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On today’s program: James Lankford, U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, shares an update on the war between Israel and Hamas, highlights his DOGE bills package, and discusses Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as HHS secretary. Dr. A. J. Nolte, Director of
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from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
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As of this morning, the Prime Minister’s office has made clear that Hamas have reneged on this hostage release agreement and has created a last-minute crisis in an effort to extort last-minute concessions.
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That was Israeli government spokesman David Mincer earlier today. Welcome to this Thursday edition of Washington Watch. I’m Tony Perkins. Thanks for tuning in. Well, coming up, President Biden’s victory lap yesterday might have been a bit premature.
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This is the ceasefire agreement I introduced last spring. Today, Hamas and Israel have agreed to that ceasefire agreement and the whole ending the war.
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The deal between Israel and Hamas is on hold with critical details still unresolved. Was the deal rushed to try to pressure Israel into accepting it? We’ll get the full story from Dr. A.J. Nolte, Director of the Institute for Israel Studies at Regent University. We’ll also talk with Oklahoma Senator James Langford, who sits on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about the hostage and ceasefire deal. He’ll share his thoughts on the confirmation hearings that took place this week, as well as the confirmation prospects of Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Plus, last night I joined several members of Congress and my friend Yossi Dagan, mayor of Samaria, to launch a new congressional caucus, the Friends of Judea and Samaria Caucus. Texas Congressman Randy Weber will be here to explain its purpose and its goals. And finally, we’ll meet one of the new members of Congress, Brad Knott of North Carolina. He’ll join us to discuss another measure that passed the House today. the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act. And 51 Democrats joined all Republicans in voting for that bill. We’ll talk about that later. So that and much more coming up on today’s edition of Washington Watch. Be sure and check out the website, TonyPerkins.com. Also. Download the Stand Firm app so you can take Washington Watch with you wherever you go. You’ll also have access to the Washington Stand, our news and commentary feed, as well as our daily Bible devotional, Stand on the Word. All that can be found in the App Store, Stand Firm. Well, it’s been a busy week in Washington with farewell addresses from the outgoing administration and confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks. Also in the mix over the last 24 hours has been the announcement of a ceasefire hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. However, it appears the announcement, as I mentioned earlier, was premature, and that may have been by design. Joining me now is Senator James Langford of Oklahoma, who serves on four Senate committees, including the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He is also the vice chair of the Senate Republican Conference. Senator Langford, welcome back to Washington Watch. Happy New Year. Good to see you. Thanks, Tony. It’s always good to see you as well.
SPEAKER 10 :
Thanks for the work you’re doing.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, thank you. Let me first get your take on the news we’re hearing out of Israel and this hostage and ceasefire deal.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, very, very challenging. Obviously, we’re all praying for peace. We’re all praying for the return of these hostages. But when you’re dealing with a terrorist organization like Hamas, it’s not exactly a good actor here. They’ve been holding now 98 people that are there that they’ve been holding now for more than a year. Some of those more even predate October the 7th. I spent about two hours last night with a group of folks, including the Israeli ambassador, talking through all these issues, trying to be able to determine kind of next steps in this. The key issue right now is the deal that was made has a lot of ambiguity into it. And Hamas is using that to say we’re not really going to do it the way that you think we’re going to do it. It is also 33 hostages and they still have to have an agreement of those living hostages. or those that have already passed away while they’re in captivity. Obviously, the Israelis want the living hostages to be able to come out first, and Hamas seems to be hedging on that. So there’s a lot of issues still to be able to be resolved.
SPEAKER 11 :
And one of the issues that really put the brakes on this is that the ratio of exchange, there’s going to be an exchange of hostages for terrorists. And I’m reportedly, it’s what I’m told is it’s about 50 to 1. And Israel wanted to be able to determine who that was, but that apparently was something that Hamas did not want. They wanted to pick who was going to be released. So this thing appears to be on very thin ice at present.
SPEAKER 10 :
It is, actually. This is the deal they’ve been working on since May. And what’s interesting is the Trump administration, the new leadership that would come in for the national security and for Middle East peace and the envoy, they’ve been very engaged in this process, along with the Biden team. So the Biden team literally allowed the Trump team to be able to join in, help negotiate this. But that allowed both Trump and Biden team to be able to say to Hamas, this is the American position on it. And so Hamas couldn’t play off on one administration to the other. So we’re doing what it takes and what we need to be able to do to help bring some things together on it. Hamas, though, again, it’s a terrorist organization, and they’re always going to look for ways that they can gain leverage to be able to go back and kill more people simply because they’re Jewish.
SPEAKER 11 :
Was this being rushed through to try to get something done so Biden could could claim credit for it? And the ink wasn’t even dry. So the T’s weren’t crossed. The I’s weren’t dotted.
