The Washington Stand’s Casey Harper reports on President Trump’s visit to China, offers an update on the redistricting battle in South Carolina, highlights the House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing examining concerns about the rise of Sharia law in
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Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now. The president has laid down a marker that was overdue and very important. The American people are not going to be taken advantage of anymore by adversaries or allies. So our prayers are with him, and he has a good visit with Xi in China. They come forward with some favorable policies and things that will help us out, and I believe he will, and we’ll see how that develops.
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That was House Speaker Mike Johnson earlier today commenting on President Trump’s trip to China. Welcome to this Wednesday, May 13th edition of Washington Watch. I’m your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks so much for joining me. Well, coming up, President Trump has landed in China for his summit with the Chinese Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping. Will the CCP’s human rights abuses be a part of the conversation? Many in Congress believe they should be. New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith will join us later. Plus, North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer will weigh in on the president’s trip to China, along with the proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget. And Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hannaway joins us in studio to discuss the Supreme Court’s review of the abortion drug Mifeprestone and what the state of Missouri is doing to protect life. All of that and more straight ahead. all right president trump has arrived in beijing for his summit with chinese president xi jinping bringing along uh top u.s business leaders including his buddy elon musk trade technology taiwan and the conflict involving iran are all expected to dominate the talks on both sides or as both sides rather look to stabilize a very fragile relationship Joining me now is Washington Stand reporter Casey Harper. Casey, what does the president hope to accomplish during this visit, and what are some of the biggest issues on the table?
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Yeah, thanks, Tony. I mean, you laid out a litany of the goals, and some of those are the president’s own, and some are others that people are advocating for. But from the president’s own mouth on True Social late last night, he said his number one priority is the economy. He’s pushing China to, quote, open up more to American businesses and investment and presumably open up their very large population to buy more American goods. But it comes, as you referenced, amid a very fragile trade truce between the U.S. and China. I mean, it wasn’t long ago that we were on the verge of or in the midst of a trade war as tariffs were being tossed back and forth. Of course, the Supreme Court pretty significantly limited the president’s tariff power, although not altogether. So that’s a lot of the backdrop going into this meeting on the economic front. But another big issue is the treatment of political prisoners by the Chinese Communist Party, which doesn’t have a great record on this. In fact, here is what Congressman Chris Smith had to say.
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Silence is not an option. Silence tells the jailer no one is watching. Silence tells the prisoner the world has moved on, turned the page. It tells Beijing that hostage diplomacy, coercive exit bans, and transnational repression can be normalized. It can’t be normalized. We will not be silent, and we pray and hope that the president is successful.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, the Chinese embassy actually tweeted out in going into this meeting, they don’t want to hear about human rights abuses, which you could say is kind of an admission of guilt. But regardless, it remains to be seen whether the president will bring it up with them.
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Well, God bless Chris Smith for staying on this issue, and he’s going to join us a little bit later. Another issue that remains a deep concern for us is the persecution of Christians by the Chinese Communist Party. We ask you to pray that President Trump will address this issue in his discussions with the Chinese leader. And as I mentioned, Congress Smith will join us later. I want to move to another issue, and that is that of Sharia law in the United States, not elsewhere, right here in the United States. That was the subject of a hearing today, Casey, on Capitol Hill. Tell us about it.
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Yeah, this was a very interesting hearing. They really brought a lot of data and numbers to something that some have just called a conspiracy theory or laughed off, we’re seeing real evidence of it happening in Europe and now in the U.S. So for instance, one witness was Amy Meckelberg. She’s the founder of RARE, which is Rise, Align, Ignite, and Reclaim. And she said at the hearing today that her family have actually faced threats because of her activism against Islamic extremism. And she issued a stark warning that Sharia law is a direct threat to Western democratic values right here in the U.S., not somewhere overseas. And she gave some numbers to it. She highlighted that the Islamist networks tied to the Muslim Brotherhood operate more than 8,000 Islamic nonprofits right here in the U.S. That includes 650 in Texas. She also gave an example of a 400-acre Islamic development with an $80 million Sharia-focused compound in Texas. Now, Texas Congressman Chip Roy, that’s in his state, he led the hearing today, and he also expressed his concerns. Here’s what he had to say.
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For too long, politicians, scared of being called Islamophobic, have failed to stop the spread of Sharia law and refused to put an end to the ceaseless immigration from the world of people who adhere to it. How many more Americans must die or succumb to Sharia law before we address this critical threat to our safety and our way of life?
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That’s one more example from this area. I could go on for a while about all the evidence, but Amon Blair, who’s a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, just made clear that there’s no religious or ideological system that should be allowed to operate superseding or parallel to the U.S. constitutional system, which is exactly what we’re seeing with many of these Sharia courts popping up around the country.
