Stop China: Trump Increases Scrutiny of CCP Ties for Student Visas, plus the Great Phil Robertson Passes & CA Relents on Boys in Girls' Sports
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This is an iHeart Podcast. Welcome. It's nice to have you with us on Verdict with Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you as always. And Senator, we've got a lot to talk about.

Well, there's a ton happening. The Trump administration announced that they are going to begin revoking student visas for Chinese students and vigorously scouring their applications to make sure that they are not connected to the Chinese Communist Party. That is a welcome step that is much needed. We're going to break that down in detail. California also reversed its policies on transgender athletes.

taking a major step to protect women and really showing that the left realizes they are in full retreat. We're going to explain exactly what's going on there. We're also going to talk about the sad news this past week that my good friend Phil Robertson, the great Phil Robertson, passed away. We're going to reflect on the impact he had, and I'm going to take you guys inside what it's like to go duck hunting with Phil Robertson, one of the most incredible and fun things I've ever had the joy of doing.

And finally, the Trump administration announced that the American Bar Association, the ABA, is no longer going to have any special role in judicial selection. Long overdue and a great announcement. All of that on today's show. Yeah, it's a good one. I want to talk to you real quick, though, about what's happening in Israel and what we're seeing right now is truly disturbing. Anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world and sadly, even right here in America. Jewish schools are being targeted, synagogues

are being threatened and families are living in fear. It's something that we hoped we'd never see again in our lifetime. And so let me say this, silence is not an option. This is the moment that we can all take a stand with the people in Israel. And that's why I want you to be involved with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You may have heard of it. It's called IFCJ and they are on the front lines providing real help where it's needed the most. They're giving food and shelter to Jewish families that are under threat.

They're even building bomb shelters on virtually a daily basis for children in Israel. And they're helping survivors of hate rebuild their lives. And they don't just respond to crisis. They work every day to prevent it. And that's where your gift of only $45 will help support their life-saving work by providing food, shelter, and so much more. So please call IFCJ and stand with God's people in Israel. 888-425-7000.

That's 888-488-4325. You can also go online and find out more about IFCJ and to donate at ifcj.org. Every dollar helps. Don't wait. Be the difference. Visit ifcj.org or 888-488-IFCJ. All right. So let's dive into this big first topic center. And it deals with what you mentioned earlier, uh,

China and Chinese student visas. There was an interesting number that was thrown out earlier in the day on TV, and I'm going to quote it. I'm not sure if it's exactly accurate, but it is, and that's why I said it was, I saw it earlier today, and I want to prefix that with saying it. But it said that there were about

500 American students that have visas in China and more than 280,000 Chinese students in the U.S. is what was said. Why are we doing so much for Chinese students? Many of them, by the way, they come in here that spy and rob of us of our intellectual property. And the administration, Trump administration is basically saying we're trying to put a stop to this.

Well, what the Trump administration has announced, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that they will begin aggressively revoking the visas of Chinese students in the United States. China engages in extensive propaganda and espionage, and they're going to begin vetting and vetting aggressively whether a particular student seeking a visa to come to this country has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

I think this is long overdue and it's part of a broader effort. They're also engaged with foreign students that are coming to the United States, examining their social media history, examining if they have a history of radicalism. So if you are seeking a student visa to come to America and you've been public saying, I hate America, I want to destroy America, which sadly we've seen some of these radical students who've said that. And nonetheless, Joe Biden and the Democrats said, welcome to America. We need more people who hate our nation and want to destroy it.

Well, I think the president's exactly right to stand up and say, we're not going to welcome people to this country who are trying to undermine and destroy this country. With respect to China, you know, the question of espionage and intellectual property theft, that's existed since the dawn of time. Look, when the first caveman invented the wheel, I suspect somebody stole his idea and made another wheel. That's part of the human condition. What is not

ever before existed is a nation state with massive economic resources like like China, making it a state policy to engage in the theft of resources. And so I am very I think it's exactly right that we're going to vigorously scrutinize those students coming in to make sure that they are not operating as agents of the Chinese Communist Party. Now, let me say at the same time,

Look, part of the reason you don't get that many Americans going to China to study is you don't have a whole lot of folks that want to go to Chinese universities, whereas people from all over the world want to come to American universities. And I will say, if you have people who are not American,

of the communist government. We want the best and brightest in the world coming to America. We end up having inventions coming here because, because the best and brightest students across the country come and come and study science and engineering and they make inventions and those inventions in turn fuel American companies and they create great jobs. And so I think the administration is cutting the right balance here, which is saying we're going to stop spies. We're going to stop terrorists. But at the same time, uh,

That doesn't mean that we want to close our doors entirely to brilliant physicists and engineers from around the world being able to come to America and benefiting from the fruits of that.

