← Verdict with Ted Cruz
Verdict with Ted Cruz
Terrorist Linked Illegal Aliens Released into the US plus Protecting Your Children takes a Single Act
00:41:32
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- [00:00]
Ted Cruz
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Ben Ferguson
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Ted Cruz
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Ben Ferguson
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- [00:29]
Ted Cruz
Hey Clay, if there was a summer camp for critical thinking, we'd be the chief counselors. Those jelly heads in June would be intellectual warriors by August. Be a lot of fun too. Some Bill and Ted's excellent adventure references thrown in this podcast like a daily dose of that. Minus the campfires, archery and pranking the girls. The bonafide boot camp for critical thinking. You can get in on it for.
- [00:53]
Ben Ferguson
Free at the iHeartRadio app or wherever.
- [00:55]
Ted Cruz
You get your podcast. Just search our names Clay and Balk. Listen and subscribe. Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And Senator, there are a couple big issues we get to deal with today that are really important, including a shock that almost 100 terror linked migrants were released into the United States of America in 2024 alone by the Biden administration.
- [01:21]
Ben Ferguson
It really is a shocking story. Tulsi Gabbard revealed in Eagle Pass in Texas that the intelligence community had informed the Biden administration that of hundreds of terror linked illegal immigrants, that that roughly a hundred of them were arrested in 2024 and that they released all but eight of them after they knew that they were linked to terrorist organizations. It's a shocking story. We're gonna break it down and give you the details. We're also gonna talk about the Take It Down Act. The Take It down act is my legislation protecting women, protecting teenage girls, teenage boys from revenge porn, from deep fakes online. And this week, the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, she came to the Capitol supporting my legislation. We did a roundtable together. So we're gonna bring you into what Melania had to say about the Take It Down Act. And also President Trump at the State of the Union praised the Senate for passing my Take It down act unanimously and called on the House to pass it. We're gonna bring you in that roundtable and you're gonna hear what the first lady had to say and what several of the victims had to say.
- [02:26]
Ted Cruz
I got to tell you today I did something that was just really fun and it was to spend a little time at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Dallas, Texas with my friends at the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. And I got to see just what their work looks like with some videos that I was shown, some pictures of the impact that so many of you are having by being involved with IFCJ and helping the people in Israel. After more than a year of war, terror and pain in Israel, there is still a great demand for basic humanitarian aid. And that is where the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has supported, and they continue to support those in the Holy Land still facing the lingering horrors of war and those who are in desperate need right now. Your ongoing monthly gift of $45 will provide critically needed aid to communities in the north and the south that have been devastated by the ongoing attacks against the Jewish people. Now, your generous donation each month helps deliver to those that are in need the most, including the evacuees and the refugees from all of these different war torn areas. There's also a lot of first responders and volunteers and wounded soldiers, even elderly Holocaust survivors that are in desperate need. And you are helping them. That is why I just want to say, number one, thank you for getting involved and helping so many people in this great time of need and uncertainty. Your gift to bless Israel and her people. You can do that by visiting supportifcj.org that's one word, support ifcj.org or you can call them 888488 ifcj. That's 888488 ifcj 8884884325 or supportifcj.org all right, let me also remind you, don't forget the algorithms change and the way that podcasts change all the time. So if you have not hit that subscribe button or auto download button, make sure you check that hit the save depending on where you're listening. And please, if you'll help us by reaching will reach more people when you guys share this pod on social media. So we do the fight here every day to try to get you great intel and information what's happening in D.C. and around the country and really around the world. So make sure you share this podcast on social media. It helps tremendously for us to reach new people and change hearts and minds. So let's go back center to this headline. Almost 100 terrorist linked migrants released in 2024. The part that I think we really should hone in on is this wasn't an accident. It wasn't like a misappropriation of paperwork. This was done on purpose.
- [05:17]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, they knew. They had full knowledge. And look, don't take my word for it. Listen to Tulsi Gabbard and what she said this week down in Texas at the Eagle Pass. Give a listen.
