← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Balloons, 80s Rock, Big Tech, Radicals On The FCC & James Clapper Running Scared
00:48:31
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- [00:00]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. Senator, you're in Washington D.C. right now. And I am going to let people know in advance where we're going on the pod today because we have so much news. So we're going to talk about the balloon and the classified briefing that you just got out of. We're also going to talk about some significant big tech legislation that you are authoring. And then there was an amazing hearing today that deals with the FCC and GG son and an amazing back and forth. And then we're also, if we have time, we're going to get to this shocking about face from James Clapper dealing with those the Hunter Biden laptop. But before we get to the rest of that, I want to talk about this classified briefing that you got out of today. What can you tell us about what we've learned about the balloon? We've seen a lot of the headlines. We now are shooting down things left and right. There's even been some people out there, Senator, saying, are we maybe overreacting politically because the White House got the first one so wrong that they're shooting everything down. There's even been people speculating that some of the things we may have shut down may have actually been literal space junk. And this is just to try to show, you know, we're tough on balloons in outer space or, you know, at 60,000ft, let's, you know, that's kind of where America is right now. It's very weird.
- [01:19]
Senator Ted Cruz
So what can I tell you about it? Not a damn thing. So last week on the pod, we talked about the classified briefing that I went to last week that focused on the first Chinese spy balloon, the one that spent over a week in American airspace conducting espionage that ultimately Biden shot down over the Atlantic after it had traversed the continental United States after it had completed its espionage mission. Since then, we've had three other objects shot down in space. This morning I went to a second classified briefing on the new object shutdown in space. I have to admit, I was really curious to find out what they were. Now I can't disclose anything said in the classified briefing, but to be honest, I don't know that there's anything to disclose. It was one of the least satisfying classified briefings I've ever had. Their lips were moving. I'm not sure what they said. I gotta say, I think the American people are quite reasonably asking a whole series of questions. What the hell were the things we just shot down? Where did they come from? Did they come from China? Were they spy satellites or spy balloons or spy drones or, I don't know, spy kites? Uh, what were they doing? Why did we shoot them down? What was the danger they posed? Those are all really reasonable questions. Those are questions I'm hearing from Texans right now. The Biden administration is answering zero of them. It's not telling the American people. Actually, the moment that I thought was most telling was during the classified briefing when a couple of senators chewed out the administration and said, look, you owe it to the American people to be candid on this, to stand up and say, here's what we know. And by the way, if the answer is we don't know, we shot some thing down in the sky and we don't know what it is, we don't know where it came from. It may have been, you know, Jim Bob jettisoned his pickup truck into the sky. We don't know if that's the answer. Say it. But right now, this administration believes it doesn't owe the American people an explanation. And. And I. All right, I gotta ask you something. All right, so Ben, you're 43, is that right?
- [03:44]
Ben Ferguson
You don't have to age me that much. 41. Give me a little bit of.
- [03:48]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right, so, so I want, I want to test you on something. Did you get the reference from the title of our last podcast? So, our last podcast, Usually I come up with the titles because Ben, he's very talented, but he writes long paragraph titles. And I said, they're too long, I want them punchier. And so I come up with more smart ass titles.
- [04:09]
Ben Ferguson
This is true. This is. This is totally accurate.
- [04:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
Am I characterizing that too loosely?
- [04:14]
Ben Ferguson
That is 100% accurate.
- [04:18]
Senator Ted Cruz
So the last title started out with 99 Chinese balloons. And my question to you, which I asked several people on my staff today. Do you get the reference? And none of the 20 something year olds on my staff got the reference. So do you get the reference?
- [04:32]
Ben Ferguson
So when I got it, the first thing that came to my mind was 99 bottles of beer on the wall. I thought that was pretty good. I'm not gonna lie. That's it. Immediately I was like, 99 bottles of beer on the wall. That's what I thought.
- [04:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, then, then it is the difference. So I'm 52, you're 41. That decade matters.
- [04:53]
Ben Ferguson
So what is it in reference to some like 80s hair band song I don't know of?
- [04:57]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yes.
- [04:58]
Ben Ferguson
All right, well, at least see, I can get there quickly.
- [05:00]
Senator Ted Cruz
That that's exactly what it was. It was a song that came out in 1983 by an artist, Nana, a German artist. And it was 99 luft balloons. And it was 99 loft balloons. And it was interesting, so I actually pulled it up. It was a protest song about 99 red balloons floating in the summer sky. Panic bells, it's red alert. There's something here. From somewhere else, the war machine springs to life Opens up one eager eye focusing it on the sky the 99 red balloons go by and it goes on to say, this is it, boys. This is war. The president is on the line as 99 red balloons go by. And it was a German protest song. Everyone's a Captain Kirk with orders to identify, to clarify and classify Scrambling the summer sky 99 red balloons go by. And it was this 80s German protest song against war about this guy and girl that released 99 red balloons into the sky. And it feels like they're 99 Chinese balloons floating. All right, I am going to say something. Okay. If I get prosecuted, Ben, I want you to provide my. My defense counsel.
