Artificial intelligence, control of Congress, homeschool rights and congressional oversight all converge on this edition of Washington Watch. Tony Perkins speaks with Rep. Greg Murphy on AI and China, David Wasserman on the midterms, and Sen. Chuck Grassley on the Jack Smith hearing.
The program also follows a Nebraska case involving a volunteer firefighter who says a homeschool diploma blocked him from full-time employment. Listen now for the full Washington Watch discussion.
Washington Watch opens with one of the biggest technological questions facing policymakers: how should the United States respond to the rapid growth of artificial intelligence without surrendering its competitive
SPEAKER 17 :
From the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
SPEAKER 05 :
We have to strike the right balance here, the balance between the interests of the American people in benefiting from the extraordinary advancements that are being made with this new technology, with the necessity of maintaining our edge over China and any other competitors that might emerge around the globe, and that the superintelligence companies ensure the safety of the products that they are producing.
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That was House Speaker Mike Johnson earlier today following a White House meeting with President Trump and some of the nation’s leading artificial intelligence executives. Welcome to this Tuesday, September 29th edition of Washington Watch. I’m your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks for joining us. Well, coming up, artificial intelligence was front and center in Washington today as President Trump brought together some of the biggest names in technology to discuss America’s rapidly advancing AI industry and the question of how to address its risk without surrendering America’s technological edge to China. North Carolina Congressman Dr. Greg Murphy, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, joins us to discuss the meeting and the growing technological competition between the United States and China. Plus, with the midterm elections just five weeks away. The Cook Political Report now says Republicans are on track to lose their House majority. Dave Wasserman, senior editor and elections analyst at the Cook Political Report, joins us to break down what has changed and where the battle for control of Congress now stands. And former special counsel Jack Smith was at the center of a combative Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier today over his investigations of President Trump. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa joins us with the latest from Capitol Hill. Then we head to Fremont, Nebraska, where the city council will consider changing a hiring policy that blocked a 22-year-old volunteer fireman and state-licensed EMT from consideration for full-time employment because he was homeschooled. All of that and more straight ahead. All right, let’s begin at the White House, where President Trump met today with some of the biggest names in artificial intelligence. The discussion centered on a growing question from Washington. How does America address the potential risk of AI without stifling innovation or losing its technological edge to China? Joining us now is Washington Watch reporter Mary Stackhouse. Mary, what came out of today’s meeting?
SPEAKER 24 :
Well, Tony, earlier today, President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, they welcomed AI executives to the White House for discussions on the future of AI. As you said, executives from OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic, and NVIDIA were among those present. The goal was to address the federal government’s role in guiding rapid AI development. Now, administration officials and congressional Republicans have argued against heavy restrictions on AI, and this is to ensure that the U.S. maintains its competitive edge over global rivals like China. However, industry leaders and opposing lawmakers, they remain split on the need for safety guardrails around AI. Here’s President Trump earlier today after he announced the launch of America.gov. It’s a platform aimed at simplifying access to federal government services.
SPEAKER 03 :
This is one more example of why I will never stifle the growth of technology that will be bigger than the industrial revolution. This is why the SI superintelligence is, they’re saying, bigger than the industrial revolution, far bigger than the internet, not even less. And we see it. And we can’t stifle it. And we’re leading by a lot. President, she knows that. We’re leading by a lot.
SPEAKER 24 :
Now, Tony, today’s meeting underscores the critical balance between driving innovation and establishing national oversight.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right. Well, let’s shift to some other news out of Washington. Senate Majority Leader John Thune says the Senate may leave town tomorrow. So, Mary, what’s left on the Senate agenda?
SPEAKER 24 :
Well, things are kind of in flux in the Senate. The votes are continuing tonight, but we don’t know if they’re going to get to all of them. Tonight, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on a resolution addressing escalating violence and human right concerns in Judea and Samaria. The measure is being pushed by Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and Senator Bernie Sanders. a self-described socialist like New York City Mayor Zoran Mandami. Now, if it passes, the measure will mandate a comprehensive State Department assessment of the Israeli government’s policies amid skepticism among Democrats. This push demonstrates the growing anti-Israel sentiment in the Democratic Party. Now, another measure that senators are expected to vote on this week is a data centers bill. It’s sponsored by Republican Senator John Husted, and it aims to protect Americans from costs related to AI driven data centers. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the bill earlier today. Here’s what he said.
