Join us on Sekulow as we break down the dramatic seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker by the United States, a significant escalation in international tensions. With expert insights from Mike Pompeo, we explore what this means for the ongoing relationship between Venezuela and Iran and how it affects U.S. foreign policy. Dive into the intricacies of this geopolitical conflict and discover how U.S. sanctions and military actions are reshaping strategies in the Western Hemisphere.
SPEAKER 03 :
Today on Seculo, we have breaking news as the United States seizes a massive oil tanker, escalating tensions with Venezuela.
SPEAKER 02 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Seculo. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host…
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome to Sekulow. We’ve got a busy day today, so go ahead and like this broadcast, share it with folks, and if you’re not subscribed to the channel, go ahead and hit subscribe. But the United States has seized a massive oil tanker carrying Venezuelan oil, and the United States is alleging that this tanker is a part of a larger network of illicit smuggling by the Venezuelans, which benefit the Houthis, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and many others. And it was in a dramatic video released by the Attorney General of U.S. military rappelling out of a helicopter, getting on board this vessel to seize it. They also released a tweet from the Attorney General, which said, Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from from the Department of War executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran. For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations. The seizure completed off the coast of Venezuela was conducted safely and securely and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues. This made a lot of news. There’s a lot of tensions increasing with the Venezuelans, as we’ve seen over multiple weeks. And really, it began with the start of the Trump administration, with the president going after the Venezuelan gang, Trend de Aragua, calling them a terrorist organization, alleging that the leader, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, was in fact the de facto cartel leader of this gang and and that this illicit drug smuggling that comes into the United States is a threat to national security. That’s what’s led to the attacks on the drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean, as well as in the Pacific. This is an escalation of tensions. This is the first time that a oil cargo ship has been seized by the United States since oil sanctions began in 2019. But this ship specifically was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2022. So under the Biden administration. And this now has been seized. So we’re talking about four, three years, nearly four years since the sanctions on this specific ship happened. were put in place and it’s the first real action taken against it. It had loaded on about 1.8 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil just recently. It had offloaded only 200,000 of those barrels to a Panamanian ship, which was taking it to Cuba. So we’re talking about 1.6 million barrels estimated of crude oil on this ship with the allegations that it is transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran. I want to get your thoughts on this. What do you think about this escalation? There’s a lot of themes throughout it, whether it be the support of Iran that a state is giving, the support of terrorism that a nation state is giving, as well as all of the issues with those… gangs that are coming into the united states i want to hear from you are you concerned about this escalation are you supportive of this move by the united states in seizing this oil tanker give me a call at 1-800-684-3110 we also have secretary of state mike pompeo joining us later in the broadcast to discuss this very issue as well as cc heil from our office here to talk about some major moves in colorado that we’re making today supporting people who were criminally charged by a city for First Amendment activity and for reaching out to their community. Join us today, 1-800-684-3110 to be heard on air. But also, we are in December, our year-end Freedom Drive. It’s the most important month of the year here at the ACLJ, and you can join us. Your donations are doubled. Go to aclj.org slash freedom. Welcome back to Sekulow. If you’re just joining us, we’re talking about this seizure from the United States of a massive oil tanker that is transporting Venezuelan oil and has ties to Iran, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as the Houthi rebels in Yemen. And this was a tanker that was carrying 1.8 million barrels of oil it offloaded around 200 000 barrels just a few days ago that were headed to cuba so roughly 1.6 million barrels of crude oil left on this ship that’s a very large shipment of oil this is the first seizure of an oil vessel since the tough oil sanctions began in 2019. President Trump put those in place while he was in office during his first term as a pressure move against the Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro. We know for a long time that Venezuela and Iran have had close ties, not just Iran, also Hezbollah in Yemen. I’m sorry, that’s the Houthis in Yemen, as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon. So the Iranian proxies, as well as the Iranian government themselves, have close ties with this regime and have for a long time. There’s also reports of an island off the