BREAKING: Cuomo Resigns as NY Governor

This is Jay Sekulow.

The ECLJ intervenes at the United Nations. The issue, human trafficking. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. We want to hear from you.

Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Jay Sekulow. Hey everybody, welcome to the broadcast. We're going to talk about an issue that is front and center for us at the ACLJ. And that is this issue of human trafficking. Now we're going to both address this domestically and internationally.

And that's because the American Center for Law and Justice has been involved in both arenas, domestically and internationally. Now the fact of the matter is, we're going to play in the next segment, we're going to hear from Cece Heil. She just appeared before the United Nations on the issue of human trafficking. So you're going to hear her actual presentation to the United Nations.

She's going to talk about why we did that. But you need to also understand that the issue of human trafficking here in the United States is real. Let me give you, just in the last couple of weeks, headlines, not just from the New York Times and the Washington Post, local newspapers. For instance, CBS 12 in Florida, human trafficking arrest, teen felt brainwashed and forced into engaging in these activities. Dallas Observer, man convicted of sex trafficking, and teens out of hotels. Sacramento B, Sacramento jury convicts a man of sex trafficking, 16-year-olds. In Kentucky, businesses under investigation for illegal human trafficking. River City News County, this is in Boone County, Ohio, man's arrested, why? Promoting human trafficking.

Nashville, Tennessee, Mississippi, and on and on it goes. This, I'm going to go to Andy Conwell first, who was a former U.S. attorney, but also a state prosecutor, DA. You know, one of the things that's to me is an issue here is that we're going to talk about this on the international level. And some of these girls are brought in from overseas. So don't make no mistake, this is a serious blight in the world right now of human trafficking. And the impact on this is significant enough that the Justice Department has issued a report dealing with this.

That's true, Jay. These trafficking activities are taking place, and I have personal experience of this in prosecuting these cases, civilly as racketeering cases, and criminally in southeast Georgia. These women are being imported from overseas, they're being smuggled into the country, they're being set up in houses, they're being set up in motels and hotels, which let me also say to the owners of these hotels and motels that you knowingly do this and harbor these kinds of activities in your premises, you are subjecting to your premises to forfeiture, to the state for being used for illegal trafficking activity. So these things are happening all over the country, and they are entailing the bringing in of people and women and boys and children and young girls from overseas and outside the United States, as you correctly point out, Jay. Harry, there's a policy issue too, and that is we have to address this both domestically and internationally.

You can't just do one. I think that's correct, and so while I applaud the Department of Justice in issuing a report on sex trafficking, that is clearly not enough. We need to engage in affirmative efforts, both domestically and internationally to stop this. So according to a recent report, over 40 million individuals have been involved in sex trafficking, and most of the victims are women and children.

At the same time, the United States border is open, and it is open to sex trafficking, and the Biden administration has reversed Trump-era policies that were working to restrict and to reduce such trafficking in the past. So we are filling... So... Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Okay, so we're filling in the gap on that, folks. We're about to take a break.

Let me tell you something. I encourage you to share this feed with your friends if you're watching on any of our social media applications. Of course, if you're listening on radio, I'll let your friends know, too. We went to the UN to address this. I mean, it's done remotely these days, but our team is there dealing with this. You're gonna hear from CC Ohio when we come back from the break.

We'll take your calls also at 1-800-684-3110, 1-800-684-3110. Whether it is in Ohio or at the United Nations, the ACLJ and our affiliate organizations around the world are there. Your support for the ACLJ and our affiliates keeps us in court, ACLJ.org. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

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

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

Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, 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.

Welcome back to the broadcast. We're talking about an issue that's front and center for us at the ACLJ. And that's the whole issue of human trafficking.

CeCe Heil is a senior counsel at the ACLJ. She's heavily involved in this issue. And I want to start, CeCe, I think it's important for people to understand before we get into what took place at the UN. Let's define what this is. I mean, people need to understand what is human trafficking? Well, you know, we call it modern day slavery because that's really what it is. People are sometimes stolen from their homes, usually lured away to with false promises, and then they're forced into labor or sexual commerce, obviously not something that they had wanted to do and did willingly. The problem before was law enforcement, Andy, would arrest the girls and charge them with prostitution.

