Ted Cruz (4:45)

I want to go back to the six foot and then we'll get into the Wuhan part, because I do think it's important that we break this down a little bit for people. I was envisioning and I was trying to figure out in my mind, I'm like, all right, how would you have come up with, you know, remember, these people are saying, follow the science. And how would you come up with a six foot rule? And I, there's part of me, Senator, that thinks there was some people in a room at NIH and they're like, all right, we need to come up with some regulations here. We need to come up with something that looks proactive. And they're like, all right, well, what if we just told everybody to stand further apart from each other? And they're like, all right, well, how many feet? Who's got a ruler? All right, well, you stand three feet apart. No, that looks too close. All right, what does 4ft apart look like now? That still looks too close. How about five now? Let's make it six. Six seems like. It looks like you're far enough apart from the other person that somehow it seems like we know what we're doing. The scary part is there's a pretty good chance that's exactly what happened. And then they were telling us you had to follow the science. They just made this crap up. They had no idea what they were doing.

Ben Ferguson (5:50)

Look, that's exactly right. And there's no basis for six feet being the magic number for a virus. Now look, I'll give them a little bit of grace. At the time the COVID pandemic started, people were scared and they didn't know what they were dealing with. And there are at least some people, there's some government doctors who were trying to be helpful and trying to figure out rules. And what actually made common sense, particularly when this thing was started, is to engage in protective steps for people who are vulnerable. We saw Covid that people who were very elderly, people who had significant immune, you know, deficiencies, they were vulnerable. It made sense to protect the vulnerable, particularly at the outset of this. What didn't make sense is to become just obsessive tyrants about masks, about COVID vaccines. And so look, I can understand when they're trying to say, okay, what might help? And there was some desire and a reasonable desire to reopen society, like any rational person wanted to reopen society and saying, okay, how do we do this? Maybe some separation, you can understand how you get to that. But what Fauci did, the way he did this, is he clothed himself in a self righteous arrogance. What he said in one interview, he said, I am the science. When you question me, you are questioning the science. And actually, in the book on woke I entitled the chapter on science, I don't actually call it science, I call it the science. And the definitive article. I mean, you needed to have a chorus of angels every time you said the science you needed. Yeah, and the self righteousness and the tyranny is what is so infuriating. And he hasn't backed away from that one iota.

Ted Cruz (7:53)

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Ben Ferguson (10:14)

Well, look what we knew early on, the outbreak occurred in Wuhan, China. Where it occurred was nine miles away from the Wuhan Institute for Virology. Now if you look at just the sheer statistical odds, the Wuhan Institute for Virology was a government lab that was studying viruses. One of the things it was studying was coronaviruses. And in fact it was studying coronaviruses from bats. Now mind you remember early on where they said Covid came from was a virus carried by bats. Now those particular bats do not occur in Wuhan, China. The closest they occur naturally is 900 miles away. But you know where those bats were. You know where the virus was in the Wuhan Institute for Virology, it was nine miles away. In the book Unwoke, I calculate the odds. The odds are less than 1 in 10,000 that you would have an outbreak of a virus of the same type being studied in the lab that just happened to be less than 10 miles away from where they're studying it. That was compelling. And we knew that at the outset. We also knew early on that there were multiple doctors and medical professionals who were hospitalized in November and December of 2019, right before the COVID pandemic broke out. And they were from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That is compelling as well. And the behavior of our government was so infuriating because it didn't engage in rational, reasonable inquiry. Where did this come from, by the way? Now, several years later, the FBI has publicly concluded that they believe the virus came from the Wuhan Institute for virology. But Dr. Fauci, has he ever once went on national television and said, I'm sorry, no. And he's so self righteous, those words could not come from his mouth.

Ted Cruz (12:28)

It's not just that they won't come from his mouth. There's also questions now about did he mislead or use another word, lie to Congress under oath on some of these issues when he was asked? Well, compared to what he's talking about now, there's a lot of people asking, will there ever be accountability? I'm gonna ask you. I think I know the answer. Is there ever gonna be accountability for anyone if they mislead or flat out lie to Congress? If you're on the Democratic side, you.

Ben Ferguson (12:56)

Know, there hasn't been in our lifetime. And I will say, as long as it is the Biden Department of Justice, this Department of Justice is politicized. It's weaponized, and they have zero interest. I've asked the Attorney General, I've asked the Department of Justice, are you going to prosecute Anthony Fauci for lying to Congress under oath? That is a felony. And they just defiantly say, we don't comment on investigations. Which is their way of saying, no, but. But it's also their way of saying, I don't answer the American people, screw you. And that, sadly, is the view of Barrett Garland, the doj.

