Join Logan Sekulow as he guides us through a live discussion brimming with breaking news, including the delivery of the White House Christmas tree. Amidst holiday preparations, the conversation gets heated with members of Congress and media personalities discussing allegations against President Trump concerning illegal military orders. Dive deep into the murky waters of legal gymnastics and political narratives shaping current national security discussions.
SPEAKER 11 :
On today’s show, Democrats go into damage control after telling the military to defy orders.
SPEAKER 12 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Seculo. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110.
SPEAKER 11 :
And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. It is a Monday. We are live, just to make sure people know this. We’re live Thanksgiving week. Again, phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. I’ll prove it, Will. The White House Christmas tree is being delivered live right now on Fox News. Breaking news alert, everyone. If you’re looking for a Fox News alert, they’re currently showing what appears to be a wagon from… Horse-drawn carriage. Horse-drawn carriage from many moons ago. With Melania Trump out front taking the Christmas tree. I just want to make sure people know that we’re live. This is not a taped show here on Thanksgiving. We will be taped on Thanksgiving. I’ll tell people that ahead of time. We’re going to actually spend time with our families, which will be nice. But between now and then, we’re live. We’re here, happy to take your calls at 1-800-684-3110. Will, I didn’t even listen to this clip because you sent it to me. I saw it pop up and I go, you know what? I need one of those reacts to clips. logan reacts to jordan reacts to will reacts to because of course we all remember last week when mark kelly slotkin the whole gang of people went up there they made their nicely edited video saying military defy your orders if you think they are unlawful and of course we know um that they didn’t seem to put a lot of specificity into what these unlawful orders may or may not be we talked to people in the military of course that is part of your code as you’re not supposed to You’re supposed to be aware that if you’re being told to do something that is illegal, you’re not supposed to do it. But of course, they were not given any specifics. And in this moment, from what you’ve been telling me, they asked him. Press pushed him actually and said, you know what, what are those specifics?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, here’s what’s interesting is that all of these members of Congress put this video together last week, made a lot of news, and then all got invited to do Sunday shows. We have clips from all of them. And none of them gave a consistent answer with the other. They all had a different talking point, which is bizarre because they contradicted themselves. But the one who was kind of the ringleader of this, it was Senator Alyssa Slotkin from Michigan. She was on ABC this week with Martha Raddatz. They are going to friendly media and getting asked questions that should be a softball question if they had thought ahead about the outcome of this. And listen to the answer from the senator from Michigan to Martha Raddatz question about has President Trump issued any illegal orders by two.
SPEAKER 05 :
Let’s talk right now. Do you believe President Trump has issued any illegal orders?
SPEAKER 02 :
To my knowledge, I am not aware of things that are illegal, but certainly there are some legal gymnastics that are going on with these Caribbean strikes and everything related to Venezuela.
SPEAKER 03 :
Legal gymnastics. She was a CIA analyst. That is the Department of Legal Gymnastics within the United States. And she’s sitting here saying it was of such dire need that we put this ad out.
SPEAKER 11 :
to let people know the law that they don’t have to follow legal orders they gave away the game it shows it was politically motivated to undermine the president of the united states authorities commander in chief and one of those things when you look at it too specifically this cause saying well maybe it’s the caribbean strikes and everything related to venezuela we’re talking about stopping drug trafficking coming into the country you’re not even talking about things like i don’t know the national guard being called up to memphis or chicago where at least there’s maybe some gray area there there’s not there’s not i mean if
SPEAKER 10 :
If you look at how the law is set up, if you follow the law to the T, you might not like the policy. They disagree with it. That’s more what I mean.
SPEAKER 01 :
The policy.
SPEAKER 10 :
And you can change laws, but what you can’t do is say that they’re illegal when they’re not. So when she had the opportunity to go through and list, what are all these illegal actions the president’s done? Right. She didn’t even try to go to National Guard because she’s too smart to go there because she knows she can’t. So she had to say, no, there haven’t been any. And then she came up in her head, well, maybe something with Venezuela. But, you know, she obviously hadn’t done a research on that to even use that as a focal point.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah. Look, we’re going to talk about this and so much more. We are one week away from the end of our Freedom Drive here in the month of November. We’ve had Grandparents Week. We’ve had so many things. And we’re going to have a great December as well. But I want you to support the work of the ACLJ right now, whether it’s our legal work, our media work, whether you like this show, whether you like what we do in the courtroom, all of it matters. And your donations are doubled throughout this Freedom Drive. So right now, scan the QR code that’s on your screen or go to ACLJ.org. When we get back, we’re going to take your calls and comments. Again, 1-800-684-3110. We’ll play more bites. We’ll get more into it. We’ll be right back on Seculo. Welcome back to Seculo. Again, we’ve got to reset a little bit. A lot of you are just joining us right now. Of course, we were talking about last week. Again, we’re live. I like to prove that I’m live, Will, because it’s Thanksgiving week. A lot of shows take off. We’re live right now. Earlier on, we were talking about the Christmas tree being delivered into the White House. They’ve moved on from that on the news, but that just happened.
SPEAKER 03 :
There’s a car on fire in New York City, according to what’s on the news right now.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, last night there was.
SPEAKER 03 :
There you go.
