← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Biden Funding BOTH Sides Of Ukraine War, plus Schiff-less!
00:46:43
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- [00:00]
Host
Senator, nice to be with you here today. You just got back in from Washington, D.C. and there is some serious news that's broken this week that I think a lot of people don't realize is happening, and that is the disastrous policies of the Biden administration are really coming back to haunt us. And it's now dealing with a national security issue. It's not just the policies with Ukraine and Russia. It's also now dealing with Iran. And there were some questions that you asked, and I want to play this for people because I think it's so important. You were talking about the massive disaster, disaster that was in fact the nordstream pipeline and not having sanctions early enough for everybody that's listening. And if you're watching this, this was a moment that I think is going to come back to haunt this administration for a long time. Let's take a Look.
- [00:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome to each of the witnesses. Ms. Newland, as you know, in January of last year, the Senate voted on my legislation to impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. And it did so before Russia had invaded Ukraine. When the Senate voted on those sanctions, President Zelensky publicly urged, even begged the United States Senate to pass those sanctions. And President Zelensky said passing those sanctions then were the last chance to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine, the last chance to prevent Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine. Was President Zelensky wrong?
- [01:41]
Victoria Nuland
Senator Cruz, like you, I am. And I think the administration is very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea. I personally, having been involved, along with my boss, Secretary Blinken, in all of those negotiations with Russia to try to prevent this war in December, do not believe that had that Nord Stream 2 been cut off in January, that would have been decisive for Putin. It was important that the day the war began, the Germans cut the pipeline, as did the rest of the Europeans. But he was bound and determined to go into Ukraine, as you know.
- [02:19]
Senator Ted Cruz
So you believe Zelensky was wrong when he said stopping Nord Stream 2 was the last and best way to stop this war?
- [02:27]
Victoria Nuland
I don't think it would have stopped Putin.
- [02:29]
Senator Ted Cruz
And you know, I, when the government of Poland similarly said, begged the United States Senate to pass those sanctions and said this is the last and best opportunity to stop Russia from invading Ukraine. You believe Poland was wrong, too?
- [02:44]
Victoria Nuland
I do not believe we would have prevented this war had the Europeans acted faster on Nord Stream 2. I wish it were the case.
- [02:51]
Host
Wow. Senator, go back through this timeline because this is now the chickens coming home to roost for everybody that got it wrong.
- [03:00]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, Joe Biden caused the war in Ukraine. It is because of the foreign policy failures of this president that we're seeing the biggest land war in Europe since World War II. And you in particular, what I was asking. That was a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that happened yesterday. And that is the Undersecretary of State, Victoria Nuland, who was testifying. And this administration now has elevated President Zelensky to the status of a modern day saint. He's been canonized already and the Democrats have taken to singing his praises nonstop. And the point I was making here is, wait a second. Zelensky was begging for your help before the war started in order to prevent it, and you refused to help. And what's the backstory? Listen, Putin has wanted to invade Ukraine for a long, long time. He wanted to invade when Trump was president.
- [04:01]
Host
He knew not to do it.
- [04:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and one of the big reasons he didn't is you look at In 2014, Putin invaded Ukraine. He invaded Crimea, the southern portion of Ukraine, but he stopped short. Why? Because going into all of Ukraine risks the natural gas pipelines that run right through Ukraine. And Russia gets a huge portion of its revenue from selling natural gas and oil. And it needs to be able to get that natural gas to Europe through Ukraine. The next year. In 2015, Putin began what's called Nord Stream 2. It's an undersea pipeline that goes from Russia to Germany. The entire purpose of it is to circumvent Ukraine so that he could invade Ukraine and not have to worry about getting gas to market. In 2019, I introduced and passed legislation to sanction the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to shut it down before it was built. That legislation passed. I got Republicans to support it. I got Democrats to support it. Trump signed it into law. Putin stopped building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline literally the day Donald Trump signed my sanctions legislation. That day, the pipeline stopped. It was dormant. It was dead. As Victoria Nuland noted. As I've said many times, it was a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea for over a year. In December of 2020, I introduced and passed a second set of sanctions legislation to sanction Nord Stream even further to make sure Putin didn't resume building the pipeline.
- [05:42]
Host
And you knew this was so important because of the financial side of this for Russia, and you were thinking ahead like anybody should on an issue like this.
