← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Gay Marriage, Hunter Biden, & Crypto-Corruption With Democrats!
00:51:39
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- [00:00]
Shannon Bream
There's a major issue in the Senate with gay marriage and Republicans seem to be running to the wrong side of the issue. Plus, we also have problems at the doj. And now finally, the president is starting to feel some heat on a new investigation. And lastly, there's some cryptocurrency issues with corruption with the Democratic Party. This is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Senator, a lot's happened since election Day. Nice to sit with you. Finally, after a week of you barnstorming the country. And I want to get into something that's exciting. Verdict has really been driving the news. There's extremely important issue that's happening in Washington, D.C. right now on the issue of gay marriage. They actually led with your comments from this podcast on FOX News Sunday. And I want people to take a listen to what it is that you had to say and why this is driving the news.
- [00:51]
Ted Cruz
Take a look about the same sex marriage bill, the Respect for Marriage act that essentially has gotten through this first vote in the Senate. It will have more action down the line, but it essentially ensures that all 50 states will recognize same sex marriages from other states. Conservatives are warning though that the Biden administration could end up using this as a weapon. Here's something that Senator Ted Cruz said on his podcast about it this week.
- [01:12]
Mark Warner
Any charity that believes marriage is the union of one man and one woman, any charity that does not embrace same sex marriage, this bill is designed to strip their 501c3 status to persecute the churches and universities and schools and charities.
- [01:31]
Ted Cruz
So Senator Mike Lee has, first of.
- [01:33]
Mike Lee
All, let's, let's make one thing clear. Okay, one more time. Ted Cruz is 100% wrong. Okay, let's find out on that statement. You would not see. And one of the things that they gained 12 Republican votes. And I think more on final passage is there were greater protections for religious freedom put in. And so you see the Mormon Church, you see a number of mainstream Protestant denominations, you see a series of other faith organizations actually support this marriage equality law. And remember, this marriage equality law is not only about same sex marriage, but it also validates something that literally 60 years ago in my state of Virginia was illegal, which was interracial marriage. I think this is where the vast majority of Americans are at. I think you will see the numbers even go up in the Senate as we get to the final passage. We saw 47 House members, Mr. Cruz, one more time, saying stuff that has no basis in truth or fact. That's just okay, you know, critics, how he rolls.
- [02:39]
Mark Warner
So hold it there. All Right. So if you look at that segment, I gotta say, Mark Warner, he really typifies the Democrats because he calls me a liar while not responding to one word of the substance of what I said. And that really is the Democrat mo. Listen, this bill, let's talk about what this bill does accomplish and what it doesn't accomplish. The Democrats are pitching this as a bill to protect the right to same sex marriage and to protect the right to interracial marriage. Well, both of those are protected right now by existing law. The U.S. supreme Court has held that gay marriage is a right, and it held many decades ago that interracial marriage is a right. That ain't changing. And it's important to note the Democrats pitched this entire bill based on a false premise, which is they suggested there's some chance the Supreme Court might revisit the gay marriage ruling. Well, the majority opinion in Dobbs, the decision overturning Roe versus Wade said not once, not twice, but three times they were not going to revisit that decision. In fact, the third time, Justice Alito, writing for the majority, said, I don't know how to say this any more. Clearly, we are not going back to that decision. So all of this, this bill is based on a lie, which is a bunch of Democrats and a bunch of folks in the media scaremongering that the Supreme Court's going to overturn a decision that they told us three times they're not going to overturn.
- [04:09]
Shannon Bream
In other words, it's all political cover for them.
- [04:11]
Mark Warner
It is purely political cover. And it's based on. Justice Thomas wrote a concurrence that was examining the legal basis for Roe vs Wade, which is a legal doctrine called substantive due process. And he pointed out that it had been the legal basis for other decisions like the gay marriage decision. But no other justice joined Clarence Thomas in that concurrence. So unless you believe that Joe Biden is gonna nominate and the Senate is going to confirm four new justices to the Court who are to the right of Clarence Thomas, the chances of the Supreme Court overturning that decision are 0.0%. And Mark Warner knows that. Every Democrat knows that. But this is scaremongering. So you say, okay, if the Court's not going to overturn it, what harm does that this bill do? Well, let me tell you, this bill does considerable harm. Because you know what this fight really is about? It is about the Biden administration being able to persecute people of faith, being able to persecute churches, K12 schools, universities, and charities that believe specifically their religious base. And Christian, Christian, or for that matter, Jewish or for that matter, Muslim, any religious organization that believes marriage is the union of one man and one woman. So whatever it might be, and let me point out, this is not a hypothetical threat. I want to read to you from the transcript at the Obergefell oral argument, which was the gay marriage oral argument, where the Solicitor general, Don Verrilli, he was in the Obama Justice Department and Justice Alito asked whether the next step would be for universities opposed to same sex marriage to lose their tax exempt status. So this is in the oral argument. And here's what General Verrilli replies, quote, it's certainly going to be an issue. I don't deny that. I don't deny that. Justice Alito, it's going to be an issue. That's what the Obama DOJ said. And this bill is all about teeing up the Obama, or rather the Biden IRS to target Christian university, Christian schools, churches and charities. And by the way, this is also not hypothetical. The city of Philadelphia went after and targeted Catholic Charities and said they're not allowed to engage in adoptions because Catholic charities in Philadelphia won't provide an adoption for a same sex couple. Now, to be clear, same sex couples can adopt kids in Philadelphia. There are lots of adoption agencies they can use. But the city of Philadelphia said, well, if Catholic Charities won't participate, you're out of the business. This bill is all about setting up the IRS to start stripping tax exempt status from organizations they hate.
