Podcast Summary: "Texas Designates Muslim Brotherhood as a Terrorist Organization, plus Crooked Gambling Crisis in Pro Sports"

Podcast: Verdict with Ted Cruz
Hosts: Senator Ted Cruz & Ben Ferguson
Release Date: November 19, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode dives into two major stories: Texas’s bold move to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as terrorist organizations, and the unfolding crisis around corruption in professional sports due to prop betting. Senator Ted Cruz shares insights from both the legislative battle over these designations and his ongoing Senate investigation into gambling scandals in the NBA and Major League Baseball. The conversation tackles the difficulties of counterterrorism policy in Washington, the risks of unchecked sports betting, and features candid reflections on bipartisanship (notably John Fetterman’s surprising alliance with Cruz), all delivered in the show’s signature no-nonsense, conservative style.

Main Topics & Key Insights

1. Texas Designates Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as Terrorist Organizations

[03:33 - 19:22, 22:53 - 25:12]

Key Discussion Points

• Texas’ Action: Governor Greg Abbott declared both the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations, barring them from land ownership in Texas.

  • Abbott cited national and international actions, intelligence evidence, and connections to Hamas.
  • Cruz celebrates Texas' leadership, framing it as a template for federal action.

  "Texas is leading the way... The Muslim Brotherhood, I believe, is unquestionably a terrorist organization and we have yet to designate them. As Governor Abbott noted, many other countries on earth have."
  — Ted Cruz [06:40]

• Federal Legislative Efforts:

  • Cruz has introduced legislation for a decade to get the Muslim Brotherhood designated at the federal level.
  • The biggest obstacle: resistance from the State Department “deep state” and concerns about affiliate organizations.

  “The resistance was from the deep state at the State Department, the career bureaucrats…They said, look, there are lots of different affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood. We cannot definitively prove that every one of the affiliates meets the statutory Criteria for being a terrorist organization.”
  — Ted Cruz [09:30]

• Strategy Shift:

  • Originally written top-down, Cruz recently flipped the bill to a “bottom-up” approach—targeting specific affiliates (like Hamas) and then moving up to the broader organization.
  • Acknowledges that legislative victory is unlikely without more Democrat support, but aims to “build the public case” for the executive branch to act unilaterally, likely under a future Trump administration.

  "My strategy on the Muslim Brotherhood legislation is not necessarily to pass it through Congress, although I'd love to...But it is instead to build the public case for this so that the Trump administration does so unilaterally."
  — Ted Cruz [17:48]

• Rare Bipartisanship:

  • John Fetterman (D-PA) is highlighted as Cruz’s rare partner on this issue—despite his party’s internal backlash.

  "He has astonished me. I like John personally...Fetterman has shown real courage in standing up to his party on the shutdown...and on Israel, the level of courage he has shown by saying the pro Hamas wing of our party is wrong. It is terrible. And I, John Fetterman, are proud to stand with Israel. It's been heroic."
  — Ted Cruz [13:02]

  • Both hosts reflect on the decline of moderation and bipartisanship in Congress.

Notable Segment Timestamps

• [06:40] — Texas' official designations and rationale
• [09:30] — Inside the “deep state” resistance
• [12:08] — Discussion about John Fetterman's surprising alliance
• [13:02-15:51] — Reflections on bipartisanship, with anecdotes about Fetterman, Sinema, and Manchin
• [17:48] — Why executive action may be the only path forward

2. CARE’s Role and College Campus Funding

• CAIR’s Activities:

  • Cruz alleges CAIR is a domestic organization with a long-term pattern of supporting Hamas, including funding anti-Israel agitators on college campuses.
  • Cites a New York Post report showing checks sent to disciplined students for leading pro-Palestinian protests, suggesting foreign and ideological funding is fuelling campus activism.

  “You have care literally, you want to know why you had anti Semitic protest on college campuses. I've been saying from the beginning, follow the money. There's clear money behind it...This is being funded by Islamists, this is being funded by Communists, this is being funded by foreign nations. This is being funded by left wing billionaire donors who frankly want to undermine America.”
  — Ted Cruz [23:10–24:52]

3. Corruption Surrounding Prop Bets & Gambling in Pro Sports

[25:12 - 41:12]

Key Discussion Points

• Investigation and Crisis:

  • Cruz, as Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has launched an oversight investigation into gambling and corruption in major leagues.
  • Focuses on criminal indictments in the NBA (coaches and players) and ongoing scandals in MLB, specifically implicating Cleveland Guardians pitchers for “rigging their own pitches to make a profit.”

