BREAKING: FBI Investigating Cuomo’s Nursing Home Scandal

Today on Sekulow, CNN has their first town hall with President Biden, and it's all a bunch of softballs.

We'll talk about that and more today on Sekulow. Well, folks, because of the great work of our team where our radio studio is located, we were able to get them in. I'm still a broadcaster from home because I live a little bit further away from the studio, and like 70% of the country, we've got ice, we've got more coming today.

But our team wanted to get in. Now, if you're listening on radio right now, you're saying, hey, what are you talking about? I heard the radio shows last couple days.

We prepared those in advance, knowing that this storm was coming. Now, we were going live. This is important for our radio audience that usually listens on their radio station or Sirius XM to know that even on the days where we were not able to go and get into the studio to produce the show live like we are right now, talking to all of you both on, of course, social media, but then all of our radio networks and Sirius XM live, that we were doing about a half hour live show at noon Eastern time, both the past two days.

You can get at the JSekulow Facebook page, and of course, you can share it throughout the day. So we were still updating people live on what was going on post impeachment, what was going on. And we'll take your phone calls today, 1-800-684-3110 with Jim Comey, their latest revelations there. We're going to talk about that again with Rick Rinnell.

So if you missed that the last couple days, we will get to that. I want to talk about it with our special advisor for national security and foreign policy, Rick Rinnell. Stan Bennett has been joining me, and we are taking your phone calls now. We're live, 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. But we did want to focus on something that I think it's just fair because you're not going to get the same coverage and insight anywhere else. Joe Biden, surprise, surprise, is not being treated the same way by the media as President Trump, who was, who was, who were coordinating to try and take him out of office before he even took his oath of office back when he was elected. So CNN got this unique opportunity in the midst of a pandemic, a crisis.

We just had an impeachment trial where President Trump was acquitted. We have all these issues, school closings going on across the country that are going on. We have what happened in New York with Governor Cuomo, foreign policy.

What about China and the genocide that they are participating in as the State Department recognized at the end of the Trump administration on their Muslim population in Western China. What about all these issues? Why did Anderson Cooper talk about these things? And instead, he liked to talk about what it's like to live at the White House. Take a listen to this. Over the years, over your career, you've already spent a great deal of time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, except now you're living there and you're President.

It's been four weeks. What's it like? How's it different? I get up in the morning and look at Joe and say, where the hell are we? Yeah, that's how it's different. Great guy. It's so different for him.

I want to go to Thanh for a minute because interestingly enough, what wasn't discussed, I'm looking down at my screen here because we're not in the normal studio, obviously, so I've got my laptop set up here. Again, there was a lot of focus on the COVID, but then ultimately, there's been this back and forth and the White House has not been clear on a lot of their COVID policy between Kamala Harris, the VP, President Biden, and then Jen Psaki, all saying different things about school openings and vaccines and things like that. They didn't touch at all Governor Cuomo and the fact that Democrats in his state are talking about impeaching him over the nursing homes scandal. They didn't talk about the White House Deputy Press Secretary. Imagine if this happened under President Trump. The White House Deputy Press Secretary, TJ Dutko, forced to resign after it was real that he berated a political reporter with sexist language and threatened to destroy her for pursuing a story about his personal relationship. Folks, I'll get Thanh's comments when we get back, but none of that got discussed. Could you imagine if that story had broken about a Deputy Press Secretary under the Trump team and the questions that would have come at a town hall on CNN about a sexist former, now former, press secretary? Think about that.

We'll be back. 1-800-684-3110. As always, go to ACLJ.org. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights, in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work.

Become a member today. ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. All right, welcome back to Secular Radio.

I didn't quite get to Than there, but let me set the stage. One, Rick Rinnell will be joining us in the next segment of the broadcast. We're going to be talking about issues that we haven't been able to talk to you about on air with all of our broadcast stations and Sirius XM. We were going live on social media these last couple days, but we are where our studio is still covered in ice.

Our team was able to get in safely just for the show today, but then it's got to scoot out of there before the next wave comes through. And then hopefully we will be back kind of regular, I'm hoping tomorrow, but at least by Friday. But we'll still be live on the air hopefully tomorrow with live programming and throughout the week. But we will have Rick Rinnell joining us live in the next segment of the broadcast.

