Loading summary
Eric Trump
This is an iHeart podcast. Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bones Show.
Ben Ferguson
I had an incredible time at this.
Eric Trump
Year'S iHeartRadio music festival and even got.
Ben Ferguson
The chance to hang out with Diplo and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there. How did Ashes come together?
Eric Trump
Diplo? I pulled up real quick.
Ben Ferguson
He was about to leave on tour. You're about to jump in your tour bus and we had like three hours. It was really cool. He literally just like randomly showed up.
Eric Trump
To my house and I'm like, oh, hey Diplo, what are you doing? He's like, I have a song that I want to show you.
Ben Ferguson
And I was like, okay. You can listen to the full episode out now, wherever you get your podcast. And big shout out to my friends.
Eric Trump
At Hyundai for making this possible.
Ben Ferguson
Had a blast cruising around festival weekend in the all new Palisade hybrid.
Ted Cruz
The US Electric grid is approaching a breaking point as demand soars from data.
Ben Ferguson
Centers and home energy use.
Ted Cruz
Our aging infrastructure can't keep up and.
Ben Ferguson
The Department of Energy warns that without action, blackouts could surge 100 fold by 2030.
Eric Trump
The good news?
Ted Cruz
One solution is already here.
Eric Trump
Propane.
Ben Ferguson
It's American made, stored on site and.
Ted Cruz
Always ready, powering homes and businesses with cleaner, reliable energy that doesn't depend on.
Eric Trump
The grid or the weather. Learn more@probane.com hey, Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now, I don't know if you've heard, but Mint's Premium Wireless is $15 a month. But I'd like to offer one other perk. We have no stores. That means no small talk. Crazy weather we're having. No, it's not.
Ted Cruz
It's just weather.
Eric Trump
It is an introvert's dream. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan. $15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer first three months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. Cementmobile.com I'm Rodney Williams. And I'm Travis Holloway. Welcome to the wealthbreak podcast, a real conversation about finance. Let's be honest, building weft doesn't look the same for everyone.
Ben Ferguson
I feel like sometimes being broke is.
Eric Trump
A cycle and that we might have to revisit that. And we're not stopping at success stories. What happens when it doesn't go right? How do you cope with it? Because wealth isn't just about money. It's about creating a life where you thrive and help others do the same. Listen to the Wealth Break podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Ben Ferguson
Take a deep Dive into the stories making the news headlines across the world.
Ted Cruz
The news agents, we're not just here to tell you what's happening, but why? From me, Emily Maitlis and me, Jon Sopel with Global's award winning podcast, the Newsagents dropping daily covering everything you need to know about politics and current affairs.
Ben Ferguson
And The News Agents USA listening to.
Ted Cruz
The News Agents on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search the news agents to start listening.
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is Verdict with center Ted Cruz and it's Ben Ferguson with you. It's so nice to have you with us. Certainly if you're listening on radio right now as well. We love having you with us as well. And this is going to be a really fun show tonight, Senator, because we're going to get to have a good friend of ours on take a pause sort of from politics for a moment, talk about a cool new book that is out and what was behind writing this book. And I'll let you take it from there.
Ted Cruz
You know, Ben, I gotta say we try to count on being honest and candid with our viewers and listeners and yet you just claim that we're gonna take a break from politics. And this is about as far away from taking a break from politics as I can possibly imagine. Today we are very pleased to welcome our friend Eric Trump, President Donald Trump's son, who has a brand new book. A brand new book came out this week. The book is entitled Under Siege My Family's Fight to Save Our Nation. He is in the midst of his nationwide book tour right now. And in classic Trump fashion, he's on the list. And there's only one place to be on the list and that is at number one. It's the number one best selling book in America right now. And Eric, this is your first book. It ain't bad, debuting at number one. Congratulations and welcome, Mr.
Eric Trump
Senator. Now it will probably be my last book as well because we're not, I'm not doing this again. The return on Time of Books is especially when you put your heart and soul into it. But yeah, we're number one on Amazon. We're number one in all the lists. And it's, I mean, it just went viral. I think, you know, people in this country are pissed off. And Mr. Senator, you've done a better job fighting against the weaponization of government than I would say just about anybody other than maybe Donald Trump, right, who's had to face all of this. And you know, I became the pinata in this whole Fight. Because I was the one guy who didn't have constitutional protections. I was a civilian. You know, I was the guy that was running the Trump Organization. I was the guy that ran everything that was outside of Washington, D.C. for my father when he went into the White House. And what they tried to do to us, what they tried to do to our family, what they tried to do to this nation, what they tried to do to you and all your viewers on this show is unthinkable. And somebody had to materialize it because it was the greatest governmental corruption this nation has ever seen.
Ted Cruz
Well, you're right. And they launched everything they had at your father, at your family. Four separate indictments. On top of that, the asinine case from the New York Attorney General trying to argue that somehow global international banks are innocent waifs who are deceived and apparently are unable to value real estate because, you know, giant banks have never had to value real estate in the past. I will confess, for me, maybe the most absurd moment of all of it was, was when the idiot judge in New York valued Mar a Lago at $18 million, which. Which, I'll confess, I saw.
Eric Trump
I would have bought it for that.
Ted Cruz
I saw your dad not shortly after that. And I offered him on the spot. I said, Mr. President, I'll give you 20 million right now.
Eric Trump
Yeah, I'll take two.
Ted Cruz
I mean, as you know, you can't buy a hot dog stand in Palm beach for $18 million. And that notion, to me, it was the most ludicrous. It was a relatively small detail of what was a pile of idiocy upon idiocy. But you guys were the targets of it. And it cannot have been fun.
