In today’s Sekulow, Logan and his team address the unfolding confirmation hearings of Tulsi Gabbard and other critical appointments under the Trump administration. We explore the implications of key endorsements and examine the strategic pressure being applied to secure these confirmations. Through insightful discourse, we highlight the role of public engagement as listeners are urged to continue their advocacy and make their voices heard in the corridors of power. On the international front, we share details of recent successful diplomatic engagements in Central America under Secretary Rubio, setting a new precedent for global diplomacy under this administration.
SPEAKER 05 :
With a vote coming later today, two more senators support Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination.
SPEAKER 06 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Seculo. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekula.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome to Sekula. We will be taking your calls and comments at 1-800-684-3110. Harry Hutchinson is going to be joining us a little bit later. And we are talking about the breaking news where we have seen that Tulsi Gabbard is headed towards confirmation. We can at least feel that this is a positive move as we’ve seen multiple senators, those who were on the fence, those who have been maybe the ones that we’ve been praying about, the ones that you’ve been calling. There’s still some holdouts. But right now, I can say that things are feeling better than they have been before. Same with RFK Jr. as he got voted out of committee today. Still razor thin margins, but made it through. So, Will, tell us about the breaking news item. And then what’s next? Because I know a lot of people, this is the first time they’ve maybe paid attention to these confirmation hearings at this level. So this isn’t the end, but it’s a good sign of where things are going. That’s right.
SPEAKER 08 :
So last night we got a statement out of Susan Collins from Maine. She was one of the ones that we had been concerned about. Probably the biggest one. Right. She seemed like she was going to be a no. Right. And that was a big concern that Tulsi Gabbard would not advance through committee. But she released a statement last night. And it wasn’t just a statement that President Trump deserves his picks, therefore I will vote. She said, after extensive consideration of her nomination, I will support Tulsi Gabbard to be the Director of National Intelligence. As the principal author of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 that established this coordinating position, I understand the critical role DNI plays in the intelligence community. The Office of Director of National Intelligence, however, has become far larger than it was designed to be. And Ms. Gabbard shares my vision of returning the agency to its intended size. And she says she looks forward to working with Ms. Gabbard to strengthen our national security. So not just a President Trump deserves to have his picks. I will vote for that. she is endorsing Tulsi Gabbard in this position saying she actually is going to be great in this position because she will work on the things I’m concerned about.
SPEAKER 05 :
What’s good about this also is that it starts pushing anyone else on the fence to give them that kind of cover. And honestly, to make them look a little bad if they don’t vote for Tulsi Gabbard, because you have the ones who are not only on the fence, the ones that we assumed were no, now flipping. So you have still a few out there who really still… need to be pushed. So we encourage you still to sign that petition, get involved, though it is looking good, but it is only looking good because people like you have signed these petitions, called your senators, called their offices, and said that you wanted this to happen. Don’t think that your voice isn’t heard. they did not want to push through Tulsi Gabbard a lot of people did not but it looks like things are better than ever and maybe by the end of the day we’ll have a a good idea we’ll know if she had made it out of committee that’s right because this morning we had Senator Todd Young who was actually another one of those very concerning votes from the Republican side he uh he
SPEAKER 08 :
put out a long message this morning, just a few minutes really before we even started this broadcast, that he has gotten some commitments on the way that Tulsi will do her job and that he will support her nomination. So of the three to four that we were looking at yesterday that we were still concerned about, two are affirmatively saying they will vote for her out of committee today. I think the main target right now to ensure confirmation is there’s one holdout that we don’t really know where that will land. The senator from Kansas, Jerry Moran. And that’s when you see the maximum pressure that we have put on, that the Trump administration has put on, it’s working. So continue to sign that petition. We can’t let Jerry Moran be the only one that decides to not advance her and to really do damage to the nomination in this committee. Sign the petition at ACLJ.org. We are going to push until today at 2 p.m. Eastern time when that committee will vote. We want to see a public affirmation from Senator Moran before he goes in to vote. Let’s get this done.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, sign that petition right now, as Will said, at ACLJ.org. And look, if you support Tulsi Gabbard, make sure you hit that thumbs up if you’re watching on YouTube. If you’re watching on Rumble, you think it’s also a thumbs up or a plus sign, do that right now. Sign the petition, support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. And phone lines are open. How do you feel about the push for Tulsi Gabbard? 1-800-684-3110. Say some prayers for her today. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open at 1-800-684-3110. I’ve seen some of the comments in the chat right now happening on YouTube, asking also about some of the other candidates, including Pam Bondi, because there was some news out of there. Well, looks like today will be the day.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. On Monday night, the Senate was able to invoke cloture, which would limit the legislative filibuster. That’s effectively when the opposing party tries to continue to stall and delay through debate. You can invoke cloture, you get to a vote threshold, and then you can end that debate after a certain amount of time. And now Senator Thune, or should I say Majority Leader Thune of the Senate, has said that there will be a floor vote. vote today in the Senate for full confirmation of Attorney General Bondi so we should have a new Attorney General looks like today and that’s a great thing for America’s safety for national security as well as starting those reforms within the Department of Justice which are so desperately needed.