Congress Demands Answers from AG Garland

Today on Sekulow, it's a jam-packed show with Congressman Jim Jordan, Secretary Mike Pompeo, and Senator Marsha Blackburn. Talk about a lot of issues today on Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow.

Welcome to Sekulow. It is a jam-packed show. In the next segment of the broadcast, we're going to be joined live by Congressman Jim Jordan. He is fighting for you, specifically on this issue we're going to be talking about with the Department of Justice labeling parents as terrorists because of that whistleblower who put out that message from the Assistant Director of Counterterrorism at DOJ, the Assistant Director of Criminal at DOJ, which was in conflict with what Attorney General Garland's testimony was the day after that memo was written.

And so there's questions about his statements to the House Judiciary Committee where Congressman Jordan is the ranking member. So he'll be joining us. Then in the next segment, we'll be followed by Secretary Mike Pompeo.

We're jumping right into Iran. He's got a new piece up at ACLJ.org today on that very issue. We're then going to be going to Strasbourg, France. Andy economy, we're used to seeing on the set here with me and in the studio with me. He is at our office, the European Center for Law and Justice in Strasbourg this week. He's going to be joining us live as well.

And then to finish out the show, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn on some of these inflation issues facing all of us right now with Thanksgiving rapidly approaching and also the Build Back Better plan, getting into the details there as well. So you don't want to miss any of the broadcast today. There's certainly a lot to talk about with all of these individuals. But let me first say right now, which I think is very important to say, obviously those who were injured in Wisconsin last night, those who lost their life, we pray for those families as the details still emerge about what exactly occurred, how that occurred there with this driver in this SUV.

Of course, you know, you can look at it. It looks like acts of terrorism we've seen before. But then we look at his profile. He's got a long, regular criminal record. And in fact, one of the reports looked like he may have been fleeing the scene of another crime. So was it just was he trying to flee and ultimately now responsible for this loss of life and so many injured, including children.

So that was just horrendous. I think it's a reminder, one, to still be vigilant these holiday seasons as we kind of come back out to the streets and we celebrate together in more public settings and more open settings. Knowing one, there's still bad guys out there and there's still criminal actors out there. And I think that for the last year and a half or so, when we were not gathering that kind of way, you know, you start kind of losing your street smarts a little bit because just depending on where you live and if you're in a town in Wisconsin, again, you were just happy probably to be celebrating again together. So unfortunately, that happened on an event celebrating the Christmas holiday. But we'll provide more details as you know, it needs to develop. We need to take a seat back to wonder what was there any motivation here?

Was it the wrong place, the wrong time, fleeing a potential knife attack? So I didn't want to forget that in today's broadcast. I know we've got a lot to talk about with a lot of different individuals.

But right off the bat, I did want to discuss that. That's the information we have right now. I'm sure there will be more information about this individual as the days go on.

But what we do know is he has a very long criminal record, just was out on bail and looks like he may have been fleeing the scene of another crime. But that doesn't take away from the harm. The loss of life on this holiday season, very tough for those families. So let's all pray for them, especially as we gather around Thanksgiving table later in the week and give thanks because again, that can happen to anybody, anywhere, at any event you go to. And it's part of, again, unfortunately, kind of what we have to deal with as a nation. Thankfully, we haven't seen this widespread attacks, things like that. And hopefully we don't get to that point.

But let me just switch gears here. So we'll continue to follow that. But we've got Congressman Jim Jordan coming up next to get right into this issue about that. Has the AG responded? What's the Department of Justice said?

I mean, he is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. They need to be responding. So we're going to, he'll be joining us next.

Then Secretary Mike Pompeo from our team on Iran. There's developments there. He's got a new piece up at ACLJ.org. Remember to support our work.

We have our matching challenge throughout the month of November. You can double the impact of your donation at ACLJ.org. This is a great time to donate. That's ACLJ.org. We'll be right back with Congressman Jordan. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support.

Take part in our matching challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at 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.

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Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Alright, welcome back to Sekulow. This is Jordan Sekulow. Congressman Jim Jordan from Ohio's 4th congressional district, also the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, joins us now. Congressman Jordan, thanks for being with us today. You bet.

Good to be with you, Jordan. Let me ask you right off the bat, you know, we follow this on our broadcast at ACLJ when Attorney General Garland testified to the committee you serve on, that, you know, he can't imagine that parents were being treated this way or that the terrorism division at the Department of Justice was involved. And then a letter from a whistleblower is released, and that letter is the exact opposite of that.

It says, it's actually signed by the assistant director at the DOJ on counterterrorism and the assistant director of the criminal division. We started learning about tags, which I know is like a flashback for us to the ACLJ when it comes to those bolo lists, from the IRS and fighting back this targeting of American citizens just trying to, again, engage the process. We always tell people, Congressman Jordan, the place to start is usually the school boards.

