We got breaking news. Tim Wall's Minnesota fraud could top nine billion dollars. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you.
Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. It is the Monday before Christmas. We are live.
I want to make sure you all know this. Phone lines are open for you. If you're traveling, we'd love to hear from you too. Where are you going? 1-800-684-3110.
Hopefully, you're going to have a relaxing Christmas week. But we're here for you for the next couple of days. Like I said, we do give Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off to our team, but there will be shows that we'll be running.
So if you are traveling, you'll get to hear some programming.
However, we're live for the next couple of days. We want to make sure we take your calls at 1-800-684-3110. If you're joining us on all in any social media platforms, get in there in the comments. We'll be reading them and monitoring them as well. But the big news this morning, Will, once again, feels like this is another one of those stories that every couple weeks keeps coming back into our newsfeed.
And that is Tim Walls in the state of Minnesota, that billion-dollar fraud, not so fast. You know, as the kids say 9x, Will. That's right. 9X, Logan. That is what we're talking about here because.
667. This is 7. This is 6'7. But this is not nine times. It was at a high game.
I sat with my son, and everybody was doing 6'7. He got it. 55 to 55 was 6'7. And I saw a thing saying parents are killing the 6'7. I'm like, not in my house.
It's still going strong. Go ahead, Will. It's like, come see. See Kumsa. Come see Kumsa.
I don't know if that's what they mean.
Okay, go ahead, Will.
So, what we're hearing now is from the Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who told members of the media as they are looking into this fraud scheme that originally we thought had defrauded the taxpayers of more than a billion dollars that it actually looks like. There is more than $9 billion in fraud that was taken from the taxpayers through these fraud schemes. As a matter of fact, he said What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It's a staggering industrial-scale fraud.
It's swamping Minnesota and calling into question everything we know about our state. That $9 billion figure, by the way, Logan, they estimate half of all the federal funding for Medicaid programs that was given to the state of Minnesota by the American taxpayers, $18 billion, about half of that. Was stolen through fraudulent means. This I want to point out is why they didn't want Doge to continue their work. It's why Washington, D.C.
was freaking out about Doge because those large numbers are there. And they don't want to admit that they are so tied down to the idea that we have to have these programs that they don't want any negative attention on them.
So it gets to a point where instead of correcting the fraud early or even trying to pay attention, you know what? They wait until U.S. attorneys show up who are put there by President Trump. And now the number is up to $9 billion. I want what Will said to be underscored too, Logan.
They were supposed to. They got $18 billion for the entire state. This community, this group. Stole all of it. Stole half of it.
Tim Wallace calling you. He didn't like that. He didn't like it, Jordan. Or Elon Omar calling. Yeah, nine.
I mean, you gotta remember when you start talking in terms of billions. I think that's easy to let it roll off the tongue. It's just like, no, I'm there. This wasn't like to a government agency to build aircraft. This is.
Local people in Minneapolis running one of the biggest fraud schemes, maybe the biggest. In history, when it comes to a social security type program, a safety net program in the United States. And $9 billion of our taxpayer dollars gone, probably most of it to Somalia to fund terrorists. It says Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, like I said, said The scale of this, the scale of this, it's a staggering industrial scale fraud, as Will said.
And that is a wild scale, and Will didn't say, Will was quoting, I'll make sure we know this. Because, Will, when you hear about swamp in Minnesota, he said it's swamping Minnesota. I feel like that's Will goes to Minnesota. Right. You just start swamping.
There you go. Phone lines are open for you: 1-800-684-3110. It is Christmas week. We'll be celebrating as well as we are headed towards the end of our year-end drive. You can be a part of it.
Help celebrate Christmas with us. If you're looking for a place to give for your end-of-year giving, Couldn't turn to a better place than the work of the ACLJ, whether our legal work or whether it is our ED work. And coming up in the next segments, you're going to hear about something that just came out this morning. You know, people put that war on Christmas thing, they make fun of it, but you know what? It's still very much alive, and you're not going to believe this one.
So stay tuned for that, and give me a call at 1-800-684-3110. Welcome back to Secula. We are going to take your calls at 1-800-684-30-110, and we will get to that Christmas story here coming up. But I know a lot of you have just tuned in, so I want to make sure that we give you a brief understanding of what we're talking about here. And of course, it's a big update on that fraud scheme, scam, whatever you want to call it, that was coming out of the state of Minnesota under 10 walls.
And what we thought originally was a $1 billion scam looks like maybe upwards of $9 billion. And it's very easy. To just change that one number and be like, oh, 1 billion, 9 million, remember, or 9 billion, remember when you talk about each additional billion. How many millions that billion is, Will. That's right.
I mean, you should do that math for me. Exactly. It's nine times more than one. Nine times one. Yes, I know that.
But when you think of the scale of a billion, it's a lot of money. It's so much that it's almost an unfathomable amount when you start talking about. Multi-billion. Yeah, and at some point you get almost like number fatigue. Like when the U.S.
government talks about trillions of dollars, you're like, I don't comprehend that, so I'm not even going to think about it. But I feel like the same happens similarly with billion. We were shocked when we thought a billion dollars of taxpayer money had been fraudulently taken from the Minnesotans as well as the American taxpayers. But now we're finding out from the assistant U.S. Attorney.
