← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
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- [00:00]
Ben Ferguson
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:05]
Ted Cruz
Hey, this is Sarah. Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m. Right now and, well, you're sweet and all, but I found something more fulfilling, even kind of cheesy. But I like it. Sure, you met some of my dietary needs, but they've just got it all. So farewell, oatmeal. So long, you strange soggy.
- [00:23]
Ben Ferguson
Break up with bland breakfasts and taste.
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Ted Cruz
AM PMs bacon, egg and cheese biscuit made with K tree eggs, smoked bacon and melty cheese on a buttery biscuit. AM P M. Too much. Good stuff.
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Host of Fiasco Benghazi
What I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi. Nine times out of ten they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes or.
- [00:43]
Ted Cruz
Just asked why Benghazi? The truth became a web of lies.
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Host of Fiasco Benghazi
From prologue projects and Pushkin Industries. This is Fiasco Benghazi.
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Ted Cruz
What difference at this point does it make?
- [00:57]
Host of Fiasco Benghazi
Listen to Fiasco Benghazi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:06]
Ben Ferguson
Today I'm calling on every Senate Democrat to stop the madness. To be smart. It's not working. They're getting killed in the polls. The public understands what they're doing. They're doing the wrong thing. You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Good Wednesday morning. Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update. Ben Ferguson with you. And we have got one bombshell of a story. We have now learned that Jack Smith and the Democrats of the DOJ and the FBI were spying on even more members of Congress. Spying on senators, congressmen, and maybe others we don't even know about yet. All of this coming from the ex Trump special counsel, Jack Smith. And what we now know is he was going after major conservative leaders. I'm going to have all the details on this coming up in just a moment. But first I want to talk to you about an incredible opportunity. As I was at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, there was a really interesting moment that took place. It was the president of Hinsdale College coming out and talking about how when he sat down with Charlie Kirk when he was younger, he said that you're going to have to put in the work. It's going to be painful. You're going to have to continue to learn and to study. And then that is when Charlie Kirk started taking classes at Hillsdale College. Well, I am now taking two different classes at Hillsdale College specifically because of that moment. Because it's time that all of us go back to our roots and learn or take refreshers on vitally important things that are happening in this country. Hillsdale College is now offering more than 40 free online courses. That's right, more than 40 free courses that you can take. You can learn about the works of C.S. lewis, the stories of the Book of Genesis, the meaning of the US Constitution, the rise and the fall of the Roman Republic, or the history of the ancient Christian Church, all with Hillsdale College's free online courses. Personally, I'm enjoying the Constitution 101. I feel like I know a lot about the Constitution. I talk about it, I've studied it, but I wanted a college refresher course and that's why I'm studying it right now. In this course, you're going to explore the design and the purpose of the Constitution, the challenges it faced during the Civil War and how it had been undermined by more than a century of progressives and liberals. This 12 lecture course is self paced, so you can start whenever and wherever you want to. And our country needs now more than ever, Americans who understand the Constitution and can defend the freedom of the American people against the encroachment of an insanely large and unaccountable government. So start your free Constitution 101 course or any of the other courses at Hillsdale College now for free. So go right now to Hillsdale edu MorningUpdate to enroll for free. No cost, and it's easy to get started. Hillsdale Edu Morning Update to enroll for free. Hillsdale EDU MorningUpdate. It's the 47th morning update and it starts right now. Story number one. It is very clear now that it was intentional. It was targeted political spying that likely went to the very highest levels in the Biden administration and there should be the broadest possible investigation and accountability for what Jack Smith and the Democrats were doing. We have learned a lot more now. And there are more senators names to add to the list of those who were spied on by Jack Smith. Ted Cruz's phone records, we've now learned, were subpoenaed as part of an investigation that Jack Smith conducted or oversaw into the January 6th events and, and the broader, quote, election interference matter. The subpoena in his case specifically covered the period of January 4th through the 7th of 2021, just before and around the time of the January 6th disturbances. The Axios piece says that Cruz is the ninth Republican US senator whose phone records were targeted or subpoenaed by the Justice Department under Smith's leadership and direction. The subpoena apparently requested a broad set of metadata, inbound and outbound calls, text messages, direct connect, voicemail messages, plus names and even addresses. Some Republican senators, for example, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, have now sent letters to the attorney general and to the telecom carriers alleging that this amounts to politicized surveillance of Congress by the Department of Justice and the FBI, calling it spying on duly elected members of Congress. One report from October 8th places the number of GOP lawmakers, senators, plus at least one representative whose metadata was actually obtained, and nine, eight centers and one House member in that initial batch, which now is expanding.