He'll be staying with us a little bit longer in the show today. We're going to be talking about Iran. We're going to be talking because there's this new Iran has basically started producing uranium metal, which European partners in that failed Iranian nuclear deal have said has no civilian purpose whatsoever. So in total violation of the deal they have with the Europeans. There's also a lot going on. President Biden has not yet called.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has not reached out to the US number one ally in the Middle East and Israel. And then of course the news about Kobe. This may be new for our radio audience. So if you're on Facebook and Periscope, watching on YouTube, again share this broadcast with your friends and family right now. Click that share button because we've got a lot of new info for you today. And of course this is a full live one hour broadcast.

So share that with your friends and family now. But let me also let you know that for those who weren't able to get the live broadcast on their radio stations or Sirius XM yesterday, that Jim Kobe told, uh, it was just so interesting here. He told the director of national intelligence that he could not sufficiently corroborate the Steele dossier. And then right after that signed off on a FISA war renewal on Carter Page, an American citizen. And in that renewal, it said that the Steele dossier was verified. So on the one hand, he said he couldn't corroborate it. And then on the other hand, he is taking it into courts with his signature. So we'll talk about that with Rick Grenell as well.

But then I want to get your comments on this first. You have a White House deputy press secretary, TJ Ducklow, who has been on a lot of mainstream media. He was forced to resign on Sunday after it was revealed that he berated, threatened a political reporter with sexist language, threatened to, quote, destroy her for pursuing a story about his just a personal relationship he had with the reporter and whether or not that was a conflict of interest.

It's actually kind of a legitimate story. If you're the White House deputy press secretary, you have a relationship with a reporter. But then if this had happened under the show, Joe Biden doesn't get a single question about that in the CNN town hall that his deputy press secretary was using sexist attacks and threatening a reporter. And remember, it was the Trump administration was supposed to be so anti-press and anti-media.

I don't remember any stories like this. But second, the fact is that the actual press won't even cover it when it happens at the Biden White House. Yeah, the fact that it was an issue in the first place, Jordan, really should tell you all you need to know about the Biden administration's relationship with the press.

But the fact that it wasn't brought up last night, I think really is a stain on CNN. Jordan, look, I mean, if this had happened to the Trump administration, or quite frankly, if it had happened under an administration prior to that, I worked briefly in the George W. Bush administration. And if it had happened under any of the press secretaries there, it would have been not only the first question asked in a briefing like this, Jordan, I don't think the topic would have left it. Even likely in a situation like we're in now, where we're in the middle of a pandemic, it would have dominated the press briefing. And I'll tell you this, I don't think the press would have been content until the President of the United States came out and addressed the matter, especially after what President Biden said when he was coming into office, that if there was any mistreatment of staff, they would be fired immediately. I think in those situations, the President would have had to come out and face those questions. But in this situation, Jordan, when the press itself had an opportunity to press the question, he wasn't even asked.

No, not even asked. He's not asked then about Cuomo. This is a huge story because he praised New York Governor Cuomo and his COVID relief.

And then he's not asked about that. That's another huge scandal going on. It affects one of the biggest states in the country right now about why all those COVID related patients and deaths were not being reported correctly. And it was done because they didn't want to tell the Trump administration because of a Department of Justice investigation. And now you've got Democrats then in the state government there joining with a lot of Republicans who have called for Cuomo to possibly be impeached if he doesn't resign at the state level. And again, Cuomo was at the White House last week. And again, no discussion whatsoever about this scandal. Well, I think the question that should have been asked of the President last night was when you did interact with Governor Cuomo last week, what did you demand from him?

Did you get to the bottom of this? Did you ask why this information was revealed? And Jordan, I think that question probably wasn't asked because I would almost guarantee you that that conversation with Governor Cuomo did not involve a pressing for accurate information. But I would even zoom out a little bit, Jordan. And on this COVID issue, just on a more macro level, this was an opportunity last night to really get to the bottom of a couple pressing issues.

And I'll just maybe give you two of them. One of them, parents across this country, Jordan, have a right to know when schools are going to be open, when they're going to be fully open. And generally, the consensus across the board from the medical community is that it is time to aggressively drive forward. And yet there's this disconnect between Jen Psaki and President Biden. I didn't see nearly enough guidance for parents who are really trying to figure out when they can get back into the workforce in a full-scale mode based on when their children will be back in school. And the second thing, Jordan, and this is maybe more a little bit inside baseball, but the stimulus package for COVID relief, it's going through what's known as budget reconciliation. Jordan, that bill is supposed to be on the floor of the House of Representatives next week, and yet we don't know what the final version will be. We don't know what will be in it. We don't know what will actually survive the reconciliation process because of what is known as the Byrd Rule. Last night, Jordan, people who are in need of help, I think they deserve to hear from the President specifics about what will be in that bill, when it will pass, and why they're not looking for bipartisan consensus.