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All right, Casey, we’re going to hear from Congressman Chip Roy a little bit later in the program. Thanks so much for the update. Thanks. I want to go to the other side of the Capitol where Republicans in the Senate are still hammering out their second reconciliation bill focused on fully funding homeland security, including immigration enforcement. Joining us now to discuss this and more is Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senator Cramer, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
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Good to be with you as always. Thank you, Tony. So, Senator, where do we stand on Reconciliation 2.0? Yeah, well, it’s looking pretty good. As you know, the two chambers have reconciled the budget direction, and now it’s pounding out the details. We are planning to vote on the final package in the Senate next Thursday. That’ll result in a voterama, as we’ve all become familiar with, It means we stay up all night and punish ourselves while we vote on a whole bunch of dumb amendments. But at the end of it all, I fully expect that we will pass the budget, which does fully fund the law enforcement part of immigration. It’s hard to believe that Democrats have become so hostile toward law enforcement and so generous toward violent crime that they don’t want to fund keeping the border protected or keeping our citizens protected from those pesky law enforcement officers. But we’re on board. They’ve proven that it’s important for us to do it alone, which is why we’re using reconciliation, Tony. And we’re going to do it for a good long time. Make sure that ICE and border protectors are funded well into the next three years so that we don’t have to shut down the government again in order for sanctuary cities to harbor violent criminals.
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I was talking with House Speaker Mike Johnson earlier today, and he was discussing the gathering he had with Republican senators yesterday, a very positive meeting. And he feels very confident about Reconciliation 2.0. And, you know, your voterama that you do kind of reminds me of those lock-ins back when I was in high school in the Baptist church. But the House is looking for Reconciliation 3.0.
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uh that’ll contain a lot more items what does that look like in the senate yes so great question and when when the speaker said that to us yesterday um there were a lot of us going phew maybe we can still pull this off and i’m one of them i think that we’d almost be negligent if we don’t try a third round given again the reluctance of uh of democrats to fund the priorities of this country i think there’s still opportunity for us um TO DO SOME MORE ON THE DEFENSE SIDE. REMEMBER, THE PRESIDENT HAS PUT FORWARD A $1.5 TRILLION ENTIRE DEFENSE BUDGET, BUT A GOOD PIECE OF THAT, YOU KNOW, A QUARTER OF A BILLION OF THAT, IN FACT, 350 MILLION OF THAT IS ACTUALLY, I’M SORRY, 350 BILLION OF THAT IS ACTUALLY THE BUDGET RECONCILIATION PIECE. SO IF WE’RE GOING TO FUND THE PRIORITIES THAT WE NEED, REMEMBERING THAT WE’VE TAKEN ABOUT A 40-YEAR, YOU KNOW, hiatus from funding national defense and modernization the way we should have to maintain it. So now we’re digging out of a hole with the need to modernize our entire nuclear fleet with very expensive replacements, obviously, particularly the Minuteman III missiles with the new Sentinel, to modernize our Air Force with Generation 5 and Generation 6 fighters and new bombers, long-range standoff missiles. And, of course, drones and counter drones. And then there’s space, space which wasn’t even a warfighting domain, you know, half a dozen years ago, is now, of course, a very seriously contested domain. And we have a Space Force, and we need to fund this modernization effort. Clearly that’s an important part of it. And perhaps there’s even some things I believe that we should be doing on the healthcare front. While we tackled a lot of it in the first round with the working families tax cuts, there’s more to be done to find savings, to weed out the fraud and the abuse in the system, and then make sure that the people that need the help get the help, and that insurance companies don’t simply get rich off of the federal government.
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SENATOR, I WANT TO GO BACK. YOU MENTIONED THE DEFENSE BUDGET. PRETTY SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE REQUEST, 1.5 TRILLION OVER 50% INCREASE. As you pointed out, our military has been neglected for quite some time. And if we want peace, you gotta have strength. Ronald Reagan showed us that. And during his entire time, we had pretty much, we had peace in the country and we’d benefited from that. Now in the last 20, 25 years, we’ve seen a lot of conflict, but you could argue that part of that is because we’ve neglected our military, not just from the material standpoint, but also in using our military for social experimentation.
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Boy, Tony, you are so right. The priorities of our military got so convoluted, started really in the Obama administration, was on steroids during the Biden administration, and where all the social experimenting was going on at the same time. We were not expressing strength, even if we had strength. We’ve always had more literal strength, if you will, better weapons systems, even our old legacy systems. Our 60-year-old B-52 bombers and their 50-year-old Minuteman missiles were the deterrents of violence for a lot of years. But we also didn’t express a sense or a culture of strength. And that’s where President Trump has changed the whole formula. So you’re exactly right. Our priorities have been screwed up. We now have to pay up the peace dividend that we took for all these years. And it’s well worth it. Tony, it’s well worth it. As I like to say, it’s the one most legitimate thing that the federal government does, that is protect our country from nefarious actors.
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100% right. I mean, all this other stuff that we’re doing is questionable at best. Military and defending our borders and this country is essential. Related to this, the president is over in China right now. In about four or five hours, he’s going to be meeting, going to begin his summit. Now, you’ve been speaking out about this for quite some time. of the concern about China, their encroachment upon military facilities, the spying, and what they’re doing here in the United States. Obviously, we want trade. I mean, I think fair trade is good with everybody if he can hammer out those deals. But there are some other things that need to be talked about. We can’t have people taking advantage of a freedom over here and the access they have. And it’s spying on us, plus the human rights record.
