Episode Details

Defending the Victims of Child Sex Abuse: How Trey’s Law Is Going National

In one of the most emotional and consequential episodes of Verdict with Ted Cruz to date, Senator Ted Cruz and co‑host Ben Ferguson sat down in Washington, D.C. with a courageous guest whose story is reshaping the national conversation about child protection. Elizabeth Phillips—sister of the late Trey Carlock, a survivor of years of sexual abuse at a well‑known summer camp—joined the show to discuss the growing bipartisan momentum behind Trey’s Law, newly introduced by Senator Cruz in the United States Senate.

This episode wasn’t about politics, polls, or campaigns. It was about protecting children, amplifying the voices of survivors, and confronting a disturbing reality in America: child sexual abuse is widespread, chronically underreported, and too often covered up by powerful institutions using non‑disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence victims.

For parents, for survivors, and for anyone who cares about ensuring that abuse is never hidden in the shadows again, this is an episode—and a movement—you cannot ignore.

The Epidemic: Child Sexual Abuse in America

Senator Cruz opened with a chilling reality check:

• A child in the U.S. is sexually abused every nine minutes.
• 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be abused before the age of 18.
• Most victims will never disclose their abuse, or not until decades later.

This phenomenon—known as delayed disclosure—is well‑documented. Children rarely come forward immediately. Many wait until adulthood. Some never speak out at all.

Yet despite this, institutions facing civil litigation routinely push victims—sometimes still legally children—into signing NDAs that silence them for life. Those NDAs become powerful tools not for justice, but for cover‑ups, helping predators avoid exposure and enabling institutions to protect their reputations rather than the children in their care.

As Senator Cruz put it, “We cannot always prevent the first victimization. But we can stop the second victimization—when institutions use NDAs to muzzle survivors.”

Trey’s Story: Groomed, Abused, Silenced—And a Family’s Fight for Truth

Elizabeth Phillips shared the heartbreaking story of her brother Trey, whose life was stolen long before he died.

Beginning at age seven, Trey attended Kanakuk Camps in Missouri—a “faith‑based” youth camp trusted by families across the South and Midwest. Behind the façade, a camp director was grooming and abusing Trey and other children for years.

The perpetrator was eventually sentenced to three consecutive life terms. But by then, decades of damage had been done.

What Elizabeth and many other families would later learn is that Kanakuk staff and leadership had systematically concealed years of abuse—not reporting predators, not warning parents, and in many cases moving known abusers to other affiliated ministries. The more survivors came forward, the clearer the pattern became. Elizabeth’s investigation with other families revealed over 90 alleged perpetrators connected to the camp or its affiliated ministries.

But the final blow came when Trey—under pressure from the camp, its lawyers, and even his own attorney—was convinced to sign a restrictive NDA as part of a civil settlement. The secrecy consumed him. He could not speak about what happened to him—not even in therapeutic settings—without fear of retaliation.

At age 28, Trey died by suicide.

His last words to a therapist still haunt Eliz