PUTIN TO US/NATO: “Consequences that you have never experienced in your history.”

Breaking news! Putin launches war in Ukraine. Keeping you informed and engaged.

Now more than ever. This is Sekulow. I decided to conduct a special military operation.

Its goal is the protection of the people who for 8 years suffered from abuse and genocide from the Kyiv regime. We urge you to lay down arms immediately and go home. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments.

Or call 1-800-684-3110. This morning, dear citizens, this morning has gone down in history, but it is a different history for us and for Russia. We have severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Ukraine is defending itself and shall not cede its freedom. Whatever they might think in Moscow, to Ukrainians, independence and the right to live on our land is the highest value.

And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. Okay, so whatever you've thought about, would he invade, could he invade, what will it look like, we now know what it looks like. It's a full scale invasion, at least by air right now, but we also have troops on the ground. Russian troops in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. We have Russian troops in Odessa, they've taken over the port there. That's Ukraine's only port city, it's on the Black Sea. So by Russia taking that over, they now control anything that's going in and out of Ukraine by a shipping container. So of course you want to understand the importance of that.

But if you look at a map, let's put the map up right now, and I want to talk through it. This was not centered around eastern Ukraine. You see that small area? That's the disputed area that was already held by the separatists, kind of like Crimea, but they actually utilized Crimea and the areas held by the separatists. They launched attacks all the way through Belarus, so they used Belarus as well to launch attacks. They've got paratroopers in, so there are Russian troops on the ground.

There was some resistance by Ukraine on the air, but most of their air structures, like their airports, have been taken out and a lot of their communications have been taken out. Now, I want to say right off the bat, you may say, well, okay, this is happening in Ukraine and Russia. This is how it's going to affect you. It's going to be more expensive to fill up your car.

It's going to be more expensive to heat your house. Cost of goods are going to go up, and we're already in an inflation kind of environment. The stock market is almost crashing, and we've seen a 2% drop, and this is just the beginning of the conflict. If this gets bloodier and nastier, if there is some insurgency in Ukraine, and we don't know if there really is one or not, this is going to be something that's very significant. The only thing comparable to this in modern history was the U.S. invasion of Iraq. It was shock and awe.

You go in with heavy air, the troops walk in, the tanks roll in. That's what Putin is following. He's following a similar model of take out all the major air structures and then roll in with the troops and the tanks, and basically at some point the government is gone. Vladimir Putin apparently, and we're going to talk to our military experts about this, but Vladimir Putin apparently taped the message that he released last night around midnight East Coast time the same day he gave that speech two days ago, where he gave that three-hour history of Russia speech.

This was all premeditated. He also said it was a limited special operation into those disputed territories. However, 10 minutes after he said that, and this is what's important for everybody to understand, literally 10 minutes after he said that, there were bombs falling and missile strikes in Kiev. Odessa had amphibious landings and the port was taken over, which is the big control port, and the major military, especially with regard to the Air Force, was significantly compromised literally within hours of all of this happening. So it's now night in Kiev, so that's when you expect more of the heavier military artillery. The question will be, does Zelensky's government go to exile really quickly here?

We don't know that. How long does it survive in Kiev while there's Russian troops literally on the ground in Kiev? And a lot of this, again, is going to be happening at nighttime again. They're deep inside of Ukraine right now.

In every major city, in every port. I encourage people to click over. You see in your Facebook chat, if you're watching on Facebook, you can click over to watch on Rumble as well. So we're going to try that out today as well. But are we keeping the Facebook? We haven't made that decision, so keep watching whatever platform you're on right now. If it goes off, go to the other.

We'll be back with more in just a moment again. ACLJ.org for information impacts you. Regardless of how you feel about Putin and how you feel about the invasion, it's going to impact your pocketbook for all of us. 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, the play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. President Biden is planning to speak to the nation later on, maybe while we're on air. We'll get some of that for you. Yesterday's comments were not very long, and they were announcing some sanctions that we already have discussed. We're not so devastating to the Russian economy.

We'll see what is announced today. On top of that, we want to focus on the war angle of this. We're going to get in next segment into how this impacts you, how this impacts the economy, the U.S. economy. Russians are already threatening cyber attacks on the U.S. electrical grid, and banks, no one specific. Yeah, banks and electrical grids, and any other country that they're saying interferes. Yes, and I would say sanctions mean interference. So we're already interfering, which means the Russians believe they've got the green light to carry out cyber attacks on us. And, of course, that can be devastating also economically, also when it's wintertime and electrical grids start going down.

On top of that, we'll get into the pocketbook issues, too, because, again, just do a 10,000 feet approach here. However you feel about how the U.S. should be involved in this, guess what? It's happening, and it's going to impact you. But let's go to what's actually happening on the ground in Ukraine.

