Three HUGE Victories: Dems Run Away from Trump Indictment, Newsmax BACK ON AIR, & Unqualified FAA Nominee Likely to be Withdrawn

Summary

Detailed Summary of "Three HUGE Victories: Dems Run Away from Trump Indictment, Newsmax BACK ON AIR, & Unqualified FAA Nominee Likely to be Withdrawn"

Release Date: March 22, 2023

In this episode of The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson, host Ben Ferguson engages in a comprehensive discussion with Senator Ted Cruz regarding three significant political developments: the postponement of a possible indictment against former President Donald Trump, the reinstatement of Newsmax to the airwaves, and the potential withdrawal of Phil Washington’s nomination to lead the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The conversation delves into the implications of these events for American politics, the rule of law, and media freedom.

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1. Postponement of Donald Trump’s Indictment

Expectation vs. Reality

The episode begins with Ben Ferguson expressing surprise over the delay in Donald Trump’s anticipated indictment. Senator Ted Cruz explains that the grand jury proceedings in Trump's hush money case were unexpectedly postponed. Cruz labels the potential indictment as "garbage" and "legally frivolous," attributing it to "pure partisan hatred" and "weaponization of our legal system" (00:37).

Democrats' Reaction

Cruz observes that Democrats are "freaking out" over the delay, comparing their reaction to a scene from Monty Python, indicating a lack of composure and strategic planning (03:54). He argues that pursuing a baseless case against Trump could backfire politically, potentially aiding Trump’s reelection by portraying him as a martyr.

Van Jones’ Interference

Ben highlights Van Jones' public plea on CNN urging the District Attorney (DA) not to indict Trump, suggesting that such interference is unprecedented for Democratic operatives. Cruz agrees, emphasizing that Democrats are overreacting and that their focus on personal misconduct over policy-related corruption detracts from more substantial issues (02:32).

Legal Insights on Grand Juries

Senator Cruz provides an educational segment on the grand jury process, explaining its role in the criminal justice system. He clarifies that prosecutors have significant discretion in grand jury proceedings, often leading to indictments even with minimal evidence—a process encapsulated in the saying, "a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich" (05:25).

Impact on Rule of Law

Cruz underscores the importance of maintaining high thresholds for indicting a president, citing historical precedents like Nixon’s pardon to prevent political retaliation. He warns against the dangers of using the justice system for political ends, which undermines democracy and the rule of law (08:52).

2. Phil Washington’s FAA Nomination

Senate Opposition

Ben Ferguson transitions to discussing the controversial nomination of Phil Washington as FAA Administrator. He references Senator Cruz’s floor speech criticizing Washington’s lack of aviation experience, questioning his suitability for overseeing aviation safety (18:26).

Senator Cruz’s Standpoint

Senator Cruz vehemently opposes Washington’s nomination, pointing out his extensive lack of qualifications in aviation. He details Washington’s background, highlighting that unlike Bill Nolan, the acting FAA Administrator with decades of aviation experience, Washington has no relevant expertise (21:46). Cruz shares his constructive suggestion to replace Washington with Nolan, emphasizing the necessity of bipartisan support for such a critical, non-political position.

Committee Delays and Potential Withdrawal

Cruz reveals that during the Commerce Committee markup, Democrats delayed the vote on Washington’s nomination, signaling a lack of support. He interprets this delay as an indication that the administration may withdraw the unqualified nominee, which he considers a significant victory for ensuring competent leadership in aviation safety (21:46).

3. Newsmax’s Return to Airwaves

Deplatforming Concerns

The conversation shifts to media freedom, focusing on Newsmax’s temporary removal from DirecTV. Ben expresses his gratitude towards Senator Cruz for his efforts to reinstate the network, framing it as a crucial victory for free speech (29:09).

Senator Cruz’s Advocacy

Senator Cruz recounts his proactive measures in the Senate Commerce Committee to address the deplatforming of Newsmax. He collaborated with other senators to pressure DirecTV and its parent companies to reinstate the network, positioning it as a stand against censorship and a defense of diverse media voices (29:09).

Victory for Free Speech

Cruz announces that Newsmax has been successfully returned to the air, celebrating it as a triumph for consumers’ right to choose their news sources. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balanced media landscape where multiple perspectives, including conservative viewpoints, are available to the public (31:50).

