AG Garland Defends Corrupt DOJ In Ridiculous Testimony

This is Jay Sekulow.

Attorney General Garland defends a corrupt Department of Justice in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. 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, Jay Sekulow. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the broadcast.

We're taking your calls at 1-800-684-3110. We have a lot to talk about. The Attorney General of the United States, Merrick Garland, is before the House Judiciary Committee right now.

The issues are vast. He made a very interesting comment early on. He said he wanted to make it clear, quote, I am not the President's lawyer. And that's because when the sweetheart deal was going down on Hunter Biden and the plea arrangement, a plea agreement that nobody has ever gotten in U.S. history, that was kind of the thought, that here was the Attorney General, not being the Attorney General of the United States, but being the President's personal lawyer. That's what it seemed like. He made a very big point.

Do we have that bite? Let's go. I want to play that for everybody and give you the context. As the President himself has said, and I reaffirm today, I am not the President's lawyer. I will add, I am not Congress's prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people. Our job is to follow the facts and the law.

And that is what we do. Well, let me make you know, there's one thing they say they keep saying that we don't, you know, work we work for the American people. They do work for the executive branch of government. They are an Article 2 agency. That means they're under the jurisdiction of the President.

And there's nothing wrong with that. But to say that we don't respond to the President, that's nonsense. The President sets the agenda for the Justice Department. He could technically call the Justice Department saying stop prosecuting Hunter Biden. He could say stop prosecuting Donald Trump.

The President has the authority to do that. What's interesting here, I think, Logan, is when you see what's come out of this Justice Department, this is the nervousness. It's going after the Catholic Church and the pro-life groups where they put IRS agents in there. It's going after parents who were going to school board meetings and labeling them as domestic terrorists.

And that has happened under Merrick Garland's watch. Yeah, I think people see this also. They're concerned. The fact that he is just now getting around to doing this, having his time up there, doesn't seem like anything will get done. You do have Heming right now speaking to Jim Jordan.

There's these moments that feel powerful and important, but does anything come from this? No, this is political show. Okay, so let's be clear. And I think that's where the American people go, this is a waste of our time. Let me tell you what's not political show, okay? This is not political show. This is the American Center for Law and Justice versus the FBI. That's not political show.

Put it up on the screen for people. This is the one involving the radical traditionalist Catholics, an FBI investigation where they infiltrated Catholic churches that were pro-life, okay? That's not for show. That's for litigation for real. Let me tell you something else that's not for show.

Here's the next one. FBI widespread violation of the privacy rules under Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act. This isn't for show. That's an ACLJ case, American Center for Law and Justice versus the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Not for show. By the way, talking about cases, we are now representing, in addition to Colorado, we represent the GOP of Oklahoma. And we are going to be representing, it looks like at this point, the party in Virginia as well, and possibly West Virginia, in these attempts to keep President Trump off the ballot under the 14th Amendment. It's a big issue. We're involved in all of these. We've got foreign litigation right now, for sure. And then there's going to be a number of them that'll be done by Amicus Brief. And, Logan, this is the biggest election constitutional issue in U.S. history.

Yeah, absolutely. I look at this and I'm really concerned with what happens in this situation. How could you have a situation where people don't even feel like this was something on the table?

It wasn't even an option. And now all of a sudden, the left seems like they've all of a sudden been like, this has always been a thing. We've always known that we could just disqualify someone from the ballot. Unlike what we've been told our entire lives, which is anyone could be President, it doesn't matter even if you're a criminal.

It doesn't matter what the situation is. We've seen that in other countries where people who were once political criminals ended up becoming the ones who revolutionized the government. So this is a really sad day. Hopefully, though, we step in and things get taken care of. All right, our petition to stop the left's attempt to keep the former President off the ballot, we want 100,000 signatures.

We are at 83,000, so 17,000 to go. We're very close. And those are going to help in those cases where we file the amicus briefs. So go to ACLJ.org today, add your name there. And this morning, we sent you an email about the work we're doing at the Human Rights Council. We're going to have an update from Jordan Sekulow and CeCe Heil. Jordan's in New York, and we'll have an update on that.

So ACLJ.org for all of it. In addition to the litigation going on on these 14th Amendment challenges to disqualify the former President and the FOIA litigation I mentioned to you against the FBI on things like the infiltration of the Catholic Church and the violation of privacy and the FBI in cahoots with some of the big tech companies, we're also at the UN this week. It's the General Assembly week. Jordan is actually up there with our team and is calling from Manhattan right now. Jordan, you were at a couple of events yesterday. Give us a sense first what's going on at the UN and your assessment of the situations. So, you know, in this post-COVID world, New York feels really packed for the first time since I've been up the last few times.

That's because you've got all the delegations in full and all the hotels and streets are closed. President Biden was here yesterday speaking. Last night, we were at an event that Secretary Pompeo, who works for our team, hosted, and there were a number of former cabinet members of the Trump administration, a number of media personalities from the Murdoch family to folks like you had Bill Hemmer and others from Fox, Linda McMahon, who ran the SBA and, of course, WWE and the big merger they were talking about. We were talking about smack down the vote with her. And then our team this morning got up, Rick and I, and kind of co-hosted some of Newsmax, the morning show I do, usually early morning at 8 a.m. We did about a full half hour talking about President Trump's legal issues moving forward and as well as some of the international issues and then some of this impeachment talk since we're kind of experts in that.

