← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Illegal Immigrants Overrun National Guard, Cartels Launch Tens of Thousands of Drones into U.S. & NY Tries to Take a Half Billion from Trump with NO Appeal
00:33:08
Loading summary
Transcript27 lines
- [00:01]
A
Welcome. It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And Senator, there is a viral video of a invasion. It's the only word I know to use it. At the southern border that now everyone is seeing of illegal immigrants breaking through razor wire.
- [00:19]
B
Well, that's right. Every day and every week, the border crisis continues to get worse and worse and worse. We now have video of hundreds of illegal immigrants storming the National Guard, pushing them aside, pushing them down. It is an active and aggressive invasion. On top of that, we now have congressional testimony that the human traffickers, the Mexican drug cartels, have an Air Force, 25,000 drones. We're going to get into all of that. We're also going to talk about the New York Attorney General's jihad against Donald Trump, her absurd efforts to try to collect a half billion dollars from Trump and now to do so and to deny him the right to appeal. It's an absolute travesty. And finally, we're going to talk about an investigation that has been opened in the House of Representatives as to whether the IRS is using artificial intelligence to surveil you to go after your personal and private financial information. All of that in this episode.
- [01:22]
A
Want to tell you real quick about our friends over at Ammo Squared. Ammo Square helps you stock up on ammunition automatically. Ammo is delivered on demand or automatically when you need it, when you want it, and it's stored for free when you don't. It is a unique way to invest in ammunition. You can buy low and dollar cost, average over time and then you can cash out when prices rise without ever taking delivery of any physical ammunition. This company was founded over eight years ago in the freedom loving state of Idaho. Ammo Squared is truly automated. You set it, Forget it. Ammo purchasing each and every month. You pick your calibers, you set your budget, you select a shipping trigger, and that's it. Ammo builds up over time and is delivered automatically when you want it. They've got over 60 different caliber options that are available, including multiple options for the most popular calibers like 9 millimeter, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6 and 12 gauge. So forget about dealing with moving heavy cases of ammunition anymore. You can literally exchange your Ammo Squared inventory as well from one caliber to another in seconds with just a click or close your account and sell it all back anytime you need the money or want to make some money. If prices go up, it's effortless ammunition management. Go to ammo squared.com verdict ammo squared.com verdict to sign up and get some free ammo in your account right now. Ammo squared.com verdict Senator, I, I want everybody to go that hasn't already seen this video that's gone viral of the only way I can describe it as an invasion of our southern border. And the worst part is you can clearly tell that the people that are on the American side in uniform don't have the ability from our government to stand their ground and fight back as they are overrun by illegal immigrants that come through a very clear barri invading America. If you haven't seen the video, go look at it. It's on my social media, it's on yours. But when you saw this, Senator, I mean, this is all encompassing of just how bad the problem is right now.
- [03:26]
B
That's exactly right. Ben. What, what happened this week in El Paso? We had over 100 illegal immigrants who not broke through razor wire that the state of Texas had erected. And you had National Guardsmen that were standing there guarding it, trying to secure our border. And just this mob, they were simply outnumbered and it was a mass that just runs over them, is knocking them down and it's a surge that is happening that is, I don't know what you call it other than an invasion. That's what this is. And the infuriating thing is this is what Joe Biden and congressional Democrats want to have happen. And, and you watch this video, you, you see the, the National Guardsmen trying to put their hands up, trying to hold them back, but there's simply too many of them and they, they overwhelm them with their mass coming into this country. And, and this is happening, as I said, it keeps getting worse and worse and worse. El Paso's migrant dashboard showed that on Thursday, 743 people had been released from custody and into the United States. That's on Thursday in El Paso, 743. It also showed between 2000 and 2500 people held in border control custody each and every night. This is in one city on the border and that same thing is happening all across the 2,000 miles of our southern border.