SPEAKER 11 :
Listen, we are live, and we are going to take your calls at 1-800-684-3110. If you’re an ACLJ supporter, also an ACLJ champion, I encourage you to call in, even if you just have words of thanks or encouragement. We’d love to hear from you. We are obviously in the last week here of our Freedom Drive for the month of November. We’re going to be rolling right into December. Big December is either the last two months of the year or always very big fundraising months for any organization. It’s the most important months of the year. It’s where a lot of people make their year-end giving. So we encourage you right now to still support the work of the ACLJ as we continue to give you not just our legal opinions, but also the news of the day. And the news of the day, Will, of course, comes out of Washington, D.C. We know last week that video went viral, if you will, saying, you know what, if you’re a military person and you think that the president is giving you illegal orders, You do not have to obey these orders. Here’s what you can do. And, of course, Ninwood pushed on the Sunday shows. It couldn’t answer that any illegal orders had been made. I mean, honestly, what a dumb answer. Like, it just is ridiculous to me. I don’t mean that in a mean way. I just mean that even if you’re pushing your narrative forward, anyone who understands how media works understands. You’ve got to push your narrative forward. You don’t answer with, to my knowledge, I’m not aware that there are things that are illegal.
SPEAKER 10 :
So it was a wasted ad.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right. So that is the worst answer they could have given and then swerved it into the, again, well, there’s some legal gymnastics happening. The American people don’t fall for that. They don’t want to hear that. They want to be told, look, if you think there’s something illegal, stand up. I think you could say a lot about the Mamdami meeting last week, which was, you know what? You had a guy go in there that a lot of people had a lot of problems with and walk out smiling with the president of the United States on completely different sides of the aisle. There’s a way you can handle things right now that American people will actually appreciate. They’ll actually respect, even if they disagree with you. It’s kind of the way people felt about Bernie Sanders, which is… They may disagree with him on everything, but they at least believe he’s telling the truth from his perspective. Right. When you feel like you’re just being lied to and manipulated, it’s ridiculous. I know, Will, you got more sound you want to play, more videos you want to play.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it was just so shocking. One, to see that almost all of these members of Congress that were in this video. were on sunday shows they all got booked to go talk about this because it was the major kind of news at the end of the week that they put this video out the president responded strongly and we even we spent a whole hour breaking it down jordan but i want to play this sound to follow advice of these senators right and then they double down on why not to follow their advice And this is what I want to get your take on too, Jordan, because Alyssa Slotkin, who was kind of the mastermind of this ad, she was the first one to put it out on her ex-account as well as she’s the first person to speak. So it almost seems like it was organized by her and her press team. But let’s go ahead and play this more extended part because we already – and you referenced her saying, to my knowledge, he’s not doing anything illegal right now. But this is a follow-up by Martha Raddatz. Once again, I don’t think anyone watching this show is a fan of Martha Raddatz or ABC this week, especially with some of the performances she’s given at presidential debates, things of that nature. Not necessarily the most unbiased or neutral member of the press. But she’s asking what seemed to be premeditated Pretty easy questions for someone that had this entire campaign rollout. And this is a follow-up from Martha Raddatz to Senator Slotkin from Michigan by three.
SPEAKER 05 :
It does imply that the president is having illegal orders, which you have not seen.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think for us, it was just a statement widely. Right. We say very quickly and very to all the folks who come to us. This is the process. Go to your JAG officer. Ask them for explanation, for top cover, for their view on things. We do that on a case by case basis. But we wanted to speak directly to the volumes of people who had come to us on this.
SPEAKER 05 :
And it is very clear that no one should follow an illegal order. But it’s very murky when you look at what is an illegal order. And if you go into morally, ethically, that’s a pretty tough thing to look at and say, how do I navigate this?
SPEAKER 02 :
I don’t I mean, if you go back to Nuremberg, right, that, well, they told me to do it. That’s why I murdered people is not an excuse. If you look at popular culture, there’s like you watch, you know, a few good men like we have plenty of examples since World War Two.
SPEAKER 03 :
Jordan, first of all, she says volumes of people have come to them asking about illegal orders. I don’t believe that for a minute. But then she goes into Nuremberg and then A Few Good Men, of which she says is plenty of examples since World War II. If you look at popular culture. I know. A Few Good Men is a movie. It’s not an example since World War II. That’s it.
SPEAKER 10 :
for these purposes gets pushed to the side this is that’s fiction okay fiction doesn’t count that’s not a good enough answer second Nuremberg Nuremberg focused on leaders within the Nazi death camps and the leaders of the Nazi party SS members specifically it was not just regular kind of uniform troops with the Nazis these were the worst of the worst who saw the atrocities and that’s where they were tried in this special tribunal if that’s what you can point to in the world of all the world of military is one the Nuremberg trial following the holocaust as a don’t use a well you were you were given this instruction so you were following orders and that doesn’t work as defense I mean that’s that’s just not accurate and you know what she goes on to say is what we did on the show but what they didn’t do in their little 30 second ad is They just wanted to make a very broad statement, right? That’s what she says, actually. We say very quickly, and for all the folks who come to us, this is the process. Go to your JAG officer. Wait. Don’t just ignore because I thought the ad said ignore illegal orders. This says go to a JAG officer and make sure you get cover is what she goes and says. Which is the process. You go to a military court officer and if you really have a concern and they are the ones to issue a judgment to make sure that you do have cover before questioning an order.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, and there are moments, you have to say, where the media shines a little brighter. I have to say, you’ve got to give it up to Raditz for actually not just pushing back, because again, like you said, Will, these were softball questions, but for not taking the answer either. To go, what are you talking about here? And to explain to people that when you say illegal order, that it is murky, And what does that even mean?
