WEBVTT - COVID Docs Released by Ratcliffe, No Taxes on Tips-Can it Happen plus Obstruction during Confirmation Hearings Week In Review 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.520 Welcome in his verdict with Ted Cruz Weekend Review, Ben 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:07.160 Ferguson with you, and these were the major stories that 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:09.879 we chatted about this past week that you may have missed. 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:14.960 First up, John Radcliffe being confirmed as a CIA director. Well, 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:18.320 he then decided to release COVID info that was readily 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:22.639 available when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were in the 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.720 White House, but they deliberately chose not to share it 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.080 with the American people. What is that information? I'll explain 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.640 it to you in just a moment. Also tips no 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:36.120 tax on them and no tax on Social Security? Can 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:40.040 this idea from Donald Trump actually pass through Congress? Senator 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.280 Cruz explains the real opportunity here to change things in 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:48.000 a big way for seniors. And finally, Democrats moving to 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:51.440 obstruct the confirmation hearings as much as they can, and 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.240 they're trying to get at least one of Trump's nominees 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.200 to fail. So what is going to happen next? We'll 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.840 explain that for you. It is the Weekend Review and 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.560 it starts right now. I want to move to this 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:06.679 other big headline, and that deals with the CIA and 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.120 releasing new analysis on the COVID origins. 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:13.360 Doesn't matter where you read the headline. 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:16.959 Whether it's Fox News, Politico, AP, BBC, Wall Street Journal, 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.760 they're all writing the same article. Now, and I'll go 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.600 to Politico. CIA now says COVID nineteen is more likely 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.880 to have originated from a lab leak. Now, the most 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:31.160 interesting part about this transparency that we're getting from the 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:34.560 CIA director John Ratcliffe, a friend of both of ours, 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.240 is the fact that he made it clear, Hey, I'm 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.120 releasing information that they had already come to a conclusion 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.039 on Center when Biden and Harris were in charge. They 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:47.600 just didn't want the American people to know it. So 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:50.040 if you think I'm the one giving you this intel, 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.680 it's not me. This is intel from Biden and Harris 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:54.560 that they hid from you. 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:55.400 Yeah. 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.760 So the CIA had already come to this conclusion, and 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:03.240 for for a number of years, the CIA's public position 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:07.080 was it could not conclude with certainty where the pandemic started. 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.560 And yet two days after John Radcliffe was sworn in 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.160 as the new director of the CIA, they issued a 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.400 public statement that said, quote, we have low confidence in 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.760 this judgment and will continue to evaluate any available, credible, 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.600 new intelligence, reporting, or open source information that could change 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:27.640 CIA's assessment. And by the way, low confidence typically when 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:31.840 the intelligence community has a conclusion that they will report 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:35.440 it with low confidence, with moderate confidence, or with high confidence. 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.760 So they're saying that they're not convinced it's absolutely right, 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.240 but they think it's correct, but it's at the lowest 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:48.239 confidence level. And they did note CIA continues to assess 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:51.120 that both research related in natural origin scenarios of the 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:57.600 COVID pandemic remain plausible. It is striking striking, however, that 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.040 as you just said a second ago, the CIA had 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:04.960 concluded this some time ago. It's just under Joe Biden 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:08.960 and Kamala Harris they didn't bother to tell the American people. 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:10.720 Listen to John Radcliffe explaining this. 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:13.400 Part of what we have to do is we have 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:17.800 to restore Americans trust in our own institutions like the 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:22.359 intelligence community and law enforcement, and that includes the CIA. 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:25.280 And you know, one of the things that the President stress, 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.160 you know that the purpose of the CIA is to 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.920 protect Americans, to keep us safe from foreign threats and 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.840 foreign adversaries, but we also need to be truthful with Americans. 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.360 And he has stressed to me and others that you know, 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.680 these aren't mutually exclusive missions. We can do both. And 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.080 so in the case of the CIA, which is the 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:47.760 best foreign intelligence service in the world, after five years, 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:50.520 to not have a public assessment to be honest with 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.640 the American people about where the likely source of a 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:59.840 pandemic that killed millions around the world, including a million Americans, 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:03.360 and really impacted all three hundred and forty five million 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:06.640 Americans in some way. People lost jobs, they lost houses, 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:11.240 they lost their health, they lost their businesses, all of that. 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.200 And so I had the opportunity on my first day 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.520 to make public an assessment that actually took place in 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:20.960 the Biden administration, so it can't be accused of being political, 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.400 and it does assess the CIA has assessed that the 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:29.080 most likely cause of this pandemic that has wrought so 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.679 much devastation around the world was because of elaborated incident 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:37.360 in Wuhan, and so we'll continue to investigate that moving forward. 