← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Emergency Hearing-Fed Judge Says Hunter Biden's Lawyers May Have LIED, plus the WH Backtracks, Implicitly Admits Joe Biden LIED about Overseas Business Deals with Son Hunter
00:36:36
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- [00:00]
Podcast Host
This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know, when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself, talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace. Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You, you'll meet on your schedule wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner or just need a little extra one on one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers and most insured members have a $0 copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code space80 when you go to talkspace.com match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com save $80 with code space80@talk.com welcome.
- [01:02]
Ben Ferguson
It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you as well. And we have got a packed show for you, including some breaking news that deals with the sentencing of Hunter Biden. Plus a massive change in narrative from the White House basically now admitting that, okay, yes, the president did get involved with his son's business dealings and they were hoping that no one would notice this admission. We noticed it. We're going to play that for you. Plus a big win on the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, which is going to have a huge impact on this country. Senator, let's first start though with this judge. Break this down because this scandal in Delaware on the eve of Hunter Biden's plea deal, he's supposed to be in Court at 9 o'clock and apparently there could be some people that are sanctioned for misrepresenting to the court what they were doing with Hunter Biden. Break all this down.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, we have massive breaking news that broke last night. So this morning at 9:00am Hunter Biden is scheduled to appear in federal court and plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018. He is also expected to avoid prosecution on a separate felony gun possession charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a gun user, as a drug user. All of that is scheduled to go down at 9. And it's a plea deal that is designed to be a slap on the wrist so that Hunter serves no jail time whatsoever. And that its real purpose, as we've discussed, is to protect Joe Biden from any exposure to Hunter's influence, selling and corruption. Well, last night a bombshell went off, which is the US District Judge in Delaware, Mary Ellen Norieka, issued an order. And the order is directing Hunter Biden's lawyers to show up at 9am this morning and explain why they shouldn't be sanctioned for lying to the court. And let me explain what happened here, cuz this is a big deal and to be honest, I've never seen anything remotely like it. So the plea hearing this morning, Hunter's expected to come in and plead not guilty. The judge could approve the plea deal today, say, okay, plea deals done, slap on the wrist, all done. It could be over today. Well, the House of Representatives is dismayed by that. They've seen the hearings on all of the corruption, the hearing, the evidence that we've discussed at length on this podcast. And so the House of Representatives filed an amicus brief with the court laying out the evidence against Hunter and Joe and the corruption and really making the case that a slap on the wrist is not in the interest of justice. That's pretty unusual. It's not often that a criminal defendant has the House of Representatives of the United States Congress file a brief opposing their sweetheart deal. What happened next is extraordinary. Apparently Hunter Biden's lawyers picked up the phone and called the clerk's office of the court and pretended to be the lawyers for the House of Representatives. And Hunter Biden's lawyers apparently said, hey, we're the lawyers for the House of Representatives. We filed this amicus brief with attachments. Could you withdraw that, please? We didn't mean to file that. And the clerk's office apparently did so, said, oh, okay, if you want to withdraw that filing, we will. Well, it turns out that at least what the court believes right now is they were lying. And I want to read because late last night the court issued a special order and it's a short order. I'm going to read the order. It's oral order. The court is in receipt of the party's letters regarding the motion for leave to file an amicus brief. As an initial matter, defendant has not indicated what specific information should be sealed or made any showing as required under a particular case. In fact, defendant has not filed a formal request with the court to seal anything. The court will temporarily place the document under seal until the close of business on July 26 to afford defendant the opportunity to try to make the requisite showing should the Defendant fail to make that showing, the document will be unsealed in its entirety. In addition, the court has reviewed the allegations in Mr. Katila's letter. That's the lawyer for the house made to the Clerk's office regarding the amicus materials. Mr. Katila asserts that an individual associated with the firm representing defendant Hunter Biden called the Clerk's office pretending to be associated with Mr. Cotillia and requesting the amicus materials be removed from the docket, which the Clerk's office did. The response from defendants counsel on this issue was that quote, as far as he was aware, the managing attorney from Latham called the Clerk's office to note that personal tax information of the defendant had been filed in a non redacted manner and to inquire regarding having the information sealed. And that quote, the clerk took the filing down on their own accord. Defendant's counsel also added that he hoped Mr. Katila had quote, an affidavit from the clerk in support of his version of the events. The court has discussed the matter with relevant individuals in the Clerk's office and has been informed that the caller, Ms. Jessica Bengals, represented that she worked with Mr. Katila, in other words, the House's lawyer, and requested the amicus materials be taken down because they contain sensitive grand jury, taxpayer and Social Security information. Here's the critical language from the court's order last night. It appears that the caller misrepresented her identity who she worked for in an attempt to improperly convince the Clerk's office to remove the amicus materials from the docket. Therefore, it is hereby ordered that honor before 9pm today. On July 25, counsel for the defendant shall show cause as to why sanctions should not be considered for misrepresentations to the court. Now Ben, I gotta say, I've practiced law a lot of years. Just, just, just about 30, nearly 30 years now.
