Mamdani Threatens World Leader as Bomb Rattles New York.
The Sekulow team examines New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s renewed threat to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to the United Nations—and explains why the mayor likely lacks the legal authority to carry it out. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discusses the political message behind the threat, while Senator Marsha Blackburn joins the program to discuss her campaign for Tennessee governor, conservative leadership, public safety, judicial appointments and protections for children.
SPEAKER 04 :
We got breaking news as Mabdani calls again to arrest Netanyahu. An explosive device rattles New York.
SPEAKER 12 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you. It is Monday, July 20th. Welcome to the show. Will Haynes is joining me in studio. We’ve got a packed show today. Mike Pompeo is joining us, followed by Marsha Blackburn. It is obviously the center of Tennessee is running for governor. It is going to be a packed show, so you’re not going to want to miss it. But also, I’m going to be taking your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110. We are covering the breaking news out of New York City this morning as an explosive device. was found and was detonated outside of a federal building in Manhattan this morning. Few people are injured. We don’t know a lot of information yet other than a man was taken into custody after police say he set a fire, ignited what they said were maybe fireworks. We have a gun outside of a federal building, and again, an explosive device that we’re not exactly sure all the details yet. At the same time, you have Mondami making a lot of news over the weekend, still calling. for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu as he plans to visit New York City in the coming weeks. Let’s actually hear directly from the mayor of New York by one.
SPEAKER 10 :
I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end. That’s an active conversation with our legal department in seeing what the prospects are we have here in our municipality.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, and we are dealing, I’ve heard, with some technical issues on YouTube. I don’t know if you can hear me or not. Even if you’re hearing a rattled version, know that we are working on adjusting that right now. Phone lines are open for you if you are listening at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. I’ll make sure we restate all of this coming in second segment. Right now, the FBI is actually in the FBI in New York. is talking about this and who the person is in custody. We’ll pull that. We’ll find out more information. Again, you have a time where New York is under a very interesting time where, of course, you hear about a failing New York a lot. I have been one of those proponents of a New York City being thriving. I want it to be the center of the world. I want it to be where people come to visit and they feel safe. At the same time, you have a lot of crime happening. You had the World Cup having there just yesterday. Coming off of what felt like a very peaceful, the president of the United States was there. It was a big moment for New York City. Felt safe. Everything was secure. I was at the World Cup in Atlanta a few days before. But at the same time, here we are dealing with some sort of incendiary device, they’ve said, that was set out outside of a federal building in New York City just a few hours ago. And what are we spending our time on? The mayor of New York City talking about arresting the prime minister of Israel.
SPEAKER 13 :
That’s right. And remember, this is not the first time that an incendiary device was set off. Remember, even while you were in New York, Logan, outside of Gracie Mansion, there was a small top cop. that were an incendiary device that was uh did not go off fortunately but was a bomb there this is now in front of the fbi building this is also where the immigration uh ice it has offices as well as an immigration court in new york city so if we are reading into that it could be because it’s a target against the policies of the united states once again we will hopefully find out some more information soon and bring it to you but the target itself being a place where the federal government has offices in New York City, the FBI, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency has offices in there. We feel like this leads you to believe this is an attack against the policies of the administration. And at the same time, this is what’s going on in New York these days.
SPEAKER 04 :
There’s a lot of conversation about why could they arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu. What are the charges? We’ll talk about that when we get back. If the sound has fixed on YouTube, stick around with us. We’ll reset all of what we talked about over the last couple minutes when we get back from a break. We are today launching Defend the Defenseless Week here at the ACLJ. This is about our pro-life work. We are really in a moment here when the vulnerable, the unborn come under attack, and we feel like we are one of the few organizations that will actually step into this fight. And we cannot do it without your generosity and support. So this week, any gift you make will be double to defend life. So go to aclj.org slash defend and double your impact. We’re going to talk a lot about the work the ACLJ is doing, including right now, like tomorrow in Massachusetts. must respond the abortion industry must respond in federal appeals court to our lawsuit defending pro-life pregnancy centers this week there’s a deadline in our suit against ohio city that criminally charged pro-life activists we’re going to keep discussing this at more and more length but right now you know our work support it today at aclj.org we’ll be right back we’re working on getting that audio fix for you at aclj.org Thanks for joining us today. Welcome back to Secular. I know we had some sound difficulties. I believe that’s been fixed, so I’m going to restate what we were talking about. There’s kind of two separate incidents that are happening. All, of course, have to do with New York City, as it seems like all eyes seem to be on New York yesterday at the World Cup finals in New York. And now you have this morning a what they’re calling an incendiary device, a bomb, some sort of explosive device that was detonated outside of a federal building in Manhattan. This is, again, this happened. They said it could have been some sort of fireworks. A couple people are injured. This is happening right now. An individual has been taken into custody. And we’re going to hear probably from the FBI here shortly. This, again, is in New York City. And how did New York City decide to make news this weekend? Not only by having, well, I think it was probably the most successful sporting event in probably a long, long time. The World Cup throughout the entire United States, which was in Mexico and Canada, was a fantastic thing for everybody. You add… Mayor Mondami making the rounds, telling people, yeah, he still plans on trying to figure out any effort they can to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu. We have a phone call about that, and I think we can use this as a setup of what people may have curious questions. Let’s go to Robert in Maryland, ACLJ champion, longtime caller. Go ahead, Robert.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes. I wanted to ask the question, does the mayor of New York City actually want to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu? And if he does… What charge would he be arresting him on? And would he be using the ICC, the International Criminal Court, as the medium to arrest an Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?
