← Verdict with Ted Cruz
Verdict with Ted Cruz
Defending Police Heroes, Passing Trey’s Law & Fighting for Imprisoned Christians in China, plus Israel Sues the NYT
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- [00:00]
Body by Jake Radio Host
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- [02:03]
Ben Ferguson
I Heart Radio
- [02:08]
Ben Ferguson (Sponsor Read)
welcome.
- [02:08]
Ben Ferguson
It is Verdict with Center Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. It's so nice to have you with us. If you're listening on the radio around the country center. We've got a lot to chat about on today's show, including something we haven't seen a long time. We are celebrating at the White House and in Washington D.C. law enforcement not trying to defund them.
- [02:26]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, that's exactly right. This past week was Police Week. We had police officers from all across the country come to, to Washington, D.C. come to Capitol. And we celebrated, celebrated the heroism. We celebrated and remembered the officers who gave their lives, gave their lives in duty defending us. And it really, after all of the vilification, after all of the attacks that are directed at police officers, it was nice to have a time just to say thank you. And it was also a time that was recognized. The Senate Judiciary Committee this week we passed a series of bills out of the Judiciary Committee, including two different bills that I authored, one directed specifically to police officers and a second protecting child victims of sexual assault. And both of those victories are significant. Both of them are now going to the floor of the Senate and I think we'll get both passed into law.
- [03:21]
Ben Ferguson
It's going to be really awesome. We're going to break that down for you in a moment. I also want to tell you about a organization that you may not even know exists. And it's one that is so important. Americans United for Life and the amazing work that they're doing right now.
- [03:36]
Ben Ferguson (Sponsor Read)
If you are proud to be pro life just like I am, then you need to know about the Americans United for Life. Over the past 50 years, they have filed more than 200 legal briefs and helped create at least 400 pro life bills in over 40 states by writing model legislation, consulting with state legislators, and defending their own laws and other pro life statutes in court. AUL is a non profit law firm and advocacy group that was founded in 1971, two years before Roe established the constitutional right to an abortion. Before fetal viability. Aul's dual front approach of writing and defending legislation has proved an effective one that could become even more impactful. And as pro life state legislatures move to enact protections for preborn babies and their mothers, now that the legality of abortion has returned to the states, you have the opportunity to overturn pro abortion laws and advance pro life legislation that attacks the most vulnerable in our society from the womb to the tomb. And together, we can shape the future of our nation through life affirming legislation in every state. A gift of just $25 helps hold abortion providers accountable and helps protect women and unborn children across this country. And now through a match, your gift is doubled. So donate securely@aul.org Verdict aul.org Verdict sponsored by Americans United for Life.
- [05:24]
Ben Ferguson
All right, Senator, so let's talk about something that's just exciting for me. My, my dad still is involved in law enforcement. I am so glad to see the Republican Party moving to put law enforcement where they deserve to be, which is in a, in a great light instead of a dehumanizing, attacking, defund and, and every time something happens, we immediately go after law enforcement that has changed. And something else that's really significant, a bipartisan piece of legislation that your name is on that is going to do something incredible for people that protect and serve.
