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Join us for a deep dive into current legal and political events shaping the country. This episode sheds light on a major Supreme Court decision impacting the Trump administration’s policies. Our panelists break down the legal rationale, exploring how this unexpected twist could influence future executive actions. We also examine the tensions between bureaucratic discretion and executive power, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the issues at hand. Furthermore, we delve into the unveiling of the Epstein flight logs, debating its possible impact on public perception and legal proceedings. Our discourse expands to cover international advocacy efforts for
SPEAKER 07 :
just in a massive supreme court order for the trump administration 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 Sekulow.
SPEAKER 06 :
Welcome to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. You may have some questions or comments related to our current topic of the day. Of course, there’s a lot happening right now. Of course, Pam Bondi said last night that today is the day that the Epstein flight log will be released. So we’re going to talk about that a little bit as we anticipate that awakening and that moment. But we know a lot of this is, as I said, promises being kept. Phone lines again are open at 1-800-684-3110. But one of the big breaking news stories, Will, is that Chief Justice John Roberts, he blocked the block, if you will. He paused the order for the Trump administration. Why don’t we explain it? Let’s go back a little bit and realize how we got to the Supreme Court. And this is the first big moment the Supreme Court has weighed into one of these Trump cost-cutting moments.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. So the Trump administration, specifically in this case, the State Department, was sued in the district court in Washington, D.C. And there, a judge put in a TRO, temporary restraining order, on them cutting about $1.9 to $2 billion in aid. This was a part of that funding freeze. Now, the Trump administration did an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court. And just last night, we received an order from the chief justice who is overseas the District of Columbia as one of the appellate districts. And so what he said is that that lower court temporary restraining order is is stayed so now it’s a stay of a of a tro one was blocking the aid the other allows them to continue to freeze that funding while we look for more action from the supreme court the opposing party in this has until friday at noon so tomorrow february 28th at noon eastern time to respond to the emergency application filed by the State Department in this. And then we will see if it gets further reviewed by the full court, if they docket it and take it into consideration for an oral argument, if there’s another order that comes out, or if they just let this stay stand. There is no expiration date. It just says that this TRO is stayed pending further order of the undersigned, being Chief Justice Roberts, or of the court. So now they’re going to take a look at it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right.
SPEAKER 08 :
This could move quickly. We have now the first action by the Trump administration that has reached the Supreme Court. It’s a positive outcome for now. And this is a court that has been very generous and accepting of the constitutional powers of the executive branch. Took a song.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, in one month, one month and a week to have to get the Supreme Court involved in the Trump administration, as you would probably have expected. And again, I’d love to hear from you about this at 1-800-684-3110. Harry Hutchins will be joining us in the next segment to really break this down from a legal perspective later on. CeCe Heil will be joining us as well. She’s about to head off in support of Israel to Geneva. So we’re going to discuss that coming up. And it’s look, it may seem like a little win, but all this is is a hold. So when you know these barrage of lawsuits are coming right now, we have to be involved. We have to get ourselves involved here at the ACLJ whenever possible. Our legal team just pulled off a significant feat. We found four vital cases in three different federal courts. That just happened. And that’s to help with the thwarting of sort of the radical spending that’s happening right now. We’re prepared to file in another nine cases related to these executive orders. And we’re committed to seeing these cases all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. Get in front of the Chief Justice Roberts to block this block, if you will. But we need you to keep us in the fight. Taking on some of these billionaire-backed organizations is not easy. And quite frankly, we are behind for this month of February as it comes to an end this week. I want you to join us by becoming an ACLJ champion. That’s a monthly recurring donor, someone that gives on a monthly recurring basis. All you have to do is go to ACLJ.org. Scan the QR code on your screen if you have it in front of you right now on YouTube, Rumble, or the Salem News channel. Scan that QR code. It’s going to ask you a few simple things. Now, you just have to check that you want to become an ACLJ champion. You set that cost course. You can cancel any time, whether it’s $5 a month or $500 a month or even more. Do what you can. Become an ACLJ champion for life, liberty, and freedom. We’ve got a lot more coming up. Give us a call. 1-800-684-3110. Welcome back to Secular. We are taking your calls at 1-800-684-3110. A lot of you are just joining us right now. You may want to know what that breaking news item. The Supreme Court has ordered a stay. And again, I’m going to have Will explain it because it’s like a stay of a stay. The Trump administration tried something. The courts said no. And the Supreme Court said, you can’t say no yet. We’re going to take it up. So in layman’s terms, let’s hear from Will. And then from non-layman’s terms, let’s hear from Professor Hutchinson.