That was the old model here. And then we got involved, I guess this was over a decade ago, and started drafting model laws to go after the perpetrators of the actual crime, which were the individuals that were the traffickers. That's who you really have to target is the traffickers. The other ones are in many ways victims. I have seen rooms full of young women who are simply slaves and who are absolutely captured in these rooms. And you go after the traffickers and the people who put them there and the people who harbor them, the motel and hotel owners, don't think that's a small thing. In racketeering cases, we seek the forfeiture of property of people who use their lands and their premises for these activities. So the real people here who you need to target are the people who organize these crimes, the people who put these together, the people who brainwash the teams, as you mentioned in the opening, the people who say to the young girl, oh get in my car and come with me and you're going to be a model for my clothesline, and then put her in there and basically use her as a sex victim and make thousands and thousands of dollars off of her.

These are the perpetrators. So Cece, you went to the United Nations. Set this up before we play the segment.

Sure. So we do oral interventions at the United Nations and specifically addressing topics. This topic is on human trafficking. So this was a chance to do an oral intervention with the Special Rapporteur on human trafficking. And that's what you'll hear if you're going to play that of our intervention, oral intervention with the Special Rapporteur. And back in May, we filed with the United Nations, I'm holding it at my hand, a written statement submitted by our European Center for Law and Justice, which focused on exactly the same issue. Let's go to, we're taking you to, this is the actual presentation that Cece did at the United, it's done remotely now because of COVID, but at the United Nations. Take a listen. And I give the floor to the European Center for Law and Justice.

Thank you, Madam President. Human trafficking in all its forms is an issue that plagues every country to some degree or another. It is a plight that continues to grow worldwide and currently affects well over 40 million victims. Clearly, there is much work to be done to combat the increasingly problematic issues of modern day slavery. Human traffickers typically target the most vulnerable and abused individuals with false promises of well-paying jobs. The victims are forced to live in extremely poor conditions while making the bare minimum, if any at all, while their captors take the rest.

Sadly, children and women make up 99% of the victims in the commercial sex industry and 58% in other sectors. Due to the commonly international nature of human trafficking, it is often difficult for an individual government to investigate reports of trafficking and to punish traffickers. Therefore, it would be valuable to use the resources and assistance that many NGOs, especially faith-based groups, provide addressing this issue. Additionally, properly combating human trafficking requires comprehensive legislation containing sufficient penalties for human traffickers as well as providing rehabilitation services and aid for the victims.

However, without sufficient resources and training, these laws are useless. Therefore, it is critical that countries commit these resources and training to authorities so that they can identify cases of human trafficking and put an end to this atrocity. Thank you. So, CC, let's talk about what the point of the intervention is there to focus the issue.

Sure. So, we want to point out one, that there is this huge problem affecting over 40 million people. And then two, we also want to point out that there are NGOs that are already poised and ready to help in this situation because a lot of the countries cannot effectively go after these traffickers because of the international nature. Victims, if they're found, they go back to their countries and so you don't have the victim to testify. So, there are NGOs already in place, most of them are faith-based, that will help out in this situation. And that's what we were suggesting to the United Nations, that the countries engage these NGOs to help fight this problem. You know, it was interesting to me, it had always been a concern of mine, Harry, is that we're really talking about, and Andy can address the specifics, but young teenagers. I mean, sometimes as young as 12 years old, but sometimes younger.

Absolutely. And many of the traffickers, they absolutely target young kids. And this is a tragedy. Equally important though, I think, is the fact that the current administration seems totally unprepared to deal with it. They've shut down an ICE program that was aimed at illegal traffickers. And so, trafficking continues and it probably has expanded if we could actually get accurate numbers. Why?

Because the Biden administration insists on reversing Trump era policies that were working. Yeah. And Andy, you've handled these cases and they are tragic. And when we drafted the laws, we tailored these laws because we knew that some of these, I mean, all of these kids are kids. I mean, literally, some of them 10, 12 years old.

Jay, that's exactly right. The perverted attitude of some of the perpetrators here actually wants to target children. This is the perversion that is in the minds of these sex addicts is what they are. And they look at a 10 or a 12 year old or a 14 year old girl. They make promises and representations to them of great jobs that they're going to get. They literally kidnap them off the streets. Then they put them in hotel and motel rooms.

They travel them across the country. There was a case in the Northern District of Texas in which this person rightly convicted, I wish the sentence that he would be imposed on by the judge is the maximum. But what he was doing was moving these girls from hotel rooms to Texas, to California, and using them basically as slaves. This is an indentured kind of servitude that they can't escape from. And once they get brainwashed into it, they think it's right.

