BIDEN SHAKEUP: Bad News For Israel?

Today on Sekulow, a Biden shakeup.

Is it bad news for Israel? Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever, this is Sekulow.

We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. Hey, welcome to Sekulow, folks. We are taking your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. There's some important news to discuss out of Israel. One part that involves the Iranian nuclear deal.

We'll start there. Dan Shapiro, who was a special government employee, he was on the team for seven months. He was Obama's ambassador to Israel. He was on the Iran nuclear team trying to get the deal done. He left.

He's left the team. Now that might be because he was out of time, but he issued a statement that was very unique and that was really what was important here. And in his statement, he says, I still support the deal today as I embrace a great new opportunity. If and when there is a deal which remains uncertain, which remains uncertain, I'll have more to say then. So again, not necessarily in support of the deal that might be in formation as we speak right now, Dan.

That's right. And look, Shapiro was the ambassador to Israel under the Biden administration. So he's well connected over in Israel. I think the interesting development here is the fact that, and like you said, it could be that his term was coming to an end. He was what's called a special government employee. So you're limited in the number of days.

It's usually 180 or 181 days that you can actually work. But the other aspect of it is, and I found this interesting, I know Andy, you did too, is when he said in his tweet, he said, I still support it today as I embrace a great new opportunity. He's talking about the Iran nuclear deal. If and when there is a deal which remains uncertain, I'll have more to say then. Yeah, that little language which remains uncertain in terms of the deal, I think is very telling. And he's obviously going to hold his fire and not say anything until such time as there is a deal, if there ever is a deal whatsoever that comes out of this project. What's also interesting here is the fact that we know that Russia is in the middle of negotiating this deal.

As hard as that is to believe everybody, that is the fact. Look, the Iran nuclear deal was a disaster when Obama entered it. It's a disaster if Biden enters into it. The Israelis don't like it. The Gulf state partners of Israel do not like it, which includes predominantly Muslim countries. When Antony Blinken went to the conference this past week, he got an earful from our allies in the region saying this is a bad deal. Now you got the guy that's called the Israel whisperer backing out literally days purportedly before this thing could be announced. I mean, they were saying it would come out as early as next week.

But it just shows you the nature. This is another one of these foreign policy moves that makes no sense. And why in the world would we have Russia in the middle of the negotiations on this? I also want to point out that Israel is facing a renewed terror attacks in its country that it hasn't seen in a long time. On Tuesday, just last night, a 27-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank gunned down victims with an M16, killing five people in a neighborhood in Tel Aviv.

On Sunday night, there was a shooting attack by two Islamic State sympathizers in the central city of Hedera that killed two police officers. And then last week, there was a combined car ramming and stabbing attack in the southern city of Beersheba, which was also an attacker inspired by ISIS that killed four. So you've seen 11 Israelis killed in just 10 days.

So there's an increase in terrorism in Israel happening right now. And of course, this news, which when I point to that, even if he was near the end of his term, we've been talking about this deal supposed to be happening two weeks ago. So I think, again, he's leaving before a bad deal or no deal comes out because he doesn't want to be part of it.

Look, as the producer just said, the optics on this are awful. I mean, first of all, I mean, this literally could be days before this happens. So days before this happens, one of the primary negotiators, somebody that got special government money, somebody that got special governmental status is bolting. That tells you a lot about this deal. But again, I just can't get over the fact that Russia is in the middle of the negotiations.

We're like living in an alternate universe. All right, we're gonna take your calls and comments. Rick, we're now coming up next. 1-800-684-3110, 800-684-3110.

Back with more in just a minute. Don't forget, support the work of the ACLJ because you know what? We've got an office in Jerusalem.

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Back with more in a moment. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad, whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support. For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

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

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

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, 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. Welcome back to Secular, folks, and we are taking your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. We're joined now by our senior advisor for foreign policy and national security, the former acting director of national intelligence, Rick Grenell. Rick, I want to go to you right away on this development that this senior former ambassador to Israel from the Obama administration, Dan Shapiro, who joined the State Department, who's a special government employee, so you only get a certain amount of time to do that. But we know that this deal was supposed to be announced a couple weeks ago and expected at any time if there is a deal, unless Russia is kind of scuttling that. But then he leaves, and he is the lead person to deal with Israel on this Iran nuclear deal. And he leaves with a statement that says, well, he supports it today.

If and when there is a deal, which remains uncertain, I'll have more to say then. What do you read into that, Rick? He's clearly frustrated. He claims that he's not frustrated, that there's no policy differences, and that he's just leaving. But as an advisor, former ambassador to Israel, as an advisor on these issues, he shouldn't be leaving before we know what the JCPOA deal is.

