Here are the Receipts -Soros Funds Fake No Kings Rallies, plus Stopping the Mass Murder of 50,000 Christians in Nigeria

Summary

Podcast Summary: Verdict with Ted Cruz

Episode Title: Here are the Receipts – Soros Funds Fake No Kings Rallies, plus Stopping the Mass Murder of 50,000 Christians in Nigeria
Release Date: October 20, 2025
Hosts: Senator Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson
Podcast: Verdict with Ted Cruz

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into two central topics:

1. "No Kings" Rallies: Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson scrutinize recent nationwide anti-Trump "No Kings" rallies, alleging they are funded and orchestrated by radical left-wing networks tied to George Soros, rather than truly grassroots.
2. Mass Murder of Christians in Nigeria: The hosts spotlight the dire crisis of Christian persecution in Nigeria, which they argue is being neglected by mainstream media. Ted Cruz outlines his legislative efforts to pressure the Nigerian government and raise global awareness.

Throughout, the tone is candid, critical of political opponents and mainstream media, and mixes political analysis with banter and calls to action.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dissecting the "No Kings" Rallies

a. Characterizing the Protests

• Cruz and Ferguson describe the protests as angry, coordinated gatherings largely consisting of “old white liberals” (“boomers unleashed”), and paint them as manufactured, not spontaneous expressions of public outrage.
  • “This weekend we saw protests all across the country that was angry white women go march. It was boomers unleashed. And it was an expression of rage.” — Ted Cruz (03:05)

b. The “Follow the Money” Argument

• Cruz asserts the protests are funded by left-wing billionaire George Soros and interconnected activist organizations.
  • A detailed breakdown of grants from Soros’ Open Society Foundations to Indivisible ($7.61 million since 2017) and links to groups like the Tides Foundation is discussed.
  • “In total, the Open Society Foundations have awarded $7.61 million in grants to the group behind the no Kings protest. So $7.61 million. That's where the money's coming from.” — Ted Cruz (16:30)

c. Media Coverage & Perception of the Rallies

• The hosts lampoon media outlets for prematurely hyping the rallies as historic in scope (“millions expected”) when, in their eyes, turnout was underwhelming.
  • “It was not millions. And yet they already act like this was just some amazing, unprecedented success. Meanwhile, the average American was watching football.” — Ben Ferguson (10:25)

d. Critique of Left-Wing Tactics and Double Standards

• The episode accuses Democrats of “astroturfing,” suppressing democracy by targeting Trump, and employing “dark money” to simulate widespread support.
• Cruz offers a sarcastic take on the “No Kings” slogan, suggesting Democrats themselves crown candidates (e.g., Kamala Harris) without real voting (“…they basically tried to make her a queen… right at the heart of Monarchy.” — 09:06).

e. Racial and Demographic Criticism

• Cruz repeatedly points out the homogeneity of the protest crowds: “Every video I saw, it was a bunch of old white liberals. It was like a Patagonia convention with lots of prune juice.” (17:16)

f. Legislative Response: The STOP Funders Act

• Cruz introduces his bill to add rioting as a predicate offense under RICO statutes—aiming to hold funders of violent protests legally accountable.

  • “If you’re cutting the check… you would face liability just like you would if you were funding the Mafia family or a drug cartel.” — Ted Cruz (24:48)

• He expresses hope for Republican support but highlights likely Democratic opposition due to filibuster rules. “If we take it up and they vote party line against it… those are terrible votes and you campaign against them.” (26:45)

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2. The Mass Murder of Christians in Nigeria

a. Scope of the Crisis

• Cruz and Ferguson state over 50,000 Christians have been killed, 18,000 churches, and 2,000 schools burned—primarily by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa.

  • “It is the most Christians being murdered anywhere on the face of the planet that is happening in Nigeria.” — Ted Cruz (36:53)

• Cruz reads from the U.S. State Department’s 2024 human rights report, affirming systemic abuses.

b. Nigerian Government Denial

• The Nigerian government is portrayed as defensive, accusing Cruz of besmirching the country’s image. Multiple officials’ denials are read and dismissed.
  • “‘Other than murdering 50,000 Christians, very tolerant. Other than that…’” — Ted Cruz, sarcastically, on Nigerian officials’ statements (34:24)

c. Legislative Efforts & Pressure

• Cruz explains his bill to require the Secretary of State to designate Nigeria a “country of particular concern,” enabling sanctions against officials who perpetuate or fail to stop religious persecution.

  • “If you’re a local official… the result of my legislation would be each of those individual government officials would face sanctions.” (38:08)

• He also argues the Trump administration could enforce this designation without new legislation.

d. Media and Global Indifference

• Major media outlets’ neglect of the Nigerian crisis is condemned. The segment includes notable external commentary to reinforce the point:

  • Bill Maher (clip quoted at 40:56): “They are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria. They’ve killed over 100,000 since 2009… This is so much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza… Where are the kids protesting this?”
  • Van Jones (clip quoted at 42:21): “Africa right now is being overrun by Islamist terrorists, including Boko Haram, with no conversation about that at all… This is an actual planned genocide.”