Defense Against One-Sided Deplatforming

Cruz differentiates his stance by clarifying that he does not advocate for deplatforming any network, but rather opposes the selective silencing of conservative outlets. He highlights that both sides of the political spectrum should enjoy the freedom of speech, underscoring the necessity of countering misinformation with factual reporting rather than censorship (32:21).

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Concluding Remarks

In summary, this episode of The 47 Morning Update highlights three pivotal victories:

1. Avoidance of a Baseless Indictment Against Donald Trump: The postponement suggests that the case against Trump may lack substantial legal grounding, potentially preventing political fallout and maintaining the integrity of the justice system.

2. Potential Withdrawal of an Unqualified FAA Nominee: The delay and possible withdrawal of Phil Washington’s nomination ensure that the FAA remains under competent and experienced leadership, safeguarding aviation safety.

3. Restoration of Newsmax to Airwaves: The successful reinstatement of Newsmax exemplifies a victory for free speech and media diversity, ensuring that conservative voices remain present in the national discourse.

Senator Ted Cruz’s insights provide a critical perspective on these developments, advocating for the rule of law, qualified leadership in government agencies, and the protection of free speech. Ben Ferguson and Senator Cruz collaboratively emphasize the importance of these victories in shaping a balanced and just American society.

Note: Advertisements and promotional segments present in the original transcript have been excluded from this summary to focus solely on the episode’s substantive content.

Transcript

[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome. It is a verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. Senator, we're sitting here Wednesday, midday and we were waiting to see what was going to happen with the big news on Donald Trump as he said he was going to get arrested on Tuesday. That time frame has now changed and it looks like Democrats may be getting cold feet. Fox News announced it this way.

[Ted Cruz]

We begin America Reports with a developing story. Grand jury proceedings in the hush money case against former President Trump canceled. Canceled for today. This as we await news and a possible indictment.

[Ben Ferguson]

Now, Senator, this obviously was a shock moment for many that were expecting an indictment. But if you listen to the news, and I'm talking about the liberals out there, they were campaigning for this. Van Jones actually went on TV on CNN last night and was pretty much making a public plea to this activist DA do not do this. This is a bad move. It will actually hurt Democrats more than anybody else. Here's how he put it on cnn.

[Van Jones]

Oh, if anybody is a Republican and they have been afraid that there's some conspiracy, some well organized conspiracy among progressives, they can relax now because you would not start with this charge. You would start with the charge in Georgia where he was interfering with elections. You would start with the charge that he was helping the insurrectionist in a couple. You wouldn't start with an eight year old porn star payoff. So just again, this is proof, if nothing else, that the progressives are not very well organized. This is not the one you would start with. That said, I hear my conservative friend saying they're being overcharged. It's so aggressive, it's so terrible. Welcome to my world, folks. Prosecutors overcharging, being over aggressive, being ridiculous with minor stuff and turning it into major stuff happens every single day in America, every courthouse in America. I think you want to be consistent. Now, if you're concerned that this particular person named Donald Trump is being overcharged and mistreated by a prosecutor, join the rest of us who are trying to stop that from happening to ordinary people. But my view about this is I think that the heat is on this da. I think he's going to make a very sober decision. And I would not be surprised if he doesn't step back from the brain.

[Ben Ferguson]

Doesn'T step back from the brink. Senator, I've never seen a Democratic operative go on national TV speaking directly to ODA saying don't do this in this way.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, you're right. And I think this is a big deal. Number one, this potential indictment is garbage. It is legally frivolous. It is baseless it is pure partisan hatred. It is the weaponization of our legal system, of our justice system. I would encourage everyone, if you didn't listen to Monday's podcast, you should go back and listen to it, the entire podcast. On Monday, we went through chapter and verse, the detailed reasons why this prosecution is utterly baseless. We walked through the statutes under which the New York DA is looking at Donald Trump and the reasons why. Neither the facts nor law remotely support it. And it's important to understand what's happening here. You won't get it from watching the news. Monday's podcast will walk you through and give you that information. What is striking, though, is ever since it became public that an arrest and indictment of Trump was imminent, we've seen Democrats freaking out. And I gotta say, the attitude of many Democrats right now is remarkable. It, frankly, it reminds me of Monty Python. And here's the Democrats response today.