SPEAKER 02 :
The bill is a fraud. I can sum up the shortcomings of the Republican data center bill with one word, optional. The bill is optional. America, you hear that? Here we need some real action on data centers. And what does the Republican center from Ohio come up with? Something that is optional. It’s up to the companies to decide. Well, they’re the ones that need the guardrails.
SPEAKER 24 :
This week, the Senate is also scheduled to vote on the Stop Insider Trading Act, which has already passed in the House. Tony.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, Mary, thanks so much for the update today. All right, folks, let’s turn back to the Trump administration’s focus on artificial intelligence. Joining us now to discuss this is North Carolina Congressman Dr. Greg Murphy, who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee. He represents the third congressional district of the Tar Heel State. Dr. Murphy, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always good to see you. We’re doing quite well. Thank you. Look, President Trump met with several AI leaders today at the White House. Now, this comes, as we’ve been saying, a growing call for guardrails in response to advances in AI, even from the industry itself. But President Trump has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to stifle AI. What’s your assessment of where things are headed?
SPEAKER 04 :
I think there’s a difference that you can run, Tony, between stifling and guardrails. You know, if you look back, step back and look at this, the president was just on there saying, I think it’s bigger than the industrial revolution. It’s by far bigger than the industrial revolution because it has the potential to change the way that humans interact. And so you look at what could happen, and this could be exhilarating, and at the same time, truthfully, it could be terrifying. And so there has to be some type of consensus as to how we’re going to regulate, how we’re going to deal with this technology. We cannot just simply let it be the wild, wild west, because we know that there are nefarious people out there. There are belligerent countries that would want to see us do harm. But if, God forbid, China were to get ahead in the race, Our phones wouldn’t be safe. Our financial records wouldn’t be safe. Our electric grid wouldn’t be safe. Our government security would not be safe. So this is a real and clear issue that needs to be dealt with. And I’m glad the president is convening very, very smart minds in the industry to deal with this. But this cannot be walked away from and said it’s going to be fine all by itself. This is a technology just like the nuclear technology which led to the Cold War. that has to be treated very, very carefully because of its potential to do harm.
SPEAKER 09 :
For instance, America, a responsible country, we’re going to use it in a responsible way. But as you said, there are nefarious actors out there. And AI can be utilized by non-state actors as well that can put the general population at risk. So we’ve got to maintain an edge so that we can keep an eye on those who might use it in a bad way.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. And, you know, look in medicine, you know, which I’ve been in for 35 plus years. It is already doing absolutely revolutionary things in diagnostics, in pathology, in radiology, in assisting with the development of drugs, these type of things, making them cheaper, which is going to be fabulous. It’s going to be fantastic. But then on the other side of the coin, if given the chance to use this for military purposes, if it was used for espionage purposes, to go in to attack other companies, to attack our electric grid, to attack sewer grids, it could be really, really bad for the American people. So we have to take control of this. Americans, I mean, humans have to be in charge of this. And it has to be regulated in a manner that is safe and secure for humanity, for that matter.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, as you talk about, just to take the sector of health care, yes, it’s been used in tremendous ways already. And, of course, that’s your area of expertise, as you mentioned. But I’m also reading how these non-state actors can use this technology to create biological pathogens that can be easily released in certain large concentrated populated areas that could be deadly.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. Well, I mean, take it to the extreme, which, you know, I’m a surgeon. I always thought four or five steps ahead because if, God forbid, something were, you know, bad to happen, I would be prepared for it. Well, this is the way you have to deal with anything scientific in this regard. We have to think downstream to say what could happen if these certain things happen, and we have to make sure that they never do happen. So that’s the important part for making us sure that we take care and we regulate and we deal with this and we respect the technology of artificial intelligence.
SPEAKER 09 :
And I think the urgency of this, Dr. Murphy, is such, and this is the perspective that we come from at the Family Research Council, is that in a day and an age where we have lost an understanding of right and wrong and truth, we do not have those moral guardrails, if you will, that we had 60 years ago that everybody operated under. And that’s why, unfortunately, the government has to step in.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, you know, this is not a new technology. I mean, artificial intelligence is 15 years old, but it’s just gotten to the point where it is now exploding and blossoming. And to your point, I was having a discussion with one of my best friends yesterday about the country. You know, we were founded on Judeo-Christian principles. We make our decisions based upon our religious and moral beliefs. Sadly enough, so much of that has gone away. And so many people now make their decisions about how they feel that day, which may be different how they feel another day or how they’re different than they feel next week. We need a foundational, you know, righteousness, to be honest with you, a foundational understanding of what could this do and how badly it could act and treat it accordingly.
