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Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joins the show to share insights on the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire announcement and the broader implications for international diplomacy. Later, the focus shifts to domestic affairs with highlights on the Trump administration’s 100th-day media specials and its sustained impact on immigration policy. The episode also takes a critical look at humanitarian efforts in the Congo, emphasizing the importance of global religious freedom and moral clarity in leadership.
SPEAKER 07 :
We got breaking news. White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt holds surprise morning press conference.
SPEAKER 09 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekula.
SPEAKER 07 :
Happy Monday, everybody. This is Logan Sekula. Will Haynes joining me in studio. Mike Pompeo will be joining us a little bit later in the broadcast. We break down all the news that happened over the weekend as well as the incredible work of the ACLJ, including some big wins that have happened and some new updates about what’s going on in the Congo. I know that’s something that’s been very important to a lot of our listeners as Christian persecution has been on the rise there to a point of really disturbing and disgusting. what’s happening there and we’re going to give you plenty of warning before we talk about that detail be a lot later in the broadcast right now though we did want to start with a couple breaking news items one of which of course you may have seen we’ll get to that a little bit later with secretary pompeo which is a moment of ceasefire that may be coming for the russia ukraine war this is over the weekend as president trump met with vladimir zelinsky at the pope’s funeral or in that proceeding beforehand. But also, we’re about to mark the 100th day of the Trump presidency. With that, there’s a lot of pomp and circumstances, including a Disney Plus Hulu special that ABC News has produced that will be on tomorrow night, available on all these streaming services, one-on-one interviews, as President Trump’s taken a lot of these. But a lot of people also woke up to the lines of the driveways to the White House covered in signs. These signs are basically mugshots of all of the different people that have been arrested that were here illegally. And these are people who had incredibly violent past. These are not just people who were here illegally. These are people who have a lot of them even committed murder.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. So this was 100 yard signs that had the mugshots of individuals that were taken off the streets and what they were described as the worst of the worst by the administration. And not only did they put up this theatrical show for everyone where it shows what the criminal offense was and that they were arrested, but there was a surprise event. early morning press briefing from Caroline Leavitt, the press secretary at the White House. This is very unusual to have an early morning press briefing.
SPEAKER 07 :
Before most of you probably were awake or at work, this was happening.
SPEAKER 08 :
And this was with Tom Homan. And it was to highlight the success of the actions taken by the Trump administration on the border. And we’ll play a clip here. This is her opening line from this press briefing.
SPEAKER 07 :
And again, this was just this morning. So this has just happened. This is all breaking news items happening right now.
SPEAKER 01 :
Historic effort to secure our southern border. Later this afternoon, President Trump will sign an executive order on law and order and another executive order on sanctuary cities. The first EO will strengthen and unleash America’s law enforcement to pursue criminals and protect innocent citizens. The second EO is centered around protecting American communities from criminal aliens, and it will direct the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to publish a list of state and local jurisdictions that obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws. After these are signed, the president will have signed more than 140 executive orders already, rapidly approaching the total number signed by the Biden administration over the course of four years in office.
SPEAKER 07 :
And again, that was from just this morning with Caroline Levitt. And I’m going to restate the beginning because it cut off. She stated, today we kick off our 100-day week with a focus on the president’s historic effort to secure our southern border. Later this afternoon, President Trump will sign an executive order on law and order and another executive order on sanctuary cities. So I wanted to make sure you got full context of what was happening there because it started a little bit late. I want to know your feedback and your feelings. When you see this 100-day celebration, if you will, it is focused on the border. Now, we know the border has been a tough topic. Nobody was thrilled with what was happening. But how do you feel about now sort of the pomp and circumstance the other way, where they’re aligning the White House with these mugshots? Do you like it? Do you not like it? Do you find it to be kind of inappropriate? Do you like the fact that we’re showing these people off and giving them this kind of attention? I want to know your thoughts. I genuinely do. 1-800-684-3110. Because somewhat it plays into the nature that the attacks on President Trump are. That it feels a little dehumanizing and all that. But of course you’re talking about people who are convicted of horrible, horrible crimes. 1-800-684-3110. I want to hear from you. We’ll be right back. welcome back to seculo some phone lines are open for you got like two open right now 1-800-684-3110 if you’re watching on youtube uh some of you had a little bit of a glitch there we’re working on what that problem is i’m going to ask you if you are watching right now hit that thumbs up button for me that will help make sure that you are all watching and in the feed and i’ll help get back to more people who maybe got cut off we don’t know exactly the issue but we’re working on it i want you to know that i see a lot of the comments uh coming in as well Of course, we’re restating what’s going on. It’s President Trump’s 100th day in office tomorrow, I believe. Is that official tomorrow? That’s right, yes. Tomorrow will be the 100th day. And you’re going to have a lot of celebrations happening, a lot of conversations, interviews, including a Disney Plus and Hulu special that will air tomorrow night via ABC News, not ESPN, via ABC News. And, you know, President Trump… Interestingly, taking these interviews, spending time with it. He talked about it last week with Goldberg. Yeah, with the Atlantic. From the Atlantic. He’s going to take some of these maybe more less friendly, as you’d say, interviews. So we’ll see that tomorrow. And then, of course, a lot of it is focused on immigration, where there has been some, what you’d say, success. Even Bernie Sanders a few weeks ago said, hey, I don’t agree with President Trump on many things, but I do on the border. I think we have that bite. We can play that. We do. Let’s take a listen to Bernie Sanders. By 28. Is there anything that you think Trump has done right?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. I mean, I think cracking down on fentanyl, making sure our borders are stronger. Look, nobody thinks illegal immigration is appropriate.
