Fauci's Unhinged Arrogance, Any Path to Guilty for Trump & Was Biden's D-Day Speech Politicized to go After DT Week In Review

Summary

Podcast Summary: The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson Episode: Fauci's Unhinged Arrogance, Any Path to Guilty for Trump & Was Biden's D-Day Speech Politicized to go After DT Week in Review
Release Date: June 8, 2024
Host: Ben Ferguson
Produced by: Premiere Networks

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1. Anthony Fauci's Congressional Testimony and Handling of COVID-19

Overview:
The episode delves into Dr. Anthony Fauci's recent appearance before Congress, highlighting perceptions of his arrogance and the controversies surrounding his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Host Ben Ferguson, alongside Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Jim Jordan, critiques Fauci's responses to critical questions about grant funding and the lab leak theory.

Key Discussions:

• Fauci's Arrogance and Lab Leak Theory:
  Fauci was questioned about US tax dollars flowing through a grant recipient to a lab in China. Ben Ferguson pressed Fauci on the specifics of the grant approval, to which Fauci acknowledged involvement by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) but dismissed any connection to downplaying the lab leak theory.

  Ben Ferguson [01:39]: "Was the US Tax dollars flow through a grant recipient to the lab in China?"

  Anthony Fauci [02:01]: "National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases."

• Effectiveness of COVID Vaccines:
  Fauci addressed the complex issue of vaccine efficacy, admitting that while vaccines saved millions of lives, their ability to prevent virus transmission was limited over time.

  Anthony Fauci [02:31]: "The vaccine saved millions of lives... the durability of protection against infection and hence transmission was relatively limited."

• Jim Jordan's Critique:
  Congressman Jordan defended Fauci's initial actions during the pandemic but criticized Fauci for not admitting mistakes and elevating politics over science. He also expressed strong belief in the lab leak theory, suggesting Fauci's funding may have inadvertently contributed to the pandemic.

  Jim Jordan [04:26]: "There is an arrogance this man... he publicly says, when you attack me, you are attacking the science because I am the science."

Notable Quotes:

• Ted Cruz [03:46]: "He'll never admit they really screwed up on any of this."

• Jim Jordan [07:48]: "This is politics... It's about keeping Joe Biden, the Democrats in power because it's all they care about."

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2. Donald Trump's Legal Battle and Jury Instructions

Overview:
The discussion shifts to the recent verdict in Donald Trump's trial, focusing on the judge's jury instructions and the potential for a guilty verdict based on those instructions. The panel scrutinizes the fairness of the trial process and the political motivations behind the prosecution.

Key Discussions:

• Jury Instructions:
  Ben Ferguson and Ted Cruz criticize the judge for providing vague and broad instructions that could lead the jury to convict Trump on any path they choose, regardless of the evidence.

  Ben Ferguson [11:12]: "They were not told if Trump had done what Alvin Bragg said he needed to do."

  Ted Cruz [12:05]: "It’s either you're innocent or guilty because the 12 agree and/or if they disagree, one of them disagrees, we're done."

• Legal Pathways to Conviction:
  The conversation highlights how the jury could interpret the instructions to find Trump guilty through various convoluted legal theories, including violations of tax laws that don’t necessarily involve actual fraud or underpayment.

  Ben Ferguson [15:24]: "The objective is guilty. You come up with however you want to get there."

• Potential Sentencing and Appeals:
  Ferguson speculates on possible sentencing outcomes, suggesting that even if convicted, Trump might avoid immediate incarceration through appeals. The panel expresses skepticism about the New York justice system's impartiality.

  Ben Ferguson [17:27]: "I think the judge is willing to abuse his power... This is politics... They are willing to burn the justice system to the ground."

Notable Quotes:

• Ben Ferguson [12:10]: "And by the way, the violation of tax law doesn't have to have taken a penny of taxes from New York City, New York State, or the federal government."

• Ted Cruz [16:02]: "In other words, Orange man bad. Find your way to figure out how to say he's guilty."

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3. 80th Anniversary of D-Day and President Biden's Speech

Overview:
The episode covers President Joe Biden's speech commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy. The discussion questions whether Biden's remarks were politicized to subtly target former President Donald Trump while drawing parallels between historical and current geopolitical tensions.

