← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Gaetz Withdraws as AG, the ICC Tries to Arrest Netanyahu & The View Melts Down
00:32:24
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- [00:01]
A
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. Senator. I think the big headline. Everybody knows what that is. It is official. Matt Gaetz has formally withdrawn his name for consideration for the Attorney General position. And President Elect Donald Trump's incoming administration.
- [00:22]
B
Well, that was stunning news that. That broke yesterday afternoon. I'll tell you in the Senate. I don't think anyone expected it. It came over the wire and. And it. The day before, I had sat down and met with Matt Gaetz. So I'm going to talk about that. I'm going to talk about that nomination and what's coming next for the Department of Justice. Additionally, this week, we saw the stunning news that the International Criminal Court, the icc, has issued arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and for the Israeli Defense Minister. This is an abomination. It is an attack on Israel. It is an attack on America. We're going to break it down. We're going to break down what the response of the federal government should be, what Donald Trump is gonna do about it. And we're also gonna break down how Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's weakness is what produced this abomination. And finally, we're gonna talk about how so much of the corporate media, they're just losing their minds. We're gonna close with the View and the harridans on the View just. Just in absolute misery that Donald Trump has been reelected, that he is going to be the 47th president of the United States. And sadly, it's a pattern we're seeing across the corporate media and with elected Democrats where they learn nothing from the election and their response is just absolute rage and despair.
- [01:45]
A
Yeah, that audio, we're going to play it for you a little bit. You don't want to miss it. Want to talk to you real quick about the uscca. And if you carry a firearm, you need to be a member of the uscca. I carry a firearm virtually everywhere I go, and protecting myself is my number one priority and my family. I've had to use a firearm to save my life when I was a victim of a gun crime. And I wish I would have been a member and known about the USCCA when that happened. Now, there's a reason why there's over 800,000Americans that are members of the USCCA, because not only do you get access when you're a member to their protector academy to learn skills like precision shooting and also how to fortify your home against criminals, but you also get access. And this for me, is the Most important to 247 critical response team and the included benefit of self defense liability insurance to make sure you and your family are prepared for anything every day. There are law abiding citizens that have to use their second amendment rights. You want to make sure you have someone protecting you when you exercise those rights. And there are a lot of activist DAs right now. They do not like law abiding citizens carrying firearms. And that is why the USCC is so important. Now here's the other cool thing. For a limited time, if you text the word America to 87222, that's 87222, you're going to get the USCCA's free life saving Concealed carry and family defense guide. You're also going to get a chance to win seventeen hundred dollars to buy any self defense gear that you need before it's too late. So text the word right Now America to 87222 right now. All right, center. So you met with Matt Gaetz yesterday. Less than 24 hours later, Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his nomination. Let's paint the picture for some of you that listen to the show that say, how does this work? Because it was an interesting meeting. The vice president elect was in the meeting as well. From what I understand, he was walking around Capitol Hill with Matt. When you, when you see each other and you know both of these men, how does it work? Does he come into your office? Is it just the three? Do you close the do? Walk us through how that meeting works.
- [04:01]
B
Well, in the past week, Matt Gaetz had met with all of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee. And so he reached out and his team reached out, asked for a meeting. Of course we said yes. And so I met with Matt on Wednesday afternoon, early evening and the meeting, he was in the meeting and then JD Vance was accompanying him to all of those meetings as well. And so we met actually at a room in the Capitol. They were holed up in a room in the Capitol. And I came and sat down and met with them about a half hour meeting. And it was a very positive and substantive meeting. I will say I did not know Matt Gaetz. I've met him I think once or twice before, basically in a green room before going on a hit on Fox. But I'd never, never had a conversation with him. So when I sat down to meet him, it was the first time I'd ever had a substantive conversation with him. And we had, as I said, I think a worthwhile conversation. The bulk of what we talked about is I asked him. What's your vision for doj? Look, I don't know that there is a more important appointment that President Trump will make than the appointment to be Attorney General. In particular, because under Joe Biden, the Department of justice has been so corrupted, so politicized, so weaponized, that we need a strong Attorney General to come in and clean house, to come in and restore integrity to the Department of Justice. That is not gonna be an easy task. And so much of what I was asking him is, look, how do you get that done? How do you take on the hardcore partisans that have burrowed into career positions throughout doj? How do you deal with that? How do you ensure that the Department of Justice does what it is designed to do, which is to enforce the law, regardless of party? Let me be clear. I don't want a Republican Department of Justice. I don't want a Democrat Department of Justice. I want a Department of justice that enforces the law regardless of party. And that is not an easy task. And so what I was mostly doing is asking him, how would you get that done? How would you take it on? What in your background has prepared you to do that? What's your vision? How would you execute it? I also asked quite a few questions about. Listen, President Trump has a big and bold agenda, and he has a major mandate from the voters on election Day. As Attorney General, how would you go about advising the President how to effectively implement his agenda? Listen, everything the President tries to do over the next four years, Democrats are going to sue him, blue states are going to sue him, left wing attorney generals are going to sue him, special interest groups are going to sue him. And so we need a Department of justice that is smart and savvy and knows how to defend that litigation, knows how to prevail, and knows how to implement a litigation strategy that, number one, defends the policies of the President and the administration. But number two, that has a real vision. A real vision. Listen, this president was elected with a mandate, among other things, to rein in out of control job killing regulations, to rein in the administrative state. That is a major objective of President Trump and this new administration. It's a major objective of mine. And there are gonna be big legal challenges to doing so. I think President Trump needs an Attorney General who can give smart, serious advice on how to carry that out.
