January 22, 2025 • 29 mins
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VerdictwithTedCruz
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson
with you and Senator Cruz unfortunately could not do the
show with me right now because he has lost his voice.
He did, however, I have enough strength to deal with
questioning today of elist tephonic and the confirmation hearing, and
I'm going to have that for you. Plus we're going
to talk about the big news of Donald Trump saying
(00:23):
we're gonna have a ninety day moratorium on fourign A.
What does that mean, Well, it means that Marco Rubio
is going to have a lot to look at when
it comes to where your tax dollars are going. And
I'm gonna have for you back from January seventeenth, Marco
Rubio and Ted Cruz's conversation on the three questions that
he said he'll ask regarding every state department program. Before
(00:47):
we get into that, though, I want to talk to
you about my friends at IFCJ. I want to say,
first off, to so many of you that listened to Verdict,
thank you for your help for the people in his
On January twenty seventh, it is the International Holocaust Remembrance
Day that is less than a week away. Is the
day that we remember the great evil of the Holocaust,
(01:10):
when millions of Jews were slaughtered during the Nazis reign
of terror. Today, the rise in global anti Semitism and
the constant attacks on Israel show us that it's more
important than ever to remember the atrocites of the Holocaust
to ensure it never happens again. And that's why I
am proud to partner with the International Fellowship of Christians
(01:31):
and Jews. They do incredible work. With your help, they
provide food, shelter, and safety to Jews in Israel and
around the world, including those remaining Holocaust survivors. Now your
donation will help provide that food, water, medicine, and other
basic necesses to Jewish communities. Your donations have also paid
(01:53):
for bomb shelters and armored ambulances just to get people
of the hospital in areas where the terror attack and
your gift well, it allows for the world to see
that there are still many of us that stand with
the Jewish people and against the growing anti Semitism and
hatred that we're seeing right now. So to show your support,
(02:13):
I ask you to visit support IFCJ dot org. That's
one word support if CJ dot org. You can also
call to donate eight eight eight for eight eight IFCJ
that's eight eight eight for eight eight if CJ, or
support i FCJ dot org. So, as I mentioned earlier,
(02:37):
Senator Cruz has lost his voice. I could literally not
even talk to him earlier. We were having to communicate
in texts. But what he did do today was some
pretty incredible work on the Hill. Senator Cruz question at
least a phonic and the confirmation hearing, and I want
you to hear what he had to say. Also, I'm
going to play for you in a moment the back
and forth with Marco Rubio and what is changing at
(02:59):
the time State Department. This in light of the big
breaking news from the President about pausing foreign aid for
ninety days.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
After that, I'm also going to have something else for you.
There's also a new morning podcast that I'm the host
of called The forty seven Morning Update. It gives you
the biggest news in a short form podcast ten to
twelve minutes of what is going to happen each and
every day in Donald Trump's administration from the Oval Office.
We'll have that for you as well, But first take
(03:29):
a listen to what Senator Cruz had to say today
on Capitol Hill in the questioning of Elie staphonic.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Congratulations on your nomination.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
You're going to be terrific.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I want to go back to topic you discussed with
Senator Cornyn. I want to focus on a Ram's push
to build a nuclear arsenal, which poses I think the
most immediate and acute threat to American national security. When
the Iatola chance death to America, he means it, and
(04:00):
I believe he would absolutely detonate a nuclear weapon over
an American city if he could. The Trump administration got
Iran's nuclear program in a box and kept it there.
President Trump withdrew from the catastrophic Obama Iran nuclear deal
in twenty eighteen. He imposed maximum pressure in twenty nineteen.
(04:22):
He invoked the UN snapback mechanism in the UN Security
Council Resolution two two three one to reimpose international sanctions
in twenty twenty. For that entire time, Iran was deterred
from making significant advances on their nuclear program. They did
not even enrich uranium above five percent or cascade advanced centrifuges.
(04:47):
Starting in November twenty twenty, the Iranian regime gambled that
it could start rushing to a nuclear arsenal and the
incoming Biden administration would let them. Unfortunately proved correct. In November,
the regime approved a new law calling for major nuclear advances.
In January, they started enriching at twenty percent at fordoh
(05:12):
the underground enrichment bunker built into a mountain that the
Obama Iran nuclear deal left open. The incoming and Biden
administration responded with appeasement. In February, immediately after being inaugurated,
they rushed to the UN to rescind President Trump's snapback,
(05:33):
again allowing international sanctions to expire for the next four years.
The administration continually dismantled pressure on the regime and refused
to impose sanctions. We know the result today, the Ayatola
has achieved a nuclear breakout time of zero. We now
(05:56):
face the very real possibility of an Iranian nuclear arsenal.
I do not believe that this is a threat the
US can tolerate, and I am confident that both the
President and Secretary of State Rubio agree. I ask Secretary
of State Rubio whether he intends to go to the
United Nations, and again trigger the snapback mechanism. As a
(06:18):
part of his written testimony to this committee. Here was
Secretary of Rubio's response, quote, I believe it is in
our national security interest for the UN Security Council to
snap back the sanctions that were suspended under the JCPOA.
I will execute the President's guidance and work with our
allies to ensure that snapback takes place. First, do you
(06:44):
agree with Secretary of Rubio's assessment that it is in
the national security interests of the United States to snap
back those sanctions? Yes, talk about how you would execute
a strategy to do so, either unilaterally or working with allies.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
That will be a strategy that I developed with the
National Security Council, in tandem with Secretary of Rubio and
President Trump, to work with our allies within the United Nations,
within the Security Council. And there are allies that are
already considering this and looking at it, and that has
been publicly reported. But obviously, pushing back on Iran is
a top priority. It was a success during President Trump's
(07:22):
first term, and we've seen the catastrophic results in loss
of life during the previous four years. When you have
had an embolded Iran that has led to directly the
October seventh terrorist attack against Israel and his Belah firing
tens of thousands of rockets against Israeli civilians.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Let's move to another topic. You and I talked about
the deep rot in the United Nations when it comes
to supporting terrorism against America and our allies, especially Israel.
