← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
AG Garland Stonewalls Congress, Tries to Cover Up DOJ Obstruction
00:39:58
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- [00:01]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you as well. And, Senator, a mountain of evidence against the Biden crime family is really starting to mount up. But it's actually not pressure on the president or his family or Hunter Biden. It's on the Attorney General, Merrick Garland. He was testifying before Congress on the latest on the impeachment inquiry. And your overall reaction? I want to get, because I was shocked, not really by his arrogance this time, by his, I would say, lack of just candid answers to basic questions that were asked of him. Were you shocked by his demeanor?
- [00:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
You know, unfortunately, I wasn't. Merrick Garland, from. From the day he was sworn in, has demonstrated a contempt for Congress, a contempt for the American people, a smug entitlement that no one is allowed to question him, that he doesn't have to answer any questions. Look, I have questioned Merrick Garland now many times, and he will not answer. He will not give you a straight answer to anything. And so, as the evidence keeps mounting, not just of Joe Biden's personal corruption, but of Merrick Garland being personally implicated now in multiple felonies, he has not wavered at all from his attitude that seems to say, how dare you question me? He's the legal equivalent of Anthony Fauci. Fauci says, I am the science. Merrick Garland's response is essentially, I am the law. And they're both wrong.
- [01:42]
Ben Ferguson
I want to play a few clips that really went viral, and they went viral because of just the shock of the lack of response and, like you said, the arrogance of Garland. One of them was just a basic question, talking about, hey, what did you know? And when did you kind of know it? Take a listen.
- [02:01]
Senator Ted Cruz
Have you had personal contact with anyone at FBI headquarters about the Hunter Biden investigation?
- [02:10]
Merrick Garland
I don't recollect the answer to that question, but the FBI works for the Justice Department. It.
- [02:16]
Ben Ferguson
I'm sorry.
- [02:16]
Senator Ted Cruz
I'm sorry. You don't recollect. You don't recollect whether you've talked with anybody at FBI headquarters about an investigation into the President's son?
- [02:23]
Merrick Garland
I. I don't believe that I did. I promised the Senate when I came before it for confirmation that I would leave Mr. Weiss in place and then I would not interfere with his investigation.
- [02:36]
Senator Ted Cruz
Okay. Did you ever.
- [02:37]
Merrick Garland
I have kept that promise.
- [02:38]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right.
- [02:39]
Ben Ferguson
Do you believe him, Senator? Because I don't.
- [02:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, the IRS whistleblowers both testified to the House that. That. That he lied. When. When he made that promise to the Senate. When he made that promise to Me in my questioning. We have now two career IRS employees who've gone before the House and said that he flat out lied that he has directly interfered. And I got to say the question here, this is very specific. Have you had personal contact with anyone at FBI headquarters about the Hunter Biden case? And for him to say, well, I don't remember. How do you not remember that? This isn't asking generally, have you talked to FBI headquarters? Of course he has. As he says in his, in his answer, the FBI, the FBI works for the Justice Department. So yes, the attorney general has talked to FBI headquarters. But if he is recusing himself from the matter, if he is not interfering, then he would know whether or not he had had those conversations. And the fact that he doesn't remember with the entirety of the evidence is highly dubious.
- [03:52]
Ben Ferguson
There was also another congresswoman who asked a question of Garland as he was testifying about the House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing. And I want you to hear what she had to say. It was a lengthy back and forth, but it was an important one as well. And I say important because it was the accusation that Merrick Garland basically is not acting on behalf of the American people or on behalf of the law of this, the laws of this country or making sure these laws are being followed, but instead he's basically working as a defense lawyer for the Biden crime family by purposely slow walking the probes into the Clintons. And this is something we haven't talked about in a while. But also into Hunter Biden, also into Joe Biden, also into the FBI's involvement in things like January 6th. It's like he's in a personal attorney for anyone in the Democratic Party that does something that's nefarious in my town.
