← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Leftists Celebrate an Anti-Capitalist Murderer & Mourn the Acquittal of a Marine Who Saved his Fellow Subway Passengers from a Deranged Violent Criminal
00:45:11
Loading summary
Transcript46 lines
- [00:01]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And Senator, there are two big stories and, and they are just on total opposite ends of the spectrum and how the media is covering it. One of them deals with a anti capitalist climate activist who's become some sort of hero to the left who has now been charged with murdering the healthcare CEO. And the other story deals with Daniel Penny who was found not guilty in New York City and yet they're still going after him as an innocent man.
- [00:36]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, tragically, these two stories both show just how twisted and, and messed up the radical left has gotten. With the first story, we saw this CEO murdered in cold blood, shot on the street in New York. The the alleged murderer is a radical leftist, allegedly an anti capitalist, a climate activist. And he is being celebrated by the left. He's been celebrated on TikTok, on Twitter. It is disgusting. It is. The reaction of the radical left shows just how they not only normalize, but are cheering the murder of anyone they choose that they dislike. And then on the flip side, Daniel Penney, you look at what Daniel Penney did. This is a Marine who defended his nation. And you had a mentally ill homeless guy who was threatening to murder people on the subway. And Daniel Penney was a good Samaritan who intervened and may well have saved the lives of his fellow passengers. And what does Alvin Bragg do? He immediately turns around and tries to prosecute him, put him in jail. These two together really illustrate just how messed up today's radical left is. And it's sad and it's frightening and it needs to change.
- [02:04]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. And we're gonna break down a lot of what they said because I think exposing a lot of it is what's really important so people understand what is happening in this country right now. I also want to tell you about our friends over at Patriot Mobile are fighting the good fight to protect our conservative values while you use a cell phone. It is incredible. And you may not realize that Big Mobile is giving massive donations to Democratic causes, candidates and organizations, radical organizations that are fighting against our first and our second amendment rights, and also organizations that pay for abortions on demand. Well, if you don't want your money going there, then you need to join other Christians and conservatives just like me and make the switch to Patriot mobile. Switching in 2024 is easier now than it's ever been. You get the same great coverage you used to because now everyone uses the same networks in the same towers. So it's not a problem when it comes to coverage. In fact, they have A coverage guarantee at Patriot Mobile. But here's the part you're gonna love when you pay your bill every month. About 5% of that bill at no extra cost to you goes back to support conservative causes that stand up for our first and second amendment rights, stand up for the rights of unborn children and they also stand with our medical or wounded warriors, those that have been hurt serving our country, those that have served, whether it's police or firemen, EMTs or men and women in uniform in our military. That is why I love Patriot Mobile. Now I want to give you a free month of service to make the switch. Right now all you have to do is go to patriotmobile.com verdict that's patriotmobile.com verdict. You can also call them 972 Patriot. Right now you're going to get a free month of service when you use the offer code verdict and you get to keep your same number you've got now. Keep your same phone you have now or upgrade to a new one. Join me and switch to America's only Christian conservative Mobile provider, Patriot Mobile.com Verdict or 972 Patriot for your free month of service today. So let's start Senator with this first just I think shocking case of this anti capitalist climate activist who murdered this healthcare CEO. And they're actually praising him on the left as the hot assassin is what was trending earlier on social media and people that want to send in money for his defense fund and people attacking whoever the worker was at McDonald's for example, they called the police about a cold blooded assassin.
