Hour 3 - Terror Cell Activations in the U.S.?

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 3 – Terror Cell Activations in the U.S.?
Date: March 12, 2026
Host: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on escalating concerns about potential terror cell activations in the U.S., with a specific focus on a series of recent violent incidents that may be connected to Islamic jihadist activity. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton analyze the latest reports from Michigan, Virginia, Texas, and New York, expressing worry over what they see as a pattern of terrorist actions. The hour also features interviews with Senator Eric Schmidt (Missouri) and Senator John Cornyn (Texas), covering legislative initiatives, the SAVE Act, Senate filibuster rules, the status of Homeland Security funding, and the implications of ongoing political primary races.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Legislative Update: SAVE Act & Senate Filibuster

Guest: Senator Eric Schmidt (Missouri)
(03:33 – 14:59)

• SAVE Act status and filibuster strategy

  • The SAVE Act, which mandates proof of U.S. citizenship to vote and seeks to address concerns including mail-in ballot security, transgender surgery for minors, and men in women's sports, is expected to reach the Senate floor soon.
  • Schmidt endorses the return to a “talking filibuster” to force opponents to physically hold the floor and defend their positions, specifically pressing Democrats to "own" their opposition.
  • Notable point: Republicans must maintain a quorum throughout to prevent Democrats from stalling via technical procedures.

  “The Democrats should have to own this and earn it if they want to block the idea that you have to be a US Citizen to vote.” — Senator Eric Schmidt (04:12)

• Blocking Homeland Security funding

  • Democrats are accused of blocking short-term funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including TSA, Coast Guard, and ICE, over disagreements about immigration enforcement.
  • Schmidt charges that Democrats’ actions are driven by animus toward Trump and ideological opposition to immigration enforcement.

  “They don't care that American mothers and daughters are being raped and murdered by illegal immigrants... But they're defunding Homeland Security. That's what their position is.” — Senator Eric Schmidt (07:04)

• Current events and violence

  • Recent shootings and attempted attacks across Michigan, Texas, and New York are cited as evidence of deteriorating security and the need for robust DHS funding.
  • Schmidt describes the current political environment as “stupid, but not complicated” (09:16), blaming Democratic obstruction.

• College sports reform

  • Schmidt details a bipartisan bill to help reorganize college athletics, addressing chaos surrounding payment, media rights, and antitrust exemptions.

  “If we fix it...I think it changes things for the next 50 years. Will be great for fans.”— Senator Eric Schmidt (13:57)

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2. Breaking News: String of Violent Attacks

Hosts Clay Travis & Buck Sexton
(20:20 – 26:44; 43:11 – 46:33)

• Old Dominion University shooting, synagogue attack in Michigan, Austin (TX) shooting, NY's attempted IED

  • The hosts connect the dots between multiple violent incidents across the U.S., suggesting an “activation” of jihadist sleeper cells.
  • Buck laments the lack of immediate transparency about the attackers’ identities—arguing, “The longer there are no details about the person who did the shooting, the more likely it is it's someone the media doesn't want to focus on as a terrorist shooter.” (20:20)

  “Indicators are pointing toward these are exactly the kind of lone wolf sleeper cell, whatever you want to call them, Islamic Jihad attacks in this country that people have been concerned about.” — Buck Sexton (20:20)

• Urgency and public vigilance

  • Both hosts advocate hyper-vigilance and increased awareness for listeners, arguing these attacks could signal a coordinated effort.

  “I think you need to be hyper vigilant—aware of danger in a way that maybe typically you’re not.”— Clay Travis (23:18)

• Breaking name release and confirmation

  • Buck cites law enforcement sources indicating the Old Dominion shooter’s name is “Muhammad Jalal,” reinforcing their terrorism concerns (23:53).

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3. Live Developments: Michigan Synagogue Attack

(43:11 – 46:33)

• Attack recap & response

  • The attacker rammed a vehicle full of explosives into a Detroit-area synagogue and engaged in a shootout with armed security.
  • Only the attacker was killed; the lead security officer was injured by the vehicle but is expected to recover.
  • The building had conducted an FBI active shooter drill just months prior.
  • The attack is described as a “vehicle-borne improvised explosive device” (VBIED) scenario, apparently thwarted by the on-site response and faulty explosives.

