BREAKING: Wagner Leader Releases New Statement

Breaking news today on Sekulows. We have a new Wagner leader statement.

The leader of the Wagner group in Russia has released a brand new statement. We'll talk about that today with Rick Renell. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow.

Hey, welcome to Sekulow. We're taking your calls to 1-800-684-3110 and we can take calls too while we've got Rick Renell on to explain what his thoughts are on the latest out of Russia. This occurred over the weekend of course, Friday evening into Saturday and Sunday where it looked like there may even be a war breaking out in Moscow. That then was prevented supposedly by a brokering of a deal by Alexander Lukashenko who is the leader of Belarus but he's basically propped up by Putin as he's the last Soviet dictator in the world. There's no way he cut a deal.

Right. He does not have the power. Without Putin saying this is what we're going to do. So they're using him to say he cut the deal. The deal is that, and we don't know how much of this is actually going to occur or if Wagner is basically reforming and reformatting to start another conflict. But supposedly this would be that the head of the Wagner group would have to seek and have to live in I guess asylum in Belarus but it's not clear that he's there yet.

Now he has issued a new statement today for the first time since the weekend and this is, again, this is Pergozen who leads the Wagner group. Remember this is the Putin chef as he was called because he did all the catering for the Kremlin but what was sometimes not discussed as much is that he was the head of their largest mercenary group. Now I don't want to make a direct, they're not directly like what was formerly known as Blackwater which is now Academy because that's a U.S. mercenary group which has to abide by a lot more laws and when they do something wrong as we saw they get prosecuted for war crimes and bad actions. So they don't operate the same way but mercenary groups, you might think this is kind of unusual, it is not for major world powers. It's usually people who are former special forces from other countries too who decide they want to continue military service but either maybe they aged out of special forces or the pay is better.

The pay is much better but they go directly to conflict zones so they are in war constantly. Another place Wagner is right now just to give you an example of what they do is Haiti and what happened there is of course the former Haitian President was assassinated. So they offered their services to the new Haitian President and so they're there as his protection because he could not trust his own security to protect him and his family from an assassination attempt. So they do things around the world, they fought ISIS in Syria, they weren't necessarily our allies there Wagner but they certainly were a big role in defeating ISIS. They're also a big military force and a sophisticated military force so you have to understand the dynamic. The idea that this group got 120 miles basically roughly from Moscow is breathtaking because the only reason that Russia is even able to fight in Ukraine right now is because of the Wagner troops.

And these mercenaries and like you say this is not a good guy. The fact that he's now hiding or in exile in Belarus, let's be clear Belarus is a Russian satellite so none of this is happening without Putin saying this is okay. So there's something else at play.

This may be and there's a couple points to look at here. This may be a geopolitical implication that we'll get into with Rick Renell in the next segment and that is this may be a way out of the Ukraine situation. Because if he doesn't have the Wagner troops Putin can't compete and he now has a domestic problem and he could use that as a reason to get out. So who knows how much of this was orchestrated, who knows how much of this was influenced also what's going on in the Middle East right now. Right we also have Rick was just as you know in Kosovo and he was on the air during that the issue that was escalating quickly there.

He's brought it to a conclusion and a good conclusion so he's going to update us on that as well. What he was able to do to prevent an outbreak of a conflict using his former position and his ability to promote peace instead of going right to war which is kind of the Biden administration policies. More conflict, less peace. What you can do through tough diplomacy and that's what ACLJ team members are doing around the world. The impact they're having around the world because of your support for the ACLJ. They're part of our team. So donate today at ACLJ.org. We'll be right back with Rick Renell analyzing Russia in Kosovo.

Welcome back to Secular. We are joined by our Senior Advisor, the former Acting Director of National Intelligence, Ambassador Rick Renell. And Rick I want to first go before we get back to Russia. I wanted to let you explain because you're on the broadcast Friday on the escalating tensions in Kosovo. There were three police officers imprisoned and things looked like it could escalate into more conflict potentially but you were able by making this trip into Kosovo to get those officers released and a de-escalation started.

So tell people about that. So I was sitting in Los Angeles watching the situation unfold and it was really frustrating Jordan because here in the northern part of Kosovo where tensions are high and individuals are screaming about being forced into a situation that they don't like and no one's helping them and the emotions are high and the violence is getting out of control. So I decided to reach out to the parties that I knew and they were desperate for somebody to listen. And so I made the trip. I went to northern Kosovo, Wednesday to Saturday, just a quick trip. And on Thursday I spent the day in a place in north Kosovo with about 20 of the Serb leaders there in Kosovo.

And over the last six weeks, think about this, over the last six weeks as emotions began to take over, violence began to unfold and NATO troops began to go in, not a single US or European official in the last six weeks was willing to go and sit down and talk with the Serbs locally who were feeling this pressure. And so I did. I went and everybody told me not to go because it was dangerous. And I just thought, you know, I've been there before.