As you discussed with Senator McCormick, UNRA has for decades
provided material support for Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza.
World Health Organization has also been deeply complicit in the
(08:03):
use of hospitals by Hamas for terrorist activities, including for
the holding of hostages. The complicity of these organizations deepened
after October seventh, the Biden administration embraced UNRA, and the
World Health Organization. Congress prohibited the Biden administration from funding UNRA,
but the administration officials circumvented that prohibition by using UNRA infrastructure. Yesterday,
(08:28):
the President rightly and immediately withdrew our participation from them.
I think that was a critical first step. But the
next step is to enable American citizens to hold these
organizations accountable.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
We currently have a very odd.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Legal environment where these organizations enjoy more sovereign immunity than
states and thus are shielded from accountability. Last Congress, I
introduced the Liable Act and was joined by four current
members of this Committee, including as well as Secretary of
State Rubio. The bill will allow American victims of terrorism
and their family to sue international organizations that support terrorism
(09:05):
against this I will soon reintroduce it in this Congress.
What is your understanding of the role these organizations have
played in facilitating terrorism against Americans, Israelis and our allies.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
Well, UNRA, there were individuals in UNRA who participated, who
executed and committed terrorist acts against Israel. On October seventh, Sinwar,
the leader of HAMAS carried an UNRA passport. You had
a HAMAS data center under UNRA headquarters. So the rot
is deep. Congress made the right decision. I was proud
(09:39):
to be one of the leaders when it came to
defunding UNRA, and I am committed to holding them accountable
and working with the US Senate and the US House
and the President if that legislation passes.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Pterfect, thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Now.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
There's also other big news that we want to talk about,
and that deals with the Secretary of State. The Secretary
of State now has an even bigger job than any
Secretary of State had during the time of Joe Biden
Kamala Harris being in office. And what's really cool about
what's happening now is Donald Trump is empowering leaders to
(10:13):
do their job.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Now, there was some big breaking news, and that is
that President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending all
US foreign assistance programs for ninety days, pending a comprehensive
review to ensure their alignment with his administration's policy objectives. Now,
this suspension affects a wide range of global initiatives, including
humanitarian aid, economic development, and health programs. Notably, the US
(10:39):
contributes approximately seventy point three billion annually in foreign aid,
supporting various international efforts. So what did the President do.
He said it's time for all of this to go
back under a review and is calling out other countries
for what he described was not paying their fair share.
Who's going to be looking over this, well, that would
(11:00):
be Marco Rubio. He will do a deep dive into
where your tax tours are going and then come back
with recommendations. What's also interesting is how this relates back
to Marco Rubio and his conversation with Senator Cruz on
January seventeenth. Take a listen to what he had to say.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Then, thank you, mister chairman. And I got to say, boy,
that sounds good.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Mister chairman, that is as good as it sounds to me.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Thank you well, congratulations and I'm looking forward to the
next two years working together. Thank you and the Sener Rubio,
let me say congratulations to you as well. We're going
to miss you on this committee. We're going to miss
you in the Senate, but you're going to do an
extraordinary job at Foggy Bottom. And I will say, if
they capture you and tie you up in the basement,
we will send a team to pull you out. You know,
(11:49):
as I look back over the last four years of
the Biden Harris administration, there are a lot of policies
that have done a lot of damage domestic policies, economic policies,
but I think all of the those pale compared to
the damage that has been done to national security and
foreign policy over the last four years. Over the last
four years, this administration is systematically undermined and abandoned our allies,
(12:14):
and it has systematically shown weakness and appeasement to our enemies,
and the consequence has been disastrous. We've gone from four
years ago peace and prosperity to today a situation with
wars across the globe and every enemy of America stronger
than they were when this administration came into office. I
(12:37):
am confident the incoming administration is going to change that direction.
I am confident that President Trump and the White House,
and you as Secretary of State, are going to shift
us back to where we should be, which is standing
by our friends and allies and standing up to our enemies.
Do you agree with that assessment? Is that what you
intend to do a Secretary of State?
Speaker 6 (12:58):
Well, let me say first to foreign plse the United
States will be set by the President, and my job
is to advise on it and ultimately to execute. I
think the President has been abundantly clear, and that is
his policy is going to be driven about making America safer, stronger,
and more prosperous. As I said in my opening statement,
everything the State Department does, every policy, every program, every
dollar it spends, every initiative it takes has to answer
(13:21):
three questions. Does it make us safer? Does it make
us stronger or does it make us more prosperous? And
if it doesn't, if the answer is not yes to
one of those three, you're going to have a hard
time moving that forward because that's the priority to the president,
and that's the priority that, by the way, voters gave
this president when they elected him. You point to a
number of things that I think are critically important that
and let me I'll phrase it a different way, but
(13:42):
I think we're saying the same thing. We have lost
to terrence and multiple theaters around the world. So as
an example, and I use this as a small scale example,
but it's really important. One I think of the year
was twenty twenty, twenty nineteen. The Wagner group tried to
get cute and came after some of Americans, Americans operating
in series and fire from the sky rained down on them,
(14:03):
and that group was pushed back pretty hard. That's deterrence.
They threatened us, and they knew what the response would be.
I recall the consternation here and in other places when
Solomoni met his demise, but I can tell you it
impacted Ranian behavior for a substantial period of time. No
matter how tough they talked it impacted their behavior. I
(14:25):
think it's important to re establish de terrence and to
the extent that that's been lost for a variety of reasons.
