Welcome.
It is vernic with center, Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you, Senator. I think the big headline everybody knows what that is. It is official. Matt Gates has formerly withdrawn his name for consideration for the attorney general position in President Act Donald Trump's incoming administration.
Well, that was stunning news that broke yesterday afternoon. I'll tell you in the Senate, I don't think anyone expected it. It came over the wire and it's a big deal. The day before I had sat down and met with Matt Gates. So I'm going to talk about that. I'm going to talk about that nomination and what's coming next
for the Department of Justice. Additionally, this week we saw the stunning news that the International Criminal Court, the ICC has issued arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Nett Yahoo and for the Israeli Defense Minister. That this is an abomination, it is an attack on Israel, it is an attack on America.
We're going to break it down.
We're going to break down what the response of the federal government should be, what Donald Trump is going to do about it, And we're also going to break down how Joe Biden, Kamala Harris's weakness is what produced this abomination. And finally we're going to talk about how so much of the corporate media they're just losing their minds. We're going to close with the View and the Herodins on the View just just in absolute misery that Donald Trump has been re elected, that he is going to be
the forty seventh president of the United States. And sadly, it's a pattern we're seeing across the corporate media and with elected Democrats where they learn nothing from the election and their response is just absolute rage and despair.
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All right? Senator. So you met with Matt Gates yesterday.
Less than twenty four hours later, Matt Gates has withdrawing his nomination. Let's paint the picture for some of you that listen to the show that say, how does this work? Because it was an interesting meeting. The Vice President elect was in the meeting as well. From what I understand, he was walking around Capitol Hill with Matt. When you when you see each other and you know both of these men, how does it work? Does he come into
your office? Is just a three to close the door and then walk us through how that meeting works?
Well?
In the in the past week, Matt Gates had met with all of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and and so he reached out, and his team reached out asked for a meeting. Of course, we said yes, And and so I met with Matt on on Wednesday afternoon, early evening, and and the meeting. He was in the meeting, and then Jade Vance was accompanying him to all of
those meetings as well. And and so we met actually in a room in the Capitol that they were holed up in a room in the Capitol, and and I came and sat down and met with about a half hour meeting. And it was a very positive and substantive meeting. I will say I did not know Matt Gates. I've I've met him I think once or twice before, basically in a green room before going on a hit on Fox. But but I'd never never had a conversation with him.
So so when I sat down to meet him, it was the first time I'd ever had a substant conversation with them. And and we had, as I said, I think, a worthwhile conversation. Uh, the bulk of what what we talked about is as I asked him, what what's your vision for DJ. Look, I don't know that there is a more important appointment that President Trump will make than
than the appointment to be Attorney general. And in particular because under Joe Biden, the Department of Justice has been so corrupted, so politicized, so weaponized, uh that that we need a strong attorney general to come in and clean house, to come in and restore integrity to the Department of Justice. Uh that is not going to be an easy task. And so much of what what I was asking him is, Look,
how do you get that done? How do you take on the hardcore partisans that have burrowed into career positions throughout d OJ.
How do you deal with that?
How do you ensure that that the Department of Justice does what it is designed to do, which which is to enform course the law, regardless of party. Let me be clear, I don't want a Republican Department of Justice. I don't want a Democrat Department of Justice. I want a Department of Justice that enforces the law regardless of party. And that is not an easy task. And so what I was mostly doing is asking him, how would you get that done? How would you take it on? What
in your background has prepared you to do that? What's your vision? How would you execute it? I also asked quite a few questions about Listen, President Trump has a big and bold agenda, and he has a major mandate from the voters on election day. As Attorney general, how would you go about advising the president how to effectively implement his agenda. Listen, everything the president tries to do over the next four years, Democrats are going to sue him.