  “This is the best possible outcome based on those early reports...bad guy killed, everybody else going to be fine. Thank God.” — Buck Sexton (44:54)

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4. Interview: Senator John Cornyn (Texas)

(27:12 – 38:54)

• Primary runoff and Trump endorsement

  • Cornyn is running against Ken Paxton, with Trump’s endorsement seen as a critical factor but not yet given.

  “I told the President that I thought his endorsement would be very impactful and I would be delighted if he chooses to endorse me.” — Senator John Cornyn (27:52)

• Filibuster views and SAVE Act

  • Cornyn describes an “evolution” in his stance on the filibuster due to the heightened partisanship, expressing openness to talking filibuster for the SAVE Act.
  • He frames the issue as practical politics, noting Democrats would remove filibusters if roles were reversed.

• General election and down-ballot impact

  • Cornyn claims he is better positioned than Paxton to hold the seat and buoy party turnout.
  • Pledges to support the GOP ticket regardless of runoff outcome (33:29).

• Effectiveness and MAGA credentials

  • Defends his conservative record, highlighting 99.3% votes with Trump and specific achievements (Supreme Court confirmations, border security funding).
  • Addresses criticism and misperceptions about his record, clarifying a (positive) vote for Pete Hegseth for DoD Secretary.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Senator Eric Schmidt on filibuster:

  “The Senate’s got kind of lazy with the way we do it now...this is about holding the floor, voting on amendments, for a period of time.” (05:27)

• Clay Travis on terror threat:

  “This is all in the last 10 or 12 days that it appears we’ve had four different would be terror attacks… stay poised, stay smart and be vigilant.” (46:08)

• Buck Sexton, summing up the incident at the synagogue:

  “People should be able to gather freely in this country to worship without that kind of fear.” (45:36)

• Senator John Cornyn on his temperament:

  “I’m conservative. I’m just not mad about it.” (34:45)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:33 – Start of Senator Eric Schmidt interview (SAVE Act, filibuster, DHS funding)
• 10:15 – Schmidt on Iran conflict and college sports bill
• 20:20 – Breaking news analysis—multiple violent attacks and terrorism concerns
• 23:53 – Buck reveals shooter’s name at Old Dominion University
• 27:12 – Start of Senator John Cornyn interview (runoff, Trump endorsement, filibuster changes)
• 43:11 – Clay recaps latest on Detroit synagogue attack
• 44:54 – Buck summarizes positive outcome of synagogue attack
• 46:08 – Both hosts reiterate the call for vigilance following recent terror incidents

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Tone & Style

The discussion blends serious urgency regarding public safety and national security with the show’s trademark snappy, conversational back-and-forth. Both hosts emphasize vigilance and political accountability. The interviews are direct, probing both legislative substance and political strategy.

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Summary

This hour is a high-alert, fast-moving breakdown of what Clay Travis and Buck Sexton call a “new wave” of domestic terror attacks, contextualized in real-time with late-breaking news from multiple American cities. Through interviews with two high-profile senators, the hosts examine legislative attempts to secure elections and address immigration enforcement while connecting these policy battles to the threat landscape illustrated by recent violence. The show closes with pointed advice to listeners—stay vigilant, informed, and engaged in the political process.

Transcript

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[Buck Sexton]

Third hour of play in book gets going. Right now we're joined by Senator Eric Schmidt of Missouri. Now Senator, thanks for stopping by.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Good to be with you.

[Buck Sexton]

Let's start with the Save Axer. We have so many people who are paying close attention to this, a lot of listeners all across America who are saying this seems like a must. This seems so straightforward, so necessary as a law. And of course Democrats oppose it. Is there any realistic path forward for this? What is the best outcome as you see it, for the SAVE Act? That's realistic. What do you want to happen?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Well, we need to get on it and the hope is that next week we will actually be on the Senate floor with the SAVE Act. I think that'd be and by the way, spend some time on it. And I'm a supporter of this talking filibuster idea. I think that's what people think happens in Washington, in the United States Senate. They think of Jimmy Stewart holding the floor and the Senate. The old line is it operates by unanimous consent or exhaustion. And I think the Democrats should have to own this and earn it if they want to block the idea that you have to be a US Citizen to vote. You have to show an ID to vote that we're not going to allow mass mail in balloting scams. We're not going to allow transgender surgery for minors and we shouldn't allow boys and women's sports, men and women's sports. That's what this will do. And those are common sense proposals. They're 80, 20 issues. They might be higher than that. And I think it's really important, most importantly for protecting the election security and regaining the trust of the American people. So my hope is that we, we're on it. We stay on it.

