Gaetz Withdraws as AG, the ICC Tries to Arrest Netanyahu & The View Melts Down

welcome it is the verdict with senator tech crews at ben fergusson with you senator i think the big headline everybody knows what that is uh... it is official uh... matt gates has formally withdrawn his name for consideration for the attorney general position and president like donald trump's incoming administration

Well, that was stunning news that broke yesterday afternoon. I'll tell you in the Senate. I don't think anyone expected it. It came over the wire and it's a big deal the day before I had sat down and met with Matt Gates. So I'm going to talk about that. I'm going to talk about that nomination and what's coming next for the Department of Justice.

Additionally, this week, we saw the stunning news that the International Criminal Court, the ICC, has issued arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and for the Israeli Defense Minister. This is an abomination. It is an attack on Israel. It is an attack on America. We're going to break it down. We're going to break down what the response of the federal government should be, what Donald Trump is going to do about it. And we're also going to break down how

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' weakness is what produced this abomination. And finally, we're going to talk about how so much of the corporate media, they're just losing their minds. We're going to close with the view and the heradins on the view just in absolute misery

that Donald Trump has been re-elected, that he is going to be the 47th president of the United States. And sadly, it's a pattern we're seeing across the corporate media and with elected Democrats where they learn nothing from the election and their response is just absolute rage and despair.

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All right, Senator. So you met with Matt Gates yesterday, less than 24 hours later. Matt Gates was withdrawing his nomination. Let's paint the picture for some of you that listen to the show that say, how does this work? Because it was an interesting meeting. The vice president elect was in the meeting as well from what I understand. He was walking around Capitol Hill with Matt. When you see each other and you know both of these men, how does it work? Does he come into your office? Is it just a three to close the door? And then walk us through how that meeting works.

Well, in the past week, Matt Gaetz had met with all of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and so he reached out and his team reached out. Asked for a meeting, of course we said yes, and so I met with Matt on Wednesday afternoon, early evening, and the meeting, he was in the meeting, and then JD Vance was accompanying him to all of those meetings as well.

and and so we met actually a room in the capital uh... that that they were hold up in a room in the capital and and i came in and sat down at about a half hour meeting

And it was a very positive and substantive meeting. I will say, I did not know Matt Gates. I've met him, I think, once or twice before, basically, in a green room before going on a hit on Fox. But I'd never had a conversation with him. So when I sat down to meet him, it was the first time I'd ever had a substantive conversation with him.

And we had, as I said, I think a worthwhile conversation. The bulk of what we talked about is I asked him, what's your vision for DOJ? Look, I don't know that there is a more important appointment that President Trump will make than the appointment to be Attorney General. In particular, because under Joe Biden, the Department of Justice has been so corrupted, so politicized, so weaponized.

uh... that that we need a strong attorney general to come in and clean house to come in and restore integrity to the department of justice uh... that is not going to be an easy task and so much of what what i was asking is look how do you get that done how do you take on

the hardcore partisans that have burrowed into career positions throughout d o j how do you deal with that how do you ensure that that the department of justice does what it is designed to do which which is to enforce the law regardless of party let me let me be clear i i don't want a republican

Department of Justice. I don't want a Democrat Department of Justice. I want a Department of Justice that enforces the law, regardless of party. And that is not an easy task. And so what I was mostly doing is asking him, how would you get that done? How would you take it on? What in your background has prepared you to do that? What's your vision? How would you execute it? I also asked quite a few questions about, listen, President Trump has a big and bold agenda. And he has a major mandate from the voters on election day as

Attorney General

how would you go about advising the president how to effectively implement his agenda listen everything the president tries to do over the next four years democrats are gonna sue him blue states are gonna sue him left wing attorney generals are gonna sue him special interest groups are gonna sue him and so we need a department of justice that is smart and savvy and and knows how to defend that litigation knows how to prevail and and knows how to how to implement a litigation strategy

that that number one defends the policies of the president the administration but number two that that that has a real vision a real vision listen this president was elected with a mandate among other things to to rain in out of control job killing regulations to rain in the administrative state

That is a major objective of President Trump in this new administration. It's a major objective of mine, and they're going to be big legal challenges to doing so. I think President Trump needs an attorney general who can give smart serious advice on how to carry that out.

