WEBVTT - May It Please the Court 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.800 Seventeen states and the President of the United States have 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:08.440 joined the Great State of Texas ensuing the battlegrounds over 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.560 election irregularities in the Supreme Court. This after there was 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:16.040 another lawsuit brought up to the Supreme Court regarding the 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:20.720 irregularities in Pennsylvania, and the host of this show has 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.880 been asked to argue both of those cases before the 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:32.680 Supreme Court. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. Welcome back 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:34.800 to Verdict with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles, and I 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.319 should clarify I have not been asked to argue those 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.400 cases before the Supreme Court. I have offered my services. 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.320 A Ken Paxton in Texas has not returned my calls. 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.040 Actually it was Senator Cruz who's been asked. Senator, there's 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.479 a lot to get into right here. The last time 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:54.600 we spoke, we discussed in Pennsylvania this case regarding the 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.440 irregularities there and the possible violation of the Pennsylvania state Constitution. 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:00.840 At that time, I believe you had not yet been 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:04.119 asked to argue the case before the court. The Supreme 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.360 Court then rejected that appeal. Anyway, Now we've got this 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.280 other case from Texas. What is going on Why have 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:14.839 you been asked, I suppose because of your great experience 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:17.280 arguing before the Supreme Court. But but how did this 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.000 all come to pass? Well, sure, let's start with a 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:24.480 Pennsylvania case. When we last did the podcast, the Pennsylvania 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.200 case was pending and the lawyers for the plaintiffs there. 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:32.199 So the plaintiffs in the Pennsylvania case were Mike Kelly, 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:36.240 an incumbent Republican congressman in Pennsylvania who lost a very 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:40.280 narrow reelection in November, and Sean Parnell, who was a 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:45.039 Republican candidate for Congress who lost a very narrow race 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:48.480 in Pennsylvania as well, And so their lawyers had drafted 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:50.880 the pleadings. When we did the last pod, they were pending, 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:54.440 and their lawyers reached out to me and they asked, 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.240 they said, listen, if the court takes this case, would 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:59.920 you be willing to argue it? And I thought about it. 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:05.480 And usually, more often than not, you argue a case 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:07.960 where you drafted the briefs and you've been part of 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.040 the legal team from the beginning, so it's fairly unusual 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.280 to come in at the tail end. But but given 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:16.520 the importance of it, um, I had already written a 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.680 long statement which actually you read on the last pod, 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:22.760 urging the Supreme Court to take the case. And so 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:26.200 I had already read the pleading and thought it needed 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:28.000 to be heard, and so I said, sure, I'm happy 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:32.520 to argue it, and and we put that out publicly. Unfortunately, 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:37.280 then the Supreme Court declined to take the case. And 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:40.880 I have to admit, although I wish the Court had 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:44.440 taken the case, for for most observers myself included, it 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:49.480 was not an astonishing surprise that the Court didn't uh. 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:52.600 And the reason for that that the challenge in the 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:57.360 Pennsylvania case is that I think there's a clear violation 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:02.080 of state law in Pencil Lvania. The Constitution requires in 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:06.600 person voting in all but very limited circumstances. The legislature 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.400 expanded the law to allow universal mail in voting. There 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:12.800 was a clear violation of state law. The problem is 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:17.079 the US Supreme Court doesn't decide questions of state law, 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:20.280 so questions of state law are typically left to the 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:24.919 supreme courts of each state. And what was more difficult 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:30.040 to articulate was more difficult I think for the court 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:33.000 to see is what the clear federal question was I 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:37.000 think the lawyers in the Pennsylvania casey, they worked hard 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.360 to articulate a federal interest, and look, obviously you've got 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.760 a presidential election, so that's a huge federal interest. Although 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:50.280 finding the federal constitutional issue was more complicated, and so 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:52.880 the court turned it down. They did not write an opinion, 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:55.680 so we don't have any reasoning as to why they 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:57.760 turned it down. It was simply a one line order. 