- [04:48]
Victoria Spartz
FBI phone numbers all over the district, please call, call that people are truly afraid. I just want to make sure if you're not aware that you are and this is a big problem when people are afraid of their own government and I'll show you some other things we're talking about justice system. I don't question you're probably not a bad person. I don't know you. But what I'll tell you, you are in charge of the department and people right now feel, you know, I look at Durham Report and I called on the FISA violations of various of millions Americans. Right. It's like kgb. But when I read Durham reports we have this, you have a nice, you know, playbook for first let's have a special counsel and then you don't have to answer any questions Here. Then let's extend slow walk investigation on Hillary Clinton. On Hunter, everything is slow walk. We were very quick on Donald Trump, but you were very slow walk then. By the time you know that investigation and its statute of limitation expired and all of your agents need to be tested from n no one recalls anything. Okay. You probably should have as part of your hiring policy. So no one held accountable, which was egregious. What happened in that report. When I read with them, I can't believe it happened in the United States of America. This is my frustration. I'll be honest with you then it's very interesting regardless what it is. Even people in Obama administration raise concerns. How can President sons be serving on corrupt Ukrainian oligarchs? Do you understand that it actually can undermine the war in Ukrainian effort and policy. I think these concerns were raised. The Bible administration didn't do anything about it. These people are dying right now and Americans don't trust this president. So I want to ask you one thing as you. I don't need answer because I know you're not going to, but I think you're probably good American and you care. And a lot of these people are so afraid. They cover up this stuff, I think in your department because they're embarrassed that what we became as a country to say that what our Department of Justice became, that allows Russians to do propaganda in Chinese. It allows them to destabilize our country. That is danger to our republic. It is significant danger. And I have just one more question from you. I mean, I agree on corporate crimes and FISA stuff, even with Democrats that we need to do a better job. One more question for you. Do you believe that, you know, you talk about rights to vote, but do you believe that only US Citizens should be voting in this election and doing anything to make sure that only eligible people vote in elections?
- [07:30]
Merrick Garland
Yes and yes.
- [07:31]
Victoria Spartz
Okay. I would like to see that what you do. Thank you, Neil. Back.
- [07:35]
Ben Ferguson
I play that because I feel like this is the level of frustration and anger that so many Americans have that this congresswoman, Mrs. Sparks displayed there. She's livid over the way that this man's doing his job. Almost the point of like, how the hell can you live with yourself and how are you getting away with this? And this is where I think many Americans are at this point.
- [07:59]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, you're right. That's very powerful. That's Victoria Sparks. She is a congresswoman from the state of Indiana. And Victoria was born in the Soviet Union and she grew up in the Soviet Union. And so she saw A communist dictatorship. She saw, when she's referencing the kgb, she's familiar with what the KGB would do. And Victoria came to America when she was 22 years old. And so she came to America seeking freedom, seeking a better life. And the outrage that she's expressing there that how can it be that the U.S. department of justice is behaving like the KGB did. That is from personal experience, from life experience. She's seen oppression firsthand. And, and notice Garland doesn't respond at all to any of what she said there. He just sits there passively. Which frankly, is what, what I guess the KGB would do as well now. I guess they would actually arrest her for saying that. So it's still marginally better. But at the end of the day, the point she made are fundamentally the same. The slow walking. Look, they just brought charges against Hunter Biden for buying a gun illegally when he was on crack. They've had the evidence of that for years. There's been no new evidence on that. They could have brought that years ago. What they did, though, was slow walk the investigation so that the statute of limitations now has expired on the most serious tax offenses. They've allowed that statute of limitation to expire. The statute of limitations has now expired on Joe Biden's corruption with Communist China. The. The text app, the text on WhatsApp that, that, that Hunter sent to the Chinese Communist official saying, I'm sitting next to my father. Well, you know what? Merrick Garland has magically let the statute of limitations expire on that. And he doesn't defend himself. He doesn't dispute it. His attitude is, I don't answer to you, I don't answer to anybody.
- [10:01]
Ben Ferguson
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- [11:57]
Kevin Kiley
General's lack of answers there?
- [12:00]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, I think he's trying to be.
- [12:01]
Congresswoman Lofgren
Very cautious not to say something that is incorrect. For example, you know, he's the head.