You know, there's one thing that we mentioned. Gosh, it was probably a little over a year ago on this show and the podcast that we do. I tell people, this is why you should download Verdict with Ted Cruz. We do it three days a week. We talked back when under the Biden-Harris administration, there was even warnings coming from their administration that they're the number one threat to this country.

was China and Chinese espionage and influence operations. That is now a kumbaya moment with the Trump administration, where in essence, two administrations that saw nothing eye to eye, both agreed on China and what they were trying to do in stealing intellectual property and sending an incredible number of spies into this country. And many of them come through our university system.

Yeah, but the Biden administration did next to nothing to stop it. So they acknowledge it's a problem, but at the same time, they were complicit in it. And I'll tell you, I have for over a decade been leading the fight to stop

Chinese espionage, to stop Chinese propaganda, to stop China's malign efforts. I think we need a comprehensive effort to take on communist China, much like we had under Ronald Reagan, to win the Cold War against the Soviet Union. And I'll tell you, Ben, one of the very first pieces of legislation that I authored and passed dealt with exactly this, and it dealt with what are called Confucius Institutes. So Confucius Institutes are

were started at U.S. universities all across America, where there were roughly 200 of them, and they were controlled by Communist China, they were paid for by Communist China, by the government, and they were used to engage in propaganda and espionage on campus.

I authored legislation and said, if you have a Confucius Institute on campus, you will not get funding from the federal government, from the Department of Defense. I passed it into law. And I'll tell you, that simple piece of legislation resulted in

over a hundred Confucius Institutes shutting down at universities across the country, shutting down their espionage, shutting down their propaganda. I think the Trump administration's announcement is the next step in that very important fight. Senator, let's deal with California. And there has been a fight since the president came in with his executive order on trying to protect women, uh,

from men being in their locker rooms, being in their sports, beating them up. We saw it during the Olympics in boxing. We've seen countless women who their achievements have been taken away from them on the podium because of men claiming they're women, which is impossible in reality. And California decided they were going to stand up to Donald Trump. And guess what? It didn't go very well for them.

Well, listen, we've seen the Democrat party getting more and more radical, uh, ever since Donald Trump, uh, took the oath of office back in 2017, they hate Trump and they've gotten more and more extreme on a host of issues. Uh,

And one of the poster children for their extreme issues is embracing boys' and girls' sports, men's and women's sports. And it is wrong. It is unfair. It invites injury. And it also deprives both girls and women of athletic victories they should have, and they've earned them.

There are differences between boys and girls. There are differences between men and women. That did not used to be a controversial proposition. It is only in today's loony tune left that they can't tell the difference between men and women. But I got to tell you, even though

in the Senate, Senate Democrats, all of them continue to defend men in women's sports and boys and girls sports. We're seeing the state of California. We're seeing the Democrats beginning to retreat. We're seeing Gavin Newsom, the governor, who's been a far left radical governor for

He's got ambitions of being president. He's looking at looking at running in 2028. And he's decided, OK, we're on the wrong side of an 80-20 issue. I want to get the hell away from this. And so California announced this is a big deal. They're changing their policy for track and field so that if you're a biological girl,

And you got you missed out on making it to the state championship because you were beaten by a biological male who claims to be a transgender woman.

then the girl, you will still get your slot. You still get invited to the state championship. Look, that's a significant step in the right direction. And Gavin Newsom is embracing it. And I got to say, this really illustrates that at least some Democrats realize, wow, we are on the wrong side of an issue that America... America wants to protect girls' sports and women's sports. We want to protect our daughters. And we don't want to see them...

hurt or competing unfairly. And so the crazy thing is that means in track and field in California now, they may give three gold medals, one to the boy, one to the girl and one to the transgender athlete. You may have gold medals all around. But for bright blue California to make this concession, it shows that at least some Democrats realize they are way on the wrong side of this issue.