We keep hearing that it's close, that the Russians are being very clear that the Iranians got more than what they thought, that the American negotiators were weak. This is going to be a disaster. He's abandoning ship.

I don't care what he says. You don't leave right before a historic agreement if you think the historic agreement is going to be good. You know, one of the things about this, Rick, that's interesting here is that, as you said, you know, here you've got the Israel whisperers, as Dan Schmier was called, getting ready to leave, or in the process, I guess, has left. And at the same time, like you said, the deal's about to be structured. But the deal is also being negotiated with the Russians' active engagement. And I, for the life of me, cannot figure out what the administration is possibly thinking here.

The President called for Putin to be removed from the presidency of Russia. He wants it back, sort of. It's probably one of the reasons that Dan Shapiro is jumping ship.

Again, we have to be clear. He says that there's no policy disagreement, but that's the old Washington line. And what I find really interesting is that the entire JCPOA, too, whatever this negotiation is, everyone is classifying this as the Americans were weak.

It gives the Iranians, the Iranian regime, a whole bunch more. And what does Dan Shapiro do when he leaves? He immediately announces that he's going to be working on the Abram Accords, which is a signal that he is going to do everything he can to be pro-Israel, while this deal that he's been working on, this group of people within the Biden administration, is cutting a deal that's going to be anti-Israel, anti-American, and very pro-Iranian regime.

He's jumping ship to save his reputation. That's very clear. Rick, I want to turn to something very important right now, which is what's happening in Ukraine and with Russia, because a top U.S. general, this is the U.S. European Command Chief General Todd Walters, was asked by Senator Wicker in a hearing, a congressional hearing, if there was an intelligence gap that caused the U.S. to overestimate Russia's strength and underestimate the Ukrainian defenses. And he responded that there could be and that, as they've done in the past, when it's over, when this battle is over, they will do a review.

I mean, you'd come directly from the intelligence world. We all heard similar reports. I mean, there was wide agreement that if Russia decided to invade Ukraine when they ultimately did it, that it would be over with very quickly.

And then something very different began happening on the ground. Look, it is some sort of intelligence failure. Maybe it's an intelligence failure from the newsrooms of Washington, D.C. But you are correct, Jordan, that there was a groupthink in Washington that Ukraine would fall in two or three days. You had Joe Biden, literally, let's remember, Joe Biden's first policy was let's get the President of Ukraine out.

Remember, he offered him a ride. Let's get you out of the way. This is going to be such a bloody, terrible war for Ukraine.

Let's get you out of the way. And the Ukrainian President said, no, I'm staying here. The intelligence failure here we have to dive into, because even if there were certain aspects of a intelligence analysis that said, well, you know, the Russians aren't up to what they once were and maybe this will be an evenhanded war. If there was intelligence like that, that information did not leak out and the media did not report it. The media did a groupthink absolutely across the board talking about these leaks from the intelligence agencies that Ukraine would get defeated in a couple of days. I just tweeted out this morning the latest of groupthink on intelligence issues from the Washington, D.C. press corps. You see it from multiple sources, CNN, NBC, ABC. They're now all saying the same thing that Putin is mad at the underlings at his Defense Department, that they didn't give him the right information and that he didn't realize they were losing. All of this is just leaks for partisan purposes and I'm very uncomfortable with it.

The media need to be more skeptical. I want to go back to the Iran situation for a moment. We have filed a series of, Rick, you've helped us on these in the past, a Freedom of Information Act request, Andy, dealing specifically with Iran and Israel. Yes, we have. And, you know, within his first month in office, as we told you, the President Biden sort of quietly notified, but distinctly notified, Congress to distribute $125 million in U.S. taxpayer-funded aid to terrorists funding Palestinian authority to reportedly, quote, regain their trust and goodwill after the Trump era cuts. Now the President is continuing his policy of appeasement of the Iranians by doing so, and of the Palestinians, I might say, of the Palestinians both. And we have responded by filing two of Freedom of Information Act requests, Jay.

I'll be happy to go into those if you'd like. We can do that. We'll do that later in the broadcast because we only got Rick for a few minutes. But I think the point is, Rick, when we do this, I want people to understand, we're taking, we don't just talk about it here. You're writing about it.

We're discussing it. We're broadcasting it. But, Rick, we're also taking action on these things.

Look, so many of us and, you know, frustrated conservatives sit around and complain. And we look at the news and we complain and we say, oh, there they are taking the Houthis off the terrorist list. There they are funding more terrorists. They're funding the Palestinian authority programs. And we know there hasn't been a Palestinian election since 2005, right?

