Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Welcome, it is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you, and obviously this is a very big show. Many of you may have not ever listened to this show before. We want to welcome you as we're obviously going to be talking a lot about the attack on Iran and what is happening. So if you're joining us for the very first time, it's nice to have you.
Don't forget, hit that subscribe or auto-download button wherever you get your podcasts. Senator, this is obviously a very big show, and it's an important one because the world is changing before our very eyes.
On Saturday, President Trump launched a major military attack on Iran, a bombing from the sky, bombing from naval vessels. It was done in close coordination with Israel that likewise launched a bombing attack. In the opening minutes and hours of the attack, the Ayatollah Khamenei was killed. Other major leaders of Iran were killed. The bombing is ongoing.
You and I are recording this Sunday afternoon. As of right now, over 900 bombing strikes have been carried out by the United States. Over 1,200 bombing strikes have been carried out by Israel. I spent the entire day on Friday with President Trump. The day before the attack, we spent much of the time discussing the attack that was coming.
This podcast, we're going to try to explain exactly what's happening, why President Trump attacked Iran, what is likely to happen as a result, and what the next stages are. We're also going to talk about the mass shooting that occurred at 2 a.m. Sunday morning in Austin, Texas, in a bar on 6th Street where a gunman murdered two other people and injured 17.
That gunman, in turn, was shot and killed by Austin police. early indicia make it appear that this was a terrorist attack. He was wearing a sweatshirt that said property of Allah. He was wearing a shirt with the Iranian flag on it. It is still early. I spoke today with Kash Patel, the director of the FBI. We're going to break that down as well.
This is going to be a podcast where we try to examine everything you need to know about what is happening in Iran, how it is going to impact the United States, and what's coming next.
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Chapter 2: What triggered the major U.S.-Israel strike on Iran?
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Promo code VERDICT to claim your free Jumpstart trial bag at roughgreens.com. That's R-U-F-F-G-R-E-E-N-S dot com. Promo code VERDICT. So Senator, you mentioned earlier that you were on the plane with President Trump, Air Force One. We're going to get to that and what was discussed on the plane in a moment because a lot of people listening, they're going to want to hear that.
But let's talk about the biggest news now. And you actually were on Face the Nation earlier today and had a lot to say about this attack on Iran and how successful it's been so far. So take a listen to what Senator Cruz had to say earlier today on Face the Nation.
Senator, just looking at the global environment right now, CENTCOM announced three Americans were killed and five seriously wounded in this operation. President Trump and Vice President Vance campaigned on not getting America involved in new wars. What do you say to Americans this morning who are asking why we are in this conflict now?
President Trump's decision to launch this decisive action against Iran is the single most important decision of his presidency. I think he laid out powerfully and effectively why he is taking this action. He is taking this action because the government of Iran is a profound and malign influence. They have been the leading state sponsor of terrorism. for 47 years.
They have over that time killed nearly 1,000 Americans. They provide more than 90% of the funding for Hamas. They provide more than 90% of the funding for Hezbollah. The Iranian Ayatollah was, until yesterday, actively trying to murder the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. I spent the entire day with President Trump on Friday right before he launched these attacks.
He and I discussed this at length on Friday. My counsel to him was that the Iranian regime has never been weaker, that it was teetering and now was the time. My advice was do not miss this opportunity. I think the president has acted boldly, he's acted decisively, and Iran no longer being led by a theocratic, murderous dictator that makes America
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Chapter 3: What reasons are given for the attack on Iran?
As President Trump said on Friday when he was with me in Texas, his line was zero enrichments.
and the iranians refused to discuss it they also refused to discuss their proxies they refused to discuss hamas and hezbollah and the houthis and and president trump understood that the iranian quote negotiation was just a stall tactic and that the only response my my advice to him i said there's only one deal you should accept and it's the deal that you offered maduro which is if you want to leave and flee the country you can do so anything else
is unacceptable, and Khomeini made his choice.
Well, there's disputes there in terms of your characterization of what was actually on the table and what the administration had indicated it was willing to accept in terms of allowing enrichment for medical purposes and the like. But that's now obviously done.
So Margaret, what I just told you is almost word for word what Secretary of State Marco Rubio told me yesterday.
Can you tell us now if you believe that there was an ongoing nuclear weapons program? One of the top arms control experts out there, David Albright, has written, there should be an immediate priority on rapid response operations to secure Iran's nuclear stockpiles right now. Can you assure the public that it will be secured?
And if so, who is doing it if there are no Israeli or US forces on the ground?
So there is no doubt that a year ago, Iran had an active and ongoing nuclear weapons program. We took out the vast majority of that at the end of the 12-day war.
That US intelligence assessment was not made public, if that is what was brief to you.
