← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
All the President's Men-AG Garland Faces Whistleblower Allegation of Perjury on Hunter Biden & Tony Blinken Caught Red-handed Lying about Hunter's Laptop
00:48:36
Loading summary
Transcript92 lines
- [00:01]
Ben Shapiro
Senator, it's going to be a fast paced show. We have so much news that's broken this week about a whistleblower, someone asking for whistleblower protection. We actually have an attorney saying he needs this protection. And then on top of that, we hear all of a sudden Joe Biden's finally going to decide. I'm going to announce I'm running for president, hoping that'll put a lot of this to bed, that the media will protect him. Your initial reaction to this was probably the worst week from a media perspective for this president since he got into office, excluding maybe Afghanistan, because they're finally reporting on what's happened.
- [00:38]
Ted Cruz
Well, look, the allegations that are coming out, we've discussed at great length on verdict the allegations of corruption within the Biden family, of profiting from Joe Biden's positions of government authority, both as vice president and as president. We now have all of that escalating significantly and a new element of the politicization of the Department of Justice protecting Hunter Biden and in particular, this whistleblower who sent a letter on April 19, sent a letter to senators and House members of the applicable congressional committees offering to provide testimony demonstrating that the Biden administration lied. And the letter says, I represent a career IRS criminal supervisory special agent who has been overseeing the ongoing and sensitive investigation of a high profile controversial subject since early 2020 and would like to make protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress. Now, we now know that high profile subject is Hunter Biden, but the letter doesn't specify that despite serious risk of retaliation. The letter continues, my client is offering to provide you with information necessary to exercise your constitutional oversight functions and wishes to make the disclosures in a nonpartisan manner to the leadership of the relevant committees on both sides of the political aisle. Now, what would the testimony be? Well, the letter gives you some indication of what the testimony would be. The letter continues, quote, my client has already made legally protected disclosures internally at the IRS through counsel to the US Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and to the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. The protected disclosures, one, contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee, two, involve failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case and three, detail examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected. Now, Hunter Biden is politically connected in that daddy's in the White House.
- [03:19]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah.
- [03:20]
Ted Cruz
But what is striking. So we Talked about this in the last podcast on Friday. What has broken since we recorded that podcast is who the senior political official is. And it's not the Assistant Secretary of whatchamacallit. The senior political official is allegedly Merrick Garland, the Attorney General of the United States. That's a big damn deal. He's accusing the Attorney General of the United States of committing perjury, of lying under oath to Congress. That is serious. And well, look, his lawyer went on TV to describe what his client wants to say. Give a listen.
- [04:05]
Whistleblower's Attorney
So my client's a career law enforcement officer who is respected within the irs and he teaches other agents how to properly do investigations. He knows when to spot, when other invest, when investigative steps aren't done in the traditional way to get at the truth. And he has spotted and observed things that are done differently in this particular matter, which I can't identify. And he wants to talk about them. And he believes that they were influenced by politics.
- [04:33]
Ben Shapiro
That is significant for him to say it this way. You can also see that this attorney is trying to be very smart and go by the book because they're afraid of Merrick Garland, I think, and the Justice Department coming back and retaliating against this individual. He's saying there are things I don't even know. And it's obvious they're terrified of the weaponization of this DOJ and of the FBI. They're trying to do everything perfectly. He's saying there's a lot of things I don't even know yet. This is a pretty brave decision to come forward. Would you agree with that?
- [05:01]
Ted Cruz
Well, it is. And this IRS agent, this supervisor is risking his or her career, is obviously afraid of retaliation. And I'll say this letter was a pretty serious elevation. Now, the individual had already taken it to the Inspector General at the Treasury Department, to the IRS itself, and to the Department of Justice. So this whistleblower is trying to blow the whistle and the Biden administration, as far as we know, isn't doing anything about it.
- [05:36]
Ben Shapiro
How much does this remind you? And that's what I said today. We're gonna go fast paced, cuz there's so much here. This reminds me so much of Tony Bobulinski when he came forward. He's like, no one will listen to me. This reminds me of the guy who John Paul Mc Isaac, the guy who had the laptop. Right. He's like, I call the United States government. I say I have this. And yet nothing seems to happen. So therefore you forced me to come out in a different way.
- [05:59]
Ted Cruz
The Biden doj, I believe, is desperately trying to protect Joe Biden. They leaked that Hunter Biden was gonna get indicted, but he hadn't been indicted. They leaked that months ago that Hunter Biden was gonna get indicted. And it still hasn't happened. And what this individual is saying, like his lawyer just said, well, he teaches other IRS agents how to conduct investigations and he can tell the signs of when an investigation is not being conducted to discover the truth. Look, that's a big deal. He's saying this is a political cover up. And it's a political cover up that is directed by political appointees. And he says in particular, the Attorney General lied to Congress. Here's an example of Merrick Garland talking about Hunter Biden before the Senate.