- [04:39]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well you look at what happened and, and number one, he just walked up and, and shot, shot the CEO in cold bl. It was horrific. It was deliberate murder. Here's, here's the opening paragraph of the New York Post story when this suspect was arrested, quote, the suspect nabbed in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson is an anti capitalist Ivy league grad who liked online quotes from Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and seethed in a three page manifesto. These parasites simply had it coming. Law enforcement sources have told the Post this guy is a hard leftist. He was apparently unhappy at the healthcare health insurance industry. And by the way, look, that's not an unreasonable position to be unhappy at insurance companies. That's something reasonable people can believe. What reasonable people don't do is murder those people they don't like. And to do it, you know. This suspect is from a wealthy family. He was the valedictorian of his prep school in Baltimore. He went to the University of Pennsylvania. And you look at the early reports and we're going to learn more about what was happening in this person's life. But you know, what was reported is high school friends, this is again from the Post, said they were shocked to learn that the one time prep school valedictorian and stellar University of Penn graduate may have been struggling and even more stunned to learn of his bust tied to the case. And one of the classmates said he was always doing the right thing. He always had a smile on his face. And he was described as a normal frat guy. And you have to wonder if this guy was radicalized in college. I mean, we have seen, you know, one of the quotes. He was just a normal frat guy. He played beer pong, some girls thought he was hot. That dynamic. Look, at some point, you know, there's a video online of him giving his commencement speech in high school. And he comes across as a pretty normal kid in high school. And at some point between then and age 26, he became radicalized. And we don't know at this point if the guy's just nuts. I mean, Ted Kaczynski certainly by all appearances was nuts, and maybe that was some of it, or if he's a radical or both. But what we do know is the reaction of people on the left, multiple people on the left, has been just disgusting. And let me give an example. I want you to listen to former Washington Post a New York Times reporter, Taylor Lorenz, describing this murder and just listen to her.
- [07:45]
Taylor Lorenz
I do believe in the sanctity of life. And I think that's why I felt, along with so many other Americans, joy, unfortunately, you know, because it feels like.
- [07:55]
Senator Ted Cruz
Serious, I mean, joy in a man's execution.
- [07:58]
Taylor Lorenz
Maybe not joy, but certainly not. No, certainly not empathy, because again, we're watching the footage.
- [08:04]
Senator Ted Cruz
How can this make you joyful? This guy's a husband, he's a father, and he's been gunned down in the middle of Manhattan.
- [08:11]
Taylor Lorenz
Why does that make you joyful Americans that he murdered? So are tens, so are the tens of thousands of Americans, innocent Americans who died because greedy health insurance executives like this one push a policies of denying care to the most vulnerable people, the many millions of Americans that have watched people that I care about suffer and in some cases die because of lack of health.
- [08:34]
Senator Ted Cruz
Should they all be killed then? Should they all be killed, these health care executives? Would that make you even more joyful?
- [08:40]
Taylor Lorenz
No, that would not.
- [08:42]
Ben Ferguson
I don't know how. By the way, in journalism you can keep your job if you Go on national TV and you say something like this. But apparently if you're on the left, you can say this, you can say you found joy in watching a man with children and a wife who has a job walking down the street in New York City be executed. And she's seeing the footage like, well, I mean, you know, it's joy. Okay, maybe it's that total joy. I, I believe her when she said it was joy. I think that there's many out there and we're seeing it on social media center that are cheerful and joyful that this is happening because it's like they've decided that hey, there can be an enemies list now and we can murder or, or advocate for offing any person in any position of power that we don't like and we're going to normalize it in Americ and that is dangerous.
- [09:30]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, let me say Taylor Lorenz's comments there are sick and twisted and she should be treated as a deranged lunatic because she is, she is openly celebrating. She feels joy at someone, someone she's never met being murdered. Why? Because she hates all health insurance companies. She hates, you know what? She's another anti capitalist nut job. But not just nut job who feels joy at the murder of her political enemies. Listen, Taylor Lorenz, my understanding is she was raised in enormous wealth and enormous privilege and there's nothing worse than rich liberals who are eager. We saw the same reaction when Donald Trump was almost assassinated when he was shot and people on the left bemoaning that the assassin did not kill Donald Trump. That is. And Taylor Lorenz is not some fringe journalist. She was a reporter both for the Washington Post and the New York Times. And that approach is typical. I want you to listen now to a University of Pennsylvania professor, Julia Alekseyeva talking about this assassination.
- [11:02]
Ben Ferguson
That is her playing that famous song and above her it says have never been prouder to be a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. So referring to the fact that he, the shooter, this, this, this man of, of, of madness and the executioner went to the University of Pennsylvania.