- [05:27]
Tulsi Gabbard
Trump has been in office. Really? What you're seeing here today, and what you'll continue to see is a unified effort across President Trump's national security team, the Department of Homeland Security, towards our mission, which is to ensure a safe, free and prosperous society for Americans. As Director of National Intelligence, there are a number of areas where we are focused. The President talked about in his speech. Over 21 million people have come across our borders illegally under Joe Biden's administration. There are many of them that we don't know who they are. They have not been vetted. We don't know where they are. I'll give you one quick example of one of the problems that we are getting after from Central Asia. There were over 4,000 people who came across our borders using an ISIS affiliated network. Our National Counterterrorism center went through and identified those individuals. There were hundreds of them who were either known terrorists or associated with known terrorists. That information was provided to the Biden administration. You may remember in some of the news, a little over 100 of those people were arrested in 2020. 4. Of those who were arrested, only 8 were either deported or remained in custody. Only 8. The rest of them were released back into our country. Where are they? What are they doing? What may they be plotting? This is just the beginning. There are many, many areas that we need to stay very focused on. Working with Department of Homeland Security, working with the FBI, to ensure that we're keeping the American people safe. Our Counterterrorism center is working on making sure that we have that single source for vetting so that we can figure out who is actually in our country and identify those who pose a threat and get them removed. The President's designation of the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations falls directly into this, especially as we're seeing some of the tactics that these cartels are using reflect some of the tactics that we've seen used by Islamist terrorists in countries that many of us have served in overseas. Our mission is very clear. Our objective is to keep the American people safe. I'm grateful to be a part of this team that President Trump has assembled to accomplish that mission. Thank you.
- [07:38]
Ted Cruz
I love the focus. The Vice President was down there as well, the team. And, you know, you compare that to the border czar who never decided to go to Eagle Pass, didn't want anything to do with it. And now we understand again more why. Because they knew they were doing all of the things that they were doing to put America's national security at risk.
- [07:55]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. And it's worth really focusing on the facts that Tulsi Gabbard, who's now the Director of National Intelligence, what she said, she said from Central Asia, there were more than 4,000 people who came across our borders using an ISIS affiliated network. So isis, you know, kind of bad guys, terrorists who've killed lots and lots of Americans. They're smuggling over 4,000 people illegally into this country from Central Asia. By the way, Central Asia includes multiple Islamic countries like Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, where radical Islamic terrorism is a real threat. And Tulsi said the National Counterterrorism center went through and identified those over 4,000 individuals. And there were hundreds of them. Hundreds is the word she used, who were either known terrorists or, or associated with known terrorists. And then she says, quote, that information was provided to the Biden administration. So the Biden administration knew hundreds of either known terrorists or people associated with known terrorists were smuggled into America illegally by an ISIS affiliated network. And then, then she goes on to say in 2024, a little over 100 of those terror leaked people were arrested. And then the shocking thing, of the little more than a hundred, only eight were either deported or remained in custody. Only eight, quote, the rest of them were released back into our country. So this is not illegal aliens crossing the border that get apprehended. They act, they let them go, but they don't know they're terrorists. These are people they know are either themselves known terrorists or associated with known terrorists. They also know that they were smuggled illegally into this country by an ISIS affiliated network and they were arrested again. And yet over 90 of them, nearly a hundred, the Biden administration released into America, into your community, into my community, in a single year. This is in 2024. That is stunning. And I got to tell you, bet I've never heard a single Democrat give any justification for what is just idiocy. Let's release terror linked illegal immigrants into America. What possibly could go wrong with that?
- [10:33]
Ted Cruz
When you, when you look at the. And you sometimes it's just people are stupid. Is it? But it also could be more cynical. I could be more sinister than that, I guess. I look at this, I'm like, they knew it. Did they just not want to admit that the open border would allow for so many Bad actors to come across with many that may just be coming across, right, for a better life, a job. If you put it in the best light possible, Senator. And so they knew that if they admitted they caught these people and then they didn't re release them and they actually prosecute them or sent them back to their country, there's a lot of options here that was going to shine a huge light on the problem. So therefore, hey, we can't admit it's happening. So we just going to go with this anarchy and insanity till the end.
