Choosing Illegal Immigrants over Americans, a Surveillance Scandal Bigger than Watergate & The Great Voter ID Reversal Week In Review

Summary

Verdict with Ted Cruz – Episode Summary

Episode Title: “Choosing Illegal Immigrants over Americans, a Surveillance Scandal Bigger than Watergate & The Great Voter ID Reversal – Week In Review”
Date: March 28, 2026
Hosts: Senator Ted Cruz & Ben Ferguson
Featured Guest: Senator Josh Hawley
Podcast: Verdict with Ted Cruz

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Overview

This episode of “Verdict with Ted Cruz” delivers a week-in-review format, highlighting three major political controversies from recent days:

1. The Senate funding impasse and alleged Democrat prioritization of illegal immigrants over Americans
2. The “Arctic Frost” DOJ surveillance scandal, which the hosts claim surpasses Watergate in magnitude
3. The debate over the SAVE America Act and recent “Great Voter ID Reversal” by Senate Democrats

Throughout, the hosts argue that Democrats are driven by radical activists and that mainstream media fails to hold them accountable. Cruz, Ferguson, and Hawley provide a deeply critical, partisan analysis, emphasizing Republican positions and alleged Democrat hypocrisy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. DHS Shutdown & Border Security Funding Fight

[00:35–11:46]

• Senate Funding Impasse:
  • Hawley describes how the DHS appropriations bill, initially bipartisan, became deadlocked as “Democrats wouldn't even meet” while the TSA and DHS staff went unpaid.
    • “The Democrats position was, nope, we won't even sit and talk.” (Hawley, 01:58)
  • Ferguson and Hawley claim Democrats are “premeditating” the crisis to harm the country and blame the GOP, tying it to anti-ICE/pro-open border activism.
    • “Their base hates ICE... a lot of them are engaged in political cowardice.” (Hawley, 03:21)
    • “They don't have a plan. They're just obeying their angry activists who are just screaming. They're just engaged in a primal scream.” (Hawley, 05:36)
• Republican Strategy:
  • Hawley floats the idea of carving out ICE from funding to force a “reconciliation” vote (which requires only a GOP majority) to fund ICE for 10 years.
    • “We should get the Democrats to fund all of DHS except ICE. …then immediately take up a reconciliation bill and fund ICE for the next 10 years.” (Hawley, 06:15)
• Outlook for Resolution:
  • Hawley is uncertain if a fix will come before the holiday, arguing Schumer is constrained by the party’s left and faces internal threats to his leadership.
    • Schumer is depicted as “terrified of being primaried from the left.”
• Democrat Infighting:
  • Cruz reads from a Wall Street Journal article about progressive senators considering replacing Schumer for not being radical enough.
    • “Schumer is just saying, let it burn... and yet the Elizabeth Warrens of the party say, not enough. You need to do more.” (Cruz, 10:50)

Notable Quotes

• “Literally, they don't want murderers arrested, they don't want child rapists arrested, they don't want gangbangers arrested.” – Josh Hawley (03:21)
• “On immigration, they're an open border party... They oppose arresting murderers and gangbangers and child rapists.” – Ted Cruz (30:29)

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2. The “Arctic Frost” Surveillance Scandal

[13:54–21:42]

• Scope of the Scandal:
  • Cruz compares the “Arctic Frost” scandal to Watergate, calling it “orders of magnitude worse”:
    • “Watergate was about a handful of files... This reached into tens of thousands of private communications, emails, records and personal data... relating to every major conservative organization were subpoenaed.” (Cruz, 13:54, clip)
    • “You had nearly 200 subpoenas. You had more than 400 individuals and groups targeted. The Biden DOJ issued subpoenas to get the phone records for more than 20% of the Republicans in the Senate, including yours truly.” (Cruz, 15:07)
• Partisan Double Standards:
  • Cruz claims Democrats are silent in the face of abuses because “partisanship and partisan control is all that mattered.” (Cruz, 15:30 & 16:20)
  • Republicans, by contrast, supposedly stood up to abuse in the Nixon era.
    • “When Richard Nixon... abused their law enforcement powers... Republican senators stood up to the President of their own party and defended the rule of law. Where is even a single Democrat Senator who has said one word about this?” (Cruz/Hawley, 16:18–16:22)
• Judiciary Hearing Highlights:
  • Cruz recounts that in the hearing, Democrats dismissed concerns and focused on “orange man bad” rhetoric.
  • He criticizes DOJ witnesses and partisan judges (specifically Judge Boasberg), alleging abuse of surveillance power and illegal suppression of disclosure.
    • “He [Boasberg] concluded…the court finds that we will destroy evidence if we know about it... There is zero basis in fact to make that finding.” (Cruz, 20:32)
    • “It makes Watergate seem mild by comparison.” (Cruz, 21:41)