Key Discussions:

• Biden's Speech Content:
  Biden emphasized the ongoing risks to democracy, drawing comparisons between World War II and current events, including Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

  President Biden [28:46]: "We're living in a time when democracy is more at risk across the world than since the end of World War II..."

• Critique of Politicization:
  Ben Ferguson and Senator Cruz argue that Biden's speech was crafted to implicitly criticize Trump, suggesting that the President used the D-Day anniversary as a platform to attack political opponents.

  Ben Ferguson [32:04]: "Yeah, no, there's not. That's... Look, this White House does all politics all the time."

• Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's Reaction:
  Blinken responded by downplaying any political motives behind the speech, emphasizing the importance of honoring veterans and focusing on international alliances.

  Anthony Blinken [32:04]: "I agree that we want Russia to lose... But Joe Biden is Neville Chamberlain. He is the one who is weak. He is the appeaser."

Notable Quotes:

• Ted Cruz [25:34]: "He can't seem to figure that out in Israel because he's blocking weapons going to Israel..."

• Anthony Blinken [35:22]: "That was really cool. She's like 100 years old, but she was the original Rosie the Riveter in those ads..."

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Conclusion

In this episode of The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson, the discussion navigates through controversial topics surrounding Anthony Fauci's COVID-19 management, the legal challenges facing former President Donald Trump, and the politicization of President Biden's speech commemorating D-Day. The host and guests present a critical viewpoint on the actions and motivations of prominent political figures, emphasizing themes of arrogance, political manipulation, and the integrity of the justice system.

Listeners are encouraged to engage with these debates to form their own opinions on the current political climate shaping America today.

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Note: This summary excludes advertisements, introductory remarks, and concluding segments to focus solely on the content-rich discussions of the episode.

Transcript

[Ted Cruz]

Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Week in Review. Ben Ferguson with you. And my, oh my, did we have a week filled with some major stories. First up, Anthony Fauci was in front of Congress this week with exactly what you would expect from him. A man filled with arrogance, especially now as he's having to deal with the facts of how many things he got wrong when it came to COVID 19 and the lockdowns. Jim Jordan and others went after him. We're going to talk about that also this week. The judge and the Donald Trump trial made it very clear to the jury, I'm gonna let you find any path you want to give me a guilty verdict in that Donald Trump trial. We'll break down that a little bit as well. And finally, the 80th anniversary of D Day was this week. Senator Cruz was in Normandy for that anniversary, a special day. And now many are criticizing Biden, claiming that his speeches have been politicized to go after Donald Trump. Did it really happen that way? We'll talk to the senator about it. Who is there? It is the Weekend Review and it starts right now. You mentioned that he's unapologetic. Congressman Jim Jordan, good friend of the show here. He questioned Foushee on US Tax dollars going to a grant recipient to the lab directly in China. I want you to hear what he had to say when he was asked about this. It was, it was honestly a little bit shocking to hear. Just the arrog from Fauci prior to.

[Ben Ferguson]

That call would have been on the call.

[Anthony Fauci]

Well, the call was arranged by Jeremy Farrar. You should ask him.

[Ted Cruz]

Okay.

[Ben Ferguson]

Did US Tax dollars flow through a grant recipient to the lab in China?

[Anthony Fauci]

I'm sorry, what?

[Ben Ferguson]

Was the US Tax dollars flow through a grant recipient to the lab in China?

[Anthony Fauci]

Yes, of course. It was a sub award to the one.

[Ben Ferguson]

And who approved that award? Excuse me? And who approved that award? What agency approved that award?

[Anthony Fauci]

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

[Ted Cruz]

Your agency approved that, right?

[Anthony Fauci]

Yes, it did. After.

[Ben Ferguson]

Does that have anything to do with this down playing the lab leak theory? No, nothing to do with it.

[Anthony Fauci]

Nothing.

[Ben Ferguson]

What?

[Ted Cruz]

This is a guy that still wants you to believe that the lab leak theory was a theory and not reality and that this somehow came from a wet market there. And then the other question that was asked of him was from Representative Brad Winthrop, Republican from Ohio. This was the question he asked and listened to the anger from Fauci.