coast of Venezuela that the Hezbollah terrorists use as a training ground. So it’s not just a friendly economic relationship between the terrorist regimes and the Maduro regime. It’s also a training and military style partnership. We’ve seen the escalation of the Trump administration in this second term, whether it be against Trendy Aragua, the Venezuelan gang. that has become prevalent in the United States and uses violence and drug trafficking to assert their control here and destabilize U.S. cities, but as well as pressure on the Maduro regime itself from the president and taking out trafficking boats in the Caribbean through airstrikes, a highly criticized move by many members of the Democrat Party in Congress, as well as even some Republicans have questioned it. But this is a further escalation from that. This is a seizure of a boat. And I think we also need to frame it within the context of what it is. This boat specifically, this ship, was targeted with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury in 2022. So under the Biden administration, sanctions were put in place. But yet this is the first seizure of cargo from this ship since those sanctions were put in place in 2019. I do want to go to some phone calls because there’s a lot coming out of this. I’m curious about what our audience’s thoughts are on this, because on the face of it, it looks like an escalation. I don’t think anyone really wants to get in a direct conflict with any nation at this point, but much less one in our own side of the world, if you will. Let’s go ahead and go to Justin calling from California. Online one watching on YouTube. Justin, you’re on Sekulow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, thanks for taking my call. Yeah, I’m just struggling to understand why Democrats and those speaking out against this type of stuff is. who always are claiming to be holier than thou and they want to follow the law, yet they want to allow these drug traffickers, these smugglers, terrorists on a broader spectrum to operate unimpeded. I just can’t, I just don’t, do not understand.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Justin, I think the easiest answer is that anything that this president does, they’re going to oppose no matter what. That’s they’re going to have at very least concerns about the action taken by this president. And I understand being skeptical of military action in general. I think that. A lot of Americans have fatigue from the long drawn out wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, where we saw many of our fellow countrymen come back either broken from their experiences in war or coming back only to be mourned by their family, no longer a part of our community. I think that there is a lot of fatigue when it comes to that. And I understand that. I also think that there are nuances to these issues that aren’t necessarily the adventurism that we’ve seen maybe in the foreign policy of the past, but that are directly protecting the interests of the United States. Venezuela is not that far from the United States. We also understand that they are harboring and allowing some of our most fierce enemies, whether it be Iran, the proxies of Iran being the Houthis and Hezbollah from Lebanon. within their own country, helping them train there, giving them a safe haven, as well as this economic partnership, which helps Iran further terrorism around the world and their attacks against the United States, as well as helps Venezuela continue their entire scheme of destabilization within the United States through drug trafficking. through human trafficking and gang violence that we’ve seen in this country. But I also think there’s another layer to this, which is one that isn’t being talked about as much right now. And that’s where I’m curious about as well. If the United States is going to use sanctions as a tool to avoid going to war, to avoid getting into direct conflict with nations by putting economic pressure on them if we’ve had these sanctions in place since 2019 and this specific vessel has been sanctioned since 2020 and this is the first time anything’s really being done about it what good are sanctions What is the point of having that tool in your tool chest if you’re not going to then do something about it? Now, there’s reports as well that they were flying a different nation’s flag. They were flying the flag of Guyana, which was not registered in Guyana, nor were they legally flying that. So the Guyanese government is basically saying that this is effectively a stateless vessel. They weren’t flying the flag where they were registered, and therefore… This is not any sort of violation of the sovereignty of Guyana, which I think is a good thing to note as well, as well as the fact that they were trying to subvert maritime law. They were trying to appear as though they weren’t the Venezuelan vessel and trying to get the protections afforded to a vessel that is registered somewhere and therefore should not be raided. The Venezuelan government is saying this is piracy. That tells you a lot about this, is that they knew that they were trying to get around the maritime law and pull a fast one on the U.S. government, and it didn’t work out. So they are going to claim it’s piracy. The Attorney General was very bold in that statement, showed the helmet cam footage, which was of U.S. military members, members of the Coast Guard, members of the federal government, rappelling out of helicopters to seize this vessel. I mean, it looks almost like a video game or an action film when you see this footage that