In this insightful episode of Washington Watch, the dialogue expands to global security threats with retired Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin. The conversation covers the geopolitical landscape, highlighting concerns over China’s economic prowess, the Syrian conflict, and the necessity of redefining military priorities. Tune in to understand the implications of these challenges and how they shape the future of U.S. defense and international diplomacy.
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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.
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We have to break this endless cycle of having policies that entice people to come to our country illegally because that is the lack. We’re losing sovereignty and losing control over our nation.
SPEAKER 06 :
That was South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier today at a hearing on President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to deport those who are in the United States illegally. Welcome to a special edition of Washington Watch. I’m your host, Tony Perkins. We’re broadcasting in front of a live audience at our media center here in Washington, D.C. Well, coming up on this Tuesday edition, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who was a part of today’s hearing, will join us here in studio in just a moment. And we are one step closer to victory on the National Defense Reauthorization Act that has been laden with leftist social policies in the last few years.
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We’re proud of this product. It was released over the weekend and it includes critical wins for our troops and for our country at a very important time. We stopped funds from going to CRT and our military academies. We banned TRICARE from prescribing treatments that would ultimately sterilize our kids. And we gutted the DEI bureaucracy.
SPEAKER 06 :
That was House Speaker Mike Johnson earlier today. We’re going to talk more about that because you weighed in and you helped make a difference as we have seen this bill cleaned up. Now, it still has a few more hurdles to go. We’ll talk about that later. Also, we are going to return to the topic of Syria today as how to influence the future of Syria and the broader Middle East will be a major question for the incoming Trump administration.
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The end of this regime is a defeat for all who enabled its barbarity and its corruption, none more than Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia. So this moment presents a historic opportunity, but it also carries considerable risks. History shows how quickly moments of promise can descend into conflict,
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and violence. That was Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday. Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin, retired from the United States Army, joins me to discuss steps the incoming administration could take to stabilize that region. And federal and state authorities are saying they have no clues about the mysterious drones that have been sighted with growing frequency on the East Coast over U.S. air bases and other facilities. New Jersey has had the largest number of reported sightings, and New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, who met last night with state and federal officials in search of answers, will join us later on this edition of Washington Watch. Well, as we’ve been discussing each day here on Washington Watch, the world is in a volatile state and prayer for our nation and our allies is needed. So I want to invite you to join us in Operation Prayer Shield. Thousands of Christians from across the country are joined together in praying for our nation and for our allies. If you’d like to join us, simply text the word SHIELD, that’s S-H-I-E-L-D, to 67742. You’ll receive weekly alerts, daily prayer points, and more. So text the word SHIELD to 67742. Also, I want to remind those of you who are on our journey through the Bible, stand on the word. The second volume of our Stand on the Word journal is now available. So don’t forget to order your copy by going to TonyPerkins.com or text the word journal to 67742. And if you’re not familiar with our journey through the Bible, well, text the word Bible to 67742 and I’ll let you know all about it. Well, the House and the Senate compromised version. They have come together in an agreement over the National Defense Authorization Act. It’s expected to come up for a final vote later this week in the House. Yesterday, key military service organizations announced their support for the NDAA, which they said provides service members and their families the support they need. The annual defense policy bill has also been praised for weeding out the woke policies at the Department of Defense that have made it hard to recruit and to keep good service members. And it left out the language that the Senate’s version had included to force women age 18 and older to register for selective service. something that my next guest helped lead the charge against in the United States Senate. He was here on the program last week talking about it. You responded, and that language came out. With me now in person to talk more about this is Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. He serves on four Senate committees, including the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Senator Hawley, welcome back to the program. Thank you. Great to be with you. And congratulations on, yes… I need one of those soundtracks during the week so I can always have a crowd with me.
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That language is out. It’s out. It’s out, which is a big victory. As we talked about last week, it never should have been in the first place, Tony. It’s an absolute affront to women, to families. to our sense of the differences between male and female, which of course the left is trying to erase everywhere we look, but it is out of the bill, which is a tremendous victory, and now we can go forward and continue to do what we need to do to get the military out of the abortion business, which they’re currently in as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. And just for review, for the benefit of our audience, one of the concerns about forcing women to register for the draft, as the military has had difficulty in recruiting and in its retention because of its woke policies, many of which were pulled out in this latest version, they were – I think the reality of going back to a draft is real.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, it is real. I mean, particularly as we continue to proliferate the number of conflicts we’re involved in. You look at what this administration’s done, the path they’ve led us down. We’ve got conflicts all over the world. They’ve committed us in resources and troops, all kinds of places. So the possibility of a draft is a very real thing. There’s a huge shortfall in retention and recruitment. And forcing women to register, again, compulsory registration, is something that they were looking at to try and stem that tide.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, you previously served on the Senate Armed Services Committee. You’re now on the Judiciary Committee. But you’ve got a lot of military presence in your state of Missouri, so you keep up with those issues. Are you satisfied with the current version of the National Defense Authorization Act?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I’m still reviewing the final text. It hasn’t come over to us yet in the Senate, so I want to look and see exactly what passes the House.
