The Washington Stand’s Casey Harper discusses whether the CCP’s human rights abuses will be addressed during President Trump’s Trip to China, reflects on Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s Capitol Hill testimony, and covers the SCOTUS ruling on
SPEAKER 06 :
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
SPEAKER 17 :
I have a great relationship with President Xi, and I think it’s going to remain that way. We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control.
SPEAKER 09 :
That was President Donald Trump earlier today responding to a reporter at the White House as he was leaving for his meeting in Beijing. Welcome to this Tuesday, May 12th edition of Washington Watch. I’m your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks for joining us. Well, coming up, will human rights be a part of the conversation between President Trump and Xi Jinping? We’ll talk with Jan Jekielek with the Epoch Times. He’ll join us here in studio. Also, will the billion-dollar ballroom be part of the Senate reconciliation bill? The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, says it’s unlikely. We’ll talk with Oklahoma Senator James Langford, a member of the committee. And Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall explains the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, giving Alabama the green light to implement a new congressional map. All of that and more straight ahead. Well, as mentioned, President Trump left for China earlier today for a high stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Joining me now is Washington stand reporter Casey Harper. So, Casey, what does the president hope to accomplish with this China summit?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, thanks, Tony. All eyes are watching this, of course, as the Iran war goes on and the global economic crisis that’s been caused by it. And despite what President Trump has maybe said in some of his clips, it’s hard to imagine the Iran war won’t come up in these meetings with China, especially since China relies on about 40 percent of its oil coming from the Strait of Hormuz. Other topics, of course, are Taiwan. China seems ever poised to invade Taiwan and is very concerned about U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, something President Trump said he would bring up. with the Chinese leader. But on top of that, something interesting is happening, which really signals that there’s going to be a big economic focus. We’ve got over a dozen U.S. executives of major U.S. companies, people you’d recognize like Elon Musk and others who are going with President Trump. They actually are leaving with him today. Now, speaking to reporters before leaving for China, President Trump referred to the Chinese president as a friend. And he said good things are going to happen after this meeting. He usually uses language like that for Xi. In fact, here’s a clip of the president when he was asked if China should intervene with Iran.
SPEAKER 01 :
Do you think he needs to intervene at all with the Iranians? I don’t think he does. Do you think he can help in any way?
SPEAKER 16 :
No, I don’t think we need any help with Iran. We will win it one way or the other. We will win it peacefully or otherwise.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, many are calling for prayer for these very important meetings. In fact, President of China aide Bob Fu is calling on believers to pray for those persecuted Christians in China ahead of this week’s meetings, and hopefully they’ll come up in the discussions, Tony.
SPEAKER 09 :
I hope so. It’s a big issue, but given the fact that who’s along on the trip, I think the president will be speaking the language that he is most comfortable with, and that is business. Earlier today, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth testified before the Senate and House Appropriations Committee seeking approval of the administration’s budget for the Pentagon. Casey, what happened in those hearings?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, Tony, these hearings are increasingly becoming all about the money, the funding for the war. Secretary Hegseth, he faced tough questions from Republicans and Democrats, not just about what the end of this war could look like, but how we’re going to pay for it. Of course, the Pentagon has a $1.5 trillion budget request for 2027, which is a historic high. And Hegseth also faced questions about the cost of the war so far, which the Pentagon comptroller estimates at around $30 billion. Here’s what Hegseth had to say.
SPEAKER 13 :
Every policy we pursue, every budgetary item we request serves to ensure that this department remains laser-focused on increasing lethality and survivability of our fighting force from the front lines to the factory floors. This is, admittedly, a historic budget. It is a fiscally responsible budget, and it is a warfighting budget.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right now, Tony, the White House is having to defend this $1.5 trillion budget and saying it’s necessary while also saying the Iran war is basically over and totally under control, which has been tough for them.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right. One final item. The U.S. Supreme Court has opened the door for Republicans in Alabama, Casey, to move forward with a new congressional map that’s coming on the heels of Louisiana. What’s the latest on that?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, this is a big ruling. The justices lifted a lower court’s decision that had blocked state Republicans’ preferred map. Now, that came from the conservative majority justices. The three liberal justices, of course, dissented. But Alabama is among a group of Republican-led states, especially in the South now, that have the opportunity to redraw their congressional maps after the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act, which has the potential to create an even bigger gap between the seats that Republicans have gotten in this redistricting war versus what Democrats have been able to get.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right. We’re going to talk a little bit later with the Attorney General of Alabama, who actually took that to the Supreme Court a little bit later. Casey, thanks so much for the update. Thanks, Tony. All right. I want to go back to Capitol Hill because there’s a push on this week to advance Reconciliation 2.0, which will fund all of the Department of Homeland Security. Joining us now to talk about this and I think a whole lot more, Senator James Langford of Oklahoma, who is a member of the Homeland Security Committee, as well as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Senator Langford, welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to see you. Good to see you as well, Tony. Thanks for your work on this. Well, let’s talk. There’s several things I want to talk to you about. Let’s let’s hit the first thing here. Reconciliation 2.0. We’re hearing even from your committee chairman of Homeland Security, Homeland Security, that there could be some issues with the the billion dollar ballroom.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, so there’s several pieces in this. One is the DHS funding, Department of Homeland Security funding, is completely done except for ICE and for Customs and Border Protection. That’s what we have to do with what’s called reconciliation. It is a normal process. It just takes a long time to do. It has very strict budget rules. So we’re working through that. Hope to get that finished by the end of next week. But it’s going to take multiple steps to be able to do that. The president’s also made a request for Secret Service. And it’s been interesting just to be able to watch this process. It’s a billion dollars additional for Secret Service. Obviously, the president’s had a third assassination attempt on him in the past two years, so he is attentive to what’s happening with Secret Service. And Secret Service came back and said, we’d like a billion dollars. And it’s been portrayed by Chuck Schumer as a billion dollars for the ballroom. It’s not. This is training facilities. This is additional access points in and out of the White House. There’s additional electronic security measures around the White House. And yes, there is about a quarter billion dollars that’s just for this new East Wing trying to be able to figure out how do you actually secure a building of that size right there on the main mall as well. And so they’re asking for about 25 percent of this billion is all around the construction of the new East Wing ballroom. But the rest of it is all around everything else with security to secure this president and every future president.
