FORGET UNITY: Dems Go It Alone on COVID-19 Stimulus

Breaking news, negotiations are over on the stimulus package. So much for congressional unity. Live from Washington, D.C., Jay Sekulow live. The American people deserve for the conversation about the next steps to begin with them and their needs. Not partisan rush jobs, not talking points. We need to start with the needs of our country. Phone lines are open for your questions right now.

Call 1-800-684-3110. The new President talks a lot about unity, but his White House staff and congressional leadership are working with a different playbook. And now, Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, Jay Sekulow. All the discussions on I'm the President for all the people. We're going to be united. We're going to work together to get a resolution to all of this. Starting with the COVID relief, which I think should be priority one. So I think we have agreement that that should be the priority. The difficulty, the problem is the method upon which it is going to be handled.

So what is the method it's going to be handled? Well, the negotiations between the Republicans and Democrats, which really focused on a difference of about $300 per individual. It's not a huge difference there, but significant. But also $350 billion to $400 billion actually of aid to states that were in trouble before the coronavirus became a factor. That is now going to be included in this reconciliation bill, Andy, because the fight for unity is complete and over. There is no partisan, there is no bipartisanship anymore. This idea that we're going to come and work together, that President Biden was holding out the olive wreath to the Republicans. And that we're not going to be fighting, but we're going to be working on a bipartisan basis. And there's going to be congressional unity has been completely put aside. The America Rescue Act is going to be forced through through the process of reconciliation, which is a highly partisan way of doing things.

It was used twice before in recent times, and it looks like it's going to be used again, Jay. Shove down our throats. Well, this is what John Thune said. He said, look, I expect this, the voter rama, as they call it, is going to start very soon, probably starting right now. I'm not looking at C-SPAN, but it's probably starting right now.

So the House, the Senate rather, is going to go into this process where basically they start these votes on a series of amendments. The end result of this is going to be a real bailout for cities like for states like California, New York. Now, the problem is these states were mismanaged way before the coronavirus.

Now, the coronavirus obviously continued that mismanagement. But to say that it's time to fix it and the way to fix it is to have the American taxpayer pay for this. Out of their pockets while they're trying to get corona relief, I'd like to take that $350 million.

That's another, what, $1,000 a person? I mean, $400 billion actually is what I think the number ended up being. So, you know, Mitch McConnell said that they tried to get unity. It wasn't going to happen. They had the meaning at the White House, Andy, and that resulted in nothing. Yeah, the senators, I think it was eight or ten senators, including Susan Collins and some of the other olive branch bearers, go to the President with a reasonable plan to do this. The President basically rejects the attempt to work this out on a bipartisan basis, sends them away empty-handed and says, you either do it my way or you're not going to do it at all. And my way is the process of reconciliation, which means that there is going to be votes beginning, I think, tomorrow in the United States Senate, Jay. We're talking about literally hundreds of amendments that are going to be put forth to this bill.

I mean, when Andy says hundreds, by the way, that's not hyperbole. They said this could go until late in the evening tomorrow night. All right, coming up, we're going to give you an update on a couple of our major cases. You know, we're filing that FOIA case. It's going to be filed probably this week involving Eric Swalwell.

That case can be filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Frank Mannion is going to be joining us on some of our pro-life cases that we're now in litigation on. And I'll tell you something, the work in Washington is going to do nothing but expand.

Then we're going to be joined by Rick Grinnell. Situation with Germany and China, a lot to discuss. Support the work of the ACLJ. If you enjoy this broadcast, your support of the ACLJ keeps us broadcast on the air.

Do you know what else? Your support keeps our lawyers, our government affairs teams in the field around the globe. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights, in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena.

And we have an exceptional track record of success. But here's the bottom line, we could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms. That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side.

If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today, ACLJ.org.

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

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

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. All right, we'll come back to the situation in Washington, D.C. in a moment, but I want to let you know that we are just weeks away from filing a major brief in the Court of Appeals in California. I think one of the most significant pro-life cases in the country.

And it involves not just the life issue, but it really involves freedom of speech. Joining us right now is Ed White. He's the senior counsel for the ACLJ. He's been the primary lawyer in charge of this case. Ed, let's go back a little bit. I think it's important for our audience to understand exactly what this case is about because it really does impact not just the life issue, but freedom of speech.

Correct. So this case started in, really it started in 2015, when David Daleiden in the Center for Medical Progress, we represent a former board member, released undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood executive doctors talking about how they manipulate the abortion procedure, the sale of baby body parts. Lawsuits were then soon filed by the National Abortion Federation. We represent our client in that case.

