BREAKING: Biden Makes Surprise Visit to Ukraine

Breaking news today on Sekulow as Biden makes a surprise visit to Ukraine. 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.

Welcome to Sekulow. We take your calls to 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110 on this President's Day. The big breaking news, of course, Joe Biden showing up in Kyiv, Ukraine with President Zelensky. This is, again, he announced another $500 million to Ukraine, bringing the total to over $133 billion. A federal $139 billion that the US government has sent as your taxpayer dollars to Ukraine. And what he's not offering is an in.

Or even a how do you get this to an end, to a close. All we're talking about is offensives coming in the spring and a restarting of a brutal war. This while the President never visited East Palestine, Ohio. Now, I will say that after President Trump announced he was going to visit this week, a couple hours later, this was a big change since Friday, two hours after he announced that, FEMA announced they were going to East Palestine, Ohio. Yeah, where before they said it was not in their jurisdiction, it was too big for them. Former President Trump says he's going to go.

Next thing you know is FEMA decides, oh, we're coming in. It's been a fiasco there. I mean, a total fiasco. And it is interesting, the President makes the... And again, the fact that he's going to Ukraine, I get it geopolitically to meet. But to not go to East Palestine, it makes no sense at this point why they have not had a Presidential visit. They haven't even had the Presidential flyover, nothing. And personally, I think it's outrageous, but it is President's Day.

And we need to say this at the beginning of the broadcast. Reports over the weekend, Jimmy Carter has gone to hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia. A lot of people listening to this broadcast will barely remember Jimmy Carter. I was a government lawyer when he was in office. I will say this, the good things you could say about Jimmy Carter, he started the whole negotiations for Middle East peace, the Camp David Accords.

And then it dates all the way back. I mean, so there was progress made with Egypt, progress made with Jordan under his administration. The domestic policies weren't great, obviously.

There was a lot of problems. And his post-presidency on democracy has been pretty impressive, I have to say. Having said that, we will offer our prayers. And I thought the interesting that his church has been issuing statements.

So we're praying for his family. Like I said, when the times like this, and it is President's Day, we live in the greatest country in the world and events take their own human history takes its course. You had the Iranian hostage crisis. But like I said, you did have the Camp David Accords, which was the beginning of, which I think ultimately led, and then President Trump was able to get the Abraham Accords. So there's a process to all this, and I think history will reflect that part well.

Yeah, there's Habitat for Humanity. There's big efforts that were started in a post-presidency. That's what a lot of people talked about. It's not his presidency that was so memorable. In fact, a lot of people don't want to remember those times, what it was like in the US, specifically, and are kind of standing in the world.

But also, and some of the mirrors to today. But then the post-presidency, how he utilized just a one-term presidency for good. And again, don't have to agree with all his policies. We certainly do not and have not on this broadcast. But again, as Americans on this President's Day, we should remember that. We are taking your phone calls to 1-800-684-3110. This idea, again, would you rather have seen President Biden in Ohio with Americans or traveling 5,000 miles? By the way, don't worry. They gave Russia a phone call three hours before he got there. So don't bomb while he's there. So I guess we can still contact Russia. Not China, but we can still contact Russia.

The number to call if you want to talk to us there is 1-800-684-3110. We'll talk about that, but a lot of other issues as well. UN big issue there that we need to talk about involving Israel. So some positive developments on that front.

Our office just sent a letter to the UN because we are, to the Security Council, because we are a NGO that has status to engage what they call intervene at the United Nations. Also warnings from China to not fund the Russians or to provide them military aid. There's reports, our intelligence reports saying that may be happening.

But these are the same intelligence reports that borrows the balloon story. So we'll see what all that means. We're taking your call at 1-800-684-3110, 800-684-3110. Back with more in a moment. All right, welcome back to Sec Hill.

We are taking your phone calls to 1-800-684-3110. There is talk that China is considering arming Russia. They have taken advantage of the situation with Russia getting cheap gas and oil and then selling their manufactured products back to Russia, who has been sanctioned by much of the world. But the Chinese never follow sanctions and somehow they have no consequences for that. But that's what happens when you get to world power status is where the rest of the world would have to consider, okay, there's these international sanctions.

Would our whole banking system be cut off? When you get to the level of China and you know the world's dependence on your manufacturing and products from medication to technology, those sanctions need not apply to the Chinese. So they've utilized the situation economically to help them. The question has always been would they cross that line? People have called it a red line.

I don't even know who knew this red line and they don't seem to matter anymore. But would they take the next step of arming Russia with highly sophisticated military equipment? Yeah, it's interesting because so far the United States has expended $139 billion on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. As Jordan said, the President is in Ukraine right now. I think there's some history that people are saying, what's the end game?