SPEAKER 06 :
So you’re not of the Nancy Pelosi school of government where you pass it, then read it?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I prefer to read it first, you know, as a general. Yeah, just, you know, an idea. Unusual in Congress, but just an idea. But I do think that, listen, it’s a huge improvement to get out the draft our daughters language. It is a major win to have language in there that prevents the military health care service from spending money on transgender surgeries, which is good. I’m concerned that the Biden administration has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars on transgender surgeries through the VA, which I don’t like at all. So I want to look carefully at all of that language. But listen, I think this is headed in the right direction. And there’s going to be a lot more work to do under a Trump administration.
SPEAKER 06 :
Do you see more accomplishments on weeding out some of the policies that the Biden administration has put in place in these last four years? I mean, recall in 2016, Donald Trump ended a Barack Obama era policy of transgenderism in the military. Is it possible to go back and revisit these things that have undermined the effectiveness of our military?
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, it is. It’s not only possible. I think it’s absolutely necessary. And I’m sitting down with Pete Hegseth, the president’s nominee for Secretary of Defense. It’s either tomorrow or the next day. This is something I look forward to talking with him about. I mean, we’ve got a lot of work to do to get our military back to being the most lethal, ready fighting force in the world. That’s their job. Their job is not to be a social experiment for their left. Their job is not to be an anti-family, anti-woman organization. Their job is not to be an experiment in transgenderism. It’s to protect us. And I know the president understands that, and I hope that this will be a top priority for him and for his new defense secretary come January 20th.
SPEAKER 06 :
Speaking of our military and, as you mentioned, the conflicts that we have been engaged in, the world’s a very volatile place with what we’re going to talk more today about Syria with the fall of Bashar al-Assad. I cannot recall a time, certainly in my lifetime, but I think going all the way back to World War II, maybe even beyond, where we’ve seen the world so unsettled.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, that’s exactly right. And we’re also facing a peer competitor in China. This is something that none of us have seen in our lifetimes. You think about the Soviet Union, how powerful they were. They never had an economy ever to rival ours. I mean, it’s sort of close in the 50s. After that, we blew them away economically. China is already with us toe-to-toe economically. Their military is larger than ours is. So we’ve got them. We’ve got Russia, of course. We’ve got North Korea. We’ve got Iran. I mean, we’ve got a lot of problems in the world. And this is why it’s important to have a new president.
SPEAKER 06 :
I would agree about the assessment of China. In fact, I think China is probably the greatest threat, maybe not the greatest short-term threat, but it is clearly the greatest long-term threat to this country.
SPEAKER 09 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 06 :
What do we need to be doing on that front?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, we need to be sending the clear message that we’re not going to allow them just to expand indefinitely all across the world. We’re not going to put up with their imperialism. And we need to be also… sending the clear message, we’re not going to allow them to cannibalize our economy, which this president, this current president, has absolutely allowed. We are right now, Tony, paying Chinese auto manufacturers who make electric vehicles. We are sending them tax subsidies to make electric vehicles in China and then sell them back to us at a premium. That’s our tax money. I mean, it is unbelievable.
SPEAKER 06 :
You would think after COVID, when they withheld the personal protective devices that we needed from the disease that they created, that we would have rethought this relationship and brought more of that manufacturing onto our own shores or at least into our own hemisphere.
SPEAKER 09 :
And we haven’t done any of that. And in fact, this administration’s gone in the opposite direction. Their Green New Deal is just a code for massive giveaways to China. China has benefited so much. Solar panels, where are they made overwhelmingly? China. Wind turbines, made in China. And not just made by anybody, made by slave populations, the Uyghurs who are an enslaved religious minority. And here we are literally financing that. It’s insane. It’s absolutely insane. We’ve got to stop that.
SPEAKER 06 :
And there’s a personal responsibility there, too, especially as we come up on the Christmas season, people shopping. I always turn it over to look at made-in-where. You bet. And there’s so many of our products. It’s becoming difficult to actually find products not made in China.
SPEAKER 09 :
I think we ought to say to these foreign manufacturers that are based in other countries, whether it’s China or anywhere else, if you want to have access to our market— You’ve got to make a certain percentage of your goods in the United States of America with American labor.
SPEAKER 06 :
And certainly not be hostile to the values that we as a nation say we uphold. And I think that was the idea back in the 1990s with the agreements with China with most favored nation status, that it was going to change them. Unfortunately, I think it’s changed us more than it’s changed them.
SPEAKER 09 :
And just look at the NBA. You remember LeBron James just a few years ago advocating for what was happening in Hong Kong, dramatic crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong. And LeBron James is out there defending the Chinese government. Why? Well, it’s all about the money. They need the access to the Chinese market. This is your point. It’s changed us, not them.
SPEAKER 06 :
We have elevated the dollar. more than the Almighty when it comes to the values and the morality that this country was founded upon. We just have about a minute and a half left. One quick question. As you were Attorney General of Missouri, you did a lot on big tech, tracking them and what they were doing to exploit the American people. Do you foresee, given what we saw during COVID, what’s come forward with this administration, is there going to be a crackdown on Big tech.