- [07:50]
A
So when you have these conversations, did you know that there was a chance that within 20 hours of you having that meeting, less than that, that Matt Gaetz was gonna pull out? And what was the word on Capitol Hill?
- [08:04]
B
No idea. At all. And it was, as I said, the meeting that I had with him was very positive. And I came out, there were hoarder reporters that were in the hallway that were waiting with bated breath. How'd the meeting go? How'd the meeting go? And what I told them there is. I said, look, it was a very productive meeting, and I think Matt Gaetz is entitled to a full and fair confirmation process. He needs to have a hearing. He needs to have a hearing quickly. We need to move. The Senate needs to move expeditiously, move forward with a confirmation of all of President Trump's cabinet members. That'll get started. The hearings will get started early in January. The hearings will get started, actually, before President Trump is sworn in, because the new Senate, we will be sworn in at the beginning of January. So we'll have two and a half weeks where the new Senate is in office. But Trump has not yet been sworn in because he doesn't become president until January 20th. So we'll begin hearings of major Cabinet appointees starting in early January. You can't vote them out of committee then, because they're not formally nominated until Trump becomes president and nominates them. So there is a. You can't confirm someone before they're nominated, but you can do the hearing and you can get prepared. So as soon as they're nominated, you can vote and confirm them. And I think we need to move expeditiously to do that. But I gotta say, on Thursday afternoon, when the news broke, it was a complete surprise to me. I think it was a surprise to anybody. If anybody knew about it, they certainly didn't indicate that they did. And it. I, you know, I found out over Twitter, it just, you know, Gates put out a statement. And, you know, I was in a meeting, and I got text. I got a text over the phone that just sent me the Twitter statement. I was like, wow, okay. And I think most senators were very surprised. Now, my assumption is that Gates did so because he and the team, the Trump team, perceives some real difficulties in Senate confirmation. And there certainly have been multiple senators who express significant concern about Gaetz's background. I don't know if he would have had the votes to be confirmed or not. But his statement that he put out what it said, and I'll just read the statement that Gates put out on X. He said, quote, I had excellent meetings with senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump Vance transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle. Thus, I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump's DOJ must be in place and ready on day one. I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful president in history. I will forever be honored, honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice, and I'm certain he will save America. So that was his statement. And as I said, I think in particular, the timing was a surprise to most, if not every senator.
- [11:23]
A
When you look at moving forward politically, what is the best move now for the president? Is that is to take his time? Or do you expect we're going to name pretty quickly so you can move on from the gate story and say, hey, that's old news. Let's go to the next thing. I got to get somebody in there, because, as you mentioned, this is a hearing for whoever the next nominee is that needs to be on the books, and they need to be having the meetings that you were literally having 24 hours ago.
