Did Biden Lie to America Over Nord Stream Pipeline plus FBI Dir. to be Held in Contempt of Congress & SPLC targets Moms

Summary

The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson Episode: Did Biden Lie to America Over Nord Stream Pipeline plus FBI Dir. to be Held in Contempt of Congress & SPLC targets Moms Release Date: June 7, 2023

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1. Nord Stream Pipeline Explosion: Allegations of Biden Administration Deception

Discussion Overview: The episode opens with Senator Ted Cruz addressing the controversial explosion of the Nord Stream pipeline. He underscores a significant shift in the White House's narrative, suggesting that while the CIA was briefed in June 2022 about a potential Ukrainian plot to sabotage the pipeline, President Joe Biden publicly blamed Russia for the attack.

Key Points:

• CIA Briefing vs. Public Statement: Cruz highlights that the CIA had informed the administration about Ukrainian intentions to disrupt the pipeline months before the explosion. Despite this, Biden attributed the sabotage to Russia, fueling allegations of misinformation.

• Putin's Motives Questioned: Both Cruz and Ben Ferguson question President Biden's rationale for blaming Putin. They argue that it doesn't align with Russia's strategic interests, especially considering the pipeline's significance to Russian revenue and its role in supporting the invasion of Ukraine.

• Impact of Biden's Actions: Ferguson emphasizes that Biden's perceived weakness and capitulation to Russia allowed the completion of Nord Stream 2, a move he argues directly contributed to Russia's ability to invade Ukraine.

Notable Quotes:

• Ted Cruz [02:03]: "Biden blamed Russia for the Nord Stream pipeline attack, despite the CIA being briefed earlier on a Ukrainian plot to do exactly that."

• Ben Ferguson [10:09]: "If Ukraine blew up the pipeline, I say good on Ukraine. It's unquestionably their national security interest."

Insights & Conclusions: The hosts suggest that the Biden administration may have deliberately misled the American public about the pipeline explosion to advance its geopolitical agenda. They posit that such actions have had severe repercussions, including escalating the war in Ukraine.

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2. FBI Director Christopher Wray: Facing Contempt of Congress

Discussion Overview: The conversation shifts to the potential legal troubles of FBI Director Christopher Wray, who is reportedly being considered for contempt of Congress due to his reluctance to comply with subpoenas related to documents implicating President Biden in a bribery scheme.

Key Points:

• Alleged Bribery Scheme: The House Oversight Committee alleges that the Biden family received substantial funds from foreign entities, including a $5 million bribery scheme facilitated by shell companies in Romania and China.

• FBI's Response: Despite possessing these damaging documents, Wray has resisted making them public, citing the need to protect the integrity of law enforcement investigations and the confidentiality of informants.

• Calls for Accountability: Ferguson urges Wray to prioritize the FBI's integrity and the rule of law over institutional protectionism. He emphasizes the necessity for transparency, especially when national security is at stake.

Notable Quotes:

• Senator Ted Cruz [25:10]: "This is a real problem for the FBI... If there's credible evidence that the President of the United States was involved in bribery from a foreign nation, it is difficult to imagine an issue of greater public importance."

• Ben Ferguson [34:42]: "This is utterly bizarre. I do not know any person in public life... whose family members receive millions of dollars from foreign nations and foreign companies."

Insights & Conclusions: The hosts argue that the FBI's current stance undermines public trust and suggests a potential cover-up to protect powerful figures. They call for immediate accountability to preserve the agency's integrity and uphold democratic principles.

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3. Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Labels Parental Rights Groups as Hate Groups

Discussion Overview: The episode concludes with a critical examination of the Southern Poverty Law Center's recent decision to categorize parental rights organizations, including Moms for Liberty, alongside notorious hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

Key Points:

• SPLC's Motivations: Ferguson asserts that the SPLC is driven by partisan agendas, aiming to discredit conservative and Christian organizations by labeling them as hate groups.

• Impact on Moms for Liberty: The designation is particularly damaging for groups like Moms for Liberty, which Ferguson credits with mobilizing conservative voters and influencing political outcomes, such as Governor Glenn Youngkin's election in Virginia.

• Broader Implications: He warns that such labels by the SPLC can incite violence and create unwarranted hostility towards legitimate organizations defending traditional values and parental rights.

Notable Quotes:

• Senator Ted Cruz [37:03]: "They label them as a hate group. Like the Nazis the KKK."

• Ben Ferguson [45:05]: "The SPLC is a radical left wing hate group... They hate you, they hate me, they hate America, they hate conservatives."

Insights & Conclusions: Ferguson criticizes the SPLC for its biased approach, arguing that its actions undermine the reputations of organizations that advocate for family values and parental rights. He calls out the organization for fostering division and hindering constructive dialogue.

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Final Thoughts

In this episode, Senator Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson delve into significant political controversies, questioning the integrity and motivations of high-ranking officials and influential organizations. They present a narrative that suggests systemic deception and partisan bias within governmental and watchdog institutions, urging listeners to remain vigilant and critical of mainstream narratives.

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Notable Exclusions: The episode contains several promotional segments and advertisements for various products and services. These have been intentionally omitted to focus solely on the substantive content of the discussion.

