Zilch from Sec Serv on Assassination Attempts, Trump Campaign Hack Attack by Iran & Democrats Block IVF Week In Review

Summary

Summary of "Zilch from Sec Serv on Assassination Attempts, Trump Campaign Hack Attack by Iran & Democrats Block IVF Week In Review"

Episode Release Date: September 21, 2024
Podcast: The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Host: Ben Ferguson
Guests: Senator Ted Cruz, Katie Britt

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of The 47 Morning Update, host Ben Ferguson, alongside Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Katie Britt, delves into three pressing issues: the Secret Service's handling of assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump, the alleged Iranian hack of Trump’s campaign data, and the Democratic blockade of in vitro fertilization (IVF) legislation. The discussion is marked by sharp criticism of government agencies and Democratic strategies, highlighting concerns over national security, political interference, and legislative obstruction.

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1. Secret Service's Response to Assassination Attempts on Donald Trump

Overview:
Senator Ted Cruz scrutinizes the Secret Service's performance following two assassination attempts on former President Trump, questioning the agency's protection protocols and transparency.

Key Discussions:

• Testimony of Acting Director Rowe:
  Senator Cruz references the acting director's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, highlighting inconsistencies and alleged false statements regarding additional security requests for Trump.

  • Quote [03:24]: "Top Officials of the U.S. secret Service repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel sought by Donald Trump's security detail."

• Cruz's Cross-Examination:
  Cruz challenges Director Rowe on the accuracy of Secret Service statements and the approval process for security assets. He accuses the agency of covering up failures and lacking accountability.

  • Quote [05:09]: "Senator, I will commit to providing responses and getting you the information that you are seeking."

• Lack of Accountability:
  Ferguson emphasizes the Secret Service's failure to provide written responses to Cruz’s inquiries, suggesting a deliberate lack of transparency.

  • Quote [09:29]: "Nothing whatsoever. He provided absolutely nothing."

• Disparity in Protection Levels:
  The discussion points to an imbalance in the number of agents protecting Trump compared to current President Biden, insinuating political bias within the Secret Service.

  • Quote [09:30]: "Everyone understands right now that there are markedly fewer Secret Service agents protecting Donald Trump than are protecting Joe Biden."

Insights and Conclusions:

• The Secret Service is accused of prioritizing current administration protocols over former officials, raising questions about impartiality.
• The lack of detailed responses from the Secret Service fosters distrust and suggests potential political motivations behind security decisions.
• Cruz urges the Biden-Harris administration to assign a full presidential Secret Service detail to Trump, advocating for equal protection irrespective of political standing.

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2. Iranian Hack of Trump’s Campaign Data and Its Implications

Overview:
The conversation shifts to cybersecurity concerns, specifically the alleged Iranian hack of Trump’s campaign data and its purported use to benefit the Biden campaign and media outlets.

Key Discussions:

• Details of the Hack:
  The FBI’s announcement reveals that Iranian hackers not only stole information from Trump’s campaign but also sent it to individuals associated with Biden’s campaign and various media channels.

  • Quote [17:36]: "Iranian hackers have continued efforts to influence the 2024 presidential election with stolen information from former President Donald Trump's campaign being sent to individuals associated with President Joe Biden's campaign."

• Media Representation Critique:
  Cruz criticizes mainstream media outlets like CNN for downplaying the severity of the hack and labeling allegations as "conspiracy without evidence." He argues that media narratives are misleading and dismissive of factual breaches.

  • Quote [20:14]: "That is an utter lie."

• Unanswered Questions:
  The hosts question whether the Biden campaign utilized the hacked information, noting the lack of transparent investigation or reporting on potential misuse.

  • Quote [20:28]: "Did they use it? We don't have an answer to that."

• Political Ramifications:
  Cruz attributes the Iranian interference to a weakening Biden-Harris administration, suggesting that sanctions have emboldened Iran to meddle in U.S. elections to secure favorable outcomes.

  • Quote [22:05]: "Under Harris, Iran is extremely rich, extremely strong, and more emboldened than ever."

