Ted Cruz (4:38)

You also look at this, you know, idea that Kamala Harris now is trying to be tougher on the border, advocating for policies that Donald Trump has had. This is just look at what they actually do, look at what they're actually saying, and then you understand the game plan. In fact, I think part of what Mexico's response here is, hey, they're hedging their bets, are they not, that Donald Trump could win and then we could actually have go back to the border conditions we had when he was the president. So let's really accelerate and get as many people across the border as we can. That seems to be their prerogative. But it also seems that their number one person that's working to facilitate this is the Biden Harris administration by expanding this program. And they're going, hey, you expand it, and we'll pay for the busing, we'll pay for the escorts, we'll pay for the trip. This doesn't happen without the two countries working hand in hand. Am I wrong?

Ben Ferguson (5:35)

They both have mutual interest. Amlo. The president of Mexico wants as much illegal immigration as possible to go into America, and Kamala Harris wants as much illegal immigration as possible to go into America, both for the same reason, which is to fundamentally shift the policies of the United States of America and to move them dramatically to the left.

Ted Cruz (6:00)

Let's also remind people of what Kamala Harris said during the 2020 presidential debate. This was technically in 2019. Take a listen.

Ben Ferguson (6:09)

Being incarcerated for a couple of days is traumatic, much less the weeks, months, and years that we're seeing that happen. And so part of my plan is also a reduction of that. And then also again, what we need to do about taking demilitarizing our schools and taking police officers out of schools. We need to deal with the reality and speak the truth about the inequities around school discipline.

Ted Cruz (6:38)

I mean, this is a woman, and I play this because I think it's an important point. She says she wants to pull officers out of our schools. She wants to, you know, have a wide open southern border. She doesn't believe that illegal immigrants are criminals. This is a defund the police woman who says wide open borders, no law and order anywhere. Whether it's our schools or the border or illegals coming across, it doesn't matter. This is what she's in favor of.

Ben Ferguson (7:05)

And by the way, it is difficult to imagine a policy that would endanger children more than pulling police officers out of schools. Look, you and I are both parents. We certainly don't want our kids like we would like police officers protecting our children, protecting schools, keeping kids safe. The number one way you prevent someone from committing an act of violence is you have a police officer there to protect them. And yet, to the radical left, if we just take all the cops away, then suddenly give peace a chance, violence goes away. That's truly radical.

Ted Cruz (7:41)

Yeah. Over the holiday weekend, there was also a story, and it's sad because it had to be broken basically outside the US with the Daily Mail of a migrant gang that took over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. This is Venezuelan migrant gang that took over the apartment complex. It's interesting that it was Venezuelan migrant gang that did this and the video that we witnessed that went viral on social media, them knocking on doors with guns. These are people that aren't supposed to have guns. And then if you go back just a few weeks ago, there was warnings that in Venezuela they had started to empty out some of their prisons. As long as the people they were letting out decide to go to America. So, hey, we'll let you out of our system being a drain on us. But you can't stay in Venezuela. You gotta go to another country. And sure enough, there are consequences for allowing the members of society that are in prison in another country to come to America and think that they're gonna be law abiding citizens. The Daily Mail helped expose a lot of this?

Ben Ferguson (8:42)

Well, Maduro, I believe, is absolutely doing that. He is deliberately sending criminals to the United States. He's sending murderers and rapists and child molesters. He's sending gang members. And it's the same thing Fidel Castro did in the Mariel boat lift coming from Cuba, where he emptied out his jails and he emptied out his lunatic Asyl and he sent dangerous people to the United States. These are enemies of America that want to undermine America. The question you have to ask yourself is why is Kamala Harris aligned with them? Why does Kamala Harris, when they send Venezuelan murderers to America and the Biden Harris administration has them in custody, why does Kamala Harris release the murderers? And I think there's no more important question in this election than that question.

Ted Cruz (9:32)

You mentioned a moment ago, Senator, that the media doesn't like to cover these stories that are affecting Americans. I want to end with this one. And it was a group of illegal immigrants in San Diego County, California, that actually tried to hijack not one, but but two school buses full of elementary and middle school students. The local media, not the national media, covered the story. Here's what they said.

