Join us for a profound discussion on the alarming statement released by Dan Bongino regarding systemic corruption and law enforcement’s weaponization. We break down his incendiary comments and what it might mean for the fabric of American governance. As always, we value your input and invite you to weigh in on this pressing issue.
SPEAKER 08 :
in a shocking post dan bongino releases a disturbing statement keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is seculo we want to hear from you share and post your comments for call 1-800-684-3110
SPEAKER 05 :
And now your host, Logan Seculo. Welcome to Seculo. Phone lines just opened up for you at 1-800-684-3110. That’s 1-800-684-3110. It’s Monday. We’re back on the air as we start to head towards the very end of this month. I can’t believe it. We are just a few days away from the end of our 35 years of Justice Drive. Three days away from it wrapping up. And I want to encourage you, if you’re thinking about supporting the work of the ACLJ, these next three days are very important. All donations are doubled. We’ll get into that a little bit more as we go on. But of course, we are talking about the breaking news item. Of course, that breaking news item comes out of Dan Bongino on a post he made on X. Now again, he’s had some ups and downs over the last few months. We’ve seen him, you know, a lot of rumors going on, him leaving, coming back, all the issues that came out over the Epstein files, everything that’s really happened over his tenure there. which again, a bit peek behind the curtain, sometimes things get a little rocky. Let’s go pull up, can we pull up his post there? Yeah, this is a post from X. He said, during my tenure here at the, I’m gonna restart that. During my tenure here as the deputy director of the FBI, I have repeatedly relayed to you that things are happening that might not be immediately visible, but they are happening. The director and I are committed to stamping out public corruption and the political weaponization of both law enforcement and intelligence operations. All right, that’s pretty normal. We’re still in a normal zone here. It’s a priority for us. But what I have learned in the course of our properly predicated and necessary investigations into these aforementioned matters has shocked me down to my core. We cannot run a republic like this. I will never be the same after learning what I’ve learned. We can keep going, and it goes on to my truth, your truth, but it is the truth. God bless America and all that. But let’s go back to just that one simple statement. which I think should have us all a little alarmed. What I’ve learned in the course of our necessary investigation has shocked me down to my core, dot, dot, dot. I’ll never be the same after learning what I’ve learned. This is coming from Dan Bongino, a guy who has talked the talk for a very long time.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s right. And when you read this, and we’ll talk about it more in the next segment, but it’s not as if Dan Bongino hadn’t been concerned about corruption within the government for years. He’s known about it. He’s known about it. So when he gets in there and starts doing an investigation of these things, and we should note, I actually love that he’s saying these things you’re not going to see right away because they’re doing it the right way. They’re doing it by the book so that if there is accountability that can be had… that is within statute of limitations, things like that, they can actually get it done instead of ruining the investigation by just telling everything that’s going on. But the fact that what you brought up, he has been talking about and pushing this type of stuff for a long time. If it’s shocking him, I mean, no wonder that they wanted to keep these things silent.
SPEAKER 05 :
Now, once again, I started saying it like the treason comments from Tulsi Gabbard last week. You kind of have to pay these off now. You can’t just say shocking, shook me to my core, rattled my cage, brought me down to my knees, all of these things, and then not pay it off in the long run. Because if not, then it does feel like you are just distracting from maybe the negativity coming out of your camp. What do you think for those that are watching right now? Is this a distraction or do you believe Dan Bongino in this situation that the content that he has found and what he’s putting together and what he has revealed again is He’ll never be the same after learning what he’s learned. Do you believe that? I want to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. As I said, we are celebrating our 35 years of Justice Drive. And we only got a couple days left. We are about to head into the month of August. July is wrapping up. Summer is wrapping up. And I even hate to say that out loud. But it is unfortunately getting there. But with that also wraps up our 35 years of Justice Drive. We could really use your support right now. We’ll go through a lot of the work the ACLJ is doing. There’s movement now again. Radical judges doing radical things. Rogue judges doing rogue things. We’re going to talk about that a little bit later with CeCe Heil. And Rick Grinnell is going to be joining us towards the end of the show. But we’re going to hear from you as well and take your phone calls. Again, if you’re an ACLJ champion, someone that gives on a monthly basis, go ahead and do that. And then when you call in, make sure to tell our phone screener because you get bumped up to the front of the line. We’ll take champions always first because you’re the ones who set the incredible baseline for our organization. Go to ACLJ.org or scan that QR code. We’ll be right back. We’re back. Phone lines have filled up and they’ve gone away. I’m going to ask you to call back if you want to be on the broadcast today. Not if they told you, we’re not going to take your call today. Well, then maybe it just wasn’t on topic, whatever it may be. But if you are looking to get on the air, give me a call at 1-800-684-3110. I want to quickly actually take this call because it can set up where we’re going. Those of you just tuning in, you may have seen the news. You may have seen the headline. Dan Bongino released a pretty disturbing statement on X. And absolutely it is. And I kind of posed the question, do you think this is a deflection or do you think he’s being sincere with this? Because some of the language things like I’ll never be the same after learning what I’ve learned and I am shook, shocked me down to my core. what he’s learned in the last few months in his position. That’s pretty aggressive commentary. Let’s go to Angie, who’s calling in Florida, who is watching on YouTube, where thousands of you are joining us right now live. If you’ve never seen us before, you’re brand new, hit that subscribe button. We do this show each and every day. Angie, go ahead.