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All of it should be on the table, Tony, no question, starting with the last thing. And I heard your previous segment. I mean, their human rights violations cannot be overlooked. They should be on the table for sure. And Xi Jinping should be confronted with that. And for them to suggest somehow that they don’t want to hear about it, of course they don’t want to hear about it. They’re guilty of it. And we need to confront that. It matters a great deal. Yes, trade’s really important. China, one and a half billion people. For states like mine that grow a lot of food, way more than we can consume. We need big markets like China’s, and we should be doing trade with them. But we also need to be strategic about decoupling much of our supply chain from China. We can’t rely on China, whether it’s minerals, whether it’s food. I mean, China has about a third of the meatpacking industry in the United States. We need to make sure that we’re taking care of Americans first. Same with energy. I’m sure energy policy will be on the table when you Consider what’s going on in Iran, the Straits of Hormuz. The fact that the Strait of Hormuz is the pathway for most of China’s discounted oil, we can help them with their oil problem here in the United States.
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Especially in North Dakota, you can do that.
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Amen to that.
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Senator, thanks for joining us. Out of time. Always great to see you. Folks, stick with us. We’re back with more after this.
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Join us for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action at this year’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. Hear from Christian leaders, issue experts, and government officials as we work together to build a foundation based on biblical truth. Early Bird special tickets are on sale for $69 when you register by June 15th. To register, visit PrayVoteStand.org. That’s PrayVoteStand.org.
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Exodus 9, verse 1 says, You see, America has freedom for a purpose. The question is, are we living by that purpose today? In Scripture, deliverance and freedom is never an end in itself. It is a liberation unto obedience, to worship, and to a covenantal relationship. God’s demand to Pharaoh was not freedom for freedom’s sake, but freedom so his people could identify with and belong to and serve him. Freedom that is not used to serve God will not endure. One of the founders actually echoed a similar warning. Thomas Jefferson wrote, Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and his justice cannot sleep forever.” See, the founders understood we as a nation would be accountable to God for what he had granted to us. They sought freedom for a purpose. And that freedom was given to us as a nation for that same purpose, to serve God, to honor Him, and to live as a people under His authority. In this 250th anniversary year, we must ask the question, are we living by that purpose today as a nation? Lord, we thank you for the godly foundation and heritage of our states. Lord, we would return to an understanding of the freedom that you have granted to us, that freedom has a name. His name is Jesus. And freedom has a purpose. It is to honor and glorify you. And I pray that our nation would return to that understanding of the purpose of the freedom that you have granted to us. We thank you, Father. By faith, we pray that we would return to that purpose. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. All right, welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us on this Wednesday. The website, tonyperkins.com, lots of resources there for you. Even more is available at the Stand Firm app. Go to the App Store and get the Stand Firm app where you’ll have access to Washington Watch. Also, you’ll have access to Washington Stand, our news and commentary from a biblical perspective, as well as my daily devotional, Stand on the Word. All of that plus more is found on the Stand Firm app. Go to the App Store and get it today. President Trump arrived in Beijing earlier today for his highly anticipated summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which will commence in about five hours, 10, 15 p.m. Eastern time. Later this evening, ahead of the summit, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on and pass a resolution urging President Trump to highlight the cases of various political prisoners in China. The man behind that resolution, Joins us now here to discuss this and more is Congressman Chris Smith, senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, co-chair of the Congressional Executive Commission on China and co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. He represents the 4th Congressional District of New Jersey. And there’s not a stronger voice in Congress for the persecuted than Congressman Chris Smith. Chris, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
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Tony, thank you so very much. And thank you for your Just incredible leadership that you show in Washington and around the world. Thank you, Tony.
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Well, I appreciate that. So, Chris, you have been on China for as long as I can remember because they have been a country that has abused people intolerant toward religious freedom. But this is still one of those few areas where there’s bipartisan support. And that’s because it’s really not a partisan issue. And by the way, FRC action plans to score the vote on Resolution 1259 and has been urging House members to vote in favor of it. You introduced this to create a comprehensive strategy to obtain the release of these persecuted prisoners. Tell us about it.
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Without a doubt. The president, I believe, will raise the issues of Jimmy Lai, who’s a great man. Obviously, he is in prison for 20 years, Hong Kong, head of Apple Daily. Just an amazing, faith-filled man who’s done great work. And for that, he got first five years, and now it’s 20 more. It’s a death sentence. And his son, Sebastian, and his I had Sebastian at a hearing in 2023, and he was amazing. I even told him, hey, you’re a chip off the old block, just such a good man. But he’s just asking that his father be released. And Trump has said, President Trump, that he will. make that request, and for others. There are so many religious and political prisoners who are languishing in these gulags, the Lao Gai, as they call it, or other jails. They are often subjected to torture, all kinds of deprivations. sleep, food, other things, but actual torture, and that is torture too. And we’re saying enough is enough, Xi Jinping. You know, you want to be part of the civilized world? We’ll end this barbaric behavior that you visit. So this resolution names a lot of these people, some of these great people, and then more, because by linkage we know there are so many others. You know, we have a project at the Commission on… on the China Commission that is second to none, that tracks politically religious prisoners, a database. And we continually raise those names, those individuals, hopefully for release. And in the case of Jimmy Lai, he’s got serious medical problems that have to be attended to. So the president, we want him to know, and Xi Jinping as well, that the Congress in a bipartisan way, as you pointed out, has the president’s back. We fully support what he’s trying to do.