Ben Ferguson (10:02)

Group of migrants tried to board a school bus this morning while it was traveling to a school. The superintendent for the Humul Del Zura Union School District informed parents of that incident earlier today. It happened at one of the stops on the school district's bus route that heads to Oak Grove Middle School and Humul Primary. Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon, in a similar area along another route, the superintendent says that a group of migrants tried to stop another bus. Border Patrol, CHP and the sheriff's office have now been informed of these incidents. The superintendent says that for the safety of everyone, if a driver sees a group of migrants at a bus stop, they will drive past it on and move on to the next.

Ted Cruz (10:44)

This is a story that should be national news. It's sad that we're the ones that are having to turn it into national news center, but I don't want to live in a world where we got to have armed guards on every school bus because illegal immigrants might try to take over a school bus for whatever their nefarious reason may be.

Ben Ferguson (11:02)

Look, our families are in danger because Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and congressional Democrats have chosen to allow violent criminals into this country. Eleven and a half million people. It is a profound threat to public safety. I mean, at some point, you can't make it up. Trying to kidnap school buses full of school kids. That is, it underscores the level of the threat and it also underscores, look, as you noted, the national media completely ignores the threat.

Ted Cruz (11:42)

Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week. Now on to story number two, center. I also want to talk about another story and it may be one of the most pathetic, vile attacks that we have seen from the Harris campaign so far. And it was a, a fake story, a fictitious story that was clearly, I think, drawn up a play by the Harris campaign to, hey, let's make people not like Donald Trump. Let's attack Donald Trump for standing at Arlington Cemetery with the family members of those that lost loved ones on the the pullout from Afghanistan on that arbitrary date that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris wanted to say, we ended America's longest roar. We don't care when we're pulling out, who dies or how many people that helped America are left behind to be attacked and tortured by the terrorists. We were literally taking orders from the Taliban at the very end. And Afghanistan Gold Star family members have come forward, united in an incredible way. And I think it's sad that they had to come forward. They just wanted to honor their loved ones that gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. They asked Donald Trump to come and be with them. The Harris campaign accused Donald Trump in a direct tweet that comma has put out of using this as a basically a publicity stunt. And these Gold Star families came forward and said, no, that's not true. We're not going to let you do this to Donald Trump. We're not going to allow the media to do this and drag him through the mud. He was our guest. We asked him to come. This was not a publicity stunt. And not only that, they said he knows our family members names. That's more than we can say for you, Kamala, who have not talked to us, don't know our kids names and have not reached out.

Ben Ferguson (13:43)

Well, I have to say this whole thing has been utterly disgraceful how Kamala Harris and her campaign has handled it. It started with Donald Trump went to Arlington Memorial Cemetery to honor the 13 servicemen and women who were murdered, who were murdered in Afghanistan. He went and laid a wreath at their tombs to honor their death. And he did so at the invitation of the Gold Star families who wanted him there. They also invited Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris declined to come. Kamala Harris was in D.C. she was at her residence. She was just a few miles away. But she was not willing to come to Arlington Cemetery to acknowledge their deaths. And to be clear, that's consistent with the pattern of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden of ignoring these 13 fallen servicemen and women. In fact, Joe Biden claimed that no servicemen and women had fallen under his presidency, which is just a brazen lie. And so instead of, look, Kamala can't defend the absolute incompetence, the disaster that was the withdrawal from Afghanistan, so she wants to change the subject. And so she immediately blasted Trump because while he was there, he took photographs with the families of the fallen servicemen and women, and he did so at their request. And she tried to say this is a political stunt, cuz he took photographs with the families. Now, to be clear, the families asked him to take photographs. I guess in her view, you should tell the grieving mother of a soldier who was killed, no, I'm not willing to take a picture with you. That would have been insane. In response, families of seven of the 13 fallen servicemen and women put out a joint statement. And this joint statement. Powerful, doesn't begin to cover it. Let me just read it. It's not very long. Quote, we, the families of the brave service members who were tragically killed in the Abbey Gate bombing are appalled by Vice President Kamala Harris's recent attempts to politicize President Trump's visit to the Arlington National Cemetery. President Trump was invited by us, the Gold Star families, to attend the solemn ceremonies commemorating the three year anniversary of of our children's death. He was there to honor their sacrifice. Yet Vice President Harris has disgracefully twisted this sacred moment into a political ploy. Vice President Harris bears responsibility for the deaths of our sons and daughters. Let me read that again. Vice President Harris bears responsibility for the deaths of our sons and daughters. Her administration's catastrophic mishandling of the Afghanistan withdrawal directly led to the murder of 13 service members, including our children. Despite our multiple requests for a meeting to discuss the loss of our loved ones, Vice President Harris has repeatedly ignored us, showing a complete lack of empathy and accountability. This refusal to face the consequences of her administration's decisions is a deep betrayal to us as Gold Star families. President Trump, on the other hand, has been the only commander in chief to consistently recognize the heroism of our children. His attendance at Arlington was not for political gain, but to stand with us, to grieve with us, and to honor the legacy of those who gave everything for this nation. His leadership during his time in office was strong, and we have no doubt that if he were still Commander in chief, our children would be alive today. Vice President Harris has proven herself unfit to serve as commander in chief. Her actions both in the failure of the Afghanistan withdrawal and in her disgraceful politicization of this anniversary have shown that she lacks the judgment, compassion, and leadership required for the position. We will continue to hold her accountable for the role she played in the deaths of our children, and we will not stand by as she disrespects their memory. America deserves better. Our children deserved better.