Insights and Conclusions:

• The alleged cyber intrusion by Iran underscores vulnerabilities in campaign cybersecurity and raises concerns about foreign influence in American elections.
• Media portrayal of the hack as baseless conspiracy fuels misinformation and detracts from addressing legitimate security threats.
• There is a pressing need for thorough investigations into the extent of data usage by the Biden campaign and potential breaches of electoral integrity.

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3. Democrats' Blockade of IVF Legislation

Overview:
Senators Cruz and Britt discuss the Democratic Party's obstruction of proposed IVF legislation, framing it as a politically motivated attack that misrepresents IVF as a radical abortion measure.

Key Discussions:

• Legislative Efforts to Protect IVF:
  Cruz and Britt collaborated to draft legislation aimed at safeguarding IVF across the United States, ensuring no state or local government can ban the procedure.

  • Quote [26:14]: "IVF is an incredible medical miracle. It has enabled millions of parents, moms and dads to have kids that couldn't otherwise have kids."

• Democratic Counterproposal:
  The Democrats introduced the Tammy Duckworth bill, which Cruz and Britt argue is a disguised abortion bill containing "poison pills" to undermine genuine IVF legislation.

  • Quote [27:39]: "The Tammy Duckworth, quote, IVF bill is not an IVF bill. It's a radical abortion bill."

• Obstruction Tactics:
  Despite unanimous Republican support, Democrats blocked the IVF bill by objecting during the legislative process, preventing its passage and leveraging it for political capital.

  • Quote [33:49]: "Not a single Republican is opposed to ivf. ... The Democrats blocked part of the reason the Democrats are willing to do that is they know the media will not cover what they're doing."

• Media Silence:
  The hosts highlight the media’s failure to report on the IVF protection efforts, instead focusing on the obstruction, which distorts public perception.

  • Quote [33:49]: "If you read any of the press coverage, the reporters all said the headlines today were Republicans block bill to protect ivf."

Insights and Conclusions:

• The Democratic strategy to conflate IVF with abortion legislation serves to polarize and manipulate public opinion, hindering bipartisan efforts to protect reproductive technologies.
• The obstruction of IVF legislation despite widespread support among Republicans showcases the depth of partisan divide and the use of legislative maneuvers for political gain.
• There is an urgent call for accountability and transparency in legislative processes to prevent political agendas from stifling essential medical protections.

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Closing Reflections

Ben Ferguson and Senator Ted Cruz emphasize the importance of vigilance in governmental accountability, media integrity, and bipartisan cooperation to safeguard national interests and civil liberties. The episode underscores a critical examination of the Secret Service's impartiality, the necessity for robust cybersecurity measures against foreign interference, and the perils of politicizing essential medical advancements like IVF.

Listeners are encouraged to engage with these issues thoughtfully, recognizing the underlying political dynamics that shape legislative and security landscapes in the United States.

Transcript

[Ted Cruz]

Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you as always. And these were some big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week. First up, Senator Cruz questioned the acting director of the Secret Service about the lack of protection for Donald Trump after the first assassination attempt. Well, his answers are even more shocking after the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump. We're going to break that down for you. Also, Donald Trump had his campaign hacked by Iran. What did they do with the hacked information? They gave it to the Biden Harris campaign and also members of the media. Now they say, well, don't blame us, we didn't write them back. But did they use the information that was hacked? We'll describe those details in a moment as well. And finally, Democrats come out showing their true colors in a disgusting move this week blocking IVF legislation that was brought by Senator Cruz. It's the weekend review and it starts right now.