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think you need to understand the influence the ACLJ has had over the last few years. Pam Bondi has been someone that we have been close to for decades at this point, and someone who served with my father and my brother in the impeachment trials, the first round of those. So if you just looked at the panel, there’s my dad and my brother, Pam Bondi, plenty of others. But remember, these are people that we are close to. And a lot of that is because of the work that we do here. And we have such an audience who is pushing even the, the whole, the whole thing. When you look at it, Rick Grinnell, okay. You saw him on the show yesterday, Tulsi Gabbard, Pam Bondi. These are friends that are coming on board and taking some of the highest level positions in our government. It’s pretty wild. And I want to thank you, the ACLJ supporter, for helping us do that because we wouldn’t be able to bring on the best and the brightest. And look, I think now you know we do bring on the best and the brightest without you. So, of course, I always encourage you if you can make a donation because we are not paid for or funded by big sponsors. This is all individual donations and ACLJ champions that keep the ball rolling. That’s this show. That’s our legal work. So do that now if you can. This is a big moment. Today will be a big moment. We saw RFK get pushed through committee. I think, look, RFK and Tulsi were the two that were… probably the most controversial, if you will. I don’t think they’re controversial picks, specifically not Tulsi. I think if you look at RFK, you could at least go, okay, he’s changed some of his positions. You could look at maybe some of his positions in terms of qualifications for this job. You could question those and have good conversation about it. I like a lot of the things he says. Tulsi, if you went on her pure qualifications list, this is absurd that we’re even at this point where we should be celebrating that it looks like she’s going to make it through with a razor thin margin. This is someone who has served our country for decades, who joined after 9-11, who has been involved in serving our country continually, including in her own charitable work. So at this point, I am hoping today gives us that closure and that answer.
SPEAKER 08 :
And one thing I want to point to as well, which is a very good sign for her nomination, which you can’t take as gospel truth, but is an indicator of where people think that something is going, whether it be presidential elections or the like. And that’s the betting markets that exist on political issues. And so this is from PolyMarket. which last week on January 30th, so just a few days ago, five days ago, they had people betting there was only a 43% chance Tulsi Gabbard would be the next director of national intelligence. So just a few days ago, under 50% chance that she would make it through. But what happened? The American people spoke out. You listeners and viewers of this program that have signed the petition, that have called your senators and said, get with the program, let’s get her through, has made a huge difference. That’s what the American people listen. The senators listen to the American people when they speak out. And that’s exactly what’s happened. Because right now, the betting market is at 98% chance of confirmation for Tulsi Gabbard. Wow, that’s a huge swing. And it’s not like, how much is really happening? How many people are doing this? $4.4 million has been traded on this nomination. And they’re $1 bets. Sets 4.4 million trades on this betting market. That’s a significant sample size if you want to take it in polling. That’s almost how you can look at it. A very large sample of people thinking how based off the news and the way things are going. That’s a really good sign.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, absolutely. Phone lines are open for you. I want to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. Hope you like those betting odds. Not that Will spends time on those apps or anything. Well, as an American, you can’t actually use it.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, you can’t? No, no. It has to be like outside the country, betting, all that. I don’t know. I’m sure there’s loopholes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Will’s like, I don’t know all the details. I don’t participate in it. I would be not smart to do that. Okay, so when you have… Now remember, there’s also thousands of positions that do have to be confirmed. It’s not just… you know, the big ticket items, if you will. It’s not just DNI and all of these others. There’s thousands of positions now that President Trump, once the big ones are taken care of, then they’ll move on to those. And those are usually a little less intensive in the confirmation process because maybe they carry a little less weight in terms of chain of command or any of these things. But there’s still a lot to fill to make sure that the agenda that is put forth right now gets fulfilled.
SPEAKER 08 :
I believe there’s something over 10,000 positions that actually are confirmable positions within the executive branch, whether that be ambassadors, whether it’s deputies. Because remember, not just the secretary level has to be confirmed many times. Several layers of deputies also are their appointed positions, and therefore they have to be confirmed through the advice and consent of the Senate. Now, as you mentioned, it is a lot easier once you have the principal in to get those deputies in because you’ve already confirmed the boss, and then you’re like, okay, we will go down the line. But there still are hearings. Sometimes they’re just the questionnaire. Sometimes there’s hearings. Sometimes it takes years. Some positions never get filled. That’s just the truth of it, is that there are so many confirmable positions that some just stay vacant.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, they don’t make it even through term. That’s right. And we only have one term, Trump presidency guaranteed. So they got to move fast. Speaking of moving fast, I want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. Phone lines are open. There’s a lot of you joining us online. If you’re brand new to the broadcast, I’m going to encourage you to hit the thumbs up, but also subscribe because we do this show each and every day. And in the comments, if you don’t have anything to comment… Let me know where you’re watching from right now. I’d love to hear where you are. People are worldwide, Will, watching. So maybe they took your gambling advice in other places. Let’s try to get this call screened pretty quickly because I would like to take it because I think a lot of people have questions about the cabinet picks. And of course, Tulsi Gabbard has been someone who has been a good friend of ours. now for a number of years. And I know you’ve said, hey, Logan, you’ve been talking about this now for the last week because it’s important. Look, I see the reaction from you as well because this is someone who is our friend. This is someone who you’ve come to love also and trust. And you’ve seen what they’ve put her through. And we’re hoping today is a good one. Let’s go to Bob who’s calling in Wisconsin on line one who’s listening on Sirius XM. Bob, you’re on the air. Hi, sir.