- [07:11]
Shannon Bream
Senator, I want to go into the media and how they're covering this, but before we get to that, I want to tell everybody about our amazing sponsor, Patriot Mobile. If you've got a cell phone and 99% of Americans do, how would you like to know that with every phone call you make, you're supporting conservative causes? Well, that's what Patriot Mobile does. And they use the same cell towers that you're on right now, meaning you get the same exact coverage that you're getting right now. Patriot Mobile is America's only Christian conservative mobile phone provider. They are a force for conservative values. Why? Because they take a portion of every bill that you pay. And they fund conservative causes, candidates and organizations that believe in the sanctity of life, freedom of speech and the Second Amendment. And they're winning. If you're ready to have your dollars matter when you're paying a bill, switch to Patriot Mobile. They can save you money over what you're paying right now. They can save you and your family money and they even can save your business or small business money because they have an entire section of the business that's just dedicated to businesses. They offer the same nationwide coverage as all the other major carriers. But the difference is you actually get to stand up for what you believe in every time you pay that bill. So go online to patriot mobile.com verdict patriot mobile.com verdict. You'll get free activation and other major offers and you can call them 972-PATRIOT. That's 9-7 2-PATRIOT. Use the promo code. Verdict.
- [08:45]
Mark Warner
Now let's, let's play out, let's continue this because the, the discussion goes on and everything Mark Warner says about it is wrong. So let's hear what he has to say.
- [08:54]
Ted Cruz
Senator Mike Lee is among those who say there are sort of toothless protections in there for religious minorities. And not minorities, but people who hold what of whatever faith they are. This conviction about traditional marriage is his wording. He's offered this amendment. I've got it here in my hand. He says it's done in good faith. It will offer further protection to people and religious organizations. Why not allow a vote on the amendment if that is truly an issue? And it may get you more votes, but more protections for those who have religious freedom?
- [09:21]
Mike Lee
I would first of all point out the fact, you know, I believe Mike Lee is a member of the Mormon Church, his organization. His church. But he's still got his church endorsed the legislation. My understanding, and I have not followed all of the ins and outs of what happened two nights ago. I believe there was an offer on a 50 vote margin for Mr. Lee to have that kind of amendment. I think this is a series of folks that just don't want this to happen and they're going to throw up roadblock after roadblock after roadblock.
- [09:55]
Ted Cruz
Let him have a vote on the amendment.
- [09:56]
Mike Lee
Again, my understanding is that that vote was offered.
- [10:00]
Ted Cruz
Okay. My understanding is they want to try to do it after Thanksgiving. There's a lot.
- [10:04]
Mike Lee
If, if the vote was offered this week, which I believe it was. I'm sure your, your viewers will correct me if I'm wrong. But that was kind of the.
- [10:14]
Mark Warner
Yeah.
- [10:14]
Ted Cruz
Talking with his office. They want to offer this up after Thanksgiving.
- [10:17]
Mike Lee
So other than simply trying to delay, other than simply trying to burn off the clock so that we can't get to things like the banks bill, if he had a chance to have the vote on Thursday, why didn't he take the vote then?
- [10:33]
Mark Warner
Okay, let's stop it right now. So there are several things in what he says. First of all, let me point out that Mark Warner. Look, most Democrats are arrogant, condescending, and supercilious, but that nasty little jab that. Well, Mike Lee's a member of the Mormon Church. The Mormon Church supports it. I mean, going after Mike on his faith, that's disgusting.
- [10:55]
Shannon Bream
Yeah, it's an attack on his faith.
- [10:56]
Mark Warner
Mark Warner ought to be embarrassed and ashamed. Now, what happened here with the Mormon Church? Because actually, he goes on to repeat Mormon church, like 19 times. Well, unfortunately, there is a senator who supports this bill from the state of Utah whose name, Mitt Romney, who happens to have some real juice within the Mormon Church. He's kind of a big deal in Utah. And Mitt Romney has pulled out all the stops lobbying his church. And he convinced one senior figure in the church to put out a statement in favor of this bill. That senior figure, I'm sorry to say, got terrible legal advice. And if Mitt Romney weren't lobbying the heck out of it, I assume they wouldn't have done the statement. But Mitt was able to get it done. Now, what Shannon Bream there says is the provisions in the bill are toothless, and they are. So what the bill is, the Democrats put into the bill language that says, nothing in this bill shall be construed to deny tax exempt status to anybody. Now, this is. I'm going to explain something to you. And this is why people hate lawyers. Nobody suggesting the bill is gonna deny tax exempt status. What's gonna happen is after the bill passes, the Biden IRS is going to deny tax exempt status, and they're gonna say, you know what? It's not the bill doing it, it's us. We are doing it. And so Mike Lee has drafted an amendment. It's a strong amendment that prohibits the Biden IRS from stripping tax exempt status for any institution based on their views on marriage. That's what the Democrats are blocking. Now, this is an example.
- [12:41]
Shannon Bream
It's not controversial. What he's asking for is exactly what anyone would ask for in this scenario. They're just terrified that you would take away the power of the IRS to then literally destroy conservative Christian religious organizations. This is an attack on religion.
