Latest / The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson / Iran Deal—Don’t Give Billions to Lunatics who want to Kill us plus College Sports bill Gets BIG Bipartisan Vote

Transcript

Iran Deal—Don’t Give Billions to Lunatics who want to Kill us plus College Sports bill Gets BIG Bipartisan Vote · The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome.
0:00
Speaker 2: It is Verdic with Center, Ted Cruz Ben ferguson with
0:03
Speaker 2: you as well, And if you're listening on the radio,
0:04
Speaker 2: it's so nice to have you with us around the
0:06
Speaker 2: country wherever you are.
0:08
Speaker 1: Senator.
0:08
Speaker 2: We've got a lot to talk about in the show,
0:10
Speaker 2: and obviously we're going to start with that big issue
0:12
Speaker 2: Iran and the nuclear deal slash agreement, slash memo of understanding,
0:17
Speaker 2: slash whatever everybody wanted to be at this point.
0:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, our last podcast, we talked about the rumors that
0:23
Speaker 3: were swirling about what might be in the Iran deal.
0:26
Speaker 2: Uh.
0:26
Speaker 3: The administration is now released the memorandum of understanding that
0:29
Speaker 3: that that that has been signed, and so we know
0:31
Speaker 3: the text of it. And as we said the last podcast, UH,
0:35
Speaker 3: it was highly concerning. Uh. And it turns out every
0:39
Speaker 3: bit of those those rumors were were accurate and and
0:42
Speaker 3: and what was being circulated was in fact what was
0:45
Speaker 3: in it. I believe the President is getting very poor
0:50
Speaker 3: advice on this uh. And and and history teaches a
0:54
Speaker 3: very simple proposition, which is that giving billions of dollars
0:59
Speaker 3: to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is a
1:02
Speaker 3: very very bad idea. This deal in visions funneling three
1:09
Speaker 3: hundred billion dollars to the Ayatola and the Islamic regime
1:14
Speaker 3: in Iran. I think that is that that would be
1:18
Speaker 3: a very serious mistake. I think if the Ayatola gets
1:23
Speaker 3: three hundred billion dollars, that money will be used to
1:26
Speaker 3: fund terrorism and to murder Americans. And so it is
1:29
Speaker 3: very much my hope that the administration goes down a
1:33
Speaker 3: different path that they choose not to send money to
1:36
Speaker 3: the Iotolin. My view, we shouldn't send a penny to
1:40
Speaker 3: the Ayatola, and sending three hundred billion dollars would would
1:45
Speaker 3: be I think enormously dangerous.
1:49
Speaker 2: But before we get to all that, I do want
1:51
Speaker 2: to take a moment and talk to you about how
1:53
Speaker 2: you can get involved in help with an amazing organization,
1:57
Speaker 2: Americans United for Life and if you are pro life
2:00
Speaker 2: and you're proud to stand up for the rights of
2:02
Speaker 2: unborn children now. They are a nonprofit law firm and
2:06
Speaker 2: advocacy group. They were founded in nineteen seventy one, That
2:10
Speaker 2: was two years before Roe established the constitutional right to
2:13
Speaker 2: an abortion before fetal viability. They have been fighting ever
2:17
Speaker 2: since to protect the lives of unborn babies. Now this
2:22
Speaker 2: pro life group shapes laws nationwide. That's why I want
2:25
Speaker 2: you to know about them. They are a major player
2:28
Speaker 2: in creating pro life legislation and that's how we win.
2:31
Speaker 2: Americans United for Life they offer states model bills that
2:36
Speaker 2: can adapt and be adopted in full in their state
2:40
Speaker 2: depending on what their laws are, because every state is different.
2:43
Speaker 2: For over fifty years, Americans United for Life has filed
2:47
Speaker 2: more than two hundred legal briefs and helped create at
2:49
Speaker 2: least four hundred pro life bills and over forty states
2:54
Speaker 2: by writing this model legislation. They also consult with state
2:57
Speaker 2: legislators about what they can do and how to defend
3:01
Speaker 2: their own laws and other pro life statutes in court.
3:04
Speaker 2: And that is where your help is needed right now
3:08
Speaker 2: because of Roe v.
3:10
Speaker 1: Wade coming down.
3:11
Speaker 2: It's a state's rights issue, meaning every state is different
3:15
Speaker 2: and every state is having different laws that are needing
3:18
Speaker 2: to be done to protect life. That is where you
3:20
Speaker 2: come in and we're asking for your help. You've got
3:23
Speaker 2: an opportunity to overturn pro abortion laws and advance pro
3:27
Speaker 2: life legislation that attack the most vulnerable in our society,
3:32
Speaker 2: and together we can shape the future of our nation
3:35
Speaker 2: through life affirming legislation in every state. So what am
3:39
Speaker 2: I asking you to do? Give a gift of just
3:41
Speaker 2: twenty five dollars that helps hold abortion providers accountable and
3:46
Speaker 2: also helps to protect women and unborn children across the country.
3:50
Speaker 2: And now through a match, your twenty five dollars gift
3:53
Speaker 2: is doubled. So if you want to help save lives
3:56
Speaker 2: all over the nation, do it now. Donate at a
4:00
Speaker 2: ul dot org slash verdict. That's a ul dot org
4:06
Speaker 2: slash verdict sponsored by Americans.
4:09
Speaker 1: You noted for life. All right, I want to.