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, Senator, I love that part of the movie. And it's so accurate to the Democrats. They're literally screaming at this da, do not do this. Do not give this gift of a ridiculous indictment to Donald Trump and turn him into a martyr. Literally run away.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah, look, that is certainly the reaction of a lot of Democrats. You and I observed on Monday's podcast that if they go ahead with this arrest and this indictment when the case is blown out of the water in court, which it will be, that the effect ironically will be a massive backfire where this left wing, George Soros funded DA may well have played a pivotal role in reelecting Donald Trump as President of the United States. And I think a whole lot of Democrats are realizing this and going, holy crap, we hate the guy. But this is really dumb. And it's, we'll see if Bragg actually runs away. So the reason we don't have news today, look, we had anticipated based on what was publicly said, that there would be an indictment this morning. And what happened instead is Alvin Bragg told the grand jury, stay home. Come in today.

[Ben Ferguson]

I got to get you to put your lawyer hat on, Senator, here. For people that understand, don't understand, or maybe never been in a court with a grand jury or dealt with this, how do, how abnormal is this? What is happening behind the scenes? How does this work when you tell a grand jury to stay home? And why does that usually happen?

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah, look, there are two types of juries in our criminal justice system. There's a grand jury and a pettit jury. A grand jury occurs before the trial and a grand jury consists of citizens from the community who are impaneled for an extended period of time and the prosecutor will go and present evidence to the grand jury seeking an indictment. And the prosecutor does that without the defense attorney present. So it's a one sided presentation and it's the prosecutor presenting evidence to say, is this enough to charge the defendant with whatever crime they're trying to indict him on? The prosecutor has enormous leeway with the grand jury. There's an old line that is repeated a gazillion times, which is a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich, and part of the reason is the ham sandwich doesn't get a lawyer. So it's the prosecutor is alone with the grand jury in this instance. The reason that the Manhattan DA would have told the grand jury, stay home, don't come in today, is that Alvin Bragg made the decision he didn't want to indict Donald Trump today. Now, at least according to public reporting, they're coming in tomorrow on Thursday. So we may have a podcast coming up where we have different news to report. The fact that he hit pause does not necessarily mean that Bragg is hitting stop. And you have to assume that Bragg, like every other Democrat, has Trump derangement syndrome. They hate him so much he may not be able to stop. But I will say, look, I think the American people generally are not terribly interested in obsessing on the personal misconduct in the sex lives of politicians. We famously had Bill Clinton and his impeachment, and I think one of the reasons why Bill Clinton survived all of that is the American people, they certainly didn't admire Bill Clinton's conduct. But at the end of the day, they were much more interested and focused on official corruption rather than the personal failings that Bill Clinton may have had. We've sadly seen politicians from both parties have serious moral failings and sexual improprieties. But I do think a lot of Democrats are pretty dismayed that their opening salvo of the criminal justice system is focused on an alleged affair with a porn star. I think a lot of the voters, they knew about this already. They knew about this at the time, and they made their decisions on whom to vote for based on what policies would impact their lives and their families. And so I hope Bragg actually listens to the Democrats who are freaking out. And by the way, I hope the other prosecutors, I hope Merrick Garland, who the Department of Justice prosecution, is potentially far more dangerous. We've talked at length about how I believe Merrick Garland for the same reason Alvin Bragg wants to indict and prosecute Trump. Merrick Garland does, too. I hope all of these prosecutors engaged in partisan justice stop and just do their jobs. The threshold for indicting a president has never happened in the history of our country. The threshold should be high. It should be meaningful. It should not be some sticky thing.

