Breaking: CNN’s Biden Cover-Up?

Today on Sekulow, how far we'll see it in go to cover up for President Biden and his team. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow.

We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. All right, welcome to Sekulow. We are going to be taking your calls on this 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. Release the transcript is a hashtag trending again. It's one we've definitely certainly lived with before. And it involves literally the President of the United States, again a different President, but the same President of Ukraine. It just seems like when anybody talks to this Ukrainian President, there's three or four people take away three or four different, very different interpretations. Remember the Adam Schiff interpretation of the phone call? He made up his own. Yeah, the actual transcript of the phone call.

What people thought about the transcript. Where is Vindman when you need him? I guess he's on his book tour. I saw he was on Curb Your Enthusiasm. He was on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Yeah, I guess he's out in Hollywood. But here's what happened. So it's 6 11 p.m. yesterday. One hour after CNN's Natasha Bertrand deleted a war report, and I will go through that, CNN's Jim Sciutto started tweeting out the Biden team's talking points about why that report was wrong. Now in that report, this is what was said that was pretty intense. Supposedly the call did not go well, that's a direct quote, and that Kiev could be sacked.

Now think about that. That's not a border incursion of Ukraine. That is a full takeover of Ukraine. That's your capital being destroyed, sacked, overrun by the Russian Federation. And then CNN, Jake Tapper said that there are resources that disagreed about the immediacy of the threat of a Russian attack on Ukraine. We know about that. The Ukrainian President has said time and time again, he doesn't think it's as imminent or as clear as the United States.

And there's a reason for that to remember also, and that is what our own Colonel West Smith has said. That for the Russian tanks to do what they need to do in a major incursion into Ukraine, you have to have weather that has caused the ground to freeze. And that has not happened yet.

It's on its way to freeze, but it hasn't happened yet. So that was part of it. But we've been down this Ukraine road. You got the Ukraine experts on this broadcast. Yeah, that's right.

So then what happened next? So after they deleted this report and then they put a new report. Anonymous sources, I mean, think about this, are quote, leaking falsehoods.

President Biden said there's a distinct possibility that Russians could invade Ukraine. We know he's been saying that. No issue there. But reports of anything more or different are completely false.

And I love this one. And no one said sacked. Yeah, which by the way, that means instead of saying sacked, they sent it, it's going to be run over.

I mean, it just was a term used. This is why people want to see them release the transcript. Did President Biden, it's his belief that Kev is in danger of being overrun, sacked, whatever. Remember, these are two people who speak different languages, sometimes speaking through, likely speaking through translators. So the word sacked translated from Ukrainian may be different than the word the President used.

So depending on who you got the report from, which the initial report came from Ukrainians, translating from English to Ukrainian. But remember who we're dealing with here, okay? We're dealing with those members of the United States Congress that, Jordan, you and I spent three weeks on the floor of the United States Senate, defending the former President of the United States, President Trump, against an impeachment for a phone call with Ukraine where the transcript was out. Well, listen, this is Joe Biden, he was running for office by 14. I'm calling the President to release the transcript of the call, let everybody hear what it is, let the house see it and see what he did. That's what I'm calling it.

And we're talking about you. That was not about sending US troops in harm's way. That wasn't about military conflicts or engagements. I mean, seriously, US troops and NATO falling apart and pipelines and the economic consequences to try to sanction Russia.

So I mean, if they're gonna shout out, release the transcript for that and go through an impeachment. We're gonna go through this in great detail and we've got great guests coming. We're gonna stay live during this next break. And I wanna encourage you, if you're listening or watching rather on our social media platforms, this would be a great time for you to share this feed with everybody that's on here.

If you share this feed, if you're on Facebook, if you're on YouTube, if you're on Rumble, if you're on whatever app you're watching right now on our multimedia platforms, share this with your friends. I wanna give you some specific information in the break. 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 were 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, 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. So, again, let me just kind of reset this for you. So, CNN yesterday deleted a tweet. It was actually about five or six tweets came from one of their reporters who was reporting on a report that they'd already put on TV.

They'd already put on Jake Tapper's show, Matthew Chance. So, then Natasha Bertrand tweeted out the interview, and it said, quote, that the call between President Biden yesterday and Zelensky of Ukraine did not go well, and the headline and Kiev could be sacked, the Ukrainian capital. So, initially, they reported that. And then about an hour later or so, that report gets taken down. So, it had been up for a few hours, but the tweet had only been up for about an hour.

At 6.11 p.m., one hour after the tweet, it was all deleted. The war report is what they were calling it. And then CNN's Jim Sciutto started just tweeting out direct statements from the White House, not from their old reporters, saying, oh, we have other reporters that kind of contradict this. Maybe the Ukrainian source didn't get the language right.