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. And once again, they, as Jordan just pointed out in that ad, they say our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders. You must. refuse the illegal orders so there’s not a you should go to your JAG officer and ask them about the legal cover for an order it is very direct but I think we should play another member of this this is from Maggie Goodlander she’s a member of the House of Representatives from New Hampshire also the wife of Jake Sullivan everyone’s favorite Rick Grinnell’s favorite everybody loves Jake he’ll be on later we Never had any sort of questions about legal advice that he’s given presidents.
SPEAKER 11 :
And this was him with Wolf Blitzer.
SPEAKER 03 :
With Wolf Blitzer. Maggie Goodlander on with Wolf Blitzer. Once again, asked a very direct question that they should have had the answer to if they were going to film themselves for an ad. Bite six.
SPEAKER 09 :
Have you Congresswoman or any other of these Democratic members of Congress heard directly from members of the U.S. military or the broader national security community who believe they’ve been given unlawful orders?
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, you know, what I’d say is I have heard from service members, and I have heard from service members, and this is all a matter of public record. What we see is an uptick of concern from the men and women who are serving in uniform about the legality of orders that are being given.
SPEAKER 11 :
it’s like they were given a gotcha question and it’s the most basic question and you at least have some people with a little bit a little bit of journalistic integrity to ask the question that i don’t know should be number one on everyone’s list when they’re going to ask him and it was and the response was like they were so shocked that they got asked this question they got a camera in their face for they and they were told by their you know staff say this into the camera yeah
SPEAKER 10 :
And they didn’t, they just said it and they moved on and then they booked all these interviews because of it. And you would have thought, okay, then the staff person is going to walk in and say, we’re going to prep. You’re going to get asked, has he done anything illegal? If you’re going to say no, you need to be able to pivot to, but this is what we’re looking for. I, This is where we’re on the line.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’ve got one more because, Jordan, they booked all these interviews and you’d think that their press team, after seeing the first interview go so poorly, would update their talking points. Byte 9, also Maggie Goodlander, on with MS Now, formerly MSNBC.
SPEAKER 10 :
Very difficult interviews for liberals.
SPEAKER 05 :
Illegal orders. Are you urging troops to refuse? And what do you hope they take away from your message?
SPEAKER 01 :
Alex, we love this country. We love our Constitution. It is our job as lawmakers, and especially in this moment, to be clear morally, to be clear legally. And simply and clearly stating what the law says What the Uniform Code of Military Justice says, it’s not a crime. It is not treason. It is not sedition. It is our job. And I think it’s really important that we do our jobs in this moment.
SPEAKER 11 :
Word salad. Again, it feels like something straight from the Kamala Harris campaign. campaign i mean you don’t want to be rude but it’s just it’s hard to even watch because these are just words that you are trying to get out of the top of your head and when you start saying things like simply and clearly and you have to say clearly multiple times then clearly you’re not saying something clearly logan what illegal orders uh are you urging troops to refuse we just love this country in our constitution it’s so great it’s our job speak the law it’s our job to be clear morally clear legally simply and clearly and that is that end quote like that is what she said all right we get back uh what we got coming up next we’re going to talk a little bit about the aclj’s work what we’re doing in california taking on governor newsom your favorite we’re talking about the legal work that’s happening here at the aclj as we wrap up our freedom drive we want you to get engaged on the work that we do beyond even this broadcast we’re talking about that coming right up Welcome back to Seculo. I did want to take a second. We’re having a lot of fun here, obviously, with the reports and all of those news stories that are coming in and all the clips. Yeah, we can talk college football. It’s Thanksgiving week. Of course, a lot of people will be watching football this week. A lot of people will be enjoying all the festivities, their family, the parade, everything that goes in to your Thanksgiving. So we hope you all have a blessed and a great Thanksgiving. thanksgiving week as we approach it and a lot of you are kids are off school we can see our numbers are spiking right now i think a lot of people are driving a lot of people are in the car headed towards their families maybe a lot of people are out of their normal routines we appreciate all hey wait wait i want to stay in the car a little longer before we go in because i want to hear what jordan and logan will have to say they’re all waiting for uh secretary duffy’s making a thanksgiving travel announcement i said that’s the that’s been the best excuse i feel like all the travel issues just to be like i’m sorry i’m sorry i can’t do it the dog yeah Well, beyond that, though, the work of the ACLJ continues. And obviously, we have a big couple weeks coming up here. And I wanted to break some of that down because it’s beyond just our normal news of the day coverage, all of those things. Of course, the ACLJ. If you’re new, by the way, which I know a lot of you probably are, we encourage you to subscribe and be a part of the team here. The ACLJ is two prongs here. It’s the media side. We do this show. We do all the things related to the content we provide. There’s obviously the legal arm, which is the foundation of the organization, which is we are in court and we are in court fighting for you, whether that is a child who just wants to have a Bible club, a Jesus club that happened last week or all the way up to representing a president of the United States or in this instance. suing Governor Gavin Newsom and the state of California.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. So, Logan, at the end of the year, a lot of people, you know, things slow down. You have the holidays. Not at the ACLJ. Our attorneys are hard at work. I was on a call this morning. We have two oral arguments in cases in early January. So while everyone’s preparing here at the end of the year, having a good time, our attorneys are preparing to go to court to fight for our clients. But Jordan, this one is big because we mentioned at the beginning of the month, we told everyone about this case when we announced it. But when we come back from Thanksgiving break, when everyone’s back, we will be just days away from filing a cert petition at the US Supreme Court, asking them to hear this case with Calvary Chapel San Jose, Which is still being levied these fines. $1.2 million of their tithes and offerings. Governor Gavin Newsom in the city of San Jose, in the state of California, is trying to take from them over COVID violations that were later found to be unconstitutional, but yet they still want the church and the tithes and offerings to the tune of $1.2 million. This