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.760 But I think it was important for the American people 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:43.000 to see an institution like the CIA get off the 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.920 sidelines and be truthful about what our intelligence shows at 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:51.240 the same time of protecting us from adversaries like China 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:52.920 if they caused or contributed to this. 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:55.680 I mean, E said, wow, what else can you say? 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.039 This is all intel that we already had that they 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.720 hid and lif to the American people about. 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:04.520 Well listen, and I know John Ratcliffe, well, he's a 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:07.440 good friend of mine. He is someone I sat and 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.320 spent about an hour talking with him a week ago 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:12.320 before his confirmation. And I'll tell you one of the 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:17.719 things I urged John to do is bring maximum transparency 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.400 that's possible. Look, the nature of the CIA, you can't 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:22.839 be transparent and everything. Obviously, we don't want the public 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:26.400 to know the identity of covert agents or or you know, 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:31.159 secret wiretaps or things that would jeopardize national security. But 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:37.280 the consequences of the politicization and weaponization of both law 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:41.120 enforcement and the intelligence community is that the public's trust 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:45.080 in those institutions has been severely diminished. That's what John 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.000 was talking about in that clip you just played, And 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:48.960 so I urged him. By the way, it's the same 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.320 thing I've urged Pam Bondy, who's been nominated to be 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.600 Attorney General. It's the same thing I've urged Cash Betel, 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:58.000 who's been nominated to be FBI director, is have the 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:02.160 maximum transparency possible, and in particular, I've urged them with 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.160 respect to COVID and the origins of COVID and by 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.719 the way, any US government complicity in terms of funding 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:12.200 the Chinese research and the gain of function research that 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.400 may have created the COVID virus, that we need maximum 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:19.040 transparency concerning that in particular, and I think John Ratcliffe 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.800 is following through with that. I've also urged maximum transparency 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:28.160 concerning January sixth and any US government informants who may 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.719 have been involved who may have enticed or entrapped people 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.359 into conduct on that day to make that public as well. 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.240 And I'm hopeful and by the way, I'll mention Trump 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.320 is also releasing the files on JFK and RFK and 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:47.280 Martin Luther King's assassinations. I will note Ben when Trump 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:49.640 said he was releasing the JFK files. 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:50.560 I know where you're going with this. 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:55.520 I did at least tweet just wondering what are the 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:59.599 non extradition countries Again, I'm asking for a friend. 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:00.320 All right. 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:03.040 You can't say that without telling the backstory on this one, right? 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:06.280 Can you find people the humor here on this? 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:06.719 Sure? 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:13.040 During twenty sixteen, Trump accused my father of killing JFK, which, 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:15.360 for the record, no, my dad did not kill JFK. 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:17.800 He did kill Jimmy Hoffa. Jimmy Hoffa is buried my 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:20.000 dad's backyard, but he didn't kill JFK. 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:26.200 And so it's it's a thing. And so if he's 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:27.200 releasing the the. 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:31.840 JFK files, I got to tell you, I'm buying a 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.080 plane ticket for my dad to go to Bolivia right now. 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.120 Between that and the Zodiac Killer, you're just making headlines, 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:37.600 my friend. 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:39.920 And it was amazing. 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.240 So Ben, there is actually a real poll that I 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.000 have seen that show, this was a few years ago, 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:50.880 that twenty eight percent of Floridians believe I may well 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:52.080 be the Zodiac Killer. 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:55.679 That's one I would frame him put on my desk. 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:56.840 It really is. 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.160 And given that the Zodiac Killer killed a number of 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.000 people in northern Klifornia in the nineteen sixties before I 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.240 was born, that's an amazing talent to be able to 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:09.640 murder in Utero, to reach like back in time. That 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:13.440 that's just you know, I'm kind of proud of that. 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.560 I mean, if liberals another reason to be afraid of 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:19.200 you just know that Center crews can time travel per 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:20.800 per Internet report, So. 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.120 As the meme says, FAFO, I. 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:25.000 Love it all. 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.520 Right, let's talk about the last thing on our list, 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:29.200 and it is one. 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.080 Were you right in your prediction? When did you get home? 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:35.560 If you listen our last show, we were talking about 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.040 our Democrats going to hold out through the weekend. Are 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:39.920 you gonna have to stay in DC all weekend? Are 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:42.720 you gonna get to come home? They were holding up 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.200 the nomination jet again. So tell us how that went down. 