• Cruz underscores the left’s selective outrage: “No Jews, no news. As long as you can put the Jewish state in the conversation, it’s going to be a big conversation. If you can’t, you get no attention at all.” (43:12)

e. Calls to Action

• Cruz urges listeners to raise awareness: “Speak out. Highlight 50,000 Christians massacred since 2009, the single greatest mass slaughter of Christians anywhere in the world.” (39:15)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On “No Kings” Rallies:

  • “These are the same radical left wing Democrats that indicted Donald Trump not once, not twice, not three times, but four times in an effort to stop the voters from reelecting him.” — Ted Cruz (07:49)
  • “[The rallies] were a bunch of old white liberals. It was like a Patagonia convention with lots of prune juice.” — Ted Cruz (17:16)

• On Funding Allegations:

  • “Turns out that deranged Trump-hating, America-hating, radical socialist, Marxist, anarchist, police-abolishing nutcase billionaires can fund what looks like an awful lot of action.” — Ted Cruz (16:52)

• On the STOP Funders Act:

  • “If you’re cutting the check… funding the rioting and rioters are engaged in acts of violence… you would face liability just like you would if you were… funding the Mafia family.” — Ted Cruz (24:55)

• On Nigeria:

  • “It is the most Christians being murdered anywhere on the face of the planet that is happening in Nigeria.” — Ted Cruz (36:53)
  • “Other than murdering 50,000 Christians, very tolerant. Other than that.” — Ted Cruz, re: Nigerian officials (34:24)
  • Bill Maher (clip at 40:56): “If you don’t know what’s going on in Nigeria, your media sources suck. You are in a bubble. … This is so much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza.”

• On Media Accountability:

  • “Where is ABC? Where is CBS? Where is NBC? Where is CNN and MSNBC? Where’s the New York Times? Where’s the Washington Post about the mass murder of over 50,000 Christians in Nigeria?” — Ted Cruz (43:06)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:40 | Opening: “No Kings” rallies—What happened, tone-setting | | 03:05 | Outlining the show’s topics: protests & Nigeria | | 07:30 | Cruz on left’s narrative vs. Trump, protest perspectives | | 10:25 | Ferguson critiques media coverage of rally turnout | | 13:39 | Discussion: Is the movement authentic, or just “pay-to-play”?| | 15:04 | Cruz details Soros funding, provides grant figures | | 16:30 | Breakdown of Indivisible, Tides Foundation links | | 17:46 | Crowd demographics, recycled protest footage claim | | 21:45 | Cruz recounts PBS debate on punishing violent criminals | | 24:48 | Explanation of the STOP Funders Act and RICO application | | 26:48 | Political prospects and strategy for passing legislation | | 32:22 | Transition to Nigerian Christian persecution topic | | 34:24 | Reading Nigerian officials’ denials, Cruz’s rebuttal | | 36:53 | State Department report & legislative details explained | | 39:15 | What listeners can do; call to raise awareness | | 40:56 | Bill Maher’s quote on Nigeria and Christian persecution | | 42:21 | Van Jones’ commentary on Africa and Boko Haram | | 43:06 | Mainstream media’s silence highlighted |

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Flow & Tone

• Language: Candid, direct, often sarcastic—especially when critiquing opponents and media.
• Banter: Interludes about college football interwoven, offering moments of levity amid political discussion.
• Advocacy: Repeated calls for legislative action, audience mobilization, and media skepticism.
• Attribution: All quotes and claims are identified by speaker and timestamp where possible.

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Summary Takeaways for Listeners

• The episode is a pointed critique of anti-Trump activism, painting it as elite-funded and not representative of grassroots sentiment.
• It calls attention to a humanitarian crisis—the mass murder of Christians in Nigeria—and castigates both U.S. media and left-wing activists for ignoring it.
• Legislative solutions are described for both issues, with audience action encouraged.
• The content mixes fact, opinion, and commentary—including segments with external voices such as Bill Maher and Van Jones to underscore bipartisan concern for the Nigerian crisis.
• Throughout, the podcast leverages its platform to urge conservative action, skepticism of mainstream narratives, and international advocacy for persecuted Christians.

Transcript

[Ben Ferguson]

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[Bobby Bones]

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[Ben Ferguson]

I pulled up real quick. 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 to my house and I'm like, oh.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

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.