[Clay Travis]

So if we go to the talking filibuster, there have been all sorts of different reports that I have read about what that actually looks like, what that means, what do you anticipate a talking filibuster would look like? And how does it end, how does it progress?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

So you got to get on the bill. And if we take the House bill and forgive me if I get in the weeds, but since you asked the question. So yeah, the House bill, It only requires 51 votes to get on it. Right. So we can take the House bill that's been passed and then it is before the Senate, and then at that point, amendments are in order. You know, I'm working closely with the White House on this, Senator Lee. Amendments would be in order. So that version that came over has two provisions. It doesn't have the mail in piece. It doesn't have the transgender piece. It doesn't have the men and women's sports piece. So we would be able to amend it. And then at that point, and that's a majority vote when you're on amendments, then at that point we need to get to a final vote. And the one way you can get to the final vote is that you just run out of Democrats that want to hold the floor for hours and hours. Now, the commitment from the Republican side is that we need to make sure we hold a quorum for the whole time that this happens. Meaning if a Democrat says, hey, I note the absence of a quorum, meaning there's not enough people in the chamber. There have to be 51 Republicans that are there to maintain the quorum. So this is something that used to happen. I think the Senate's got kind of lazy with the way we do it now, where you just come in and you clock in a vote and it takes to gets you to 60. So this is about holding the floor, voting on amendments for a period of time. That's how it would play out.

[Buck Sexton]

Now, speaking of the floor, I believe you've been on the Senate floor asking for unanimous consent to fund rather the Department of Homeland Security for the next two weeks. Where does that stand? I assume Democrats are either have blocked it or are going to block it?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, they blocked it. So basically, the Democrats are blocking funding for Homeland Security. You know, so the irony here Is they left 15 million people in this country. Some of them are terrorists, many are murderers and even more violent criminals. But they're defunding Homeland Security. That's what their position is. So they're blocking our efforts to fund it because they're having a temper tantrum about ice. What it's really about, guys, is they don't actually think we should enforce our immigration laws. They don't like the result in 2024. They don't care that American mothers and daughters are being raped and murdered by illegal immigrants. And ICE has a job to do. We've set out what their job is in our laws that have been passed by Republicans and Democrats and enforced, by the way, by Republicans and Democrats in previous administrations. But what we saw with Joe Biden was unprecedented. He threw open the border. Millions of people are here. President Trump ran on deporting those folks, and here we're at where we're at. They don't like the results, so they just wanted to fund ice. That's what this comes down to. So in the crosshairs that in the mix there in that DH funding bill is tsa, the Coast Guard, all these agencies that outside of ICE and the Democrats are blocking funding because of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, let's. You're breaking down everything going on in. In that context, we're hearing about hours and hours that everybody's having to stand in line. And at some point, especially with it being spring break week, people just look around and they're angry. You may not be paying attention to what's funded and what's not. We've got an alleged shooting that you may or may not have seen that took place in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Reports are that the shooter is believed to be dead. We know what happened in Austin, Texas, where unfortunately, a couple of people were murdered by what appears to have been a deranged lunatic. And we know in New York City there were just a couple of IEDs thrown that fortunately did not go off, but could have killed many people. Isn't it absolutely beyond the pale absurd that we would be in a situation where I think the number right now is 300? Some odd TSA agents have just said, hey, I've got to quit. I've got to find a new job, or I've got to make money right now that Democrats would be refusing to fund these individuals.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

It's crazy. I mean, it's so stupid, Clay. I don't. I mean, I've seen a lot of stuff in politics. I've seen a lot of arguments. It's just so dumb. But they're obsessed. First of all, they hate President Trump. And that manifests itself in many different ways. But they thought they had some moment, I think, in Minneapolis, that they were gonna be able to ultimately prevent law enforcement from doing their jobs by overloading them with burdens that they can't. You know, we can talk about what those are, but basically it would render ICE unable to deport people. That's what they want. And so they're willing to hold all of this hostage. And now the legacy media will go along with it, and they'll create some issue about some negotiation on this. But it's very simple. Republicans just voted, just now voted to fund tsa, to fund ice, to fund Secret Service, to fund the coast card, and the Democrats have voted no. It's that it's not that complicated. It's stupid, but it's not complicated.

