Hunter Biden PARDONED-just as we Predicted, plus Kash Patel as FBI Director - podcast episode cover

Hunter Biden PARDONED-just as we Predicted, plus Kash Patel as FBI Director

Dec 02, 202438 minEp. 471
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Speaker 1

Welcome.

Speaker 2

It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you, Senator.

Speaker 1

Back in January of.

Speaker 2

This year, there was a prediction that was made on this show. And the prediction that was made on this show, I just want to start by playing it.

Speaker 1

You said this.

Speaker 3

I'm going to make a prediction right now, Ben, this is not what I like. My prediction is, in December of twenty twenty four, Joe Biden will pardon Hunter Biden. Really, that's my prediction. He'll be after the election, very likely win or lose. You say he'll do it no matter what win or lose. If Biden were to win, I think he'll delay the pardon until right before Hunter goes

to jail. But if Biden is losing, I'd put the odds at ninety five percent that in December of this year, if Biden has just lost the general election, that he pardons his son and he gives him a scot free get out of jail pass. And so understand, Hunter's legal strategy is delay eleven months, delay eleven months, don't go to jail for eleven months, and then Daddy gives you get out of jail free card. And it's why the House needs to keep their eye on the ball.

Speaker 2

That was January the twelfth Center, twenty twenty four. If you were listening to Verdict, then this was one hundred percent predicted and it happened exactly how you said it would.

Speaker 3

Well to be fair, it was ninety five percent predicted then, and then last summer I raised it to one hundred percent. But if you listen to Verdict, you knew this was going to happen. It is ten fifty three pm on December first. We are recording this podcast right now. On December first, Joe Biden did exactly what we told you was going to do eleven months ago. He pardoned his son Hunter Biden. Never mind about the corruption, never mind about the gun offenses, never mind about the drug offenses,

never mind about the tax offenses. No man is above the law unless your name is Joe Biden and the entire Biden family. We're going to break that down, explain what just happened with the Hunter Biden pardon. Today, we're also going to talk about Donald Trump's nomination of Cash Bettel as the director of the FBI. The left is losing their mind. The Democrats are freaking out. The media is freaking out. We're going to break down why they're freaking out and why this is a very good thing

for America. And finally a terrific victory, the Chinese communists have released three Americans from unjust imprisonment, including Mark Sweden. Mark Swodin was a Texan who was imprisoned in China for twelve years. I've been leading the fight to bring Mark home. Mark is back in America. Three Americans are back in America. We're going to talk about that as well.

Speaker 2

It's such an incredible story, especially around Thanksgiving, and it's an important one that the media really isn't covering I think the way they should, and that's why I love doing this show with you. And we're going to deal with that in a moment. I want to tell you

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soun Hunter. I wasn't surprised by it. You predicted it. You weren't surprised by. What I was surprised was the amount of time of this of that it covers. He's basically off the for everything that involves the Biden crime family. And this is after Joe Biden repeatedly promised that he would not do this, that he would it would honor and respect the justice system and the juries and whatever they decide to do with his son.

Speaker 1

That was also all a lie.

Speaker 2

And I think the part that was the most shocking is how the media is covering this now. And I want to start with that they're all saying to the American people will look, he already lost his son, one son who died a brain cancer. This is just a dad being a dad. I don't buy that for a second. I think this is him protecting the crime family and the bag man, and that protects him. I don't think this is compassion from a father. Your reaction to that.