[Bobby Bones]

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[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome. It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And Senator, we had a really big day of rallies around the country over the weekend. Apparently Democrats are just writing big old checks right now to go back to their old school organizing for these outrage rallies at a king by the name of Donald Trump who's been in office many less years than any of the Democrats that they're out there complaining about him being in office.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, this weekend we saw protests all across the country that was angry white women go march. It was boomers unleashed. And it was an expression of rage. What we're going to talk about here is follow the money. Who's paying for this? That not only was this an expression of rage, but it was an expression of rage that was Astroturf that was bought and paid for. And we're going to follow the money to George Soros and his network and an entire interconnected network of radical left wing groups that were funding these protests. We're also going to talk about a tragedy that has been unfolding in recent years in the country of Nigeria where more than 50,000 Christians have been killed. The mass murder of Christians in Nigeria has been ongoing. It is targeted, it is systematic. Boko Haram and other jihadists are targeting Christians, are targeting churches, are targeting schools. We're going to lay out the facts of what's going on. The government of Nigeria is pressing back and saying nothing to see here, nothing to see here. We're going to give you the facts and we're going to talk about legislation I've introduced to hold the government of Nigeria accountable and, and to pressure them to finally, finally, finally stop the mass murder of Christians.

[Ben Ferguson]

Amen to that. Want to take a moment and talk to you real quick about my good friends over at Burna. Being able to protect my family is so important to me. And it's one of the things that I want you to know about how you can help protect your family as well from those that may be trying to do you harm. Now, for weeks I've been joined by Josh from Burna to share stories of how people just like you and me have used their burner launcher protect themselves and their families. Now burn is a handheld pistol that fires both kinetic rounds and Chemical irritants to separate you from an attacker. Josh is back today to share a true story of how a man was able to stop two pit bulls from harming him and his daughter using the Burna sd. Josh, tell us the story.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

You know, this story is great because I guarantee many people have been in.

[Bobby Bones]

A very similar situation.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So Kyle, an Illinois resident, was walking.

[Bobby Bones]

His young daughter home from a play.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Date down the street from their house when he noticed two unleashed pit bulls.

[Bobby Bones]

Running down an alley, aggressively charging right at them.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

He quickly lifted his daughter over a fence of a yard to put her.

[Bobby Bones]

In a safe place and drew the Burn SD that he was actually carrying on him. And using a combination of kinetic and.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Our max projectiles, Kyle fired five rounds.

[Bobby Bones]

Of the two pit bulls striking both.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

The ground in front of them, but also the dogs themselves. The dogs stopped in their tracks. The rounds had an immediate effect, and.

[Bobby Bones]

Both dogs quickly ran the other way. The the entire incident was also captured on home surveillance video, allowing everyone to.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Watch exactly how Burner kept Kyle and his daughter out of harm's way.

[Ben Ferguson]

Now look, obviously the burner worked great in this case, but why wouldn't someone choose to use a gun in this case instead of a burner? So many people ask me that type.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Of question, you know, same. I get to ask that all the time. And here we have a couple different reasons. One, he may not be in an area where he could carry a gun. Depending on the laws of your state.

[Bobby Bones]

It may limit where you can and.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Can'T carry a gun.

[Bobby Bones]

And to look at, nobody wants to.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Kill these dogs, right?

[Bobby Bones]

Nobody wants to kill anybody but dogs either.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

If we can use a lower level of force to affect a safe getaway.

[Bobby Bones]

For us and everyone else, man, that's the way to do it.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And that's exactly what happened here.

[Ben Ferguson]

If you want to be able to protect your family and you want to have something like this, a left lethal option, you need to check out Burna. You can go right now to Burna by r n a.com Again, that's Burna by rna.com you'll understand after you see the videos exactly why I carry this in every car. We have burna by rna.com all right, center. So let's get into this day of. Of. I call it rage. This Anti American day. This. No, Kings Day. There. There was something that hit online and it just made me smile because it said, all right, so let me get this straight. There's no Kings referring to Donald Trump. Chuck Grassley's been in office 50 plus years Chuck Schumer, 44 plus years. Mitch McConnell, 40 plus years. Nancy Pelosi, 38 years. Maxine Waters, 37 years. Bernie Sanders, 34 years. Trump's been in office a total of four years and nine and a half months, but somehow they're saying Donald Trump is the king. When you look at the numbers there, and that's like some bipartisan numbers, it's pretty darn funny.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, it is. And there was this little minor detail of an election that occurred in November in which the American people overwhelmingly voted to reelect Donald Trump. Very quickly, look, you're trying to engage in reason, Ben. Reason is not welcome on the radical left anymore.