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:47.960 When did you get back? Were you right? 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:48.560 So? 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.440 I was right. I said I thought we'd get back Saturday. 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:54.560 I thought the Democrats would fight tooth and nail to 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:56.839 try to beat Pete hegg Seth. I said they'd lose, 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.320 and I said when they lost, they'd give in and 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.120 they want to get out of town because they want 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:02.320 to get home, just like we do. 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:04.520 So that's exactly what happened. 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.360 So we were there, We were there late Friday night, 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.559 and then we ended up finishing the vote Saturday morning, 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.800 and we all flew out Saturday afternoon. So i'm you 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:17.080 and I are recording. It is twelve eleven in the 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:20.680 morning right now, Sunday night, Monday morning. I'm in Houston 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:23.520 and tomorrow morning. I'll fly back to d C to 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:25.280 go back to the Senate tomorrow. So we did get 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:28.520 out and where are we on the confirmations? So right 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:32.160 now four cabinet members have been confirmed. The first to 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:34.680 be confirmed was Marco Rubio, a Secretary of State. He 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:39.640 was confirmed on January twentieth. The vote was ninety nine 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.440 to nothing. The second to be confirmed was the guy 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:44.920 that you just played that clip from, John Ratcliffe, ats 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.480 a director. The vote was seventy two to twenty six, 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:54.120 so big bipartisan vote. And it's striking though that the 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.880 Democrats delayed that several days even though there was clear 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:01.440 bipartisan support for him. Ratcliffe should have been confirmed on 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.200 January twentieth. Also, in fact, we thought he was going 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.320 to and the Democrats delayed it several days just because 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:08.400 they're engaged in obstruction. 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:10.720 They're trying to delay everything, and. 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.720 We're way behind schedule compared to other administrations. 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.760 So people understand that way behind is strong, but they're 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.440 dragging their feet and that's why that's why we ram through, 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.000 forced them to stay through the weekend, CAPE, kept them 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:24.880 late Friday night, kept them their Saturday. 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:25.800 To make clear. 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.679 Listen, if you delay, We'll just motor through, and so 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:30.840 you can decide do you want it to be unpleasant 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:32.679 or do you want to move forward. We're going to 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:36.640 move expeditiously and confirm these nominees. The Democrats, if they want, 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.280 they can abuse the procedural rules. They can drag things out, 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:41.199 but that means they're going to be there on Fridays 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.679 and Saturdays and Sundays and they're not going home. And 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:46.240 that's the most effective way to get them to give 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:49.280 cave in, which is what they did. And so Friday 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:53.080 night the third cabinet member was confirmed, that was Pete Hegseith. 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:56.560 And then on Saturday we confirmed the fourth cabinet member, 0:10:56.600 --> 0:11:00.040 which is Christy nom for Secretary of Homeland Security. He 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:03.679 was confirmed fifty nine to thirty four, so a respectable 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:09.360 bipartisan vote. Not overwhelming, but she got six Democrats. And 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.520 next week we have teed up Scott Bessen for Secretary 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:17.400 of Treasury, Sean Duffy for Secretary of Transportation, Chris Wright 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:20.800 for Secretary of Energy, and Doug Bergham for Secretary of 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:22.880 the Interior. All of them are out of committee. All 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:25.040 of them are teed up. I think all four of 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.120 them will be confirmed next week. We may have some 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:30.920 others confirmed next week as well, but we're moving expeditiously, 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.640 and as I said, my prediction is that we will 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.920 confirm all of Trump's cabinet nominees within thirty days. We 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:40.280 also have next week in Judiciary, we will vote Pam 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.240 Bondi out of committee and we'll have the hearing on 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:45.160 Cash Battel. And by the way, one of the things 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:48.800 I did last week is participated in in a moot 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.600 preparation with Cash Battel, which was very productive. 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:51.840 Cash. 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:53.440 I think it's going to do a good job. The 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.440 Democrats are going to go hard after Cash Battel. They're 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:58.679 going to go hard after Tulsi Gabbard. Those are their 0:11:58.679 --> 0:11:59.600 top two targets. 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:02.680 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.240 you can go back and listen to the full podcast 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:10.160 from earlier this week. Now onto story number two. All right, 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:14.280 so taxes tips. It was clearly a big campaign issue. 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:16.440 It brought in a lot of voters. A lot of 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.559 people came to Donald Trump and said this couldn't have 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:21.640 a huge impact. Now it's paying off on it, Is 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:22.680 there a real chance? 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:26.680 So yes, and I believe this will happen. This will 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.760 happen by the end of the year. So let's rewind. 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.440 In the middle of the presidential campaign, Donald Trump was 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.880 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he actually told us the story. 