Uncover the tensions within the FBI and DOJ surrounding the controversial Mar-a-Lago raid. This episode delves into newly released documents that reveal internal conflict and questions about the justification of the search warrant. It’s a fascinating look at how individuals within these powerful institutions challenged their directives, proving not everyone was aligned with the aggressive tactics that unfolded. You’ll hear discussions on the constitutionality of these actions, the implications for future proceedings, and the role of the media in framing this national narrative.
SPEAKER 04 :
We have breaking news. New Mar-a-Lago raid documents are declassified by the FBI.
SPEAKER 10 :
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, Logan Secula.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to Secula. We are live. We’re a lot of other shows. I’ve already called it for Christmas, Will. We’re here. It is a Wednesday, I believe. Is that correct? It is true. It’s Wednesday. We’ve got a packed show for you today. Rick Grinnell’s going to be joining us. It’s me and Will, but we do have some big breaking news out the top. And it really is pretty fascinating. You know, it is Raise Your Voice Week. We’re going to be talking about that as well. It’s our documentary series. Because during Raise Your Voice Week, it’s all about speaking up. Yeah, having the freedom of speech, but also not only just having the freedom of speech, but we’re willing to take risks and speak your mind. And what we’ve learned this morning through the FBI, some released documents that came out, Will, and came out through Fox News that were released to them. Not only, I mean, we’re flashing back here, folks, to the Mar-a-Lago raid. It’s been quite some time since then. But you may have been wondering during that FBI, you know, Were people speaking up? Did people inside the FBI, we know some of the top we’re not fans of, but were people inside the FBI actually saying, you know, maybe things have gotten out of control? And the answer to that is yes. The answer to that is not only yes, but to the point of really questioning probable cause, even pushing forward. I mean, direct quotes from emails asking, can we please just table this? This has been months and months. It’s taking up too much resource to find probable cause for this search. It’s a little refreshing in some ways. Well, I mean, it’s alarming because obviously they didn’t they weren’t listened to. But the fact that there were people, good people involved, saying this is going too far. At least you know it wasn’t just all partisan actors. in this FBI.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. This goes along with the Mar-a-Lago raid where the FBI and the DOJ were pursuing this case against President Trump related to classified documents. And this 27-page release of emails and other documents from the FBI and DOJ came because of Chairman Grassley of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s oversight of this issue. And what we’re seeing, the more that the FBI digs into the files, the more that they uncover is that a lot of this stuff is in writing. There’s a paper trail. And it also is pointing to the the maybe the motives behind the DOJ, what they were after, because when the FBI in the Washington field office is putting this in the record. related to the upcoming search warrant execution on Mar-a-Lago that they’re going to have to carry out. I’m going to read this for everyone. As everyone is tracking, the Washington field office does not believe and has articulated to the Department of Justice that we have established probable cause for the search warrant for classified records at Mar-a-Lago. DOJ has opined that they do have probable cause, requesting a wide scope, including office, residence, and storage space. In Washington Field Office’s opinion, if a primary goal of this investigation is to identify and recover classified records quickly so as to protect the information, the six weeks spent fixated on probable cause for a search warrant have been counterproductive. Continued investigation and additional interviews have not found any witness who has reported seeing classified records at Mar-a-Lago since the return of records in compliance on June 3rd, 2022.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I mean, this is some really interesting information. We’re going to be taking your calls about this as well as the current state of the FBI. I’d love your thoughts at 1-800-684-3110. We all are going to also continue on our discussion. Like I said, it’s Raise Your Voice Week. And I want you, as we head into the holidays, head into Christmas. Obviously, we are headed towards night four of Hanukkah. We know things are going to get a little chaotic. You’re not necessarily going to. Have the time to think about where you’re going to give. Maybe you have a charitable giving scheduled for the end of the month. You don’t know where it’s going to be. I encourage you to do it right now. Go to ACLJ.org because right now it’s Raise Your Voice Week. All donations are doubled. And we’ll also show your support for a new project we have called The Chilling Effect. It’s a new documentary series we really want to produce. I’ve seen some of the preliminary footage and some of sort of the pitch reels this team has put together. You’re going to see some of them a little bit later. And they’re great. And I think we can really make this a huge project. If you do it through ACLJ.org slash voice, you also get your name in the credits as a founding producer. That’s if you do it through ACLJ.org slash voice. But all donations through our website are doubled this month. So be a part of it at ACLJ.org. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. I do want to hear from you. I see a lot of you watching right now, and you know what? Well, we haven’t done this in a little while, but because this topic is a little more willy-nilly, it’s a little bit more wild, you know what we should do for those YouTube viewers? Send in the clowns. That’s right. I’m going to ask you to do it. You know what? One more time for the new year. Put those clown emojis in. I want to see them. That is on our YouTube feed usually and our Rumble feed. So I want to welcome all of you, though. And if you are watching right now and you want to call in, that’s at 1-800-684-3110. Because we’ve got to restate. So many of you just came in during the break. We’ve got to restate the general top line. And Will’s got a lot of information we’re going to dive into. Because this came out. Will’s gotten to the source of the information. So where some of the news reports… You know, they’re being journalists. They’re trying to be suave about it. They’re not necessarily naming names. We’re going to get to some of this because you can name some of these names. You can find their titles and who they are because this information has become public. And of course, we’re talking about emails that went back during the lead up to what ended up being called the Mar-a-Lago raid, where they were searching for what could have been classified or declassified documents, depending on the way you look at it. But what we really found out clearly is there was a large group within the FBI saying, we do not have probable cause to do this. And please stop asking. You’ve been doing this for months. We don’t have it. If you wanted documents, there are easier ways for us to get these documents than what you’re trying to push here. I mean, again, I’m summarizing here, but it’s not that far off. These were casual conversations saying this has taken our team way too much time, way too much money is being spent where we could be doing other things. You know, there is that always that conversation of don’t you have something better to do in terms to maybe your law enforcement if you get pulled over for having your tag a week delayed or something like that. People always say that. Well, they feel like that in the FBI as well. And you felt that way in the world where it’s like, aren’t there stronger things happening, scarier things happening that you need to be taken care of here in this country? And we found out is that the FBI themselves felt that way. Members, team members in the inside and were speaking their mind.