I mean, that's the place to start in your communities. But let me ask you this first. You sent a letter to the FBI director and to Attorney General Garland.

What else? Have they responded yet? And have you gotten any sense of when they'll respond? No, they haven't responded, but they need to because, as you point out, Jordan, Merrick Garland testified in front of us and said, we were not in any way treating parents as domestic terrorists. There was just one problem with that statement. Before that, there was an email sent from the Counterterrorism Division of the FBI to special agents in charge, FBI agents around the country, saying just the opposite, saying put a label, put a tag, put this terrorist tag, this threat tag on parents.

So Merrick Garland needs to come back in front of us. And I tell you, the first question I would ask him is, what's the number? How many parents now have this label, this tag associated with their name?

How many? What's the number? So, yeah, we need to talk to these guys because they got caught going after moms and dads for simply standing up and saying, we don't want this CRT, this racist hate America curriculum taught to our kids. When we were fighting the IRS, when we got on that bolo list finally and you realized the amount of people that were being caught up in it, it was just outrageous. But when we look at this, it takes it even a step further because these are just individual parents. They're not organized in any kind of way, showing up at a meeting that they're welcome to be at. And if there are real problems, you know, local law enforcement can handle that.

I mean, that's like common sense. If you're a bad actor there and you're making real threats or you're causing violence or disruptive, not following the rules, there's people there to handle that. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the parents who just might be a little upset and might be in disagreement. But so at this point, Congressman Jordan, as a member of Congress chairs this committee, as the ranking member on that committee, you don't know yet, we don't know yet how many parents have received that tag. We don't know.

What we do know is it needs to stop. Understand the organization that was the catalyst for this, the National School Board Association, sent their letter on September 29th to President Biden asking for this to happen. And then, of course, five days later, Merrick Garland does his memorandum to the U.S. attorneys around the country, all 94 U.S. attorneys district, implementing exactly what the School Board Association asked for. Understand they've apologized.

I mean, I've never seen this. You've been around politics, Jordan. What have you ever seen a left wing political organization one day after the attorney general speaks, apologize for the statements that they made in their letter that became the catalyst for this whole charade, that they're this whole crazy process that they're undergoing. I've never seen that happen, so let's hope it all ends and that the Justice Department will stop doing this.

That's what our goal is, and we're going to keep after it until it happens. What do you think, Pess, if they came to you and said, you know, hey, we're sorry, would you trust them on that, or do you think it needs to be more than apology? I think, I mean, we need some more info here because they opened this door up by denying it and saying he couldn't even imagine this being the case, and then there it is, the lead of counterterrorism is sending this letter around the Department of Justice and the FBI.

I actually think it's worse, Jordan. I don't think that the letter was actually what started it. I think the letter was just the pretext for the FBI, for the Justice Department and the Biden Administration to do what they wanted to do, because we now know that before that letter on September 29, we know that the School Boards Association was in communication with the White House for three weeks prior to that letter being sent. So I think actually the letter was just the excuse, just the pretext for the Justice Department and for the Biden Administration to go after parents, because they didn't like parents speaking out against this left-wing curriculum that they want taught across the country. So I view this letter almost like the dossier in the Trump Russia. The FBI knew the dossier was bogus, but they needed something to do what they wanted to do, which was spy on President Trump's campaign.

Same thing here. This school board's letter was just something that the Biden Administration needed to give them the excuse to go after moms and dads, and that's what they did. That's what makes this so wrong, even more wrong than we initially thought and why it has to end. Very similar to that Tea Party situation, because I read in the whistleblower release that came out from the Criminal Investigation Division, the Counterterrorism Division of the FBI, they did the same thing that Lois Lerner was working on with the FBI and DOJ, which is, is there a federal nexus to somehow we can, and that goes to, is there federal violations? Can we investigate?

Can we charge someone? What's the motivation behind the criminal activity? It's all about ultimately, Congressman Jordan, it's about silencing.

They want to find one person they can file a criminal charge against. If they can do that, they think other parents will stay away and keep silent. Yep, it was all about chilling the speech of moms and dads.

But here's the, here's the good news. It backfired. Instead of chilling speech, what it did is fired parents up.

You know, I just said many times, no bureaucrat, no lobbyist, no one will ever beat a mom on a mission. And what they did is they fired up moms and dads around this country. We saw it display itself in the election of Glenn Youngkin as the next governor of Virginia. We're seeing it play out across the country. Courage is contagious. And what they did is they just fired up parents and parents says, nope, I don't care what you do.

You're not stopping me from doing what I think is best for my son or my daughter. And that's exactly what we see on display. So this all backfired on them so much so that the school board association actually, as I said, apologized for the initial letter that kind of was the pretext for the FBI doing what they're doing.