- [12:07]
Senator Ted Cruz
Of the Department of Justice, the Attorney General. He sees, you know, hundreds, thousands of people.
- [12:14]
Congresswoman Lofgren
You know, were some of them FBI agents?
- [12:17]
Senator Ted Cruz
He doesn't, he made it very clear he has had no direction towards the special counsel on the Biden investigation. He's completely hands off.
- [12:28]
Ben Ferguson
This is Congresswoman Lofgren. She just made that up. That's not what Merrick Garland said in response. He said he didn't know. He couldn't remember it right. He said, I don't think I have. So she's out there and even Aaron Burnett, I give her some credit. She's like, like, come on, like you can't even be happy with his answering here. And she immediately goes into spin mode, says, well, I can totally kind of understand why. And how it's like, are you kidding me?
- [12:56]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, the Democrats have talking points and every Democrat reads from the same talking points and they're willing to lie. We see Karine Jean Pierre do that almost on a daily basis. Just stand up there and brazenly lie. It's like when she stood at the White House podium and said, people aren't just walking across the border. That doesn't happen. That was a flat out lie. I guarantee you it is happening right now. And by the way, whatever time you happen to have downloaded this podcast and played it. It's happening right now. Whether you're listening to it early in the morning, you're listening to it at lunchtime, you're listening to it as you drive home in the evening, you're listening to it at 2 in the morning, it's happening right now. Someone's coming across the border. When you have 7.2 million people cross in two and a half years. She's lying literally every minute of every day. And they do the same thing on Hunter Biden, on Joe Biden, on the evidence of corruption. They just stick to their talking points and they count on the press not to hold them accountable.
- [13:50]
Ben Ferguson
There's a lot of things that were brought up with Garland and it's outside of just the Biden crime family. One of them is, is. Is a contentious point that I think should be an election year issue. And I'm talking about the presidential election year. And this is the fact that you had an FBI that, that put out that infamous school board memo targeting parents and treating them like Al Qaeda, just like they are terrorists. Like Al Qaeda calling them domestic terrorists. And there was a back and forth about this as well. I want people to listen what Kevin Kiley had to say in this back and forth.
- [14:24]
Kevin Kiley
Are you aware that Director Ray, a couple months ago and sworn testimony implicated you in a sweeping abuse of power?
- [14:31]
Merrick Garland
I doubt he would characterize whatever you. Whatever he said in that way.
- [14:35]
Kevin Kiley
Well, he testified about the school board memo that you issued on October 4th of 2021 in which you mobilized federal law enforcement powers against American parents. Now, of course, you didn't put it quite like that. Instead, you found a pretext which is stated right here in the first line of the memo. In recent months, there has been a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff. What was your basis for making that claim?
- [15:05]
Merrick Garland
I will say again, as I've testified numerous times in response to exactly the same question that I saw numerous reports in the press of violence and threats.
- [15:17]
Kevin Kiley
You saw reports in the press, and so you decided to instigate a nationwide law enforcement initiative.
- [15:22]
Merrick Garland
If I may be permitted to answer the question, please. Numerous reports in the media of violence and threats of violence against school personnel of all kinds.
- [15:32]
Ben Ferguson
By the way, can we just stop there at that lie, Senator? There were not wide ranging mass reports of violence against school board members. That is a lie from the Attorney General, United States of America, Merrick Garland. That was not happening in this country when they decided to go after parents and declare that they're domestic terrorists. Can we all agree that that's a lie?
- [15:52]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, not only is it a lie, it's a lie that he's been caught. Caught on before. Because when I cross examined him in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on exactly this topic, and I pulled up the memo that he wrote, there were 20 different instances that were cited in the letter from the national association of School Boards. That was the entire predicate for his memo. That's what he based it on, is the memo that he'd gotten. And they cited 20 different instances. And, and, and I asked him, I said, of the 20, how many were violent? He said, I don't know. I said, did you examine any of them? No. Did you look into whether they were violent or not? No. One of them was Scott Smith, the father in Loudoun county, whose daughter was sexually assaulted by a boy dressed as a girl in a skirt in the girl's bathroom. And Scott Smith was. Was wrongfully arrested by the school board because when the school board covered it up, they went after the parent instead of defending and protecting the child. And by the way, they transferred that sexual predator to another high school where he sexually assaulted another little girl. He's now a convicted sex offender because he kept on doing it. And Garland's answer to me, he admitted he had no idea which ones were violent, which ones were not. He didn't examine it. It. It. He did no due diligence whatsoever. He simply said, I want to go after the parents. And so what he just repeated to the House is repeating the same lies. He has no idea what violence occurred or not. That was just a pretext to go after parents because he didn't like them expressing their First Amendment rights.