Transcript

[Ted Cruz]

Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. We've got a lot to unpack on the show. That includes who is lying to us, Russia or the President of the United States of America on the Nordstream pipeline and who blew it up. Also, the FBI Director, Ray, could be held in contempt of Congress. What does that mean? And the Southern Poverty Law center coming after good, conservative Christian Americans yet again. Senator, let's first start with this shocking news on the Nord Stream pipeline. Uh, this seems to be a major change in the White House's position, despite we now know, they were briefed back in June of 2022 that apparently, and this is coming from the CIA, that Ukraine was planning and even practicing to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline. Biden, if you fast forward from June to September of 2022, he came out and said this. After that, PIP was exploded, Quote, let me say this, it was a deliberate act of sabotage. And now the Russians are pumping out disinformation and lies. The President went on to say, we'll work with our allies to get to the bottom of exactly what happened, precisely what happened. At my direction, I've already begun to help our allies enhance the protection of this critical infrastructure. And then, Senator, he said this, quote, and at the appropriate moment, when things calm down, we're going to send the divers down to find out exactly what happen. We don't know what yet. We don't know exactly, but just don't listen to what Putin's saying, because he's saying, we know it's not true. Now, I think he was trying to say. Because what he was saying we know is not true. Senator, you hear this now. And if you look at the headline coming from the liberal Washington Post, Biden blamed Russia for the Nord Stream pipeline attack, despite the CIA being briefed earlier on a Ukrainian plot to do exactly that. Blow it up. Your reaction?