SPEAKER 09 :
Given the landscape globally, and China obviously our biggest competitor on this, do you feel confident that we’re staying a step ahead of China?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, you know, I met with several groups when we were in July with the NSA and with CIA about this technology in and of itself and asked, we’re several months ahead of China. You know, sadly enough, the Chinese are doing all they can to undermine America’s thoughts about data centers. If we don’t have data centers, we don’t have the computing ability. to have artificial intelligence it’s just like if we didn’t have rockets uh then and russia did then they would have won the cold war china’s doing everything possible to pollute the american mind against data centers now data centers now i mean even i think it was even 60 minutes came out and pointed out that um Data centers use about as much water as a golf course every day or half as much. The energy that they’re using is either used by companies that have excess capacity or they’re required to furnish their own energy. And then some of the humming noises, a lot of these are being put out, most of them are putting out far in rural areas, far away from people. So that’s not as much of a concern. So again, China is doing everything possible. to undermine American dominance in artificial intelligence. So we simply cannot afford for the sake of our future of our country to allow them to have that.
SPEAKER 09 :
You know, we live in a free society in which China has the ability to come in and and distort the American viewpoint of this through our own system. They use our own freedom against us in order to try to take our freedom away from us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 09 :
I mean, it’s something we have to remain vigilant about. But I agree with the president’s approach. We’ve got, as you said, we’re a couple of months ahead. We have to continue to stay ahead. This is not one that we can stop and rest because they’ll overtake us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, they will, Tony. And believe me, they attack us. China attacks us every day. A couple months ago, they were seeing, they were attacking, you know, American, you know, our governmental structures. They do this. They did this during the pandemic, which they caused. They caused. Exactly. We shouldn’t forget that. During the pandemic, attacking us with electronic espionage. So you don’t think they’re going to do it if they have artificial intelligence? Absolutely.
SPEAKER 09 :
We can’t forget what they’ve done in the past. Dr. Murphy, always great to see you. Thanks so much for joining us today. All right, folks, stick with us. When we come back, we’re going to talk midterm elections and where they’re headed. So don’t go away.
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So I’m an attorney, and for me, it gives me some direct practical knowledge of what I can do to try to impact my legal community, to make better legislation, to try to encourage legislators to make choices that have a biblical worldview, which is what we really want.
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All right. Welcome back to Washington Watch. The website, TonyPerkins.com. Also, get the Stand Firm app. That way you’ll have Washington Watch with you no matter where you go. Plus, access to our news and commentary from a biblical perspective, the Washington Stand. All that is found on the Stand Firm app. We are just five weeks away from Election Day, and according to new analysis from the Cook Political Report, Republicans appear to be on track to lose the House majority in November. Where are we seeing the shifts and how concerned should Republicans be? Well, joining us now to discuss this is David Wasserman, senior editor and elections analyst for the Cook Political Report. David, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 12 :
Thanks for having me, Tony.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right. Can you remind our viewers and listeners about the current House makeup and then what we could potentially be seeing after the midterms?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, the math can be confusing because right now Republicans effectively have a 220 to 215 majority, which means that Democrats would only need to pick up three seats to get to that magic number of 218 to flip control. However, it’s not as simple as that because Republicans embarked on an unprecedented strategy of redrawing boundaries in states that they control in the middle of the decade to try and eliminate as many Democratic seats as possible. This resulted in a partisan gerrymandering arms race where Texas struck first, California retaliated, Florida and other states jumped into the fray. And the net result of that is that Republicans improved their position in the House by about five seats. It wasn’t the dozen seats they were hoping to gain from gerrymandering, but it also wasn’t nothing And at some point earlier this year, it looked like it might be a wash. That’s not to say that Republicans are going to hold their majority. It just means that Democrats need to flip more like eight Republican seats to win the majority, not just three. Today, in our ratings, we see more than 20 Republican seats in deep jeopardy, which means that Democrats are the favorites to get there, given the president’s approval rating and how badly underwater we’re seeing their numbers and some critical differences.
