Amidst pressing issues, Jacqueline Stapp discusses the burgeoning fentanyl crisis affecting communities across America. The conversation sheds light on how fentanyl, a lethal drug, is not just confined to urban centers but is seeping into suburban areas, posing a significant threat to young adults. Hear personal stories and gain insight into ongoing campaigns to combat the crisis, including President Trump’s initiatives to save lives. Additionally, explore how the government’s response to the crisis highlights broader issues of public health and safety.
SPEAKER 06 :
Breaking news today on Seculo with all the latest on the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.
SPEAKER 08 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Seculo. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110.
SPEAKER 06 :
And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. Hey, welcome to Sekulow. This is Jordan Sekulow. As you can tell, I am at a different office right now, not in the studio, but we thought we had to come to you today with the breaking news from yesterday evening. It was in a key meeting. President Trump was in a meeting unrelated to Israel and Hamas or Gaza, and this deal that we’ve been discussing, of course, on the broadcast about Israel withdrawing, the IDF withdrawing from Gaza. Hamas demilitarizing, giving up control of governance of Gaza and allowing basically a team primarily of Arab nation peacekeepers to join in on the fight to do what the IDF was doing to secure Gaza for the Palestinian people that live there. And so instead of having the IDF do that. Well, yesterday in a meeting, there was this meeting and all of a sudden you see Secretary of State Marco Rubio. I think we have the photo we can put up on the screen for folks. You see Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the meeting. He whispers into the president’s ear. And what we now know is that the president was told, as he said, that we are very close to phase one of the peace deal being signed and agreed upon by both Hamas and the state of Israel, and that he’s got to be ready to go with a statement. And then not soon after that, President Trump did issue a statement on Truth Social about the deal itself. And in that statement, which we’re putting up on the screen, and I think it’s very key for all of us to, again, kind of, take this in for what it is and also realize it hasn’t happened yet. But the statement says that they have agreed to phase one. Phase one is the IDF withdrawal of Gaza. the new international force going in. And then of course, part of that deal is that all hostages, both the bodies of those who were killed by Hamas and those who are still living. Now, Israel estimates that they still believe there are 20 living hostages. Hamas has not totally confirmed that. They haven’t told in any statement said, no, it’s going to be less than that. What’s unique there too is that two of those 20 are individuals that we represented. We brought their brother. They are twins. We brought their brother to Washington, D.C. not long after the October 7th attacks that winter to meet with members of Congress and meet with our team. And I’ve got to thank Speaker Johnson again for setting up those meetings. They met with the top Democrats as well to bring attention to what happened on October 7th. And from, again, none of us wanted to be here two years later. for those twin brothers to return home. So there’s that hope that they do remain alive and that they will return home. The other two clients that we represented in that manner, unfortunately, their loved ones were killed by Hamas and were executed by Hamas. So if that number is 20, it would be an unbelievable moment, obviously, for those families who have waited so long with so little information and for the Middle East itself. So we’re going to talk about the ramifications of that. That’s why I came to you live today right from outside of our studio, kind of a grassroots-y way to make sure we broke down all the information for you so that you’re prepared for what may happen this weekend between Israel and Hamas and the Arab nations. I just think about if this deal moves forward, this is the most significant, I think, peace effort in the Middle East that we’ve seen in decades and would solve what has been a problem, a serious problem for the state of Israel and its Arab neighbors as well. The Palestinian issue, if you want to call it that. for the first time to say that we’re going to move forward peacefully to negotiate what this looks like in the future with a governing body made up of a number of individuals, but not including Hamas. I mean, so, you know, it’s hard to even imagine getting there, you know, two months ago. So we are going to, my dad’s going to be joining us. We’re going to be breaking it down for you. Share this with your friends and family. Pray. because no one has been released yet, and the piece has only been in place for a few hours at this point, but it is historic if we get there, and that’s why we’re joining you today on Sec. Welcome back to Sekulow, folks. We’re joined by my dad, Jay Sekulow. This, again, as you see, I’m not in our normal studio, but I wanted to make sure you heard it from us directly, some analysis of what just broke yesterday evening between Israel, Hamas, the Arab world, the United States, which has been brokering this deal to, one, get to a ceasefire, between Israel and Hamas. Second, for Hamas to give up governance of the Gaza Strip, the return of the hostages. Israel believes 20 of those hostages are still living. Hamas hasn’t said exactly that that’s the number, but we hope and pray that it is that number and that they will ultimately return bodies as well. So this will be a first step. We’ll see from Hamas if they can meet what they have agreed to. And I want to make that clear. Hamas has agreed to this. Now, until any of that happens, again, we have to be praying that it does. We’ve represented these families. One of those families, the brother of the twin brothers that Israel believes are still alive. Again, you can understand how they’re feeling right now. One, that Israel has continued to confirm that they believe that they are living. And two, that they may be returned home over the weekend or at least early next week. I want to bring my dad right into the discussion, Jay Sekulow, our chief counsel. And dad, I mean, that’s kind of point one, is that this would be… ultimately maybe the most historic peace deal in history if it goes through, in the Middle East, if it goes through the way that it is planned to. But even if phase one works, I mean, we haven’t seen anything like this since the foundation of Israel. There’s been consistent fighting and terror attacks and war since 1948.