- [05:51]
Senator Ted Cruz
It was the way to stop Putin from invading Ukraine. Joe Biden becomes president January 20, 2021. Four days later, January 24, 2021, Putin resumes deep sea construction of Nord Stream 2. It literally took four days to reverse what we had accomplished under Donald Trump. Putin returned to building the pipeline. Why? Because Biden foreshadowed weakness. Then later in 2021, Biden formally waived sanctions on Nord Stream 2. He basically gave Vladimir Putin a multi billion dollar gift and caused the Ukraine war. Well, the question I just asked there, in January of last year of 2022, I forced a vote on the Senate floor to reimpose those sanctions on Nord Stream 2. The sanctions that had worked, every Senate Democrat had voted with me not just once, but twice in 2019 and 2020, in favor of those sanctions. The day of the vote, Joe Biden came to Capitol Hill and he personally lobbied the Senate Democrats. The only time I know of that he's done so since he's been president, asking them, please vote against Cruz's sanctions, vote in favor of Russia, vote in favor of Putin. When that happened, President Zelensky publicly pleaded with the United States Senate, please pass Cruz's legislation. It's the only way to stop Russia from invading Ukraine. Poland. The government of Poland formally put out a statement asking the Senate to pass my legislation. They said it was the way to stop Russia from invading Ukraine. They said, if you don't pass it, Russia will invade Ukraine. 44 Democrats decided to put partisan loyalty above national security. They voted for Putin, they voted for Russia, they voted against sanctions. And just a few weeks later, Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine. And so that's what I was asking her. Is Zelensky, who you have said is a modern day saint, was he wrong when he told you we could avoid this whole damn war if you just impose the sanctions? And she was forced to say, yes, I think he was wrong. Because the alternative is to admit Joe Biden screwed this whole thing up and caused this war to begin with.
- [08:29]
Host
You mentioned weakness. Right? They were the foreshadowing and they understood, okay, Joe Biden's weak. And Vladimir Putin said, I'm going to start this four days after he becomes President. Again, you're saying we gotta do the sanctions here. But the question I know everybody wants to ask is what was in this for the President? Why was it so important to him? And before you answer that question, I want to remind people about Patriot Mobile. Patriot Mobile is an incredible company. A conservative Christian phone company. If you have a cell phone with big tech, you can switch it to Patriot Mobile. Not only can you save money, but every time you use your phone and every time you Pay your bill. You're actually supporting the causes that we all believe in. The first, the Second Amendment right, protecting the unborn children in this country and even helping now with adoptions. If you've never checked out Patriot mobile, go to patriotmobile.com verdict. That's patriot mobile.com verdict. Check them out. Make the switch and make a difference with every phone call. Now, Senator, I go back to what I was saying a second ago. What was in it for him? Why would he be saying, I want to get this deal done? Because this is what a foreign lobbyist for Russia would be advocating for. And yet the president's the one who goes to the Hill, as you mentioned it, to put it in perspective. And this was something so important to him. He needed to meet personally with all these senators to give the best deal you could give to the Russians.
- [09:56]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, I don't know why he wanted to. I think there are a couple of theories. One, Biden came in on foreign policy with the assumption everything Trump did was wrong. If he did one thing, let's reverse it. And listen, that's not unique to Biden. Most presidents come in, and if the opposing party did something, they often want to reverse it. So I get that instinct. But here, this had been a massive bipartisan victory that Joe Biden threw away, by the way. You know who agrees with that? Victoria Nuland. She argued passionately for Biden to impose those sanctions. She got overruled. Tony Blinken, the Secretary of State, argued passionately for Biden to impose those sanctions. He got overruled by the White House. And you know, the other reason I would give the Biden White House on foreign policy? They've been spectacularly wrong on almost every single aspect of foreign policy.
- [10:55]
Host
And not just little blunders, massive blunders. I think we need remind people, you have Afghanistan, you have this war on the biggest moments on the stage. And he remember, he said, I'm the guy. I've been around. I was on the foreign relations. I've done all this as the vice president. That was what he ran on.