- [05:59]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed my legislation. It's entitled the Officer John Barnes and Chief Michael Ansbrough Public Safety Officers Benefit Program Expansion act of 2026. Now it is named for two tremendous heroes. First of all, Officer John Barnes. Officer John Barnes was the police officer at Santa Fe High School, where you'll recall, Ben, the horrific school shooting that happened. Santa Fe is just outside of Houston. And it's the morning of that shooting. I was actually at home when that shooting happened. And so I jumped in a truck and headed down to the school. I was on campus about an hour after the shooting happened. And I will tell you the horror of what transpired there as that deranged gunman shot and murdered multiple students. And Officer John Barnes was on duty. And when the shooter began his rampage, Officer Barnes rushed the shooter. He put himself between the shooter and the students. He saved multiple students lives. And the shooter had. One of the weapons he was armed with was a shotgun. And he fired the shotgun and it hit Officer Barnes in the arm and did permanent damage to his elbow, to his arm. He had massive blood loss. And he ended up actually flatlining twice and being resuscitated twice. And I've got to know Officer Barnes. And he's. The man is a hero. He risked his life and almost gave his life to protect the students that he had been charged with protecting. And so this bill honors him. And it also honors Chief Michael Ansbrough, who was a hero on 9 11. And he was one of the first responders in 911 who rushed into the building, rescued people, risked his life. He survived 911 in the collapse of the towers, but in the course of that, he inhaled so much toxic material that ultimately Chief Ansbrode died from cancer from all of the poison he inhaled on 9 11. With both of them, they submitted applications to the Public Safety Officers Benefit Program. Now, the Public Safety Officers Benefit Program is created within the Department of Justice and in particular the Bureau of Justice Assistance. And it does several things. Number one, it provides death benefits to survivors of officers who've died in the line of duty. And that's something I think we owe, owe their families to say thank you for that. And then secondly, it provides assistance to people who are permanently disabled as a result of in the light of the duty injury. And the problem is that the program has historically been very, very slow and very, very delayed. You look at the Santa Fe shooting, the Santa Fe shooting happened in 2018. Officer Barnes application is still pending. It's eight years later and it hasn't been adjudicated. The same is true for the application for benefits for Chief Ansbro's family, is that it's delayed and it's still pending long after he passed away. And so what this bill that I did along with Kirsten Gillibrand. Kirsten Gillibrand is a Democrat from New York. She's a friend. She and I have actually done quite a bit together. And so she this was originally the Officer John Barnes bill because he's a Texan and someone I know. And we teamed up and she brought in Michael Ansbrough to honor a 911 hero as well. And what this bill does is speed up the determination of benefits. And so it puts a shot clock of 270 days. It says the Department of Justice must make a determination within 270 days. You can't have it drag on for eight years. And it also, it expedites the processing and it also expands the coverage so it extends partial eligibility to officers who are permanently but not totally disabled. So if you have a permanent disability, you qualify. It expands the number of officers, the number of officers families who qualify and it speeds it up. We got this through the Senate Judiciary Committee. The next step is to move it on the floor of the Senate. Then we'll move it through the House. And I'm confident President Trump will sign it into law.
- [10:45]
Ben Ferguson
Before we get to Trey's Law Center, I want to ask you a couple questions. Just I think when Americans see this type of bipartisan leadership and you see that this about benefits of those that have risked their lives or given the ultimate sacrifice, their life, and to see how many loopholes there are to jump through to clearly get the benefits the family needs there. If you've ever sat with an officer, and I have, and it's a miserable moment, or let me rephrase that, a family of a fallen officer in that miserable moment, even after all of all the people go back home and life gets back to normal, that is when the real turmoil, they say, sets in. Because you're waiting for, for so many things that you've been promised to come through. And then you compare that center to the waste, fraud and abuse that we're finding, where there's just billions here, another billion here, another million here, another 20 million here, another 30 million here, these daycare centers, hospice centers. It would make you go insane if you are a family that's just waiting on the benefit because your loved one gave their life to protect and serve. How frustrating is that for you when you see that this is how we treat our heroes and. And yet the villains, these con artists, they can get their hands on billions and billions of dollars.
- [12:05]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, it's deeply frustrating. Listen, if an officer tragically loses his or her life in the line of duty, there's nothing we can do to bring them back. There's nothing we can do to bring that officer back to their loved ones. But we do owe honoring our commitments to them. We do owe being there for their family. The men and women in blue who put themselves on the line, like John Barnes, they literally stand in harm's way. They stand between someone who would harm or kill us and ourselves or our loved ones. And unfortunately, bureaucracy is one of the few constants in the world. And dealing with the federal government is frequently maddening and infuriating. That being said, the PSOB process, this benefit process is notoriously slow. It is notoriously backlog. And so this is a common sense bill just to speed up the process to ensure that whether it's an officer who's lost his life, like Chief Ansbrough, or whether it's an officer who is permanently disabled, like John Barnes, that we make the determinations quickly and we provide them the benefits they've been promised.
- [13:23]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, absolutely right. I want to move on to Trey's Law as well. And we've talked about this before on this show, but for people that are listening, many listening on the radio around the country, this show, can you give us a recap of Trey's Law, how it became about and now what's happening moving forward?