No, no. He was just quoting the White House, saying, yeah, we've always said attack could be imminent, but no one said anything about sacked. Now, what they do when they do this, Dan, they key it on a word that may not be used. Right. But the intent of that word might very well have been used. Well, here's the thing.

Another word like it or a phrase like it. And remember, you're talking about people speaking different languages. We've been through all this before, folks. Oh, we do. Do we know? But I'll tell you, this should be a lot more concerning to you because we have U.S. troops, you know, on heightened alert. A lot of U.S. troops on heightened alert.

Let me go through something here. So you got, CNN's Matthew Chance, as you said, made the report from Ukraine, that he was in Ukraine. And he said that President Biden warned the Ukrainian leader that the capital, Kyiv, the city here, could be sacked. That's the word he used. The White House, as Jordan said, comes back and said he didn't say the word sack. So what did he say?

Destroyed, attacked? You know, I don't know what he said. But there's a really easy way to clarify it because let me tell you what happens, and I'm going to take you inside some of this. Let me tell you what happens when these calls take place. It's not two people listening.

It's 50 people listening. Remember the famous Colonel Vindman? And, you know, and all these anonymous sources? So where are they now? White House? Just released the transcript of what you said before we send our FOIA request demanding it, and they'll say national security will be litigating for two years. And look, and if you said it's going to be sacked, we need to know that too, because I still can't figure out for the life of me what the government of the United States plan is with all of this.

Now, Fan, this happened last night. What reaction are we getting in on Capitol Hill? Well, you're starting to hear the exact call that you just made, Jay. Congressman Jim Banks, who's the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, was on cable network news last night calling for the transcript to be released.

And look, he's got a background in intelligence too. I think he would say probably what you just said, that this is why we have a lot of stakeholders on these calls so that there's a level of transparency, so that there's a level of checks and balances from the beginning. But Jay, again, that was true over the last phone call that we talked about, the one that you're referencing with the last President, and that wasn't good enough for everybody. The transcript had to be released, and so the President released it.

This President, President Biden, was insistent that that level of disclosure was required at that time. And so that's what Congressman Jim Banks says. He said it wasn't good enough the last time unless the full transcript was released, so it's not going to be good enough this time. And I suspect, Jay, that the dispute between what word was used or what interpretation of it was, we're not going to resolve that until everybody can look at the transcript for themselves and decipher for themselves.

Can I tell you what the whole problem here is, in my view, Jordan? We're going to be joined by Rick Rinnell today and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. When we let go, when Biden let the Nordenstream pipeline go through and close down our gas pipelines, liquid gas, natural gas pipelines in the United States, we set up a domino effect that gave all of the cards to the Russians. We gave all of the calling cards to the Russians here. And the end result of that, of course, is you don't have Germany on board, which makes this a very difficult and dangerous situation for the United States and for the rest of Europe.

And the fact that we set it up that way is what is causing this problem. Yeah, I want you to listen. This is on CNN yesterday afternoon. This is Matthew Chance reporting by 10. He went on to say that he warned the Ukrainian leader that the capital Kyiv, this city here, could be sacked. And that's the word he apparently used, according to this Ukrainian official, sacked by Russian forces, who he said may attempt to occupy it.

If our President believes that and it's now out there that, you know, these reports are out there, so it has not stayed confidential, has not stayed in a setting that fortunately you would hope if you were President of the United States, you make a phone call like this, it's not all leaked out immediately. But we know from experience, there's 35 people in the United States listing. So in the Ukrainian side, probably another 35 people as well.

Yeah, which could be 3,000. I don't know if sacked was the word. I don't know if President Biden used that word.

We don't know. There's a conflict now. But there's also, you could translate that to many different things. But also think about the occupation of Kyiv. That would be, again, very different than border incursions. Well, first of all, this would be the beginning of the, after Crimea under, he takes Crimea under Obama. Trump gets into office, he takes nothing because he knows the retribution would be for real and we were energy independent.

I want to put this really practical for everybody. We're not energy independent anymore. We're buying gas from all these people, these governments. Germany wants this deal with the Nord Stream pipeline to keep going and be successful because they're making a lot of money off of this.

We'll talk to Rick Grinnell about this. So we lost our leverage. And when I keep using that quote from Disraeli that diplomacy is war, what I'm saying is you have to be able to project to your enemy strength as a deterrent. You don't have to use troops. Diplomacy can be war. It's war without bullets. It's diplomacy with strength. And here's the problem.

By shutting down the pipelines in the United States, we become energy dependent again on Europe, Middle East, Russia. Think about this for a moment, folks. Why in the world did he do that? I mean, I'm going to give you to Jordan in a minute because he's going to tell you the answer, radical left, progressives in his own party.

