and we're seeing
(26:53):
the numbers. The numbers have increased three thousand percent of
deep fakes that are being put out the pictures but
they're real people, but fake either explicit pictures or in
some cases explicit videos that appear to be sexual videos
and they're generated by AI but nobody watching can tell.
(27:13):
And this is exploding. And one of the reasons you
need the legislation is a number of states of past
laws criminalizing revenge porn, but the laws often don't cover
deep fakes, that they only cover real pictures, and so
deep fakes fall into a hole in the law. And
I'll tell you, Ben, there's another instance where this happens,
which is kids are subject to human trafficking and are
(27:39):
sexually abused and violated, and you have the predators will
put those images out online. And the second component of
this bill is a requirement that any tech platform take
down these images or these videos once they're notified by
the victim, a legal requirement that once you're notified, you
(28:01):
got five forty eight hours to take it down or
else they face serious penalties. And that the number of
victims I've heard who have been so frustrated getting big
tech to act. In many ways, that's the most important
part of this bill is getting this garbage taking down
and creating a legal right for any victim to remove
(28:23):
the content.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
One of the things that I also love seeing now,
and I want you to expand on this just for
a moment, was the fact that when you guys had
this roundtable you mentioned Speaker Johnson was there. How important
is it to get legislation done that Republicans and the
senat are working with the Republicans in the House, because
this is that type of I call it harmony that
I know makes a huge difference in getting an idea
(28:48):
to become a reality.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Oh look, it's very important. And personal relationships make a difference.
I mean, I had dinner with Steve Scalise last week.
Steve is a good friend. Mike Johnson is a good friend.
Mike and I had dinner multiple times. We spent a
lot of time together. And and that's how you move
legislation is through personal relationships, through strategizing, through working together.
(29:11):
And so when when the first lady said she was coming,
I reached out and invited both of them, and invited
Brett Guthrie, who is the committee chairman of the Energy
and Commerce Committee, which is the committee that has jurisdiction
over this. It's it's the equivalent of the Senate Commerce
Committee that I'm the chairman of. And and Brett's a
friend as well. He and I have had dinner. I
mean a lot of what if you want to actually
(29:31):
move things through Congress, the personal relationships really matter. And
I got to say I was really excited because at
the State of the Union address, Elliston Barry was sitting
right next to Milania Trump. She was her guest, was
right there in the in the box. And actually President
Trump explicitly called on Congress to pass the Take It
(29:54):
Down Act. I want you to listen. This is the
President at the State of the Union calling on Congress act.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
And Berry who became a victim of an illicit deep
fake image produced by a peer with Elliston's help. The
Senate just passed the Take It Down Act, and this
is so important. Thank you very much, John, John Thune,
thank you, stand up, John, Thank you John, Thank you
(30:26):
all very much. Thank you, and thank you to John
Thune and the Senate. Great job to criminalize the publication
of such images online as a terrible, terrible thing. And
(30:46):
once it passes the House, I look forward to signing
that bill into law.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (30:53):
And I'm going to use that bill for myself too,
if you don't mind, because nobody gets treated worse than
I do online, nobody. That's great. Thank you very much
to the Senate.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
I mean, I love how they're just enthusiasm there's excitement, Yeah,
there's momentum.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, and it makes the chances. I think it's a certainty.
Now the House will take it up. As I said,
the Speaker and the Majority Leader both committed to doing
that and doing so quickly. And the President and First
Lady engaging just raises it on the priority list. So
that's really good. Elliston was there another teenage girl, Francesca Mani,
who's from New Jersey. She's the same age, fifteen. She
(31:34):
had the same month. This happened to Elliston in Texas,
the identical thing happened to Francesca in New Jersey. They
had the exact same experience. And both Elliston and Francesca
I've had testify at a field hearing I did on
the Take It Down Act that I held in Dallas,
and they both testified there. And these are two young
ladies who were really, really effective. Francesca was featured in
(31:58):
sixty Minutes. She's really powerful. Ellison and I did Good
Morning America together and she told her story there, and
I kind of tell you, she's so so articulate that
the Good Morning America host were laughing and saying that
Ellison was coming for their jobs and I think that's right.
Speaker 6 (32:15):
Here.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Listen to listen to Ellison telling a little bit of
her story in her own voice.
Speaker 9 (32:21):
I'm Ellison Barry. I'm fifteen years old. I'm from Fort Worth, Texas.