Speaker 3

Well, listen what Joe Biden said today. He put out a lengthy statement. Let me read his statement. Then we're going to talk about what it means. Here's what Joe Biden said. Quote today, I signed a pardon for my

son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision making, and I kept my word even as I watched my son being selectively and unfairly prosecuted without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, are buying a weapon as a straw purchaser. People are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out

a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties are typically given non criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently. The charges in his case came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose

my election. Then a carefully negotiated plea deal agreed to by the Department of Justice and unraveled in the courtroom, with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair reasonable resolution of Hunter's cases. No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter singled out only because he is my son,

and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter, who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selected prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they've tried to break me. There's no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough. For my entire career, I have followed a simple principle. Just tell the American people the truth. They'll be fair minded. Here's the truth. I believe in the

justice system. But as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process, and it has led to a miscarriage of justice. And once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision. Well, let me start with his ending. I understand why I said in January, Joe Biden would pardon Hunter Biden. And understand that to anyone who listens to this podcast, it's

not a surprise. It is obvious Hunter Biden is not some lonely crackhead who just sort of went astray. That's what Joe Biden, the entire White House has tried to paint him as. Hunter Biden's business was selling access to Daddy. The real crook here is Joe Biden. And this is something that in this podcast we've broken down in elaborate detail, the evidence of criminality that Joe Biden, the Biden family, they made tens of millions of dollars selling favors from

Joe Biden. Listen, nobody pays Hunter Biden. Nobody pays a crackhead money when he has no marketable services. He was not selling anything other than Daddy. So when Joe Biden is saying, oh it is terrible. No one's prosecuted for this. Number One, I'll tell you this. If you use crack cocaine with prostitutes, illegally buying guns with guns, you will be prosecuting.

Speaker 1

You will go to jail.

Speaker 3

You don't. People not named Biden don't get away with that. By the way, if you also defraud the federal government out of millions of dollars of taxes, you will be prosecuted. That is true as well. But the real corruption. Listen, the Biden Justice Department decline to prosecute, deliberately allow the statute of limitation to expire on many of the most egregious examples of corruption, everything that implicated the big guy. Understand, this is all about Joe Biden. It's not about Hunter Biden.

So when Joe Biden entered this pardon, it is about protecting his own rear. End. Does he love his son short? Does he want to protect his son? Sure, it's why I was certain he would grant this pardon. But if you really love your son, you don't send out your son who is an addict, to be the front man, to be the bag man in collecting millions of dollars selling access to you, Joe Biden was perfectly willing to use his son as the point person and plan to

blame it on the addiction. And so I've got to say Joe Biden's claiming, well, gosh, it's just unfair he was targeted. What is unfair, what is not right, is that the Biden family made for decades a practice of selling favors from Joe Biden that is fundamentally corrupt. And let me say finally, in Joe Biden's statement, he talks about, well, there was a plea deal from the Department of Justice

and then it collapsed. Well, you know what, this podcast played a significant role in causing that that that plea deal would corrupt out to collapse. And why because we shined a light on it. Because it was indefensible that the plea deal was zero jail time, a slap on the wrist, which Joe Biden said, well, gosh, that would be fair. Don't punish my son. And understand, this is not about Hunter. This is about Joe.

Speaker 2

Let's talk about the length of this pardon, because I think it's not just the pardon for these two charges, it's also Hey, this covers virtually all of the corruption and all of the sins of the Biden crime family. When they knew they had millions of dowers coming into their son's bank account that was spending it on drugs and and everything else that we know about from his laptop. He said, Hey, you can't go after my son basically for anything. This is a pardon for all the bad things we've done.

Speaker 3

Well, and listen, if you're gonna do it, you're gonna make it as broad as possible because you don't care about the press blowback. And at the end of the day, Joe Biden's lost, Kamala Harris's lost. They don't care about the political consequences. That's why it was gonna be December. It wasn't gonna be November. It wasn't gonna be January, December.

It was gonna be the month it was. And I want you to understand, for more than a year, Joe Biden, every Democrat has been lying to the American people repeatedly and brazenly. I want you to listen to Korean John Pierre in December twenty twenty three, here's what she had to say.

Speaker 4

The President would not pardon or community sensus for it. Stun Hunter I want to make sure that that is not going to change field for the next six months. The President's stay.

Speaker 5

It's still a no. It's still an egg, always nail. It's still a no. It will be you know, it is a no. And I don't have anything else to add. Will he pardoned his son?