That just ended. And then Planned Parenthood followed suit, and they are trying to destroy these pro-life advocates so that you will never have another undercover investigation of Planned Parenthood or really any abortion entity ever again with crippling penalties. The case went on for close to five years now.

We had a multiple week trial in San Francisco, and it lasted about six, seven weeks. The jury in San Francisco ruled against our client, entered a judgment in excess of $2 million, and then just a few weeks ago, the federal judge in San Francisco issued an order that the pro-life advocates have to pay close to $14 million in attorneys fees. So we have two appeals here. The first appeal, which our opening brief is due at the end of this month, is challenging the merits of this case, talking about that this is a First Amendment protected activity to do undercover investigations. News agencies do this all the time, whether it's ABC News, 2020, you name it.

This is nothing new. That number one, it's a First Amendment protected. Number two is that the evidence was not sufficient with regard to our client, but he should not have been found liable for anything. And so we have First Amendment challenges, we have multiple challenges that get very complicated, but the main thing here is that this should be a First Amendment protected activity, and that what should be happening here is the focus should be on the activities of Planned Parenthood and the abortionists, not the journalists who uncovered what they did.

But I want to stop right there, Ed, because I think it's important for people to understand here. Planned Parenthood isn't being penalized for the sale of body parts. The journalists that reported the sale of the body parts are the ones that have civil cases against them, and the threat of criminal action, too, on some of them.

Correct. Congress about three years ago did a big investigation, both the House and the Senate, and made multiple referrals for criminal activity to various agencies, whether it's the federal government, state governments around the country. One thing resulted that in Los Angeles, a company that dealt with the fetal body part sale, that they got the body parts, some of them from Planned Parenthood, agreed to close to an $8 million settlement, admitting what they were doing was wrong, and have shut down their business.

So let's stop again. So the people that he reported on, and then our guy served on the board for a time, and this I'm going to go to Andy on this, so the people he reported on actually enter in a civil judgment acknowledging $8 million in damages because what they did was against the law, and our guy, though, is the guy that's being basically civilly prosecuted. He can't be civilly prosecuted, but has this big civil case and potential criminal case on some of the other defendants, while the company selling the body parts has to settle their case.

Yeah. This is backwards, Jay. I mean, the guilty party, the liable party is scot-free. The party that did nothing that was abiding by the law is having to pay the damages and pay the penalty. This is the law system turned upside down on its head. There was clear evidence that was discovered of the illegal sale of the body parts, and yet those people are being awarded for their violation of the law and their illegal activity, while those, such as our client, who was doing the right thing and was supporting life, is being penalized.

There's something wrong with this system, terribly wrong. Yeah, so, Ed, what's the next move here? I mean, is the next move in the Ninth Circuit?

Correct. We're at the Ninth Circuit. We've filed an appeal. Our opening brief on behalf of our client and the other defendants are filing their separate briefs.

They're all due at the end of this month. Then separate from that, we have, we just filed an appeal with regard to the attorney's fees. That will be something that will be challenged a few months down the road. Yeah, because I'm looking at that, and I'm thinking to myself, you know, I want to get back into this other settlement. So our guys are having to play, and you all, our team, is having to fight this at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Okay, fair enough. But what about the civil settlement with the body parts seller? That was with the Orange County District Attorney.

Da Vinci entered into an agreement that they would stop what they were doing and agreed that they were at fault. So that was the only thing that came out of all of the criminal referrals from the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. They sent out multiple criminal referrals a number of years ago. Even the Department of Justice acknowledged that they were investigating this, which was very unusual.

They usually keep their mouth shut. But the only thing we've seen from this is that now in the state of Texas, there's been some other activity going on there. There's been multiple criminal charges being filed against these investigators. So far, the one in Texas fell by the wayside, the one in California that's been going on.

Our client is not involved with that. That has been dragging on for years. But there is a concerted effort, especially when you look at what was going on in the California criminal case. That was originated by Kamala Harris when she was the Attorney General of California. And that's when they went into David Daleiden's house with search warrants, seized all of his property, everything. They are the abortion industry, whether politicians, Planned Parenthood, etc., is going full bore on these pro-life advocates to destroy them, to send them out, never try to show what we're doing again to the public.

And so this is a critical battle, not only for life, and that's the most important thing. You know, we're dealing with babies who are being killed, okay? But it is with the First Amendment that if the average journalist cannot go and go undercover to expose a wrong, then what's the point of having a First Amendment? The First Amendment is to protect the press. Nowadays, the press isn't just ABC, NBC, the New York Times. The press is anyone who has a cell phone who can report on something. And that is fantastic because the more things that are exposed, the better when there is wrong going on in this country.