Ted Cruz (18:17)

You see, these families come together, and this is not a fight they asked for. This was not publicity they asked for. This was not a moment they asked for. These Gold star families have also now come out saying that Kamala's attack on Trump made us a target for a lot of hate. They weren't wanting this hate. And all because when you're the vice president, your words have power. And when you have Vice President Harris, who's the leading candidate, right, for the Democratic Party that, by the way, no one's ever voted for, but she's the nominee, attacking Trump, accusing him of playing politics by going to a cemetery to honor the 13 fallen service members who lost their lives as a result, as you just read there, Biden's administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. But they say, yes, this has made us a target of a lot of hate, because now people are hating them for defending Trump, saying, oh, well, they're just Trump supporters, you know, the heck with them, and. And attacking them on social media, all because they were trying to honor the memory of their sons and daughters, their husbands and their wives, their family members that were killed. And Vice President Harris, I think it's important to read part of what she put out on X, which started all of this. And clearly, this is my opinion. I want to know what you think about this, Senator. I think this was written by a campaign staff who said, let's start this thing. And she said, quote, as vice president, I've had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery several times. It is a solemn place, a place where we come together to honor American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of this nation. It is not a place for politics. And yet, as we reported this week, Donald Trump's team chose to film a video there, resulting in an altercation with cemetery staff that apparently never happened. Let me be clear, she writes, the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt. So a woman who says this is not supposed to be about politics literally makes it a political stunt on her behalf to try to make people hate Donald Trump, which then in turn brought in these families, and now they're hating on them as well.

Ben Ferguson (20:41)