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Ted Cruz
The.
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Ben Ferguson
The reporting is based on subpoenas and metadata requests. It is not clear, at least in the public, what the contents are, what they did with the communications, what was accessed, or what was done by the DOJ and the FBI with the metadata. For Ted Cruz specifically, this is what we do know. The reason why he wasn't in the first batch is because he was not with Verizon. Instead, his carrier was at and T. Which brings me to a special part of the show. Senator Ted Cruz and I sat down to talk about this spying, exactly what happened and why we're now seeing this expand to other members of Congress. And there could be more to come that were spied on by the Democrats and Jack Smith. So take a listen to what he had to say about finding out that he was a target. All right, Senator, so let's start with the big news. Where were you when you found out that you were spied on as part of Jack Smith's investigation into Donald Trump? This clearly is a fishing expedition. And what were you told? Have you been briefed on this? Are you just getting the same intel we are from reading it in the news?
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Ted Cruz
So. So I found out about this last week, last Thursday I got the information. And let's back up a couple of weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago, the news broke that Jack Smith, the prosecutor in the Biden DOJ, that was going after January 6th, that was going after President Trump had subpoenaed eight senators and one Republican House member and had gotten their cell phone records. And the eight senators who had been subpoenaed were Marsha Blackburn, Ron Johnson, Bill Haggerty, Josh Hawley, Cynthia Lummis, Lindsey Graham, Dan Sullivan, and Tommy Tuberville. And then Mike Kelly, a Republican House member from Pennsylvania, was also subpoenaed. All nine of them had their cell phone records handed over to the Biden Department of Justice. Now, I gotta admit, just over a week ago, Sean Hannity was in town, and I had dinner with Sean and with Several of the senators on that list as well. And I was laughing with Sean. I was saying, I'm actually kind of offended. Like, how did I get left out of this list? Like, what did I have to do? I was literally standing on the Senate floor on January 6, objecting and leading the fight. And I had brought together 11 senators to stand together in fighting for an election commission to assess the evidence of voter fraud. And including many of the senators who were subpoenaed were in the group that I'd brought together. So I was joking with Sean, but I wasn't entirely joking. Well, it turns out the reason I was not on the list is apparently all eight of those senators, their cell phones are with Verizon. And the evidence had come out that Verizon had handed over their cell phone information. Well, my cell phone is with at&t. And I didn't know it at the time, but I found out late last week that Jack Smith sent a subpoena to ATT demanding my cell phone records. And AT&T told him to go jump in a lake. AT&T did not give my cell phone records. I really look AT AND T is based in Texas. I'm proud of them. They did the right thing. I appreciate that. And they assessed it. They had a subpoena from Jack Smith, by the way. The subpoena called for, quote, detailed records for inbound and outbound calls, text messages, direct connect and voicemail messages, among other things. So they were seeking that. There was an. Also an order from Judge Boasberg, who was, you know, this left wing judge has been presiding against, over much of the litigation against, against Trump had an order from Judge Boasberg ordering at&t. You cannot disclose to Cruz that we're seeking his cell phone information for a year.
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Ben Ferguson
Isn't that amazing? By the way, are you sitting United States Senator? Don't tell him. We don't want him to know.
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Ted Cruz
Yes. And so AT&T examined it and they actually, they came to the conclusion. Now, the way it works, so the subpoena just comes and they get a cell phone number. So, so, so the Biden DOJ didn't identify who they were seeking. And by the way, look, the telecom companies typically, if they get a subpoena for, for phone records on. On a number, they typically hand it over because it's usually a drug dealer, a criminal. You have a subpoena that's issued from a grand jury. So, so it. It. They will routinely in a criminal proceeding handover. Well, it so happened that. That AT&T even though they just asked for the number, they looked and realized whose number it was. And they talked with their legal team and they said, listen, what Cruz is saying is. And any member of Congress, what they're saying is protected by the speech and debate clause of the Constitution. The Constitution protects the ability of senators and House members to engage in debate, to do our jobs. Article 1 of the Constitution vests all legislative power in the Congress. And in fact, on January 6, it was very literally speech and debate. As I said, I was standing on the Senate floor giving a speech and raising an objection. So it's literally the heart of what one does as an elected member of Congress. And so AT and T concluded, listen, we're not gonna comply. As I said, I'm grateful for AT&T doing that, but that now makes it nine senators that we know of and one House.
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Ben Ferguson
So I'm guessing there might be other senators that were also at AT&T. And they probably said, no, we're not going to do that either. Right. It would be. Verizon just caved instantly and said, sure, here's everybody you're asking for. There could be easily, I would say, another four, five, six others. Who knows how many outside the Senate. Right. That they could have asked for, that they could have said no to as well. And I would assume there was a lot of people on AT&T.
