Breaking: Biden Explored Offer To Use Russian Military Bases To Fight Terror

This is Jay Sekula breaking news. President Biden considered using Russian military bases for counter-terrorism acts in Afghanistan. Impeachable offense? Keeping you informed and engaged.

Now, more than ever, this is Sekula. It's being reported right now that the Biden administration reached out to Russia about using Russian bases in the Central Asian nations bordering Afghanistan to the north for our strike assets to fly out of for the over-the-horizon counter-terrorism missions. Is that true? Senator, this is an issue that I believe came up during a conversation that the President had with President Putin, where President Putin offered to provide assistance. We want to hear from you.

Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. But have you reached out to the Russians asking specifically to use bases? General Milley just recently had a conversation with his Russian counterpart.

So the reports are true that have been coming out today? I can assure you that we are not seeking Russia's permission to do anything, but I believe, and General Milley can speak for himself, but I believe that he asked for clarification on what that offer was. And now your host, Jay Sekulow.

Okay, so I mean let's put this in perspective for a moment here. You got the Biden administration, the President himself having conversations with President Putin of Russia. Okay, that's normal heads of state. In the course of those conversations, somehow it comes up that Russia might be willing to allow the United States to utilize military bases in Russia for the US to conduct its counter-terrorism actions inside of Afghanistan.

Let me repeat that for you. During conversations that the President of the United States had with the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, a discussion took place as to the feasibility or viability of Russia allowing US military troops and aircraft and communications issues to work out of Russian military bases for counter-terrorism in Afghanistan because we gave up Bagram. Now could you imagine for a moment if this was President Trump having a conversation with Vladimir Putin about military bases being utilized by Americans for counter-terrorism activities inside another country? Could you imagine the reaction? I can imagine the reaction, Logan, on Capitol Hill.

What was that? That reaction would be impeachment. That's what it would be. They would say, oh, he's in cahoots with Vladimir Putin, just like we thought.

So if the President would have done this, President Trump would have done this, this would be, I promise you, I've been there, I could say it, this would be another one of their impeachment moves. So where do you stand on it though? Because I know that that will be another discussion because clearly they would think so, but now we're on the flip side.

Yeah, well, I don't play their game. So I don't think you make impeachment out of anything. In other words, I don't think you, this is a policy decision. I think it's the wrong policy decision.

I don't know why they were having come, well, I know why they're having conversations. Their whole point is changed. Well, they changed the standard, especially in the second impeachment where you're impeaching a former President, but I still think I'm loyal to the constitution of the United States. But if this will, the shoe was on the other foot here, does anybody that's listening to this broadcast think for a moment, fan Bennett, that impeachment articles wouldn't be drafted? Clearly the standard has changed. Jay, they'd be drafted already.

They'd be heading to the floor of the house. I'm with you. I don't think it's an impeachable offense, but you do have to point out the political reality that the standard has to be the same from one President to the other. And one other thing I would tell you, Jay, it's another very firm tally on the side of abandoning Bagram being a catastrophic mistake because these are the conversations that took place in the wake of that. Oh, of course. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous. I mean, you think about this for a moment, but we're going to get into this whole conversation.

And then our military senior military officials are talking to their Russian counterparts. Folks. We want you to share this feed with your friends. If you're listening on radio, tell your friends to listen. And we're going to give you some analysis. You're not going to get anywhere else. Rick is going to join us in the third segment.

We've got a lot of head. Logan. That's right. Go ahead. If you're watching this on social media to share it, however, you do it on Facebook, click the share button. You're on Twitter retweet.

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That's 1-800-684-3110. 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, 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.

Welcome back to Secular. We're screening some of these calls. So if you want to get on the air, 1-800-684-3110, I have a few lines open. Should we go ahead and start with a clip from today's hearing? All right. I think we need to set it up just a little bit. So this is following up on what we just talked about, which was this idea, this concept that became evidently a reality, where the Pentagon's top military officer after President Biden had conversations with Vladimir Putin, had a follow up with his Russian counterpart to see what the viability was of using military bases in Russia to respond to the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

Let me repeat that. The US top military brass after a conversation with President Putin and President Biden, where there was obviously and evidently discussions about utilizing Russian military bases to house American military equipment and troops to conduct counterterrorism activities inside of Afghanistan as Afghanistan fell apart, were real discussions that went to our military leadership to have those conversations. Now, what makes this so unique is also at the very same time, we find out that General Milley is not really consulted until after the fall of Kabul in Afghanistan. But we were considering using Russian bases. Take a listen to this exchange. General Milley, Joe Biden has said that it was the unanimous, the unanimous recommendation of the Joint Chiefs that we not maintain a military presence beyond August 31st.