But why did you really do that? It took American jobs. We were energy independent. And in one year, we're now in a brink of Russia going into Ukraine, either to Sakhiev or not Sakhiev, whatever they're going to do, none of it's going to be good. And then China is now giving us, and I say down in the broadcast yesterday, remember, we're answering written written questions from the Russian government as if it's Bob Mueller promulgating to my client a demand for an interview or in the alternative, we said, well, we may answer some written questions and we would not answer the written questions as it related to his presidency. The United States is answering questions related to a conflict in writing.

Think about this. And what's interesting here too, we also have been dictating, we're going to talk about with Mike Pompeo later in the broadcast, the Chinese dictated three things we had to do. One of those was stop interfering with the Olympics, stop talking about Taiwan, which was playing with fire, stop creating anti-China clicks, whatever that means. So we're being dictated to by Russia, by China in writing, like you said.

Now here's what is interesting. Right after the phone call, the President of Ukraine came out in an English message on Twitter. So it was not something we had to translate. And he said he had a long phone call with POTUS, discussed recent diplomatic efforts on deescalation and agreed on joint actions for the future. Thank President Biden for the ongoing military assistance, possibility of financial support to Ukraine.

We're also discussed. He talked about too that there's a ceasefire negotiation going on between Ukraine and Russian separatists. That is negotiations that are ongoing in Paris right now. So he, I get if he's the Ukrainian President, he doesn't need out there that your country's about to be sacked because you're talking about an economic collapse.

His country would collapse even before. That's the messaging here is really troubling because if you're an ally, you don't want to collapse an ally's economy when they are up against the biggest threat they've ever faced. So fan, what is the sense right now across the street in the Capitol? That the President is trying to have it both ways, really rooted in what Jordan just talked about. If President Zelensky says that this is a serious situation, but President Biden is overblowing it. Well, that's very problematic and that's probably doing more harm to Ukraine than anything else that the President could do. But if for some reason, Jay, President Biden has information that says it is more serious than President Zelensky is letting on, then he has to be willing to put forward what the United States is willing to do to this point.

Jay, the only thing we know about what the United States is willing to do is what they're not willing to do because just two weeks ago, the United States Senate was prepared to move forward on a bipartisan basis with sanctions for the Nord Stream pipeline under pressure from the Biden White House, Democrats in the United States Senate killed those sanctions. So all we know, Jay, is what they're not willing to do. All right, folks, we're going to take your calls. We come back 1-800-684-3110. Do you believe it's time to release the transcript so that we know if our President believes that Ukraine is about to be completely overrun by the Russians because their President is saying deescalate, stop talking like that.

Now, he might be saying that not because it's not true that it's about to be overrun, but that he doesn't need an economic collapse before they fight the biggest battle since their existence as an independent country. So let's take your calls. We come back 1-800-684-3110 and the double standard, of course, on display here. See that it deletes the report and it puts up White House talking points.

Give me a break. 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. Welcome back to SEC HILL. We are taking your phone calls now.

1-800-684-312. There's a latest update. We talked about the, there's a gas crisis that could potentially occur, hit our country, and the price is already high with inflation. There's a joint statement by President Biden and the President of the U.S.-EU Cooperation on Energy Security, quote, that the U.S. and the European Union are working jointly towards continued sufficient, a lot of words there, and timely supply of natural gas to the EU.

That doesn't help the U.S. so much. To the EU, from diverse sources around the globe, to avoid supply shocks, including those that could result, I mean, they are doubling down on it every day from Russian, from a further Russian invasion of Ukraine. Unless there is some strategy here, they're building up whatever Putin does, and it will be less than that so that they'll claim a victory. Could be.

Even though it's not a victory. I mean, they're all over, why would the Ukrainian President not believe U.S. intel unless he's just worried his entire country would collapse and the Russians would be able to take it over without bloodshed? We'll talk to our, we'll talk to our, we're going to talk to our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs, Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State. We're going to talk to our Senior Advisor on Foreign Policy and in National Intelligence, Rick Grenell, both part of the ACLJ team, in the next half hour of the broadcast. If you're watching this, let me encourage you, share this feed with your friends. If you're on radio, which most of you are, call your friends or text them and tell them, listen to this broadcast, you're going to get information.

You are not going to get any place else, and I encourage you to listen to this information. But share this feed with your friends right now and get engaged with this, folks. We've got calls, we normally don't take them this early, Jordan, but these are really good callers, as all our callers are, but let's go ahead and take a couple. Yeah, let's start with Michelle in California, on Line 1. Hey, Michelle, welcome to Sekulow, you're on the air.

Hi, thank you. Okay, so my question is, can we get our energy independence back? And if so, how quickly could we do that? Well, he shut down the pipeline that would have, we already had energy independence under President Trump. President Biden's first act was to shut down that pipeline, the Keystone Pipeline, which would have created more energy independence. We were exporting energy. We were making money on exporting energy.

In fact, with this crisis, we would have been one of the countries supplying natural gas to the Europeans. This is where elections have consequences. Why did he do that, folks?

