BREAKING: Supreme Court Declines to Block Texas Abortion Ban

Breaking news today on Sekulow as the US Supreme Court declines to block the Texas abortion ban.

What does that mean moving forward? Here is the order from the United States Supreme Court if you are watching us on Facebook, Periscope, YouTube, and by the way, Rumble now. We've always been, the show has always been posted up at Rumble on the ACLJ account, but Rumble is now live streaming and they're actually featuring the Sekulow broadcast today on their app home page. So if you utilize Rumble, if you're listening on radio, and that's an app you use, we'll be live streaming now the broadcast each day, noon to 1pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. So again, hello to everybody who's watching on Rumble.

I encourage you, if you like using that app, that's another great place now not to just watch the show, which we were doing each day uploading it, but actually to be the live show you can now see as Rumble has launched live streaming. So out of Texas, we have this, I will call it this, it's a step forward kind of victory. It is not what it has been made out to be by the left. Listen, it's always good when a pro-life law is able to go into force. The question here is how long will this law survive? And the difference here is, I want to, by the way, make the distinction right off the bat, this is different than the case out of Mississippi, which the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear.

Let me go right to C.C. Howe, Senior Counsel with the ACLJ. C.C., this case, it's basically a six-week abortion ban or fetal heartbeat ban. The unique part about this is while the state is putting the ban in place, the enforcement is not done by any state actors.

That's correct. So with this bill, the enforcement is with private citizens. So the ruling that the Supreme Court came down with yesterday denying the injunction really was on procedural basis because they didn't bring basically the right defendant. They came after a judge and not the private citizens. So it was a procedural ruling and not one substantively on abortion, the right to life or the right to abortion. You know, I want to go to Harry on this too quickly because, Harry, we'll get into this when we come back from the break a little bit more. And we're going to talk to Rick Grenell about Afghanistan today, former acting Director of National Intelligence, a team member at the ACLJ.

So we'll be talking Afghanistan as well. But, Harry, on this too, the procedural issue here is key because in the 5-4 decision, it was five conservative justices on the court. Chief Justice Roberts joined the liberals of the court in saying that this injunction should have been granted. It is not.

This law has gone into effect in Texas. The left is going crazy. But, ultimately, what the Supreme Court decided on was a technical issue.

Absolutely. So the left's response to this entirely procedural decision verges on the hysterical. And so many individuals in the left, including Michael Moore and Dan Rather, suggest that this decision and similar decisions by the Supreme Court basically makes one point and one point only that evangelical Christians who support this particular bill have become America's Taliban. This is nonsense on stilts. And then we have President Biden suggesting that the Supreme Court in its procedural decision has engaged in what? Unconstitutional chaos.

And he fails to remember his own chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. When we come back, we're going to break this down more on the life side of this, how it will affect, of course, the major case up at the Supreme Court out of Mississippi in this fall term. So we'll talk about all of that, these life issues coming to a head, and also get into Afghanistan as well. A lot of information up at aclj.org. That's aclj.org. So I encourage you, as always, to utilize the resources that are available at the American Center for Law Justice, our social media and again now live streaming the broadcast each day on rubble. So welcome to that audience as well.

We'll be right back on secular. The challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack. It's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice for decades now. The ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

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

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

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

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

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Secular. So I want to break this down and kind of contrast.

One, this is different. I just want to make it clear right off the bat, this is different than the Mississippi law, the 20-week abortion ban. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear actual oral argument on this coming term.

So put that aside for a second. I'm not going to say it doesn't all get related, but it is very different at what stage in the court it is. This law in Texas is at the very early stage of state court, which is one of the issues that the Supreme Court justices who favored allowing the law go into effect. They said, listen, the lawsuit here is against the judge. They're able to make a decision whether or not they want to issue an injunction or not. That is, again, so who is the defendant? Because this law is unique, and I want to go to C.C.

Howell about this. C.C., the difference here, and one of the key differences between what Mississippi is doing, not just the timing of this, but also it's the enforcement. The state has put this restriction in place but has taken a hands-off approach to enforcement and then created, and this is all pretty unique, a civil action for private citizens to take against abortionists or the abortion providers. If this case ultimately does make its way through the courts, that's going to be very unique for the courts to handle, because it does present the question for the pro-abortion side of who would they file a lawsuit against to stop this law.