Blue states are going to sue him. Left wing attorney generals are going to sue him. Special interest groups are going to sue him. And so we need a Department of Justice that is smart and savvy and knows how to defend that litigation, knows how to prevail, and and knows how to how to implement a litigation strategy that that number one defends the policies of the president and the administration. But number two, that that that has a
real vision, a real vision. Listen, this president was elected with a mandate, among other things, to to rein in out of control job killing regulations, to reign in the administrative state. That is a major objective of President Trump and this new administration. It's a major objective of mine. And they're going to be big legal challenges to doing so. And so so I think President Trump needs an attorney general who can give smart, serious advice on on.
How to how to how to carry that out.
So when you when you have these conversations, did you know that there was a chance that within twenty hours of you having that meeting less than that that Matt Gates is going to pull out? And what was the word on Capitol Hill?
No idea at all?
And it was as I said, the meeting that I had with him was very positive. And I came out there are horder reporters that were in the hallway that were waiting with bated breath, how the meeting go, How the meeting go, and what I told them there is I said, Look, it was a very productive meeting, and I think Matt Gates is entitled to a full and fair confirmation process.
He needs to have a hearing. He needs to have a hearing quickly. We need to move.
The Senate needs to move expeditiously, move forward with a confirmation of all of President Trump's cabinet members. That'll get started that the hearings will get started early in January. The hearings will get started actually before President Trump is sworn in, because the new Senate we will be sworn in at the beginning of January, so we'll have two and a half weeks where the new Senate is in office, but Trump has not yet been sworn in because he
doesn't become president until January twentieth. So we'll begin hearings of major cabinet appointees starting in early January. You can't vote them out of committee then because they're not formally nominated until Trump becomes president and nominates them, So there is a you can't confirm someone before they're nominated, but you can do the hearing and you can get prepared so as soon as they're nominated, you can vote and confirm them.
And I think we need to move expeditiously to do that.
Uh.
But I got to say, on Thursday afternoon, when the news broke, it was a complete surprise to me. I think it was a surprise to anybody if anybody knew about it. That they certainly didn't indicate that they did. And it I you know, I found out over Twitter it did just you know, Gates put out a statement and you know, I was in in a meeting and I got text. I got a text over the phone that just sent me the Twitter statement. I was like, wow, okay,
And I think I think most most Senators were very surprised. Now, my assumption is that Gates did so because he and the team, the Trump team, perceive some real difficulties in Senate confirmation. And there certainly have been multiple Senators who expressed significant concern about Gates's background. I don't know if he would have had the votes to be confirmed or not.
But his statement that he put out what it said, And I'll just read the statement that Gates put out on X He said, quote, I had excellent meetings with senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump Vance transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle.
Thus I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump's DOOJ must be in place and ready on day one. I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful president in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice, and I'm certain he will save America. So that was his statement, And as I said, I think in particular, the timing was a surprise to most, if not every senator.
When you look at moving forward politically, what is the best move now for the president. Is that is to take his time or do you expect we're going to name pretty quickly, so you can move on from the Gates story and say, hey, that's old news.
Let's go to the next thing.
I got to get somebody in there, because, as you mentioned, this is a hearing for whoever the next nominee is that needs to be on the books, and they need to be having the meetings that you were literally having twenty four hours ago.
Yeah, look, I expect they will move relatively quickly. I will say, it's more important to get it right than to get it super fast.
As I said, I don't know that there's a.
More important appointment that that that Trump will make that than Attorney general, and and and it needs to be a serious lawyer. It needs to be someone with integrity, It needs to be someone with with legal savvy with and it needs to be someone with with a steel backbone. And and so look, there were multiple press reports of of different people that Trump had interviewed that he was looking at. One of the people who was reported in the press reports is a guy named Bob Jeffra I know.
Bob very well.
Bob uh is the head of Sullivan Cromwell, which is one of the biggest law firms in the country.
It's based in New York.