[Anthony Fauci]

The vaccine saved millions of lives and I want to thank you for your support and engagement on that. However, despite statements to the contrary, it did not stop transmission of the virus. Did the COVID vaccine stop transmission of the virus? That is a complicated issue because in the beginning, the first iteration of the vaccines did have an effect. Not 100%, not a high effect. They did prevent infection and subsequently, obviously, transmission. However, it's important to point out something that we did not know early on that became evident as the months went by, is that the durability of protection against infection and hence transmission was relatively limited, whereas the duration of protection against severe disease, hospitalization and deaths was more prolonged. We did not know that in the beginning. In the beginning, it was felt that in fact, it did prevent infection and thus transmission. But that was proven as time went by to not be a durable effect.

[Ted Cruz]

I mean, just theories like, well, I didn't really get it wrong. It was just, you know, the science that I'm in charge of was not what we thought it was. They'll never admit they really screwed up on any of this.

[Jim Jordan]

So, listen, let me give a moment of Benefit of the doubt to Fauci. I agree. When this pandemic was starting, people didn't.

[Ben Ferguson]

Know what we were facing, and people.

[Jim Jordan]

Were concerned and there were people dying. And in the face of a pandemic, I understand the decisions. Look, Donald Trump signed off on shutdowns early on. The decision to have shutdowns for a week or two.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah, it was two weeks, remember? To stop the spread.

[Jim Jordan]

Two weeks to stop the spread. In hindsight, that was a mistake, but I can understand why people made the decision. At the time, we didn't know. We didn't know what the spreading was. We didn't know about what the lethality was, and it was trying to save lives. If Fauci said, listen, we had limited information. We were trying to do steps to stop the spread of a contagious virus, and these were steps that made sense. That would not be a crazy thing to say, but by the way, he doesn't admit any mistakes. And what Fauci did that was fundamentally wrong is he elevated politics above science. If he admitted we didn't know at the time we made those decisions. In hindsight, some of those decisions were right, some were wrong. That would be rational. But his position is everything we did was right. Be glad we shut your schools down. Be glad your children didn't go to school for a year. Be glad their math scores and reading scores have dropped. Be glad that they will face learning loss for the rest of their lives. Be grateful that we, the benevolent dictators, did that. There is an arrogance this man, look, he publicly says, when you attack me, you are attacking the science because I am the science. There is an arrogance. He embodies the leftist arrogance. And to be clear, look, he. Early on, when people asked him, okay, our masks, do they make sense? He said, no, you shouldn't wear masks. They don't do any good. A mask is not going to stop the spread of a virus. And then going forward, he said, everyone's got to be masked. And he didn't explain the change. And by the way, when it came to the Wuhan lab, leap understand, Anthony Fauci personally funded the research that I believe created the COVID virus. He was desperate to cover his own ass. He was desperate to argue no came from a wet market. We now know that is false. But he reached out. He asked Mark Zuckerberg, will Facebook suppress any allegations that this came from a Chinese government lab? And to be clear, I want you to go back. If you look at this podcast, in March And April of 2020, right at the beginning of COVID we did two different podcasts on Verdict where we laid out the evidence. Then early on that I thought the clear evidence was this virus escaped from a government lab. I think that is now overwhelming. It is almost indisputable as strong, but it is clearly the overwhelming weight of the evidence is that it escaped from a Chinese government labor. And I think the majority of the evidence, this is not as strong, but I think it is greater than 50% is that this virus was deliberately created by the Chinese government. Now, I don't think they created it because they wanted people to die. I think they were creating it because they were engaged in research and they were irresponsible and reckless, but they took viruses and they made them that they engaged in gain of function research, which, which is they made them more deadly and they made them more transmissible to humans. And then I think the virus escaped and the world faced pandemic.

[Ted Cruz]

There's something else that's also very shocking, and that is Dr. Fauci was asked a very simple question, and I'll wrap with this, but it's an important one, and that was about the unvaccinated. And I want you to hear just some of the kind of disdain. They're still shaming the unvaccinated.