I was a survivor of aid fakes. A classmate of
mine targeted me and eight other of my friends and
put an innocent picture of Instagram through an AI ending
app that stripped our clothing off. And since you round
my whole school, I was able to get in touch
with Ted Cruz's office and we were able to write
(32:42):
up the Take It Down Act, which protects America's children
from these heinous acts. Thankfully, the First Lady's Office was
able to reach out, and it's really just been such
an amazing experience knowing that she has the heart for
my situation and that she cares, and that the overall
support behind this act in the situation is so amazing
(33:04):
and we are protecting the future generation.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
It's sad that this story has to even be a story,
but what an incredible young lady at fifteen to be
this articulate and to be able to understand that she
can help so many others and to contact your office
and that you were able to help her and so
many others.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
This way is just truly incredible.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
It is really powerful, and I'll tell you we had
multiple victims testify and sometimes the consequences of this are
even worse. And so I want you to give a
listen to the testimony of Brandon Guffey at the roundtable
to describing what happened with his son. Although the vast
majority of the targets of this abuse are women and
(33:47):
young girls, young boys can be targeted as well, and
the FBI has warned that there's a growing threat of
sextortion deliberately targeting minors online. Were evil people use either
real or fake explicit images to extort their victims, both
sexually and financially, and in some instances, the results can
(34:13):
be even more devastating and catastrophic. And that was the
tragic situation that that South Carolina State Representative Branded Guffey
and his family experienced in twenty twenty two. Representative Guffey,
would you please share what happened with your son?
Speaker 10 (34:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Senator Cruz.
Speaker 10 (34:35):
July twenty seventh, twenty twenty two. I lost my oldest
sign Gavin Guffy, to suicide. We quickly found out that
he was being extorted online, that someone pretending to be
a young female at another college requested images to be
shared back and forth, and as soon as he shared
(34:55):
those images, he took his life. It was an hour
more than forty minutes from the time that he was
contacted until the time that he took his life. At
that time, I had never heard of the crime of sextortion.
I was always a more liberty minded politician, even though
(35:18):
I hate to say that word, and you know, I
wanted freedom as much as possible. But as I started
looking into this, I started to see that big tech operates,
and they are the equivalent of big tobacco, of this
of today's generation. The account that targeted my son, that
caused him to take his life, was taken down online
(35:40):
once Homeland Security reached out. However, they left the additional
accounts up. If I send a friend request, I can
choose remove this account and any other accounts associated.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Yet they left these other.
Speaker 10 (35:55):
Accounts up, and those other accounts began to extort my
fourteen year old cousin, my sixteen year old son who
had just lost his brother, and myself as well, going
as far as sending a message saying did I tell
you that your son begged for his life. From that
day forward, I have made it my life's mission. Politics
(36:16):
are not to fight to protect children online. Since December
of twenty twenty two, whenever I took office, within four months,
we were able to pass Gavin's Law in South Carolina,
which criminalized digital sextortion. And the first person that we
were able to convict under Gavin's Law was actually under
(36:39):
an AI photograph. I have helped thousands of children since then.
Matter of fact, I've dealt with three within the past
forty eight hours. The families that are reaching out that
are being extorted in these situations. I've worked with groups
such as in Cozy and Nick Mack Here on the Hill.
I have showed up with parents and unfortunately, the amount
(37:03):
of parents that are losing children are growing daily. Since
my son took his life, there's been forty other teens
that are public about this. I can tell you there's
more than a dozen that I know of that just
do not feel comfortable share in their stories. But I'm
witnessing teens constantly take their life and as you said,
(37:24):
Senator Cruz, trying to get an image down. Now. Granted,
I'm just a state representative, but I have a little
bit more pull than the average citizen, and I'm able
to get some of these taken down occasionally, but that's
generally not the case. And with something such as take
it Down, it would allow families to be able to
have those images taken down and to have the voice
(37:49):
that my son did not have. There was no recourse
of being able to know, to be able to get
these images down, and in his mind one had his
back and this wasn't talked about. So since then it's
been my mission to speak up, scream it from the
mountaintops on how we have to hold big tech accountable
(38:13):
and take it down?
Speaker 5 (38:14):
Does that?
Speaker 10 (38:15):
So for everyone involved, I really thank you for your
involvement and urge for passage within the house.
Speaker 7 (38:23):
Santa.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
You hear that part of the story, and it's heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
It's also incredible to listen to a father making his
life's work to help others.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Afterwards, you know what a friggin nightmare You and I
are both dads. I mean, that's it's terrifying. And and
you know young people will anyone, but especially teenagers are
are targeted and victimized by this, and and and that's
why the bill, bill is really important, and it's it's
it's a huge problem. So listen, I'm grateful to the
first Lady, and I'm grateful to the President for for
(38:52):
for leading on this, and we're going to get it done.
And I'll tell you I told I told Brandon, I
told Elliston and Francisca and and all of the victim
advocates there that they're going to be in the Oval
Office for the bill signing. The President's going to sign
the bill and each one of them is going to
get a signing pen that they're going to get to
take home. And then that's you know, that's really who
(39:14):
we're fighting for, are the victims who are targeted here.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah, it's incredible. Make sure you share this podcast with
your family and friends. It is a really important one.
We did this Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can grab
my podcast a Ben Ferguson's show on those in between
days and we'll keep you up there in the latest
breaking news and the center and I will see you
back here for the week in review, the top stories
of the week on Saturday morning as well
Host
Ben Ferguson
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