SPEAKER 09 :
So given that there’s kind of a June 1st deadline here that the president’s put out there, what are the biggest hurdles that you face in getting this through the process in the next two weeks?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, the clock is our enemy at this point in getting all the information in. So there’s a lot of requests for additional information. We even met with the director of Secret Service earlier today saying, hey, you’re giving us a breakdown, but we’ve got big headings. We need more information about what’s in the subheadings on all these different aspects on it. So we’re trying to get all that additional paperwork in from them. At the same time, we’re trying to be able to work through funding ICE and CBP for the next three years. We don’t want to get into a government shutdown again over ICE and CBP, so we’re literally funding them in advance for the next three years to make sure that’s completely covered and we don’t have another DHS shutdown like this.
SPEAKER 09 :
Do all the Republicans stick together on this?
SPEAKER 08 :
DO ALL THE REPUBLICANS STICK TOGETHER ON ANYTHING? MOM AND APPLE PIE WE HAVE DISAGREEMENTS ON AT TIMES ON IT. SO I THINK THE VAST MAJORITY DO. I THINK THERE’S A LOT OF QUESTIONS STILL IN THIS NEW BILLION DOLLAR NEW REQUEST FROM SECRET SERVICE ON THE DETAILS OF THE TYPES OF THINGS THAT THEY WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO. AGAIN, IT’S BEING PORTRAYED AS JUST THE BALLROOM. IT’S NOT JUST THE BALLROOM. IN FACT, ONLY 25% OF IT’S STILL WITH THE BALLROOM. BUT WE GOT A LOT OF OTHER DETAILS THAT WE’VE GOT TO BE ABLE TO GET FOR THE REST OF IT AS WELL.
SPEAKER 09 :
DID THAT COME UP AT THE SENATOR’S LUNCH TODAY?
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, it certainly did. Yeah, we had a good conversation about that. And just to be able to walk through, all of us want to make sure that the president is secure. No doubt about that. A third assassination attempt on it where someone got within 100 yards of the president to be able to take a shot that we’re all concerned about. No matter who the president is, it is important for continuity of government to be able to make sure that we protect the president. So, yes, that definitely came up today. And we’re talking about what are the steps and what are the dollars that are needed to make sure that we don’t have another moment like that.
SPEAKER 09 :
What’s the biggest concern Senate Republicans have right now?
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, gosh, it is a million things around this. We’ve got to be able to finish out this. We’re still working on the Save America Act. We’d love to be able to get it, but we don’t have the votes for it. And obviously, when we’re dealing with funding for DHS, we don’t have the floor time to do it. We’ve got 49 nominations and confirmations we’re trying to do. We’ve got judges we’re trying to be able to get confirmed. We’ve got a farm bill that’s got to get done. We’ve got a transportation bill that’s sitting there undone. We’re trying to work on permitting at the same time. We’ve got over a trillion dollars in capital in the United States. It’s private capital sitting on the sidelines because our permitting is so expensive, people don’t want to engage with that. So all of those things are all sitting on our schedule that we’re trying to be able to work through all those at once.
SPEAKER 09 :
Let me shift to foreign policy. You’re a big advocate for the voiceless, for the persecuted. The president going to China, meeting with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, taking a host of business leaders with him. Obviously, the president’s language is trade, business, human rights. Do you hope that comes up in the conversation?
SPEAKER 08 :
I absolutely do. In fact, I’ve asked the president and his team to be able to do that. We put it in writing and talked to them about that. Whether it’s Jimmy Lai, a business guy that’s in prison there from Taiwan, or whether it’s a multitude of pastors that are there that have been imprisoned, those folks need to be released. And it’d be good for the president just to be able to make a comment to President Xi and say, hey, here’s a good faith effort to be able to release some prisoners that are there that are not going to hurt the Chinese government, but they definitely show a willingness to be able to recognize the basic human rights and dignities that all of us have.
SPEAKER 09 :
I lament, of course, I wasn’t here back in the early 90s when the most favored nation status was extended to China, which basically put them really jet fuel for their economy. Their human rights record has not changed at all.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, it has not. In fact, it’s gotten more intense. They’ve done more to be able to clamp down on people of faith, especially Christians. They started with just saying, we’re going to monitor you. Then they started ripping crosses off the outside of a building, saying that’s not Chinese. And they moved from ripping crosses off their building to just closing it down and imprisoning pastors and just saying it’s not Chinese to be able to be a follower of Jesus. And they want people as communists to be followers of President Xi, and no one else should have authority besides that. So that’s the move that they continue to be able to make, closing down house churches, shutting down areas where they find anyone trying to worship anyone but the Communist Party. That is what a true communist government does, and they are certainly doing it to their own people right now.