Because the progressive left pushed him so far, and he does not stand for a principle approach to this. All of these mistakes have led to this moment. Hey, maybe we can find out, finally, 100 Biden business deals were going on in the Ukraine.

I mean, this is the thing. I mean, remember, there's a lot of history with the Bidens in Ukraine. I know. And a lot of history with us in Ukraine, and Trump in Ukraine. I mean, impeachments over Ukraine, and this comedian President being at the heart of it. That's why I'm saying, listen, folks, get your friends to listen.

And a lot of you are, because we've been there and done this. I had a deal with, Jordan did too, I dealt with on the floor of the United States Senate, a transcript from Ukraine. Do we have that soundbite, if we maybe find it, where Adam Schiff made up his own phone call to Ukraine?

We have it right now? Okay. I want to show you how duplicitous these people are. This is Congressman Adam Schiff, who was a manager during the impeachment. He was my- Chair of the House Intel.... adversary, Chair of the House Intel. This is his version of the transcript. This is the essence of what the President communicates. We've been very good to your country. Very good.

No other country has done as much as we have. But you know what? I don't see much reciprocity here. I hear what you want. I have a favor I want from you, though.

And I'm going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand lots of it. On this and on that, I'm going to put you in touch with people, and not just any people. I'm going to put you in touch with Attorney General of the United States, my Attorney General, Bill Barr.

He's got the whole weight of the American law enforcement behind him. And I'm going to put you in touch with Rudy. You're going to love him. Trust me. You know what I'm asking, and so I'm only going to say this a few more times, in a few more ways. And by the way, don't call me again.

I'll call you when you've done what I asked. This is, in sum and character, what the President was trying to communicate with the President of Ukraine. It would be funny if it wasn't such a graphic betrayal of the President's oath of office.

Except that, of course, Adam Schiff, who then, in another matter, puts up a doctored email, was not what the phone call was about, and there was actually a transcript. So now we've got this conflict, and we're trying to figure out, is Russia about to really sack Ukraine? And if they are, I think the world needs to know, because that's going to have global repercussions, and we'll have domestic repercussions for us in the United States.

You think gas is expensive now? You know, hold on, buckle up your seat belt. Yeah, I mean, Biden supposedly told Zelensky, prepare for impact, what about us? Yes, that was another word he used, prepare for impact. Have they denied the prepared for impact, as far as we know? Not as directly, because they directly denied the sacking.

But I will tell you, if you're talking about, and again, maybe he did use the word, maybe he didn't. They're not going to destroy Ukraine if they take it over. I don't think that that's what they would do, right? They don't want to go in there and destroy And build the buildings back up. What they consider to be Russian Right.

Buildings. Now, if you're talking about, so what does sacked mean? Does that mean a takeover?

How was the translation used? All that matters here. Let's go to Tim in California online, too. So I'm not saying it's 100% the Ukrainians are sources, right? And that it's 100% the White House is wrong. We don't know until we see the transcript. Tim, California, you're on the air.

Thank you for taking my call. Why will the Biden administration not release the transcript? Well, it's, you never, you don't want to ever start as a President with releasing those. Right.

Remember it was Vindman leaking. That's how it was released. It was not, it was not like, uh, okay, fine. It was, there was a, there were people on the national security council who leaked it to Congress.

Yes. Who ultimately then struck a deal. It was anonymous for a while.

Yes, it was anonymous. So I think that, listen, to expect the White House to release this without significant pressure, which means more than a couple hours on cable news, more than one radio broadcast that they're not going to do. I think that's right. So what, what, what has to happen here is the President of the United States needs to go to the podium and say, this is what I said, even if they don't release the transcript, let me tell you what I said. Let's be clear to be clear. This is what I told Zelensky.

Okay. And the problem with all of this, and I think where this is getting even more complicated is the fact that in reality, this is all because we've lost all fan of our bargaining chips and Congress right now, you know, it's kind of, this is what they're making this a White House problem. Let's be realistic. They're shoving this off on the executive branch. The Democrats in Congress don't want this.

Well, not only have we lost all the bargaining chips, we've actually negotiated all of our policy positions away as well. That goes back to the conversation you had with Jordan about being a net exporter of energy again, Jay, this is exhibit a literally exhibit a, why you have to be a net exporter of energy so that you don't get caught behind the barrel on this one. But look again, in an ideal world, would the President have to release a transcript?

Of course not. But Jay, we've got, we should probably play that sound again at some point during the broadcast. When you say that your predecessor in a nearly identical situation must release the transcript or else he's guilty of some unspoken crime or even a spoken crime, Jay, then when you hold the office, you've got to do the same thing. You're absolutely right. Hey folks, I want to encourage you to do something here. And we're getting, this will be the last day, I guess, of the month where we come to you on air before February begins is about right.