[Ben Ferguson]

Explain why. Because some people may not understand the reason why we've had such a threshold. I mean, you go back to even Nixon when he left the presidency. The reason why is the man who came into that position of power to become the president, basically pardoned him completely. Was he said, it's not good for the country. We don't want to be going after political leaders, especially a former president, and turn us into a third world country where you send people into exile and you arrest former leaders when other people win elections, and so be it if it hurts me, but it's for the good of the country.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, that's exactly right. And you know, Stalin famously said, show me the man and I'll show you the crime. Prosecutors have a lot of discretion. Prosecutors have a lot of authority. If you unleash a team of prosecutors on anybody, you know, I had a bunch of reporters yesterday asking me about that, you know, well, don't you think it's good we're investigating if Trump's committed a crime? I said, look, if we investigated descended prosecutors on you, I'm certain we'd find you've committed a crime. You may have. This morning, driving to work, you probably sped like, at some level, the criminal justice system is meant to work for serious crimes where there's real injury, where there's real victims. Now, that's true. Whether it is a violent crime or whether it's a crime of corruption. Look, the evidence about the Biden family, corruption, making millions of dollars, selling access and selling government policies, whether it is to Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company, or whether it is to to the Chinese Communist Party. Those are serious and real questions of public policy and corruption. But, you know, you talked about third world countries. Listen, sadly, a lot of countries in the world have a history of one. One administration, one party will be in power, then the next party gets in power, and one of the first things they do is lock up their predecessors, go after their predecessors and say, okay, now you're going to jail. And ultimately, that is incredibly harmful for the rule of law. It's incredibly harmful for democracy. And because prosecutors have so much power, we don't want Republicans, when they come in office, unleashing all of that force, trying to just incarcerate their opponents. We don't want Democrats in power unleashing all their force, trying to incarcerate their opponents. You know, I talk about this at length in my latest book, Justice Corrupted about the way it's supposed to work. And in this instance, particularly with respect to a former president and especially a former president of the opposing party, we shouldn't see the kind of ticky tack indictments look, this New York statute is a bookkeeping statute. It's a misdemeanor on its face. It's the sort of thing that on the terms of it, if Trump has committed a violation, Hillary Clinton has to and we talked about that at length on, on Monday's podcast. And so go back I, I, you.

[Ben Ferguson]

Said earlier and I'll say it again, go back and listen to the, if you missed the last podcast, go back and get it because it will lay out so much of what we're referencing right now. If you missed it, it's worth going back and listening to. Senator, I also want to ask you about just a basic political question about this. There's some of the media that have been saying Donald Trump is terrified. MSNBC said he's shaking in his boots of, of being indicted. I, I completely disagree with that. I think this would be a massive victory for him and a catalyst. I want to get your reaction that but before we do that, I want to tell you about our friends over chalk. If you're a guy and you're getting older and you realize you're losing some of your edge, you're not alone. There is a problem, immense success from levels that are falling off the cliff historically right now. And if you want to get back that strength and vitality and you don't want to feel that weakness or maybe complacency, then you need to check out chalk. I've been taking chalk Choq for about three and a half, four weeks now and I can tell you it works. I take the men vitality stack and what chalk does is they are here to help real men take back their masculinity and they can help you boost your testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days, maximize your masculinity today. Go to chalk choq.com use the promo code BEN for 35% off any chalk subscriptions for life subscriptions are cancelable anytime ch. Com choq.com use promo code BEN for 35% off. All right. Politically, Senator, I've seen this on TV where they're obsessing over Donald Trump being afraid of being indicted and this will be the end of his political career. I don't think he's afraid of this. If I was Donald Trump, the only, the only thing I would be arguing over is what to wear and how big I should grin. If they make me come in and do a mug shot.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, I'm confident the answer to that will be, if there's a mug shot, Trump will be smiling ear to ear. And, and I think you're right, I think he is perfectly happy to have this ridiculous prosecution targeted at him. I think it benefits him politically. And that's precisely why Democrats are running away. I will say, by the way, just a minute ago, I had that sort of nagging voice in the back of my mind. I said that Stalin was the one who said, show me the man, I'll show you the crime. And part of me was saying, well, I don't think that's right. So I just googled it. Turned out I was sort of right, but sort of wrong. It wasn't actually Stalin who said that. It was Lavrentia Beria, who was the longest serving secret police chief working for Joseph Stalin. There you go. And what he said, his quote was, show me the man and I'll show you the crime. And he served as deputy premier from 1941 until Stalin's death in 1953. And he was in charge of the gulags. And he understood, whoever it is, Ben Ferguson, he may well have committed a felony while recording this podcast for all we know, but if we unleash the secret police on him, we're going to find something.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. And that's what this seems to be about. There is one audio clip I've got to just play for you. And I do think this tells you a lot about the mindset of the left right now. They are obsessed and have been since 2016 with putting Donald Trump in jail. The View. Put it this way this morning, want.