SPEAKER 09 :
No, this is very encouraging. First of all, it would bring regional stability, not just to Israel and including Gaza and the West Bank, but it would bring regional stability to the Middle East. And that’s very important for the rest of the world. You have to put this also in a context. Iran has been significantly degraded. over the last nine months because of President Trump’s orders directly in our US military degrading their nuclear capacity. So you have that also happening simultaneously. We had the introduction of the first phase, what I call it, of the Abraham Accords. I think you’re going to see this open up other countries to sign those accords in the very near future. You could already see that the regional players, including the Arab countries, are looking forward to this actually happening, because it will take pressure off of all of them. Of course, our initial and primary concern has been the hostages, because as lawyers, we were retained by those families, a number of the families, to represent their interests before international tribunals, which we did. You mentioned in the first segment, we did it in Washington, we’ve done it at the UN, we’ve done it at the European in the legislative chambers in Europe, including the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. So we have made an international effort here. And I think what you’re about to see, and look, it’s The details here are the key. It’s not now what’s been written. That’s been executed. It is the implementation of this. Will we actually see the release of the hostages? And Jordan, as you just pointed out, are there 20? Are there 30? Are there five? We don’t have a specific number. Israel’s intelligence thinks there’s upwards of 20. I hope and pray that’s the case. I hope and pray there’s more. But this is a very positive development. And I think you could see a radical change in the entire region.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I mean, we know we were with Leron Berman and his twin brothers, Gali and Ziv Berman, who Israel, throughout the conflict, throughout these two years, and their photos are on the screen now, and he joined us in Washington, D.C., Israel has believed and put it out the message they believe that those twin brothers are still alive. And that would be a miracle, but it would also be, I think, something that, again, people weren’t expecting this to even be the case anymore, that this could actually come to a close. The way that Prime Minister Netanyahu actually said that this will not be over and we will not stop until every hostage is returned. And with the decimation of Hamas, the decimation of much of the Gaza Strip, a lot of pressure on Israel because of their response. But, Dad, ultimately, if Hamas demilitarizes and returns the bodies and those living hostages, Israel did exactly what it said it would do. Well, that’s exactly right.
SPEAKER 09 :
And look, I mean, this has been a very trying time for the entire region. Gaza’s been devastated. And, of course, the atrocities that Hamas did. And you’re negotiating with terrorists. So you’re signing deals with terrorists. We’ve got to realize that. But there’s a long-term play here of regional stability with the way that it’s envisioned that Gaza will be redeveloped. And I think that with the leadership of Hamas, it’s also been degraded and significantly eliminated that they had no choice here. If the military action of Israel had not been taken, this deal would never have happened. If the president was not a president, Trump did not successfully order the U.S. military to strike those Iran nuclear facilities. This would not have happened. So it took a culmination of months of efforts here to do this.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I mean, you realize that Hamas was cut off from its allies. Iran no longer had the capability after those attacks to keep supplying them weapons. Most of their leadership has been taken out, even when they announced new leaders. The same for Hezbollah. So Hezbollah was not able to go in and assist Hamas as they usually would. And other radical groups, I mean, their leadership is just decimated. We’re not even sure who exactly is claiming to be the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip right now. Usually they’ve got their entire face covered when they do any kind of media reports. They have some other political leaders, but most of them also have been taken out as well during this conflict. And I think, you know, Dad, it could rewrite history because we were getting to a point where the world was saying, you know what, this is too much from Israel. This is too much destruction, too much war. But as you just said, If this didn’t all happen the way it happened, Israel would not be even thinking about right now any living hostages being returned, the bodies of those who were deceased, unfortunately, but those bodies being returned, and Hamas demilitarizing and allowing an international force, really a regional force of mostly Arab nation militaries to go in and secure the Gaza Strip instead of the Israelis having to do it. I mean… You think about that, hindsight’s 20-20, but then you put it all together and realize everything that Israel did, including weathering this criticism and storm and questions about, did they go too far? Was it too aggressive in their response? Like you said, they wouldn’t be here today, and they wouldn’t be here today if the U.S. hadn’t taken those aggressive steps on Iran as well. So we neutralized every single one of Hamas’s partners. We made it clear that if you are a leader of Hamas, and Israel made it clear, even outside the Gaza Strip, that you were not safe. And so Ismail Hanei is no more. And their leadership that was inside the Gaza Strip, was totally taken out so they say you know that uh they’re willing to give up governance they’re willing to demilitarize and that i think if that does happen it’s because they basically already have given up they can’t govern anymore and they can’t uh they have they have very little military weaponry left i think their capacity as a both a paramilitary organization as and as uh
SPEAKER 09 :
functioning governments is gone. That has also been degraded and decimated. They don’t have the capacity to cover. So I want to say something to some of the naysayers out there that were questioning President Trump on this and including conservatives, by the way, and well-known ones. and also those that were taking this kind of anti-Israel stance and they were doing too much. We would not be here today, first of all, if Hamas didn’t start these atrocities, number one. Number two, we would not be here today unless the military action of the United States and the military action of Israel in the region had not taken place. So without those two, nothing happens. Now you’ve got Hamas coming to the table, giving up governance, which they’re not capable of doing because they have no choice. They’re not doing this because they want to. They’re doing this because they have no choice. So, you know, there’s vital American interests at play here in the Middle East. considering Iran was threatening to cut off the Strait of Hormuz, which would have removed, I think, 65 percent of the oil and gas transports in the region and also to the rest of the world. So this end result is very positive.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I just want to play this flashback really quick for folks. This is November 7th, a month after the October 7th attacks. We brought those families of the hostages we represented to Capitol Hill. This is Speaker of the House Mike Johnson two years ago.