SPEAKER 08 :
What’s interesting is that it is very revealing because I think for a long time the narrative was that the FBI’s Washington field office and the DOJ were walking arm in arm on this like this is our goal. But what we’re seeing from these emails is that as far as back as June 1st where some of these emails start talking about this search warrant, remember the raid happened on August 8th of 2022. So More than two months before the actual search warrant was executed on Mar-a-Lago, these concerns are being pressed by the FBI. On June 1st, they say something in an email between the FBI responding to the way that the DOJ is adamant about a search warrant. says that the washington field office has been drafting a search warrant affidavit related to the potential boxes but has some concerns that the information is single source has not been corroborated and may be dated the doj opines however that the search warrant meets the probable cause standard that’s back in june later in july mid-july just a few weeks before the actual raid We have this. A redacted name asks a fair question. We haven’t generated any new facts, but keep being given draft after draft after draft. Absent a witness coming forward with recent information about classified on-site, at what point is it fair to table this? It is time consuming for the team and not productive if there are no new facts supporting probable cause. And then that memo that we read earlier in the broadcast that so everyone is tracking the Washington field office does not believe and has articulated to the DOJ that we have established probable cause for the search warrant for classified records at Mar-a-Lago. The DOJ pushed back on that, but they weren’t just saying we don’t want to do this. They were offering options.
SPEAKER 04 :
alternatives they have three alternative less intrusive and likely quicker options for resolution the FBI was saying look we can still get this yeah they even talked about meeting with the president’s former attorneys saying you know or the former president’s attorneys saying you know they shouldn’t be discounted in what they’re saying here that maybe some of these documents We’re declassified. And you can have that discussion. This would be better than us going this route. Now, again, some of this, of course, is old news in the sense of we know what the end result was. We know what happened over the next four years. We know what has happened since then. But I think it is always good, one, to have a better perspective with American people and for you to even have a little bit more trust that there are people who are not so partisan inside of these bureaucracies and these departments that may be you can rest easy a little bit more at night. I’m not saying that everyone there is good and on the up and up, but what you do see is that there are a lot of people, whether it’s field offices or people involved in this situation, not everyone is coming at it as well. As easy as it is to, I guess you could say, stereotype them as a deep state operatives, there were people inside speaking up. And of course… they are probably risking their jobs somewhat for that because they are pushing back hard, but it’s refreshing. So I think there’s some information when these kinds of things come out, it is important to talk about it because you get to see a different side of what’s going on.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and here’s another interesting layer to this, because in that memo where they said they have articulated, they don’t believe there’s probable cause that’s the Washington field office of the FBI. They asked this question or they pose this kind of thing. It says, in the washington field office’s opinion if a primary goal of this investigation is to identify and recover classified records quickly so as to protect the information the six weeks spent fixated on probable cause for a search warrant have been counterproductive now fast forward to four days before the execution of the search warrant this email was sent on august 4th of 2022 the search warrant was executed on august 8th and it talks quickly pretty quickly and it talks about uh that they have the operation plan for monday is talking about that it has been sought and now they are moving forward this is the fbi which clearly does not necessarily trust the motives of the DOJ on this. And they talk about saying that, listen, the FBI, if we’re going to do this still on Monday, we want to be responsible for the execution of the search warrant. Basically, DOJ, stay away from it a little bit, because here’s what is said in this email from the assistant special agent in charge. The FBI intends for the execution of the search warrant to be handled in a professional, low-key manner and to be mindful of the optics of the search. Safety of the search team is always of concern during any such operations. Since we heard Mr. Toskos say yesterday in the call… that, quote, he frankly doesn’t give a blank about the optics and that Mr. Bratt has already built an antagonistic relationship with the former president United States attorney over the service of the redacted. I think it is more fair to say that the DOJ contact with Mr. Corcoran just prior to the execution of the warrant will not go well. so they’re calling out that the day before so five days before the execution of the search warrant the deputy assistant attorney general in the national security division george toskus says he frankly does not give a blank about the optics of a search warrant execution at the former president united states home will loves that blank because you could fill in the blank You can’t. You can go as aggressive or as mild as you would like. But regardless, he’s a deputy assistant attorney general in National Security Division. He doesn’t care about the optics of raiding a former president’s home. The Constitution protects people. That’s what the problem is. I’m very upset about this.