I think that the critical thing here is obviously the life issue, like you said, defending the unborn. But the First Amendment implications of this are so significant. I want everybody listening or watching this right now to understand that the significance of the situation when you have a communication method that is basically investigative reporting is as old as journalism, shut down.

And you're saying, well, it's not shut down. Well, it's penalized to millions of dollars. And at the same time, the irony that those involved in it had to enter into judgments and settlements because what they were doing was unlawful. And yet the people that are paying the dollar price also are the people that reported it.

And, Annie, that's what I go back to. And that's the chilling nature of what's on free speech here. Well, that's the thing that bothers me and should bother everybody who's right thinking about this. The malefactor, the wrongdoer is being prized and given rewards for their misconduct, whereas we who exposed it, the people who exposed this thing through their investigative journalism are being penalized. This is wrong. This is backwards. This is not a system that is working.

It is a system that is severely broken and that needs to be changed. I can't imagine that this is happening, and I hope that we'll get some relief in the appellate court. You know, Andy, when we talk about the concept of chilling free speech, this is exactly what we're talking about, that the fear is that if you exercise the right to freedom of speech, you will literally be silenced with monetary damages.

That's a great fear, Jay. The idea is that free speech is not something that should be penalized by the exercise of imposing monetary damages, penalties, and money because you exercised your right to free speech. Isn't that exactly what's happening here? It seems to me that it is.

Well, I think that's precisely what's happening. Ed, what is the date of the appeal? When's our brief due? The 26th of February.

I appreciate it, everybody, for being a prayer for our team as we put that brief together. Arguments probably, what, March, April? We haven't gotten an order yet on that. Yeah, my guess is April, probably. A lot of fighting on that one to go protecting life, protecting free speech, and we told you earlier in the week, brand new lawsuit being filed in Washington, D.C.

The issue there, of course, deals with, very important, this whole Eric Swalwell Chinese spy scandal who's on the Intelligence Committee, ah, and he's also on the Impeachment Committee, shockingly. We'll be joined by Rick Grenell in the next segment. Stay tuned, share it with your friends, support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, a play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

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

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

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

Become a member today, ACLJ.org. Hey, welcome back. Beginning of the broadcast, we talked about this reconciliation issue. Why reconciliation on the COVID relief? Well, because the parties can't come to an agreement.

What does that mean? They're probably going to get it through the $350, $400 billion worth of aid to the states, which has been one of the biggest objecting points for the Republicans, for conservatives, because that's money ending not going to the individual people in need or the small businesses. Rather, it is the money going to where? It's going to the governments, which you'll never see it. It'll get lost in the morass.

It will. And it's going to governments that should not be getting it. State governments that were irresponsible fiscally before the COVID crisis, that have not balanced their budgets, that have recklessly spent, that have done things that they should not have done economically in their own jurisdictions, now lining up to the federal government and saying, bail us out to the tune of several of these hundreds of millions and millions of dollars, and then that is money that you correctly point out. Billions, yeah. Billions, billions.

Sorry, billions. That is not going to the individuals who live and work in small businesses, which is the backbone of America, and who should be getting the money. They're going to be losing it to state bureaucracy.

That's the reality. In the Republican plan, there was money for PPP. For those that don't know, that's payroll protection. Payroll protection allows these employers to get loans that can be forgiven so long as they keep you, the employee, or us, the employee, whoever it is, on the payroll.

It was very successful in keeping unemployment without, I mean, it still went up, but obviously with all the business closures, but it kept it under control. Now, the lack of PPP is significant here. Now, I don't know in the reconciliation bill, let me ask this to our producer, as of I think Monday and Tuesday, there was very little or nothing for the PPP.

Will, I know fans out today for Family Matter, is there anything today? As of right now, there is not. That is something that could be offered in an amendment by one of the Republican senators, but as of right now, not. Any chance it would pass, though?

Probably not. Okay, so it could be offered, Andy, as a, it could be offered as an amendment. The problem is, and I'd like to hear from our audience on this, how's your business doing? Do you need this assistance? How's your employment situation?

800-684-3110, 1-800-684-3110. But Andy, that lack of PPP, you know, look, we've got the vaccine, hopefully more, I think 30 million people have been vaccinated now. Now, we got a ways to go, but it looks like things are, we're trending down.

I think they trended up a little bit yesterday. That's going to happen day to day. But people need that PPP relief, and that's why I want to hear from small business owners. I'd love to hear from small business owners.