SPEAKER 03 :
I just wanted to say, Dan Bongino is a true patriot. He has been preaching this on TV, on his podcast, and if he is shocked to the core with what he has found, the corruption must be awful. And we as other patriots need to recognize that and give them the time to do the right investigation and get these people out of our government.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people see that comment. Again, we brought it up in the last segment. When you hear those words coming from this guy, who has spent the last four years, five years, whether it was on his Fox News show, his social media show, show on Rumble, being a pretty straightforward, like you said, patriotic guy who also is not afraid to run from controversy or to run from conspiracy even. When he starts throwing out these comments, like I said, you better be able to back him up because his commentary of his historical brand, if you will, says he needs to be able to do that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and I think I look at this two different ways, right? The jaded me, the one that has seen a lot of people in government make promises and not deliver on big things that are going on, thinks nothing’s going to come out of this. But the analyst in me, the one that has watched a lot of this, that knows about Dan Bongino, and this statement coming from him, makes me think we will get something out of this. And when you take the whole context of the frustrations that were reported about his disagreements with the Attorney General, that he was upset that she went out and made big claims about releasing things and then didn’t have anything to actually release or go through. So if that’s what upset him so much that there were reports out there, widely reported, that he was considering stepping down because she made statements out publicly and then didn’t really deliver on that, you have to think, one, He wouldn’t be in the business right now of making some hyperbolic statement and then having nothing to deliver. You also have to think that he’s confident enough that what they are doing will be released because he says we are going to get the answers we all deserve. So I believe Dan Bongino here. I want to see the truth come out. I also, as we’ve said, I want them to do it the right way. I don’t want some manufactured intel report like the Obama administration did to try to destroy President Trump. I don’t think that Dan Bongino would do something like that. I know he wouldn’t, but I also want it to be done the right way so that if there is legal accountability that can be held, if there is just other ways that it can go about it, that more accountability can be had. I want the truth, but accountability also. So do it the right way. Don’t put it out too early and make sure you’ve gotten it all buttoned up so that it will stick and that the left will have no opportunity to try to poke holes in it and tear it down as some sort of fake news.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, president obama we know spent the last few weeks he’s been talking about you know what’s the proper age to cut off eating ketchup and that became a whole controversial moment on michelle’s podcast so much so that i think today he had to put out a statement talking about his support for the palestinian people and how we need to do that i think that was just a that was his distraction away from that hot ketchup talk i’m really glad my algorithm had none of the ketchup talk if you’re over eight years old
SPEAKER 07 :
No more ketchup. That’s what he said? How is that man ever our president?
SPEAKER 05 :
Ketchup is one of the most American things. In his defense, Michelle and Michelle’s brother, I believe, who co-hosts that with her, they gave him a hard time about that. Good. He doesn’t like it. Doesn’t like ketchup. Maybe if you want to put it on your fries, put a little on a cheeseburger, not on a hot dog. Disgusting. What? What about a hamburger? Only till you’re eight. And then that’s the cutoff. She said it used to be 14. Okay. He’s now moved it to eight. All right, we got to move on. But he did put out a statement today about, we should actually pull that up and make sure we have that. Can you impeach him for that retroactively?
SPEAKER 07 :
I mean, that’s a pretty high crime and misdemeanor right there.
SPEAKER 05 :
Trump is a love ketchup on everything. Let’s go to Melissa, who’s calling in on line one. Let’s get that post, though, actually, from Barack Obama, not the ketchup one, the one on the Middle East that he put out this morning, because I’d like to be able to reference that a little bit later. Let’s go to Melissa in South Carolina. Go ahead, Melissa. You’re an ACLJ champion. First, thank you. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER 12 :
You’re welcome. I am calling because I truly believe that Dan Bongino is trying to calm down the people that have been following him. He has over 200,000 followers. But also the thing that really makes me question, he was working for the Secret Service with the Obamas. So if he found out something that is earth shattering, it happened during his watch. And maybe that’s why it shakes him to the core.
