Welcome.
It is verdict with Ted Cruz, we can review Ben Ferguson with you and my oh my DoD. We have some big stories that we talked about this week that you may have missed. First up, how long can the media go after Joe Biden before they have to get back in line. We'll explain the timeline for this. And right now they're not liking Joe Biden at all. Plus we've now been told that after eight o'clock at night, well, there's a team around Joe Biden that can help if
anything happens. Is that actually how the presidency's supposed to work. Will dive into that, because apparently he's put his life on do not disturb. And finally, is the cabinet actually looking at the twenty fifth Amendment to get rid of Joe Biden.
It's the weekend review and it starts right now.
I mean, look, I do this fair amount with people that I interview right over the years, and I've had campaigns or offices say, hey, the Senator or the congressman or the governor has as this piece of legislation, Uh, if you'd please ask them a question about that. It's something it's very important and then it's going to be introduced.
And I'm fine with that. But if you gave me four questions to ask and said you get them only, if you asked these four questions and these four questions only, I would tell them to pound sand no matter who it was, because that's not doing an interview. That's that that that's a scripted moment. You might as well just have the President sit there at the White House and say, here are the four questions are going to answer today that I chose.
Yeah, Look, it's I've done hundreds of interviews, if not maybe thousands of interviews. I've done a crap ton of interviews. Uh, to the best of my knowledge, I've certainly never submitted questions. The best of my knowledge, no one on my team has. Now, what is typical is what you just said. If you're doing an interview. Let's say I'm going on Hannity, it's typical that that that my press team will talk with
Hannity's producers and they'll discuss some topics. So if you're going to talk about the Biden debate, or if you're going to talk about illegal immigration, or sometimes there's some story that just broke of like you know, or the terrorist you know, being the eight terrorists suspected terrorists from Tajikistan just released. If there's a story that just broke, the producer will tell my press team, Hey, Sean wants to ask about this.
That's typical.
So you have some idea what the topic is you're discussing, so that you can be prepared. But I'll tell you my guess is of the interviews I do, at least half of them, they asked me something that is not a topic that they mentioned at all. So you know, it's helpful to have. Okay, if we're going to do Israel, I should probably be up on the latest developments of what's happened on Israel in the last few days.
But it is an absolute.
Violation of journalistic ethics and norms to simply read the questions the campaign and and and the absolute arrogance that the Biden campaign has that they they fully assume that that that that fake journalist will be more than happy to comply.
Sara, I got two more questions for you, and it deals again with the media. One, the media hypocrisy, I think is an all time high. But how long until the media gets back in line and it's business as usual. How many more days can they continue to go after Joe Biden if he refuses to drop out?
Well, I think the instant Biden is out and they coordinate the next person, then the media will absolutely fall in line and it will become a straight on cheerleading. It will be hallelujah, hallelujah. The problems are all solved. Now we must all vote for either Kamalo or Michelle Obama and and save America and and stop stop Orange man bad. I mean, and the it would be instantaneous. But you know, let me make a couple of quick
more observations on that point. You know, as you and I were talking about doing interviews and getting questions ahead of time, as I said, I've done a gazillion of them and and and have not had the questions ahead of time. But you know, I was actually thinking about it. On this podcast, we've interviewed a bunch of folks. Now I'm not a journalist, I don't pretend to be a journalist, but even when we interview people on this podcast, we've
never given people questions ahead of time. And I actually thought back to it to an interview that that that that on this podcast. Actually, but before you were my co host, what it was Michael Doles and me where we interviewed Bill Barr. And we interviewed Bill Barr at the Department of Justice. He was the sitting Attorney General. And it was interesting. His communication staff was really freaked out and they were like, Okay, well, well how's this
going to be? And listen, I've known Bill for twenty years and we're friends, and I'm telling him, relax, I'm not I'm not gonna play games. This, this is not this is not a gotcha interview. This is not trying
to you know, go stick it to him. And I didn't, but it ended up being It was one of our most listened podcasts we've ever done, in part because Bill was someone who would come across on TV as pretty stiff and tight and you know, very controlled, and because he and I are friends, he was relaxed and we were cutting up and Bill as funny as hell. I mean, he has this wickedly sarcastic sense of humor, and it came out. We had a great free ranging interview. Then
look what a podcast is good? It sounds like a couple of guys sitting at a cafe, having dinner and just shooting the breeze talking about what's going on. But even then, with someone I'd known twenty years, I don't even think I told him the topics we were going to discuss. We just sat down and now I wasn't playing gotcha games, but that's what we did. But let me make a second point about just how astonishingly rapidly the media can do one hundred and eighty degree reversal.