- [06:22]
Ben Ferguson
Done.
- [06:22]
Senator Ted Cruz
I'm going to say something that was said in the classified briefing, but I feel very confident this statement is not classified. One of the generals who was briefing us said that he's been so busy that he woke up this morning and he had forgotten it was Valentine's Day. And he didn't understand why his wife had given him a present. And he said he hadn't gotten anything for his wife on Valentine's Day, and he was worried. A bunch of us called out, said, there's a gift shop in the Capitol. And one of the Democrat senators leaned forward in the mic and said, my only advice is don't get her a balloon. So that was said in the skiff, but I feel confident there's no classification that attacks matches to it.
- [07:04]
Ben Ferguson
That's awesome. All right, I have. I have literally three questions that I know everybody else is asking, so I want to ask you those. Before I do, I got to tell all of everyone listening about our good friends over Augusta's Precious Metals. And if you've been saving for your retirement for a long time and you know how important it is to protect your money, they can help you do that with a gold ira. I use Augusta Precious Metals. I have used them for part of my retirement. And they are different because not only will they tell you if a gold IRA isn't your answer, they will also give you a lot of facts. They do something that's really cool. They do a web conference with each and every person that wants to learn More about how gold IRAs work and how it can help you with your 401k. So important right now, if you're close to retirement, you want to protect your assets because you don't have the time to make up losses. That is why you should call a Gust of Precious Metals. If you've saved a hundred thousand dollars or more, take a look at their free guide, and you can sign up for their web conference. 1-8774, Gold IRA. That's 1-8774, Gold IRA. Or visit AugustaPrecious Metals.com say I sent you, and they'll pay your fees for up to 10 years. That's Augusto precious metals dot com. All right, Senator, my question for you first is we've been focusing so much on the 99 balloons, right. To go back to the song here.
- [08:31]
Senator Ted Cruz
Being from China, and actually, before we get to your substantive question, I want to do something for the cultural enlightenment of Benjamin Ferguson.
- [08:51]
Ben Ferguson
I know this one. Here's the part everybody's gonna know. Ah, there we go. All right. Center C. I. You actually impressed me because you actually went to something in the 80s pop culture that has 23 million views on this video on YouTube. So I have to get.
- [09:28]
Senator Ted Cruz
That came out for that when you were a year old?
- [09:31]
Ben Ferguson
Yes.
- [09:32]
Senator Ted Cruz
And. And I will tell you, it was depressing. I asked my staff, and most of my staffers are in their 20s, and they all looked at me or like, we have no idea what that is.
- [09:40]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, we have no idea if they. I would hope if they heard the song, they would know it, though, at that.
- [09:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Do you ever see the movie Grosse Pointe Blank?
- [09:46]
Ben Ferguson
Nope, never saw it.
- [09:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
Oh, it's great. It's a movie. John Cusack.
- [09:49]
Ben Ferguson
Is it in black and white?
- [09:51]
Senator Ted Cruz
No, John Cusack is a hitman who goes back to his 80s high school reunion, and he's a hitman there. But they play 99 luff balloons. It was sort of a. Anyway, if you are 52 years old, that pulls the nostalgia strings. All right, you had a serious question. Why are you distracting us, man? Get back to substance.
- [10:10]
Ben Ferguson
Last question on this. Just real quick. When you and your family were traveling when you were a young boy, did y'all stop at hotels that said color TV and ac? Is that what. Is that what it was like when you were growing up?
- [10:22]
Senator Ted Cruz
It wasn't quite like horse and buggy.
- [10:24]
Ben Ferguson
Okay. All right. I just want to know. I have a. I have a feeling that the dad. Your dad pulled over at a hotel with you, and it said colored television. All right, here's A guess.
- [10:38]
Senator Ted Cruz
What do you think I got that I still remember as the coolest Christmas present ever when I was six years old. So I was six years old in 1976. What do you think I got?
- [10:50]
Ben Ferguson
Anything with batteries?
- [10:52]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yes.
- [10:53]
Ben Ferguson
Okay. I have absolutely no idea because I didn't even know they had battery operated toys when you were around back then. Actually, technically, this is a blast for me.
- [11:06]
Senator Ted Cruz
And look, in the Senate, they call me Skippy. They think I wear short shorts and a propeller hat because the average age there is 103. So, you know, it's all relative. But 1976, when I was six years old, for Christmas, I got Pong. It actually didn't use batteries.