Or maybe one day, one more day. We really need your support for January. We had a great December.

January is about even with last year. And anytime we get funds in excess of what we had the year before, that gives us more ability to do more things. And Jordan's working on a major project right now that would be actually very relevant to this.

And it's a huge multimillion dollar project. Your support of the ACLJ makes a huge difference. And if you're able, we just encourage you to go to ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org. Any amount you give, we appreciate it.

It's tax deductible. ACLJ.org. Make sure you're following us on your social media and talking about social media. Make sure if you're on Facebook or on rumble or on YouTube, share this feed with your friends. We're going to be back in a minute. There'll be a, we've got some information coming up.

Share it with your friends. 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. Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. You share this with your friends and family because coming up live with us on Sekulow, we've got Rick Renell and Mike Pompeo to weigh in on this matter and other international matters occurring right in the world. So here is the kind of setup. Yesterday on CNN, in the afternoon, this reporter went on from Ukraine.

Let me play it for you. This is on Jake Tapper's broadcast. So early afternoon with this report. He went on to say that he warned the Ukrainian leader that the capital Kiev, this city here, could be sacked. And that's the word he apparently used, according to this Ukrainian official, sacked by Russian forces, who he said may attempt to occupy it. Now he, in that sense, is President Joe Biden. He had a phone call with President Zelensky of Ukraine.

They can't make this stuff up. The hashtag release the transcript is back again. But this time it's a new President of the United States, a same President in Ukraine. Now his tweet before all of this, his follows his same messaging that he's been putting out, which is that I had a long phone call. We talked about de-escalation.

Thank you, US, for your support. And then the Ukrainians have talked about, again, de-escalation. Stop saying that this is imminent.

Stop saying this is going to be a World War III level invasion. And I think some of that is, even if that's just posturing from them, remember one of Putin's top moves here, what he would love to do is not have to use his military at all. Have the Ukrainian economy collapse and have them begging for a superpower to come in and save them. And that superpower, of course, would be Russia. And there is affinity between a lot of Ukrainian citizens and Russia.

They were part of Russia. So this creates a lot of problems. And I go back to the point I said, as soon as we gave up the United States energy independence, and we had energy independence under President Trump, energy independence under President Trump, and closed down the Keystone Pipeline construction, where we'd had more energy independence, we were exporting energy. We would be exporting energy right now to Europe to get through this crisis. Instead, we don't have that capability.

We are importing our energy. And ask yourself why Joe Biden, the President of the United States, is letting the left wing of his party do all of this. And just tell the American people, Mr. President, what you said. Now, I don't like these leaked transcripts.

We had Colonel Vindman, who was made to be a hero on Curb Your Enthusiasm. But the truth of the matter is, okay, then I had Adam Schiff making up a transcript of a phone call that was not what the phone call actually was when the transcript was actually out. And he thought it was funny. And it was the same Adam Schiff that then went just weeks ago and was quoting a email, I think, from Congressman Jim Jordan. And he changed his office. I'm not going to say he changed it intentionally. He read it.

His office re-edited either the tweet or the text or the email. And you ask yourself, how does this serve the interests of the United States? And it doesn't. And it puts our leadership weak. And let me tell you, if you're thinking, oh, that's Ukraine.

Who cares? It's over there. Here's the problem. I don't want American troops on the ground. But what happens in Russia and Germany, and the Germans are doing nothing here, is going to impact the Middle East as well. And our strongest ally in the Middle East is Israel. But we've got other allies now in the Middle East that are dependent upon all of this. An instability in the world is how world conflict starts. So when Joe Biden is reckless, when he says things like, this could be the biggest invasion since World War II, do we have that soundbite?

I'd like to get that one if we do. It's the biggest invasion. It could be the biggest invasion since World War II. That is not a comforting thought for the people of Ukraine.

No. And also, they're trying to continue to move as a society while they've got this buildup of troops on their border. And the difference between a border incursion, which is still bad, and an entire sacking. Again, the idea that you've got to prepare to be sacked, invasion is certain. Prepare for impact. And the White House is denying that.

But it sounds like the language that President Biden has been using. Share this feed with your friends, everybody. When we come back, Rick Renell will be joining us. You want to hear this. You want to hear this. And then Mike Pompeo.

So you don't want to miss out. Support the work of the ACLJ. Donate today at 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, 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. It's trending on Twitter the hashtag, again, release the transcript back again. It's a little bit of deja vu because it still involves a Ukrainian President and a phone call with a US President, but this time a different President and certainly matters.

There are a lot more high stakes because we're talking about war, we're talking about invasions, potentially sacked capitals, prepare for impact. And remember, before we go to Rick, I just want to play because the White House is denying all of this. So that's why release the transcript is trending. This was the kind of language Joe Biden was using just a couple days ago about what Russia is going to do. But there will be enormous consequences worldwide. This would be the largest, if he were to move in with all those forces, it would be the largest invasion since World War II. It would change the world.