- [13:38]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, Trey's Law is named for a Texan named for Trey Carlock. Trey Carlock grew up in Dallas and as a kid he went to a Christian summer camp. And at the summer camp, tragically, an adult man groomed him and then for years sexually abused him. And ultimately that sexual abuse resulted in a lawsuit. That lawsuit was settled. And one of the terms of the settlement was that Trey Carlock signed a non disclosure agreement where he committed to not disclose to anyone the details of his years of sexual abuse. Well, the abuse continued, taking a toll on Trey. And tragically, he took his own life and he was silenced. He shared with his therapist how frustrated he was about being silenced and not being able to speak the truth of his experience of the abuse that he suffered. Trey's law has risen up in the wake of that. And Trey's law is very simple. What it does is it prohibits enforcement of non disclosure agreements concerning victims of child sexual assault, so that legally you cannot enforce a gag order that if a child is sexually assaulted, and I will say sexual assault of kids is an epidemic in this country. It happens far too often. And litigation and non disclosure agreements are commonplace features that the people who are assaulting kids will put in place to silence the victims. And nobody should have a right to do that. You know, Trey's law was championed by Trey's sister Elizabeth. And we had Elizabeth on this show. She talked about her brother, she talked about her efforts. She went in Texas. The state legislature in Texas has already passed trades law. The legislature in Alabama has passed trades law. Missouri has passed trades law. A number of different states have passed trades law. And I introduced it in the US Congress so that we could pass it nationally. And again, I joined with Kirsten Gillibrand. She and I did both of these bills together. And it is designed to ensure that any child victim has the right to speak out. And the court system will not be used as a tool of a second round of abuse, because when you're silencing a child victim that is once again abusive. And in Trey's case in particular, he described at great length to his therapist how he felt silenced and agonized that he wasn't able to speak about it. His sister Elizabeth told us on this podcast how much of what happened to her brother she didn't even find out about until after he was dead, until after he'd taken his own life because of the gag order. He didn't share it with his sister, he didn't share it with his family. And so Trey's Law, we passed it unanimously through the Senate Judiciary Committee. We'll get it on the floor, we'll get it through the House. And once again, the President's gonna sign this.
- [16:46]
Ben Ferguson (Sponsor Read)
All right, I gotta tell you, really something exciting. We got a new puppy at Christmas. I've talked about our new dog Birdie on the show, and Birdie is now taking rough greens. Why? Because it's a brand new puppy, right? Like, why do you need to give him rough greens? After we saw what happened with our older dog, Memphis, we realized, why wait until the dog's older. Why not give rough greens right now to little Birdie? And we know what it does. It supports long term health by providing live bioavailable nutrients including essential vitamins, minerals, probiotics, digestive enzymes and omega oils. Now, the ingredients, they work together to improve nutrition absorption, also help Birdie maintain joint and muscle health as she grows and enhance her overall vitality. Now we care about Birdie's longevity. We've already lost two dogs, unfortunately when they got older. This is a way we can do everything we can to keep Birdie around as long as possible. Now, there are deficiencies found in processed dog food, but rough greens, it supplements your dog or your puppy's diet with natural antioxidants and anti inflammatory compounds that help reduce oxidative stress, support immune defense as well and slow age related decline. That's what we love the most. Now it's easy. You're not buying new food. You just sprinkle it on the current food that your dog eats and bam, they love it. So whether you've got a puppy or an older dog, you need to check out and try rough greens. You will see a difference. Now you don't have to change your dog's food. You just add rough greens and I'm going to offer you a free jumpstart trial bag. You just cover shipping. Use the discount code Verdict to claim your free jumpstart trial bag@ruffgreens.com that's R U F F Greens with an S.com promo code verdict. So don't change your dog's food. Just add rough greens and watch the health benefits come alive.
- [18:53]
Ben Ferguson
All right, center, I want to talk about the President's big trip to China and specifically you add some notes, some requests, some advocacy for some Americans that are being held. And this was a really big moment that people should be talking about.
- [19:09]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. So this was a meaningful legislative week. We've already talked about the two victories we had in the Senate Judiciary Committee passing two bills I authored. We had a third victory on the Senate floor, which is the entire Senate passed a resolution that I authored along with Dick Durbin, Democrat from Illinois, concerning the President's China trip and in particular urging the President to prioritize the release of political prisoners, the release of people who are wrongfully imprisoned in China, including Jimmy Lai, who's the great democracy activist in Hong Kong. I met Jimmy Lai when I traveled to Hong Kong. I met with him. His health is failing. He is being imprisoned because the Chinese Communist government views him as a threat to their communist oppression. And Then also focusing on the Christian pastors, including Pastor Ezra Zinn, who have been targeted, who have been arrested. China has been cracking down on Christian pastors. And so Dick Durbin and I together introduced this resolution, we took it to the Senate floor and this week it passed 100 to nothing. So the entire Senate with a bipartisan voice urged the President prioritize the releasing of these political prisoners.