SPEAKER 04 :
Let’s talk about would he want to? I think the answer is yes. 100%. Yes. Will he be able to? Probably not. You know, this is someone who, yeah, he’s saying we’re an international city. We’re able to use international law. And I don’t think the mayor of New York… even as the mayor of New York, has the ability to do such a thing. I know you had Senator Fetterman saying that, you know, this is ridiculous. He’s not even going to try it. Quit asking him. This is just a goof. He needs to focus on his city. Clearly needs to focus on his city when a bomb just went off this morning, but over the weekend spending his time talking about arresting Benjamin Netanyahu. Of course we know he’s no friend to Israel. Of course we know he’s no friend to the Netanyahu administration, but he has ramped it up. He hasn’t like he’s backed down from those. Sure, he was questioned about this,
SPEAKER 13 :
as netanyahu gets closer and closer to a visit to new york well we also know that this was something he ran on he ran as a part of uh i will do everything within my power to see that he is held accountable for his crimes right as if that is the job of the mayor of new york but when you look at what the dsa as a as a offshoot uh in american politics really has positioned as their number one issue It is what they say, free Palestine. Really, it’s destroy Israel. So yeah, that makes sense that their poster boy is going, making these rounds, still trying to push for something that isn’t within his legal authority. Now… clearly has the general counsel of the mayor’s office digging into these and his legal advisors digging into these issues to see whether or not this is something they can pull off but Robert to your point it wouldn’t be an arrest on like any charges he’s violated in New York within New York municipal code it would be at the behest of a foreign court system the ICC of which the United States is not a party to We have not signed on to the Rome statute. We have actually at the ACLJ fought at the ICC against them trying to expand their jurisdiction over the United States and Israel or citizens of those countries. So it is alarming, though, when you have a very powerful person. I don’t want to downplay the fact that he is the mayor of the largest city in the country and as well as one of the most important cities in the world. When he goes out and tries to say these things at the same time as this is what he posted on X about the incendiary device this morning. What occurred outside 26 Federal Plaza this morning was deeply disturbing. I’m relieved no one was seriously injured and that a suspect is in custody. My team is in touch with the NYPD and we will support the federal investigation. Our administration will continue to ensure that every New Yorker is safe in their city and hold accountable any who threaten that. Now, that’s a very benign statement when it comes to something that happened in your city, when you’ve seen now multiple terroristic things happen in your city under your tenure. At the same time, this is the conversation. You can tell where his priority really is with the New York Times over the weekend. Let’s play bite two.
SPEAKER 02 :
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is perhaps planning to visit New York for the UN General Assembly. You pledged during your campaign and after you won to order his arrest to comply with the International Criminal Court warrant. What will happen if he comes in September?
SPEAKER 10 :
I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years. I’ve also said that I will follow the laws that we have here in New York City because I believe that there’s an importance in following the law as a leader who presides over our city, and that’s something that I plan to do.
SPEAKER 13 :
And once again, this is with the New York Times, the interview. It’s a show that is released as a podcast in a video format. And you have the host, Lulu Garcia Navarro, which I think actually does a really good job as a journalist pushing back on individuals that come on and make statements like that. Like, I believe he belongs in The Hague. Here’s her follow up. This is by three. When after he says, you know, as someone that’s a leader and presides over the city, it’s something I plan on doing is following the law. Let’s hear by three.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m sorry, I don’t understand what that means.
SPEAKER 10 :
Meaning that whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end.
SPEAKER 02 :
What does the law allow you to do?
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s an active conversation with our legal department in seeing what the prospects are we have here in our municipality. However, what we’ve seen at the national level is a desire sometimes to write your own laws, to go outside of the bounds of legality. That’s not something we have an interest in.
SPEAKER 02 :
I mean, normally when people come to a UN General Assembly, they’re granted a sort of amnesty because it is the seat of the United Nations. Is that what you’re thinking that you’ll honor or you’re actively looking to see if you can actually arrest him?