Rick, in one sense he's right. In one sense, I spent three weeks on the floor of the United States Senate defending a phone call with the President of Ukraine that Adam Schiff then mocks and changes the language on. We won that, of course. The President was acquitted, as he should have been, but we did have to spend a lot of resources and time doing this. And Zelensky is now in this very precarious spot. We cut down our energy independence immediately from your administration until one year later, we went from energy independence to energy dependent. If this was such a big situation, it could be with Ukraine and Russia, we would have been sending natural gas over there, but that's not where we are.

And you were the ambassador to Germany and the Germans are not being helpful here at all. What is your take on where we are and what this means? We'll reconnect with Rick in just a second. We'll reconnect. We got no audio. Okay.

Rick, we got no audio, so we'll reconnect with you in a bit. The problem with all of this, and I think what we have to realize, is that a series of issues, including the cutting down of the pipeline here, has created this vulnerability, so we've lost our significant power to negotiate. And that's where we're in a very difficult spot. That's right, because the Russians now have this ability because they have Europe dependent on them, the largest economy in Europe, Germany, depending on them. The US dependent on Russian oil and natural gas. And like you said, we were not dependent just a year ago, just one year ago, we were not dependent on this gas. Now we are. So if we not only have to prepare for, we already have inflated prices at the pump. This goes down with those double. I can't even imagine.

I mean, would it be $8 a gallon here? Yeah, but here's the question I ask, and I'll get Dan Bennett on this. So Dan, I'm hearing a very muted response from the Democrats on all this.

We lose Dan too? Evidently we have. Okay, so then I'll give you the answer to what I think it's going to be. I think here's what the Democrats are doing in the United States Congress. Nothing.

Nothing. They did the Breyer announcement. That didn't distract much for about a day. Not when you're talking about capital's being sacked. Yeah. And so now they're back to the reality of what this is, which could be the most destabilizing foreign policy issue that will have domestic consequences as we're all paying a lot of money for gas that we have ever seen in the last, I would say probably at least, well, since President Obama let the Crimea be overtaken.

Yes. And this is actually on a scale, a bigger issue. I mean, that was gigantic just the way that they just walked right in, but they had a lot of support the Russians and that they knew that they were not going to get a lot of opposition because the separatist groups, they were actually the pro-Russian separatist groups in Crimea were stronger than the Ukrainian military. There wasn't much of a fight there. This is different. While there is still a significant Russian tie in Ukraine, I don't know, it's about half the country, but considerable.

There is another part of the country does not want to be under a Soviet style dictatorship. We have Rick back. Was it my phone? Okay. That's fine. So Rick, we didn't hear you. My question was, as all of this is developing, what do you make of this right now? And what's the vulnerability for the United States?

Well, first of all, I have been on a lot of these intense phone calls and I have to say in defense of whoever is President, there are always some tough words and it's always respectful, but I think a lot of people misinterpret when there are strong messages. The one thing that I have to say is, you know, we wouldn't be in this position if President Trump were the President, we wouldn't have taken the sanctions off Nord Stream 2, which was really the green light for Putin. And yet the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is still not working. We still have time to sanction this.

I don't understand why we're not pushing diplomatically sanction the pipeline. Don't let that influence and gas go into Germany. The rest of Europe will support us. It's only the Germans.

The Germans are on the outs here with the rest of Europe. We can solve this diplomatically by being tough, but the Biden administration decided a year ago to give this pipeline and green light to Putin, just like the Obama Biden administration gave the green light up weakness to Putin and he grabbed Crimea. I don't want to see boots on the ground.

I don't want to see men and women from the United States going over and fighting in Ukraine for heaven's sakes. We need to utilize our diplomatic skills and I fear that Blinken and the diplomatic core have been pushed aside and we have too many weak diplomats trying to solve this problem. So Rick, I just think that when you have this kind of denial by the White House, but the language that President Biden has used publicly is pretty tough.

I don't know. He hasn't said that publicly that he thought Ukraine that Kiev would be sacked, but certainly he said, you know, as we played right, we came back with you that this would be like the largest military event since World War II in Europe. So I mean that's kind of similar language. I don't know why would the White House in Europe come out with such strong denials of the statements being made because really what they have said publicly matches what has been reported. Look, we have a problem in that the Ukrainians have no advantage to downplay this war.

If anyone would want to be very clear and maybe leaning forward for help, it would be the Ukrainians, but they have said they are not on the brink of war with Russia. And so there could be a catch up that is happening with the Biden administration on the intelligence front. Remember, we have Joe Biden of 40 years and all of the media and all of the big government establishment types, they rush to war. We have for decades pushed the State Department and diplomats to the side. We've pretended like they're too wimpy to solve problems. And every time there's a crisis, we immediately rush and talk about boots on the ground utilizing the Pentagon first.