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.960 What that means is there weren't five votes. It takes 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:04.320 five votes to grant an injunction, and so there were 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:08.520 not five votes to issue extraordinary relief to grant an injunction. 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:12.480 We know that. And then subsequently the Texas case was filed. 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:16.400 Now I want to make clear for people we're recording 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:18.080 this Thursday night, you've been up on the hill all 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:20.000 day dealing with a lot a number of other issues 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.440 unrelated to the election that I do want to hit 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:26.279 on in just a moment. So we're just waiting to 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:28.360 find out if the Supreme Court is even going to 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:33.400 hear this other lawsuit from Texas suing Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:35.839 and Wisconsin, with the support of seventeen other states and 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:40.200 President Trump, that lawsuit is coming up. You have been 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:43.240 asked to give the argument in that case as well. 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:47.080 The court, if they didn't take the Pennsylvania case, I 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:51.039 fear it maybe won't take this case either. That may 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.640 be right. So the Texas case I first learned about 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.400 Monday night. Actually I was doing Sean Hannity's TV show, 0:04:57.400 --> 0:04:59.599 and so I was on Hannity and Hannity asked me 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:03.000 about the Texas case, and I actually wasn't entirely sure 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:04.960 what he was talking about, and so, I mean, I 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:09.560 just kind of spoke generally about suits between states, but 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.440 but I didn't know the details of it. The reason 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.480 was the Texas case wasn't filed until late that night. 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:17.640 I actually think it was early the next morning, at 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.720 like twelve fifty in the morning or something like that. 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.080 And so I saw the case when after it was filed. 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.840 And then Tuesday is when the Supreme Court turned down 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:35.200 the Pennsylvania case. And that evening I was at dinner 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:37.479 and got a call on my cell phone from the 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:42.040 President and the President was unhappy that the Court had 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.240 turned down the Pennsylvania case. I understood that I was 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.960 unhappy too. I'd vocally and vigorously urged them to take it. 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.159 And the President asked me at the time, said where 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:52.800 you surprised the court didn't take the case, And I said, look, 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:55.720 I was not. I was not shocked they didn't take 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.280 the case because of the challenge we just talked about 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:01.520 a minute ago of the difference between state law and 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.040 federal law, and that was a challenging hurdle. And so 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.719 the President on that call, he asked me, he said, look, 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:11.599 this Texas case has just been filed, and he said publicly, 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:13.760 this is the case. As you noted, the President has 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.919 since intervened in it. And he asked me, would you 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:21.000 be willing to argue this case? And I said, sure, 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.040 I'd be happy to if the court grant said I'll 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:27.800 argue it, And your question was an insightful one. Like 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:31.880 the Pennsylvania case, there are hurdles to get it granted. 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:34.840 And one of the things to understand is just the 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.000 overall numbers. The Supreme Court doesn't take that many cases. 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:43.160 In a given year. You get anywhere between eight thousand 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.920 and ten thousand appeals to the Supreme Court. They typically 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:51.159 grant about eighty, so it's about one percent. A suit 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:54.360 between the states is different and this is a suit 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:59.640 between Texas and four other states Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.280 Under the Constitution, the Supreme Court has what's called original 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:09.039 jurisdiction and suits between states. That means, you know, typically 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:10.840 if you file a federal lawsuit, you go file it 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:16.080 in federal district court. That's how virtually all federal lawsuits begin. 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:19.960 A suit between two or more states, you can file 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:22.880 it in the US Supreme Court. It has original jurisdiction, 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:26.360 but it's not mandatory jurisdiction, so they don't have to 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:31.320 conduct a trial. And actually in suits between states, so 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.360 they usually come up in the context of say a 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:37.400 dispute over boundaries or a dispute over a river. Those 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:40.320 are the circumstances where you get a fight where two 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:42.440 states are saying our line is here, and the other 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:44.240 state to say no, no no, no, our line is here. 