Of course, going through that in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House. But today, just to give people a rundown of how busy our team is, already today, Shaheri Argyle from our office attended a roundtable on Nigeria. He was able to end that roundtable. He texted us, he's met with one of the Pakistani representatives who's a Christian on their diplomatic team and is very much in favor of the work that we are doing there.

And so we've got a new high level contact to work with to free so many of those clients we have that are facing death and just horrendous things. Today on the calendar, we've got James Ruckus who leads up our government affairs team on a good trade summit, that's about all that SDG investing and how that affects the world. Later on tonight, Rick Grenell and James Ruckus from our team will be with the President of Costa Rica. It keeps going on Thursday, there's a Caribbean panel on how all of those countries and trying to pull them back to being a U.S. ally and not reliant on Russia and China for so many of their natural resources. A big one coming up on Thursday too is Vietnam where Christy Campagnone and James Ruckus are heading to that.

Rick is heading to one with the President of Poland on Thursday. And there's a global HIV AIDS summit on the progress there that we've got our team at. And then on Friday, Tanzania, their Vice President, Bulgaria with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and then finally another roundtable with Pakistan. So, I mean, it gives everybody a sense of the scope. Now, Chairman Xi and Putin did not show up to the UN this time.

How is that being received? You know, I mean, obviously when the major world leaders decide that this is not a place they want to, you know, make a speech and make a big diplomatic statement, which every world leader has the right to do at the General Assembly. I mean, those have been going on since yesterday when President Biden just kind of goes through the list. And usually they take those moments to take potshots at the US if they feel like that's what they want to do because at the UN you're in the United States, but once you're in the UN you're not really any longer in the United States under the jurisdiction of the United Nations.

So they would, you know, had safe travel, had safe passage to be here. But I think it's very telling the weakness of the United States. I mean, that's what people talk about. It's the fact that they're not showing up to New York to make a point. Just like they didn't show up to the G20. And we also have at the same time human rights interventions going on as well.

That's right. I mean, we're constantly got those human rights interventions going on. And I think we've made a very fruitful contact. I mean, one of our team members said to me for this entire week and the money that it's cost, that one person we met in Pakistan could change all of our cases there now.

You know, think about that, folks. You talk about a divine appointment. You have this one particular meeting. And that's why we call it the Ministry of Presence.

You've got to be there. I mean, we've seen that in our Middle East negotiations, that being there makes a big difference. Andy, it's interesting what Jordan just said on the situation with Pakistan. Shahariar comes up, shows up at the meeting. The minister's there, probably in the diplomatic corps, senior level diplomatic corps, happens to be a Christian. They strike up a conversation and relationship, and that could dramatically change how the entire persecution issue is handled in the country of Pakistan.

Well, that's right. And it is a big issue, persecution of Christians in Pakistan. And these are the kinds of connections that we need to make. The presence and the extensive report that Jordan gave at the United Nations is a very motivating and important event that we connect with these people, that they know who we are, that they know what our position is, that they know where we are going, and that we're there to help and to assist them if we possibly can. Jordan, in the meetings you've had and the people you've been meeting with, how much discussion about the 2024 Presidential election in the United States? That's almost all the discussion, especially last night at the event with Secretary Pompeo, because you had a lot of former Trump cabinet members and other high-level folks there from the administration, all knowing, of course, and all asking who's talked to him when, what do you think about this, what would happen if this happened, and a lot of questions for us because we're the lawyers, so it's the same kind of thing.

Well, what happened if this happened in this case? And at the end of the day, though, what is pretty clear is that there was not a single person there that didn't think that he's got, as of today, the nomination locked up. Of course, everybody says there's a what if, there's a hypotheticals, but if the vote were held today, he's the nominee. And what I've picked up differently than I've picked up from that group in the past is they feel much more confident about his ability to beat Joe Biden and to run it because when you start looking at the map and you start seeing these comments from Joe Biden, even at the UN, it's pretty out of touch with the middle America, which is exactly where Donald Trump has to perform well if he is the nominee. Which is interesting because when you look at the legal challenges that have been made, for putting the indictments aside, but we met yesterday, Andy and I with our team, Jordan, while you were out of town, about these 14th Amendment challenges, and you look at where they're going. Colorado, Oklahoma, West Virginia now, Virginia, clear swing state.

So they're picking, and we're going to be in at least those four on the merits, and then we'll be filing amicus briefs on others, and we may get involved in some others as well. But if you look at the strategy that they're, which I think is a desperate ploy here, Andy, in my view, but I've never seen in my lifetime, and I never expected to see Section 3 of the 14th Amendment being used in this way to take off a qualified candidate so that the people that make the decision in the Republican primary don't have that choice. Which is what that, you talk about election interference, I can't think of anything that's more election interference.