The Pentagon should be last option. We should have the tough diplomats. Now, this is an argument for a State Department that has backbone and muscle. And the reality is when you put Wendy Sherman out front to negotiate, you don't send a message of strong diplomats. She is what we call, what do you want, Wendy? She gives the other side whatever they want. She has a history of being a weak negotiator. And so are we surprised when we send in weak negotiators from the State Department that they immediately default to the Pentagon options?

I still think the pipeline is not online. Why can't we have sanctions on the pipeline and tell the Germans that we are siding with the rest of Europe? The rest of Europe is with us. So Rick, I made this statement numerous times on air and I spent three years, three summers at the University of Oxford and studied extensively a lot of things, but everything from Lawrence from Arabia to Benjamin Disraeli. Disraeli had this great quote and he talked about diplomacy as war because he was also, he was talking specifically about Russia by the way. And he said, you can use diplomacy affirmatively as an art of war.

No bullets, no troops, but you have to have real capabilities. And it seems like to me, what triggered all of this was when the pipeline in the United States, Keystone, was closed down by Joe Biden. We lost a good portion of our energy independence and then our ability, and I still think there are things in the arsenal obviously we can use. The idea then is we've lost the strength of our diplomacy, not all of it and we could still recover, but it puts things, that's what's putting everything in harm's way. And we need to make, as you just said, that affirmative statement that we're standing with Europe.

We only got about a minute. Look, all of Washington is caught for decades into the default position that every time there's a crisis, they want to talk about military options. We have for decades pushed the state department aside. We don't have diplomats with muscle right now.

That's just the reality. And I don't understand why the Democrats in the Senate and the Biden administration are lobbying against Nord Stream 2 sanctions. This pipeline is not up and running yet. There is still time for diplomatic action. Sanction the pipeline. You know, Rick, as always, we appreciate all of your insight into this matter. This is another situation of the White House's own doing because they didn't just let the CNN report go.

They had to go out. They used another CNN reporter to deny everything. And then you've got hashtag release the transcript trending once again, even from the House GOP conference. So, I mean, it's not like just activists.

It's members of Congress as well. Rick, as always, we appreciate your insight. Coming up next, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. We're gonna get into this. We're gonna get into also China with our F-35 that went down a few days ago and the race to recover it.

Be right back. 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. 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. Welcome back to Sekulow. We're going to be joined by Secretary of State Pompeo. We haven't connected yet with some issues with connections. They have to connect by phone.

But let me just kind of reset where we are right now. We've got a situation where the White House has this phone call with the Ukrainian President. Shouldn't make a huge news. I mean, they should be doing a lot of these calls.

It was a long call. The first person to put out a statement about it was the Ukrainian President, said it was a long call. Discussed efforts on de-escalation. So that's very much been the message from Ukraine is stop sounding these wild alarm bills, United States. Now, listen, that may be for their own purposes. It's not necessarily that they're right, but it could also – and they might be – but it also could be because they don't need their country to collapse before Russia does anything. Because Russia will then come right in, and it will be a bloodless coup. Which is what Vladimir Putin and any other nation would prefer.

Is that you showed your military might, but you didn't have to use it. And so I think some of this is telling Joe Biden, stop saying World War III, because our economy is going to collapse. And if it does, I'm gone. Putin's in. Some savior has to come with cheap gas. And guess who could do that? Vladimir Putin. It could have been the United States.

It could have been the United States on many different fronts. For months, this has been building up. But now, the same President who has said this is like World War III, or would be like World War III, his White House is now denying CNN reports after this call about Kiev being sacked, about preparing for impact, about the massive scale that this invasion could be. An occupation of the entire Ukraine by Russia. Not just border incursions. We have Mike Pompeo by phone.

That's great. Let's start with that. Mr. Secretary, we'll get into the China situation, but we had this mixed messaging yesterday in Ukraine. Something I'm vaguely familiar with, as you know, with spending three weeks on the floor of the United States Senate about a phone call with Zelensky and President Trump. And now we've got this mixed messaging coming out of the White House on whether Kiev is going to be sacked by the Russians going into Ukraine. Then denials of that was happening.

Now calls for release of a transcript. I just want to get your perspective on what this means for the United States and for the rest of the world on what's going on here. Because it seems like to me that we've lost a lot of our diplomatic leverage when we shut down the Keystone pipeline. We approved the Nord Stream pipeline, took the sanctions off of that. We have opened ourselves up to having diplomacy with no power behind it.

Jay, you got it exactly right. They're scrambling now to try and establish deterrence. The administration, the Biden administration is scrambling now to try and get deterrence, but it's the months and months and months that they doddled.

