Welcome. It is a Verdict with Ted Cruz Weekend Review. Ben Ferguson with you, and these are the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week. Story one a big one. Why is the media covering for a terrorist organization Hamas and lying to you about what Israel is doing? A perfect example is the fake bombing of the hospital in Gaza that everyone blamed on Israel. Story number two, Donald Trump election interference. A new gag
order has been put on the former president. How on earth can he run in a free and fair election if they won't let him talk or defend himself on some of these charges. And finally, what can you do as an American to actually help people in Israel? We talk to someone on the ground in Israel and he will explain exactly what the needs are. It is the Weekend Review with Ted Cruz and it starts right now.
You know, I would like to ask MSNBC to put out a formal statement explaining how someone who's raping a little girl is not a bad guy, because that's apparently their position. There are no good guys and bad guys. You got to understand, because the Palestinians are living under the boot of the Israeli military.
That is a lie.
That is a lie, but it's convenient propaganda. This is the strategy. Push the lie, push the lie, put it out there, and the reason we've devoted this entire pod to this. More of this will come, much more. This is just the beginning. I'm sorry to tell you. Next week it's going to be worse, and in two weeks it's going to be even worse, and in three weeks it's going to be even worse than that. Because as this war proceeds, Hamas is going to succeed in getting
Palestinian civilians killed. They want to succeed, and when they have dead Palestinian civilians that they put in harm's way, then all the CNN cameras are going to rush to film the bodies and stand there and say Israel has committed war crimes once again. Now mind you. Their alternative is do what the Biden State Department asked them to do, do a ceasefire. Sayta Hamas, never mind, don't know, you can attack, you can murder one two hundred Israelis and
we'll do nothing. Because look, the objective of Hamas is the same as the objective of anti Semites in America, and it is to utterly destroy Israel. And these corporate media propagandists are integral in the effort to destroy Israel. You know, Ben, We've given several examples from MSNBC, from CNN, and from ABC. But I don't want people to think that CBS and NBC are blameless in this, because sadly, the corporate media, they're all corrupt. So let's turn. I
want to turn to two headlines from CBS. First of all, was the initial headline they put up, and it reads, Israeli twin babies found hidden and unharmed at kibbutz where Hamas killed their parents, allegedly beheaded children. So that's on October twelfth, the headline from CBS News. Now, thankfully CBS came back and edited that headline, and so the second headline they put up was Israeli twin babies found hidden and unharmed at kibbutz where Hamas killed their parents. Now
the second headline is fine. The first headline is part of a very deliberate propaganda effort to say babies were not beheaded. And you look at allegedly beheaded children and the point is aha, we found some babies, so it's not true that they beheaded children, because here are two babies who are alive. I mean that that is so mendacious it doesn't even pass the laugh test. And the topic.
How are we discussing babies being beheaded? It's not difficult to tell the political agenda of the headline writer who wrote the first headline. Yep, it is Hamas didn't do this. The Israelis are lying. Nothing to see here.
Cast down on all stories of atrocities you may have heard over the last week, allegedly right, allegedly.
By the way, that word allegedly sometimes they use it, sometimes they don't. When Israel strikes at Gaza and they're Palestinian civilians killed, twenty bucks says right now, CBS will not use the word allegedly, allegedly will disappear. Let's give an example from NBC. Yeah, NBC News, NBC News. Here's the headline, Conservative stoke fears of a Hamas attack in US.
No credible threat, FBI says. The post show how quickly the latest bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas has upended online political debate thousands of miles away.
Now I've been part of this debate online because I told the story you and I did this on the podcast of the Day. There have been more terrorists on the terrorists watch list this year that have been caught coming across the border in the last five years combined. So I guess I'm a part of the online you know,
the online political debate. By telling the facts that there have been more people on the terrorists watch lift that have come across the border have been caught this year, doesn't county the godaways any of the people that got across we don't know about then the last five years combine. And if you say that now, now you're part of some weird conspiracy theories group.