SPEAKER 01 :
We want to thank these families again for their courage and their willingness to share your harrowing stories. And I will say again and reiterate once more, we will stand against these atrocities, and we will stand with Israel, and we’ll stand with each of you and your families. We’ll be praying for you, and we’ll be taking action because that’s what we’re going to do here. That’s what it’s called for. I know that your time is short and you have to leave. I want to thank Jay and Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice for helping facilitate the visit today. I know you have a tight itinerary, so we’ll allow you all to step off the stage, if you will.
SPEAKER 06 :
So folks, again, that just underscores how long at the ACLJ we’ve been working towards this kind of moment, knowing that it was an uphill battle anytime you’re dealing with a terrorist organization. But I think it’s a great reminder of why you support the work of the ACLJ. It’s not only the work that we do in the United States, but the work that we do around the world. As you know, Jeff Balaban runs the ACLJ Jerusalem office. We need your support. Donate today. at ACLJ.org.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome back to Secula. We are going to be taking your calls in the next segment, 1-800-684-3110. Like I said, we have a packed show. We’re going to pivot right now to a segment that I’ve been looking forward to having our guest on. I mean, it’s obviously been a very chaotic few weeks, so things have really obviously taken an interesting turn in this country. But there is one thing that is very important to me personally, something that I believe every family has been affected from right now, and that, of course, is is the leading cause of death in America right now from the ages of 1845. And that, of course, is the fentanyl crisis that has been happening. And Jacqueline Stapp is joining us because there’s a wild stat. But Jacqueline, you have been a part of this new campaign that I think is very important. It was one that when President Trump started really talking about this crisis, I was encouraged. It obviously comes after a lot of us have experienced personal loss from this, but at least steps are being made.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, thank you for having me. This is a very serious crisis, and our president could not turn away from this very big issue of children dying. And as you just said, between the ages of 18 to 45, this is a leading cause of death. And on day one of his presidency, he had a mission to save American lives. He could not turn away of these mothers coming to him crying of, you know, I found my son dead in the bedroom. Um, you know, these kids often don’t know that these are counterfeit pills. You know, this is often accidental overdoses. Um, you know, taking these, these pills, they think are a Xanax or an Adderall and, um, you know, laced with grains of fentanyl and instantly they die. They stop breathing and die.
SPEAKER 05 :
Why was it important for you to join this and how did that happen as well? Because I think it’s, um, It’s great that this commission is happening, that this whole campaign is happening. You’re out there, I’ve seen you on the road doing this because it is so important. But why is it, is it personal to you? I know you have kids, you have people that are dealing with a lot of situations where it’s just… It’s really tough. You walk around some of these major cities and you see half the ads are, you know, make sure to test your drugs. You know, like they’re promoting things like this. And sadly now that’s become the norm. But hopefully what you are all doing is going to be reversing the course completely.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, I’m a mother of three. Any parent wants to make sure your kids go off to child. I think I read somewhere that they have these actual test kits. They’re giving kids at colleges, some of the parents were sending their kids off to college, giving them a test kit to check for fentanyl in their drugs. And you’re hearing about this so often, And any parent wants to make sure your kid goes to school and gets an education, is not going to accidentally overdose. I’ve had friends and family pass away. I’ve had parents telling me I had to resuscitate my son in the front yard as he’s vomiting. And it’s just these horrific stories. And it’s happening too frequently. And President Trump, under his amazing leadership, is doing exactly what he said he was going to do, control the border, Hold these drug dealers accountable. But this campaign is intended to spread awareness to the dangers of to these children, the dangers of fentanyl and how easy it is to to open. overdose. What you think you’re taking is not. No drugs are good for you. But these drug dealers have really gotten very shrewd and clever with ways of getting this cheap drug out into the street. So he’s working really hard. There’s still a lot of work to do. But if we could just start talking about it in the schools and churches, everyone knows about the opioid crisis and knows someone directly or indirectly that’s been affected by it or has passed away from it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and I think that’s maybe one of the big misconceptions that are out there is that a lot of people have heard about how lethal fentanyl is, but they still kind of think of it maybe as something that happens in a big city. Yeah. And similar to like the heroin crisis where, yes, I understand that these very powerful drugs exist and in that people can overdose from that, but that it’s not affecting what high schoolers may experiment with or do things that they shouldn’t be doing. They’re not realizing that this crisis is affecting suburban high schoolers and people in college. It’s not in the seedy underbelly of the urban centers of our country. It affects everyone and can affect everyone lethally.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, that’s right. And exactly what you said. It’s not that stereotypical person you see on the side of the streets that’s struggling. Yes, they matter. But these are children that are going to these house parties or buying a pill from a friend. They don’t intend to take their lives. This is accidental and they don’t know. And, you know, also. On social media, there’s these new ways on Snapchat. These kids are learning this type of secret code word and languages where they’re buying pills from these dealers on the social media. And so we’ve got to put a stop to this. These lives matter. And our president is really trying to tackle this issue. It takes a village and there’s a lot involved in this. And we’re grateful for this privately funded multimillion dollar campaign, Make America Fentanyl Free. And, you know, there’s resources on the website, but we’ve got a lot of work to do. And I thank you guys for helping us get the message out there.