Verdict with Ted Cruz: Biden DOJ Spied on Susie Wiles & Kash Patel plus a Tale of Two Olympians and Dems No Longer Proud of America
2/27/202640 mincomplete
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1:01Wednesdays 8, 7 central on ABC and stream on Hulu.
1:06Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz.
1:09Ben Ferguson with you as well.
1:10And it's so nice to have you with us.
1:11If you're listening on the radio around the country, we've got a lot to talk
1:15about in today's show. And Senator, I tell you what, it's a very interesting moment
1:20with this new breaking news that apparently there was a lot of spying going on
1:25on people in and around Donald Trump, including the FBI director, Kash Patel.
1:30Well, just when you think the abuse of power from the Joe Biden Department of
1:35Justice and FBI could not get worse, it gets worse.
1:38We now have evidence that the Biden FBI spied upon, number one, Susie Wiles, who
1:47was then President Trump's campaign manager, and number two, Kash Patel, who is obviously now
1:51the director of the FBI.
1:53They spied on him when he was a private citizen.
1:55We're going to break that down.
1:57It is part of a broader pattern of the Democrats being willing to abuse power
2:01to do anything humanly possible to stop Donald Trump from being reelected.
2:06The good news is they failed.
2:09Secondly, we're going to talk about a tale of two Olympians.
2:13We're going to talk about the comparison between Alyssa Liu and Eileen Gu.
2:19And the two are about as far apart as they could possibly be.
2:23They both competed in the Olympics.
2:25They competed for different countries.
2:27And the media reacted fundamentally differently.
2:30One is a powerful, inspirational story.
2:33The other, less so. We're going to break that down.
2:36And then finally, we're going to talk about what is really concerning data, that Democrats
2:43are not proud to be American.
2:46We saw that on display at the State of the Union.
2:50But we're also seeing that in polling numbers in a way that is really concerning,
2:55and it points to a broader problem in our society.
2:58We're going to lay out the data and talk about what it means.
3:00I want to also take a moment and talk to you about an amazing organization
3:03that I want you to know about.
3:05It's called Compassion International. And I need your attention for just 60 seconds.
3:10Love, generosity, and compassion. We say those words all the time, and they sound good.
3:15They feel good. But here's the truth.
3:17Those words don't mean anything unless they turn into action.
3:22And right now, not later today, not tomorrow, there's a child in the world who
3:27doesn't know if they'll eat, if they'll have a chance to learn, or if there's
3:33any hope at all. And while we're all busy, life keeps moving forward, but that
3:39child is waiting. This is where you come in.
3:42With Compassion International, you have the chance to change a child's future, not just with
3:47words, not with promises, but with real help that provides food, education, and hope through
3:54local churches and people already in their community.
3:58Put your words into action and join me.
4:02Introduce a child to a loving Heavenly Father today at Compassion .com.
4:08That's Compassion .com. Hey, it's Ben Ferguson, and I need your attention for just 60
4:14seconds. Love, generosity, and compassion.
4:17We say those words all the time, and they sound good.
4:20They feel good. But here's the truth.
4:23Those words don't mean anything unless they turn into action.
4:27And right now, not later today, not tomorrow, there's a child in the world who
4:32doesn't know if they'll eat, if they'll have a chance to learn, or if there's
4:38any hope at all. And while we're all busy, life keeps moving forward, but that
4:44child is waiting. This is where you come in.
4:47With Compassion International, you have the chance to change a child's future, not just with
4:52words, not with promises, but with real help that provides food, education, and hope through
4:59local churches and people already in their community.
5:03Put your words into action and join me.
5:07Introduce a child to a loving Heavenly Father today at Compassion .com.
5:13That's Compassion .com. All right, Senator, so let's get into this first topic.
5:18It is a wild one.
5:19And every time you think that the deep state can't get any worse, then something
5:22like this happens. Allegedly now, the FBI...
5:25FBI under Biden was secretly obtaining, and I'm quoting now, Susie Wilds, that's the chief
5:32of staff of the President of the United States of America's phone records, including from
5:36when she was Trump's campaign manager.
5:39And they even recorded apparently a phone call she had with her lawyer while her
5:44lawyer knew the phone call was being recorded allegedly, but she did not know it.
5:49So you want to talk about attorney -client privilege, that is shocking as well.
5:52Oh, and then, by the way, the FBI director now, Kash Patel, yeah, they were
5:55also spying on him also at the same time.