NBC went all in trying to cover that there's no reason to think terrorism will happen in the United States. By the way, among the conservative stoking fears are apparently you and me, because Friday's podcast we went into great length on this how this is particularly dangerous when you have Hamas calling for a global day of Jahad, and we've had two and a half years of open borders with hundreds, if not thousands of criminals and terrorists crossing
into this country. Illegally, and look the numbers that we have with people on the terror watch list, the numbers that we have of people from special interest countries. Those are disturbing, but it's the tip of the iceberg. What is really worrying are the god aways. We don't know how many terrorists came on the god aways. We know that the fact that they got away shows they're deliberately
evading arrest. It suggests that they're not blameless. They're not because if you're blameless, if you don't have a criminal record, if you're not a gang member, if you're not a terrorist, you turn yourself into the Biden administration and they let you go. So there's no reason to be a got away unless you're a drug dealer, unless you're a criminal, unless you're a terrorist. That's the only reason. Yes, that's
why people are got aways. And the number you're looking at upwards of a million and a half got aways. We don't know how many terrorists are among that group. But NBC is reporting as news. There's no reason to be a friend terrorism in America. Never mind the million and a half people who came in who could be terrorists.
Never mind the fact that if you were a terrorist, if you wanted to commit Jahad, there's an obvious way to do that you and I are not giving away some state secrets saying if you're a terrorist who wants to murder Americans, the way to do it is cross over our southern border, because these idiots in the White House will let you go, and they're not enforcing the border,
and it's not hard to be a got away. You can get away because the border patrol agents are so swamped with processing paperwork and changing diapers and dealing with the seven point six million illegal immigrants that they're not able to be actually protecting this nation. And mind you, the Biden administration has also pulled federal air marshals off a plane, so our planes are less secure because they're
down there doing paperwork as well. These two crises are intertwined, and NBC News does not want anyone to connect that our open borders makes us subject to a greater risk of terrorism. I believe it is indisputable. The risk of a major terror attack today is greater than any time it has been since nine to eleven.
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. This gag order that was just put on former President Donald Trump, plain and simple, is this election interference at its worst, but also at its finest. For Democrats who say, hey, we can shut up a candidate running the leader in the lead by I don't know forty plus points depending on what poll you look at, we're going to make
sure this guy can't defend himself. And what we're trying to do to.
Him, this gag order is blatantly unconstitutional. Really, it is an absolute abuse of power. Here's what the gag order reads. Quote, all interested parties in this matter, including the parties in their council, are prohibited from making any public statements or directing others to make any public statements that target won the Special Council prosecuting this case or his staff. Two Defense councilor of the staff. Three any of this court
staff or other supporting personnel. And four any reasonable foreseeable witness or the substance of their testimony. Now I want to focus in particular on two of them. Number one, the Special Council prosecuting the case. The judge is saying You're not allowed to make this case that the Special Council is a rabid partisan Democrat who's made a career out of prosecuting Republicans, out of abusing his power. And he's saying Trump can't make that point, but no, sheep,
rather the judge. But even more importantly, number four, Trump is prohibited from saying any making any public comments about any reasonable foreseeable witness or the substance of their testimony. So one of the witnesses is Mike Pence. Mike Pence is currently running against Donald Trump for President of the
United States. So you now have a federal judge saying you, the leading candidate for president of the United States, as a Republican, are prohibited by the court from making any comments positive or negative about Mike Pence, one of your opponents.
That's impossible, by the way.
You know, I can just envision if Trump participated in a debate, and I don't know if he will or not, but you can imagine him on a debate stage and Mike Pence stands up and a taxi and Mike Pence has criticism of Trump, and Trump turns to him. And if Trump were to follow this order, I guess Trump would say, I would like to respond to those comments, but I am prohibited by court order from saying anything
regarding the individual who just said that. That's absurd. That is right in the face, laughing at the First Amendment, laughing at free speech, laughing at the democratic process. Now watch and listen to what Donald Trump said in response to this.
They think the only way they can catch me is to stop me from speaking. They want to take away my voice. And a judge gave a gag order today. Did you hear that? On speech? Which I believe is totally unconstitutional? What she did. A judge gave a gagorder. A judge doesn't like me too much. Her whole life is not like in me, but she gave a gag order. You know what a gagorner is. You can't speak badly
about your opponent. But this is weaponry. All being done because Joe Biden is losing the election and losing very very badly to all of us in the polls. He's losing badly. But what they don't understand is that I am willing to go to jail if that's what it takes for our country to win and become a democracy again.
By the way, that's why people love him. Look, he's calling it out and saying, fine, you want to go there, you can put me in jail. I'm willing to go to defend my rights to that end.
