Latest / The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson / Historic Drone Rescue of American Soldiers Shot Down in Iran, plus Minnesota Dems Hired Private Investigators to Target Fraud Whistleblowers

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Historic Drone Rescue of American Soldiers Shot Down in Iran, plus Minnesota Dems Hired Private Investigators to Target Fraud Whistleblowers · The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome its Verdict with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It's also the Ben Ferguson Podcast. We're doing a dual
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: podcast because I'm on family vacation and we're still working
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: at one in the morning to give you all the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: news out there. They're also getting a hard time before
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the show started, saying that Center, you look much better
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: than I look tonight.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: That's what they keep telling me.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I just want to know if we have an official
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: statement from you on that real quick before we get
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: going here. Is this true? You were saying that you
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: look better at one am than I do.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Well, that's not me saying that. That's the entire production team.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: And to be fair, we do primarily a radio and
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: audio show. So in radio and audio we both look gorgeous,
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: or to quote Saturday Night Live Ben r R look marbelous.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: For me, I rather look good than Field good.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Model it.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: I tell you, you know what, at least you know once
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: in the career of Verdict that you definitely they say.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: It may just be the shot looks better, the studio
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: looks better. You know, I'm in a hotel room with
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: an ac behind me. This is what you get. But
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: We do have a pack show for you, and we
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: have a lot to talk about politically, including just an
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: incredible story that's coming from a company in Texas that
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: we're going to get into and it's just amazing.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: So welcome to the twenty first century. We had this week,
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: we had tragically two US servicemen in an Apache helicopter
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: shot down by Iran. They were shot down, they fell
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: in the water, and we had, for the very first
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: time in the history of the United States and the
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: history of the world and warfare, we had them rescued
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: not by a ship, not by sailors, but by a
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: drone ship, a drone ship with no pilots, no sailors,
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: that came and rescued them. That ship is manufactured by Saronic,
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: a company based in Austin, Texas. We're going to break
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: that down for you. We're also going to talk about
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: the stunning news that broke that that the governor of Minnesota,
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Tim Waltz, that that that towering mountain of masculinity rivaled
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: only by James cal Rico.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: It turns out he hired private investigators to go after
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: government employees who whistled blue on. Is that the right
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: past tense whistle blue whistle blow like uh, whistleblowers who
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: blew the whistle? There we go, okay, that.
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: That that much is better true.
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  Speaker 3: On the fraud in the state, and and and being
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  Speaker 3: a paragon of integrity, being like like most Democrats, concerned
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: about not robbing the taxpayers. Instead of going after the fraud,
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: he went after and persecuted the government employees who were
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: pointing out the fraud.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: We're gonna give you the facts on that.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Also, Yeah, it's a really really interesting story there.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Let me also talk to you about a really neat
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: organization and one that I want you to know about
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and hopefully you'll get involved in, and is Americans United
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: for Life. There was obvious a massive victory that happened
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: in this country with the overturning of Roe v. Wade,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: But what it really meant was the issue of abortion
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: would go back to the states, and that is where
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the real fight has actually begun. Now, over the past
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: fifty years, Americans United for Life has filed more than
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: two hundred legal briefs and also helped create at least
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: four hundred pro life bills in over forty states by
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: writing model legislation. They are consulting with state legislators and
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: defending their own laws and other pro life statues in court. Now,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Aul's dual front approach of writing and defending legislation has
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: proved an effective one that could become even more impactful
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: as pro life state legislators moved to enact protections for
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: preborn babies and their mothers. Now that the legality of
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: abortion has returned to the states, that is where you
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: come in. You and I had the opportunity to overturn
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: pro abortion laws and advance pro life legislation that attacks
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: the most vulnerable in our society, from the womb to
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the tomb. Together, we can shape the future of our
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: nation through life affirming legislation in every state. Now, a
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: gift of just twenty five dollars helps hold abortion providers
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: accountable and helps protect women and unborn children across this country.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: And now through a match, your gift is doubled. Donate
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: securely at AUL dot org slash verdict. That's a UL
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: dot org slash verdict sponsored by Americans United for Life.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: All right, So, Centata, let's get into this first story
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: and you said it best.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Welcome to Just Technology.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty six, for the first time in history,
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  Speaker 1: you had a drone boat that saved the lives of
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: two Americans that were shut down by Iran. There's no pilot, like,
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  Speaker 1: no one on board. This is a boat just like
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: a drone in the sky that is controlled by you know,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: a joystick, and it was able to go extremely fast,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: get these guys and get out before the enemy could
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: touch them.