And it's hard to see what it is. There's supposed to be these major winter offensives. Those have not materialized yet. The Wagner Group, which is these Russian forces, these mercenaries, their founder is saying, hey, we're not even getting ammunition. But it's interesting, Andy, President Biden was in Kiev, which of course is the capital of Ukraine.

And you brought up some points. There's a lot of geopolitics just with that. Yes, I think that symbolism is very important. He went to the capital Kiev, or Kiev as it's pronounced in Ukrainian, and he made a statement by doing that by going to the very heart of Ukraine. But it's also in many ways historically the heart of old Mother Russia because it was in Kiev, in the caves of Kiev, on the river that goes through Kiev that Prince Vladimir invited the emissaries from Constantinople, the Eastern Orthodox Church, to come and to Christianize his people.

And the barus, as they were called, were baptized in droves on the banks of the river in the Kievan Caves. This is the endgame that Putin is pulling here. His ultimate goal is the annexation, as he did of Crimea and the Donbas region at first, now is the annexation of Ukraine. And the Russian Orthodox Church is now separated from the greater Orthodox community.

That is correct. The Orthodox Churches have broken apart. The Patriarch of Constantinople, who is the titular head of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Istanbul, Constantinople, does not any longer recognize Patriarch Kirill, the Patriarch of Moscow. Whose previous life was? He was an NKVD KGB agent.

He took the religious approach. Putin took the political approach. But they were both KGB. But they were both KGB, and they have this solidarity and bond that goes back to their old days in Soviet Russia. We've done a lot of work there.

We had a very active office in Moscow for decades on religious freedom issues. I mean, obviously, it's not functioning with us any longer. But the fact is, I mean, there was a lot of progress being made, and then all of a sudden this has happened.

And so you're wondering what's going on here. The geopolitical aspect of this is significant, Jordan. And if you get China in this mix, you are escalating the Russian conflict significantly.

We're taking calls at 800-684-3110. But Russia getting involved with China in that conflict, dangerous with NATO. And already to an extent, China is the financial backer, in many ways, of the Russian war already. So unlike most of the world who has to follow these sanctions against Russia, the Chinese don't. So they are making money and selling goods to Russia. So they're kind of propping up the Russian economy, but also the fact that there's not like bare shelves in Russia. And the reason why is the goods come from China, just like most of our goods. And if you keep the flow of Chinese goods coming in, guess what your people still have access to? Whatever they need. And that's a huge difference that most countries who would take an aggressive, what we call a war of aggression, that means no, there was no justification to start the war.

You started purely for your own purposes. And they are propping up the... I don't know how much of this is us trying to play up China, because so far I've seen no indication the Chinese want a stronger Russia anyways.

No, but here's what's interesting. I'd like to know our... Global scale, if they've now certainly jumped ahead of Russia in the world, who's next to jump ahead of us? So the President makes a surprise visit.

And I want to ask our audience this question. He's in Kiev, Ukraine right now, or I guess he's left now. He's on his way to Poland.

He has not been to Ohio. He's Palestine. How do you feel about that? Was that a mistake in your view? I mean, it wasn't my view, but I want to hear from people.

1-800-684-3110, 800-684-3110. And I think that tells you that the politics of this are very, very interesting. Russia engaging this though, Andy, with China, and then with NATO involved, and we're a member of NATO, of course, the United States, the primary funder of NATO, would escalate things drastically. Oh, of course it would.

I mean, it would take it to a hide heretofore unreached. Of course, but you heard what Putin said. He said the United States spending $139 billion is escalating things. Well, it is, but what about what he's doing? Isn't that escalating things? He thought he was going to do a blitzkrieg and have this over in three weeks for three months. It's lasted almost a year. So who is escalating what here?

No, it's true. Let's go ahead and take phone calls. 1-800-684-3110. Yeah. We'll go to Sheila, Nevada, online too. Hey, Sheila.

Hey, it's pronounced Sheila. I apologize. Okay. Um, okay.

I think he should have went to Palestine, um, the Palestine and, um, Ohio. Uh, it, it was a, it was a, that was a big thing that happened during, during, in the last few days. Well, no, he said just be short but sweet. Okay. I believe that he shouldn't have went to, um, um, Kiev. Yeah, I got it.

Yeah. But I don't think they're mutually exclusive. I think going to Kiev is fine. He could have gone to East Palestine, uh, Palestine as well in Ohio. They were not mutually exclusive, but the White House is tone deaf on this. I think people are sick and tired of seeing Zdolinsky and Biden hugging each other.

You do? Because, yeah, because you could have sent a tenth of this money to East Palestine and the problem would have been solved. So let's fix America first. Because this war, what does it actually benefit us if, if, if Ukraine, as their chief military director is now saying, is going to roll tanks into Red Square. Are we kidding ourselves here? I want that.

Yeah, that was, I thought, ridiculous. So that's what we're funding. And you know, we're about to send F-16s there.

