Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Week in Review, Ben Ferguson with you, and here are the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week. First up, Donald Trump making it very clear to Iran do not attack Americans or our interest in the Middle East, and if you do, there will be hell to pay. Also, Israel gains air superiority over the entire state of Iran, and now the people of Iran may realize the regime is not as strong as they thought. And finally, Tucker Carlson doesn't believe Iran
wants to assassinate or plan to assassinate Donald Trump. It's the Week in Review and it starts right now. That note that he put out there was very clear because he's saying, hey, hey, we weren't involved in this, and we're going to state that clearly this was Israel.
Doing their thing.
But if you think for a moment that you can use us to justify attacking Americans anywhere in the world, there will be hell to pay if you do that.
Look, I think if Iran carries out a significant strike on American servicemen and women, then I think America if they think the bombs coming from Israel are bad. I think they will face massive retaliation, and then that's called deterrence. We want them not to strike our servicemen and women. And by the way, that's the difference between Joe Biden, who was so weak he couldn't deter anything. It helps that our enemies are afraid of the commander in chief.
That's where actually in the debates about foreign policy, those who argue for isolationism get it wrong, because if you're so terrified to engage with your enemies, then you end up causing more war.
I think Reagan was right.
I think Trump is right that when you're strong, when you tell your enemies, if you attack and kill Americans, your military leaders are going to die. What happens is most of the time they say, you know what, We're just not going to attack, and you end up avoiding war because because they're scared of the commander in chief.
So where does this go from here?
And this is where everybody's saying, hey, look, we want an off ramp, right, like, that's something we do want. We want this, we want to protect lives. But at the same time, Israel is I think making it very clear we have no choice but to do this, and we're doing the world a huge service by doing it.
Yeah, So the Israeli government is talking on a time frame that this could last another week or two. They're engaged in massive bombings and at some point, you know, at some point the question is how much ordinance do they have, how much capacity do they have to keep bombing, and how many targets do they have? You know, I
will say also one of the most significant sites is Fordau. Now, Fordau is a nuclear bunker that is built into the side of a mountain, and it's built deliberately to make it very difficult strike to carry out an airstrike, and
it's where much of their nuclear research is being conducted. Now, there were reports on Sunday that Israel carried out a strike at Fordau, but at least based on publicly reported material, Israel does not have sufficiently effective bunker buster bombs to be able to take out the deep underground laboratories at Fordau. And so one of the open questions is, to the best of my knowledge, the only military that has those
bombs is the United States. We have really big bunker busters that are made to take out deep, deep underground facilities like the ford Ou nuclear facilities, and so one open question. I have for a long time called for the United States to make those bunker busters available to Israel. I think taking out ford Ou makes a lot of sense. I think if Israel does it. And by the way, I'll point out, look, Israel is a small country. Israel is about the size of the state of New Jersey.
And and and they are fighting against our enemies, our enemies who a pledge they want to murder us, and they're doing so at great risk to themselves. But but and so that is something to be grateful for. But understand, they're taking out Iran's nuclear capabilities is very very good for America because it makes America safer. And I think if Israel finishes the job of taking out their nuclear capability, I think this that these attacks likely end within the next couple of weeks.
You look at Donald Trump saying we can probably get a deal done. Is that after we accomplish the mission. If you're reading between the lines here, I mean you've spoken with them, is this a we got to allow our ally Israel to do what they need to do in that timeframe as well.
So listen, I'm skeptical that Iran will ever ever cut a real deal. I don't think you can negotiate with crazy and I think these people are crazy.
Uh and and and so.
I think one of the things that would enhance American security massively is to see the Iyatola fall and to see the Mullas lose power, to see different leadership come to come to Iran.
I think that would make Israel much much safer.
I think that would make America much safer, and I think that would make the Iranian people better off. Now, let me be clear, I'm not advocating that we send in a bunch of American soldiers to make that happen.
I am advocating that we use maximum pressure and economic sanctions to pressure the regime in a way that might encourage this regime to fall, because I think that they have demonstrated that they are are homicidal and murderously directing their urges towards killing Americans, and so removing people from power who are trying to kill Americans makes America safer.
Well me also go back to something you mentioned earlier, and this seems to clearly be part of Israel's strategy, which is you go after and take out people that are in essence holding down the people and silencing the people in Iran in the leadership roles. That's part of who they seem to be going after. That could be huge for allowing what you just described to actually happen a revolution within Israel, or I should say within Iran.
Well and listen.
