Terror Comes to America from Biden Afghan Terrorists

Summary

Podcast Summary: Verdict with Ted Cruz

Episode: Terror Comes to America from Biden Afghan Terrorists
Date: December 1, 2025
Hosts: Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson
Theme:
A deep dive into recent national security concerns following a deadly attack in Washington, D.C. by an Afghan national admitted under the Biden administration’s resettlement policies. The episode explores the repercussions of unvetted Afghan refugee resettlement, government accountability, ideological failures, and broader patterns in border security and political rhetoric.

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Episode Overview

Senator Ted Cruz and co-host Ben Ferguson analyze the deadly consequences of what they describe as a failed and ideologically driven policy of admitting inadequately vetted Afghan refugees under the Biden administration. The discussion centers on a recent shooting by an Afghan national and policy choices that, according to the hosts, have allowed similar threats to fester across America.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Attack on National Guard Members

• Incident Details ([03:07])
  • Two National Guard members, Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolf, were shot in Washington, D.C. by an Afghan national who entered the U.S. under Biden’s policies. Sarah died on Thanksgiving Day; Andrew remains in critical condition.
• Senator Cruz’s Response ([03:07])
  • “The shooter, as we all know, was an Afghan national who Joe Biden brought to the United States, who had very limited vetting, who was released, who was living in Washington state, who got in a car and drove from Washington state to Washington, D.C. pulled out a gun and shot these two National Guard members.”
• Cruz underscores that this attack was not only predictable but specifically predicted on Verdict for over four years.

2. Policy Failures During the Afghan Withdrawal

• Failures in Planning and Execution ([04:49])
  • The withdrawal from Afghanistan is described as a “disastrous exit,” with inadequate troop support and loss of Bagram Air Base.
• Political and Ideological Blindness ([05:00])
  • “This is an administration that refused to recognize radical Islamic terrorism exists.”
  • “They didn’t vet them. They just said, hey, the more people we bring into this country who hate America, the more people are gonna vote Democrat.”
• Resulting Humanitarian Crisis
  • Mention of Somali and Afghan communities in the U.S. experiencing radicalization and violence.

3. Early and Ignored Warnings

• Cruz’s Public Warnings ([10:00])
  • Cruz references a tweet from August 27, 2021, criticizing the relocation of unvetted Afghans to the U.S.:
    • “We should rescue Afghans who’ve assisted the US Military, but they should go to a neutral and safe third country. They should not come to the US Without a full security vetting.”
• Lack of Adequate Vetting ([10:44])
  • Describes large tent cities at Fort Bliss with minimal security; potential terrorists could simply leave.

4. Congressional Inquiries and Official Denials

• Blinken Testimony (Extended segment, [13:22]–[16:59])
  • Cruz plays audio from his questioning of Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding lists of Afghans given to the Taliban and cases of child brides among those resettled.
  • Notable exchange:
    • Cruz: “Did the State Department give the Taliban a list or multiple lists of Americans and or Afghans that we wanted out?”
    • Blinken: “In limited instances...we gave a manifest...to get a group of people through a checkpoint…”
    • Cruz: “So not only did you fail to evacuate Americans, but you also brought in tens of thousands of Afghans who had wholly inadequate vetting.”
  • Discussion of the prevalence of child marriage, sexual abuse, and domestic abuse among Afghans admitted to the U.S.

5. Broader Patterns and Predictable Outcomes

• Historical and Ideological Patterns ([17:20])
  • Cruz draws parallels to patterns of abuse in UK Pakistani communities and claims a deliberate erasure of “radical Islam” from security discourse during the Obama and Biden administrations.
  • “Democrats claim they care about women’s rights. Well, it turns out that is not true when it’s dealing with women or girls being raped by radical Islamists.”
• Previous Verdict Predictions ([19:15])
  • Replay of past podcast clips warning about the risk of incoming jihadis and inadequate supervision in refugee camps.

