← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Comer Wrapping Up Biden Autopen Investigation plus Defense Secretary in Puerto Rico
00:15:43
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Podcast Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast.
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Political Commentator
America's always been a nation that believes in the power of prayer. And we will never apologize for our faith. Ever, ever, never, never. We will never surrender our God given rights. We will defend our liberties, our values, our sovereignty, and we will defend our freedom. And with the help of amazing faith communities across the land, so many are represented with us today. We will truly make this the golden.
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Ben Ferguson
You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
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Good Tuesday morning. So nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update. And we've got two major stories for you coming out of the White House that you need to know about. First up, it's a smoking gun. We're now finding out a lot more because of the investigation into the Biden administration about what was actually going on in the final days when the auto pen was, well, catching on fire. And apparently the president knew nothing about it. How do we know this? There were people raising concerns within the Biden administration. So just how bad did it get? We'll have all that for you as well. Also, the man in charge of the Pentagon, Pete Hedge. Seth visits Puerto Rico without telling people in advance. Why? Well, apparently it's connected to fighting the drug cartels that have now been declared as terrorist organizations. So what does this mean next? We'll have that story for you in a moment. But first, I want to talk to.
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Ben Ferguson
47 Morning Update and it starts right now.
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Story number one, House Oversight Committee Chairman.
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James Comer said his panel is now wrapping up its investigation to President Joe Biden's use of the auto pen after a new report revealed major concerns that were raised within the former Biden administration itself. The new records reveal that President Biden's own administration @ the highest levels closest to the president raised significant concerns about not only the auto pin use, but especially for it to grant thousands of pardons. This is a historic scandal with massive repercussions is what James Comer said in response to the newest report, quote. As President Joe Biden declined, his aides carried out executive action actions without his approval, casting even more doubt on the legitimacy of thousands of pardons and also other executive actions, Comer added the House Oversight Committee is in the final stages of its investigation and he said there must be accountability for this scandal. President Trump has also weighed in on this newest breaking news saying, quote, the Biden auto pin scandal is big. Not as big as the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax or the rigged 2020 presidential election, but nevertheless, one of the biggest ever. Now, don't worry, the left is pushing back. In fact, a former White House Biden staffer said the pardon process, well, it was totally fine, saying, quote, Republicans like to talk about Biden whenever news hits that they don't want to talk about today. They don't want to talk about, what is it, the worst job gain since 2020. Instead, they want to talk about Biden because Trump, he says, is responsible for the latest numbers. Now let's go back to what the reality of the situation is I want.
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Patriot Mobile Advertiser
You to hear from Mark Smith.
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Ben Ferguson
He's a constitutional attorney on FOX News Channel. And here's what he had to say about the developments, especially when it comes to Biden and top aide saying they rarely saw or even talk to the president while giving out thousands of pardons.
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Let's bring in constitutional attorney Mark Smith. Mark, thank you so much being here. This story just keeps on going and going. Let's bring up this snippet from this Axios report that says that there were people within the Biden administration who had major concerns about this. Quote, an email from Biden's chief of staff, Jeff Zients, at 10:31pm the night of January 19, less than 14 hours before Biden was to leave office, confirmed the use of the presidential auto pen for those pardons. I approve the use of the auto pen for the execution of all of the following pardons. And thanks, Jay Z. That was an email from Biden's chief of staff. What do you make of this latest Axios report, Mark?
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Mark Smith
Brian, I think the big picture here is this is very good news politically and legally for President Donald Trump. As you know, there are a series of these Supreme Court cases over the power of the president to control Article 2, the executive branch. And historically, in the last several decades, Brian, as you know, the deep state, these unelected bureaucrats have been running amok, controlling the executive branch and running the government in many respects. And this is just a more recent example and a very good example to highlight the problems with that. Unelected people run the auto pen, run the White House and so on. And I think all this is going to be very good in terms of atmospherics to helping Donald Trump continue to win these cases before the Supreme Court. Because the one thing Donald Trump is doing very, very well is reminding people that as the president of the United States, all of the executive powers in Article 2 of the Constitution is vested in him as the president, the one person that's elected by all the people, voted on by all Americans. And I think this is very helpful in front of the U.S. supreme Court, which is why Donald Trump keeps winning before the Supreme Court these questions of executive power and his authority.
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Ben Ferguson
Well, atmospherics and politics aside, what about legally by the law? Is there any sense here that these historic, a record number, 4250 Pardons and clemencies that were signed with this auto pen, do they get thrown out the door?
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Mark Smith
Well, at a very high level, certainly a president is allowed to use an auto pen or an electronic signature I mean, people use electronic signatures to sign contracts every day in American life and that is legally fine. But this all assumes, Brian, that the person who is doing this is signing off on this is actually approved the use of, in this case, the auto pen. And that really gets into did Joe Biden actually approve these pardons using the auto pen or not? And I think the only way to know whether or not this is true is, would be if somebody comes forward from the Biden administration says, you know what, he really didn't know what was going on. These were being, these pardons were being issued with an auto pen by people that lack the authority from the president to do so. And it's going to be very difficult to get those inside facts, I suspect. But the oversight committee is certainly working on trying to get to the bottom of this. But the question is that Joe Biden as president really authorized these or not. That's the factual question. That's the key.
