Verdict Year in Review Part 1 : Border Chaos as Title 42 Ends, The Trump Indictment, & Big Victories for Texas

illegal immigration in the history of our country. As of right now, it is about to get much much worse, and so I flew down this afternoon Thursday afternoon and came to the southern border with three other senators, with Roger Marshall, with John Hoven and Ted Budd and the four of us wanted to see firsthand what is happening here.

We wanted to be here for the expiration of Title forty two to let the American people know what is happening and that the Biden administration wants this absolute catastrophe to unfold.

going to happen. And the Biden transition team clearly said, no, no, no, we don't care about the chaos and the anarchy.

been been with them at midnight muster. I've been with them as they're processing this deluge of illegal immigrants. I've been with them to encourage those heroes while they have political superiors who undermine them, who belittle them, who insult them,

and who deliberately prevent them from doing their jobs. And I have to say it is a miracle that they continue to show up to work every day to protect this country, even while facing a president and an administration that is doing everything it can to make it impossible for them to succeed at their task.

a secure border. You represent, obviously as the president of National Border Patrol Council border patrol agents who right now I'd bless all of you for what you do, because I can't imagine going to work every day knowing that the administration is working against you the way that they are right now.

We worked within their parameters and they still rejected it, which clearly showed to me that they didn't care about securing the border. They didn't care about the American people who they're supposed to be protecting, and so it was really disgusting to me. And not only did I sit down with the Transition team, I actually spoke with Secretary of my Orchis prior to his confirmation and discussed the issues with him as well. And so when you look at this, it's not like they can claim that they

didn't know. It's not like they can say we didn't know what we needed to do. They knew, They know exactly what they need to do. They knew what they needed to do. And so you have to ask yourself, are they doing this on purpose? And I think that the only answer is yes, they are. They are doing this on purpose. They are pandering to open border activists. Look at the West Wing, Look look at the West Wing. All of the political appointees in the West Wing they

come from activist backgrounds. Look at the Look at the political appointees in DHS. They come from activist backgrounds. So now you have activists that are running legitimate law enforcement agencies.

cameraman might have COVID. Now, mind you, these these Biden cages were packed wall to wall and as you'll recall, and Brandon, you'll recall, well, because you were standing there, I pulled out my cell phone and I began taking pictures and recording it. And the Biden DHS had sent they'd sent this little political operative who jumped in front of the camera and tried to block me. And she was she was the right hand to to to the head of CBP, and her job was prevent the American

people from seeing the disaster they were creating. And so you know, I kind of laughed and said, well, you're about to make yourself famous. And I think that that video that I took on my cell phone because they wouldn't let news cameras in, it ran on just about every news station.

on mats with with with silver reflective blankets. There was a rate of COVID positivity among the kids that was through the roof, and the Biden policies kept having thousands upon thousands, and ultimately millions of people coming.

what's going on. I don't care if the American people agree with me. I don't care if they come back and say that, you know, I'm wrong. All I want is I want them to have all of the information. I want them to be able to make an informed opinion upon all of the evidence, not just the rhetoric that comes out of the White House. And if we have that honest conversation, I am absolutely convinced that the American people will agree that the border needs to be secured.

And I am absolutely convinced that they will blame what is currently going on on the border on this administration, and that they will know that this administration is actually killing American citizens. Fentanyl poisoning is taking place. Seventy thousand US citizens are losing their lives every year to fentanyl poisoning. And it's all because the Biden administration does not allow us to go after the cartels.

not doing anything. All we're doing is actually aiding in a betting these criminal cartels with facilitating the transport of illegal aliens throughout the entire United States, the fentanyl that's coming in. We want to go after these cartels, We want to go after their profits. We want to stop sex trafficking. We want to save migrants' lives, and this administration won't let us.

your focus, and your mood. So if you're ready to fight back and not give in to the weakness that everybody seems to be obsessed with, then check out Chalk Choq dot com. Boost your testoster movels up to twenty percent over ninety days. Go online to choq dot com. That's choq dot com. Check out the mail Vitality stack and use the promo code Ben for thirty five percent off. That's right, you'll say thirty five percent off right now for life at chalk choq dot com promo code Ben.

There is so much this Trump indictment that needs to be broken down. That's going to be the goal today for people to understand this indictment. Let's walk through exactly what they have charged Donald Trump with and also your overview how serious is this in your opinion scale one to ten.

of there there. We talked quite a bit before the indictment about how I believed it was extremely likely that the Department of Justice was going to indict Donald Trump, that Merrick Garland I believe wants to indict Donald Trump. I think he came into office wanting to indict and to prosecute Donald Trump. But we also talked about the problem that he couldn't just base it on the classified documents because it so happened just that everyone else had

did the same damn thing. And so we discussed on this podcast how I believe they would really build their case as an obstruction case. What's interesting is they did that, but the bulk of the indictment focuses on the classified documents. So if you look at the indictment, there are thirty

seven counts in the indictment. It starts with criminal offenses concerning the wilful retention of national defense information, with holding a document of record, corruptly concealing a document of record, concealing a document of a federal investigation, a scheme to conceal and if you look at it all right, so counts one through thirty one, So the bulk of the indictment are multiple counts of willful retention of national defense information, and by the text of it, the terms of that

crime are serious. Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document writing, codebooks, sign signal books, sketch, photograph, photographic, negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense, which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the