- [11:17]
Ben Ferguson
Look, Ben, I really don't know. You know, I had my very first boss, had a phrase he used to say, he said, never attribute to incompetence, never attribute to malice. What can be explained with incompetence. And look, I think there's a lot of wisdom to that, that a lot of times people are just, they just do dumb things. That being said, listen, I do, I believe the Biden administration wants terrorists to attack America. No, but then why the hell would you release these people? And I guess the only plausible explanation I can come up with is they're such radicals on open borders. They're so committed to their open borders because they want millions and millions of illegal immigrants. Cuz they, they view them as future Democrat voters, that they're just deportation was off the table. They, they, they're not in that business. They don't do it. I, I, I don't know. Listen, this is related to a story we covered in a pod a couple weeks ago. We're in Massachusetts right now. They're taking violent child abusers, child molesters, people who are raping, who are illegal aliens. And even with violent child rapists, the Massachusetts authorities are releasing them rather than give them over to ICE to be deported. Now look, reasonable people, you could have an argument about what should be the level of illegal immigration. You could, there are all sorts of things you'd have reasonable disagreements on. But I mean, Ben explained to me why someone says, you know what we need more of? We need more child rapists in our community. Let's let these go. Like I, I, I, my brain cannot wrap itself around those repeated actions. And yet that's what's happening. And this is the same sort of thing. You apprehend someone who's a known terrorist who was smuggled into America by ISIS and you say, oh, let's let him go. Like, I don't know, you know, the.
- [13:14]
Ted Cruz
Poll numbers that came out from the President's speech the other night were truly incredible. 76% approved of Trump's address to Congress, that is a massive win for the president. You look at some of the other ones, poll numbers. Not only that, 91% said Trump spent time on issues they cared about. Yeah, that. That is a home run. 71% said the speech was, quote, inspiring. And 62% said it was unifying. And they said that this speech. 68% said they felt hopeful, 54% say, felt proud of the country from the speech. And when you look at these numbers, even on the issue of inflation, where Democrats leaned in heavy over the last few weeks to try to say everything that's, you know, eggs and everything else are the problem of Donald Trump, the American people aren't buying that either. When they were asked whether the President had a clear plan to battle inflation, 68% said yes to that as well. And then on the issue of immigration at the border, the people watched in, 77% said they were in favor of Donald Trump's plan on immigration at the border. When you see this, right, and you look at what the president's saying, and then all those that are working towards this, you've got the vice president, you got Tulsi, you've got the Secretary of State, everyone seems to be in lockstep on this issue of the border. Is that the reason why you think the president's winning so much right now on securing this border? Because he's explaining it the way we are right now as well?
- [14:48]
Ben Ferguson
Because he is not absolutely frigging nuts. Yes. I think the Democrat Party has gone insane. Releasing murderers and rapists and child molesters into America is a really bad idea. And it turns out it's a really unpopular idea. Releasing terrorists into America is a really bad idea. And it turns out it's a really unpopular idea. Look, you and I, we did a pod the night of the State of the Union, and we talked a lot about how the Democrats, for the first time ever, didn't applaud for the President of the United States, didn't stand for the President of the United States, didn't applaud at anything. I'll tell you, actually, yesterday in the Senate gym, I had a conversation with a Senate Democrat. I'll keep him anonymous, but he was a Senate Democrat, one of my colleagues, and he made a comment, he said something about he thought we were just living in a surreal world. And I said, look, I gotta say, I was shocked that you guys didn't applaud or stand for the president at all. And he was like, well, you gotta understand, we just think he's destroying the Constitution. And I said, look, I stood and applauded every year for Barack Obama. I stood and applauded every year for Joe Biden. And I disagreed with almost everything they were doing. But I respect the office and I respect the American people. And he just kind of shrugged and said, we're living in different universes. And we're, and we're, we're, we're. Our bases are fundamentally different.
- [16:23]
Ted Cruz
You look at Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He also announced a policy to penalize foreign countries that allow the transit of illegal immigrants and is pressuring many countries that refuse to accept the return of their migrants as well. This could also have a big impact on this country. I want to get your thoughts on that.
- [16:45]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, look, this administration is securing the border. They're doing it right now. And they are going to deport illegal aliens they are gonna send out of the country, especially the violent criminal illegal aliens, the murderers, the rapists, the child molesters, the gang bangers. And the countries that don't take it, they're going to make them take it. And that's what a strong president who's actually defending this country does. How to have fun anytime, anywhere.
