Judge Harboring a Gang Member, Trump Smacks down ABC News & DOGE finds Institute of Peace NOT so Peaceful Week In Review

Summary

Verdict with Ted Cruz: Episode Summary – "Judge Harboring a Gang Member, Trump Smacks down ABC News & DOGE finds Institute of Peace NOT so Peaceful Week In Review"

Release Date: May 3, 2025

In this compelling episode of "Verdict with Ted Cruz," hosted by Senator Ted Cruz alongside co-host Ben Ferguson, listeners are guided through a deep dive into three major news stories that have significant implications for the American public. Cruz and Ferguson, supported by Attorney General Pam Bondi, dissect each topic with incisive analysis, robust discussions, and exclusive insights.

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1. New Mexico Judge Arrested for Harboring a Gang Member

The episode opens with a startling revelation about Former Dona Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy Cano, who were arrested by Homeland Security at their Las Cruces home. The charges against them include harboring a member of the Trender Aragua gang, a Venezuelan gang known for violent crimes, and tampering with evidence.

Pam Bondi elaborates on the severity of the case:

"They were arrested for harboring a Trender Aragua gang member in their home... he had on a necklace that said kill and had pictures of two decapitated victims on his cell phone." [04:33]

Judge Cano is accused of destroying incriminating evidence by hammering the gang member's cell phone, which contained gruesome photos of decapitated victims. This action was an attempt to obstruct justice and prevent the prosecution of the gang member for domestic violence and battery.

Cruz underscores the media's portrayal of these arrests:

"This is reactionary to these activist judges and that's something that the media is also distorting." [02:42]

Attorney General Pam Bondi emphasizes the administration's stance on such misconduct:

"No one is above the law... Democrats believe that if they don't like a law, they can just ignore it." [09:45]

The discussion highlights a growing pattern of judicial activism and the government's commitment to holding officials accountable, regardless of political affiliation.

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2. Donald Trump Roasts ABC News in a 100-Day Interview

In a bold move, former President Donald Trump conducted a 100-day interview with ABC News in the Oval Office, where he critically addressed his administration's accomplishments and government/media shortcomings.

Travis Holloway recounts Trump's remarks on border security:

"I think maybe the border is the most significant because our country was really going bad... it's totally closed down." [17:52]

Trump boasts about achieving a 99.9% closure rate at the southern border, a figure that exceeded expectations and challenged media skepticism:

"He said nobody believed we could get there... but not only did he get it done, but even the mainstream media now... is forced to report on just how big of a victory this is for Trump at the border." [18:12]

When confronted about the declining reputation of the United States, Trump responds with characteristic defiance:

"Do you think the reputation of the United States has gone down under your presidency? No, I think it's gone way up." [20:43]

Pam Bondi highlights Trump's direct confrontation with ABC News:

"He's roasting them to their faces... ABC News is one of the worst, I have to be honest." [21:15]

The episode showcases Trump's unapologetic and confrontational interview style, underlining his commitment to border security and willingness to challenge established media narratives.

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3. DOGE Finds Institute of Peace NOT so Peaceful

The final major topic revolves around DOGE's investigation into the Institute of Peace, uncovering alarming instances of waste, fraud, and abuse within the organization.

Pam Bondi presents the findings:

"The Institute of Peace had a $130,000 contract with a former member of the Taliban. They deleted one terabyte of accounting records when DOGE entered their headquarters." [30:30]

The investigation revealed that the Institute of Peace:

• Allocated $130,000 to a former Taliban member without clear accountability.
• Destroyed financial records, indicative of an attempted cover-up.
• Owned an armory filled with weapons, contradicting its purported mission of peace.