One of the conscious choices it appears that Israel made was not to target the Iatola himself. And I don't have I have no classify information either way. Yeah wow, so I.
Said out of Crecy.
So I don't know for sure.
I have no classified information on this, but I can give an educated guess, which is that taking out the leader of a country through military force is a significant step. Now, mind you, the Ayatola is perfectly fine hiring hitmen to try to murder Donald Trump. So the Ayatola has no problem doing it. And I have no doubt that if the Ayatola could could murder Prime Minister net and Yahoo, he would do so in the blink of an eye.
He has not been able to do so.
But I think the Israelis, given their success and taking out everyone else, I think it's reasonable to assume that they would have had a real prospect of taking the Iatola out had they chosen to do so. My guess is that they made a decision that taking out the leader of the country could backfire, especially given that he is also a religious leader, and you run into a
danger of potentially making him a martyr. And and and it is not clear if you toppled him in those circumstances, you might get a younger, theocratic lunatic take over instead. And and so I think it is a reasonable decision for Israel to say, rather than target the Iotola directly, let's take out every one of their top military officers that they would use to prosecute a war. And and by the way, those are the same people they use to push down and uprising to oppress their people and
so degrading their capabilities. It's it's what they've done with Hesbla, They've taken out their top leadership. It's what they've done. It's what they've done with Hamas. And i'll tell you. On Saturday, Israel conducted a strike in Yemen, killing the Huthi Chief of Staff Muhammad abdul Karim al Gamari, who was responsible for overseeing Huthi military operations and directing the procurement and deployment of a number of weapons systems for them.
The Huthis are another arm of Iran, and so what Israel has done is weakened Iran on every front, and that oppressive infrastructure, their ability to wage war, their ability to kill Israeli's, their ability to kill Americans, their ability to fund terrorism, and their ability to suppress their people, all of those are substantially weakened.
That's a very good thing.
Final question for you on this as we move forward through this week. I think it's pretty obvious the media is obsessed with Donald Trump somehow not standing with Israel or trying to drive a wedge. Do you think there's any chance at all that can happen, because in the in the early questions, it was almost like, you guys are idiots.
Come on.
I think President Trump has been the strongest pro Israel president in the history of America. It's an exact contrast with Joe Biden. Joe Biden was the most anti Israel president in the history of America. The fact that they occurred back and back, you want to talk about about whiplash. You'll recall we did this podcast on when when BB came to Washington and I met with him for about
two hours. He is he is a good friend. I have not spoken to BB since this war broke out, although I did speak with the Israeli ambassador to the United States on Thursday night, the night the war began.
Uh and and and listen.
Their successes are significant, but but they they have the complete backing of of of the Trump administration, and that is important. I do think that there are some voices within the administration that are pressing back and and and part of the reason I talked to President Trump today was to say, what you're doing is exactly right. You're making America safer by allowing Israel to take out Iran's nukes,
and you're also protecting American servicemen and women. Keep doing it, and and and he he agreed emphatically.
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.
Well, let's also talk about what's happened with the air superiority, or the lack of security that Iran actually had over their own country. Yes, and that could also spell trouble for the leadership in Iran because now the people may realize, wow, we may have been played by these these these horrible leaders. And there is total air superiority now by Israel or anybody that wants to go after Iran.
So Israel and potentially America have complete air superiority over Iran. And Israel has taken out Iran's air defenses, so they're not able to stop Israeli jets in the air, and the bombers are bombing the hell out of As of two days ago, there had been over seven and twenty military strikes in Iran. The numbers substantially higher now. I don't have the current number, but it was seven hundred and twenty two days ago. And Iran is not able to do anything about it because their air defenses have
been destroyed, and so they're just sitting ducks. They're just and I will tell you the dynamics. So there's a delicate question. Israel has been able to and it actually has succeeded in taking out a massive amount of the military leadership of Iran. They have also succeeded in pounding the hell out of Iran's nuclear facilities, like the Natans Facility, which is where they do much of the nuclear enrichment.
Israel has bombed the living crap out of The one exception that Israel is not able to take out is the four DOH Nuclear Research Facility now Foidah is built literally in the base of a mountain, and it was built into a mountain particularly to withstand a bombing attack. And Israel does not have the military hardware to take
out Florida. Their bombs are not big enough. America does we have bunker buster bombs that are thirty thousand pounds, that are massive bombs that can take out on underground, under mountain nuclear facility like Florida. Israel also does not have bombers that are big enough to carry a thirty thousand pound bomb.
That's a big ass bomb.