So when you have these conversations, did you know that there was a chance that within 20 hours of you having that meeting less than that, that Matt Gaetz was going to pull out, and what was the word on Capitol Hill?

no idea at all and it was uh... as i said the meeting that i had with him was very positive and then i came out there a hoarder reporters that were in the hallway that were waiting uh... with with baited breath had the meeting go had the meeting go uh... and and what i told them there as i said look it was a very productive meeting and and i think matt gates is entitled to a full and fair

confirmation process. He needs to have a hearing. He needs to have a hearing quickly. We need to move. The Senate needs to move expeditiously move forward with a confirmation of all of President Trump's cabinet members. That'll get started. The hearings will get started early in January. The hearings will get started actually before

president trump has sworn in because the new senate we will be sworn in at the beginning of january so we'll have two and a half weeks where the new senate is in office but but trump has not yet been sworn in because he doesn't become president until january 20th so we'll begin hearings of major cabinet appointees starting in early january you can't vote them out of committee

than because they're not formally nominated until Trump becomes president and nominates them. So there is a you can't confirm someone before they're nominated, but you can do the hearing and you can get prepared. So as soon as they're nominated, you can vote and confirm them. And I think we need to move expeditiously to do that. But I got to say,

On Thursday afternoon when the news broke, it was a complete surprise to me. I think it was a surprise to anybody. If anybody knew about it, they certainly didn't indicate that they did. I found out over Twitter. Gates put out a statement. I was in a meeting and I got a text over the phone that just sent me the Twitter statement. I was like, wow, okay. I think most senators were very surprised.

My assumption is that Gaetz did so because he and the Trump team perceived some real difficulties in Senate confirmation. And there certainly have been multiple senators who express significant concern about Gaetz's background. I don't know if he would have had the votes to be confirmed or not. But his statement that he put out

What it said, and I'll just read the statement that Gates put out on X, he said, quote, I had excellent meetings with senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump Vance transition.

There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle. Thus, I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump's DOJ must be in place and ready on day one. I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful president in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice, and I'm certain he will save America.

so that was a statement uh... and as i said i think in particular the timing was was a surprise to to most if not every senator

When you look at moving forward politically, what is the best move now for the president? Is that is to take his time? Or do you expect we're going to name pretty quickly so you can move on from the gate story and say, hey, that's old news. Let's go to the next thing. I got to get somebody in there. Because as you mentioned, this is a hearing for whoever the next nominee is that needs to be on the books and they need to be having the meetings that you were literally having 24 hours ago.

Yeah, look, I expect they will move relatively quickly. I will say it's more important to get it right than to get it super fast. As I said, I don't know that there's a more important appointment that Trump will make than Attorney General, and it needs to be a serious lawyer, it needs to be someone with integrity, it needs to be someone with legal savvy, and it needs to be someone with

with a steel backbone and and so look that there were multiple press reports of of different people that trumpet interviewed that he was looking at uh... one of the people who was reported in the press reports as a guy named bob jiffra and i know bob very well bob uh... is the head of solid and crumb well which is one of the biggest law firms uh... in the country it's based in new york and and bob is uh... was a former law clerk

to Chief Justice William Renquist. And I've known Bob for 30 years, and he's a smart, serious lawyer who would certainly be up to the task if that's who Trump decided to nominate. There were other names that were tossed around. There was some discussion about Mike Lee. I think Mike Lee would do a terrific job. I don't think Mike is interested in the job, but I think he'd be terrific if he was willing to do it.

But I think what is really important is that they get it right and they appoint someone who is prepared to really turn around the battleship that is the Department of Justice and bring it back to what it's supposed to be.

i've got my shortlist and i'm i'm looking over it and uh... i was having this conversation earlier alright what's next and i'm going to ask the question i think the majority of people listening right now are thinking in their head to why not a guy by the name of center take crews from texas uh... he's an attorney he knows the constitution backwards and forwards and maybe even can write it in different languages for goodness sakes that's how will you know it and there are people are gonna be sitting here the same way i am going

like this screams center tag crews is your nation that i mean would you look at that if it was a if it was a conversation because i have you at the top my list not because i know you but because i think you could do the job incredibly well

well look at it is certainly humbling to be discussed in in in that context and uh... and i appreciate it uh... uh... i am not interested the job i am gonna stay right where i am i'm gonna stay in the united states senate as you know i'm getting ready to be the chairman of the senate commerce committee uh... you know i just got got an incredible responsibility and mandate from the people of texas thirty million texans uh... made the decision to re-elect me and send me to the senate to fight and and frankly

I think in the US Senate, the Senate is going to be the battlefield for many of the victories that we need to win over the next four years. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for securing the border. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for cutting taxes and simplifying the tax code. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for repealing job killing regulations. The Senate is going to be the battlefield for strengthening our national security, for standing with Israel, for defeating Hamas and Hezbollah, for standing up to China.

I think I am, frankly, more needed in the Senate. I think I could have a bigger and more lasting impact in the Senate. And so I care intensely who's going to be Attorney General, and I hope it is someone very strong, very capable, and I fully expect to work closely with whomever Trump appoints, but it ain't going to be me.

Final question on this, and that deals with the other nominees. What do you expect when it comes to meetings? Is it going to be locked and loaded with other nominees? Or is this one still going to take precedent if it's named quickly? And how does that order of who you meet with work?