G, a representative from DOGE, provides further details:

"They received $55 million a year from Congress, and any unspent money was swept into a private bank account with no congressional oversight." [32:25]

Travis Holloway criticizes the lack of transparency:

"Why would somebody delete that? That's really a definition of a cover-up." [34:06]

Pam Bondi condemns the misuse of taxpayer funds:

"Renting out Caesar's Palace for parties... That's the very definition of waste, fraud, and abuse." [36:17]

The segment emphasizes the need for stringent oversight of government agencies to prevent misuse of funds and uphold accountability.

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Concluding Insights

Throughout the episode, Senator Ted Cruz and Pam Bondi reinforce the administration's dedication to upholding the rule of law, combating judicial and bureaucratic corruption, and challenging media bias. They assert that these efforts are crucial for maintaining public trust and ensuring that no individual or institution is above accountability.

Key takeaways include:

• The importance of judicial integrity and the consequences of judicial activism.
• Trump's administration highlights its success in border security and labels media as biased.
• The necessity for government transparency and fraud prevention within federal agencies.

For listeners seeking to stay informed on these critical issues, this episode offers a comprehensive analysis and perspective on the state of American governance and media relations.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Pam Bondi on Judge Cano’s actions [04:33]:

  "He took this Venezuelan gang member's cell phone, smashed it with a hammer because it had incriminating evidence of the gang member with firearms."

• Ted Cruz on media distortion [02:42]:

  "This is reactionary to these activist judges and that's something that the media is also distorting."

• Donald Trump's claim on border closure [17:52]:

  "The southern border is totally closed down. 99.9%."

• Pam Bondi on Trump's achievements [21:15]:

  "He's roasting them to their faces... ABC News is one of the worst."

• G on Institute of Peace's financial misconduct [32:25]:

  "They received $55 million a year from Congress... used to fund things like events at their headquarters and the private jets."

• Pam Bondi condemning Department of Education's misuse of funds [36:17]:

  "Renting out Caesar's Palace for parties... That's the very definition of waste, fraud, and abuse."

This episode of "Verdict with Ted Cruz" is a must-listen for those interested in understanding the intersections of law, governance, and media influence in contemporary America.

Transcript

[Ted Cruz]

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[Ted Cruz]

Welcome. It is verdict with center Ted Cruze Week in Review, Ben Ferguson with you. And here are the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week. First up, a New Mexico judge now behind bars for housing an illegal gang member. And the AG is not backing down on activist judges either. I'll have that for you in just a second. Also, Donald Trump roast ABC news in a 100 day interview in the Oval Office and what he had to say. It went viral and we'll play it for you as well. And finally, Doge and the Institute for Peace, well they're exposing, they weren't actually very peaceful is they were giving, giving money to former terrorist members. It's the weekend review and it starts right now. So when you combine this and this, these types of arrests, there is no inclination here that this is preemptively a idea or a mindset by the DOJ or anybody else. This is reactionary to these activist judges and that's something that the media is also distorting.

[Pam Bondi]

Well, it is. And I will say, look, there's another story out of New Mexico which is former Dona Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano, 67, his wife Nancy Cano, 68, are in custody right now. They were arrested by Homeland Security at their Las Cruces home. They were arrested for harboring a gang member, a Trender Aragua gang member in their home. And this Trender Aragua gang member, he's covered in gang tattoo tattoos. And the judge faces charges of tampering with evidence. Now you know what he did?

[Ted Cruz]

What was that?

[Pam Bondi]

He took this Venezuelan gang member's cell phone, smashed it with a hammer because it had incriminating evidence of the gang member with firearms. And then he went and disposed of the cell phone. So he was trying to hide evidence. Now do you know one of the pictures that was on the cell phone allegedly that the judge destroyed with a hammer?

[Ted Cruz]

I'm gonna guess it's probably one of those good old gang sign pictures, right? Because that's always what the gang members have on their phone.