That it is 9 billion is more likely, which is half. Of the amount of federal funding for these Medicaid programs throughout 14 different programs that was given by the federal government. It's also an interesting number here. $9 billion is about roughly the GDP of Somalia itself, a full country.
So $9 billion, $18 billion that we've now uncovered outdoors their own country of origin, Somalia. By seven billion dollars. Their fraud scheme. does better than the entire country's GDP. In just this small matter of time.
But you think about it, Logan, you say, how do they do this? And no one paid attention. That's what happened. You don't have to be. They spent $9,000 million.
You don't have to be really smart. All they do is make up fake nonprofits with fake imagery, fake buildings, fake healthcare centers. And guess what, Logan? I guarantee you in Minnesota, Stim Wallace, no one looked to see if they were real. Yeah, probably.
This would not have been hard to figure out. If someone said they were doing a business or nonprofit or housing or healthcare, they'd have to be filing with you. You'd have access to their records. You'd also be able to drive down the street, see if the business is actually operating. Where is this health care being provided?
Not hard questions. I think we should play this bite because it's what we referenced earlier. This is from Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota. His name is Joe Thompson, and he had this to say at that press conference when going over all of this.
This is bite seven. And taxpayers deserve to know the truth of the fraud. The fraud is not small. It isn't isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated.
What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It's a staggering industrial scale fraud. It's swamping Minnesota and calling into question. everything we know about our state.
So as the federal government continues to look into this, you also think that there is real trouble for the politicians there, Jordan. Ilan Omar is up for a re-election because she's a member of the House and that comes up every several years. She had some of these individuals that have already been convicted of fraud, she had some ties to. But then you also think about the governor who oversaw all this. The buck stops with him.
He is the executive of the state, and he's up for re-election trying to become the first third-term governor in Minnesota modern history. But this is all going on as we look at. You can't deny that the political implications are probably what those members of the Minnesota elected body are thinking of, more so maybe even than the $9 billion that could have gone to Minnesotans who needed it instead of to fraudsters who stole it.
Sorry, I played this off at the beginning. Like, this is nothing. This is like racism. It was Islamophobic, I guess, and xenophobic to even claim that there were more than a few bad actors. And they tried to say, well, this was happening all over the country, and everybody was doing this.
Yes, there was a lot of fraud, but But to have one community take half of an entire state's allotment of funding. Half. and did nothing with it but scent it places and make it disappear? And so now Somalia, which is a terrorist state, has had an influx of six billion dollars more than they make a year in their GDP. Think about that.
We just as taxpayers, because of Tim Waltz and the morons working there who I guess just wanted to look the other way so they didn't get called Islamophobic for just trying to look out for crime, have realized now they have funded a terrorist state, which also is a good place for foreign terrorists to live in because it's hard for our U.S. military to operate there.
So dangerous. That's also the pirates. That's still happening on a basis.
So we just gave Somalia an extra year and a half of money. Yeah, I'm looking at some of these quotes that were hard on taxpayer dollars. From this first assistant U.S. attorney, Joe Thompson. One of my favorite quotes is: Every day we look under a rock and find a new 50 million fraud scheme.
Yeah. I mean, $50 million. $50 million? is tiny. Compared to $18 billion, I've been stealing half of a government's program.
They even think that that's like something you get away with is wild. I like that you've pressed us, Logan, on really thinking about the magnitude of these numbers because when you think about it, The fact that that much money, imagine he says every day we're fighting a $50 million fraud scheme. Imagine how much real good work could have gone to the people of Minnesota, regardless how you feel about welfare programs. That money was allocated. That money was sent to Minnesota.
And if they actually cared about the citizens of their state, they would have been ensuring that every dollar of that was spent on their citizens who needed it instead of going to criminals. And that's what we see here. That's a lot of money that could have helped a lot of people. If not a number cruncher, everyone knows this. It's your favorite.
I'm very good at these. You got an award for matching. That's true. I get lots of awards.
Okay. I don't even remember them. That's $250 billion a week in fraud that they're easily uncovering. if they're doing 50 million a day.
So, 250 million, four times, guess what you get to? A billion dollars worth of fraud in these programs every month outside of Somalia. Yeah, I like the way you're going. You're really leaning into this thousand million. I'm just going to do a trillion for our national debt.
You hear a singular number? I really do mean that. You know what comes after trillion? After our national debt, for our national debt, like when we actually hit the trillion when you have to roll up a zillion? No, what's next?
Except this. Quadrillion. Quadrillion. Quadrillion. That's what zillion have.
That's not one. Zillion? No. Not one at all. I don't know.
I think bajillion. I think bajillion's up there. Sextillion. Bajillion. Will we see artificial life in our bajillion, which is 850 bazillion?
We gotta break it down. We gotta ask you real quick. Hold.
