Biden’s Disastrous Day

Biden's disastrous day. We'll get into all of it today on Sekulow.

Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. Did you overpromise to the American public what you could achieve in your first year in office, and how do you plan to course correct going forward? Why are you such an optimist? Look, I didn't overpromise, but I have probably outperformed what anybody thought would happen. We want to hear from you.

Share and post your comments, or call 1-800-684-3110. Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and then we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, etc. But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the force amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia.

And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. So let's just go through why Biden had such a very bad day yesterday. One, his federal takeover of the elections that the left of his party supported is dead. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin voted in favor of the filibuster. So that legislation, you know, what side of history? Well, I guess, you know, he's going to call members of his own party are on the side of Jefferson Davis and Bull Connor and George Wallace because they voted to uphold the filibuster.

Now both have voted for the law, but not to change the rules of the Senate because they want the Senate to be different than the House of Representatives. So that is dead. Build back better, as announced by the President. It is very long press conference. Dead.

Here's one that's a little tongue in cheek, though. Ukraine seems dead also. I mean, you can see the reaction, the shock, the outrage from Ukrainian government officials when they heard President Biden start equivocating between what kind of aggression would level what kind of response and could he actually get the kind of coalition together to punish Russia?

Unless it was a full scale invasion, then maybe they could. But I mean, it was all over the place to the point where he had to issue a statement through his press secretary, Jen Psaki, on Russia and Ukraine. He had to issue one on the elections. He called into doubt the 2022 elections.

He's now starting to sow, which we know was in their playbook. We've already seen, remember, Stacey Abrams never conceded her race for governor. So he is now starting the same playbook that he has demonized a former President about even questioning the legitimacy of an election where we saw ballots going out to people who no longer lived in that state, who no longer lived at that home. So we saw all these new rules about absentee ballots that were just live ballots were going out to people. And people questioned, hey, maybe we need to put some laws in place and do some election integrity. Well, I will tell you yesterday was a win for election integrity because they were not able to pass their federal takeover of the election process. Not only that, and I think we need to be very clear on it.

We're going to get to the Ukraine in the next segment. But the situation with the election, with H.R. 1, was a resounding defeat. And what I cannot figure out at all here, and I just can't figure this out, is why did they put this forward when they knew, Thanh, that this was never going to pass? They had the vice President of the United States there, and they knew this wasn't going to happen. They knew it wasn't going to happen to the extent that, Jay, that the vice President was there for the vote that would have required 60 votes. And she actually left before the vote on the filibuster that actually would have required her vote had they got all 50 senators. So even they knew in advance of this, this wasn't going to happen. And, Jay, look, I'm just going to be very honest with you. You asked the question, why did they do this? I think Leader Schumer put his own political interest ahead of the interest, both policy and political, of the rest of his conference.

I don't think there's any other way to cut it. That is, I mean, you've done a lot of campaigns. It's a very dangerous move for him to be doing with all the rhetoric that was used into the build up to this vote, this idea that you're a racist if you don't support, that history is going to judge you. All that history is going to remember about this is that two Democrats said no to their President, said no to their leader in the Senate, said no to Nancy Pelosi and the crazy House Democrats, and said, you know what, we're going to stand up for the institution of the U.S. Senate, which means if you don't have the votes to get cloture, you don't get to pass this kind of legislation. And that's what history is going to remember.

Not that people are racist because of this. They're also going to remember how Joe Biden welcomed Russia to invade Ukraine. They're going to remember how Joe Biden said, what do Republicans stand for? They don't stand for anything except for they're leading in all the polls and your party is all retiring from Congress.

We'll come back. There's a lot to dissect here. Take your calls on it.

2-1-800-684-3110. 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.

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Request your free copy of Mission Life today, online at ACLJ.org slash gift. I don't want to set this up for you. We're taking your calls on this too. It was a disaster of a press conference. You know why now that the Biden team doesn't want him doing these press conferences. You know, it was one thing to call President Trump's, you know, kind of wild and unscripted, but he wasn't throwing our allies under the bus. In fact, he was usually building allegiances, building American power, putting off the idea that, listen, we're strong.

We can take on whoever we need. And, you know, what wasn't talked about in that press conference, of course, the genocide ongoing by China. You know, President Biden slammed Republicans so they don't care about human rights. It's only been Republicans who have been calling out the Chinese Communist Party. I can't count how many times on this broadcast we've had Secretary Pompeo and Rick Renell, former government officials, on here calling out the Chinese Communist Party for a major human rights violation, the most major of all, the systematic eradication of a people group that happened to be Muslim.