- [11:50]
B
Yeah, look, I expect they will move relatively quickly. I will say it's more important to get it right than to get it super fast. As I said, I don't know that there's a more important appointment that Trump will make than Attorney General. And it needs to be a serious lawyer. It needs to be someone with integrity, it needs to be someone with legal savvy, and it needs to be someone with. With a steel backbone. And so, look, there were multiple press reports of different people that Trump had interviewed that he was looking at. One of the people who was reported in the press reports is a guy named Bob Giffra. I know Bob very well. Bob is the head of Sullivan Cromwell, which is one of the biggest law firms in the country. It's based in New York. And Bob was a former law clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist. And I've known Bob for 30 years, and he's a smart, serious lawyer who would certainly be up to the task if that's who Trump decided to nominate. There were other names that were tossed around. There was some discussion about Mike Lee. I think Mike Lee would do a terrific job. I don't think Mike is interested in the job, but I think he'd be terrific if he was willing to do it. But I think what is really important is that they get it right and, and they appoint someone who is prepared to really turn around the battleship that is the Department of Justice and bring it back to what it's supposed to be.
- [13:22]
A
I've got my short list and I'm looking over it. And I was having this conversation earlier. All right, what's next? And I'm going to ask the question that I think the majority of people listening right now are thinking in their head, too. Why not a guy by the name of Senator Ted Cruz from Texas? He's an attorney, he knows the Constitution backwards and forwards and maybe even can write it in different languages, for goodness sakes. That's how well you know it. And there are people that are going to be sitting here the same way I am going like this screams Senator Ted Cruz is your name. Should that. I mean, would you look at that if it was a, if it was a conversation? Because I have you at the top of my list, not because I know you, but because I think you could do the job incredibly well.
- [14:07]
B
Well, look, it is certainly humbling to be discussed in that context, and I appreciate it. I am not interested in the job. I am going to stay right where I am. I'm going to stay in the United States Senate. As you know, I'm getting ready to be the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. You know, I just got an incredible responsibility and mandate from the people of Texas. 30 million Texans made the decision to reelect me and send me to the Senate to fight. And frankly, I think in the US Senate, the Senate is going to be the battlefield for many of the victories that we need to win over the next four years. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for securing the border. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for cutting taxes and simplifying the tax code. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for repealing job killing regulations. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for strengthening our national security, for standing with Israel, for defeating Hamas and Hezbollah, for standing up to China. And I think I am frankly more needed in the Senate. I think I could have a bigger and more lasting impact in the Senate. And so I care intensely who's going to be Attorney General. And I hope it is someone very strong, very capable. And I fully expect to work closely with whomever Trump appoints, but it ain't going to be me.
- [15:29]
A
Final question on this. And, and that deals with the other nominees. What do you expect when it comes to meetings? I mean, is, is it, is it going to be locked and loaded with other nominees, or is this one still going to take precedent if it's named quickly? And how does that order of who you meet with work?
- [15:47]
B
Well, it. It tends to vary committee by committee. So Matt Gaetz, for example, was meeting with the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, and the reason is obvious, which is the Attorney General goes first to the Judiciary Committee, The Judiciary Committee holds the hearing, and then you have to be voted out of committee, and then it goes to the floor of the Senate. There are other people. For example, Pete Hegseth has been nominated for Secretary of Defense. I assume Pete is meeting with members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, because Senate Armed Services Committee would be the committee that would hold his confirmation hearings. And you naturally prioritize meeting with members of the committee. So for each Cabinet appointee, that's going to be decided initially by what is the committee of jurisdiction that will hold the confirmation hearing, and that will have oversight jurisdiction. So for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, we've got jurisdiction over a lot of the federal government. The Secretary of Commerce will come before our committee. The Secretary of Transportation will come before our committee. The chairman and the commissioners of the FTC of the fcc, they'll all come before our committee. The administrator of the faa, the administrator of NASA will come before our committee. And so all of those various folks will naturally meet with members of the Commerce Committee on Foreign Affairs. Marco Rubio has been nominated to be Secretary of State. He's naturally going to meet with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Now, that one's a little bit different because Marco's on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, so am I. I know Marco very well. We were sort of talking and laughing about. I mean, it's a different. I think Marco's gonna be confirmed quite easily. That being said, they will systematically initially meet with the senators on the committee of jurisdiction. And normally you meet with the other side as well. Normally you meet with. I would expect them to meet certainly with the Democrats on the committee that has jurisdiction. And then depending on the position, they will meet with others as well. And so it's not uniform. Every Cabinet nominee doesn't meet with all hundred Senators. But depending on the degree of importance of the nomination and who the individual senator is, if they have particular equities or they're particularly involved in a subject matter, then there would be those meetings as well. But that's. That's on more of an ad hoc basis.