- [11:15]
Senator Ted Cruz
It reminds me of something Reagan said about liberals, which is, it's not what they know. It's that so much of what they know just isn't so. The Biden foreign policy team came in as smug, enlightened. They said the adults are in charge now, and part of their view is Germany can do no wrong. My national security advisor jokes that the Biden foreign policy team slept with votive candles of Angela Merkel under their beds. Like they just. And Germany wanted this pipeline because they just wanted the money. They didn't care about anything else. Give us the money. Screw Ukraine. Germany was terrible on this. And the Biden White House decided, well, let's pal around with Germany and nevermind that it's giving a huge multibillion dollar gift to Putin. And they didn't understand. They fundamentally don't understand weakness is provocative. They think if they're really weak and really nice to Putin, he'll just smile and go away. And so they thought, well, if we give him this multibillion dollar gift, why would he invade Ukraine? We've given him everything he wants. And they don't understand that the way you deal with bullies is strength rather than weakness. But it's even worse than that. We're now a year into this war and the Joe Biden administration is in many ways playing both sides of the war. And I want to turn to an additional set of questions from the hearing yesterday, because the Biden administration desperately wants to cut a new nuclear deal with Iran. And it's willing to have billions of dollars flow into Iran, which has happened under Joe Biden, and to have that money be used in support of Putin and Russia in the war in Ukraine because they're so obsessed with Iran. So here, play the questions. Let's talk about Iran's supply of drones to Russia. The Biden administration made an immediate decision to go to the United nations and drop the general UN Arms embargo on Iran because they say it was required by the original JCPOA nuclear deal. Biden officials say part of the embargo dealing with drones is still in place, but even that measure will expire this fall pursuant to the jcpa. I believe the Biden administration should immediately go to the un, invoke our snapback authority and keep the embargo in place. Do you agree or do you believe we should allow the UN arms embargo on Iran to expire and allow Iranian drones to continue to go to Russia and be used against the people of Ukraine? Time of the senators expired, but please answer his question.
- [14:12]
Victoria Nuland
Thank you. Senator Cruz, you are absolutely right that Iranian drones are fueling this war. And that is why we have taken many, many increased sanctions measures against Iran over the last couple of months, including against the IRGC Guard Corps Aerospace Force, the Quds Force, Aviation Industry, the Shaheed Aviation Industry, Russian Aerospace Forces, the.
- [14:36]
Senator Ted Cruz
Have you stopped the drones?
- [14:38]
Victoria Nuland
We have not stopped the drones. And this is part of the problem.
- [14:43]
Host
We've not stopped the drones. This is part of the problem. So people understand as it was just said there, the drones are fueling this war in Ukraine. In other words, there's a lot of weapons that Ukraine's gotten from the international community to fight back. Russia's using these drones coming in from Iran to kill innocent people, women, children, anybody they want to target from the air. And this is basically one of their best weapons they have in this entire last year of the conflict, and it's coming from Iran.
- [15:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
So the Biden administration is effectively funding both sides of this war.
- [15:17]
Host
Let's say that again because that's serious news.
- [15:20]
Senator Ted Cruz
The Biden administration is effectively funding both sides of this war. Why? Well, they flooded billions of dollars into Ukraine and President Zelensky. Some of it has gone to weapons being used to fight the war. Much of it has gone into the government, including in places in the government where corruption is endemic and a serious problem. But at the same time, they've also lifted sanctions on Iran and have flowed billions of dollars into Iran. And Iran has turned around and it's sending drones to Russia to use to kill Ukrainians. So, and by the way, one component of what Joe Biden has done with Iran, we had in place under Trump sanctions on their oil sales. I pressed the Trump administration to impose those sanctions. Those sanctions had effectively shut down oil sales for Iran. Joe Biden has essentially refused to enforce those sanctions. So today, the Ayatollah is selling over a million barrels a day of oil because Joe Biden is letting him and.
- [16:33]
Host
The money, even though there's sanctions.
- [16:36]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yes, because Biden won't enforce the sanctions. The Biden foreign policy.
- [16:40]
Host
So in other words, you get to say we have sanctions.
- [16:42]
Senator Ted Cruz
The Biden foreign policy is simple. Screw our friends and show weakness to our enemies. That's what they do. So literally, the drones that are killing Ukrainian soldiers are from Iran and are essentially paid for by the Biden administration lifting sanctions on Iran. It is asinine. And it's because they're not serious about this. When they engage in foreign policy, it's virtue signaling. It's not focused on American national security. It's not focused on our interests. It's focused on whatever will make the Biden foreign policy team popular in the faculty lounge at whatever university they want to go back to. And I gotta say, it's just nuts to be funding both sides of a war.
- [17:34]
Host
Last question on this. People hear that there's sanctions, and they say, as you just mentioned, they're not being enforced. Is there any mechanism for Congress to be able to, like, say, hey, guys, you're not enforcing these sanctions? We obviously probably know who's buying this oil. That wouldn't be hard to figure that out. There's bad actors involved here. Or is this basically, I'm the president, yes, there's sanctions. If I don't want to enforce them, I don't have to.