SPEAKER 10 :
Actually, this is the framework that actually Biden and his team actually started working since May to be able to pull together. The rush is actually just to get hostages out. All the families are obviously very eager for loved ones to be able to get out of captivity of a group of terrorists there. We have no idea how they’re being treated, but it’s probably not good. The push is let’s get this done as fast as we can. The Israeli people are very ready to have their people home.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, I was with a former hostage, one who was released about 30 days into it in the first release, and her husband is still being held captive, and she described the conditions. And yes, they are very eager, and we continue to pray for that and want to see that happen. But we also understand Israel’s underlying need to ensure their security and safety going forward by the elimination of this terrorist entity, Hamas, that is right there on their border.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, Tony, you know it extremely well. The Israeli people, many of them had developed a trust relationship with some of these Palestinian families that they had been around. And then on October the 7th of last year, some of those individuals that literally they had partnered with and helped and worked alongside in Israel and knew their family THEN CAME IN AND LED SOME OF THE TERRORISTS RIGHT INTO THEIR HOMES TO BE ABLE TO SLAUGHTER THEIR FAMILIES. SO TRUST IS SHATTERED IN ISRAEL WHERE THEY TRY TO REACH OUT AND DEVELOP PEACEFUL RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEIR NEIGHBORS. AND THOSE NEIGHBORS THEN CAME AND KILLED THEM FOR IT.
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YEAH. AND I KNOW YOUR CREDENTIALS ON ISRAEL, A SOLID ISRAEL SUPPORTER. YOU AND I WENT TO ISRAEL 12, 13 YEARS AGO TOGETHER ON A TRIP AND WORKING IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA. Let me switch gears here, Senator. I want to turn to the Senate hearings for President-elect Trump’s cabinet. We’ve had several so far, including, I think, four today. Hearings have not yet been scheduled for all of President Trump’s choices, including some of the most contentious among them, being Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services Department. And I think you’ve had a chance to visit with him, if I’m not mistaken. I want to get your thoughts.
SPEAKER 10 :
I have. I had the opportunity to sit down with him in December. I want the early folks. I serve on that committee, the finance committee that will do the hearing. And we are waiting for that hearing to be set still. There’s some paperwork and things that have not been submitted. And so obviously we want to get that done. That’s an FBI background check. That’s the ethics report. Those are just things that every single nominee goes through every single time. So we’ve got to be able to have that before we can actually schedule the actual hearings to be able to get it done. He and I talked on a lot of different issues on food and other things. But I spent a lot of my time talking about the life issues. And he was pretty clear with me and his family. He’s got members of his family on every single position on the issue about abortion. But he also said in his personal belief, he is not as pro-life as I am or you are. But he said his personal belief is America has way too many abortions. It’s embarrassing on the world stage. what is happening, and we need to reduce the number of abortions in America. And he was committed to taking us back to the HHS policy of the first Trump administration, which was a very pro-life HHS. And my request to him was not just that, but also undo what President Biden did, because President Biden has used HHS to increase the number of abortions in America. That needs to be undone as well.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah. In fact, front and center on that discussion is the FDA and the sending of the abortion pill via the mail, which is both a DOJ and a FDA issue. But that’s now somewhere as possibly 70 percent of abortions being performed by that. So a pro-life state that has a pro-life law, it means nothing if the federal government is allowing these abortion pills to be sent through the mail.
SPEAKER 10 :
It is, actually. I asked him about that directly on it, and I said one of the issues is the FDA has used their political power to not have good science on this. They’re using it for political purposes. They’re literally telling hospitals if women have side effects, if they come in with severe bleeding, if they have all kinds of issues related to the use of these chemical abortion pills, don’t report it unless she dies. So literally, FDA is using their power to suppress all of the bad information about these drugs. He immediately responded and said, that’s just the kind of issue that I want to be able to expose where the big pharma companies are using their power, where there’s a political basis to be able to not get the American people the information. So it was pretty clear about that, but we’ve got a long way to go on the issue of life.
SPEAKER 11 :
I mean, given his distrust for Big Pharma and I would think just allowing the facts to come out there, that’s all we want. We just want the truth because the truth will speak very clearly on this issue. But I want to go back just for clarity because I would agree with you that I think the starting place is back to where the Trump Department of Health and Human Services was in 2020 when he left office because it was actually in a very good place. We had seen extremely good policy coming out. Is that the commitment that you have from Mr. Kennedy?