- [18:16]
A
Want to talk to you about our friends at the ifcj. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is wishing you a blessed thanksgiving as you gather with your families, grateful for the blessings that God has given us all. But let's also remember those who are facing unbelievable hardship, in need of food, fellowship and hope. That includes the people of Israel who are threatened daily by attacks from enemies now on all sides. And during these hard times, Israelis are thankful for the fellowship, for food and basic assistance. We're talking about truly life saving aid when the rest of the world seems to have turned its back on them. Your gift of $25 will help provide a food box to an elderly Jew or a Jewish family who are suffering and in desperate need. A hundred hours will help provide four of these life saving food boxes this Thanksgiving. Please consider standing with Israel and the Jewish people. And how do you do that? By going to supportifcj.org to make a gift right now that supportifcj.org or you can call them and give your gift over the phone. 888-488-IFCJ. That's 8884-8843-2588-8488 IFCJ or go to supportifcj.org center. I want to pull an audible real quick because I, I should have mentioned this earlier, but as we were just talking about Israel, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Galant. And they also, they're like, oh yeah, we threw in a Hamas guy too. So it looks like we're being equal here. This is a shocking attack by the ICC on Netanyahu and also one that makes it very tough for him to travel more than likely the way he needs to because of the threat of being arrested, for example, if he is traveling to many parts of Europe.
- [20:20]
B
Well, it is an absolute outrage. And the ICC already had very, very questionable legitimacy. But, but with this decision, the International Criminal Court has just become a kangaroo court. And frankly, that's not fair to kangaroos. I mean, it is an absolute, this is a political act of anti Israel hatred and antisemitism that sadly infests so many of our international institutions that just hate Israel profoundly. And I believe the United States, we should impose sanctions on every individual involved in issuing this arrest warrant, from the prosecutor to the judges to everyone involved. They should be sanctioned by the United States government. We should also make clear that we will sanction anyone who attempts to enforce this arrest war. And if you're a French prosecutor, be prepared to have American sanctions put on you if you try to enforce this utterly lawless arrest warrant. And understand the reason that the ICC did this is because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's incredible weakness. Listen, the ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel. Israel's not a party to the icc. It also has no jurisdiction over the United States of America. And understand, this is a threat, not just against Israel, although it is very much that. But this is a threat against America. This is a threat against the people who hate America. Imagine these same bigots who hate Israel, how much they would love to issue an arrest warrant for Donald Trump or for the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense of the United States. And it is only because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are so weak that the ICC felt empowered to issue this. It's not an accident that this came out after the presidential election, but before Trump was sworn in. That is when the enemies of Israel and the enemies of America historically have done some of the worst actions against the United States and against Israel. It is when, if you remember, at the end of Obama, the last time we were in this comparable moment, which is a Democratic administration, was ending and Donald Trump was getting ready to be sworn in as president. That would have been November and December of 2016. Right after the election, Obama was leaving. And remember what the Obama administration did? They orchestrated UN Resolution 2334, which is one of the most shameful resolutions ever to be voted on in the United Nations. And the Obama administration, this resolution denounced much of modern Israel as illegitimate and illegally occupied. It denounced the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem as illegitimate and illegally occupied. It denounced the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem as illegally occupied and illegitimate. And. And what happened is the Obama State Department orchestrated it. They got others to push it, and. And they just stood back and abstained. And I will tell you, this week, I had a classified briefing with Tony Blinken, the Secretary of State, and I asked him very directly in that briefing, is the Biden administration gonna do the same thing? Because last time y'all did that, it profoundly hurt Israel. It was used by the enemies of Israel to justify all sorts of targeting against the people of Israel. And I'm very concerned the Biden administration is going to try to orchestrate something similar at the United Nations. We had a vote this week that actually the Biden administration blocked, to their credit, where the UN was trying to call for an immediate ceasefire of the war against Hamas. But they did not include within it a demand that the hostages be released. And the Biden administration vetoed it without the hostages being released as part of the language. But I'm worried in the next two months that they will try to do something very similar to what happened in December of 2016 with 2334. And I think that this ICC arrest warrant is shameful. I also think the incoming Trump administration is going to stand very strongly against this absolutely disgraceful decision.
- [24:47]
A
Thune came out and threatened the International Criminal Court with sanctions if it doesn't drop the Netanyahu warrant for arrest. But he also called on Schumer to not wait for the Republicans to get in charge to do the right thing and to do something now on this, he said if Majority Leader Schumer does not act, the Senate Republicans majority will stand with our key ally, Israel, and make this and other supportive legislation a top priority in the next Congress. Is there a chance that Schumer could actually lead on this, as Thum called on him to do and said, don't make us wait till January do the right thing now for Israel?
