← Verdict with Ted Cruz
Verdict with Ted Cruz
MTG Resigns-Why & What it Means, plus Minnesota Taxpayers are the LARGEST Funders of Al-Shabaab Terrorists
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- [00:00]
Commercial Narrator
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Ben Ferguson
Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right.
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Ben Ferguson
To be clear, that's half price, not half the service.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means half day. Yeah, give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront.
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Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is Vertica Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. It's nice to have you with us this Thanksgiving week. And we've got a lot to cover on this show today that you're not going to want to miss, including a moment of clarity, I think, for the Republican Party that deals with someone deciding I'm going to resign from Congress. Senator, your reaction to Marjorie Taylor Greene saying I'm out?
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she's going to resign from Congress in January. It's a big deal. She was a major player of the House of Representatives. Her views, I think, had gotten more and more extreme. President Trump had announced he was withdrawing his support from her because she had gotten so extreme. We're going to break that down. We're going to talk about why she's stepping down. We're going to talk about what it means. I think it's a consequential moment in the House and it's a consequential moment for the country. We're also going to talk about a really astonishing story, which is welfare fraud by Somalis in Minnesota funneled millions of dollars of taxpayer money to the Islamic terrorist organization Al Shabaab. It really is a stunning, stunning story that's been reported and it shows the really pernicious things that we're seeing unfolding in our country. And finally, we're going to talk about Texas redistricting. Texas redistricting. As everyone knows, the state of Texas redrew the map to add five Republican House seats. A federal district court struck that down. And then on appeal, the Supreme Court has halted the decision of the federal district court. We're going to talk about what's likely to happen in Texas redistricting and what it means for control of the House of Representatives in the midterms.
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it's really an incredible story. We're going to have that for you in a moment. All right. Thanksgiving week is here. Many of you are probably traveling, gathering with your families, and it's a great time to tell them about an incredible opportunity going on right now with Hillsdale College for free. Look, there is so much confusion in the world today and it can be hard to find clarity and truth. But a new Hillsdale College miniseries on colonial America offers a powerful reminder that the first Americans were searching for the same things. They believe faith and reason reveal God's design for the world. And that understanding became the foundation of their courage and freedom. It's a stirring look at the ideas that still hold us together today. Now a new Hillsdale College miniseries on colonial America is offering a fresh way to think about Thanksgiving beyond the food and the political debates. It reminds us what we should truly be thankful for. Our freedom, prosperity and our faith. The first Americans built all of that from nothing. And their story is told here with unmatched depth and inspiration in a brand new six part documentary series. Hillsdale College professors will teach you and your family the religious, political, cultural and economic ideas that shaped a uniquely American culture during the colonial period. And that is why I want you to take advantage of this. The idea of liberty, especially religious liberty, inspired the settlers of America across the Atlantic. Think about that. Check out this incredible work, this mini series right now at Hillsdale Now. Haysdale College miniseries is completely free and it's easy to access. Plus, Hillsdale is offering you listeners a verdict. More than 40 other free online courses, including courses on CS Lewis, the stories of the book of Genesis, the rise, the fall of the Roman Republic, and you can even do Constitution 101. I'm in that class as we speak. So go right now to Hillsdale. Edu Verdict to enroll for free and get this miniseries. There's no cost. It's easy to get started. That's Hillsdale. Edu Verdict to enroll for free. Hillsdale Edu Verdict. All right, Senator, so let's start with Marjorie Taylor Greene. I genuinely thought this was a great moment for conservatives, for the conservative movement, for the Republican Party, watching her decide to resign. And the reason why I say that is because it gave me hope that we are so different than the Democratic Party. We police our own and we call out those that are bad actors, unlike the Democratic Party, that is not police their party at all. Now you're witnessing socialists getting elected in two major cities in this country and radical leftists that have taken over. And yet we still, still seem to have a moment of clarity where like hold on a second, this is not what we believe. I found it incredibly encouraging, your reaction.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, Ben, I think you make a good point if you look about. And this is something I've been talking quite a bit about. 10 years ago on the Democrat Party, we saw anti semitism radical, extreme anti Semitism rising on the Democrat Party. And Democrat leadership didn't do anything about it. They basically looked the other direction. They said, gosh, this is a small fringe view. We don't need to worry about it. It'll be fine. And in the decade that followed, we have seen pro Hamas radicals consume the Democrat Party. Now, you and I have talked about, and I've been talking publicly a lot about, I see the same thing potentially starting to happen on the right. I've seen more anti Semitism the last six months on the right that I've seen in my entire life. And my hope is the Republican Party doesn't make the mistakes that the Democrats did, that we say enough is enough. No. And I'll tell you, this is striking because if you look at in Republicans in the House of Representatives, the vast majority of elected Republicans in both the House and Senate are passionately pro Israel. They're supporters of the US Israel alliance and relationship. They understand the national security benefits of standing with Israel. They understand that when Israel is killing Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists, when Israel is taking out Iranian IRGC terrorists, that they're making America safer. There are a handful of House Republicans who become more and more vocal as voices for being anti Israel. Marjorie Taylor Greene was on the front of that list. In fact, the leading two House Republicans who had become vocal anti Israel voices were Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz.