This is ridiculous to think that it's dangerous. I went without security and I sat down, walked the streets, talked with 20 different Serb leaders there and really pushed the parties involved to make a de-escalation move. And that was to release the Kosovo police, which are of Albanian descent. I think the prime minister of Albania, Idi Rama, did an amazing job of pushing the Serb government. I was pushing. Viktor Orban was pushing. But sadly, no American and no EU official was willing to go in.

They were just sitting on the sidelines and complaining and trying to say, do something, do something. And it's frustrating for me to see American diplomacy not be brave and courageous. We're not a bunch of, you know, tea sipping restaurant going diplomats that like to sit around and go to nice places.

We're supposed to go into dangerous zones. And as a guy who's no longer a diplomat, I have no affiliation with the U.S. government. I just couldn't sit on the sidelines. From the private sector standpoint, I think there's some things that can be done.

And I went in and tried to help. Rick, I think this is important. You said this on the broadcast Friday, but I think it's important to reiterate this to our audience. And that is, why is this important to America's interest, our interest in this whole conflict? Well, first of all, we have NATO troops there. The tradition has been a lot of Iowa National Guard. But recently and right now is the Indiana National Guard.

The Texas National Guard is getting ready to take over. And this is a situation where Americans are paying for it. American men and women are serving there. And so our national security is intertwined. Obviously, we're a member of NATO and so is Albania. And we have treaty obligations to do things.

And certainly I'm not suggesting that we should put more American troops in harm's way. When I was negotiating between Kosovo and Serbia, we had four agreements that were working out pretty well. And Jay, I had talked about pulling back our NATO troops, trying to save money, trying to save American men and women from having to go serve in Kosovo. Because things were moving in the right direction over the last three years.

It's moved completely in the wrong direction and we see what's been happening. Rick, I want to ask you, we've just got a new statement from Yevgeny Prigozin from the Wagner Group who oversees the Wagner Group. And he said, this was his explanation of what was going on when they were doing the march towards Moscow. He said it was to prevent the destruction of the Wagner private military company because they were facing strikes by Russian military. And to bring justice to those who were unprofessional actions, trying to say it was directed really at military leadership, maybe not at Putin. Directly saying that Putin's getting bad advice. He said they stopped their march when it was obvious that there would be a lot of Russian bloodshed. And that they felt that they showed through their actions what they had the ability to do if the Russian government did not make the decisions that they wanted.

That they could basically do this again. So they have not yet said through this statement that he would not do this again. He did also acknowledge what Alexander Lukashenko extending a place for him to go next. We don't know if he's actually in Belarus yet. But just your reaction to what occurred this weekend and where things stand right now in Russia.

First of all, I've been cautioning lots of people to wait and let's see how this plays out a little bit because I think there's a lot of propaganda going around. Certainly there's a power struggle within the Russian military. The war in Ukraine is not going super well for the Russians.

They thought they'd go in and crush it and get out. And that's not happening. So the Ukrainians are putting up a big fight. That's embarrassing for Putin.

It's why Wagner, this private military group, is flexing its muscle. I think they're proud of the Russian tradition and they want to win. And so there's a power grab and a power shuffling going on within the Russian military. Look, that directly impacts Putin, whether he says that it does or not. When you can't have a winning military, when your military is wrestling with your leadership decisions, when there's conflict from the leader saying you're not doing the right thing or we're not winning, I think that directly goes to Putin. But I never believed that this was going to be a huge crisis for Putin. I believed that he could always put it down fast.

And that's exactly what he did. Most of the pundits were wrong. But there's no question that this is a conflict that continues internally within the Russian military and they're going to have to get a handle on it. I have also said, and I've spent, again, a speculation, Rick, that when you're dealing with these things, you've got to kind of, it's like nine-dimensional chess.

You've got to kind of think three moves out. And there's a lot of geopolitics at play in this as well. And that is the Chinese were concerned about the way the war between Russia and Ukraine is going. The Europeans have a vested interest in this thing getting resolved. And does this domestic disturbance, let's call it that, this attempted coup, whatever you want to call it, give Putin the chance to recalibrate. In other words, does he get to recalibrate and say, you know what, we've got a domestic issue now.

I'm going to pull out of Ukraine because I've got to solve the situation here as basically an exit ramp. I've wondered if that's what it is. Or are some of the Middle East players at play in all this? Well, there's no question that something is going on.

And that was my caution to so many pundits that were racing to talk about it. Because when the Wagner Group turns around quickly and says, oh, nothing to see here and we've solved it with President Putin, something is at play. I mean, Putin clearly cut some sort of a deal and we don't know what that is and we don't know how that will unfold. But clearly now, I think at the leadership level, there was an adjustment and they're coming together to figure out now how to fight for the greatness of Russia.