We've heard testimony of that effect today as well. When was that unanimous recommendation sought and presented to the President? You're talking about the 31 August? Yes, the 31 August deadline. So on 25 August, I was asked to make an assessment and provide best military advice. I'm sorry, my time is limited here.

You just you gave me the answer that I needed here. August 25th? Correct. Kabul fell on August 15th.

That's correct. You were not asked before August 26th? On August 25th, I was asked to provide best military assessment as to whether we should keep military forces past the 31st.

I mean, this to me is incredible. So Wes, Colonel Smith, what in the world were they thinking? Well, what they were thinking was Joe Biden was not interested in the advice of his military commanders. He is continually, you know, marching to his own orders. He's been, as we've talked about on the show before, wrong on so many issues down through his 40 years in D.C.

But Kabul falls on the 15th of August. And then on the 25th, Biden asked for his general's best military advice on keeping troops there, which what that means, Jay, is his Kabul's fall. His seeking military advice was purely perfunctory. He was not interested in the military advice. He'd already made a decision. That train had left the station. This absolutely was meaningless at that point. Harry, I'm thinking about this whole discussion.

I can't even put myself in that room. I mean, a conversation with Putin and Biden makes sense. They're both Presidents, heads of state. But the conversation that they're having is of the utilization of Russian military bases for U.S. troops so we could conduct counterinsurgency and counterterrorism activities inside Afghanistan that we let fall apart. I mean, I can't. It's hard to even put yourself in that situation. You're precisely correct. But we are in a country in crisis and we are in a crisis.

Why? Because the Biden administration and the bureaucratic elites within the Biden administration continue to live in the land of make-believe. So they want to fabricate a reality which is contradicted by the facts on the ground. So Joe Biden has consistently claimed that the U.S. military unanimously recommended the full withdrawal of American troops.

But we now know today that was simply untrue, right? So instead, what we have is a full-blooded surrender by U.S. bureaucrats. And then the Biden administration is prepared to enter into negotiations with Putin in order to protect U.S. security interests. This is a catastrophic blunder. And so we have debacle after debacle, chaos after chaos. And it represents, I think, the I'm sorry, the apex of the Biden administration's inability to face reality. The reality is that the Taliban was and is a terrorist group.

And we should have known that we should not have relied upon their good graces. And so now we have up to 4,000 Americans left behind in Afghanistan. Those are reports. We're waiting for the answer on that. But there are reports that 4,000, up to 4,000. But Defense Secretary Austin can neither confirm nor deny those reports. So I think it's very imperative for the American people to rise up and ask their representatives to take action.

Good. The other thing, too, that there are so many parts to this whole Russia cooperation thing. Keep in mind this meeting between Biden and Putin came about in June. And at that meeting is when reports are that President Putin told Biden he would not allow us to use any of the stands around there to which we've given billions of dollars of aid and still cooperate with them, that we could not put our bases there. But oh, by the way, Joe, I'll allow you to put bases in Russia and Russian bases around for this counterterrorism mission. Keep in mind that several years ago, Congress passed a law that forbids direct cooperation between the Russian military and the US military unless the Secretary of Defense gives a waiver.

Because there are risks involved in that, including, as you alluded to, Jay, when we put US technology and weapons and our sensitive, our most sensitive communications equipment on a Russian base, we put ourselves at risk. This is absolutely crazy. I can't even believe they're entertaining this. I can't believe they had the conversation, frankly.

And then I follow up with you on this. It looks like the Democrats on Capitol Hill can't believe it either, actually. Yeah, we're seeing a rarity today, Jay. I mean, typically the questioning from these kind of panels is not very effective. We've seen multiple instances from both Republicans and Democrats of pushing these generals to get real information. By the way, Jay, this is exactly why we have a FOIA on this.

We want to work with Congress and outside Congress to just to figure out exactly why these decisions were made. And just a short list of what we've learned today, Jay. I mean, we know now that the military knew that the Taliban was this big of a threat and that they might take over this quickly and that they told the President of the United States this.

And he made that decision anyway. We know that the generals thought that the drawdown this quickly was a mistake, that they told the President that. And Jay, the point that you're alluding to, Senator Kaine is insisting that he get a direct answer this afternoon from the generals of their best assessment of how many Americans are left in Afghanistan. I remember a couple of weeks ago, Jay, you and I had a conversation. I said, there's a staff member in the room that has that number.

They just don't want to give it to Congress. There was an exchange today where Senator Kaine said essentially that. And he said, if you don't tell me this afternoon, there's going to be a price to pay.