Look, this was just a cynical attempt from the Kamala Harris campaign to shift the attention to one of the most egregious and catastrophic foreign policy failures of Joe Biden and her leadership. And this is a failure that led directly to to the deaths of 13 servicemen and women. And let me make clear that joint statement that I read a minute ago, it didn't just come from one or two family members. It came from Misty Fiocco, who is the sister of Sergeant Nicole LG it came from Cheryl Jules, who is the aunt of Sergeant Nicole LG it came from Christy Shamblin, who is the mother in law of Sergeant Nicole LG it came from Mark Schmitz, who is the father of Lance Corporal Jared M. Schmitz. It came from Jacqueline Schmitz, who is the stepmother of Lance Corporal Jared M. Schmitz. It came from Herman Lopez, who is the father of Corporal Hunter Lopez. It came from Jim McCallum, who is the father of Lance Corporal Riley J. McCollum. It came from Steve Nikui, who is the father of Lance Corporal Kareem M. Nakui. It came from Coral Doolittle, who is the mother of Corporal Humberto A. Sanchez. It came from Darren Hoover, who is the father of Staff Sergeant Darren T. Hoover. And it came from Kelly Barnett, who is the mother of Staff Sergeant Darren T. Hoover. Now, you want to talk about people who have moral gravity. They've given the ultimate sacrifice of their own children who died. And yet you know what? They also have said. So Christy Shamblin, who was one of the people who signed it, she is the mother in law of Sergeant Nicole LG she has said that Kamala Harris's behavior shows that she believes, quote, service members are disposable. And it is striking. Here's what she said. She said, quote, I think it shows that she believes our service members are disposable. And that's exactly the feeling that we've got from the White House is that our heroes, our children, my daughter in law was disposable and replaceable and not important. And I can't live with that. It's not acceptable. Our service members are the most important people in our society. And Nakui, another one of the Gold Star family members, said not hearing from Harris is, quote, just typical from this whole administration. You know, they want to sweep this under the rug. Never talk about it again. Never. Honest. For them to honor and recognize the sacrifice of our children would force them to recognize that there was a mistake. And so they won't bring it up, you know, they'll keep it under the rug and we're. I'm pretty much used to it, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna fight it. You know, I'm gonna call that out every step of the way. And McCollum added that Harris utterly ignored them, never gave them a call. And here's what McCollum said, quote, complete lack thereof. To just abandon the 13, to never reach out. No condolences, no I'm sorry, no explanation. Just absolutely ignore us and basically shut us up. She's lacking character. She has no respect. Wow.

Ted Cruz (24:27)

As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing. I want to get back to the big story number three of the week. You may have missed center. There was also something else that happened and it was just weird. When I say weird, like a next level weird. CNN and I've got two theories I want your take on this came out and did a three and a half minute segment attacking Kamala Harrison prime time attacking her for using Trump's wall in her new border ads. They actually went back years, all the way back to 2017. And they were proud of themselves, patting themselves on their back for finding more than 50 instances of Harris slamming Trump's border wall. And they put this story together. Now, I wanna play it. But. But there's two things here that I think could be a possibility. A, CNN has become so irrelevant with no one watching and the ratings back up that point. If they're desperate to get their ratings back, having Trump in office delivers that to them. The Highest ratings that CNN's had in years was when Donald Trump was in office and they were attacking him 24 7. And that brought the crazies in to watch them. That's option number one. Option number two is are they doing this center because they're realizing that Harris and this big bump she was supposed to have from the convention didn't actually happen. Are they hedging their bets? Do they think she might lose? And so they want to look like they're actual journalists? Or could both of those be true at the same time?

Ben Ferguson (26:10)

Well, let's, let's play this first because it really is a stunning piece. And it simply takes the fact that she's spending millions of dollars advertising and featuring the border wall as something she now supports. And it contrasts that with her record for years and years and years, viciously, passionately, emphatically opposing the border wall. And I'll Tell you the contrast is striking. Give a listen and remember. This is CNN.

C (26:38)

Tonight, K FILE investigates. In a new report you'll see first out front, the K File team scoured Kamala Harris tweets and statements going all the way back to 2017. And what they found was more than 50 instances of Harris slamming Trump's border wall. But now new Harris campaign ads actually showcase that very wall.

Ben Ferguson (27:00)

As a border state prosecutor, she took on drug cartels and jailed gang members for smuggling weapons and drugs across the border.

C (27:09)

And on top of critical tweets, Harris also wrote in her 2019 book quote, There was a bigger reason to oppose the border wall. A useless wall on the southern border would be nothing more than a symbol, a monument standing in opposition to not just everything I value, but to the fundamental values upon which this country was built. How could I vote to build what would be little more than a monument designed to send the cold, hard message, keep out? Well, K file's Andrew Kaczynski joins me now. So, Andrew, I mean, you, you and you, you all have gone through, I mean, scoured an incredible amount of material. Tell me more about what you found.

D (27:44)

Yeah, that's right. We found more than 50 of those, those tweets criticizing the border wall before she used that in her ad. And I want people to take a look at just a few of what she said here. She called it wasteful, useless, a waste of taxpayer money, a vanity wall project, a wasteful border wall, a stupid wall, a medieval vanity project, and an unnecessary wall. And those are really just, I mean, there were more like 10 or like 50. But there was really, there was really a lot of. This was the common refrain during the campaign. You read that quote where she said it was against everything, that not only she stood for, everything America stood aboard, but, and she brought this up a lot. Take a listen to just one instance of that in 2019.