4:11
Speaker 2: Make sure center that we're extremely clear. On the show,
4:14
Speaker 2: you're gonna say that there's a chance we could send
4:16
Speaker 2: three hundred billion dollars that they could get their hands
4:19
Speaker 2: on in Iran. The pushback I've already seen, I've had
4:22
Speaker 2: a debate this on TV is we're not writing that check,
4:25
Speaker 2: so it's not accurate. Can you explain how they're getting
4:29
Speaker 2: their hands on that amount of money potentially here in
4:32
Speaker 2: this deal so that people understand, because the argument as well,
4:35
Speaker 2: Obama sent Pallette to cash, We're not sending any cash
4:38
Speaker 2: for American taxpayers, so therefore that that argument still avoid
4:42
Speaker 2: explain this out so people understand why this is a
4:45
Speaker 2: concerning moment.
4:46
Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, the folks trying to defend the deal. That
4:49
Speaker 3: is the talking point they're using as they're saying that
4:52
Speaker 3: that cash would not be US taxpayer money. Let me
4:56
Speaker 3: just read to you. I'm going to read verbatim from
4:59
Speaker 3: the agreement. Paragraph six begins as follows, The United States
5:02
Speaker 3: of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive,
5:09
Speaker 3: mutually agreed plan with at least three hundred billion dollars
5:15
Speaker 3: for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic
5:20
Speaker 3: of Iran. The mechanism for the implementation of this plan
5:24
Speaker 3: will be finalized as part of a final deal within
5:27
Speaker 3: sixty days. All requested licenses, waivers, and permissions needed for
5:31
Speaker 3: the relevant financial transactions will be granted by the United
5:34
Speaker 3: States of America. That is a kit commitment to ensure
5:38
Speaker 3: that Iran receives three hundred billion dollars. You know what,
5:40
Speaker 3: I don't care where it comes from. I don't want
5:44
Speaker 3: a lunatic, religious fanatic who chance death to America to
5:50
Speaker 3: receive three hundred billion dollars, whether it comes from US
5:53
Speaker 3: or it comes from some other regional partners. I don't
5:56
Speaker 3: care where it comes from. Giving people who want to
6:00
Speaker 3: kill you the billions and billions of dollars from any
6:03
Speaker 3: source historically has proven an enormous mistake. And I will say,
6:10
Speaker 3: look to put it in context, the biggest foreign policy
6:14
Speaker 3: mistake that that Biden and Kamala Harris did is they
6:19
Speaker 3: flowed over one hundred billion dollars to Iran. Iran took
6:24
Speaker 3: that money and they used it to fund terrorism across
6:29
Speaker 3: the globe, to attack and kill Americans. And in a
6:32
Speaker 3: very real sense, Biden and Kamala Harris paid for the
6:36
Speaker 3: October seventh terror attacks. Threw the money they flowed into Iran.
6:42
Speaker 3: The number this agreement is talking about is three times
6:46
Speaker 3: as large as what Biden and Harris flowed into Iran.
6:52
Speaker 3: That makes no sense whatsoever. And look, if you look,
6:59
Speaker 3: the single most consequential decision President Trump has made was
7:04
Speaker 3: the decision to initiate military attacks on Iran. And we
7:09
Speaker 3: have completely devastated their military. We've taken out their air defenses,
7:13
Speaker 3: their ballistic missiles, their drones, their manufacturing capability for ballistic
7:17
Speaker 3: missiles and drones. We've destroyed their air force, We've sunk
7:20
Speaker 3: their navy. It doesn't make any sense at all for
7:24
Speaker 3: us to now go and build everything back. What was
7:26
Speaker 3: the point of blowing it up if we're going to
7:28
Speaker 3: build it back. And the idea that we would have
7:30
Speaker 3: effectively a Marshall Plan for Iran is not remotely in
7:37
Speaker 3: America's interest. You know, the Marshall Plan. We came in
7:41
Speaker 3: and rebuilt Europe after World War Two. Look, if the
7:46
Speaker 3: administration wants to leave, we should leave. But sending and
7:51
Speaker 3: the agreement is silent, by the way, on whether that
7:54
Speaker 3: money is from tax payer money or not. It doesn't
7:56
Speaker 3: say one way or the other. It just says the
7:57
Speaker 3: United States will work with regional partners to make sure
8:00
Speaker 3: get three hundred billion. But wherever it comes from giving
8:04
Speaker 3: the Ayatola that money, I believe it is one hundred
8:08
Speaker 3: percent certainty if they get three hundred billion dollars, they
8:11
Speaker 3: will spend that trying to kill Americans.
8:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, as one person said to me in the foreign
8:17
Speaker 2: policy world, they said, if you would have gone to
8:20
Speaker 2: Iran's leadership and said, have a scuffle with America, but
8:23
Speaker 2: they'll give you three hundred million afterwards, or excuse me,
8:26
Speaker 2: three hundred billion afterwards. They will take that deal every
8:29
Speaker 2: single year because cash flow is everything to them in
8:32
Speaker 2: that part of the world, and what they use it for.
8:34
Speaker 2: As you mentioned, terrorism, Hamas has blowed. The list goes
8:36
Speaker 2: on and on. This is an insane amount of cash
8:39
Speaker 2: that they're getting their hands on.
8:41
Speaker 3: And understand the way this MLU is structured, there is
8:44
Speaker 3: an immediate unfreezing of Iranian assets. So what appears to
8:50
Speaker 3: be contemplated is somewhere between ten billion and thirty billion
8:53
Speaker 3: cash immediately flows to them. Now, mind you, that's before
8:57
Speaker 3: they've made any commitment at all on nuclear weapons. All
9:01
Speaker 3: they've committed to do is talk about nuclear weapons. That's
9:05
Speaker 3: the only commitment. There's no promise on enrichment. There's nothing. Well,
9:09
Speaker 3: they say they're not going to develop nuclear weapons, but
9:12
Speaker 3: there's no meat to that other than we will sit
9:16
Speaker 3: down and discuss that. And the agreement sends somewhere between
9:20
Speaker 3: ten and thirty billion dollars to them immediately upfront. I
9:25
Speaker 3: think that is that is a really foolish idea.