SPEAKER 10 :
i think we are looking at all of our legal obligations and one of them is with regards to the united nations but the other part of this is we’re not talking about a personal assessment of benjamin netanyahu we’re talking about the international criminal court and the fact that they have a warrant out for this prime minister’s arrest and i think it’s it’s important to talk about the weight that that has as a charge and also that as the mayor of new york city i’ll be following the laws of new york city
SPEAKER 04 :
So certainly KG in his response was able to say, look, I’ve definitively, this is what I want to do, but at least kind of openly admitting it without ever saying it, that nothing, he can’t do anything about this. And look, the fact that you would ever want in the United States of America, by the way, for us to be even acknowledging. The International Criminal Court in this sense is pretty disturbing, pretty scary. If you want to start talking about your one world government kind of conspiracy theories, it’s not a conspiracy theory when it comes to the International Criminal Court. It feels dystopian. It’s very strange. We’ve had to have representatives there. My dad’s argued there because it is important to make sure that people are being defended because so many people do find some sort of legality and validation in this incredibly creepy board that sits.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, here’s my concern because we’ve been very successful at fighting back against the ICC wanting to encroach on American sovereignty and Israeli sovereignty. When I hear this. When she says, is it something you’re actively looking to see if you can actually arrest him? That’s what the interviewer is asking. He says, I think we are looking at all of our legal obligations. Obligations. And one of them is with regards to the United Nations. But the other part of this is we’re not talking about a personal assessment. We’re talking about the ICC and the fact they have a warrant out for his arrest. and so my concern is you have to realize these the legal advisors all this this is his team a lot of times legal advisors get you to the opinion you want if he is saying we’re looking what our legal obligations are and he has advisors that are predisposed to think that the icc’s jurisdiction is something that should be over supersedes right Then you get a legal opinion out of the general counsel of the mayor’s office in New York that says you are legally obligated. to do some sort of action because the ICC has an arrest warrant out for an alleged war criminal that’s the scary thing because he’s wanting to get there he’s definitely tasked his advisors with get me there if we can and my concern is when you have someone that is a part of this DSA type regime and all of the things we’ve seen we see the DSA wants to tear down the senate They don’t want to abolish the Senate. They want to pack the courts. They want to do all these things that their mindset isn’t, let’s follow the Constitution. They’re wanting to disrupt the Constitution. I’m concerned his legal advisors are going to say your legal obligation is to arrest this prime minister. That’s a dangerous spot. And that’s going to put a big conflict between the federal government and the municipality government.
SPEAKER 04 :
I want to hear from you. What do you think about this? At the same time, we are looking for updates. They are continually to roll in about that bomb that really was detonated. Again, small, hopefully no real serious injuries, but was in front of a federal building in New York City just this morning. There are some updates that are going to come in. We’re going to have Secretary Mike Pompeo joining us in the next segment. And then the back half hour where we join in studio by Senator and currently running for governor of Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn. So you’re going to want to miss that. That is going to be a great segment. Don’t go anywhere. I’d rather be joining us for that. Phone lines are open for you, though, and I do want to hear from you. Go ahead and get in line because I’m going to take calls coming up after Secretary Pompeo and after… Senator Blackburn. So make sure you get in line right now. 1-800-684-3110. At the same time that we haven’t spent a lot of time on it today, we are going to continue to show you our current updates and current work on our fight for life as it continues on. It’s the Defend the Defenseless Week. I want you to give me a thought, a prayer for these people who support pro-life worldview all over the world. Go to ACLJ.org today. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. I said it’s time to get in line. This would be a good time to do it. I’m going to take calls on the next segment, and then I’m going to take calls on the last segment, so be a part of the show right now. Secretary Pompeo is joining us. Of course, we were talking about what’s going on in New York City. There was some sort of explosive device. It looks like no real injuries or serious injuries have been reported just yet, Secretary Pompeo, but we know New York. Obviously, a lot of eyes are on New York, and we see Mayor Mondami making headlines again for floating the idea of arresting Prime Minister Netanyahu when he comes and visits New York in September for the UN. Now, we believe he probably has no legal authority to actually do this, but he starts looking at things like respecting the International Criminal Court and so on and making these statements pretty clear. So what’s the plan here?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, goodness. It’s great to be with you. Look, I think this is just some guy just literally blowing smoke, trying to make noise to his political domestic base. He’s no more going to arrest a prime minister or president or a leader of another country who comes into New York than a man on the moon. It’s just simply not going to happen. Not only is that unlawful as a practical matter, like who’s going to pull that off. Right. No policeman is actually going to say, yeah, I’m going to go take on their security forces that are going to be largely federal protection, right? When foreign diplomats travel, when foreign leaders travel, they’re protected by the United States Department of State. So that just seems, as a practical matter, unlikely. But more importantly, what he’s actually doing is he’s signaling to his DSA base. He’s signaling to the anti-Semitic community that he is with them. And he is signaling that he has identified this one leader, the leader of the only Jewish state, the rightful homeland of the Jewish people. He hasn’t talked about going after the president, the prime minister of Iran. He hasn’t talked about going after Vladimir Putin, who’s taken thousands of kids out of Ukraine and squirreled them back inside of Russia. No, he’s talking about going after the leader of the nation of Israel. I think that’s what this is really all about.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, and you even mentioned Iran, as we saw over the weekend. Unfortunately, we had tragedy. We lost some service members that were defending our nation and performing their duty as members of our armed services. But I think this goes back to even the unseriousness of what the mayor is talking about when such serious things are going on in the world. It was… Obviously, we’ve seen a lot of people try to now come out, and there’s articles in Wall Street Journal being written saying it was an Israeli campaign against the MOU, when in reality, what we saw is that the Iranians couldn’t live up to even the most basic, simple… Memorandum of understanding, not even a deal. They couldn’t not fire at shipping vessels. And what happens? They violate the MOU. And now there has been more activity, both from the United States and striking back against the Iranians, but also this situation where we had loss of American life. As we’re here, it’s not surprising that we are back where we are, but I think just a reiterating of why it is so important to be fighting this regime at this time as things seem to be escalating as they did over the weekend.