[Ben Ferguson]

The acting director of the Secret Service testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I questioned him. And you know, what's striking is just about every single question I asked him two months ago remains entirely salient today, and even more so now that this has happened twice. So, so I want to go back and let's listen again to that cross examination. This is the acting director of the Secret Service shortly after the first assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

[Senator Cruz]

Mr. Rowe, thank you for being here. I agree with what you said at the outset that the individual Secret Service agents demonstrated remarkable personal courage, putting their bodies in between the line of sight of the shooter and the president. That being said, the bravery of the line agents is quite different from the decisions of Secret Service leadership. Secret Service leadership committed catastrophic security failures, indeed the worst security failures for the Secret Service since 1981, since the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. It is incumbent upon this committee to determine why those security failures happened just after the shooting. Secret Service put out an official statement from your spokesperson that says there's an untrue assertion that a member of the former president's team requested additional security resources, that those were rebuffed. This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources and technology and capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel. Tempo.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Was this tweet accurate with respect to Butler, Pennsylvania? It is accurate, sir.

[Senator Cruz]

It is accurate that the Trump team had not asked for additional security and had not been rebuffed.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

If you're talking about Butler, Pennsylvania, all assets requested were approved. If you're talking about the media reporting of assets requested, there were times when assets were unavailable and not able to be filled. And those gaps were staffed with state and local law enforcement tactical assets.

[Senator Cruz]

So I'm reading from The Washington Post, July 20, 2024. Secret Service said to have denied requests for more security at Trump events. The opening paragraph. Top Officials of the U.S. secret Service repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel sought by Donald Trump's security detail.

[Ben Ferguson]

In the two years leading up to.

[Senator Cruz]

His attempted assassination, according to four people familiar with the requests. Is that right? That repeatedly the Trump detail asked for more resources and repeatedly Secret Service leadership turned that down?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

That is not accurate, Senator. Assets are requested. There's a process that is made.

[Senator Cruz]

How many requests did the Trump team or the Trump detail ask for?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

I can get you that number in a queue.

[Senator Cruz]

You don't, you don't know now.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

So I can speak to the ones that reported in the Washington Post and we can go through them if you like, like.

[Senator Cruz]

But you don't know how many, how.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Many requests there were in general? How many requests since 2021 that the former Trump detail has made a request for asking.

[Senator Cruz]

You've had two weeks. You had a spokesperson put something out that is false on its face. By the way, did you approve this statement when it went out?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

I don't know if I did or didn't.

[Senator Cruz]

Has this spokesperson, is he still employed? Does he still have a job? So he lied on behalf of the Secret Service. He still has a job. Did your predecessor, the former director, does she approve the statement?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Senator, our comms team, they send out statements. They do deconflict them, and they put them out.

[Senator Cruz]

Did she approve this statement?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

I don't know if she did or did not.

[Senator Cruz]

And you don't know if you did either?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

I don't recall approving it.

[Senator Cruz]

Senator, will you commit to provide this committee in writing every written request for additional resources from the Trump campaign or the Trump detail and every response from Secret Service?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Senator, I will commit to providing responses and getting you the information that you are seeking.

[Senator Cruz]

May I ask you something? And. And who makes the decision to those requests? Did you make that decision?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Which request are you talking about? The ones that written the post?

[Senator Cruz]

Yes.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

The process, sir, is that a detail will make a request for either staffing, technical assets. That is handled between the field office and the detail. It goes up to a logistics office between.

[Senator Cruz]

Okay, so there's a bureaucracy. Is there a decision maker?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

It's not a bureaucracy, Senator.

[Senator Cruz]

Give me the person that's a decision maker. Is there one?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Senator, it's a conversation. It's not just an absolute yay or no.

[Senator Cruz]

So let Me tell you what I believe. I believe that the Secret Service leadership made a political decision to deny these requests. And I think the Biden administration has been suffused with partisan politics. Did the same person who denied the request for additional security to President Trump also repeatedly deny the request for security to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Whose father was murdered by an assassin and whose uncle was murdered by an assassin? Did the same person make that decision?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Senator, what I will tell you is that Secret Service agents are not political.

[Senator Cruz]

Okay, you're not answering my. But you know what leadership appointed by the President. Leadership appointed by the president is political. I have a simple question. Yes or no. Did the same person deny the Trump request that also denied the RFK request? That's a yes or no question, Senator.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

That is not a yes or no question. One, there is a process for a candidate nominee to receive protection.

[Senator Cruz]

Is there.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

A bicameral bipartisan process that.