Eric Trump
Mr. Senator, I became the most appening man in American history for doing absolutely nothing wrong. I'm not Hunter Biden. I never had a speeding ticket in my life. I've lived a very straight, very good life. Hard working guy, no games, never even approached the line raised, right. And they tried to destroy us. I was the one that was getting calls from the FBI. You remember the Russia hoax very well because you were probably the best person at fighting against it. Eric, I hear you have secret servers in the basement of Trump Tower communicating directly with the Kremlin. I go, excuse me. I literally started. Mr. Senator, I started laughing. I started laughing. I go, first of all, you don't keep servers in basements because basements flood. Second of all, we're, like, largely cloud based. And they did it so a greedy woman could get about three extra votes, right? And they used that as their explanation as to why she lost. And then it was impeachment number one, and then it was impeachment number two, and then it was them attacking Kavanaugh. And then it was 112 subpoenas that I received for, again, doing nothing wrong. And then it was weaponization of every attorney general and district attorney in this country, whether it be Letitia James or Alvin Bragg or Cy Vance or Fanny Willis and her boyfriend in Fulton, Georgia, or Jack Smith or Comey. And everything that they did. Then they spied on our campaign. Then they did the weaponization of fisa. Then they took my father off the ballot in Colorado, and then they took him off the ballot in Maine. And when that didn't work, they tried to silence his voice and get rid of his first Amendment rights. So what did they do? Took him off of YouTube, took him off of Twitter, took him off of Facebook, took him off of Instagram. And when that didn't work, when we popped up Truth Social, what did they do? They had every judge impose gag orders on him. And then they raided Mar A Lago. I was the guy that got the call when 30 FBI agents were outside screaming in a phone to me, turn off the security cameras at Mar A Lago. They did everything they could. And then they debanked us. And then they deplatformed us. They tried to bankrupt us, they tried to imprison us. And I'll never forget walking out of that jail cell with my father in New York after the 34 felony counts, right, which have all been overturned. And I said, dad, we either win the White House or you and I are in jail for doing absolutely nothing wrong. That's how diabolical the pendulum was. And they were doing it to the people in this country as well. They were debanking them. They were going after their pastors, they were going after their churches. They were weaponizing the irs. They were skipping great people who had worked their butts off their entire year because of DEI hires and literally ruin upward mobility of people across the country. They were corrupting their children. They were teaching them revisionist history. This siege wasn't just against the Trump family. It was against all of us. It was against both of you. It was against every person that's watching us right now. And people are pissed off in this country. And that's why this book went to number one.
Ben Ferguson
You mentioned Mar A Lago a second ago and getting that phone call. Can you just explain how insane that day must have been? Cuz I know people, we saw it on tv. But you were on the inside. And when you're getting a phone call, they're telling you to turn your cameras off.
Ted Cruz
So, like, what time of day is it? What are you doing? How does the call?
Eric Trump
It was about 7:50, 8:00 clock in the morning when I got a call from my team. They say, the 30 FBI agents and they have a search warrant. I go, what are they searching? I'm not sure if I understand. Like, we have, like, such a great relationship with law enforcement. It was. It was bizarre at the time. I go, how would I not know about this from Secret Service? How would I not know? I mean, they didn't give anybody warning. And I'll never forget, I said, I finally figured out what they were doing. And I said, did anybody let my father know? And it was my team, really. And they said, no. And I go, I'll call him right now. And we met in his office. And that's when he wrote up that beautiful tweet, as you remember. And the FBI was so damn pissed that we sent out that tweet. They wanted to have the narrative. They wanted to be able to release a story. And instead my father writes that beautiful tweet. You know, right now the FBI is raiding the famous Mar A Lago, my home, you know, and the world went crazy. The world couldn't stand it. It was the worst decision that they ever made. And remember, Senator, they said it was on behalf of nara. Right? National Archives. Does anybody. I went on Hannity that night, I go, does anybody actually believe a glorified library sent 30 FBI agents to invade Mar A Lago with firearms? Give me a break, right? And then, sure enough, it comes out, that was Joe Biden and it was Merrick Garland, and it was the whole host of criminals that weaponized the entire system. But I'll never Forget that call 30 FBI agents outside of Mar A Lago. They searched Melania's room, they searched Barron's room. They took attorney client privilege documents, they took HIPAA documents. You can't make it up.
Ben Ferguson
Many of you may not know this. I actually own two different barbecue restaurants. One right now. And the quality of meat, when you want to make amazing food, is so vitally important. Now, you've heard of Big Pharma, but have you ever heard of Big Ag? Did you know that 85% of American beef is controlled by just four major companies? Just because you buy American doesn't mean you're buying healthy. And buying organic only means they control what the cattle eat, not how they live. Well, that's why I want you to know about backyard butchers. It is Texas steer steaks that come directly from a real Texas ranch where the cattle are raised, processed and shipped from the same location, completely bypassing Big Ag. These Texas steers are 98% grass fed and then 2% natural grain finish. That's how you get amazing steaks with no growth hormones, no antibiotics and no preservatives. The quality and flavor are just straight up exceptional. Making America healthy again. Yes, that is a big deal and it starts with going back to our roots and eating real meat from the hard working ranchers who raise cattle the right way. So try it. You're going to love it. So go to backyardbutchers.com Enter the promo code verdict for up to 30% off, two free 10 ounce ribeyes and free shipping when you subscribe. So fight back against Big Ag with your fork. Support American ranchers, support Texas and you're gonna get a great meal. Backyardbutchers.com promo code verdict to get up to 30 off and two free 10 ounce rib eyes plus free shipping. Right now. I know you're going to try to terrorize the New York Times a little bit. That's the hardest thing, is just to screw with them and be at the top of their list. So everyone listening, I hope you'll buy the book just so we can screw with them a little bit sooner. You've been at the top of that list. It's hard to get there.
Ted Cruz
Well, I will say, Eric, you should brace yourself. It doesn't matter how many copies of the book you sell, the New York Times is going to insist that like left handed transgender witches is the number one book in America. And to be fair, in the New York Times newsroom, it probably is the number one book in America. But if you get outside the New York Times and to the rest of America, there are a lot of people right now that are going to Amazon. Go to Amazon right now, buy Eric Trump's book, keep it at number one, annoy a liberal. Buy two, buy one for yourself and buy one to give a liberal just to drive them crazy and to say, explain to me again how you think weaponization is a bad thing because, because you're liberal friends to the extent you have any, that they haven't de friended you. They're not gonna have an answer to that. Eric, tell me what was your dad's reaction when you went in and told him, okay, the FBI agents are here. I assume he was pissed, but like, what was his immediate reaction when you.