SPEAKER 09 :
Senator Lankford, we just have a little over a minute left, but before he departed for China, President Trump confirmed reports that Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty McCary is stepping down. Now, this comes amid growing pressure on the FDA to accelerate its safety review of the chemical abortion drug Mifeprestone. What is your reaction to this news, and do you think this could accelerate this review?
SPEAKER 08 :
My hope is that it doesn’t slow the review down, and that’s actually my fear on this, Tony, is that now they’re going to say, well, let’s bring in new leadership and let’s start all over again and just slow down the review of Mifepristone. As you and I both know, they’ve accelerated generics of Mifepristone. to increase the number of abortions, but we’re not actually getting a decrease there or at least putting in the standards to say you’ve got to get to a doctor, you’ve got to get evaluations, can’t do it through the mail, can’t go around state laws. Those things have not been put in place, and I hope they do not slow this process.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, Senator James Lankford, always great to see you, my friend. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, good to see you as well.
SPEAKER 09 :
And by the way, folks, the Supreme Court has taken up that issue. They extended from yesterday until Thursday a decision on the Louisiana case regarding mifeprestone, which could actually put in place a stay on the current policy that allow these abortion drugs to be sent through the mail without any medical supervision. So I want to challenge you to pray. to join us in praying that the court would get this right, and women and children, the unborn, would be protected. Text the word COURT to 67742. That’s COURT to 67742, and take that prayer pledge. All right, don’t go away. There’s a lot more Washington Watch straight ahead.
SPEAKER 15 :
Join us for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action at this year’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. Hear from Christian leaders, issue experts, and government officials as we work together to build a foundation based on biblical truth. Early Bird special tickets are on sale for $69 when you register by June 15th. To register, visit PrayVoteStand.org. That’s PrayVoteStand.org.
SPEAKER 09 :
Exodus 9, verse 1 says, You see, America has freedom for a purpose. The question is, are we living by that purpose today? In Scripture, deliverance and freedom is never an end in itself. It is a liberation unto obedience, to worship, and to a covenantal relationship. God’s demand to Pharaoh was not freedom for freedom’s sake, but freedom so his people could identify with and belong to and serve him. Freedom that is not used to serve God will not endure. One of the founders actually echoed a similar warning. Thomas Jefferson wrote, Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and his justice cannot sleep forever.” See, the founders understood we as a nation would be accountable to God for what he had granted to us. They sought freedom for a purpose. And that freedom was given to us as a nation for that same purpose, to serve God, to honor Him, and to live as a people under His authority. In this 250th anniversary year, we must ask the question, are we living by that purpose today as a nation? Lord, we thank you for the godly foundation and heritage of our state. Lord, we would return to an understanding of the freedom that you have granted to us, that freedom has a name. His name is Jesus. And freedom has a purpose. It is to honor and glorify you. And I pray that our nation would return to that understanding of the purpose of the freedom that you have granted to us. We thank you, Father. By faith, we pray that we would return to that purpose. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for tuning in on this Tuesday. The website, TonyPerkins.com. All right, starting tomorrow, President Trump will be meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. He’ll be meeting there this week. And while trade… Most likely Iran and certainly Taiwan are expected to be in focus this week, as we were just talking about with Senator Lankford. There’s a lot of us hoping human rights and religious freedom are on the agenda, that the president will bring up the abuses and violations of the Chinese Communist Party. You know, whether it’s the persecution of Christians to the ongoing genocide of Uyghurs, Their record is horrific. And in fact, during my time as chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, we were tracking it, so much so that I was sanctioned by China for pointing out their horrific human rights record. Well, joining us now in studio to discuss this is Jan Jekielek, a senior editor with Epoch Times and the author of a new book that just made the New York Times bestseller, Killed to Order, China’s Organ Harvesting Industry and the True Nature of America’s Biggest Adversary. Jan, welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining me here in studio. Tony, so good to be here. So we were just talking before we went on the air that, you know, a book of this nature making the New York Times bestseller list is quite impressive because this is a tough subject. But it’s something many policymakers… Don’t want to talk about, there’s some that are willing, like Chris Smith, who you’re going to be testifying before his committee on Thursday. Tell us what’s happening in China.