Joining us right now is our military analyst, senior military analyst, Colonel Wes Smith, and, Colonel, I want to talk to you initially because this is something that's not being reported. But NATO countries, that's countries that we're in relationship with as part of NATO, have exercised what's – you always hear about Article 5, which is an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all. But there has been an Article 4 invocation of NATO countries right now, something you don't hear a lot about.

We want to tell you what that means. Yeah, out of the 30 NATO countries, four of them today invoked Article 4 of the NATO charter, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Poland is a former Warsaw Pact nation. The other three are former Soviet republics. They border Russia. And Article 4 is there if any country feels like their territory is being violated potentially or their political independence, if they believe they are threatened on either of those things, territory or independence, they can invoke Article 4.

What does it mean? What it means is it calls for a mandatory meeting of all 30 member states immediately. And, of course, the member states, they all have permanent representatives in Brussels. It's called the North Atlantic Council.

They will meet. Usually what is a result of this, Jay, is that more equipment and more troops are sent to those countries that are invoking Article 4. So you're looking at the possibility of an escalation of military personnel and armaments. That is the likely result of this, including the possibility that the 40,000-man, you know, the NATO response force might be activated as well. Yeah, and Article 4 also says that they feel like their territories or their political operations are under jeopardy. Now, it's very interesting when you look at this, Wes, as to what exactly happened here, and that is the strike that Russia engaged in. Putin gives an announcement saying it's going to be limited to the region, the two disputed regions, as they call it. And then literally 10 minutes later, he starts having major engagements in Kiev, Odessa with the Navy.

We had Air Force, Navy, Special Operations, Black Hawk helicopters, and now ground troops. Yeah, the pre-assault fires, as they're called, literally were not in the eastern port of Ukraine where everybody thought it was going to happen. They were all over the country of Ukraine. The port city of Odessa was occupied by Russian troops. There were airstrikes in the western side, not far from the Polish border. And of course, armored troops and attacks, you know, pre-assault fires started on the northern border going towards the capital city of Kiev.

This was a major attack over the entire country of Ukraine. We are taking your calls about this, too. I know people probably got questions how the military approached the economic impact this will have on the U.S. Give us a call. 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. One of our viewers on Rumble, if you're watching on Rumble, and we appreciate Rumble hosting us, I think we're on their homepage right now, said very clear that Putin planned the total invasion of Ukraine. He's looking to rebuild the failed USSR, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, coming next. Concern is the likelihood of a significant, he's talking about like a World War III here, watch out for China and there's some concerns there. How do you view this, Colonel Smith, right now militarily?

What kind of level of engagement is this? Well, for Ukraine, it is total engagement. The threat that we don't know, you know, the complete outcome of is how far Putin will go after this. I don't think he will attack another country right off, but you look at the former Balkan states, you know, Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia. You look at the former members of the Soviet Republic that have invoked Article 4 of NATO, they are feeling threatened. Jake, what has happened?

The world today is a much more dangerous place in which to live. Absolutely. Let's go right to the phones. We are taking your phone calls, 1-800-684-3110. Jan in Texas Online 1. Jan, I saw your comment, I want to get right to you.

Thank you very much. I'm calling in reference to my son's girlfriend who is in a safe place at her home in the province in Ukraine. My son is in Kiev right now and has opted to stay there.

He's a war veteran and he's with some other war veterans and one that has been on Fox News giving some comments. But at any rate, you know, he had a business there and we had to shut it down two weeks ago. His girlfriend tried to apply for a visa in November, was turned down.

You know, my son says it was probably COVID. We don't know the reason why she was turned down, truthfully. Do you know where she is? Do we know where she is?

Well, I do. I have her driver's license. I don't want you to give where the location is, but you all know where she is and you know that she's safe. Yes, she's in her province. Okay, so she is Ukrainian?

Yes. Okay, so this is interesting because, you know, the displaced person aspect of this also becomes an issue here. Very significant issue. I mean, people are pouring out of Ukraine as we speak. Some have found safe haven, but the roads out of Kiev are packed.

But guess what that does? It opens up the roads into Kiev for the Russian tanks. Yes, and you know, the Russian tanks are the latest model of that.

I think it's called the T-14. They are rolling into the country as we speak. The refugee crisis on this is going to be huge. I will say this about the Russian attacks so far. It is very targeted. They are targeting command and control, government buildings, those kinds of things. The rampant just attacking everyone with no concern for civilian casualties has not happened yet.

The strikes thus far have been massive. They've been all over the country, but largely targeted at government facilities. Colonel Smith, but they grabbed the ports right away, right?

I saw two things happen last night as we were watching and looking at this. They went in with amphibious landings through their navy to take over the port in Odessa. At the very same time, they struck right at the Kiev airport and also in the military, both the Kiev International Airport, which is the commercial aviation for civilian travel, but also went right directly after the military aircraft and supposedly had direct strikes.