SPEAKER 12 :
Thank you much for taking my call. I’m just wondering, is Tulsi Gabbard getting a lot of resistance or confrontation if you will because and this is not to be derogatory because she jumped ship from the democrats and they don’t know where her trust is or her loyalty really is bob i think that that’s okay to talk about i think it’s okay to question she has had a multiple year journey obviously she is someone who was more moderate even in her time uh especially for a democrat at that point
SPEAKER 05 :
Sure. Do you want to ask her the tough questions? But those aren’t the questions they ask. They put in questions about made up stories of who is she working for? Who is she meeting with? Were you meeting with Hezbollah? What were you doing? And those are the ones where they stick on these talking points that, again, aren’t those real questions. I think feel the same with RFK. Sure. Ask those questions. Lindsey Graham said he needed to hear from RFK thoughts on his thoughts on life. an abortion because he knew he was a very, very pro-choice person and he didn’t feel very comfortable with that as being someone who’s very pro-life individual. Okay. I think that’s a valid question. The problem, Bob, is they weren’t asking valid questions. They were asking gotcha questions that all it did was fuel rumor. Rumor that a lot of it had proven to be not true. And they started doing this to her, by the way, when she was a Democrat running for president of the United States. And she didn’t give them the answers they want, which is maybe on life. She was a little bit more, I mean, a little bit more moderate than they were happy with. And those kind of things happen, and boom, what happens? You end up calling someone a Russian asset, because at that time, that was the worst thing you could say. And that’s gotten worse over the years. Now, she has proven to be trustworthy. Again, she joined our broadcast team. She didn’t need to, didn’t have to. It’s not like we forced anyone to do it. So she came on to talk to you, the Sekulow listener, the Sekulow viewer, the ACLJ supporter. Think about that. That is not an easy thing to say yes to even because you know that for your career, this is something that is a platform that definitely leans more Christian conservative. And you’re a Democrat with a Christian upbringing, but maybe your religious beliefs are different now. And now you have a situation where you’re getting to talk directly to a Christian conservative audience and you’re choosing to do that. Pretty powerful. Give us a call. Some of you have 1-800-684-3110. We’ll talk a little bit more about RFK as well in the next segment. So I know we got Steve stay on hold. He’s watching on YouTube. He’s got a question about RFK. There’s a few others calling in right now. We got two lines open at 1-800-684-3110. Our final Capitol Hill to confirm Tulsi Gabbard continues on today. Could be the day. where all of your hard work has proved successful, but we can’t stop now. You can make a difference by helping push this forward today. Go to ACLJ.org and ACLJ.org slash sign if you want to go directly or scan the QR code. One of 55,000 people you can be. 55,000 of our listeners and our supporters and our viewers have already signed this petition. Let’s get that over the line today. ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Seculo. Some phone lines are open still. 1-800-684-3110. I always like to hear from you on these big moments, and this is a big moment. It should be a big moment for all of our supporters, all of our listeners. I encourage you to hit that thumbs up if you’re watching on YouTube, because you have done a really good job in supporting our friend and colleague, Tulsi Gabbard, and her confirmation process. And it is looking like, as Will just stated, it is looking like positive movement is happening. And I will tell you, That was not necessarily the case a week ago. That was not necessarily the case three days ago. We all of a sudden have started to see a push towards confirmation. I was very concerned that Tulsi was going to be someone who they kind of sacrificed so they didn’t put Trump’s pit picks all the way through. But it looks like
SPEAKER 08 :
right now and again it’s not a hundred percent it’s certainly not locked and the vote hasn’t happened it will happen today though it’ll happen today it’s scheduled for 2 p.m eastern time that’s right so the senate intelligence committee will vote at 2 p.m eastern time today to advance tulsi gabbard’s nomination we want that to be a favorable advancement So that means we want her to have the majority. Right now, the one that we’re concerned about that has not publicly stated would be Senator Jerry Moran from Kansas. So there’s still time to sign the petition at ACLJ.org slash sign or even call the Capitol switchboard to be able to speak directly to his office. Be polite, be respectful, but just say as an American citizen, I want to see Tulsi Gabbard confirmed as the next director of national intelligence and It helps so much. Like I said, you’ve seen this entire what Axios called a vibe shift on Tulsi over really the last 48 hours. We have seen this happen where it seemed more dire heading towards this vote. And now it completely has turned around and we are hopefully going to see her advanced out of committee. I will also say once that happens. Most of the people that there were concerns about not confirming her were on the committee. So we still need the full Senate to confirm her to the position, but there hasn’t been as many outspoken voices against her or questionable voices that are not on the Intel committee. So if she makes it through there with the stamp of approval, that is a very, very good sign for her to be confirmed by the full Senate as soon as Senator Thune puts it forward.