I didn't hear those specifics last night, Jordan. You know, I've got to break some really tragic news, news that I think I know he was preparing for, but it's breaking now in the media, and I heard about it just a little bit before it broke in the news, and that is that Rush Limbaugh has passed away at the age of 70. As you know, in his final radio shows, he's been talking about that every day being a blessing from God.

He's really had a moment of renewed faith in his life going through the illness which ultimately took his life. But let me just say, a 33-year career in broadcasting and shows like ours, where we cross over into conservative and Christian radio, these shows didn't exist before Rush Limbaugh on the scale that they do. To go national, to have a national broadcast like ours, like Sean Hannity's, like Rush's, like Lindbeck, like all, so many of us, Savage, you can go through, there's different types, there's Mark Levin, there's all of us out there doing different things on our broadcast. There's all the great Salem radio hosts as well that cross over into the conservative world.

None of us would be doing this. It's not that we wouldn't be doing the ACLJ and our work legally and all that would be going on, but this broadcasting opening up and really conservatives taking over the airwaves. Listen, the liberals have had their opportunities. They've tried to compete, but this is a platform that they cannot compete on and it goes to Rush Limbaugh who had excellent research, excellent commentary every day, was not afraid, did not hold back his punches. I want to thank him in this moment that is so tragic and sad, but that unfortunately many of us knew, including Rush, that this was coming at any day and that every day was a blessing when he kept broadcasting. Without us being on the show, he didn't take a lot of guests on the show, but he often cited the work of the ACLJ directly and I will tell you the reach of Rush. Every time he did that, up until even just weeks ago, and he would mention us or mention something by one of our ACLJ team members, maybe say Jordan Sekula wrote this up at ACLJ.org or Matt Clark wrote this back on RedState.

I remember that would occur. Matt's from the ACLJ and this would happen fairly regularly in Rush's research. He would do it without telling you beforehand, but people would just start texting you and emailing you and say Rush Limbaugh just talked about you guys.

That was the kind of reach he had. He will be seriously missed in the conservative movement for what he brought to the table every single day, which was excellence in broadcasting and it was. He was the model. No one can ever be Rush, no one will ever be Rush, but he certainly gave us the model and said we can do this and radio stations can carry this and it can be successful.

We'll get lots of listeners and people will be engaged and they want to be informed and they want to have long format discussions. I know from our production team, his level of production was so high, from someone like me who is a broadcaster as part of my job but not full time, he is and will always be the gold standard. But just to let you know, pray for his family as Rush Limbaugh has passed away at the age of 70, succumbed to that disease.

The best of the best. When it comes to the greatest of all time on conservative radio, we know who the GOAT is and will always be. That is Rush Limbaugh. It is a sad day for the conservative movement, it is a sad day for conservative broadcasting, but I know Rush would want us to continue the fight as he said so many times in his last broadcast and that's what we're going to be doing.

But pray for him and his family as he goes on and again had that conversion and new experience with Christianity which is so great. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. The challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack. It's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today.

ACLJ.org. I knew just before going on air, but it wasn't public yet, that Rush Limbaugh had passed away this morning at the age of 70. This is a huge loss for the conservative movement. But I also know Rush would want us all to push on. He really set the template for us to do these kind of broadcasts that cross over into the conservative and Christian world. And then also for people like Sean Hannity.

The list goes on and on. I can't name everybody because he was the gold standard. He is the gold standard.

The greatest of all time. He really made this, not just a single one national host that talked about this, but created this entire movement where we were able to have a conservative voice consistently all throughout the day. And many different options, too, of who you want to listen to on radio, using traditional radio, using satellite radio, again, taking the video inside the studio. He was early to do that as well. And using that platform where you're able to spend a little bit more time than you are on cable news talking about the issues. So please be in prayer for Rush's family and all that he contributed to our conservative movement. I will just tell you again, just an example of his reach every single day. Anytime Rush would mention a blog by the ACLJ and he'd call one of our names out, and again, he didn't tell you. He just was going through his research or something that we were doing.

I can tell you, my dad would tell you, and our team would tell you, everybody would start texting and saying Rush Limbaugh is talking about what you're doing right now and about what the ACLJ is doing. That's the huge reach he had every single day, Monday through Friday. He will be greatly missed as part of the movement. And I think he expected this, said every day was a blessing, and we know he is in heaven and his Christian faith renewed. So again, just prayers for his family. I want to go, though, because I want to do what Rush would want us to do, which is to keep on keeping on, on these battles. I want to go to Rick Rinnell, our Special Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy. He's joining us live. Rick, I want to ask you first this news about Iran.