And so I think we've got to watch it very closely and see how this unfolds. But I don't think it's over. I think that they're both going to want to follow through on whatever deal they cut. And sometimes these deals are cut and you're not really talking about the same thing.

You're talking over each other and for the moment you feel like there is some sort of a resolution. But it remains to be seen if that holds. Yeah, we're still seeing a lot of social media posts from Wagner's official accounts that are very provocative, to say the least.

Basically, one, they've got their finger over their mouth, like a quiet sign, saying you might make one agreement and it translates to, but you don't tell people your next plans. And then Ukrainian soldiers started to put out the same image. So that's kind of interesting at play. I think the long term here, Rick, is that, like you said, and for everybody listening, this is not over. It may feel like it was over quickly, but there's obviously a lot of internal happenings going on in Russia. Whether that means Putin goes or not, that's one thing. But also the impact it might have.

I was going to ask you this finally. It does seem like Russia would have a real problem if they don't have the Wagner group fighting with them in Ukraine. Even in some of the limited gains they've been able to make in Ukraine have mostly been because of Wagner. If they're not going to go fight, what does the Russian military do now that they have not been effective at all?

Look, I think you just hit a huge headline that has not been talked about very much, which is Putin has to rely on forces outside of the Russian military because the Russian military couldn't really cut it. The Wagner group is clearly helping them. They've got to be on the same page if they're going to have a win. And this latest development, I think, just signals that both sides feel like it's not going exactly the way they want to be. Thank you for your work in Kosovo. I've been able to de-escalate the situation. We know that this administration has been so interested in letting things get out of control and lead to conflict and death instead of peace through strength and just negotiations and work and bringing people together. I hope that those that are listening see the scope and nature of the work of the ACLJ. Rick, of course, is our senior advisor on national security and international matters and talking about an international matter that he just de-escalated, one of the great hotspots of the world right now. Your support to the ACLJ allows all of this to happen and we encourage you to do that at ACLJ.org.

That's ACLJ.org. We'll be back with more in a moment. All right, welcome back to SECC.

We are taking your calls. So if you've got calls about after we just went through that discussion, too, about Russia, about what is it, you know, maybe you've probably heard the Wagner Group name being thrown around a lot, even maybe going back into the war in Syria. Because while the U.S. was fighting ISIS directly, the Wagner Group was brought in to get rid of ISIS, but on behalf of the Assad regime, which they did an effective job of both keeping Assad in power when a lot of people thought he would not remain in power and was able to play a role. They were brutal to ISIS. I mean, some of the tactics they used were actually similar to ISIS and what they would do through imagery and attacks, and they would kind of repost it out. They used social media very differently than our military would. And obviously they don't play by the rules that the United States military or even our groups that would be similar, the private security companies, private military companies, the most famous, obviously, the U.S. being Blackwater, which is now named Academy.

But they follow the rules that these guys don't, and they also are, I think Will, our producer, explained it correct, whereas the Blackwater Academy guys are more like special forces. This is like a standing army. A small infantry. Not a small, 30,000 member infantry. No, it's a standing army. Yeah, but they've already suffered about 30,000 losses in the war in Ukraine, and they're still 50,000 strong. Yeah, the interesting thing is without them at play, I think it changes the whole dynamic. So you don't know here who was moving the chess pieces. Was this a Putin decision with the Wagner Group's leadership that they would do this and say this in order to get an exit ramp out of Ukraine? Who knows?

And I think it will be very interesting to see. They are all over the world. Again, they're right in our back door in the Caribbean. They are in South America, Africa, Central African Republic.

They play in the Middle East, obviously. Here's a group called the Concord Group, which is his media arm. Oh, yeah.

They have a food arm that does a lot of the food commissaries around the globe. I mean, it's quite an enterprise. All right. Let's go to a domestic matter because this one... Got the sound. You missed this on... You were out of town Friday when the deal was officially signed and sealed, I think.

So you want to play that sound? Yeah. So this is, again, from Merrick Garland on the people... We've talked a lot about the two-tier system of justice. And by the way, it wasn't just about Hunter. We've talked about that going back to our IRS clients, going back to how Donald Trump and anyone associated with him, like Paul Manafort ending up in solitary confinement on a FARA violation.

The punishment, even while you were on trial, was just so extreme. And yet it seems like if you... I think how Tulsi says it's right.

It's not really Republican-Democrat. It's if you're in the in-crowd, you might get a slap on the wrist. You might not even get that. It might not even be a slap. It doesn't just think what he got was even a slap, honestly. I mean, it's a sweet deal.

But then... He's a great lawyer. Merrick Garland... And see, I think this is the most unpatriotic statement you can make because we're supposed to be able to criticize our government. I mean, that's what our founding fathers created, a country where you could be as critical as you wanted to be of that leadership. And you can constantly change the leadership.