SPEAKER 05 :
I want to clarify. I mean, just on X, he has 7 million followers. So I want to make sure that those I don’t want to belittle the following of Dan Bongino. When he left his show on Rumble, it was by far their number one show. Right. You know, he was doing 100,000 plus live viewers each show. So I want to obviously just clear up that fact. But Melissa, again, there’s a lot of people in the comments right now saying that we put a clickbait headline. I don’t really understand that. Maybe because you tuned in during the catch-up talk. This is not a clickbait headline. Because Dan Bongino, to summarize, went on X and said during his tenure here already as the deputy director of the FBI, he’s talked about things. We skipped forward just a little bit. What I’ve learned in the course of our properly predicted and necessary investigations into these aforementioned matters has shocked me down to my core. We cannot run a republic like this. I’ll never be the same after learning what I’ve learned. That is either incredibly hyperbolic talk or he has information that is genuinely shocked him. Like you said, Melissa, he was a member of the Secret Service. He was a part of these. He’s been inside the swamp, if you will, before. So this is something new that could have been happening during the Biden administration. It could be happening still during the Trump administration, because we know those actors
SPEAKER 07 :
are still all around right we know that the fbi in the course of action that they chose to take after getting the marching orders from james comey wasn’t on the up and up during the first trump administration so even things that could have been happening under president trump doesn’t mean it was president trump allowing it to happen that’s the deep state that’s what we’ve been talking about for eight years now almost 10 years in some cases so you have to look at it from one The knowledge he has and the things he’s already talked about. If he’s making a statement that bold, he believes that this is earth shattering. As well as the reports that he was upset with the Attorney General with the way that she rolled out stuff on the Jeffrey Epstein case and then didn’t really have anything to give was damaging to the reputation of the FBI and the Department of Justice. That upset him to the point there were reports he was considering resigning. So I don’t think he’d be making just a hyperbolic statement just a few weeks after that entire blow up. But then also the good news is we are going to conduct these righteous and proper investigations by the book and in accordance with the law. We are going to get the answers we all deserve. That is wonderful news because that’s what we’ve been fighting for for a long, long time.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s the opposite of what we had. And look, a lot of you are calling in right now at 1-800-684-3110. It’s going to take a minute to screen through all these calls. We do have one line open right now, too, actually, because one person just hung up. Give us a call. I’d love to hear from you. I’d love to get more information from you. In the next segment, CeCe Howell is going to be joining us. We have an update on the Planned Parenthood situation. You’re not going to love this. Just going to be honest. You’re not going to hear some great news. But that means the ACLJ has got to double down. We’ve got to be there more than ever. So you’re going to take a listen coming up in the next segment to what CeCe has to say and what we can do to fight back. It is another big moment. It is one that we cannot really just sit on our hands. The comments are still coming in. I’m going to end up fighting with the audience again today, Will. Because they’re saying, well, this was old news. posted this on saturday and i don’t know if you know this we don’t have a show on sunday so uh we didn’t say breaking news shocking news i mean did i say breaking no no i don’t think i did i think i said in a shocking disturbing right yeah and it happened and it was uh for most people yesterday right so you know i’m just gonna throw that out there one line’s open for you 1-800-684-3110 three days left Three days left in our 35 years of Justice Drive. And then in August, we have a brand new campaign for you that I’m excited to talk about as well. But we are really close to hitting our budget. Things are a little down this year with the economy, with everything that’s going on in the world, with sort of the tariffs and the unsettling nature that’s happening. It’s really hard to have an organization run at full capacity when there are all these obstacles. So if you do have the financial means, this is a great way to do it because ACLJ supporters and champions are ready to unlock a pledged donation and match any donations that are made. So do that and do it right now. You can scan a QR code on your screen and go to aclj.org. Any donations made. If you decide to become a champion, I’ve already heard a couple champions on the air today. All you have to do is opt in. Your first donation will unlock one of those double. Again, you’re not getting charged double. That’s someone else just saying, I’m going to donate whatever they donate. I’m going to match their donation. It only happens a few times a year that we’re able to offer that. So I want you to do it right now. Go to ACLJ.org. Help us beat the month. We are so close and we could do it with you to help us just take us over the top. You’ve already made your donation. If you can do more, do it. If not, make sure you’re liking us and subscribing and doing all that because I’m looking at how people are watching us. Not all of you have seen us before. Hit that sub button. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Secular. We are going to continue the conversation about what was going on with Dan Bongino and his, I wouldn’t even say cryptic statement. I think it was a pretty bold and upfront statement. But we also need to update you on the work of the ACLJ. And right now, this is a big moment, a big update. You know, we’ve been really breaking down the last few weeks what the defunding of Planned Parenthood looks like. It was in the big, beautiful bill. Then there were some cases. They said, no, we have to have our funding. You can’t take away our funding. A judge ruled, okay, you can take away funding whether to provide abortions, but those that don’t provide abortions, you still have to give them their funding. And now it seems, unfortunately, you have another judge coming in and taking matters into their own hands and now Planned Parenthood, at least for now, is back to being funded. That’s right.
SPEAKER 07 :
So, CeCe, what we saw last week was, one, there was that preliminary injunction granted in part. Yes. for just those that Logan mentioned. This is once again in that district court in Massachusetts where the judge gave those that don’t provide abortions that are Planned Parenthood members injunctive relief, basically saying they can’t be defunded at this time. Then took the other under advisement. Then we saw the government last week file a notice of appeal, which is something that we will be filing in as well at the circuit court level for the First Circuit Court of Appeals. And then we see an interesting move by Planned Parenthood filing a motion for clarification, wanting to know, like, we know you said it was a partial injunction, but didn’t you really mean, like, for all of us? So where are we at right now with what this judge has now released this Monday morning?
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. So when we talked about this last time, we actually were somewhat shocked that her opinion on the preliminary injunction was somewhat logical. I mean, she was saying, okay, the ones that do not provide abortion, they can still get funding, but the ones that do provide abortion and get over the $800,000, that marker, they cannot. So, you know, we’re like, OK, well, that’s still defunds about 75 percent of the Planned Parenthood or those providing abortion. And so, like you said, well, Planned Parenthood comes in and goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Is that really what you meant to say? Didn’t you mean to say that we’re all exempt from this ban on receiving Medicare, Medicaid funds? Don’t you mean we all can get it? And of course, she then does this opinion, which is the full opinion now saying yes. And again, she uses pages, you know, several pages saying how great Planned Parenthood, how wonderful Planned Parenthood is. And then basically crafts this argument that kind of weaves in and out of anything legally logical and comes up with the conclusion that, oh, yes, I did mean every single one of you.