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  Speaker 2: This is unbelievable.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: And the best part is this technology is coming out
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: of the United States American In fact, it's coming out
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: of Texas well.
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  Speaker 3: It's not even directly controlled by a joystick. It's actually
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: AI that controls this. And this is a company based
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: in Austin. I've been to their factory. I've seen their factory.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: It's amazing that they're building these ships. And the ships
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: are and they have all sorts of different sizes. They
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: have bigger ones, they have smaller ones. They're going to
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: have drone ships that are are over one hundred and
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: fifty feet long that are big ships. But they also
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: have smaller military vessels. And then they have really small drones.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: And these drones can do all sorts of things. They're
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: all boats, but they could do surveillance, they can do espionage,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: they can do military combat, they could be armed with weaponry.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: They can transport supplies. If you're trying to say resupply
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: soldiers that are in a form forward combat position, they
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: can resupply them. So this is all coming out of Austin, Texas.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: It's amazing technology. And what precipitated it is that that earlier,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: earlier today, an armed Iranian shah Head drone struck a
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: US Apache helicopter and it went down in the sea
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  Speaker 3: off the coast of Aman on Monday. US Central Command
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: reported that the helicopter was on patrol when it was
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: struck by the drone, but the two pilots who were
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: aboard the Apache helicopter were safely rescued with it about
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: two hours of the strike. And and it's worth here
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: we're going to play the Fox News report that covered it.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: And for those of you who are watching this on YouTube,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: you could watch the video of this drone ship that
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: was responsible for rescuing our soldiers in combat.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: Give a listen, give watch Deron's under attack.
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: Trump ordered Sentcom to launch self defense strikes after an
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: enemy drone took down an Apache helicopter patrolling the straight
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  Speaker 5: The two pilots were rescued out of the water by
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: an unmanned sea drone operated by Task Force fifty nine
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  Speaker 5: in Bahrain.
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  Speaker 4: The drones Texas made.
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  Speaker 5: It's twenty four feet long and can travel one thousand
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  Speaker 5: miles and hit speeds of thirty five knots, and it's
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  Speaker 5: the first sea drone rescue in combat history. Trump was
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: on the phone with the press when he gave the order.
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  Speaker 5: Podas said, this is a retaliation for the helicopter hit,
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: and it's important that our response is strong and powerful.
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: Sentcom called our response proportional. But sources say we're taking
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: out Iranian air defenses, radar systems all along the Straight
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: and we're not finished tech. I know it doesn't seem
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: like it, but we're still in a ceasefire. And the
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: President continues to say we're close to a.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: Deal where in the final throes of what will be
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: a very very good deal that will not allow in
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: any way, shape or form, nuclear weapons, etc.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: And then straight will open up right away.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: It'll open up immediately upon signing, which could be a
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: two or three days.
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: Trump's made the terms clear. The uranium must be turned
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: over and destroyed. Enrichmond must stop for two decades at least,
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: all nuclear sites must be completely dismantled, and the United
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: States is able to conduct snap inspections whenever the heck
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: we want.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: You listen that report and it goes back to the
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  Speaker 1: bigger issue in the war in what we're trying to
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: accomplish their senator, But you go back to just the
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  Speaker 1: beginning of it.
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  Speaker 2: Thirty five knots. That's about forty miles an hour in
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  Speaker 2: rough seas.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: That's incredibly fast, especially if you're twenty five foot boat.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: As they described here.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: This technology allows these boats to go faster than what
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: most like if you're a human riding in a boat
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: and heavy seas and rough seas, going at that speed
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: is going to be very risky to you. This takes
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: that away as well, which again talks about how the
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: speed they were able to actually get to these two
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: pilots that have been shot down.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and look, it's a manifestation of the new age
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: of warfare where where these drone ships are not massively expensive.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: You look at aircraft carriers and expensive ships that can
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: cost hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars that
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: are powered with nuclear reactors. That's been how we've approached
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  Speaker 3: naval power for seventy years, and now we have a
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: scenario where these drones are not terribly expensive to be built.