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
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Senator Ted Cruz
And I do think it's striking that Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, very soon neither one of them is going to be in the House. Matt Gaetz already resigned and Greene announced that she's going to resign in January. And I think that's really, that is a powerful statement. You know, you ought to ask yourself, why didn't AOC resign?
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Why didn't Ilhan Omar resign? Why didn't Rashida Tlaib resign? Why didn't the radicals in the Democrat Party resign? And it's because their leadership fundamentally was weak. And I want to commend Donald Trump. If there's one person who is most responsible for Marjorie Taylor Greene resigning, it is Donald J. Trump. Here's what he put out on Truth Social quote, I am withdrawing my support and endorsement of, quote, unquote, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of the great state of Georgia. Over the past few weeks, despite my creating record achievements for our country, including a total and complete victory on the shutdown, closed borders, low taxes, no men and women's sports or transgender for everyone, ending dei, stopping Biden's record setting, inflation, biggest regulation cuts in history Stopping eight wars, rebuilding our military, being highly respected by every country in the world as opposed to being the laughingstock that we were just 12 months ago. Having trillions of dollars, record setting, invested in the USA and having created the hottest country anywhere in the world from being a dead country just 12 months ago and so much more. All I see wacky Marjorie do is complain, complain, complain. It seemed to all begin when I sent her a poll stating that she should not run for senator or governor. She was at 12% and didn't have a chance. Unless of course, she had my endorsement, which she wasn't about to get. Now look, when Trump said that, that he was going to oppose her, it changed the dynamic significantly. And it changed it so much that she put out a statement this past week saying she's done, she's resigning in January, she's withdrawing from the Congress. And listen, Marjorie Taylor Greene, she got elected five years ago. She's not been in the House very long. She is a loud voice. Yeah, she used to be maybe the single loudest voice pro Trump.
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Ben Ferguson
Yep.
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Senator Ted Cruz
And we saw her. And, and it actually, I think it's a cautionary tale about when you embrace anti Semitic views, anti Israel views, you quickly start down a slippery slope. Where she began attacking Donald Trump, she began attacking capitalism, she began attacking, much like Tucker Carlson attacking who America is, she went on the View and had a love fest with the left wing host. On the View, she was arguing for expanding and extending the Obamacare subsidies. I mean, it really was a good example that once you start down that road, all of the rest of conservatism goes out the window as well.