- [12:56]
Mark Warner
So it is controversial because today's Democrats hate religious liberty. They want to use the IRS to go after religious institutions. Mike Lee's amendment would prevent them. Now, you just heard Mark Warner say several times we offered him a vote. And this is where actually verdict takes people inside the Senate. In a way, it's really hard if you're not serving in the body to understand the games that are being Played. It's true, they did offer a vote, said we'll have a vote on the floor of the Senate, a 50 vote threshold should Mike Lee's amendment be adopted. Now here's what will happen. If there's a vote on the Senate floor at a 50 vote threshold, the amendment will fail. Why will it fail? Every Democrat will vote no. There are 50 of them came over and there are also 12 Republicans who are supporting this. So at a 50 vote threshold, by the way, even if every Republican voted for Mike Lee's amendment, so let's assume, best case, all the D's vote no. All the R's vote yes. Kamala Harris shows up tiebreaker, cast the tiebreaking vote no, and Mike's amendment fails. Now, what Mark is saying is we'll give you your vote, you little children. Now sit down and shut up and let us pass the bill. Well, in order for this bill to pass, there's one more vote that matters, which is the Monday after Thanksgiving. The final vote is at a 60 vote threshold. They can't pass this bill without 60 senators voting yes. Now, as we discussed on The Friday podcast, 12 Republican senators voted yes. Those 12 are Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, Tom Tillis of North Carolina, Mitt Romney of Utah. Who's leading the charge on this? Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Shelley Moore. Capito of West Virginia, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Todd Young of Indiana, Joni Ernst of Iowa. Those are the 12. Now I'm gonna set aside for a second that several of those are retiring. Rob Portman's retiring, Roy Blunt's retiring, Richard Burr's retiring. And I find it particularly noxious that retiring Republican senators run and embrace the left on the way out. In a way they would be very unlikely to do so if they actually had to face the elections, had to run for your action. Yeah, but you know what? This will be very popular on K Street when they're lobbyists. And it's, you want to see the swamp? This is the swamp. But there's another very simple point. If you want to prevent the Biden IRS from targeting and persecuting Christian churches, schools, universities and charities, three of these 12 need to say to the Democrats, either adopt Mike Lee's amendment or we will vote no on cloture on Monday if three of the 12 grow one vertebrae of a spine. And this is where look my frustration with Republicans, this should not be a.
- [16:02]
Shannon Bream
Hard one, by the way. This should be a very simple. Three of the 12. There shouldn't even be 12 to start with.
- [16:07]
Mark Warner
It should be trivially simple. And it's the difference between a show vote, if we got the vote, Mark Warner saying, we'll give you a vote. We'll give you a vote. That's because he knows they can win the vote. And I'll tell you, I was talking with one of the Democrat leads last week in the cloakroom, and that senator was saying, well, the Democrats won't accept Mike Lee's amendment. They're just a hard no. Well, you know what? If you don't accept the amendment, the answer ought to be, your bill won't pass.
- [16:34]
Shannon Bream
And that's our hard no. That's how the game should be played.
- [16:37]
Mark Warner
Except Republicans never play hardball. It's a game. It's a charade. Three of those 12. You can see the 12. Any three of them could say, if you want to pass the bill, you must adopt Mike Lee's amendment. And by the way, the Democrats argue, oh, our bill already does exactly what Mike Lee's amendment does. Well, if that's the case, it ought to be easy to adopt Mike Lee's amendment.
- [17:05]
Shannon Bream
Bingo.
- [17:05]
Mark Warner
It doesn't. They are lying. And in fact, I'm going to make a prediction for you right now. If the 12 Republicans decline to stand up to the Democrats and say, I will vote no on cloture unless Mike Lee's amendment is adopted. Not a fake vote, not a pretend show vote. It's adopted in the bill. If that doesn't happen, my prediction is in the next two years. So Shannon Bream is a graduate of Liberty University, largest Christian university in the country. I'm gonna make a prediction for you. I'm Gonna bet you $100 that if the Republicans can't find a backbone, that in the next two years, the Biden IRS will go after Liberty University to strip their tax exempt status. I believe that's what this fight is all about. And the Democrats are playing games, trying to hide from it.
- [17:59]
Shannon Bream
And they also see an opportunity here. You just mentioned it. You go back to the game. They understand that there's some senators that would traditionally say no to this who are retiring, and they can get them to say yes to it. Now, part of it's the timing. It has to be the timing.
- [18:13]
Mark Warner
Yes. And by the way, it's designed so that this key vote is the Monday after Thanksgiving. It's what's called the comeback vote. So it's scheduled for 5:30pm on Monday. So everyone flies in and you literally get off the airplane and come straight to vote. So there's no discussion among Republicans and what they're counting on. Look, I Understand why these 12 Republicans voted for this. There's no doubt public views on gay marriage have changed and there are now significant percentage of Americans who support gay marriage and those numbers have changed dramatically. Not too long ago, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton pretended they opposed gay marriage. So I mean there's no doubt the public opinion has changed significantly. What I urge my colleagues, I said, listen, if you've decided as a political matter you want to say you support gay marriage, I got a suggestion for you. Type up a press release and send it out that says, I Senator, so and so embrace gay marriage and think it's awesome, hunky dory, cool, that's all fine. You want to do a press release, knock yourself out. Make your own political determinations on that. This is about empowering the Biden IRS to persecute the people they believe that are their enemies. And it's not just the people they deny tax exempt status to. These abusive thugs that Biden employs are going to go to 100 different schools and universities and charities and demand change your position, abandon what you believe your faith teaches you must embrace gay marriage or else will deny your tax exempt status. So they may only get and try.