There are very few statements Donald Trump has made that I agree with more emphatically than what he just said there that is exactly right. By the way, on the face of it, he argues violated the gag order right there, because he's pointing out that the judge is a radical leftist and is in fact one of the most liberal judges, if not the most liberal judge on the entire DC Court. I don't think the DC judge is going to dare to put him in jail like you could.
She really couldn't. That was my question based on that. Could she actually go and arrest him.
She could issue an order go arrest him and put him in jail. Part of me wants her to do that because if she did, he would immediately appeal and I am absolutely certain the appellate courts would reverse it. I put it at one hundred percent even for a hardcore leftist judge. She knows that she's not going to lie.
And why did she do the gag order, That's my question because if you know Donald Trump at all, you know he's going to push that button.
Because there's an arrogance to it. And I think what she probably will do is fine him. I think you will see her at some point. I don't think she'll take that comment. I think she'll try to find something that is really explicitly blasting the prosecutor explicitly blasting Mike
Pence or some other potential witness. And I think what is likely to that we're likely to see is that she enters an order finding him one thousand dollars or five thousand dollars or fifty one or hundred whatever some amount. And I expect that find to be appealed, but it will not be appealed with the urgency of if she issued an order for the leading Republican candidate to be incarcerated.
And the former president of the United States of America.
Yes, that appeal would be resolved within hours like that would be done on an emergency expedited basis, And even the DC Circuit leans left. I don't believe the DC Circuit look The Supreme Court in a case called Seattle Times versus Reinhart said that Litigan's First Amendment rights quote maybe subordinated to other interests that arise in the courthouse. For instance, on several occasions, this Court has approved restrictions on the communication of trial participants where necessary to ensure
a fair trial for a criminal defendant. But this isn't designed to ensure a fair trial for criminal defendant. In fact, just the opposite. This is designed to hurt the criminal defendant.
And I will point out in New York Times versus Sullivan, which is a landmark, maybe the landmark free speech freedom of the press case, the Supreme Court said that the First Amendment reflects quote, a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attack on government and public officials. What this judge just said is you're not allowed to
criticize the prosecutor. You're not allowed to criticize Merrick Garland, the most political Attorney general in America's history, for weaponize the Department of Justice to go after you because he's afraid you'll win the election. And he wants to abuse the justice system to lock you up because he doesn't want the voters to be able to vote for you. You're not allowed to say that because while you're running for president. I don't want I don't want the voters
to hear that. That's not about the jury pool. That's not about protecting the integrity of the trial. That's about I don't like anyone knowing what's going on. Now everyone knows what's going on. That's why every time Trump gets indicted, his numbers in the primary go up, because it's obvious whether you like Trump or don't like Trump. Even people that don't like Trump, they look at this and say,
this is garbage. And this gag order. I gotta say, this judge may overreach, and I think this gag order is overreaching. Now, the gag order, on the face of it, is not likely to be immediately appealable on an expedited basis. When the appeal will speed up in all likelihood is when the judge orders a consequence. If the judge ordered incarceration, If the judge says locks on, do that, I don't think she is. I actually don't. I think I don't know this judge at all, have never practiced in front
of her. I don't know her, but from everything I know, I'm assuming and her record indicate she's a hardcore leftist. But I don't think she's stupid. If you issue an order go incarcerate the president of the United States, lock him up, by the way, you want to talk about unprecedented, put it in handcuffs, put it in prison. Secret Service is coming with him, so in the cell, you're gonna
have Secret Service agents protecting Donald Trump in prison. If she issued that order, you would have an emergency expedited appeal, and my prediction is in less than a day it would be reversed. I actually think in hours. I don't even think it would take It wouldn't take twenty four hours. It would take a couple of hours. And Trump is exactly right. Send me to jail, you crazy lunatic partisan who is rubber stamping this abuse of power from the most partisan attorney general we've ever seen.
It's incredible.
This gag order is a sad moment in American democracy. It's a sad moment for American free speech. And let me close the podcast with this question. Can you name a single Democrat who's criticized the gag order.
Not a one.