- [06:48]
Merrick Garland
I don't know the answer to that. I do. And I don't want to get into the internal elements of decision making by the U.S. attorney. But he has been advised that he is not to be denied anything that he needs. And if that were to happen, it should ascend through the department's ranks. And I have not heard anything from that office to suggest that they are not able to do everything that the U.S. attorney wants to do.
- [07:13]
Ben Shapiro
Do you believe him? Before you answer that, I want to remind everybody about our friends at Patriot Mobile. Patriot Mobile is the only conservative cell phone company in the US and if you're sick and tired of giving your dollars to woke companies that are going against what you believe in, then stand up for what you believe in with a bill you're gonna pay every single month. That's your cell phone bill. Patriot Mobile actually fights for your first and your second amendment rights. They give money to organizations that stand up for what you believe in. Now Big Mobile, they're fighting against what you actually stand for. If you stand for the first and second amendment, if you stand for the rights of unborn children, then you need to make the switch to Patriot Mobile. You get the same coverage you have right now with your cell phone. You get to keep your same cell phone number. Now if you have a business, a small business, they have a business division that can help you switch all of your lines over. Plus there's one other perk. You usually save money when you switch. So check out Patriot Mobile. Stand with your values and give your money to a company that's fighting to stand up for what we believe in. You can call them 878-patriot. Use a promo code. Verdict. You're going to get the best deals of the year. 878patriot or patriot mobile.com Verdict Senator, the question. I think when you look at, you know, Garland, he's testifying there under oath. Do you believe him?
- [08:32]
Ted Cruz
I don't. You know, he's referring to the U.S. attorney in the District of Delaware. David Weiss is his name. He is a holdover U.S. attorney from the Trump administration. So he was appointed by Trump. I think Garland is trying to say, look, Trump appointed this guy, so there's no political interference at all. He can do whatever he wants. He can bring whatever case he wants. Well, this IRS whistleblower is suggesting that's not the case. Look, here's another example of Merrick Garland testifying again before the Senate Judiciary Committee, same topic.
- [09:10]
Merrick Garland
So, as the committee well knows from my confirmation hearing, I promised to leave the matter of Hunter Biden in the hands of the U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware, who was appointed in the previous administration. So any information like that should have gone or should or should have gone to that U.S. attorney's offices and the FBI squad that's working with him. I have pledged not to interfere with that investigation, and I have carried through on my pledge.
- [09:41]
Ben Shapiro
Clearly, they're trying to paint a picture. They say, hey, Weiss is a guy that can get to do his own thing. Is that reality for people that understand how the DOJ works? I mean, you can say, hey, he has free reign. Do whatever you want to do. Do the right thing. Go where the facts take you. But ultimately, doesn't he still have to go back to the people of the DOJ above him and say, this is the plan, or this is what I'd like to do?
- [10:03]
Ted Cruz
Well, typically in this sort of matter, you'd have to get approval to file charges, and you'd have to get approval from the fifth floor, from top management, from the attorney general. What we just played there. We don't know for sure what it is that this whistleblower is alleging was perjury, but I think that clip is a pretty good candidate. I think it could easily be that because he says, specifically, I have not politically interfered. I pledged not to, and I followed through on that pledge. It's a clear categorical statement, if it is the case, as the whistleblower says, that there was politics that's interfering, and if it's coming from the attorney general, that would contradict that statement. We don't know that because we haven't heard this testimony. But look, I will say the fact that the whistleblower sent this letter and released the letter to the public, it now makes it extremely difficult for the Biden administration to directly retaliate against this whistleblower. This letter is addressed to Ron Wyden, who's the chairman of the Finance Committee. It's addressed to Mike Crapo, who is the ranking member of the Finance Committee. It's addressed to Dick Durbin, the chairman of Judiciary. It's addressed to Lindsey Graham, who's the ranking member, Judiciary. It's addressed to Chuck Grassley who is on the Finance Committee and the Judiciary Committee and is co chair of the Whistleblower Protection Caucus along with Ron Wyden, a Democrat who is also co chair of the Whistleblower Protection Caucus. And then it's also sent to four House Jason Smith, Richard Neal, Jim Jordan and Jerry Nadler. Sending it to five senators, to four House members, both Republicans and Democrats, is a very effective way to avoid this whistleblower just being disappeared in the night. It's a very effective way to avoid a late night visit from Hillary Clinton to his jail cell and end up being Jeffrey Epstein.
- [12:10]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah, and you gotta cover your aws on this one. To be blunt. I mean, it's gotta be terrifying to be this guy. How does this work then moving forward?