SPEAKER 09 :
I hope so, and I hope one of the things we’ll go after is how they’re exposing our kids to content about promoting gender transitions. You look at the explosion in gender transition surgeries, gender dysphoria. Where’s that coming from? It’s coming from those social media platforms, and they know very well what’s on their platforms. They know they’re exposing our kids to it, and they’re making gobs of money off of it. How do we get at that? Well, I think what we’ve got to do is give parents the ability to protect their kids. And right now, these big tech companies, if your child, if they take a picture of your child off your Facebook page and they exploit it, and they expose your kid to child pornography, or they turn that picture into child pornography, you can’t do anything about it. You can’t sue them. You can’t challenge them. You can’t get a hearing. Section 230. Section 230. We’ve got to change that.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right. Well, hopefully we’ll get at that in this next administration. Senator Josh Hawley, always great to see you. Thank you for your leadership on the Hill. Thank you for fighting for faith, family, and freedom. And thanks for joining us here today on Watch for Head Watch.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Let’s thank Senator Josh Hawley. All right, when we come back, I’ll be joined by FRC’s very own retired Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin to discuss some of the latest developments in Syria following the collapse of the brutal Assad regime. Stay tuned for more.
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The throne of Jesus Christ is unchallenged. His name was never on the ballot to begin with, and it’s never gonna be on the ballot. He’s the King of Kings and he’s the Lord of Lords, and nothing’s gonna change that. And so our mission stays the same, preach the gospel, make disciples, get ready for heaven. In the meantime, that we’re to advance the concerns of the kingdom of God here on earth.
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America has entered a critical and vulnerable period from now until January the 20th. Join Family Research Council for Operation Prayer Shield, a 10-week prayer initiative for our nation. From now until January 20th, our country faces global challenges, a transition of leadership, and a lame duck session of Congress. This season calls for heightened spiritual vigilance, discernment, and prayer. Text the word SHIELD to 67742 to join us. You’ll have access to prayer points, Let’s not be discouraged.
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Don’t lose heart. Don’t lose the faith. Stand now strong because the Lord has given us the great privilege of living in a time when our choices matter, when our lives matter, when our courage matters. So let’s stand together and save this great country. God bless the United States of America.
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The American Republic has a freedom like no other. It has roots in the scriptures far more than any other heritage. And if we as followers of Jesus and conservatives don’t defend it, who will?
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Neutrality is not an option. There are many Christians who believe that if we just keep our heads down, if we just don’t say the wrong thing, that somehow we will come out of this unscathed. You’re naive if you think that, because what they want from us is not our silence. What they want from us is our submission.
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Part of the dilemma of Christianity in our generation is that we’ve relied a little too much on human wisdom and human reasoning, human strength, human resource, and we’ve relied too little on the power of God and God’s ability to open doors that we can’t open and do things that we couldn’t even hope to begin to do.
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This may not be an easy task, But we are living in a moment of challenge, but also a great opportunity. And we know, always, that we are not alone, that His Spirit empowers us and protects us, and that He can do the unimaginable. Dobbs, after all, was never supposed to happen.
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Father, we thank you. You have entrusted us with this moment in history, and I pray that we would be found faithful, and that as a result of our faithfulness to you, that thousands, millions would come into the kingdom as they would experience the forgiveness of sin and the new life that is found only in Jesus Christ. Amen. We’ll come back to a special edition of Washington Watch with a live audience here. Isn’t it a wonderful looking audience? of partners from across the country that are joining us here today in our media center at our headquarters in Washington, D.C. Well, the Israeli military carried out more airstrikes across Syria overnight into Tuesday as a part of their effort to destroy weapons, aircraft, and military facilities that could pose a threat to Israel following the collapse of the brutal Assad regime. The Israeli defense minister said today that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the military to create in southern Syria a zone free of weapons and terrorist threats. It’s a move that has been condemned by U.N. officials and some Middle Eastern nations, including Iran, which is urging the United Nations Security Council to respond. Does anyone really want weapons to fall into the hands of Islamist rebels who have ties to terrorism? With me now to discuss this and more is retired Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin, Executive Vice President here at the Family Research Council. General Boykin spent the last four years of his 36-and-a-half-year military career serving as the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. He was also one of the original members of the U.S. Army’s Delta Force. General Boykin, welcome to Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 01 :
Good to be back.
SPEAKER 06 :
And you’ll notice I’m in your honor. I’m wearing a pink shirt tonight, all right? So I just wanted you to be aware of that.
SPEAKER 01 :
No comment.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right. Let’s talk about – yesterday we were on discussing Syria, the fall of Bashar al-Assad, his regime. Israel taking this opportunity to move rapidly to make sure that what was left behind there cannot be picked up and used against them. Smart move?
SPEAKER 01 :
Absolutely. This is a big thing. And it’s a great opportunity for Israel, too. And they’re going to be criticized, obviously, for this. But they have an opportunity now to set the stage for actually being able to have negotiations with this incoming group if they’re inclined to do so. And I think that what we have to be careful of is – not putting lethal aid in their hands because we have a history of doing that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. You’re talking into the hands of the rebels.