Notable Quotes

• “Watergate at the end of the day was a handful of Cuban burglars…[Arctic Frost] was orders of magnitude worse.” – Ted Cruz (14:31)
• “I'd be damn troubled. And that would be an abuse of power.” – Ted Cruz, on hypothetical mass subpoenas against Democrats (19:15)

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3. The SAVE America Act & Voter ID “Reversal”

[22:29–32:03]

• Legislative Stalemate:
  • Cruz describes Republican efforts to pass the Save America Act, requiring both proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote. But, he laments lacking sufficient Republican unity to force a “talking filibuster.”
    • “The only way to get it passed...we need 50 Republicans... We're not there yet and it is frustrating.” (Cruz, 22:29)
• Democratic “Hypocrisy” on Voter ID:
  • Cruz and Hawley call out Senate Democrats for public statements supporting voter ID, then unanimously voting against a clean voter ID bill.
    • Cruz reads a rapid-fire series of Dem statements supporting ID (24:55–26:27), then delivers the punchline:
      • “Every single Democrat voted no. All of them. Every one of them... It's just a flat up lie.” (Cruz, 26:40)
  • The hosts denounce media for rarely holding Democrats accountable, with Cruz giving “credit” to CBS News for reporting the anomaly.
• Political Impact:
  • Ferguson argues voters will notice Democrat obstruction on issues like ID and border security; Cruz says these are not “both sides are extreme” issues, but ones where Democrats are far outside the mainstream.
    • “The policy positions of the Democratic Party objectively are extreme.” (Cruz, 29:21)

Notable Quotes

• “So Republicans said, all right, we'll call your bluff and we put a vote on just photo ID to vote. You know what happened? Every single Democrat voted no.” – Ted Cruz (26:35–26:40)
• “They all say no. They get almost no accountability...” – Ted Cruz on Democrats (27:03)

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Additional Memorable Moments & Language

• Frequent sardonic asides, e.g., mocking Democrats dining at a “vegan French restaurant” (Cruz, 08:45)
• Cruz references his own authorship: “The third book I wrote was called Justice: How the Left has Weaponized the Legal System...” (Cruz, 16:42)
• Ferguson continually urges listeners to find previous episodes for “the rest of the conversation.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• DHS Shutdown and Democratic Tactics: 00:35–11:46
• Arctic Frost Surveillance Scandal: 13:54–21:42
• The SAVE Act and Voter ID Fight: 22:29–32:03
• Summary and Closing Reflections on Political Extremism: 29:21–32:03

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Tone & Language

• Tone is direct, confrontational, partisan, and often laced with sarcasm and incredulity.
• Language is accessible and impassioned; speakers regularly cite polling or ‘common sense’ to reinforce GOP positions.

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In Summary

This “Week in Review” episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz offers Republican critiques of Democrat actions on border security, government surveillance, and election laws. The hosts allege systematic extremism and double standards by Democrats, praising Republican efforts to resist and challenging their party to do more. Listeners get not just a recap of Senate maneuvering, but an impassioned call to recognize what Cruz and Ferguson frame as one-sided radicalism in Washington politics.

Transcript

[Ben Ferguson]

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[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz Week in Review. Ben Ferguson with you. And these are the stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week. First up, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, they wanted the Department of Homeland Security shut down and why? To hurt as much as possible. We've got all of their reasoning behind it and what they're still trying to do.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

All.

