← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Verdict Year End Week in Review: Goal Post Moved to Protect Joe, Democrat Congressman Carjacked, & WH Changes Course on Antisemitism
00:27:35
Loading summary
Transcript77 lines
- [00:00]
Ted Cruz
Welcome. It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And as we get ready for a new year, it's important that we take a look back at some of the biggest stories of this past year, give you some of those big stories and things to look forward to or issues that you may need to be paying attention to. Heading into 2024, the White House had a very interesting response. And this is the third change now in the goalposts for Joe Biden's involvement with Hunter Biden's businesses. The first was they never spoke about business ever. Then they changed it to he was never in business with his son. That was the goalpost moving yet again. Now the White House's Ian Sams came out and moved the goalposts again when he said this.
- [00:51]
Ben Ferguson
The other allegations is the president was present at some of the meetings between Hunter Biden and his business associates. Why was the president at those meetings on those phone calls?
- [01:02]
Ian Sams
Well, again, I think this is part of the right wing's misinformation machine to try to confuse people about what the truth is. The truth is that the president, as he has said publicly for years, calls his family every day to check in. He calls his son every day to check in. He calls his other family members to check in to see how they're doing. He loves him. They're a tight knit family. And what the GOP's own witness testified in this case is that that's exactly what the president was doing. He was checking in with Hunter during a particularly hard time, I might add, a time where the family was going through Hunter's brother Beau's illness. And of course, the president checks in with his son and talks to him. But again, that witness testified no business dealings of Hunter Biden's or anyone's was discussed in these conversations. And so again, they're trying to make this sort of strange connection when their own investigation has disproven these claims.
- [01:55]
Ben Ferguson
Before I let you go in, is the president respond in terms of how the president has reacted to this, especially somebody who's been in politics and been in Washington for as long as he has been, the idea that he is now subject to an impeachment inquiry as president, United States, what's his response to that?
- [02:11]
Ian Sams
You know, the president has been in politics for a long time and I think as he would say, he's seen a lot of malarkey along the way. But this might take the cake. You know, he's focused on the issues that actually matter to the American people. You just saw him spending the last week, traveling around the world, shoring up our alliances, advancing national interests in Asia, our economic interests in Asia, showing American leadership on the world stage. He's coming back here. He's announcing today a quarter billion dollar investment in cancer research to try to finally cure cancer. That's what his administration and this president is focused on every day. They're focused on the actual needs of the American people. And I think what he would say is maybe the House Republicans should join him.
- [02:50]
Ted Cruz
There's the part in there where he says that Joe Biden attended Hunter's business meetings because he loves him. That's the new goalpost that they just moved significantly from they never talked about business to then. Well, they never worked together. Now it's, well, he just went to the business meetings because he loves him. Really? That's the new excuse?
- [03:10]
Ben Ferguson
Well, look, I mean, what good and loving and devoted father hasn't called in 20 times to his son's meeting with corrupt oligarchs who are paying millions of dollars in exchange for favors from that father while he's sitting and serving as the Vice President of the United States? I mean, that's really just what any good dad would do. I mean, really is. It's cynical because they point out that Joe's other son tragically died of cancer. So they want to wrap it in the sympathy of a human tragedy to say, well, of course, you know, listen, why was Hunter getting paid the millions of dollars? I didn't hear him say a word about that. There's no value Hunter provides. What was the value Hunter brought? You know, Ben, you're a talented guy. You're a charming guy. Are there any foreign oligarchs calling you up saying, ben, I want to wire millions of dollars to you?
- [04:15]
Ted Cruz
Zero. That's not normal.
