← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Historic Drone Rescue of American Soldiers Shot Down in Iran, plus Minnesota Dems Hired Private Investigators to Target Fraud Whistleblowers
00:32:03
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- [00:00]
Ben Ferguson
This is an iHeart podcast.
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Ben Ferguson's Child
Guaranteed Human
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Commercial Announcer
this July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration at america250.org,
- [00:35]
Ben Ferguson's Child
mom, can I have Lingokids?
- [00:37]
Ben Ferguson
Zach Lingokids, please? When did we become the Lingokids house?
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Ben Ferguson's Child
No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs. This week it's Lingokids.
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Ben Ferguson
Why Lingokids?
- [00:46]
Ben Ferguson's Child
Because it's the best thing ever. We can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes.
- [00:51]
Commercial Announcer
With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs
- [00:53]
Ben Ferguson
and shows, LingoKids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids.
- [00:58]
Ben Ferguson's Child
So no dinosaurs and dinosaurs.
- [01:01]
Senator Ted Cruz
Lingo kids.
- [01:02]
Ben Ferguson
Everything kids love. Download it for free.
- [01:06]
TNA Wrestling Announcer
Professional wrestling fans, the action continues every week. Watch TNA Thursday Night Impact every week on amc.
- [01:15]
Ben Ferguson
It is like electricity flowing through your veins.
- [01:18]
TNA Wrestling Announcer
Don't miss the adrenaline, the drama and the total non stop action.
- [01:23]
Ben Ferguson
No one can ever be as good as this right here.
- [01:26]
TNA Wrestling Announcer
Don't miss the action of TNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AMC. For showtimes and more information, visit tna
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Ben Ferguson
wrestling.com Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone Paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront
- [01:57]
Ben Ferguson's Child
payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month. Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com welcome.
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Ben Ferguson
It is verdict with center Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. It's also the Ben Ferguson podcast. We're doing a dual podcast because I'm on family vacation and we're still working at one in the morning to give you all the news out there. They're also giving me a hard time before the show started saying that center, you look much better than I look tonight. That's what they keep telling me. I just want to know if we have an official statement from you on that real quick before we get going here. Is this true? You are saying that you look better at 1am Than I do?
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, that's not me. Saying that that's the entire production team. And to be fair, we do primarily a radio and audio show. So, so in radio and audio, we both look gorgeous. Or to quote Saturday Night Live, Ben, you look marvelous. For me, I rather look good than feel good. And you look marvelous.
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Ben Ferguson
I tell you, you know what, at least you know, once in the career of verdict that you definitely, they say it may just be the shot looks better, the studio looks. And I'm, I'm in a hotel room with an AC behind me. This is what you get. But we do have a packed show for you and we have a lot to talk about politically, including just an incredible story that's coming from a company in Texas that we're going to get into. And that that is, it's just amazing.
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Senator Ted Cruz
So welcome to the 21st century. We, we had this week, we had, tragically, two, two US Servicemen in an Apache helicopter shot down by Iran. They were shot down. They fell in the water. And we had for the very first time in the history of the United States and the history of the world in warfare, we had them rescued not by a ship, not by sailors, but by a drone ship, a drone ship with no pilots, no sailors that came and rescued them. That ship is manufactured by Saronic, a company based in Austin, Texas. We're going to break that down for you. We're also going to talk about the stunning news that just broke that the governor of Minnesota, Tim Waltz, that towering mountain of masculinity rivaled only by James Talarico, it turns out he hired private investigators to go after government employees who whistleblow on. Is that the right past tense? Whistle blew, Whistle blow.
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Ben Ferguson
No, they didn't like it.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Whistleblowers who blew the whistle. There we go. Okay. That much is better on the fraud in the state and being a paragon of integrity, being like most Democrats, concerned about not robbing the taxpayers, instead of going after the fraud, he went after and persecuted the government employees who were pointing out the fraud. We're going to give you the facts on that also.