- [07:28]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
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Senator Ted Cruz
I don't know. Another instance where a lawyer for one party calls the court and pretends to be a lawyer for the other party, like that just doesn't happen. That's the kind of thing.
- [07:41]
Ben Ferguson
Do you get disbarred for that? Minimum. And then, I mean you ruin your career, right. If you do that because you're, you're literally calling up and, and lying about what team you're on. In a, in a court case, I would assume that's instant. You're disbarred, you're never going to practice law again. And is there even the possibility of like you get charged with a crime for that potentially?
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Senator Ted Cruz
Look, a lawyer is an officer of the court. You have an obligation of candor to the court. You have an obligation of truthfulness to the court. A lawyer lies to a judge at his or her peril. Now, I don't know what happened. And we're gonna have a hearing at 9am this morning. I expect there's gonna be some real fireworks. But the DOJ and Hunter Biden's lawyers were hoping this would be a quiet little plea hearing where we got a plea agreement. Okay, all is good, slap in the wrist, it's all over. Instead, the judge is saying, tell me why I should not sanction Hunter Biden's lawyer for lying to me and pretending to be the lawyer for the House of Representatives. That's a big damn deal. And this single handedly could scuttle the plea deal.
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Ben Ferguson
Now let's, let's go to the just a normal case, okay? Take Hunter Biden out of it.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah.
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Ben Ferguson
Take, take the fact this is a sweetheart deal and it you can now, I think it's very clear you would agree, Senator, this judge knows that this is a sweetheart deal. Would you agree with that? At this point, there's been too much information out there. There's been too much that's been exposed from the house.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Look, it's too early. Okay, we'll see what happens at the hearing today. We'll see what the judge says. If I were a judge, I would not take this, this plea deal. A judge doesn't have to take the plea deal. A judge can, can press back. It is clear the Biden DOJ wants the plea deal taken because the plea deal is designed to, number one, make Hunter Biden the fall guy, but do it in a way that there's zero jail time, the most serious charges have gone away, and that's just a little slap on the wrist. But number two, most critically, this is designed to protect Joe Biden if this plea deal gets thrown out.
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah. What happens next? That was the question I was going to ask you is if he throws it out and says, no, I don't accept this, then what happens next in this case? Does that mean that all the other things that they didn't have to deal with now all of a sudden become a reality in this?
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Senator Ted Cruz
No. What would happen if the plea deal is thrown out so Hunter can withdraw his guilty plea because the guilty plea is based on a plea deal and the judge could say, try your case. You have brought charges against Hunter Biden. We want to see you try your case. And we're going to empanel a jury and have a trial. But then at the end of it, the judge can say, I'm going to sentence the defendant if he's found guilty, that I'm not going to take the plea deal, that I've determined this plea deal is not in the interest of justice. If the judge determines that Hunter Biden's lawyers have lied to the court, have misrepresented, and this order says the judge thinks they have. Now, the judge may be mistaken, but what the order says is she went and asked the clerk's office, hey, what did the lawyer who called you say? And according to the order she entered, that's what made her enter the order to show cause why Hunter Biden's lawyer should not be sanctioned. I, I have in nearly 30 years of practicing law, never seen an order like this. And, and I gotta say, if you're Hunter Biden's lawyers right now, you are freaking out. And if you're the Biden DOJ desperately wanting to protect the big guy, you're freaking out. This is a major development.
