← Verdict with Ted Cruz
Verdict with Ted Cruz
Inside the Investigation into the Tragic DC Airline Crash, plus Trump Confirmations Accelerate
00:38:30
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- [00:00]
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Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Nice to have you with us on this Friday morning and Senator, we've got a lot to talk about, including the tragedy that happened you were right there in Washington when all this was unfolding with this helicopter and airplane colliding at Reagan National Airport.
- [02:23]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, it was truly a tragic and horrific accident, and it cost the lives of 67 souls. The commercial airliner from American Airlines flying from Wichita, Kansas to Washington, D.C. reagan Airport had 60 passengers on it and four crew members. And then an Army Black hawk helicopter had three soldiers on it, bringing the total death toll to 67. The two collided just before 9pm on Wednesday night. They collided as the American Airlines airliner was landing at D.C. reagan Airport. And I'll tell you today, so you and I are recording this Thursday night, today. I spent a lot of the day dealing with the aftermath of this. So as you know, I'm the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. It has jurisdiction over all of aviation. And so today I hosted briefings from the FAA and the ntsb, the National Traffic Safety Board. And we were heard from. They were bipartisan briefings. I had senators, both Republicans and Democrats, that participated. And we got, we got briefings. The ntsb, which is, as I said, the National Transportation Safety Board does investigations. Whenever there's a serious accident, whenever there's an accident, an aviation accident, whenever there's a rail accident, they do investigations. And so we heard from them. Now, as of Thursday, the NTSB had over a dozen investigators on the ground. And listen, in the wake of an accident, you've got to actually see what happened. You've got to investigate and discover the facts, discover the evidence. In this instance, we know that the American Airlines flight was coming in. It was initially on Runway one at Reagan Airport. And then the air traffic controllers moved it to Runway 33. So they shifted the Runway right at the very end and. And the American Airlines pilots changed their, their descent to land on Runway 33. Now, simultaneously, there was an Army Black Hawk helicopter that was traveling. There are multiple helicopter routes that go in and around Reagan Airport. And that Army Blackhawk helicopter was on Route 1, and then it was shifting from Route 1 to Route 4. And the air traffic controllers were in contact obviously with the pilots of the American Airlines flight and also the pilots of the helicopter. And after telling the American Airlines jet to land on Runway 33, the air traffic controller tells the Black Hawk pilots to visually confirm and have in line of sight the incoming plane. And the Black Hawk helicopter pilots confirm that, yes, they have the plane in sight. And they also instruct the Black Hawk pilots to come behind the plane that is landing. What in fact happens or what appears to have happened is The Black Hawk helicopter came in front of the plane that was landing. The two collided midair and exploded midair. Now, at this point, it appears everyone involved died. The both the plane and the Black Hawk helicopter sunk into the Potomac River. They were both in relatively shallow water, about 7 to 8ft of water, where they had sunk. And as of Thursday, the black box, the flight recorder had been recovered from the airplane. And they are in the process of recovering the black box, the audio transcript recorder for the Blackhawk helicopter. So both of those will be recovered. And they're trying to piece together what happened. What do we know? We know that somebody or multiple somebodies made a catastrophic mistake, a catastrophic mistake that led to a massive loss of life at this point. And look, there are lots of people who are giving all sorts of theories, who are jumping on all sorts of possibilities. In my view, we shouldn't speculate, we shouldn't, we shouldn't get ahead of the evidence. We need to understand exactly what caused this accident. Whether it was an error on the part of the army pilot, whether it was conceivably an error on the part of the commercial airliner pilot, whether it was an error on the part of the air traffic controller or some combination of multiple errors in that regard, we don't know right now. What we do know is two aircraft were in the same place at the same time. Now, as we were having the briefing from the NTSB and the faa, they told us several things. Number one, that had the helicopter stayed on Route 4, it would have been well out of the way of the landing path of the airline, and it would have been in a lower altitude than where the helicopter and the jet collided. We don't know what happened exactly. One of the things the NTSB is going to do in this investigation is they're going to listen to the black box recordings of both aircraft and they're going to retrace the path, the exact path of both aircraft to discover was one of them, where it was not supposed to be, where both of them, where they were not supposed to be. At this point, we don't have a clear answer to that. And it's easy. I would say don't trust Twitter, don't trust every theory. Look, there looked at one theory