Okay, go. Will we meet the aliens before we go? Before we go, like forever go in our lifetime, will we meet aliens? I mean, that's a big question. Phone lines are open for 100 684 3110.
Can they help us with it? Yeah, maybe. Maybe they can count higher. We'll find out. Money machines.
We don't know. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. They could just, well, I mean, we do too. We print our own.
We just make money. We just had gold, which really is. Yeah, gold standard. I don't know if we still do. It's empty, probably.
Yeah. Listen, we're having fun here. It is Christmas week. And it is a time, honestly. What I like here.
Space landing? Middle landing? I don't know what's going on. We've lost Jordan. Phone lines have been open.
But you're not calling. That's a Christmas song. That's my favorite. Phone lines are open, but you're not calling. That's when your loan is true.
If look, people are watching right now, really concerned for us. And with that, I want you to support the work of the ACLJ. Clearly, we need it. ACLJ.org right now. It's too hard.
It is. We only got two minutes left in this segment. It is our year and drive. But here's the deal. The war on Christmas I know gets laughed at.
People think it's ridiculous that this stuff happens. That you're driving around, you see Christmas everywhere. How Logan could this stuff still happen?
Well, you know where it happens? It happens in areas and in communities that are largely unrepresented or are easily manipulated or controlled. And we get back in the next segment, I believe. We're going to do it in the next segment. Yeah, in the next segment, we're going to talk about one of those.
And it's no laughing matter. And it came in this morning. 'Cause our team at the ACLJ is not resting over Christmas. We're not resting over the holidays. Uh There will be members of the ACLJ team working throughout because the law doesn't stop.
And there are moments where, especially right now, it is Christmas week. Where it can get out of hand very quickly because people stop paying attention and just bow down to what's going on. When we get back, we're going to discuss that further: of what's actually happening in some of these towns, what's actually happening in some of these communities that need our help and need our representation. With that, We are. Just at the very tail end now.
A lot of you probably won't even listen to this show beyond today because we know you have a Christmas holiday and then you may be not checking back in until New Year's. Maybe you're traveling overseas, maybe you're just not connecting.
So I'm going to ask you today. It is our year-end drive. Donations are doubled right now. through the end of the month, but do it today. Help us have a big Christmas week.
Scan the QR code that's on your screen or go to aclj.org. We are even during all of this battling two of the biggest Supreme Court cases we've ever taken on. to defend your freedom. Big one coming next week, we're going to announce. And then the Calvary Chapel versus California, you know that Calvary Chapel.
still being levied with humongous fines, million dollar fines. Half a decade post-COVID. Uh pandemic. and the state of California and Kevin Newsom's not letting up. We're also defending Christians who've been targeted for simple displays of faith.
And that's what you're going to hear. coming up. in the next segment. It's Christmas week. Help give the gift.
Of freedom, go to aclj.org/slash freedom, have your gift double today. And if you can become an ACLJ champion. If you're gonna say, you know what, Logan, I love what you do. I'm gonna give on a monthly basis automatically. Of course, you cancel anytime.
It's actually like a membership fee. You pick the dollar donation level. Your first donation, if it's done throughout this month, will be doubled. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow. Welcome back to.
Sekulow. I've been teasing this out, and I think it's very important. Look, a lot of times when an ACLJ case or issue comes in, same day, we can't talk about it. But you know what? It's Christmas week, and this is a very Christmas story that we need to make sure gets out there.
This just broke this morning. Legitimately, we were looking at what we were going to talk about. We're going through all of our potential options with our legal team. And this one came in. in real time.
And when you talk about the quote-unquote war on Christmas, it is easy for your friends and family to laugh at you. You drive around, you see Christmas decorations, you see all the celebrations, you see all the snow, you see all the Santas. You even see quite a bit of Jesus in the Tivity still, depending on what area of the world that you live in, area of the country you live in. It's not like Christmas has gone away by any means.
However, there are areas And there are really what I would consider to be communities. that are easily uh dissuade or easily manipulated. Into limiting their displays in celebration of the birth of Christ. And every year this happens. Every year, the ACLJ team has to get to work at the last minute to try to save simple things like a Nativity scene, simple things like the Jesus is the reason for the season, things that you wouldn't think are controversial anymore.
However, specifically again in communities that are maybe un underrepresented by the law. Or maybe you're underrepresented in general because again... The people at the top thinks they can mit manipulate them. And that is unfortunately what has happened here. That's right, Logan.
And like you said, we got this case this morning. This is, unfortunately, a client that we've had to represent before. Before the same senior living facility in Omaha, Nebraska. About a year and a half ago, we had to represent this same client because that senior living facility, as was becoming a trend around the country, were telling senior citizens that lived in these communities. You can't have a Bible study.
You're living here. You pay to live here, but you can't have your own Bible study. It's not even a facility function. It's just individuals having a private Bible study.
So we fought back and won. We won that for this client victory. It was in May of last year. Yeah, which was even... I think it's a little different situation, but not really.