- [17:23]
Ben Ferguson
And then, listen, he gets even more irritated that he's having to answer this question.
- [17:27]
Kevin Kiley
Did you consult with the FBI director?
- [17:29]
Merrick Garland
We received a letter from the national association of School Boards reporting yes.
- [17:34]
Kevin Kiley
That letter contained anecdotes. It didn't contain data of an increase. Did you, yes or no, consult with the FBI director before issuing the memo?
- [17:42]
Merrick Garland
I don't believe I spoke with the FBI director, no.
- [17:44]
Kevin Kiley
Why not? Why wouldn't you consult with the FBI director?
- [17:47]
Merrick Garland
Because the purpose of the memo, as is very clear from the memo, is to ask the FBI to assess the situation, to hold meetings, and to determine whether.
- [17:56]
Kevin Kiley
Mr. Attorney General, you started with a conclusion that there was an increase in. In threats. Now, if you had bothered to consult with the FBI director, here's what he would have said. This is from his sworn testimony that he was not aware of Any such evidence. So my question to you, sir, sitting here today is can you substantiate your claim that there was an increase? Of course, there will always be criminal. Sporadic criminal activity in all quarters of society. But your claim was there was an increase. Can you substantiate that, sitting here today?
- [18:22]
Merrick Garland
I can substantiate that by the reports in the press of violence and threats of violence and by the letters sent by representatives of thousands.
- [18:30]
Kevin Kiley
That's a no. You're giving us anecdotes. I'm asking you if you had data. You also said in your memo that you were committed to using the department's authority and resources to discourage these threats, identify them when they occur, and prosecute them when appropriate. Were there any such prosecutions?
- [18:46]
Merrick Garland
The emphasis should be there on when appropriate. And there were no such prosecutions. And that's good news, not bad news.
- [18:52]
Kevin Kiley
There were no prosecutions. And in fact, Director Wray said there were no arrests. There were no charges. So you have no data to show us that there was any increase. You didn't even bother to consult with the FBI director. And then there were no resulting prosecutions, even though you said that they were coming. So I have to ask you now, in retrospect, was there a compelling law enforcement justification for the memo?
- [19:14]
Merrick Garland
I think you're mischaracterizing the memo. The question, the purpose of the memo.
- [19:18]
Ben Ferguson
By the way, how's he mischaracterizing the memo? Senator?
- [19:21]
Senator Ted Cruz
He's describing it perfectly accurately.
- [19:24]
Ben Ferguson
It's accurate. And I go back to, how the hell does this guy keep his job if he can come to before Congress, whether it's on the House side, the Senate side, and just lie and make stuff up and then can't answer a basic question, Is it. Is there ever a day where this attorney general is going to be held accountable for sitting there in this arrogant way, just straight up lying to people, even when the facts are in front.