But you don't see them running to defend there. And you got the question about, is it because your family makes so much money from China? He didn't really answer that question about even pushing China on COVID, getting access to the Wuhan lab, and we're still all dealing with that as the nation reels from that. But on Ukraine, on the top foreign policy matter of the moment, the one that's right on the edge, this is President Biden. This is what caused all the stir. Because if you didn't have two hours to watch this, and most of you didn't, but we did it for you, this is where all the stir began by 13. Russia will be held accountable if it invades.

And it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera. But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the force amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine, and that our allies and partners are ready to impose severe cost and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy.

All right. So there was President Biden equivocating between what the response would be if- Depending on how far they invade. Yeah, how big of an invasion it is.

Okay. We now have the response from the Ukrainians. Jake Tapper was asking their foreign reporter who was in Kiev for just the immediate reaction. A lot of eyes were on this in Ukraine and of course Russia. And I tweeted out that whatever the White House wanted to send out with that, tried to save this with their press statement afterwards, the message was sent loud and clear from our President to President Biden and the Kremlin heard it and so did the Ukrainians by 63. Were Biden's remarks interpreted there as a less than wholehearted warning to Putin to not invade? Well, I mean, that's an understatement. I mean, they watch those remarks, I think with horror. One Ukrainian official who I've been in close contact with while this marathon press conference is underway said that he was, I'm quoting here, shocked that President Biden would give a green light to Vladimir Putin in this way.

Well, first of all, the shock and horror is right because look what you have here. You had the President of the United States saying, well, if they just invade a little bit, there's just a little incursion. Well, that's one thing.

I mean, they do that kind of thing. But if it's more than that, well, then we may have to do sanctions. Then he later goes on and says the European Union and NATO are not exactly aligned on this. And Colonel Smith, why in the world would the President, and Will, do we have that bite where he says that?

Let's find that. Why in the world would he say that? You know, the whole news conference was filled with weak, incoherent, inappropriate messages. Yeah, but why would you give the NATO, why would you say NATO's not uniform on this? Yeah, he threw NATO under the bus too.

I think what happened, Jay, is this. You know, in the National Security Council, they discussed, they war game all kinds of scenarios. The President is included in those conversations. I think they probably talked about what happens if there is a minor incursion. That was not for public information. Those conversations are beyond top secret. I think the President actually just revealed conversations he's having with his national security staff. And when he does that, and then he comes back at that second bite and talks about, well, we wouldn't know how to respond as NATO in a unified way.

I mean, it was horrible. And we've got the, let's play it. This is the reporter asking the question of the President about NATO. You said that Russia would be held accountable if it invades and it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and what not to do. Are you saying that a minor incursion by Russia into Ukrainian territory would not lead to the sanctions that you have threatened? Or are you effectively giving Putin permission to make a small incursion into the country? Good question. That's how it did sound.

It didn't. The most important thing to do, big nations can't bluff, number one. Number two, the idea that we would do anything to split NATO, which would have a profound impact on one of, I think, a prominent impact on one of Putin's objectives is to weaken NATO, would be a big mistake. A big mistake after they invade.

I mean, this is what's so absurd. Later, he goes on and says something and this is, he says, well, there's a couple of things we could give them. And he starts talking about strategically what they could do.

We could agree to not putting strategic missiles on borders. I mean, why in the world are you saying this? Because this was supposed to be the President who came back and remember, he's going to restore all these allegiances. He can put all these groups together.

He can build, as we will talk about with Rick and Del, he can build consensus. He's failed. He's failed to be able to hold the Chinese account on COVID. He's failed to keep NATO together on Russia. Obviously, he's talking about it right there, that NATO could be split over this. So he can't really rely on a NATO response.

It would have to be a US response. By the way, he talks about how big countries can't bluff. He comes from an administration previously that drew red lines in the sand that they just walked right over.

So they did bluff and they were called out. The Syrians said, no, we'll keep using chemical weapons and you won't do anything about it. Now, President Trump came in and the moment they used chemical weapons, he was with the Chinese leader in Florida and ordered a Tomahawk missile attack on Syria to say, there is a line in the sand.

You use these weapons against your own people. You will hear a response from the United States that will overwhelm you, that you can't respond back to. So again, all of this plays into where President Biden, getting past the 2020 election drama, what he ran on was all of this consistency. We're going to have this from the world. All these world leaders will be behind us. And yet, where do we stand? We stand in a chaotic world. I think Afghanistan, a lot of this started with Afghanistan. If you look at his presidency specifically, I think it was starting before with the rioting that occurred and the movements that we saw in our country, anti-police movements. But then with Afghanistan, you started to see the world say, you know what?

The US, not what they used to be. No, I think it goes further. This put Ukraine, Andy, and you oversee a lot of our international offices. This puts the region, of course, Ukraine itself, but the region in a terrible peril. It does, Jay.