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  Speaker 3: They can be built at scale and you can deploy
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  Speaker 3: one of them, or ten of them, or a thousand
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  Speaker 3: of them, or ten thousand of them, and the ability
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  Speaker 3: and with AI you can control Look, ten thousand in
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  Speaker 3: a normal world, you'd have to have ten thousand captains
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  Speaker 3: piloting them. You could have AI and you can assign
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: You could assign, for example, ten thousand drone ships patrol
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  Speaker 3: this area. AI can direct them, but they're searching and
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: they'll engage in espionage and gain engage in reporting on
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  Speaker 3: what they find. You can train them to protect protect
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  Speaker 3: a particular ship, protect something that's going on, protect a
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: port or harbor. They can do that. You can assign
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: them go intercept this vessel. And if they're armed with
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: ordnance that they can fire torpedoes, they.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: Could have explosives.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: And because the ships themselves are not super expensive, it
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: also means that if you lose one ship or ten
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: or one hundred, it's not the end of the world.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: It's not that is risks.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's look we're saying the same thing with
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: aerial drones where we're headed very quick to a world
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: and some of this we're actually getting some foreshadowing of
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: this with the war in Ukraine where the battle between
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Ukraine and Russia, much of it is involving drones and
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: the ability to have thousands or tens of thousands of
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  Speaker 3: drones and instead of one big, really expensive thing, lots
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: and lots of smaller, less expensive things which can overwhelm
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: the previous technology. And I got to say that having
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: been to the factory. Look, these guys are a startup
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: at Austin, Texas. I know, I know the CEO, I
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: know the lead funders, and they're you know, young techies
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: who are entrepreneurial.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: Who have a vision and and and.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: Their desire to scale this. It is very cool. This
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  Speaker 3: is the first drone rescue at sea in combat in
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: the history of the world. And you know what, this
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: is not going to be the last. We're going to
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  Speaker 3: see a lot more. By the way, there are civilian
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: applications of this that.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: That have nothing to do with combat.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Look, look, the Coastguard, I would just say, I literally
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: was talking the Coastguard as we were on FAMI vacation
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: and one of the guys I saw and you know,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: just saying things. But one of the things that was
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: cool they were talking about is technology. They said a
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: lot of times the helicopters when there's the worst weather
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: and boats get in trouble, they can be commercial vessels,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: they can be recreational, they can be commercial fishing boats
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: when things get really bad with weather. Unfortunately, sometimes the
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: weather's too bad to go out right at that moment in.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: A helicopter because it's so bad.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: But if you have drones that you can risk no
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: life going out there, it changes the entire way that
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: it works. And there's some of that are afraid, like, hey,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: well that's gonna take jobs and in a way human beings.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: But if you can't be there in that moment and
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: you can send out a drone that could quite possibly
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: save your life, that a normal. If it's if it's
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: if it's you know, man controlled, you just can't take
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: that risk and you come back it's too rough. You
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: can throw drones out there and saved countless lives in
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: that scenario. This is technology that is life changing.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I will say, Ben, have you ever met
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: Coast Guard swimmers?
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: Yes, they're unbelievable.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean they're kind of they're the equivalent
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: of Navy seals or Delta Force green berets. They're the
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: most badass coasters. Yeah, and I met met a number
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: of them, particularly in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. So
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: Hurricane Harvey was a twenty seventeen was at the time
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: the second most costly natural disaster in American history, did
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: massive damage all the way down from Corpus Christi all
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: the way up hundreds of miles up the Texas coast
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: to the border right with Louisiana, and it just was
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: devastating damage. And the coasts that these swimmers would go
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: out and these guys you meet them, and they're like
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: twenty year old guys, and it sorts sort of imagine
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: like g I. Joe combined with a California surfer dude.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: So they're guys.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: They have these, you know, enormous chests because they're like
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: massive swimmers, and so imagine Michael Phelps with these like
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: long ass arms and like massive swimmers, but with sort
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: of bleach blonde hair and they've got like shades hanging
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: from their head and they're like, yeah, Brook, like it's
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: it's it's they're not.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Like guys that that you also met that save people's
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: lives and the flooding that happened in Texas not that.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, look last summer fourth of July. But these swimmers,
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: they will get on helicopters in the middle of a
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: hurricane where you've got waves in the ocean that are
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: ten twenty feet high that are terrify, and these guys
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: will jump out of a helicopter into the crashing waves
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: and go rescue someone. And it is there's a fearlessness
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: to not only jumping in crashing twenty foot waves, which
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: which most of us, if we're in those waves, are
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: going to die. Yeah, but they'll don't jump in when
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: there are people in harm's way, and they'll go grab them.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: To be clear, if you or I were in twenty
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: foot waves and drowning, someone came, we grab on them
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: and pull on and you're terrified, Like they know they're
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: gonna go rescue someone who's freaking out, who's gonna not intentionally,
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: but it's going to effectively try to pull them under, and.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: They're just they're really cool. But you're right, there.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: Are times where the weather is so bad you can't
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: send the chopper in, and and and the ability to
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: send a drone in to have something to rescue, Say,
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: you know someone that's out, you know, just just on
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: a boat and gets in trouble.