[Ben Ferguson]

Also Jack Smith and Arctic Frost. The Democrats went all in to destroy Donald Trump and the people around him. It didn't work. And now what we're witnessing is truly shocking. We have the latest details of what's been exposed on that as well. And finally an update on the Save America act where we are now and are we going to get it done. It's the week in review and it starts right now. Go over the list of what has already been given as you're being held, I say as you, as the American people, as the travelers are being held hostage.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Well, and let's take more fundamentally, the DHS appropriations bill was a bipartisan bill negotiated between Republicans and Democrats that came out of the Appropriations Committee with bipartisan support. So the Democrats had all of these different reforms that they put into DHS that Republicans agreed to. By the way, none of those reforms have happened because they won't allow it to be funded.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

The White House has been trying to negotiate with Democrats, although as I said, for more than two weeks, the Democrats wouldn't even meet. They had nothing to say. This was while TSA was not getting paid, while DHS was not getting paid, the Democrats position was, nope, we won't even sit and talk. And it's why I said, well, and

[Ben Ferguson]

that's how, you know, it's premeditated. The point that you made earlier like this is clearly they decided we are, this is the issue we're gonna go on and we are premeditating this and we want it to hurt.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Yeah. It's actually even different from premeditated. I think to some extent they're in a box.

[Ben Ferguson]

Okay.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Their base hates ice. If you're a Democrat Senator, look here,

[Senator Ted Cruz]

I'm tell you what.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

John Fetterman tweeted. Tweeted this weekend, Elon Musk stepped in and said, I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is so negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans. It was incredibly generous. Elon is a patriot. Here's what John Fetterman said. This is incredibly generous. TSA agents across the country are relying on food pantries and community donations just to get by. I remain the lone Democrat to vote with my Republican colleagues to fully fund DHS and get people paid. It should never come to this point. So Fetterman speaking the truth.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Here's the problem. Most of the rest of the Democrat senators, they're in a situation where they feel if they vote to fund ice, their angry open border activists will never forgive them. And I think a lot of them are engaged in political cowardice. They're unwilling to vote to fund ice. Mind you, that that literally means that they don't want murderers arrested, they don't want child rapists arrested, they don't want gang bangers arrested. ISIS, drug dealers.

[Ben Ferguson]

The list goes on and on.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Narco terrorists. I mean, ISIS who is arresting criminals in the interior of the United States.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

The Democrat political reality is their angry base hates them so much. Look, these are the same people that are abolish the police. These are the same people that abolish ice. And so I'll tell you this week, Republican Senators, when we're in session, we have lunch together every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. And then actually, we were here throughout the weekend. We were in D.C. so we had lunch Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as well. And what I'm arguing to my colleagues, I said, listen, I think the Democrats are so wildly unreasonable that they may be content to leave DHS defunded for the entire year.

[Ben Ferguson]

Really?

[Senator Josh Hawley]

They don't care about the consequences of what they're doing. They don't care about the fact that every TSA agent would have to quit and you would literally shut down every airport in the country like it's there. They believe we can blame it on Trump and the Republicans, and they are. There's not a common ground of reasonableness.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, let me ask you a Sean, Sean Duffy said on. On, I think it was Face the Nation Sunday morning that he said, if you. If you think it's bad now, wait till this coming week when you miss another.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

It's gonna be worse.

[Ben Ferguson]

It's gonna be worse. And his point was you will have so many people quit that now you've got a problem that you don't have a big enough workforce even when you get back to being funded. How concerned are you about that? Is that part of the Democrats plan? Like. Yeah, like it's kind of the, the way that they did with defund the police. Well, if we can't directly do it, we'll just drive them so crazy they quit their jobs. They don't want to be police anymore.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Yeah. Look, I think plan is giving them too much credit. They don't have a plan. They're just obeying their angry activists who are just screaming. They're just engaged in a primal scream. And so what I told my colleagues is, listen, if we're working with people who are objectively unreasonable.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