SPEAKER 07 :
So, I mean, that’s coming from, again, Bernie Sanders. Phone lines are open for you. What do you think? Obviously, we know you probably are for a stricter immigration policy as we had such an open border problem going on for the last four or five years. But what about right now? What about when you see it actually happening? Look, there’s a lot of people on here. I know that you are good, sweet people. You’re Christian people who see maybe some of this and go, I don’t know. Where’s that line? Where’s that line between humanitarian? Where’s the humanitarian part play into you? And where does the securing the border play into you? Where is it dehumanizing? Is it dehumanizing by by lining the White House or is it just even too much in terms of a show? we still have so many issues going on in the country that is sometimes where my initial like gut feeling is that i kind of kind of have to take a second to think about it because part of me goes i want it’s like when i see uh you know police going after very very very small crime or not even crime just that like pull over to check you out kind of thing where i go is this really what you’d be spending your time on like is there not a better place to be putting your time and of course It’s not like a lot of time for them to print some signs and put them out there, but it does send a message, and I’m not sure how I feel about that message. What do you think at 1-800-684-3110? I think we should take some phone calls here in just a minute.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, we should, but here’s what’s interesting and also what plays into this as well, Logan, is that Multiple polls came out about approval rating for the president. And these happen periodically where they’re doing the overall approval rating. Then they get into kind of the details. And so what we’ve got here is kind of a conflicting view of approval rating polls. Now, we may not care too much about polls in the American public, but the administration actually does pay attention to them and politicians pay attention to them to know what they should go after, what they should talk about more, how they should frame things. And we have conflicting polling data about the immigration issue right now. A CBS poll that was conducted April 23rd through 25th, so this is just being released because it was just completed, has the Trump administration’s program to deport immigrants illegally in the United States 56% approval rating. Now, that’s great. That sounds like, okay, his overall approval rating is lower. It’s in the 40s. But on that issue, it seems like the American public generally, there’s a majority of Americans that approve of this. But then you have a Washington Post poll in ABC News that came out Friday. that has Trump with 53% disapproval so the opposite and 46% approving of how he’s handling immigration so there’s a split there almost identical mirror images of how these polls are conducted and these aren’t by one’s a conservative organization that’s getting you know a different data set these are both CBS and Washington Post, mainstream media conducting these polls with their polling partners. And it shows one shows a majority of Americans are are definitely liking what the policies are. And the other shows that a majority of Americans definitely disapprove of it. So conflicting. That’s why I think it’s also interesting to take it front to the audience here. of our listeners and and what do they think about this do they think that it is getting too theatrical and we need to see more work and proof of that work instead of of just tweets that saying we did all this yeah exactly let’s go to jerry who’s calling a rhode island first listening on the radio jerry you’re on the air all right good morning team uh being of your father’s demographic former law enforcement every department has ucr report they report the status
SPEAKER 12 :
for the regards to what’s lining the driveway we want to see the progress of what we voted for i do wish they had put what state these people were taken into because various states are blue so and remember who takes the poll most people in my demographic unless we know who’s taking the poll and how it’s going to be manipulated we don’t answer it so i don’t answer those polls too jerry when they come in i’ll be honest when they come in i usually think i’m getting some sort of scam so i don’t uh i don’t do it as well i’ll hang up or i won’t do it online
SPEAKER 08 :
And Jerry, actually, to your point, on the White House website under their articles section, they have the entire list of who those mugshots are. In the first hundred days, Trump administration has taken killers off our streets. And it goes through and it says ICE Baltimore arrested this individual, ICE Buffalo, ICE El Paso, ICE Houston. So if you go through, you do see mugshots. Which team of ICE, it doesn’t necessarily give the exact state. If ICE Chicago was in one of the suburbs or something like that. But it’s giving at least the region and most likely the state that they were taken into custody in. And many of them are in blue states. You see Buffalo, you see San Francisco, Chicago, Denver.