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: That is game changing.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: And that's coming out of Tech Texas and all of
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: the new tech that is based in Texas.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is an incredible story. Every once in
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: a while you get a feel good story like this,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: and we should celebrate it. It also is a reminder,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: I think of whine's so important to make sure that
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: we're adequately funding technology. You've talked about this, and I've
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: talked about this a lot.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: Center.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: This is a perfect example of us winning the war
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: on AI to make sure that our adversary, China is
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: not leading the way on AI. If this is AI controlled,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: this goes and this is one of those examples. I
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: do think we should highlight it for a second. This
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: is why America has to win the AI race. You
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: have less us and you've been warning on this issue,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: and I think we should just take them out. Remind
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: people if we aren't in charge of this, our adversary
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: would be and that's a scary world as well.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: And by the way, If China masters this technology before
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: we do, that is a generation skipping advance in technology.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: And if they have the ability to.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: Send a thousand or ten thousand or one hundred thousand
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: AI controlled drones at one of.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: Our aircraft carriers, there's a real risk that.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: You know, the weapons we have to take say surface,
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: surface to surface missiles or bombs we have, you know
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: those Our aircraft carriers are incredibly expensive and powerful tools,
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: but they were made to take out a limited number
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: of ordinance and not just massive drone assaults. We're shifting
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: to a new technology where look, if we're in a
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: conflict with a smaller rival, that's less dangerous. Although you
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: know what in times even terrorists and smaller rivals, we're
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: going to see. We're going to see more and more
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: military attacks using drones. We're going to see things. We're
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: going to see assassinations, We're going to see people killed
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: using drones. That is, unfortunately, where the future is heading.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: One of the things the US military is investing in
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: heavily with American technology is counter drone technology. How do
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: you take out how do you take out drones that
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: are attacking you? And some of what is working is
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: lower cost ordinance that that that you can't fire a
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: patriot missile at every drone coming in. It just the
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: cost differential. They can swarm you. So you know, is
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: at another Texas company where they're building basically the equivalent
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: of a really big, badass machine gun that is power
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: that is firing like fifty cow rounds, but is firing
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: them with AI where they could target hundreds or thousands
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: of drones. But the cost of a round is not
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: very expensive. So instead of spending an entire patriot missile
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: or something that you have limited supply of, we have
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: essentially unlimited supply of rounds and so but using those
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: robot powered with AI to take out takeout attacks in scale.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: More and more of that is coming in. There are
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: different ways to take out drones. You've got ordinance, you've
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: got laser and microwave, and we're exploring all sorts of
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: different technolologies to take out a hostile drone. But if
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: we lose this race, we would be at a serious
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: military disadvantage to China. We can't let that happen, and
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: I don't think we're going to.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: All right, I want to move on to this other
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: incredible story center coming out of Minnesota, and in life,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: especially in government work, you're told that if you're a
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: whistleblower that you have protections and that if you're a whistleblower,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: you should not be afraid for your job or that
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: someone's going to come after you, certainly the government that
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: you work for. Well, apparently that's not the case in Minnesota.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: And if you want to know how the Somali fraud
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: got so bad, it might actually be because the governor
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: was coming after the whistleblower, not those that were committing
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the crimes in Minnesota with his new shocking report.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: Well, that is inevitably number one the law federal law
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: and typically state law that protects whistleblowers, that gives you
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: legal protection because you want whistleblowers to call attention to fraud.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: But number two, if a government official goes after the whistleblowers,
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: attacks the whistleblowers, refuses to follow the law and whistleblowers,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: that is powerful indication of a guilty mind that you're
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: covering something up. It's sort of like if if someone
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: is is murdered in Central Park and and you catch
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: a person burning their clothes from that night and destroying
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: the murder weapon. Yeah, that is powerful, powerful evidence that
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: they're the murderer. That that that that that that it
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: is typically the guilty who destroys evidence, who tries to
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: cover it up.
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: That that that that if you're.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: Not guilty, you have far less motivation, far less likelihood
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: to try to silence whistleblowers.