SPEAKER 03 :
you make a really good point you know the storyline from the left has been that this was a war of choice and frankly some on the right too that this was a war of choice what you can plainly see now is that this war was chosen by the islamic republic in 1979 and they’ve been at war with the united states since then uh these the tragic loss of lives over these past few days uh add to them the the dozen folks or so that were killed in the previous fights are on top of thousands of Americans that have been killed by the Iranians over the past decades. And so this is something that the United States is going to have to make sure we get right. I’ve talked about this has finished the job. We need to continue the economic blockade. We need to reopen the strait. And then we need to use every capacity to get our friends and allies in the world. to understand that this Islamic threat from the regime, from the IRGC, is real and serious. And they’re not just coming after Israel. They’re coming after Europe. They’re coming after the United States. And so for the American people to get this right, to keep a nuclear weapon out of the hands of this regime, is an absolute security imperative.
SPEAKER 13 :
One of the things that also came along with the strikes that we saw was kind of really a flood of news out of and reporting out of the Middle East. We saw reports that the Ayatollah may not even be in Iran anymore. He may have fled, that a lot of the reporting is that… statements are just the IRGC, which is not unexpected at this point, especially when he has not even been seen in public. But a lot of also other interesting reports, obviously not, you never can really weigh the credibility of stuff that’s being reported out of Iran, but things that Iran may be looking at a preemptive March on Kuwait to try and attack the US bases there, which I hope that they’ve read history of what that could end up looking like for them. But all of these things, you mentioned finish the job. It does look more and more inevitable that there will be… another layer to this conflict in order to finish that job. What are some sorts of the scenarios that you could envision playing out in these next few months as finishing the job appears to be what needs to happen from the United States?
SPEAKER 03 :
So Iran does still have some capacity to escalate. We’ve seen that, right? They now successfully fired missiles into Jordan, although we stopped most of them. They’ve gone after Bahrain, Kuwait. We should all be mindful. These are their Muslim brothers that they’re killing. And some Muslim nations around the world should be outraged that the Iranians are killing their fellow Muslims. This isn’t about killing the Jews and the Christians. They are now attacking Muslim nations. Second, their tools are now more limited, but not zero. They still have capacity in Lebanon with Hezbollah. Today, the Houthis announced that they were going to close the Strait of Bab al-Mandeb, at least to Saudi traffic. Not sure they’re capable of doing that. But they will continue to use every tool in their toolkit until we get to what President Trump talked about at the very beginning. Surrender. Capitulation. The Iranian regime understands one thing, that’s power. We should negotiate with them, that seems fine, but we should never stop doing the things that degrade their capacity to inflict terror. And so that was, if you ask me, that was the mistake of the MOU. Signing the MOU was fine, but we should have never let off the economic stranglehold that we had on them. They rearmed, they got some money, that makes it more difficult and puts more Americans at risk. We should stay at this until it’s the case. that the Iranian regime understands that their continued survival depends on giving up nuclear weapons, not closing the straits, stop using their ballistic missiles and terror proxies. We can achieve that. I’m very confident of that. We just need to know that President Trump needs to be given the space and the capacity to do it because it will take some time.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, we’ll take some time and we have to have the appetite for it and the media needs to understand that as well. Like you said, the conservative media and the liberal media needs to understand what we’re actually dealing with here. Thank you, Secretary Pompeo, for joining us today. Look, we’ll be back in just a minute here. I want you, though, if you are thinking about calling in, this is a great time to call in. Phone lines are open. We’ve got three lines open at 1-800-684-3110. Because we have… joining us a little bit later, Marsha Blackburn in studio. I have a little bit limited time to take some calls. So I’m going to take some calls in the next segment and then I’m going to take calls towards the end of the show. So I need you to call in now to get online. 1-800-684-3110. This is the time to do it. And of course, we are… kicking off our defend the defenseless week here again this is our sort of pro-life activist week if you are one of those people who fights for life whether you just are praying for people whether you want to support people who are outside of abortion clinics who are who are there you know whether that’s peacefully protesting or whatever it may be or the campaigns or fighting against the smear campaigns of pro-life pregnancy centers. The ACLJ is involved on the front lines of all of these issues, but none of it happens without you. So we have dedicated this week, again, to our fight for life. It’s the Defend the Defenseless Week. You can scan the QR code you see on the screen right now, or just go to aclj.org slash defend. Do it today and your donations are doubled. We are fortunate to have people like you. is we want to be able to provide this legal defense and our media side of this for absolutely no cost, whether that’s in Capitol Hill or in local communities. Help us not only save the unborn, but protect those who fight for them. Take action with us. Go to aclj.org slash defend. And once again, phone lines are open for you. A few just opened up. Then take some calls coming up. 1-800-684-3110. Do it right now. That’s 1-800-684-3110. Call us right now. We’ll get you on air. We actually just had a line open up. So again, 1-800-684-3110.