6. The Media's and Democrats’ Response

• Blame-Shifting to Trump ([21:40])
  • Ben Ferguson and Cruz criticize media narratives allegedly attempting to blame Trump for the crisis instead of acknowledging Biden’s responsibility.
• Congressional Reluctance to Condemn Extremism ([31:52])
  • Segment highlighting Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s refusal to condemn “Death to America” chants at a rally in her district:
    • Reporter: “At a rally in your district, people were chanting death to America. Do you condemn that?”
    • Tlaib: “I don’t talk to Fox News... You guys know exactly what you do. ...You’re not going to use me.”
  • Cruz’s Reaction ([33:15])
    • “If you are a member of the United States Congress...it ought to be easy to say, yeah, of course, Death to America is wrong. I’m against that.”

7. The Southern Border and Terror Threat Vectors

• Open Border Concerns ([25:03])
  • Ferguson claims the administration prioritized open borders over national security, with known terrorists crossing and the government allegedly enabling it.
    • “Basically they said, look, we know people are going to die, but we want an open border....There will be human carnage of American citizens, abuse of children, the rape of children, the sex trafficking of children.”
• Compounded Risks ([27:24])
  • Cruz argues both Afghan resettlement and the southern border crisis are parallel, ideologically driven policies with lethal risks.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On the attack and lack of vetting:

  • Cruz ([03:07]): “If that is not infuriating, then I don’t know what is...this was sadly the predictable and the predicted outcome.”

• On the rationale for mass resettlement:

  • Cruz ([05:17]): “They just said, hey, the more people we bring into this country who hate America, the more people are gonna vote Democrat.”

• On Democrat ideological blind spots:

  • Cruz ([18:44]): “It’s a fundamental misunderstanding. ...Women’s rights go out the window in the leftist hierarchy. ...Being Taliban is much more oppressed than being women.”

• On government accountability:

  • Cruz ([32:10]): “If you are a member of the United States Congress...it ought to be easy to say, yeah, of course, Death to America is wrong. ...That shows just how dangerous the ideological rot is.”

• On the consequences:

  • Cruz ([21:40]): “Unfortunately, because of the catastrophic mistakes the Biden administration made in Afghanistan, we are much more at risk for deadly attacks by the Taliban or Al Qaeda.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:07 | Details about the D.C. National Guard shooting, background of the Afghan attacker | | 04:49 | Analysis of the Afghan withdrawal and why “ideology, not security” drove policy | | 10:00 | Cruz reads August 2021 warning tweet about unvetted Afghan refugees | | 13:22-16:59| Cruz’s interrogation of Blinken about lists provided to the Taliban and child abuse cases | | 17:20 | Data and discussion on child brides, abuse, historical whitewashing of “radical Islam” | | 19:15 | Playback of September 2021 Verdict warnings about terrorism risks from Afghan refugees | | 21:40 | Media/party narrative shifting and Cruz op-ed quote about foreseeability of attacks | | 25:03 | Open border policies allegedly enabling terrorist entry | | 27:24 | Multiplied risks: border, resettlement, lack of vetting | | 31:52 | Rashida Tlaib’s refusal to condemn “Death to America” chants; Cruz’s response | | 33:15 | Cruz on why condemnation of anti-American ideology should be nonpartisan and automatic |

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Flow and Tone

• Urgency and Frustration: Throughout, the tone is urgent, incredulous, and at times angry—especially regarding policies perceived as naïve or ideologically blinded.
• Indictment of Political Opponents: Cruz and Ferguson frequently attribute malevolence or fecklessness to their Democratic opponents.
• Underlying Sorrow: There is recurring sadness and anger over loss of American lives, especially those killed in uniform.
• Emphasis on Predictability: They repeatedly stress that these events were foreseen and preventable.

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Conclusion

The episode frames recent terrorist violence as a direct, foreseeable consequence of lax and ideologically motivated policies by the Biden administration, particularly regarding the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and subsequent refugee resettlement. Cruz and Ferguson urge listeners to recognize both security failures and ideological distortions, warning these patterns will invite further tragedies unless reversed. The episode concludes by vowing continued scrutiny and urging viewers to stay informed through the podcast’s ongoing coverage.