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it was a moment where I was genuinely proud to be a conservative, also a Trump supporter. And I loved the fact the President was this blunt about it because if you don't have moral clarity on issues like antisemitism, so goes your party. And we've seen what happens. And the Democrats are a cautionary tale. The most radical of the radicals in this country are now within the Democratic Party and many of them are leading the Democratic Party. And I worry that we could go down that road if we didn't start policing our own and making sure that especially those that become radical and anti Semites, we're not policed better. I think the other part about this is not only is she going to be out of Congress, but her voice is going to disappear, I believe from the conservative movement as well in a major way. And that also is a consequence, whereas many times Democrats, it's a complete opposite of that.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, I don't know that it'll disappear. I actually think she may be similar to Matt Gaetz, where they both will continue to espouse wackier and wackier views, views that are more and more out of the mainstream of Republicans and conservatives. But I do think it will be a much smaller platform. And you know, Ben, I actually talked to President Trump about it this weekend. He called me Friday night and we spent probably 15, 20 minutes on the phone. We were talking about lots of different things, but one of the things, just as we were making conversation was about, I don't know, 11 o' clock at night, Friday night. And, and, and I said, Mr. President, were you, were you surprised that, that Marjorie Taylor Greene stepped down? And, and he sort of laughed and said, no, no, I wasn't surprised at all. And he mentioned, he said, he said she was mad because he said she would call him once, twice, three times a week and he wasn't calling her back all the time. And, you know, he said, Look, I've got 53 Senate Republicans, I've got 219 House Republicans, I've got a couple hundred leaders of countries across the world. And I sort of laughed. I said, yeah, look, you're a very, very busy man. And to be honest, I don't call Trump all that often. I probably talk to Trump, I don't know, every two weeks. I'd say on, on average, but I try not to. Some of my colleagues call him a lot. And, you know, I told him, I said, look, you're a busy man. I try not to bother you, just to like, call, to tug on your shirt sleeve and say, you know, hi. Hi. Hi. I try to call when I've got a purpose, I've got an objective, I've got a decision that I think is important, something we need to get done. But it was interesting. He said she was calling him several times a week and it was just too much. And, you know, I think his withdrawing his support from her is what caused her to drop out. And I'm glad of that. I mean, I do think it shows Republicans being willing to say we're not going to embrace the radicals and extreme in a way that it's hard to think of a time the Democrats have done that in modern history.
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it really is. And I hope this also is a cautious shot across the bow to any others that are out there in the Republican movement that are going down the same road, that, hey, if you think that the President's gonna be silent about it, you're probably wrong and that we police our own. That is a big, big thing. I want to talk to you real quick about our amazing sponsor and it is Patriot Mobile. And people ask me all the time, how good is the coverage? Because you want to stay with the big mobile companies. I've been saying now for years and they've been in business for well over a decade that it is amazing coverage. If you've got coverage right now you love, you're going to love your coverage of Patriot Mobile even more. But you get rid of the woke left agenda. I am proud to report to you that my phone worked in Israel. I traveled internationally and had zero issues with my cell service whether I was in Bethlehem or literally calling from Gaza at the Gaza Strip. This is not a joke. I had amazing coverage everywhere that I went. I flew back to the US My phone worked perfectly. My emails, all the data I was posting on social media from my phone Tel Aviv last night, it was phenomenal. So if you, you're worried about coverage, don't be. Now why should you switch to Patriot Mobile? Not only you probably going to save real money every month, but then the magic happens. A portion of your bill every month goes back to support conservative causes, candidates, organizations that fight for first and our second amendment rights, the rights of unborn children. And they do something that's really special. They stand with our men and women in uniform, whether it's police officers or law, law enforcement general or our men and women that fight for this country overseas. They stand with our wounded warriors and our fallen families who've lost a loved one so that there is the financial need and aid that is needed. So that's why I want you to switch to Patriot Mobile because every time you pay that bill you're making a real difference. Now I also want to