- [12:19]
Ted Cruz
You mentioned and what the lawyer's saying is this guy is a non political.
- [12:24]
Ben Shapiro
Career guy, investigative guy, almost like law enforcement esque.
- [12:28]
Ted Cruz
And it at least sounds like as you read the letter, he is genuinely offended and disturbed. This is what whistleblower protections are all about. When someone sees a cover up, when someone sees the machinery of justice being misused. And listen, we've talked on Vertica all the time about how to tell the Biden Justice Department is being corrupted on this investigation. The critical question is whether they are endeavoring to focus wrongdoing on Hunter Biden, a poor troubled soul with substance abuse issues, which is their political narrative, or whether they're willing to look into corruption that flows directly to Joe Biden. That's the connection where if you're being political, you say, okay, go after him for all the drug use you want, but you don't.
- [13:26]
Ben Shapiro
Tax issues, Fine, well, but tax issues.
- [13:29]
Ted Cruz
So look, what's interesting about this letter also is that he refers to in particular, he says, look, there are some of the protected disclosures contain information that is restricted by statute from unauthorized disclosure to protect taxpayer and tax return information. So this is an IRS investigator, he's looking at IRS tax returns. He's looking at presumably Hunter Biden's tax returns, maybe business tax returns. And what it may be, and I'm speculating here, but I'm speculating based on what he said, is it may be that the political interference is saying, nope, don't look into this flow of money. And if it's going to Joe Biden, no, you can't look into that. That may be because we've said all the time, that's the real critical question. Are they protecting the big guy?
- [14:25]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah.
- [14:25]
Ted Cruz
And if they're saying to the investigators, you know, they're looking at a deal and saying, all right, is this thing crooked? You'd normally follow the money. That would be the ordinary steps that you engage in to find the truth. And so it is, in other words.
- [14:42]
Ben Shapiro
Who else is involved?
- [14:43]
Ted Cruz
Yes.
- [14:44]
Ben Shapiro
And if you're the top guy or you're Garland and you're this whistleblower and you say, we're following this money and we wanna see where it's going because we can see what's happening here. Again, you connect this with all the suspicious activity reports. You connect it with the nine Biden family member last names we now know are involved in this shady business scheme, this apparatus, whatever you wanna call it, you connect all that. And then if someone comes in and says, no, no, no, you can't go there. That's when this whistleblower, I would assume, was offended.
- [15:16]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, no, I think that's right. I mean, it certainly on its face presents like someone who wanted to investigate criminal conduct or possible criminal conduct and was prevented from doing so. That had political higher ups saying, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, what he alleges is it was politics. In other words, we're protecting the big guy. You can't go there.
- [15:38]
Ben Shapiro
Let's go to the lawyer for quickly a moment here. If you are in the IRS and you go to an attorney and you say, this is what I've seen, and then you're accusing the Attorney General of the United States of America Senator of being the guy who is stopping you from doing your job, what is the initial reaction gonna be in that conversation with any attorney? Like, be careful, tread lightly. Do you understand what could happen to your life and your future if you do go forward with this? How much are they gonna go back and really make sure before they send this letter that this is a rock solid claim from a whistleblower?
- [16:18]
Ted Cruz
Well, look, I am assuming that this whistleblower has real evidence. This whistleblower may have his or her own testimony, but it wouldn't surprise me if they're emails. It wouldn't surprise me if there are voicemails or other written correspondence directing. Okay, here's what you can investigate and here's what you can't. I don't know that. But an IRS senior supervisory investigator, those are the sorts of materials that he would present. And look, the steps that he took, he went first of all to the irs. So he went to a supervisor. He went to someone within the irs. He doesn't specify whom, but you would think to the supervisor, it would be the natural place, or if the supervisor was the one conveying it, you'd go to the supervisor's supervisor. That would be a reasonable thing to start. He then went to the inspector general at Treasury. So that's another place to start. And the inspector general exists to investigate wrongdoing within the department. So he's done that. We don't know what time frame. He doesn't specify when he raised it with the irs, when he raised it with the inspector general. But then he went also to the inspector general of the Department of Justice. So he's crossing over to another department and raising it there as well. And presumably this letter was sent because those three places got nowhere. Now, there may be ongoing investigations. The IG at Justice, in particular, Michael Horowitz, has done good work. The report that the Department of Justice inspector general did on Crossfire Hurricane outlying the politicizations, the lying, the enormous breaches of ordinary protocol that were done in the Department of Justice targeting and going after Donald Trump, that was a very good report. So it's possible one or both inspectors general are actively investigating and there may be more coming. But those investigations can take a long time. They can be drawn out. They usually culminate in a report on the back end. And that can end up if there's criminal conduct resulting in a referral for criminal prosecution. Sending the letter to Congress elevates it by making it public. Now, look, it also performs a function that it lets the American people know about it. And this is highly relevant if you have a president and an attorney general who are lying to the American people, who are abusing the justice system, who are covering up evidence of corruption by the president. You know, we've seen that before. There was a guy named Richard Milhouse Nixon, and he had an attorney general, John Mitchell, who covered up for him and covered up for his criminal conduct. And the end of that story, Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace and John Mitchell went to prison. So what's being alleged by this whistleblower, the consequences of it are potentially very, very serious.