Eric Trump
Tell him that he was actually remarkably calm. You know, it's. You know, I've seen my father pissed many times, but he doesn't get pissed off in situations of kind of like great anguish and stress. Right. It's no different than Butler, but, you know, almost foreshadowed Butler. It was the same thing. It's. I probably would have been pissed in Butler, and I think he was actually remarkably calm, especially in the aftermath of what happened. And, you know, he was always his calmest in the worst moments. Always. I mean, and Senator, you saw many of them. I mean, you were there for many of them in so many different ways. You know, he never let emotion fly. It was a very. He goes, you got to be kidding me. All right, honey, meet me in my office. You know, we're going to write up a statement. And that's when he let that truth fly. And, you know, the rest is history. I mean, for the next month, they had helicopters buzzing over Mar A Lago. And, you know, the scenes of that front gate, you remember the cop car in front of the front gate of Mar A Lago, I mean, Mar A Lago became. Not that it wasn't probably already, but it became the most famous property in the world based on that raid and what they did. And in the aftermath of all of it, we find out Jack Smith was bringing in classified folders and effectively staging photo shoots on the office floor of my father's office. But, you know, as I said before, guys, I mean, they were going through Melania's closet, they were going through Barron's room. They literally. They took his medical records. Right. Like HIPAA related records. That pissed off the judge. I can only tell you, they took attorney client documents. Right. That also really pissed off Eileen Cannon, the judge on the case.
Ted Cruz
Sure.
Eric Trump
You just, you couldn't believe it. And then, you know, again, all of this was staged. You think Donald Trump just leaves classified folders fanned out perfectly on the floor? I mean, it was all staged. It was all set up. They wanted to imprison him. They wanted to take his voice, they wanted to imprison him, they wanted him behind bars. They, they didn't want him to be able to campaign. They wanted to weaponize the system in any way, shape or form, and they weren't able to do it.
Ben Ferguson
A lot of people remember the de platforming, and you mentioned that earlier, and you go back to the end of his first term in office, but one of the things you mentioned earlier on was they tried to ruin your businesses by debanking you can you explain for people that don't understand just how critical that was? In a time of the Trump Organization, you've been handed the family business to run it, and now you're finding out you can't even have banking the way that you need to have banking to literally run businesses, whether you're a big business or a small business. A lot of people listening right now. If you don't have a bank, you don't have a business.
Eric Trump
Yeah, Ben, it was that times 100. I mean, they. And literally it was coordinated by the administration. There's no question about it. And they called up and they said, listen, congratulations, you canceled the account. I was getting these letters. I got one from Capital one. They had 300 bank accounts. And these aren't like baby banking accounts. These are massive commercial buildings that have hundreds of tenants, thousands of people working in these buildings, hundreds if not thousands of vendors, heavy real estate taxes. I mean, people. Hundreds and hundreds of people depend. Their livelihoods depend on these businesses. They've got complicated lockbox provisions and loan documents, thousands of inputs coming in like this. And they just called up. Your accounts are going to get closed. You've got one or two days to move them, and congratulations, you're done. All because we wore a hat that said Make America Great Again. That was red. These were commercial buildings. These were condominium associations. These were small golf courses. These were, you know, residential shops. These were escrow accounts. Things that had nothing to do. Nothing to do with politics whatsoever. And they canceled us like we were dogs. Capital One was the worst. J.P. morgan was horrible. Bank of America was horrible. First Republic was terrible. But it wasn't just the banks. It was platform Shopify. Shopify literally gave us a notice. They do all the E comm platforms in the middle of the night. Turned off our accounts like we were nothing. Right? We were selling golf polos that we have from Mar a Lago. And they did everything they could to hurt us, to turn off the rails. Right? Again. They wanted our voice gone. They wanted us bankrupt. They wanted the name off of every building. They wanted us thrown out of New York. You had Letitia James that was trying to repossess our assets. I mean, it was almost like forfeiture. It was not constitutional. Hence the reason the appellate courts threw out the case. 5 0. And we got a resounding victory two weeks ago or three weeks ago, guys, they tried everything they could. And because I was the guy outside of Washington, D.C. because I ran the company, it all fell on me. That's how I became the Most subpoenaed person in the history of this country having never done a damn thing wrong. They wanted to get to my father. Coming through me.
Ted Cruz
Now, were these business accounts, personal accounts? Both. I mean, how many accounts are we talking about?
Eric Trump
Roughly, like, what, 500? You know, lots of those being business accounts, all of them being us. You know, my wife has, like, athletic clothing line. You know, JPMorgan Chase wouldn't open up an account. So, you know, for her, she's not Donald Trump. She's not the Trump Organization. They did this to everyone in the family. If you even came close, you know, if you even came close, I have a little farm with a couple buddies. They canceled that account. Doesn't wear a Trump name. They were indiscriminate. If it was six degrees of separation from Trump, they canceled us. And honestly, guys, I'm an outspoken, big fan of cryptocurrency. That's how I found crypto, because I realized how quickly financial institutions can be weaponized against the American people and realize that there's nothing that can be done on, you know, using traditional financial institutions that can't be done better, faster, cheaper, safer, and more efficiently using cryptocurrency. And I'm the biggest proponent of it.
Ted Cruz
Did they even. Even purport to give you any explanation, or did they just say, no, it's canceled? Like. Like they didn't. Was there any details? Or you just get phone calls or get an email and say, okay, this. This account's done?
Eric Trump
Yeah, other than a lot of those, you know, a lot of the people that worked in the. In the banks who otherwise said, this is the. The most. I can't believe it. I can't believe what my bank's doing. This is all political. That's what they're saying in the corridors every day. They canceled you for political reasons. There's no other explanation. They're telling us, you know, they're telling us, we can't talk to you ever again. I was unbelievable. And I would not wish that on my worst enemy to take the rails of being able to pay employees. These are housekeepers. These are janitors, These are engineers, These are security officers. These are drivers, hospitality workers. To not be able to pay them a salary, all because somebody wanted to politicize a system against a candidate. Because they happen to be a conservative and they believed in making America great again.
Ben Ferguson
I am sure if you've been listening to conservative radio and podcasts, you've heard a lot of talk about gold and silver. Now, there are people that ask me all the time. Who do I trust? And that is Kirk Elliot Precious Metals. You get more than gold and silver. You get trusted guidance from a team that puts people first.