- [18:01]
Senator Ted Cruz
So, yes, Congress could definitely do that. I've introduced legislation to do exactly that. The problem is the Senate Democrats all support Joe Biden. No matter how bad the foreign policy is, they vote in favor of Biden. Look, when Trump was president, I brought together Republicans and Democrats to overwhelmingly pass sanctions on Nord Stream 2. All those same Democrats that voted for sanctions not once but twice, they voted for it in 2019. They voted again for it in 2020. In 2022, when they voted against sanctions, the only thing that had changed was the letter behind the President's name. Instead of an R, it was a D. And they were more than happy to vote for sanctions when Trump was president. But once Biden was president and he had decided he wanted to give in to Putin, the Democrats weren't willing to stand up and do the right thing.
- [18:58]
Host
There's gonna be a lot of Americans are frustrated over this one because we're sending so much money, so much aid, and like you said, we're basically funding both sides of this war, all because they're too dumb to realize that they're doing this. And I'm not even sure he understands exactly how ridiculous it is.
- [19:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
I think ideology trumps everything. And their ideology, their objective ideologically is, by the way, this White House is fundamentally okay with Iran getting a nuclear weapon. They believe America has no right to determine who has nuclear weapons. By the way, that's nonsense. When the Ayatollah chants death to America and death to Israel, we had to do everything necessary to make sure that lunatic never gets a nuclear weapon because I don't want to risk his using it to murder millions of Americans. But that's actually an America first foreign policy that's focused on defending America. When it comes to Biden. It is essentially an America Last foreign policy.
- [19:58]
Host
And they don't mind them having a nuclear weapon. That's why they're obsessed with this deal so much.
- [20:02]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, again, it's a faculty lounge foreign policy. It's whatever is popular with left wing professors who, you know, believe that if you just put daisies in the barrels of machine guns and make love, not war, and give peace a chance, that that's the solution. And what they do not understand is weakness is provocative. I believe in peace through strength. There's A reason nobody goes and gets a degree from the Neville Chamberlain School of Foreign Affairs. Because appeasement doesn't work. Doesn't work. These guys fundamentally don't understand that.
- [20:42]
Host
While you're dealing with this real issue, there's another issue that the media has been freaking out over, that is Democrats being thrown off committees, not getting committee seats they want. This is supposed to be what America's supposed to care about right now. You actually predicted this last year and we have that tweet of you predicting that Democrats were gonna freak out. Nancy Pelosi is furious over this as well. And I want to play for Bill Pelosi first so that they can see what she said. And you actually predicted. When you start scrolling Republicans this way on committees, the Republicans are going to give it right back to you if we get back in charge. Here's Pelosi.
- [21:20]
Senator Ted Cruz
Didn't you open the door to this?
- [21:22]
Nancy Pelosi
No, we set a precedent which I hope they will follow. If they have members, as they did, who threatened the security of our members on the committee, were a danger to our members, threatening them, then they would go off the committee. So if they have that accusation about any of our members, let's hear what they have to say. It was clear that their members were a threat to our members. So this is about maintaining safety for our members. The fact that they want to take these people off the committee is more philosophical. It's philosophical.
- [21:58]
Host
So there she is.
- [22:00]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look. That is utter gobbledygook. The Republicans were a threat. We were scared. Now, mind you, these are the same nincompoops that set up metal detectors to walk onto the floor of the House because they were afraid the Republicans were going to shoot them. These are the same ninnies that erected fences around the Capitol with razor wire for months after months after months because they wanted to convey to the American people that all Republican voters are wild eyed terrorists who are gonna march on the Capitol and kill us all. What utter crap. Oh, we were afraid. We were afraid, you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene was gonna go beat up Adam Schiff. Yeah, like, give me a break. But all of the caterwauling, all of the tears we're seeing now I think is hysterical because as you noted, here's, here's what I tweeted at the time.
- [23:01]
Host
Let's go back. You predicted this last year. Your tweet is one that made me laugh. Because if you actually watch the tweet itself, you have the gif on there of the people jumping in the hole. And so you can see that but look at the date down there. November 30, 2021. You say house Democrats are basically irrationally partisan and excitedly trying to throw Republicans off committees. The chance of the GoP retakes the House in 22, 2022 are over 90% prediction come 2023. Swalwell, Omar Tlaib and others are getting ready to have a lot more time on their hands, meaning they're going to be thrown off the committees. You said it was going to happen.