[Anthony Fauci]

Listen, yes, it's proven that.

[Ted Cruz]

And do you also agree that it.

[Anthony Fauci]

Saved hundreds of thousands and possibly millions.

[Ted Cruz]

Of lives in America and across the world?

[Anthony Fauci]

That is absolutely correct. And it's very clear that it saved millions of lives here and throughout the world. The Europeans have done the same studies that we have and the data are incontrovertible that they save lives, sir.

[Ted Cruz]

And do you think the American public should listen to America's brightest and best doctors and scientists or instead listen to podcasters, conspiracy theorists and unhinged Facebook memes?

[Anthony Fauci]

Listening to people who you just described is going to do nothing but harm people because they will deprive themselves of life saving interventions, which has happened. And you know, some have done studies. Peter Hotez has done an analysis of this and shows that in people who refuse to get vaccinated for any variety of reasons, probably responsible for an additional 2 to 300,000 deaths in this.

[Ted Cruz]

An additional 2 to 300,000 deaths in this country, they're still shaming anyone that asks a question. Remember the Ivermectin? Oh, you guys are taking horse dewormers. I mean the list goes on and on.

[Jim Jordan]

And by the way, in a subsequent pod, we should play Chris Cuomo when he was called out for his lying on Ivermectin. But it is the corporate media crawled in bed with Anthony Fauci, crawled in bed with the left wing, dishonest, political, scientific, medical world and they just lied to people. And I will say if you look at something like Covid vaccines for children, for children under six, there was zero scientific evidence to back that. I get why someone who was 80 or 90 or even someone who was 50 or 60 made the decision to get the COVID vaccine. Because look, you could make a rational cost benefit analysis that we don't know everything about this vaccine. There are risks to it, but we also know this is a very infectious disease and they're particularly for people who are health compromised. It can be really damaging. And so people who are older could make a rational decision to get the vaccine. For a five or six year old, I think there was no rational decision to give a child that because the.

[Ted Cruz]

Rate fatality is behind that as there was behind the six foot rule which apparently he's admitted now. Yeah, we just kind of made it up.

[Jim Jordan]

He just, just made it up. And it, this was all about politics and power and Fauci was willing to put politics and power above medicine and science.

[Ted Cruz]

Now if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week. Now on to story number two.

[Ben Ferguson]

The jury was just told, well, if it, if it could influence the election, you got to find it's a violation of law.

[Jim Jordan]

That is flat out false.

[Ben Ferguson]

And they were not told if Trump had done what Alvin Bragg said he needed to do.

[Jim Jordan]

The FEC would have charged him with.

[Ben Ferguson]

A personal use violation, with using campaign funds illegally. The jury didn't know that because the judge didn't want him to know that.

[Ted Cruz]

And that's why they said you can't come and testify.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yes, and he also prevented the lawyers from arguing this, by the way. So that was one ground. The other two grounds, that could be unlawful means, and you could have three jurors on one and five on another and four, they could mix and match the other ground.

[Ted Cruz]

Have you ever heard of a jury where that was okay, I don't think people understand. It's weird that usually it's you either got to be all in lockstep or you're not. So it's either you're innocent or guilty because the 12 agree and. Or if they disagree, one of them disagrees, we're done.

[Ben Ferguson]

Find the elements of the crime, he.

[Ted Cruz]

Said, find your own path to guilty.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, whatever you want. The objective is guilty. You come up with however you want to get there. All right, so one was the federal campaign finance law, and his instructions are woefully deficient. He only includes part of the rule. He leaves out the other half, which is explains why Trump shouldn't have done so. And it would have been a mistake to do it the way the prosecutor wanted him to, and he would have.

[Jim Jordan]

Been charged with it.

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, it would have been. He would have been violating the law to do what Alvin Bragg is saying he should have done. Another supposed basis of unlawful means was falsification of other business records. The second of the people's theories. This is from the jury instruction. The second of the people's theories of unlawful means, which I will define for you now, is the falsification of other business records for purposes of determining whether falsifying business records in the second degree was an unlawful means used by a conspiracy to promote or prevent election. Here you may consider the bank records associated with Michael Cohen's account formation, the bank records association with Michael Cohen's wire to Keith Davidson, the invoice from Investor Advisory services, and the 1099 misc form the Trump Organization issued to Michael Cohen. So, in other words, there are 34 counts of false business records. They're all the identical charge. They just occur 34 different times, 34 different entries in the bookmarks. What he's saying is, you know what, every one of these is a misdemeanor. But if you say you made one of these entries to assist in another of these entries, then they're all felonies.