So I can't name an elected Democrat, but I can, Actually, I'm I'm gonna close with this. I can name Erwin Chimerinsky. So Erwin Chimerinsky, I know him well. He's a very liberal, left wing law professor. When I litigated the case defending the Texas Ten Commandments monument in Texas went to the Supreme Court, we won five to four. The lawyer on the other side was Erwin Chimerinsky. He and I have done multiple debates one on one. He's a very smart,
very affable, very liberal constitutional law professor. So Erwin wrote on October seventeenth, twenty twenty three, an op ed in the La Times entitled a federal judges gag order against Trump may be satisfying, but it is isn't constitutional. And here's what Erwin wrote. Basic First Amendment principles cast serious doubt on the judge's order. Quote. The Supreme Court is long held that court orders prohibiting speech constitute prior restraint
and allowed are allowed only in extraordinary, compelling circumstances. Quote. What is particularly troubling about Chutkin's order is that it seems primarily concerned with protecting prosecutors and court personnel from Trump's vitriol. The law is clear that speech can't be restricted to prevent government officials from being criticized or even vilified. Quote. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the First Amendment
protects a right to criticize government officials, even harshly. Quote. There is no reason to believe, however, that Trump's criticism of Smith, his staff, or court personnel will prevent a fair trial. It is impossible to imagine that Trump's attacks will change how the prosecutors behave Irwin Chemerinsky is demonstrating principle. Here's absolutely right. Name one Democrat senator who's shown this principle. Name one Democrat House member who shown this principle. If
they exist, I don't know about it. Because today's Democrat members of Congress hate Donald Trump so much that the rule of law, the First Amendment, the Constitution, free speech, none of it matters. Trump hatred defines today's Democrat.
Party as before. If you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and down the podcasts 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. Lastly, for everyone in the US, it's going to be hearing this. Is there anything that they can do? I've had so many people reach out saying they want to get involved,
they want to help. What is it they can do? Obviously, pray for the people of Israel and those of the loved ones that still have their loved ones who are missing, that are being held hostage. But is there anything else that Americans can do if they want to be involved?
Thank you for asking and having had the privilege of representing America here in Israel for four years. I know that Americans love Israel, and I know that Americans loved being on the side of good and Israel is a great example of that. Here are the three things that somebody can do, and I just want to highlight for one moment, it's important for all the listeners to know that there were thirty Americans killed in this tragedy and
there are eleven Americans at least still missing. I remember a time where there is a submarine, a tourist submarine to go see the Titanic, and I think there were five six seven people on board, and the Nationals gripped by how many hours of oxygen that they had left. And it was a porn of watching these people die. But the world was gripped and prayed and whatever else happened happened. And I'm not belittling that by any stretching magination.
But I do not see the same captivation of America of eleven American young men and women being held hostage. The Red Cross has not been able to see them. We don't know where they are. The leaders of their organization fit in a major non NATO allied country, Katarre. They sit there in the four season villas and are living it up while they know where our young men
and how young women are. And I don't know why there's not a counter of how many seconds have gone by since their parents, if their parents are still alive. I've seen them last since America knows where they are. I mean, this is this is this is yes in Israel. But there are Americans amongst the hostages, and and Americas amongst the killed in action, and and and we have people protesting the streets rooting these people on that they are there. They are rooting on the killing and the
kidnapping of Americans. Let's let's I just want to be the crystal cinematic. Yeah. Three different things we can do as human being, certainly as Americans, we're highly influential and connected. The first is prayer to God in either sweet story plumbers, Let's make sure that he's busy twenty four to seven. If you pray, pray more. If you don't pray yet, start now. That's critical. Number two is Israel will defend itself by itself. It does not want an American troop,
never is wanted an American troop. It needs arms, needs wespons, and needs to be able to be resupplied, and it needs diplomatic cover to be able to continue to do this. The Senator has pointed out so clearly how fast the world turns against Israel. The United States needs to have the moral clarity to allow Israel to exercise this tumor along its side called Kamas as long as gi Iran. It needs that diplomatic space and needs the wessonry to
be able to do it by itself. The third thing is, look, all of my neighbors that I've said, have somebody who's at the front. I don't know how they sleep a night, which is by more than more than honor to be up in the middle of the night, to be able to be on this podcast through the very little bit that I can do. If you post posts, if you give charity, give charity. But whatever it is that you do, do it until it hurts. There are mothers who cannot
sleep tonight because their kids are missing. There are fathers who cannot sleep tonight because their kids are on the front and they don't know if they will come home. If we want to be with them, we need to be with them, and that means do something differently than you would normally do. If you normally pray for privates, pray until you're missing. The football game is Saturday, pray until right. If you give charity, you can apport one
thousand dollars. Figure out how to get two thousand dollars. There are ways that we can be with the people of Israel at this point in time, the Americans who are still missing at this point in time, in a way that God will know that I ain't willing to sacrifice in order to help share the pain. Pain can be diffused, pain can be shared, and so we'll ise, will win, the free world will win, America will win. We just need to do those three things.