SPEAKER 05 :
Some of the comments have come up about Lankford because we talked about him yesterday. Have there been any movements on Senator Lankford?
SPEAKER 08 :
So what we have not seen is any public deviation from his prior endorsement saying he would vote yes before the hearing. There was concern around Senator Lankford that maybe the way he questioned some things during the hearing and some of the reporting that he may be waffling on that. Reading the tea leaves, the fact that you’ve now had Cornyn, Young, and Collins, I think that it gives anyone that may have questioned the confidence to move forward and not really be the one person left standing that… sinks her nomination, I feel like the maximum pressure campaign from the American people, from J.D. Vance calling senators, President Trump calling senators, and groups like the ACLJ pushing very hard for these confirmations, that that person doesn’t want to be the only one that hasn’t voted yes. Because at this point, What you’re looking at with these people that have put out the public statements, Susan Collins, Senator Young, John Cornyn, even if it’s in that secret vote. You’re going to know who’s the last man standing, and that politically could be very damaging for the remainder of your career in the Senate.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, let’s continue on. Let’s take some calls. Let’s go first to Steve in Georgia, who is watching on YouTube. And again, if you’re watching on YouTube, you can always still call us. Get your comment in, but you can call us at 1-800-684-3110. Steve, welcome.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hey, I like the coverage on Kosti from you all this morning. It’s very, very positive, man. I wanted to know if you feel as positive as JFK and Cash Patel.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, Steve from Georgia. I do, actually. I feel pretty confident in now all of them. We know RFK has gone through committee. That is a good sign. As Will said, sometimes the people that are on these committees are the ones that could be the holdouts. I thought… If RFK made it through, to be honest, I thought Cash was 100% going to make it through. And I felt pretty good about Tulsi once that happened this morning. So I do think that you will see all three of them confirmed. Again, it still doesn’t mean the pressure’s not on. So I encourage you still, sign that petition, get involved, call your offices, 1-800-684-3110 to get your voice heard on the air today because it’s not over. I don’t want you to hear our positivity and think that there’s not a chance that this doesn’t go the way we think it’s going to go. Obviously, it’s politics. It’s Washington, D.C. It’s dirty. It’s sometimes very gross and disturbing. So sometimes, even if you feel it’s going a certain way, I mean, look, J.D. Vance had to come in to be the tiebreaker vote for Pete Hexeth. We thought that if you looked at the votes first, it looked like it wasn’t gonna be necessary. Last second, it was necessary. And he had to come and do that. So all bets are off in that sense, where you never know whose interests are at heart.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I would also say that that vote this morning was a good sign that both the administration and the American people and organizations like ours are having a positive effect because RFK Jr., there was a holdout that many people did not think would vote for him because Senator Bill Cassidy, who is on that finance panel that voted this morning, had actually big issues with rfk jr because senator cassidy has been a medical doctor for over 30 years before becoming a u.s senator and he put out right before the vote though i had a very intense conversations with bobby and the white house over the weekend and even this morning i want to thank vice president jd specifically for his honest counsel With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on, like healthy foods and pro-American agenda, I will vote yes. That could have been the one holdout that could have claimed his laurels as a doctor that I don’t agree with some of the things that Bobby Kennedy may agree with. that he could have sunk that nomination and may have even had, to some degree, a little bit more clout from his credentials than just a, I don’t agree with a policy position. But in the end, he flipped to a yes. Bobby Kennedy will move on to a floor vote sometime in the near future after clotures invoked and those things we’ve talked about. But I feel very good about his chances.