SPEAKER 10 :
This is when California started issuing all those exemptions for other businesses and churches said, you know what? If the restaurant’s able to open, then we should be able to have our worship service the way we want. But no, it’s $5,000 a day fines that ended up being over $1.2 million. Even though in court, their refusal, Calvary Chapel’s refusal to sign a sworn statement promising to comply with the court orders was actually thrown out as unconstitutional later. This is what was exempted out. while Calvary Chapel was just trying to have church. Now, they’re being fined $1.2 million. All of what I’m about to read was completely exempted. All athletic exemptions for any kind of sports and in physical contact, they were exempt from masks while competing. Construction exemptions were so broad that it was basically just you could remove it if it creates any kind of risk at all. Individualized determination, which means individuals got to actually choose whether or not to wear a mask. Restaurants. Okay, you’re inside a restaurant. Patrons could eat and drink maskless while seated. There was not a time limit for how long you could be there, so for even hours in an enclosed space. Personal care exemptions. This is not, by the way, you’re thinking medical, maybe? No. This is like getting a haircut or a massage. Those masks could be taken off by both the client and those who are carrying out that activity. And the same, of course, for the entire government of California. was fully exempted completely so that nothing would impede or interfere with essential government work. The entire government. None of that. So none of those people, including the entire California government, had to comply. Or got fined. But California is still fighting to get $1.2 million from Calvary Chapel San Jose.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, you’d think at least at this point they’d go, okay, we’re multiple years out. What’s the good here? We handled this like a mess.
SPEAKER 10 :
We handled this.
SPEAKER 11 :
Especially in California. Everyone handled it in a way that they could and tried to get by. Whatever happened, happened. We could say, okay, we did what we did, but you know what? What’s a million dollars to us, the state of California? Nothing. What is a million dollars to this church?
SPEAKER 03 :
a lot whether or not it survives right so i mean that is the difference as you’re talking about uh who does that really benefit and it certainly doesn’t benefit the government trying to shut down cavalry chapel san jose that’s that’s what’s at play here and and he has the power to stop his government from doing that well and by the time that uh we hear back from the supreme court this will be 2026 six years removed from the pandemic at this point when it began right and and they’re still trying to go after this money and it’s just so ridiculous that we are sitting here at a time when we are so far removed from it we know that Gavin Newsom has presidential aspirations that they are still saying you know what we need that money from that church instead of you know what we’re through this we’re done let’s just move on but no this is the same person who would flaunt the rules for himself so he could go to high-end dinners, but at the same time is telling a church you cannot worship. And now, because they wanted to worship, they wanted to fulfill their First Amendment right, as well as their calling by God, they are being put on the hook for $1.2 million saved. Still, so much so, we’re having to take it to the Supreme Court of the United States to get this overturned. So while we’re all thankful with our families and we are celebrating our freedom, celebrating what God has given us in this country, remember that our attorneys are fighting for a church’s right to exist at this point. Because just think about your own church. If all of a sudden, They’re saying, hey, you know, we really want to survive. We want to reach out to the community. We want to provide a place to worship God. But there’s this $1.2 million fine. Would your church survive that? Would any church survive that? Some would. But the vast majority of churches in this country, that would be a closing your door situation. And then also think about what is taken away from the community. from missions, from feeding the needy, and all trying to go to the government coffers to do whatever program they want to use it for.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, with that look, we have two minutes left. That’s the work of the ACLJ, and it continues on. So I guess maybe, Jordan, you can give us what’s the next step in this for those that are going to be praying about it, thinking about it, and obviously just following this story. What’s the next step for our team?
SPEAKER 10 :
The next step is filing right at the U.S. Supreme Court. That will come very shortly after the holiday. We’ve got a couple cases heading to the U.S. Supreme Court, one we’ll talk about next week as well on the broadcast after the holiday. But this is, again, this is work that continues through the holiday until you’ve got your deadline to file. So this is coming soon, and again, at the U.S. Supreme Court, at the highest level, to make sure that should we ever have one of those experiences again like COVID, which I pray we never do, but that the government has learned its lesson about these restrictions on the American people and the individual freedoms that we have to make choices that we think are best to govern ourselves during those kind of situations.