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:38.800 So he came by in the middle of the campaign. 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:41.880 He had lunch with all the Republican senators and he said, listen, 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:42.600 I was in Vegas. 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:43.640 I had a rally that night. 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.440 And he said, I was having lunch and he said, 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.200 there was a waitress who came. It was serving me 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:53.720 my meal, and he said she began like complaining about 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.600 the enormous burden that the Biden administration had put on 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.120 recording her tips, on paying taxes on tip. 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.080 And he said, I pulled out. 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:03.720 A piece of paper and I got out of pen 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:07.920 and I just wrote, no taxes on tips. 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:09.240 They said, it's just. 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:11.800 An idea that popped in my head. And he said, look, 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:15.400 some people, they they focus group things, they do white papers. 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:17.280 He said, I didn't do any of that. I just 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.160 wrote it down from the conversation I had with the 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.880 waitress over lunch. And he said, I had that rally 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:25.400 later the day and I had thousands of people there, 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:28.160 and he said, I just threw it out there no 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.480 taxes on tips, and he said, and they went crazy, 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:36.560 They went absolutely crazy. And I got to say, there 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.000 are times when when Trump I just think has an 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:45.800 instinct that is a very good, gut instinct, and I 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:48.400 think this policy makes enormous sense. And so when he 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.640 announced it, He's right, the crowd went crazy. 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:53.760 I looked at it and I said, this is this 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:54.760 is a great idea. 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:57.880 I immediately went to my team and I said, let's 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.040 draft the legislation to make this happened. So the next 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:05.120 week I filed federal legislation of no taxes on tips. 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:09.400 Now what's interesting, Ben is when I filed this, it 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:16.160 immediately became bipartisan. Both senators from Nevada, Jackie Rosen and 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:20.320 Catherine Court's Master, both of them immediately co sponsored it. 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.800 One of them said to me, she said, look in Nevada, 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.440 twenty five percent of the employees in the entire state 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.680 are tipped workers. And so it was bipartisan. And then 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.880 shortly thereafter, Kamala Harris endorsed it and she said, this 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.280 is a great idea. So it became there was enormous 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:43.280 bipartisan support. Now, obviously Trump is won. We have a 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:47.960 Republican Senate. At Republican House, I've refiled my legislation. Here's 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.880 what I'm pressing to happen. So Trump just was back 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:54.400 in Nevada and Las Vegas just made a huge push 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:58.560 to pass this. I am pressing for Congress to pass 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:03.200 the legislation right now. It doesn't have to be part 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:10.360 of budget reconciliation. Now, for any tax bill under the Constitution, 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.200 the House of Representatives has to originate it. So if 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:16.800 that's a provision of the Constitution, the Senate cannot start 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.160 a tax bill. A tax bill has to originate with House. 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:24.000 So I am merging the Speaker of the House. I'm 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:28.600 merging the majority leader take up my legislation no taxes 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:29.120 on tips. 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:30.160 Just pass it. 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.120 We have the votes in the House, Republicans can pass it. 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:38.320 If it passes and goes over to the Senate, I 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:40.440 believe we can pass it in the Senate, and I 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:42.680 think we'll get sixty votes, so we don't have to 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:48.080 wait for reconciliation. Reconciliation is the process that gets around 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.640 the filibuster. Lets us pass something with just fifty votes. 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:55.000 I don't think we need that for no taxes on tips. 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:58.880 If the House passes it. What I'm merging, John Thune, 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:01.160 the Senate majority leaders put it on the Senate floor. 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:03.880 I think we'll get sixty votes, and that means we 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.480 could pass it. It would be a big bipartisan win, 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:11.960 and we'll put it on President Trump's desk. He can 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.120 sign it into law as a huge victory. And by 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:17.760 the way, it's a win win man. If we put 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.480 it on the floor and Democrats decide to be partisan, 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.560 they decide, Okay, we're going to oppose it because we 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:28.680 just oppose any tax cut, we oppose anything Trump wants. Okay, 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:31.760 that's not the end of the day. If Democrats defeat 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:33.680 it in the Senate because we can't get to sixty, 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:37.880 that's fine. Then we'll stick it in budget reconciliation. We 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.000 can get it done with fifty. But it's a win 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:44.960 win because every Democrat senator who votes know that is 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:47.680 an ugly issue in two years to go face the 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:51.560 voters and say, hey, I voted against no taxes on tips. 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:57.720 Even though every waiter, every waitress, every bartender, every taxi driver, 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:03.680 every uber driver, every barber, every hairstylist, every nail salon person, 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:08.240 everyone who is relying on tips cares a lot about this, 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.040 So if the Democrats all want to vote against it, look, 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:17.040 I think this policy is an incredible embodiment of the 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.240 most important political transformation of the last decade, which is 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:25.399 that Republicans have become a blue collar party. We are 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:28.960 the party of waiters and waitresses and working men and women. 