And who may well say we will never vote to fund ICE again, here's what I've suggested. All right, fine. If that's the reality, we should get the Democrats to fund all of DHS except ice. Carve ICE out. Now you might say, okay, that's a terrible idea because then ICE doesn't get funded. Remember, we've already funded ICE for four years.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

So agree to fund everything except ice. And then what I urge my colleagues is if they force us to do that, we should immediately take up a reconciliation bill and fund ICE for the next 10 years. And what I advocated for. And we should increase ICE's budget by 10%. So if that's going to be their price, we Democrats will never again vote for border security. We will never again vote for ice.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Then at the end of the day, the only way I see to solve this problem, reconciliation. Remember, we've talked about this before. It is the one procedural mechanism the Senate can use that does not require 60 votes.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

That just Republicans can pass it. And so if the Democrats would agree, we'll fund all of DHS except ice the next week, we should come back and do a reconciliation and fund ICE for a decade. Because I'm not convinced that these, these loons are going to change their mind in the next 10 years.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. It's a great point for people that are going to be traveling this week. What is your gut? Do you think there's a. What are the chances that we could actually get something done here where then things could start to go back to normal instead of going in the. In the direction they're going now, which is these 2, 3 and 4 plus weights?

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Look, I don't know. I think there is a real urgency in the Senate to try to get this resolved before the Easter holiday.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

The question is, are the Democrats going to budge? There are a few of the kind of the Democrats who occasionally will reach a deal who are making noises like they want to, but Chuck Schumer doesn't care. Chuck Schumer is terrified of being primaried from the left. And in fact, I want to read a little bit from a story in the Wall Street Journal about Chuck Schumer. So he has been wildly left wing, so much so that he's now done the longest shutdown in government history and then he's turned around and turned around and has shut the TSA down and refused to pay them. Here's a story that just came out in the Wall Street Journal. Growing frustration with Chuck Schumer spurs talk of replacing him. And you might say, oh, thank God, maybe some Democrats are saying this is too obstructionist, you're too unreasonable. Nope, nope. You know who wants to replace him? The left wing, because he's not burn it down enough.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

And let me read the beginning of this article. Senator Chris Murphy was dining with progressive activists at a French restaurant in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood. Could you be more cliche as a Democrat than that? I suppose maybe a vegan French restaurant would make it even better. When their conversation about how to advance their legislative priorities turn to a thorny question, what to do about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer? To the surprise of some attendees, the Connecticut Democrat, a rising star in the party's left fleet Blank responded that some lawmakers had been doing informal counts to see whether enough votes existed to remove the New York Democrat from his leadership position. According to people familiar with the mid February dinner, Murphy explained that Schumer had enough backing to remain as leader. But the disclosure stood out nonetheless because it revealed the frustration inside the Senate had reached a high enough level that some Democrats were actively contemplating how to oust Schumer.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Wow.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Murphy is among a group of senators and top advisors who have grown increasingly dissatisfied with Schumer's leadership, according to people familiar with the conversation. Who else? That group includes Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has been initiated conversations with other senators to gauge frustrations with Schumer. Some of the people said Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota has also been active in discussions with her frustration with Schumer. In an interview, Murphy said he's frequently asked about Senate leadership, but he doesn't have a count of who would vote to remove Schumer and doesn't recall mentioning one in more than four dozen interviews With Democrats, senators and others. Many said the concern about Schumer's leadership was widespread. But what are they mad at? And this is where it's amazing. Murphy, Warren and Smith are part of a batch of senators dubbed Fight Club, who are particularly incensed by Schumer's approach to the midterms. This group of progressives believes that Schumer favors centrist candidates in some key races. So their whole argument, even though Schumer is just saying, let it burn. I mean, he reminds me of Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight as Batman, just saying, let it burn. Who cares what happens if they're terror attacks? Not Chuck Schumer's problem. If every airport is shut down. Not Chuck Schumer's problem. If people can't pay their rent or mortgage. Not Chuck Schumer's problem. And yet the Elizabeth Warrens of the party say, not enough. You need to do more. I don't even know what more would look like, but that is the reality of where Democrats are. And as long as the media does what Greta did and what so many other CNN does and MSNBC does, as long as they keep covering it up and pretending, no, no, no, it's not the Democrats who are shutting it down, they'll keep doing the exact same thing.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, they really will. I gotta ask you an audible question real quick because you mentioned you're in D.C. over the weekend. Give us a 30 second update on where we are with the SAVE Act.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