Well, it tends to vary committee by committee. So Matt Gaetz, for example, was meeting with the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee. And the reason is obvious, which is the Attorney General goes first to the Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee holds the hearing, and then you have to be voted out of committee, and then it goes to the floor of the Senate. There are other people, for example, Pete Hexeth has been nominated for Secretary of Defense. I assume Pete is meeting with members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

uh... because senator services committee would be the committee that would hold this confirmation hearings and you naturally prioritize meeting with members of the committee so for each cabinet appointee that's going to be decided initially by what is the committee of jurisdiction that will hold the confirmation hearing and that will have oversight jurisdiction

so so for uh... so for this the the senate committee on commerce science and transportation we've got jurisdiction over a lot of the federal government uh... the secretary of commerce will come before our committee the secretary of transportation will come before our committee uh... the chairman and the commissioners of the f t c of the f c c

uh... that they'll all come before our committee the administrator of the f a a the administrator of nasa will come before our committee and and so all of those various folks will naturally be with members of the commerce committee uh... on for the fairs uh... mark arugio's been nominated to be secretary of state uh... he's naturally going to meet with members of the senate for relations committee now that one's a little bit different

because marco's on the senate foreign relations committee so my i know marco very well we were sort of talking and laughing about i mean it's it's a different i think marco's gonna be confirmed quite easily uh... that being said uh... the they will systematically initially meet with the senators on the committee of jurisdiction and normally you meet with the other side as well normally you meet with i would expect them to meet certainly with the democrats on the committee that that that has jurisdiction

Um, and then depending on the position, they will meet with, with others as well. And, and so it's not, it's not uniform. Every cabinet nominee doesn't meet with all hundred senators, but depending on the degree of importance of the, the nomination and who the individual senator is, if they have particular equities or, or they're particularly involved in a subject matter, then there would be those meetings as well. But, but that's, that's on more of an ad hoc basis.

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888-488-IFCJ or go to supportifcj.org. Senator, I want to pull an audible real quick because I should have mentioned this earlier, but as we were just talking about Israel, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu

And they also, they're like, oh yeah, we threw in a Hamas guide too. So it looks like we're being equal here. This is a shocking attack by the ICC on Netanyahu and also one that makes it very tough for him to travel more than likely the way he needs to because of the threat of being arrested, for example, if he is traveling to many parts of Europe.

well it is an absolute outrage and and the icc already had very very questionable legitimacy but but with this decision the international criminal court has just become a a kangaroo court and and and frankly that's not fair to kangaroos i mean i mean it is it is an absolute this is a a political act of anti-israel hatred

And anti-Semitism that sadly infests so many of our international institutions that just hate Israel profoundly. And I believe the United States, we should impose sanctions on every individual involved in issuing this arrest warrant from the prosecutor to the judges to everyone involved. They should be sanctioned by the United States government.

We should also make clear that we will sanction anyone who attempts to enforce this arrest warrant. If you're a French prosecutor, be prepared to have American sanctions put on you. If you try to enforce this utterly lawless arrest warrant,

and understand the reason that the ICC did this is because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's incredible weakness. Listen, the ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel. Israel's not a party to the ICC. It also has no jurisdiction over the United States of America. And understand this is a threat

not just against Israel, although it is very much that, but this is a threat against America. This is a threat against the people who hate America. Imagine these same bigots who hate Israel, how much they would love to issue an arrest warrant for Donald Trump.

or for the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense of the United States. And it is only because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are so weak that the ICC felt empowered to issue this. It's not an accident that this came out after the presidential election, but before Trump was sworn in. That is when the enemies of Israel and the enemies of America historically have done some of the worst actions against the United States and against Israel. It is when, if you remember,

At the end of Obama, the last time we were in this comparable moment, which is a Democratic administration was ending and Donald Trump was getting ready to be sworn in as president. That would have been November and December of 2016, right after the election, Obama was leaving. And remember what the Obama administration did. They orchestrated UN Resolution 2334, which is one of the most shameful resolutions ever to be voted on.

uh... in the united nations and and the obama administration it it this this resolution denounced much of modern israel as illegitimate and illegally occupied it it denounced the jewish quarter of jerusalem as illegitimate illegally occupied it denounced the whaling wall in jerusalem as illegally occupied illegitimate

and and what happened is the obama state department orchestrated it they got others to push it and and they just stood back and abstained and i will tell you this week i had a classified briefing with tony blank in the secretary of state and i asked him very directly in that briefing uh... is the biden administration gonna do the same thing because last time

Y'all did that. It profoundly hurt Israel. It was used by the enemies of Israel to justify all sorts of targeting against the people of Israel. And I'm very concerned the Biden administration is going to try to orchestrate something similar at the United Nations. We had a vote this week that actually the Biden administration blocked to their credit.

where the UN was trying to call for an immediate ceasefire of the war against Hamas, but they did not include within it a demand that the hostages be released. And the Biden administration vetoed it without the hostages being released as part of the language. But I'm worried in the next

two months that they will try to do something very similar to what happened in December of 2016 with 2334. And I think that this ICC arrest warrant is shameful. I also think the incoming Trump administration is going to stand very strongly against this absolutely disgraceful decision.