they’ve released of them seizing this vessel. But I think that that is the one thing I’m very curious about talking with Secretary Pompeo about later in the broadcast is if we are going to levy sanctions on people, And we are going to try and stop the shipment of 1.8 million barrels of Venezuelan oil, their biggest source of revenue, especially when this is a part of a trade route that is both helping the Iranians as well as the Venezuelans. What is the point of putting sanctions in place if we’re not going to do anything about it when they’re violating it? I think that is the biggest question I have, especially for Secretary Pompeo to see his angle on that, but as well for those Democrats in Congress that supported the previous president, Joe Biden, whose Treasury Department put sanctions on this vessel. If they are concerned about the United States doing something about those sanctions when the Venezuelans were clearly not living up to them or not concerned about them at all. then what’s the point in sanctioning countries? If that tool is not effectively going to get the outcome we want, and it’s only going to push us into the need of military conflict later, if we are going to stand by our principles, then what is the point of putting sanctions out there at all? That’s what I would ask those in the Democrat Party that have concerns about what happened here. Now, I’m sure there are many maritime law experts and others that will come up with other reasons why they find this to be an egregious overstep of the United States. To me, what I see is the implementation of sanctions in 2019, further sanctions on this specific vessel by the Biden administration. And Venezuela just deciding we do not care about the sanctions of the United States and the United States finally doing something about it under President Trump. The last thing I want is oil revenues boosting the terror of Iran. So when it comes down to that. I’m on the side of this particular action. We’ll see how it plays out. I’m sure that those in Congress are going to be loud and they’re going to want to see receipts why they think this was an Iranian-backed operation that was going on here. But I think it tells you all you need to know that this vessel was sanctioned by the Biden administration. Just now, something is being done about it. I will take your phone calls throughout the broadcast, 1-800-684-3110. But remember, we are during our December year-end Freedom Drive. It is the most important month of the year for the ACLJ. You can stand with us as we fight for your constitutional rights. as we protect people around this country that are targeted for their faith, for exercising their First Amendment rights. And your donation is doubled when you stand with us today at ACLJ.org slash freedom. We’ll be right back to talk about some of those clients. Welcome back to Sekulow. I’m joined now in studio by CeCe Heil, Senior Counsel here at the ACLJ. And we are going to shift gears a little bit. I’ll get back to talking about this situation of the seized Venezuelan oil tanker in coming segments. I did want to turn our attention to some of this work that the ACLJ is doing right now, because as I’ve said many times this month already, that when other people seem to be slowing down towards the end of the year, businesses are looking to close out the year and putting things off for the first quarter. I don’t know how many times our attorneys here have been working on briefs to the Supreme Court. hours before Christmas Day. Right. I mean, this is just a part of what we do here. The courts always seem to be ramping up around this time of year with a lot of our most important work. And this is an interesting update I want to bring to people. So we told you a few weeks ago about the city in Colorado that was unconstitutionally targeting churches. Right. that were gathering in a city park that was open for use of the public. These are taxpayers in this community. They can go use the public facilities by putting in place a very specifically tailored facility uh ordinance effectively on who can use the pavilion it can’t be used multiple times by the same people your group can’t be over five people which in theory could rule out a lot of families going to the park twice and sitting uh at the picnic tables and and enjoying a picnic lunch But the specific purpose was to shut down these churches that came there, used the public park, used the pavilion as an outreach center. They were using it to have worship, to tell people about the gospel, as well as to feed people who were hungry. And we know that not only did the city put this in place to try to shut it down and tasked the police with shutting it down, but three pastors that we represent were actually given criminal citations for this.