Ted Cruz (13:30)

Which brings me to story number two. Perfect segue here. Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance. It was clearly a stunt. The reason why I say it was a stun is based in fact. The Secret Service was there more than an hour before he showed up for this House Oversight Committee markup hearing. On holding him in contempt. We also know that the Democrats had poster boards made for his surprise appearance, so they clearly were in on it as well. Uh, and Hunter Biden showed up at this House Oversight Committee markup hearing on holding him in contempt. And. And the reason why I think he. He did it and knew he could do it and could show up in what many described as a shocking appearance at his own contempt hearing is because he knows what you just mentioned, that the DOJ is not going to prosecute him for contempt of. Of Congress charges, even though they did do it against every person they get their hands on that was related to Donald J. Trump. But they will not hold the president's son accountable for his actions here. And that's the part that is, I think, the most disgusting about this. Give me your initial reaction, then we'll dive more into the story about some of the questions he was asked as well at this committee hearing after he left.

Ben Ferguson (14:40)

Look, Hunter Biden embodies the same arrogant contempt that Dr. Fauci does. In both instance, they have the belief that they will never be held to account, that they can do whatever they want if there are no consequences. Hunter Biden showed up just to say screw you to the Congress, but to say screw you to the American people, that I'm the son of the president, I can do whatever I want, and he knows the Biden Department of Justice. They're going to be no consequences. It the arrogant contempt. And by the way, it's consistent. It is Hunter Biden's approach. It is Foushee's approach. Approach. It is Merrick Garland's approach. It is Alejandro Mayorkas approach. It is Joe Biden's approach. This administration has a dripping contempt. Number one, for Congress. They do not believe any oversight is appropriate on anything. And number two, for the American people, because, look, if you're contemptuous to Congress. Listen, when I'm at a hearing and I'm asking questions, what I'm trying to do, Ben, is ask the questions that I believe 30 million Texans want me to ask. Ask the questions on behalf of the American people. And this administration believes it owes no answers whatsoever. Hunter showed up because he knew there would be no consequences. Now, frankly, I wish they'd said, hunter, come to the table right now. Let's question you right here and now. I wish they'd done that. And let's be clear. If you go back to last month, we did an extensive interview with James Comer. James Comer is doing a terrific job leading this investigation along with Jim Jordan. But we Did a three part series with James Comer right before Christmas in which I urged him. And I still believe the House should do this. Comer's committee wants Hunter to sit for a closed door deposition. I understand why a closed door deposition, you can go into more detail. A lawyer can systematically walk through the facts, walk through the documents. It would be better to do it that way. Hunter is defying Congress and is going to be held in contempt. But in order for the contempt to be enforced, the Department of Justice has to prosecute it. They're not going to because Merrick Garland is a political hack, unfortunately. And that, that saddens me to say it, but it is how he's behaving. What I urged James Comer on this podcast to do is I said, look, Hunter has claimed he will testify if it's at an open hearing. What I'm urging, House Republicans, do it, do it, do it, do it. Remember, Hunter Biden is not the target. Nobody would care about Hunter Biden's tragic life is if his name was Hunter Smith. The target of this investigation is Joe Biden because it is Joe Biden who is fundamentally corrupt and is corrupting the office of President of the United States. It is Joe Biden who the evidence suggests for years has made a business of selling favors from official government office. Now, Hunter has been the bagman. Hunter has been the one going and shaking down foreign oligarchs. But it is Joe Biden that is the target. And if the House continues to insist on the closed door deposition, they will waste all of 2024. Hunter can tie that up in litigation for the rest of the year. And by the way, I'm going to make a prediction right now. Ben, this is not one I like. My prediction is In December of 2024, Joe Biden will pardon Hunter Biden. Really? That's my prediction. It'll be after the election, very likely.

Ted Cruz (18:15)

Win or lose, you say he'll do it no matter what.

Ben Ferguson (18:18)

Win or lose. If Biden were to win, I think he'll delay the pardon until right before Hunter goes to jail. But if Biden is losing, I put the odds at 95% that in December of this year, if Biden has just lost the general election, that he pardons his son and he gives him a scot free get out of jail pass. And so understand, Hunter's legal strategy is delay 11 months, delay 11 months, don't go to jail for 11 months, and then daddy gives you get out of jail free card. And, and it's why the House needs to Keep their eye on the ball and bring Hunter for the public hearing. Now, maybe Hunter will refuse to show up there, but it's harder because he's been so vocal, saying he would do it in public. Take him up on the offer. Call the bluff.