SPEAKER 14 :
I just want to make one comment. You know, it isn’t just you that was sanctioned by China. In fact, Secretary Rubio, who’s going on the trip with the president, himself is sanctioned by China. So that’s kind of an interesting twist to the story for similar reasons for pointing out. So I guess they’ll let him come, huh? It seems like they’re letting him come. And he has, among congressional members, one of the strongest records. I mean, of course, Chris Smith accepted, perhaps, among others. But so what’s happening in China with this kill to order, it’s a type of organ trafficking that’s beyond what most people can imagine, beyond your garden variety, also really horrible organ trafficking done by cartels and so forth that you hear about in the urban myths. Basically, there’s a few dimensions that you need that really only the Chinese Communist Party can enact. One of them is you have to have the ability to dehumanize an entire group of people or a large group of people. And at the same time, you have to have the ability to incarcerate a huge group of people. Communist China has both these abilities. They have this history of creating what are called black classes. And a black class is a group that the regime deems the enemy of the state that is then struggled against by the society. And they say all sorts of horrible things about these people. For example, the landowners were one of the first groups. They wanted to seize their land. So you have to kind of convince the population that it’s okay to do that and perhaps harm or even kill these people if they don’t re-educate effectively. The communists are very good at that. 100 percent. There’s been many groups like this over the years. For example, in 89, it was the students, the pro-democracy students that became the newest black class. In 1999, there was a group called Falun Gong Practitioners that became the newest black class. And this was very popular Qigong practice, slow motion exercises, but core principles and spirituality, truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. People living these principles very seriously, very grassroots, very bottom up and massive. It grew to 70 to 100 million people by the government’s own estimate by the end of the 90s. And they decided to crush it. So they turned them into a black class, pushing this dehumanizing propaganda out through society. Except the Falun Gong were unusual in a major respect, which is that they refused to be reeducated in large numbers. They wouldn’t be broken, so to speak. And so they incarcerated, we don’t know how many. 2005, the State Department estimated half of all the people in China’s massive incarceration system were Falun Gong practitioners. And this is what sets the stage for this kill-to-order enterprise. Because basically, if I can tell you briefly, in an ethical transplantation system, let’s say I need a new heart. Someone has to have a catastrophic accident. And on top of that, the organ has to match. It’s like blood type, tissue type. That’s how we control for these things not being rejected from the other body. So, but here we have a whistleblower, this is in 2005, a surgeon that says he has a patient, goes to China, and the guy gets an organ in two weeks scheduled, new heart, two weeks scheduled. So one, the catastrophic accident’s being arranged by the regime, someone’s being killed, but how do you get the two weeks? Well, they start blood typing, tissue typing, and organ scanning the Falun Gong en masse in the system. They create a database. And now, so that unique set of variables that you need to find that person to be the perfect match, that exists in the database. And the money is paid for the transplant tourist, say 100 or 200 grand. then that person can be killed to order.
SPEAKER 09 :
And this has been validated by other human rights investigations and studies in Europe.
SPEAKER 14 :
So I have a whole chapter in the book, Chapter 5, that basically is committed to the evidence. We have about 20 years of development of evidence.
SPEAKER 09 :
And so they’ve done this with multiple black classes. They’ve done this with the Uyghurs. They’ve done it with…
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, so they built it on the backs of the Falun Gong initially. So in 2000, there’s almost no organ industry in China. By 2005, there’s over 150 hospitals or just about 150 hospitals doing transplantation. It’s a tourism industry, too, where they’re bringing people from out of country into China to get these organs. An estimated $9 billion annual industry. And by the way, you mentioned the Uyghurs. This is the sort of tragedy of it. For 15 odd years, no one really did anything about it from 2000 to 2015. And then the regime added a new black class. They dehumanized the Uyghurs further. They had already been somewhat dehumanized. They incarcerated a million plus of them. And then they started blood typing, tissue typing, even people in their homes.
SPEAKER 09 :
So how many people are in this stream that they’re taking parts from?
SPEAKER 14 :
So if you mean like what is the population that can be taken from, it’s hard to tell, right? This is all a state secret, but we believe that in terms of Uyghurs, it was a million plus. But actually in that up there and with the Uyghurs, right, the whole region is under police control. So they actually can pull people from their homes as well because they’ve got that information in the database.
SPEAKER 09 :
We’ve just got about 45 seconds left. Are you optimistic that the president would bring this up?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I made a suggestion, right? The president likes to be on good terms with these sort of prime antagonists of America, as is evidence. So one way to say it would simply be, hey, listen, do you really want to have this on your record? Do you want your legacy, Mr. Xi, to be the murderous forced organ harvesting industry that’s cost, I don’t know, umpteen hundreds of thousands of lives?
SPEAKER 09 :
You’ll be testifying before a House subcommittee on Thursday?
SPEAKER 14 :
The CECC, Congressional Executive Commission on China, correct.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right. Jan, I want to thank you for coming in the studio. And I would encourage folks to get a copy of this book. Appreciate the work you’re doing.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thanks so much. And it’s killtoorder.com for those that might want to pick it up. That’s the place you can get the quick link. Killtoorder.com. All right, folks, stick with us. We’re back after this.
SPEAKER 01 :
Join Family Research Council starting May 14 for a journey through the book of 1 Samuel. Come witness the rise of Samuel, the fall of Saul, and the calling of David, and how each person’s heart posture before God shaped their path and legacy. Order Tony Perkins’ study guide, 1 Samuel, Longing for a King, to help you respond faithfully to God’s voice in every season of life. Get it now at frc.org slash store or text Samuel to 67742.
SPEAKER 07 :
One Nation Under God, America’s undeniable foundation of faith.