Transcript

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[Senator Josh Hawley]

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[Ben Ferguson]

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[Ben Ferguson]

See mint mobile.com welcome is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. It's so nice to have you with us. And Senator, there has been a lot that has happened in this country dealing with people that have come into this country unvetted. And now we have seen an attack. It's cost people their lives. And not only that, we've also found others that are now threatening to do violence in America. I'm angry about it. A lot of Americans are. And finding out just how ignorant the last administration was and letting people in is truly shocking and a real national security issue now.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Well, it's truly horrific what, what happened on Wednesday, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Two National Guard members, Sarah Beckstrom, age 20, and Andrew Wolf, age 24, were shot less than 24 hours after they were sworn in. Sarah tragically passed away on Thanksgiving Day. As you and I are recording this, Andrew is still fighting for his life, but, but in, in very serious condition. The shooter, as we all know, was an Afghan national who Joe Biden brought to the United States, who had very limited vetting, who was released, who was living in Washington state, who got in a car and drove from Washington state to Washington, D.C. pulled out a gun and shot these two National Guard members. Now, if that is not infuriating, then I don't know what is. And in particular, Ben, some of us, including the two of us, including the Verdict podcast, have been predicting this was going to happen right. For more than four years. When Joe Biden began doing this, when Joe Biden began bringing in thousands upon thousands of unvetted Afghan nationals, just bringing in people who, who were in a war torn country where radical Islamic terrorism is rife and engaging in little to no vetting. This was sadly the predictable and the predicted outcome.

[Ben Ferguson]

They also lied about it. And that's something else that I think people need to understand is they tried to act like this was no big deal early on, Senator, that we were vetting and they flat out lied to the American people because they were trying to cover for the disastrous exit of Afghanistan.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Well, that's exactly right. And if you remember, the exit of Afghanistan was when the Biden presidency began to collapse. Their, their, you know, the Biden presidency was extremely political and their poll numbers dropped 10 points when it was an utter disaster. They pulled out of Afghanistan, if you remember. They pulled out, they wanted to be out by September 11th, the 20th anniversary of September 11th. And so they Ordered the troops out with no level of competence. No level. The military told them, look, we need sufficient troop levels to at least do the evacuation. We need sufficient troop levels to have a secure evacuation at Bagram airfield that we had spent billions of dollars building. It was safe, it was secure. If you wanted to do an evacuation, it was the right place to do it from. But the Biden political operative said, no, we want the number down to 2500 troops by a date certain. And so they abandoned Bagram. They just gave it to the Taliban. They did the evacuation at a Kabul National Airport, which is in the middle of a dense urban area, and tragically resulted in 13 servicemen and women being murdered because of those decisions and the incompetence and the ideology. And understand, it was both. It was incompetence, to be sure, but it was also ideology that they refused to recognize. This is an administration that refused to recognize radical Islamic terrorism exists. And so we saw the images of planes taking off in Kabul with people clinging to the, to the tires and trying to get into the wheel wells, the panic, the terror, the chaos, the death. And politically, the Biden administration, that was the turning point. After that, they began shipping in thousands and tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of Afghans. And because ideologically, they don't acknowledge radical Islamic terrorism as a threat, they didn't vet them. They just said, hey, the more people we bring into this country who hate America, the more people are gonna vote Democrat. That's the only justification. It's like ignorance, an ideology plus a long term political objective. And we've seen it. We've seen it with the Somali invasion in Minnesota and the tragedies that are unfolding there. We've seen it with the radicalization of places like Dearborn, Michigan, and we've seen it with the Afghans. And this is something I have been screaming from the ramparts and fighting from day one. And what happened in D.C. is infuriating. And those two National Guardsmen did not need to be shot. And this is the result of idiotic policies from the Biden Harris administration.