- [20:23]
Ben Ferguson
It matters how much political, I think pressure in a positive way does that create for the conversation that happened because when, when, when, when you meet with an adversary like China and if you've ever been around these meetings, I, I was around a couple of them in the Bush second term. A lot of it is very much scripted. You have State Department that gets with their equivalent, the State Department, they decide what will and will not be talked about the table in these meetings. But when you have a hundred or nothing vote, you have Dick Durbin, you have you. And is that giving the ammo extra to the President saying hey, you've got all of the United States Congress behind you. It gives you a reason, even if you need to in essence to break protocol on what's been agreed to in the meetings, to say, hey, this just happened and we gotta talk about it.
- [21:09]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, that's exactly right. And this is something, when I put this resolution on the floor, I'm working in coordination with the White House, with the administration, and the President had already indicated an openness to raising these political prisoners. And what this does is give him additional ammunition. It lets him say to Xi, look, the Senate, 100 to nothing. We may have political disagreements in our country and other topics, but not on this. Every single senator, from the most conservative to the most liberal, they're all on the same page. And I'll use an example that's actually a very similar circumstance, which is Mark Sweden. So Mark Sweden is a Texan who was wrongfully imprisoned in China for over 10 years. He was thrown in prison, his health failed badly. And I led the fight in the Senate for years to free Mark Sweden, including sitting down with the Chinese ambassador in a one on one leaning in very hard urging China to release him, that civilized countries don't keep political prisoners. Joe Biden was president during much of this time. And so I repeatedly pressured President Biden and the State Department to raise Mark Sweden. Mark Swidin's mom lives in Texas. I talked to her multiple times and I did the same thing. I introduced a resolution calling for the release of Mark Sweden and it passed the Senate just like this one did, 100 to nothing that gives real force. And it ended up Joe Biden followed through and pressed it. The State Department followed through, and finally the pressure was enough that China released Mark Sweden. So he is no longer in a Chinese prison. He has been released. He came back. In fact, he came to my office. I had the opportunity to meet him and embrace him. And this is someone who, for years, I was speaking his name and demanding his release. And it's, you know, often when you're dealing with a government like the Chinese Communist government, it's a question of ratcheting up pressure. And any one step typically is not enough. But the more pressure you put on, the more leverage you put on, the more likely they are to comply. So here's what the resolution said, expressing the sense of the Senate that the President should prioritize securing the release of Pastor Jen Mingri, Pastor Guao Guanfu and his wife Pangju, Jimmy Lai, Dr. Gulshan Abbas and Ekpur Assad detained by the People's Republic of China during future engagements with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Whereas the government of the People's Republic of China has arrested Chinese, American and British citizens for the peaceful expression of free speech or religion or such acts by family members. Whereas, such arrests have been widely condemned by the international community and human rights organizations with repeated calls for the release of the detainees. Whereas on May 17, 2025, Pastor Gao Guang Quan Fu of the Light of Zion Church in Xian City was detained and is being held on charges of, quote, using superstitious activities to undermine the implementation of law. In other words, being a Christian is what they're holding him for and also, quote, fraud. Whereas Pastor Gao's wife Pang you, who was subsequently detained on June 7, 2025, remains held despite holding no official position in the church and has been denied access to critical prescription medication. Whereas honor about October 10, 2025, authorities of the People's Republic of China detained Pastor Jen Mingri, founder of Zion Church, along with other church leaders on equally dubious charges of, quote, illegal uses of information networks. Whereas Pastor Jen continues to be detained without access to critical medications to treat diabetes or contact with family members in the People's Republic of China and the United states. Whereas on November 7, 2025, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution 463, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all detained members of Zion Church, including Pastor Jen. And by the way, that was my resolution as well that I introduced and passed last year and for the government of the People's Republic of China to end harassment and intimidations of the relatives of Zion Church members and their relatives. Whereas in 1995, Jimmy Lai founded the Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong and subsequently faced repeated harassment and arrested, including a 69 month sentence in 2022 on dubious fraud charges that were later overturned and a subsequent 20 year sentence in February 2026 on dubious national security charges. Whereas in December 2025, President Donald Trump said he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to consider releasing Jimmy Lai. Whereas on December 4, 2025, House Resolution 930 was introduced commemorating Jimmy Lai and calling on authorities, the People's Republic of China, to immediately and unconditionally release Jimmy Lai and all other Hong Kong pro democracy advocates in prisons. And it goes on. There are a whole series more of Whereas provisions, but then it says resolved, that the Senate calls upon the President to prioritize securing the humanitarian release of Pastor Jen Mingri, Pastor Gao Kwan Fu and his wife Peng yu, Jimmy Lai, Dr. Gulsham Abbas and Ekpursat, and other wrongfully detained individuals. On the agenda for engagements with President Xi Jinping, including the anticipated May 2026 summit. And urges the President to seek verifiable proof of life and access to independent legal counsel, family communication and medical care for such detainees. And reaffirms the commitment of the United States to defend political and religious freedoms worldwide.