SPEAKER 09 :
So what’s caused the shift? Is it the increase in fuel cost? Is it the war with Iran? What’s driving this?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, well, in the past, we’ve had midterms that are about unpopular wars, like 2006 with Iraq, unpopular legislation like 2010 when Obamacare was deeply unpopular with voters and Republicans gained 63 seats, and unpopular prices and inflation like in 2022 when voters really— lashed out at Biden inflation and threw Democrats out of control in the House. This is really about all three. We’ve never seen a midterm, at least not in my lifetime, that’s been about all three of those pieces. Not only are voters strongly disapproving of the war in Iran. They are also still upset at the reconciliation bill last year, particularly its health care provisions. And they’re also dissatisfied with the state of the economy, especially that borrowing rates have gone back up. And we’re seeing consumer confidence go down as we get closer to the election. So these are big headwinds for the president’s party. However, they are in a better financial position to convey their message to voters than they were eight years ago during Trump’s first midterm. And that might be able to help them cut their losses or potentially save the Senate.
SPEAKER 09 :
What areas of the country are most in jeopardy for the Republicans? Is there a concentration or is it a scattering across the country?
SPEAKER 12 :
In the House, we’re looking at five states that did not re-gerrymander their boundaries for 2026. And these are what I would call the critical clusters of toss-ups. We have key races in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Iowa, Virginia. Those are the states that we’re seeing the most spending in House races. Democrats need to pick up four seats to win control. Right now, the Senate’s 53 to 47 in Republicans’ favor. And there are a half dozen really close races right now. Democrats are in good shape in North Carolina and Georgia. They’re hoping to pick up Maine, and they’re struggling to defend Michigan. So those two are very close. And then you get into the next tier of states that the president carried by between 11 and 14 points in 2024, which are Ohio, Iowa, Alaska, and Texas. All of those races are very close right now. Democrats probably have the best chances in Ohio and Alaska out of that quartet. But then there’s also a sleeper race that’s come on the board, and that’s Kansas, where Republican Roger Marshall is in Kansas. an increasingly difficult race against Democratic megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton. So we’re watching that, too.
SPEAKER 09 :
What do you think the best case scenario is for Republicans in the Senate post-election?
SPEAKER 12 :
I think their best case scenario would be to cut or to defend all their own seats except for North Carolina, which looks increasingly out of reach for Republicans. And so that would result in potentially a Democratic gain of just a seat or if Republicans managed to… to pick up either Michigan or the open New Hampshire seat, which I consider a little less likely, then they could end up with the same number of seats they have now. However, if all these toss ups break against Republicans, then Democrats could end up at 53 seats. And Susan Collins in Maine might be the most fascinating race of all of them. She is the only Republican remaining in a state that Kamala Harris carried in 2024. And she’s run a textbook strong race. Voters are net even in terms of their favorability towards Collins. But the Democrat, Troy Jackson, we’ve seen his favorability numbers tank as this race has gotten more contentious. So that may be a better opportunity for a Republican hold.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, David, just have about a minute left. We’re five weeks out from the election. You’ve been doing this for quite some time. When do people begin to kind of lock in their perspective and it becomes less malleable and they’re heading into the voting booth?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, sometime in mid-October. And look, in our polling of these battleground districts, what we’re finding is that voters are very polarized on the president and his performance. There aren’t too many people undecided there. But there are still eight or nine percent of voters who have not firmly made up their mind as to their congressional vote choice. These… Voters tend to lean softly Republican. Most of them are independents. They skew young. They’re a little bit lower income and less college educated than the rest of the electorate. And even though they have negative opinions of both parties, they usually tend to favor Republicans on the issues. The one area where they’re favoring Democrats in our polling is on Gallup’s price.
SPEAKER 09 :
That could be a key variable. Yeah. All right, David Wasserman, I want to thank you for joining us. Always appreciate your insights. All right, folks, more reason to pray. All right, don’t go away. We’re coming back with more right after this break.
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When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitled them
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A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal. That they’re endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.
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That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.
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deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Happy 250th. Happy 250th. Happy 250th. Happy 250th birthday, America.