- [17:13]
Ted Cruz
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Ben Ferguson
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Ted Cruz
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Ben Ferguson
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- [17:42]
Ted Cruz
The best way to understand all sides of an issue is to know all sides of an issue. Can't get that in the mainstream media. Which is why you've got to listen to some Clay and Buck for another point of view. Buck, why are you going third person? Because, Clay, I think this ad is running in places that might not exactly align with all of our politics or even know who we are. It's impossible. But even if it's true, I bet if they did listen, they'd end up agreeing with us on at least one issue, even if they secretly want admitted. Well, the only way they're gonna find out is if they download the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show podcast on the iHeartRadio app or wherever they get their pods. We're easy to find. Unlike your wife at Costco, Clay, you speak the truth. But we're already losing people. I think I gained one or two just now. In case you haven't noticed, we like to have a lot of fun as well as talk about what's going on in the world. Come hang with us today and every day at Clay and buck. Download the iHeartRadio app, search out those names, Clay Travis, Buck Sexton, and come hang. All right, I want to move on to this other really important issue. And I want to say sincerely, Senator, thank you for leading on the Take It Down Act. It is going to have a huge impact in this country at protecting people against deep fake porn and people that are trying to harm them, especially young girls. You've highlighted it and explained it. And the first lady is now all in on this issue as well. And you guys had a roundtable on Capitol Hill. Talk a little bit about this?
- [19:14]
Ben Ferguson
Well, yeah. So the first lady came this week to Capitol Hill and this is the first legislative issue she's gotten involved in this term and she's leaned in hard in support of my Take it Down legislation. And so we did a roundtable that she came and participated in, and we had several of the victims who had been targeted share their stories. And it was really powerful. And her leadership will really have a powerful effect here. I want you to listen. These are my opening remarks at the roundtable. Give a listen. Start by thanking the first lady for joining us today and thank you for your support of this incredibly important legislation, the Take It down act, which has already passed the Senate unanimously. And I am hopeful that the House will soon take it up and pass it and put it on the president's desk to be signed into law to protect young women and young boys and all of those who are being victimized across the country. I also want to thank our brave victims and victim advocates who are here, Ellison Berry, Francesca Mani, Brandon Guffey and Breeze Liu. Thank you for being here. Each of you have endured the unspeakable and your courage standing up and speaking for others is really remarkable. I also want to thank Stefan Turkheimer with Rainn for your advocacy and support on this issue as well. Thank you for your leadership. And of course, I want to thank Senator Klobuchar, who is the lead Democrat sponsor in the Senate, and Representative Salazar and Representative Dean, who are the lead sponsors in the House who've worked alongside in this important bipartisan legislation. If you're a victim of revenge porn or AI generated explicit imagery, your life changes forever. Most Likely you've been targeted by someone you know, and you're likely struggling to have that material removed from the Internet. Disturbingly, many of these victims are teenagers at American high schools who are facing a surge in AI generated sexual images. Hundreds of teens, often targeted by their own classmates, are enduring senseless psychological harm knowing that these fake images exist and they're still out there. And in many cases, there's no recourse for these teenage victims. But this issue extends beyond high school. There are thousands of cases where predators have used non consensual intimate images to extort victims, both sexually and financially. And the results can be even more traumatic than financial loss, as we'll hear here today. In dozens of instances, parents and siblings have suffered unbearable pain having lost their child or their brother or their sister to suicide because the victim felt there was no way out from sex torture outside of high school. Many adults are also dealing with the very real and dire consequences of having their sexually explicit images shared online without their consent. I have heard from victims of sexual abuse, of rape, of human trafficking, who strongly support the Take It down act because they desperately want some of the most traumatic moments of their lives taken off the Internet. The Take It down act empowers victims across the entire United States. It makes it a felony for these deviants to publish any non consensual intimate images, including fake, lifelike pornographic images of real people. Just as importantly, our bipartisan bill requires Big Tech to have a notice and takedown process so that every victimized American, not just the rich and famous, but everyone, has a right to get these disturbing images taken offline immediately. We are today one step closer to making this dream a reality. Just three weeks ago, the Senate unanimously passed the Take It Down Act. Now it goes to my House colleagues, and I have every assurance and confidence that the House will take it, take this up, pass it, and put it on the President's desk so that we can protect the victims of these predators. And we're very excited to be joined today by the first lady of the United states, Melania Trump. Mrs. Trump has long been a champion for protecting our nation's children with her BE Best initiative. And I can think of no more important issue for our first lady to lean on than protecting children online. Your success will mean our children's success and healing for thousands of victims.
- [24:36]
Ted Cruz
I mean, it's incredible, this legislation, and it's also awesome to see the first lady coming to the forefront on this issue and saying, I want to champion this as well.
