← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Deadliest U.S.–Cuba Flashpoint in Decades plus Oz & Vance on MN's Outrageous Medicaid Scam
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Podcast Host/Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast.
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Ben Ferguson
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Main News Anchor/Host
take on the president really handing the Democrats an opportunity to profess their duty
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Vice President J.D. Vance
and dedication to protect American citizens first.
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Dr. Oz
They refuse to do that.
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Main News Anchor/Host
You couldn't have asked for a better gift to show the American the difference between Donald Trump and Republican candidates that want to work with him. And the Democratic Party who says no, no, no, we do not put Americans first. We put illegal immigrants first. We protect waste, fraud and abuse that's happening in Minnesota. We put these criminals ahead of you. That tells you what the Democratic Party will do if they're back in power.
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Ben Ferguson
You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
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Main News Anchor/Host
Good Thursday morning. Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update. And we've got two major STOR. First up, Cuba coast guard opens fire on a US Registered speedboat, killing four. The White House has a response as well as Marco Rubio. And we'll explain what this means for all Americans and for what's going on with Cuba relations. Also fraud. We know it's massive in Minnesota and that's exactly why the vice president announcing with Dr. Oz that a major payment, more than 250 million, is being paused going to Minnesota until they can prove that they're actually not taking that money and using it for fraudulent means. This is a big move for the Trump administration. It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now. We have to talk about the dramatic and deadly international incident that's unfolding right now, one that has shaken nerves across Washington, Miami and Havana. The the Cuban coast guard opening fire on a US Registered speedboat killing four people and injuring others and what Cuba calls an infiltration attempt inside its territorial waters. We're going to walk you through everything we know what Cuba is now claiming as well as America's reaction. We have comments from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and why this matters both geopolitically and and also for our national security. Now Florida registered speedboat flying US Documentation. We assume that means an American flag. It was intercepted by Cuban Border Guard troops. This again, right close to. They claim their border. According the Cuban government official account, when its border guard units approach the vessel to identify it and challenge what Cuba considers a violation of its territorial waters, those aboard open fire first. They're claiming. Cuban authorities say the armed occupants fired on the Cuban patrol, wounding a commander. In response, Cuban forces returned fire. The result, four people on the speedboat were killed and six others were wounded. The injured were reportedly evacuated for medical treatment, and Cuban authorities say they have also detained survivors. Cuba claims the boat carried 10 passengers who were Cuban nationals living in the United States, and that many of them had a history of criminal or violent activity. Officials even alleged the passengers were carrying assault rifles, handguns, as well as bulletproof vests, telescopic sights, and camouflage gear. And we're attempting an armed infiltration for terrorist purposes. Now, again, this is coming from Cuba's government. The authorities also released names of several of those on board, including at least one of the four killed and several of the survivors who are now in custody. But here's a key point that many of you need to know. The US Government has not independently verified any of what the Cuban government is actually saying on their version of the events. Details about the boat, the motives of those on board, and whether Cuba claims of armed terrorism are accurate remain obviously unconfirmed. Which brings us to the US Response. Marco Rubio in Washington weighing in, saying this.
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Marco Rubio
So this morning, we were made aware by Cuban authorities of an incident off the coast of Cuba. We immediately began to look into it. As it stands now, the Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, others were involved. The majority of the information we still possess is what Cuban authorities are providing both the public and the US Government. We have our embassy on the ground in Havana working this as we speak, asking for access to the people that were on those vessels, if they were American citizens or permanent residents, according to the Cuban regime. Boat was registered in Florida. We're tracking that down. We will know shortly, and we will quickly, many more facts about this incident. The majority of the facts, we will verify that independently, and as we gather more information, then we'll be prepared to respond accordingly. I'm not going to speculate. I'm not going to opine on what I don't yet know, but we're going to find out exactly what happened here, and then we'll respond accordingly.