[Ben Ferguson]

I forgot about that memo.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

This is emoting. This is rage. This is Orange man bad. There's nothing more beyond that. And by the way, this is also voters bad. The irony of no Kings, they're suggesting that they're somehow fans of democracy. Understand, these are the same radical left wing Democrats that indicted Donald Trump not once, not twice, not three times, but four times in an effort to stop the voters from reelecting him. These are the same left wing radicals who then went to left wing judges. And in multiple jurisdictions, including Colorado, Illinois, Maine, their left wing radicals ruled they would remove Donald Trump's name from the ballot. Because nothing says you are a defender of democracy like making it impossible for the voters to vote for your opponent. Now, thankfully, the US Supreme Court came in unanimously 90 and said, no, no, no, sorry, you don't get to rig an election by removing your opponent, the Republican nominee for president, from the ballot. And wonder of wonders, with Trump on the ballot, the voters voted for him. This is actually, you know, in some ways, the left had some truth in advertising. They just had one too many words. They call this the no Kings rally. What they really want to protest is the Kings rally. Look, when Joe Biden was president, they wanted him to have unlimited power. And by the way, once they realized that Joe Biden had been legally dead for three years and that he was not going to be a formidable candidate in November, they promptly defenestrated him, threw him out a window, grabbed Kamala Harris, said, congratulations, you're the Democrat nominee. And you know what detail? They skipped the whole voting thing. Like the Democrat primary voters didn't get to vote at all. They basically tried to make her a queen. You know, when you coronate someone, when you put a crown on someone and say, don't bother with the little voting stuff, we've decided you get to run, that is kind of right at the heart of Monarchy. So this, their messaging is incoherent, but at the end of the day, there is no messaging other than a primal scream. They hate Trump. And look, it's a good thing they did these rallies because, you know, prior to Saturday, I didn't know they hated Trump. I really, I had missed that the last 10 months. And so it really took seeing a bunch of 75 year old white liberal women screaming outside and dyeing their hair pink. You know, without that, we would have had no idea that the far left did not like President Trump.

[Ben Ferguson]

You know, one thing that was interesting about these, these rallies is the way that the media covered it. It was before the rallies happened, they were already making these things a success and said, we're expecting millions to gather across the country. Then as it was happening, I was flipping the channels in between watching what's really important, and that was college football. Over the weekend, during, during a couple moments, I checked over to see how they were covering it. It was like millions gather. I, I'm sorry, center. I did not see millions, as in plural, anywhere close to that. Yeah, there were some bigger crowds for sure. New York City, for example, Chicago. It was not millions. And yet they already act like this was just some amazing, unprecedented success. Meanwhile, the average American was watching football on Saturday.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, and I do have to express my condolences. I'm very sorry about Ole Miss and Georgia.

[Ben Ferguson]

I knew you were waiting for this show to just go ahead and talk about that.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Look, I knew that hurt, but look, you can gain solace because even though Ole Miss lost to Georgia, Ole Miss royalty prevailed because Arch Manning and the Longhorns won. Although I got to admit, it was an ugly game.

[Ben Ferguson]

At least there's some intellectual honesty.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And the Aggies keep on winning. And I was, I was sad that Tech finally lost. They're still a heck of a team. But, but, but, but I'm very sorry about Ole Miss.

[Ben Ferguson]

The grin right now on your face is unbelievably telling, unbelievably telling of your thoughts and prayers now that you got that moment out of the way. Yeah, I'm glad that was his moment. He's been waiting all weekend. He was silent. He didn't text me on Saturday. I want the audience to understand that he was waiting for the show to bring that up. So let's talk about the money here for a second. This, this is clearly, by the way.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

I will say one of my closest friends, Gray, as you know, played, played football at Arkansas.

[Ben Ferguson]

Oh, yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Arkansas came within inches of beating the Aggies and My phone would have lit up the grief he would have given me. And to be fair, Arkansas almost did beat the Aggies. I mean, it, it, you know, the A and M Arkansas game remind me a little bit of the A and M Notre Dame game where, where neither side bothered to bring defense. They just scored like crazy. And whoever had the.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, it was, it was, it was, it was aired out Football 101. So you look at the money here and, and I, I wasn't concerned. I did TV over the weekend on, on no Kings and they asked me like, you know, well, this seems to be momentum. Like it's not momentum if you're paying for it. This isn't authentic or organic. It is bought and paid for. If I go out and buy a bunch of ads this weekend to play for whatever my thing is, you know, that I want to advocate for, does that mean there's actual authentic momentum behind it or does that just mean that I paid for something like this to me is pay to play politics. I'm not concerned about, quote, momentum. I do think, however, those that were organizing and paying for this no Kings rally are holding America hostage with the government shutdown. If there's any takeaway for me it's that that Democrats could not open the government back up until after the no Kings rally took place. Now this week they may actually be able to do their damn job.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, and this past week I went on Fox News and said there's clear evidence that George Soros and his network is paying for these not King's rallies. And I have to say lefty activists on Twitter went crazy and said there's no evidence of that. What's Cruz talking about? Well, you know, fortunately we brought the receipts. So let me, let me walk through and in fact, if you want to read it, Fox News has has a story entitled quote, soros Foundation's helping fund anti Trump no Kings protests nationwide. So, and here are, here are the facts. In 2003, the Open Society foundation, which was founded by George Soros issued a two year grant of $3 million to Indivisible. The grant was quote, to support the grantees social welfare activities. According to the Open Society Foundation's website, what is invisible doing it is quote, managing data and communication with participants. That is Astroturf for the no Kings protest that will be taking place in Washington and across the country. According to the Open Society Foundation's website, George Soros has given away. How much do you think George Soros has given to the Open Society foundations?