But the creation of the law is so interesting that at the ACLJ, we're already getting phone calls from other states saying, hey, we'd look at something similar if we think if this is more successful long-term. We don't know how that's going to work out through the courts. It was a very narrow decision just on an injunction, and I think it was rightfully decided because it was about the wrong — they're saying you're suing the wrong person here.

You're asking for the wrong injunction. But that is one of the keys to this and the way that Texas designed this. That's right. So they gave this bill, this law that was signed into law, gave a private right of action. So it's a private citizen that enforces this law, not the government.

And so that is the issue. And again, it's very important to point out that the court did not rule on whether this law was constitutional or not. They simply stated that procedurally it was not brought correctly, that they did not name the correct defendants. And the five justices that ruled that way, it was not about abortion. It was about you did not follow procedural law. Harry, when we look at this case and we compare it to something like the case coming to Mississippi, what we do know is these are all going to be close. Here we have another 5-4 on an injunction. You have the chief justice who sided with the liberals that basically this was so unconstitutional we have to stop it.

It doesn't really matter. We'll have to find somebody. That should be the person to stop it. But I think a bigger picture takeaway from this is we're going to fight out all these battles. But we know what the left is going to utilize this already for, which is the idea that this is a court that needs additional justices. Thus, we should pack the court.

Absolutely. So this will become a cause celebre for the left. They will essentially emphasize this for two reasons. One, they can fundraise off this particular procedural decision.

And then number two, Joe Biden is happy to talk about this particular case because it draws or distracts the American public from looking at his own failures in Afghanistan. But I would also suggest that what we are dealing with increasingly in the United States is a secular theocracy. And basically they have elevated abortion to perhaps one of their sacraments, unfortunately. And so I think the American people, particularly those that believe in the pro-life cause, they should settle in for a long and difficult fight. And they should be prepared perhaps for some setbacks along the way, particularly in dealing with Justice Roberts, who was appointed by a Republican, was allegedly a conservative, but increasingly leans to the left. So I think the forecast going forward for pro-life legislation is very, very tenuous at best. But we should also push back against the notion that this particular bill, this particular lawsuit, and this particular decision basically is grounded in the notion that it's procedural rather than an attack on Roe v. Wade. But also we should note that Roe v. Wade is not in the Constitution, that Roe v. Wade itself is questionable. And that many people on the left, when they were in their rational mind, such as Lawrence Tribe and John Hart Ely, they basically suggested that the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade was indefensible. So at the end of the day, the claim that Roe v. Wade is quote-unquote part of the Constitution makes no sense unless you are simply trying to advance that idea for political purposes. So you see, one thing I noted when you look at the makeup here, and again it was procedural, but you see that Chief Justice Roberts was not able to convince any of the other conservatives to go along with this, even though this is being considered one of the more extreme examples of state action to limit abortions.

He wasn't able to convince a Kavanaugh type to come along. And the left on the court, they were of course, if it's abortion, it's got to be unconstitutional. It doesn't matter about all these other procedural issues. It gets treated differently.

It always has. We've talked about abortion distortion before. But there is a major case that is set. This one could take much longer to get to the court.

We already have one on 20 weeks that is going to be heard by the court, the Dobbs case out of Mississippi. And I want to make sure people understand that whatever happens with this Texas case, you can read some in between the lines, but I don't think too much. Not as much as the left is hoping you will try to read into the lines, because the Dobbs case is the one that they are going to likely, after hearing it, have an opinion on the merits.

Correct. So what you said exactly about abortion distortion, we can see that here, because we see four justices that are willing to throw out procedural law, which I believe they would have agreed with on any other case. However, because this case deals with abortion, they're willing to say it doesn't matter. And even some of the dissenting opinions were basically saying, yes, this was not brought properly, but because it's abortion, we need to hear it.

So you see that abortion distortion is at play here. However, just like you said, this is not about this case was a procedural case and issue. This is not like the Dobbs case, which actually addresses the issue of abortion and Roe v. Wade. And just like Harry appropriately pointed out, the judicially fabricated right to abortion that Roe v. Wade created. That's not at issue here. Again, it was procedural. It will be at issue in the Dobbs case.

Yeah. And Harry, in that case, that is the state enforcement. So the difference here, Texas is looking at, I understand why other states are already coming to the ACLJ, because they're looking at saying, well, if the state is not the actor, and that's what Roe v. Wade was all about, state actors preventing abortion, that potentially this could be a unique way. And listen, the court hasn't made a final decision on it.

I don't want to say that won't work. This is why it's so unique and I think why we see the Planned Parenthoods of the world, and listen, it's gone into effect. So the Planned Parenthoods of the world, the abortion industry is up in arms.

