← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Meet the Press Showdown w Tom Cotton plus DOJ Uncovers 260,000 Dead Voters
00:16:28
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- [00:00]
Ben Ferguson
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
- [00:04]
CarMax/Mint Mobile/AMPM Advertiser
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- [00:33]
Ben Ferguson
Hey, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. You know one of the perks about having four kids that you know about is actually getting a direct line to the big man up north. And this year he wants you to know the best gift that you can give someone is the gift of Mint Mobile's Unlimited Wireless for $15 a month. Now you don't even need to wrap it. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment.
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Kristen Welker
Of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes if network's busy, taxes and fees extra Tired of.
- [01:04]
Apollo Advertiser
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- [01:32]
CarMax/Mint Mobile/AMPM Advertiser
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- [02:03]
Ben Ferguson
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Donald Trump
And I'm here to represent our country in a different sense. But I can tell you I did settle eight wars and we have a ninth coming, but which nobody's ever done before. But I want to really save lives. I don't need prices. I need to save lives. And we're saving a lot of lives. I've saved millions and millions of lives and that's really what I want to do. And I also want to run a great country. And the United States right now is the hottest country anywhere in the world and one year ago was dead.
- [03:00]
Ben Ferguson
You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Good Monday morning. It's nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update. We've got two major stories for you. First up, Tom Cotton coming out saying everyone on the drug boat was a valid target and the Washington Post slandered our men and women in the military. He takes on the press and wins with the facts big time. I'll have that for you in just a moment. Also, in a story that no one's talking about, the federal government is now fighting hundreds of thousands of dead people on voter rolls around the country. Why are they still on the list? And why are Democrats doing everything they can to protect dead people to vote? Operation Overlord, the D Day beaches. You and I share a passion for history. So I hope you'll join me next spring on the D Day beaches in Normandy. That's right, the invasion that sealed Hitler's doom. Omaha and Utah. You're going to discover the sacred patch of sand. Me 10 days in Europe, luxury hotels and fully escorted by America's leading expert on France and the D day invasion, Ken Chase. 57. 57. And that includes your airfare. You're going to stand at General Patton's grave site, Baston Point, du Hawk and Mulberry Harbor. Call my friends at Conservative Tours on your cell phone. Just dial pound250 and say the keyword Conservative Tours or go to conservativetours.com an A plus rating with the BB sightseeing in Paris too. Dial pound 250, say the keyword Conservative Tours. You'll have the option to receive a one time auto dialed text message from iHeartMedia. It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now. Story number one, it is a disaster. The media went all in on a story that we now know is a total lie. Senator Tom Cotton coming out on Meet the Press and saying that everyone on the Drug boat was a valid target. The Washington Post now being accused of slandering the military. Now, let me remind you about the backstory of this story. Two weeks before this story broke, you had Democrats in the House and the Senate come together and encourage an insurrection against the president from military leaders, encourage a coup, telling them to defy orders of the president. Clearly in reference to the attacks on the narco terrorists running drugs to America in the middle of the ocean, we know that the number one killer of people under the age of 40 in this country is fentanyl. And we know that hundreds of Americans are killed every single day by accidental overdoses from drugs laced with fentanyl. Well, on Sunday on Meet the Press, Tom Cotton of Arkansas said that all the people on a Venezuelan drug boat were subject to the Trump administration's crackdown. The Caribbean were, quote, unquote, valid targets. This going directly against the lies and the slander from the Washington Post on the military. I want you to listen carefully to what Tom Cotton had to say because it's important that this gets out. And I hope you will share this podcast, this information with everyone on social media. Listen carefully.
- [06:24]
Kristen Welker
And joining me now is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee who was in those briefings this week, Republican Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Senator Cotton, welcome back to Meet the Press.
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Senator Tom Cotton
Thanks for having me on.
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Kristen Welker
Kristen, thank you so much for being here after a very big week. I want to ask you about our new reporting. NBC News is reporting this morning that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, his order was to kill all 11 individuals on that boat because they were on a list of narco terrorists who intelligence and military officials determined could be legally targeted. Was Secretary Hegseth's order to kill everyone on the boat because they were on this target list?