[Senator Cruz]

The Hill Bicameral bipartisan process. What can.

[Ben Ferguson]

Have a cameral.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Mr. Kennedy submitted a request request that was referred over to the cpac.

[Senator Cruz]

Okay, you're refusing to answer the question. Let me ask because the failures on that day were catastrophic. By the way, is it true that on the day of the of the Butler event that Secret Service transferred agent from President Trump to the First Lady?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

No, sir, that's not true.

[Senator Cruz]

That's been widely reported.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

It's not true. There was one airport agent that actually went on the manpower request for the Trump detail. They handled the arrival at the airport.

[Senator Cruz]

What is the relative. What was the relative size of the Trump detail compared to the detail that is assigned assigned to the President of the First Lady?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Senator, the former president travels with a full shift just like the President.

[Senator Cruz]

What's the. So the exact same size. Is that your testimony that President Trump had the same size detail that President.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Biden has on the day of in Butler? The agents surrounding him. It is the same number of agents surrounding the president today. There is a difference between a sitting president who also not only.

[Senator Cruz]

Hold on. You're using president in a way that is not clear. Is it your testimony that in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump had the same number of agents protecting him that Joe Biden has at a comparable event?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

I'm telling you the shift, the close protection shift surrounding that. Yes, you asked me, Senator, and I'm trying to answer it.

[Senator Cruz]

You are not answering it. Is it the same number of agents or not?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Senator, there is a difference between the sitting President of the United States and what's the difference? The difference 2x3x5 National Command Authority to launch a nuclear strike.

[Senator Cruz]

I'm not ass. How many more travel with the President? That former president will refusing to.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

But the number of Secret Service agents.

[Senator Cruz]

Stop interrupting me.

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Go ahead.

[Senator Cruz]

You are refusing to answer clear and direct questions. I am asking the relative difference in the number of agents between those assigned to Donald Trump and those assigned to Joe Biden. I'm not asking why you assign more to Joe Biden. I'm asking is the Difference, is it 2x? Is it 3x? Is it 5x? Is it 10x?

[Acting Director of the Secret Service]

Senator, I will get you that number so you can see it with your own eyes.

[Ted Cruz]

It's sad, Senator, but this seems now more relevant than it was after the first assassination attempt. The lack of answers. And by the way, you asked these questions on 7:30 if I'm not mistaken. So did you ever actually get the answers to all the questions where he said, I will get that for you?

[Ben Ferguson]

Nothing.

Nothing whatsoever.

He provided absolutely nothing. I asked the Secret Service in writing. They have not responded to my questions in writing. I assume they'll do it sometime within the next century. But when he said in that hearing, I will get that information to you. We are sitting here in mid September and he has still not gotten it. And it is a sense of a complete lack of accountability. Now look, what they're doing right now is a massive cya. They're trying to cover their own rear ends. But the problem is with the senior decision making and I believe the partisan politics that has been infused into the senior decision making. That is why I want to reiterate my call today. The Biden Harris administration should announce that they are assigning a full presidential Secret Service detail to Donald J. Trump. And by the way, let me be clear on a little sleight of hand that the acting director tried to try to pull in that hearing. When I asked, are the same number of agents assigned or what was the relative number of agents? He said, oh, the same number of agents are in the close protective shift. And he was trying to be really clever there. I think he thought he was clever. So the close protective shift are the agents that are assigned immediately on the body of the protectee. So I assume he was accurate, that both Biden and Trump, the immediate circle around him is the same number of agents. What is different is the way the Secret Service works is in concentric circles, perimeters of protection. So there's a close detail of a number of agents around the protectee, but then with a full presidential protection, there's an intermediate perimeter that they locked down. And there's a broader perimeter. The broader perimeter presumably would have caught this sniper on the golf course who was trying to assassinate President Trump. And so the acting director was trying to be cute by saying, well, the immediate shift, the close protective details identical. And look, everyone understands right now that there are markedly fewer Secret Service agents protecting Donald Trump than are protecting Joe Biden. Which is amazing, because as best I can tell, all Joe Biden does is sleep on the beach in Delaware. But nonetheless, we still don't know. And, you know, Ben, there was a reason I did not ask at that hearing. I didn't ask the acting director how many agents were assigned to Trump. And the reason I didn't ask that, and I didn't ask how many are assigned to Biden. And the reason I didn't is he would have reasonably declined to answer that, that. That giving that information could compromise the security of the protectee. So I can tell you in my written questions, I have asked that specific question, how many agents? Give me the number. And I said, that answer can be given as law enforcement, confidential, so that it will not be made public, because that shouldn't be made public. There's some details about security that. That should not be in the public domain. That's why I asked the question I did give me the relative order of magnitude. Is it twice as Many? Is it 3x? Is it 5x? Is it 10x? And he adamantly refused to answer that question. And to this day, he has not answered that question.