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Main News Anchor/Host
Now, Rubio also stressed that there is no indication that this was a US Government operation and that Washington had no involvement in the speedboat's activity. At the same time, he described events like this as highly unusual, saying that shootouts on the open sea between Cuba forces and US Flag boats simply don't happen every day. And he urged calm while this investigation continues. Now, beyond Rubio's comments, other US Leaders have reacted with concern as well as the vice president. J.D. vance said the White House is monitoring the situation closely, though he did not provide further details. Florida officials, including the state attorney general and members of Congress have also called for a thorough investigation and accountability if Cuba use excessive or unjustified force. Now, this is not just a headline story. It's a major flashpoint in already tense US Cuba relationship and this is the reason why it's such a big deal. Territorial sovereignty versus international law. That is what's at stake. Cuba is claiming this was a violation of its territorial waters and armed attempt to infiltrate or carry out a violent activity on their land. But the US has not corroborated that either. The question now is, did the ship actually engage in any hostile actions towards Cuba or was it something else entirely? The facts are still very unclear and that's exactly why you have Rubio, the White House and J.D. vance all saying we're not going to trust Cuba's word for this. We're going to do our own investigation because we cannot trust them. There's also the historical context here. There is a long and fraught history between the US And Cuba when it comes to maritime confrontations. As you know, one of the most famous was back in 1996 when brothers to the rescue shoot down the Cuban forces, shot down two civilian planes near the island, killing four Americans. That episode deeply scarred the U.S. cuba relations and well reignited calls in Congress for a hardline approach to Cuba. This new incident recalls that legacy. And given the current hardline US Posture towards Havana under the Trump administration, it's pretty clear the stakes are probably even higher now. Relations have been increasingly strained. The US has tightened sanctions, cut off all of the Venezuelan oil shipments that Cuba depends on, and publicly labeled the island an extraordinary threat. Havana, for its part, has reacted with defiance and rhetoric about sovereignty. The latest episode could set off a real diplomatic crisis if it's not handled carefully. There's also the safety of U.S. citizens. At the heart of this is the question of human lives. You have four people who are dead, six others that are wounded and their families deserve answers because if it turns out that these were U.S. residents or citizens, then the Trump administration will have to make some very tough decisions about how to respond to Cuba's actions, especially if their actions were aggressive in nature from the beginning. So right now, here's what we know. The truth is unknown and the Cuban narrative is just one version, and more than likely a version the US Government cannot trust at all. That's why the Trump administration is making it clear that the US Government investigations are ramping up to find the actual factual record. And in the coming days, we're likely to see US Verification of identities of those aboard the speedboat, statements also from Florida law enforcement and possibly federal intelligence, as well as and international reaction from the Caribbean community and NATO partners, as well as congressional pressure on the administration for accountability and an American response. The story is far from over. One thing's for sure, Donald Trump has already pledged that he'll get to the bottom of exactly what happened next. Story number two In a major federal action today, the Trump administration has gone after the Biden era Medicaid funding system that has become ground zero for what Donald Trump has called a war on fraud. Vice President J.D. vance, tasked by President Trump with leading a nationwide crackdown on government fraud and Dr. Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced that the federal government is temporarily halting about 259.5 million in Medicaid reimbursements to the state of Minnesota. Now, that's more than a quarter of a billion dollars that the federal government had planned to send to Minnesota for Medicaid spending, and it's being paused until the state can prove that it's properly policing the program and preventing taxpayer dollars from being wasted or flat out stolen. At a joint press conference, Vance said the move is aimed squarely at ensuring Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people's tax money. Here's more of what Dr. Oz and the vice president had to say in a major move to stop corruption in Minnesota.