Well, that's exactly what it is. It's an attempt to destroy the President, President Trump, politically, by saying that he is an insurrectionist, that he is an officer of the United States who revolted against the government. He's not an officer of the United States. The Constitution makes that very clear.

He takes a separate oath, the oath of the President, and this is what they're trying to do to attack him all over the country and to try to prevent people who want to vote for him from voting for him. We're not going to do that, allow that in the United States. We're going to prevent that from happening. And Jordan, you're saying that's because in these UN leaders, they're worried about world leadership. So I'm sure this is coming up with, I'm sure as we're in these other meetings. But by the way, the list you gave of the countries we're meeting with, our team's meeting with folks, there's not many organizations that do it like this. And believe me, we're going to be announcing next year a major expansion of that effort. But you're getting, you kind of got a taste of it today, Jordan, and it's been, or yesterday, it's been very significant the impact we're already having.

Yeah, that's right. I mean, and just to engage here, kind of like how we've been engaging in Geneva in the past. We've joined some new organizations that have allowed us to do that and have been much more present as you see. I mean, a number of our team members strategically going to these meetings to make those contacts so that when there is that American imprisoned abroad or there's an interest to the United States with one of these countries, that we're poised to have the relationships outside the US government to work with these organizations, these actual countries.

And oftentimes, because we're not the US or a national country, it's actually easier for them to work with outside groups like NGOs, especially because our ECLJ has that status at the UN, so they have to take our meetings. You know, it's interesting also, we've joined a number of associations there, and some of you would not think some of our business associations, but it's given us just tremendous access. Thanks for the update, Jordan. You'll be back in the studio on Friday. Let me say also as we give you that update, folks, you know, if you look at everything we're involved in, we can get, we're going to, C.C.

Hall will be with us later in the broadcast. We're going to go through what we're doing at the UN Human Rights Council with regard to the persecution issues, and they're significant. I mean, there are significant issues there that we're fully engaged in. We're mentioning the, we've been talking about these other issues. The ACLJ is involved literally from coast to coast and around the world. I hope that everyone's seen that in a program like today.

Yeah, I think they absolutely are. You can support the work of the ACLJ right now easily. Just go to ACLJ.org. Again, that's ACLJ.org to support the work of the ACLJ, which you should do right now, because as we've said before, these are not inexpensive, these are not cheap operations. These are getting top legal minds to work hours and hours and hours a day, 24 hours a day, really, to get this done.

And of course, just to get this on the air alone takes an incredible team and an incredible amount of time and resources, so we can use your support at ACLJ.org. We're also going to take your phone calls, and guess what? We haven't promoted that at all, so phone lines are wide open right now, so it's a great time to call.

1-800-684-3110. We'll play some of the Garland hearing. You'll hear some of that coming up, and we have some additional guests coming on later. And don't forget, we are 17,000 signatures away from reaching our goal of 100,000 on that petition on keeping the President, former President, on the ballot, but also protecting election integrity.

So go to ACLJ.org, and if you want to support our work on persecution... Welcome back to Secula. We are going to take your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. And we have more people in the studio right now. We do. Harry Hutchinson's joined Andy, and we're talking about what Merrick Garland said. I want to play something here. This is Representative Nadler.

Is this what you wanted me to start with, Will? Representative Nadler to Merrick Garland. This involves the Hunter Biden matter.

Let's take a listen. There have been accusations that the handling of the Hunter Biden matter is an example of a two-tiered system of justice. What's your response to that allegation? The Justice Department treats everyone alike, regardless of party, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of wealth. Everyone is treated alike. I understand that people may not understand why particular investigations are conducted in particular ways until all the facts come out. That's what we have a court for.

All right. So that's his statement. Everybody's treated the same. The Justice Department treats everyone alike, regardless of party. Well, first of all, we know that's not true. So let's start with that premise first. And let's talk about Hunter Biden's plea deal that there was no historic precedent for the plea deal that he was offered, Harry.

Nothing. There's never been a historic precedent. They said that in open court. They asked Weiss, the U.S. attorney, is there any precedent for this kind of absolute absolution of any crime ever in a plea agreement?

And Weiss said no. And the judge said, I'm not accepting it. And the judge was correct. It's important to keep in mind that the left, that is the Democrat Party, has weaponized the Justice Department. And this follows a distinctive pattern that goes back years, if not decades. Who can forget, for instance, the DOJ has gone after pro-life Catholics.

It's gone after school board or parents at school board meetings. And it is clear beyond question that Hunter Biden has received preferred treatment that is unavailable to the rest of us. Meanwhile, the DOJ is going after former President Trump with full force.

In theories you've never heard used in 150 years. Absolutely. And so virtually every other week, there is a new charge or a new indictment. And yet Hunter Biden, as we speak, is ensconced. He's suffering in Malibu, California, essentially at taxpayer expense. And guess what?