Mahmoud Abbas is on his 15th year of his five year term. All of this is important information, but we can't just complain. What we have to be able to do is dig deep and use our legal resources to question the U.S. government, ask for information, probe, get the information to prove what's happening. All of this highlights the problems. We can't do this without partners.

And so I know we've had these discussions about all of these great ideas that we can do. We can't pursue everything because we don't have unlimited funds, but we fight about the priorities. This is a priority. This impacts national security for the United States. I hope people realize that when we put the legal team on this, it's to get to the bottom of it. It's to get to the truth and get the truth out. Exactly right.

Jordan. Yeah, I mean, getting back to this, the truth and getting the truth from the Washington, D.C. or the mainstream media machine. Rick, you tweeted out today that there's the Washington Post put out this tweet, a post review of Hunter Biden's deals with the Chinese energy company confirms key details and offers new documentation.

You said there's nothing new here. We've known this for years, but they ignored the story before the 2020 election to protect Biden and that there is a crisis with I think it goes back to the Russia story, goes back to all of this reporting in by media manipulation. One of the ways that the media manipulates stories is they don't do stories.

They don't highlight issues. And we've we've seen that the Hunter Biden laptop story, which, by the way, we got to keep saying this. The Chinese government wants everyone to think it's Russian disinformation. They don't want people looking inside that laptop to find out the Biden family ties to China and Ukraine companies. This is, you know, 10 percent for the big man moment.

Who's the big man? All of this information was known before the election. Reporters ignored it. That's how they use their bias. That's how they manipulate. And now The Washington Post is trying to put something in their archives to be like, oh, this is a problem. Yeah, they're years late. Nothing is new. We've known this. They're playing catch up.

Rick, as always, we appreciate you on the broadcast and folks, I just want to let you know we've got Rick Grenell on our team, a former acting director of National Intelligence, former Ambassador Jeremy spent a decade at the United Nations because of your financial support of the ACLJ. And that it's a critical time as we approach the end of this matching challenge month of March. I know we're a little bit behind. So we need, folks, financial support.

Well, the last two days of the month are the biggest. And here we are. And again, as Rick just said, you know, we got a list of priorities and the priority here was to get anything to do with Israel and Iran.

You could rest assured the ACLJ is on top of. So again, not just talking about it, taking action. In the next segment, we're going to get into action. We're taking on that issue and a host of others. Support the work of the American Center for Law and Justice.

We're a matching challenge campaign. Go to ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org.

Any amount you donate, we're getting a matching gift for. We encourage you to do that today. ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org. Of course, we'll take calls and comments too that we'll use later in the broadcast. 1-800-684-3110.

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

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

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

Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Hey, welcome back to Secular. We are taking your phone calls too at 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. We've been talking about the international issues, but I want to focus in on some of the ACLJ issues right here at home. Dad, we have a filing today in the Alive Church case. That's a church out of Prince William County, Virginia, where we are challenging the county to remind people, this was the church that was told by the county, well, go get a liquor license and we'll let you operate. Like the breweries and wineries, and you can have all your services there and you don't have to abide by the other building codes and things like that.

You can set up kind of a farmhouse structure and have your services if you go and get a liquor license. So we're filing our reply brief. We're also asking for oral argument, but what's important to know is as soon as we file this reply brief, there might not be oral argument in this case. It's actually ripe for a ruling from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Because this is absurd.

I mean, think about this. Church, go get a liquor license and you can operate. I mean, you know, you talk about religious freedom and the free exercise of religion. Now with the free exercise of religion in this county is dependent upon a church obtaining a liquor license.

But I want to do this. So that brief is being filed today. Let me tell you what's going on, folks. In this way, we're going to give you a rundown of what is happening. We are jammed right now. We got Abby Sutherland working on a case.

I think they've got a week-long extension today if something was supposed to happen in that case, maybe some settlement negotiations. CC right now is working on a series of how many reports? Fourteen UPR country reports. Fourteen country reports covering, I mean...

Yes. So it's the universal periodic review that we do at the UN and we do them three times a year, and it's 14 countries. And over a period of five years, we do every single member state at the UN.

We will do a review of their human rights laws. So that's going on right now. Then at the same time, Andy mentioned this briefly, but we've got these FOIA requests going on with Israel, about Israel, about the Biden administration policies. Those are launched right now. Yeah.

I want to talk about those for just a second. The Biden administration, you'll love this one, is offering a million dollars for groups to investigate alleged human abuse rights by Israel and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, a clear effort to delegitimize Israel. Uh, in other words, the department of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of your state department is soliciting nonprofit groups to apply for grant money up to $987,000 to strengthen, quote, accountability and human rights in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza.

