← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
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- [00:01]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And Senator Cruz unfortunately could not do the show with me right now because he has lost his voice. He did, however, have enough strength to deal with questioning today of Elise Stefanik in the confirmation hearing. And I'm gonna have that for you. Plus, we're gonna talk about the big news of Donald Trump saying we're gonna have a 90 day moratorium on foreign aid. What does that mean? Well, it means that Marco Rubio is going to have a lot to look at when it comes to where your tax dollars are going. And I'm going to have for you back from January 17th, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz's conversation on the three questions that he said he'll ask regarding every State Department program. Before we get into that though, I want to talk to you about my friends at ifcj. I want to say first off to so many of you that listen to Verdict, thank you for your help for the people in Israel on January 27. It is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. That is less than a week away. It is the day that we remember the great evil of the Holocaust when millions of Jews were slaughtered during the Nazis reign of terror. Today, the rise in global anti Semitism and the constant attacks on Israel show us that it's more important than ever to remember the atrocities of the Holocaust to ensure it never happens again. And that's why I am proud to partner with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. They do incredible work. With your help, they provide food, shelter and safety to Jews in Israel and around the world, including those remaining Holocaust survivors. Now, your donation will help provide that food, water, medicine and other basic necessities to Jewish communities. Your donations have also paid for bomb shelters and armored ambulances just to get people to the hospital in areas where the terrorists attack. And your gift, well, it allows for the world to see that there are still many of us that stand with the Jewish people and against the growing anti Semitism and hatred that we're seeing right now. So to show your support, I ask you to visit supportifcj.org that's one word, support ifcj.org you can also call to donate 888488 ifcj. That's 888488 ifcj or support ifcj.org so as I mentioned earlier, Senator Cruz has lost his voice. I, I could literally not even talk to him earlier. We were having to communicate in text. But what he did do today was some pretty incredible work on the Hill. Senator Cruz questioned Elise Stefanik in the confir. I want you to hear what he had to say. Also, I'm going to play for you in a moment the back and forth with Marco Rubio and what is changing at the State Department. This in light of the big breaking news from the president about pausing foreign aid for 90 days. Now, after that, I'm also going to have something else for you. There's also a new morning podcast that I'm the host of called the 47 Morning Update. It gives you the biggest news in a short form podcast 10 to 12 minutes of what is going to happen each and every day in Donald Trump's administration from the Oval Office. We'll have that for you as well. But first, take a listen to what Senator Cruz had to say today on Capitol Hill in the questioning of Elise Stefanik.
- [03:36]
Ted Cruz
Congratulations on your nomination. You're going to be terrific. I want to go back to a topic you discussed with Senator Cornyn. I want to focus on Iran's push to build a nuclear arsenal, which poses, I think, the most immediate and acute threat to American national security. When the Ayatollah chants death to America, he means it. And I believe he would absolutely detonate a nuclear weapon over an American city if he could. The Trump administration got Iran's nuclear program in a box and kept it there. President Trump withdrew from the catastrophic Obama Iran nuclear deal in 2018. He imposed maximum pressure in 2019. He invoked the UN snapback mechanism in the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 to reimpose international sanctions in 2020. For that entire time, Iran was deterred from making significant advances on their nuclear program. They did not even enrich uranium above 5% or cascade advanced centrifuges. Starting in November 2020, the Iranian regime gambled that it could start rushing to a nuclear arsenal and the incoming Biden administration would let them. Unfortunately, that proved correct. In November, the regime approved a new law calling for major nuclear advances. In January, they started enriching at 20% at Fordo, the underground enrichment bunker built into a mountain that the Obama Iran nuclear deal left open. The incoming Biden administration responded with appeasement. In February, immediately after being inaugurated, they rushed to the UN to rescind President Trump's snapback again allowing international sanctions to expire for the next four years. The administration continually dismantled pressure on the regime and refused to impose sanctions. We know the result today. The Ayatollah has achieved a nuclear breakout time of zero. We now face the very real possibility of an Iranian nuclear arsenal. I do not believe that this is a threat the US can tolerate. And I'm confident that both the President and Secretary of State Rubio agree. I asked Secretary of State Rubio whether he intends to go to the United nations and again trigger the snapback mechanism as a part of his written testimony to this committee. Here was Secretary Rubio's response. Quote, I believe it is in our national security interest for the UN Security Council to snap back the sanctions that were suspended under the jcpoa. I will execute the President's guidance and work with our allies to ensure that snapback takes place first. Do you agree with Secretary Rubio's assessment that it is in the national security interest of the United States to snap back those sanctions?