- [11:23]
Senator Ted Cruz
So let me be clear and I don't know Professor Alexa Yeva, but Penn should fire her. She is, she, she is playing. That is a song from Les Mis celebrating the French Revolution. Apparently the good professor wants the guillotine in the streets, wants to murder more CEOs. She's cheering, she's proud. My university graduated a murderer and, and, and she's celebrating. This person should not be teaching young people. This professor should be fired because this is the kind of radical view. And look, I also want to play a couple of folks from TikTok. And this is emblematic of how leftists are not only normalizing this, but you know who they're angry at. They're furious that a McDonald's employee saw this murderer and turned him in. And okay, here is one tick tock. Or a transgender influencer, apparently on. On TikTok. And we'll. We'll leave the name off. But. But play. Play what they said on TikTok.
- [12:28]
Taylor Lorenz
They caught the guy that killed the UHC CEO. For such a professional hit, it's kind of weird that the gunman didn't leave the US the guy that reported it was a McDonald's worker. I would never advocate for violence on my page, but it would be pretty funny if we beat the out of him. And then when he went to the hospital that if he was out of network and had to pay a huge bill, I think that would be funny. I'm not advocating for it, but it would bring a smile to my face.
- [13:00]
Senator Ted Cruz
Okay, you are advocating for it.
- [13:03]
Ben Ferguson
And she also rolled her eyes when she said I would never advocate for violence on my page. She did a like, sarcastic eye roll for people that can't see what we were watching.
- [13:13]
Senator Ted Cruz
And you know what? That TikTok leftist is feeling the same joy Taylor Lorenz is and is saying, wouldn't it be wonderful if someone beat up this McDonald's employee who you want to talk about like catching a murderer in a normal, sane time? And listen, let's be clear. You and I, we disagree with people on the radical left. But, but, but nobody should be subject to political violence. Whether I agree with you or don't agree with you, murder is wrong. Period. The end. And all right, play another tiktoker to give a sense of just for the left. Listen, this is the cultural rot of being told if someone is on the other side, they are not human, they do not count, and violence is perfectly acceptable. Play this other tiktoker.
- [14:09]
Taylor Lorenz
Okay, so they've arrested our hot CEO assassin. Turns out his name's Luigi. He's 26 years old. He's an Ivy League grad. Did his undergrad and master's at Penn in computer science. He's a little young for me, but baby, what is you doing getting caught eating at McDonald's. And. And curse you, McDonald's employee for turning him in. But I get it. They up the the reward to 60,000. Maybe you needed that money. I never understood those crazy women that wrote inmates in jail But I can see myself doing that.
- [14:51]
Ben Ferguson
I mean, this is an older lady and she refers to him as the hot assassin and then says, curse you, McDonald's employee for turning him in. But maybe you need the $60,000 and that's why I did it. No, maybe the. Maybe the McDonald's employees actually just did the right thing because they saw an assassin sitting in the sea in the McDonald's and they said, hey, I want to make sure this guy doesn't take out another innocent person.