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it's a really, really interesting story there. Let me also talk to you about a really neat organization and one that I want you to know about and hopefully you get involved in and is Americans United for Life. There was obviously a massive victory that happened in this country with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but what it really meant was the issue of abortion would go back to the States. And that is where the real fight has actually begun. Now, over the past 50 years, Americans United for Life has filed more than 200 legal briefs and also helped create at least 400 pro life bills in over 40 states. By writing model legislation, they are consulting with state legislators and defending their own laws and other pro life statues in court. Now, aul's dual front approach of writing and defending legislation has proved an effective one that could become even more impactful as pro life state legislators move to enact protections for preborn babies and their mothers. Now that the legality of abortion has returned to the states, that is where you come in. You and I have the opportunity to overturn pro abortion laws and advance pro life legislation that attacks the most vulnerable in our society. From the womb to the tomb, together we can shape the future of our nation through life affirming legislation in every state. Now, a gift of just $25 helps hold abortion providers accountable and helps protect women and unborn children across this country. And now, through a match, your gift is doubled. Donate securely@aul.org verdict that's a U L.org verdict sponsored by Americans United for Life. All right, so center, let's get into this, this first story and, and, and you said it best. Welcome to just technology. In 2026, for the first time in history, you had a drone boat that saved the lives of, of two Americans that were shot down by Iran. There's no pilot, like, no one on board. This is a boat just like a drone in the sky that is controlled by, you know, a joystick. And it was able to go extremely fast, get these guys and get out before the enemy could touch them. This is unbelievable. And the, the best part is this technology is coming out of the United States of America. In fact, it's coming out of Texas.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, it's not even directly controlled by a joystick. It's actually AI that controls this. And this is a company based in Austin. I've been to their factory. I've seen their factory. It's amazing. They're building these ships and the ships are. And they have all sorts of different sizes. They have bigger ones, they have smaller ones. They're going to have drone ships that are over 150ft long that are big ships, but they also have smaller military vessels and then they have really small drones. And these drones can do all sorts of things. They're all boats, but they can do surveillance, they can do espionage, they can do military combat. They could be armed with weaponry. They can transport supplies. If you're trying to say resupply soldiers that are at a forward combat position, they can resupply them. So this is all coming out of Austin, Texas. It's amazing technology and what precipitated it is that earlier today an armed Iranian shahed drone struck a U.S. apache helicopter and it went down in the sea off the coast of oman. On Monday, U.S. central Command reported that the helicopter was on patrol when it was struck by the drone. But the two pilots who were aboard the Apache helicopter were safely rescued within about two hours of the strike.
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Ben Ferguson
Wow.
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Senator Ted Cruz
And it's worth here we're gonna play the Fox News report that covered it. And for those of you who are watching this on YouTube, you can watch the video of this drone ship that was responsible for rescuing our soldiers in combat. Give a listen, give a watch.
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Fox News Reporter
Iran's under attack. Trump ordered CENTCOM to launch self defense strikes after an enemy drone took down an Apache helicopter patrolling the strait. The two pilots were rescued out of the water by an unmanned sea drone operated by Task Force 59 in Bahrain. The drone's Texas made. It's 24ft long and can travel 1,000 miles and hit speeds of 35 knots. And it's the first sea drone rescue in combat history. Trump was on the phone with the press when he gave the order. POTA said this is a retaliation for the helicopter hit and it's important that our response is strong and powerful. CENTCOM called our response proportional, but sources say we're taking out Iranian air defenses, radar systems all along the strait and we're not finished technically. I know it doesn't seem like it, but we're still in a ceasefire and the President continues to say we're close to a deal.
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Senator Ted Cruz
We're in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal that will not allow in any way, shape or form nuclear weapons, etc. And the Strait will open up right away. It'll open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days.
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Fox News Reporter
Trump's made the terms clear. The uranium must be turned over and destroyed. Enrichment must stop for two decades at least. All nuclear sites must be completely dismantled and the United States is able to conduct snap inspections whenever the heck we want.