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean it's Soros, it's got to be millions. It could easily be tens of millions.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

More than 32 billion dollars. Wow. Okay, I just found that one more than 30 billion. Billion with a B. Golly. And if you look at that, that they in turn are funding Indivisible. And Indivisible is organizing or helping organize the no Kings foundations. By the way, the left has these interwoven dark money organizations. So, for example, in 2017, Indivisible Visible received a $350,000 grant from the Tides foundation from Tides Advocacy, which is a group affiliated with the Tides Network. The Tides foundation, which is also affiliated with the Tides Network, has been funding anti Israel campus riots. The Grant report for 2024 for the Open Society foundation was not available, but Soros foundation have awarded grants to Indivisible every single year since Indivisible was created in 2017. In total, the Open Society Foundations have awarded 7.61 million in grants to the group behind the no Kings protest. So 7.61 million. That's where the money's coming from. So if you're surprised, there's a lot of organizing. Well, it turns out that deranged Trump hating America hating radical socialist Marxist anarchist police abolishing nutcase billionaires can fund what looks like an awful lot of action. And I gotta say, given all that cash, what is striking to me, Ben, is how lame the result was. Like, I gotta say, to be honest, I didn't spend a whole lot of time watching footage of it. But the footage I saw, you know what was missing? Any black people? Any Hispanic people?

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, maybe every video I saw, non minorities welcome, right? Could that be it?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Look, look, every video I saw, it was a bunch of old white liberals. It was like, you know, it was like a Patagonia convention with lots of prune juice. I mean, it was really. The numbers were underwhelming. You knew the numbers were underwhelming when you started to see on Twitter people sending fake videos of protests in prior years and claiming, oh, this is the no Kings turnout.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, that did happen a lot, by the way. You're not joking when you say that. I saw quite a few of those and it just made you laugh.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, there's a video of a big protest in Boston years ago that has been tweeted around like crazy. And they say, oh, this was no Kings in Boston. It's like, no. Well, why are you sending around a fake video? Because even when you have millions of dollars from George Soros, apparently the people motivated by the way this is Very much the same pattern. As you know, they did a dry run for this with the protests in D.C. against President Trump sending in the National Guard. And again, those protests were a bunch of white liberals. There were very few. In the video I saw very few African Americans. And the high crime areas in D.C. are predominantly African American. And it was really striking. You see these sort of wealthy liberal, many of them are government bureaucrats who are saying, no, no, get the national guard out of D.C. and then if camera crews that would go into high crime areas in D.C. you'd look at the people living there, predominantly African American, facing gang bangers and drive by shootings and facing being afraid to go out at night. And there's interview after interview with D.C. residents who are like, okay, I feel a lot safer. This is great. By the way, your hometown of Memphis, you got the same interviews where people are saying, you know, for the first time in a long time, I feel safe to go outside. I can go outside with my kids. I'm not afraid of my kids getting shot or attacked or abducted.

[Ben Ferguson]

Even, even street, which is the famous street in Memphis, you know, where you can go listen to live music. And it's downtown by the FedEx forum. I know people that have not gone down there 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years, they're now going down there because they've, it's been so unsafe. And the National Guard's there and now citizens of Memphis are actually getting to go enjoy their own city again, which is exactly what we've seen in Washington D.C. yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And it's amazing that the position of the Democrat party is they are against law and order. Apparently having law and order means you have a king, that they are against criminals being arrested. Apparently that's the act of a king, that they are against violent criminals being incarcerated, taken off the streets, and they are against our families being protected. You know, I gotta say, people who are not political radicals find all of that common sense. That's not a particularly right wing proposition that violent criminals. You know, I'll tell a story, Ben. When I was a brand new baby lawyer back In, I think 1997, I just finished clerking for Chief Justice Rehnquist. I just started practicing law at a little law firm in D.C. and there was a show on PBS that was called Debates Debates. And it was a three on three debate for an hour. And they would take a particular topic and then get three conservatives, three liberals and you debate for an hour. And it was produced by a guy named Warren Stibel, who was also the producer of Firing Line with Bill Buckley. And I got a call from someone from a friend of mine who said, hey, they're looking for someone to go on this show. Do you want to do this? And it ended up being the first TV show I ever went on right at the start of my legal career. And the topic was, should we release? Should we grant amnesty? To, quote, America's political prisoners? And by that they meant cop killers and other radical left wingers who were incarcerated. But they claimed they were political prisoners because they had an ideology and they were having a hard time finding conservatives to debate the conservative side of it. And I remember I got the phone call asking if I would do it, and I started laughing and I said, okay, so let me get this straight. You want me to defend the proposition that violent criminals should be punished? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I feel good with that. I'm quite comfortable with that proposition, man.