5:58So, like, why not, right?
5:59It's Joe Biden's FBI. It's the corruption there.
6:02They were spying on everybody, including the campaign.
6:05So we now know that the Biden, FBI, and DOJ under Jack Smith, it was
6:12engaged in a massive dragnet.
6:13And it was a dragnet targeted at clearly the nexus of all evil, the villains
6:18that they were most concerned about, and by that I mean Republicans, especially Republicans who
6:22supported Donald J. Trump. They subpoenaed the phone records of 20 percent of the Republicans
6:28in the United States Senate, including yours truly.
6:30They subpoenaed my phone records.
6:32By the way, not just my personal phone records.
6:35They literally subpoenaed my office phone records.
6:37Now, these guys were actually not very competent with respect to me.
6:40They subpoenaed the general number in my office that has every person who calls in
6:45to complain about a pothole, to complain about whatever they're angry about.
6:49That's what they subpoenaed for me.
6:50So these guys are – let me just say, the Nobel Prize for physics, they're
6:56not in the running for.
6:57Not in the running. I love that.
6:58What is now released is that they also, in addition to 400 different Republicans, Turning
7:05Point USA, different conservative groups, they went after Susie Wiles and Kash Patel.
7:10Here's what CBS reported. Quote, At least 10 FBI employees who worked for former special
7:16counsel Jack Smith's investigation into President Trump's retention of classified records after he left the
7:21White House in 2021 were fired on Wednesday, multiple sources told CBS News.
7:27The firings came after Reuters reported that the FBI had subpoenaed records of phone calls
7:32made by FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles when
7:38they were both still private citizens as part of Smith's probe into Trump.
7:43The Reuters article quoted Patel, who alleged that the FBI had secretly subpoenaed his phone
7:48records, quote, using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire proceeds in prohibited case files designed
7:56to evade all oversight. The Reuters article added that it had not independently verified any
8:02of Patel's claims. Patel did not provide any evidence of wrongdoing by the staff who
8:06were terminated. And you go on to say CBS News confirmed with a source familiar
8:12with the matter that Wiles's record were reviewed as part of the documents case, but
8:17was unable to verify whether Patel's were.
8:20In the case involving the 2020 election, known as Arctic Frost, by the way, that
8:25is named after a disease that strikes oranges in the state of Florida, like the
8:30fruit oranges. Like, let's get clear on this.
8:34The name of the FBI investigation was essentially a pun on Orange Man Bad.
8:40This is a disease that kills oranges in Florida.
8:43We, the FBI, Democrats using our power, are a disease killing oranges in Florida.
8:49I mean, they're not subtle.
8:51If you look at this, what is interesting, as you mentioned, number one, the reporting
8:59is that Susie Wiles was on a phone call with her lawyer.
9:04Yeah. And the FBI intercepted the call.
9:07And then the claim is that her lawyer knew that the FBI was intercepting the
9:13call. Now, I've Googled this this evening.
9:15Her lawyer at the time, a guy named Hank Cox, claims, I didn't know, I
9:20don't know what they're talking about.
9:21I've never, I've never known of any client of mine being intercepted and taped while
9:26I was talking to them.
9:27I gotta say, my reaction, and, you know, you read a minute ago that story,
9:32it may not have horrified you at the same level it did me.
9:36As a lawyer, the idea, if I'm your lawyer, and by the way, if I'm
9:40your lawyer, I mean, good God, there's a lot of criminal conduct I could be
9:43representing you for. So, a host of, of, listen.
9:48I let you borrow a dollar one time, that's a retainer, is how I look
9:51at it. But, the idea for any lawyer that you would know law enforcement was
9:57taping your conversation with your client, you would be disbarred.
10:00You would lose your license to practice law.
10:03So, I was going to say, like, you would lose your license if you did
10:05that, correct? If you were a part of that.
10:06Yeah. So, before we, before we started recording this, I literally jumped on my phone.
10:10I'm like, wait a second.
10:11As a lawyer, you can't do that.
10:13That, that means you don't get to be a lawyer ever again.
10:16I was gratified, in a sense, I don't know this particular fellow, Hank Cox, but
10:20he at least is saying, this is a lie, I didn't sign off on it.
10:23I don't know what the facts are, but I hope we drill down and find
10:27the facts. Regardless, Jack Smith and the Biden DOJ, there were no bounds of propriety
10:34other than get Trump, orange man, bad, at any cost.