Eric Trump
Always.
Ben Ferguson
The mission is clear. They want to help you and your family protect what matters the most with real metals, real service and real clarity. Here's what sets Kirk Elliott apart. Number one, a bullion only approach. They focus on investment grade metals. No overpriced collectibles or gimmicks. That means more precious metals for your money and fair value when it's time to sell. They also have transparent pricing. This is why I recommend them and love using them. Just 8% when you zero commissions when you sell. No hidden fees ever. Many companies do that. They also give you personalized guidance. You're never just a number. There's no pressure. They give you honest answers and education that put you in control. I want you to go to kepm.comBen that's K-E P M.comBen to schedule your personal portfolio review. Ask about today's unique market window and how the current silver to gold ratio might work in your favor. Protect what matters. Visit kepm.com ben or call them 720-605-3900 Kirk Elliott Precious Metals Smarter metal investing starts with them. Operation Overlord the D Day Beaches It's Ben Ferguson and you and I share a passion for history. So I hope you'll join me next spring on the D Day beaches in Normandy. The invasion that sealed Hitler's doom. Omaha and Utah. Discover the sacred patch of sand with me. Ten days in Europe. Luxury hotels and fully escorted by America's leading expert on France and the D Day invasion can chase Paris champagne country 57. 57. And that includes your airfare stand at General Patton's gravesite, Bastone Point du Hawk and Mulberry Harbor. Call now on your cell phone, dial pound 250 and say the keyword Conservative Tours or go to conservativetours.com an A plus rating with the BBB. All your sightseeing in Paris too. You'll have the option to receive a one time auto dialed text message from iheartmedia and I'll see you on the Chaz Elysees.
Eric Trump
Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bone Show.
Ben Ferguson
I had an incredible time at this.
Eric Trump
Year'S iHeartRadio music festival and even got.
Ben Ferguson
The chance to hang out with D and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there. Check this out. So how did Ashes come together? Diplo? Well, I kind of briefly met Bailey, I think at Morgan's show one of them. And I think he's just a guy in Nashville. He's cool as hell. And I had a new kind of sound I wanted to do and I think he's the one guy that could carry it. And I came to his house, I.
Eric Trump
Had a show, I pulled up real.
Ben Ferguson
Quick, he was about to leave on tour. You're about to jump in your tour bus and we had like three hours, played the record for him. We kind of like got a scratch and then he handled it on his own on the road. Yeah, it was really cool. He really just like randomly showed up to my house and I'm like, oh.
Eric Trump
Hey Diplo, what are you doing?
Ben Ferguson
He's like, I have a song that.
Eric Trump
I want to show you.
Ben Ferguson
And I was like, okay. And then now we're here playing it live. You can listen to the full episode out now, wherever you get your podcasts. And big shout out to my friends at Hyundai for making this possible.
Eric Trump
Had a blast cruising around festival weekend.
Ben Ferguson
In the all new Palisade hybrid.
Eric Trump
Tired of spills and stains on your sofa? WashablesOfAs.com has your back. Featuring the Annabe Collection, the only designer sofa that's machine washable inside and out. Where designer quality meets budget friendly prices. That's right, sofas start at just $699. Enjoy a no risk experience with pet friendly stain resistant and changeable slipcovers made with performance fabrics. Experience cloud like comfort with high resilience foam that's hypoallergenic and never needs fluffing. The sturdy steel frame ensures longevity and the modular pieces can be rearranged anytime. Check out washablesofas.com and get up to 60% off your annabe sofa backed by a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not absolutely in love, send.
Ted Cruz
It back for a full refund.
Eric Trump
No return shipping or restocking fees. Every penny back. Upgrade now@washablesofas.com Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.
Ted Cruz
The U.S. electric grid is approaching a breaking point as demand soars from data.
Ben Ferguson
Centers and home energy use.
Ted Cruz
Our aging infrastructure can't keep up and.
Ben Ferguson
The Department of Energy warns that without action, blackouts could surge 100 fold by 2030.
Eric Trump
The good news?
Ted Cruz
One solution is already here.
Eric Trump
Propane.
Ben Ferguson
It's American made, stored on site and.
Eric Trump
Always ready powering homes.
Ted Cruz
Businesses with cleaner, reliable energy that doesn't depend on the grid or the weather.
Ben Ferguson
Learn more@probane.com Senator this is a story that we're hearing about the weaponization of the private sector. Not the government, the private sector against the Trump Organization. The moment that he just said 500 bank accounts just shut down, I'm shocked by that. I think you were as well.
Ted Cruz
That number, I'd never heard anything remotely close to that. I mean, that really is stunning. So you're running your families outside businesses. You get these calls. What do you do when you're given what you said, 24 hours, 48 hours notice? Like, were there banks that were willing to welcome your business or what did you do with 500 accounts being canceled?
Eric Trump
You had a lot of attorney generals and you had a lot of government institutions that were going to these banks saying, don't even think about, don't touch that account. You know, Letitia James was doing that to the bonding companies when we had to. After the initial ruling, when we had to post a $600 million bond, by the way, that was like five times the size of the Boeing bond that made them, you know, literally. I mean, it was, it was, it was the biggest bond ever seen in the country, you know, and she was going to the very same institution saying, don't even touch that bond. So we had to post a bond based on the court before we had everything overturned. And she was going to the biggest insurance company saying, you don't touch that bond. You know, you're registered in New York and if you touch that bond, I'm going to think less favorably on you. That's how badly they weaponize the system. What do you do when you get those letters? You want to crawl under your desk. And honestly, I had probably 100 people in the company that didn't sleep for a six month period of time who were distraught. And thank God we had enough little local banks, you know, that you move all the accounts unthinkable right to these little local branches who want to take your money. But these weren't the JP Morgans. These weren't the at the bank of Americas. They were small little mom and pop regional banks that did the right thing and honestly probably saved us based on the fact that they were willing to do the right thing. This didn't just happen to us. I was on the campaign trail. I'd hear from people every single day. You know, my bank canceled me. Why? Well, my company makes a spring and the spring goes in a fishing reel. And that fishing reel sold at Bass pro Shops. And Bass Pro Shops sells 12 gauge duck hunting ammo. And they thought the affiliation. I heard this everywhere I went. I heard it from the crypto guys. I believed in bitcoin. I Believed in stablecoin. I believe in the future of kind of modern finance. And because I believed in cryptocurrency, my banks canceled me. Wachovia canceled me. Bank of America canceled me. Guys, I heard this all over the place. We need to make this illegal. And it is, it's illegal in a lot of states and under a lot of banking clauses. But the fact that you can literally, I mean, could you imagine if AT&T or Verizon just decided to cancel all conservative cell phones? Yeah, right. If you can't bank, you can't survive. If you can't bank, you can't eat. If you can't bank, you can't pay employees. And yet they turned us off like we were dogs.