- [04:18]
Ben Ferguson
You know, they don't do that to anybody. They only do it if you are providing value. And what all of these talking heads, what all of these Democrat hacks are saying, what all of the corporate media puppets are refusing to answer is, what did Hunter get in exchange for the tens of millions of dollars? And according to the House, it could be north of 20, 30 million dollars. We're talking massive amounts of money. And by the way, not money from, you know, normal American companies, not money from our friends and allies. It wasn't money from France. It wasn't money from Italy. It wasn't money from the United Kingdom, wasn't money from Japan. It was money from China, Russia, Ukraine. They singled out nations with very significant antagonism and hostility to America and some of the most corrupt nations on earth, and there is no innocent explanation. By the way, you don't hear any of these Democrats explaining why did Joe Biden have multiple burner phones? Why did he have fake emails? Why did he use fake emails to send emails to his son Hunter about Ukraine on government email while Hunter was getting paid millions of dollars? All of that the Democrats want you to ignore and say, well, gosh, Joe's just a loving dad. And that's what loving dads do. They help their sons make $30 million from corrupt oligarchs who are enemies of America.
- [06:03]
Ted Cruz
I want to get back to this montage, Senator. That was one that went viral and I hope you will give this to your friends, share it on social media, because it's another example of how many lies have been told by the Bidens and how much the media has been willing to cover for them. And this is what this impeachment inquiry is going to be all about. Never discussed with my son or my.
- [06:23]
Ben Ferguson
Brother or anyone else, anything having to.
- [06:26]
Karine Jean-Pierre
Do with their businesses.
- [06:27]
Ted Cruz
President Biden met with at least 14 of Hunter's business associates while he was vice president.
- [06:33]
Ben Ferguson
Then Vice President Joe Biden had dinner.
- [06:35]
Ian Sams
With his son Hunter, along with Hunter's.
- [06:37]
Ted Cruz
Business associates from Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. And the day after the dinner, a Burisma executive sent a note to Hunter quoting, dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to D.C. and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spend some time together.
- [06:52]
Ben Ferguson
Hunter's lucrative business dealings often included giving as much as 50% of his earnings to his dad. The text read, quote, I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this Entire family for 30 years. It's really hard. But don't worry, unlike Pop, I won't make you give me half your salary.
- [07:10]
Karine Jean-Pierre
His son Hunter joining the then vice.
- [07:13]
Ben Ferguson
President on the official visit to Beijing.
- [07:15]
Ted Cruz
Unknown to the press back then, Hunter.
- [07:17]
Karine Jean-Pierre
Biden was forming a Chinese private equity fund, planning to raise money, including from Chinese investors. Ten days after the Biden's trip, Shanghai authorities issued the fund's business license.
- [07:28]
Ben Ferguson
And Hunter introduced me as. This is Tony, dad, the individual I told you about that's helping us with the business that we're working on and the Chinese.
- [07:37]
Ted Cruz
The email reads this way, quote, at.
- [07:39]
Ben Ferguson
The moment, there's a provisional agreement. The equity will be distributed as follows.
- [07:43]
Ian Sams
10 held by Hunter for the big guy.
- [07:46]
Ben Ferguson
I 1000% sit here and know that the Big Guy is referencing Joe Biden. I met with the former vice president in person multiple times. A newly revealed text Message shows Bobulinski.
- [07:57]
Ted Cruz
Was apparently warned by business partner James Gillier.
- [08:00]
Ben Ferguson
Don't mention Joe being involved.
- [08:02]
Ted Cruz
It's only when you are face to face.
- [08:04]
Ben Ferguson
I know you know that, but they are paranoid.
- [08:06]
Ian Sams
Chinese executives admitted to reporters that they were actually introduced to the Vice President by Hunter Biden, Hunter and the then.
- [08:14]
Ben Ferguson
Vice President same with a pair of Mexican billionaires.
- [08:17]
Ian Sams
At the same time Hunter had been.
- [08:19]
Ben Ferguson
Working on energy deals in Mexico.
- [08:21]
Ian Sams
Joe Biden also had Hunter and his business partner fly on Air Force Two to Mexico, his closest business partner.
- [08:28]
Ben Ferguson
Hunter has made at least 19 visits.
- [08:30]
Ian Sams
To the White House and other official locations, including a sit down with then Vice President Joe Biden in the West Wing.
- [08:36]
Ben Ferguson
There is photographic evidence of Biden on.