This should be like a massive red flag. I know it is to our audience, but to the American people, because, you know, if the Biden administration can label these parents as domestic terrorists for showing up and actually engaging civic duty when they feel like their students aren't being taught the right thing or just speaking out about curriculum and those kind of issues, trying to protect their children. I mean, if you can start labeling people as terrorists for that, you can start labeling any kind of grassroots activist they disagree with. But that's the way it is today with the left. Today's left doesn't believe in the First Amendment. I mean, it used to be that you could have a real debate and the liberals would say, oh, they believe their stuff. We're not allowed. We conservatives believe what we and we have it.

We'd have a debate and see who wins the vote and you move on to the next issue. Not today. If you don't agree with the left today, you're not allowed to talk. And if you try to talk, if you try to speak, they're going to call you a racist.

They're going to call you names and they're going to try to cancel you. And that's exactly what the administration tried to do. They tried to call parents names. They tried to cancel parents and parents said, we're not having it. We're going to do what's best for our kids.

And like I said, it completely backfired on them, as was evidenced by the Virginia election. Congressman Jordan, you've got a new book out tomorrow. Do what you said you would do, Fighting for Freedom in the Swamp. Tell people about the book and what they'll learn in it. Coming out tomorrow, I wrote every word of this.

I told somebody the other day I'm the old fashioned way. I wrote it all out, long handled on the yellow legal pad. But it takes them behind the scenes. Your listeners will get a chance to get behind the scenes, see how Congress operates. All the big investigations I've had the privilege of working on, the IRS one that we were talking about, the Benghazi Select Committee, and of course the impeachment. And then I really try to give them a flavor of the interactions I had the privilege of having with President Trump, who more than any official, Jordan, more than any President in our lifetime, did what he said he would do.

And so I think your listeners will enjoy this. It's a quick read, 250 pages, but they'll get a kind of a behind the scenes look at what it's like in Congress, and particularly with the Freedom Caucus. I write a lot about how we started that group and how our mission is to do what we told the American people we were going to do and fight for them.

Let me tell you something, folks. If you were going to buy a book about getting inside Congress, these battles and conservative battles inside, there's no better author than someone like Congressman Jim Jordan to be putting this book out for you. Do what you said you would do, fighting for freedom in the swamp. You're doing that, Congressman Jordan, and we thank you not just on behalf of the constituents you represent in Ohio, but all of us, because you fight the battles that so many of our listeners and our supporters care about the ACLJ.

We've worked together before when we can. And I appreciate you coming on today, and good luck with the book, and happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Jordan. Thanks for all the good work you do fighting for freedom and for families.

Take care. Thank you, Congressman Jordan. That's Congressman Jim Jordan.

He's got a new book out again wherever books are sold tomorrow. Do what you said you would do, fighting for freedom in the swamp. And as you said, it's a really inside look from a conservative fighter who's inside those battles, inside those committee rooms, in the back rooms, and again, from different perspectives.

And I think that, again, if you're someone who listens to our broadcast, those kind of perspectives are priceless because you get our perspective of it. We were at the impeachment trial as the attorneys. He was there as part of the congressional team in the House during the impeachment. I mean, this was, again, the IRS, who's right in the front, we were there calling this out, fighting, and it was basically the same administration at those times in the Obama years.

Jump forward to the Biden years. So great to have Congressman Jordan joining us today on the broadcast. And definitely check out, get his new book, Do What You Said You Would Do, Fighting for Freedom in the Swamp. Let me encourage you, Secretary Mike Pompeo is about to join us.

We're going to go to Iran in the next segment of the broadcast. If you're watching this broadcast, share it with your friends and family. Again, I encourage you to do that.

Click that share button. And let me remind you, the entire month of November is a matching challenge month. It's critical to the ACLJ, not just to the broadcast, but for all the work we do at the American Center for Law and Justice. If you can support the ACLJ today and you're able to do so financially, and again, if you're able to do so financially, you can double the impact of your donation by being part of our matching challenge and donating today at ACLJ.org.

We'll be right back with Mike Pompeo. 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. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support. Take part in our matching challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org.

Hey, welcome back to Secula. It was great to be joined by Congressman Jim Jordan. We are now joined by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs. Secretary Pompeo, he's got a new piece up.

It just posted today at ACLJ.org. On Iran, the Biden administration is committed to repeating the mistakes of the Obama administration. Last week, the Biden administration's special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, was on a diplomatic mission across the Middle East. Let me go right to Secretary Pompeo. What was Robert Malley's mission here, Secretary Pompeo?

What is he trying to do? Well, Jordan, he's doing precisely what the Obama administration did, which is to seek to get peace, whatever that means, with the Iranians through complete and total capitulation. I think they have come to view the United States not as an adversary but as prey, someone they can victimize. So he talked about Malley, when he spoke, said, well, the problem with Iran is that they've been excluded. As if he'd forgotten, in 1979, they took American hostages for 444 days, as if he'd forgotten that they continued to develop their nuclear capabilities, as if he didn't observe the terrorists in Yemen, in the Gaza Strip, in Lebanon, with Hezbollah, with others around the world, are underwritten and supported by Iran.