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, absolutely. So this, you know, and this is not something that was new. This is something that these churches had been doing for four years, going to this park, using one of the pavilions and the pavilions, I think all the pavilions combined, it’s like 600 plus people that they can accommodate. So It’s a pretty big park, and these pavilions can accommodate a lot of people. They violated nothing. There were no complaints. There were no problems. But we see something did happen because this city literally put a target on this event. And just like you said, you know, that they were shutting it down, the chief of police literally told them that he had been tasked with shutting them down. And so how they do this in… Again, 2024, that’s when the chief of police told him, hey, I’ve been tasked with shutting this down. Then in 2025, the city actually passes that resolution, like you said, Will, which is ridiculous. That says you can’t have groups of five or more using the park on a recurring basis. And then they absolutely go. and charged with criminal citations. I think we’re actually representing four people, two members of a church and two pastors with criminal citations. And so like we have told you previously, we were going to file a federal lawsuit, which we have defending the First Amendment rights of these churches to go and share and practice their faith in in a public forum. We have done that, but we’re also having to defend the four clients that we have against the criminal charges, literally criminal charges against these four, two pastors, two church members for practicing their faith. And I think it’s next week that they’ll have an arraignment. We filed some motions to dismiss. or we’re doing that today. And so again, these cases, they do continue and our filing deadlines continue and the actions that we take continue well into Christmas, into the New Year’s. We don’t stop what the legal work that we’re doing at the ACLJ just because it’s a holiday season.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. And also for this very reason. And think about this. As CeCe mentioned, today we are filing motions to dismiss, basically wanting the court to throw out these charges against these pastors and church members because it’s ridiculous. And we’re also suing the city to try to get this overturned. But. The first hearing where ACLJ attorneys will be representing members of this community and these churches and these pastors is a week from today, the 18th of December. That’s also one week away from Christmas Day. What should these pastors be doing on the Thursday before Christmas? Is it going to a criminal hearing about trespassing or whatever citation they wanted to use against them because they were ministering to people in their community? No, they should be preparing their gospel message for Christmas Eve. They should be filled with joy about this time of year where we celebrate the birth of a savior, not worried about whether or not these charges are going to stick against them because they were ministering in a public park. And that’s what’s going on. Imagine the stress of already stressful time of year when you are a minister, when you are excited about sharing the gospel, the beautiful story about the birth of Christ with your congregation and all the potential visitors that will be hearing that for the first time. It’s like Super Bowl season for pastors. This should be something where they have a lot of stress because it’s exciting and they know how important this message they’re going to deliver is. And then throw on some criminal charges the week before. That’s why the ACLJ is here. That’s why our attorneys will be defending those pastors. And that’s why it doesn’t cost a dime for the pastors. That’s where you come in. When you support the ACLJ, you are supporting this work. We are standing with pastors when these members of this community should be just preparing to share the gospel again. But a city tried to shut them down. And that’s why we fight. And that’s why no case is too insignificant. And that’s why at the end of the year, we know we still have to fight because we don’t want those that want to shut down ministry and want to shut down the good news and want to shut down the First Amendment. We can’t let them win because it’s a busy season, because it’s a holiday season. The ACLJ attorneys don’t really just get to phone it in at the end of the year. They have to show up and they have to fight. And that’s why we are proud of the attorneys that we have and how hard they fight for our clients. And that’s why we are proud of the ACLJ champions and members that donate that make that possible. And that’s why this is the most important time of the year. Not just because we have all these cases going on and we’ve got a lot of them. Tomorrow we are filing that cert petition at the Supreme Court standing up for Calvary Chapel. Because Gavin Newsom wants to find them $1.2 million, wants to take away the funds that could be used to further the gospel, to minister to people in California, because Lord knows they need it. But the governors in the state and the city is like, nah, I think we need those tithes more than the church. Because rules that were already ruled unconstitutional, they’re still trying to find them for back under COVID restrictions. We’re also filing an amicus brief tomorrow at the First Circuit and Planned Parenthood defunding case because, like I said, it doesn’t slow down this time of year. Things that aren’t even in your mind right now because you are focused on being with your family, going to your church, and celebrating the birth of Christ with others. And that’s great. That is what you should be focused on. And that’s why we still have to work so that when there’s so many distractions and wonderful things going on, we know that’s when those that want to shut down the First Amendment and want to shut down the ministries, that’s when they go to work as well. So we’re here, we’re fighting, but we need you. Go to aclj.org slash freedom to stand with us, stand with these clients. It doesn’t cost them a dime. And that is because you stand with us. ACLJ.org slash freedom. Your gifts are doubled at this time of year. It’s the most important month of the year. Donate today. ACLJ.org slash freedom. We’ll be right back with more.