He is selling art for tens of thousands of dollars to individuals who wish to curry favor with the Biden administration. And they have succeeded. And so I think at the end of the day, what we have in the United States is a crisis of authority, a crisis of authority that basically undermines and infects the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice is no longer a Department of Justice. It has become a department of untruth and falsification. All right. Let's go to Representative McClintock, a Republican from California, talking about Jack Smith. This is very interesting.

Take a listen. This double standard of justice couldn't be more glaring. Jack Smith was deeply involved in the IRS scandal that targeted conservative political groups to harass. His malicious prosecution of former Governor McDonnell was unanimously overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Roberts rebuked Smith directly for attempting to criminalize political activity. You appointed him to prosecute Joe Biden's chief rival for the presidency. Do we have his answer to that? I would like to get that, because if we can get it. Yeah.

Well, let's stop for a second, then we'll do it. But Andy, we know for a fact, and we got this in our discovery with the IRS case, that Jack Smith was intimately involved. Yes, he was. Jack Smith is basically a stooge of Merrick Garland. And he was put in there to do the bidding of Merrick Garland and to do the bidding of Joe Biden and the Democratic administration. Merrick Garland says, I am not the President's lawyer.

No, you're not. You're his law clerk and his messenger boy. Well, let me take it a step further. Here is, again, Congressman McClintock talking about the obvious double standard. This is the hearing that's happening right now.

Take a listen to number 36. Do you at least see the obvious double standard applied in these two appointments? Mr. Weiss was a Republican appointee. Mr. Smith is not registered to either party. His entire career was as a career prosecutor.

I'm not asking what their party registrations are. I'm asking about their records and how those records would commend them to the appointments that you made. This is a question of judgment and it's a question of motive.

What was motivating you to do this? Mr. Smith had a nationwide reputation for integrity and for appropriate prosecution. His work can be measured by what he actually has filed. Everyone in the country can see the indictments that he has charged. How can you say that after he was so heavily implicated in the IRS scandal?

I don't know what his answer to that was, but the answer really is, Andy, he can't because he was right in the middle of it. They were trying to come up with a criminal case to shut down conservative 501c4 organizations. And the way you do that is you go to the man that's your right-hand man for doing that and that was Jack Smith. The same guy that went after McDonald and lost before the Supreme Court nine to zero. We were involved in that case. Right. And the same thing that you do when you want to attack the President of the United States, former President, on the January 6th nonsense is to simply go to Jack Smith. He's the one that you've got.

He's your attack dog and you go to him every time. So this double standard is, Harry, so self-evident that these hearings today, which are getting a lot of coverage, but they should get a lot of coverage because with the IRS case when we know Jack Smith was involved, then we've got the situation with the social media companies. Then on top of that where they're putting their thumb on what can be posted and what can't be. And then, of course, and they can't ignore this, going after the Catholic Church by literally having agents inside the church services.

Absolutely. And keep in mind that FBI Director Wray testified in Congress that he was surprised at what was going on in Richmond. Well, now we know the surprise has blown up in Portland, in Los Angeles, and probably throughout the United States. The Department of Justice, under the leadership of Merrick Garland, has become politicized and weaponized against the interests of the American people.

And I think the American people are entitled to the following conclusion that the Department of Justice is trying to protect democracy by first destroying it, by putting its thumb on the scale. Logan, they have put their thumb on the scale with the social media companies. We dealt with that here. It is a serious, serious issue. We're in litigation over it right now for Charlie Kirk and his organization. That lawsuit is about to be filed. But there have been reports come out.

There's already a case out of the Fifth Circuit where they said this is a real problem. We know it is. We know that shadow banning is not just a phrase that doesn't exist. We know it exists. We know it's real.

It's happening. And we've seen it happen to ourselves as well as other people we've worked with. So we know that's a real problem. But also we know that there hopefully can be some solutions to those problems.

We'll see. These are private companies, but we can at least have another voice and make sure that we're available everywhere and every platform. Look, a good way to do that is help is to share. So if you are watching this on, let's say, Facebook, maybe there used to be 10,000 people watching live and now maybe there's 800 watching live. Why?

I think you can probably come to the conclusion yourself. So click that share button. We'd appreciate it. It gets into more people's feeds. Same if you're on YouTube. Click the thumbs up.

Rumble, click the thumbs up. The plus sign really helps us out. Also, don't forget, we are 17,000 signatures away from reaching our goal of 100,000 signatures on our petition to stop the left's attempt to keep former President Trump off the state ballots. Go to ACLJ.org.

Sign that petition and support the work of the ACLJ. You see us at the UN. You see us in federal court on the elections.

You see us defending religious liberty. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jay Sekulow. Hey, everybody.

Welcome back to the broadcast. Well, we've got a lot going on. Jordan gave us a report earlier in the broadcast from the United Nations where we have a team of about five ACLJ and ECLJ members that are meeting with a lot of country leaders, especially on the issues of Christian persecution.

That's going on right now. They've handled a number of roundtables. We've had some progress on a matter out of Pakistan. And that's, again, because we've been able to meet with the high-ranking diplomats from Pakistan. So we're there.

