Today on Sekulow, Vice President J.D. Vance heads to Pakistan for Iranian peace talks. Keeping you informed and engaged.
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Welcome to Sekulow. Happy Friday, everyone. Will Haynes here, joined in studio by Jordan Sekulow, and we're going to get right into it as the Vice President of the United States has boarded Air Force 2 headed for Islamabad, Pakistan. That is where a peace talks, a summit of sorts, will be taking place tomorrow with the Iranians. led by the Vice President of the United States.
It's a very historic moment for the fact that it is the Vice President that is meeting with these leaders, if you want to call them that, of Iran to negotiate what was hopefully, to some degree, some sort of peace agreement, as long as it's good for the United States. Jordan, we've seen this week a ceasefire announced. We've seen that Iran, as per usual, moves the goalpost. They don't normally agree to everything they say the first go-around. The Strait of Hormuz is kind of open.
A few more ships have gotten to the point. Exactly. They're letting who they want through. There's also reports they are starting to try to charge that toll. Has anyone paid the toll yet?
Do we know? That's what's unclear because they are still picking and choosing who's going through. Depending on what country you're in and where you do banking, with all the sanctions that are on providing. uh any kind of support to the Iranian regime. Uh, giving them two million dollars without a special like exception or exemption from the United States and other western powers, you could have serious trouble with your bank accounts unless you're basically Russia or China that that could.
And I likely don't really see Iran charging those two for some reason. Uh, but uh, but it'll be it would be interesting to know if they actually are collecting on that and. Has it even reached like a dozen? We don't have a total number. And the backlog is huge.
We have seen even aerial footage. They track kind of the radars and the navigation systems on these giant ships that ships are making it through, but it is being a pick and choose situation by the IRGC.
So even that, having a fully open Strait of Hormuz, is not them living up to their end of the ceasefire. We know that there are still some attacks happening in places like Kuwait and the UAE. Not as many as had happened before, but they have not completely lived up to this ceasefire. Seems very much in the vein of Hamas. Maybe it's a sign that they don't have control over all of the commanders of the IRGC forces.
And that could also be a reflection of how these talks could go. If these individuals don't have the authority to speak for the entirety of the IRGC and the Islamic Republic, is there even a deal that's possible to get made? But we have seen that. The vice President of the United States, in a historic move, is on his way as we speak to Pakistan for these talks. Yes, and I mean, there's all these confusion.
Was Israel included? Iran says no. But then Iran also said that Lebanon should be included.
So is that why they're still striking it? They could still, they're still striking at Israel and don't think they're violating a ceasefire because Israel, Lebanon wasn't mentioned at all. You realize how much they care about their satellite terror groups and military groups because that's how they maintain power just outside of Iran, but on Israel's border and in the entire region as a threat. I think the other part, Will, that we want to kind of look at is who is really able to make that decision for Iran. There was another statement put out by the new supreme leader who is still, as we know, hospitalized.
And they have not really disputed that he is in a coma because they can't put out a video of him speaking or even audio where he's threatening the West. Does allow the threat to be not just carried out through military action, but through financial reparations, which the President talked about, splitting the accounts, supposedly, that $2 million.
So there's a lot to talk about there, a lot to talk about with ACLJ cases as well. That's right. And we will be covering this and more. Also, an update on that California fraud situation that we talked about yesterday on the broadcast. You don't want to miss that.
Stick around. Also, give us a call if you want to talk about this, the vice President going to Pakistan. If you want to talk about that fraud situation in California when it comes to the hospice fraud, give us a call, 1-800-684-3110. Jordan and I will be taking as many phone calls as we can today. 1-800-684-3110, and we will be back in just a moment.
Welcome back to Sekulow. Will Haynes here, joined in studio by Jordan Sekulow, and we've got a lot to cover. We're starting off here talking about the vice President headed to Pakistan for this historic meeting, summit, peace negotiations, talks with Iran tomorrow. This is something that has come about since the ceasefire was announced on Tuesday evening, ahead of that deadline, that very critical deadline, that President Trump put in place. There was a lot of misinformation this week about what Iran submitted as far as their 10 points that they would be negotiating from.
But what we also learned was that all the news organizations, and we called this out early, we said there's even discrepancy. Between Fox and CNN and New York Times and Wall Street Journal all had different versions of a 10-point plan. What that turned out being is that Leaks happened. Earlier versions that were completely shut down by the administration. were leaked out.