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Ben Ferguson
There is a very good chance this is going to work its way all the way to the Supreme Court. And you heard him mention there that the President keeps having big victories at the Supreme Court. That is true. I'll give you a breaking news update on that. The Supreme Court has allowed ICE agents, we're now being told, to keep arresting illegal aliens in the sanctuary city of Los Angeles. So whether it's on the auto pin or on this issue of arresting illegal immigrants in la, the Supreme Court keeps backing the President of the United States of America. And they granted the request from President Donald Trump's administration to override a lower court's ruling from an activist judge that barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE agents from carrying out federal immigration enforcement operations under the claim that such raids could constitute racial profiling. So what did the court say? No, we're not buying it. California and they can still do their job to keep Americans safe.
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Now, story number two, Peter Seth, he.
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Is the Defense Secretary. He has arrived in Puerto Rico amid the U. S. Venezuela tensions that are continuing to rise. This is an important visit because it was unannounced. And not only was the U. S. Defense Secretary there, but the Joint Chief's chairman, General Kane also was on the trip. It was an unannounced visit, an unplanned visit for the public to Puerto Rico as the U. S has ramped up military activities in the Caribbean aimed at drug trafficking networks. They met officials at the 156 Wing Air National Guard Base. Headset addressed roughly 300 service members while he was there. And the question you may Be asking yourself, is this why now? Well, it's pretty simple. The trip follows a September 2 US military strike in the southern Caribbean that sank a vessel departing Venezuela with US officials saying 11 suspected members of the Trend Cartel, they are also a terrorist organization, were all killed. Some regional leaders back the action. Others urge more transparency. Venezuela also denied the US Allegations and criticized the operation. And that's exactly what should be expected. So now the question is why is the Pentagon weighing Puerto Rico as a hub or is this more about expanding counter narcotics operations altogether? Now, we also know that plans include deploying 10 F35 fighter jets the island and conducting military flights out of Puerto Rico. An unusually large cluster of US War ships, about eight, is already operating in the region as well. Marines are also on the island. Elements of the 22nd Marine Unit are in Puerto Rico for amphibious and flight training. We've been told Puerto Rico's governor estimated a thousand Marines on the island. And the Guard says the training was pre planned and, quote, not tied to the new maritime force. CBS News had it this way on the unplanned visit and what it could mean.
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Nancy Cordes
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Kane arrived in Puerto Rico this morning as tension continues to build between the United States and Venezuela. They were welcomed there by Puerto Rico Governor Jennifer Gonzalez, who said on in part on X. We thank President Trump and his administration for recognizing the strategic value Puerto Rico has to the national security of the United States and the fight against drug cartels in our hemisphere perpetuated by narco dictator Nicolas Maduro. For more on this, I want to bring in John Burns. He is the strategic director for Concerned Veterans for America after serving more than 22 years in the Marine Corps and the Army National Guard. Thank you very much for joining us. What does this arrival here of Hexathan Kaine to Puerto Rico signal to you?
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John Burns
Well, thank you, Nancy, for having me on. I think there's a lot of signals there. One of the key takeaways for me, aside from just the situation with Venezuela and the drug situation in the Caribbean, is the national defense strategy, which is a little overdue, is said to be released within the next seven to 10 days. And early reporting indicates that there's a large pivot towards defense of the American hemisphere and away from heavily being heavily engaged in other parts of the world, Europe. I think there's probably still going to be an emphasis to a degree on the Indo Pacific. Maybe not as much as we thought, but this is the key role that our Department of Defense Department of War should be playing. Our primary interest is securing our hemisphere and our homeland.
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Nancy Cordes
John. Of course, this arrival, this trip comes with the backdrop of the United States deploying eight warships and fighter jets into that area, in addition to amassing troops off Puerto Rico. If this is a war on drugs, what kind of guardrails, if any, exist for the President to send troops into Venezuela?
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John Burns
Well, the President has said that he doesn't want to or he's not considering this a regime change mission, which I think was very, very encouraging.
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Ben Ferguson
That's right. As much as the media tries to lie to you and tell you that the President's going for regime change, that is not what this is about at all. This is all about fighting narco terrorism. And yes, they are terrorists that are killing Americans. So you may ask yourself this question. Why Puerto Ric Rico? Why would you choose this for this counter cartel operation? Well, it's pretty simple geography. Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands sit inside the Caribbean transit zone, historically a gateway for cocaine, fentanyl and other drugs headed to the mainland usa. That strategic position plus US sovereignty eases the basing the logistics and also the prosecutions of those that are caught alive. And then you just have access and response times from a military standpoint. From Puerto Rico, aircraft and ships can quickly reach the Mona Passage, the Dominican Republic Puerto Rico corridor and the sea lanes north of Venezuela, improving time to intercept for go fast boats and mother ships. This builds on the intricacies and the model that has been used by the Coast Guard there for years as well. What is this all really about? It's about sending a clear message that the President is going on offense, that the literal war on cartels has just begun. And this is part of where Puerto Rico also comes in. You have additional air and maritime assets in Puerto Rico. This will help with surveillance and interaction coverage over the choke points where traffickers are most vulnerable at sea. The Coast Guard's layered approach, as it was described by the White House, will have large cutters, aircraft and partner forces and all the benefits of the DoD platforms and their increased presence combined. So it's pretty simple. President United States of America is saying we are going all in and we're going to do this with all of the technology and the forces that America has.
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Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. And for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow.
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