SPEAKER 01 :
In the hands of the rebels. Now, on the other hand, I think we ought to go in with massive humanitarian relief. Because there’s still, from the Civil War that started in 2011, there’s a lot of people that are displaced. And we’ve talked to some of them. We’ve dealt with some of the Christians and others in that part of the country. But they are going to need massive aid if they want to get this country back together. And that will… in fact, help them to accept this new regime if they could broker with us and the United Nations and others to get something in there that will be of real use.
SPEAKER 06 :
Is this something that the incoming Trump administration could do to leverage humanitarian aid for certain parameters in terms of human rights, religious freedom, and other conditions?
SPEAKER 01 :
Oh yeah, there have to be caveats to it, absolutely. There’s an enclave, and I’m not sure that everybody’s aware of it, but there is an enclave up there that has Christians.
SPEAKER 06 :
In the northeast part of it.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, you have three different religions in there, and they live peacefully. They live together, and they live peacefully.
SPEAKER 06 :
But Turkey is breathing down their necks.
SPEAKER 01 :
Turkey, and sadly, when the Turks crossed the border into that area, Under Donald Trump’s leadership, he pulled the Americans out of there. And so they were able to do just about what they wanted to do when they went across that border down there. And you sent me and Michelle Bachmann and Carter over to sit down with his national security advisors to ask him, don’t do this. But he did, now I’m not criticizing him because I’m one of those people that thinks that he’s gonna do a real service to this nation.
SPEAKER 06 :
Earlier today, we were talking with Chris Mitchell, CBN, Middle East Bureau Chief, and he was saying that the Islamic rebels that overthrew Bashar al-Assad were being aided by Turkey, by Erdogan. And so that gives Turkey an in into Syria as he seeks to reestablish the caliphate, the Ottoman Empire, as his big dream.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, most of these people that are part of this rebel force were at one time called the Free Syrian Army. And I was working some stuff on the periphery on this when the Civil War was going on. And from all accounts, they had the right attitude. They were there for the right reasons. They wanted a democratic government, and they wanted to improve the lives of their people because Bashar al-Assad and his father before him lived an incredibly ostentatious lifestyle, sort of like Saddam Hussein when they finally saw what he was doing. So I think that… I think there’s a great possibility that we could see things turn around there.
SPEAKER 06 :
Iran is a big loser in this because they were able to profit from part of the relationship there with Syria. They’re in bad shape in terms of their ability, no longer able to use Hezbollah, Hamas is decimated, so their proxies are pretty much gone. Could this force Iran into a more desperate position to pursue even more rapidly the nuclear capabilities?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, I don’t think so. Yeah, that’s a good question, and I don’t really know how to answer that, to be honest with you, because I think that they’re much closer than they let on to having a nuclear weapon right now if their delivery system is what they’ve got problems with.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right, I’ve just got a minute left. General, what should the incoming Trump administration do to head that off?
SPEAKER 01 :
All right. the toughest sanctions that we can possibly use against them should be done right away, immediately, because they are violating the JCPOA to start with, and this administration has done absolutely nothing
SPEAKER 06 :
in response to that. They’ve unfrozen many assets and helped them actually fund their terrorist activities.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s what they’ve done. That’s exactly right. That’s right.
SPEAKER 06 :
General Jerry Boykin, always great to have you on the program. Thanks for joining us. Good to be with you. And we’re going to be watching this very, very closely. All right, folks, still to come, we’re going to be joined by Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey. Some drones flying over the East Coast. What are they about? Well, he was investigating that last night. And then coming up next, Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma joins me to talk more about the welfare of Christians in Syria. That’s next. No, go away. It begins here. And here. And here. Every day. Before you stand, you need solid ground. Standing in a culture that wants you to surrender the truth won’t work unless you have a firm foundation. At Family Research Council, we have that firm foundation. And you can find us standing. We stand for the value of all human life. We stand for the right of families to flourish. And every day we stand for your freedom to believe and to live out those beliefs both at home and abroad. We work with government officials, educating them on the issues from a biblical worldview. And when necessary, we hold them accountable. We equip Christians across America to be informed and to take action in their communities. With our daily radio program, television appearances, and vast online presence, we reach people where they are. We envision an America where all human life is valued, families flourish, and religious liberty thrives. And that won’t be realized if we’re not standing. Stand for faith. Stand for family. Stand for freedom. Stand with us at FRC.
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Did you know there are many faithful Christians on Capitol Hill fighting alongside Family Research Council for Faith and Family and Freedom? Download the StandFirm app today to view the latest video series from FRC, Defending the Faith, Profiles in Leadership. The series features exclusive sit-down interviews with our nation’s leaders that go beyond the policies and politics to the events that brought them to Washington, D.C. Download the StandFirm app today.