give you a free month of service. Go to patriot mobile.com verdict that's patriot mobile.com verdict or call them 972 Patriot. That's 972 Patriot for a free month of service. Switch today make a difference patriot mobile.com verdict or 972 Patriot and get a free month of service with a promo code Verdict. I want to move to this other subject that I think is also really important. It is a story that I hope everyone listening will actually share on social media. Share this podcast where you can on social media as well because this is one of those stories for me that I am, I am hoping we will be able to make it go viral. There are so many people that voted for President Trump because they wanted there to be clarity on waste, fraud and abuse in our government. It's what DOGE was created around. And the amount of waste, fraud and abuse of our tax dollars has become absolutely massive. Now we're seeing some states be very proactive in fighting this. We've seen local governments where it's happening, it's trickling down. I think that's also incredible. But there is a story that broke that is should make every American angry, and that is this story of the largest funder of Al Shabaab turns out to be an. Al Shabab is a terrorist organization. A smiley terrorist organization is actually the Minnesota taxpayers. Now, that may just seem like a weird headline to people, but what we're witnessing is $ tax.50 funneling directly to the Islamic terrorist organization. And it's been going on at numbers that were clearly warning signs when Joe Biden was president in the amount of funds that were leaving Minnesota. And. And no one seemed to bat an eye or no one seemed to care that this was happening. Break it down for everybody that doesn't know anything about this.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, this is a story that's really at the intersection of two issues that matter enormously. Number one is waste, fraud and abuse in government. And. And we see that at the federal government. We see that at the state level, particularly in big blue states. But secondly, the rise of radical Islam in America. And it's dangerous. It is threatening our liberty, and it is spreading. It's spreading often with the enthusiastic cheerleading of Democrat elected officials. This story is right at the intersection of both of them. And so the City Journal reported. I'm just going to read a portion of this article because it really is. It's a stunning report. And it begins, the largest funder of Al Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer. How some of the state's welfare funds ended up in the hands of a terror group. Minnesota is drowning in fraud. Billions in taxpayer dollars have been stolen during the administration of Governor Tim Waltz alone. Of course, Tim Waltz was Kamala Harris's nominee to be vp. Democrat state officials overseeing one of the most generous welfare regimes in the country are asleep at the switch. And the media, duty bound by progressive pities, refused to connect the dots. In many cases, the fraud has allegedly been perpetrated by members of the Minnesota sizable Somali community. Federal counterterrorism support sources confirm that millions of dollars, millions in stolen funds have been sent back to Somalia, where they ultimately landed in the hands of the terror group Al Shabaab. One confidential source put it, the largest funder of Al Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer. Our investigation shows what happens when a tribal mindset meets a bleeding heart bureaucracy. When imported clan loyalties collide with a political class too timid to offend. And when accusations of racism are cynically deployed to shield criminal behavior. The predictable result is graft, with taxpayers left to foot the bill. If you were designed to design a welfare program to facilitate fraud, it would probably look a lot like Minnesota's Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program. The HHS program, the first of its kind in the country, was launched with a noble goal to help seniors, addicts, the disabled and the mentally ill secure housing. It was designed with, quote, low barriers to entry and, quote, minimal requirements for reimbursement. Nonetheless, before the program went live in 2020, officials pegged its annual estimated price tag at $2.6 million. Cost quickly spiraled out of control. In 2021, the program paid out more than $21 million, by the way, it was projected to be 2.6 million in the following year. Annual costs shot up to 42 million, then 74 million, then 104 million. On August 1, Minnesota's Department of Human Services moved to scrap the HHS program, noting that payment to 77 housing stabilization providers had terminated this year due to credible allegations of fraud. Joe Thompson, then the Acting U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, went even further, saying the vast majority. Let me repeat that the vast majority of the HHS program was fraudulent. On September 18, Thompson announced criminal indictments for HHS fraud against Mokhtar Hassan Aden Mustafa Daeeb Ali Khalid Ahmed Daeb Abdifita Muhammad Muhammad Christopher Adesoli Falat. By the way, Ben, you try to go through those names.
