Jimmy Kimmel Fired-Was it Right & Should the FCC have Gotten Involved plus Trump Designates ANTIFA a Terrorist Organization

Summary

Verdict with Ted Cruz — Episode Summary

Episode Overview

Title: Jimmy Kimmel Fired—Was it Right & Should the FCC have Gotten Involved plus Trump Designates ANTIFA a Terrorist Organization
Date: September 19, 2025
Hosts: Senator Ted Cruz & Ben Ferguson

In this packed episode, Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson examine the controversy surrounding Jimmy Kimmel’s firing from ABC, dissect the role of the FCC and First Amendment implications, and analyze the Trump administration’s move to designate ANTIFA as a terrorist organization. The conversation moves from media bias and cancel culture to free speech and the boundaries of government intervention, culminating with a discussion on following the funding of domestic protest movements.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jimmy Kimmel Fired: Why & Was it Cancel Culture?

[02:51–12:21]

• Why Kimmel Was Fired:

  • Cruz and Ferguson argue the firing was not “cancel culture,” but a result of Kimmel’s declining relevance, poor ratings, high salary, and lying about the circumstances around the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
  • Cruz points out Kimmel’s comedic decline after Donald Trump’s election, noting that late night comedy became overtly political and one-sided.
  • Kimmel’s monologue, in which he allegedly misrepresented the motive and politics of Kirk’s assassin, was seen as the final straw.

• Media Narrative & Lies:

  • Cruz says the idea that the assassination was done by a MAGA Republican is "flat out false" and an "outrageous lie" perpetuated by ABC, CNN, and MSNBC ([14:01]).

• The Business Angle:

  • Kimmel’s ratings: fell 11% to 1.1 million viewers, with 129,000 in the key 18–49 demographic, which Ted claims is lower than Verdict’s listenership ([09:48]).
  • He was reportedly making $16 million per year, which ABC could no longer justify.

• Select Quotes:

  • “Jimmy Kimmel had become profoundly unfunny…when Donald Trump got elected, it broke late night comedy.” – Ted Cruz ([07:15])
  • “We will continue kicking his ass and I want to continue growing those numbers.” – Ted Cruz, on Verdict’s audience vs. Kimmel’s ([09:48])
  • “It's not cancel culture…He said something dumb. ABC News was looking for a reason to get out for what you just described.” – Ben Ferguson ([11:09])

2. The FCC’s Threats & First Amendment Concerns

[21:33–29:13]

• FCC’s Role:

  • The FCC Chairman, Brendan Carr, was interviewed by Benny Johnson and suggested the FCC could potentially take action against ABC, even threatening ABC’s license over Kimmel’s actions ([22:18]).
  • Carr proposed, at minimum, an on-air apology and considered suspension or firing justified ([24:45]).

• Cruz & Ferguson’s Take:

  • Both hosts strongly oppose government intervention, warning this sets a dangerous precedent for free speech.
  • Cruz compares Carr’s stance to "mafioso" tactics and warns that such powers could be turned against conservatives in the future ([26:21]).
  • Cruz and Ferguson agree on the importance of keeping the government out of content regulation—even when content is objectionable.

• Select Quotes:

  • “What he said there is dangerous as hell.” – Ted Cruz, on FCC threats ([25:09])
  • “If the government gets in the business of saying, ‘what you, the media, have said—we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like’—that will end up bad for conservatives.” – Ted Cruz ([26:53])
  • “We should not be in this business. We should denounce it…We shouldn’t be threatening government power to force him off air. That’s a real mistake.” – Ted Cruz ([28:49])
  • “If we do it, they’re gonna do it when they get back in power.” – Ben Ferguson ([21:33])

3. Political Bias in Media

[15:34–18:42]

• Bias in Late Night and News Programming:

  • Ted notes overwhelming liberal bias on programs like ‘The View’ (102 liberal guests & "not one single Republican" in 2025).
  • Shares personal experience of being uninvited back after challenging the show’s left-wing narrative ([16:07]).