This also, I think, is an issue that it's worth fighting for. And I think many that are listening are saying, we don't want to give in and we don't want to give up. And the pendulum went so far to the radical left for so many years that this is the fight that is worth fighting on and fighting over. And showing California having to change a girl's track and field championship rules after the Trump threatens funding over the trans athletes is just an example of, hey, we are in many times the silent champion.

majority and we need to start acting like it especially on these types of issues well i'll tell you ben this this issue is a powerful issue and and as you know i ran for re-election in texas last year in 2024 it was a quarter billion dollar race i was chuck schumer's number one target

And my campaign was the first campaign in the country last year to put real time and energy behind this issue of we're going to protect...

girl sports from boys competing, and we put tens of millions of dollars behind this issue. What's fascinating is the media completely misunderstood the issue. So one of the things that my campaign did is we did focus groups in Houston and Dallas of undecided moderate women to understand what issues moved them, and we tested 30, 35 different messages.

The number one issue that moved undecided moderate women in Texas was boys and girls sports. And when I started campaigning on it, it was very funny. The reporters are like, oh, Cruz is trying to appeal to the crazy right wing. And I was just laughing at him. I'm like, you guys are so clueless. This is not the crazy right wing. This is soccer moms. This is soccer moms.

who love their daughters, and we led on this issue, and then you saw Senate races all across the country pick up the same message because they were seeing the same data we were. We saw President Trump lean in hard on this message. And by the way, some of those women that you were talking to, let's be very clear, had moved from California because how many people from California moved to Texas over the last six years? A lot.

We have over a thousand people a day moving to the state of Texas, and California is overwhelmingly the heaviest, the largest state that is sending people to Texas. But this issue, what's fascinating, Ben, is, you know, four years ago,

This issue did not work politically. You saw campaigns try to raise it four years ago. And I think people thought then that it was jumping the shark, that it didn't feel real four years ago. I think people said, oh, come on, that's not a real threat. Well, you know what? We've now seen Leah Thomas, the swimmer who...

Who is a biological man and looks like Michael friggin' Phelps. We've also seen, and I think this was really a seminal moment, in the Olympics, the two dudes competing in women's boxing and beating the hell out of women. And I think a whole lot of people said, wait...

This is not theoretical. This is happening over and over and over again. Enough is enough. And I think this is another milestone that that California is retreating on this issue shows that that truth and sanity are winning. Yeah. And now the question becomes, how much are they going to be able to fight back through the court system? And is this going to be something that's going to be, unfortunately, an issue for probably years to come?

Well, look, we'll see. And to be honest, California hasn't conceded altogether. They're still having biological males compete against women, which is unfair. It invites injury. You know, if you're playing volleyball, we've seen women who have a biological man spike the ball into their head and they get injured. I mean, it is...

California is still Looney Tunes, but the fact that even the lefty government of California is saying we've gone too far, that's a very positive sign. We had some really sad news this week, but also a celebration of an incredible legacy and a life.

You know I'm from Duck Dynasty. Phil Robertson passed away this week, and many people may not realize this. He was actually incredibly influential in your 2016 presidential campaign. He went all in for you and even did an ad for

for you some thought that was political suicide for duck dynasty the brand oh don't get involved in politics whatever you do just you know be duck dynasty sell stuff at you know in walmart and just be famous he was not afraid to take a stand for what he believed in whether it was his faith or in politics and that's one of the reasons why i absolutely love the legacy of phil

Well, Phil Robertson was extraordinary. He was one of a kind. He was truly an American original. He passed this week at age 79.

And Phil built a business empire as the founder of Duck Commander. And on television, he was a unique character. He and his family with their long, scraggly beards, with their love of hunting, with their real... I mean, there was a genuineness to Phil and then there is to his whole family that is...