The lack of deterrence is an invitation to war. The
lack of deterrence is an invitation to hostility. It prevents
the very thing that we hope to achieve, which is
peace and stability in the world. And I do think
we've lost the terrence, and I think in some ways
(14:47):
it contributed to what happened in Ukraine. An item I
know is very close to you and you've worked very on,
and we talked earlier today about is energy dependence. I
recall President Trump at both a NATO summit and at
the United Nations, and I called the United Nations one
in particular. President Trump said Germany is dependent, entirely going
to be left dependent on China, on Russia for its energy,
(15:09):
and they laughed at him. There were diplomats in the
hall that was snickering. That's exactly what happened. It is
one of the reasons why Putin believed he could invade
Europe is because Europe would not push back because they
depended on him so much for energy. Now Europe is
to be congratulated. They have moved very swiftly, particularly the Germans,
to diversify their energy resources. But one could argue that
we may never have had that invasion had that dependent
(15:32):
not existed, because maybe who would have thought the European
response would have been more forceful than he anticipated. So
I do think re establishing deterrence and strength is important
because it prevents war and it gives us leverage and diplomacy,
which where we hope to solve ninety nine point nine
percent of the global disagreements we hope to solve through diplomacy,
(15:52):
not through armed conflict.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I think that's very well said.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Now, as I mentioned earlier, Senator Cruz lost his voice.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
We expect him hopefully to be back with us on
Friday after getting some rest. But let me put something
else on your radar screen real quick. Many of you
that voted for Donald Trump and support the MAGA agenda
have said for a long time that you would love
to have something each and every day that gives you
kind of a blueprint of what the administration is actually
working on. Well, I am hosting a new podcast called
(16:23):
The forty seven Morning Update. You can grab it wherever
you get your podcasts, and I'm gonna let you hear
exactly what that podcast sounds like. It is a short podcast,
ten to twelve minutes to start your day. Take a listen.
Speaker 7 (16:36):
Five hundred billion dollars in AI infrastructure.
Speaker 8 (16:40):
Start team there as of today.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
You're fired. Get out of here. You're fired, Get out,
Get the.
Speaker 9 (16:48):
Hell out of here. You're listening to the forty seven
Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Good morning, It's Ben Ferguson. It's nice to have you
with us.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Here are the big stories that we're covering today on
the forty seven Morning up Date.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
First up, it's black Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
When it comes to federal workers, they're getting pink slips
from Donald Trump saying you're fired. So who all lost
their jobs? And why I'll have that for you in
a moment. Also, Donald Trump moved America forward with a
five hundred billion dollar AI investment from the private sector.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
That's happening right here in the US of A.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Finally, promise is made and promises kept on border security,
major moves by President Trump to make sure that we
have a secure southern border. It's the forty seven Morning
Update and it starts right now.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Story number one.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
It was black Tuesday for many in the federal government,
as the head of the TSA and the Coast Guard
were fired on Trump's first full day in office. President
Trump moved quickly to remake the Department of Homeland Security,
firing the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and the
Coast Guard before their terms were even up, and eliminated
(17:59):
all all members of a key aviation security advisory group
as well. Now, Trump's immigration policy changes through the most
attention at Homeland Security, but he's also making changes at
the rest of the massive agency. Members of the Aviation
Security Advisory Committee received a memo Tuesday morning saying that
(18:20):
the Department is eliminating the membership of all advisory committees
as part of a commitment to eliminating the misuse of
resources and ensuring that the Department of homelanded security activities
prioritize specifically our national security. The Aviation Security Committee, which
was mandated by Congress after the nineteen eighty eight PM
(18:42):
one oh three bombing over Lockinbee, Scotland, will technically continue
to exist, but it won't have any members to carry
out the work of examining safety issues at airlines and
airports liberals are claiming at this hour, but the reality
is there are plenty of people that are doing that
right now. Who's angry about it? Well, major unions, that's right,
(19:05):
because the airlines and majored unions were a member of
the group associated with all of this government bureaucracy. This
is another example of Donald Trump saying I'm coming in
and I'm cleaning house.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
That isn't all who lost their jobs in our bloated government.
You know, Donald Trump became very famous for being the
guy that says you're fired. Well, Donald Trump is telling
many Biden appointees you're out of a job, and now
it's a he said. She said, no, no, no, you
didn't fire me. I already quit. I wish I was joking,
but I'm not. Donald Trump says he plans to remove
(19:41):
over one thousand Biden appointees, and there are many that
are very angry about President Donald Trump on Tuesday saying
I have these plans because I'm not keeping any of
them Joe Biden's appointees from their government positions. He said, yeah,
you're gone, and he had already fired four individuals immediately,
including a celebrity shift, Jose Andreas and a former top general,
(20:06):
Mark Milly. You're fired, is what Trump wrote in an
early morning post on his True social platform that named
Milly and Andreas, as well as his former Iran envoy
Brian Hook and the former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms,
who Biden appointed to an export council. Andreas and Bottom
said they quote unquote had already quit their posts before
(20:29):
Trump's inauguration. Trump's post said his personal office is quote
actively in the process of identifying and removing over one
thousand presidential appointees from the Biden administration who are quote
not aligned with our vision to make America great again.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Donald Trump wasn't done there.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
When it came to changing things very quickly, he also
decided to move to another issue. Trump ordered all federal diversity,
equity and Inclusion employees based on paid leave starting on Wednesday.
Yes NBC News reporting that the Trump administration also directed
government agencies to draw plans for firing workers in DEI roles.