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Just give some sense of what these individuals are accused of doing and why they’re in prison.
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Well, Xi Jinping has begun a terrible, several years ago, process called sinitization, where all aspects of religion comports to his ideology. And if you don’t comport, you’re in jail. You’re beaten, you could be killed, and your church will be destroyed. The underground church, along with Frank Wolf, have visited them many times on trips to China. I’m now barred from going. But I never saw such courage and grace under pressure as these pastors, particularly in the house churches, who put up with so much. And slowly but surely, Xi Jinping, is crushing them. He’s crushing the Muslims in Xinjiang, the Uyghurs as we know them as, and they’re committing, it’s a genocide. There’s no doubt about it. It’s a genocide. And they’re also putting many of them and Falun Gong and Christians, using them for forced organ harvesting. And I’m chairing a hearing tomorrow.
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In fact, we were discussing that on the program just yesterday with one of those that’s going to be testifying before your committee. I want to just underscore the importance of these hearings that you host. Many people are, what do these hearings accomplish? I know, just in my 20 years that I’ve been here, as you’ve held these hearings, I’ve testified many times, but these hearings, Committee hearings have actually resulted in the release of people and the saving of people’s lives because when America prioritizes something, whether they want to or not, many of these dictators have to pay attention.
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Oh, without a doubt. The father of the democracy war movement, Weijing Shang, who’s a friend of mine, when I met with him in Beijing in 1994, when the Chinese were trying to get the Olympics 2000, they got it years later, but they wanted it then. They let him out. They then rearrested him. He told me something I will never forget. He said, when you’re quiet, when you kowtow to a dictatorship like Xi Jinping’s or any of the others that preceded him, they laugh at you. They go behind doors and say, these guys are weak and feckless. When you’re strong, you know the details. You look them in the eye and you say, hey, there’s a consequence. We’re going to try to link this to trade. We’re going to try to link it to the relationship on a myriad of other areas. And we mean it. And I can’t tell you how often, whether it be Lukashenko in Belarus or many of times during the Soviet Union, and Reagan was a master at it, getting people out of prison. I’ve worked on many. Frank Wolf and I have worked on so many cases. And the hearings helped set up the fact the facts, gets it all out. And one of the things we found out over and over again is that when you’re forgotten, that’s when they beat you more. That’s when they throw the book at you in these horrible gulags, when they know that there’s maybe an accountability someday for them, internationally especially, but also that we’re watching and we’re watching. It has an impact. Xi Jinping is a unique figure. dictator. But I have found dictatorships are never as long as they think they’re going to be. Remember, the Nazis were going to be for 1,000 years. That didn’t happen. So we need to be absolutely tenacious, standing with the oppressed and not the oppressor. I’ve had 107 hearings on human rights in China alone, 700 total. And we always get an action plan out of them. legislation, amendments, linkage to other things, and it also helps the administration to prioritize it.
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Congressman Chris Smith, we’re out of time, but I want to thank you for your leadership on this issue, and we appreciate you greatly. Thanks for joining us today. Folks, stick with us. We’re back with more after this.
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One Nation Under God, America’s undeniable foundation of faith.
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The United States Capitol, an iconic symbol of the American Republic. But few know that this building at the heart of our nation’s government was once something more, the largest church building in America. Since its inception and for decades following, several rooms throughout the Capitol, including the House and Senate chambers, were used to host church services weekly. These services were filled with individuals from all levels of government. The attendance was so pervasive that often it was standing room only. Quote, going to the Capitol on Sundays was then one of the most common things in Washington. Margaret Bayard Smith. This practice was not merely accepted, but encouraged. Quote, I consider it as one of my public duties as a representative of the people to give my attendance every Sunday morning when divine service is performed in the hall. President John Quincy Adams. Housing worship at the center of our capital was a living representation of the role that biblical principles played as a cornerstone of our nation’s foundation of faith.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. Tomorrow’s FRC Stand on the Word Bible reading plan begins the book of 1 Samuel. And we have a great companion, a study guide that offers practical insight, the guide 1 Samuel. Longing for a King explores leadership, obedience, and what it means to faithfully follow God. So if you’d like to order your copy, simply text SAMUEL to 67742. That’s SAMUEL to 67742. And if you’ve not joined our Bible study, our daily journey through the Word, well, you need to. Text BIBLE to 67742. We’ve got thousands of people on this daily journey. In fact, I hear from folks almost every day telling me how this has impacted their walk with the Lord, how it’s impacted their relationships, their families. And it’s just, it’s powerful to abide in the Word. So join us for Stand on the Word. Text Bible to 67742. And the book of Samuel is a great place to start. It’s one of the pivot points in the Old Testament. So text Bible to 67742. Earlier today, a House Judiciary Subcommittee held its second hearing on the rise of Sharia law in America and the serious threat that it poses to our civil liberties and our founding principles and really our Republican system. That’s a little R, our Republican system of government. Now, this is something that, frankly, many are scared to point out for fear of being labeled Islamophobic.