Absolutely. And so Planned Parenthood in Texas has basically sent out advice to its employees to stop doing these abortions because they don't know who will be held liable. Under the Texas law, an Uber driver who drives a pregnant woman to an abortion clinic could indeed be held liable. And so at the end of the day, I have to hand it to the state of Texas, excuse me, because they were very, very creative in crafting this law. And I think it also sends a signal to other states that they need to think outside of the box in order to limit the practice of abortion in the United States. But keep in mind that the pro-abortion, pro-eugenics crowd, they will attack with full force any attempt to limit abortion, even if it's provable that the fetus is indeed a human being.

And in some states already, we have an abortion practice that essentially allows abortion up to the moment of birth. CC, I think finally, we've just got a minute left in this segment. By the way, folks, Rick Rinnell is going to be joining us next time.

We're going to get into some of Afghanistan as well. But we're going to get to this topic in the second half hour, 1-800-684-3110. If you've got a question for us, that's 1-800 or comment on this, 1-800-684-3110.

Our phone lines are now open. But CC, what is important, I think, is that we see at the state level, there are so many pro-life state legislators and governors, and they are looking at creative ways to fight back for the pro-life position. Yeah, it's very encouraging.

Very encouraging. And I think that is so important, folks, is that the states, you know, these are states that, yes, maybe this didn't work, maybe this will work, maybe we can do this. What that means is that the people being elected are dedicated, dedicated to fighting for the life of the unborn as we are at the ACLJ.

That doesn't mean you get victories every way, path along the way. Right now in Texas, this law is in force. Don't know if that will be the case months from now, but I do know it is right now.

We'll be right back with Rick Rinnell. 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. 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.

Folks, welcome back to Sekulow. Getting back into Afghanistan, we're joined by Rick Rinnell, a senior advisor to the ACLJ on national security and foreign policy. Rick, this transcript that leaked, I mean, listen, going through the first impeachment trial as an attorney for the President, you know, these leaked transcripts, I'm not always a fan of this happening by the bureaucracy with its world leaders, though we talked about it yesterday with our director of government affairs, Stan Bennett, that this kind of transcript would be available to a lot of members of Congress who could do oversight. Could do oversight on it without it being leaked to the public, but it has been.

And it's not being denied that this is not correct. And what we found here in the transcript is President Biden, I'll read it again for people in our audiences, he's talking to President Ghani July 23rd. By August 15th, by the way, President Ghani fled Afghanistan, was gone and the Kabul was falling at that point. But on this phone call, he says to President Ghani from President Biden, I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe is that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban.

And there's a need, and this is I think the key point, whether it's true or not, there's a need to project a different picture. That was from President Biden. General Milley followed up with a similar phone call as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and how he's concerned about the United States, the perception in the U.S., in Europe, and the media is that there's Taliban momentum and the narrative of Taliban victory. Very different, Rick, than again, so we'll get Rick reconnected, but we want to talk to Rick about this because when you look at this, okay, so you see again, you've got the President asking another President to mislead the people about the truth about what's going on on the ground. Of course, that President wasn't willing to do it. And then you have a general, the top general, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who says, you know, I would like, again, let's change the narrative. I'm worried about the media. Let me go to Rick Renell on this.

Rick, I think we reconnected now. The idea that we have a world leader asking another world leader to ignore the facts on the ground and just try to play into a narrative that helps him in the media world. And the same thing from the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That's where their head was as we were in the midst of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, retakeover of Afghanistan, and a withdrawal of our troops. Look, I think the most troubling part of this whole leaked audio is that it just shows that this was a decision made for politics, not because the facts on the ground were telling us to do so.

We shouldn't have closed Bagram, obviously. We should have listened to the intelligence officers, the State Department officials, the Pentagon officials who started saying in March and April that the Taliban were on the march. And the warning signs were all given to the political people.

But Jake Sullivan and Joe Biden did not listen to the warnings. Even now we have this audio recording showing not only did they not listen to the warnings, but they ignored the warnings and tried to spin it a different way. They wanted everyone to be on the same page that somehow the Taliban was defeated when the Taliban wasn't defeated.