- [24:47]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, look, it was tremendously important she reached out, she wanted to do this. She actively participated in the roundtable. And here I want to play a moment of what she had to say at the roundtable. Here's the First Lady, Melania Trump. I was heartened to learn that Senator Cruz and Senator Klobuchar united to prioritize this fundamental matter. I must admit, however, I expected to see more Democrats leaders with us here today to address this serious issue. Surely as adults we can prioritize America's children ahead of parties and policies. I urge Congress to prioritize the passage of the taking down at the field. This legislation is essential for addressing the growing concerns related to online safety, protecting individual rights and promoting a healthier digital environment. By advocating these bills, Congress can take an important step towards ensuring accountability and fostering responsibly online behavior. The taken down empathy represents power from step toward justice, healing and unity.
- [26:13]
Ted Cruz
The first lady there, and I do love that she was honest, she's like, how are there not more Democrats with this?
- [26:22]
Ben Ferguson
Well, and look, it's the answer is the anger and rage we saw at the State of the Union. They're just filled with anger and rage. But I will say the fact that the first lady got involved. So last year we passed the Take it Down act out of the Senate. We got it passed out of the Senate and it went to the House and unfortunately the House did not take it up and pass it. Now the House tried to and they actually had it attached to the continuing resolution at the end of the year and then it dropped out at the end of the day. And so here's how this happens. When the first lady wanted to come, she came and we invited multiple victims to tell their stories and it was very powerful. But we also invited the speaker of the House and the Majority Leader in the House. And so both Speaker Johnson and Leader Scalise came and both Mike and Steve are good friends. But look, one of the challenges of getting any legislation to move in either body is getting leadership to prioritize that there are lots of priorities, there are lots of people pulling in all sorts of different directions. And so you're always battling to say this should be high enough up on the priority list to move. And the fact that the first lady leaned in now makes it a certainty both the speaker and the Majority Leader committed. The House will take it up and they will pass it. And I think they're gonna do so quickly. And Elliston Berry, so Elliston was there and she's from Texas, she is a 15 year old girl. And what happened to her, she's from Alito, Texas, up in North Texas. And what happened to her is she woke up one morning, she was in ninth grade, and she was getting all these texts and calls from her friends. And it turns out a classmate of hers, a boy in her class, took a perfectly innocent picture of her from social media and used an app, an AI app, to create a deep fake that turned her picture into naked pictures. Now, it wasn't real, but anyone looking at it would think it was real. It appeared to be real. And then this 9th grader emailed it, or not emailed it, but sent it on Snapchat to all of her classmates. And so she woke up, you know, just in tears, because all of her classmates, I mean, look, remember how hard freshman year is? It's hard to be a teenager. And the nightmare, you're a teenage girl, and suddenly all your friends think they're looking at naked pictures of you. And there was nothing she could do about it. The boy, they found out who did it, and he did not get in significant trouble. And she was frustrated, out of her mind. Now, it's kind of a cool story how the take it down legislation happened, which is, she's a Texan. She's a constituent. And so her mother called my office and described what had happened to her daughter and said, look, can y'all help help us with this? And my team brought it to my attention, and I said, look, this is horrible. Let's do something about it. And so Elliston was actually the inspiration for this legislation because I heard what happened to her, and I said, this isn't right. And so we drafted the bill, and we invited Elliston and her mom, Ana, to come up to D.C. and they were at the press conference where we introduced the bill. And, Ben, it was striking. We were meeting in my office before the press conference, and I was talking. It's the first time I'd met them in person. And I was talking, and I asked in the middle of the conversation, I said, okay, so what happened to the pictures? And they both looked at me in enormous frustration, and they said, they're still up. It had been nine months since this had happened. And Elliston's mom said she had called Snapchat repeatedly. She'd emailed them, and she just got the stiff arm. She said it was. They were just stonewalling. They would get no response whatsoever. And so I turned to my staff and I said, I want you to get the CEO of Snapchat on the phone today. And I said, I want this garbage down Today, within two hours, they pulled him down.
- [30:31]
Ted Cruz
Incredible.