And that they had said this is a non-starter. If you want to actually be serious, get back to the drawing board. And that what was not released to anyone, actually, surprisingly, was what Iran was bringing to the table, saying, Here's our starting point. That obviously is not the deal. That is what will be the beginning of negotiations starting Saturday.
We will see what happens here, but I think we should play Vice President Vance this morning on the tarmac before boarding Air Force 2 to fly across the ocean to Pakistan. This is bite one. We're looking forward to the negotiation. I think it's going to be positive. We'll foresee, as the President of the United States said, if the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we're certainly willing to extend the open hand.
If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.
So, we're going to try to have a positive negotiation. The President has given us some pretty clear guidelines, and we're going to see.
So, I hope you guys have a safe flight. We'll certainly take some questions later on, but for now, let's get on the plane and hit the road. Thank you all.
So, Jordan, the Vice President, very clear that the instructions from the President of the guidelines, what they can negotiate about, did come from President Trump. Obviously, there's some intrigue here because Vice President Vance has been kind of in the background on the Iran issue. Obviously, the Secretary of State, who's also National Security Advisor, as well as Secretary of War, had both been more at the forefront during Operation Epic Fury.
Now, we're seeing J.D. Vance, who historically has been more skeptical of engagement. He's an Iraq war veteran, played more to the more non-interventionalist party of MAGA. These are not necessarily negatives or pejorative things to say about him. That's just where he kind of fit.
Now he is being placed in this position of negotiation. I think it's very telling one to the base, but also maybe to the Iranians who are going to be sitting there. It isn't the Secretary of State who had been so hawkish for a very long time about the Iranian regime. Right. I think, listen, if Iran wants to take this seriously, we'll know this weekend if they are.
Because there are certain items the U.S. has been very open about, like the enrichment of uranium. We've even talked about a swap program where if they really need uranium for this scientific research, that we would provide it. We would oversee it. We would make sure it's not used for any purposes other than that research, peaceful purposes or for power, but not for military.
Military use. And that's been talked about already by the Trump administration. Iran is, again, are they going to flinch it? Are they going to move it all and willing to negotiate it all when it comes to enriching their own uranium? Because that alone could scuttle the entire deal.
So there are some big issues that could make this a very short negotiation.
So it's how realistic the Iranians come into actually knowing that they're going to have to give some things up to continue not just a ceasefire, but kind of a new working relationship, if you will, with the United States. And do they even want that? Because I contrast that with the new supreme leaders statement that was put out. And I'm assuming it's being written by the other Ayatollahs who make up like the Guardian Council and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. And, you know, he's saying basically either to the Gulf states he was really talking to, he said, you need to kick the United States out.
Well, we have a lot of military based in those Gulf states, that you're part of the United States. Of the evil, and that we are going to get reparations for those who were killed and the infrastructure that's been damaged, whether that comes through basically money or blood. And so pretty strong statement during a ceasefire when you're also supposed to be going into negotiations.
Now, these are negotiations that are about ending a war.
So the stakes are high and it's very tense. And our military is staying over there, full-powered, and is actually has this time to even build back up with more power.
So I think we would know by the end of this weekend. If these negotiations have any chance at succeeding at all, on top of that, will this ceasefire? Be able to hold for two weeks. I mean, it really kind of defines what you mean by the ceasefire. If you just mean the US and Iran aren't directly attacking each other, then maybe yes.
If you Broader ceasefire in the region never occurred. Iran kept striking. They kept striking other Muslim countries. They kept striking Israel.
So, again, you could say in some terms there really isn't a ceasefire. There was an agreement between just the US and Iran to halt their hostilities. And then, of course, that was supposed to come with the Strait of Hormuz being completely opened. More vessels have gotten through, but again. It's not fully operational.
And Iran was never in a position where the world accepted them to be able to make the decisions about how the Strait of Hormuz could operate. They could try to do things negatively, and they had before, but they weren't officially in charge.
Now it's kind of like the world, at least for now, has ceded that control to them. We will see, because the Strait of Hormuz, as we speak right now, Like we were talking about the ceasefire, you really can't say it's open. It's not. Right. Jordan, this is something we actually talked about with Secretary Pompeo yesterday, which was fascinating.
I actually wish we had more time with him on it because he was the director of the CIA. He was the Secretary of State. And we talked about, because Trey Yangst is reporting at Fox that there's incoming rockets from Hezbollah pretty much nonstop overnight. Iran was trying to tie Hezbollah as a part of this ceasefire.