[Ben Ferguson]

Way to. Way to load the deck against me, right?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

You know, and look, to be clear, I don't care if they're left wing or right wing or they don't have any wings at all. If you commit acts of violence, you should be arrested, you should be prosecuted, you should go to jail. And listen, the question we asked at the start of this show about following the money, regular listeners of the pod will know that is something that I'm pressing both Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice and Kash Patel and the FBI to do. Not just the money behind the no Kings rallies, but also the money behind the anti Semitic protest on college campuses, the money behind the Black Lives Matter antifa riots all over the country, the money behind the open border riots in Los Angeles and other cities earlier this year. I think it is likely all the same money. It is the same collection of radicals who are a combination extreme leftists, Marxists, jihadists, anarchists, and I think George Soros is the granddaddy of them all. But I've introduced legislation, and the legislation is called the Stop Funders Act. And what the Stop Funders act would do is very simple. It simply adds rioting to the list of predicate acts under rico. Now, what is rico? RICO is the Racketeer Influence and Corruption Corrupt Organizations Act. And it is a tool that prosecutors use to go after organized crime. It is a very powerful prosecutorial tool. And the value of RICO is that what you can do is under rico, you can prove an organization. This is used often for something like the Mafia or say a drug cartel, where you prove the existence of an organization and that you're part of the organization. And then you have to prove that you committed predicate acts and you can be prosecuted on a RICO and serve long jail time. Well, the way the left right now is funding rioting is they do it through multiple different organizations that are deliberately ignorant of what each other is doing. And I think they're doing it to avoid accountability and liability. The Stop Funders act, by adding rioting to the list of predicate acts for RICO would give prosecutors a heck of a tool that if you're cutting the check that is going to funding the rioting and rioters are engaged in acts of violence. Rioters are on campus assaulting Jewish students in a public street, looting a store, firebombing a police car, murdering someone, assaulting someone that you, the person who wrote the check and funded the entire effort. You the one who say on the college campuses paid for all of the tents that look exactly the same. They all match. You would face liability just like you would if you were the one writing the check and funding the Mafia family or funding the drug cartel. And so I'm urging Congress take up my Stop Funders act, pass it. And DOJ needs to go after the money. If we cut off the money with no checks, there would be no, no Kings protest. Not because people are prevented from speaking, but because this sort of demonstration is, is not real and organic. It is driven by a handful of left wing billionaires who are using their money to buy the appearance of something much broader.

[Ben Ferguson]

How, final question on this. How hard or how easy should it be or will it be to get this pass with Republican leadership? It doesn't seem like this would be a hard thing to convince people to say, yeah, we need to follow the money.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So look, I think it is easy to get Republican votes. I think all or virtually all Republicans would vote for it. The challenge to passing it in the law will be the Senate filibuster rule, which means to pass it, we need 60 votes in the Senate, which would mean we would need at least seven Democrats. There are 53 Republicans. It's the same challenge we have in the middle of the Shutdown. We need 60 votes. We need at least seven Democrats to reopen the government. And right now the Democrats are just no, no, hell no to everything. So. So I think it is entirely possible and maybe even likely that if we bring it up for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee that every Senate Democrat would vote no on the committee. Now, if that happens, it would still be voted out of committee because if the Republicans all voted together, we have a majority on the committee. And so if we voted out of committee, it would go to the floor. And what I'm urging Republican leadership to do is put it up for a vote on the floor. And listen, if the Democrats all want to vote no, they can. That prevents it from being passed. But I got to say, that is a terrible vote if you are voting against liability for violent rioting. That is not a vote. That is not a vote that any Democrat running in a purple state wants to defend his or her constituents. And so I think either we take it up and they decide to support it and we pass it, or we take it up and they vote party line against it, in which case those are terrible votes and you campaign against them.

[Ben Ferguson]

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[Bobby Bones]

Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bones show. I had an incredible time at this year's iHeartRadio music festival and even got the chance to hang out with Diplo and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there. Check this out. So how did Ashes come together?

[Ben Ferguson]

Diploma Well, I kind of briefly met Bailey I think at Morgan's show, one of them. And I think he's just the 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 had a show, I pulled up real quick, he was about to leave on tour. You're about to jump in your tour bus and we had like three hours play 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. I'm like oh hey Diplo, what are you doing? He's like I have a song that.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

I want to show you.

[Ben Ferguson]

And I was like okay. And then now we're here playing it live.