SPEAKER 10 :
That was my understanding on that. He also said that he and the president had talked about this and that President Trump had said, I am pro-life, we’re going to have a pro-life HHS on it. I said, that’s terrific. I’m following up with the president to be able to clarify that and make sure that conversation, I hear both sides of that conversation. But for me, that’s baseline. We need to at least have the policies that were in President Trump’s first administration, HHS, and in the State Department, because as you know, there’s many different grants that are done to promote abortion and provide abortion worldwide. with Biden’s State Department, those need to be turned off. And so that my tax dollars from taxpayers in Oklahoma are being used to take human life.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, that would be a huge, huge step forward, just going back to where we were four years ago. Now, speaking of the life issue, the Senate is expected to vote next week on the Born Alive Survivors Protection Act. What do you expect when that hits the Senate floor next week?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, I would expect to bring that up. That’s my bill, along with Jim Banks, that we’re actually bringing that bill forward to be able to protect children. If there’s a botched abortion and a child’s actually born alive, there should be basic American decency and values that that child is then protected. They’re not in a womb. They’re fully delivered at that point. That’s a child everyone’s looking at. We need to protect the value of that child there. That’s coming up in front of the Senate. I have no expectation, quite frankly, right now that my Democratic colleagues will vote any different than they did last year. We feel it’s very important to be able to continue to bring this, as we did with partial birth abortion decades ago. The Congress brought it up multiple times before they could actually get that settled in law. We believe we’re going to continue to bring this up until we get this settled, until every American sees a child fully born. We should not have an argument about this, whether that child is actually a child in front of you.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, the difference is that you can actually bring it up and have a vote on it and have a debate about it. You couldn’t do that under Chuck Schumer when he was the leader.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yep, that’s correct. And that is one of the powers of being in the majority that we get to drive what actually comes to the floor. And Leader Thune agreed immediately to be able to bring this up. As you know, he and I were the co-sponsors of this in the last session. Leader Thune has been very pro-life and he’s very focused on trying to be able to get this up so we can make some progress.
SPEAKER 11 :
We just got about 45 seconds left, but next week you’re going to be introducing some measures for the Department of Government and Efficiency to get that rolling. What should we be looking for?
SPEAKER 10 :
So there’s several things we’re pulling together. This is something I’ve worked on for years, actually. I release every year a book we call Federal Fumbles. It’s just areas of waste and overreach in the federal government. We’ll pull some of these things out and there’ll be a series of different bills that we’ll release. This one in particular deals with things like telework, how we do our record keeping, engagement of individuals in the process of actually forming a regulation. If I can say it this way, Tony, it’s kind of the nerdy stuff behind the scenes. We all see the grant that’s put out there for drag shows in Ecuador that Americans paid for. We see that and we highlight it, but I’m asking the question, how did it happen? How do we fix it before it ever starts?
SPEAKER 11 :
All right. We want to talk with you about that when that comes up. And so, Senator, thanks for joining us today and we’ll see you real soon. All right, folks, we’re back with more after this.
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During these challenging times for our nation, Family Research Council continues to serve as a watchman on the wall for faith, family, and freedom. And together, thanks to your support, we’re making an eternal impact. 2024 was a year of shining the light for biblical truth in Washington, DC. Last fall, over 1,000 spiritually active, governance-engaged conservatives gathered for the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit to pray for our nation and ensure that the issues impacting sage cons were understood and advanced. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins marked a major milestone this year, its 900th episode, and added the Washington Watch News Desk, a new production that presents the top news each day from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand published 2,000 articles of news, commentary, and podcasts in 2024, garnering over 5 million views. FRC’s outlet for news and commentary continues to pursue the truth on the issues that matter most to you and your family. And with the launch of the Stand Firm app, you can listen to, watch, and read our content in one simple place. Pray for current issues, stay rooted in the scriptures, and engage the political sphere with the community of believers on our new platform. In 2024, FRC shaped public policy and culture, organizing the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance where members of Congress and Christian leaders came together to seek God’s intervention in America. In May, FRC called upon believers to pray for and stand with Israel by dedicating a portion of their worship services to pray for Israel’s peace, prosperity, and protection. With Pray, Vote, Stand Decision 2024, FRC and Real Life Network led a powerful evening of election night coverage to analyze the election results and pray that our nation would turn back to God. We also filmed a transformative educational course, God and Government, Launching early this year in January 2025, this series will explore the biblical and historical foundations of our government, empowering you to stand confidently in your role as a citizen of heaven and earth. Family Research Council thanks you for partnering with us, and we look forward to 2025 and standing for faith, family, and freedom.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us on this Thursday. Download the Stand Firm app and you can keep up with us all through the day. Not only have Washington Watch, but we’ve got the Washington Stand. And in the morning, every morning, we’ve got our stand on the word Bible study. All right, as we were talking about earlier, the hostage and ceasefire deal that was reportedly struck yesterday between Israel and Hamas negotiators is not expected to be voted on by the Israeli cabinet until Friday at the earliest. The vote on the deal was previously expected today, but the office of the Israeli prime minister said Hamas’ equivocation or reneging on part of the agreement has caused them to pull back. So was the Biden administration’s announcement of the deal yesterday premature, or might they have known about the potential snags but wanted to squeeze the announcement into President Biden’s primetime farewell address last night? Joining me now to discuss this is Dr. A.J. Nolte, the director of the Institute for Israel Studies at Regent University. Dr. Nolte, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 15 :
Thank you, Tony. As always, it’s great to be here.
SPEAKER 11 :
So give me, overall, give me your take on the deal.
