← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
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- [00:02]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you on what we'll refer to as an emergency pod. Senator, it's 1:00 in the morning, Central 2 Eastern AM. You've just landed and the world is still talking at this hour. People are waking up around the world realizing that the United States of America has made history by indicting Donald J. Trump. This is a, I think a sad day, a dark day for our country. I want to get your thoughts on this for everybody that I know is listening.
- [00:37]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, Ben, I have conflicting emotions. Part of me is angry, it is outrageous what happened earlier today. Part of me is sad because it is tragic for the rule of law. This indictment is utter and complete garbage. This is not law. This is not a prosecution based on the facts. This is a political vendetta brought by a left wing partisan Democrat who was elected by George Soros, a billionaire who spent over a million dollars to elect Alvin Bragg as District attorney. And Bragg is motivated by one thing, and that is partisan hatred. On the merits, this case is utterly baseless. It is frivolous. It is a case that will most assuredly fail in court. But Bragg doesn't care. The Democrats, the media partisans who are exultant right now, they don't care. They love the fact that Donald Trump is being indicted. Never mind the fact, never mind the law, never mind guilt or innocence. They hate the man. They are exultant for the political theater of the mug shot that will happen in the coming days.
- [02:01]
Ben Ferguson
Is there any, is there any downside to Bragg doing this, Senator? Because there have been a lot of people saying that he overstepped here, right? That this was a complete overstep. There were Democrats basically begging him not to do this publicly on tv, saying he should step back from the brink. They were saying that on cnn. But if you look at New York and you look at where he's, where he would run for reelection, he's looking at becoming the governor. And that's what we've been told about him in New York. Even if he loses, even if all this is thrown out, is it still in his mind a win for him because it's such a partizan attack on Donald Trump?
- [02:39]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, look, I don't know the man, but everything about the him says that he is a zealot, said that he says that he's an extreme partisan. I'm a conservative and I'm heartbroken today because this is such a blow to America. It's a blow to rule of law. Our Constitution was designed, Listen, there are countries all over the world. If you're in Russia, this can happen to you. If you're in China, this can happen to you. If you're in North Korea or Venezuela or Cuba, this is what banana republics do, this is what dictatorships do. If one party takes power, you better hope you're not the prior party because they're coming after you, they're going to lock you up and they may put you in front of a firing squad. I feel confident at least Alvin Bragg won't take it to that. But America is different. We're built on rule of law. We're built on the law applying to everyone. And so as a conservative, this makes me sad. But I gotta say, the irony then, if I were a liberal Democrat, I'd be horrified right now, because even while this is devastating to the rule of law, to the confidence the American people will have in our justice system, at the same time, I think this is an enormous political gift to Donald Trump. If I were a Democrat, I might well report Alvin Bragg to the Federal Election Commission for making the single greatest in kind contribution to a presidential campaign in history. This is. There's a reason, Look, Trump put out almost two weeks ago that he was about to get arrested, and he said he was going to get arrested the next day. And Bragg delayed and delayed and delayed. A lot of national Democrats were freaking out, were pressuring Bragg, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. This will help Trump. And you know, as you know, he sent the grand jury home for a period of time. The press was reporting the grand jury had been sent home for a month. Turns out that was false. That was either misreporting or deliberate misinformation from Bragg. But I think the delay you and I speculated, we talked on the pod, it may have been Bragg getting cold feet. But I'll tell you, I said on the podcast that there was a very good chance Bragg was going to say, screw it, I hate the guy and I'm going to indict him and all the rest of you can go jump in a lake. And sadly, that's what he's done. And, you know, this is not going to be the last salvo. There's going to be more presidents indicted. This puts America on a road that is a very, very bad road. You know, you look back in history, Richard Nixon, who committed multiple crimes, as you know, I'm not a Nixon fan. My latest book, Justice Corrupted, there's an entire chapter detailing the crimes and obstruction of justice and abuse carried out by the Nixon White House. But I gotta say, when Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon, it probably cost Gerald Ford his election. It probably elected Jimmy Carter. But Gerald Ford did it because he believed he was helping the country. He believed that having a trial of the former president, even a president as corrupt as Nixon, he thought would be deeply harmful for the country. You know, my sentiments are similar to what they were when the Democrats impeached Donald Trump not once, but twice. And that's when verdict started. Verdict started, as you know, on the first night of the first impeachment trial against Trump. And I said at the outset, they're starting a new chapter. This will become routine when one party controls the House and the other party controls the White House. We will see presidents get impeached. That's not good for America. That's not good for the rule of law. And this has now escalated it even further. These are radical partisans who don't care about the rule of law. It is war by any means necessary. That's how Alvin Bragg and George Soros and the radical left approaches that. And that's a really tragic day for America.