We are continuing to debate it, but right now every Democrat votes no. And we are not doing a talking filibuster. We are not requiring the Democrats do a talking filibuster. So I think the expectation is we're going to vote on it this week and if nothing changes, the vote is going to go down. President Trump is deeply frustrated, as you know, as I talked about, and we did an earlier podcast, which if folks want a deep dive on the Save America act, you could have an entire podcast last week devoted to explaining what was going on. I think we should use the procedural rules to force the Democrats to stand and talk and talk and talk and do a full talking filibuster, but we're not right now.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So has Trump weighed in on that

[Ben Ferguson]

idea, by the way? I mean. Oh, yeah. What does he say?

[Senator Josh Hawley]

He's vocally in favor of it, but in order to do it, we have to have 50 Republicans stand together, and we don't have 50. That. That's the fundamental problem.

[Ben Ferguson]

How close are we? Is it two or three or more?

[Senator Josh Hawley]

It's hard to tell we have 53 Republicans, which means we can lose at most three. There are at least four and potentially more that are nos. And the problem is you have in particular Republicans who are retiring, so they're not going to be on the ballot. That makes it very hard for the White House to pressure them if they're not up for reelection. There's not a whole lot, there's not a whole lot of leverage there.

[Ben Ferguson]

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. Senator, I want to finish the show with a really important subject, and you've described it as bigger than Watergate. It's a modern day Watergate, certainly. But we now have a dive into the bombshell Senate Judiciary hearing on Arctic Frost. And you had a great statement, Senator, and I want to play it for everybody. This is how you kind of described what's happening.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Watergate was about a handful of files in a single office. This reached into tens of thousands of private communications, emails, records and personal data. Toll records, bank records, donor lists, law firm records, and other personal files relating to every major conservative organization were subpoenaed.

[Ben Ferguson]

Senator, that sums it up. This was a 100% weaponization of our Department of Justice to go after Donald Trump and anyone they thought was important to him that could help him win the White House again.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, that clip was from a hearing I chaired this week of the Senate Judiciary Committee that was examining Arctic Frost and was releasing yet more documents that showed the massive scope of the abuse of power. Look, Watergate at the end of the day was a handful of Cuban burglars who broke into an office of the dnc. And it was a failed burglary. They didn't even succeed. And it resulted in the President of the United States resigning in disgrace. It resulted in more than 40 people being criminally prosecuted, many of them going to jail. By any measure, Arctic Frost was orders of magnitude worse. You had nearly 200 subpoenas. You had more than 400 individuals and groups that were targeted. The Biden Department of Justice issued subpoenas to get the phone records for more than 20% of the Republicans in the Senate, including yours truly. Yeah, it was a massive abuse of power. And the amazing thing is the Democrats don't care at all. And one of the points I made at the hearing, there are a bunch of Democrat senators sitting there at the hearing, and I pointed out not a one of them is going to say a word. They don't care about abuse of power. For them, partisanship and partisan control is all that mattered. And I contrasted it with what happened at Watergate. Here, listen to what I had to say. Fifty years ago, this nation was confronted with an abuse of power. And it responded not with indifference, but with accountability. I'll tell you one of the big differences of Watergate versus Arctic Frost. When Richard Nixon and his corrupt Attorney general and his corrupt administration abused their law enforcement powers to go after their political opponents, Republican senators stood up to the President of their own party and

[Senator Josh Hawley]

defended the rule of law.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Where is even a single Democrat Senator

[Senator Josh Hawley]

who has said one word about this abuse of power?