SPEAKER 13 :
And we have the latest updates on that device and attack in New York when we get back from this break. So stick around. We’ll be right back with more.
SPEAKER 12 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to the second half of Sekulow. We got a packed show. We’re trying to get to as many calls as we can at 1-800-684-3110. Go through a couple updates going out of New York City. One, you have Mayor Madami saying, I still want to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel. I’m going to look at all the different options I can because he believes he’s a war criminal and for some reason thinks New York City. New York State and the United States of America should be under control by the International Criminal Court, which we find ridiculous. At the same time, there was an explosive device that happened in New York City just this morning from a federal building. We’re actually getting a lot more information that’s just coming out right now about the suspect who is currently been detained.
SPEAKER 13 :
That’s right. So two individuals were hurt in this. They suffered minor injuries. One was a federal employee and a civilian. They’ve been treated and released. So we had reports of injuries earlier. It appears that they were minor enough that these individuals have been released from treatment. This individual that was detained. has a history of anti-ICE activity. So this is, we may see that this may have been someone that was known to them, but regardless, they already know that he has a history of anti-ICE activity. And then the FBI assistant director in charge that was giving that presser just earlier called this an anti-government attack on a federal facility. They said that the suspect had the incendiary device, which we saw there was fire and then fireworks that kind of went off within it. A pellet gun. So that updates what earlier they said he was waving a firearm. It appears it was not a… a firearm, a real true firearm, but a pellet gun, and then had a sign that said ICE off our streets. So that motive becoming more clear as we get reports out of this. But yes, what we suspected earlier, that because of what was housed in that federal building, that there was ICE offices as well as an immigration court, that that attack… goes back to what uh even even earlier in this segment uh we’re talking about the mayor looking at at situations was saying we have to look at the icc we have to go follow the law has also been someone pushing this anti-ice narrative in new york city when that’s you know federal law when it comes to immigration let’s take a quick call and that’s go to d in california d go ahead yes uh i find it ironic that uh
SPEAKER 06 :
This Madani talks about going by the law of the ICC. However, you look, he doesn’t seem to be concerned about going by working with our federal government when the ICE officers…
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. It’s only when it fits his narrative, if you will. That’s when you can say, well, we’ve got to follow the law. as long as it fits his narrative. And of course, even when he’s saying you got to follow the law, he’s not talking about federal law. He’s not talking about state or local law. He’s talking about laws coming in from the International Criminal Court, which again, do some digging on that and tell me that you love it. Again, that’s at ACLJ.org. You can be a part of our show today. We are going to be back in just a moment. with Senator Marsha Blackburn, who’s going to be joining us in studio. My brother’s going to be joining us in studio. You’re not going to want to miss that. And then when that’s done, I’ll hop back in, and we’re going to take all your calls. So if you’re on hold right now, stay on hold. We also have a couple lines open for you at 1-800-684-3110. This is a great time for our phone screeners to be able to take their time getting through them. So right now, actually, we have a couple lines just open up.