SPEAKER 09 :
If you will.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, get to continue to receive Medicaid reimbursements.
SPEAKER 07 :
And as we already mentioned, the government has already filed the notice of appeal on this preliminary injunction, which is blocking the funding. Once again, though, it’s kind of with the judge doing these things in a very bizarre way. She set the deadline, right? of when the briefing, when the hearing was, when that temporary restraining order would end, and then didn’t give the full opinion, leaving this in limbo, allowing the government to appeal the portion that she had already written, but now kind of sets back. It’s almost like playing games with her docket a little bit of when she’s giving these preliminary injunctions and motions. But we do know that at least that first sentence, preliminary injunction granted in part is being appealed already, and we know the ACLJ lawyers are currently writing our brief to file at the Court of Appeals.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right, and the fact too that it’s Planned Parenthood Federation of America, But she’s now, that’s the party that’s actually before her, but she’s lumping in all the individual members. And like we said in her last opinion, she separates those members for certain purposes, and then she includes, lumps them all in. And here we have another argument of she’s making an opinion about parties that are not before her and basically doing this nationwide injunction, which of course the Supreme Court has ruled on too. So I think it, It’s nuanced for a reason, because she’s trying to play games to get around and be as supportive of Planned Parenthood as she can be.
SPEAKER 05 :
I mean, she’s basically written an ad copy for them in these opinions. And the defunding of Planned Parenthood has been something we’ve been fighting for for years and years and years. And I understand what I’m saying that people comment right now. We are in our 35 years of Justice Drive. There is a bit of it feels like a bit of a defeat to finally make it to this point. And then have to where a president is strong enough to actually do it because that has never happened where they always talk about it. Never happens. He gets it done, gets it passed, gets the bill passed. And still Planned Parenthood has a stranglehold so much on these judges and these politicians that they are able to go above the law. And what does our ACLJ supporters, what are the ACLJ team members need to do next? Because they obviously are ready to go and support. But what is your team even doing?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, what we’ll be doing is, again, filing at the appeals level because we don’t agree with this opinion. We think it’s constitutionally flawed. And we will support the government as they’re appealing this. We will support their appellate briefs with an amicus brief supporting their argument because Congress. has the power of the purse and congress passed this legitimately and they don’t have to give money to anybody and the fact that they’re saying again it’s this abortion distortion but you have to give it to abortion providers no we don’t and the taxpayers don’t have to do it so aclj will be filing in this appeal and we will be fighting for the taxpayers because we know the taxpayers do not want to fund abortion it’s driven me crazy yeah we shouldn’t have to
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s driving me crazy that this, there’s the NPR situation where it’s like, again, I’m an NPR PBS viewer, listener. So you know what? Put your money where your mouth is. Support it. If you like Planned Parenthood, we’re not saying you can’t support it. We’re just saying we don’t all have to support it. Maybe put that money into things that universally we all agree on. Maybe there’s some things that we need to help out kids, things that are happening around the world and around the country. Instead of funding abortion, an incredibly divisive issue, instead of funding a television network that is already kind of putting out the way that they do content is kind of passe, but you can support them. And by the way, if you like their content, I encourage you to. Just like encourage you to say support us here. I’m not asking the government. to go say, hey, you guys need to fund us like you fund PBS. Because what’s the difference? What’s the difference is that we are independent, just like they should be, independently controlled, and that is a great thing. You’re able to create more independent media that can listen to you, the viewer, the supporter, the listener, the reader on our website, and you help shape what the future is. Not the government. Not some rules that we have to live by. Look, the ACLJ is a non-profit. 501 c3 there’s already a lot of rules and regulations you have to go through just to have that some of which i don’t agree with but you know what it’s just the lay of the land but the gives us the opportunity to have completely independent media You see what’s happened at CBS. They’re very upset because Stephen Colbert is being canceled so much that they’re holding protests in support of a television show because they’re saying it’s political. CBS is saying the show lost $40 million a year. And that fight will go on and on and on. Again, because it feels like what? Stephen Colbert has the right to have a television show? Doesn’t make any sense. Planned Parenthood has the right to have government funding? None of this is very American in standards. There’s things that I believe in federal funding. There are places federal funding should go. Let’s take away the ones that are just extremely divisive. So I encourage you right now, though, instead of that, put your money where your mouth is. Support organizations like the ACLJ right now during things like our 35 years of Justice Drive. And keep listening, because when we get back, we’re going to go back into the Dan Bogino conversation, and we are going to have Rick Grinnell joining us, and then we’re going to take even more calls. I want to hear from you. We got four lines open right now. 1-800-684-3110. Some of you don’t get us for the full hour. You always can. on ACLJ.org, on YouTube, on Rumble, on Facebook. We are there broadcasting. And of course, you can catch us all the time archived later on on our podcast feeds or however you listen or watch. I know millions of you do each and every day and know how much we appreciate that. And we’re able to provide that for free without a paywall because people like you say this content needs to be out there. So I support the ACLJ. Have your donations doubled right now. Do it. Help us meet our goal for this month. We only got a couple days left. Welcome back to Sekulow, second half hour. Right now, we are discussing Dan Bongino’s statement that went out just over the weekend on X. A pretty alarming statement. I could read you the whole thing once again, but I think the key lines that really stuck out, Will, and you can give us sort of a breakdown, are things like, we cannot run a republic like this. the aforementioned matters has shocked me down to my core and then wrapping up even part of it with, I’ll never be the same after learning what I’ve learned, which I feel like every time I say that, I say it like Joel Osteen. I’ll never be the same. Never, ever, ever. I’ll never be the same.