10:38I want to go to the politics of this for a second.
10:40What I find very interesting, Senator, about this story is the timeline of when they
10:47were doing this. If you are spying and listening in on Susie Wilds, for example.
10:53She was, in many ways, the de facto campaign manager for Donald Trump early on.
10:58She was going to be involved in the campaign in every decision.
11:01There was a lot of people wondering if Trump was going to run or not.
11:03This covers that time, and if you're listening to those phone calls, you're listening in,
11:08I would assume, to everything that deals with the campaign or campaign strategy.
11:11You can see who she's talking to, who they may be calling, prospective donors, people
11:16they may want to get on their staff on the campaign.
11:18That is interference in election, in my opinion, because you're spying on your political opponent.
11:24By the way, they've done it before.
11:25We know that. They were spying on Trump's campaign in 2016 as well, so I
11:29guess it's like, why not do it?
11:30And then you're spying on Kash Patel as well.
11:33Why would you do that?
11:34He was also going to be involved in the campaign and heavily involved.
11:37So those two things right there, the timeline, that's the part I think is so
11:41egregious here. It's like, hey, all right, who are we going to be up against?
11:44Well, let's just listen in and see what their campaign strategy is.
11:48Well, Ben, as you know, the third book I wrote was called Justice Corrupted, How
11:53the Left Has Weaponized the Legal System, and it traced the history of it.
11:58It started with Richard Nixon.
11:59I'm not a fan of Richard Nixon.
12:01I think the man was a total and complete crook.
12:04Now, I also think the deep state conspired against him, and yet, even as bad
12:09as it was, there was a limit to how much they went after him.
12:13And in fact, a number of people in the deep state resisted Nixon's efforts to
12:18weaponize government against his political opponents.
12:21What Richard Nixon tried to do, Barack Obama succeeded in doing.
12:27And much of this cancer in the government started with Barack Obama, who turned the
12:34machinery of the federal government to a weapon to attack his political opponents.
12:38He spent eight years doing that.
12:40The IRS was weaponized. The FBI was weaponized.
12:43The DOJ was weaponized. The alphabet soup, every federal agency, was weaponized to go after
12:48Obama's political opponents. Then, to the shock of all of them, Donald Trump gets elected
12:54in 2016. Now, we know that the Obama DOJ was spying on Donald Trump the
13:00first time he ran. And when he came into office...
13:04When he said that, everybody said he was crazy and lying.
13:05Remember the media? The media laughed at him.
13:08It was totally right. Yeah, he's deranged.
13:10That didn't happen. He wasn't spied on.
13:12He has no information to back this up.
13:14And then, sure enough, it became fact.
13:15None of them corrected their stories, of course.
13:18And when he came into office, a significant mistake President Trump made in the first
13:23term is he kept James Comey on as the head of the FBI.
13:26That was a catastrophic mistake, and one that he certainly grew to regret as time
13:32went on. I think the first Trump White House believed they could get Comey on
13:38the reservation, get him actually focused on doing his job as head of the FBI,
13:42rather than just being a partisan Democrat attacking them.
13:45That was mistaken. And from the earliest days of the Trump administration...
13:52Look, Michael Flynn, when he was named the incoming National Security Advisor, James Comey and
13:57the FBI were already going after him, trying to destroy him.
14:00They tried to destroy, for four years, the deep state, tried to destroy Donald Trump.
14:06They almost did. Look, Russia, Russia, Russia, the entire...
14:10They knew that was a lie.
14:11And it was a lie.
14:13It was literally concocted by Hillary Clinton's research opposition.
14:18And to be clear, it would have worked.
14:22It reminds me of, like, the old Scooby -Doo when the villain has the mask
14:26pulled off his face and said, you know, I would have succeeded if not for
14:30you meddling kids. Ha ha ha!
14:33But, like, that is the Obama and Biden DOJ.
14:39And to be clear, to put this in context, the Steele dossier, the FBI said
14:44we'll give you a million bucks...
14:46By the way, that's some good French.
14:47Can you say that word, dossier, again?
14:49Dossier. You like dossier? I like that you fling your hand in the air.
14:53There you go, the dossier.
14:54Dossier. Okay, point your pinky when you say dossier.
14:59I want some perrier with my dossier.
15:02The Steele dossier. Yeah, exactly.
15:03The Steele dossier. They described it.