(21:14):
The Trump administration is ordering all federal employees the White
House announced in these roles on paid lead by Wednesday
evening at five o'clock that according to a new memo
from the Office of Personnel Management. The memo, issued Tuesday
to heads of departments and government agencies set that deadline
of no later than five pm Eastern Time Wednesday to
(21:37):
inform the employees that they will be put on paid
administrative leave as the agencies prepare to close all diversity,
equity and inclusion related offices and programs and to also
remove all websites and social media accounts for such offices immediately.
This is another promise Donald Trump made to the American people,
(22:01):
and he's seeing it through clearly, starting in his very
first week in office.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Now story number two in major.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Breaking news coming from the Oval Office, President Donald Trump
on Tuesday announced Stargate Project.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Now, what is that.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
It is a new American company which will invest five
hundred billion dollars over the next four years building a
new AI infrastructure, specifically in the United States of America.
The President also asked Oracles Larry Ellison, Soft Bank CEO,
and Open AI Sam Altman to the White House for
(22:39):
this major announcement, where President Trump explained it this.
Speaker 7 (22:42):
Way to my honor to welcome three of the world's
leading technology CEOs and in the case of Larry, Larry Ellison,
it's well beyond technology is sort of CEO of everything.
He's an amazing man, an amazing business person. But to
announce the largest AI infrastructure project by farign history, and
(23:05):
it's all taking place right here in America. As you know,
there's great competition for AI and other things, and they're
coming in at the highest level. We're joined by Oracle
executive chairman Larry Ellison, Soft Bank CEO, my friend Masa
Masa Yoshi's son and CEO of Open AI, and I
(23:29):
would say, by far the leading expert based on everything
I read, Sam Altman. So that's great that you're coming
in together. That's a massive group of talent and money. Together,
these world leading technology giants are announcing the formation of Stargate.
So put that name down in your books, because I
(23:51):
think you're going to hear a lot about it in
the future. A new American company that will invest five
hundred billion dollars at least in AI infrastructure in the
United States and very very quickly, moving very rapidly, creating
over one hundred thousand American jobs almost immediately.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
This massive project is going to create, as you heard
the President just say, there over one hundred thousand high
quality jobs, and it will catapult America in front of
China in the AI race. Not only will this create
more than one hundred thousand American jobs and significantly advance
AI applications, particularly and this is the part that many
(24:33):
Americans should be the most excited about in healthcare, such
as early disease detection and personalized treatments, key figures from
the private sector. Putting this all together, joining President Trump
with this announcement at the White House is proof yet again,
as Donald Trump has put it, that if we want
to fix the biggest problems in the world, we should
(24:53):
be looking to the private sector and not the US
government to do it.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
And lastly, story number three.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Promise is made, promise is kept. When it comes to
national security and the Southern Border, the man who's in
charge of securing the Southern Border, Tom Homan, said today
that ice deportation operations have already begun.
Speaker 8 (25:15):
Teams are all there as of today. We gave them
the in direction to prioritize public safety threats that we're
looking for, so we've been working on the target list.
There was some discussion about with Chicago because a Pacific
operational plan was released so we had to look at
and reevaluate does this raise after safety concerns? And it does,
but we address that and teams are all the effective today.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Teams are out there today. So what exactly has happened
since Donald Trump was sworn in? I have the list
for you now. It is a list that the media
is not wanting to talk about because it's actually a
very extensive list of promises made and promises kept. So
let's go through it so you know exactly where we
(25:59):
are in the process of securing the border. On January
twenty first, Donald Trump signed several executive orders aimed at
strengthening border security. Number one, a National Emergency Declaration declaring
a national emergency at the US Mexico border, enabling the
deployment of federal troops to assist in border enforcement. There
(26:23):
was another promise that was made, and that deal with
the remain in Mexico policy. Well, Donald Trump paid off
on that promise, reinstating the policy requiring asylum seekers to
wait in Mexico during US immigration proceedings, which will have
a massive impact on stopping the flow of illegal immigrants
across the border. One of the other major issues Donald
(26:45):
Trump talked about back in the campaign in twenty sixteen
for president was building a border wall, while Donald Trump
is ordered the resumption and now the completion of the
border wall along the southern border as fast as humanly
pos Also, in another major move, and the media lost
their minds over this, Donald Trump decided to terminate birthright citizenship,
(27:09):
signing an order to end automatic US citizenship for a
child born in the US to an undocumented immigrant. This
move is likely going to face major legal challenges due
to the fourteenth Amendment. That doesn't mean that Donald Trump
isn't willing to have that conversation now. Donald Trump also
took a major action which shocked the world, especially those
(27:33):
that advocate for illegal immigrants. He decided to suspend the
CBP one app. Now Disabling this app, which allows migrants
to schedule legal entry appointments, resulted in cancelations for thousands
and thousands of applicants, sending a very clear message that
you can't just come across a wide open southern border
(27:56):
and think we are going to let you stay here.
The app right now does not. And also, in what
is being described as the biggest and boldest move of
all of these actions, is the present's decision to designate
cartels as terrorists organizations. Classifying certain drug cartels and gangs
(28:16):
such as MS thirteen as foreign terrorist organizations, would allow
for aggressive actions to be taken against them, including using
the US military. You combine all of this together, and
this marks a significant shift in US immigration policy, reflecting
every turn to an expansion of measures from President Donald
(28:39):
Trump's first term. In translation, Donald Trump made a lot
of promises and he is keeping them, especially when it
comes to securing the southern border.
Speaker 9 (28:50):
Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast
and we will see you back here tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Thanks as always for listening. Don't forget hit that subscribe
or auto download button wherever you get this podcast, And
if you'll subscribe to the forty seven Morning Up as well,
my new podcast, that would be greatly appreciated and the Center.