[Pam Bondi]

Now, it's worse than that. It's a picture of two victims who are decapitated. We're not talking nice, fuzzy friendly gang members. We're not talking, as the media loves to call the illegal immigrant up in Maryland, a quote, Maryland man. This is a gang member who allegedly had pictures of two people with their heads cut off on the Cell phone. And what does a Democrat judge do in New Mexico? Well, you got a gang member, he says, hey, let me hide you in my house. And here, give me that phone. Cuz they could use that to prosecute you. I'm gonna smash it with a hammer and dispose of it so they don't have the evidence to convict you. That is bizarre. And that is a Democrat judge.

[Ted Cruz]

The attorney general, by the way, she came out strong and said we're not backing down when we see this type of activism. Here's part of what she had to.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Say on Fox and to set the stage for you and Sandra. This was truly horrific. This guy was in court being prosecuted by a state prosecutor for domestic violence battery. He had beat up two people, a guy and a girl. Beat the guy, hit the guy 30 times, knocked him to the ground, choked him, beat up a woman so badly they both had to go to the hospital. And John, you know it's so rare for victims to want to cooperate. They wanted to cooperate. They were sitting in the courtroom with the state prosecutor. The judge learns that ICE was outside to get the guy because he had been deported in 2013, came back in our country, commits these crimes, charged with committing these crimes. Victims in court. Judge finds out. She goes out in the hallway, screams at the immigration officers. She's furious, visibly shaken, upset. Sends them off to talk to the chief judge. She comes back in the courtroom, you're going to believe this. Takes the defendant and the defense attorney back in her chambers, takes him out of private exit and tells them to leave. While a state prosecutor and victims of domestic violence are sitting in the courtroom.

[Ted Cruz]

You hear her explaining this and you gotta think the majority of Americans, if they know that story, they're gonna be outraged, just as outraged as she is.

[Pam Bondi]

Yeah, no, that's exactly right. And I wanna play a second clip from Pam Bondi where she's talking about the New Mexico judge. Because this is not, this is not a crazy outlier, unfortunately, this is a pattern. Give a listen to the attorney general talking about this New Mexico judge harboring a trend gang member in his home.

[Ryan Seacrest]

I mean, when you look at the associations with this violent Venezuelan gang, Trende Aragua and this person that they harbored in their home, he was showing signs through clothing, we are told, tattoos. There was evidence through voice messages and text messages of his association to tda. So what charges will Kano and his wife face, if any? So judge Cano, soon to be former judge Cano got. He got. His charges were just unsealed. He's charged with obstruction. He is charged. He admitted post Miranda, he took one of the TDA members cell phones himself, took it, beat it with a hammer, destroyed it, and then walked the pieces to a city dumpster to dispose of it to protect him. The wife also is charged with destroying evidence. Sandra. Not only that, this TDA member and he had on a necklace that said kill. Something about death. He had tattoos all over him. He also had on his cell phone pictures of two decapitated victims. Two victims decapitated, gruesome photos. And he was sending them out. And whoever he was sending them to was sending back to. Hey, you need to be careful. You shouldn't be sending these. You shouldn't be texting these photos out. Not. Not only that, these two, the judge and his wife gave him assault rifles that belong to their daughter. That's what they're charged with in the criminal report affidavit. He goes to a shooting range with these assault rifles with a suppressor with other known TDA members, and they're shooting. This is the last person that we want in our country, nor will we ever tolerate a judge or anyone else harboring them.

[Ted Cruz]

I'm just so glad we have an attorney general. You're good friends with Pam. We've had her on the show that is able to articulate this the way that she is to continue to combat the lies that are being put out there about who is actually getting arrested, who we're targeting, and who we're trying to get out of the country.