- [19:32]
Ben Shapiro
Set expectations quickly for this whistleblower and what the public may see if he is granted this protection. Do we see him in front of cameras testifying before Congress? Is this done behind closed doors? Will we find out who he is as a person? How does this work?
- [19:53]
Ted Cruz
So it depends. And because there are multiple committees, the answer may be different committee by committee. I will say if we had a Democrat Senate and a Democrat House, the odds would be very high that the result would be the same as the result's been so far from his other three referrals that they just basically deep six it and ignore it. Senate Judiciary Committee, I expect Dick Durbin want to go near this. I will be surprised if Durbin has any interest in getting into this issue, but Jim Jordan will. The fact that we have a Republican majority in the House, I am confident the House will be eager to listen to this whistleblower. It will start, presumably. So the lawyer offers to sit down and he says, you know, my goal is to ensure that my client can properly share his lawfully protected disclosures with congressional committees. Thus, I respectfully request that your committees work with me to facilitate sharing the information with Congress legally and with the fully informed advice of counsel, with the appropriate legal protections and in the appropriate setting. I would be happy to meet with you and provide a more detailed proffer of the testimony my client could provide to Congress. So the next step, in all likelihood, and it may have happened last week, if it didn't happen last week, I'll be shocked if it doesn't happen this week, is lawyers for the committees will sit down with the lawyer for this whistleblower, and he'll give a more detailed proffer. So proffer is a legal term where a proffer is basically saying, okay, here's what my client will testify to. And it's sort of giving a foreshadowing of this is gonna be his testimony. And they will presumably work out an agreement, the committees with him, to ensure that he has the legal protections of being a whistleblower so that he doesn't get fired for doing it. And in particular, you know, he mentions that there are statutes that limit what you can say about taxpayer filing information. Now, there's some irony because the Biden IRS leaks informations about tax returns of people they don't like, people like Elon Musk. They're happy to leak informations about his tax returns. But this guy is very smart, saying, look, if I come and tell you about something in the tax return, Merrick Garland could turn around and prosecute me, because you're not allowed to share that. So I want to make sure I'm conveying it in a way that it is consistent with law. That will happen. At a minimum, it will happen in the House, what will start will be a conversation with a lawyer. What will probably happen next will be a conversation, perhaps a deposition taken behind closed doors from this whistleblower to hear his testimony. And then the next step. My prediction is we're going to see this guy testify in the House that Jim Jordan or James Comer.
- [23:02]
Ben Shapiro
So you think we'll actually see him as an individual, as a human being?
- [23:05]
Ted Cruz
I think that's quite likely. Now, that's probably two months away.
- [23:10]
Ben Shapiro
Okay. Takes time.
- [23:14]
Ted Cruz
The committee will want to, first of all, hear from the lawyer. Second of all, hear from the witness. It could be fast. Look, we could hear from him in a week if they want to go fast. They can.
- [23:28]
Ben Shapiro
Not Always smart, though.
- [23:29]
Ted Cruz
Look, I would think whatever the allegations are, they're gonna ask Art, do you have any evidence to back it up? Do you have emails? Do you have memos? Do you have, like, what, corroborating information? They might ask what other witnesses do you have? And they may say, okay, we want to talk to these other witnesses. And so my guess is we will see a public hearing. I don't think we'll see one in the Senate. I don't think Dick Durbin wants a public hearing in the Senate, but the House, I think we will probably see a hearing with this witness testifying. And depending on the specifics of the evidence that he or she puts forward, the next steps, that could escalate quickly.
- [24:13]
Ben Shapiro
I want to ask you about Garland, specifically how much trouble he could actually be in from all this. Before I get your reaction to that, I want to tell you about our friends over at Chalk. If you're a guy and you're dealing with that real issue of you're just getting older, you feel like you're losing a little bit of your edge. You feel like you're just more tired than you used to be, you should check out chalk. Chalk can help you maximize your masculinity by boosting your testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days. I've been taking the chalk male vitality stack. I can tell you it actually does work. If you're ready to get your edge back, check out chalk. Go to chalk c-h o q.com use the promo code BEN for 35% off any Chalk subscription for life. Plus, you can cancel anytime. All you have to do is use a promo code Ben. So if you're getting older, get and win this war and get back what you had before chalk. Choq.com promo code Ben. At checkout, you get 35% off chalk choq.com Senator, if you are Garland right now, the Attorney General and this whistleblower is clearly gonna name you. You know what your testimony was, and if you forgot it, you've probably gone back and looked at it. You also probably know what he has on you, this whistleblower. How concerned is Garland right now for his job? And since the Senate is controlled by the Democrats, how much does that protect him?