Speaker 4

No?

Speaker 1

Well, partner his son?

Speaker 3

No?

Speaker 2

And she's actually banging her hand on the podium. You can hear it.

Speaker 3

Okay, So let's play now, Kareean John Pierre in August of twenty twenty three.

Speaker 6

We'll go back to the first question of the briefing.

Speaker 4

I know you said not a lot of changed this yesterday, and it's a personal matter, but from a presidential perspective, is there any possibility that the president would end up pardoning his son?

Speaker 3

Okay, Now, let's do Joe Biden himself in June of twenty twenty four.

Speaker 7

I'm extremely proud of my son Hunter. He is overcome an addiction. He is He's one of the greatest, most decent men I know. And I am satisfied that I'm not going to do anything I said. I advide by the jury decision, and I will do that, and I will not partner him.

Speaker 3

Okay, Let's play another interview again from June of twenty twenty four. Joe Biden again on the same topic.

Speaker 6

As we sit here in Normandy, your son Hunter is on trial, and I know that you cannot speak about an ongoing federal prosecution, but let me ask you. Will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict, no matter what it is.

Speaker 1

Yes?

Speaker 6

And have you ruled out a pardon for your son?

Speaker 1

Yes?

Speaker 2

I mean the guys a patholgical liar everywhere we go.

Speaker 3

Final clip. Let's let's play Kreeen John Pierre once again on the same topic.

Speaker 4

The president would not pardon or community sense for it, stun Hunter. I want to make sure that that is not going to change field for the next six months. The President's stay.

Speaker 5

It's still a no. It's still an egill always. You know, it's still a no. It will be a no. It is a no. And I don't have anything else to add.

Speaker 1

Will he pardon his son?

Speaker 4

No?

Speaker 1

Pretty consistent with their lies.

Speaker 3

Look understand, every person listening to Joe Biden, every person listening to Queen John Pierre, knew that they were lying. The reporter asking that question knew that they were lying. Kareean John Pierre, she knew she was lying, and Joe Biden every time he said it, knew he was lying. We said on this podcast, then they are lying. And it was a cynical effort to gaslight the American people. They hoped at the time, they hoped Joe Biden would win.

Later they hoped Kamala Harris would win. But their approach was simple, We're gonna lie to you. We're gonna lie to you. We're gonna lie to you. Don't you like our happy lies? And the plan was always, always, always to issue the pardon because it covers up for the criminality that Joe Biden is right at the nexus of.

Speaker 2

So let's talk about this future and the Republicans and what they should do. There was a lot of people asking the question, Okay, is there anything that you can do about this or is this just the world we live in now where if you're the president you can be as corrupt as how if you're a Democrat and you've got people to cover for you. Then there's people saying, well, hold on, what about the other crimes involved the other family members? We know a lot of payments went to

a lot of people. The last name Biden when they were selling access to your government? Is this the quote?

Speaker 1

End of this? Politically move on? And that's just what it is.

Speaker 2

And we all know that he's corrupt, and we know he lied to us, we know he uses power, and we know he sold access to the United States government.

Speaker 3

Well, here is the text of the pardon that Joe

Biden signed. It is a pardon quote for those offenses against the United States which he has committed, or may have committed, or taken part in during the period from January first, twenty fourteen, through December one, twenty twenty four including but not limited to, all offenses charged or prosecuted, including any that have resulted in convictions by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket number one twenty three CRS zero zero zero six y one dash m N in

the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and docket number two two three CRS zero zero five nine nine MCS one on in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. So, Ben, how do you like that every single federal offense that you have committed, or you may have committed, or taken a part in, for a decade from January first, twenty fourteen to December one, twenty twenty four they're all erased clean.

I don't know that you could write a broader pardon other than listen, I'm president, and I got to say, by the way, your question is there is there anything you can do about it? There is very, very little. The pardon power under the Constitution is exceptionally broad. The president has the ability to pardon any single federal defense.