[Ben Ferguson]

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[Senator Josh Hawley]

Now, that's exactly right. We're going to put up, for those of you who are watching the podcast on YouTube, we're going to put up a tweet that I sent out in August of 2021 and I'll read You the tweet. It says, touring the Donna Anna camp at Fort Bliss this morning, where Biden administration plans to house 10,000 Afghan refugees. We should rescue Afghans who's assist, who've assisted the US Military, but they should go to a neutral and safe third country. They should not come to the US Without a full security vetting. So look, there were Afghans during the.

[Ben Ferguson]

Wait, wait, what was the date of that? I want to make sure people understand how much we knew this was going to be a problem.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Okay, so it was August 27, 2021. And, and by the way, I was at. I also have a picture. So I'm, I'm, I'm in a Blackhawk helicopter touring the tent facility. They literally built a gigantic tent city on Fort Bliss. Fort Bliss is, is in El Paso, Texas. It is a massive military base, and they built a tent city to house 10,000 Afghans. Now, there was very little security. They didn't know who was coming in. They didn't know how they would leave. They didn't know if they could leave, if they were terrorists. They could literally hail and uber leave and go wherever they wanted. It was insanity. And, and, and listen, during the war in Afghanistan, there were Afghans who made courageous decisions to help the U.S. government. And I think it's wrong and immoral to just leave them to be murdered by the Taliban. So I think we had an obligation to do something. But, but there are a lot of options short of bringing them to America. There are a whole bunch of Muslim countries in the Middle east where they would not pose the same terror threat that they pose here. And a perfectly reasonable approach would be we're going to set up refugee camps with our allies throughout the Middle east, move those refugees there. And for those that pass a vigorous screening test, it is possible some of them might come to the United States, but only after we were absolutely certain that there was not a risk of a terror attack like we saw.

[Ben Ferguson]

By the way you and I talked about this, I knew several people that worked, that fought for our country in Afghanistan, and they said their most frustrating aspect of the pullout was the US Was almost like they were playing a numbers game. Well, we got out 5,000 or 10,000 or 20,000, and they said their interpreters were being hunted down. People that helped American soldiers were being hunted down. They weren't actually pulling out the people that deserve to be pulled out. It was just a numbers game after the disaster, try to make it go away.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

No, that's exactly right. They were both over inclusive and under Inclusive. In other words, they were missing people who really had been allies of the United States because there was no serious process to identify who had risked their lives, who was at real danger of persecution and murder. And they were also just letting waving people in. I want you to listen to this cross examination that I did of Tony Blinken, then the Secretary of State at the time. Give a listen on this topic. But I want to ask you flat out, did the State Department give the Taliban a list or multiple list of Americans and or Afghans that we wanted.

[Tony Blinken]

Out those reports and the idea that we would do anything to endanger our citizens or anyone else at a time when we were trying to save their lives is flat out wrong.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Let me just. Like a yes or no. Did you give them. Let me.

[Tony Blinken]

Let me be very clear, Senator, if I may, please. Thank you. In limited instances where we were seeking to get a bus or a group of people through a checkpoint, we gave a manifest to the people at the checkpoint to demonstrate that those people were expected.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Roughly how many names were on the.

[Tony Blinken]

List you gave doesn't matter because they all.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Dozens, hundreds, thousands. Give us some order of magnitude.

[Tony Blinken]

This happened in a handful of situations where dozens.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

So is it your testimony it wasn't hundreds? I want to understand, did you give them thousands of dozens names?

[Tony Blinken]

No, we did not.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Okay, hundreds.

[Tony Blinken]

Not going to put a number on it, but it was.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Again, why not? This is a hearing to discover how many names and how many of those individuals you gave the Taliban the name to have been targeted for torture or murder.