Yeah, absolutely. They had flown reconnaissance missions. Of course, they have satellite. They knew what their targets were going to be. They have engaged these targets, unfortunately, very effectively. The reports are that even the air defense system of Ukraine has been totally obliterated so that they cannot even defend themselves.

How about the education system? Do we know at this point? I don't know exactly. I do know that the Ukrainian army, they have quit using cell phones completely. They use old landline military radios and telephones in order to not be shut down. They can still communicate as far as the civilian cell phone service.

I'm not sure. And Zelensky has imposed martial law. He imposed it by a FaceTime video. So he did not have the production capability to address the nation in a normal kind of video message or live message. He was using his phone to do so. So that shows you how imperiled the leadership of Ukraine is.

I want to show this image. It's a fairly haunting image. This was right before the airstrikes really began. This was very early morning yesterday in Ukraine and it was a group of people that CNN just noted had come together in prayer, the Ukrainians. Ukraine, like Russia's too, there's the Orthodox church but there's other Christian denominations.

I don't know if those are Orthodox Christians or Evangelical Christians. But it showed you that again all over the world when there's this crisis looming and they said it was below freezing. It was freezing cold and yet they knew they didn't do this to be on CNN by the way. They didn't know the cameras would catch them.

They did this to prayer. And that's again a lot of what people's hope is left will be in Ukraine is prayer. The right things happen to slow this invasion down or give Putin pause because again once you start wars Wes, and I think this is very important, you really can't predict them once they start. Even if you're the bigger army.

There are so many mistakes and missteps can happen. People react to war activities like this and you just don't know. That's what I mean when I say the world today is a much more dangerous place. You look at China's threat.

Yes for the United States. The cyber war is going to kick into high gear. Welcome to the Cold War 2 is what it comes down to. And you have of course China's threat with Taiwan.

They flew nine fighter jets and one reconnaissance plane into Taiwan airspace while this attack was going on in Ukraine. Also, we'll be talking about this in the next segment, but while this is all occurring, Vladimir Putin is meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan about a new pipeline from Russia, natural gas pipeline from Russia to Pakistan. Working around the sanctions already. In a way that Iran and other countries don't have the infrastructure to do, he does. So he's already planning for a long scale way to work around US and Western European sanctions. We encourage you if you're watching this or of course if you're listening on radio, thank you and continue to do that and we encourage you to call your friends to listen in.

If you're on any of our social media platforms right now, including Rumble, we want you to share this with your friends, share it with your folks on those various social media platforms. Very important to stay engaged on this. Coming up, what does this mean for you, for us in the United States of America and our way of life? We're going to talk about that with two of our experts when we come right back from the break. Remember later in the broadcast, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

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

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

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

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

ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Secular. So we talked military side of this. Of course we're getting into more of that with Secretary Pompeo. But we want to come right to you because there was a lot of talk about this, about would it happen, will it not happen, will Putin really go this far?

Well he has. So how will this impact us? This is what's most important to the American people.

Yes, war in Europe is bad. How is this going to impact me now? Stock market. But also at the gas pump, at the grocery store, my gas bill. It's wintertime in America. Gas bills are higher than they normally are.

All of that. Travel costs. Spring break is coming up soon.

Will you be able to afford the trip with your family? And this is that I think really how it connects right now to the average American who's got to get through their day. Their kids are in school.

They go to work. They can't spend all their time focused on Ukraine and Russia. But it will impact them. It's going to impact them. I want to go to Professor Harry Hutchinson's Law and Economics professor because Professor Hutchinson, here's one of the issues that's affecting, look I went and filled up my tank with gas yesterday, Harry.

And it's breathtaking. I mean, and there's issues with our strategic reserves. Precisely. And there's issues as to what these sanctions really, what can be next and what's going to be next. Give us your sense of first of all the economic impact. Well, I think the economic impact, particularly in the short run, will indeed be huge. And so we are seeing forecasts of gas prices going up to up to $8 per gallon of gas.

Particularly in California and New Jersey. And so this will have a very significant impact on travel. It will have an impact, for instance, on the leisure industry, hotels. It will also have an indirect impact on food prices.

So for instance, as petroleum prices rise, then transportation costs rise. And so I think at the end of the day, the American people will pay a huge price, but they will be paying a price at least in part because the Biden administration did not adequately forecast this problem. So for instance, we should have opened up all of our pipelines. We should have maintained energy independence. We should have kept a barrel of oil at about $40 per barrel as opposed to about $100 per barrel. And even the Biden administration, I think today, would admit it made a strategic mistake in tapping the strategic oil reserve, not because that was necessarily a mistake, but because we are sending oil, at least as of November 2021, to India and China as opposed to the American people.