SPEAKER 08 :
Will, go ahead. That’s right. So there was a judge, the district court judge, Amir Ali in Washington, D.C., that had put a TRO in place regarding the Trump spending freeze. So this would cover about one point nine billion in foreign aid payments. Temporary restraining order. Right. So while this obviously these cases take time, they have to litigate. They wanted the money to proceed while this was fought in court. Then they get that judge gave the administration a deadline of eleven fifty nine p.m. Eastern time last night to resume the payments. They quickly went through the appeals process. So from district court. to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, and then ultimately to the Supreme Court of the United States yesterday, where Chief Justice Roberts issued a stay of that TRO, allowing for the freeze of spending to continue. Normally you’d think of it as someone wants to spend money and the courts are saying, wait, you have to go through Congress. They have the power of the purse. This is just not wanting to spend the money. Professor Hutchison and outside groups are trying to force the Trump administration’s hand. But as of right now, That money has not gone out. They have not restarted those outflows of cash by that midnight deadline because the Supreme Court, through the Chief Justice, has said, you may continue to hold this money while it continues in court.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think your analysis is perfect, and this is a very, very important decision, first because this is the first decision since Doge wherein the United States Supreme Court has weighed in, and they have weighed in on behalf of the Trump administration. Now, keep in mind, as you correctly point out, this is a temporary order by Justice Roberts, and more likely than not, the full court will need to weigh in with respect to whether or not this order will be sustained over time. But in the meantime, the American people should be aware of this particular contest. It’s a contest between unelected bureaucratic power vis-a-vis the elected representatives of the American people. And so the Democrats have made a huge case during the last election claiming that they favored democracy. Well, if you are focused on democracy, President Trump was elected to do precisely what he is now doing. In other words, he has been elected to cut trans operas in Peru and Colombia, DEI spending in Ireland and Serbia. And so I think this is a very, very important decision.
SPEAKER 06 :
A lot of people have asked, because they’re just unfamiliar with the way the law is structured, A lot of people are asking, how do these judges even have this kind of control where they can make these things happen? If the president of the United States, the elected president of the United States makes this decision and says this is where the country should be headed, he is an executive order power, he is any of these other things. How is it that a judge, a what feels sort of like a random person, is able to overrule the president even temporarily?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, in part, it’s a brilliant question, in part, judges believe that they are empowered to overrule the president because they have a superior moral compass. In other words, their views should prevail. So keep in mind that many of these programs are pushed by progressive elites. Progressive elites do not fully accept the views of average working-class people who are doing what? They are electing someone like President Trump. Many judges disapprove of that outcome and so they feel empowered to intervene. This move goes back something like 60 to 80 years So if you look at the so-called Cloward-Piven thesis, the Cloward-Piven thesis says that we must destroy America in order to save it. And many elites actually accept that. And President Biden has nominated a sufficient number of left-wing judges who believe they can overrule the republic and democracy.
SPEAKER 06 :
I see a lot of comments rolling in. I think they agree with you. A lot of people still are just confused on how this is even legal.
SPEAKER 08 :
point uh one of the the basic uh fights here is that if congress has appropriated discretionary spending then what many people are saying is that then the executive branch is obligated to spend every penny even if it’s discretionary not not allocated to a specific line item just maybe um you know for world hunger relief or for health services abroad or something that’s very generic and then the bureaucracy gets to pick and choose which grants are given or just federal foreign aid grant money a big a big bucket of money that can then be discretionally spent by the bureaucrats so That’s kind of a little bit also to that point where some of the argument is, is that the people that are bringing this are trying to make it a separation of powers fight between Congress and the president. And therefore, the third co-equal branch, the judiciary, would be the arbiter of those issues in that situation. But Professor Hutchison, I want to go back to something earlier. you brought up was part of the problem is that you know democrats this last uh election were all about democracy we’ve heard them uh push for change in previous administrations but in reality uh big government uh whether republican or democrat have enabled the non-elected non-constitutional fourth branch of government the bureaucracy and what their entire goal has been is that There’d be continuity no matter who was elected, no matter who was in Congress, who was the president. They never actually believed in change. What they wanted was continuity by empowering the bureaucracy to continue spending money. to further their political agendas to no end.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think your analysis is perfect and in fact a left-winger made precisely that argument that the fourth branch of government is designed to protect our democracy by ensuring continuity with respect to policy. But that analysis is exactly backward, because if there is a dispute between Congress and the President, clearly courts, including the United States Supreme Court, should weigh in. But that’s not really what’s happening. It’s the bureaucrats that are weighing in. It’s the bureaucrats and their surrogates that are weighing in. They’re saying they have a constitutional slash legal right to money that was appropriated by Congress. Well, if Congress disagrees with what President Trump is doing, Absolutely, Congress has the right to go to court and ask an Article III judge to resolve this dispute. But that is precisely what is not going on in these cases.