9:31
Speaker 2: All right, Sentata, let's talk about the straight of horror moves.
9:34
Speaker 2: This is the part for me that I actually think
9:36
Speaker 2: was the most frustrating. This is international It is not
9:40
Speaker 2: supposed to be governed or owned by certainly a terrorist
9:45
Speaker 2: organization like the RGC in Iran. But this deal now
9:49
Speaker 2: sets up that Iran in quote Oman, will be in
9:52
Speaker 2: charge of the strait. There's nothing in this deal from
9:55
Speaker 2: what and I've read it, unless I just completely misunderstood it,
9:59
Speaker 2: that says eventually they can't start taking tolls on this
10:02
Speaker 2: and using it and weaponizing this straight the same way
10:04
Speaker 2: they did when they at the beginning of this conflict.
10:07
Speaker 2: That is something else in this deal that was shocking
10:09
Speaker 2: to me. Break that down for everyone.
10:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, the memorandum of understanding contemplates that Iran would have
10:17
Speaker 3: ongoing control of the Strait of Horror Moves, and it
10:21
Speaker 3: says that that Iran won't charge tolls or fees for
10:24
Speaker 3: the first sixty days, but it clearly contemplates that Iran
10:29
Speaker 3: will be able to charge tolls to go through the
10:32
Speaker 3: Strait of Horror Moves in the future. That Iran has
10:35
Speaker 3: never been able to do that before. That is a
10:37
Speaker 3: major geostrategic shift. That would be a major revenue source
10:43
Speaker 3: for Iran and for the Iyatola. And listen, I don't
10:48
Speaker 3: think the Iyatola should be able to collect one penny
10:52
Speaker 3: for the free navigation of the seas Iran does not have.
10:56
Speaker 3: This is not Iran's territorial waters. This is free and
10:59
Speaker 3: open sea. And it is simply they're engaging in terrorism.
11:04
Speaker 3: You know, it's not even a toll or a fee.
11:06
Speaker 3: It's more like pirates charging a bounty. And look, I
11:13
Speaker 3: if there are voices in the administration who number one
11:20
Speaker 3: opposed the military conflict with Iran from day one, but
11:24
Speaker 3: number two once it started, immediately wanted to get out.
11:27
Speaker 3: If they wanted to get out, they're better off just leaving, yeah,
11:30
Speaker 3: than just pouring cash into the Ayatolla. And I will say, look.
11:36
Speaker 2: And by the way, let's be clear and Iran, I
11:38
Speaker 2: want you to understand. I was talking to a shipping
11:41
Speaker 2: maritime economist earlier today. He said, the amount of money
11:46
Speaker 2: that they could get from tolls could find terrorism and
11:50
Speaker 2: almost he said it in the way he described it,
11:52
Speaker 2: because there's no cost for them to do this, give
11:55
Speaker 2: them revenue.
11:56
Speaker 1: At a oil like stature.
11:58
Speaker 2: Because he said, look, with oil, you have to actually explore,
12:00
Speaker 2: you have to drill, you have to get out of
12:01
Speaker 2: the ground, you have to put on boats, you gotta
12:03
Speaker 2: ship it. You got to pay for all that. I said,
12:05
Speaker 2: a toll costs you nothing. This is pure profit. Every
12:08
Speaker 2: time a boat pulls up and says, okay, you want
12:11
Speaker 2: to say's passage or we're going to terrorize, you give
12:14
Speaker 2: us money. That's no different than a checkpoint down in
12:16
Speaker 2: Mexico by a cartel.
12:19
Speaker 3: And let me say three hundred billion dollars flows into Iran.
12:24
Speaker 3: That's what's contemplated. Under this agreement. Iran has the power
12:28
Speaker 3: to collect tolls in perpetuity. That would be billions more
12:31
Speaker 3: that would flow into Iran as long as the regime remains.
12:36
Speaker 3: The Ayatola and the Mullahs, they have not changed. They
12:41
Speaker 3: still chant death to America. They still want to kill us,
12:46
Speaker 3: and they will use that money. So for forty seven years,
12:50
Speaker 3: the Islamic regime in Iran has been waging war with America.
12:53
Speaker 3: They've been the number one funder of terrorism worldwide. They're
12:56
Speaker 3: ninety percent of the funds to Hamas, ninety percent of
12:59
Speaker 3: the funds to the WHO, these ninety percent of the
13:01
Speaker 3: funds to Hesbela all come from Iran. That money if
13:06
Speaker 3: we send that money, and by the way, the money
13:08
Speaker 3: is anticipated being deposited in the Bank of Iran, which
13:11
Speaker 3: is controlled by the IRGC. The IRGC is a terrorist group.
13:14
Speaker 3: It is designated as a terrorist group. And now this
13:19
Speaker 3: agreement contemplates billions of dollars flowing into the IRGC's coffers.
13:25
Speaker 3: And I'll say something else also, we can.
13:28
Speaker 2: Should just say this too that if you don't understand URGC,
13:30
Speaker 2: they're basically running the country right now.
13:34
Speaker 3: Look, if the Islamic regime remains in power, that regime
13:41
Speaker 3: I believe will continue to threaten President Trump and his
13:46
Speaker 3: family forever. Yeah, that is that they've twice hired hitman
13:52
Speaker 3: to try to murder the president. I believe the Ayatola
13:56
Speaker 3: with three hundred billion dollars, I think the result of
14:01
Speaker 3: that would be more Americans killed in terrorism. And I
14:06
Speaker 3: also this regime they lie. So yes, they've promised not
14:12
Speaker 3: to develop nuclear weapons. If they get three hundred billion dollars,
14:15
Speaker 3: they will use that money to develop nuclear weapons. And
14:19
Speaker 3: to be clear, the reason the reason I don't want
14:22
Speaker 3: them to have nuclear weapons is I think the odds
14:24
Speaker 3: are unacceptably high they would use those nuclear weapons. The iotola.