Meanwhile, they previously had always argued that they had no real control over their proxy. We knew that was a lie, but that was something they were always trying to put out there as a narrative. We're seeing how pervasive this propaganda has gotten within American mainstream thought that Iran has put out. I mean, I see here on Rumble a comment that someone said, the Iran regime has had a nuclear fatwa since the early 2000s.
So far, Israel and the U.S. have threatened to nuke a civilization. First of all, The President didn't threaten to nuke the civilization, but even that. The Iranians lie. They've lied since 1979 when the Islamic Revolution happened for 40-something odd years.
Now, we're looking at. I want to give a little history for folks because we know they lie. They can say they have a fatwa. They don't care what the Americans be like, they would never lie. They lie to even those who could be their allies.
Like when the IAEA stepped in to play that role, they were not fully forthright with them. And so even when the UN wanted to kind of broker that Iranian nuclear deal, they weren't playing fair with them and they were lying to them.
So it's not just lying to their enemies. It's kind of that's just like their modus operandi is: if we need to lie, we'll lie. And then if we get caught, we'll say, no, no, we never really said that the ceasefire was going to include everybody. We just meant the United States. And Jordan, you brought up that point that even the U.S.
had offered, and this was before even the outbreak of the war. This was when negotiations were still ongoing. We offered, as you brought up, a swap. Hey, we're going to take all this highly enriched uranium away. We will provide in perpetuity.
Enough uranium at the appropriate scientific level for your power plant, of which they have a nuclear power plant, and for medical isotope research. They began their nuclear centrifuge program in the late 80s, so 10-ish years after the Islamic Republic was founded. That's when they started this scientific program. They got a nuclear power plant in 2011. Guess how much enriched uranium that they have enriched has gone to their power plant or scientific medical isotopes?
Zero. That's a fact. They don't dispute that. As a matter of fact, they were the ones bragging how much material they had for warheads in those negotiations.
So when we talk about it being a nuclear issue, they can lie. All they want and say it's for scientific, it's for civilian power purposes. You know where they get all their nuclear material for their power plant? From Russia. They're already taking a deal.
To power their power plant. Since the late 80s, a centrifuge program has done nothing for the Iranian people. It has only gone to further their goal of being a nuclear-armed state to fulfill their apocalyptic death cult dreams. And finally, a President of the United States, Jordan, is saying enough. Yes, enough is enough.
And if you see what we can do, you know what we have the power to do next.
So if you want to negotiate in good faith, We'll meet you in Pakistan. We're sending the vice President and a couple of other folks who you've already been negotiating with to send people who can actually are ready to negotiate.
Now, this is supposed to last up to two weeks.
So I think it either is. Yeah. Serious enough this weekend that they continue it, or it totally falls apart. I mean, I think those are really the only two options. Kind of the same thing with the ceasefire, which is barely holding, is that it holds for a week or two, or it totally falls apart too because the negotiations fall apart.
We'll see if Iran is going to be fair about it. Welcome back to Sekulow, Will Haynes, joined by Jordan Sekulow in studio today. And if you want to call us about the talks with J.D. Vance in Pakistan, or even what we're about to talk about, this fraud situation, where millions and millions of dollars are being stolen from the American taxpayer, give us a call, 1-800-684-3110. Do you think J.D.
Vance is going to be able to move the needle at all on this? Give us a call, 1-800-684-3110. But, Jordan, we talked about this yesterday, and there's an important update. We talked about how much fraud is being uncovered, that the task force led by the vice President that was tasked to him at the State of the Union is already finding billions of dollars in potentially fraudulent contracts. But lo and behold, after our broadcast yesterday, There was a press conference held by the Attorney General of California.
And this is something that was mocked three weeks ago because the same independent journalist that had gone and shown a lot of the daycare fraud in Minnesota. Was now showing there's hospice fraud in California, alleging it, going to places of business. Even like CBS News started to do reports on this because there's these entire office complexes that have like 80 companies. None of them seem to be operating. If you drove by, you might think, oh, this is, there's a lot of business here.
But you look, there's like no one in the parking lot. If you look a little closer and you realize, are there any lights on in there? And there may be like a couple of people shuffling around every once in a while who will crack open a door or talk through a, you know, some kind of some kind of a microphone, but they won't actually engage with whoever's at the door. That's right. So yesterday, Attorney General of California announces.
that they have filed charges against twenty one suspects, That was a major hospice fraud scheme that defrauded California, they say. of 267 Million dollars. In addition, they seized handguns as well as $757,000 in cash. But that number. This is one fraud scheme.