It is spectacular, and there is also a love of Jesus, a love of God, an open embrace of faith, which, frankly, you don't see on TV very much. And it is part—it was integral to who Phil was. I was really blessed. I got to know Phil. I admired him. I considered him a friend. And I got to say, you know, one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life—

is I got to go duck hunting with Phil. And this was during the 2016 presidential campaign. They invited me to come to his home. And so I came to his home and went and had dinner with him and the whole family, which was really cool. And then we got up at four in the morning the next morning and went to the duck blind. And listen, you and I both enjoy hunting. Hunting is a lot of fun. I've hunted with a lot of different people. I will tell you hands down,

Phil Robertson is the best shot with a shotgun I've ever seen in my life. You're not the only person that's told me that. I was talking with another friend that went and hunted with him. They said he was next level, like completely different level, that it was just in his blood and he knew how to shoot. And it was just like, oh, wow, this is like Olympic level as I was described to me this week. So we would be in the blind and you see some ducks flying over the horizon.

And Phil would take a shot at a distance. I wouldn't even pick up my gun like like it's a distance like there's no way on earth I'm hitting that bird. If the duck flies over by us, I'll shoot it. But like that, like he he that was the thing that really stood out is that he would shoot ducks at a distance.

that was like 50% further than any other duck hunter I've ever seen. And as I said, they were far enough away that I didn't even buy. I'm an okay shot with a shotgun. I can hold my own. But these ducks were so far away, I wouldn't waste the shells. And it was impressive to watch. He was also just real. He was fun. All right, I'm going to tell you a neat Phil Robertson story that he told me.

So Phil was a very good athlete. He was actually the starting quarterback at Louisiana Tech University. I did not know that. He was the starting quarterback. And then one day he quit. He quit the team and said, I'm not going to play anymore. Now, do you know who his backup quarterback was? Who was that?

There's a guy named Terry Bradshaw. Is that why he quit? Nope. Nope, that's not why he quit. So Terry Bradshaw, who for those of you who are not football fans, is one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks ever to play, was the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, is a legendary quarterback. Terry Bradshaw was Phil Robertson's backup. He was not getting a ton of playing time because Phil Robertson was the starter. He quit because football season interfered with hunting season.

No way. And so the story Phil told me is his coach came to his apartment and was trying to convince Phil to come back and play football. And Phil said, hey, coach, coach, come on in, come on in. Hey, he said, come on in the bathroom. I'm cleaning a deer here in the bathroom in my bathtub.

And so the coach comes in and he's cleaning a deer. And the coach says, Phil, I'm not going to convince you to come back and play football, am I? And Phil says, nope, not a chance, but I'm really glad you came over. And so he quit. And Terry Bradshaw, a legend, was born. And then a second legend, Phil Robertson, was born because his love of hunting

led him to form Duck Commander to start Duck Dynasty. And one of the coolest things, so in 2016,

He cut a TV commercial for my presidential campaign. And like the image of it, it's the two of us hunting together and wearing camo and we got face paint. And he's talking. But I want to play that ad. You don't have the visuals, but you can Google it if you want to watch the visuals. And it was classic. But this is all Phil. And I'll just say this.

Not a word of this was scripted. They just pointed the camera at him and said, Phil, talk. And this is what he said. And by the way, let's be clear. This has got to be the only presidential campaign ad that actually starts with duck calling. I just want to point that out because Phil is calling in the ducks. And that's the first thing you're going to hear. My qualifications for president of the United States.

or rather narrow. Is he or she godly? Does he or she love us? Can he or she do the job? And finally, would they kill a duck and put him on a pot and make him a good duck gumbo? I've looked at the candidates. Ted Cruz is my man. He fits the bill. He's got me. He loves us. He's the man for the job, and he will go duck hunting because today we're going. Ted Cruz is my man. I'm voting for him.

Cruz, the reason we're going to vote for you, all of us, is because you're one of us, my man. That's why we're voting for you. It's now or never.

I got to say, it might be one of the best ads I've ever seen. It's the closest you'll ever be to Rambo, Senator, with the face paint. But this was a big risk for him. And I'm sure there was a lot of PR people around him like, why do you want to get involved in politics? Going to alienate people that could be, you know, duck commander friends and people that could buy stuff from you. Why do you want to get into politics? He believed in you that much. He said, I don't care.