SPEAKER 11 :
With that, we have one minute left in this segment. Some of you don’t get us on your local station if you’re listening on Terrestrial Radio. You can find us broadcasting live whenever we do this show, which is each and every day, Monday to Friday, from 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern time. We are live. If you want to be a part of this second half hour and you don’t get it on your local station, you can find it on ACLJ.org. On YouTube, just search ACLJ or search Seculo. You’ll find us broadcasting there live. Of course, the ACLJ app. And later on, however you get your podcasts, we are there for you. But with that, we’ve got 38 seconds until we get to a break. And some of you guys are not going to get us from here, so I’m going to ask you. So please support this work. It’s incredible work, whether it’s our legal work, media work, it all matters right now during our Freedom Drive. So the ACLJ Freedom Drive, what’s great about it, we have other members and other we call ACLJ champions who are ready to unlock their donation and double whatever it is you give. So if you give $20, it becomes $40. If you give $200, it becomes $400. So do that today. Again, that’s at ACLJ.org. You can scan the QR code that you see right now if you’re watching on TV or on YouTube. We’ll be right back with the second half hour coming right up.
SPEAKER 12 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 11 :
Welcome back to Sekulow. Second half hour coming up for you right now. Phone lines are open at 1-800-684-3110. As we head right now into the final week of our Freedom Drive where all donations are doubled. A donor is ready to match your donations. If you give to the ACLJ, that supports the work that we do in the courtrooms and of course the work we do here in the media side of the organization. I want you to be a part of it equally right now at ACLJ.org. Do that today. If you’re brand new and you’re watching on YouTube or Rumble, maybe you’ve never seen us before we know it’s crazy number we know between 40 and 60 percent of the people that watch each and every day live have never seen us before ever and with that i’m not going to ask you to donate i’m going to ask you to simply subscribe that would really help us out a lot you get to the show hopefully you’ve enjoyed it so far and you get to enjoy it each and every day be part of that team with us there it’s always a lot of fun with that will do we want to talk back about our first story of the day not That’s right. And then we’re going to move on. Rick Grinnell is going to be joining us in the next segment. And then we’re going to take all the calls and comments we can at 1-800-684-3110. Of course, earlier in the show, we even discussed this. But last week, we talked about the Democrats putting together this little video montage that maybe you’d have for a charity. You’d see it before where everyone says a different part of a script. It’s very emotional. We’ve done it here. Everyone’s done it. It’s kind of cliche here. But you know what? That’s okay. Sometimes cliches work. But this one said, defy your orders if you are a member of the military and you feel like they’re illegal. That opportunity was then given, went viral. That opportunity was then given for them to double down and discuss this on a lot of the Sunday morning shows, on a lot of all the news organizations had on these representatives. And they said, hey. Now that we have you here for more than a 30 second video, what are these illegal orders? And of course the answer was silence.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. And so when you watch that video, as we did last week, we played it a couple of times for people. Their self-righteousness was so palpable. Like they were the arbiter of truth and of the law. And they said, this is our duty to do this, to get this out there. You must refuse illegal orders. Once again, not going into any detail. And we even called that out. And we said, if you’re not giving any detail like this is an illegal order that you should you should refuse, then you’re just destroying the morale. You’re also undermining the president, United States and the commander in chief of the military by floating out here that with this innuendo that there is something illegal they should be ignoring. Now, they went on all the Sunday shows. It worked. Their initial plan of doing this video to get attention on themselves worked. They got booked on all the Sunday shows to go do it. But at some point between releasing that ad and going on these Sunday shows, they neglected to come up with a cohesive strategy about what to say. And so you get things like where Martha Raddatz, not like she’s this, you know, Fox News host that host a weekend commentary show that is going to ask you these hard questions. She just says, listen, has he issued any illegal orders to which Senator Slotkin says no. To my knowledge, not that I’m aware of, but there’s some legal gymnastics, which is rich coming from a CIA analyst, former CIA analyst, where everyone knows that legal gymnastics are a part of the mission at the CIA. Their entire organization is based off of things that operate in that middle ground.
SPEAKER 11 :
And it wasn’t just one flub. It wasn’t like they were given this opportunity and they messed it up. over and over and over again what seems to be at least five or six times maybe more because of all the different stations that they were on all the different broadcasts they were on over the weekend they kept coming up with no legitimate answer if you put one of these viral videos out is to get those interviews yeah and then that worked then you’re supposed to be prepared for the interview and the interview is going to ask you the first question is going to be what are these illegal orders that these troops need to be looking out for yeah or have you heard from people what does it look like and have answers ready Jordan and I have come up with answers better than their answers just during the break you know that we if we had to be asked that question what we would have said okay we’re not exactly on that side and we’re saying you know what here’s what would have been my answer which would have been far better than you know nothing constitution America, we love it. We love it. You know, like Randy Newman. With that, phone lines are open for you. I want to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. Rick Grinnell is going to be joining us in the next segment. Well, what are we going to talk to Rick about?