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.200 And the way the court normally resolves that is it 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:51.880 will appoint a special Master that is basically a trial judge, 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.520 and they can go conduct a trial on behalf of 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.680 the US Supreme Court, and then they'll prepare a report 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.480 that typically the Supreme Court it will adopt or change 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:05.880 or and they review it then in this instance, the 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:10.440 court has a decision whether to grant leave for the 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.640 state to file a complaint. That again takes five votes, 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:18.000 And so the Texas lawsuit is much broader than the 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:21.160 Pennsylvania lawsuit. It raises a lot of the issues about 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:25.560 fraud and irregularities and different players in the different states 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:29.320 changing the law in the middle of the process. That 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.800 breadth is good, But on the other hand, that breadth 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.040 may be a factor. I don't know if there are 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:38.480 five votes, and if they're not five votes, the court 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:41.200 won't take the case, and we could find out. You 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:44.960 and I are sitting here Thursday evening. The courts set 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:49.679 a deadline for the defendant states to respond three pm today, 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:56.600 and so after the response, the court could could resolve 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.400 it at any time. It could be tonight, it could 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:03.000 be tomorrow. Now the court could say we're gonna set 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:07.200 a oral argument date for day after tomorrow. I mean, 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:09.920 they could move really fast, and they could move really slow. 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:12.880 They could deny it all together. So by the time 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.880 this pod comes out, which I think will be sometime Friday, 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:19.280 when we get get it all edited and processed and 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.320 put out, we may know the answer. But as of 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:24.480 right now we don't know what the Supreme Court's going 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:26.280 to do, and if they tell you that you've got 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:28.840 an oral argument the following day, then you are going 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:31.760 to have a very busy night and day. And I 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.640 know there's other work that you have to pay attention 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:37.120 to on Capitol Hill. So I do want to touch 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:39.080 on a few of these issues because I fear that 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.640 in the craziness of the election drama, we're missing out 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.800 on some pretty important changes that have been going on 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:51.120 the Senate today. Back to a massive arms sale to 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.520 the United Arab Emirates, there was a major peace deal 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:58.720 between Morocco and Israel. You've got a big debate over 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.600 the National Defense authors should act. Can you just move 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:05.840 us for a second from domestic to foreign policy, regardless 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:08.240 of how the election turns out, what's going on abroad. 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.400 So there's a lot of foreign policy moving forward, and 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:14.480 much of it is very, very positive. We saw a 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:16.040 couple of months ago, and we talked about in an 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:20.560 earlier pod, the Abraham Accords, which were the historic peace 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:24.480 agreements between Israel and the UAE and Israel and Bahrain 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:30.680 where where both Arab nations normalized relationships with Israel. That 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:35.080 hadn't happened in decades, and it was a major step 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.800 forward for peace. And I'll say a couple of things. One, 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:42.520 it is a vindication of a foreign policy approach that 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:45.760 I've been advocating for a long time, which is that 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:50.920 the best way to produce peace is clarity and lack 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:55.800 of ambiguity. For eight years of Obama Biden, they deliberately 0:10:55.840 --> 0:11:00.760 embraced an ambiguity of we're with Israel, We're not with Israel. 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:05.880 They embraced the notion that you must resolve the Palestinian 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:10.000 situation before anything else can be done. And we now 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.960 know that view was unequivocally wrong. It was simply bologny. 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:19.040 And I spent the last half of the Obama administration, 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:21.600 the time I was in the Senate, blasting that view 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:26.240 and saying this is foolish. Instead make unequivocal we stand 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:30.319 with Israel. That will facilitate peace. Well, when President Trump 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:32.240 came in, he agreed with me. He moved the embassy 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:36.680 to Jerusalem, a huge decision that I advocated for. He 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:40.520 pulled out of the Obama Iran nuclear deal, a huge 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:45.559 decision I advocated for. Both of those. The State Department, 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:49.920 Defense Department, had argued against. So President Trump overruled his 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:53.400 own State Secretary of State, his own Secretary Defense to 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:57.120 move the embassy to Jerusalem to end the Obama Iran deal. 