They think it's appropriate. And we have been at the ACLJ in the forefront of drafting legislation and of promoting the acts that will absolutely put people like these perpetrators behind bars where they belong. You know, we really have, because as I said, we drafted model laws on this.

Now, CC was interesting in the piece we submitted, in the written document we submitted to the United Nations. We noted that in 1997, that's a long time ago, there were 700,000 human trafficking victims worldwide. I suspect that 23 years later, that number is probably up five to tenfold. Over 40 million victims of human trafficking currently, over 40 million that we know of, over 40 million. And 99% of those are women and children in the commercial sex industry. And 58% of those are women and children in other sectors. So the vast majority of those 40 million victims are women and children.

I mean, think about, I want that number to sink in for people. 40 million victims of this worldwide. This is a plague, Harry.

Absolutely. And it's a plague right here in the United States. And I think the American people should rise up and demand leadership from those individuals in Washington, individuals that are part and parcel of the Homeland Secretary's office and the DHS. So I think we really need to address this issue, both internationally and domestically. We cannot simply rest on what we've done in the past. There is some break.

Thank you, CC. There is some breaking news, and that is a big story. And that is the governor of the state of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has resigned, effective in 14 days. We're going to talk about the ramifications of that in the next segment of the broadcast. Those of you on Facebook, we may go down and then relaunch.

Our team's looking at that right now. But again, this is something we need to spend a segment discussing. Transition of power, why this is significant politically, what impact does it have on New York and the rest of the country.

You know, a lot of people did not think he was going to step down, but the political pressure just was mounting and mounting and mounting. So we'll talk about that when we come back from the break. We'll take your calls at 800-684-3110. The New York situation is interesting. If you're in New York, and I know we're on stations in New York, give us a call. 1-800-684-3110. Talk about the situation with the governor. 800-684-3110 again on Facebook and our other social media platforms. Looks like we're going to relaunch in a moment. Again, support the work of the ACLJ.

You could do that at ACLJ.org. But again, the governor of the state of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has resigned, effective in 14 days. That's a big development. Again, we'll take your calls on that.

800-684-3110. Back with more in a moment. For Facebook, we're going to go down, then come back up. 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, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad, whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith. I'm covering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress. The ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

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

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

Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Hey, welcome back everybody. We've got some breaking news and that is the Attorney General for the State of New, excuse me, the Governor of the State of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has resigned because of the allegations contained in the report by the State Attorney General, Letitia James. This is a breaking news developmental. Now there was an increasing call for possible impeachment issues. So he would have probably faced an impeachment and if he was to be impeached, just the process itself would have required him to step aside. Now we're on a lot of stations in New York, but even if you're not in New York, you certainly can call, but especially in New York, we want to hear from you on this at 1-800-684-3110.

That's 800-684-3110. As I've just said, the Attorney General's report led to this impeachment. Now a lot of people have said that the Attorney General's report was very politically motivated because she has, Letitia James has, interest in becoming governor. All that aside, the fact is that report has led to the governor resigning. He has resigned effective in 14 days.

We're going to play some sound from that in a moment. But there's been, you know, there was criticism leveled at this governor for a while here. It wasn't just these allegations of inappropriate touching. It was some of the, there was allegations of cover up during the COVID pandemic situation when earlier broke in New York and people being sent to nursing homes and those numbers not being reported. There's been a, there's been a series of issues, Andy, but obviously when the governor of the state of New York resigns, this is really big news. It is extremely big news.

And I must say from a personal point of view, I think it's the best thing for the people of the state of New York and the people of the United States, generally speaking. I am very surprised that this would have happened. Obama was a very entrenched politician. Most of these Democrats who have power are not going to, are very loathe to give it up very easily. I never thought personally that he would ever resign whatsoever.

The report must have been completely damning. And what's most important is that because he was having erosion of political support in his own Democratic Party, the impeachment under New York law would have caused him to have to step aside. It's similar to the Nixon situation when your own people come to you and say, it doesn't look good. We don't have the votes. It's time for you to step aside.

You need to do that. That's probably what happened here. It's not the Republicans who caused him to have to step aside and to resign. It's probably the erosion of support in his Democratic base. That's exactly correct. In fact, Associated Press is reporting, Harry, that a majority of the New York Assembly would have ousted Governor Cuomo if he did not in fact resign.

I think that is correct. And so I think his support in New York had already been diminished before these allegations came to the fore, in part because of his mishandling of the COVID crisis, putting COVID positive patients back into nursing homes. That was not enough to push him out of office. But I think these clear and apparently unmistakable allegations, which have a lot of credibility behind them concerning sexual harassment, that was enough to turn the entire state against him. And I think it's very important to remember that it was the Democrats who decided that he should go.