- [06:50]
Ben Ferguson
What do we, what, what is your hope for Republicans now? Because there's been a lot of, as I was watching earlier tonight, just some of the reactions on tv, they said, get ready, because now what's going to happen is there's going to be a tit for tat and you're going to see district attorneys start going after maybe Biden family members for the Biden crime family. And what we've seen has come out with the millions of dollars coming in from the Russians and the Chinese. This is going to turn into we opened Pandora's box. There's no way to stop this now. It's if you're going to do it, we're going to do it. I worry that we, we go down that road and there's no way to turn off the spigot. What is your, your, your hope and how concerned are you that maybe Republicans say, okay, well, if Bragg's going to do it, by golly, I'll make a name for myself and I'll go after Joe Biden and all of his allies?
- [07:42]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, look, that is a very real worry. Historically, the left has been more willing to do that than the right. But, but escalation is a very real possibility. And we've talked on this podcast before, I believe Merrick Garland, I think the Biden DOJ is going to indict Hunter Biden. I think they plan to indict Hunter Biden They've leaked it to the press, which DOJ should not be leaking. But I think they plan to indict Hunter Biden for drug charges or maybe tax charges for something that is personal and unique to him. And I think they want the public narrative to be this is, this is a poor, tortured soul with serious substance abuse problems. And we should, our hearts should, should break for the trauma he has served. They are not, I believe, going to indict Hunter Biden for anything related to corruption from his father. Which is, which is the relevant public matter. It's the relevant issue of public interest. Is, is the sitting president engaged in corrupt business dealings? Did the sitting president, as vice president, engage in corrupt business dealings? That is a legitimate, important concern. Look, I'm not saying that it is always illegitimate to indict or prosecute a former president. Former president commits crimes, serious crimes. That president should be held accountable, but it shouldn't be ticky tack nonsense. And this is where. And look, we did a podcast last week that went into the details of it, so I'm not going to repeat all of it, but let's do this briefly. We don't know the exact grounds on which the district attorney is indicting Trump. He has not yet released the indictment publicly. I assume we will know in the next couple of days, but in all likelihood, the statute that he will be basing it on is New York Penal Law 175.05. What does that do? It makes it a misdemeanor when an individual makes or causes a false entry in a business record or alters, erases, obliterates, deletes a true entry in a business record. In other words, it's a bookkeeping error. If you write something in the books of a business enemy that is false under New York law, that's a misdemeanor. So that's the claim they're basing it on. But it's even more ludicrous than that because it's a misdemeanor under New York law. The statute of limitations is two years. This alleged crime occurred in 2016. The alleged crime is that in the heat of the presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump sent his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to pay Stormy Daniels, a porn star, $130,000 to cover up that she had allegedly had an affair with Donald Trump. I don't know if any of that's true or not, but that's the allegation. None of that's illegal on the face of it. There's nothing in what I've just described that violates New York law. So what is Alvin Bragg hanging his hat on? He's saying, well, when the $130,000 was paid in the accounting ledgers, Trump recorded that $130,000 as legal fees when it was not, in fact, legal fees. It was hush money. It was payoff to Stormy Daniels. Now, as I mentioned, that's a misdemeanor under New York law. So the statute of limitations is run, which means the prosecutor can't charge him. So how is he bringing this indictment? Well, there's another provision of New York law, New York Penal Law 175.10, that makes it a felony if you create a false business record in the furtherance of in order to commit another crime. So he's trying to bootstrap another crime to transform a misdemeanor into a felony. Let's pause for a second and reflect on the irony. Alvin Bragg got elected. George Soros spent over a million dollars to elect Alvin Bragg because he is reducing felonies every day. He's reducing felonies to misdemeanors. He's releasing violent criminals from jail. He's refusing to prosecute violent criminals. He ran on a platform of let the criminals go. But in this case, it's not a bank robber, it's not a rapist, it's not a murderer, It's Donald Trump. And to a leftist, Donald Trump is the worst thing on the face of the planet. So he's got a ridiculous legal theory to elevate a misdemeanor into a felony. And we don't know for sure what alleged crime he's trying to piggyback on because he hadn't released the indictment yet. But in all likelihood, it is some sort of campaign finance violation for mischaracterizing the payment. Now, that's the crime that is being used to bootstrap the misdemeanor to get around the statute of limitation to prosecute Trump because he hates Trump. Number is true. Number one, the Federal Election Commission declined to bring a case based on this. They looked at it and said, we don't have a case here. Number two, the Department of Justice declined to bring a case on this main Justice. Number three, the Southern District of New York, the US Attorney in Manhattan, declined to bring a case on this, looked at it and said, there's nothing here. Number four, the previous district Attorney in Manhattan, Cy Vance, who's a hardcore liberal, looked at the facts here and said, we can't bring a case here. Everyone has looked at this and said, this ain't a case. What happened? Alvin Bragg said, who, baby? I hate drunk. Trump. Trump. I'm indicting me a Donald Trump, and nothing's going to stop me. This case will get thrown out.