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Ben Ferguson
Is it just one lawyer that would be sanctioned, the one that made the phone call, or is there a good chance that all the lawyers on the case that knew that this happened, are they going to be held accountable for this? Basically, in essence, because it would be a strategy that they would have done as a legal team.
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Senator Ted Cruz
It depends on what the facts demonstrate. The lawyer who's most directly on the hook is the lawyer who is accused of lying to the court. And each lawyer is an officer of the court. And you have an ethical obligation to the court. And so that lawyer is the one most directly at risk. But if it turns out other lawyers on Hunter Biden's defense, defense team knew about it, directed her to do this, were part of the decision to do this, they could all be sanctioned. It depends on what the facts are. I don't know what the facts are. I, I'm just reading an order. That is a holy crap order.
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Ben Ferguson
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Senator Ted Cruz
Chairman James Comer today says that the Oversight Committee, excuse me, has evidence that the president in the past communicated directly.
- [14:31]
Ben Ferguson
With foreign business associates of his son.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Hunter Biden, many times. Curious if the White House and the president still stand behind his comment that he's never been involved and has never even spoken to his son about his. So I've been asked this question a million times times. The answer is not going to change. The answer remains the same. The president was never in business with his son. I just don't have anything else to add.
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Ben Ferguson
Senator, I know you heard it. The narrative's now changed. It used to be I never talked about business with my family. Now it is, quote, the president was never in business with his son, quote unquote.
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Senator Ted Cruz
So Ben, this is a big deal. You are right that Joe Biden has said over and over and over again he never talked with Hunter Biden about his business. He never talked with Hunter Biden about His business. The White House has said Joe Biden never talked with Hunter Biden about his business. That was their line. They said it repeatedly. Here's the problem. It is now more and more clear that Joe Biden talked with Hunter Biden and with Hunter Biden's business associates about his businesses. A lot. So, for example, Miranda Devine, who's done just fantastic reporting on this entire scandal for the New York Post, she wrote two days ago a story that the headline is, Hunter Biden put then VP dad Joe on the phone with business associates at least two dozen times. Ex partner Devin Archer to testify. And Devin Archer, who was Hunter Biden's former best friend. He was his business partner. They were both on the board of Burisma together. Uh, apparently Devin Archer is going to testify, according to the report in the New York Post, that Hunter Biden would dial in his father, then Vice President Joe Biden, on speakerphone in the meetings with his overseas business partners. According to testimony expected before Congress this week from Devin Archer. Here's what James Comer said. We are looking forward very much to hearing from Devon Archer about all the times he has witnessed Joe Biden meeting with Hunter Biden's overseas business partners when he was vice president, including on speakerphone. One such meeting was in Dubai late in the evening of Friday, Dec. 4, 2015, after a board meeting of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, which was paying Hunter $83,000 a month as director. Archer, who was also director, is expected to testify that after dinner with Barista Board at the Burj Al Arab Hotel, he and Hunter traveled six miles north to the Four Seasons Resort, Dubai at Jiraiya beach to have drinks with Hunter's friends. While they were sitting outside at the bar, Vadim Pozharsky, a senior Burism executive, phoned to ask where they were because Burisma's owner, Michaela Zochevsky, who we talked about a lot on Monday's pod, needed to speak to Hunter urgently. Soon afterwards, the two Ukrainians joined Hunter and Archer at the Four Seasons bar. And Posarski asked Hunter, can you ring your dad? At the time it was early afternoon Friday in Washington, D.C. hunter then called his father, put him on speaker, place the phone on the table, and introduced the Ukrainians to Joe Biden by names as Nikolai and Vadim. He also said words to the effect that the Barisma bigwigs need our support. Joe Biden greeted the Ukrainians, but spoke only in vague pleasantries. Archer is expected to testify. They will note in context that three days after the speaker phone call. Joe Biden was due to fly to Kiev to address the Ukrainian parliament. Ten weeks before the call, on September 24, 2015, the US ambassador had given a speech about corruption in Ukraine in which he targeted Zochevsky by name. But by then, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, That's Victor Shokin, who we talked about again at length on Monday's podcast, that if you didn't listen to Monday's podcast, go back and listen to it. It's incredibly important what the FD 1023 said. But Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin was investigating Burisma for corruption. And a month later, Shokin was fired right after Joe Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine. So here's the problem, Ben. Joe Biden has said repeatedly, I didn't talk to Hunter about his business. I didn't talk to Hunter about his business. The White House has said that. And now you've got Hunter's business partner saying, oh, yeah, Joe Biden talked to our. Our. Our business partners all the time. That's a huge problem. And so. And so I want you to play two things. Number one, I want us to listen to what the old White House message was, which is, I didn't talk to Hunter's business partners. Take a listen.