Well, I'm going to play that right now. I'm going to ask the question during my second round of questions after lunch. And with the number of staff who are here in this room and in the anteroom, we ought to be able to get an answer. And if we can't, it will suggest to the committee, and I don't think you want to suggest this to the committee, that you don't want to be responsive to that question or that you don't talk to the State Department or that the number of Americans in Afghanistan is something that you're indifferent to. I don't think any of those are true.

So I'll ask the question again after lunch and I hope we can get an answer. And that's Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat from Virginia, former VP candidate with Hillary Clinton. Absolutely. So you have a lot of people. I said, this is one of the few bipartisan times that a lot of people are speaking out, at least at least certain people.

I think people are shocked, actually. Yeah. Let's go to a phone call. Let's go to Roberta in Colorado line two. If you want to be on the air, give me a call.

1-800-684-3110. Roberta, you're on the air. Hi, Roberta.

Hi. I just wanted to say, there comes a point when we say, nothing shocks me anymore. This shocks me.

And I don't like this position I'm in right now. I don't like that feeling that nothing can shock me anymore. This is horrible. Well, listen, when I saw this this morning, I first just say, okay, can we verify this, that this is for real?

Because the first reaction, Logan, was this can't possibly be right. Yeah. It just sounds like one of the clickbait headline. It doesn't feel like something that when you really get down to it. Explain what a clickbait headline is. Well, you get something that's partially true, true enough to get you to click and read. And then you get down to the eighth paragraph and you're like, oh, there's what I was looking for.

And it's not really there. It's like, well, maybe this, this one is pretty much verifiable that this is happening. They pretty much confirmed it in this conference that at least the conversations happened. Well, not just the conversation, Wes, but the conversation then went from the present, the heads of state to the heads of military. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, they are serious about this. I think they're a little embarrassed and probably some of these generals do not want to do this either. Biden's the commander in chief, civilian control of the military and the mistakes, the missteps by this Biden administration, both on foreign policy and domestic issues, they keep mounting up. It is misstep after misstep. And you wonder how many, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but how many boneheaded decisions can you make and continue to operate?

I mean, I just, I go back to it and we only have 58 seconds left in the segment. Could you imagine if President Trump would have had these conversations with, with Vladimir Putin, what the reaction of the left would have been? I mean, just think about that for a moment. Russian collusion, collusion. How about that's not collusion. That's like Russian partnership and not just in economic matters, but on our military. And quickly, the danger that could oppose to our equipment and to our assets.

We would be compromised by this simple act if it took place and we put our equipment and troops and sensitive material in a Russian base. All right. We're going to be joined by Rick Renell when we come back from the break.

That's right. Rick will be joining us. You can give us a call and be part of the conversation as well. 1-800-684-3110, 1-800-684-3110 or put your comments in on social media or we have a team that reads all through the comments. Get some of us to put on the air.

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We'll be right back with Rick Renell. 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. Welcome back, everybody. We're taking your calls on 800-684-3110. If you're just joining us, discussions between Putin and Biden about the United States possibly using military bases. I mean, this is unbelievable. In Russia, U.S. military to be stationed in Russian military bases for counterterrorism moves in Afghanistan because Bagram, we surrendered, and then we had the country collapse around us. And this is like, could you imagine, like I said, if Donald Trump would have done this, they'd be calling for... I can't even imagine what they would be calling for. But I want to play for you some sound. This is from Secretary of Defense Austin, as well as Senator Deb Fischer from Nebraska.

Take a listen to this. It's being reported right now that the Biden administration reached out to Russia about using Russian bases in the Central Asian nations bordering Afghanistan to the north for our strike assets to fly out of for the over the horizon counterterrorism missions. Is that true? Senator, this is an issue that I believe came up during a conversation that the President had with President Putin, where President Putin offered to provide assistance. But have you reached out to the Russians asking specifically to use bases? General Milley just recently had a conversation with his Russian counterpart.

So the reports are true that have been coming out today? I can assure you that, you know, we are not seeking Russia's permission to do anything. But I believe, and General Milley can speak for himself, but I believe that he asked for clarification on what that offer was. With no disrespect to Secretary of Defense Austin, the last thing he said did not answer the question. It had nothing to do with whether we were asking permission. The question was, Rick Renell, whether we were in dialogue with the Russian government and military to see if we could establish US presence on Russian military bases to conduct counterterrorism inside of Afghanistan because the Biden administration completely bungled the job.

To me, Rick, you were the director of national intelligence. This is insanity, absurd. Yeah, look, I don't care what the details would have been about joining forces with the Russians. It doesn't matter what we asked and what they agreed to. This would never have been an option in the Trump administration. I would have never approved this. President Trump would have never approved this. Robert O'Brien, the national security advisor, would have never approved this. Let me be clear, Jay, we wouldn't have even tried, we wouldn't have even tried to have a conversation with the Russians about joining them on their base with US military to do something in Afghanistan, anything.