SPEAKER 12 :
The United States Capitol, an iconic symbol of the American Republic. But few know that this building at the heart of our nation’s government was once something more, the largest church building in America. Since its inception and for decades following, several rooms throughout the Capitol, including the House and Senate chambers, were used to host church services weekly. These services were filled with individuals from all levels of government. The attendance was so pervasive that often it was standing room only. Quote, going to the Capitol on Sundays was then one of the most common things in Washington. Margaret Bayard Smith. This practice was not merely accepted, but encouraged. Quote, I consider it as one of my public duties as a representative of the people to give my attendance every Sunday morning when divine service is performed in the hall. President John Quincy Adams. Housing worship at the center of our Capitol was a living representation of the role that biblical principles played as a cornerstone of our nation’s foundation of faith.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, welcome back to Washington Watch. Again, that website killtoorder.com if you’d like to get a copy of that book. And also make this a matter of prayer as the president is meeting with the Chinese dictator. The human rights record of China is abysmal. Many Christians are being persecuted. You’ve got the Uyghurs and the Falun Gong. Be praying for the president that he would bring this issue up. All right, the battle over congressional maps and who gets to draw them took another dramatic turn yesterday at the US Supreme Court. In a major decision with national political implications, the court cleared the way for Alabama Republicans to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterms, potentially reshaping the balance of power in the U.S. House. Now, the court vacated a lower court ruling that had blocked Alabama from using a Republican-backed map containing just one majority black congressional district rather than the two districts required under a court-imposed map used in the last election. Now, the decision follows the court’s recent ruling in the Louisiana redistricting case that narrowed how Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act can be applied in congressional map disputes. Well, joining us now to break down the court’s decision is the man who took the issue before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Alabama, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. General Marshall, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hey, good to be with you, Tony.
SPEAKER 09 :
So congratulations on this victory. I mean, this is quite significant.
SPEAKER 02 :
It is significant. And look, we were obviously pleased when the Kalei decision came out. Kudos to my dear friend. AG Liz Merrill, who led the charge for Louisiana. Because we saw from what took place there when the state was compelled by federal court to draw a map that’s antithetical to who we are as a people and who we are under our Constitution, it was pleasing to be able to see Justice Alito write very, very clearly now how we need to address Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act’s cases moving forward. It’s also obvious that under that same framework, that Alabama was compelled to do something that it shouldn’t have been, and that is to have a court-ordered map that used race as a factor in drawing two separate districts. Again, contrary to what the court said, should be appropriate, and we’re pleased to get the order this week. So what happens now? Well, we’re back at the three judge panel. They’ve issued an order examining whether or not they would do anything next. But we’re pleased to have the governor today issue new primary dates for four of those seven congressional districts so that the legislature has an opportunity to use a map that’s different than the one that we were obligated to use previously. And look, I’m looking forward to the day when Alabama gets a 7-0 congressional representation. It’s consistent with who we are as a very conservative state. And by the way, not contrary to what we’ve seen New England states do to not have conservative representation there.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, but what, and I go back to my time, and I’ve talked about this on the program, my time in the legislature in Louisiana where we, Every time we redrew our lines and I was there after one of the census, so we had to redo our congressional districts based on the census. We had to do it under the thumb of the Department of Justice. And so we were not free. We had to get it was like we had to go, can we please do this? And we had to go back over and over and over. This is actually freeing of the states to be able to, you know, come out from underneath of the heavy thumb of the federal government. No doubt.
SPEAKER 02 :
And look, Justice Alito made clear that if there is intentional racial discrimination occurring through the election process at the state level, that’s an actionable claim that can be reviewed. And it should be. And it should be. And when states, however, are using traditional redistricting principles, keeping communities of interest together, boundary lines of cities and counties likewise in the same district, when they are regionally examining the link between certain parts of the states, that ought to be something that should be validated and authorized. And when the state legislature acts within those boundaries, there should be no legal impediment for that moving forward.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, we shouldn’t have to second guess what the Department of Justice is going to do based upon what we’re doing for our state. Speaking of Alabama, I want to talk about an announcement that you made apparently yesterday, a civil investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center, who happens to be a resident of Alabama, alleging deception when it comes to fundraising practices under Alabama’s consumer protection statutes. This comes on the heels of the Department of Justice at the federal level and their indictment of SPLC. Tell us about it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, and Tony, it’s not just Alabama, but the state of Florida as well. When we saw the indictment, and we’ve talked previously on your show about Alabama being involved specifically at the early stages of what became that criminal indictment here in the Middle District of Alabama against the SPLC. We want to be able to take that further within the consumer protection authority that exists with attorneys general. When there’s fraud occurring, when we also have oversight generally involving charitable organizations, we want to know who they were funneling money to, what was the purpose of that money, what information they gained, and how they utilize that information to raise money around the country with their donors. We think it’s relevant to the powers we have to protect consumers from fraud. And we’re looking forward to being able to see those documents.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I hope maybe Louisiana will join in that effort as well. This federal indictment of SPLC pulls back the curtain on decades of corrupt activity that could be, I think, stunning in what was found out.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, and it’s not surprising when it really is just a fundraising operation under the guise of something very different. But yet they are paying those organizations that they wanted to be able to identify as hate groups and then fundraising off of that same information. Clearly there is a conflict there, and that’s what we’re looking to uncover.
SPEAKER 09 :
General Marshall, always great to see you, my friend. Thanks so much for taking time to join us, and congratulations on your victory there at the Supreme Court. Thank you, Tony. All right. All right, folks. Let me give you that number again to text the word court as the court is considering the Mifeprestone case. A lot happening at the Supreme Court. Text court to 67742. That’s court to 67742. And take the prayer pledge to pray for the court this week. Very, very important. All right. We’re going to be back with more after this. Don’t go away.
SPEAKER 03 :
This is Mission Control Houston here in the Artemis flight control room. Splashdown confirmed at 7.07 p.m. Central Time. A new chapter of the exploration of our celestial neighbor is complete. Integrity’s astronauts, back on Earth.