[Ted Cruz]

Wow.

[Ben Ferguson]

Like, it is the most circular reasoning that just makes no sense. And by the way, let's go to the third one, because the third one just makes me laugh out loud. The People's Third theory of unlawful means, which I will define for you now, is a violation of tax laws. Under New York State and New York City law, it is unlawful to knowingly supply or submit materially false or fraudulent information in connection with any tax return. Likewise, under federal law, it is unlawful for a person to willfully make any tax return statement or other document that is fraudulent or false as to any material matter, or that the person does not believe to be true and correct as to every material matter. Now listen to this last sentence. Under these federal, state and local laws, such conduct is unlawful even if it does not result in the underpayment of taxes. So in other words, he told the jury, by the way, you can find a violation of tax laws even if you paid. You didn't pay any less taxes even if you didn't defraud anyone, even if you're not using it to cheat on your taxes. If you think there's something in the tax laws. And by the way, there is no person on planet Earth who understands all of the tax laws. You know, there was a book that was written years ago called Three Felonies a Day, and it argues that all of us living in this complex world commit three felonies a day. Between tax laws and environmental laws, there's just so much regulations. If you are doing anything, if you're filling out a credit card application, an aggressive prosecutor can find three felonies a day that Ben Ferguson has committed. In this instance, that jury instruction says, well, if you can figure out, if you think there was any violation, come.

[Ted Cruz]

Up with your own theory.

[Ben Ferguson]

Basically, come up with your own theory. And by the way, the violation of tax law doesn't have to have taken a penny of taxes from New York City, New York State, or the federal government. And if you think there was some amorphous violation of tax law that didn't result in any underpayment of taxes, suddenly, presto changio, these misdemeanors that we can't prosecute, the statute of limitations extended, they're now felonies. And we can sentence Donald Trump to 100 years in jail. 134 years in jail.

[Ted Cruz]

In other words, Orange man bad. Find your way to figure out how to say he's guilty.

[Ben Ferguson]

That's exactly what this was all about. This is politics. It'll get reversed on appeal. But the judge doesn't care. He knows that the purpose is what Alex Soros said. The purpose is what Joe Biden said. The purpose is all the Democrats and all the media get to call him a felon over and over and over again between now and Election Day. This is a five month battle. It's not a five year battle. The purpose is not to put Donald Trump in jail. They know that's not going to happen, cost the election they are trying to win. They. This is about keeping Joe Biden, the Democrats in power because it's all they care about and they're willing to burn the justice system to the ground.

[Ted Cruz]

Senator, final question for you. And this goes back to the last podcast. You were conflicted on what Trump's plan should be next. Do you go to the Supreme Court? Do you try to get there quickly, or is there a way to force this case moving forward? Now, knowing the jury instructions and what they were given, and most importantly, what they had admitted from them, does this open up any different legal pathway for the Trump team to say, okay, we need to get this seen even quicker? So it isn't, hey, we got what we wanted. We could say, you're a convicted felon all the way through Election Day. Can this speed up the process or no?

[Ben Ferguson]

So let me answer that. But let me answer that in connection to a question that people ask quite a bit, which is, what's the sentence gonna be? We've got the sentence. We know that is just a few days before the Republican Convention. And a lot of folks are asking, is the judge gonna sentence Trump to jail time? I think there's a very real chance the judge sentenced Trump to jail time. I think this is a vicious partisan. I think he hates Donald Trump. I think he's willing to abuse his power. But I will wager large sums of money, regardless of what he sentences him to, jail time or something else, that if there is incarceration, he will suspend it pending appeal. I think that I could see the judge at sentencing saying, I sentence you to four years in jail or 40. No, no, I don't think he would. I do think you've got four years for each of these 34 counts, is the maximum amount. Typically, they would run concurrently, which means they would all run at the same time. You could run them consecutively, which is how you get over 100 years in any ordinary circumstance. Number one, a judge of Trump's age that does not have any prior offenses in New York would never serve a day of jail time in any other case. I mean, look, you can physically assault someone. You can repeatedly, violently beat people up. You can engage in all sorts of crimes and not serve jail time in New York. That being said, I think it's entirely possible this judge is enough of a partisan to say, you're the president. What you did mattered. I'm sentencing you to four years in jail. I could see him. He would love that. That would be the crowning moment of his life to utter those words.