- [27:34]
Ben Ferguson
Incredible. It really is. And look, this is a administration, as you know, that has really been about getting back Americans all over the world. They've made it a priority.
- [27:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Great success. President Trump is very effective at this.
- [27:47]
Ben Ferguson
And that's the reason why I think it's going to be very interesting to see what comes out of this. Quickly. Your, what is your definition of success of overall this big meeting with China?
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Senator Ted Cruz
Look, it depends. There are a number of things that President Trump is trying to accomplish. One of the things he's trying to do is to get China to assist with Iran. And China is the main purchaser of Iranian oil. And so China could exert a lot of leverage over Iran. And the President is urging Xi to lean on Iran in particular to hand over their enriched uranium, to stop enriching, to stop funding terrorism and to open the Strait of Hormuz. Secondly, I think the President is also working to open the Chinese market. So, for example, it's been reported now that China agreed to buy 200 Boeing planes. That's a big deal. The president is fighting for farmers and ranchers to get our crops and our livestock into China. And he's fighting for US Manufacturers, and so he's fighting for American jobs in China. He's fighting for American national security in China and he's also fighting for China to do the right thing and release these wrongfully detained political prisoners.
- [28:58]
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Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available@public.com disclosures when you manage
- [30:00]
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procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Grainger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Grainger offers millions of products in fast, dependable delivery so you can keep your facility stocked, safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by grainger for the ones who get it done.
- [30:29]
Body by Jake Radio Host
Turn Someday into Right now with Buddy by Jake Radio Non Stop workout music and expert tips 247 hey.
- [30:36]
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Awesome health and wellness tips 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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Remember, stick to the fight when your heart is hit. It's when things seem worse that you must not quit. Don't quit.
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- [30:57]
Ben Ferguson
I Heart Radio all right center this is a very interesting story. It deals with the New York Times. Not saying you say every day being sued by a foreign country and a lawsuit that I think many are going to be very excited when they Hear exactly who's suing the New York Times and what it's all about.
- [31:18]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, let's start with the proposition that the New York Times is a garbage newspaper. That they are not. In fact.
- [31:24]
Ben Ferguson
You need a second for that. I second that.
- [31:26]
Public Investing Platform Announcer
Amen.