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s right. And phone lines are open for you. If you have any questions or comments related to this, I’m sure you may after hearing all of this. 1-800-684-3110. And when we get back… Of course, there was breaking news that came last night as Pam Bondi, our attorney general, said, you know what? It’s been enough time has passed. And of course, it’s only been a little under a month or a little over a month since the Trump administration came into power, but also less than that for her as attorney general. And now she is saying the list, the Epstein flight log of what people have been talking about for years is happening. And look, depending on what’s going to be on it, what’s not going to be on it, I think mainly what you have is a Trump administration who is saying, you know what? We told you we were going to be more transparent. Therefore, we are actually going to do what we say we’re going to do. It may take some time. We’ll see what happens if that actually comes to fruition today. But phone lines are open. I want to know your thoughts on that as well. Do you feel like the promises that were presented to you by the Trump administration… are coming to light obviously there’s also the talk of the jfk papers the rfk papers what does that look like uh the executive order was signed but still we have not seen them just yet i’d love to hear from you great time to call 1-800-684-3110 and not only a great time to call a great time to join us by becoming aclj champion that’s a monthly recurring donor someone that says you know what i want to support the aclj i want to set it and forget it if you will be an aclj champion today it’s a great time to do it We’re headed towards the end of the month. We’re going to kick off next week with a huge march. So get in before everybody else. Be an ACLJ champion. Of course, you get bumped up to the front of the line if you call in and let our phone screeners know that you’re a champion. And also, you get a little special version of the ACLJ app, which if you haven’t downloaded the new ACLJ app, do it now. A bunch of you are joining us live right now on YouTube, and I do know that a lot of you don’t subscribe or have never seen us before. So I encourage you right now during this break, hit the subscribe button. We’ll be right back. To Sekulow, there are some phone lines open for you right now at 1-800-684-3110. We told you we were going to talk about it, and we’re going to do it now. Of course, we were talking about the breaking news that came out last night that Pam Bondi said it is time to release the Epstein flight log. Of course, we’re talking about Jeffrey Epstein and sort of the notorious now deceased – influencer who ended up really becoming a a magnet for for child trafficking and it became you know it was a massive story if you don’t know the story i’m sure you know it let’s hear from pam bondy because again this is something that was promised by the trump administration we’d have more transparency because this has been held the biden administration could have released it didn’t they never really told you why who it implicated who it didn’t and i’d say even regardless of what the data will end up showing of who it implicates or not The fact that it’s actually happening should be a win for the American people. You may look at it and go, this isn’t really what I was expecting or hoping for in some weird, twisted way. But that’s not really the point. The point is, again, why was it being kept from us? But now, not only why was it being kept from us, now it won’t be. So let’s hear from Pam Bondi, again, Attorney General of the United States. She was on Jesse Waters last night on Fox News.
SPEAKER 12 :
Jesse, there are well over, this will make you sick, 200 victims.
SPEAKER 1 :
200.
SPEAKER 12 :
So we have, well over, over 250 actually. So we have to make sure that their identity is protected and their personal information. But other than that, I think tomorrow, you know, the personal information of victims. Other than that, I think tomorrow, Jesse, breaking news right now, you’re going to see some Epstein information being released. by my office.
SPEAKER 10 :
What kind? Are we going to see who was on the flights? Are we going to see any evidence from what he recorded? Because he had all of his homes wired with recording devices.
SPEAKER 12 :
What you’re going to see, hopefully tomorrow, is a lot of flight logs, a lot of names, a lot of information. But it’s pretty sick what that man did. Okay, well, along with his co-defendant.
SPEAKER 06 :
This is what she stated. Obviously, there’s a little wiggle room there. Will has been following this case closer than anyone, I have to say. I mean, he’s updated more than me, more than you. But in my circle of people, if I need to find out Epstein news, I will go to Will.
SPEAKER 08 :
So, Will, I’ll let you take it. Well, I feel like this is not just a promise kept about more transparency, but this is a bigger step to rehabilitating the image of the Department of Justice, of the FBI, and at a time when the trust in those institutions had diminished greatly. Well, this was a case that was very high profile where an individual had previously gotten a sweetheart deal and was able to be charged and convicted and have work release for heinous crimes only to then later get arrested further and charged further. But at the end of the day, only two people on what seems to have been a massive operation. Jeffrey Epstein, who is now deceased in prison, and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was his co-defendant. She’s serving a 20 year sentence. A lot of people were concerned because if this was such a big operation. Why are only two people in prison for it? And regardless if this means that there could be more prosecutions or if there could be a different way forward on that, it’s at least a first step in people’s minds of something that was so high profile, the details were so grisly, That you’re you’re then just going to say only two people were involved and we’re not going to do anything and we’re not going to let you know of any other people involved. That is what the American people voted for. They wanted more transparency. They wanted a reformed Department of Justice, a reformed FBI and even maybe some answers about. if associates of his were related to US intelligence or foreign intelligence, because those questions, even during questioning about that sweetheart deal he got, the US attorney said that he belonged to intelligence and that the issue was above his pay grade. And that’s why he was pressured to cut a sweetheart deal. So there’s a lot of deep state type storylines that go along with this that people have questions about.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. We actually have a call coming in. I want to take Walter in Las Vegas, who’s listening on the radio. It’s sort of a related question because it feels like sometimes this is how it feels in Washington, D.C., but I actually think we’re headed in another direction. Walter, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, hi, guys. Thanks for my call. I just want to say long-time fan, which you and your father have done. Really great stuff for Christians everywhere.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you, Walter.