SPEAKER 04 :
Look, there’s a bite that was played during the break, and it got a lot of people’s attention. Let’s go to John in Pennsylvania about it, and then I’ll play it for you.
SPEAKER 07 :
John, go ahead. Hey, how you doing, guys? You know, I had a question I asked. I was a law enforcement officer for 31 years of my life. And had I planted a cheap dime bag on a known drug pusher, I’d have been in jail and still be in there. How is it that these people, Merrick Garland gets on there and out and out lies? him through the through biden have no doubt tried to stop president trump from being president that’s all that this was involved in and yet they stay there free and i understand you guys are not the doj and all that i get it but how long before these people get held accountable john let’s uh for people who don’t know what you’re talking about specifically because this aired during the break let’s flash back this is to 2022 bite one here’s merrick garland attorney general
SPEAKER 05 :
There are, however, certain points I want you to know. First, I personally approve the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter. Second, the department does not take such a decision lightly.
SPEAKER 04 :
They do not take this decision lightly, though they know this was only from three days after the raid, which is only about a week after some of these emails came through saying, we do not think that you have the rights to do this. John, you are right. Of course, there are things in Washington, D.C. that are out of control. But we know at least this information is coming out, and you can thank at least the current FBI for that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, exactly. And to John’s point, Merrick Garland saying there three days after the raid, the department does not take this decision lightly. Really? Because your deputy assistant attorney general in the National Security Division says he doesn’t care about the optics. And when the FBI is saying, we do not believe we have probable cause, obviously there was tension there. But they were trying to stop this at the FBI for months. And the DOJ, which is their prerogative, but what this tells us is that the FBI in this raid wasn’t necessarily the bad actor to the degree that we expected them to be. They were actually trying to push rational, cooler heads here. And the Attorney General of the United States said to himself, he personally approved the decision even after seeing all of this.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’d love to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110, 1-800-684-3110. As we head to break, when I encourage you to raise your voice, you also want to be reminded of those FBI and members of the FBI whistleblowers we represented. We’re going to talk about that coming up and how that story is going to play into our new series and, of course, into the Raise Your Voice Week in general. Because remember, there were good people involved who really had a lot wronged. But we were able to go in and the ACLJ was able to get to work and have some resolution for those people. We’re going to talk about that more when we get back. And hey, I saw a lot of clowns. Let’s do some Christmas and Hanukkah emojis in there now. Let’s see what happens. Be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. We do have some phone lines open for you, and I’d love to hear from you throughout the show. We’ll be taking calls later on in this segment, as well as in a segment or two as well, but then we’ll have Rick Grinnell joining us towards the end. So give me a call at 1-800-684-3110. Even if you just have a message, a good message for our ACLJ team or for our audience, a Christmas message, I’d love to just hear from you. Right now, during this season, for a lot of people, this is the way they get to interact, whether it’s through our chat, whether it is through all the different features the ACLJ offers. So I want to thank you all who join us each and every day, whether you are listening, whether you’re watching, whatever it may be, because you know that it really helps us out a lot. You know, we did the send in the clowns earlier. I did some Christmas trees or Hanukkah emojis, and I’m seeing them kind of. Control our feed right now. It just makes me happy. It makes me happy to see so many of you who are actively engaged every day in our broadcast know that it means a ton. Now, all of this happens because people like you support the organization. And of course, that means our legal work as well. Over the last few months, the ACLJ team has started to put together some concept pieces for a future documentary series called The Chilling Effect, The War on Free Speech. It has been something that we thought, you know, it’d be some cool pieces we could see. And as we started to see more footage, as these stories started to come in, we felt, man, this could go even bigger and bigger. We could take this to a national, international level. But that doesn’t happen without you. Because to actually get a film series or anything, get it really distributed and really marketed, there has to be a lot of funds. There has to be a lot of people who are involved in that. We need the resources. And we can’t do that without you. And that’s why right now, this week, I told our film team, I said, this week we’re going to dedicate to this, to raising your voice, and not just in our side when it comes to making special videos or feature films or documentaries or series, really when it comes to just that basic raise your voice, use your free speech, and use it wisely, use it carefully, use it prayerfully. I think that’s something we’re missing right now, people who are thinking before they speak as well. But there are a lot of people, and there have been a lot of people even inside something like the FBI for many years, who were willing to speak up. And some of them had dire consequences. And of course, I’m talking a lot about our whistleblowers and the FBI that you have seen over the years on this broadcast who stood up. Often their family had incredible hardships done to them. And their story is just one of many that we want to tell in this series. So all week we have clips that we want to show. And I want to start off this segment with one of those clips. So you may remember some of these stories like FBI Special Agent Garrett O’Boyle or many others who the ACLJ proudly represented during their times. And often, spoiler alert for those who are going to watch the series, because of people like you, largely came out of it as the victor. So now I want you to see just a very special look into what we hope to be our brand new series, documentary series, The Chilling Effect, The War on Free Speech.