- [31:27]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, they are not journalists. They are not objectively reporting on facts. They are not trying to tell the truth. They are dishonest. They are propagandists. They are hard left. They are frequently pushing anti American propaganda, left wing propaganda. And in particular, the New York Times hates the state of Israel. So they are routinely, any way they can slander Israel, they're eager to do so. And that has been the case for many decades. That being said, they reached a new low with a column by Nicholas Kristof that was truly repulsive. And let me read, Let me read to you how National Review reported on this issue. The Israeli government is suing the New York Times over columnist Nicholas Christoph's thinly sourced report accusing Israeli soldiers and prison guards of using rape and other forms of sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners as part of an organized state policy. Christoph's column, which goes so far as to accuse Israeli soldiers of using trained dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners, cites a number of obviously conflicted organizations and individuals whose accounts are not backed by documentation or supporting eyewitnesses accounts. Now understand this for a minute. Kristoff wrote that the Israeli government uses dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners, men that they, they. Let's just start with a fairly obvious proposition. Dogs don't rape people. Like, that's not something dogs do. That's not. Like even in the world of anti Semitic, Israel hate making up stories that they've trained dogs to rape human beings. There is zero evidence of that. That is not something. And by the way, Kristof had no evidence of it. He just cites. Well, here I'll read a little more. Quote. Following the publication by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times of one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the state of Israel in the modern press, which also received the backing of the newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sara have instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times. So Israel is suing the New York Times for defamation. The column sites 14 individuals who claim to have been raped or otherwise sexually assaulted by Israeli settlers or members of the security forces, only a few of whom agree to be named. Of the name sources, several have changed their accounts over time, and at least one has a history of promoting Hamas terror. The column also relies heavily on claims made by human rights watchdogs such as Euromad Human Rights Monitor, a group with close ties to Hamas and a history of gross and unsubstantiated claims against Israel. The Times is standing by Kristof saying in a Wednesday evening statement that the column is based on, quote, on the record accounts and cites several analyses. This is, look, the slander and just the bias of the New York Times that they don't report facts. And I'll tell you, Christophe's column came out right before a detailed report came up, came out of the sexual abuse by Hamas on October 7th and afterwards of the hostages they took. And I guarantee you, Christoph in the New York Times, they knew this report was coming. And so this is exactly out of the Saul Alinsky playbook. This is exactly how leftists operate. What it is, what, what they are doing, they accuse others of doing. In this instance, Hamas used rape at a massive level.
- [35:16]
Ben Ferguson
Now, mind you, no one's accused, planned and well organized. To be clear, it was part of the attack. And so people understand this, the reporting that was coming out, which is why, of course, the New York Times would publish what they just published. The report was very clear that they had pre planned and orchestrated to use rape and sexual assault during and after the attacks. October 7th on the people that were going to be taken hostage. Like this wasn't organic. It was purposely planned to take place. And that's part of the reporting. And so, like you mentioned a moment ago, we will accuse the other side of doing literally what we did. And what they did, the terrorists did that went in there and took people is they said, we're going to rape them, we're going to kill some of them, we're going to rape others, and we're going to keep raping them and we're going to hold them hostage and keep sexually assaulting them. That was all part of their terrorist plan.
- [36:06]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. And to give you a sense, you may say, well, look, Kristof, he's a columnist in the New York Times. Surely he's objective, surely he's not biased. And that would of course be wrong. And stop calling me Shirley. Let me give you an amazing fact about Nicholas Kristof. Okay? This is from a story in the Free Beacon headline, Times columnist Christoph's father fought on Nazi side in World War II. Hamas prison rape dog propagandist dad also defended Vichy war criminal, then committed suicide after decades of nightmares. Now New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, whose article accusing Israel abusing dogs and carrots to rape Palestinian prisoners is being denounced by the Israeli foreign minister as a Hamas propaganda Ganda fabricated in a baseless blood libel, had a father who served on the Nazi side during World War II. In Christoph's 2024 memoir, Chasing Hope, he writes, when I was growing up and other kids talked about their dads heroically battling the Nazis, I kept quiet. I didn't want to admit that my father had actually fought for a year on the same side of the Nazis. Kristof's father also wrote a letter to the editor of The Times in 1989 defending Paul Tuvier, the intelligence chief of a pro Nazi militia in Vichy France who was convicted of killing seven Jewish hostages. Now, look, I gotta say, I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but it is still a little amazing to have someone who fought alongside the Nazis have his son now spreading Hamas propaganda attacking Israel. And I guess the question you would ask is, is there anyone responsible at the New York Times? Is there any editor? The fact that you have the state of Israel suing them for defamation. So one of the things Israel's gonna get in this litigation is they're going to get the emails and discussions of, hey, is there any fact checking? Is there any basis for these extraordinary and ridiculous and absurd claims? And, and I think it is likely that you're going to see that the editors didn't care if there was any basis. This is the political story they wanted to tell because they knew that the damning report of Hamas's use of rape was coming out. And so they decided, let's put it all on Israel and blame Israel. It's disgraceful. But sadly, it is not very uncommon for the New York Times.
- [38:45]
Ben Ferguson
No, it's not. And by the way, go grab that free break in article. You can read all about it. It's Hamas propaganda. New York Times writer Kristoff sexual violence column caps a career of corrections, retractions and apologies going back 25 years. It's a great read. Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Hit that subscriber auto download button. Download Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcast and the Senator and I will see you back here next week on this radio station and on the podcast all week long.
- [39:13]
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