- [15:14]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and notice, you know, she says, what is you doing? Not committing murder, but getting caught. Like, how dare you get caught. I don't want you to get caught. She's like, I want to write love letters to this murderer. And hot assassin was trending on Twitter today. And the left is glamorizing. And understand there is a reason for this. And this is something you and I have talked about a lot, which is this is cultural Marxism. This is the fruits of cultural Marxism. These are the same people that are cheering on Hamas and Hezbollah and cheering on the murderers and rapists of Hamas and are cheering on October 7th that are on college campuses waving signs saying, we love Hamas, we support Hamas. These are the same radicals who are screaming at Jewish students as they did at the University of Washington. Go back to the gas chambers and the ovens. This is, and we've talked about it, my most recent book, how to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America. It traces the growth of cultural Marxism that started in the universities. And the universities are training young people that the basic Marxist dialectic, the dichotomy is between the oppressors and the victims and the oppressors and victims, in this case Karl Marx's original Communist Manifesto, the oppressors were the capitalists, the oppressors were the owners of capital and the workers were the victims. And what Marxists are taught is that the so called oppressors are evil and bad and the so called victims are good and noble. And Marxists advocate the violent revolution of the so called victims against the so called oppressors. And that violent revolution almost invariably involves involves murder. That there is a reason that the cultural Marxists on campus are celebrating hamas, who murdered 1200 Israelis who raped women and little girls. And to be clear, like Black Lives Matter, the Chicago chapter of Black Lives matter, right after October 7th tweeted out an image, we support Palestine. And it was an image of a paraglider. And to be clear, this was not. They were not engaging in a debate about a two state solution in the Middle east. That that one can reasonable people can disagree on that question? They were explicitly. The paragliders are what the Hamas terrorist Road flew in on to murder predominantly young people, young Jewish people at the music festival outside. They gunned them down. I have met repeatedly with families of people who were raped, people who were murdered on October 7th. It was grotesque, it was evil. And Black Lives Matter was saying, you're our people, we stand with you. And that is the doctrine of cultural Marxism that has infested our universities for years after years after years. You know this professor at Penn that is celebrating, she's celebrating because she wants the violent overthrow of the so called oppressors. And you know what? Taylor Lorenz has been taught the same nonsense. And the problem is cultural Marxism. It has spread from the universities to K through 12 education to journalism, to big business, to big tech, to entertainment. It is spread. It has spread like a cancer. And you know, there was another image that went viral online. Why don't you tell people about the image that was being sent around today?
- [19:02]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, this was another one and I saw it earlier today. And I think it goes to even a broader conversation about where we are in this country when it comes to the left, where it seems that they want to normalize the execution of anyone they disagree with. We've seen that with Donald Trump. Now there's this picture that was put out, well put together, says Health Insurance CEO compensation as a CEO of Sigma making 21 million in his name. Well Care, the salary 23.5 million in the name Humana, 16.3 million. The list goes on and on. The total list is eight different CEOs. CVS Health CEO is a great example on this list. And all of their pictures are in color. And then the eighth person on the list at the bottom right is UnitedHealthcare. Brian Thompson, 10.2 million. And his picture is in black and white. It is very clear that his pictures in black and light white for the hey, he has been killed. We've taken him out. The rest are still living there in color. And this started to go out on social media left and right. And it's obviously the people that want this out there is like, here's our kill list. We started with Brian Thompson, now here's all the other ones that are still alive making even more money than he's making.
- [20:24]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, it is twisted, it is sick. We're getting reports of Certainly health care CEOs, but CEOs across the country who are upping their expenditures in the personal security because the left is reveling in this sort of murder, and let me be clear, murder is wrong. Period. The end. Regardless of your politics, regardless of whether I agree with you or disagree with you, nobody should be subject to violence. And yet, let's go to some of our favorite people, the always charming and wonderful and reasonable host of the View. They were very unhappy. They were very unhappy today because I called out the extremist left for their violence and their willingness to engage in assassinations and to try to assassinate, to assassinate this CEO, to try to assassinate Donald Trump and give a listen to Joy Behar Just, just, just whining about, oh, don't, don't blame us leftists for this, even though we're the ones celebrating.
- [21:31]
Taylor Lorenz
Of course Ted Cruz has to politicize it and say that it's a left wing thing. I mean, the, the, I think it was the second attempted assassination on Trump was a kid who was a registered Republican who also voted for Biden and had a lot of left wing stuff on his social media. But I don't think that this is, as you say, it's not a political issue. And why does Ted Cruz insist on dividing Americans even further? Is my question to him?
- [22:00]
Ben Ferguson
Senator, you listen to the View, and I mean, you want to talk about stretches. So now you're somehow politicizing people that were trying to assassinate and actually shot Donald Trump and you're calling out the rhetoric. And now they say somehow not only is Orange man bad, but Ted Cruz is bad as well.