So Aria, that was profound and powerful and and and and I agree with all three. Let me make a couple of observations. One, Uh, the fact, my friend, that you were a rabbi came through loud and clear when when you gave the the the wonderful advice if you pray, pray more. If you don't pray, start praying now. I I love that advice. And that's that's good advice to every listener. A verdict. I enthusiastically second that that council.
And and you're right in terms of all of the steps of adding the voice, adding the voices of truth that that that are really needed powerfully right now, you know, I want to ask you, I want to shift just as we're wrapping up to a broader policy question, because you are living in Israel, you're experiencing firsthand what's happening there.
But you also have been a very senior United States official, the chief of State to the American ambassador to Israel during one of the most consequential times in the history of Israel, and that was the Trump presidency. David Friedman was ambassador. We moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, something presidents of both parties had promised, both Republican and Democrat, and presidents of both parties had broken that promise, and yet we were able to deliver on it. And you
also were integral in a process. Just two and a half years ago, we were at a moment where where peace was breaking out in the Middle East, the Abraham Accords were being signed, and we were seeing Arabs and Israelis coming together in a moment that many of us were afraid we would never see. And it was extraordinary. And you played an important part in that process. And so what I want to ask you is a question
what changed three years ago? I remember standing on the south lawn of the of the White House for the signing of the Abraham Accords, and people were marveling, how did this happen? And now we're facing the worst war in Israel in over fifty years, And and and in your judgment, as someone who was intimately involved in the policy that led to the good outcome, what has changed to have led to this horrific state of affairs where we find ourselves today, My goodness.
Yeah, you know when your phone shows you like images that happen on that day. So three years ago this morning, I was in Abu Davi with our Secretary of the Treasury, Stephen Denucin, leading the first ever Abraham of Court business delegation Dawodabi in the height of Covid, who brought one hundred is Raey business people met and women com meet with one hundred Amarati business people met in women in
the middle of Covid. And had it not been Covid, they would have been hugging each other and said they were doing that stupid out boat thing which like was forced for people. And just three there's an l place flying from Israel to Avru Valley to the United Arab Emirates and five peace treaties in one hundred and twenty three days, and there were more to come. Had the Bible administration capitalized on that the answer and I will agree with how you started the show. Thanks God for
President Biden's showing up to Iszel. Thanks God that President Biden brought the carriers into the Mediterranean close in order to do an act of deterrence. I praise him. I thanked him, and I think those are important. I think that's great, But the three years prior to that is why we're in this position. When you appease Iran, that is a Neville Chamberlain action. Yeah twice Iran, that is the Churchill reaction. We have given money to Iran, We've
taken our plus off of their financial neck. There's the billion to tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars that Iran has gotten over the last three years. We're not used to rebuild their economy, their universities, they're their high tech sector. They were used to fund terror And when Biden decided that he wasn't going to use the words Abraham Aports, that sent the message to every country that joined the Israel in peace that leave the United
States of America do not stand with you. It left a vacuum in the region. And when the United States needs a vacuum and the region is not filled by Costa Rica, it's filed by China, Iran, and Russia. And the only deal that's been broken in the last three years in the Middle East that when we get five in one hundred and twenty three days, with ten other countries ready to go, we gain the playbook to the Biden administration, China brokeer a deal in between Iran and
Saudi Arabia. Now, why would Saudi Arabia, a chief relationship of the United States of America a wreached to a deal with their number one adversary, Iran brokeer by China because they didn't trust with the United States and America would be there for them. And our inability to be able to tell our allies concrete me, we will be with you. Create a vacuum. And when that vacuum exists, it's killed by terror. Under the Obama administration, who's called ice.
Under the Bided administration, it's called Cormas Husballah and Iran it's the same thing, the same radicals run. But it's because we are not precisive, we are not here, and we fund this. We fund this with our Iran deal that you fought against. We fund this with our hostage negotiations which I would call land and payments, which you fought against. But we nonetheless have enfranchised these monstrous barbarians
who direct, fund and lead these attacks. And we can call it Romas, you can call it Hugballah, but it's the Iran.
As always thank you for listening to Verdict with Center Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to dealt with my podcast, so 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.