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, whatever you need from us, we’re all on board because this is very important to us specifically. And we’ve talked privately about that. And this is something that I really want to make sure that our audience gets behind, understands the seriousness of it. And it’s not, Will, as you said, just an issue that’s happening, like you said, in sort of downtown areas, happening with the unhoused homeless population. This is happening online. everywhere like you said the number one cause of death and it can be easily stopped maybe not easily but with people like you involved it can i have to say also the ad campaign that’s running is phenomenal uh the ads if you haven’t seen them they are incredibly powerful maybe we can pull one up and show one a little bit later uh this week on the broadcast because or next week because they really are um hitting home for a lot of people. So, Jacqueline, I just want to say thank you. We’ll make sure we link everything to promote this campaign. This is one of those moments, Will, where I’m excited when we have President Trump taking action on something that we’ve known for years was a problem. That’s right.
SPEAKER 07 :
This is something that has been talked about, but I feel like the action One, to explain to the people of our country about how it can affect them personally has been lost. There was that disconnect. But this is kind of a new way to, one, reach the people as well as make everyone aware, whether it be grandparents all the way down to people that are in school, be able to understand the real dangers of this. And while we are doing things on the border to try and stop it coming in this country, we also know how much is already here and how real that danger is. That’s right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Go check out those ads. Check out all the great content. Jacqueline, I believe it’s just at MakeAmericaFentanylFree.com is where you can find everything.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you so much. Yeah, but we’ll make sure we get that out there. Hey, when we get back, we do have a second half hour coming up on our broadcast. I want to make sure you’re joining us for that. If you don’t get us on your local station, find us broadcasting always on ACLJ.org, on YouTube, on Rumble. We are there broadcasting to millions of people each and every week. Be a part of that team there. Again, the easiest way is to go to ACLJ.org or download the ACLJ app. We are live Monday through Friday from noon to 1 p.m. Eastern time. You can work your way back from there. You can figure it out, whatever time zone you’re in. And, of course, you can watch us or listen to us later on, however you get your podcasts, however you get your video content. We’re there. You can follow us on all the social media platforms. But why me? The most important thing, and we’re going to take some of these in the next segment, is we want to hear from you. We just heard from Jacqueline Stapp, who was part of President Trump’s Make America Fit and All Free campaign. We’re going to hear from Rick Grinnell coming up, head of the Kennedy Center, former ambassador to Germany, former director of national intelligence, currently also serving. And of course, we’re going to hear from former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. No other show has this kind of expertise, has people who have been through it or are currently living it. And that only happens because people like you support this broadcast and support not only the media operation, but the legal operation of the ACLJ. So I encourage you. We only have a minute break here to make a donation of any kind at ACLJ.org. Stand up today. We couldn’t need you more. We need you right now.
SPEAKER 08 :
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 Sekulow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome to Sekulow today. We appreciate it. Always get your comments in. You can do that on our YouTube live streams. You can do that on Rumble or however else you watch the broadcast. Great different ways you can always interact with our team here. Today on the show, I wanted to give a little bit of a look back. It’s an encore presentation kind of show. And these are important to me because I think when you do something daily, like the way we do here at the ACLJ, There’s incredible guests, incredible content that comes on sometimes because it’s daily. They come and go. You miss it. You don’t get to see or learn or get the information from these incredible guests. So throughout this show, you’re going to see some great content that we have produced over the last couple of weeks. Great guests. We’re going to cover so many different topics, Will. Topics that you need to be informed about and make sure that you’re always staying engaged with us. That’s what we do here at the ACLJ. We want to give you a really broad scope. The work here at the ACLJ when it comes to our legal work, the scope is still now pretty wide. Of course, it’s First Amendment, freedom of speech, religious liberties. Those are core topics. But that can almost fit into almost any topic that’s going around the world right now.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s right. And when you see a show like this, we’re able to showcase not only the talent that we have that come onto the show and give that great analysis, but also how it weaves in with all the great legal work that we’re doing, whether it be in D.C., around the country or even around the world. The ACLJ has a presence and a mission, and it’s something that we conduct every single day. And so when you get to hear this and you hear how all these pieces fit together over several weeks of content, it really makes an impression about how large the organization is, how impactful we can be. But also, when there is something that rises in the news, there is an angle for the ACLJ many times to be involved, to give expert analysis on, and that’s what we continue and strive to do every day.