And so the B two bomber which America has is big enough to carry that bomb. Israel doesn't have bombers that big. And so one of the open questions Israel is asked, America, will you fly in the bombers and drop your bunker busters on four to oh and take it out?
As you and I sit here.
At twelve what is it twelve forty three am? On Tuesday night Wednesday morning. I do not know if President Trump's going to do that. This is being actively debated. It could by the time this podcast comes out, it is possible that America will drop those bunker busters. I think that is a real possibility in the next few hours, in the next few days.
And in my view, with that being said, then I got to ask this questions that people understand. I said this earlier night on Chris Cuomo's show, and I said on Pierce Mortgan's show, and I said, I'm Fox the same thing.
I am not in favor, but Ben, you're a lot of lefty shows, Pierce.
I'm fighting the commis every day.
You know, is like does Bernie Sanders have a show AOC Like are you going on with with She of China?
Trying to go on with Tucker next?
You know, and just see if I can, I can, I can explain to them what my foreign policy is. But it's I'm not in favor of putting troops on the ground. Donald Trump's on favor of putting troops around.
Absolutely no, no, no, no troops on the ground.
So what we're advocating for is simply this, if America gets involved it would be to do exactly what you just said. It would be to do what Israel can't do, to take out a.
Nuclear drop a couple of bombs.
Threat, yes, to drop a couple of bombs, to drop a couple of bombs that Israel can't like their bombs are not big enough to take out Florida. And I will say this from a perspective, My overwhelming touchstone is what protects American national security interest, what keeps American safer. It's America first. It's President Trump's foreign policy. That is my foreign policy. And I will say when when he and I talked on Sunday, his comment when I was
telling him, you're doing a great job. What you're doing is fantastic as commenties, he said, ted on foreign policy, you and I are twins, And that's right. I agree with him on foreign policy. The reason there is I think a compelling argument for America to take out FIDOH is Fourida. They are doing research on nuclear weapons technology, They're trying to develop nuclear bombs. They're not doing it because the Iyatola thinks climate change is a problem and
he wants to create civilian nuclear power generation. It is entirely creating a bomb that could murder millions of Americans or millions of Israelis. They put it in the basement of a mountain because they didn't want to be bombed. Only America can take them out. And I got to say, I think dropping those bombs, I have zero interest. We
will not send boots on the ground. We are not going to invade Iran, and I have zero interest in coming into the country and trying to turn it into a democratic utopia.
We don't.
Look it would be wonderful if Iran woke up tomorrow and it was Switzerland. But I'm not willing to risk your children or my children to go in and fight a war to make that happen. It is a very different calculus to say, should we drop a couple of bombs and take out a lab and facility where they're developing nuclear weapons to murder Americans? And I think that's
a compelling argument. And I got to say, I think there's a real possibility in the next few hours or days that's exactly what's going to happen.
Final question on this.
If Donald Trump does in fact make this decision, I actually don't think this is a tough decision or a hard decision. I think it's a simple decision as you described it. If we must protect the homeland and we must protect our allies at the same time, and we're both a target, and we know what a RAM would do if they got a nuclear weapon, and we know that even if they didn't do it, they might.
Give it to their proxies to do it as well.
You add all that up, I think this decision is actually pretty clear if the President gree does that and we move forward. There's also this big obsession in the media out there's some massive in the maga world, and this is going to split the Republican Party. I actually think it's gonna be a blip and we're gonna move back on to all the issues that we do agree on.
I'm not taking the bait on that. I want your take on it as well.
Yeah.
Look, so I did Sean Hannity this evening, and Hannity had a poll that just came out that showed seventy five percent of Americans agree with President Trump that we should act against Iran to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapons using And the question in the poll was whatever means necessary. Seventy five percent I don't know that seventy five percent of Americans agree on butterflies or rainbows or Peter peanut butter and jelly like. That's a big
percentage in today's divided world. And so it is frankly a handful of people who are disagreeing. Tucker is really an outlier on this, and and I made the point, and we're going to talk about this. Friday's pod is going to be all about this. But but Tucker used to be years ago. Tucker was a neo Khan interventionist who was a cheerleader for the Iraq War, and he practically had on a short skirt and pomp pumps. I think the Iraq War was a catastrophic mistake, and so
I think he was far too interventionist. And Tucker does too. He thinks he was wrong, and I respect that. Look, look, intelligent people will assess change circumstances and be willing to change their position based on the facts, and so I
respect that he changed his views. But the point I made is he went from being an interventionist far too eager to send in the Marines, to being an isolationist who says we should never ever use the military even when we've got a lunatic, theocratic zealot who is trying to murder Americans and has murdered hundreds of Americans, and and and so I actually think that view is a really fringe view in America. It's a fringe view in Maga,
and it's a fringe view across the country. And and I think the American people want a president who's going to say, we will protect ourselves against people who want to kill us. That's exactly what Donald Trump is doing.