SPEAKER 15 :
I think it’s not great. I think that it’s very similar to the deal that was proposed last year in March. Very, very little has changed in the deal. But the facts on the ground have changed significantly in two ways. One, that should have gotten the Israelis a better deal. And the other that I think is the driving factor for Netanyahu and why he’s considering this is Obviously, facts on the ground have changed from Hamas’s perspective. Their support has been crippled. They are now much more isolated than they were last year when something similar to this deal was initially proposed. But I think one fact that we are underestimating as Americans, and both the Biden and Trump administrations are claiming a lot of credit for this, but the Israeli population has just been absolutely traumatized by the hostage situation. And an increasingly loud, vocal percentage of that population just wants to see the hostages come home. And I think we can sympathize with that on an emotional level. And so they’re wanting a deal, even if it’s not in the long-term geopolitical risk, because they are so confident. Because of the recent military successes that whatever happens in the short term, I think they’re perhaps maybe a little overconfident that they can just go back in regardless when Hamas inevitably reneges and pick up right where they left off.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I’ve had a few conversations with those over in Israel in the last 24 hours to kind of get my sense, those close to the prime minister. And here’s my take. How I see this deal is that you’re right. I think Biden was trying to get a deal. so he could claim something. I mean, it’s interesting. This is like the ring. Everybody wants to touch it. They want to say they’ve solved the issue in the Middle East. And you see Biden trying to do that before he goes out of office. I also think contributing to this pressure that has fallen upon Israel is the incoming Trump administration, when the president said he wants the hostages released before he takes office, that that created unnecessary pressure to get a deal, even if it was a bad deal. I mean, let’s look at the elements of this deal. Six weeks to release 33 hostages, and they’re not able, the Israelis are not able to identify which of those 33 will be released. They could be actually deceased hostages. But on the other hand, and this is one of the big issues that’s putting this thing on hold, is that Hamas gets to pick which terrorists get out of prison.
SPEAKER 15 :
Israel is absolutely never going to agree to that, and there’s a very particular reason, and this goes to some internal Palestinian politics. One of the prisoners Hamas once released is a guy named Marwan Barghoudi. He’s a terrorist, but he was actually affiliated with Fatah. The reason they wanted do this is because they can claim, we got Barghouti out and you, Fatah, couldn’t. And how do we get them out? By this horrible attack on October 7th. And so Israel recognizes this would be a huge strategic failure to allow Hamas to claim credit for that. And so that’s one of the things that Hamas is pushing for. And of course, Hamas also wants terrorists that will be able to join them in Gaza or cause problems in the West Bank as well.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, Yahya Sinmar. Yes, exactly. He was a terrorist that was released from prison. And what did he do? He became a leader of Hamas.
SPEAKER 15 :
Absolutely. And so they’re very cognizant of that and they’re hoping for that. Now, if you’re somebody who is concerned about Israel’s freedom to operate under this deal, let’s just always remember that every time there’s been a negotiation or a deal in the past, it has been Hamas that has reneged, Hamas that has broken the deal. And so to a certain extent, I think Netanyahu recognizes that reality and recognizes Hamas is going to break the deal. And then he can go back to Trump and say, yes, see, I told you this was going to happen.
SPEAKER 11 :
So but what happens in this period of six weeks? Because I also understand why we haven’t seen all the particular details. I’m told that this also calls for mass humanitarian assistance during the six week period. So what does that do to Hamas?
SPEAKER 15 :
One of the problems with humanitarian assistance in Gaza and in the West Bank and throughout Palestinian society has always been who determines how that is administered and if it’s administered in a way that plays into the bad actors. And I mean, from UNRWA to the seizure of Hamas food shipments during this most recent hostage we’ve always seen, humanitarian assistance has not gotten to the people. And I’m very much in support of humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people if it’s going to get to them. But what I’m not in support of is giving Hamas more levers to bully the civilians, which they’ve been doing since they came into power in Gaza in 2007.
SPEAKER 11 :
And I would think it also gives them the opportunity to regroup. Now, they are, I mean, their leadership is pretty much decimated. They’ve been crushed. But you allow them to regroup. And I think there’s some concern that the pressure will build after a six-week ceasefire that could potentially prohibit Israel from going in and eliminating this threat from Gaza by eliminating Hamas.
SPEAKER 15 :
I think that’s a legitimate concern. I’m not as concerned about that, and here’s why. Given past performance and given the ideology of Hamas, they are going to do something provocative that will be directed at Israeli soil. And after 10-7, I think the Israeli population recognizes that Hamas has got to go. I think right now that recognition is just intention for the population with this desperate desire to just get the hostage situation resolved and get their loved ones home.
SPEAKER 11 :
Dr. Nolte, we just have about a minute left, but the political pressure. I mean, you have a coalition government there. The prime minister has those to his right that could pull out if he gives in to some of these demands by Hamas.
SPEAKER 15 :
One of the major figures on the right, Bitzalah Smutrich, the last report I had last night was that he was not going to pull out and he wasn’t committing to that. There’s another figure, Itamar Ben-Kavir, who might. And so it is very delicate for Netanyahu. But he’s been in this business a very long time. He’s negotiated these coalitions a very long time. And I think that my money is that he will find a way to survive this and that Hamas ultimately will end up breaking the deal and then Israel will hammer them and that the Trump administration will end up supporting that because their national security team, whatever the envoys may see, the national security team gets that.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah. I do think you’re right about Prime Minister Netanyahu. He has more political lives than a cat. I mean, he survives. Dr. Nolte, thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me. All right. After the break, folks, we’re going to continue to talk about Israel, talk about a historic launch of the Friends of Judea and Samaria Caucus. That’s next. Don’t go away.
SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
America has entered a critical and vulnerable period from now until January the 20th. Join Family Research Council for Operation Prayer Shield, a 10-week prayer initiative for our nation. From now until January 20th, our country faces global challenges, a transition of leadership, and a lame duck session of Congress. This season calls for heightened spiritual vigilance, discernment, and prayer. Text the word SHIELD to 67742 to join us. You’ll have access to prayer points, scripture, prayer calls. Text SHIELD to 67742. Unite with us and pray for our nation. Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us. Download the Stand Firm app so you can keep up with us. And you’ll have action items as well when you need to take action. And I’ve got some things you’re going to need to be acting on here over the next 100 days. One of the things we were working on last night, I would join several members of Congress in a historic launch of a new congressional caucus focused on preserving the heart of Israel, Judea and Samaria. The bipartisan caucus aims to strengthen ties between the United States and Israel, focusing on the significance of Judea and Samaria. Now, this happens to be the area, every time you hear about a two-state solution, this is the area that they want to force Israel to give up to the Palestinians. This is where about 80% of what we read in our Bibles took place. Here’s a map. If you’re watching online, you can see the map there. That in kind of the blue, bluish green, that’s Judea and Samaria. That’s what they want to give up. This is the biblical heartland where most of the events recorded in Scripture took place. Now, the caucus also seeks to deepen the connection between the regions and advocate for Israeli sovereignty over these historic lands. And with all that’s happening in the Middle East in the last 15 months, I can’t think of a better time. Joining me now to discuss this is Congressman Randy Weber, who co-sponsored the Recognizing Judea and Samaria Act in the last Congress. And he serves as a co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism. He represents the 14th Congressional District of Texas. Congressman Weber, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to see you. It was good to be with you last night. Thank you, Tony. I appreciate that. It was good to be there. Thank you. So the launch of the Friends of Judea and Samaria Caucus is a historic milestone. How do you envision this new initiative in shaping U.S.-Israeli relations and really kind of reshaping the conversation in the Middle East?
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, that’s exactly the tact, Tony. We appreciate y’all’s involvement and taking a lead role in that. Thank you for being there. It was great to see you last night. There was a lot of people there who were interested in this, and Congresswoman Claudia Kennedy did a great job by reintroducing this caucus. getting this caucus out and running. Look, and I said this last night, you heard me say this, our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values, not West Bank Christian values. And that got a round of applause from the public there because they understood exactly what that meant. I’ve been saying for a long time, Tony, the two-state solution is, in my opinion, DOA dead on arrival. They cannot force Israel to let terrorists live right beside them. That’s exactly what it seems like the former, or maybe I should say the current administration, is intent on doing. We need to make sure, as you rightly pointed out, that biblical Judea, biblical Samaria, absolutely stays in control by the Israelis, by the Jewish people. It is their homeland. God gave it to them. And any attempt to make it anything other than that, in my opinion, is a non-starter.
SPEAKER 11 :
So one of the first initiatives of this caucus is to get the legislation that you were a part of advancing in the last Congress is going to be reintroduced. And that is simply to say in our conversation, because words matter, The federal government, when they talk about this area, Judea and Samaria, the word West Bank goes away and it’s referred to as it should be, Judea and Samaria. It sounds simple, but it’s profound because that terminology, West Bank, has created more division in conflict in the Middle East than anything else.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, and you’ve been there, I’ve been there, and we both know what’s at stake. We’ve seen it up close and personal firsthand. So thank you for bringing that up. That’s exactly what we’re talking about. The terminology does matter. Words do matter. And how it’s viewed by our federal government, by the State Department, I found some disturbance, had some more meetings with some of our Jewish friends today. And they told me that there’s a lot of people in that area who Jews who have been sanctioned by the state department because of their stand and words matter. The United States needs to be Israel’s best partner. I’ve read the Bible. God said, whoever blesses Israel, he will bless. Whoever curses Israel, he will curse. We know where we want to be in that scenario. So thank you for bringing attention to it with your viewers today, because there’s a lot at stake here, and we’re going to be working exactly toward that end.
SPEAKER 11 :
Now, you said, you know, this two-state solution, dead on arrival. And it goes dormant, but then, you know, four years from now, if we… God forbid, and I pray that he would if he will bless our efforts, that we will not have a Democratic administration. But we’ve had this ping pong match. I mean, is it four years of conservative, four years of liberal? This could come back. But this is an opportunity to bury that idea after October the 7th. That was a two state solution. I think you drew attention to that last night. It’s a failure and we need to move on.