14:31
Speaker 3: The risk is that hundreds of thousands of Americans would
14:35
Speaker 3: be killed in a flash of an eye by detonating
14:38
Speaker 3: a nuclear weapon in New York City or Los Angeles,
14:41
Speaker 3: and I believe if the Iyatola were able to do so,
14:46
Speaker 3: he would That's the danger and President Trump. Look, a
14:50
Speaker 3: lot of the reporters have been asking, well, gosh, it
14:52
Speaker 3: isn't isn't President Trump just like Obama and not remotely. Look,
14:57
Speaker 3: President Trump made a heroic decision as commander in chief
15:00
Speaker 3: to take out the military to stop Iran from getting
15:03
Speaker 3: nuclear weapons. That made America safer. That was the right decision.
15:07
Speaker 3: Obama just flooded cash into Iran, and the Obama nuclear
15:12
Speaker 3: deal inevitably would have led to Iran getting nuclear weapons.
15:18
Speaker 3: But I think now President Trump is receiving bad advice,
15:22
Speaker 3: and I'm hopeful that he will choose to go down
15:25
Speaker 3: a different course and not not give billions of dollars,
15:31
Speaker 3: either American money or anybody else's money. I don't want
15:34
Speaker 3: people who want to kill us to have the means
15:36
Speaker 3: to be able to do so.
15:38
Speaker 1: Yeah.
15:38
Speaker 2: One of the other things in this memoryum of understanding
15:42
Speaker 2: deals with Israel and Lebanon. There are a lot of
15:45
Speaker 2: people that have really concerned that this would neuter or
15:48
Speaker 2: ally who is actually going after terrorists organization TAMAS and
15:52
Speaker 2: has bought terrorist fighters I want to get your reaction
15:55
Speaker 2: to that part of this deal as well.
15:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, look the deal. You want to know Iran priorities.
16:00
Speaker 3: The very first thing they negotiate in this deal is
16:04
Speaker 3: stop attacking Hesbela, the terrorists that are murdering civilians. Understand Hesbela.
16:10
Speaker 3: Hesbola is not a government organization. It's not a legitimate organization.
16:14
Speaker 3: It is purely a terrorist organization. They target citizens, they
16:18
Speaker 3: target civilians, they target women and children. They fire rockets
16:22
Speaker 3: into Israel routinely. And the very first thing is a
16:27
Speaker 3: protection for Hesbela in Lebanon. That and understand Hesbela. Yes,
16:33
Speaker 3: it's a threat to Israel. Hesbela is also a threat
16:36
Speaker 3: to America. Hesbela has murdered many Americans, and so protecting
16:40
Speaker 3: Hesbela in this agreement, I think is also counter to
16:44
Speaker 3: US national security interests.
16:48
Speaker 2: All right, so Center, let's move into this is something
16:51
Speaker 2: you've been really working on. This is the most like
16:53
Speaker 2: Jack bro I've ever seen you since i've known you,
16:55
Speaker 2: and it's really been fun for me because usually you're
16:58
Speaker 2: geeking out over like Supreme Court stuff. I feel like
17:01
Speaker 2: our friendship has moved to another level because now we've
17:04
Speaker 2: got to talk sports in nil so much and the
17:06
Speaker 2: College Sports Bill it is now reality. Let's walk us
17:10
Speaker 2: through how this was done and what it means for
17:13
Speaker 2: sports fans and saving many sports that we're getting canceled
17:16
Speaker 2: around the country that were non money making sports.
17:19
Speaker 3: So this week was a very, very big week for
17:22
Speaker 3: college sports because the Senate Commerce Committee, which I chair,
17:27
Speaker 3: passed my legislation to protect college sports, and it passed
17:31
Speaker 3: with a big bipartisan vote. The vote was nineteen to nine,
17:35
Speaker 3: so we got a bunch of Republicans, a bunch of Democrats.
17:37
Speaker 3: We got more than two thirds of the committee voted
17:39
Speaker 3: for it. That's really important. It has momentum now going
17:42
Speaker 3: to the Senate floor. I think it's going to pass
17:45
Speaker 3: on the Senate with a big bipartisan vote, and it's
17:47
Speaker 3: going to go to the House and President Trump is
17:50
Speaker 3: eager to sign it. Now, what's going on in college sports? Listen,
17:54
Speaker 3: College sports is in crisis right now. Every week you
17:58
Speaker 3: see another story about a program being canceled, Women's sports
18:02
Speaker 3: being canceled, track and field being canceled, Olympic sports being canceled,
18:05
Speaker 3: non revenue sports, tennis being canceled. And what is happening
18:11
Speaker 3: is is You've got total chaos with the transfer portal.
18:14
Speaker 3: You've got athletes transferring two, three, four, five times. You
18:18
Speaker 3: have essentially no rules on eligibility. They're all being decided
18:22
Speaker 3: by lawsuits. It got so ludicris You had the Brendan
18:26
Speaker 3: Sorsby case where even though he was gambling on his
18:29
Speaker 3: own games, you had a hometown judge say no, he
18:33
Speaker 3: can still play anyway. Now, thankfully Texas Tech backed away
18:37
Speaker 3: from that decision. I'm glad Tech made that decision to
18:39
Speaker 3: back away. That was an indefensible decision, but it illustrated
18:43
Speaker 3: the chaos we have. You have people that are twenty six,
18:47
Speaker 3: twenty seven years old still playing college sports, and twenty
18:50
Speaker 3: eight year olds playing against eighteen year olds, which is
18:53
Speaker 3: not fair, not right, and athletic programs they're almost all
19:00
Speaker 3: losing millions of dollars. Many of them are losing tens
19:03
Speaker 3: of millions of dollars because the cost keeps spiraling out
19:06
Speaker 3: of control. And ben if Congress doesn't act, I think
19:12
Speaker 3: five years from now there will be thirty to fifty
19:16
Speaker 3: competitive college football programs, basically a mini NFL.
19:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it'll be a franchise. If you're
19:23
Speaker 2: an SEC school you'll own a franchise.
19:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think all of the other programs go under.
19:29
Speaker 3: And what that means, by the way, that's not just
19:31
Speaker 3: college football going under. The way athletics works in colleges
19:35
Speaker 3: is football pays for everything else. And so if football
19:38
Speaker 3: goes under, it means those schools they lose women's sports,
19:41
Speaker 3: they lose they lose their entire athletic program. It means
19:44
Speaker 3: our Olympic athletes are just devastated, and the college programs
19:50
Speaker 3: where they develop their skills right now go away. And
19:53
Speaker 3: I think that would be a terrible outcome. And it
19:56
Speaker 3: would also be a terrible outcome. Do you know right
19:58
Speaker 3: now they're more than five one hundred thousand college athletes
20:02
Speaker 3: competing at Yeah, at any given time, yep. If we
20:07
Speaker 3: allow this chaos to continue to play out, hundreds of
20:11
Speaker 3: thousands of those slots will disappear, Those scholarships will disappear.
20:15
Speaker 3: And sports has been an avenue. By the way, million, Yes,
20:19
Speaker 3: you're men and women to go to school.
20:21
Speaker 2: Well, let's be clear. The five hundred thousand you just mentioned.
20:23
Speaker 2: This is the part I want people to understand the
20:25
Speaker 2: majority of college athletes like nineties, I think so I
20:28
Speaker 2: saw study you may know the number. I want to
20:30
Speaker 2: say it was ninety eight or ninety nine percent of
20:32
Speaker 2: college athletes do not play football or basketball. So if
20:38
Speaker 2: you think about college sports, it is all the other sports.
20:42
Speaker 2: The majority of them are not revenue making sports. Football
20:45
Speaker 2: barely is on most cambriages sometimes and depending on what
20:48
Speaker 2: school you're at, if you're at a basketball school, then
20:50
Speaker 2: that will be your revenue sport.
20:52
Speaker 1: Outside that, almost all the others lose money.
20:54
Speaker 3: Yep.
20:55
Speaker 2: If you don't fix this, everything goes away. And then
20:59
Speaker 2: many of those football programs at one percent of the
21:01
Speaker 2: student body, or basketball, which is I mean most basketball
21:05
Speaker 2: teams they have I think scholarships chords. I was it's
21:07
Speaker 2: nine in D one, maybe to eleven scholarships, I can't remember.
21:10
Speaker 2: They're always moving it around. But for men like that's
21:13
Speaker 2: not many people, folks. If you don't fix this, you
21:16
Speaker 2: have a university. Now how does it didn't even have
21:17
Speaker 2: an identity in sports?
21:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, look my philosophy at addressing this was number one.
21:23
Speaker 3: I didn't worry too much about the powerhouse programs, the
21:26
Speaker 3: big big programs. Listen in Texas University of Texas and
21:30
Speaker 3: Texas A and M. I love them both I go
21:32
Speaker 3: to games every year. I cheer them on their incredible institutions.
21:36
Speaker 3: To be honest, UTNA and m they are gonna survive
21:40
Speaker 3: and thrive regardless of what happens.
21:43
Speaker 1: Uh.
21:43
Speaker 3: They would survive the Mini NFL and then continue to
21:46
Speaker 3: win national championships. Uh, But I worried about all of
21:50
Speaker 3: the other programs. To be honest, if we don't act,
21:53
Speaker 3: I'm not convinced any other program in Texas survives. And
21:56
Speaker 3: if you can imagine at Texas without SMU, without without Baylor,
22:01
Speaker 3: without Texas Tech, without Rice, without University of Houston, that
22:06
Speaker 3: would be a tragic outcome. And so my focus was
22:12
Speaker 3: on maintaining the entire ecosystem. But secondly, my focus was
22:17
Speaker 3: not on the superstar athletes. If you're Michael Jordan, if
22:20
Speaker 3: you're Arch Manning, you know what, You're gonna get millions
22:23
Speaker 3: of dollars. You're gonna be on the Wheaties box. You're
22:26
Speaker 3: gonna do great.
22:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
22:28
Speaker 3: Ninety nine percent of college athletes will never play in
22:32
Speaker 3: the NFL, will never play in the NBA. But yet
22:35
Speaker 3: athletics is their ticket to college. Look, it was for you.
22:38
Speaker 3: Playing tennis is how you went to Ole Miss.
22:40
Speaker 2: And I'll be honest with you, I'm not sure I
22:42
Speaker 2: would have gone to college if it wasn't for having
22:46
Speaker 2: the scholarship which came through tennis to pay for college.
22:49
Speaker 2: My family did not have a lot of means, and
22:52
Speaker 2: my dad was the first to admit and it was like,
22:54
Speaker 2: if you want to go to college, if you want
22:56
Speaker 2: to go to good school, you're gonna have to get
22:58
Speaker 2: there and earn. It was my way in. It wasn't
23:01
Speaker 2: going to be the academic road, and that's another avenue
23:03
Speaker 2: you can go, but sports was, and for many of
23:06
Speaker 2: my friends it was a savior to a better life afterwards,
23:10
Speaker 2: a better member of society. By the way, we pay
23:13
Speaker 2: a lot more taxes when you're successful, so it's a
23:15
Speaker 2: great reinvestment in the country. From that standpoint as well,
23:18
Speaker 2: you want your kids to go to college. But for
23:19
Speaker 2: so many I had roommates, they would have never gotten
23:22
Speaker 2: into college if it wasn't and gotten their family. Many
23:25
Speaker 2: I had two different roommates they were the first kid
23:28
Speaker 2: in their families to ever go to college. It completely
23:31
Speaker 2: changed the trajectory of their family tree. And it was
23:33
Speaker 2: because of athletics.