• Key Point:

  • The hosts argue that the mainstream media systematically misleads audiences and suppresses alternative viewpoints.

• Memorable Moment:

  • Humorous exchange regarding Cruz's appearance on 'The View' and his deliberate word choice to describe the hosts ([16:34]).

4. Trump Administration Designates ANTIFA a Terrorist Organization

[33:34–41:27]

• Senate Testimony & Policy Shift:

  • Cruz recounts his questioning of FBI Director Kash Patel, urging him to follow the money behind violent protests and designate Antifa as a terrorist group ([33:50]).
  • Trump administration announced the new designation the day after this testimony, adopting many of Cruz’s recommendations.

• Key Policy Details:

  • Trump calls Antifa “a sick, dangerous, radical left disaster” and seeks to investigate those funding the group using the highest legal standards ([37:14]).
  • Cruz advocates that RICO laws should be used to go after those funding and orchestrating violent, anti-American, anti-Israel protests.

• First Amendment Nuance:

  • Cruz clarifies that speech is protected, but violence is not. The government should target violence, not political expression.

• Select Quotes:

  • “Free speech is protected. You can say things that are vile, that are hateful, that are horrible…and the First Amendment protects it. Conduct is not protected when you engage in violence” – Ted Cruz ([37:14])
  • “If you engage in violence, it is not speech. Violence is not speech…Speech is different from violence. We ought to protect speech, and we ought to prosecute violence.” – Ted Cruz ([41:04])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Declining Late Night Comedy:

• “Jimmy Kimmel would stand up and just basically scream, ‘I hate Donald Trump.’ And after a while, it’s like, yeah, we know…” – Ted Cruz ([08:10])

On FCC Overreach:

• “That’s right out of Goodfellas. That’s right out of a Mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.’” – Ted Cruz ([26:21])

On FBI & Antifa:

• “Money doesn't lie. We've been following the money…Cutting off the money will make America much safer. And that is the core job of the FBI.” – Kash Patel, as recounted by Cruz ([36:14])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:51] Episode theme intro: Kimmel firing, free speech, Antifa policy
• [07:15] Cruz on comedy & politics; decline of Kimmel
• [09:48] Kimmel’s ratings vs. Verdict’s podcast
• [12:21] Airing Kimmel monologue; context of Kirk comments
• [14:01] Breakdown of the “lie” about Charlie Kirk’s killer
• [15:34] Media bias: The View, ABC’s guest lists
• [21:33] Discussion: Should the FCC get involved?
• [22:18] FCC Chairman Carr interviewed—threats to ABC
• [25:09] Cruz denounces FCC threats as dangerous (“dangerous as hell”)
• [26:21] Cruz’s “Goodfellas” comparison
• [33:34] Senate testimony—Cruz & FBI’s Kash Patel on Antifa
• [37:14] Trump admin designates Antifa a terrorist organization
• [41:04] Final distinction: speech versus violence

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Tone and Style

The conversation is brisk, sardonic, and laced with sarcasm and humor—typical of the hosts’ style. Cruz leverages legal and political expertise, while Ferguson keeps the discourse energetic and relatable, occasionally interjecting with personal anecdotes and questions that amplify conservative frustrations with mainstream media and left-wing activism.

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For New Listeners

This episode is a deep dive into the intersection of media, freedom of speech, government intervention, and public policy on protest movements. It's especially critical of liberal bias in media, government overreach, and ambiguous boundaries between free speech and incitement to violence. Listeners unfamiliar with recent controversies or conservative critiques of mainstream institutions will find concise breakdowns but should note the emphatically right-leaning perspective throughout.

Transcript

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[F]

It is Verdiqua Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. It's nice to have you with us wherever you're listening around the country. And we've got a packed show for you, including one of your best friends, Senator Jimmy Kimmel. Get in the boot. I mean, are you guys going to have a lot more time to play basketball?