- [07:03]
Senator Tom Cotton
Senator, the order, like the entire operation, Kristin, is to destroy these drug boats which are running drugs into our country from foreign drug cartels and traffickers that are killing hundreds of Arkansans every year and hundreds of thousands of Americans. Now, of course, before our military conducts such a strike, they have multiple sources of intelligence that give high confidence that everyone on that boat is a foreign drug trafficker, not an innocent civilian who's being human trafficked, for instance. And therefore, Secretary Hegseth said, and I agree, they're all valid targets. Now, this controversy, let's remember, all started with a Washington Post story about nine days ago that said after the first strike there were two survivors that were helpless, and then they were ordered to kill these helpless survivors. That is simply not the case. They were not floating in the ocean on a wooden plank or in life jackets. They were on the capsized vessel. They were not incapacitated in any way. It was entirely appropriate to strike the boat again to make sure that cargo was destroyed. It is in no way violation of the law of war. And I think the Washington Post owes Secretary Hegseth and especially Admiral Mitch Bradley, a highly decorated career Navy seal, an apology for that slander.
- [08:24]
Ben Ferguson
An apology for that slander. This story is a story just like the Russian hoax story, the Steele dossier, a total fabrication by the Democratic National Committee that paid for that dossier in a fabrication by the Hillary Clinton for President campaign. And what did the media do? They gave legs and life to that story, to the point where they impeach the President of the United States of America. This story is no different. There is a story that has been put out there by the Washington Post. I wouldn't be surprised if this story was put out there in conjunction with Democrats, the same Democrats that said, defy the president's orders. It is obvious this was to undermine and to even imprison people in and around President Trump. It was also a story that has been put out there to put fear into the minds of our men and women in uniform with the threat that the Democratic Party, when they gain power again one day, will come after them for war crimes and lock them up for life or even give them the death penalty. That is exactly what this story was all about. To make sure that people that are in our government would not follow the orders of the sitting president, Senator Tom Cotton, after what he had to say there, was pressed by Welker. And I want you to listen carefully to what he says in this next moment on the show.
- [09:52]
Kristen Welker
Okay. And we're going to get to what you saw in the video momentarily. But I just want to be very clear, because what you're saying is significant. Senator, it sounds like you're confirming. Did Admiral Bradley brief lawmakers that, in fact, all of the people on that boat were on a military target?
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Senator Tom Cotton
Listen, I did not hear him personally say anything about a military target list. Now, he had several briefings throughout the day. I wasn't in the briefing, for instance, with Mark Warner, my counterpart on the Senate Intelligence Committee. I can only say what he. What he told me. He said they had high confidence, based on multiple sources of intelligence, that everyone on that boat was part of a foreign or foreign terrorist organization and been designated by the US Government so they.
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Kristen Welker
Could be legally targeted. They could be. And legally targeted, he argued.
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Senator Tom Cotton
Yes.
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Kristen Welker
Okay.
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Senator Tom Cotton
Before the first strike. And after the first strike was Admiral.
- [10:39]
Kristen Welker
Bradley acting on Secretary Hexis orders.
- [10:42]
Senator Tom Cotton
Senator? Well, anytime you have an operation like this, there's an operation order. It's written down. It's got very detailed instructions. I think because this was the first strike, Secretary Hegseth and Admiral Bradley both wanted to be present and be making the decision. As you heard Secretary Hegseth in the opening say he initiated the first strike. You've seen the video. There's a lot of smoke. It takes a long time to clear. I'm sure Secretary Hexath had many other matters that he had to attend to, and he trusts Admiral Bradley. Once the smoke had cleared, once cloud cover cleared, it was clear that the first strike had not destroyed the boat. Admiral Bradley made the decision for the second strike. Now, in subsequent strikes since then, because there's been more than 20, obviously it's no longer Secretary Hegseth or even four star generals making that decision, nor should it be. But on the first strike, I believe they both wanted to be present and be observing it.
- [11:29]
Kristen Welker
Let me ask you about the aftermath of that first strike. The Pentagon's Law of War manual, which you're familiar with, having served in Iraq and Afghanistan, says, quote, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal.