$267 million. They say it defrauded Californians.
However, The Department of Health and Human Services actually gives 75% of the funding to the Medi-Cal program of which this money came.
So it's not just Californians defrauded, it's all of us. And Jordan, I think it's so interesting because all of a sudden people start talking about it. And you hear this. This is from. One of the uh the Individuals that was the Department of Health.
This is from the Department of Healthcare Services Director. She said, our safeguards worked as designed. Hold on. $267 million was defrauded. from the state And they're saying, we got it, we caught it.
No, that tells me that your safeguards didn't work. It only started to appear. When Gavin Newsom's popularity for a certain office nationally is starting to rise, and conservatives are starting to point out how bad the fraud is in your state. Right, and in other blue states.
So they saw what happened with Tim Waltz. I mean, with Tim Waltz, the governor of Minnesota is taking himself out of politics. After decided not to run again for re-election in Minnesota. He was a former vice Presidential nominee not so long ago. And now, because of that fraud that was going on within the Somali community, he just took himself out and said, I'm not going to seek re-election.
And I mean, Gavin Newsom's folks probably had to look at the same thing and say, okay, we better figure out right now what's going on in California. It's a lot bigger state. It's getting a lot more of your federal taxpayer dollars, including from all of us, not just from Californians' taxes. And we have got to try to get ahead of this, or else that could mean put Newsom in the same situation that he wasn't an effective governor. And thus, if you're going to allow this kind of fraud at such a basic level with these programs, where, again, $267 million, 21 people with charges against them, only five have been arrested of those 21.
So we don't know where the others are. And it all comes about after people, like you said, will start paying attention to it. That's not a system working. That's politics responding to a reality that, you know, What we can try to show that Gavin Newsom is taking this seriously. We'll get people to say, no, it works right.
I mean, it wasn't working right because. $267 million went out the door to supposedly facilities that were carrying out hospice services that provided no services whatsoever. People literally came in, bought hospice companies that previously existed, and then started the billing. No clients, no services. And after $267 million, then your system finally said, wait, there may be a problem.
No, you saw what happened in Minnesota. You saw that people are starting to focus on this and saying, we know that there is fraud within government. But how bad is the fraud in these blue states that want more and more of our taxpayer dollars? And even to this point, Jordan, the governor himself in the press release said for years, California has led the charge to protect public programs from fraud and abuse. We know from the Manhattan Institute, Christopher Ruffo wrote a report detailing investigation that they think $180 billion.
Dollars has been defrauded under Gavin Newsom's governorship. We know that that's not the truth when he says they've led the charge to protect the people from fraud. What we do know, they've led the charge going after Calvary Chapel, taking it all the way to the Supreme Court, trying to get just $1.2 million from that church for COVID fines. And let us just tell you, is. Organization that you know, we ask for your support because we know what it costs to take cases all the way to the U.S.
Supreme Court, fight them along the way. It's a lot more than that $1.2 million.
Now, the precedent that it sets is bigger than the $1.2 million as well. Because what California wants to say is that even if we got it wrong, at the time, if you were, if the fine was legitimate until the court said it wasn't, we should be able to collect on that $1.2 million. And they're willing to fight that, continue to use taxpayer dollars. They're not willing to drop the case. It's not like they have to go into court and say, At Calvary Chapel, you win.
What you did was right. They could just say, you know what, this was a confusing time legally.
Some of these cases we lost in court. We're not really sure that, you know, over $1.2 million, this is worth California taxpayers' money or time for the California, you know, the Attorney General's office and these different agencies. And so we'll just let it be. And instead, They've decided to commit their time and resources to going after Calvary Chapel. One Calvary Chapel church, which by the way, for that church, having $1.2 million in fines hanging over your head is a huge deal.
It's a huge concern constantly. Are you going to survive based off a court opinion that could come out next? Will you be able to still survive as a church to California? We know they've spent way more than $1.2 million. We know for a while they weren't noticing $267 million being missing per se.
It took a while to finally catch that.
So, yes, as you said, for the church, it's everything. But we do have an update there. On April 24th, so not long, be in prayer, folks. The Supreme Court has announced that they will take the Calvary Chapel case into conference. And this is basically when the justices have seen the briefings, they've seen the replies.
They come together. You know that the kind of unwritten rule is the rule of four, that you need four justices to say they want to hear the case.
So it's not a guarantee that one side will win because the Supreme Court's decided to hear the case. But we know the date. The justices on April 24th will be coming together to consider our Calvary Chapel case.