- [19:58]
Shannon Bream
To survive without that tax exempt status. None of these universities or schools will be able to make it if they lose their tax exempt status. Just like many of the churches in the country, if they lost their tax exempt status, they would no longer be able to afford even the property taxes of the church and where it is in their city.
- [20:13]
Mark Warner
And it's not just tax exempt status. It's you're ineligible for any government benefits, you're ineligible for any government contract. So what did the city of Philadelphia try to do? Catholic charities can't do adoptions now. That got struck down in court. But this bill could change that. That's what makes this so dangerous. Look, you know, a university that refuses to knuckle under this administration could say no student can get a Pell Grant to go to your university. We're gonna cut off. It's not just tax exempt status. We're going to use the muscle of the federal government to persecute you. And for the life of me, I don't understand why Anyone, much less 12 Republicans, would be part and parcel of empowering the Biden IRS to persecute people of faith.
- [21:03]
Shannon Bream
Verdict listeners are very engaged. They like to get involved. What is the ask of listeners right now? What can they do to try to stop this? Is it to go and call senators? Is it to call your friends in these states and say call these senators and what. And specifically because I get this all the time and you do too. But, but people say what am I asking for? Is it, you're, you're demanding the Mike Lee amendment that this is, you must.
- [21:28]
Mark Warner
Adopt that the only way it gets stopped and it being the threat of the Biden IRS targeting and persecuting people of faith, is if the Mike Lee amendment is adopted. And so I believe all 12 of those Republicans should say we will vote no on cloture, the 60 vote threshold.
- [21:51]
Shannon Bream
Yep.
- [21:52]
Mark Warner
Unless the Mike Lee amendment is adopted. And by the way, all 12 of those Republicans say oh, we want the religious liberty protection. So they, that's what they're saying. So to make what they're saying true, we need three of those 12 to say I'm a no unclocher unless the Mike Lee amendment is adopted.
- [22:12]
Shannon Bream
You now know your marching orders. If you're a listener to verdict. This is exactly why we do this show. You need to get involved, call your senators. You know what you're asking for there. Especially if you have family and friends in these states. You need to let them know and tell them this is what we have to do. And it has to be done very quickly because this is going to happen right after Thanksgiving.
- [22:32]
Mark Warner
It's going to happen a week from today. It will be the Monday after Thanksgiving at 5:30pm By 6:00pm they will either have 60 votes or they won't.
- [22:42]
Shannon Bream
And this is what they think of the American people. I want to be clear.
- [22:45]
Mark Warner
There's a reason they're doing it overthinking.
- [22:47]
Shannon Bream
On purpose because they think you're not paying attention. They're hoping you're not paying attention. They're right. A lot of people take the week off. A lot of people spend time with their family. You're going to see your family. My family's coming to see me. Everybody operates pretty much in that same world. You take a few days off, you hang out with your family, you make memories and you usually are disconnected from what's happening politically. That's why they make the first vote 5:30 when you come back from the day after Thanksgiving.
- [23:11]
Mark Warner
Well, and sometimes those votes are non consequential, sometimes it's a non controversial district judge or something. But the decision to put this vote on the comeback vote, they don't want the 12 Republicans to feel any heat. And so the calculus, if you're a Republican doing this, you'll get praise from the donor world. The people who write checks, they love this vote. They want you to go hard left. They're perfectly fine. Most of the donor world is perfectly fine with Republicans screwing people of faith. It's the activists and the base that, you know, wonder of wonders, actually care about protecting our religious liberty and will hold people to account. And what Chuck Schumer is counting on is that most of the activists in the base are going to be eating turkey and stuffing, which I'm looking forward to eating turkey and stuffing, sure, but not actually engage in the fight till it's a done deal and it's all over. It is not all over. And three of those 12 Republican senators could insist Mike Lee's amendment was adopted. And if that would happen, the Biden IRS would not be able to persecute people of faith.
- [24:17]
Shannon Bream
Senator, one of the most exciting things about verdict and growing going to three days a week. A lot of people that actually watch the podcast once a week, they watch it. They may not realize you can get this podcast, two audio shows. On top of that, we did breaking news, for example, this weekend we did a special podcast talking about what had happened with them deciding to have a special prosecutor going after Donald Trump. But the numbers have been growing and people are using this podcast to inform their friends, but also to drive the news that we just talked about on Fox News Sunday. And that's why you wanted to do this in the first place. And it's actually happening, which I love.
- [24:52]
Mark Warner
Yeah. Look, this podcast drives news in a way that very few, if any, podcasts do. We've been at this point multiple times. The White House press secretary has had to respond to verdict from the podium in the White House press briefing. You can see the Sunday shows are being driven by this podcast. And one of the reason is the numbers. And the numbers are remarkable. So let's take last week. Last week we had between 700,000 and 800,000 downloads. That's just last week. How does that compare to TV news? Well, CNN averages for the total day, 658,000. So we're beating CNN their average in any given day. How about primetime? Well, CNN's primetime averages 655,000. What about particular shows? Wolf Blitzer? Wolf Blitzer is 6:00pm show averages 750,000. So we're right there with Wolf. Aaron Burnett, 788,000. We're right there with Aaron. Anderson Cooper at 829,000. All right, congratulations, Anderson. You're about 29,000 above where we were last Week.
- [25:57]
Shannon Bream
Yeah.