800-684-3110. But putting $400 billion or so into relief packages for the, in this particular case, for states, and we know it's like California and New York, that were in trouble before and not getting it to these small businesses is really dangerous for the country. Well, it's abhorrent, Jay, it's just abhorrent, the misuse of federal money in this fashion. You're giving it to states who acted irresponsibly in their economics and their fiscal matters before COVID, okay?

Now they're coming with their hands out saying, bail us out. What about the small business owner? What about the pharmacy technician? What about the person working behind the counter in the grocery store?

What about the person who's got a small business putting up roofs or cleaning gutters or doing things like that? They don't get this money, this money goes to the states so they can squander it again. That is wrong, Jay. Do we have any sound from Mitch McConnell on this? Because I know that he has said, the new President talks a lot about unity, but his White House staff and congressional leadership are working far, are working from the opposite playbook. What's interesting to me is that all of that unity talk ends up in nothing. Here's what he said.

The new President talks a lot about unity, but his White House staff and congressional leadership are working with a different playbook. So then Mitch McConnell says, which I think is right, we'll get senators on the record about whether taxpayers should fund checks for illegal immigrants because they get the benefit. Hear that again. If you're in the United States illegally, you're going to get that $1,400 check.

Is there any, and I don't see any, and again, I'm going to our producer here with fans out, so I don't see any restrictions on that. If you're there in that household, even though you're not documented, you get the $1,400 check. That's the way the language is written. Now, I want you to think about that, American people, for a moment, okay? We are going to, you, me, all of us, Andy, that pay taxes are going to have, listen, if we wanted to take that money, instead of giving it to someone here that's not here legally, how about giving it to someone here legally and give them more money?

How about this? Let's figure out a way that those undocumented people get documented, get in the tax system, and have to start paying taxes, work and taxes. We're not going to ship 40 million people back to their household of origin, so there needs to be some kind of pathway. It may not be to citizenship for this generation, maybe it's their kids, but at least that their status is such that they're paying into the system.

That's what's lacking here. Why in the world would we, I don't even know what that number is, I can imagine, my goodness, if there's, I don't know, how many people are here illegally that are going to qualify for this? Do the math if it was 12 million people.

I want someone to do the math on how much money that would be coming out, and it's more like 20 or 30 million, but let's say it's just 12 million people. But, Andy, this is the hard left of the Democratic Party pushing the party into this, and pushing the country in this direction. That's exactly right, Jay. These are the people who were the core base that were supporting President Biden. He told you he was going to do this. You know when you voted for him that he was going to move to the left to satisfy the base that put him in power. And now you've got $1,400 going to people who are not American citizens, who are in this country illegally, who may be working, but I can tell you they're not paying taxes.

They're going to shell out $1,400 to them just for reason of the fact that they happen to be in the United States. And this is what you're getting from a Democratic administration under President Biden. This is wrong. It is abhorrent to me. It makes me really nauseated. So Rick Grenell is joining us, and we're going to get in the next half hour, we're going to get into Rick's got a piece up at ACLJ.org called Merkel pushes Germany first after Biden asks for help on China.

Rick, just on this whole situation, you were the acting DNI. The Democrats look like they're going to get this package through, the stimulus package without Republican support. Approximately, we're just estimating that $16 billion of it will go directly to people that are not in the United States legally. Look, we have that same problem in California, and this should be a basic function of government, is to ensure that the programs and the money go to Americans. It shouldn't even be Americans first.

It should be Americans only. And I don't understand how Washington can be so out of the loop with what Republicans, Independents, Democrats, everybody thinks that this is just something that you should fix. Fix your programs so that you're not giving money to illegal aliens. I mean, we only got a minute here, but isn't it that the hard left of the Democratic Party is just pushing this stuff through, and they're not even willing to put a stopgap in that? I think it's the hard left leadership in Washington. I don't see my hard left progressive friends in California advocating for free programs for illegal aliens. This is just something that the leadership in D.C. keeps telling. This is direct cash from the American Taxpayers Treasury. We're just saying if there's 12 million people, and there's a lot more than that, it'd be $16 billion. I mean, these make no sense. These policies make no sense. All right, we've got a lot more ahead.

We're going to get into the situation with Germany and China, what that means for the United States. More on this reconciliation. Support the work of the ACLJ. You can do that by going to ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights, in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work.

Become a member today. ACLJ.org. Live from Washington, D.C., Jay Sekulow Live. And now, Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, Jay Sekulow.

All right, welcome to the broadcast, everyone. We've got Senior Counsel Andy Conmose with us, our Senior Advisor in National Security and, of course, International Affairs. Rick Grenell is with us, former Ambassador to Germany and former DNI, Director of National Intelligence. We've been talking about the PPP situation and the lack of it in the Democratic plan. Rick, you're in California.