SPEAKER 07 :
I think all of that is great. I think having a list and then being able to see what’s happening right now, I think that’s great. The sort of, I guess you’d say, quote unquote, maybe tacky nature of doing the signage, I’m not so sure of. I don’t know if it’s becoming to the United States of America, if that feels like the right thing to do. And again, I know a lot of you are going, Logan, it’s not about your heart. Well, I mean, somewhat it is. I think we have to make sure the American people are showcased in a way that represent us and make sure they represent us properly. correctly yes take care of crime get rid of it make sure that we’re serious about the issues that are going on and maybe that’s why i have maybe somewhat of a little bit of an issue with this because it feels a bit showy it feels a bit and look president trump’s a showman i understand that uh i would consider myself a bit of a showman as well a bit of a song a dance man but in general there are moments that feel like you just get this initial sort of, you know, ick to it. And this kind of had that moment for me where I’m looking at it going, I don’t know if I want this at the white house. Uh, but that’s just me personally. I know a lot of you feel differently and that’s okay. Uh, cause I get the point. I get the point of showcasing. Look what we’ve done. I don’t know if this is the way to do it. Someone mentioned, uh, and maybe it’s a call. I have to look like, what about like a nationwide ad campaign or something like that? I kind of like that a little bit more, almost the, um, you know, the old billboards, like most wanted kind of billboards. Right. Like I, And like that saying, look what we’ve done. PSA kind of style. Yeah, look what we’ve done. Look what we’ve taken off streets. That to me is a bigger warning for the potential criminal than it is putting their face on a little placard outside the White House. Which was done only for the media.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. Because that is the entrance of the White House where the media walks through. And so the photos that are being taken other than the ones released by the White House are the ones that are taken by media and they’re showing them. And MSNBC blurred out these convicted criminals’ faces on the mugshots. I don’t think that they blurred out President Trump’s photo of his mugshot when it was posted everywhere. Of course not. But they wanted to protect the privacy of convicted criminal illegal immigrants in the United States. But to your point as well, I think this is more interesting that should be highlighted because really, yes, there is a problem with a large amount. Tom Homan said probably about 20 million illegal immigrants in the country. And the deportation is something that people voted for, but also just the stopping the flow of it. And this is bite 11 from Tom Homan that really highlights how well they shut down the border. And I think that’s really what people want to hear. Let’s play bite 11.
SPEAKER 02 :
And finally, that was said earlier, on the first 100 days, it was actually January 20th to April 1st, last year, 184,000 illegal aliens were released into the United States. Under this administration, nine. Four of them were material witnesses in a criminal investigation. We need them here to testify in a serious criminal trial. Four was extreme medical condition. We couldn’t return them because they were in such bad shape. and one was a humanitarian issue. This is unprecedented success. The border is secure. President Trump is saving lives.
SPEAKER 07 :
I love that. Right. And I think that should be the focus.
SPEAKER 02 :
There was heart in it.
SPEAKER 07 :
There was feeling. There was emotion. And it also proved the point of what they’re doing. I am not saying I disagree with the methods they’re even using. I think having this sort of show actually devalues the success. I think you need to focus on how important it is and make it serious that this is being done.
SPEAKER 08 :
One other point that he brought up, too, was how many women and children are victims of assault and other things and trafficking. And that when you shut down 184,000 that are being let go once they get to the border, when you stop that, you’re also protecting them. You’re also stopping crimes against women and children that are making this dangerous journey.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. You know how many people are getting saved. Hey, I want to encourage you right now. Mike Pompeo is going to be joining us in the next segment. We’re going to talk a little bit more about the work of the ACLJ. But only two days remain in our life in Liberty Drive. Then you don’t have to hear me say this over and over again. But right now, your donations are matched. And we really could use your help. We’re down a little bit. Have your gifts doubled right now. Don’t wait. While you still have a chance, do it right now. Time is running out. Scan the QR code that’s on your screen and have your gifts doubled. Please give now. Go to ACLJ.org or scan the QR code to join the fight. We’ll be right back with more on Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are jammed right now, but they’ll open up at 1-800-684-3110. We’re now joined by Senior Counsel for Global Affairs, of course, former Secretary of State. Mike Pompeo, who is joining us right now. And Mike, you have a terrific piece we’re going to get into a little bit later on the ACLJ website. But of course, we wanted to kick this off talking about what is going on in Russia and Ukraine. It was someone who’s visited. You had over the weekend some meetings between President Trump and Zelensky. And then obviously you had Putin announcing now a three day ceasefire with Ukraine starting May 8th, claiming that is to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany. So the question is, should America and Ukraine see this as a test for Putin, who is obviously famous for breaking these ceasefires? Is this just another show? I want to get your thoughts.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, look, the connection to World War Two shouldn’t escape anyone. President Putin has talked about this for a long time. He always rewrites that history, frankly, in the same way he has tried to rewrite the history with the Soviet Union and Ukraine. I do hope that they’re closing in on a solution here. I hope that they’re going to get the guns to settle down. President Trump has been working diligently. He’s got a team that’s been working hard on it. But, you know, the American people get the get the joke. We all want peace. We want there to be no wars. But we’re not prepared to surrender 16000 kids that the Russians have taken into their country out of Ukraine. We’re not we’re not willing to give Vladimir Putin the victory of aggression. And that’s the that’s the rub. That’s why we haven’t been able to pull this off in the first. a couple of months of President Trump’s time. And I hope, I hope this ceasefire for three days. I hope it lasts three days. He’s often announced these fires and then not live it up to them. That’s also true for the Ukrainians. They’ve done the same. But I hope he’ll live up to it. And then I hope it can be extended. And I hope the Europeans can step forward, provide the resources necessary for a security arrangement in the aftermath of this aggression from Vladimir Putin, and that we can get a solution that is lasting and long-lived in Europe. And we don’t have to deal with these issues of thousands of people being lost lives, innocent civilian lives being lost every month.