SPEAKER 13 :
So this is the time to do it. 1-800-684-3110. To Dee’s point exactly, and this is what we were saying about recognizing the ICC as almost superior and supreme over United States Constitution and laws. The mayor himself has called on the abolishment of ICE. They were releasing individuals from custody that were here illegally. So when he talks about what we can do in following the law, it doesn’t appear he means U.S. law. It doesn’t appear that he means constitutional law. What does he mean when he talks about following the law? That’s where it’s scary because it means I’m going to start recognizing international law over the laws of the land. And that, frankly, seems where the city is going.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is the time to get on hold. Do it right now. If you have feelings on this, 1-800-684-3110. Again, in the next segment, we’re joined by Senator Marshall Blackburn, currently running for governor of the state of Tennessee. Then we’re going to take your calls and comments coming up right after that. So don’t come anywhere. 1-800-684-3110. If you’ve been thinking about supporting the work of the ACLJ, great week to do it. Defend the defenseless week. Talking about all of our pro-life efforts, but all donations are doubled. And they all go the same place. So ACLJ.org. We’ll be right back with Senator Blackburn.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Sekio. This is Jordan Sekio. It’s a very special guest we have in studio. Now, it’s a guest who I will say has taken a lot of her time out of her very busy schedule the last decade or more in the U.S. Senate and in the House of Representatives to join us live on these broadcasts. it’s Senator Marsha Blackburn who also happens to be this might be surprising to some of you is my home state senator of course with along with Senator Bill Haggerty but she is now and this is I think even more exciting for those of us who live in Tennessee maybe a little sad for the conservatives out there across the country is running for governor of the great state of Tennessee and I wanted to jump right into that because Senator in one ways you know because we do state work and national work so on the one way side I say oh it’s tough to lose Marsha in Washington, D.C. On the other hand, being a Tennessean and the growth that we’re starting to expect to make sure it works the right way for all of us, whether you’re at the top of the income level, the lower level, or right in between. So what was that decision point to say, you know what, enough of Washington, let’s go take care of…
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes. And President Trump is sending power and responsibility back to the states. As I tell him, he is going to make the states great again. That’s a good thing. That’s what we as conservatives have wanted to see that power. go back to the states and you look at what he’s doing deregulating simplifying permitting closing the US Department of Education sending a lot of energy production and generation back to the states health care is coming back to the states all of these responsibilities that have gravitated to Washington now are landing back to the state that means it is time to do a reset with our state and actually we’ve not done one since i led that fight against the state income tax and killed that state income tax proposal then after that we had done a reset got our fiscal house in order we’re an economic powerhouse now we’ve got that same opportunity do a reset bring that responsibility home. We should be America’s conservative leader. I want 49 states to be jealous of what we’re doing in Tennessee.
SPEAKER 13 :
Senator Blackburn, this is something that I know even with my friends and family members, we shared this story when it came out. Because CNBC, you know, normally devoted to economic news and things, you’d think they’d be praising what’s happened in Tennessee, but they put out this list that recently listed Tennessee as one of the worst places to live in the country. Actually, I think it was number one, which was then we started trying to dig and find the data. Like, how did they rank that? Because everyone wants to move here. But tell us why they’re exactly wrong on their list of putting Tennessee at the worst place to live.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes. And when I saw this story, I did the same thing. I thought, where did this come from? And is this a spoof? Right. So I looked at it and Vermont, Bernie Sanders territory was listed the best place to live. Well, the criteria of when you look at this, it is all this DEI, ESG, woke. those things that we don’t like so that’s why conservative states Tennessee Florida Texas they’re the states that are at the bottom of this list and all these leftist states that people are trying to flee because of high taxes high crime loss of individual freedom they’re trying to get out of those states
SPEAKER 05 :
know our audience i think loves the fact your time on the judiciary committee so as governor you know you have the special role appointing the ag and that team as well so you can a lot of the national issues you fought through i know the folks that you’ve gone through that process with the judges the different nominees that go through judiciary the doj’s teams uh we’re a pro-life state in Tennessee and but we know that the the pro-abortion industry is always you know at ready to go with legal challenges and to fight back how important is for you because it was and is still today so important for you in Washington DC on the national level
SPEAKER 01 :
Tennesseans want to see us as a Christian conservative state. They would like for us to be America’s conservative leader, where people know that this is what the foundation of your policy is going to be. And serving on Senate Judiciary Committee, one of the activities that I did was to really help shepherd Justice Amy Coney Barrett. through that confirmation and seeing her sworn in being at the white house with the group and the president and the justice in her family as she was sworn in that is something that truly was a service there i will say also on judiciary committee We take these judges and justices very, very seriously. But during the Biden years, what you had were activists that were coming forward to go on the bench. We were able to block some of those because they clearly were not qualified. They had never been a judge. They had no experience as a state judge or a county judge or a city judge or, as I like to say, they had never judged the pie contest at the county fair. They were not qualified. And There were some that the administration finally had to pull.
SPEAKER 13 :
And when you when you look at that as a national issue, we’ve seen the effects of that when judges do make it to the bench, even especially these district court judges that were trying to dictate policy for the entire country as soon as President Trump was reelected. When you think about it at a state level that. We’ve heard about the prosecutor issues, the local prosecutors that are funded by George Soros and things of that issue, that nature. When you think about being governor and protecting the state and the judiciary here, do you think that even that time, being able to go through those process, those nomination processes, is going to be something that will help inform the decisions you make as governor as well as keep the judiciary in Tennessee as conservative as we need it to be?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, indeed. People want judges to call balls and strikes, and they want them to stay focused on that. They want them to be constitutionalists, and they want them to honor the rule of law. People do not want activist judges on the bench. in tennessee people want fairness and they want to know that when they approach a time for getting into court that they’re going to be able to work through that that the judge is going to take up that docket and is going to move through that docket so having that state supreme court having those state judges making certain that da’s are doing their job you know we’ve had the issue over in memphis with the da that does not want to prosecute uh some of these gangs and cartels and criminals and i will tell you something i i think it’s important that we send that message to these gangs and cartels if you are in our state and you’re selling drugs and you are trafficking people, we are going to find you. We are going to apprehend you. We are going to lock you up. We are going to take you to court. If you are here illegally, we are going to deport you, but you’re not going to carry out. this activity in our state and of course over in Memphis with the Memphis Safe Task Force and the cooperation of your mayor and police chief and elected officials over in less than a year we’ve cut the crime rate in half. Memphis has become the model for how you build out public safety.