Which is a disaster. Yes, because they're bombers. That's to bomb Russian territory. The Russians took a horrendous approach.

Guess how long they've been taking this approach in this region? Since the Obama administration, when they annex Crimea and we did nothing. So we did nothing.

Then we lost our opportunity to really put it into this. We actually opened the door to this, the world, including NATO. We wouldn't allow Ukraine into NATO. We allowed Russia to bully us there and say you can't let them in. But when people see the problems in our own country, it's hard to support Ukraine, you know, without any kind of, anybody telling us how this comes to a conclusion. How do we stop the people getting killed there?

I don't think they know. Well, all we're doing is giving weapons to kill more people. But what you said is- On both sides. But here's what's so telling, I think, is this conflict is as old as history. Oh, it's a very old conflict. The Russians and the Ukrainians have been enemies for ages. And this is just Putin's attempt to come in and absorb the Ukraine- Where they were until 1991. Where they were.

That's right. Despite promises and pacts and agreements to the contrary, Jay. Listen, I think what Putin did here was outrageous, don't get me wrong. But I think it's also outrageous that we spent $139 billion. We've got a crisis in Ohio that's getting no attention from the White House, except FEMA saying, oh, we can't go until Donald Trump says I'm going.

Oh, now we can go. I mean, you realize how ridiculous, I mean, think about that for a moment. They formally said it is too big for us to handle.

We can't do this. Donald Trump says I'm going Wednesday. FEMA comes out two hours later. So are we. I mean, they think the American people are not smart. The American people are smart. They're playing politics with a disaster. They're playing politics with Ukraine too. I mean, the truth is, yes, so we're in a rubble. If it was Palestine in the Middle East, we would have been sending billions that already have visited.

Yeah, I 100% agree. No cabinet members have visited. So Mayor Pete did not go. Took him 10 days to even talk about it.

He tweeted about it first. And again, you could do all this at one time if you've got an administration that's functioning. You should be able to handle international affairs and domestic affairs. That's your job as President. That's why you have all this huge government behind you.

But you know what? People don't even go to work in Washington, D.C. The buildings are empty.

Right. The federal government bureaucrats don't go to work. So the fact that things aren't working, all you have to do is look at the building and see, oh, there's no one here. I mean, no wonder.

We had the balloon crisis and we were an embarrassment on the world stage. So I think that this is what just angers people. It's not that they are against helping Ukrainians. It's tell me how this help is going to end the conflict. And what are the parameters to end that conflict? And why can't you get on the phone with Putin and end the conflict? You know, you can't get on the phone with your Chinese counterpart for the Ministry of Defense with our secretary of defense. How did we not get on the phone with Putin and say, OK, this has got to stop and get Zelensky and Putin to a table and work it out? But they haven't because we have no standing on the world stage. That's the problem. Talking about the world stage coming up next, Action at the UN, your American Center for Law and Justice through our European Center for Law and Justice there front and center. We'll take more calls on all this as well at 800-684-3110 talking about the Palestinian Authority, not East Palestine. Everybody's doing this.

It's not, it is hard. Back with more. Welcome back to The Chisetkyo. There is more happening on the world stage than just Ukraine as well and action in the Middle East. I think a lot of times we divert attention away from what's happening in that region of the world. There's obviously the Trump administration made huge gains. The Biden administration didn't really want to acknowledge those unless they're threatening Israel about those gains. Gains that were made, by the way, without any kind of agreements with the Palestinians. Just to make clear, any of the Palestinian governments like the Palestinian Authority, they were not part of any of those negotiations with the Abraham Accords. The fact that there are flights going back and forth between the UAE and Jerusalem on a daily basis and tourism going on between the two countries, as well as economic activity. You know, it's interesting because there is a move, there was a move by the Palestinian Authority to put a condemnation resolution through the Security Council.

Jeff Balaban in our office in Jerusalem, is that in Jerusalem right now actually, is joining us on the broadcast. Now, this is not going forward, Jeff. Our understanding is it has been shelved, which is a good thing. I'm not complaining about that. The problem is what's going on behind the scenes on this.

That's the real problem here. But, Jeff, what's your reaction to this? What's going on behind the scenes, what's disastrous is what's coming out of Washington, is that Team Biden has been sending exactly the wrong messages. He's been pushing Israel, for example, to freeze Jewish building, Jewish homes in parts of the Jewish territory, Jerusalem, Judea, and thus rewarding Arab transigence. They actually put out a statement today, the Biden administration, that they're just beginning and that they're going to stop helping Israel with its normalization with Arab nations unless Israel stops allowing Jews to live in Judea.

That's insane. The thing that's troubling about this is, if you look at what they're saying, the Israeli government settlements decision could, quote, harm the Biden administration, this is from a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, saying that it would harm the Biden administration's ability to work with Israel on big issues like expanding normalization with the Arab states and addressing the Iranian threat. Here's the truth. The truth is that the Abraham Accords did that without addressing the Palestinian threat because the Palestinian threat was not as big as the threat from Iran, which impacts the entire region.