15:06They said, look, if you can do this, it's a million.
15:07Honorary Mississippi boy, that's dossier.
15:09Yeah, they're dossier right there.
15:11Not them there, dossier. Dossier.
15:14Dossier. So they went to Michael Steele and they said, if you can corroborate any
15:18of this, we'll give you a million bucks.
15:19He couldn't do it. The guy who authored it.
15:22They then classified it at the FBI as user -generated, meaning it's fictitious.
15:28This is not real. They brought this to us.
15:31It's user -generated, meaning they created it out of thin air and they still went
15:35forward with using it as the basis to go after Donald Trump.
15:39The FBI knew it was a lie.
15:41They even said and categorized it as a lie.
15:44Look, 25 years ago, I was in the Department of Justice right at the beginning
15:48of the George W. Bush administration.
15:51I was an associate deputy attorney general.
15:53By the way, government is weird.
15:55Yes, I had that many modifiers in my title.
15:58Associate deputy attorney general. Kind of a big deal.
16:00That's what he should have said under your nameplate.
16:02No, no, no. Kind of a big deal.
16:04Actually, the more accurate thing is kind of a medium -sized deal.
16:07There you go, there you go.
16:08That would – I'm giving you Ron Burgundy lines here.
16:10Not nothing. I mean, I was not like a summer intern at the time, but
16:15not particularly a big deal.
16:17Keep going. I'm ready. But when I was at DOJ – The idea that the
16:23department would spy on the political opponents of the administration, like if someone had come
16:27in and said, okay, Bush, DOJ, let's spy on Bill Clinton.
16:33Let's spy on Hillary Clinton.
16:36Let's spy on this guy, Barack Obama.
16:38Let's spy on Joe Biden.
16:39Let's spy on Chuck Schumer.
16:41Look, there are a lot of Democrats.
16:43It would have, first of all, been laughed out of the room.
16:47You'd been like, no, okay, that's not what we do.
16:49And at a minimum, let's suppose you had really serious evidence.
16:54You had evidence of, say, some Democrat, I don't know, cutting a deal and sending
17:00$1 .7 billion in cash and unmarked pallets to Iran in exchange for a political
17:06deal. By the way, that actually happened.
17:07Barack Obama did that. Even then, you wouldn't spy on Obama.
17:11But if you had horrible evidence, the checks and balances in the Department of Justice
17:17to doing that would have been enormous.
17:19The entire system would have said, okay, we want a higher threshold.
17:23We want to be certain that this is not abuse of power.
17:26And what is amazing is during the Biden DOJ, there were no checks.
17:30Spy on 20 % of the Republicans in the Senate, good by me.
17:34Spy on Trump's campaign manager, good by me.
17:37Spy on Kash Patel, good by me.
17:39They were drunk with power.
17:41And the rule of law was utterly and completely forgotten.
17:44Israel is a very hot topic right now.
17:47And with so many opinions and emotions surrounding it, it can feel hard to know
17:51where to start. The Bible tells us, I will bless those who bless you.
17:56That isn't just a comforting promise.
17:59It's a clear calling from God.
18:01And today, with anti -Semitism rising around the world, that calling is more urgent than
18:06ever. At a time when Jewish communities are experiencing more hostility, more threats, and more
18:11violence than ever, Christians have a powerful opportunity to respond with God's love to say,
18:17you are not alone. When Christians choose to bless Israel, we're not entering a political
18:22issue. We're honoring the root of our faith and standing against hatred.
18:27Supporting Israel is more than a belief.
18:30It's a biblical mandate. And by partnering with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews,
18:35you can push back against darkness and be a light to God's people.
18:40Learn how you can bless Israel and be blessed in return.
18:43Visit ifcj .org today. That's ifcj .org today.
18:49Be a blessing. Live in the world.
18:51Answer the call. All right, Senator, let's talk about the Olympics.
18:55There were so many cool stories out of the Olympics.
18:57Obviously, celebrating hockey, that kind of took everything over when that happened.
19:02But there were some other really incredible and important stories in these Olympics.
19:08And one of them that just is something we got to talk about is involved
19:12not only China, but also America's gold medalists who won in figure skating.
19:19It's an amazing story. Well, look, we obviously have the incredible victory of winning the
19:25gold in both men's hockey and women's hockey.
19:28And I got to say, that moment was extraordinary at the State of the Union.
19:32It was wonderful to see the men's gold -winning Olympic hockey team there.