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah, I'm going to pass on that. You did a great job. I give you a B plus on that.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Okay? Six of whom, according to the U.S. attorney's office, are members of Minnesota Somali community. Thompson made clear this is the first round of charges for HSS fraud that his office will be prosecuting. Most of these cases, unlike a lot of Medicare fraud and Medicaid fraud nationally, aren't just over billing, Thompson said in a press conference announcing the indictments. These are often just purely fictitious companies solely created to defraud the system. And that's unique in the extent to which we have that here in Minnesota. Thompson said many of the firms enrolled in the program operated out of dilapidated storefronts or. Or run down office buildings. The perpetrators often targeted people recently released from rehab, signed them up for Medicaid services they had no intention of providing. He noted Many of the owners of companies engaged in HHS fraud had other companies through which they build other Medicaid programs such as the EIDBI Autism Program, the Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services Program, the Integrated Community Services Program, the Community Access for Disability Inclusion Program, PCA services, and other Medicaid waivered services. What we see are schemes stacked upon schemes draining resources meant for those most in need. It feels never ending. I have spent my career as a fraud prosecutor and the depth of the fraud in Minnesota takes my breath away.
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Ben Ferguson
You read that and you just think about how much money this is that not only was stolen from the taxpayers and they go into how much it kept growing and growing and growing these programs. But it's obvious that people knew there was fraud. Then you find out it's going to a terrorist organization and so we're funding the terrorist organization. How the hell do people not go to jail for this?
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, they are. A number of people are being prosecuted. But you know what is striking is not just was there many massive fraud, but the massive fraud was funding terrorism. Here's what the City Journal continues saying. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Somali fraud story is the scale. With total costs running into the billions of taxpayer dollars, that raises the question, what happened to all that money? The Somali fraud rings have sent huge sums and remittances, or money transfers from Minnesota to Somalia. According to reports, an estimated 40% of households in Somalia get remittances from abroad. In 2023 alone, the Somali diaspora sent back $1.7 billion more than the Somali government's budget for that year. Our investigation reveals for the first time that some of this money has been directed to an even more troubling destination, the Al Qaeda linked Islamic terror group Al Shabaab. According to multiple law enforcement sources, Minnesota's Somali community has sent untold millions through a network of hawalas, informal clan based money traders that have wound up in the coffers of Al Shabaab. According to Glenn Kearns, a retired Seattle Police Department detective who spent 14 years on a federal Joint Terrorism task force, the Somalis ran a sophisticated money network spanning from Seattle to Minneapolis and were routing significant amounts of cash on commercial flights from the Seattle airport to the hawala networks in Somalia. One of these networks, kearns discovered, sent $20 million abroad in a single year. So this is money that's coming from the Minnesota taxpayers. It is going through the Somalia Somali community in Minnesota back to Somalia on the order of magnitude of 1.7 billion billion a year. And millions of those Dollars were flowing directly to Al Shabaab, an Al Qaeda linked major terrorist organization. This is tragic. It is shocking. And by the way, I'm curious, have you seen it on cnn?
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Ben Ferguson
No.
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Senator Ted Cruz
NBC? Cbs?
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Ben Ferguson
Nope. None of them, none of them touching it.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Msnbc? Washington Post, New York Times?
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Ben Ferguson
Nope.
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Senator Ted Cruz
You would think that would be news.
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Ben Ferguson
I also look at the amount of money and how quickly it grew. That's something else that I do think is interesting. Here is how, I mean, you want to talk about warning signs, Senator? There was clear warning signs, like very, very clear warning signs that this was happening. And yet no one in government seemed to stop, pause, or ask a question. That part also to me is just like, is it always unlimited funds? Is that how it's now in government? Whatever you start, just keep making it grow and double and triple in size year after year after year and spinning and. And no one's like, hold on a second, this doesn't add up. This many kids with autism, that doesn't seem normal. Look how much it went doubled from last year, the year before, the year before that. I mean, there's a clear line here of like red flags that no one seemed to care about.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and it's worth remembering, Tim Waltz is not someone at the fringe of the Democrat Party. Tim Waltz is who Kamala Harris thought should be Vice President of the United States. Presumably Kamala thought that he should succeed her and become the President of the United States. And Tim Waltz, like many Democrats, but Waltz is worse than many of them, just looked the other way, just turned a blind eye. And one combination, it's a combination of a number of factors. One piece of it is just the left wing view that the more money you're giving away in welfare, the better. And so it doesn't matter how much it grows. If you're giving a million dollars this year, they want it to be 2 million, then 4, then 6, then 8, then 12. They want it to grow without any consideration about, number one, bankrupting the state and the taxpayers, but number two, about the impact of spending all that money trapping people in dependency. But a second component of it, it's not just dependency. Dependency assumes someone's actually getting welfare payments. It is also blatant fraud. And there is unfortunately a network of corruption where many of those engage in fraud, are also writing checks to elect Democrats. And if you look at the Somali community in Minnesota, it is a major voting network that votes for Democrats in Minnesota. And so at the end of the day, the Democrats, when it comes to buying votes, shoveling this cash into this maw of fraud, even though the taxpayers were being robbed and the money was going to a radical Islamic terrorist organization, if you're a Democrat, it made political sense on some level because you got money and you got votes, and it is astonishing that there's not. Do you know of a single Democrat denouncing this?