So the Arab countries are smart and they say, you know what, the Jordanians and the Egyptians have had good relations with Israel for now decades, going back decades, and we need to join that because the Iranians are a bigger threat. That's the reality. But the Biden administration, you know, the two-state solution, you know, with all due respect, it's not happening, okay?

It's just not happening. Now, here's the action item that we do. At the European Center for Law and Justice, our NGO, non-governmental organization, is allowed to intervene on these issues. We're doing this every month, every month at the UNCC. Right, so the Security Council actually has a new President that presides over the Security Council each month. So we make sure that we send a letter to that President letting them know our position on Israel, supporting them to be a nation, and also pointing out the fact that Palestine is not recognized as a state and should not be recognized as a state at the United Nations. And we do that. It's a very educational letter and very much supportive of Israel and their right to be in the places that they're in and for the UN to stay out of it because anything needs to be resolved by negotiations between the parties and not condemnation by the United Nations. You know, Jordan and me, Andy and Jeff, have been involved in like trilateral negotiations in the Middle East.

I mean, we've done a lot of these. And you've got to be thinking nine-dimensional chess here. And the problem with the Biden administration, they are a one-way street. It is the Palestinian-Israel conflict needs to be resolved with a two-state solution, or else the rest of the Arab world is going to go crazy. When the United States moved the embassy, Andy, to Jerusalem, guess what didn't happen? The rest of the world didn't go crazy. The rest of the Middle East didn't go crazy. And you know what? When the Abraham Accords got issued after the Golan Heights Declaration, saying that that was Israel's territory, I got a framed copy of that in my office at home from the President. And their entire framework that they operated on did not become the truth.

That's right. Well, the premise of all their beliefs turned out to be false. We did not have chaos in the Middle East because the capital was moved to Jerusalem, where it belonged, where it historically has been. The Abraham Accords, which were a great, great progress staff in the Middle East that was done by President Trump, and we have to give him credit for that, were pooh-poohed by the Biden administration and were minimized. They will not build on it, Jeff. I mean, the fact is the Biden administration, knowing it works, the Abraham Accords work, they still go back to the 1976 playbook of the two-state solution.

It's even worse. I mean, as we know, and we've discussed this, they have illegally, they've begun to fund the PA, such PLO, again, in their Pay for Slay program that's paying terrorists who succeed in killing Israelis and often Americans. So when they say they support peace, what they're actually talking about is they're supporting the idea of a Palestinian authority becoming a Palestinian state despite 30 years of murderous evidence that that catastrophe would mean all-out war.

And in the face of what you're talking about, Jay, we're talking about tremendous success with the Abraham Accords, precisely because it set aside the idea of a Palestinian state. We've worked on all of these issues. We've been working on these issues for 40 years. I mean, 40 years we've been working on these issues. And like I said, our European Center for Law and Justice, Jordan, is an NGO with the UN. We get to engage these. We've been to the International Criminal Court in The Hague on these issues.

We've met with the prosecutors on these issues. I mean, we know this issue. And the fact is the Abraham Accords worked and the Biden administration refuses to build on it.

Yeah. I mean, that's the, I think, most upsetting part about this is you can have administration that strongly disagree, but there should be successes that you don't just totally botch or act like they don't exist. And the fact that we made these gains with the Gulf states and including Saudi Arabia, who were technically part of the Abraham Accords, but hosted the Global Summit Against Terrorism, just got rid of ISIS, which, by the way, is becoming an issue. Can you believe that once again? Because those prisons that have been holding those fighters have been underfunded and they don't know, you know, the Kurds and all that. They can't keep 100,000 people because of the cost in prison. So they're about to start releasing all those ISIS fighters back. And what will they do? They'll take advantage of what kind of situations? Massive earthquakes. They take advantage of those, always. And like, we haven't even seen really numbers out of Syria. We know how horrendous it was, the earthquake was in Turkey and Syria, but because of the situation in Syria, we don't really know how bad it is there. They take advantage.

No. Terrorist groups of those situations. So the world is very dangerous. Now, under the Biden administration, it became dangerous in Europe. And it's more dangerous than the Trump administration left it in the Middle East.

The Middle East was going into, was the most peaceful four years, I think, that Israel had. And they were weakening Iran. And there is a common enemy. And, CC, one of the things that we're trying to stress with the UN is focus where it needs to focus. Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Yeah. Every chance we get, we try to put their focus on, again, the real enemies. And we condemn the fact that they are constantly condemning Israel every chance they get. We are the voice for Israel at the United Nations. And we will continue to be showing the facts, showing that they have a right to be where they are and they have a right to defend their nation.