[Pam Bondi]

No, that's exactly right. And it's the simple principle that no one is above the law. Here's what Kash Patel, the head of the FBI, tweeted out. Quote, just now, the FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on charges of obstruction after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week. We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject, an illegal alien, to evade arrest. Thankfully, our agents chased down the perp on foot, and he's been in custody since. But the judge's obstruction created increased danger to the public. We will have more to share soon. Excellent work. And then the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, she tweeted, I can confirm that our FBI agents just arrested Hannah Dugan, a county judge in Milwaukee, for allegedly helping an illegal alien avoid arrest by ice. No one is above the law. Somehow, Democrats believe that if they don't like a law, they can just ignore it. They can defy it. By the way, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did that for four years. They just utterly ignored federal immigration law. And unfortunately, this attitude of lawlessness. We're not bound by the law. Not only that, we're gonna actively fight federal law enforcement who is trying to enforce the law. And what are they doing this for? I mean, Ben, seriously, explain to me. Help me get in the head of. Let's say this. New Mexico judge. New Mexico judge. You and your wife say, hey, we got some gang members from Venezuela. They're covered in tattoos. They've got a necklace that says kill. They have cell phones with pictures of people with their heads cut off. Let's bring them to my house. Like, how? Explain to me that thought process. My brain is not nimble enough to get around this.

[Ted Cruz]

See, this is where I think to myself, I'm like, all right, well, then there's gotta be some sort of incentive that is connecting them. There's gotta be something to gain here personally, because I can't just imagine this judge is just like, yeah, genuinely want to hang out with people that are celebrating or involved in this type of criminal activity, including, as you described it, beheadings.

[Pam Bondi]

Yeah. Look, you and I watch Breaking Bad. I don't know if this is a judge that's on the take, if there's corruption, if he's been paid by the gang. I don't know if he's ideological and stupid or corrupt or what. There's clearly more to this story we will learn, but the facts, on the face of it, are astonishing. And what's amazing, I don't know of a single Democrat elected official who's denounced this conduct by the judges. Instead, what. What they're saying is they're rushing to defend these judges that are brazenly, brazenly defying the law.

[Ted Cruz]

Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week. Hey, everyone.

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[Ted Cruz]

Now on to story number two.

[Pam Bondi]

Here's something else that President Trump said at the rally where he actually reprised my favorite line from his State of the Union address this year, where he talked about how Joe Biden had said just one year earlier that the only way to secure the border is if Congress passed new legislation. Give a listen to what President Trump said.

[Travis Holloway]

For years, Joe Biden and the media told us that stopping the flood of illegal immigration was absolutely impossible. He said it was impossible. He didn't know what the hell anybody was talking about. He said it was impossible that the president had no power to stop what was needed in the form of legislation. He needed legislation. He had no power to get it. But it turned out that all we needed was a new president.

[Ted Cruz]

He's right. All we need was a new president. They said that wouldn't even get it done. Well, guess what? Not only did he get it done, but even the mainstream media now, Senator, is forced to report on just how big of a victory this is for Trump at the border. ABC News, they put it this way in their own interview with the president.

[Travis Holloway]

Here in the Oval office. It's special 100 days into your second term. So what's the one thing, just one thing that you think is the most significant thing you've done so far in these hundred days. Well, I think maybe the border is the most significant because our country was really going bad. They were allowing people to come in from prisons, as you know. And you've heard me say it, but you've heard a lot of people say it. Prisons, mental institutions, gang members, murderers. We had many murderers, 11,888. They think some murdered more than one person. So you had murderers coming in. You had everybody coming in, and not just South America, from all over the world. They were emptying their prisons into our country, and now it's totally closed down. And you've seen just Yesterday, they announced 99.9%. Nobody thought that could happen. Then it happened quickly, very quickly, and I think that's very significant. But we're doing other things that are very significant. Results will take a little bit longer because it's one of those, you know, it's complicated. It's many years of trading, abuse. We've been abused by other countries for years and years. They laughed at us. They thought we were stupid people. And we're fixing it. And I think that's going to be very, very important. But I have a lot of ground to cover. Yeah, I would really say that, that the border is so important. You know, just, we'll get there. Immigration, huge. And we're going to get there. But I want to start.