SPEAKER 08 :
Mr. Secretary, one of the big pieces to this that’s being reported, that a potential peace deal between Ukraine and Russia would involve Crimea remaining under Russian control. Obviously, this is the region that was taken by Vladimir Putin under the Obama administration. Really interesting. When the beginning of this conflict started, if you if you want to kind of pinpoint it, then there was some calm for years. And then when Joe Biden took office was the full fledged attack by the Russians. Where do you think with this this potential carrot that’s maybe being dangled by the Russians that will accept this deal? This is kind of our sticking point, though. Where do you think Ukraine would land on this? It kind of seems like a very hard sell for Zelensky. But we know that Zelensky met with the president and the Vatican over the weekend and just kind of wanted to get your thoughts on that. Is it a trick by Russia because they know it’s not going to be accepted or what do you make of it?
SPEAKER 06 :
No, I think actually both of these leaders are very serious about Crimea. It is a pivot point strategically. It’s got the important Russian access through Sevastopol and the Russian port there into the Black Sea, which leads out into global trading waters. I think both sides really want this. They want the political control that comes with it. So I think this will actually turn out to be the hardest issue to resolve but that’s that’s what good diplomacy is about there may well be a solution that looks like something that goes back to pre-2014 where the russians still have their access to the port but it is under ukrainian control you can imagine that where the russians claim it the ukrainians claim it in the united states is agnostic you could you could imagine that being a solution i think that’s where president trump’s head is at um I, for one, think it’s really important that the United States not acknowledge Russia owning and controlling Ukraine. That’s why I made the statement that I did with President Trump’s approval back in 2018. I think we have to try to get that right. But we’ve got to bring this conflict to an end. And it’s very clear that the Russians have military control of that place today. Very difficult to get it back.
SPEAKER 07 :
Secretary Pompeo, I also wanted to pivot a little bit and talk about a piece that you wrote on ACLJ.org called Be Not Afraid. And it really is about having moral clarity, leadership clarity, and faith, and how it can shape the future. I encourage everyone to go read it. I just did, even right before the show, just to get myself back familiar with it as you wrote it. It’s really a wonderful piece about sort of that mix of faith, morality, and when it comes to leadership in our country and in our world. Obviously, it’s talking on the heels of the passing of the Pope. And you also mentioned your time watching and observing the previous Pope, Pope John Paul II. So I just wanted to give you a little bit of time to elaborate on this article and why you think it’s important to have that kind of clarity going in to a future.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thanks for the question. This is why I’m so proud to be part of what the ACLJ is doing. The ACLJ stands for this exact concept, the central thesis that we know good from evil, we know right from wrong, we know decent people from the inhuman. And what I talked about in that piece was the importance of those of us who are of faith to never walk away from that faith, to always maintain our faith and to try to live our lives that way. And when we lead, when we have institutions for which we’re responsible or trying to interact with others in the world, make sure that they understand with absolute clarity the moral principles that we have. It’s not that from time to time there aren’t practicalities that appear in the world. There are. You know, talk about what this pope had done, allowing the Chinese Communist Party to select the bishops in China. I just I just think they didn’t do everything they could have to speak with the power of the Catholic Church in a way that would protect the human dignity of the worshipers inside of China. And so I always tried to do that in my public life. And I hope each of us in our current walks will do the same. Try to try to live with that moral clarity that that we all know is the right thing to do.
SPEAKER 08 :
quick final question here. Over the weekend, there was a massive explosion at an Iranian port that just so happened to be coming from fuel that would fuel Iranian ballistic missiles. The Iranians are claiming it was an accident, that it was caused by someone on the ground there. Many people died and were injured in this, but It always has that lingering question in the back of your head. Could it have been some sabotage? Just want to get your take on this real quick.