- [19:46]
Senator Ted Cruz
Of his face, held accountable. He's doing exactly what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want him to do. He is covering up for Joe Biden. He's covering up for Democrats. He's weaponizing the Department of Justice. He's weaponizing the FBI. There are several things that he said there. So he says no one's been prosecuted. What he didn't acknowledge is the FBI has gone and interviewed multiple parents who exercise their First Amendment rights, and they've been willing to be used essentially to try to intimidate parents. I gotta say, if you're a mom or dad and you go to a School board and suddenly the G men are knocking on your door because you express your First Amendment rights. That is abuse of power. That is a chilling of First Amendment rights. I hate to break it to Merrick Garland, but moms and dads are not domestic terrorists. And by the way he relies on. Well, I trusted the representatives of the school boards. National association of School Boards. You know what Merrick Garland doesn't say? National association of School Boards apologized for sending the letter, said it was a mistake and said what they said was wrong. Now he doesn't mention that, but Merrick Garland has left this memo in place that direction. Go target parents. It is operative today. I forced a vote on the Senate floor to overturn that direction to say that the Senate does not want parents treated as domestic terrorists. Every single Senate Democrat voted no. Merrick Garland is doing precisely what the Democrats want. There is a reason that my latest book Justice Corrupted how the Left has Weaponized the Legal System opens with what happened in Loudoun county and Merrick Garland's memo to the FBI directing them to go after parents because it is a brazen example of using law enforcement as a tool to go after it. Go after your political enemies. And it's a willingness to to disregard the rule of law and simply to exercise power.
- [21:44]
Ben Ferguson
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- [23:56]
Senator Ted Cruz
Mr. Garland, have, have you or are you investigating who leaked the information that appeared in the Washington Post on October 6, 2022 about this investigation, about the Hunter Biden investigation.
- [24:10]
Merrick Garland
You're saying There was an October 2022.
- [24:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
October 6, 2022, Washington Post writes a story about the Hunter Biden investigation. I'm just, I wonder you investigated who leaked that information to the Washington Post.
- [24:22]
Merrick Garland
I don't know.
- [24:23]
Senator Ted Cruz
The answer to that question is has it been referred to the inspector general? Do you know that.
- [24:33]
Merrick Garland
I don't want my answer to suggest that there is or isn't such an investigation. I know that the, that the inspector general sent a letter to Congress explaining that there was, that he had an ongoing assessment with respect to the whistleblower's charges. I don't know if that's what you're referring to.
- [24:53]
Ben Ferguson
I mean, really, you don't know? You don't know if you're investigating a leak that came from your department. Do you believe him on that?
- [25:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
No, of course not. Now, look, he's a little bit covering his own rear end because he's saying he, I think he doesn't care. So do I believe that he doesn't know? I guess in some sense. But there's a reason the answer is no. There is no investigation. And the reason the answer is no is because this Department of Justice from the beginning has used leaks aggressively. They leak information that is damaging to Donald Trump. They leak information that is damaging to Republicans and they cover it up. Remember when, when they discovered classified documents the first time in one of Joe Biden's homes. They discovered it before the 2022 election. And yet miraculously, the Department of Justice was Sealed tight as a drum. Nothing was leaked until after election day. When they want to, they can keep secrets, but when it hurts their political opponents, they have the press on speed dial. And so I believe the answer is no. There is no investigation because the political superiors were very happy with the leak and they may have been the ones who leaked it in the first place. But his answer is a classic lawyer's dodge of, well, you know, I don't know if someone's investigating something, but from his perspective, there ain't nothing to investigate.
- [26:20]
Ben Ferguson
Let's talk about Ray Epps for a second and remind people of, of Ray Epps. You and I have talked about this on the show before. It's something that, that came up obviously with, with Director, with, with the Director, the FBI Director, also with the Attorney General, Merrick Garland. But Ray Epps, out of nowhere, many people believe he was a undercover Fed. There were people even chanting at January 6th, Fed, Fed, Fed. He was the guy telling people, we're going to storm the place the night before. Caught on tape. He's a guy that was pushing on the barricades. He was a guy that was encouraging people to break into the Capitol on January 6, had not been charged with anything. Now, fast forward multiple years later and, and we find out this last week that, that, yes, Ray Epps has now officially been charged with a misdemeanor. Meanwhile, we're literally sending grandmothers to prison that were in and around January 6, rounding up people all over the country. Even just days ago, we saw another person rounded up. We put some, you know, some different people in jail for decades now for January 6th. But Ray Eps, who clearly was a ring leader, at least on the day before January 6th and January 6th, all of a sudden gets a misdemeanor and we still can't get a straight answer from Merrick Garland. I want you to hear Representative Thomas Massie and his back and forth, and then your reaction.
