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Verdict with Ted Cruz
Zelenskyy Runs Begging to Europe, Democrats STOOD for NOTHING & Terror-Linked Illegals Released into US Week In Review
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- [00:01]
Ted Cruz
Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, the Weekend Review. Ben Ferguson with you as always. And here are the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week. First up, Zelensky comes the White House and leaves empty handed. So where does he run to? Europe and is begging now for support. So what does this mean for American taxpayers? We break it all down for you in just a moment. Also, Democrats decide to stand for nothing during the joint session of Congress, including supporting us getting a terrorist back to this country. They didn't stand when there was a young man becoming a Secret Service agent who is fighting for his life with cancer. So is there anything the Democrats would actually stand for that most Americans would? We'll break that down as well. And finally, almost 100 known terrorists, those that are on the terrorist watch list or have direct connections to terrorists were purposely let go into the United States of America in 2024. And the Biden administration knew about all of them and could have stopped it. So where are they now? We'll break that down for you as well. It's the Weekend Review and it starts right now. Which brings us to now where we are. And look, you've got UK And France and Ukraine that have agreed to, quote, work on a ceasefire plan and try to get, I guess, Zelensky back into a conversation with the president of the United States of America. They're having this big meeting over in Europe. A lot of different countries are there. The summit includes France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic and Romania. The Turkish foreign minister, the NATO security general, and the president of the European Commission and the European Council will also attend. Now, you notice I didn't say the United States of America. This is part of, I think, the most interesting part of President Trump's meeting with Zelinsky. It's like, look, you take us for granted. You come in here, you lecture us, you have no plan for peace. You clearly aren't here for peace. Good luck. And now all of these other leaders are having to step up and say, okay, let us try to help you fix this so that we can save your country. Because he did so much harm to Ukraine.
- [02:19]
Ben Ferguson
And look, I say, great, if Europe wants to step up and fund the war for another year, knock yourselves out, guys. Like our checkbook is done. But, but it is striking. It's an indication of just how disastrous Zelensky's meeting was that he immediately ran to the United Kingdom, to France, to meet with the King of England. All right, here's one story from npr, UK UK Prime Minister unveils steps towards a Ukraine Peace deal, urges US Cooperation. Here's what NPR reports. Quote, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday laid out a framework for a plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine, one where Europe will lead the charge for securing peace. Yay. While still relying heavily on US Backing. Boo. The proposal is the result of emergency talks held by European leaders in London following President Trump's heated exchange with Ukrainian. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at the end of. At the White House last week. Over the weekend, leaders from over a dozen countries got together to discuss a roadmap for peace and security for Ukraine as the country faces its third year of war with Russia. The emergency summit was also aimed at working to preserve Ukraine's relationship with the U.S. and Americans involvement in the war overseas. Starmer said that Europe must do the, quote, heavy lifting to secure a lasting peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine and that the UK should lead the front. He emphasized that, quote, the this effort must have strong US Backing, which if he means more hundreds of billions of dollars. The answer is no. Thank you. But he continues, quote, through my discussions over recent days, we've agreed that the uk, France and others will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting. Starmer said at a press conference on Sunday. Then we'll discuss that plan with the United States and take it forward together. Now, it's interesting to do so. Starmer vowed the United Kingdom would ramp up its support for Ukraine. That included a loan of. What do you think?
- [04:17]
Ted Cruz
A lot of money. Right?
- [04:18]
Ben Ferguson
What do you think? Pick a number.
- [04:21]
Ted Cruz
Oh, gosh. See, this is when you get me in trouble, because I'm going to either be way too low or way too high. Let's call it 50 million.
- [04:31]
Ben Ferguson
So higher than that. So you're even more pessimistic. Okay, that includes a loan of 2.26 billion British pounds, which is $2.84 billion. So look, $2.84 billion, that's real money. Except for the fact that the United States has spent about $175 billion on Ukraine. That's part of the fundamental imbalance there.
- [04:54]
Ted Cruz
Well, here's the thing about finding money. Like, you go back to Trump saying, like, we're no longer just an open blank check. There was also something else that was said that Europe, quote, needs to step in and release some 200 billion euros. It's 207 billion in, quote, seized Russian assets to help fund the war effort. So all of a sudden they're now saying, well, we got 200 billion or 207 billion in US dollars? 200. 200 billion euros of seized Russian assets. Maybe we should use that money instead of our own money to help them in Ukraine. And I'm like, wow, you turn off the spigot in America, a brilliant, simple plan, and all of a sudden they find 200 billion euros sitting around. They're like, okay, maybe we can give that to them now.