- [25:43]
Ted Cruz
Look, it depends on how specific the evidence is. A special Supervisory agent at the IRS is unlikely to be meeting with the Attorney General directly. So, look, the agent could come in and testify. Merrick Garland told me, directly, do not investigate Joe Biden or any of the money flowing to Joe Biden. That would be really bad if he said that. The chances of that happening are very, very low. It's not likely to be direct testimony of words that came straight out of Merrick Garland's mouth. It is more likely to be as he's conducting the investigation, he's told by a supervisor, don't go down that road. No, no, you can't go down that road. I want you to focus on this and not that. In all likelihood, any interference from the Attorney General went through several intermediaries. It wasn't. Presumably, it wasn't Garland sitting there directly going, nope, nope, can't touch that. So then it depends on how specific it was. If these guys are idiots enough to write a memo, which they might be because they're pretty brazen, if they wrote a memo and directed, here are all the things you can't get into, and it's directly contrary to what Merrick Garland said, that he hasn't interfered in any way, then that's more of a problem. And the memo. Look, we've talked about memos from Merrick Garland. The memo that he wrote to the FBI directing them to investigate parents who spoke up at school boards and then.
- [27:18]
Ben Shapiro
Claimed it was wrong, it should never happen.
- [27:23]
Ted Cruz
I doubt that's happened. If he wrote a memo on the Hunter Biden case directing them not to look into the President, then he ought to be impeached for stupidity. Forget the corruption. That would be so moronic. I would be very, very surprised.
- [27:40]
Ben Shapiro
If he's a smart guy, people need to understand that.
- [27:42]
Ted Cruz
I always say he is a very smart guy.
- [27:43]
Ben Shapiro
He's not an idiot.
- [27:44]
Ted Cruz
He is not lacking in gray matter. He is lacking in ethics and integrity. Being willing to say, no, I will not allow the Department of Justice to be politicized and weaponized. But he is smart and capable. So the degree of legal jeopardy Merrick Garland Is in depends upon the quality and specificity of the evidence this whistleblower has. If it's vaguer in nature. Well, I was told to focus over here, but not over there. And why is that? You know, people just knew it was because the Attorney General didn't want us to. It could be something. If that's all it is, that you're not gonna get a conviction for lying under oath. For that kind of tension, you need a much more direct. He said he didn't do X. Here's evidence he did X. I mean, that's.
- [28:44]
Ben Shapiro
There used to be a fear of lying under oath, especially to Congress. It would be a real consequence. We have a lot of examples of people lying under oath, and there's no accountability. Anthony Fauci's the one, the name that comes right to the top of the list. There's many others that have lied.
- [28:57]
Ted Cruz
And I've asked Merrick Garland about Anthony Fauci and Garland. Garland picks and chooses which laws he will enforce and which laws he won't. There is a subsequent question, which is, if this evidence comes out, what happens then? Because the person who makes the decision whether Merrick Garland should be prosecuted is Merrick Garland.
- [29:19]
Ben Shapiro
So how does it work then?
- [29:22]
Ted Cruz
He would surely recuse, and he would have to recuse that. Actually, I feel confident the DOJ rules are clear. You can't make a decision whether to prosecute yourself.
- [29:32]
Ben Shapiro
Is this kind of like when he went after Trump at Mar a Lago for the classified documents? Then Biden had a bunch of documents like, okay, I gotta step back here. We'll have somebody else deal with this.
- [29:40]
Ted Cruz
No, On a determination. If it escalated to the point that there was a determination of a criminal investigation, I would expect that Garland would recuse. And the Deputy Attorney general, Lisa Monaco, would be the acting Attorney General, for that matter. By the way, same thing Jeff Sessions did. Remember, Jeff Sessions recused from Russia, Russia, Russia. And so Rod Rosenstein was the Attorney General for all of that, which is why we went down that horrible road. In this instance, Garland would surely recuse from decisions about himself. But Lisa Monaco has been perfectly willing to be part of the politicization as well. And so I do not believe the Department of Justice would be willing to hold Merrick Garland to account. Many of us would surely call for a special counsel in that circumstances. It would take mounting political pressure to force that to happen. That's why I think if this guy has. If he has the goods, if he has real evidence now, if it turns out it's nothing, then you may not see him testify, but if he's got real and compelling evidence, I expect to see him testify because that's the only way to ratchet up the pressure to ultimately look, if it's bad enough, it could force Garland to resign, but we don't know yet. So that it depends on whether there is clear evidence of apolitical interference. And B, Garland committing a felony and lying to Congress under oath.