- [11:22]
Ben Ferguson
Oh, yeah, that was a great game.
- [11:23]
Senator Ted Cruz
It was the first video game ever. So it was before Atari and I, you know, I went through the whole berth. I mean, I'm a gamer, but I got Pong for Christmas in 76, and it was the coolest thing ever. You hooked it up to your tv, you turn the dial and it was table tennis on. It was the first video game that people had at home.
- [11:43]
Ben Ferguson
Just, just when I thought we totally lost you, you've just redeemed yourself. All right, back to this question I have to ask you. Everybody that I have talked to has been asking me the same thing. Are all these objects just from China? Are there other people that may have been in on the game that we are just now learning about? Since his administration really didn't seem to be focused on this at all. And we know for a fact now that the Trump administration was basically left in the dark with balloons that were coming over when he was in office.
- [12:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. The short answer is I have no friggin idea. I don't know. I would like to know. I'd like to know what the hell it is we shot down. And I think the administration should stand up and be candid with the American people. That's what a lot of us were urging was, look, tell the American people. I think it's a little weird that we've shot four objects down in the last 10 days and Joe Biden hasn't addressed the American people. Like, that's an odd dynamic to say, okay, here's what's going on. We're shooting things out of the sky. Uh, I did see on Twitter a picture of a guy in full body cast who said all I was doing was floating along on my balloon at 40,000ft and out of nowhere, bamboo.
- [13:00]
Ben Ferguson
Bam. Yeah, it is. It is surreal to see them not deal with this publicly. Like you mentioned it has disrupted US air travel. A lot of people have not talked about that either in the media. I mean this is a significant event that's happened over several different states now with shutting down airspace and, and, and planes being grounded for several hours. That disrupts people's lives. And still not a word from the President. I have to ask you, and again it's going to be your opinion obviously, but is this, go back to the issue that this president time and time again refuses to stand up to China. At what point does that concern you from a national security standpoint?
- [13:39]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, Ben, I think it's a combination of things. Number one, when it comes to foreign policy and in particular standing up to the bad guys, standing up to our enemies, whether that means China, whether that means Russia, whether that means Iran, whether that means North Korea, whether that means Venezuela, whether that means Cuba, Joe Biden and his foreign policy team is consistently weak. If you're an enemy of an America, if you're an enemy of America, you can count on weakness and appeasement from Joe Biden. We saw that with balloon number one, Balloon number one. For over a week it was allowed to be over U.S. airspace to conduct espionage and they did nothing. That was weakness. But here's a second component. It actually explains this whole thing which is after weakness they view all of foreign policy through the lens of public relations. It's a communications battle, it's politics. It's not actually about protecting the country, it's about pr. So what did the administration lean in vigorously on giving you all of these reasons why it was fantastic that we let the Chinese spy balloon conduct espionage over America for over a week. They said oh it's really great cuz we got to spy on them while they were spying on us. Well, huck diggity damn, wouldn't that be great then if Russia and Iran and everyone else sent balloons over us? No, that's idiotic. But it's a spin. It's the, it's the kind of thing a 26 year old political staffer types out as a talking point and they lean in vigorously. That also explains the stage they're at now where they're like, you know, Yosemite Sam just firing at every target in the sky. And you know, I said in the last pod pod that I was glad that, that Biden finally grew a pair and shot these things down, which is what he should have done with the first one. I'll say I got a little bit of blowback from, from some I guys going well yeah, but we don't know what it is he shot down. That's a fair point, to be honest.
- [15:36]
Ben Ferguson
I think there's, there's a, there's a lot of speculation today that's been happening on national news that we may have actually been shooting down some stuff that they referred to as literal, literal space junk.
- [15:49]
Senator Ted Cruz
It's, I will say I got a text from, from a buddy of mine who, I was making a joke about this and he said, well, I'm at least comforted that that means it wasn't little green men in UFOs preparing to land. And I can't tell you it wasn't little green men and UFOs preparing to land. But I can tell you if it was, I don't know it. So, you know, if, if that's happening, the Biden administration is keeping that really close to the vest. But it does make you think that this is being driven not by a level headed view of the national security needs of the United States, but rather by the desire to tell a political PR communications narrative. And so right now they're like, oh, we looked weak. Let's shoot a bunch of crap down to show how tough we are.
- [16:44]
Ben Ferguson
I want to move to something else. That's a pretty big deal. And that is the fact that you have launched sweeping Big Tech oversight investigation. You are the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce and you've put together this new oversight investigation of Big Tech. Talk a little bit about what you hope that this will accomplish and how it will hold Big Tech accountable.