[Tony Blinken]

Senator, by definition, these were in limited instances with a bus or a group of people to get them through a checkpoint. They got through the checkpoint.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

So not only did you fail to evacuate Americans and green card holders who were there, but you also brought in tens of thousands of Afghans who had wholly inadequate vetting, bringing many of them to the United States. And one of the things that has done is that has brought in a humanitarian crisis to America. Child marriage and domestic abuse tragically are widespread in Afghanistan. According to the World Health Organization, more than half of the women in Afghanistan are married as child brides. And 90% of women are subject to domestic abuse. 90%. On August 27, according to public reports, you distributed internal documentation highlighting numerous instances and intake centers of sexual abuse in which much older grown Afghan males appeared with children, young children claimed they were their brides, claim they were their wives. And the document said the State Department urgently requested guidance. That was your word, urgently. Subsequently, the Department of Homeland Security said that it showed the desperation of Families that they were willing to give little girls to grown men to be subject to sexual abuse and child wives. My question is as follows. Did you receive that urgent guidance? How many children have been subject to sexual abuse? What have you done to rescue young children from illegal and abusive relationships after being brought to America by the State Department?

[Tony Blinken]

Across the entire government, everyone involved in the evacuation effort, whether it's at a transit point in one of the countries that we negotiated with, whether it's here in the United States at Dulles or Philadelphia or the military bases, we have all of our officers at extreme vigilance to look for and to deal with any cases or concerns that.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Did you receive the urgent guidance? And how many child brides have you seen?

[Tony Blinken]

I. I don't know the specific guidance you're referring to. I'm happy to look to look at it.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

So is there not urgency to discover it being abused? Absolutely.

[Tony Blinken]

Time of the senator has expired. We could detect and deal with any cases. And there have been, to my knowledge, a limited number of cases where we have separated people because we were concerned. The cases, I'm aware of a handful.

[Ben Ferguson]

I think it's a really important point here, Senator, that we are now dealing with the reality of this situation. And that is this was more than just a national security threat. This was a threat to so many American citizens. Not just terrorism. It's also what you just described there.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Yeah. And look, this is related. We have covered on verdict before the incredible epidemic of child rapes from Pakistanis in the United Kingdom. And the United Kingdom's turning a blind eye to this pattern, this massive challenge of young children, young girls being raped tragically in Afghanistan, that is also a very real problem. The statistics on child brides are horrifying. 90% of women reported to have been subject to domestic abuse. And understand when the Taliban was taking over in Afghanistan, there were families that were desperate. And so they would have a little girl, a 7, 8, 9 year old girl that they would give to a grown man who was getting on a plane and say, here, take her as your wife to get her out of here. And that little girl would then be raped for the rest of her life. And the Biden State Department, they knew it was going on, but. But they didn't act to stop it. And understand this is ideology at a pla at play. Everyone, not everyone, many of those who man the Biden administration were alums of the Obama administration. Under the Obama administration, I chaired a hearing because the Obama White House had sent out a written guidance to the Department of Homeland Security to purge. And they use the word purge any reference to radical Islam or the Muslim Brotherhood or Jihad.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

And As a result, DHS either edited or deleted more than 800 of their records, erasing references to radical Islam, Muslim Brotherhood, Jihad, and you know what? And then miraculously later on when you had a terror attack, they'd say, well, we have no record that this is connected to radical Islam. It's like, well, because you had a purge and you deleted all the records ideologically, those same left wing ideologues that were in the Obama administration, they went forward to the Biden administration. And so it's a reason why if they've got people who are American allies, you heard Tony Blinken say, oh yeah, well, we would give lists of them to the Taliban. What could possibly be wrong? And it's a fundamental misunderstanding. It's also bizarrely, look, Democrats claim they care about women's rights. Well, it turns out that is not true when it's dealing with women or girls being raped by radical Islamists. That for them, in, in, in their Marxist hierarchy of oppression, being Palestinian, being Taliban, being ISIS is, is much more oppressed than being women. So women's rights go out the window in the leftist hierarchy. But it's, it, it's not just the child brides and the humanitarian victims from Afghanistan. It is the very real risk of terror attacks. Here. I want to play this podcast, Verdict in September of 2021. Here's what we were covering on Verdict in September 21st. Give a listen. So everyone assumes the camps where the evacuees are taken are secure facilities processed, they're wide open and they are free to go anywhere they want. And the Biden administration apparently doesn't care if these are adult men with little girls who they are sexually assaulting. The vetting is so half assed that there is a very real risk that if even one or two jihadis are in the mix, that we could see a suicide bomb like we saw in Afghanistan, but in an American mall or restaurant, if they're letting people hop on these planes who have been convicted of crimes in the United States, surely the vetting is not top notch. And it's not as though they're only going to Fort Bliss. They're going all around the country, by the way.