SPEAKER 05 :
I do too. I think it’s happening.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I think cash…
SPEAKER 05 :
he nailed that hearing and you’re hearing almost no criticism from the right on how cash has handled himself i think that he will actually sail through pretty sure i mean cash patel you know honestly most of what i knew him from was the last few years sort of his rumble persona i would say right so i was like man let’s see how he does in this i mean he’s he can be pretty fiery let’s see what this dude does and he came up there and he nailed it was very professional came off like a a balanced, level-headed guy, and I think he’s going to sail through without a problem. I could see the same now happening. Now, RFK, again, sail through without a problem. What does that mean? You win by a one vote? You win by JD Vance coming and confirming you? That oddly, in this time of day, this time of Washington, D.C., that is the norm. that’s almost a landslide it’s real sad because these people should all be judged on their qualifications not whether you agree on them there are things that rfk says that i agree with there are things he says i do not agree with i probably put that for all of them even tulsi our friend and colleague there i’m sure there are positions that we hold differently but if i was up there voting for her and i looked at i don’t know her cv and said oh do you think she’s qualified for this i think so i don’t even think that should be a question What do you think? 1-800-684-3110. People are asking how long now until some of these votes. We’ll get to that coming up in the next half hour. We do have a full half hour coming up. So if you don’t get us on your local station, join us right now live on ACLJ.org. You can sign the petition if you want to. You can make a donation if you want to. We’re also streaming on YouTube live. We are on Facebook. We are on X. you find us on all those platforms of course rumble and on the salem news channel those are the live outlets and then some of you may hear us later on and if you do you can always join us live or catch the show archived on the seculo podcast or again on any of those outlets youtube rumble and if you’re new i’m gonna encourage you right now to subscribe and if you’ve been around a while you like what we do make a donation today support the work of the aclj help us confirm tulsi gabbard aclj.org we’ll be right back
SPEAKER 06 :
keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome back to Sekulow. Again, second half hour of the show right now. I want to restate what’s going on. You may just be joining us and seeing that breaking news item. Tulsi Gabbard has secured more votes for confirmation, and we know that vote is going to take place today to get her out of committee. That is at 2 p.m. Eastern time. And, Will, we saw some of the ones who were the McCollins and maybe the ones who we thought were going to be a no. We are seeing a positive move. Again, I know some of you have been joining us for the whole half hour. Previous half hour, you’ve heard this already. But there are a lot of you just joining us right now. So I want to make sure we state what’s going on. As phone lines are open, 1-800-684-3110. And of course, after Will tells you what’s going on, I’m going to tell you how you can still get involved because it is not over yet.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. So as we’ve mentioned, Senator Collins from Maine, who was one of the holdouts, has publicly said that she will support Tulsi Gabbard and actually gave an endorsement of the way that she would run the Office of Director of National Intelligence, which was even more than just what, say, Senator Cornyn said, which was that Trump deserves to have his nominees. We’ve also seen Senator Young from Indiana say, who is a former Marine intelligence officer. He also put forward a statement that he has gotten, he got a letter from Tulsi Gabbard asked that he had asked for to basically put in writing what these things you’re saying in this meeting of how you’ll conduct a business of this office. And she did. And he said, I am feel comfortable with the way that she will run this. Therefore I will vote yes on her. Senator Moran said, from Kansas, though, is one that we haven’t heard from yet. And he is one that questioned her pretty aggressively and probably some of the most unfairly in some way, because he was asking things like if Russia would get a pass from her as director of national intelligence. And she responded with Senator, I’m offended by the question. So this is someone that was tough on her. Hopefully he will see what his colleagues are doing. He will take their lead on this and will go forward and vote yes. But that’s why this critical time from when you are watching to 2 p.m. Eastern time today. He’s got to vote yes. So you got to sign that petition at ACLJ.org slash sign or call the Capitol switchboard as well and ask to speak to Senator Moran’s office and let him know.
SPEAKER 05 :
I like this comment a lot that just came in on YouTube, but it’s something we’ve discussed off air many times and even on air right after the election, which is I, and I told her this and I’ve told the others, I believe RFK and Tulsi and this whole group is largely responsible, can at least take some responsibility for Trump having the size of victory that he had. He may have won either way, but the fact that it was so overwhelming was because I believe at least in good portion to what they called with the unity coalition. And someone just commented, they said after the first assassination attempt, both RFK Jr and Tulsi endorsed Trump forming the unity coalition. You also had that happen from a Joe Rogan. You also had that happen from, uh, you know, obviously your Dana White’s and those and Elon Musk. Uh, these were not your normal political names. And the person put on here, I hope the Republican senators appreciate who actually gave them the power they currently hold. That’s a pretty strong statement. I don’t know if they get it, I don’t know if it’s specifically that, but they certainly had a huge influence. I know plenty of people that probably were not going to vote or not going to vote for President Trump, who once they saw the unity coalition, once they saw that team, Elon, Tulsi, RFK, JD Vance, that this group of people, Kash Patel, that this group of people was going to bring something different to Washington, D.C., even Senator Rubio, that they had not seen before. So this is a very cool moment because, like you said, that was a moment where the American people spoke up in maybe one of the more bipartisan ways that’s happened in a long time. Doesn’t feel that way, but the numbers don’t lie. Give us a call, 1-800-684-3110. We’ve got a bunch of calls. We will get to them coming up. Harry Hutchinson’s going to join us in the next segment, I believe, to discuss a little bit about what Marco Rubio was doing down in El Salvador. And, of course, we know that Canada caved and had a pretty aggressive change of heart. So we’ll talk about that as well. If you have a question or comment related to any of these, I encourage you to call in or comment online. And right now, if you’re watching on YouTube, and a lot of you are, and you’ve never seen us before, you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe button. Over 462,000 subscribers on YouTube and 10,000 of those just have come in in the last few weeks. So I encourage you to do that. The more you do that, the more other people will see this and more our message will get out there. And our message often is your message. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. Harry Hutchinson joining us in studio. But I quickly want to take Donna in Colorado’s call. If you want to call in 1-800-684-3110 in the next segment, I like to take as many calls as I possibly can. And right now there’s three lines open. How do you feel about the movement for Tulsi Gabbard? How do you feel about RFK? And how do you feel about the topic we’re going to go to right now? We’ve seen the Trump administration be pretty nimble, moving around the world. Not just our own country, not just visiting where things need to be taken care of. California, the anniversary of that horrible train derailment. You had J.D. Vance there. You have seen people in Florida. You’ve seen them all over Western North Carolina. It has already happened, but it’s also happening on the world stage. We saw our own Rick Grinnell. going to Venezuela and freeing six hostages. If you didn’t hear that interview, you should go back, or that conversation I had with Rick yesterday, you should go back and listen to it because it is fascinating to hear what’s happening. And a lot of the news came out yesterday that Senator Rubio, or no, no longer Senator, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was down, uh, negotiating he was one he went to panama and then he continued on to el salvador and in el salvador uh some big movements happened again and again this is just days after we’ve only seen a president trump administration for a couple weeks but donna go ahead with your question um thank you for taking my question and thank you for you do i did sign the um
SPEAKER 04 :
the letter for Tulsi Gabbard. I’m praying for the rest of the candidates, but I’m wondering, I haven’t heard anything about Pam Bondi. Does anybody know what’s going on with her?