The Taliban was on the march. And so I think this is a case where it shows the politics shamefully coming in as the priority rather than the safety of Americans, the safety of our national security and listening to the experts on the ground. One thing, part of your career, you've been a communications expert at the United Nations and before serving as ambassador and acting director of national intelligence. When I look at someone who talks to everybody every day through this radio broadcast is that what was the goal of these communications? I mean, short term, maybe sub, but long term, if you know, as President Biden and General Milley are telling President Ghani, that the facts on the ground are not what the narrative is going to be. What's the goal of that then? I mean, ultimately, if you know it's all going to crumble very soon, was it to buy time or is it just to placate our media at home and the international media that was starting to bear down on the Biden team?

It still is. I think the goal was to put a nice bow on his politics and to pretend like we've defeated the Taliban. I don't think you can come to any other conclusion, Jordan, other than President Biden was caught on audio asking another leader, another world leader to lie. And to lie so that he could save face, so that he could look like his politics were working. And what's shameful about this is that we have General Milley going along with it. I know General Milley and I cannot believe that he didn't stand up and say something. Somehow in this administration, General Milley has been afraid to stand up to Biden. He's playing their politics. He's talking about the big crisis that they face is wokeism and white supremacists in the military.

I mean, it's just what happened to him? Media narratives. I mean, why is our chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff calling a President of a foreign country about media narratives, Rick? I mean, that just seems like a wasted phone call from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, especially when you already got the President of the United States making the same pitch.

I mean, they thought that was their last ditch effort to, as you said, put the bow on it. But that's troubling that a military leader is making phone calls on media and how this is playing out in the media. Very troubling because what they're trying to do is fix the politics of this and fix the perceptions rather than dig deep and do what they're supposed to do, which is give advice on the safety for Americans, what's best for America. We all know that Bagram shouldn't have been closed. We all know now that General Miller, who was in charge of Bagram, did not recommend closing Bagram. That's going to come out as soon as our senators call for hearings, which hopefully is soon.

But also, Jordan, we got to say one thing. After hearing this audio and seeing the proof that President Biden and General Milley were asking Ghani to lie, to cover up the reality on the ground to fix their politics, our media in the United States are completely covering up for the ruling party. I looked at the websites for the leading mainstream media outlets, and it's shameful how they are not making this a bigger deal.

And yet, no one will be surprised that the DC media are covering up for the Democrats, covering up for the ruling party. This is why first and second generation Americans are like the canary in the coal mines for us here in America. They're screaming, this is the slide to fascism, this is the slide to socialism and totalitarianism. The first and second generation Americans are screaming the loudest about what's happening in America. And you know who's not listening? All those people in Washington, DC, who are fat and happy, they just think these issues are going to fix themselves. Well, I've got news for them.

Ronald Reagan warned us that every single generation has to fight for their freedom, and we better fight for our freedom or it's going to slip away. It does seem, Rick, and we only got a minute left, that they have made a miscalculation, at least in the short term. We'll have to see how it plays out in the long term. In the short term, the confidence level from the American people has dropped significantly in this administration since Afghanistan. I mean, you combine all these different things, but with that approval rating down to 43%, that includes Democrats.

A drop of 10 points among independents down to 36%. So there are some ramifications from the Biden team, but with just 40 seconds left here, this Afghanistan issue, they are trying to shift that it's kind of over for us. That's my fear, is that this is just beginning again as a hotbed for a safe haven for terrorists to attack us from overseas. On Tuesday, I spent two hours with President Trump, and President Trump was very clear about being concerned about the weapons that are now in the hands of our enemies. We've seen pictures of some of these weapons going into Iran. This is going to get worse. They have our technology and our weapons.

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

ACLJ.org. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow.

There's a lot we could have talked about with Rick right there. He's going to be joining us again tomorrow live on the broadcast, as well as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. They are both team members of the American Center for Law and Justice, and it's been incredible, just as a host of the broadcast, to have them throughout this entire process weighing in on that information. So they will be joining us again tomorrow live on Sekulow.

Let me, again, kind of reset for you if you're just joining us. We started off the show, we talked about out of Texas, this abortion case, the six-week ban is what it's being called, or the heartbeat abortion ban, but how it's unique is that, one, it's in state court right now being litigated. Of course, all these end up getting litigated, but that it's not the state enforcing the law, it's created a private right of action where it's a civil action where a citizen would file against an abortion provider for violating the law or the abortionists themselves. That is the very unique part about this, and why many states have already contacted the ACLJ, because as of right now, because of what the Supreme Court did, this law is in effect in Texas.

I mean, it's not like an idea, it is in effect. How long is a question, because we know it will go through actual litigation, go through the trial court stages, and then potentially find its way back to the federal courts, and maybe ultimately the Supreme Court. But other states are already saying, well, this is an interesting model, because in Roe v. Wade, it says state actors are the ones prohibited from taking action.