So on this podcast, we've talked a lot about Hunter Biden and the whole Hunter Biden investigations and the trials, and for months and months and months and for years and years and years, the White House narrative and the corporate media narrative was Hunter is a poor, troubled son. He struggles with substance abuse, He's a sad soul, and just it's all about him. But they've said he has nothing, nothing,
nothing to do with the White House. No, no, no, no, no, no. Hunter, when he was making millions of dollars from every corrupt oligarch in, every enemy of America across the planet, whether the Chinese Communists or the Russians or what have you, that had nothing to do with favors from Papa Joe. No, no, no, no, no, Hunter is not at all connected to Joe Biden or the White House. That's been there their relentless talking point for years.
Correct.
Yes, all right, I want to read you this paragraph from Axios on July seventh, behind the Curtain on bendable Biden versus breaking Point dams quote. We're now in uncharted historic waters. President Biden, backed by First Lady Jill Biden, and his convicted son Hunter, who's serving as de facto gatekeeper to his dad, says that nothing besides an act
of God will persuade him to quit his re election campaign. So, without missing a beat, the corporate media can now suddenly admit Hunter is quote de facto gatekeeper to his dad. This is the same Hunter who about twelve minutes ago their walking storyline was no, no, no, Hunter's never met Joe Biden. I'm sorry they have nothing to do. He doesn't even know where the White House is. No, no, no, no, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. This is not about Joe Biden and his corruption.
Yeah, this is the media. They'll get back in line soon, don't worry. I against it, Yeah, I give him a week and a half, two weeks, and then they'll start dialing back the full court press to get Biden out, because they're then going to be afraid maybe we can't get rid of him by when we want to.
So we got to pull back a little bit.
And I think going into these conventions coming up, it's going to be very interesting to see how they even deal with him. If Joe Biden's still there at the convention and he's quote still the guy.
I also think this. I gotta ask him on his question.
Do you think Donald Trump is going to have to, in essence, just put the VP pick on hold until they figure out who they're running against?
That is an awfully good question.
I mean, I don't know, Luke away from you and I go into the convention. Yeah, yeah, we have no idea who the VP candidate is, and I'm not sure he does either.
Look, I it is not a crazy question to ask. The Trump campaign has said repeatedly that they'll announce the VP by the convention, and you know, usually the VP gives a big speech at the convention the day before the the president does. It is a tricky question because if you don't know who you're running against. That is certainly a real factor in trying to decide who VP is.
It would I have not looked at the legal questions at how complicated it would be to dame a VP after the convention, but it would not be insane for Trump to delay that choice until he has some real confidence who his opponent's going to be.
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 onto story number two, the President sending the notes. You have the squad that's backed in the Congressional Black Caucus is saying, hey, we need to put this all to bed. Joe's our guide. Joe's made it clear, Hey, I'm not going anywhere. He did that on Morning Joe. We mentioned that in the last part, I think. And then you've got this going on with
the media. They're still putting the four court Press here saying he's a White House lying to you. But we're going to prove it in essence, and that's why they do this long interview. Now, you gotta look at the calendar. Joe Biden is supposed to be on the debate stage with Donald Trump September tenth on ABC News. ABC News, by the way, has been attacking the president as well.
Stephanopoulos said after doing the interview with the President that was supposed to quote save him the other day, that he said, there's no way he believes the president could serve for another four years.
Does he show up with this debate? Does he cancel it?
Does he have to show up to have a chance in hell in November if he's still the nominee.
So I don't believe there will be a debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in September. I don't think it'll happen now. Look, I don't think Joe Biden will be the nominee in September. I continue to believe there's an eighty percent chance that he's not the nominee. He's digging in, he's holding on with all of his might. But all right, here's another story that shows the press turning on him. This is from the Wall Street Journal quote.
German officials, aware of Biden's fatigue at night, sought to accommodate the president by planning a June twenty twenty two event with German Chancellor Olaf Schultz in the early evening. The informal event, a soiree at the alpine resort Schlas el Maou during the Group of Seven summit, was arranged as a confidential meeting on Ukraine in a relaxed setting.