And since he lost no support, I'm sorry, he retained zero support from Democrats, he decided to go on his own. That is probably the best outcome for the people of the state of New York. And I think the other issue, and Andy may have some knowledge about this, the other issue that we'll face, Mr. Cuomo, is whether or not there will be criminal referrals.

Yeah. So Andy, there were allegations in there that touched on criminality. And in fact, some prosecutors, I think Westchester and also Long Island have said they are looking into potential criminal cases here. Yeah, and as well they should.

As well they should. The report is a very damning report of the Attorney General. And this has been a decades long problem with now ex-governor, soon to be ex-governor Cuomo. And there needs to be an investigation into the acts, practices and transactions that he is engaged in with sexual attacks and gropings and other similar conduct with respect to women and to others in the state of New York that needs to be looked at by the local district attorneys.

Let's be fair. You're after President Trump. You're looking at him for some silly tax charge that results in nothing but the payment of a fine and a little interest. You're not going to let the governor of New York, who may be very well guilty of criminal infractions of the sex laws, go unpunished.

I think what's good for the goose is good for the gander. You know, it's interesting to me also, and I don't know how this plays out, is the impact that this has on the, and we'll look at this during the break, the transition of power. So the lieutenant governor normally would become the governor. Now New York is having some serious issues still with COVID as the rest of the country is. So Governor Cuomo said, I don't know if we have the sound, said he was doing this to get out of the way of the, basically what was going on.

I mean, the idea being that he, you know, he was being a distraction and that it would be worse for the people in New York. We're hearing from people in New York. Our phone lines are open at 800-684-3110. Let me go to Joe who's calling from New York now on line one. Joe, you're on the air. Hi Jay. Hey, love you guys, by the way. Thank you for your hard work. I, I'm an upstate New Yorker by the way.

I live where the big red Cornell university is. And I am so glad that this man is stepping aside. Unfortunately, it's, he's not doing it. It's not being publicized about his coverup of what he did, putting COVID-19. It is getting national coverage now. I think all of this has created where that is now becoming public, but go ahead. So one thing, this is Lieutenant Governor, I want to try to be optimistic.

She, I've heard her on our local radio station. She has done several interviews and she, I'm, I'm pleasantly, I'm optimistic that she's going to do a good job. Well, look, you're one of the largest economies in the world, not just in the United States, one of the largest economies in the world. So for all of us, we, Harry, from a policy standpoint, you want there to be a smooth transition of power.

Yes you do. But you also want to see an increase in the level of confidence in, competence, sorry, in the governor's office. And I certainly hope the caller's optimism plays out going forward.

I think Governor Cuomo has not been a competent governor for the last several years on a number of fronts, but nonetheless, the national media has provided cover for him and basically lifted him up as a paragon, for instance, with respect to COVID, even though New York and New Jersey have the highest death rate per a hundred thousand, I believe in the United States. Yep. So, I mean, this is, this is huge news, folks. I mean, we were watching it this morning to see if we needed to cover it.

Obviously we're going to give you analysis. We're taking your calls at 800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110. The governor of one of the most, one of the largest economies in the world, certainly in the United States, but in the world is resigning. No one thought that Andrew Cuomo would voluntarily resign, but apparently the political pressure, and we're going to talk about what that means when we come back from the break, became too much for him to bear. He knew what was inevitable.

It's like Andy said earlier that what was going to happen was going to put a situation in place where there was no real option for him politically. That means your voice gets heard. We'll take your calls at 800-684-3110. If you're in New York or elsewhere, we want to hear from you on this big story. 1-800-684-3110.

Back with more in a moment. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

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

Hey, everybody. We've got breaking news, and that is the governor of the state of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has resigned effective in 14 days. This comes after the report issued by the attorney general of New York, Attorney General James, where she made allegations against Governor Cuomo with regard to unconsented. That's a lack of consent, inappropriate touching, and even further than that, and that resulted in a political reality for the governor.

He maintained his innocence. He talked about it in the last couple of weeks, but this is what he said just about an hour, not even an hour ago. Take a listen. I think that given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing, and therefore that's what I'll do, because I work for you, and doing the right thing is doing the right thing for you. The political reality of what happened to him, his political base eroded in the New York legislature, Andy, which was going to result in impeachment proceedings, which would have required him to step aside.