SPEAKER 03 :
Too many in the FBI aren’t willing to sacrifice for the hard right over the easy wrong. They see what becomes of whistleblowers, how the FBI destroys their careers, suspends them under false pretenses, takes their security clearances and pay with no true options for real recourse or remedy.
SPEAKER 06 :
Mr. O’Boyle gave us information relative to the memorandum put together in the Justice Department on parents showing up at school board meetings and this idea that somehow they were extremists or a threat.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m angry that I have to be here to testify about the weaponization of the FBI and DOJ against those institutions and individuals that are supposed to protect the American people.
SPEAKER 06 :
The way they always do it at the FBI is they go after your security clearance, which is something you have to have as an agent.
SPEAKER 03 :
The FBI will crush you if you try to expose the truth about things that they are doing that are wrong.
SPEAKER 09 :
It changes what you’re going to say and it sort of gets in your head.
SPEAKER 06 :
Whistleblower protection. He’s allowed to come forward under the law and tell us things that he believes that are happening that aren’t supposed to. Is the government watching?
SPEAKER 09 :
Is there a chance I could face some kind of negative consequence now or down the road?
SPEAKER 04 :
That, again, is a special look at the chilling effect. And it doesn’t happen unless you support us right now during Raise Your Voice Week. We’re really gauging it, the interest level. Of course, we’re going to put together, use this footage. We’re going to do a lot with it. But do we want to see this series actually happen, come to fruition, be marketed correctly? That only happens because of you if you give right now during Raise Your Voice Week. And if we are able to make it, which, of course, the full plan is that we will, because we honestly, you have turned out this week. I want to say thank you for that. If you do it right now at ACLJ.org slash voice or scan that QR code that’s right there. little fun little perk you’ll be listed in the credits as one of the founding producers at the end of the series so pretty cool uh thing you can add to your resume if you will as someone who really stood up you already uh raised your voice during this week because you were willing to put your name on it now if you give just aclj.org your donation is still doubled and it goes to every everything just you know helps fund all of it whether our aclj work legal work media work uh our international work all of that happens because you donate so know that we appreciate it if you go through that specific link that will be how you get your name in the credits uh and with that will though i know you wanted to bring something up because none of this is happenstance well and sometimes you get these little uh feelings as things get planned little little god winks as they say that
SPEAKER 08 :
you’re on the right track, that you’re doing the right thing, that you’re planning, and the way you’re presenting this is what needs to be out there. Because our show is very, sometimes complicated in a way that a lot of times we talk about what’s going on and analyze that, but also with the work of the organization at the same time. We planned which videos to roll out because we planned this week, this Raise Your Voice week in advance. You don’t just all of a sudden have graphics made and things. But we had the schedule and we finalized the schedule of the week, which topics were going to be which day last week. December 11th was the final email of like, hey, here’s which video we’re playing which day. And today was the whistleblower day. I’m looking at it right here. And then last night we get these documents about people within the FBI trying to push back on what the Biden DOJ was doing. I mean, just talk about timing that we already, we didn’t shift around our schedule. We are already going to talk about the important work of protecting whistleblowers, calling out the rot that’s within the FBI and within the DOJ. And what do we see here? People that were pushing back and maybe there should have been more whistleblowers. Maybe they’re already nervous about what the Biden administration has done to whistleblowers that tried to speak out. And so we have to now find out through releases to Congress. But I think it’s an important time to show the work we do to protect people like that that want to do the right thing, as well as to say, this isn’t over. We have to keep uncovering what’s going on, and we need to push and see real accountability.
SPEAKER 04 :
We’ve only got a minute and a half left on this segment. We have a second half hour coming up, and I actually think it’d be cool to end it with Julie, who is on line one. Julie, this will be the end of the half hour. You’ve only got about a minute, but go ahead. I wanted to get your comments on the air.
SPEAKER 11 :
Hi, yes. I wanted to say Merry Christmas, first off. Thank you. And secondly, just to encourage people to be able to donate, whether it’s a matching fund or not. We, as listeners, don’t know half of what you guys do until you’re involved with it or until there’s a win. And it’s so cool. I’m sure I represent a thousand people who want to call in and just say thank you. You know, you can be trusted.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. Thank you so much. Know how much we appreciate people like you who do call in. And yes, you represent thousands of thousands of people who support the ACLJ every year. And know that it means more than you can know to see every time a click comes in, a donation comes in, a subscriber on YouTube. All of that means people showing their support. Hopefully they’re liking what we’re doing here, whether the legal side or the media side. And you are right. There’s a lot we can’t talk about. It’s sort of the double-edged sword of an organization like ours. which is there are many days I wish we could come on here and tell you exactly what we’re doing right now, whether in court or what we’re planning or what it could look like. But for the safety and security of our clients and many of the different things that happen, confidentiality, a lot of times you do find out when it’s over, but we’re able to share that information. We have a second half hour coming up. Rick Grinnell is going to be joining us. If you don’t get us on your local stations, however you get your podcasts, we’re there. We’re broadcasting live each and every day at ACLJ.org. We’ll be right back.