So what we said is, oh really? You're asking for groups to come in and get a grant for a million dollars? So we just submitted a new FOIA request to the department of state asking for all records pertaining to this crazy program and how the decision to incentivize Israel's accusers was made going back to January 20th, 2021. And what date is that folks? The date of President Biden's inauguration, because it appears this adminis- Like the first thing they did. Yes, first thing he did.

The first thing he did is put Israel in the political crosshairs. That's the one FOIA request that we filed. We've also filed another one today, a new one with the Office of Information Programs of the State Department requesting, we want to know all the records pertaining to the department of state's knowledge and efforts to do something that I can't possibly believe and fathom. To remove, listen to this, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list.

Okay, Jordan, how is this possible? It's possible because we have an administration that is doing anything possible, as we were talking about with the Iran nuclear deal, to get to a deal with Iran. And that must be on the table. That's the only thing I can imagine why this is even under consideration is that they are willing to do anything to get back into a deal which expires in three years. I want people to know this is not a new deal that will add 10 more years to Iran's ability to have a nuclear weapon. It keeps them right on the path to having that nuclear weapon that we talked about when it was a 10-year program, a 10-year path, except now we're into the final three years. That's all they're doing, but yet they are willing to put the number one state sponsor of terror's enforcement group, the group that goes out and actually funds and trains Hezbollah, that funds and trains the Houthi rebels, which they already removed from the terror list at the State Department. So this would be the ultimate move by the U.S. for Iran to remove the Revolutionary Guards Corps from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list.

It is beyond belief. It's totally irrational, but it shows you what they are willing to do to get back into a two-page bullet point deal, which has already failed in protecting the world from a nuclear-armed Iran. I also want to point out we've got replies due today in our FOIAs from the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Patrol, and ICE. They have a deadline to respond to our complaint in our FOIA lawsuit on the Biden border crisis.

This includes things like Operation Talon, the decisions to, again, to remove the Remain in Mexico policy. They will either have to file an answer or a motion to dismiss, and that is due today. All right, let's take a call. We've got Julie calling from California.

Go ahead, Julie, you're on the air. Hi, Jay and Jordan. My question is what happened in 2015 where this deal was not seen as a treaty, and is there anything we can do today the Congress can do to overturn or say no to this treaty? So it's not a treaty. It's not a treaty with Iran, so it doesn't require congressional approval. In fact, to be honest, the 2014-2015 Iran nuclear deal, Jordan, wasn't even a signed deal.

No, that's right. I mean, it's literally bullet points. There's no signatures from the U.S., Iran, Russia, any of these other players in the deal. It's just here's what we've agreed to, and they're literally bullet points, folks. I mean, it's not written in a formal format, but Congress gave up their role. Remember, the included Republicans too, Dad. Now, there is a move in Washington, D.C., to say we did have an ability to stop the deal the first time.

It was like a back-end deal. Remember that with Bob Corker out of Tennessee, who's no longer in the Senate. So it was this backhanded way of getting Senate approval, and there are Senate Republicans who say, hey, if we had that ability that time, we should still have that ability today since we are re-entering this deal. So there could be some congressional movement there, and there is some—this is actually an issue where there is some bipartisan support, or at least there was. So we'll have to see. Chuck Schumer, Senator Menendez, are they still with the Republicans in opposing this deal, and will they? Because it'll be Chuck Schumer still in charge at that point as majority leader if this comes out, and sometimes in the next week or so, or two weeks or so, as expected, will they actually try and assert congressional oversight again?

And that's a big question because, of course, you know a lot changes politically when you get close to midterm elections. I'm going to ask everybody in the studio to stay tight on the next segment. I'm going to get into a major case we're about to file a brief on at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on an abortion case that is huge.

We'll get into that in the next segment of the broadcast, so everybody stay tight on that. Folks, support the work of the American Center for Law and Justice. Last two days of our Matching Challenge campaign, Jordan's going to let you know how to do it. Really important that you stand with us at ACLJ.org. You know, the entire month of March we have this campaign where a group of donors will match every donation that comes through to the ACLJ in the month of March, but you've got to take the initial action. You've got two days to do so at ACLJ.org, where you see Matching Challenge. So if you donate $50 right now at ACLJ.org, that then means that that group of donors matches that $50. So it's like $100 for the ACLJ, but it takes your action and you have to initiate the match by donating online. We are behind where we want to be in our goal, so donate today if you're financially able to at ACLJ.org.