Yeah, that's exactly correct analysis, Jay. Look, Cuomo was an entrenched, corrupt, democratic New York politician. He was supported by the Democratic Party. No matter what he did, was going to be supported and found to be appropriate. Now, suddenly, the report comes out, the Democrats start running for cover in the New York General Legislative Assembly, and they say, we don't want him anymore, he's no good.

He's done these terrible things, not only with the COVID debacle and fiasco, but also in these sexual allegations. So, his own Democrats are leaving him just like the Republicans left Nixon in the 70s, and once your own political base erodes and your own political friends leave you and let you go, and you see the handwriting on the wall and you know that it's coming, you might as well quit. And so, he takes out and says, oh, I'm doing this for the good of the people. What he's doing is because he knows the reality of the politics and he can count the votes just like we can count the votes, and he didn't have them. When you have a representative democracy, Harry, this is what happens. I mean, this is a good thing. I mean, with no ill will to anybody here, this is how a representative democracy works, a constitutional republic.

I think you're precisely correct. So, what we have in this particular case is a political surrender by a long defiant state executive, and this long defiant state executive can still count the votes. And he saw that he was lacking support. His support cratered.

And so, after attacking President Trump relentlessly, Cuomo's longstanding chickens have now come home to roost. And so, I think he basically said he needed to go, and I think it's difficult to disagree with him. All right. So, we're going to be taking a break in a minute and 40 seconds.

I want to encourage you, if you're watching right now, to share this feed with your friends. Joining us next, Rick Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and director of national intelligence. We're going to get his take on this. We're going to give you more analysis. We're going to take the calls that are coming in. In fact, do we have time to take Tom's call? Yeah, so we can. Tom, go ahead. You're on the air.

Yeah, I'm a lifelong resident of Western New York. Great. I've been a long-time supporter of ACLJ, and God bless you for all your work.

Thanks. I guess I had a little insight that I wanted to comment on, Cuomo, but his main downfall was he was on television every day. One day during this COVID, he said that, you don't have God to thank for the decrease in COVID, you have yourselves to thank. Yeah. And I just think that shades of the Titanic here, God. I remember that statement, Tom. I remember when he said it, and I said, that is when you are asking for trouble.

But again, you live in a constitutional Republican, the New York legislature, he didn't have the support. That's what happens. All right, Rick Grenell's joining us. You want to share this feed with your friends.

We're staying live on Facebook and our social media platforms. Call us at 1-800-684-3110, especially in New York, but elsewhere too. California looking at a recall for a very different reason of a governor.

You can have an earthquake between New York and California in 14, well, six weeks, September 14th. 1-800-684-3110. That's 800-684-3110. Support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. Talking about breaking news. Big day here, folks.

800-684-3110. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

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

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

Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, 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. All right, everybody, we've got breaking news. The governor of the state of New York is resigning effective in 14 days. Andrew Cuomo said that for the betterment of New York, he was gonna resign. Joining us now is our senior advisor on international affairs and also national security, but also served as the director of national intelligence and ambassador Germany and is in California also. So, it's gonna be an interesting thing now.

You got New York with a governor resigning and you got a recall effort out in California. Rick, let's first go to New York for our audience now that's listening on radio. We were talking to our Facebook audience.

By the way, if you wanna talk to us on air, 1-800-684-3110 and we'll take your phone calls if you're from New York or elsewhere, California 2-800-684-3110. You talk to our audience on our social media platforms, but let's talk again. Your initial reaction to this, Rick?

Look, I have two quick thoughts. One is this is a win for those of us who wanna fight. When we push back against the politicians who clearly are abusing their office or who have bad policies, we can win no matter what they say. Remember, Cuomo said he was never going to resign. But in the face of getting pushback, when we fight, we can win.

That's the first thought. The second thing is, remember, this is how Washington works. Cuomo is not in trouble for all of the killings that happen in the nursing homes and the misinformation that he put out there. And the fact that he made money by pretending that he managed COVID in a positive way when he didn't.

He's not in trouble for any of these deaths in the nursing homes. He's in trouble because he was caught in a sexual harassment allegation campaign. And so let's just remember how Washington works, that you don't always have to look at the exact issue when we're trying to get someone who is a bad player to remove them from office. We have to play the game.

And I think at ACLJ, we know how to play the game. Yeah. You know, it's interesting also, Rick, this is a governor that signed probably the most aggressive abortion law in the world. I'm not saying in the United States, I mean, in the world.