- [29:22]
Ben Ferguson
No.
- [29:22]
Senator Ted Cruz
I mean, that's a striking thing.
- [29:24]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. That's why I love doing this show, because we give you this. And then, as I said earlier, I'll say it again. I genuinely hope that everyone that's listening will grab this, put it on their social media, because I think it's really important that people discuss.
- [29:37]
Senator Ted Cruz
That's why this podcast is valuable.
- [29:39]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, you are absolutely right there. No doubt about it. In communities around the world, millions of children like Lucy face the crushing weight of poverty, hunger, illness, and a lack of opportunity dim their bright futures. But through Compassion International and local churches, and everything is changing. Lucy receives nourishing food, vital medical care, and the chance to go to school. She learns life skills, develops God given talents, and builds a loving relationship with Jesus. It's a journey from vulnerability to empowerment. And it's sparked literally by your love. This transformation echoes far beyond Lucy, impacting her family, the community, and shaping the future of her nation. And you can make this profound difference right now. So join me in sponsoring a child. Visit compassion.com today. You'll empower life and change the world. That's compassion.com to learn more. All right. And finally, center, I want to move to this other story, and it's an update, but it's a victory update, and it deals with Texas redistricting. It set off a firefight with California. Gavin Newsom getting involved and then doing some just unbelievable gerrymandering of the map out in California. They claimed it was in retaliation for what Texas was doing. Then Democrats went after Texas and tried to stop it. And now we have Justice Alito, who is involved at the Supreme Court level, give this update about the Texas redistricting fight.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Well, as everyone knows, President Trump has asked state legislatures, Republican legislatures, to redraw the map to elect more Republicans to the House. A significant reason for that is that there is right now an imbalance. Democrats have gerrymandered the living daylights at a blue state. So blue states send an overwhelming majority of their delegation to be Democrats despite the votes of their citizens. And let me give you some specific numbers. So Texas right now has 38 congressional seats. Right now, Republicans have 25 of those. Democrats have 13. That means the percentage of Republicans in the Delegation today is right, about 66%. Now, about 56% of the state voted for Trump, a little more than 56%. So the current delegation is slightly more than the statewide vote for Trump, but not much. The state legislature redrew the map. So Instead of electing 25 Republicans, the new map is expected to elect 30 Republicans to add five new Republicans. Now, under that new map, it will increase. Assuming those 30 Republicans win, it would increase the percentage of Republicans from 66% to 79%. Now, 79% is a larger portion. How does that compare to Democrat states? California, under their old map, 83% of the delegation is Democrat. Illinois, 82%. Oregon, 84%. Washington state, 80%. Maryland, 88%. Massachusetts. There are nine congressional seats. You know how many Republicans are elected out of Massachusetts?
- [32:50]
Ben Ferguson
How many?