And and Bob is was a former law clerk to Chief Justice William Renquist. And and and I've known Bob for thirty years. And and he's a He's a smart, serious lawyer who would certainly be up to the task if if that's who Trump decided to nominate. That there were other names that were tossed around. There was some discussion about Mike Lee. I think Mike Lee would do a terrific job. I don't think Mike is interested in the job, but I think he'd he'd be terrific if
he was willing to do it. But I think what is really important is that they get it right and they appoint someone who is prepared to really turn around the battleship that is the Department of Justice and bring it back to what it's supposed to be.
I've got my short list and I'm looking over it. And I was having this conversation earlier, all Right, what's next? And I'm going to ask the question. And I think the majority of people listening right now are thinking in their head too, why not a guy by the name of Senator Ted Cruz from Texas.
He's an attorney.
He knows the Constitution backwards and forwards, and maybe even can write it in different languages. For goodness sakes, that's how well you know it. And there are people that are gonna be sitting here the same way. I am going like this, scream Senator Ted Cruz, is your name?
Should that?
I mean, would you look at that if it was, if it was a conversation? And because I have you at the top of my list, not because I know you, but because I think you could do the job incredibly well.
Well, look, it is certainly humbling to be discussed in that context, and I appreciate it. I am not interested in the job. I am going to stay right where I am. I'm going to stay in the United States Senate. As you know, I'm getting ready to be to the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. You know, I just got an incredible responsibility and mandate from the people of Texas. Thirty million Texans made the decision to re elect me and send me to the Senate to fight, and frankly,
I think in the US Senate. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for many of the victories that we need to win over the next four years. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for securing the border. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for cutting taxes and simplifying the tax code. The Senate is going
to be the battlefield for repealing job killing regulations. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for strengthening our national security, standing with Israel, for defeating Hamas and Hesbela, for standing up to China. And I think I am frankly more needed in the Senate. I think I could have a bigger and more lasting impact in the Senate. And so I care intensely who's going to be Attorney General?
And I hope it is someone very strong, very capable, And I fully expect to work closely with whomever Trump appoints.
But it ain't gonna be me.
Final question on this, and Matt deals with the other nominees. What do you expect when it comes to meetings? I mean, is it going to be locked and loaded with other nominees or is this one still going to take president if it's named quickly?
And how does that order of who you meet with? Work?
Well, it tends to vary committee by committee. So Matt Gates, for example, was meeting with the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee. And the reason is obvious, which is the Attorney General goes first to the Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee holds the hearing, and then you have to be voted out of committee, and then it goes to the floor of the Senate. There are other people, for example, Pete Hegseth
has been nominated for Secretary of Defense. I assume Pete is meeting with members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, because Senate Armed Services Committee would be the committee that would hold as confirmation hearings, and you naturally prioritize meeting with members of the committee. So for each cabinet appointee, that's going to be decided initially by what is the committee of jurisdiction that will hold the confirmation hearing and that will have oversight jurisdiction.
So for.
So for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, we've got jurisdiction over a lot of the federal government. The Secretary of Commerce will come before our committee, the Secretary of Transportation will come before our committee. The chairman and the commissioners of the FTC of the FCC, they'll all come before our Committee. The administrator of the FAA, administrator of NASA will come before our committee, and so all of those various folks will naturally meet with members
of the Commerce Committee on Foreign Affairs. Marco Rubio has been nominated to be Secretary of State, He's naturally going to meet with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Now that one's a little bit different because Marco's on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. So am I I know Marco very well. We were sort of talking and laughing about I mean, it's a different I think Marco's going
to be confirmed quite easily. That being said, they will systematically initially meet with the Senators on the Committee of Jurisdiction, and normally you meet with the other side as well. Normally you meet with I would expect them to meet certainly with the Democrats on the committee that has jurisdiction, and then depending on the position, they will meet with others as well. And so it's not it's not uniform.
Every cabinet nominee doesn't meet with all one hundred senators, but on the degree of importance of the nomination and who the individual senator is, if they have particular equities or they're particularly involved in a subject matter, then there would be those meetings as well, but that's on more of an ad hoc basis.