and actually something I asked the ntsb, I said, when the air traffic controller asked the Black Hawk pilots, do you have visual confirmation of the aircraft? And the Black Hawk pilots confirmed that. Do we have evidence that they were looking at a different airplane? You could certainly. This strikes me as a reasonable inference that the. The helicopter pilot looks and says, yes, I see the plane, and perhaps didn't realize it was a different plane that was landing, because presumably if they saw the plane that led to the collision, they would not have stayed in the. In. In the path of the plane, but they would have. Would have piloted elsewhere. So NTSB and FAA told me right now, we don't know. So that's not confirmed. That's. That's a theory. People are saying online it is a plausible theory, but we don't have confirmation of that right now. There's also discussion about the equipment. So the Black Hawk helicopter had a transponder, so it was appearing on radar. It did not have technology called ADS B, which is technology that pings the location of an aircraft. And it does so using GPS rather than radar. And ADS B is more accurate and more reliable than simply a transponder that is pinging on radar. Now, under the FAA rules, military aircraft and federal law enforcement aircraft are exempted from the requirement that they have ADS B technology. And I will tell you, as we were talking with the faa, as we were talking with the ntsb, what they told us, at least initially, is that had the Black Hawk had adsb, they said it would have not have altered the ability of air traffic control and the American Airlines pilot to see the helicopter. I don't know. I will confess, I don't know the technical answers to this precisely, which is why the investigation needs to proceed. I expect to get an answer on that, but we don't know the answer to that exactly. I will say also, Ben, I think a very reasonable question that a number of senators were asking is why exactly are there so many helicopter flight paths immediately in the vicinity of such a busy airport as D.C. reagan Airport?
- [10:55]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [10:57]
Senator Ted Cruz
Is that a sound policy decision to have helicopters traveling that close now? I don't know if that's the cause of it, by the way. What we do know is the two should not have collided. And so somebody screwed up, and we'll figure out who and how and why.
- [11:14]
Ben Ferguson
And look, Washington, I talked to a pilot today, and he said Washington's just different and Reagan's just different. There's a lot more helicopters there. There's a lot more airspace there that's different than other parts. It's a lot more intense. There's a lot more rules, especially after 9, 11. And so you got to look at all those things. It goes back to what you're saying. It's just different. Private airplanes, for example, aren't going into Reagan. You go into do us for that exact reason, because you're protecting. And so there are so many X factors, as one pilot, to me today, there's so many questions to ask. This is not a simple yes or no or point a finger because there's so many X factors when you fly into dca.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and I'll say the briefing that I hosted with NTSB and the faa, so I had. I was on it. Obviously, Maria Cantwell, who is the ranking member, the senior Democrat on the Commerce Committee, she was on it. We also had both of the Kansas senators, Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall. They both participated. And obviously the flight came from Wichita. So the Kansas Senators are particularly engaged. And then we had Tammy Duckworth. And Jerry Moran and Tammy Duckworth are the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Aviation Subcommittee of the Commerce Committee. So they're both particularly engaged in aviation issues, which is why I invited both of them to participate. So Tammy Duckworth was in the military. She was a helicopter pilot, and she's in a wheelchair. She was very badly wounded in a combat injury. But she is an experienced helicopter pilot. And I will tell you in the briefing, I commented, I said, tammy, it's really helpful to have an experienced helicopter pilot as part of this discussion, because she was literally, she had the maps out of the flight paths, and she's looking at, okay, where Runway 33 is and where helicopter Route 4 is. And Tammy was saying in the course of the discussion, look, if the helicopter stayed on helicopter route 4, it should not have been anywhere close to the landing pattern for Runway 33. So that was an insight. Look, I'm not a helicopter pilot. I don't have the insight to look at those maps and determine that. I thought that was a very interesting insight from her. I'll tell you something else she said that I didn't know that was interesting. It's been widely reported the army black helicopter was on a training mission. What she said is the army routinely codes virtually every flight as a training mission. And she said the reason they do that is army pilots are required to have a certain number of hours to keep their certification. And so every flight they do is a training mission to maintain those hours. So what she said is it doesn't necessarily convey what the purpose of that flight was that it is being called a training mission. I have to admit, I would not have known that had she not said that. And I think all of us, we were like, oh, that's. That's interesting.