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, today's story in the Washington Post is a big deal. And let's step back for a minute on this podcast. We've walked through at great length what caused the war in Ukraine. There are many things that are frustrating about this war, but the most fundamental is that it was utterly preventable. This war did not have to happen. And it was caused by Biden's weakness and his complete capitulation to Russia. And to retread a little bit. But this is important to understand why this story in the Post is significant. Putin has long wanted to invade Ukraine. He wants to reassemble the old Soviet Union. He longs for the days of what he perceives as Soviet greatness. If you're going to reassemble the old Soviet Union, Ukraine is the most important piece of it. And Putin previously invaded Ukraine. In 2014, he invaded Ukraine, invaded Crimea, which is the southern portion of Ukraine. But he stopped because Russia's primary source of revenue is selling oil and natural gas. And the natural gas pipelines run right through the middle of Ukraine. And if he invaded the whole country, he risked damaging or destroying those pipelines. So the next year, in 2015, he launched the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Nord Stream 2 is an undersea pipeline underneath the Baltic Sea that runs directly from Russia to Germany. The entire purpose of it was to circumvent Ukraine so that when the pipeline became complete and active, Russia could invade Ukraine and not worry about the pipelines because it could get its natural gas to market. As you know, in 2019, I authored sanctions legislation that shut the Nord Stream 2 pipeline down. Putin halted construction of the pipeline literally the day Donald Trump signed my sanctions legislation into law. For over a year, from December 2019 to January of 2021, the pipeline was dead and dormant and nothing happened because the sanctions legislation that I authored and Trump signed had stopped it. Joe Biden became president on January 20, 2021. Four days later, January 24, Putin resumed deep sea construction of Nord Stream 2 because Biden had foreshadowed incredible weakness that he was going to give into Russia. That foreshadowing proved accurate. Several months later, Biden formally waived sanctions on Nord Stream 2, gave Putin a multi billion dollar gift. Fast forward to January of 2022. I force a vote on the Senate floor to reimpose sanctions on Nord Stream 2. Every Democrat had voted with me twice to impose those sanctions. On the day of the vote, Biden, for the first time in his presidency, came to Capitol Hill, personally lobbied Democrat senators to vote against my sanctions legislation, to vote in favor of Russia, in favor of Putin. And 44 Democrats flipped their votes. They'd voted with me twice, but at Biden's behest, they put partisan politics above us, national security, above standing with our allies. Now, when that vote was pending, President Zelensky of Ukraine publicly begged the Senate pass Cruz's sanctions legislation. It's the only way to stop Russia from invading Ukraine. The government of Poland put out a formal statement, said, pass Cruz's sanctions legislation. Without it, Russia will invade Ukraine. The Democrats flipped. The legislation failed. And just a few weeks later, Russia invaded Ukraine. Fast forward. We've now had the biggest land war in Europe since World War II waging for over A year, Biden was so weak to Russia, he capitulated to Russia. He allowed Putin to complete Nord Stream 2. And the result was exactly what Zelensky predicted, exactly what Poland predicted, exactly what I predicted. On the Senate floor, Russia invaded Ukraine. Now, several months ago, as we know, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was blown up. That was a big deal. This was a pipeline Biden had allowed Putin to complete. And when it exploded with undersea munitions, the Biden White House had a spin and their foreign policy talkers had a spin. They said Russia blew it up. Now, I got to admit, Ben, I always found that a weird talking point. Sure, look, Putin's number one priority was to build the damn pipeline in order to enable him to invade Ukraine. Why would Putin blow up his own pipeline, which is what gave him the ability to engage in the war to reestablish and recreate the Soviet Union. I always found that crap. So the alternative hypothesis was that the United States blew it up. Seymour Hersh, who is a journalist who has done some good work, but he engages in a lot of fantastical work that has very questionable moorings to reality. He wrote a long article arguing the United States blew it up. I have to admit I read Hersh's article and I was pretty skeptical of it. And I was skeptical of it mostly because the Biden administration lacks the spinal fortitude to do it. It may well be in the United States's interest to blow the thing up, but I didn't believe Joe Biden had the guts to give that order. So the Biden administration was saying Russia did it. That always struck me as baloney. Other people were saying maybe the United States did it. That actually struck me as baloney as well. I just don't believe Biden would be willing to do that. My view from the day it happened is I said, look, who benefits from this? This is always a good analysis on foreign policy to ask who benefits? The obvious player that benefits is Ukraine. And so my view on the day this happened is the obvious player to have done this is Ukraine. If, if, if. And this is a big if, if they have the technological capability to do it. And what I didn't know, and I don't know today, is whether you, Ukraine, had the ability to go nearly 300ft underwater and blow up that pipeline. If they did, it's a no brainer that blowing up Nord Stream 2 benefits Ukraine and hurts Russia. This story in the Washington Post yesterday asserts that the CIA, the Biden CIA, had credible intelligence that Ukraine blew up the pipeline. I don't know if that's true and I'm going to readily say I've had lots and lots of classified briefings on lots and lots of topics. I have had zero classified briefings with information on this question. So I don't have any specialized information on who blew it up. Whether it was Russia, whether it was Ukraine, whether it was the United States or whether it was someone else, I don't know. But I've read this Washington Post article and I know the incentives and who benefits. And it strikes me as utterly plausible that Ukraine did this with a caveat that I don't know if they had the technological sophistication to do it. But if they did it, if they did have that capability, I absolutely believe Ukraine would do it and would benefit from doing it. And if that is true, it means Joe Biden and the Biden White House lied to America over and over again from the moment this happened.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah, I want to ask you about the lies because the article and this is the Washington Post that's implying that basically the President, United States of America willfully lied to the American people may have helped spur this war to get even bigger while we were backing Ukraine. And before we get into the politics of that, I want to tell you real quick about our friends over at Patriot Mobile. If you are sick and tired of giving your money to woke companies, we have seen what woke companies have been doing recently. We've seen what's happened at Target. We've seen what's happened with Dizzy. The list is now Bud Light going on and on. And if you are like me where you're just fed up with it and you want to give your money to companies, actually stand for your values, then you need to switch your cell phone to Patriot Mobile. For years big mobile companies have been dumping millions and millions of dollars into leftist causes and we had to deal with it because there wasn't another option. Now there is. Patriot Mobile is America's only Christian conservative wireless provider offering dependable nationwide coverage on all three major networks. So you get the best possible service in your area without the woke propaganda pushed by leftists working hard to destroy this country. You are going to get amazing coverage. As I mentioned. Plus when you pay your bill, a portion of your bill at no cost to you goes to support free speech and religious freedom, sanctity of life, the second amendment, our military, our veterans or first responder heroes and it's 100% US based customer service team so they make switching easy. Go online to patriot mobile.com verdict patriot mobile.com verdict or call them 878-PATRIOT. That's 878-PATRIOT or patriot mobile.com verdict Senator, you look at the Washington Post and what they reported. They said, based on Pentagon documents allegedly leaked onto Discord, a European nation briefed the Biden administration that the Ukrainian military had planned a covert attack on the undersea network using a small team of divers who reported directly to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces. Yet the President, knowing this, being briefed on this, told the American people Russia did this. He blamed Russia for this. And you talked about the lie here. Why would he lie to us? Is it? And why would he mislead the American people this way while also at the same time sending countless American tax dollars to Ukraine?

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, listen, let me be clear. I don't know for a fact that Biden was lying. What I do know is their story never made sense. Why would Putin blow up the pipeline that was integral to the Russian economies being able to sell natural gas to Europe? Why would Putin blow up the pipeline that enabled the invasion of Ukraine? Why would Putin blow up the pipeline that Joe Biden had wrapped in gift wrap and given him as a giant multi billion dollar present and that capitulation is what caused the invasion of Ukraine? It never made sense to me. So, you know, I guess you could have some sort of sophisticated psyops that he blows it and blows it up and maybe he figures it weakens Europe's commitment to Ukraine. I just, that that seems so attenuated to me. It sounds like baloney.

[Ted Cruz]

The Post also said that this was they had a lot of details about the plan which had not been previously reported until now. They were apparently collected by European Intelligence Service. They were shared with the CIA in June of 2022 and they provided some of the most specific evidence to date linking the governor government of Ukraine to the eventual attack in the Baltic Sea. Now if that's true, Senator, and where is there new questions that must be asked about American aid going to Ukraine? Or does that really have no bearing on that even if in fact they may have done this?