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May God bless America.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, welcome back to Washington Watch. If you were not able to join us for the Prevote Stand Summit, you can still take advantage of the opportunity to see some of the amazing conversations we had and speakers, several panels. It’s on the Stand Firm app, still there. So if you have the Stand Firm app, you can go see it. If you don’t have the Stand Firm app, go to the App Store and download the Stand Firm app. Our word for today comes from 2 Chronicles 5. Indeed, it came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord and praise the Lord saying, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever, that the house, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud. When Solomon’s temple was dedicated, the presence of God came in such power that the priest could not continue ministering. The glory of the Lord filled the house of God. But Chronicles tells us something important about what preceded the presence of God. The people were thanking God, praising him, and declaring his goodness and mercy. There’s a lesson here for us. Under the new covenant, we are the temple of the living God. If we want to experience the fullness of his presence in our lives, we need to cultivate hearts of praise and worship. Be thankful, praise him, worship him. Don’t reserve that worship for Sunday morning. Make it a continuous expression of a grateful heart. God is good and his mercy endures forever. To find out more about our journey through the Bible text, Bible to 67742. Well, if you joined us for the Prevost Stand Summit or tuned in last week, you are familiar with the situation of a 22-year-old named Andrew Coates, a volunteer fireman from Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska, who applied to become a full-time firefighter in nearby Fremont, but was rejected. Why? Because he was homeschooled. Well, after five months of appeals by the family, The City’s Civil Service Commission held a meeting a little over a week ago to review this appeal, but it determined that it didn’t have the authority to address or overturn the HR decision, nor the new employment policy requiring this diploma from an accredited high school, a requirement, by the way, that they added after Andrews submitted his application. All right. The Fremont City Council is scheduled to take up the matter this evening, in part because of thousands of folks who responded to our call to action. Joining us now to discuss this live from outside Fremont City Hall is Brent Kylan, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at the Family Research Council, who traveled to Nebraska to be at the hearing tonight. Brent, thanks so much for joining us.
SPEAKER 26 :
Thanks, Tony. Good to be with you tonight.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right. So what’s your sense there on the ground in advance of this city council meeting?
SPEAKER 26 :
Well, like you said, Tony, got the city hall right behind me. And there’s some positive signs. If you look at the agenda that was published that came out for the meeting tonight, that item that would relate to Andrew and resolve that situation is specifically on that. So that’s a very good sign. It will come down to how the city council decides to vote tonight. There’s eight city council members plus the mayor. A couple of good indicators are, first, the fact that it is on the agenda. Second, it’s actually got kind of a mayor’s tag, which, as I understand it, is a means of fast-tracking policy change like this. And then also the mayor and several city council members have come out publicly. to say that they do support resolving this. So all of those are good. If you look at the language proposed, it would allow for what they call non-accredited students to apply for these positions. So good signs. But again, it will come down to how the city decides to vote.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, and as we had Andrew and his family at the Pray Vote Stand Summit, just so folks have the full context here, Andrew’s been a volunteer firefighter for two years. He’s also been going to college. He has a 3.8 GPA at a local community college. The college accepted him with his homeschool, high school diploma. But the city changed. their application criteria after he applied. This has been going on for five months. We got a we were in contact with a member of the city council who is helping with this. resolution. They were scheduled to come on the program. I invited them to come on, but they have since said that their city attorney won’t allow them to come on and talk about this. The question is, Brent, this has been going on for five months, and it’s just in the last week that they decided to address the issue.
SPEAKER 26 :
Tony, that’s right. There’s really no reason that this had to take that long. If you talk to the Coates family, they’ve been engaging this whole process, this whole time, trying to raise awareness, building awareness in the community, city council. They’ve gone and sat in on previous city council meetings. So the fact that it has taken this long is… is really surprising. And it’s good to see it getting this attention tonight. But again, even the fact that it’s on the agenda doesn’t necessarily mean it’s resolved. We’re really going to have to see what the city council, they’re going to take it seriously.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, what I found interesting is that the city council was complaining about all of the contacts that were being made over the last week since we put kind of a focus on this. But they weren’t addressing it on their own. In fact, a FOIA request showed that the Coates family reached out to the mayor’s office 10 times. from April to July, trying to get this matter resolved. And only after we had folks from across the country starting to weigh in did they take it serious and address this. What time is the city council meeting tonight, Brent?