United States or the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits, or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, delivered, or transmitted, or caused to be communicated, delivered or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer employee of the United

States entitled to receive it. Whoever being entrusted with, or having lawful possession of, or control of any document writing, codebook, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic, negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information relating to the national defense through gross negligence, permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or having

knowledge that the same has been illegally moved from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such lost, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer. The consequence of all of that is that you face a maximum fine of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars an imprisonment of not more than ten years, or both a noother thirty one

counts of that. If those thirty one counts, if Trump were can victed of it, and if they ran consecutively, he could be sentenced to three hundred and ten years in prison. Now, on the face of that, all that sounds serious, Yeah, except for the problem that this is a president of the United States. This is a president of the United States, and every president of the United States has taken papers from his time as president. That

goes back, I suspect back to George Washington. This is a general statute that if you or I are working in government, we have a classified document and we shove them down our underwear, like Sandy Berger, who was the national security advisor to Bill Clinton did. That's the kind of statute that can be used to go after you.

In this instance. The press has been breathless about the allegation that Trump stored classified documents in his bathroom, in his shower, and the Biden Department of Justice Media production office helpfully took a picture, which they conveniently released to the world because this is a media production. And I say that tongue in cheek. It should not be a

media production. But they are engaged in politics here. We've all seen the picture of the boxes stacked up in the marble bathroom with the chandelier, and there's something titillating about that. That's an odd place to store classified documents in a shower. Although I have to ask you something. Number one, every president has taken records. So just saying, oh, if you have a national security record, you're obviously a felon. Well, if we're going to lock up all our former presidents.

You know, I'm not sure Jimmy Carter is gonna last long in doing hard time. Bill Clinton, on the other hand, could do quite well behind cars. But secondly, okay, fine, you've got an embarrassing place for documents to be, which is a bathroom and shower. Is that any more embarrassing than in a cardboard box in a garage next to an antique corvette. Yeah, that would be where Joe Biden kept his documents.

a Department of Justice that's blinded by hatred. I think they've convinced themselves that Trump actually is Adolf Hitler, and so nothing else matters. If you're going after Hitler, everything is justified. And well, yes, Joe Biden did the same thing. Well yes, Hillary Clinton did the same thing. But they're not Hitler. This is how they're thinking, goes. They're not Hitler, so it's fine. We like them, they're on our team,

so it's not a crime if they do it. But boy, isn't this a good excuse to go after the devil? Looking at this indictment, I think the same thing today that I thought last week when it was announced. This is garbage. It's not the same kind of garbage that Alvin Bragg's New York indictment is. That's just legally frivolous. It's legally frivolous on the face of It's go.

United States. The problem with it is the double stand and the political persecution, rather than whether or not this is in fact a violation of law. The pundits on CNN will all say, ah, they've shown a violation of law. My response is great, Explain to me, why if you want to prosecute Trump, are he and Biden going to be sell mates? If you bring twin prosecutions for the same thing and put Hillary in, have the three of them, you want to prosecute all three of them? We can

talk about that. Now. That would be absurd, sure, but that would at least be consistent to say, okay, any of you who had a classified document, we're going to prosecute all of you. All right, that I could understand this is so serious, off with all their heads. But

that's not what they're saying with zero explanation. They say, when the guy we don't like who used to be President of the United States, who is a leading candidate to be the next president of the United States, when he does it, we will come after him and try to put him in jail. When our boss does it?

when you switch today. Patriot Mobile offers dependable nationwide coverage, giving you access to all three major networks, which means you get the same coverage you've been accustomed to without funding the radical left. Now, when you switch to Patriot Mobile, you're supporting free speech, religious freedom, the sanctity of life, are veterans and first responders, and more than just that. They are actually a one hundred percent US based company.

With customer service teams that make switching easy, so you can keep your same number you have right now, you can keep your existing phone, or for a limited time, get a free smartphone from Patriot Mobile. Go to Patriot Mobile dot com slash ferguson or call them ninety seven to two Patriot use the promo code Friday seven to six.

pieces of legislation. That there are a lot of members of the Senate that don't pass eight pieces of legislation after years of serving in the Senate, and I passed eight in a single day, and so I just wanted to walk through that day to give a sense of what can be accomplished fighting for Texas in a single day. So two of them passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee.

And as you know, I'm the ranking member, the senior Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, and there were two different bills that I'd introduced, both of which passed the Senate Commerce Committee that day. One of them focuses on AM radio and we've talked about that bill here on the podcast before, which is that eight automakers announced that we're pulling AM radios off of brand new cars and trucks.