We talked about it yesterday online. We weren't able to broadcast live because of these ice and snow storms, so we weren't able to be on our radio stations in a serious accident. But Rick, we saw in the news that Iran is now producing uranium metal, and that even the European members of the JCPOA like Germany and France and the UK, they're saying, wait, there is no civilian purpose for this whatsoever. And they're now in this back and forth with the Biden administration saying, if you don't lift sanctions, we're not going to take action.

The Biden team is saying you've got to stop doing this before we lift sanctions, but they still want to get inside this bad deal. Rick, what do you think about all this? Well, before I get to that, Jordan, I hope that you don't mind that I just take a second to say I hope we're all praying for Rush's family.

It is a huge loss. He's been personally so great to me and always pushing forward on the conservative movement. He's been a real leader, and we now need a few people to step up and to try to take his place in terms of being on the front lines and fighting.

So we have a soldier down and we need others to step up, and I'm glad that ACLJ is growing and being a part of that because I think they'll have a big role to play going forward. When it comes to Iran, the one thing that I just want to say in terms of America and our European allies, we have been on the same page with them. The media doesn't like to report it, but we both agree that Iran must not get a nuclear weapon.

We share the same goals. The Europeans and the Americans all see Iran as a problem, and we share the same goals. Where we have differed is on the tactic, and when information comes out that Iran has been lying and sneaking and trying to get the pieces of a nuclear program behind the back of the international community, this sends a shockwave into Europe, and they are very clear about joining with America to stop Iran from getting this. Now it's up to the Biden administration to package the diplomatic push, but what we should do is not allow Iran to somehow pretend like they can get away with this. We need to be united and hit back very hard.

Also, I don't mean the military, let me be very clear, hit back diplomatically very hard and in unity. I know that another issue which is kind of perplexing to some of our audience is that President Biden has yet to reach out to our number one ally in the Middle East. He's yet to have a phone call with Prime Minister Netanyahu. These are calls that are usually made pretty early on in administration.

He certainly had time to do it when there was focus on this kind of bogus impeachment trial and not as much focus on his administration. And yet we find out he still has not yet made that phone call, Rick. I mean, what kind of message does that send to a part of the world that was just starting to make peace with Israel in a public way and try to kind of reshape alliances, if you will?

It's unacceptable. It's unbelievable that after 30 days, the President of the United States, the new President, has still not called our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel. The leader of Israel has not received a phone call from the President of the United States.

That is shocking. I think when you look at the news of this past weekend where we know that President Biden took at least 15-20 minutes to play Mario Kart with his granddaughter, I think that the priority should have been to call Israel. I understand that he needs a little time off, but when you haven't called Israel in 30 days, that's a snub. That's a purposeful avoidance of Israel.

That is not a we'll get to you. This is a strategic belief by Jake Sullivan at the National Security Council that they're going to snub Israel. I find it really astonishing that around the same time that we're snubbing Israel, Iran steps out and tries to come clean a little bit on what we know that they've been working on. This is a test of the Biden administration to say, what are you going to do about it? We see you're distancing yourself from Israel, but now we're going to try to show the world that we want to be the regional power broker. That goes up against Israel, against many of our allies. Once again, I call upon Jake Sullivan to actually think through some of these issues that he's ignoring.

It just gets to me, and I'll talk about this. I know Rick, you're going to be staying with us. Biden doesn't get asked about this at all. He does his first town hall.

We've only got a minute left here, but did his first town hall. These issues didn't come up. The only issue that did come up was, and I'll talk about it with you in the next half hour of the broadcast, was China. He kind of bungled the answer. He wasn't clear. He was talking about how, again, I just feel like the media is not going to be the ones, at least at this stage, Rick, just quickly, to get any of this info out of Joe Biden. They're immediately trying to help him, and this is like the crutch. The media are the crutch for Joe Biden's mistake.

Yeah, okay, so folks, we've got our second half hour coming up. You heard that tribute from Rick Grenell. The news, you're probably hearing it first, I hear that Rush Limbaugh has passed away at the age of 70. Our prayers with his family revolutionized what we do every day on conservative and Christian talk radio, speaking to the issues, not holding back any punches.