- [05:03]
A
This is, I think, a psychological thing now too. And I want to talk to you about this because, you know, when younger people started these flash mobs and stores and they realized, hey, no one's going to stop us in San Francisco or in Baltimore and Washington D.C. or New York City. We can just get into large groups and we're going to win because no one's going to arrest us. You look at these illegal immigrants and I think it's very clear they figured it out. This president of the United States of America is not trying to stop you. And you can control the border and do whatever you want to do. Who's going to stop you?
- [05:38]
B
Look, that is exactly right. It's not even that this president's not going to stop you. He's going to help you. He wants them to come illegally. He looks at every one of them and sees there's another Democrat voter, There's another Democrat voter. There's another Democrat voter. Let's be clear. Joe Biden wants to flip the state of Texas right now to be a blue state. He wants to flip every state right now to be a blue state. And so he is happy for as many of these people who are coming illegally to vote illegally as possible. And even if they don't, he's confident that in time, if the Democrats ever get control, they will grant amnesty and voting rights to all of these illegals. And Biden assumes, and I don't think his assumption is crazy, that these illegal immigrants are going to vote for other Democrats to continue the open border.
- [06:28]
A
You combine this story and I do think it's. It reminds me of those flashpoint moments and unfortunately, we're seeing these center, I think, more and more often. Those illegal immigrants that attacked the men in New York City and got released from jail and were flicking off, really, not just the cameras, they're flicking off America.
- [06:48]
B
And the whole world sees there's no consequence to it, that New York City, you beat up cops, they let you go. No bail, no cash, no bail. Hey, you know, I mean, look, I don't know, if you're a New York cop, how do you keep doing your job? Look, the border patrol agents, I mean, when I talk to border patrol agents, when I talk to New York cops, I make a point to thank them and tell them we're grateful for what they're doing because there is a heroism and a patriotism to do your job in the face of political imbeciles who make it almost impossible for you to do your job.
- [07:24]
A
And see, I worry too, that the Biden administration and the Department of Homeland Security and Mayorkas are probably not that upset with what just happened because what they're going to see from this is, hey, they figured it out how to beat Texas because they're at war with Texas at the same time, are they not?
- [07:41]
B
Sadly, they are Joe Biden. And this is true of just about every Democrat in the Senate, just about every Democrat in the House. Given a choice between where do you side? Do you side with illegal immigrants? Do you side with the violent criminals that are being released into this country? Or do you side with the American people who are being the victims of crimes at the hands of this invading mob? The Democrats have made the decision. We're with the cartels. We're with the mob. And this White House is furious that Texas is fighting back.
- [08:15]
A
You combine this story and this is more of a, I think, a symbolic moment with this other shocking testimony. Air Force General has come forward before Congress and revealed an alarming number of drones crossing into the US Airspace at the southern border. It's an Air force. This came up during a hearing with one of your colleagues, Senator Ted Budd, who is a freshman senator, who is there asking basic questions about what's going on with all these drones coming across the southern border. I want to play this and then get your reaction.
- [08:49]
C
It's my understanding there have been a lot of drone incursions along our southern border. How many drone incursions have we had and what are they doing? Senator, the number of incursions was something that was alarming to me as I took command last month. I don't know the actual number. I don't think any. It's in the thousands. I have talked to Customs and Border Protection who are responsible for the UAS incursions, and in the. In the border along with doj, and they put the number at thousands. Over what period of time is that thousands? I would say in the. Probably over a month. We could probably have over 1000amonth. General, do they, in your view, represent a homeland defense threat? Senator, they alarm me from being the person responsible for homeland defense. I haven't seen any of them manifest in a threat to the level of national defense. But I see the potential only growing.
- [09:56]
A
I see the potential only growing. You dig into this a little bit more, and this has obviously been something that they didn't want to get out. They didn't want us to know about this. And. And then an article comes out in the New York Post about other testimony that's already happened. They've got a whole damn Air Force down there at the southern border. And this is the cartels that have this.