SPEAKER 18 :
When I got back on the ship, I’m not really a religious person, but there was just no other avenue for me to explain anything or to experience anything. So I asked for the chaplain on the Navy ship to just come visit us for a minute. And when that man walked in, I’d never met him before in my life, but I saw the cross on his collar and I just, I broke down in tears. It’s very hard to fully grasp what we just went through. And when the sun eclipsed behind the moon, I think all four of us, I turned to Victor and I said, I don’t think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we’re looking at right now, because it was otherworldly, it was amazing.
SPEAKER 05 :
That was Commander Reid Wiseman of the Artemis II mission, reflecting on their journey around the moon. So here’s a question. Does that sound like a man that just entered space, an empty, cold vacuum of nothingness? Or did he encounter something so profound, so full, so warm and bursting with life, it’s almost as if someone was breathing on it? Perhaps it was so meaningful that the word space doesn’t do the journey justice. Well, it sounds like he didn’t encounter space, but something else, what the Bible calls the heavens. As the psalmist says, the heavens declare the glory of God and continually pours out speech. And that speech just might leave you speechless if you’re seeking it. It seems like Commander Wiseman discovered the truth of Psalm 139 in reality. Where shall I go from your spirit or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven and orbit the moon, you are there. So here’s the glorious news for Commander Wiseman and all of humanity. The heavens aren’t far from any one of us. In fact, the Christian story proclaims that the one who sits in the heavens didn’t stay there. He came down into our broken world, forsaking heaven’s treasure to make you His treasure. And something truly incomprehensible happened the day He died, when the one who stretched out the heavens like a curtain stretched out His hands for us on the cross. But it was impossible for death to keep its hold on life itself. He rose from the grave, He lives, and every sunrise since reminds us that the darkness of night will never eclipse the light behind all light, Jesus, the light of the world. Family Research Council prays that families across America would look up and join the song of the heavens. Praise God in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his mighty deeds. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, I’m Tony Perkins, and you are tuned in to Washington Watch, the website TonyPerkins.com. All right, this Thursday, Stand on the Word begins the book of 1 Samuel. That’s 1 Samuel. That’s why we have created a companion study guide, 1 Samuel, Longing for a King, which explores leadership, obedience, and what it means to faithfully follow God. So if you’re on our Stand on the Word journey, Get a copy of 1 Samuel. If you’re not on it, get a copy of 1 Samuel. Text the word Samuel to 67742. Speaking of Stand on the Word, our word for today comes from Ruth chapter 1, where Naomi and Ruth leave Moab for Bethlehem. Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem, and it happened when they had come to Bethlehem that all the city was excited because of them. And the women said, Is this Naomi? But she said to them, Do not call me Naomi, but call me Marah, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” Naomi sees the difficulties that she has faced as God being against her. Yes, she lost her husband and her two sons. She had nothing. The future was bleak. She thought the evil that had befallen her was from the hand of God. Judgment, possibly from leaving Bethlehem and going to Moab, a foreign country. But what God was putting into place through her was an amazing story of redemption that would lead to Jesus Christ Himself, the Redeemer of mankind. Things are not always as they appear. For more on our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. That’s BIBLE to 67742. Well, Congress is back this week. Many eyes remain fixed on the states from redistricting efforts to Louisiana Supreme Court case regarding the FDA’s abortion drug policy. A lot happening. A very busy week. Joining me now to discuss this and possibly a bit more is our Washington Stand panel, Suzanne Bowdy, Editorial Director and Senior Writer, and Casey Harper. I’ve seen you before, Casey. I have. In fact, it was just a few minutes ago. All right. Let’s start with let’s start with redistricting issue. We just had Alabama’s attorney general on the last segment to discuss this. Overall, it appears that Republicans I mean, this is like this came out of nowhere. This could be a huge
SPEAKER 04 :
windfall in the fall’s election. Yeah, that’s right. The redistricting battle went from a horse race, which was neck-to-neck, maybe Democrats being up a seat, to two big things happening. One, the Virginia State Supreme Court overturned the Democrats’ gains of… Which they had invested heavily in. Oh, they spent millions of dollars. Spent a lot of money. Republicans didn’t spend very much money at all, actually, defending it. And then the State Supreme Court threw it out. That really can’t be undone at this point. Maybe they can try again in a year or two. That hurt them. And then this Voting Rights Act, really, I mean, you spoke to it well in the last segment, that it changed the game on how especially southern states can district. Huge. I mean, this is decades. This has been going on for decades. Yeah. And so the Cook Political Report says that Republicans should net six to seven seats. And the Cook Political Report is not a far-right organization by any stretch. So Republicans are coming in. Now, with that being said, you can’t redistrict your way into a majority. So there’s a lot of things they need to address between now and then. But it definitely helps them a lot.
SPEAKER 09 :
So let’s talk about that, Suzanne. I mean, the Republicans have a lot of headwind. I mean, you’ve got gas prices, inflation numbers are out, inflation is up. The president doesn’t always help the Republican majority.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right. But I actually think people would be surprised to know how well Republicans are doing right now. Their approval ratings are actually higher than Democrats. And in the new generic ballot that was just released today by CNN, they’re actually up on the Democratic Party. Actually, sorry, I would love for them to be up on the Democratic Party, but they’re actually within the margin of error. So they’ve cut the lead of the Democrats in half since March. And that is shocking.