SPEAKER 06 :
Welcome back to a special edition of Washington Watch with a live audience here in our media center at our headquarters in Washington, D.C. If you’ve not yet downloaded the Stand Firm app, I encourage you to get the Stand Firm app where you can take Washington Watch with you wherever you go. Just go to the App Store and download the Stand Firm app or text APP to 67742 and I’ll send you Not only will you get the daily broadcast of Washington Watch, you’ll get the Washington Stand, our news feed, and you’ll get our morning devotional, Stand on the Word. So go to the App Store, get the Stand Firm app. The collapse of the brutal Assad regime over the weekend has been met with mixed reactions, mostly positive, but also expression of concern. As bad as the Assad regime was, the situation in Syria now is fraught with much uncertainty, especially for Christians and minorities in the areas that have been taken over by rebel jihadist groups. What impact might the latest developments have on them, and what could the incoming administration do to protect Christians in that region of the world. Joining me now to discuss this is Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, who serves on four committees, including the Select Committee on Intelligence. He’s also the vice chair-elect of the Senate Republican Conference, and he served in Christian ministry for more than 20 years before coming to Congress. Senator Lankford, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to see you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thanks, Tony. I wish I could be sitting there with you in the live audience there, so thanks.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, they send their regards and their gratitude for the work that you do on behalf of families. So let’s talk about the fall of the Assad regime. Where does that leave Christians that still remain in that nation? Because as bad as he was, he kind of had a hands-off approach when it came to Christians.
SPEAKER 07 :
He did, actually. He allowed Christians to be able to be there. The challenge has been over the last now decade and a half is that there’s been an ongoing civil war in Syria. So it’s been chaos more than anything else there for the longest period of time. So we have groups like ISIS that has thrived in Syria. We have the new other terrorist groups that are there. Iran has found a highway through Syria to be able to deliver weapons to Hezbollah. Hezbollah has come in and reinforced Hezbollah. Assad. So the Kurds that are on the eastern part of the nation, we’ve continued to be able to stand with them because they are more peace-loving and freedom-focused. So it’s been total chaos in Syria for now a decade and a half. The challenge now is how do the Syrian people reinvent a nation that’s been in so much chaos post the Assad regime? And it is a very dangerous moment for both the Christians that are there and, quite frankly, everyone who is freedom-loving in that area.
SPEAKER 06 :
Could this be yet another refugee crisis in the making?
SPEAKER 07 :
It could be. Here’s the interesting thing. Refugees that were Syrian refugees that had left and gone to Turkey or had gone into Lebanon have started returning back to Syria already. Now, that’s just the beginning. That’s the earliest days of that. But the Lebanese are seeing a little bit of optimism to say all these refugees that have been here, they may be returning back to Syria as they’re trying to be able to rebuild their lives and their nation again. So it’s unknown at this point, and that’s the challenge as you’re praying for peace in the region on this, which is incredibly important to be able to have both for Israel and for all our allies in the area. It’s that the freedom-loving, peace-loving folks that were refugees, as they return back, they help build a more peaceful, stable Syria long-term.
SPEAKER 06 :
We’ve been discussing today the northeastern portion of Syria where you have really a very eclectic gathering of people of different religions, different faith backgrounds, but operating and living in peace and harmony. They have been under the thumb, the attacks of Turkey as they’ve crossed the border there. What do you anticipate their fate will be?
SPEAKER 07 :
We have 900 American troops that are in that area in northeastern Syria. They’re fighting an anti-ISIS mission. In fact, just in the past couple of days, the United States has taken almost 100 strikes against ISIS stronghold locations since the fall of Assad. So many Americans don’t know that the United States is still fighting a war against terrorism and ISIS in particular there. There are literally thousands of ISIS prisoners that are being held in that area in jails that are run by the Kurds. So that is a very important area. The challenge is the Turks consider the Kurds terrorists, and they’re at active war against them. And they’ve had multiple times that they’ve crossed the border from Turkey into northeastern Syria to be able to attack those forces. So if the United States withdraws, we’ll see a proliferation of ISIS through that area. The Turks will actually slaughter the Kurds in that area. So that area is also a very tenuous, very difficult zone that the United States has a national interest in.
SPEAKER 06 :
Are you concerned about the influence of Turkey in this vacuum that we now have in Syria?
SPEAKER 07 :
I am very concerned about that. Turkey has been actively supporting some of the rebels that have been fighting against Assad because Turkey doesn’t want to see the overrun from that into their country. But they’re also very active in fighting against the Kurds who they hate, who we actually ally with. So they are a NATO ally. Turkey has been an ally long term. But Erdogan has not been predictable, nor consistent, and nor peace-loving, quite frankly, in this process. He interacts with Russia as much as he interacts with us, though he is a NATO ally. So it is a very difficult time, not only for Syria, but also for the future of that alliance with NATO and with Turkey.
SPEAKER 06 :
We just have about a minute left, Senator Lankford. The incoming administration, the Trump administration, what steps do they need to take, in your opinion, to bring greater stability to this region?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, they should do a couple of things. They should tell Russia to be able to get out as Russia has now fled from Syria. They were the one of the major stabilizing forces. They need to tell Iran to be able to get out of Syria. That’s not their business. Iran is using Syria as a proxy to then attack Israel. So if we’re going to stand with Israel, We need to stand for Iran getting out of Syria and Russia out of Syria. But we also need to stand with those Kurds. If we walk away from the Kurds and they get slaughtered by the Turks, no nation anywhere on earth will partner with the United States for a very long time, because they’ll say, you’ll stand with us when it’s convenient for you, and then when it’s not convenient, we’ll be slaughtered. And so that will affect our national policy for a very long time. Syria needs to evaluate what happens next with Syria. That’s not our country. That’s not our war. But we do have an ally there and we should stand with them.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I completely understand and agree. Senator James Lankford, always great to see you. Thanks for joining us today.