Biden didn't show, surprising the Chancellor and his aides. Officials said. Instead, Secretary of State Antony Blinkett arrived and announced that Biden had to go to bed. According to two people who were there, so he is now no longer able to stay up to meet with heads of state to discuss matters of war and peace. That's dangerous and the press is reporting on it.
And to make that point, Peter Doucy asked the question at the White House from Fox Today. Hey, if the president's only the president till I don't know eight o'clock at night, what happens if someone shoots at nuke?
Listen to this well.
He also said he's sharpest before eight pm.
So say that the Pentagon at some point picks up an incoming nuke, it's eleven pm.
Who do you call the first lady.
He has a team that lets him know of any news that is pertinent and important to the American people. He has someone or that is decided obviously with his National Security Council, and who gets to tell him that news center?
I got to go back to just the White House here for her response is he has a team, so calm down. The president sleeping. I don't think that sits well with the American people anymore.
No, it doesn't. That's actually a terrifying response that if something happens at eleven PM, well, Joe Biden's not capable to deal with it. But he has a team, and there's some underlaying appointed to the National Security Council, and the underlink can deal with it. And you know, in response to that, I want to play a political ad. Just listen to this ad and then we're going to talk about what it was.
It's three am and your children are safe into sleep, but there's a phone in the White House, and it's really something's happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call. Whether it's someone who already knows the world's leaders, knows the military, someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world. It's three am and your children are safe into sleep. Who do you want answering the phone?
I'm Hillary Clinton and I approved this message.
No, I mean they made this the issue, mister senator, right like, they're like, you want to be mister president, then you better answer that call at three am.
Well, and let me say to folks listening to this podcast, to who are relatively young, you may not have heard that ad before. You might have been thinking, as you're listening to this ad, wow, this is a new Trump ad. This is a really powerful Trump ad. But then at the very end you get I'm Hillary Clinton and I approved this message. So Hillary Clinton ran that ad in the year two thousand and eight, and she was running
it against Barack Obama. She was saying Barack Obama was young and inexperienced, and she was much better able to answer the phone than he was. Now, regardless of who was right in that argument, Today's Biden Whitehouse, it's not a three am phone call. They're saying at eleven pm, sorry, there is no commander in chief, but you know the deputy Special assistant is here and ready to solve the problem.
Well, it also says the world leaders and it is terrifying to think about this. Hey, here are the best hours to do something, whether it's attack this country, whether you're a terrorist, or whether it's to do something around the world, because this will be a long period of time before you get a awake president that would even respect bond or say anything.
You know it is.
It's why I do not believe Biden is going to be the nominee, because the facts are piling up and it's becoming indefensible. It may be Michelle Obama, it may be Kamala Harris, but I think the d's that they are going to pull the plug. They are terrified, they are panicking, and every day as the press continues to turn. Look, you mentioned George Stephanopolis. George Stephanopolis was asked if he could serve any four more years and he says no,
he doesn't think he can. And then Stephanopolis backed away and said, quote earlier today, I responded to a question from a passer by, I shouldn't have So he's backing away from telling the truth exactly. Well, you know that they try not to do that, the press. Yeah, it's again. I go back to what I said on this show. I don't know a week ago.
I think they've got another what eight ten days here to go all in to try to get him out. And after that they may be stuck with this guy. But now, look your prediction, you've been right for quite a few times. It still could be somebody at the convention, and that somebody could still be Michelle Obama. Do you still think there's a decent chance of that.
I stayed by the same odds I had on Monday's podcast. I think there is a twenty percent chance the Democrat nominee is Joe Biden. I think there's a forty percent chance the Democrat nominee is Michelle Obama. And I think there's a forty percent chance the Democratic nominee is Kamala Harris.
As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and dow 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 here is the Bombschelsea and report that Cabinet secretaries only some many questions. But my question now is is this being done on purpose so that they may actually start talking about the twenty fifth Amendment.
Listen to how CNN blew this up today.
At the White House perspective now with Cennce Mjlee.
Who's there for is MJ.
You and your colleagues have some reporting on the mood behind the scenes.
What are you hearing from your sources?
Well, boris, there's certainly been a lot of confusion and anger and sadness inside the White House, across the administration, the campaign, and across the Democratic Party more broadly, since the President's really halting and shocking debate performance. My colleagues and I have spoken over the course of the last two weeks to dozens of Democratic sources, including I should note senior Democrats who have spent real time with the President and in some cases have known the president for years.