And we will support them every chance. Jeff, 15 seconds, all we got here. What's the sense on the street? You've been in Jerusalem. I mean, I know there's a lot of people right now politically. What's your sense? People are very concerned about what's coming out of the Biden administration. As you know, they're announcing a freeze on settlements, again, because they're responding to Biden administration. At the same time, they're celebrating hugely the normalization going on in the Middle East. So they're really hoping that the Biden administration will back off, but it doesn't seem that they are. Well, at least we got it blocked at the UN.

Go ahead. Get out of the way. What? A lot of times this administration, I just wish they would just get out of the way. Oh, no, you're 100% right. Getting out of the way would be a victory here. There is no question.

If they just let it be, this was naturally and fully positive. Stop the rhetoric, stop their press releases, and just let those countries deal with each other, finally, which the Trump administration ultimately did. Those were bilateral deals that we helped get them to the table, then we allowed them to move forward on their own. ACLJ involved in all of this, folks. And that's where your support of the ACLJ is critical. Go to ACLJ.org.

That's ACLJ.org and support the work of the American Center for Law and Justice. We'll be right back in the second half hour. Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow.

We take your calls to 1-800-684-3110. So on this President's Day, we saw President Biden show up in Ukraine in an unannounced trip. I don't know how much of this matters to anybody when they see this in the news. Again, I think the question is, stop giving our money away without telling people what the plan is to do. Why are we giving that money? Because how are you going to end this conflict so people start to stop their apartment building, stop getting destroyed, and we stop seeing this horrible footage, but let's stop. Why are we funding the war machine if the war machine can't bring this to an end? And if it can, fine.

But if not, and it doesn't seem like it's been able to, it's been able to get it to a stalemate, and stalemates mean people just continue to die. Yeah, and your economy is totally enough, people, and it affects all of Europe. Now, what's not affecting the United States, though, apparently this administration is giving folks help in Ohio. Let's go ahead and take a call on this, and I think this is, let's go to, is it Gray in North Carolina? Hey, Gray. Yeah, thanks for taking my call.

Sure. I really believe that the reason that Biden's ignoring Ohio, especially Palestine, and then spending all this time and money on Ukraine is his own economics. Ohio being a red state, and Ukraine, well, I'll leave it there. Yeah, now this is interesting, because this part of the state was formerly Democrat until Trump, and so it's still a gettable area for Democrats, because Donald Trump was not the traditional Republican, and so while the Ohio Republicans who have run more like Trump's style, you saw J.D. Vance and others that, yes, they had some success, but I remember Joe Biden puts himself as like the guy from this area. You know, Joe is supposed to be, and this is, again, should be like right in his backyard, but he won't go, and those are the kind of communities that were traditionally- And no one's blaming the federal government for messing this up.

They're messing, the recovery, they're messing up, but this wasn't, you know, he needed to go there. You're the President. Well, except if they ask us for all the money for infrastructure, but they obviously don't use it. No, obviously.

Because the rails are, you know, they say, well, don't worry about this, there's a thousand a day. So we got a contrary view here. I think we should take it. Sure. Let's go to Rich in New York.

Hey, Rich. Yeah, Jay, thanks for asking our opinion about where Biden should be going. Well, let me just say it this way.

I think one of your guys that whacks more philosophically than maybe I do. When the framers were working on the Constitution, they looked up at the podium and they saw the presiding officer, George Washington, and they said, let's make the President commander in chief. And so for good or for ill, that's what we have. So the commander in chief is not, they didn't say let's make him the consoler in chief. So I think it's appropriate that he's spending time there. Regardless, you know, we could talk about the political motivations and all that, but it is well within his, you know, camp. I don't disagree that going there was fine to make a statement.

I'd like to know what the end game is in Ukraine, but I don't think they're mutually exclusive. That's the problem. And I think your interpretation of the Constitution is totally wrong. His first job is to actually protect Americans. And so whether it's our border or inside our states, I mean, we fund a huge federal government. They don't just fund international activities. They mostly fund domestic.

You could say, well, I don't like the Department of Education. I don't think this, but the truth is we built it up. We're paying for it.

Why is it utilized for us? First. But, you know, this whole idea that somehow you're racist or xenophobic or one of those terms, if you say, how about take care of us first? And I say us just generally, like in East Palestine. Right now, I think Americans care a lot more about Americans.

And there's nothing wrong with that. Because if you do take better care of your country, guess what doesn't happen? The war in Ukraine.

Because we'd be more powerful, so powerful that the Russians would never invade like that. That is the truth. But when you're not threatening and you're not a scary leader on the international stage, like Rich was talking about, because if you don't take care of what's at home. They know you're not going to do it there. That's your top job is to keep Americans safe.

That includes safe from disaster. I'll tell you what's interesting to me on this whole thing, and this is what's fascinating, is it's good to get diversion opinions, but at the end of the day, they're not mutually exclusive. He can go to East Palestine and he could go to Kiev.