[Bobby Bones]

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. Had a blast cruising around festival weekend in the all new Palisade hybrid.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

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[Bobby Bones]

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[Ben Ferguson]

I want to move now, Senator, to something that you've been spearheading and leading on. It's certainly not getting attention in the media, but you're wanting to hold Nigeria accountable for the 50,000. Let me say that number again. 50,000 Christians that have been killed there. Explain why this story is so important and what you're trying to do. And also why is no one covering this as it's been described?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

To me, look, it is truly horrific. The numbers are stunning. The numbers are staggering. Here are the top line numbers of what we're seeing. We have seen over 50,000 Christians killed. We have seen over 18,000 churches and at least 2,000 schools burned. And the response to this the Nigerian government is fighting back ferociously saying this is not happening, this is not true. There's a battle. The Nigerian government officials are getting very angry that I'm calling them out. I want to read to you from the executive summary of the U.S. state Department's 2024 Country Report on human rights practices in Nigeria. And here's what it says. Quote, Significant human rights issues included credible reports of arbitrary and unlawful killings, disappearances, torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary arrest or detention, serious abuses in a conflict, serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, violence or threats against labor activists or union Members and significant presence of any of the worst forms of child labor. Non state actors committed arbitrary and unlawful killings, disappearances, physical abuse and other mistreatments. Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa continued attacks on civilians, military, police, humanitarian and religious targets, unlawfully recruited and forcibly conscripted child soldiers and carried out scores of attacks on population centers in the northeast regions. Abductions by Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa continued. Both groups subjected many women and girls to gender based violence, including forced marriage, sexual slavery and rape. This is what's going on in Nigeria right now. And it is going on far too often with the acquiescence of the elected government officials. Far too often. And in some instances, you have provinces in Nigeria that have on the books blasphemy law and Sharia law and they will prosecute Christians for blasphemy. They will prosecute Christians for violating Sharia law, in which case the government becomes a tool of the persecution of Christians. And look, it is, it is devastating. It is the most Christians being murdered anywhere on the face of the planet that is happening in Nigeria. And so I introduced legislation to require the secretary of state to designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern and to impose sanctions, including in particular sanctioning the individual government officials. So if you're a local official and you're enforcing blasphemy laws and Sharia laws and you're persecuting Christians or you're turning the other way and turning, turning a blind eye to Christians being murdered in mass numbers, the result of my legislation would be each of those individual government officials would face sanctions. And I gotta say, the Nigerian government has been pushing back ferociously. For example, the chairman of the House committee on foreign Affairs, Oluwole OKE, said the Cruz bill is, quote, a deliberate attempt to damage the Nigerian image. And he insists Nigeria is a very tolerant country. Well, other than murdering 50,000 Christians, very tolerant. Other than that. Likewise, the minister of information and national orientation, Mohammed Idris rejected the suggestion that, quote, any Nigerian officials will willingly, deliberately indulge in the act of siding with violent extremists to target any particular religion in the country. Likewise, presidential spokesperson Baya Onano demanded that Cruz stop his, quote, malicious and contrived lies against, quote, my country. And finally, senate president God's willpabio cautioned against framing the crisis, quote, along religious lines since, quote, terrorists and bandits target Nigerians indiscriminately, regardless of faith. Now listen, it is certainly true that Boko Haram and other religious radicals in Nigeria are Killing Muslims as well. They're killing both. But they are systematically targeting Christians for mass murder. When you've got 50,000 Christians being murdered, that is not accidental. That is not random. And the over 18,000 churches and the over 2,000 schools, they are singling out and targeting Christian churches and Christian schools and burning them to the ground. And the government of Nigeria is not acting with any vigor at all to defend. And to defend the Christians or just to keep them alive.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, to keep them alive. And so now, obviously, this is about letting it shining a light on this. And then you go back to the policy aspect of this. What happens next? And for people specifically that are listening, what do they need to be doing and advocating for to make sure that we can move this forward?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Look, the next step needs to be that. I'm pushing for the Congress to pass my legislation. I'm on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, so I'm pressing for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to take it up. That would designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern. Now, I would note, but the Trump administration can do so on its own. And this is often the case in foreign policy areas where I'll introduce legislation and I'll push for action. So, for example, I've introduced legislation to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. I've done so repeatedly in multiple Congresses. I think it is unequivocally a terrorist organization. In fact, Hamas is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine is what they call themselves. And that has not yet happened. But I would like to see Congress pass my legislation. But the most likely way we'll get the Muslim Brotherhood designated is that I will succeed in convincing President Trump and the Trump administration to do so. And I've been making that case vigorously with respect to Nigeria. The same thing is true. I'm going to try to pass the legislation, but I'm also very much making the case to the Trump administration they have the authority to do it now. And look, I want to point out, you asked what people can do. Speak out. Highlight 50,000 Christians massacred since 2009, the single greatest mass slaughter of Christians anywhere in the world. And look, here's how Fox News put it. A diplomatic battle is being waged between leading Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Nigerian government officials. The Texas senators has warned he will hold them accountable for the reported mass slaughter of tens of thousands of Christians in Nigeria. The officials say Cruz is lying, with one claiming that despite even the Pope publicly calling out the killings, there is religious harmony in the country. But you Know what? Maybe you don't believe me. Maybe you don't believe the Pope. So if the Pope and I are both wrong, how about this? Maybe, maybe you'll believe Bill Maher. You have a listen to what Bill Maher had to say on this topic.