Ben Ferguson (28:27)

It's the president's vanity project, his multibillion dollar vanity project called a wall is nothing more than a distraction from the fact that he actually hasn't focused on working people in America. He contrived a national crisis around his big distraction.

C (28:49)

All right, so you go through all of that. You've got all the tweets, and yet all of a sudden in the ads, there's pictures of the wall. And then you went through to look at that wall, like, what is that specific wall that's in her campaign ads now? And you found something very interesting about this specific portion of the law.

D (29:05)

And what's, I think, what's Also really remarkable. This is like, I mean, you heard her talking about it there. Trump's wall in his campaign, during his presidency. There was really no greater symbol of Trump's presidency than the wall in the way that Democrats were attacking him over the wall and his restrictive immigration policies. So we looked in that ad and if you look at it, that exact area of wall is in Sasabe, Arizona. And that is a portion of wall that was actually built by Donald Trump. It was built in an area where there was not previous walls. Actually pretty controversial when they were building it at the time. So just to see that, and there.

C (29:40)

Are others using his wall that he built to say, look at what I did.

D (29:44)

And the other images of the wall we weren't able to pinpoint, but there's, there's telltale signs that that was a Trump wall because there's an anti climbing plate on top that became popularized during the Trump years.

C (29:56)

It's really incredible reporting and important. All right, Andrew Kaczynski and K. Fault, thank you very much.

Ted Cruz (30:02)

Now there's also another theory, Senator, and that could be. They were just so embarrassed.

Ben Ferguson (30:06)

Hold on. Before the theories. Before the theories. I do want to take the very end the comment. It's really incredible reporting. So. Actually, no, it's not. It's not incredible reporting to say one nominee for president is spending millions of dollars running ads claiming to support something that she spent her entire professional career denouncing over and over and over again. Like, that's not incredible reporting. That's called just actually doing your job. That is in fact, what reporters are supposed to do. And this is a story that illustrates that her campaign is built on deception. It's built on lying. Understand, this goes back to why is it in the six weeks since Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democrat nominee, she's done precisely one media interview, actually with cnn, the fake interview she did with Dana Bash that we broke down. If you didn't listen to the podcast analyzing the Dana Bash interview, you ought to, because it was not an interview, it was a campaign commercial that, that protected her. But other than that, she's done no media interview. She's done zero press conferences. And it's because her strategy is to hide from everything she's ever said, everything she's ever done, every vote she's ever cast to hide from her record, and instead to claim, to claim that she supports things she does not support. Now, listen, her left wing supporters are not upset that she is running ads picturing the border wall. Why? Because they know she's Lying. Everyone knows she's lying, but CNN called her out, and it. That is, in fact, the job of journalism, to call people out when their record is directly contrary to what they're saying on the campaign trail.

Ted Cruz (32:02)

You look at the CNN interview that you mentioned, and that was my third. My third possibility is it really seemed to do some damage to cnn. They were embarrassed at how much they were called out for just propaganda that night, even from putting live. You and I talked about this, putting up live on the screen when the interview was taped.

Ben Ferguson (32:26)

So let me ask you something, Ben. So, Ben, you spent a lot of years as a paid CNN employee.

Ted Cruz (32:33)

Yes. Seven years in hell is what I call it.

Ben Ferguson (32:36)

Yeah. You said they were embarrassed. Do you think they actually were embarrassed? I'm not sure they can be embarrassed. So I'm actually curious about your thoughts on this.

Ted Cruz (32:43)

So I actually think they were, because they were just ridiculed. It was daylight outside. It was prime time at night when they aired it, it was obvious that it wasn't live. And when you do something that egregious, I, I think even people that are left of center are like, come on. Like, really. Like, you think we're dumb enough to believe that it's daytime right now while we're watching it at nighttime? And we're dumb enough to believe it's live when we've already. We already know it's been taped and has been well publicized. It was taped. But I also think the other part that hurt them and embarrass them was the interview was incredibly short compared to what normal interviews of this magnitude are. I mean, you look at the town hall last night, that, that. That happened with Trump and Hannity. I mean, it's solid hour plus on these things. And her interview, taped, edited in the daytime, and then, you know, claiming it's live at night. I think that that is a point where they're like, okay, maybe we have to bring the pendulum back here a little bit because we look so much like we are a mouthpiece for a campaign. And if she loses, that puts us in a really bad situation.