We call it the Ministry of Presence. At the same time, we announced that we have now filed in Oklahoma on those 14th Amendment Section 3 disqualification attempts to try to keep former President Trump off the ballot. We have also been contacted now by Virginia's GOP, the party there, to engage in that case and possibly in West Virginia as well. So we've got a team of about seven lawyers dedicated to that issue, and that includes literally from coast to coast, Colorado, Oklahoma, Virginia, and it looks like West Virginia, and more of those coming.

And, Logan, I think that's an example of being able to turn on a dime. These cases came kind of out of nowhere. There's a lot of them, and we were able to assemble a team to get on top of it immediately. Yeah, we have an incredible team that can do that, but we also can't do that without people's support and without people being able to chime in and get your voice heard. And the way you can do that also is by supporting the work of the ACLJ. So you can do that, like I said, at ACLJ.org.

Don't want this to just sound like an advertisement. It's just true. At this point, we're assembling these massive teams to take on all these lawsuits.

You can't just do it out of the goodness of our heart. We have to have resources to get the best of the best. And dealing with the clients that deserve the best of the best, including you, by the way, if you need legal help, all you got to do is go to ACLJ.org, click that help button, and no cost to you. We'll take on your case if it fits within our scope.

So that's, again, what we do with that support. Yeah, and look, there's going to be more of them. These are going to move quickly. We already have a trial date in the case in Colorado, October 30th through November 3rd. So we've got a trial date in Colorado. A motion will be filed and briefed, so there's a lot going on there. We give you a report from the United Nations.

I tied in the fact that we were getting some progress, but C.C. Howell is going to be joining us in the next segment of the broadcast to discuss specifically what is happening on the Human Rights Council front. That's going on also. So we're demanding justice for Christians that are facing really horrible violent situation, especially right now in India, unfortunately. And you just had that assassination which they think had a tie-in from India that just took place in Canada. Something's going on there, and it's not a good development.

Let me just put it that way. ACLJ, ECLJ, that's our European Center for Law and Justice involved in that. I mentioned the FOIA cases that we're involved in because right now Merrick Gartland's testifying on Capitol Hill about the two-tiered system of justice. We have cases with the FBI, against the FBI, on those issues. And the one that's getting a lot of attention right now, Logan, is this whole thing about the contacts between the FBI and these social media companies.

Yeah, exactly. We know that. They've admitted to it. They've admitted to having these conversations. There's portals being built where they can report things.

We know this is what's happening in the private. When you have a pressure on a private company from the FBI, sure, a lot of times they're going to listen. They have to listen to what the FBI is wanting or saying. So somewhat you obviously have to keep yourself accountable, but you also have to understand that these companies are getting pressure from the highest level of government influence. Well, I mean, just think about that.

If you had an FBI supervising agent contact you and say we are concerned about information on the ACLJ site, then it may be put up there by maybe Russian bots. You're not just going to ignore a call from the FBI. Well, that's the thing.

And it has a chilling, chilling effect. All right. We need you to do a couple things. First, go to ACLJ.org. Are we still about 17,000 short, Will? We'll get an updated number, but about 17,000 signatures short from reaching our goal of 100,000 on that petition on the issue of the 14th Amendment and allowing the President, if he is qualified, to be the nominee, but also to be able to be in the primary process.

They're trying to keep him off the primaries, arguing an insurrection of something he hasn't been charged with. We are going to be filing amicus briefs in a lot of these cases as well. Some direct litigation, some amicus. I want to be able to have all 50 states represented, and I want 100,000 signatures. So I encourage you to go to ACLJ.org. While you're there, by the way, support the work of the American Center for Law and Justice.

Logan reminded me of this. It's not just when we're in a matching challenge or when we're in a matching moment. This is for a life and liberty drive.

It's like right now. We've got a lot of cases going on, a lot of activities, some not budgeted, these 14th Amendment challenges. Your support makes a huge difference. Go to ACLJ.org. Donate today.

It's tax deductible. We really appreciate it. ACLJ.org.

Back with more in a moment. Welcome back to Secular. We are taking your calls at 1-800-684-3110, 1-800-684-3110. All right, so we mentioned briefly when Jordan called in from the UN of our work there, but there's another aspect of that's going on right now, and that is in front of these committees when it comes to the Christian persecution issue. We have a whole team dedicated at the ACLJ to these Christian persecution issues. Unlike a lot of organizations, when you file what's called a country report, we file it on every single country that's under review. In fact, the UN has commented to us that we're one of the only organizations that do that, and that's very helpful to them, because even a small country could have major violations, and unfortunately, that's the case. But we've got a lot of activity going on there right now.

Scheduled interventions, you've got a whole bunch of them. Let's listen to this. Right, so the 54th session of the Human Rights Council is going on in Geneva. So that's going on in Geneva while the General Assembly is in New York. Correct. We've got people and teams at both.

Go ahead. Yes, and so at the HRC in Geneva, the Human Rights Council in Geneva, for this 54th session, we filed written submissions, and then we're allowed to do oral interventions. And we are doing them this session on Nicaragua, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, France, and Israel. And so, you know, typically you don't get that many because it's hard to register and there's a lot of competition for these speaking places, and you're actually speaking before the whole Human Rights Council. And I was actually there last, the 53rd session, in person in Geneva, able to give these oral interventions on Pakistan and actually hold side events and meet with the Pakistani delegation.