- [14:02]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. Because when you listen, especially if you're just watching the news and they're like, why would you have this training flight this time of night? Yeah, right there in this airspace. Surely there's somewhere else you could go and train that is a lot less congested than DCA and all the regulations that you have and this Bravo space around, you know, Washington, D.C. at the highest level. Go somewhere else and be safer. But the way that you just described it from her, well, this actually makes sense. They could be doing real work, and they categorize it as a training mission.
- [14:32]
Senator Ted Cruz
So. So, look, I think in the days that go forward, we're going to find out what the precise mission was. My understanding is the pilots for the American Airlines flight were quite experienced. They had very significant number of hours of flight, so they were very experienced. At this point, I don't have a clear picture of what the experience level was for the army pilots. I'm confident we will find out more about that, and I'm confident we will have discussions on policy questions. One discussion I'm sure we will have is whether the exemption to the FAA rules for military aircraft and federal law enforcement aircraft from having the ADS B technology, whether that is a good decision or not, my understanding is one of the reasons for that exemption is the military and law enforcement sometimes doesn't want to be tracked. They don't want their location evident. And there may be reasons for both military and law enforcement contexts why you want the ability not to be tracked in real time. I think that's a discussion we're going to have to have. And as I sit here today, I don't know whether that if the Black Hawk had that technology, whether it would have made a material difference preventing this accident. I think that's a reasonable question to ask. Secondly, I think we're gonna get some real questions about, okay, how many helicopter flights are there in and around Reagan Airport? Do we need all of those flights? Is there an unnecessary and unreasonable risk? I don't know the answer to that. There may be some compelling reason why you need to have that. I certainly think you ought to give the military a chance to explain it. But I think given this horrific collision and the lives that are lost, we're going to have to have a very serious conversation about what caused this accident and what steps can be taken to prevent this from happening in the future.
- [16:29]
Ben Ferguson
Well, let's talk about the government aspect of this as well, because there's people that have been asking, is there full staffing? Are we understaffed? Are there enough people in the towers? Are there enough qualified people in the towers? Has that even become part of the conversation.
- [16:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yet on the Hill, it's certainly part of the conversation. I would say at this point, we don't know. So I've seen reports that the air traffic controller was assigned to multiple responsibilities. It's not clear what the facts are on that. And one of the dangers coming out of a catastrophic accident is there's a fog of war. There's people hear a snip at this and the other, and they repeat it. And I'm a big believer, I will say the ntsb, I've grown to really respect the work they do. They investigate. When you have a catastrophic accident, they investigate based on the facts, based on evidence. And they do a good job of not jumping to conclusions, trying to figure out, okay, exactly what happened. So Alaska Airlines, when you had the door plug blow off, ntsb, did a very thorough investigation there and presented their conclusions. And so today we heard from them. But, but it was, it was barely 12 hours into the, the investigation. So they didn't know a whole lot yet. And I do think. And they will reach a conclusion expeditiously. These guys are serious and technical, and they try to follow the facts. And that investigation is important. Once we know the facts of what caused the, the accident, then we can say, all right, what steps can be taken to minimize these risks going forward. But I do think one of the things I'm urging my colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats, is don't get ahead of ourselves. And by the way, I'll tell you just a personal aspect to this. So last night, Wednesday night, I was having dinner in Washington, D.C. i was having dinner with Mike Waltz. Mike Waltz is President Trump's national security adviser. And so most nights when I'm in Washington, D.C. i have working dinners. I have dinners with colleagues with other senators or House members. I have dinners with cabinet members. Sometimes I have dinners with subject matter experts. So last night I was having dinner with Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser. And we were talking foreign policy, we're talking the Middle east, we were talking Israel and Iran and China and all of the foreign policy challenges facing this country. And I will tell you right at the end of the dinner, we actually were just wrapping up when Mike got a call and said, oh, wow, okay. There's been a collision between a jet and helicopter at D.C. reagan Airport. So Mike left to go back to the White House to deal with it. And as I was walking out, I'll tell you, Ben, a particularly personal aspect. So last night, Heidi was flying into D.C. and she was flying into Reagan Wow. And she was due to land about 30 minutes after this accident happened. And so I'll say my body man, who's a great kid and is with me frequently, came up. I'll give him credit. What he said to me walking up is, he said, heidi's okay, but there's been an accident at D.C. reagan, and a commercial jet has hit a helicopter. I was very glad he started with Heidi's okay, because I gotta say. And so what happened? Her flight was diverted from Reagan and it landed in BWI.