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For too long, politicians, scared of being called Islamophobic, have failed to stop the spread of Sharia law and refused to put an end to the ceaseless immigration from the world of people who adhere to it. How many more Americans must die or succumb to Sharia law before we address this critical threat to our safety and our way of life?
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That was chairman of the subcommittee, Congressman Chip Roy from Texas, this morning as he kicked off that hearing. And he joins us now on the Patriot Mobile Hotline. Congressman Chip Roy, welcome back to the program. Always great to have you on the program.
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Tony, great to be on.
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So this is the first hearing on the, the first hearing was actually held in February. You noted in your opening remarks what’s happened since then. But many are afraid to connect the dots for fear of being called Islamophobic. Speak to that issue.
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Yeah, I mean, look, we’ve had multiple attacks across the country, one of which was in Austin, Texas, where, as you know, I live about 20 miles outside of and know the city well. And we had this individual wearing a property of a law shirt who, you know, shot and killed individuals in a bar in downtown Austin. And this is something that we’re seeing crop up quite a bit. But it’s bigger than that, Tony. I mean, what we exposed in the hearing today is the extent to which we have a flood of people from majority Muslim countries into the United States over the last 25 years since 9-11. We’ve got a massive cultural impact throughout our country. We have an organized effort by the Muslim Brotherhood, CARE, and affiliate groups and organizations that are dedicated to the task in their own words of waging jihad against Western civilization. We had a witness from a high school in Wiley, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, explaining how the Bible wasn’t available in middle school, but the Koran was. explaining how they tried to create a Republican group and profess their values, but they were shoved aside. But a Muslim group was extolled and a principal put on a hijab. This is what we’re dealing with. And it’s a direct assault on our Western civilization values, Tony. We’ve got to call it out. We’ve got to fight it. And if we don’t, we’re not going to win a war that we don’t acknowledge exists. And that was what the hearing was all about, was making that clear.
SPEAKER 17 :
Now, this may shock some people, Congressman Roy, but, you know, back prior to the 1970s into the 60s and before, our immigration policy recognized this and we tightly controlled who came to this country, making sure that it would assimilate into the country and not bring values and ideals that would undercut and undermine the country.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, that’s exactly right. Now, you know, if you go back to the 1920s, we had a fairly high portion of people in this country who were foreign-born. Now, most of them shared our values. Most of them came here and wanted to assimilate, learn English, advance our Christian culture. Today, we have 52 or 3 million people who are foreign-born, a huge percentage of whom are people who are not consistent with our values. They have Islam, which I do not believe is consistent with Western civilization. In fact, I think it’s incompatible. And so now we’ve had a huge percentage. And as you point out, in the 1960s, we had about 40 years where we had a very low immigration rate. We basically froze immigration for about 40 years. As a result, we were able to, I think, kind of recalibrate our country. make sure we had a common bond as a country and a culture. But now we’re at breaking point, and we need to address it, acknowledge it, because this is distinct. We’ve talked about on the record in the hearing today the rape gangs in London, the extent to which we have massive cultural problems, Sharia courts, there are 85 of them in the United Kingdom. You and I have talked extensively about the attack on Christianity against Pivey, who is now fighting for her life again. with respect to her religious liberty and advancing Christianity. And here you have Islam, a political ideology destined to try to destroy Western civilization, and it’s being extolled and Christianity is being shunned. That’s wrong.
SPEAKER 17 :
Chip, we just have a little over a minute left, but explain to folks why we’re not talking about religious freedom. Sharia law is not about religion. It is about a legal system. It is about a political system. This is about undermining our Republican form of government.
SPEAKER 15 :
And none of this is about any individual and what he or she believes or doesn’t believe, whether they’re atheist, agnostic, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, it doesn’t matter. The issue here is whether you’ve got an organized effort to go to war with our way of life, which we are seeing very much in operations for memoranda, for organizations, for funding of groups that are pushing Islam as a political ideology to undermine our way of life. And that is something we need to recognize because you can’t defeat it if you don’t acknowledge it.
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What’s the next steps?
SPEAKER 15 :
We’ve got to continue to expose. We’ve got to continue to show what’s happening. We’ve got to limit immigration. We’ve got to reset the table. We’ve got to make sure in courts that we win and demonstrate that it is a political ideology. And then we need to have real conversations about how we’re going to proceed in the future and making sure people understand. As I’m sitting in the House chamber right now, it says, in God we trust, above the Speaker’s seat. It has Moses where the Speaker looks out directly across the chamber. The Ten Commandments are on the outside of the United States Supreme Court. We are a Judeo-Christian people. We’re a Christian nation, and we need to acknowledge that, recognize it, promote it. Don’t take anybody’s right to believe what they want to believe, but defend our way of life against an assault against it.
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Chip Roy, thanks for joining us. Folks, stick with us. We’re back with more after this.
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This is Mission Control Houston here in the Artemis Flight Control Room. Splashdown confirmed at 7.07 p.m. Central Time. A new chapter of the exploration of our celestial neighbor is complete. Integrity’s astronauts back on Earth.