Ben Ferguson
How much money do you think that Trump, when you guys were out during the four years and under siege like this, how many business deals got blown up because people were afraid even to just do business with you because they were afraid their business would be affected, negative, could be targeted. I'm assuming that was a reality for quite some time.
Eric Trump
Well, I talk a lot about in the book. I mean, there were, there were reporters that just made their whole livelihoods. David Fahrenholt from the Washington Post and others, you know, made their entire livelihoods calling up, you know, vendors of ours, calling up our employees, calling up brides and grooms that were going to get married at one of the properties, one of the hotels.
Ben Ferguson
They are, hold on. They were harassing people that were getting married at Trump Resorts.
Eric Trump
Oh, I have, I have more emails than you can possibly imagine. You know, I hear you're gonna go get married at Mar A Lago. Oh, really? You know, this might have to make the front cover of our respective paper. You know, can you please give me comment? And these brides and grooms are saying, I just want to get married in peace. You know, I just, you know, this is a beautiful property. I'm not a political person. I just, you know, it's a five star property. I love the place. It's convenient. My family lives nearby. Whatever the hell the reason they were doing that, they were extorting employees. They were going up to employees. They frankly tried to do it to me. Hey, you tell us anything about Donald Trump, we'll let you go. You know, all your problems were.
Ben Ferguson
Hold on. They tried to turn you against your own father.
Eric Trump
Alvin Bragg, Are you kidding me? Cyrus Vance, all of them. They weaponized every DA in AG to try and flip every single person to say anything negative, to get any negative testimony against Donald Trump for their Own political purposes. Absolutely. That was a whole game they played, and no one in our company broke. Guys, this was the siege that I dealt with every single day. Right. I mean, it was all of these factors that came together all at once, all the time, doing anything they could to just chop us off at every single. I mean, when they made up the dirty dossier. When they made up. Right. I mean, they have stories about prostitution in there, about golden. You know, what's right? What do you think? They were trying. They were trying to divorce my father. They were trying to destroy his marriage. They were trying to break up our family. That's what they were trying to do. Also, a greedy woman could get, you know, again, two more votes. These people are sick. These people are deranged. And there's been zero accountability for any of it. And as a son who fought by my father's side every single day during this battle, somebody had to tell this story. Somebody had to tell the inside perspective of the lengths that a corrupt government will go to besides just spying on campaigns and despite. It's just, you know, raiding homes, you know, all the things that they did to try and destroy us, to try and destroy make America great again and try and destroy conservatives all across the country.
Ted Cruz
Look, it was unmitigated evil. And it was driven. Part of it was driven by hate. Today, the defining characteristic, I think, of the Democrat Party is they hate your father and they hate your family. I mean, that anything connected to your father, they hate. And I think it also, though, was a disability, deep contempt for democracy. I think every one of these indictments, I think the weaponization that we saw, their underlying terror is that the voters would do what they did in November of 2024 and vote to reelect your father. And this was all about undermining democracy and preventing the voters from doing that. You know, Eric, you mentioned earlier that you described yourself as the most subpoenaed man in America. How many subpoenas did you get and did you testify a lot of times? Were they demanding documents? What subpoenas were coming in?
Eric Trump
112 subpoenas. I sat in more depositions than any human being in the history of depositions. And by the way, these are like big boy subpoenas, right? They're all coming from, you know, your close friend Elizabeth Warren, as we like to call her Pocahontas, and many others we turned over. I mean, they would ask for document discovery, you know, please give us every email in the company, and they would list a thousand words. But aside from that, they Would list national and international. Well, all our hotels are Trump International Hotel. And all our golf courses are Trump National Golf Course. You can probably see where this is going. Every email signature of every person in the company either has the word national or international in it. That's their fishing expedition. I actually brought this to the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court specifically told them you can't fish. Right? And they did it anyway. The judges didn't give a damn. They wanted to find any comma that was out of place and they couldn't. I mean, in the Letitia James trial, literally, Deutsche bank was on the stand saying that Trump was the best lender that they've ever had. Right? We made them hundreds of millions of dollars, paid off every loan, paid it off ahead of time, never missed a payment. Even in the darkest days of COVID when they made us shut down our properties, we never missed, we never defaulted, we never breached a covenant. And then one day I wake up to the nightmare of you're fined $600 million for doing nothing wrong with banks that loved us, that testified that they loved us. I mean it was, you know, and that's because you had a crooked judge again, got overturned 5, 0 at the next court. But they rigged the entire system. And you're seeing them do that right now, right? You're seeing them do that in Washington D.C. where 94% of the cases that go in front of the lower courts are literally going against the administration. And then they all have to go up on appeal and get overturned. But guys, the beautiful thing about this story is we won, right? I mean the media lost their credibility. No one likes the mainstream media. I mean, my wife is on Fox News on a Saturday at 9pm and she's getting 4x the ratings of CNN on the same time slot on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in primetime slots, right? No one likes the mainstream media. ABC's dead, NBC's dead, CNN's dead. And Independent voices like these podcasts are winning the day.
Ted Cruz
By the way, she is doing an awesome job. I had a chance to be on her show and she's a great interviewer. Cuz she's relaxed, she's having fun, she's asking real questions and it's night and day. You know, I, I will occasionally do, do cnn. Poor Ben was on CNN for six, seven years. I actually think he, he has a padded room and he like, like puts on a straight jacket when he remembers those times.
Ben Ferguson
Fighting commies for seven years.