- [25:58]
Mark Warner
And that dynamic is very simple. When we are regularly, week after week after week, beating CNN across their lineup, across their primetime lineup, that is a testament to our listeners, to our viewers. And it's why I think the reason is this podcast has content you can't get anywhere else.
- [26:21]
Shannon Bream
Yeah.
- [26:21]
Mark Warner
You can't understand. Look, you look at that segment where Mark Warner is spinning like crazy and is dissembling, and he just says, anyone who disagrees is lying. Now, note, he doesn't actually discuss the language of the statute. He doesn't discuss the Mike Lee Amendment. He just screams, well, we convinced his church to support it. So, ha, ha. To understand. And by the way, you know, someone thinking, well, they offered a vote, I don't understand what's wrong with that. This show explains what the games are that are being played by the corrupt players in Washington.
- [26:55]
Shannon Bream
We've made it easy. There's a lot of people that come up to me and have said, hey, I watched this show. How do I get the other two? How do I download a podcast? The easiest way that you can get the podcast is, and we've tried to make it easy is you can actually just text the word verdict to 24005. I want to make sure everybody has that. So if you only watch the podcast and you want to get those two other audio versions, you just text the word verdict to 24005, we will send you a link. The podcast is free. Doesn't cost you a dime. You can subscribe to it, get it three times a week. And I've had a lot of people come going, how do I get the other ones? That's how easy we've tried to make it for people to be able to grab it. I want to get also into. There were some very interesting dynamics this week that have changed in Washington. Democrats are terrified of Republicans taking over the House. We've talked about that a little bit last week, but now what we've seen is now they're going for revenge. They're going for the jugular. They're going after Donald Trump. They're afraid that we're going to expose the FBI and expose the DOJ for their corruption. Now, I want to go to Jim Jordan's because he made an accusation this week about the FBI, the doj, just saying, can you guys stay out of our elections? And I want. I want you to watch us and then get your reaction. Because I think he's onto a point now that he realizes that they are. They are actively trying to interfere in our elections. Every Single time there is an election.
- [28:19]
Mark Warner
Undoubtedly the FBI going to quit interfering with elections. 2016, they spied on President Trump's campaign. 2018, it was the Mueller investigation. 2020, they suppressed information about the Hunter Biden story. 2022, they raided the president's home 91 days before the election. Maybe it'd be nice if the FBI, the Justice Department, just stayed out of it and let we the people, decide who we think should represent us, who we think should lead us. That's supposed to be how America works. So this is the focus on the Judiciary Committee, the political nature of the Justice Department, and the linkage now to what was happening with the Hunter Biden story again, just 15 days before we have presidential election.
- [28:58]
Shannon Bream
You know, you look at the President, he announces former President Trump, he's gonna run. And they immediately say, okay, watch this, we're gonna have a special prosecutor. We still do not have a special prosecutor for all of the crimes that have been laid out. James Comer made it very clear this week, he's accusing now Joe Biden of committing major crimes. And you have now this dynamic where the DOJ and the FBI are saying, you don't screw with us, you don't call us out, we'll come after you, we'll come raid your house. We don't care if you're a former president or not. You don't ever call us out at the top leadership.
- [29:30]
Mark Warner
Well, look, what Jim Jordan is saying there is exactly right. And as you know, it's the topic of my brand new book, justice how the Left Has Weaponized the Legal System. Barack Obama did this. He turned the Department of Justice and the FBI into his partisan enforcers. And he appointed people, he appointed Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta lynch, who were perfectly happy to be brazenly political. And the FBI, they now use the FBI as their storm troopers. And I gotta tell you, by the way, Ben, I hear all the time this past week, I heard from an FBI agent who pulled me aside and said, look, there are so many of us, so many agents who are so upset about what's happening to the FBI that it's being turned political and were horrified. But this agent also told me they were afraid to speak out, they didn't want to lose their job. And they said, look, I feel like if I say anything, I'll be fired. It is a culture of intimidation. It is a culture of hard partisans. And I gotta say, I'm very glad that Jim Jordan and the House are going to investigate the politicization of the Department of Justice. And the FBI, because they are trying to influence election. Let's be clear. They know what they're doing. They know that when they as the FBI did, when they ask Facebook, please suppress any discussion of Hunter Biden's laptop before the 2020 election. They say this looks like Russian disinformation. Well, it wasn't Russian disinformation. It was true. It was factual and they knew that. But they knew that it was politically harmful to Joe Biden and the oligarchs. And Big Tech said more than happy to comply. The FBI should not be influencing elections. The DOJ should not be influencing elections. And Merrick Garland is the most corrupt attorney general we've ever seen in terms of being willing to corrupt the Department of Justice and FBI and use them as political weapons. And the fact that his response, Donald Trump announced for president, okay, I'm appointing in a special prosecutor. We're going to indict you. That's politics. It's not justice.
- [31:44]
Shannon Bream
I go back to Garland and you and I mentioned this the other day, but I think it's worth revisiting. Garland is a guy that was very upset because he truly believes now he should be on the Supreme Court. He understands.
- [31:54]
Mark Warner
Very glad he's not.
- [31:55]
Shannon Bream
Yeah, I mean, very glad he's not. But he's very angry and it's like it's an obsession. I believe he's gone to the point of being a psychopath where it's like, all right, you guys didn't let me have my vote, you didn't let me get on the Supreme Court. There's going to be hell to pay forever and ever and ever. Amen. As long as I have this opportunity to stick it to you. And I'm going to come out and I'm going to do everything I can to undermine you as a party or anybody in the Republican Party that gets in my way.