What about non-state actors? So it's one example of how creative thinking, again, it's not to say that it will be 100% successful, but that you utilize creative thinking and that we've got great pro-life legislators, governors across the country who are willing to fight for this. We also have the Mississippi case, the Dobbs case at the Supreme Court this term on the 20-week abortion ban. Now that's a more traditional state actor, so they're having to fight against Roe v. Wade. That case really puts Roe v. Wade at issue. The left is going, of course, nuts over what's happening in Texas, the abortion industry. But what the Supreme Court ultimately said in a 5-4 decision to not grant the emergency injunction was that they don't believe that the right defendant was even at issue here. So that they didn't have anyone to enjoin, because the state wasn't the one taking any action against the abortion provider. So they tried, again, these actors who said they weren't taking any action against the abortion provider. So it's one to watch.

It's one to watch also because it could be utilized, it already is being utilized, as a reason to pack the court from the left. So a lot of this will play into, of course, and what happens with the Mississippi case at the Supreme Court as well. So again, we've gotten into that. But I do want to bring in Andy and Thanh.

Andy first, I think you heard our discussion with Rick Grenell at the end of that discussion. We've now seen kind of the fallout from Afghanistan and how it's affecting Joe Biden at home. I mean, the American people, he's only got a 43% approval rating, and he is down to 36% amongst the key independent voter demographic. So while they have tried to shift the narrative, say focus on this crisis, focus on a different crisis, after a 20-year long war with 900,000-plus veterans involved, U.S. men and women involved, the American people do care. The American people very much do care, Jordan, and you're correct. And the President's approval rating of 43% is reflective of a broad community that believes that what he did in the cut-and-run tactic in Afghanistan was shameful.

As I believe it was also. But what was really shameful was telling the President of Afghanistan, here, let me cut a deal with you here. The perception isn't that you're winning. It looks like you're losing. Things are going pretty bad.

So whether it's true or not, whether it's true or not, I want you to change that perception, and I want you to make it look like everything is okay. We're going to go to Washington, D.C. We get back from this break to Thanh Bennett. I want to get his reaction to that, his reaction as well to what we are learning about and what we are doing at the ACLJ through our FOIA on why President Biden abandoned Americans, Afghans who assisted Americans, and religious minorities like Christians in Afghanistan. We've got the FOIA on that, why the crisis response team, that's been filed, so we'll talk about that as well.

If you want to talk to us on 800-684-3110, we'll be right back. 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. We're going to show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, the play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Sekulow.

I want to go right to Thanh Bennett in Washington, DC. Thanh, the numbers that are coming out about the President's approval in the wake of the Afghanistan withdrawal, the fact that we have admitted from the administration that they left Americans behind. The word stranded started being used by the administration and people like Kirby at the Pentagon, and of course, just the optics of everything. The Afghans we left behind is our new blog up today at the ACLJ by me about the Christians left behind, these religious minorities left behind to fend for themselves. So the poll numbers, which again, this is not a Republican approval number, it's nationally, so that includes everybody, it's down to 43% approval, but amongst independents. So when you start looking at groups that are not as partisan, it's down to just 36% job approval. We know they are key in election cycles. There's the midterms coming up. So while the Biden team, I think Thanh may think that long-term for them, their whole strategy has been here, take the hit now, take it early, and people will forget. So they are taking the hit. There are midterm elections around the corner where these Democrat members of Congress will, I think to show if they care what the American people care about, they're going to hold hearings, they're going to hold the team to account. They should be tough on the Biden administration. And if not, this may just be an issue that doesn't go away so quickly because of what we talked about, 20-year war, that means nearly a million Americans involved on the ground.

I mean, that's different than just a one-off event. Yeah, Jordan, I mean, typically political memory is very short, but because of all of the layers involved in this one, I'm not sure it's going to be, because if you really go into some of those polling numbers, you start to peel away the layers. I mean, if you just start at, you know, support for leaving Afghanistan, it's pretty strong, right? If there's no timetable set to it, but then if you go to the next layer and there is a fixed date set and you tell your enemy, you start to lose a little bit of support among the American people, then you go another layer deeper and you say, well, what happens if we leave Afghanistan in a way that leaves Afghan allies behind? Then you start to lose some of those independents and a few Democrats. And then you go to the next layer, Jordan, and this is the one where the support among the President's party really starts to crater.