SPEAKER 05 :
And Jordan, that’s what’s really going on even in our DC offices. We’re expanding those as well because a lot of the topics that we do here at the ACLJ, they’ve now grown and expanded to really cover almost every arm and facet of what’s going on in Washington, DC.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s right. So we’ve opened up really… significantly increasing our footprint when it comes to government affairs and policy so as well as the legal side and of course the attorneys are able to assist with the policy because it’s law making but then you’re also able to bring in these policy experts who know how to put into legislative text know how to read through and we’ve launched ACLJ Action the C4 that can be more politically engaged it can do even more on Capitol Hill on the causes we care about and also brings us into new issues And so it puts the ACLJ stamp on more issues than ever before. So I would say while we are still focused on our core mission, we are able to, especially in these years like the Trump administration, expand the work that we are doing. And that’s because of all of our supporters. And you’ll learn about that through this broadcast today because it’s not just the kind of top three issues you think about.
SPEAKER 07 :
There’s a lot more. And Jordan, one thing I even want to bring up as you mentioned that, that Senator Hagerty, when he was on the broadcast a few days ago, mentioned that when they found out about that spying program, one of the first people he called was you. Yeah. Because that is what the ACLJ is able to provide, whether it be elected members of Congress who we’ve represented on briefs before the Supreme Court for decades, whether it be they need advice to know how they should proceed or being looking at the expertise of the ACLJ. Whether it be a sitting U.S. Senator, a sitting president, or whether it be all the way down to someone who their faith or their rights are being violated by their local public school, the ACLJ is there to fight for those people.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s right. I want to give you this opportunity right now before we head into break. Get your comments in, obviously. We always have comments open. Even when we do some of these best of shows, comments are open. You can always know that there’s someone on the ACLJ team monitoring those, reading those comments. So make sure you do that if you’re watching online. Keep that conversation going. But I really want to encourage you to become a supporter of the ACLJ. If you hear this show, if you watch this show, whether that is on radio, whether that is on YouTube or Rumble or however you may get it on the Salem News Channel, no, we’re not getting paid by the major sponsors that you’re hearing on those networks. A lot of that goes to the network. So we encourage you to become a member of the ACLJ. We call it ACLJ Champion. So do that today. That is at ACLJ.org. You can scan the QR code that’s on your screen if you’re watching right now to become a champion. That is a monthly donor. Do that today or give a one-time gift at ACLJ.org. Again, that’s at ACLJ.org. We’ll be right back with more on Seculo. Welcome back to Sekulow, packed back half of the show. Rick Grinnell’s joining us right now. Rick, obviously we’re in the middle, or middle of day two, I guess, of government shutdown. And look, we’ve been talking a lot. The first half hour, really, up until right now has been all about Israel, the holy days, of course, this attack that happened in Manchester. But I did want to pivot because last night I got a text even from you that we are in the middle of this government shutdown. We actually spent a good portion of the last segment talking about the arts and how the arts have majorly made a comeback at the Kennedy Center. There’s been a bit of a change of tone, even coming from the mainstream media. You have seen, you were on CBS to announce, I loved that, on CBS this morning, announcing honors, and that cast of people on the couch was like, man, I’ve been wanting George Strain in this forever. They were so glowingly excited. Obviously, it’s on their network. They’re not going to like, But, you know, when there’s the words President Trump involved, you never know what they’re going to say. And they seemed largely very excited about this. And now you even have other content returning. You people who have been going after you, been going after the Kennedy Center say, well, you know what? We got to give it to Ambassador Grinnell when he is able to pull off some pretty big wins.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, we were pretty excited over the last, I’d say, two or three weeks. We’ve had some really big wins. We’re bringing back the Vienna Philharmonic, which hasn’t been in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center in 14 years. And we brought them back. We’re bringing Sugart Ballet. You know, they haven’t been here in decades. We’re bringing in the Glenn Miller Orchestra. And then this past weekend, we had the gala, the Kennedy Center Gala, Black Tie, big fundraiser for the National Symphony. And we almost tripled the amount that we’ve raised, literally breaking every fundraising record we’ve had for years. the gala and had 50% of the crowd brand new people. So I think that people are beginning to say, you know, when you do big common sense programming, as President Trump wanted us to do, you’re going to get big support. And we’re finding that whether it’s Les Mis or the Sound of Music, which is on till Sunday, we’re just bringing back the big common sense programming. And I think it’s really popular. This is what you’re looking at right there is the Library of Congress. The young von Trapp singers who sing every night at the Kennedy Center utilized the foyer there and the acoustics. And so the kids got together and sang a little rendition. And it’s glorious. I mean, it’s really beautiful, especially in that room with all those acoustics.