But here, what we find out today is that management instructed the residents to remove nativity scenes and angels from holiday decorations around the common area Christmas tree. They have a Christmas tree, but they can't have Christmas tree. The management Jordan called it legally prohibited to have religious decorations.
So fortunately, Jordan, this client reached out to us. We already had a relationship with this client because of it, and we are pushing back. We are getting a demand letter out today. Yeah. That this is ridiculous, and telling them they need to reverse course, but also letting them know we will have to take legal action if you don't reverse course.
Folks, I want to hear, I want to make sure you take action here. This facility is called the Miller Manor Senior Apartments, but that is not the only place this company operates.
So, keep this in mind. Listen closely. If you have a family member in any kind of senior living, listen closely because I think you should check on them to make sure that if they wanted to have nativity scenes, were they taken down there? If you visit, go see if what the Christmas setup looks like. Is it missing something that would usually be there?
I really want to put pressure. This company has been caught again harassing very vulnerable. Very vulnerable Christian people nearing the end of their life and they can't celebrate Jesus. And claiming that the law is on their side. And the law scares them.
It's not on their side. The law is on their side for a privately run. And it's like they didn't look back in their books and say, we lost this once. Why are we doing this?
Someone at that company. Just hates the holler. Clearly. That's right. Clearly, there's a bias.
This company is actually owned by Millard Manor Senior Apartments in Omaha, Nebraska, is actually owned by California Commercial Investment Group, CCI Incorporated. And they are very large. They operate, own and manage facilities in 38 states. We have the map. It's easier to tell you which states they don't operate in than to read off 38 states.
So, Gray, you're okay.
So, if you're I can read off the ones that it's not. If you don't hear this, your state or where maybe a family member is, then you're fine potentially, but you should, Logan, before I go into that, you got some. By the way, even if you're not one of these owned facilities, as Jordan said, check on your family because there's a chance that this is happening beyond what's going on in these specific facilities, there may be a bigger problem happening in senior living care. And by the way, senior living care, we're talking about 55-plus communities. We're not talking about exclusively a hospice or end-of-life communities.
We are talking about. A lot of these places are just simply, like you said, 55 plus. We're not talking about exclusively these older, you know, kind of what you consider. Of nursing home, if you will. This happens in a lot of these instances where, still, when they start threatening you and saying that's legally prohibited.
There are thankfully some of the citizens that live in these facilities saying, no, no, no, I know my rights. I've been listening to the Sekulow show for the last 30 years. I know what I can say and what I can't say. But you know what? A lot of people don't.
So, make sure you check in on them. That's right. So, once again, if you or a family member is in one of these facilities, he's 55 and up, especially if you are in a state that I don't mention here, because this management group and ownership group is very large. But, once again, remember, they told them. The residents here have to take down nativity scenes and angels from holiday decorations.
Just days before Christmas, by the way. This is December 22nd. And they're telling them you got to get rid of these. But here's the states they don't operate: Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
Now, Jordan, that doesn't mean. You shouldn't check in because this isn't the only management company we've had issues with when it comes to senior living facilities. But especially if your loved one is potentially in. And so you look at that map. Uh, people that are seeing it, if you can't see it right now, you can actually go.
I don't care about saying what's their website, Will, so people could check the map. It is ccinvest.com. CCinvest.com. You can look at a map of where their facilities are. And again, Make sure to call those facilities today if you've got a loved one there or a friend there and maybe visit if you're close by But don't just limit it to these companies now This one is a bad actor because they got caught twice So I really want everybody to know about the bad actors at California Commercial Investment Group who obviously didn't get the memo up to their top executives that you can't ban Christmas during Christmas when you got your Christmas tree up I mean, it's absurd.
It's like banning Easter on Easter. That's what happened last time.
So enough is enough. They are going after the most vulnerable people at the end of their life. There's a reason why they're at those facilities. And these kind of holidays to them, it's not about the presence. It's about their faith in Christ and not able to celebrate that way.
You have a Christmas tree. But the baby Christ cannot be at the base of it. And at the same time, we know many times those that are the bad actors, they aren't necessarily concerned that someone that's in a senior living facility is going to have the resources or time to get a law firm to sue them. But that's where we come in. And fortunately, as our client has now had to do twice, knows they can reach out to the ACLJ Logan and get our services right before Christmas at no cost to them.
That's right, it's only at no cost to them because people like you step up.
So, look, if you're looking for a place for your end giving, this is the time. You want to stand up? For these people who are in these facilities who just want to celebrate the birth of Christ as they show fit, no one's forcing them to put up a nativity scene. or giving them the ability to show their faith, to even simply put up an angel. I want you to be part of the team right now.
Go to aclj.org. All your gifts are doubled. Throughout the month.
However, do it today and stand up. For these families, for these people that are in these senior living centers that really could use your support. You do it today, I'll know it's coming for this. ACLJ.org. Have your donation double 30 more minutes coming up right after this.
Uh Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow. I did want to reset a bit.
And the last segment we talked about, ACLJ Matter is happening right now. It's at War on Christmas continuous. Again, don't be laughed at when we tell you that these things are still happening, including a senior liberal facility. Residents being told. Underscore that again too, Logan, though I really want people to check if they've got people at any of these companies' facilities.