- [13:37]
Ben Ferguson
All right, let's walk through that.
- [13:39]
Senator Ted Cruz
Convicting him.
- [13:40]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it's not about convicting him. I couldn't agree with you more. Let's put people so they understand, because no one. I have seen this anywhere center. And that's why I want to ask you this. Lastly, no one has explained what will happen. And by the way, CNN is reporting tonight, and they have pretty good information from liberals in New York City. So that's why I think they're probably leading this. They're getting great leaks. They're saying Trump faces More than 30 counts related to business fraud. Sources are now telling CNN he's expected to appear in court on Tuesday as the first former US President to be criminally charged. He will be fingerprinted. He will have a mug shot. You just said this will be thrown out. Explain the process. Donald Trump's gonna have to lawyer up. If there's 30 plus counts here, he's going to have to defend himself. Obviously. Just said it's going to be thrown out. Walk us down this so people understand what really happens next. Will there be a trial, for example?
- [14:37]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, the first process is going to be Donald Trump being arrested, which is what he tweeted just under two weeks ago that he was about to be arrested. Now, because he's the former President of the United States, because he's protected by Secret Service, you're not going to have NYPD come kick down the door of Mar? A Lago and drag him away in handcuffs. The Manhattan District attorney is talking to Trump's attorney and they're reaching negotiated terms for him to turn himself in. Now, he has said publicly he is going to turn himself in. He's going to cooperate with him. So what will happen? I don't know if it'll be Tuesday. I don't know if those leaks are accurate, but in the next several days, Tuesday is certainly plausible. That that's, that's roughly the right time period. It could be tomorrow, or it could be any day in the next week, that Trump presumably will present himself in Manhattan and will turn himself in. When he turns himself in, he'll be booked. I think it is certain that they will fingerprint him. I think it is certain that they will take a mug shot. Frankly, that's a big part of the reason Alvin Bragg wants to bring this case is to take the mug shot, because it's a political attack. It's not a legal case. It is a political attack and he wants the mug shot. How many times have you seen Ben on Twitter, leftists engaged in fan fiction porn where they cut and paste Donald Trump's face onto the body of someone in an orange jumpsuit in prison?
- [16:10]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, countless.
- [16:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
The mug shot, they are so excited, as a political matter, for that. Now, by the way, my prediction, we'll see if this is true. My prediction is when Donald Trump takes his mug shot, he will be in a crisp blue shirt with an impeccable white, crisp blue suit, with an impeccable white shirt and a bright red Donald Trump tie, and he will be smiling ear to ear. That's my prediction. I don't know that, but we'll find out in a few days. If that's right or not, then it will proceed to trial. Now, before trial, there can be all sorts of pretrial proceedings. The defense can make motions, they can make motions to suppress evidence. There will be the disclosure of what's called Brady material, which is the material the prosecutor has that is potentially exculpatory, that potentially demonstrates Trump is innocent. And so there'll be a back and forth. You know, Trump will make bail. I don't know what the bail will be set at, but he's, he's going to make bail and be released after he's booked, and then it will proceed towards a trial. It is possible that the defense counsel will make a motion to dismiss the indictment. And I don't know who the New York trial judges that, that the case will be assigned to. It will be a New York state trial judge. New York trial judges tend to be quite liberal. So it's possible you'll have a judge that will allow this to linger on for some time. I gotta tell you, any judge worth his or her salt would throw this damn thing out because it's a ridiculous case. And let me give you two data points that are important to know, and they're data points that you're probably not going to hear on cnn. You're not going to hear on abc, CBS, or NBC. Number one, a theory similar to this was tried against John Edwards. John Edwards was the Democrat senator who ran for president, who had an affair, who had a mistress, who paid hush money. And he got prosecuted for mischaracterizing the hush money. And the case blew up and it lost. It did not succeed. That's the most on point precedent, is an absolute failure of a prosecution. But number two, and this is the fact that it's stunning, which is the entire predicate of the Manhattan DA's case, is that recording as legal fees a payment that was not, in fact, legal fees, is a crime and a crime worthy of indictment and prosecution. If that is true, do you know who else committed the exact same crime at the same time? That would be none other than Hillary Rodham Clinton. So all of this conduct occurred during the 2016 campaign, during the general election, when it was Trump versus Clinton. That's when Michael Cohen allegedly paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 and they characterized it as legal fees. At the exact same time, Hillary Clinton's campaign paid over a million dollars to develop the Steele dossier. You remember the infamous document that is filled with things like the pee tape, the allegations of lurid sexual activities from Donald Trump that the media was so excited when it broke, it just happened to all be garbage and made up fiction. The Hillary Clinton campaign commissioned the entire thing. They paid for it. They paid over a million dollars. And you know what the Hillary Clinton campaign called the payments to fabricate the Steele dossier? Legal fees. The exact same thing. So the identical conduct characterizing something as legal fees that was not legal fees occurred in the identical jurisdiction, Manhattan, at the exact same time, 2016. If this is a crime, then objectively, Hillary Clinton not only committed the same crime, she committed it 10x. Trump allegedly did it at $130,000. Hillary Clinton did it at over a million dollars. Now, the truth of the matter is neither one of them is a crime. It's a ticky tack. Bookkeeping would prosecute Hillary Clinton or zero because he supports Hillary Clinton. And that's not how a prosecution should proceed.