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

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

And now your host, Jay Sekulow. Jay Alright, Jordan is in our Washington Bureau, our Washington studios and offices today, and we're glad to have you here. We are talking about a variety of issues. We're going to get into Ukraine, but we're also talking about a lot of the cases that the ACLJ is involved in. And Jordan, we have a unique thing right now, a unique situation. We're representing a state and its governor against Planned Parenthood in a major case.

Jordan Yeah, it's a governor. People in our audience should know well, Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota, who again is well known as a leader in the nation really for conservative values. This is a case involving, again, the idea that informed consent before people seek an abortion. And what it does is say that the abortion provider cannot be the person that provides that informed consent because we've seen, we've documented in our documentaries over time, the abortion business is just that, a business. And so by giving them this opportunity to, they play the informed consent role. We know that's not the information that women need, that they need an outside party to provide the real information about the procedure that they are about to have, the complications that can come with it, both physical, but also mental, that come along with it so that they are fully informed. I mean, you don't get a surgery in the United States of America without informed consent.

And they have to walk you through all the pluses and minuses. And this is, again, I think we're looking at it in the kind of the window of Dobbs and the potential case there of how states can take action to protect women and, of course, ultimately protect the lives of the unborn. So, CC, this is a case where we're representing the state and the governor who signed the law, putting forward this informed consent that requires third-party consent. Informed consent comes from the woman, but it's just third-party provider to give the information to make sure there's no coercion, to make sure that the woman that's obtaining the abortion or seeking the abortion is not being coerced, but also understands the risks and complications. What's so fascinating here, in light of the Dobbs case, which could be coming out any day now when Roe v. Wade could go into the history books, to the ash heap of history where it needs to go, but these cases are really important in setting the next level of the attack on the life issue.

Yeah. And Planned Parenthood is never going to miss an opportunity to attack that. I mean, we see them attack issues as just common sense, as if you want sterile surgical instruments.

They don't want that. In an abortion clinic, they will fight against that. So, of course, they're going to fight against third-party counseling to make sure that a woman has complete informed consent before she makes what I would say is one of the most important decisions of her life, whether she's going to kill her baby that she's carrying, she needs to know.

And any medical procedure, you need to know all the potential risks and all the options. And we have overwhelming evidence to show that Planned Parenthood does not provide that. I don't think there's going to be any question that, first of all, Planned Parenthood is the largest. Their business is abortion, folks.

I mean, they are in the business of abortion. And this is a... Our brief is doing... I'm looking at the final... She's looking at two. We're doing the final edits to the brief right now, so it's doing about five days. Point is, you list these cases and these are significant, significant undertakings. And at the same time, Abby Sutherland, another one of our lawyers, was supposed to be in court today, Andy, on a matter that has been, it appears, continued.

Is that correct? Okay. We're getting the details of that was supposed to happen today, but that was another major case. That was another major case dealing with an ordinance that is on its face unconstitutional in Tennessee, in Coffee County, Tennessee.

And that's before a United States district judge who is going to hear that. But apparently, for some reason, it has been continued, but we're working on it. Yeah. I mean, so, Jordan, just the amount of activity, and I know in Washington right now, you all are jammed. Yeah, we are. We're launching as we announce a new program to train diplomats, foreign diplomats in Washington, D.C. that we're about to launch next month, or we've got some other new, big initiatives to announce later on.

But it's very busy here, and we are at so many fronts, whether it's the domestic front, political front, foreign policy front. We are front and center, and we are increasing our work. And let me say, we're increasing our work because of your financial support to the ACLJ. We're in a position to do that.

We are a little bit behind this month. It's a matching challenge month, so it's very important to us financially. So we encourage you, if you're able to, to donate today at ACLJ.org. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way.

For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

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

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

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, the Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Alright, welcome back to Sekulow. Folks, we are taking your phone calls to 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. Trying to give you an overview of what's going on around the world, but what's also happening right here at home, what the ACLJ is working on. One thing we're watching very closely is President Biden's proposed $5.8 trillion budget. Now, on the right, people see this and say, you know, they've called it a socialist-style spending bill, big government. On the left, they don't like the fact that it's got an increase in funding to the US military. They're actually saying on the left that it will be the next red wave, which is the title of a book I wrote, because this budget is not liberal enough. So you see in Washington, DC, this interesting moment where $5.8 trillion in new spending, massive new tax increases on Americans and American businesses, still not enough for the left, and of course gets opposition from the right. Yeah, so this is, you know, you've got the budget issues are huge. We've got a law and economics professor who happens to be our director of policy. There's Professor Harry Hutchinson.