- [22:22]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and look, the hosts of the View are just denying reality. Joy, every word that just came out of Joy's mouth is complete nonsense, is babbling idiocy. And listen, I gotta say, I went on the View for my second book and my third book, and when I went on for my third book, justice how the Left Has Weaponized Our Legal System. You know, the View came after me like vultures descending from the sky trying to consume my liver. And they were screaming at me from multiple directions. We actually had protesters stand up in the middle of the show and disrupt the show, which had apparently never happened before. But they're screaming at me, well, aren't right wingers all violent protesters? And you guys, it was all about January 6th. And you're violent, you're violent, you're violent. Ironically, that's what she was saying. And it wasn't Joy. Joy was not on that show. But I turned to them and said, look, violence is wrong. It's wrong whether I agree with you or disagree with you. Anyone who committed an act of violence, anyone who has assaulted a Police officer, they should be prosecuted. Speech, peaceful speech is protected by the Constitution. But, but I also said, you want to talk about violence? I'm willing to say put anyone in jail who commits active violence. Are you? And I asked on that show, what about the Black Lives Matter and antifa riots all over the country in 2020 that burned American cities across the country? And Whoopi Goldberg looked at me and said, I don't know what an antifa riot is like. They're literally living in an alternative reality where they just, they just erase the embrace of violence on the left. You know, Whoopi, maybe you remember Kamala Harris raising money to bail out of jail. The violent rioters who burned Minneapolis and looted stores and violently assaulted people. This is who the radical left cheers for celebrates. You know, Joy ought to ask herself, why does fellow leftist Taylor Lorenz find Joy in this cold blooded murder? And you know, she's not going to answer that. By the way, I will say the irony, the fourth book I wrote, Unwoke, about cultural Marxism, the view refused to have me on. They'd had me on twice. It apparently had not gone well to them because they're used to just screaming one point of view and not not having to face disagreement. And so they said, nope, nope, sorry, you're no longer welcome in the show. We don't want anything other than our one sided view of propaganda that we're spewing. And that's what they continue to do.
- [25:11]
Ben Ferguson
No doubt about it. And if you look at this story we just talked about and you compare and contrast it to how the media is handling the Daniel Penny story of him being not found not guilty in that subway chokehold trial. You can see just how much they push a narrative. Depending on who you are, you're a veteran and, and helping people from a violent individual, oh, you're a bad person. I want to break that down for you in just a moment as well. But first, let me tell you about the international fellowship of Christians and Jews. This Christmas and Hanukkah season is a time of hope and peace for many of us. But for those in Israel right now facing the ongoing war, it is a time of fear and uncertainty. The hardships are felt by everyone, with many people struggling to afford food and basic necessities. My, my good friend Clay Travis is over there right now and he is looking at where these atrocities took place and putting videos out on social media. And it's a reminder, if you go look at them, of just how awful it has been for the people in Israel. Now, during this holiday season, many living through the war in the Holy Land are grieving the loss of loved ones while also ensuring isolation and hunger. We must not let them feel forgotten by the rest of the world. And that's why I'm partnering with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Your special holiday gift to the fellowship helps provide a Hanukkah food box filled with basic necessities and essentials to bring nourishment, warmth and comfort to someone desperately in need. Give the gift of hope and answered prayers this holiday season by going to supportifcj.org to donate right now. That support ifcj.org you can also call to give over the phone at 888-488-IFCJ. That's 888-4884-3255. Senator, let's move to this other story and it involves Daniel Penny. And thank goodness he was found not guilty. Many people, if you don't remember the story, he was an individual that was protecting innocent people from a violent individual on the subway, on the train in New York. And he did it because he feared for not only his life, but for others that he was threatening. And Daniel Penny did what I would hope that many men would do, which is to stand in and to help people that are in need, especially if there's someone that is violent. The media immediately flipped this into a, oh, white guy choke hold on an African American. Uh, this was right in the middle of a lot of the police brutality issues that we were dealing with in this country and the stories and this was a perfect narrative. And they went after this guy and they also found out, oh, he's a veteran. Well, a lot of the media don't like veterans and so it was a double whammy and they wanted to put this guy in jail for a very long time. Now, thank goodness on the some on the jury said, we're not doing this. This was a victory. And yet they're still attacking him even though now he's been found innocent.