[Ted Cruz]

You hear him say the southern border is totally closed down. 99.9%. I'll be honest with you. I don't even think Americans that voted for Donald Trump, that believed in him, thought he could get this done this quick with those types of numbers.

[Pam Bondi]

The numbers are staggering. He said nobody believed we could get there. I actually think that's wrong. I think Donald Trump believed he could get there. He knew he could get there. And I'll tell you, you and I, we both predicted it, that we would see the numbers absolutely plummet. Although it's a fair point, we said absolutely plummet. I don't think I said 99.9%. I might have thought it'd be 90% or 95%. But 99.9 is, to be honest, Trump might even be surprised. It's that high. It's staggering. And it's an example of a commander in chief who's actually following law. You know, I gotta say, that ABC interview was really striking. There's a great exchange where the ABC reporter comes after him and Trump just, just body slams him. Here, here, give a listen.

[Travis Holloway]

Do you think the reputation of the United States has gone down under your presidency? No, I think it's gone way up. And I think we're a respected country again. We were laughed at all over the world. We had a president that couldn't walk up a flight of stairs, couldn't walk down a flight of stairs, couldn't walk across the stage without falling. We had a president that was grossly incompetent. You knew it, I knew it, and everybody knew it, but you guys didn't want to write it because you're fake news. All right, thank you. By the way, ABC is one of the worst, I have to be honest. Okay, thank you.

[Ted Cruz]

I'm sorry. Like, that's just amazing. He's looking at the main guy. He's, like, roasting them to their faces. He's like, by the way, abc. Yeah. You guys, by the way, are one of the worst. He's like, thank you. We're going to rap now.

[Pam Bondi]

He's like, thank you, thank you. And you actually have to watch it. Watching the. And I will say, one of the things Trump doesn't get nearly enough credit for is how damn funny he is where he's like, look, it's one thing if he could just say, look, Joe Biden was incompetent, but he's like, he couldn't walk up the stairs. He couldn't walk down the stairs. He fall like, he couldn't walk in the room. Like, it's just. It is funny, but it's true. And he's right. He's like, you knew it, I knew it, everyone knew it, and yet you were lying about it. And nobody in the media. Have you seen a single mea culpa from anyone in the media saying, we knew Joe Biden was mentally incompetent and we deliberately lied to the American people about it. Nobody's done that.

[Ted Cruz]

No. No one has at all. One other thing I do have to say about all of this 100 days is the speed at which this administration is working and how well this team is working in the White House is really impressive. You and I have been over there with Doge when we were interviewing Elon Musk. I've been back last week as well to the White House. This team around him is just incredible compared to what he had in 2016. And I think that's part of the reason why he's getting so much done. Would you agree with that?

[Pam Bondi]

Fully agree. I think the Cabinet is much stronger than the 2016 or the 2017 cabinet. I think in the first term, he made some appointments that, frankly, did not serve him well. He put people in place who disagreed with him, who undermined him. And I think this second term, I think he learned. I think he learned during the four years of his first term as President. I think he learned during the four years he was out of office. I think he had a lot of time to think about if and when he Came back what he would do. And I think he put in place change agents. And you know, there's another exchange in that ABC News interview that I really like, where ABC News is defending illegal immigration and the open borders under the Democrats. And he just utterly calls them out. Here, give. And listen to that.

[Travis Holloway]

You're talking about, you know, you're making this person sound. This is a MS.13 gang member, a tough cookie, been in lots of skirmishes, beat the hell out of his wife, and the wife was petrified to even talk about him. Okay. This is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from. I'm not saying he's a good guy. It's about the rule of law. The order from the Supreme Court stands into our country illegally.

[Ted Cruz]

You could, I mean, I love it. He's not going to back down. He's not afraid of the guys in the press at all.