SPEAKER 06 :
Easy answers. It could definitely have been some sabotage. I don’t know that. I’m not suggesting that it was. There are also chemical accidents that happen all across the world almost every day at some level. So it could have been either. But two things are certain. One, it’s great that they’re not going to have this fuel for their missile program. And the second is, I think this does tell us a lot about the Iranians and their efforts as we are now engaged in negotiations with the Iranian leadership. These folks are diligently working to build out not only the nuclear weapons, but the missile capability, that is the ability to deliver those weapons not only into the Middle East, but more broadly. And so great caution is required in those negotiations.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you so much, Secretary Pompeo, for joining us today. Hey, everyone who’s watching right now, I do encourage you to go read that new article on ACLJ.org. And while you’re there, we only got a few days left, literally two days left in our life in Liberty Drive. It’s a great time to support the work. And if you don’t get us for the second half hour of this broadcast, do it right now. Scan the QR code, go to ACLJ.org, or if you have to leave right now, we’re about to take a break for about one minute. And in that one minute, this is a great time to support the work of the ACLJ. Immigration is obviously in the headlines, what we’re talking about today. And there are judges trying to block every action coming in from President Trump to secure the border. And we got to take action. Tomorrow we’re filing a major brief at Supreme Court with the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office in a major immigration case. You’re going to be a part of that. We’re going to talk about that a little bit later in the week. And we also are taking very specific action on that battle going on in the Congo border. as their version of ISIS has been celebrating the murder of Christians. And while I do not want to share the details of that on air as it is too horrifying, I want you to know that the ACLJ is there, and we are sending a major legal letter right now to the UN Special Rapporteur traveling to the Congo demanding an investigation and prosecution for those responsible for this heinous act. That’s how the ACLJ and our European affiliates can get involved. And how you can get involved is by supporting the work. Go to ACLJ.org. scan the qr code join the fight or become an aclj champion that’s someone that supports the aclj on a monthly basis recurring you cancel any time but know how important it is to create that great baseline and your first gift will be doubled we’ll be right back keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is seculo And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow. We’ll be taking your calls at 1-800-684-3110. The first topic we were discussing at the beginning of the show was the 100th day of the president’s administration. Tomorrow there’ll be specials that are running. There’s going to be a Disney Plus special with President Trump. And they’re kicking off the week. And they kicked off the week with lining the driveway to the White House where all the media is with placard signs. Almost you’d think like campaign signs if you’re trying to picture it. with different mugshots, who was arrested, and what they were arrested for. Of course, this is about the crackdown at the border, which most people are in favor of. But I asked a question early on if you were in favor of sort of the show part of this. Did you feel like that this was okay, that we’re doing it this way, that this is for the media, this is for attention, to showcase it? I think some people brought in some very interesting points of view. In some ways, I didn’t even think about it. Let’s go to Kathleen, who’s first calling in California. Go ahead, Kathleen.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. Thanks. Yes. Sanctuary state and the city of Los Angeles. I live in Glendale, which is close to the city. And I’m so happy to see that they put those posters up to show the reality of what these people that are coming across our borders or that were, And the crimes they’ve committed, it makes it a reality for people to see. Because the media won’t report it. And when they do show, which every day we have people stealing cars, crime going on in the city, but they’re not showing close-ups.
SPEAKER 07 :
Kathleen, I think you, I’m only cutting you off because we’re running a little low on time on this segment. Kathleen, I think you actually brought up a good point. Because I told you I wanted you guys to weigh into this. I wanted your opinions. I wanted your thoughts. Because initially, I do have sort of a visceral response to this. But you are right. When the mainstream media decides not to cover what’s actually happening, you do have to take some unordinary steps. You have to go things a little, go a different way. And you can’t ignore… lines of signs on the white house lawn uh it becomes a story a rather controversial one but it becomes a story but at least draws attention to the fact that this is happening so kathleen you may have won me over in that point you may have actually brought me to a point going okay i kind of understand that point of view i don’t necessarily love the visual but what when the news and when the mainstream media doesn’t report on the success happening you only have to turn to bernie sanders saying yeah i like what president trump is doing
SPEAKER 08 :
then maybe he should maybe kathleen’s right well i also have a little bit of a caveat to that because i think what tom homan also did with in within that press briefing bringing up that every day president trump’s policies are saving lives and he said there have been studies done that show 31 of women that make the journey through the use of cartels get assaulted And when President Trump has the illegal immigration down 96%, when 96% less people are coming, how many women aren’t being assaulted by the cartels? How many children aren’t dying making that journey? And so while I agree with Kathleen to a degree also that, yeah, it’s forcing them to cover it. I feel like if they had a little bit more tact and were able to push that narrative to the left, it’d be hard to argue with that success. It really would. Because that is the humanitarian angle saying, yeah, these are the criminals. These people are convicted of murder and horrific crimes. These are convicted criminals. yeah the people on the signs are people that have are here illegally and have been convicted right of a crime so i want to make sure that’s clear this isn’t just people who are accused of a crime right or are just here illegally and i think that you’re illegally plus make that differentiation a little bit better to a broader audience i feel like that 55 from the cbs poll Could be much higher because I think you could hit every group that thinks a pipeline from the cartel bringing up people through the United States that are being trafficked, abused, assaulted. That’s a humanitarian issue that everyone can get behind protecting them, but as well of getting the criminals off the streets. But I feel like with the facing forward pageantry, it is only really playing to the base.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, hey, phone lines are open for you. I have three lines open. I’d love to take your calls because we took some. 1-800-684-3110. When we get back, we’re going to talk about the important work the ACLJ is doing in this country for those who are conscientious objectors, if you will, from performing abortions, as well as what we’re doing in response to the horrible tragedy that’s happening around the world and in Congo. So we’re going to talk about that coming up in the next segment. If you want to call in on this topic, you can go ahead. 