- [17:08]
Senator Ted Cruz
So in this new Congress, I am now the ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee. What does that mean? I'm the senior Republican on the Committee of Commerce, Science and Transportation. The Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over about half of the US Economy. So it has jurisdiction over all of telecom, it has jurisdiction over the Internet. It has jurisdiction over aviation, it has jurisdiction over transportation, it has jurisdiction over the Federal Trade Commission. It has jurisdiction over the Commerce Department. It has jurisdiction over the Department of Transportation, the faa, the fcc. It has jurisdiction over the Alphabet soup of a whole bunch of different agencies, pipelines and trucking. And so my role as the ranking member is I'm the senior Republican. It means that I'm in the process right now of hiring staff on the committee and basically doubling the size of my Washington staff. When you're the ranking member of a full committee, you have resources to bring in staff. And so that's really potent because I'm bringing in very serious lawyers, economists, policy experts to drive an agenda. And with more resources, we're able to engage in a lot more issues. And so the first big thing that I've done as the ranking member of the Commerce Committee is launched an investigation of big tech censorship. And so I sent letters this week to the CEOs of Google and Meta, the parent of Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. Google's the parent of YouTube and also TikTok, and asking a whole series of specific and detailed questions focused on recommendation algorithms. The algorithms where they say, you're on YouTube and they say, hey, you might like this next, and it drives an enormous amount of traffic where they suggest the content you might want. Uh, and right now, the question of recommendation algorithms and whether it falls within the protections of section 230 of the Communications Decency act, which is the immunity big tech companies get from liability, that's a question before the U.S. supreme Court. And so I filed an amicus brief urging the court to interpret the immunity narrowly so as to not give a safe harbor for censorship and instead to encourage free speech. So this oversight letter is going in and asking very specific questions about how they determine what to recommend, what communications they're having with the federal government, with Democrats in Congress, what they elevate, what they suppress. And over the next two years, I'm going to engage in a systematic, careful investigation of the wholesale censorship of conservative speech we see on big tech. Last week, I spent a half hour on the phone with Elon Musk doing a deep dive into what he's found at Twitter. And I think what he has made public and what he's revealing for me is serving as a roadmap for the investigation for the Commerce Committee, because all of the other big tech companies are going, holy crap. How can Elon reveal this? They had all assumed that they would remain this. This. All members of the small billionaires club that are masters of the universe, they get to decide who to censor and who to silence and who not to. And Elon is spoiling the party by making it all public. And so my hope is that the results of this investigation, that we see real and meaningful transparency, that we'll make public to the American people what's going on, and that we see real and meaningful accountability, and we're gonna devote a lot of time and energy to fighting for free speech online, because I think big tech censorship is the greatest threat in America to free speech and the greatest threat to free and fair elections.
- [21:11]
Ben Ferguson
Are there any Democrats in the Senate that you're working with right now on this that say they agree, or is this a totally partisan issue where Democrats say, we got what we want. We own Big Tech, they work with us. We get these communication channels behind the scenes. We can tell them who to silence, who to censor, who to throttle, what to. You know, we can push out, like you said, in these algorithms, things that we want you to see and make sure that we bury the things of the right. Or there's some Democrats that actually understand how un American this really is and what a threat this is, I would argue, to our freedoms in this country.
- [21:49]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, maybe is the answer to that. I don't know.
- [21:53]
Ben Ferguson
I was gonna say that didn't sound promising.