And what has been striking is that none of them had ever seen this version of President Biden that we all saw on the debate stage that was so off altering and days and plenty of officials that we spoke with said, look, of course, we've known that the President has aged. He is certainly not the same person that
we know from say, a year ago. But what they had said, and that was so noteworthy, is that they said they couldn't have possibly known about the full extent of the president's decline, and what many of them blame at this point is this apparatus and daily operation that is built around the president that is so painfully choreographed
and stage managed. They said, that is designed to prevent the president from being often out in these unscripted settings for an extended period of time, and that really what that meant was that only a small circle of inner circle of advisors and perhaps family members could have known about sort of this full picture of the president's condition.
Just one example that is in our story is that, according to two sources, before cabinet meetings that the president attends, cabinet officials will submit their questions and talking points, key talking points and bullet points that they plan to present to the president in these closed door meetings. This is how one source described it. They said, the entire display
is kind of an act. They would come and say, hey, the President is going to call on you about twenty five minutes in and ask this question, what are the bulletpoints that you'll respond with. Now, the White House's defense has been that that is standard practice for any administration. They said, in a setting like this, you never want the president to be not aware of what is going to be discussed.
You look at this Senator.
I sit there and I'm like, Okay, You've got people that serve at the pleasure of the president who are now looking out for their own best interests.
They don't want to lose their power.
You got people on his campaign that apparently have the same mentality as these cabinet members, And all the leagues about Joe Biden are coming from within. Now you can't control them. White House leaks destroy presidencies. And now it's like, if you're leaking this and you're a senior cabinet member, are you doing it to prep the country for possibly the twenty fifth?
Look, I think that prospect is rising. I gotta say, also, the White House defense, well, this is standard operating procedure.
Listen.
I have been in literally hundreds of meetings with presidents, whether Donald Trump or Barack Obama, and I've never been in one meeting where we had talking points and it was choreographed. That doesn't happen. I talked to Donald Trump a couple of days on the go in the phone call. He didn't know what I was going to say. I didn't know what he was gonna say, because you're talking to an actual human being. Every day when senators meet, we don't read scripts. Would you'd like to do this job?
You actually have to be able to talk about colleagues and say, okay, what's going on, and ask questions and discuss things. Now, look, you'll read a speech that's commonplace, but at a meeting, a cabinet meeting where they're supposed to be your top advisors. I meet with my senior
staff every week. My senior staff don't come in. I don't ask them give me the talking points of what you're going to say before you say it, because professionals are able to have a conversation, listen, and process information, and, by the way, then ask follow up questions, what about this? Well, should we do this? What do you think about this? Okay, let's go down this direction. That's actually the way presidents operate.
I've been in bunches of free flowing presidential meetings with Trump or we'd be all over the place that you got people argue on one side and argue in the other, and Trump'll say, what about this? And I mean we would you know? I've been up in the White House residence with him and a couple other senators with people screaming at each other till ten ten thirty at night. That is dramatically different from the Kabooki theater or that
Joe Biden was putting on now. To be clear, his entire cabinet was complicit, His entire White House staff was complicit. The Democrats in Congress were complicit. They all knew this. They're all saying, gosh, we're shocked, just absolutely shocked. I've told you Biden won't meet with Republican senators. That's been true for three and a half years.
I haven't had any meeting on the president I remembers now, right, Yeah, it's not just you guys, it's now the cabinet.
He won't even meet with yet.
Look, when Republican senators meet to have lunch, we talk about how weird it is that we haven't talked to Joe Biden. We all know Joe, he was a man of the Senate for forty years, but they won't let him meet with us. Because this has been obvious for three and a half years. And the media, the Democrats, they were all complicit until the debate thrust it unavoidably in front of the public. And now they're all running scared.
Does this change the calculus in your mind for Democrats moving forward? I mean I thought by the end of this week they would get back in line behind him. We don't seem to have that happening at all. And it now seems that from within are the people that are hurting him the most.
I'll give you an example.
Jake Tamper went on his show on CNN today and this is what he said.
Let's bring in our panel. And on that note, I want to share something with you all that a longtime Biden advisor just texted me. Okay, he or she said, quote, I just think there's an unfortunate inevitability to all this. I'm sad because I've known him a long time and he's a good man.
I'm angry at his.