1-800-684-3110. Look, it is part of our life and liberty drive to focus on what’s going on and our support for the unborn. And it’s easy to look at the overturning of Roe versus Wade a couple years ago and think that’s the end. The journey ends there for a lot of you. And I know, look, I can see in the numbers sometimes that is the truth. Where people just think, oh, we won and went back to the States. That’s what we wanted. Time to move on from this topic. Wash your hands of it. That’s simply not the truth. And it’s simply not what’s happening around the country. And it includes an issue that we have been a part of for decades now. And that is those in the medical field who decide, hey, I would like to be in the medical field. I’d like to work at this, I don’t know, Baptist Hospital and not be forced to perform abortions. And we are there for these medical teams whenever they need us. Because we believe it’s within their rights to object to doing these kind of procedures. And again, we’ve been talking about it for a very, very long time. And we’ve been able to do it at a pretty big success rate. And that’s because of people like you. Obviously, you support the work of the ACLJ. You’re listening right now and you go, well, how do you have the resources? How do these nurses, how do these techs have the ability to do it? Because we’re able to take on these cases. We’re able to pursue legal things that are necessary at zero cost to the client. Because a lot of these techs, medical techs, those kind of things, these are not high-paid positions that could… where they have tens of thousands of dollars to take on big legal expenses to go fight for their beliefs. We’re able to do it because of people like you. So I wanted to make sure that was clear at the very front of this. We’re going to talk a bit about life here, Will. So if you’re listening with small kids, we’re not going to get too graphic, but understand the topic at hand. So let’s continue on. Let’s talk about this, Will, because there is some big updates and some wins that have come out of the ACLJ. And they’re on the ACLJ website right now at ACLJ.org. As we have always been there to support these medical professionals.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. This is our cases involving two medical professionals in Kentucky, actually. One was a nurse and the other a surgical tech at this hospital. And there were some changes in the policies that they were concerned about. The nurse initially was concerned about hearing that there may be times where she would have to assist in abortion-related procedures. And she asked for clarification because of her faith and was initially given vague limitations on her accommodation, saying, we acknowledge your moral beliefs, but here’s kind of where we’re at. We got involved with this individual. This was actually a few weeks ago that we secured a victory for her where… The hospital granted a full religious accommodation so that she can continue to do her job where she feels she has a medical calling to help people and to preserve life. But also she won’t be forced to violate her moral convictions and her faith. So we already had that victory, but we were still fighting for our second client there. who was a surgical tech who was involved in surgical procedures. And there were some concerning situations where they gave sort of accommodations, but then also left areas where there could be loopholes or concerns that our client may have to participate in procedures that would violate her conscience when it comes to abortion. And we can now say that we have fought and gotten for our client. full religious accommodation so she will not be forced to participate so this is a win for both of the clients that work at the same hospital that they can continue what they believe god has called them to do and work as medical professionals but not be forced to compromise their deeply held religious convictions against the procedure of abortion yeah and understand these are tough decisions have to be made even by these medical professionals
SPEAKER 07 :
Because in general, you don’t want to necessarily start getting involved legally against your employer. You know what that can mean for your career. So if you lose, it’s bad news probably for your career. But if you feel that this is so important to you that you’re willing to risk it, we’re willing to be there for you at the ACLJ. We’re willing to help support you. And with this, get full religious accommodations means they don’t have to perform abortions or abortion-related services. That should be a huge win. Hopefully inspires a whole new group of people that want to get into this facility or into this career path, but they don’t want to be forced by the facility to perform things that go against their moral convictions and their religious convictions. That’s the only way we can do it. We got to bring up a whole new group of people who believe the way, essentially, the way we believe the Bible says to. And that is to really, the sanctity of life, very important. Every human being is important. And we can’t do that without having some protection for Christians in this country. So that is something we have been dedicated to, again, since the founding of the organization. Now, about 25 years ago, we started to really expand internationally. And the ACLJ started looking at different ways we could get involved on a global scale, whether that was at the European Union, whether it was the European Court of Human Rights, whether that was in countries we can’t talk about here, even on the air now, some of the work that we have done and that we continue to do. But we are also able to get directly involved in issues that are really important. And though you hear about these persecution moments that are happening in our country, we know they do exist for Christians. We do know that there’s rampant anti-Semitism happening right now, rampant anti-Semitism in the country. But we also know that there are places in this world, and again, this is a fair warning to anyone who is listening with small children or just don’t want to hear this on their lunch break, and I understand. There are places in this world where there are still the murder and genocide of Christians just because of their beliefs. Some of them by their own government, some by from terrorist groups. And it’s happening right now in Congo. You’ve heard about this. We’ve talked about it. What happened? We’re talking about a mass murder moment at a church where people were mutilated for simply being Christians. We saw your response, and it was a response that we had as well, the humanitarian response saying, well, we got to stand up to this. What can we do? The ACLJ has got to get into action. And look, sometimes these issues are a little harder to get involved in. You’re dealing with a different part of the world that doesn’t necessarily share exactly the same beliefs, the same legal structure that we do. But they do have some. And the ACLJ, because of our European Center and other affiliates, we’re able to get involved in a way that a lot of organizations cannot. We don’t just talk about it. We figure out a way to take action, Will, and that is what is happening right now.