This is a powder keg. As a historian, there is a sanctity to borders and incursions. And those words mean a lot in the national, in the international community, especially to Europe, because borders is what they fought about and have fought about throughout the 20th century. Hitler said, I'm going to take the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.

Are we going to guarantee the border? And when he marched in, it meant war. When he took Poland and moved in, it meant war. President Biden has obviously never read a history book. When you tell a despot like Vladimir Putin, a czar, basically what he is, Peter the Great, that you can go into a minor incursion of the Ukrainian territory, you have given him a red, a green light to go in and do what he wants to do. But Harry, this also sends another notice to our other allies in the region, in the world, that we did, I mean, the President of the United States, and they try to walk it back, we'll talk about that later, invited in Russia here.

Absolutely. So at the end of the day, President Biden is who we thought he was. He is a man of infinite spinelessness and fecklessness. Rather than encourage Europe to resist Russian aggression, Joe Biden has encouraged Russia, just like President Obama effectively encouraged Russia to take Crimea. It's important to keep in mind that Joe Biden doesn't believe in the sanctity of US borders. So he is being very consistent here in inviting Russia to disrespect Ukrainian borders. So one of the things to keep in mind in this particular instance is that Joe Biden is essentially being consistent for once in his life. But I also think that this should send shockwaves throughout the rest of the world, because effectively Joe Biden has encouraged not only Russian aggression, he has encouraged Chinese aggression, he has encouraged Iranian aggression. Shock and horror, Jordan, is what we're seeing in the report. I mean, in this press conference, just listen, because he gets pushed on, you know, what is Putin going to do?

Take a listen by 19. I'm not so sure he is certain what he's going to do. My guess is he will move in. He has to do something. So those crippling sanctions obviously are going to be crippling. He talks about how crippling they are, but they're not enough to stop Putin. Joe Biden is now predicting the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. And again, I don't think this is some power move. I think this is an old man sputtering for the entire country.

That's the truth. He got asked about it too. Are you mentally even fit to be President? And by the way, let's be honest, Democrats are asking the same question right now, because the moment he's left the stage, how many different press statements did they have to do? They had to do one on voting. They had to do one on Ukraine.

I feel bad. I don't usually say this for Jen Psaki, but she does a much better job getting up there every day than no wonder he doesn't do these press conferences. And his staff tells him not to talk to reporters. Well, in the end result of this is Ukraine in a horrible situation, which puts the rest of Europe in a horrible situation.

It makes the US weak. We'll take your calls. What do you think?

1-800-684-3110. 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, a play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

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

And we have an exceptional track record of success. But here's the bottom line, we could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

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

ACLJ.org. All right, welcome back to Secular. We are going to take your phone calls too on this press conference. So what do you think was the worst part of it? Was it questioning the integrity of our elections in 2022 and questioning the outcome of that?

We haven't gotten into that much yet on the show. They said if they don't win, they're going to question the integrity of the election. Oh, sure.

Yeah. And then, again, is it throwing Ukraine under the bus and predicting that Russia is going to invade and saying, well, they really have to at this point? Talking about NATO splitting up. I mean, the list goes on and on, but there was a major defeat right after this press conference a few hours later, Thanh, of the President's agenda. And it ties to that question he got about whether or not the elections would be legitimate. But before we get to that part of the press conference, this was a major defeat for the left of his party, but also for the Biden White House.

He went on the trail. He called people racist. They weren't going to support this. They put all the pressure they could on Manchin and Sinema, and both of them voted in favor of the filibuster. And thus, the federal takeover elections for now is dead. Yeah, this is a really poor strategy on behalf of Washington Democrats, Jordan. I mean, you had 50 senators who wanted to pass something on what they call voting rights legislation.

Jordan, just quickly, I dispute that. I think this legislation actually makes elections less secure if it was passed. But that's what they call it. They call it voting rights legislation, and they had 50 senators in favor of it. And yet they took a tact that meant they're not going to get anything across the line on it. We covered this yesterday, Jordan, but there were two key votes yesterday. The first one was to end debate on the underlying legislation. It needed 60 votes. The vice President was in the chair in the United States Senate for that vote.

It only got 50 votes. And then Leader Schumer moved to break the filibuster to go nuclear on the legislative filibuster. And he needed 50 votes plus the vote of the vice President to pass that. Jordan, interestingly enough, before the roll call was even called, the vice President had left the chamber. So that told you everything you needed to know about how the vote was going to fall.

And it fell as we said it probably would. 48 senators voted in favor of nuking the filibuster. 52, a solid majority of the United States Senate, all Republicans joined by Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema voted to preserve the filibuster.