- [27:40]
Congresswoman Lofgren
You're signing the Constitution. I'm going to cite it. It's our constitutional duty to do oversight. Now, in that video, that was your answer to a question to me two years ago when I said how many agents or assets of the government were present on January 5 and January 6 and agitating in the crowd to go into the Capitol. And how many went into the Capitol? Can you answer that now?
- [28:01]
Merrick Garland
I don't know the answer to that question.
- [28:03]
Congresswoman Lofgren
Oh, last time, you don't know how many there were or there were none.
- [28:07]
Merrick Garland
I don't know the answer to either of those questions. If there were any. I Don't know how many. You don't know whether there are any.
- [28:15]
Congresswoman Lofgren
I think you may have just perjured yourself. That you don't know that there were any. You want to say that again? That you don't know that there were any.
- [28:22]
Merrick Garland
No personal knowledge of this matter. I think what I said the last time.
- [28:26]
Congresswoman Lofgren
You've had two years to find out. And the day, by the way, that was in reference to Ray Epps. And yesterday you indicted him. Isn't that a wonderful coincidence on a misdemeanor. Meanwhile, you're sending grandmas to prison. You're putting people away for 20 years for merely filming. Some people weren't even there yet. You got the guy on video who's saying, go into the Capitol. He's directing people to the Capitol before the speech ends. He's at the site of the first breach. You've got all the goods on him. 10 videos and it's an. It's an indictment for a misdemeanor. The American public is. Isn't buying it. I yield the bounce of my time to Chairman Jordan.
- [29:02]
Merrick Garland
May I answer the question?
- [29:04]
Senator Ted Cruz
I'm going to ask you one now. Yeah, let's. We'll let the gentleman.
- [29:08]
Merrick Garland
Yeah.
- [29:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
Go ahead.
- [29:12]
Merrick Garland
But in discovery in the cases that were filed with respect to January 6th, the Justice Department prosecutors provided whatever information they had about the question that you're asking with respect to Mr. Epps, the FBI has said that he was not an employee or informant of. Of the FBI. Mr. Epps has been charged and there's a proceeding, I believe, going on today on that subject.
- [29:43]
Congresswoman Lofgren
The charge is a joke. I yield to the chairman.
- [29:45]
Ben Ferguson
I love the end there. The charge is a joke. I yield to the chairman. He's right about that based on everything we know about Ray Epps. So who is the guy?
- [29:54]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, look, it's a very good question. And you see the Attorney General once again dodging. And, you know, one of the most telling moments of that exchange is when the, when Merrick Garland says, well, I don't even know if there were any FBI agents there. And I think. I think the point was made quite accurately that what Merrick Garland said there was almost certainly a deliberate lie. Look, an earlier verdict we did actually, before you and I teamed up, back when it was Michael Knowles and me, we had an entire episode of Verdict that was entitled who is Ray Epps? And you ought to go on YouTube. And it was episode 104 of Verdict, who is Ray Epps? And it followed questioning that I had done in the Judiciary Committee of senior officials at the Department of Justice and the FBI, where I asked them who Ray Epps was and. And if. If he had been. If he. If he was an employee of the FBI, if he was a confidential informant, they refused to answer. They stonewalled. I asked the question, did you have agents there? They refused to answer. They stonewalled. I asked whether federal agents incited violence. They refused to answer. They stonewalled. And so this has been a pattern for a long time. And now Merrick Garland is pleading ignorance that he has no idea what the Department of Justice involvement was in inciting violence or criminality on January 6th. I can tell you this is also in the wake of the Department of Justice losing the case they brought against the individuals that were charged with a plot to kidnap and murder the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer. And the basis of their losing was that the FBI had engaged in entrapment, that they had incited the criminality. And so it's an explain a little.
- [31:50]
Ben Ferguson
Bit more what that means, inciting criminality so people understand it.