I think that's a terrible step. It's terrible for a lot of reasons, including that it denies people disaster information in the case of a hurricane or a fire or tornado or some other natural disaster.

victory number one. A big deal. That impacts you. You have a radio station, radio show, It impacts all sorts of people on the radio, but it impacts up to eighty million Americans who listen to AM radio every single month.

of this as a way to silence conservative talk radio. Yes, there's no doubt there was a political side of this as well. But this other part was a safety issue when hurricanes hit, when there's natural disasters that happened and they're talking about it. I was watching the Weather Channel today as a storm was developing, this hurricane and strengthening. They were saying, make sure you have your crank AM radio. That is something that saves lives and situations like this.

And that's also why it was so important to make sure these AM raders because there are people so after storm's hit and even before they can got to their car, turn it on for a second, listen to the latest updates of what's happening. And that's something that happens, or there's crank radios or battery powered radios with AM it's so vitally important for safety as well.

Pay and all of us have had the experience where you go online to buy tickets, you pick out your seats, and you're really excited, and then you get to the final step of the transaction and you see fees that are just massive. The fees can be as upwards of forty to fifty sixty percent of the total amount you're paying, and you don't learn until the very last step when

you're entering your credit card. And so I joined with Maria Cantwell, the Democrat from Washington State is the chairman of the committee, and authored legislation that requires online ticket brokers to disclose the total amount of the ticket price with the fees up front, so that when you're searching, you can know, Okay, if this ticket's going to cost me one hundred dollars, I'm not going to think it's fifty bucks and get surprised on the back end as

a consumer. I'm going to get to know upfront and have the information to be able to comparison, shop and make informed choices.

must pass legislation so that if you can author amendments that get attached to it, those amendments get passed into law and sign into law. I had six different amendments that passed on this year's NDAA. So one of the amendments I had was very focused on defense in the state of Texas, and it was ensuring that B one bomber wings remain in service for at least three more years, at least until twenty twenty six until they're actually replaced

by newer B twenty one bombers. And this is critically important number One, to preserve the US's long range strike capabilities. But number two, many of those B one bomber wings are right now housed at Dias Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, and we're in the process of replacing B one bombers

with B twenty ones. B twenty ones are much more advanced bombers, but it takes time to produce the B twenty ones, and there's great concern Number One in West Texas that the b ones will be taken down before they're replaced by the B twenty ones, And so there's been a battle year after year to make sure that we don't decommission the b ones until we have B twenty ones in place to replace them. That battle's happened every year for a number of years, and I've managed

to win temporary delays in it. This year we got a three year freeze, which is critically important for ensuring our defense capability but also for protecting West Texas and

Dyas Air Force Base. So a second amendment that also passed that day is legislation that I introduced that focused on what are called spy fridges, which is there are all sorts of impliances that you buy, whether they're refrigerators, whether they're microwaves, whether they're stoves or ovens that are smart devices, and they have built in cameras and or recorders, and often people don't know when you're buying a fridge. You don't think to ask, gosh, is my refrigerator recording

me in my kitchen? And so I authored legislation. It's very similar to the legislation we talked about before the Ticket Act. It's disclosure legislation that says, if there's an appliance that's being sold to consumers that can record you, that has a camera either a video camera an audio recorder, that they have to disclose to you the consumer, Hey, your fridge is spying on you. And that likewise was bipartisan legislation that likewise passed on the floor of the Senate.

all of your questions. In fact, they do a free sit down with you one on one and answer all of your questions about gold. So all you have to do is call them eight seven seven the number four Gold ir A. That's eight seven seven the number four gold Ira and you can do a one on one meeting with their experts and ask all the questions about gold for you. They're also online at Augusta Precious Metals

dot com. That's Augusta Precious Metals dot Com or eight seven seven the number four gold Ira Senator, did you ever think you were ever going to have to pass legislation that would tells like consumers if their products would possibly be able to spy on them.

petroleum Reserve. And as you know, Joe Biden has sold down our strategic petroleum reserve to the lowest level it's been at in four decades. And the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is there to protect our economy, to protect our national security, to ensure that we have energy in a time of crisis, and Joe Biden's used it to try to temporarily lower gas prices right before the last election, to get a

political benefit from it. And so I teamed up with Joe Manchin and authored legislation to prohibit the federal government from selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea, not to sell it to our enemies. And that is not a hypothetical threat, because Joe Biden, in fact sold over a million barrels of oil from the us' strategic petroleum reserve to Communist China, and given

that I thought that was absurd. Joe Manchin and I teamed up together to pass this legislation and that was the fourth piece of legislation on the Senate floor that passed on that Thursday.

just how it works. So make sure you follow that as well, and don't forget if you miss some shows during the week. We have our weekend review on Saturdays as well for the highlights of some of the biggest things you may have missed during the week.