[Ted Cruz]

To start this with this Apple date. You know who is still at large? He is. Is.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yes.

[Ted Cruz]

He is.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yes. Hasn't been arrested.

[Ted Cruz]

No.

[Ben Ferguson]

Like he predicted.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, you know, you kind of have.

[Ben Ferguson]

To weigh it with all the other stuff he said.

[Ted Cruz]

And you figure, well, you know, you said you won the election, you didn't win. Good point. Said they're coming to arrest you. They didn't. I said that to Joy. Why do we start believing him now?

[Ben Ferguson]

He manipulated everybody, though.

[Ted Cruz]

We all rose to the occasion.

[Ben Ferguson]

The papers, everybody just went there.

[Ted Cruz]

So many people were excited. Liar. Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, this is their obsession. And that's where I think Bragg probably said, the people want me to do this, the media wants me to do this. They're all pushing for this. I'll be the guy to do it. And really, it may help him politically because there's a very good chance he wants to run for governor of New York.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, I think it's amusing that the views take on. It is, oh, no, no, he wasn't going to be arrested. Look, it's clear Bragg was planning to arrest him and planning to arrest him this week. That's why there's been this Democrat freakout, because I think Democrats realized it was an enormous stumble. The case is legally frivolous. Anyone who looks at it, you can't with a straight face argue that you should go after Trump based on this New York bookkeeping violation that has no application to this. It's a statute that says you can't have a false bookkeeping business record. And in this instance, he's trying to. The statute of limitations has run. In other words, he can't charge the misdemeanor offense, so he's got to try to bootstrap it into a federal election law offense, which the Federal Election Commission declined to prosecute, the Department of Justice declined to prosecute, the Southern District of New York declined to prosecute, and the Mueller investigation declined to prosecute. So everyone who's looked at this says there's no there there. And yet if you wake up every morning growling and hating Donald Trump, like Whoopi Goldberg does, like Alvin Bragg does, then, then you don't care about the facts of the law. You just want to get the guy. And I think what has happened this week so far is, is it may be that Bragg's getting cold feet because Democrats are so terrified of the consequences of this frivolous prosecution.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, no doubt about it. I want to talk about a couple of different victories real quick, Senator. One of those deals, and we talked about this on a prior pod with the idea of Phil Washington heading the faa. You've got some news to break on that. But before we get to it, I want people to hear what you had to say from the floor of the Senate last night.

[Ted Cruz]

Let me suggest to the members of the Senate if, God forbid, that were to happen in the next two years, and I pray that it does not, I can tell you I certainly wouldn't want to be a senator who voted to confirm an administrator of the FAA who's never flown a plane, who doesn't know anything about aviation safety and has no idea why the plane crashed. I don't know how I'd go home and explain to 30 million Texans that, well, you know, my political party nominated him. And so I just, I went with party loyalty and voted to confirm the guy even though he didn't have the experience to do the job. I don't believe Mr. Washington's going to be confirmed. I personally, I respect his military service. When he testified before the committee, he seemed like a decent and capable man. But he's also a man who doesn't know anything about airplanes. And if there's any job in the entire federal government where you need to know not just something about airplanes, a lot about airplanes, it is to be the administrator of the faa. We need a Senate confirmed leader in this job quickly. And I would urge the president withdraw this nomination and nominate either acting administrator Nolan or if not him, somebody like him with decades of real experience so that we could have a senate confirmed leader with the knowledge and judgment and expertise to do everything humanly possible to keep your family safe and my family safe and to keep the flying public safe. We have a responsibility. We have a responsibility to do this right. I yield the floor.