[Pam Bondi]

And the Democrats, you want to talk about stepping into their trap, The Democrats have happily embraced. We, the Democrat Party are the party of illegal immigrants. We are the party of gang members. We are, you know, our pod two days ago, if you didn't listen to. It really is astonishing. There are two different Democrat judges in jail right now for obstructing justice, for blocking federal law enforcement, for arresting illegal immigrants. And one of the two, a judge from New Mexico, is charged with sheltering a trend Aragua Venezuelan gang member in his home and destroying evidence. It's really shocking. So this gang member had a cell phone, and this Democrat judge took the cell phone, smashed it with a hammer, went and threw the cell phone away in a dumpster, all in an effort to cover up the evidence of this gang member's criminality. And one of the astonishing things that the Department of Justice has told us is that cell phone that the Democrat judge destroyed had pictures of two people who had been decapitated. Two victims, presumably of gang violence who had their heads cut off. And Ben, like, what does it say that today's Democrat Party, what they're about is there for Venezuelan gang members who cut people's heads off, literally. I don't know how you could, could, could, could be in a more radical position than where they are right now.

[Ted Cruz]

As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.

[Travis Holloway]

Hey, Matt Gaetz here. Listen, after everything we've been through the last few years, saying we have trust issues is an understatement.

[Pam Bondi]

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[Travis Holloway]

We asked for alternatives like Ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine.

[Pam Bondi]

They shut us down.

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[Ben Ferguson]

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[Rodney Williams]

I'm Rodney Williams. Travis and I'm Travis Holloway. Welcome to the Wealth Break. Let's be honest. Building wealth doesn't look the same for everyone. It's not just about saving. It's about investing. It's about navigating systems that weren't built for you, embracing your hustle, and relying on your community to create something bigger. And that's exactly why we created the wealth break. We made something different, something more human. It's not just another financial podcast. It's a conversation about real life, real struggles and real wins. We're here to talk about the journey. You'll hear from people who've broken barriers, found creative ways to succeed, and learn to build wealth on their terms. Whether it's the first time homeowner, a gig worker, or someone turning a side hustle into a six figure business, we're bringing you their stories. And we're not stopping at success stories. We're breaking down the realities. Like what it means to take risks, how to navigate failure and why resilience matters because wealth isn't about money. It's about creating a life where you can thrive and help others to do the same. So if you're ready for a podcast as much as about people as it is about money, you're in the right place. Listen to the Wealth Brave podcast on the iHeartRadio app. The wait is almost over. Get ready for the NFL season like.

[Travis Holloway]

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[Rodney Williams]

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[Ted Cruz]

Today I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed Center I I got to talk about what we just found out with Doge and and I think it's a important point to reset because we saw a lot of press about Doge early on. We've now moved on to other topics. Or I should say the media has moved on to other topics. It does not mean that Elon Musk and the Doge staff have stopped doing their job. In fact, they are still finding incredible amounts of waste, fraud and abuse. And they sat down with Jesse Waters at Fox to kind of give an update of like hey, here we are. It was also a very cool interview because what we're witnessing is Elon Musk showing these do gooders that he has brought in. They could be making a lot more money in the private sector. There are a lot of young, brilliant minds that are finding all of this information and digging and digging in our government and he's letting them tell the stories of what they're finding. I love this management style from him.

[Pam Bondi]

Well, I gotta say, every week there are new bombshells that are coming out from Doge of just astonishing waste, fraud and abuse and so this latest interview that Elon did with Jesse Waters, he laid out, for example, that the Institute of peace had a $130,000 contract with a former member of the Taliban. Now, just let that sink in for a minute. 130 grand to a former member of the Taliban. And that is from the, quote, institute of Peace. Nothing like paying a terrorist if you're the Institute of Peace. And by the way, that Same Institute of P.E. deleted one terabyte of accounting records when DOGE entered their headquarters. So they came in. I gotta tell you, if you're prosecuting criminal conduct at a court of law and a defendant destroys evidence, deletes data on their computer, burns papers, burns receipts, burns photographs that can be taken as evidence of guilt, the fact that you are deleting evidence. But here, give a listen to the description of what they found about from the Institute of Peace.