SPEAKER 01 :
Right, well, that’s exactly right. You’ve been there, I’ve been there, and as I said last night, I’ve been there in the kibbutzes, I know you have too, and seen all the killing and the bloodshed and all the things that happened by those barbarians, by Hamas. And kind of on a side note, I’m watching the supposed… you know, ceasefire that seems like now it’s dead on arrival because there’s issues. The Hamas can’t be trusted. You know, in their charter, when they say they want to annihilate all the Jews and Israel, take them at their word. And all this would be would be a continuation of the West Bank, in my opinion, of anybody that left Gaza going to West Bank. You’ve got your enemies then on both sides of you, and we cannot allow that to happen. I want the United States to be extremely upfront and making sure that we’re on Israel’s side in this one.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, you know, history should teach us that when someone says they want to kill you, but they want to kill you. You need to believe these crazy people. Congressman Randy Weber, I want to thank you for joining us today, but thank you on your leadership, your passion for Israel, and I look forward to working with you to advance this in the days and weeks ahead. Well, thank you, Tony. Thank you for keeping it in the forefront. We appreciate what y’all do. All right. Have a blessed night. Congressman Randy Weber of Texas, and I will keep you posted on that. It’s going to be, I think, a quite significant undertaking, and I think historic in its effect if we can succeed, and I think we will. All right, coming up next, we’re going to be joined by North Carolina Congressman Brad Knott. He’s new to Congress. He’s going to be joining us about actually one of the bills that passed today, another issue, another bill focusing on the issue of illegal immigrants and the terror that they’re doing. That’s next. Don’t go away. Hello, I’m Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council here in Washington, D.C. Behind me is one of the most recognizable buildings in all the world, the U.S. Capitol. What does it stand for? Well, most people say government. But you know, the Bible talks about four institutions of government. You know what they are? And do we have a republic or a democracy? Well, what do you say? Also, what about this thing separation of church and state? Does that mean Christians shouldn’t be involved in government? Guess what? We address those issues and more in our new God and Government course. I invite you to join us to see what the historical record and the Bible has to say about government. Join us for God and Government.
SPEAKER 03 :
The world is hurting, streets are filled with crime, families are broken, sin is celebrated, and God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God’s will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn’t impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can’t do that. It’s not that you don’t love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God’s opinion more than your neighbor’s opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you’re the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that’s not all. They’re also engaged in our government. They’re voters. They’re more likely to be involved in their community, and they’re making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself, go to frc.org slash sagecon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can’t do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That’s what we’re working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That’s S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
SPEAKER 11 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. And let me invite you to join us in our effort of praying for our country, for our allies in a very, very volatile time. I told you after the election it was going to be volatile and well, events have proven me to be accurate. So you can become a part of our Operation Prayer Shield. Just text the word SHIELD to 67742. That’s SHIELD to 67742. Our word for today comes from Isaiah 65. Thus says the Lord as the new wine is found in the cluster. And one says, do not destroy it for a blessing is in it. So will I do for my servant’s sake that I may not destroy them all. I will bring forth descendants from Jacob and from Judah, an heir of my mountains. My elect shall inherit it, and my servant shall dwell there. Sharon shall be a fold of flocks in the valley of Achor, a place for herds to lie down for my people who have sought me. See, God’s mercy is seen even in his judgment as this speaks to a godly remnant that would be preserved. This again underscores that God is not finished with the Jewish people. The Gentile church should be grateful and humble that God has invited us in. And we should join Him in prayer and in our work to see the restoration of His people, Israel, that is coming. This is a profound reminder of God’s redemptive plan. To join us in our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. That’s BIBLE to 67742. Earlier today, the House approved the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act with all Republicans and 51 Democrats joining the effort. Maybe they got the message. Joining me now in studio to discuss this and more is freshman Congressman Brad Nutt, who serves on three House committees, including the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee. He serves the 13th Congressional District of the state of North Carolina. Congressman Nutt, welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. Absolutely. It’s good to be here. And I welcome you to Congress. Yes, sir. And to Washington, D.C. So let’s talk first about this legislation that passed today because before running for Congress, you were a federal prosecutor. So the issue of law and order is a big one for you. And I can’t think of anything more glaring except maybe the weaponization of government than our southern border when it comes to the lawlessness that we’ve seen the last four years.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, that’s correct. In large part, that was the motivation for me to run for office. And I was a federal prosecutor, like you said. I was blessed to serve. It was a dream of mine to do it and worked alongside so many wonderful law enforcement officers and agents at the local and the national level. But as we were talking about off camera, the The policies of the last four years, Tony, to say it was overwhelming is an understatement. To have well over 10 million people, in my estimation, come across the border, shuffled all over the country, welcomed with no enforcement of our laws, we’re going to be dealing with that for a long, long time in a very, very detrimental way to the country. And there are a lot of people that are coming to this country to commit crimes. When you have the open incentive structure that we currently have under the Biden-Harris administration, you get what you ask for. And we’ve welcomed in a lot of people who are sowing pretty treacherous seeds, in my opinion, all over the country.
SPEAKER 11 :
I want to play a clip from today’s debate. This is Congresswoman Laurel Lee from Florida. Clip number six.
SPEAKER 07 :
The time is now to take seriously the danger of criminal aliens in the United States. Anything that makes it easier for adjudicators and officials to ensure a criminal alien’s arrest and removal should receive overwhelming bipartisan support.