And that's when we see action happen. So let's talk about that, because people need to understand the scope and nature of this. So you've got people that are being persecuted, individual cases we handle, and then you've got what I would call more of a country-wide problem in India, Pakistan, where they're just like going through and destroying Christian towns and villages, and these are usually very underprivileged areas. And you've got to have advocacy there on a global scale to bring attention to it, and that's what this does.

Absolutely. We're able to, in each one of these reports and each oral intervention we're able to do, we are able to point out, like just in Nigeria alone, that a Christian is killed for their faith every two hours, and that 90% of all Christians that are killed across the world, they happen in Nigeria. And this persecution is happening really with impunity. When we're looking at it in Nigeria, because that's been a particular bad actor, what is the main thrust of why that's such a problem? I think it's the Muslim terrorists. You have the Fulani herdsmen, and you have Boko Haram, and they are just wreaking havoc in that country. And the government is not able to get that under control and to actually protect their citizens, and specifically their Christian citizens, because those are the ones, it's the Christians that are really the target and the victims of all of that violence and attack. So I'm looking at some of these reports, but Logan, we have a project that we launched a couple years ago, probably a decade ago, called the Be Heard Project.

And let's talk about that for a moment. Yeah, it's specifically targeted to Christian persecution. So for people who care specifically about that issue that's happening worldwide, we've been doing it for well over 15 years, probably at this point. So you can go to Be Heard Project's website, and you can find out all the updates. Obviously, it's a project of the ACLJ, so a lot of the content you'll find on ACLJ.org as well. But if you are interested in just that topic or the updates on that topic, yeah, we've done that a lot.

It definitely appeals to a broader base, if you will, that's interested in this topic, may not be interested in sort of our lead topics that you hear on this broadcast every day. Well, I'm looking at right now, we've got the situation of Saif Shazad Maashish from death, 390,000 signatures on that petition on the Be Heard Project. I want to give you that number again. I'll give you the exact number, actually.

390,989. That petition, we've been promoting this for a while. And it's got, the topics on there include suffering women and Christians in Iran, Christians' situation when they're on death row. We now have a case out of Afghanistan.

We don't have the case per se, but we're trying to get information about it. We're a U.S. aid worker. What's the status there?

This has just happened. So this is an organization that has been working in Afghanistan for, I think, 57 years they have been there. And just recently, because of course the Taliban has taken over, there have been 18, it's been reported that 18 aid workers from this organization have been arrested and under the guise of spreading Christianity. So we have reached out to that organization to see if there is something that we can do to step in and assist them. But you wouldn't have seen this before in Afghanistan.

They're literally getting arrested, these 18 aid workers, from an organization that has been there for decades now for spreading Christianization. I want to look at, we can put these on the screen. Here's our report that is going in. And it looks like it's on UN Letterhead, actually, if you'll see it up on the screen there.

Let's get it on up. It's to the General Assembly, and there it is. And you use their formatted letter, right?

That's a big part. Why do they do that? We do, every submission has to be completely formatted.

It's a specific font type and everything that we have to accommodate them, yes. Just like the Supreme Court. So this is our written statement submitted by the European Center for Law and Justice. This is on the country of Pakistan. The next one is Israel's under review. There are more adverse actions taken against Israel than any other country combined.

Absolutely. Israel is the focus of attack from the UN constantly. And so every single chance we can get to do a written submission or do an oral intervention to support Israel and to point out the fact that they protect their Arab citizens. That they are a human rights advocate and champion instead of the way that they're painted at the UN as the – There is no country in that region that has more freedom and liberty than Israel. And we at least get to point that out, and this is our statement on Israel. The next one we have is on Miramar.

That's been a really tough one, right? That has been terrible because – What's the issue there? Well, it's basically the Burma army has taken over. And so they – Miramar used to be referred to as Burma, but the Burmese army is still called the Burma army. And they just have terrorized an attack. And again, it's mainly Christians that are bombed, beheaded, attacked, displaced.

And so there's just a lot of Christian displacement there. We also – I'm holding up the next one is Ethiopia. What is the status in Ethiopia?

What's the issue there? Ethiopia, that's an interesting one because at the ECLJ we actually have an intern that is from Ethiopia. And there is – So we've got a European Center for Law and Justice in Strasbourg, France.

We're right there. We have a beautiful office there. And one of our interns is – Is from Ethiopia. And so there's first-hand account on literally a Christian group that is literally targeted, being massacred with drones and other things. It's just horrendous the persecution that is going on to the Christians in Ethiopia.

And we're able to point that out and give first-hand accounts of what's going on there. And then finally, an ally of the United States, India. Now, India's been in the news this week because of the purported link between an assassination in Canada that they think the Canadian authorities think is linked to Indian government. Well, and really just the radical Hindus there are attacking – it's mob violence that we see just like in Pakistan. The Hindus are attacking Christians.