And just one note, Jordan, just one atmospheric here. Even though Kyrsten Sinema was in favor of this legislation, she voted for cloture. When it came time for her to cast a vote on breaking the filibuster, she was the loudest voice in the entire Senate when her name was called. So she did not appreciate the way her party treated her on this. No, she's been chased into bathrooms by activists. She's been called around. She comes from a purple state as purple as it gets, Arizona. I mean, I think, again, and so she represents her constituents and same with Joe Manchin, comes from one of the reddest of red states representing his constituents. I mean, the idea that they call it voting rights legislation was you can't clean up your voting rolls after a census without going through the federal government.

You can't make any changes to your voting laws without getting pre-clearance from Democrat bureaucrats in Washington DC. It was a scam. I think that enough people realized it. That's a good thing.

We can move on now. They might, you know, piece by piece, they're going to try to do everything. But here's what, but they're setting this up and that was the whole speech in Georgia. They're setting this up, Harry, for a, if we don't win, let's get that bite ready about the legitimate, not legitimate. They're setting this up for, if we don't get our way, if the election doesn't go our way, this is all illegitimate. Exactly what they're accusing President Trump of from last time.

I think that is correct. And so I think President Biden and the Democrats in general are not gifted with self-reflection. And so their preferred approach is to deny reality unless they get their way. It's important to remember that we have Stacey Abrams, who still claims that she is indeed the incumbent governor of Georgia. And so I think the Democrats feel entitled to prevail.

And if they don't, they are going to claim racism, that the vote was rigged, and they are essentially going to acclaim the things that they attack President Trump of, they are going to claim that is what has happened to destroy their candidates. But the irony of all this, of course, is the fact that the voting legislation that he went down to complain about in Georgia, Andy, his home state of Delaware is much more restrictive. The Georgia voting law is actually much more protective of early voting and things like that than his own home state of Delaware. They're setting this up as a straw man. That's right, Jay. If you look at the law, I mean, he obviously never read the bill because it's beyond him.

I think his capabilities of reading and understanding legislation. But if you look at it in Georgia, we get a longer period of pre-voting, pre-voting day voting than Delaware does, his own state. We require that an absentee ballot be requested. We don't have any more mass mail-ins of ballots. We don't have this harvesting of ballots where you drive down the street and throw a ballot in a box next to a newspaper stand where no one is monitoring it or watching it and someone just comes and picks up the ballots. We don't allow same-day registration so we can check and see if convicted felons are voting. So that's all to protect, Jay, the integrity of the vote. But the whole thing is a setup for what ultimately they're worried about, which is losing the House and Senate in 2022. Well, that's right. They have this fantasy narrative that they keep putting out there about voter suppression. It is a fantasy. It's disingenuous.

It's not so. In my home state of Georgia, Andy and I are both from Georgia, they in the last election, they elected two senators who were Democrats there and they're likely to elect a governor next time who's a Democrat. You go through and read Georgia's law, it is one of the most sound, pro-voting, pro-minority bills in any of the 50 states. And the President is engaging, and I'll just say it out loud, he lies about this vote in Georgia.

Well, comparing the people that are opposing H.R.1 to Bull Connor and to Jefferson Davis, who led the South in the secession from the United States, a secessionist is now, if you're opposed to a bill that was violating the Constitution and federalizing the campaign? They're doubling down, even though the press statement that it wasn't casting doubt on the legitimacy of 2022, that's what Jen Psaki said. But I want to play for you first what Biden said, and then what Kamala Harris said this morning. So they are doing that. Jen Psaki can't clean up a mess because they are not on message. Their message is it is going to be a rigged election.

Where does that sound? Speaking of voting rights legislation, if this isn't passed, do you still believe the upcoming election will be fairly conducted and its results will be legitimate? Well, it all depends on whether or not we're able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election. So Republicans who worked hard to take back state legislatures and install voter integrity across the country, if they do that, then, you know, unless we can tell people on it, well, then, yeah, we have to question the election.

This is a longer Biden, but I want to play it going into this first half hour because then Vice President Harris doubled down this morning. Did the administration fail to temper its initiatives to meet political reality? In other words, should you have been more willing to compromise to try to get all Democrats on board? These initiatives failed because Democrats weren't united, let alone Republicans.

Was that an error as you look back on this year? Well, when I look back on this year, I think about things like the bipartisan infrastructure law. Um, administrations, both Democrat and Republican have tried for years. Doesn't that show Republicans were willing to help if the initiatives were good?

But they, they tried for years to do what the American people want and what the American people know is not an issue that should be thought of through a political lens. Yeah. I mean, this is unreal. So it's doubling down going on there. And she also questioned the elections in 2022. We get it. Let's get that sound as well from good morning America, because she questioned whether or not it will be a legitimate election as well.

What do you think? Give us a call. 1-800-684-3110. Second half hour coming up. Rick Renell will be joining us. 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.