[Ben Ferguson]

Look, I don't think it has bearing at all. And in fact, if Ukraine blew up the pipeline, I say good on Ukraine. It's unquestionably their national security interest. It was the right thing to do. To be honest, if Donald Trump were still president, I think he may well have blown up the pipeline, but I don't think the pipeline would have been built. So I don't think he would have had to blow it up. And I don't think there would have been a war on Ukraine. Why? Because, look, rewind to 2017-2018-2017-2018. Everyone in Washington said, we can't stop this pipeline, we're hopeless, there's nothing we can do. When I wrote the legislation, it was targeted sanctions legislation. There was a specific company, the Allseas company, that, that was building the pipeline. And I wrote the legislation that would bankrupt the company if it continued building the pipeline even for a minute. Now, amazingly enough, we passed this legislation December of 2019. If you remember what else was happening in December 2019, the House of Representatives under Nancy Pelosi was impeaching Donald Trump. And not just impeaching Donald Trump, impeaching him for conduct concerning Ukraine. So I'm trying to pass legislation that is integral to Ukraine in the middle of the House impeaching Trump for Ukraine. And I need bipartisan support to get this passed. I had to get support from the chairman and ranking members, so from the Democrat and Republican in the Senate Armed Services Committee, in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Banking Committee, and from Chuck Schumer to Mitch McConnell. That's eight players in the Senate. And I had to get support from the same eight players in the House in the middle of this political bloodbath over the first Trump impeachment on Ukraine. And so in hindsight, it remains a friggin miracle. We got it done. To be honest, part of the way I got it done is I didn't mention the word Ukraine at all. I'm like, ukraine, never heard of it. Don't know what that is. Sorry. This is all about Russia and Germany has nothing to do with Ukraine. Never heard of it at all. We got it done. Which, which remains astonishing. And by the way, I was on the phone repeatedly because it went off course about six times in the course of this negotiation. I was talking to different members and brought it back on course. Now, once it passed, there was a big lobbying effort within the Trump administration from the pro nord stream two forces that first of all wanted the treasurer. Well, actually before that, they wanted the National Security Council to issue a signing statement that would gut the sanctions. And I ended up picking up the phone and calling Trump's national security advisor, Robert O'Brien, who was a good friend of mine. Robert was in the NSC Christmas party at the time. This is December 2019. And I called over, I said, pull Robert out of the, out of the Christmas party. I need to talk to him right now. And I told Robert, I said, listen, this legislation is incredibly important. There are Forces that are not positive and beneficial, that are trying to get the White House to give a signing statement undercutting these sanctions. I said, if y'all do this, I'm gonna go to the Senate floor and light you up. Please don't make me do this. I don't wanna light you up. You don't want me to light you up. Do the right thing. Let's stand up and stop this. And Robert, to his credit, said, ted, I got this. It's taken care of. And he quashed the lobbying effort to save the pipeline. There was a second effort, and it was an effort to get the Treasury Department to issue guidance concerning the sanctions that would essentially allow the pipeline to keep being built. Again, it's December. I'm on the phone with Treasury. I'm also texting Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State. I'm working with the Department of Energy, I'm working with the National Security Council. There was a big interagency battle. Long and short of it is we won the interagency battle and the people that were trying to get treasury to gut the sanctions lost. I sent a letter to the CEO of All Seas Corporation, which was the company that was building the pipeline. And as you know, Ben, I spent a lot of years practicing law.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

Whether as Solicitor General of Texas or in private practice, I've represented a lot of clients. I wrote a letter that was designed, and I'm going to give a technical legal term to make the CEO sphincter tighten so tight that he could form coal into diamonds. The letter said, you need to be advised that this legislation, which I drafted, create sanctions that are immediate, that are non wavable and that are fatal, that are designed to destroy your company. And if you care about shareholder value, if you care about your executives, if you care about your employees, you will not continue to build this pipeline for even 60 seconds after the President signs this bill. If you do, you will destroy your company. Now, Trump signed the bill, if I remember correctly. At 7pm on a Thursday night, I was flying home to D.C. 7pm On a Thursday night, I landed in D.C. flying home to Houston, rather flump from D.C. 7pmite. On a Thursday night. The company building the pipeline at Putin's direction announces at 6:45pm, 15 minutes before they've immediately halted construction of the pipeline and set sail away. We had stopped this because it was in America's interest to stop this. Biden gave Putin this gift because he didn't have the strength to stand up to Russia and because he wanted to make nice with Germany.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

And given that weakness, look, I think if this pipeline had been built, I believe Trump would have bombed the hell out of it. I think Trump would have blown it up, but he wouldn't have had to blow it up because Trump had stopped it by signing my legislation. It was Biden's weakness that caused the pipeline to be built. And so I think the chances that Biden would have acted to take out the pipeline are virtually nil. But I also think the Biden White House's spin that it was Putin who did it, that never made sense.