I want to talk to you about our friends at the IFCJ, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving as you gather with your families, grateful for the blessings that God has given us all. But let's also remember those who are facing unbelievable hardship
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or go to support IFCJ dot org sentaer. I want to pull an audible real quick, because I should have mentioned this earlier. But as we were just talking about Israel, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Net and Yahoo and glant and they also they're like, oh, yeah, we threw in a hamask guide too, so it looks like we're being equal here.
Uh.
This is a shocking attack by the ICC on net Yahoo, and also one that makes it very tough for him to travel more than likely the way he needs to because of the threat of being arrested, for example, if he is traveling to many parts of Europe.
Well, it is an absolute outrage and and the ICC already had very very questionable legitimacy, but but with this decision, the International Criminal Court has just become a kangaroo court. And and and frankly, that's not fair to kangaroos. I mean, I mean it is It is an absolute This is a a political act of anti Israel hatred and and anti Semitism that sadly infests so many of our international
institutions that that that that just hate Israel profoundly. And I believe the United States we should impose sanctions on every individual in in issuing this arrest warrant, from the prosecutor to the judges, everyone involved. They should be sanctioned by the United States government. We should also make clear that we will sanction anyone who attempts to enforce this
arrest warrant. If you're a French prosecutor, be prepared to have American sanctions put on you if you try to enforce this utterly lawless.
Arrest warrant. And understand, the reason.
That the ICC did this is because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's incredible weakness. Listen, the ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel. Israel is not a party to the ICC. It also has no jurisdiction over the United States of America. And understand, this is a threat not just against Israel, although it is very much that, but this is a threat against America. This is a threat against the people
who hate America. Imagine these same bigots who hate Israel how much they would love to issue an arrest warrant for Donald Trump, for the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense of the United States. And it is only because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are so weak that the ICC felt empowered to issue this. It's not an accident that this came out after the presidential election,
but before Trump was sworn in. That is when the enemies of Israel and the enemies of America historically have done some of the worst actions against the United States and against Israel. It is when if you remember, at the end of Obama, the last time we were in this comparable moment, which is a democratic administration was ending and Donald Trump was getting ready to be sworn in as president. That would have been November and December of
twenty sixteen, right after the election. Obama was leaving. And remember what the Obama administration did. They orchestrated UN Resolution two three three four, which is one of the most shameful resolutions ever to be voted on in the United Nations, and the Obama administration it This resolution denounced much of modern Israel as illegitimate and illegally occupied. It denounced the
Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem as illegitimate and illegally occupied. It denounced the Whaling Wall in Jerusalem as illegally occupied and illegitimate. And what happened is the Obama State Department orchestrated it. They got others to push it, and they just stood
back and abstained. And I will tell you this week, I had a classified briefing with Tony blink in the Secretary of State, and I asked him very directly in that briefing, is the Biden administration going to do the same thing, Because last time y'all did that, it profoundly hurt Israel. It was used by the enemies of Israel to justify all sorts of targeting against the people of Israel. And I'm very concerned the Biden administration is going to
try to orchestrate something similar. At the United Nations, we had a vote this week that actually the Biden administration blocked to their credit where the UN was trying to call for an immediate cease fire of the war against Tamas, but they did not include within it a demand that the hostages be released, and the Biden administration vetoed it without the hostages being released as part of the language.
But I'm worried in the next two months that they will try to do something very similar to what happened in December of twenty sixteen with two three thirty four. And I think that this ICC arrest warrant is shameful. I also think the incoming Trump administration is going to stand very strongly against this absolutely disgraceful decision.
Thune came out and threatened the International Criminal Court with sanctions if it doesn't drop the NETNA WHO warrant for rest. But he also called on Schumer to not wait for the Republicans to get in charge to do the right thing and to do something now on this. He said, if Majority Leader Schumer does not act, the Senate Republicans majority will stand with our key ally Israel and make this another supportive legislation a top priority in the next Congress.