- [23:40]
Senator Ted Cruz
What Pelosi did in 2021 had never happened before, which is for the majority party, the speaker of the House, to say to the minority party, I don't like your members, we're throwing you off the committees. That had never happened. It was an incredible abuse of power. She did that and then she did it again with the so called select committee on January 6 when she said, no, we don't want Jim Jordan, we don't want your members on the committee. And when they did that, I remember looking at it and thinking, you know the old sociology experiment with little kids where you have one and two marshmallows and you make clear if they eat one marshmallow, they get it now, but if they can wait, if they can defer gratification, they get two marshmallows. The Democrats in Congress are all one marshmallow people. They could not delay gratification. They hated the Republicans so much, they're like, throw them off committees. And I'm like, what? I said in the tweet, you guys are lemmings. You're literally jumping off a cliff because you know you're going to lose.
- [24:45]
Host
Yeah.
- [24:46]
Senator Ted Cruz
November of 2021, every one of the Democrats believed they were going to lose the House, which they did. You know, you're going to lose if you do this to Republicans. The chances are 100% they're gonna do it to you. And I named, you know, Swalwell and Omar and you know, Schiff are the three that have lost committees. And it was.
- [25:10]
Host
Which brings me to Adam Schiff. Now, he is a crybaby. He's out there on TikTok, which is even funnier, begging people for money on this app that literally government agencies are saying, do not have on your phone. States are saying on state phones, don't have it. He goes to Chinese Communist TikTok to say, help me, I'm poor and help me, I've been kicked off committees. Take a look.
- [25:32]
Adam Schiff
Hello, I'm Congressman Adam Schiff with some troubling news today. Kevin McCarthy removed me from the House Intelligence Committee, all for doing my job, for holding Trump accountable and standing up to the extreme MAGA Republicans. We knew it would be bad when the Republicans took over, but it's far worse than we expected. But I can promise you this. This is not the end of my fight for our democracy. This is just the beginning. Please join us and contribute today. Thank you.
- [26:02]
Host
I don't even know how to assess that, Senator.
- [26:04]
Senator Ted Cruz
Oh, look, that God has a sense of humor. And that is irony stacked upon irony. So he was previously the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He demonstrated an incredibly cavalier approach to classified documents, an incredibly dishonest approach to that committee. And so he was removed from it. He was removed from it because Kevin McCarthy laid out that he believed that his lying, using classified documents posed a national security threat. It is amazing that the very first thing he does is he goes and gets an account on TikTok that is owned and controlled by the Chinese government, that is an espionage tool for the Chinese government. And he puts out a video on an espionage tool for the Chinese government to say, it's terrible that I was thrown off the Intelligence Committee. He does it to raise money for his campaign. And I'll also note he uses the phrase extreme MAGA Republicans, which.
- [27:07]
Host
Yes, that's all of us.
- [27:08]
Senator Ted Cruz
Now, every Democrat does that. Now, you know, Mitt Romney is an extreme MAGA Republican. I mean. I mean, it just has become.
- [27:15]
Host
He might be offended by that.
- [27:16]
Senator Ted Cruz
But there is. There's a message discipline to the Democrats. They all use those words. That's the new label. Extreme MAGA Republican. It's striking. Schiff showed precisely why. And it's very hard when you're doing a recorded thing to say Schiff's name and not get bleeped by the censors. You have to enunciate carefully. Yes, but I think he illustrated in his TikTok video quite nicely why removing him from the Intelligence Committee was the right thing to do. But you know what? Don't take my word for it. Listen to Kevin McCarthy.
- [27:58]
Senator John Kennedy
Because what happens in the Intel Committee, you don't know what happens in the Intel Committee. Although the secrets are going on in the world, other members of Congress don't know. What did Adam Schiff do as the chairman of the Intel Committee? What Adam Schiff did Use his power as a chairman and lied to the American public. Even the inspector general said it. When Devin Nunes put out a memo, he said it was false. When we had a laptop, he used it before an election to be politics and say that it was false. And Said it was the Russians when he knew different, when he knew the intel. If you talk to John Radcliffe, dni, he came out ahead of time and says there's no intel to prove that. And he used his position as chairman knowing he has information the rest of America does not and lied to the American public. When a whistleblower came forward, he, he said he did not know the individual even though his staff had met with him and set it up. So no, he does not have a right to sit on that. But I will not be like Democrats and play politics with these where they removed Republicans from committees and all committees. So yes, he can serve on a committee but he will not serve on intel because it goes to the national security of America.