I want to stay on this for a few minutes here. You're in California, and I know businesses have been hurting, and now there's a recall on the governor. Can you tell us what it's like out there right now, business-wise and just community-wise? Our businesses are shut down, our restaurants. You can only be open outside. Gyms are closed.

Churches are closed, but people are pushing the envelope to try to meet. It's really outrageous, just the total shutdown. On top of that, Gavin Newsom has originally shut down our beaches.

There was such a pushback on that to say that's not part of science, that certainly is not backed up by science, and so he backed away from that. Our schools are still closed. The vaccine rollout has been atrocious. You've got wealthy people getting the vaccine while cancer hospitals in Los Angeles go without.

You know, the rollout on the vaccine has been pretty difficult everywhere, including where our studios are based. I mean, the way it's set up is also absurd. So it's 75 and over makes sense. Then the next group is 65. Well, here it's 70 and over. Then it's 65 and over. Then the next group, which I'm in, is 16 to 64. I'm 64, so I'm lumped in with the 16-year-olds. I mean, think about this for a moment.

So hopefully that's going to change because it is having a dramatic and distinct impact on businesses. I want to take a call from Paul, who's calling from Missouri, I believe, on Line 1. Paul, go ahead. You're on the air.

Yes, sir. Jay, I got PPP money back in March of last year. It meant really the difference between us going out of business and staying in. Once we got that money, it was able to sustain us through a time when we were told that we couldn't work because the quarantine people were shut down. So it actually sustained us. We had to rehire some of the people left, but then we actually had the best year we've had in a very long time. Most construction people, unfortunately I know the restaurant business and everything's been hurt, but most construction people are very, very busy. One of the reasons is that we were helped in the early days.

Yeah, so listen, Paul, I appreciate that. I think that's part of my main concern with the Democratic proposal here, Andy, is the lack of PPP. That is the payroll protection so that employees do not have to be let go and then come back on. That is my biggest concern.

I think that besides the 16 or whatever billion dollars are going to people that are not here legally, I think that that is a real problem. I know from personal experience of a small executive limousine service that I'm aware of. I know the owner of it, and he's got a small group of employees, and he was dying.

I mean, he was literally dying. The PPP under President Trump came through and helped them through the difficult times in 2020, but the Democrats do not seem to learn from the past. They are not historians.

They are not students of history, and they don't understand that history repeats itself. If you use that program, if you had that program, you would be able to have payroll protection, and you would be able to have employees of small businesses continuing to work. Without that, and it's not in the plan that is before the Congress now, you don't have that protection, that rope that's hanging there to help people grasp onto.

Hey, Rick, really quick, like 40 seconds quick. And then the recall on the governor, is that for real? It's for real. If you live in California, you should sign the petition. Go to recallgavin2020.com. It's about 1.4 million signatures now. We need to verify those so that will drop.

We need 1.5, but again, verification is going to take some of those numbers away. Wow, something else in California, what a mess. Great weather, nice people, great people, what a mess.

But don't worry, billions are coming from this COVID relief package. Alright, we'll be back with more, talk about some international matters when we come back from the break. And we have an exceptional track record of success. But here's the bottom line, we could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

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

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

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

Hey, welcome back to the broadcast, everyone. We're taking your calls at 800-684-3110. Andy Econimo and our senior advisor on international affairs and national security, Rick Grenell, has joined us. Rick, you've got an article up at ACLJ.org. By the way, it's a great one.

Everybody should be reading it. It's Merkel pushes Germany first after Biden asked for help on China. So she was in Davos just a couple of days ago and was asked specifically about the rift between China and the United States. And Rick, before we get into her response, let's talk about the China-US rift right now and put that in context for everybody. Look, over the years, I would say 20 years when we allowed China to come into the World Trade Organization, there was a belief that engagement with China would work. If we could just engage them more that they would go down the road of greater respect for human rights, the rule of law, maybe work towards capitalism, but at least have some sort of form of working towards free and fair markets.

That has not worked. And what we need to be able to do is recognize that China manipulates the currency. They steal intellectual property. They leverage American politicians with Chinese spies.

They are infiltrated into academia in the United States. And this is a crisis and we need to be able to call it out. And President Trump tried to take them on, tried to rally the West and push back on their tariffs and manipulation of the economy and currency. And he wanted to see the rest of the world follow suit.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. You know, Andy, I don't know if you remember this particular paper, but we did our project in Oxford through our center. That is our global center. There was a paper given on the New Silk Road. And that's one of the papers we published in Building Bridges. And it talked about how the Chinese, you know, the famous trade route was the Silk Road, are using their New Silk Road to influence oftentimes bad actors.