All right, welcome back to Sekulow. We are taking your phone calls as well. 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. Let me kind of set the stage for you again if you're just joining us audience. So President Biden did one of the few press conferences he's done in his first year in office. And he went for a couple of hours and it was not good, to say the least.

I say this not because I'm just a conservative or even say, oh, Jordan, you're a Republican. That's not why I say it's not good. It's not good for the country. It's not good for the country when you say that, well, Ukraine, there might be a minor invasion. NATO might break up over this. And also, by the way, what do you think Putin's going to do? I think he's got to do something. He's got to invade Ukraine. And then what about if your election laws, which ultimately didn't pass that night, if they don't pass, what about the 2022 elections?

Well, I think you have to consider that they may have rigged those to favor the conservatives and Republicans. And then he had his vice President go on TV this morning and double down on that, even though he's got his press team trying to walk it back. He is shocked and outraged, our Ukrainian allies. He has, again, on every major piece of legislation, he also admitted that Build Back Better, which is kind of the key thing he was campaigning on until he switched to voting rights, is dead.

They may try to do piece by piece parts of it, but then it's dead. And I think the message of the press conference, if they'd gotten what they wanted out of it, was Biden 2.0, we're going to change strategies, we're going to shift courses. But that did not come through. No, but I mean, the worst part of it, I think, though, was the situation with Ukraine. And I want to address this as someone that knows a little bit about Ukraine and Ukraine politics, because as many, and I normally don't go back and look back on history and say, oh, well, this is what happened then. But remember this, the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, was impeached over a phone call with President Zelensky of Ukraine. Now, I know about that because I was the lead lawyer in the defense of the impeachment. He was acquitted, but they impeached him over a phone call with the President of Ukraine. And I said from the floor of the United States Senate that that administration, President Trump's administration, provided more munitions, ammunition to, and military support to Ukraine than any previous administration, Republican or Democrat.

But he was impeached over that phone call. Joe Biden invited the Russians to at least begin their invasion of maybe an incursion, he'll call it, into Ukraine. And Fan, is there a peep from a Democrat or is it crickets?

Silence. Yeah, I think there was almost an audible gasp from Washington Democrats during this press conference, Jay. I mean, obviously, their electoral chances are tied to this President. I think they know he made a blunder. You know, Jay, to me, maybe the worst moment of that was when he got pressed on that comment about a minor incursion, he kind of chuckled and look, give him the benefit of the doubt.

Maybe it was a nervous laugh, but Jay, this isn't funny. This is the invasion of a sovereign country. And I think when he did that, I think elected Democrats in this town knew they were in trouble. Because if you invade Ukraine, the amount of territory you're taking up is the rebuilding, Wes, of the former Soviet Union. Which is Putin's ultimate goal. Think about it, in the last eight years, he has invaded two other countries already. He took Crimea and he took parts of Georgia. And so the President is giving him tacit permission to continue this ambition to reestablish what was the Soviet empire.

Yeah. And Andy, very quickly here, we've talked about this before. You've got to project power. With Israeli, I keep going back to that quote, and it was dealing with Russia said, you have to project power. Even diplomacy can be war, but you have to project power and we're projecting the exact opposite.

That's exactly correct, Jay. You have to project a powerful image to the world. President Trump did that. He did that with authority. He did that decisively. And Democrats have done that. I'm not saying Harry Truman projected power when he did that.

John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, in some instances projected power on a domestic scene, but you don't project weakness. And that's what we had yesterday. Well, what do they get Jordan? What are they planning?

I mean, this is what I'm trying to, what is the plan here? I think the plan is at least the short term is that they will blame election losses in 2022 on a rigged election. They're going to say, see the Republicans came in and changed the laws. They changed the rules of the game. And because of that, we can't win. That's so, so in a sense, justifying how bad they're going to do and say, it's not about Joe Biden's horrible performance. It's about the laws.

And you know, that's not the case. 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.

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Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Secula. Of course, one of the biggest takeaways, especially internationally, we've talked about the U.S. standing in the world a lot with Rick Renell, our senior advisor for foreign policy and national security. Rick's joining us now. A huge takeaway, Rick, is just a shock and outrage by our Ukrainian allies after what President Biden said in his two hour press conference yesterday. Look, all we've been hearing for really weeks and months is that diplomacy is back. And this is a Biden administration that has mocked the Trump administration for not being able to get stuff done. And what we've seen now, this morning, the President of Ukraine had to go out and send a message to the President of the United States that he basically was wrong about his assumptions. Look, this is a real frightening, weak moment for the Biden administration coming off Afghanistan, coming off a moment where they said 90 percent of the people will get out, leaving 10 percent behind. And now Joe Biden is saying that small incursions of rewriting the land boundaries of Europe are going to be OK as long as they're small. That's really what the message was.