It's also the history, right? President Obama had refused to send weapons to the Ukrainians. So I think Vladimir Putin knows that whatever the administration tells him, they'll probably do a fraction of that. I saw this morning reports that they're already scaling back. They said at one point they said we'll disconnect them from Swift and I say, no, we're not going to do that.

So they're already beginning to retrench. And so when he was on this phone call with the once guy, I am, I am confident I was on that famous phone call, Jay. I found, I found what was discussed that day to be consistent with our policy to push back against Russia. And so to hear this confusion from this call, where we didn't speak with absolute singular voice, but real clarity in a way that the Ukrainian people could come to see that Europe and the United States were going to do all that they could to deter Vladimir Putin is, is, is a, is a actual way you can deliver on the minor incursion statement that President Biden made a few weeks back.

So Mike, you know, you've been on those calls, you've sat down with these leaders, I've negotiated on the floor of the Senate, defending the President on this kind of, you know, political nonsense that was going on when they were trying to impeach him over the phone call that you were on. Here's what I'm concerned about. We're in a situation right now where there's this escalating tension.

You've got Germany on one side, Europe's not, is pretty divided mostly because of really Germany. And I'm trying to think to myself, what does this, if this were to happen, what does this mean for us in the United States domestically into our citizens that are watching this broadcast right now? And besides gas going to $10 a gallon?

Just the important question. We always focused on America first, right? We had friends and allies, but we were, we were always very focused on what does this mean to someone sitting in Nevada or in South Dakota or in New York and for a war in Europe, the instability that would result is not insignificant. You talked about energy prices. The Europeans will suffer energy prices, and we will here in the United States too, because we're frankly not investing in producing our own energy. It'll be a real impact inflationary for ordinary families.

But remember what builds from that too is even broader inflation. Food prices will go up. The Ukrainians are important participants in the global food marketplace as real ramifications for every one of us here in the United States. And then what could follow too from demonstrated American weakness, whether that's what Jeremy Kim is talking about, launching more missiles in North Korea, opening his nuclear testing backup or the multiple planes flying in Asia.

These are the kinds of things that really began to put America in a dangerous, risky place. You know, Secretary Pompeo, we're getting demands from Russia and these written response back and forth, but we're also getting demands from China. The Chinese foreign ministry put out three demands they made to Secretary Blinken on a recent call. One, the U.S. should stop interfering with the Beijing Winter Olympics. They're upset because we're not sending our diplomats.

I can't believe we're sending anybody there. Second, to stop playing with fire on the Taiwan issue, which I think it should be on the front burner of everybody's mind. And then three, stop creating various, this is interesting, one, anti-China clicks to contain China. The fact that we're getting demands like this from another country, it just, to me, it's shocking how clear the demands are and how they are demands.

They're not just kind of, it'd be nice if you did this. They're straight up demands. The good news is I'm convinced the American people won't let this administration live up to any of those three demands. We're not interfering in their Olympics. It's the genocide Olympics, for goodness sake. They've got a million of their own people held in camps that look like what we remember seeing back in the 1930s. I regret too, Jordan, that we are sending our athletes to go there and be silenced, to be listened to by every word they say, be listened to by the Communist Party, to have their cell phones taken away from them because they need burner phones and be told, hey, be really careful if you hold up a free Tibet sign is not the American way. But your point more broadly is I think the Chinese believe that if they place these demands and then began to back it up with coercive power, they can make the same kind of progress that Putin is making with respect to Ukraine.

These are not disconnected ideas. These are authoritarian regimes, and they only understand diplomatic power, economic power, and the capacity to back it up with military force if that is what is required. I hope this administration will get back on its front foot and understand that American exceptionalism and America's willingness to support our friends around the world has kept people from our shores for an awfully long time.

You know, the final question for you, we've got about a minute left here, Secretary Pompeo, just quickly. We now know about the F-35 crash happened a few days ago, we're not sure exactly when. In the South China Sea, there's a kind of a race to recover this.

There's also a black box issue. This is highly classified information that would be contained in this kind of aircraft. How serious is this race to recover? It'd be a really bad thing for the equipment, the technology associated with that aircraft to fall into the Chinese Communist Party's hands. I hope the administration's working hard to make sure that doesn't happen.

I don't know any of the details about precisely where it went down or what happened to the equipment when it did. We've got to make sure and protect that and do whatever it takes to secure all of that technology. As always, Secretary Pompeo, great to have you on the broadcast, folks. We're going to stay on all these issues, obviously. I encourage you, if you've listened to some of this broadcast today, remember it'll reconstitute up on the social media platforms. You can continue to share it with your friends and family in just about a couple minutes while we're off the air.

It'll come right back. So share it with your friends and family with this analysis and this idea, this call to release the transcripts so that the U.S. people know what does our President really think is about to happen in Ukraine, and is it as serious as some of the reports indicate? We will talk to you on Monday on Secular Support, the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. 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.