[Ted Cruz]

Senator, finally, I want to just talk about the media coverage of this second assassination attempt. And I can't even believe that it's gotten to this point. In fact, let's just look over the last, like, three days. This morning on Jen Psaki show on msnbc, you had a congresswoman that said, quote, trump is the guy that stokes domestic terrorism. The problem isn't the people coming in, but this guy. You then add MSNBC's Alex Witt argue, quote, the Trump campaign needs to turn down the rhetoric now that Donald Trump has been shot at for the second time in three months, blaming Donald Trump for this. Uh, there's another example, and that's not enough for you. You also had people on TV referring to Donald Trump and implying that he was, you know, basically kind of like Hitler. And so this MSNBC guest said, quote, donald Trump is exactly like Hitler. Let's just quote it like it's supposed to be quoted. This is the rhetoric that's on TV right now. And they even said today, well, maybe Donald Trump needs to stop playing golf outside For a while, somehow implying what's his fault. He's exposing himself to assassins.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, we are, unfortunately, in a horribly divided time. But I do think that personal rhetoric, the demonization of the left by the left of Donald Trump has reached a.

Level that we'd never seen before.

And I think that kind of vicious rhetoric, it bears fruit. People listen to the rhetoric.

When they hear people.

People describe him as another Hitler, unfortunately, it increases the chances that some lunatic is going to act on that. And listen, I want to close this podcast the way we opened, by giving thanks to God, giving thanks that God protected Donald Trump. I talked with you in Milwaukee and at the. At the Republican Convention, how I visited with Trump. Right. Right after the shooting in Butler.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

And he said to me there, very quietly, and he just said, God saved me for a reason. And there was a quiet introspection about it that I would say is not typical of how President Trump behaves. And I think for the second time in just over two months, President Trump has been protected. I am grateful for that protection. I'm grateful for him. But I'm also grateful for the country. To have a presidential election decided by an assassin, decided by murder is the ultimate affront to democracy. It is an attack at the very essence of our Constitution and the rule of law and the sovereignty of we the people to choose our leaders. And so, you know, today I'm just. I'm grateful for God's protection on President Trump. And let me be clear, I'm grateful for God's protection on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and on our leaders in both parties. You and I are both Christians, and the Bible commands us to pray for our leaders. And so I pray for our leaders, even. Even if I disagree with them strongly. I'm grateful for that protection, and I'm grateful for God's protection over our nation. This is a time, especially when. When. When we need to be one nation under God.

[Ted Cruz]

Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week. Now, on to story number two. Finally, I want to move to another story, and it deals with the Trump campaign and the Iranian hack of the Trump campaign. We already knew that the Iranians had hacked the Trump campaign and stole a variety of materials. But now the FBI has announced that the Iranian hackers stole information from the Trump campaign and sent it to people with Joe Biden's campaign. We also know that they also sent the information to journalists and the alibis of what people did with this Information are hysterical. This from CNN covering their AWS's.

[CNN Reporter]

Listen, there's new information into CNN on foreign efforts to interfere, to try to interfere with the US Election. Federal law enforcement officials now say Iranian hackers not only stole information from Donald Trump's presidential campaign over the summer, but also now adding that they sent it unsolicited to people associated with the Biden campaign. Law enforcement saying there's no indication the Biden team ever did anything with the information. That detail, though, did not stop Donald Trump from leaning on conspiracy without evidence.