This is frightening. You know, Rick, I made the statement that, you know, I know a little bit about Ukraine and politics because I handled the first impeachment trial for President Trump. I said they impeached the President. He was acquitted, of course, but they impeached him over a phone call with President Zelensky. OK. He's acquitted.

He's acquitted. Your administration provided more aid to Ukraine than any previous administration, Republican or Democrat. Joe Biden invited the Russians yesterday in to Ukraine, at least to the I don't know, is that the first 50 miles of the border, the first 250 miles of the border?

I don't know. And I hear nothing from the other side on this, zero crickets, nothing. Look, one of the things that I think that we have to understand is that Washington, D.C. is a cesspool and a mess. And it's also run by newsrooms. And so newsrooms are meant to protect each other. I mean, look what happened with the Supreme Court and the NPR issue. They can't even issue a correction after three Supreme Court judges come out and say that they're wrong. So this is a city, Jay, that really is unto its own. It has their own messaging.

They talk to each other. What they don't realize is the rest of America is mocking them. The rest of America is looking at them and saying, are you living in a bubble?

And they just continue living in their in their bubble outside of Washington. People see Joe Biden as weak. They see this issue of abandoning 10 percent of the Americans in Afghanistan as a debacle. And now they're looking at how Joe Biden is messaging weakness on the world stage and really inviting the Russians to go further than just getting their pipeline. And people are unbelievably aghast.

And that's why his numbers are so low outside of Washington, D.C. It's also so dangerous what he's doing. I mean, that's why this is such a when you start telling your allies, well, if you get invaded a little bit, we're going to live with it. And we're not sure what NATO will really do here anyways. And he's he's broadcasting this out, Colonel Smith.

Yeah. Rick, you know, I'm curious as to what you think the ramifications, potential ramifications are both to our allies and our adversaries when he makes a remark like this. Well, let's remember that the Europeans really care. And when I mean Europeans, I'm talking about Berlin and Paris only. They really care about not rewriting the borders of Europe. But it's really important to note that the borders of Europe were rewritten twice. Once when Obama Biden was in charge and Crimea was grabbed twice recently, that was the first instance. And then the second instance is Brexit. And Brexit happened because of Syria, Libya, debacle of weakness coming from the Obama Biden administration. Biden has been a part of the administration where the borders were rewritten in Europe twice.

Now we're looking at a third time. You can't tell the world that a Biden presidency is somehow not inviting weakness. They see it. They see the evidence. And the Europeans, the rest of Europe outside of Berlin and Paris, are nervous.

Have you ever seen a President in history, Rick? I mean, because of your foreign policy work, literally get up and he's asked a question about what Putin has to do and say, well, I think he has to invade at this point. I mean, he really has got to do something. I mean, to say that at a time when you've got all of your team trying to prevent that, at least that's the goal. And that shouldn't be a Republican or Democrat goal. It's just a goal not to have an ally invaded.

And he said, well, no, I think he's got to do something. Look, I think it's really important to remember that the Europeans are pushing the Biden administration, just like they pushed the Trump administration, to be unified and to not pick fights with the Russians. For some reason, the Germans don't have the same threat assessment that the rest of the NATO members do. This is a crisis for NATO. NATO exists to blunt and stop Russia. But when you have a United States President like Joe Biden telling the Europeans, we're going to let you decide what the policy is and we're going to support you. We call it consensus.

We're all going to be on the same page. That's how you get a Nord Stream 2 pipeline of influence into Europe. You get rewriting of the borders of Europe and you get literally a lot of countries outside of Berlin and Paris capitals that are furious at what's happening. Europe is absolutely less safe and in more danger because of the weakness of Joe Biden and what he's doing with Putin. Putin sees it, he sees what we're seeing, and so does Xi in China.

Mr. Ambassador, let me ask you this question. If you were the government of Taiwan right now and you heard this President say what he said about minor incursion into Ukraine, what do you think the Taiwanese are thinking this morning? It's a great question because I think over the last several months they've been very worried. They've seen China begin to really stand up in ways that it hasn't. There's clearly a strategy there from China and they've got to be very nervous. Look, this bleeds into our allies. We've got countries in the Middle East who are reading the tea leaves of a weak United States at the same time that Russia and China are coming on strong. You look at Iran and what Iran is doing now with China. The debacle in Afghanistan, the weakness portrayed by the Biden administration around the world is really causing a shift. The United States built up its reputation in the Middle East and around the world for decades and it's all crumbling because of Joe Biden. This is going to be epic in terms of trying to build back our reputation where allies can rely on us.

They're going to look at future democratic administrations and say are you going to be like Obama and Biden where we couldn't rely on you? It's really sad. I want you to comment on this.