SPEAKER 11 :
Now, the bill came out of the House today. As I mentioned, all Republicans voted for it, 51 Democrats. tells me it probably got a good chance of passing in the Senate. Tell us what exactly that measure does.
SPEAKER 09 :
So the bill, basically, it categorizes criminals who are adjudicated guilty of certain offenses, violence against women, domestic abuse, et cetera. And it basically allows for the law to categorize them as immediately deportable and unworthy of coming back legally. And there are so many bureaucratic hurdles currently, both from this administration that we’re under right now and from previous administrations, to getting dangerous people out of the country. One of the hurdles, candidly, is the number of people. In some estimates, there’s over a million people. immigrants that are backlogged in these adjudication forums to get them out of the country. And this law just says, if you’ve committed acts of violence against women, if you’re a domestic abuser, et cetera, you can go to the top of the list if needed and expedite the deportation.
SPEAKER 11 :
I would imagine that Congress is going to have to allocate more resources to removing these people from the country because it’s like you can only fit so many people through a door at one time.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right. We will need to appropriate dollars, but the cost that no one is talking about, Tony, is doing nothing. We have over 100,000 Americans that are dying every year from one drug. We have a wave of illegal immigrants who were soaking up tax dollars in the form of free medical care. And by some estimates, up to 10% of the babies born in this country have illegal immigrant parents. They come here and they get free health care in the emergency rooms. Those are the types of costs that no one discusses. So if we can appropriate dollars to enforce the law, We’ll have a solid return on investment.
SPEAKER 11 :
No argument from me on that. I’m just pointing it out that the current infrastructure is not going to accommodate this. I don’t want to use the term mass deportation because I think that’s the wrong characterization of it. I think it is a deportation of people who do not need to be here.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right. That’s right. And this law is a perfect example. There needs to be a separate category in the law that we can hopefully finish and write that treats illegal immigrant criminals, people who are here committing crimes actively, as separate and distinct from American citizens. There needs to be enhanced penalties. There needs to be enhanced deportation efficiency. And allocating the resources necessary to do that is a very high priority for this Congress.
SPEAKER 11 :
So let’s talk, let’s step back for just a moment, Brad, in terms of your making a decision to run for Congress. I mean, that’s serving as a prosecutor, working in that arena and coming to Congress, which Frankly, even the latest polling shows it’s not held in the highest regard and it’s not always seen as a very functional institution. Of course, people don’t realize by design Congress is designed not to be that efficient because if it were, it would do stuff too quickly and that would not be good in some cases.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, again, the personal motivation, of course, was driven in large part by my professional experience with what I saw as a prosecutor. I mean, I had cases all over the country, and it was exacerbated over the last four years. But really, with the exception of President Trump, there’s been an open border for my entire lifetime. And it’s time to secure that and to fix it so that my children don’t have to grow up with the same problems. And if we don’t stem the tide soon, we are going to have irreparable harm.
SPEAKER 11 :
So it was kind of as a practitioner, you saw the problem, but you saw that it was systemic because the system is broken. And the best way to do that is bring your knowledge and understanding to the table to craft policy that could fix it.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s correct. And there’s also, you know, personally, my wife and I, we’re very conservative. We’ve both been blessed with Christian homes. And we believe that America is most sound when it rests in its Judeo-Christian values and the Christian foundation that we have. and the last four years have shown that we are we’re losing that in a big way and just getting back to common sense constitutional um you know hard problems but simple problems is is also a motivation that drove us to do i want to talk about that faith uh congressman because i i as i understand you uh you’ve taught bible study do a bible study and in fact i think you used the line and correct me if i’m wrong prosecuting criminals by day and teaching bible by night
SPEAKER 11 :
How did that factor into your decision, and how will it factor into how you approach policy decisions?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I don’t know if you’ve heard of Bible Study Fellowship, but my parents were deeply involved in BSF for probably 35 years. My dad had to stop, actually, when he ran for attorney general in North Carolina. But when I came back to Raleigh, I joined the men’s class that he started. And of all the things that I had to leave behind, that men’s Bible study fellowship class is probably the most difficult for me. And Tony, I’ve long said that when I was a prosecutor, you kind of get a lens into various homes and communities that demonstrate clearly that there really aren’t too many political solutions that can address our gravest ills. And we have to have a strong body politic, but the church must be robust as well. And whether it’s the least of these in a material sense or broken homes that are coming on fourth, fifth generations of fatherlessness, unless we really get that servant’s heart that the Bible talks about, and take care of our neighbors on a personal level, not a political level, I think that the future is fairly bleak. And studying God’s Word, being a member of a church, that’s central to my wife and to me, and it’s something that, in addition to running for Congress, it’s our primary motivation.
SPEAKER 11 :
In order to bring that about, I mean, we have to allow our faith to inform our decisions. No question. And as an elected official, you can’t be forced to check that at your door. Some would like you to check that at the door of Congress. But what we’ve seen, especially over the last four years, we saw it prior to Donald Trump in his first administration. I helped get the… executive order on religious freedom passed or adopted. We’ve seen people of faith marginalized. We’ve seen people who work in public spaces, firemen, policemen, that have to check their faith at the door of service. That’s got to be fixed.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, it does. And we’ve seen a total perversion of what the, quote, separation of church and state means. We’ve seen an attack on very traditional faith in the United States. I mean, just the last four years, whether it was churches, whether it was people who were trying to witness to those going to an abortion clinic. All of us have seen the clips of the FBI categorizing Catholic Church as potential terrorists or domestic terrorists.