- [05:39]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, look, I'm all for the Europeans stepping in and doing everything they can. If they want to do that, knock yourself out. They're welcome to spend their money, but we're not the welfare provider for the world. And to be clear, why are we borrowing when we got $36 trillion in debt? Why are we borrowing money from China to give it to other countries? That makes no sense. And it is an interesting shift. Now, look, I will say one of the frustrating things about this meeting last week in the Oval is the meeting was there to sign an agreement, an agreement that had been negotiated ahead of time. And that agreement was an agreement where Ukraine would give the United States a substantial interest in its rare earth minerals and valuable resources to pay back the $175 billion we've given them. That agreement made a lot of sense. That agreement was pre negotiated. I think the White House thought Zelensky was going to show up, sign the agreement and leave. He didn't. Instead he put on this, this performance. And I actually want you to listen to this exchange on cnn because it's a striking exchange. The first speaker is Scott Jennings, who by the way, Scott Jennings is doing a phenomenal job on cnn being a voice of reason and common sense, fighting against a bunch of numb nuts and left wing commies. He's really doing an effective job and in this case, talking with Josh Rogan. Josh Rogan is a very smart reporter for Washington Post Intelligence. He does foreign policy. But look, Josh Rogan and Scott Jennings do not often agree. Listen to this back and forth as they're analyzing what happened with Zelensky in the Oval Office.
- [07:31]
Scott Jennings
I don't know if he needs an apology. He needs Zelensky to recognize the position that he's in.
- [07:36]
Ben Ferguson
Where to you is what?
- [07:37]
Scott Jennings
We're their patron. We're their best hope for the killing to stop and for them to emerge from this sovereign and prosperous. And we're also their best hope as a business partner. I mean, all Zelinsky had to do today was put on a tie, show up, smile, say thank you, sign the papers and have lunch. That's it. And he couldn't do that. And this followed 10 days of being difficult in private and now one day of being stupid in public. This did not have to go down this way. And however you feel about why it started, why it's going on, who's right and who's wrong, we can help them in this and come out okay on the other side. And he's making it hard now.
- [08:19]
Ben Ferguson
First of all, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I actually.
- [08:21]
Scott Jennings
Agree with Scott, and everything that he.
- [08:24]
Ben Ferguson
Said was basically right. Wow. I know I'm going to get killed on social media for admitting that. But so be follow through on something.
- [08:31]
Ted Cruz
And he is not that was.
- [08:32]
Scott Jennings
I have a short answer on this. So the short answer is the Trump administration believes that if Ukraine goes into business with the United States, that in and of itself is a security guarantee. If your interests become our interests, we're going to be interested in making sure our interests are secure. So it would have been wise for him to understand the economic deal, the mineral deal is a security guarantee in and of itself. And he lost sight of that today in the argument. Premeditated. I don't know. I think Zelinsky misplayed it in the room. And you can. We could disagree about J.D. vance's position on it or agree on it, but either way, Zelinsky certainly had been briefed on what the right way to handle this was. And all he had to do was walk in there and say, thank you. I'm really grateful to be here. We want to be partners with the United States. We're grateful for your leadership. Where's the papers and what are we having for lunch? That's all he had to do. And look, the posturing doesn't have to occur now. If, if he is serious about wanting peace and ending this war. You don't have to keep posturing as a tough guy. Everybody knows you're tough. All right, The Ukrainians are tough. They're brave. They're fighting a much larger country. Everybody knows. The question for Zelinsky is can you take off the military uniform and put on the uniform of diplomacy? He failed the test.
- [09:48]
Ted Cruz
He failed diplomacy. That test today. He. It was not a hard meeting. This wasn't something that was going to. It was harder to screw it up than it was to get it right.
- [09:58]
Ben Ferguson
Look, he needed mostly to be saying, sir, yes, sir. Thank you, sir. May I have another it And Scott is right. Look, this deal on minerals had the advantage for Ukraine of having the Trump administration being an integrally involved economic partner with Ukraine, that's really beneficial. And the alternative is very different, which is without the United States, Ukraine's prospects are really dim. And so if you know that your prospects for success are miserably sad. Unless President Trump supports you, in what universe do you come in and start attacking and insulting him?
- [10:50]
Ted Cruz
Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week. Now on to story number two. Senator, I want to go back to one other point that we mentioned earlier, but I think it's important to kind of expand on it. And it was a shocking moment of just either completely out of touch or, or this Democratic Party, I guess you could just say, is in a sense, just completely lost. You had not a single Democrat applaud Peyton McNabb, who suffered brain damage after a volleyball spiked by a trans person, a man that acting like a woman ended her hopes of a college career. That's how significant the injury was. And it made her retire and also potentially like a scalp changed her life forever. And they couldn't even clap for her.
- [11:48]
Ben Ferguson
Now, not a Democrat clapped for not, not one. And by the way, just this past week, every single Democrat in the Senate voted against protecting girls from boys competing in sports. Every one of them. And you know, in the campaign, listen, in my reelection campaign, Colin Allred claims I don't support boys playing in girls sports. Well, every Senate and except the fact that he voted for it over and over and over again, every single Senate Democrat, when they're on reelection campaigns, they tell the voters, I don't support boys and girls sports. And yet every single one of them just voted for it. And not a one of them applauded. I mean, I mean, it's the simple reality how extreme their party is. Now, I will tell you one thing that was particularly meaningful to me was all the Texans whom President Trump honored tonight, including Alexis Nungaree, the mom of Jocelyn. Now, Alexis was going to be my guest tonight. Every senator gets one guest. And I had invited Alexis. She was coming up as my guest. And then the President invited her. So she went and she was sitting with Melania Trump. I was really grateful for the, for her being invited by the President to come there. And then right next to Melania Trump was Elliston Berry. And Elliston Berry is someone also another Texan who was the inspiration for the Take It Down Act. So Ellison berry is a 15 year old girl from North Texas, from Alito, who, when she was 14 and a freshman in high school, a boy, a classmate of hers Took an innocent social media picture of her and used artificial intelligence to create a deep fake naked image of her that appeared to be real, but it was fake, and then sent it to her classmates. And she was the inspiration for my legislation, the Take It down act, which, which passed the Senate unanimously.