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. And I’m so thrilled that you’re doing this. And I’m also thrilled that the arts are thriving. Like you said, when you do programming that can reach the masses, all of a sudden they show up, as you said. I think that’s something that shouldn’t be pooh-poohed or laughed at or anything. And look at the content. It’s not like you’re bringing in things that anyone should be. This is what’s coming to a lot of major cities, a lot of major theaters. And of course, the Kennedy Center should be providing that great content. Now, this does come at an interesting time. You’re in the process of redoing the Kennedy Center, spending time raising money for it as well. But we are in the middle now of day two of this government shutdown. You’ve lived through these shutdowns before. I think we spent about an hour yesterday, Jordan and I, just breaking down, people, what this looks like. Because I think a lot of people who have never been… They’ve been through a government shutdown. They maybe just never knew they went through a government shutdown because they were not politically attuned to what was happening. And a lot of us over the last eight years, you could say 10 years, got a little bit more attention being paid to what was going on in the news. I even received texts from people who, you know what, maybe last time they were in their early 20s and now they’re in their mid 30s and they’re going, what does this mean? What does this mean? As someone who’s lived through it, I want to give you that opportunity as well.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, newsflash, it’s like a government shutdown every weekend, right? The government is shut down all weekend. Sometimes if you’re looking at the Senate, it’s usually a three or four day weekend every weekend. And so I don’t think that this is gonna be missed very much if it doesn’t go on for that long. But one of the things I saw Bernie Moreno, my friend from Ohio, talk about how members of Congress, both the House and the Senate, should not get pay And what we’re talking about is back pay once all of this is settled. You know, this is the kind of trickery that the government does, is that government bureaucrats are furloughed. They don’t have to show up to work because it’s a shutdown, but they all get their money back when this is done. So we at the Kennedy Center, we have a small portion of our staff, which is federal bureaucrats. bureaucrats, and that’s federal employees who work on the Kennedy Center as a monument because it’s a monument to John F. Kennedy. So a small portion of our individuals are federal employees. I’ve told them, we’re just going to keep paying you. We’ll figure out the pay, but you got to show up to work because I know what’s going to happen.
SPEAKER 05 :
and a week or two they’re going to figure it out and then they want me to pay everybody back pay after they didn’t show up so i just said show up we’re going to keep paying you we’re going to figure it out but no one at the kennedy center is going to be furloughed that’s good to hear that the furloughs but we do know this affects people and like we said and you brought up is for the mass majority of people they’re not feeling the effects of this yet they aren’t going to feel the effects of it likely it’ll get done before they do now obviously there is a group of people who Their jobs have been furloughed. And President Trump this morning even kind of put out a statement going, well, this does give me the opportunity. And I think, look, this has been a bit of what people voted for with President Trump is to look at these departments and go, OK, what is actually necessary? What are we doing here? Have we over bloated a lot of these departments now? I’m not for anyone losing their job. I think we need to be very clear about that, especially in these really tough times for a lot of people. But if the door opens, you’re able to go, OK, now let’s see who’s really doing what needs to be done. It gives that opportunity to President Trump and his team to start making those cuts.
SPEAKER 03 :
Look, I view it slightly a little bit differently in that the American taxpayers have a group of people, public servants, who work for them. And if we need to constantly right-size the government and make sure we don’t need that many public servants, then they go find work somewhere else. I don’t feel bad about that at all because the reality is we’ve got a lot of people working really hard and the federal government and the state government and the local government is taking a lot of money. If it’s not producing, then I would say let’s right-size the government, not feel bad about it. We haven’t done this in decades. We keep adding people. I can tell you just from my little perch at the Kennedy Center, We had massive numbers of people in different departments that hadn’t been looked at. We have rooms that haven’t been touched since 1973 inside the Kennedy Center. No revamping. And it’s just outrageous that leaders allow themselves to just sit in seats and let things happen. completely unfold without taking hold and asking the tough questions. So I hope our politicians in Washington are constantly saying, and cabinet officials are saying, what are we doing? Is this the appropriate number of people? And when you let people go, thank you for your service. This is all of our tax dollars. Let’s not feel bad about it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Maybe that’s a good point. And I think that maybe I don’t feel bad. We had a couple of callers call in that were like, you know, I’m President Trump’s one of the biggest supporters. However, I’m furloughed right now and I’m nervous. And I get that. I get that understanding of being like, I’m nervous for my job. But you are right. It’s a country where there are a lot of opportunities where people who are qualified for these jobs can go find other places of employment. You’re right. Sadly, it had to come to this point. It wasn’t that you had someone minding the shop, if you will, making sure that we were staying on track, that we weren’t overbloating these things. Like I said, you had rooms in the Kennedy Center that haven’t been touched since the 70s. I think people would be appalled by that when it comes to what their funding is going to.