I do not understand the Biden administration. So Vladimir Putin, though, has already, he's had to do this, Harry. He's had to figure out, he knew these sanctions are coming and there's going to be more sanctions today. He's doing workarounds.

Absolutely. And so for instance, there is some talk about imposing so-called swift banking sanctions. Essentially, that would mean Russian customers could not transfer funds from let's say bank A to bank B because those banks are no longer part of the swift transaction system. However, Russia already has workarounds in place with Pakistan, with Iran, with Turkey, with China. And so at the end of the day, for those swift banking sanctions to work, you would also have to impose sanctions on all these other countries. So my question is this, usually we think if we can shut you out of the US markets, US banking system, Western banking systems, and the stock market, that in the past that would cripple your country's economy. In some countries it still does because they don't have these workarounds. But what we're saying is that Russia can work around that and it may be a little, it may not be perfect for them, but long term they figure out a longer play here.

I think that's correct. So what we are doing right now, even assuming that we impose the maximum swift banking sanctions possible, is we are causing an inconvenience. But we have also given Russia lots of leverage on international markets because we have allowed, through a deliberate US policy, we've allowed the price of petroleum to explode.

That essentially is a hard currency. And so Russia can trade petroleum for other assets throughout the world. And we have become dependent, if you will, on Russian oil. We have been importing Russian oil. It makes no sense, but that's the Biden administration. And at the same time, Russia knowingly, willfully, and wantonly is violating international law.

Andy? That's exactly right. Russia and the Ukraine are parties to the 1949 Geneva Convention and indeed to the Hague Convention of 1907 regarding the methods and means of conducting warfare. And one of the basic principles is that you do not violate sacrosanct borders.

And what the Russians have done is invaded the Ukraine and violated the borders which are sacrosanct. And so now we have come into play, and I've looked very carefully at this, the basic principles of the law of war because that's what we're involved in in the Ukraine. And foremost is the rule that parties to a conflict have got to distinguish at all times between combatants and civilians.

That's one of the things that comes into play. As combatants, civilians may never be the deliberate subjects or targets of attack, and the parties to a conflict have to minimize the attack on civilians. Human rights still apply in the Ukraine under the laws of war. Lawful targets have got to be objectivized. You can't destroy, capture, or neutralize things that are not of a military nature. Here's what Vladimir Putin is saying.

That's all great. That's the international law, right? Here's what Vladimir Putin is saying.

Let's play 47. Whoever would try to stop us and further create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia's response will be immediate and lead you to such consequences that you have never faced in your history. We are ready for any outcome. I mean, understand, like the Biden administration's approach or not, Putin is going to consider these sanctions as that interference. That means he's going to green light, potentially, the attacks on our electrical grid.

Now think about that in a time when it's 30 degrees in a lot of places in the country or colder. The cell infrastructure, the internet, I mean, he could green light massive attacks, cyber attacks on the U.S. that could cripple our communications and ability to heat our homes. On top of that, it green lights bad actors that are aligned with Russia who are much closer to us. The Cubans who have been realigned with the Russians, the Venezuelans, and of course the bad actors like Iran, which we're talking about with Secretary Pompeo. You know who's loving this right now? The Chinese. Because all this attention is over here, and they've got flights going over Taiwan, military planes going over Taiwan. And by the way, that takeover would be shorter than this is taking Vladimir Putin.

Andy, quickly here. We laid out what the international law is. Do you believe that's a deterrent to Vladimir Putin?

No, it is not. I think he disregards it. He doesn't care what it is. He's already made the statement definitively that he's going to do what it takes to accomplish his goal. And Harry, from an economic standpoint here, is there any sanctions that can be imposed on Russia that will have the kind of consequences to deter him from going further, at least? I don't think so.

Certainly not in the short run. And so we should have started imposing sanctions if we were going to go down this pathway in March of 2021 when Putin put troops on the Ukrainian border. All right, folks, we're going to take your calls. 1-800-684-3110, second half hour coming up. You don't want to miss former Secretary of State, our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs Mike Pompeo live joining us. By the way, we also know during our live broadcast today, President Biden's already pushed the speech back an hour. So that's not going to be occurring while we're live on the air. We'll be right back.

Second half hour 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. I'm talking about freedom. I'm talking about freedom.

We will fight for the right to live in freedom. Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. And welcome back to Sekulow. So we have seen a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

All the talk about what it might be, what it might not be. Will they actually do that? Is there a diplomatic solution?

Off the table now. Now, the difference is the ground troops are just beginning to move in. The tanks are just now beginning to move in. So there were some on-the-ground efforts in Odessa to take the port.

And they did. And they did that with amphibious landing vehicles. And they've used paratroopers in the central parts of Ukraine, like Kyiv, to get troops on the ground, as well as tanks beginning to roll in. There's a mass migration occurring.