[Buck Sexton]

Senator Schmidt with us now. And Senator, I think that this war in Iran or whatever, we haven't really come up with something other than a war to call it, I guess, this overseas aerial campaign against the Iranian military, definitely acts of war going on. The President seems very confident that this is both achieving its objectives and will be limited in scope. And he is in charge of that scope. What's your sense as to how this is going so far, and what's your confidence level that this will be wrapped up, say, by the end of the month?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, I mean, I think the President's committed to accomplishing the objectives as he laid out. And essentially, in a nutshell, the nuclear program that we, you know, had a devastating blow to with the B2s out of Missouri, by the way, last summer, Iran was basically creating this missile shield, this conventional ballistic missile shield, to protect it for their future ambitions, and that's being wiped out now. So that's really the mission. We had a briefing earlier this week. They're ahead of schedule on that. And I think the President's committed to doing this. He understands the concerns that people would have about having another forever war in the Middle East. I don't think he wants that, but he's committed to this mission. I think they're accomplishing that right now,

[Clay Travis]

much less seriously. I saw you Friday at the President's college sports roundtable, and I know you have entered, introduced a bill alongside of a Democrat colleague that would help to rectify the mess that is college Athletics, what would it do? Are you optimistic that it can be a solution?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

It look, it's the first bipartisan bill that's been introduced on this, on this measure, and I think that's a significant development to set the stage. College athletics right now is very chaotic. College football, by and large, for years has essentially been the cash cow that funds all the non revenue sports, women's sports, Olympic sports, even sports like baseball that don't really generate revenue. Save a couple schools here or there because of the new system that we have right now. You know, it's just a matter of time. And I think that time's pretty soon where you're just going to start seeing all that programming dropped and all those scholarships drop for people who, you know can change their lives. So what's the solution? I was skeptical, Clay and Buck, about Congress. If you had asked me this two years ago, I'd be, why is Congress considering anything here? But the truth is Congress is the only entity on the planet that can grant antitrust exemption to some governing body to set some rules. Transfer rules, eligibility rules, agent rules. Things that they can't do right now because of lawsuits have basically rendered the NCAA feckless. They can't do anything. So we can do that. But I don't think you solve the governance problem or the challenges in college sports without revenue to basically pay for these sports, right? These non revenue women's sports, the Olympic sports that we all love. And so our proposal, Senator Cantwell and I from Washington, are that, look, the NFL, the NBA, mlb, they all have antitrust exemption to collectively negotiate, to pool their media rights. Okay? And to just give you a statistic, the NBA has half the audience of college football, but twice the revenue. The NBA generates about 8 billion. College football is about 4 billion. But they have twice the eyeballs every week. And so, you know, the SEC and Big Ten are big players in that. But what we could do is our bill says, look, you can pull your media rights. We respect the conferences that are going to bring in the lion's share of the revenue. But that bargaining will be great for fans because think about it, with the NFL, you can, there's different channels. There's a, there's a Sunday night game, there's a Monday night game, sometimes a Thursday night game. College football, the interest is growing and you can actually have a system here where Fox and espn, all of them are bidding, bidding, bidding, bidding up those dollars that can protect those sports and it'll be great for the fans.

[Clay Travis]

How optimistic are you that this thing is going to pass.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I think this component is key. I don't think you can just do the governance piece and get to 60 votes in the Senate. Right. I think there has to be a carrot here where everybody feels like they're growing. So if you're a. If you're a school that's been kind of left behind on some of this stuff, on the revenue that's been generated for the, you know, the conferences that are doing exceedingly well, there's a reason for them to do it, I think. And look, I'm a Mizzou guy. I love Mizzou. They're in the sec. I love SEC football. I. I think they're going to do well in this model too. So I'm optimistic that the next phase, the House is probably going to clay vote on something next week. Just the SCORE act, which is just the governance piece. I think the thing at the White House last week added momentum. I think we're going to be hopefully the next step in the Senate is a hearing in the commerce committee where I serve on. And this will be heard out. And I think that's where the work will be done to try to fight a compromise to literally save college sports. If we don't get this done this year or maybe next year, but I think this year is very important. I think the landscape looks different forever. And if we fix it, or I should say we give them the tools to fix it, I think it changes things for the next 50 years. Will be great for fans.