SPEAKER 26 :
The meeting tonight is 7 p.m. local time or 8 p.m. Eastern time.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, Brent, thanks so much. We’ll be waiting to hear back after the council meeting. By the way, folks, you can actually watch that council meeting on the Stand Firm app. We’ll be carrying it live. You can also still weigh in on this issue. You can text FIREFIGHTER to 67742. Reach out and communicate with the city council there. That’s FIREFIGHTER to 67742. I’ll just say I think they’ve been a little disingenuous in… you know, saying that they’ve been trying to resolve this. It was only after the public pressure came to bear that they’ve been trying to resolve it. We’re going to talk more about this. So don’t go away. We’ll be back with more on the other side of the break.
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One nation under God. America’s undeniable foundation of faith.
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As president of the College of New Jersey, now known as Princeton University, John Witherspoon taught 10 cabinet members, 60 members of Congress, 13 governors, three Supreme Court justices, Vice President Aaron Burr, and President James Madison. As a Presbyterian minister, Witherspoon was the only active clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was a gifted preacher and writer who let his faith direct his political activism, often voicing the link between earthly liberty and spiritual liberty. Witherspoon argued there is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost and religious liberty preserved entire. President John Adams said of Witherspoon, he was a true son of liberty, but first he was the son of the cross. Witherspoon’s views on man’s sinfulness from birth influenced his belief that self-government was only possible with checks and balances, a belief he passed on to his student, James Madison, father of the Constitution. Witherspoon helped form the vision many of our founding fathers held to, no republic without liberty, no liberty without virtue, and no virtue without religion. And with that, Witherspoon became a cornerstone in America’s foundation of faith.
SPEAKER 16 :
Have you noticed the upsurge in gambling ads? How could you not? The ads are big, bold, shiny. They virtually glitter with gold. Well, fool’s gold. Because as they say, the house always wins. But some lessons are easily forgotten. And nowhere is this more evident than the rise of the sports betting industry. Since 1992, 39 states and Washington, D.C. have legalized sports betting. And as a result, more than $600 billion has been wagered on sports since 2018. Now Christians should be instinctively concerned about the latest growth in gambling. For one, gambling profits are often losses for those least able to afford them, causing unnecessary friction within families. Secondly, it’s inherently exploitative. The gambling industry necessarily harms one person to benefit another. Gambling offers me the chance to gain at your expense. For me to win, you must lose. But even if I win, I lose the dignity and satisfaction of earning what I have. By greenlighting gambling, cities and states across our nation take the short-term gain of a little extra revenue for the long-term loss of strong communities. States think they’re winning when in the long run, really, they are losing. Remember, the house always wins. Follow Family Research Council’s news outlet, The Washington Stand, for more stories that speak out against policies undercutting strong families and strong communities. Because the only house that truly wins is a house built on a solid rock, God himself.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right. Welcome back to Washington Watch This Tuesday edition. We’re going to be joined in just a little bit by Senator Chuck Grassley, going to join us from Capitol Hill with an update from today’s hearing with former special counsel Jack Smith. But I want to I want to continue in our conversation about what’s happening in Nebraska. And I want to turn to Nebraska state legislature, where an effort is also underway to address the issue. of Andrew’s situation. It’s been raised there. Joining us now is Nebraska State Senator Dave Merman, who chairs the legislature’s Education Standing Committee. Senator, you’ve been a key legislative leader and advocate for homeschooling families in Nebraska. Thanks so much for joining us today. Tell us what you’re doing on behalf of this situation with Andrew. Obviously, this I’m sure is not an isolated situation.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, yes. Well, thanks a lot for having me, Tony. I’m a regular listener to your program on Bot Radio here in Nebraska, and I appreciate what you do. This situation with Andrew Coates that is trying to serve his community as a paid firefighter in Fremont has been going on for about five months. honest with you, I’ve only heard about it in the last couple of weeks or so. And since that time, there have been several senators in the legislature that are working on legislation that will attempt to correct that from the state level. But at the local level, it could easily be corrected. It’s just pure discrimination against homeschoolers. That’s what has transpired in Fremont.