So we need you to be in prayer because that's not a guarantee that the case is going to be taken by the Supreme Court. That's when they make the decision. Pray that they do, because that is how ultimately we can get this $1.2 million fine lifted. From Calvary Chapel, but also protect. Your places of worship in the future, next time the government tries the kind of overreach they did during the COVID pandemic, where they were treating bars.
And casinos better than places of worship. Support the work of the ACLJ. You can make a difference right now, folks. Double the impact of your donation at aclj.org. That's aclj.org.
Donate today. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow's second half hour of the broadcast. Jordan, I think we should take a call quickly here.
We are talking about two distinct issues today because the vice President is on his way to Pakistan to have this summit, this meeting, this negotiation with the Iranians on the exit of the war, if a deal can be reached. We have a lot that we can get into with that. But also, we are talking about this issue of the Attorney General of California charging 21 individuals with a fraud for $267 million in a fraudulent hospice scheme. We'll talk about that as well.
So you can call on either of those, or if you have any other general issues that maybe we hit this week, but you didn't get your answer on air, go ahead and call us, 1-800-684-3110. Let's go to Phil, calling in New York. This is on the Iran issue. Phil, you're on Sekulow. Yeah, first of all Thanks for taking my call.
Absolutely. These terrorist fanatics in Tehran get the money they use to finance regional and global terrorism by selling oil. Why, therefore, have we not attacked and destroyed their oil industry to take that money out of their hands?
Well, Phil, you raise a very good question. One, that's always been the target of the sanctions mostly, has been their oil industry. There's. There's a lot to unpack there because there are also rules when it comes to law of war type situations when attacking specific industries and infrastructure that you still try to play by those, even though we know Iran doesn't. No, they've been firing at Saudi oil.
As well as to some degree, the hope is that a Persian society can re-emerge. You don't want it to get too decimated. Phil, you know, the discussions at the beginning of the conflict, and now it's changed a bit, but in the beginning of the conflict, the idea was that the regime is so damaged. You know, leadership is gone, and who replaces them? Do they have the same kind of power?
Are they able to keep the IRGC together? Are they able to keep the military together, the government bureaucracy together? And at what point, then you give the Iranian people a chance to rise up? If. You were looking to do that.
You want to take out as much damage as you can on the regime. And who runs the Islamic Republic, but provide as many resources as possible still for the people. if they are able to overthrow. That regime, because they will need resources to rebuild their country into one that rejoins most of the world, or I'd say the free world, if you will, even if that definition is getting kind of more redefined by the year. And so those are the calculations.
It's never been about the Iranian people. It's been about the Iranian regime and trying to give the Iranian people at least one real chance. And we haven't done enough destruction yet to give that to them yet, but one real chance to overthrow this regime.
Now there's a ceasefire and talks. That's not going to overthrow this regime if they ultimately come to an agreement.
So it's kind of changed. But I think that's why you didn't see that kind of attack right off the bat. That President Trump saved those kinds of threats for later. Looks like to get to the negotiating table, and they may be recalculating whether the people of Iran are willing. To risk their own lives to try and overthrow this regime, even when it's at probably its weakest point, certainly its weakest point since 1979.
Well, and actually, when we come back, I want to play a clip. Logan and I were talking about it last night. Logan actually sent it to me. It's from a group that is a bunch of groups were tagged, but it's talking about people that are the Persian people around the world and really that care about the historic Persian culture that Iran was before the Islamic Revolution. And it is kind of a gut check a little bit when you think about the people that are still there, the people that we have talked about for a very long time on this broadcast, people that we have fought for at the ACLJ, that we want to see that.
People and culture revived. It's an interesting piece. We'll play it for you when we come back because it all ties in. And I don't think that it's off the table that the Iranian people could take their country back at this point. Remember, there was no way for them to at this point because we were so heavily bombarding the country.
Stick around. Call us 1-800-684-3110 and make sure to support the work of the ACLJ at aclj.org. Welcome back to Sekulow. Once again, if you want to be on air, call us 1-800-684-3110. I did want to play this.
I referenced this in the previous segment. This is something Logan and I were talking about last night. And, Jordan, it goes also to show we can't forget. In all of this, the people of Iran that we have cared about for a long time. We have seen what they do to people that are Christians, that just want to live in peace there.
They will put them in the worst prison, they will torture them. Just for being a Christian, not even necessarily evangelizing. If you just exist, if you have a Bible, you can be thrown in the worst, one of the worst prisons on the planet. This was shared by a few different groups on social media that are for pro-Persian groups, I guess you could call them. And we talked about this last night, and I thought it was interesting because it's very true.