- [32:51]
Senator Ted Cruz
Zero. Goose egg. 100% of the Massachusetts delegation is Democrat. Connecticut, same thing, 100%. Texas went from 66 to 79%, still less than California. And what did California do in response? Increased it from 83% to. To 92%, dramatically gerrymandering its map. Now, what happened next is, of course, there was a lawsuit. There's always a lawsuit when this happens. And a federal district court, it's a three judge court, so it's two district judges and a federal court of appeals judge, which is a. It's a weird statutory creation that exists in redistricting litigation. That court just over a week ago struck down the Texas map and it ordered that instead of being under the new map, that would likely add five new Republicans to go back to the old map, that would not add five new Republicans. If that order stays in place, the likely impact of redistricting is the Democrats retake the House. I mean, it would flip the House. It was a very consequential decision. This was a 2:1 decision. It was authored by a federal district judge, Jeff Brown, who was a Republican nominated by Trump, joined by a Democrat district judge. And there was a dissent from Jerry Smith. Now, who is Jerry Smith? Jerry Smith is the fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judge that's on this panel. I know Jerry Smith very well. He is one of the two most long standing, most well respected conservatives on the fifth Circuit. Jerry Smith and Edith Jones have long been the conservative warriors on the 5th Circuit. I gotta tell you, Jerry Smith wrote a dissent in this case. Ben, I probably read a thousand dissents in my life. I've never read a dissent like Jerry Smith's dissent. He just unloaded on the majority opinion. He just eviscerated it as unprincipled as political, as partisan, as wrong. That dissent, I mean, you literally read it and you ought to Google and read it because you've never read a judicial opinion like this. Well, what happened on appeal is initially the appeal for a stay went up to Justice Sam Alito as the individual circuit justice sitting over the fifth Circuit, and he stayed the opinion of the district court. So right now, as we're talking, the district court's stay will not go into effect, which means as of right now, the new map stays in effect. Now, we may get a decision this week. It's possible the Supreme Court allows the district court opinion to go into effect, which would mean the old map would stay in effect. My prediction is this district court opinion will be stayed. It will be stayed through the election. We will stay with the new map that the legislature has drawn. And I think this district court opinion is going to be reversed on appeal. It is a big, big deal because this outcome, the courts not throwing out the map that the legislature adopted, could very well determine whether the House of Representatives in 2027 is Republican or Democrat. And so I'm very glad the Supreme Court stayed this decision.
- [36:03]
Ben Ferguson
It really is a big one. And it's won another victory for rule of law and getting rid of so many activists that are trying to stop the way that the business is supposed to work. And that's what Democrats have been relying on for far too long. So it's nice to see justice here perhaps prevail. Don't forget we do this show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hit that subscriber auto download button wherever you get your podcasts. Share it on social media wherever you can. This show in the center. I will see you back here in a couple of days. You won't believe what my new friend.
- [36:39]
Commercial Narrator
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- [37:08]
Senator Ted Cruz
Shipt.
- [37:09]
Commercial Narrator
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- [38:05]
Senator Ted Cruz
Today oral health goes beyond just aesthetics. It's deeply connected to your general health and well being. That's why preventing oral health problems before.
- [38:13]
Ben Ferguson
They start is so important.
- [38:14]
Senator Ted Cruz
When you use the Colgate Total Active Prevention System, you're not just helping to prevent oral health problems like cavities and gingivitis, you're laying the groundwork for overall wellness.
- [38:23]
Ben Ferguson
Colgate Total's three product routine includes a reformulated toothpaste, an innovative toothbrush, and a.
- [38:29]
Senator Ted Cruz
Refreshing antibacterial mouthwash that all support a healthy mouth.
- [38:33]
Ben Ferguson
In fact, the three products were designed.
- [38:35]
Senator Ted Cruz
To work together to be 15 times more effective at reducing bacteria buildup in.
- [38:39]
Ben Ferguson
Six weeks starting from week one compared.
- [38:42]
Senator Ted Cruz
To a non antibacterial fluoride toothpaste and flat trim toothbrush. Take control of your oral health and get the Colgate Total Active Prevention System.
- [38:50]
Ben Ferguson
Today so you can be dentist ready. Visit shop.colgate.com Total.
- [38:57]
Senator Ted Cruz
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- [39:25]
Commercial Narrator
B R I K.com this is an iHeart podcast.