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. Absolutely. Donna, we actually talked about it a little bit earlier, probably before you were joining us. Pam Bondi moving forward. They think the vote is about to happen today. So that’s right.
SPEAKER 08 :
So last week, it was actually last Wednesday, the judiciary committee advanced her on a party line vote of 12 to 10 and And then it was, cloture was invoked last night, which is the vote to end the debate on the nominee. And that kicks in a 30-hour window. So that would have put it into kind of overnight, early Wednesday morning voting. for a final vote but senator thun who is a majority leader thun has said that they will hold the vote today which means they have gotten concessions from democrats probably because they don’t want to be forced to go vote at two in the morning uh that they will hold that vote today i assume sometime early evening they’ll probably let that clock continue to go especially since there are committee votes and things happening during the day but we should see The full Senate vote today for the next Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, and it looks very good for confirmation today.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you so much, Donna, for calling. Let’s move forward the conversation that we were just having. Marco Rubio, El Salvador, big breaking news. What happened, Will? And then maybe let’s get thoughts from Professor Hutchinson. That’s right.
SPEAKER 08 :
What you’re seeing is a big contrast when there was a border czar from the previous administration, that being Vice President Kamala Harris, who was tasked with getting to the root causes of migration from Central and South America. what you’re seeing from the very active schedule of the Secretary of State, both going to Panama, getting them to start to pull back from all the deals they had made with China and to once again secure and stick with the treaty that was signed in the Carter administration. You see that big concession from Panama. Then they moved on to El Salvador. El Salvador’s president, has agreed to take criminal migrants from the United States, not just those that are El Salvadorian. They also put on the table, Professor Hutchison, hey, if you want to send us American criminals, we can house them in our jails as well. What was your take on the, I would say, successful foreign policy being conducted by our new Secretary of State?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I would say that Trump is doing precisely what he promised he would do. and he is doing it expeditiously. So what we have seen is an enormous change from the Biden administration, which was distinguished by virtue of the fact that it was sclerotic, ossified, and broken down. So the Biden administration failed to secure our border while claiming to secure the border. The Biden administration failed to send American officials to Central America to secure the border. And so what we have is Secretary of State Rubio going to Costa Rica, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and El Salvador and securing extraordinary cooperation with the governments in Central America He’s also helped secure cooperation, along with tariffs, with Mexico and with Canada. And so what the American public is seeing is a sea change in terms of how America can enact its own foreign policy in its own interest.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I think that that is something that hopefully our listenership has understood because we have been kind of preaching that for the last few years. It is something that is important to the American people. Phone lines, like I said, are open again at 1-800-684-3110 because I like to take your calls and your comments. in the last segment, because I like to make sure you get the last word. Because as Professor Hutcherson stated, that these are issues that are important when you hear what’s going on in El Salvador. And look, we even heard, I heard from Tom Homan today on Fox News, he was discussing specifically how they’ve worked with El Salvador previously. That in 2016, this was not necessarily the norm this specific instance, but we have that. Let’s listen to Tom Homan. This is from Fox News just a few hours ago.