SPEAKER 03 :
Sure, but I guess I should say the EOs and everything are great. I’m a little more frustrated with the fact that People aren’t really being held accountable to the law, like, for instance, with the intelligence leakers that Tulsi Gabbard let go. They’re just fired. The kids at Columbia University, you know, still doing that occupying stuff. The protesters, the politicians giving aid to illegal aliens, still nobody being held accountable to the letter of the law. And it’s kind of infuriating.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I think, Walter, one, this is a brand new Department of Justice. These are new Attorney General, new FBI. To build a criminal case that you want to hold up in court, if that is what you’re pursuing, doesn’t happen day one.
SPEAKER 06 :
Pam Bondi has mentioned that she’s going to hold accountable specifically those who are here illegally. You obviously can’t go after people’s free speech if they’re American citizens. But if there are people here who are causing trouble like these anti-Semitic protests, obviously, if it becomes hate speech, if it becomes violent, you can’t hold people accountable. But I understand the frustration Walter has.
SPEAKER 08 :
But yeah, I think you got to give it time. Well, and I want to clarify on the Tulsi Gabbard issue there. The 100 that are being fired right now were a part of the NSA, and they were just taking place inappropriately using technology at the NSA, using extremely poor judgment. I don’t know that they violated a law per se, but they weren’t leaking anything, those at the NSA. The CIA, those that have, they’re saying, you know, if you fire all these CIA people, they could sell secrets. I guarantee you, if someone were to do that, they will go after them aggressively and prosecute someone who sells secrets to China or Russia. But they’re not going to be beholden to the threat. And Walter, also one thing that you have seen a little bit of a shift, Barnard College in New York last night had a pro-Hamas group occupy a building for six hours. One of the staff members was sent to the hospital and they are charging people with assault. What is different? is that the president of the college is speaking correctly and saying they’re gonna take action against these individuals, which is completely different than what the university presidents were originally feeling empowered to do under the Biden administration. So even the change in that, the threat of taking their federal funds away if they don’t stop this, put it into it, they did put it into it, and then go after the people that did this, even that is changing. And I assume there will be criminal charges for assault that stem from that that will probably be local charges.
SPEAKER 06 :
So give it some time and we are hopeful. Phone lines, again, are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. We have a second half hour of the broadcast. If you are listening on terrestrial radio, some of the stations don’t carry the full hour. They should, but they don’t. But you can find it always on ACLJ.org, on YouTube, Rumble, the podcast feed. Again, on Salem News Channel, we’re broadcasting live each and every day from noon to 1 p.m. Eastern time. And, of course, if you’re hearing this any time later in the day, you can find the full show on demand at ACLJ.org. As we wrap up the first half hour, though, this is a perfect time because we only take a one-minute break, but that one minute is enough. to pledge and become an ACLJ champion. So I encourage you to go to ACLJ.org, scan the QR code that’s on your screen right now, and become a champion. That’s someone that gives on a monthly recurring basis. You’ve heard all the work that we’re doing here at the ACLJ. You’re even going to hear about the work that we’re doing worldwide. CeCe Heil is going to be joining us in a second. half of this broadcast so stay tuned again go to aclj.org become an aclj champion a monthly recurring donor then again you can cancel anytime and you set what that is a champion is a champion is a champion whether that’s a five dollar champion or a five thousand dollar champion we want you to be part of our team because none of this exists without you no corporate sponsors nothing else funding this it is you the individual so be a part of it today aclj.org we’ll be right back with the second half hour of in just under a minute
SPEAKER 07 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Seculo. And now your host, Logan Seculo.
SPEAKER 06 :
Welcome to Seculo. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3210. And actually, one line is open for you right now at 1-800-684-3210. For those just joining us, we want to restate. The main topic of the day. You’ve heard us talk about the Epstein flight log. You’ve heard us talk about how the ACLJ is getting involved in a lot of issues. But one that was the breaking news item you should be paying attention to this morning, which was that the Supreme Court of the United States, Chief Justice John Roberts, paused the order. That was stopping a lot of President Trump’s actions. The first time, first time in this administration, it has made its way to the Supreme Court. And you can at least say it’s a lowercase victory in the sense of things are on hold and are able to, because they’re on hold, they’re able to proceed.