SPEAKER 05 :
There’s that growing movement across the country, been very involved in it with big tech and protecting children, whether it’s the COSA, the Kids Online Safety Act that we’ve supported and said is constitutional, and that markup’s moving through the App Store Accountability Act. And then we’ve also got, of course, the Texas App Store Accountability Act, which is, again, the Supreme Court’s allowed to remain in effect for now. So whether it’s federal or state, I think it’s important to point out to just everyone here, for all the ACLJ listeners, not just the Tennesseans, that those two tracks are always important, that you can fight both in your home state and at the federal level to protect kids as best you can. And a lot of times you can go further in states in protecting children.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right. And you want to preserve the right of those state’s attorneys general to protect our children, to protect citizens and communities. And I’ve been working with President Trump’s team at the White House on an AI framework to make certain we have protections. for our children, for our creators and intellectual property rights holders, for individuals to protect their name, image, likeness, and voice, for making certain communities are protected from high electric rates when it comes to data centers and also making certain that there’s a responsibility on big tech that they are not biasing these large language large language models now Jordan you’re exactly right this is a two-tiered approach because there needs to be some federal preemption in some areas but then the right to carry cases forward and protect children, protect citizens, that lays with your states and the state’s attorneys general. And we’ve got a great one in Tennessee. He’s done a great job.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, he has. Yes, he has. And we’re close with them. And we work a lot, of course, with the ACLJ, with a lot of AGs across the country consistently. And, you know, each state is different, but you have an important role to play as governor here because it’s not an elected position. A lot of people here at state AG outside Tennessee, they think, oh, it’s another person running this. So it’s not the case in Tennessee. But let me just thank you for all the time you’ve taken as a U.S. senator to keep our audience updated on. I couldn’t even go through all the issues. But then how cool it is to have someone willing to come back home as our governor to take all of that knowledge for those of us in our home state in Tennessee. And I thank you for being with us today. Thank you, Senator Blackburn.
SPEAKER 13 :
Thank you. Senator Blackburn, thank you so much for joining us in studio today. And folks, we’ll be back with more on Sekulow.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome back to Secular. We’ve got some phone lines open for you. 1-800-684-3110. Again, thanks to Senator Blackburn for coming on, sitting in with us here in the studio, which was always going to be interesting. Hopefully you enjoyed it. I saw a lot of people, a lot of great comments coming in. But now it’s time to hear from you. Of course, our main topic of the day is focused not on State of Tennessee, but focused on… New York City, because New York City not only just had an explosive device go off that injured some, thankfully nothing serious, but also at the same time over the weekend, you had the good mayor there going on there talking about arresting Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and how he still is going to try to do it. We got some phone lines open. I can still get you online. 1-800-684-3110. Let’s start with David, who is calling from New York. David in Florida. Hold on. But David in New York. A lot of top Davids today will. David in New York. Now there’s Dan calling in. This is wild. Yes, D-Day, if you will. David’s calling in New York. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, this is me. David’s from New York. Can you hear me?
SPEAKER 04 :
We can hear you, David.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, I just turned on my computer and I saw you guys on YouTube. First time I heard of ACLJ. Thank you. But you guys were talking about things that concerned me. I’m an American. I’m a patriot. And I live in New York. And this guy Mondani, first of all, he’s a communist. He’s not a socialist. He’s a communist, right? And he picks and chooses the law that he’d like to follow. Like, why doesn’t he help out ICE, right? That’s federal law. They’re just trying to get these illegal aliens out of here. But he doesn’t want to help them because he doesn’t want to follow the law because he’s big and chooses what he wants to follow, right?
SPEAKER 13 :
David, you’re exactly right. Because the entire thing in that interview, he’s saying, we’re looking at all of our legal options, what we can do under the law when it comes to following the demands of the International Criminal Court. But meanwhile, we have this supercut that Ali, our producer, just pulled of… Times he’s going after ICE. A federal agency that he’s supposed to cooperate with to follow the laws of America. There’s something called the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution where the laws of America have to deal with the laws of the country and he has to follow that. Bite 9 is him attacking the very agency that was attacked by one of his citizens this morning. Bite 9. the cruelty of ICE, the need to abolish ICE. It’s something that I’ve echoed myself.
SPEAKER 10 :
I believe that ICE is a cruel agency who has very little interest, if any at all, in public safety. And I believe it’s a rogue agency that should be abolished.