What if we leave Afghanistan and we leave Americans behind? Jordan, at that point, at that layer, the numbers just literally fall through the floor and that's where the American people are right now. And I'll just tell you, sitting here in Washington, D.C., it is so unusual in this environment for an issue, any issue, even one of this importance, Jordan, for it to happen and for you not to see the party of the President, no matter which party it is, a flocking to his defense. That is not happening, Jordan. Now, look, I can't assure you that later this month when they return to town, the oversight is going to be as vigorous as 13 dead Americans warrants.

But, Jordan, at this moment, you do not see his party coming to his defense. And the reason for that, when those senators, when those members go back to their districts, the numbers that you're talking about, about Vice President Biden, those become their numbers if they say, yes, this was the proper plan. You know, I want to play, a reporter asked Jen Psaki about the transcript, about the phone call saying, you know, telling the Afghan President, well, whether or not it's true or not, we've got to project a narrative to the world. Was that asking the President to push a false narrative? Was that what Joe Biden was doing?

Take a listen, Bite 13. Was the President in any way pushing a false narrative in that call with the Afghan President? I think it's pretty clear. Again, I'm not going to go into details of a private conversation, but what we saw over the course of the last few months is a collapse in leadership. And that was happening even before Ghani left the country. What the President has conveyed repeatedly, privately and publicly is you need to stand up and lead your country. And that's something he said at a press conference in July in public forum as well.

Well, Andy, that's not what he said to the President of Afghanistan. He said, whether it's true or not, he didn't say you need to lead your country. He just needed, he was talking about a media narrative, a narrative to the world.

Hey, talk to people. Whether it's true or not about the collapse, it wasn't about standing up, be a leader. At that point, it was just about a narrative. Yeah, well, of course, the paid mouthpiece of the President, Jen Psaki, who came up through the Obama administration and rose to the top of the cesspool and is now mouthing off of the White House about the party line, is going to take that approach. But when I read the language of the transcript that Reuters had, it's very clear to me in reading the plain language as I was taught in the public schools that he was saying whether or not it's true, you need to give a perception that you're able to hang on and govern. And that's really suborning perjury is what it's doing. If this wasn't an American court of law, that would be saying to somebody, hey, come over here, let me tell you what you need to be saying, whether it's true or not, but you need to be saying this so that the narrative comes out the way that I want to do. The real troubling thing is the military commander in rather the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who instead of being a military person, apolitical, nonpolitical, there to advise on political, not there to advise on political matters, but rather to advise on military matters, says, well, let's talk about how the media perceives this.

What are you doing? That's not your job. Maybe you ought to face a court martial for that sort of thing, because that's a serious infraction of stepping over the line. And it seems like that really, I mean, it's like one thing if a President is talking about narratives and that, again, it seems out of line, especially if he's asking another world leader to lie to the world about it, especially when the lie is about a radical Islamist group taking over a country and he was supposed to, I guess, lie to his people, which he chose not to. I mean, whether or not he was right or wrong in fleeing, whether or not he could have led the country is all now rearview mirror.

He didn't think it could happen and he left. Unfortunately, many Afghans couldn't. But I think what Andy said is important. I mean, on Capitol Hill, these members of Congress, Democrats especially, have an opportunity here to hold General Milley to account. I mean, what were you thinking, General, when you got on the phone and started talking about media narratives with a President of a foreign country in the midst of the collapse of that government? Yeah, well, first of all, when it comes to the President's words, and then we'll get to General Milley, I mean, how else can you parse those words whether it's true or not? I don't know how you can come to a conclusion that that's not advancing a false narrative. But even Jordan, if somehow you do and you move on to sort of phase two of what he was saying, he was saying that the perception is that things are not going well.

No, Jordan, in reality, things were not going well. The Taliban was taking over and the commander in chief has got to be held accountable for that. And again, part of why the American people see this so clearly, Jordan, is because if the President was going to leave, if he was going to leave at the end of August, the American people expected on the date of that phone call, July 23, five weeks in advance of that, they expected him to be doing his job in bringing our men and women home and out of harm's way.

He did not do that. So I think those are the areas where the oversight needs to happen. It needs to involve the political appointees inside the administration.

It absolutely needs to involve General Milley. He needs to be one of the very first to testify. And quite frankly, Jordan, when that happens, I only think I only really have any confidence that will be effective is if we in the public sphere can put the information out in advance. So the people who are going to have a political incentive to run away from it can't run away from it in that hearing.

