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Speaker 1: Ma, Minnesota.

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Speaker 2: Let me translate what he said. The interest of Ilhan

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Speaker 2: are not of the American people. The interest of Ilhan

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Speaker 2: is that of the Somalian people and Somalia.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.

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Speaker 3: Good Wednesday morning, So nice to have you with us

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Speaker 3: on the forty seven Morning Updated. We've got one major

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Speaker 3: story for you. It deals with the state of Minnesota

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Speaker 3: and the massive Somali fraud that is unfolding there now

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Speaker 3: toppling nine billion in the latest fraud that's been found.

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Speaker 3: So what is the federal government's response. Well, the Trump

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Speaker 3: administration is coming down heavy handed, and I have all

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Speaker 3: the details of what aspects of the government are being

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Speaker 3: used to hold those accountable for stealing taxpayers dollars in Minnesota. Up,

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Speaker 3: it's the forty seven Morning Update and it starts right now.

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Speaker 3: Story number one, Donald Trump is unleashing the federal government

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Speaker 3: and its resources to hold those accountable for the fraud

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Speaker 3: in Minnesota at a staggering pace. We now know that

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Speaker 3: federal funding has been frozen and systems safeguards are being

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Speaker 3: put into place the Trump administration, starting with the Department

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Speaker 3: of Health and Human Services has frozen about one hundred

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Speaker 3: and eighty five million and federal childcare funds to Minnesota

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Speaker 3: as part of accountability measures over suspected fraud in the

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Speaker 3: state programs. It was announced by the Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill.

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Speaker 3: This is what he had to say about how much

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Speaker 3: money is going to stop flowing to the fraudsters in Minnesota.

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Speaker 4: Hello, I may trust Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill. I'm here

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Speaker 4: with Assistant Secretary Alex Adams silver Seas, the Administration for

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Speaker 4: Children and Families and trepid journalists have made shocky, incredible

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Speaker 4: allegations of extensive fraud in Minnesota's childcare programs. We believe

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Speaker 4: the state of Minnesota has allowed scammers and fake daycares

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Speaker 4: to siphon millions of taxpayer dollars over the past decade.

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Speaker 5: My office ACF provides Minnesota one hundred and eighty five

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Speaker 5: million dollars in childcare funds each year. That money should

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Speaker 5: be helping nineteen thousand American children, including toddlers and infants.

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Speaker 5: Any dollar stolen by fraudsters is stolen from those children. Yesterday,

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Speaker 5: I spoke directly with the director of the Minnesota Childcare

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Speaker 5: Services Office. She could not tell me with confidence whether

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Speaker 5: those allegations of fraud are isolated or whether there's fraud

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Speaker 5: stretching statewide.

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Speaker 4: Today, we've taken three direct actions against the blatant fraud

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Speaker 4: that seems to be rampant in Minnesota. First, I have

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Speaker 4: activated our defend the Spend system for all ACF childcare

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Speaker 4: payments across America. Starting today, we require a justification, receipt

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Speaker 4: or photo evidence before we make a payment. Second, I've

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Speaker 4: just signed and said vent a demand letter to Governor Walls.

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Speaker 4: I required a full three hundred and sixty review of

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Speaker 4: these centers. This includes attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations, and inspections.

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Speaker 5: And Third, we've launched a dedicated fraud reporting hotline and

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Speaker 5: email address at childcare dot gov. Whether you're a parent,

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Speaker 5: a provider, a member of the public, we want to

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Speaker 5: hear from you. Let me be crystal clear. ACF expects

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Speaker 5: every state to uphold the highest standards of oversight, monitoring,

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Speaker 5: and accountability for federal dollars. Minnesota is no exception.

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Speaker 4: We're committed to holding bad actors accountable, regardless the rank

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Speaker 4: of office anyone is involved in perpetrating this fraud against

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Speaker 4: the American people should expect to be prosecuted to the

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Speaker 4: fullest extent of the law.

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Speaker 3: Not only are is HESS officials saying they're activating to

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Speaker 3: defend the spend system, requiring evidence and justification before further

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Speaker 3: federal payments are made, but they also said that if

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Speaker 3: you are involved in the fraud, they are coming after

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Speaker 3: you and you will be prosecuted, which brings me to

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Speaker 3: Part two of the Trump administration's response. They have now

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Speaker 3: expanded the federal investigation. The FBI and the Department of

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Speaker 3: Homeland Security have significantly increased their investigative efforts in Minnesota,

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Speaker 3: including now deploying additional federal agents. They're on the ground

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Speaker 3: investigating all that has been uncovered. The actions are described

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Speaker 3: by federal law enforcement leadership as part of a quote

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Speaker 3: broad effort to uncover and dismantle large scale fraud operations

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Speaker 3: within the state. Now, this is on top of the

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Speaker 3: intensified federal actions built on the existing work where dozens

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Speaker 3: of convictions have already been secured in major fraud schemes,

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Speaker 3: including the large pandemic air feed are future case. Federal

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Speaker 3: prosecutors and investigators say they are continuing to pursue accountability,

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Speaker 3: including additional charges and oversight, demonstrating the going commitment to

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Speaker 3: enforcement of the law in the state. Now this isn't

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Speaker 3: just going to be in Minnesota, We're being told as well.

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Speaker 3: They expect us to expand to other states where fraud

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Speaker 3: is unfolding. Now, the reason why these actions matter is

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Speaker 3: because they're freezing the funds when misuse is even suspected

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Speaker 3: instead of when it's just proven. It helps protect federal

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Speaker 3: dollars for their intended purpose. A great example of that

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Speaker 3: is actual childcare and childcare support for families of American citizens.