[Ted Cruz]

It'd also be useful politically because then not only can you say he's a convicted felon, but then you can say, do you want a guy going to the White House that's about to go to jail? Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

So what I do not think he will do is sentence him to jail and, say, take him into custody and put him there right now. He could, but I think if he did that, it would prompt an immediate emergency appeal and he would get reversed. I assume this guy is smart enough to know that he doesn't want to get reversed, and he especially does not want to get reversed before Election Day. He's engaged in politics, so he's not going to do something. I think that will prompt an immediate reversal because that undermines the political value of the charade that he's conducting. So if the sentence is imprisonment or it could be home confinement, if the sentence is something like that, I think he'll suspend it pending the resolution of the appeal. In that case, I think the odds are quite high this appeal will have to go through the New York State system first. We talked about in Friday's pod, and by the way, you should go back and listen to Friday's pod. We did Friday's pod late Thursday night. We did it on the road as I was driving from Dallas to Houston. It was right after the verdict came down, and it was analyzing the next steps in much greater detail than we have in this pod. And so you ought to listen to the two pods together. But the ordinary course of appeal would be to appeal from the trial court to the intermediate appellate court in New York in the state court system. And then if you lose in the intermediate appellate court, to appeal to the top appellate court in New York called the New York Court of Appeals. And then finally, if you lose there, then you can appeal to the U.S. supreme Court. That's normally how a criminal case would proceed. It is possible you can file an extraordinary writ to ask the U.S. supreme Court to intervene right now. But it is very, very, very rare. There is a chance, and as I'm sure the Trump legal team is Debating this right now, there's a chance the court would say yes, but I think it's probably unlikely. I think the court's instinct, particularly if a sentence is suspended, if the judge ordered Trump put in jail, the Supreme Court would say yes. It would force the court to say yes. So if the sentence is suspended and Trump is free to campaign, free to debate, free to go to the convention, I think the justice's instincts will be, you know what? The New York State courts might correct this. The Court of Appeals might reverse this, the intermediate court of appeals might reverse this. They might get it right. And there's a long ethos at the court, which is, if we don't need to act, we don't need to act. If someone else can fix this, if another level of the justice system can fix this, the US Supreme Court doesn't need to step in. That's their general approach. If they were to deny the extraordinary writ, I suspect you would have some justices right, and say something like, there are lots of reasons to be concerned here, but right now, the sentence is suspended, the verdict can be overturned on appeal, and so we'll allow the state, state proceedings to go forward. If there was an order of immediate incarceration, it would force their hands. I think the whole game here from the DA and from the judge, is the political advantage not actually sending Trump to jail. They know these jury instructions will never survive an appeal. If you had anything resembling fairness in the judicial system, the New York Courts of Appeal should reverse it, I gotta say, based on the absolute disgrace we just saw play out. I have no confidence of that. The New York justice system is, I suspect, forever a global laughingstock. And you put this on top of the prior civil case where they took a half billion dollars. They're trying to take half a billion dollars from Trump. The combination, the message New York has said, is if we don't like you, if you are politically disfavored, welcome to Communist Cuba. We will treat you the same, and you have the same rights as you would have locked, locked in a gulag as before.