He can't be replaced, but I know he would want all of us to be fighting on in the movement he believed in so deeply. We'll be right back in our second half hour on Secular. A-C-L-J dot org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today.

A-C-L-J dot org. Talking about freedom, talking about freedom, we will fight for the right to live in freedom. Live from Washington, D.C., Jay Sekulow live. And now, your host, Jordan Sekulow. Hey folks, welcome back to Secular. So, Sanders, I just want to report it one more time in case you're just joining us this second half hour, and that is the passing of Rush Limbaugh at the age of 70. I think if you follow Rush, you know he knew this could be coming at any time, and he said every day was a blessing.

He had this renewed, and he was very vocal about it, he was not someone who talked about faith a lot, but really had this renewed faith in Christ and began to talk about that a lot more openly. And he has passed away at the age of 70, but let me just say this, our broadcast and the use of the airwaves to have the conservative discussions, not to always be in lockstep with the Republican Party, not to always be in lockstep with talking points, and never to hold back punches. This was all created, in a sense, by Rush Limbaugh, and it showed the media world that this can be successful if you put more shows like his on the air. More shows like Sean Hannity's, the Glenn Becks, the Savages, you have the Mark Levins, you have our broadcast. So many hosts I could go through that are national.

National, that was the key too. National, it was to speak to the entire country, from coast to coast, from north to south, every day that there were conservatives everywhere to talk to. He has passed, but his memory and really his legacy will live on in all of that broadcasting, but as Rick Grenell, who's joining us now, has said, this is a huge void, and it'll take many people to step up to fill it because of the voice that he had inside the conservative movement. He was so supportive of all of us, of all the groups that were out there fighting the battles every single day. Rick, this is a short segment of the show, we only have a couple minutes here, but you mentioned quickly your support for Rush. I think you're right, it'd be wrong not to spend a couple more minutes on this, because it is such a huge loss for the conservative movement, even though we knew it was coming and Rush knew it was coming, and the fact that he did, without even having to have you on as a guest or even contact you directly, he would support the ACLJ, be reading our blogs, naming us by name, we get all these emails and texts from people, so excited, that was happening until the final days of his life. I can remember over the last 25 years feeling really important moments in the conservative movement, wondering what we're going to do, who is the leader, and just waiting to turn on Rush Limbaugh's show to hear the perspective. He wasn't a partisan, he was somebody who believed in policy issues and would surprise us pretty regularly. During my time throughout my career, the moments where it was intense, Rush Limbaugh always came to defend those of us that were pushing on the front line. He understood that being on the front lines of these issues was taxing and that people needed to be supported.

I can't think of enough, during my time at DNI, he was one of the leading voices to say what this guy is doing is important, pay attention. I know we're going to miss him. Many people are going to try to figure out what do we do when we hear news that we need a conservative leader to speak out on. Now we've got to have a couple of people that will do that. We're going to have a problem because there's a man down and we need to figure out who are those couple of voices that can step in and have the kind of leadership that Rush Limbaugh did.

Folks, we're taking your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110. We've only got a minute left here. Let me go to Thanh Binh in Washington, D.C. and Rick, I want to get into you with the information we've learned about this exchange between Comey and Clapper too, which is just, it's absurd that this is not getting any coverage. But of course, Joe Biden gets asked about what it's like to spend the night in the White House. This is a guy who's been Vice President before and a Senator most of his life. But Thanh, your reaction to Rush as well, his passing, I mean, just a model for what we each do every day. He was just a pioneer, Jordan. I mean, look, a long-term struggle with illness is just so difficult, but the legacy that he leaves behind, you're right, it's unmatched.

And I'll just say this, I'm so grateful for the renewed relationship with Jesus Christ that he found in later years. Jordan, that leaves me with a lot of peace. Yeah, it does. It really does. That leaves me with a lot of peace too.

He did not talk about faith a lot, but he started to later in life and it does leave you with peace. We'll be right back. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights, in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena.

And we have an exceptional track record of success. But here's the bottom line, we could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work.

Become a member today. ACLJ.org Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, the play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift.

Welcome back to Secular. We are taking phone calls and comments on Facebook and YouTube and a big thanks to our production team who slogged through the ice where we are and more snow and ice coming today. But I'm able to get broadcast from my home studio and get this out to all of our radio stations live, all Sirius XM and of course all social media outlets as well. We've been broadcasting live the last couple of days. I'm glad we were able to get back, but I want to thank our team for safely getting back into the office just so we can get back on the air for you.