Ted Cruz (19:08)

You know, one of the things that they said at the House Oversight Committee, and I'm going to quote, it says Donald Trump Jr. Came before this committee. He came before on the House Intelligence Committee. He came before the House Judiciary Committee. He came before the Senate Intelligence Committee twice. He came before the so called January 6th committee. All of those were behind closed door. Behind closed doors, where lawyers can sit down both sides of the aisle and have a conversation and go through documents all under oath, which is the precedent for any committee. What is Hunter Biden afraid of? The. That was a question asked by Congressman Waltz who ripped into the Democrats hypocrisy during this House Oversight Committee hearing. He's absolutely right. But there is a lot of Americans right now that are listening to this. They're gonna say, okay, we're angry, we're upset, but it seems like the, the game is rigged. It seems like the system is rigged. Republicans go to prison. Democrats don't even have to show up for a hearing. It's just not right. Is there any way to fix this?

Ben Ferguson (20:11)

Yes. Elect principled leaders who will reimpose the rule of law. At the Department of Justice, we talked about my book on woke, the book I wrote before, that is Justice. How the left has weaponized the legal System. This is. This really began in serious form under Barack Obama. Where Barack Obama began using the Department of Justice, began using the FBI, began using the irs, began using the intelligence community to target his political enemies. And the double standard. Barack Obama was treated by the media as Saint Barack. And what happened? For eight years, he weaponized. He put in place hardcore partisans who burrowed in to senior career positions. When Trump became president, those partisans were in senior career positions and they spent four years with the federal government, the executive branch, waging war on the democratically elected President of the United States. Now, under Joe Biden, they're out in the open. They're not hiding, they're brazen. They've convinced themselves Trump is Hitler. And because Trump is Hitler, in their mind, anything is justified to defeat Hitler. And so they indict him. And they indict him and they indict him and they abuse their power and they protect their friends. Fauci will never be held to account. Hunter Biden will never be held to account. And Joe Biden, especially Especially. Especially will never be held to account. The only answer is to elect a President of the United States who appoints people to the Department of Justice, to the FBI, to these government agencies, who is strong enough, who is insightful enough, who knows what they're doing and will clean out the hardcore partisans that have corrupted these agencies.

Ted Cruz (21:57)

One of the things that I also think, and we go back to what I said a moment ago, and I do want to get your take on this, is that this was all just a stunt. And it very well could have been to actually make money. There is a camera crew, or camera crews, plural, that were on Capitol Hill and there is a documentary that's being filmed about Joe Biden and I guess Hunter Biden and all of this, quote, persecution against him. If this was for the cameras and they were using Congress in this way, what does that also say just about where we are as a country and the fact that we're allowing this to happen within the walls of Congress, where it's like, hey, you want to do a documentary? You want to have your moment? Come on in and make a charade and a mockery of what we actually do in Congress?

Ben Ferguson (22:46)

Yeah, look, I don't know the motivation. I don't know if that's why I can tell you Joe Biden and the White House were not happy about this. So. So Hunter was not looking out for the political interest of daddy in doing this. This was an act of arrogance and defiance. And. And look, Hunter has lived a life where arrogance and defiance have. Have characterized much of his conduct. Uh, you know, you look at the WhatsApp text that he sent to the Chinese communists, saying, I'm sitting here with my father. Send us millions of dollars right now. Like, there is an arrogance, there's an entitlement. His entire life, his. The business plan of the Biden family was to sell favors from daddy and to shake down corrupt oligarchs. And that is Chinese, that is Russian, that is Ukrainian. It's. By the way, you know, Hunter has no business that we know of in England or France or Germany or Italy. He has no business in countries that are allies and friends. His business is going to corrupt nations who are often our enemies, or at a minimum, significantly antagonistic to us and getting paid massive seven figure amounts from those corrupt oligarchs. And the arrogance of this. I'm sure the Biden White House was very unhappy. Hunter did this because it drew a lot of attention to just how contemptuous he is. He is the Dauphin. He is the child of the Emperor clothed in impunity. And it is obvious to anyone watching this fairly and impartially.