It was basically abortion up to birth. And then he made that statement, that the earlier call reference where he said, don't thank God for these, the COVID numbers were coming down, basically thank him. I mean, and thank yourselves.

I mean, this is the reality of the arrogance that you see here, but it's deeper than that. And we're taking your calls at 800-684-3110 about this. An interesting call coming in from Roberta, cause you mentioned the nursing home situation, Rick. Roberta from Colorado is on line two. Roberta, go ahead.

You're on the air. Yes. I just wanted to know if the charges against him will remain and if he can be convicted under those charges.

Okay. So the investigations are ongoing, Andy. Now handed over from the state attorney general to the DA in Manhattan, but also to the DA in Westchester County and to the DA in Long Island. And I don't know what the status of the nursing home investigations are that would normally be handled by the, uh, I would think the, the counties where it took place, where the deaths took place.

Andy. Yeah, that's the normal procedure is the district attorneys for each of the places where these events have taken place would come in and would look and see and make a determination factually whether there was enough evidence to pursue against this former governor now criminally. Uh, and as Harry mentioned earlier, you know, he, he, uh, Cuomo for years and years just completely tried to devastate President Trump and to say terrible things about him and to criticize him and to condemn him and to say that he didn't do this and didn't do that. And now he's getting his comeuppance.

It all comes back. The world is a big circle and everything you do comes back, uh, to roost and his chickens have now come back to roost with the district attorneys. And let's see if Cy Vance now has the courage. He took on President Trump. Let's see if he has the courage to take on some of these, uh, allegations that have been made against, uh, uh, governor Cuomo and whether or not he has the courage to prosecute him for these, uh, uh, uh, horn sexual conduct that he has engaged in for years and years and years.

I want to say allegedly, cause he's not been proved guilty in a court of law, just to be clear here, everybody's presumed, but that's in a court of law in the court of public opinion and in court of politics. Let me tell you what's happened. The speaker of the New York assembly, New York state assembly said he should resign. The New York state assemblyman that was close to him resigned. Uh, it just kept the list just kept getting longer and longer.

His number, I think his senior aid also Rick resigned. So what happened was the political, this is what we need to explain to everybody the way the government works. You are, it's a represent, like you said, Rick, it's a representative constitutional Republic and in the States it's similarly situated.

And when your political base erodes, because as you said, people are pushing back and that then affects the state legislatures, which controlled his ability to stay in office because they were talking about impeachment. That is all very serious. Yeah. So let's be very clear.

You're you're right, Jay. Uh, governor Cuomo had a political problem and a legal problem today by resigning, he sold his political problem, but his legal problems should continue. And I pray to God that we don't have a bunch of prosecutors who are so political that they ignore the law and the legal issue simply because the political problems are solved. They are two separate issues.

They should be treated as separate issues and the legal prosecution, uh, should never interfere with politics. Yeah. I'm my concern here.

I think you're right. Uh, and I want to tie the situation. You've got a situation in California. So New York, one of the largest economies of the world, of course, one of the largest economies in the United States. And then you've got a recall effort going on in California where you could be seeing the governor of California replaced another gigantic economy, world, world size economy.

And this is happening simultaneously like two earthquakes on different, different reasons. I don't want to, let's say there's no allegations on, on Gavin Newsom that were the same type that we're on, um, with regard to governor Cuomo, this was as it relates to, um, governor Newsom, it's governance. And this was to, to governor Cuomo too.

But I think the allegations against him on the unconsented touching is what sent this off. What does it look like in California right now, Rick? Because I mean, this is in a matter of literally he's resigning in two weeks, which means, you know, in less than a month's time, you could have two governors of the two largest populated States where I think top three resigning or being taken out of office.

Yeah. Look, governor Newsom, uh, right now is faced with a September 14th recall, unfortunately, because the, the, his party controls everything in the state. They are, we are not going to the polls. It's all mail in ballots. And the woman that he put in charge of the secretary of state's, uh, office here in, in California, she's just announced that now we can do print at home ballots. So you can go on the website, print your ballot and then send it in. I mean, Rick, has anybody brought any illegal chair that, that, I mean, there is no protection in election integrity. I mean, Harry Hutchinson, our director of policy almost fell out of his, Harry, go ahead.

Now let you talk, but I want to see if anybody's doing anything about this. Well, essentially it's based on what Rick has said, the state of California is encouraging fraud. Um, and, and certainly, you know, my, um, uh, 27 year old child, let's say located in Florida could vote in California. Um, I'm printing the form off their computer in the form off a computer or sending an N with a California address.