Jordan, that's at the very core of the reason that we're doing this FOIA. We want to put some of this information out in the public sphere to put the political pressure on so the Democrats can't run away from it in the weeks ahead. I mean, we keep getting new kind of poll numbers feel for where the American people are, and 61 percent disapprove of how President Biden handled the withdrawal, 71 percent of independents approve, and a majority of Americans just disapprove of the foreign policy of the Biden administration in total. The question is, in politics, and I think the Biden team – I talked about this with Rick, he's a communication expert for Cornell, we talked about with Thanh – is their hope is we will all move along and that people listening to this broadcast will move along, even people that are really involved, to focus on domestic issues at home and whether that's storms.

And again, we pray for all people in these massive storms in the Northeast that came up through the Gulf, praying for everybody there. But the attention, it doesn't matter that the poll numbers are like that when it comes to foreign policy or Afghanistan. Well, that's true, Jordan. The political memory is the shortest memory. There is no memory shorter than political memory. But you've got to keep it before the public, and one of our duties and responsibilities at the ACLJ is to continue to keep this in the public eye and to keep this in the public perception and knowledge, I should say, rather than perception, because perception is what he was – President Biden was trying to get the President of Afghanistan to gloss over by saying, look, you need to do this thing, whether it's true or not. But again, what's troubling to me is I'd like to be on the committee that questions General Milley and to ask him, you're a military leader. You're the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

What are you making statements regarding public perception and media perception, rather, and being concerned about that? Isn't your business to advise the President on military matters and not to advise him on political issues? Are you in the political fence? Are you playing Republican and Democrat now, or are you an apolitical military officer?

I'd like to be questioning him. All right, folks, we come back on secular. There is – I'd like to see Andy on that committee, but, you know, unfortunately, I don't think General Milley would like to have Andy on that committee. We come back. There's more from the administration on this entire idea of messaging. Now, what are you telling the people who are stranded in Afghanistan now? Because that's where the focus is now. The U.S. – the Americans that are stranded in Afghanistan and our allies who are stranded in Afghanistan, the religious minorities, got to blog up about that at ACLJ.org.

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ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Sekulow. Let me remind you again, too, tomorrow on the broadcast, we're going to be joined by, again, Rick Rinnell live and Mike Pompeo. So you don't want to miss that as we see, of course, the foreign policy taking center stage, whether the Biden team likes that or not. People are not yet moving away from what happened in Afghanistan. That is because, as Americans, we know there are Americans on the ground. That's what the Biden administration has told us, who want to get out, who can't get out. There's the Afghans who worked with us, who were left behind. There are Christian minorities and other minorities left behind, stranded, you know, that word they couldn't stand at first. And now they're using, you know, Kirby is using, oh, there's Americans stranded all the time.

No, they're not. There's not Americans stranded all over the world all the time. Those are high-profile cases where we've been involved a lot with the ACLJ, where there is an American who's stranded, whether that's because of illegal imprisonment or persecution or even house arrest, not being able to leave the country. Those are cases where we get involved in.

The idea that's something normal is just not the case. But take a listen. This is Matt Lee from the AP. He's in the State Department briefing. And here we go with Victoria Nolan. She's back now.

She's the undersecretary for political affairs. Take a listen to this exchange. People's confidence in the United States has been shaken, perhaps irrevocably, by the fact that they were being told as recently as over the weekend that you knew where they were and that they weren't going to be stranded.

And yet they were. So what precisely are you telling them other than we're doing everything that we can to try to get you out even though it's clear that you don't have a way to do it yet? Well, the messages are being tailored depending upon who they are and where they are.

I'm not going to get into the specifics of that. But the first thing we have to do is ensure that we can get air routes and land routes secured, and that's what we're working on. But what we mostly need to understand is to continue to evaluate who is where, who they have with them, so that we can, on a case-by-case basis, do what we can to tailor evacuation routes for them.

You know, it's hard to even figure out what she's talking about there. There is this pushback I heard, Andy, also from Jidsaki. Well, we only left two days ago. So none of this was planned. I mean, they're not coming out and telling the American people who are worried about American credibility, who are worried about how their confidence in the United States, as Matt Leese from the Associated Press said. And that there was a hope that, okay, if you're going to withdraw and you know some people are going to be left behind – and now we can use the word stranded because the administration uses it now – but, Andy, there would have been a plan. And right now their plan is just haphazard. It's, well, maybe this will happen and maybe we can do this at the airport.

