Verdict with Ted Cruz
BONUS POD: Iranians Protest & Die for Freedom plus Trump Targets Funding Behind Anti-ICE Chaos
13 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the U.S. response to the protests in Iran?
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Guaranteed human. Does the president stand fully behind that officer, that agent? Does the president believe his actions were justified?
Absolutely. And I think the more evidence that comes out shows the officer was justified and President Trump was right about this all along. And who was wrong? The Democrat Party and the mainstream media who despicably have been lying about this officer and about this case from the very beginning. And they have had to change their story in
You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Good Tuesday morning. Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update. And we've got two big stories for you. First up, Donald Trump, we're being told, is keeping the Iran airstrikes on the table.
White House saying the president has a lot of options, but he is going to crack down on the country that is now going after and killing innocent people in the streets.
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Chapter 2: What options are being considered for military action against Iran?
What's the latest? We have it all for you in just a moment. Also... President Donald Trump is pledging to uncover leftist groups that are countering ICE agents. We're seeing it happen all over the country. And the anti-ICE mobs, well, they're anything but organic. So who is financing them? That coming up as well.
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Chapter 3: How is the White House communicating with Iran amidst the protests?
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Chapter 4: What are the details surrounding the anti-ICE protests in the U.S.?
It's easy to get started. You've got to use a special website, hillsdale.edu slash morning update. Enroll for free. Hillsdale.edu slash morning update. It's the 47 morning update and it starts right now. Story number one. U.S. President Donald Trump, we are now being told, is considering airstrikes on Iran to stop a crackdown on the protesters the White House has confirmed on Monday.
adding that people were being killed in the streets. A channel for diplomacy they also made clear is still open, with Iran taking, quote, a far different tone in private discussions with President Trump's special envoy, Steve Witzkoff, and the press secretary, Caroline Levitt, confirming that, saying, quote,
One thing President Trump is very good at is always keeping all of his options on the table. And airstrikes would be one of the many, many options that are on the table for the commander in chief. Levitt added that diplomacy is always the first option for this president.
saying, quote, what you're hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite different from what the message the administration is receiving privately. And I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages.
Chapter 5: Who is funding the anti-ICE protests according to Trump?
Iran's foreign ministry said earlier on Monday that a channel of communication was open between its top diplomat, and Trump's special envoy, despite a lack of diplomatic relations. Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. military was in fact considering a very strong option against Iran, saying it looks like Tehran had crossed his previously stated red line of protesters being killed.
Here's more of what the president had to say in his last interview. Take a listen.
Are you following the protesting that is taking place all over the country of Iran?
Yeah, I'm following it very closely.
And have you read that the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei now has a plan B to go to Russia?
Or someplace, yeah. He's looking to go someplace.
Do you believe that Iran, you think the country's on the verge of collapsing?
Well, it could be. I mean, what they've done is they start, in the past, they've started shooting the hell out of people. And all of a sudden, people without any weapons whatsoever are standing there and you have machine guns gunning them down.
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Chapter 6: What incidents led to the escalation of anti-ICE protests?
Or they take them to prisons and then hang them and kill them. So they played rough. And I said, if they do that, we're going to hit them very hard. We're going to hit them hard. We're ready to do it. If they do that, we're going to hit them hard. And so far, for the most part, there's been some of it. But for the most part, they haven't. There have been people killed.
Some of them, the crowds are so big that some of them have had really like were stomped on. Literally, it was it was terrible. The crowds are just they're massive.
the enthusiasm to overturn that regime is incredible but uh there's been people killed but it's more from death by it's literally stomping it's it's uh people running in a certain direction so we'll see what happens we'll see what happens they know though that it's a stampede is i guess the best word they have like a stampede you talk about stampede for cattle
But the people are stampeding, and you're losing a lot of people with the stampedes. There's so many people protesting.
Chapter 7: How are local officials reacting to the federal response to protests?
Nobody's ever seen anything like what's happening right now. But I have put a random notice that if they start shooting at them, These people are totally unarmed people. And they love their country. They want something to happen. Look at their country. They've gone back 150 years. But I've told them that if they do anything bad to these people, we're going to hit them very hard.
We're going to hit them very hard. The president clearly sticking with that line. As Trump said, the U.S. military is considering those very strong options. And the Iran leaders have reached out for a meeting. But we may have to act before a meeting, the president also went on to say.
Rights groups have also reported a growing death toll, with information continuing to trickle out of Iran, despite a days-long internet and phone shutdown.
Chapter 8: What are the implications of the DHS's actions in Minneapolis?
Caroline Leavitt, White House press secretary, appeared to confirm there have been a significant increase in deaths, saying, quote, he certainly doesn't want to see people being killed in the streets of Tehran. And unfortunately, that's something we're seeing right now.
One thing is for sure, the president of the United States of America is going to hold Iran accountable for what's happening right now on the ground, keeping all options on the table. Now, story number two. Which brings us to another important story. President Donald Trump has come out and pledged to uncover the leftist groups that are countering ICE all over the country.
President Trump said that he believes the woman that was fatally shot by a U.S. immigration and customs enforcement officer in Minneapolis last week. may have been a professional agitator and indicated that the government will uncover the funding sources behind such anti-law enforcement agitation nationwide. Here's the president in his own words.
The woman and her friend were highly disrespectful of law enforcement. You saw that. They were harassing, they were following for days and for hours. And I think, frankly, they're professional agitators. But disrespectful? And I'd like to find out and we are going to find out who's paying for it with their brand new signs and all the different things.
But these are professional agitators and law enforcement should not be in a position where they have to put up with this stuff. What that woman and what her friend and what their other friends were doing to law enforcement, not just ICE, law enforcement is outrageous.
The president added that he would like to find out and we're going to find out who's paying for it with their brand new signs and all the different things. But these are professional agitators and law enforcement should not be in a position where they have to put up with this stuff.
What that woman and what her friend and what their other friends are doing to law enforcement, not just ICE, law enforcement is outrageous. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security retweeting a post in which Republican Representative Lance Gooden of Texas asserted that the anti-ICE protesters are actually all just being paid for, saying, quote, the anti-ICE mobs are anything but organic.
Dark money is bankrolling these far left groups like Ice Watch and lighting the fuse. Americans deserve to know who's cutting the checks, the lawmaker said in his post. A person weaponizing their vehicle against law enforcement is unacceptable, and we're witnessing it happen all over the country. Fox News having even more on this, and here's what they said.
Right now, DHS is deploying hundreds of more federal agents to Minnesota as violent anti-ice protests continue to rise in the state.
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