[Ben Ferguson]

Spot on. They're going all around the country. Fast forward to literally what we're dealing with now in this administration where they're like, well, okay, yeah, we had this attack and oh, there's another guy that was talking about wanting to do another Attack. But, but hey, at least we can somehow Jedi mind trick you into believing that somehow this is Donald Trump's fault. Because that's what the media did at first. And I think you got to connect these dots here, Senator. The media is trying to say that these National Guardsmen that got shot, one of them has died. As the time we are, we are doing this, it happened. They're trying to say because of Donald Trump rewriting the history and the warnings going back to, as we just played there From September of 2021 on this exact thing happening in reality.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Yeah. At the same time, I wrote an op ed in Fox News where I said, unfortunately, I believe we will see American blood spilled because of these foolish mistakes. And I. And I went on to say, the truth is that the Taliban doesn't want to be welcomed into the community of civilized nations. They are vicious terrorists who want to kill us. Unfortunately, because of the catastrophic mistakes the Biden administration made in Afghanistan, we are much more at risk for deadly attacks by the Taliban or Al Qaeda, which Pentagon officials estimate could regroup in Afghanistan in the next year or two. It's a disgrace. And the fault lies directly with President Joe Biden and his administration. This was obvious at the time. And look, you heard on that clip in September 21st, I'm talking about seeing the Donna Ana tent facility. When I showed up there, I was like, well, are there any fences around it? No. Is there any barrier? They're like, no, no, this is not a prison facility. And it was a one star general who was taking me around in the helicopter. And I'm like, well, you know what happens? You're saying, anyone can leave. He's like, yeah, they're not detained. This is just. We're just offering them housing. Think of this like an apartment complex. They can stay here if they want, or if they want to go somewhere.

[Ben Ferguson]

Else, they can go if they want.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

They can go somewhere else. And I asked the army, are y' all doing any vetting here? They said, no, no, no, the State Department does that in Afghanistan. So. So it's all done before they get there. So they got 10,000 people there, and who knows where they went? They don't keep a record of them. They don't ask, where do you go? I mean, that's part of the infuriating problem that the Biden administration invited into this country. Islamists, terrorists who explicitly want to murder us. And by the way, you know what is unbelievable is the shooting in D.C. was one of two.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Afghans who were arrested this week for Threatening violence. Another one happened in Texas. Here. Here's one report from Breitbart. An Afghan national admitted to the United States under President Biden's Operation Allies Welcome Resettlement program was arrested this week after posting a TikTok video in which he appeared to be building a bomb and referenced Fort Worth as a target. According to the Department of Homeland Security. Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin reported the arrest of Muhammad Dawood Alokazay, saying he allegedly posted a video on TikTok threatening to blow up a building in Fort Worth, Texas with a bomb. The Texas Department of Public Safety of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force teamed up to make the arrest on charges of making terroristic threats. This is happening. And by the way, it continues to be. Alakaze is an Afghan national who was pardoned into the United States by the Biden administration. His arrest came one day prior to the vicious attack on two West Virginia National Guard soldiers in Washington D.C. by another Afghan national. This pattern, when you let people in, you don't vet them. This violence and this terrorism is predictable. And you had a combination of a for four years, an open southern border so any Hamas or Hezbollah or other terrorists could come in through the southern border. By the way, let's pause here for.

