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I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
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Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes, inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
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What I told people, I was making a podcast about Benghazi.
Nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked why.
Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies.
From Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries.
This is Fiasco Benghazi.
What difference at this point does it make?
Listen to Fiasco Benghazi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, thanks, Scott Shannon.
Hour 2, Sean Hannity Show, toll-free.
Let me give you our number.
It's 800-941-SEAN if you want to be a part of the program.
We've got a lot of ground to cover.
So in just a few minutes, we'll be joined by Congressman James Comer.
He is the chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee.
He said over the weekend, it was in the New York Post, for example, that uh he now has the votes to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.
He said during an interview on Fox News Sunday morning features, a great thing happened during Thanksgiving.
Members went home.
They heard from their constituents who said, yes, we want you to move forward, and I'm confident that we're gonna have the votes to move forward with that impeachment inquiry.
Uh Comer also jabbed at Representative Ken Buck of Colorado, who may potentially be a no vote.
He said, Ken, he votes no on everything.
He's certainly doing everything he can do to, you know, try and be the next anchor for MSDNC, but at the end of the day, I think our members realize this is of the utmost importance.
And I think he's right on all of that.
Now, today, Chairman Comer's releasing subpoenaed bank records that, according to reports, reveal that Hunter Biden's business entity known as Owasco PC made direct monthly payments to Joe Biden.
Now, this would be, you know, we already have anecdotal evidence that the big guy got his his cut.
We know that Joe Biden is implicated by his own son.
Half my money goes to Pops, Tony Bobelinski, the big guy, 10% for him.
Uh back and forth emails with the financial head of this group that he had, you know, talking about well, what account ought we pay dad's home repairs on this time, etc.
etc.
And it goes on and on from there.
But anyway, in this particular case, they have found financial records, and he'll give us the detail of it that show Hunter Biden's business account, received payments from Chinese state-linked companies and other foreign nationals and companies.
And Hunter Biden is currently under investigation by the DOJ for using this corporate account for tax evasion and other serious crimes.
Now, recently, Hunter Biden's legal team provided the following to the Washington Post.
There's not a single financial transaction between President Biden and his son related to or involving any of Hunter's business ventures or prior private commercial dealings they wrote in a recent memo.
Hunter Biden's business transactions were legitimate, well documented, in written agreements and transactions, legally tracked in his business bank statements, according to what the Washington Post printed.
But according to James Comer, the payments released today to Joe Biden from this particular corporate account are a clear pattern, part of a clear Pattern revealing that Joe knew everything.
Joining us now is the chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Accountability Committee, our friend James Comer is with us.
Sir, welcome back.
Glad you're with us.
Thanks for having me, Sean.
All right.
This is pretty blockbuster.
A lot of what you said yesterday was pretty blockbuster, too.
Let's go to the heart of what you now have received here.
We received direct payments from Hunter Biden's shell company that was receiving money directly from China to Joe Biden.
The White House has said constantly that Joe Biden was never in business with his son, but We have a voided check from Joe Biden's personal account that he gave to a financial institution to where they could have the bank information to start making monthly payments into Joe Biden's account.
And that's what we have.
Monthly payments from a WASCO PC, which of all the shell companies that Hunter Biden had, this was probably the worst.
This was the probably the one that was investigated the most by the IRS, by the Department of Justice.
This was the one that had the most uh suspicious activity reports.
I mean, this is the worst of the worst accounts that was making monthly payments to Joe Biden.
Now, I don't know how the White House is going to try to explain this, but here's here's what we have.
Joe Biden directly benefiting from Hunter Biden's influence pedaling with our biggest enemy in the world, China.
How much money are we talking about here, Congressman?
For the whole family and for Joe.
Well, it it was it was $1,350 in change per month, and we're still trying to figure out how many how many months it was.
But you know, the the bottom line, Sean, we've we've proven bigger payments.
We you know, the $200,000 from Jim Biden to Joe Biden, the 40,000 from from Sarah Biden to Joe Biden, though those were direct uh influence peddling schemes as well.