SPEAKER 03 :
We’re going to be talking about a new person who has entered the governor race in California, as well as that peace deal that’s been floated between Russia and Ukraine.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, you’re going to want to stay tuned for that. Always fun to have Rick on, so that’ll be in the next segment. And again, support the work of the ACLJ during the Freedom Drive. We’ve got about a minute break here. It’s a good time to go and donate at ACLJ.org. We’ll be right back. Leave that QR code up for a minute. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. Rick Grinnell is joining us. Rick, of course, the breaking news that I’m sure you’re thrilled about. There’s a new person running for governor of California. And you know what you think? Gavin Newsom is going to get replaced. It can’t get any worse, Rick. But of course, we learn. Who is it that’s running? And that is, of course, Will. Who?
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. We’ve got the congressman, the esteemed congressman from California, Eric Swalwell, is now entering the race for the governorship of California. You know, you thought, as Logan said, it couldn’t get worse. But also we had Katie Porter, who was doing so great. I don’t know why Eric Swalwell thought maybe there was a time to jump in here. What are your thoughts on this news, Rick?
SPEAKER 06 :
Look, California is, unfortunately, when you look at just voter registration, the people who are approved to vote because they said, I want to register to vote, it’s overwhelmingly Democrat. Now, we over the last four years have been making a huge dent. We’re registering more Republicans than ever. But we’re not quite there yet. The math just isn’t there. We’ve got to keep going. I’ve been pushing voter registration for a long time. But right now, let’s just talk reality. The math is in the Democrats’ favor. And I’ve been telling our voters in California up and down that unless we change voter registration, we’re going to go into next year and And we’re going to have a Democrat governor. It is just the math number. Half of our society is not even registered to vote. So it’s not like we’re getting the full California picture when we have elections. So many people are on the side, sidelines. So many people are frustrated. So many people think it doesn’t matter if I vote in California. And we’ve got to change that perception. And I think we are. But when it comes to this crowded field, Eric Swalwell looks at the math and he says, this whole race is about the Democrats who’s going to win the democratic primary. And he has a solid base of the far left woke crazies from Northern California. That is the base of the Democrats. And so I think he’s smart to jump in. I think it’s terrible for California and, But he’s reading the political tea leaves right. Katie Porter has imploded. And now we have Javier Becerra, who’s running, who’s got his own legal problems. You know, I still think we’ve got to watch out for Antonio Villaraigosta, the former mayor of L.A. He’s kind of a moderate compared to the others in the Democratic Party, which which is, you know, the standard that we have to use. And I think he still could rise up because Los Angeles County is the largest county in California, the largest county in America.
SPEAKER 03 :
Rick, one, thank you for your analysis on that. I mean, I kind of like when you say a name from California I’m not familiar with because I feel like every person that’s in California politics that has made a national name for themselves have made such a progressive stance and gone as far left as they could that maybe… Those in California will pick someone that’s not Eric Swalwell, but we’ll find out. But I did want to bring this up as well. It’s what we’ve been talking about earlier in the broadcast, is that we saw that video that came out last week from those members of Congress that were urging… members of the military to defy and said even the words, you must defy illegal orders. It was very vague. They went on all the Sunday shows and had a terrible time explaining themselves when you’d think if they wanted that, they got their goal by getting booked on the Sunday shows, they would have better answers. You even have Alyssa Slotkin saying, I haven’t really seen anything illegal, just some legal gymnastics. But I want to get your take on this because it seems very dangerous. It seems dangerous when members of Congress are interfering with the chain of command, the commander in chief as prescribed by the Constitution is the president, and starting to sow this doubt within our military community. How dangerous is this as we see what may come from this?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I think this is incredibly dangerous. This is the same crowd that gave us the Russian collusion hoax. They used intel. They used the bureaucracy. And this is a call to arms. This is a video asking for the bureaucracy and specifically intelligence officials to rise up against and stop President Trump. This is a dangerous, dangerous game for America. Shame on the politicians that do that. But let me finish by saying this. You know, I live in California, but I was born in Michigan. Michigan is a political home for me as well. And if you are a Michigan voter, you were completely duped by Alyssa Slotkin. She ran commercial after commercial telling everybody she’s a moderate. She wants to work with both sides that she’s not far left. Just look at her voting record and her speeches and her comments. She is a far left woke activist who is now easily labeled as a hypocrite. If you’re in Michigan, you need to start calling her out. She duped you if you voted for her because you thought she was a moderate. Many Republicans thought through it, but Alyssa Slotkin is, is, uh, trying to say I was an intelligence officer and there is this, uh, this thing that’s happening. where illegal activity is being pushed on them and they should stand up. But then when she’s confronted on their Sunday cable shows, she said, I don’t know of anything. Well, then this whole thing was a political ploy like the Russian hoax, and shame on her for pushing it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, speaking of Russia, then, I think that’s an easy way to pivot. Rick, obviously, one of the big news stories out of last week was the peace plan put in place by President Trump. And look, he had a peaceful meeting with Momdami. Maybe he could cause peace now in Ukraine and Russia, putting together a multiple-point plan that actually seemed to be one of the most rational plans for ending this war. It’s been kind of praised by both sides. They start to talk… start really starting to negotiate out what those terms may or may not be. But I, I feel like this is a positive sign in terms of ending that war. I want to get your thoughts.