Iran, Venezuela. And we pointed that out. That was six years ago, Andy, that we did that. That was already a factor in the world economy.

Yeah, that's true, Jay. And that paper that was produced at our Oxford Center exactly showed the back way, back road machinations that the Chinese are using in order to manipulate. But I think what Ambassador Grinnell said is very important. When you look at the history of Chinese government and you look at the authoritarian regimes that have taken control in China, and not just of recent, but I mean of long ago, you try to bring them into the world of nations, into the host of nations, in the hope that they will reconcile their ways of doing business and their humanitarian principles, principles that we in the West think of and cherish and we hold very dear. That's not going to happen with them. It's similar with the Iranians that we learned about when we were at Oxford as well, Jay.

There is not a way, there is not a pathway that they have to thinking like us. And so we embrace them, but we don't get an embrace back. We get a stab in the back. So, Rick, when we look at the situation then with China and the United States and looking at it through the eyes of Germany now, you were the ambassador to Germany for the United States. Merkel says she doesn't want to take sides. Look, no one in the Trump administration is going to be surprised that Chancellor Merkel is making this comment. But I thought it was really important to highlight it for the Biden administration because all we ever heard from the left is that, you know, Donald Trump's style was the problem with the transatlantic relationship.

And I totally disagree with that. I think that the Europeans have been stepping away from us and let's be clear, so did the Brits, obviously. Brexit was largely because they felt like the European Union was moving away from the idea of the West.

And certainly on immigration that was the case. And so Chancellor Merkel has been buying oil in large amounts from Russia. She's not been paying her NATO bill. It took the Germans nine days to figure out whose side they were on in Venezuela. They wouldn't shut down the North Korean youth hostel in the center of Berlin after we asked them multiple times. We asked them for 12 years to take back Jacopali, who was the Nazi prison guard living in New York City. There are a whole bunch of examples of the Germans doing Germany first, ignoring the United States.

And I wanted to highlight this for the Biden administration because they seem to forget all this. They seem to think that we can just build consensus with the Germans and with the Europeans. And when Merkel goes, Chancellor Merkel goes to Davos and is asked, whose side are you on between the United States and China?

And she says, I talked to Xi. I saw him and we agree. It's not smart to take sides.

That's outrageous. And I hope the Biden team is paying attention. I hope Jake Sullivan is paying attention. Jake Sullivan has had some terrible comments about dealing with China and not recognizing how powerful China is. And so I hope they pay attention to what she's saying. She's letting us know it's Germany first. I want to let our audience know also that a rift with the United States and China is not just a rift. It's economic warfare is a form of what it is, what you're really dealing with. But the repercussions of not protecting the United States interests when it comes to dealing with China are dramatic. And I think not only dramatic, but could be disastrous for our country in the long term.

And Rick, let's talk about that. You are the ambassador over there. And you and you really try to put our interests first and foremost, which is what our ambassador should be doing. Not that you didn't get resistance from the Europeans. Of course you did, because we were flexing a little bit of our strength.

But the loss of the loss of a or letting China just get away with this, we will pay a heavy price. Look, when I was there, I was incredibly nice. I was maybe even what you would call diplomatic. The reality is the reality is, is that diplomats from America should represent America. And I think that if we want to avoid hard conflicts, that you need to have diplomats who are advocating for U.S. policy.

I was unashamed that I was representing the American people. And so when I was there, I constantly pushed for more U.S. jobs, either in Germany or in America, from German companies. And I remember the foreign minister of Germany at one point saying, hey, can't you help us out? You're so effective at pushing the United States.

How about you help Germany? And I said to him, you know, this was the national security adviser, sorry, not the foreign minister. And I said to the national security adviser, you know, you have an ambassador in Washington who is supposed to do that.

You should be talking to her. And I'm going to report back to the American people. They pay me. They pay for this embassy. And we're going to push for America first. That's what we should be doing. All right. Talking about America first, I want to segue back into this conversation that it looks like a reconciliation approach is going to be utilized for the PPP.

It's not going to be included in this COVID relief bill. We're hearing from people all over the country. If you want to talk to us, 800-684-3110. David's calling from Tennessee. David, you're on the air.

Thanks. Thanks, Jay, for taking my call. I asked your screener, I said, where is Joe Manchin in all this? West Virginia is now probably, in the last 10 years, become one of the reddest states, you know, in the country. And I can't imagine why the people of West Virginia are putting up with him. I think Joe Manchin is maybe the most important person in the United States Senate right now. He's been opposed to this. I mean, do we have the audio from him, please?