[Ted Cruz]

It's amazing, right? Well, we didn't, we didn't respond to Iran, so we're good. We didn't share the information. Well, if you read it, you know what it said. It's gonna, you're gonna be able to use it. This is such an amazing word salad of like, hey, we'll say we didn't respond. Well, anyone that gets us out of sin would know not to respond to Iran. And by the way, they would know not to forward it to anybody else. Doesn't mean that you didn't take the material and use it to your advantage.

[Ben Ferguson]

And look at how CNN ended that little segment where they attack Trump for they say, pointing to conspiracy without evidence. Now, now that's, there's a technical word for that. That's called a lie. Here's the evidence. This was released from the federal government. As we know, the Iranians hacked Donald Trump. That's, there's evidence of that. That is a fact. There's hard evidence of that. We know the Iranians then took the stolen materials and forwarded it to the Biden campaign. There's hard evidence of that. And yet what does CNN say? It's conspiracy without evidence. That is an utter lie. Let me read from abc. Quote, the FBI and other US Intelligence agencies released findings that the Iranian hackers have continued efforts to influence the 2024 presidential election with stolen information from former President Donald Trump's campaign being sent to individuals associated with President Joe Biden's campaign before he left the race. Quote, Iranian malicious cyber actors in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden's campaign that contained an excerpt from stolen non public material from former President Trump's campaign as text in the emails. U.S. intelligence agency said in a statement Wednesday, quote, there is currently no information indicating those recipients replied. So that's their attempt to defend the Biden administration. They didn't reply. You know what they haven't said? Did the Biden administration, did the Biden campaign read the emails. Did they learn anything that was politically.

[Katie Britt]

Useful in the emails?

[Ben Ferguson]

Did they call up their friends in the media and leak the information that was in the emails to their friends in the media? Did the media then publish the information in the emails to. Mind you, they didn't forward it and they didn't reply because they're not complete blithering idiots.

[Katie Britt]

But did they read it?

[Ben Ferguson]

Did they use it? We don't have an answer to that. And I'm not aware of any reporters asking that question. They're just saying, well, they didn't reply. So it's, so it's all good. Look, Caroline Levitt, who's the Trump campaign's press secretary, here's what she said. Quote, common Biden must come clean on whether they used the hacked materials given to them by the Iranians to hurt President Trump. What did they know and when did they know it? That is a very good question. Is there any journalist in the country willing to ask it? If there is, I haven't seen it. But this would be a good opportunity for someone to actually pretend to be a real journalist.

[Ted Cruz]

I want to ask you one final question about this, and that is, look, when Trump was in office there, there was maximum pressure put on Iran. Sanctions that made Iran weak and poor, which meant they were not able to sponsor near as much terrorist activities they are now. And under Harris, Iran is extremely rich, extremely strong, and more emboldened than ever. That's why they're trying to influence the outcome of this election, because they want a comma Harris administration so they can do whatever the hell they want to do in the Middle east and honestly around the world. I mean, Biden and Harris's peace meant campaign with them and their proxy has given them tens of billions of dollars. And even the sanctions that we have on them, apparently we're not enforcing them. And this is the appeasement towards Iran has happened, even among the attacks that resulted in the deaths of US Service members.

[Ben Ferguson]

Look, of course, you know, as you know, I've said many times about this election, the classic question in any election is, are you better off now than you were four years ago? And I've said tongue in cheek, unless you're a Mexican drug lord, the answer is no. By the way, if you're a Mexican drug lord, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have given you billions of dollars. And frankly, you ought to vote for Kamala Harris. She's been great. Well, I now need to amend that and say, unless you're a Mexican drug lord or unless you're the Ayatollah Khamenei. Because actually, Kamala Harris has given even more money to Iran's ayatollah than she's given to the Mexican drug lords. The Mexican drug lords made roughly $13 billion from human trafficking, courtesy of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and congressional Democrats. In the last four years, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have flowed over $100 billion to the Ayatollah and to the mullahs in Iran, even while Iran's the leading state sponsor of terrorism. Even while Iran provides 90% of the funding to Hamas and 90% of the funding to Hezbollah. $100 billion. No wonder the Iranian government is hacking Trump's campaign and giving it to the Biden campaign. They're trying to give a campaign contribution. And if someone gives you $100 billion, you would be motivated to do a campaign contribution. But you know what? The American people have a right to be deeply upset about that.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah, the media. The question they should ask is this. What did Kamala know? It's an old question. And when did she know it? Don't worry, they won't ask her that question.