I want to go to Rick Rinnell, our special advisor for national security and foreign policy. He has gratefully spent a few segments with us today and this will be the final one. Rick, I want to ask you, there's this breaking news yesterday and of course it doesn't get as much attention. There's a lot going on, but at the same time we know Durham is still out there as a special counsel and the Biden administration didn't remove him.

There's some credit I'll give them for that. They haven't removed him yet, I'll say. But we now have learned that through documents that have become declassified that Jim Comey communicated to someone who held your former position, the director of national intelligence under the Obama administration, Jim Clapper, that he could not sufficiently corroborate the Steele dossier. And then right around that time, this was at the very end of the Obama administration in January of 2017, he signed off on a FISA renewal of Carter Page who was a US asset. The CIA told the FBI he was, not a Russian asset, but they didn't care, and they put the Steele dossier in as verified and Jim Comey signed off on it, so he was pushing back with Clapper not to say it wasn't corroborated even though he was telling Clapper that, Rick. I'm glad that this information is coming out.

We've known this for a while internally and I'm glad that it's finally revealed. This just shows that Comey and Clapper were highly political. And I can't believe that Jim Clapper, in finding out this information, didn't immediately say, I gotta go forward and make clear the truth where Comey was clearly trying to muddy the waters and do everything he could to help elect Hillary Clinton, throw dirt on Donald Trump. This is why it's so scary to me, the weaponization of government, when leaders of the FBI and the DNI are scheming together to cover up the truth in order to help a political candidate.

Now think about that. The FBI knew that information they were pushing was wrong and not accurate and they did it during an election because they wanted to ensure that someone wouldn't become President. This is what we hear about in third world countries and yet it's happening here. We need a total clean out of the FBI. It hasn't happened.

It needs to happen. They're not facing the mistakes that they've made and this is just another example to show that more needs to be done to clean up the FBI. I want to talk about the nomination of Bill Burns to lead the CIA. I know we've talked about it on this broadcast before, but I really think a couple of nominations that are out there, both Bill Burns and then also Xavier Becerra to lead the HHS, represent some real problems for conservatives, for people seeking consensus on these issues. I know you talked about on this broadcast how you were initially supportive of Bill to lead the agency because he's been a long-term consumer of CIA products, but I am hearing more and more on the Hill. A lot of trepidation just based on how deep his ties are in China. I know that is your concern as well, but I think as we're now moving into a phase where more of these nominations are going to be hitting the floor of the Senate, I think it's important for this to be front and center in people's minds.

So specifically on Bill Burns, what's your latest thought on that? Is this somebody that the United States Senate should be confirming or do you think there's a chance he can be defeated? I definitely think there's a chance that he can be defeated with the new revelations about his ties to China. Let's be clear, he had a diplomatic career that was impressive. He spent 33 years as a diplomat, as an outsider, consuming intelligence. I initially thought this is a good person to lead the CIA because he'll bring a completely different set of eyes to the process. He didn't grow up in the intelligence community, in the gathering of information, but he's been consuming it. But what he's done the last six years after he left the diplomatic community is of concern. For six years he's been raising money for his NGO, leading an NGO, which has largely been focused on China and cozying up to China and getting our congressional staffers better relationships with Chinese communist leaders. This is a real problem for somebody, especially as a nominee to run the CIA. I would think he'd be more appropriate for our ambassador in China or another job. But this post I think is troublesome and I've heard from a number of senators that they also are troubled and we'll have to see how his confirmation hearings go and what Republican senators are going to do to stand up against this. You know, interesting enough Rick, Joe Biden was asked about China. This is probably the toughest question he got from Anderson Cooper and of course we didn't get much from Joe Biden, but I want you to just comment on this exchange because I found it just really bizarre.

Bite number seven. When you talk to him though about human rights abuses, is that as far as it goes in terms of the US or is there any actual repercussions for China? Well there will be repercussions for China and he knows that. What I'm doing is making clear that we in fact are going to continue to reassert our role as spokespersons for human rights at the UN and other agencies that have an impact on their attitude. China is trying very hard to become the world leader. So again, Rick, what do you think about that?

It's very bizarre. Let's be very clear what Joe Biden just said. He said we're going to utilize the UN and we're going to do what we can through the UN. China and President Xi love that answer. That's exactly what they want because at the UN, China plays a duplicitous role. They get a veto at the Security Council as a superpower, but they also, outside of the UN Security Council, organize with a group of developing nations called the G77. So they have all of these small developing nations looking to them to say, yeah, we're all in the same boat.