19:38The pride they had for America was fabulous.
19:40But there's also a story that got some coverage.
19:43But I think it's worth going back and focusing because it was a powerful contrast.
19:46And it was a contrast between two Olympians.
19:48It was a contrast between Alyssa Liu and Eileen Gu.
19:53Now, both are women of Chinese heritage.
19:57One, Alyssa, competed for the United States.
20:01The other, Eileen, competed for China.
20:04Let's start with Alyssa, because Alyssa's story is extraordinary.
20:07And I want to read from a tweet from a fellow named Afshine Amrani.
20:12I don't know who this person is, but I thought the way he wrote it
20:16was very effective. Here's what he said.
20:17The ultimate American revenge story.
20:20The script couldn't have written it better.
20:24In 1989, Arthur Liu fled China as a political refugee after the Tiananmen Square massacre.
20:32He came to America with nothing but a dream for a free life.
20:37Decades later, his daughter Alyssa Liu became the face of Team USA.
20:40But the CCP didn't forget.
20:44Before the 2020 Beijing Olympics, the FBI uncovered a brazen spying operation.
20:50The target? Alyssa and her father.
20:53The Chinese government tried to stalk them on U .S.
20:57soil. Intimidate her into silence.
21:01Pressure her to turn her back on the country that gave her family refuge.
21:05The FBI had to give them 24 -7 security just so she could compete.
21:12Isn't that amazing? She faced intimidation.
21:16She refused to be a pawn.
21:18She walked away from the sport for two years to find her soul again.
21:23And then she came back with a vengeance.
21:28Today, the story is complete.
21:30In a flawless performance to Donna Summers' MacArthur Park, Alyssa Liu just did the impossible.
21:38Olympic gold. The first American woman to win individual gold in 24 years.
21:47She didn't just... for a medal.
21:50She skated for the freedom her father risked everything for.
21:55She didn't just win for herself.
21:57She won for the flag that protected her family when the world felt small.
22:04That's what a patriot looks like.
22:06Now, I got to say, I want to give listeners some background into this show.
22:11The way you and I record this pod is we sit down right before recording
22:15it, and we go through all the stories that are in the news.
22:18We say, all right, what do we want to talk about?
22:19And by the way, the pod is not scripted.
22:21You and I don't know what we're going to say.
22:22We just sort of talk about topics.
22:24We pick a couple of topics and riff on it.
22:27And I want everyone to know Ben is like, no, no, no.
22:31I don't want to cover this story.
22:33Ben said, I hate Americans.
22:34I hate Olympians. I can't skate.
22:38That's not true. I'm a very good skater.
22:40And I'm secretly a communist.
22:42Okay. There we are. Okay.
22:43I got it. Okay. I see where we're going here now.
22:45Are you a good skater?
22:46I suck at skating. I'm a horrible skater.
22:49So my dad's, you know, from up north.
22:51And that was like one thing.
22:52They would take us skating his kids.
22:54And then we would skate on the ponds.
22:56We went to North Dakota.
22:57So yeah, I've been skating a long time.
22:58I'm an unbelievably bad skater.
23:01I basically wobble around the skate rink and hold onto the walls the whole time.
23:05It's terrible. Like four -year -olds come skating past me and are like, get out
23:10of the way. Like you, you, you terrible thing.
23:12I can, I can picture this.
23:14And I believe you completely that you're not overselling that point at all.
23:17I'm not, but let's just say for the record, I can kick your ass at
23:20basketball. And to be clear, I've broken your finger playing basketball.
23:25That is true. The kicking the A part, at some point we might need a
23:29one -on -one game just so the audience knows the score here.
23:31I'm just saying, give me six feet to train.
23:33Look, you've got mass and strength, but, but I'm just, I'm just saying you can't
23:38shoot to save your life.
23:40All right. Why did I want to cover this story?
23:43Look, some of it is as the, the child of a refugee from Cuba.
23:47I find Alyssa Liu's story inspirational.
23:51I find it incredible. Yeah, you identify with it.
23:52It's incredible. And, and, and, and listen, there's a contrast with her and Eileen Gu.
23:57Now, now I want to say something.
23:59So Eileen Gu is also of Chinese heritage.
24:02She's a student at Stanford.
24:04Alyssa's a figure skater. She won the gold.
24:06Eileen Gu is, is a downhill skier.
24:08She won two silvers. Um, both were offered the opportunity from China.