- [19:51]
Ben Ferguson
For people that don't know, BWI is.
- [19:52]
Senator Ted Cruz
Baltimore, Baltimore, Washington, and it's about 45 minutes away. There are three airports that serve D.C. washington, Reagan is the closest to D.C. washington, Dulles is in Northern Virginia, a little further out. And then BWI Baltimore, Washington is, like I said, 45 minutes to an hour out. So she was diverted. And so when she landed, it was interesting. I texted her immediately, said, hey, are you okay? I got no answer because she was still in the air. And then when she landed, I called her immediately, and as she was getting off the plane, she said, what happened? I don't understand. Why did we get sent to bwi? So they didn't tell the passengers why they were diverted. And so I told her what had happened, and she was. And look, I understand you don't want to tell passengers on an airplane, hey, there was just a plane crash that freaks people out. But. But I told her, and then she came home. But I got. Admit it, it freaked me out a little bit that. That my wife was within 20, 30 minutes of. Of where there was a fatal plane crash at that airport. And you and I have both landed at DCA hundreds, if not thousands of times.
- [20:58]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
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Senator Ted Cruz
And so it's. I gotta say, I. I did. I was. I said a long prayer and was like, God, thank you for sparing Heidi. And when she got to our apartment, I gave her a very long hug. And I am grieving for the 67 families who are mourning the loss of their loved ones. It's horrific, and we're certainly grieving them. And we're grateful for all the first responders and everyone who's been really heroic, try to deal with this. This. This catastrophe since it happened.
- [21:33]
Ben Ferguson
Well, I also want to just highlight. The response was incredible. And I'm sure you've got some of that briefing that came about this. You know, there's always criticism of we could do things better, but the on the ground first responders response truly seemed unbelievable. How quick they were responding, how fast there were so Many people there to help. You were hoping for good news, that there were going to be survivors. We now know the tragic loss of life and what the reality was. But even in the recovery, it was all hands on deck. And it made me proud to be an American. I mean, it was truly incredible to watch it in real time on tv.
- [22:14]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. I talked early this morning to Robert isom, who's the CEO of American Airlines. He flew to D.C. he was on the ground. Obviously, they were dealing with, with 60 passengers and four crew members who were killed. And they were dealing with trying to provide help and support to the families. And I talked to him. I also talked to Sean Duffy, who's the Secretary of Transportation. You know, Sean was confirmed the day earlier. Like, it literally, this was his first day on the job.
- [22:43]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [22:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
And Sean is a good man and a serious man, and he's been diving in and trying to deal with it. But this is a heck of a welcome to be Secretary of Transportation. We've got a major airplane accident on day one, and he's, he's dealing with it. And look, the resources to investigate, to try to determine exactly what happened. The NTSB in particular, they're very good at this. And we're trying to track down, obviously there was a massive mistake somewhere, but we need to figure out who made it and why and how could it have been prevented so that we can learn lessons and try to stop this from happening again. I will say this, though, also as just a comfort to everyone. As horrific as this is, it is worth remembering that air travel is, hands down, the safest mode of transport. And your odds of being killed driving to the airport are still higher than they are of being killed flying on a commercial airline. So they're not zero. And in some ways, it is amazing, given the flights that occur all over this country in so many places, that it has been a long time since we've had a mass fatality accident in the United States, given how complicated flying is. And in some ways that's remarkable. But nonetheless, this tragedy, we should do everything we can to press for zero fatalities. And so we're going to learn lessons from this and try to try to prevent it from happening again.
- [24:19]
Ben Ferguson
You mentioned something and just. You talk about perspective. It was, it's, it's amazing just how fast things can change because Sean Duffy, who you know well, and his wife Rachel, they have a large family and he was welcomed just minutes before at his office and his family was there and he walked up to walk into the office where he's going to serve the American people. And he went into that office and then I'm sure afterwards was immediately rushed out because of what happened. And I sent a note to Rachel last night, just said, you know, I'm so proud, and I'm so sorry that the first night that this is what you're having to deal with. But I said, I know God has put y'all there for times like this to lead into comfort. And I do think the American people should understand. They're incredible leaders that we have just gained who are going to do an amazing job in times like these. Sean is one of those.