SPEAKER 08 :
They’re able to proceed holding. Right. Holding money. They’re able to proceed the whole. That’s right. So what had happened was that several groups sued the Trump administration regarding the funding freeze.
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s very clear.
SPEAKER 08 :
All of this we… We know exactly what we’re talking about. Yeah, the funding freeze was sued. A district court in D.C. put a temporary restraining order on that, saying that you have to resume funding these groups by midnight last night. Because these were the groups that the Trump administration said were cutting these. Correct. So the foreign aid would no longer be going as a grant to these groups. Right.
SPEAKER 06 :
So by midnight last night, they were supposed to reinstate these groups.
SPEAKER 08 :
Two billion dollars worth of payments. And Chief Justice John Roberts said, not so fast.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right.
SPEAKER 08 :
We’re going to put a pause on this. A pause on the pause, as we said. And therefore, they will not be paying as of right now. Now, the original party that was suing the State Department in this case will have by tomorrow at noon to… reply to this order and, and the application that was sent by the Trump administration by the state department. And then the court will proceed to either whether they grant cert, which means they take the case up and have oral argument on it. If they request further briefing, there’s a lot of different pathways that can go, but the, The pause on the lower court’s order, which allows the Trump administration to stop paying this money, remains in effect until the court issues further guidance. So it’s not even by, if we don’t do anything by this time, you have to obey the lower court. It’s not an indefinite, because the court will do something, but there’s not a time where it expires. You understood what he said? I’m curious in the comments because I am struggling to follow as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
We did it earlier a little bit better. Rewind after the show. This is early. There’s a lot of comments coming in. Someone says we have to recuse ourselves from this conversation because I see a lot of people putting paws on the paws and dog paws. Maybe we do a little dog emojis. You should put those in there. We usually do the clowns. How about do a dog emoji for the paws of the paws? 1-800-684-3110 is to get your voice on the air today. And we are going to keep this conversation going as well as take a little more serious turn as we head to… with C.C. Heil over to Geneva to support our friends in Israel when they need it the most. Of course, that is through our European Center for Law and Justice. You may say, Logan, why do you need the European Center? Well, it’s been around for 25 plus years and that is really necessary. I was over there back in December meeting with that team. Amazing work that they’re getting done here. So very similar work to what happens to the ACLJ. But remember, European Union in the European countries, a little bit different. in the way they treat religious expression, free speech. It’s not as cut and dry sometimes as it is here. It doesn’t feel that way here anymore either, but it’s definitely not in some of these countries. So to have a voice like ours there is always important. And of course, we have a voice at ACLJ Jerusalem, which again is making sure that the people in Israel know they have that America and the American Center for Law and Justice team has their back. We’ll be back in just a minute. I want to encourage you to get involved in the ACLJ. This again, it’s the end of the month. So you’re going to hear me say this a lot. Just stick with me. And if you’ve already given, you know, I’ll do that for this one. If you’ve already given, thank you. I know a lot of you have. Thousands and thousands of you have given. 20,000 plus have become ACLJ champions since we launched the program just probably a year and a half ago. You should become an ACLJ champion as well if you haven’t already. But if you’ve made that individual donation or you become a champion, I just wanted to say thank you. Because really, we couldn’t do this broadcast without you. We couldn’t take on the legal cases without you. And I don’t mean that in a spiritual, metaphorical way. I mean that actually. We cannot pay to have the person running the cameras right now if it wasn’t for you. So do it right now if you haven’t yet. Thank you, though. We’ll be right back. I’ll go back to Sekulow and take a more serious turn after our last segment went a little off the rails. We do want to draw our attention to what’s happening in Israel. There have been a lot of comments coming in on whether this weekend ends the first round of the ceasefire and will a second round happen. And sadly, it’s looking like more and more likely that it will not because of some of the violations that Hamas has had with the Israeli government. Again, they’ve been going back and forth. And of course, the big negotiation tactics have been We’ll give you back a few hostages for hundreds and hundreds of prisoners and terrorists. And Israel has been abiding by those agreements because they want to get their people back. There has been some issues that have stopped that and we have to really buckle down here because it’s going to get pretty intense.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. And as you mentioned, there was the final exchange under phase one of these were deceased hostages. So it was more remains returned by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian and Hamas prisoners. And if you remember, this was set up to be three phases of of a ceasefire. The first phase, they were supposed to be negotiating what the terms of phase two would look like, and then if phase two happened, they would move on to negotiating phase three. Hamas had not really lived up, I would say, even to the spirit of the agreement, much less the letter of the agreement, playing mind games the entire time, making it propaganda, failing to return the mother of the Bibas family, And then only 12 hours later saying, oh, here we go. Just a lot of treachery and evil within that. But as we look at this CC, they’re most likely at this point will not be a phase two. We do still represent two men that are twins that, as of recently, some of the other hostages were able to confirm that, at least while they were still in captivity, that the clients that we represent were still alive at that point, not in necessarily great health or condition, as you can imagine. Right. Just because a phase two doesn’t necessarily go into effect, our advocacy and fighting does not stop.