24:14The Chinese communist government said, we will give you millions of dollars to compete for
24:20China. Literally millions. You're not joking.
24:22Like some reports have been upwards of 6 million plus.
24:25Yeah. Like massive amounts of money.
24:28And, and Eileen said, yes.
24:30And Alyssa said, no. Now I got to say in the conservative media, there's been
24:34a world of hate pound, pounded and dumped on Eileen.
24:39I'm not in that camp.
24:40Look, she's a like 20 year old college kid.
24:44I, I, I don't have any hate or animosity to her.
24:47I understand. I mean, look, if I were in college, no one, there've been reports
24:51she received like $14 million.
24:53No one ever offered me $14 million in college.
24:56I, I understand that. And, and there is something of a tradition in the Olympics.
25:02You think about the NBA where you have all these stars, you know, Victor Wembenyamu,
25:07uh, in the NBA competes for France.
25:10Um, Alperin Schengen, uh, competes for Turkey.
25:14They have lots of people who are from other countries.
25:16They compete for other countries and no one is horrified.
25:19They're not like you're a horrible human being.
25:21Um, you know, let me, let me say, here's the difference.
25:24It's different. It is different, but go ahead.
25:26It's the reason why it's, this one's different is when you grow up in America
25:30and you do everything in America and you're a part of this country and this
25:34country supports you. And then because someone throws money at you, you defect to communist
25:41China. That's the difference between if you come into the league from another country and
25:46you play in the NBA and then you go back to like when I played
25:49tennis, a lot of the guys from smaller countries would go back and play Davis
25:52cup or the Olympics for their team.
25:54It was awesome. Like there was teammates of mine that made their Olympic team.
25:57There was from, you know, Kazakhstan or smaller nations and they were the best in
26:00their country. That's not defecting from America, right?
26:03But when you're in America and you're American citizen, then you're like, all right, I'm
26:07literally defecting. I'm going to go do this for China.
26:09And I'm, it's solely for a big payday.
26:13It was, it's from an athlete standpoint, I get the money, but it is different
26:17than if you're in the NBA and you're from France, like Marc Gasol and Pau
26:20Gasol and they go and play against the USA in that game.
26:23Like I have no qualms about that.
26:24That's where you were raised.
26:25To be clear, the Gasols are from Spain, not France.
26:28Spain, wherever it is, but you get my point.
26:31We Latins don't like when you call us French, like that is getting it wrong.
26:35I apologize to Pau and Mark.
26:38There you go. Okay. You are right that it's different.
26:40You know, Victor Wemenyama is French.
26:42He grew up in France.
26:43He like his whole background is that.
26:44So it is different when you go and play for the country you were born
26:48and grew up in. Both Alyssa and Eileen were born in and grew up in
26:54America. So that is different.
26:57That being said, there was some real vitriol directed at Eileen.
27:02And listen, she's a 20 -year -old Olympic athlete.
27:05I don't have anger towards her, but my view is simple.
27:09If you decide, I want to compete for China.
27:14I want to win the gold medal for China.
27:17You can do that, but you know what you're saying?
27:20I want 1 .3 billion people in China to root for me, and I want
27:25to beat the United States of America.
27:27Well, you know what? I'm not going to root for you.
27:30I'm going to root for the athletes that say I'm competing for America.
27:36I thought people were a little bit overwrought in condemning Eileen Gu.
27:41I don't know her at all, and she's a talented athlete, and she's a 20
27:44-year -old kid. But she made the decision she wants the Chinese to root for,
27:50and she does not want America to root for.
27:52And to be clear, when she made that decision, she's saying, I want the United
27:56States of America to lose.
27:58That's a decision I disagree with.
28:00And the contrast with Alyssa Liu, she was offered millions of dollars.
28:07Senator, I also think just a really cool part of the story is Alyssa Liu's
28:11father. We mentioned that earlier.
28:12But this is a guy that sacrificed everything, had to flee the country, comes to
28:20America. He is literally being attacked and still being hunted by the Chinese government to
28:26the point where the FBI is coming after him.
28:28And on top of that, stays focused to make his daughter an Olympic gold medalist
28:34while having to look over his shoulder to the point where the FBI had to
28:37give them protection. And that's the best part of the story as well.
28:39Like, they love this country.
28:41They didn't take the money.
28:42By the way, if they took the money, I'm assuming they wouldn't need protection anymore,
28:45right? Look, he was incredibly driven.