I will see you back here Friday morning.
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson
with you and Senator Cruz unfortunately could not do the
show with me right now because he has lost his voice.
He did, however, I have enough strength to deal with
questioning today of elist tephonic and the confirmation hearing, and
I'm going to have that for you. Plus we're going
to talk about the big news of Donald Trump saying
(00:23):
we're gonna have a ninety day moratorium on fourign A.
What does that mean, Well, it means that Marco Rubio
is going to have a lot to look at when
it comes to where your tax dollars are going. And
I'm gonna have for you back from January seventeenth, Marco
Rubio and Ted Cruz's conversation on the three questions that
he said he'll ask regarding every state department program. Before
(00:47):
we get into that, though, I want to talk to
you about my friends at IFCJ. I want to say,
first off, to so many of you that listened to Verdict,
thank you for your help for the people in his
On January twenty seventh, it is the International Holocaust Remembrance
Day that is less than a week away. Is the
day that we remember the great evil of the Holocaust,
(01:10):
when millions of Jews were slaughtered during the Nazis reign
of terror. Today, the rise in global anti Semitism and
the constant attacks on Israel show us that it's more
important than ever to remember the atrocites of the Holocaust
to ensure it never happens again. And that's why I
am proud to partner with the International Fellowship of Christians
(01:31):
and Jews. They do incredible work. With your help, they
provide food, shelter, and safety to Jews in Israel and
around the world, including those remaining Holocaust survivors. Now your
donation will help provide that food, water, medicine, and other
basic necesses to Jewish communities. Your donations have also paid
(01:53):
for bomb shelters and armored ambulances just to get people
of the hospital in areas where the terror attack and
your gift well, it allows for the world to see
that there are still many of us that stand with
the Jewish people and against the growing anti Semitism and
hatred that we're seeing right now. So to show your support,
(02:13):
I ask you to visit support IFCJ dot org. That's
one word support if CJ dot org. You can also
call to donate eight eight eight for eight eight IFCJ
that's eight eight eight for eight eight if CJ, or
support i FCJ dot org. So, as I mentioned earlier,
(02:37):
Senator Cruz has lost his voice. I could literally not
even talk to him earlier. We were having to communicate
in texts. But what he did do today was some
pretty incredible work on the Hill. Senator Cruz question at
least a phonic and the confirmation hearing, and I want
you to hear what he had to say. Also, I'm
going to play for you in a moment the back
and forth with Marco Rubio and what is changing at
(02:59):
the time State Department. This in light of the big
breaking news from the President about pausing foreign aid for
ninety days.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
After that, I'm also going to have something else for you.
There's also a new morning podcast that I'm the host
of called The forty seven Morning Update. It gives you
the biggest news in a short form podcast ten to
twelve minutes of what is going to happen each and
every day in Donald Trump's administration from the Oval Office.
We'll have that for you as well, But first take
(03:29):
a listen to what Senator Cruz had to say today
on Capitol Hill in the questioning of Elie staphonic.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Congratulations on your nomination.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
You're going to be terrific.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I want to go back to topic you discussed with
Senator Cornyn. I want to focus on a Ram's push
to build a nuclear arsenal, which poses I think the
most immediate and acute threat to American national security. When
the Iatola chance death to America, he means it, and
(04:00):
I believe he would absolutely detonate a nuclear weapon over
an American city if he could. The Trump administration got
Iran's nuclear program in a box and kept it there.
President Trump withdrew from the catastrophic Obama Iran nuclear deal
in twenty eighteen. He imposed maximum pressure in twenty nineteen.
(04:22):
He invoked the UN snapback mechanism in the UN Security
Council Resolution two two three one to reimpose international sanctions
in twenty twenty. For that entire time, Iran was deterred
from making significant advances on their nuclear program. They did
not even enrich uranium above five percent or cascade advanced centrifuges.
(04:47):
Starting in November twenty twenty, the Iranian regime gambled that
it could start rushing to a nuclear arsenal and the
incoming Biden administration would let them. Unfortunately proved correct. In November,
the regime approved a new law calling for major nuclear advances.
In January, they started enriching at twenty percent at fordoh
(05:12):
the underground enrichment bunker built into a mountain that the
Obama Iran nuclear deal left open. The incoming and Biden
administration responded with appeasement. In February, immediately after being inaugurated,
they rushed to the UN to rescind President Trump's snapback,
(05:33):
again allowing international sanctions to expire for the next four years.
The administration continually dismantled pressure on the regime and refused
to impose sanctions. We know the result today, the Ayatola
has achieved a nuclear breakout time of zero. We now
(05:56):
face the very real possibility of an Iranian nuclear arsenal.
I do not believe that this is a threat the
US can tolerate, and I am confident that both the
President and Secretary of State Rubio agree. I ask Secretary
of State Rubio whether he intends to go to the
United Nations, and again trigger the snapback mechanism. As a
(06:18):
part of his written testimony to this committee. Here was
Secretary of Rubio's response, quote, I believe it is in
our national security interest for the UN Security Council to
snap back the sanctions that were suspended under the JCPOA.
I will execute the President's guidance and work with our
allies to ensure that snapback takes place. First, do you
(06:44):
agree with Secretary of Rubio's assessment that it is in
the national security interests of the United States to snap
back those sanctions? Yes, talk about how you would execute
a strategy to do so, either unilaterally or working with allies.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
That will be a strategy that I developed with the
National Security Council, in tandem with Secretary of Rubio and
President Trump, to work with our allies within the United Nations,
within the Security Council. And there are allies that are
already considering this and looking at it, and that has
been publicly reported. But obviously, pushing back on Iran is
a top priority. It was a success during President Trump's
(07:22):
first term, and we've seen the catastrophic results in loss
of life during the previous four years. When you have
had an embolded Iran that has led to directly the
October seventh terrorist attack against Israel and his Belah firing
tens of thousands of rockets against Israeli civilians.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Let's move to another topic. You and I talked about
the deep rot in the United Nations when it comes
to supporting terrorism against America and our allies, especially Israel.