But ignoring the one at the cost of the other is not a smart move. We're back with more, including Rick and Renell in the next segment. All right, so I won't play this sound. Rick Renell is joining us now. Before we get into the discussion, this is our Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, talking about the potential for the Chinese, that our intelligence is indicated to the US, are considering to begin potentially providing lethal aid to the Russians in their war against Ukraine.

Take a listen by 28. We are concerned that China is considering supporting Russia's war effort in Ukraine with lethal assistance. As President Biden said, going back many months when the aggression first took place and he spoke to President Xi Jinping, he told him at that point that there would be real consequences in our own relationship for China to provide lethal assistance to Russia in this aggression against Ukraine. I'm sure Xi Jinping is shaking in his boots right now, worrying about that Joe Biden's administration is going to do nothing if Russia gets weapons from China.

I mean, who are we kidding? First of all, we've given the Ukrainians $139 billion. We're very good at giving out aid there. Not so great to the folks in Ohio that need it right now. Go to Kiev, don't go to East Palestine.

Why do that? So I'm going to ask Rick Renell, because you've handled this on the international stage. First of all, what is the end game? I'm trying to figure out the Ukraine end game right now. And this Intel, they say it's right in your neighborhood. The Intel is reporting that China is going to fund the Russians militarily.

I don't know if this is the same Intel, by the way, that had to shoot down Mylar balloons over the Yukon, but be that as it may, what's your take on this at this point? Look, we have a problem here because first of all, we have a State Department that is talking about war and not talking about peace. We have a State Department that's not putting forward diplomatic solutions, ideas, and forcing the parties into some sort of talk and compromise. It seems like all of Washington is just fanning the flames of war.

And that's my big concern. Now, what we have is the Americans are put into a corner where the Chinese are saying, go mind your own business. Don't tell us what to do on foreign policy. And by the way, you're arming the Ukrainians, let us pick who we want to arm. So the escalation is real. We have to understand that this is headed towards an even bigger world war.

And therefore, we need to have some options of an off-ramp. We need to have the State Department doing something with people who want to avoid war. Some ideas, I'm not calling for a weak agreement.

I'm calling for a strong agreement, but we need at least options. Not everyone should be just rushing to war and making it worse. I think this is what the American people, Rick, are upset about. If you questioned any of the support, you're a Russian agent. That's the talking point in Washington, DC. And it's not even a Republican-Democrat thing.

It's kind of a swamp versus average Americans and we've seen that time and time again, this narrative for years they use against President Trump, even before he was President, it's always Russia, Russia, Russia. But now even just saying what we just talked about, which is I think most Americans would be fine sending this money, even when we're facing a lot of serious issues in our own country, if the administration could tell us how they would even like to see this come to an end. I mean, so far, we are talking about what's going to happen next year right now in this conflict.

So no one is even providing hopes of a conclusion. If you bring that up, like maybe we should tie that to the money that we're sitting over, you're a Russian spy. Yeah, look, I view this thing as the President of the United States gets to have a whole bunch of tools in their tool belt, so to speak.

And they have the Department of Defense and the Pentagon, and they also have the State Department. And so both should be providing options. I'm certainly not suggesting that we let communist ideas overtake us. I certainly understand very clear-eyed that Russia is a problem. But I think that there's a way to be able to, as the United States of America, be able to promote peace and prepare for war. But I only see us preparing for war, I don't see us promoting peace.

I don't see Anthony Blinken getting on a plane and going to capitals in Europe and getting European foreign ministers all to sit down with Putin and Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. Look, I'm clear-eyed that this is difficult. It's going to be incredibly hard to try to get the Russians to back off. We should have been doing this a long time ago. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets and the more difficult it gets.

But try. You know, Rick, I'm holding in my hand, and we'll put it up on the screen, our letter that we sent. We're going to move our attention to the Middle East here, to the United Nations. And because you were there for many, many years, a decade almost, at the UN.

Of course, you were the ambassador to Germany, as well as director of national intelligence. There was a planned move of resolutions coming, which happened all the time, in the Security Council by the Palestinian Authority against Israel. The United States said they were going to veto it, which that part I'm glad with.

I'm pleased they were going to veto it. Only because the pressure on the Biden administration was so enormous. But what's interesting here is we saw tremendous, I mean, I think one of the biggest accomplishments of your administration was the change in the Middle East, the Abraham Accords. And I mean, it just totally revolutionized the way the Middle East was engaging with each other, including the fact that you didn't have to solve the Palestinian conflict, which is insufferable, unfortunately.

It just goes on and on and on. There's a whole, it's an industry right now, to be quite frank, in the West Bank and these area in Gaza. It's an industry. And they call these refugee camps that have been around for 60 years. But Rick, the thing that I was going to ask you is the Abraham Accords worked and this administration won't go near it.