[A]

Now, look, Jimmy Kimmel has been canned. He has been suspended indefinitely. I think that is a fantastic thing. I think Jimmy Kimmel was putting out garbage for a long, long time. But we're going to break down because there are real questions about why ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel and what the role was of the FCC. The FCC threatened to revoke ABC's licenses. We're going to break down the First Amendment implications of that. We're also going to talk about a hearing that happened this week. Cash Patel, the director of the FBI, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. And I questioned Cash and I called on the Trump administration to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

And in particular, what I urge the FBI and the DOJ to do is follow the money, follow those who are putting money behind violent protest, riots, acts of violence. And we're also going to talk about how the fact that within 24 hours the Trump administration announced they were doing exactly that, they were going to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization. It's the right thing to do. It makes America safer. We're going to explain all that to you.

[F]

Yeah, it's definitely, it's a lot to discuss. And we're going to talk about all of it coming up in a moment. If you've got a dog, I got to tell you, and you love your dog, your dog's getting older. I've got a 12 and a half year old dog. You need to know about something that has really given my dog new life. It is called Rough Greens. My dog was at that point where if he was on the couch, he'd kind of whine and bark and you'd have to coach him off the couch or just pick him up and put him on the ground. Same thing when he was jumping up on the couch. Part of that's just getting older. Well, we decided to try Ruff Greens and he is back to being able to do it on his own. It is truly amazing to watch this dog have new, I say new life because he's back to doing what he was doing before that he loved. He's Running around more in the backyard. He is more active now. How does rough greens works? It's pretty awesome. It supports long term health by providing live bioavailable nutrients including essential vitamins, minerals, probiotics, digestive enzymes and omega oils. The ingredients work together to improve nutrition absorption, maintain joint and muscle health of your dog and enhance the overall vitality. And I can tell you, I'm witnessing it now. It works. It promotes longevity by addressing common nutritional deficiencies found in processed dog food. Now, rough grain supplements are easy, okay? It is easy to use. All you have to do is sprinkle it on your dog's food and your dog will love it. You don't have to change your dog's food. You just add rough greens. And I want you to be able to try a free jump start bag so you can see it for yourself with your dog. All you gotta do is cover the shipping. Use the discount code Ben to claim your free Jumpstart trial bag at rough greens.com that's R U F F Greens with an S.com rough greens.com promo code Ben. You don't change your dog food, all right? You just add rough greens and watch the health benefits come alive in your favorite dog or dogs. Rough Greens.com promo code BEN and get that free trial. All right now, Senator, let's go back to how all this went down so people understand the, the. There's a lot of misinformation. There's just a lot of lies out there. Let's just be honest about it. There are a ton of lies in this one. Jimmy Kimmel went after our dear friend who was assassinated and went after him and basically implied that he's responsible for his own assassination. And oh, by the way, he was a Trump supporter referring to the assassin. That is why he got in trouble, because he lied. It's not because of free speech, which some people have complicated this into free speech issue. By the way. He can say whatever the hell he wants. It doesn't mean you're going to keep your job.

[A]

Well, let's break this down to several things. Number one, Jimmy Kimmel had become profoundly unfunny. That there was a time, I don't know, 15 years ago that he was a talented comedian, he could be funny. You know, he started hosting the man show with Adam Carolla and they were pretty funny back then. And that's how he got a late night gig. I've been on Jimmy Kimmel. I've done his show. I've done a show a couple of times. He can Be funny. But then Donald Trump got elected. And when Donald Trump got elected, it broke. Late night comedy. The host of Late Night Comedy, they used to be able to make fun of both sides. And by the way, good comedy, it ought to make fun of Republicans and Democrats. It ought to just, just laugh and have fun. But Jimmy Kimmel, just like Stephen Colbert, his brain melted when Donald Trump came into the White House.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