He's with us in the studio. Harry, look at this budget. What is it telling you? Well, it tells me that the Biden administration has divorced itself from reality. They presume evidence which is not available. So, for instance, they presume that the rich will indeed pay higher taxes when the rich have the best accountants, the best lawyers available. Number two, they presume that corporations will pay higher tax rates when any economist who is not tethered to the Biden administration will tell you that corporations know how to raise prices, and thus the consumers will pay for the higher tax rates. Number three, it's important to note that if you raise taxes on corporations when inflation is already soaring, guess what? You are going to buy more inflation.

So, I think at the end of the day, the Biden administration continues to live in the land of make-believe, and they're just as credible with respect to cutting the budget as they were when President Biden stood in front of the American people and he said, we are not going to leave one American behind in Afghanistan. Yeah. Well, unfortunately, that had disastrous, deadly consequences. Now, Jordan, the economic impact of this is important for the ACLJ because it affects families. And these pieces of legislation affect families too. And we're taking a new initiative in the next probably next 12 months or so to really boost up our ability to address economic liberty issues for the ACLJ, which represents our members here in the United States. Yeah, that's absolutely right. So, on the one hand, engaging foreign diplomats so that we can better impact when there's something international to increase our relationships there, which are good, but take it to the next level because of people's support of the ACLJ, we're able to do that right now.

And we're starting that program next month here in Washington, D.C., so you'll see me out of this studio a lot more. But also, you've got, in this situation, still a lot of domestic politics at play. So, well over or past a year into this Biden administration, take a listen to who President Biden blames for needing a $5.8 trillion spending bill, which I want to remind everybody, for the left, they think this is far too little and that within the bill there's far too much money for our U.S. military, even with the new threats we see. I mean, we've got, again, an ongoing conflict in Europe right now, this refugee crisis, but who does President Biden blame? Well, this time it's not Putin.

Take a listen. The Trump tax cuts added $2 trillion in deficit spending and largely helped the rich and the largest corporations. Under my plan, as I said, no one making less than $400,000 a year will pay additional single penny in taxes.

No one. If you don't make 400 grand, you're not going to pay a single penny in additional share. Pay a little bit.

What does that even mean? You know, and dad, when I hear that, I just want to point out to everybody, small business owners that you may be working for, guess what happens when they start getting taxed more, folks? You lose your job.

You get cuts at your work. So they talk about this earning group as billionaires, but they're talking about people who make 400 grand a year or more. That's a lot of small businesses and people who are doing very well financially.

That's great. And a lot of you, you might be one of those people, but you might also work for one of those people. And if they're doing well, then you're doing better in your job. They start getting higher taxes.

Guess what? They've got to make tough decisions about their employees. Well, I mean, this is, this is reality. I mean, CC ran a small business in the music industry and the fact is a tax of it trickles, right.

Ronald Reagan was right. It trickles down both the economic benefits, but also tax consequences. Yeah. And when tax time comes around for small businesses, you get almost sick to your stomach because you think, you know, maybe it looks like I made this much, but I, we don't because you're paying so much in taxes that you don't get that benefit of what you possibly made. So what do they not understand about that, Harry? I mean, that's basic economics.

I would say the answer is virtually everything. And so first, if we look at the basics, it's very doubtful that they will indeed get this increase in the corporate tax. Keep in mind that Senator Kyrsten Sinema blocked consideration last year of a 25% corporate rate. Now the Biden administration has gone up. They're now seeking 28%.

So the real question at the end of the day is will Biden get buy-in from Sinema and Manchin? In addition, the Biden administration doesn't seem to understand that even if you earn under $400,000, if prices rise due to this tax increase, you will have to pay this tax, which basically would mean that the tax incidence again falls on the American consumer. So I think at the end of the day, they don't seem to understand economics. And the last and final point is to keep in mind is the so-called billionaire's tax will only bring in $36 billion per year, yet the Biden administration is prepared to give environmental breaks totaling something like $550 billion, $55 billion a year. And most of those benefits go to whom, the wealthy or the well-off. So Jordan, people need to understand that she was talking about how it affects small business. Harry just laid out the policy and the office that you're at today in Washington, D.C., which we always say is across the street from the Supreme Court. It's also across the street from the Capitol and the Senate office buildings and around the corner from the congressional office buildings. We actually can influence these policies and point out the inconsistencies and how this could be dangerous for the American family.