We don't have kings and queens. We have elected leaders that are supposed to be responsible. They have to work for us. And if we don't like what they're doing, we remove them, not with conflict, but through just a vote. But take a list of how he described those of us who have even questioned the Department of Justice motives. Do the American people have cause to be concerned about the integrity of the components of this Justice Department?

And what do you have to say about how they're acting? I certainly understand that some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department as components and its employees by claiming that we do not treat like cases alike. This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy and essential to the safety of the American people. Let me tell you what's essential to a constitutional republic in American democracy.

The First Amendment's free speech clause. And you're allowed to say in the United States of America, hmm, looks like Hunter Devine got a really good deal. Now, I will say it was a very good arrangement. Now, his lawyer, Abby Lowell, who's a friend of mine, so I want to be clear there, colleague of mine, he represented Jaron and Ivanka Kushner in the Russia probe with Mueller, is one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the United States. And I put him in the top three anywhere in the United States. And he got his client a great deal because he also defended and won the John Edwards case. He won the Bob Menendez case. This prosecutor, Jack Smith, is the one who brought the case against Bob McDonald and ended up losing before the Supreme Court nine to zero. So, the guy's very good at indicting, not so good at getting convictions.

And you're allowed to ask questions. I mean, to say that's un-American is ridiculous. I don't think what the FBI did on Crossfire Hurricane, that again, that their own special counsel, remember Durham is their own special counsel from DOJ reporting to Mayor Garland, and came out and said the FBI ignored the exculpatory evidence, wouldn't even provide it to their investigators. He said that he was telling FBI the lower, not lower level, but next level down from the Peter Strzok guys, who are the officers doing the research, and he showed them documents that showed that the Steele dossier was fake.

And he said they would see them and literally get so sick and angry, they had to leave the room and like compose themselves because these individuals were never provided the information that this was all baloney. Let me tell you what the ACLJ is doing here. You know, we talked about Rick was in Kosovo working a bad deal internationally on behalf of everybody's interests, including ours. We have a FOIA litigation going on right now with the FBI regarding the FISA abuses, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses on American citizen. We have a FOIA litigation going on right now with the FBI on investigation when they were going to radical Catholic groups that we're dealing with right now, labeling parents as domestic terrorists, all of that with the same goal as the criticism on the Hunter Biden side, which is showing a two-tiered system of justice.

So here's what I'm trying to tell you. You support the ACLJ, we get to the bottom of this. We get answers, like we got answers on what was going on on the southern border with Joe Biden hiding the fact that terrorists are being captured. Well, now it's being exposed. We litigated, we got the information, we disclosed it, and now they're putting out that they caught actually 135 individuals on the terror watch list in the last year. And now there's more concern that many more are there right now.

I mean, this is a huge concern going on on the border. So all of that because the ACLJ is positioned to get answers in Washington, D.C. with our Government Accountability Project. And here's where you come in. Your support of the ACLJ allows that to happen. Your support of the ACLJ allows us to have people like Rick Grenell as part of our team to go into places nobody wants to go.

You're going to hear from Jeff Balaban out of our offices in Jerusalem. Again, your support of the ACLJ allows us to have an office in Jerusalem. Your support of the ACLJ allows us to bring you this broadcast every day, five days a week.

We play specials on the weekend. We do films. We've got the Secular Brothers podcast, all of our social media because of your support of the ACLJ. So as we close the first half hour of this broadcast, think about what we talked about, what's going on in Russia, what's going on in Kosovo, and our involvement in all this. By the way, we didn't even touch on the fact that in Russia, we had an office in Moscow for decades. We're not putting those individuals on air right now because it would be very dangerous for them. No, I mean, I think that is interesting, and I follow some of their social media. And the reason why we don't have the relationship now, they continue to do their work in Russia, is because of the financial sanctions. There's no way to work together. And honestly, right now, it would not be beneficial for them to be receiving money from the U.S. Yeah, the U.S. or Europe. But all of your support at the ACLJ makes all this possible.

So I want to encourage you, join with us, support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. We got another half hour coming up. Yeah, that's right, because think about it. If things come to a close, Russia's not going to be sanctioned forever, we'll rethink. You know, if it works, restarting that relationship. During this rebuilding, we're going to have to see if Ukraine and Russia ultimately, hopefully, when we get to that point. And so we're already kind of pretty in a situation when that conflict is over to go back in, if that's the right thing to do. We'll analyze it. We'll assess it.

But we are ready to go even there. We'll be right back on Sekulow. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow.