- [32:22]
Mark Warner
So I'm going to press back on you a little bit. I wouldn't use a word like psychopath. I think it's a combination of things. I don't know Merrick Garr. I've met him a couple of times, but I don't know him very well. Personally, I think he's a weak man. I think he's unwilling to stand up to the partisan hacks in the White House.
- [32:43]
Shannon Bream
So you think it's more of a top down thing?
- [32:45]
Mark Warner
I think the White House is the corruption that the fish rots from the head. It is the Biden White House that is fundamentally corrupt. But I do think Merrick Garland is Different from an Eric Holder or a Loretta lynch who were deep partisans. I actually think Garland justifies to himself what he's doing. I think he believes he's not being partisan.
- [33:08]
Shannon Bream
Wow.
- [33:09]
Mark Warner
I think he's drunk the Kool Aid so much that he's someone who's very self righteous. And does he have a grievance because he was denied the Supreme Court? Yes. Are his feelings hurt? Deeply, I'm sure. Although I'm not an armchair psychologist. Even though we're sitting in armchairs. I don't know. I ain't a shrink, but my sense of it, you look at something like something we've discussed at great length, using the FBI to target parents who speak up at school boards. I think the Biden White House told him to do it and he just was happy to roll over. And he justified to himself, well, it's just fine. I'm just asking them to investigate. And you know, there's nothing about that. I think he is fundamentally a weak man who allowed.
- [34:00]
Shannon Bream
He will not push back against anything the White House demands.
- [34:03]
Mark Warner
And you gotta understand, it's not just the ag. There are all these hard partisans that are burrowed into senior positions at the Department of Justice, senior positions at the FBI who are driving partisan outcomes. And I think Merrick Garland is all too happy to comply. And the consequence, I believe and I detail this in my book, Justice Corrupted. Merrick Garland has done more to undermine the integrity of the Department of Justice than any Attorney General in history. And included within that is John Mitchell, who was Nixon's Attorney General who resigned in disgrace and went to prison.
- [34:40]
Shannon Bream
Let's talk about the strategy of Republicans in the House. I got to give them some credit so far. A lot of times we get power and we screw it up. We've seen it happen over and over again. We don't go all in like Democrats do. The way that Jim Jordan's came out, the way that James Comer came out, James is doing something, I think that's very interesting. He's actually saying, here are crimes we believe that the President was a part of. Take a look.
- [35:02]
Mark Warner
Whistleblowers described President Biden as chairman of the board for these businesses. He personally participated in meetings and phone calls. Documents show that he was a partner with access to an office. To be clear, Joe Biden is the big guy. This evidence raises troubling questions about whether President Biden is a national security risk and about whether he is compromised by foreign governments. Despite the President's claim that he wasn't involved in Biden family business Schemes. These photos show Joe Biden meeting with his family associates while vice president.
- [35:40]
Shannon Bream
I mean, he was selling out the White House the entire time when he had access to as the vice president. Clearly, I think he's doing the exact same thing now. But is he a threat, do you believe, to our national security based on the way that he described it?
- [35:52]
Mark Warner
Yeah, of course he is. And let me commend Comer and how the House is starting to begin these investigations because the focus needs to be on Joe Biden. This is not about Hunter Biden any more than if you're going after the mafia and you catch some low level enforcer or you're going after a drug cartel and you catch some mule who swallowed balloons full of heroin. It's not about the poor schlub who got caught. Yeah, it's about the boss. It's about the big guy. It's about the godfather. Joe Biden is the godfather. He is the one who ultimately is profiting on this corruption. He is the one who is abusing official authority to further the criminal activity of his family members. And that's why this is an issue of public corruption. So doj, going back again to the politicization of doj, they desperately want to keep this on. Oh, look, Hunter Biden has a drug problem. You know what? We wouldn't be talking about it if it was just one deeply troubled soul. The reason we should talk about it and the reason why the corporate media and the Democrats desperately don't want to talk about it is there is now growing evidence of corruption from Joe Biden himself when he was vice President of the United States. And now when he's president of the United States, personally enriching himself, enriching his family by selling official favors to enemies, hostile foreign governments. That is an issue of highest importance. And the Democrats and the media desperately want to cover it up.
- [37:38]
Shannon Bream
50 different countries they were trying to do business in. I was shocked by that number coming from whistleblowers. All those backed up now by the emails from the bagman and Hunter Biden and James Biden. This wasn't just Russia and just China and just Ukraine. 50 different nations basically means you go out and you just throw hooks in the water anywhere you can to get your hands on some cash and whoever's willing to basically play the game, the Biden game, give us money, we'll give you access. What do you want? How much? I didn't even think it could get this bad. And yet here we are talking about it. 50 nations as they laid out this Week.
- [38:16]
Mark Warner
Well, I think what is being laid out as the agenda for oversight in the House is incredibly important. And you know what it also is? It's an indictment of the Department of Justice. Because Merrick Garland doesn't want to look into any of that. Because you know what? He works for the big guy, too. He's the political enforcer that pretends to be the cop. And so somebody is focused on rule of law. And that's gonna have to be the House of Representatives, by the way, in the Senate. Senate Democrats on Judiciary Committee have zero interest. They don't care what evidence there is of official corruption of Joe Biden. They are partizans first, second, third, and.