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Elise Stefanik
Yes.
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Ted Cruz
Talk about how you would execute a strategy to do so, either unilaterally or working with allies.
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Elise Stefanik
We, we will have to. That will be a strategy that I developed with the National Security Council in tandem with Secretary Rubio and President Trump to work with our allies within the United nations, within the Security Council. And there are allies that are already considering this and looking at it, and that has been publicly reported. But obviously pushing back on Iran is a top priority. It was a success during President Trump's first term and we've seen the catastrophic results in loss of life during the previous four years. When you have had an emboldened Iran that has led to directly the October 7th terrorist attack against Israel and Hezbollah firing tens of thousands of rockets against Israeli civilians.
- [07:41]
Ted Cruz
Let's move to another topic you and I talked about the deep rot in the United nations when it comes to supporting terrorism against America and our allies, especially Israel. As you discussed with Senator McCormick, UNWRA has for decades provided material support for Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza. The World Health Organization has also been deeply complicit in the use of hospitals by Hamas for terrorist activities, including for the holding of hostages. The complicity of these organizations deepened after October 7th. The Biden administration embraced UNRWA and the World Health Organization. Congress prohibited the Biden administration from funding unrwa, but the administration officials circumvented that prohibition by using UNRWA infrastructure yesterday. The President rightly and immediately withdrew our participation from them. I think that was a critical first step, but the next step is to enable American citizens to hold these organizations accountable. We currently have a very odd legal environment where these organizations enjoy more sovereign immunity than states and thus are shielded from accountability. Last Congress, I introduced the Liable act and was joined by four current members of this committee, including as well as Secretary of State Rubio. The bill will allow American victims of terrorism and their family to sue international organizations that support terrorism against this. I will soon reintroduce it in this Congress. What is your understanding of the role these organizations have played in facilitating terrorism against Americans, Israelis and our allies?
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Elise Stefanik
Well, unwra, there were individuals in UNRWA who participated, who executed and committed terrorist acts against Israel. On October 7, Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, carried an UNRWA passport. You had a Hamas data center under UNRWA headquarters. So the rot is deep. Congress made the right decision. I was proud to be one of the leaders when it came to defunding unwrap, and I am committed to holding them accountable and working with the U.S. senate and the U.S. house and the President if that legislation passes.
- [09:51]
Ted Cruz
Terrific. Thank you.
- [09:53]
Ben Ferguson
Now, there's also other big news that we want to talk about and that deals with the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State now has an even bigger job than any Secretary of State had during the time of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris being in office. And what's really cool about what's happening now is Donald Trump is empowering leaders to do their job well. Now, there was some big breaking news, and that is that President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending all US foreign assistance programs for 90 days, pending a comprehensive review to ensure their alignment with his administration's policy objectives. Now, this suspension affects a wide range of global initiatives, including humanitarian aid, economic development and health programs. Notably, the U. S contributes approximately 70.3 billion annually in foreign aid supporting various international efforts. So what did the president do? He said it's time for all of this to go back under a review and is calling out other countries for what he described as not paying their fair share. Who's going to be looking over this? Well, that would be Marco Rubio. He will do a deep dive into where your tax dollars are going and then come back with recommendations. What's also interesting is how this relates back to Marco Rubio and his conversation with Senator Cruz on January 17th. Take a listen to what he had to say then.
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Ted Cruz
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I got to say, boy, that sounds good. Mr. Chairman, that isn't as good as it sounds to me. Thank you. Well, congratulations, and I'm looking forward to the next two years working together.
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Ben Ferguson
Thank you.