SPEAKER 06 :
Look, I’m one of these people who believe, and when you look at history that finding a way to a ceasefire is the first step. Trying to find permanent peace is yet a whole nother thing. It’s very difficult. It’s step two, but trying to find a ceasefire moment, and then working really hard to get both sides to understand the benefits of not going to war is the key and so what i would just say is we have an opening here president trump has been so frustrated with what joe biden handed him uh president trump handed peace joe biden peace in the middle east peace in europe and he turned around and handed President Trump two wars and so the frustration over the Russia Ukraine situation is high We have an opening. I think the reality is is that peace is always worth it and The Ukrainians are are in terrible shape. They they’ve been wiped out Emotionally and physically and I think that what we have to do is take a tough look at these solutions and step forward and as President Trump said, and let’s have a ceasefire. Nothing is ever perfect, but a ceasefire is so much better.
SPEAKER 11 :
And there is a lot going on in Ukraine. If those who are not following, obviously, probably the local politics that are happening there, there is a lot happening. Maybe do some Googling of what’s going on. in Ukraine beyond so the political pressure also that’s coming on Zelensky is a bit different than maybe it was a year ago two years ago as his own people are having some issues with a lot of sort of controversies that are coming up they’re completely unrelated by the way to the war but cause political upheaval and issues and I think we’re we’re really We’re really sort of able to, when things are far away, forget about those nuances. It’s like when Israel comes up, it’s like you forget, yeah, there’s a large group of Israelis that don’t even like the political structure going on in Israel right now. That is the world. The world is split in terms of their politics. But Rick, with that, we are obviously on the world stage and the ACLJ has been involved. on in so many different places. We only have about two minutes here, but we are wrapping up one of our big drives here. It’s obviously Thanksgiving. This is a big week for a lot of people. A lot of organizations obviously are heading into the holiday. So I want to give you a minute. I mean, you’ve been working with us for many years now. And right now when people donate, they donate and they give and their donations are doubled right now. But Rick, you have seen the work firsthand that we’ve done here. And obviously you’ve been a major part of it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, look, I’m so proud to be part of ACLJ simply because we’re doers. We actually take action. We do legal challenges. We go to the United Nations and we push them. We go to the world stage and demand action. We don’t just do petitions, but we actually take action. the substantive argument and demand that there’s action on the other end. And that is done through staff. That’s not done through a press release or just a statement. It’s done through lawyers and others who do hard work. So I hope that people will join us, be partners with us, recognize that the information we’re bringing them, there’s a cost to it. And if there’s a benefit to you, I hope that people will be able to join us, especially this holiday season when everything is tight.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, Rick, thank you so much for joining us today. We know that, yeah, it’s tight for a lot of people. So obviously pray about it. Think about if you can support. It’s a great time to do it. But of course, we know it’s been a rough year for a lot of people going at it right now. But I’m hoping that there are plenty of people, maybe some of those donors who have more that can donate more. The backbone of the organization is those that give it a $30 to $75 level one time a year. I’ll be honest. But there’s also a great group of ACLJ champions that give every month. And then there’s a few of you that can really give in a bigger way. And all of those donations are doubled this month. So think about doing it. Reach out. Support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. We have some breaking news just coming in. It is about the topic at hand that we’ve been discussing in terms of the Democrats asking the military to defy their orders. We’re going to confirm all of it during the break. Do not go anywhere. This is not a fake tease. We’ll be right back with more on Seculo. Welcome back to Seculo. I did tease out that there would be breaking news, and there, in fact, is two stories that have just broken. So we’re at least going to discuss one of them, and one of them is really developing right now. We want to make sure we have all the facts for you. But this one comes out of the Pentagon. Well, this is obviously related to our main topic of the day. This happened, again, as we’ve been on air. And look, those of you who’ve been on hold, and who’ve been on hold for 45, 25 minutes… I’m going to get to you. Just hold on. We got to get through some of this breaking news.
SPEAKER 03 :
So this is an official statement from the Department of War says the Department of War has received serious allegations of misconduct against Captain Mark Kelly, U.S. Navy retired in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Title 10 of the U.S. Code 688 and other applicable regulations, a thorough review of these allegations has been initiated to determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court martial proceedings or administrative measures. This matter will be handled in compliance with military law, ensuring due process and impartiality. Further official comments will be limited to preserve the integrity of the proceedings. It goes on to talk about that they are going to see, it says the Department of War reminds all individuals that military retirees remain subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice for applicable offenses and federal offenses such as 18 U.S.C.
SPEAKER 1 :
2387.
SPEAKER 03 :
That code section, 2387, states, is whoever with intent to interfere with, impair, or influence the loyalty, morale, or discipline of the military or naval forces of the United States, advises, counsels, urges, or in any manner causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years or both.” and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof for the next five years following conviction. So the military is taking this seriously. As a retired member of the military, you can be called back to active duty at any time. That’s why they’re calling him out specifically. That’s right. As well as you can face, they can call you back to face the UMCJ, which he still has to abide by, even as a retired member of the military. That is why these vague statements… hurt them because they go out there and say no there isn’t anything illegal we’re just trying to get the word out there the subtext and even by the liberal journalists are no you’re implying there is something illegal and the Department of War remembers says that all the UCMJ is under legal legal obligation to obey lawful orders and that orders are presumed to be lawful we discussed that last week on the broadcast jordan so this was a big unforced error on their on their they’ll spin it and say this is political targeting that the president trump has directed the department of war and pete exit they’re all going to go after
SPEAKER 11 :
these people, these American heroes, and so on and so on. But let’s just play out and see how it goes. Now there’s another breaking news story. Before we do that, though, I want to make sure we get to our phone calls. Let’s go quickly to Martin in North Carolina, who’s a champion. Martin, go ahead. Thank you.