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Speaker 3: They also say requiring evidence before disbursement adds safeguards that

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Speaker 3: were previously weaker because they were trusting, and now they're

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Speaker 3: going to reduce the risk of large scale fraud in

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Speaker 3: the future. And expanding the investigative resources signals the federal

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Speaker 3: resolve from the Trump administration thoroughly examining and prosecuting fraud

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Speaker 3: beyond just local or state efforts. Now, while all this

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Speaker 3: is happening, there's also a disaster for Governor Tim Walls.

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Speaker 3: In fact, there's a new ad out right now and

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Speaker 3: this is what it sounds like.

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Speaker 6: Tim Walls doesn't seek out fraud. Fraud seeks out Tim Walls.

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Speaker 6: When scammers apply for jobs, they list him as a reference.

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Speaker 6: Under his watch, Fraud is Minnesota's fastest growing small business,

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Speaker 6: His biggest export taxpayer money delivered to foreign terrorists. If

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Speaker 6: Fraud had a frequent flyer program, he would always fly

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Speaker 6: first class. He is Tim Walls, the most fraudulent man

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Speaker 6: in America.

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Speaker 3: The scary part is there's a lot of truth to

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Speaker 3: that parody ad which brings us back to even the

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Speaker 3: bigger issue now, and that is the Democrats response. They're

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Speaker 3: not seeing fraud at all. In fact, they're looking at

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Speaker 3: the opposite of that, making it clear they don't believe

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Speaker 3: that anything really bad is happening. A great example is

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Speaker 3: MSNBC or ms NOW, whatever the hell they call themselves

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Speaker 3: with the New York Times, one of those in charge

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Speaker 3: the editorial board had this to say on Morning Joe,

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Speaker 3: saying that if you are criticizing the fraud in Minnesota,

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Speaker 3: you are a racist towards Somali's take a listen.

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Speaker 7: The question is, you know, why is this a priority?

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Speaker 7: In a different kind of way, the politicization of the

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Speaker 7: DOJ and the FBI is undeniable. So whether they are

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Speaker 7: reliable narrators is the big question. And this is what

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Speaker 7: happens when you weaponize and politicize federal agencies that are

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Speaker 7: not meant to be, you know, politicized. And I think

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Speaker 7: the American people are right to ask the question, well,

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Speaker 7: can we trust you? And that's a sad thing to

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Speaker 7: say as an American. Let's recall too, that there's also

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Speaker 7: other scandals in other states, for example, the Mississippi welfare scandal.

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Speaker 7: And this is this is not unique to politics. Americans

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Speaker 7: know that. But of course the other factor here is

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Speaker 7: that because it looks like the Somali population in Minnesota,

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Speaker 7: the Smali immigrant population may have been some involved in

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Speaker 7: some way, those people are being scapegoaded and that community

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Speaker 7: is being scapegoaded in a way that certainly serves the

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Speaker 7: far right. And so that's also something to keep an

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Speaker 7: eye on, and that's inappropriate. Absolutely.

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Speaker 3: So there you have it, Democrats going back to their playbook.

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Speaker 3: Anytime they can't defend their actions or their fraud, they

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Speaker 3: scream racism and say, how dare you criticize the Somali community. Now,

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Speaker 3: let's be clear about just how massive this fraud is

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Speaker 3: within the Somali community. It isn't just a few bad

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Speaker 3: actors that set up a few daycare centers. This is

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Speaker 3: a wide spread fraud with the community owning these centers

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Speaker 3: as well as the children they claim are going to

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Speaker 3: the centers, and the kickbacks that are going to the

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Speaker 3: parents for signing their kids up that never actually at end.

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Speaker 3: This is not a little fraud. It is a massive fraud.

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Speaker 3: And the massive fraud is all Somali run and organized.

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Speaker 3: It's no different than organized crime. It's no different than

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Speaker 3: what we see with the cartels. And that's exactly why

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Speaker 3: the president has no other choice but to do exactly

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Speaker 3: what he's doing right now, unleash the entire federal government

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Speaker 3: to go after those that have stolen billions of dollars

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Speaker 3: from the taxpayers. Now, this is another example of just

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Speaker 3: how absurd the left has really become. They say, do

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Speaker 3: not punish anyone because they are Somali, And the real

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Speaker 3: reason why is they want to buy votes. Why else

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Speaker 3: would you bring in so many Somali voters. You brought

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Speaker 3: them in so they'd support you. You got them addicted

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Speaker 3: to government aid, and you know they're going to vote

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Speaker 3: for you as long as you pay them through the

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Speaker 3: government aid and the waste and the fraud and the abuse,

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Speaker 3: and the scary part of all is Democrats aren't even

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Speaker 3: outraged over this, and they're not outraged that the money

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Speaker 3: was actually going to a terrorist organization, al Shabab. So

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Speaker 3: here we are. It is a divide. You're either standing

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Speaker 3: with the terrorists al Shabab, or you're standing with the

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Speaker 3: American taxpayer, the hard working Americans that pay their taxes

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Speaker 3: that have been ripped off. And now we know exactly

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Speaker 3: where the Democrats stand on the issue. It's not with you,

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Speaker 3: it's with the terrorists.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update

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Speaker 1: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever

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Speaker 1: you're listening to this podcast right now and for more

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Speaker 1: in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast

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Speaker 1: and we will see you back here tomorrow