It also reminds us a lot of whenever there's a ceasefire, even between Israel and Hamas, we know that that battle is not over. It means they are rebuilding. It means they are then free to focus back on their reign of terror on their people.
So let's go ahead and run this, and then we will discuss it afterwards. The world thinks this is a ceasefire. But for the Iranian people, deadlier war has just begun. What will happen now? The Islamic Republic will use this time to stockpile weapons, draft more soldiers, and set up checkpoints at every street corner.
They will use this window to carry out mass arrests and public executions just to keep the people quiet. 90 million people are still disconnected from the internet. We cannot let the world look away now because another massacre is imminent. Share this. Be the voice of the Iranian people.
So, that even short, very social clip that you can, that people are sharing to get around, Jordan, when you think about that as well, the population, 90 million people in Iran, it has, in many ways, a very developed society, even in spite of the Islamic Republic, very, very smart society, educated society, historic. The Persian Empire, obviously very historic in all of the kind of benefit that was brought to the world through many of the advancements that came through that. But when you even think about the advancedness of some of the More cosmopolitan areas of Iran, and even the size, 90 million people. We know that's double what Iraq was when we went in that invasion. Also, a very different country.
But we know that they willingly will slaughter tens of thousands of their people at will for speaking out as we speak during this ceasefire because they're not having to be concerned about what the U.S. is doing militarily to Iran and what's incoming.
So instead, they can then turn to their own people and continue to try and eradicate those who they feel are the biggest threat to the regime, the kind of leaders, whether they're regional or national, that they've. identified as those who would use this opportunity. And risk their life to try and overthrow this regime. And so, during this two-week ceasefire, we have to really be concerned about the Iranian people who are hoping to do something good with what has happened so far. And really, what was an early discussion was giving them that opportunity.
Well, each time you kind of stop and let Iran catch its breath. They can focus their attention off the United States and our military. And back onto their people. And we know what they, you know, it's execution immediately. If you get a trial, it's.
ridiculous. You know, it happens in minutes. You don't have your own attorneys. And that's even if you are handled in a more formal way. They can just go in and kill people.
They do that. And so and they have done that recently. And at some point, If they have enough time. The kind of leaders you would need won't be there. That's right.
And remember, they've cut off the internet, the outside world. We know that tens of thousands were killed this year alone that were just speaking out against government oppression. We also know that the people of Iran, when the bombs started falling from U.S. fighters and bombers, they were cheering. That was before the internet was cut off.
There were videos of people in Tehran leaning out of their windows cheering. At air raids on their city because they want to be liberated from the oppressive iron grip of the IRGC and the Ayatollah. Part of that has effectively happened: the Ayatollah himself being dead, but We know that the regime still has a very tight grip. Many leaders have been taken out. But does it also give that opportunity?
We know that the IRGC is very aware of who was cheering the bombs falling. This gives them an opportunity to start trying to take out opposition. We also know that the people of Iran that are brave, that were brave enough to go march in the street and be killed. over just protesting. Are brave enough to fight back.
It is a matter of if it happens and will it happen. I mean, we pray for the people of Iran, but we know what they yearn for, and that is freedom and to not be under this death cult's rule, as they have been for so long. I think we should go to another call. This is Greg, line three from Tennessee. You're on Sekulow.
Hey, Greg. Donald Trump has pretty much tied his hands concerning boots on the ground. But there are already boots on the ground. They're called curds. And I don't understand why we can't guarantee them air support, airlift.
however many they need on the east side of the Gulf of Hormuz and let them secure the Gulf of Hormuz and back the Kurds till they bring out enough of the IRGC that our air support can take them out. I don't understand. It's such a simple thing. And like I said, boots on the ground, they're there and they're ready, willing and able. They want Part of Iran as a payment for this, give them that northeastern corner.
Let them have the land. They've been fighting for it for decades anyway. I think what you bring up, Greg, is interesting. They were already on the ground, like you said. They took the opportunity, but you also, I think, kind of answered some of your question.
They're looking for this northeast corner, and we're talking about the entire. Islamic Republic of Iran.
So, could they be helpful if hostilities begin again and the U.S. decides we cannot negotiate with Iran? We gave him a chance, we gave him the ceasefire. You know, the Strait of Hormuz never really reopening, still striking here, still striking there. I mean, you know, they're hitting.