- [21:55]
Senator Ted Cruz
Listen, I'm trying to convince Democrats that they should care about this. Today's Democrat Party is much more comfortable with censorship than the Democrats of yesteryear. But I'm trying to convince Democrats. So some of the arguments I'm giving. There are a number of Democrats that care about the media, and they want free and independent journalists. And I've been pointing out to them, listen, Big Tech bullies the media. You look, for example, at the Hunter Biden fiasco where they forced. They blocked the New York Post. They deplatformed the New York Post because it shared a story, it wrote a story they didn't like. They bullied politico reporters who dared talk about the New York Post story. The degree to which the traditional media is becoming just captive to and obedient to Big Tech ought to scare you if you want a free and independent media. And what I've said, secondly, to a number of Democrats, I've said, look, I get that right now, maybe you agree with the political views of Big Tech. You agree with what? With what they're promoting, and you agree. You disagree with what they're censoring. So you might be happy substantively. But. But the question I asked him, I said, look, are you sure you want to embrace a system where a handful of Silicon Valley billionaires have complete and unfettered power over what anyone is allowed to discuss politically in the public square in America? I mean, today you agree with them, but maybe tomorrow you won't. And by the way, Elon Musk is there now. You've already decided you don't agree with him. How would you feel if suddenly they start censoring your views? I don't want any billionaires or anybody else to have the power to censor other Americans. I want free speech. I want everybody to be able to speak in the marketplace of ideas, to decide. And I will say, look, are Democrats persuaded? Not necessarily, but I'll point to last year. And you and I talked about this before in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Amy Klobuchar, Democrat, had legislation focused on local media, small newspapers, small local stations, to enable them to collectively bargain with Big Tech to force Big Tech to pay for their content. And it was in the Judiciary Committee. And I introduced an amendment that was targeted at censorship. My laser focus on all of this is censorship, and it served to restrict Big Tech from engaging in political censorship. And initially in the Judiciary Committee, my amendment was adopted, and Klobuchar and the Democrats pulled down their bill. They're like, oh, crap, we can't take it with this amendment. It was one of the more surreal moments I've ever seen in a committee where literally I get an amendment in, and so the author of the bill pulls it down. Well, afterwards, I went to Amy's office and we sat there with a notepad and wrote an amendment together. And she accepted a substantially similar amendment from me that was targeted at Big Tech censorship, trying to reign it in. And the Judiciary Committee passed her bill with my amendment. Now, the bill ultimately didn't pass on the Senate floor, so it's not law. But we did get bipartisan agreement to take a step against censorship. And I think that's the beginning. And I'm going to keep working at it incrementally and, and with. With ferocious determination, because I think the danger to free speech is existential.
- [25:21]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, no doubt about it. I want to. I want to talk about what's happening also in Washington, as you're there with a very interesting. A lot of fireworks today with an SEC nominee, Gigi Son. We're going to deal with that in a moment. Before I want to tell you, though, about my friends over at Chalk. We talked a lot about age tonight on the show. And if you are feeling a little bit fatigued, there is a great company that can help you. I'm talking about helping you feel like a real American man again, that you can maximize your masculinity by boosting your testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days. I'm talking about Chalk and the male vitality stack. This is something that a lot of people. I'm taking it. Jesse Kelly, several others are taking it. And it will help you maximize your testosterone levels. And that is something that'll make you feel like you're a good old American man again. If you have been feeling a little bit like you're not yourself, you used to be, check out and maximize it today. Go to chalkchoq.com use the code BEN for 35% off. Any chalk subscriptions for life. Choq.com and use the code BEN for 30 35% off. Maximize your masculinity today. Ch q.com Senator Gigi Song was a nominee for the FCC. I am afraid of the FCC because if you do what I do every day on radio, you know the power of the sec, you understand that they could, they have a lot of influence over the airwaves and they're supposed to be a nonpartisan, non biased group of individuals. That is something that has been fought for years with the fcc. They have a lot of power. A lot of people don't know who's on the fcc. But this is a new woman who is been nominated and you've called her out for extreme political bias, which is exactly why it should disqualify her whether she's a Republican or Democrat. You're not supposed to have partisan hacks sitting there on the FCC regulating so many different things that deal with content.
- [27:36]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, that's exactly right. Gigi Sohn is Joe Biden's nominee to be on the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC has five commissioners. Three from the majority party who's ever in power, ever has the White House and two from the minority party. Gigi Sohn is Biden's nominee. She is from the far left. She has been a left wing liberal activist and radical her whole life. She's a true believer. I'll credit her. She believes in what she's doing. She is a woman of the left. She is passionate, but her record is extreme. You know, you talked about you're afraid of the fcc. You should be. Because Gigi Sohn has attacked conservative media. She says Fox News is destroying democracy. She describes Fox News as state sponsored propaganda. She argued to the FCC they should revoke Sinclair's licenses. Sinclair is a major conservative TV outlet. She has been vocal in using government power against conservative voices. In addition to that, she's got enormous conflicts of interest. So we had today her third confirmation hearing. Now that's amazing. Usually people have one confirmation hearing. In her instance, she had one two years ago. At that first confirmation hearing, she hid that she had been on the board of directors of a company that was engaged in litigation against the major broadcasters for piracy, for stealing their content. And the company she was on the board of lost that litigation, settled that litigation, and she actively misled the Commerce Committee into thinking that the settlement was for $32 million. In fact, the settlement was for $700,000. So it was 2% of what was public. She misled the committee about it. She misled the White House about it. So we had a second hearing last year where that became public how she'd misled the committee. And now today with the new Congress, we had a third hearing. She did not get confirmed in the previous Congress. It was a 50, 50 Senate. And there were a number of Democrats who had expressed concerns. A lot of folks thought Biden would withdraw this nominee because it's really doubtful she'll get confirmed. She may or may not. But I think the far left wants her so much they believe she will be so aggressive in attacking conservative speech that they're willing to fight this fight. So as the ranking member on commerce, my responsibility was to lead the fight against her and to lay out her record why she's not suitable for the fcc.