In this case, he's pardoning every single federal offense Hunter Biden may or may not have committed for over a decade, and those federal offenses it is now impossible to prosecute him, impossible to hold him liable for them. Now he's still liable for state offenses. But there has not been There have not been any state prosecutions, and so this is

the consequence. This was always the outcome. It's why. Look, we've talked about how the impeachment power, the text of the Constitution provides the impeachment power for treason, bribery, or

other high crimes or misdemeanors. At the end of the day, much of the conduct that has been alleged here is in the nature of bribery is in the nature of paying off millions of dollars to Joe Biden for official for official favors, and yet the Department of Justice had zero interest in examining it, The Democrats in Congress had zero interested in examining it. In the media had zero

interest in examining it. And so as a consequence, Hunter Biden is now going to get off scot free, which was abundantly clear from the outset this was always the plan.

Speaker 2

Final question, Yes, Hunter Biden is pardon for everything in this as you said, a sweeping pardon that I've never seen before at this level and in government. From what we've seen in the history of my lifetime, we've never seen something this broad. So the last question I have is what about Joe Biden. Is there anything that can be done against him? Or is it just Hey, he's

an old guy. He dropped out of the race. As they said, we would have prosecuted him for keeping classified documents, but no jury would ever convict him because he was too senile to basically know what he had done in the past. Is all of that just going to be forgotten now because of age?

Speaker 3

Well, let me be clear, we have seen pardons this broad before. And so if you look, for example, at the pardon Gerald Ford issued for Richard Nixon, here is

the operative text of that pardon. Now, therefore, I, Gerald RT. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article two, Section two of the Constitution, have granted, and by these presents, do grant a full, free and absolute pardon under Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he Richard Nixon has committed or may have committed, or taken part in during the

period from January twentieth, nineteen sixty nine, through August ninth, nineteen seventy four. So they deliberately borrowed the language from the pardon of Richard Nixon. And the idea was, this is a blanket, get out of jail free car and it's what the Constitution gives the president this authority. And that's exactly what they did. Now, your question was what about Joe Biden. So Joe Biden has not pardoned himself.

I don't think he will. And at the end of the day, when the Trump Department of Justice comes into office, there will be a question do they go and prosecute Joe Biden. My guess is the answer will be now that Joe Biden, his dementia has risen to a level at this point that I think he's probably going to

ride off into the sunset and be done. Maybe I'm wrong, but my suspicion is Joe Biden will not face accountability for the corruption that Hunter was the bag man for, and that is his entire family profited from.

Speaker 2

Incredible and there's gonna be a lot of people listening right now. They're gonna be angry about this. I understand it. I want to be clear, I'm angry about it too, because it looks like the entire family, his brother, and every other Biden that was on the take, it's going to get away with this in a sense. And look, this is the corruption the Democratic Party. This is the

reason why I think Donald Trump. One of the reasons why he win this election, why Republicans control the House and Senate is people wanted there to be accountability at least on election day.

Speaker 3

May By the way, let me jump in, Ben, there may be an exception. I don't think it's impossible. That's the Department of Justice prosecutes Joe Biden's brother, Joe Biden's brother. I'm not aware of any evidence that he has dementia, that he is serious mental diminishment, and that may be one avenue I could see the Department of Justice investigating. And one challenge is.

Speaker 2

Oh, hold on, I'm gonna ask now, prediction. You made a last prediction that was good. I want one right now. I want you to predict whether or not before the last day January twentieth, that Joe Biden says, screw it, I'm going to hand out pardons of my brother or other family members.

Speaker 3

I don't think it's impossible, but I doubt it. I put it at less than fifty percent. Look, and I think if you were to asked me to give odds, my guess is that the Trump Department of Justice probably doesn't prosecute Biden's brother, that there will be a sense of this is water under the bridge. It's the prior administration.