SPEAKER 10 :
keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow.
SPEAKER 04 :
and now your host logan secular here we are the second half hour of secular on a wednesday and of course we are live i want to make sure you know that yes we are gonna take off christmas at least well i think that’s okay to tell our team you know what maybe even christmas eve uh we’ll have shows though for you we’re not going anywhere um but we are live right now and we just had a great call who came in who just wanted to thank us and thank our team and Remember, we have hundreds of people who work at the ACLJ and dozens that work on even just this broadcast. And they could use your support and just your prayers and your thoughts as we head into really one of the more critical times of the year where a lot of people slow down over Christmas. As you know, for a lot of organizations, this is Christmas. the time this is the time when most funds come in november and december really december really the last week in december uh which is unfortunate in some ways because of course the ways we have to work uh during this to make sure you know about what we’re doing here at the aclj and These moments during something like a Raise Your Voice week, and during a week where it’s been marked, and we’ve had a little fun today, which I appreciate, because we’re able to talk about things that are, you know, what’s going on in the FBI, it’s nothing to joke about, but at least it’s not all life or death. And we’ve had a lot of death, it feels like, over the last handful of days in this country and around the world, whether you’re in the Christian community, the Jewish community, you know, a lot of it has been very heavy, and it continues to be heavy. We’re heading towards this season of celebration. Night four of Hanukkah will be tonight, Christmas in just about a week. I want to encourage you, if you feel so apt to it, and if you’ve been praying about it and thinking about it, I really would love you to be a part of this ACLJ team. So when you’re thinking about where to make your end of year giving, try it at the ACLJ. You’ll get great content. Also, they’ll come to your email box. You’ll hopefully can engage with our video content. And right now it’s matched dollar for dollar during our ACLJ Raise Your Voice week. Of course, it is all part of our year in drive. And it’s all going to be going to the greater good of the ACLJ. But we’re talking a lot about the series that we’re working on. So we’re going to be talking about that a little bit more. And Rick Grinnell is going to be joining us. We also have some interesting news coming out of the White House, which we’ll discuss about what it’s going to look like tonight, because we’re a little unclear on what the president is planning on talking about. We know there is a announcement coming tonight. There is a statement, Will, that is coming from the president, an address to the nation. I’d love to hear from you, not only what you think it is, because some of it has started to kind of trickle out of what it could be. What would you like it to be? Is there anything that the president right now could speak on you feel that’s very important? Is it clarifying where we are financially in the economy and how we’re going to bring prices down? Is it support for the Jewish community? Is it many of the big topics of today? Are the things you think we could be doing better that you’d love him to address? 1-800-684-3110. And look, be nice to the phone screeners, but I’m not going to try to censor. I want to know. I want to know where you are right now. And so these heavy weeks, shootings at Brown University, the Rob Reiner situation, obviously a horrendous tragedy. Australia, it is a tough week. So to pop on tonight and have an address to the nation, it better be serious. But who knows what it’s going to look like. And of course, we are a few days into Hanukkah and a week away from Christmas. Give me a call at 1-800-684-3110. That’s it, 1-800-684-3110. You can put it in the chat as well, but I always like to hear your actual voice and helps us kind of bounce off this conversation.
SPEAKER 08 :
And folks, stick around because when we come back from the break as well, there’s some breaking news because Jack Smith is actually giving his closed door deposition today to the House Judiciary Committee. And we’ve got some information that’s being reported out of that.
SPEAKER 04 :
I never want to hear that name again.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I just said it, Logan. I’m going to say it again in the next segment. You better not. I will.
SPEAKER 04 :
You wait. It’s Christmas time. Phone lines are open for you. But again, let’s put this QR code on the screen. It’s a big week for us, folks. It’s Raise Your Voice Week. Your donations are doubled. That’s because an ACLJ champion, that’s someone who gives on a monthly recurring basis, said, you know what? I’ll pledge that whatever donations come in, that I’ll match a big group of them, up to a million dollars. So you can give $5 becomes $10. That’s amazing. Most people give somewhere between $50 and $75. But you know, it’s the end of the year. Maybe you got a little extra. Whatever it is, we’ll be doubled at ACLJ.org. Scan that QR code you see on the screen and we’ll be right back. Welcome back to Secular. Will has an update on Jack Smith. Again, something that I didn’t really care to hear his name again, but we know. Sorry.
SPEAKER 08 :
He was called into a closed-door hearing, and I guess it happened? That’s right. This is the hearing for the House Judiciary Committee. This is by Chairman Jim Jordan. This is the one that Jack Smith wanted to be in the open for everybody to watch a circus, but Chairman Jordan wanted to do a closed-door deposition, subpoenaed him to have this happen.
SPEAKER 04 :
Who, by the way, is in our new series?
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 04 :
If it happens. That’s right.