SPEAKER 03 :
Look, I don’t think our forefathers ever envisioned that Washington, D.C. would be a city that is untouched by the economy or layoffs. It’s supposed to be the capital city. It was supposed to be a city that you were never really from. You went there for a short period of time and then you went home. That was the whole vision. And now we have Washington, D.C. as a big, bustling city that never gets budget cuts. And so that wasn’t the vision. to have a permanent bureaucracy, people who work for the federal government for 25 years. I think we’ve got to move a lot of these agencies outside of Washington, move them to the rest of the country, have different types of people who have the headquarters. I’m talking about the headquarters not being in Washington, D.C., and moving them outside. I think that would really benefit all of the taxpayers, and we need to make decisions for all of America.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s not just so you don’t have to spend less time in D.C. I feel like that’s the you’re like, we got to move these departments out of here. Why? Because Rick is like, oh, we got you muted.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hold on. Go ahead. Manhattan Beach would be a great place to put one of those agencies. Fantastic.
SPEAKER 05 :
And Nashville, too. Yeah, absolutely. We’ll take it. We’ll take all the people coming in. Rick, thanks for joining us today. I am really excited about what you’re doing with the Kennedy Center. Of course, that’s something, the arts is near and dear to my art, so it’s always nice to have that connection. But I am very excited for new programming and for the… the tone to finally come down a little bit. People were going after you, were going after what was happening there, but I think they’re at least even seeing the writing on the wall that you may have had a couple people say, we’re not doing this, but for the mass majority of the people and mass majority of performers, they want to be involved in what you’re doing at the Kennedy Center.
SPEAKER 03 :
We got like 20 seconds, but go ahead. Look, I appreciate that. It’s a testament to all of the individuals at the Kennedy Center who are trying to get big, beautiful programming, things that are popular, the people that want to come see. Everyone is welcomed. Everyone should be coming.
SPEAKER 05 :
Awesome. Thanks, Rick, for joining us. When we get back, I want to hear from you, whether you want to respond to what Rick had to say about the shutdown or… the arts but of course we’re going to continue our conversation about the attack in Manchester the synagogue the high holy days here that we are right now your support of Israel maybe the rights move away from supporting Israel what do you think is cause of that do you believe any of it’s true give me a call 1-800-684-3110 now’s the time to call in 1-800-684-3110 got a few lines open give us a call right now support the work of the ACLJ by the way you’re not going to hear this kind of show anywhere else by going to ACLJ.org and making a donation today.
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome back to Seculo. Now we’re going to go to our Washington, D.C. studios where Jordan sat down yesterday afternoon with Senator Bill Hagerty from Tennessee. Let’s take a listen.
SPEAKER 06 :
We’re in our Washington, D.C. studio. I’m with Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee. We’re both Tennesseans. And Senator, something you’ve been working on for months has been the safety of our cities. And This has been a discussion President Trump has been having about Washington, D.C., our capital city. Now we’ve talked about places like Chicago. We’ve talked about Los Angeles and New York. But there are cities in our home state as well, the city of Memphis, which is getting some attention now. And I wanted you to talk about kind of the efforts to make Memphis safe again for its residents and for those visitors, too.
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s also a problem that’s challenged Memphis and West Tennessee since I was a kid. To just share a very personal story. When I was 14 years old, my godfather was assigned his first ministry in Memphis. His son was my age. I was invited over during the summertime. I’m from Gallatin, Tennessee, a small town in middle Tennessee. And I was invited over to spend a week or so in the summer ministry. And my parents ultimately decided that they were concerned for my safety, and they did not let me go. You roll forward. I recruited, when I was Commerce Secretary of Tennessee, a major employer to come to the state. The average salaries ranged from $90,000 to $120,000 per job. Okay. And this was over a decade ago. The CEO called me and he asked if I could get him crime statistics for Tennessee that suppressed Memphis. So this is an issue that has been going on and it’s been troubling us. We’ve been trying to attack it in different ways. And many of my predecessors and colleagues have worked on this. But through the pandemic, we’ve seen it step up dramatically. Yes. And during the pandemic, Shelby County schools basically did away with truancy requirements. They’ve yet to reinstate them. You’ve got a lot of kids that have been out of school for years now. And you’ve got some very hardened gangs, hardened criminals there that are running these younger boys, basically, and committing heinous crimes, which has resulted in Memphis attaining a very unenviable place on the roster of crime. And that is, on a per capita basis, one of the highest crime rate cities in America. The time has come to do something about it. Immediately after the 2024 election, I began talking with the mayor of Memphis and also with the sheriff of Shelby County and with a number of leaders there in Memphis, Tennessee. They definitely want to see something done. They do. And my view was that we’re in a position to actually bring federal resources to bear to help. Our decision was to work quietively, but very, you know, very much work together to try to leverage federal resources to see if we could make a difference. And my hat’s off to Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, who, as they went through the confirmation process, you know, and the Senate has to confirm members and the FBI director. They both agreed with me that they would prioritize Memphis, and they absolutely have. Last Friday, we just finished the first major phase of this federal effort. We more than trebled the number of FBI agents in Memphis that started in late July, and it took a while to plan all of this. But again, we’ve done this in collaboration with the Memphis Police Department and with the-
SPEAKER 06 :
Has there been good support there from the local leaders in Memphis, from the mayor, from the police department?