- [28:20]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, thank God that Daniel Penney was acquitted, found not guilty by a jury of his peers, not guilty of criminally negligent homicide. As you noted, Daniel Penney is a 26 year old Marine veteran. He's an architecture student and he was charged by Alvin Bragg with both manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the death of Jordan Neely. Jordan neely was a 30 year old homeless man who had schizophrenia, who barged into a train, was shouting death threats and he was high on a synthetic marijuana known as K2. Now, it really is striking. The murderer of The United Healthcare CEO was a 26 year old. And the left is celebrating that 26 year old murderer in this instance. Penny is not a murderer. It is not murder. Self defense is not murder. Defending yourself, if you have a reasonable fear for your safety or the safety of others, you have a right to defend yourself. That is not murder. And that's what the jury concluded. And this case should never have been brought. If you look at the facts, the facts of what happened here were horrific. So the Incident happened on May 1, 2023, and Neely barged onto an F train in Manhattan screaming death threats. The other passengers on the train afterwards said that they were thankful for Penny's intervention. Neely had a long criminal record. He had an active arrest warrant. He had a history of psychosis, and he was high on K2, which is a synthetic form of marijuana. If you look at what has happened in New York with the violence and violence on subways, just three days earlier, a passenger standing on a subway had been stabbed with an ice pick on a J train. About a month before, a PBS reporter got sucker punched on a number four train. A week before that, an individual was shoved and hit the side of a moving R train. That individual survived. And this pattern, you know, one of the witnesses on the train testified that Neely shouted someone would, quote, die that day. And she went on to say, quote, I got scared by the tone that he was saying it. I've seen situations, but not like that. And Penny gave an interview afterwards, and here's what Penny said he said about this deranged homeless man. Quote, he was talking gibberish. But these guys are pushing people in front of trains and stuff. There were more than 20 subway shoves in the year before Penny's encounter with Neely. This case should never, ever, ever have been brought. But Alvin Bragg is a radical leftist. And so Alvin Bragg is a cultural Marxist. He believes he is in abusing the justice system to target his enemies. And for the cultural Marxist, Penny is the oppressor because of his race, because he's a white man and he's a veteran. He is the oppressor. And Neely is the victim, again, because of his race. Never mind, they don't care that he's a mentally ill criminal threatening to murder people. That is his. These are people that, you know, presumably would have celebrated if Penny had been murdered. Because once they assign you to these two groups, oppressor, always, always wrong. Victim, always, always, always right. That is the radical Ideology. And again, the reaction of the left is precisely the opposite of the reaction. And by the way, I want to point out there's a reason I'm using Daniel Penny's name. He was innocent. He was found not guilty by a jury. There's a reason you and I have not used the name of the murderer who murdered the United Healthcare CEO. I try very hard not to repeat the names of murderers many times. These people want to be famous. They want to be remembered. And so I think, as far as I'm concerned, this guy's name should be forgotten for all time. But you know what? The leftists are going to celebrate him because that's their ideology.
- [33:24]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, no doubt about it. This is one of those stories where I hope that people will stand up and say, this is a hero, and be proud to say he is a hero, because that's exactly what he is. And we should celebrate heroes. And we should not have to worry that when men need to stand up and act to protect and defend people, that they're going to do it and not have to worry about thinking twice because of what just happened to this individual. It's also a really sad commentary about New York and New York City and the activist prosecutors there. And finally, I want to get your thought on that with the prosecutors that went after him. Should there be any scenario where he can in essence say, hey, you guys didn't treat me the right way.
- [34:08]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, look, I could easily see a lawsuit following from this. I hope Alvin Bragg is thrown out of office. I hope he is removed from office. The governor has the authority to do that. Of course, the governor, Kathy Hochul, is a leftist herself, a cultural Marxist herself. She's someone who, by the way, said, if you're a Republican, get the hell out of my state. Move to Florida. You don't belong in New York. That is their ideology. If you are the enemy, they are opposed to you. I gotta say, I want you to listen to Daniel Penney and him talking about how he was trying to protect other people's lives. He was acting as a Good Samaritan acting as a hero, intervening, risking his own life. Look, encountering a mentally ill, potentially violent person, threatening violence is a dangerous thing to do. Here's what Daniel Penney had to say.