They have a fundamental misconception of Iran as a player in the region for good. I just returned. I literally got back from the Middle East a few hours ago, Jordan. I was in Saudi Arabia.

I was in the Emirates. I think the people in those places know that Iran is a real threat, and they are very concerned that the United States is demonstrating weakness in the face of Iranian aggression. I would imagine some of those countries, Secretary Pompeo, if Iran were to have a nuclear weapon, would feel like they would need a similar weapon. I mean, it could start off an arms race in a region of the world. We don't need an arms race like that to go nuclear. But I would imagine they'd be very concerned, and it would be even more important to have those U.S. defenses installed in those countries. One of the things we worried about most with respect to nuclear proliferation was, in fact, just that, Jordan, is that once the Iranians perfect not only their weapon systems but have the enrichment capability to make not only a single weapon but an entire program, whether it's the Egyptians, the Jordanians, the Emiratis, the Saudis, the Turks, the list is pretty long. They'll want to join the nuclear club, and that creates enormous risk for the region of the world. I saw just today, too, that another senior administration official named Brett McGurk was in the region. He was in Bahrain speaking. He talked in the same way that Robert Malley did about how we just need to invite Iran on the world stage.

This is an enormous mistake. This is a theocratic, kleptocratic terror regime. Them with a nuclear weapon exposes the United States to enormous extortion. When the administration says and apparently has told Israel, hey, attacking Iran, trying to slow down Iran's nuclear program is a provocation, I can assure you the Israelis will do what they need to do to defend themselves. We know the seventh round of talks with Iran are slated to begin pretty soon. The Iranian regime is taking a more hardline position with their new President. They have a list of demands for the U.S. to rejoin. It includes an apology, lift all sanctions.

There's even reports out now that Iran's President, some of his frozen assets are now available to him. All of this together, it feels like the Biden administration will give away anything, and possibly everything, to just get back to some deal, even though it was a deal of bullet points. If they head back into this deal, it will make the tragedy, the terrible debacle in Afghanistan look like child's play in terms of risk to the United States of America. When the administration started their negotiations, when the Biden administration started, they said they were going to go back into a deal, but it was going to be longer and stronger.

Now it appears that they're prepared to accept a deal that is shorter and weaker and is enormously dangerous. It will send a signal to the entire region that the United States is not to be trusted and to put the Israeli leadership in a terribly, terribly difficult position, one that the United States should never force the people that live there, the Jewish homeland in Israel, to put it in a place where the Iranians would have the capacity to extort and threaten them, and we shouldn't force them to make a difficult decision in the face of, at best, American ambivalence. There's some reports again about protests breaking out in Iran against the Ayatollah. We were very critical in 2009 during the Green Revolution when the Obama administration ignored the pleas.

The signs were written in English, people were being shot in the streets and killed, and it was really, there was a moment there, there was an opportunity there that was not utilized by the United States. I feel like probably the people of Iran are even more nervous about taking to the streets because the world seems to ignore their pleas because, very much because of what we're talking about now, it's just that the world is trying to get into, especially the US, into a deal with the Ayatollah, not to protest the Ayatollah. Well, the United States has taken the odd position that we want to open up commercial exchange with Iran, but we're not going to do it.

We'll just let the Europeans do business there. For that reason, we, the Obama administration, and now the Biden administration, have been prepared to overlook the Iranian people. When the Iranian people protested in the Trump administration, I remember not only did I, but President Trump issued statements, sent out tweets saying, we are with you, we will support you, do the right thing, protect your own individual freedoms and your own individual rights. We did everything we could to support them. I doubt that this administration will lift a finger for the Iranian people, but it's going to go to Vienna next week and do an awful lot to give money to the regime itself, to the Ayatollah himself, which will only put the United States and our friends and allies and partners in the region at risk.

Yeah, it's so backwards. I mean, finally, Secretary Pompeo, you know, under the Trump administration you served, there was the maximum pressure campaign, and it was able to fix some of the wrongs done by the Obama administration under the JCPOA. It re-isolated Iran, their economy, you know, made sure they didn't have the resources they did. But if the Biden administration caves to Iran, they do this again. So we get a repeat of what Obama did, but maybe we're on a bigger cave when it comes to the money and what Iran is demanding. Can a future administration still salvage this situation, or is it too late and we end up in that arms race situation in the Middle East that we're so concerned about? Well, I hope not.

I can say this much. I am very confident that the next Republican administration would walk away from any crappy deal that the Biden administration entered into. One of the conditions that the Iranians have placed is they want this administration to promise that the deal won't be broken again.