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. And many people may have heard news that was actually very widely reported about a ceasefire in the Democrat Republic of Congo. And that is where the government faction and the kind of militant rebel group have called a ceasefire. And that sounds great. You’re like, oh, great. The persecution can stop for a while. But that doesn’t include the ISIS affiliate that is still waging terror, that can still try to attack these government groups and this rebel group, because it’s not just a bilateral war there. It is an unstable region with multiple warring factions going on. And so we have sent a letter, and this is our contribution for the visit of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And this is what the Special Rapporteur, which is like a UN special investigator, so to speak. They have a specific task. This individual is going to the DRC to investigate and look and see what is going on to report back to the UN. And a lot of times, if we can get the right information in front of the right person at the UN, when they go back and they have the report to the UN, it can put real pressure on these countries to do something about this persecution, because a lot of them receive a lot of aid from the United Nations. And so they don’t want to disrupt that flow of money to their nation, to their government. So they will actually make accommodations. And so sometimes you have to use the United Nations as a tool to your advantage, even though generally in the United States, the UN doesn’t have the greatest reputation of being the best. But we can utilize the UN to our advantage to help protect Christians that are being persecuted around the world. And it takes a group like ours. that does focus on that to bring it to light because many of the other NGOs are not worried about it. But I will also say this is that we’ve worked to protect Christians from genocidal Islamic radical groups like ISIS for a long time here. And when we were working with some of the groups on the ground, they sent over packages of here are things that are going on for our attorneys to view. So as they draft this and we’ve we’ve seen a lot of this violence before. But our attorneys, when they received it and said, hey, maybe these are things we can use for documentary to showcase what’s going on, looked at these files and said no one opened them. they were so shocked at how graphic and how horrific the violence against the Christians were even though we’ve worked in this field for a long time they said don’t even open these files for a lot of people who are doing we’re not going to show any of that of course but you’re right now
SPEAKER 07 :
converse of that i’m seeing some of the comments and hey right now we’re about to go to break in one minute we don’t take as many calls we can we lost a lot of calls in that segment i’m not sure what happened there we have five lines open right now so this is a great time to call in 1-800-684-3110 but i see people saying how is this our fight why do we need to get involved in this what are we doing here i see some of those comments right now in our chat and what i’ll say if you are a bible believing christian who loves not only this country but the religious freedoms that we have in this country the protections that we have as christians get your head out of the sand and actually pay attention what’s going on in the world okay it’s not that hard to get involved we don’t live we don’t live in a very small world anywhere a very big world anymore everything is very small everywhere is accessible You need to be a part of that as well. Sure, we’re going to always have the biggest cases we do. Everything will be centered here in the United States just based on what we do. But that does not mean we ignore the truth that’s going on around the world. This is the time to get involved. 1-800-684-3110. Get on the phone right now. All right, last segment of the day. I want to hear from you. There still are some phone lines open at 1-800-684-3110. We can talk about those posters that are lining the driveway to the White House right now for the media to see of all of the… It’s 100 of them, mugshots and showcasing. And these are people, Will, that were convicted. These are people that aren’t just being thrown out of the country. A lot of them have done egregious and horrible, horrible acts. All of them, I’d say, that they’ve been convicted of. But let’s go ahead and take a phone call to kick it off. Of course, we can talk about what’s going on in Congo. We can talk about what’s going on with religious freedom around the country and around the world. But first, let’s take a call. Lisa’s calling in California. Listen in on the radio. I appreciate it, Lisa. You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hi. Yeah, I think it’s a good idea. The only thing is, I think President Trump needs to, I don’t want to say fine tune, I want to say America tune the idea. I think they need to be put in strategic places. You know, those that have been sex offenders and things like that, maybe put them where you know, they’ll be seen by women and, you know, it might make them think. I like the idea that, you know, he’s putting them there for the media. You know, people are walking through the White House, yeah, but to make them so big and put them out there for, you know, the 100th day or whatever, I don’t necessarily agree with it that way. It needs to be done tactfully. And also, I just feel that he needs to, you know, change his verbiage in that When he says, you know, I did this or this, he needs to focus more on we because I just know a lot of people are against him already just because of the negative media. And they always one of the things they accused him of was, you know, just being arrogant and oh, he’s so arrogant. Well, you know, he needs to just change his verbiage and just start saying we did this.
SPEAKER 07 :
You know, I think a lot of people feel that way. I’m sure there’s a lot of people that don’t feel that way in our comments as well and people that call in. But I think you represent a good portion of people who agree with the things that Donald Trump has done. the policy he’s put in place, the things that have actually been accomplished, but don’t necessarily always align with the rollout. Don’t always align with some of the verbiage that gets used. And I understand that. I think that’s something real we need to think about as we play at the world stage. Now, some of it… And I think maybe that’s also what it is, too, is because he’s in a second term at this point, there is a little less of the campaign side of it, you would hope. But because he’s in a second term, they also know we are not too far away from another election. So you’re wanting to get this stuff in people’s minds. When you talk about being strategic in placement, I think that’s important, too. We did that, look, very strategically with our Choice Begins Here campaign that we’ve been running throughout the state of Massachusetts. But it’s not just anywhere in the state of Massachusetts. It’s not like we just clicked, run it there. It’s where? College campuses. It’s areas that have a high level of abortions. Those are kind of things that we’re doing. You can be targeted. You can geolocate, geofence. So I think there is some of that that can happen as well. Everyone knows how to target their audience more and more. This, I understand, is a media moment because then everyone’s talking about it, but not necessarily in a positive way because, like you said, it comes off a little arrogant, a little tacky, but not necessarily, though there are a lot of people who disagree with me. So it’s fine.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, liberal Logan is right today. That’s what I feel like we’re seeing in the chat. But I think Delisa’s point, because I think the issue that we maybe see with it on the White House lawn just for the media, it feels like a troll. It feels just like a troll to the media.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, maybe it’s not serious enough.