[Ben Ferguson]

A second because sir, you just brought up something I wanted to ask you about a moment ago. And before I do that, I want to tell you about our friends at Compassion International. I want you to just pause what you're doing for the next 60 seconds and I want you to imagine Lucy, a 7 year old. Her stomach often aches with hunger. Her small hands instead of holding crayons, know only the struggle of survival on dusty streets. School is a distant dream. Medical care a forgotten hope. Lucy's potential is overshadowed. Her future is dim. But what if someone stepped in? What if there was a way to ignite hope for children just like Lucy? Well, there is. And that is with Compassion International Partners and the local churches that provide children holistic support. More than just food. They receive critical medical care, life changing education, vital skills training and spiritual development, all in Jesus's name. And you can empower a child just like Lucy to break free from poverty. I want you to do what I've done and sponsor a child. Today. You can visit compassion.com that's compassion.com you combine what what we're witnessing now with what you just mentioned, Senator. At the southern border, we knew for a fact that people on the terrorist watch list were coming across our southern border. The same border that when Texas Tried to secure it. The federal government said, no, no, we're going to use forklifts to raise up the barbed wire to let more people. And we have that on video. We talked about that on verdict. They knew that people were getting on the terrorist watch list, people that wanted to kill Americans. They knew there was a real threat of sleeper cells in this country coming from multiple places around the world. And there still is Al Shabaab. Exactly, still is. And you combine that with this and you sit there and you go, Basically they said, look, we know people are going to die, but we want an open border. We know terrorists are coming in. We know they're on the watch list. We know we're catching some of them. There's a lot of got aways that we don't catch. This is just the cost of doing business. There will be human carnage of American citizens, abuse of children, the rape of children, the sex trafficking of children. There will be murderers and all sorts of people in this country. We know that it's worth it to flood America with illegal immigrants. That was a calculated decision they made.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

It was. And the two occurred simultaneously. So on the one hand, they're opening the southern border and letting anyone come in. Yep. But on the other hand, they're affirmatively flying tens of thousands of Afghans. And by the way, we don't have any firm numbers in terms of how many they brought in in terms of vetting. You know, you don't have anyone from the Biden administration saying, oh yeah, we thoroughly vetted this guy before we brought him here, because their view was there was nothing to vet. Um, if they're bringing a 50 year old dude with an 8 year old girl that he says is his wife, that shows you how utterly incompetent the vetting is, that they just didn't care ideologically. They believe, well their culture, apparently it's okay to rape little girls. And, and, and so they certainly were not asking in engaging in the serious vetting. And it's difficult. Look, one of the problems with vetting a place like Afghanistan is there are limited records. And, and so that's not an easy task in my view. Unless you can conclusively determine that this person is not a terror threat, we should not be bringing them to America. And, and, and so, but, but the Biden administration, I don't believe was even trying to vet them in any serious way. They were just bringing in numbers because this was all about politics rather than the substance of keeping America safe.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. Senator, there's also. Let's go back in time and just remind people of what happened in this country last year. It deals with Rashid Tlaib, the radicals of the left. And we're gonna play that for you in a moment. But before we do that, I gotta tell you about an amazing opportunity for all of you that listen to Verdict and is to take some amazing classes from Hillsdale College right now for free. They have over 40 different classes that they are offering to Verdict listeners. I'm going to say it again for free. These are classes like on the book of Genesis or on the Constitution. It is truly incredible what they're offering. And there's so much confusion in the world today that it can be hard to find clarity and truth. And that is also why Hillsdale College has got a new miniseries on colonial America. It's offering a powerful reminder that the first Americans were searching for the same things. They believed faith and reason and revealed God's design for the world. And the understanding became the foundation of their courage and our freedom. It's an amazing look at the ideas that still hold us together today. And the new Hillsdale College miniseries on colonial America offers a fresh way to think about Thanksgiving as well, beyond the food and the political debates. It reminds us what we should truly be thankful for this holiday season. Our freedom, our prosperity and our faith. So combine that with 40 free online courses, courses on CS Lewis, courses on the Book of Genesis, the Rise and Fall, the Roman Republic and the Constitution. You can learn more now than ever before, and it will not cost you a dime. This is a way for me to say thank you to you guys listening. And you can take these classes at your own pace. So go right now to Hillsdale Edu Verdict to enroll. There's no cost. It's easy to get started. That's Hillsdale Edu slash verdict to enroll for free. Hillsdale Dot Edu slash verdict to enroll right now. All right, Senator, I want to go back to a little over a year ago and let's just remind people of the Democratic Party and also how we got to the point that we're at right now.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