It's absurd. It's also an admission, let's be very clear, it's an admission that we didn't know that it would be so bad. The US military leadership, the political leadership, did not know that it would be so chaotic closing Bagram that they were scrambling to figure out, okay, who's still there and who can we join? It's just a signal that the political leadership at the Pentagon and at the White House have really messed this up and they're scrambling to cover their tracks. Some of the military, Rick, is defending themselves. General Milley said he was not consulted until August 25th after Kabul had already fallen.

But listen to this also. This is General Milley. I mean, he's been, they're covering their, look, they got to cover themselves here.

This is by 20. We must remember that the Taliban was and remains a terrorist organization and they still have not broken ties with Al-Qaeda. I have no illusions who we are dealing with. So, you know, he's saying this because as was reported, you know, we were in cooperation with the Taliban. They didn't call them colleagues, but it was something, what was the word they used, Rick? Yeah, very business-like. Very business-like terrorist organization. So put that on top of what we're talking about now that we were gonna utilize Russian military bases possibly as a counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism move inside of Afghanistan. And it tells me that this was a complete, not only blunder, but would have put American military assets and our technology at tremendous risk.

Oh, for sure. I mean, I don't think a single person in the intelligence community, career officials or political people would have approved this during the Trump administration. I highly doubt any career people are saying that this is a good idea. You know, we have intelligence officials who constantly leak on the Russia team every little detail. And I'd like to know from the political leadership what they were briefed on by the career officials for this idea, because I can guarantee you they were briefed that it wasn't a good idea.

Let me also just add one thing here, Jay. The Milley admission that the Taliban is still a terrorist organization really is a troubling point when you see that this is the group of people that handed over to the Taliban a list of American names to help. That should be illegal if they're admitting that they're still a terrorist organization and then handing them over a list of Americans. Yeah, a list of Americans and a list of Afghanistan workers that were aiding the United States.

I mean, Rick, I'm trying to get my head around this. What were they thinking? Of course, we gave up control of the airport in Kabul. That was a big mistake. We gave up Bagram. That was a huge mistake. We drew down without having the necessary checkoffs.

That was a big mistake. But then as you just said, the idea that we would give a list of Americans and Afghanis that were helping the United States to the Taliban so they could get through the checkpoints. What in the world were our leaders thinking? Listen, I don't want to attack the military, but boy, it raises a lot of questions, Rick. Look, one thing that's clear is that the military leaders, the political appointees that we're watching today are scrambling to cover their tracks. They are not going to be forced to resign by Joe Biden. There needs to be pressure from the Senate to say, we do not have faith in these individuals, and certainly we know the American people have already voiced that they do not have faith in these military leaders.

The crisis of credibility is a very serious issue right now. Yeah, I'm wondering also, last question for you, and that is, there are reports, and I hope these are not true, but Senator Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia is asking this question, that there may be upwards of 4,000 Americans still left in Afghanistan. And he said, I demand an answer after the lunch recess that they're on right now. That would be, yeah, go ahead.

I saw that. And the fact that we're already here late September and we're still asking that question and we still don't have an answer is outrageous. Joe Biden obviously doesn't know what's going on, doesn't realize the details, otherwise he would be apoplectic.

There's no other explanation for ignoring the fact that Americans are still there. Jake Sullivan, again, we've talked about this before, as the national security advisor, as the person who's in charge of diplomacy, intelligence, and the military, coordinating all of those with the President of the United States, clearly should resign. He's in over his head. He's an academic who doesn't have real world experience. We've got some other issues, maybe two we'll talk about on later programs. It looks like some maybe misstatements to Congress and testimony.

We'll talk about that later. Rick, thanks as always. Rick, of course, senior advisor to the ACLJ on national security and issues just like this, terrorism. We appreciate it, Rick. Thank you. All right, we're taking a break.

Logan, we'll be back in a moment. Share it with your friends, the feeds that you're getting, but also support the work of the ACLJ. We got a lot more coming up.

That's right. If you don't get the full hour of Sekulow on your local broadcast, you can find us broadcasting live always Monday through Friday on Facebook for the full hour, so another half hour coming up if you're watching or listening live. You can find that on YouTube, you can find on Rumble, and of course on ACLJ.org. We are taking your phone calls 1-800-684-3110. Call and now support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org.

More coming up. 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, Jay Sekulow. Hey, everybody.

Welcome to the broadcast. Again, this is part two of our conversation. If you're just joining us, this is, you read this, you think this is fiction.