- [38:57]
Shannon Bream
Every day of the week you bring up corruption. We got to go into the cryptocurrency disaster. Some people may say this is inside baseball. I don't really care. Here's why you should care. You've got a guy who's young. You have a guy that's literally been asked by Democrats come to Washington and to help them regulate the cryptocurrency industry. He happens to become the second largest donor of anyone in this last cycle that we just had the midterm elections. As a donor of the Democratic Party.
- [39:27]
Mark Warner
Who is number one?
- [39:29]
Shannon Bream
I don't even know who number one.
- [39:30]
Mark Warner
George Soros.
- [39:30]
Shannon Bream
George Soros. There you go. So he barely doesn't beat out George Soros, but he out of nowhere becomes a second largest donor. He also planned to, quote in his words, be a billionaire donor to the Democratic Party in 2024.
- [39:46]
Mark Warner
Let me tweak that slightly. It's not a billionaire donor. It is to donate over $1 billion to electing Democrats in 2024.
- [39:56]
Shannon Bream
Yeah.
- [39:57]
Mark Warner
You know he put over $10 million in Joe Biden's campaign. Sam Bankman, fried. The evidence right now that is coming out is incredibly damning. It is evidence that suggests a Bernie Madoff style fraud, an Enron style fraud that cost investors billions of dollars. And he in turn invested quite wisely in supporting Democrat politicians who would essentially greenwash what he's doing because they like his money, they would give cover for him. Now, there will be countless lawsuits, there will be investigations, and if the evidence backs up what seems to be the case right now, that it was fraud, that it was deliberate fraud, I assume he's going to be prosecuted for engaging in fraud. My question to you right now, is Joe Biden gonna return the cash, over $10 million to Joe Biden, to the big guy? Now, mind you, the big guy's willing to take cash from Communist China. The big guy's willing to take cash from countries all over the world. Is the big guy willing to take cash from someone right now with serious, credible evidence of massive fraud that caused billions of dollars of harm? And every other Democrat who cashed the checks, will they give it back? And I'll tell you what, don't give it back to him. Give it to the victims of the fraud. Yeah, let's start with Joe Biden saying, I was wrong to take $10 million and I'm going to give it to the people who got screwed. And by the way, who are some of the people that got screwed? There were pension funds that invested with ftx. That means they're little old ladies. That means they're people whose savings were damaged and Joe Biden and the Democrats were complicit in it. Will they give the money back? And I'll give you one. One response to that. Don't hold your breath.
- [41:54]
Shannon Bream
Yeah, even Maxine Waters, she brought him into the House. There's video that now has gone viral that we've been able to find. And I want to play this because this is literally her looking at the scumbag, blowing him a kiss. Is the guy that's advising her on how to regulate, or should they not regulate, the cryptocurrency industry? Take a look at this. Her blowing him a kiss and just saying, we love you so much. Thanks for coming out. There she is on the left. You see him with a big hair on the right, blow a kiss. Thanks for coming. She's asked, by the way, because she got a lot of his cash. She was asked by a reporter, hey, are you going to give away back this money that he gave you? And look at her response.
- [42:34]
Mark Warner
You think some lawmakers that got donations.
- [42:37]
Ted Cruz
From ftx, his founder, should give that money back?
- [42:40]
Mark Warner
Well, I don't want to get into that.
- [42:41]
Shannon Bream
I don't want to get into that.
- [42:43]
Mark Warner
No, of course she doesn't want to get into it. Obviously not. I wouldn't want to talk about it either if I were her. When you've been taking cash from someone who has been implicated as front and center in a massive fraud, it's not good to be funded by them. And I want to highlight something. So Sam Bankman Fried, perhaps unintentionally, has been really explicit in admitting the complete fraud that ESG and all of these lefty woke policies are in the business world today. And he recently had a series of direct messages with a reporter. So he's in Bahamas, at his company headquarters in Bahamas. And the reporter says, quote, you were really good at talking about ethics for someone who kind of saw it all as a game with winners and losers. And here's Sam Bankman Fried's response. Yeah, he, he, I had to be. It's what reputations are made of. To some extent. I feel bad for those who get effed by it. Although he didn't abbreviate effed. But this dumb game we woke Westerners play where we say all the right shibboleths and so everyone likes us. I want to read that again because that is one of the most candid statements.
- [44:11]
Shannon Bream
At least he's on us.
- [44:13]
Mark Warner
By this dumb game we woke westerners play where we say all the right shibboleths so everyone likes us. Look, Harvey Weinstein did this. Yeah, I'm sexually assaulting and raping women. But you know what I give to Bill Clinton and Democrats, so I gotta be all right. That's what Sam Bankman Fried was doing. It was paying protection. When he cut $10 million to the Biden campaign. It's 10% to the big guy. And by the way, Sam Bankman fried was making 20, 30 billion dollars.
- [44:48]
Shannon Bream
At one point he was worth 20 billion personally, now bankrupt, but he was worth this. It reminds me of narcos. You and I have talked about this. You pay everybody in the government, so the government lets you keep selling your drugs. His just happened to be a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme. And it wasn't just money directly. I think this is important. Bankman Fried and his co founders also donated over $300,000 to nine lawmakers of the House Financial Services Committee, which is charged with regulating him, in essence, who are now investigating the company for wrongdoing, having a press conference about it and then.
- [45:23]
Mark Warner
But Maxine doesn't want to get into.
- [45:24]
Shannon Bream
Yeah, doesn't want to get into that. And also donated $5 million to a super PAC outside direct Contributions, a super PAC that supported Biden in 2020. So $5 million went to elect Joe Biden in 2020, and then another 40 million this cycle alone largely to Democrats. He contributed 6 million to the House Majority PAC, Democrats a million to the House Senate Majority PAC, and nearly 900,000 to the Democratic National Committee. That isn't even just. That's not even all of who he gave money to. But that's one of the highlights.