Maybe you can do this over ground. But, I mean, it's not a real plan. No, and it's a plan that should have been put in place by the President once he made the announcement of the day that we were going to withdraw. He should have had a plan in place with his military leader's advice, and he should have – as the commander-in-chief, he was the one who was ultimately making the calls. How many Americans are there?

How do we get them out in a safe, orderly, proper manner and not clinging to the wheel wells of aircraft or being shot at at fences and gates trying to get in? Thirteen lives were lost as a result of what Joe Biden did. That's criminal negligence, and I put those lives at his feet.

I don't care what anybody says. They can contest what I say or not, but he is responsible ultimately for the loss of lives of those 13 persons in the military. And it is the same debacle that happened to be in London at the time that this was occurring. And let me tell you, we have our allies, and the credibility that we have with the British, who are our very close allies in the world, is down to zero. It took him 40 hours to return a call from Boris Johnson, the prime minister of Great Britain, wanting to know what is going on.

We joined you there because you asked us to be there with you because you were attacked 20 years ago, and we're there with you. And now you don't even have the courtesy to call the British prime minister and talk to him with respect to the withdrawal, and you have people all over the place? This is not a commander-in-chief. Dan, these kind of answers from the administration, this is not going to – I think the American people are going to say, okay, well, they've got control of this. That is such an infuriating answer, Jordan.

It is difficult to sit here and listen to it, honestly. I mean, the part where she talks about – they talk about we can get air routes and land routes secured. Jordan, those were air routes and land routes that we controlled two weeks ago.

That is when we needed to be using them to get these folks out, not just folks. The Americans, our Americans, our fellow citizens and the people who stood by us in a 20-year war, regardless of whether you feel we should have been there in the first place, regardless of when you feel the exit date should have been, those were air routes and ground routes that should have been used to evacuate the Americans before the security was lifted. And Jordan, look, I got to tell you, this is why we're doing this FOIA, and I will tell you on the evacuations, I know it's a dire situation, but this is not over for the ACLJ. You and I have continued to work. Other members of the team have continued to work.

I was literally texting back and forth about some possibilities during the last break. Jordan, we are not going to walk away from these American people, even if our American government abandoned the best way to get them out. Until they're all home, Jordan, this is going to be a focus for us, whether it's a focus for Capitol Hill or whether it's a focus for the administration or not.

You know, absolutely. And this is something I think the American people are dedicated to, Andy, is that they, that there's, I feel like the one miscalculation, and there have been many, but one that the Biden team may have made is that when Americans are left behind, it does capture the attention, the hearts of the American people, especially when it's the U.S. government that is responsible for leaving them behind. When people who helped fight alongside us are left behind, Americans do care. I actually think this is an opportunity, Andy, for the American people to kind of override the Biden administration a bit when it comes to our credibility. We need to show the world that we are going to hold our government to account to do something about this. Not just to complain about it, but to do something about it, because, to get our credibility back.

Yes, you put it very well, Jordan, when you say that it's a restoration of credibility issue that is very near and dear to the hearts of the American people. Look, one of the things that we, I don't know about the Afghanistanis, I don't know about the Pakistanis, I don't know about the Turks or any other country, but we don't leave Americans behind, living or dead. We don't do that. That's not what Americans do.

We don't go in there with plans that are ramshackled, put together without any thought process. We don't go and abandon those who are our allies and who have been our friends, such as the British and the others. But especially do we not do this with respect to Americans. We have a plan and we execute that plan and we bring them back home.

The only people in America who are Americans in Europe right now, Jordan, are those dead lying in cemeteries who gave their lives in World War II and World War I and were Americans and who went to the aid of their allies in Europe at the time when fascism was rampant and when we were fighting the battles. And that's the honor that Americans have and they're not going to forget it. And we at the ACLJ are not going to let Americans forget what Biden did.

Absolutely not. And we're going to stay on this. That's why on tomorrow's broadcast, Rick Grenell is going to be joining us again, Mike Pompeo joining us as well. So back to back with them on tomorrow's broadcast.

You don't want to miss that. Let me just say thank you. We have over 600 people watching just on Rumble alone. This is the first day we've been able to live stream there.

So thank you there. If you are watching on Rumble, we'll encourage people to check that out. It's another place now you can watch live.

We've been updating our, uploading our shows there every day, but now you can watch live and take part just like on YouTube, Facebook, Periscope, Instagram, all of those places. Let me encourage you to check out my new blog at ACLJ.org as well. It's entitled ACLJ files for you to find out why President Biden has abandoned Christians and others in Afghanistan.

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