- [08:38]
Ted Cruz
A golf outing with both his son.
- [08:39]
Ian Sams
Hunter and a man called Devin Archer who was another member of the Burisma board. We also know that Devin Archer in that picture had a meeting in the White House one on one meeting with Joe Biden about a week before they joined the Burisma board.
- [08:56]
Ted Cruz
You hear that Senator? And this explains exactly why this impeachment inquiry is going to be so important.
- [09:02]
Ben Ferguson
Well, it does. It also explains why the Democrat talking point and the corporate media talking point that there is no evidence of Joe Biden's corruption. It is flatly false. And I gotta say, James Carville saying he's really looking forward to hearings on this. Well, you know what James, so am.
- [09:20]
Ted Cruz
I. I want to move to something else that obviously got pushed back in the headlines, but it still is important. The crime wave that we're seeing is not just sweeping the nation, but now it's affecting Democratic leaders and leaders in the liberal movement like we haven't seen before. And it's happening way more often. I'll give you an example. You have a Democratic Representative, Henry Queller who was carjacked at gunpoint in D.C. this comes as in just the past. Well, it was in a 24 hour period. You had a liberal gay reporter that was shot and killed in his home in Philly. You had a far left activist that was stabbed to death by a deranged stranger in Brooklyn in front of his girlfriend. You had this Democratic congressman who was carjacked at gunpoint in D.C. by far for African American men. And yet we have Democrats who have a soft on crime policies that aren't just hurting their neighborhoods that I mentioned these different spots, but it's hurting people in Texas as well. And almost every House Democrat voted against the Republican efforts to stop the DC week on crime bill which specifically would have reduced carjacking Penalties. This is something that the Democrats, I mean, they voted for us. Aldred, for example, voted with the Dems on this one. It's shocking to me.
- [10:43]
Ben Ferguson
Well, listen, crime is out of control in this country and it's an issue that has people understandably very concerned. I watched tonight the video of the liberal activist in New York at four in the morning being stabbed to death on the streets of New York by a guy that certainly appears deranged. It was horrific to watch. You're right. The news of the left wing journalist in Philadelphia who was shot I think seven times in his own home and killed in the past few days. And Henry Cuellar. Look, Henry Cuellar is a Democrat congressman from Texas. I know Henry well. Henry represents Laredo up to San Antonio. Henry is the most conservative of the Texas Democrats. I worked hand in hand with Henry, for example, on the Texas bridges. We've talked on this podcast before about four bridges from Texas to Mexico that Henry and I teamed up in and won big legislative victories to build new bridges to Mexico for legal commerce, to expand bridges. Henry, as I said, is by far the most conservative of the Texas Democrats. Well, in the last couple of days, Henry was coming to his apartment in D.C. it was 9:30 at night and he was getting out of his car and he was carjacked. He was carjacked by four individuals. They put a gun in his face. They stole the car, they stole his luggage. Presumably. I haven't spoken to Henry since it happened. But you have to assume that with a gun in his face he was afraid for his life. I mean, that is frightening. My understanding is Henry lives at an apartment building where there are multiple members of Congress who live there. There are apparently multiple members of congressional leadership who live there, which means there are a lot of Capitol Police around there. And at 9:30 at night he was carjacked on the streets of D.C. and then that reflects the crime wave that is sweeping this country now. The D.C. city Council, which is populated by left wing Democrats, they voted to lower the penalties for violent crimes, including carjackings. In particular, they voted to lower the sentence from 21 years to 7 years. And they voted to lower the sentence from 40 years if armed to 15 years. And under the revised code, carjacking is now divided into three gradations dependent on severity, with the lowest penalties for an unarmed offense ranging from four to 18 years, and the highest penalties from an armed offense ranging from 12 to 24 years. Now in the Congress, thankfully, the Congress has the ability to rescind any legislation in the District of Columbia. And the reason for that is the Constitution gives Congress total authority over D.C. unlike a state, we can't rescind laws in Texas or any other state, but D.C. is a federal district and Congress has plenary authority over it. And so in Congress, we voted to rescind these soft and crime laws that lessen the penalties for violent crimes. And the results are horrific as we're seeing carjacking, murders, crime rates skyrocketing in D.C. and all across the country.