I mean, we read it and we said, are you sure this is correct? And here's the report. The report is that President Biden had a conversation with President Putin with the idea on Afghanistan, with the idea that the United States might utilize Russian military bases to conduct counter-intelligent counter-terrorism moves inside of Afghanistan, that we would deploy our troops, our equipment to Russian military bases because Afghanistan fell in such a way that the United States lost total control. We gave up Bagram. We lost Kabul airport control.

We gave it over to the Taliban. But we were exploring this idea of the Russians utilizing Russian military bases with Russian military troops on there with Americans being put on there in those bases to conduct these counter-terrorism moves. Now it didn't just stop at the level of the President and the vice President, some general, you know, discussions. It ends up that General Milley is evidently instructed to talk to his Russian counterpart about the feasibility of this actually happening. Yeah, and it's another example of President Biden acquiescing to our adversaries because this conversation about putting our troops on a Russian military base came after President Putin told Biden that he would not allow us to put it on bases in the Central Asian countries.

See, what's going on? Russia has bases in those countries. And then we have some assets. We've given those countries billions of dollars. So when we talk about over the horizon capabilities, Putin says, no, no, no, you can't go in and put a new base for the CIA or the military in the stands as we call them. But I will allow you to put them on our bases in the stands to which the President says, huh, not a bad idea. I mean, he's really being pressured and acquiescing to one of our adversaries.

Well, not a bad idea. He has his military chief start communications, Harry, with this counterpart. I think Wesley is a nicer human being than I am. And he continues to use the word acquiescing. I think a better word might be surrender. Yeah. So we continue to surrender to our adversaries, whether it's the Taliban, whether it's perhaps ISIS-K, whether it's illegal immigrants who are coming across the border.

The Biden administration is filled with bureaucrats who at the end of the day despise the United States and they are prepared to surrender United States sovereignty to our allies, to our adversaries. What's so interesting to me, Logan, when this first broke and we first saw it, we didn't even, we questioned the veracity of the report because it seems so improbable. Yeah. It seems like, like you said, it seems like one of those reports that you see on not so legitimate websites promoting news that is just to stoke a fire that isn't necessarily real. And you said, you read the details and you're like, well, this isn't accurate, but no, unfortunately it is. And you see these conversations obviously playing out with the people in charge saying, yeah, essentially this happened.

And it is one of those troubling moments where I think a lot of people said, you can't get shocked by much. And look, it's not the number one story right now. No, it's not what's coming out of this. So it does feel like one of those issues that you're hearing from us and you're like, well, I'm going to go fact check this.

Well, go fact check it. This is happening. That conversation happened. There's just so much other chaos that's coming out of this.

It's easy to get lost in the weeds. Yeah. Like they noted that the Taliban of course was our enemy, but they gave lists of Americans and Afghanis that worked with us to the Taliban for the checkpoints. Thanh, we've got something coming up tomorrow too we should mention too that the ACLJ is participating in.

Let's go ahead and talk about that. Yeah, Jay, it'll be your fifth time testifying before Congress about the IRS targeting that we were involved in for so many years. The House Ways and Means Committee, the Republicans are taking another look at it. Our listeners are going to know about this, Jay.

The IRS is back at it again, targeting conservatives, targeting Christians. So you're going to go before the House Ways and Means Committee yet again to put a highlight on that to try to make sure that it never happens again. People can actually watch this. How are they setting it up? They're going to do it by Zoom? Sure can. It's going to be live streamed on the House Ways and Means Committee website so we can push that link out to everybody at 11 o'clock Eastern time in the morning. Okay. So you'll be able to watch it before radio?

Right before you go live. Yeah. So we'll be able to report on that.

That'll be an interesting afternoon. All right. We'll be back in a moment.

Yep. We'll be back. Just give us a call if you want to be on the air.

1-800-684-3110. Check out the work at the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. 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. All right, welcome back to Secula. We do have a couple more segments left if you want to be on the air.

We got some phone lines open at 1-800-684-3110. I do want to kick off this with a conversation. We've talked about how many citizens, American citizens, are left in Afghanistan. This has been the conversation that happened just a minute ago or a few, just a few minutes ago in this meeting. In this hearing, so you're going to hear it for right now.

Let's kick it off at by 46. Do all of you agree that Secretary of State Blinken, when he made his analysis as to how many people would be here but would still be there, he talked about the 10 to 15,000 citizens left behind and then evacuated some 6,000. That would mean a minimum of 4,000 would be, would still be there now.

Would anyone disagree with that? I have no, I don't, I personally don't believe that there are 4,000 American citizens still left in Afghanistan, but I cannot confirm or deny that, Senator. So very basic math they talked about. They said, you know, they believe that there was 10,000 citizens or so, 6,000 were evacuated. Wouldn't that leave 4,000 left? I have no idea. Oh, and I don't think there are 4,000 left. Then where did this math come from? Where are these numbers coming from?