- [30:32]
Ben Ferguson
Now look, it's maddening, but it shouldn't take a sitting US Senator making a phone call to the CEO to get it down. The victims ought to have the right to get it down. So what we wrote into the Take it Down act is number one, we make it a felony to post non consensual intimate images. Either real pictures, let's say you have real pictures can come from a number of places. They can come from number one, people who are in a romantic relationship and they take a picture, they take a video and then they have a breakup and somebody's pissed and decide to post it to the world. And that's a grotesque violation of privacy. You don't have a right to do that to somebody else. Or they can come from deep fakes. And we're seeing the numbers. The numbers have increased 3,000% of deep fakes that are being put out. They're real pictures, but they're real people. But fake, either explicit pictures or in some cases explicit videos that appear to be sexual videos. And they're generated by AI, but nobody watching can tell. And this is exploding. And one of the reasons you need the legislation is a number of states have passed laws criminalizing revenge porn, but the laws often don't cover deep fakes. They only cover real pictures. And so deep fakes fall into a hole in the law. And I'll tell you, Ben, there's another instance where this happens, which is kids are subject to human trafficking and are sexually abused and violated. And you have the predators will put those images out online. And the second component of this bill is a requirement that any tech platform take down these images or these videos once they're notified by the victim. A legal requirement that once you're notified, you got 45, 48 hours to take it down or, or else they face serious penalties. And that the number of victims I've heard who have been so frustrated getting big tech to act, in many ways that's the most important part of this bill, is getting this garbage taken down and creating a legal right for any victim to remove the content.
- [32:50]
Ted Cruz
One of the things that I also love seeing now, and I want you to expand on this just for a moment, was the fact that when you gu had this roundtable, you mentioned Speaker Johnson was there. How important is it to get legislation done that Republicans and the Senate are working with the Republicans in the House? Because this is that type of, I call it harmony that I know makes a huge difference in getting an idea to become A reality.
- [33:15]
Ben Ferguson
Oh, look, it's very important. And personal relationships make a difference. I mean, I had dinner with Steve Scalise last week. Steve is a good friend. Mike Johnson is a good friend. Mike and I have had dinner multiple times. We spent a lot of time together. And that's how you move legislation, is through personal relationships, through strategizing, through working together. And so when the first lady said she was coming, I reached out and invited both of them and invited Brett Guthrie, who is the committee chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which is the committee that has jurisdiction over this. It's the equivalent of. Of the Senate Commerce Committee that I'm the chairman of. And Brett's a friend as well. He and I have had dinner. I mean, a lot of what. If you want to actually move things through Congress, the personal relationships really matter. And I gotta say, I was really excited because at the State of the Union address, Elliston Berry was sitting right next to Melania Trump. She was. Her guest was right there in the box. And actually, President Trump explicitly called on Congress to pass the Take It Down Act. I want you to listen. This is the President at the State of the Union calling on Congress to act and Elliston Berry, who became a victim of an illicit, deep fake image produced by a peer with Elliston's help. The Senate just passed the Take It down act.
- [34:38]
Ted Cruz
And this is so important.
- [34:41]
Ben Ferguson
Thank you very much, John. John Thune. Thank you. Stand up, John. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Thank you. And thank you to John Thune and the Senate. Great job. To criminalize the publication of such images online is a terrible, terrible thing. And once it passes the House, I look forward to signing that bill into law. Thank you. And I'm going to use that bill for myself too, if you don't mind, because nobody gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody. That's great. Thank you very much to the Senate. Thank you.
- [35:31]
Ted Cruz
I mean, I love how there's just enthusiasm, there's excitement, there's momentum.
- [35:37]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. And it makes the chances. I think it's a certainty now the House will take it up. As I said, the speaker and the Majority Leader both committed to doing that and doing so quickly. And the President and First lady engaging, just raises it on the priority list. So that's really good. Elliston, was there another teenage girl, Francesca Manni, who's from New Jersey. She's the same age, 15. She had the same month. This happened to Elliston in Texas. The identical thing happened to Francesca in New Jersey. They had the exact same experience. And both Elliston and Francesca. I've had testify at a field hearing I did on the Take It down act that I held in Dallas, and they both testified there. And these are two young ladies who were really, really effective. Francesca was featured in 60 Minutes. She's really powerful. Ellison and I did Good Morning America together, and she told her story there. And I gotta tell you, she's so articulate that the Good Morning America hosts were laughing and saying that Ellison was coming for their jobs. And I think that's right here. Listen to Ellison telling a little bit of her story in her own voice. I'm ellison Berry. I'm 15 years old. I'm from Fort Worth, Texas. I was a survivor of AI deepfakes. A classmate of mine targeted me and eight other of my friends and put an innocent picture off Instagram through an AI ending app that stripped our clothing off and sent to round my whole school. I was able to get in touch with Ted Cruz's office and we were able to write up the Take It down act, which protects America's children from these heinous acts. Thankfully, the First Lady's office was able to reach out. And it's really just been such an amazing experience knowing that she has the heart for my situation and that she cares and that the overall support behind this act and this situation is so amazing. And we are protecting the future generation.