SPEAKER 04 :
It should be abolished. Netanyahu should be arrested. Now, I wanted to say something really quick, David, because a lot of people join us the way you did. You said you just found us on YouTube, never saw us before. And what I always say is about 50% of the people that watch live every day have never seen us before. So what I will ask you to do is hit that subscribe button, get involved in the work we’re doing here, and the first thing to do is just go to the website, spend some time on it, and join us here on the show each and every day. I think what’s different, David, you’re going to find with our show, especially when it turns to specifically New Yorkers, is that as someone that was a former New Yorker, it’s someone that loves the city. As someone who thinks it’s one of the best places in the entire world, or it can be one of the best places in the entire world, is we will continue to fight for New York. I believe New York should be a thriving place. So you and your friends who feel the same way that are there, that are New York residents or New York City residents even, Listen and watch our show, because I think you will be encouraged by it. Because unlike a lot of people that just say, abandon New York, abandon LA, that is not the way we do it here. I think these are places that need to be saved and protected.
SPEAKER 13 :
As well as we have fought against the ICC trying to expand jurisdiction over Israel. over the United States, over our armed forces. These were real fights that the ACLJ went to The Hague and won. We’ll have to show video of that this week, I think, in some of these segments. For those of you that are new that don’t realize that we were even there in the very dystopian looking room fighting against some of these very things. But I think we should go on and now go to David, who’s calling from Florida on line one. David, you’re on Sekulow.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hey there, thanks for having me. My question really is, doesn’t the Benjamin Netanyahu have the same protections as an ambassador to a country has, traveling to and from an embassy? Aren’t they considered on their sovereign land, even in a car traveling to and from the airport?
SPEAKER 13 :
So that as well as when we’re talking about the U.N. General Assembly, there’s other protections that go along with that as well, David. And this is from the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz. He posted this this morning. Mayor Mondami, here’s why your threat to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu in New York City during the U.N. General Assembly is not going to happen. Why? One, the U.S. is not party to the Rome statute that underlies the ICC. Two, the U.N. headquarters agreement grants diplomatic protections to visiting heads of government. Three, head of state immunity applies. And four, federal authority trumps any local mayor’s wishes. Here’s the one concern I have. It doesn’t mean he’s not going to try it, which is going to set up a state versus federal government fight for with a foreign government in the middle of it. I feel like, once again, we see the disdain he has for the laws of this country already and his desire to get closer to the international law of the ICC. I could see a world where they get there and at least try something, try some sort of stunt, even if it’s made for TV.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I’m not sure. I think this could be something where he got caught again saying something that he surely believes. But he’s got to know better, and that’s essentially what Dan is calling about in Maryland online, too. Dan, go ahead.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I didn’t. Yeah, great show today. Thank you. But, yeah, as a former socialist, I know you have to speak to your base, and he knows he can’t do anything legally. But, yeah, he’ll, like you say, maybe try to set this up to look good again to his DSA.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, he certainly is speaking to his base here. They would love to hear this.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, as well as Dan, we played that bite earlier of him going after ICE. The cruelty of ICE, we need to abolish ICE. The very same time, what happened this morning, we see that the federal government is saying that this individual has a history of anti-ICE activity. He had a sign with him that said, get ICE off our streets. Side by side with that video that we played was what was burning at an attack on ice this morning. So the rhetoric of the mayor that is still pushing anti-ice rhetoric, what happens? You see crazy people attack a federal facility. When he starts to put out there, we’re going to do everything we legally can, he also needs to be cautious because what is all the rhetoric that we’ve seen over the past three, four, five years that has taken place when you see people going against Netanyahu and saying, he’s a war criminal, we’re going to arrest him? You see people attacking synagogues, attacking diplomats, murdering them in Washington, D.C., It all stems from the same rhetoric. So even if he can’t do something legally, though he may try, we also know the consequences of that type of rhetoric. We believe he’s a work criminal. We believe that this is genocide. Those type of things lead to consequences that are real against people that are innocent.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, that is going to do it for today’s show. I appreciate you. Look, it’s Monday. It’s a hot show, though. I hope you enjoyed it. We covered a lot of topics, had a lot of guests, thanks to Secretary Pompeo, Senator Blackburn, and, of course, all of you who listen each and every day and watch each and every day. I do want to encourage you right now. Thanks for getting through some of the tech issues we had early on. I do want to encourage you right now to support the work of the ACLJ during our Defend the Defenseless Week. It’s time to do it. All donations are doubled today, and you can be a part of it today. We’re going to cover a lot more of those kind of things on future shows throughout the week. Today, we obviously needed to focus on what was going on on the world stage, what was going on in New York City. I appreciate everyone who called in. I appreciate everyone that supported the work, but today is the time. We spent decades defending the rights of the unborn or people who speak out for them. you need to be a part of it as well. Go to aclj.org slash defend, defend the innocent, and have your gift doubled today. That again is at aclj.org slash defend or scan the QR code that you see on the screen right now. If you’re brand new to the show, all I ask you to do is hit that subscribe button, be a part of it each and every day. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.