SPEAKER 09 :
Senator, it’s interesting to me. We’ve been communicating to the Coates family since we heard about it, and then we’ve kind of elevated the issue five months ago. 10 requests, a FOIA request was made. We saw that there were 10 efforts by the Coates family trying to have a conversation with the mayor or having a conversation with the mayor. And I think on seven of those 10 times, including the council to resolve that, nothing happened. Nothing happened until it was elevated. Now they’re saying, oh, we’re trying to fix this. This… I think it’s much deeper than just an application process. I would have to say that it appears to be there’s some type of animus toward homeschoolers and maybe people of faith.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s very true. As you mentioned, I’ve been an advocate for homeschoolers for school choice in the Nebraska legislature. I’ve had a great opportunity as chair of the education committee to do what I can to promote all forms of education, whatever I’ve supported and promoted whatever families and parents want for their children. Family parents are the ultimate decision makers in their child’s education, and they should be able to determine what is best for their family and for their child.
SPEAKER 09 :
You’re absolutely right. God gave children to parents. He didn’t give them to the state. And the parents have been the ones that have been given both the authority and the responsibility to educate their children. Senator, I will have to say that I think, and I love Nebraska. It’s a great state.
SPEAKER 07 :
This is really giving great place to live, raise a family.
SPEAKER 09 :
And they got great beef. The but this is giving Nebraska kind of a bad reputation. Is this is this isolated or is there is there an issue there in the state against homeschooled families?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, as you know, there’s animosity toward Christians and homeschooling in probably every state in the country, every region. Some places, you know, it shows more deeply, such as in this Fremont firefighter situation. But it’s there in every state. I don’t think it’s any worse in Nebraska than anywhere else, but we’ve got a long ways to go in promoting what’s best for families and for students, whether it be public school, private school, home school, charter schools, whatever the best path may be. And there should be equal opportunity for all, no matter what your background is in your primary or secondary education.
SPEAKER 09 :
Final question for you, Senator. You feel confident that leading the Education Committee that you’re going to be able to get something through the legislature to prevent future Andrews being discriminated against?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I’m confident something will get done. To be honest with you, I’m term limited out. We only get two four-year terms in Nebraska. I think that’s way too short of a time. But whoever takes my place, there’s a couple of good candidates that have made it through the primary to take my place. I still have connections in the legislature with senators that are working on legislation to address this. And, of course, Nebraska Family Alliance and Catholic Conference and others that are aware and working on the situation. I hope we can do something to address it from the state level. I know many homeschoolers, when they hear that I’m here from the government and I’d like to help, that just move away from that. And I totally understand that. But we don’t want to interfere. But we do want equal opportunity for everyone in the state of Nebraska. And by the way, the colleges are happy to accept homeschoolers. Right. most employers are. They realize that homeschoolers are used to being self-motivated and working hard and are often a cut above the rest.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right. You have service. The Military Service Academy is actually recruiting homeschoolers. Senator, I want to thank you for joining us. I want to thank you for being a listener to Washington Watch. And I know that you’ll keep an eye on this. So alert us if we need to to take other action steps on this.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you very much. Will do, Tony. God bless.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, Senator. Thanks so much. All right, folks. You can watch that hearing tonight on the Stand Firm app and see what the city council there does in Fremont as it pertains to Andrew Coates. All right. Earlier today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the alleged abuse of authority and weaponized conduct by former special counsel Jack Smith. Now, during this highly contentious hearing, Smith defended his legal actions against President Trump and his investigative investigative tactics. which included subpoenas that targeted hundreds of Republican groups and individuals. Joining us now to discuss this on our Patriot Mobile Hotline is Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Chairman Grassley, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 25 :
Thank you for having me. I appreciate always talking with you.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, we always look forward to having you on the program, Senator. Let me ask you this question. After everything you heard from Jack Smith today, what is the most important question he still did not answer?
SPEAKER 25 :
Well, I think everything he said was justification for his… for his effort to put Trump in prison, and there’s no justification for what Smith did. Not only was he after Trump, but we found out through all the hundreds, or I should say thousands of pages of documents that we received, which includes text and email and everything you could think of, It was after the Republican Party. There was no reason for him to get the records of 44 members of Congress. And I was one of those included. And that’s a violation of the constitutional right of what we call the speech and debate clause. And they even sought communications from 50 journalists. roughly 50 journalists and their organizations to government sources and private checks. Can you imagine getting financial contributions from 4,782 Americans, including 42 Iowans, so their privacy is violated by the FBI having in their files? the addresses, the check numbers, everything personal about these 42 Iowans or 4,700 Americans. So you can see it was a sweep of about 400 Republican organizations, 44 members of Congress, and it was more than the justification of what they were trying to say, why they were after Trump. Because what happened on January 6th, that was just an excuse. It was just a pretext for everything else they wanted to do.