[Ted Cruz]

I want to ask you one other question about the White House. Now, they're shockingly at odds now with their liberal friend in town, the Washington Post. Not answering detailed questions from the Post. Now, before I give you that quote, I want to tell everybody real quick about chalk. If you're a guy and you're getting a little bit older and you feel like you've lost some of your strength, some of your vitality, some of your focus, you're feeling like you've got fatigue, weakness, complacency, you're not alone. Testosterone levels have fallen off a cliff historically. In fact, they are at an all time low. Thankfully, the [e-mail] are helping real American men take back their right to proudly maximize your masculinity by boosting your testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days. Now, I've been taking chalk choq.com for now several months and I can tell you the male vitality stack works. You are going to get back what you lost. And that's the best part about it. You're going to get back that focus. You're going to get back that, that feeling of strength. That's why I take chalk. If you feel like you are dealing with just losing that edge, check out chalk choq.com use the promo code BEN and you will get 35% off any Chalk subscription for life. That's promo code BEN. 35% off any Chalk Subscription for life. Choq.com boost your testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days. Ch. Com center despite pledging. And this is the part where it looks like the Washington Post was really going after the Biden administration because they promised that they were going to get to the bottom of this. We I read that statement the very beginning of the, of the podcast today. But despite pledging to get to the bottom of it, the Biden administration is completely silent. And apparently they already knew what was going to happen. They were briefed on it months before. So the president May have just been lying to us when he said he was going to send divers down there and find out what's really going on in the White House. Was asked about this yesterday. Here's what John Kirby had to say about it when he was asked by the press. Is the US Actively investigating who did it?

[Ben Ferguson]

Why not? There are three European countries that have embarked on independent investigations of this, and we're comfortable in their ability to take a hard look at this and to come up with conclusions.

[Ted Cruz]

He was hanging his head, by the way, Senator. And you could barely hear him when he said. The reporter said, is the US Actively investigating? And he had his head down. He just said no. Like, it wasn't like a proud. No. It wasn't like, absolutely not. It was. It was a. I'm going to answer that, and I'm going to answer as quietly as I possibly can. Why do you think they're so quiet about this? Because the last we heard, they were going to investigate this, by golly.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, listen, the Biden White House knows their foreign policy failures are what caused the war in Ukraine. They also know, as we've talked about at length on this podcast, that since the war began, they've been funding both sides of the war. They've been effectively supporting Iran by refusing to enforce oil sanctions on Iran. They've been funneling billions of dollars into the Ayatollah. The Ayatollah has been using those billions of dollars to build drones, and those drones the Russians have been using to kill Ukrainians. So the Biden administration caused the war through its own weakness and now is funding both sides of the war. And so they are. Look, I'll give John Kirby a little bit of credit that he's at least sheepish for the disaster that this administration has caused. But I gotta say, the answer he gave yesterday is utterly incompatible with the administration's answer when the pipeline blew up. When they claimed this was an investigation they were gonna get to the bottom of. Well, while at the same time doing everything they could to suggest it's Putin. Putin. Putin. Look, I think Putin's a very bad guy who does lots of stuff. He just rarely blows up his own stuff. He blows up other people's stuff. Rarely his own stuff. And so, you know, for the. For the White House to be caught in, at a minimum, a massive inconsistency, if not a flat out lie, that's less than ideal. Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

I want to move also to another big story center. You and I covered this on Monday's episode, and if you missed it, Go back and listen to it. It was actually the top of the charts for all day on Monday and Tuesday. We did a deep dive into what's going on with the FBI Director Wray. The House Oversight Committee is now going to move. We're being told on Thursday to hold the FBI Director, Christopher Wray, in contempt of Congress. Now, why are they doing this? Well, this all goes back to the FBI Biden document, a document that they say equates to basically a bribery scheme, money laundering, where the President was able to get his hands on $5 million for favors when he was the vice President. James Comer, who saw that letter, he still doesn't have a copy of it himself, but was able to read it, had this to say on Capitol Hill after he walked out of that meeting.

[James Comer]

The claims made in the document are consistent with what we found and disclosed to you all in Romania. It suggests a pattern of bribery where payments would be made through shell accounts and multiple banks. There's a term for that. It's called money laundering. That, again, is what the majority of the suspicious activity reports also said. So we feel that this accusation is consistent with a pattern that we're seeing, frankly, in other countries, too.

[Ted Cruz]

That's pretty damning. When you start connecting the dots center. You've got these documents now. You've got the suspicious activity reports. You've got the Hunter Biden laptop that is connecting a lot of these dots as well. And you've got now whistleblowers coming forward that are sharing information, intel. This is, this is painting an extremely damning picture to the Biden crime family. And that is also why the White House must be feeling it, because this is unprecedented. The White House has actually come out and claimed that the Biden family business quote, represents no national security threat. And they even use John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications. He denied that the Biden family business schemes represent a national security threat, despite admitting he had not read the House Oversight Committee's report on the matter. Your reaction to that?

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, I think the FBI is facing a crisis of integrity. And in the last podcast, and you're right, if folks have not listened to Monday's podcast, they should, because we did a deep dive into this issue. But the FBI has a report that was written because a whistleblower, an informant, called in and said that they had evidence that Joe Biden as vice president, was directly involved in a bribery scheme. According to the leaks, in excess of $5 billion involving a foreign country. And apparently the foreign country is not China. The House of Representatives investigating this wanted to see that report. Initially, they subpoenaed that report, and the FBI said, go jump in a lake. We won't give it to you. And the House was prepared to hold Christopher Wray in contempt. And Chris Wray blinked and said, okay, we'll give you the report. But James Comer and Jamie Raskin, the chairman and ranking member of the committee investigating, can review it yourselves, but you can't make it public. And so they brought it over. They showed it to him.