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Ben Ferguson
You, you listen to that report and it goes back to the bigger issue in the war and what we're trying to accomplish there. Senator. But you go back to just the beginning of it. 35 knots, that's about 40 miles an hour in rough seas. That's incredibly fast, especially if you're 25 foot boat as they described here. This technology allows these boats to go faster than what most like if you're a human Riding in a boat and heavy seas and rough seas, going at that speed is going to be very risky to you. This takes that away as well, which again, talks about how the speed they were able to actually get to these two pilots that have been shot down.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. And look, it's a manifestation of, of the new age of warfare where, where these, these drone ships are not massively expensive. You look at, at aircraft carriers and expensive ships that can cost hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars that are powered with nuclear reactors. That's been how we've approached naval power for 70 years.
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
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Senator Ted Cruz
And now we have a scenario where these drones are not terribly expensive to be built. They can be built at scale and you can deploy one of them or 10 of them or a thousand of them or 10,000 of them. And the ability. And with AI, you can control. Look, 10,000. In a normal world, you'd have to have 10,000 captains piloting them. You can have AI and you can assign, for example, 10,000 drone ships patrol this area, and AI can direct them that they're searching, and they'll engage in espionage, engage in reporting on what they find. You can train them to protect, protect a particular ship, protect something that's going on, protect a port or a harbor. They can do that. You can assign them, go intercept this vessel. And if they're armed with ordnance, they can fire torpedoes, they can have explosives. And because the ships themselves are not super expensive, it also means that if you lose one ship or 10 or 100, it's not the end of the world. It's not.
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Ben Ferguson
You can take risks.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. And it's. Look, we're seeing the same thing with aerial drones, where we're headed very quickly to a world. And some of this, we're actually getting some foreshadowing of this with the war in Ukraine, where the battle between Ukraine and Russia, much of it is involving drones and the ability to have thousands or tens of thousands of drones. And instead of one big, really expensive thing, lots and lots of smaller, less expensive things which can overwhelm the previous technology. And I gotta say that having been to the factory, look, these guys are a startup in Austin, Texas. I know the CEO, I know the lead funders, and they're young techies who are entrepreneurial, who have a vision and they desire to scale this. It is very cool. This is the first drone rescue at sea, in combat in the history of the world. And you know what? This is not going to be the last. We're going to see a lot more, by the way, There are civilian applications of this that have nothing to do with combat. Look, look, the Coast Guard.
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Ben Ferguson
I literally was talking to the Coast Guard as we were on family vacation and one of the guys I saw and you know, just saying thanks. But one of the things that was cool they were talking about is technology. They said a lot of times the helicopters, when there's the worst weather and boats get in trouble, they can be commercial vessels, they can be recreational, they can be commercial fishing boats. When things get really bad with weather, unfortunately, sometimes the weather's too bad to go out right at that moment in a helicopter because it's so bad. But if you have drones that you can risk no life going out there, you. It changes the entire way that it works. And there's some people that are afraid like, hey, well that's going to take jobs and away human beings. But if you can't be there in that moment and you can send out a drone that could quite possibly save your life, that a normal. If it's, if it's, if it's, you know, man controlled, you just can't take that risk and you come back, it's too rough. You can throw drones out there and save countless lives in that scenario. That this is technology that is life changing.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. And I will say, Ben, have you ever met Coast Guard swimmers?
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Ben Ferguson
Yes. They're unbelievable. Yeah, Yeah.
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Senator Ted Cruz
I mean they're kind of, they're the equivalent of Navy SEALs or Delta Force Green Berets. They're the most badass coast.
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Fox News Reporter
Yes.
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
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Senator Ted Cruz
And I met, met a number of them particularly in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. So Hurricane Harvey was a. 2017 was at the time the second most costly natural disaster in American history. Did massive damage all the way down from Corpus Christi, all the way up hundreds of miles up the Texas coast to the border right with Louisiana. And it just was devastating damage. And the coasties, these swimmers would go out and these guys, you meet them and they're like 20 year old guys and sort of imagine like GI Joe combined with a California surfer dude.
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Ben Ferguson
Yep.