Inner circle who have not served him well and at times committed malpractice in their service. And I am frustrated at the family, the Biden family, for not expanding the circle so there would be at least a truthteller or two in their midst. They created a perfect storm of an echo chamber and it is biting them all in the ass again as we them. Jay apologies for the salty language, but this is the extent of the frustration, Gloria, your reaction.
I get this is Jake Tapper. He's not burning somebody. This advisor, this long time advisor, I think made it very clear.
That for well, listen, listen like Ron on TV, Yeah, listen, ron Klain sent that text expecting that Jake Tapper would would.
Read it on air.
And by the way, I don't know it was Ron Klain.
I'm just just picking up Yeah.
I mean, whoever did not say go on air and read this. I'm letting you do it.
Look, you don't send it to Jake Tapper without expecting that he's going to be repeated. That's why you're sending it. And look, the press is turning on him. Remember like twelve minutes ago, where the corporate media would say it's a tinfoil hat conspiracy theory. When you say that that Obama's running things. We've said a number of times in this podcast that it's Obama's pulling the strings. I want you to listen to to Morning Joe talking about who's
really behind everything? Right now, give a listen.
Before I play that, I want to tell you about our friends of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Since the start of the Sword of Iron war in Israel in October the seventh, we have seen death and destruction in the Holy Land, and for more than forty years, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has been on the ground in Israel, and within hours of the war starting, and everyday since, they've been feeding the hungry and protecting
the vulnerable. The attacks continue in the north and the South in Israel, but there are resilient survivors who bravely share their stories in a series the Fellowship calls Faces of Iron. I want you to hear their stories because so many in the media have not been covering them. Survivors, for example, like Danny, whose beloved daughter and her husband were burned alive on October the seventh by hamasteris need
to be heard by the world. Danny is a commander of the volunteer fire and rescue in his community, fire equipment nearby. Danny could do nothing as his daughter's house burned and his daughter and her husband lost their lives. Christians like you support Israel through the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Is this support that helps these survivors
remain steadfast and strong. I want you to hear more of their stories like the one I just mentioned, and I want you to share your support for Israel and stand with the people of Israel. All you have to do to hear these stories and spread them on social media is go to support IFCJ dot org. That's support IFCJ dot org. Here's that clip center that you mentioned a moment ago morning, Joe Hey.
One thing that we do have to underline here, just so viewers can follow what's going on behind the scenes, is the Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to work is straight this.
I mean, if you and I had said that a month ago, they would go crazy, they would mock us.
Not now.
I want to play also what Mika Berzinski said about the George Clooney op ed, because that's just give a listen to what Mika says.
Yes, this wasn't George Clooney, but but well, what do you mean it just wasn't.
Come on, who do you think it was? It was not Matt Damon, it wasn't Julia Roberts.
Do you think it was?
You can say the name. It's not Baltimore.
Are you saying you think Barack Obama put him up to this?
I think that Barack Obama has a lot of influence, and I think that there's uh, there's a lot there.
There's a lot there, There's a lot, there's a lot there.
Really, there are two.
People in this picture, and one has had a presidency that was absolutely, undeniably historic.
Well, I think you have two people that had extraordinarily historic.
In terms of legislative accomplishments.
Well, you say, and they're both historic, and they're both historic, and Barack Obama for sure Hordable Care Act. George, I mean, not George Clooney. You know he probably said it too, Willie, But Joe Biden actually whispered.
That that was a big deal, effing dial.
This is the conversation they're having on MSNBC as George Cuney comes out.
I love Joe Biden, but we need a new nominee. Yeah.
And to be clear, Politico also reported quote before Hollywood icon and Democratic donor George Clooney published his buzzy and brutal New York Times op ed yesterday calling on Biden to step aside as the nominee. We're told he reached out to former President Barack Obama to give him the heads up. The two men, who are friendly both attended
the LA fundraiser. Clooney reference to his piece where the actor said he'd beheld a diminished Biden and that the leader he interacted with was quote the same man we all witnessed at the debate. While Obama did not encourage or advise Clooney to said what he said, he also didn't object to it. We're told from people familiar with
their exchange. The lack of pushback is an eye popping revelation, given that the former president was one of the first big voices defending Biden following his abysmal debate performance, while many of his former aides have been some of the incumbent's biggest critics. Again, if you and I said that twelve minutes ago, they would have fitted us for the tinfoil hats and said we were loons, And now every one of them is saying this is Barack Obama pulling strings.
As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to deal with 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, Ben Ferguson, and we will see you back here on Monday morning.