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Ted Cruz
Well, and, and look, the, the, the Biden DOJ also went after, went after the Republican Attorney General's Association. It went after Turning Point usa. This was a massive fishing expedition, and this was a political persecution. Understand, Jack Smith was appointed special counsel to investigate and prosecute January 6, three days after Donald Trump announced his campaign for reelection in 2024, literally three days later. So it was 2022. So it was two years after January 6th. They had not appointed anyone. And yet suddenly, when Trump announces his campaign, they rushed to appoint Jack Smith to say, go after Donald Trump because we want to stop the voters from voting for him.
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Ben Ferguson
Sure.
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Ted Cruz
But nine senators, that is 20% of the Republicans in the United States Senate. And I gotta say, for the executive branch to engage in wholesale spying on their political opponents and spying with. Let's be clear, none of us engaged in criminal conduct. None of us engaged in anything remotely criminal, arguably criminal. This was political persecution. This was snooping. This is hoping someone said something.
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Ben Ferguson
Here's what I was going to ask you. What were they hoping to find?
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Ted Cruz
Right?
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Ben Ferguson
Like you go fishing. And, and what, what is the smoking gun in that scenario? They were, they were just, hey, we'll Just go after all these conservatives and maybe we get lucky.
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Ted Cruz
Look, I don't know what they were hoping to find, but they were asking for the cell phone records from January 4th to January 7th. So all surrounding January 6th, I assume they were looking for some modicum of coordination with those who engage in active violence on that day. Part of their theory was the alternate electors that were being sent from various states. So I assume they were looking for some modicum of coordination there. But. But this was a political prosecution because they did not have evidence. And so they said, well, let's. Let's go through their cell phone records and see if we can find something. And by the way, who knows, if. If. If somebody had sent something stupid text, had a voicemail, had, you know, I mean, people. When you go through someone's emails, when you go through someone's cell phones, when prosecutors go looking for a crime, the nature of a fishing expedition is. Let's go look around. You know, there's a book that was written decades ago that's called Three Felonies a Day, and it talks about how the average American commits three felonies a day. That in our regulatory state, things are so complicated, things are so mired in complexity that you can violate. You know, you step on a wetland in your backyard, and, you know, there's an old line that a prosecutor can indict. A ham sandwich.
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
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Ted Cruz
That a prosecutor goes in front of a grand jury. When a prosecutor goes in front of a grand jury, you know, there's no defense attorney there. It's just the prosecutor and members of the grand jury. And so I don't know what they were looking for. I think they were looking for anything that could stick because this was a political prosecution.
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Ben Ferguson
Let me ask you this.
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Ted Cruz
And so, Ben, I just want to say I'm really grateful they did not find the pictures you sent of me of you in a pink tutu, because I just think that it's not criminal.
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Ben Ferguson
League jokes that I send you about the Ivy League snobs. I mean, Jack Smith probably ended up going to one of those places that could have been very bad for me.
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Ted Cruz
I. It. You know, it would have been. And I got to say, just the typos and misspellings that you have in your text, that. That alone would have been a little bit embarrassing, too. So I'm glad.
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Ben Ferguson
None of that good news is they're very hard to decipher when you're. If they're. If it's in front of, you know, Congress, like, it's. What was. Ben really trying to say. And I'm like, you're welcome.
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Ted Cruz
I will tell you about, I talked to AT&T today and I said, look, you guys ought to start a marketing campaign of shift to AT&T. We'll, we'll protect your stuff. Like, yeah, we like. Kudos to them.
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Ben Ferguson
Verizon.
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Ted Cruz
I, look, I don't have a good answer to that. But, but, but, but I did and I didn't know about this until just a few days ago. So this was when the first news broke. I, like, I was joking that I felt excluded, but it wasn't entirely a joke. And then I was like, oh, okay, that makes sense. And, and here we are.
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Ben Ferguson
All right, final question on this. What is going to be the response from Congress? Will there be any to this or is this just old administration abuse of power and it is what it is, we're going to move on or is there going to be a way to make sure, like we have standards that this is not allowed to happen and that people are held accountable for this?