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:32.359 And so Democrats can decide where they stand, but I 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:34.800 think we ought to get this passed, and one way 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:38.800 or another, my prediction is this will get done before 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:40.080 the end of twenty twenty five. 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.280 Is this one of those issues where people should call 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.600 their congressmen their sinners? I mean we talk about this, Yes, yes, yes, 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:48.359 I mean yes, And what do you say? 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:50.840 This is good for my state, this is good for 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:52.920 my city, this is good for hourly workers. 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.800 It's the best argument. Just pass no taxes on tips. 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:59.399 So look, one of the things to understand when you 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:04.159 call your hungers, when you call your senator, if you 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:10.280 make a detailed, subtle argument, that doesn't get through. So 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:13.040 every member of Congress gets what I get every day, 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.760 which is I get an email. So all right, let 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:17.159 me find my email from today. 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:18.760 Call totals. 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.679 So on t eight twenty five, today there were one thousand, 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:26.480 three hundred and seventy two calls to my office. There 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:28.919 were seven hundred and fifty four to DC, there were 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:32.359 six hundred and eighteen to Texas. There are four hundred 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.119 and eighty two live calls, so we had interns and 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.399 staff assistants who answered four hundred and eighty two calls. Today, 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:41.520 there were eight hundred ninety calls that went to voicemails. 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:46.520 Of those calls, oney three hundred and twenty two Texans called, 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:52.200 fifty non Texans called, so overwhelmingly the calls were Texans. 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.720 So let's break it down casework. So that's I've got 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:58.480 an issue with Social Security, I've got an issue with 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:01.440 the VA, I've got an issue with government. Forty five 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:03.400 of those calls were casework, and I've got a whole 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:06.320 team that works to help Texans deal with the government 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:10.440 every day. Twenty four dealt with the academy, so young 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:12.879 men and women in high school students that want to 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:15.640 go to service academy. So twenty four of them. Eight 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:19.000 concerned the campaign. I don't know what they concerned. Ninety 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:21.880 one concerned scheduling, so people calling and saying, hey, can 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:23.920 you come and do this event or this other event 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:31.000 now of the breakdown. Eighteen called in support of me, 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:34.840 twenty eight called in opposition to me. So people called 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.639 and said, I can't stand Cruise, He's terrible. Okay, that 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:42.959 gets recorded. Ten people called in support a President Trump, 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:49.119 Seventy nine people called in opposition to President Trump. Now nominations, 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:53.880 seventy five people called in support of President Trump's nominees. 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:59.080 Seventy people called in opposition to President Trump's nominees. Now, 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:02.280 it's interesting. FK Junior got a bunch of calls. One 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:05.760 hundred and eighty seven people this is yesterday called in 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:10.600 support of RFK Junior for HHS Secretary. Ninety three people 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:14.880 called in opposition to RFK Junior, so about two to one, 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:19.520 Bobby Kennedy, the calls were coming in. Nineteen people called 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:25.159 in support of Cash Battel for FBI director. Four hundred 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:29.080 and thirty two people called in opposition to cash Battel 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:31.960 as FBI director. And I think there probably were some 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.280 liberal groups stirring up calls, because that number is big enough, 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:36.040 four hundred and thirty. 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:37.920 I was going to say, when you see days like that, 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:40.840 you got to be thinking somebody went on an email 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:44.640 campaign or a Callboitz campaign and said, yeah, target this 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:48.160 member today specifically, because if it doesn't match the day before, 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:50.680 the day after, that's when that's kind of the tel right. 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:51.480 And that happens. 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:53.959 There are groups that will focus and say make these calls. 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:56.280 And I think those calls the four hundred and thirty two, 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:59.480 that's a big enough number. That's where that probably came from. Now, 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:03.679 in a day, forty eight people called in support of 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:08.240 Tulsa Gabbard, twenty two people called in opposition. 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:08.800 To Tulsa Gabbard. 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:13.720 On legislative issues, thirteen people called in support a border 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:17.520 of security, two people called in opposition to border security, 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:22.439 and interestingly enough, four hundred and seventy four people called 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:27.719 in opposition to the omb pause of federally appropriated funds. 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:31.600 So look that's the sort of report. I get that 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:34.119 report every day and I read it every day. Now, 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:37.560 look what we get over the course of the year, 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.680 hundreds of thousands of calls. So I can't listen to 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:44.400