It's California versus Commercial Investment Group. Will do they have similar names to their senior apartments?
So they'll put up their properties list summary, and the names are all very specific to the place.
So they say senior apartments, Millard Manchester. Just look it up and see. But we know that. They can call us if there's a problem. ACLJ.org/slash help.
And we know the problems were there because we had this moment where people were being told to take down their angels, take down their nativity scenes a few days before Christmas. This happened this morning.
However, I did want to give you a reset also for those who are just tuning in to talk a little bit about the Tim Walls situation in Minnesota. We know that that $1 billion scheme is now ballooned to potentially up to $9 billion uncovered in this scam. I want to take a call about it. And then we're going to move on to some other topics as well, but we're going to continue this discussion. And Jeff Balabon from ACLJ Jerusalem is going to be joining us as we just wrapped up Hanukkah last night and head into the Christmas holiday.
And in Israel, they celebrate all of them, the major holidays, as you'd probably be a little more shocked to know about. Let's go, though, to line one: Mary is calling. Uh in Virginia. Mary, go ahead. Hi.
I'm curious about the story about the $9 billion fraud scheme. I hear a lot of, I've heard on the news, I've heard you. Where is it going? Who is benefiting from it? I'm not hearing that people are driving Mercedes in Minnesota.
Where is this going? Because it sounds so fantastic, but I'm just a normal person. I don't understand everything.
So help me understand what really is happening. Don't give me just the big numbers and alarm and craziness, but break it down for me if you can. Yeah, so once again, the fact that it's now at $9 billion is just recently uncovered and discussed.
So the specifics of trying to break down where all that is, and it's once again, it's not just one person took $9 billion, but it's going a lot of places. You mentioned you're not hearing about necessarily people driving around inexpensive vehicles and things of that nature, but that feeding our future fraud, which was a part of this. that accounted for $250 million of it. Still a huge number by any stretch of the imagination, but the $250 million went to that Feeding Our Future charity, charity in quotes, which ended up being a fraud, and where they were buying luxury homes, luxury cars, and all these things with the money that was supposed to be going to pay for meals. They were actually billing fraudulent meals to the government to get reimbursed for that.
And it was up to $250 million. That's just one of them. We also know there are individuals that are doing this as well. There are the allegations from the Treasury Secretary that some of that money is going back to people in Somalia. And then because that entire economy is controlled by al-Shabaab, then they are scooping money off that.
So it's getting in the hands of terrorists.
So when you're talking about $9 billion and it not just being... five different individuals or groups that committed this fraud. The money's a lot of places, except with the people that it needs to be helping. Yeah, I mean, when you look at this, one of the biggest pieces of it was the Feeding our future school meal scandal.
So that was $350 million.
So think about the brazenness of these thieves. Who won, found a safe haven from a failed state like Somalia in the United States of America. And instead of being happy to celebrate the freedom that we granted them, Because we felt they were being massacred. And there was a horrible, I mean, it was horrible what was happening. And yet, this is what they do when they get to the United States.
Do they thank us? No, instead of thanking us, they steal our taxpayer dollars. They were supposed to be going to kids to feed kids in schools where kids didn't have enough money. Maybe that was their only meal a day. Maybe they got a supplemental meal and $350 million gone.
We're going to keep this conversation going as well as head to ACLJ Jerusalem or Jeff Valabon in the next segment. And then after that, we're going to take calls and comments on all of it: whether it's the war on Christmas issues that are happening or whether it is what's going on in Minnesota, of course, what's happening in Israel. We're going to wrap it all up at the last segment, taking your calls and comments. Stay on hold if you're on hold. We got about four lines open right now, though, at 1-800-684-3110.
Of course, have your. Donation double today at ACLJ.org. Headed towards the end of our year in drive. This is the time to do it. ACLJ.org will be right back.
Welcome back to Sekulow. We are now joined by Jeff Balabon from ACLJ Jerusalem. I did want to give you an opportunity to call in at 1-800-684-31-10 because we're going to take your calls in the next segment, 1-800-68431. 1-0. Go ahead and get in line.
Jeff, we are obviously marked the end of Hanukkah last night, which, of course, kicked off with tragedy in Australia, something that we're still kind of reeling from just nine days later. Let's talk a bit about that as we know that these countries like Australia that have essentially failed of really addressing Anti-Semitism, as we know that it has grown and grown and grown, and now gotten to the point where, sadly, it becomes a bit predictable before. Hanukkah, I brought up with you, how do people feel in Israel? Because we know we're heading towards another holiday. We know there's a time when Jewish people are gathered.
And sadly, it started with a massacre once again. It's sad that it's become predictable in the Western world or in a country like Australia.
So I want to get your thoughts on that as we kind of just talk about the global Failure to confront this. Big issue. Sure. You know, we think of Australia as a country very much like America. It's an Anglo-country.