Eric Trump
Hey listen, I just came off Kaitlan Collins About 20 minutes ago, all right? It's a trust.
Ben Ferguson
Thoughts and prayers, Eric. Thoughts and prayers.
Eric Trump
Thoughts and prayers.
Ted Cruz
You know, it's. It's so bad. Let me ask you, when all of this was coming in, and it is not exaggeration to say there has never been a political leader subject to more weaponization, more assaults, more insanely unfair attacks than your father has been. Was there ever a time that you felt yourself giving in to despair? And do you think your dad ever did?
Eric Trump
Yeah, honestly, it's like we're like masochistic. We like pain or something along those lines. Right. It's like a weird. A weird trait. Right. And I think it served us well. But no, I think we were so pissed off at that point. We wanted to fight and we wanted to win. And we want to save the constitution. We want to save the American flag. We want to save religion in society. We want to save the second amendment. We want to end wokeness. We wanted to stop the DEI nonsense, you know, men my size swimming in women's sport. We wanted to save the greatest country in the world against absolute lunacy. And so we never gave up. We never stopped fighting. We went out there and we punched back every single day. And we did that as a family. I never left that stage. And honestly, I've never been more proud of a human being in my life.
Ben Ferguson
Every so often, something happens that reminds us just how fragile our freedoms are. We can't afford to take our rights for granted. We must draw a line in the sand. And our friends at patriot mobile have been doing just that for more than 12 years. The truth is there is only one provider that boldly stands in the gap for americans who believe freedom is worth fighting for. And that company is patriot mobile. Not only are they leading the red economy, they're also outpacing the competition in technology. Patriot mobile is one of the only carriers offering premium access to to all three major u. S Networks, giving you nationwide coverage and service that you can count on day after day. They also offer unlimited data plans, mobile hotspots, international roaming, Internet backup, and so much more. And switching has never been easier. You can activate in minutes on your phone from your home or your office. And you keep your same number you've got now, keep your same phone or upgrade to a new one. And this is where the magic happens. Every month, about 5% of your bill is given back to conservative causes at no extra cost to you that stand up for our first and our second amendment rights, the rights of unborn children and our wounded warriors and those that have fought for our country and wear a badge. So go to patriotmobile.com verdict and you are going to get a free month of service with a promo code verdict. Or you can call them and 972-patriot. That's 9772-patriot. Or call them and go online at patriot mobile.com verdict promo code verdict for a free month of service. Make the switch and make a difference every time you pay your bill. All right, so our guest with us is Eric Trump. Senator, you and I were just talking with him about this. Really? His family being under siege. You talked about these big boy subpoenas. Part of that is to financially hurt you. What did you guys spend just doing the fighting of all the lawsuits against you during that four year period, how much did it cost you?
Eric Trump
Roughly 400 million. Guys, I laugh when people, oh, Trump is profiting off of government. I go away. Excuse me. If you want to come in, I'll break down the finances. You want Trump's profit? We spent $400 million to defend ourselves against nonsense. The fact that we did not have secret servers communicating with the Kremlin, the fact that Don wasn't a Russian agent. Remember, you had Adam Schiff out there every single day. Donald Trump Jr. Is a Russian agent. Guys, if he wasn't protected by the speech and debate laws, you would have, honestly, the guy would have been worth zero. He would have been living in a shoebox based on the fact that you would have sued him for slander and taken everything that he ever had. It was all made up, lies. They did everything they possibly could to take us down. We spent over $400 million between that Letitia, Alvin Bragg, Cy Vance, Fanny, I mean, I could go on and on the raids, the Mar A Lago, who's.
Ted Cruz
The worst to deal with? Between Alvin Bragg, Cy Vance, Letitia James, Jack Smith, who was the worst?
Eric Trump
Probably Letitia, have you wanna know the truth? I mean, it was so corrupt. And I don't know Alvin Bragg, because you had Marchan. I mean, Judge Merchand's daughter is like the head digital fundraiser for the Democratic Party. And the guy wouldn't recuse himself. And literally you'd be sitting in these courtrooms, guys, and I would not leave my father's side. I sat next to him every single day. If he was there, I was gonna be there as a son to support him. And most of the time, some of these cases I wasn't gagged in. So normally I was the guy in the courthouse staff, you know, shouting and yelling at the cameras as to what the hell was actually going on? Because that's the only way you could communicate a message. But guys, I mean, you had liberal, and I mean liberal reporters who was in that courtroom shaking their heads, saying, none of this makes any sense. I mean, they shut down all of Manhattan, lower Manhattan, for a hundred thousand dollar payment that my father didn't even make, made by a lawyer. They indicted him 34 times. I mean, you know, Al Capone had one felony indictment. They indicted my father 34 times for $100,000 payment, by the way, by a district attorney who ran on the premise of reducing, just decriminalizing just about anything. You could shoot somebody in the face in Times Square and it was decriminalized and you're gonna let them out and you're gonna have community policing and all sorts of nonsense. I mean, he ran on the premise of literally emptying Rikers Island. So you had no criminals in there. Yet 34 felonies in a six month period of time is shutting down New York and the FDR drive every day over $100,000. I mean, it wasn't believable.
Ted Cruz
If only your father were mugging people in Times Square, then Alvin Bragg would never have prosecuted him. But instead, he committed the unspeakable sin of not only being President of the United States, but being an extraordinarily successful and bold President of the United States, which is an unpardonable sin. All right, we don't have much time left, but I want to take it a little bit lighter and ask, what was it like? Like your father is. Is unique. I never in my life have I met anyone remotely like your father. He and I have spent a lot of time together. He has extraordinary courage. But before he was president, what was it like growing up as a kid with Donald Trump as your father? Like, what was he like as a dad when you were 10?
Eric Trump
Honestly, the greatest dad you could ever imagine. Expected big things from us, right? I mean, every day I'd go give him kiss before I went to school. Honey, no drink drinking, no drugs, no smoking. You better get good grades. And by the way, never trust anybody, right? He'd once in a while add that he never, never trusts anyone.
Ben Ferguson
Hey, that's probably how important that was going to be now.