[Ben Ferguson]

You're right, by the way. They're all silent on it because they don't care as long as it was spying on you. Literally.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And look, I will say what happened in Watergate, what actually ended it and when Richard Nixon resigned is it was a group of senior Republican senators that drove the 16 blocks up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House and sat in the Oval Office and they said, Mr. President, you have a choice. You either resign or we will impeach you, convict you and remove you from office. And it was a moment of real political courage for those senators to do that. I'm not a Richard Nixon fan. I think he was utterly corrupt. As you know, Ben, I've written four books. The third book I wrote was called justice how the Left has Weaponized the Legal System. And the opening chapter of that book is a deep dive into Watergate. And it details the just absolute corruption and abuse of power. What Richard Nixon tried to do, Barack Obama, and now Joe Biden succeeded in doing. And one of the real differences is Republicans were willing to stand up and say, no, this goes too far. There are no Democrats willing to do so. And all right, so there was a witness that the Democrats had called who was a former senior agent of the FBI. And he gave this whole testimony about how the FBI is utterly beyond politics and it's impartial and it has no partisan agenda at all. And I actually cross examined him quite a bit. And I said, look, I agree with what you're saying. That's what the FBI is supposed to be and that's what DOJ is supposed to be. And I'm an alumnus of the Department of Justice, I served in the George W. Bush Department of Justice, and it has a more than century long tradition of being outside of politics, not partisan at all. And I said one of the worst things that Barack Obama and especially Joe Biden did is they corrupted it and turned doj and the FBI into partisan tools. And this witness didn't want to admit it. But here's one question I asked him. Give a listen. Menendez is currently incarcerated in prison for corruption. And if you've got evidence of criminal conduct of one individual, the Department of Justice has an obligation to investigate that. Would you agree that's qualitatively different than a fishing expedition targeting 20% of the Republicans in the Senate? Would you agree that's qualitatively different?

[Ben Ferguson]

I'm not familiar with the details of

[Senator Josh Hawley]

either investigation, so I wouldn't want to speculate.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, let me ask you this. Would you be troubled if tomorrow the Trump Department of Justice issued a subpoena for the phone records of every Democrat that sits on the Judiciary Committee?

[Ben Ferguson]

Not.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Not if it was based on factual

[Ben Ferguson]

evidence, specific and articulable facts.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, let me be clear. I'd be damn troubled. And that would be an abuse of power. And I'm going to predict not a single Democrat is going to say even a word about the abuse of power on their side. And that double standard is troubling. Senator Lee.

[Ben Ferguson]

Senator, you're absolutely right there in the point that you were making.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, it really is amazing that nobody. And by the way, the entire hearing, the Democrats were completely silent. Like, when it came their turn to question, they just said, orange man bad. They just said, we hate Donald Trump. They didn't acknowledge it. Look, one of the things that happened in Arctic Frost is not only did you have Jack Smith getting subpoenas for the phone records of 20% of the Republicans in the Senate, and, by the way, also getting subpoenas and wiretapping cash. Patel, who was then a private citizen, now is the director of the FBI. They tapped the phones of Susie Wiles, who was then the campaign manager. She was running Donald Trump's campaign. I mean, this was a political opposition effort. And by the way, they taped her conversations with her lawyer, which is illegal on any level if you look at the subpoenas they issued for the senators. They also went to Judge Boasberg, who is an extraordinarily partisan left wing judge. He's the favorite judge for these radical groups that have been getting nationwide injunctions against various Trump policies. I chaired a hearing several months ago calling for Judge Boasberg to be impeached and removed from office because he is so extreme. In Arctic Frost, for every single senator that Jack Smith subpoenaed, he signed an order ordering the phone companies not to disclose to us that they were subpoenaing on our phone record. And in that order, he concluded, the court finds that we will destroy evidence if we know about it now. There is zero basis in fact to make that finding. Look, I'm a member of the bar. I'm, I, my integrity matters a great deal to me. I'm not gonna destroy evidence. And there are no facts that could be introduced that would suggest I could. There's also a federal statute prohibiting non disclosure orders for Senate records. And yet Judge Boasberg violated the law. That was the kind of abuse of power we saw in Arctic Frost and it was truly unprecedented. It makes Watergate seem mild by comparison.