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Senator Ted Cruz
So they're guys, they have these, you know, enormous chest because they're like massive swimmers. And so imagine Michael Phelps with these like long ass arms and like massive swimmers but with sort of bleach blonde hair and they've got like shades hanging from their head and they're like, yeah, bro. Like it's, it's, it's. They're not like you're describing the guys
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Ben Ferguson
that you also met that save people's lives. And the flooding that happened in Texas not that long.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Yes, look, last summer, fourth of July. But these swimmers, they will get on helicopters in the middle of a hurricane where you've got waves in the Ocean that are 10, 20ft high that are terrifying and these guys will jump out of a helicopter into the crashing waves and go rescue someone. And it is, there's a fearlessness to not only jumping in crashing 20 foot waves which most of us, if we're in those waves are going to die, but they'll jump in when there are people in harm's way and they'll go grab them. To be clear, if you or I were in 20 foot waves and drowning, someone came, we'd grab on them and pull on. And you're terrified. Like they know they're going to go rescue someone who's freaking out, who's going to, not intentionally, but it's going to effectively try to pull them under. And they're just, they're really cool. But you're right, there are times where the weather is so bad you can't send the chopper in and the ability to send a drone in to have something to rescue say, you know, someone that's out, you know, just, just on a boat and gets in trouble, that is game changing. And that's coming out of Texas and all of the new tech that is based in Texas.
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it really is an incredible story. Every once in a while you get a feel good story like this and we should celebrate it. It also is a reminder, I think, of why it's so important to make sure that we're adequately funding technology. You, you've talked about this and I've talked about this a lot. Senator, this is a perfect example of us winning the war on AI to make sure that our adversary, China is not leading the way on AI. If this is AI controlled, this goes, and this is one of those examples, I do think we should highlight it for a second. This is why America has to win the air race. You have been and you've been warning on this issue. And I think we should just take a moment, remind people if we aren't in charge of this, our adversary would be. And that's a scary world as well.
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Senator Ted Cruz
And by the way, if China masters this technology before we do, that is a generations skipping advance in technology. And if they have the ability to send 1,000 or 10,000 or 100,000 AI controlled drones at one of our aircraft carriers, there's a real risk that the weapons we have to take out, say surface to surface missiles or bombs we have, our aircraft carriers are Incredibly expensive and powerful tools. Yeah, but they were made to take out a limited number of ordinance and not just massive drone assaults. We're shifting to a new technology where look, if we're in a conflict with a smaller rival that's less dangerous. Although you know what, in times even terrorists and smaller rivals, we're going to see more and more military attacks using drones. We're going to see things, we're going to see assassinations, we're going to see people killed using drones. That, that is unfortunately where the future is, is heading. One of the things the US Military is investing in heavily with, with American technology is counter drone technology. How do you take out, how do you take out drones that are, that are attacking you? And, and some of what, what is working is lower cost ordinance that, that you can't fire a Patriot missile at every drone coming in. It just the cost differential, they can swarm you. So I was at another Texas company where they're building basically the equivalent of a really big badass machine gun that is powered, that is firing like 50 cal rounds, but is firing them with AI where they could target hundreds or thousands of drones. But the cost of a round is not very expensive. So instead of spending an entire Patriot missile or something that you have limited supply of, we have essentially unlimited supply of rounds. And so but using those robot powered with AI to take out attacks in scale, more and more of that is coming. And there are different ways to take out drones. You've got ordinance, you've got got laser and microwave and we're exploring all sorts of different technologies to take out a hostile drone. But if we lose this race, we would be at a serious military disadvantage to China. We can't let that happen and I don't think we're going to.
- [21:17]
Ben Ferguson
I want to talk to you for a moment about the unpredictable parts of life we all hope we live to see a hundred. But the reality is things do happen. In my lifetime, I've had two near death experiences. Once when a drunk driver hit us and he died and we lived. And another when I was involved in a shooting. Now I can tell you those moments change the way I look at life insurance. And life insurance is incredibly important. But you also don't want to overpay. That is why I want you to know about Ethos. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy. 100 online and you can get a quote in seconds. You can apply in minutes and get same day coverage. Now here's the part you're going to love the most. There's no medical exam. You just answer a few simple health questions and you can get up to 3 million in coverage. Some policies are even as low as $30 a month, and you'll get the lowest rate from their network of trusted carriers. Ethos has a 4.8 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot with over 4000 reviews. So take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free quote@ethos.com verdict that's e t h o s.com verdictethos.com verdict Application times may vary.