- [11:44]
Ben Ferguson
I want to pause there, and I want you to just listen to how they continue to undermine and disparage and fish for a controversy. Did you notice how she's like, let me just go to these orders. Let's talk about these orders. Let's have a conversation about these orders. They do not want to stop here. They want this to continue to be a thing. They want it to continue to be a story. And they are refusing to admit that the story is inaccurate, that the story is slander, that the story is a lie. Why? Because they want people that work for the President of the United States of America to be afraid to do their job, to be afraid to follow orders from the President of the United States of America. And this is why it is so important that we stand with this president and that conservatives in Congress stand up to these radicals on the left. Full stop. Now, story number two. I want to bring up a quick, important story for you, and it's one that's getting no coverage at all. It deals with the integrity of our elections, and it's a very important story. After the Assistant Attorney General, Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department Civil Rights Division, announced new findings in the department's nationwide effort to clean up voter rolls, revealing massive vulnerabilities in states election systems. According to Dillon, federal investigators have identified 260 plus thousand dead individuals still listed on voter rolls across the country. More than a quarter million dead people, along with thousands I'm going to say this slowly because I want this to really stick with you. Along with thousands registered non citizens. Let me translate that for you. They found thousands of illegal immigrants registered to vote. In a post on X, she said the department's review has already prompted major action. Fourteen states have now been sued for failing to comply with federal transparency requirements, while four others have voluntarily turned over voter data and begun the cleanup efforts. Many of these states, by the way, knew this was a problem before the government got involved for the transparency. One of the most serious problems, they said, is in a swing state, North Carolina, where officials are now removing more than 100,000 outdated or invalid voter registrations. Dillon emphasized the stakes of the cleanup effort, saying even a single improper vote undermines the core promise of American democracy. Quote, everyone.
- [15:09]
Person voting who shouldn't have voted is one too many, because every citizen is entitled to one person, one vote, the assumption that their vote is being counted equally and only with another American citizen. We will not rest at the DOJ until we complete this project and provide confidence to all American voters that the rolls are clean and the elections are free and fair. The department on Tuesday escalated its campaign by filing lawsuits against six additional states, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington for what is described as their failure as a state to provide statewide voter registration lists and other data required under federal law. Let me say that again. Under federal law, Justice Department officials say the information is critical to assess compliance with election security statutes. But Democrat state officials are pushing back. Why? Well, I think it's pretty clear you can say they're probably pushing back for one main reason, because they feel like this is an advantage for them. Democrats say that they're warning about how the voter data can be used and they're raising questions about the department's handling and privacy protections. That of course, being dismissed by those in charge, saying that the transparency and accuracy are essential to public trust and that the department's efforts are aimed solely at ensuring the integrity of future elections, saying, quote, our elections are crooked and rigged. The voters know it. That's how President Trump put it on Wednesday after this data was revealed. Must bring integrity back to voting. And it starts, the President says in all caps with voter id and I couldn't agree with him more. Now, if you go back to what the president said in his tweet, this echoes what he's been saying for a long time. We have a problem in this country with the ability to cheat and the ability for someone who is not actually who they say they are to vote in an election. It is simple and it's easy to fix this problem. Voter ID laws are a great step in the right, in the, in that direction, like a phenomenal step in that direction. The problem is you have Democrats who say no, we refuse. We will not do this. We are saying no to it. And that's the biggest problem of all. It is incredibly frustrating when you witness this. It's incredibly frustrating to watch a government that is trying to give us transparency and Democrats get in the way. Why would they not? Why would Democrats not want to clean up the voter rolls? Is it because they know the majority of cheating that's done is done by Democrats and not Republicans and it gives them a big advantage? That's a question that everybody should ask. I think it's an incredibly important question to ask and I hope all of you will start asking that question. Most importantly to our men and women who serve this country in Congress, thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever.
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CarMax/Mint Mobile/AMPM Advertiser
You'Re listening to this podcast right now.
- [18:51]
Ben Ferguson
And for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow.
- [19:00]
Apollo Advertiser
Tired of juggling sales tools or spending hours on prospecting just to book a few meetings? Meet Apollo, the go to market platform for finding leads, connecting with buyers and closing deals all in one place. Apollo gives you access to over 210 million contacts and AI that handles all your busywork finding leads, drafting emails and even prioritizing your day. So stop paying for five different sales tools when one does it all. Visit Apollo I.O. and sign up free today.
- [19:29]
Kristen Welker
What do you think makes the perfect snack?
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CarMax/Mint Mobile/AMPM Advertiser
Hmm, it's got to be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.
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Kristen Welker
Could you be more specific?
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CarMax/Mint Mobile/AMPM Advertiser
When it's cravenient. Okay, like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter, available right down the street at am, pm or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at am, pm.
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Kristen Welker
I'm seeing a pattern here.
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CarMax/Mint Mobile/AMPM Advertiser
Well, yeah, we're talking about what I.
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Kristen Welker
Crave, which is anything from am, pm.
- [19:50]
CarMax/Mint Mobile/AMPM Advertiser
What more could you want? Stop by AMPM where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's cravenience. Am, Pm too much. Good stuff.
- [19:59]
Ben Ferguson
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [20:01]
Kristen Welker
Guaranteed human.