- [31:14]
Ben Shapiro
Garland, if you're Garland, you're hoping someone else has a bad week to get you off the front page.
- [31:20]
Ted Cruz
And by the way, we were talking a second ago about recusals of the Attorney General and Jeff Sessions. If you remember why Jeff Sessions recused part of started with his confirmation hearing. So he's before the Senate Judiciary Committee being confirmed as Attorney General. And Jeff is a good guy. He's a friend. I served with him in the Senate for a lot of years. He was on the Judiciary Committee, sat just a couple of seats away from me on the Judiciary Committee. Jeff had a long day of testimony, and the morning went pretty well. He was getting questioned. The Democrats were coming after him, but he was doing a good job. As he got into the afternoon, I think Jeff got tired. Look, Jeff's in his 70s, and he just, I think, got tired and his answers got sloppy. And in particular, there was an exchange. And I'm doing this from memory. I don't have the transcript in front of me, but it was Al Franken who was on the committee before he resigned from the Senate in disgrace. Al Franken asked him about had he met with the Russian ambassador. And Sessions said, no, he had not. And then it came out that he had, and there were photographs of him with the Russian ambassador. And it was his answer. And he actually, his answer went above and beyond what Franken had asked. And I think it was just he was tired and sloppy. Now, do I think Jeff Sessions was trying to lie to Congress? No, I don't think it was a deliberate lie. But it became clear after his testimony that what he said was false. It was lacking the intent to be criminal, but it was a false statement. I think it was because he was tired and he wasn't remembering and he was being sloppy. But that was a major factor leading Sessions to recuse himself from this. Yeah, was that he was facing. And there were Democrats talking about wanting to prosecute him for lying to Congress, the Attorney General. So, look, these issues are serious. And many of these same Senate Democrats on Judiciary who are going to be protecting Merrick Garland, who are protecting Joe Biden, were the Ones calling for Sessions head over his statement, even though I think the context in which it was given it was clearly not done with the intent to deceive here. If he's making a promise, I'm not going to politically interfere, and then he's going and politically interfering. That has very likely has the intent to deceive. That is essential to it being a criminal false statement before Congress.
- [34:09]
Ben Shapiro
When you have a bad week and you're in politics, what you're always hoping for is that someone else has a bad week to get you out of the headlines. Rarely do we see such a bad week for this White House. You had a bad week with the Biden family in general. Nine people now on the take. From what we understand, you got a bad week for Garland here with this whistleblower. And then we have another bad week for the Secretary of State who apparently the new way to get that job is to orchestrate a massive lie to the American people to help influence an election to your guy, Joe Biden. Let's go back in time and remind people right before the election, Joe Biden needed a bailout right at his own personal bailout. You got 50 guys that signed a letter saying this whole Hunter Biden laptop thing isn't real. It has all the markings of Russian interference and Russia trying to influence our elections. That letter we now know was put together by the now guy who's the Secretary of the State. I guess that's how you get this job. And remember, it saved that letter that they all knew they were lying when they signed it. That letter saved Joe Biden's presidential campaign. And then he used it to go on offense. Take a Look.
- [35:23]
Joe Biden
There are 50 former National Intelligence folks who said that what this he's accusing me of is a Russian plan. They have said that. This has all the four, five former heads of the CIA, both parties say what he's saying is a bunch of garbage. Nobody believes it except his and his good friend Rudy Gianni.
- [35:45]
Ben Shapiro
You mean the laptop is now another.
- [35:47]
Ted Cruz
Russia, Russia, Russia hoax?
- [35:49]
Joe Biden
That's exactly what, exactly.
- [35:52]
Ben Shapiro
This is where he's going. I love that exchange, cuz it's classic Trump. But you listen to him. He went on offense in this letter and now this letter has completely blown up in the face of the Democrats. We have official testimony that they knew. They were basically lying. They knew they were gonna deceive the American people. These are the people we're supposed to be trusting with our national intelligence, with keeping us safe, with being in the deeps, you know, I mean, this is the swamp. This is the swamp of the swamp. And now it comes out. It's all just political. We made it all up.
- [36:25]
Ted Cruz
So several observations. One, it's really striking watching that. This is something you said to me when we were watching the clip right before we started filming. How much Joe Biden has deteriorated in the last two and a half years just from that.
- [36:40]
Ben Shapiro
It's unbelievable.
- [36:40]
Ted Cruz
That was October of 2020. Now, I assume they had him pumped up with drugs, but he was so much more alert there than he is now. It's like, wow.
- [36:50]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah, the decline is massive when you look at that clip.