28:47He raised his daughter. She was extraordinary.
28:49And I will say one aspect of this story that I really like.
28:53According to the Internet, according to Twitter, apparently Alyssa Liu is politically liberal.
28:59And so leftists are like, you conservatives can't cheer her on because she is allegedly
29:04woke. I don't know if she's politically liberal or not, but you know what?
29:07I don't care. She competed for America when she was standing there.
29:11She had the American flag around her shoulder.
29:13She's cheering up as the Star Spangled Banner.
29:16She's cheering for America, and I'm cheering for her.
29:19And I don't give a damn if she votes for Barack Obama or Joe Biden.
29:23She's an American, and I'm proud to cheer her on.
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30:02This is a whole new chapter for me.
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30:28Senator, I want to go back to the dad, Alyssa Lou's father.
30:32He did an interview recently and it was just a little bit about the story
30:36of the political pressure that he was under from China, that they were under from
30:39China. And just to be able to get through this much pressure and still pursue
30:45the dreams of your daughter is amazing.
30:47Take a listen. Actually, ahead of the 2022 winter Olympics in Beijing, the Justice Department
30:52and FBI said that China actually sent individuals to track and target you and your
30:58family, including her, ahead of the Olympics.
31:01Talk to us about what that, what was Beijing's motivation?
31:03Were you afraid for her?
31:06Well, because of my background, because I was wanted by the Chinese government back in
31:141989, and after I came to America, I also continued to organize protests in front
31:22of the Chinese consulate in San Francisco.
31:26Some protests and protests and hunger strikes in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington,
31:32D .C., the Chinese government never let me go and continue to spy on me.
31:41And before the winter Olympics in 2022, I was, you know, I got a phone
31:50call from somebody who claimed to be from the U .S.
31:54Olympic Committee and wanted copies of my passport and Alyssa's passport.
32:00And then the FBI informed me that the Chinese government is spying on me.
32:09And, of course, I was concerned about Alyssa going to China to compete.
32:15You listen to him talking about the concerns.
32:18Yeah, I'd have a lot of concerns, the father as well.
32:20Of course, and listen, this man loves his daughter, and I've got to say Alyssa's
32:26Olympic gold performance, it was beautiful.
32:28I'm not particularly into figure skating.
32:30I've got to say she did a gorgeous performance.
32:36It was, there was a sense of joy and abandon in watching it that was
32:42really fabulous. And it made you really happy for her.
32:47It made you cheer her on.
32:49There's a great image I love, a photo taken from above as she's, like, spinning
32:53and looking up. And there's a level of just reckless abandon.
32:57And it's not reckless abandon.
32:58It's actually incredibly controlled, joyful skill.
33:04Yeah. But, look, it made you proud of America.
33:07And I've got to say, you would think everyone would be proud of America watching
33:10that. But what is amazing, so there was recent polling numbers that came out from
33:15Gallup that are highly concerning that showed that not everyone is proud of America anymore.
33:22And if you look at just the generic question, U .S.
33:26adults pride in being American, 2001 to 2025.
33:31So in 2001, 87 percent said they were extremely very proud.
33:40By 2025, that had dropped to 58 percent, 87 to 58.
33:44That's a massive decrease. And you might say, well, I don't know what's driving that.
33:48But actually, the second chart is even more concerning.
33:53Because it's not just everyone's losing faith in America.
33:55It's not just that everyone is no longer proud of being American.
33:58It's very particular and ideological.
34:01It is Democrats. It is liberals.
34:03And I want to focus on this chart that Gallup put out.
34:07So in 2001, 90 percent of Republicans were very proud of being American.
34:1787 percent of Democrats were very proud of being American.
34:21So there's not really a partisan divide.
34:23And by the way, 84 percent of independents were very proud.
34:26And that was which year again?
34:27Which year was it? 2001.
34:29Okay. So, yeah. Get ready, folks.
34:31You're about to. Yeah. Okay.
34:3325 years ago, it was 90 percent, 87, 84.
34:36So they were all clustered.
34:37They were all within a few points of each other.
34:39Basically, everyone, whether you were a Democrat or Republican, everyone, 87, 90 percent said, I'm
34:45very proud of being American.
34:47So let's fast forward to 2005.
34:50So 2005, 2001, 90 percent of Republicans were very proud of America to be American.