[Ben Ferguson]

No doubt we're gonna keep covering this. Don't forget, download Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're listening to this radio show, we do it Monday, Wednesday, Friday, if you're listening on the radio right now. Thank you for joining us and we'll see you back here on this station as well next week. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz. We'll see you on the podcast all week long. 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. Let's give an update on the latest of the SAVE act and Chuck Schumer. The Democrats, they said they supported voter id, but then they immediately blocked you guys and your amendment to require it. Welcome to Democrats. You know, do as I say, not as I do.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, that's exactly right. So I'm an original sponsor of the Save America Act. I've been helping lead the fight to pass the Save America Act. We should be passing it. The only way to get it passed is we need to stand together and force the Democrats to do a talking filibuster. Unfortunately, to do that, we need 50 Republicans who are willing to stand and fight and be all unified together. We don't have those votes right now. I have been making that case for weeks on ends to my colleagues. We're not there yet and it is frustrating. By the way, we did a podcast two weeks ago where we broke down the details of exactly how a talking filibuster would work, how using the existing Senate rules to force the Democrats to do like Jimmy Stewart and Mr. Smith goes to Washington to force the Democrats to do like I did when I filibustered for 21 hours talking continuously against Obamacare in 2013. We have not done that yet, but I will say so The Save America act has two major elements. Number one, it requires people to show proof of American citizenship to register to vote. A basic common sense step. Number two, it requires photo ID to vote. Well, the Democrats defense that they really hate provision one, showing proof of citizenship. And they argued, oh, some people can't do it, some people can't do it. It's nonsense. But that's what they argued. And in the course of it, a whole lot of them said, we're okay with photo ID, which at some level is not surprising because photo ID 83% of Americans support photo ID to vote. 81% of Hispanics support photo ID to vote. 81 percent of Democrats support photo ID to vote. 75% of African Americans support photo ID to vote. It's overwhelmingly popular. So the Democrats all said they supported it, but they didn't like the other elements of the SAVE Act. So one thing we did this week is we said, okay, we'll call your bluff, and we put up just a very simple bill that required photo ID to vote. It's what they all said they supported. Now, let me tell you, I want to read you some quotes from Democrats. Here's Chuck Schumer, quote, democrats support voter voter id. Here's Chuck Schumer. Again, our objection as Democrats is not to photo id. Here's Dick Durbin, quote, they say it show a voter id. I'm not opposed to that. They ask you for an ID at the airport, don't they? That's reasonable. All right, here's Caitlin Collins at CNN asking Cory Booker, quote, if it was just a clean vote on voter ID specifically. Is that something you would support? Cory Booker, Yes. And New Jersey has voter ID laws. I've got to show my driver's license. Chris Coons, Democrat from Delaware, quote, who could be against requiring ID to vote. Raphael Warnock, Democrat from Georgia, quote, I think you should have to prove that you are who you say you are before you vote. I support voter id. Alyssa Slotkin from Michigan, quote, voter id, which hopefully all Americans are in agreement about. Kirsten Gillibrand from New York, quote, the

[Senator Josh Hawley]

IDs that we all have in our

[Senator Ted Cruz]

wallets should be good enough to vote. They always have been. Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat from Rhode island, quote, well, the voter ID part is probably fine. We have voter ID here in Rhode Island. Ruben Gallego, Democrat from Arizona, quote, if people want to adopt the Arizona way, which is strict voter id, I think that would be fine. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Democrats from Virginia, quote, we support reasonable steps that help maintain trust in our elections, including the voter identification requirements we already have in Virginia, Jack Reed, Democrat from Rhode island, quote, if the polls simply required every American to show an ID at the polls, then I would not be ringing such a loud alarm. So that's what they all said.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So Republicans said, all right, we'll call your bluff and we put a vote on just photo ID to vote. You know what happened?