- [25:13]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. And look, I'm. I'm grateful that he was on board and confirmed and was able to be doing his job on the day of this accident. Also, Pete Hegseth, who was just confirmed as Secretary of Defense. Listen, this is a crisis involving the loss of life for three soldiers as well. And the question of who was at fault, there's at least some real question whether the military pilots have committed some serious error. We don't know for sure. But, but, but that you look at Pete Hegseth, you're just confirmed as Defense Secretary. This is a serious challenge to deal with in his first couple of days as well. And I'm grateful both of them were confirmed and on the job because you need strong leadership to deal with a crisis of this magnitude.
- [25:59]
Ben Ferguson
I was going to ask you. My next question quickly was going to be the follow up on the. On the military side. We talked so much about, you know, transportation, the airlines and the CEO and et cetera. But let's talk about the military side. There was loss of life there as well. What do we know from that perspective?
- [26:15]
Senator Ted Cruz
We know three soldiers were aboard the Black Hawk and they were all killed. We don't know the details now of who made the mistake. Obviously, somebody did, because this should not have happened. But we don't know where the mistake was. And it's where the investigation, like NTSB will retrace the exact path of each airline, each aircraft, and figure out, okay, who was not where they were supposed to be, who was in the wrong place. Was there a miscommunication? Look, as you review the transcripts, FAA and NTSB told us, at least initially reviewing the transcript, it appeared like when the air traffic controller said, okay, do you have visual confirmation of the airline? And the helicopter pilot said, yes. What we were told in the briefing is, ordinarily, the air traffic controller would move on, say, okay, you guys are taken care of, onto the next flight. So that was their initial take is that exchange appeared to be a fairly typical exchange back and forth of navigating multiple aircraft in close proximity. Nevertheless, we'll find out as we examine Was there just one individual who made an error? Were there multiple individuals? What was the cause of this and that? I'm confident I've told the other members of the Commerce Committee. As NTSB reaches conclusions, I'll have another briefing where we sit down with them and can ask them hard questions and understand, okay, what really caused this and how do we prevent it from happening again?
- [27:53]
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- [28:24]
Holocaust Remembrance Speaker
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- [29:24]
Dr. Josie
Guys, it's Dr. Josie from in the Vet's office. I may be a veterinarian, but first and foremost I'm a dog mom to three amazing pups and I would do anything for them to live long and healthy lives. That's where pettivity comes in. Pettivity is reimagining pet care with a family of devices and health kits that can help you care more proactively for the pets you love. Because everyone wants their pets to live long and happy lives. Petivity health kits and smart pet products use data, AI and best in class technology to learn your pet's behaviors and alert you to key changes that you can act on. By equipping you with information that allows you to understand new facets of your pet's health and wellness, Petivity's products can help you give your pet a voice and empower you to provide the best care possible. These products transform your pet's data into real insights about their well being, giving you the peace of mind that you're going above and beyond for your pet. Visit P e t I V-I-T y.com to learn more. That's P E T I v I t y.com to learn more.
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- [30:51]
Ben Ferguson
Us to confirmations and I do want to just give a quick update for everybody about where we are. It shows you the importance of having people in these positions you talk about. Sean Duffy is a great example. He was confirmed on the day this happened. There are several other major posts that we have confirmation hearings that that wrapped up on Thursday. As you and I recording this Thursday night. There will not be votes on them till next week. How are things moving forward? Where are we in general right now compared to in the past? Because I'm saying, are they slowing us down? Are we getting back on track? Where are we?
- [31:27]
Senator Ted Cruz
So look, the Democrats are certainly engaged in delay and obstruction. That being said, where we are now, eight cabinet members have been confirmed. So we are.
- [31:36]
Ben Ferguson
What's the total number?
- [31:38]
Senator Ted Cruz
That is a full cabinet in the low 20s.
- [31:41]
Ben Ferguson
Okay, so we're far away. We're not even a half. We're not even at 50%.