That promise can't be made. The Biden administration can't deliver on that promise because there are no Democrats in the Senate that are going to vote for a treaty. So the next Republican administration, the next Republican President, whoever he or she is, that person is going to bust this deal. The Iranians should know it, and so should every country or every business that's thinking about re-entering Iran to do business with the Iranian regime. They should know that the clock is running on their capacity to do that, that this deal won't stand.

Not because of politics, not because it was a Democrat that did it, because this is a foreign policy decision that puts American lives and Israeli lives at risk. Secretary Pompeo is our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs, and Secretary Pompeo, let me say Happy Thanksgiving to you if we don't speak before then. I know you've been really busy. I hope you get some time with your family, even if it's just that day. As always, thanks for being with us on the show. Yes, sir. Thank you, Jordan. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Thank you. Let me just say, folks, we're able to get reports from a former Secretary of State, the last preceding former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. He just got back from Saudi Arabia and the Emirates hours ago. He's on our team because of your support, financially. That's how we're able to do this. And you're not going to get the analysis anywhere else.

You're not going to get right off three hours after returning home from the Middle East a report like this when we're talking on Iran. Support the work of the ACLJ. This is why we can bring you this, especially for the broadcast. At ACLJ.org, double the impact your donation. Again, matching challenge throughout the month of November. Donate today.

We'll be right back. Second half hour coming up, and it's jam packed. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow.

And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. If you do want to talk to us, 1-800-684-3110. I know it's a jam packed show, and you may be thinking, I don't know if I can get through, but we do keep our phone lines open for you.

1-800-684-3110. Let me do a little recap, if you missed that first half hour, definitely go back and check it out later on. We've got the show up in multiple different ways, even if you're listening in your car right now. You can go to YouTube, you can go to Facebook, you can go to Rubble, Periscope. It's available, so if you ever miss anything and you say, I want to go back and watch, it'll always be available later in the day. But we start off the show right off the bat, of course, talking about what happened in Wisconsin.

It was horrendous. Still more details coming out about the individual. Definitely more praying for those who lost their lives at this Christmas celebration, those who were injured. Let me also just say that what we know about that person is that they have an extensive criminal record. And they may have actually been fleeing from another crime. They were just out on bail. So that's one of the stories out there.

So there's more develops there. We're not going to rush to a judgment and say this is definitely terrorism, though it certainly terrorized that community. But whether it's tied to anything like that, it looks more like someone with just an extensive criminal record. But you don't know yet. We reserve judgment on that right now. And again, I think it's just a reminder as we all kind of re-enter large events and come together that at the end of the day, we keep our streets smart.

I know for some folks to be aware you live in the country, it may have been a while. It may still not have really gathered together in large events. But we start to do that, and that's part of being a human. We want to do those kind of events and be at those kind of events that we retain our street smarts.

And a reminder that when you come back, just the way you lived before, which is, again, it can kind of feel overwhelming when you start attending these first events. Unfortunately for these folks, ending in tragedy. We'll stay up to speed on it. Then we were with Congressman Jim Jordan on this issue of targeting parents because they attend their school board meetings. And how the Attorney General came to his committee, testified. I couldn't imagine the Counterterrorism Unit, the FBI, would be involved in this. Then we get a whistleblower letter that the day before his testimony that, yeah, they are, and they're tagging. Like the Be on the Lookout list, they're tagging individual Americans and trying to, again, tie them to these kind of, basically put them in the criminal process.

See if they can bring a criminal charge. That's their ultimate goal. How can they silence speech? I think Congressman Jordan is right.

They have instead encouraged more people to speak out. It's really just the beginning of this issue there. So it's great to have him on. Then Secretary Pompeo joined us on Iran. Coming up in the next segment, Andy Acosta, who you're used to seeing in the studio with me here, one of the senior counsels at the ACLJ, is in our office in Strasbourg, France. And he's going to be joining us via video as well.

So if you're watching, you get a little peek inside there. The European Center for Law and Justice in Strasbourg, France. Andy is there now, so we'll get an update too on our work in Europe. And then in the final segment of the broadcast, we'll be joined by U.S.

Senator Marsha Blackburn. So if you thought the first half hour was packed, second half hour is packed. If you do want to try and talk to us on the air, this would be the time to call 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. So it does appear now that the driver suspected of killing those individuals in Wisconsin was speeding away from a knife fight. So some, you know, that's what official reports are now saying.

So like a criminal, other criminal activity just ended up speeding right into people, so unfortunate and tragic there. So that's the latest on that story. Let me encourage you, you know, we've got, throughout the month of November, a matching challenge. Just to explain it, what it means, a group of donors comes together and they say, you know what, we want to encourage new donors and people who maybe have donated in the past or regular donors, but we're going to match their donations. So if you donate $50 right now at ACLJ.org, those donors are going to match that, which means it's equivalent of like $100 for the ACLJ. To get them to match the donations, of course, you have to take the first step in making a donation. They only match the donations that come in.