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When I got back on the ship, I’m not really a religious person, but there was just no other avenue for me to explain anything or to experience anything. So I asked for the chaplain on the Navy ship to just come visit us for a minute. And when that man walked in, I’d never met him before in my life, but I saw the cross on his collar and I just, I broke down in tears. It’s very hard to fully grasp what we just went through. And when the sun eclipsed behind the moon, I think all four of us, I turned to Victor and I said, I don’t think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we’re looking at right now, because it was otherworldly, it was amazing.
SPEAKER 09 :
That was Commander Reed Wiseman of the Artemis II mission, reflecting on their journey around the moon. So here’s a question. Does that sound like a man that just entered space, an empty, cold vacuum of nothingness? Or did he encounter something so profound, so full, so warm and bursting with life, it’s almost as if someone was breathing on it? Perhaps it was so meaningful that the word space doesn’t do the journey justice. Well, it sounds like he didn’t encounter space, but something else, what the Bible calls the heavens. As the Psalmist says, the heavens declare the glory of God and continually pours out speech. And that speech just might leave you speechless if you’re seeking it. It seems like Commander Wiseman discovered the truth of Psalm 139 in reality. Where shall I go from your spirit or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven and orbit the moon, you are there. So here’s the glorious news for Commander Wiseman and all of humanity. The heavens aren’t far from any one of us. In fact, the Christian story proclaims that the one who sits in the heavens didn’t stay there. He came down into our broken world, forsaking heaven’s treasure to make you his treasure. And something truly incomprehensible happened the day he died, when the one who stretched out the heavens like a curtain stretched out his hands for us on the cross. But it was impossible for death to keep its hold on life itself. He rose from the grave, He lives, and every sunrise since reminds us that the darkness of night will never eclipse the light behind all light, Jesus, the light of the world. Family Research Council prays that families across America would look up and join the song of the heavens. Praise God in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His mighty deeds. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
SPEAKER 17 :
This is Washington Watch. I’m Tony Perkins, your host. Good to have you with us on this Wednesday afternoon. All right. I’m happy to share each week how FRC’s Pray, Vote, Stand chapters, that initiative continues to grow. In fact, we’re way ahead of schedule right now in our plan to have a chapter anchored in a church in every county in America over the next decade. So I’d like to take just a moment to welcome the newest Pray, Vote, Stand chapters that have joined our initiative. A big warm welcome to our newest chapters in Tuluar, California, Cherokee County, Georgia as well. And we’re excited to have them join this important initiative. We believe these chapters can change really the spiritual climate of their communities and in turn shape policy all the way up. so if you’d like more information on the chapters and how you can start one or join one text chapters to six seven seven four two that’s chapters to six seven seven four two or go to frc.org chapters well our word for today well let me uh let me just uh i’ll get to that a little bit later But as we’ve discussed over the past several days, the U.S. Supreme Court is currently mulling a lower court’s temporary reinstatement of the in-person dispensing requirement for mifeprestone, the abortion drug. While the justices consider the case, the abortion drug, unfortunately, is still available by mail nationwide, at least until 5 p.m. tomorrow. And FRC was among the groups that filed an amicus brief in support of Louisiana’s case against the FDA. Also among Louisiana supporters were 23 state attorneys general, including our next guest, who is here in studio to discuss this and more. Joining us is Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hannaway. General Hannaway, welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 11 :
Tony, thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER 17 :
Before we begin, you’re in town for another reason this week. This is National Police Week.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, it’s a great opportunity for everyone across the country to show their support for our police, to remember those officers who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice, and to remember that every day that men and women who’ve taken that oath run towards danger when so many of us run away from it. And I just want to join everyone else in celebrating and supporting not only our men and women in the ranks of the police officers, but their families as well.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yes. I have two adult children in law enforcement and a great appreciation for the men and women who serve us. And the attorneys general are the chief law officer in each state.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, and we all take that responsibility seriously. There’s six of us here today talking about these issues. There’ll be a few more in town tomorrow at a roundtable at the White House.
SPEAKER 17 :
So let’s talk about another issue that Missouri’s been leading on, and you stepped into this kind of as it was already moving. Andrew Bailey, your predecessor, joined the Trump administration. You didn’t miss a beat with Missouri stepping in to support pro-life states that are having their laws undermined by the abortion drug Mifepresto.
SPEAKER 11 :
We have always in Missouri been a pro-life state, even though we had a vote that didn’t show that last year. And I am proud to be able to support this case. I am cautiously optimistic about what the justices are going to do. I think we all need to pray for their discernment in making this decision. and, and pray for the safety of women and the unborn. Um, the fact that we’re not going to have doctors, we don’t currently have doctors involved in the dispensing of this drug. Um, in addition to the suit that Andrew Bailey had already started, we filed a second suit, um, against, uh, a second generic that was approved by the FDA. Uh, you just can’t have this drug out there. Um,
SPEAKER 17 :
This is the only drug. I talk about this a lot on the program because it’s such an important issue. But this is the only drug that’s treated that way. I mean, any other drug that has the types of consequences or side effects that this drug could have if it’s taken in the wrong way by the wrong person has oversight, medical supervision.