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Ted Cruz
And the. Senator Rubio, let me say congratulations to you as well. We're going to miss you on this committee. We're going to miss you in the Senate. But you're going to do an extraordinary job at Foggy Bottom. And I will say, if they capture you and tie you up in the basement, we will send a team to pull you out. You know, as I look back over the last four years of the Biden Harris administration, there are a lot of policies that have done a lot of damage. Domestic policies, economic policies. But I think all of those pale compared to the damage that has been done to national security and foreign policy over the last four years. Over the last four years, this administration has systematically undermined and abandoned our allies, and it has systematically shown weakness and appeasement to our enemies. And the consequence has been disastrous. We've gone from four years ago, peace and prosperity to today a situation with wars across the globe and every enemy of America stronger than they were when this administration came into office. I am confident the incoming administration is going to change that direction. I am confident that President Trump and the White House and you as Secretary of State are going to shift us back to where we should be, which is standing by our friends and allies and standing up to our enemies. Do you agree with that assessment? Is that what you intend to do as Secretary of State?
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Marco Rubio
Well, let me say first, the foreign policy of the United States will be set by the president. And my job is to advise on it and ultimately to execute. I think the president has been abundantly clear, and that is his policy is going to be driven about making America safer, stronger and more prosperous. As I said in my opening statement, everything the State Department does, every policy, every program, every dollar it spends, every initiative it takes, has to answer three questions. Does it make us safer? Does it make us stronger?
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Ben Ferguson
Does it?
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Marco Rubio
Or does it make us more prosperous? And if it doesn't, if the answer is not yes to one of those three, you're going to have a hard time moving that forward because that's the priority that the president, and that's the priority that, by the way, voters gave this president when they elected him. You point to a number of things that I think are critically important and that, and I'll phrase it a different way, but I think we're saying the same thing. We have lost deterrence in multiple theaters around the world. So as an example, and I use this as a small scale example, it's really an important one, I think, of the year was 2020, 2019. The Wagner Group tried to get cute and came after some of Americans, Americans operating in Syria. And fire from the sky rained down on them. And that group was pushed back pretty hard. That's deterrence. They threatened us and they knew what the response would be. I recall the Consternation here and in other places when Soleimani met his devise. But I can tell you it impacted Iranian behavior for a substantial period of time. No matter how tough they talked, it impacted their behavior. I think it's important to re establish deterrence. And to the extent that that's been lost for a variety of reasons, the lack of deterrence is an invitation to war. The lack of deterrence is an invitation to hostility. It prevents the very thing that we hope to achieve, which is peace and stability in the world. And I do think we've lost deterrence. And I think in some ways it contributed to what happened in Ukraine. An item I know is very close to you and you've worked very hard. And we talked earlier today about is energy dependence. I recall President Trump at both a NATO summit and at the United nations. And I recall the United nations one in particular. President Trump said Germany is dependent entirely going to be left dependent on China, on Russia for its energy. And they laughed at him. There were diplomats in the hall that were snickering. That's exactly what happened. It is one of the reasons why Putin believed he could invade Europe is because Europe would not push back because they depended on him so much for energy. Now Europe is to be congratulated. They have moved very swiftly, particularly the Germans, to diversify their energy resources. But one could argue that we may never have had that invasion had that dependence not existed, because maybe, who would have thought the European response would have been more forceful than he anticipated. So I do think re establishing deterrence and strength is important because it prevents war and it gives us leverage and diplomacy, which where we Hope to solve 99.9 of the global disagreements, we hope to solve through diplomacy, not through armed conflict.
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Ted Cruz
I think that's very well said.
- [15:57]
Ben Ferguson
Now, as I mentioned earlier, Senator Cruz lost his voice. We expect him hopefully to be back with us on Friday after getting some rest. But let me put something else on your radar screen real quick. Many of you that voted for Donald Trump and support the MAGA agenda have said for a long time that you would love to have something each and every day that gives you kind of a blueprint of what the administration is actually working on. Well, I am hosting a new podcast called the 47 Morning Update. You can grab it wherever you get your podcasts. And I'm going to let you hear exactly what that podcast sounds like. It is a short podcast, 10 to 12 minutes to start your day. Take a listen.
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Donald Trump
$500 billion in AI infrastructure.
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Ben Ferguson
No historic teams are out there as of Today.
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Ted Cruz
You're fired. Get out of here.