- [19:24]
Ben Ferguson
Mr. Vice President, how many times have.
- [19:26]
Senator Ted Cruz
You ever spoken to your son about.
- [19:28]
Ben Ferguson
His overseas business dealings? I've never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings. Now, that was in 2019, Senator. That was in Des Moines, Iowa, when he was running for president. And he's saying, oh, I've never. I never talked about it ever. Now they're saying, okay, man, we did, but we were never officially in business together.
- [19:46]
Senator Ted Cruz
So he said there flat out on the campaign trail for President. This is not a long time ago. This is while he's running for president. He says, I have never spoken to my son about it as overseas business deals. Now, his problem is Devin Archer's supposed to say that he's spoken at least two dozen times. So I want you to play again.
- [20:06]
Ben Ferguson
Hold on. Let me. Let me. Let me also add this real quick, because this is where I just. I have to do this because it makes me laugh. It's not just that first time. I forgot about this, and I just pulled it. We put together a montage of Biden answering this question over and over again, which the White House has just undone now.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Good.
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Ben Ferguson
By their new admission, here's the entire montage. Starting back in 2019, how many times.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Have you ever spoken to your son.
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Podcast Host
About his overseas business dealings.
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Ben Ferguson
I've never spoken to my son about overseas business dealers. I have never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their business, businesses, period. And what I will do is the same thing we did in our administration. There will be an absolute wall between personal and private and the government.
- [20:56]
Podcast Host
Do you stand by your statement that you did not discuss any of your son's overseas business?
- [21:01]
Ben Ferguson
Yes, I stand by that statement. Do you think it was wrong for.
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Podcast Host
Him to take that position knowing that it was really because that company wanted access to you?
- [21:10]
Ben Ferguson
Well, that's not true.
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Senator Ted Cruz
You're saying things.
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Ben Ferguson
You do not know what you're talking about. No one said that.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Who said that?
- [21:16]
Ben Ferguson
I mean, that's a lot of time. Just said it, Senator, and now you're undoing it at the White House from the podium.
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Senator Ted Cruz
So so his answer is I've never talked to Hunter. I've never talked to Hunter. I've never talked to his business associates. And I want you to play again yesterday's answer because the the beautiful thing is Karine Jean Pierre says, I'm going to give you the exact same answer I've given before. And then she says a totally different answer. So play that once again because this is a massive shift because the White House realizes, oh, crap, Joe Biden's been caught in a massive lie that implicates him in foreign corruption. So listen to Karine Jean Pierre's trying to be very clever and shift their answer. Chairman James Comer today says that the Oversight Committee excuse me, has evidence that the president in the past communicated directly.
- [22:04]
Ben Ferguson
With foreign business associates of his son.
- [22:07]
Senator Ted Cruz
Hunter Biden, many times. The White House and the president still stand behind his comment that he's never been involved and has never even spoken to his son about his miss so I've been asked this question a million times. The answer is not going to change. The answer remains the same. The president was never in business with his son. I just don't have anything else to add.
- [22:27]
Ben Ferguson
There it is.