So you take, you're that first step in this action. And so if you're in a financial position to do it, and I always say that, I mean, again, if you're financially able to and you're in that situation or thinking about where to donate, I mean, today's show is a great example of all the different kinds of work we're doing in the U.S. and around the world because of your financial support. Donate online at ACLJ.org. Double your impact today. That's at ACLJ.org.

We'll be right back with a live report from France. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support.

Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at 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, a 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. And welcome back to SECIL. Joining us in the next segment of the broadcast will be U.S. Senator Marsha Blackbird talking inflation, talking about this reconciliation. Now, she's in the Senate. Now that that's out of the house, get some more information there.

And, of course, the inflation every American is seeing when they are at the grocery store, especially this week preparing for Thanksgiving. But I do want to go, because this has been a packed show, over to France to the European Center for Law and Justice, which is headquartered in Strasbourg, France. Andy economy with senior counsel with the ACLJ is in Strasbourg right now.

He's joining us live. And, Andy, right off the bat, you arrived in Strasbourg recently. Tell us about the work going on at the European Center for Law and Justice. Jordan, we have a full schedule of things that we're doing at the European Center for Law and Justice here in Strasbourg, France. And I can tell you that we are continuing the good work that the ACLJ does in the United States of America and throughout the world in Europe. And it's a tremendous schedule of activities that we are engaged in, publications, conferences, reports that we are putting through. Just to name a few, we have exposed and continue to expose here. And it's nine o'clock at night here in Strasbourg.

Let me tell you, it's dark outside, but we're still here in the office, Jordan, and we're still doing work. We have a conference call coming up later on this evening. But we expose, and I'm holding up right now one of our publications, Exposing the Abortion Industry's Grip on European Institutions, one of the documents that we have put together. We are also looking at the dark funding, that is the funding by groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Open Society, and Soros and his related groups, and how they invest to promote abortion and the leftist agenda and the financing of UN experts.

Here's one of our publications that we engaged in and put together on these very topics. One of the things that is really troubling, Jordan, and we have exposed here at the ECLJ in Strasbourg in France, is conflicts of interest, reforming the European Court of Human Rights, which is just right down the street here in Strasbourg, Jordan, as you know because you've appeared there, because there they have judges ruling on cases introduced by non-governmental organizations that they used to work for before they became judges on the court. Think about that for a while.

You're ruling on a case that you were involved in by the litigant, and now you're a judge on the court. What I think is great, Andy, and it's tough to give it enough attention with everything going on in the world, but it's great that you're there right now, now that we're starting to be able to re-engage, not just by phone and Zoom, but by being back in the offices together with our international team, is that they really have exposed, and I think our audience needs to hear it, the issues and problems plaguing some of these European institutions like the European Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Court and at the UN. I mean, they do an incredible job and really are our lead when it comes to international efforts. It's a team, predominantly French team, but some other Europeans as well, and they hit issues that, honestly, most groups in Europe and organizations that operate there don't want to touch.

That's exactly right, Jordan. Issues that are non-touchable by other groups or they're reluctant to do it, we expose that head on, and one of these things that we've been doing, again, is looking at the persecution of ex-Muslim Christians in France. People who are of the Islamic faith and who convert to Christianity are severely persecuted, and we have done a report, again, I'm holding it up, our famous use of props, but very important, holding up a report here talking about the persecution of ex-Muslims, and also pornography, and especially child pornography and human rights, and the fight in Europe that the ECLJ is engaged in against those who trafficked through pornography and pedo-pornography in Europe.

That is something that we are doing that I don't know of any other organization that is doing it with the persistence and the zeal that we are. And we know it is having an impact, I don't disclose it, but a lot of this work that was being done over the last couple of years and during the pandemic that's now getting out throughout the European media in different countries, it's causing some more tension for the European Center for Law and Justice in a good way, being contacted by officials, former officials, because of these reports, especially on Soros and the connections throughout so many of these institutions. So it is having an impact, and it has caused action as well.

Well it has, Jordan. So many of these people who hear us on radio in Europe, because we have a radio program that our friends Gregor and Christoph, who work here at the office, put on every week, and as a result of one of our radio broadcasts, Gregor told me that a Consul General, and I'm not going to say what country it is, but it's an Arabic country, contacted him and wanted to come into his office and talk to him about what we had exposed on that radio program. That's a pretty big thing for a Consul General of an Arabic dominated country who heard something on the ECLJ broadcast to come in and say, I'd like to talk about it and would you see me, and he came to us. So we are having an impact in Europe and that's very important, especially in the countries along the North Mediterranean shore also, and the European connection between them.

So we are having a tremendous impact in our European work through the ECLJ. Annie, I wanted to ask you this too, just for perspective, because we kind of get conflicting reports about how things are in Europe with COVID too, and things like reopening and closing back. What is it like? If Strasbourg is the Christmas capital of the world, this is a time where they're preparing for the decorations and lots of people. Are people going to be out like that again this year? Are they not sure? What is it like? Well, the Christmas market has not yet opened in Strasbourg.