SPEAKER 02 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome to Seculo, our second half hour of the broadcast. Cece just said something to me as she was leaving the studio that I think is so true as well. And this is just to talk about what we were talking right there at the end about us defending these clients, even at the end of the year, even a week before Christmas, fighting for them to vindicate them against unjust criminal citations in a city that was targeting their ministry. And she brought up that many of our clients, if it weren’t for the ACLJ standing with them, and if it weren’t for you who donate to this organization, who stand with them, the heroes of the story, the ones that have the courage to stand up for their faith, and also the courage to reach out to fight back when they’re being wronged. If they were to go to a private law firm and just hire an attorney, It would be so expensive, even in these small cases, many of them would decide it’s cost prohibitive. I can’t afford to go toe to toe with my city or with my state because they have all the taxpayer resources. I’m just trying to get by and live and not get harassed by the government and charged for sharing the gospel. Many would probably decide just to plead out or to try to go it alone and maybe, if they can, get a court-appointed attorney to try to defend them in some of these cases. But… Because of you, they have a resource they can turn to and it doesn’t cost them money. And they can stand up for what’s right and not get bullied and pushed around by municipalities or states or previous administrations that want to target them specifically because they’re sharing the gospel. Or they’re conservatives. So it is so important when you give to the ACLJ, that’s what you are doing. You are making it possible to get justice. You are making it possible to fight back and right the wrongs that so many places are coming against. Christians coming against the First Amendment in this country right now. So thank you if you are an ACLJ champion or if you have given during this drive, but that is what you’re doing. And so if you go to ACLJ.org slash freedom, you are contributing to that and your donation and your impact is doubled during this month of December. I’m going to get back to this discussion about the seizing of the oil tanker, and I’m going to take a phone call here. We have Secretary Pompeo in the next segment to get his thoughts on it. And I’ll take more calls in the final segment of the broadcast. But if you want to join, I’ve got a couple lines open, 1-800-684-3110. Let’s go ahead and go to Jamal calling in North Carolina on line two. Jamal, you’re on Seculo.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you, sir. And you guys do great work. I’m glad you’re fighting for religious freedoms. And for those that don’t know, they have a great web page. They have sections on religious freedom. That’s been a good source of information to me. And they also have a radical left page or a section of their page, which has also been a good section. So I want to toss that out there. The question I have, you’re quite welcome. And yes, I have donated before. I’m leaning towards being a champion. Maybe I’ll get there one day, but I also support you financially. So when you mentioned about the other terrorist people that were affiliated with Venezuela, I remember how Russia has some ties with some of the southeastern areas as well. I forget which country it might have been, Venezuela, if I’m mistaken. Please correct me. So I was thinking… If we are stirring up some conflict with Venezuela, are we ready for maybe a large conflict with Russia?
SPEAKER 03 :
And Jamal, I think that is the concern. And that’s one of the things I’m going to ask Secretary Pompeo about in the next segment. That is one of the big concerns, especially for those of us on the conservative side that are like, we don’t need another major conflict. And that’s part of the reason President Trump got elected was he was trying to say we don’t need to be going into these bigger conflicts. So it’s a very pertinent question, Jamal. And one that has to be addressed and I think needs to be addressed by the administration about they have to tell you why it matters, why we’re doing this or else they’re not going to have people on board. We’ll be right back with Secretary Pompeo. Welcome back to Seculo, and I’m joined now by Senior Counsel for Global Affairs. Secretary Mike Pompeo is joining us to talk about this. And we had scheduled you earlier in the week, but it always seems that the days we schedule you, there’s something great to get your insight on. This is definitely one of them. Obviously, we’ve seen escalation with Venezuela throughout this second term, throughout the year with President Trump in office. But now we see yesterday a seizure of an oil tanker that had well over a million barrels of oil on it. Venezuelan oil. The reports are this was a specific ship that was used with the Venezuelans and the Iranians and that this also was a ship the United States had sanctioned in 2022. So under the Biden administration for this activity, I wanted to get your thoughts about the seizure of this oil tanker and the justifications of it.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, it’s great to be with you today. This is a big deal. We see tankers in the first Trump administration as well that were associated with North Korea, this time connectivity to Iran and Venezuela, it appears. My sense is this is part of turning off the economic capacity of Maduro’s regime to stay in power. So if I’m if I’m right on this theory, there will be more seizures. There will be more ships sitting in sea lanes off of Venezuela trying to deny the revenue that keeps the Maduro regime afloat. Right. This terrorist, this guy who’s moved so much narcotics into our country. is moving oil around. They turn the transponders off so you can’t tell where the ships are. They move them around, they transload them. This is an effort to put an economic blockade, to restrict revenue for Maduro. And the regime probably has enough resources to last I think weeks, not months. And so taking a million barrels of crude oil from him is a big deal for his economic capacity. I think President Trump is trying to give the Venezuelan people an opportunity to create a more democratic state, which would be a really great thing for the United States of America to do so in a way that doesn’t put American soldiers, sailors and airmen at risk.