As you discussed with Senator McCormick, UNRA has for decades
provided material support for Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza.
World Health Organization has also been deeply complicit in the
(08:03):
use of hospitals by Hamas for terrorist activities, including for
the holding of hostages. The complicity of these organizations deepened
after October seventh, the Biden administration embraced UNRA, and the
World Health Organization. Congress prohibited the Biden administration from funding UNRA,
but the administration officials circumvented that prohibition by using UNRA infrastructure. Yesterday,
(08:28):
the President rightly and immediately withdrew our participation from them.
I think that was a critical first step. But the
next step is to enable American citizens to hold these
organizations accountable.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
We currently have a very odd.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Legal environment where these organizations enjoy more sovereign immunity than
states and thus are shielded from accountability. Last Congress, I
introduced the Liable Act and was joined by four current
members of this Committee, including as well as Secretary of
State Rubio. The bill will allow American victims of terrorism
and their family to sue international organizations that support terrorism
(09:05):
against this I will soon reintroduce it in this Congress.
What is your understanding of the role these organizations have
played in facilitating terrorism against Americans, Israelis and our allies.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
Well, UNRA, there were individuals in UNRA who participated, who
executed and committed terrorist acts against Israel. On October seventh, Sinwar,
the leader of HAMAS carried an UNRA passport. You had
a HAMAS data center under UNRA headquarters. So the rot
is deep. Congress made the right decision. I was proud
(09:39):
to be one of the leaders when it came to
defunding UNRA, and I am committed to holding them accountable
and working with the US Senate and the US House
and the President if that legislation passes.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Pterfect, thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Now.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
There's also other big news that we want to talk about,
and that deals with the Secretary of State. The Secretary
of State now has an even bigger job than any
Secretary of State had during the time of Joe Biden
Kamala Harris being in office. And what's really cool about
what's happening now is Donald Trump is empowering leaders to
(10:13):
do their job.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Now, there was some big breaking news, and that is
that President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending all
US foreign assistance programs for ninety days, pending a comprehensive
review to ensure their alignment with his administration's policy objectives. Now,
this suspension affects a wide range of global initiatives, including
humanitarian aid, economic development, and health programs. Notably, the US
(10:39):
contributes approximately seventy point three billion annually in foreign aid,
supporting various international efforts. So what did the President do.
He said it's time for all of this to go
back under a review and is calling out other countries
for what he described was not paying their fair share.
Who's going to be looking over this, well, that would
(11:00):
be Marco Rubio. He will do a deep dive into
where your tax tours are going and then come back
with recommendations. What's also interesting is how this relates back
to Marco Rubio and his conversation with Senator Cruz on
January seventeenth. Take a listen to what he had to say.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Then, thank you, mister chairman. And I got to say, boy,
that sounds good.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Mister chairman, that is as good as it sounds to me.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Thank you well, congratulations and I'm looking forward to the
next two years working together. Thank you and the Sener Rubio,
let me say congratulations to you as well. We're going
to miss you on this committee. We're going to miss
you in the Senate, but you're going to do an
extraordinary job at Foggy Bottom. And I will say, if
they capture you and tie you up in the basement,
we will send a team to pull you out. You know,
(11:49):
as I look back over the last four years of
the Biden Harris administration, there are a lot of policies
that have done a lot of damage domestic policies, economic policies,
but I think all of the those pale compared to
the damage that has been done to national security and
foreign policy over the last four years. Over the last
four years, this administration is systematically undermined and abandoned our allies,
(12:14):
and it has systematically shown weakness and appeasement to our enemies,
and the consequence has been disastrous. We've gone from four
years ago peace and prosperity to today a situation with
wars across the globe and every enemy of America stronger
than they were when this administration came into office. I
(12:37):
am confident the incoming administration is going to change that direction.
I am confident that President Trump and the White House,
and you as Secretary of State, are going to shift
us back to where we should be, which is standing
by our friends and allies and standing up to our enemies.
Do you agree with that assessment? Is that what you
intend to do a Secretary of State?
Speaker 6 (12:58):
Well, let me say first to foreign plse the United
States will be set by the President, and my job
is to advise on it and ultimately to execute. I
think the President has been abundantly clear, and that is
his policy is going to be driven about making America safer, stronger,
and more prosperous. As I said in my opening statement,
everything the State Department does, every policy, every program, every
dollar it spends, every initiative it takes has to answer
(13:21):
three questions. Does it make us safer? Does it make
us stronger or does it make us more prosperous? And
if it doesn't, if the answer is not yes to
one of those three, you're going to have a hard
time moving that forward because that's the priority to the president,
and that's the priority that, by the way, voters gave
this president when they elected him. You point to a
number of things that I think are critically important that
and let me I'll phrase it a different way, but
(13:42):
I think we're saying the same thing. We have lost
to terrence and multiple theaters around the world. So as
an example, and I use this as a small scale example,
but it's really important. One I think of the year
was twenty twenty, twenty nineteen. The Wagner group tried to
get cute and came after some of Americans, Americans operating
in series and fire from the sky rained down on them,
(14:03):
and that group was pushed back pretty hard. That's deterrence.
They threatened us, and they knew what the response would be.
I recall the consternation here and in other places when
Solomoni met his demise, but I can tell you it
impacted Ranian behavior for a substantial period of time. No
matter how tough they talked it impacted their behavior. I
(14:25):
think it's important to re establish de terrence and to
the extent that that's been lost for a variety of reasons.