SPEAKER 11 :
This one doesn’t. I know. It’s just a tragic case where the political agenda has gotten in the way of logic, reason, and even, you know, I hate to say it’s science, but it is. If you wanted to provide the very best medical care to women, they would not be allowed to have this drug without the supervision of a physician. And that’s what we’re fighting for.
SPEAKER 17 :
So what happens tomorrow? The court can do probably one of two things. I’ve talked to the Solicitor General of Louisiana, who’s leading our case. I’ve talked to the AG, Liz Murrell, who’s been leading in Louisiana. So the court could decide to uphold the stay of the Fifth Circuit, meaning that the current policy that was put in place by the Biden administration would be put on hold it would go back to the previous uh protocol or they can allow it to be in place while this works its way through the judicial system um what what do the states do next i mean what happens i think we have to continue to litigate because we need the whole court to make a decision nothing is final tomorrow nothing is final tomorrow and and i do have to say
SPEAKER 11 :
Liz Merle is one of the finest attorneys general in the country. And as you know, she was the solicitor general there. It’s a great shop. We’re really proud anytime we can work in conjunction with her.
SPEAKER 17 :
Her and Ben, they both believe this. I mean, they are passionately pro-life.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, as am I, and have been for a long, long time. I can remember when Roe v. White came down. I was going to a small private Catholic school at the time, and we were a failing school, and we were wearing these little buttons that said SOS for Save Our School. And that day, we were told, no, now it stands for Save Our Souls. And ever since then, I’ve been in the fight.
SPEAKER 17 :
And we’re so close. I mean, the Dobbs case that overturned Roe only to have the Biden administration undercut that with the Mifeprestone, BiMail, that has now actually caused abortion rates in the country to rise almost by 21%.
SPEAKER 11 :
It’s tragic, and we had a very unfortunate vote in Missouri last year that amended our Constitution to allow abortion again. We’re going to have another vote this year.
SPEAKER 17 :
Right, let’s talk about that. I want to talk because I’ve met with a number of folks from Missouri. We plan on being up there and helping on this.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 17 :
So talk about what’s going to, because we’ve got a lot of listeners in Missouri, talk about what’s going to be on the ballot.
SPEAKER 11 :
So on the ballot this year will be a measure that will make abortion illegal again in Missouri. And, and this is really important for folks to know, it will prohibit any sex change therapy for minors.
SPEAKER 17 :
Because that amendment that passed last year opens the door to that.
SPEAKER 11 :
Absolutely, it does. And it opens the door in our Constitution. And I believe that Missouri is a pro-life state. But I think people were very confused about what they were voting on. And we’ve been fighting a lot of litigation in Missouri on the pro-life side, but they’re skirmishes. This is the war.
SPEAKER 17 :
It really is. But your governor’s all in. Your state officials are all in. I mean, you’ve got a unified team this time that is helping articulate this message. But I want to underscore something you just said, because a lot of people think, well, it’s just about the abortion issue. No, it’s about much, much more. This is about your children being, you know— directed without your understanding or knowledge toward this gender ideology, this gender confusion that could lead to the mutilation of their bodies through these surgeries or through these treatments by drugs.
SPEAKER 11 :
Absolutely. And this would put it in the Constitution that you cannot give those therapies to minors. And that is just absolutely critically important. And Missourians will be confused because last year it was Amendment 3 and they were supposed to vote no if they were pro-life. This year it’s also Amendment 3 and they need to vote yes. And so it’s really important for informed listeners like yours to talk to their friends and neighbors and just think yes for life, yes for the safety of our kids.
SPEAKER 17 :
Has the ballot language been determined yet?
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, it has been, and it isn’t exactly as the Secretary of State wrote it. The courts made some changes to it, but it is much clearer than what was on the ballot last year.
SPEAKER 17 :
So that is Amendment 3 that will be on the ballot this fall?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and we don’t know if it’ll be August or November yet.
SPEAKER 17 :
So that’s not decided?
SPEAKER 11 :
That is not decided. The governor makes that choice.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right. When is he expected to make that decision?
SPEAKER 11 :
Pretty soon.
SPEAKER 17 :
Now, let’s talk about the midterm elections, redistricting. How does that look in Missouri?
SPEAKER 11 :
So the legislature redistricted last year, went from an eight, I’m sorry, yeah, eight Republican, two Democrat seat map to nine and one. Seven and one, sorry. Has that been litigated? It has been litigated. We’ve had almost nine cases. We’ve won every one. We won two more at the Missouri Supreme Court this week. So the issue of can you redistrict mid-decade has been decided in our favor. The issue of whether the districts were sufficiently compact has been decided in our favor. And then there’s been an effort through initiative petition to put them on the ballot. and to freeze the districts as the old districts. We won that battle. The elections will be in the new districts. The initiative petition process continues to go forward and that may happen at some later date.
SPEAKER 17 :
So General Hannaway, sounds like you’ve been pretty busy.
SPEAKER 11 :
We’ve got lots to do. We’re having a lot of fun.
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, it makes a difference. And, you know, a few years ago, there was an intentional effort by George Soros funded groups and others to target the attorneys general, those positions. And. A lot of people didn’t realize the importance of those positions until the last Biden administration where Republicans stood together and really the AGs were almost the last line of defense against the Biden administration on so many issues.