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: To try to destroy evidence.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: So here's the story that broke in the Daily Caller.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: The headline is Tim Walls's staff hired private investigators to
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: silence fraud whistleblowers. Committee report finds senior minisot to state
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: officials allegedly hired outside investigators to silence whistleblowers in an
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: attempt to cover up widespread state social services fraud. A
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: House committee report released Monday found The two hundred page
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: staff report by the House Committee on Oversight and Government
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: Reform found that Democrat Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz's state's administration
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: intimidated and retaliated against state employees who raised concerns about fraud,
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: solicitings private investigators investigators to reveal employees' personal details. Report
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: titled the Cost of Doing Nothing, How Tim Waltson Keith
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: Ellison fueled Minnesota's fraud explosion exposed that senior state officials
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: as high as allegedly Governor Waltz, were aware of widespread
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: fraud for years and neglected to respond to reports. A
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: Minnesota Department of Education official who contacted the FBI told
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: federal investigators she was pressured quote at every turn by
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: her superiors to stop raising fraud concerns and was quote
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: hand slapped when she continued to investigate. According to the report,
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: the official also reported that she was warned by state
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: administrators to quote stop digging into things, as it would
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: appear that she was quote.
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: Targeting certain groups.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: This is DEI and fraud all coming together along with
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: corruption to elect Democrats. The article continues. Dozens of other
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: whistleblowers reported dozens that they were told to stay silent
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: about fraud concerns by the Minnesota Department of Human Services
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: because they would be labeled quote racist or Islamophobic. DHS
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: also told state employees that raising fraud concerns would harm
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: the state.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: The report said.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: Whistleblowers reported the DHS conducted arbitrary and vs instigations to
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: photograph their cars and houses, monitor their phones and computers,
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: and asked employees where their kids attended school. Now that
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: it's going to get worse, then temporary Commissioner Sharene Gandhi.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: By the way, I'm going to give you some foreshadowing
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: that that miss Gandhi did not behave like Gandhi. Instead,
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: she confirmed and a testimony copied in the report, that
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: the State Department used outside entities to conduct these investigations
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: of employees, but could not confirm whether independent law firms
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: were used. Gandhi also confirmed in her testimony that DHS
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: management would regularly meet and quote check in on employees
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: who had reported fraud concerns. Gandhi continued to conduct these
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: check ins on DHS whistleblower Fay Bernstein quote a year
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: or two after her investigatory leave. So they hunted them
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: down and they stayed harassing them. Bernstein alleged that Gandhi
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: quote shamed her in a meeting after she raised concerns
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: about fraud and quote excluded her from further meetings on
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: the topic. Whistleblowers also alleged that former state Commissioner Jody
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: Harpstead held a division wide meeting and told attendees that quote,
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: employees would be punished if they reported concerns about fraud
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: and DHS programs. According to the report, DHS employee Emmanuel Nuala
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: told colleagues that he quote did intelligence research within the
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: army and appears to have threatened to provide IP addresses
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: to former colleagues in order to find the locations of
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: whistleblower's email addresses, an email obtained through a public data request.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: Now it's about to get even worse. The report also
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: alleged that DHS d anonymized an internal fraud hotline for
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: employees in an attempt to intimidate fraud reporters. After whistleblowers
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: later created an anonymous external email to report fraud, DHS blocked.
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: The email address.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: Whistleblowers reported that their fraud hotline tips were sent to
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: human resources and used against them. The hotline was originally anonymous,
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: but was de anonymized under Gandhi's tenure as deputy Commissioner
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: of HR. Governor Waltz appointed Gandhi's commissioner of DHS in
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: February twenty twenty six, but removed her in May before
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: her confirmation hearing amid scrutiny of her response to fraud allegations.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: This is anyone who claims Gosh, the elected officials of Minnesota.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: They were victims, they didn't know they wanted to go
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: after the fraud, which, by the way, both Waltz and
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: Ellison keep saying, Oh, we wanted to go after the fraud,
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: we wanted to prosecute it. This demonstrates, I think powerfully
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: they are lying. Not only did they not want to
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: go after the fraud, they were doing everything they could
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: to silence the whistleblowers and prevent anyone from knowing about
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: the fraud.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and this goes back to the other question of accountability.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: If everything that we just mentioned turns out to be true,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: there's obviously now an open investigation into this. If you
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: do these things, are you breaking the law? And if
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: it goes all the way the governor is he breaking
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: the law? And the peuple below him are they breaking
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: the law? And is there any accountability for this or
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: is this just well walt isn't running for reelection, so
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter anymore and we'll just move on
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: and yeah, we may continue to do things like this
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: in the future without accountability.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: Listen, the Department of Justice has created an entire new
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: division focused going after fraud, and I hope everyone who
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: made these decisions faces accountability if they committed criminal violations,
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: that they are prosecuted.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: I am hopeful.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: I can tell you I'm urging the Department of Justice
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: hold them accountable. To the way our constitutional system works.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: It's not the legislature. Look, I'm in the Senate. I
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: can't prosecute anybody. I don't have executive authority. I have
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: legislative authority. I can write legislation, which I have, but
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: I can't the power to bring an indictment, the power
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: to go before a grand jury, to get an indictment,
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: to prosecute. That is exclusively within the executive branch, within
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: principally the US Department of Justice at the federal level.