Yeah, I'm having dinner with a US Senator tonight, a high-ranking US Senator tonight. And so these policies do have tremendous impact on our entire economy at a time when people are questioning. I mean, the inflation, they're questioning the prices, the supply chain still not moving, the idea that even if you want to purchase a brand new car, you've got to be on a waiting list sometime for months to get the car that you might want to choose even if you're in that financial position. And yet at that time, when we're going through this and interest rates are going up, they are going to put this new burden on the American economy or what they'd hope to do, which is $5.8 trillion. What scares me the most, honestly, folks, out of all of this is that the liberals don't like this plan.

So the Democrats in President Biden's own party want more government spending, more money, more taxes, and at a time when people are worried about can they afford gas to get to their job next week. I know, and this is... You just hit something right in the head. I mean, when I fill up my gas tank right now, will you not say... It's breathtaking. It is.

Yeah, absolutely. It has just skyrocketed. And you drive across the country and you see, depending on where, diesel, $5. And that's here in the Midwest kind of area, not California. It's expensive. No, I mean, $7, $8 in California. So the end game here has to be a coherent policy of which, Harry, there doesn't appear to be one.

I think that is precisely correct. The President doesn't seem to understand basic economics. Energy prices are exploding, food prices are exploding, and are likely to go much higher. You just said that we could have a food shortage too. Absolutely. If you think about it, Russia is one of the major suppliers of fertilizer to the world economy.

And Russia and Ukraine supply huge amounts of food to the world economy. He doesn't understand. And I think at the end of the day, that is basically the summary that I would offer of the Biden administration. All right, folks, as we've said, this is the ACLJ in action, not just talking about it, which I'm glad we are able to come to you five days a week on radio, on satellite radio, on multiple media platforms, on television.

I mean, there's a lot of ways you can get this information. That all happens because of you. Your support of the ACLJ makes this happen. We're in a matching challenge, campaign folks. This is serious.

This is real. ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org for participating in the matching challenge. Let me tell you what that means. We have a group of donors that have said, if someone donates $50, we are going to match it.

Not you don't match it. $50 from you, then we get $50 from somebody else, and it's $100 for the ACLJ. So if we raise today, $400, $500,000, which is what we need to raise today, that is doubled.

So it's a huge impact. ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org.

When we come back from the break, we're going to get into the situation with Russia, Ukraine, and the humanitarian crisis. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected, is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

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

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

Hey, welcome back to The Secular. Folks, I want to ask you two things. I want to get your calls in now. 1-800-684-3110, this final segment of the broadcast.

So you call in now, we'll get you on the air. One, this $5.8 trillion budget, the idea, the impact this is going to have on the American people, the economy, if it were to get through. But also, can you believe, or maybe you can at this point, we probably all can, but that the left is actually saying, oh, this is too conservative. They say, oh, this is like too Republican of a spending bill. I want your calls on that at 1-800-684-3110. And this idea as well, you can weigh in on this idea that the U.S. willing to do under the Biden administration, whatever they can, it looks like, to get back into a three-year deal with the Iranians on their nuclear program, dad.

You know, this is unreal. We're going to be joined by Colonel Wes Smith. He's in the studio with us, but I want you to listen to what Congressman Mike Waltz has been on this broadcast. A friend of the ACLJ has been on this broadcast talking about the whole situation in the Middle East and what's happening.

Take a listen. We've gone from Middle East peace deals on the White House lawn 18 months ago to now this, where we have the President's team fawning all over the Iranians. There's even discussion, Maria, of comparing the Palestinians fighting it back against Israel and that anti-Semitic argument and comparing them to the bravery of the Ukrainians. It's just, it's almost hard to believe. It is hard to believe. And the progress that was made under the previous administration and the realignment in the Middle East has had global significance. And it seems like, Colonel Smith, that what we're seeing each and every day is a dismantling of a project simply, they will not follow up on it simply because it was the previous administration.

Yeah. And it's crazy, even though it goes against the goals that everyone says they're working towards. Here's the weak position in which the Biden administration finds themselves. President Biden really, really, really wants this deal.

And the Ayatollah really, really, really knows that he does. And this is, this is, this is insanity on steroids, Jay. I mean, the JCPOA, this, these negotiations top the list of issues whose repercussions are as frightening as they are unknown, whether it's a desperation move for a political legacy win or just naivete. This is crazy.

You go through what's going on here in Vienna and it, it, it just defies common sense. The Russians, for example, are our lead negotiators. Michael Yulinov, their negotiator says they're getting more for Iran and for themselves than they ever dreamed possible from the Biden administration.