And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. One thing we realized, too, at the ACLJ is that a lot of people, I mean, it made sense that when we were representing President Trump and there was a lot of attention on that, obviously, because of all the different angles representing executive branch, you've got, of course, House members we usually do, we had to kind of restructure even at the ACLJ for that time period. But we've been doing a new campaign to really push people to remind them that we are open for business for your cases. And so we've been pushing, if you notice, more on the broadcast, maybe just over the last six months, really, to if you feel like your rights are being violated, to just contact us at ACLJ.org slash help, and an ACLJ attorney is going to analyze what you wrote, and they're going to get back to you. If we can take, if we think we need more information, if we think we can represent you, and even if we don't think we can represent you, we will let you know very quickly. Usually it's within 24 to 48 hours.

Last week, and I appreciate this because people, it takes people standing up and one person can protect an entire community's constitutional rights. 167 different folks who follow the ACLJ contacted us at ACLJ.org slash help. And I will tell you folks, we would love to see those kind of numbers. And don't feel nervous about whether or not your case is the right case.

We'll let you know. It's not going to be in a nasty way. Don't say this is. It might not be in our wheelhouse, but if you think that your rights are being violated, that's in our wheelhouse. So all you have to do is go to ACLJ.org slash help. And I do want to remind you, if we take your case, that's at no cost to you. So you don't have to go hire a law firm if you feel like your rights have been violated. And so I always remind people that one person who speaks up in the community can protect an entire nation's rights. Sometimes those cases go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and set precedent for the entire country.

But even, you don't have to look that big. It could be that you protect the rights of your entire community by speaking out. And that's important, too. So whether it's a conflict with a mayor, a city council, a school board, or the entire state, or the federal government, you contact us at ACLJ.org slash help. I mean, you mentioned to me during the break that one of the contacts we got involved an issue that, my goodness, I've litigated for 35 years, which is basically an equal access type of issue in the context of you've got a community bulletin board. There was going to be an advertisement about a community meeting that was going to take place at the local Oaks Lodge or something about critical race theory and what's going on in the schools, just an open discussion.

They said, no, we're not going to allow that up. And there's a case. I just told you it was Perry Educators versus Perry Local Educators Association, which dealt with exactly that issue. It was in a 1987 opinion. We used it a lot in a lot of our evangelism access cases, same kind of language.

You said you can't have viewpoint discrimination. So we can get right on those and get those resolved usually quickly. Sometimes you got to go to court like we are on those students that had the pro-life head gear on when they were at the National Archives Museum in the Smithsonian. Those cases are being actively litigated. Sometimes it's just literally just a phone call from us or a letter. In any case, we're here to help you. So ACLJ.org slash help.

That is how you can contact us. We're going to get a report from Jeff Balibon coming up in the next broadcast, who's been and runs our office in Jerusalem. The Biden administration is saying, you know what? We're no longer going to do scientific research deal with Israelis.

Those Israelis live in Judea and Samaria. Now, this was the previous. This was the Obama administration policy. Trump administration changed it.

Biden's put it back. Talking about hostility to the Jewish state. There's a perfect example. We're uniquely possession there too. Why?

Because we have an office in Jerusalem, in the heart of Jerusalem, actually. So, again, your support of the ACLJ lets all of this happen. You can support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. We've got a coming up after that. We're going to be talking about an issue. We've been litigating for decades.

It will not go away. And we just got to be persistent here. Harry Hutchison is going to join us on that.

So we've got a lot ahead. We'll take your phone calls at 800-684-3110 on any of the topics we talked about today. 1-800-684-3110.

What do you think is going on in this Russia conflict with Ukraine? 1-800-684-3110. And, again, ACLJ.org slash help if you need legal assistance and support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. We encourage you to donate today. ACLJ.org. You've just got this first half hour. In the next five minutes, you've heard about all the different work the ACLJ has gotten done just the past 36 hours.

ACLJ.org. Donate today. We'll be right back. Welcome back to On Your Secular. An issue now arising out of the Biden administration. More attacks on Israel that they kind of want you to not pay attention to because they try to say, well, this is not really about Israel. This is about other parts that we might disagree with Israel on. But, again, when you see the rise in anti-Semitism, we even saw some of these protests over the weekend by Nazis outside synagogues. And, again, the fact that the number one group who suffers hate crimes, which is a much smaller percentage of people, is still the Jewish communities. We work to make sure they can have their Second Amendment rights at places of worship in New York because of that. We've seen the attacks that have occurred on synagogues. But so when the administration does this, I think, unfortunately, it encourages a lot of those anti-Israel elements, both from the Ilhan Obars to the neo-Nazis. Correct.

So here's what you have. We've got an office, of course, in Jerusalem. Jeff Balibon heads that up. He's back in the United States for a few days in New York and is going to talk with us about this because under the Trump administration, scientific endeavors, which includes agricultural science, and there's a lot of things. We're being shared with Israel as its full state, which includes Judea and Samaria, which is the biblical Israel as well. And under the Obama administration, no, if they would not do anything with those what they call territories, we call Judea and Samaria. The Biden administration has now put that back in place. Jeff, tell us what this means.