And it is now unwatchable. I've grown up, I've grown up watching snl. I've grown up watching late night comedy. I like to laugh. And it is now I don't watch it anymore, in fact. And I'm not unique. The vast majority of America doesn't watch it anymore because Jimmy Kimmel would stand up and just basically scream, I hate Donald Trump. And after a while it's like, yeah, we know, there's no mystery about it. You're not hiding it. But how about being a comedian? How about telling a joke? By the way, when I was first elected to the Senate 13 years ago, it was a regular part of the job to go on late night comedy. And so I've done Jay Leno, I've done Jimmy Kimmel, I've done Stephen Colbert, I've done Fallon. That was part of the job. Today, none of them, zero have any Republicans on. They will not have them on. They just, their entire show is essentially an infomercial screaming that they hate Donald Trump. On top of that, Kimmel's numbers had plummeted. So, so here are some of the stats. According to Late Nighter, in August, Jimmy Kimmel lost 11% of his audience, down to 1.104 million viewers. To put that in perspective, Jimmy Kimmel was getting fewer viewers than we have Verdict listeners.

[F]

Yeah. So this podcast, congratulations, by the way, that's like, that's like the real deal right there.

[A]

Like, like he's, he's on ABC in every television in America. And Verdict was kicking his ass. Now, now, by the way, I, I, we will continue kicking his ass and I want to keep, continue growing those numbers. But 1.104 million viewers. And by the way, in the 18 to 49 demographic, which is the critical demographic for selling stuff that advertisers care about, Kimmel was down 15%. Do you know how many viewers 18 to 49 he had?

[F]

I'm going to guess under 400,000, 129,000. Wow. So with a 16A report, I think it was $16 million a year salary, by the way, for him.

[A]

Yeah, he was getting paid a crap ton of money. And to give that in perspective, Colbert, who was fired, was losing Paramount $40 million a year.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

ABC has not made their numbers public, so. So we don't know what the numbers were, But. But Kimmel had lost even more viewers than Colbert, So you have to assume he was losing ABC even more money than Colbert was doing. So he was a train wreck. He was a disaster. He was unfunny, and he was also bitter and nasty, and he lied about Charlie Kirk.

[F]

All right, Senator, I want to go back to what you were saying a moment ago. And one of the interesting things about Kimmel that I do want to break down is so many on the left are screaming, this is cancel culture. It is not cancel culture. He said something dumb. I also think, though, that ABC News was looking for a reason to get out for what you just described, which is, you don't have anybody watching. The revenue's down, the guy's making $16 million a year. And so this was a perfect opportunity to say, hey, we can get out of this with reason here. Page Six is even saying they even asked him if you gave some money and made a donation and apologized. And apparently he was saying, I won't do it. That's what they're reporting tonight as well, is that they're saying, hey, like, you know, like, he's like, no, I'm not going to apologize the Kirk family. So it gave them even an easier ability to get rid of him and can this thing early.

[A]

Look, unquestionably, ABC was hemorrhaging money. This. This was a smart business decision, but also what Jimmy Kimmel said was reprehensible. And I want you to listen to it. I want you to. If you're watching online, I want you to watch. This is the monologue that got Jimmy Kimmel fired. Give a listen.

[E]

We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk is anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it. In between the finger pointing, there was grieving. On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half staff, which got some criticism. But on a human level, you can see how hard the President is taking this.

[F]

My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk. May I ask, sir, personally, how are.

[A]

You holding up over the last day and a half, sir? I think very good. And by the way, right there, you see all the trucks? They've just started construction of the new ball for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years. And it's going to be a beauty.

[F]

Yes.

[E]

He's at the fourth stage of grief.

[A]

Construction, demolition, construction.

[E]

This is not how an adult grieves the murderer of someone he called a friend. This is how a four year old mourns a goldfish.

[A]

Okay.