We hope that it does. I was in London before I came to Strasbourg, and I can tell you, you could not see the pavement in London for people. I mean, people were out by the thousands, it seemed like, in Oxford Street, and France is open.

France is wide open right now. You have to get a special health permit. Christophe engaged in that for us today, so that we can go and eat in a restaurant. You can't just go eat in a restaurant, so it's having an impact, and it has a tremendous impact on travel. But we're seeing people persisting and going about their duties and their responsibilities, and we're helping and working very heavily for them to be able to do that during this time of pandemic, at least reduced pandemic that we're seeing in Europe. Travel is difficult, Jordan. It requires a lot of documents.

It requires a lot of things that we ordinarily would not have done. You have been to Strasbourg. You have been to the Christmas market. We hope to see it open in that fullness again. We don't know right now.

It hasn't opened yet, but we'll see. Well, Andy, I want to thank you for joining us live from Strasbourg. I know we're going to be on a call. I appreciate you. And Greg, we're staying up late to do that so that we can have a call between some are on the West Coast, some are on Central Times, some are in Strasbourg, France.

And that office, again, it's just a reminder, folks, the work that they are doing. I think Andy just did a great job of showing you what they've just been doing recently. So, Andy, thanks for joining us. We appreciate that.

I'll talk to you soon on that call. And, folks, this is just another example. I know when I was talking to Will earlier, this kind of show came together this morning with all the guests, different issues, different topics. But I think it just shows all of the different work that the ACLJ is engaged in. It's important work that you can support at ACLJ.org.

And I want to walk you through that for just a minute here. When you support the work of the ACLJ in a matching challenge month and you donate $25 online to ACLJ.org, it's like you donated $50 to the ACLJ. And you're only charged $25. People say, am I getting charged twice?

No, you're not. Because we have a group of donors that will match all of the donations that come through in the month of November. So this is a critical time. It's a key time to support our work. As Andy said, it's not impossible to travel so we can start being face-to-face with our team again. Of course, we've been doing it by Zoom, doing it by phone calls. And, of course, there's lots of different technology that enables us to continue working throughout all of this. But that's why I asked that question, that final question to Andy about the pandemic.

What is it like there? Because you'll see, you know, he talked about London's packed streets, France, where you've got to have a permit to go into a special, a different permit to go into a restaurant to eat. But you are able to do that. So, again, it's opening up. The world is opening up. Let me just encourage you. And so you understand, you know, we have offices around the world. But especially an office in Europe which takes the lead at these international institutions, European institutions, and, of course, the United Nations as well.

Let me encourage you. We are able to do all this work all around the world, whether it's for the persecuted. I mean, think about what Andy just said. It should strike a nerve. Persecuted Christians in France who were former, you know, converts from Islam, but they're in a democratic society, and they still have to fear for persecution. And is the government there doing enough? I mean, that's just one of the issues that Andy talked about that the European Center for Law and Justice is working on right now.

Let me encourage you to support our work at ACLJ.org. And you don't want to miss, coming up next, after the next break, Senator Marsha Blackburn. She's got a lot to say about inflation, about Build Back Better in the Senate now that's moved through the House. What's going to happen in the Senate? What about the cinemas? What about the Joe Manchas? Where are they thinking?

And the inflation that we're all seeing, whether it's the gas pump, whether it's the grocery store, whether it's big box stores. So support our work at ACLJ.org. Stay with us, share the broadcast with your friends and family, because we've got Senator Marsha Blackburn joining us next. We have a very 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, 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. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. But whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support. Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family.

Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Secio. It is always great to have U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee joining us. Senator Blackburn, thanks for being with us today. Delighted to join you.

Thank you. We're heading into the holiday season. The families, the budgets are a little strained.

Little is to say, maybe more strained than that. Because of policies in Washington, D.C., it's exploding inflation. It's hitting everybody.

How hard it's hitting you, you're still seeing it. We all see it at the gas pump, the stores, preparing for Thanksgiving, traveling, all of that. And it feels like this is because of out-of-control spending in Washington, D.C., yet the Biden administration, the left, they want to spend more. And they think that they're going to solve inflation by this reconciliation package, Build Back Better. Now let's move from the House to the Senate. I mean, how serious of this inflation problem do your colleagues understand, or you do, the seriousness of this issue? Listen, absolutely I understand it. I couldn't believe when I went to the grocery store this weekend how much prices on some items that I regularly buy have gone up.

And the other thing was the lack of items that you were seeing on the shelves. Now, the Build Back Broke, as I call it, agenda that they have and this budget that they have, putting all of this money into the system, it doesn't speed up a recovery, it slows it down. Government control doesn't speed up a recovery, it slows it down.