Hopefully you get some answers. Wes, you served in the military with distinction for a long time. So Colonel Smith, how did we not know this?

We do know this. And what is happening, what is happening, because it's going to make the Biden administration look bad. You think the Afghan withdrawal looks like a fiasco now.

When you find out how many Americans are actually there, it's going to look even worse. But what has happened to this point is that when you ask the Pentagon this question, they say, well, I'd have to defer to the State Department. And when you ask the State Department, they say, well, I'll have to defer to the Pentagon. And thankfully, Senator Kaine, the Democrat from Virginia, has put them on notice that this afternoon he expects an answer.

It is a matter of simple math. And you know that the DOD, the Pentagon, and the State Department, they know pretty close how many American citizens are there. They do not want to put that information out. Ben, do you think, I mean, this was in that question by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine. Do you think we're going to get an answer? I think Senator Kaine put them in a position, Jay, where they're going to have to come back with some kind of estimate. I imagine they'll probably hedge it. They'll probably say, we can't be surprised, precise, and they'll give you a broad range.

But look, I mean, I agree with Wes on this. I'm not a mathematician, but all of the numbers that we're getting from the administration can't be true. Some of them have to be wrong.

And there's really only two options. The first one, this is the one I don't think is accurate. The first one is that they have no idea. I actually think they do have a pretty good idea, a pretty good estimate.

The second thing is the thing that I think we've been dealing with for the last few weeks. It's a number that they aren't willing to tell us, Jay. I think this afternoon, you'll probably get something a little bit closer to the truth, but my prediction to you is that there's going to be a pretty big hedge in there. To me, Harry, I'm still dumbfounded by the idea that we even had serious conversations or a conversation with Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden about utilizing Russian military bases for our counter-terrorism moves. And that then Biden took it seriously enough that he had his senior military advisors make that call. Do we have the sound where he acknowledges that he had that conversation, where General Milley says he had that conversation?

But Harry, I mean, what policy does that set in motion? Well, I think it sets in motion a disaster, but it also suggests that the Biden administration has been lying all along because they knew that they could not defend American interests in Afghanistan as early as June. So their later claim that they could not have predicted the Afghan government collapse so soon, I think is simply falsifiable and totally untrue. But, you know, General Milley said this today at the hearing.

Let me play it. This is Senator Shaheen from New Hampshire to General Milley. Take a listen. I'm just trying to figure out why we missed, from a public perception, it appears that we didn't anticipate the rapid fall of Afghanistan and Kabul and the rise of the Taliban and the way we saw it play out on television. And what did we miss? I think, Senator, we absolutely missed the rapid 11-day collapse of the Afghan military and the collapse of their government.

You know, every time you think, Logan, the story about Afghanistan is going to fade away, it comes out front and center. And you're working on a very, very significant piece. We are doing a deep analysis, folks, that you're going to be able to see of what's gone on in Afghanistan, what the long-term consequences are. You've interviewed some serious, serious people. Some top names. We've been doing it over the past month since really all the crisis started happening.

We'll probably be wrapping it in the next week or so. You'll start to figure out ways to get that content to you soon, whether that's through clips, full-length interviews, documentary, edited together pieces. So we have extensive interviews with, obviously, the people you've heard on the show, Rick Grenell, Mike Pompeo, but also plenty of others. We did John Ashcroft this morning.

A lot of other names within Washington. Wes was on it as well, to talk about his time at Dover. So we dive really deep into what's happening. We wanted to capture the emotion as it was happening. The story is still unfolding.

Yeah, exactly. Which is why I actually say in a lot of the beginning of the interviews, here's what day we're at right now. So when people watch, they'll know where we are and where we are in time because so much changes.

But I wanted to make sure we were able to capture a lot of this content in full-length, half-hour interviews, again, with some really interesting takes and a lot of diversity in the takes. Some people think we should stay. Some think we should leave. Here's a lot of different points of view, which I think is- Nobody thinks we left the right way. I think it's important.

Yeah. No one thinks we left the right way. And they all have the same feeling about they don't feel the war on terror was necessarily in vain, but they all are really disappointed in the ending. I hope when you interview me, I want to talk about this whole Russia aspect because obviously from personal experience as being the former President Trump's lawyer during the Russia probe and then on the impeachment on Ukraine issue, I have a unique perspective on this. And it's just, to me, it's just incredible that this has happened.

That you had the top military officials in the United States of America talking to Russian counterparts about utilizing their military bases as a way in which we could conduct counter-terrorism. So we've got this, Logan's doing and his team are doing a lot of work to put this together. They hope to wrap it next week.