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Donald Trump
You're fired. Get out. Get the hell out of here.
- [16:50]
Ben Ferguson
You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Good morning, it's Ben Ferguson. It's nice to have you with us. Here are the big stories that we're covering today on the 47 Morning Update. First up, it's Black Tuesday when it comes to federal workers. They're getting pink slips from Donald Trump saying you're fired. So who all lost their jobs and why? I'll have that for you in a moment. Also, Donald Trump moved America forward with a 500 billion dollar AI investment from the private sector that's happening right here in the US Of A. And finally, promises made and promises kept on border security. Major moves by President Trump to make sure that we have a secure southern border. It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now. Story number one. It was black Tuesday for many in the federal government as the head of the TSA and the Coast Guard were fired on Trump's first full day in office. President Trump moved quickly to remake the Department of Homeland Security, firing the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard before their terms were even up and eliminated all members of a key aviation security advisory group as well. Now, Trump's immigration policy changes drew the most attention at Homeland Security, but he's also making changes at the rest of the massive agency. Members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee received a memo Tuesday morning saying that the department is eliminating the membership of all advisory committees as part of a commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that the Department of Homeland Security activities prioritize specifically our national security. The Aviation Security Committee, which was mandated by Congress after the 1988 PAMM M103 bombing over lock and be. Scotland will technically continue to exist, but it won't have any members to carry out the work of examining safety issues at airlines and airports. Liberals are claiming at this hour, but the reality is there are plenty of people that are doing that right now. Who's angry about it? Well, major unions. That's right, because the airlines and major unions were a member of the group associated with all of this government bureaucracy. This is another example of Donald Trump saying, I'm coming in and I'm cleaning house. Now, that isn't all who lost their jobs and are bloated government. You know, Donald Trump became very famous for being the guy that says you're fired. Well, Donald Trump is telling many Biden appointees, you're out of a job. And now it's a he said. She said, no, no, no, you didn't fire me. I already quit. I wish I was joking, but I'm not. Donald Trump says he plans to remove over 1,000 Biden appointees and there are many that are very angry about President Donald Trump on Tuesday saying, I have these plans because I'm not keeping any of them, Joe Biden's appointees from their government positions. He said, yeah, you're gone. And he had already fired four individuals immediately, including a celebrity chef, Jose Andreas, and a former top general, Mark Milley. You're fired is what Trump wrote in an early morning post on his true social platform that named Millie and Andreas, as well as his former Iran envoy, Brian Hook and the former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who Biden appointed to an export council. Andreas and Bottom said they, quote, unquote, had already quit their post before Trump's inauguration. Trump's post said his personal office is, quote, actively in the process of identifying and removing over a thousand presidential appointees from the Biden administration who are, quote, not aligned with our vision to make America great again. Donald Trump wasn't done there when it came to changing things very quickly. He also decided to move to another issue. Trump ordered all federal diversity, equity and inclusion employees placed on paid leave starting on Wednesday. Yes. NBC News reporting that the Trump administration also directed government agencies to drop plans for firing workers in DEI roles. The Trump administration is ordering all federal employees, the White House announced in these roles on paid leave by Wednesday evening at 5:00. That according to a new memo from the Office of Personnel Management. The memo, issued Tuesday to heads of departments and government agencies, set that deadline of no later than 5pm Eastern Time Wednesday to inform the employees that they will be put on paid administrative leave as the agencies prepare to close all diversity, equity and inclusion related offices and programs and to also remove all websites and social media accounts for such offices immediately. This is another promise Donald Trump made to the American people and he's seeing it through clearly starting in his very first week in office. Now story number two in major breaking news coming from the Oval Office, President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced Stargate Project. Now, what is that? It is a new American company which will invest $500 billion over the next four years building a new AI infrastructure specifically in the United States of America. The President also asked Oracle's Larry Ellison, SoftBank CEO and OpenAI Sam Altman to the White House for this major announcement where President Trump explained it this way.