Well, this just shows the overlap we were talking about before, that ideologically, today's Democrat Party refuses to acknowledge the threat of radical Islamic terrorism, refuses to acknowledge radical Islam and that it is fundamentally anti American. And so In April of 24, there were protesters in Dearborn, Michigan, for the and it was the International Al Quds Day rally where they began chanting death to America. And when that happened, so Dearborn, Michigan is in Rashida Tlaib's district she is the member of Congress that represents Dearborn, Michigan. You have a rally in her district chanting Death to America. And Fox News quite reasonably came and asked her if she would condemn that. Give a watch and give a listen to how she responded.

[Ben Ferguson]

Not a great look. The mayor condemned it.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

The White House condemned it.

[Ben Ferguson]

But what about Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib? She repped Stearborn. Is she okay with her constituents chanting Death to America? Fox Business correspondent Hilary Vaughn asked her watch.

[Podcast Host]

Congressman Tlaib, FOX News I don't talk to Fox News. At a rally in your district, people were chanting death to America. Do you condemn Talk to Fox News, but do you condemn chance of death to America? I don't talk to people that use racist tropes. Why can't you just say whether or not you condemn people chanting death to me. Why are you afraid to talk to Fox News? Is not listen. Using racist tropes towards my community is what Fox News is about. And I don't talk to Fox News. Death to America. Racist. Is chanting Death to America racist? Talking about your guys? Racist tropes? You know, you guys are. You guys know exactly what you do. I know you're Islamophobic, but you guys got to go deal with it on your own self. You're not going to use me.

[Ben Ferguson]

All right, Senator, you go back to that and it's just one of those moments where the warning signs are there. We, we tell you that these warning signs are there and then it happens. And I hate it. That happens. But it's so predictable now.

[Senator Josh Hawley]

You know, it reminds me, when Obama was president, John Kerry was secretary of State. There was an editorial cartoon and it had the ayatollah in Iran going death to America. And it had John Kerry saying, well, can we meet you halfway? Yeah, that's the ideological incoherence. Look, when you walk down the halls of Congress and you've been there with me, Ben, reporters stop you all the time. By the way, I answer questions from Fox News. I answer questions from cnn. I answer questions from New York Times. I answer questions from every lefty outlet just walking along. Because if you know what you believe, I gotta say, that's not a gotcha question. It's not a difficult question. Do you support Death to America? If you are a member of the United States Congress. The Congress of the United States of America. One would think it ought to be easy to say, yeah, of course, Death to America is wrong. I'm against that. That should not be difficult for anyone to. It speaks volumes that Rashida Tlaib was unwilling to even condemn chance of death to America in her own congressional district. That shows just how dangerous the ideological rot is. And tragically, we saw the very real consequences of that ideological rot in letting unvetted Afghan Afghan immigrants into this country, one of whom just murdered one DC National Guardsman and may have murdered a second. We pray that he survives, but at this point our prayers are with him because we don't know if he's going to survive the horrific attack.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, it's truly incredible. We're going to keep you updated on this subject, I can promise you. Don't forget we do the show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We also do it on video a lot on YouTube. So you can follow this show on YouTube if you want to watch it or hit that subscriber auto download button wherever you get your podcast and Senator and I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.

[Podcast Host]

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