[Ted Cruz]

If you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing. I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed. I want to go to the president's speech. Lloyd Austin spoke, and then the president spoke, and I actually played some of that on my show. And I said this at the beginning. I said, I always root for, for the president of the United States of America, on moments like this, on todays like this, to have an amazing speech. And I root for the President always, my President always, when it comes to national security issues especially, and when it comes to honoring our men and women in uniform. And the President gave a speech, and I was watching it with the best of intentions. I wanted to root for, for this speech. But there were some moments in that speech that caught me a little bit by surprise. And I wanted to know your thoughts on this. There was a couple points where Biden tried to invoke Ukraine. And he also said this, which the media even picked up on. Here's what he had to say during the speech about democracy in America. Now, the question for us is, in our hour of trial, will we do ours? We're living in a time when democracy is more at risk across the world. Then they point since the end of World War II, since these beaches were stormed in 1944. Now we have to ask ourselves, will we stand against tyranny, against evil, against crushing brutality of the iron fist? We stand for freedom. We defend democracy. We stand together. My answer is yes. It only can be yes. That was an interesting point for me because he said democracy is more at risk now than at any point since World War II. He talked about it on a domestic side, which was implying, I think Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. And then he implied it with obviously Russia and Ukraine. And I wanted your reaction to that.

[Anthony Blinken]

You know, I'm going to say this is an interesting example of having a different reaction to something when you're physically there versus watching it on TV or watching it on Twitter. Look, I know on the way after the speech, like looking at Twitter and people's reactions, I know people are upset that they view Biden as politicizing it. I gotta say, it didn't feel that political being there in person. And maybe it's because, frankly, you're paying attention to the veterans and the heroes you're in front of. And it's so dominated things that, you know what Biden said, he barely paid attention to it. Like it was not. It wasn't the dominant event of the day. And, you know, it was fine. He said, okay, you know, what was actually stood out much more to me than anything Biden said.

[Ted Cruz]

What was that was.

[Anthony Blinken]

Macron did something that was really cool, which is he awarded the French Legion of Honor to. It was about eight or ten American GIs. And he, you know, and each of them, they were almost all in wheelchairs. Each of them would stand for it. And they're teetering, and they'd have someone helping them, but they wanted to stand. And he would pin on their chest the French Legion of Honor. That I wasn't expecting. And that was just powerful. That was just like. He was literally. And then it was funny. Macron would lean in and he would kiss them on both cheeks, as is the French way. And you could kind of see these old dudes being like, hey, why is this French guy kisses? But you know, you're being awarded the French Legion of Honor. That's a pretty damn big deal. And you think about it, for someone who was 19 and. And was right there, I mean, understand, we're doing this, like, right next to the beaches where they saw their friends die, right next to the beaches where I'm going to have to assume that was the most hellish day they've ever experienced or was certainly one of them. Although those that continue to fight in the war, there may have been others that rivaled it. But, you know, you think about it, imagine being 100 years old and the President of France thanking you for liberating France and pinning the Legion of Honor on your chest. It was. Most of us had tears in our eyes during that.

[Ted Cruz]

Anthony Blinken came out afterwards. He did an interview from Normandy with the backdrop behind him of many of the heroes and the crosses of those tombstones of so many that lost their lives. He had this to say, marking the 80th anniversary of D Day. And I want to get your reaction.

[Mika Brzezinski]

And joining us now from Normandy, the United States Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken. Thank you very much for joining us here on Morning Joe. What should our allies and enemies take away from the president's speech this morning in Normandy?

[Joe Scarborough]

The same resolve that the extraordinary men and women that we're celebrating today showed then, he's showing now because they did what they did. We're here today, and we not only have responsibility to honor what they did, but the real way to honor it is to make sure that we're good in our time, in our moment, in standing up to the challenges that we face. And one of those we see now is aggression from Russia, not only against Ukraine, but against the very principles at the heart of the international system that were put in place after World War II to try to make sure that we didn't have another world war, that we maintain peace and security. And president's determined to make sure we're standing up today, just as they stood up 80 years ago.

[Mika Brzezinski]

And the President talked about Ukraine as one of the current challenges that exemplify the fight against dark forces that never fade. And he made another, yet another commitment. He reinforced the commitment to Ukraine. And by the way, if I may, we're watching live pictures right now of President Biden and the first lady walking through the cemetery in Normandy, France. And as we look at these pictures, which really symbolize the losses 80 years ago on D Day, and talk about the losses that Ukraine is incurring right now from the same type of aggression, the President did say that the support for Ukraine would continue, that we will be there for Ukraine. How does that. How does that parallel with some of the reticence we have seen in Washington that actually delayed the much needed aid Ukraine needed to push back against Russian aggression?