[Ben Ferguson]

Ben, not just what did Kamala know? What did her campaign know? Who received the email, who read it? Who did they show it to? Who else read it? Who did they give it to? Did they leak any of the information? Did they use any of the information? Don't give Kamala a bailout of oh, no, no. We kept her in the dark. She had plausible deniability. If her apparatchiks used it, she's responsible as well. So it's not just her, it's or the members of her campaign or the Biden campaign.

[Ted Cruz]

As before. If you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing. I want to get back to the big story number three of the week. You may have missed center. There's another really important story, and it's not getting as much press as it should. And that's why I think many people actually listen to the show, because they get info like this. You may remember, if you go backwards, there was a big fake controversy by virtually every Democratic operative, the people running for office, congressmen, senators on the left, and it was over ivf. Conservatives have been in favor of IVF and protecting IVF for I, I, I mean, as long as I can remember, my kids are in vitro fertilization kids. Without it, I probably wouldn't have kids. And I'M so thankful for the technology. And so when this controversy happened in Alabama, you teamed up with Katie Britt to say, okay, we're going to put our money where our mouth is and make sure that we protect ivf. And there was an opportunity to do that in Congress, and the Democrats stopped it. Why?

[Katie Britt]

So, look, this story is incredibly revealing of everything that's wrong with Washington and how corrupt a lot of politics is. Let's start with ivf. You and I both strongly and unequivocally support in vitro fertilization. I think IVF is an incredible medical miracle. It has enabled millions of parents, moms and dads to have kids that couldn't otherwise have kids. 2% of all live births in America come from IVF. There are over 8 million children born via IVF, including your kids. Yeah, look, that is an amazing. A very close staffer of mine who is with me most days, we were talking about this issue as I was fighting to defend ivf. And he told me, much to my surprise, he said, you know what? I was born via ivf. I'm an IVF kid.

[Ted Cruz]

Wow.

[Katie Britt]

Like, that's amazing. And I think IVF is extraordinary. Now, following a decision of the Alabama Supreme Court concerning ivf, there was enormous uncertainty, there was enormous fear, and enormous concern that IVF would be in jeopardy. To be clear, in Alabama, when that concern was raised, the state legislature acted incredibly quickly to pass legislation making clear that IVF would be protected in Alabama. So, as a real practical matter, I believe there is zero threat to IVF in America.

[Ben Ferguson]

Why?

[Katie Britt]

Well, let's take the US Senate. In the US Senate, there are a hundred senators. To the best of my knowledge, all 100 senators support IVF. I do not know of a single senator in either party who opposes ivf, but yet there was genuine concern, there was confusion, there was. That IVF might be in jeopardy. And this is where Democrats and the corporate media had an intense political interest to flame that fear and to encourage that confusion. And so as that was happening, I saw that. I was dismayed. And I will tell you so when the Senate's in session, Republican senators, we have lunch every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday together. So all the Republican senators together.

[Senator Cruz]

And.