I want to play it. This is President Biden yesterday talking about NATO and it just seemed like this was, Rick, right or wrong, inappropriate to be just sharing this information out there in this meandering kind of way in a press conference. Let's play it by 40. I think we will if there's something that is that where there's Russian forces crossing the border, killing Ukrainian fighters, etc. I think that changes everything, but it depends on what he does and to what extent we're going to be able to get total unity on the NATO front.

So the first part is there, Rick, we talked about it before. Russian snipers have been sniping at Ukrainians throughout this conflict since the annexation of Crimea and since the build up on the border. So there have been Ukrainians getting killed. But second, why bring up to the entire world that NATO's not allied behind how to respond to Putin? Well, look, Joe Biden has not made paying your NATO obligations an issue. It's not even brought up.

I have evidence now. I've been told by officials in Germany that when our secretary of state was there for meetings in Germany, that he didn't even bring up with the Germans their NATO obligations. When you don't support NATO and you get away with not supporting NATO, don't be surprised when NATO begins to crumble or is weak. There was a lot of criticism of Donald Trump undermining NATO. Nothing undermines NATO, like not paying your obligations and then saying we're not united behind incursions in Europe.

It's really scary. And we could talk a long time about this because I think there's an alternative when you talk about America first. No one is talking about sending American troops in because we've learned that lesson. We shouldn't be in this situation. A year of weakness has given us choices between bad and very bad.

You know, Rick, that's exactly what I was thinking. How did we let ourselves get in? We only have 50 seconds here. How did we let ourselves get in this position? And that's because bad diplomacy.

We're no diplomacy and no force. And electing Joe Biden after we knew exactly who Joe Biden was. He was the guy who really watched Crimea be grabbed in the Syria genocide unfold and nobody got out of their seat.

They had a front row seat and nobody got up. Elections have consequences. Thank you, Rick. Yeah, Rick, as always, we appreciate your insight. I mean, again, we're going to start taking your phone calls now.

People are on the line. So we come back for this break. Give us a call. You've got time to get your comment, your question in 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110.

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ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Sekulow. I said we'd take, start taking your phone calls. I want to do just that, 1-800-684-3110. People have been hanging on the line. I want to go to Jerry first in Texas. Jerry, welcome to Sekulow. Thanks for holding on.

You're on the air now. Yeah. Hey, my question is, Biden and also Kamala Harris have been saying that there's going to be severe consequences if Putin invades Ukraine. But nothing's clear as to, is there going to be military action or terrorists put on them? They're not clear about that, or they're not allowed to say. Well, I think one of the consequences, they're financial.

So I mean, that I think we can be clear about. It's all been about sanctions, crippling sanctions. Now, here's one of the problems with crippling sanctions. You can do pretty tough sanctions, just the US, when it comes to some countries. Now, it kind of depends on how far you're willing to go. Are you willing to go, as President Trump was, to Turkey if they didn't release Pastor Brunson and say, we will cut off you from the entire US banking system?

That's a very extreme act. Now, Turkey responded by releasing the pastor immediately, because two days before that, he had put sanctions on their officials so that their money was frozen in US banking accounts. Can that be done effectively to a country the size of Russia is a question if you don't have other countries bought in. So, so far, all of the consequences are financial. There's no talk about troops. There's no talk about rearming Ukraine again, which, by the way, the Trump administration did. But all financial, and the question is, how far can your financial penalties go when, one, you don't have consensus and you just told the world that, you don't have NATO consensus, but two, that you already believe that Putin has to invade? I mean, that's literally the words of the President. He's got to do something there.

He's got to go in. Yeah, so, but you also have to understand what's happening in, understand what's happening in, also on a broader base. And Colonel Smith brought this out, Wes, during the break. And that is the military exercises that are going on starting Monday. Yeah. We've said this several times on this broadcast, weakness invites aggression.

Naivete is very dangerous in the world in which we live. And they announced on Monday that Russia announced this, that they are joining together with Iran and China for the first time ever in joint military exercises. What is the one thing those three countries have in common? The United States is their enemy.

Yeah. And so, Andy, what happens, and we know this geopolitically, is when you have three adversaries, as previously, like an axis of evil, which is what it is, three adversaries that have, you got China that brought to the United States the virus, whether in, potentially or not, no one knows yet. But they certainly haven't been forthcoming in transparency to the details of that. You have Iran, which is the biggest state sponsor of terror, and Russia, which is now a foe, an adversary and causing all kinds of problems. This does, we've seen this before.

Yes, we have. And I can tell you exactly when, World War II. We called it then the Rome, Berlin, Tokyo axis of evil. Now we have the Russia, Iran, China axis of evil.