Yeah, look, if he was listening to PR people, I certainly saw no evidence of it. I think he's a man who followed what he believed was right. And he spoke out and he spoke the truth. You know, one of the things I loved about Duck Dynasty is that his faith was real. And he talked about it and he was proud to demonstrate the love of Jesus every day. And I'll tell you a really cool follow up. So he cut that ad.

And I asked Phil, hey, would you come to Iowa? Would you campaign with me on the ground in Iowa? Now, it was in the middle of duck season. And Phil had gone hunting every single day of duck season, every year for more than 40 years. He had never missed a day. And so we'd asked him to come. We were having a big rally in Iowa. We asked him, Phil, would you fly up to Iowa and join us?

And we didn't get a definite answer. He had the invite, and he told me. He actually went to the duck blind at 4, 4.30 in the morning, and he was sitting there, and he said he sat there like 20 minutes, and then he got up and left and got on a plane and flew to Iowa, and it was the first day in over 40 years that he didn't go duck hunting on a day during duck season, and instead he came and campaigned

In Iowa, he was awesome. By the way, how big of an impact did that have in Iowa? Because this was at the height of their fame, obviously, in 16. Well, look, we won Iowa. I won Iowa decisively and ended up winning 12 states in 2016. And Phil's coming there postseason.

Made a real difference. And I'll tell you, Phil spoke at that rally and my dad spoke. And Phil and my dad were about the same age. Phil was a little bit younger than my dad. My dad's 86. Phil was 79 when he passed.

But they got along, and my father's a pastor, and like Phil, my dad is unapologetic. Like my father, Ben, you know my dad well. He's incapable of guile. He's incapable of telling you, of not telling you what he thinks. It's a great way of putting it. It really is. Sometimes to his own fault. My dad will just say exactly what he thinks, consequences be damned.

And the back-to-back at that rally of having Phil talk and my dad talk, that combination was really, really potent. It's an incredible story. I know you know the family as well, and I know you wanted to say to them, obviously, something about their father passing and just how thankful you are for the legacies left. Well, look, to the entire family, to Jace and Willie and Cy and the entire extended family,

you guys have had an incredible impact on America. You've had an incredible impact touching people's lives. You've had an incredible impact speaking up for ordinary Americans. But also, you guys have powerfully spread the gospel. And I appreciate that cheerful, happy warrior, that unapologetic willingness to speak truth.

Look, we are sad that Phil is not with us. We are mourning, and I'll tell you, Heidi and I are praying for the family that is mourning the loss of the patriarch. But at the same time, we're celebrating a life incredibly well lived, and he's with Jesus now. And Phil, we love you.

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All right, Senator, so let's dive into this other issue that really is an interesting one. You've got a lot to say about the Trump Justice Department's

telling the American Bar Association that it will no longer comply with ratings for judicial nominees. Now, explain the politics behind this. The ABA has had a lot of power, and they're basically now saying, we're not going to let you guys have that power because there's been a lot of bias coming out of the American Bar Association. Well, the American Bar Association, it's a national organization of lawyers, and

And it is a left-wing advocacy group. It is not fair. It is not impartial. It is a radical left organization. And the ABA has had a formal role in judicial selection for 75 years. It started rating judicial nominees in 1953.

And until 2001, the ABA actually had a formal role evaluating judicial nominees before they were nominated. So a president, a Department of Justice, an administration would share with the ABA, hey, we're thinking of nominating Ben Ferguson to be a federal judge. And they'd go and research and research.

interview former clients and at some point people would say wait ben's not even a lawyer how the hell is he going to be a judge like like like he probably should go to law school first and and and and by the way that that point is not crazy um but they engaged that they would do a formal role and they would rate the qualifications of judicial nominees now here's the problem for decades uh

the ABA's qualification measures were wildly biased. So, for example, Robert Bork. Robert Bork, Ronald Reagan nominated Robert Bork to the Supreme Court in 1987. Robert Bork was by any measure one of the most qualified federal judicial nominees in the history of this country. Robert Bork had been the Solicitor General of the United States, the chief lawyer for the United States in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. Robert Bork had been the Solicitor General of the United States

Robert Bork had been one of the most renowned and respected law professors for decades. Robert Bork had been a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. And so a remarkable record.