It's not our concern. Let's move on. But I'm just saying, if you were to predict one avenue, and one challenge is in terms of whether you could prosecute Biden's brother, a major challenge would be the statute of limitation that many of the most corrupt actions occurred long enough that the statute of limitations has expired. And what that means

statute limitations is in federal law. It's also true in state law that there is a limit to how recently the conduct must have occurred before you could prosecute it. The idea that you can't come back and prosecute you ben for something you did twenty years ago that you don't remember, that the evidence is stale. There's some notion that there needs to be finality in law and that prosecutions need to need to occur relatively promptly after the criminality.

And so I think much of the conduct that Joe's brother has been implicated in the statute limitations and all likelihood has expired, and so that may prevent a prosecution. If you're going to ask me, is there going to be another parton for his brother? Probably not, but it's not beyond the realm of contemplation.

Speaker 1

Incredible. I want to deal with it.

Speaker 2

Also, you talked about the deep state, and I want to talk about the FBI as well, and Casha Patel and being named FBI director by Donald Trump. Before we get to that, though, I want to tell you about our friends over at Patriot Mobile. If you have a cell phone and your cell phone is with Big Mobile, you may not realize exactly where.

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Speaker 1

This is a name that Democrats do not like. Caspitel.

Speaker 2

So, if you want to understand history, this is a guy that actually the deep state went after when he was working for Donald Trump the first time with Russia, Russia, Russia, and he found out about it that when apparently Google, five years after the fact cinema letter saying hey, we had to disclose to you now that we gave a bunch of your information over to the FBI. That's the now the guy that will be running the FBI if he gets confirmed.

Speaker 3

Your reaction, well, I think this is a strong nomination. I think we're seeing Democrats and we're seeing the media freaking out, and they're freaking out not because they think cash Betel is unqualified, but rather because they believe he will actually do what Trump promised he would do. They believe he will actually clean out the corruption at the FBI, that he will take on the partisans that have burrowed

into senior career positions. This is something we've been calling for on this podcast for a long time, to have leadership that is willing to really root out the partisanship and corruption and say no more. The FBI needs to restore its integrity. I think this is a nomination. The reason people are losing their minds is because they believe cash Betel is going to do exactly what Trump said he would do.

Speaker 2

And Senator You actually talked about this on Sunday morning on facein Nation on CBS, and it was very interesting to see the back and forth.

Speaker 1

Take a listen to that for people that may have missed it.

Speaker 8

Cash Battel suggested by Trump as the new leader of the FBI. How enthusiastic are you about that?

Speaker 1

Listen.

Speaker 3

I think cash Battel is a very strong nominee. I think the entire slate of cabinet nominees President Trump is put forward is very strong. I believe every one of these cabinet nominees is going to be confirmed by the Senate. I think cash Battel is going to be confirmed by the Senate. You look at his back. He has a serious professional background. He was a prosecutor, He was a public defender. He was a senior intelligence staffer on Capitol Hill.

He was a senior intelligence staffer in the White House. He was the chief of staff of the Department of Defense. He was the deputy Director of National Intelligence. And I got to say all of the weeping and gnashing of teeth. All of the people pulling their hair out are exactly the people who are dismayed about having a real reformer come into the FBI and clean out the corrupted partisans who sadly have burrowed into senior career positions at the FBI.

The FBI and the Department of Justice, or two institutions incredibly important to the rule of law in the United States. I revere both, and one of the most tragic consequences of four years of Joe Biden Kamala Harris is both DOJ and the FBI have been politicized and weaponized. And I think cash Pttel is a very strong nominee to take on the partisan corruption in the FBI.

Speaker 8

As you know, Senator, there isn't a vacancy at the top of the FBI. What should become of Christopher Ray appointed by President Trump.