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:02.319 That clarity set the stage for the Abraham Accords. I'll 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:05.720 tell you the the week the Abraham Accords were signed, 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.720 I was at the White House for the signing. I 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:13.400 spoke with the foreign officials in both Ua and Bahrain. 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:17.920 Both said, we want to be friends with America. It's 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:21.240 really important with us to be friends with America. And 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.200 what we figured out is one of the best ways 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:26.600 to be friends with america's be friends with Israel. So 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:30.200 we're doing this because it's clear that this will make 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:35.200 America happy, and it really is the fruits of that 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:39.240 unambiguous clarity. Now, I worry if we have a President Biden, 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:41.720 that that'll all gets screwed up, that they'll go back 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:46.800 to the same strategic ambiguity. Now you asked about the 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.480 votes this week. There were two big votes this week 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:55.960 yesterday on arms sales American arms sales of drones and 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:01.880 F thirty fives to the UAE United Arab Emirates. They 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:07.120 were controversial, they were closely contested. Brand Paul wanted to 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:09.480 disapprove of of the armed sales, and most of the 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.920 Democrats wanted to disapprove of the armed sales. And I 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.040 got to tell you this week, I struggled on this question. 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.760 This was not an easy question for me. It was 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:23.720 a close question. And the reason is, look, if you 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.200 look the history of the Middle East, the Middle East 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:30.440 has been a tinderbox weapons like the F thirty five, 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:34.199 the most advanced airframe we have. Only Israel has it 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.640 in the Middle East right now, and so I viewed 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:40.840 that as a big threshold for another Middle East country 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.120 to get the F thirty five. And so I spent 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:49.439 hours on the phone with the Israeli ambassador, Ron Dermo, 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:51.320 is a very good friend of mine, and we talked 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:55.199 about it at great length, with the UAE ambassador, who 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.240 I've also gotten to know well with, with Jared Kushner, 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.480 with others in the administration, with others on my team, 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.880 really trying to understand the pros and cons of it. 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:10.040 And ultimately I voted in favor of the arms sale. 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:14.560 And I did so because I think it was a 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:17.080 component of the Abraham Accords. It's part of how we 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:19.720 brought UAE to the table to make peace with Israel. 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:25.560 That was a big deal. Also Israel, both Benjamin NETTNJA 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.160 who and Benny Gantz, so the prime minister and the 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.360 lead opposition figure, both of them supported the sale. That 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:33.880 is weird to unite them. That doesn't happen very often. 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.520 They were united on the Abraham Accords, they were united 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:40.480 on the Arms Sail. One of the important pieces of that. 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:47.400 US federal law requires that our policy ensure Israel have 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:53.000 what's called a QME, a qualitative military edge. Basically that 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:55.880 they're military can kick the butt of every other military 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.440 in the Middle East. That that that that that's how 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.960 you avoid warfare by making it clear nobody else can 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.720 take out the Israelis, so you don't have what we 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:07.880 saw in the sixties and seventies, which is Middle East War. 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:12.240 After Middle East War. Based on extensive conversations with the 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.800 Israelis and with our own Pentagon and based on classified briefings, 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:23.600 I became comfortable that this sale didn't undermine Israel's qualitative advantage. 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:31.120 And you know, the UAE ambassadory said, look, we stuck 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:33.320 our neck out. We made this piece deal with us. 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:35.800 We're standing with you. We want to stand with you. 