- [10:19]
B
Well, that's right. So that was the testimony of Air Force General Gregory Guillot, who is the commander of norad. So a very senior Air Force general. He's just taken over the command of NORAD and also U.S. northern Command. And he's looking at the number that is coming in. He just testified over a thousand a month. And we likewise had last month testimony from the Rio Grande Valley sector Chief Border Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez, who told the House Oversight Committee that in her sector alone. So this is just the Rio Grande Valley sector, there had been more than 10,000 drone incursions and more than 25,000 drone sightings in the last year. Now think about that for a second. 25,000 drone sightings in a year. That's in one sector in the Rio Grande Valley. We've got testimonies. The cartels, you said they have an air force. That's not hyperbole. You are looking at thousands, if not tens of thousands of drones. Now, right now they're principally using these drones for surveillance. They're going over, they're seeing where the Border patrol agents are. And by the way, I've been out on the boats with the Border patrol in the Rio Grande river, and they carry with them guns to shoot down the drones, but it's very hard to shoot down a drone. And when you've got thousands upon thousands, there simply is not enough to take down the number of drones they're able to just send them. And they basically have. Not only do they have operational control of our southern border and understand this is very much like military warfare. Nobody crosses the border without the cartels taking them across. And literally, if you're down in Mexico and you decide, hey, I'm just gonna try to swim the river or come across, they will kill you like it is, you are taking your life in your own hands if you try to cross without them. So they have complete operational control south of the border. And now with their air force of drones, they have surveillance north of the border. And Joe Biden and the Democrats are happily just, just facilitating this, doing nothing to stop it. And, and, and as the general testified, the head of norad, right now, they're using these drones for surveillance, but what's to stop them from using them for, for direct hostile activity? We are literally being invaded by multi billion dollar global criminal cartels on a daily basis.
- [13:10]
A
You look at this drone and we hear the word drone and we think, okay, fun little object. You fly around, take pictures. We see them. When you sell your house and they come out and they take drone shots of your home and everything else to show your lot in your backyard, yada yada. I think some people may not understand the sophistication of these drones for surveillance, for moving drugs. Fentanyl, the number one killer people 49 under in this country is fentanyl overdoses. The, the human smuggling, the, the sex trafficking. And also, I mean, drones are being used in warfare in the Middle East, a lot of our. A lot of our soldiers are being attacked by drones. Now. It's a new way to attack. We're seeing it in Africa. We're seeing it also in Ukraine and Russia, where drone attacks are very. It's a very big new technology in warfare. And that's the reason why I think, we need people to understand how serious it is to have an army of this many drones that you can be using for this many nefarious reasons.
- [14:13]
B
Well, look, that's absolutely right. Drones today are used regularly as a weapon of war. They're used for surveillance. They can be very effective for surveillance. They're also used, and you rightly noted, another way the cartels are using it right now, which is to transport drugs that you can put fentanyl, you can put meth, you can put cocaine or heroin, you can put it on a drone, use the drone to fly across the river and then to land to go to someone from the cartel that is in the United States to receive those drugs. And so the cartels are using that as well as a means of drug delivery. But there's also, on top of that, they can be used as an offensive weapon. They can be used. We see drones in combat theaters that have weapons mounted on them. We see drones. Drones can also be used to spread a biological agent, a chemical agent. And there's a reason that the commander of NORAD said this is very alarming when you're dealing with thousands and thousands of drones routinely coming across our border. It only takes one that is manned by a terrorist to potentially murder people on the American side of the border. And the point is, under Joe Biden, we're not even trying to stop this. The federal government is not trying to prevent these drone incursions. They're simply saying, much as they did with the Chinese spy balloons, they're simply saying, if you want to invade us, hey, come on in.