Thanks, Jay. I am back here and part of it is meeting also in Washington because this is another dramatic step by the Biden administration to it's actually an anti-Semitic attack on the state of Israel. I mean, it's purely anti-Semitic.

It says that it's a boycott of scientific cooperation, not with people who live in Judea and Samaria, but only with the Jews. Right. That we will not.

We are happy to work with researching in Wuhan with the Chinese. The Biden administration is defending that. But we will not. America will not work with Jews who live in Judea and Samaria. It's unconscionable. It's an attack not only on the sovereignty and legitimacy of the state of Israel as a Jewish state, it's an attack on all Jews everywhere by denying our ability to live and work where we please. It's a punishment for operating in territory that is your territory. That would be like saying Washington, D.C., we're taking you out and we're not going to allow you because, you know, you're not a fully recognized state.

I mean, this is this is absurd. Now, but I think it's important for people to understand when we talk about Judea and Samaria, Jeff, what are we talking about? We're talking about Judea and Samaria.

Thanks for mentioning that, Jay. We're talking about Israel. We're talking about the biblical heartland.

We're talking about the historical heartland. We're talking about the vast majority of Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people for thousands of years, the capital of the state of Israel since its founding. So we're talking about and I spend a lot of time, as you know, on behalf of ACLJ, in Judea and Samaria, in those communities, it's a hugely growing environment. People from all around the state of Israel are moving there. They're building new highways there.

It's a wonderful area for expansion. And the Biden administration is doing everything in its power to destroy Jewish life there. Meanwhile, they're encouraging and in some ways funding up Arabs illegally to grab more and more territory to try to create their own state there on the Jewish homeland's core biblical heartland.

You know, I think what's important to point out here, too, and Jeff, you said it. I mean, I don't like making the comparison because Israel doesn't deserve that. They're a strong ally of the United States. Even when this happens, they're willing to stand with us and be on the front lines of the war on terror that continues to this day, even when we're not experiencing it as much, thankfully, and maybe domestically here. And the world's not, you know, and Western Europe's not. They are on the front lines of that fight.

And they still will work with us even amidst this. But the idea here, too, as you explained, if you thought about how many countries around the world that are committing just human rights abuses and atrocities that the U.S. has decided for the interest of our country, it's better to work with them. And you would never see a statement like this.

And they would look the other way. I mean, China's one example, but I mean, you could go through most of the world and we don't really like the way those governments function. This is an actual real democracy with real elections and real rights for people who are Arabs and for people who are, again, of different backgrounds and different orientations. Free speech exists. Real freedom exists. And we punish these countries.

And you know why, Jeff? It's to get the Europeans and I guess some Middle Eastern countries, though they've expressed little interest in this anymore. So it's mostly I feel like it's Europe and the U.N. that the U.S. is trying to appease. And by the way, there's 100 percent right, Jordan. And it's no secret that there's a huge amount of activity in the state of Israel on cutting edge issues related to science that Americans benefit from every day of our lives. I guaranteed every one of the people listening, watching today, in front of them, in the room with them, there's Israeli technologies that are making their lives better. The idea of undercutting America's interests and Americans' interests solely to pursue this agenda to say that the Jews don't belong in Judea, it's outrageous. There is not another identity on earth that America would treat or the Biden administration or the Democrats would treat the way they're treating Jews.

No. And I think that they get away. There's an issue even arising, Jeff, at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Unreal. Where the Biden administration points board members to that. They also run the museum in Washington, D.C., which I would encourage everyone to visit. But they've appointed two board members who work with anti-Israel groups. Well, actually, there are two that were reported.

And I can also report to you a third because of research I've done in the past. They reported someone named Kimberly Emerson. It means Joe Biden appointed onto the Holocaust Museum Council a Kimberly Emerson who's associated with Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch is one of the most notoriously international anti-Semitic organizations on earth. They constantly talk about blood libels. Absolute lies about what Israel is doing around the world.

Of course, under the banner of human rights. Similarly, the chairman, the national board of J Street. The anti-Israel group, J Street, a famous group, who's also on the boards of the New Israel Fund and the Israel Policy Forum. By the way, the Israel Policy Forum, as far as I know, the only organization to actually testify against moving the embassy to Jerusalem.

Joe Biden appointed them. In addition, he appointed someone named Michael Beals, who they call Biden's rabbi, who has used his pulpit, I found, to preach against Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem. To preach against the security walls, against the IDF, and basically accuse them of all kinds of atrocities and terror. So it's a consistent progressive anti-Israel message that falls over, as far as we're concerned, into anti-Semitism based on the accepted definition of anti-Semitism.