SPEAKER 08 :
Raise your voice. We’ve seen some clips from him speaking. That’s right. But this is what’s interesting. And honestly, this tells me why Jack Smith wanted to do this in the open, because this is what obviously the sources MS now has repeated, quoted out from his opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee. Jack Smith led with this. Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power. He wanted to get out there one more time in front of cameras and try to push his narrative of a case that is gone. He, as Logan says, he should not be talked about again unless that is because of indictments or something like that coming down. But he wanted to get that out there again. He wanted to be able to say that. And he wanted then to give fodder to Democrat members of the House Judiciary Committee to create a spectacle and to tarnish Donald Trump even more. That is what his goal was in that. Very much the same when you read back in these FBI documents that the Deputy Assistant Attorney General and National Security Division, George Toskos, said he frankly doesn’t give a blank about the optics of the Mar-a-Lago raid. I actually think he did. I think he did. care about the optics i think the doj wanted the optics of mar-a-lago being raided that’s what they cared about they didn’t care about as the fbi said in their memo getting and recovering expeditiously things that they thought that the president shouldn’t have that wasn’t their primary goal as the fbi posited if the primary goal is to identify and recover classified records quickly No, I think the DOJ wanted the spectacle. They wanted the optics, much like Jack Smith did, but now it’s in a closed-door hearing because Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is running it correctly to try to get to the bottom of all these shenanigans that we saw take place over the last few years.
SPEAKER 04 :
Of course, it’s Washington, D.C. in the news. Of course, there was a little bit of a circus. I think we should play this clip. This is from Fox News and Build an Illusion, trying to get a statement out in the hallways from Jack Smith, just so you can have an idea of what it feels like to be in these situations. Again, it’s not like they were able to just sneak him in, do it, get out of there. This is the circus that’s still there.
SPEAKER 09 :
Mr. Smith, do you have any regrets about the way your prosecutions of the president were handled? What do you plan to tell the committee today, sir? Mr. Smith, do you prefer a public setting for this hearing? Mr. Smith, you said you wanted a public hearing. What do you want the public to know, sir?
SPEAKER 04 :
Again, that was just today. So I want you to have an idea of what it visually feels like to probably be Jack Smith walking through these halls. He may be enjoying it, getting a little bit of press attention, getting them covered. A lot of phones going up there right then. I know that’s sort of the modern way of journalism, but it always feels a little strange. But it’s still a little chaotic, even during these closed-door hearings.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, to me, my favorite is hearing the guy in that clip yell, how about you respond, Jack? Yeah, I know, yeah. Why, though… Feels like a Happy Gilmore heckler. Were they able to pick the most Bond villain-looking person of all time to be their special counsel in this? Because even the way he lurks through the halls there, stoic and silent, and you see those images of him at the Hague in the robes, it’s just he looks…
SPEAKER 04 :
like a villain and that is why i think on television he would have liked the closed door hearings because he much like the doj uh is thinking about optics yeah i do want to take some phone calls because some of you calling in look tonight is also an interesting night because the president trump has announced he will be making some sort of statement addressed to the people he definitely teased it as something that would be important but That would be large. Now, some of what’s leaked out, it’s not that it’s not important, but it may not be addressed to the nation style important. So there is thoughts of whether what we’re hearing is actually accurate.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. So he put out that tomorrow night’s going to be big. I mean, it’s like President Trump to do. He wants to pop a rating. Right. And so there’s a lot of speculation because we saw last night that there was that that announcement about the blockade on oil from Venezuela after the seizure of the oil cargo ship last week. Now there’s going to be a full blockade on sanctioned ships leaving Venezuela. And so some people thought maybe it’s about that. Is it something to do with more pressure on the Maduro regime? But some reports are now coming out that it’s going to be him presenting his affordability message. That is something that I wouldn’t have necessarily thought would be. a teased out prime time kind of messaging. I understand it is important. It is important to a lot of people, but they also kind of said that that’s what was coming about a week and a half ago when he was at that congressional rally for a candidate in Pennsylvania, his big return to Pennsylvania. And in the rally fashion, it wasn’t, he didn’t really stay on message about the affordability issue. Maybe his team is like, Hey man, We can’t do it in a rally session, so we got to do it in the White House with you and try to stay on prompter. It is curious, though.
SPEAKER 04 :
Someone just pointing to it being like, just read the script.
SPEAKER 08 :
We do know that this time of year, the Christmas season, people are thinking about their pocketbooks a lot more than other times of the year. So maybe it is the most appropriate time to address the nation about the year ahead, what it looks like.
SPEAKER 04 :
There’s meat on the bone, if you will. If it really does show us what this future could look like, Because as we’ve all said, the affordability crisis is still here. Whether the stock market is thriving, going up and down, but whether it’s, if that’s happening, that still is not affecting a lot of the people who really have it the worst. So if he has those answers to that question, fantastic. We’ll see what happens. We’ve got some calls with some speculations as well, and some thoughts and hopes, really. Let’s go to Nadine, who’s calling in Texas with her hopes. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, thank you.