SPEAKER 09 :
What possible purpose could the 4,782 checks from individuals who donated to President Trump, what could be the purpose for that? Why would they have that information?
SPEAKER 25 :
We didn’t get an answer for it, and all we can do is speculate. But they didn’t leave any stone unturned of getting all the information they could about any Republican, and more importantly, Republican organizations, and more importantly than that, specific members of Congress, 44 in number. Can you imagine having the text messages? of 44 members of Congress, what they can do with that. I don’t know what they could do with this financial information, but it was surely that they were making a case to know all they could about the Republicans and what could they do to destroy the Republicans. And yet, through all this process, there was only one indictment, and that was Trump. And that was their goal to put him in prison so he could never run for president again. And… And that was their goal. But they were in the process of getting information that they should never have. And one thing that I don’t want you to forget, Jack Smith was not really the start of this. This goes way back to people within the FBI that just hated Trump. And they… did all sorts of shenanigans to present a platform for Smith to take off from.
SPEAKER 09 :
So I was going to ask you that question, Senator Grassley. How high up do you think this went?
SPEAKER 25 :
Well, I think that there was at least the Attorney General… and maybe even the President of the United States, but at least the Attorney General, because we have records of Smith talking to the Attorney General about this. And another thing, if I didn’t say this already, but if I did, let me say it twice, this all started with Smith being appointed Special Prosecutor just three days after President Trump announced that he was going to run for reelection.
SPEAKER 09 :
Wow. No, you didn’t say that. So it’s a good thing you did. One of the things that Jack Smith said today, I believe it was today, he said this. He said that, you know, this these these hearings looking into the Department of Justice and the investigation has a chilling effect upon justice. Well, I would turn that around when you have the text messages and phone call, the phone records between the president and members of Congress. I would think that has a chilling effect upon the legislative branch of government.
SPEAKER 25 :
Sure, not only that, but what he’s leaving out of it is our constitutional responsibility to not only pass laws and appropriate money, but to make sure that the executive branch faithfully executes those laws, and that’s the legislative branch’s responsibility. You don’t just pass a law and then say, forget about it. You’ve got to make sure the president does his job. And that’s true whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat. And, you know, just to show you, we get a lot of information from whistleblowers. In fact, these documents, Smith could not have known that we had these documents because we got most of this stuff from inside the whistleblowers. We even got some grand jury information that we would have never otherwise gotten. And Smith, even his team, retaliated against whistleblowers. And so consequently, you can see how far they go. We had an instance in which somebody on the team went to the Department of Justice Inspector General and said, you’ve got to investigate these whistleblowers. Just think what a chilling effect that has on whistleblowing. And if you have a chilling effect on whistleblowing, you aren’t going to get the information that Chuck Grassley needs. to make sure that the President of the United States, whether he’s a Republican or Democrat, faithfully executes the laws.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right. We have about a minute left, Senator Grassley. What happens next? More hearings? More subpoenas? What will Congress be able to do to safeguard the rights of Congress and the American people who were caught up in this dragnet?
SPEAKER 25 :
I don’t think we need more laws. I think what we need to do is have congressional oversight that exposes the wrongdoings of people like Smith or the FBI being weaponized against Trump and a few people in the FBI that hate Trump, that they may not be there now, but they were there enough to create all the bases for Smith to move ahead. And I’ve been expecting… the truth, and that’s a lesson learned. We must continue what we’re doing, and I think it proves that you can’t rely on the Democrats running the government in a responsible way.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I appreciate you staying on this and bringing all this information out in the spotlight, in the daylight, so people can see what has been happening. Senator Chuck Grassley, always great to have you on the program. Thanks for joining us. All right, folks, I just want to remind you tonight, the hearing, the council meeting, I should say, in Fremont, Nebraska, will be taking place. That’s where Andrew, the issue related to the firefighter, the 22-year-old, will be on the Stand Firm app. So if you’ve got the Stand Firm app, you can watch it tonight. If not, download the Stand Firm app. We’ll give you an update on it tomorrow. Until next time, keep praying, vote when you can, and keep standing.
SPEAKER 17 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council. To support our efforts to advance faith, family, and freedom, please text GIVE to 67742. That’s GIVE to 67742. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information, please visit tonyperkins.com.