23:35
Speaker 3: Well, and some people have said, well, why is Congress
23:38
Speaker 3: getting involved in college sports. And the reason is it's
23:41
Speaker 3: federal laws that Congress has passed that created this chaos.
23:45
Speaker 3: It's why all of the rules got thrown out because
23:48
Speaker 3: they're being sued under existing federal law. And every rule
23:51
Speaker 3: keeps getting thrown out, and so Congress created the problem,
23:55
Speaker 3: which means only Congress can fix it, because only Congress
23:58
Speaker 3: can can can alter that federal law. And if we
24:01
Speaker 3: don't act, we can see the crisis unfolding around us
24:05
Speaker 3: and for millions of young men and women. Many college
24:09
Speaker 3: athletes are coming from economically disadvantaged circumstances. Many of them
24:13
Speaker 3: are African American or Hispanic. Over years and decades, we're
24:18
Speaker 3: talking about millions of young men and women who this
24:21
Speaker 3: may be their only path to go to a going
24:23
Speaker 3: to college and getting an education, but b learning the
24:27
Speaker 3: disciplines that come from being in organized sports of teamwork
24:31
Speaker 3: and hard work and discipline and sportsmanship. And look, I
24:35
Speaker 3: didn't have the skills to play college sports. I would
24:37
Speaker 3: have loved to, but I played high school sports and
24:39
Speaker 3: it was you know, being on I played basketball and
24:41
Speaker 3: football and soccer, and being on a team in high school.
24:44
Speaker 3: Those are really important skills and it's amazing I actually
24:47
Speaker 3: asked this at our Senate Republican lunch. I said, all right,
24:49
Speaker 3: how many people around this table played college sports? And
24:53
Speaker 3: I would say about twenty percent of the Republicans in
24:57
Speaker 3: the Senate raised their hand and they were college athletes.
24:59
Speaker 3: I mean, that's true, and that's true. You find that
25:01
Speaker 3: with CEOs, you find that the discipline and nobody in
25:05
Speaker 3: the Senate played professional sports, but the discipline of and
25:10
Speaker 3: the skills you learn set you up for success in life.
25:14
Speaker 2: Let me ask you one final question on this. Who
25:16
Speaker 2: was behind this that surprised you the most? And Nick
25:19
Speaker 2: Saban was one that I was excited to see that
25:21
Speaker 2: the African American University of Memphis and my hometown football coach,
25:24
Speaker 2: you got behind this and had some great testimony there
25:27
Speaker 2: in front of you.
25:28
Speaker 1: Guys. I was proud of that as well. But who
25:30
Speaker 1: shocked you that was behind this?
25:32
Speaker 3: So the support we've seen has been overwhelming. Twenty four
25:35
Speaker 3: conferences have endorsed this bill. They represent those conferences represent
25:41
Speaker 3: over two hundred different colleges and universities are enthusiastically supporting
25:45
Speaker 3: the bill. The NFL endorsed the bill, the NBA endorsed
25:48
Speaker 3: the bill. Major League Baseball endorsed the bill. NFL Players
25:52
Speaker 3: Association endorsed the bill, the NBA Players Association endorsed the bill.
25:57
Speaker 3: The College Football Association endorse the bill. We've had Nick
26:01
Speaker 3: Saban has endorsed it. John Calipari led over one hundred
26:05
Speaker 3: college coaches who've endorsed the bill. The US Olympic Committee
26:09
Speaker 3: endorse the bill. So we've seen just enormous support. And
26:15
Speaker 3: I will say the primary opposition came from the leadership
26:19
Speaker 3: of the Big Ten and the SEC. And look, the
26:22
Speaker 3: SEC is really important in Texas. Obviously, UTA and M
26:25
Speaker 3: I think they're great. If Congress doesn't act, I believe
26:31
Speaker 3: the SEC and Big Ten want to create a super
26:33
Speaker 3: league where they're the only football that exists and everyone.
26:36
Speaker 1: Else goes out of bill.
26:36
Speaker 2: Most billion dollar franchise organizations, that's what they would.
26:39
Speaker 3: Have, and that is a terrible outcome. We explicitly prohibit
26:43
Speaker 3: a super league in the bill because I want to
26:45
Speaker 3: keep all the other programs alive. That's where the resistance
26:49
Speaker 3: has come from. I think we're going to end up
26:51
Speaker 3: having a big, big, bipartisan vote on the Senate floor.
26:55
Speaker 3: My objective is to do this, get it done, get
26:57
Speaker 3: it passed. The President's eager to sign it and do
27:00
Speaker 3: all of that before school starts this fall.
27:03
Speaker 2: I want you to pause what you're doing for just
27:06
Speaker 2: one minute, and I want you to hear about Alejandra.
27:09
Speaker 2: She lives in a remote community with very few resources
27:12
Speaker 2: and little to no healthcare. So when Alexandra gets sick,
27:17
Speaker 2: her parents have no real options, no doctors in their community,
27:22
Speaker 2: and no money for real medical care. By the third day,
27:26
Speaker 2: her body was shutting down. She woke up and just
27:29
Speaker 2: long enough to tell her mom, I can't take the
27:32
Speaker 2: pain anymore. I can't keep going. Her parents drove hours
27:37
Speaker 2: to find a doctor who tried everything, but she needed
27:40
Speaker 2: a private hospital and that was impossible for her family
27:44
Speaker 2: to afford. And that is when Compassion Internationals stepped in.