Uh, this, uh, makes no sense. It's basically an invitation to fraud. And I think California has probably been a notably loose state in the past. Rick, look, there's a lot of problems in the state of California. I need to say this about California. You know, if we look at our entire radio audience, you're some of our largest audiences in California, some of our most generous donors are in California. So this is not an attack on you. Obviously it's an attack on the way your state's being run, but Rick, has anybody brought any kind of legal challenge or thought about legal challenges on this?

I know these rules have just come out like in the last 48 hours. What's the latest on that front? So it just came out and, uh, as everybody knows, I announced that I was not going to run for, for governor in this recall. And one of the reasons I, I, which is bad for California, good for us, bad for California, but good for us.

Thanks. What, what I really believe is, is that we've got to do some fundamental fixes. And so I have a five Oh one C four called fix California. You can go to fix California.com and we are looking at this challenge. Not only do we believe that we should go and have voter IDs, but we are suing every single County in the state of California to clean up their voter rolls. As part of this, we are looking at strategic lawsuits like, uh, the printing of ballots at home, like an emergency order that Newsome has in place still because of COVID to have mail in ballot only elections. We think that goes too far.

His emergency orders are still in place and it's an outrage. And this is exactly what one party rule looks like. And we've got to clean it up.

And that's what we're trying to do at six. You know, Rick, as you know, we just filed a brief in California, got a lot of attention, excuse me, in Georgia on this, Andy, on the same kind of issues. Uh, so we're primed on this, Rick, but I, so, you know, talk to us, uh, when we're off air, but I will tell you, Andy, you look at this, this election integrity, we only got 40 seconds here, by the way, social media, ACLJ.org, we're staying live through the breaks radio, obviously have a commercial come back to, if you want to talk to us 800-684-3110, but Andy looking at it, we just filed that brief on a lot of these same kind of issues. We just did. And it really, to me, for the justice department to come after the state of Georgia for a law that does nothing but ensure voter integrity and allow something like this to happen in California, where you print your own ballot is an outrage to me.

They ought to be treated equally. Yeah. We're going to, we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk to Rick during the break here and our entire team, obviously, if you're just joining us, Governor Cuomo resigns effective in 14 days. We're taking your calls 800-684-3110. Your comments also on social media, 1-800-684-3110.

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Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Hey, welcome back. We've got our whole team here.

Rick Grenell is with us and Harry Hutchison and Andy Cahnemann. We're talking about the breaking news, which is that the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, who I thought when he started the speech, Rick was not going to resign. He's a tough guy. He's been difficult on our policy issues, horrible on the issue of abortion, had to mess with sending COVID patients into nursing homes. But then there was this devastating report that came out of the attorney general's office with these allegations of unconsented touching.

That's what it's called legally. And that puts now the lieutenant governor in place. I want to go to Ashley. She's from New York. If you want to talk to us, especially New York or California, 800-684-3110. Ashley, go ahead. You're on the air. Thank you so much for taking my call. Born and raised in upstate New York. You know, I want to be optimistic about this news, but I don't know what to expect from a lieutenant governor.

What should I expect? Well, I mean, I think right now you would, you have to, this is what we hope for, for New York. And I think all of us would agree with this, a smooth transition of power because your economy is one of the largest economies in the world. New York is the financial center of the world and New York city is just starting to come back.

Not so well, because of the recent variant of the COVID virus. So, you know, what we want is a smooth transition. This doesn't mean, Rick, that the Republicans are now in charge. They're not, but it meant that the New York base couldn't take this anymore.

That's what it really said. And I also think it means that the reset gives an opportunity for collaboration, at least discussion. This new governor in 14 days in New York is not going to be in the position to just do whatever they want. They're going to have to reach out. The state needs healing.

People are upset. The media are even focused on this. This is an opportunity for politicians to actually collaborate. And what that means for Republicans in New York is they now have a chance to sit at the table.

Yes. And I think that that's a big issue. Now I am concerned that whenever you have these transitions, Andy, things can fall through the cracks and that's where you got to watch it. In California, as Rick just said, you had this whole change in the voting for this upcoming recall. I mean, there were some reports I was seeing just in the last week that Newsom's numbers had started falling significantly and then all of a sudden they changed the voting.