It's a modern Western country. And so it seems closer to home when we see something like this happen in a place like Australia. But the truth is, this has become common across the world. Anywhere there are Jews, certainly where there aren't Jews, but anywhere there are Jews. It's since October 7th, the result of Jews being massacred, the result of the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust has been not.
Protecting Jews around the world, it's been protecting the Jews' enemies. It's actually, they're saying that Jews are an incitement. There's some places in the Western world where Jews are told you can't cross the street if you're wearing a yamaka, or because your presence is an incitement to the people here. People are expressing shock to me that they're going for the first time over holidays to friends, let's say, and seeing to the Jewish friends and seeing synagogues surrounded by police and armed guards. I have a friend who runs, I don't want to specify which state, he runs one of the Republican Party, one of the southern states.
And he said he was shocked. He went to a Chabad, a religious institution. It was six SWAT teams outside just on a regular day. Yeah, I mean, that has become the regular even here in Nashville. If you go to any of our Jewish community centers, um, They are not taking it lightly.
It has been like this now for a couple of years.
So I think a lot of people are just waking up to it. And look, it's nothing new even for a lot of synagogues to have armed guards. A lot of us remember growing up seeing that happen. And of course, churches in America as well now have gotten a little bit more serious about that as time has gone on. Yeah, I mean, it's a tough situation, Jeff, because again, you want your house of worship to be able to be open and people to be welcomed.
And at the same time, when you have got to take security. Seriously, there are ways to do that that aren't so invasive either. I think the left gets freaked out always. They think, oh, it's going to be untrained people with AK-47s walking around. No, that's not what it's going to be.
And oftentimes, Jeff, we've had to even fight to make sure that synagogues could protect themselves. That's right. We at the ACLJ took on cases. You know, New York, which is my home state, the governor keeps on trying to pass executive orders or break through executive orders to limit the rights of people to protect themselves. And there were some that really just like singled out houses of worship that you can carry with people's approval in certain places, public places, but not in a house of worship, even if everyone agrees, even if they want you there to help protect.
Now, again, in all the synagogues that I'm familiar with in the New York area, which is I am what's called an Orthodox Jew, so we tend to go to synagogue at least a couple times a day. We have services multiple times a day, and it's been very organized. There's no such thing as a service that we don't make sure that there are people there who are armed, who are praying there. And we, as ACLJ, stepped in to defend houses of worship against this New York incursion against our rights to protect ourselves. And in fact, it was not just for synagogues.
It was for all houses of worship. It happened to be our plaintiffs in those cases were synagogues. Jeff, there's one thing also I wanted to bring up, especially as we talk about this Christmas season and Hanukkah just ending and Israel being the birthplace of where both of these holidays come from. I mean, there's a reason that it all goes back to Israel. And there's something that's not being talked about a lot in the media, if at all, even.
And it's something that really highlights two things that ACLJ fights for aggressively here. One is defending Israel. As well as defending and standing up for Christians in Nigeria that are facing genocide and persecution. And one thing that this clip started circulating on social media of a Nigerian Christian woman that was interviewed, kind of man on the street style interview, about. Finding a safe haven in Israel, being protected in Israel, having to flee the violence against Christians in Nigeria.
And I think it just speaks volumes of one: that even when no one's talking about the situation, other than maybe the ACLJ really trying to highlight what's going on in Nigeria, and it started to come up in the news more of late. But you then look to the nation that will take a Nigerian Christian woman and protect them. Is the nation of Israel? They know the history, and they are also willing to protect Christians as well that are facing. Religious persecution and potential genocide.
I just wanted to bring that up because I thought it was a beautiful thing to see this time of year. I just thought it Unfortunately, I think we have lost Jeff here. We're going to try to reconnect with him. Phone lines are open for you as well, as I said, at 1-800-684-3110 as we try to reconnect with Jeff. You guys let me know when he's back.
Okay, here, wait. I think I'm back.
Okay, go ahead. Yep, go ahead. I'm back.
Sorry about that. Yes.
Okay. Yes.
So, William, thank you for raising that issue. Look, today's the last day of Hanukkah, and the last day of Hanukkah is the culmination of, you know, eight days, and we add a light each night. There's an argument when it was first founded: do we a light each night? Eight nights, is it going top to bottom? We add a night, and that spirit really exists very much.
In Israel. Israel is a lit, you know, really the tiny little menorahs, but there's so many of them in the streets, in the windows. And soon there will be Christmas lights because Israel also there's Christmas celebrated in many places in Israel, also very brightly. It is obviously the birthplace of Christmas. And so.
I guess the message is that with all of these things, which are really frightening, they really are. The notion is that we add light. every night more and more we want to take that into the world and i think that we look at israel which does add light to the world and it is it is a safe haven for christians from around the region who are being really massacred i mean there really is a genocide going on in the middle east and it's not by israel but it's against it's against christians it's against other minority religions in in in muslim countries and israel has become the safe haven whether it's from africa or from other places or in the middle east and uh and people are shocked at what a safe haven is and especially the stuff you hear in america about it's so ridiculously false but there that is and god bless israel for being that self that safe haven for the christians of the region and uh and should continue to be a blessing to the world Yeah, Logan, I remember the days when people we'd do the tour groups to Israel, the big tours. And Jeff, people would always ask in a very polite way, but. Who are these African soldiers with the IDF?