- [13:52]
Ted Cruz
You also have the White House, who was asked about part of this. And I want to play that for everybody. Take a listen.
- [13:58]
Ian Sams
If a member of Congress is not safe on the streets of the nation's capital, who is?
- [14:05]
Karine Jean-Pierre
Look, we're grateful and relieved that the Congressman is unharmed. We understand what communities are going through across the country, not just in D.C. that's why the President took action very early on in his administration to get the American rescue plan done without the help of Republicans. That's why every time he puts forward his budget, he makes sure there are billions of dollars to deal with crime. That's just a fact. All you've got to look is what the President has been able to do this past two years. There's always going to be more work to be done. But the fact is the President has taken action.
- [14:39]
Ted Cruz
He hasn't taken action. He's done the opposite of that.
- [14:42]
Ben Ferguson
She didn't have an answer to that. Holy crap. If a Democrat congressman is getting carjacked on the streets of D.C. at 9:30pm what the heck is the answer? And she's like, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not going to answer that. And what was her answer? Well, you know, Joe Biden, spending a ton of money, mind you, not actually putting criminals in jail, not supporting police, not doing anything to stop crime. But he's shoveling a whole lot of cash at Democrat special interest groups. He's shoveling a whole lot of cash at deficit spending that's causing rampant inflation. That is her answer. It's an utter non sequitur. And by the way, it's not just Henry Cuellar. Angie Craig, who is a Democrat member of Congress from Minnesota, was assaulted in the apartment of her D.C. her D.C. apartment in February of this year. And this is a pattern that is happening over and over and over again. Let me give you some stats. Carjackings in D.C. are up 109%. Robberies are up 68%. Theft is up 22%. Homicides are up 38%. And the city is on pace for the deadliest year in two decades. Not only that, nine of the top 10 cities with the highest homicide rates are run by Democrats. 27 of the top 30 cities with the highest murder rates are run by Democrats. This is a pattern. And you're saying Karine Jean Pierre and the Biden White House utterly dodging responsibilities for their soft on crime policies that are endangering people all across the country.
- [16:24]
Ted Cruz
One last question for you. Will Democrats move on this? Because even the White House presbytery was asked a question, a follow up where she could have kind of gotten a redo. I got to play it. It's too good not to.
- [16:36]
Ian Sams
President Biden's policies are helping bring crime down. Would he be comfortable with somebody borrowing his Corvette and parking it on the street overnight in Southeast D.C. i'm not.
- [16:46]
Karine Jean-Pierre
Going to get into hypotheticals. I'm just going to get into the facts about what this president has done in this president.
- [16:51]
Ted Cruz
I mean, she still screwed it up.
- [16:53]
Ben Ferguson
Look, of course not. Nobody would. You park your Corvette on the street. It's going to get robbed, it's going to get broken into, it's going to get keyed, it's going to get vandalized. She can't answer that question. And so you know what she's counting on. Look, that was a question from Fox News. So Fox will cover it. Ben, you worked for years at cnn. Did CNN cover that exchange?
- [17:15]
Ted Cruz
Hell no.
- [17:17]
Ben Ferguson
Msnbc?
- [17:18]
Ted Cruz
No.
- [17:19]
Ben Ferguson
Abc? NBC? Cbs?
- [17:21]
Ted Cruz
Nope.