So you're going to see a mass migration of people. Ukrainians were in denial about this until they woke up. I mean, they were in denial. They really did not believe.

And their leaders were telling them not to believe that really people they do consider their brothers and sisters would come at them with this kind of firepower. And this was a very strategic move by Putin. He also engaged, in which the Russians are known for, in a disinformation campaign.

Let me be clear on what that is. He gave a speech that was prerecorded. It was the same day he gave the speech three days ago, the long three-hour speech where he gave the whole history of Russia since the time of the czars. And where he laid out his vision for a reunited Soviet Union, basically. Evidently, this is what all the indications are, that he recorded a speech that he then released last night, same coat, same tie, same place, where he said, I've only authorized a special operation limited engagement of military actions in the two portions of Ukraine that were in dispute, supposedly. Ten minutes later, ten minutes later, rockets and missiles were fired upon Kiev. Odessa was attacked by an amphibious landing of Russians and the port was taken over. The Kiev airport, both the commercial airport and the military were completely rendered meaningless, useless. We're showing pictures of it on the screen right now.

Surgical strikes, shock and awe, but decapitated a lot of the military engagement that they can engage in. Now the question is, how long does Zelensky, is he even still there? We're going to be joined by, by the way, coming up on the next segment of the broadcast, is the former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who's our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs.

So if you're watching or listening, I want to encourage you, if you're on any of our media applications, share this with your friends. You're not going to want to miss Mike Pompeo, who is sat next to Vladimir Putin in negotiations and Lavrov. One of the questions we're going to have for him is, is this it or where does Putin want to go next? There are a few, only three really countries that were former Soviet countries that have not joined NATO other than Ukraine. Serbia, Kosovo, Albania. You know Rick Renell's worked a lot between Kosovo and Albania.

Two of those are predominantly Muslim, two are predominantly Orthodox Christian. So again, the other places they're talking about, the countries that have invoked that Article 4 of NATO, they're part of NATO, but certainly would be in Vladimir Putin's eyes if this goes well for him. Now what we don't know is what happens when his troops could be shot at by people from their windows. And the insurgency, a lot of military experts are saying the only hope Ukraine has now is you don't engage the Russians right now. You fall back all your troops into their homes, very much guerrilla style.

And then when they're sitting there on the streets, you go after them like we've seen our troops have to fight. But that takes a lot of will to the Ukrainian people. And Iraq, right. Remember in Afghanistan and Iraq, what was leading those insurgent efforts?

Radical Islam behind it, you know, a martyr kind of idea. That's different than in a predominantly Orthodox Christian country where most people just don't want to fight. And they've been under this Russian puppet governments for many times throughout their short history in Ukraine. So if Putin is able to do this relatively, I mean there's been blood spilled, but not thousands of people being killed. And he's able to put in a puppet. He has totally destabilized the military and the government. So if he puts in a puppet government, does that calm things down for Ukrainians as well?

Does that allow them to kind of get back to life? There's a lot to talk to ask Mike Pompeo about. And it's going to affect us, folks. I don't care whose side you're on.

You think Biden's at fault, which I do think he is. Or the Republicans, it doesn't matter because it's going to affect your pocketbook. All of you are going to be paying more. And all of us, we're going to be paying more for our gas bill. We're paying more, I'm talking about natural gas in your home. You're paying more to the pump. You're going to be paying more for food. And it's already we're dealing with inflation in our country. Mike Pompeo coming up next.

If you're watching the broadcast, share it with your friends and family. 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. Music Welcome back to Secula. We are joined by our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs.

I can't think of a better person to talk to right now. Former Secretary of State, former CIA Director, former Congressman, West Point grad, Mike Pompeo, our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs. So, Mr. Secretary, now we've been talking about this for two weeks. It's now happened. I want to get your analysis first on the nature of this attack that Vladimir Putin has launched on Ukraine overnight, and it's ongoing now.

You have met with him, you have been at the table with him, and also with Lavrov, the Foreign Minister. What is your analysis of the nature of this attack so far? Well, Jay, this is a big attack.

It is highly complex. They've been using every element of Russian power. They've used cyber, they've used air and sea. You can see the artillery attacks as well.

They've rolled vehicles and land equipment. It appears that there's attacks through the sea in Odessa as well. This is a high-end, concerted effort to overthrow the regime in Ukraine.

I think we've all seen this coming for weeks. We implored our administration to do everything it could to deter change the calculus for Vladimir Putin. He's clearly waiting to do the sanctions, failed to do that, but Vladimir Putin has made this choice. It's a war of aggression on his part, and he needs to be made to pay the price for that. Do you think, Secretary Pompeo, that if the government falls in Ukraine, that that's all Putin wanted? Or are you concerned that this is just the beginning of a new style of Russian aggression?