[Clay Travis]

Good stuff as always. Senator Eric Schmidt of Missouri. We appreciate the time. Good luck on getting all that taken care of.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

All right, guys, thanks.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

Okta secures AI welcome back into Clay and Buck. Sorry Clay, I jumped in there because I'm doing some on the fly research here into what's going on in this country right now with these various shootings that have occurred. And here's where this stands. If you were to start to guess at what you think has happened at Old Dominion University where the shooter has been neutralized. So the shooter has been killed by police and two people are have been wounded, they've been shot and they're in the hospital. And what happened at this synagogue up in Michigan where fortunately it seems the only person shot may be the person trying to do the terrorist attack. Clay, it's looking more and more indicators are pointing toward these are exactly the kind of lone wolf sleeper cell, whatever you want to call them, Islamic Jihad attacks in this country that people have been concerned about. And I can tell you this, with the Old Dominion shooting, the longer there are no details about the person who did the shooting, the more likely it is it's someone that the media doesn't want to focus on as a terrorist shooter.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I mean, I think you can just look at in the last week, basically we had the shooting in Austin, Texas which took the lives of two people. We had the attempted IEDs outside of Gracie Mansion in New York City. Again, for those of you just getting in your cars, it looks like a would be terror attack has been neutralized. And now everybody is reporting, cnn, Fox News and MSNBC that the would be assassin shooter, whoever it was in the Detroit area, in West Bloomfield has been shot. And you're saying you're doing research on what happened this morning at Old Dominion University in the state of Virginia and that all these may well be connected to the same thing.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean not. Neither one of them has had any details released on the, on the assailant, on the would be terrorist or the terrorist in the case of Old Dominion. You know, what are the Kalshi odds that one of these two guys has Muhammad in his name? I mean you start to, you start to wonder at what point are we allowed to say we have a pretty good sense of what's going on here, Everybody anyway, you know what, what, what is that level at which we get to say why is it so? Why are they so slow to get us details on who these shooters are?

[Clay Travis]

Why are.

[Buck Sexton]

Because there's an imminent threat to the public. This isn't just some thing, it's not just some right wing talking point. If there are activated jihadist cells in this country, either self activated or people that have gotten the, the go order if you will, from whatever entity they're connected to online, this is not hard. We've seen this before. Shouldn't we know that that's going on? Don't the authorities have an obligation to tell us as quickly as possible? Yeah, we've had two for two here, guys that are exactly what you think they are.

[Clay Travis]

I agree. And what I would say is for everybody out there listening, I think you need to be hyper vigilant. I think you need to be aware of danger in a way that maybe typically you're not. Because again, Austin, Texas, New York City, Detroit area in Michigan, and maybe, well now also the Old Dominion campus in Virginia. If we had two different individuals who decided to try to take terror action in the same day, I don't think it's crazy to think there might be a third or a fourth.

[Buck Sexton]

I had not seen this, I had not seen this tweet until now. Carol Markowitz who does incredible reporting on this. She has amazing law enforcement sources and she never tell me. I don't know who they are. But she has phenomenal law enforcement sources. She says the name, this is from Carol Markowitz, the name for the Old Dominion shooter. She has been reliably informed. The alleged attacker of Old Dominion, his name is Muhammad Jalal. Any, any shock. Any shock.

[Clay Travis]

Probably have a decent idea what his motivations might have been on Old Dominion's campus. And again, when you're driving a car into a synagogue with a weapon and you are shot and killed outside the synagogue, I think it's hard to say, man, what would motivate someone to engage in behavior like this?