- [29:06]
Host
It's a pretty bold statement. And you go back to Radcliffe. It was unprecedented for the Director of National Intelligence to come out and basically slap a Democrat who's in charge of this committee down saying what he just told you is not true and is a lie. And he had to do that at the time. That's how partisan they had turned this into in his leadership. Adam Schiff. And to say he's a threat to national security, is there some politics in that or do you think that there is some truth to that as well?
- [29:32]
Senator Ted Cruz
So one of the things to keep in mind about how Congress works. So every member of Congress has access to classified information in one form or another, depending on what committees you are. All of us review classified information regularly. That being said, the Intelligence Committee in both the House and Senate reviews much, much more sensitive material than most other House members or senators.
- [30:01]
Host
At a higher level of classification.
- [30:02]
Senator Ted Cruz
At a much higher level of classification. They're reviewing materials so high that you.
- [30:06]
Host
Can store it next to your Corvette in your garage.
- [30:08]
Senator Ted Cruz
Exactly. Ok, that's. Look, intel is regularly reviewing materials that implicate sources and methods that if revealed could endanger the lives of US operatives that are covert. Schiff as chairman of that committee, he had access to the most sensitive secrets we have that most members of Congress don't get. And it is stunning how he behaved with them because he took that classified information he had, he abused that position of trust. Cuz he went in front of the American people and repeatedly lied about it over and over again. Hunter Biden's laptop. He said it's not true. It's Russian disinformation. That was a lie. And he knew it was and he knew it was. He also, he. Nobody pushed the Russia hoax more than Adam Schiff and he knew the intelligence didn't back it up. Not only that, we now know through the Twitter files that Schiff was actively urging Twitter to pull down anyone who disagreed with the disinformation he was pushing. He was urging Twitter to call anyone challenging the Devin Nunes memo to call them a Russian bot. Twitter was telling him, well, wait, they're not Russian bots. That's not, in fact, accurate. But Schiff didn't care. He used that position, that access to classified information, and he abused it.
- [31:35]
Host
It's hard to refute somebody because so few see this information. I think he understood that, right for people to understand the game he was playing. It was like, who can refute me because there's so few that get to see this stuff.
- [31:45]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, the only thing worse Schiff could have done with his access to important secrets. About the only thing worse you could imagine him doing is banging a Chinese spy.
- [32:00]
Host
That would be Eric Swalwell that likes to do that.
- [32:02]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, but, but. But Schiff had a pretty powerful defense of Eric. That's true.
- [32:06]
Host
He did. He came out. This was amazing. Take a look.
- [32:09]
Adam Schiff
I do want to mention, with respect to Mr. Swalwell also, that I, as he indicated, I sat in on that briefing. And when Kevin McCarthy misrepresents it, and. And does that disservice the American people, it's shameful. Mr. Swalwell has served honorably on our committee. He's never been accused of any kind of wrongdoing. This is a patently unfair smear by Mr. McCarthy, but that's what he trafficks in, and that's what we're seeing.
- [32:42]
Host
Never been accused of any wrongdoing except for sleeping with an actual Chinese spy.
- [32:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
And we're not talking theoretical. Her name was Fang Fang. And my understanding, though I have not actually seen the classified briefing on this, but my understanding from the press coverage is she was an actual spy working for the Chinese Communist government assigned to spy on Eric Swalwell. And mind you, what are the Democrats saying? Oh, he should be on the Intel Committee. He was on the Intelligence Committee. He should have access to the most secure secrets. Even though. And listen, we've talked about on this podcast how structurally, the Democrat Party today is pro China. Their major constituencies, their major stakeholders, big business, big tech, big entertainment, big, big universities using TikTok that they are all in bed with China. And we've said the Democrat Party today is in bed with China. Eric Swalwell just took that a little too literally.
- [33:51]
Host
I got it. There's been a lot about classified documents. And just so people understand the abuse here and how much he was abusing his position of power. And I'm referring to Adam Schiff here, obviously, and what he was doing. If you go in and you get to see stuff because you're on the Intel Committee in the House, the Senate side, are you allowed to walk out legally and talk to your colleagues who do not directly have access to that information? How does top secret information work? Because what he was doing was basically looking at it, making up things that didn't exist and then telling the entire country about it.