- [46:00]
Mark Warner
His mom helps run a giant dark money Democrat fund as well. So that's the money you know about it. It's not the additional money that he was giving. And this is not different from paying protection funds. And he admits that. He admits he doesn't even believe all of his woke posturing. But Democrats and the corrupt media, and they treated him, you know, CNBC described him as the next Steve Jobs, the next Warren Buffett. I mean, they, because he embraced lefty causes, they gave him protection.
- [46:36]
Shannon Bream
The guy who started Barstool Sports, he's pretty flamboyant, pretty blunt, does some great pizza reviews. He went on Fox News Channel this week and basically called out the media and the Democratic establishment saying, if you guys don't report on this story, you're pretty much all scumbags. And a part of it, because we all knew it was happening. And he says, look, I'm involved in gambling and online gambling for goodness sakes, but I'm regulated to the hills. They know everything of investing where all my money goes. And this is what he had to say about the Democrats in the media.
- [47:06]
Mike Lee
The thing that's shocking to me, and I'm in the gambling field, we're rigorously regulated. Like, they know what I did 20 years ago. Yes, everything. If I do one thing weird, I hear about it. There's companies writing articles. We knew this guy was in the Bahamas.
- [47:21]
Shannon Bream
Why?
- [47:21]
Mike Lee
Because unregulated, living in basically a Paula Morris penthouse with like 20 people who are all having sex with each other, running this. And it was well known. I mean, if somebody did that in the United States and meanwhile he's cavorting with politicians at the highest level of government, the fact he wasn't investigated, to me just shows what this, a lot of this country is all about. People just trying to make money, they're being dishonest, they're saying the right things to make money, and he's lining everybody's pockets. It wasn't obvious to me, but if you're meeting with Gensler and you're meeting with politicians, I don't know how in a million years they didn't know that.
- [48:00]
Shannon Bream
He's obviously mad. It goes back to the text messages that you read a moment ago, how candid this guy's been. He's like, look, I know the game. I go to dinner with Democrats, I hang out with Democrats, they look the other way. I get to live like I'm a billionaire in a Ponzi scheme and they'll never figure it out.
- [48:14]
Mark Warner
Look, it is like Jeffrey Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein, who was an original FOB friend of Bill Flew, Bill Clinton, repeatedly on the Lolita Express. Now Jeffrey Epstein, we now know of his repeated pedophilia and sex with children. And was a massive Democrat fundraiser. And yet how is it that we don't have the client book still to this day? Look, we need to know the clients. And you know why? Because they don't want the clients made public. They don't want them prosecuted. Because if you say the right things to Democrats in the media, they'll cover up for you. It's the same business. Do you know what Jeffrey Epstein had in, I think it was the living room of his New York brownstone.
- [49:00]
Shannon Bream
What was it?
- [49:01]
Mark Warner
It had a giant oil painting of Bill Clinton wearing a blue dress and high heels. It's really quite a traumatic image. It's not something, if you see it, you'll want to burn your eyes with bleach. But he had it hanging on his wall. You know, I'm reminded of a Judiciary Committee hearing where John Kennedy, my good friend with one heck of a sense of humor, he leans forward and he goes, Christmas tree ornaments and Jeffrey Epstein, two things, you know, didn't hang themselves.
- [49:37]
Shannon Bream
There it is. Last question for you. If the Democratic Party doesn't give back the money and the Democratic candidates that took money, and if we have a.
- [49:45]
Mark Warner
Real media, they will call on the Democrats, put up the numbers, put up every dollar each Democrat has had and they will ask them like they did, like Fox asked Maxine Waters, but where's cnn? Where's msnbc? She goes on those shows all the time. Shouldn't the opening question, anytime a Democrat who's cashed those checks goes on the show, shouldn't the opening question come on cnn? Let's see your great courage. Opening question. You're giving back the money. Why not?
- [50:11]
Shannon Bream
Why is asked to have the dnc? I mean, this is not a little bit of money. This is a lot of money that went to the Democratic National Committee. If they don't give back this money, are they in essence complicit in this Ponzi scheme, in your opinion?
- [50:22]
Mark Warner
Yes.
- [50:23]
Shannon Bream
There it is. I think it's a great way to end the show today. I'll say it to you. Don't forget, make sure you write a five star review for us. Please tell your family and friends about it and send her. We've made it easy for people to subscribe to the podcast. Tell them again how they can do that. If you only watch this podcast in the video form, if you want to get the link. And we'll try to make it as easy as we can for you to listen to the two audio versions every week. How do they do that again?
- [50:46]
Mark Warner
So there are three episodes every week one is video, and that video episode is also audio, so you can listen to it either way. You can watch it on YouTube or you can listen to it on audio. Two other episodes are only audio, so if you want to get all three episodes, you've got to subscribe to the audio portion as well. Text the word verdict to 24005 again, text the word verdict to 24005 and encourage your friends to do the same. This podcast is about getting you the information that the corrupt corporate media won't tell you, because that's how we take our country back as you're armed with facts and truth and substance. And that's what this is all about.
- [51:29]
Shannon Bream
And we'll be back with you on Wednesday for audio only version, so make sure you subscribe. It's free to Verdict the podcast wherever you get your podcast, and we'll see you back on Wednesday.