Look at what happened when Barack Obama was President. They kept pushing government money out there. Indeed, they doubled the national debt during their eight years.

And they doubled it. And what did we do? We had the slowest recovery in history. They did not turn around until President Donald Trump took the oath of office and then people said, thank goodness, we've gotten rid of that. We've gotten rid of the higher taxes and the overreach. This is somebody who's going to do something about the economy.

He did. We had the best economy going prior to COVID hitting. And this recovery that Biden is trying to engineer is trying to spend his way out of this.

You cannot spend your way out of this. So Senator Blackbird, it just seemed like the administration with the poll numbers taking, and I know it's not all about poll numbers, but when you start hitting into the 30s as a President, as a leader, you know something's not right, but yet it seems like they just won't engage. Whether they're ignoring it or treating it like it's really not a problem, like for middle class Americans, some of them are saying, well, it really affects the wealthy the most. No, that's not who's affected by inflation the most. It's people who need to fill their tank of gas and if it goes up a couple of bucks, that's a big deal. If an item at the store goes up a dollar or two dollars that they buy regularly for their family and they may buy a lot of them or it's not even available, it's a big deal. Oh, you're right. It is a big deal. And when you look at the energy taxes that they are putting in place, when you look at the the sin taxes, tobacco taxes, all of these things going up, you're exactly right.

That is being paid by people that are purchasing those products. And Joe Biden said, oh no, not going to raise taxes on anybody making under $400,000 a year. That is a lie. Let me switch to the Senate because we all understand this. This is not working, yet the House passed this reconciliation.

I like how you call it the bill back broke. But in the Senate, this is a lot tougher to get passed, even through reconciliation. You're in the U.S. Senate, your colleagues on the other side of the aisle, like Senator Sinema, Senator Manchin, where do you think this bill stands right now in the U.S. Senate? Every day that passes, it's harder for them to pass this bill every single day because every day more Americans realize what is in this bill. They realize that it is going to take money out of their pocket and they are contacting their representatives and saying no. I mean, you know, look at the number of races, and Jordan, I know you look at the Cook Report, look at the number of races that have been thrown from Democrat to lean Republican.

And people are looking at this. They looked at what happened in Virginia and New Jersey and out in Seattle. They looked at what is happening in South Texas, which has been the Democratic area of that state. And now they're electing Republicans at the local level, and people are realizing you can't support Joe Biden and what he, even Beto O'Rourke realizes you can't support Joe Biden. Yeah, they want their distance from him and this administration, and when you do look at the number of races that are now in play, it's like a double amount of races.

I mean, in states like you said, Senator Blackburn, that have not been states where Republicans have been in play, especially even in some statewide races, potentially in the Senate and other races like that, that just haven't been there. And because of what the Biden administration has done or hasn't done, we've gotten this situation. Now, there's a tough issue coming up, and that's the Olympics as well.

I know you've been outspoken about this issue, guys. Chinese athletes disappearing and maybe they're there, but we don't really get proof of life. This is a difficult call because I understand our athletes, they've been training for this and they've experienced delays. So, on the one hand, I understand their issue, but also you're concerned that they're going to a place that's dangerous. That is, I mean, this is the country that originated COVID, whether intentionally or not, I mean, whether lab leak or not, you know, they came from there and they're disappearing athletes. Well, all of our pandemics and our history and, well, let me say it like this, the pandemics we have faced in the past 30 years or so have all come out of this region of the world. Now, for us to send our athletes to Beijing when we know what they have done with COVID, when we know that Pang Hsiao, the athlete you're referencing, the tennis star, that they disappeared her for a couple of weeks.

And then they brought her back because you had the World Tennis Association, you had the Olympics, everybody's saying, hey, wait a minute, what's going on here? So, when you know these things are happening, then, of course, I think it's wrong to send our athletes. Senator Cotton and I have done a letter to the Olympic Committee recommending that our athletes not go. Our President should be strong and resolute and should say, we're going to host the freedom games, the American Freedom Games, and we're going to invite countries to come here because they're going to be safe. They won't be attacked.

We're not going to try to infect them with some virus. We're going to allow them to compete and we're going to celebrate the competition. And Senator Blackburn, there's precedent for that in our history.

We've seen the U.S. take those steps before. I don't know that the Biden team will. As always, let me just say we appreciate you so much for being with us, Senator Blackburn, and have a happy Thanksgiving as well. And we appreciate you having you on today, talking about all these issues, issues really affecting the American people, right at the gas pump, right at the store. And as Senator Blackburn said, the longer it goes, the tougher it is for them to actually pass this, I like what you called it, the Build Back Broke plan. But we're going to watch it carefully. We'll be bringing on Senator Blackburn again to keep us updated, keep you updated as well. But always appreciate her joining us. Let me encourage you to support the work of the ACLJ.

They're a matching challenge. Through the month of November, you can double the impact of your donation at ACLJ.org. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you.