SPEAKER 12 :
my my most desired comments would be that all actions and decisions would be made according to the righteousness of god in any and all departments and uh whether people are elected appointed or hired it would just be really good that it was all done in righteousness not you know we can follow our own laws and that would be righteousness so that would be good too
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, Nadine, I think a lot of people feel that way. And look, you saw a lot of response over the last week to even the way President Trump responded to the Rob Reiner murder. A lot of people, even on his most ardent supporters say, you know, this is not the way we talk about other people who are murdered, even if they are, you know, if you want to say, quote unquote, enemy. Of course, he was the president to all people. I think there is that Christian base who a lot of you are probably listening right now. and you’re watching right now, and maybe that did hit you in the wrong way, who do hear messages like Nadine’s, who goes, you know what? I would love to see this side of the current administration. Show me the Christian side that you have promised us when so many times it feels like that message gets lost. It’s very difficult also to understand where you may agree with President Trump and his whole administration on 99% or 100% of their policies. And then you have situations where personally it becomes harder to defend. How do you treat the future? So President Trump has a moment right now where he can go on. Maybe he can right a little bit of the wrongs. Maybe he can adjust the way some people interpreted those messages. I’m not saying that will help, but you know what? Maybe Nadine, you’re right. And the people are seeing it a little bit through some different eyes this week. And maybe we’ll have that. I want to quickly jump to Charles also on line one, Charles in Kentucky. We have about two minutes left, Charles. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, I’m in Shelbyville, Kentucky near Colonel Sanders’ home where he died. God bless you. It kind of gives you perspective where I am. I just want to say I love your show. Thank you. I enjoy listening to it. It’s just all politics. I’m 82 years old. I think I’ll die before the government does anything. Even Donald Trump, I had hopes for him. But the Republicans have blocked him from doing anything. And Kentucky’s Republicans are the worst of the bunch.
SPEAKER 04 :
Kentucky always is very interesting. Look, I appreciate the kind words on the show. I appreciate that you’re 82 years old. You’re still paying attention to what’s going on in the world. But you also have a different set of eyes. And those different set of eyes is someone who has been through this for 82 years. You’ve seen politics and maybe it’s best and worst. You know that a lot of stuff gets promised and doesn’t happen. I do think there’s still hope that some things can happen during this administration. I actually don’t even think there’s hope. I think it will happen during this administration. Some good things happened last time as well. So, Charles, don’t lose sight of that. We hope you make it all the way through. You know, Dick Van Dyke just turned 100. So, you know what? God bless him. Charles, God bless you as well. You know, you got KFC right there. You got Colonel Sanders.
SPEAKER 08 :
Logan, actually, little known fact, big fan of the KFC franchise and the lore behind it.
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, I know a lot about it. Yeah, that’s what I mean. Yeah, that’s true. I don’t know if I’m a fan as much as I’m… Intrigued by. I’m a historian. There you go. I’m a fast food historian. I’m going to say whether I agree or disagree with the Sanders. He didn’t seem to be like a good guy. I liked Hawaiian’s t-shirt, Colonel Sanders. You don’t see enough of those images. Yeah. No, not in his Kentucky Colonel. By the way, Kentucky Colonel is different than maybe you’d think what they are. Do some Googling. All right. We’ll be right back with Rick Grinnell on Sekulow. Welcome back to Seculo. Wait just a minute to have Rick Grinnell join us. I do want to take this minute before he joins us. He’s coming in right now. tell you a bit about this week and of course this is raise your voice week and rick has been a big part of that team too who has been uh part of our team now for a number of years who has been a part of certainly raising your voice for a myriad of issues and with this week you know we’re halfway through we want make sure that you have the opportunity to be a part of the team and not only that if you like what we’re doing here including we have a brand new documentary series we want to make And not only do we want to make it, because of course our team can make it. They’re incredible. They can make anything. I want to really make it big. I want to put the marketing dollars behind it. I want to make sure people get to see it, that hopefully millions of people will see it. Because that’s what’s always different here at the ACLJ. Nothing’s behind a paywall. You’re not going to have to worry about that. We want to make sure that content gets into the right hands. We want to make sure it gets into the most hands possible. There’s many different ways that can happen with a documentary series like this. But what’s really cool right now, if you go to aclj.org slash voice and you scan that or you scan the QR code, not only is your donation made, your donation is doubled, your name will appear in the credits as a founding producer at the end of the series. It’s a very cool little perk. Again, just shows that you are ready to raise your voice loudly. Now you can just say, hey, amazing Logan, I don’t necessarily want that. Just go to aclj.org, make your donation today. It still goes to support it, but you don’t necessarily have to put your name in lights and i understand some people have issues with that so i want to make sure that’s clear as well but your donation will still be doubled again go to aclj.org and do it today are we still waiting for rick so make sure before we got him okay because i’m about to say we can we could run a teaser on that but now rick is joining us i will
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right, Rick. Today we got some documents that were released to Chairman Grassley from the FBI that tell actually a story that I don’t think I was expecting about the Mar-a-Lago raid. It wasn’t one where the DOJ and FBI were in perfect lockstep on going after President Trump. For once, it seems like cooler heads in Washington field office were trying to say, wait a second. We don’t think we have probable cause. Effectively, if there’s not probable cause, then that’s a constitutional violations are at stake here. And instead, the DOJ said they don’t care about the optics. And they forced this after two months of what seemed to be infighting between the FBI and the DOJ to force this raid on Mar-a-Lago. What are your thoughts on what we’re seeing coming out of these new emails released just late last night?