- [22:36]
Commercial Announcer
Rates may vary this July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party. Hosted by America 250, America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration@america250.org
- [23:07]
Ben Ferguson's Child
mom,
- [23:08]
Ben Ferguson
can I have Lingokids? That's Lingokids, please. When did we become the Lingokids House?
- [23:13]
Ben Ferguson's Child
No idea. Last week it was Dinosaurs. This week it's Lingokids.
- [23:17]
Ben Ferguson
Why Lingokids?
- [23:18]
Ben Ferguson's Child
Because it's the best thing ever. You can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes.
- [23:23]
Commercial Announcer
With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs
- [23:26]
Ben Ferguson
and shows, LingoKids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids.
- [23:31]
Ben Ferguson's Child
So no dinosaurs and dinosaurs.
- [23:33]
Senator Ted Cruz
Lingokids.
- [23:35]
Ben Ferguson
Everything kids love. Download it for free.
- [23:38]
TNA Wrestling Announcer
Professional wrestling fans, the action continues every week. Watch CNA Thursday Night Impact every week on amc.
- [23:48]
Ben Ferguson
It is like electricity blowing through your veins.
- [23:51]
TNA Wrestling Announcer
Don't miss the adrenaline, the drama and the total non stop action.
- [23:55]
Ben Ferguson
No one can ever be as good as this right here.
- [23:59]
TNA Wrestling Announcer
Don't miss the action of TNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AMC. For showtimes and more information, visit tna
- [24:06]
Ben Ferguson
wrestling.com all right, I want to move on to this other incredible story center coming out of Minnesota and in life, especially in government work, you're told that if you're a whistleblower, that you have protections and that if you're a whistleblower, you should not be afraid for your job or that someone's going to come after you. Certainly the government that you work for. Well, apparently that's not the case in Minnesota. And if you want to know how the Somali fraud got so bad, it might actually be because the governor was coming after the whistleblower, not those that were committing the crimes in Minnesota with his new shocking report.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, that is inevitably number one. The law federal law and typically state law that protects whistleblowers, that gives you legal protection because you want whistleblowers to call attention to fraud. But number two, if a government official goes after the whistleblowers, attacks the whistleblowers, refuses to follow the law on whistleblowers, that is powerful indication that of a guilty mind that you're covering something up. It's sort of like if someone is murdered in Central park and you catch a person burning their clothes from that night and destroying the murder weapon, that is powerful, powerful evidence that they're the murderer. That it is typically the guilty who destroys evidence, who tries to cover it up. That if you're not guilty, you have far less motivation, far less likelihood to try to silence whistleblowers to try to destroy evidence. So here's the story that broke in the Daily Caller. The headline is Tim Waltz's Staff Hired Private Investigators to silence Fraud Whistleblowers Committee Report Fines Senior Minnesota state officials allegedly hired outside investigators to silence whistleblowers in an attempt to cover up widespread state social services fraud, a House committee report released Monday found. The 200 page staff report by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that Democrat Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz's state's administration intimidated and retaliated against state employees who raised concerns about fraud, soliciting private investigators to reveal employees personal details. Wow. Titled the Cost of Doing Nothing How Tim Waltz and Keith Ellison Fueled Minnesota's Fraud Explosion exposed that senior state officials as high as allegedly Governor Waltz were aware of widespread fraud for years and neglected to respond to reports. A Minnesota Department of Education official who contacted the FBI told federal investigators she was pressured, quote, at every turn by her superiors to stop raising fraud concerns and was quote, hand slapped when she continued to investigate, according to the report. The official also reported that she was warned by state administrators to, quote, stop digging into things as it would appear that she was, quote, targeting certain groups. This is DEI and fraud all coming together along with corruption to elect Democrats, the article continues. Dozens of other whistleblowers reported, dozens that they were told to stay silent about fraud concerns by the Minnesota Department of Human Services because they would be labeled, quote, racist or Islamophobic. DHS also told state employees that raising fraud concerns would harm the state, the report said. Whistleblowers reported the DHS conducted arbitrary investigations to photograph their cars and houses, monitor their phones and computers, and