27:49
Speaker 2: Now through Compassion Alejandra was treated and against all odds,
27:54
Speaker 2: she survived. She lived because someone just like you took
27:58
Speaker 2: action right now. Unfortunately, there are children just like Alejandra
28:03
Speaker 2: who won't survive unless someone like you steps in. Compassion
28:08
Speaker 2: International partners with local churches, providing children with the support
28:13
Speaker 2: that they need, critical medical care, plus food, education and
28:18
Speaker 2: the hope of the gospel, all in Jesus's name. So
28:23
Speaker 2: help a child just like Alejandra. Today you can visit
28:27
Speaker 2: Compassion dot com. That's Compassion dot com.
28:31
Speaker 1: Sena.
28:31
Speaker 2: We've been talking about sports. You had a really amazing
28:34
Speaker 2: experience this last week. You got to go to the
28:36
Speaker 2: UFC fight at the White House. That fight was incredible.
28:40
Speaker 2: It's also turned into a national security issue that we
28:42
Speaker 2: found out about after that fight, which is really interesting.
28:45
Speaker 2: And some of the people that are getting arrested they
28:47
Speaker 2: were a legal immigrants.
28:48
Speaker 1: Shocker there.
28:50
Speaker 3: So look, I will say Sunday, the UFC fight at
28:53
Speaker 3: the White House was absolutely surreal. It was an amazing day.
28:56
Speaker 3: I was there for the fight. The President invited me.
28:58
Speaker 3: I appreciated the President inviting me. It was number one.
29:03
Speaker 3: It was great fights and and and UFC fight. I've
29:06
Speaker 3: been to one one previously which I went with President
29:09
Speaker 3: Trump and and in Miami, and that was It's amazing.
29:13
Speaker 3: It's it's incredibly violent, but but the the athletes are
29:16
Speaker 3: really skilled. The fight. The fighters are like unbelievably skilled.
29:20
Speaker 2: Uh.
29:21
Speaker 3: And there were a whole bunch of fights through throughout
29:23
Speaker 3: the night. I gotta admit, the whole thing was surreal.
29:26
Speaker 3: As you're looking around going wait, we're on the South
29:28
Speaker 3: lawn of the White House. The White House was there
29:30
Speaker 3: right there. We're like looking over and it was the.
29:34
Speaker 1: Fighters are coming out of the White House.
29:35
Speaker 2: That was the part on TV that I think everybody
29:37
Speaker 2: was like, wait, their dressing room is like the White House.
29:40
Speaker 1: It was, which is pretty awesome.
29:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, it was really really cool. It was also interesting, like, uh,
29:47
Speaker 3: you know, the people watching there was was very interesting.
29:50
Speaker 3: Like Mark Zuckerberg was sitting not far from me, and
29:52
Speaker 3: it was interesting. He knows many of the fighters, like
29:55
Speaker 3: like like they would come and and and they bear
29:57
Speaker 3: hug because he's into mm A. But that was kind
30:00
Speaker 3: of interesting. And I was also sitting near Jim Jordan
30:03
Speaker 3: and near Dave McCormick, and they knew a number of
30:06
Speaker 3: the fighters because you know, look, Jim is a Hall
30:09
Speaker 3: of Fame college wrestler and McCormick was captain the wrestling
30:13
Speaker 3: team at West Point, so both of them know the
30:15
Speaker 3: wrestling world. That was I don't know the fighters, but
30:19
Speaker 3: it was interesting to see that those three guys did.
30:22
Speaker 3: The whole thing was an amazing night. And by the way,
30:25
Speaker 3: there's like an eighty percent chance of rain. Yeah, and
30:29
Speaker 3: miraculously we did not get rained out. I talked to
30:32
Speaker 3: Dana White, who was a buddy of mine, and put
30:34
Speaker 3: the whole thing on. And by the way, we had
30:35
Speaker 3: Dana White on Verdicts. You can go listen to the
30:38
Speaker 3: podcast we did with him. But there was a huge
30:41
Speaker 3: storm that was going and I called Dana afterwards and
30:43
Speaker 3: congratulated and me. He said, yeah, it was like the
30:45
Speaker 3: hand of God just parted the storm and it went
30:49
Speaker 3: to the White House, went around the White House, and
30:51
Speaker 3: it was a gorgeous night. So it was I it
30:56
Speaker 3: was a wonderful And to have the fighter jets flying
30:59
Speaker 3: over the World House, I mean, it was a great
31:02
Speaker 3: celebration of America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday was really cool.
31:06
Speaker 3: But then afterwards, the day later, the news broke that
31:09
Speaker 3: the FBI stopped a terror plot, a really elaborate terror
31:15
Speaker 3: plot that had been planning to use drones with explosives, yeah,
31:20
Speaker 3: to kill people at the fight, and then to drive
31:24
Speaker 3: people out into a public square where they were going
31:26
Speaker 3: to have snipers with rifles to just shoot the people there.
31:30
Speaker 3: And you know, one of the participants said that his
31:34
Speaker 3: objective was to kill capitalists, billionaires and people who received
31:39
Speaker 3: donations from APAC, And I will say. One of my colleagues,
31:43
Speaker 3: a Republican who is quite wealthy, I mentioned that to
31:46
Speaker 3: him and he's like, oh crap, I'm o for three.
31:49
Speaker 1: And I yes, that's funny.
31:54
Speaker 3: But look, this could have been a horrific terror attack
31:58
Speaker 3: and it was because the mom of one of these
32:03
Speaker 3: would be criminals called the FBI and and and.
32:06
Speaker 2: So God bless any parent that tim is in their
32:08
Speaker 2: own kid like that is such a I just I
32:11
Speaker 2: mean this as a parent, and I think it we should.