Every time we think it fades away, it's coming back full circle. Yeah. Then another guest confirms and it's someone who's going to be great. So we're going to start rolling out the content, I think soon, regardless, because we don't want it to get too dated. You want to be able to see content as it's unfolding. And we're going to do a documentary with it. Yeah. I'm sure we're going to take this content, edit it together.

So you'll have a historical piece to always look back on. And again, we had just an excellent group of panelists and interviews that we've done. Like I said, we've had the people from our staff, whether that's Wes Smith or Rick Grinnell or Mike Pompeo. And then this morning, John Ashcroft, who obviously he can give you a 20 year perspective of not only the September 11th attacks, but specifically what's happened obviously in the last few months and his takes, which are fairly emotional because someone who said a lot of this in motion didn't see it in this way.

We also had representative Waltz, Senator Lankford, again, Wes, Mike Pompeo, Rick Grinnell, Jordan, and we have a couple others that are pending confirmation. So we'll see, we'll see if we can lay it a couple more before we wrap up. Yeah, but it's a big project for the ACLJ and we'll be able to get you various views of that. Let's go ahead and take this phone call coming in.

Cause I think this is very, very interesting. Let's go to Mike in Texas on line one, you're on the air. Hey Mike. Yes. Aren't we putting our troops in danger by putting them on Russian bases? The fact that we're even having this conversation puts us in danger in my view, but I'll turn to Colonel Smith on this. But Mike brings up a very good point, just having the troops, if we did this base there.

Yeah. I don't think they're in personal physical danger. What is in danger is so much of our sensitive information, our capabilities, and the mission itself. By putting our troops for counter-terrorism missions on a Russian base, you're giving a great bit of control to our counter-terrorism operations to the Russians themselves. So the implications for our national security and for the ongoing success and accuracy of the missions is what's at stake more so than the personal safety of our soldiers.

But it is a, it is a, it is the wrong idea. It violates a bill passed by Congress unless the secretary of defense approves it. I can't imagine secretary Austin doing that.

Perhaps he would, but, but as unbelievable as it sounds, apparently today, the Biden administration is actually considering putting us assets, some of our most sensitive counter-terrorism assets on a Russian military base and, and the central Asia countries. I, to me, I'm flabbergasted when I see it. I couldn't even, like I said to Logan and Will, I, was this true? I mean, there was this, are we picking up? Is this a bad news source?

It's not a news source. I mean, we only got a minute here, Harry, but it's, it's coming from their mouth. Absolutely. So what we have, I think ongoing is essentially an unconditional surrender of US interests by Biden administration bureaucrats. And then the US military is tasked with the job of carrying this forward. I certainly hope that the US diplomats are unwilling to give our military and nuclear codes to the Russians going forward. You know, but you think about their, you talk about, we're talking about our counter intelligence and counter-terrorism think about their counter-intelligence capability, the Russians, if we have US military assets on their basis with their permission, think about how that would work.

You talk about a counter, counter-intelligence move, what would be better? How did they even, so why did Joe Biden then say to General Milley, hey, let's follow up on this? Are they serious? Yeah. I mean, give me a, what? I mean, this is what's so ridiculous. Double standard.

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ACLJ.org. I'm back to the final segment of Secular. We still have some time to get your voice heard, 1-800-684-3110. Again, continuing the conversation about the current hearing that's happening right now on Afghanistan, the Taliban, and how we're responding as well.

Yeah. And this idea that we were considering Russian military bases as possible, launching the deployment sites for US military, which to me seems just so absurd. And then Joe Biden has this conversation with Putin, and then the Biden administration gets General Milley to have the follow-up with his counterpart. I've been saying this for an hour, I thought it was a fake headline. I said this morning, is this true in our pre-meetings? Is this really true? Can we verify this? Verify it, Will said, it's being discussed on the floor of the United States Senate.

I'm going to play that bite for you again, because this is the conversation. This is where we are in the administration right now. This is in the floor of the United States Senate. It's being reported right now that the Biden administration reached out to Russia about using Russian bases in the Central Asian nations bordering Afghanistan to the north for our strike assets to fly out of for the over the horizon counterterrorism missions. Is that true? Senator, this is an issue that I believe came up during a conversation that the President had with President Putin, where President Putin offered to provide assistance. But have you reached out to the Russians asking specifically to use bases? General Milley just recently had a conversation with his Russian counterpart.

So the reports are true that have been coming out today? I can assure you that we are not seeking Russia's permission to do anything. But I believe, and General Milley can speak for himself, but I believe that he asked for clarification on what that what that offer was. Okay.

Okay, clarification for what the offer is. So we are actually, Van Bennett, having these conversations? And on Capitol Hill, we're having these conversations because these conversations actually took place? Yeah, I mean, I think you can translate that entire conversation with one answer.