And then we would explain: back then it could have been Ethiopian, they were big Jewish Ethiopian. Uh community that d fled during their Horrible things going on there, which borders Somalia. These places, I think, Jeff, it is so important to underscore those stories. That not only are they allowed into the country, they're brought into the fabric of what makes Israel Israel. They serve in the military, and they can continue to serve past their two years and reach the highest of highest positions.
Listen, the greatness of our country, the greatness of America, is that it was founded on an ideal and it was a consciously Judeo-Christian ideal. Israel is, you know, Israel and America really are the only two nations in the world that are that similar. They're founded on an idea. And they are a blessing to the world. And the fact is, a lot of people will hate that and they're fighting it from without and from within.
And you look at what happened at Bondi and you know, Bondi Beach, where people are just lighting to celebrate some joyous holiday, and people are massacred. And it's very hard not to focus on that negative. I guess. And I do think about it, we all do. We work on this every day of our lives at the ACLJ, protecting people of all religions from all kinds of incursions like this, especially physical violence.
But I just want to take away now, as saying the last day of Hanukkah is we have to, we have to be optimistic and we have to say that, you know, we have to take from these holidays a sense of commitment to spiritual growth and to fighting anger and hate with goodness and love, because that's really the only way we're going to win. Jeff, thank you so much for joining us. Of course, when you support the work of the ACLJ, you're also supporting the work of ACLJ Jerusalem. It's very important that we're there. Hope that we get back there in 2026.
Personally, I hope we will. I believe we will. And look, we used to host those big tours. We don't do that currently, but we have some really good friends that do.
So maybe in the next week or two, I'm going to showcase some of those that we know that we can kind of put our stamp of approval upon that are and specifically those who know support Israel the way we do, if you will, that are Christians and are supporters of Israel. Because you know, you may go to your local church and you don't know where they stand. But there are people like Aaron Schust and Steve and Misty Wiggin, some of our good friends who are hosting these trips who I will put you in touch with because they are doing great work and I know that they're with us and they're with us for the right reasons. And I encourage those because if you go to when you go to Israel for the first time, you really need. You need someone to help see.
I'm not talking about doing business or being in television to the beach, but to take on Jerusalem and all the rest of the holy sites throughout the country, it at least takes one time with a real guy. Yeah, you want to get on a bus and be taken where you need to be taken. And learn while you go. And learn. And these are some great people doing it.
And again, these people that are supporters of the Jewish people and supporters are Christians, but they are great people. And I will try to get you in touch with some of those. I think they're doing some really good stuff. With that, we're going to take your calls and comments in the next segment. Give me a call.
We got four lines open. 1-800-684-3110. Maybe during this Christmas week, you're wondering why you need to support Israel still. Give us a call. We'll help you answer that.
I think it's pretty apparent. 1-800-684-3110. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. I told Jordan to turn his phone light off like an old man.
That's what happens here. We get to Christmas season. Make it way through the house. Your flashlight's on, yeah. There's animals, there's something that we'll go.
Something to step on. Crossbow. All right. I don't know what's happening in your house.
Okay, that's. I wouldn't leave a real crossbow. You're not just, oh, I tripped over the crossbow again. It shows you how redneck we actually are in real life. You don't want to know what's going on.
It's bump season, man. It's bum season. It's bum season. Yeah. I got turkey in my backyard.
Something's got to do.
Something's got to do something about them. Turkeys. Phone lines are still open for you, but we are going to take some calls right now. A lot of this has to do with the fraud situation in Minnesota. A lot of you commented.
So let's go ahead and go to Charles in Missouri, who's by hold for quite a little while. Charles, you're on the air. Yeah. Hey buddy, how you doing today? Hey, good.
Thank you. Merry Christmas. All right, Merry Christmas to you, you too, and all you guys are. Listen, I've been listening to your program today, and I appreciate and thank you for what you do. Uh To put the finger on the American pulse on common everyday working people, this is what I believe it is.
Uh this this this Minnesota thing is Pretty disgusting. And uh A lot of corruption going on throughout this country on a white collar level, it seems to me. And I won't get into all that, but here's my question. I mean, Donald Trump is Presumably, the most powerful man on earth right now, and he doesn't mind. pushing his weight around, getting things done like the border crisis and You know, blowing up drug boats out of the water and intercepting oil tankers and things like that.
And I'm all for that. But then you got this thing like in Minnesota where, say, an average family just You're raising three kids. Trying to put them through school and keep shoes on her feet and food on the table, and they're being stolen from. from foreigners. That's going to support a way of life to destroy this country.
And I think if a person can't see that, they're choosing to be blind. Tim Walsh is either the dumbest politician That's ever entered the arena, or he's right in the middle of it.
Well, I think that's exactly what the U.S. Attorney's Office is trying to figure out as far as when he says it was. Let me read the quote for you again because he said that it was on page one. What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It's a staggering industrial-scale fraud.