SPEAKER 07 :
One of the things that sticks out to me as well, because obviously we don’t know directly what this is related to, but there are a little bit of context clues that we can take from this because he does mention that the director and I are committed to stamping out public corruption and the political weaponization of both law enforcement and intelligence operations. What we’ve been seeing from Director Gabbard that have been coming out over the last week, how there was this treasonous conspiracy, as she calls it, to try and hamstring the entire Trump administration with these Russia collusion hoaxes that they put forward after President Trump was elected. They changed, they fabricated, they manufactured intelligence to try and change the story. We learned from her that that was coming from the highest levels. We learned from the CIA… that John Brennan was the one who was handling it from the top, which is outside of protocol. He was forcing the inclusion of intelligence that was not verified or not up to standards or was contradicted by all the other intelligence that they did agree with and believe in. And the people within the CIA themselves were pushing back. And he even said about the dossier, which he had included and then lied to Congress about including, he said… yeah, I know there’s problems, but doesn’t it ring true? We’re getting that picture from the intelligence side.
SPEAKER 05 :
He just feels right.
SPEAKER 07 :
It was a vibe. He had a dossier vibe. And so we’re learning all that from the intelligence side.
SPEAKER 05 :
With a dossier vibe vibe.
SPEAKER 07 :
But what we don’t know is what, when we know there was an investigation going on as it was reported at the FBI and to James Comey and the things that they were taking from that, I have a feeling based off that, weaponization of both law enforcement and intelligence operations is that the FBI is looking inside their own house, inside the DOJ, inside the FBI, and investigating how that fits into that same puzzle. And clearly, even though Dan Bongino has talked about Russiagate hoax for years and exposed a lot of what we already knew, the fact that he is now saying, it has shocked me down to my core and I’ll never be the same after learning what I learned, I mean, it is that much worse than even we know. even the insurance policy, even Comey sending spies in the White House, even him leaking documents to get a special counsel to try and investigate the president of the United States. All that, according to this, is above board and not even close to being that shocking.
SPEAKER 05 :
Knowing what Dan Bongino talks about and has talked about for years and years on the air, none of those kind of things, like you said, should be shocking. So what is it? What is it that shook him to his core? that has rattled him this much, they’re going to need to provide it. We’re going to need to find out in due time. Phone lines are open. I want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. Some people think it’s a distraction method. Do you think it’s a distraction or do you believe Dan Bongino? He’s been pretty upfront with his feelings. And look, we have this whole second half hour is going to be packed. Next segment, we’re going to have Rick Grinnell on the broadcast. We’re going to talk a bit about him. What are we talking about with him, Will?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, there’s actually big news from the president who was in the UK. But he mentioned that he is cutting down this deadline for Russia to make a deal and end the war from that 50 days that he gave him, which he said he was being generous, down to 10 or 12 days. Basically saying, I’m not seeing movement. He’s still bombing them. This isn’t good faith. Let’s try to wrap it up.
SPEAKER 05 :
weeks to figure this out look a ton of you are watching right now more than usual i know that about half of you have never seen us before so i’m going to encourage you to hit that subscribe button if you’ve never seen this if you already do enjoy this show you can make a donation here during our drive right now which i encourage you to do that’s great during our 35 years of justice drive however if you’ve never seen us before I’m not asking you for money right now. What I ask you, though, is to hit that subscribe button. Over 509,000 of you join us on YouTube alone. Hundreds of thousands on Rumble. Hundreds of millions on Facebook. So many people that support the ACLJ see our great content, not just our live show, each and every day. But that also means that there’s a lot of you that could be calling in right now, and we shouldn’t have four empty phone lines. Because there’s a lot of you watching. A lot of you go, Logan, I’m more of a keyboard warrior myself. I don’t really get on the phone. Come on. Pick it up. 1-800-684-3110. Rick Winnell is going to be joining us. And we’re also going to have a very special message you’re not going to want to miss in the last segment of the broadcast. Just a bit of a tease. So make sure you stay tuned if you’re a long-time listener. Welcome back to Sekulow. Rick Grinnell is joining us right now. Rick, a lot of people are pointing back to President Trump, who is currently making deals, it feels like, now at the EU and now at the UK, having these big meetings, but also having these conversations about ending the war between Russia and Ukraine. That was obviously a campaign promise, thought to be something that could be wrapped up fairly quickly. He’s even said he’s disappointed in Putin for not being able to get this done faster, and he has shortened the deadline, which was supposed to be about 50 days, I believe. Now down to 10 or 15 days. At this moment, I want to get your thoughts as someone who has been so directly involved in everything that’s been going on, whether it was the previous Trump administration or this one currently.