- [30:20]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. One of the, I think shocking moments today, it was you just calling out not only that she was helping organizations and individuals that were attacking conservatives, but also those on the left, including Joe Manchin, Gary Peters, John Tester and Kyrsten Sinema. And this was part of this exchange with you back and forth. I want everybody to hear it because it was just incredible to hear.
- [30:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
And Ben, by the way, all of those senators you mentioned are Democrats. Every one of the ones you listed are all Democrat senators.
- [30:53]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. And she's attacking them as well through these radical groups on the left. And as a broadcaster, this is my worst nightmare. If she gets confirmed and the Biden administration seems hell bent on doing it. Take a listen though this back and forth from you today. I thought it was brilliant.
- [31:12]
C
Ms. Sohn, I think you have a long and consistent career as a zealous partisan advocate. There is a role for partisan advocates. It just doesn't happen to be on an independent agency charged with over overseeing communications in the United States. You also have a consistent pattern of being unable to perceive conflicts of interest, whether it is deceiving this committee and the White House about the sweetheart settlement that you signed the day after your nomination was announced, or whether it is.
- [31:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Being the only nominee I've seen in.
- [31:46]
C
A decade to make contributions to senators who are voting on your nomination while your nomination is pending, or whether it is bizarrely supporting an extreme group that blasts multiple senators from both parties. Now, I asked you about Joe Manchin and the group Fight for Our Future where they ran billboards saying Joe Manchin is corrupt. You said you didn't agree with that. I asked you whether you agreed with them that Jon Tester is corrupt. You said you didn't agree with that. I asked you whether you agreed with them that Gary Peters is corrupt. You said you didn't agree with that. Well, I didn't get to finish.
- [32:22]
Senator Ted Cruz
Wait, are you going to go to me? Oh, I am. Okay.
- [32:26]
C
Because she's attacked you too.
- [32:27]
Senator Ted Cruz
But by that was Maria Cantwell, the.
- [32:29]
C
Chair, I think an organization, the group that but not just belongs money for.
- [32:35]
Ben Ferguson
To be clear, when you said that is Marie can't wear the chair. That's a Democrat, am I right?
- [32:39]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yes, that's a Democrat from Washington state who's the chairman of the Commerce Committee. So she jumps in and asks, are you going to call her out for attacking me? And I said, oh, yes, I am. So keep playing.
- [32:52]
C
So this group also ran the following billboard. It is a picture of Senator Sinema, also a member of this committee. And it's not subtle in case you want to miss the message they're trying to convey. It's in bright red, right at the top. It says, sinema is corrupt. Do you agree with their sentiment that Senator Sinema is corrupt?
- [33:14]
D
Of course not.
- [33:16]
C
Of course not. Okay, you say, of course not. So that billboard went up in 2019. At the end of 2019, what did you do? You sent out a fundraising email for this organization at the end of 2019. So after they had put this billboard up, did you know about the billboards they put up attacking Manchin and Peters and Testers and Sinema?
- [33:37]
D
I only actually knew the one about Senator Sinema. I didn't know about the other ones either.
- [33:41]
C
Okay, so you knew they'd called Senator Sinema corruption.
- [33:44]
D
I did.
- [33:44]
C
And after they called Senator Sinema corrupt, you asked people to contribute to them. Is that correct?
- [33:49]
D
I asked people to contribute. Not because of all the.
- [33:52]
Senator Ted Cruz
That's a yes or no question.
- [33:53]
D
Yes, I did.
- [33:54]
C
Okay. So you knew they were calling Senator Sinema corrupt and you asked them to contribute afterwards and by the way, the next year.
- [34:00]
Senator Ted Cruz
So this is 2019.
- [34:02]
C
You know these tactics.
- [34:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
You don't mind.
- [34:05]
C
You were aware of them. You've testified. You knew about them, at least with regard to Senator Sinema, and you wanted people to support them. You also did it again in 2020, and chairman Cantwell asked if I was.
- [34:16]
Senator Ted Cruz
Going to ask about her.
- [34:17]
C
I'd like to point out this same group sent a letter to Chuck Schumer demanding that Chuck Schumer remove Senator Cantwell as the chairman of the Commerce Committee. Why? Because this committee hadn't confirmed you yet. Now, I think that's a pretty extreme proposition, I gotta say. I've never seen a nominee or a group that the Nominee fundraises for demand her own party's chairwoman be fired because you haven't been confirmed yet. Do you understand why this seems one heck of a conflict of interest?
- [34:56]
D
I don't see how it's a conflict of interest, sir.