[F]

By the way, so people understand context there. The reporting out of the White House and people I've talked to have said that the President was gutted over the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It was pretty clear he did not want to talk about it right then. And as he was outside.

[A]

It's not like reporters are his therapists.

[F]

Right? Yeah. I mean, it was obvious he didn't want to go there at that moment. And so he, and let me say.

[A]

Ben, the thing to understand about Jimmy Kimmel, what he just said there, there's a technical term for that. It's called a lie.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

So he stood up and said the murderer of Charlie Kirk was a MAGA Republican.

[F]

Yep.

[A]

That is flat out false. That is a brazen lie. And, and, and we talked about this our last podcast. If you didn't listen to our last podcast, you should go back and listen to it. I went on CNN with Kaitlan Collins and she fought me like crazy. We don't know what the motive of this guy is. This murderer, this assassin was a left wing radical. He was an antifa activist. He was a transgender activist. He was living with a transgender man transitioning to be a woman. That transgender man was his boyfriend. He wrote on the bullets and TIFA and transgender slogans. He hated Charlie Kirk. He admitted all of this. It is unequivocal. This is a hardcore leftist and I got to say, it is amazing. The vast majority of Democrats today believe Charlie Kirk's murderer was a MAGA Republican because the media is corrupt and they are lying. When I was on CNN with, with Kaitlan Collins, she refused to acknowledge that because CNN is lying to their viewers. MSNBC is lying to their viewers. And Jimmy Kimmel stood up with his measly 1.1 million viewers and lied to them. Said this murderer was a MAGA Republican. Now, abc, theoretically, ABC News is a news organization. They should not be in the business of lying to Americans. And Jimmy Kimmel shamelessly lied to them because he has a political agenda, truth be damned.

[F]

And I think it's top to bottom. So people understand this. And I'll give you an example. The view on ABC is actually, I'm pretty sure, if I remember correctly, under the news division Kimmel is under like that in general, I think entertainment, but under their news, if you want to.

[A]

Know, how much is he entertaining?

[F]

Yeah, right, exactly. But if you want to know how much propaganda machine ABC News is, this is just an example. It's a small example, but it's a powerful one. In 2025, the viewers had 102 liberal guests on and not one single Republican guest.

[A]

But by the way, to be clear, Ben, I've been on the View multiple times. So I've written to date four books. For my second book, they had me on. For my third book, they had me on now, particularly for the third book, we got into it, it was a hell of a scrape. Whoopi Goldberg and the other cackling hosts of the View insisted that was the.

[F]

Nicest way it's ever been put. By the way that was.

[A]

I refrained myself. I'm on good behavior because I went through like nine different nouns and I just went with hosts.

[F]

I like it. Well done.

[A]

But Whoopi insisted. She said, violence is only a right wing phenomenon. I said, well, what about the antifa and the Black Lives Matter riots all over the country that burned cities across America? And she looked at me befuddled and said, I don't know what an antifa or Black Lives Matter riot is. You think about the millions of housewives that watch that show that are lied to every single day. It went so badly for them that my fourth book, Unwoke how to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America, available on Amazon, by the way. When, when I, it came out, I reached out and said, hey, I'd like to go on the View again. And they said, no, thank you. Like, like you kicked our ass.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

They're like, no, we cannot have. We are in the business of lying to our viewers.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

And when you come on, you make it really hard to lie to our viewers because you actually bring up facts and substance and we're just not good enough to lie in the face of facts and substance. So that's who they are.

[F]

That's who they are. It's funny you mentioned Kaylin Collins in your interview. Just, just if you missed it, it's up on social media. I actually think that you should do more of these because the number of viral clips center that came out of you going on with Kaitan Collins and people seeing your grand debate with her, which is an important one, and calling her out for saying we don't know the motive and the, in the, the, the death, the assassination of Charlie Kirk is one that now has just exploded and afterwards I'm like, you know what, it may be worth it for you to do this like every week. Because then you get to call them out every week and they are held accountable because otherwise they just go on TV and they just lie.