SPEAKER 10 :
What I love about President Trump’s leadership is that he literally is involved in the details and watching things in real time. He adjusts, he doesn’t make his policy and then walk away and hope for the best. He actually keeps adjusting when he sees the facts on the ground change. And I think what we’re seeing is all sorts of different types of pressure on Russia. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. He’s very focused, President Trump is very focused on making sure that we are doing things that will create a lasting peace, not just to punish, not just to reward, but to actually find ways to bring the parties to the table and make sure that there’s peace. There’s no question that this war, through years of Joe Biden ignoring Putin and allowing Vladimir Putin just to do whatever he wanted to do, is a deeply ingrained war that we’ve got to dig ourselves out of a hole. Remember, Donald Trump handed the Biden administration total peace, and what the Biden team handed back to President Trump was a total all-out war, multi-year war with massive death. And so we’re trying to dig ourselves out of that hole. Thank God President Trump is reading it on a daily basis and responding in real time.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and to that point as well, we’ve had you on. We talk about diplomacy and that that is the first step that President Trump prefers to use is to talk to these people, even though it may be taboo to talk to your adversary instead of trying to go straight in with military hardware, as some on the left may prefer. But when you look at this, too, as you’re mentioning, he gave them a pretty solid length amount of time to say, Hey, 50 days, let’s figure it out. I’m tired of this. I’m tired of seeing a waking up and seeing a nursing home bombed and things like that. And then obviously over the weekend, there was more destruction, more mass casualties in many areas. And he says, all right, clearly they’re not taking this seriously. So let’s move this deadline up. That is, That right in and of itself is showing his negotiation tactics and being able to adjust to read the room and to not give Putin, even though everyone on the left always wants to say that he will give Putin as much space and time as he needs. He’s moving that deadline up drastically of saying, look, we’re in the final countdown now.
SPEAKER 10 :
Look, only in Washington are these pathetic politicians coming up with this idea that when you don’t talk to someone, especially an enemy or someone that you’re in conflict with, when you don’t talk to them, somehow it’s a punishment. Many times it’s not a punishment. It only hurts you. Talking is a tactic. Talking is not a policy. And we need to have politicians who understand that. Donald Trump understands that. He is willing to talk to anyone. He gets criticized for talking. But make no mistake, when Donald Trump goes into a conversation with a friend, an enemy or other, They know exactly where he stands. He is pushing an America first agenda. There’s no weakness in his talking. And so Donald Trump is somebody who has redefined diplomacy to make sure that talking is something that’s done regularly. And many times it takes a little while to get the diplomatic solution. It’s easy to do a military solution, but it’s very hard to bring about peace.
SPEAKER 07 :
Rick, in one of these clips that we played in the break before this segment, there was a commentator on CNN who they’re so hard pressed to figure out how to talk about these things because he said, you know, he said 10 to 12 days. I don’t know if that’s giving Putin more time, even though that is less than the 50 days. They’re trying to still make it seem like he’s giving Putin a pass because they can’t figure out how to report it to fit their narrative. But you also see things like The Axios put out a headline that said something to the effect about the EU deal and all these trade deals that President Trump has gotten done. Is there like in President Trump’s deals, America gets everything and other people get nothing. As if that’s not what he said about America first policy the entire time, that he has the best interest of America. That is not his problem. If other people don’t get what they think they want, that is negotiating in the best interest of our country, which is, dare I say, refreshing after what we’ve seen out of Washington for decades.
SPEAKER 10 :
Look, I spent eight years at the UN and the one thing that I’ve learned is that the 193 members of the UN, they all negotiate for themselves. They go in to diplomatic meetings and they fight for themselves. I’ve been in tens of thousands of diplomatic meetings and I’ve never been in a one where the other side doesn’t come forward and ask the American side to do something for them. And so this is only doing what the rest of the world does. This is why the America first agenda is not controversial around the world. It’s only controversial with left wingers in Washington, Washington, D.C. and in big, huge blue states. But the reality is that fighting for your country is exactly what every other leader does. And so we need to be able to recognize that Donald Trump is fighting for America. The newsrooms don’t understand it. The newsrooms have never been in a negotiation. And so they always say crazy things. We dismiss them because we realize that they don’t know how to do diplomacy. They don’t know how to do negotiations. They just know how to complain.
SPEAKER 05 :
Rick, there’s a lot of comments coming in right now. We’re having kind of a historic day in terms of live streaming people that have come on, brand new people. We know that about half the people that watch this broadcast live, a lot of them have never seen us. And we’re seeing people today, even more of historic numbers saying, I don’t know where this channel has been my whole life. I don’t know why YouTube has never served this to me. This is the first time I’ve seen it. I’m subscribing. I’m getting to be a part of it. But you’ve been a part of the ACLJ team for a number of years now. And I wanted to give you that opportunity as we are going to wrap up our 35 years of Justice Drive in just three days. I want to give you the opportunity to even introduce, the ACLJ, because I know you’ve been involved a lot in the work we’ve done in the past when you were an ambassador or you were the director of national intelligence, but now obviously as a member of the team.