Uh, one from China and one from uh a domestic failing health health insurance company.
We continue to provide more direct hard evidence that Joe Biden was receiving money from his influence peddling schemes, and not just influence peddling schemes in China, but influence peddling schemes uh now uh you know pertaining to domestic fraud, uh where they used Joe Biden's contacts in the Middle East.
I mean, this is more evidence that Joe Biden directly benefited.
You know, the White House is going to try to say everything was a loan, it was a loan, it was a loan.
Well, let's say it they were loans, Sean, which they weren't, but let's say they were.
The money that paid Joe back all was derived from influence panel schemes.
There was you know, the the payments we've traced the money, they come from China.
I mean, there's no way to explain around that, whether it was a loan or not, and again, it it wasn't.
Let me let me ask this, because we have this whole issue of this WhatsApp map message, and then we have the whole barisma issue.
And and this is what we have in common with both of them.
Hunter himself admitted on Good Morning America, no experience in energy, oil, gas, coal at all.
At the time, admitted to being addicted to drugs, I believe alcohol as well.
Uh, and he's doing these multimillion dollar deals.
His father then later brags about you know uh about how he leveraged the billion dollars, which was Obama policy to to grant that as a loan guarantee to Ukraine, and son of a bee leveraging our money, he got uh the prosecutor fired.
And we must recall as well, all the times Joe Biden is president and candidate Joe Biden said that not once did he ever speak to his son or his brother or anybody for that matter about their foreign business dealings.
That we know that's not true because they also uh Devin Archer identified at least 20 instances when he spoke with them.
And then, of course, the dinners at the Cafe Milano with you know, oligarchs like uh Elena Baterina of Moscow, the former first lady of Moscow.
So every story that he's told has been a lie, an a proven lie, and now you're saying the money goes, you know, straight into their accounts.
Have you found any evidence at all that they did anything of substance for the millions of millions of dollars that they're getting paid?
No, that email we released last week showed this was in 2018, long before uh the laptop uh was left behind, long before the House Oversight Committee began its investigation or the Grassley and Johnson uh investigation.
There was a bank examiner that saw this five million dollar wire, which which came from that WhatsApp message.
When that what's WhatsApp message was sent by Hunter Biden shaking down the Chinese national, saying his dad was right beside him, and they expected him to fulfill the commitment that they made while Joe Biden was vice president.
Uh five business days later, that $5 million wire happened.
From that $5 million wire, uh Hunter took, according to the bank email, 58% of it in fees.
Which normal fees, if you're running a legitimate investment company, it's between two and five percent, Sean.
And he took 58% in fees, and the bank examiner noted he's got an investment company with no investments.
That's what the email said.
That's what the bank examiner said.
And they were concerned because five million dollars from China to the son of the former vice president of the United States, that's a national security risk.
So all of the evidence points to the fact that the Bidens were getting huge sums of money from from China for nothing.
Going to Joe Biden, directly to Joe Biden.
And remember, this is part of how money laundering operates.
They were laundering the money through these shell companies to 10 different Biden family members, and the 10th family member that we found was Joe Biden.
This is this is the second series of payments to Joe Biden directly sourced from China.
All right, quick break more with the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer on the other side.
Then your call's coming up 800 941 Sean as we continue.
Hey there, I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
And I'm Carol Markowitz.
We've been in political media for a long time.
Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.
That's why we started Normally, a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.
We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.
We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.
So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass, you're our kind of people.
Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
Three times a week we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
So Down, verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
When I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi, nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked why.
Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies.
It's almost a dirty word.
One that connotes conspiracy theory.
Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre?
Bad faith, political warfare, and frankly, bullshit.
We kill the ambassador just to cover something up.
You put two and two together.
Was it an overblown distraction or a sinister conspiracy?
Benghazi is a rosetta stone for everything that's been going on for the last 20 years.
I'm Leon Mayfock from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries.
This is Fiasco Benghazi.
What difference at this point does it make?
Yes, that's right.
Locker up.
Listen to Fiasco Benghazi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey there.