- [37:34]
Ted Cruz
It's sad that this story has to even be a story, but what an incredible young lady at 15. To be this articulate and to. To be able to understand that she can help so many others and to contact your office and that you were able to help her and so many others this way is just truly incredible.
- [37:51]
Ben Ferguson
It is really powerful. And I'll tell you, we had multiple victims testify, and sometimes the consequences of this are even worse. And so I want you to give a listen to the testimony of Brandon Guffey at the roundtable describing what happened with his son. Although the vast majority of the targets of this abuse are women and young girls, young boys can be targeted as well. And the FBI has warned that there's a growing threat of sextortion deliberately targeting minors online, where evil people use either real or fake explicit images to extort their victims, both sexually and financially. And in some instances, the results can be even more devastating and catastrophic. And that was the tragic situation that South Carolina State Representative Brandon Guffey and his family experienced in 2022. Representative Guffey, would you please share what happened with your son?
- [38:57]
Brandon Guffey
Thank you, Senator Cruz. July 27, 2022. I lost my oldest Son Gavin Guffey to suicide. We quickly found out that he was being extorted online, that someone pretending to be a young female at another college requested images to be shared back and forth. And as soon as he shared those images, he took his life. It was an hour and 40 minutes from the time that he was contacted until the time that he took his life. At that time, I had never heard of the crime of sextortion. I was always a more liberty minded politician, even though I hate to say that word and you know, I wanted freedom as much as possible. But as I started looking into this, I started to see that Big Tech operates and they are the equivalent of Big Tobacco of this of today's generation. The account that targeted my son, that caused him to take his life was taken down online. Once Homeland Security reached out, however, they left the additional accounts up. If I send a friend request, I can choose remove this account and any other accounts associated. Yet they left these other accounts up and those other accounts began to extort my 14 year old cousin, my 16 year old son who had just lost his brother and myself as well, going as far as sending a message saying, did I tell you that your son begged for his life from that day forward? I have made it my life's mission, politics or not, to fight to protect children online Since December of 2022, whenever I took office, within four months we were able to pass Gavin's Law in South Carolina which criminalized digital sextortion. And the first person that we were able to convict under Gavin's Law was actually under an AI photograph. I have helped thousands of children since then. Matter of fact, I've dealt with three within the past 48 hours of families that are reaching out that are being extorted in these situations. I've worked with groups such as NCOZI and NCMEC here on the Hill. I have showed up with parents and unfortunately the amount of parents that are losing children are growing daily. Since my son took his Life, there's been 40 other teens that are public about this. I can tell you there's more than a dozen that I know of that just do not feel comfortable sharing their stories. But I'm witnessing teens constantly take their life and as you said, Senator Cruz, trying to get an image down. Now granted I'm just a state representative, but I have a little bit more pool than the average citizen and I'm able to get some of these taken down occasionally, but that's generally not the case. And with something such as take it down, it would allow families to be able to have those images taken down and to have the voice that my son did not have. There was no recourse of being able to know, to be able to get these images down. And in his mind, no one had his back and this wasn't talked about. So since then it's been my mission to speak up, scream it from the mountaintops on how we have to hold Big Tech accountable and take it down. Does that. So for everyone involved, I really thank you for your involvement and urge for passage within the House.
- [42:48]
Ted Cruz
Senator, you hear that part of the story and it's heartbreaking. It's also incredible to listen to a father making his life's work to help.
- [42:55]
Ben Ferguson
Others afterwards, you know, what a friggin nightmare. You and I are both dads. I mean that's, it's terrifying. And you know, young people will anyone, but especially teenagers, are targeted and victimized by this. And that's why the bill is really important and it's a huge problem. So listen, I'm grateful to the first lady and I'm grateful to the President for leading on this and we're gonna get it done. And I'll tell you, I told Brandon, I told Elliston and Francesca and all of the victim advocates there that they're going to be in the Oval Office for the bill signing. The president's going to sign the bill and each one of them is going to get a signing pen that they're going to get to take home. And then that's, you know, that's really who we're fighting for are the victims who are targeted here.
- [43:42]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, it's incredible. Make sure you share this podcast with your family and friends. It's a really important one. We do this Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson show, on those in between days and we'll keep you updated on the latest breaking news and the Senator and I will see you back here for the week in review. The top stories of the week on Saturday morning as well.
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Ted Cruz
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