- [34:28]
Senator Ted Cruz
He'd go on national television and he would say things that were 180 degrees opposite what he knew to be the case. And so he wasn't abusing it in the sense of what Joe Biden was doing, which is leaving classified documents next to his Corvette. That's a different kind of violation. But what he was doing was abusing his power because he had access to that information. He had a level of credibility that when he went on a Sunday show and he said, here's what the intelligence tells us, people are like, oh, okay, well, he's in a position to know. And his willingness to just flat out lie reminds me of the old backhanded compliment of Bill Clinton. He's an unusually good liar. Yeah, well, and by the way, it speaks volumes now that in the wake of being thrown off the Intelligence Committee, what is Adam Schiff doing running for Senate in the state of California?
- [35:28]
Host
Get a promotion. Right.
- [35:31]
Senator Ted Cruz
He wants to come to the other side. He's running for Dianne Feinstein's seat. So we'll see what happens. And who knows, maybe with California Democrat primary voters being a dishonest, hardcore left wing partisan, that might be a very attractive credential, sadly, with that radicalized primary voter.
- [35:53]
Host
Lastly, there's two quick things I want to get your take on. One of them was pretty shocking. It deals with religion. There was this new poll put out, and it's very different to see how Republicans, conservatives look at faith and how Democrats look at faith. And I want to throw this up there for people so they can see this, because Democrats literally have. And this is again coming from David Bernstein after looking at this poll. Democrats literally have a more favorable view of Wicca and witches than of orthodox Judaism and Jews. You look at Republicans, the top line there. Do you have a favorable, unfavorable opinion of the following groups? Christianity, Democrats plus 29. Republicans, totally different, plus 54. Now, this to me is shocking. Catholicism, 6% plus for Democrats, 29 for Republicans. These are numbers that terrify me about the state of this country and where we're heading when it comes to lack of faith.
- [36:54]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, look, the Democrat Party today is a party where hostility to faith is normalized. And so this question, this was a national poll done on YouGov and it was just asked, do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of the following faiths?
- [37:10]
Host
And so not controversial, by the way, that's a pretty simple question.
- [37:14]
Senator Ted Cruz
So when you ask Democrats, do they have a favorable or unfavorable view of Protestantism plus 12? When you ask Catholicism plus 6, which means almost as many Democrats have a negative view of Catholicism as have a positive view. By the way, contrast that to Buddhism, where Democrats have a plus 29. So Democrats are much, much more hostile to Catholics than they are to Buddhism or agnostics. Let's take a look at agnostics, plus 24. They love them, some agnostics.
- [37:55]
Host
Yet you look at Amish, for example. Look at the difference between Republicans and Democrats there. Negative one for Democrats, plus 24 for.
- [38:04]
Senator Ted Cruz
Republicans, atheists, Democrats plus 13. But then it's interesting, Southern Baptist, you and I are Both Southern Baptists, minus 17. Democrats hate them, some Southern Baptists. And it really is striking. So if you look at Orthodox Judaism, Democrats have a negative 3 view of orthodox Judaism, which means more Democrats have a negative view of Orthodox Jews than positive view. What is their view of Wicca? Wicca, by the way, is witchcraft.
- [38:42]
Host
Yes.
- [38:42]
Senator Ted Cruz
And that would be plus two. So it is true. They literally have a more favorable view of witchcraft than Orthodox Judaism. And I gotta say, this is, by the way, Democrats also for Mormons, have a negative 27. So they hate Mormons, they hate Southern Baptists, but they love Buddhists, they love atheists, they love agnostics, and they even love witches more than Orthodox Jews. This is frightening. This is frightening. It explains some of the divide in our country because the numbers are very, very different. Party affiliation is a good predictor for what you think about faith. But I got to say, I sincerely wish both parties respected people of faith and were willing to defend your right to live according to your faith and your conscience. And the hostility Democrats have towards faith, this is some of why it's traditional values.
- [39:49]
Host
It's traditional families. It's traditional. What makes, I think America great. That's what the Democratic Party is saying. We are openly and adamantly against it. And that should be something I think people should be looking at in elections moving forward. There's one other video I have to show everybody because it's just too good not to. You've got. And you and I Were laughing about this before the show. Because if you want to know how easy it is to get a job, to get nominated for a good job in the Biden administration, just look at this video of some simple questions being asked to some nominees and a senator.
- [40:29]
Senator Ted Cruz
And this is this week. This is a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee this week for a Biden nominee to be a federal judge. So presumably you're nominated to be a federal judge. You ought to know something.
- [40:42]
Host
Yeah, kind of a big deal.
- [40:43]
Senator Ted Cruz
Let's see how it went. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and congratulations to all of you. Judge on the far end, tell me what Article 5 of the Constitution does.
- [41:05]
Senator John Kennedy
Article 5 is not coming to mind at the moment.