Ben Ferguson (33:53)

Look, that's possible. And you asked a minute ago if they're trying to cover their bases. You know, I actually, you know, I'm a believer in Occam's razor that sometimes the simplest explanation is. Is the best. I actually think in this instance, the dissonance, the contrast between what Kamala Harris is campaigning on and what she has said for her entire career, it is so massive that I think they just ended up saying, all right, let's say it. I actually think even though they're propagandists, to see her embracing Trump's border wall is a level at which I asked a minute ago if they could get embarrassed. I think for a brief moment in time, they actually wanted to be journalists. And I have a. And by the way, let's be clear. This is a remarkable podcast. It may be the only podcast we've ever done where twice now. I praise cnn. I praise cnn. At the beginning of the podcast for Jake Tapper's question of Kamala Harris. That was a real question. It was a good question, Jake. It was a question a journalist would and should ask. And listen, this story, this story is a question a journalist would and should cover. By the way, has ABC run the story?

Ted Cruz (35:21)

No.

Ben Ferguson (35:21)

NBC? Cbs?

Ted Cruz (35:23)

No.

Ben Ferguson (35:23)

Msnbc?

Ted Cruz (35:24)

Nope.

Ben Ferguson (35:25)

Like, wait, they say they're journalists? I mean, CNN doesn't have an exclusive. Do you think MSNBC knows that she's lying when she runs an ad saying, look at this border wall?

Ted Cruz (35:38)

Yeah, well, look, there's also another possibility that you and I have been having this discussion. It could be this is their way of slapping Kamala on the hand for not being radical enough. Like, oh, no, no, no, we don't go to border wall. And if you do it, we're going to embarrass you. You're supposed to, you're supposed to hate the border wall. That's who you are. We're going to remind you of who you are, and we're going to make you look bad when you, when you pander this way on an issue. We disagree with that. That also could be part of what the executive producers at CNN were so mad about.

Ben Ferguson (36:09)

Yeah, look, maybe I, you know, I. Years ago, one of my very first bosses had a bit of advice for me that I think was really insightful. And it was about government, and it was never ascribed to malice. What can be explained with incompetence? In this instance, at least to me, I'm not reading a whole lot of Machiavellian, you know, positioning in CNN doing this. I think it was just there were like, holy crap, this is bs. I hope that is. I mean, that's actually a human instinct, and it is an instinct a journalist is supposed to have. Now, maybe I'm being naive. I mean, Ben, maybe you're. You are more cynical than I am on this, and maybe I'm not cynical.

Ted Cruz (36:59)

Enough, but 100%, I would say this way. I wish that I thought the way you thought on this. I just think this is too big of a 180 from them sucking up to Kamala Harris a week ago. Like, it's like, what happened.

Ben Ferguson (37:15)

Yes, but to be clear, it is different, okay? It is different. Listen, one of the reasons, and we didn't talk about this, I think in. In our podcast analyzing the Dana Bash fake interview, but I do think a component is CNN desperately wanted that interview. Like the Kamala Harris campaign put it out there. Hey, we're gonna do an interview with someone, and we want to see who will kiss our ass the most. If you're just doing it a little. No, that's not enough. We want both lips full pucker. We want enthusiasm. And I do think there was a level of just corporate servility that we want this interview. And we will abase ourselves. We will abandon any pretense of journalistic ethics. We'll do anything we can to get this interview. And so I think it's easier in a story where you don't have Kamala Harris, and particularly the context where they won't give anyone an interview with Kamala Harris when you don't have her there, it is easier to actually run one real story for three minutes out of the 24 hours a day you're on TV.

Ted Cruz (38:30)

As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download my podcast. And you can listen to my podcast every other day. You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have you as a listener to again, the Ben Ferguson Podcast. And we will see you back here on Monday morning.