We're all four developing nations. And China plays that role because they have that side of China which is poor and which is still developing. And so we've allowed China to have this dual role at the UN. And when Joe Biden says we're going to just go to the Human Rights Council and bring up our issues, China loves that.

That's the weakest possible answer. I also think that Joe Biden should have just said to Anderson Cooper, I'm not going to tell you about my conversations with President Xi, but make no mistake, I've made clear on this, that or the other. To go into detail of what he said to a world leader I think really gives it away that the conversation was one way and that China presented what they wanted and we just acquiesced. Well, yeah, I mean, in this next question, I mean, Anderson Cooper followed up, and again, what's astonishing is that Joe Biden is basically saying in this next comment, I'll play it for everybody and get Rick's reaction, is that, well, this is just, this is the Chinese way of governing.

Take a listen, bite five. My comment to him was, and I know him well and he knows me well, we're a two-hour conversation. You talked about this to him. I talked about this too, and that's not so much refugee, but I talked about it, I said, look, you know, Chinese leaders, if you know anything about Chinese history, it has always been the time when China has been victimized by the outer world is when they haven't been unified at home. So the central, to vastly overstate it, the central principle of Xi Jinping is that there must be a united, tightly controlled China, and he uses his rationale for the things he does based on that. When China has been victimized by the outer world is when they haven't been unified at home, so is Joe Biden, Rick, excusing the concentration camps for the Muslim community in China? Joe Biden has a 42-year career of being an apologist for China. It's why they overplay Russia. It's why they say don't look at China. It's why Hunter Biden's laptop is so important. They have hired individuals like Jake Sullivan and others that have, on the record, said some really outrageous predictions about the rise of China.

This is a team that doesn't believe that we can beat China. Remember he said, you know, they're going to eat our lunch or flip-flopping saying they can't eat our lunch. He doesn't have any type of vision other than being friendly. He wants everyone to like him, and therefore this consensus idea with Europe and with others is going to reign the day. We aren't going to get policies that are good for the United States. We're going to get policies that are good for the global community. Rick, thanks for joining us as always and for your work that you're doing with the ACLJ. We couldn't do that, folks, without your support of the American Center for Law and Justice. Have people like Rick Grenell as part of our team. Support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org.

That's ACLJ.org. Think about all the issues we just dissected with Rick as a former ambassador, former acting director of the ACLJ for a decade at the UN. We couldn't do it without you. We'll be right back on Secular. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

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ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Sekulow. We are taking your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110 if you want to join us in this last segment. It's been a packed-in show because we have been doing these online broadcasts for our online viewers of Sekulow the last couple of days because of the ice storm that's hit so much of the country. We couldn't get our radio team into the studio.

I'm still broadcasting from home. So we had a lot that we wanted to cover for you in this broadcast and it's been packed, of course, with that news. Again, I will say just to be in prayer for Rush Limbaugh's family as Rush has passed away at the age of 70.

In fact, I will read to you a comment. You'll see this shortly on social media, but this is from Jay Sekulow, our chief counsel at the ACLJ. Rush was a once in a generation broadcaster that changed the landscape of broadcasting across America. He pioneered conservative talk radio. He was a friend of the ACLJ and supported our efforts. He will be greatly missed. So pray for Rush's family as that news broke right as we were going on the air that he had passed away at the age of 70, succumbed to the illness, which he knew could happen any day and he was prepared. This was not someone who for most of his career talked much about faith in his broadcast, but he started to talk openly about his faith and his renewed relationship, his renewed Christian faith with Christ. That's peace for probably a lot of his family, but I think for a lot of his listeners as well that we know he had that peace inside of him and we know where he is right now, not suffering anymore from that painful illness.

I want to go to Thad Bennett. Thad, there is a lot to talk about when it comes to China. We were talking about with Rick and our work, just this idea that China, well, this is just how they want to lead and they've got to unite their country. So the genocide they're taking part in, don't worry about that because China gets attacked when they're united.

I mean, that was crazy to me if you actually unpack that. This is outrageous, Jordan. I mean, for President Biden to say that China is being victimized by the outer world, I really think we just need to say this straight. There are a couple things going on right now. The Chinese government is exterminating Uyghur Muslims, Jordan. They're exterminating them.

They're also re-educating Christians inside their own borders. They are not the victims here. They're the perpetrators of a rightfully designated genocide by the Trump administration and President Biden needs to speak with force in that.