[G]

Yeah. So it was the by far the least peaceful agency that we've worked with, ironically, of course. Additionally, we found that they were spending money on things like private jets, and they even had a $130,000 contract with a former member of the Taliban. This is real. We don't encounter that in most agencies.

[Travis Holloway]

Yeah.

[Pam Bondi]

What was the money going to the Taliban for?

[G]

So it was a contractor. They received $130,000 for generic services. And to Elon's point, there was not actually a clear description of what the contractor services were for.

[Pam Bondi]

Was it for opium?

[G]

Unclear.

[Pam Bondi]

Or weapons?

[Travis Holloway]

Or nothing.

[G]

Or nothing.

[Pam Bondi]

Or abroad or.

[Travis Holloway]

Yeah, nothing.

[G]

And you naturally have to ask the question, how did we get here? Like, when the country was founded, There were only four agencies. Today, there are over 400. So there's been a 100x increase in the number of agencies since the founding of the nation. And thanks to President Trump, he's now signed two executive orders to start to reduce the number of agencies in the government. And the Institute of Peace was one of them, which is why our team went in to try and understand what was going on. And that's when we found all of the craziness. Like the weapons in their armory. We found the payments to the Taliban.

[Travis Holloway]

Oh, yeah.

[G]

Right. So just a few hours after we got into their headquarters, we found that their chief accountant had actually deleted over a terabyte of accounting records from several years. So you'd have to ask the question, well, why would somebody do that? The Doge team, fortunately, was able to recover that data with the help of a few great employees at the Institute of Peace. And I think the most troubling thing was they received $55 million a year from Congress. And any money that went unspent, instead of returning that to Congress, they would sweep it into a private bank account which had no congressional oversight. And that's what they would use to fund things like events at their headquarters and the private jets. And so I think it's a great example because most, most Americans don't know what's going on at a lot of these smaller agencies. And this is, I think, the most extreme case of some of the wasteful spend that we're finding.

[Ted Cruz]

So the agencies are hiding money from you.

[Pam Bondi]

They're sending it to the Taliban. They have loaded weapons in the department buildings.

[G]

At the Institute of Peace.

[Pam Bondi]

At the Institute of Peace, that's right.

[Travis Holloway]

So this is a cover up when.

[Ted Cruz]

You guys roll in this one.

[Travis Holloway]

Yes, a cover up. They did delete a vast amount of financial information. That's really a definition of a cover up.

[Pam Bondi]

Isn't that illegal to delete evidence?

[Travis Holloway]

Yes.

[Pam Bondi]

Shred documents it is.

[G]

It's certainly illegal to delete accounting records that the Congress would certainly want to know where the congressionally appropriated funds are going from taxpayers.

[Pam Bondi]

We, when you catch them going Hillary style on their computers, do you refer this to the Department of Justice in this case?

[G]

We did refer the evidence in the accounting example to the FBI and doj. We were proud to do that. So, yes, we did.

[Travis Holloway]

Resistance has shown.

[Ted Cruz]

I mean, let's just go back to what you said, Senator, a moment ago and dive into this a little bit more. If this is that type of activity in this type of COVID up and referring this to the doj, what would the next step be on that? And then also, what can Congress do, if anything, knowing now what they've just told you?

[Pam Bondi]

Look, I gotta say, almost every word of that is shocking. That they gave 130 grand to a former member of the Taliban, that's astonishing. That they spent taxpayer money on private jets. That's astonishing. That the Institute of Peace had an armory with a whole bunch of weapons. Now, let me repeat that. The Institute of Peace apparently felt the need to be packing. And when DOE showed up, they started deleting their accounting records. Which screams guilt, by the way. When President Trump did the interview with ABC News in the Oval, one of the things ABC News says is, well, there have been no referrals to the Department of Justice. And President Trump quite rightly says, how do you know that? Well, this is, this is one. And it turns out there've been multiple referrals to the Department of Justice for fraud. It's Just ABC News doesn't want people to know that. Here, I want you to listen to another clip. This is another clip where. Where the Department of education had a $4 billion Covid fund that let government employees draw down. They used it for things like parties and to rent out venues like Caesar's Palace. Give a listen.