Well, we have to remember history just a bit. He thinks of himself in many ways as Peter the Great. He wants to restore greater Russia.

This isn't the first time he's done this, right? He dropped troops into Syria. He put private forces into Libya. He took Georgia, a piece of Georgia, he took Crimea.

So this is part of a pattern. Move, see what the response from the West is. If the cost is relatively low, then continue the mission.

The mission being creating a Russian buffer space and the recreation of at least a faux Soviet Union. This is his legacy. It's what he's hoping to achieve, and to date he has not paid a price for this. I have a twofold question, Mike, and that is, one, you negotiated with him. You've been at the table with him as Secretary of State. Of course, you were also the head of the CIA. So I want our audience to understand the kind of person he is, and you just said he's trying to build legacy.

So that's kind of question one. Question two is, this was a very calculated move that he made when he issued that statement, which was obviously prerecorded, to say it was a limited engagement, special operations in one portion of Ukraine, while his amphibious landing was taking place in Odessa and he was bombing Kiev. So obviously Russian disinformation here. You've negotiated with him. You're seeing the tactics.

What's your assessment? This is all entirely consistent with the Vladimir Putin that I came to know. He only understands one thing, Jay.

It is power and force and brutality. I was criticized for saying he's shrewd and cunning. You can see that. It's not about admiring him for that. I despise him.

He is evil and he is inflicting incredible harm on the Ukrainian people. They are the victims. But you can't put your head in the sand. You can't do what Barack Obama said. You can't say, oh, this is just the JV.

You'll get your head cut off. This is a serious adversary and we should have taken this more seriously. We now find ourselves in a place where he's on the march. Feels like he is in control and we're still on our back foot. We very much have the tools to regain control, to use the great power status that we have to inflict enormous costs on him in the coming days and months and if it's required in the coming years as well.

Mike, what does that mean? If you're going to put in the kind of sanctions you would do if you were President of the United States or secretary of state, what is it that would deter Putin at this point from where he is right now in Ukraine? It doesn't look like, I mean, looking at it as we're looking at it now, we've done a lot of work in this region, it does not look like Zelensky's government survives in Kyiv, maybe in exile, but what are the kind of sanctions that could be put in place that would deter further aggression here? I'm not sure that sanctions alone, no matter how stiff, can actually turn that trick.

That's not to say they shouldn't be stiff. We should do every bit of that. I saw the Germans today say that they wouldn't support Swift.

That's outrageous. We should do it. We should do it without them.

We can. We should put enormous sanctions on him, his oligarchs, everyone who was in the room. These are human rights violations, use global Magnitsky, you're familiar with that Jay. These are powerful, powerful sanctions that impact those people's lives.

But there's so much more than that. I would start with this. I would announce this morning, not that I was going to send a few barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, that's just silly. Let's put America's economic power in play. Let's go open up energy resources everywhere. Let's take the price of crude from 105 or 99, wherever it's sitting as we speak, and let's take it back to 52 where it was when we left office. That will brush his economy and it will help consumers here at home. It will help people all throughout America.

There aren't anything. The sanctions are just a tool. There are so many tools we have that we can use. He understands the power.

And by the way, one last thing, Jay. I would add, it could be that Zelensky will support the country. We should be very clear that he is the rightful leader of the Ukrainian people and we should support him wherever he is. And when this government is installed, we should not recognize them and we should operate in a way that empowers the resistance of that government every day until the cost of Vladimir Putin is staggering. There are former Soviet states, which are members of NATO now.

He's talked about, in that longer speech, a more expansive approach. So if this goes relatively easy for Vladimir Putin and the sanctions, like if the Swift Bank sanctions aren't put in by the US, and even if they are, but there's not buy-in from the entire world, and he's already talking about building a pipeline to Pakistan now. The head of Pakistan is in Russia as this is going on to discuss that. I mean, could you see him potentially trying to endanger NATO member states directly that he believes are part of the bigger Russia and Soviet conglomerate? During the next most likely place are the Baltic states, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. They're most at risk. His calculus will be much like it was this time.

I want to get that back. This is an important part of Russian history. This is part of the greater Russian or Soviet empire.

What's it going to cost me? What's the risk associated with my continued power, the risk that my regime in Russia falls? If he calculates that he can do this with relative impunity, there's real risk that he will move on and begin to nibble at NATO in the same way he's now consuming all of Ukraine. Mike, we talked about earlier on the broadcast, of course, total disregard for the law of armed conflict, total disregard for international law, a war of aggression. I can make the list if you were going to the International Criminal Court, and I'm no fan of that court, to say the least.