[Ben Ferguson]

Now, senator, you've got an update on, on this nominee. And before I get to that, I want to tell you about our friends at Patriot Mobile. If you have a cell phone and 99% of you listening do, make the switch to the only conservative Christian cell phone company in the U.S. patriot Mobile. Because when you pay your bill every month at no extra charge, you, you're actually supporting causes you believe in. I'm talking about standing up for first and second amendment rights, standing up for unborn children, even helping with adoptions. Patriot Mobile takes a portion of your bill every month. And they fight for what we believe in. So it's easy for you to switch as well. You get to keep your same cell phone number. You get the same exact coverage on the same towers you're using right now. The only difference is you're giving money to a company that, that stands with your values instead of fights against them. Check out Patriot Mobile. If you're a small business, they have a small business department, they can help you change over all of your lines in your business easily. 878-patriot. That's 878-patriot. Or go online to patriotmobile.com verdict. That's patriot mobile.com verdict or 878-patriot. Use the promo code verdict for the best deals of the day. Senator, you've talked about this. You've been leading on Phil Washington saying he's just not qualified. And now you've got news to break on this nomination.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, I Think we're on the verge of a major victory here, which is that speech I gave on the Senate floor last night. This morning we had the markup where Phil Washington was scheduled to be voted on in the Commerce Committee. That began at 10am and at 10am I had every reason to believe that we were going to vote on Phil Washington. A few minutes later, Maria Cantwell, the Democrat chair, announced that that the committee was delaying the vote on Phil Washington, that we were not voting on Phil Washington today. I think the reason is simple. They don't have the votes. And listen, Washington is wildly unqualified to do this job. The job is administer administrator of the FAA. Millions of Americans fly on planes every year. Mr. Washington doesn't know anything about planes. He's not a pilot. He's never been a military pilot. He's never been a commercial airline pilot. He's never worked for an airline. He's never worked at the faa. He's never worked in airplane manufacturer. He's never worked in airplane repair. He's never worked as an air traffic controller. His career has been dealing with buses and trains. Buses and trains are great, but they don't fly in the air. And his nomination, on its face is he is wildly unqualified for this job. I believe all of the Republicans agree with that. But there have been a number of Democrats who have expressed publicly concerns and listen, something like the FAA I don't think should be a partisan position. I don't particularly want a Republican FAA administrator or a Democrat FAA administrator. I want a guy who knows how to keep planes in the air. And I'll point out there is right now somebody, Billy Nolan, who is the acting administrator to the faa, Joe Biden selected him, named him the acting administrator. Unlike Phil Washington, he has decades of experience in aviation. He has decades of experience in aviation safety. He's a pilot. He's been a commercial airline pilot. He has multiple certifications in aviation safety. He's been a senior official at the faa. There's an obvious solution, and I'll tell you, I just suggested this at a hearing a couple of weeks ago and to kind of take you behind the scenes. When I sat down at the hearing, it was a hearing where Billy Nolan was testifying. I had not planned to say this and my staff hadn't written out remarks on it. But just as I was listening to him testify, the contrast between his knowledge of aviation and Washington's lack of knowledge was really striking. So I turned to my staffers in the back and I said, look, what do you think of my just suggesting, how about this guy? And my team thought that made sense. And so I just leaned forward in the microphone and said, listen, if the Biden White House wants a successful nomination, withdraw Washington name Billy Nolan and he will get confirmed with a big bipartisan vote. And we need to have a qualified Senate confirmed leader of the faa. Listen, we've, we've seen over and over again airlines almost colliding. God forbid we have some horrific mass casualty event when the Biden administration doesn't have a Senate confirmed leader of the faa. They need to fix this now. And today's announcement that, that, that they are quote, postponing the, the vote. It, it may be like Alvin Bragg's announcement that, that he's postponing the grand jury coming in. It may be postponed permanently. Uh, I hope both of them are. But, but if the administration withdraws Phil Washington, it would be another big victory. As you know, we already defeated Gigi Sohn, who Biden had nominated to the fcc, the Federal Communications Commission, because she was radical and had an extreme record. I think there's a very good chance the Phil Washington nomination is going to go down as well and we will get instead someone qualified and with the knowledge to keep your family safe and my family safe when we go up on an airplane.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, and this should be a non political position. It should be one that should be bipartisan. When you're approving someone and it looks like they don't have the votes because they can count easily.

[Ted Cruz]

Right?

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, they know where they stood this morning at 10:00am well, look, I.