They're trying to get rid of any other religion other than Hinduism in India. And we are seeing this in just increased persecution on a daily basis. Let's discuss – this is the final case we're going to discuss, the Shahzad case. Talk about that and where we are and where is that case at? The Shahzad, just to remind people, is the 16-year-old Christian in Pakistan who was falsely accused of blasphemy and then has ended up, because again of mob threats to the judge, being actually convicted. And he is going to death its execution by hanging.

And so he is in prison, has been in prison for five years. We have an appeal going. We also have the working group on arbitrary detention at the UN has taken that case.

We've talked to the Pakistani delegation there and now at the General Assembly as well. So we're hopeful that we will see justice in that case. All right. So we want you to go to ACLJ.org slash persecution to sign the petition right now. And Logan, let people know – when we get these petitions, we're serving them at the UN to these government leaders. And it's important for people to understand this.

Right. It's not just a sign your name here and it goes into a file and you get on our email list and that's the end of it. What it actually is always show – we get them to the people that need it the most.

So whether that is in the halls of Congress, whether that's the Senate, whether that is to the White House or specifically for this one to the UN, to whoever it needs to go to. So these lists don't just sit around and collect dust. It's not just acquiring signatures. It's not even just acquiring a number.

The number is great. Obviously our goal – we have goals because, you know, in masses work can get done. But we deliver these and we deliver them either digitally, we've delivered them physically, however we need to get it done.

Whatever is most effective for that specific group and organization. We have the petition going on on the persecution issue. We also have a petition going on on this legal challenge under the 14th Amendment, Section 3, the Disqualification Clause where they're trying to keep former President Trump off the ballot because of alleged – insurrection and rebellion.

Except he hasn't been charged with that. So we're in court right now in Colorado. We actually have a hearing date of October 30th. That case is going to trial. We filed yesterday and intervened to defend in Oklahoma. We were contacted yesterday by the Virginia Republican Party because there's been a lawsuit there to help them. We're going to do that.

West Virginia has done the same thing. We need help. The ACLJ is going to be there.

None of this happens without you. But there's going to be other states where we file amicus briefs and I want to have 100,000 signatures on that. So if you go to ACLJ.org, you'll see it right there on the home page. Add your name to that petition. We're right at 17,000, Chi Will. Yeah, we added some.

So 16,244. We encourage you to do that at ACLJ.org. Also, we are opening up phone lines now. 1-800-684-3110. Any topic, give us a call. 800-684-3110.

Welcome back to Sekulow. Taking your calls right now. 1-800-684-3110. Great time to call in. Susan is calling on Line 1 in Maryland. Let's go ahead and take one off the top.

Susan, you're on the air. Yeah, thank you so much. I really think you did a slam dunk on defining Trump as not being an officer. And if Colorado, a blue state, falls, will that be a domino effect for the rest of the states to withdraw their complaints and put Trump on the ballot? And secondly, what an irony for a candidate to accuse India of Christian persecution when they're persecuting their own pastors like Pastor Archer Polowski that this was vindicated.

Thanks so much. Yeah, so let me answer your first question about the Colorado situation. Look, it's not binding. It's a state court proceeding, so it's not technically binding on anybody else. But it's the first case that was filed.

Well, I don't know if it was the first one that was filed. It's the first one going to trial. And we go to trial October 30th. So it's going to trial. So I think what happens there, Susan, is going to have a dramatic effect on the rest of the country. Now, that's in state court.

So we're in a state court proceeding there, which means it goes from the state trial court to then an intermediary court of appeals, then to the Supreme Court of Colorado, then to the U.S. Supreme Court. And that will happen, I think, very, very quickly because primaries are starting in January. Is the first one January? Did we determine will or February?

Yeah, January, and then there's one February, and then you got Super Tuesday in March. So my goodness, it's going to move very quickly. So the U.S. Supreme Court is going to have to be engaged on this very quickly. In Oklahoma, interestingly, that case is in federal court. So we will handle that one through the federal system, which means it goes to the U.S. District Court, then the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, then the Supreme Court of the United States.

In Virginia, it's again U.S. District Court in Norfolk, then up to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, then to the Supreme Court of the United States, same in West Virginia. So in a very short amount of time, Logan, we're going to have a lot of activity here. That's right. And we are taking more of those on and on. Hopefully there'll be more that come through. Yeah, we're doing them in kind of batches. So there's going to be some that we directly litigate. There's going to be others where we're filing briefs, and we're working on a template brief right now on that because obviously there's going to be some nuances in each of these cases.

The law, though, is going to be established on a national level. So I think this is just another attempt to knock out the Republican frontrunner. Yep, absolutely. Now, right now, also happening, we've talked about this up front, is that Attorney General Garland is currently testifying. And we actually have some conversations related to one of our kind of ongoing issues. It's one of our cases. I mean, it's a case that we filed against the FBI involving their investigation of Catholic churches. Listen to Congressman Van Drew of New Jersey talking to Merrick Garland.