[Ted Cruz]

Is that normal, by the way? And why would you do that? Explain that to people listening.

[Ben Ferguson]

So, yes and no. It's not bizarre. There are times when there's classified materials or confidential materials where the administration will say, we'll show this to you privately in a classified briefing or confidential briefing. And what we talked about on Monday in the podcast is, listen, when you're dealing with a confidential informant, there are lots of instances where some informant provides some information, say on a drug cartel or the Mafia. You know, you get some hitman who says, okay, I'm going to tell you about the. The don and what he did that. You don't want the report from the informant made public, because if it is made public, the crime boss will have that guy killed. And so it's not classified. Classified typically involves national security issues. It involves foreign policy issues. In law enforcement, it's not classified, but it is confidential. And law enforcement confidential is a serious, serious status because you want to protect the integrity of a law enforcement investigation, and you want to protect the identity of an informant. What you and I talked about two days ago is the circumstances here are very different. Number one, presumably this informant is advising not on a Mafia boss, not on El Chapo, not on some drug kingpin, but on Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. Then the vice President of the United States, now the President of the United States. One would assume the law enforcement interests are markedly less in that Biden is not going to have the guy whacked. And by the way, Lefty Twitter went insane this week because we said in Monday's podcast, I said, it's reasonable to assume the threat to the informant's life is less, given that he was informing on Joe Biden. And they said, oh, my gosh, you know, Cruz is suggesting that Joe Biden is going to have someone murdered. I said, no, actually, what I said is, presumably, I would hope Joe Biden is not going to have someone murdered. But if that's the case, the FBI's interest in keeping this confidential is much less. Moreover, the public interest A serious, credible allegation of bribery and corruption by the then Vice President, now the President of the United States. That's a big damn deal. And so Comer saw the document and he left the briefing and said, the American public has a right to know what's in this document. We want to make it public. And Chris Wray said, nope, not going to do it. And so what's going to happen tomorrow on Thursday is the House is going to vote to hold Chris Wray in contempt of Congress. Now let me give a couple of consequences of this one. This is a real problem for the FBI. Look, the FBI uses subpoenas every day. They use subpoenas all the time to get information they need in law enforcement investigations. To have the Director held in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena is a big problem for all of the rest of the FBI's ambitious. But secondly, this is, I believe, a crisis in integrity for the FBI. And so I want to make a very direct appeal. I went this this week on Hannity and I made this appeal to Chris Ray, but I'm going to make it on this podcast as well. I know Chris Wray well. Chris, don't do this to the FBI. If Chris Wray stiff arms the House, if he forces the House of Representatives to hold him in contempt, it will do massive damage to the integrity of the FBI. Chris Wray is a company man. He believes he's defending the FBI by circling the wagons and not handing material over. But your job is not to protect the hardcore left wing partisans who burrowed into senior career positions at the FBI. Instead, it's to protect the institution, to protect the rule of law, to protect the Constitution. You are ultimately accountable to the American people. And the American people have a right to know. If there's credible evidence that the President of the United States was involved in bribery from a foreign nation, it is difficult to imagine an issue of greater public importance. And so I'm calling on Chris Ray, do the right thing, hand this document over, don't dig in as a stubborn institutional warrior and end up being held in contempt of Congress. Now you might think, gosh, I'll be fine because the Biden DOJ is so politicized they'll never prosecute the contempt holding. And that's true. The chances that Merrick Garland will prosecute Chris Wray for contempt are 0.0%. But the damage to the integrity of the FBI will be massive if Chris Wray refuses to give in to public accountability. So I'm calling on the Director of the FBI. Donald Trump appointed you. You're not a left wing partisan. Your loyalty is not to the rabid partisans in the senior positions of the FBI. Your loyalty should be to the Constitution and the American people. And that means you should hand this document over for the people to assess it on the merits when it comes.

[Ted Cruz]

To the investigation side of it. And this is obviously a little bit separate from Ray, but the House Oversight Committee's probe found that the Biden family businesses over the course of several years received, and this is the most important part about the whistleblower, and also this new accusation that there was $5 million in a bribery scheme to then Vice President Joe Biden for favors from America over the course of several years. And this is what we at least know of now. The Biden family businesses and their shell companies center received at least 10 million from business schemes in Romania and China. You look at how much money we're finding here and a lot of people believe this other 5 million is going to be coming in from Romania. This is a massive amount of money coming in. And it's, and it's coming in to business associates, designing a web of companies over 20 that we know of, many of which were formed during Joe Biden's vice presidency. And the committee said in total, the Biden family business associates and their companies received over 10 million from foreign national companies. The committee found. And that's just 10 million alone.