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Chapter 4: What details are known about the Austin mass shooting?
The bunker buster bombs we used. Israel doesn't have those bombs. No other country has those bombs. We took them out last year. The Iranians were still hell-bent on rebuilding them. And one of the things we are doing right now is taking out their missiles, in particular the southern missile belt. Right now, Iran is building roughly 100 missiles a month.
They are actively building missiles to threaten their neighbors.
They're firing some of them right now at their neighbors.
Yeah, they're illustrating powerfully. They're attacking virtually every Arab neighbor that surrounds them. They are firing missiles that it's almost like they want to illustrate to the world just how maligned they are.
But in terms of containing the risk, who's securing the nuclear material that you say still exists within Iran? Who's doing that?
Look, the quantity of nuclear material, I didn't say anything one way or another on that. What I said is they were building nuclear weapons a year ago, and our bombing took that out. They also had an ongoing desire to rebuild them. I don't have present-day intelligence on what progress they had made towards rebuilding nuclear weapons since we bombed their facilities. I have no indication that...
they were anywhere close to getting nuclear weapons because our bombing was devastating. And Margaret, that's one of the reasons I urged President Trump, now is the time. You know, dictatorships survive because they're perceived as invulnerable. And in this instance, Iran decisively lost the 12-day war that weakened the regime and set up what the president is doing now.
Senator, I found it very interesting just how much she wanted to say that somehow her sources are better than your sources when you were just with the president of the United States of America and just talked directly to Marco Rubio. It was pretty hilarious. She's like, well, that's not what all the intelligence says.
And you're like, no, I just talked to the people where the intelligence is coming from. This is why I go back and say you don't hate the media enough. This is what they do. By the way, we saw this with headlines today.
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Chapter 5: What are the potential global consequences of the Iran strike?
New York Times, a great example of the propaganda of how they're like still standing there acting like the Ayatollah was some sort of like decent and humane individual that was taken out. This is the narrative and you witnessed it right there in that interview with you.
Well, the New York Times headline says, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hardline cleric who made Iran a regional power, is dead at 86. Which is just ridiculous. And I'll say, Mark Halperin had an amusing take on it. He said that headline was a little bit like a headline, quote, Jeffrey Dahmer, hungry Wisconsin man, passes away. Yeah, it's not far off.
While technically accurate, it conveys, you know, approval of the conduct. And in fact, I want to. In fact, that New York Times headline is as ridiculous as the older Washington Post headline that read, Abu Baker al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at the helm of Islamic State, dies at 48.
Chapter 6: How is the Austin shooting connected to terrorism?
I mean, it's just absurd, but it's actually, it's not the worst. The Washington Post wrote an obituary for the Ayatollah that if Saturday Night Live had done this, they couldn't have made it more absurd. I'm going to read you a paragraph from it.
With his bushy white beard and easy smile, Ayatollah Khomeini cut a more avuncular figure in public than his perpetually scowling but much more revered mentor. And he was known to be fond of Persian poetry and classic Western novels, especially Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. Some Iranians knew Ayatollah Khamenei before he became supreme leader, described him as a, quote, closet moderate.
Wow.
Look, that is sick. This is the same Ayatollah who regularly chants death to America and death to Israel. This is the same Ayatollah that set the goal of creating nuclear weapons, I believe, for the purpose of using those nuclear weapons. This is the same Ayatollah who is responsible for killing nearly 1,000 Americans, for waging war on America relentlessly, for funding...
Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, 90% of their funding comes from Iran. This is the same Ayatollah. Look, one of the reasons we went into Venezuela is Iran had a major beachhead in Venezuela. Maduro allowed Iran in there. Hezbollah had a major beachhead to wage war against. in Venezuela to attack the United States.
Look, this avuncular man with a bushy white beard, as the numbskulls at the Washington Post put it, until yesterday was actively trying to murder President Donald Trump, had hired hitmen, had put out a video, an animation showing a drone going to Mar-a-Lago and killing President Trump on the golf course. You know, the phrase for the media that's been used more than once is useful idiots.
And I think sometimes headline writers decide they haven't given us enough material. They need to be even more ridiculous cheering for our enemies.
As Operation Epic Fury intensifies, the world braces for what comes next and people of faith pray for freedom and for God's people to be protected. In the Holy Land, red alert sirens fill the air. Sirens that give you 15 seconds to reach the nearest bomb shelter. The situation is serious and the threat is real. In times like this, freedom and faith aren't just abstract ideas.
They are what we depend on. And the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground preparing large-scale distributions of life-saving food, first aid, and emergency essentials for security personnel. while helping ensure hospitals, emergency rooms, and shelters are stocked with critical medical supplies.
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