SPEAKER 08 :
And instead, that messaging is really important. And that messaging maybe should be gotten out there in a different way. I liked your PSA kind of idea or billboards or something that also have an effect on maybe other criminal migrants that are in other places that are like, okay, maybe I need to get out of here before they come after me.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s actually doing the job, not just a political stunt.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. But that’s kind of just how it felt. And that’s why I also like the stuff that we’re hearing from Tom Homan about how secure the border is. And there’s a big narrative right now. And then we’ll get to other calls, I know, but that Drudge Report just put it out, you know, now Trump’s favorite antagonist that Biden was deporting more people than Biden. And that’s what now you’re trying to say that, no, he’s actually not that successful. Tom Holman actually addressed it and we won’t play the bike because it’s running short on time. But what he was saying is that there were 10 and a half million people that were encountered crossing the border. If they in the media is counting border removal. So if just 5% of that were immediately turned away and they count that as a deportation, that’s going to be logically higher, but they don’t have those numbers coming to the border because it’s secure. So just even the encounters being lower are going to make the statistics seem like it’s lower.
SPEAKER 07 :
You want less people to be attempting. Exactly. Of course. All right, let’s go ahead and take some calls connected to that. Kit’s calling in Colorado on line one. You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, I think it’s great that ICE just cleaned up, you know, 100 criminals out of Denver. Denver is, in many respects, it’s never been worse. It’s finally starting to turn around. And then as far as my other comment, well, two comments. One was as far as these posters that allegedly were on the White House fence. You know, deportation of aliens and criminals. Obama deported three million people. As far as I’m concerned, if it was okay when he did it, why is it not okay now? And I think that Because the progressive media hates Trump and everything he does. It doesn’t matter what he does.
SPEAKER 07 :
it’s a no-win scenario i think that’s why it’s a little surprising he’s even doing some of these i mean biden wouldn’t do it a lot of times uh these hundred day celebratory interviews if you will uh including like i said there’s gonna be a special that’s on disney plus tomorrow night abc news special and hulu uh you’re not talking about walking into a place that’s that favorable now hopefully they’re fair and it’s a good piece with george stephanopoulos but we know how that goes
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and to Kent’s point, Tom Homan actually even said at least President Obama, even though he didn’t necessarily have the best policies, did take border security seriously, just didn’t necessarily do the right things that he would have approved of. He’s like, the difference was Biden freely opened.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s the difference is I think the Obama administration, what I’ve said is I didn’t support maybe anything they did. Probably 99.9% I disagreed. However, they were governing. They were working. It felt like they weren’t just like throwing their hands up and saying, eh, whatever. They may have been working towards an agenda you disagreed with, but at least it felt like they were working towards an agenda. With the Biden administration, it just felt like, oh, the media cycle wants this. So that’s what we’re going to do as the wind blows or do nothing. And that’s really what happened at the border. I think that’s why you have so many people upset about it. Charles, very quickly, you got like 10 seconds on the air, but I’ll let you go ahead.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, I’ll give it a shot. I agree that I think every one of them that’s here illegally ought to be deported. They come in here, they get free benefits, they get free rent, they get free food, free insurance, free everything. America is trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. And we’re not going to get out of debt by giving all this free stuff away to people that’s not even citizens of the United States.
SPEAKER 07 :
Charles, all right, I’m only cutting you off because we’re running out of time here. I appreciate it. I think a lot of people feel that way. And look, we’ve been calling for some form of real immigration reform for pretty much the existence of our broadcast here because we believe that it is a messed up system. Now, thankfully, you are seeing the border get more secure. But even before, even when the border was secure, I’d say, you know, at this point a decade ago or during the pre-Trump, when it was better. We still have a kind of messed up immigration policy and system. The timeline it takes, that’s why you see President Trump putting in things like the gold card and those kind of options. Why? Because it’s fundamentally broken to begin with. So we got to address that too. First, we got to close the border, get that all fixed, handle that crisis that’s happening. And then once the crisis hopefully is handled, you can actually address the real problem, which is that the immigration process to get into this country is really not set up to benefit anyone. Thank you for listening today. I want to encourage you. We only have two days left in our life in Liberty Drive. Didn’t do a whole lot of pitches today. So because I didn’t do a whole lot of pitches, I’m just going to ask you, you know, maybe you like that. Go to ACLJ.org. Make a donation if you can. Scan the QR code. We’ll be back tomorrow with more on Sekulow.