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and I think that’s the question we’re hearing. We had a caller in the previous segment that brought up some concerns and questions. I said, I’m going to ask the secretary in the next segment about this, mainly because one of the reasons President Trump was reelected was his foreign policy, his stature of strength in the world, but not rushing into conflict with every little conflict that breaks out. The American people, especially within the base, seemed very pro going after the drug smuggling. That seemed like a move that was easily to reconcile with protecting the homeland. This seems like an escalation where we see what is a fantastic video of our men and women in uniform rappelling down from helicopters to seize this oil tanker. And knowing that it really goes after the economic strength of the regime that starts to make bad actors act. less rationally we know they have ties very strong ties with Russia we know they have strong ties with Iran and all the Iranian proxies whether it be Hezbollah or the Houthis the concern from the caller was when when we take steps closer to this this seems like a powder keg that could go off that could really put the U.S. in direct conflict with a lot of other nations, not just Venezuela. So I wanted to get kind of your take on that. Obviously, this is a region that you dealt with very heavily as the Secretary of State in the first term and just wanted some of that. How would we communicate that to the base that is war weary, but also know the implications of the Maduro regime in our hemisphere?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, these are the absolute right questions to be asking. No one wants American adventurism to be the global policeman. I think Americans have learned that that’s a very difficult undertaking and not one that we want to engage in. But having said that, two thoughts. I heard the caller earlier. It is absolutely the case that the Russians are supporting the Cubans and the Cubans and the Russians and the Chinese and Iranians are all supporting the Venezuelan regime today. If we can eliminate that, it will be a really important thing for American national security. So this effort by President Trump, both in his first term and continuing now, is deeply consistent with his America first foreign policy. Second, you know, my sense of this is and we observe this in the first Trump administration. The Russians and the Iranians are there for one reason and one reason only. It is not ideology. It is economics. It’s money. They are able to skim and make profit and buy inexpensive crude oil and transship it to China so that oil is trading at 55 bucks a barrel. They can buy it for 35 from the Venezuelans. This is an economic matter. I don’t think that when the economics are shut off, that you’ll see the Russians or the Iranians or the Chinese provide material support. So the risk that they somehow get involved in this in a kinetic way seems pretty low to me. I’ll give you the most recent example. When the United States flew its aircraft over Fordow in Iran, the Chinese and the Russians were nowhere to be seen in providing support. I suspect that’ll be the same thing here. These are relationships of economic interest, not those of ideology.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and also to the point of the economic interest, we have placed sanctions on these regimes. When you were in the Trump administration the first time, we had sanctions in 2019 that were brought against Venezuela in their oil program. This specific ship was targeted under the Biden administration. So I think there’s also the question of, What’s the point of sanctions if we’re not going to enforce them? And sadly, that was the trend we saw for the past four years. But now I think the world maybe will take sanctions seriously when you see action like this.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, you’ve actually nailed it. I think we’ve talked about this in the context of Russia before. The Biden administration listed all these great sanctions that they had put in place, but then did nothing to enforce them. That’s actually worse than not putting the sanctions in place, right? It suggests you’re an absolute paper tiger. And so I agree. Not only will the Venezuelans see the economic pressure that flows from sanctions enforcement, but the rest of the world will see that under President Trump, America means business. And it’s serious about when it says, no, you can’t engage in this economic activity because it’s putting American lives at risk. that we’re prepared to defend and enforce it. And when you model that, when you show that you’re prepared to do that, you get second and third order benefits that often go unseen, but are certainly noticed by our adversaries.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I do want to point people to ACLJ.org. We just this morning received a new piece from you. If you’re not familiar as well with our website and just watch the broadcast or just listen to it, we have a wealth of knowledge and analysis and blogs that are up. And one of the contributors is Secretary Pompeo and just received this morning a A new piece on Venezuela says it’s time to support the Venezuelan people’s aspirations for freedom. It’s not up yet. That’s how fresh this article is. But I do want to turn that as well, because the people of Venezuela have struggled, whether it was under Chavez before Maduro and now Maduro. Just what it means for the people of Venezuela that are struggling under these regimes that have carried on for so long.