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: And so I can tell you this, I am urging
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: the Attorney General and DOJ prosecute every single person who
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: committed criminal acts, who covered up this fraud, who benefited
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: from it, who knew what they were doing. And this
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: is this is a real smoking gun.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: And at the age I go back to Ellison there
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: we know his name.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Well, if he's involved in this and is using and
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: weaponizing the government to go after those that were not
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: committing the fraud, those that were trying to whistle blow
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: on the fraud fraud and they are harassed. Is there
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: any lane for the people that were being harassed to
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: somehow have like, you know, restitution for what they went through.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: If you're being.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Harassed for two years after you put in a tip,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: that's got to put a lot of stress on your life.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming it puts stress in your career. I'm assuming
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: it could have affected a lot of people getting promotions
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: that they deserved.
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: Look, and I would assume we're going to see civil
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: litigation of people fire filing lawsuits and seeking compensation for this,
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: and that litigation could well be successful. In terms of
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: criminal prosecution, this would not surprise me. I don't know
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: sitting here. Uh if if Minnesota law makes doing this
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: a criminal violation in Minnesota. Now, of course, the federal
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: government can't prosecute violations of Minnesota law. It would take
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: a a Minnesota district attorney, uh to bring that case.
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: And and I got to admit, I'm very skeptical that
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: that that there are any prosecutors in Minnesota willing to
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: hold the corrupt Democrats in charge of that state accountable.
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: If they're not, then there's not really a mechanism to
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: enforce Minnesota law, which means you would be left with
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: with federal law. And given that these are federal funds
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: that were effectively being stolen and fund funneled to Somali
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: fund funneled to Somalian fraudsters being sent, among other places,
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: to al Shabab.
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: And we before h.
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: On this podcast that the single largest funder of al
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: shaba law, which is the Jota Islamic rorist group that
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: is in Somalia. They're number one funder, was the taxpayers
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: of Minnesota. And those are also federal taxpayer money. So look,
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: I expect the Department of Justice. They've already prosecuted a
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: number of the fraudsters at the lower level, but I
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: hope they go right up the ladder of accountability and
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: any politicians that are responsible. And to be clear, this
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: happened because it was in politicians' political interest for this
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: to happen, because they were getting money from campaign donations
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: and they were getting votes from allowing Somalian fraudsters to
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: rob the taxpayers of Minnesota and the American taxpayers. And
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: look that this has happened also in other states. It's
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: happened in Maine under the Democrat governor there. It's happened
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: in California, It's happened in Illinois. It's happened, I think,
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: all over the country, but predominantly in Democrat states where
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: there are Democrat politicians who were benefiting from turning the
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: other way to fraud. And I think every wan who
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: committed a criminal act should face prosecution and real consequences.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the story we're gonna follow. I can
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: promise you that.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: So don't forget Senor Cruise and I do this podcast
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: three days a week. You can hit that subscriber auto
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: download button there. Also, if you're listening on the Ben
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Ferguson podcast, you know I do the show every day,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: even on family vacation. We're doing the show here and center.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Thanks for thanks for doing a joint pod with me.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Get a little more time with a family. We will
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: see you back here.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: And look, Bet Ben, I, I for one just want
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: to congratulate you on doing the podcast while not wearing
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: pants like like that. You're on vacation, and you know
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: it's good to bring that form. We only shoot from
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: the way stops.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: I'm so exhausted right now. I don't even have it
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: in me to fight you on this. I'm just gonna
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: go with that narrative. That is how tired the boys
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: have warned me out on this family vacation. I'm like, sure,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: I'll go with anything right now.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: Don't forget.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: We do the show like I said, Monday, Wednesday, Friday,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: and you can watch it on YouTube as well and
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: the Center. I will see you back here on Friday
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: morning on Verdict with Ted Cruz, Down with It, whatever
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: your podcast, I'll see you tomorrow in the Ben Ferguson
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: podcasts as well