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. I want to get back into the Tucker Carlson interview that you did and center. There was some interesting themes that came out of this interview. He was obviously attacking you, he was attacking Israel, he was attacking groups that support Israel.
But then there was an even weirder point where I think Tucker probably is hoping that we don't play this, or that people didn't watch the whole interview, and hear this part. It was about the Iranian regime. They've been trying to murder Donald Trump. They've hired hitman, They've been trying to hire hitman. They've come after former cabinet members
of Donald Trump. And when you brought it up, he acted like he I've never heard of this before, and that you were either lying or this is shocking news to him.
Yeah, this was utterly bizarre. And I got to say, in the whole course of the two hour interview, this was the strangest portion. For the last two years, Iran has been actively trying to murder President Donald Trump. Iran has hired hitman to murder President Trump, and I Ran also has been trying to murder Mike Pompeo, President Trump's former secretary of State, John Bolton, President Trump's former national security advisor, and Brian Hook, President Trump's former assistant secretary
of State. All of them, Iran has hired hitman and has been targeting them. Bizarrely, and this has been widely reported. These are objective facts, but bizarrely, Tucker Carlson assisted insisted this has never happened.
Here, give a listen.
I just want to pull that thread because it's so important. I voted for Donald Trump. I can't paign for Donald Trump. He's our president and were in the cusp of a war. So if Iran, if there's evidence that Iran paid hitman to kill Donald Trump and is currently doing that, where is that? What do you have talking? I've never heard that before. Okay, where's the evidence? Who are these people? Why haven't they been arrested? Why are we not at
war with Iran? That's a great question to ask. How do you know that that's true.
We know that it's true because we have been told that by the military at our intelligence community for the last two years. We meaning who Congress has in the public. I mean, I had multiple testimonies. I can send you test We know the names.
Of the people are where this happened or what they tried to do to kill Trump.
We do not.
We have not apprehended an Iranian hit man trying to kill him. We know that Iran is trying to do so in the United States.
Yes, and by the way, like Iran, this just seems like a huge headline and you're acting like everyone knows this.
I didn't know that Iran put out a whole video about murdering Trump.
Right, but I've never heard evidence that there are hitmen in the United States. I mean trying to kill Trump right now. We should like have a nationwide dragged down on this and we should attack Iran immediately. If that's true. Don't you think no, But they're trying to assassinate our president. They have been for two years. They are animal with them. Well we are trying to why don't we just nuke
tear If they're trying to murder our president. There's nothing that you could do that would be worse for the United States than murdering Trump. And I just don't stand why you're not calling for the use of nuclear weapons against the eye total right now.
I'm serious. If there if you really.
Believe there's a nuclear weapons whatever the problem of so mean, you don't seem to take the allegation seriously.
I do.
If you believe they're trying to murder Trump, we need to stop what we're doing and punish them.
I mean, insanely bizarre.
We went from let's not do anything to oh, they're trying to call Trump.
Well, if that's true, let's just nuke them.
So you're right, the entire two hours. Tucker's position was, do nothing on Iran, do nothing on Iran, do nothing on Iran, do not support Israel, do not support Israel, do not support Israel. But if Iran is trying to murder Trump, then we should nuke them. Okay, Ben, That's absolutely wacky. And and look it's the sign of someone who's not presenting an argument in good faith. No, we should not be new King Iran. That's not a good idea. And by the way, this is a point where actually
facts matter. And part of what was frustrating about this interview is that Tucker just says things that are blatantly false and he doesn't care if they're true or false. So this is an objective fact. I'm going to read to you from a political article on November eighth, twenty twenty four, not very long ago. Here's the title. Iran ordered an operative to assassinate Trump before the election. Federal prosecutors say the alleged would be assassin is believed to
be in Iran and remains at large. Prosecutors said, here's the beginning of the article. The Iranian government ordered an operative to assassinate Donald Trump before the twenty twenty four election. Manhattan Federal prosecutors said Friday the latest in a string of assassination plots directed at the former and future president in recent months. Prosecutors charged Farhad Shakiri with murder for
hire and providing material support to foreign terrorist organization. He is believed to be in Iran and remains at large, prosecutors said. The article continues quote. According to a criminal complaint unsealed in Manhattan Federal Court, Shakiri said during an FBI interview that in September he was directed by the Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran to surveil and kill Trump,
whom the charging papers identify as victim for. When Shakiri told an IRGC official that doing so would prove expensive, the official responded that money's not an issue, which Shakiri understood to mean that the IRGC had previously spent a significant sum of money on efforts to murder victim four and was willing to continue spending a lot of money
in its attempt to procure victims for assassination. According to the charging papers, So there's literally a Department of Justice indictments specifically against an assassin for attempting to murder Trump.