I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
And I'm Carol Markowitz.
We've been in political media for a long time.
Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.
That's why we started normally a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.
We talk about the issues that actually matter to The country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.
We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.
So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass.
You're our kind of people.
Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday.
On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
So down a verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
What I told people, I was making a podcast about Benghazi.
Nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked why.
Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies.
It's almost a dirty word.
One that connotes conspiracy theory.
Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre?
Bad faith, political warfare, and frankly, bullshit.
We kill the ambassador just to cover something up.
You put two and two together.
Was it an overblown distraction or a sinister conspiracy?
Benghazi is a rosetta stone for everything that's been going on for the last 20 years.
I'm Leon Mayfock from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries.
This is Fiasco Benghazi.
What difference at this point does it make?
Yeah, that's right.
Locker up.
Listen to Fiasco Benghazi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
All right, we continue with Kentucky Congressman James Comer, chairman of the all-important House Oversight Accountability Committee.
Now, this is The bribery statute does not require that he personally benefited.
Uh if he took official actions as vice president that benefited his family, the that would qualify as as a violation of the bribery act in this country based on the language of the law.
My qu my my next question to you then is Republicans, you think now are on the verge of uniting and voting officially for this impeachment inquiry.
Now, you talked about Ken Buck, he's probably a no.
George Santos has been kicked out, so that means you have a two-vote margin that's going to be very tight.
Why are you so confident?
I'm confident because of what I said on Maria Show yesterday.
These members were up here for 10 weeks, and you you get in Washington, you get in this bubble.
Everybody follows a couple of little insider baseball media publications like Politico, and they keep saying, Oh, there's no evidence, there's no evidence.
This is a sham investigation, because that's what the White House tells them to say.
They just copy and paste whatever the White House or the Democratic National Committee tells them to say.
And these these members, especially the ones that are in tough districts, they get concerned and they think that's the way it is.
But then an amazing thing happened.
Thanksgiving happened, and people went home.
We went home for the first time in ten weeks.
And these people went to Walmart, they went to football games, they they got out on Main Street shopping for Christmas.
And people were like, What are you all gonna do about this corruption?
I mean, what you know, why why did the Bidens receive millions and millions of dollars from our enemies around the world and they came back excited, Sean?
All these guys that that were hesitant about wanting to vote for impeachment inquiry, now they're all in.
They're like, Yeah, yeah.
I mean, this my people want to know.
My people want to know.
I just got back from New York City.
And of course, at this time of year in New York City, everybody in America's there shopping, looking at the cruise.
People were stopping me on the street, thanking me for this investigation.
Please don't let up.
You know, we we gotta do something about public corruption.
By the way, I hope you had a lot of security with you.
Yeah, I'm a one-man show.
But you know, I'm replaceable.
But you know, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, well, let me ask this.
With all this money that we're talking about, tens of millions of dollars, and all these show companies you have identified.
Now, there are legitimate LLCs, but usually that would require an investment.
That would mean your own money would go in, that would mean that you would build a business, that you would buy Stuff or invest in things.
You have no indication at all of any services ever rendered at all by any Biden family member to any of these countries Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Romania, Ukraine, and others.
Well, from an LLC standpoint, I can't find a single asset in any of these LLCs.
All right.
They don't manufacture anything.
They're not licensed to sell anything.
Now you asked the question that they provide services.
That's what we want to ask Hunter Biden.
What did you do to receive millions of dollars from these countries around the world?
And you took a lot of heat last week because people were saying, Oh, James Comer won't let Hunter testify publicly.
And you said that's not true.
He can testify publicly.
Absolutely.
He was subpoenaed, and a subpoena means a closed door deposition where you get to ask every question, even questions you would not be able to ask publicly, and then after he follows through on the law, then you would give him an opportunity to could to come out publicly.
So uh what they were saying is not true.
Isn't that a requirement of a subpoena that you testify and give a deposition first?
Absolutely, Sean.
I mean, I know people want a public hearing for entertainment.
My job is not to entertain.
I don't care if the mainstream media is entertained by this investigation.