SPEAKER 09 :
to a lot of people. Given the headwinds that they’re facing.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right, and that’s in addition to the redistricting that we’re talking about here. So they’re going into the election, now granted that’s a long time away yet, except that the Cook Political Report that you mentioned earlier, when they compared this year’s midterms to the midterms when Trump was in office in 2018, What they found is actually more Republican districts are safe in the double digits. Fewer Democratic seats are safe by three. And there are fewer toss-up states. So actually Republicans are doing shockingly well considering all the things that you mentioned.
SPEAKER 04 :
And sort of the irony is that all Republicans’ troubles are self-inflicted wounds, which means they can maybe heal them in time before November. Yeah. Or die from it. Yeah, that’s possible as well.
SPEAKER 09 :
I mean, for instance, and we were talking about this with Senator Lankford earlier about the ballroom. And he explained it. We’re told that that’s going to be built with private funds, but there’s other elements of it that’s going to be funded. But even so, you have to be so aware of people’s perception and the environment. And when you’re paying four and a half dollars a gallon for gas, do you really want to hear about a billion dollar ballroom?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, you don’t. You’re filling up at the pump on the radio is playing the billion dollar ballroom. And the polling shows that the majority of Americans oppose the ballroom. And so the polling is clear on that, especially independent voters. And so I think maybe to someone listening, they say, well, I support Trump. I don’t care about a ballroom and gas prices. You know, I’m not going to vote for a Democrat. But it’s not just about who you would vote for. It’s about how excited people are to turn out. It’s about turnout. So people may not change their political affiliation, but they may not show up. It’s also known that you have people leading the country that care about where you are and what you’re dealing with. which was the main critique of Democrats is their ivory towers. I mean, it’s kind of been the story critique of Democrats. They’re an ivory tower. President Trump was like for the forgotten man. And there’s this establishment swamp that doesn’t care about the average person. And they couldn’t care less. And they’re importing slave labor to maintain their standard of living via immigration. So you can’t counter that narrative by doing this sort of like French Revolution-esque to do so.
SPEAKER 09 :
But, Suzanne, we can’t overlook the issues that the Democrats have to overcome. Is there continuing to push transgender, that ideology, stuff that the American people thought was in the rearview mirror?
SPEAKER 11 :
Right. Their party’s been hijacked by far-left socialists that don’t really align with any Americans except a small fringe. And right now, Democrats, you know, they have this wonderful situation where we have an affordability crisis, gas is high, as we’re saying, groceries are high, but what is their solution? So yes, Democrats have, basically this is being handed to them, but I think a lot of Americans are like, well, what’s your platform? What’s your policy platform? There’ve been no solutions put forth by Democrats.
SPEAKER 09 :
We want your son to become a girl.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right, that’s their solution. That’s their solution. Which is actually a very expensive procedure, but yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s an affordability issue. But, I mean, they are tone deaf to what Americans really want and are looking. In fact, most of Washington is hard of hearing.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, you probably saw a lot of hearing aids around here.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, let’s talk about another issue that we touched on earlier in the program. Big, big issue, very important to us here at the Family Research Council, doubly important to me being from Louisiana, and that is the… abortion, drug, mifeprestone. Really, it’s the bigger issue of chemical abortions by mail, which the Fifth Circuit gave the state of Louisiana a stay on the policy of the FDA, which goes back to the Biden administration. The Supreme Court stepped in an emergency ruling and put the stay on stay. And Monday, yesterday, they were supposed to take it up. They asked for a couple more days. And so Thursday, we’re supposed to get a ruling on this.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, tune in Thursday to Washington Watch. We will definitely be talking about it. I can assure you. We certainly will. I mean, this is talking about political liabilities for the Trump administration and maybe self-inflicted wounds that they could easily heal. Frustration from pro-lifers is real and that enthusiasm is real because there’s this feeling that any moment the FDA could do something to address the biggest abortion issue in the country. And for whatever reason, they’re not. So is Marty McCary the fall guy, Suzanne?
SPEAKER 11 :
He may be. This is a very interesting situation because what’s coming out right now is that his replacement actually did some legal work for Planned Parenthood. So could the situation get worse than what it is at the FDA? The answer is it absolutely could.
SPEAKER 09 :
I think he comes from the law firm Jones Day, which I think they have represented the pharmaceutical industry.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right. I will say, I mean, Marty was on the show before he was at the FDA, you know, a couple times every week. He was he was a great guest. I do think he’s a very convenient fall guy, if so. But the Trump administration needs to take care of business and it needs to do what’s right. This is an opportunity for them to change course. Maybe this is an opportunity to turn the page.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, you heard Senator Lankford earlier. I did. I don’t know if you did. Where he said that they could use this as an excuse to push the review of the policy back even further.
SPEAKER 04 :
They could. I mean, I sort of had a little different take of I don’t think it could get worse because we have Biden era abortion policies right now. And abortion is up since, you know, the last five years. Right. It’s I mean, so could it get worse? I’m not I’m not sure. I’m hopeful that when the status quo is this bad, any shakeup could be an opportunity for change. And if McCary is the fall guy, then, OK, he’s the fall guy. Let’s you know, they change up for Pristone and say it was McCary’s fault the whole time. As long as they change the policy, that’s that’s what is most important.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, this could be another gift to Republicans if the court rules on Thursday that the stay is in place. Now, the stay is only until the case that Louisiana has against the FDA is adjudicated. But in the meantime, it would go back to the in-person medical oversight.