[Ben Ferguson]

If you don't know what's going on in Nigeria, your media sources suck. You are in a bubble. And again, I'm not a Christian, but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria. They've killed over 100,000 since 2009. They've burned 18,000 churches. This is so much more. These are their Islamists. Boko Haram. This is so much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza. They are literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country. Where are the kids protesting this? Thank you.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Thank you. No one will talk about it.

[Bobby Bones]

So thank you.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Absolutely. It's Africa. That's why no one's talking about it. And they should be.

[Ben Ferguson]

You can't read about it in mainstream media.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

It's sad. So thank you for bringing it.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, because the Jews aren't involved. That's why it's the Christians and the Muslims, who cares?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

He is exactly right. And I appreciate Bill Maher calling it out and shining a light on it. He's right that the corporate media does not want to cover it. And by the way, on that same show, someone you know well, Van Jones from cnn, he was on that show and Van Jones is a very left wing guy and he's on CNN regularly. But he commented and he chimed in agreeing with Bill Maher here. Give a listen to Van Jones talking about the slaughter of Christians in Nigeria.

[Ben Ferguson]

You're talking about young people. A lot of them seem to know one thing. White people did some very bad things in this world and they certainly did. But there are other things to know. Yes. Including the fact that in Sudan right now, which nobody is talking about, you have Arab militia murdering people by the wheelbarrow. Including the fact that Africa right now is being overrun by Islamist terrorists, including Boko Haram, with no conversation about that at all. I did it last week. Exactly. Nigeria.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, this is an actual planned genocide. Yeah. I mean, they really want to kill all the Christians in that country and they are systematically doing it. And the fact that there's almost no response from the global left and no attention from mainstream media is a crime against African people, black people and human rights. I agree with that 100%. It turns out that there's a double standard for Jews. That is true.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

No Jews, no news. As long as you can put the.

[Ben Ferguson]

Put the Jewish state in the conversation, it's going to be a big conversation. If you can't, you get no attention at all. This is a big problem. It is a big problem. I mean, you hear Van Jones saying it. He is correct. It is a huge problem. No Jews, no news. Like, I mean, it's amazing that this is happening.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Look, we see the protests on college campuses. We see these angry leftists who are completely enraged about Gaza. The instant President Trump negotiates a peace deal, they go away. Now Hamas is executing Palestinians on the street, lining up Palestinians on their knees, shooting them in the back of the head and not a peep. These leftist radicals, they are perfectly fine with Palestinians being systematically murdered as long as it's Palestinians, as long as Hamas doing the murder. You don't see a protest. You don't see any calls of genocide. Their protest is about one thing, which is they hate Israel and they hate Jews. And I gotta say, where, where is abc? Where is cbs? Where is NBC? Where is CNN and msnbc? Where's the New York Times? Where's the Washington Post about the mass murder of over 50,000 Christians in Nigeria? You know what, if you want to find out things like that, you got to listen to Verdict, you got to listen to the podcast. You got to go and work. But I will say there are not many issues that bring together. Me, the Pope, Bill Maher, and Van Jones.

[Ben Ferguson]

Amen to that. Amen to that, man. Make sure you take this podcast, share it with your family and friends, put it up on social media. If you hit that little forward button, you can put it on wherever you're on social media. It's actually really easy and it helps other people hear this. Also, if you missed our episode on Friday with, with Donald Trump's son, son Eric Trump, go back and grab that. It was a really interesting episode. I want to make sure you guys, if you missed it on Friday, you can grab that as well. And the Senator and I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.

[Bobby Bones]

Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bones Show. I had an incredible time at this year's iHeartRadio music festival and even got the chance to hang out with Diplo and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there. How did Ashes come together, Diplo?

[Ben Ferguson]

I pulled up real quick. 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 really just, like randomly showed up to my house and like, oh, hey.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Diplo, what are you doing? He's like, I have a song that I want to show.

[Ben Ferguson]

And I was like, okay.

[Bobby Bones]

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. Had a blast cruising around festival weekend in the all new Palisade hybrid. America's Christian Credit Union stands firm in faith, serves the community and delivers top financial services with Elite Checking. Earn up to 4% APY on balances under $15,000. Get paid early, enjoy loan discounts and more because at Accu your money should reflect your mission. Visit americaschristiancu.com elite to learn more. Early pay depends on when your employer sends your paycheck. We can't guarantee early direct deposit APY equals annual percentage yield. America's Christian Credit Union is federally insured by the ncua.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

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[Ben Ferguson]

Take a deep dive into the stories making the news headlines across the world.

[Senator 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 Sopel 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.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

To the Newsagents on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search the newsagents to start listening. This is an iHeart podcast.