[Katie Britt]

And Katie Britt, the senator from Alabama, has become a good friend. She's been a guest on this podcast. She stood up at one lunch, and she gave an impassioned speech to the other Republican senators about how important IVF was and how she was hearing from women and men, although mostly women, but parents, and would be parents across Alabama who were incredibly concerned IVF was in jeopardy. And she said, we've got to protect, protect that. I listened to what she said, and so I went to her and approached her and said, listen, you support ivf, I support ivf. Let's draft legislation that puts a clear, unequivocal protection into federal statutory law to make clear that no state and no local government can ban ivf. Let's find common ground. She agreed. I drafted the legislation. We did it together, we filed it. Now the Democrats want a fear monger on ivf. So there's a different bill that they call an IVF bill that is introduced by Tammy Duckworth, the very liberal Democrat from Illinois. The Tammy Duckworth, quote, IVF bill is not an IVF bill. It's a radical abortion bill. It would give the Secretary of HHS Health and Human Services broad authority to, under that bill, protect abortion in a vast variety of circumstances. Also, the Duckworth bill explicitly overturns the protections of religious liberty under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. I support ivf, but I certainly don't want to force a physician to participate in IVF if it's against their religious faith. It's not against my religious faith, but if it's against theirs, I respect everyone's religious liberty to decide, okay, I don't want to personally participate in it. And yet the Democrats, they do want to force someone to. To potentially violate their own religious faith to participate in something that they have moral concerns about. And so yesterday, Chuck Schumer teed up a vote, it's the second time in a couple of months on the Tammy Duckworth bill. Now, the reason he teed up the vote is because he knew it would fail. And it was written in such a way as to be filled with poison pills as to force any Republican with principles who believes in life to vote against it. Because this would empower a Joe Biden or Kamala Harris administration to go after laws protecting unborn children in states across this country. This was an abortion bill. It was not an IVF bill. And it was again designed to trample religious liberty. So yesterday on the Senate floor, I went to the Senate floor along with Katie Britton. We tried to pass our IVF bill. And I stood up and gave a speech in support of it. Katie Britt stood up and gave a speech in support of it. And I asked for unanimous consent to pass our bill. And what happened? The Democrats stood up and objected. They said, no, we will not allow this to pass. And we had a debate back and forth. And I want to encourage you, if you care about this issue, Go listen to the debate, listen to my speech, listen to Katie Britt's speech, and then listen to Patty Murray, the Democrat from Washington state who objected because the entire point of what the Democrats were doing was a purely political exercise. If they actually wanted to protect ivf, all they had to do was very simple, not say two words, not say the words. I object. If they had not said those two words today, the Senate would have unanimously passed my legislation protecting ivf. But from the Democrats perspective, that would have been a catastrophic disaster because if we actually pass a strong statutory protection for ivf, then they can't run millions of dollars of campaign ads scaring voters into saying the mean Republicans want to take away ivf. So they objected to Katie Brits in my legislation because they don't want to protect ivf. And a point that I made in the debate. I said, listen, the Democrat bill was drafted deliberately with poison pills, their objective. They wanted to Republicans to vote no because they don't actually want to pass their bill. What they want to do is force Republicans to vote no so they can run ads saying, oh, Republicans are opposed to ivf. That is a lie. Not a single Republican is opposed to ivf. A couple of months ago when we had this debate, one of the people who joined Katie and me on the Senate floor was Roger Marshall. Roger Marshall, Republican senator from Kansas, is a physician. He's an OB GYN who has delivered thousands of babies, and he actually has performed IVF procedures for hundreds of parents. He literally was an IVF doctor. And yet the Democrats talking point is an IVF doctor is opposed to ivf. It's absurd. So understand, they drafted their bill with poison pills because their objective was to make Republicans vote against it. And all but two of us did. My bill and Katie's bill has no poison pills in it. Every Democrat agrees with every word of our bill. There's not a word in it that they disagree with. Their problem is if it passes, the issue they want to run against goes away and they don't want the issue to go away. And so sadly, they objected. And I got to tell you, this is an example of where the corrupt corporate media matters. When I was giving my speech, when Katie was giving her speech, there were no reporters in the gallery. If you read any of the press coverage, the reporters all said the headlines today were Republicans block bill to protect ivf. And you know what? The corporate media, virtually none of them covered the fact that we had a bill to protect ivf. The Democrats blocked part of the reason the Democrats are willing to do that is they know the media will not cover what they're doing.

[Ted Cruz]

As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download my podcast. And you can listen to my podcast every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson Podcast. And we will see you back here on Monday morning.