SPEAKER 07 :
You bet. Good to see you again.
SPEAKER 06 :
After the break, I’ll be joined by Congressman Chris Smith. We’re going to be talking about the drones that appeared on the East Coast. Don’t go away. You’ll want to hear about it. Hello, I’m Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council here in Washington, D.C. Behind me is one of the most recognizable buildings in all the world, the U.S. Capitol. What does it stand for? Well, most people say government. But you know, the Bible talks about four institutions of government. You know what they are? And do we have a republic or a democracy? Well, what do you say? Also, what about this thing separation of church and state? Does that mean Christians shouldn’t be involved in government? Guess what? We address those issues and more in our new God and Government course. I invite you to join us to see what the historical record and the Bible has to say about government. Join us for God and Government.
SPEAKER 13 :
The world is hurting, streets are filled with crime, families are broken, sin is celebrated, and God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God’s will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn’t impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can’t do that. It’s not that you don’t love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God’s opinion more than your neighbor’s opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you’re the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that’s not all. They’re also engaged in our government. They’re voters. They’re more likely to be involved in their community, and they’re making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself, go to frc.org slash sagecon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can’t do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That’s what we’re working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That’s S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
SPEAKER 06 :
Welcome back to a special edition of Washington Watch with a live audience here in our media center in Washington, D.C. Well, this Christmas season, Family Research Council invites you to join us in shining the light of biblical truth here in our nation’s capital. During this dangerous leadership transition, FRC is serving as a watchman on the wall, protecting faith, family, and freedom from the left’s attacks. And thanks to a $1.5 million challenge match, every dollar you give between now and December 31st will be doubled, letting you have an outsized impact. Stand with FRC as a prophetic voice for biblical truth by texting the word LIGHT, that’s L-I-G-H-T, to 67742. And together, let’s make an eternal impact. Well, speaking of eternal, today’s word comes from Isaiah 29, where the prophet delivers a warning to the people of Judah. He says, woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, and their works are in the dark. They say, who sees us and who knows us? Surely you have things turned around. Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? For shall the thing made say of him who made it, he did not make me? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, he has no understanding? Well, Judah’s leaders were scheming to gain help from Egypt against Assyria instead of turning to the Lord and seeking His help. Their actions revealed a low view of God, assuming He neither saw what they were doing nor could aid them with their needs. And at the root of this mindset was a rejection of God as Creator. He didn’t make us, so He has no authority over us. This denial persists today, as many reject God’s design to assert their own reality, including self-defined identities. We need to yield to God. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. Federal and state authorities are saying they have no clues about the mysterious drones that have been sighted with growing frequency on the East Coast over U.S. air bases and other facilities. New Jersey has had the largest number of reported sightings. New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith met with state and federal officials last night in search of answers, and he joins us now to discuss this and more. In person, Congressman Chris Smith. He’s a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and he’s the chairman of the Subcommittee on Global Health and Global Human Rights in International Organizations. He represents the 4th Congressional District of New Jersey. Congressman Smith, welcome to our studio. Thanks for joining us. Tony, thank you very much. This has gotten a lot of news. In fact, you were going to be with us last night, but one of your sheriffs called you, and there’s a lot of concern. So you went out last night drone hunting. Is that kind of like snipe hunting? Did you find anything?
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, I talked to many people who have, including the Coast Guard, one of the officers, top people. He said that one of their 47-foot rescue boats the night before, so that’s two nights ago, had several, more than a dozen drones following them as they went up and down the ocean.
SPEAKER 06 :
And how big are these drones?
SPEAKER 15 :
About the size of a car. So these are big. They’re big. They’re big. And that same night, one of the Ocean County sheriff officers observed 50, five zero, of these things coming from the ocean, across the sand, and into, like, the mainland, suggesting that they’re being deployed via a ship. And… I can’t believe we had a meeting, you know, a Zoom meeting with our governor in Mayorkas several days ago. And, you know, the governor is saying there’s nothing to worry about. We have questions, which how do you know that? Well, that’s my question. But Mayorkas himself, it was like he was clueless. So I’ve asked the Department of Defense. I talked to our joint base commander at the joint base, which is a huge, you know, big three different services and more because there are many, many tenants there, but Army, Navy, and Air Force, about their capability because they can, if a drone goes on there within their defense perimeter, they will bring it down or they’ll identify it. And he says, we got the capability. I said, well, we need it. But they haven’t used it. They haven’t used it. So I’ve asked, and I was at a hearing earlier today asking the FBI, why aren’t you asking the Department of Defense, which has this ability, because the FBI’s budget for drones is $500,000, which is, you know, nothing versus the challenge. But the DOD does have that capability. So I’m asking them to… with their own people. They don’t want to share with anybody. Well, that’s fine. Go and bring some of these things down and find out who they are. And I think we probably will be shocked when we learn China, Putin, or the rest.