[Joe Scarborough]

Well, you know, Mika, that age should have gotten there a long time ago, but I'm glad it's there now. And it's making a difference every single day. We're pushing it out to the front lines, making sure the Ukrainians who need it against this Russian aggression have it and can use it. But, you know, there's a really powerful parallel, too, between what we're commemorating today and what we're doing now. Back then, it wasn't just the United States. Here in Normandy, 12 countries came together, 160,000 men coming to this beach, coming to start the final fight that ultimately, 11 months later, led to victory in World War II. In Ukraine, we have more than 50 countries standing up, standing together, making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself and to push back this aggression. And that's the power of our alliances. And that's the biggest difference maker we have in the world. Our adversaries, our competitors, they don't have the same kind of voluntary alliances. Yes, sometimes they coerce countries into helping them, or maybe they pay them off. Here we have country after country that volunteers to stand together, stand together in defense of principles that we share, and no need defending. We're seeing that in Ukraine. We saw that 80 years ago here in Normandy.

[Ted Cruz]

You listen to that. It was very clear that NBC was wanting to make that. And. And Blinken wanted to make that connection. And this deals with the reality of Foreign Policy Center. He said his exact quote, there's a really powerful parallel between D Day and the Ukraine.

[Anthony Blinken]

Yeah, no, there's not. That's. Look, this White House does all politics all the time. It's what they do. They spin, spin, spin. And the two are fundamentally different. You know, I wish they would treat a solemn commemoration like this, for what it is, a solemn commemoration, and not treat it as another day of politics. Now, I will say President Zelensky was there. He was at the event. And so that did add some of the focus to it. And actually, I think tomorrow we're going to be sitting down and meeting with President Zelensky. And listen, I agree that we want Russia to lose, that Russia is our enemy. Now, Vladimir Putin is not Adolf Hitler. He's our enemy. But he doesn't have concentration camps where he's murdering 6 million people right now. Yeah, he is our enemy and he does not wish us well. And so I think Vladimir Putin is a KGB thug. It's in America's interest for Russia to lose. But, and we've talked about this at great length on the pod, it is Joe Biden's fault and Tony Blinken's fault the Ukraine war happened in the first place. Joe Biden gave multibillion dollar gifts to Vladimir Putin when he waived sanctions on The Nord Stream 2 pipeline sanctions that I authored. I wrote the legislation, wrote them into law, and Putin stopped building that pipeline the day President Trump signed my sanctions legislation. If Biden had not waived those sanctions, the war in Ukraine would not have happened. If Donald Trump were still in the White House, the war in Ukraine would not have happened. It's Joe Biden's weakness that caused the war in Ukraine. And by the way, as much as Biden and Blinken want to see themselves as Churchill and FDR, if there is a World War II analogy, then Biden is Neville Chamberlain. He is the one who is weak. He is the appeaser. He is the one who gave billions to Russia. He is the one who gives billions to Iran. He's the one that constantly shows weakness to our enemies, which is why we went from peace and prosperity, what he inherited three and a half years ago, to two simultaneous wars playing out across the face of the globe. And look, I'm glad Biden says he stands for freedom against tyranny. He can't seem to figure that out in Israel because he's blocking weapons going to Israel and at the same time flowing money to Iran that goes to Hamas. And so when it comes to freedom and tyranny, he manages to be on the wrong side of that an awful lot.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah, no doubt about it. I'm really thankful that you got to be there and we got to talk about this and honor our amazing, brave men who went and fought and the women that were involved as well.

[Anthony Blinken]

Oh, by the way, you know who I met? I met the original Rosie the Riveter.

[Ted Cruz]

No way. No way.

[Anthony Blinken]

That was really cool. She's like 100 years old, but she was the original Rosie the Riveter in those add, you know, drumming up support for the military. That was very cool.

[Ted Cruz]

As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download my podcast. And you can listen to my podcast every other day. You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson Podcast. And we will see you back here on Monday morning.