Yes, the conversations took place. That was the answer that General Austin was giving in a roundabout fashion. And I think the two main takeaways for me today, this is the first one. Think about the alliances, the partnerships that this withdrawal strategy from Afghanistan has created. Apparently, there's one with Russia.

Clearly, there was already one with the Taliban. That might tell you something about the original strategy. But underlying that, Jay, I think maybe the biggest one is, this is clearly a commander in chief issue, because if the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is not consulted about an order until 10 days after it's given, I mean, you can think General Milley is a bad actor if you want.

There's some supportive evidence for that. But Jay, this was a strategy developed, coordinated, and executed at the level of the commander in chief. Okay, so we know it's a failure. Now, this is also important. Senator Hirono, this is Democrats here, are questioning some of this too.

Take a listen to her colloquy. US forces conducted at least a couple of airstrikes in the middle of July aimed at blunting the Taliban's rapid advance. So, Secretary Austin, in July, you were aware, or the DOD was aware, that the situation was deteriorating rapidly by July. Why was an action taken to secure the Kabul airport or retake background then?

Thank you, Senator. You're right, the tempo had picked up significantly. The Taliban continued to make advances. Our entire chain of command, myself, the chairman, General McKenzie, routinely engaged the Afghan leadership to encourage them to solidify their defensive plans, to make sure that they were providing the right logistics to their troops, and further stiffen their defenses to no avail. Okay, Colonel Smith, this is military speak. What's going on? Yeah, you know, what he is not saying, and he knows, and the generals, you know, they're doing a delicate dance, although I think Secretary Austin needs dance lessons.

He's not doing too good of a job on that dance. But whenever the Taliban was beginning to take provincial capital after provincial capital, the U.S., under Biden's orders as commander in chief, withdrew our close air support of the Afghan military. So, they're fighting somewhat blind. The Taliban is taking over the country. They're actually approaching Kabul to surround Kabul. By this point, according to General Milley today, there were seven conditions that we made with the Taliban on the Doha Agreement.

They had violated six of those seven conditions, and yet the Biden administration chose to not attack them, to not make them pay a price. The military gave President Biden a wide range of military options that included looking at the risk to our forces and the risk to the mission. And President Biden chose to ignore his military commanders and order a complete withdrawal on a date certain, even though the Taliban was taking over the whole country and was just about to take Kabul. And President Biden, he is the commander in chief, went against his military advisors and did all of this anyway, and basically left the Afghan military without the support they needed as far as intel and air support in order to defend their country. Did our actions aid in the military falling? Yes.

Yeah, by default, absolutely. We withdrew critical support that would have helped the Afghan military to protect their own country. All right. So, we look at this also from a policy perspective. And to me, Harry, this looks like a total policy failure.

Absolutely. So, the United States military conducted a military strike, or several of them, in July. Kabul fell on August the 15th. It took the Biden administration 10 days to ask the US military whether the United States military withdrawal strategy was correct. That is 10 days.

Why? Why didn't the administration take action to protect Americans on August the 15th, or better yet, in July, when they knew the country was headed toward a collapse? So, in reality, the Biden administration abandoned American lives, not on August the 31st, but sometime in July. They made an affirmative and spineless decision to cave to the terrorist regime.

This is a deliberate, and in my judgment, intentional failure by the Biden administration. So, rather than protect American lives, rather than send troops when they were necessary, the Biden administration made a calculus, but guess what? They then sent American troops to protect the airport. So, why not send those troops in when it would have made a strategic difference?

So, I think at the end of the day, the Biden administration is fully at fault. Part of her question was about Bagram Air Base. Whenever the generals were asked today, how come we didn't retake Bagram, they said that would have required 5,000 more troops in order to retake the base.

And yet, what they ended up doing, they ended up sending 5,000 more troops to Kabul Airport to bolster the 2,500 already there. All right, fan, let's also talk about tomorrow, right before radio, we've got a hearing, or call the roundtable, I guess. Yeah, 11 o'clock Eastern, roundtable with the United States House Ways and Means Committee. You'll be testifying about our extensive experience.

The IRS targeting of conservatives and Christians, Jay. So, 11 o'clock Eastern, it'll be streamed. We'll push it out on our platforms so people can take a look. Yeah, I'll tell you folks, that's what I'm telling you. When you support the work of the ACLJ, it has global impact. Remember, we've got a FOIA request out on Afghanistan right now.

Well, that does it for the broadcast today. A lot of ways to stay engaged with us. We encourage you to do that.

Oh, yes, absolutely. Go to ACLJ.org for all the latest blogs and news. We can also find us on all social media platforms. You can find Jay Sekula's page, the ACLJ page, and all that information is there at ACLJ.org as well. We can support the work of the ACLJ.

See 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.