SPEAKER 11 :
There’s no question. And I noticed you just had Chip Roy on who’s running for attorney general in Texas. And we have a number of former members of Congress who are now serving as attorneys general. And I think it’s because we can make decisions and get things done. And Congress is so frozen. And I think that’s why Soros is also targeting these races. And there are 30 races this year. It will be really important nationwide that conservatives get out. and support their candidates because we can make decisions. Two of the things that I’ve focused on are illegal gambling and illegal drugs in our state, which sounds like, well, that’s kind of far afield. No, there’s so much money involved in it and it has such a corrosive effect on our state. We literally shut down a couple of weeks ago, 17,000 illegal slot machines. It’s just critically important that we have decision makers who have conservative values, who are standing up for the right to life, standing up for families, standing up for the free exercise of religion, and you get to do that in these jobs.
SPEAKER 17 :
So, General Hanoi, what do you see as the biggest battles on the horizon?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I think that one of the things is, you know, the cultural battles. They will continue. One of the lawsuits that we filed this year was against the Missouri State Athletic Association because they were reserving two of their board seats exclusively for minority or women candidates. We can’t have that kind of discrimination at any level. The Supreme Court, thank goodness, has said you can’t do it. But unless you have attorneys general who are willing to sort of reinforce those cultural values, we’re not going to get them.
SPEAKER 17 :
And you have a lot of leeway to do that, especially under consumer protection laws, where your predecessor did a lot on the gender issue, where he was able to expose what was happening in some of the hospitals, what Planned Parenthood was doing. I mean, you’ve got a lot to work with.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, we sure do. And those same laws we’re using, in fact, to try and root out 70H, which is this terrible drug that’s being sold legally that people refer to as the gas station heroin. There’s a lot of tools in the toolbox. And that’s why it’s important that we have people elected to these spots who understand what really matters and what our values are.
SPEAKER 17 :
We just have a few minutes left, General Hannaway. You know, we’re grateful for elected leaders who have a solid foundation of right and wrong. Grateful for you and others like that. But you can only do so much. We really have to have strong families. And when you talk about social issues, it really begins in the home. Yes, it does. What can we do to foster that understanding of parental responsibility? And, you know, parents have kind of been beaten down by the school systems, by educators saying, you know, we know better than you do. I mean, and we’re seeing a little resurgence, but we need parents to step forward and take that response, that God given responsibility.
SPEAKER 11 :
That’s absolutely right. And, you know, people ask me all the time. I’ve had a lot of cool jobs. I’ve been the speaker of the Missouri House. I have this job. But to me, the highest privilege I’ve ever had is being a mom. And it’s the most important responsibility. And I think that we need people who are willing to step forward and say, look, if I’m going to sacrifice anything, it’s going to be work on behalf of family. Like family is the root of it all. And so many of the problems we see in the criminal justice system would be so much better if we had responsible parents at home. And so doing those little things like going to church and having dinner together really do matter.
SPEAKER 17 :
Huge. I mean, there’s been study after study on both those two issues that you just mentioned. We used to have our Center for Marriage and Religious Freedom here at the Family Research Council spun off with the Catholic University. But just taking a child to church and didn’t get into this was just using government data, but just taking them to church on a regular basis I’d like to cut the pathologies, the social pathologies that we deal with to almost minute. They were minuscule just by taking them to church. And then, of course, having dinner and having conversations with their kids and finding out what’s going on in their lives is so important. So important.
SPEAKER 11 :
And taking them to church gives them the opportunity to learn that there’s something bigger than themselves and to understand that there is a divine force that they need to respect and not put themselves at the most important spot in the world.
SPEAKER 17 :
Right. You know, again, we want to have godly leaders, and the Lord’s blessed us with many, I think, in this country right now. but you can’t do everything. We’ve got to do our part, each and every family in America, educating, training, equipping the next generation of leaders to, number one, to love the Lord, but also to have a respect and a love for the country. We need to teach our kids that what God has done for this country and what he expects from us if we want to see this country continue.
SPEAKER 11 :
I’m grateful to have been born here each and every day, and I’m grateful that I’ve been able to raise my kids here, one of whom was actually born in Belarus. And because he had a mom who chose life and adoption, we’ve been able to raise him here in the United States.
SPEAKER 17 :
General Hannaway, I want to thank you for coming in today.
SPEAKER 11 :
Great to meet you.
SPEAKER 17 :
Thanks for being on the program. Appreciate it very much. All right. And folks, I want to thank you for joining us today. Remember, we’re praying for that court decision that will be coming down tomorrow. So continue to pray and join the prayer effort. Take the pledge. Text COURT to 67742. That’s the word COURT to 67742. And join us in praying. All right, until next time, I leave you once again with the encouraging words of the Apostle Paul found in Ephesians 6, where he says, when you’ve done everything you can do, when you’ve prayed, when you’ve prepared, and when you’ve taken your stand, by all means, keep standing.
SPEAKER 04 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council. To support our efforts to advance faith, family, and freedom, please text GIVE to 67742. That’s GIVE to 67742. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information, please visit TonyPerkins.com.