Ted Cruz (24:31)

One of the things that you mentioned was this really didn't go well from the White House perspective. A perfect example of that was after he walked out of this meeting, he was asked a question, and this was the question from a Fox reporter. It didn't go well.

C (24:46)

Listen, Mr. Biden, why did you put your dad on speakerphone with your business partners if he had no involvement in your business?

Ted Cruz (24:53)

You have a dad. Does he call you?

C (24:56)

Yes. Yes. Okay, but why did you need to talk to him during business meetings if he had nothing to do with your business?

Ted Cruz (25:03)

I mean, that was one of those moments. Obviously, he wasn't planning for. He didn't answer the second part of that question, just kept walking. But I think he realized, okay, maybe this wasn't perfect because those are the questions that he opened himself up to in the halls of Congress as he was making the long walk out of that committee hearing room.

Ben Ferguson (25:21)

Yeah, look, that's exactly right. And mind you, every Democrat, you know, you didn't see a single Democrat who said, gosh, there's some serious issues here. Gosh, we really should hear from, from Hunter. We should hear about was he extorting millions of dollars from foreign oligarchs? No congressional Democrat cares. This is warfare. This is political warfare. And the facts do not matter. So that question you would never hear a congressional Democrat ask in the House or the Senate.

Ted Cruz (25:53)

Want to move lastly to another major issue that is broken and it deals with our national security. And I want to know what you think about these new warnings that are coming. And that is, it's not shocking, but it certainly is a sobering moment. We know we have an open southern border. We know that more people on the terrorist watch list were caught last year coming across the southern border than the last five years before it combined. And now there's a new report coming out from Politico that American intel officials are warning of a risk of a Hezbollah attack, not just on US Men and women around the world and service members and in some of our bases, but also a real elevated risk at home. Four officials familiar with the intelligence have confirmed this to Politico that they're worried about attacks here outside of what we've seen from ISIS and al Qaeda, where it's lone wolf type attacks, where they could be coming into this country already in this country and planning a major attack.

Ben Ferguson (26:56)

Well, I think that's exactly right. And I've said before, I think the risk of a major terrorist attack in 2024 is greater than it has been at any time since September 11, 2001 that we have right now, number one, a war in the Middle east, in Israel. Hamas and Hezbollah have called upon their terrorists to wage jihad, not just against Israel, but against America. And we have an open border on our southern border. Due to Joe Biden and the Democrats. 9.6 million people have crossed illegally into this country under Joe Biden. When I was last down on the southern border, I'm down there a lot. Multiple border patrol agents told me they were deeply concerned about the risk of Hamas terrorists and Hezbollah terrorists crossing the border. Because Joe Biden, it continues to be a, an open border to this day. They could be crossing right now as we are speaking, Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists could be crossing in. And what is so frustrating is if you were a Hamas commander, Ben, you would send terrorists in. It's a glaring vulnerability that Joe Biden and the Democrats don't care to solve. So this political article that just came out quoted a senior US Intelligence official as saying, and this is a quote, Hezbollah could draw on the capability they have to put people in places to do something. It is something to be worried about, said the official. And this is consistent with, we did a previous podcast where, where we read the memo that customs and border patrol had sent to border patrol agents saying beyond particular guard for Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists and also Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists trying to cross the border. And it is astonishing to me that even in the face of that risk, which suddenly the FBI is publicly acknowledging, where six months ago they were not acknowledging it, they are now. And what that tells me is the classified intel is even worse than what we know in public.

Ted Cruz (29:11)

You know, you don't have to leap very far to get from point A to point B on something as simplistic of, hey, if you are a terrorist organization, are you going to take the risk of putting people that could be on the terrorist watch list on airplanes and try to get them into the country that way? Or are you just going to get them to come across the southern open border when there's millions of people that have already? It's worked successfully for. You know that if you are not on the watch list and they catch you, about 80 plus percent of you are being released into the interior of this country. And if you want to be one of the gotaways, it's not that hard. You've witnessed it firsthand at the southern border border. And yet this administration refuses to admit that's a national security risk. And I Think even now, if you ask them, they would refuse to acknowledge the existence of a real terrorist threat because of an open southern border. And you gotta ask yourself at that point, like, what? What does it take for them to get their heads out of the rear end, Senator, and understand this isn't just about an open border, a border policy. This is about a national security policy as well.