- [15:44]
A
Yeah, and not only that, if you want to just rush the border with a couple hundred people, go ahead and do that. We will not give the authority for America to protect and defend its borders there either. Let me talk to about your retirement for a moment. Is the money you've been saving for retirement going to be enough? That's a big question. Well, with inflation still well above the Fed's target rate and consumer prices much higher than they were three years ago, you need a financial plan that ensures the money that you save today will be enough for you tomorrow. And that is where gold and silver come in. In fact, gold Just hit a new record high. Gold and silver have historically been good hedges against inflation and a great way to protect your hard earned retirement funds. Yes, protection. And when it comes to buying gold and silver, you need a trusted partner. And that's why I want you to reach out to Freedom Gold usa. Freedom Gold USA is all about educating their clients on how to invest in precious metals. They preach protection and diversifying your assets. And on average, they charge 25 to 30, 30% less than most major gold and silver firms. Let me say that again. On average, they charge 25 to 30% less than most major gold and silver firms out there. So take control your financial Future now visit freedomgoldusa.com verdict that's freedomgold USA.com verdict or call them 1800-655884-31800-655-8843 freedomgoldusa.com verdict or 1-800-655-8843 Senator, you mentioned something in the, in the last statement that you made that I, I want you to expand on a little bit here, and that is you have this official testimony to Congress, it's a thousand plus drones a month. You, you go back to that article that you read earlier with, with the, with the testimony on the House side saying they've got a, basically an air force. And, and not only do they have an air force, but it's one that is the quote, the adversaries have 17 times the number of drones, twice the amount of flight hours, and unlimited funding to grow their operations is what Chavez, the Rio Grande Valley sector chief, testified to the House Oversight Committee. And there doesn't seem to be a plan. Is there anything that will change this administration stance to have a plan? I mean, they're at war with us. How are we not gonna respond? And at what point will this administration respond or are we just basically sol until election day?
- [18:25]
B
Yeah. Joe Biden is not going to change. He doesn't want to change. He is stuck in. He views this as the path to Democrats staying in power. And look, if he was gonna change, he would have done it already. The only answer is we've gotta win in November because these people are destroying our country in front of our eyes.
- [18:47]
A
Senator, while they're trying to destroy our country and not going after the people that are breaking in. There's one thing that is very clear and that is public enemy number one of this administration, the Democrats, is Donald Trump. We now are seeing them trying to break Trump financially. I would assume that you would agree this is certainly a level of Election interference. That's shocking. But let's talk about the money now. The AG James who said, vote for me and I'll go after Trump has now asked the court to deny Donald Trump's $454 million bond appeal. This is unprecedented in American society. This is what would happen in communist countries, yet it's happening right now in America.
- [19:32]
B
Well, we are seeing across the country, Democrat prosecutors abusing the justice system to try to, number one, destroy Donald Trump, but to try to, number two, subvert democracy. They are terrified that the voters in November will vote to reelect Donald Trump. And so they want to abuse their power to stop the voters from doing that. What Letitia James has done, she ran for Attorney General promising, I'm going to get Trump. And I'll say, at least so far, she's delivered on that promise. She went after him with everything she had. In a fraud case that is under a New York statute, that is really a ridiculous statute because it. She alleged fraud with no victims. She alleged that he had borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from sophisticated banks like Deutsche Bank. And Deutsche bank didn't lose money. In fact, they made money on the loans. Trump repaid the loans, and Deutsche Back said they were thrilled to make the loans and would happily make them again. And the argument was that he valued his real estate more than it was worth. Deutsche bank is not some, like, poor little old lady who's a vulnerable consumer. They're a multi billion dollar global bank. They valued the real estate on their own damn thing. You know, if I come in and tell my mortgage company, hey, my home is worth $10 million, they're gonna send their own appraiser to go figure out what my home is worth. They're gonna laugh at me. So an alleged offense with no victim, no injury and no harm. The judgment with interest is $454 million, half a billion dollars. And then New York has a provision that you see in a number of states that to appeal that you've got to put the $454 million in cash, either liquid. So either cash or securities, liquid, or you have to have a bond that covers that amount. And so Trump went and tried to get a bond and he went to 30 