[A]

Well, understand, Jimmy Kimmel was fired because number one, he's not funny. Number two, he was losing ABC massive amounts of money. And number three, he flat out lied. An incredibly important issue, which is who the murderer of Charlie Kirk was.

[F]

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[A]

Yes.

[F]

And it will happen 10 times harder than what we're talking about right now. And that's just my hot take on it. But I think it's important when this is literally what I do for a living. I don't want someone shutting me down in what I do for a living or free speech.

[A]

Yeah. You and I have not talked about this before doing the podcast, but I'm not surprised that we're on the same page. I want to play because a lot of the media is very much focused on this, particularly the left wing media. But Brendan Carr, who's the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, he did an interview with Benny Johnson. Benny's a friend of ours, he's a great guy. But he leaned in hard on Jimmy Kimmel and he threatened government retaliation for what Kimmel said. So I want you to give a listen to this interview and then we're going to talk about it.

[G]

I think this is an isolated incident. I mean, you go back to Representative Swalwell and he had a tweet out last week where he was saying that, you know, emphasizing that Charlie Kirk's killer was a straight white male from a Republican family that voted for Donald Trump. In some quarters, there's a very concerted effort to try to lie to the American people about the nature, as you indicated, one of the most significant newsworthy public interest acts that we've seen in a long time. And what appears to be an action, appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play into that narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or Republican motivated person. If that's what happened here with his conduct, that is, that is really, really sick. And I've been Very clear from the moment that I have become chairman of the fcc, I want to reinvigorate the public interest. And what people don't understand is that the broadcasters, and you've gotten this right, are entirely different than people that use other forms of communication. They have a license granted by us at the FCC and that comes with it, an obligation to operate in the public interest. And we can get into some ways that we've been trying to reinvigorate the public interest and some changes that we've seen. But frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel or, you know, there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.

[H]

What kind of action would you see? I at the very least would like to have an on air apology from Jimmy Kimmel to the Kirk family, to all of those who he slandered because he did say that Charlie Kirk, he is effectively saying that our movement did this, our movement killed Charlie, that Charlie was deserving of this. Effectively. And we've seen that rear its head. This happens quite regularly, actually on MSNBC and on other networks where they're trying to victim blame. And what that does is, Mr. Chairman, respectfully, is continues the lie and continues the threat level to say effectively that we have no share in this problem at all. On the left, this is a clear cut case. What would you like to see done at abc?

[G]

Well, look, I think, I think what you said there strikes me as a very reasonable, minimal step that can be taken. I mean, obviously there's calls for Kim will be fired. I think, you know, you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this. And again, you know, the FCC is going to have remedies that we could look at. And again, you know, we may ultimately be called to be a judge on that.

[A]

No, no, no, no, no. Look, look, I like Brandon Carr. He's a good guy. He's the chairman of the fcc. I work closely with him. But what he said there is dangerous as hell.

[F]

Hold on for people that are listening, because this is gonna be, quote, controversial. So I wanna make sure we explain it clearly when you say no and it's dangerous. Explain and run this out the slippery slope that this can open so that people understand why we're saying it.

[A]

So the Federal Communication Commission is in charge of granting broadcast licenses. So abc, NBC, cbs, they have licenses from the fcc. It is true that under statute they are required to be in the public Interest. What he is saying is, Jimmy Kimmel was lying. That's true. He was lying. And his lying to the American people is not in the public interest. And so he threatens explicitly, we're going to cancel ABC's license. We're going to take him off the air so ABC cannot broadcast anymore. And I got to say, he threatens it. He says, we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

And I got to say, that's right out of Goodfellows. That's right out of a Mafioso coming into a bar going, nice bar you have here. It'd be a shame if something happened to it. And I gotta say, look, I understand. Jimmy Kimmel has mocked me so many times, I cannot count the corporate media. They are dishonest. They are liars. I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired. But let me tell you, if the government gets in the business of saying.