SPEAKER 11 :
Or grandmothers praying outside of an abortion clinic and being sentenced to a dozen years in prison. It’s outrageous. This is the weaponization that people—it’s real. It is. How are we going to get a handle on that? And not just stop it, but reverse—turn that around.
SPEAKER 09 :
You know, the Congress does have the oversight role, and I think bringing that out, fleshing it out as best we can, putting the light on it is one way to do it. And again, Christians must be engaged. Far too many Christians and traditional believing Americans stay out of the political process. It’s time to drop that by the side and to get involved because. The United States has been the greatest source of blessing to the world over any country. And I view it as a stewardship. Christians, Americans, we’ve all been blessed to be here. It’s time to dig in and really take a stand with that.
SPEAKER 11 :
And that’s why I think, and this is where I see the role of the federal government and the incoming Trump administration, not that they’re going to fix the problems in terms of what ails America. As you pointed out, it is not political, it’s spiritual. And so it’s incumbent upon the church and followers of Christ to delve in, roll up their sleeves and work with their neighbors and their communities, mentoring these fatherless children and all the things that the church should be doing. But this is where the government comes in, is making sure that those people can do that in the name of Jesus and they can live out their faith in a way that is unhindered and unrestrained by the government around them. Amen.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s what this country was built on. But we’ve lost it. We have. What we’ve seen over the last four years and really even before the last four years, it’s been a very steady and increasingly aggressive attack on that. And getting it back is paramount. And that’s to Trump’s credit, President Trump’s credit. He’s recognized that. And I think he is all in to preserve it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Talking about the weaponization, I want to kind of show how perverse this is where pro-lifers are thrown in prison. But then you have like a sweetheart deal that was given to an MS-13 gang leader by the Biden administration. I mean, this is upside down.
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s very upside down, and one of the things that we’ve seen is a perversion of truth, a perversion of justice. Those in power think they can just declare something that’s flatly impossible. They think they can dictate a narrative. And when I saw the headline that you’re referring to and read about it— Give a little detail on that because I didn’t mention it. Yeah, so this MS-13 member who was recently given a plea deal by the Department of Justice— He admitted to involvement in over seven murders. Two of them were young girls, 15 and 16, I believe. The murders were barbaric. The killers used baseball bats and machetes. These were American citizens. And this was the end of a long line of criminal activity, racketeering, robberies, arson, et cetera, all violence, all traumatizing to the communities. And he’s here illegally. He shouldn’t be here. And he’s inflicting all of that harm on this country. And rather than going to a guaranteed life sentence or even death, which the law permits, the Biden administration bent over backwards and gave him what I would say is a very light sentence for the crimes that he committed. There are seven murders. He got what will be probably a 40-year sentence. So he will see the light of day again. And, again, I think that’s a disgrace to every American, but specifically those victims who have suffered so mightily.
SPEAKER 11 :
It’s incredible. Yep. It is. Seven murders. He’s here illegally. Absolutely. And 40 years. Yep. And you have people who pray outside of abortion clinics that are serving a dozen years. Yes. Nonviolent. Yep. This is upside down. This is what angers Americans.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes. And it’s happened more than the press has obviously covered.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, this is so extreme, you can’t ignore this.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right, right. And it’s upside down is the nice way of saying it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Wow. Well, there is so much work to be done. We’ve just got about a minute left. Other than the border addressing that issue, top priorities? The debt.
SPEAKER 09 :
I mean, of all the issues, if we do not deal with the border and we don’t deal with the debt, they both will deal with us. And those are the systemic issues that I really am focused on.
SPEAKER 11 :
It’s going to require so much education in the American public because that can has been kicked down the road so much that people just, they’ve heard it’s a problem. but it’s never dealt with, and the sky hasn’t fallen. Yes, it will. We’re at a point where we are now paying more on our interest of our debt than our national defense. Staggering.
SPEAKER 09 :
It is. And it’s not sustainable.
SPEAKER 11 :
No, not at all. Congressman Brad Knot, great to see you. Thanks for stopping in and joining us today. And again, congratulations on your election. It’s my pleasure. All right. And folks, I want to thank you for joining us today as well. And be sure and download the Stand Firm app. That way you have access to all of our information, including the Washington Stand and our daily Bible commentary, Stand on the Word, and action items. So you’ll know over the next hundred days as we are working to help Congress pass some good legislation, we’re going to need you to lean in. And you can do that if you have the Stand Firm app. So go to the App Store and download the Stand Firm app. All right, until next time, I leave you once again with the encouraging words of the Apostle Paul, where he says, when you’ve done everything you can do, when you’ve prayed, when you’ve prepared, and when you have taken your stand, by all means, keep standing.
SPEAKER 08 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