And I keep coming back to this. Why don't people read history books? You've got three adversaries now ganging up on the United States, powerful adversaries. Don't tell me the Chinese are not powerful. Iran, the biggest exporter of terrorism, you pointed out. Russia rebuilding the czarist empire right now, right under our nose. And one of the countries that may be swallowed up, Ukraine, we're saying our President, the most powerful man in the world is saying, ah, a little incursion, not so bad. I don't understand, but I'm trying to think, and that's just to Harry, but in Jordan, I don't understand, Harry, what is the, what political calculation have they made that they thought that was a good idea? Well, I think, um, the Biden administration is guided by one principle beyond spinelessness, which is a capitulation to progressive elites who believe in openness and inclusion, that that will solve all of the problems in the world. So they ignore the evidence right in front of their own eyes in Ukraine, in Hong Kong, in terms of Ukrainian aggression.

Uh, and so they just keep forgetting the lessons of history and they are prepared to continue to, uh, repeat defeat, which comes from fecklessness. Now, Stan, you are right across the street from the U S Capitol. I mean, you're right there. We've had all the action on HR one yesterday. That was a good win, but I'm not seeing, are you hearing anything from the Democrats on this disaster yesterday?

Anything? Yeah, it's actually worse than that, Jay. I mean, we had this conversation with Rick earlier in the week. Uh, look, this is mostly an executive branch play, and I think it's pretty clear they're taking tools out of the diplomatic tool, uh, tool belt. Uh, Jay, they've got a distorted view of diplomacy, but if I look at the United States Senate, I think there was an opportunity for them to speak very clearly just a week ago today, there were sent, there was a sanction bill on the floor of the United States Senate on this very issue. And look, Jay, this goes back to what Jordan was talking about. It's an economic sanction.

Is it enough? Probably not honestly, but it was still an opportunity for Democrats in the United States Senate to tell the President we've got to get tougher and we've got to get tougher. Now, ironically, Jay, what did Senate Senate Democrats do on the very same day that their President was on the Hill telling them to get rid of the filibuster, they filibustered that sanction bill.

So look, I just don't think there's a political appetite even in the United States Senate for it, but listen to the, do we have time for this? Yeah, we do the comment on the issue of the coronavirus. Cause I, as I just raised the situation with China, and as we were talking about China's influence, all that listen to this question and listen to the President's response.

President Biden on the coronavirus, uh, we're, uh, tragically approaching nearly 1 million Americans who died. Um, and I'd like to ask you, um, why it is during your three and a half hour virtual summit in November with the Chinese President, you didn't press for transparency and also whether that has anything to do with your son's involvement in an investment firm controlled by Chinese state owned entities. The answer is that we did, I did raise the question of transparency. I spent a lot of time with him and he, uh, the fact is that they're just not, they're just not being transparent and it's just taking, it's just like, well, he's going to invade Ukraine. Well, they're not going to tell us why are we allowing these countries to commit genocide and then go into their Olympics while COVID is raging, by the way, on top of that, it's why you could ask two questions.

Are we putting our athletes in danger twofold by going to the Chinese communist party's country and their big party and two, the fact that COVID is raging there as a problem. Uh, but then second, the idea that you just show your shoulders that this is American weakness. Now, is this a part of a bigger, we hate America foreign policy?

Maybe. I don't think Joe Biden was actually bought into that, but certainly his whole staff is the far left. They want to see the deconstruction of the evil United States of America. Remember that that's the far left of his party, the academic world of his party.

You know, he said that yesterday too. I'm going to bring in some more academics. Great. What we need is a bunch of academics who can't agree on anything except for the fact that the United States is evil.

We need to teach our kids that. And on top of that, um, let's just see the, that's what I call it. The deconstruction of the United States and he's happy to be at the helm of it. Harry, in 30 seconds, you've talked about the elites.

He, that's pretty much what he says he's inviting in. More of the same. Absolutely. And their mantra is as follows.

The absolute destruction of the idea of America, the destruction of our constitution, the destruction of the rule of law, the destruction of our principles. And here we have it from the President of the United States. It's, it's, it's mind boggling.

I cannot believe I'm still in shock and horror over this whole situation. Yeah. With Ukraine, especially with Ukraine. I mean, I, I just can't even believe what he was thinking when he said that to her.

Yeah. And that's the, you know, the toughest part to hold the President's account for is foreign policy when they get in office. I mean, you can have great midterm elections coming up. I think Republicans will across the board, but it's still going to be tough to hold them to account.

You will have the power of the person to influence a foreign policy to some extent. And let's just not forget a big legislative victory yesterday. And it took two Democrats standing with Republicans to stop the federal takeover of the election, the abolishment of the legislative filibuster.

And that again, folks was a huge victory when it comes to the integrity of our elections in 2022 and beyond. 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.