[F]

What.

[A]

What you, the media have said, we're going to ban you from the airwaves. If you don't say what we like, that will end up bad for conservatives. It reminds me of. You and I are both fans of the Lord of the Rings.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

JRR Tolkien. It reminds me of, like, the Ring of power. And it is so attractive. It's sort of like conservatives saying, wait, wait, if we have government, we have power. We can ban the media. Let me tell you what will happen going down this road. There will come a time when a Democrat wins again, wins the White House.

[F]

They will get rid of every Democrat America that's a conservative. They'll get rid of every podcast they'll get rid of.

[A]

They will silence us. They will use this power and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous. And by the way, in the Biden administration, they tried to go after and revoke Fox's license because they didn't like. And they say everything they say on Fox is hate speech. I'm sure they say everything you and I say is hate speech is misinformation. They've defined anything counter to the leftist narrative as misinformation. Now, we just talked about Jimmy Kimmel was lying. But you know what? It's, it's interesting. Brendan said, well, gosh, they, they slandered. They slandered Charlie Kirk and his family. You know what? If they slandered him, there's already a remedy. There's a remedy of defamation. ABC could be sued. And by the way, you get a defamation lawsuit, you could pay millions of dollars. Let that process play out. I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying, we're gonna decide what speech we like and what we don't. And we're gonna threaten to take you off air if we don't like what you're saying. And it might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

But when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it. And so, again, I like Brendan Carr, but we should not be in this business. We should denounce it. It's fine to say what Jimmy Kimmel said was deplorable, it was disgraceful, and he should be off air. But we shouldn't be threatening government power to force him off air. That's a real mistake.

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[F]

Get to something else that happened earlier this week, and that was the questioning of the FBI director Cash Patel. You had the opportunity to talk with cash on a number of different issues. Obviously, one of them that was in front of mind was the assassination of our friend Charlie Kirk.

[A]

Well, absolutely. So this week, Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. And I took the opportunity to question him on a number of topics. But front and center, to urge Kash Patel to follow the money and in particular to go after Antifa and to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization. Here's the exchange Cash and I had give a listen. I want to encourage you in the course of this investigation. Absolutely. Go after anyone who aided and abetted, but I want to more broadly encourage you. Follow the money. The violence we are seeing is not purely organic. There is, I believe, significant money that is spreading dissension, that is spreading violence. Antifa. Do you believe Antifa is a terrorist organization? I believe Antifa is associated with a lot of violence in this country. As to its designation, I'll leave that to the appropriate authorities. So I would encourage the administration to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization, to go systematically after Antifa. They've committed acts of violence all over the country, and the shell casings have multiple references to slogans that Antifa has popularized. I believe there is considerable money funding, and I would note that I've introduced legislation called the Stop Funders Act. Stop Funders act would add rioting to the list of predicate offenses under rico. I believe the money should be f should be tracked and prosecuted under rico. And both the Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots of a couple of years ago and the pro open border riots in Los Angeles and other cities of this past year, I believe there was significant money behind those riots. I'm not the only person who noticed at the anti Semitic protest and violent protests on college campuses that many of the tents all matched. And so I would ask, would it aid your ability to prosecute these matters if Congress passed into law the Stop Funders act and if rioting was added to the list of predicate offenses for rico?

[F]

Yes.

[A]

Talk to me about the efforts of the FBI to go after the funders of the anti Semitic protests on college campuses, the pro open border protests in cities, and potential LGBT violence. Talk to me about the efforts to go after the money of those who are funding and promoting violence. As I've always said, Senator, money doesn't lie. We've been following the money, and so that's what we're doing, issuing lawful process to organizations involved with criminal activity, because the money's got to come from somewhere and it has be to, to be funded somehow. So we have extensive investigations ongoing into numerous organizations that are related to violent criminal activity. Cutting off the money will make America much safer. And that is the core job of the FBI. And I thank you for doing your job.