So in New York, you have to make sure nothing falls through the cracks here, Andy. Well, that's exactly why we have prosecutors and prosecutors who should not be motivated by political reasons. That's what concerns me in New York because the whole machine is controlled by the Democrats. Are the prosecutors now that the political aspect, as Ambassador Grenell said, has been solved by his resignation, is the legal aspect going to be just put on the table? And are they going to say, oh, he's gone. Let's forget what he did. There may have been criminal acts, but he's no longer the governor. Let's go on to other things. They wouldn't have said that if President Trump had been implicated. Are they going to say with Cuomo, are they going to have the vote, the legal courage now, the legal courage to look at the acts that he engaged in that led to his resignation?

That's what's going to count. Let's go ahead. Let's take Sharon who's calling on line one. Sharon, you're on the air. Hi there.

Thank you for all you do. My concern is, did he resign so that he could maybe run again? I don't trust him. I don't think there's a prohibition against him running again. I think there's a two-term limit in New York consecutive.

I don't think I'd have to check. He's served for 10 years already. Yeah, that's right.

You're right. He has already served for 10 years. So, oh, look, could he have a political resurgence?

Harry, this is New York. Of course he could. Absolutely. And so if he could weather the legal storm going forward, who knows? He could perhaps make a comeback in 18 months or so. I think in New York, virtually anything is possible. And I think New Yorkers, perhaps different from other states, they may be willing to overlook his history. Rick, from your perspective here, looking at California and the change there, and I know you've got your C4 that's working on this, is there a chance that there is a recall of Newsom or do you think it's just the numbers not going to line up with this voting situation? I mean, there's always a chance. There's a chance.

I absolutely think there's a chance, and we need to encourage people to get out there. Remember, it's a two-question ballot. One is, do you want to recall Gavin Newsom? And two, if that question one gets 50% and he's gone, then who should replace him is the second question. And that's just whoever gets the most votes, right? That is whoever gets the most votes. You could win with 10% if there's enough people splitting the vote in question two.

I think that there's an absolute chance, but we have to be able to have a fair shot. And what's frustrating to me is that one party controlling of the state, which has emergency powers in place, still claiming because of COVID we can't go to the polls so everything has to be done via mail, and now this new rule that you can print your ballot at home and then send it in without an ID attached. And so I firmly believe the recklessness and the fraud that is being encouraged, we've got to go back to having in-person voting and you must show an ID.

If you don't want the rule that you have to show your ID in order to vote, then I think it's suspect you're trying to cheat. You know, I think you're right. Going back to Governor Cuomo, this is what he said about his own administration. You talk about, and that's why Rick says Republicans have a chance to at least get a seat at the table.

Take a listen, number 10. We made New York State the progressive capital of the nation. No other state government accomplished more to help people. And that is what it's all about. You know, that is a very nice platitude, Harry.

It's a nice platitude. The fact is they had the most aggressive abortion position of any place in the world, not just in the United States, in the world. And Governor Cuomo wants to ignore that. And he also wants to ignore the fact that the abortion industry in New York disproportionately has an adverse effect on African Americans and Latinos. So he claims to be a quote unquote progressive. Well, that is what a progressive governor looks like.

All right. So let me go back to Rick and I got something quickly here, Fran, if we have time. Rick, what would California look like if Newsom is recalled? And then of course, with Cuomo also out in New York. Yeah, if Newsom is recalled, he will be replaced by a Republican because the only Republicans are running on question two. And that Republican would be alone in Sacramento with a supermajority in the Senate and a supermajority in the assembly against the person. It's going to be a tough road, but certainly it would encourage a lot of conservatives to get involved. What we found at myfixcalifornia.com, 501c4, so far we've found 1.3 million conservatives in California unregistered to vote. That's an initial perusing of the data, 1.3 million.

We know it will go up, but we're going after everyone. Good job. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Rick. Andy, quickly here.

We got 50 seconds left. What do you think the next move in New York is? Obviously he goes, he tries to say, that's enough punishment.

I'm out of office. Yeah, well, he may succeed with a district attorney like Cyrus Vance and some of the others in the counties. He shouldn't, there should be an investigation. Grand jury should be convened. They should look at his criminal conduct alleged as alleged in the attorney general's report.

And if, and if he's guilty, then he ought to be prosecuted. All right, folks, that does it for what a Newsday. Covered a lot of information. I thank our team for getting all that breaking information up.

That was not easy and they did a great job. Folks, again, share this be with your friends so that they can see it later in the, in the, in the day. And again, support the work of the ACLJ, ACLJ.org.

Talk to you tomorrow. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20. A $50 gift becomes 100. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org.