- [36:54]
Ted Cruz
He was diminished there, but the difference from there to now is striking. Look, the Hunter Biden laptop. Hunter Biden has been a screw up his whole life. The laptop. I mean, it is pretty idiotic that you have a laptop with all sorts of incriminating information about you, your family, the money you're making from communist China, your dad, nine family members being on the take and you just leave it at a repair shop.
- [37:21]
Ben Shapiro
Russian oligarchs who still haven't been sanctioned.
- [37:23]
Ted Cruz
Like at some level. It's so ridiculous. I'm sure Joe Biden is like, for Pete's sake, like, hunter, stop.
- [37:35]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah.
- [37:38]
Ted Cruz
But when the story broke, this was October, this was a couple of weeks before the election. The Biden campaign was in full on panic mode. And so this letter, it was signed by 51 former current and former senior members of the intelligence community.
- [37:57]
Ben Shapiro
Heads of the CIA, James Clapper, Brennan's the top dogs.
- [38:01]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. And what we didn't know until this week is that Tony Blinken was the guy who spearheaded the whole thing, who organized the whole thing. We don't think of our Secretaries of state as political operatives that are dealing with a cleanup on aisle six. I mean, this was. Okay, now it was a foreign policy. It was. Are the Bidens in the tank with corrupt foreign governments? So I guess that's foreign policy in a sense. And their lie to cover it up. This is Russian information. That is a lie. It was not Russian information. It did not come from Russia. And by the way, you know who knew it wasn't Russian disinformation? Hunter Biden. You know who else knew it wasn't Russian disinformation? Joe Biden. Joe Biden right there knew he was lying. But he sends Tony, Tony, go, go get everyone to sign up. You know, people like Mike Morell who was the deputy head of the CIA, who said, oh, look, I signed it cuz I wanted Joe Biden to win.
- [39:08]
Ben Shapiro
Let's be clear. He Testified to that if people missed this, he actually testified. The reason why he got all these people together and got them to do this letter is because we wanted Joe Biden to win. They're telling you, yes, we lied and misled the election. You know, the people going to decide who the president's gonna be in an election. And we did it because we wanted our guy to win. And the payoff for Anthony Blinken was you get to become the Secretary of State.
- [39:33]
Ted Cruz
It does suggest. How important was it to. To Joe Biden that they put this letter together and lie about the Hunter Biden laptop? Important enough that the guy who fixed it, at least temporarily, gets Secretary of State? I mean, well, and look, this is a problem. The Secretary of State, they often hold themselves out to be above politics, outside of politics. But now the State Department is in a mess and. Okay, so State Department press briefing, their press spokesperson was asked about it. His answer. Watch and listen. It's pretty darn funny.
- [40:17]
State Department Spokesperson
Does the secretary dispute the accuracy of the GOP letter sent to him on Hunter Biden? And then does he also plan to comply and respond to it by May 4, the deadline?
- [40:28]
Ben Shapiro
That is not a State Department issue. So I don't have a comment for you on that.
- [40:32]
State Department Spokesperson
You know who we can ask about it because we've asked the State Department to provide some sort of comment on this letter, and it's not clear who else outside of the department we can ask, given it did happen before he was Secretary of State.
- [40:45]
Ben Shapiro
It is not a State Department issue. And I don't really have a comment on this from the State Department. I mean, that's. That's. That's a hard day's work right there. How is this not a State Department issue when it is absolutely a State Department issue?
- [40:59]
Ted Cruz
So I gotta say, first of all, for those watching the video version of this on YouTube, that guy looks 12. Like, is this take your kid to school day? And, you know, he's like, in eighth grade and gets to answer questions. And clearly, with the discipline of a middle schooler, he had a line. This is not a State Department issue, and I don't have a comment on it. That is the only line he was going to say. Now I get the State Department as an entity may not want to talk about this, but what about Tony Blinken?
- [41:32]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah.
- [41:33]
Ted Cruz
Like, is he going to say something? Is he going to admit to it? And let's be clear. What is the it that he should admit to? Did he organize this letter? Did he know it was a lie? Did he do it politically? To benefit Joe Biden, even though he knew it was a lie. And what did he say to convince these people to sign on? And also, who didn't sign on? 51 did.
- [42:06]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah. Where there are 58, 60, 70 that were contacted, and only these hacks signed it. I got to ask you this, though, about all of these people.
- [42:14]
Ted Cruz
And by the way, this letter also became yet another basis for Big Tech to suppress the story as well.
- [42:21]
Ben Shapiro
And the media.
- [42:22]
Ted Cruz
And the media, they were all intertwined. You can't talk about this. Doesn't exist. It's Orwellian. We are erasing this story because we do not wish it to hurt our political narrative.