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, first of all, the media needs to cover this. This is my first thought. They covered the raid extensively. They should cover the coverup and the controversy. I don’t know why it took so long for someone to stand up and get this, but Chuck Grassley, Senator from Iowa, is so good at digging in and finding these things. He really does hold the intelligence agencies to account. I can tell you as former DNI, he pushed me hard and always wanted transparency. And he didn’t care what the problem was or who messed up. He wanted the public to know. And so this is kudos to Senator Grassley for once again, pushing hard to uncover the truth And I hope that senators will continue to do that because the public needs to have their confidence restored in these institutions, these government institutions. And the only way to do that is to come clean on the mistakes. The idea that DOJ decided to raid Mar-a-Lago and Melania Trump’s closet when all other agencies were saying, this is not needed, shows just how political the DOJ has been under Joe Biden. And I hope that the media will uncover this, talk about it and shame those who did this so that it never happens again.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, Rick, you bring up the media. One of the individuals involved in this was the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in National Security Division, George Toskos, who was quoted by the FBI five days before the raid of saying, quote, he frankly doesn’t give a blank about the optics. of the raid and the search warrant execution. But once again, okay, is the media going to report on this one individual that he said this? Probably not. But they were fine reporting on this very same individual when there was crisis at the DOJ because President Trump was in and they were trying to turn over new people and he was said, you can either resign or get a new assignment. And they were running headlines like, after removing veteran officials… New DOJ leadership tries to calm rattled national security team as if the crisis was unfolding at the DOJ that these career veteran officials were being told they may need to do something else. When in reality, it’s those type of people that were saying they don’t care what the optics look like. Just get it done when it comes to raiding the home of a former president of the United States. And if they don’t care about the optics of raiding a former president, Do you think those DOJ officials are going to care about raiding parents’ homes that were protesting at school boards or speaking out for their children’s well-being or pro-life advocates that were raided in pre-dawn raids by the FBI that the DOJ forced and took to trial? No, that’s why we had to defend whistleblowers that were trying to call out that stuff. Because the DOJ was trying to say, it’s our way or the highway. Get it done. We don’t care about the optics. And now we’re seeing, they were putting that in writing.
SPEAKER 01 :
Look, let’s be really clear though about the DOJ under Joe Biden. This was not optics. This was their spin to call it optics. What the warning was is that you don’t need to do this. This is not relevant. It’s not germane. You shouldn’t be raiding Mar-a-Lago. This was a warning about the substance of what DOJ wanted to do. It was the DOJ Biden people who called that simply optics. And I would challenge anyone to say it’s not optics when lawyers who work for the government are telling you that this isn’t needed, that this raid isn’t needed. And that you somehow say, oh, it’s just because you’re afraid of optics. That’s a political spin from the Biden DOJ. The warnings were ignored. And that’s why they overreached on the legal implications. And we all saw that. And the case completely fell apart because of the overreach, not the optics.
SPEAKER 04 :
And Rick, that is precisely also what we want to do is encourage people to be able to raise their voice. That’s why we’re doing Raise Your Voice Week. Of course, we are promoting just our general cause of supporting the First Amendment here at the ACLJ. It’s been a long-term thing that we have been working on for years and years. Of course, we’ve got a new series we’re working on as well that is supported through this week of giving. But I wanted to give you the opportunity to say, look, this is important. It’s important why we have strong people, even in the FBI. Look, these voices may have not been known ahead of time, but you’re right, because of Chuck Grassley and some other people. Now we know there at least were people on the inside. questioning what was going on because they were willing to speak up?
SPEAKER 01 :
Look, I think organizations like the ACLJ and other non-government organizations have a real role to play. Transparency, suing, taking things to the court, and then highlighting them to the public. ACLJ does this really well. We have lawyers, we have people who take action. We don’t just talk about this. We’re actually working on the substance. And so I hope people will partner with us become a member, help us be able to do this job. We’re all here because we want to make our world better. We want to hold government to account. And that requires having lawyers and other people behind the scenes, not just people on the front talking about these issues. And so I hope people will join us. It’s an incredible organization. And it’s why I wanted to join right after I left the Trump administration. I’m incredibly proud to be a part of the ACLJ family.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you so much, Rick, for joining us today. And Merry Christmas to you and your family. I hope we have you on before then. But if not, Merry Christmas. With that, that’s going to do it for today’s show. I encourage you to scan your QR code. Go to ACLJ.org. Have your donation doubled today. It’s Raise Your Voice Week. Be a part of it today. Again, leave that up there for the end of the show. ACLJ.org slash voice. Get your name in the credits. We’ll talk to you tomorrow on Seculo.