- [13:47]
Ted Cruz
And by the way, how many times have you been involved in legislation that was passed unanimously in your, in your career in the Senate?
- [13:54]
Ben Ferguson
A lot of times I've passed 101 different pieces of legislation into law. A number of them were unanimous. The Senate often if you do the work, you can bring people together and pass something. And actually just yesterday, the first lady, Melania Trump came to the Capitol, first time she has as first lady, the second term, supporting the Take It Down Act. And we did a roundtable which we're gonna talk about significantly more on Friday's pod, but we did a roundtable where Melania Trump heard from Elliston Berry, heard from other victims of non consensual intimate images, and called on the House to pass the Take It Down Act. And President Trump tonight called on the House to pass the Take It Down Act. So I was really glad. The two people directly next to Melania Trump to her left were two Texans, Elliston Berry and Alexis Nungaree. And that made me very happy.
- [14:48]
Ted Cruz
That may have been one of the best parts of the night. Let's talk about what this looks like moving forward. I think the President's speech is going to play very well with the American people. I think it's going to help with momentum moving forward. I also do think that the American people, in the way they were watching this on tv, saw the shocking moments when they wouldn't stand for children that were murdered by illegal immigrants, their families, police officers, died in live duty. It was on the list. I mean, you look at all of this, bringing an American hostage home from Russia, by the way, they wouldn't stand for that. That was another moment we left out earlier that. Were you shocked by that as well?
- [15:30]
Ben Ferguson
Well, and you and I covered Mark Fogel coming back. We covered that on, on the podcast when it happened. That was one of the multiple times I turned to the folks around me and I'm like, what the hell is wrong with these people? Like, like, how do you not. This is not partisan. This is not. I get that they don't cheer for, you know, conservative ideas because they're all wacko lefties, but how do you not cheer for things that are just unambiguously good? And it's today's Democrat Party. It's a combination. They become the party of hate and rage and they're in denial. They don't know how to respond to this election other than to fume and glare. And I gotta say, if you're an elected Democrat, how do you think this is a good message to the American people? We hate everyone and everything. That's the Democrats. Like, I don't get that.
- [16:29]
Ted Cruz
No, I don't either. So what happens now? This is my prediction. I think the president's approval rating is going to stay solid. And in certain categories support on certain issues will actually rise coming out of this State of the Union. I think this is going to continue the momentum on, on things like Doge and even in some of the issues that we're talking about that are tough ones, whether it's dealing with Mexico and cartels or tariffs or Canada and Fentanyl, the list goes on and on. I think same thing on Ukraine funding. I think this could catapult him to even greater near term success. That's a lot of political capital that obviously you want your prediction.
- [17:13]
Ben Ferguson
Look, I agree with you. I think the American people are going to be happy with this speech. They're gonna be happy with the results. The American people are happy with successes for America. And we're getting on the border, seeing illegal immigrations and illegal border crossings drop over 90%, that's an unambiguous victory. On energy, seeing energy production going up, seeing regulations being repealed, seeing wasteful spending being eliminated, those are unambiguous victories. In terms of jobs he went through, the investments, the investments on new investments, whether from Oracle or Apple or car companies bringing new factories here, those are big wins. Those are the sorts of things. Those are the sorts of things, frankly, when Joe Biden talked about, if he, you know, he Democrats in their speeches would talk about a new factory and you know what? The Republicans would all stand and cheer because, hey, a new factory in America is a good thing. And we, even if we don't support many, if not most of Biden and Obama's policies, we cheer for the American people. I think the President's message was really strong, but I also think the contrast with the Democrats made it even stronger. And so I think this was a good night for America, but not a good night for today's Democrat party as before.
- [18:35]
Ted Cruz
If you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing. I want to get back to the big story number three of the week. You may have missed Almost a hundred terrorists 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.
- [19:03]
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 Eagle Pass. Give a listen.
- [19:14]
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.
- [21:25]
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.
- [21:42]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. And it's worth really focusing on the facts that Tulsi Gabbard, who's now the Director of National Intelligence, what, what, 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, 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 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 100, the Biden administration released into America, into your community, into my community, in a single year. This isn't 2024. That is stunning. And I gotta 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?
- [24:20]
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.
- [25:04]
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, 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.
- [27:01]
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?
- [28:35]
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.
- [30:10]
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.
- [30:32]
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 going to 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.
- [30:57]
Ted Cruz
As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day. You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson Podcast. And we will see you back here on Monday morning.