SPEAKER 09 :
Look, we don’t have the responsibility to deliver democracy everywhere and always. That’s not something we can do. But where there’s an opportunity that aligns with America first, with putting our own interests first, we can also do a really good turn for the Venezuelan people. We all have seen roughly 15, 20 percent of Venezuelans have to flee their country. We now watch Colombia starting to head down this same path of internal economic destruction. That in our hemisphere is not a good thing for the United States of America economically, in addition to from a security perspective. So I’m fully supportive. If the administration can find a path to put an economic stranglehold on the regime and give the Venezuelan people the chance to put in place the democratically elected leadership of their country, then there’ll be enormous economic opportunity for the United States and for our partners in South America. And importantly, the risk that someday The foothold that the Russians and the Chinese have gained in Venezuela and in Cuba, the foothold that they’ve achieved there, we can push back against that. And that actually, while it may be a little bit risky at the front end, reduces an enormous amount of risk over the long haul that we will someday have to go do something that’s really hard in one of these places.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you, as always, for joining us. Mike Pompeo, Senior Counsel for Global Affairs at the ACLJ. This is a day that it was much needed to get his insight as well. Go ahead and be on the lookout, ACLJ.org, this afternoon for his new piece, It’s Time to Support the Venezuelan People’s Aspiration for Freedom, as well as a piece that he adds up from last week that is fantastic to read because it’s about something that we talk about often here at the ACLJ, and that is titled, We Must Resist the Left’s Unconstitutional War on Pregnancy Resource Centers. This comes at a time where we are fighting in Massachusetts to defend just the right to exist and to tell people about the services that pregnancy resource centers provide without being attacked and demonized and slandered by the government of Massachusetts. We also talked about yesterday that win in the Second Circuit against Letitia James standing up for the right of pregnancy resource centers to not be silenced by the government in New York. We do a lot of work, and I’m glad to also get Secretary Pompeo’s take on that as well at ACLJ.org. But right now, we are in our year-end Freedom Drive where donations are doubled. It is the most important time of the year to continue this work. Support the ACLJ at ACLJ.org slash freedom and double your impact today. Welcome back to Sekulow. Final segment of the broadcast today. And I’m going to go to your phone calls. If you want to still be on air, we have a couple lines open. 1-800-684-3110. You can talk about this Venezuela situation. You can talk about the work of the ACLJ. Or if you have questions, just go ahead and call 1-800-684-3110. But I’m going to go ahead and go to Mary Ellen calling from Illinois on line three. Mary Ellen, you’re on Sekulow.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, great. I just want to thank you for even taking all of this. And I look at the business about this ship. We’ve been on the war on drugs for decades, okay? And to me, that was only focusing now I see on our homeland. But we’re in a different kind of war. We’re not in the same kind of war like in World War II. So we’re going on the offensive. We’re aiming at the source of the drugs. Not only Venezuela, but we follow the money now, too, because we also know Iran, who is part and parcel of this, they’ll be getting the money. But remember, we have to remember what Iran says about us. We’re the great Satan. So they’re going to use all that money against us. So I say, thank God for this money. this move.