SPEAKER 10 :
Look, the ACLJ is incredibly unique because it’s an organization that not only communicates with the grassroots and lets the grassroots know what’s happening, but we let the grassroots know what’s happening with what we’re doing, not just you know, the news. We don’t just talk about the news, but we actually are employing lawyers who go after the government for transparency issues, for FOIA requests. We take organizations to court to defend liberty, to defend Americans who want to just exercise their free will. What I love about the ACLJ is that we don’t just talk. I don’t want to be a part of an organization that just talks. I want action. And we have a whole team that does that. We have offices in Europe. We have an office in New York. We have offices in Nashville, Washington, D.C. And that’s what I like is to be a part of a group that’s action orientated.
SPEAKER 05 :
Rick, it has been great to have you as part of our team, but I wanted to give people that opportunity because thankfully we have the world of independent media where you can be exposed to this. If we hit the algorithm right and our YouTube team does it correctly and does it not do it correctly, knocks it out of the park like days like today, all of a sudden thousands of new people are seeing this broadcast. And of course you can support the work financially, but if you are brand new, all I ask you to do is to hit the subscribe button. We do this show Monday through Friday every day. Noon to 1 p.m. Eastern time. And of course, you can watch it archived on. Millions of people do watch it later on. And of course, we put up new content each and every day, not just these full long form shows where you get to call in. There’s not a lot of shows that still are doing that. You can comment. You can call. Speaking of which, we got three lines open right now at 1-800-684-3110. That is 1-800-684-3110. But if you have the opportunity and you have supported us for a long time or you’ve just been even a longtime viewer of this show, This is a great time to give because all donations are matched. There’s another group of ACLJ champions and members who are saying, I’m ready to unlock my pledge of any amount during this month. So that means we only got three days left. So I’m going to encourage you right now. Scan that QR code. Go to ACLJ.org. Thousands of you are watching right now live. And I want to tell you also, coming up in the next segment, we have a very special message you are not going to want to miss. If you’ve been a longtime supporter of the ACLJ, you are going to want to stay tuned for that. Just a little tease. And in that moment where you’re thinking about it, praying about it, deciding what to do, we do have three lines up. And I would love to hear from you and take as many calls as I can. If you’ve got an ACLJ champion like Marion is, who’s on hold right now, who hasn’t been on hold the longest of the others, she’s going to be up front. They’re going to be up front. Then we’re going to take some more calls. Be a part of that team right now. 1-800-684-3110. Welcome to all the brand new people, but also if you’ve been a long-term viewer, supporter of the Sekulow family, I encourage you to stick around. You’re going to like what you’re going to see. Again, phone lines are open for you, but make that donation. I know you’re hearing me ad nauseum right now do this, but this is a big moment. Hey, Will and I need to prove that we’re pretty good at this. Right. So do it for us. Go to aclj.org slash 35. Welcome back to Sekulow. We are going to take a lot of calls and comments in this segment, but look, we are only a few days left in our ACLJ 35 years of justice drive. And I thought it was important. And if you’ve been a longtime supporter of the ACLJ, I thought it was important for you to hear from my dad, Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, not just here, I’m to see him and let him make a statement about what’s going on in the world of the ACLJ. It’s been very busy, but of course we’re looking back and at all of what’s been done, and of course, looking forward to what can be done with your support. So now, here is a message from my dad, Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, Jay Sekulow.
SPEAKER 06 :
Back in 1990, the American Center for Law and Justice started out defending the free speech rights of pro-life advocates and those who wish to share the gospel. 35 years later, we’re still defending them and their life-saving work because the attacks on freedom do not stop. Benjamin Franklin famously called America a republic. He then said, if we can keep it. For 35 years, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, battling not only to save the lives of precious unborn babies, but to defend every one of your constitutionally protected freedoms. Our freedom is precious, and it’s continually under attack. We all have a responsibility to defend it. For 35 years, the ACLJ has been representing churches, religious schools, pro-life counselors and pregnancy centers, and individuals just like you when their constitutional liberty was threatened. We’ve defended states and even the President of the United States at the highest level. And we’ve seen many historic milestones, including the opening of the American Embassy in Jerusalem, and the Supreme Court’s historic ruling that overturned Roe versus Wade. Two historic achievements I have fought for for years have now come to fruition. The ACLJ has established a legacy of justice. For 35 years, we’ve been fighting and winning. cases all across the country, even at the Supreme Court of the United States. None of the victories we’ve achieved would have happened without the support of ACLJ members and champions. I want to thank you for providing the resources we need to fight back against the radical attacks on life and the Constitution. Those threats have not gone away and neither are we. That’s why we’ve launched our 35 years of justice drive to equip us with the resources we need to continue the fight for the next 35 years and beyond. Have your gift doubled at aclj.org slash 35. Do it today.