- [20:41]
Ben Ferguson
Let's last question for you. I want to ask, and this is, I think, a bigger. Just step back and think about this from a different perspective of how much damage has been done for the future of this country today because of this indictment. The fact that in 2023 we have lost our way to the point where we're indicting on garbage charges, as you described it. Former President, United States of America. And is there any way to get this back in the box afterwards or is the damage that's been done, will it ever go away?
- [21:20]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, it is very, very hard. As you know, I've been concerned about this for a long time. Several months ago, I wrote my latest book. My latest book is on exactly this topic because I saw this happening. My latest book is called Justice Corrupted how the Left has Weaponized the Legal System. And it describes how Barack Obama and Joe Biden have corrupted the Department of Justice, have corrupted the FBI, have corrupted the irs, have corrupted the CIA, have weaponized the legal machinery. It talks about Alvin Bragg, it talks about George Soros. Das elected with millions of dollars from George Soros to undermine the rule of law. And listen, I did not. I wasn't happy writing the book Justice Corrupted. I love the American justice system. I love the rule of law. My entire life has been devoted to the Constitution, literally since I was a teenager. When I was 13, I was part of a group called the Constitutional Corroborators, where we memorized the Constitution in short mnemonic form. Yes, Ben, I was one heck of a geek. You were a jock. You would have kicked my ass in high school, but that was me. You were a pretty geeky jock, I will give you that. That's true.
- [22:35]
Ben Ferguson
That's true.
- [22:36]
Senator Ted Cruz
You still would have kicked my ass in high school. But look, my entire life, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, it has been the pinnacle of human liberty in the entire existence of mankind. And I wrote Justice Corrupted because I saw these hardcore partisans, these leftists, these Marxists, willing to use the machinery of justice just as a cudgel, as a club to beat their political opponents. And I was horrified. Look, I'm going to encourage everyone. Go on Amazon right now. Buy Justice Corrupted. If you want to know what happened here. This book details exactly what led to today's indictment. And it. Unfortunately, I think it only gets worse over the next two years under Joe Biden.
- [23:31]
Ben Ferguson
I can promise you one thing. We're going to keep you updated on this. I have a feeling this is going to have a lot of moving parts in the weeks and the months ahead. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. We will let you get you behind the scenes and let you understand the legal aspect of this, which I think is one part that's lacking. And I appreciate you, Senator, explaining what is going to happen next, just in the short term, because people want to know. They're afraid that the President's going to be ineligible, that he can't run, that if there's a trial, he's not going to be able to run. All that is also not true. Even if this goes forward, he is not ineligible to run.
- [24:05]
Senator Ted Cruz
It is completely false. The only way that a President can be ineligible to run is if the President is impeached, which takes a majority of the House and convicted, which takes two thirds of the Senate, and the Senate imposes the penalty of making him ineligible to run for office. That is not going to happen. That has not happened. And so the fact of an indictment has zero effect on Trump's being able to run. It has zero effect on his being able to win the primary. It has zero effect on his being able to win the general. It has zero effect on his being able to serve as president. This is an effort by Alvin Bragg and radical Democrats to steal the election. The irony is all of these Democrats who have clutched their pearls and said, defend democracy, defend democracy. Well, you know what? They're all full of crap because they don't believe in democracy. Look, if you don't like Donald Trump, vote against him. But don't abuse the justice system by trying to bring bogus charges because you're afraid that the voters might actually vote for the guy. That's not democracy. It's the opposite of democracy. And these Marxists don't care. They are carrying down American democracy. And it's why, as I sit here at 1:16 in the morning, I'm pissed as hell.
- [25:28]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, Senator, thank you. I think this is one of the most important podcasts that we have done, and people want to know what's happening. And I think this will help distinguish the BS and the spend from the reality of the situation. We will be back with you whenever big, big news like this breaks, even if it's at 1:20 in the morning. And we'll be back with you, obviously, in a couple days as well. We'll see you then. Everybody pray for our country.