SPEAKER 01 :
Right. And the two clients, when you’re talking about the two clients that we have remaining of the hostages, we had represented 10 hostages. hostages that were taken on October 7th before the working group of enforced or involuntary disappearances at the United Nations. And their whole mandate is to basically locate the people and interact with the family members to give them some updates. And so we still have, out of the 10 clients we had, we had You know, thankfully six of them have been released alive. Two of them, unfortunately, are deceased. And now we still have two that remain. And like you said, in one of the batches of hostages that was released, the three gentlemen had said that they had at some point in time been held with the brothers. in different places, but, and they were alive. And that’s the first time we had had any confirmation that they were still alive, but they were not necessarily in good condition. So, you know, I think I just want to ask everybody to keep praying for those hostages that remain, that the ones that are alive remain alive and that we do get them out. And so I will be going to Geneva for the 58th session this coming month. And we will be meeting with working groups. And one of the working groups that I’ll be meeting with is the Enforcer and Voluntary Disappearances to get updates.
SPEAKER 06 :
Let’s back it up a little bit. When you say the 58th session, what are we talking about here?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes. So the Human Rights Council meets three times a year at the UN in Geneva. And Geneva is where the Human Rights Council meets. New York, the UN deals with more. economy and national security and those kind of issues, but the human rights issues are dealt in Geneva. So they have three sessions a year, and this is actually their 58th session that they’re holding. And when they have that, the Human Rights Council meets, and you have chances to, as the whole council is meeting, I don’t know if you’ve seen pictures of that, but it’s kind of like what the UN in New York looks like. You know, you’re kind of sitting in a semi-round and the president sits at front, then you have chances to do oral interventions and present orally, you know, what you’re going to, what human rights abuse in a certain country that you’re dealing with. So I will be able to, for sure, we’ve submitted oral interventions for Israel and for Pakistan because we have offices there and our clients there. For sure, I’m confirmed to speak on behalf of Israel, defending Israel and their right to peaceful existence and self-defense and hopefully also on Pakistan and the blasphemy cases, the false blasphemy cases against our Christian clients there.
SPEAKER 08 :
So just as a reminder to everyone, this work that you see today, also we do things through the European Center for Law and Justice, like go to the UN, the belly of the beast, so to speak, where the entire world is against many American conservative Christian values. But we are not afraid to go. And CeCe will be at the UN Human Rights Council. So when you support the ACLJ, you support this work too. You support your voice being heard in some of the most godless places where so many ideas that are contrary to what we believe are shared openly, but we can be a light there. We can go and defend truth, defend Israel, defend American values, defend your Christian values, fight for the persecuted. And it’s not just posting a blog post or an article about, hey, the UN should look into this. We go and do it. CC, you will be there speaking before nations of the world, NGOs, all of these people that have all of these ideas that are contrary to what we believe and are able to share them openly. We can go and stand in the gap and be a light there.
SPEAKER 01 :
Right. And not only do I get to speak at the actual session, we will set up meetings and have meetings set up where we meet from officials from certain countries and we meet with the special rapporteurs and we host a side event on India and drawing attention to the Christian persecution that is happening in India and we’ll host different side events but this session it’s going to be on India so there’s a lot of events and meetings where we’re literally speaking to a lot of times the offending country we will have meetings with you know members from Pakistanis group and we will bring to their attention the false blasphemy cases and so we take advantage of actually every single minute that we are in Geneva to make sure that we’re the most effective on the ground and and supporting the rights and defending the rights of our clients and the persecuted Christians around the globe.
SPEAKER 06 :
We’re going to take a lot of calls coming up because you’ve heard the work of the ACLJ. There’s a lot of conversations happening right now, even about things that maybe we get more. Let’s actually go on to a call. I’m going to go to Rod, who is calling from Oregon, because it kind of ties into some of the work that we’re doing and how this all works. Rod, go ahead.