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Senator Ted Cruz
So the answer's not going to change. So if the answer's not going to change, you would expect the president's never spoken to his son about his business deals. The president's never spoken to his business associates about his business deals. But she doesn't say that. She says the president was never in business with his sons. Now let me show you it gets even worse. There's a subsequent article came out in the Federalist that is entitled Joe Biden allegedly interacted with sons clients more than 200 times. So you've got the story from the New York Post from Miranda Devine that Biden spoke with foreign businessmen and potential investors for hunter at least 24 times. But the Federalist reports that there are more than 180 other episodes where the President interacted with his son's business partners. So, for example, then President Joe Biden reportedly met with Ukrainian, Russian, and Kazakhstan business partners at Cafe Mulatto, which is a really shishi restaurant in Washington, D.C. vadim Pozharsharski, an executive at Burisma, thanked Hunter in writing for the introduction to his father. So here's an email that Pozarski wrote, quote, dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to D.C. and giving me an opportunity to meet your father and spend some time together. Now, by the way, Joe Biden says, nope, never talked to my son about business. Posarski, the Ukrainian barista official, says, hey, thanks for introducing me to your dad. Give me the opportunity to meet your father. I mean, it is stunning. Visitors logs show that Hunter Biden's business associates visited the White House. How many times do you think Hunter Biden's business associates visited the White House while Joe Biden was vice president?
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Ben Ferguson
If you count them all up there, it's countless. I mean, it's. It's not one or two times. And many of the people got to go like a dozen or more times while he was the vice president.
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Senator Ted Cruz
So according to Fox News, it's at least 80 times.
- [24:37]
Ben Ferguson
There you go.
- [24:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
Hunter Biden's diary shows more than 100 events at the Vice President's residence while Joe Biden was living at the Naval Observatory. Photographs from the same day as one meeting on the calendar, November 19, 2015, features two Mexican billionaires, Carlos Slim and Miguel Alaman Velasco. And Hunter spent years leveraging the White House to pursue business deals with Slim. This pattern. Listen, at this point, it is becoming almost impossible to maintain that Hunter Biden was doing anything other than selling not only access to daddy, but favors from daddy for millions of dollars. And you want proof of that? Here's a simple question. Why did the White House change their story? Karine Jean Pierre said, I'm gonna give you the exact same answer I've given before. And then she gave a totally different answer. She'd said, here's the exact same answer. Joe Biden's never spoken to Hunter about his business dealings. Never spoken to his business associates. That would be the same answer. She didn't do that. She says, oh, Joe Biden's never been in business with his son. They realize they're in hot water, they are backtracking mightily. And you know what? I'm going to make a prediction.
- [26:00]
Ben Ferguson
I love it when you do this, by the way, because it's always good.
- [26:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
Not a single corporate media outlet will report on this massive shift. ABC is not going to report on it. CBS is not going to report on it. NBC is not going to report on it. CNN's not going to report on it. MSNBC is not going to report on it. The Washington Post is not going to report on it. The New York Times is not going to report on it. They are all covering up for Joe Biden. And I hope I'm wrong. You know what? If, if by 10:30 today one of them is so shame, they say, holy crap, I'm actually going to be a reporter and report on the fact. Just like at Watergate when, when the story starts changing. That's news. Any real journalist will report on that. We'll see if anybody does today.
- [26:44]
Podcast Host
This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know, when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself, talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace. Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner or just need a little extra one on one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers and most insured members have a zero dollar copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code space80 when you go to talkspace.com match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com save $80 with code space80@talkspace.com yeah, make sure you share.