- [25:26]
B
I think the chances are virtually zero. So the House has passed legislation to do exactly that, and Schumer has refused to take it up. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, we have had legislation before us from Jim Risch, who's getting ready to be the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee to do exactly that, to sanction the ICC for doing this. And the Democrats have refused to take it up. It's basically shut down the Foreign Relations Committee for the last six months because the Democrats have blocked legislation standing up to the icc. And look, this is the unfortunate reality that in today's Democrat Party, there is a pro Hamas. Thanks. Faction of the Democrat Party. And I don't think that is hyperbole. It is tragically the case. They are the ones cheering. We just had votes this week that Bernie Sanders pushed on the floor to cut off weapons to Israel, to cut off 32,000 tank rounds to Israel, to cut off over 50,000 mortar cartridges to Israel to cut off. To cut off the kits that are used to make precision bombs. Now, understand, the argument of the leftist is that when Israel is bombing Hamas or Hezbollah, they accidentally have incidental civilian casualties. So what is their response? Take away the ability to have targeted smart bombs so they can only drop dumb bombs that they can't steer the difference. A precision bomb, you can direct it so you hit your target and it's much less likely to have collateral damage. These leftists hate Israel so much they want to say, no, let's take away your ability to target your weapons so we increase the number of civilians killed. And 19 Senate Democrats voted to cut off Israel's funds. That pro Hamas faction of the Democrat Party. Not every Democrat in the House and Senate is a member of it, but just about every single Democrat is terrified of that faction. And it's why Schumer look, the internal notes from Columbia University when Columbia was having the anti Semitic protest and the leaders of Columbia were talking to Schumer, Schumer told them, don't worry about it. The Democrats, we don't care. It's only the Republicans who care about this. Understand what that admission was, and that was out of Schumer's own mouth, that, that we, the Democrats, don't care about violent anti Semite Semites terrorizing students in Columbia University and other universities, threatening Jewish students. It's not a priority for them. Why? Because they're terrified by the pro Hamas faction of the party who supports the radicals and the anti Semites. That is tragically where we are. And so I'm gonna predict we will take up the legislation to sanction the ICC and we will do it early next year when we have a Republican Congress and a Republican president. I don't even know that we'll need that legislation, though, because I expect the Trump administration to act unilaterally. I think there's ample authority under the law for them to act. Even if the Democrats filibuster legislation to sanction the icc, I think the president will have ample authority to act come January 20th.
- [28:39]
A
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- [30:11]
C
You know what's in the air, Whoopi?
- [30:12]
B
What?
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C
Trumpism. We lost the election. Wait a minute. We lost the election. We're miserable. Half of this country is miserable. And let's just tell the truth. We hate that he won't. We hate.
- [30:28]
A
I mean, I know we're all like Nazis and I know that we're all deplorables and I know that we're all floating garbage, but you would think they would have learned from losing an election. And clearly they're not.
- [30:41]
B
Look, I got to say, if. If Joy Behar is, is crying on TV and is miserable and is unhappy, that's a good day for America because her radical and extreme ideas, they're hurting the country. And you know, that may be the most honest thing she's ever said on the View because she is a hard leftist. And notice, she's learned nothing. She's listened to nothing. There's no part. Nobody on that show has stopped to say, wait, why did the American people overwhelmingly reject our disastrous policy agenda? They're not asking that. They're just mad at what they view as the idiot voters. And listen, that's an arrogance that we see in elected Democrats. It's an arrogance we see throughout the corporate media. And I think it's going to fuel their doubling down and getting, if anything, even more extreme.
- [31:39]
A
Yeah, I agree with you on the more extreme part. They're certainly not learning from election Day. Don't forget, we do the show every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hit that subscribe or auto download button. And the second thing I will remind you is grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcast, and I will keep you up to date on those in between days on the latest breaking news. We also have a Week in Review we do on Saturdays. So if you missed any show during the week, you'll hit the highlights of what we talked about in our Week in Review on Saturday. So make sure you grab that podcast as well and please share this. Write us a five star review. It helps us reach new people. So if you would do that, we greatly appreciate it. And the center and I will see you back here on Saturday for our Week in Review.