asked employees where their kids attended school. Now it's going to get worse. Then temporary Commissioner Shereen Gandhi. By the way, I'm going To give you some foreshadowing that Ms. Gandhi did not behave like Gandhi. Instead, she confirmed in a testimony copied in the report that the State Department used outside entities to conduct these investigations of employees, but could not confirm whether independent law firms were used. Gandhi also confirmed in her testimony that DHS management would regularly meet and, quote, check in on employees who had reported fraud concerns. Gandhi continued to conduct these check ins on DHS whistleblower Fay Bernstein, quote, a year or two after her investigatory leave. So they hunted them down and they stayed harassing them. Bernstein alleged that Gandhi, quote, shamed her in a meeting after she raised concerns about fraud and quote, excluded her from further meetings on the topic. Whistleblowers also alleged that former State Commissioner Jody Harpstead held a division wide meeting and told attendees that, quote, employees would be punished if they reported concerns about fraud and DHS programs. According to the report, DHS employee Emmanuel Noalla told colleagues that he, quote, did intelligence research within the army and appears to have threatened to provide IP addresses to former colleagues in order to find the locations of whistleblowers email addresses. An email obtained through a public data request showed. Now it's about to get even worse. The report also alleged that DHS de anonymized an internal fraud hotline for employees in an attempt to intimidate fraud reporters. After whistleblowers later created an anonymous external email to report fraud, DHS blocked the email address. Whistleblowers reported that their fraud hotline tips were sent to human resources and used against them. The hotline was originally anonymous, but was de anonymized under Gandhi's tenure as deputy commissioner of HR. Governor Waltz appointed Gandhi as commissioner of DHS in February 2026, but removed her in May before her confirmation hearing amid scrutiny of her response to fraud allegations. This is anyone who claims, gosh, the elected officials of Minnesota, they were victims. They didn't know they wanted to go after the fraud. Which by the way, both Waltz and Ellison keep saying, oh, we wanted to go after the fraud, we wanted to prosecute it. This demonstrates, I think powerfully they are lying. Not only did they not want to go after the fraud, they were doing everything they could to silence the whistleblowers and prevent anyone from knowing about the fraud.
- [31:28]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, and this goes back to the other question of accountability. If everything that we just mentioned turns out to be true, there's obviously now an open investigation into this. If you do these things, are you breaking the law? And if it goes all the way to the governor, is he breaking the law? And the People below him, are they breaking the law? And is there any accountability for this, or is this just. Well, Waltz isn't running for reelection, so it doesn't really matter anymore. And we'll just move on and. Yeah, we may continue to do things like this in the future. Future. Without accountability.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Listen, the Department of Justice has created an entire new division focused at going after fraud. And I hope everyone who made these decisions faces accountability if they committed criminal violations, that they are prosecuted. I am hopeful. I can tell you. I'm urging the Department of Justice, hold them accountable. The way our. Our constitutional system works, it's not the legislature. Look, I'm. I'm in the Senate. I can't prosecute anybody. I don't have executive authority authority. I have legislative authority. I can write legislation, which I have, but I can't. The power to bring an indictment, the power to go before a grand jury to get an indictment, to prosecute. That is exclusively within the executive branch, within, principally, the U.S. department of justice at the federal level. And so I can tell you this. I am urging the attorney general and DOJ prosecute every single person who committed criminal acts, who covered up this fraud, who benefited from it, who knew what they were doing. And this is a real smoking gun.
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Ben Ferguson
And if the ag. I go back to Ellison there, we know his name well, if he's involved in this and is using and weaponizing the government to go after those that were not committing the fraud, those that were trying to whistleblow on the fraud, and they are harassed, is there any lane for the people that were being harassed to somehow have, like, you know, restitution for what they went through? If you're being harassed for two years after you put in a tip, that's got to put a lot of stress on your life. I'm assuming it puts stress on your career. I'm assuming it could have affected a lot of people getting promotions that they deserved.