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Dr. Oz
Numbers There is a fraud scheme in Minnesota where criminals, soon to be criminals, pay moms a thousand dollars roughly in order to enroll their children as being autistic. Falsely dishonestly claiming their children are autistic, they then bill Medicaid. This has already happened. They millions of dollars for services that were never rendered, never delivered by a qualified staff member. These schemes disproportionately involve immigrant communities. They're insulated, they're able to organize efforts, and sometimes they don't understand what's going on. And it ultimately diverts resources away from kids who truly have autism, because if every kid in the neighborhood has autism, then nobody has autism in terms of how you can manage them. There was one behavioral. And by the way, these kids, they carry that diagnosis of autism the rest of their lives. Their mom made a bad decision. The kid pays the price for the rest of their life. There's one Behavioral Health Organization, Mr. Vice President, in Minnesota, they received $11.5 million in Medicaid payments. But the top biller. The top biller submitted 450 days where they claim they were working more than 24 hours a day. I mean, even in the White House, that's tough. It's hard to work more than 24 hours a day. How it didn't get picked up is shocking to us at cms, There are other red flags in Minnesota, including hundreds of beneficiaries receiving treatment linked to one location, which was impossible physically to be true. We had eight beneficiaries in one of these substance use disorder centers, eight who were already dead, but the center was still billing us. Not only did they let the person pass, they kept billing for it. That's the level of average we're talking about. So CMS is done paying and chasing. We don't think jail sentences are the right way out. These criminals flee the country. Many are foreign nationals. Instead, we're launching the largest action against fraud that we've ever taken. The money's not going to ever leave the building again. We're going to start dreaming this swamp of the crooks that have inhabited it and are defrauding us. There are three bold actions. The first, and for many of you may be the most important, is we're going to, for the first time, take a massive action to defer funds to a state. Let's start with this Medicaid program in Minnesota, which serves pregnant women. Medicaid takes care of our children. 53% of kids are born in the poverty. They're supported through Medicaid. Disadvantaged seniors, individual disabilities. It is unponderable that you would take advantage of these precious programs, yet they are putting it at risk, all of it, by stealing the money. So it's our duty to preserve Medicaid. And what we're going to do is identify the scammers, which we have done in Minnesota. We identified that they've hijacked, in particular, a certain part of the Minnesota Medicaid system. Said differently, and I'll just put the numbers out there, it's going to be $259 million of deferred payments for Medicaid to Minnesota, which we're announcing as I speak to Governor Walsh and his team that's based on an audit of the last three months of 2025, restated, a quarter billion dollars is not going to be paid this month to Minnesota for its Medicaid claims. Now that's a million, rather a quarter billion dollars of money. That's your money. It's your taxpayer money. And these home and community based services, which again are services that are typically things you would do for your family, but for whatever reason your family's not there to provide them, are very hard to audit. And for that reason, there's been a lot of slippage. The guardrails have not been well maintained. And if you're not serious about the integrity of the program, you'll see these problems happening in your state, which is why Minnesota is not alone. Although they're the first to receive this action, these high growth areas of fraud are difficult to police. So we require the states to take these issues seriously. This quarter billion dollar deferment is hopefully going to get on the radar screen for the state of Minnesota and make sure they are responsive to our requests. We did what any honest and patient focused agency would do. We have notified the state and that we will give them the money, but we're going to hold it and only release it after they propose an act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem. If Minnesota fails to clean up the systems, the state will rack up a billion dollars of deferred payments this year. Governor Walsh has 60 days. 60 days, sir, to respond to our letter. And if providers and beneficiaries are worried about getting their money and services, please call your governor. These are services the governor has already paid for. We are just not reimbursing the state to make it clear there is a rainy day fund in Minnesota. So we are very confident that people will not be hurt in Minnesota. This is not a problem with the people of Minnesota. It's a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously.
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Main News Anchor/Host
You listen to Dr. Oz there and he lays it out perfectly exactly who they're at war with. It is not the people in Minnesota, it is those in charge of Minnesota. They're allowing this to happen. Vice President JD Vance putting it this way.
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Vice President J.D. Vance
We're announcing today that we have decided to temporary, temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligation seats seriously to be good stewards of the American people's tax money. Now, what is this going to mean? What this means is that first of all the providers on the ground in Minnesota have actually already been paid. The state has paid those providers the money. What we're doing is we are stopping the federal payments that will go to the state government until the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the fraud that's being perpetrated against the American taxpayers.
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Main News Anchor/Host
Now the Vice President and Dr. Oz officially halting a quarter of a billion dollars in federal Medicaid payments to Tim Waltz in the state of Minnesota is massive. They're cutting off the cash. This is massive because of the fraud. And they know the money is going to fraud. So they're saying the governor, open your books, show us, do an investigation. Make sure we understand exactly what's happening here. And if you can show that the money's not going to massive fraud, fine, you can have the money. This is exactly, by the way, what so many Americans were hoping would happen when Trump was elected. Accountability. And Donald Trump is now doing it right now in real time To Minnesota.
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Ben Ferguson
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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Podcast Host/Announcer
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- [21:13]
Ben Ferguson
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Dr. Oz
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Podcast Host/Announcer
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Main News Anchor/Host
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