- [31:45]
Senator Ted Cruz
Correct. But we are ahead of where Biden was at this point and we're ahead of where Trump was in the first term. So, so 8 is moving with with greater expedition than the last two administrations have seen. And so it started with the first cabinet member confirmed was Marco Rubio. He was confirmed on January 20, the first day, and he was confirmed 99 to 0. The second cabinet member was the CIA director, John Ratcliffe. He had 74 yeses and 25 no's after that you had Pete Hegseth as Defense secretary. He had 51 yeses and 50 no's. The vice president, J.D. vance, cast the tie breaking vote. The next person confirmed was the Secretary of Homeland Security, Christy dom. She had 59 yeses and 34 nos. After that, the Treasury Secretary was confirmed. He had 68 yeses, 29 no's. That's Scott Besant. After that, the Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy was confirmed. We're very glad he was confirmed given this crisis. He had 77 yeses and 22 no's. After that, the EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, former Congressman from New York, former candidate for Governor in New York, a friend of mine, he was confirmed as EPA administrator with 56 yeses, 42 nos. And then just today, the Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, the former Governor of North Dakota, he was confirmed 79 yeses, 18 nos. Now where do we stand? Now, in addition to confirming Doug Burgum, we've teed up as the next cabinet members to be confirmed. Chris Wright as Secretary of Energy, Doug Collins as Secretary of Veterans affairs, and Pam Bondi as Attorney General, and Scott Turner as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. All of those are scheduled to be confirmed next week. So they're teed up. We were going to ram through the weekend and keep the Democrats here because they were engaged in obstruction. And Thursday night the Democrats caved and they agreed to expedite and move these forward. So we're moving now on a faster pace than we would have if we had rammed through the weekend and the Democrats had extended all the time. And so they agreed, all right, we'll compress the time if we let them fly home. And so by next week, as I said, Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Attorney General and hud, we'll all make it through next week.
- [34:13]
Ben Ferguson
That, that obviously means the pace is moving up. When you look at so far what's happened, there does seem to be a little bit of a change. Now we're noticing it with the Democrats and the media especially, it seems like there's a real appetite to just get a nominee, whatever one they can get their hands on, to not pass. Is that part of the gamesmanship that we're witnessing? Am I reading the room the right way?
- [34:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, look, I, I still believe, and I've said this a number of times, that all of Trump's cabinet nominees are going to be confirmed, and I think they'll be confirmed within 30 days, that, that we are leaning in. We're putting the pedal to the metal on under the Senate rules that the Democrats can delay some, but I think within 30 days, we'll get them all through. Now, the two, the three that they're going after hardest are in terms of Cabinet nominees, Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, Bobby Kennedy for Health and Human Services. And then it's not a Cabinet position, but Cash Patel for Director of the FBI. It's a sub cabinet position, but a very, very important law enforcement position. Those are the three. It's not complicated or subtle. Those three are the top targets of the Democrats today in the Senate Judiciary Committee. We had Cash Patel's hearing. I was vigorous at the hearing defending him. I will tell you, I think Cash did very well. I think he acquitted himself in an excellent way. This evening I was on Sean Hannity, and as I put it, I said my assessment of the Democrats behavior at Cash Patel's hearing reminded me of the quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth. It was a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing.
- [36:03]
Ben Ferguson
That is a great, accurate way of describing it was a, you know what show is how I was going to put it.
- [36:09]
Senator Ted Cruz
But. But they didn't land any material blows. And look, the point on Cash, what they're attacking him on, not that he's not qualified. He's clearly qualified. He has has over a decade of experience in law enforcement, national security, including having been a federal public defender, including having been a federal prosecutor, having worked in the National Security Division of the Department of Justice, having worked in the White House and the National Security Council, having been a senior intelligence staffer on Capitol Hill, and having been the Chief of Staff at the United States Defense Department. They're not arguing he's unqualified. What they're arguing is they're terrified he will do exactly what President Trump promised he would do, which is eliminate the politicization and weaponization of the FBI and get it back to its core function. I believe Cash Patel will do that. And I think the Democrats are freaking out because they don't want him to do that, but I think Cash will make it through. We also had hearings this week for both Bobby Kennedy and Tulsi Gabbard. I don't know. It is not impossible that one of those nominees is defeated, but I think they all make it through.
- [37:18]
Ben Ferguson
Right now, when you look at the Republicans, when Democrats are pushing this obstructionism the way that they're doing it and trying to slow things down, does that unify the Republican base more? Because it's like, all right, come on, guys, does that make it actually Easier to get the votes you need because you realize what you're up against.