Ben Ferguson (30:16)

Now, look, that's exactly right. You know, Christy Abizide, who is the director of the National Counterterrorism center, said during a congressional hearing in October. Here's what she said. Quote, Iran, Hezbollah and their linked proxies are trying to calibrate their activity, avoiding actions that would open up a concerted second front with the United States or Israel while still exacting costs in the midst of the current conflict. This is a very fine line to walk. And in the present regional context, their actions carry the potential for miscalculation. This is what they're admitting. Um, here, here's what Anthony, Anthony Blinken, the Secretary of State, said, quote, this is a moment of profound tension in the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasize. And yet, even as they're admitting that they're not willing to secure the border, here's what Chris Wray said in a congressional hearing on November 15th. Quote, the arrest of individuals in the United States allegedly linked to Hezbollah's main overseas terrorist arm, and their intelligence collection and procurement efforts demonstrate Hezbollah's interest in the long term contingency planning activities here in the homeland. And none of this is persuasive to Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or Alejandro Mayorkas or any of the Congressional Democrats who are all willing to turn a blind eye and say, right now, today, whenever you're listening to this podcast, if you're listening to this podcast at six in the morning, if you're listening to this podcast at noon, if you're listening to this podcast at 6pm or if you're listening to this podcast at midnight, whatever time you're listening to it right now, there are people crossing illegally into this country, and the Biden administration is doing nothing to stop them. In the last three years, there have been over 2 million gotaways. Those are people that have evaded capture. We know about them, but they didn't turn themselves in. Whereas the bulk of the people who came did turn themselves in. The gotaways are the most dangerous. You want to know where the terrorists are, they're the gotaways. You want to know where the criminals are, they're the gotaways. The murderers, the rapists, they're the gotaways. You want to know where the gang members, the MS.13, are? They're the gotaways. And I don't know what it will take to get this administration to actually step up and say, we're going to keep the American people safe from a terror attack.

Ted Cruz (32:48)

Is it arrogance? Last question on this. Is it arrogance that you know, oh, we know better. Because there is a younger age that is serving in the House now than we've seen that maybe doesn't understand or remember truly what happened on 9 11. Is it an arrogance of the Democratic Party that they just don't care about history in the past? I mean, I remember 911 like it was yesterday. I know you do as well, and many Americans do. And when you hear this type of threat, you can imagine it because you've listened, lived through 9 11. You can imagine what it looks like when you allow Hezbollah terrorists to come across the southern border and what they can do if they are well trained, which they are, and if they can get their hands on what they need to carry out a significant terrorist attack. And I sit here and go, how do you not remember 9 11? Where is the disconnect here?

Ben Ferguson (33:39)

Well, look, for one thing, 911 was 22 years ago. 22 years ago is a long time. You and I, although we think we're spring chickens, we're not anymore. You're in your 40s. I'm in my 50s. There are a lot of people. There is not a single college kid who remembers 9 11. There are a lot of people in their 30s who. 911 is a distant memory from their childhood. And look, I get it. You know, for me, I think about, like, Pearl Harbor. I know about Pearl Harbor. It's a horrible day in history. It's. It's a horrible day in US History. But do I have a personal emotional reaction to Pearl Harbor? No. It happened long before I was born. So it's kind of. I've read about it, but I didn't live through it. So there is a dynamic that many people in America were getting far enough beyond 911 that many people don't have a personal, acute memory. And then I think beyond that, what has happened is that we've seen the Democrat Party in Washington radicalized, and it's been happening for a while. Barack Obama started this process of radicalizing it, and then Trump becoming president broke their brains. They hate Trump so much that I actually just think they've convinced themselves that anything is justified fighting Trump. And the result of it is that they're embracing radical policies. And because the press, Trump broke the press, the media doesn't report on this. And so the Democrats are radicalized because they know they will never be asked back home about the extreme policies they're supporting.

Ted Cruz (35:26)

Yeah, we'll keep covering it here, I can promise you that. Don't forget, download this podcast Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you are on Apple, the algorithms of Chinese changed, so you got to make sure you continue to hit that follow button and download button there. Obviously that has changed. I know some of you have been complaining about that, that they haven't been automatically showing up in your feed. That's how you can fix that. And it's just part of their new algorithm. It's happened to every show out there, so make sure you do that. Also, please share this podcast wherever you are on social media to help other people see it. And on those in between days, make sure you download my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcast, where wherever you get your podcast for free, I'll keep you up to date on the breaking news on in between the days when this show comes out. The Senator I will see you back here for the weekend review on Saturday and then a new episode on Monday.