- [41:08]
Senator Ted Cruz
Okay, how about Article 2?
- [41:14]
Senator John Kennedy
Neither is Article 2.
- [41:16]
Nancy Pelosi
Okay.
- [41:22]
Senator Ted Cruz
Do you know what purposivism is?
- [41:28]
Senator John Kennedy
In my 12 years as an assistant attorney general and my nine years serving as a judge, I was not faced with that precise question. We are the highest trial court in Washington State, so I'm frequently faced with issues that I'm not familiar with, and I thoroughly review the law, our research, and apply the law to the facts presented to me.
- [41:53]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, you're going to be faced with it as a. If you're confirmed, I can assure you of that. Look, I gotta say, this woman is wildly unqualified to be a judge. And let's talk about. So the Constitution has seven articles. John Kennedy is a dear friend. He's a brilliant legal scholar. Actually, he has a bit of an accent and kind of does a Matlock. Good old boy, but he's wicked smart. And his question, he begins with Article 5. Look, Article 5 is the article in the Constitution that lays out how you amend the Constitution. And it's the process that. Whereby we amend the Constitution. She apparently didn't know that. That's not very.
- [42:43]
Host
If you're an attorney, that's somewhat of a big deal. Can we. Can we agree on that?
- [42:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
As big a deal as it is. Her next question is an even bigger deal. So the first three articles of the Constitution. Article 1 establishes the legislative branch. All legislative power is vested in the Congress. That's what Article 1 does. Article 2 is the executive branch of our federal government. It is the President of the United States. It is all of the executive branch. And Article three, by the way, is the judiciary. She has been nominated to be what's called an Article 3 judge. That's a very particular kind of judge. That's a federal judge with life tenure. She's been nominated to be an Article 3 judge, although I'm quite certain she has no idea what that means. And it shows. This administration's nominees, they have consistently been number one very much affirmative action picks. They care intensely about the race and gender and sexual orientation much more than anything resembling qualifications or judicial temperament or skill. But they also care even more than bean counting. They want radicals and they have nominated. I've never seen judicial nominees this radical. You know, when Obama was president, I was not a fan of his judicial nominees. Biden has made the Obama nominees look middle of the road.
- [44:14]
Host
Yeah.
- [44:16]
Senator Ted Cruz
For her not to know what Article 2 of the Constitution is. I don't even the idea.
- [44:25]
Host
This isn't an a hole question. This is not an I got you question. This isn't like saying to somebody name the random leader of a certain country or just to make you look bad.
- [44:35]
Senator Ted Cruz
Or embarrass you asking someone what Article 2 of the Constitution is. If you're a lawyer, you should know that, especially if you want to be a federal judge. This is not. Look, there are questions you could ask that are subtle. Gotcha questions.
- [44:51]
Host
Yeah.
- [44:53]
Senator Ted Cruz
What's Article 2 of the Constitution? Ain't one of them. It's stunning. And by the way, my prediction is every Democrat will vote to confirm her. Because in two years, do you know how many Democrats have voted against a Biden judicial nominee?
- [45:10]
Host
I'm guessing one or zero.
- [45:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
Zero.
- [45:13]
Host
So it's just they walk in the door. Doesn't matter what they say, what they.
- [45:16]
Senator Ted Cruz
Do or don't know because the press won't cover it. This isn't on the news, by the way. John Kennedy did this to a Trump nominee, A Trump nominee where he asked a question about trial practice and the Trump nominee didn't know the answer. And it was boom. Okay, number one, watching it, it was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Trump White House withdrew the nomination. That's actually if we had a functioning executive. If the Article 2 branch was actually working.
- [45:51]
Host
Yeah, they would know.
- [45:53]
Senator Ted Cruz
Okay, I'm sorry, this. She can't be a judge, but they don't care. My prediction is every Democrat will stick with her. Oh, she doesn't need to know a damn thing about the Constitution. Her job is to let criminals go. She can do that without knowing anything about the Constitution.
- [46:08]
Host
Must be nice. Easiest way to get a job, that's for sure. Senator, always a pleasure to spend some time with you. We'll see all of you guys back here. As you know, if you're watching this, we do two other podcasts that are audio only. Make sure you subscribe. Hit that download button. It's free and you'll get all of the shows audio version three times a week. We publish Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We do one show a week which is video. Many of you that are watching this right now, you want to make sure you get those audio versions. So hit that subscribe or auto download button wherever you get your podcasts and the Senator and I will see you back here in a couple days.