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Donald Trump
It's my Honor to welcome three of the world's leading technology CEOs and in the case of Larry, Larry Ellison, it's well beyond technology, sort of CEO of everything. He's an amazing man and an amazing business person. But to announce the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history and it's all taking place right here in America. As you know, there's great competition for AI and other things and they're coming in at the highest level. We're joined by Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison, SoftBank CEO, my friend Masa Masa Yoshi son and CEO of OpenAI and I would say the by far the leading expert based on everything I read, Sam Altman. So that's great that you're coming in together. That's a massive group of talent and money together. These world leading technology giants are announcing the formation of Stargate. So put that name down in your books because I think you're going to hear a lot about it in the future. A new American company that will invest $500 billion at least in AI infrastructure in the United States and very, very quickly, moving very rapidly, creating over 100,000American jobs almost immediately.
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Ben Ferguson
This massive project is going to create, as you heard the president just say there over 100,000 high quality jobs and it will catapult America in front of China in the AI race. Not only will this create more than a hundred thousand American jobs and significantly advance AI applications particularly, and this is the part that many Americans should be the most excited about in health care such as early disease detection and personalized treatments. Key figures from the private sector putting this all together. Joining President Trump with this announcement at the White House is proof yet again, as Donald Trump has put it, that if we want to fix the biggest problems in the world, we should be looking to the private sector and not the U. S government to do it. And lastly, story number three, promises made, promises kept. When it comes to national security and the southern border. The man who's in charge of securing the southern border, Tom Holman, said today that that ICE deportation operations have already begun. Teams are out there as of today.
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Marco Rubio
We gave them the direction to prioritize public safety threats that we're looking for. So we've been working up the target list.
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Ben Ferguson
There was some discussion about Chicago because the Pacific operational plan was released. So we had to look at and reevaluate.
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Marco Rubio
Does this raise off their safety concerns? And it does, but we've addressed that.
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Ben Ferguson
And team draw their effective today. Teams are out there today. So what exactly has happened since Donald Trump was sworn in? I have the list for you. Now, it is a list that the media is not wanting to talk about because it's actually a very extensive list of promises made and promises kept. So let's go through it so you know exactly where we are in the process of securing the border. On January 21, Donald Trump signed several executive orders aimed at strengthening border security. Security number one, a national emergency declaration declaring a national emergency at the U. S. Mexico border enabling the deployment of federal troops to assist in border enforcement. There was another promise that was made and that deal with the remain in Mexico policy. Well, Donald Trump paid off on that promise, reinstating the policy requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico during U.S. immigration proceedings, which will have a massive impact on stopping the flow of illegal immigrants across the border. One of the other major issues Donald Trump talked about back in the campaign in 2016 for president was building a border wall. Well, Donald Trump has ordered the resumption and now the completion of the border wall along the southern border as fast as humanly possible. Also, in another major move, and the media lost their minds over this, Donald Trump decided to terminate birthright citizenship, signing an order to end automatic U. S. Citizenship for a child born in the U. S. To an undocumented immigrant. This move is likely going to face major legal challenges due to the 14th Amendment. That doesn't mean that Donald Trump isn't willing to have that conversation now. Donald Trump also took a major action which shocked the world, especially those that advocate for illegal immigrants. He decided to suspend the CBP1 app. Now, disabling this app, which allows migrants to schedule legal entry appointments, resulted in cancellations for thousands and thousands of applicants, sending a very clear message that you can't just come across a wide open southern border and think we are going to let you stay here. The app right now does not work. And also in what is being described as the biggest and boldest move of all of these actions is the president's decision to designate cartels as terrorist organizations. Classifying certain drug cartels and gangs such as MS.13 as foreign terrorist organizations would allow for aggressive actions to be taken against them, including using the U.S. military. You combine all of this together and this marks a significant shift in US Immigration policy, reflecting a return to an expansion of measures from President Donald Trump's first term. In translation, Donald Trump made a lot of promises and he is keeping them, especially when it comes to securing the southern border. 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.
- [29:02]
Marco Rubio
Subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast and.
- [29:04]
Ben Ferguson
We will see you back here tomorrow. Thanks as always for listening. Don't forget, hit that subscribe or auto download button wherever you get this podcast. And if you'll subscribe to the 47 Morning Update as well, my new podcast that would be greatly appreciated in the center and I will see you back here Friday morning.