Thune came out and threatened the International Criminal Court with sanctions if it doesn't drop the Netanyahu warrant for rest, but he also called on Schumer to not wait for the Republicans to get in charge to do the right thing and to do something now on this. He said if majority leader Schumer does not act,

the senate republicans uh... majority will stand with our key ally israel and and make this another supportive legislation top priority the next congress is there a chance that schumer could actually lead on this uh... as them call them to do and said uh... don't make us wait till january do the right thing now for israel

i i think the chances are virtually zero so the house has passed legislation but to do exactly that and and schumler is refused to take it up uh... the senate foreign relations committee we have had legislation before us uh... from jim rish who's getting ready to be the republican chairman of the foreign relations committee to do exactly that to sanction the icc for doing this and the democrats have refused to take it up it's basically shut down the foreign relations committee for the last six months because the democrats have blocked

uh... legislation standing up to the i-c-c and and look that this is on for the unfortunate reality that that in today's democrat party there is a pro-hamas thanks faction of the democrat party and i don't think that is hyperbole it is tragically the case they are the ones cheering we just had votes this week

that Bernie Sanders pushed on the floor to cut off weapons to Israel, to cut off 32,000 tank rounds to Israel, to cut off over 50,000 mortar cartridges to Israel, to cut off the kits that are used to make precision bombs. Now understand, the argument of the leftist is that when Israel is bombing Hamas or Hezbollah, they accidentally have incidental civilian casualties. So what is their response?

Take away the ability to have targeted smart bombs so they can only drop dumb bombs that they can't steer. The difference, a precision bomb, you can direct it so you hit your target and it's much less likely to have collateral damage. These leftists hate Israel so much they want to say, no, let's take away your ability to target your weapons. So we increase the number of civilians killed and 19 Senate Democrats voted to cut off Israel's funds.

that pro-hamas faction of the democrat party out not every democrat the house and senate is a member of it but just about every single democrat is terrified of that faction and it's why schumer look that the internal uh... did the internal notes from columbia university when columbia was having the anti-Semitic protest and and the leaders of columbia we're talking to schumer schumer told them don't worry about it the democrats we don't care it's only the republicans who care about this

understand what that admission was and that was out of Schumer's own mouth that that we the democrats don't care

about violent anti-Semites, terrorizing students in Columbia University and other universities, threatening Jewish students, it's not a priority for them. Why? Because they're terrified by the pro-Hamas faction of the party, who supports the radicals and the anti-Semites. That is tragically where we are, and so I'm going to predict we will take up the legislation to sanction the ICC, and we will do it.

early next year when we have a Republican Congress and a Republican president. I don't even know that we'll need that legislation though because I expect the Trump administration to act unilaterally. I think there's ample authority under the law for them to act. Even if the Democrats filibuster legislation to sanction the ICC, I think the president will have ample authority to act come January 20.

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Center finally I want to hit something else that is I have to admit I'm enjoying this watching the liberal media meltdown. The view had an all-time meltdown about Donald Trump's win. Joy Behar on the view said this to the audience. Take a listen.

to know what's in the air whoopee was from bism we lost the election we lost the election we miserable half of this country is miserable and let's just tell the truth we hate that he won i mean i know we're all like nazis and i know that we're all deplorables and i know that we're all floating garbage but you would think they would have learned from losing an election and clearly they're not

uh... look i i gotta say if if joy behar is is crying on tv and is miserable and is unhappy that's a good day for america because her her radical and extreme ideas that that they're hurting the country and and you know that that may be the most honest thing she's ever said on on the view because she is a hard leftist

And notice she's learned nothing. She's listened to nothing. There's no part, nobody on that show has stopped to say, wait, why did the American people overwhelmingly reject our disastrous policy agenda? They're not asking that. They're just mad at what they view as the idiot voters. And listen, that's an arrogance that we see in elected Democrats. It's an arrogance we see throughout the corporate media.

and I think it's going to fuel their doubling down and getting, if anything, even more extreme.

Yeah, I agree with you on the more extreme part. They're certainly not learning from election day. Don't forget we do the show every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hit that subscribe or auto download button. And the second thing I will remind you is grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson podcast. And I will keep you up to date on those in between days on the latest breaking news. We also have a week in review we do on Saturdays. So if you missed any show during the week, you'll hit

the highlights of what we talked about in our week in review on Saturday. So make sure you grab that podcast as well. And please share this right as a five star review. It helps us reach new people. So if you would do that, we greatly appreciate it. And the senator and I will see you back here on Saturday for our week in review.