Muslim Gulf states, you know, as we speak, still firing there and at their oil facilities while we are trying to negotiate in Pakistan.
So I do think there are regional Groups like the Kurds that can provide assistance, but it's only going to be so much assistance. And I think that pushing that on the Iranian people and telling them, you know what, we'll just let the Kurds fight this war for you. That's not going to go over so well with even the Iranian people that are seeking a new Iran either. They've got their own issues too that date back way before the 1979 revolution. Generations.
Yeah. And I think also to that point, remember, we were doing every day, it felt like they're like, this is the biggest bombing campaign that the U.S. has ever done. And then two days later, it would top that.
So I think it's very hard for groups like the Peshmerga, which are trained militias. To go in and actually try to fight a ground war like that at a time where we are doing these operations.
Now, they were great allies in the fight against ISIS. They have been trained by the US. They have been armed in many ways. That isn't out of the picture. I think that's just also not.
Not really what the President's goal is at this point, but if we are done, and even if we have a deal with Iran that this is over, don't count that out. That very much could be in the cards. I just don't think that is the administration's goal here. No, I think that would take, like you said, a lot of continued training, rearming, new kind of weaponry to really take on. You know, ISIS was a militia force, primarily, you know, with IEDs and yes, weapons, but not nearly as advanced as a nation's weapons like Iran's.
And we even found out through this conflict so far that they had more advanced weaponry ready to fire, that did fire, than we even knew about, at least that we had publicly acknowledged that we knew they had ready and that would work. And so, again, to kind of put a group like that and say, you've got to handle it, I think that would take maybe years of training, equipment, the air kind of support you're talking about. I mean, I think it's. could regionally Be a big player. But right now we're in a situation where You know, if you're the Kurds, you gotta think, well, the U.S.
just said. We're willing to make a deal, so you don't want to necessarily get too far into Iran right now. And then the U.S. is gone in a month. It also could cause bigger regional issues.
We know that Turkey, who is as of right now, one, they're allies with Iran, but they're also NATO. They don't. They don't like the Kurds. They wouldn't necessarily be happy with a Kurdish state right beneath them between Turkey and Iran, as well as. The Kurdish people have bad blood with even the Persian people, like with the Shah himself.
So it's not as clean as we would all like for it to be. It never is. It's a world that's human beings. And you know what, folks? The reason why we're able to bring this broadcast to you, however, you're taking it in, it's because of the support, your financial support of the ACLJ.
And we encourage you to donate today at aclj.org. You can double the difference with your donation. That's aclj.org. Go to aclj.org/slash double. And again, that $10 you donate is like $20.
Go to aclj.org slash difference right now. Welcome back to Sekulow, final segment of the broadcast. If you want to be on the air and ask a question, 1-800-684-3110, we're talking about both the Iran issue as well as the vice President going over for this summit tomorrow, as well as the issue with fraud in California. I want to get to a phone call right away. Melissa from South Carolina, longtime watcher on Rumble, is calling online for Melissa.
You're on Sekulow. Hey guys, I just wanted to make the comment that I think JB can lead the charge with the fraud, but he can't move the needle without the support of the Justice Department and all the people that are involved there. I think Bill Asaley, the first assistant from the Central District of California, has been doing a great job in support of this fraud crackdown. And Gavin Newsom has led the charge in robbing the California American taxpayer blind by stealing funds. That's my biggest issue.
Well, I mean, here's the deal. We were just talking about this as well. When you look at the complaints from the left, when they say, and even people like Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris saying that Donald Trump is weaponizing the DOJ, it's not independent. When you look at the last four, well, including now, attorneys general of the state of California, it's Rob Bonta, current. Uh uh Becerra.
Who then went on to be in the Biden administration before him? Kamala Harris. And then Jerry Brown. This is one of the most political attorneys' general offices ever in existence. The California Department of Justice is a political wing of the Democrat Party.
And you see that when you look at who currently back going back three before Rob Bonta. It's a political machine. They're not really good at prosecuting crime in their state, but they're really good at pushing a political agenda. Especially when that crime undercuts their bigger political narrative and their bigger political beliefs that big government works and that big bureaucracies can ensure that there's not fraud and that your taxpayer dollars are used correctly and that the people really see the results. And then you see, I mean, California probably has the biggest bureaucracy in the country, and $267 million of fraud can go unnoticed.