- [27:46]
Ben Ferguson
This podcast as always on this story, especially because I think we are are the only ones at this point center that a are willing to talk about it. I'm sure others noticed it, but it's been complete crickets since this massive, you know, narrative change from the White House on Joe Biden's involvement in essence saying yes, he was involved with the son's business dealings, but they were, quote, never business partners. This on top of what's happening in court today is going to be very interesting. Let me tell you real quick about our friends at Augusta Precious Metals. If you are doing everything you can to save for retirement or maybe you're even in retirement and your number one goal is to protect your assets, then you need to check, check out Augusta Precious Metals. Augusta Precious Metals has one goal in mind that is to protect your hard earned money, your hard earned dollars and help you with a gold ira. Now I'm excited to tell you about a company that I trust. It is Augusta because they will even tell you if a gold IRA isn't your answer. We all know that it is so important close to retirement or if you're in retirement to not be losing money. Why? Because there's no time to make up those losses. So if you've never taken a look at gold, take a look at their free guide and you'll also get a one on one web conference with Augusta Precious Metals. Go online to Augusta Precious Metals.com or you can call them and get that free guide. 8774-GOLD IRA. That's 877-THE-WOODER, Gold IRA or Augusta precious metals.com use a promo code verdict. They'll even pay your fees for up to 10 years. That's Augusta precious metals.com center. Lastly, there's also another big issue, hasn't gotten a lot of press and it should. It's a big win for not only the people in Texas, but a big win when it comes to the issue of national security. And it's something that you let on with the strategic oil reserves, the petroleum reserves that that have been raided by this administration to artificially drop the price of gas before the midterm elections. And they don't seem to be wanting to put oil back in our strategic oil reserves as well. That is a national security issue. But you also did some other things. Tell us about this victory.
- [30:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, that's exactly right. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was established to protect our national security and our energy security. That if we get in a time of warfare, if we get at a time of crisis, that we have oil we could rely on that we won't have our economy grind to a halt. And it's there for emergencies. It's not to be a slush fund for Democrat presidents to try to cover their rear end in an election. Well, Joe Biden last year sold 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves. And the reason is he was trying to drive down gasoline prices right before the election, not because he wants prices low, mind you, Biden wants prices higher and higher and higher. He just wants them to dip right before an election so he thinks the voters won't notice that. Now, the result of those sales is it pushed the levels in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the lowest they've ever been in 40 years. And last July, as part of selling 39 billion barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Biden administration sold 1 million barrels to Unipec America, which is a subsidiary of China's Sinopec. And I will point out also that Hunter Biden, our friend who knows how to monetize Daddy, has done business with the Chinese entities that are profiting off of Daddy's sales of oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It is corrupt. It's also stupid that we would take our oil there to keep our economy, our national security safe and sell it to China, our enemy. So I introduced an amendment to ban the United States government to ban the Biden administration from selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China, to Russia, to Iran, or to North Korea. Basic principle, let's not sell our oil that's here to keep us safe to our enemies that are not there to keep us safe. We forced a vote in the Senate last week. This was an amendment that was authored by me and Joe Manchin. So it was bipartisan. And actually, you know what the lineup was on the amendment? What do you think? There were. There were two other senators that were the lead sponsors. Take a guess.
- [32:31]
Ben Ferguson
Oh, gosh, I'm trying to think here. It would be. You said Joe Manchin. I'm going to laugh. Can I throw out a curveball?
- [32:39]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah.
- [32:39]
Ben Ferguson
Mitt Romney.
- [32:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
No, but that'd be a good guess. Mitt voted for it.
- [32:43]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. I mean, I was trying to think. You're. You're stumping me here. I was like, all right, I got to go with a really good name here.
- [32:48]
Senator Ted Cruz
Okay, so I'll give you even better than that. So number one, we had Joanie Ernst, which is not shocking. Joanie's a good friend. We do a lot together. And John Fetterman. So this was Cruise Mansion. Ernst Fetterman.
- [33:00]
Ben Ferguson
That's interesting. That's. That's an interesting dinner right there. Y'all should do that.
- [33:05]
Senator Ted Cruz
So we had a vote on it. Do you know what the vote was?
- [33:08]
Ben Ferguson
What was it?
- [33:09]
Senator Ted Cruz
85 to 14. So we didn't just win, we won by a massive margin, 85 to 14. And so that's now part of the National Defense Authorization Act. When this bill passes into law, which I believe it's going to. The Biden administration will no longer be able to sell oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China or to Russia or to North Korea or to Iran. Now, 14 people voted no. The lead Democrat who opposed me is Chris Murphy, Very, very liberal senator from Connecticut.