Speaker 3

Well, I think he'll make a choice. I think either he will resign or President Trump will fire him. But it's no secret to anybody, including Chris Ray, that he is not going to continue to serve as the head of the FBI under Donald Trump. Listen, if you look at James Comy and Chris Ray, there has never been a period in our nation's history where the FBI has suffered a greater loss of respect, where more Americans doubt

the fundamental integrity of the FBI. And it's because James Comy and Chris Ray presided over allowing the FBI to become a partisan cudgel, to be used to target parents at school board meetings, to be used to target people who chose not to take the COVID vaccine, to be used to target President Trump, and to target the political opponents of Joe Biden the White House. It is tragic. That is not what the FBI is for. That is

not what the DOJ is for. And I got to say, Pam Bondi and Cash Patel, I think together are a very strong slate of nominees to go and restore integrity to both institutions.

Speaker 1

I don't think it can be better said than that.

Speaker 2

And that's why there's so many that are freaked out over Patel, because he's going to go in and do his job the way it's supposed to be done. And also that means part of the part of this is clearinghouse. Clearinghouse and the political partisans that are in there that have weaponized the government.

Speaker 3

That's exactly right, and we've seen it. You know. I wrote a book called Justice Corrupted, How the Left is weaponized the legal system, and in the book, I described how, starting with Barack Obama, we saw the Department of Justice and the FBI and the CIA and the alphabet soup of the federal government turned into a weapon to target

and persecute the political enemies of Barack Obama. When Trump became president, those partisans what they did is they went into senior career positions in the agencies and from day one, from the first day of Trump's first term, they waged war on Donald Trump from within the deep state. They wanted to destroy him, they wanted to stop his agenda. They hated him. And then when Joe Biden became president,

they came out in the open. They were brazen, They that they were completely that they were not pretending anymore. And so listen, as I said, I think Cash Barttel will be confirmed, and when he is, I think it is going to be hugely important that he followed through on those promises to get rid of the partisans. And listen, a point I made. Major Garrett was pressing back saying,

when this is terrible that Chris Ray would be fired. Listen, in the entire history of the FBI, we have never seen the respect for the FBI diminished as greatly as it has been under Chris Ray and under James coming before him. The American people no longer trust the integrity of the FBI. That is Listen with James Comy, I think he's a hard partisan. I think he was the point of the spear with Chris Ray. I think it's different. I actually think Chris Ray he's not a Democrat, he's

a Republican, he's not a leftist. But he views his job as protecting the institution. And I think he made a fundamental mistake that he believes that protecting the career senior officials, who themselves are vicious partisans. I think he thinks that's somehow protecting the FBI, where the result is that the public respect of the FBI has been profoundly damaged. I think the new director of the FBI has a very important job to root out those partisans and to

bring it back to a fidelity to law. By the way, I think the other political prosecutions that have been brought are natural candidates for the pardon power if you look at Donald Trump. I think Donald Trump should pardon those people who've been prosecuted for January sixth who did not engage in crimes of violence. If you engage in a crime of violence, if you physically and violently assaulted a

police officer, you shouldn't be pardoned. You should face criminal prosecution if you committed a crime of violence against a police officer. But if you were engaged in a peaceful protest, I think those are natural candidates for pardons. I also think Lauren Handy, who is the pro life protester who's right now serving six years in federal prison for nonviolent protest against abortion, I think Lauren Handy is a natural candidate for a pardon from President Trump. I think there's

a very substantial likelihood she will receive a pardon. I think the nonviolent January sixth protesters are likely to receive pardons, and that is going to cause Democrats in the media to lose their mind, because not only are they happy to look the other way at the weaponization of the Department of Justice and the FBI, they are vested in defending that weaponization, and is that is a mandate understand.

Donald Trump campaigned to the American people saying I will root out this corruption, and I think this nomination and his following through on that promise is fundamentally about respecting democracy. The American people said, yes, we don't want the federal government weaponized against the political opposition of the White House.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I am into that.