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Ted Cruz
Look, I think we're going to see hearings. I think we've, we've, we've got hearings coming in the House. I think we'll see hearings in the Senate. I will tell you, the nine of us who were targeted, we're talking to each other because we want to prevent this. We want to prevent a subsequent DOJ from doing this, from spying on their political opponents, particularly in Congress. The executive doesn't have the ability to go engage in spying on members of the opposing party in Congress. That is an abuse of power. It is politicization. And this entire effort. So this prosecution was called Arctic Frost. And I think this is going to be the Watergate of the Biden doj. I think it is a demonstration that Jack Smith was a partisan prosecutor who was drunk on power. And I don't believe Jack Smith made this decision on his own. I think the decision making goes all the way up. I think it goes up to the attorney general. I think it goes up to the White House. And so I expect, number one, some real investigation and hopefully transparency in terms of who approved let's go spy on members of Congress. And that, that I think we're going to work to have some real transparency on and that I think we're going to look at real and concrete steps we can take to make sure this never happens again. Because this kind of.
- [18:58]
Ben Ferguson
Is there part of you that just thinks like, maybe this has just been going on and never really stopped after, after, you know, the famous FBI director that had, you know, files on everybody. And people said, well, we won't have that again after, after Jaeger. And now it's like, they're just like, Wild West. You can do whatever the hell you want to if you're a Democrat and you're in charge. Like, we can spy on the President. We can spy on the campaigns. We can go after people in that Situation Room and entrap them. We can try to go after their business associates and their kids and get them to turn against them. Like, Eric Trump was talking about that on our show the other day. If you miss that show, people should go back and listen to. He's like, they were literally trying to turn Donald Trump's own children against him, threatening that your life's going to be over and you're going to be in jail, so you better get a get out of jail free card. And now it's like, yeah. And we were also spying on senators. I'm assuming some congressmen will come out. Like, who knows who's there? I mean, Charlie Kirk said recently, before assassination, it came out that he said during the campaign, we either win the campaign or I may go to jail. I actually believe now, witnessing what we've seen, that that's not far off from reality at all.
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Ted Cruz
Look, the left was willing to weaponize the Department of Justice and the FBI. As you know, I wrote an entire book entitled Justice Corrupt. The left Has Weaponized Our Legal System. And it talked about. It actually started with Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon tried to do that. And you look at some of the harebrained schemes that the Nixon Justice Department came up with, including creating underground stings to get people on film taking drugs and with prostitutes to use to essentially blackmail them and to go after their political opponents. I mean, it was grotesque abuse of power. And when that came to light, we actually saw an improvement. And there were a couple of decades where I think this receded and occurred far less. And then what Richard Nixon tried to do to the justice system, Barack Obama succeeded in doing, he came in as this almost messiah figure. And DOJ Eric Holder as Attorney General, you had Lois Lerner at the irs. They began targeting their political opponents, targeting, targeting anyone that they disagreed with, and also protecting their friends. During the Trump administration, the first term, they went underground, but they waged war on the President. These are the people that created fraudulent documents submitted to the FISA court in order to. In order to try to go after President Trump. They wanted to reverse the results of the 2016 election because they were furious that the American people elected Trump. And then during Biden, they were open, they were flagrant, they were out in the open and they were abusing their power. And I think they felt that the ends justified the means and anything was acceptable. And so I think we need to take real steps. Do I think this has been going on forever and ever? I don't. I certainly hope not. I'm not aware that it has. There is, there's ancient history, but it took really, I think, under Biden to, To make it just as. As viciously partisan as it became. Yes.
- [22:15]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. And for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow.
- [22:33]
Sophia Bush
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- [23:27]
Ben Ferguson
This is Jim.
- [23:27]
Ted Cruz
Hello.
- [23:28]
Ben Ferguson
Jim started advertising with iHeartRadio way back in April, and now I have customers out the door. And this is.
- [23:35]
Host of Fiasco Benghazi
Hi.
- [23:35]
Ben Ferguson
She started putting a portion of her marketing dollars in podcasting back in June.
- [23:40]
Sophia Bush
Business is booming.
- [23:41]
Ted Cruz
That's why I'm working on a Saturday.
- [23:43]
Ben Ferguson
Want to be like Jim and Sarah. It's easy. All you have to do is own or manage a business and reach out to iHeart. Get started today at 844-844-IHeart or iHeartadvertising.com.
- [23:57]
Host of Fiasco Benghazi
When I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi, nine times out of ten they called me a masochist called Rolled their eyes or just asked why Benghazi?
- [24:08]
Ted Cruz
The truth became a web of lies.
- [24:11]
Host of Fiasco Benghazi
From prologue projects and Pushkin Industries. This is Fiasco Benghazi.
- [24:16]
Ted Cruz
What difference at this point does it make?
- [24:20]
Host of Fiasco Benghazi
Listen to Fiasco Benghazi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [24:27]
Ben Ferguson
This is an iHeart podcast.