The American people want answers.
And the only way you're going to get answers is in a deposition.
You've got uh an opportunity to ask six, seven, eight hundred good questions, and you've got time for for the Bidens to answer them.
In a committee hearing, when it's five minutes, that clock starts ticking, and you can ask them about a specific transaction.
People do this all the time in hearings, and they say, I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?
Or let me I'll have to see that, let me read that transaction.
Just what you know, essentially syllabus.
And then that five minutes is gone, and then everybody's complaining.
Oh, the hearing didn't get enough answers.
Well, we'll do the hearing.
We'll do the hearing.
I want a public hearing.
All right.
Last question, only because I'm running out of time, and I only have like 20 seconds.
Do you believe Joe Biden is guilty?
Evidence now shows that there is a warranted uh investigation into real bribery and real money laundering.
Yes, I believe it started with barisma.
I think China was watching.
They saw what he did for the corrupt owners of Barisma, and China thought we'd love to have this guy working for us.
So I think you've got a pattern of Joe Biden uh doing uh this type of uh these types of misdeeds, and I think that's why uh why he needs to be held accountable.
All right, uh, we really appreciate it.
James Comer, uh Chairman, powerful House Oversight Committee, thank you, sir.
So I mentioned earlier in the program, you know, all these private jets flying away to this, you know, climate summit.
John Kerry, now just coming flat out with it, calling for the elimination of all coal plants.
Really?
You think the communist Chinese and other quote developing nations according to the Paris Climate Accords?
Uh, you think they're gonna abide by this?
Never.
Promise you, never.
Listen.
There shouldn't be any more coal-fired power plants permitted anywhere in the world.
That's how you can do something for health.
And the reality is that we're not doing it.
So you know, the measure here is really uh sounding the alarm bell.
I find myself getting more and more militant because I do not understand how adults who are in position of responsibility can be avoiding responsibility for taking away those things that are killing people on a daily basis.
And of course, the genius Hillary Rodham Clinton saying we are seeing and beginning to pay attention and to count and record the deaths that are related to climate.
Okay, no idea what she's talking about.
Listen.
We're seeing uh and beginning to pay attention and to count and record uh the deaths that are related to climate, and by far the biggest killer is extreme heat.
All right, let's get to our busy phones.
These people are absolutely nuts.
Uh, let's say hi to Jewel in Kansas City.
Jewel, how are you?
Good afternoon, sir.
Uh such a privilege to speak to you today.
Pleasure's all mine.
I hear you want to criticize me, but I'm up for it.
What's up?
Okay.
I was not able to watch the debate, but I've heard a lot of excerpts about the questions you had.
I'm an over the road trucker.
I'm in California.
And I tell you what, California is the most restricted state for trucks in the entire country.
Why do you st why do you stay there?
I d I'm not living here.
I'm just driving here.
Oh, you're talking about just driving your rig into there.
Driving my rig in and out of California every week.
Okay.
Uh the speed limit here for trucks is fifty-five.
By the way, I bet you buy your diesel before you get into the state, don't you?
I buy my fuel uh before I get in and as soon as I get out.
Exactly.
Smart men.
But the they're so restricted on our speeds.
We are less productive in this state than any other state in the union.
Any state.
I have to drive 55 miles an hour in this state, which makes me less productive.
I I can drive less miles on the same hours I have to drive with.
But yet you don't bring up anything about the working conditions for the general laborer that works in this state.
And again, well, I I think a lot of issues came out.
For example, when we brought up the statistic that, you know, for example, in Florida, this the income tax is zero, and you have a top marginal rate in California on top of the top federal marginal rate of forty percent.
California's the highest at 13%.
So that's fifty-three cents out of every dollar.
That's only income tax.
But even if you're a couple making eighty-four grand a year, you you're still paying six percent income tax, which you wouldn't pay in Florida.
So I I I I think that was kind of all encompassing, but if you didn't feel it was detailed enough, I I'll I'll accept the criticism.
Well, it to me it wasn't detailed enough because I brought up sales taxes, I brought up property taxes, I brought up I had a whole list of taxes that we put on the screen.