Eric Trump
Yeah, as I said, it probably benefited us pretty well. So amazing guy, you know, listen, we were spoiled as hell in that we lived in Trump Tower. We had a beautiful roof over our head, we were always well fed, we had the best education, but we were never handed money. We were never handed Cash if we wanted something. If I wanted a fishing rod, congratulations, you're working working for it. I got on our construction sites when I was 11 years old doing demo, doing electrical H vac, running backhoes, excavators. I grew up working with my hands on our construction sites with many of the guys that work for me today. And you know what? He wanted us to learn a trait. He wanted us to learn the value of a dollar. And by the way, he wanted us to be tired as hell at the end of the day because listen, don't give type A kids or any kid, but don't give type A kids money or free time because bad things happen. And amen. He was an amazing father. He is an amazing father. And everything we've ever done, we fought together. Whether it's real estate, whether it was the Apprentice. I was on that for seven seasons. And then in politics, I mean, when he decided to run, he said to us, he goes, you know, kids, let's do this. You know, I was on Megyn Kelly. I didn't know what the hell immigration was. I mean, Senator, this was not my world. I built hotels and all of a sudden I'm in the middle of box.
Ben Ferguson
You were on the wall and now you're on tv.
Eric Trump
I've got nine illegal immigrants around me and I'm battling all of them. And I don't know the first damn thing about illegal immigration, right? I mean, like, this is not the world that we came from. But my father is a remarkable guy. My mother was an amazing powerhouse. And strict, demanded manners, demanded respect, demanded work ethic. And I have the greatest parents you can ever imagine. I spent a lot of time in Under Siege talking about, you know, being raised by them and you know, it was unique in so many ways. But they, they did everything they could in this strange world that we lived in. To ground us and make sure we turned out to be hard workers, normal, and didn't have any of these kind of Hunter Biden esque problems. I don't have a laptop from hell, I don't do finger painting, selling it to foreign nationals all over the world. Never married, my brother's ex wife. Never did that kind of stuff. No drugs, no perversion. I was always a good kid who believed in God and believed in hard work and lived an honest life.
Ted Cruz
Eric, I can't tell you how many times, dozens if not hundreds of times people have commented that one of the things they admire most about your dad is you and your brothers and sisters. And listen, it is hard for any Successful person to raise good kids. It's challenging. There's a lot of pressure. And, you know, I know your entire family, and I will say, literally people early on throughout the process, they'll comment, well, you know, somehow his kids are like, like not messed up and incredibly successful and put together. And I mean, it's. All right, let me ask you, let's say we have some young parents that are listening to this podcast. Are there any lessons, a young parent, by the way, you know, Ben has young kids, I have teenage kids. Are there any lessons, any lessons from your dad that young parents should know or lessons that you've tried to apply?
Eric Trump
Yeah, keep them poor and make them start working early. Honestly, I mean, that's what it is. Keep them poor, don't give type A kids money and don't give them endless time. That's just a bad recipe. And I can't tell you guys how many friends I had who were peers, who went to school with me. And three quarters of them ended up in rehab. And a lot of them went down bad roads. And guess what? They were getting ferraris when they're 16 years old. What do you ever want to aspire to get if that's, if that's how you're being raised? I mean, does it surprise you that those people don't have work ethic? Does it surprise you that they go down bad roads? And my father would never let that happen to us and he made us work our butts off. And believe me, if I wasn't good at what I did, real estate wise, I would not be in this chair. I mean, forget about nepotism for a second. If we weren't incredibly capable, believe me, I wouldn't be running one of the largest real estate empires anywhere in the world. And he made us work and he made us prove that we were good at what we do. And we fought every single day and we're an incredibly tight family. And he's a remarkable person. He's my best friend. I love him to death and I'm so proud of him, especially in a week where he's accomplished as much as he had. I am so damn proud of what he did and what he's accomplished and the hell of a journey. Guys, it's all worth it. This is all worth it. The siege is all worth it. Based on the great things that are happening to our country and our world.
Ben Ferguson
Grab the book Under Siege Amazon right now. Eric, a pleasure to have you on. Don't forget, grab the podcast, share it wherever you can, and thanks for joining us. It's Verdict with Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. We'll see you back here on the podcast all week long.
Eric Trump
I'm Rodney Williams. And I'm Travis Holloway. Welcome to the Wealth Break podcast, a real conversation about finance. Let's be honest, building wealth doesn't look the same for everyone. I feel like sometimes being broke is a cycle and that we might have to revisit that and we're not stopping at success stories. What happens when it doesn't go right? How do you cope with it? Because wealth isn't just about money. It's about creating a life where you thrive and help others do the same. Listen to the Wealth Break podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Ben Ferguson
Take a deep dive into the stories making the news headlines across the world.
Ted Cruz
The News Agents we're not just here to tell you what's happening, but why? From me, Emily Maitlis and me, John. So with Global's award winning podcast the News Agents dropping daily covering everything you need to know about politics and current.
Ben Ferguson
Affairs and The News Agents USA listening.
Ted Cruz
To the News Agents on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search the newsagents to start listening.
Eric Trump
Oral health goes beyond just aesthetics.
Ben Ferguson
It's deeply connected to your general health and well being.
Eric Trump
That's why preventing oral health problems before they start is so important.
Ben Ferguson
When you use the Colgate Total Active.
Eric Trump
Prevention system, you're not just helping to prevent oral health problems like cavities and.
Ben Ferguson
Gingivitis, you're laying the groundwork for overall wellness.
Eric Trump
Colgate Total's three product routine includes a.
Ben Ferguson
Reformulated toothpaste, an innovative toothbrush, and a.
Eric Trump
Refreshing antibacterial mouthwash that all support a healthy mouth.
Ben Ferguson
In fact, the three products were designed.
Eric Trump
To work together to be 15 times.
Ben Ferguson
More effective at reducing bacteria buildup in six weeks starting from week one compared to a non antibacterial fluoride toothpaste and flat trimmed toothbrush.
Eric Trump
Take control of your oral health and get the Colgate Total Active Prevention System.
Ben Ferguson
Today so you can be dentist ready. Visit shop.colgate.com total.
Eric Trump
We don't give a damn about fashion. We're public rec the cheat code for guys who want to look just good enough. Lightweight breathable classics made for fall and 30% off now during our friends and family sale. 40% off with email shop comfortable classics, no BS@PublicWrec.com radio bu never change. I'm here with Spinquest where you can.