- [34:57]
Ben Ferguson
The guilt I would have felt if someone did get hurt, if he did do what he was threatening to do, would never be able to live with myself. And I'll take a million court appearances and people calling me names and people hating me just to keep one of those people from Getting hurt or killed.
- [35:20]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, that is. Yes, look. And of course, how is the left reacting? Well, I want you to listen to MSNBC just expressing misery that Daniel Penney was acquitted. And understand, by the way, initially, so there were two charges that were brought. So Alvin Bragg brought two charges. One charge was for manslaughter, and the second charge was for criminally, criminally negligent homicide. The jury deadlocked on the second degree manslaughter claim, which was the more serious charge. So that means they had a disagreement, they could not come to agreement. And so what did Alvin Bragg do? Well, Alvin Bragg moved to dismiss the more serious charge and he was trying to get a conviction on the less serious charge. And I gotta say, to the jury's credit, they came back very quickly with a not guilty. So the jury has determined he is innocent. But listen to MSNBC and just how upset they are that this innocent man was found not guilty.
- [36:33]
Taylor Lorenz
Breaking news here. Daniel Penney found not guilty. But Lisa, we also know that Jordan Neely's family had filed, I believe, a civil suit in this case as well. Does the verdict in this case impact that? Not necessarily. I mean, the law is rife with examples of people who are acquitted in criminal cases and yet find justice with respect to civil accountability. I think the best example of that is with respect to Fred Goldman's family. Fred Goldman, I'm sorry, Ron Goldman being the man who was murdered alongside Nicole Brown Simpson, even though O.J. simpson was never found criminally guilty for those two murders. Fred Goldman, the father, along with his daughter, then sued O.J. simpson civilly and won a fairly large verdict with respect to civil liability for O.J. simpson. There are many other examples of similar disjuncture between what happens in a criminal court and what happens when respect to a wrongful death action, for example, by a family.
- [37:30]
Ben Ferguson
It's sad, Senator, but there seems to be another trend, and that is if you are an innocent person and then you are found innocent of a crime, if the media doesn't like you, they're still going to act like you're a threat to society.
- [37:42]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, you look at, that's a reporter, Lisa Rubin on msnbc, who is calling for the mentally ill homeless man who was high on drugs and threatening to murder people on the train, calling for him to find justice against the Marine who intervened to protect people and keep people safe. And she analogizes it to the O.J. simpson case, which is utterly absurd because, look, O.J. simpson was charged with, and the facts were pretty powerful, was guilty of murder. Now, to be fair, O.J. simpson was not found guilty of murder, but there was significant evidence that O.J. was guilty and there was significant enough evidence that he ended up being hit with a large civil judgment. This is not remotely, there's no argument, no rational, reasonable argument under the law that Daniel Penny is guilty of murder. Self defense is fully protected. And by the way, if perchance you don't believe me, you should listen to my former criminal law professor, Alan Dershowitz. Now, Alan Dershowitz is a liberal. He's been a liberal his whole life. But he has the courage to speak out and speak the truth and listen to what Alan Dershowitz said about this case and about the absolutely corrupt prosecutor, Alvin Bragg.
- [39:10]
Taylor Lorenz
I'm going to start off with just the immediate reaction to the not guilty verdict in the Daniel Penney case.
- [39:15]
Alan Dershowitz
I have to admit I was a little surprised. Having hung on the higher count, I was not expecting they would so quickly acquit on the lower count. Probably shows that there were only one or two people in the original high count that hung based on their desire to see a conviction. So I think it's a good thing. Now I think the next step has to be the removal of Alvin Bragg from the role of district attorney. He is a disgrace to the office. The two cases he brought should never have been brought. The case against Donald Trump, which was made up out of old cloth, which to my mind involves unethical, unprofessional conduct by Bragg, and also this case, which should never have been brought either. He brought it only because of the racial component to the case and because of pressures from Black Lives Matter and other groups on the outside, both white and black radicals, who wanted these cases to be brought, wanted this case to be brought, and who are going to continue to complain even though there were obviously black members of the jury who voted to acquit as well.