[Ben Ferguson]

Outside of everything else, look, this is utterly bizarre. I do not know any person in public life. I don't know any senator. I don't know any house member. I don't know any member of the executive branch whose family members receive millions of dollars from foreign nations and foreign companies. This is not typical. This is not usual. It is utterly bizarre. We know that Hunter Biden received over a million dollars a year from Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company. We know that up to a dozen Biden family members receive millions of dollars from Chinese communist countries. Now there are these allegations about a mysterious third country. We don't know what that is. Now that there's additional allegations about Romania. We don't know the details of that. It is bizarre. Why are your family members getting millions of bucks? Look, foreign nations, Ben, you're a really successful guy. You're a well respected radio host. You've been, you've been a talk radio host with a national following since you were literally 12 years old, which is a little bit bizarre. You're sort of a freakish prodigy.

[Ted Cruz]

I'll take that compliment any day.

[Ben Ferguson]

But okay, let me just ask you right now, on the record, under oath.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

Have the Chinese Communists paid you millions of dollars?

[Ted Cruz]

Never.

[Ben Ferguson]

Have they paid you a dollar?

[Ted Cruz]

No.

[Ben Ferguson]

Like, who the hell does that? Like, who the hell has all of.

[Ted Cruz]

The Chernobyl cards either.

[Ben Ferguson]

And by the way, even worse, like, your Aunt Bertha is getting millions of bucks. I don't know if you have an Aunt Bertha. I don't know if Joe Biden has an Aunt Bertha, but what the hell, they're like, rounding up any Biden family member. You know idiot cousin Lenny who's like, babbling to himself, let's give him $100,000. Like, that reeks of corruption at a level that is weird. And the only way the corporate media can whitewash this is to ignore it because you can't explain. Well, gosh, isn't everybody on the take from Communist China? No. No, they're not. This is a big damn problem, and it's why Chris Wray owes it to the American people to be forthcoming. He doesn't work for the bureaucrats. He doesn't work for Merrick Garland. He works for the American people and he should behave like it.

[Ted Cruz]

This money. And again, it was very clear that James Comer was tipping his hat a little bit that this 5 million bribery scheme was dealt something with probably Romania. The reporting that we have, and this has again before this report, was that from November 2015 to May 2017, there was a company called Bladen Enterprises. They paid Robinson Walker LLC over 3 million. Now this blade and enterprise is reported to be the. The. The. The. This. This company that was used to conduct business in Romania from a shady Romanian oligarch. Robinson Walker is the Biden family business partner who collected, collectively sent the Biden family that 1.3 million to all of those Biden family members. When the Biden crime family really exploded in the number of Bidens. And the Biden family accounts now we know, received approximately 1,038,000 from the Robinson Walker LLC account after this Romanian company deposited money in his accounts. Now, the committee revealed all of this based upon wire transfers. That was part of all these suspicious activity reports. And in total, 16 of the 17 payments from this blatant enterprises to Robinson Walker LLC were made while Joe Biden was the Vice President of the United States of America, knowing that money was coming in when he was the Vice President. Senator, is there going to be any.

[Ben Ferguson]

Accountability for that from the Biden Department of Justice? I don't believe there will, but from the House of Representatives, I hope and believe there will. I Will commend James Comer. I'll commend Jim Jordan. They have been driving this. I have been trying to drive this from the Senate. I have been pushing this from the Senate. The problem is the Senate Democrats have the majority and Senate Democrats. There is not a single Democrat, not one, who gives a damn about whether the President of the United States is directly implicated in a bribery scheme involving foreign nations. Because if they gave a damn, they'd do something about it. Look, I'm in hearings every week from the Judiciary Committee. One of the Democrats could ask a witness about it. None of them ever have. Dick Durbin is chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He could convene a hearing. He hasn't. Bob Menendez is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. I serve on that as well. He could convene a hearing. He hasn't. He could ask a question. He hasn't. None of the Democrats on the committee have asked questions. They don't care. And unfortunately, Senate Democrats are putting partisan politics. Go back to Richard Nixon and Watergate. You want to know why the Nixon White House fell, why Nixon resigned while that scandal came down? It was because Republicans had the testicular fortitude to stand up and say, this is corrupt. And we'll stand up to our own party and say no. Is there even one Democrat? And by the way, they don't need to call him out and say it's corrupt. They could just start by saying, wow, these allegations are serious. We need answers. Like, that's not much. That's asking for a tiny little mustard seed of integrity in the House. If there's been a House Democrat who's done that, I haven't seen it. Every hearing they have, the House Democrats all act like the Praetorian guard or actually more like the sort of legally blond cheerleaders with, with miniskirts and pom poms surrounding Joe Biden in the White House. But none of them that I've seen has a shred of integrity to say, gosh, that would be a problem. If the President of the United States is on the take from a foreign nation, one of them should do so. And by the way, when was the last time CNN asked about this? MSNBC asked about this. ABC asked about this.

[Ted Cruz]

Total silence from them.

[Ben Ferguson]

I will say cbs, to their credit, has covered this a little bit. So it's almost the only outlier from the corporate media who's dared to cover it. But where's the. Where's the 60 minute special? Where's the. You remember Ted Koppel? Where's Nightline? Like corruption in the White House. The corporate media does not care where a Woodward and Bernstein. There are no Woodward and Bernstein's. Apparently reporters don't exist anymore.