I've appeared before it multiple times. But I say all of that to enlighten our audience here. You've been in that situation room in the White House. If you were there right now, what would you tell President Biden that needs to be done to protect the interests also of the United States? I'd start with three things. First, the remarks he's scheduled to give this afternoon need to be to unify the United States and make clear why this matters, why it is the case that stability in Europe matters for us, and the reasons are legion. I would, as I said earlier, I would make sure that we are producing every ounce of crude oil we could, every cubic meter of liquefied natural gas that we can ship across the sea, and I would make sure that we moved heaven and earth to help the Europeans not be under the jack of the planet. Finally, we would do the sanctions. We would then demand that NATO do its job. Its central task is to push back against Russia. NATO and NATO's leadership needs to put resources, its money, its soldiers, their men, their Marines, on alert to get them ready and make sure that there's no further aggression beyond what Vladimir Putin is already committed to. Secretary Pompeo has always, especially in these troubled times, it's great to have you as part of the team at the American Center for Law and Justice, our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs.

I know we'll be getting back to you regularly as this continues to progress. I think one thing that Secretary Pompeo said clearly, and I don't think there's anybody who knows more about it that can speak freely now that he's not in an administration currently, is that NATO countries are at risk. And if Putin will do a judgment call, he'll say, you know what, you didn't do much with Ukraine, they're not NATO, but these smaller NATO countries, we have friends who live in Latvia, that they could be next.

Those are very small countries. They are members of NATO, which would invoke Article 5 if attacked if NATO is willing to actually go to war with Russia. And those are the countries that are already looking at— Which is his calculation.

Yes. And those countries, as Colonel Westmith said, our military analyst for the ACLJ, said that they've already implemented Article 4. So Article 4, of course, says that they feel like their territorial sanctity is in dispute or in danger and that their military could be called upon and that they're at political risk, which means that the government could be taken over. So the question is, and you just heard from the former Secretary of State, if you're watching and you're new to us on Rumble, let me tell you something. Mike Pompeo is a senior counsel with the ACLJ for global affairs.

So we're not only able to give you analysis, he's also letting us— gives us tremendous insight. And this is all part of our work here at the American Center for Law and Justice. If you're not a member of the ACLJ, you should become one. Do that at ACLJ.org. If you're not getting our social media feeds or our newsletters and emails, you need to do that.

Go to ACLJ.org for that. Coming up in the last segment, we're going to be joined by our Director of Government Affairs. Find out what exactly Washington— we have an office right there on Capitol Hill, folks, right next to the Supreme Court, right next to the U.S. Capitol— what Washington is planning to do with all of this.

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Become a member today, ACLJ.org. So this is the point we're at with this conflict, is that people are already looking past Ukraine. They've almost kind of said, okay, Ukraine is done. Like, it's a matter of just timing for Putin when he wants to send in enough troops to take out the government, whether that government is even there. We probably need to see if Zelensky is even operating in Kyiv as we speak. Last time we saw was videos from hours and hours ago, and it was by phone. It did look like it was from his office still.

But literally, he was having to broadcast, like you would do a video posted to Instagram, or Facebook, or Rubble. And that's how he was able to get out a message to Ukrainians. So they've lost their ability to communicate in a formal way, like through TV networks, because we saw what was targeted first by the Russians was all of the satellites, air support, anything involving communications, including communications with aircraft. Now second, though, because we're talking about this, and we just talked to Secretary Pompeo, I think what he said is what should really double down on the concern for Americans, because again, I don't really care what you think about Putin, and there's all this talk about Republicans being split on that.

This is going to cost you money. Now, some of that's because of who's in the White House, hasn't made good decisions, but some of that is because there could be expanded war in Europe. And so I get very nervous when Secretary Pompeo says that there could be NATO countries in Putin's target, and he'd be willing to risk, would they really invoke Article 5 and fight my Russian troops? Well, you know, the NATO treaty has a series of articles. Article 4, which obviously is before Article 5, says you can notify the NATO countries, you can exercise Article 4, which requires a meeting of NATO immediately. And that means that their territorial integrity is at risk, or at issue certainly, and that their country is at risk, does not require troop engagement, although it does notify troop deployment capabilities. Article 5 is, if one NATO country is attacked, all NATO countries are attacked, and that would employ 40,000 NATO troops at a minimum before other troops would be engaged, but you'd be looking at a World War 3. I mean, that's what that would be.

I don't think Vladimir Putin can do that, but we are not giving strong indications. So I want to go right to Washington, D.C., with our offices across the street from the United States Capitol. If you're new to us watching on Rumble, I want to let you know that our offices are literally across the street from the Capitol in the Supreme Court. Fan Bennett's our Director of Governmental Affairs. There's been a lot of reaction out of Washington, there's been a lot of reaction out of Europe as well.