And Jordan, this is not just hypothetical for us. This is the work that we do around the world, including in China, but in lots of other places. And if President Biden wants to lean on the United Nations to be the answer here, you know, this is true whether you're talking about Iran or China, by the way. The only way the United Nations is a force for good in the space of persecution is if the United States leads the way. If the United States is not going to lead the way, Joe Biden can say all he wants that there will be repercussions. Jordan, there won't be repercussions for China unless the United States is the driving force behind them, whether the United Nations is the vehicle or not. So I'm going to say it again. China is not being victimized by the outside world. They are the perpetrators of genocide, genocide against Uyghur Muslims and the re-education of Christians. That is absolutely backwards.

And whether you support President Joe Biden or not, Jordan, he has got to get this straight. It seems like that is the biggest issue, Than, with his administration, whether or not it's the school openings. I mean, they're getting slammed that, you know, their goal in the first hundred days of the school is open one day a week. I mean, that is not exactly school, getting things open.

That's not exactly big ideas and setting high achievements. And then, you know, when it comes to the vaccines, they're all over the place with the CDC guidelines of the school openings. They're all over the place.

And then with China, all over the place. But President Trump, he has not done this much since leaving office, has just started commenting, and the Fox News is carrying it, on the passing of Rush Limbaugh. I don't want any of you to miss President Trump commenting on Rush.

Take a listen. In recognition of all that you have done for our nation, the millions of people a day that you speak to and that you inspire, and all of the incredible work that you have done for charity, I am proud to announce tonight that you will be receiving our country's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. So let me say, I think, yeah, so I think Fox is going live with President Trump in a moment. That was from the State of the Union. I'm not sure if they have yet, but I just got a breaking news. They did, too, that they are going live with President Trump. If they do while we're still on the air, we'll try to cover some of that. If not, again, you know, that's just unique because how big this is when it comes to Rush Limbaugh.

But I want to go back to Thanh while we're having this discussion, too. Here is, okay, we've got the audio now from President Trump. Take a listen. What I wanted to emphasize to you is that Rush wanted to share, and he wanted people to benefit from the great American success that he was, Sean. Bill Hemmer and Sean Hannity.

Let me jump in. I think Sean, of course, will talk about that and his relationship with Rush Limbaugh. They say they were going to have the President of the United States. I guess that will be happening later on their broadcast. So, again, excuse us for the back and forth there, but I just wanted you to have the opportunity to hear if it was for President Trump commenting on Rush.

So, again, we were trying to go to that live. Let me go back to Thanh. So, Thanh, you know, I just see, you know, if this is how the media is going to treat it, they're not going to ask about Cuomo covering up nursing home COVID deaths. They're not going to ask about his deputy press secretary. I mean, I can't even imagine if it happened under President Trump being fired or having to resign for using sexist attacks on a White House correspondent and threatening them that they'll destroy them and their career. If they wrote about a fair peace, which was their personal relationship, dating a reporter, and they're supposed to be the White House deputy press secretary, and how there could be a conflict there.

Now they've resigned. Anderson Cooper doesn't talk about that. He doesn't push on China and the fact that they've got concentration camps going and he lets off a pass.

It just goes on and on. And the final question, oh, what's it like living in the White House? Well, Jordan, the American people deserve straight answers from the President.

They just do. And that's true whether you're a supporter of Joe Biden or whether you did not vote for him. And look, there are a couple of issues that I really think he should have been pressed on much, much harder. One of them Rick talked about when he talked about the fact that he has not called our strongest ally, leader Bibi Netanyahu of Israel. Jordan, that's not acceptable at this phase of the administration. And then closer to home, we talked a little bit about the COVID issue.

It's not just parents who want to know when their kids are going to be back in school. But Jordan, he started his whole answer on that by not being straightforward. He said, we didn't even have a vaccine when I came into office. Jordan, he got his vaccine before he came into office. So look, he's just got to shoot the American people straight. These are issues that we're really facing. He might have his vaccine, but many members of our family, Jordan, we don't. We deserve straight answers from the President of the United States.

The American people do too. And these lines and the way they're having to go around to try to find the vaccines. And this is supposed to be the administration that's supposed to make it, you know, streamline everything.

Well, they're not. And on foreign policy, it's a disaster. Let me just, again, close out today. We are praying for Rush Limbaugh and his family. It's a huge loss for the conservative movement. But I know Rush would know that there'll be many soldiers to stand in, as Rick said, to, we've got a man down, and it'll take many to fill his place.

So prayers for him and his family as Rush Limbaugh's passed away at age 70. We'll talk to you tomorrow. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights, in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today. ACLJ.org.