different surety companies, and all of them turned him down. And, and, and he, he filed an affidavit. So he, he's raised an issue on appeal to say, look at, you can't require me to put up a half billion dollars just to be able to appeal. And Letitia James just opposed that and said, oh, yeah, he doesn't put that money up. We're coming to take his property. So understand what she wants to do. And she wants to do this as soon as potentially next week, she wants to show up and physically seize his properties. Literally go and seize properties that he has in New York or elsewhere. Uh, it could literally come down to her trying to essentially put a padlock on Trump Tower. And I say that not really with hyperbole, because this is a political jihad for her. So I think she will look for the most visible political way to attack her opponent. And, and, and here's what, here's what Trump's lawyers told the New York Appellate Court. The attorneys wrote that, quote, it is not possible under the circumstances presented. They said the underwriters insisted on cash or other liquid, liquid assets instead of real estate as collateral. So Trump has lots of real estate, but apparently the underwriters said, nope, it's gotta be cash or liquid. And he didn't have a half billion dollars sitting around. And they insisted on cash to cover 120% of the judgment, which is $557 million. An insurance broker, Gary Giuletti, wrote in a sworn statement that, quote, a bond of this size is rarely, if ever, seen. And Letitia James responded, well, no, no, that's not true. There have been billion dollar bonds before, yes, for massive public corporations. But Trump's business is not a public corporation. It is a private company. And to get a half billion dollar bond is incredibly difficult. And so understand the impact if Trump is not able to post this bond. The effect would be to deny him the right to even appeal the absurd partisan decision from the, from the district Court. I gotta say, this is, is. Is such a profound abuse. Now, that doesn't mean Trump would be out of options, because if the New York courts insist you gotta put up a half billion dollars in order to appeal this decision, I am confident that Trump will appeal that and potentially appeal that all the way to the U.S. supreme Court and the U.S. supreme Court. He would have multiple arguments. Constitutional arguments, including the Constitution prohibits denying an individual depriving an individual of property without due process of law. And there would be an argument that this is such an excessive bond that it constitutes a violation of due process. He would also have an argument under the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment specifies excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Now, the Eighth Amendment typically applies in, in, in a criminal context, but given the magnitude here, I would expect him to make both an Eighth Amendment argument and a Due process argument. And it is entirely possible that would prevail ultimately. But what New York is doing, what the New York Attorney General is doing, is the conduct of a banana Republic.
- [25:14]
A
Kevin O'Leary, who many people know from Shark Tank, not the most political guy, he talked about the business fallout of this and asking, where are the adults in the room? Because we can't let this stand in the United States of America. Here's part of what he said, which I thought was really interesting, but more.
- [25:32]
D
Importantly, the message about the American brand you think about America. The reason this is number one economy on earth is that we have laws and we have due process and we have property rights. It attracts foreign capital from all around the world. All of that is being shaken to the core here. The concept of seizing assets in 30 days on a bond number that's never been issued. No insurance bond company has ever issued anything near this. So there was no chance it was going to happen. And only giving 30 days notice in time. That's a really bad message. And I think New Yorkers should think well past Trump, whether he's president or not, or whether this attorney general is gone in four years or not, it's irrelevant. This is case setting against the American brand. The most stable country on earth, anywhere to put capital to work over a long period of time, particularly in real estate, is the United States of America. This is, this is an assault on what we believe to be core, and I find it extraordinary. I think it's very troubling. It has absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump at this point, in my view, and it is completely bipartisan, citizen. This is an attack on America. And I don't know how you can look at it any other way. And as an investor, and I know plenty of investors are completely disturbed by this, but I mean, no one is going to put any money to work in New York in these amounts until this thing settles down. The whole world is watching and everybody's waiting for one thing we haven't got yet, adult supervision. Where is it? Where are the adults in this crazy narrative? Certainly there's got to be adult supervision at some point. And I understand, you know, the war going on here and all the political yada, yada, woof, woof, woof. But we need an adult in the room now. This is the United States of America under siege.