Yeah, we just got some. So, I mean, Joe Manchin has been very concerned about this process. He does not like it going this way. And he wanted a negotiated deal, bipartisan deal. He did not want this one-way ticket.

West Virginians need the help and so do their small businesses. Well, he said that when Kamala Harris, the vice President, took it upon herself to come into West Virginia and to make partisan statements. And he said, I didn't even know she was coming here.

I didn't even know she was going to do that. That's not the way I intend to work. I want to work on a bipartisan basis. So there was some intra-party strife just a few days ago. I'm sure you recall that incident. So Joe Manchin is not interested in that. He has become a pivotal figure in this fight.

Here's what he said. The worst thing we can do is put a price tag on it. Just to get what the needs of the people are and basically how we keep the economy going. How we keep people basically ready for this economy to come roaring back and they're prepared to be part of it.

So if it's 1.9 trillion, so be it. If it's a little smaller than that, then we find the targeted need and, you know, that's what we're going to do. But I want it to be bipartisan. So if they think that they're going to basically, we're going to throw all caution to the wind and just shove it down people's throat.

That's not going to happen. So, I mean, Rick, I think, you know, you follow the economic policies, too. I think Manchin, he's walking a difficult line, but I think he's being clear he does not like the way this is going. Look, if you live in West Virginia or in Arizona where Kyrsten Sinema is, I think you have an incredibly important responsibility over the next two years. To make sure that both of these senators understand what's at stake.

We cannot have a slide towards socialism. And I think what Senator Manchin is saying is he doesn't want the U.S. government to become the entity that just gives away money freely. He wants to be responsible.

I think that's exactly right. All right, Rick, we appreciate you being with us and he's going to stay on. Rick Rinnell, Senior Advisor to the American Center for Law and Justice on Foreign Policy and National Security, thanks for being with us. As always, we've got a great piece up at ACLJ.org.

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ACLJ.org. Alright, last segment of the broadcast. We take calls from you, 1-800-684-3110. We're focusing on a lot of issues today. We've talked about Germany. We've talked about PPP, which is the Payroll Protection Plan. We've talked about this reconciliation approach as it relates to the stimulus package. We talked about a pro-life case, and we're going to have a major brief on tomorrow's broadcast.

We're going to be talking about a pro-life case going to trial that the ACLJ has. So we know that there's a lot of work to be done, and your calls are important. We want to hear from you, 1-800-684-3110.

What are the issues that are most concerning to you right now? So give us a call, 800-684-3110. Let's go to Robert. He's calling from Ohio on Line 6.

Robert, go ahead. You're on the air. Thank you for taking my call. I do appreciate it.

On your program, we're talking about this PPP program. And we have a son that has a small business, and the first time that came out, it helped him to weather the storm. But if they don't get some sort of help at this time, not sure he's going to be able to make it.

Hanging on by his fingernails. What kind of business is he in, if you don't mind me asking, Robert? Well, he's in a pool business.

He builds pools, commercial primarily. And I hear that the government is going to be supporting California and New York to bail them out. When this could go to small business, it makes no sense to me. I don't know where the uproar, there needs to be an uproar from the small people. The basic Joes in this country need to stand up and say, this is enough.

Well, you've got that. You've got 350 billion or 400 billion, whatever the final number comes out, Andy, to be. You've got about 16 or 12 to 16, probably up to 20 billion, if you really count on the number of people here illegally. That would actually receive a check as a stimulus relief. And like I said, I'm all in favor of some kind of pathways to citizenship or some kind of legal status to get these people in our tax-paying system. Because or else we're just paying for it.

But this is where it's so misplaced. Look, Jay, the reality is you're not going to deport 30 to 40 million people. That's not going to happen.

Never. You've got to get, we have to be realists about this. Well, how they got here is immaterial now. They got here.

They're here. But they've got to be put on the tax rolls and they have to be paying tax and there's got to be withholding and there's got to be FICA and all these contributions. And they don't and shouldn't be getting free handouts from the government over people like the caller from Ohio whose son builds pools, who was on the PPP, who is not on the, is not going to get that because the Biden administration is not pushing that in its so-called America Rescue Program.

I want to know, why not? Well, here's, Lisa on YouTube wants to know, why does it appear that the government's giving it, giving funds away for abortion, failed states, undocumented individuals, but not people that actually need assistance? And it's not that these other people, you know, it's not that these people that are here illegally don't need assistance.