SPEAKER 07 :
I appreciate you, Will, for What you mentioned and talked about the universal military code on Friday and just now. But it goes into what I was actually calling about the lack of importance that Senator Slotkin had said on ABC. And I’ll read it real quick, which is just makes no sense of priority on her. He is attempting to use controversy over video content. to deflect or redirect public attention away from significant events, specifically the release of the Epstein file, high rising groceries and home prices, which is really weird that someone will put that over our defense in the military and the things that keep us safe.
SPEAKER 11 :
Martin, it’s easy. It’s an easy thing to throw out there. You start throwing out things that are maybe the top news stories, the most clickable stories. You’re able to throw that out there, say food prices, whatever it is. That’s an easy way to deflect. Honestly, it’s a better job than they did deflecting the main story. Of course, the main question that they were asked. It is ridiculous, but that’s not uncommon. I feel that, Martin, you know this as an ACLJ champion and supporter, that we’ve seen the media, especially Washington, D.C., we’ve seen the representatives bob and weave their way through these interviews. And, of course, they’re not going to miss an opportunity to not bring up anything that could score them a few points with their base when it comes to media.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, once again, what you’ve seen the Democrats do of late is just operate and peddle innuendo, whether it be the Epstein files, whether it be this video. Their innuendo here is that he’s giving illegal orders no matter what they say, I mean, it’s hard to tell what they’re saying, honestly, in many of these interviews, but what they try to say that, no, we’re just reminding them of the law. We’re lawmakers. We’re telling them what the law is, but they’re not even telling them, go speak to your JAG officer. Like they try to claim they are. They’re just saying you must refuse illegal orders. They’re trying to sow discord.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yep. All right. Aaron in California, watch it on YouTube. And as a veteran, we appreciate it. Thank you for your service. Go ahead, Aaron.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thank you for everything that you guys do. I appreciate that. And, uh, Uh, yeah, as I just want to make a public comment to all six of those Democrats that are on that video to please resign immediately. Um, I did 20 years, I was a senior NCO and I pushed back on the chain of command a few times and that’s necessary, but these Democrats made that video to publicly undermine the military chain of command.
SPEAKER 03 :
Pushing back is not the problem. And to Aaron’s point as well, that’s where the chain of command is typically where the UCMJ is focused, is that it’s not normally talking about the commander in chief because… The people that are carrying out the orders aren’t getting direct orders from the commander in chief. As Jordan’s mentioned many times, it’s the way that it flows down. So they’re basically trying to get a enlisted individual or maybe NCO or someone who is at a lower level. to make this assumption that what they’re hearing from the president of the United States and whatever their duty is that they’re carrying out is a direct order. That is the entire problem. It breaks down the commander-in-chief’s authority over the military, and that’s very dangerous.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, let’s move on to the other topic. We’ve only got two minutes here. Look, we’re going to cover it a lot tomorrow. But Jordan, of course, breaking news. News you’re not going to want to hear, folks, but we’re not going to sugarcoat it.
SPEAKER 10 :
A federal judge, a district court judge who was looking at the appointment specifically of the interim U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, that’s Lindsey Halligan, after the first interim was appointed to an extra 120 days and then resigned because didn’t want to investigate Comey or Letitia James. Well, the judge in that case who was looking at the appointment, can you appoint a second 120-day person who hasn’t been conferred by the Senate, has tossed… out the charges against James Comey and Letitia James on the grounds that the appointment of this interim U.S. attorney, Lindsey Halligan, violated the law, which says you have 120 days. Now, this will be appealed. Because the question is, if someone leaves after that first 120 days, can you appoint someone in that position as if you’re the president, which actually goes to the attorney general, for an additional 120 days while someone gets put forward to be confirmed by the Senate. So it’s very technical. It wasn’t based off anything specific. Well, so far it was based off the appointment. But this involves… both the charges against Jim Comey and the charges against Letitia James that were returned by a grand jury. At this point, the case has been dismissed. Those charges have been dismissed, but this will also be appealed.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right. With that, of course, that is just a tip of the iceberg. We’ll discuss this a lot coming up. That is legitimate breaking news that happened in the last five minutes. We have been trying to break it down. We’re going to have a lot more information coming up tomorrow, so make sure you stay tuned. Of course, support the work of the ACLJ. We’ve only got 10 seconds left. Just do it today. If you can, your donation will be doubled at the end of the month through our Freedom Drive. Do it right now. That’s at ACLJ.org. Scan the QR code that you see on the screen. Think about it. Pray about it. Think about supporting our work. It’s incredibly important. ACLJ.org. Talk to you tomorrow.