34:55In 2005, 92 percent of Republicans are very proud to be an American.
35:01So it actually has gone up a little bit for Republicans.
35:03What has happened for independents?
35:05So independents were at 84 percent.
35:07And in 25 years, it's dropped from 84 percent to 53 percent.
35:14So almost a 50 -50 split that you're prideful in this country and you don't
35:18have pride in this country.
35:19That's among independents. That's scary.
35:20Okay. And I want to say the next stat is even more horrifying.
35:24So Democrats in 2001, 87 percent of Democrats.
35:29I'm very proud to be an American.
35:32What do you think the number is in 2005?
35:35I think the majority of Democrats hate this country.
35:37So I'm going to say 28 percent.
35:39So it's not quite that bad, but it's 36 percent.
35:44I mean, it'll get to 28 in a few more years.
35:46I guarantee that. So it went from 87 percent to 36 percent.
35:53So the differential, if you're Republican, 92 percent of you are proud to be an
35:57American. If you're Democrat, only 36 percent are very proud to be an American.
36:02I got to say that is.
36:04I wonder, by the way, how much of that, Senator, do you think is our
36:06public school system and our universities, like training up an entire generation to be ashamed
36:10of America? It's indoctrinating leftists.
36:13And part of leftism is that America is evil.
36:17We are a colonialist, oppressive nation.
36:20They're taught that capitalism is evil.
36:23And frankly, look, going back to the story we just covered, again, I don't know
36:27Eileen Gu, but she's at Stanford.
36:30I assume she's been raised by leftists all her life.
36:33You know, she was asked, what do you think about the Communist Party committing a
36:38genocide against Uyghurs, having over a million Uyghurs in concentration camps?
36:42And she said, hey, that's not my problem.
36:43I'm not worried about it.
36:45I don't mean to pass judgment on her, but I'm just saying that is the
36:50fruit of leftists controlling our education system.
36:55That's saying you cannot have a view, is mass murder good or bad?
37:00I'm sorry, leftists say, no, America's always bad.
37:03You cannot have a view on over a million people in concentration camps, on human
37:06slavery, on torture, on murder.
37:08No, no, no. America's always bad.
37:10And look, we saw this at the State of the Union.
37:15The moment that I thought defined the whole State of the Union address is when
37:20President Trump turned to the Democrats and he said, okay, I'm going to give you
37:23a chance to decide right now.
37:24Stand up if you believe our first priority should be to fight for American citizens
37:32and not illegal aliens. And every single Democrat, all of them, 100 percent, stayed sitting.
37:41By the way, that image is going to be played on a million campaign ads.
37:45I was talking to a very senior official in the Trump White House today, and
37:50I was congratulating him on an incredibly successful State of the Union.
37:53And I brought that up.
37:55I said, that was the moment.
37:56He kind of laughed, and he said, yeah, I argued against that.
37:58He said, I didn't think it would work.
38:01I didn't think they would fall for that.
38:03I thought they'd all stand up.
38:05And he said, I thought it was at best 50 -50.
38:07And it's amazing, not a single, look, I'm not very good at putting myself.
38:11in the shoes of being a Democrat, but I would think...
38:14That's a good thing, by the way.
38:15That's a good thing. If I was a Democrat and heard that, I would have
38:18stood up and said, yeah, we stand for American citizens and not illegals.
38:22Of course. Like 12 seconds ago, that would have been what they did.
38:25They're all so indoctrinated that every single one said, nope, we're with illegals and not
38:33American citizens. That's tragic. Yeah, it is.
38:36Don't forget, we do this show as a podcast three days a week, so download
38:38Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcasts.
38:41And this Saturday night, we'll see you back here on this radio station next week
38:44and on the podcast our week long.
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39:16At Harvey Norman, now. ABC Wednesdays.
39:21The Emmy -winning comedy Scrubs is all new.
39:23This is a whole new chapter for me.
39:25No more sad sack. That's what I'm talking about.
39:27I want both of our sacks to be fun.
39:30You two idiots are perfect for each other.
39:31From executive producers of Ted Lasso and Shrinking.
39:34We were all a part of this victory.
39:35Now get those nachos out of the preemie warmer.
39:39Nachos! Feels like there's more applause for the nachos than my speech.
39:43The new season of Scrubs.
39:44Wednesdays, 8, 7 central on ABC and stream on Hulu.
39:48This is an iHeart Podcast.
39:51Guaranteed human.