Ted Cruz
Play and win from the comfort of your own home with hundreds of slot games and all of the table games you love with real cash prizes.
Eric Trump
Right now, $30 coin packs are on sale for $10. For new users, it's all@spinquest.com that's S-P-I-N Q U-E-T.com Spinquest is a free to.
Ted Cruz
Play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.
Eric Trump
This is an iHeart podcast.
Date: October 17, 2025
Hosts: Senator Ted Cruz & Ben Ferguson
Guest: Eric Trump
In this special episode, Senator Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson welcome Eric Trump to discuss his new book, Under Siege: My Family's Fight to Save Our Nation. The conversation dives deep into the Trump family's experiences facing government investigations, legal battles, and what Eric describes as the weaponization of both government and private sector institutions against them. They also touch on the broader implications for conservatives in America, family values, and the experience of growing up as the son of Donald Trump.
The episode kicks off after advertisements (skip to ~02:42 for the real start), with Ted Cruz highlighting Eric Trump's newly released book, which quickly became a bestseller.
Eric shares how writing the book was a grueling process, given the gravity of his family's experiences under intense scrutiny.
"It will probably be my last book as well because...the return on time of books, especially when you put your heart and soul into it...but yeah, we're number one on Amazon. I mean, it just went viral. I think, you know, people in this country are pissed off."
— Eric Trump (03:58)
Eric recounts his role as the Trump Organization leader, the lack of legal protections as a civilian, and feeling like a "piñata" for political opponents.
He outlines the cascade of investigations, subpoenas, and what he frames as governmental overreach and corrupt legal actions.
Emphasizes that the attacks weren't just about the Trumps, but a broader assault on average Americans and conservative values.
"What they tried to do to us, what they tried to do to our family, what they tried to do to this nation, what they tried to do to you and all your viewers on this show is unthinkable. Somebody had to materialize it because it was the greatest governmental corruption this nation has ever seen."
— Eric Trump (04:27)
"This siege wasn't just against the Trump family. It was against all of us...people are pissed off in this country. And that's why this book went to number one."
— Eric Trump (08:47)
Eric describes the moment he was notified of the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago, recalling the confusion, secrecy, and emotional impact—he was tasked with telling his father.
Criticizes the justification for the raid, reflecting on the media aftermath and alleged overreach.
"I'll never forget that call: 30 FBI agents outside of Mar-a-Lago. They searched Melania's room, they searched Barron's room. They took attorney-client privilege documents, they took HIPAA documents. You can't make it up."
— Eric Trump (10:25)
"They wanted to imprison him. They wanted to take his voice, they wanted to imprison him...and they weren't able to do it."
— Eric Trump (14:46)
Eric details how major banks and tech companies closed hundreds of the Trump Organization’s accounts, allegedly for political reasons, impacting business operations and employees.
He asserts this was not isolated to his family, but increasingly affects conservatives nationwide.
"They canceled us like we were dogs...these aren't baby banking accounts. These are massive commercial buildings that have hundreds of tenants...your accounts are going to get closed...and congratulations, you're done. All because we wore a hat that said Make America Great Again."
— Eric Trump (15:46)
Eric credits small local banks with helping keep their operations afloat during these times.
"If you can't bank, you can't survive...and yet they turned us off like we were dogs."
— Eric Trump (27:00)
Eric states he received 112 subpoenas, describing "big boy subpoenas" from prominent political figures, and testifies to the exhausting document searches and depositions the family endured.
"I sat in more depositions than any human being in the history of depositions...they Would list national and international. Every email signature of every person in the company either has the word national or international...that's their fishing expedition."
— Eric Trump (31:41)
Eric estimates the cost of legal defense for the Trump Organization at roughly $400 million.
Scoffs at claims they ever profited off government service.
"We spent $400 million to defend ourselves against nonsense...if you want Trump’s profit, we spent $400 million to defend ourselves."
— Eric Trump (37:52)
Labels Letitia James the worst official to deal with, citing "corruption" and bias in the courtroom.
Eric says journalists and political opponents targeted Trump family businesses, clients, and even event guests (like couples getting married at Trump properties) with threats of bad press and intimidation.
Claims DAs and AGs attempted to "flip" employees and family to turn on President Trump.
"They were extorting employees. They were going up to employees. They frankly tried to do it to me...They weaponized every DA in AG to try and flip every single person to say anything negative."
— Eric Trump (29:02)
Eric talks about Donald Trump's approach to parenting—strict, demanding integrity and a strong work ethic.
He recounts working on construction sites, earning any perks he wanted, and not being handed money or leisure.
"Honestly, the greatest dad you could ever imagine. Expected big things from us, right?...He wanted us to learn the value of a dollar. And by the way, he wanted us to be tired as hell at the end of the day."
— Eric Trump (41:12)
"Keep them poor, and make them start working early. Honestly, that’s what it is. Keep them poor, don’t give type A kids money and don’t give them endless time. That’s just a bad recipe."
— Eric Trump (44:29)
On being the most subpoenaed man:
"112 subpoenas. I sat in more depositions than any human being in the history of depositions."
— Eric Trump (31:41)
On the Mar-a-Lago raid:
"They searched Melania’s room, they searched Barron’s room. They took attorney-client privilege documents...they took HIPAA documents. You can’t make it up."
— Eric Trump (10:25)
On financial impact:
"We spent $400 million to defend ourselves against nonsense."
— Eric Trump (37:52)
On "debunking" child-raising myths:
"Keep them poor, don’t give type A kids money and don’t give them endless time. That’s just a bad recipe."
— Eric Trump (44:29)
Sen. Ted Cruz on media bias:
"It doesn’t matter how many copies of the book you sell, the New York Times is going to insist that left-handed transgender witches is the number one book in America."
— Ted Cruz (12:31)
This episode offers an expansive, candid look at the Trump family's account of being "under siege" from government and private entities. Eric Trump paints a picture of resilience, family unity, and defiance against what he sees as coordinated attacks from both the political establishment and major corporations. The discussion also touches on deeper themes of parenting, generational values, and the future of conservative activism.