[Ted Cruz]

Think the vote was scheduled this morning because the White House wanted to put political pressure on to Democrats to force them to support him even though he's not qualified. And I'm sure there was massive arm twisting probably going on until late last night or even early this morning. But the fact that they delayed the votes, it tells me that their arm twisting didn't work. And I think it's likely we're going to see this nomination withdrawn. That's what should happen. I can tell you I heard from inside the Biden White House that when I suggested Billy Nolan that they, that, that reverberated throughout the halls of the, of the White House. They're like, what? What? Holy crap. You mean there's a way we can get a guy through and get a guy through fast? And let's be clear, I don't know Billy Nolan. I'm not suggesting him because he's a Republican. I'm not suggesting him because he's my guy. He's the person the Biden administration named as their acting administrator. I'm just looking at qualifications and knowledge. And when I asked Billy Nolan questions about the FAA and keeping airline travel safe, he can answer those questions when I ask Phil Washington. I asked Phil Washington, for example, a couple of years ago we had the horrific crashes of the 737 Maxs. Two different crashes. 346 lives were lost in those two crashes. I asked him why did the planes crash? He said, I don't know. You know, that's kind of a pretty big frigging problem. I told him, I said, Mr. Washington, I believe you. I believe that you don't know. And that's why you're not qualified to lead this agency. Because the head of the FAA should know exactly why they crashed and in particular should know what we need to do to prevent it from happening in another flight.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, you wish that this administration would start taking these positions seriously. It is. Thank goodness you were able to really ask these questions. A lot of that went viral by, by just showing people how inadequate this nominee is for this specific job. And that is where it clearly made an impact even on Democrats, which is a great news for all of us when it comes to safety. This is a non political appointee and it should never be a political person. And I'm glad that there's some success it looks like here that has happened with this. Finally, I want to ask you about another. And this for me is a huge deal as a broadcaster is someone that does radio and TV for a living. When you see people be deplatformed, whether it's individuals on social media or or from TV networks, it is a scary moment. We're now being told that there has been a deal that's been done to get Newsmax back on the air. This is something that you went all in for from a freedom of speech perspective and not silencing conservative networks. And now it looks like a deal is together to bring back Newsmax to a carrier that dropped them.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, that's exactly right. And this is news that broke today just a couple of hours ago, but it is a huge, huge victory. As regular listeners of the podcast will recall. DirecTV deplatformed Newsmax. And about a year ago, Democrat members of Congress wrote to DirecTV and said there are three conservative cable news outlets, Fox News, DirecTV and One America News. Please de platform. All three of them. We don't like what they're saying. We don't like. The customers can hear what they're saying, so please throw them off the air. Unfortunately, DirecTV deplatformed One America News. I think that was wrong. It was a mistake. I think it was silencing conservative voices. And then in the last couple of months, DirecTV deplatformed Newsmax. And so they had thrown two of the three right of center cable news stations off of the air. I was deeply concerned when they threw Newsmax off the air. I had just started as the ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee. And so I immediately launched an investigation from the Senate Commerce Committee. I brought together three other senators. I brought together Mike Lee and Tom Cotton and also Lindsey Graham, who's the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee. So you had Lindsey on Judiciary. Obviously I'm on Judiciary as well. You had me as the ranker on Commerce. All of us together had a whole series of very specific questions examining what DirecTV had done and also examining AT&T and Texas Pacific Group, who are the parent companies of DirecTV. I can tell you that they did not like that congressional scrutiny. They were very displeased. And what I conveyed to them was simple and unequivocal. If you want the investigation to stop, if you want the scrutiny to stop, put Newsmax back on air. That needs to be the outcome. Put them back on air. Look, you don't have to watch them, you don't have to listen to them. I happen to think Newsmax is awesome. I watch them regularly. I go on Newsmax regularly. But if you don't like Newsmax, change the channel. There are lots of lefty channels that you can watch. But the resolution of this, I drew a line in the sand and said the resolution of this needs to be Newsmax back on air. And as of 10am this morning, they've announced Newsmax is going back on air. So it was an unequivocal victory. A victory for free speech, a victory for consumers, a victory for 30 million Texans who want to be able to turn on their TV and watch a variety of views and get news from across the spectrum. So it's a big, big win today.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, it's huge. And it's something that if you guys wouldn't have fought for this so hard in the Senate, I think it would have never have happened. So congratulations obviously on that, for, as you said, free speech. And we don't want to cancel either side of free speech. That's what people seem to not understand about conservatism. We want all free speech to stay there. As you mentioned, both sides. It would be terrible if you were canceling everything on the left and only keeping on the right because again, there's precedent. That's not what free speech is. And this is going to be a very big victory.