The lack of deterrence is an invitation to war. The
lack of deterrence is an invitation to hostility. It prevents
the very thing that we hope to achieve, which is
peace and stability in the world. And I do think
we've lost the terrence, and I think in some ways
(14:47):
it contributed to what happened in Ukraine. An item I
know is very close to you and you've worked very on,
and we talked earlier today about is energy dependence. I
recall President Trump at both a NATO summit and at
the United Nations, and I called the United Nations one
in particular. President Trump said Germany is dependent, entirely going
to be left dependent on China, on Russia for its energy,
(15:09):
and they laughed at him. There were diplomats in the
hall that was snickering. That's exactly what happened. It is
one of the reasons why Putin believed he could invade
Europe is because Europe would not push back because they
depended on him so much for energy. Now Europe is
to be congratulated. They have moved very swiftly, particularly the Germans,
to diversify their energy resources. But one could argue that
we may never have had that invasion had that dependent
(15:32):
not existed, because maybe who would have thought the European
response would have been more forceful than he anticipated. So
I do think re establishing deterrence and strength is important
because it prevents war and it gives us leverage and diplomacy,
which where we hope to solve ninety nine point nine
percent of the global disagreements we hope to solve through diplomacy,
(15:52):
not through armed conflict.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I think that's very well said.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Now, as I mentioned earlier, Senator Cruz lost his voice.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
We expect him hopefully to be back with us on
Friday after getting some rest. But let me put something
else on your radar screen real quick. Many of you
that voted for Donald Trump and support the MAGA agenda
have said for a long time that you would love
to have something each and every day that gives you
kind of a blueprint of what the administration is actually
working on. Well, I am hosting a new podcast called
(16:23):
The forty seven Morning Update. You can grab it wherever
you get your podcasts, and I'm gonna let you hear
exactly what that podcast sounds like. It is a short podcast,
ten to twelve minutes to start your day. Take a listen.
Speaker 7 (16:36):
Five hundred billion dollars in AI infrastructure.
Speaker 8 (16:40):
Start team there as of today.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
You're fired. Get out of here. You're fired, Get out,
Get the.
Speaker 9 (16:48):
Hell out of here. You're listening to the forty seven
Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Good morning, It's Ben Ferguson. It's nice to have you
with us.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Here are the big stories that we're covering today on
the forty seven Morning up Date.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
First up, it's black Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
When it comes to federal workers, they're getting pink slips
from Donald Trump saying you're fired. So who all lost
their jobs? And why I'll have that for you in
a moment. Also, Donald Trump moved America forward with a
five hundred billion dollar AI investment from the private sector.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
That's happening right here in the US of A.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Finally, promise is made and promises kept on border security,
major moves by President Trump to make sure that we
have a secure southern border. It's the forty seven Morning
Update and it starts right now.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Story number one.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
It was black Tuesday for many in the federal government,
as the head of the TSA and the Coast Guard
were fired on Trump's first full day in office. President
Trump moved quickly to remake the Department of Homeland Security,
firing the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and the
Coast Guard before their terms were even up, and eliminated
(17:59):
all all members of a key aviation security advisory group
as well. Now, Trump's immigration policy changes through the most
attention at Homeland Security, but he's also making changes at
the rest of the massive agency. Members of the Aviation
Security Advisory Committee received a memo Tuesday morning saying that
(18:20):
the Department is eliminating the membership of all advisory committees
as part of a commitment to eliminating the misuse of
resources and ensuring that the Department of homelanded security activities
prioritize specifically our national security. The Aviation Security Committee, which
was mandated by Congress after the nineteen eighty eight PM
(18:42):
one oh three bombing over Lockinbee, Scotland, will technically continue
to exist, but it won't have any members to carry
out the work of examining safety issues at airlines and
airports liberals are claiming at this hour, but the reality
is there are plenty of people that are doing that
right now. Who's angry about it? Well, major unions, that's right,
(19:05):
because the airlines and majored unions were a member of
the group associated with all of this government bureaucracy. This
is another example of Donald Trump saying I'm coming in
and I'm cleaning house.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
That isn't all who lost their jobs in our bloated government.
You know, Donald Trump became very famous for being the
guy that says you're fired. Well, Donald Trump is telling
many Biden appointees you're out of a job, and now
it's a he said. She said, no, no, no, you
didn't fire me. I already quit. I wish I was joking,
but I'm not. Donald Trump says he plans to remove
(19:41):
over one thousand Biden appointees, and there are many that
are very angry about President Donald Trump on Tuesday saying
I have these plans because I'm not keeping any of
them Joe Biden's appointees from their government positions. He said, yeah,
you're gone, and he had already fired four individuals immediately,
including a celebrity shift, Jose Andreas and a former top general,
(20:06):
Mark Milly. You're fired, is what Trump wrote in an
early morning post on his True social platform that named
Milly and Andreas, as well as his former Iran envoy
Brian Hook and the former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms,
who Biden appointed to an export council. Andreas and Bottom
said they quote unquote had already quit their posts before
(20:29):
Trump's inauguration. Trump's post said his personal office is quote
actively in the process of identifying and removing over one
thousand presidential appointees from the Biden administration who are quote
not aligned with our vision to make America great again.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Donald Trump wasn't done there.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
When it came to changing things very quickly, he also
decided to move to another issue. Trump ordered all federal diversity,
equity and Inclusion employees based on paid leave starting on Wednesday.
Yes NBC News reporting that the Trump administration also directed
government agencies to draw plans for firing workers in DEI roles.