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:39.960 We've sent our soldiers into combat alongside you, and this 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:44.360 is an important part of defending ourselves against Iran. That 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:49.480 ultimately was to me, was persuasive. Now here's the interesting thing, Michael, 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:52.920 I think it is likely that my vote was decisive 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.720 on this, huh. I was one of the last senators 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.960 to vote, and I deliberately I wanted to wait and 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:05.200 see where the vote shook out. I When I walked up, 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:09.920 so they were whipping pretty hard, and John Thune, the 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.080 Republican whip he was kind of leaning in on me, 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.920 although I will say they've actually learned that whipping hard, 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.240 like beating me with a stick, doesn't work. Yeah, so 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:22.840 you know, he was kind of asking me where you're 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:27.120 going to be, but wasn't wasn't being too aggressive. And 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:28.600 when I went up to vote, I was looking at 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.040 the vote tally and John just said, you know, I 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:34.200 think your vote will probably decide it. And I said okay, 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:37.720 And so I voted in favor of the sale. What's 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:42.840 interesting is that two Democrats immediately after me, Kirsten Cinema 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:45.640 and Mark Kelly, both from Arizona, both voted the same 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:49.280 way within a minute. Right now, Cinema had been talking 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.200 about doing it anyway, but it was just it was, 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:54.760 and it ended up being approved fifty to forty six. 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:57.920 So so those three votes that clustered at the end, 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:01.760 if the three of us had gone the other way 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:04.880 it would have been, it would have been disapproved. Right. 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:09.239 And it's interesting also, Senator to note that when you 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.400 look at national politics from an outsider's perspective, you just 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:16.359 assume there are no gray areas, there's no deliberation. People 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:19.320 know exactly where they stand. We have a very polarized country, 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.720 and I remember during impeachment this kind of surprised me, 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.680 which is that things are happening in real time. People 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.760 are taking in new information, they're deliberating, they're making up 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.000 their minds. The way one person votes is going to 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.920 affect perhaps away other people vote, and that these issues 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:37.240 have a little more complexity, maybe than some of the 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.160 more knee jerk issues that we all know exactly where 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:43.320 we stand now. I think that's right, And particularly questions 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.560 of foreign policy and national security, there can be close calls. 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:51.000 They're calls about standing with allies and resisting those who 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:53.399 are enemies. They're easy calls. There are things like the 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.040 Obama Ran nuclear deal being a train wreck, which I 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:58.919 actually think is a very easy call. And if we 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.760 end up with a Joe Biden administration, I expect that 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.600 they will try to gallop back into that terrible deal, 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.360 and if that happens, I'm going to spend the next 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.360 four years fighting hard against that. That's an easy call. 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.600 This one was much more on the edge. But and 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.959 I spent, as I said, hours really trying to listen 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.719 to the relevant players, listen to the experts, understand the details, 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.800 to get comfortable with the right call. Right. And I 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:28.040 love your point about clarity with our friends and clarity 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.840 with our enemies. I would be remiss if I didn't 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:33.359 mention that, as we're talking about the threats from Iran, 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.280 the threats from China, it did come out this week 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.840 that a certain Democratic member of the House of Representatives 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:47.480 got extraordinarily close with a Chinese spy. Well. I gotta say, Michael, 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:51.440 for a long time I've accused the Democrats of being 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:57.480 in bed with the Chinese communists. I just didn't realize 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:02.080 that that was not that that was more than a metaphor. Yes, yes, 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:06.240 Representative Eric Swollwell appears to perhaps in particular have taken 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:08.960 that message to heart. This is a real issue though. 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:11.800 I mean, China has spies in the States, and the 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.320 United States spies on other countries too. You know, a 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:17.400 lot of countries do it. But the degree of infiltration 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:20.240 that China seems to have taken with the top ranks 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:23.560 of the Democratic Party is troublesome. Well, and let me 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:25.560 be fair about what we know publicly, and I don't 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:28.000 know anything beyond what you've read in the newspapers, so 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:31.600 I'm not divulging any anything confidential. But but what's been 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:35.280 released publicly as there was this spy for the Chinese government, 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:39.840 a communist spy who's a beautiful woman, who apparently was 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:44.680 assigned to get very close to Democrats, and it appears 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:49.520 California Democrats in particular, And what's been made public is 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:54.920 apparently she had sexual relations with two different mayors, I think, 