There.
Also, by the way, was a separate assass who was arrested for renting an apartment next to John Bolton, an Iranian assassin that was there to murder Trump's former national security advisor. And as I noted, the Iranians put out an entire video, a minute and a half video. It's an animated video that shows Donald Trump playing golf and shows the Iranians using a drone attack to kill him. All of that is is objectively true, and yet Tucker says, I've never heard a word of it. I don't know
anything about this, and I want to. I want to play this video right here. This is in Farsi, but but I want to play it, and then I'm going to tell you what what what he's saying. So give a listen.
I thought I'm going to meet this.
I'll tell you was.
I mean mckinzio in FID and.
So let's just be queer.
That's the IRGC commander live on Islamic Republic of Iran state TV and tell people what he just said.
Well, his name is Amir Ali Hajazade. He's the commander of the IRGC. He's on national television and he says, quote God willing will be able to kill Trump, Pompeo, General McKenzie, and other US commanders. That's on TV now. Tucker spent the entire interview denying that Iran was trying to kill President Trump. That's objectively false. Facts matter, And bizarrely, he said, well, if that fact was true, he thought we should immediately attack Iran and we should Knukran. Well, no,
that's not the case. We should not Nukran, but we should do what President Trump is doing right now, which is support Israel in taking out Iran's nuclear capability and their senior military leadership. That actually makes sense. And I'll tell you. The day after our interview aired, President Trump was asked about the conflict between me and Tucker in the Oval office. And here give a listen to the back and forth President Trump had in the Oval with a reporter.
You see the Tucker carlsident Senator Ted Cruz interview.
It seems like this issue on whether or not the United States should strike is kind of dividing a lot of your supporters.
No, my supporters are for me. My supporters are America first. They make America great again. My supporters don't want to see around have a nuclear weapon. Tucker's a nice guy. He called apologized the other day because he thought he said thanks and too strong, and I appreciated that. And Ted Cruz is a nice guy. I mean, he's been with me for a long time. I'd say once the race was over, he's been with me ever since. Right,
but very simple. If they think that it's okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, then they should oppose me. But nobody thinks it's okay.
This goes back to the very beginning and why I think Tucker was so hostile. He wanted a distraction from the fact that he had messed up with Trump. He had to call Trump and apologize, and he thought, all right, if I just go after Ted Cruz, maybe that'll fix all my problems.
I don't think it worked well.
And look, the reason that Tucker had to apologize to Trump is that he had been publicly blasting Trump. He said Trump was complicit in Israel's war, and he said he said what Trump was doing was not America first. And President Trump tweeted out and said, look, I'm the one who created America First, and I decide what it is and allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon that is not America first. And that's exactly what President Trump
said in the oval. You know what's amazing. We've laid out the facts that is undisputed, by the way, out of one hundred senators, all one hundred degree, that Iran is trying to murder President Trump. Even the looniest, even Bernie Sanders, even Elizabeth Warren doesn't dispute that Iran is trying to murder Trump because it's an objective fact. I've laid them out that those facts out repeatedly. You know, Tucker has not responded once to that. He has not said, oh,
I was that's wrong on that. He hasn't said, oh well, gosh I said, if that was the case, we should attack. I ran immediately in nuke them, which, by the way, to be clear, we should not. At the end of the day, facts matter, and the good news is the commander in chief's job is to be clear eyed and do what is necessary to keep America safe. President Trump
is doing that. I spoke to him just a few days ago and I said, mister President, thank you, thank you for standing with Israel, thank you for standing up for America.
Thank you for.
Defending our servicemen and women. You noticed Iran has not attacked our servicemen and women because the President has made clear the consequences would be massive for doing so. And President Trump right now is being strong and resolute, and I'm proud to stand with the President that he is doing exactly the right thing. He is embodying America first, and he's keeping this country safe.
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 the Ben Ferguson podcasts, and we will see you back here on Monday morning.