SPEAKER 03 :
Amen. Thank you, Mary Ellen. And also, just to piggyback all of that for a little bit, we had a comment on YouTube that came in that just said, why would Iran need to import oil? They have their own. Something isn’t right. So what this is is a partnership between Venezuela and Iran to get around sanctions that they both have against them. So they are using Venezuelan oil as well as Iranian oil working together to sell it to places like China on the cheap to get around sanctions that the U.S. has put in place to try and stop those nations from making revenue off their oil. Using the Venezuelan cargo ships, having this partnership, funding it, co-funding it together as well, helps both nations in this partnership. It’s an economic partnership to try and avoid U.S. sanctions. A ship that is coming out of Iran that looks like it’s Iranian raises a lot more red flags than the ways that they are getting around it when they use the Venezuelan vessels that are flagged with a Guyanese flag illegally, as the government of Guyana has said. So that is where that comes in. It isn’t necessarily importing directly Iranians importing the oil. It is the way that they are working together to get the oil. to places where they will sell it and make money on the black market or to nations that are ignoring the U.S. sanctions. So it’s an economic driver for both nations that both need money to continue their bad activities, whether it’s the Maduro regime needing to survive and exist because that is their main source of revenue, as well as fund their other bad activities in this hemisphere and for Iran to continue to sow terror around the world and try to achieve their goals of eliminating Israel, eliminating the United States, and becoming a dominant world power. So I hope that cleared that up as well. We’re going to go on now to Michael. We have two Michaels. So if I’m calling you, Michael, from California on line five, you’re on the air. Michael, New Hampshire, line one, you’re next. So hang on. But Michael from California, you’re on Seculo. And looks like Michael from California is not on Sekulow today. Sorry about that. Going to Michael now from New Hampshire. Line one, you’re on Sekulow.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, hi. With respect to your standing up for the pastors in that city park, is that in Colorado? Correct, yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Colorado.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. The thing that came to mind, I’m thinking ACLJ. I was kind of thinking in my mind, what does that mean? Oh, yeah, American Center for Law and Justice. And then it occurred to me, what about the ACLU? Wasn’t this traditionally the kind of an issue that the ACLU would take the cudgels up for? You know, they defended Nazis marching through Skokie, Illinois years ago through a Jewish neighborhood. Wouldn’t they stand up? Why wouldn’t they stand up for Christian pastors ministering to needy people in a city park in Colorado?
SPEAKER 03 :
Michael, I think that’s a rhetorical question. I think you know the answer is that the ideology doesn’t mesh with theirs. And unfortunately, the ACLU of old, while politically did not align with the ACLJ and we were on opposing sides of the ACLU in a vast majority of cases that we we took up. There were times where we would be, whether it was a direct case or whether it was both of us filing amicus briefs in a case, we’re arguing the same position because they used to be a very free speech civil liberties organization that has just become another leftist pro-abortion organization. And it… Not that the ACLU was an organization that aligned with conservative ideology, but it is also sad to see when even the cases that we could have agreed on, not something that they even really seem to care about anymore. So it’s a good question, Michael. Obviously, yes, this is the ACLJ, not the ACLU, if you are tuning in and have not heard of us before. This is the American Center for Law and Justice. We have been fighting for… First Amendment rights, religious liberties for more than 35 years now. So welcome. If you’re new, go ahead and subscribe to the channel if you’re watching on YouTube or Rumble and give us a thumbs up. But for the longtime listeners, you know the difference between the ACLU and the ACLJ. We’re going to go now to Tom from California Online 2. Tom, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 07 :
How you doing? I appreciate that. And you guys keep up and ladies keep up the great work. Thank you all are the one of the few buffers we have between integrity, honesty and the federal government, state government and all the corrupt people. My point is this. I’ll try to get it to chase. with respect to this somalian and um minnesota government corruption uh i have a lot of heartburn on it throughout the history of our great great country there’s been corruption there always will be and that due to man’s greed and man’s uh thirst for power unfortunately we don’t make examples of these people i’ve been looking at some of the sentences that some of these 50 or so people that have been already convicted of fraud and stealing have gotten. And some of them are mediocre. Some are pretty good. 28 years is the worst. Some are four years. My point is this. Any politician who’s placed in an office of trust And anybody that signs all the forms and affidavits and swears, they will use government money for integrity and honorable causes like autistic children. Anybody that abridges that and lies, steals, cheats the American public should be thrown in jail and any politician should lose all respect. pension, and financial benefits. If you want to get serious from a political standpoint, that’s my recommendation. Money is all these idiots and thieves understand. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you, Tom. And you’re calling from California. I want to bring out tomorrow we’re filing at the Supreme Court. And the contrast is not lost on me that in Minnesota there was this fraud scheme that stole a billion dollars of taxpayer money exploiting COVID relief systems. In California, they are going after Calvary Chapel because they are wanting $1.2 million in fines because of them exercising their First Amendment right to worship. That’s in the First Amendment, the freedom to exercise your religion. And they’re trying to take up $1.2 million from Calvary Chapel for that during the COVID era. Meanwhile, we have the fraud in Minnesota. Support the ACLJ, ACLJ.org.