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:57.240 one of whom's described as a small town mayor and 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:00.280 another whom described as an older mayor. So I'm I 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.760 don't know, I don't know beyond what I've read. Swallowell, 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:10.040 to be clear, what's been released has not allege that 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:13.040 he went to bed with her, but he spent three 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:17.240 days refusing to answer that question. And you and I 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:21.280 are both married, and I can say in your marriage 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:23.080 and mind, if you come home and your wife said, 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:27.160 did you sleep with that woman? And your answer isn't immediate, unequivocal, 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:31.959 you got a problem. Yes, Yes, very wise that it 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:36.399 doesn't take a total political genius to read that situation, 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:39.840 but obviously worrisome, especially you know if we do get 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:42.600 a Biden administration, that there will be cozying up to Iran, 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:45.200 cozying up to China, and then there is this other 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:48.160 contentious issue. We only have, you know, a few more 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:52.320 minutes before we can get to mail bag. But the NDAA, 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:56.040 the National Defense Authorization Act, this is another issue where 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.280 where the fights are breaking out within the GOP. We 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:01.719 don't know how the vote necessarily is going to go. 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:07.240 What's the controversy here? Well, the National Defense Authorization Act 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:11.800 passes every year. It author raises our military across the board. 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:14.560 I've been very active in drafting it for eight years now. 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:16.320 There are a lot of good things in the NBA. 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:20.440 It includes actually additional sanctions that I authored on nord 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:22.879 Stream two. We did a pot a while back on 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:26.960 the natural gas pipeline that Russia's trying to build a 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:30.920 Germany that so far sanctions I author has killed, and 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:34.680 this is a second wave of sanctions that will really 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:38.080 drive a nail in the coffin of the Nordstring two pipeline. 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:41.840 The first version of the NDA that came out of 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:43.600 the Senate I voted for was a good bill. It 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:45.320 had a lot of good elements in it, including the 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:48.919 nord Stream two stuff. The House bill was much worse, 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:51.320 and in the conference committee this bill has gotten a 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:55.160 whole lot worse. So I still haven't decided one hundred 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:56.800 percent how I'm going to vote, but I got to 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:59.679 say I'm quite unhappy with the direction the bill has 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:05.199 gone on in conference committee. It includes a provision a 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:09.320 provision from from Elizabeth Warren on renaming bases that that 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:12.920 is really mandatory. Uh. That that that I've got real 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:17.200 concerns with um. It also includes a provision that that 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:22.800 restricts the ability of a president to draw down military 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:26.280 from overseas conflicts like Afghanistan. And one of the things 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:29.200 I very much agree with President Trump on is, as 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:32.400 he puts it, ending endless wars that that I think 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:34.680 we ought to be bringing our sons and daughters home, 0:22:34.800 --> 0:22:38.159 that we should use the military where needed, but be 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:43.240 very reluctant to engage in foreign military conflict. And this provision. 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:45.879 You know, some of us were talking in the in 0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:52.480 the cloak room, and and you know, one senator put 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:54.560 it this way. So, so let me get this straight. 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:58.600 A president unilaterally can get us into war anywhere in 0:22:58.640 --> 0:23:00.679 the world, but can't get us out of war anywhere 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:03.080 in the lad That's that's kind of a weird standard. 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:07.119 And so I'm still assessing the details of it, but 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:10.679 I think there's a pretty good chance I'll vote no. 0:23:11.720 --> 0:23:15.840 My guess is there'll be enough yes votes to pass it, 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:20.680 and maybe even to override a presidential veto. The President 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:23.600 has suggested he might veto the bill. In the House, 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:25.439 at least there was a big enough margin that if 0:23:25.440 --> 0:23:28.600 the President does veto the bill, the House had a 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:30.880 big enough margin to override a vito. It takes two 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:33.640 thirds of the House, two thirds of the Senate. If 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:35.600 you were to guess, it's a pretty good guess that 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:38.960 there there will be a similar margin in the Senate. 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:40.720 But I think we'll lose some of the votes we had. 0:23:41.480 --> 0:23:44.680 This actually brings us to a mail bag question from 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:48.000 Real Truth Cactus, which if you're not following Real Truth 0:23:48.080 --> 0:23:51.080