[Travis Holloway]

There was a $4 billion Covid fund in the Department of Education, and there was no receipts required, so people could just draw down on it.

[Rodney Williams]

And when people looked into it, this wasn't us.

[Travis Holloway]

This was before us, they found that money was being used to rent out Caesar's palace for parties, rent out stadiums, et cetera. And so the one change that Doge made with Department of Education is we had the simple requirement that if you draw down money, you must first upload a receipt. That was the only change that was made. You must upload your receipt. And upon doing so. Yes, nobody drew down any money anymore. Yes. But we didn't say that we'd check the receipt. You could send a fake receipt. You could send a picture of your dog. Anything, Anything, anything. But as soon as we asked for anything at all, that suddenly the requests were like, oh, we don't need it anymore. Huh, that's interesting. They were renting Caesar's Palace. Yes, they were, like, basically partying on the taxpayer money.

[Ted Cruz]

Basically partying on the taxpayers money. Okay, this sounds criminal.

[Pam Bondi]

Let me just ask, like, like the man on the street, did you think the Department of Education was spending your money, your taxpayer money to rent out Caesar's Palace? That is the very definition of waste, fraud and abuse. $4 billion in a Covid slush fund with zero receipts required. Let me just say, thank God for President Trump and Elon Musk and Doge uncovering this, revealing it, because it is completely indefensible. And by the way, the Democrats, just like they've decided they're all in for illegal immigrants and gang members and violent criminals and wipe beaters. They're also all in for this kind of waste, fraud, and abuse, including renting out Caesar's palace with your taxpayer money.

[Ted Cruz]

As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download my podcast. And you can listen to my podcast every other day. You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have you as a listener to again, the Ben Ferguson Podcast. And we will see you back here on Monday morning.

[Rodney Williams]

I'm Rodney Williams. And I'm Travis Holloway. Welcome to the wealthbreak podcast a real conversation about financing. Let's be honest, building wealth doesn't look the same for everyone.

[Travis Holloway]

I feel like sometimes being broke is a cycle and that we might have.

[Rodney Williams]

To revisit that and we're not stopping at success stories. What happens when it doesn't go right?

[Pam Bondi]

How do you cope with it?

[Rodney Williams]

Because wealth isn't just about money, it's about creating a life where you thrive and help others do the same. Listen to the Wealth Break podcast on the iHeartRadio app.

[Ben Ferguson]

Deciding on what to listen to is hard. Using Xumo to stream music from iHeart 90s radio is easy. Or play iHeart country or hip hop beats your choice. All for free. Stream Easy with Zumo Play get live and on demand entertainment with no logins, no signups, no accounts, no hassle. This may stay in and binge American Hustle starring Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence. Layer cake with Daniel Craig and Sienna Miller and Snatch with Brad Pitt. All streaming free on Zumo Play. Go to play.zumo.com now. Life is hard. Xumo is easy.

[Rodney Williams]

The wait is almost over. Get ready for the NFL season like.

[Travis Holloway]

Never before with the highly anticipated 2025 NFL Schedule release. Every rivalry, every rematch, every rookie debut, every game reveal revealed, the dates will be set, primetime matchups will be known.

[Rodney Williams]

And the road to the super bowl starts here. The full NFL Schedule release Wednesday, May 14th. Get all of the details at NFL.com.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Travis Holloway]

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[Ted Cruz]

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[Travis Holloway]

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[Travis Holloway]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Pam Bondi]

Com.