- [27:36]
A
Under siege. I mean, he's not joking around. He says, where are the adults? Senator, I'm going to ask you this. Where are the adults? At what point do the adults get.
- [27:43]
B
Ahold of this well, at this point, it's not clear to me that there are any adults left in New York. There certainly are not. Among politicians. I don't know of a single Democrat politician who has spoken out against this abuse. Certainly Chuck Schumer hasn't. The governor hasn't, the mayor of New York City hasn't. Letitia James is auditioning to be governor. She's clearly ambitious. She views this as the path to success in the Democrat Party in New York. And I gotta say, look, I think they rationalize in their own mind, this is a special rule just for Donald Trump. We hate Trump so much, they think Trump is the devil. And so this applies just to Trump. But this precedent can apply to anyone. If simply claiming that you overstated the value of your real estate gives the Attorney General the justification to seize hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, what real estate developer in their right mind would continue to do business? Every real estate developer, just as a starting point, is subject to this kind of shakedown. And if you don't think that Letitia James or the next ambitious Attorney General will use that power, then you're smoking something. Because, look, it is arbitrary. It's unreviewable. And by the way, if you can't get a bond to appeal it, there is no appellate review. So it's the ability to shake it down. And so if she wants to negotiate a settlement, suppose she comes in. That gives this politician the ability to terrorize businesses, to terrorize foreign corporations, anyone that they decide we don't like it. It. It essentially empowers the politicians to terrorize individuals and companies and force them to comply with whatever their demand is, or else we will seize your assets and you can't even appeal it. And yet, why is not a single Democrat in New York worried about this or speaking out about it? You know, it's astonishing.
- [29:52]
A
Yeah. And it's not just, if you think it's only going to be Donald Trump, you may be wrong. Which brings us to our final story, and that deals with the irs. Jim Jordan has announced he's opened up an investigation, accusations the IRS is using AI to spy on taxpayers. I would love to say I'm surprised by this, Senator, but we've seen the IRS go after conservative groups and Tea Party groups and others in the past, and no one really got in trouble for that. So why would it be any different this time?
- [30:25]
B
Well, that's exactly right. So we have a pair of letters that was sent to the Treasury Secretary and to the Attorney General. One was sent by Jim Jordan, the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. And another one was sent by Harriet Hageman from Wyoming. And it is examining whether the IRS is using artificial intelligence to surveil American taxpayers. And in the letters, they describe how the IRS put out a press release in 2023 saying that artificial intelligence, quote, will help IRS compliance teams better detect tax cheating, identify emerging compliance threats, and improve case selection tools to avoid burdening taxpayers with needless no change audits. And the letter from Jordan and Hageman continues, quote, however, recent reporting alleges that the IRS's use of AI has also included actively monitoring American citizens bank accounts en masse and without legal process. And they cite a report from James O'Keefe. And the video footage from James O'Keefe captures an individual named Alex Mina, who's an IRS official working in the agency's criminal investigations unit, who admits and, and, and, and this is a quote, I'm going to quote from the letter. Quote, video footage obtained by an investigative media outlet appears to capture Alex Mina, an IRS official working in the agency's criminal investigations unit, admitting that the IRS has a new system that uses AI to target potential abusers by examining all returns, bank statements and related financial information for potential for fraud. And Mina asserted that the new AI system has the ability to access and monitor all the information from all the companies in the world.
- [32:33]
A
I mean, the amount of power that the IRS has, not just to spy on people, but to come after people for their political viewpoints. And everybody's like, oh, it never has happened. They don't do that. We know that from tea party groups in the past. This is going to be very interesting if Jim Jordan opening these investigations, what comes to this, we will keep you updated on it. Don't forget we do the show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Make sure you hit that Follow subscriber auto download button. Please share our podcast on your social media platforms wherever you are and the center and I will see you back here tomorrow.