[Ted Cruz]

And Preston, I think that's, that's important. Look, you and I aren't saying take MSNBC off the air. We're not saying take never would the air. Now, I will say that the viewers are saying that they have minuscule viewers. This podcast verdict with Ted Cruz, we get more viewers than MSNBC or cnn. So the people are voting with their feet, with their eyeballs, with their ears. But look, I think having the unhinged leftist radicals on MSNBC and CNN talking, I think that's actually good for us. I think it, it shows how ridiculous their views are. I don't want them silenced. I just want to be able to counter their misinformation with the facts and the truth. And having Newsmax now back on air provides one other outlet through which you can do that.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, I totally agree with that. I want to ask you one last question about moving forward with Trump, but before I get to that, I want to remind you about our friends at Augusta Precious Metals. If you have been saving for retirement for a long time and you've been watching what's going on, the economy, you've been watching what's happening to your IRA, your 401k, then you know how important it is to protect your hard earned assets. That's where Augusta Precious Metals comes in. If you have a diversified portfolio, many times gold and silver can work to protect your hard earned money. If you've saved $100,000 or more, take a look at their free guide or sign up for their web conference. Now I've done their web conference. It's amazing. It's free. You talk with experts face to face online and they talk to you about what's going on, specifically with possible vulnerabilities with your portfolio. I use Augusta Precious Metals and you can trust them. They're a company that's all about protecting your ira. Look, it's so important close to retirement or if you're in retirement to protect your money because there's no time to make up losses. So call them 8, 7, 7, 4. That's the number 4 Gold IRA. 8, 7, 7. The number 4 Gold IRA. Or visit them online at Augusta Precious Metals.com tell them I sent you. Use my name Ben and they'll pay your fees up to 10 years. Augusta precious metals.com last question for you, Senator. As we move forward this week with Donald Trump and you see this changing very, very quickly. If Donald Trump does in fact not get indicted, is that good for the entire country and precedent to kind of pull back on these activists? Is that going to be the big outcome of this that you see overall moving forward?

[Ted Cruz]

Look, I hope and believe this week that we have seen three huge victories. The one that is unequivocal is Newsmax and Newsmax being on air is a complete victory. The other two may be big victories and they are Trump and the FAA administrator. If the FAA administrator gets pulled because he's unqualified, that will be a second huge victory. The fact that they canceled his vote today is a very positive sign. If Trump, if Alvin Bragg backs off and says, I'm not going to bring this frivolous, baseless partisan prosecution, that is a huge victory. It's a victory for the rule of law. We know that he at least paused just like Phil Washington's confirmation and he told the grand jury, stay home today. Now, that pause could be short lived. He could bring the grand jury back tomorrow and they could indict him tomorrow and we'll see what happens. By the way, I will note, you know, you know, one of the questions we talked about in the last podcast, you said, well, what will it be like when he's arrested? And I don't know for sure if and when they do that, but at least the local prosecutor in Palm beach county has said that, that, that he will not be handcuffed because the Secret Service won't let law enforcement lay hands on him. And so you have an interesting dynamic when the Secret Service is protecting the president. That, that apparently, at least according to the local prosecutor, they will, won't let them handcuff the former president. But if Alvin Bragg goes, goes forward, they may well do a perp walk. They will do presumably fingerprint him. They'll presumably do a mug shot if that stops. If, if the Democrats getting cold feet stops Alvin Bragg, that is a huge victory for the rule of law. That would be a very good thing for America.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. All right. Well, here's what I will tell you. Hit subscriber auto download because if something does break, we'll probably do a special pod so you don't want to miss it. So hit that subscriber auto download button and we'll see you back here real soon.