[Ben Ferguson]

What happened? I know the answer, but it makes me laugh.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Every single Democrat voted no. All of them. Every one of them, Everyone that I just read those quotes from, all the ones that say, oh, I support voter id. They all voted no. I mean, it is a flat up, it's just a flat up lie.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

And part of the reason, part of

[Senator Ted Cruz]

the reason that they do that is because they know the media won't call them on it. Yeah. They know that they can lie over and over and over again and there will be no consequences. Now I will say an exception to that. So CBS News, David Ellison bought CBS News. And so now suddenly CBS News is owned by someone who says he has a commitment to making it balanced and not having it be a partisan left wing network. I'll tell you what CBS News tweeted out earlier today, quote, un amendment that would require voters to show photo identification to cast a ballot failed to advance in the Senate on Thursday, despite Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying last week that Democrats were not opposed to such an amendment, a requirement. So CBS actually reported straight out. I, I, I actually had some fun with that and tweeted and said, you, you mean Schumer lied? And, and there's a reason, there's a reason you have a pinocchio emoji and I used it. But, but part of the reason they're willing to lie so brazenly is what CBS did. There is the exception. Cnn, msnbc, abc, NBC, they don't call them to account. The Washington Post, the New York Times, they don't call them to account. And so the Democrats all lie. And then when you say, oh, you support that, do you, all right, well, do you want to vote for it? They all say no. They get almost no accountability for doing so.

[Ben Ferguson]

It really is incredible. And look, I do think this is going to be very interesting going into the midterms and I want to get your reaction to this because I actually think the American people are paying attention. They were very frustrated by the Democrats constantly making their life harder on these basic type issues, just like the airport. I think those are things when you combine these issues together. The Save act, which is overwhelming American support. Like, it's probably one of the most bipartisan things you're polling right now in this country, if not the very top one. And yet you have this type of divide. I actually think this plays in the hands of Republicans if we do it the right way. Your thoughts?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, look, I think that's right. And I think calling out Democrats for hypocrisy and lying and for just really aggressive partisanship. You know, I will say there are people who say both sides are too extreme. And I gotta say that that feels very reasonable and even handed. Gosh, one side's too extreme, so is the other. I just don't think it's accurate. If you look at where we are now, the policy positions of the Democratic Party objectively are extreme. On, on immigration. They're an open border party. They just refused to fund even a penny for immigration enforcement and they slashed funding for customs and border patrol. They are an open border party that opposes arresting murderers and gang bangers and child rapists on issues of sexuality. Every Democrat, all of them, support boys and girls sports, men and women's sports. They support sterilization and surgical mutilation of kids. Those are extreme positions. Those are on the 10 side of 9010 issues. They support abolishing the police. They all just voted to effectively abolish the police. In the immigration context, what are the Republicans supporting policy wise? The Republicans are supporting common sense principles. Low taxes, low regulations, lots and lots of jobs, small businesses doing well, securing the border, supporting law enforcement, protecting our families. Those are common sense position.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Look, the Democrats on foreign policy

[Senator Ted Cruz]

embrace Hamas. There is a real pro Hamas contingent in the Democrat party that is objectively extreme. And so I think saying the two sides are kind of both too extreme, I don't think that describes where the policy debate is. Now, I will concede this. On the rhetoric, there is a fair point to be made that both sides can use overheated rhetoric. I think the Democrats do so routinely when they call ice, for example, Nazis and Gestapo and they call for doxing and going after the families of law enforcement officers. I mean, I think that's grotesque. But there are Republicans who use overheated rhetoric as well. And I wish they did not. You know, I get that question a lot as I travel around Texas and around the country and I say, listen, I don't have the ability to change the language other people use. I can control what I say. You know, Ben, you and me in verdict. I try not to demonize people personally,

[Senator Josh Hawley]

but I do try to talk about

[Senator Ted Cruz]

policies and say it is an objectively unreasonable policy to support open borders and to just take away the paychecks of law enforcement officers for forever. And that is the position of the Democrat Party. I think that's the way we ought to have political discussions on substance and merits rather than making it personal.

[Ben Ferguson]

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.

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[Ben Ferguson]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Guaranteed Human.