What are you hearing, Fan? You've been talking to offices this morning. Yeah, first of all, Jay, I think the top-line takeaway that I have is actually on the point you were just talking about with Jordan. These international entities, whether it's NATO or the United Nations, they need American leadership really bad right now, Jay. I mean, yesterday, when the United Nations Security Council met, who was chairing the Security Council?

It was the Russian Federation. So look, that's the top-line takeaway I'm hearing from members of Congress. But I would tell you this, Jay, and I think we need to say this pretty clearly. There's a big divide right now on Capitol Hill between a tough talk, right? Basically, every elected member is talking tough on this. But, Jay, there's a big difference between that and the action that they've taken before they left town. None of them are here right now. Maybe they will get called back early.

I don't know. But, Jay, everything that's happening today, it was clearly forecast before they left town, and they didn't take the opportunity to back up that tough talk with action. Yeah, but listen to what Vladimir, you talk about tough talk? Here's Putin's talk about NATO countries. This is talking about NATO countries. We're part of NATO, folks.

Listen to this. Leading NATO countries have supported extreme nationalists and neo-Nazis pursuing their goals, and those forces in Ukraine will never forgive Crimeans for their free choice, and they will push for Crimea. And just like they did in the Donbass, they will push for a war there, just like the Hitlerites' bands in Ukraine killed local people in World War II, and they also laid claims to some other Russian territories. Tough talk. Very tough talk.

When you are comparing your enemy to Nazis, you're basically saying, I'm justified in killing every single one of them. That's what he's talking to his domestic audience. What his domestic audience is no longer seeing is any kind of reporting out of Ukraine that's about what's happening in Ukraine, because a lot of people in Russia, citizens, would see those Ukrainians as very much...

There are a lot of relatives there, people that go between both countries. That's why I think the Ukrainians are still so surprised that it was this kind of force. They aren't surprised necessarily that he would like to destabilize the government and put in a puppet regime, which is kind of the norm there that's happened over their entire short history. But what they're shocked with is that he's willing to kill the people he's calling brothers and sisters in Christ. He's killing.

So the propaganda doesn't add up to what's on the ground. But again, we know that the impact here, folks, on us, regardless if there's no more new sanctions announced by Biden, more sanctions announced by Biden, is going to be significant. And he sees us as an enemy right now. He's warned us. You interfere with Russia, you are an enemy. We have, because we've put in sanctions in place.

So that gives him the green light if he wants to, to take attacks on our electrical grid, which we've seen them try before and it's been successful in small scale, and also attacks on our telecommunications. Let's go to the phones, Lawrence in Nebraska on Line 1. Hey, Lawrence. Hello.

How are you today? Good. I have a question. And I want to know why Biden hasn't checked with Pelosi to open up the pipeline that Pelosi closed up when Biden took office, the one that Trump gave us independence with. Why don't they open that back up? Listen, we talked about that before we went on air. Now, I'm not sure the Keystone was ever totally operational. They stopped some of the construction on that.

But you raised the point. If you reopened it, the futures would know that this would start flowing and that would bring down prices immediately because they would know that they can't get away with this $100,000. You know what the problem is right now? We have to go to OPEC, the air countries, and beg for oil reserves. I mean, this is the difficult spot, horrible spot that Joe Biden has put us in. And that's what I'm interested, Than, again, with all the tough talk. You know, while we're live, the meeting, his report to the, you know, he's going to talk to the American people about this has been put off.

That happens all the time because they're looking at things on the ground. Yes, but yes, especially in his situation because they don't have a cohesive policy. This, how did they not know this is what I asked, Than? Why can't he speak until one, why does it take him until 1.30 to respond to it? I thought he should have done it this morning. Yeah. After the attack.

Go ahead, Than. Well, the intelligence briefings from the administration for weeks now have indicated this, and yet no action was taken. So I think they did know it was coming.

They just didn't take the action. Look, both on the punitive side when it comes to energy, you're talking about Nord Stream 2, or just getting us less dependent on it. That would be the keystone pipeline that the caller's talking about. Jay, you had Senator Lankford on this broadcast earlier in the week, and this is one of the things he said. You've got to hit them where it hurts, and when it comes to Russia, that's the energy sector. Yeah, but Mike Pompeo just said it.

Our former Secretary of State and our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs at the ACLJ, these sanctions, not much of a deterrent right now, unfortunately. And then I'm very concerned about what Mike said about NATO countries possibly being in harm's way. And look at the flight of people, I don't know if we have pictures of that, leaving Kiev. I mean, in droves. This is only three hours to Poland, and they're getting out.

And this is going to create a huge humanitarian crisis. Alright, stay engaged at the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. You should be signed on to all of our social media apps, including especially Rumble, our good friends at Rumble, we appreciate that. Or on Facebook, Rumble, YouTube. You can get Twitter, of course.

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