Speaker 2

And finally, Senator, this is such an important story and I hope that everybody listening will actually take this podcast today. Share it on acts, shared it on Instagram, share it on Facebook, wherever you are on social media. Text it to your friends, because the story that we're about to talk about is a story that really the media is just not covering. It is something that you've also led on, especially being a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

There was not one, not two, but three Americans that were detained for years in China that have now been released. Give a quick recap of just how long they've been there, but also why this happened now.

Speaker 3

Well, so there were three Americans who returned from China. They've been imprisoned in China for for years. One of them is a Texan. One of them is someone named named Mark Swedan. The other two are Kayli and John Leung So. Mark Swedan is a Texan. He's from Houston. His mother is Catherine Swedan. I've spoken to Catherine multiple times. She is from Luling, Texas. Mark Swedan has been in jail in China for twelve years and it was a completely bogus charge. It was a trumped up charge, and

the Chinese government was persecuting him as an American. I've spoken out on Mark Swedan's behalf multiple times. I authored a resolution that passed the Senate unanimously calling for Mark Swedan's release. I've raised his case over and over and over again, and with the Biden administration, I'll give them some credit. They leaned in in a significant way and they got him home. He is back in Texas today.

Speaker 2

And this is also something that you talked about on Face the Nation. I want people to hear part of what you had to say.

Speaker 8

Well, can you tell us about the three Americans released by China who were in San Antonio? Have you been in touch with them and do you have any concerns about the contours of that swap.

Speaker 3

Well, at this stage, we don't know all of the details of the contours of the swap, but I'll tell you I am celebrating the return of three Americans, especially Mark Swede. And Mark Sweden is a Texan from Houston. His mom, Catherine is from Luling, Texas. I've talked with Catherine many times. I authored and passed a resolution in the Senate that passed unanimously calling for Mark Swedan's return to America. He spent twelve years unjustly imprisoned in communist China.

Speaker 4

I'll tell you I.

Speaker 3

Have raised it directly with the Foreign Minister of China. I've raised it with President Biden. I've raised it with Secretary of State Tony Blanket, and I will give them credit on this. Tony Blenken, just two weeks ago was the most recent time I spoke with him about Mark Swedan. And the administration has pressed the Chinese government. And Mark Sweden is back home with his mother, who has prayed for him, who has loved loved him. I want to

say Mark, welcome home, Catherine, Congratulations. I told you this day would come. This is a time where all Texans and all Americans should be celebrating.

Speaker 8

Very quickly, Senator Cruz, because I also know you care about the case.

Speaker 1

Of Austin Tice.

Speaker 8

Do you have any sense that the rebel gains in Syria of the recent vintage will have any chance of unlocking Austin Tye's freedom.

Speaker 1

I don't know.

Speaker 3

I certainly hope and pray Austin Tice needs to come home, and I hope and pray. Listen, there's a combination of two things working one. As Joe Biden is in the process of transitioning out any outgoing president is looking to try to get some final wins, I would encourage him, and I'm sure he is doing everything he can to bring Austin Tice home, to bring the hostages in Gaza home, both the Israelis and the Americans bring them home in

this window. I also think President Trump coming into office on January twentieth, the enemies of America, I think are afraid of President Trump. That is a moment. I hope we have a moment right now that is very much like the end of the Jimmy Carter administration, right before Ronald Reagan came in and we saw on January twentieth our hostages in Iran released. I think in significant part because the Ayatola was afraid of Reagan. I hope a

similar dynamic is playing out. And if we can see more hostages come home, that would be caused for enormous celebration.

Speaker 2

Enormous celebration that is one hundred percent accurate because for these families, as you mentioned, this is a day they've been waiting now for years.

Speaker 3

No, that's absolutely right, and so the fact that we've got three Americans back from China, that's great. I hope we see more hostages coming back.

Speaker 2

Don't forget. We do this show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As I said earlier, make sure you share this podcast wherever you can hit that subscribe or auto download button as well, and the Senator I will be back with you on Wednesday morning

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