- [31:54]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, law enforcement can't entrap you into committing a crime. In other words, if the police send an undercover agent to you and they say, hey, Ben, there's a car parked on the street. It's got the keys in it. Why don't you steal that car? Come on, Ben, you can do it. Just steal that car. Just hop in there, turn the keys, and take it. If they do that, that's an example of entrapment where they're the ones, they're the impetus, they're the genesis for the criminality. And you might never have stolen the car otherwise if it were not for the law enforcement officer who is prompting you to do it. And so it's a defense that a criminal defendant can give is, look, this was the government's idea. They entrapped me into doing it. And the basis the central defense of these defendants in Michigan was that undercover informants for the FBI, they're the ones who had suggested the plot. They're the ones who drove it forward. And these guys were acquitted. The charges were thrown out. And the fact that the Biden DOJ is caught with absolute misconduct is really stunning. And of course, the corrupt corporate media completely ignores it. And it's exactly relevant to the question that was just raised about January 6th, which is, to what degree did the criminal conduct that occurred, the violence that occur on that day, to what degree did law enforcement agents incited or prompted? And the reason there's so much focus on Raips is he was caught on Tape repeatedly saying, let's go into the capitol. Not just up to the capitol, into the Capitol. And there's one point where his behavior was so odd that the entire crowd begins chanting, fed, fed, fed, fed. And, and, and so that's why I asked a senior senior leader at the FBI if Ray Epps was a fed. And she refused to answer that question. Merrick Garland now is pleading complete ignorance. He knows nothing of what happened on January 6th except for the fact that he has told congress repeatedly that they've devoted more resources to prosecuting individuals involved with January 6th than any other matter in DOJ's history, which is truly a stunning misallocation of resources. But it's, it's, it's yet another example of how the Biden doj is about politics all of the time. And if you could target your political enemies, they're more than eager to do so.
- [34:28]
Ben Ferguson
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- [36:40]
Merrick Garland
Our job is not to do what is politically convenient. Our job is not to take orders from the President, from Congress, or from anyone else about who or what to criminally investigate. As the President himself has said, and I reaffirm today, I am not the President's lawyer. I will add, I am not Congress's prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people. Our job is to follow the facts and the law, and that is what we do.
- [37:15]
Ben Ferguson
I don't believe him. I think he's a pathological liar at this point. I don't think he can be trusted. And I think he's weaponized the DOJ and turn it into a weapon of the President of the United States of America. No matter what he says, with his rhetoric there in those pre scripted, clear talking points, they knew this was a problem for them and so that's why they had him say it this way.
- [37:38]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, John Mitchell is rolling over in his grave. John Mitchell was Richard Nixon's Attorney General. He was indicted, he was prosecuted. He served 22 months in jail for his corruption. And John Mitchell never dared be as brazen as Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland, look in the New York Times reported that Joe Biden, quote, told confidence that he wanted Attorney General Merrick Garland to stop acting like a ponderous judge and to take decisive action. Joe Biden knew exactly what he was getting with Merrick Garland. He was getting someone willing to use the weaponry of the Department of Justice to target his enemies and simultaneously willing to do whatever is necessary to protect the President, to protect Hunter Biden, to protect Democrats. And I will underscore again, we've got multiple whistleblowers, career employees at the IRS who've come forward, two different whistleblowers, to say what Merrick Garland just said there is flat out false. Because the Department of Justice has systematically obstructed justice, obstructed the investigation into Hunter Biden and especially into Joe Biden. And so he can say over and over again, I'm not the President's lawyer. And, and yet he behaves exactly like he's the President's lawyer.
- [39:00]
Ben Ferguson
Should this be an election year issue? Just the way that the DOJ has been weaponized? And specifically, should Republicans be targeting Merrick Garland for the way he's acting.
- [39:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
The weaponization and politicization of the Department of Justice, of the FBI, of the machinery of federal government, I think is a major election issue. And it is a major reason to to throw these clowns out because it has done more to undermine the rule of law than anything that we have seen in decades.
- [39:34]
Ben Ferguson
If ever, don't forget that you can download Verdict three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, Fridays, plus our weekend review on Saturdays. Hit that subscribe auto Download button or the Follow button, depending on where you're listening. Plus, in those in between days, I'll keep you up to date on my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcast, on the latest breaking news, and we'll see you back here in a couple of days.