SPEAKER 01 :
Under President Trump’s first administration, they wouldn’t take back MS-13 members. And when I told President Trump that, it took President Trump 48 hours until we were filling planes full of MS-13 members in the Senate of the South. We’ve got a strong president, and El Salvador’s got a great president. They’ve pretty much knocked MS-13 off their feet in the country of El Salvador. He’s put tens of thousands of them in his prisons, and he’s willing to take the ones we arrest here. He’s willing to take a lot of criminal aliens that we arrest here. So great partnership so far with the president of El Salvador.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know what drives me crazy is that they always paint conservatives as sort of the isolationists, the ones that are only serving the American interest, who are not talking to people, who are not making these. And people like the president of El Salvador, People, look, like we saw in Venezuela, when Maduro, sure, those men were completely forgotten that that was even happening. But now you have an administration willing to go around the world on behalf of america to get this done so who really is the isolationist in this the ones that are willing to sit down with the leaders of the world and get things done for the american people are those that just close themselves off and go oh no you know boogeyman well and i think that also goes to follow up on what we talked about with professor hutchison yesterday with the uh the short-lived trade war of 2025 that uh
SPEAKER 08 :
We saw the imposition of tariffs that were supposed to start today on both Mexico and Canada. Mexico, during the day yesterday while we were on air, we already had them agree to a one-month pause and agree to send 10,000 troops to their border and help secure that border and work towards a more permanent deal. After, later in the evening… President Trump had a phone call with the outgoing prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and they agreed to a very similar type deal. Professor Hutchison, once again, the left will criticize. Oh, he’s brash. He’s irrational. President Trump is going to tank the world economy. But instead, he’s getting our neighbors to actually work with us instead of allowing our borders to pour over dangerous fentanyl at gunpoint. increasingly dangerous rates.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, you’re precisely correct. So, President Trump and his administration has worked to ensure extraordinary cooperation, not only with allies, but with neighbors. And Often these agreements are in the interest of Canada or the interest of Mexico in the long run. So cracking down on fentanyl, I think, is good for Mexico. It’s good for the United States. It’s good for Canada. Ultimately, the tough nut to crack will be China. And the president is working on dealing with China as well.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. We will be back in just a moment with your phone calls. We have two lines open. 1-800-684-3110. I want to hear from you. You’ve heard a lot of topics today, whether what’s happening, we said in El Salvador, what is happening in Canada and Mexico. You’ve obviously heard about the news with Tulsi Gabbard. If you didn’t hear, I know because I can see when people join the broadcast, multiple new votes are confirmed to be going to Tulsi Gabbard. Today at 2 p.m. Eastern time will be the vote to get her out of committee. And then the process from there, it may take a little bit of time. It could take a week or two, could take more. But the signs are more positive. This is the hard vote to get out of, Will.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. So this is where it’s a much smaller group. It’s a razor-thin margin because it is only one vote in the Intelligence Committee. They try to keep that more bipartisan so it’s not directly appropriated how many members of the committee based off of majority. So it’s a one-vote margin. And the one… that needs to hear from you right now is Senator Jerry Moran from Kansas. You can sign the petition at aclj.org slash sign, or you can scan that QR code, make your voice heard, let these senators know, and beyond just the committee vote, but the entire full Senate, that we want to see Tulsi Gabbard as the next Director of National Intelligence. You’re already seeing the pressure work on Susan Collins, on Todd Young, and on Senator John Cornyn. They have now publicly said they will support and vote yes for Tulsi Gabbard.
SPEAKER 05 :
And that’s because of you. It’s because of your pressure. Sign that petition now, aclj.org slash sign. Phone lines are open 1-800-684-3110. We’ll be right back with a very short break and then your calls and comments coming up. All right, welcome back. I encourage you right now. We got two lines open, and we’ll do our best if you call in now to make sure you make it through. No guarantees, but we always try to answer as many calls as we can in this segment. Let’s kick it off with Mark in North Carolina who’s watching on YouTube. Mark, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, hi there, fellas. Appreciate y’all and what you’re doing for our government and helping to get all of these wonderful people confirmed.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you for your support.
SPEAKER 11 :
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. Thanks, Mark. Go ahead with your comment or question. I hear you made a call today.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, I was able to make contact with Senator Moran’s office. How’d that go? I voiced my support for Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. and Kash Patel. And his aide said that he would get the message to Senator Moran directly.
SPEAKER 05 :
Look, I think, Mark, that’s true. Okay, we know how these offices work. They know that this is something they will take to the senators and tell them this isn’t just some empty voicemail. These kind of moments work. That’s why we do the petitions because we deliver them They mean something because it’s their people. And it’s not like I said, not just always the people in their area. It’s also sometimes people around the country saying, you know, we elected this person to make these picks. Go do it. So, Mark, I think you did a great thing by calling. Courage you also sign the petition if you haven’t already. But that is. That’s awesome to hear. And we encourage you, if you do that, to be like Mark. Be respectful. Be kind. Be firm. Tell them why you think it’s true. Don’t keep them on the phone too long. Continue on. Mark, thank you for calling. That’s an encouragement to all of us. Let’s continue on with some more calls. Susan in Arizona. You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hi. I just wanted to encourage your listeners to listen to the Senate hearings in full. I know that they are a little long, so if they… break it up, 20-minute segments or something like that. But it was amazing. This is the first year I’ve ever done that. And it was amazing, the information you actually got. And I would just encourage your listeners to do the same.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s a good thought, Susan. For Tulsi’s, we actually played a lot of it live while it was happening. Same with, we even did that for the inauguration. Because I think there’s a lot of times people are busy. They haven’t had the opportunity to do this. Or honestly, they haven’t known to care. But Susan, as you said, this first time you’ve done it, it is important to watch them. It’s important to get engaged. Because look, some of the questions, like I said, half of them are going to be actual questions you probably would like to know the answer to. Then half of them may be gotcha political questions.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and also what the news often shows is the shorter clips. The controversial ones. The back and forth, the controversial ones. But what you’ll also see is the nominee and the senators having very good back and forth discussions in many cases. Now, sometimes, especially if it’s from an opposing party, you don’t get that. I believe it was in RFK Jr.’ ‘s confirmation hearing in the Finance Committee. Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat from Rhode Island. Told him, I don’t have really any questions for you, so you’re just going to have to listen to me for my five minutes. And he gave a speech for five minutes. Felt it was a little disingenuous. They happened to have been law school roommates, so a little interesting there that he was just going to lecture him for that. But as you like to say, politics is professional wrestling, and it’s all kayfabe.