SPEAKER 06 :
So just to be clear, the news reports, I mean, this has been growing in frequency. And these are not just like somebody’s, you know, you buy off Amazon one of these drones. These are the size of cars, some of them the size of SUVs. They’re over military installations. They’re over electrical power facilities. And the FBI and other reports that I’ve seen said that the federal government has no idea what these are, but they tell us we don’t have to be concerned. It’s absurd.
SPEAKER 15 :
How is that? That’s what I said. How do you know that? You should say, we hope we don’t have concerns, but we better investigate.
SPEAKER 06 :
Is this like the Chinese balloon that went all the way across the country?
SPEAKER 15 :
And this may be much worse. because there are so many of them. They’ve been deployed. They’ll be there tonight somewhere in large numbers. One of the mayors in Toms River, he got reports of like five or six of them showing up in Toms River, which is in my district. But the ones coming across from the ocean, that’s really the $64 question. I even asked Mayorkas on that Zoom, Why can’t we follow them and figure out what their origination is?
SPEAKER 06 :
Don’t we have that capability? Do we not know if there’s a ship out there that they’re coming from? I mean, this is elementary.
SPEAKER 15 :
The Coast Guard should be going, or the military, find out if that’s what their home base is. And you could run these things out of Beijing or out of Moscow or wherever you want to do it.
SPEAKER 06 :
But obviously— We just— It’s just foolish. We just recognized the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Yeah. where, in fact, just down the street here at the National Archives a few years ago, I went into the vault where members can go to see uncirculated documents, and one of those was the plotting chart of the radar station.
SPEAKER 15 :
And you know where that was made? In my district, Camp Evans. About an hour before The Zeros bombed the Missouri and all the other battleship row and all the rest. We saw it on the radar screen and translated or sent that into headquarters. And they did do anything? They didn’t do anything about it. So we had advance warning. Back then, it was made by district.
SPEAKER 06 :
So this seems to be a very serious threat. It could be yet another probe by the Chinese or some other force to see what our response is, just like our failed response with the balloon.
SPEAKER 15 :
I still can’t believe the balloon situation. I mean, really. You know, back in 1998, I wrote the Embassy Security Act. And when we were hit by al-Qaeda in Dar es Salaam and in Nairobi, I’ll never forget, at my hearings, because I held oversight hearings, we had Admiral Crowe, who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He spoke and he said, nobody thought they would ever hit there. It was like a soft target. I said, you’ve got to have some imagination to say, these are very evil people, and they’ll find a soft target and they’ll take it out. And now we’re dealing with something which I find amazing. They’re going to infrastructure, critical infrastructure, hovering over there, doing what?
SPEAKER 06 :
And so the military is restricted from taking any action.
SPEAKER 15 :
They claim that. But, you know, they’ve got to defend the homeland, don’t they? You know, it’s not just homeland security.
SPEAKER 06 :
I hope they’re not going to wait for a call from the White House if hostile forces come over to do something. I know.
SPEAKER 15 :
Proactive, find out who they are, ascertain it, and then take deliberate action. If it means shooting a few of them down, they can bring them down. They have the capability.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, if they were flying over south Louisiana, we’ve got some folks out there that can take them down, too. By the way, I should mention that Congressman Chris Smith has passed, in Congress, he has passed more legislation than any other member of Congress passing, 49 pieces of major legislation, which is quite a significant accomplishment.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Because getting Congress to do something, well, you’ve heard that, like, takes an act of Congress. Well, there’s a reason they say that. That’s right. Let me, we’ve got a few minutes left, Congressman Chris Smith. I want to kind of go back to a topic we touched on earlier, and it connects to this topic. If, in fact, this could be the Chinese that are probing our defenses, or they could be behind these drones. Senator Josh Hawley was with us earlier, and talking about threats to the country, and certainly we have some short-term, immediate threats in the Middle East. But long-term, he and I both agree that China poses the greatest threat to our country and to our values. And in many ways, we’re funding them. We’re funding our enemies. We are.
SPEAKER 15 :
I’ve been speaking out on China even before Tiananmen Square. I had a bill saying that because of forced abortion, a crime against humanity, that was in 1984. But after Tiananmen Square, when Bill Clinton linked human rights with trade, we all applauded him. One year later, he delinked. And that’s when the Chinese took the measure of the United States of America and said, all they care about are profits. I’m for profits. But there needs to be linkage. They’re an export economy. They can’t survive militarily or any other way without American markets. And we’re feeding the foe that wishes us to be destroyed. Taiwan, they want to take over because it’s an economic powerhouse. They already took over Hong Kong. But the hegemony that they have for the whole region is so real. Just ask the Philippines and the leaders there. They have global ambitions. Xi Jinping is a dictator who fashions himself as Mao Zedong. I chair the China Commission. I’ve had well over 110 congressional hearings, barred from going to China now. Frank Wolf and I went there several times. They wanted to throw us out every time because we would raise human rights and especially religious freedom. But you have a situation where we armed them. And Bill Clinton, just for the record, when he de-linked trade from human rights, May 26, 1994, that’s when we lost China. And I don’t know if we ever get it back. I have a bill in now to relink human rights, because again, if they respect fundamental human rights, let’s have a trade war with them, not something other than that.