I mean, Jeff, here's the thing I think we have to point to, and this is important. We did some litigation with the Obama administration on this secret funding that was going on to fund, and we're looking at it again right now, where the United States was covertly funding organizations set up to try to topple the Netanyahu government the last time around. And then we found in the middle of this litigation, we find out that the United States sent $1 million to Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Masin, the head of the PLO, Palestinian Liberation Organization.

They don't like calling themselves that anymore, but that's what they are. And this was his son, got a million dollars from the United States. So what we need to do on these appointments to the Holocaust Commission and boards for these museums is find out, we'll get some Freedom of Information Act requests out.

I know we have some other ones that we're working on right now. We have to expose this for what it is. It's anti-Semitism at its core.

A hundred percent. And the people in Israel see it and feel it, and that's why I'm back and forth now so much, because there's grave concern. This is not just some normal diplomatic process. It seems to be an aggressive agenda, almost a vendetta, against the fact that there were the Abraham Accords, and all of a sudden the Jewish state is being normalized and accepted in the region. And it's like this administration seems dedicated to destroying that, to keeping the Jews pariahs everywhere. And they're implementing it in every place they can, including the Holocaust Memorial Council.

It's outrageous. That's why I mentioned, Jeff, I appreciate you joining us on The Bronx State, but this idea, too, that they try to do this to make nice with the UN, but it's mostly European countries that are left doing this. Most of the Gulf states in the Muslim world, including some North African countries, are happy. The last country that was actually negotiating a lot of it, I still think, is on the line. If the right administration was in place that didn't demonize them, it would be Saudi Arabia next, which would be a whole change in how Israel would be able to operate, but the economic ties, even tourism ties, because the ability for Muslims to go visit their holy sites there in Israel. And Israel was willing to say, yes, we want your people to be able to come visit here.

We want the economic relationship. And they said that they're no longer going to let the Palestinian issue stand in the way. But we know John Kerry, who's still in the administration, they all want it to stand in the way still. They won't let it go. Jeff's right on that. Even when the rest of the world is starting to let it go, the people who are actually there in the Middle East, they are still, the State Department's mission, until that's handled, these countries shouldn't be doing work again. Jeff, I want to go to you here.

We only got 30 seconds left, but I think it's important to talk to our members. We are strategically located. Our office in Jerusalem is in the heart of Jerusalem.

I mean, you look over the historic walls of Jerusalem. We are right there in the middle of this. There's few groups that are operating as significantly in Washington, D.C., Strasbourg, France, where the European Court of Human Rights is, and Jerusalem.

It doesn't exist. And we're about to expand into other areas as well. Yeah, it's absolutely pivotal.

I can tell you that we've become a point of contact for members of the Knesset, nonstop government ministers, for trying to understand what this apparent vendetta is against Israel. And so it's absolutely necessary that we're there. And I'm so glad that we have the office there. And I'm happy that I'm running back and forth. Someone has to do it, and we're the only ones doing it. I'm glad that you're doing it. All right, folks, support the work of the ACLJ.

You do that by going to ACLJ.org. Got a domestic issue we're going to deal with now. Religious schools again under attack. It's pretty unbelievable.

Back right in a minute. Welcome back to Secio. There is another issue, which, again, this has been one that's been so unique, because there have been two major cases at the U.S. Supreme Court in just the past few years, one last year. The first one was out of Montana, and it was the Blaine Amendments, which were really anti-Catholic amendments that the federal government never adopted, but 37 states did, that prevent government taxpayer funding to any religious institutions, including religious schools. And that was ultimately finally decided by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. At least the interpretation of that was decided as unconstitutional. And then Maine had one that was a little different.

It said nobody could go to any sectarian organizations. But then they started a school choice program, and they started a voucher program. And they tried to exclude those schools. So those parents in those schools sued, and the Supreme Court sided with those parents. So you would think, okay, you've got the U.S. Supreme Court to say twice. Even the second case people said, kind of like, why is this having to be litigated again?

But the Supreme Court realized they needed to go back and tell judges again, hello, we already decided this. You cannot discriminate this if you open the door to these school choice programs, and you allow other private schools, not that it may be not religious schools, but private schools to take part. You can't exclude religious schools.

That's the key there. So you're not just saying you can choose your public school. You're saying you can choose any other private school, but not the religious one.

Maine has gone back and tried to circumvent that. Again, so we litigated a case back in early 2000s called Locke v. Davie, the Supreme Court of the United States, where the court issued a very muddled ruling. Subsequent cases have clarified these decisions, saying you really shouldn't be discrimination. There shouldn't be discrimination against religious schools or the funding of religious schools.

So this one, they come at it, Professor Hutchinson, a little bit differently. They don't say you can't have the school. They just say if you're going to have the school, you have to have a nondiscrimination policy. You have to teach a certain way. We don't want you teaching your religious dogma and doctrine. So they go at it in a different way. It doesn't say you can't exist.