- [42:35]
Ben Shapiro
You look at the narrative of that letter, and it was not just the fact that it was a bailout. It changed it to going on offense, which is what you want to do in politics. It allowed the media to say, we're not gonna have Russia interfere in our election, so we're America Kumbaya. And that's how we're protecting you from disinformation from the Russians. So it justified that ability, gave them a probable cause to say, we did the right thing. But what about all of these men that signed onto this letter that have top secret clearance still to this day? Many of them do. Half of them are commentators getting paid to go on msnbc, NBC, and cnn. I had to deal with a couple of them at cnn. They're making money off of still having their top secret clearance where they have. They deliberately misled the American people to change and alter the outcome of an election. Can you guys take away their top secret clearance for doing this, knowing they were lying to the American people?
- [43:28]
Ted Cruz
Well, the problem in that question is the word, you guys. Because. Yeah, because clearance is given in the executive branch. And so what are the chances that the Biden administration is going to revoke clearance? Zero. Because these were all the President's men. Look, these two stories are intertwined.
- [43:52]
Ben Shapiro
Very much so.
- [43:52]
Ted Cruz
I mean, we started talking first about Merrick Garland potentially perjuring himself to cover up his political interference to stop the investigation into Hunter Biden and Joe Biden's potential corruption together. Merrick Garland is Attorney General, and he's willing to be politicized. Tony Blinken is Secretary of State. You want to talk about two of the very top cabinet positions. They're both doing the same thing they view their job is. We are political operatives, and our priority is not truth. Our priority is not following the law. Our priority is not prosecuting criminal activity. Our priority is protecting the political interest of the Biden harris, White House that's messed up.
- [44:42]
Ben Shapiro
Can you get answers out of Anthony Blinken on this letter? Will you guys have a chance to do that? Before you answer that, I want to tell you about our friends, Augusta Precious Metals. How would you like to get some free gold? You can now do it when you become a client of Augusta Precious Metals. And if you're sick and tired of being stressed out over your retirement, over your 401k, with what's been going on with the economy, with bank failures and everything else, you need to sit down with a gust of precious metals and see if gold and silver is right for you and your 401k. If you have $100,000 or more invested and you talk to a gust of precious metals, you can actually get a free gold coin as well. That's the nice part about working with them as a company. They want to work with you short term to protect your assets for the long term. So don't worry about what's happening with the economy all the time. Be able to protect yourself and use gold as part of that protection. Call them or go online. 877-the-number4 Gold IRA. 877-the-number 4 Gold IRA. Or augustaprecious metals.com that's augustapreciousmetals.com Use gold and IRA for your peace of mind. Augustapressmetals.com Blinken for a second. Can you guys ask him questions now on this and or does he just say, hey, that was a previous life. I don't have to answer any of these questions. I'm now just working as an official government. That was in my private time on the campaign.
- [46:08]
Ted Cruz
So I don't expect the Democrats in the Senate to want to ask anything about it. But we will ask him questions. I'm on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Tony Blinken testifies regularly before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He will be forced to answer questions. But if not, you better believe the next time he testifies before Senate Foreign Relations, I'm gonna ask him about it. And my guess is he'll be forced to answer even before then. We'll see what he says. He'll come up with a statement. The statement will deny responsibility. Will dodge will be, you know, I was a foreign policy advisor for the campaign and had lots of responsibilities that dealt with foreign policy. And Russian disinformation is foreign policy. I'm going to predict whatever statement he puts out will not address remotely the fact that they were all deliberately lying. We'll just completely ignore that fact and try to say nothing to see here. Yes. Everyone knows I was an advisor on the campaign. And so I was an advisor on the campaign. That's what I expect.
- [47:14]
Ben Shapiro
Last question, Anthony Blinken or Merrick Garland? Who would you not want to be in these two scenarios as it moves forward, and why Garland?
- [47:24]
Ted Cruz
Garland, depending on the quality of the evidence that this whistleblower has, Garland potentially has real legal exposure here. Blinken, it's unseemly, it's embarrassing. It's indicative of his being a political hack before he became secretary of State. And so that you don't feel good about that. Yeah, but there's nothing in that that is allegedly illegal. There's not legal jeopardy. And any prosecution that follows from that Garland. And to be clear, we're nowhere close to a prosecution for Garland. But if there's real evidence that he lied to Congress under oath, that would change things significantly.
- [48:11]
Ben Shapiro
This is breaking, obviously, quickly. We're going to stay on it here at Verdict. Make sure you download our podcast Monday, Wednesday and Fridays when we publish. We also have our video component, one of those shows a week. So you can watch that on YouTube. You can also watch it on Facebook as well. Follow us there. Senator, really fun show. This one has got a lot of information. Share it with your family and friends and we'll see you back here in a couple of days.