SPEAKER 11 :
Which would save thousands of lives.
SPEAKER 09 :
It would cut the abortion rate in about a third. About a third, based on some projections. But that solves the problem for the president because if that stay is put in place, it’s most likely because the court sees that Louisiana is going to prevail in this case, which the president then, after the election, could then just essentially, like he did on Title X, just wave a white flag and say, we weren’t going to win this case, and so we say uncle.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right. And this isn’t a hypothetical. Just this week, we saw the Ohio surgeon who’s actually going to be charged next month with crushing up abortion pills that he didn’t even order in his girlfriend’s name, ordered them in another name, had them sent to the house, tried to force feed them to her while she was sleeping. I mean, this is a very real situation that needs to be addressed now.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, that was actually part of our amicus brief that we filed in this case with the Supreme Court last week was the… Coercion element. The coercion element and the violence of intimate partners, how this is being used to… I mean, just think about it. There’s women that actually want their babies, okay? Now, they should be married, but some of these relationships, they want to keep the baby, and the father of the child… doesn’t want it. He forces this, coerces, and in this case actually crams down the throat. There are additional emotional, psychological issues that a woman goes through. I mean, we know post-abortive women suffer issues, but there’s even more psychological issues that a woman who wanted to keep her baby and is forced to go through an abortion, what she goes through.
SPEAKER 11 :
And what the FDA policy does is it allows these women to go to a doctor where they can say, I don’t want this abortion, which was not an option for Rosalie, was not an option for this woman in Ohio. I mean, it really bypasses the whole situation.
SPEAKER 04 :
And now the left is trying to end the abortion pill reversal, which really just shows how ideological it is. If a woman says, actually, I want to keep my baby, their position is, sorry, too late, not yours. It’s not pro-choice, yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, there’s no other drug treated like this. No. I mean, have you tried to get an antibiotic? You call your doctor and say, you know, look, I’ve got this infection. What kind of infection? Give me all the symptoms. Well, you’re going to have to come in. Well, I mean, but here you don’t even have to talk to a doctor. You can just order it online, check a box. Yeah, I’m pregnant. I need this. And they don’t even talk to you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Or if your wife’s ever pregnant, how many times is she going to the doctor? It seems like there’s checkup after checkup. And then we need you to come back in and do these things and scans. But if you want to get rid of the baby. you know, they’ll give it to you without coming in. But if you’re having a miscarriage, no OBGYN will let you not come in if you’re having a miscarriage, because it’s a life-threatening thing. And I just talked to a doctor this week who said that she treats patients all the time, women who took the pill after the 10 weeks, and they’re having real health complications. Because, yeah, there’s a lot of health complications.
SPEAKER 11 :
But there’s also the hypocrisy of the FDA. I mean, drugs have been taken off the market with a…
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, with much less.
SPEAKER 11 :
Seriously, less.
SPEAKER 09 :
Lower complication rate. Because it’s abortion. It is in a separate category. All right, folks, text the word COURT to 67742 if you want to take the prayer pledge to join with us in praying over the next couple of days that the court get this right. That’s COURT to 67742. All right, two and a half minutes left talking about human rights abuses. Let’s talk China.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, it’s really horrific what we heard earlier in the show. I mean, what’s been happening in China is absolutely appalling. It’s like a sci-fi horror movie. And I’m sad to say it, but the US is in some ways enabling what’s going on in China because it’s never come forward and said, we will not trade with you until these issues are addressed. Right now, Chris Smith has the stop forced organ harvesting bill that’s died in the Senate. He can’t even get it moving.
SPEAKER 09 :
See, I think, you know, back in the 90s when Bill Clinton was advocating for most favored nation status. for China. The message was, and I remember this, I wasn’t here, but I remember that conversation. We would change China. We would make our, by doing business with them, we would change them into respecting human rights, that we would bring them into the Western world. What’s actually happened is that I think China has changed us in our business community more than we’ve changed them.
SPEAKER 04 :
And they certainly infiltrated it. And I think we actually keep making this mistake of trying to change other countries with economics when they have deep ideological and spiritual roots.
SPEAKER 09 :
Exactly. Well said, Casey.
SPEAKER 04 :
I should be on. You should be on.
SPEAKER 09 :
You should. I mean, that is it. We are trying to take the prosperity that comes from our moral and spiritual foundation and exporting it.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you have to have that foundation for it to work. Well, consider the Strait of Hormuz. We think if we blockade the Iranian regime, certainly the economic pressure will have them on their knees. But other people aren’t like us. They’re not Western capitalist Americans. They don’t think the same way. No, I mean, they would let their people die for their ideology. I mean, just listen to what the Chinese did to their people. And they just round up half the country and put them in jail. I mean, it’s kind of hard to imagine something like that.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I mean, they’re profiting off of that. It’s actually becoming a huge industry, especially with the Uyghurs as the Muslim community comes in because the Uyghurs are Muslim. Their organs are… what do they call, halal? Yes, Muslim approved, basically. It’s tragic. Suzanne, Casey, thanks for joining us. But on that note, we’re going to have to wrap up. Thanks, Tony. All right, good to see you. All right, folks, a lot to pray about. Add that to your prayer list. And all right, we’re out of time for today. So pray, vote, stand.
SPEAKER 06 :
Most of all, pray. 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.