[Buck Sexton]

So all of these, the jihadist radicals are mobilized, Clay, that's happening right now. Everyone keep your head on a swivel. This is real,

[Clay Travis]

no doubt. And yes, we'll talk more about this as we go forward. In the meantime, if you're trying to save some money, up to $1,000 over the course of a year, I rely on PureTalk to stay in touch with my sons. You can rely on PureTalk to save a bundle and keep you in touch with your family. All you need to do is from your cell phone right now, £250 say clay and Buck and you will get the best possible deal on a pure talk service on your phone. You can keep your same phone and your same phone number. It is a great opportunity. You will love it. £250 again say clay and Buck and you can save up to a thousand dollars over the course of the year. Same great cell service that you've been used to. Just a lot cheaper than the big guys. Plus they have a benefit. They share many of the values of you and your family because that's why they're advertising on this program. It's £250 say clay and buck. That's £250 say clay and Buck. Welcome back in Clay. TRAVIS BUCK SEXTON SHOW I want to update you guys on the latest. This is from FOX News and I just sent it and let me make sure that I read this correctly. Authorities say the shooter involved in the attack at Temple Israel that's outside of Detroit, Michigan, found badly burned after crashing a vehicle village into the crack cra. Crashing a vehicle into the building which then caught fire. Armed security engaged in a shootout and fatally shot the would be attacker. Also CNN reporting and this may be why he was badly burned, that the vehicle was filled with explosives.

[Buck Sexton]

So that would explain a lot here because you would have somebody who tried to create a vbied, a vehicle borne improvised explosive device, essentially a car suicide bomber. And the bomb didn't go off. Making bombs is fortunately harder than a lot of people think it is, especially if you've never done it before. Near miss, it seems. Clay looks like no casualties, no good guy, no good gal. Casualties in the synagogue. Only this guy taken out, right?

[Clay Travis]

That's right. And again, this now suggests Austin, New York City, Detroit, Virginia, all with the same motive. That is a violent terror attack. We bring in now Senator John Cornyn of Texas. He is with us. We got a bunch to get into with you, Senator. We appreciate the time. Let's start with this primary runoff against Ken Paxton in late May. President Trump has said that he is going to endorse, but has held off on endorsing. Do you expect him to endorse you? What do you, what impact do you think the president's endorsement in Texas would have?

[Senator John Cornyn]

Well, I told the President that I thought his endorsement would be very impactful and I would be delighted if he chooses to endorse, endorse me in the race. So far, he has not done that. And, you know, people ask me, well, what's he going to do? And my usual response is there's only one person on the planet who knows the answer to that and it's not me. So we are not, we're, we're continuing to work hard toward that May 26 runoff. And if the president decides to make an endorsement, that would be, that'd be great news.

[Buck Sexton]

Senator Cornyn, appreciate you being with us. My understanding is, and feel free to correct any part of this because there's a lot of senators and I can't know everything that all of you have ever thought or said. But my understanding is that you've long been in the past a defender of the Senate filibuster rule. So a 60 vote threshold for most legislation, but that you just recently published why the SAVE Act Matters more than the filibuster. Am I right? Is that where you are now? Is that really, is that a major departure, a major change in your feeling about the filibuster? And what brought you to this? Because you're going to have some critics who say, well, this is just because you're up for reelection and you want to seem like you're going to give the base what it wants?

[Senator John Cornyn]

Well, the filibuster has stopped a lot of really bad legislation. When the Democrats were in charge, they proposed packing the Supreme Court, making Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia states and getting two Democratic senators each and permanently changing the country. So the filibuster has worked well to stop bad stuff, but we're in much different times now. And what with the Trump derangement syndrome and the polarization up here in Congress, Democrats just reflexively oppose everything that Trump has proposed or that Republicans want, including paying the Transportation Security Agency agents and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They didn't do anything wrong, but they're the people being punished now by this second shutdown of a significant part of the federal government. So I would, I long for the day when you would have these two political parties who were obviously have different priorities and different ideas about how to govern, but where there is still the possibility of finding some common ground and working to build consensus. I think that's good for the country when we can do that, because any short term measures that one party or the other passes can change the next time the Congress flips. So I would call this really kind of an evolution of my views that fit the times. I don't think it's okay for us to just tell my constituents in Texas we can't get anything done because the Democrats won't cooperate. And we know, as the President has pointed out, that when the shoe is on the other foot, when they're in the majority, they will, they will blow up the filibuster immediately. So I said I'm open to the talking filibuster, which we hope to use on the Save America act and potentially other reforms as well.

[Clay Travis]

We're talking to Senator John Cornyn of Texas. He's in a runoff against Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, on May 26. We know that one of you will be running against James Talarico, who frankly seems like a very far left wing and radical nominee for the Democrats. Do you believe that you would beat Talarico worse than Ken Paxton would? And is that one reason why you would argue people should vote for you in this upcoming runoff?