All right, I will give you that.
I will.
But I I'm just trembling upset because it seems like the working man here in California is making less money, less productive because of their regulations that they have on us because we are less productive.
Look, when I interviewed, I was not part of this debate.
I was I was throwing out the information asking questions.
It was a fact-based debate.
But when I discussed issues one-on-one with Gavin, I brought up high taxation, and then I brought up the mass exodus, and it's a phenomenon out of blue states like California, which is the largest.
In two years they lost 750,000 people.
Uh Florida gained 454,000 people.
Uh, and I think it's all directly related to burdensome regulation that you're mentioning, and directly related to high taxation and the policies of the state.
You can add educational, you know, opportunities are better than Florida, even though they spend less per capita.
You could talk about crime rates.
You know, the crime rate, murder, homicide rape is is half the uh rate of California per hundred thousand, and I you know, I I tried to bring all of these differences up.
I brought up the homeless numbers, homelessness numbers in each state.
I tried to bring up as much as I could.
I won't say guilty, but just as wrong as Newsom is.
True, I can work more harder and I can be more productive in Florida.
As soon as I leave the state of Florida, or excuse me, the state of California, it is a race to get to Florida.
But the moment I get to Florida, I can get in there and get unloaded in a timely manner and still have time available.
But the freight rates coming out of Florida, going anywhere, is a joke.
If you look at the overall tax burden, and we gotta be big picture here.
I mean, I know it's very personal because this is your business.
I get it, and I have many friends in trucking.
But overall, it is such uh it's so dramatically different.
The governing philosophies is especially on taxes and regulation.
I uh it's just not comparable.
So I mean, I I I understand your specific needs issues.
Uh, but when they don't have an income tax and they have a lower sales tax and a lower corporate tax and lower taxes on pretty much everything, you get you know, you gotta give them props.
I mean, 13% is a pretty hefty rate.
Six percent for uh a couple that makes eighty-four grand a year.
It's expensive living out in California, but I hear you.
I'm listening to you.
Um, will you do me one favor, Jewel?
Please drive safe.
There's a lot of looney tunes out there, all right.
I've already gotten pulled over twice today by the highway patrol.
So good grief.
Trying to drive a little safe today.
Yeah, that's good.
What'd you get pulled over for?
Uh got pulled over for doing 50 miles an hour going downhill.
Oh boy.
The high the highway patrolman said, How long have you been driving?
I said, since 84.
He goes, Then you know what you're doing out here and let me go.
I didn't drive, I didn't drive 10 miles further.
I got another hydrotrone pull me over for doing 16 to 55.
He says 60, 60 and a 55.
Oh, come on.
Yep.
Did he write did he write you up?
No, sir.
He just gave me a strong warning saying trucks are only supposed to do 55 in this state.
Oh boy.
Man, oh man, you need to get the hell out of there.
I'm not kidding.
Uh appreciate it, Jewel.
God bless you.
All right, as we approach the holidays, I know many of you are thinking about what charities to support if you are planning to give.
Let me tell you, there's so many hundreds of thousands displaced, uh, Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel.
They need your help desperately right now.
And after viewing a film of all these atrocities and heinous attacks by Hamas against Israel, you know, when you see babies murdered, when you see parents executed in front of their kids, you're never gonna forget these horrors ever.
Now it's truly a fight between good and evil.
The sworn enemy of Israel will stop at nothing to slaughter every single Jewish person, claim Israel as their own, from the river to the sea, get rid of them forever.
You want smart political talk without the meltdowns?
We got you.
Now I'm Carol Markovich, and I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
We've been around the block in media, and we're doing things differently.
Normally is about real conversations, thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded, and no panic.
We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day.
Join us every Tuesday and Thursday, normally on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Ben Ferguson.
And I'm Ted Cruz.
Three times a week we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
So Delaware, verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
What I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi.
Nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why?
Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies.
From Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries, this is Fiasco Benghazi.
What difference at this point does it make?
Listen to Fiasco Benghazi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.