SPEAKER 05 :
And they all know what’s going on. I wish he would have lectured him on specifically things that annoyed him as… His roommate. Like, you couldn’t wash the dishes? I mean, you just left them in the sink for three weeks? Yeah, we know you don’t like single-use plastic. Right. You know, so why didn’t you wash the dishes? You know, you brought in incense? Come on, man. It smells up the hallways.
SPEAKER 08 :
You had so many artificial dyes, and yet now you’re talking about no artificial dyes. What is going on? Yeah, what’s happening here? You love Froot Loops.
SPEAKER 05 :
Let’s go ahead and continue on. Randy in Ohio. Go ahead, Randy.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I just wondered, you know, it says to advise and consent. How do they have a legal standing to even deny a nominee?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, Randy, we’ve answered this question before, and I think Will knows the answer. Well, it is that word consent. Yeah, that’s the whole deal.
SPEAKER 08 :
If it were just advised, then that would be one thing. But they have to give the consent. for an individual to be confirmed. This has been since the beginning of the Constitution. This isn’t a new thing that all of a sudden senators have this power. This has been the entire history of the United States. And you can even go back and look up historical cabinet members that did not get the vote from the Senate back in our early history. So it’s not as if all of a sudden they’ve been given this power in the modern era. This is something, advice and consent, is in the Constitution, and therefore it is a constitutional method. It is a system of checks and balances as well. The founders put in these different mechanisms for there to be oversight over the other branches so that one didn’t become more powerful than the other. They are co-equal branches of government. So that’s the long and short of it.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, another great call coming in. Frank in Virginia. And hey, last minute, there’s three minutes left in the broadcast. If you can call in, you have a very short comment. Do it now, 1-800-684-3110 and sign that petition at aclj.org. Frank, go ahead.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you, gentlemen. I live in Virginia and I want to remind all of my fellow Virginians that even though our Senator Mark Warner has already come out on 131 and said he will vote no against Ms. Gabbard, that we need to remind him that he does represent us And there are those of us who want him to vote yes. I have called his office and expressed my concern and opinion.
SPEAKER 05 :
Great comment, Frank. It’s always important, especially for your people, to know how you feel. You are still one of their voters, even if it wasn’t your chosen candidate, even if it wasn’t someone who is supporting your positions. You are still in their area. Let them know. Because look, Tulsa Gabbard, RFK Jr., these are not hardline Republicans. These are people who have come on board recently to this administration. So you’d hope they’d have some bipartisan push.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. And to Frank’s point, those individuals, he’s not the senator. for the Democrats of Virginia. He is the US Senator for Virginia. Therefore, he represents all citizens of Virginia, and you still have a voice to speak out. And it may not change his vote on this, to hear from a lot of his constituents. It may not change his vote on some piece of legislation. But it’s important to continue doing it. And at some time, it will matter. And they may vote the way that you want them to. They may hear from the people of their state and decide, you know what? I’m going to go forward to this. And that is important. That’s the way our government works.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep. All right. Let’s quickly take Tim, who’s calling in Tennessee. Tim, you got like 20 seconds. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 08 :
all right quick 20 seconds what do we do if kennedy is not accepted by the senate do we have a backup candidate there certainly will be other people to put in place but it doesn’t feel like that’s going to happen right right now it’s a very good sign for his confirmation him being voted out of committee favorably is a great sign he’s got momentum and it doesn’t seem like this nomination is going to fail at the full floor vote so that’s a very good thing tim if it were to happen then yes president trump would have to go back to the drawing board so you deal with
SPEAKER 05 :
matt gates put someone up else as the next director of health and human services all right listen we got hearings the whole deal we got one minute left i’m gonna ask our team throw up that graphic for petition uh because i think this is really important we got one minute left and i’m gonna encourage you because maybe the last time you hear from us before this vote happens sign that petition right now aclj.org sign this is it This is a big moment for our friend, our colleague, and someone who’s going to put America interest in your family’s interest first. Again, this is someone who has been friends with us now for many years, has been a member of this team for quite some time as well on Sekulow. So as I take this last 45 seconds, I’m just going to encourage you, aclj.org slash sign, send it to your friends, scan the QR code, do what you can. And we will be back later on. And what I’m hoping is we have good news. But we need to keep the pressure on right now. If you haven’t done it, say it one more time. Do it right now. Sign this petition. Our fight on Capitol Hill to help confirm our friend Tulsi Gabbard continues on for the next few hours. And we need you. Do it right now. I know you’re listening. I know you’re watching. ACLJ.org. We will talk to you tomorrow, potentially later today.