Look, as you know, I spent eight years at the UN inside the Security Council. I know this cycle that the Palestinians and some in the Arab group constantly bring up. And they're smart because they bring it up when we're distracted on other issues like during Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, now with Ukraine.

They try to sneak things in. Look, I believe that what Trump did with the Abraham Accords was historic because the Arab group, many of our Arab allies recognized that just all of this talk about the Palestinian problems was a smokescreen for some of the real problems. And when you went in and you tried to solve some of these problems and promoted peace between Israel and Arab nations, it worked and they jumped on it. And so the Palestinian smokescreen, I think, was really not working during the Trump administration. Well, today, now, this week, we had them try to move again to condemn Israel for settlement issues.

And look, I'm pretty strong on this. I don't think we should be telling Israel how to do zoning. I don't think that we should be telling Israel about local laws when it comes to building permits. Imagine if someone tried to do that to us. Stay away from telling Israel how to conduct its zoning and local building codes.

I just don't agree that we should be doing it. But they've seen the success though. I mean, you gotta be ignorant to not see the success of the Abraham Accords. So I asked myself, this worked, you see the success, but it's because it was your administration, we're not gonna do it.

It's like this knee-jerk reaction they have. Look, and I think we should also point out that the intelligence community briefed Donald Trump and the national security advisor. And the intelligence community assessment was that if you move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, you create World War III. Not only were they wrong about creating World War III, they were completely wrong because it did the opposite. It actually created peace, not war. That was the greatest growth of Middle East stability. Because in the Middle East, you want stability, was the Abraham Accords. And I think that was one of the great triumphs of that.

I know you worked on it, Rick, we did too. I mean, it was the right strategy, it worked, and it paid great dividends. And we're just, I think, Jordan, we're letting it go.

And I hate to see that. Yeah, and for partisan politics. So it's like they either act like it doesn't exist, it never happened.

And then it's like they're pouring fuel on the fire. So even with preventing this U.N. vote from occurring, they threatened the Israelis. And Rick, I mean, the final question is they kind of fuel the fire by saying, you know, but if they do this, if they do this, then you know what, these other Gulf state countries, who knows what they're going to do with their relationship with Israel. What would we do in the past if they just let the countries work together, good things would happen. As great as the Abraham Accords were, I think it was a low point for U.S. intelligence.

They completely got it wrong and they burned a lot of their credibility. I think that we need to come clean and be honest about how wrong we are. We got it in the intelligence community. That will only help to fix it and to recognize that many Arab governments want to have peace with Israel. And we've got to be able to facilitate this peace. As you know, there are a couple of other governments in the Middle East that want to sign, that we're close to signing. And so there's more to do and the Biden team should recognize that, but they aren't. We appreciate it, Rick.

Thanks for being with us as always. Thanks for your insight. Folks, you get the analysis you get here because of this broadcast with people like Rick Vernell, who's part of our team here at the ACLJ. We're able to take action at the UN, where he worked for 10 years, by the way. So, I mean, you got to understand it.

You see a glimpse of Rick for, you know, seven minutes. It's the same thing with Pompeo. They're working on these issues with us to formulate policies that work. And we do that on your behalf and for your family. Support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org. Follow us on all the social media as well, at Jordan Sekulow, at Jay Sekulow, at Logan Sekulow, and at ACLJ. Back with more in a moment.

Welcome back to Sekulow as we take your calls to 1-800-684-3110 to be on the air. There is more on the border as well. We alluded to that in a couple of our discussions about what's going on overseas because we're not taking care of what's happening in our own country. That includes, by the way, you might say also that there's a foreign policy issue as well when you are working with, whether it's Mexico or Canada and other countries involved as people, all of Central America, South America, attempt to migrate illegally to the United States and how you can put in place incentive programs just for governments to secure their own borders, so that whether it's remained in Mexico, which was mocked and then worked, and then, you know, what happens after the Title 42 lift.

So the Supreme Court, they're not going to get involved in that because the Biden administration said the emergency will be over, which I think most Americans agree the emergency, when it comes to COVID, should be over. But it was a huge tool that was kind of forced on the Biden administration to do something about the anti-patrol border. What's interesting now is Border Patrol leadership is asking for agents to voluntarily deploy, voluntarily deploy to the northern border, overwhelmed at what's called the Swanton sector, which is Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York, which has seen an 846% increase in illegal crossings since October. So you got to ask yourself, Harry, our director of policy, Harry Hutchinson, is with us. Harry, you don't normally hear about the northern border, very rarely. What's going on here?

What are we figuring out? Well, I think many migrants from Guatemala, Romania, Mexico, and elsewhere, including Ecuador, they are finding it easier to cross from the north than the south. In other words, there are so many illegals coming up from the south, it may now be easier to enter the United States from the north.