It's just a priority issue. And maybe you would say, you know, we'll give you the $1400 checks, but you got to register to, you know, and start paying taxes. Yeah, at least make them, you know, you don't just give them a handout at the mailbox, have it tied to something like that. Register, pay taxes, get on the voter rolls, what's wrong with that?

But get on the work rolls, that's the main thing, and start paying taxes like we all do and then you've earned the money and it's not just a handout and a giveout. Scott's calling from Tennessee on Line 1. Scott, go ahead, you're on the air. Hey, Jay, thanks for taking my call. Really appreciate all you guys do.

Thanks. Yeah, I've got an education business in Brentwood and we did the PPP last year and it got us through, we used it for payroll, we kept people working and it worked great for us. How's business now, Scott? Well, we're down in income, we're keeping our school going, but, you know, we're down obviously with everything that's been going on and we've got some of the kids coming in person, some are working remote. But we're, you know, trying to do the best we can. Well, that's where these PPP, for how many employees do you have?

We have 15, 15 teachers. So this is exactly the, I mean, this is exactly the backbone of American industry. These are the businesses that keep the American economy going. I mean, this is not, in that sense, this is not rocket science. Scott's business is the perfect example of what we should be providing relief for, which is totally absent, completely void, does not exist in the plan being put forward by the Democrats here. And the Republicans are saying we need that in there, but the Democrats are saying, no, we need to give, you know, $350 billion or $450 billion to the states, another $16 or $20 billion to people that are here illegally.

And Scott's business cannot apply for a PPP because there is none. That's where we're getting this backwards. And, you know, we used the story of the restaurant in Atlanta the other day, this is a landmark restaurant, it's been there for a hundred years.

I mean, four generations of people have, I know in my own family, at least four generations of our family, you know, Andy, your family too, have eaten at this restaurant. They've been around forever. They had to do a GoFundMe page because of the situation of not being able to operate. And they didn't do this until very late in the year. So they got the PPP, it still was difficult for them, but at least it kept them going.

And then businesses were slowly coming back, but really slowly. And they did a GoFundMe page, Andy, to stay in business. They did a GoFundMe page. This restaurant, as you say, has been in Atlanta for generations and generations. They did a GoFundMe page. They raised $100,000. People suddenly became aware that we're going to lose the restaurant and it's going to be an Atlanta landmark that's, talk about gone with the wind, literally gone with the wind in Atlanta. But they saved themselves and we patronized them and people patronized them.

You don't go inside as much. There's a lot of takeout, but at least it's funded toward what is middle America. I just heard that caller, Jay, who called from Brentwood, Tennessee.

That is middle America. I thought Biden was going to help middle America. Doesn't seem like he's doing it. No, but Mitch McConnell, by the way, just went to the, I guess was on the floor of the Senate. And look, people are complaining about Mitch, but listen, I know Mitch McConnell well. I've worked with Mitch, believe me, I have worked with Mitch McConnell on Senate impeachment and other matters. This is a guy that knows the Senate.

Listen to what he just said. We'll be getting senators on the record about whether taxpayers should fund checks for illegal immigrants. Whether Democrats should raise taxes on small businesses in the midst of this historic crisis. And whether generous federal funding should pour into school districts where the unions refuse to let schools open.

And this is just a small taste. And I heard the Chicago mayor today, now Chicago, a Democratic city, tell these teacher's unions, get back to work. These kids have not been in a classroom in over a year.

And the CDC said there's no indication that this is creating an increased health risk. I mean, I think the first thing they should have done is vaccinated all of the teachers and gotten all these kids back to school. But they didn't. But now they're saying they can go back to school and they won't do it. And we're going to give money to schools, Andy, that aren't even open. Don't you think a requirement should be we will give you economic relief if you're a school that's operating? Yeah, I would think that that would make sense. That's why the Democrats are opposed to it because it makes sense.

You don't give money if you're not functioning. The unions should be doing what I heard you say they tell them to do. And that is teachers get back into the classroom. Kids, the virtual learning is a wonderful thing. But there's no substitute to the way that it was done to me in the Dade County, Florida schools in 1950s.

Sit in that chair and learn from that teacher and be present. I'll tell you what. What we do in this broadcast is we had a lot of issues today. I mean, we've covered everything from international affairs with China and Germany, Planned Parenthood litigation in California, and of course, the ongoing in Washington. If you enjoy this program, if you find it informative, you could support it by just going donating to ACLJ.org.

No one's being charged to watch this broadcast. You know, ACLJ.org, your support there makes a huge difference. If you support the lawyers in the field and our government affairs team around the globe, then go to ACLJ.org.

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