SPEAKER 05 :
My question is, when Congress appropriates money for an NGO such as USAID, Do they specify how many dollars go to what project? Or do they just give them a lump sum and then the NGO decides how to spend it? Because if the Congress doesn’t specify the money, it seems like the executive branch could have a lot more authority to redirect or reallocate or hold back the funds.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, Rod, one, USAID is a part of the U.S. government. So when Congress appropriates money, they would appropriate it to USAID. And the line items would typically be more broad about maybe even specific, maybe humanitarian work within a specific country or refugee resettlement issues or things of that nature. So They’re typically not directing from Congress which NGO gets it. They are appropriating the money that then USAID can open up as grant money. And then NGOs will compete in theory for this grant money. Sometimes it’s very specific that only one NGO is qualifying for it. And that is part of the fight, Rod, is that that’s what the executive branch is arguing, is that you’re appropriating money for these causes, but that doesn’t mean we have to give the grant to these individual organizations that believe things contrary to the American people. And we don’t have to fulfill many of these grants to their fullness when it’s going against or it’s wasteful or it’s abusive of the system. And you even see that with the EPA grants that under the law, the Inflation Reduction Act, there was a big pool of $20 billion that the Biden administration got that went to climate groups to fight for climate activism and justice. That didn’t specify which groups got it. Stacey Abrams had a group that she started, very famous out of Georgia, losing the governorship and never conceding. Her group got a $2 billion grant, so 10% of that pool of money. At the time when they received that grant promise, they only had $100 in the bank account. So that’s what is being pointed out. is that these funds aren’t necessarily even going to what Congress intended, and that’s why they’re trying to clean it up. But guess who’s upset about that? The groups that are trying to get the money.
SPEAKER 06 :
Phone lines are, we got one line open, 1-800-684-3110. Cece, we only got 20 seconds here or so. Why don’t you give people a little brief of why it’s important for you to be going to Geneva and making your presence known?
SPEAKER 01 :
Absolutely. I know a lot of people don’t like the UN and they’ll say, why do you go? But that is an international stage. And if there’s an international stage for us to be on and for us to protect Christians from persecution, we will do it.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right. Well, I’ll be praying for you. I see a lot of those comments coming in, praying for Cece on her trips. Please do that. Again, I’d love to hear from you. We have one more segment left. for today and i like to always hear from the most important voice which is yours so give us a call we got two lines open for you 1-800-684-3110 1-800-684-3110 right back with your calls Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are jammed right now, but they’ll open up, so give us a call. Let’s kick this off with a call that’s been on hold for a long time, and I’m sorry for the delay. We just had a lot of show to cover. Jan’s calling in Oregon, who’s listening on the radio. Jan, I hope you’re still there. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, I am. Thank you for taking my call and thank you for all you do. I’ve been wondering through all this legal stuff against Trump, what are the perimeters of a judge as to when they are called on the line, when they are up to be disciplined or, you know, do they have carte blanche? They can just decide things and have no repercussions.
SPEAKER 06 :
I get it because it feels that way. And that’s why I even asked that question to Professor Hutchinson and to you, because it feels like sometimes these judges are able to make decisions based on do they think that they have jurisdiction?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and Jan, many times, while it may seem like they’re just saying TRO, they give an order. They give their reasoning of why they believe that this should be temporarily paused. And many times they point to something called the Administrative Procedures Act. which is something Congress passed, which governed the way that certain things happen within bureaucracy and the executive branch. The APA, I don’t think, has ever been challenged in court on its face. And I could be wrong on that. But to my knowledge, it hasn’t been challenged, but it’s not necessarily seen as a huge constitutional violation. Maybe that’s something people will look into. Yeah. Yeah, the Administrative Procedures Act.
SPEAKER 06 :
I thought you were talking about the Acolyte Protection Agency from the WWF Attitude Era.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right, no. Specifically, that one is unconstitutional.
SPEAKER 06 :
Farouk and Bradshaw, who you know from Fox News. They have a lot of backroom dealings.
SPEAKER 08 :
But to that point, what is the direct recourse to keep a judge in line is when the appeals court and then the Supreme Court. So if a judge does something illegal or impeachable, they could be impeached by Congress. They are lifetime appointments. But this year, while there are activist judges and judges that go too far, they still are giving rationale within the law. Many times it’s a rationale we disagree with. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this is out of control where they should be impeached or anything like that. They are still doing their duties and claiming a rationale for it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Look, there’s a lot of comments coming in about the Epstein flight log, whether it’s been released yet. It has not been released yet as far as we know, and Will would know. But Will, I want you to weigh in real quick before we take more calls. A lot of people are going, do you think it’s going to be, as Dave put, a nothing burger in the comments?