That's number one. Number two, open borders is a central plank of the World Economic Forum's agenda. And this goes back to a post-war consensus, preaching openness, tolerance, and inclusion. And now the Biden administration has essentially adopted the World Economic Forum's approach to border security.

And so once again, the Biden administration is failing the American people. So the Biden administration, having lost control of the southern border, is now losing control over the northern border. And I would argue border patrol agents are typically less vigilant with respect to the northern border. And in many respects, it is easier to cross, but these particular migrants, they are incentivized to cross, even though the temperatures in Vermont and Montreal and Canada are below four degrees in Celsius. You know what's interesting here is it says across the northern border, illegal crossings from Canada into the US have increased from 16,000 to 42,000, according to NBC News.

The custom and border patrol website, there are more than 1200 encounters along the border over the past four months, which does not sound like a lot, but it's increasing. And what's happened in the south, it's not that we've had great enforcement, it's just there's so many people that the unlawful entrance can't get in, even in the illegal line, they can't get in. Yeah, so I mean they have to wait to cross illegally from the south. There's no wait if you can get to Canada, and my presumption is the individuals from Romania, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico, they are flying to Canada and then crossing into the United States illegally.

It talks about the battle of buddy, because that's not cheap. So they're paying the cartels to run travel agency programs into Canada to then make it easier across into the United States because of the line in Mexico, not because the border once you get to that point, but because you have to wait your turn. I mean think about that, I mean the cost of the transport for these individuals. We think about like these, you know, everybody's coming across with no money, no resources.

Obviously not. And no, I mean there are also those who flee who, I mean they may have been wiping out all of the money, and also there's a ditch. So I mean there's a lot of issues at play, but the fact is if you're getting that sophisticated, and I always am interested what is with the volunteer thing with our with our government?

What do you think that is? Don't we control these officials? Don't we tell them you got to be deployed there?

Well I don't know what the rules and regulations are, but I certainly have done a little work for the federal government, and some workers are indeed unionized, and that may have some something to say about the border patrol basically asking people if they're willing to relocate. I would argue that border patrol agents, if they really want to stem the tide with respect to our northern border, they probably should begin to identify as Ukrainian soldiers, and then the Biden administration will provide additional resources to protect them. Talking about Ukraine, since you brought it up, China. Our intelligence, for what it's worth, which who knows these days, is saying that China is contemplating backing the Russians in this conflict militarily.

What would that do? Well I think this would be a real boost to Russia. There are certainly some rumors suggesting that Russia is beginning to run out of ammunition, but I've also seen the same rumor with respect to Ukrainian soldiers, and so that would then give the Ukrainians an edge, but more important I think than military support is the fact that Russia and China are forming an economic community, and that economic community is going to create an alternative currency, and then the United States government is going to have to deal with that particular problem. Also keep in mind it's not just China. Potentially it involves India.

India has basically upped its intake of Russian petroleum by something like 25 to 30 percent, and so I think at the end of the day this particular war, the war in Ukraine, will continue for quite some time in part because Russia is able to escape American and Western sanctions. I want to go back to what you said at the very beginning of the program, Jordan, and that is we have a domestic situation here with this toxic spill that's getting very little attention from the White House. Let's be honest, it just isn't. Mayor Pete, has he been there yet? He hasn't gotten there yet. Who's gone, Will?

He was a confidence building guy. Whoa, there was a guy. Do you drink the water? Only if your home has been tested. By who?

Yeah, by who? The federal government doesn't even show up. FEMA, we can't do it until Donald Trump says he's going there, and then FEMA says we can do it. What people were asking for FEMA was not to do the environmental cleanup, because again, there's a lot of other federal agencies for that. People were displaced.

They needed the basics, tinting, water, medication, doctors, the kind of assistance that FEMA provides after a hurricane or tornado. The cleanup part, yes, the first part of this cleanup has to be done by specialists, but this is how the federal government, you pay for all this with their taxpayer dollars, you think at least this will be taken care of, and it's not. We're going to stay on this for the folks there that are suffering on this, and we've got our government affairs team working on it as well. We've said Pete Buttigieg needs to go, which I think, I don't know who's defending Pete Buttigieg these days.

Don't take a small town mayor and put him in charge of the Department of Transportation. That's probably the number one. Folks, your support of the ACLJ is critical to all this. It's critical to keep this broadcast on the air. It's critical for us to engage these issues at the United Nations, in Washington, D.C., at the Capitol, and even at the Supreme Court of the United States.

Your support's critical. Go to ACLJ.org. Sign up for our mailing list so you get our emails and alerts. ACLJ.org, that's ACLJ.org, is a good way for you to stay engaged, and you also can support the work of the American Center for Law and Justice when you go there. Also, follow us on all the social media, at Jay Sekulow, at Jordan Sekulow, at Logan Sekulow, and at ACLJ. We'll talk to you tomorrow.