It just says you can't function. I think you're precisely correct. So essentially what we have is another sophisticated attempt to crack down on religious schools and to prevent them from fully participating in a state-funded program designed to educate students from rural communities. Keep in mind, in many rural communities in Maine, there is no public high school. There's no public, perhaps, elementary school.

So the state of Maine has set up what is called a tuitioning program, which allows parents who live in rural areas to send their kids to private schools, often private religious schools. However, the elites that control the legislature in Maine, they are animated, I would argue, by anti-religious bias. So what they are doing is they're saying the school can participate so long as it does not discriminate against other religions. So this means that a Catholic school has to teach Baptist doctrine, perhaps, or Muslim doctrine.

And operating like you can't have mass. And the Supreme Court did not say that. They didn't say you have to give up your Catholic identity. In fact, that was the whole case was that you don't have to become a secular school. You can still be a religious school, precisely.

But, again, the elites, they don't like that. They want to eliminate or eviscerate religion from the face of the earth. And then they're coming at these religious schools in a secondary way by trying to impose nondiscriminatory provisions, which basically challenge church teaching and doctrine that goes back 2,000 years.

So, in essence, Maine wants to eliminate religious schools. Fortunately, Keith and Valerie Rodonis, they are fighting back through a case brought by the Beckett Fund in U.S. District Court. And I hope they will prevail. It's important to keep in mind that we are just now fully digesting the Carson v. Malcolm case, which was decided by the United States Supreme Court last year. And that judgment is beginning to work its way through the circuit courts in the United States.

And guess what? Maine says no more. And I'm afraid that if Maine is able to get away with this, this will then fuel additional activity in Vermont and other jurisdictions. That's why Maine had to do it. This is why—and it's always about people. That's ultimately who you're trying to help here. It's why even Maine started this program in the beginning, is they have students that are in towns that have no available public schools.

It doesn't matter where your economic standing is. There's nowhere to send your schooling, but there are some private and parochial schools. And so they started this program by being okay for private schools, but not the parochial schools. So what's interesting here is, as I said, this has been to the Supreme Court twice, issues surrounding this. They're at the district court stage now. When it goes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, that's the next level of view, the American Center for Law and Justice will enter the fray supporting the parents here because it's that important.

And we come to it with some real expertise because we litigated these issues at the Supreme Court. But this goes to show you that perseverance on these issues, they just come at it differently now. So instead of saying no religious schools, it's you can have your religious school, Harry, so long as it's not religious. That's pretty much what it is. I think you're correct. Essentially, they're trying to push nominalism.

They're trying to exclude religious doctrine from private education and simply allow these schools to add the window dressing of some religious affiliation, but no religious content within the curriculum. And I think it's important for the American people to get into the fight and to fight back against these elite forces. And that's why we've been telling you that if you need help in your community, the ACLJ can be there. We've got a helpline that's opened up at ACLJ.org forward slash helpline or just help. So ACLJ.org slash help. Last week, 167 people contacted us on different cases. Several of those have turned into cases.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, so we just want to encourage you, if you feel like your rights are being violated by your local community, by an employer, it could be the state level, could be the federal government. But I mean, it goes down to a school board, a mayor, city council that's violating your rights, a school.

Again, maybe in different ways. You might work for them. Your kids might attend the school and you feel like your rights are being violated or your family members' rights are being violated. You contact us at ACLJ.org slash help. So if you're the parent of a student who feels like something has happened to them that is wrong and unconstitutional that violates our core rights as Americans, contact us at ACLJ.org slash help. If you feel like that's happened at your job, contact us at ACLJ.org slash help. If you feel like the city's doing it, you can contact us.

So all the way from the smallest levels of institutions to the largest employers and the federal government. We want you to contact us and don't be afraid. Don't think, well, I'm not sure if this is important enough for the ACLJ or I'm not sure if they do this. That's why we have attorneys reviewing all of these that come in and they're going to let you know. Can't we need more information? We'll ask for more information. Do we think we can take the case? We're going to let you know that. Do we think that you might need to go somewhere else? That this is not the right thing for ACLJ as an organization, a nonprofit legal organization?

We'll let you know that as well. But don't be afraid to ask because you can be the reason why your community's rights are protected, your nation's. People of the nation's rights are protected in some of these matters. Some of them go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but they don't all have to be those kind of cases for us to be involved.

Your rights are important to protect at every level, both in the private sector and the public sector as well. ACLJ.org slash help. And of course, we want you to support the work of the ACLJ. And you do that by going to ACLJ.org and follow us on all of our social media. At Jordan Sekulow, at Jay Sekulow, at Logan Sekulow, and at ACLJ. We'll talk to you tomorrow.