SPEAKER 08 :
I’m going to let you take a guess here. Typically, when there’s something that you’ve been looking forward to so much that you think is going to be the key to the whole puzzle, it doesn’t deliver what you want it to.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, who knows? We’ll find out here soon. Richard’s calling in Las Vegas, who’s watching on the ACLJ app, which you can as well. It’s a great new experience. If you’re an ACLJ champion, you get sort of a custom version of it. Richard, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, yeah, guys, it’s good to get on, and thank you for your work, even in our city in Las Vegas. I just want to say that regarding the USAID, as I recently came back from Uganda and visited some refugee camps, and my contacts on the ground were telling me that the aid needed to be cut, not because they didn’t have significant needs. But because, for example, millions of dollars were given to the nation of Uganda for LGBTQ issues, where in that nation, it’s illegal. And so it’s like you’ve got to wonder, do the people…
SPEAKER 06 :
who are making the decisions on where this stuff go do they really care about the people who are in the refugee camps who don’t have don’t have mats and sure it is sadly uh we know it’s fraught with corruption we know that when the u.s gets involved and tries to fund a lot of these humanitarian efforts we know a lot of the humanitarian efforts themselves the finances are not going to the right people they are not going to a lot of times to feed children to help people to build uh you know orphanages or build children’s homes uh i’ll We’re involved directly with some of those groups and charities that we support here individually, not through the USAID. And we know because we can actually see it. We’ve sent people to make sure that things are getting taken care of because just like what you said, they’ll send aid money in quotes and it goes to usually to line the pockets of somebody.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and I think we should always distinguish charitable foreign aid with government foreign aid. And while they’ve tried to blur the lines by giving grants to a lot of NGOs, which in and of itself is a hilarious distinction that many of these NGOs, non-government organizations, couldn’t exist without government money. So they’re quasi-government organizations is really what they should be called. But to your point, Richard, there’s a lot of criticism, especially in more conservative circles, about government foreign aid. What does it do? It props up dictatorships. It’s used as nation building. It’s used as a control mechanism over corrupt countries. And that typically the money, because it’s funneled through government to government, doesn’t reach the people in need and funds a lot of pet projects.
SPEAKER 06 :
And we’re finding a lot of these organizations don’t have websites. There’s no checks and balances that are happening. They’re just getting carte blanche. Let’s go ahead and continue on. Dee’s calling in California on line one. Watch it on YouTube. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes. Uh, my question is this, uh, since Biden did all these, uh, um, pardonings before he left office. Is there anything legally that can be done as far as like Fauci and the January 6th committee and others?
SPEAKER 06 :
It was a pretty broad part. Indeed, it was kind of any and all issues that they had from the federal level pretty much during the Biden administration and during the Trump first administration. It was pretty broad in those assumptions. So the January 6th committee. uh unfortunately or however you want to look at it pardoned again that’s the rule the president could do this it’s not something that we disagree with the fact that the president should have that power uh but unfortunately that’s that’s where it stands yeah and constitutionally when you read the pardon power it it reads very broad and so while we may not agree with the action taken
SPEAKER 08 :
I think that we have to be consistent and believe that the pardon power is broad and is rightfully so. And therefore, I don’t think we’re going to argue against the pardon power of the president here.
SPEAKER 06 :
Let’s keep going. We got two calls, two minutes. We’re going to do it. We’ll get like 20 seconds. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I was wondering if all this orders against Trump is a ploy to get him so frustrated that he says, to heck with this. I’ve got immunity. I’m going to do my job that I was elected to do so they can have their talking points to try to impeach him.
SPEAKER 08 :
Maybe so, but impeaching him a lot harder right now. Well, but to your point, Will, I mean, we’ve already had some members of Congress try to put articles of impeachment forward. Not going to happen. But you know, 100%. If next year, in 2026, that the midterms change in the House of Representatives. And they usually do. There is a, I would go ahead and say 95% chance that they try to move forward with impeachment against President Trump.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thanks Will for calling. Jamie in Florida, real quick, you’re on.
SPEAKER 13 :
Hi, thank you for everything that you and your team do. My question is, all these people that are protesting on these college grounds, shouldn’t they be charged with hate crime?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, there’s a lot of that discussion going around right now. What is a hate crime? Sadly, if you are Jewish in America and you’re being under attack, for some reason that doesn’t seem to apply.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right, and unfortunately, the left gets to pick and choose where they enforce laws and what they believe is their pet cause. And anti-Semitism seems to be something that falls through the cracks when it comes to hate crimes if you’re a liberal.
SPEAKER 06 :
Of course, but thank you, Jamie. But you do have someone like Pam Bondi saying, hey, if you are doing criminal acts, especially if you are not an American citizen, specifically against the Jewish community, especially on these college campuses, you’re out of here. So maybe that is something that can get done. With that being said… We believe in the freedom of speech here as well. Nonviolent freedom of speech. And you can be a part of that as well. You hear what the work of the ACLJ is doing. You’ve heard about our work overseas. You’ve heard about our work in what’s going on right now with these Trump orders. We are involved in all the manners right now. And you can get involved too. So we head towards the end of this week, which is the end of this month. We need your support. Go to ACLJ.org. Become a champion today. We’ll be back tomorrow on Seculo.