- [34:58]
C
Does it seem impartial or does it seem like an extreme partisan willing to burn everything down if either party doesn't do what you want?
- [35:09]
D
Senator, I don't agree with all of Fight for the future's tactics, however, except.
- [35:14]
C
You raise money for them.
- [35:15]
Senator Ted Cruz
You know about them and you raise money for them.
- [35:17]
C
You send tweets every year asking people to contribute. When you ask people to contribute, that's called raising money.
- [35:23]
Ben Ferguson
Let me ask, I mean, Senator, this woman, how in the hell did they even think she had a shot? And then the second question is, does she actually have a shot even after you lit her up this with the facts the way that you just did?
- [35:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, of course she has a shot. She has a shot. If Democrats decide to support her, I think it's quite likely this nomination is going to be defeated. I think it should be defeated and it's going to come down. I have a high level of confidence that Republicans will stand together, that we will have 49 no votes. The question is, where are a handful of Democrats gonna be? Where is Joe Manchin gonna be? Where is Kyrsten Sinema gonna be? Where is John Tester gonna be? Where is Rosen gonna be? Where's Cortez Masto gonna be? By the way, many of these are the same senators that the group she supported and raised money for has blasted by name and called corrupt. So the interesting question is, are these Democrat senators gonna vote for her anyway because she's a darling of the left wing of the Democrat Party? I hope not. I will say it was, I thought, fairly remarkable testimony that, that she admitted, admitted on the stand that she knew about their attacks on cinema and still raise money for anywhere. And look, I actually on some level respect Gigi Sohn. She's a left wing activist. Like, I love her questions are, did you know about it? Oh yeah. And did you raise money afterwards for it? Oh yeah. Like she's not apologetic about it. She's like, yeah, I'm a left winger. I like, I want to beat the heck out of anyone Democrat or Republican, that doesn't embrace left wing policies. Listen, that's fine if you're an activist. It just doesn't give you comfort as someone who's going to be a regulator of communications in this country. I will tell you also, while I was While I was laying that out, in particular about how the group that she raised money for called for Maria Cantwell to be fired. Maria's sitting next to me. And what you didn't get in the audio, but if you were listening to it, you got is Maria's cracking up laughing as I'm laying it out. I mean, it really is weird. I've never seen a nominee who has this kind of record. So I think we have a good shot at defeating this. And actually, what I've said is I'm not sure why the Biden administration is wasting everyone's time with this nomination because I think in all likelihood she's not going to get 50 votes. But the reason they're wasting people's time with it is because they are captive to and care what the radical left wing of the party says. And the radical left wing wants Gigi Sohn.
- [38:24]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, that's what they want. And that's. And that is obviously concerning. But the fact that they would even nominate her just tells you how far gone we are from what the what in. There are certain positions, as you mentioned earlier, they're supposed to be nonpartisan positions. We need those desperately to stay nonpartisan. And that doesn't mean you find the most extreme partisan person you can get your hands on. All right, Senator, before we get into that, I do want to tell everybody about Patriot Mobile. If you have not checked out Patriot Mobile, you need to. Patriot Mobile is the only Christian conservative cell phone provider in the country. And every time you use your phone, every time you send a text, every time you make a phone call, you're making a difference standing up for what you believe in. Why? Because they take a portion of your bill every month and they actually give it back to conservative and Christian causes that stand for what we believe in. I'm talking about protecting the rights of the unborn. I'm talking about stand up for first and our Second Amendment rights. I'm talking about helping with adoptions for people that want to adopt, especially since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. These are the things that when you use your cell phone, you're going to be supporting. Now here's the other great thing for a lot of people listening. You're actually going to save money on your cell phone bill over what you're paying right now. So why not switch and put your money where your values are and stand with other conservatives as we actually make a huge difference? Go online to patriotmobile.com verdict. That's patriotmobile.com verdict. You can keep Your same cell phone. You can keep your same cell phone number as well. You can also call them, use promo code verdict and you can make the switch. If you have a small business, they can switch all of your lines over and again. You'll probably end up saving money over what you pay right now while standing up for values you believe in as they make donations every month of portion of your bill. 878-patriots. The number 878 Patriot. That's 878-patriot. Lastly, very quickly I do want to get your reaction to James Clapper. He's making a lot of headlines. James Clapper is now angry. The ex intel chief has, has, has basically come out and said that the reporting on his letter that he signed with 50 plus other top intelligence officials right before the elections presidential election claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop was story from the New York Post was actually Russian disinformation. He's now saying that it was well taken out of context to use his words. He said that Politico, who was the one that first got the leak letter that they all signed, clearly leaked on purpose. Otherwise why would you sign the letter? He says that Politico deliberately distorted the letter that he signed. He characterized the Post reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop as part of a Russian disinformation operation. Now Clapper is in trouble. Now, I think it's fair to say he's trying to cover his tracks. Republicans are looking into him and the other top people that were on this letter and they are all going to apparently be subpoenaed to come before Congress with these hearings on the House side. And he said, quote, all we were trying to do was raise a yellow flag that this quote could be Russian disinformation. And then he said Politico deliberately distorted what we said. It was clear. He said, quote in paragraph five of his letter. Now almost everybody, even moderates to liberals in the media basically turned on him in the last 24 hours saying, you don't get to rewrite this. I want to get your reaction to it.