- [33:39]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, look, and I would assume we're going to see civil litigation of people filing lawsuits and seeking compensation for this. And that litigation could well be successful. In terms of criminal prosecution, this would not surprise me. I don't know, sitting here, if Minnesota law makes doing this a criminal violation in Minnesota now, of course, the federal government can't prosecute violations of Minnesota law. It would take a Minnesota district attorney to bring that case. And I gotta admit, I'm very skeptical that there are any prosecutors in Minnesota willing to hold the corrupt Democrats in charge of that state accountable. If they're not, then there's not really a mechanism to enforce Minnesota law, which means you would be left with federal law. And given that these are federal funds that were effectively being stolen and funneled to Somalia, funneled to Somalian fraudsters being sent, among other places, to Al Shabaab. And we had already before on this podcast that the single largest funder of Al Shabaab, which is the radical Islamic terrorist group that is in Somalia, their number one funder was the taxpayers of Minnesota. And those are also federal taxpayer money. So look, I expect the Department of Justice, they've already prosecuted a number of the fraudsters at the lower level. But I hope they go right up the ladder of accountability and any politicians that are responsible. And to be clear, this happened because it was in politicians political interest for this to happen because they were getting money from campaign donations and they were getting votes from allowing Somalian fraudsters to rob the taxpayers of Minnesota and the American taxpayers. And look, this has happened also in other states. It's happened in Maine under the Democrat governor there. It's happened in California. It's happened in Illinois. It's happened I think all over the country, but predominantly in Democrat states where there are Democrat politicians who are benefiting from turning the other way to fraud. And I think everyone who committed a criminal act should face prosecution and real consequences.
- [36:00]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, this is a story we're going to follow, I can promise you that. So don't forget Senator Cruz and I do this podcast three days a week. You can hit that subscriber auto download button there. Also if you're listening on the Ben Ferguson podcast, you know I do this show every day, even on family vacation. We're doing the show here. And Senator, thanks for, thanks for doing a joint pod with me. Get a little more time with the family. We will see you back here.
- [36:21]
Senator Ted Cruz
And look, Ben, I, I for one just want to congratulate you on doing the podcast while not wearing pants like, like that you're on vacation. And, and you know, it's good to bring that form. We only shoot from the waist up.
- [36:34]
Ben Ferguson
I am so exhausted right now, I don't even have it in me to fight you on this. I'm just gonna go with that narrative that that is how tired the boys have worn me out on this family vacation. I'm like, sure, I'll go with anything right now. Don't forget we do this show like I said Monday, Wednesday it on YouTube as well in the center. I will see you back here on Friday morning on Verdict with Ted Cruz. Download it wherever your podcast and I'll see you tomorrow on the Ben Ferguson Podcast as well.
- [37:00]
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- [37:29]
Ben Ferguson's Child
with my mom and dad living in Orange county, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like 10.
- [37:37]
Ben Ferguson
Oh, as an avid camper, I know all about this. We'll pack up the RV and know this is either going to be the trip of a lifetime or a complete, complete disaster.
- [37:45]
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Ben Ferguson
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- [38:05]
Ben Ferguson
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Ben Ferguson
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Ben Ferguson
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- [38:25]
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The action continues every week.
- [38:27]
Senator Ted Cruz
You got it coming. This is total non stop action.
- [38:31]
TNA Wrestling Announcer
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- [38:39]
Senator Ted Cruz
why should you listen to Armstrong and Getty on Demand? We're not boring. A lot of news is boring and tedious and depressing and makes you angry. You don't want to live your life like that. Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong.
- [38:50]
Ben Ferguson
He's Joe Getty.
- [38:51]
Senator Ted Cruz
We're Armstrong and Getty. We try to bring you the truth and help you figure out this crazy
- [38:55]
Ben Ferguson
modern world about something about a comedic tone.
- [39:00]
Senator Ted Cruz
We have a winner.
- [39:01]
Ben Ferguson
Yes.
- [39:02]
Senator Ted Cruz
Listen to Armstrong. You get it on Demand on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.