- [33:42]
Ben Ferguson
And what's the reasoning for not just him, but the other 14 to oppose this?
- [33:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, let me give you their own reasoning. So in the last Congress, I went to the Senate floor and I tried to pass this by unanimous consent. And one of the ways you get things passed in the Senate is you can pass it by unanimous consent where you stand up, and if nobody objects, it passes. And a lot of stuff gets passed that way. So I went to the Senate floor, I said, look, this is basic common sense. No one should object. Let's pass this. Chris Murphy from. From Connecticut came and objected. And one of the things I argued is, I said, look, there's a war waging in Ukraine right now. We should not be selling oil to our enemies. If anything, we should be selling to our friends and not enriching our enemies. Chris Murphy countered with Democrat legislation that would prohibit all sales of oil and gas, not just from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but from any private entity in the United States to any foreign nation. And the two of us had a debate on the Senate floor where I said, wait a second. I'm standing up saying America should not send oil to our enemies.
- [34:46]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, makes sense. This isn't crazy.
- [34:49]
Senator Ted Cruz
The Democrats are countering with we shouldn't sell oil to our friends. We should tell our friends, our allies, nope, you can't have any of our oil. And we should force our allies. We should force Europe, sorry, you gotta buy from Russia because the idiot Democrats in Washington don't want to sell you American oil. So go put money in Putin's coffers. It was truly insane. And yet Chris Murphy doubled down. But I got to say, when we came to a vote, 85, 14 is a pretty good margin.
- [35:21]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, that's a big margin. And it's also really an issue, as you just described it, of national security. And, and this when people that don't understand the national security aspect of this, if we sell our oil to our adversaries and we get low on our strategic oil reserves, that. That's a double whammy from us. From a national security standpoint.
- [35:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
No, that's exactly right. And China is in the middle of amassing and a new enormous reservoir of. Of oil precisely because they want to be in a strong national security position. So when the Biden administration is selling oil to China. They are weakening America and helping China, which is why the Senate overwhelmingly said stop doing that. And I got to say, it says a lot that Senate Democrats voted to say, Joe Biden, stop doing that.
- [36:11]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. And that, and that shouldn't be very controversial at all. A big win on this one. Congratulations on the leadership also it being bipartisan. And it's also amazing that 14 people would vote against this. But welcome to these strange times in Washington, D.C. senator, one last thing I just want to tell everybody about. This is the first time we've ever done this on on Verdict. And I want to invite Verdict listeners to join me in the Holy Land, Israel. We have put together a trip. And you know that Israel is the cradle of Judaism, Christianity, and many of the principles that we hold dear as Americans. We are going to go see some of the most incredible sites. We're gonna, we're talking about the Armageddon battlefield, Jericho, Jerusalem, Bethlehem. We're gonna get to sail on the Sea of Galilee and float on the Dead Sea. You're going to be walking in the footsteps of biblical figures just like King David and Jesus Christ. And you're going to be doing it together with other listeners from around the country that listen to Verdict. I'm going to meet up with you in Jerusalem and you're going to get to experience that city and all these others, including things like the Western Wall, the Temple Mount. It's going to be an incredible trip. So you need to go right now to Christian expedition.com Ben that's Christian expedition.com Ben we're going to do this trip. You got plenty of time to plan it. May 6th through the 15th of 2024 people are already signing up right now. It's gonna, it's gonna book out fast, so check it out. Christian expedition.com Ben. You can also call them and you get all the information. 877-234-3002 that's 877-234-3002. Christian expedition.com Ben join me and other Vertical listeners as we take an amazing trip to the holy land, Israel. Christianexpedition.com Ben I want you to be a part of it. Senator. It's always a pleasure to chat with you. We'll see everybody back here and see what that judge does on Friday morning. Don't forget, subscribe to the show, hit that follow button or auto download wherever you're listening. Please share this podcast with others. Uh, we're covering news that no one else is talking about, so share it wherever you are on social media and we'll see you back here on Friday morning.
- [38:36]
Podcast Host
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