- [17:22]
Ben Ferguson
They know that the corporate media, they are the puppets for the administration. They are the propagandists for the administration. They will repeat the regime line. And so look, any sane person would say no to the question. Would you be happy with your, your classic Corvette parked on the streets of D.C. of course not. Because crime is out of control. And the problem is, look, let me underscore that again. When the D.C. city Council looked at skyrocketing crime rates and said, you know what the answer here is? Let's lower the penalties on violent crime. That's the best solution. We got too many murderers, too many, too many murders, too many carjackings. Let's send people to jail for shorter times for murder and carjacking. That's a great idea in Congress. Thankfully we overturned that in the House. Every single House Democrat except two. Vicente Gonzalez, a Texan and Henry Cuellar, a Texan who was just carjacked in the last 48 hours, are the only two who voted no. That means every other House Democrat, if you can think of a House Democrat, they voted in favor of lessening the penalties on carjackers and on murderers. Why do you think crime is out of control?
- [18:43]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. This is a Democratic party, and this is certainly going to be an issue with the presidential election.
- [18:48]
Ben Ferguson
Ben. Ben, hold on. Before we wrap up, I want to ask you a final question.
- [18:51]
Ted Cruz
I'm ready.
- [18:53]
Ben Ferguson
If you're standing by a doorway and you see a little red box that is 3 inches by 4 inches, and it says the word fire on it, and it says, pull this for the fire alarm, my question to you is, is that a doorknob?
- [19:07]
Ted Cruz
That is not a doorknob. And that is not a way to exit the building.
- [19:11]
Ben Ferguson
But how do you know? How do you know, Ben? Seriously? I mean, look, it's not like that.
- [19:16]
Ted Cruz
Insurrectionism 101, right? Like, don't you immediately lock that person up forever.
- [19:21]
Ben Ferguson
Well, let me ask you this. It's not like you were a high school principal. It's not like you were a high school principal in a high school that had fire alarms. It's not like you were a high school principal in a high school that had fire alarms, that had a policy that said if you, a student pulls the fire alarm, you will be expelled. Jamaal Bowman, the Democrat congressman, was a principal at a high school that had a policy that if you, Ben Ferguson, a student in his. In his high school, pulled the fire alarm, you would be expelled. And yet what did Jamal Bowman do? Oh, I'm going to pull the fire alarm because I want to stop the Republican vote. And why is it his claim, if you believe him? His defense is, I'm dumber than a box of rocks and I think a fire alarm is a doorknob. That is his defense, and that's the best interpretation he can hope for.
- [20:10]
Ted Cruz
By the way, I have to ask now, because you brought it up, if a Republican would have done that, how fast would they have been kicked out of Congress? And would they have a mug shot at this point?
- [20:20]
Ben Ferguson
To be honest, I don't think they'd be kicked out of Congress, but I think they might have a mug shot. And my guess is, look, kicking people out of Congress is pretty severe. My guess is the votes won't be there for that. My prediction is they will censure him. I think the votes will be there for censuring him. But it is a criminal offense in the District of Columbia to pull a fire alarm fraudulently, and he is on video doing that. But he is counting on the corporate media to ignore the fact that. That he was willing to pull a fire alarm to try to stop the Congress from voting on a Provision that he didn't like, which mind you, was a provision to fund the government and he wanted to force a government shutdown. So he pulled a fire alarm to cause it to happen. But again, he knew the corporate media would cover for him and they're doing it right now.
- [21:09]
Ted Cruz
Senator, I want to play for you quickly. The White House and the White House got themselves in some trouble because the President has mostly been saying the right things. But the White House and the staffers, completely different story. Take a listen to the White House press briefing. His level of concern right now about.
- [21:28]
Karine Jean-Pierre
The potential rise of anti Semitism in light of everything that's going on in Israel. So a couple of things. Look, we have not seen any credible threats. I know there's been always questions about credible threats. And so just want to make sure that that's out there. But look, Muslim and those perceived to be Muslim have endured a disproportionate number of hate fueled attacks. And certainly President Biden understands that many of our Muslim Arab Americans and Palestinian American loved ones and neighbors are worried about the hate being directed at their communities. And that is something you heard the President speak to in his address just last Thursday. And so one of the things that the President has done is directed his team, Homeland Security team, to prioritize prevention and disruption of any emerging threats that could harm the Jewish, the Muslim, Arab Americans or any other communities. And that is something that the President has sought to do since day one. As you know, the President ran on, you know, bringing, protecting communities obviously, but bringing people together, the soul, protecting the soul of the nation. And so that is something that the President takes very, very seriously. And you know, we're going to continue to denounce any sort of hate towards any American here. And so that's what we're going to continue to be steadfast on. Again, he has, he has advised, directed his Homeland Security team to make sure that they're on top of this.