So in other words, the Biden administration is conceding points they should not concede. Jake Sullivan, this is what he said. We believe that if there is an Iran nuclear deal that meets the standards the President has set to verifiably block the pathway of Iran to get to a nuclear weapon and put this program back in the box after President Trump let it out of the box when he left the deal back in 2018, we will do that deal because we believe it is in the American national security interest to do so, but we will not do that deal until it meets those objectives. Yeah. And Dan Shapiro left the negotiating team today, Jordan, indicating that he does not, I mean, it looks like it does not happen.

Jake Sullivan is lying to the American people. The Iran nuclear program was never in a box. Right. Two pages of bullet points.

Don't put it in a box. They didn't even sign those bullet points. They got pallets of cash, billions of US dollars. They didn't stop their terrorism around the world. You know what President Trump did?

He killed, he took out the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, which caused serious trouble inside Iran as they did not have a strong leader and to this day do not have a strong leader for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. And yet you got Jake Sullivan saying, well, if the deal is the right deal, we'll get back into it. These are the same guys that got into the first bad deal. And there's only three years left of this deal, three years left and Iran's got a nuclear program. This deal, as we said, seven years ago, green lighted an Iran nuclear program that the world was not condemning, but actually supporting. And we now know that with three years left, all that we will be left with is a nuclear arms race in one of the most turbulent regions of the world, the Middle East. No, it's totally true, Wes. Which is why Israel and our Arab Gulf allies are all against these negotiations.

I mean, think about it. This is what we know so far about it. Russia wants an exemption from sanctions on any trade they do with Iran as part of what's being negotiated in Vienna. They want to take the Revolutionary Guard Corps off the terrorist list.

This organization has the blood of thousands of people, including American soldiers on their hands. They want all sanctions against Iran lifted and they still want all Iranian military bases in the new deal exempt from all inspections. And what we know now is that we think they're at 60% level of enriching Iran and probably they're higher than that. The original deal limited Iran to 3.76% enrichment of Iran.

They're at 60 now, 90% is weapons grade. You know, and all this nonsense about the United States pulled out, but the Europeans stayed in it and the Iranians were not letting inspections in. So, I mean, this idea that we're sitting there, Colonel Smith, with the Russians negotiating this, explain to me how that's set up. Yeah, here we have a country that is raining terror on their neighbor, Ukraine. They are committing war crimes. I mean, terrorism writ large in Ukraine. We're taking this terrorist state to be our lead negotiator with the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism itself.

It absolutely defies logic and common sense. I want to quickly go to the situation in Ukraine. There's a lot of reports yet last night that Russia was realigning its troops. They were pulling out of attacks on Kiev. And then last night, and I was watching some of this last night, then the number of incoming rockets and missiles to Kiev were the largest they've been. So is this a head fake from the Russians?

I think so. They say they are retreating and that they're covering their retreat with air and artillery bombardment of Kiev. That's very suspicious. Our civilian intelligence thinks that maybe it is long-term they're withdrawing, but the Department of Defense and the Defense Intelligence Agency really believe this is a feint, a head fake, that their intent is still to take all of Iran and to topple the government. You mean all of Ukraine? I mean all of Ukraine and topple the government. What we do know is this, that Putin is trying to pull a strategic win out of what has been an operational loss and a tactical embarrassment.

But our own Defense Department does not believe he's pulling out of Ukraine, that they still intend to topple that government. You know, as I said, Jordan is in our offices in Washington, D.C., which is as busy as it's been. And we've staffed up and are continuing new staff coming in next week.

Jordan, give a little bit of an overview of what's happening up there. I think it's important for our donors and our listeners to understand. Yes, we're launching a couple of new initiatives, one which we will let people know more about in May. We're in the final, just filing the legal documents for, that is going to allow the ACLJ to be even more directly involved in politics, in your home states, at the federal level, and also in legislation and drafting and lobbying for the kind of legislation that we support and that you support as a supporter of the ACLJ. We're launching a new diplomatic initiative next month here in our ACLJ D.C. headquarters with foreign diplomats, a training program for them. And the purpose, of course, ultimately with that program is to develop relationships with foreign diplomats based in Washington, D.C., so that when international issues arise that we want to engage, and we engage in a lot of them, we have great contacts. I'd say we have good contacts right now. This will enable us to have great contacts because, again, we'll be able to host them here, train them in how the U.S. government works, and then also develop those relationships.

And again, we're able to do all of this work, Dad. It's because of the financial support to the ACLJ. It's those donors who have donated throughout the pandemic and throughout the kind of questionable political times to allow us to grow as an organization, not just remain a big organization, but to grow and expand our work. And that's why we want you to participate in this Matching Challenge campaign two days from March left. ACLJ.org. I encourage you to go there right now. Any donation will be matched. ACLJ.org. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Thank you, Dad.