[F]

Now you look at what you just said there in the back and forth center and this turned very quickly into a new policy from the Trump administration as well. That is the best news coming out of this.

[A]

Absolutely. So, so this, this testimony was on Tuesday. The very next day, President Trump announced he was doing what I was calling for, which is designating Antifa as a terrorist organization. I'm going to read to you from Fox News. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced he will designate antifa, a left wing activist group, a major terrorist organization. Trump described the group as, quote, a sick, dangerous, radical left disaster. In a truth social announcement, the President added that he will be strongly recommending that those funding Antifa be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. The announcement comes just days after Trump said he would 100% consider the designation. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Monday, Trump accused Antifa participants of being, quote, professional agitators in response to the administration's recent crackdown on illegal immigration. Quote, antifa is terrible. The President said, these aren't protests, these are crimes that they're doing. They're throwing bricks at cars of the ICE and Border Patrol. They're professional agitators. They should be put in jail. What they're doing in this country is really subversive. And I will say this goes right to the heart of a distinction that I've tried to lay it out, lay out repeatedly, which is free speech is protected. You can say things that are vile, that are hateful, that are horrible, that we hate and the First Amendment protects it. Conduct is not protected when you engage in violence, it is not protected. What an TIFA is doing, engaging in violence, engaging in harassment, engaging in threats, that is not protected. And so what I urge Cash Patel, follow the money, go after the money. And look, I believe there's money that is coming from foreign nations. There's money that's coming from Qatar, there's money that's coming from Iran. There may be money coming from communist China. And there's also money coming from the gazillionaire left wing funders of the Democrat Party, people like George Soros and his entire organization that are funding these radical organizations. And it's one thing to go and prosecute the individual criminals. We should do that, sure. But if you want to solve the Problem. It's why I've introduced the legislation, the Stop Funders act, because RICO is an incredibly powerful tool to prosecute not just an individual defendant, but a criminal organization. And criminal organizations are usually structured with a hub and spokes. And so following the money is how you get the people writing checks that are sitting in their Manhattan penthouses funding the anti American, anti Israel, communist jihadist agitators that are destroying this country. And so I got to say, I was really encouraged. I've been pressing in the first Trump administration, I pressed for years for the first Trump administration to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization. There was a lot of openness to that argument, but it never succeeded. They never did it. This time. When I pressed on Tuesday, the next day, the President came out and said, we're gonna do that. That's exactly the right thing to do.

[F]

Yeah, it is big. It's gonna be really important. It's gonna have a huge impact going forward. That may be the best part of all. And of course, you know you're doing something right. When the left is losing their mind, they're saying, oh, this the president trying to silence political organizations. I'm sorry, they're not a political organization. They act like a terrorist organization. There's a big difference between a political organization and a terrorist organization. And Antifa has all the markings, as you described it, of a terrorist organization, going all the way back to 2016 when you first were calling for this.

[A]

If you engage in violence, it is not speech. Violence is not speech. And by the way, anyone who commits violence should be prosecuted and go to jail. And that's true whether you're left wing or right wing, I might agree with what you're saying. But if you engage in violence, that is not acceptable. Speech is different from violence. We ought to protect speech, and we ought to prosecute violence and put the violent criminals in jail.

[F]

Amen to that. Don't forget, we do this show as a podcast three days a week. Make sure you hit that subscribe or auto download button. You can also tell Siri or Alexa to play it. And we also are doing many of our episodes now on YouTube as well. So you can watch these episodes on YouTube. Hit the subscribe button there so you don't miss a single episode. And join us here on this radio station each and every weekend. It's always a pleasure to have you with us. And as we do this show, you've been listening to Verdict with Ted Cruz. Wherever you get your podcast, stay with us this week. Ben Ferguson with you. We'll see you back here next weekend.

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[A]

This is an iHeart podcast.