- [37:37]
Senator Ted Cruz
Oh, look, potentially you had Pete Hegseth, who is the one they went after the hardest so far. And that vote was 50. 50. We lost three Republicans. We lost Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitch McConnell because we have a 53, 47 majority. Losing three made it 50 50. And that meant the vice president, J.D. vance, could break the tie. I am glad we have 53. If we had a 51 vote majority, I would not be nearly so sanguine. I would not be saying every Trump Cabinet nominee is going to be confirmed if we had a 51 vote majority. But because we have 53, we can lose up to three. And so I think all of these make it through. Listen, Tulsi. Tulsi was a Democrat for most of her career. She is perceived, if you look at Republican foreign policy, they're interventionists and isolationists. There are many who perceive Tulsi as much more of an isolationist. So there are Republicans who have real concerns with her. Will that play out in the no votes? I don't know. I think the President deserves a considerable amount of deference in naming his cabinet members. And he has decided to name Tulsi Gabbard. I'm gonna vote yes, but I don't know. It's not impossible that we get four no votes which would take down the nomination. Likewise, Bobby Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy's a complicated situation. Both Kennedy and Tulsi, until like 12 minutes ago, they were both Democrats.
- [39:05]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [39:06]
Senator Ted Cruz
And so Bobby Kennedy, obviously a scion of one of the great Democrat royalty families. Camelot. It is a curious dynamic. It's not clear to me any Democrat is going to vote for him, which is an interesting situation. Listen, there are some conservatives. Bobby Kennedy, until recently on many policies, his views were quite left of center. I'm going to vote for Bobby Kennedy because I think he's a change agent, because I think he has courage to take on. I think some of the corruption that we have at hhs, particularly with Big Pharma, that gets in bed with the career bureaucrats there and stifles competition and drives up costs. I think if you have a terrible disease, you should have a right to access lifesaving medication. And I'm one of the original sponsors of the right to try legislation. I think that's very important. And I think Bobby Kennedy is going to shake up the cronyism that has characterized hhs. What's not clear to me is if any Democrats want that cronyism shaken up and to be honest, there may be some Republicans who don't. Let's play this exchange. So this is Bobby Kennedy responding to Bernie Sanders. Bernie's going to vote no. And Bernie was attacking him like crazy. But I got to say, Bobby Kennedy popped him back pretty hard. Listen to this exchange.
- [40:39]
Holocaust Remembrance Speaker
I'm going to make America healthier than other countries in the world right now. Will you guarantee? Do what every other major country does. It's a simple question. And by the way, Bernie, you know, the problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies. It's in Congress, too. Almost all the members of this panel are accepting, including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry. Oh, no. And protecting their. Oh, I thought that that would. No, no, no. I ran for president like you. I got millions and millions of contributions. They did not come from the executives. Not one nickel of PAC money from the pharmaceutical. They came to work. 2020. In 2020, you were the single largest. Because I have pharmaceutical money from workers all over this country. Workers, Not a nickel. From corporate. With the single largest pharmaceutical dollars. Oh, from workers in 1.5 million. Yeah. Out of 200 million. All right, but you have not answered last question. You have.
- [41:52]
Ben Ferguson
I mean that. You want to talk about a beat down with the facts there, Bernie, You've accepted millions of dollars in the pharmaceutical industry. In 2020, you were the single largest receiver of pharmaceutical dollars. 1.5 million. Like, let's just move on here.
- [42:07]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, he did not like that exchange. By the way, I've never seen a confirmation hearing where the nominee refers to the senator by his first name. He keeps calling him Bernie like it's clear. Bobby Kennedy and Bernie Sanders, they know each other well. I mean, they've got a long history there because that's. That, that's quite unusual, too. But I gotta say, Bernie was not anticipating that. Pop back. We'll see how it plays out. But I think Kennedy's gonna get confirmed. I want him to get confirmed. I like Bobby Kennedy. And I also think there are a lot of Americans, a lot of Americans who are not even very political, a lot of moms who are worried about the garbage that our kids are consuming, are worried about the rise in chronic illness, that I think Bobby Kennedy is a very good person to take that on.
- [42:57]
Ben Ferguson
Well. And the keyword you use was an agent of change. There is an appetite for that in Washington. The status quo people are sick and tired of. And that's part of the reason why I think Donald Trump brought who he brought to the table.
- [43:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
Absolutely.
- [43:12]
Ben Ferguson
Don't forget we do this show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We do a Week in Review as well on Saturdays at that subscribe or Auto Download button on those in between dates. Grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcast as well and I'll keep you up to date on the latest breaking news. The center and I will see you back here Saturday for the weekend review.
- [43:31]
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