Is there a chance that Schumer could actually lead on this as Thum called on him to do, and said, don't make us wait till January.
Do the right thing now for Israel.
I think the chances are virtually zero so the House has passed legislation to do exactly that, and Schumer has refused to take it up the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We have had legislation before us from Jim rish who's getting ready to be the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, to do exactly that, to sanction the ICC for doing this, and the Democrats have refused to take
it up. It's basically shut down the Foreign Relations Committee for the last six months because the Democrats have blocked legislation standing up to the ICC. And look that this is on the unfortunate reality that in today's Democrat Party there is a pro Hamas faction of the Democrat Party. And I don't think that is hyperbole. It is tragically
the case. They are the ones cheering. We just had votes this week that Bernie Sanders pushed on the floor to cut off weapons to Israel, to cut off thirty two thousand tank rounds to Israel, to cut off over fifty thousand mortar cartridges to Israel, to cut off to cut off the kits that are used to make precision bombs. Now understand the argument of the leftist is that when Israel is bombing Hamas, or Hesbelah, they accidentally have incidental civilian casualties.
So what is their response.
Take away the ability to have targeted smart bombs, so they can only drop dumb bombs that they can't steer.
The difference a precision bomb.
You can direct it, so you hit your target and it's much less likely to have collateral damage. These left I just hate Israel so much. They want to say, no, let's take away your ability to target your weapons, so we increase the number of civilians killed. And nineteen Senate Democrats voted to cut off Israel's funds. That pro hamas faction of the Democrat Party. Not every Democrat in the House and Senate is a member of it, but just
about every single Democrat is terrified of that faction. And it's why Schumer look that the internal the internal notes from Columbia University when Columbia was having the anti Semitic protest and the leaders of Columbia were talking to Schumer, Schumer told them, don't worry about it. The Democrats, we don't care. It's only the Republicans who care about this.
Understand what that admission was, and that was out of Schumer's own mouth, that we the Democrats don't care about violent anti Semites terrorizing students in Columbia University and other universities, threatening Jewish students. It's not a priority for them. Why because they're terrified by the Prohamas faction of the party who supports the radicals and the anti Semites.
That is tragically where we are.
And so I'm going to predict we will take up the legislation to sanction the ICC, and we will do it early next year when we have a Republican Congress and a Republican president. I don't even know that we'll need that legislation though, because I expect the Trump administration to act unilatterally. I think there's ample authority under the
law for them to act. Even if the Democrats filibuster legislation to sanction the ICC, I think the president will have ample authority to act come January twenty.
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hit something else. That is I have to admit I am enjoying this watching the liberal media melt now. The View had an all time melted down about Donald Trump's win. Joy Mayhar on the View said this to the audience, take a listen.
Do you know what's in the air?
Whoopy?
What's sump is we lost the election? When at it we lost the election. We're miserable. Half of this country is miserable. And let's just tell the truth. We hate that he won.
We hate.
I mean, I know we're all like Nazis, and I know that we're all de plorables, and I know that we're all floating garbage. But you would think they would have learned from losing an election, and clearly they're not.
Look, I got to say, if Joy Behar is crying on TV and is miserable and is unhappy, that's a good day for America because her radical and extreme ideas that that.
They're hurting the country.
And you know, that may be the most honest thing she's ever said on the View, because she is a hard leftist and and and notice she's learned nothing, She's listened to nothing. There's no part nobody on that show has stopped to say, wait, why did the American people overwhelmingly reject our disastrous policy agenda. They're not asking that, They're just mad at at at what they views as the idiot voters. And listen, that's an arrogance that we
see in elected democrats. It's an arrogance we see throughout the corporate media. Uh And and I think it's going to it's going to fuel their their doubling down and getting, if anything, even more extreme.
Yeah, I agree with you on the more extreme part. They're certainly not learning from election Day. Don't forget we did the show every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hit that subscribe or auto download button. And the second thing I will remind you is grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcasts, and I will keep you up to date on those
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