This moves very quickly. Take a listen. Through the chair, I ask you, do you agree that traditional Catholics are violent extremists? Answer the question. I have no idea what the traditional means here. Catholics, Catholics that go to church. May I answer your question?

Yes and no. The idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religion is so outrageous, so absurd. It's hard to even answer your question. Mr. Attorney General, it was your FBI that did this. It was your FBI that was sending, and we have the memos, we have the emails, we're sending undercover agents into Catholic churches. Both I and the Director of the FBI have said that we were appalled by that memo. So then you agree that they're not extremists.

You were appalled by that memo. Are they extremists or not, Attorney General? I think that- Are they extremists or not, Attorney General?

Everything in that memo is appalling. Are they extremists or not? I'm asking a simple question. Say no if you think that was wrong.

Catholics are not extremists. No. Okay. Let me tell you what we did. The impression was pretty good. You just said the fact that you got a straight answer, a no at the end, is actually pretty- No, that was impressive by Congressman Van Drew.

We should get him on the broadcast this week. I mean, you usually don't get anything that clean from a- It was a great cross-examination. We filed a lawsuit against the FBI on the issue of this memorandums that they created involving the investigations of the Catholic churches and sending agents in. We filed a joint status report, was filed with the court, filed by us and the Department of Justice, by the principal deputy assistant attorney general of the United States, the deputy branch director, and a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, and then our lawyers.

Let me read you paragraph two. Pursuant to the court's July 17th order, the parties conferred, and the FBI represented to plaintiffs that thus far it has identified 1,200 pages of potentially responsive documents. This is when they said it was a boneheaded move out of one office in Richmond, one agent. As soon as they did it, we found out that we shut it down, then we find out it was not just Richmond, it was Richmond, Portland, Oregon, or Seattle, Washington, and also then in Los Angeles, California. And then in the litigation, and this is why you go to court, folks, 1,200 pages responsive, and we'll start seeing those.

Yeah, but actually Van Drew doubled down, asked even more. Let's take a listen. Was anyone fired for drafting and circulating the anti-Catholic memo?

You have in front of you the inspection division's investigation. Just tell me yes or no, please. We have no time. I don't know the answer to that. The answer to that is no. Nobody was fired because nobody was ever fired.

Now, we got them fired at the IRS, but that was after we went to court and got it handled. But the truth of the matter is, I think Congressman Van Drew gets an A-plus for cross-examination. But, I mean, think about this, folks, for a moment. Our FBI is investigating, excuse me, the Catholic Church because they are traditionalists. Traditionalists meant you're pro-life. Meanwhile, there are pro-life centers that were being firebombed, and we could barely get the FBI's interest. And then when we got their interest and we noticed the terms of the questions, we started saying, hey, I'm not so sure we want our clients listening to this because they're turning this on the pro-life centers. And that's the duplicative nature of what's going on at the FBI right now, Logan. And through our work with our government oversight project, which is involved in a dozen cases, four or five of which with the FBI, we are getting answers. Yeah, absolutely.

And look, we are just a couple minutes before the wrapping up this show. I think it's important to tell you not only about their work, but that we are just shy of our goal. So we really could use your support. If everyone who's listening right now went on and signed, we'd be hitting our goal, okay?

If not, we'd be well above it. So right now, go to ACLJ.org to sign that petition. Yeah, so we're about 16,000 short of 100,000. I'd love to get there by the end of this week, first to next, because we're going to have to start filing some of these briefs, and we want to be able to tell the court, hey, we've got representation from all 50 states, citizens like you, and there's over 100,000.

That's a big number. So go to ACLJ.org and sign that petition. Now let me tell you something else we want to encourage you to do, and Logan brought this up in our pre-meeting. You know, when we had these matching moments or our life and liberty drive we had or our matching challenges, that's a big time of fundraising.

But let me tell you something. These cases that have come in on the 14th Amendment involving the former President are taxing our resources. Logan, you know I've been in meetings on trying to streamline it as much as we can, but it's going to take five, six, seven, eight lawyers all time between now and probably the end of the year. And then I've also got our Supreme Court team now involved in it. So if you've thought about supporting the work of the ACLJ, can I ask you to do something? There are thousands and thousands of you watching right now and millions listening. Go to ACLJ.org and support the work of the American Center for Law and Justice with your tax-deductible donation. It really makes a difference right now.

ACLJ.org. Yeah, we encourage you to do that right now. Obviously, always follow our accounts. Support what we're doing. There's a lot of ways you can do, even not financially, just to get involved in the conversation. Be a part of this fight with us, not just someone who listens. This was a little bit different than our broadcast. Unlike a lot of people, you hear out there, some great people, you know, they go out and they give you their opinions.

That's great. We don't just give you our opinions. We give you our opinions and then we take action with our opinions, whether that's through the media or whether it's through the law. And you can be a part of that as well. So if you ever want to get more involved or if you need legal help, we encourage you to go to ACLJ.org right now. That's as simple as that. Great content, all available at no additional cost, not behind a paywall. ACLJ.org. We'll talk to you tomorrow on the broadcast.