32:14
Speaker 2: We should praise any parent. We've had parents have stopped
32:17
Speaker 2: their kids from doing school shootings. We have had parents
32:20
Speaker 2: in this as a tearis tech. We've have other parents
32:22
Speaker 2: who done the same thing. I mean this so sincerely.
32:26
Speaker 2: If you are a parent and you're dealing with a kid,
32:28
Speaker 2: whether it's mental health issues or just pure hatred in
32:32
Speaker 2: this way, and you do that to your own kid,
32:34
Speaker 2: knowing that your child, you're sending them to prison for
32:37
Speaker 2: probably a very long time. By whistleblowing and warning law enforcement,
32:42
Speaker 2: you are a hero in my opinion, in that moment.
32:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, it's a horrible situation for any parent to
32:48
Speaker 3: be in. You know, the the dad of of the
32:52
Speaker 3: monster who killed our friend Charlie Kirk, Yeah, turned his
32:55
Speaker 3: son in, well, convinced his son to turn himself in.
32:59
Speaker 3: So but look, it's a nightmare for any parent. But
33:03
Speaker 3: in this instance, the momsar son buying guns and ammunition
33:06
Speaker 3: and planning a mass killing event, and she acted and
33:11
Speaker 3: that alerted the FBI to this entire plot. Now the
33:14
Speaker 3: news is broken. I'm going to read the headline from
33:17
Speaker 3: Fox News. White House UFC terror plot ringleader is Mexican
33:22
Speaker 3: illegal immigrant DHS confirmed. And here's what Fox reported. Abraham Alvarez,
33:28
Speaker 3: identified in federal documents as the alleged ringleader of a
33:32
Speaker 3: plot to carry out a mass casualty event at the
33:34
Speaker 3: UFC White House event on June fourteenth, is an illegal
33:38
Speaker 3: immigrant from Mexico who overstayed his visa. According to Homeland
33:42
Speaker 3: Security information, Alvarez came to the United States as a
33:46
Speaker 3: child and was granted by the Obama administration in twenty
33:51
Speaker 3: fourteen deportation relief through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival
33:56
Speaker 3: DHAKA program after he failed to leave the country when
34:00
Speaker 3: his B two visa expired in two thousand and one.
34:05
Speaker 3: Five co conspirators were arrested so far this month for
34:08
Speaker 3: allegedly planning with others to use drones equipped with explosives
34:12
Speaker 3: to force an evacuation from the White House event on Sunday,
34:16
Speaker 3: and in the ensuing chaos, a team of snipers was
34:19
Speaker 3: allegedly set to open fire on the crowds. Federal investigators
34:22
Speaker 3: claim Alvarez was responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the
34:28
Speaker 3: planned attack. Court records ousted Alvarez as a foreign national,
34:33
Speaker 3: considering he consented to a consular notification after his arrest
34:37
Speaker 3: this weekend, though the documents provided no information on the
34:41
Speaker 3: specific immigration status nor his country of origin. AIE lodged
34:46
Speaker 3: a detainer for Alvarez following the FBI's arrest. Alvarez was
34:50
Speaker 3: arrested by the FBI on the day of the fight
34:53
Speaker 3: in Omaha, Nebraska. The White House and the FBI declined
34:56
Speaker 3: to comment, but DHS Assistant Secretary Laura Abyss said in
35:02
Speaker 3: the statement quote, this illegal alien from Mexico should never
35:05
Speaker 3: have been allowed into our country. He was the ringleader
35:08
Speaker 3: of a failed terror attack targeting USC Freedom two fifty
35:12
Speaker 3: at the White House. He will face justice and swiftly
35:16
Speaker 3: be removed from our country. Look, this is when you
35:20
Speaker 3: have open borders and you flow tens of millions of
35:23
Speaker 3: illegal immigrants into the country, You bring in among you
35:27
Speaker 3: to hate US criminals, murderers, rapists, and terrorists, and this
35:32
Speaker 3: is yet another example of how it makes all of
35:35
Speaker 3: us less safe.
35:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, it also goes back to the issue, and I
35:38
Speaker 2: think this is an important point to make people that
35:41
Speaker 2: hate this country, and yes, some of them in that
35:44
Speaker 2: hate this country, this is what they do and we
35:47
Speaker 2: see it time and time again where these stories keep
35:49
Speaker 2: breaking that people there are committing heinous, horrific crimes against Americans.
35:53
Speaker 2: And this would have been trying to kill a president,
35:55
Speaker 2: vice president, cabinet members, members of Congress.
35:58
Speaker 1: The list goes on, billionaires.
36:00
Speaker 2: This was someone that had disdained for the United States
36:04
Speaker 2: of America and everyone in it that has been successful.
36:08
Speaker 2: That is something that I think people need to really
36:10
Speaker 2: really get their head around.
36:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was. It was indiscriminate. They were going
36:13
Speaker 3: to kill as many people as they possibly could, and
36:15
Speaker 3: thank God for law enforcement stopping it.
36:17
Speaker 2: Amen to that, don't forget. We do this show Monday,
36:20
Speaker 2: Wednesday and Friday. So if you're listening on the radio
36:22
Speaker 2: right now, thanks for joining us. We'll be back on
36:24
Speaker 2: this radio station next week, but also grab your phone
36:26
Speaker 2: right now. You have a podcast app on your phone,
36:29
Speaker 2: just do in your little search bar.
36:30
Speaker 1: Podcast It's purple if you have an iPhone.
36:33
Speaker 2: Click on it and you can subscribe to Verdict with
36:36
Speaker 2: Ted Cruz and get every single episode for free.
36:39
Speaker 1: So makes you do that?
36:40
Speaker 2: Also on YouTube and the Senate and I will see
36:42
Speaker 2: you back here on this radio station next week and
36:44
Speaker 2: on the podcast all week long.