- [40:17]
Senator Ted Cruz
Professor, what do you make of how quickly they came back with this verdict? And also too, there's the civil case that he's also facing too. Daniel Penney does that. Given that he's not guilty on the.
- [40:29]
Taylor Lorenz
Criminal case, what happens to the civil case as well?
- [40:32]
Alan Dershowitz
It'll be thrown out. There's no case there civilly. The only thing that will happen is that Penney will get an enormous amount of discovery and we'll get much more information that we don't now have about the alleged victim in the case. So my prediction is it will be withdrawn. I don't think they'll go any further. I don't think they'll get Any kind of a verdict now, you know, maybe the city will settle if they sue the city as well. If I were, if I were the lawyers for the alleged victim, I probably think I'd have a better shot of getting some money from the city, which was sympathetic obviously to the victim, than from a poor former Marine who probably doesn't have a lot of money. So I don't think the civil case is going anywhere. This is not O.J. simpson, where the civil case won after the criminal case lost. There was no case here to bring it all, either civil or criminal.
- [41:32]
Ben Ferguson
Alan Dershowitz there seems to be optimistic. And I'm glad he's saying, hey, I don't think he's going to have to deal with what, for example, O.J. simpson had to deal deal with. This is very different. I hope he's right.
- [41:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, listen, Alan Dershowitz, he's a good friend. As I said, he was my criminal law professor, and I actually took another class from him in law school as well. He was a fantastic professor. He's the best professor I had in law school. And he's a brilliant lawyer. He's an incredibly talented lawyer. And, you know, I remember my first year in law school when Dersch was stood up and he said, listen, he said, by any reasonable measure, I am in the most liberal 1% of Americans across this country. And he said, at Harvard Law School, oddly enough, I'm considered something of a conservative. This is not America. I don't remember if he said this is not America, but this is not a typical place. I mean, this was 30 years ago. So I'm paraphrasing. But his point was, so Dershowitz believes in free speech. That is no longer where the left is. The left is eager to censor someone who disagrees. Dershowitz does not celebrate the murder of those he disagrees with. Dershowitz is not a cultural Marxist. He's an old school liberal. He's a civil libertarian. He is, you know, has represented criminal defendants successfully. He's gotten a lot of criminal defense off. He believes in a vigorous protection of constitutional rights for criminal defendants. And look, I respect his courage. He's been demonized. He also supports Israel and speaks out very powerfully and effective for Israel. He's been demonized by the left for doing so because they brook no dissent. Anyone who dares oppose them is the enemy. And so even though he's been one of the most prominent liberals in the country for decades, he is rejected by today's left because he actually has the courage to speak out against them. I hope he's right about the civil case. In any sane and ordinary universe, that would be true. I have to say I have a little bit less confidence about a New York jury and a New York judge, and maybe that's because we all saw the absolute kangaroo courts that were convened against Donald Trump. And having seen the civil suits and the criminal case against Donald Trump in the New York justice system, he is right on what should happen. Look, I am very grateful that Daniel Penney was acquitted, but it says something about how little confidence I have about the justice system in New York that I was not sure this would happen. I thought there was a chance they would come back and follow through on what Alvin Bragg wanted them to do, which is punish him because he was deemed the bad guy. And thankfully the justice system worked in this case. And you ought to ask yourself, have you seen even a single Democrat celebrate the Daniel Penny verdict?
- [44:44]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it's a great question.
- [44:46]
Senator Ted Cruz
And if not, why not?
- [44:48]
Ben Ferguson
Don't forget we do this show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hit that subscribe or auto download button. Please write us a five star review as well if you wouldn't mind. It helps us reach new people. Also on those in between days, grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcast and I will keep you updated on the latest breaking news on those in between days and the center and I will see you back here on Friday morning.