SPEAKER 04 :
At the ground level, I couldn’t ask for better collaboration. The FBI has done a great job working together with the police department, with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. We’ve added DEA resources to this effort as well. But this initial effort resulted in 500 arrests, Jordan. And you understand this process better than most, over 105 federal indictments already. And that number is going to grow as these cases are worked up. Again, the effort just came to an end. The initial effort just came to an end on Friday. President Trump has been supportive of this all along. When he saw the initial success, he said, let’s make every resource available from a federal level. Because what I want to see happen, Jordan, is I want these hardened criminals, these gangsters out of our state. To do that, we need to charge them federally. So the Memorandum of Understanding that came out explicitly names the agencies that will be involved. And it’s every three-letter agency that you know. That includes HUD. That includes the IRS. You think about these criminals that have illicit income.
SPEAKER 06 :
Sure.
SPEAKER 04 :
The same as Al Capone. Right. We can get them on IRS federal charges. If you think about criminals that are utilizing HUD facilities or SNAP benefits, you just sort of go down the list.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re talking about cleaning up a city completely.
SPEAKER 04 :
We’re talking about cleaning it up. And federal charges means they’re not in the Shelby County Jail near Memphis. They’re in Leavenworth, and they’re there for a long time because federal charges are very different. You don’t have the same lenient bail situation, and certainly you don’t have the same lenient parole situation that you do at a state level, at a local level.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I mean, Memphis has a professional basketball team, and I’ve heard from former players who said they would tell new recruits not to play in Memphis because of the crime. I mean, we’ve heard that on a lot of the NBA podcasts. And, of course, if we can turn that around quickly— You know, that can change in a matter of weeks, it looks like.
SPEAKER 04 :
Of the many resources that are coming to bear, one of those is the National Guard. Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee, at President Trump’s request, is going to deploy the National Guard to Memphis. I think that has caused a lot of consternation. And I think from sort of the business class in Memphis worried about what does that do to the city’s reputation? Can we recruit people here? I think a lot of politicians… are going to call this an invasion. They just watch what Gavin Newsom is saying or what Governor Pritzker is saying in Illinois, and they’re copying that. But at the end of the day, when these resources come in, and I’ve talked extensively with the mayor about how you might deploy the National Guard. He’s talked with me about urban blight. It affects every major urban city, but it’s an issue in Memphis. The National Guard can help with that. They’re not there for law enforcement, but they’re there to support the entire effort. And I think the neighborhoods, just as they have in Washington, D.C., will welcome the presence. I think the most important thing is that as we come in and we put heavy up on law enforcement there, I’m talking about DEA, ATF, the FBI again, as we heavy up the law enforcement and we really take a major step to clean out the hardest core criminals here. incumbent upon me as a member of the Appropriations Committee in the Senate and on the governor. We’re going to look for the federal aid and the federal resources, I should say, and the state-level resources that Memphis needs to sustain this in the long term. Because Memphis has been historically short when it comes to law enforcement resources. They’ve had recruitment difficulties because of a local elected DA that George Soros got behind with $600,000 and put into office, who then proceeded to basically not try people and let them go. That has been demoralizing to the local police. That’s going to change, and we’re going to make certain. The governor and I have spoken about this extensively, and the mayor has been very clear with us. He’s actually given me a list of what he needs. That’s great. The resource requirements are significant, and we’re going to do everything that we can to put those resources in place long-term so that Memphis is sustained as the safest place Hopefully the safest, certainly one of the safest cities in America.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. I mean, Tennessee is becoming such a dynamic state. You don’t want Memphis to be left behind with, you’ve got cities like Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, all kind of moving forward. I mean, you keep going through the list. Memphis isn’t on that list right now because of the crime. If Memphis is on that list, I mean, the state becomes that much more dynamic.
SPEAKER 04 :
I pose the question to one of the new industries coming in, the folks running XAI. That’s the big hyperscaler that’s in Memphis. It’s a huge investment that’s coming in, $70 billion thereabouts that’s coming in, and a lot of other companies that are interested in being part of that ecosystem. And the management of XAI said, in response to the notion of having, for example, National Guard resources there in Memphis, would that be a deterrent to those companies that are thinking about coming? And the response was, no, everybody knows there’s been an issue. This actually shows that you care about it. You’re doing something to fix it. And that is absolutely the truth. And I have to compliment local leadership who’ve been willing to work alongside us. I certainly compliment the governor who’s been willing to put the resources to bear. And you know, and you’ve got to pledge for me that I’ll continue to work my heart out with my colleagues in the Congress, David Kustov, Congressman Cohen from Memphis, certainly Senator Blackburn. We’re all working together. Thank you. Thank you, Senator.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you so much. To support the ACLJ, go to ACLJ.org.