[Senator John Cornyn]

Yes, that's exactly right. I will be at the top of the ticket as the nominee. And in 2020, last time I ran, I won by 10 points, which means that not only will we keep the Senate seat in Republican hands, but it will help down ballot races, including these five new congressional seats that were drawn as a result of redistricting to hopefully help keep the majority in the House. The Attorney General has so much political baggage that I think it's an open question whether he could actually even win. So this, thus the, the prospect or the possibility of actually losing a red state Senate seat in this election. And even if he were to win by the skin of his teeth, I would think he will not win by a margin that will help down ballot, and it will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to try to salvage him and salvage this red seat. So that is part of the argument that, that we've been making and I know the president and his team are fully aware of.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so let's say that you weren't the nominee. Let's say Ken Paxton won, or vice versa. Would you campaign heartily for whoever the Republican nominee is, and do you expect that he would campaign for you in order to make sure that this seat, as you just laid out, doesn't end up in Democrat hands or doesn't even end up, hopefully competitive, so that there's not having to be a ton of money spent on it? In other words, you win. That's great. You're going to be working hard. Do you expect his endorsement if you lose, will you endorse him?

[Senator John Cornyn]

Well, first of all, I expect to win. But to answer your question, I've worked most of my adult life trying to build the Republican Party, both at the state level and at the national level. My first statewide election was in 1990, when we still were basically a divided state. We had a Democratic governor that year, Ann Richards, for example. But to answer your question, I would support the Republican ticket. I think that's, that's the best answer I can give you.

[Buck Sexton]

Speaking of Senator Cornyn of Texas and Senator, why would you be better? I mean, a lot of times it comes down to, for some people, trying something new. You've obviously been in the Senate for quite some time. Why would it be better to have you representing Texas than Attorney Attorney General Paxton? And how would you address any critics that you have who say that you're not as MAGA when it counts, as you'd like to appear at election time, because we get a lot of emails, a lot of callers, and this is something that we here wanted to give you an opportunity to just lay it out there for everybody?

[Senator John Cornyn]

Well, thank you. I, I think a lot of this has to do with personalities and temperament. I spent 13 years of my life as a judge and then as Attorney General before I got to the Senate. And I always like to tell people I'm conservative. I'm just not mad about it. But the point is what, what the. What what you've done. And that's one reason why in Texas and our advertising, we pointed out that I have voted with the President 99.3% of the time. That was That's a better, better number than Ted Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, by the way. And secondly, you know, we need somebody who can be effective for the state. So when the governor called me and said, look, Texas taxpayers have had to step up and pay $11 billion to help secure the border. When Biden wouldn't, he called me. And we worked with the Texas delegation to get that done. And so we are expecting a nice check from the federal government to the Texas taxpayer of $11 billion. It takes some experience and relationships to be able to get that done. And I think, I think my effectiveness on behalf of 32 million Texas is something that separates me from the Attorney General.

[Clay Travis]

We're talking to John Cornyn, Senator from Texas, run off May 26th. When you looked at the results, you won the primary in the first go around. You had the most votes. Were you surprised by that? Did you expect it? What does that, what does that outcome tell people about Texas?

[Senator John Cornyn]

Well, I, I would. There's nothing's guaranteed, but I was optimistic that I would win. And that was, you know, there have been a lot of trash, what I call trash talk, including the attorney general who said he could win without a runoff. And obviously that didn't materialize. So, you know, we've been. Only about 11% of registered voters voted in the Republican primary. Thankfully, people who didn't vote in the primary can vote in the runoff. But, you know, a lot of this has to do with motivating your voters and getting them to the polls. In the end, winning elections isn't all that complicated. It's about who gets the most votes. And we simply worked hard to. To try to encourage as many people as we can to vote in the Republican primary. Even so, the Democrats outvoted us, which should be a warning shot across our bow.

[Buck Sexton]

Senator, you know, we got a lot of emails because we asked for questions and, you know, for example, I'll just let you address this. We have one VIP who wrote in and said, I believe Senator Cornyn voted against Pete Hegseth for DoD Secretary, now Secretary of War, you voted yes for Pete Hegseth, if memory served. Am I correct on that?