It's swamping Minnesota and calling into question everything we know about the state. They had announced charges against five more people since the DOJ and the U.S. Attorney have started looking into this more. And I assume that will continue to grow, especially when he's saying how widespread the fraud looked. How high up that goes between just incompetence or if there was willful participation by some elected officials somewhere?
That's going to be the trail of evidence that the U.S. Attorney is going to have to figure out. But at very least, Charles, I agree with you. That The very best case scenario here is that the politicians in the executive branch of the Minnesota government. were just completely incompetent at running these programs if half the federal funding is stolen.
Yeah, you got to wonder why again, the governor there, who was the failed vice Presidential candidate, and he had kind of like try to play all this down at first and say there's fraud everywhere, you're being racist about our Somali community and blah, blah, blah. And then it scores up to 9 million, which is half of the the money his state got that he's ultimately responsible for managing. to help people, and most of that help kids and those in need of food because of their families and the job crisis during COVID. And instead, what happened was $9 million taken, and now you've got to do all that hard work. Will, and you you know how hard it is to get that money back out of Somalia?
It's not going to be easy.
Well, and Jordan, to that point as well, remember how upset the left was. You're like, don't. With Doge. Don't look at the Medicaid programs. They're going to take money from $50 billion onto every rocky level.
They don't want you looking at Medicaid because they're going to take money away from American citizens. No, that's what the fraudsters were already doing. Imagine how much more efficient and how many more people would have been served. If 100% of the $18 billion went to the people who was supposed to, instead it didn't. Whoever is also the administrator, whatever they call that there, whatever position that is in Minnesota, but the state Medicaid administrator.
That person, how is it not potentially a criminal? I mean, you have to say, how did this get by you? Is it incompetent? I mean, bordering on the line of like negligence, which could also be a crime, that you were negligent.
So I think that needs to be investigated too. Not just Waltz, but the people who literally, the offices they're running it through, because they have fraud profits. protection systems in place. Obviously, they didn't work for these or Because it was in the Somali community, they decided to look the other way. I hope the second part is not true and that the blame is more on bad systems, but.
You have to wonder since they responded immediately with: don't look here. It's not just Somalis, it's everywhere, and yet we're not finding this everywhere at this scale. I do want to quickly take line one: Barbara in Pennsylvania, watching on Salem News Channel. Just let me give you a quick answer because we've got to hold for a while. Barbara, go ahead.
Barbara, you there? I'm here. Elon Omar, the female Somali in the U.S. Congress. She was on T V, said that she, um got an approved program to feed the poor.
When there was COVID. And I was wondering if her program was one of them that are being looked into. That answers for you.
So specifically, that was the Meals Act of 2020, which was passed bipartisan as an emergency measure during COVID. The Feeding Our Future scandal, which is about $250 million of what the U.S. Attorney is now saying could go up to $9 billion, $250 million in fraud. People have already been charged and convicted of those crimes going through that program. That was a national program, but there was fraud inside Minnesota to the tune of $250 million as a result of that program.
Hope that answers your question, Barbara. Look, we only got two minutes left, and I know for a lot of you that we'll be back tomorrow, brand new live show.
So make sure you stay tuned for that tomorrow. I know for a lot of you, you'll be headed out on your Christmas break.
So I want to encourage you. As we are wrapping up our year-end drive, the most important week of the year right now for giving. We want you to be a part of the team today. Go to ACLJ.org or scan that QR code you see on the screen right now. We're defending Christians and Jewish people who have been targeted for their displays of faith, whether that was celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah.
We just heard about what we're doing. In one of these older care centers, where they're being told you can't even have your angel up. Not even just Jesus, you can't have Jesus, but not only Jesus, you can't have an angel on the top of your tree. It's a Christmas tree, probably a star of Bethlehem on the top.
Something, you know, that does relate. Where's the line? Where's the line? But you know what? The ACLJ team, hard work, they don't go away.
We're not stopping this. No, we're not stopping because it's Christmas. We have teams who are ready to work 24/7 on these matters. That's only because people like you give. The entire organization is funded by people who give on most, I mean, 99% of the people who give give at a $50 to $75 level.
Be a part of that team if you can. Of course, if you can do more, fantastic. If you do less, fine. $5. It doesn't matter.
It's all matched right now and doubled in the month of December.
So let's help us break some big records here on Christmas week. And I hope you join us for the rest of the week and for the rest of the year. We'll be here with live shows today, tomorrow, back after Christmas. We're going to continue with great new content for you that also is funded by people like you.
So, even if you just like this show, and if you're like Logan Legal works, fine, but I like tuning in because I like hearing your commentary on the news. That's great. That only exists because of you, not from the sponsors you hear. That doesn't go to us, that goes to the network.
Okay, that is solely theirs. Go to aclj.org. right now.
So, we have no overlords, we have no one telling us what we can and can't say, because we have people like you that support. Help us be a part of this, ACLJ.org, during our Freedom Drive year in, right now.