(21:14):
The Trump administration is ordering all federal employees the White
House announced in these roles on paid lead by Wednesday
evening at five o'clock that according to a new memo
from the Office of Personnel Management. The memo, issued Tuesday
to heads of departments and government agencies set that deadline
of no later than five pm Eastern Time Wednesday to
(21:37):
inform the employees that they will be put on paid
administrative leave as the agencies prepare to close all diversity,
equity and inclusion related offices and programs and to also
remove all websites and social media accounts for such offices immediately.
This is another promise Donald Trump made to the American people,
(22:01):
and he's seeing it through clearly, starting in his very
first week in office.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Now story number two in major.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Breaking news coming from the Oval Office, President Donald Trump
on Tuesday announced Stargate Project.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Now, what is that.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
It is a new American company which will invest five
hundred billion dollars over the next four years building a
new AI infrastructure, specifically in the United States of America.
The President also asked Oracles Larry Ellison, Soft Bank CEO,
and Open AI Sam Altman to the White House for
(22:39):
this major announcement, where President Trump explained it this.
Speaker 7 (22:42):
Way to my honor to welcome three of the world's
leading technology CEOs and in the case of Larry, Larry Ellison,
it's well beyond technology is sort of CEO of everything.
He's an amazing man, an amazing business person. But to
announce the largest AI infrastructure project by farign history, and
(23:05):
it's all taking place right here in America. As you know,
there's great competition for AI and other things, and they're
coming in at the highest level. We're joined by Oracle
executive chairman Larry Ellison, Soft Bank CEO, my friend Masa
Masa Yoshi's son and CEO of Open AI, and I
(23:29):
would say, by far the leading expert based on everything
I read, Sam Altman. So that's great that you're coming
in together. That's a massive group of talent and money. Together,
these world leading technology giants are announcing the formation of Stargate.
So put that name down in your books, because I
(23:51):
think you're going to hear a lot about it in
the future. A new American company that will invest five
hundred billion dollars at least in AI infrastructure in the
United States and very very quickly, moving very rapidly, creating
over one hundred thousand American jobs almost immediately.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
This massive project is going to create, as you heard
the President just say, there over one hundred thousand high
quality jobs, and it will catapult America in front of
China in the AI race. Not only will this create
more than one hundred thousand American jobs and significantly advance
AI applications, particularly and this is the part that many
(24:33):
Americans should be the most excited about in healthcare, such
as early disease detection and personalized treatments, key figures from
the private sector. Putting this all together, joining President Trump
with this announcement at the White House is proof yet again,
as Donald Trump has put it, that if we want
to fix the biggest problems in the world, we should
(24:53):
be looking to the private sector and not the US
government to do it.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
And lastly, story number three.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Promise is made, promise is kept. When it comes to
national security and the Southern Border, the man who's in
charge of securing the Southern Border, Tom Homan, said today
that ice deportation operations have already begun.
Speaker 8 (25:15):
Teams are all there as of today. We gave them
the in direction to prioritize public safety threats that we're
looking for, so we've been working on the target list.
There was some discussion about with Chicago because a Pacific
operational plan was released so we had to look at
and reevaluate does this raise after safety concerns? And it does,
but we address that and teams are all the effective today.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Teams are out there today. So what exactly has happened
since Donald Trump was sworn in? I have the list
for you now. It is a list that the media
is not wanting to talk about because it's actually a
very extensive list of promises made and promises kept. So
let's go through it so you know exactly where we
(25:59):
are in the process of securing the border. On January
twenty first, Donald Trump signed several executive orders aimed at
strengthening border security. Number one, a National Emergency Declaration declaring
a national emergency at the US Mexico border, enabling the
deployment of federal troops to assist in border enforcement. There
(26:23):
was another promise that was made, and that deal with
the remain in Mexico policy. Well, Donald Trump paid off
on that promise, reinstating the policy requiring asylum seekers to
wait in Mexico during US immigration proceedings, which will have
a massive impact on stopping the flow of illegal immigrants
across the border. One of the other major issues Donald
(26:45):
Trump talked about back in the campaign in twenty sixteen
for president was building a border wall, while Donald Trump
is ordered the resumption and now the completion of the
border wall along the southern border as fast as humanly
pos Also, in another major move, and the media lost
their minds over this, Donald Trump decided to terminate birthright citizenship,
(27:09):
signing an order to end automatic US citizenship for a
child born in the US to an undocumented immigrant. This
move is likely going to face major legal challenges due
to the fourteenth Amendment. That doesn't mean that Donald Trump
isn't willing to have that conversation now. Donald Trump also
took a major action which shocked the world, especially those
(27:33):
that advocate for illegal immigrants. He decided to suspend the
CBP one app. Now Disabling this app, which allows migrants
to schedule legal entry appointments, resulted in cancelations for thousands
and thousands of applicants, sending a very clear message that
you can't just come across a wide open southern border
(27:56):
and think we are going to let you stay here.
The app right now does not. And also, in what
is being described as the biggest and boldest move of
all of these actions, is the present's decision to designate
cartels as terrorists organizations. Classifying certain drug cartels and gangs
(28:16):
such as MS thirteen as foreign terrorist organizations, would allow
for aggressive actions to be taken against them, including using
the US military. You combine all of this together, and
this marks a significant shift in US immigration policy, reflecting
every turn to an expansion of measures from President Donald
(28:39):
Trump's first term. In translation, Donald Trump made a lot
of promises and he is keeping them, especially when it
comes to securing the southern border.
Speaker 9 (28:50):
Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast
and we will see you back here tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Thanks as always for listening. Don't forget hit that subscribe
or auto download button wherever you get this podcast, And
if you'll subscribe to the forty seven Morning Up as well,
my new podcast, that would be greatly appreciated and the Center.
I will see you back here Friday morning.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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