And yet the ABA, when they evaluated Robert Bork, they concluded he was, quote, not qualified to be a judge. They also concluded the same thing for Frank Easterbrook. Again, brilliant, brilliant judge, brilliant professor, one of the greatest judges to have ever served on the Court of Appeals, Frank Easterbrook. The ABA concluded he was not qualified. Also, Edith Jones. Edith Jones is a judge on the Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals down in Texas. I know Judge Jones well. She's a phenomenal...

phenomenal jurist, one of the best and most conservative judges in the entire country. The ABA rated her not qualified. Well, the breaking news is this week the Trump Justice Department announced the ABA will no longer have a role in judicial selection. They will no longer have a role in vetting. They're out. And the Department of Justice said, you know what? They can chime in like any other left-wing advocacy group, but they don't have a role in this process.

This is going to have, I think, a big impact on the quality. Pam Bondi informing the ABA that they'll no longer enjoy the special access to judicial nominees. And the left, by the way, when that news came out, they totally freaked out. And I think that also shows just how much they were depending on the ABA to get rid of good candidates that were maybe more conservative.

Yeah, and so Pam Bondi sent a letter to the president of the ABA, and she said, quote, And so previously...

the Office of Legal Policy, which is the office within the Department of Justice that handles judicial selections,

They changed. They had previously directed judicial nominees to provide a waiver to the ABA to let the ABA access non-public information, including bar records. And so no longer is the Department of Justice going to tell judicial nominees, give the ABA special access. That is over. And moreover,

Pam Bondi says, quote, nominees will also not respond to questionnaires prepared by the ABA and will not sit for interviews with the ABA. In other words, you can be like every other whack job organization on the left, but but

But you're not going to have any special access whatsoever. This is something I've called for a long time. I have for years, for more than a decade, advocated that the ABA is wildly biased and it should not have a special role in the process. And I want to commend President Trump and Pam Bondi. It's the right thing to do.

Senator, we hear a lot about bias and bias against conservatives. But my other question is, were they also biased in advocating for liberals at all?

Absolutely. They are a hard left advocacy organization masquerading as a nonpartisan professional organization. And Joe Biden, over the last four years, nominated over and over again radicals and zealots, many of whom were wildly unqualified. And the ABA was more than happy to stamp them with a rating of qualified. And one example is Charnette

Sharnell Bajelkengren, who was wildly unqualified, and yet the ABA happily deemed her qualified. And rather than me lay out how bad she was, I want you to listen to this cross-examination from my colleague John Kennedy to this judicial nominee in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Here, give it a listen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and congratulations to all of you. Judge on the far end.

Tell me what Article 5 of the Constitution does. Article 5 is not coming to mind at the moment. Okay. How about Article 2? Neither is Article 2. Okay. Do you know what purposivism is?

In my 12 years as an assistant attorney general and my nine years serving as a judge, I was not faced with that precise question. We are the highest trial court in Washington State, so I'm frequently faced with issues that I'm not familiar with, and I thoroughly review the law, research, and apply the law to the facts presented to me. Well, you're going to be faced with it if you're confirmed.

I can assure you of that. He was dumbfounded at the end there. Like, I can't believe you don't know this. Well, and let me underscore how simple the first two questions are that he asked. So the Constitution has seven articles. It's not a very long document. Article five is is the article that lays out the process for amending the Constitution. It's fairly basic. That was his opening question. She had no idea what Article five was.

Article two is even more fundamental. So the first three articles of the Constitution, Article one creates the Congress. Article two creates the president and the executive branch. And Article three creates the federal judiciary. To not know what Article two is, is stunning. To give you a sense, you will flunk constitutional law and not graduate law school if you don't know what Article two is.

She was being nominated to be what is called an Article 3 judge. I assume she had no idea what Article 3 was. And nevertheless, the ABA said she's qualified to be an Article 3 judge, even though she has no idea what it is. I'm very glad the ABA no longer has a role in making those determinations.

As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast. And the Senator and I will see you back here for the weekend review on Saturday morning.

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