SPEAKER 06 :
I made this comment with Senator Hawley. And I say this from my observation, previously chairing the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, As I watched from a distance when that happened in 1994, that was just prior to me getting into the political arena, when we separated human rights from economic activity and trade, it did more to change America than it did China. That’s true. In that we now have devalued human rights, really the rule of law, and we have elevated profit at almost any cost.
SPEAKER 15 :
Great point. You know, we’re admonished in the scriptures, do not be conformed to this world. It’s bad enough a more secularized society, but when you conform to a Chinese communist dictatorship or communists anywhere who hate God, hate people, the ruling elite are the only ones who prosper, I should say, in a dictatorship, the devaluation is ever present. Right. On every area. I mean, right now, they’re killing people, children, 28-year-olds, to get their organs. I have a bill that passed the House, forced organ harvesting.
SPEAKER 06 :
This is a real thing. This has been documented. The U.K. did extensive hearings into this. It was rumored, but they have documented the fact that there is organ harvesting. literally killing people for their organs and selling them on the international market. It’s become a tourist activity to come to China to get a heart, to get a liver, to get a organ. that they’re taking from oftentimes religious or political prisoners.
SPEAKER 15 :
That’s exactly what they do. And I even had one of the doctors that did them. And he said one of his victims wasn’t even properly anesthetized. And they usually take two to three organs per person, average age 28. I’ve had four hearings on it, and I just can’t believe that we can’t get the State Department to do more or the president. And I still can’t believe that the Senate is blocking my bill right now, forced organ harvesting,
SPEAKER 06 :
What would your legislation do?
SPEAKER 15 :
It would do a number of things. It would make sure that anyone who knowingly procures such an organ goes to Shanghai and is knowingly procuring it under less than voluntary circumstances. They’re held to account, the brokers, the Chinese leaders that are part of this, starting from the very top, Xi Jinping. We can sanction them so that they can’t do business here on any other level. and would require extensive, aggressive reporting by the Department of State, which they haven’t done. So it’s like they don’t want to see it. They don’t want to hear about it. They don’t want to talk about it. They don’t want to have to act on it. And I think they’re blocking it over on the Senate side by getting— Let’s talk about the—we’ve just got a couple minutes left.
SPEAKER 06 :
But the influence—people don’t realize this. I was shocked by this because I, too, have been sanctioned by China. I can’t go to China. You and I both. Yeah. So I can’t—that slow boat to China that I’ve always heard about, I can’t take it. Right. But China has tremendous influence in our Congress. Oh, yes. Talk about that.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, they often use surrogates. They are in contact, obviously. But they often get many in the business community to do their bidding. They get many in the executive branch to do it. And they do it very effectively. For years, the whole idea was if we just trade more, they will matriculate from a dictatorship to a democracy. I said, you believe that, I’ll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s never happened. We’ve got to have conditionality that is absolutely ironclad about human rights. And if we did that, we would have had a different China. I have a bill in right now that says, let’s relink human rights to trade. And it hasn’t passed yet, but I’m going to push very hard for it next year. I mean, look what Bill Clinton did when he brought in . Here’s the guy that was the operational commander for Tiananmen Square for the murders that took place there. He goes to the Army War College and says, nobody died at Tiananmen Square. I couldn’t believe it. There he is being vetted by Clinton. 19-gun salute. Everybody’s marching in front of the White House with him and this now head of their DOD equivalent. He’s a murderer. He should be at the Hague for crimes against humanity. So I had people who bore witness to the fact that many people died, including somebody from the People’s Daily who tried to report on it, went to prison himself. But it just shows the art of the big lie, and so many people here are willing to buy into it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Just about 30 seconds left.
SPEAKER 15 :
And the law firms up here, the K Street types, they are so effective at killing things at the committee level. They get a lot of money. Tons of money. A lot of money.
SPEAKER 06 :
But what does this do to those that are yearning for freedom that are looking to America?
SPEAKER 15 :
It discourages them. They don’t think we’re a friend. They often don’t get the information except through Radio Free Asia and other kinds of surrogate broadcasting, but it doesn’t get through to them in many cases because they get nothing but propaganda. I had a famous hearing in 2006 with Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and Yahoo. They’re totally…
SPEAKER 06 :
misrepresenting you know genesis square and everything else well they’ve erased that from their history books it’s right out there and you go to do a google search in beijing if i did it you can’t find it chris smith thanks for joining us today thanks for your leadership well thank you thanks for fighting for faith family and freedom folks thank you for joining us today and until next time i leave you with the encouraging words the apostle paul says when you’ve done everything you can do when you’ve prayed prepared and taken your stand by all means keep standing
SPEAKER 17 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