SPEAKER 05 :
Again, that was a message from my dad, Jay Sekulow. You’ll see that coming up as well as a new statement that will be released next month. We’re happy to have him do that and address you all because it is something, as we look back at the history, we want to make sure that we honor it, but also look forward. We got a lot of calls and comments coming in. Again, if that motivated you, I encourage you to support the work of the ACLJ. You’ve seen now what has been done and what could be done in the future. So thank you so much for taking a look at that. Let’s jump first to an ACLJ champion, Marion in Texas. You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes. First of all, I wanted to compliment your organization. You’ve helped us back all the way from I think it was in the 1980s when I was involved with Operation Rescue. And you were one of the few people that went to go and talk on our behalf. You did a great job up there. And I’ve been a fan of your company ever since then.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you, Mary Ann. We appreciate that so much. I’ll let you get your statement. But yes, we’ve been supporters of Operation Rescue for so long, and we still occasionally have to jump in and help them, including what happened recently, Will. And we’ll get back to your comment, though, Will, with the military.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s right, because there was military training basically saying if you were a supporter of Operation Rescue, you were a domestic terrorist. But we got the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of Defense to say that’s never happening again.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep, right. A big apology. Marion, go ahead, though, with your comment.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, I plead guilty that I’m a terrorist if I’m a pro-life supporter. But you were there, and I’m really thankful for that. So that’s how long you’ve been supporting pro-lifers and things. But anyway, the point I wanted to make was, first of all, I go with people that are honest. I consider you guys as honest as they come. You’re never biased. You always tell things on both sides of the issue. You present it very well. And Dan Bongino was on the same level. I used to listen to him a lot before, you know, when he had his podcast. And he always used to say a statement that really impressed me about him. He says, whenever news comes out, he says, we wait 48 hours because nine times out of 10, the story is going to change. So we don’t want to report anything that’s false. So when people say that he’s doing this just for show, that’s not Dan Bongino. Dan Bongino is a man of his word. He’s honest, and when he reports something, it is accurate. So I just want people to know, just like y’all are saying, his word is good, and it’s going to turn out very well like he wants it to.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think you’re probably right. Dan has been great. And he’s been someone who obviously has been a supporter of ours and what we’ve done. And we’ve obviously known him for many years as well in different capacities. But what I will say is you’re right. What we always say here, and I’m sure he does as well, which is whether you like it or not, we’re going to tell you the truth. We are not just going to give you a conservative talking point or a liberal talking point. We’re going to tell you the truth. And yes, obviously we’re going to tell you when we’re disappointed in that truth. But we’re not going to also lie to you and give you false hopes or do anything like that. That is not what we do here. This is where you actually, we say at the beginning of the show, where you can be informed and engaged. Why? Because that’s exactly right. You need to be informed. And sometimes that information isn’t what you want to hear, but you need to hear it. Thank you, Marion, for calling. Let’s continue on with the calls. Dee’s calling in California. Watch it on YouTube. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, my question is this. I know that presidents are guaranteed presidential immunity while in office. However, my question is, are they guaranteed that immunity whether they perform a While in office or even after? In other words, a former president, could he also be, you know, whether he’s a sitting or a former, could he be guilty of… Real quick on that, Dee, if he’s committing treason after he’s president, there’s no immunity.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s only about things that happen as official acts while he’s president.
SPEAKER 05 :
And then what is treason?
SPEAKER 01 :
Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s the other thing, too, is that a lot of the things that could be deemed like that’s treasonous by an opposing political party, maybe even like the Iran nuclear deal, you’re selling out the country. That’s foreign policy. So that’s where it gets iffy. I think that they’re going to have… broad immunity protections for things that they’re doing within their official capacity if that’s calling intel leaders and saying get to the bottom of this however it may have been phrased even if it was a treasonous conspiracy as tulsi says it calling your intel leaders together and having a talk with them in and of itself is an official duty It’s going to be up to the DOJ to see if there is anything there anyway. But yes, there are certainly things that could be treasonous a president could do that would not be an official duty.
SPEAKER 05 :
I want to try to take these two calls quickly. I’m not sure I’m able to get to them, but let’s go to Dan in Florida watching on the Salem News Channel. Dan, go ahead.
SPEAKER 11 :
I’m really thankful for your organization and all that you’ve done. You’ve won cases before the U.S. Supreme Court even, and thank you for that. My concern is that Obama and Hillary and some of these people are going to get off. In your opinion, do you see that they are going to actually be charged and be held accountable for their crimes?
SPEAKER 05 :
Directly, I don’t see Barack Obama being charged. If we’re going to go with presidential immunity, you’ve got to understand you’ve got presidential immunity. Not that they’re not going to explore it.
SPEAKER 07 :
But on Hillary also, if it were something about the email thing, that would be outside of the statute of limitations most directly. And I don’t know if they’ve shown any evidence that she, other than paying for the Steele dossier with her campaign funds, which opposition research is not illegal to buy, then they would have to show a deeper connection with Hillary to the government for that to actually be criminal for her on that point.
SPEAKER 05 :
I want to apologize to Lisa. We’re not going to be able to get to you today. Lisa, please call back on another day. Make sure you tell your phone screener that you waited on hold. We just couldn’t get to you. With that being said, as you heard the music playing, this is the time to support the work of the ACLJ. So if you want to throw up that QR code, that would be very helpful for all those who are watching for the next 30 seconds. Scan the QR code that’s on your screen or go to aclj.org slash 35. You don’t have to see my pretty face. You can just look at this and know the incredible work that we’re doing here, whether that’s in the media or whether that’s in the courtroom, so much more and around the world. We are the ACLJ, but the ACLJ also exports our freedoms, our liberties, our values to our European center, to our ACLJ Jerusalem and countries we can’t even talk about. We can do it with your support. Go to aclj.org. Do it today.