- [23:00]
Ted Cruz
Now, Senator, the part about this that's so laughable is the White House press secretary has now come out and said, quote, she misheard the antisemitism question only because of the massive backlash from that answer.
- [23:16]
Ben Ferguson
Well, it really is striking that the White House press secretary is unwilling to stand up and clearly and unequivocally condemn anti Semitism. Say anti Semitism is wrong, it is evil. It is a unique evil that has existed on the face of this planet for thousands of years and we are completely opposed to it. Moreover, we will ensure that law enforcement resources are there to protect Jewish Americans I'll tell you, Jewish communities across this country have a level of concern and a level of fear unlike any time I've ever seen as the anti Semitism on college campuses. There was a Jewish student at Columbia who was beaten with a stick in recent days. The threats of violence on campuses because the anti Israel, the Jew hating far left is so extreme that there is a real threat of violence against the American Jewish community and for that matter, the Jewish community worldwide, in Europe and elsewhere. And I gotta say, her answer to that was striking in that the Babylon Bee, which does a fabulous job as a humor and satire site, they had an article that they hadn't published, but they tweeted it out today and they said, it's hard to stay ahead of reality at the Babylon Bee. We had this written up last night, only to wake up and see the White House doing exactly this before we had a chance to publish. And here was the fake satirical headline that they had written and they were getting ready to publish when Karine Jean Pierre beat him to the punch. The fake headline read, in strong response to rising hate crimes against Jews, Democrats denounce Islamophobia. That's exactly what she did. Yeah. And it's. And I tweeted out no longer satire, just sad because their view, Listen, when it comes to the anti Semitic bigots, when it comes to the squad, when it comes to the 35 student groups at Harvard and the radicals running our college campuses, the Biden White House and I would have to assume, including Karine Jean Pierre, side with the radicals against the people of Israel and against even American Jews. Their answer, they say, we've seen no credible threat of antisemitism in America. Really? Well, where the hell have you been if you haven't seen any? Because I got to tell you, the Jewish community is feeling it acutely. And we've seen multiple horrific acts of violence directed against Jews, directed against synagogues, including mass murders in the United States. And for the White House to say they see no credible threat is truly absurd.
- [25:52]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, I was talking literally today to a dear friend of mine who's Jewish, and that works very close to Times Square in a largely Jewish community. And he said they had been told by local law enforcement to really be on high alert and be careful and even had recommended they travel together in groups, not be isolated alone, and to be careful at their places of business. That is what he said to me today. And yet the White House is acting like none of that's happening at all.
- [26:21]
Ben Ferguson
It is sad. And today's Democrat Party is captive to the far left. And I will say I've had conversations with multiple people on the left who are not deeply political, who are shocked at the open antisemitism that is arising on the far left. It's been there for a long time, but if you're not paying close attention, it takes something like the events of the last couple of weeks to really bring it to stark relief. And I hope this is opening some eyes.
- [26:50]
Ted Cruz
We're going to keep covering it, we're going to keep breaking news on it, and we'll keep you updated on it each and every day that we do this show. We can promise you that. Don't forget, we publish a verdict Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays. We have a Saturday recap of some of the stories you may have missed during the week as well. So make sure you hit that follow button if you're listening on Apple or subscribe or auto download on other platforms. Depending on where you're listening to this show right now, please share it with your family and your friends on social media. Forward it. Hit that little forward button and you can get that to them easily that way. And don't forget, I will keep you updated on the breaking news on the in between days between verdicts. So grab my podcast as well, the Ben Ferguson Podcast on those in between days and the Senator and I will see you back here on Monday morning.