[Senator John Cornyn]

Correct.

[Buck Sexton]

Correct.

[Senator John Cornyn]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

It's interesting. Some of the questions we get are actually not fair to. Just to call balls and strikes here, Senator. Not fair to your record. People seem to think for some reason that you have voted not 99% of the time with Trump.

[Senator John Cornyn]

Yeah, well, the President knows what my record is, and he calls me a friend, and there was some indication that he was prepared to endorse me after leading in the primary on March 3rd. Obviously, as we said, the timing of that and if it happens is entirely up to him. But I think the president views me as an ally and somebody who supported him, and I think he appreciates that. You know, I was there on the front lines during the confirmation of three new Supreme Court justices when we passed the Tax Cuts and jobs act in 2017. The Whip who helped get the get that across the finish line. So a lot of the campaign is about reminding people about what my record is and frankly disabusing people of some of the falsehoods that are out there. So I appreciate you giving me an opportunity to address that.

[Buck Sexton]

Senator Cornyn, thank you for coming on the show and taking our questions and Godspeed to you and we'll talk to you soon.

[Senator John Cornyn]

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

the know when you're on the go the Team 47 podcast drop highlights from

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

AI.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in. Let me cycle back and update you on the alleged attack, terror attack, attempted attack. This is from cnn. Suspect dead after ramming car filled with apparent mortars into a synagogue near Detroit. And we have audio from Fox News analyzing the absolute latest that we have there. This is John Roberts reporting live on Fox News. Just moments ago. Listen, cut 30 for law enforcement confirms

[Senator John Cornyn]

our reporting that the the suspect is dead. Additionally told the susp body is badly burned. He was killed by armed security. Bill is told that he ran the car into the building, had a rifle, got into a shootout with security who killed him. The car was on fire inside. And that would obviously be the source of the smoke coming out of that building. So it would appear now that the immediate threat to the synagogue is over. But now we're dealing with the aftermath.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, other bit of news. This is from Fox News right now. Only injury other than the shooter being dead. The lead security officer, Buck, they say was hit by the car on its entry into the synagogue. He's expected to be okay. Another bit of news. They had a trained FBI response to this synagogue in January in the event that there was an active shooter. So they had actually drilled and trained at this exact place. Suspect drove through the doors of this school with his vehicle, the truck, and was killed inside.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, this is all. All very good. This is the best possible outcome based on those early reports we saw that anyone could hope for, which is bad guy killed. Everybody else going to be fine. Thank God. Up in Michigan, Old Dominion, two people shot. I believe they're in critical condition, but. And then the shooter was, was killed as well. It's looking like both of these clay, are likely, you know, jihadist terror attacks. And that synagogue, on the one hand, you know, it's a good thing that these synagogues take their security so seriously. On the other hand, it's really a tragedy that these synagogues have to take their security so seriously. You know, that's the.

[Senator John Cornyn]

That's true.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm glad they are doing it, but it shouldn't be the way that it is. People should be able to gather freely in this country to worship without that kind of fear. So anyway, for today, the good guys won. And, and the good guys and gals are okay. So that's. We're not every day are we going to have breaking news for you? Unfortunately. And, and it has this kind of a relatively. Look, people are going to be a little traumatized by this, but everyone's going home tonight in that synagogue. Everyone's okay. And that's as good a end result after those initial moments as you could hope for.

[Clay Travis]

But everybody out there. Austin, Texas, New York City, Detroit area, Virginia. This is all in the last 10 or 12 days that it appears we've had four different would be terror attacks. Most of them have been foiled. A couple of people in Texas, unfortunately are dead because of them. But could happen anywhere. So stay poised, stay smart and be vigilant.

[Buck Sexton]

And just a little bit of a pivot here. Some of you are madder than Mama wasp. Wasn't that what Senator Kennedy said about how Cornyn just portrayed himself on the show? Texans, you have talkbacks. You have emails. Light us up. We will get to them tomorrow. If you feel like there's something that needs to be brought to the conversation about that, we'll do it. So send them in. You and I hear about people and families who bought a timeshare years ago. They enjoyed it at first, but now feel completely stuck. And that's the part that hits home. People don't regret the vacations. They regret the obligation. If your life has changed but that contract hasn't, you should know this. There is a legal way out.

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