[Ted Cruz]

Great point. I want to ask you quickly about something else and that deals. The Southern Poverty Law center has now added parental rights groups to the same list of hate groups that they put them next to now, the Ku Klux Klan. Before we get to this shocking story, I want to tell you about our friends Augusta Precious Metals. Let's talk about your retirement for just a second. You've seen what's been going on. You've seen some of the bank failures. You've seen what's happening with interest rates. You've seen what's been happening on Wall street and the changes in the housing market. If you are stressed out and you've watched some of your retirement disappear, you know there's no time, especially if you're at retirement age, you're in retirement right before it to make up losses. And that is where gold can come in and help you diversify your portfolio. Augusta Precious Metals is a company that I use. Why? Because they will even tell you if gold is not right for you and your portfolio based on what you're trying to accomplish or your age or how much you've saved. Now the other thing about Augusta is they don't just send you a free guide on gold. Now they do that. Absolutely. And it's a ton of information. But they do a one on one web conference with you and actually talk about you. They don't do one size fits all. So if you have a hundred thousand dollars or more that you've saved for retirement, Augusta will actually pay you in pure gold. To learn how a gold IRA can protect you. That's a big deal. A pure gold coin for free. Reach out to Augusta Precious Metals today and get started with gold. Don't let the bank failures get you down or stressed out. Get this free gold and get some peace of mind. 8-7-7, the number four gold IRA. 8, 7:7, the number four gold IRA to learn how to protect your retirement and get your free gold coin. That's Augusta Precious metals dot com. All right. Lastly Senator, the Southern Poverty Law center has added parental rights groups, including a group that I've had on my show Moms for Liberty, several others, to its hate map, which plots conservative groups alongside chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. Your reaction to that?

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, the Southern Poverty Law center unfortunately is a profoundly dishonest, rabidly partisan left wing organization. It has a business model where it gets Very wealthy left wing billionaires to write them big checks in order to try to tar anyone right of center and to call them hate groups. Among other groups they've called the Alliance Defending Freedom which is one of the most important organizations nationally for defending religious liberty, for litigating and winning national Supreme Court victories in front of the Supreme Court. So you literally have this organization of public interest lawyers who are winning religious liberty victories before the Supreme Court that the Southern Poverty Law center calls a hate group. Like the Nazis the kkk. They also call the Family Research center which is a fantastic family research council. It's a fantastic organization that is pro life, is pro traditional values that fights for family values across this country. They label them as a hate group. And in fact the Southern Poverty Law Center's designation of the FRC as a hate group led one radical deranged angry leftist to show up with a gun trying to murder people at the frc. And thankfully there was a security guard who heroically stopped this crazed attempted murderer from carrying out the hate that was inspired by the splc. SPLC is so radical they had a lawyer just recently that worked for them who was arrested for being an antifa terrorist in Atlanta and participating in terrorist riots against law enforcement. Mind you, SPLSC said when their own employee was nominated to be was was indicted as being an antifa terrorist said we stand by our employee. That's who they are. By the way, their director of litigation, a radical left winger, Joe Biden is nominated to be a federal court of appeals judge and the Democrats happily stood with her. Well now the Southern Poverty Law center is going on offense and they've decided to target Moms for liberty. Let me say Moms for Liberty. They are phenomenal women. They are moms who are standing up for their kids. And you want to know the power of Moms for Liberty? Let me tell you someone who would not have the first name in his title and that would be Governor Glenn Youngkin. Without Moms for Liberty. Governor Glenn Youngkin would be Glenn Youngkin. There'd be no governor. We'd have Governor Terry McAuliffe. Because Virginia, which Biden won by nearly 10 points, Virginia flipped red. And why did Virginia flip red? It flipped red because moms stood up and they were ticked off at the left wing takeover of their schools. They were ticked off at the woke ideology. They were ticked off at Loudoun county, at the school district covering up for a sexual predator. A boy wearing a skirt the girls restroom assaulted and raped a girl. They were ticked off at the critical race theory being taught to their kids. And Moms for Liberty energized moms in Virginia and across the country. They also energized moms who were mad at the school shutdowns and said, look, our kids deserve schooling. These radical ideologues are shutting down schools and hurting our children. And these moms engaged. They spoke out. They're powerful. They flipped Virginia from blue to red to the shock of the left wing establishment. And what does the Southern Poverty Law center said? Moms, they're defending their kids are a hate group. I'm going to say right now, the SPLC is a radical left wing hate group. I'm going to use that term. They hate you, they hate me, they hate America, they hate conservatives, they hate the Constitution, they hate the Bill of Rights, they hate families, they hate moms, they hate dads, they hate anyone who stands up for this country. And I got to say, for the SPLC to go after Bonds for Liberty is disgusting.

[Ted Cruz]

Senator, as always, it's a pleasure. Don't forget you can download this show and hit that subscribe auto download button or the follow button if you're on Apple so you don't miss an episode. Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays, we do the show. So make sure you download and subscribe center. I'll see you back here in a couple of days.