- [42:17]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, first of all, it's worth noting that everyone understood that the letter that Clapper and the other so called Intelligence Committee, the intelligence community members signed was arguing that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. What Clapper's saying now is obviously spin and it's spin to try to cover his own rear end because he is now subject to scrutiny from the House majority. And okay, so the headline, here's the headline Politico ran about Clapper's lower letter Quote, Hunter Biden's story is Russian disinfo. Dozens of former intel officials say. So that was the story Politico wrote because they leaked the letter to Politico and then lots of other media outlets, CNN and others covered the Politico story. Now, Clapper at the time, did he issue a clarification this story is false? No. Did he go on TV and say, this is not true? I didn't say it was Russian disinformation. No. The reason they wrote the letter, the reason they leaked the letter is they intended Politico to write exactly what they wrote. They intended the useful idiots in the press, the corrupt corporate media, to go forth with their lie. And we now know it was a lie, that it wasn't Russian disinformation. The laptop was true and real. But James Clapper wanted that story written two weeks before the election because he didn't want anyone to focus on what was in, in the, the, the Hunter Biden laptop.
- [44:13]
Ben Ferguson
Well, and he even claimed center in the last 24 hours that he was, quote, unaware that Biden brought up the letter in his final debate with former President Donald Trump and called the Post story a bunch of garbage. He said also, you know, he said that I didn't know about any of that. I don't believe him. I think he is lying to us.
- [44:34]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and let me be clear. So Clapper was the head of the Department of National Intelligence under Barack Obama. Clapper has been a partisan his entire life. He's an extreme partisan and he has a record of dishonesty. In March of 2013, Clapper was testifying under oath. And Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, asked Clapper whether the United States government was collecting, quote, any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans. Clapper paused and said, no, sir, not wittingly. Three months later, Edward Snowden leaked documents revealing that the National Security Agency was in fact collecting bulk domestic call records on millions of Americans. So Clapper, under oath to Congress, flat out lied. That lie became public. It prompted legislation that I co sponsored and helped write along with with Senator Mike Lee called the USA Freedom act that significantly restricted the ability of the federal government to intercept the communications of law abiding American citizens. But Clapper was never held accountable. He lied to Congress under oath and he's had a pattern of lying when it advances partisan interest. I would point out that Clapper's partner in crime, the director of the CIA under Barack Obama, was a guy named John Brennan. John Brennan is such a partisan, he makes James Clapper, look, moderate John Brennan has famously told the story of when he was interviewing with the CIA, they asked him a question during his polygraph. Have you ever associated with anyone who's called for the violent overthrow of the government of the United States? And he described how he panicked because he realized that the truthful answer to that was yes. So in 1976, John Brennan was a young college student fresh out of college, and there was a presidential election, a presidential election between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. And young John Brennan looked at Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford and decided, Jimmy Carter is not liberal enough for me. I need someone more liberal than Jimmy Carter. So what did John Brennan do in 1976? He cast a vote for Gus hall, who was the candidate for President of the United States of the Communist Party of the United States of America. So he went in and voted for the communist to be President of the United States because he thought Jimmy Carter was too conservative. That's who Barack Obama named as his head of CIA. That was James Clapper's compatriot. Clapper had lied previously under oath to Congress. So it should be no surprise that in the 2020 election, these same partisan players are comfortable lying and they continue doing so.
- [47:41]
Ben Ferguson
Well, I hope that they are terrified and I hope that the House Republicans hold them accountable for this. They're obviously, especially James Clapper, trying to cover his ass now before he has to come in and testify. Because they said they're going to get these opinions, these top people in this letter and they deserve, the American people deserve to get these answers. And now him trying to rewrite history before he gets there I think is a good sign the Republicans are making headway there. Senator, always a pleasure. Want to remind people we do this podcast three days a week. Make sure that you hit that subscriber auto download button wherever you're listening to this podcast. Please take our episodes, hit that little forward button and share this podcast wherever you are on social media. And don't forget if you can write us a five star review to help us reach more people and we will see you back here in a couple of days.