We don't know exactly how long. I mean, it's almost, it's like bad either way. It's bad if it, if it took years for them to figure this out. It's also bad if this didn't, you know, immediately kind of took 24 hours because that much money could go out the door without someone saying, hey, let's do a check here before we send that out. I mean, So, when it undercuts their narrative of big bureaucracy, big government, we know how to use your money better than you do to take care of you.
And that's why these cases are so, they're so hard for them. Because on the one hand, they'll try to act like, see, we can find the fraud and protect the people. On the other hand, if this wasn't a national issue right now that the left was having to face, and Blue State specifically, with, again, not just their own taxpayers' money, but 75% of that funding that California agency receives, CalMed, it was coming from just. Our taxpayer dollars, you know, the U.S. taxpayer dollars, the U.S.
federal government. And they still, they're that careless. with their peoples and and are Hard-earned money. And if they tell us, give us more of it, and your life will get better. And don't worry about the fraud.
And instead, it's like, give us more of it, because then these other people will certainly benefit.
Well, and Jordan, I think you raise a great point because when you look at what the governor said in this press release, California has led the charge to protect public programs from fraud and abuse, as well as the California Department of Healthcare Services director saying our safeguards worked as designed. I want to, language is very important, the way it's written. And in this press release, it says, That they have announced charges filed against 21 suspects and the dismantling of a major hospice fraud scheme that defrauded California of $267 million. It doesn't say that attempted to defraud California of $267 million. Those words mean.
They got $267 million. Criminals, especially when you're running a scheme, are not risk averse. They don't just willy-nilly decide to, hey, we can just get a bunch of money as fast as we can. Their goal is to not be caught. If you are brazen enough.
to run a fraud scheme that gets up to two hundred and sixty seven million dollars. That means you feel like it's not. That risky is in the place you're doing it. You think you're going to get away with it. And to some degree, they did.
What's curious is in this press release, it doesn't tell us how long this program was. Because either way, it's bad. Either way, as you said, if it was, they just billed for $260 million and then got it up the door. Or if it was. 10, 15 years they've been doing this.
They still got that much money. That means the safeguards are non-existent. That means that these individuals didn't think it was very risky. Yes, there's some risk, but the payoff was worth it, and they thought they were going to be able to get away with it. Why?
Because that is what they have created in California: a place where people don't think that they're going to get caught.
Well, and you got to allow the addition to this: that at the 10 different locations that are related to this, these fake hospice centers, and the five people out of the 21 charged who have been arrested, they also found a couple of handguns and $757,000 in cash. 750 almost a million dollars in cash. Is just lying around. These are not just run of the mill, like you said, Will, criminals. These are people who are decided they're going to take a heavy risk because you don't.
Criminally benefit to the tune of $267 million if you aren't willing to take the risk because they think the system is so bad that there's a very good chance they'll never get caught and they'll never have to pay for their crimes and they'll be able to steal $267 million of taxpayer money. And so far, out of the 21 individuals, they've only been able to arrest five. Let's go ahead and take our final call of the day. Aaron is calling from California on this topic. Aaron, you're on Sekulow.
Go ahead. Thanks for taking my call, and I fully agree with what you all have just said. First, I am a retired California State employee. I did twenty six years of service to the taxpayer. I did see firsthand what I considered to be fraud by some high level managers within the department that I worked for.
I am very concerned about election integrity in California. And I questioned a little bit the legitimacy. of our elections.
So my question, and I have a follow up comment, Is why is Rob Bonta, the current Attorney General for the state of California, attempting to stop? the investigation into allegations of possible voter fraud in Riverside County regarding the special twenty twenty five Election over redistricting for political purposes. And I would like to I would really like to know the truth. And put the actual ballots on the table in front of God and everybody to determine whether they were legitimate or not. Aaron, I'm only jumping in here because we are at one minute and seven seconds left in the broadcast, and I wanted to respond and get Jordan to respond.
But they'll never do that because whenever in a state that big, any sort of irregularity is going to look bad on them. But as we know, they have created a condition in an environment where. People think that $267 million they can defraud the state from and get away with, then you know that fraud is rampant in the state at every level. Oh, just imagine what it would be if you really could put teams on it that. We weren't so politically charged to find the fraud in just California.
If you can find this just in a tin. Bogus hospice centers, $267 million, a million dollars of cash handguns. Lord knows what horrible things it may be connected to as well. But, folks, that's why to fight back here, we've got to have resources at the ACLJ. And right now, you can make a huge difference by going to aclj.org, making a donation to the ACLJ.
And again, it doubles.
So, this is a key time to support our work. Go to aclj.org, donate today. We'll talk to you next week.