  “Major League Baseball and American sports generally are facing a new integrity crisis...The recent indictment alleges Cleveland Guardians players Emmanuel Claes and Luis Ortiz purposely threw certain pitches for balls or strikes...their accomplices won $27,000.”
  — Ted Cruz [28:12 – 31:25]

• Scale and Mechanism of Cheating:

  • The scheme lasted over two years and netted up to $400,000 in fraudulent winnings.
  • Prop bets (“player X will throw a wild pitch,” etc.) create incentives and opportunities for relatively simple game manipulation. Both hosts riff on how easy it is for players (or even themselves in less professional contexts) to lose a point or throw a ball deliberately.

  “Negative prop bets are 100% within the control of an individual player...I can pitch a ball 100% of the time with no deviation.”
  — Ted Cruz [34:01]

  “I'm pretty sure I could double fault on. On command. I can hit a ball long on command, 100 of the time. On command, I could whiff at a ball if that was a prop bet and make money off of it.”
  — Ben Ferguson [34:58]

• Concerns About College Sports:

  • Cruz notes the risk grows with college athletes, especially at smaller schools, who could be persuaded to influence bets for relatively small sums.

  "It's one thing for, you know, am I that worried about massive superstars making millions...But the incentive is less than some, you know, 19 year old kid playing at podunk school who has a chance to make ten grand fixing the game."
  — Ted Cruz [40:04]

• Solutions and Responses:

  • Both express skepticism as to whether leagues can police themselves and whether simply banning prop bets is feasible.
  • Cruz wants facts from the leagues and leaves open the prospect of “Congress acting in a bipartisan way to fix it.”

  "I'm not sure exactly what those steps are, and so I'm starting with sending letters to the NBA and Major League Baseball because you've got scandals in both sports."
  — Ted Cruz [36:20]

Notable Segment Timestamps

• [27:24-28:12] — Explaining how prop bet “fixing” works
• [31:25-33:00] — MLB’s $400k scandal details
• [34:01-35:50] — Why prop bets are so “fixable”—lighthearted tennis analogies
• [40:04-41:12] — Broader implications for college sports & potential congressional action

4. Personal and Sports Banter

[36:42-39:47]

• Tangent exchanges about sports loyalties—Cruz’s Houston Rockets, Ferguson’s Ole Miss Rebels—maintain the episode's accessible, locker-room tone.

• Light joking about NCAA picks and teasing about past losses.

  “Most seasons I think the Rockets can win it all. But, but listen, last season we got...we didn’t have a closer...and Katie, I mean, look, he’s one of the greatest players in history.”
  — Ted Cruz [38:04]

Notable Quotes

• On Texas’ Leadership:

  “Look, this is real leadership from the state of Texas. It is what the federal government should be doing.”
  — Ted Cruz [06:40]

• On Deep State Resistance:

  “The resistance was from the deep state at the State Department, the career bureaucrats…”
  — Ted Cruz [09:30]

• On John Fetterman’s Surprising Stance:

  “He has astonished me. I like John personally...Fetterman has shown real courage in standing up to his party on the shutdown...and on Israel, the level of courage he has shown by saying the pro Hamas wing of our party is wrong...It’s been heroic.”
  — Ted Cruz [13:02]

• On Prop Bets’ Corrupting Influence:

  “Negative Prop bets are 100% within the control of an individual player...I can pitch a ball 100% of the time with no deviation.”
  — Ted Cruz [34:01]

• On Congressional Action:

  “I think the leagues can maybe take some steps about it. But it would not surprise me to see Congress act.”
  — Ted Cruz [40:04]

Important Segment Timestamps

• [03:33] — Texas designates Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as terrorist groups; overview of Abbott’s announcement
• [09:30] — Deep state pushback and legislative history
• [12:08, 13:02] — John Fetterman’s bipartisan role and courage within his party
• [23:10-24:52] — CAIR’s campus funding “follow the money” discussion
• [27:24-28:12] — Walkthrough of how sports prop betting is fixed
• [31:25-33:00] — Specific MLB revelations and the $400k scandal
• [34:01-35:50] — Casual banter: how easy it is to lose a point or throw a ball on purpose

Tone & Language

• Conversational, direct, sometimes playful—occasional light-hearted banter amid serious topics.
• Language is consistently partisan and candid, with no effort to avoid controversial opinions.
• Quotes are retained verbatim to preserve tone and perspective.

Summary Takeaway

This episode highlights Texas’s aggressive stance against Islamist organizations, the difficulty of effecting similar changes at the federal level, and bipartisan moments that surprise even seasoned political operators. It then pulls listeners into the world of professional sports, exposing alarming new ways that the explosion of gambling—especially prop bets—invites corruption. Through real-world scandals, legislative backstories, and the hosts’ personal anecdotes, listeners get an inside look at political and sports controversies shaping national debate right now.